The evening air was temperate but cool enough that one would wish for a wrap if they were to stay outside for an extended amount of time. Nefertiri emerged onto her balcony, a smile playing on her lips as she looked down to the Medjai sentries in the courtyard. The day had not been entirely unpleasant; she had been given the honor of protecting the Bracelet of Anubis whereas Anck-Su-Namun was given the duty to protect her father. Nefertiri saw her father's sense in it. If she was to be his wife, replacing Nefetiri's beautiful deceased mother Queen Tuya, it was good sense to have a consort that could protect you. Whether the princess would ever truly trust her father's future bride was uncertain to say, and after the look exchanged between High Priest Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun today…

"Your bath is ready, Your Highness." Amunet's bare feet pattered quietly as she ducked under the drawn curtain that partitioned the balcony and the princess' apartments. "Should I have the slaves call for the singers or –?"

"Not yet, Amunet." Nefertiri replied, smiling gently at her handmaiden. The girl had been her companion since they were both little, and though Nefertiri was years older than her, Amunet carried herself with the maturity of someone beyond her years. "I want to enjoy the evening air."

"Of course, Your Highness." Her handmaiden smiled and lingered at the balcony railing with the princess. "You fought well today. You could tell the pharaoh is proud."

"Not well enough, I fear." Nefertiri sighed. "Though I would not trust Anck-Su-Namun with guarding the bracelet."

Amunet tried to offer a sympathetic smile. "I know." She murmured. "Perhaps Your Highness should not speak so loudly." She nodded towards the concubine's quarters across the courtyard. Anck-Su-Namun was loitering in her quarters, little more than a scantily-clad figure. "Would you wish her to hear?"

"I would not care one fig if she did." Nefertiri replied haughtily. "I am Pharaoh's loyal subject as well as his loving daughter, but I will not curb my tongue from speaking the truth."

Amunet meekly nodded. The two stood in silence for a moment before the younger broke it. "Is… Is that my father?"

The rooms of Anck-Sun-Namun had a grand balcony across from Nefertiri's, providing a clear view into the concubine's quarters for the princess and her handmaiden to see whatever occurred within. Nefertiri followed Amunet's gaze as Imhotep crossed to the pharaoh's concubine and, after a tender gesture, the two embraced in an intimate kiss. Amunet looked to her friend who looked so aghast that she could not move. Unsure of what to say, Amunet looked back just as the pharaoh's voice echoed through the room. "Oh Isis, no." Amunet whispered.

Imhotep fled and Anck-Su-Namun prepared herself to greet the pharaoh. Seti asked Anck-Su-Namun an indistinct question as Imhotep circled from behind, unseen by the pharaoh. Amunet blanched, her fingers turning white on the balcony's bannister. "Medjai!" Nefertiri called to the courtyard, her face turning into a mask of fear, "My father needs you!" The sentinels immediately flooded up the steps to Anck-Su-Namun's apartments, but too late. Imhotep pulled Pharaoh's blade from his belt before Anck-Su-Namun drew a knife, stabbing the Pharaoh in the back as his attention was focused on the priest. Nefertiri screamed, helplessly watching as her father was mercilessly slaughtered by two of the people he trusted most. Amunet's arms wrapped around the princess, her words of comfort falling on deaf ears as the princess collapsed in a fit of hysteria –

Evy jerked out of her dream, a cool breeze blowing through the flap of the tent as Katrina poked her head in. "Hey. Done napping? The diggers are raring to go."

"A moment." Evy pleaded, rubbing her eyes. She supposed she hadn't slept as well as she should have the night before. A short rest turned into slumber, and another of those dreams – this one disconcerting. She pushed the details away for another time and grabbed her things. There was a temple to get into.

"Honey, why don't we wait for Ardeth?" Rick asked, trailing after Evy as the group headed to unseal the temple doors. The wind had picked up a little as the morning wore on and the group had a late breakfast. Ardeth hadn't returned and Kit was still out retrieving water.

