Speak Softly
The Path of Traitors

1935: Ardeth Bay is resurrected from the dead. He awakens to a world vastly different, to familiar faces changing and to the knowledge that he is Egypt's final hope for freedom.

He also finds out just how far love and despair can take him.

~~~~~~~

His awakening was quick and painful from bruises covering various places on his body, but that was nothing compared to the guilt and anger he felt at himself for not getting her out faster. He had been so careful in his search of the castle and firm in resolve to save her, but the weight on his heart had struck him down like a sword, weakening him in her light. What had he been thinking, letting their precious moments slip away for soft talk and arguments? The Med-Jai exhaled sharply. He had been thinking of love and failure and need. Proof that he could carry on and that his failure did not decrease his worth. Ardeth cursed his needs and opened his eyes. He could only hope Evy would not suffer for his foolishness. He was a warrior; he was supposed to be better than this. What had death and resurrection done to him? He should have grabbed her first without greeting, kidnapped her away and allowed for his need to wait until they were safely on the road.

He had been thrown onto a cot in a cold, stone cell beneath the castle and shoved against the bars to have his wrists bound tightly around one. His head ached from the blow as he slowly straightened and groaned as his body protested. Nothing was broken, mercifully, but he held little doubt that would change soon. Not even a cut marred him, though his little beating had been dirty. A precursor to what was sure to follow when Imhotep got a hold of him. The priest was furious, betrayed and fighting to keep himself contained. His possession of Evy was again threatened, but it was more now. Some of his more private illusions had just been shattered by a servant's wake up call. The servant was now dead. He could feel the blood on Imhotep's clenched hands.

But there was more to worry about than his mere life. Ardeth's eyes hit something in the dim shadows of a cell across from him. She had not heeded him, not betrayed him to win her own life and hurt him with what could happen to her because of that. Evelyn lay upon the floor of her cell with her wet dress clinging to her, unmoving and possibly unconscious. Yanking on the chains did no good. After a futile try, Ardeth curled his fingers around the bar central to his bondage and pulled it in frustration, but lost the will. Laying his head against it, he turned his eyes on her and wondered the extent of her injuries. Had she been hurt? Touched wrongly? A part of him was afraid to know. I have failed again. I do not belong to this earth anymore.

Yet he had to know. He had to be strong and face evil, if only to comfort her before whatever Imhotep would do to them. So he called her softly and it was enough. "Ardeth?" Her voice was small, but she gathered enough will to sit up. There was a purple bruise marring her cheek. "Ardeth, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he told her, though his body ached from the rain of blows dealt by the hilt of guns. "How are you? What did they do?"

She shook her head, reaching up to feel her face. "That guard hit me. Knocked me out. I don't think they did anything else. I don't feel anything wrong." Evelyn's dark eyes swept the row of cells that surrounded, dimly lit and stark. "What happened? Did they say anything to you? I woke up a few minutes ago, but I didn't want draw attention to myself."

Ardeth gripped the bar and pulled himself straighter, also taking in their hopeless surroundings. "I only just woke myself. When I was brought here they said nothing. I lost consciousness before they brought you." The queen looked so fragile, fear written all over the way she held herself.

She looked into his eyes, communicating with him a wish that things would be different, but they both knew what was going to happen. Someone was going to die, perhaps both of them. Bay looked around again, as if an opportunity would bring him some answer to this, some way of escape, but he could see none. Imhotep himself hadn't made the choice yet of what was to be done to them, but whatever decision was made would be a rash one. He wasn't in the right frame of mind for rational planning. And he was coming.

Ardeth could sense it now, unhidden. Rage, betrayal, pain. Vengeance. All these things boiled in the king that now walked towards them. The blessing Ardeth had gifted Imhotep with was buried beneath the king's hate or had quite possibly burnt out. He could not tell, but even if some small glimmer of good were left in the priest it would surface too late. In his eyes Evelyn looked for hope, but to say anything of the sort would prove a lie soon enough.

