Alex cuddled up to Yanit's back, draped his arm over her abdomen and kissed her neck.

'Are you okay?' he said.

'That's a strange question to ask me under these circumstances,' Yanit laughed. 'Yes, I'm okay. How about you?'

'I'm more okay than I've ever been in my life.'

Yanit smiled, leaned her head over her shoulder and kissed him.

'We haven't been neglecting our guests, have we?' said Alex.

'No, I don't think so,' said Yanit.

'And Tara's been made to feel welcome, hasn't she?'

'Yes, she has. Chiefly by Fadil, it's true... but that's as it should be. Are you sure you're okay, Alex?'

'It's just that I... I can't help feeling like I've missed something important,' said Alex. 'Or that there's some kind of potential problem that I've utterly failed to get to grips with.'

'Can I give you some advice, my love?'

'Of course.'

'Just let yourself relax for a change,' said Yanit. 'You've had so many problems on your mind for so long – undead mummies, the Manacle of Osiris, your Medjai training, your grandfather, the Scarab, all the Supreme Medjai stuff, the evil fog... Now that none of these things is a problem anymore, you should just allow yourself a bit of time out – you've definitely earned it!'

'Okay,' said Alex, then he started to nibble her.

Fadil hurled himself back against his pillows and exhaled heavily.

'Oh my God,' he breathed, 'that was amazing!'

'Yes,' said Tara, draping herself over him and tracing random shapes across his chest with her index finger, 'it was rather nice, wasn't it?'

'I can see exactly why Alex and Yanit have barely left their room recently,' said Fadil.

'Yes, I... I think I'm beginning to understand as well,' said Tara. 'Baby, you will let me come on sentry duty with you tomorrow night, won't you?'

'Yes, Tara,' said Fadil, reaching up to stroke her cheek, 'I can no longer refuse you anything. What we just did was... well, it was... like I said, it was amazing!'

'Yes...' said Tara. 'It... it's never been like that before.'

'Oh,' said Fadil, sounding surprised and a bit disappointed, 'it wasn't your first time, then? When we were talking before, I kind of got the impression that it was going to be.'

'Um... oh, no, it wasn't my first time,' said Tara. 'You know how it is, Fadil – you get caught up in the moment, you end up doing something you don't really want to do and then you can't take it back. But what we just shared... well, that was definitely the first time I've done that!'

Fadil kissed her on the forehead and said, 'I'm glad.'

'Should we get dressed and go to dinner now?' said Tara.

'Let's give it a few more minutes,' said Fadil. 'I'd like us just to lie here and hold each other for a while, if that's okay with you.'

'That's more than okay with me,' said Tara, and she snuggled up to him and closed her eyes.

The following evening, Alex, Yanit, Fadil, Tara, Zain and Hamza were sitting around a table in the refectory, finishing off their dinner.

'Okay, I'm done,' Alex announced. 'Zain and Hamza, did you want to take a look at the technical drawings for those new irrigation projects?'

'Yes,' said Hamza, 'when I've finished this ice-cream.'

'And I'm just about to scrape up the last of my cake,' said Zain.

'I believe I'll be greedy and have another slice,' said Yanit. 'You three go on ahead and I'll join you when I'm done.'

'Okay, Yanit,' said Alex, 'if you're sure.'

'Of course I'm sure, Alex,' said Yanit, smiling at him. 'You can survive without me for five minutes, can't you?'

'Just about,' Alex grinned back at her.

'I must relieve Rashid from sentry duty,' said Fadil. 'Tara, are you coming?'

'I... I'll catch up with you in a few minutes, Fadil,' said Tara. 'I want to stay for a quick word with Yanit.'

'Really?' said Yanit. 'What about, Tara?'

'Oh, you know,' Tara shrugged. 'I just want us to have a little talk about... ladies' things.'

Thirty seconds later, Yanit and Tara were alone in the room. Yanit paused in the act of shovelling cake into her mouth to give Tara an encouraging smile.

'Don't worry – I've got some that you can borrow,' said Yanit. 'Oh, not that I want them back when you're done with them, of course.'

'What are you talking about?' said Tara.