Aamir grumbled the word "expert" as Evelyn climbed the steps. "We've unsealed doors without him before, dear."

"Yeah, but –" The wind whipped up, causing Rick to narrow his eyes against airborne sand. He looked to Jonathan for support, but the man was busy attempting to draw Katrina's attention with his "adventures."

"…killed his minions, and then I stole the mummy's scepter! Which was… lost afterward."

"Mmhmm." Katrina replied vacantly, leaving Jonathan behind to join Evy and the diggers at the door as they pulled out chisels and hammers to coax the sealed doors open.

Jonathan sighed and stopped in his tracks. "No respect."

Aamir supervised the diggers as they slid the chisel's blade into the crevices of the two-paneled stone slab blocking the temple's entrance. Gently, they tapped the butts of the chisels, doing their best not to fracture the stone. Evy watched, rapture clearly on her face, as doors sighed, signifying the seal had been broken. Her husband came to stand beside her, jaw clenched. "You're overreacting, dear. There's been nothing to be cautious about this entire journey." Rick said nothing, but joined the diggers in removing the two stone slabs as the wind began screaming through the columns of the temple's portico.

The temple's opening having been decidedly uneventful, Evy called for light to venture into the shadowy complex. The woman was given the first lantern and she led the way. Some sand had seeped in over the years, creating shallow banks of the grit on either side of the door. "Oh my – Look!" Still guarding the entrance on both sides, skeletons laid in the sand with remnants of what had once been Roman Legionnaire armor. Evy set down her lantern and crouched, pulling a brush from her pack as she inspected the bones to the left. "Look at this!" The cloth had rotted away, but the metal disks of an infantryman's armor still remained inside of the ribcage and cushioned by sand. "We'll need to be careful with these – See if you can brighten up this place. Mind where you step! Katrina, Alex, come here!"

With his wife occupied, Rick took his preferred method of illumination (a torch) and continued further into the temple. There was no obstruction to the airy chamber of the place. The back wall was solid, showing that there was nothing more to the interior than the large chamber they currently occupied. Cracks in the sandstone walls sang as the wind continued to blow outside. "Uh, Aamir?" Rick called, "Could we get some supports in here? I'm feeling a little uneasy with this wind."

"Of course." Aamir replied. He called three of his diggers to him and they headed outside. Rick continued surveying the inside of the temple. There was a raised altar in the center of the chamber - could that be where the Belt of Isis was? A chill ran down his spine as the wind shrieked with unmatched fury and he decided to return to the entrance of the temple. Just as he did, Aamir and the diggers accompanying him reentered, out of breath

"Evelyn, there's a sandstorm blowing right for the temple." Aamir gasped.

"What?" Evy pulled herself to her feet, walking outside to the temple portico. Even at this distance, the air was clotted with sand and visibility was dropping. The sandstorm had already blotted out the horizon to the south and was growing bigger by the second. She turned to her husband and Aamir, a hand raised to her lips before decisively stating, "Fill some water skins. Bring in as many food stores as you can and make sure the rest are sealed. We'll weather the storm in the temple." Aamir nodded and called to his diggers.

"Jonathan, let's help them." Katrina bade.

"Well I thought I'd –" The man began.

"I'm supervising." Alex rebutted, latching onto one of his uncle's arms. "Come on Uncle Jon, the storm's coming!"

The three chased after the diggers and Evy set her tools down. "We'll bring in those supports you wanted and we should be just fine, don't you think?" She asked her husband.

Eyes narrowing against the northern horizon, Rick saw no sign of anyone astride a camel coming back to camp. Hands falling uselessly to his side, Rick demanded, "What about Kit?" Evy blanched. She hadn't thought of Kit.

"Oh no." Evy looked back to the cloud of sand. "Aamir, do you think we have time to go find Kit?"

The chief digger shook his head from the water canopy. "We have minutes, if that. I'm sorry, but she will have to fend for herself. Let's hope she can take direction from a camel."

