Ardeth watched as Evy pulled some books down from a high shelf, and climb down the ladder she was on. She flipped through both of them, found the pages she wanted, and placed them on the table. Emily was standing off to the side, looking out the window as Rick and Ahmad walked around to the different Med-jai, making sure they were who they said they were.
"So, what do they want from me?" she asked, not looking at the two.
Evy and Ardeth exchanged looks. Neither of them spoke.
"What do they want?!" Emily said, finally turning to them.
"Your blood." Ardeth said. "Since Zok used his…"
"Her." Evy said softly, pointing to a passage in a book. "Zok was a female mystic."
"Since Zok used her blood to complete the spell, they need your blood to complete the spell to awaken Dajaaj."
"And because I am the 'reincarnated spirit of Zok' they are hunting me down."
"Yes."
"huh…and…why don't they just come in the middle of the night, draw my blood and leave."
"Because it must be fresh. The blood must, 'pour from zok's veins fresh, and Dajaaj would be immortal'." Evy said, reading from the book she had in her hands.
"Will it be painful?" Emily asked softly, catching the other two off guard.
"The procedure ends with your death." Came the soft reply.
Emily nodded. Tears of anger in her eyes again. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" she said coldly, at Ardeth.
"I did not find it important…"
"YOU DIDN'T FIND IT IMPORTANT?! ISNT IT IMPORTANT THAT I KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME IF THEY GET ME?!" she screamed. "I THINK THAT'S PRETTY DAMN IMPORTANT!"
the tears finally spilled in a deep sob. Evy crossed to hug the woman, but she backed away.
"Don't…"
"Emily, we are only trying to help…"
"I know…I know…I just...can't believe that this is happening to me! I'm not used to it! You may be, fighting off 3000-year-old mummies, dying and having your son bring you back, and you may be used to it. BUT I'M NOT! I don't understand why this is happening!…I just don't know why…" her sobs filled the silent air.
"Emily," Ardeth said finally, "I am promising you right now that I will watch over you. I am not going to let these men get you, or kill you. I promise you, as long as you are with the Med-jai, the O'Connell's, or myself, that you will be safe from those men." He crossed to her, looking her in the eye. "I promise you."
She stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"I know, Ardeth I know I am safe with you. But I just need to be alone right now. I need to shower and wash the events of today out of my life. So please…just let me have a little time to myself."
The Med-jai warrior nodded his head softly. She crossed the room and left with out another word. Ardeth turned to Evy, unsure on what to say or do. She just laid a hand on his arm and said softly, "Everything will be alright."
He nodded again and prayed she was right.
When Emily got to her room she broke down completely. She cried and cried, and cried until she couldn't cry anymore. I'm not here. This isn't happening. She repeated in her mind. She looked around, and suddenly felt foolish for breaking down like she did. She sighed and crossed to her window, looking at the Med-jai who stood next to it. She closed the curtains and locked the door. She then made sure there was no one hiding anywhere in her room, the closet, or the tiny bathroom that was connected to it. She felt horrible and tired as she undressed, leaving the clothes in a pile on the bed. She went into the bathroom and turned on the hot water, stepped in, and leaned her head against the wall. Feeling the warm waterfall down her body. God, this feels good. She thought.
45 minutes later Emily stepped out onto the balcony. The sun was close to setting. She sighed and unwrapped the towel around her hair. Letting the wet strands fall over she shoulders and clean light purple tank top. She dried her hair a bit more, then picked up a bottle she had set on the table next to her, along with a brush. She squeezed the contents of the bottle, a leave-in conditioner, onto her hand and massaged it through her damp hair. Once she did that, she picked up her brush and ran it through her hair. She did that for many minutes. Just brushed her hair. As the sun was about to go down for good that night, she felt a hand reach out and touch her hair softly. She knew who it was, and let him run his fingers through her now only slightly damp hair.
"You do have beautiful hair." She heard Ardeth say softly.
"Thank you." She said back, letting him continue to play with it. He stopped, and sat down net to her on the padded bench.
"Are you ok?"
"I guess…I just don't know what I am going to do." The tears came back. "What are we going to do, Ardeth?"
He placed an arm around her shoulder and brought her in closer to him. Her head rested lightly against his chest, his chin resting on top of her hair. He wrapped his other arm and held her.
"I don't know Emily, I don't know." He said softly.
Emily breathed in deeply, and looked down, her eye catching on the handle of a dagger, that stuck out from his robes.
"I think I do." She said, and quickly grabbed the dagger, sat up, bringing the weapon up, and then swiftly down, aimed for her midsection. But Ardeth's large hands caught her wrists before she could make contact, and pulled them away, towards him.
"Emily! NO!" he said, and he twisted her wrist, forcing her to drop the knife and cry out in pain. The dagger dropped to the balcony with a twang. Ardeth kicked it away with his foot.
"Just let me do it!" she yelled. "If I am dead, they can't get to me! they can't use my blood! LET ME KILL MYSELF!"
"NO!" He said forcefully. "NO! I promised I would keep you alive! And I will not break that! You will not die under my watch, not even by your own hand!"
she sobbed and broke down. Curling up into a ball on the bench, facing away from him. He looked over at her, his eyes deep and sad.
