A SECOND PROPHECY FULFILLED
Two weeks had passed, the time passed swiftly, much too swiftly for the lovers soundly asleep with every body part entwined and connected. They had foregone the bed a week ago and made a relatively comfortable pallet upon the floor. This was where they slept and made love most of the time. The span of weeks hadn't been wasted. Every day, Leven called through the list of pawnshops, asking about the amulet. Every day, Ardeth took to the streets conducting his own search. Every day, they came home empty handed. The first few days were difficult for Ardeth. He was greatly disappointed and even more worried. He had eight weeks to find the amulet before Set could begin his reign. However, as each day and subsequent night passed, Ardeth found himself just the tiniest bit thankful he had yet to find the amulet. He hated to admit it. It was a selfish, selfish thought, but after all, he was only a man. He was only a man in love and in no great hurry to leave. If he found the amulet, he would carry out his duty, he would not falter, but he rued the day. As diligently as they were searching, the amulet would turn up. He had little doubt about that.
Ardeth awoke when Leven slipped out of his arms. In the dark, he watched her curiously as she moved around the room and entered the bathroom. Although he had been in this strange world a total of two weeks, his internal clock told him it wasn't close to dawn just yet. She normally didn't rise until five or six. He waited patiently for her to return, already missing her body next to his. He didn't know what he would do once he had to leave for good. He didn't think of it often. He knew it was as wrong as his line of thinking with regard to the amulet, but again, he was completely and utterly ruled by his heart. She returned a bit later, noticing that he was awake and propped up on his elbow. She lay next to him, molding her body perfectly to his, reveling in the feel of the solid wall of his chest and the taut muscled abdomen against hers. He spent most of his time gazing at her, enchanted by her eyes, the soft silky fan of her hair, and the perfect mouth that he loved to kiss. Love. It was a novel word, very simple, one tiny syllable that had the ability to melt the hardest of hearts. It changed lives and ended them. Love was very evident in his heart, in hers, yet it was a word so difficult to utter aloud. It was something he thought of and felt every day, whenever he gazed upon her, whenever he touched her or said her name. They had come together in dreams and in reality, but circumstances beyond his control would tear him away from her, just as he had been torn away from the first woman he had ever loved.
She ran her forefinger down the middle of his chest, stopping at his abdomen where her fingers began a slow, tingling caress. "What are you looking at," she asked with a teasing smile.
"You," he said as he encircled her waist with his free arm.
Leven leaned up into him and kissed his lips gently, but he pressed forward almost brutally, needing her, needing her more than he ever had before. Something inside him told him they had very little time left together and he wanted to love her enough to last a lifetime. She accepted his demanding, possessive kiss and hooked her leg around his lower back. Without the benefit of his being inside her, she began to undulate against him, giving him an obvious indication that she needed him as well. His hand moved from her waist to her buttocks and she sighed against his lips as he grinded her lower body into his. He broke the kiss long enough to lower her to the pallet and he kissed her again, plunging his tongue into her mouth, seeking hers, teasing it, tasting it. She was suddenly enveloped by his scent and the heated weight of his body. His hair brushed against her face and she made a move toward getting her hands into it, but he pulled back.
"Wait," he said.
"Wait? Ardeth? What in the hell…"
He smiled a little. "No, not hell. Heaven."
Definitely heaven, she thought as his lips began a slow descent downward. He placed very gentle kisses from her mouth, down between her breasts, and lower still to her abdomen. She quivered beneath him as much from the erotic torture as the harsh tickle of his beard on her sensitive flesh. He leaned up a bit and glanced at her expectantly. She smiled a little, her lips quivering almost as badly as her body. She parted her thighs to accommodate him and he slid down a bit lower. He took gentle hold of her thigh and covered the inside of it with moist kisses. She moaned in anticipation as his lips drew closer and closer to the center of her. As she felt his warm breath on her, she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for his touch. Instead, he moved to the other thigh and repeated the same process. She moaned again, this time in frustration. He smiled against her flesh and she let out a little sigh. She looked down at him, taking in little hitching gasps. She ached for him, longed for him to fulfill her need, her desire. Only he could do it. No one else could. No other man ever would again. He ran his wet and oh so experienced tongue along the outside of her, not quite touching the heated, aching flesh awaiting him inside. A small nonsensical noise escaped her [mmmnah] as he made several strokes round and round. He stopped suddenly and she let out a rush of air. She had been holding her breath to keep a sharp cry from exiting the depths of her throat. If she screamed out in her apartment, her neighbors would think someone was trying to kill her.
