THE CRUELTY & KINDNESS OF FATE
Present Day
Leven groaned as she struggled with the small trunk. You are such a wimp, she thought distastefully. She had retrieved the trunk from the facility where her Grandpa Q had lived. Her mother hadn't forced her to do this task, Leven had volunteered. Her relationship with Jay had improved significantly in the last two weeks. She didn't understand it, but since Q had died, her mother was the same, sweet woman she had been when Leven was a small child. She had no idea what secrets the trunk held, but she had to admit she was curious. Before she had attempted to open the trunk, she began to stare off into space. Her mind had begun to drift to thoughts of Ardeth again. He invaded her mind on an hourly basis. Snap out of it. You will never see him again. Sighing, she dragged the trunk over to the pallet on the floor and settled back. She smiled a little as she ran her hand along the pallet. She hadn't gone back to sleeping in her bed, she couldn't. On the floor, she felt closer to Ardeth, could almost sense his presence beside her, smell his wonderfully natural masculine scent around her. She missed him, ached for him, longed to see him again. She had had no other dreams of him and she hoped that she had not lost her hold on the man she loved. Damn it. She had drifted again. Sighing yet again, she popped open the trunk and began to dig around in it. Most of the items meant nothing to her. There weren't any photographs inside or personal mementos. Mostly, it was filled with useless junk, torn clothing, and broken accessories. She would leave it for the garbage truck in the morning. She started to snap the lid closed when something caught her eye. Curiously, she dug around in the trunk and found a scroll similar to the one Ardeth had had. She peered at it curiously, unable to make sense of the Arabic characters. She found a small wire bound notebook near the scroll. The writing on the inside was the scrawl-like chicken scratch of an old man. Apparently, Grandpa Q had kept a journal. Suddenly interested, she placed the scroll and notebook onto her lap. She opened the notebook and the first page was filled with ardent ramblings and bizarre Arabic curse words. She flipped a page and noticed that the writing was clearer.
Today, I was visited by my dead wife, her son, and the Goddess Hathos, Q had written. They have uncovered a great secret, one that I thought I would carry to my grave. I was so very wrong. Hathos, the protector of women and children, visited me as I slept. She laid her hands upon me and labeled me as a murderer. I am a murderer. I had my wife killed. She dared to lay with another man. Why is it that Hathos visited me and not Ardeth Bay? Why doesn't he receive punishment for tainting my wife? Hathos came with a curse, a horridly vicious curse. She bestowed this upon my entire bloodline. Each member of the family will begin losing his or her sense of self toward the age of fifty. He or she will become poisoned of mind and body as much as I have. He or she will lose the ability to move from the neck down, but have a sharp mind. I am cursed to live with a shell, not a body. The longer I live, the more I suffer. Each person in my family will suffer the same fate. The curse can only be broken if a man pure of heart produces a child with a tainted woman in the family. Then and only then will the blood of our people be cleansed. Then and only then will I be free to move before my own death. There are no such women in my family. My son produced two daughters and a son, but none of them were tainted. Yet, I see it happening with Jaydra's daughter. She calls her Leven and I see it in her eyes. She will grow up to dishonor the family. I can see this, I can tell you this now. She will be the fallen woman, this granddaughter I despise. She will lay with a man like a whore and let him fill her with a bastard child. A bastard child? Why is that just? Why am I so cursed?
Leven abruptly closed the journal. She remembered the last time she saw her grandfather. Hadn't he mentioned a curse and said something about the bloodline being cleansed? Unconsciously, her hand went down to her flat abdomen. No. It couldn't be true, could it? She couldn't possibly be pregnant, could she? She jumped up quickly and threw the journal back into the trunk. Without a moment's hesitation, she left her apartment and made a pit stop at the nearest drug store. As she walked up and down the aisle with dozens of EPT testing kits, she thought it was ridiculous. Her grandfather was insane. However, she had learned to accept and deal with many things she had never believed in before. She stood and began to scour her mind. What was she doing? She didn't have any symptoms. Uh, excuse me. You haven't? She held her hand out and began to count them out one by one. Was she late? Yup. No big deal, though. She had never been regular. Had she been sick in the morning? A couple times. Again, she had been under extreme stress. Big deal again. Was she tired? Very, but she had been tired all her life. It could all be explained away. All of it. Every bit of it. Knowing she was wasting her time and money, she grabbed a kit at random, paid for it, and slipped quietly into the store's bathroom. It came out positive, but she wasn't satisfied. She bought another, a different brand, and received the same result. Nope. Not good enough. She went to the local health department and requested a pregnancy test. It came out positive as well. She asked them to test her again, they refused, she threw a fit, and they relented. It was positive again. How many times do you need to be tested before you believe it, she was asked. You said you performed two OTC tests. We have performed two blood tests. Trust me. You're pregnant.