"Emily," he said, resting a hand on her back. She turned and faced him. He gently stroked her cheek with one hand, and placed the other around the back of her neck. "Emily, you must be strong. we will get through this, alive, and ok. You don't have to worry. We will be ok." He brought her head forward and kissed her forehead softly. Like he had done the night before.
She looked at him, placing her hand on his own cheek. He ran his fingers though her hair.
"It will all be ok."
As Evy walked back from the small market with the young Med-jai next to her, she felt something bad coming. But was too late. Neither of them saw the people who attacked them. Killing the warrior and grabbing Evy, a hand held tight over her mouth. Strong arms held her to a large body.
"If you act real nice, we wont kill you." A deep voice said in her ear. "Now tell those damn Med-jai to let us in, or we will kill you all."
She nodded slowly. And was carried the rest of the way to her house.
Ardeth's hand slipped through Emily's soft brown hair. He placed his hand on her cheek. Feeling a power neither one of them could fight, he gently brought her face closer to his. Their lips touched slightly.
"RICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Evy's scream echoed through the yard. Then a loud, "SHUT UP,WOMAN!" This caused both of them to pull away. They heard screaming in Arabic, and raced to the edge to see what was going on. The large group of dark green robes walked up towards the house, and one large figure carried a struggling female form. A hand clasped tightly over her mouth. Ardeth saw his men aiming at the group.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" his voice bellowed out. Causing everyone to look up at the balcony. "HOLD YOUR FIRE! DON'T SHOOT!" he yelled again. with a quick look at Emily, he grabbed her hand and they raced down stairs. Not noticing Alex or Jonathan as they raced to the balcony. Alex squinted and saw as one of the men pulled out something wrapped in a cloth. He opened it quickly, and Alex had seen a bright flash of blue light. The stone! He had heard his mum talk about the stone needed for the procedure. His mind worked quickly.
"Uncle John!" he said, turning towards his uncle, pulling him down.
Ardeth and Emily met Rick and Ahmad at the bottom of the stairs.
"They have Evy." Ardeth said softly and they made a dash for the door.
"HOW?" Rick cried, suddenly afraid for his wife.
They opened the door and ran out side, and were met by the Fajarah. they indeed had Evy, and as the front porch light went on, flooding everyone with bright light, Rick saw the fear in his wife's eyes as she was held by a huge figure.
"We will make this simple," Sabooru said. "We will trade woman, no funny business is passed between us, and we all go on our marry way."
Ardeth looked at Emily, her eyes wide as she stared at Evy. Ardeth took a protective step in front of her. He looked over at Rick, whose eyes were wide to.
"MUM?!" Alex yelled out, racing from the door.
"Alex! Get back!" Rick yelled. Wishing to hell that Jonathan had once done his job and stayed with the boy. Ahmad grabbed Alex and swung him around, handing him to one of the other warriors that stood behind them.
"Take him inside, watch him." He said, in Arabic.
Where is that fool Jonathan. Rick thought. As if on cue, Jonathan came staggering around the side of the house, a large whiskey bottle in his hands. He tipped his head back and took a swig of the stuff.
"HEY MATES!" he said. "How's having the party?"
if looks could kill, every single person standing out side at that moment would have killed him. But of them all, Rick and Ardeth wanted to kill him the most.
Jonathan walked right into the group of dark green robes.
"Excuse me, pardon me…whoops! Sorry about that mate." He made his way to the front of the group, tripping, and falling over Sabooru. Knocking both men to the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GAME IS THIS!" the man yelled. "GET OFF ME YOU DRUNKIN BAFOON!"
"HEY!" Jonathan said, standing up, wavering as he did. "There is no need for name….HI EVY! Who are your friends?" one of the large green robes pushed him towards the small group of good guys.
"Hi mates!" Ardeth and Rick both shot him, "I am going to kill you when this is over with" looks. He shut his mouth and stood off to the side.
"One girl for the other. We haven't got all night!" Sabooru cried.
Emily looked softly at Ardeth. "No…" he said
"I have to do this. Evy has a family, they need her…I have to do this."
"No…" Ardeth protested softly, lowering his voice. "There is another way…"
"Ardeth…this has to be done. They need her. I'll be ok. I promise. You know where I'll be, come get me. until then, I can fight for myself…"
"No…"
She looked at him softly. And brought her hand up to stroke his cheek.
"I'll be ok…besides…we have a deal, and I am NOT going to let you get out of it."
He looked at her softly. Finally realizing what O'Connell felt like, 11 years ago when Evy left with Imhotep. She placed her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into her, kissing him. When she broke, she looked at him one last time.
"I'll be ok." She said. And turned, walking towards the Fajarah.
"NO!" Ardeth yelled out, stepping towards her. Rick grabbed him, holding him back.
She looked at Sabooru,
"Are you prepared to keep up your end of the deal?"
"I have no need to this woman's blood on my hands." He gave a command in Arabic and the man who was holding Evy let her go, and shoved her into Jonathan's waiting arms. The man then grabbed onto Emily, pulling her close.
Ardeth struggled under Rick's grasp, and Ahmad had to help hold him back.
"No…" he said again.
