Hahaha! Another chappie! And you didn't have to wait long at all! And its even long! (sorry, bout all my short chappies). And did you notice wat i did in the last chaper? I lifted lines straight out of TMR and slotted them in! And i figured, you know that slight pause before Ardeth agrees to help the Rick and Evy search for Alex? Ardeth was remembering his time away from his parents! DA-DA! *fanfare* Hows that for twisting the plot?

Siri: Sorry, i am too lazy to write out your whole long name....I'm afriad i hardly actually read TM stories nemore, but i remember ages ago coming across a pretty long, 1 chapter, story set in Ardeth's childhood. No romance at all in it, but i can't find it....And i can tell you now, there is no REAL romance in this. No kissing of nething like that. Ergh.

Nakhti: Well, basically, i'm mean. And he was drunk, but they were all drunk....hey! Would you take advantage of a drunk Ardeth? A youngish Ardeth? An 18y.o. Ardeth *roz has a vision of an 18yo Ardeth clubbin* Nah, doens't work. But nah, the village won't be attacked. Ardeth is pretty old in TM. No one has parents there. But no, I'm afriad Hashim won't be dying in this fic. I'm not that mean! Zen's popped out a kid, no longer pregnant! Fair game! *roz throws up* Jawhar and Ardeth kind come to an alliance....but, you'll see.

Medjaiangel: *roz waves hand like a conducter to the music* I'm glad you like it! And heres another chappie!

****

Ardeth couldn't believe what had just transpired in front of him.

After a while, the guards brought him bandages, water and healing ointment but they carefully side-stepped around Jawhar, almost afraid to let their skin touch him. They dropped the gear in front of the boy, gave him a pointed look and left.

Ardeth crawled forward, and wincing as some of the movements caused some pain, gathered the herbs and bandages towards him. His eyes widened as he recognised some of the more precious and rarer herbs. They certainly didn't want him dying sometime soon. The very thought worried Ardeth.

Ardeth sat back and as he unwound a bandage his eye fell on the still form of Jawhar. Ardeth still had a hard time coming to terms with what Ruwaid, a father, could've done to his own son. And most of all, Ardeth couldn't believe that Jawhar had stood up for him. Even when drunk. Was it possible that Jawhar didn't hate him? I remember the warriors saying that the truth tends to come out when you're drunk.

Ardeth looked down at the bandage in his hand, and then up at Jawhar. He sighed and then crawled over the still boy. With delicate care, he smoothed the boy's hair back and with another sigh, he began to tend to many of the Sami-Nhir's wounds.

He did save me and tonight should've been a night of celebration, Ardeth surmised. Without even bothering to look around to see who could be watching him, Ardeth took off the boy's tunic and lathered on soothing ointment onto the deep bruises that the kicks had caused before tightly binding his ribs in case Jawhar had any broken bones.

Hours passed and Ardeth was kept busy cleaning and tending all of Jawhar's wounds. His father had been cruel. The wound on the back of his head worried Ardeth as Jawhar's hair was matted with blood but the most that the Med-Jai could do was wash away the blood and bind the wound. Hopefully, it wasn't a serious injury.

Finally, Ardeth was finished and exhaustedly he leaned back and surveyed his handiwork. He smiled at the still unconscious form and then turned to tend to his wounds. Unfortunately, Ardeth had already used most of the bandages and ointment on the Sami-Nhir so he could only do some of his most severe injuries. Even so, most of the water had been used on Jawhar as well, so Ardeth's own wounds were not really cleaned that well but the Med-Jai did not regret his decision.

The sun was rising by the time that Jawhar stirred. The first thing he realised was that he had a splitting headache. The second was that his wounds had been bound and all his injuries had been tended to. He could even smell the scent of some of the more potent herbs. But, my father would not tend to my wounds. He would've made sure that no one would tend to my wounds. That's what happened last time.

He looked up, into the frank, dark brown eyes of the Med-Jai. He saw how well tended to his wounds were, and he saw how neglected Bay's wounds were. He then noticed the pile of dirty and small snippets of bandages that couldn't have been used that were sitting beside the Med-Jai.

