Man, this chapter took FOREVER to format! And heres an incentive. I'll give a cookie to anyone that can pick out the line I stole and warped from 1) The Crucible and 2) Terry Pratchett. If you can pick out either of them, i'll.....be very surprised and give you a cookie! Everyone else: Big whoop. How pathetic. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. We're getting SO close to the end! Its making me sad!
Siri:*g*? Whats that meant to mean? *chaching!* UPDATED!
Nakhti:I think that that'd have to be your longest review so far! my god girl! Are you sneering at me?? o.O I know that Terry Pratchett didn't invent the personification of emotions and ideas, but hes the only person i know to put the twist on it! I mean, Death being the grim reaper skeleton we all know - ok. thats fine. But then making him ride a horse called Binky, secretly like cats and be a depressive? C'mon! Thats just plain funny! And then him trying to raise a 16 year old girl?? Hahaha...makes me laugh thinkin about it! You gotta admire it! Thats definately thinkikn sideways! What did you do to my poor leedle ari?? Bad girl! *whack!* How old are you? Haha, Eomer...hes...the one that...hasacaterpillaracrosshisforeheadthatsmeanttobehiseyebrows? Did i just say that? Whoops! I'm glad someones on the edge of their seat? i think everyone else is just gettin bored by it! You wish you'd written it? Hah! Yeah right! I dont believe you! DAMMIT! you don't miss nething! What happens with Zen comes out in this chappie, u might be happy bout it. *cursecursecurse* you are WAY too perceptive! You're givin everything away!! damn smart people! Cadbury cream egg??? Ex~cu~se me~! yeah, good enough!
Freakizimi: You're back!! *hugs!* You're forgiven easily! I mean, what were you meant to do? Wait around for 2 months while i lazed around??? Its partly my fault for takin so long to start uploadin again. You have every right to be proud, your reviews and suggestions helped SO MUCH you wouldn't believe it! And it turns out i got accepted into my course which had a TER of 95.05 which means i got over 95!!! WOOHOO! out of 99.95! Not bad! Not bad at all! Oh! Oh! Can i read ur SW one? I'm in the middle of trying to write my SW one too...Anika and several other ppl that loved my other SW stories are like pushing me to finish it! But i'm stuck! I'll forgive you if i can read ur SW story! Ah well, you're forgiven neway!
Is the tension getting to you?
****Jawhar gave a sigh of relief as Ardeth shakily stood up. The boy was still alive.
"Good." Jawhar had seen the devastation that the battle was causing, he could still feel the boy's gentle hands as he bandaged Jawhar's wounds while his own festered.
Jawhar didn't have the toxic hate and anger that ate away his father. He was his father's son, before the demons of hate had taken Ruwaid over.
Jawhar didn't want the boy to die. And he knew this suddenly and the very knowledge itself was shocking.
He ran back to where he'd left Zen lying, she'd want to know what was happening. She'd want to hear what was going on, she'd want to be comforted. Jawhar couldn't imagine what it'd be like, being blind. Being born blind might've been a bit better as a naturally blind person couldn't lament about the world of colour but Zen had seen it. She had seen the glorious sunsets, pale golden sand and the deep blue sky but all that was lost now in a world of darkness.
Total and utter never-ending blackness.
"Zen! That stupid fool Bay is still alive! He's survived the bullet! He---" Jawhar skidded to a stop as he looked in horror at the young woman. She lay in a crumped position, one arm tightly holding onto the baby the other weakly searching for comfort. Her chest was covered in blood.
"ZEN!!" Jawhar rushed over to her and dropped to his knees, ignoring the shreds of stone ripping through his trousers. "Oh Zen! What happened? Oh Allah! ALLAH!!!" He futilely tried to stem the flow of blood and carefully gathered her into his arms. Her laboured breathing and pained gasps made him release her and hold her more gently. "Oh Zen! Oh Allah no……how could this happen?"
He looked into her unseeing eyes and a sob choked his throat up. She wordlessly put a hand up and he gripped it tightly with his own, larger, calloused hand. "Don't go. Zen, please don't go. Please."
"I-I'm sorry Jawhar. I truly am. B-but I'm just….so….t-tired." She looked at him and with her other hand, caressed his face, gently touching his cheeks and lips. "I love you Jawhar. I l-love you so very m-much."