'Ladies' things,' said Yanit.

'Oh,' said Tara. 'Oh, I see. No, I didn't mean that... but thanks a lot for the offer. I just wanted to tell you again how grateful I am to you for giving me your room.'

'It's fine, Tara,' said Yanit. 'By the way, I hope you don't think that my decision to move out had anything to do with you moving in. It's just that Alex suggested we should start cohabiting and... well, you know.'

'Oh yes, I do know,' Tara assured her. 'You're, er... you're pretty sure that you and Alex being together is how things are supposed to be, aren't you?'

'I've never been surer of anything in my life,' said Yanit.

'Why?' said Tara. 'I mean, how can you tell?'

'Well... I guess it's because everything that Alex and I have done together has just felt right,' said Yanit. 'I felt right making friends with him when no one else would, I felt right revealing my true gender to him at an appropriate moment, I felt right becoming a couple with him and I felt right giving myself to him physically. There's no scientific or mathematical explanation for things like that, Tara. If you live your life according to what feels right for you, you can be sure you'll always make the correct choices to be true to yourself.'

'That's excellent advice, Yanit,' said Tara. 'So I guess if someone wanted me to do something, but I really didn't want to do it and I knew that it wasn't the right thing for me to do, I could very easily decide to follow my heart and tell that someone to get stuffed, couldn't I?'

'Absolutely,' said Yanit. 'Why, is someone trying to make you do something you don't want to do?'

'Oh, no,' said Tara. 'I'm just speaking hypothetically, that's all.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' said Yanit. 'But I hope you know that you can always come to me, Tara, if you want to talk about ladies' things or anything else at all.'

'Thanks,' said Tara. 'I really appreciate that, Yanit.'

'I'm going to join Alex and the others now,' said Yanit, swallowing the last of her cake, 'and you'd better get along to Fadil, hadn't you?'

'Yes,' said Tara. 'Yes, I had.'

Yanit rose from her seat and started to walk away from the table. Tara looked conflicted and confused for a moment, then she jumped to her feet, picked up the chair that Yanit had been sitting on, ran up behind Yanit and smashed the chair over the back of her head. Yanit crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Tara cast the remains of the chair aside and started crying.

'Damn you, Father!' she yelled. 'Damn you for making me do this!'

'Silence, girl!' Elder Garth's voice screeched inside her head, causing her to clutch at her temples and cry out in pain. 'Do not stop there – finish Yanit off!'

'No, I won't!'

'Kill her!'

'Get... get stuffed, Father!'

'Do as you are told!'

Tara yelled in agony as Elder Garth's power bored further and further into her mind. She collapsed to her knees, still clutching her aching head.

'If you kill Yanit, our victory will be assured,' Elder Garth's voice came again, more softly this time. 'Once Alex realises that she is dead, he will be utterly devastated! Unable to control his crippling grief, he will be at my mercy!'

'So... so Alex really does love Yanit, then?' said Tara. 'He doesn't just use her for sex, like you said?'

'Stop questioning me, girl! Finish Yanit off! Turn over the table on top of her!'

'I won't!'

'You will!'

'I won't!'

'You will!'

Tara screamed and cried as an invisible force dragged her to her feet. She found herself cupping her hands under the edge of the table. With a physical strength that she knew to be greater than her own, Tara flipped the table over. It crashed down on top of Yanit, leaving a frighteningly small gap between the tabletop and the floor.

'There now,' Elder Garth chuckled, 'that wasn't so difficult, was it? Go to the watchtower and join Fadil now... and when the moment is right, you know what to do.'

'Yes, Father,' Tara said distantly, 'I know what to do.'

Safin, James and Iqbal entered the refectory with a sparsely filled dinner tray each.

'I knew we'd miss all the best stuff if we stayed in the shower too long,' said Iqbal.

'Shut up, man,' said James. 'At least there was some cake left.'

'What the hell's been happening here?' said Safin, setting his tray down on a nearby table. 'Someone has smashed a chair and turned over a table!'

'I think you just answered your own question, Saf,' said James.

'Maybe we should tidy up a little,' said Iqbal.

'Why should we?' said James. 'It's not our problem.'