She was struck by two emotions at once. The first, of course, was happiness. She would have Ardeth's child. What was more beautiful than that? What could be better than that? But then reality slowly began to sink into her mind and the second emotion filled her. Devastation. He would never know this child, never touch it, or love it, or watch it grow. Uh God. The pain was incredibly vicious, biting. How cruel was fate to do this to her? To him? Oh no. Oh God no. Leven went back to her apartment and fell onto the pallet in an exhausted heap. She lay staring at the ceiling for hours. She was pregnant. Pregnant. If said a dozen or more times, it lost its meaning after a while, but it still didn't change anything. The fact remained the same. She would have this baby without the benefit of its father's presence. She dug underneath her pillow until she found the cold silver of the amulet. She grasped it between her hands and held it close to her heart. Oh love? Where are you? I'm having your baby.
* * *
1931
Ardeth had been away for two long weeks. He was honestly in no hurry to come back. He wouldn't have come back this time if Elder Haka hadn't summoned him. He wondered what the elder wanted from him. He hadn't spoken of his love for Leven to anyone, but he was certain they knew. Perhaps the elder wanted to scold him for his foolish heart. He had changed again, had grown morose and withdrawn, as much as he had done before. However, this time, it was much, much worse. He often went to sleep at night and tried to dream of her, but the visions had left him as soon as he came back to his time. When the dreams eluded him, he'd take out the photograph of Leven and stare at it until his eyes burned. His love for her had yet to fade. In fact, it grew stronger as each day passed. He longed to touch her again, to love her, but the longing was never fulfilled. It grew painfully, gnawing at him, tearing bits from his heart. Sighing heavily, he rode into the village without much spirit. He didn't stop to speak to the members of the clan, nor did he accept any greetings. He simply rode silently to Hazz's quarters.
"Elder Haka, I am here. Why did you send for me," Ardeth asked as he entered the room.
Hazz turned toward the Chieftain, stunned. "I did not hear you enter, Ardeth. Please. Come. Sit."
Hesitating, Ardeth honored his request. "What is it? Has something happened?"
Hazz looked up at the Medjai and nodded. "Yes. It has." He sighed. There was no gentle way to go about this. "The woman you were with. You laid with her?" Ardeth said nothing, he nodded. "Yes, I thought you had. Hathos, the goddess of protection for women and children, cursed Qâtil. She cursed him and his entire bloodline. It was written that the family would suffer the same fate as Sharîk. She was shot in the back and paralyzed by the bullet. Correct?" Again, Ardeth nodded without saying a word. "All of his descendents were cursed to become wasted and useless, but have sharp minds. However, a man who is pure of heart could end the curse if he fathers a child with a fallen Abadi woman. After that, the bloodline is once again pure, and Sharîk's death will be avenged."
Ardeth stared at Hazz. He, like Leven, recalled Qâtil's dying words. His mouth fell open a bit in shock and then snapped closed suddenly. When he focused his eyes on the elder, Hazz was staring at him sympathetically. "Leven? She is with child? I am to be a father?" He felt the same two emotions at once as Leven had experienced.
Hazz shook his head. "No, my Chieftain. You are only to be a father in your heart and mind. You will never see this child."
His breath came in deeply and heavily. His heart pounded sickly. "No." Hazz kept his sympathetic gaze. He was affirming what Ardeth was trying to deny. "This cannot be…cannot be true." It was. It was so very true. "Does she know?"
He nodded. "She knows." Hazz had never seen the great warrior so very defeated. He watched as the Medjai Chieftain leaned forward and buried his face into his hands. Nothing outside a shattered heart had the ability to bring a great man to his knees.
* * *
Present DayIn her sleep, Leven didn't realize that the amulet was growing warm between her hands. The figurine of Isis was beckoning the goddess, beckoning her and Hathos. Leven was unaware of everything. She slept and finally dreamt of Ardeth. She saw tears in his eyes, touching his cheeks. She reached out to him, aching to comfort him, but she never quite made it. He knew about the baby, but he also knew he would never see his child. Oh love, what have I done to you? So very deeply asleep, so very drawn into her dream, she wasn't aware of her surroundings. All of her senses had left her. They were pooled together and channeled in her dream. She did not see as two figures appeared in her room, bringing with them a portal. Hathos grasped Leven's left arm, Isis the right. They had heard her prayer and would answer it.
* * *
1931
The sunlight was strong and unforgiving. It was so hot and miserable. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She lay at the base of a great pyramid surrounded by blinding sand. She looked all around her at this strange place. Was she awake? Dreaming? She touched the sand. It felt very warm to the touch. Very real. She picked up a handful and watched as it filtered through her splayed fingers. It pattered down onto her legs and then to the ground with a soft hiss. She finally sat up and began to search for the amulet. It lay beside her in two pieces. It was split down the middle, cut precisely and arrow-straight. She picked them up and gazed at them wonderingly. She put them each flat side together, and they connected perfectly, as if they were meant to be this way. Her dream was vivid and confusing. She was in Ardeth's world, but was it only a dream? Could it be real? No. There was no way it could be. Her lover had returned to his time. She would never see him again; he would never know his child. She couldn't continue to fool herself in this way. A short snorting sound drew her attention away from her tormented thoughts. Although she hadn't been around many animals outside domesticated dogs and cats, she knew it was a horse. Shielding her eyes against the harsh sunlight, she looked up and noticed three lone figures sitting astride horses. Neither of the three was Ardeth, but they were bedecked in similar robes with equally similar scimitars. She sensed that these men were the upper echelon of the Medjai tribe, but not above Ardeth. They were peering at her curiously, wondering who she was, and where she came from. One of them said something in Arabic, and she wasn't certain, but she thought he had called her the Chieftain's malak [angel]. If this weren't real, how did he know Ardeth's special word for her? Dazed now, she fell back in a dead faint.
