As we flew through the air, the longer I was exposed to this ride of sorts, the more relaxed I was becoming. It wasn't the worst thing I had done and when the nerves were gone it was a decent sort of transportation. The arid wind felt nice against my face as we flew and the view from above the sand dunes was nothing short of beautiful. Things looked so different in the air than from the ground.
Eventually I had found my way to a seat and kept sneaking glances at the new bird companion we had picked up. He seemed to be a relaxed bird, not making too many noises nor needing constant attention. The only other birds I had seen were tropical ones that were pretty colors and pets, not a companion like Horus seemed to be. He would watch me as I watched him but he made no move other than to occasionally clean his feathers or stretch his wings.
"Have you seen a bird of prey before?" The question startled me from my bird watching and I guiltily looked to Ardeth, who had taken the seat beside of the bird.
"Not up close and not in person. He's beautiful." Indeed I was not frightened of the bird as others may have been. He really was a glorious creature.
"That he is." Ardeth put his glove back on his hand and Horus immediately came onto his perch, quickly vacating the seat he was tied to. "Would you like to touch him?"
"Oh, may I?" I couldn't deny it was what I really wanted after watching Ardeth do the same to Horus earlier. Or have him do to me, but that was highly inappropriate and not the time to be thinking or entertaining those kinds of thoughts.
He came to sit beside of me on the edge of the ship and held out his hand with Horus on it.
"Touch his chest, here. Like this." He showed me the way to do it. "Stroke him gently, with the back of your fingers down the features like this. Never against the feathers."
"Right." I lifted my hand cautiously and the bird turned to look at me. I hesitated in touching him but Ardeth chuckled and guided my hand to the bird's chest.
"He's so soft," I marveled. The feathers were softer than almost anything I'd felt before. My hand slid down the feathers effortlessly and I lifted my hand again to stroke the bird. To his credit Horus seemed to not mind the gentle touch and I couldn't help the broad grin that stretched across my face.
"Thank you," I told Ardeth, turning that smile to him. "This is wonderful. Thank you." His dark eyes watched me with a look that I did not know and I stilled halfway down the bird's chest. There was that aura again, filling up the space around me as if I could not breathe. I could not look away from him; I was drawn to that enigmatic look that I could not place.
"You are most welcome." With that I could breathe again and once more I smiled at him as I continued to stroke the bird of prey.
"Did you raise Horus yourself?"
"Yes. He comes in handy when we need to send messages to one another. Most commanders have a bird like him for just that reason."
"That would be useful to have." Since Ardeth was being so open, I could not help but think of him and how his life was. He interested me and now that I had accepted the fact I had an unhealthy attraction to him, I wanted to learn more. "Can I ask you another question?"
"As many as you would like," he replied easily. I don't know why I wanted to blush but I tried to fight down the reaction.
"What exactly is a Medjai?" I asked as I finally stopped petting Horus. Instead he took up the action as he looked at me.
"We are a tribe dedicated to stop the rise of Imhotep. For thousands of years we have watched over Hamunaptra to prevent it from happening. Unfortunately we failed in our mission." I nodded once.
"And who is Imhotep?" Ardeth blinked as if he did not understand why I would ask, then realized why.
"He is the undead mummy we are chasing. He was a high priest of Pharaoh Seti the first and was in love with the pharoah's wife, Anck-Su-Namun." I knew of Seti and knew of the wife. But the rest I had not known. I wanted to interrupt, to tell him he was wrong, but I was quickly learning that it was I who did not have the story.
"So when Seti was killed, it was not an unknown assassin," I prompted.
"Yes. It was Imhotept and Anck-Su-Namun. They were caught in their affair and killed Seti to hide it. In the end Anck-Su-Namun killed herself rather than give herself to the guards. Imhotep was suffered to become the first to endure Hom-Dai."
"But it's-" I took a breath. "I'm sorry, I always want to argue but I do understand that you're right. It's hard going against the knowledge I thought was right all of these years."
"It is expected. Do you know of the Hom-Dai?"
"If I remember correctly it was something given only to the most vile, the ones who needed the punishment above all others. The ancient Egyptians feared the Hom-Dai because if they rose…" I trailed off in realization. "He would come as a powerful god and set in motion the ten plagues of Egypt."
"You are correct. And he did. Because of our failure he walked the world once more."
"How…how did you fail?" With a small smirk he looked toward the front of the ship.
"It was actually Rick and Evelyn who awakened Imhotep. But with their help we managed to defeat him once again and put the creature back into his grave." Really? Rick and Evie had been the ones to unleash him? "They rose the creature unknowingly." Ardeth looked back to me, guessing my thoughts before they even had the ability to materialize. "But now he was risen by a cult with a singular mind in taking over the world."
