TORMENTING DREAMS

Leven had just fallen back onto the pallet after relieving the hunger [yet again] of two demanding babies.  She thought she might get two or so more hours of sleep before one or the other of them [probably both] would need changing.  However, since her husband was home, she'd leave that job to him.  He didn't seem to mind.  The slight movement of her body roused him just a bit.  It was daylight and very soon, they'd have to rise, but he thought they might get away with staying in bed for a while.  He smiled a little when he realized that there were some perks to being Chieftain, or as his wife put it, 'the main man.'  He shifted slightly and Leven groaned.  He whispered softly to her, telling her to stay still.  How could she argue with that?  She thought he was preparing to leave her.  Instead, he switched positions on the pallet and began running his lips over the flesh of her thighs and legs.  She moaned a little and buried her face in her arms.  Oh.  How could he do this to her?  He moved lower, his soft black hair racking along the same path his lips followed.  When his lips reached the top of her foot, she sighed a shaky 'oh god.'  It was more the feel of his hair on her flesh than his lips.  It was so very silky and thick.  She could touch it all day and never get tired of fingering it, rubbing the strands between her fingers. 

"Jesus Ardeth," she breathed, "I just want to walk barefoot through your hair," she said.

He stopped, puzzled.  He turned his head very slightly and gazed at her.  "You want to what?"

She laughed a little.  "You heard me."  She watched as he switched positions before kissing her all the way back up to her lips.  "I want to walk barefoot through your hair," she whispered after the kiss was broken.

He smiled down at her.  "That is a very odd request, one I have never heard before."  He kissed her again, very softly.  "You can walk your fingers through it.  Will that suffice?"

"Oh yes.  That will do it just fine, my love."  Leven thrust her fingers into his hair as his lips seized hers like they were escaped bounty.  They lay together skin to skin, flesh to flesh.  She broke the kiss and pressed her lips to each mark adorning his face.  She didn't think it a normal day unless she kissed them at least once.  They meant so much to him, so much to his sense of honor, and made his beautiful face even more beautiful still.  "You know, if we even attempt to make love, one of the babies will break it up.  You realize that, don't you," she asked with a twinkle in her lovely golden eyes.  She laughed as he growled a little and buried his face into the soft folds of the pallet.  "Whenever you decide to get up, I'll doctor your hand and we'll eat before the babies get cranky."

Ardeth growled again.  There was no way he wanted to get out of bed, but it was expected of him.  The villagers tended to throw all day festival type things in honor of the warriors' return.  He never agreed with those celebrations, never felt he deserved more than any other man, but it was custom and tradition.  Ardeth didn't want to admit it, but he was jumpy.  There were rumors floating around that a team of excavators wanted to unearth the creature.  Neither he nor his men saw evidence of it yet, but any day, they expected to have run-ins.  In fact, they had just done battle with a group of travelers intent on digging around in the ruins.  It was how his body had gotten cut and scratched up.  He had yet to go into it with his wife and he wasn't sure how much she already knew.  Ardeth was aware that Leven could touch his mind, but he didn't think she ever did.  She never abused her talents and her lack of doing so amazed him.  How many women or men would do the same?  It wasn't that she was clairvoyant, but she had ways of knowing things, much like her grandfather.  The moment she inherited his book and journals, she began to come into her own and had earned a title [the sure sign of respect for a woman]:  HafaD [keeper].  When particularly frisky [as Leven put it], Ardeth called her 'Hafa.'  It was an endearment mostly, not meaning anything specific, but he had to say that he was very proud of his wife.  She was accepted among their people now and she had taken her place.  Not once had he ever asked her to assume the traditional role of the women in the village.  In public, she often covered her head, but she never donned the heavy robes or covered her beautiful face.  He wouldn't have her any other way.  He smiled a little when he realized that she had encouraged the women around her to do the same.  She was stepping on the toes of the elders, but she didn't care.  She didn't like them nor did they like her.  However, there was little they could do or say.  The blood of the people flowed through her veins.  She was Egyptian and came from respected stock.

As he lay listening to his wife moving about, the noise somehow lulled him to back to sleep.  After a few moments, he began to dream.  When at home, Ardeth didn't dream of his wife as much as he did when not.  However, this dream immediately began with an image of his wife.  Her soft, sandy colored hair blew out and away from her face, and her golden eyes sparkled as they settled upon his face.  He smiled in his sleep.  His lovely, lovely Hafa.  How he missed her when he was not home.  He saw his dream self reaching out to her and stroking her hair.  It felt as real as if he were actually running his fingers through it.  He brought his hand out to her cheek.  Her skin was so soft and hydrated.  He would never know how she managed to keep her skin so very soft in such an arid climate.  She ran her tongue over her beautiful lips, wetting them.  She was preparing to kiss him, to give him a taste of her mouth.  He moved forward toward her, his arms reaching out.  She stepped into them easily enough.  He crushed her body against his, but something about it was different, not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.  Her lips barely touched his, and his taste of her was small and very unsatisfying.  He wanted more, wanted to take her down to their pallet on the floor and make love to her.  Her hands slid down his waist.  In his dream, he was naked as well as in the real world.  He found himself responding to that slight touch.  She moved her hands back up to his chest where her teeth began to nibble his flesh.  He felt the stinging bite of her teeth and the wetness of her tongue.  Somehow, this didn't feel right.  It seemed as if he was cheating on his wife, but how could that be?  The woman before him was his wife.  Her hands moved from his chest down to his lower abdomen, and he ached for her touch.  Her hand…her wonderfully wicked hand reached down…

