Thanks to Xanthia Morgan for the title of this chapter, lol ;)

The 5 black-robed men rode their horses quietly, through the hot desert sands. 

Safti looked behind himself when he heard the three warriors behind him laugh softly, whispering amongst themselves. He faced forward again, and looked to his friend beside him. What he saw made him frown.

Ardeth Bay's eyebrows had suddenly furrowed, and he wavered on his horse, closing his eyes and lifting a hand to his forehead.

Safti stopped his horse and grabbed the reins of Ardeth's, stopping his as well. "Ardeth? Are you all right?" he asked, alarmed.

Ardeth opened his eyes, and started to speak, but hesitated.

That was all the answer Safti needed. He grabbed his friend's canteen and handed it to him. "The heat?" he asked.

Ardeth took the canteen and took a long drink. "Perhaps," he said, still blinking as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Safti dismounted from his horse. "We are stopping here for a time," he told the other Med-jai, who'd watched their leader with concern.

They jumped down from their horses, and quickly started putting up a large lean to.

Safti stood next to Ardeth's horse, ready to help his friend if he needed it, but Ardeth climbed down without incident.

"I am all right," he said, to his worried friend.

"Are you sure?" Safti asked, not quite believing him.

Ardeth nodded, walking to the tent. "Yes, whatever it was, it has passed."

Safti nodded back, but kept an eye on his friend anyway, as they walked under it.

Suddenly one of the Med-jai yelled, "Chief!"

Ardeth and Safti turned around, and followed the man's gaze.

Lying in the sand about 100 feet away, were six people.

Ardeth and Safti both ran over to them, the other three warriors following.

Ardeth knelt beside an old man, checking for a pulse, and finding one. He looked at the man's face, and felt as if he knew him. He knew it to be impossible though, and moved on to a tall, thin woman.

"Ardeth!"

Ardeth turned to see Safti bending over one of the men, and he hurried over to see what was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked, and then stopped dead at what he saw.

The unconscious man looked just like him.

Ardeth's eyebrows flew up, and he knelt on the other side of him. The man's hair was shorter, and he had a goatee thinner then Ardeth's beard. Naturally the man had no tattoos, and it was amazing to Ardeth to see 'himself' without them.

He suddenly noticed the blood all over the man's black clothes, and Safti trying to find the source of it all.

"He has been shot," Safti said.

Ardeth stood. "Bring them into the tent."

The three warriors brought the Ardeth look-alike and the old man in first, and Safti picked up the dark-skinned woman, frowning when he saw Ardeth pick up the white woman, remembering his friend's strange attack of earlier.

They brought all of the strangers under the tent, and Ardeth and Safti tried to help the injured man while the other three Med-jai attempted to revive the others.

"He has been shot three times," Safti said, in surprise.

"Yes," Ardeth said. "But by whom? And how did they all simply appear there?"

Safti shook his head at Ardeth, neither of them understanding it.

********************

"I don't wanna go to school, Mommy."

Jake opened his eyes at Cody's voice. He frowned, not quite comprehending what he was seeing. Not only was he in a huge tent, but it was hot, when earlier it had been quite chilly, and he was lying on sand, dressed in black robes.

He sat up, with a start, and looked around for Frank, remembering that he'd been shot.

"Guys!" he said, seeing everyone but his boss. He saw the old man too, and wondered what part he played in this.

The others woke up, and looked around in utter confusion.

"Where are we?!" Monica said, crawling to her knees.

Jake shook his head. "I have no idea."

"Where's Frank?!" Alex said, sounding panicked.

They all stood, intending to leave the tent and find some answers.

"Jake!" Cody practically yelled.

"What?"

"We're wearing dresses!"

"They are robes," they heard.

Looking towards the tent opening, they stared at a tall man who looked at them through chocolate-brown eyes; the lower half of his face hidden by a cloth that was attached to a turban on his head. He was very impressive looking.

"Who are you?" Jake demanded. "What are we doing here? Where's the other man who was with us?"

"Your questions will be answered," the man said.

Everyone looked at each other, nervously, all of them thinking the man's voice sounded like someone they knew.

"But first you will answer mine," the man continued, and pulled the cloth from his face.

Everyone gasped. The man standing before them was Frank Donovan with tattooed cheeks, longer hair, a stronger build, and a thicker accent.

They all just stared, in shock.

"What are you doing here?" the tattooed man asked.

They all exchanged glances. "We don't know; we were standing on a sidewalk and suddenly someone drove by and shot at us. Then we were here." Jake shook his head, wondering if he was dreaming. "You haven't answered our question. Where's our other friend?"

"Our healers are tending him," Ardeth told them. "They have not yet finished."

"He's alive?" Alex asked.

Ardeth nodded.

The group let out a collective sigh of relief.

"How did we get here?" Cody asked.

Ardeth shook his head, surprised to feel that there was no need to fear or be suspicious of these people. "We do not know. One moment you were not there, and the next you were."

"Wait a minute," said Monica. "We were in Chicago. This is the desert! Where exactly are we?"

Ardeth blinked. He had heard Rick O'Connell talk of living in Chicago. He knew it to be very far, part of America. "You are in Egypt."

Everyone's jaws dropped. Everyone, that is, except the old man, who stood staring at Ardeth, saying nothing.

"Where have you taken Frank?" Alex asked.

Ardeth looked at her. "Ah, that is his name," he said, curious about the man who looked so much like him. "He is in another tent, being tended. I am Ardeth Bay, Leader of my people," he said, leaving mention of the Med-jai out, in case they proved to be enemies after all.

Jake shrugged, seeing no sense in hiding his name. "Jake Shaw." He looked at each of the team, letting them decide on whether or not to give their names.

"Alex Cross."

"Monica Davis."

"Cody Forrester."

They all looked at the old man, wondering who he was. "Uh," he said, realizing he was being stared at, and couldn't give his real name. "Jon Richards," he said, using the names of his father and uncle.

Ardeth nodded. "I will check the healers' progress on your friend." He turned and opened the tent flap, where the team saw another man standing. Ardeth said something to the man that they couldn't understand, and then kept walking, as the other man came inside the tent.

They stared at the man, shocked at his size. They had thought Ardeth Bay to be imposing; this man was taller—if possible—and broader.

"What are you, his second in command?" Cody asked.

The man nodded.

Cody's eyebrows went up. Good guess! "Um, I don't suppose you could tell us why we're wearing these things?"

Safti smiled. The man asking the question did look ridiculous in them. "You were all unconscious when you...appeared. We did not know if the heat had affected you, and so you were dressed in clothes that were cooling on the body."

Everyone looked at each other. Jake had to resist laughing at Cody, while Monica almost looked like an African princess in hers, and Alex looked as strange as Cody did, with her light hair and ice blue eyes.

"Do you know how we got here?" Monica asked Safti. While the warrior looked the part of someone to fear, she could see in his eyes that he seemed to be a nice guy.

He shook his head. "I can not say how it came to be. What Ardeth said was exact; one moment you were not there, and the next you were." He shook his head. "You must be here for a reason. We can only wait to see what that is."

The team all looked at each other, and shrugged. Sighing, they all sat down, knowing that there was nothing they could do for the time being.