In a flash of insight, Jawhar realised what had happened. The Med-Jai had tended to Jawhar's wounds, neglecting his own. Jawhar took a deep breath, despite the fact it hurt his chest to do so. Then he spoke.

"Did you do this?" Jawhar asked, nodding in the direction of his bandages.

The boy nodded.

Jawhar swallowed, No stranger has ever done that for me before, and moistened his lips, "Did he order everyone to not touch me?"

The boy nodded again.

"He is the leader. Why did you disobey him?"

"Because as I said before, he is not my leader." Jawhar jumped as the boy spoke, his voice soft yet rough.

Jawhar nodded slowly and moistened his lips again. Then hestitantly, he went to say something but stopped as the Med-Jai's facial expressions changed from calmed patience to dread and fear. The slight smile that had been on Ardeth's face waned.

The Med-Jai turned away, to look beyond Jawhar, no longer meeting the Sami-Nhir's eyes like a slave should. The smile faded from his lips and only desolation, despair and pain entered his eyes as they focussed on something that Jawhar couldn't see behind him.

As Jawhar turned around to see what the Med-Jai could see, a voice rang out across the small clearing as the warriors stepped into the clearing and advanced menacingly towards the prisoner.

"Did you touch the chief's son? DID YOU?" One of the men grabbed Ardeth roughly before throwing him back to the ground in disgust, "His wounds are clean while yours are not! You heard the orders! We know what you did! You WILL be PUNISHED!"

Ardeth flinched as the man's hand came flying towards him but it suddenly stopped as Jawhar once again stood in between them.

The Sami-Nhir's voice was like ice and he snapped, "I tended to MY OWN wounds thankyou. I woke up in time to see the Med-Jai cur helping himself to the medical provisions, so naturally I took them from him by force. Now, father has plans for him so you will leave him alone."

Reaching down, Jawhar unshackled the boy, roughly turned him around and shoved him away from him. Then with contempt in his voice he yelled, "Get back to work slave!" And gave him a small kick to his backside that made Ardeth stumble.

Ardeth turned around, pain and resignation in his eyes as he beheld his apparent betrayal but managed to see the pleading and sorrow etched into Jawhar's eyes as he silently apologised for his rough treatment. Cruel to be kind. If Jawhar acted rough with the Med-Jai, the Sami-Nhir might leave him alone for a while.

"GO!" The steely voice cut through the warriors and as one, they bowed hurriedly and left. Jawhar nodded again to the Med-Jai, and then turned around and left.

Ardeth sighed and winced as his muscles protested. Back to work, always back to work. Am I ever going to be able to go home? I want to go home. I need to go home. This place was slowly killing him, Ardeth knew this. He knew that everyday he stayed there, he grew weaker in both physical strength and mental strength. He knew that his spiritual life force was fading away.

And once it had all drained away, there would be no hope left.

****

Days passed and things changed slightly between Jawhar and Ardeth. While they didn't become closer, Jawhar didn't say anything either. He no longer taunted the boy, no longer tripped him up when he went past, he just treated Ardeth with indifference. He was beginning to no longer treat Ardeth as an enemy, instead almost as an equal.

Then something happened that shattered all that.

****

Ardeth looked up from the work that he was doing and wiped his arm across his brow, the sweat was running down into his eyes and it was making it hard to work.

He looked once again around him and still couldn't believe that he was stuck in this hell hole. In the enemy's camp so to speak. Everywhere he went, the men glared and threw insults at him. Sometimes that wasn't the only thing that they threw. He winced as the flexed his arm. There was a gash running all the way down his forearm, a still sluggishly bleeding slit extending from wrist to elbow.

When he had been walking down the street, head down as instructed, a couple of warriors had stumbled out from wherever they had been hiding and had swerved their way across to him, coming to a stop in front of him and shouting. They were obviously blindingly drunk and didn't take a liking to the Med-Jai at all. They hurled insults at him regarding his mother, his father and any other members of his family and friends.

Ardeth had tried his best to ignore them but when an insult about his mother got too graphic and too demoralising he had turned suddenly and stared them down. But they hadn't backed down – they were too drunk to notice anything except that the Med-Jai was being rude. They had gotten very angry very quickly.

