~ Anya: holds a daisy in her hand and mutters : "I kill him. . . I kill him not. . . I kill him. . . I kill him not. . . ~
He wasn't dead, that was for sure. Because dead people don't feel worn out, and they are not in pain. He made an effort to open his eyes and found that the mist and the pink blur had disappeared. He could also move, almost as usually. He tried to touch his wound, but there was no wound. No blood, not even a scar. He thought that probably he was dead after all. But again if he really were, then his back wouldn't hurt. He opened completely his eyes and looked around. He was in a deep cave and he was laying on black stone. That was why his back hurt. And now he was completely sure he was alive. But how did he end up here unharmed? He heard a faint sound and turned his eyes towards its direction. The noise had come from the hooves of his horse, which mysteriously was there too. And by it, trying to get the saddle off, was a woman. The woman. After so many times Ardeth could now recognize her.
" You!" he sat up and called at her. She turned towards him and smiled faintly.
" I don't understand" she told him in ancient Egyptian. Ardeth could speak and understand it, if not always very good.
" You are the woman in my dreams." Ardeth told in her tongue.
" Thank you Ardeth. This is quite a compliment." She told him, now smiling slyly.
" No, I mean that. . ." he tried to explain frustrated.
" I know what you mean." She interrupted taking a serious expression again. Ardeth noticed that she now appeared older than in the dreams.
" I am confused. Can you give me answers?" he asked desperately.
" That's one of the reasons I am here. Ask and I will answer." She came towards him and sat opposite of him.
" The lioness is dead? She won't disturb anyone again?"
" Dead no. Gone yes. And she will not come back. Never. So don't worry about her."
" Who was the one who helped me? Where is the other lioness? What happened to her and where did she come from?"
This time she didn't talk. She turned her back at him to allow him to see, on her right bare shoulder a red marking showing the eye of Ra, an ankh and a djed pillar.
" This is impossible." Ardeth said putting the pieces together in his mind.
" I can't believe I am hearing this word from your lips. Yes, I was the other lioness and I saved you. I brought you here and I healed your wounds. I am the woman who appeared in your dreams and the dead woman in the crypt. I am the one the prophecy was speaking of and I rose from the dead to help you. But you wont understand until I tell you the whole story. My story, our story. Right from the beginning."