Ardeth leaned up again just the tiniest bit as he ran a finger along her, opening her ever so slightly. His thumb pressed against her, opening her wider. His tongue touched the burning skin inside her. The moist folds of flesh were like the petals of a flower that had come unfurled to reveal its beauty. He drew the petals into his mouth, holding onto them for the briefest of moments. He would release them only to swirl his tongue about them again and again. Her gasping had taken on a panting quality and her entire body flooded with painfully sensual sensation. She was out of her mind, immobile. His tongue and suckling lips sought the little pearl, the trigger of her sex, one of the most precious jewels she possessed. His tongue curled around it, cupping it, as he drew it into his mouth. Her nonsensical moan burst forth again [mmmnah] as he manipulated the tender, swollen nub of flesh, brushing it very gently with his teeth. Without caring one bit what her neighbors thought, she cried out, gasping his name, as his mouth was flooded with the sweet, sweet nectar of her climax. He withdrew slowly, reluctantly. Leven's panting breaths had become hitching sobs. Ardeth placed a very gentle kiss on her lower abdomen, unaware he had implanted a seed inside her, unaware they had created a life.
He moved away from her quivering body to sit up. She went to him without his having spoken a word. It wasn't necessary. His eyes said everything she needed to hear, gave every command she longed to follow. As he slid into her slowly, deeply, he held her captive with an intense gaze. She began moving with him, holding onto him, as he brought his lips up to her ear.
"I love you," he whispered harshly. He had had to force the words out of his mouth. Time and time again, he longed to say it, but couldn't. He could not leave her without her knowing how he felt. He didn't care if she said it back, if she even felt it [but he knew she did].
Buried deeply inside her still, their movements ceased as he throbbed within her, and she drew away to search his face in the dark. Had she heard what she thought she did? This moment had come to her in a dream, had come to him, but it was still so unexpected. "I…I love you, too."
His lips covered hers passionately as he lowered her body back down to the pallet, his solid, comforting weight settling atop her. He began to move within her again, showing his love for her with his body. At the moment of his release, he told her he loved her again, but this time, he whispered it in Arabic.
When Ardeth awoke after sunrise, he noticed that Leven was still asleep beside him. She was normally up and about by now, scurrying crazily around the room, watching a little box she called the TV. He didn't want to wake her, but if he didn't, she would gripe at him for not doing it. She took her two jobs very seriously. It was the only reality she had to hang onto, and he wasn't sure he could interfere with that. However, the temptation was great, and he settled back down for a moment, just looking at her. Could there be a way for him to stay or her to go with him? He sighed. He didn't understand why this was so hard, so heartbreaking. Why hadn't he found her in his time? He thought again of Sharîk. There was some type of connection. Had Sharîk come back in the form of Leven? Did that explain the depth of his love for her? Yet, there were only subtle similarities. Why would the gods take Sharîk away from him only to give her back just to take her again? He drew away from her carefully. She sighed softly in her sleep as if she sensed his departure. He went over to the virtually untouched bed and sat down. Ardeth reached over and took the photograph of the mother and child in hand. He stared down it for a long time, trying to permanently etch the image in his mind.