Jawhar had tears streaming down his face, he had not felt pain this heart-wrenching since the massacre. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be losing Zen, not now. Not after so long, not after being spared. This couldn't be happening! It was a nightmare! That's what it HAD to be. He had to be in a nightmare! But the choked sob wrenched from him and the pained gasp and involuntary tightening grip on his hand, told him otherwise.
Zen was dying. But how? How could this have happened????
…………He had heard the whine of the bullet as it ricocheted off the rock and suddenly he had been struck with a rock chip from the side of his hiding spot, it had hit him in the cheek, lodging itself deep, alongside the cheekbone. Then there was a shrill shriek through the air as the bullet whined past him – he could feel the windlash as the bullet went past – and a sharp gasp of pain and disbelief from Zen beside him…………..
The ricochet. That's what it had been. Shahin had killed her.
"Oh Allah. I love you too Zen. Oh Allah, please….please…..Zen, I need you. I love you so much…I really need you. I can't live without you. Please, please don't go." Jawhar was openly sobbing, his tears coursing down his face to drip into the pool of blood surrounding the girl.
"I-I know you love me Jawhar. B-but, I have to go. I-I have n-no choice." Zen smiled sadly as Jawhar's grip on her hand tightened. "J-Jawhar…..you m-must look after the child. You must look a-after our l-little…..o-our little Thaqib….our little shooting star. He is the heir and the leader of the Sami-Nhir. You must protect him…..p-protect him from all h-harm."
"No Zen….no…." Jawhar couldn't handle this, she was saying goodbye, making her final wishes known.
"P-promise me J-Jawhar, son of R-Ruwaid! P-prom….p-promise…..me…." Her breathing was getting more laboured and slower. "S-speak!"
"I promise. I promise that I'll look after Thaqib no matter what." Jawhar stroked Zen's hair, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I was not there. I should've been there for you, should've been there protecting you, I should've taken that bullet. I shouldn't have been stupidly staring out the opening….i should've been there, I'm never there for you! I have never been the—" He was stopped by a thin, brown finger placed shakily upon his lips.
"D-don't say that. Y-you have always b-been there for m-me. I-I'm the o-one t-that's sorry for leaving….I'm s-sorry….." Zen slid her hand from his lips up behind his head and pulled his tear-stained face down and gently kissed him, a kiss so soft, it was fleeting.
Jawhar hesitated before returning it.
Zen's hand slid from behind Jawhar's head to hang motionless by her side and as Jawhar hugged her close one more time she whispered quietly, "I love you."
Then she was gone.
The cry of rage and pain echoed throughout the tiny cavern and out to where a passing sandstorm ripped it apart and flung it around like wolves.
****"W-what do you mean? How can you be part of the Med-Jai?! You're in this tribe! You're in the Sami-Nhir! You'd NEVER be part of the Med-Jai! " Another blow dazed the young boy.
"I was not. My ancestors were. It was your great grandfather that banished us to the outskirts of the desert. The outskirts. Where we were forced to scavenge and starve…..where the weak died and only the strong survived….most of the time by force. We were a great people and your great grandfather ruined us!"
Huh?? This was not making sense to Ardeth. "I-I don't understand." He gasped as the pain struck him anew.
Shahin noticed the boy's grimace and with a grin, slammed the boy onto his back, and roughly ripped Ardeth's shirt up. The teenager struggled weakly but his strength couldn't match Shahin's.
"It hurts doesn't it boy?" Shahin sneered while tightly gripping the boy's wound.
"Y-Yes! Yes it does!" Ardeth gasped and futilely tried to wriggle away. Another cry of pain was wrenched from him as Shahin dug his fingers in.
"Well it appears that I didn't miss with the rifle. Father always said I was a good shot…..even in difficult circumstances." Shahin gloated while blood covered his fingertips. "It appears that the bullet struck you in---" Shahin thoughtfully probed a bit deeper amidst the teenager's cries, "3rd rib where it's forward velocity broke the rib. It then richocheted onto your 4th rib , incidentally breaking this rib also, and then violently ripped its way out of your body….." Here Shahin roughly clenched the boy's side, "creating a large gaping wound where you're losing….." a low chuckle, "…..quite a lot of blood."