'That table is lying at a very strange angle,' said Safin. 'Almost as if there's something propping it up from underneath...'

Safin dropped to the floor and peered under the tabletop. He cried out in alarm.

'There's someone under here!' he squeaked.

'Oh my God,' said James. 'Quick, we have to move it!'

James and Iqbal abandoned their trays and placed themselves at either end of the overturned table. Safin slid his fingers under the tilted edge, and the three of them heaved the table away from the unmoving figure on the floor.

'It's Yanit!' said Safin.

'I really don't get what the hell has been happening here,' said Iqbal.

'Is she okay, Saf?' said James.

'Probably not completely, by the look of her,' said Safin. 'We'd better not move her; she might have internal injuries. Wait a second...'

Safin lay flat on his stomach and put an ear very close to Yanit's mouth. He nodded his head and jumped back up to his feet.

'She's breathing,' he announced. 'James, can you fetch the Medjai physician? Iqbal, you try to find Alex... and maybe Ardeth.'

'Okay, Saf,' said James.

'Sure thing, Saf,' said Iqbal. 'What are you going to do?'

'I'll stay here with Yanit,' said Safin, 'just in case... well, just in case anything else happens.'

The Medjai physician carefully lowered Yanit's hand to the floor and looked up at the expectant faces of Safin, James and Ardeth.

'Her pulse is very weak,' said the physician. 'I'd like to take her to the hospital in Cairo, but she might have any number of internal injuries and... well, to put it bluntly... you see, the thing is...'

'Just tell us, Doc,' said James.

'I don't think she'd survive the journey,' said the physician.

'You mean you can't help her?' Safin asked in a strangled voice.

'I... I'm really not sure that I can,' said the physician.

'Good Lord,' Ardeth breathed, 'how on earth can this have happened? And how is Alex going to react when -'

'Yanit!'

Everyone whirled around to see Alex standing in the doorway with a horrified expression on his face. Iqbal, Zain and Hamza were behind him. As Alex ran to Yanit's side, the physician quickly withdrew to make room for him.

'Yanit,' said Alex, grasping her hand in his own and staring down at her colourless face. 'Yanit, you can hear me, can't you? You have to be all right, Yanit. Come on, now; wake up!'

Nothing happened. Alex looked absolutely mortified for a few seconds, then his expression changed to one of anger.

'What the hell happened to her, Ardeth?' Alex demanded.

'We don't know, Alex,' said Ardeth. 'Safin, James and Iqbal found her under an overturned table, and that's all any of us knows.'

'We moved the table, Alex,' said Safin, 'but it seems like there might not be... well, there might not be anything else that anyone can do to help.'

'To Hell with that!' Alex snarled. 'I can help her – I know I can! Come on, Yanit, wake up now! You can't leave me like this – we have to go to London for six to eight weeks and we have to have those kids we were talking about someday and we just have to be together for the rest of our lives! You're not gonna let me go through all that without you, Yanit; I know you're not. I don't want to do it without you; I can't do it without you!'

Everyone else in the room exchanged awkward glances. Ardeth cleared his throat.

'Alex...' he said gently.

'Look at their hands!' James cut in. 'What's happening?'

A strange red glow had appeared around Alex's hand where it was gripping Yanit's. Slowly but surely, the glow began to spread up Alex's arm.

'Is the Manacle doing that?' said Safin.

'No,' said Ardeth. 'No, I don't think it's the Manacle...'

'Yes!' Alex declared. 'Yanit, you wouldn't let me do this for you when your life wasn't in danger, but now it definitely is and you are not going to stop me!'

As the red glow enveloped more and more of his body, Alex took on a pained expression. The spectators watched with bated breath. Yanit's eyes fluttered open.

'Alex...' she croaked.

'Yanit!' Alex exclaimed. 'You're going to be okay, Yanit, aren't you? Oh, please tell me you're going to be okay!'

'Of... of course I am, Alex,' Yanit smiled up at him. 'I told you I'd never leave you.'

A smile spread across Alex's face, then he cried out in pain and clutched at his abdomen with his left arm.

'Alex...' Ardeth said warningly. 'Don't take too much, will you?'

