Disclaimer: Characters of Jonathon, Alex, Evy and Ardeth aren't mine.
Concealed on a ridge line looking down over the desert, Ardeth Bay squinted at the three riders some distance below and away from him. He had sent a band of Med-jai down to kill them, and the Med-aran had done the same. He wasn't sure which group would reach the travellers first. Still, it didn't matter. If the Med-aran get there first they can do our work for us, and my men can kill them just as easily after, he thought. If there had been more travellers he would have sent orders for his men to wait until the Med-aran had killed them, but while there were only three it would not be a problem. As always, Ardeth felt guilt at ordering the death of travellers whose only crime was to be treasure seeking in a place that was forbidden. Most likely, they would die without ever knowing why they were killed. He wondered how they had found Jentar – were they just wandering idly in the desert?
Something about the figures had been nagging at him since he had seen them, and he concentrated, trying to make out features that were blurred by distance. Heat waves shimmered across the desert, and there was nothing but silence. Then…
"No," Ardeth whispered softly, straining harder to see, "It can't be". He half turned, and saw his daughter's hawk, Isis, perched on a rock on the ground. The hawk was obviously excited by something, and it was clearly only its battle training that was preventing it from flying off. For a second longer indecision gripped Ardeth, then as the figures below moved slightly closer, he cursed loudly. As the other Med-jai looked on in concern, Ardeth spun and ran towards his pack, yelling the name of both his and his daughter's hawks. He yanked out the paper used to write messages, scribbled two notes, then fastened them to the two hawks and sent them out, one to his daughter and the other to the men he had unwittingly sent to kill Caitlin and her companions.
As Caitlin rode along, she had the uneasy feeling that she was being watched, but she couldn't see anyone. Still, that meant nothing. On the few times she'd seen the Med-jai at work, she knew that they could creep up on someone without the person seeing or hearing a thing. But why would the Med-jai be out here? Was it someone else?
Suddenly, something swooped down from the sky and landed on her shoulder. Jonathon yelled and fell backwards off his camel, while Alex tried to yank out his gun, found it had got caught and overbalanced, nearly falling of his camel as well. Caitlin hauled her camel to a halt, nearly falling off herself she was laughing so hard. The other two camels stopped accordingly, and Alex sheepishly tried to right himself. As Jonathon dragged himself back onto his camel the look on his face made Caitlin sag forwards helplessly, clutching at the pommel with both hands as she giggled. As she did, Isis flew up from her precarious perch, complaining loudly. Alex was just reflecting that he'd never seen her laugh properly before, and was admiring just how beautiful it made her, when Caitlin suddenly fell silent, and all the colour drained from her face. She sat back up, and held out her arm for Isis to return to.
"You've got a pet hawk?" Alex said dubiously. Caitlin scowled at him and didn't answer. "You remember" began Jonathon, then stopped. "No, you probably won't. I forget you weren't there. When you were kidnapped and we went after you, Ardeth used his hawk to send messages…" He broke off as Caitlin lurched forwards, lashing out with her left arm and catching Jonathon's wrist. Again, Isis flew into the air with an offended cry. "You know Ardeth? Ardeth Bay" Caitlin looked concerned. "Um, yes. Nice chap, tall, dark, big sword. Distressingly prone to violence. Yes, we know him. I take it you do as well?"
For the second time Caitlin held out her arm for Isis to return. "He's my father" she muttered. As she took the message she continued "I sent Isis back to him, with a message saying that I was all right. If she's here now, that might mean…" She stopped unrolling the message and looked up and around nervously. On top of a ridge line in the distance she thought she could just make out a few shapes. She winced, began to turn back to the message, then stopped and stared at the pair in disbelief. "Alex and Jonathon, Jonathon and Alex. Iknow who you are. Gods, I've been such a fool. You're the O'Connell's son and brother, aren't you?" They both nodded, feeling inexplicably guilty as if they had deliberately deceived her. She sighed, then glanced again quickly at the ridge line before turning her attention to the message.
"I take it that your father is not going to be overjoyed to see you here?"
Jonathon was looking concerned. Caitlin shook her head, not looking up so that she wouldn't have to meet their eyes. The message was brief and terse, and she read it with growing concern. 'Some men may attack you. If they are Med-jai you must identify yourself quickly. Prepare to defend yourself otherwise.'
She looked up at the two men. "We're going to be attacked, I think. They might be Med-jai. I'll tell you if we should fight or not when it happens."
