Chapter Six - Bedtime Stories

For several days after waking up, Ardeth did little beyond eat, sleep, and try to regain his strength. This was encouraged by everyone from little Azizah on up to Safiya but was not something he was terribly happy about. Still, he knew from past experience that healing took rest and food. Eventually, he could walk across the tent without assistance, then out to the pool. Within a week he was walking around, stiff and sore, but without help.

Two days after he'd been up and around, he sent word to the O'Connell's that he wanted to see them when they came back from one of their desert excursions. They found him standing on the edge of the oasis, his eyes to the west as darkness fell.

"It is time we returned to my home," he said before they could speak. "I have been away far too long as it is." He turned to them then and they could see the longing in his dark eyes.

"Is it far?" asked Alex. He'd been hearing about the Garden City from Azizah and Bashaar and he couldn't wait to see it.

Ardeth smiled. "Not so far. Several days journey at most."

"I can't wait. Is it as beautiful a place as the name suggests?" Evy wondered.

"Yes." Rick and Ardeth assured her at the same time. Then they both chuckled. Evy looked at Alex and he just shrugged. He had no idea what the joke was either. "What's so funny?" she asked. Rick just put an arm around her shoulders. "I'll tell you later."

"Now, my friends, I want to show you something," Ardeth looked once again to the horizon. He pointed to a bright star, gleaming where the sky was just beginning to darken from violet to azure. "Do you see this star?" he asked. The O'Connell's nodded.

"This star will guide you to the Garden City from wherever you are in Egypt. Watch." Ardeth held up his right arm and pulled the robes back, exposing his wrist. He made a fist, palm down, and held it up. "Alex, come here." He placed the boy in front of him and moved his head slightly so that his eyes sighted down his hand. "Follow the center mark on my wrist. Do you see the star?"

Alex nodded. "Yes. It's pointing right toward it."

"Now, follow the mark directly to it's left. Do you see that other star? Not so bright?" Alex nodded again, squinting to see the pale glow Ardeth was talking about. "At this time in the year, these two stars will always be at this point on the horizon at sunset. Follow the star to the left and you will find the Med-jai city."

Alex stared at the star then at Ardeth's wrist. A light dawned in his eyes. "Your tatoos! They're a compass!"

Ardeth smiled. "They are, Alex. And with these marks I can always find my way home." Evy was impressed. "That's amazing! I would have never thought of that."

Rick was nodding in agreement. "Very nice. Better than a compass. Harder to lose."

"Indeed. Now, once we begin our journey, I will show you how to use the marks to locate other places it will important for you to find."

"Like Hamunaptra?" Evy asked.

Ardeth nodded and indicated his wrist. "With these marks to guide me, I will always be able to find my way." He turned away again, looking back at the stars, and was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, it was in a hushed voice the three of them had to strain to hear. "When we return to the Garden City, it would honor me if you would consent to bear these marks upon your wrists. I do not ask this of you lightly. To be marked so is a sign to all that you are of the Med-jai. It is an honor rarely bestowed upon any who were not born of our clan. It is a sign to any that know it's meaning that you are protectors of mankind. It also means that wherever you go you will find those who will offer you sanctuary in times of need. Throughout the world there are those who respect our calling. They are found everywhere if you know where to look."

Ardeth shifted restlessly where he stood and looked northwest as if staring at something only he could see. "There is something coming. The scale of which no one will be able to comprehend. It is not an ancient evil. It is new, powerful. We have felt it stirring for some time now. I cannot help but feel that we will all be drawn into it's web." He looked at the them, his face masked in shadow. "Think on this, my friends." Then he left them, returning to the brightness of the camp.

"Wow!" Alex breathed after a moment. "That is so. . . so . . ."

"Necessary." Rick's tone made both and Evy and Alex look at him in surprise. "I know what it means now," he said as he stared into the same horizon that drew Ardeth's eyes but moments before, "what Ardeth's been trying to tell me. He was right when he said it was my destiny. Those marks will ensure that no matter where we are, we will always find haven. And something is happening somewhere. I can feel it, too."

Evy and her son stared at Rick for a few moments. Evy couldn't digest it all. Her doubting Thomas was becoming a believer before her eyes. "Are you saying that Ardeth was right all along?"

Rick nodded. "There's something I haven't told you. It didn't seem important at the time. We were intent - I was intent - on rescuing you then Alex." Rick grasped her gently by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, willing her to understand. "When Ardeth and I were coming to rescue you, he noticed the tatoo on my wrist. He said that it meant that I was a protector of man, a warrior of God. I didn't want to believe it. Then with what happened with you and the visions and all I began to wonder. In Ahm Shere, in the pyramid, I saw the tatoo on a cartouche showing how to defeat the Scorpion King. It's what told me that scepter thing of Jonathan's was a spear." He dropped his arms and looked away again. "I can't deny this anymore, Evy. Coincidence can only explain so much."

To his great surprise and relief, Rick was suddenly encompassed in two pairs of arms, Evy's around his neck, Alex's around his waist. "It's about time you figured it out! Honestly, Alex and I didn't think you've ever realize what was going on." Rick was, to say the least, rather astonished at this. "What do mean you and Alex? Is there something going on that I should know about?"

Evy smiled. "Well, we've been talking. . ."

"Yeah, Dad. We thought for sure you'd deny it all your life."

"Deny what?"

"That you are Med-jai!" they exclaimed at the same time.

Rick was aghast. "How did you know?

"How could we not, Dad? It's obvious to everyone but you. Even Uncle John mentioned it before he left for Cairo. He said Ardeth had spoken to him on the trip to Ahm Shere, told him that you were headed for your destiny but didn't see it."

"And, Rick, if Jonathan can notice it . . ." Evy left the sentence unfinished.

"I'm an idiot." Rick announced casually.