The camel's feet thundered against the sandy floor as Kit spurred the beast on. Ardeth, clinging to Kit with one arm, unplugged the water skins and let them drain as they ran, freeing up weight so the camel could move faster. Sand was descending upon them like a cloud of locusts as they finally came within sight of the well. The mud brick hut next to it looked more welcoming than any sight seen before. The camel brayed as Kit pulled the beast to a halt next to the building and she and Ardeth slipped from its humped back. "Wait!" Kit bade when Ardeth pulled her towards the structure.

"Kit, there is no time –"

She disregarded the Medjai as visibility lowered so swiftly Ardeth could barely see the camel's silhouette. Particles of sand slapped the Medjai's face and infiltrated his nostrils, threatening to suffocate him. The woman untied her pack from the camel as well as the last remaining water skin. She turned back to Ardeth, but the structure had disappeared in the whirling sand. Wind whistled around them, blinding them with grit and ripping the very air from their lungs.

"Hold my hand!" Ardeth roared against the wind, grasping hers firmly with his own. "Do not let go."

The wind howled, tearing at Ardeth's robes. His skin chafed as the sand scratched and clawed, choking and blinding the Medjai. With his free hand, he blindly grasped for anything in the sandstorm, but his hands closed on nothing time and time again. He felt Kit struggling to keep up behind him and a scream was swallowed up as a hellish blast threatened to pull her from Ardeth's hold. The Medjai pulled the woman closer to him, linking their arms together. He struggled to breathe a ragged breath when finally – The blessed roughness of mud brick! Hands scrabbling along the wall, Ardeth at last felt the splintered wooden door beneath his fingers, and as quickly as possible, he wrenched the shabby door open and shoved Kit unceremoniously through the door. Together, they placed all of their weight against the door to close and latch it against the wind. Finally, finally they were free from the storm.

Kit coughed, chest rising and falling briskly. Pulling a sandy bandana from her pack, the woman blew her nose. "I'm sorry," She panted, "But I was not going to have us die of thirst if the sandstorm doesn't let up for a while."

Ardeth shook the loose sand from his hair, wiping his eyes afterward. "All that matters is we made it. And you have impressive foresight." He slid down to sit against the mud brick wall, sighing as he did. The interior of the mud brick hut was simple: packed sand floor, no windows, a small port in the roof of one of the corners for a cooking fire, and the earthenware ceramics and bedroll the men had found the evening before.

The entire structure shuddered and, maybe it was just the wind, but a cry of anguish rang outside the mudbrick walls. Kit's complexion had changed to a sallow pallor. She wouldn't meet Ardeth's eyes as she began, "Will... Will..."

The Medjai's brow furrowed and he brushed clumps of quicksand. "Go on."

Kit's gaze met Ardeth's. "Will the camel be alright?"

The question struck Ardeth as so funny he could not help but laugh. "The camel?" His chuckles heightened in volume and he ran a hand through his hair. "The camel will be fine. They're made for sandstorms."

"Oh. Good." Kit offered a sheepish smile. "She's a good camel."

"The best." Ardeth agreed. She'd gotten them there safely and pulled him from the quicksand; he wasn't in any position to slander the beast.

Kit scooted over to Ardeth, pulling a chunk of sand from his hair. The Medjai's scalp and hair was full of knots of sand thanks to both the quicksand and the storm outside. "Here I am worrying about a camel when you almost drowned. Are you alright?"

"I'm still breathing. I'm fine." Ardeth replied. His eyes met with Kit's as she pulled another clump from his hair. "Thank you."

Kit smiled. "You're welcome. I'm glad I decided to do well-runs today." She pulled her pack over to them, opening it. "I've always heard that quicksand isn't as deadly as adventure pictures and newspaper stories would have you believe."

The door rattled and a puff of sand escaped into the structure. Ardeth wafted it away from his mouth. "I…" He looked to Kit and her sudden pallor. Her hands were shaking as she dug into her pack. "Are you alright?" He asked.

