Evy looked intently at each bazaar stall that they passed, looking for one in particular. She always felt happy in a market like this, with all the gauze and brightly colored cloth, music and jewelry… walking through the markets of Cairo, she truly felt like Egypt was home. Ardeth walked beside her, helping her look but not saying anything. Evy didn't feel comfortable being with people who wouldn't talk. Although she knew that she probably shouldn't pry, she asked anyway, "So, um… how exactly did you meet this- Ashëla?" Ardeth looked at her sharply, his face tightening at the unexpected mention of his dead love. "Ashëla…" he said, half to himself. He sighed sharply and looked at Evy, who looked back in concern.
"I met Ashëla in a bazaar near here… I had given my men a week of free time, and I felt inclined to buy a new Gatling- I broke my last one on a man's head, you see. The fool was trying to kill me!" he laughed at the man's impudence. Evy gulped and nodded. "Well, I was heading towards the gunman's stall, and there she was." He smiled so sadly that Evy felt tears in her eyes. "She was… so beautiful." He reached out a hand to caress a face that wasn't there. Evy felt a lump in her throat. "Like a newborn day. She… told me that she liked my look and offered… to meet me for dinner that night. After that, it went quickly. We were only together a few days, but I fell… in love." The way he said it, it sounded almost as if he was surprised at this fact. "It isn't hard for me to fall in love." He smiled bitterly. "It doesn't take me long. I thought… that she loved me as well. Two nights before the last, she… ah…" he looked at Evy, a little uncomfortable. She looked back, a picture of innocence. He cleared his throat and glanced away from her as he continued.
"She asked me to… come inside." He brushed past a tall, fat man who was loudly advertising rope baskets. "I agreed… the next thing I knew, she was trying to kill me. I killed her," he said as quickly as he could, trying to get past that fact. "I had to," he said by way of explanation. Evy said nothing, trying not to react. "I grew… sick, I suppose. I did not eat or drink. Or sleep, at all. And my mind was…" he gestured nebulously in the air, which did all the describing that was needed. "I think I was very sick. The only semi-conscious thought that I can remember was that I had to warn you and Rick about Anck-su-namun…" He shook his head, obviously hating that he had been so out of control. "I do not remember how I ended up in London. The rest, you know." He pursed his lips, looking at her apologetically. Evy put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, feeling simply awful for her friend.
Several feet back, Rick and Alex had stopped to admire a booth full of complicated wood-and-metal puzzles. Alex picked up a winding thing that looked to Rick like an over-polished knot, and quickly started working his fingers through it. Rick watched in amazement as his son, in just a few seconds, undid one of the world's hardest puzzles- or so it seemed to Rick. "There, you see?" said Alex proudly. "Simple." Rick ruffled Alex's hair. "That's just great, son! That's amazing- hey, Evy, come take a look at this!" There was no reply. Still intent on his son's work, he looked up. No one was there. "Evy?" He squinted ahead, but he couldn't see Ardeth or Evy anywhere in the mass of people. He turned around and saw Ardeth walking up to him from the other side. "Oh, hey, Ardeth. Where's Evy?" Ardeth gave him a long, hard look and spoke oddly. "Your wife." Rick looked at him disbelievingly. Ardeth did not move. Rick rolled his eyes. "Yes, Ardeth, my wife. You know, the person who's been walking with you for the past twenty minutes?"
Ardeth blinked, thinking hard. Then he nodded abruptly. "I will be right back," he said intently, and disappeared into the crowd. "Wh-" Rick said, frustrated and confused with the Med-jai chief. He turned around to face the direction they had been going in and yelled as he saw Ardeth's face looming less than two inches from his own. He exhaled sharply and took a step back, bringing the dark-garbed Arab into focus. "That was quick." Ardeth cocked his head, not understanding. "My friend, you and your son fell behind. We found the shop that she," he indicated Evie, "was looking for. Come," he said, crooking two fingers and turning on his heel to walk away. Rick, noticing Evie for the first time, stopped Ardeth.