Long moments passed and he could do nothing but watch her and savor what last bit of her life was left for him to see. Ardeth lowered his head, knowing his heart was open for Imhotep to read and knowing also that nothing would stay that anger. Imhotep hated him, but it was Evy's betrayal that fueled his need for revenge.

Ardeth gripped the bar tightly as finally a door down the long hall opened. Every so often since his return he entertained the idea that maybe he had been reawakened not to earth, but to hell. Imhotep was sending him images of watching Evelyn suffer and Ardeth knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent any of them from happening. How could hell be any worse?

The priest's footfalls echoed through the dungeon as he approached them with a fast and firm gait. He entered their view with a woman close behind and several attendants. The woman's smile was not unlike Imhotep's had been once upon a time: self-satisfied and smug, and her black robes offset her pale, golden hair in as unholy a contrast as evil on such a beautiful face as hers. He found the power lust in those cold eyes distasteful as she sneered at Evy.

"My king," she began, unable to disguise the enjoyment she was feeling. "I present to you your enemy and your queen. Both guilty of treason. The queen was found in the arms of this man in her bathhouse and brought here for your judgment. If I may suggest, my lord, perhaps exe…"

Imhotep turned his cold glare upon her and the priestess closed her mouth, not in fear, but deference. The king raised his hand and pointed to her, intolerance bleeding off him like an open wound. "If you speak again, Celestine, you will die." Bay watched her nod curtly and hide a smile behind her red lips.

When he turned back, his eyes fell on Evy and Ardeth thought to turn the heat on himself in the hope that she might somehow be spared and find mercy. "Will you now kill me?" he challenged, but the look on Imhotep's face suggested he knew his enemy's motives. Wordlessly the king drew his foot back and kicked Ardeth's fingers, exposed on the front side of the pole he had gripped. The Med-Jai bit back a groan and glared up at his enemy.

Imhotep ignored him and went to Evy's cell, standing before it with a threatening demeanor as he growled, "How dare you do this to me! How dare you repay my mercy and generosity like this!" A booted foot collided against the cell bars as he waited for her answer.

Holding her unzipped dress up Evelyn drew herself to her knees with such a lowly, frightened expression that Ardeth nearly turned away. Seeing her with such fear in her eyes made him ache inside, which only served to irritate Imhotep further, but he couldn't help his own emotions. "I only wanted to say good-bye to him," she answered, barely above a whisper as she tried to reason with insanity. "We didn't even get to do that. Please understand. I wasn't going to leave you."

The king held out a hand and immediately a key was passed into it. Evelyn backed away from the cell door as Imhotep unlocked it. "You expect me to believe this?" he hissed, ripping the door open.

Ardeth had to do something, anything to cause a distraction and save her from whatever terrible fate Imhotep was formulating. But there was nothing, not with his wrists bound so close together or from within his cell. Bay knit his brow and yanked on the bar angrily. "Be a man, Imhotep! Only cowards take out their revenge on guiltless women. You know she is being honest. You feel it in my heart."

Imhotep turned from her with unconcealed hatred written on his features and stance. But it was getting through, he could tell. The dread king could not hide that. "It is true," he said finally, burning his glare onto Ardeth. "She tried to stay and make you leave."

This did not please the woman Imhotep had called 'Celestine'. With a dark scowl she stepped forward and retorted, "Guiltless? My King, you believe this? That two people within each other's arms, her dress coming off her body and his shirt open, did not intend to betray you? She has committed adultery after all you have given her!"

"For the sake of love!" Ardeth shot back hotly, causing a guard to hit the bars above his hands in warning. He settled back down onto his cot. "A love we have been denied because a selfish king has demanded it so! What if Seti had lived, Imhotep? Would you have had him punish Ancksunamun as you would punish Nefertiri?"

Imhotep's eyes blazed at the mention of his lost love and he curled his fingers in renewed pain. Ardeth looked beyond him at Evy, who stood against the wall and waited, fearing he had said the wrong thing. But it moved the priest to leave her cell and lock it behind him. Evy rushed to the front as Imhotep approached Ardeth's and paced before it with loud, purposeful steps. "My Lord!" Celestine snapped, not bothering to hide her malcontent with this decision. "Will you leave this unpunished?"