She smiled wanly. "Headache."

Both the quicksand and the sandstorm had not acted as nature did. Nature was brutal and unfeeling, but did not threaten to suck the life out of you or scream when you escaped its clutches. And Kit's quick departure from a normal complexion to one of almost deathly pallor could not be coincidence. Ardeth knew that the woman did not know her family's previous acquaintance with the Creature. But if Ardeth was right, she could have just been pulled into something similar. "Kit… Do you have the feeling that this sandstorm could not be coincidence?"

The woman became paler, if that was even possible. "What do you mean?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"It's not my place to tell you previous experiences your family has gone through in Egypt, but suffice it to say that they have not all been… pleasant." Ardeth told her. If O'Connell was angry with him, he could bear the brunt of it, but he would not have Kit being blind to the danger they were all in once the sandstorm stopped. "There have been times when something supernatural has threatened your family, and I fear that it is happening today."

Kit swallowed, abandoning her pack to turn her full attention on the Medjai. "What makes you say that?"

Ardeth brushed dried quicksand from his shoulders and looked back to Kit. "I've dealt with quicksand before. Your brother, Jonathan, and I rode over the same earth last evening. Why did it not collapse then? Why did it wait until I was riding to get help in case… in case there was something insidious in the temple?" Perspiration began to wet Kit's forehead as Ardeth continued. "And, in the middle of the desert, any quicksand should only be a few feet deep at most. This quicksand seemed bottomless. It pulled me without movement and a cobra scared off my horse – what would a cobra be doing this far away from water? And then, when you unexpectedly save me, a sandstorm threatens to swallow us both?" Ardeth finished supplying his evidence. "There is a force that is not nature that is working to ensure I do not call my brothers to aid us."

Kit shivered, though the inside of the hut was far from cold. "What can we do?"

"Nothing until the storm dies down." Ardeth replied, regret in his voice. "I hope that your family will be safe until then." Allah willing, there is truly nothing in the temple to be worried about.

Kit nodded and the pair sat in silence for a moment, listening to the wind howling and buffeting the exterior of the hut. "Ardeth… I have a question."

"Ask." The Medjai replied.

"Has your father passed?" Ardeth nodded cautiously, unsure what direction she would take with this. "And you miss him?"

"Of course."

"What if… What if he hadn't passed and was being kept from you? What would you do to find him?"

The question surprised Ardeth. "I suppose I would do anything to find him. I would travel, I would search."

"And whatever the price you had to pay, it would be worth it as long as you found your father, right?" Kit stared hard at the man, her blue eyes boring holes into him. She seemed desperate for the man to agree with her. "I mean, you'd do things you wouldn't usually do because you wanted to find your father and reunite with him; because you wanted to have a family."

"It would depend." Ardeth replied. "Kit, why are you asking me this?"

"Because fair's fair and I..." She trailed off, looking away from the man.

"Kit, what –?" Ardeth asked, grabbing for one of her hands. The touch of her skin stopped his speech – she was cold, clammy, and shaking. Ardeth reached to turn Kit's damp face towards him and felt a fever burning, starkly contrasting the feel of her hands. "Kit, are you well?"

"No." She admitted, closing her eyes.

"Lay down, lay down." Ardeth besought her. She made herself comfortable on the bedroll within the hut and Ardeth retrieved the water skin, gently pouring some into Kit's mouth. Fair is fair… Ardeth echoed in his head and he capped the water skin. Why would she speak of such things seeming out of the blue? She wouldn't unless… Ardeth's blood ran cold. He leaned over Kit, placing a hand on her feverish cheek. "Kit, don't tell me… Don't tell me you're connected to what's happening?" Evy had said she had found the information about the temple, she had showed up at the right time to rescue him, her illness was so sudden that there could be no other explanation unless she was receiving the anger of whatever had tried to kill him as well.

The woman trembled, swallowing before choking out the admission, "I am."