"Led by the curator." That I did not stop echoed in my mind again and I closed my eyes against the familiar guilt.
"It is still no more your fault than it was before," Ardeth spoke seriously.
"Stop reading my mind," I sniped back at him as I opened my eyes once more, making him chuckle.
"Then stop being so easy to read." I laughed wryly at the situation, because he was right. I was not the best at hiding my emotions.
"I'll have to work on that. May I?" I asked, gesturing to the bird once again.
"Please." Ardeth dropped his hand and let me pet Horus again. Once again the smile came across my face.
"Now that I've touched him I never want to stop," I admitted with a giggle. "He's so beautiful."
"Then you may touch him as much as you want."
"Careful, Ardeth, those kinds of promises could be dangerous." I did not realize how my words could be taken until I turned back to look at Ardeth with a teasing smile. His eyes were dark now, near smoldering and belatedly I realized my error. This intensity was making my heart beat loudly in my chest again and I became acutely aware of the fact there was such small space between us.
"Amber!" I was yanked away from the spell by Rick, who gestured to me. "Look, it's the Pyramids of Giza."
Excitedly I bounded to my feet, forcing myself to forget the previous interaction and gasped in amazement. If the sand dunes had been beautiful before, seeing the pyramids at sunset on a floating airship was the greatest experience of my life.
"This is….they are…" I could feel tears building at the emotions my words could not express. It was awe, beauty, and the realization I was here seeing this with my own two eyes. I darted around the ship as we passed between them, not able to get enough views of the experience. I turned back to all of them, tears running down my face. "I never want to leave." It was the only thing I could say. These things that I had studied for so long were now here before my eyes. I never thought I would have the time or the money to come to Egypt to see these wonders and now here I was.
"Oh, stop it, it's just a pyramid," Evie teased and she came to me and wiped the tears from my face with her sleeve. After my face was dry she held my face and smiled a knowing smile. Once before she had been new to this and had felt the things I was feeling. She understood. "It's magnificent, isn't it?" I turned back to the pyramids to see them again. The setting sun framed them in a warm, orange glow that made them come to life before me. Time stood still here as these magnificent structures withstood the ages to remain a beautiful testament to the wonders of the ancient worlds.
"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," I agreed softly.
Later that night I was stargazing off the side of the ship, trying to recall the constellations that I hadn't forgotten. It had been a while since I had the chance to see such a brightly lit sky and I fancied the time to watch and remember again. In London there was so much lost even in the sky itself. The lights hid most of the beauty whereas here, it was enhanced and raw. The whip of stars even streaked across the sky showing the Milky Way spiral, a view that you could not even hope to see in London.
"O'Connell does not want to believe," Ardeth spoke, breaking the silence of the ship. I turned to see Rick headed toward the front of the boat with a drink in his hand, and Ardeth near the back of the boat with Horus on his wrist again. "He flies like Horus to his destiny." Rick ignored the barb and went to be with his wife on the bow of the ship.
"Yes, yes, very interesting." Jonathon muttered in agreement, clearly eager to change the subject. I smiled and turned to the pair to see what shenanigans he was up to now. "Tell me more about this gold pyramid."
"I had no idea you were so interested in pyramids, Jonathon," I teased.
"I like to expand my knowledge about, you know, what we are getting into. I'm making sure I'm ready for anything." I laughed outright at the man and shifted closer to the pair.
"Well, it is written that since the time of the Scorpion King no man who has laid eyes upon it has ever returned to tell the tale." Ardeth stroked Horus as he explained to Jonathon, who sighed in exasperation.
"I'm glad we are preparing then," I teased, not letting the earlier comment pass by.
"Where is all this stuff written?"
"Everywhere you do not read, apparently." My teasing was ignored by Jonathon, who reached into a hole in the steering box with a drawled out 'hello'.
"Got it." He pulled out the golden rod that Rick had traded Izzy for his flight and sighed in relief. "Pretty nice, eh? This is all I have left in the world. The rest of my fortune was lost to some rather unscrupulous characters, actually." I believe the term my dad had for stories like this that was succinct and to the point: bullshit. Jonathon spewed it like a plague of locusts, but it was more amusing than anything else once you realized to take everything he said with a grain of salt.
"Well if the curator reacted to it the way you say, it must be very important."
"What do you mean, reacted to it?" I asked. This golden rod was important to him?
"He grabbed it from me like he recognized it or something. Said he couldn't believe it."