"T-thank…you f-for that m-medical…..ass…a-assessment…Shahin. A-as….gent..gentle a-as always…." Ardeth tried to stop from blacking out from the pain and control his shivering body as it rapidly sunk into shock. "B-but I did..succeed.
"What? What do you mean you insolent little brat??" Shahin viciously pushed down on the boy's broken ribs and Ardeth bit his lip to stop from crying out.
"I-I mean…..m-my father…is u-unharmed." Despite his pain, Ardeth grinned at the expression of rage that flitted across the man's face as he realised that where Hashim had once stood, nothing but sand flew in the air, but then was unnerved by the slow, smug smile that filled the man's face. Like a ferocious cat that has just found the cream bowl unguarded.
"Ha, that's what you'd like to think little Med-Jai. You think you have won the battle don't you? You might've……but let me tell you this. You have lost the war."
"W-what?" Ardeth struggled to come to grips with the information.
"Yes, that's right little Med-Jai. You have lost the war. And you want to know why? Because the Sami-Nhir and the Med-Jai will fight, to the death. There will be no winner, there never is in a war. You know that. But in this war my tribe and I, we will be the victorious ones."
"I-I do not u-understand!" Ardeth yelled at the mans face, gloating above him, "YOU are part of the SAMI-NHIR! You know that THEY don't stand a CHANCE! Both of our tribes will die! BOTH! And all because of some stupid misunderstanding! H-how can you rejoice?"
Shahin sighed dramatically, "You still do not understand do you? I've already explained this to you. Let me get this straight for you. I am not part of the Sami-Nhir. I was part of the Med-Jai. We were banished. By your great grandfather. And I have come to avenge our banishment with the blood of the Med-Jai and you. Especially you. And I will enjoy it too."
"B-but…..but….y-you….you are here!" Ardeth's mind was reeling.
"Ah yes. Well, let's start from the start shall we? And by the time that I've finished telling you this wonderful bedtime story….." Shahin roughly slammed the butt of his rifle into the boy's side, eliciting a cry of pain, "…….you should've bleed to death."
"T-try me" the teenager muttered through clenched teeth.
"Well, in the very beginning, long long time ago, when your great grandfather ruled, my family was part of the Med-Jai tribe. Oh yes, the wonderful, and great peacekeepers of the sand and watcher over The Creature." Shahin chuckled over the frantic look on the child's face, "Oh yes, I know all about The Creature. But we'll get to that later. What really happened was that our family thought differently about certain…….how would you put this?…...ideas……then your family did. And of course, since you were the Bays…." the words were spat out with anger, " of course, everything had to be done your way didn't it. You still with me boy?"
"M-my great grandfather w-wouldn't have banished y-you for a…..conflict in ideas!" Ardeth spoke with confidence, his strong voice belying his ever-growing weakness.
"Hahaha, little do you know. Well, you could say that our ideas….well….they caused a mutiny within the tribe. There was a fight…..and we were banished."
"W-what was the 'idea'?" Ardeth whispered, almost too afraid to hear the answer.
"It was quite simple. We wanted to awaken The Creature." Shahin spoke simply.
"W-WHAT?! W-why would you want to do something s-so stupid??"
"Watch your mouth boy." Shahin warned as his anger grew. "With him awake and with us, we could've ruled the sands! What did we use to do? We used to protect those people, those IGNORANT people and what did we get in return? Hate, fear, anger. Other tribes resented us and just waited like vultures, like jackals for our downfall! You see all these people boy?" Shahin waved his hand at the Sami-Nhir fighting around him.
"Yes" Ardeth whispered, the shock of Shahin's story coursing like ice through his veins.
"These people, the Sami-Nhir, they have hated the Med-Jai for a long time. Ever since there have been Med-Jai and other tribes, there has always been hate and resentment between them. They only needed an event to blow their hatred into the open. All the years it has just been lying dormant under their hidden faces and lidded eyes. They have been what they always were, but now, now they are naked, their hate no longer hidden."
"N-no…..you lie."
Shahin laughed bitterly, "You're in denial. I saw how you bandaged Jawhar's wounds after his beating – sacrificing your own health but did he thank you? No. And the next time that they came to beat you did he stand up for you? Did he try to stop them? He stood by and watched, or he just left. He gloated and enjoyed watching you writhe in pain. He, like everyone else, hates you."
