I am so very sorry that it took this long to update this story! I promise I did not forget about it but my job keeps me very busy and I just had a hard time with this chapter. I do not know if anyone is going to continue to read this and you all have the right to be annoyed with me, but I want you to know that I am still working on this story and love it. Thank you so much for all the reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I am going to start working on the next chapter; it is one that actually helped give birth to this story idea in the first place.
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Their small ragged group wandered a short distance before they were met by Bedouins who had seen the fire and come to investigate. They had then been lead to the trading post where the people had eagerly begun to offer to sell them supplies.
When Evy, Deirdre and Hadiyya were lead off by the women Rick began to protest but the warden explained that they were being taken to get new clothing, since they were all in their night clothes. Rick relaxed somewhat until he noticed the interest with which the warden was watching the direction the women were going.
Rick got his face right in the warden's. "Don't even think about it," he snarled, causing the other man to blanch.
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Deirdre and Evy found themselves inundated with dresses, scarves and veils. At first the women asked their opinion but ended up just discussing amongst themselves what they thought the visitors should wear while a few of them took the three females to a back area to be cleaned up.
A few women entered the area and began to help the weary travelers, bringing basins of sweet smelling water for them to clean themselves up with. Deirdre started to protest that she could not afford such a luxury, but with a word from Evy to the women, found herself being ignored. Deirdre, deciding that it was best to just go along, insisted on first bathing her daughter, knowing that she was going to end up wet again for it. Hadiyya giggled and splashed the water, while her mother used the provided cloth to wash her clean. Once she was finished a woman handed her a dry cloth which Deirdre used to wrap Hadiyya in; she then sat her daughter on a mat on the floor, telling her to stay put for the moment. When the woman, seemingly assigned to her and Hadiyya, approached her she sighed, took her book and glasses out of her pocket, and began to remove her filthy, and once again wet, garments, which the woman took and then left her to clean herself up with the fresh basin of water and cloths that the woman had left. Deirdre had to admit to herself that the water felt amazing, and she decided to enjoy this while she could since once they headed out what water they brought with them would be used only for drinking. She wrung out her soaking hair; then wrapped herself in a drying cloth. The woman returned with new clothes for mother and daughter; Deirdre accepted them, thanking her in Arabic. The woman responded; then went perfectly still. Deirdre frowned in confusion, glancing down at her chest, where the woman's gaze was stuck. Hanging there by a long silver chain around her neck was a silver pendant; on it were several markings. Deirdre looked back up at the woman in front of her, who was now staring at her face, with a look of shock. The look quickly vanished; then the woman bowed deeply to her; she straightened back up, a look of surprise and respect now on her face; then she then hurried away. Deidre watched her then looked back down at the pendent.
"What is it?"
"Promise me you will never take it off."
"It's beautiful."
"It will protect you."
"What is it?"
"Promise."
"Why?"
"…never take it off."
"I love it."
"…protect you."
"I promise."
"What is it?"
The memories echoed through her mind as she stared at it. 'Maybe I should have asked a different question,' she thought.
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Once they were dressed and ready Deirdre, Evy and Hadiyya were lead out of the tent and back toward the male members of their group.
They had ended up choosing for Evy a black dress, and sheer black scarf and veil; they were all decorated with silver and colorful beads. The outfit ended up enhancing the half-Egyptian woman's exotic beauty, giving her a look of mystique and made her look a great deal less stuffy.
Deirdre they put in a dark blue dress, the color complimented her eyes beautifully, there was some beadwork around the neckline and hem; she had requested a head scarf of the same material as the dress, rather than a sheer one like Evy's, which was also decorated with beads; she had decided to forego the veil across her face.
Hadiyya wore a small deep violet dress, the color darker than what Deirdre usually dressed her in, but with the design of the dress it still managed to look childish and the five year old looked absolutely adorable; it was beaded in a similar style to her mother's.
The look on Rick's face when he saw Evy had Deirdre struggling to conceal her amusement but at the same time it brought forth a bubble of hope. Hope that this woman who her brother was obviously falling for, might be able to do what Deirdre had tried for years but had never succeed in, get him to go honest and to settle down somewhat.
Rick and Jonathan had managed to purchase five camels for them to ride, though Jonathan complained loudly about the price he had had to pay and the camels themselves.
Deirdre rode with Hadiyya cradled carefully in her lap; it was a slightly precarious position, particularly with the swaying motion of the camel, but after a while they adjusted and were able to sit relatively comfortably as they were. Deirdre kept her head covered with the scarf, allowing it to shade her face as much as possible from the sun's relentless rays and when the wind picked up and was blowing sand in their faces she wrapped a portion of it over her face and used the other end to shield Hadiyya's.
At one point the warden began to sing – such as it was – and the group carried out sporadic conversations throughout the day. Evy spoke of the Med-jai, a "cult" as she called them, who were said to protect the City of the Dead; she stated that she believed the men who attacked them on the boat were Med-jai, attempting to stop them from reaching Hamunaptra.
Rick finally called them to a halt to set up camp, telling them that they would be rising at around one a.m. to continue riding at night. Hadiyya was in tears, having realized she had lost her beloved doll, Kahlilah, and Deirdre was rocking her and singing softly, trying to calm her. They all settled in to sleep; eventually Evy came over and asked to "cuddle", so as to keep warm. Rick spent about an hour thinking about kissing her before he began to drift off. Just before sleep claimed him he caught a glimpse of his sister who was lying across the fire from him, holding Hadiyya in her arms. Hadiyya had long ago cried herself to sleep but Deirdre was nowhere near to the land of dreams; she lay there staring into the fire silently; all the while seeming to see nothing.