Emily looked at him softly. "Ardeth," she whispered so that he could just hear it, "I love you."
"NO!" it took all in their power to hold him back.
The group began to leave, backing up, watching the group that stood in front of the house. Only Sabooru and Ja-Hosh, who was carrying a rather calm Emily, turned their backs, and walked around to the front of the group.
"Hold your fire!" Ahmad yelled in Arabic. The group of Fajarah walked out of the open gate. Only when the last of them had left did the large group of Med-jai warriors go after them.
"WAIT!" Ardeth yelled. Shaking off Rick and Ahmad.
"We will wait, attack them later. They will be on their guard now!" he said. Rick ran to his wife, hugging her tightly, kissing her. Alex came out and no one saw the winks that were passed between uncle and nephew.
Ardeth threw out commands to his men. Get the horses and weapons ready. They would ride out in less then an hour.
"A bit of a role reversal, eh friend?" Rick said, stepping up next to the Med-jai Chieftain.
"Yes," Ardeth said, pulling out his two guns out from their holsters, checking that the clips were fully loaded, and slamming the clips back into the guns. "But the end will not change."
He turned to his men.
"We have no time! They are going to the ruins of the temple of the Ka, it is a days ride from here. If we do not reach the temple in enough time, they will perform the ceremony and bring back the Djinn. We have no time to waste!"
"Um! Guys, I think we are going to be ok." Everyone turned to Jonathan, still angry at his drunken stupidity. He reached into his pocket. "I don't think they can do anything without this." He pulled out a cloth and unwrapped it. Everyone stared in awe at the glowing blue amber stone he held in his hands.
"What, you didn't think I was really drunk, do you? Besides, I hate Whisky."
"Jonathan!" Evy yelled. "How did you know? How did you know about the stone!?"
He nodded his head towards Alex, who was looking closely at the stone.
"He told me." She grabbed her brother and kissed him on the cheek, then picked up her son and kissed him, hugging him tight.
Ardeth took a step back. Realizing that they now had little time before they would discover the stone missing.
"Right!" he yelled out, catching everyone's attention. "We have little time before they come back for that, and we cannot let them get their hands on it. Give it to me, I will get rid of it. O'Connell," he turned to his friend, "I assume that you have a friend in town who sells weapons? We need lots of ammunition."
The American flashed a smile. "Of course." He grabbed Evy and Jonathan by the hands and ran off towards the gates, not wanting to waste anytime.
"Ahmad, get the men ready to leave in under an hour. Send out a message that we are going to need some help. But tell them to wait for MY own orders. Understand?" The Second in command nodded and ran off to do his job.
"Alex," Ardeth said, dropping to one knee. "That was a very smart idea, having Jonathan get that stone. Do you have your sling shot on you? Good. Come with me." he stood up and took the boys hand, and they ran down the drive and out the gate.
It took them only 2 minutes to get to the large building Ardeth had led them to. They entered and climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the building.
"What are we doing?" Alex asked as they walked to the edge of the roof.
"See that spot, right there? Where those men are just finishing up pouring cement?"
The boy nodded.
"Think you could hit that with your sling shot?"
"I can try."
"I'll tell you what, if you can, I will take you to my village one day, and teach you all about the Med-jai."
Alex beamed. "REALLY?" Ardeth nodded. "That is so cool! Of course I can make it!"
The warrior reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth holding the blue stone. He unwrapped it, and handed it to Alex. But he didn't take it.
"It's ok, it is only a stone. It can't hurt you."
"That's what I thought about the Bracelet of Anubis!" he said.
Ardeth laughed. "Yes, but this can only hurt you if it falls into the hands of the Fajarah. And we can't have that. So what do you say?"
Alex looked at the stone. And pulled out his sling shot from his back pocket. He picked up the stone carefully; it was about the size of his fist. He placed it in the sling; not sure on how it would take to the large area of the stone. He pulled it back and aimed at the puddle of cement. He steadied his hand a bit. Let a second pass, and let the thing fly. No one in the city, except for the Med-jai and the boy, saw the blue stone fly through the air and land in the deep puddle of cement.
Alex let out a little whoop of joy, and a large smile made its way across the face of Ardeth Bay. He picked the kid up and held him eye level. "Alex, my boy, you are a fine warrior."
Alex beamed. "YAY! I'm a warrior!"
He put him down and said, "Let's get back, we have a lot to do." And with that, they ran off the roof, and ran home.
The stone slowly sunk to the bottom of a 5 by 7 foot cement wall.
Rick pounded on the door of the tiny weapons shop.
"WILLIAMS! WILLIAMS! LET ME IN! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
A tall, lanky, dark haired man came to the door. He sighed at the sight of the man who stood before him, and opened the door up, letting the three inside.
"What do you want, O'Connell?" he said with a grumble.
"I need your help." Rick said, crossing to a large stand of swords and guns. Evy's eye caught on some daggers and she went to pick out a few. Jonathan just stood there, looking around.
"I don't know you any more favors O'Connell."
"Hey, I set you up with your wife, and you always told me you could never pay me back for that. Now you can, this is a matter of life and death man!"
Evy crossed to her husband. "It always is with you dear."