He heard the sudden wail of an infant and then another one joined in.  He came awake slowly, a bit shaken by his dream.  He sat up and ran his hands over his face.  He had been dreaming of Leven, but it seemed as if the woman in his dream was someone else.  The angry cries of his children brought him around just before she was about to make love to him.  For now, he didn't attach any significance to it.  The two of them had just about made love before she left him.  Perhaps it had gotten dragged into his dream.  Yet, he didn't dream of her in such a fashion unless separated from her.  It was odd and disturbing, but not anything of which he attached any significance.  He looked up when he saw his wife entering the room with two very angry babies.  He reached for one and she placed the baby into his arms.  For now, he had to look at the left ankle to discern which baby was which.  Ah.  No mark.  Azizah.  His daughter had a very healthy set of lungs, much like her brother.  When the babies eventually quieted, they laid them out on the pallet and kept a close eye on them.  Ardeth started to move, but Leven wouldn't allow it.  After a few moments, she came back with the tools to 'doctor' his wounds.

"Give me your hand," she said.

He had rested it on his leg.  The wound was a bit red and swollen.  An infection was just around the corner.  "Hafa, you worry too much," he said.  "My hand does not hurt and it will heal, just like the other injuries I have gotten."

She looked up at him and lifted her chin defiantly, smugly.  "You've never had a wife before, either, have you?  Give me your hand, I won't shut up until you do."  He held out his hand, shaking his head and smiling a little.  He again thought of how easily this woman could best him with nothing more than a touch or a command.  "Ardeth, look at this thing.  How long has it been red like this," she interjected.  "Damn it."  He drew in a hissing breath as the antiseptic touched it.  "How did you doctor this, Ardeth, with water and sand?"  He said nothing.  He knew better.  One word, and she'd fly into him for not taking care of himself.  She wrapped it loosely in sterile gauze.  "I hope that will do the trick." 

Leven placed a very gentle kiss onto the gauze and he was tempted to grab her, throw her down on the pallet, and take her.  The urge was almost irresistible.  His dream was fresh in his mind and he wanted it to become a reality.  He shook his head.  What was he thinking?  Azizah and Adnan were sleeping peacefully on the pallet.  She would not appreciate such a rough undertaking.  It wasn't his way with her.  He had no idea why the idea suddenly struck him so swiftly and strongly.  She released his hand and he drew it back close against his body.  The urge had yet to leave him.  He didn't immediately trust his body.  It had nearly betrayed him.  At his weakest point with Leven before he even touched her, he had never had the urge to attack her.  Leven stood and watched Ardeth cautiously.  Some type of shadow crossed over his face and for a moment, a weird light entered his eyes.  It was one she had never seen before.  She wanted to reach out and touch him, crawl into his mind, and poke around.  Yet, she would never do it.  She had nearly asked him what was going on, but she wasn't sure he would tell her.  She leaned forward just the slightest bit and reached out to him.  When he felt the soft touch of her hand on his cheek, he seemed to come around a little.  The weird light died and he was her same, sweet husband.  For a moment, for a scary moment, he looked as if he wanted to hurt her.  Impossible.  Her husband, her Ardeth, would never do anything to hurt her.

*  *  *

In the mortal year of 1932, Hathos and Isis interfered once again.  Raiyur had marked the son of Altair before his birth, but she had not noticed until she saw the baby defenseless in the sand.  This baby, this Ardeth Bay, had grown into the man his father was.  So honorable was he that he was chosen to break an ancient Setian curse.  However, her potential King had also fallen slave to the same thing as his father before him.  He had met a woman from the future, one whom he was sent to break another curse.  However, Raiyur hadn't expected the curse to involve a love relationship or a child.  Ardeth was given a lover just as Altair was.  The cursed goddesses of love and protection had interfered yet again.  The curse was meant to be broken and the Medjai Chieftain was set to return to his time.  Perhaps her King would come after all.  It wasn't meant to be.  A mortal seer, one so feeble of body that he shook when he walked, had prayed to the goddesses and gods.  He prayed hard for the return of the woman to her lover.  Hathos and Isis had brought the woman over, had given her to her King.  Raiyur was furious and she summoned the help of Set.  He had his own scores to settle and the balance of good and evil would finally waiver on their side for now.  Yet, the Chieftain so pure of heart married his mortal woman, the woman who carried his child.  It had happened just as it had with Altair.

