The Commander
" So, what do you think the chances are of me getting in trouble?" Izzy asked, trying to keep it from getting boring.
" Izzy, the minute you met me, you were sentenced to a life of trouble." Rick answered.
Ardeth and Mariana were still in front.
" So, how much longer is it?" Evy asked stumbling a bit from being tired.
" Not much longer." Ardeth answered.
" Is there an estimate, or is it just when we get there?" Rick asked sarcastically.
" About an hour or so." Mariana said smiling and looking back.
She caught a glimpse in Evy's eye that startled her.
" Listen, maybe we should rest a bit." Mariana said.
" We don't have time." Ardeth replied.
" Alright, then you two keep walking then and Evelyn and I will just slow down a bit." Mariana said walking over to Evy.
Ardeth looked puzzled, but Rick quickly picked up on things.
" Alright, but don't get too far ahead, I mean behind." Rick said and tapped Ardeth on the shoulder and continued to walk again.
" Are you alright?" Mariana asked Evy as they started walking slowly behind the others.
" I'm fine, just a bit tired." Evy answered.
" Yes, I can see that, but I mean are you alright?" Mariana asked again.
" I'm fine. Why does everyone think there is something always wrong with me? I mean do I look mental?" Evy stated.
Mariana smiled.
" Well…actually, I was thinking." Evy said after a few minutes.
" About what?" Mariana asked.
" You." Evy answered.
Mariana looked at Evy puzzled.
" Me?" she asked.
" Yes…you…you had a vision didn't you?" Evy asked.
" How did you know?" Mariana asked shocked.
" I don't know, it's just, sometimes I know things that aren't that obvious to other people." Evy answered. " Plus, I have them myself, and I've learned to tell when someone else has had them." she finished. " What did you see?" she asked Mariana.
Mariana paused and looked as though she were thinking.
" You don't have to tell me, as long as Rick knows what it is, we will be fine." Evy said.
" No, you need to know. You have just as much a reason to know, especially if Rick knows about it. I wouldn't want something to happen to him and you not know why, or the other way around." Mariana said. " It was…about Ardeth." Mariana said.
Just thinking about it brought back the tears.
" He…he died…and Kurai…killed him." Mariana said wiping the tears from her eyes.
" Oh, Mariana…don worry, Ardeth will be fine…he can protect himself, and besides, Rick wont let anything happen to him." Evy said trying to comfort Mariana.
" I know…he already told me he would do everything he could." Mariana said.
" Don't worry, I'll do my best to help protect him as well." Evy said.
" Yes, thank you Evelyn. But there's just one thing…" Mariana said.
" What?" Evy asked.
" If it comes to a point and I'm not saying I had a vision about it either, but if it comes to a point where you have to choose between saving Rick, or us, don't worry about us." Mariana said trying to clear her face from where she had been crying.
" You know, I was about to say the same thing." Evy said a bit surprised.
" Maybe we have a link too." Mariana said with a bit of a smile.
" Maybe…it wouldn't surprise me…so, is it a deal then?" Evy asked.
" Deal." Mariana said as they shook hands.
" Just so you know…I know what its like…and believe me I would know with everything that has happened since I met your brother, just because you have a vision…doesn't mean you cant change it." Evy said.
" I heard that!!" Rick said yelling back towards them. " You're the one who has mad everything "happen" since we met." Rick said and the fact that Evy had talked louder when she was talking about meeting him.
" Thank you." Mariana said smiling.
They both smiled at each other, then walked faster to catch back up with the boys.
Rick and Ardeth were surprised to see Mariana and Evy laugh.
" That's the first time in a week she's laughed." Ardeth said smiling.
Rick turned to him.
" What do you mean?" Rick asked. " Who?"
Ardeth pointed to Mariana. Rick nodded in agreement.
Ardeth was right…that's the first time in a while he'd seen her laugh.
" I wonder if she's happy?" Rick asked.
Ardeth smiled but shook his head.
" She still worries." he replied.
Their attention reverted back to the two women as they caught up.
" Thanks for waiting for us…I think Evy has her wind back." Mariana said taking an old lady stance.
Rick winced at the insult and looked nervously at Evy, who playfully smacked Mariana.
Mariana laughed. Rick was a bit shocked.
" I got more wind in my lungs than a thick headed nymph like you." Evy countered.
Mariana responded by sticking out her tongue and they walked on laughing. For now their lives troubles were some what forgotten.
" What's that?" Shakiri asked Alex.
Alex was holding his sling shot.
" It's a sling shot." Alex answered.
" A what?" Ya-kah asked
" A sling shot. See, what you do is, you take this string and pull it back, place a rock or something small on the string and pull it back, then you aim, and let go." Alex answered demonstrating the process, but not actually doing it.
" Can you show us what it does? I mean, how it hits?" Shakiri asked.
" Sure, I just need something to aim at." Alex said looking around the room.
" Ah, here we go." Alex said taking his uncle's empty bottle and he sat it on the window ledge.
The two Medji came over and stood beside Alex, studying closely.
Alex pulled the sling shot back, aimed at the cup, and then let go. The rock hit the cup with a bing and the cup flew off the window sill.
" You see? That's how it works." Alex said.
The two Medji looked amazed.
" Can we try?" Shakiri asked.
" Sure, if you think you can handle it." Alex answered handing the sling shot to Shakiri.
The two Medji started examining it. Alex went and sat on the bed and watched.