Leven turned to her stomach, reaching for her lover, but he wasn't there. She propped herself up and saw him sitting on the bed. He was staring at the photo of her and her mother. He had done this before, but hadn't said much about it. She stood up without glancing once at the clock. For now, she didn't give a rip about her two jobs, the state of affairs in Cuba, or the price of coffee in Brazil. Her attention was completely focused on Ardeth. He looked up at her as she approached. He smiled a little, expecting her to begin scolding him for not waking her, but she said nothing. She reached out to him and touched his warm cheek.
"Are you okay," she asked. He seemed troubled and his discord disturbed her.
He nodded and turned the photograph toward her. "This is you and your mother," he said. "What is her name?"
Not quite understanding where his line of questioning was coming from or leading to, she sat beside him, turning her body toward him. "My mother? My dad and her friends call her Jay, but her given name is Jaydra. I think it's a beautiful name, but she doesn't use it much."
"Jaydra," he said, rolling the name off his tongue. It was Arabic. "Her father? Who was he?"
"Grandfather? I don't know much about him. He died before I was born, but his name was Gabe Abnell. It's odd, though. I think he had a different name as well. Mother said he Americanized it years and years ago when he was a young boy. He didn't want to use the name his father gave him."
Ardeth's heart began to pound in his chest. It was coming together ever so slowly, but so very clearly. "Might it have been Gadiel Fa'inn Abadi?"
She nodded, her eyes lighting up. "Oh yeah. It was." She took in a shocked breath when it dawned on her. "Ardeth? How did you know that?"
Gadiel was Sharîk's son, the boy he had fallen in love with, the boy whose father had sent him away at the tender age of two. Gadiel was the boy whom Ardeth loved as if he were his son. He could see him as the sturdy little boy who enjoyed tugging his beard, not a grown man with a family. The reality of his discovery began to sink into him, needling him. He was led to this place, led here to fall in love with Sharîk's great-granddaughter. He did not doubt that Sharîk was behind this, that she had somehow found a way to come back, but not the way he expected. "Your people are Egyptian; you are Egyptian. Your great-grandmother was Sharîk Fa'inn Abadi. Your grandfather was taken from her body before she died. She was married to my friend, Qâtil. I knew your great-grandparents. I grew up with Qâtil and Sharîk. She was promised to my friend, but I was in love with her. We could not be together because their marriage was arranged at birth. In my time, she has been dead four years. Qâtil sent his son to the states two years after he was born. I raised him; his father lost interest. When I first saw you, I thought you were Sharîk in another woman's body." His speech was disjointed, broken.
She covered her mouth in obvious shock. "Oh Jesus," she said. "I…she…you." The images were overwhelming, rushing into her mind, out of control. "I saw the two of you. I saw her die. I…I heard her soul declaring her love for you. She was inside me; she is inside me. She knew this would happen? Did she…would she? She sent you to me?"
"I do not know," he said as he focused his eyes on her face. "I would assume she did, but for what purpose? I no longer believe I was sent here just to close a portal separating my time from yours. There must be something else, something neither you nor I understand."
She took a deep breath and exhaled it. "Grandpa Q," she said suddenly. "He's alive, Ardeth. My great-grandfather is alive."
"Qâtil? Alive? Impossible."
She shook her head. "Not impossible. True. Maybe he can answer some of your questions. His body is wasted and paralyzed, but his mind is sharper than mine. I can take you to him right now. Today."
"Yes. Please."
* * *
Since Ardeth had come, Leven had failed to make the trip to see Grandpa Q. She had been ignoring her mother's phone calls. After their argument, she hadn't felt much like speaking with her. She didn't doubt Jay knew she had shirked her duty, but she wouldn't visit an evil old man who thought of his granddaughter in such a negative light. Grandpa Q and Ardeth had grown up together, yet they were such different men. She didn't understand how they could have come from the same time. Grandpa Q was the man in her dream, the one who called out to her [not her, Sharîk] in the desert. Why hadn't she known that? It was coming full circle and she felt as Ardeth did. There was some other great purpose to be served; yet she didn't have a clue as to what it was. She pulled the car into the parking lot and took a deep breath. She wanted to prepare Ardeth for Q's vicious behavior. Q was not a gentle man; he was far from loving, and she never understood why her grandfather loved him so.