Williams sighed. "Oh alright, what do you need?"
"Just some ammo." He looked at the tridents Evy was holding in her hand. "And those."
"How much?" Williams said, crossing to the locked case where he kept the ammo.
"A lot, we got a lot of people to arm."
The man grumbled as he opened the case. Muttering under his breath.
"Take all you need, I am getting in a new shipment tomorrow." Williams looked at Rick as he grabbed most of the boxes and shoved them into a bag. "If you didn't introduce me to An…"
"I know, I know. Thanks buddy." Rick flashed him a smile, grabbed his family, and ran out the door. They took off down the street. Leaving Williams to shake his head and grumble some more.
Ardeth was relieved to see the O'Connells and Jonathan get back as quickly as they did.
"Did you get it?" the Med-jai asked.
"Of course." Rick said, handing a package of bullets to Ahmad.
"Good, now they left about 20 minutes ago. And I have to believe that somewhere in the city, there are Fajarah keeping watch on us. Did you send out a messenger Falcon?" Ardeth turned to his second in command.
"Yes, there will be 20 warriors waiting for us when we reach there tomorrow."
"Good. Now every one, do what you have to do, we leave in 20 minutes."
The chieftain turned to his friends.
"I assume you are coming with us."
"Did you really have to ask?" Rick said.
He crossed the hallway and entered Emily's room. Ardeth followed him. He tried his hardest not to look around at her things. Rick went to the closet and pulled down his bag of weapons.
"I have enough ammo for me and my weapons." Rick said, dropping the bag on the bed and opening it. "I hope what we got for you and yours will be enough as well."
"If we catch them off guard, it wont be that hard to take them down. We should have the upper hand. We seem to have more people." Ardeth said, looking at the amount of guns his American friend had.
"Do you always carry that much with you?"
"After what we have been through down here, yes." Rick said, holstering 2 guns. He handed Ardeth the submachine gun. "I know you like this one." He said, giving the warrior a sly smile.
"I do," Ardeth said, slinging it over his shoulder.
"Alex!" Evy said, climbing the stairs. "Alex!"
"I'm in my room mum!" she heard him yell. She opened the door to find Alex sitting with Charlie, Maria, and Sama. She walked over and sat next to her son, placing her arms around him.
"Alex," she said softly, "This is going to be a dangerous thing we have to do. So you can't come with us, understood?"
Her son nodded. "Ok, mum."
She didn't expect it to be that easy. She figured he would go off about how he was brave enough and that he could handle it. And his favorite, "I have been through worse before!" But he simply nodded and hugged his mother.
"Don't worry son, we will bring her back."
"Bring your self's to." He said softly. She understood his fright for their safety.
"We will." Jonathan came in at that time, and hugged his nephew.
"We will be gone for about 3 days Alex." Evy said, looking at her house sitters. "You stay here, be good, and we will be back as fast as we can." He nodded again.
"Alex…?" he looked up at her then jumped in her lap, wrapping his arms around her neck.
"Just be careful mum, we don't have the book of the dead any longer."
Evy wanted to cry as he said that.
"I will be Alex, we all will be." She picked him up gently and carried him down the stairs. Jonathan and the other family followed them out. They ran into Ardeth and Rick in the hall.
"Ready?" Rick said, reaching a hand out to stroke his sons hair. His wife nodded, and handed their son to him. Rick gave him a tight hug.
"Alex, when we all get back, Ardeth said that he will take us to his village." He felt the boy smile.
"Ok dad, but please, just come back first."
"We will." He sat Alex down and looked around him. Ardeth standing off to the side, a large scimitar hanging from his waist, another, shorter, sword hung at his side. The Thomson hanging behind him and he had many other guns and knife's hanging inside his robes. Evy stood next to her brother, 2 tridents tucked into her belt. Ready to be used at any time. Her dark hair hung in a half ponytail around her shoulders. She wore a dark brown T-shirt and khaki pants. Her eyes stared at their son. And then he looked at Jonathan. Standing off to the side. Wearing a simple dark pair of pants and a dark shirt.
"We should go now." Ardeth said, stepping up to place a hand on Alex's hair. He smiled and winked at the boy. For a second they all stood there, not talking, not knowing what to do. Finally Rick said, "Lets go save the girl." they walked to the door, and went out. Alex stayed behind with Charlie and his Family.
Evy couldn't help herself and hugged her son once more. Telling him they all loved him. And would be home in a few days.
"What if they come back to get the stone?" Rick said, watching his wife hug his son.
"I am leaving 7 Med-jai here. If they come back, the Fajarah won't stand a chance. Your son will be safe." Ardeth said, mounting his horse. Jonathan and Rick did the same.
"Evy!" Rick called out, "Come on!"
She hugged Alex once more and ran to her own horse, jumping up on it. She waved at the small family that stood in the doorway of the house.
"Yala! [Lets go]" Ardeth yelled out, and the small group of 11 thundered out the gates. Leaving the 7 Med-jai, and 4 others behind.
One of the Fajarah spotters saw the group ride out of town only 40 minutes after his master and group had left. He called out to the other spotters and began to write a message on a small piece of paper. He then pulled out the black hawk that was sitting next to him in a cage. He took the small piece of paper, folded it up, placed it in a tiny bag, and hooked it to the birds left foot.