In hindsight, they had moved very quickly for drunken men. One of them had rushed him and the other had swung his bottle around, smashing it savagely onto the ground. At a word, the man roughing him up and pulled back and with Ardeth off balance and unprepared the other man had thrown the bottle at his face. It was only luck and his quick reflexes that had saved Ardeth from having half his face torn off. He had put his arm up to ward off the bottle and unluckily a jagged end had caught him in his wrist. The man who had rushed him, had been waiting and as soon as the bottle reached their prey they lunged forward and before Ardeth had managed to slip out of their grasp, one of the men (in the confusion, Ardeth couldn't remember exactly which one) had grabbed the broken bottle and pulled it down his arm, slicing deep and eliciting a cry of pain from their prisoner.

The next part was all jumbled and hazy. He couldn't remember how he had escaped without any more cuts or how he had come to be where he was standing now but it had seemed that he had opened his eyes, and there he was.

It was a good enough explanation for now.

The place was pretty much deserted except for lone Zen. Ardeth shivered as he felt her sightless eyes staring at him. He couldn't believe that anyone could've done such a horrible thing to such a beautiful girl, how could anyone be so heartless?

He just couldn't believe that his tribe was responsible for this. It wasn't what Med-Jai do. They didn't interfere with other tribes, they just kept to themselves and did their own thing, watching over The Creature. In reality, they were quite peaceful.

They wouldn't have massacred a whole village, just for food. They wouldn't have massacred a village. His father wouldn't have ordered such a thing, would he? Horrible uncertainty flickered through his mind before he clamped down on such a horrible thought and dismissed it. His father wouldn't do such a thing. He was a good man.

The ground trembled slightly beneath his feet and with his enhanced training and hunting skills Ardeth recognised it as a horse and rider coming towards them at a full gallop, but far away for the moment.

Ardeth was still thinking about the blame that had been placed on the village as he worked when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Zen had stood up. Her hand reached blindly for her stick and she grasped it steadily. Once again, her sightless eyes meet his and Ardeth felt a shiver run up his back. Her eyes were cloudy, opaque and sightless, yet, he felt like she could see right into his soul, felt like she knew everything that he was feeling before he did. It was a scary feeling. Someone knowing his soul, his core, his very essence.

He watched with interest as she gracefully and without falter stepped daintily onto the 'road' (for want of a better word) and walked slowly but steadily towards him. The pounding grew louder. Ardeth was falling into her eyes. One step. Her eyes never left his – how did she know where to look? Sound of distant drumming reached his ears. She took another step forward. Her bright, blue eyes hypnotised him, the sway of her hips had him entranced. The ground was physically moving, rocks rattling slightly. The world was moving as she took another step forward, her lithe body positioned in the middle of the road. There was the jingling of a harness and something kicked in Ardeth's mind for attention. She paused for a moment, one foot in position of leaving the ground and turned her eyes away from his, a quizzical look lining her face. Pounding. Jingling. There was something…….there was something that Ardeth was supposed to remember…….remember……

THE HORSE!! Ardeth snapped out of hypnotised state just as the horse and its rider rounded the corner and thundered down the road, the horse foaming at the mouth and the rider not even trying to stop his beast as he rushed towards the blind girl on the road.

There was no time for thought, no time for anything.

Zen's eyes widened in surprise and horror as she realised what was happening but she was too shocked to do anything.

Ardeth leapt forward and without even thinking about his own safety, cannoned into her and because Allah smiled on him that day, he just managed to push her out of the way and then…….everything was a confused whirl.

Ardeth had the unpleasant sensation of hearing the thumps of hooves right beside his head, feeling the heat radiating off the animal as it galloped past and felt generally battered.

Had he been trampled? Ardeth got up slowly and tested his body. Everything that moved, moved. He felt sore but then……..who wouldn't? Zen! What about her? It said a lot about his confused state that he spent around 5 seconds frantically searching for the girl around him before realising that he was, indeed, sitting on top of her. Her blank eyes were locked on his and she was panting.

Ardeths hands were on her shoulders, in effect pinning her down from when he had shielded her from the horse with his body. He realised that he must look like an idiot, sitting there staring at this girl below him, not that she could see anything anyway.