"May I see it?" Jonathon hesitated. "I will give it back, I promise." With obvious reluctance he handed over the artifact to me and I took it gingerly, with the care that I always used with any artifact that came through my doors. "It has the mark of Osiris. Here. The symbol of Djed. And here, the Bennu bird."
"I do not understand what they would want with an artifact of Osiris." Ardeth mused.
"I'm not sure either. Thank you." I gave the artifact back to Jonathon.
"Whatever it is, it sounds important. If I were you I'd keep it close."
Jonathon laughed in confidence. "My friends the gods couldn't take this away from me." With that Izzy reached down and grabbed the rod from Jonathon. The two struggled with their grip as they barked at one another.
"Hey, that's mine!"
"No it's not!" Jonathon grunted back. With a few more tugs Izzy had the final pull and took the rod back into his possession.
"Keep your hands off it."
Ardeth and chuckled and I laughed outright at Jonathon's misfortune. Izzy went back to his maps with one more scowl at Jonathon, who muttered darkly under his breath.
"Ardeth, I miss Horus. Let me pet him."
"It has only been a few hours," he teased.
"And what a long few hours it has been." Even as he teased he stretched out his hand to give me better access to the bird's chest and I started to pet him with a smile.
"You really love that bird, don't you?" Jonathon asked.
"Of course I do. He's a lovely bird and I've never seen a peregrine falcon so well behaved." I stroke him with the back of my knuckles and the smile never truly left my face.
"He likes you as well."
"Good. Because after this is over, I want visiting rights to see the most beautiful bird in Egypt." The words were almost too easy for me to say. Thinking that everything would be fine and I would make it out alive. Thinking that I would be allowed to visit Horus after this was over. Thinking that I would be able to remain in Egypt.
"It could be arranged." The tone had me freezing for a moment then continuing to stroke the bird. Ardeth was pleased; overly so for it to come into his usual voice.
"Oh god, you two, do not start flirting in front of me." I could not help the blush on my cheeks but I could at least deflect the accusation back to him.
"I would bet anything I own that you flirt more than me, and you would pick up any girl who would show you interest."
"I would never!" I laughed because I hit the nail on the head and he sounded so scandalized it must have been true.
"And unlike you, I have standards. I at least go for cute birds that are smart enough to lead armies and patient enough to let me pet him all that I want." Almost as if he understood me, Horus lifted his head haughtily and ruffled his feathers.
"Ugh." Jonathon was done with me at that point. Instead he looked toward the front of the ship, where Evie and Rick were holding each other tightly.
They were so close and holding each other so tightly that they must have been thinking about their missing son. I wished I could make their pain go away.
"Once we find Alex, it will." I jumped, startled, unaware that I had spoken the last bit aloud. Ardeth clasped my hand in mid stroke and pulled it away from Horus, holding my fingers lightly in his grip. "Do not worry about things for now. Focus on the journey ahead and what we will accomplish." I nodded to him and squeezed his hand in acceptance. Perhaps I held his hand longer than customarily usual but I had not thought of how his callused hand would feel against my own. I didn't want to let it go.
"I don't want Alex to be hurt," I admitted. "Your family shouldn't know that pain." Even oblivious Jonathon had a pained look on his face, guessing at what my words meant.
"Did you-" He started to ask.
"I'm sorry. The pain is too much for me right now. I can't talk about it yet." To help ease the sting of cutting him off rudely I smiled in his direction. "Maybe one day I'll be able to talk about it. But seeing them, it brings it all back to me."
Unexpectedly my hand was covered with another hand and I looked to see Ardeth had put the bird down on the chair beside of him. He gently covered my hands with his own in a gentle hold and I did not want to pull away.
"It is this pain that makes you strong. Without it you would not be the person you are today." It was true; without Ryan's death I wouldn't have been taught how to fight or shoot. It took me down a path that I would never go down unless it had been extraordinary coincidences. I did not regret who I am and what I became from it, but many things in my life I gave up to be this way.
"I suppose so. But they are already good people. They don't need the pain to make them into something great."
"No. We will save the boy. You can't worry yourself over something you do not have control over. We will get the chance to save him and you will be there to help."
Tentatively I put my hand on top of Ardeth's and blushed when he turned his hand over so that he was holding both of my hands. This action was almost too much for me to bear but I kept my hands were they were.
"You know, Amber," I looked up to Jonathon, who was uncomfortable in this whole situation. "You're stronger than me anyway. With someone like you around I bet Alex is going to be fine." It wasn't the most poetic words, but it was the content behind them.
