ENDLESS PYRAMID

The day after Ardeth and Bart left, Waqi went to Laurel.  She was back inside the healer's tent with her mother.  Despite the fact that Tarita was conscious and speaking again, she had stayed with the woman ceaselessly.  There was much for the two women to speak about and Waqi didn't want to do it in front of anyone.  Today, Tarita was smiling a little.  Her face was still pale, but she looked much better than she had when Bart brought her.  Waqi visited briefly with Tarita before she glanced at her friend.

"Could I persuade you to go out to the pyramid today," Waqi asked Laurel.

Laurel smiled a little and shook her head.  "No, I shouldn't.  I think I'll stay here with Mother."

"No, Sesha, go," Tarita said.  "You sat with me far too long.  I'll be fine.  Go out.  Get some fresh air."

"Mother," Laurel said, beginning to protest.

"Really, Sesha.  I'm fine.  Go with your friend."

After finding another person to check in on Tarita every now and then, Laurel covered her head against the harsh sun and followed Waqi toward the gigantic pyramid that seemed to be an entrance marker to the village.  Laurel tried to ask Waqi what made her want to go to the pyramid today, but the other woman remained vague.  The only thing she did say was that today, she wanted to go inside.  Laurel still had issues with going into the massive crypt, but Waqi had assured her that it was proper and wouldn't cause the dead any unrest.  The part of the pyramid she wanted to show Laurel was back and away from the burial tomb.  Of course, the pyramid tour was only an excuse to get Laurel alone for a bit of 'girl talk.' 

Before they entered the inside of the great pyramid, Waqi gave Laurel a torch, took one for herself, and lit them both.  Laurel held her breath as she followed her friend inside.  Their torches provided little light, just enough to show them the way around without stumbling on their own feet.  Her father's daughter all the way, Laurel immediately became enthralled by the hieroglyphics on the walls.  She ran her fingers over the carvings and wondered how such elaborate sketching could have been done.  Amazing.  Almost reluctantly, she followed behind an insistent Waqi, stopping every few feet to examine something new.  They walked for what seemed like five hours before Waqi stopped.

"What is it," Laurel asked, alarmed.

"I think I have forgotten my way around.  I do not remember how to exit," she said.  She remembered all right, but she wouldn't 'remember' until they talked everything out. 

"Oh God," Laurel called out.  "So what do we do now?  Wait for some cursed mummy to come back to life and kill us?"

Waqi smiled a little.  "I do not think that will happen again…not for a while.  It is fine, Laurel.  I think we should sit and rest for a moment while I get my bearings."

Both women slid down into sitting positions along one of the interior walls.  They dug out deep trenches in the sand for their torches.  Laurel looked around the inside of the pyramid and noticed the tall ceilings and looming shadows.  She was quite ready to get the bloody hell out of here.  "Are you sure it's safe in here," Laurel asked nervously.

"Of course it is safe, Laurel.  Do not worry."  Waqi dug the tips of her toes into the sand, making a small trench, wondering how to approach what was on her mind.  "Laurel, I have always wanted to ask you a question, and I do not know why it never came up.  Somehow, I feel as if someone dear to you was lost."

Her heart began to thump sickly in her chest.  Was she asking about Ardeth?  Had she heard them?  Seen them?  "Someone dear to me in what way?"

"Did you lose a love?"

Laurel sighed.  Part of her wanted to spill it all out, but this was her friend, the woman set to marry the man she was just about to talk about to his fiancée.  However, she had to get it out, to say something.  "Yes," she said with a slight nod.  "I did.  I didn't know him for very long, but I fell in love with him, and he said he loved me.  I suppose it wasn't meant to be, because it's over now.  It's okay, though.  I suppose wherever he is, he's happy."

"Sounds very sad," she said.  "I am sorry.  Since you shared that with me, there is something I would like to share with you.  I told you some time ago that the Chieftain and I are to marry."  Laurel said nothing.  Continuing, Waqi said, "I am not happy with that arrangement.  I do not believe the Chieftain will be happy with me."

"Don't be ridiculous, Waqi," Laurel said, "Who wouldn't be happy with you?  You're a wonderful person."

Waqi smiled a little.  "That is very noble of you to say, Laurel.  I do not want to marry the Chieftain because I believe him to be in love with another and I would like to see him with her."  She paused for a moment and focused her eyes on Laurel's face.  She immediately noticed that her friend wasn't looking at her.  Laurel was staring down at her hands as if she were examining her fingernails.  Her normally dark face had paled considerably.  Her friend knew exactly whom she was talking about, but she would never say.  Waqi smiled a little and decided to speak for her.  "The love you lost, Laurel, was it Ardeth?"