"Where did you find Evie? Where were you, honey?" he asked his wife. Evie looked at him quizzically. "With Ardeth." Ardeth nodded affirmatively. Rick looked at him, then at Evie. "But I just asked you where she was- she wasn't here," He said, confused and more than a little annoyed with Ardeth. Ardeth shook his head without taking his eyes off of Rick. "No you didn't." Rick nodded exaggeratedly. "Yes, I-" he stopped. "Okay. You know what? Never mind. Somehow, I just don't want to know. Just… never mind." He put a hand on his puzzle-engrossed son's shoulder. "C'mon, Alex, let's go." Alex looked up. "What? Okay. Hey, Mum, look what I did!" He showed her the puzzle. She smiled at her precocious son. "That's amazing, darling, it really is. Now let's put it back and go find my shop, all right?" Alex nodded and skipped along with his mother while his father watched.
They continued along through the bazaar. Ardeth was about to say something to Evy, when suddenly someone began choking him from behind! Ardeth clutched at the arm around his neck, gasping and choking for breath. Evy and Rick heard his sounds and spun around to a surreal scene: Ardeth with an arm around Ardeth, trying to kill him. People around them were beginning to notice, pointing and whispering, one or two yelling for help. Evy grabbed a sword from a conveniently nearby vendor and approached the identical pair. Rick stopped her. "Evy, you might kill the real Ardeth by accident!" She bit her lip and stopped, knowing he was right. "Ardeth!" she called. They both looked up. "O'Connell!" they both shouted. Suddenly Ardeth seemed to condense and, half a second later, spring upwards and flip over Ardeth #2, causing his Doppelganger's back to crack. Ardeth screamed in pain and whirled around somewhat unsteadily, drawing his sword for battle. Ardeth did the same. Warily they circled each other.
A split second later they clashed, sword against sword, fist against fist in a desperate, crazy fight for survival. The battle was equally matched to a hair, as would be expected when fighting yourself. Ardeth sliced at his evil twin, catching him across the shoulder, but a second later, he received the same wound from the same technique. Knowing that he could not win this fight with conventional means, Ardeth grabbed Ardeth's sword arm as he stabbed and twisted it backwards so that he had to turn around. Linking arms tightly, Ardeth levered himself up the pole of a stall and flipped backwards over his twin's head, catching him off guard and landing facing him. In the time frame of a half-second, Ardeth drew back his sword and stabbed his Doppelganger in the stomach, to the cries of shock and anger in the growing crowd.
The false Ardeth stared up at him, again more angry than concerned for his own health, for, when you can become anyone, what is a wound or a death? He hissed in rancor, "Death is only the beginning…" As his eyes rolled back in his head, a leering, triumphant smile slithered across his face. The same shadowy, dark soul that Ardeth had seen earlier ripped itself from its now-dead owner, gliding through the daylight like Death, evoking screams of fear from the bystanders. Recognizing the words and the spirit that now hovered just above him, Ardeth shouted in rage and sliced at the specter, to no avail. Chortling evilly, the immune soul flowed away. Ardeth fell to his knees with the force of his useless blows, coughing and muttering, "Ashëla…" Evy came forward to kneel next to him. "That… was Ashëla?" she asked anxiously.
Ardeth stood tall and watched Anck-su-namun's soul become no more than a speck in the sky. "That was the soul that departed from her when I killed her." He wiped his sword on the edge of his robe. "But that was not my Ashëla." He sheathed his sword and walked slowly passed the wide-eyed Alex, who followed the disturbed Arab with his gaze. The crowd parted like water for Ardeth and his group as the shock of what had happened wore off and people began to close in on the dead Doppelganger, calling for medics or police. "Let us continue," he said to his friends quietly. "The Book of the Dead is on the other side of the city." To all outward appearances, he had already put the event behind him, but as Evy narrowed her eyes towards his back, she knew better.