"Roah! [Go!]" He yelled and let the bird fly.
"So, what do they want from me?" she asked, not looking at the two.
Evy and Ardeth exchanged looks. Neither of them spoke.
"What do they want?!" Emily said, finally turning to them.
"Your blood." Ardeth said. "Since Zok used his…"
"Her." Evy said softly, pointing to a passage in a book. "Zok was a female mystic."
"Since Zok used her blood to complete the spell, they need your blood to complete the spell to awaken Dajaaj."
"And because I am the 'reincarnated spirit of Zok' they are hunting me down."
"Yes."
"huh…and…why don't they just come in the middle of the night, draw my blood and leave."
"Because it must be fresh. The blood must, 'pour from zok's veins fresh, and Dajaaj would be immortal'." Evy said, reading from the book she had in her hands.
"Will it be painful?" Emily asked softly, catching the other two off guard.
"The procedure ends with your death." Came the soft reply.
Emily nodded. Tears of anger in her eyes again. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" she said coldly, at Ardeth.
"I did not find it important…"
"YOU DIDN'T FIND IT IMPORTANT?! ISNT IT IMPORTANT THAT I KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME IF THEY GET ME?!" she screamed. "I THINK THAT'S PRETTY DAMN IMPORTANT!"
the tears finally spilled in a deep sob. Evy crossed to hug the woman, but she backed away.
"Don't…"
"Emily, we are only trying to help…"
"I know…I know…I just...can't believe that this is happening to me! I'm not used to it! You may be, fighting off 3000-year-old mummies, dying and having your son bring you back, and you may be used to it. BUT I'M NOT! I don't understand why this is happening!…I just don't know why…" her sobs filled the silent air.
"Emily," Ardeth said finally, "I am promising you right now that I will watch over you. I am not going to let these men get you, or kill you. I promise you, as long as you are with the Med-jai, the O'Connell's, or myself, that you will be safe from those men." He crossed to her, looking her in the eye. "I promise you."
She stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"I know, Ardeth I know I am safe with you. But I just need to be alone right now. I need to shower and wash the events of today out of my life. So please…just let me have a little time to myself."
The Med-jai warrior nodded his head softly. She crossed the room and left with out another word. Ardeth turned to Evy, unsure on what to say or do. She just laid a hand on his arm and said softly, "Everything will be alright."
He nodded again and prayed she was right.
When Emily got to her room she broke down completely. She cried and cried, and cried until she couldn't cry anymore. I'm not here. This isn't happening. She repeated in her mind. She looked around, and suddenly felt foolish for breaking down like she did. She sighed and crossed to her window, looking at the Med-jai who stood next to it. She closed the curtains and locked the door. She then made sure there was no one hiding anywhere in her room, the closet, or the tiny bathroom that was connected to it. She felt horrible and tired as she undressed, leaving the clothes in a pile on the bed. She went into the bathroom and turned on the hot water, stepped in, and leaned her head against the wall. Feeling the warm waterfall down her body. God, this feels good. She thought.
45 minutes later Emily stepped out onto the balcony. The sun was close to setting. She sighed and unwrapped the towel around her hair. Letting the wet strands fall over she shoulders and clean light purple tank top. She dried her hair a bit more, then picked up a bottle she had set on the table next to her, along with a brush. She squeezed the contents of the bottle, a leave-in conditioner, onto her hand and massaged it through her damp hair. Once she did that, she picked up her brush and ran it through her hair. She did that for many minutes. Just brushed her hair. As the sun was about to go down for good that night, she felt a hand reach out and touch her hair softly. She knew who it was, and let him run his fingers through her now only slightly damp hair.
"You do have beautiful hair." She heard Ardeth say softly.
"Thank you." She said back, letting him continue to play with it. He stopped, and sat down net to her on the padded bench.
"Are you ok?"
"I guess…I just don't know what I am going to do." The tears came back. "What are we going to do, Ardeth?"
He placed an arm around her shoulder and brought her in closer to him. Her head rested lightly against his chest, his chin resting on top of her hair. He wrapped his other arm and held her.
"I don't know Emily, I don't know." He said softly.
Emily breathed in deeply, and looked down, her eye catching on the handle of a dagger, that stuck out from his robes.
"I think I do." She said, and quickly grabbed the dagger, sat up, bringing the weapon up, and then swiftly down, aimed for her midsection. But Ardeth's large hands caught her wrists before she could make contact, and pulled them away, towards him.
"Emily! NO!" he said, and he twisted her wrist, forcing her to drop the knife and cry out in pain. The dagger dropped to the balcony with a twang. Ardeth kicked it away with his foot.
"Just let me do it!" she yelled. "If I am dead, they can't get to me! they can't use my blood! LET ME KILL MYSELF!"
"NO!" He said forcefully. "NO! I promised I would keep you alive! And I will not break that! You will not die under my watch, not even by your own hand!"
she sobbed and broke down. Curling up into a ball on the bench, facing away from him. He looked over at her, his eyes deep and sad.