"No," she said quickly, too quickly.  "I told you, I've never…"

"Met him before," Waqi finished for her.  "I have seen things here and there; heard things.  I am almost certain that the last contract was broken because he wanted to marry you.  I think this time it will be I who insists the contract be broken.  You are in love with him, are you not?"

"No," Laurel insisted.  "No.  You don't want to break the contract.  I won't let you do that.  You're wrong, please Waqi…no."

"No, Laurel," she began.  "It is all right.  You are my friend and I want to see you happy.  I am not losing anything.  You do not have to hide it from me or anyone else.  I see it in your eyes and his.  I will speak to his father, I am sure he knows his son loves you."  Not giving Laurel a chance to speak, she stood and picked up her torch.  "Come on.  We must get back."  Waqi smiled at the perplexed look on her friend's face.  "We are not lost.  I know how to get out.  We needed to talk."

*  *  *

The day was hot and the ride long.  Ardeth figured that once word spread about Tarita's shooting, Tehotu and Bishop would ride back toward Cairo.  He had only taken six of his men with them and he broke them up into two groups.  He, Bart, and his third, Jarrah, were riding toward Cairo.  The three men hadn't spoken much.  Each was in his own world.  Jarrah had left his wife behind who was expecting their first child.  Bart, of course, was thinking of Tarita.  Ardeth was consumed by thoughts of Laurel.  If Waqi hadn't walked in when she did, he was certain he would have kissed Laurel.  He had seen the look on her face.  She was expecting it, wanting it.  What was he to do now?  They rode until it was absolutely necessary to make camp.  The sky had grown black.  They each agreed to take turns guarding the camp in case the men wanted to launch an ambush attack.  Ardeth took the first watch and sat out alone, trying to keep his mind alert and blank.  He looked up when he saw Ustâd approaching.  It wasn't yet time for his watch.

"You should sleep while you can," Ardeth said.  "It will be a long night."

Bart nodded.  "I know, but I can't sleep.  I have a few things on my mind."  He sat quietly next to the young chieftain a few moments before deciding to speak, "You can tell me to mind my own business if you'd like, but I've always wanted to ask you a question.  What happened with you and my daughter?"

Ardeth almost smiled.  It would have been a wry, bitter one.  He wondered when the other man was going to bring it up.  It had taken a lot longer than he expected.  "I am not sure.  We have truly hurt each other beyond sanity, and I am not sure what will happen."

"I do know one thing," Bart began, "her reasoning for not following her heart was because she didn't want to drag you away from tradition.  She didn't want you to marry outside your people.  We had a very long talk and I was mentioning how centuries ago, one of my forebears was a Chieftain's second in command.  Basically, she and I both are of your people.  After that conversation, Laurel tore off to the village to talk to you, but she came back a little worse for wear.  And now…well…she has been torn up about something else."

Ardeth absorbed his words slowly.  "She stayed away because of that," he asked carefully.  Bart nodded, but said nothing.  The man sitting beside him was Laurel's father, and he felt uncomfortable approaching the subject, but he wouldn't rest until he knew.  Taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly, he asked, "When you found Laurel, did she mention anything about seeing a physician?"

It was a bizarre question, one Bart would have never expected.  "She said that Reginald made her go.  He apparently read her diary and assumed that she might be having a baby, but she wasn't."

Suddenly, the embarrassment of having to ask such a delicate question began to fade.  It was replaced with an intense feeling of grief.  Ardeth swallowed hard.  "No?  Tehotu and the man with him, Bishop, told me that she was with child and that she…"

"Nothing of the sort happened, Ardeth.  She told her mother everything and then she told me."

Ardeth could say nothing.  His body froze in shock and he felt his brain prickling, trying to catch up to the words the other man had spoken.  The horrible things he said, the terrible things he did.  She would never forgive him, and he would eternally understand.  He had listened to the poison of two vile men, had allowed it to enter his brain.  She had tried to tell him the truth, but he hadn't wanted to listen.  To you now, I am dead.  He remembered saying the words, nearly spitting them at her.  Her face had been white with shock and her eyes had grown large in disbelief.  How could he have hurt her so?  Would he ever have the opportunity to beg her forgiveness?  Could he ever do that?  He was completely and utterly destroyed inside, but could only imagine how she felt. 