The teenager moistened his lips and asked in a croaky voice, "Are you okay?"

Zen didn't answer his question but asked another, "Who was that?"

Ardeth thought back to that confused jumble when he might have been under the horses hooves. The heat, the hooves and…..and….a voice! A flying insult. Ardeth knew that voice well. He sighed, "That was Shahin."

Zen stiffened beneath him, "Shahin? You're lying. You lying Med-Jai bastard! He would NEVER do a thing like that! You…….you…..you're blaming him for something that he hasn't done! He is a warrior of the Sami-Nhir NOT the murdering Med-Jai. It's all your fault! It all happened because of you!"

Ardeth was silenced by shock at Zen's accusations. "But, but! How can it be my fault Zen?"

"DON"T TALK TO ME FILTHY MED-JAI! You pushed me IN FRONT of the horse! I was going to be fine! It wasn't going to harm me!"

"He was going to trample you!" Ardeth couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"He would've moved for me! In fact, they did move out of the way for me, and then YOU pushed me under it's hooves. You tried to murder me! GET OFF! GET OFF ME!" Zen was struggling now, trying to pick herself up off the ground.

Ardeth was still too shocked to move. He sat upon her hips, his minds struggling to comes to term at what the girl had accused him of. "I would n-never hurt you Zen."

But the blind girl didn't want to listen to him. She was becoming hysterical as memories flooded back about people holding her down. Zen opened her mouth into a bloodcurdling scream. "GET OFF ME! GET OFF! HELP ME!! HELP! THE MED-JAI IS ATTACKING ME!"

In no time at all, the deserted street seemed to be full of snarling Sami-Nhir taking in the sight of the hated Med-Jai pinning their last remaining girl to the ground. Her clothes were ripped and the Med-Jai teenager still had his hands holding her down.

It didn't look good. Not good at all.

"No! No! Its not what it looks like! I swear! Please……"Ardeth pleaded to make them listen to the real story.

"Filthy bastard!" Jawhar had miraculously appeared at his side.

"Jawhar! Can you explain----" Ardeth sighed in relief as the chief's son came to stand beside him. He failed to see the look of rage upon his face.

"GET OFF HER!" Jawhar screamed and with inhuman strength bound of anger, grabbed the boy by his black hair and yanked him off the girl. Ardeth cried out in pain and writhed in an effort to get away from the raging teenager. Jawhar dumped him onto the ground and without hesitation, laid into the boy, his kicks and punches thudding into the Med-Jai's body. All the while, he kept his angry commentary up: "Filthy Med-Jai. Once a Med-Jai always a Med-Jai. Trying to rape a blind girl. MY girl! How dare you! How dare you! You fucking bastard! And to think, I was beginning to trust you, to listen to you, to treat you like an equal."

Ardeth curled up into a little ball, his hands and arms protecting his head while hoping that Jawhar wouldn't deliver a direct kick to his kidneys. I didn't do it. I didn't. Believe me. He pleaded with his attacker silently. But he knew it was hopeless. They believed that he had done it and they wouldn't believe otherwise.

After about a minute, Jawhar gave up on his frenzied assault and turned his hand to the shocked girl who had watched the whole thing with horrified unseeing eyes.

"Oh Zen! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to help you, to protect you. Oh may Allah strike me down where I stand for my laziness." Jawhar fell to his knees in front of the shaking girl. Mistaking her shaking for shock, he took off his robes and wrapped it around her torn shoulders – the impact to the ground grazing her pale skin. He continued to babble, while Ardeth wheezed softly in an effort to force air back into his aching lungs from his foetal position on the ground.

"Did he touch you? Did he hurt you? Oh, my darling, beautiful Zen. I am so sorry. How dare he even touch you. If I had've been there, trust me, I would've killed him before I would've let him touch you." Jawhar enveloped the still trembling girl in a hug, burying his face in her hair, smelling the dust.

Oh, how much he loved this precious human, this beautifully stunning girl. Ever since his sister had introduced her friend to him, he had known that there was something special between them. They had always been more then friends, even before they'd realised what being more meant. To think that he'd almost lost her, to think that the Med-Jai had almost violated her…….again made Jawhar mad. Mad him insanely mad. He'd see that the teenager was punished for this.