Ardeth had set about making plans to depart. Three of his men had accompanied him back to the village when the elder summoned him. He had sent them out scouting to determine if they could make their leave safely. Although he felt a little at peace within the fold, he didn't have the heart to stay. He needed to keep moving, to stride onward and upward. If he didn't, he thought he might lose his mind. He had rested poorly the night before, his sleep broken by vivid dreams of Leven. However, this dream was different than all others. He was unable to truly feel her skin beneath his hands. He couldn't reach out far enough to touch her. It was the first night since he left that he had dreamed of her. He'd seen her laid out on the pallet they had made on the floor. Her knees were drawn up very closely to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. He could see that she was trying to envelope her body protectively around their child, who right now, was probably no larger than the size of his thumb. Even if he never saw the baby, he longed to tell her how wonderfully happy he was to know that she was carrying his child. He ached to reach out to her, to hold her against him. He wanted to comfort her and erase the feelings of abandonment racing vigorously through her mind. If he had known of the child before he left, would it have turned out any differently? Would it have mattered? Sadly, he realized that it wasn't for him to know. If he had known, if he had even suspected it, he would have stayed. He would not have left her; he would have destroyed some delicate balance between their two worlds. Yet, dying with her would have been easier than living without her, living with the knowledge that he would never see his child. A shout distracted him. Disinterested, he looked up and noticed that his second in command was waving toward him frantically. He turned away, ignoring the man and continued readying his horse for the journey.
Hashim rode up to him swiftly, calling to him. "Chieftain, we have found an intruder at the base of the village pyramid. An American. You must come to the healer and see."
He had no intention of seeing to this American intruder. Leave him for the elders. One American was not a threat. Whoever it was had probably strayed from a tourist group of some sort. "We have little time to deal with this, Hashim. We must be on our way. Take your information to the elders and they will act accordingly."
"Chieftain, please. You must. I think you should be the one."
Annoyed, he mounted his horse and followed his second. He had no desire to deal with a lost American. He had no desire to do much of anything. They rode in silence to the healer's quarters. Ardeth and Hashim entered quietly, respectfully, not wanting to make any unnecessary noise that would disturb the ailing. On the way over, Hashim had told him the American needed water and rest, but there were no other injuries. Laid out on a makeshift cot was the figure of a woman. Her face was hidden from view, but he could see enough to decipher her gender. As Ardeth drew nearer, there was something painfully familiar about the shape of the American woman's body. He had lain next to it for weeks, touched it, memorizing every line and curve. He shook his head. No. This was some cruel trick of the light. He only saw what his heart wanted him to see. He was fooling himself. It couldn't be. His eyes knew whom he saw, his heart confirmed it, but his mind held tightly onto denial.
The audible gasp emitting from Ardeth's throat [lâ] roused her. Her dream had brought him to her, had made him so very real again. When she laid her eyes on her lover, she sat up slowly. Please God, let me touch him one more time before you take him completely away. "Ardeth," Leven whispered. "Is it really you? Have I come to you? Am I dreaming?"
The gentle push of her voice filling the room, stroking his heart, broke his paralysis. He went to her, falling to his knees beside her. "No. If you are dreaming, then do not awake."
Her hands were on his face, in his hair. She had to touch him, to prove to herself that he was with her, that this was no figment of her imagination. "It's you, it's really you. How did I get here? How?"
Ardeth saw the broken amulet laid protectively close to her body. The two pieces were perfectly fitted together against each other, as much as he fit with her. Slowly, he rose up enough to gather her into his arms. "The amulet, my love. It brought you here. It brought you back to me. It is broken now and that means we will never be separated again."
She began to cry against his chest, tightening her hold on his body. "I don't…don't understand."
He pulled back just enough to kiss her deeply, to drink in her tears. "Does it matter," he asked when the kiss was broken.
"No," she said, "No, it doesn't. I'm here, I'm in your arms, and I never want to leave. I never thought I'd see you again, Ardeth. Never." She remembered something else, something she didn't think he knew yet. She drew his hand down to her abdomen. "I'm having your child."
"I know," he said as he kissed her again. "And it is wonderful. I love you, my malak [angel]," he said. "I want you to be my wife. I never want to lose you again."
"You never will. I very much want to be your wife."
He took her in his arms and held her close. His heart filled up with his love for her and he knew he could never live without her.
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*****to be continued