"No, Priestess, I will not," he replied, keeping eye contact with Ardeth as he opened the cell door. Rage smoldered in those depths and the Med-Jai tensed in anticipation. The king's anger would be visited upon someone whether or not he accepted that they were just as he and Ancksunamun a lifetime ago. His spoke coolly, but the underlying feelings within were not lost upon a soul in the depths. The king hovered over him. "All sinners against the crown of a pharaoh must be punished. All of them. How shall I punish you, sinner?"

To that Ardeth said nothing, but he could not hide the fear within him, nor the glare that graced his vision at the arrogance of this beast. The dreams did nothing to cool the anger when faced with what could happen to he and Evelyn. Imhotep drank in his emotions in triumph as he cocked his head, regarding his prisoner. "So cold is your expression. Med-Jai, what would you have me do? Release all who defy me?"

"I would have you examine your actions and compare them to a man three-thousand years ago who held a woman against her will," Bay answered low, trying to keep control of his tones for fear of making this situation worse. All that mattered was Evelyn at this point. He knew his fate was sealed. "Think on him, Imhotep, and what mercies you would have had him give."

The reply to that was as he expected. Firm, if touched by sorrow of remembrance, and final. "Seti was a king, not a man. I understand this now. I will not be weakened by a comparison. Once has mercy come for you and you forsook it. You shall make penance for the treason against my sovereignty."

"No!" Evy cried, holding the bars with horrified eyes. Ardeth watched her tremble and wondered what would happen to her once he was gone. "I'll do anything, Imhotep. I'll let you do anything to me, have anything. Please, don't do this."

Imhotep began unlocking Ardeth's wrists with a cold look aimed at his wife and hissed, "Hold your tongue, Nefertiri. I have no patience for you."

With blazing, tearful eyes Evy opened her mouth and Ardeth tensed, fearing she would get herself into further trouble. Yet he could sense the king's will that she be allowed, that he could know the extent of her loyalty. She was entering an unseen test, but spoke too soon for the Med-Jai to warn her. "Did you honestly think I would fall in love with you?" Her harsh tone resonated in the now quiet. No one spoke or made any sound, all waiting for Imhotep to respond. "I can never love you, you monster! All I wanted…and you can't…" She trailed off under a glare from her husband.

The priest yanked Ardeth to his feet with grave mental warnings of what would happen should he struggle, so Bay remained subdued for the time being. The impending explosion of anger towards Evy was instead low, sinister and detached. "This Med-Jai knew what could befall him should he test my anger, Nefertiri, and he accepted it when he chose to trespass into this castle. You wished for a farewell and that is what you shall have, my dearest possession."

With an angry expression Imhotep jerked Ardeth from facing her and shoved his back against the bars. "Hold him!" he hissed and a guard took Ardeth's wrists as they were forced through the bars above him, holding him to whatever Imhotep wanted to do.

The king pulled a silver knife from his belt, causing his queen to gasp desperately, "No!" but there would be no mercy given this time. Ardeth forced himself to relax and bear this, recognizing in the other that the intent here was not for death or torture, but some other momentary thing Imhotep wanted done.

Quickly and without compassion, Imhotep slashed across his stomach and thighs, drawing a groan from his captive. Then Bay was released to examine his wounds on the filthy floor. He could see the gashes weren't fatally deep, but if untreated had the potential to kill through loss of life's blood. His enemy paced above him. "You have failed in your destiny, Ardeth Bay. Your blood shall paint the floor." He gripped Ardeth's shoulders with inhuman strength, forced him to his feet and shoved him out into the dim hallway, calling for Evy to be freed from her cell.

When she raced out Imhotep grabbed her arm, stopping her from seeing about him or helping him up. "You may crawl or walk, but you will be given no aid."

And the Med-Jai asked for none. Imhotep swept past him, dragging her with him towards the entrance to the upstairs, clearly expecting to be followed. "Get up, Med-Jai beast," the woman Celestine spat, kicking his hip with her heeled shoe. Half tempted to grab her leg and yank her down with him, Ardeth glared up, but did nothing to make this situation worse. If he endured perhaps Imhotep would calm down and do nothing to Evelyn. There had to be a chance for her, for Rick to save her or Jonathan.