Raiyur watched from her position in between light and dark as the mortal woman gave birth to twins.  One of whom was a boy. Raiyur touched the boy, ensuring that he had the mark.  Perhaps if she couldn't have the Chieftain, she would some day have his son.  She didn't want the son, she wanted the father.  She wanted this Ardeth Bay more than she had wanted Altair Bay.  A hailstorm had fallen in the desert the moment Raiyur saw the mark inside Ardeth's wrist.  It was the same mark that Altair had had.  The warriors riding back to the village had to stop and run for cover.  Ardeth was one of them.  He had never seen such a vicious hailstorm in his life.  Somewhere, he was certain a goddess or god was displeased.  Raiyur would send minions for Ardeth's family.  However, it wouldn't be as easy.  The goddesses had touched Ardeth's woman.  Not only that, but she was also sensitive and could see things others could not.  Her mission would prove more difficult, but not impossible.  Ardeth would be hers.  She'd rid the world of his children, and send his whore back to the future where she belonged.  Once all the barriers were destroyed, this man would be hers.  She would destroy his vocal cords before she took him.  She would not lose another soul to Set.

*  *  *

Leven sat straight up, a scream just behind her lips.  She bit her lip, hard, to keep it inside.  If she let it out, she'd wake the babies and scare the hell out of her husband.  How long had they been in bed?  Two hours?  Four?  Her breathing began to settle and she ran her hands through her hair.  For a moment, she didn't move.  She normally remembered every dream she had, but this one eluded her.  Her hand was against her chest, as if she thought it would calm her beating heart.  Her breasts felt heavy and full.  The babies would awaken soon, demanding to be nursed.  Instead of settling back or waking her husband, she left the bed and moved toward her infants.  Neither of them had awakened just yet, but it would occur soon enough.  She gazed down at her babies, her beautiful little babies.  Both of them were so much like their father it almost hurt looking at them.  They had black hair, dark eyes, and sweet, gentle faces.  Born just a tad on the early side, they were so tiny, and had weighed no more than six pounds each at birth.  Yet, they were healthy and growing like little weeds.  She reached out and touched their tiny little fists, their skin as soft as silk.  She had never connected an actual life to herself, even when she knew she was pregnant.  It was difficult thinking it, difficult accepting it until she had begun to show.  Only then did she understand that yes, she was carrying a life inside her.  When she felt the first ripple, the reality had sunk in even further.  There were no modern devices here, nothing that would guarantee the health of the child.  There had only been healers, midwives, and attending women who had babies of their own.  It was Sahib who told her that she was carrying twins.  She didn't know how Sahib knew this, but as her stomach grew to mountainous proportions, it took little convincing.  Oh yes, she was carrying twins.  Either that, or she had one very large baby inside her. 

Leven remembered sending word to Ardeth at least two weeks before the actual labor pains had begun.  She was terrified.  She had never had a baby before, much less two of them.  She was aware that it would take that long to reach Ardeth and another several days for him to make it back.  By the ninth or tenth day, she became convinced she wasn't going to make it.  The labor pains began in the middle of the night and her attending woman, Sahib, went in search of the midwife.  She was delivered of two small, but healthy babies fifteen hours later.  Exhausted, she wasn't aware that her husband was no more than an hour away.  After Leven slept very, very briefly, Ardeth came to her, straight off his horse, still adorned in the robes, still armed with his scimitar.  She saw the concern in his eyes, and the expression on his face.  He felt so very destroyed that he had not been there for her.  She wouldn't let him do that.  Instead, she handed him his children, one by one and noticed that he had fallen so deeply in love, had probably been in love with them even before they were born. 

Ardeth, Adnan, and Azizah were the only family she had, just as she had told her husband.  Of course, she knew there were others in the future, but she hadn't been a part of them in several years.  She felt such very strong love for the three of them and would never give up that bond.  As if on cue, Adnan awoke first, followed by his sister.  It was time for them to nurse, and they were making their needs known to anyone around who would listen.  Not once had she ever felt like this in her life.  Now that she had it, she never wanted to let it go. 

"Where were you," Ardeth asked sleepily when she slipped into bed an hour or so later.

She snuggled up against him, face-to-face, belly-to-belly.  "The babies decided it was time to eat."

"I love you, Hafa," he said before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.  "Next time, wake me.  If one of us is tired, the other should be as well," he said with a gentle chuckle. 

"One of these days, you'll regret saying that," she said. 

"No."  He brought his hand up and ran a finger over her lips.  "I will not regret it.  Ever.  I was blessed.  First, with you and your love, and then our babies came and I felt even more blessed."

She kissed the finger running over her lips.  "I feel the same.  It was all so very scary at first, but it has eased now, and I couldn't be happier.  I'm so glad you're here with me, and it's going to hurt like hell when you leave again."

He kissed away the tear that had fallen out of her eye.  "We shall not think of that now.  We should focus on our love for each other and the children.  Do not put the word 'departure' in your mind.  I will not have it, I will not hear it coming from your beautiful lips."

She nodded slightly, knowing immediately that she would think it no matter what he said.  "Okay.  I'll work on it," she said with a little smile.  "I love you."

Ardeth smoothed her hair away from her cheek.  "And, Hafa, I love you."

When the couple fell asleep later, no dreams haunted either of them for the rest of the night.