"No." The reply was so softly spoken, the pained teenager unconfident and in doubt. "No. He didn't get time to than---" The argument was cut off short as Ardeth gasped as a shaft of white hot pain lanced up his side.
"I doubt that he will thank you for your efforts before you die. Isn't it sad? That all along, you had nothing to do with the village massacre? That you didn't even know what was going on? That this destiny was decided for you, before you were born? That in your own way…..you, in fact, are the one that tried to save the village from it's own self-destruction? And how do they thank you? The continuously beat you and gladly leave you to bleed to death in the middle of the desert. I am glad, very glad, that I was given this assignment."
"W-what…..was t-the assignment?" Ardeth was panting in an effort to control the overwhelming pain.
"Well, it was my tribe that rode into this village and massacred the Sami-Nhir. And Allah, it felt good. But what we didn't realise was that they would instantly think that we were Med-Jai. Of course, we had forgotten about the tattoos that some of the older men had. So, we let them believe it."
Ardeth felt himself slip into shock, this man standing in front of him, had been the one to kill all the villagers and then PRETENDED that it was the Med-Jai who had committed the act. "Y-you bastard!"
Shahin casually struck the boy, then continued with his 'bedtime story', "Of course I made sure that anyone that had've seen me died. I didn't have the tattoos of the Med-Jai as I was born outside of the Med-Jai camp, so I couldn't be confused as being one of you. I didn't go anywhere near Zen, after I found out they were going to keep her alive. If it had've been me, I just would've killed her……but the chief. The chief had bigger plans. We went back to our village and it sort of filtered back to us that the Sami-Nhir were blaming the whole incident on the Med-Jai. Nothing like prejudices is there?"
"A-Anubis wouldn't e-even……take you as o-one of his m-minions!"
Shahin ignored the insult and continued, "The chief decided that it would be a good idea to play the Med-Jai off the Sami-Nhir. After all, we just wanted to wipe out the Med-Jai and the Sami-Nhir appeared as the most useful tool. So after a while, I went back to the Sami-Nhir village and joined them. As a spy you could say. But then, the Sami-Nhir had a brilliant brainwave – suggested by me, I might add. They sent me into the Med-Jai camp to spy for them. So I was in the Med-Jai camp, spying for the Sami-Nhir, while trying to get the two sides to annihilate each other under the orders of my tribe."
"CURSE YOU!" Ardeth spat at the man, "How could you?!?!"
Shahin's face warped with anger and we struck the boy a vicious backhand blow which sprawled him out over the sand and left him dazed, "And the whole assignment led to the kidnapping of you, luring your father and his warriors into the Sami-Nhir trap to save you, and thus…….to this point in time. Where I will win the war. And the Med-Jai will be no more."
Ardeth struggled to draw in a breath into his hurting chest and Shahin laughed as he saw the eyes glazing rapidly as the boy struggled to comprehend all he'd heard. "Now boy, since you've heard your little bedtime story, I think its time for you to go to sleep. Forever."
****"Finally we meet Med-Jai." Ruwaid grinned ecstatically, as his blade clanged with Hashims.
"You laid a trap for us!" Hashim spoke bitterly as he fought back, his scimitar sliding down Ruwaids.
"I don't see why we shouldn't have. After all, you massacred our whole village. Women, children, men, all alike to you savages!" As the Sami-Nhir chief spoke, he swung the blade around in a short circle, surprising the Med-Jai and cutting through the black cloth on his arm.
"What? I don't understand!" Hashim and Ruwaid were fighting each other on horseback, on the top of a dune that allowed them to survey the whole battle beneath their hooves. They were far enough to see everyone but close enough to see everyone's faces and recognise them.
"You Med-Jai killed everyone in the village! You slaughtered them all!"
"We did not! We would never do anything like that!"
Angered by the Med-Jai's denials, Ruwaid struck harder and fiercer then before, "You LIE!"
But Hashim was not the chief of the Med-Jai for no reason, and easily blocked and counter-attacked Ruwaid, "I do not. We Med-Jai would not do a thing like that, we do not fight other tribes. We have nothing to do with other tribes."
