Disclaimer: I do not own the Mummy series nor do I make any money off this fic. But I wish I did. How I wish Ardeth was my slave.
Bad Author Notes: Sorry it took so long getting this chapter out, I ended up with a bad case of writer's block. I had a bad time with Ardeth and Fennec and it took a while to get it straighten out.
What Did You Just Say?
By Lady FoxFire
Nov 15, 2002
"Bar! Wait for me!" A young girl called out as she raced after a skinny blond-haired boy through the markets of Cairo. "Slow down Bar!"
She ran after the boy down the back streets and alleys; never gaining on him yet never falling behind. "Wait up for me you abit!" she yelled as he ran up through the gate of a modest home on the edge of a European neighborhood and ducked inside the house.
"QubTan is going to be mad at you Bar. You know he doesn't allow us to run inside," the girl said in a prissy voice as she walked in.
"QubTan? Bar?" she called out in a panic as the room suddenly changed from early morning to the dark of night. The usually orderly home appeared as if a tornado had raged through it. Furniture was upset, painting was torn from the walls, and books had been thrown from their shelves.
"QubTan? Bar? Where are you?" The girl's voice broke as she wondered from room to room viewing the destruction, in search for her friends.
"QubTan?" she whispered when she saw a figure sitting in his favorite chair in the dark. "Is that you?" she asked, striking a match.
The room was suddenly aglow with light from something then her match. In the chair sat QubTan, her Captain, his head tilted to once side, his mouth slightly open. His eyes were wide open, in surprise. But the most disturbing thing of all was the front of his shirt.
A thin stream of blood slowly caressed it's way down his neck from the gaping wound across his throat, staining his shirt red with fresh blood and a deep brown color as it dried.
A voice came out of QubTan's mouth. "One of soul bought in blood and gold…two of blood, death did part…join in battle and in honor…what was past will come to battle…bird of death to bird of air…life of all in the balance..."
"Guard him well my little thief. Remember all my training."
The strange glow suddenly erupted into flames. The fire whipped its way across the room, consuming everything it touched. The searing heat caused the papers to catch fire as they fluttered in the air like wounded birds.
The flames continued to creep along the floor towards the old man's body, slowly engulfing it. The smell of burning flesh filled the room as the fire crackled merrily.
The flames danced around the girl, drawing closer and closer. "You can not save him, little thief. He will die!" a demon voice from the flames crackled as it surged towards the child.
~*~
"A pound," Ardeth mumbled to himself as he sat next to the fire. "She's selling me for a pound."
O'Connell did nothing to hide the smirk on his face as he watched his friend mumbling to himself over and over again. "Maybe if you try to kill her again she'll raise it to two pounds," Rick suggested.
Ardeth turned slowly, towards where Rick sat with a silly grin on his face. "You're not helping," he growled as he tried not to grin.
"BAR!!!" Fennec screamed, in a blind panic from her tent. "BAR! HELP ME!!!"
O'Connell was on his feet and racing for the tent before the echo had faded.
"BAR, HELP ME!! THE FLAMES!!!"
Ardeth flew inside the tent to find his brother wrapping his arms around the woman as she thrashed in her sleep, trapped in her nightmare.
"Aeryn? Wake up Aeryn, it's just a nightmare," Rick said as he stroked her hair.
With a shudder, she opened her tear-filled eyes. "Bar," she whispered, before wrapping her arms around him and crying into his shoulder.
"Shhhhhh," O'Connell whispered into her hair, as he rocked Fennec in his arms. "Shhhhhh. It was just a dream, just a dream."
Fennec gulped back tears. "I saw the captain, and the house…the fire..." she explained in a shaky voice as she clutched at Rick's clothing.
"It's alright Aeryn, it's alright." Rick nodded to Ardeth that everything was fine and that he could go, as he continued to hold Fennec and try to comfort her.
Ardeth slipped out of the tent to find his warriors standing nearby, weapons in hand. "A nightmare," he explained. "My Master was having a nightmare."
"O'Connell?" Nasir asked as he fingered the edge of his sword.
"He's with her, comforting her," Ardeth replied, not able to meet his warriors' eyes.
Nasir snorted at Ardeth's comment. "Comforting her, of course," he remarked, before turning his back on his leader and heading back to the tent he shared with the others.
"Go back to sleep Tarig, I'll stand guard," Muammar said, and gave the young Med-Jai a small push towards the tent.
Muammar waited until Ardeth had re-settled around the fire before he spoke his concerns. "She may not know Ardeth."
Ardeth looked up at his old friend in confusion.