Zen was sobbing into Jawhar's robe, smelling his scent as her tears mingled with the coarse fabric of his robe. She could still feel the boys hands on her and they had brought back memories. Memories that she thought had been buried. Buried deep down away. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried to forget, she could never ever forget. Even when she was alone with Jawhar, she flinched whenever he touched her and pulled away from his caresses.

Jawhar took her tears to cement the Med-Jai's guilt and with stony, hatred-filled eyes turned to the other Sami-Nhir standing around, "Take the Med-Jai away. Give him to Shahin for punishment."

Ardeth's blood ran cold as he heard the name. No. Not Shahin. He knew that Shahin would take pleasure in making him scream. Shahin would strive to make him scream. He wouldn't be able to take it. He would end up begging for mercy. NO! He wouldn't! He was a Med-Jai! He would NEVER bow down to them. But Allah, he was scared. He could still remember the look in Shahin's eyes, he could still hear the threat……..

"Uh, Jawhar, Shahin has just left the village on an errand." One of the Sami-Nhir spoke out nervously. He had never seen the chief's son so murderous, except after the slaughter of course. Everyone had been murderous after the massacre.

"Then take him away, chain him up somewhere. Take out any anger on him if you want. He will just have to wait till Shahin returns. He will wait and dread his punishment. How long before Shahin returns?"

"Uhm….well, he said he should be back in a day." One of the men scratched his chin reflectively.

"Good. The Med-Jai will have no food or water till he returns. Take him away." Jawhar turned his back on the excited cries and growing bloodlust behind him and gently picked up Zen to walk away.

Ardeth felt himself trembling as the men closed up around him. They were getting closer, closer. He could just see Jawhar's back. Zen was looking at him with a tear-stained face over Jawhar's shoulder, her face betraying nothing – showing no emotion. How could she have done this to him? How? He had only tried to save her. And look where it had gotten him. She was so pretty though. He knew that if he had another chance, to let her be trampled to death in front of him or to save her and let himself be punished, he knew that he would do it all over again.

A man stepped forward and squatted down on his heels, his body blocking the way of Jawhar's retreating form. He grabbed the boy none-too-gently by the hair and yanked it up to look at the boy. "Well, well, well. Looks like you seriously pissed off the chief's son and we get to do whatever we want with you for a while. Did I ever tell you that you Med-Jai killed my 2 little boys and took away my wife? I found her battered body around 5 kilometres away. She had died of internal haemorrhage."

To his anger and horror, Ardeth found himself trembling. Strength and courage. Hold your head up high. Make your father proud. "B-but I didn't……..we didn't do that! It's not our fault! Please……!" Ardeth's pleas fell on deaf ears as the man's face hardened and his fist tightened. Tears of pain sprung to the boys eyes and the man suddenly thrust the boy's head back into the sand and stood up and spat on the prone body.

"Accursed Med-Jai. Under Allah, by my murdered wife and children, I demand revenge and I will seek it. With pleasure." The man sneered and everyone grinned maliciously and moved in for the kill.

Ardeth closed his eyes and prayed. Allah give me strength.

Zen heard the cries of pain and the sound of flesh hitting flesh as she clung to Jawhar's robe. Jawhar noticed her distress and shifted her gently so that he could look into her opaque, blue eyes. "Do you want to stay?"

"No." She whispered softly and buried her head again, the last word coming out muffled and choked, "Thankyou." Her inner turmoil was boiling as she was torn in half by her conscience.

He didn't do anything to you! You know that! He pushed you out of the way of a galloping horse that would've killed you! This is how you repay him?

He does deserve it. He's a Med-Jai. He killed all my friends and raped me.

But he didn't.

A strangled cry split the air behind her and the men laughed as they tried to make the boy scream more.

"P-please Jawhar. Let's just go. I need to lie down. I need……" Her voice trailed off.

"Oh." Jawhar nodded understandingly and sped up, "Brings back memories?"

How could she explain it to him? "Yes." She clenched her eyes shut as another cry was wrenched out of the boy. "It brings back memories."

****

Next chappie will be up soon! Please review for me! You guys are the best!