Shakiri, examining it, pulled the string back and aimed around the room. YaKah handed him a small pebble. Again Shakiri aimed around the room, as though he were trying to get use to it. All of a sudden, Yahkah made a quick movement and startled Shakiri, who let go of the string. Just as he had let go, Jonathan came into the room.
" Alex, I just…Argh!" Jonathan said as he hit the floor.
" Uncle Jon!" Alex said running over to him.
Yahkah and Shakiri stared and Shakiri, quickly put the sling shot down.
" Uncle Jon…" Alex said trying to get him to wake up.
" Hello…old mum…my your so beautiful…" Jonathan started as his eyes were focusing…he then saw Alex giving him a weird look.
" Alex? What are you…" Jonathan said trying to sit up.
" You got hit in the head and fell." Alex answered.
" Hit in the head? With what?" Jonathan asked rubbing his temple.
" A pebble." Alex answered.
" A pebble? Well, that's bloody unusual." Jonathan said.
Yahkah and Shakir burst our laughing.
" I'm guessing they shot it?" Jonathan asked.
" Yes, but it was an accident." Alex said as Jonathan stood up.
" Well, I'm glad you fellows enjoyed that…but if you had had a bloody code in the first place, this wouldn't have happened!" Jonathan said.
Shakiri and Yahkah looked at each other.
" Alex…I've got something for you." Jonathan said.
" What?" Alex asked.
Jonathan handed Alex a comic book.
" Cool." Alex said as he took it.
Finally, Ardeth and Mariana stopped.
" Wait here." Ardeth instructed.
As both the Medji moved inside the large tent, Rick and Evy looked t each other in confusement.
A moment later, Mariana came barging out. " I'm pissed" was written all over her face.
" Damn Fools!" she screamed back into the tent.
Ardeth son emerged with a puzzled expression.
" What just happened?" Rick asked walking up to Ardeth and Mariana.
" Stupid Idiot'!" Mariana yelled.
Izzy cowardly hid behind Evy, who turned her head and looked at him.
" They do not know what they are doing!" Ardeth stated looking at Mariana.
Rick was getting frustrated.
" What the hell happened?" Rick finally yelled.
Evy walked over to Rick and touched him on the shoulder, he then calmed down.
" Perhaps we should let them discuss it first." Evy said to Rick quietly.
Rick looked at her then at Mariana and Ardeth, who were now talking amongst themselves in their language.
" No, we don't have time to wait." Rick said getting out of Evy's grip.
" Ardeth, what did they say?" he asked looking Ardeth in the eyes.
" They said they will not help." Ardeth answered.
Rick's face went blank. Evy walked over.
" Wont help?" she asked.
" Yes, they say they do not want to get involved, that It's not their problem." Mariana said spitting towards the tent.
" Not their problem? It's everybody's problem." Evy said angrily.
" They obviously don't see it that way." Rick said.
" Rick, maybe we should talk to them." Evy suggested.
Rick looked at her.
" Yeah, we should." Rick said.
" My friends, there is no use to get…" Ardeth started.
" Well, we will just tell them that they have to help." Rick said clenching his fists and barged into the tent.
Evy followed.
" I'll just stay out here…" Izzy said.
Ardeth and Mariana sighed and followed Rick and Evy into the tent.
Rick was yelling at the commanders, who were yelling amongst themselves and looking at him in their language. Evy was trying to calm them down.
" Shut up!!!" she yelled louder than she had ever yelled in her life.
It scared Rick half to death, as he jumped at the sound.
" Now, Rick, calm down and wait a minute. Ardeth, can you translate for me?" Evy asked Ardeth who was about to reply, when one of the commanders spoke.
" We can understand you." he said with an accent.
" Oh, well, I'm sorry." Evy said.
" It is fine, now why have you come here?" he asked.
The man appeared to bet the head of the small tribe. He wasn't the same man Rick and Evy had met 10 years ago, after Humanaptra, when they stayed the night. The commander then, was mean, but this one was worse.
" Well, we have come to talk to you about helping us." Evy said.
" Us?" the commander asked.
" Yeah, us. As in me and my wife, and the two Medji behind us." Rick said.
" You, are with Ardeth?" the commander asked.
" Yes, we are." Evy answered.
" And who may I ask are you?" the commander asked towards Rick.
" O'Connell. Rick O'Connell." Rick answered sternly.
The commander's eyes widened a bit.
" And you are?" the commander asked Evy.
" His wife." Evy replied angrily.
The tone in her voice sent a chill down Rick's spine.
" So, you are the famous O'Connell's…well, we have heard a great deal about you. Our eldest commander was the head of this tribe 10 years ago when he met you." the commander said.
" Yeah, we remember…he was the jerk with the thick head." Rick said angrily. " It must keep getting worse by the decade." he finished.
The commander glared at Rick.
" Well, who we are is not the point." Evy started.
" So, you have cause trouble again? I'm losing count." the commander said.
" Yes, well, we are not responsible for Kurai!" Evy snapped.
Rick though about how Evy didn't like people insulting her intelligence, especially when it came down to the subject of Egypt. He was worried…for the commander.
" Yeah, and we weren't responsible for his brother either!" Rick added.
" You were not responsible for reading the book of the dead, which was buried at Humanaptra, where we watched over it and guarded it…where you came and dug it up? You weren't responsible for the bracelet of Anubis?" the commander asked.
Rick looked at Evy, but neither spoke. It was going to be hard to get through to this guy.