*  *  *

When Waqi and Laurel returned to the village, they parted ways.  Laurel went back to her mother to see how she was doing.  Tarita was smiling up at her when Laurel came to her side.  "Did you enjoy your prospecting, Sesha?  You're just like your father."

Did I?  She took her mother's hand and began stroking it again.  "Oh, Mother, the young woman I was with knows how I feel about Ardeth.  She is the one Ardeth is set to marry.  She says she's going to his father to break the contract.  I can't let her do that.  I insisted that I didn't love him, but she won't listen to anything I say.  What have I done?  I don't want to ruin her wedding."

"Do you think she never knew, Sesha?  It's obvious when you look at each other.  I think you and your warrior need to be together."

She shook her head.  "I don't think that's going to happen now, Mother."

*  *  *

Tehotu and Bishop were riding toward Cairo to lay in wait for the men they were sure was following them.  However, the desert sand began to kick up something fierce.  The wind began to blow and visibility was almost down to zero.  The two men were quite close to the oasis that had given life and taken one away.  The men dismounted and moved off into the protection of the oasis.  Apparently the sand hadn't begun to touch the trees yet. 

"We won't be able to move until the sandstorm stops," Bishop called to Tehotu through the howling wind. 

The two men made a run for it and dove into the trees.  Stupidly, they thought it would provide cover, but it didn't.  The sand continued to blow into their faces and bite into their skin, stinging them.  It grew thicker and thicker around them, and nothing they did kept it out of their eyes or mouths.  The wind picked up, nearly carrying the men away with it.  Both Bishop and Tehotu each took hold of nearby trees and wrapped their arms around them.  Crazily enough, the wind picked up even harder, lifting the men off the ground.  Tehotu had experienced one hurricane in his life, and this sandstorm was exactly like that.  He didn't like it.  As if the sand had grown hands, both men felt strong fingers gripping their arms, pulling them away from the trees.  One stream of stand swallowed up Bishop.  The other finished Tehotu.

*  *  *

When Bart entered the healer's tent a day later, he smiled when he saw that Tarita was sitting up.  She appeared fabulously healthy.  He had thought he would never see her again.  Without the slightest hesitation, he approached the cot where she lay and took her into his embrace.  A moment later, his lips were on hers.  Suddenly, Laurel felt very uncomfortable and perhaps unwelcome.  She started to rise and leave, but Ardeth's presence in the tent stopped her.  She settled back down again and noticed that he felt as uncomfortable as her.  At almost the same time, Ardeth and Laurel glanced at Bart and Tarita before gazing at each other for a very brief moment.

Bart drew away from Tarita and glanced at Laurel.  "We found Tehotu and Bishop.  They were dead.  I have no idea what killed them, but we buried them out in the desert."

Laurel nodded.  "Okay."  She stood.  "I'll leave you two alone.  I need some air."  She moved away and slipped past Ardeth. 

Ardeth nodded toward Laurel's parents and followed closely behind.  "Laurel," he called.  "Would you talk to me?"

She stopped and turned around.  "Do we have a few minutes to kill before you die again?"

Her voice was bitter and hurt.  "Laurel, I am sorry for that.  Your father told me the truth and I know there is no way for me to make it up to you."

"How would you…could you…think I'd do something like that?  I can't understand how you could believe those bastards over me," she said.  "You're not thinking.  Neither of us has been thinking.  We've both been stupid, idiotic children, but I love you so much I can't see straight."

Ardeth made a step toward her and she moved a step back in kind.  "I love you, too."

"It's too late," she said. 

"No," he said, "it is not.  I am asking for a lot, I know, but I beg for your forgiveness."

She sighed.  "It's okay.  You don't have to beg.  I could see how it would look like I had done something, but I didn't, and would never.  It's okay, Ardeth."

"If there was no contract, would you stay," he asked.

She nodded.  "I would, but that point is moot, isn't it?  Thank you for what you did for my mother."

Before he could reply, she moved past him and entered the healer's tent.  He followed a moment later.  Laurel smiled a little as she watched her parents.  To her, their joining again so many years after they parted was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.  Taken aback by Bart and Tarita's oblivious love for each other, she tore her eyes off them, allowing them some semblance of privacy.  She glanced over at Ardeth and found that his dark eyes had sought hers, held them captive, and would be hard pressed to free them.  Yet they, as well as he, belonged to someone else, and if they wouldn't free her, she would free herself.

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To be continued…