CHAPTER FIVE

"You don't believe in curses huh?" Rick said as he poked the fire,

"No I don't! I belive if I can see it and if I can touch it then it's real. That's what I believe." Evy said.

I didn't say anything however I did check out our surroundings.

I had spent a lot of time in a lot of places and although I wasn't very religious some places and people had very strong beliefs in gods, demons and curses.

I knew better then to discount things just because I didn't believe in them didn't mean they weren't real.

I had seen many strange things done to and by people who were said to be cursed or wielders of magic and sometimes I saw strange things done by things that I couldn't see but hadn't happened until the name of a certain god or demon had been invoked.

Rick lifted up his shotgun and primed it,

"I believe in being prepared." He said as he to checked out the surroundings.

Jon lost interest in the conversation and leaned over towards he Warden's things.

"Let's see what our friend the Warden belived in." Jon said as he dug through the Warden's pack.

"OW!" Jon said jerking his hand out of the Warden's bag, Evy screamed and Rick turned towards Jon with gun.

"What? What is it?" I asked in unison with Rick holding a throwing dagger between my fingers.

Jon reached back in the bag saying, "A broken bottle."

As Evy sighed with relief and both Rick and I relaxed a movement caught my eye and whatever else was said was lost on me as I tensed again, my eyes searching the shadows.

"There is someone or something out there." I thought as I searched for where the movement had come from.

Rick seemed to catch onto the fact that there was something wrong as well, he stood up and shoved his gun into Evy's hands,

"Take this and stay here." He told Evy as he started down towards the American's campsite.

I heard Evy and Jon speaking and coming down after me as I followed behind Rick having stood up not a second after he did.

I put my throwing dagger away and pulled out my twin swords just as men dressed in the same fashion as the ones who had burnt the barge came riding into the American's camp, yelling and shooting.

I ran towards the men dressed in black, I was ready for a good fight and with Evy and Jon and even Rick who was growing on me, close by and in danger I was going to defend them or die trying.

I had taken seven down choosing to knock them unconscious over killing them as dead people couldn't be persuaded to talk, when I saw Evy standing in the middle of the path with the shotgun.

"Evy!" I whispered, watching her to make sure she didn't get hurt and she didn't, although she ended up falling on her butt from the shotgun blast.

I smiled at that then I heard Jon hollering and trying to run away from one of the men on horseback.

I put my swords into their holders and jumped up onto the horse and tackled the guy causing him to fall to the ground with me.

I immediately slipped my twin swords out of their sheaths ready to take on the guy, although it was hard not to just kiss him as I had always found him quite handsome.

The fall from off the horse caused his head covering to fall off from around his face.

"You know I would love to kiss you when this is all done, in fact I think I will if your still alive, that's a promise." I told the guy conversationally as I blocked his sword with my own.

I knocked his sword out of his hands and held my swords at the ready as he pulled out the sword in his belt.

Then Rick got involved, he must of lost his gun's in the fight because he was holding a stick of lit dynamite towards the handsome guy like it was a dangerous snake that was about to bite.

I rolled my eyes and huffed,

"You just had to take all the fun out of it didn't you!" I said to Rick as I swirled my swords in my hands not putting them down but not attacking the guy either.

The handsome guy looked between me and Rick before putting his sword away which led to me putting mine away,

"Enough! Yallah! We will shed no more blood. But you must leave, leave this place or die." He said before turning and getting on a horse.

When he got on his horse he turned back towards us,

"You have one day. Yallah Imshi." He said starting to turn away when I grabbed his horse's bridle and patted its nose before looking up at handsome guy who was watching me carefully.

"Hey handsome those several guy's are just unconscious so you'll want to take them back with you. And if I see you again be prepared because I intend to keep my promise."

I said motioning towards the unconscious men before ending with a sultry smile and wink up at him.

I didn't bother to watch his reaction as I turned around and headed towards Rick.

"Where's Evy and Jon?" I asked, hoping they had escaped any harm.

"I'm down here." Evy said from her place sprawled out on her back in the sand.

I smiled as Rick went to help her up and left the two of them to look for Jon.

I found Jon and soon everyone was once again ready for sleep, except Evy who was drunk and Rick who was talking to her.

I was getting ready to go for a walk wanting to leave the love birds alone when I saw a movement above us on rock face and decided to check it out.

I climbed up the cliff and found the handsome guy from earlier standing at the top.

"Miss me that much? Or do you just want to make sure I keep my promise?"

I teased with a grin and a raised eyebrow as I stood up and brushed off my hands.

"You are a very strange woman." He said as he watched me carefully,

"Thanks. I do try. So what's your name?" I asked.

He gave me an odd look but answered,

"Ardeth Bay, leader of the Medjai. And your name?"

I smiled, "My name is Anta, but I go by ella." I said.

"Anta, the goddess of war." Ardeth said,

"Yes that is the meaning of my first name." I replied, slightly surprised that he knew the meaning of it, most people didn't.

"Why do you go by Ella?" Ardeth asked interested.

"It's a nickname from my middle name Aella. It means whirlwind and in Greek myth's Aella is the name of a very skilled female warrior who used double bladed axes to fight." I replied wondering why he was curious in my names.

"And what is your last name?" Ardeth asked.

"I have no last name." I replied firmly, wanting to put an end to this discussion.

"Anyway Ardeth I do believe I made a promise and I don't intend to start breaking my promise's now." I said with a sly grin on my face as I stepped closer to him.

My boldness caught him off guard and I kissed him gently before stepping away,

"Now let's talk, I want to know the person I'm starting to think of spending a lot of time with." I said with a grin.

We sat side by side and talked about our different upbringings I was surprised to see the sun was already starting to rise. I knew that Evy was normally an early riser and she would worry if she didn't see me in my bed roll.

"I have to leave, hopefully I'll see you again sometime." I told Ardeth,

"Tonight at the same time and place if you all have not left by then." Ardeth said.

I grinned at the quickness of his response,

"See you tonight." I said turning to leave before I gave a mental shrug and turned back around grabbing his shoulder turning him towards me as he had started to turn away.

Pulling his head down I let my fingernails drag gently along his scalp as I pulled his head towards mine and kissed him.

Licking his lips I nipped his bottom lip before sucking on it to sooth any pain, I felt his hands go around my waist pulling me closer to him as he began to return my kiss.

Pulling back only when we had run out of air we stared at each other before I planted a quick kiss on his lips and turned beginning my climb back down the cliff.