"Emily," he said, resting a hand on her back. She turned and faced him. He gently stroked her cheek with one hand, and placed the other around the back of her neck. "Emily, you must be strong. we will get through this, alive, and ok. You don't have to worry. We will be ok." He brought her head forward and kissed her forehead softly. Like he had done the night before.
She looked at him, placing her hand on his own cheek. He ran his fingers though her hair.
"It will all be ok."
As Evy walked back from the small market with the young Med-jai next to her, she felt something bad coming. But was too late. Neither of them saw the people who attacked them. Killing the warrior and grabbing Evy, a hand held tight over her mouth. Strong arms held her to a large body.
"If you act real nice, we wont kill you." A deep voice said in her ear. "Now tell those damn Med-jai to let us in, or we will kill you all."
She nodded slowly. And was carried the rest of the way to her house.
Ardeth's hand slipped through Emily's soft brown hair. He placed his hand on her cheek. Feeling a power neither one of them could fight, he gently brought her face closer to his. Their lips touched slightly.
"RICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Evy's scream echoed through the yard. Then a loud, "SHUT UP,WOMAN!" This caused both of them to pull away. They heard screaming in Arabic, and raced to the edge to see what was going on. The large group of dark green robes walked up towards the house, and one large figure carried a struggling female form. A hand clasped tightly over her mouth. Ardeth saw his men aiming at the group.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" his voice bellowed out. Causing everyone to look up at the balcony. "HOLD YOUR FIRE! DON'T SHOOT!" he yelled again. with a quick look at Emily, he grabbed her hand and they raced down stairs. Not noticing Alex or Jonathan as they raced to the balcony. Alex squinted and saw as one of the men pulled out something wrapped in a cloth. He opened it quickly, and Alex had seen a bright flash of blue light. The stone! He had heard his mum talk about the stone needed for the procedure. His mind worked quickly.
"Uncle John!" he said, turning towards his uncle, pulling him down.
Ardeth and Emily met Rick and Ahmad at the bottom of the stairs.
"They have Evy." Ardeth said softly and they made a dash for the door.
"HOW?" Rick cried, suddenly afraid for his wife.
They opened the door and ran out side, and were met by the Fajarah. they indeed had Evy, and as the front porch light went on, flooding everyone with bright light, Rick saw the fear in his wife's eyes as she was held by a huge figure.
"We will make this simple," Sabooru said. "We will trade woman, no funny business is passed between us, and we all go on our marry way."
Ardeth looked at Emily, her eyes wide as she stared at Evy. Ardeth took a protective step in front of her. He looked over at Rick, whose eyes were wide to.
"MUM?!" Alex yelled out, racing from the door.
"Alex! Get back!" Rick yelled. Wishing to hell that Jonathan had once done his job and stayed with the boy. Ahmad grabbed Alex and swung him around, handing him to one of the other warriors that stood behind them.
"Take him inside, watch him." He said, in Arabic.
Where is that fool Jonathan. Rick thought. As if on cue, Jonathan came staggering around the side of the house, a large whiskey bottle in his hands. He tipped his head back and took a swig of the stuff.
"HEY MATES!" he said. "How's having the party?"
if looks could kill, every single person standing out side at that moment would have killed him. But of them all, Rick and Ardeth wanted to kill him the most.
Jonathan walked right into the group of dark green robes.
"Excuse me, pardon me…whoops! Sorry about that mate." He made his way to the front of the group, tripping, and falling over Sabooru. Knocking both men to the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GAME IS THIS!" the man yelled. "GET OFF ME YOU DRUNKIN BAFOON!"
"HEY!" Jonathan said, standing up, wavering as he did. "There is no need for name….HI EVY! Who are your friends?" one of the large green robes pushed him towards the small group of good guys.
"Hi mates!" Ardeth and Rick both shot him, "I am going to kill you when this is over with" looks. He shut his mouth and stood off to the side.
"One girl for the other. We haven't got all night!" Sabooru cried.
Emily looked softly at Ardeth. "No…" he said
"I have to do this. Evy has a family, they need her…I have to do this."
"No…" Ardeth protested softly, lowering his voice. "There is another way…"
"Ardeth…this has to be done. They need her. I'll be ok. I promise. You know where I'll be, come get me. until then, I can fight for myself…"
"No…"
She looked at him softly. And brought her hand up to stroke his cheek.
"I'll be ok…besides…we have a deal, and I am NOT going to let you get out of it."
He looked at her softly. Finally realizing what O'Connell felt like, 11 years ago when Evy left with Imhotep. She placed her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into her, kissing him. When she broke, she looked at him one last time.
"I'll be ok." She said. And turned, walking towards the Fajarah.
"NO!" Ardeth yelled out, stepping towards her. Rick grabbed him, holding him back.
She looked at Sabooru,
"Are you prepared to keep up your end of the deal?"
"I have no need to this woman's blood on my hands." He gave a command in Arabic and the man who was holding Evy let her go, and shoved her into Jonathan's waiting arms. The man then grabbed onto Emily, pulling her close.
Ardeth struggled under Rick's grasp, and Ahmad had to help hold him back.
"No…" he said again.
Emily looked at him softly. "Ardeth," she whispered so that he could just hear it, "I love you."
"NO!" it took all in their power to hold him back.
