Disclaimer: Stephen Sommers and Universal Pictures own the character of Ardeth Bay. I do not profit from this work.
Thank you for the review wyte-tygre. I will try to append a little dictionary at some point to help with the terms.
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I heard someone approach, and I turned to see Ardeth, his form illuminated by the ghostly light of the moon. He came closer and I could see his dark, fathomless eyes. For a second time he was my sign from Allah, and my heart was suddenly so full that I could not speak.
"Why did you come here?" he asked, his face concerned.
"I---dreamt, Allah sent me---" I was dismayed to think how I looked; I was dressed only in a light robe, my face and hands begrimed from the long journey.
"You dreamt of the Standing Stone?"
"Yes," I whispered, shivering.
"And you left immediately to find it." A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.
"I did not wish to delay Allah's will."
"I thought you had gone," he said, suddenly reaching out and drawing me close into his arms. "Then I saw you walking up the hill."
His embrace was warm, his hands holding me with the utmost gentleness, and I was sorry that I had worried him. "Please forgive me," I said softly.
"There is nothing to forgive." His fingers stroked the back of my neck, and I pressed closer, driving out the cold. "Beloved, stay with me always," he murmured.
My heart shook in my chest. Here, the thing I feared, the thing I wanted; I trembled with emotion.
"What is it?" he asked, his hand moving to my chin, bringing my eyes to his. The moonlight glanced across his face, and I could not deny the passion that I saw there.
"You are the chieftain's son," I said plainly. "I am no one. I have nothing to give you. I have no dowry save myself."
"That is worth more to me than all the wealth of Egypt," he said. "I have spoken nothing less than the truth to you. I wish for the same from you. Do you not desire me, as a woman desires a man? This is the only thing that matters."
His eyes pierced mine. "I have said only truth to you as well," I said evenly. To be with him I would have to risk it all, and I prepared myself. "And I will speak more truth now. I have no money, no dowry, and my clan is small and worthless. They enslaved you, and killed your blood-brother."
"Be that as it may, it does not lessen what I feel for you." His fingers rested on my cheek lightly before reaching down to take my hand in his.
"You must hear all of the truth before you continue," I said pulling my hand away. I knew that what I had to say would cause him to spurn me, but I had to say it. I could not leave it between us, poisoning us slowly. I drew a steady breath and fixed his eyes with my own. "I have been taken by a man before." To the Bedouin a woman is nothing without her honor. No man would take spoiled goods.
Ardeth looked at me in shock. "You have lain with a man?"
"He forced himself upon me." I felt my heart turn to ash, and I looked away. "He made me swear never to tell, and he cut me to remind me of this." Tears rose in my eyes, and I desperately blinked them away. He would surely loathe me now, and I would need to keep my wits about me to leave the camp."
He caught my hands in his, holding them in a ferocious grip. "Look at me."
I was afraid to see what would be in his eyes, but I looked up.
"Where is this man now?" His voice was so terrible and deadly that I was frightened.
"He is dead. You killed him. He was my uncle's son." I watched as the rage subsided in his face.
"Had I known what he had done to you, I would have made his death a thousand fold more painful," he said grimly.
"Now you see why I must go," I said sadly. "You are the chieftain's son. There can be nothing---"
"Tuema," he interrupted. "The son of a chieftain---this means nothing. Do you understand?"
"You are important."
"As are you." His grip tightened. "I will rule, inshallah. But Chieftain---this does not concern me. You concern me." His eyes were like twin stars in the night, dragging me inexorably closer. "I do not wish for a woman with a rich dowry. I do not wish for a woman with fine clothes or unparalleled beauty. What I wish for is a woman who rides a camel for days. I wish for a woman who walks barefoot in the desert. I wish for a woman so brave that she defies all she has known to free a stranger from an ignoble fate. I wish for a woman who will give up all she has won to follow Allah's will to a barren waste in the middle of the night. I wish for you, Beloved, and yours is the only voice that whispers in my heart."
My eyes blurred with unshed tears. "I am---I am not...whole for you."
He drew me into the circle of his arms, his hands wrapping themselves around my body. "This does not matter to me," he murmured in my ear, "excepting the harm that was done to you." His voice grew harsh. "May Allah see fit to torture his black soul for all eternity for the hurt he has done to you."
The tears spilled over. This was so much more than I had a right to receive.
"Beloved, stay with me always," he whispered.
With one word my destiny could break free and fulfill Allah's command. "Yes," I breathed. My heart could sing in joy. Finally I would find happiness.
His hand moved to my cheek. I looked, and his eyes were bright. The light of the moon illuminated his face, revealing his true heart's desire, and I was swallowed by joy a thousand times to discover that it was me. His lips found mine, and the intensity of his kiss stole my breath away.
"You are shivering," he said softly. "We should return to my tent." Taking my hand into his own, he began to lead me back to the camp. Turning to gaze upon me, he smiled, and I found that I could smile in return, all of the fear and worry that had lain so heavily upon my soul finally lifting.
"You are not wearing shoes," he exclaimed, dismayed. In one fluid motion he picked me up, carrying me down the hill. The exhilaration of the moment ebbed, leaving me fatigued in its wake. I barely was aware of being set down upon furs, his warm lips pressed against my forehead, the feel of his body next to mine as I drifted off into the endless tracks of dream
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