"You lying bastard! You killed my daughter and wife!! YOU KILLED THEM!" Ruwaid foolishly let his anger take control of him and this made his attacks ferociously wild, uncalculated and stupid.
Hashim didn't answer but concentrated on disarming his rival, Ruwaid's anger was making his attacks sloppy and quickly Hashim slid his foot out of the stirrup of his horse and formulated his plan of attack.
"Your silence shows your guilt! You admit it!"
"I admit nothing." Hashim said through clenched teeth and with a lightning quick blow feinted to the left, then when Ruwaid went to cover it, he swung to the right and slashed the palm of the hand that was holding the sword.
With a roar of pain and anger, Ruwaid dropped the sword onto the ground and at that exact moment, Hashim pushed himself off his horse vertically and leapt across the divide to land squarely on the man's chest, pushing him off his horse and pinning him to the sandy ground.
Ruwaid grinned maniacally from his place beneath the Med-Jai and shouted up, "Kill me! Kill me almighty Med-Jai, send me to see my family whom you also slaughtered!"
In response, Hashim only gritted his teeth, and making sure that the point of his scimitar never wavered from the man's neck, he snarled, 'Where is my son?"
Ruwaid laughed bitterly and said, "IF you let me stand up, then I can point him out for you!"
Hashim growled but roughly grabbed the man, and forced him to stand beside him, the sword pricking against the captured man's side. "Where is he?" The voice had dropped to a dangerous growl, a murderous light entering the father's eyes.
Ruwaid grinned and then suddenly pointed out the dusty black figure lying on the ground with another man bending over it, "Over there. There's your son, looks like Shahin is standing over him. And oh! Would you look at that? The sands red underneath him!" The Sami-Nhir chief laughed manically, enjoying the look of distress that appeared on the Med-Jai father's face.
"Be quiet!" Hashim snapped while worry for his son clouded his perceptions. Even though he was viewing him from a distance, for some reason, every detail about his son could be easily seen. Hashim bit his lip anxiously, he had never seen his son so pale, his face was pinched in pain and he could even see Ardeth's blood-stained hand pressed against his side, futilely trying to stem the flow of the red liquid that was quickly changing the colour of the golden sand. His normally handsome face was thin from starvation and carried the first signs of bruising from many blows.
"What have you done to my son?!" Hashim snarled at the man laughing silently beside him. With a sudden burst of anger, Hashim pulled back and punched Ruwaid. The blow snapped the Sami-Nhir's head to the side, but the after the shock of the blow wore off, Ruwaid continued with his insane laugh. As blood flowed sluggishly down the insane man's chin, its source a split lip, Hashim grabbed the man's tunic in a bunch in his fist and pulled the man closer to him, until their noses were almost touching.
The murderous light in the Med-Jai's eyes finally got through to Ruwaid and his laughter faltered slightly as Hashim repeated his question, venom dripping off every word, "What have you done to my son?"
In return, Ruwaid sneered and said, "We just……welcomed him here. After your welcoming into our village, it was the least we could do for him."
Hashim shook the man roughly, his anger blinding his mind, "What part of this don't you UNDERSTAND? We DID NOTHING TO YOU! We didn't even realise your tribe even EXISTED before you KIDNAPPED my SON."
"LIAR!" Ruwaid spat in the Med-Jai's face, not willing to believe what he was hearing. "You lie, Med-Jai cur!" For years, Ruwaid had nursed his hate for the Med-Jai, and just because this person told him that they had not committed the crime, he was not going to suddenly throw it all away. "YOU LIE MURDERER!" Ruwaid screamed at the Med-Jai chief.
Hashim could see that Ruwaid would never waver from his beliefs. He would die with those beliefs. It was just so confusing. Hashim's tribe was being blamed for something that they had not done, his son had been kidnapped and beaten and at this very moment appeared to be bleeding to death on the sands below him, and yet, he couldn't understand the why. Why had this occurred?
At the moment, it didn't matter. The why didn't matter. What mattered was the small, scared black-robed boy lying bleeding on the sands. Hashim's hand tightened on Ruwaids tunic as his paternal instincts flared up.
"Tell your men to fall back my Lord." Hashim ground his teeth while issuing the order, giving the man his honorary name to give some respect, despite the fact he obviously didn't deserve it.