The group began to leave, backing up, watching the group that stood in front of the house. Only Sabooru and Ja-Hosh, who was carrying a rather calm Emily, turned their backs, and walked around to the front of the group.
"Hold your fire!" Ahmad yelled in Arabic. The group of Fajarah walked out of the open gate. Only when the last of them had left did the large group of Med-jai warriors go after them.
"WAIT!" Ardeth yelled. Shaking off Rick and Ahmad.
"We will wait, attack them later. They will be on their guard now!" he said. Rick ran to his wife, hugging her tightly, kissing her. Alex came out and no one saw the winks that were passed between uncle and nephew.
Ardeth threw out commands to his men. Get the horses and weapons ready. They would ride out in less then an hour.
"A bit of a role reversal, eh friend?" Rick said, stepping up next to the Med-jai Chieftain.
"Yes," Ardeth said, pulling out his two guns out from their holsters, checking that the clips were fully loaded, and slamming the clips back into the guns. "But the end will not change."
He turned to his men.
"We have no time! They are going to the ruins of the temple of the Ka, it is a days ride from here. If we do not reach the temple in enough time, they will perform the ceremony and bring back the Djinn. We have no time to waste!"
"Um! Guys, I think we are going to be ok." Everyone turned to Jonathan, still angry at his drunken stupidity. He reached into his pocket. "I don't think they can do anything without this." He pulled out a cloth and unwrapped it. Everyone stared in awe at the glowing blue amber stone he held in his hands.
"What, you didn't think I was really drunk, do you? Besides, I hate Whisky."
"Jonathan!" Evy yelled. "How did you know? How did you know about the stone!?"
He nodded his head towards Alex, who was looking closely at the stone.
"He told me." She grabbed her brother and kissed him on the cheek, then picked up her son and kissed him, hugging him tight.
Ardeth took a step back. Realizing that they now had little time before they would discover the stone missing.
"Right!" he yelled out, catching everyone's attention. "We have little time before they come back for that, and we cannot let them get their hands on it. Give it to me, I will get rid of it. O'Connell," he turned to his friend, "I assume that you have a friend in town who sells weapons? We need lots of ammunition."
The American flashed a smile. "Of course." He grabbed Evy and Jonathan by the hands and ran off towards the gates, not wanting to waste anytime.
"Ahmad, get the men ready to leave in under an hour. Send out a message that we are going to need some help. But tell them to wait for MY own orders. Understand?" The Second in command nodded and ran off to do his job.
"Alex," Ardeth said, dropping to one knee. "That was a very smart idea, having Jonathan get that stone. Do you have your sling shot on you? Good. Come with me." he stood up and took the boys hand, and they ran down the drive and out the gate.
It took them only 2 minutes to get to the large building Ardeth had led them to. They entered and climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the building.
"What are we doing?" Alex asked as they walked to the edge of the roof.
"See that spot, right there? Where those men are just finishing up pouring cement?"
The boy nodded.
"Think you could hit that with your sling shot?"
"I can try."
"I'll tell you what, if you can, I will take you to my village one day, and teach you all about the Med-jai."
Alex beamed. "REALLY?" Ardeth nodded. "That is so cool! Of course I can make it!"
The warrior reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth holding the blue stone. He unwrapped it, and handed it to Alex. But he didn't take it.
"It's ok, it is only a stone. It can't hurt you."
"That's what I thought about the Bracelet of Anubis!" he said.
Ardeth laughed. "Yes, but this can only hurt you if it falls into the hands of the Fajarah. And we can't have that. So what do you say?"
Alex looked at the stone. And pulled out his sling shot from his back pocket. He picked up the stone carefully; it was about the size of his fist. He placed it in the sling; not sure on how it would take to the large area of the stone. He pulled it back and aimed at the puddle of cement. He steadied his hand a bit. Let a second pass, and let the thing fly. No one in the city, except for the Med-jai and the boy, saw the blue stone fly through the air and land in the deep puddle of cement.
Alex let out a little whoop of joy, and a large smile made its way across the face of Ardeth Bay. He picked the kid up and held him eye level. "Alex, my boy, you are a fine warrior."
Alex beamed. "YAY! I'm a warrior!"
He put him down and said, "Let's get back, we have a lot to do." And with that, they ran off the roof, and ran home.
The stone slowly sunk to the bottom of a 5 by 7 foot cement wall.
Rick pounded on the door of the tiny weapons shop.
"WILLIAMS! WILLIAMS! LET ME IN! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
A tall, lanky, dark haired man came to the door. He sighed at the sight of the man who stood before him, and opened the door up, letting the three inside.
"What do you want, O'Connell?" he said with a grumble.
"I need your help." Rick said, crossing to a large stand of swords and guns. Evy's eye caught on some daggers and she went to pick out a few. Jonathan just stood there, looking around.
"I don't know you any more favors O'Connell."
"Hey, I set you up with your wife, and you always told me you could never pay me back for that. Now you can, this is a matter of life and death man!"
Evy crossed to her husband. "It always is with you dear."
Williams sighed. "Oh alright, what do you need?"
"Just some ammo." He looked at the tridents Evy was holding in her hand. "And those."
