She watched him carefully as they rode in a taxicab to the southern part of Cairo. He acted imperious and curt, the way he always did, but she refused to believe that this man who, half an hour ago, had been so in love and hurting so much, could be over Ashëla in such a short amount of time. That night, Ardeth ordered, "We will sleep tonight. In the morning, we will discover what Ash-" he stopped for a moment, and Evy saw the suffering she knew he had been hiding. "What… this creature… is after." He turned on his heel and entered the inn to his left. Evy felt something akin to triumph in having found his buried feelings. Then she shushed the discovery-obsessed adventurer in her and held the door of the inn for her son and husband.
Evy pulled her brush through her thick brown hair and glanced through her mirror at the brilliant stars in the Egyptian sky. She smiled softly. This place was a second home to her. If Egypt wasn't around, she'd only be half a person. About to run the brush through a millionth time, her hand hovered above her head hesitantly. Ardeth was bothering her. After a moment of debating, she put down her brush resolutely and pushed her hair behind her face, getting up quietly so as not to disturb her sleeping family. She padded softly down the silent hallway to Ardeth's room. As quietly as she could, she knocked on his door. "Go away," she heard commandingly issued from behind the door. Taking that as an invitation, Evy opened the door just wide enough for her to slide through and closed it after her. "Ardeth?" she near-whispered.
He was standing with his back to her, looking out of his open window. His powerfully built body was covered in only thin, flowing blank pants that bunched at the ankles, Arabian-style. A warm breeze was lifting his hair away from his shoulders. At her call, he growled, "Go away," in a stronger tone. Evy quickly crossed the floor and sat down on his bed. "I don't think so, my friend." She tapped her fingers together a bit nervously. "I know that something is bothering you, and I won't go away until you discuss it with me." At this, Ardeth turned and looked at her. His dark, hostile-looking face made her resolve waver just a little, but she did not move. "Nothing is bothering me." He turned and half-flung himself into a chair. His movements were depressed and angry. "Nothing." Evy waited patiently, having been in this situation with Rick many times before.
Ardeth stared at her for about two seconds, and then began to speak in a low, thick voice. "I loved her…" His throat closed up. He looked off to the side, out the window. Evy smiled sympathetically, but said nothing, sensing a Moment. He sighed shakily. "I still love her." He gave a half-laugh that was more of a bark. "You know this. I am repeating myself, am I not?" He sighed, frustrated. "It's just, I-" He struck the arm of the chair angrily. "I feel unable to stop her. She- she fooled me. She… seduced me." The inflection of seduced revealed the self-loathing he had been unwittingly cultivating. "And now, everyone is in danger because of my mistake, my misjudgment." He ran his hands through his hair and got out of the chair to stare out the window again. "And even though this haunts me, kills me every day… I…" he dropped his head helplessly, hands on the railing of the window. "I cannot stop… loving her." There was no surprise at this fact.
Evy bit her lip. She could see his shoulders start to shake, and, although he made no sound, she knew that he was crying. Something stabbed at her heart at the sight of this proud, aloof man crying like any other brokenhearted lover. She got up and walked over to him silently. The moment she put a hand on his smooth back, he stiffened as if electrified, not expecting her to touch him. He turned halfway to face her, and her heart twisted further when she saw his tear-streaked face. His teeth were clenched in a brave effort to hide his utter agony from his friend. Instinctively she opened her arms the hurting man. He fell into them without a thought, choking on the sobs that threatened to burst out of him.
She held him in her arms, putting a hand on his head and saying, "Sh, sh," as she would to Alex when he broke a toy. Ardeth shuddered and began to cry, exhausted from the effort of holding in his tears for days. "It's all right," she whispered gently, as quietly as she could. She rocked back and forth slightly, holding him tighter. "It's all right."
Ardeth threw away his last container of the original's blood, closing in on the Med-jai camp. Med-jai warriors were sitting around a huge bonfire, sharpening weapons and speaking to each other in furtive undertones. Ardeth rode up to the fire and swung off his horse with the ease of centuries of practice. His people stood and genuflected as he strode up, appearing to be enraged. "What is our duty in this life and the next?" he snarled to the warriors in Arabic. The Med-jai looked at each other, confused by their Lord's strange anger. His right hand, his under-commander, stepped forward. "Uh, my Lord-" he bowed, speaking in their language. "Our sacred and eternal duty is to protect the innocent, eliminate evil, and prevent the rise of the creature- or one like him." Ardeth nodded curtly, still "angry". "And do you think we have done well in this duty?" The same commander answered hesitantly, not wishing to displease his Lord. "Ah… yes, my Lord?" "Wrong!" Ardeth growled furiously. "This night a disaster has struck. Something so terrible as to make the very pyramids tremble. Tell me," he said abruptly to the commander. "Where do we keep the Book of the Dead?"
He waited, trying not to let his excitement show. The commander, now accustomed to his baited questions, answered without hesitation. "In the treasure vault in Cairo under the name Beni Alamehd, my Lord." Ardeth felt a rush of joy flood satanically through him and, struggling to keep up his wrathful façade, he spoke again. "And what," he seethed from between clenched teeth, "Is your guess as to whether it is still there?" The Med-jai warriors leaped up with cries of horror and rage. Ardeth held up his hand for silence and was pleased by the nearly instant response. These people respected their leader deeply. "I will ride on ahead," he told them, "for I know which way the culprit went. One travels faster than fifty." His commander nodded and started giving orders to his men to prepare. "Follow me in half an hour," Ardeth ordered. He remounted his horse and looked out one last time at the camp. "Do not fail me again." He clicked to his horse, which galloped away at top speed.
Only a few hundred acres from Cairo, Ardeth cackled with unconfined glee. Letting go of his horse's reins, he let the horse gallop as he withdrew his knife from his host's robes. He jerked cruelly on the reins, bringing the horse to a sudden stop, and held the knife to his breast. Then, considering, he suddenly smiled. He slipped the knife back in his robes and tapped Ardeth's chest. "I may have a use for you yet, my friend." He kicked the horse and headed again in the direction of the capital of Egypt.
Ardeth buried his wet face in a towel, and taking a deep breath, looked up at Evy. He placed a hand on his heart and inclined his head formally. Formality was all he had. "Thank you, Mrs. O'Connell," he intoned gently. "Please," she said, smiling, "By now you should be calling me Evy, or at least Evelyn. None of this 'Mrs. O'Connell' business." Ardeth smiled slightly. "Evelyn, then." He was about to show her to the door, when suddenly he heard faint screams from the city outside his window. He snapped around and ran to the window, squinting into the darkness to see where the commotion was coming from. He hissed in apprehension. "The treasure vault." He looked back at Evy, who knew what that meant as well. "The Book!" she whispered. Having had the same thought, he ran to his robe and threw it on.
They met Rick out in the hall as he came out of the O'Connells' room. He looked from Evy to Ardeth, who had not had time to buckle his robe and had left it draped hurriedly. "You heard it too," he said seriously. They nodded, unanimously coming to a silent decision. Evy started for their room, saying, 'I'll get my coat. Meet me out front." Ardeth and Rick quickly descended the stairs.