A man had said I was strong. He had placed faith in me to physically protect someone dear to him. No one had ever had that amount of faith in me before or in my capabilities. I had proved that I could be there in the time of need and he had noticed, and accepted; even if it was shenanigan Jonathon.
"That's one of the nicest things someone has ever said to me before," I told him softly with a genuine smile. "Thank you for believing in me."
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I'm leaving so you two can flirt in peace." Now my face was burning and I couldn't stand it, and pulled my hands away from Ardeth. He smiled at my action but said nothing else and picked up Horus. Jonathon, true to his word, did in fact leave us to sit in the middle of the ship, dramatically rolling his eyes with a huff of disgust. I was embarrassed but seeing the childlike display had me laughing.
"Sometimes you need someone like him around," I stated casually, looking at Ardeth once more. "Otherwise the trip would be dreadfully boring."
He made a noise of agreement as he stroked Horus. "It is good that he can distract others from the hardships of the journey. It is needed to keep a distraction at times."
"A distraction? You call him just a distraction?" I teased.
"If I were to call someone a true distraction, it would be you." His tone was serious as he eyes bored into mine. That aura was back along with the look, and it felt as if I were in a small room with no way out.
My heart pounded in my chest as my face flushed. Though I knew I was attracted to him, I hadn't ever really given thought to what he might think about the whole affair. To have him say somewhat of the same sentiment as I held made the whole surreal situation a bit more real for me. He wasn't the type of man to give empty words or phrases and what he said: he meant. I knew intrinsically he would not lie to me about things and especially not something like this.
"Haha, you know, I'm just here to try to make people laugh and forget their worries!" I couldn't help the awkward high tone as I tried to cover the nervousness but Ardeth was astute. He only chuckled and drew his attention back to Horus, knowing I could no longer hold the conversation as it was.
I leaned back over the ship and looked up towards the stars again, allowing the cool air to run over my face to help clear the fierce blush on my cheeks. The stars were beautiful as they were before, some twinkling in laughter as they looked down on me and my miserable reaction to the most flirting I'd ever had in my life.
Jerks. As if the stars knew how hard it was to be told they were a distraction but the most beautiful, exotic man-star they'd ever seen.
I glanced back over at the man and chanced a small smile in his direction.
What I could not say back was that if I was a distraction, he was a sand storm, cascading around me until I could not see, hear, or think of anything but him. He was something you knew was coming and had no defenses for.
He would overwhelm me given the opportunity and I was not sure if I wanted to run for shelter or leap into the storm to let it take me.
Dawn broke on the second day and I was irritatingly awake. I hadn't slept well the night before and my grogginess was a testament of how much my dreams had invaded my sleep. I had dreamt of sand and desert, of Ardeth and of Egypt. I couldn't have been distracting, that was all him and it had to have been his fault for it. Somehow. Perhaps I should put dreams on the outlaw list as well, right underneath his dazzling smile.
Evie took pity on me and handed me a cup of tea and I gratefully took it without words and began to drink it slowly. It helped to wake up as the rest of the ship began to move around.
"Where are we?" I finally managed to ask. Forming words this early was difficult and I had never been a morning person.
"We will reach Karnak within another day," Ardeth answered. "It is good you rose early. We will need to be awake when we discuss our strategies." I grunted in assent as my capacity for words was used up at the moment. I grudgingly got up to my feet and shuffled over to Ardeth's side, where I slumped into the seat as I began to finally wake up.
As I sat down Rick was putting on his leather armbands and I saw the black ink of a faded tattoo on his right wrist. Gesturing to it with the half empty tea cup, I asked, "What tattoo is that? It's pretty."
"It is the sacred mark of the Medjai," Ardeth answered with a knowing smile.
"You are part of the medjai too?" I asked, amazed. I honestly hadn't thought to ask.
"No." The answer was short, brusque, and annoyed as he spared an irritated glance toward Ardeth.
"My friend, even if you deny it, that sacred mark claims you as a protector of man. A warrior of God. A medjai."
"And like I said before, this was slapped on me at an orphanage in Cairo." The argument must have been an old one, because Rick was already rolling his eyes in exasperation.
"Just because you do not accept the fate that brought you that mark does not mean it is done with you yet, O'Connell."
Rick sat on the bench with a sigh as he began cleaning his clip, ignoring the conversation. I heard Horus cry and belatedly noticed the bird was not on his usual perch of Ardeth's wrist. I saw the bird flying toward the Medjai and quietly leaned over to the side to give the animal room to land. As he did Ardeth caught his claws with his fingers and allowed the bird to settle his tired wings.
"If a man does not embrace his past, he has no future," Ardeth continued.