"How much?" Williams said, crossing to the locked case where he kept the ammo.
"A lot, we got a lot of people to arm."
The man grumbled as he opened the case. Muttering under his breath.
"Take all you need, I am getting in a new shipment tomorrow." Williams looked at Rick as he grabbed most of the boxes and shoved them into a bag. "If you didn't introduce me to An…"
"I know, I know. Thanks buddy." Rick flashed him a smile, grabbed his family, and ran out the door. They took off down the street. Leaving Williams to shake his head and grumble some more.
Ardeth was relieved to see the O'Connells and Jonathan get back as quickly as they did.
"Did you get it?" the Med-jai asked.
"Of course." Rick said, handing a package of bullets to Ahmad.
"Good, now they left about 20 minutes ago. And I have to believe that somewhere in the city, there are Fajarah keeping watch on us. Did you send out a messenger Falcon?" Ardeth turned to his second in command.
"Yes, there will be 20 warriors waiting for us when we reach there tomorrow."
"Good. Now every one, do what you have to do, we leave in 20 minutes."
The chieftain turned to his friends.
"I assume you are coming with us."
"Did you really have to ask?" Rick said.
He crossed the hallway and entered Emily's room. Ardeth followed him. He tried his hardest not to look around at her things. Rick went to the closet and pulled down his bag of weapons.
"I have enough ammo for me and my weapons." Rick said, dropping the bag on the bed and opening it. "I hope what we got for you and yours will be enough as well."
"If we catch them off guard, it wont be that hard to take them down. We should have the upper hand. We seem to have more people." Ardeth said, looking at the amount of guns his American friend had.
"Do you always carry that much with you?"
"After what we have been through down here, yes." Rick said, holstering 2 guns. He handed Ardeth the submachine gun. "I know you like this one." He said, giving the warrior a sly smile.
"I do," Ardeth said, slinging it over his shoulder.
"Alex!" Evy said, climbing the stairs. "Alex!"
"I'm in my room mum!" she heard him yell. She opened the door to find Alex sitting with Charlie, Maria, and Sama. She walked over and sat next to her son, placing her arms around him.
"Alex," she said softly, "This is going to be a dangerous thing we have to do. So you can't come with us, understood?"
Her son nodded. "Ok, mum."
She didn't expect it to be that easy. She figured he would go off about how he was brave enough and that he could handle it. And his favorite, "I have been through worse before!" But he simply nodded and hugged his mother.
"Don't worry son, we will bring her back."
"Bring your self's to." He said softly. She understood his fright for their safety.
"We will." Jonathan came in at that time, and hugged his nephew.
"We will be gone for about 3 days Alex." Evy said, looking at her house sitters. "You stay here, be good, and we will be back as fast as we can." He nodded again.
"Alex…?" he looked up at her then jumped in her lap, wrapping his arms around her neck.
"Just be careful mum, we don't have the book of the dead any longer."
Evy wanted to cry as he said that.
"I will be Alex, we all will be." She picked him up gently and carried him down the stairs. Jonathan and the other family followed them out. They ran into Ardeth and Rick in the hall.
"Ready?" Rick said, reaching a hand out to stroke his sons hair. His wife nodded, and handed their son to him. Rick gave him a tight hug.
"Alex, when we all get back, Ardeth said that he will take us to his village." He felt the boy smile.
"Ok dad, but please, just come back first."
"We will." He sat Alex down and looked around him. Ardeth standing off to the side, a large scimitar hanging from his waist, another, shorter, sword hung at his side. The Thomson hanging behind him and he had many other guns and knife's hanging inside his robes. Evy stood next to her brother, 2 tridents tucked into her belt. Ready to be used at any time. Her dark hair hung in a half ponytail around her shoulders. She wore a dark brown T-shirt and khaki pants. Her eyes stared at their son. And then he looked at Jonathan. Standing off to the side. Wearing a simple dark pair of pants and a dark shirt.
"We should go now." Ardeth said, stepping up to place a hand on Alex's hair. He smiled and winked at the boy. For a second they all stood there, not talking, not knowing what to do. Finally Rick said, "Lets go save the girl." they walked to the door, and went out. Alex stayed behind with Charlie and his Family.
Evy couldn't help herself and hugged her son once more. Telling him they all loved him. And would be home in a few days.
"What if they come back to get the stone?" Rick said, watching his wife hug his son.
"I am leaving 7 Med-jai here. If they come back, the Fajarah won't stand a chance. Your son will be safe." Ardeth said, mounting his horse. Jonathan and Rick did the same.
"Evy!" Rick called out, "Come on!"
She hugged Alex once more and ran to her own horse, jumping up on it. She waved at the small family that stood in the doorway of the house.
"Yala! [Lets go]" Ardeth yelled out, and the small group of 11 thundered out the gates. Leaving the 7 Med-jai, and 4 others behind.
One of the Fajarah spotters saw the group ride out of town only 40 minutes after his master and group had left. He called out to the other spotters and began to write a message on a small piece of paper. He then pulled out the black hawk that was sitting next to him in a cage. He took the small piece of paper, folded it up, placed it in a tiny bag, and hooked it to the birds left foot.
"Roah! [Go!]" He yelled and let the bird fly.