'I'll keep on taking it until Yanit's completely recovered!' said Alex.

'But -' said Ardeth.

'No buts, Ardeth!' said Alex.

Yanit was soon able to drag herself into a sitting position. She rubbed her forehead with her free hand, then she turned to look at Alex with real fear in her eyes.

'Alex, you have to stop now,' she said. 'You've taken enough.'

'No,' said Alex. 'We can't be sure – I have to take it all!'

Yanit tried to pull her hand away from Alex, but he held on with an iron grip. As Yanit's strength continued to grow, Alex became visibly weaker by the second.

'Alex, stop!' Yanit yelled. 'You'll kill yourself!'

'I don't care!' Alex yelled back. 'I don't care what happens to me, Yanit – I just have to save you!'

Yanit hauled herself onto her knees, placed her free hand on Alex's shoulder and hurled him away from her. He crashed into the wall and lay there, unmoving. With a cry of distress, Yanit scuttled over to him.

'Alex, you idiot!' Yanit wept. 'Why did you have to take so much? I've told you before, it's not worth saving me at the expense of yourself! Now you've left yourself completely vulnerable to... to... to whatever the hell is really going on around here!'

As Alex blinked up at Yanit's horror-stricken face, he heard the voice of Imhotep echoing inside his head.

'Your love for that girl will eventually spell your downfall because it makes you weak!' the voice said. 'I myself may not be able to defeat you, here and now... but someday soon, someone will take advantage of your weakness!'

'It... it doesn't matter, Yanit,' Alex said faintly. 'If I didn't save you, I wouldn't have been able to carry on myself. I love you, Yanit – that's the most important thing. Whatever's been happening, and whatever's going to happen next, it doesn't matter. I love you and I had to save you – that's all there is to it.'

'Oh, Alex,' Yanit blubbed, kissing him him all over his pale, drawn face. 'I love you too, and I'll never stop loving you no matter what... no matter what happens!'

The tall figure of Ardeth loomed over Alex and Yanit. Alex stared up at him with a slightly apologetic look in his eyes.

'Alex,' Ardeth said quietly, 'I was wrong. Everything I ever said about you and Yanit... it was truly and utterly wrong. Perhaps I've never really seen true love before... the truth is that I once thought I was experiencing it myself, but it turned out to be a lie. But I've seen it now. I see it in you and Yanit; I really do. And it's beautiful.'

'Thanks, Ardeth,' said Alex.

'We need to get you to bed,' said Ardeth. 'Maybe your healing powers can revive you, in time.'

'Of course they can,' Alex croaked. 'I'll be okay in a minute.'

'I'm going to conduct a thorough search of the Academy and find out what the hell is going on,' said Ardeth. 'Zain and Hamza, would you mind helping Alex and Yanit to bed?'

'I don't need any help, Ardeth,' said Yanit. 'I'll -'

'Yes, you do!' Ardeth told her. 'You've been through a hell of an ordeal, Yanit, and you need to rest. By the way, is there anything you can remember about what happened to you?'

'I... I... I was hit from behind,' said Yanit. 'I don't remember what I was doing just before that – it's all very hazy.'

'Even more reason to get you to bed,' said Ardeth.

'Come on, Yanit,' said Zain, 'you can lean on me.'

'I'll deal with Alex,' said Hamza. 'Don't worry; I can take quite a lot of his weight.'

'You'll need to take all of it, I think,' said Ardeth.

'Then that's what I'll do,' said Hamza.

Safin, James and Iqbal watched Zain, Yanit, Hamza and Alex leaving the refectory through one door, and Ardeth and the physician leaving through another. Safin's brow creased into an expression of determination, and he made to follow the former group.

'Where are you going, Saf?' said Iqbal.

'To stand guard outside Alex's room!' said Safin. 'Something very strange is going on around here, and now Alex is as weak as a kitten, and he might need someone watching his back!'

'Good idea, Saf,' said James. 'We'll come with you – I know where we can pick up some weapons on the way!'

'And I'll bring our cake,' said Iqbal.

'Excellent,' said Safin.

'This is incredibly boring,' Tara said to Fadil.