"Ardeth, I don't know what kind of man Q was when you knew him, but he's bitter, hard, and cold. The last time I saw him, he said I was dirty and tainted. He probably won't believe you are who you say you are."
"He dared to insult you?" His eyes grew black with rage. "I will not allow him to dishonor you again. He will know me, that I can assure you."
The two of them left the car behind and approached the building. Leven signed them in and they waited patiently. As the last time Leven had come, an employee led them to Q's room. He was sleeping very soundly. It appeared that his condition had neither improved nor worsened. Ardeth gazed upon the wasted body of his childhood friend. He was frail and withered. He had thought of Qâtil as a brother years ago, but now, a bitter slice of coldness had entered his heart. Something about him angered Ardeth, and it wasn't only his hurtful comments directed toward Leven.
She approached Q's bedside and leaned over him. "Grandpa, wake up. I'm here to see you."
The dirty one has returned, he thought. Slowly, he opened his eyes and fixed them on his granddaughter's face. She hadn't come alone. Of course she hasn't. Tainted children such as her are never alone for long. When Leven moved aside, Qâtil's eyes focused on the face of a Medjai warrior. MaHbûb Allâh [Dear God]. Ardeth Bay. He looked the same as he did he saw him last. No. Impossible. His dead wife or the warrior hadn't haunted him in many, many years. He had come back to torture him more. He stood near his tainted granddaughter as if he were her guardian angel. Oddly, he wasn't bedecked in his robes. Ah. He felt a burning sensation in his body, as if it had been asleep and was trying to awaken. Hathos? Had Hathos come to visit as well? No. You're losing your mind, old man.
Before the swift wings of Hathos took him to the hellish underworld that awaited him, he needed to exorcise one final ghost. He fixed his embittered eyes on his granddaughter before looking at the warrior. He understood, or at least thought he did. Ardeth was truly here. His tainted granddaughter had lain with the warrior as she had lain with other men outside the bonds of marriage. He could literally smell it on her. "Hafîda [granddaughter], you have lain with this man. You have sinned greater than ever before. He is your great-grandfather, the grandfather of Jaydra, the father of Gadiel. Sharîk confessed her love to this man, gave her body to him when she should have only given it to me."
The rage came back. Ardeth started toward the old man, but Leven held him back. He had dishonored the woman he loved, and he was startled to realize that it was Leven whose honor he felt the need to defend. Sharîk was secondary in his mind. "Sharîk never gave her body to me," he spat. "We spoke of our love for each other, but never did I lay with her. You are a fool. Gadiel is your son, he could not be mine, not without the benefit of a miracle."
Ah. The warrior spoke the truth. The pins and needles sensation had begun to grow stronger. Qâtil finally understood. "My wife did not love me, Medjai. She loved you and I thought she bore your son, not mine. The bullet that severed her spine was bought and paid for by my hands." Hathos was coming for him now. He could feel it. There was a secret between the warrior and his granddaughter. It was a secret neither of them knew. Hathos had the answers. She had them all. "The tainted woman has found her man pure of heart. I am free. The bloodline is cleansed."
Leven didn't understand what had just happened, but she watched in horror as her grandfather's limbs began to twitch and move. He hadn't moved in fifteen or twenty years. Ardeth was in a trance of rage. He longed for his scimitar, to serve this man swift, harsh justice. He understood no more than Leven, but he realized that Sharîk had died in vain. Both of them watched as Qâtil sat up and yanked the tubes out of his body. He hadn't felt this much alive since he was a young man. Ahead of him, he saw a vision of the goddess, the protector of women and children. She was coming for him. His happiness at the control he gained over his body was short-lived. Hathos reached for him, jerked him forward. Leven gasped aloud as her grandfather's body crashed back down onto the bed. His eyes were wide open and his chest still. She stepped back, suddenly feeling dizzy. Little dots swam before her eyes and she blindly groped for her lover behind her. He took hold of her arm in the nick of time as blackness engulfed her.