So he got up and took an aching step, feeling blood trickle down his legs and stomach. When they came to the door and the stairs that led up, he faltered with the pain on the first step. "Bring him," Imhotep hissed impatiently, pulling his pleading queen up with him. Two guards silently came to either side of him and helped him stand, but offered no more help than that. Gripping a metallic rail, Ardeth tried again and drew a sharp breath as the slash across his thigh ripped a little further from the pressure.

An eternity later they reached the main floor. Hands wrapped around Ardeth, forcing him to follow as Imhotep led the procession through the dim and into the main hall. At this time of night mostly servants and guards could be found and those who were about stopped to stare at the group, some wearing expressions of pity and others of mockery and contempt. One young lady holding a rag moved to wipe the trail of blood behind Ardeth, but Imhotep pointed his dagger at her with a firm expression, and then looked into the faces of each of his servants. "Leave this blood here to mark the path of traitors. Let it stain the stones beneath his feet and serve as a reminder of what befalls any who come against me." The gathered silenced their low chatter and bowed their heads in acquiescence.

He was shoved again and saw the path becoming familiar. They were leading him to the back where he had entered. A blast of freezing air swept over them as Imhotep opened the grand, golden doors, then accepted a heavy cloak from a following guard. He and his sentries were dressed for the weather outside, but Ardeth and Evy were not. A horrible death would await him if he were left in such conditions.

Outside the snow glistened from the lights illuminating the palace. The oppressive sky seemed to mourn for them, sending soft tears of light snow as Imhotep dragged his queen down the staircase and to a path below leading into the darkness beyond the castle's main courtyard. Of all the horrible things that could await him, the only thing Ardeth thought of at that moment was how Evy's bare feet would freeze. He himself was already starting to feel the ache of his shivering, tense body, held tightly from the cold.

As nearness provided sight a stone archway with tall, dead hedges creating a path beyond could be seen, reminding him of the maze he had beaten at the foot of his tomb. It seemed ironic that he would be lead from death the same way he was being led to it. Perhaps this was poetic justice for his failure to meet destiny.

When his eyes hit the structure in the center of the yard, he knew there would be no break from the cold, either. The small building looked like the ruins of a tomb with stones missing and windows busted out. There was no mistaking what Imhotep was leaving him to. He would be left to die from the weather in the ruined building ahead, cold and alone in his final hours. His death would not be an easy one.

Evy began to stumble and stagger through the snow and her husband offered no help, making her walk on likely numb feet upon the frozen ground. Ardeth wanted to run to her, but the blind servants of this evil being would never allow it. They held to his cuffed wrists, two of them, and two behind with grips on his shoulders, forcing him along the path to his death. Snowflakes landed gently on his face, perhaps the last softness he would ever enjoy if he weren't allowed to touch her again and the wind howled constantly, searing its sorrow into his memory.

Behind a creaking concrete doorway Imhotep pulled his wife into the darkness. The guards were ordered in a cold tone to lead him in and once inside the small, shadowy tomb, he was held while the priest took in their surroundings. In one corner a papery form sat stiffly against the wall, molded and mummified by the freezing conditions—a chilling testament to what Imhotep wanted his enemy to suffer. A breeze howled through the open windows, burning Ardeth's flesh.

"Your tomb, Ardeth Bay, where your destiny dies and you become nothing," Imhotep breathed into the dark, demanding his enemy's attention. "Alone did you arise and alone shall you pass away."

But something demanded the attention of both men with a greater force. Her voice was small, but gravely firm. "Not alone." Evy yanked her arm away from her husband finally and stared with resolved eyes. She repeated it again and Imhotep's brow narrowed.

"You would choose this long, terrible death over what I offered before?" he hissed sharply.

Ardeth shook his head, but she would not take notice of it as she sentenced herself to death. "Yes I would."

"So be it." Ardeth jerked in the arms of his captors, sensing the intent before a hand was raised, but he was too weak, too cold to stop Imhotep when he slapped Evelyn with the strength of his anger. Immediately she succumbed to unconsciousness, falling down near a pile of snow beneath the window. There Imhotep left her and approached his Med-Jai captive. Ardeth's wrists were unlocked and the king ripped him from the guards, throwing him beside Evy to leave him to die with his lover.