"She may not know he has a wife and child."
Ardeth ran his hand through his hair. "I…" He allowed to head to drop, his hair hiding his face.
Muammar knelt next to his leader, concern written on his face. "You don't want to think that your best friend, your brother, would cheat on his wife and break his holy vows. But Ardeth, you've seen, we all have seen how they act together. Can you honestly believe there is nothing between them?"
Ardeth raised his head; despair filling his eyes. "What am I to do Muammar? If I say nothing I betray the trust of Evelyn. Yet if I do say something I betray Rick's trust."
"You must follow your heart Ardeth, that is all you can do."
Ardeth rose to his feet and made his way over to Fennec's tent, as Muammar watched. Slipping inside, Ardeth gazed upon his friend and the woman that saved him from the hands of slavers. They laid together, asleep, their arms and legs intertwined.
"Forgive me, my friend," Ardeth whispered, as he made his decision.
~*~
Stumbling out of Fennec's tent, Rick yawned, "Morning," to those gathered around the cooking pot.
Ardeth nodded his greeting, unable to meet his brother's eyes.
"Sleep well, Great Wahid?" Nasir snarled.
A smirk appeared on O'Connell's face as he accepted a bowl of porridge. "As a matter of fact, I did. For one thing I didn't have to listen to you braying like a camel in heat."
"I do not bray like a camel!" Nasir snapped.
"I have to agree with Nasir," Muammar commented. "He doesn't bray like a camel, it's more like a avalanche."
"You're wrong Muammar, it's a camel," Tarig spoke up. "Remember when Khalid's female camel tried to get into your tent, Nasir?"
Nasir gave Tarig a look of disgust as the others chuckled.
"What's going on?" Fennec asked as she came out of her tent, scratching her head.
"Morning, beautiful," said Rick, as he handed her a bowl of food. "We're trying to figure out what Nasir's snores are like. We have two votes for the braying of a camel and one for an avalanche."
"That was snoring?!? I though that was the snorts of a pig," she mumbled as she sat next to Ardeth.
Nasir suddenly got to his feet and stared down at the woman. "I am not a pig!!!" he snarled at her.
"Never claimed you were," Fennec replied as she shoved some flat bread into her mouth. "Just that you sound like one. You made the comment about being a pig."
Nasir's mouth opened, and closed. Opened again, and shut again, all without a sound coming out of it. "You're… You're…" finally squeaked out his mouth.
The others tried in vain to hide their smirks as Fennec stared up at Nasir, and smiled.
"Do you think Ardeth is up to leaving today?" Rick asked, before Nasir could dig himself into more trouble with Fennec.
"Nah," Fennec said, with a shake of her head before anyone could comment. "I want Ardeth's back to heal some more before we move on. He needs to build up his strength some more."
"Since when do you order us around, woman?" Nasir snapped at Fennec
"You're right, he is an ass," Fennec commented to Rick before turning her attention to the Mad-Jai warrior. "One, Ardeth's back needs to heal more before we go any great distance from a water source. Two, I own Ardeth. Three, I whipped your ass in a fight. And four, there's a sandstorm coming."
Rick bit his lip to keep from laughing in Nasir's face as the others looked away.
"How do you know there is a sandstorm coming?" Muammar asked, changing the subject to keep the hot-tempered Med-Jai from doing anything rash.
"I may be a Khawaaga, but I can recognize the signs," Fennec explained as she ate her porridge.
"You're right, I apologize, warrior," Muammar said, smiling slightly, with a bow of his head. "I forget you are not an ignorant English lady."
"Apology accepted, Muammar," Fennec replied, returning the bow, d in honor of her fellow warrior.
"Don't feel too bad Muammar," Rick spoke up suddenly. "Fennec was trained to make people think of her as poor genteel English lady."
"Only because you couldn't pull off a British Lord to save your life."
"What do you mean I can't pull off a British Lord?" Rick complained. "I can do an excellent British Lord!"
Fennec stared at Rick, a single eyebrow raised; her arms crossed over her chest. "Okay, a snobbish British manservant!" She broke down into giggle. "A bad, snobbish British manservant!"
"Then why did all those ladies try to hire me away from you?" Rick asked as he stared he down.
Fennec leaned to the side slightly and stared at his rear.
"Hey!!!" he exclaimed as he scooted around.
"So do we have anything else beside dried meat and porridge?" Fennec asked, changing the subject as the Med-Jai stared at her in shock. "What? He has a great looking behind. I've only meet one other man who has a butt as nice," she explained in a wistful voice, as she remembered that other man.
"AERYN!!!"