'A Medjai is never bored whilst discharging his duties,' said Fadil.

'Don't you even want a quick snog?' said Tara.

'What I want isn't important right now,' said Fadil. 'I have my duty to perform, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.'

Tara opened her mouth to speak again, but closed it when she heard footsteps coming up the staircase. She frowned in annoyance as Ardeth appeared in the sentry box.

'Fadil, is everything okay up here?' said Ardeth.

'Yes, Ardeth,' said Fadil. 'Things are as quiet as the grave.'

'Rather unlike things down in the Academy,' said Ardeth. 'Yanit's been attacked in the refectory.'

'What?!' said Fadil.

'Is she dead?' Tara asked quietly.

'No,' said Ardeth. 'It looks like she's going to be okay, thanks to Alex.'

'Tara, you were with Yanit last,' said Fadil. 'Was everything okay when you left?'

'Oh yes,' said Tara, 'Yanit was fine when I last saw her.'

'And you're sure that no one's entered the Academy, or tried to?' Ardeth asked Fadil.

'Completely sure,' said Fadil. 'And Rashid said his watch was utterly uneventful too.'

'Then this unexpected sequence of events, whatever it is, has been going on inside the Academy the whole time,' said Ardeth. 'I don't like this at all. Keep your eyes peeled up here, Fadil – I'm declaring a state of emergency!'

As Ardeth disappeared back into the stairwell, Fadil placed himself at the very edge of the sentry box and peered out across the desert.

'Everything still seems to be okay,' he remarked, 'but I must be extra vigilant!'

'I don't see why,' said Tara. 'Ardeth just said that the problem must already be inside the Academy.'

'An enemy within our walls...' said Fadil. 'It doesn't bear thinking about, Tara.'

'No... no, it doesn't, does it?' said Tara. 'Ooh, Fadil, look – I think I saw something moving over there!'

'Where?' Fadil said urgently.

'Just by that rock promontory!' said Tara, pointing into the encroaching darkness. 'Look, there it is again!'

Fadil leaned over the side of the tower and craned his neck as far as he could. Tara pushed both her palms into his back and gave him an almighty shove. With a cry of surprise and alarm, Fadil toppled out of the sentry box and tumbled down the rock formation to the desert sand below. Tara quickly pulled the lever to open the main entrance to the Academy, then she ran down the stairs and skidded out into the desert.

'Oh, Fadil,' Tara wept, throwing herself to her knees beside him. 'Fadil, I'm so sorry! I had to do it – I had no choice!'

A tremendous wind whipped up, blowing sand in all directions. Tara shielded her eyes until the stinging assault abated. Blinking away the last of the sand, she saw that Fadil was bleeding from a large gash on his forehead. Tears started pouring down her cheeks.

'Damn you, Father!' Tara yelled into the darkness. 'Damn you for making me do this! I've probably killed my true love, and now I'm never going to do anything else for you as long as I live!'

'That suits me fine,' the familiar and dreaded voice answered her at once. 'You've had your use.'

As Elder Garth emerged from the shadows, Tara hurled two protective arms around Fadil.

'Leave him alone!' she yelled. 'I'm not going to let you do anything else to him!'

'I have no interest in doing anything else to Fadil,' said Elder Garth. 'I have not come here tonight to spill Medjai blood, except for that of Alex O'Connell! And I have no further interest in you either, my child.'

Elder Garth turned away and headed for the open entrance. Tara scowled, scrambled to her feet and ran to place herself in his way.

'I'm not going to let you do this!' she declared.

'Don't be so foolish, girl!' Elder Garth spat. 'Get out of my way, now!'

'Get stuffed, Father!' Tara yelled.

Elder Garth laughed derisively, then he raised his right hand and jabbed it at Tara. Tara screamed as she was hurled through the air. She crashed into the rock formation and crumpled to the ground, where she lay in a dishevelled heap.

'Such a shame that it should have to end this way, Tara,' said Elder Garth, 'but then, at least you finally proved that you could be useful to me... in the end. Thank you, my darling.'

Elder Garth gave Tara's limp body a savage kick, then he entered the Medjai Academy.