His wife and son smiled. "Sometimes," she agreed.

"But you're still a terrific Dad," Alex volunteered.

The next day they moved out of the oasis that had been their home for over a week and set out for the Garden City. Every night at dusk, Ardeth would show them a different star to use as reference for different places they would need to find. From Hamanaptra to Cairo, they could find anything using the stars and the wrist compass. "Every Med-jai child is taught to find these stars. Even Azizah knows her way. When she is of age, she will receive the tatoos that will find her home from anywhere she may travel."

Alex was very curious. Since Ardeth had mentioned the tatoos, he'd wanted one in the worst way. He felt that the way of the Med-jai was calling him as well and he wanted to prove himself worthy of Ardeth's respect. "How old is 'of age'?" he asked.

"When a child reaches the age of thirteen they receive their first tatoo in a ceremony marking their passage from childhood into maturity, those on the wrist. As each year passes, they will receive others. When a boy reaches his sixteenth year, he will wear the marks on his face as a sign of his manhood. As a sign that he is a Med-jai warrior."

Alex's face fell. "Oh," he said softly, unable to hide his disappointment.

"However," Ardeth said solemnly as he placed a hand on Alex's head, "if a child should prove worthy of this honor before they are of age, the ritual may be performed early. Now if you will excuse me, Azizah is waiting." "Bedtime stories, Ardeth?" Rick asked teasingly.

Ardeth smiled. "Some things are the same even here," he answered.

"Curses and evil legends tonight?" Evy teased.

"Oh, no," Ardeth replied with all seriousness, "I have told Azizah none of that until she is five."

Evy took a deep breath as if to say something, then realized that Ardeth was teasing her.

"Babu! Babu!" Azizah called in warning just before launching herself into her father's arms. Ardeth caught her and lifted her high above his head. She squealed in delight and indignation. "Babu! You will hurt yourself! I am too heavy for you to lift until you are healed. Grandmother said so. You must put me down!"

"You are not heavy," Ardeth assured her, then he groaned dramatically and fell on his back in the sand. "You weigh no more than Sirocco." Azizah punched him in the arm, saying something to him in their native language which made him chuckle and her giggle. "Now why are you not in bed?" he asked when she'd stopped giggling.

"I was waiting for you to come and you did not," she said as if this fact was as plain as day.

"I see. Well, I am coming now." Ardeth lifted her off of him and stood up, shaking the sand off his robes. When he'd finished, he lifted his daughter and perched her on his hip.

"I want to hear the story of the brave prince and the beautiful princess," she commanded.

"Ah. That bedtime story," sighed Evy, remember herself at that age.

"Oh, yes!" the child replied joyously. "It is my favorite. But it is very sad. The princess dies and leaves her prince alone with their child."

Evy glanced at Ardeth and saw a shadow of old sorrow play, for an instant, over his features. "Is this prince very brave and handsome?" she kidded.

Azizah frowned and thought this over for a moment. "He is as brave and handsome as my Babu."

Evy smiled at her. "And that's as it should be."

"Hey! What about me?" Rick interjected, tugging on one of Azizah's long curls.

Azizah studied him very closely. "You are very brave, but not as handsome as my Babu, Uncle O'Connell," she announced firmly. "But Aunt Evy says that you are . . . are . . ." Her tiny brow furrowed as she thought. Suddenly, she brightened, not realizing that Evy was trying to wave her off from behind Rick. "Adequate!" She pronounced the word very carefully. "Aunt Evy says you are adequate and that is almost as good as handsome!"

To the shock and delight of all the O'Connell's, Ardeth threw back his head and laughed. A hearty, rolling laugh that came from deep within and they couldn't believe their ears. This is something they never would have expected from Ardeth Bey, despite Azizah's assurances that he did, indeed, laugh.

"Babu, what is so funny?" the child demanded.

"Someday, my sweet, I will tell you," he answered when he could catch his breath. "But for now you must say goodnight. It is time for bed."

"Goodnight, Alex and Aunt Evy and Uncle O'Connell," she replied dutifully as Ardeth carried her back to the camp, his laughter continuing as he walked away.

Alex surveyed his parents and decided, based upon the way his father was looking at his mother, that he'd better make his exit now. "I'm ... a .... going to go listen to Ardeth's story," he said hurriedly and ran toward the tents.

Rick approached Evelyn slowly, a gleam in his eye. "Adequate?" he asked quietly. "I'm adequate?"

Evy put her hands in front of her as she backed away, trying to ward him off. "Now, Rick, I couldn't very well tell that child that you were more handsome than her father. It's just not done."

Her husband wasn't so easily placated. "Adequate?" he asked again.

Evy tripped over something and stumbled, falling on her backside into the sand. She looked up at her menacing husband and her lips quirked into a sly smile. "Perhaps 'adequate' isn't quite what I should have said. Maybe average would have been better?" Rick began to crouch down toward her. "Slightly above average?" Evy tried to slither backward without much success.

"I'll show you slightly above average," Rick warned just before he pounced. He tickled her, enjoying the feel of her squirming beneath him. Then he bent down and kissed her and Evy's laughter faded into the desert night.

"Rick!" she breathed. "Not here! Someone will see us."

Her husband grinned at her, his smile white in the burgeoning moonlight. "No one will see us. We will be left completely and utterly alone. I guarantee it."

"How can you be sure?"

Rick pressed her down onto her back. He guided her hand to the cloth that lay beneath her. "Because," he explained quietly, "my brother left this. And he will make sure that no one disturbs us."

Evy stared at him. She couldn't believe her husband had actually conspired with Ardeth to arrange this tryst. She wanted to be horrified, but she couldn't. It had been too long. She simply smiled her acceptance and, as Rick's mouth descended on hers once again, reminded herself to thank her brother-in-law.