"Yes Richard?" she replied with smile as her eyes sparkled with merriment.
O'Connell's mouth opened, and closed, opened again, and shut again, all without a sound coming out of it. Suddenly he stood up and started to walk out of camp. "I'm going fishing," he called back to the others.
Fennec turned her attention towards the Med-Jai, and just smiled at them.
"Tarig, go see if you can help my brother," Ardeth said as he stared right at Fennec, his face never betraying what was going on in his mind. "Nasir, Muammar, see what there is for local prey."
"Ardeth?!" Tarig said, in objection of the Med-Jai leader being left alone with this woman. "Your wounds need to be checked."
"I'm sure Fennec won't object to looking after them," the Med-Jai leader said in a firm voice, leaving his warrior no room to object. "She's dealt with them before."
Ardeth and Fennec sat in silence as the warriors went off to their tasks. "Shall we go to my tent?" Fennec finally asked after several moments of silence, setting her bowl to the side.
With a nod of his head Ardeth got to his feet and walked into the tent. "Take your clothes off," Fennec said as she followed him in.
Ardeth soon had his robes off and sat on a blanket as Fennec pulled his hair to the side, out of her way. "You wanted to talk?" she stated as she started to examine his wounds.
He sat in silence for a few minutes. "It's about O'Connell," he finally said.
"What about Rick?" she replied as she continued her work.
"He's married, they have a son," Ardeth stated, as he stared straight ahead.
Fennec made an agreeing sound as she removed the bloody bandages that covered a deep wound. "Evelyn and Alex, I know."
"Do you love him?" Ardeth asked as he closed his eyes, dreading the reply
Cocking her head to the side, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Rick? Of course I love him," she replied
"Then leave!" Ardeth said as he turned his head, so he could see her from the corner of his eyes. "Leave Rick."
"What?! Why should I leave him?"
Ardeth turned and grabbed Fennec by the arms, his fingers digging into her muscles. "I can't stand by and see you destroying his marriage, his happiness."
"What!?! What are you talking about?!?" she exclaimed as she tried to pull away from him.
"Do you think I'm blind?" Ardeth snarled, his eyes full of anger. "I've seen you together!"
"Ardeth, you're not making any sense!"
"Do you think I did not see you sleeping in his arms last night? How you wrapped yourself around him!" Ardeth growled with hatred. "I will not allow you to destroy a good man!"
"Rick!! Muammar!! Anyone, come quick!! Something's wrong with Ardeth!!" Fennec called out in a panic as she struggled against Ardeth's steel grip. "Ardeth, let me go! Please, you're hurting me," she begged the Med-Jai.
"Aeryn? Ardeth?" Rick and Tarig busted into the tent.
"Something's wrong with him Rick! He's not making any sense," Fennec said as Ardeth finally released her. Scurrying out of Ardeth's reach, Fennec made her way over to O'Connell's side as the other Med-Jai entered the tent. "These no fever and none of the wounds are infected."
"Ardeth?" O'Connell knelt down and reached out to his brother, worry filling his eyes.
"I can't let you destroy what you have with Evy," Ardeth said as he grabbed Rick's forearm. "O'Connell, my brother, can't you see what is happening? What this will do to you and Evy?"
O'Connell studied Ardeth's face, trying to understand his brother's words. "See what? What are you talking about, Ardeth?" his voice contained the confusion he felt.
"We're not fools, Wahid," Nasir snarled, with a nod towards Fennec. "We all know what's going on between you and her!"
Fennec looked back and forth between the Med-Jai, a confused look on her face. Suddenly her eyes widened as she realized what they were talking about. "OUT! GET OUT OF MY TENT!!" she bellowed as she started to push Nasir out. "I WILL NOT BE INSULTED IN MY OWN TENT!"
Turning to the other men, her eyes flashed angrily. "OUT, ALL OF YOU! OUT!"
"Aeryn?" Rick asked in confusion.
"THEY THINK WE'RE LOVERS!"
"WHAT!" O'Connell gasped as he pulled out of Ardeth's grip. "Lovers? That's…that's…"
"DISGUSTING! I know!" Fennec said, finishing Rick's statement. "Just get out! All of you, just get out!"
Ardeth grabbed his robes and started to stand up when Fennec turned on him. "SIT DOWN!" she snarled, in a demon-like voice. "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!"
Rick watched for a moment as Fennec advanced on his brother like stalking tiger before slipping out of the tent, leaving Ardeth to his fate.
~*~
The Med-Jai jerked and twitched each time they heard their leader yelp or hiss in pain as Fennec took her anger out on Ardeth, while she cleaned his healing wounds.