~~~~~~~

It was prettier than sand by far. Far more pleasing to the eye when light touched it and far more painful to a man's warm flesh. Imhotep watched it fall from the sky absently, trying to calm his senses from what had just taken place. Bay had deserved his fate, been warned and only received that which he had earned. Nefertiri had chosen her fate. They were unworthy of this heaviness inside and of his pain.

This had been expected. Of course it had been expected. She was not his wife. Not in the emotional sense. In that way neither was he her husband, for if he were he would have let her go long ago. Imhotep's fist curled against the stone windowsill as he let his eyes grace the forest beyond his fortress walls. It did not stop the want of something that welled up inside. What it was, he did not know. Surely he was not so foolish as to believe he could ever have won her love. No, love was something given to those who were not as he was. But he was so empty inside.

The High Priest of Osiris rarely ever let the wetness of grief touch his midnight eyes or his tanned cheeks. Not unless he was vastly moved to such an act would he ever allow himself to shed tears. Tears were not for kings and men of high station. They were for the weak willed and for women and children.

His childhood had been harsh; having been abandoned at a young age to be raised by the priests of Osiris, who taught him their ways and taught him well, or else he would win the rod of the High Priest himself. Most of the orphaned boys living there at the temple had cried and been thoroughly ashamed when dragged from their studies to the High Priest's office, it being announced to all that they had wronged and would be righted at the end of a tall staff he kept for just such an occasion. Most, but not Imhotep.

For the greater part he had been a passive child, doing all that was expected of him and more to the point of pain and exhaustion, but when he did allow himself the courage of testing the High Priest's anger, Imhotep had done so because he believed he was right and proudly took his punishments without tears and without regret, for he saw winning the highly regarded man's attention as an honor, not a shame. Such had quickly won him a place in the aging man's heart and by the time Imhotep grew into a man and respected priest, it was given to him the responsibility of taking his place. For he was strong and wise and most worthy to take the title.

Such had won him the esteem of his king. Seti had seen the strength in his priest and had decided to keep this man a friend rather than an enemy. Up until Imhotep had wanted Ancksunamun that was. Unbeknownst to Imhotep at the time, she was being chosen in Seti's heart for something greater than servant to the household. They had fallen in love and neither knew they would be denied until they had gotten in too deep.

He had never known any family except the High Priest and even he had been distant, more a teacher than father. But this woman had disarmed him completely and shown him that his heart could open further if he allowed it. Pharaoh wanted for an artifact held in the home of an enemy and knowing this, Imhotep had left to retrieve it, hoping to win Seti's favor and the chance to ask his king for a reward.

He had succeeded in his quest, had taken a beating from the guards without tears and had dragged himself back to Thebes painfully to give his king his gift. And lavish with his thanks, Seti was. After having been treated for his wounds, a celebration in his honor had been thrown and there Seti had offered his faithful priest anything in the kingdom his heart desired. Ancksunamun was his bounty and when the name passed his lips all had become silent.

Seti smiled patiently and shook his head, informing his priest that she had already been chosen as his very own bride while he was away and none may touch her. Imhotep had been furious, had been heartbroken that his love had been stolen from him, but that night he did not cry, nor did he allow his anger to be known. He denied any and all gifts, saying that his servitude was reward enough and oh, how Seti had taken that loyalty to heart.

In the darkness of the temple Imhotep had let his rage consume him until he could no longer stand to be away from her. All the treasure in Egypt, all the favor of the gods paled in comparison to the love of Ancksunamun. The night she killed herself to escape Seti's abuse Imhotep had not cried, though he had come very close.

Then had come the most devastating blow to him up to that point. Rameses was gone on business, Seti dead and that left Nefertiri in the precarious position of tending to matters until such a time as her brother could be returned. His betrayal of his student had cut deep and in haste she had given in to the suggestion of a man known for his hatred of Imhotep. The Hom-Dai. The night he had been told of his fate he had been hurt that she would be so cruel with him and frightened more than any other time in his life, but no tears had been shed even then. He took the grievous curse unwillingly, but without weakness.

A year ago had met his tears with Ancksunamun's death at the hands of the Scorpion King. Word was sent that she had been brutalized severely, ravished and tormented, her body maimed until there was nothing left to resurrect. That night her finger was sent to him and he had cried bitterly for the loss in the privacy of his tent, knowing what she had suffered, knowing he would have to wait until she reincarnated again to raise her if she were even granted that chance again.

But time passed and with that, his drive for her. There was nothing he could do but wait and pray. And other things began stirring his spirit, another woman for whom he had lusted before Ancksunamun. Perhaps he would have even asked his king for her instead, had he not been moved by the concubine's love. He had no intentions of trying to win Nefertiri's heart. She despised him for the things he did and at times he felt his lust was betraying the memory of the woman he did love, but one night he could not contain his need for something more. He took what he felt was owed him.

She had cried during and after, but he had been soft with her, pretending she was perhaps Ancksunamun or someone else. It had not mattered that night as it did now. She had given him a few moments away from the pain of living without his lover and that had been all he needed. So naturally he had not cried or even felt pain when she ran away and slept with his enemy. It was a small matter, requiring little punishment.

