The small boy walked into the tent, and saw the scimitar lying on the bedroll. Curiosity overwhelming him, he went over to it, and tried to take it out of its sheath. It was bigger then he was, but he finally managed to get it out. Dragging it behind him, he left the tent.

Seeing his father a short distance away, he tried to drag it towards him.

Suddenly, someone yelled, "Chief!"

The boy's father looked up, and saw his four-year-old son towing the heavy sword through the sand.

"La!" he yelled. "Waqqaf! Heh-sib! Hut-too taht!"

The child looked up. "Ana 'askari qawi!" he yelled, and tried to pick it up.

The warriors nearest the boy ran over to take it from him, but the child lost his balance, unable to lift the heavy sword, and instead fell on the blade.

At his son's scream, the Med-jai Chief ran to him. "Ardeth!"

Frank jumped, with a start. He felt a hand touch his arm, and knew it to be Shamara, who he could feel was still faithfully wiping his face with cool water, trying to disperse the fever completely.

"Frank?" he heard.

Looking to the left, he saw that Ardeth was there, sitting nearby.

Ardeth could see the confusion in Frank's face, so he asked, "Are you all right?"

Frank nodded. "I had a strange dream…"

Ardeth's eyebrows went up. "Shamara, leave us please."

"Yes, my Chief." She stood, and left.

Ardeth looked at Frank again. "Tell me."

Frank took a deep breath and let it out before starting. "I saw a small boy; he looked no older then three. He took a sword out of a tent, and dragged it outside. Some of the men spotted him, including his father who yelled for him to stop, and put it down. But the boy yelled, "I am a great warrior!" and tried to pick it up instead. The boy fell on the blade, and his father yelled out his name." He stopped when he saw the look of amazement on Ardeth's face. "It was your name."

Ardeth nodded. "Yes…but I was four years of age, not three." Hard to believe I was smaller then the other children my age at the time…

Frank's eyebrows flew up. "You're telling me that that really happened?" He frowned. "How did I dream about it?"

Ardeth shook his head slightly, and fingered the amulet around his neck. "It appears that the link we have is very deep…"

Frank picked up the amulet around his own neck, and looked at it as if he expected it to sprout wings and fly.  "Did you hurt yourself on the sword?" he asked, still studying the amulet.

Ardeth nodded. "Yes, quite badly. The wound in itself wasn't deadly, but the loss of blood I suffered was very great, I still have the scar."

"So the 'great warrior' almost didn't make it to the age of five," Frank said, dropping the amulet back to his chest when his weak body forced him to.

Ardeth was amazed again. Those were the very words he'd said to Rick O'Connell, when telling him about the incident recently.1

Suddenly the tent flap opened, and Safti came in. Ardeth looked up at him, but Safti didn't say that he needed him for anything and sat down in the sand, obviously simply following Ardeth around so that nothing happened to him.

"How did you come to learn Arabic?" Ardeth asked Frank.

"My mother was from Egypt," Frank told them.

Ardeth and Safti were surprised.

"Her name was Alanur. She married my father, Frank Donovan Sr., and they ended up in America."

"Alanur?" said Ardeth, sounding shocked.

Safti looked at him, before they both looked at Frank again.

"What?" Frank asked, slightly unnerved by their expressions.

"Did you know your grandfather?" Ardeth asked him, suddenly.

Frank shook his head. "He died before I was born. My mother didn't speak of him often, it was too painful for her."

Everyone was silent for a while, before Ardeth said, "There are a few names that I have chosen for my future children," Ardeth said. "Alanur is one of them."

Frank looked at Ardeth, realizing what he was trying to say. "Are you saying that I am your grandson?!"

Safti gasped. "Yes! It begins to make sense. That is the reason you are identical, it is the reason why you have his soul!"

Ardeth nodded. "But there is a problem."

"What?" Frank and Safti both asked.

"I do not have any children, and yet am slated to die any day."

Safti's eyes grew huge. "In the original history, Alanur was born before you died!"

Ardeth nodded. "But something in time has changed that, and now I die childless." They both looked at Frank, whose face was dawning with shocked realization.

"If we do not save your life," Safti said to Ardeth. "Then Frank will not be born!"

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

Jake, Cody, Alex, and Monica stood outside the tent, waiting for Ardeth and Safti to come out. They'd heard the voices inside, and knew that the Med-jai Chief wanted to speak to their boss alone, and so were waiting.

Cody let loose with a huge sigh.

"What?" Monica asked him.

"What if we're stuck here, in 1934?"

Everyone looked at him, stunned at the thought.

"No technology…" Cody said, with a sniff.

Alex gasped. "No more cool clothes!"

Jake sighed deeply. "No more visits to the kids at the orphanage…"

Everyone looked at him sympathetically, as his was the worst loss by far.

"Frank will miss his car!" Alex said, picturing the sleek silver and black Volvo S80.

"Heh, you'll probably miss it as much as he would!" Monica said, and then shook her head. "Oh no, no more Marc Anthony or Enrique music!"

They all just stood there, depressed, until Jake spoke.

"Look, if that amulet got us here, then it must be able to get us back."

"Yeah, but maybe only if we save Ardeth Bay's life," said Alex, with a sigh. "If we don't succeed…"

"Then we'll just have to make sure we do succeed," Jake said. "But not just to get us back home. Bay is important to these people; they don't just follow him, they love him! Why should he die if he's being given a second chance at life? He wouldn't be given this chance if it weren't important that he lives."

They all nodded at him, agreeing.

"I wonder what that old man has to do with all this," said Cody.

"Looks like you'll get your chance to ask him," said Monica, pointing.

They looked up to see the old man coming towards them.

"Hey," said Cody, eying him suspiciously. "What do you really have to do with all this?"

Alex O'Connell stopped in front of them, and frowned, forgetting that the strangers hadn't been in the tent when he'd told Ardeth who he was.

"I was a child in 1934," he told them. "My parents were good friends with Ardeth Bay, he was like an uncle to me. When he…died…we attended his funeral…"

"And that's when you obtained his amulet," said Jake.

Alex nodded.

"How did you know to give it to Frank?"

Alex O'Connell shrugged as he stated matter-of-factly; "The amulet told me."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Ah ha…" said Cody. Before he had the chance to say anything else, the tent flap suddenly flew open and Safti ran out.

"Shamara!" he yelled.

Knowing that there could only be one reason for Safti to be calling for the healer, the team ran into the tent.

1 'One Thing After Another' by Deana: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=388565

LOL I'm bad, leaving it off like that, I know. Anyway, I made up a little limerick. Let me know it you like it:

There once was a gorgeous Med-jai

Who I want so bad I could cry

When I see him on TV

I relive my fantasy

Of it being the Med-jai and I

LOL and, as always, thanks to everyone for your reviews! :)