"So, your father's definitely not happy to see you"
She decided that Jonathon was just being ironic, not serious. He might be unhappy with her, but her father would never order her killed.
"Why might we be attacked by the Med-jai?" Alex was bewildered. "Aren't you one of them?" Caitlin's voice was flat and cold as she replied "No. Only men can be Med-jai. And I don't know why we might be attacked. I wasn't even aware that we, my people, knew Jentar existed, but I don't see why else they would be this close to the city." Alex and Jonathon exchanged glances, recognising her anger.
They sat still for sometime. Caitlin reasoned that if they were going to be attacked, the attackers would have to travel over open desert to reach them. Unless they had guns. Still, the Med-jai didn't use guns except in special circumstances, so unless the other men had guns and they were the ones who attacked… She broke off mid-thought as she saw in the distance a cloud of dust rising, just next to the beginning of an outcrop of rocks. If that was me, she thought, that's where I'd wait to ambush people riding by. She quickly pointed it out to the others, then hesitated. Jonathon watched her carefully. "We should…" Caitlin began. "No, we shouldn't" butted in Jonathon. "Whatever's going on, we're better off out of it. We can go over once it looks like it's all finished."
Alex scowled at his uncle, as Caitlin said determinedly "No. You wait here, and I will go and find out what's going on." She kicked her camel, and shot off towards the rising cloud. "I can't believe you" hissed Alex as he tried to kick his camel into moving, not yet having learnt the secret of good camel control. "You can't just let her go out there on her own."
"I have no intention of doing so." They were now both riding along, trying to catch up to Caitlin. Remembering something from years ago, Jonathon yelped at the camel, making the same noise Evy had when she'd won the race to Hamunaptra, so long ago. The camel shot ahead accordingly. As Alex did the same, and caught up to his uncle, he was struck by the serious, grim expression on Jonathon's face. The joker he was used to wasn't evident. "She's likely to get herself killed doing this, and so are we. I've had a long and generally good life, and while I'd prefer not to die, should I do so it won't be the great tragedy that your death, or hers, would be. I like that girl, and I was trying to stop her from doing something foolish." Alex looked away, feeling chastened. Because of the way his uncle acted it was sometimes hard to remember that there was more to him than a smile, jokes and alcohol. Despite all the jokes that Alex made it wasn't as if Jonathon was even a drunkard, he just drank when there wasn't a need not to.
By the time Caitlin reached the fight, it was almost over. As one man sped past her on a horse she heard the voice of one of her father's most trusted men shouting "Kill him" and a Med-jai next to her threw a knife at the man, which missed completely as the fleeing man desperately swerved. Her thrown knife, sent a moment later, caught him straight between the shoulder blades, and he sagged sideways, falling off. Another Med-jai thundered past on a horse and caught the reins of the fleeing horse, gradually forcing it to a stop. Jonathon and Alex charged up beside her a second later, then stopped, staring at the scene. Med-jai milled around them, watching warily.
Caitlin stared at the body of one man lying near her. His robes were similar to the Med-jai's, but were dark blue, and he was tattooed in a similar manner, but, again, the tattoos were different. She slid off her camel and took an uncertain step forwards. If he wasn't a Med-jai, then who was he? Most of the dead men looked the same – similar to the Med-jai, but different in several ways.
"Caitlin". She turned to the speaker – Emdeth – the man whose voice she had heard earlier in the battle. She had known him since childhood and he had always been one of her favourite adults, more tolerant of her behaviour and forgiving of her curiosity. Now, however, he was glaring at her with intense disapproval. "You should leave". Something about his tone made her look curiously at him. "Did my father tell you to say that?" At the mention of her father, his face tightened, then he jerked his head and said "Come with us". As everyone was mounting onto their horses, she got back onto her camel, and asked "Where are we going?" "To see your father" was the grudging reply.
As they followed the Med-jai, Jonathon leaned over and whispered "Where are we going?". Caitlin frowned. "You don't understand the language of my people?". "I'm a little rusty" admitted Jonathon, "but I'm sure it'll come back to me." "I think" Alex said uncertainly, "that we're going to see Caitlin's father". As Caitlin nodded, he explained to her "Since we were here last time, Mum made sure that we all learnt your language, just in case we ever ended up being involved with the Med-jai again."
"I do know it" Jonathon began to defend himself. They rode off, the sound of their bickering filling Caitlin's ears as she worried about what she would find when she reached her father. Why were the Med-jai here?