Why now the temptation came he did not know, but it made the king greatly furious to endure such a shameful entertainment as that. Imhotep touched his fingers to the chilly pane and closed his eyes, admitting to his heart that he knew what drew his weakness. He was a monster. Damned to nothingness and filled with blinding dark. Ardeth Bay's blessing had shown him this blatantly and without any comfort. He was nothing in the face of the gods. No, he had never expected Evelyn Carnahan would ever come to love him, but the peace between them had filled the king with a longing he had not felt since after Ancksunamun had passed away.

Perhaps even in time, he had imagined, she may have grown to care for him on some level, but he now knew the folly of that thinking.

She would never care for him. Not on any level. Ever. No one would. The love between Nefertiri and Ardeth burned brightly, searing his mind and leaving him empty and filled with despair; for he knew he would never be loved like that. Never. The only woman who had ever felt that way and could ever love him through this incessant darkness had been taken from him, a punishment from the gods, no doubt. With an enraged cry he kicked over a nearby table and sent its contents flying.

Women would throw themselves at him, but he would never see that sparkle in their eyes like his lover had given him, like Nefertiri gave his enemy. Imhotep covered his lips and closed his eyes again, feeling physically ill and truly afraid for the first time since the beginning of this. Time stretched bleakly before him endlessly and offered no hope of fulfillment. The light was beautiful, but this holy blessing brought down upon him suffering unlike he had ever suffered before. And even in the face of that he knew he deserved it for his crimes, for he had let go of far more than Seti.

He was darkness and shadow, his curse preventing him from ever feeling that which had given him the punishment in the first place and there was nothing he could do. He had no hope of ever feeling love's light warming him and the knowledge made the strong High Priest of Osiris give himself over to the weakness of tears.

"Ancksunamun, what shall I do?" Imhotep whispered like a forgotten prayer, wishing this depth of emotion would be taken from him. He craved for what he could never have and in that craved for the solace in darkness once more.

But the comfort would never come to him. It was too late for that. He could not stop Bay's gift from consuming him with truth and that fact burned inside him as he victimized another piece of furniture with his kick. This time it was a candle stand that toppled over and Imhotep watched the vanilla burning wax split into two pieces. Like his heart. Like his future.

"Die painfully, Ardeth Bay, for this curse you have lain upon me," he hissed, but it did no good against the discontent he felt. He knew nothing of what he wanted anymore. To do this terrible thing to Nefertiri and her lover and willingly embrace being a monster, or to be weak? His rage dissipated into sorrow as he revisited what had been done to him so long ago.

No mercy.

~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: No infringement intended. Nashean, Sajul/Necromancer, Arya, Layla, Sania, Reyhanen and Celestine (and a few dead/less significant originals) belong to me.

A/N: Hmm…despite my misgivings about this, I post anyway. I hope it's not going too far too fast, but there's only 3 more chapters so I spose it's gotta go somewhere. :-O

To Reviewers:

Liz – Well, we've all got our tastes. :-D Thanks for reviewing that you could appreciate the writing anyway…it's much appreciated! :-) Thanks!

Deana – Thanks! Glad you liked the last-minute revisions I didn't swing past ya! Yes, Immy will killllllllllll theeeeem! Muahahaha! ;-) Cause he's so cute when he's killin'.

Marcher – Hehe…yepper peppers, cannonballs away! Muahaha. ;-) Thanks for the compliments and the read, my friend! :-) I'll be adding your stuff to my site…as well as a story belonging to Dead-Girls-Watch…been sorta lax on that. :-O Doh! Thanks! Glad Captain's on the way, if a little slow. Whatever makes it perfect, ya know! :-D Looking forward to it!

Raptor – Thanks for the drop by! Greatly appreciated! Hope you continue to enjoy. :-)

Dead-Girls-Watch – Thankie, my friend! Glad you liked this. Glad it was worth it and I thank you for saying so. :-) Hope all is well with you…and I'll be adding your chapter to my site tonight…sorry about the wait. :-O

Marxbros – hehehe..shot Evy, now there's a thought. I reread it and it does sound like that's what could have happened. Doh! Silly me. Hehehe…well, thank goodness it was only a hit, eh? Anyway, I hope your trip goes well and safe. :-) Take care! Thanks a bunch for continuing to read and spare time to throw a review my way. Means a bunch! :-D

Zarah – Hehe..I can't help cliffhanger chapters…I just like doing it. ;-) Muahaha. Yes, Ardeth stripping…I'd sell all but my soul to see that. ;-) Thanks a bunch! :-D Hope you continue to like!