Occasionally one of them would glance over to where O'Connell sat in silence staring at the tent, waiting. His mouth twitched infrequently into a strange grin.
"I'm going swimming," Fennec snapped, as she stormed from the tent.
"Watch out for snakes," O'Connell comment, as he continued to stare at the entrance of the tent.
"They better look out for me!" she growled as she disappeared into the brush.
Slowly Ardeth hobbled out of the tent, a grimace of pain on his face with every step. Tarig immediately rushed to his side to help him.
"I'm all right," Ardeth said as Tarig guided him to a shady place to sit. "She wasn't as gentle as she was before."
"You should be glad she left you with your skin attached, Ardeth!" Rick said as he eyed his brother.
"And you call yourself Ardeth's brother!" Nasir spit on the ground just inches from Rick's feet. "Aziza will be ashamed to have claimed you as her blood! You never once tried to help Ardeth while that…woman tortured him."
"I don't remember you doing anything either Nasir!" Rick replied to the Med-Jai warrior, his eyes turning hard and cold. "Besides, I knew Fennec wouldn't harm him, at least not permanently. After all, you did soil her honor, and mine."
"What?" the Med-Jai sputtered in confusion.
Ardeth raised his head wearily. "O'Connell… Rick…" he stumbled for the words.
"I know." Rick sighed wearily as he ran his hand through his hair. "She's my sister. Aeryn is my baby sister."
The Med-Jai stared in shock at the man, as the words he had just uttered began to sink in.
O'Connell bit his lip as tried desperately to hold in his laughter until it exploded out of him. "You should see your faces!!!" He howled with laughter.
"Your sister?!?" Ardeth whispered, with dread.
Rick nodded as he wiped the tears of laughter from face. "Well, my half sister."
"Half sister?!?" the Med-Jai leader echoed back. "How?"
"Well, Ardeth if you don't know how, then I'm going to have a long talk with Aziza about your education," Rick commented, with a smirk.
"We were informed that you didn't have any family, that you were an only child," Nasir snapped.
"I was. My father's only child, just not my mother's." Rick watched as the warriors tried to understand what he'd just said. "I never lied to you, Ardeth, or to anyone else. I thought Aeryn was dead, I was positive she was…and now I have my sister again."
Ardeth shook his head, sadly. "There is so much I do not know about you, O'Connell. I can only hope you forgive me for not trusting you."
"There is nothing to forgive. You believe you were doing the best to protect Evy and Alex for me," Rick said as he stood up. "Getting Aeryn to forgive you is another matter, she has our mother's temper! As for my past…." O'Connell looked towards the heavens, his eyes following the flight of a hawk.
"My father, Andrew O'Connell died when I was about nine months old. Michael McKnight was my father's best friend, brothers in everything but blood," Rick explained as he turned back to his brother. "Michael had promised my father that he would care for us if anything should happen."
Rick sat next to Ardeth in the shade. "My father was killed in a accident. When I was little I would ask about how he died but mom and Michael would only promise to tell me more," he explained with a shrug. "I never knew my father except through the stories mom and dad… Michael… no, my dad. Except through the stories mom and dad would tell me about him." O'Connell took a shuddering breath.
"Andrew O'Connell and Michael McKnight had been best friends from childhood. From what mom and dad told me, they were inseparable. Everyone thought they were brothers, and they were, except in blood. I don't know when my father and my…why Andrew and Michael had made a pact that if anything would happen to one of them, the other one would be there for their family."
"So Michael took care of you and your mother," Ardeth stated, learning more about his brother than he ever knew before.
"Yeah. They fell in love," Rick said with a smile, as he remembered them together. "They married about two years after Andrew's death. A year later Aeryn was born. Michael always treated me like a son, but also as his best friend's son."
"So what happened?" Tarig asked as he leaned forward, entranced by the Wahid's tale. "How did you and your sister end up in Egypt?"
"I was six and Aeryn was about four when we moved to Egypt. Dad had accepted some type of job here, I don't know what," Rick explained with a shrug. "Everything was going great..." His voice traveled of as he relived the past.
"What happened?" Ardeth asked carefully, see the anguish on his friend's face. "How did they die?"
"A riot," Rick closed his eyes, tried to hide his pain. "We were at the market when a riot broke out. There was a small niche in a wall. Dad shoved us in there… "
"And they were killed."
Rick nodded his head in silence. "From there we ended up in the Holy Mother's Home for Lost Lambs. Better known to all that lived there as 'Gahannam'."
