Rick hurried in his current direction in his futile search for Ardeth. He had already searched for some time with no luck at all.
"Where could you be Ardeth? This place is so huge, you could be anywhere. Those two could be anywhere," he muttered to himself.
He stopped the camel and gazed around the desert once more until he saw something in the distance. Something glittering in the golden sun. It appeared to be in a speck of green
"What on Earth is that out here in the middle of the desert?" he wondered as he started the camel back up once more and headed for whatever was in the distance.
00000
Ardeth was slowly going in and out of conscious in the scorching sun, the three men carefully watching his every move.
'I feel like I'm going to be sick again,' he thought to himself as he put a hand on his head and looked down at the sand.
"What's wrong? You sick or something?" asked Thransh with a laugh.
"If he is, the leader going to have much fun with him," Carasy snickered.
"Look, we're almost there," Rasca told them, pointing ahead of them.
Ardeth glanced back up to see what the man was talking about only to see several tents appearing in the distance. His eyes widened as they became closer.
Ardeth gasped as he saw people milling about, doing everyday chores.
'There's an entire village here. How come we never came across them before now? We do, after keep an eye on the area around Hamunaptra and the surrounding temples,' he wondered, his mind filling with questions that he knew he couldn't possibly ask yet or would get answers for.
Rasca stopped his horse by a tent. Geb had no choice but to stop since he was bound with a rope that the man held. Thransh also stopped his horse. Carasy kept going past the tent.
"Carasy will go find our leader so he will know you are here. He will have much pleasure in knowing you are here. And also knowing him, he will not be gentle with you. He never is with anybody," Rasca told him with a huge smile on his face.
A feeling of dread came over Ardeth once he heard those words as he allowed the man to force him into a nearby tent.
00000
Rick jumped off the camel once he arrived at the oasis. He glanced from side to side, looking for whatever he saw just moments earlier. He scratched his head in confusion.
"Now what did I just see and where is it now?" he asked himself quietly.
He wandered over to a nearby rock where he noticed a patch of oddly coloured sand.
"Now that's weird," he said as he knelt by it.
He reluctantly put his fingers in it and lifted it up to his nose. He sniffed it and scruched his nose in disgust. He shook his hand to get it off.
"Disgusting. It smells like...vomit. Ardeth must've been here then. He's either sick or it's from the concussion. I've got to find him before he gets even worse," Rick said with a sigh before climbing back to his feet.
He turned towards the camel to continue the search for Ardeth when he heard a growl coming from behind him. He turned around to see where it was coming from only to be greeted by claws and fur.
00000
Evie watched as Sharak climbed onto the horse. He pretended not to notice her as he did so.
"Sharak, why won't you talk to me?" she asked him.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"Ever since this morning, you've been avoiding me. I just want to know what's wrong," she told him as she neared the horse.
Sharak was facing the horse the entire time although the last statement made him face her.
"You really want to know Evelyn?" he said.
She nodded as he turned away from her.
"It's you and your husband. You have been our allies since you defeated The Creature more than ten years ago. I was against it from the beginning when the others agreed to it. Marok followed my opinion ever since he could understand what was happening. As for Catlanda..." he started.
"...she was trained not to trust foreigners as they were not of her people, the Medjai. They are not to help her, but are probably after the Spire or jewel," Evie finished for him with a nod of the head. "Yes, I know the story."
Sharak's eyes widened with this news.
"She trusts us because she knows we don't want either thing. Soon after the incident with Ramses over a year ago, Rick began to trust her as she did him. Marok learned that same lesson a few months ago when he went to London and Rick talked some sense into him," Evie told him.
Sharak looked away from her before leading the away horse from her.
"I know where he'll be headed," he said before heading into the desert.
Evie watched him leave.
"Just make sure all three of them come back alive," Evie whispered. "And Rick as well."
00000
Ardeth was patiently inside one of the tents, although in much pain. His shoulders began to hurt to no end, his head was spinning around in circles and his stomach felt upside-down. He feared he would vomit again. He already did once since his arrival at the camp.
Suddenly, somebody walked into the tent, blinding him with the bright sun. It was Carasy and he was holding a sword in his hand.
"Get up. Our leader will see you now," he commanded.
Ardeth slowly climbed to his feet and walked out of the tent. Carasy was leading the way as Rasca stood behind them.
The Medjai was getting several stares and whispers.
"Who is that?" he heard one say.
"Don't know. They must be taking him to see the leader. I just hope he lives through the ordeal," another said to a friend.
"He looks dangerous," a third said.
It felt to Ardeth that a rock was dumped into his stomach. He didn't know if it was feeling sick or from the statements he just heard.
The three walked up to a tent and stopped in front of it. The man in front of Ardeth faced him.
"You will wait out here until you are called inside. I will tell him you're here," he replied before walking inside.
He disappeared before anything else could be said or done. Soon, Ardeth was pushed face first onto the ground inside the tent. He held his churning stomach and winced a bit in pain as he lifted himself to his knees.
"Must be a sickness. It has to be," he muttered to himself.
"Well I'll be. It's the great Ardeth Bay, finally coming to see me. It is my honour," came a voice.
Ardeth looked to where the voice was coming from. He saw a tall man standing before him.
"I know you recognize me," he said as a woman walked up behind him. "Myself and this lovely woman right here next to me."
Ardeth stared at the two people before him. Even through the cloth on the man's face, he still recognized the fire in the man's eyes
"No. It can't be you two. Both of you should be..." he started, trying to squirm away from them.
"Dead? Were you going to say 'dead'? No we didn't die Ardeth. Now it's your turn to pay the price," he said to him as he walked closer to the injured Medjai.
TBC...