"Frank!"

Frank looked up to see Alex Cross hurrying over to where he and Jake stood. They were all still looking for Ardeth, and Frank hated to admit that he was getting more then a little nervous.

"Ardeth and Safti both rode off, someone told me," said Alex.

"They did?"

She nodded.

Frank was about to ask where they might've gone, when suddenly a red-hot searing pain laced through his chest, stealing his breath away.

"Frank?" Jake said, when he suddenly gasped and slumped towards the sand, his legs buckling beneath him. "Frank?!" he repeated, alarmed to see Frank gasping for breath he didn't seem to have, the hand on his good arm clutching his chest.

Alex lunged to help Jake catch him. "Frank! What—"

"Not…me…" Frank managed to gasp out, in a whisper. "Ardeth…"

Suddenly there was a commotion, and Alex O'Connell's voice rang out. "ARDETH!"

Looking up, Jake and Alex saw Monica and Cody with him, who, when they spotted Frank, all ran over. 

"Frank!" Monica yelled. "Are you all right?"

Jake looked at Frank to see that he was breathing easier, and wasn't hunched over in pain anymore. "He's okay," Jake said, not sure how to explain what had just happened, and whether or not it really meant what Frank was trying to imply. "I told him not to get up yet."

"Where's Ardeth?" Cody asked. "We found out who's after him!"

Jake looked up at him, in surprise. "He isn't here; he and Safti rode off somewhere earlier."

Alex O'Connell gasped. "No! They might find him!"

"Who?" Jake asked. "Who's after him?"

O'Connell sighed, too impatient and worried to explain it all again.

"Wait, let's get Frank back into the tent first," Alex Cross said, as they helped him stand.

They got him in quickly, and O'Connell told them what they learned.

"Wow, this guy sounds like a real jerk," Alex said.

O'Connell nodded. "He was."

"SHAMARA!"

Everyone jumped when Safti's voice suddenly rang through the camp.

"Oh, God!" Alex O'Connell said, at the implications of why Safti would be calling for the healer. He ran out of the tent, faster then his 77-year-old body probably liked.

Frank grabbed Jake's arm before he had a chance to leave him there, and forced his subordinate to take him with him. As they left the tent, Frank had to fight a chill that went down his spine, as his dream seemed to be becoming reality; Shamara running to Safti, and all of them following the Med-jai to Ardeth; who was lying in the sand with blood all over his robes, just as in Frank's dream.

"No…" he whispered, knowing what was about to happen.

But then, things started to change.

"Bring him into the tent!" Shamara told them.

Safti picked him up, and obeyed, lying him down gently.

Ardeth cried out in pain then, seeming unable to breathe as his lips turned blue from lack of oxygen.

Shamara tried to at least slow the bleeding, knowing that if she removed the arrow now he would bleed to death in an instant. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head; knowing that he would not…could not make it, the arrow being in the center of his chest on the right side, having gone between his ribs, and possibly into a lung.

"Shamara?" Safti whispered.

She didn't answer, either not having heard him as she concentrated on her job, or not wanting to tell them Ardeth was dying.

Safti looked at Frank, to see him pale and breathing heavily. Their souls are linked, he thought. Perhaps… he looked at the amulet dangling from Frank's neck as he leaned over Ardeth, Jake gripping him tightly. Safti watched in shock as the amulet glowed, when it swung over Ardeth's.

Safti grabbed Frank's amulet in one hand, and Ardeth's in the other. "Your soul!" he said, to Frank.

Frank seemed to understand what he was trying to say. He leaned a little closer so that Safti could hold both amulets together. They both started to glow, and Frank gasped when he felt an intense dizziness sweep through him; the inside of the tent starting to spin.

Beneath them, Ardeth cried out in pain, and went limp.

He wasn't breathing.

Frank closed his eyes when the spinning intensified, and he wondered if this was it; it he was about to die. That was his last conscious thought.

"Frank!" Jake cried, when he went limp in his arms.

"Lay him down!" said Safti. Jake obeyed, allowing Safti to better hold the two amulets together as they glowed with a growing intensity. "Shamara, pull out the arrow!" he said. "Do what you can to repair the injury, quickly!"

Transfixed by the glow, everyone continued to watch the amulets, as Shamara pulled out the arrow and went to work, having no idea what was going on. 

The glow stopped a few minutes later, surprising them all with its abruptness. 

"I have done all that I can," they heard Shamara announce, her voice slightly startling everyone. None of them had even registered that she'd treated Ardeth's injury, as they'd watched the amulets, transfixed. Shocked, they glanced at her and each other, and then looked at Frank and Ardeth, not sure what to expect.

Frank was out cold, but alive.

Ardeth was still, his chest seemingly not rising or falling.

"A-Ardeth?" Safti whispered.

Suddenly Ardeth took a breath…then another one…and another.

Everyone gasped in shock.

"Ardeth!" said Safti. It worked…it worked! He was surprised but overjoyed when Ardeth suddenly opened his eyes slightly.

Ardeth saw the smiling faces around him, and realized that he was still alive. The smiles were a good sign, and he smiled back and started to close his eyes again, when he realized that somebody was missing. Sensing someone beside him, he turned his head to see Frank, out cold. He was concerned until he felt the two amulets resting atop his chest, and realized what had happened. His soul—my soul—saved my life, he thought. Prevented me from dying…he smiled when he realized that he would have a wife and Alanur after all…

No, that wasn't the end, Frank and co. still have to get back to 2002, LOL! ;)

Wow, you reviewers are the BEST people in the world! Karri and I thank you so much! I felt so bad for ending last night's chapter like that, so I made sure I posted this one earlier to make up for it, lol. Keep reading and reviewing! Oh, and Lula, I LOVE long reviews, it makes me so happy to read what people think! Thanks! :)