The group sat in silence until Ardeth finally spoke up. "O'Connell… Rick, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I accused you and Fennec of…"
"You didn't knew she was my sister," Rick said with a chuckle. "Honestly, I can see why you would think that way with how Aeryn and me acted around each other. But you do realize that's nothing is going to save you from her, right? She has a temper like the winds of the desert; she's either gentle and forgiving, or she'll strip the flesh from your bones!"
~*~
Ardeth and Rick spent most of the day learning more about each others past, when finally, as the sun began to sink, Aeryn came skipping back into the camp.
"Hi Rick," she said with a kiss on his cheek, after dropping a number of dead Asps into Nasir's lap. "Miss me?"
Rick looked up from where he sat as his baby sister grinned happily. His face paled immediately. "Oh this is bad," he moaned.
"Yep!" she squealed, as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "The worst ever."
With a groan O'Connell's head fell into his hands. "Please don't tell me you going to make them into eunuchs."
Fennec's face scrunched up as she thought. "Nooooo but that might happen. I can't really be positive what the results will be."
"Aeryn Charlene McKnight! What are you planning?" Rick asked in a firm father-like tone he used many times on his son, as he lifted his head to stare at his sister.
Aeryn's grin grew bigger as she knelt next to her brother and began to whisper in his ear. The Med-Jai watched as Rick's eyes grew wider and wider, a malicious grin appearing on his face.
"Oh that's bad, that's very bad," Rick stated when Fennec finished whispering. "You are a very wicked person."
"So you approve of my idea?" she asked as she bit her bottom lip.
"Of course I do," he replied, with a nod of his head. "And I'm also glad you're not mad at me."
"Oh don't worry, Bar, I plan to tell Evy and Alex about all your misadventures as a kid!" Fennec told him, with a smirk. "So what's for dinner? Besides roasted Asp."
~*~
The next morning found everyone busily breaking down the camp and loading the camels.
"I thought you didn't want to travel far from water with Ardeth's injuries?" Nasir mocked.
"I did," Fennec snarled through clutched teeth, as she struggled with a knot in the tent rope.
"What changed your mind?" Tarig asked, as he came over to help her.
Fennec looked up to the sky, her eyes following the flight of the hawk as it drifted on the wind.
"It's time to go," Rick simply said, taking the rope from her hands.
"But why?" Tarig pushed for answers, however neither one of them replied.
"It's the irrational demands of a woman!" Nasir snapped
"Can I kill him?" Fennec suddenly said, as her eyes followed Nasir.
"Humm, maybe later," Rick replied, not paying full attention to his sister's words.
"Okay." They continued to work when Fennec looked up, her eyes following Ardeth. "Bar," she said, as she watched.
Rick looked up and followed her line of sight. "And you say I'm bullhead!" he mumbled under his breath as he watched his brother carry the leather water skins. "I'll be back," he said with a kiss on her forehead. "Once I deal with that pig headed brother of mine," he mumbled as he marched off after Ardeth.
"ARDETH BAY! WHAT THEY HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!" O'Connell growled as he marched right up to Ardeth as he knelt down and filled the skins from the oasis.
"I am filling the water skins, O'Connell, what do you think I am doing?" Ardeth replied, never looking up from his work.
"That's not what I mean Ardeth. You should be resting," Rick exclaimed as he took the skin out of his brother's hands. "We wouldn't even be traveling if it wasn't for…" O'Connell allowed his voice to trail off as he turned his full attention to filling the water skins.
Ardeth's brow furrowed, in confusion. "Why are we leaving?" Not getting a reply Ardeth laid a hand on Rick's shoulder. "Rick?"
Rick turned his eyes towards him; Ardeth could see a trace of fear in them. "Why are we leaving?"
"Dreams," he replied, in an almost child-like tone.
"Dreams?" Ardeth repeated, in shock and confusion at his friend's sudden change.
Rick nodded his head; never looking back up at the man he called his brother. "We had dreams; bad dreams."
Ardeth sat quietly, watching his friend as he filled the skins. "Do they come true?" he finally asked.
"Sometimes," O'Connell replied, so quietly that Ardeth could barely hear him. "If Fennec and me share a dream, it will."
"And you two shared a dream last night?"
Rick nodded his head at Ardeth's question, still not looking at his friend, his brother.
"What was the dream about?"
Having finished filling the water skins, Rick sat, quietly staring out across the oasis. "Death. If we stay here, no one will be going home."
~*~
Bar- hawk
QubTan - Captain
Abit - idiot
Khawaaga - foreigner
Gahannam - Hell