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When they got up and broke camp it was dark and the moon and stars shone down on them brightly. Deirdre did not even bother to wake Hadiyya up and just let her continue to sleep in her lap. They rode on in the darkness.
All too soon the warden's hacksaw snores once again interrupted the silence of the desert. Jonathan hit him with his crop from time to time to stop the snoring for a while. Evy, who was riding next to Rick, had fallen asleep herself and when she began to lean too far in one direction or the other he would reach over and gently pull or push her back center. Deirdre was riding on Rick's other side and just a little behind, wide awake; when Hadiyya would occasionally begin to stir awake she would softly croon a lullaby which would then sooth the child back to sleep.
There was a distant sound of whinnying and the O'Connell siblings looked toward the sound. Up on a ridge there stood a line of five men mounted on horses, seemingly watching their small group. Rick's eyes narrowed; Deirdre's arms subconsciously pulled her daughter closer and tighter.
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It was their first night in Hamunaptra; after the long ride and eventful day Deirdre was exhausted and they were all still in shock over the death of the warden. Her brother and the Carnahan siblings were sitting together talking about the misfortunes of not only our group but that of the Americans.
Deirdre stirred the fire one last time before laying down next to her already slumbering daughter and wrapping her arms around her. She closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep; she had not been able to since the day they left Cairo, though even before that she had not had a truly restful night in several years.
There were faint shouts and the sound of horses approaching.
She opened her eyes and lifted her head curiously in time to see her brother get up and tell the to stay put, which, of course, for Evy meant she had to go as well. Deirdre stood from her sleeping spot and watched her brother's departure frowning slightly.
"Mummy." She looked down to see Hadiyya sitting up and rubbing her eye sleepily. "What's going on?"
She opened her mouth to respond.
There were shouts and cries; the sound of gunfire and the clash of mettle on mettle.
Her eyes went wide, she snatched up her daughter and bolted for cover among the ruins.
Men on horses and dressed entirely in black stormed through the encampments.
Deirdre made sure that Hadiyya was behind her, pushed as far back into their cover as possible, and that they were both hidden as best as possible in the shadows. She tried to shield her daughter's innocent eyes from the violence without as much as possible.
She watched as her brother was able to knock one of the riders off his horse; the man rolled to his feet and immediately shot up, scimitar in hand; the covering over his face fell away as he did so.
Deirdre felt as if she had been slammed square in the chest, knocking all the air from her lungs and stopping her heart momentarily. It took her a few moments to remember that she needed to breath; it then took her three tries to actually draw air into her lungs.
The two men began to fight, ready to kill each other.
One thought echoed through her head: No.
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The tattooed man knocked the gun from Rick's hand with his scimitar. The American jumped back from the next deadly swing; then took a diving roll. As he was lighting the stick of dynamite in his hand with the camp fire, he heard a familiar, female voice cry out in Arabic. Once he was on his feet, dynamite in his hand, he turned his head in the direction of the voice. His sister stood at the top of some stairs; he was about to yell at her to get back to hiding when the man across from him called out in Arabic, bringing an end to his people's fighting. Rick turned to look at his opponent, but his dark eyes were turned away from him. He followed the desert warrior's gaze; his eyes landed on Deirdre who was looking back at the man pleadingly.
Her voice flowed out quietly, pleadingly in Arabic and Rick never wish more in his life that he had taken the time to really learn the language and not just the most rudimentary basics.
"Mummy?" All eyes flew to the small girl who appeared at his sister's side; looking up at her and clutching her skirt.
Deirdre's eyes snapped to her daughter, going wide. They went back to the man; then back to her daughter before she snatched Hadiyya up and held her close.
Rick was somewhat puzzled by his sister's posture; it was naturally protective, but, at the same time, it was as if she wanted to show the man her child.
His opponent's eyes were narrowed; looking back and forth between the faces of mother and daughter before looking back at Rick himself, noting the explosive he was holding. He finally spoke again; this time in English. "Enough. We will shed no more blood, but you must leave." His eyes bored into the American. "Leave this place or die." He turned as one of his men brought him a horse. "You have one day." He mounted the animal; casting one last glance at Deirdre and Hadiyya before they all rode off.
Rick watched them leave; removing the lit fuse and stuffing the stick into his belt. He then noticed Evy's form still lying on her back from when she had been knocked over by the gun's kickback and helped her up; gently checking her over for injury.
"See, that proves it!" Daniels snarled out. "Old Seti's fortune's got to be under this sand! For them to protect it like this, you know there's treasure down there."
Deirdre beat Rick to correcting them. "Don't be absurd," she scoffed, lowering Hadiyya to her feet. "They are people of the desert. What use is gold to them?" She ran her hand absent mindedly over her daughter's head. "Water is gold to them."
Daniels sneered. "What would you know about it?"
She clenched her jaw, fury sparking in her eyes.
"She's right," Rick spoke up, before she could possibly lash out at one of them.
Burns came to stand next to Rick. "You know, maybe just at night, we could, uh, combine forces, hmm? Maybe you can even camp with us."
"I think we should do as they say and leave," Deirdre spoke up, holding her daughter close to her side.
They all looked at her incredulously.
"Are you nuts, lady?" Henderson asked.
She pressed her lips into a thin line, narrowing her eyes. "No, just taking their threat seriously…and also taking into consideration that it might not have been a threat but a warning for our own good."
There were scoffs, snorts and sounds of general annoyance and ridicule.
Her eyes narrowed fractionally further before she picked up Hadiyya, turned on heel and briskly returned to their campsite.
Rick watched his sister's wake, frowning before turning back to the other Americans. "We'll move camp to yours tomorrow."
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The scene during the fight with Deirdre, Rick, Ardeth and Hadiyya was also one of the first scenes that my mind came up with and helped create this story. If you are not too annoyed with me, please let me know what you think!