* * *
"Malak [angel]? Leven?"
The soft-spoken words seemed to be coming from thousands of miles away. Her eyes drifted open slowly. She blinked several times before the room came back into focus. "Where am I?"
"Ms. Medlem?"
There was a woman leaning over her. Leven recognized her as the director. She began looking for Ardeth and didn't settle back until she had located him. He stood off to the side, gazing at her with concern painted on his face and in his eyes. "What happened?"
"I'm sorry dear," the director said, "I'm afraid your grandfather died during your visit. You fainted."
She didn't want this woman's face in hers. "Ardeth? I need you."
The woman stepped aside and allowed Ardeth to come to Leven. He kneeled before her and touched her cheek. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she said aloud. Whispered to him: "What just happened?"
"Qâtil was taken for his misdeeds," he explained.
"What…what about the other," she whispered. "What did that mean?"
"I wish I knew, but I do not."
"I want to go. I want to get out of here," she said. "I don't want to be here."
Leven was still a little shaken up, but she felt well enough to drive back to Memphis. She had spoken to her boss at the pawnshop. After he yelled at her for thirty minutes, he forgave her, but only after she told him about her grandfather. The jerk wanted her to come in for work, but that wouldn't happen today. Once inside the apartment, she sat down and made a much-dreaded phone call home.
"Leven, hey baby, what a surprise," her mother said.
Was this the Jay Medlem she had spoken to before? She sounded like her old self. "Mother? Are you feeling okay?"
Jay Medlem chuckled. "Of course, baby, I'm fine. How are you? We miss you."
Had the world gone mad? "Mother? Grandpa Q died today."
She sighed. "May Allâh rest his soul. I hope he's happier wherever he is now."
Allâh? Since when did her mother say that? The world had gone mad. "I'll pick up his things in the next few days."
"Okay, dear. I'll call the home and arrange everything. Don't worry about any of it. I love you, darling. Goodbye."
Leven hung up the phone and gazed down at it. What the fuck? Ardeth sat at the foot of the bed watching her carefully. "That was…was weird. My mother must have gotten hooked up with some good meds."
"Meds? What are these meds," he asked, recalling that he had been told to take his 'meds' when he was released from jail.
She sighed and smiled a little. "I'm sorry. It's slang, meaning medication. It's normally used when you think a person is…well…insane."
Ardeth smiled. "I see." He moved next to her and took her hand. "You do not look well."
"No shit. My crazy great-grandfather killed my great-grandmother. She sent her true love to her great-granddaughter who helped unearth this horrible family skeleton. It's just a walk in the park. Nothing big."
Her words were laced with acid. She was hurt and there were doubts swirling in her mind. He could see it. Leven thought their connection was related only to today's events. Did she think his love for her would fade? "The spell Sharîk held on me has been lifted, Leven. My heart belongs to you. I believe she sent me to you so I could show you that you are worthy of love, that you are not tainted. You found it with me and you will find it again."
She shook her head. "No," she whispered. "I will never find it again. I know this. I know it with every fiber of my being. Whoever sent you did so cruelly. I find someone to love, someone that I cannot imagine life without, and he winds up being this figment of my imagination. You're here, I've touched you, but you're not here. Why, Ardeth? Why? Why can you not stay? Why do you have to go back? Why can't you take me with you? No. There will be no one else. Not ever. Do you believe you were sent here as some interstellar teacher? Do you?"
"No," he admitted. "I believe there is something else. We have not uncovered it and we may never."
"Damn it," she cried. "Damn it all!"
He reached for her and at first, she turned away. She didn't want his touch or his love. Persistent, he refused to give up. He reached for her again and she didn't deny his second attempt. She went into his embrace and held onto him, clinging to him, cursing her life, fate, and the gods.