"No." Ruwaid grinned. His eyes had lost all light of rational thinking, instead were glazed with the look of the psychotically deranged. Hashim half expected him to start frothing at the mouth and try to bite him. No, Hashim. Only mad people froth at the mouth. Insane people froth at the brain. This chief is INSANE.
"Your men will all die pointless deaths! You will die! Your tribe will be finished!" Hashim tried to shake some sense into the insane chief, and instead of rational thought occurring, Ruwaid started his low maniacal laugh again. The laugh that set Hashim's teeth on edge and made him believe that there was no hope for this man.
"Then we all die Med-Jai. We. All. Die. Congratulations! You're job is finished! But, we will take some of you with us! Yes, we will! You and me, together, together we will drag each other into the pit of hell. Burn in hell! Die, filthy Med-Jai!" Ruwaid threw his head back and let loose an ululation which carried his reckless and deranged state of mind.
Hashim controlled himself, the temptation to strike the man again was strong. "But your tribe will die! Your name will perish! It will blow away on the sands! No one will remember the mighty Sami-Nhir! Like the desert lion, your ashes will float away on the echoes of the sand! Surely, you cannot want that!" Hashim tried to appeal to the man's chief duties.
And for a second, the thought worked, as Ruwaid's laughter faltered and he hesitated before replying. Slowly, the insane glaze left his eyes and was replaced with endless sorrow and sadness. Then with a voice thick with remorse, "My son will continue the tribe. He is hidden away safely from the fighting. With him he has his first child, and his wife. Together, they will continue the Sami-Nhir, if we are all to perish."
Like a person coaxing someone off a cliff, Hashim spoke gently to the man, "But you need not all perish. You can watch your grandson grow up, you can teach him your ways. Just yield, please yield! You have done that you can," and more, Hashim thought. You have done much more. More harm. But these thoughts Hashim kept to himself as he watched Ruwaid struggled to take control of his mind once more.
"S-Surrender?"
"Yes." Hashim prayed anxiously as beads of sweat started to appear Ruwaid's forehead.
"Would you then kill us?"
"No! We do not kill innocents!" Well, not unless they're trying to awaken The Creature, Hashim grimly thought.
"B-but…..you….." Ruwaid still struggled.
Hashim watched and unconsciously loosed his grip on the man's tunic as he watched the inner-battle.
A small cry of pain was borne to him on the wind, the voice, one that he knew well. Hashim's concentration faltered as another cry was wrenched from his son. When a third one was heard, Hashim couldn't take it any longer and quickly turned away from Ruwaid to have a look what was happening to Ardeth.
At that moment, Ruwaid struck. Twisting himself out of Hashim's grip, he snatched up his scimitar that was lying on the sand nearby and simultaneously kicked the legs out from under the Med-Jai.
Hashim was taken by surprise, his concentration had focussed on his son, and he had thought that Ruwaid had really begun to turn. But obviously you were wrong, his sardonic voice echoed from behind his mind and as if he was elsewhere watching the battle, he saw himself swing his sword up just in time to deflect Ruwaids downward thrust.
For a short while, the two men were engaged in a battle of strength, as both tried to get the upper edge, yet their swords appeared to move very little. Anyone watching would've seen the concentration etched on the men's faces, the muscles bulging with their power and the sweat running down their faces. They also would've heard both men panting, and the man on top, Ruwaid, had started to chuckle evilly once again.
Slowly but surely, the swords began to move downwards, towards Hashim. The Med-Jai chief was no weakling but Ruwaid was fuelled by the strength of the insane, of the strength of a person not caring if they lived or died.
Centimetre by centimetre, the scimitar's dangerously sharp blades moved closer to Hashim's neck.
I am sorry my son. I have failed you. Hashim strained even harder but no matter how much strength he put into pushing back, Ruwaid also had the power of gravity on his side, and the blades didn't stop their relentless downward path.
All that Hashim could think of was that he had failed his son. That his son was going to bleed to death, not even realising his father had returned to collect him.
Hashim closed his eyes, and tried to still his feelings of grief and guilt. But no matter what he tried to tell himself, his mind kept chanting:
You've failed.
****Please leave a review and i'll give you a cookie!