"Look." Rick took a moment to flick something out from the barrel of the gun. "Even if I was some sort of sacred Medjai, what good does that do me now?"
"It is the missing piece of your heart." I took another sip of tea as I just listening to the conversation and took the time to simply listen for a change. "If you embrace it, if you accept it, you can do anything."
"Sounds great," Rick replied as if he was not paying attention. Which, he probably wasn't if the annoyance of the topic of conversation was anything to go by. He finally placed the clip back into his gun and leaned forward, spinning the knife expertly in a few flourishes before sheathing it and putting that into his pocket as well. I quirked an eyebrow at the display: the man knew his way intimately around a knife. "Listen, so what can we expect from our good friend Imhotep?"
Ardeth knew he was turning the conversation and with one nod, allowed Rick to do so. "His powers are returning quickly. By the time he reaches Ahm Shere, even the Scorpion King will not be able to stop him."
Rick sighed and put his face in his hands in frustration.
"So is there a way to prevent him from gaining back his powers?" I asked.
"No. He is immortal when risen as part of the curse from the Hom-Dai. It allows him to suck the life from a mortal and use it to gain strength," Ardeth answered. "He cannot be stopped or defeated by mortal means, which is why it is important to not let him get to Ahm Shere." I nodded at that, mulling over how we could stop him.
"How did you defeat him before, then?"
"We read from the book of Amun Ra and it took his immortality away from him," Rick replied. I still felt the need to argue, to tell them that the book is nothing but phrases and passages, but willed the urge away. I had seen the mummy with my own eyes, I had seen the curator read from the book of the dead. It was only natural that the book of life be given the same supernatural capabilities as its counterpart.
"Do we have the book now?" Rick shook his head. "Jonathon lost the book as we were escaping from Hamunaptra. It's buried within the ruins at this point."
"Damn." Both Rick and Ardeth raised an eyebrow at my language and I rolled my eyes in return. It wasn't that I didn't swear, only that I didn't do it much and only when the situation merited it. I only drank more of my tea instead.
"Medjai! My father needs you!" The words were in ancient Egyptian, spoken with a voice that I both recognized and did not. The three of us shared a look before we heard a scream, and Rick bolted up as his wife fell forward over the boat.
He jumped over the side of the ship and caught Evie's leg as Ardeth, Jonathon, and I ran after him. Ardeth and Jonathon caught his leg and I held both of Jonathon's and Ardeth's clothing as the strain of holding two people threatened to take them over the side as well. We fought to keep them on the side of the boat even as Evie thrashed at something unseen.
After a few moments she stopped fighting and went limp, finally allowing us the opportunity to get her back into the ship. The two men pulled Rick up and with him came Evie. As she finally made it into the boat and fell onto the floor, she began to stir. I sat down on the seats along with Jonathon, panting in both exertion and fright.
"Shit," I swore as I fought to gain my breath and stop my racing heart.
"Ditto," was Jonathon's wry reply. I snorted at his odd humor.
"Evie, are you all right?" Rick asked as he picked his wife off of the ground and held her bridal style. She blinked at him a few times as if trying to comprehend language. Her eyes were dull and cloudy as if she was on some sort of drug and Rick held her closer to him when she did not answer.
"Sit her down, O'Connell, she needs to sit."
"Right." He took a breath and let it out slowly. "Right." Rick did as Ardeth bade and brought her teacup that she had been drinking out of earlier. She sipped on it and her eyes seemed to brighten and clear but she continued to sip her tea as all of us came around her to sit. Rick held her to his side with an arm and finally she finished her tea.
"Are you all right now?" I asked her as I sat down beside of Jonathon.
"Yes. I am now." A sigh of relief at her answer and I began to finally relax my tense muscles.
"Evie, I know you haven't exactly been yourself lately with all these dreams and visions-" Rick began.
"No, no," Evie cut him off, but I was intrigued. Dreams and visions? This was the first I'd heard of the tale. "They're memories from my previous life. Honestly, I'm not losing my mind it all makes perfect sense now."
"And that's the reason why we found the bracelet?" Rick asked with disbelief.
"Exactly. I was its protector."
"Now do you believe, my friend?" Ardeth asked. "Clearly you were destined to protect this woman."
"Right. She's a reincarnated princess and I'm a warrior for God." The amount of sarcasm Rick had could be classified as a wonder of the world, and I was impressed at how easily he wielded it.
"And your son leads the way to Ahm Shere. Three sides of the pyramid. This was all preordained thousands of years ago."
"And how does the story end?" Evie asked quietly.
"Ah, only the journey is written. Not the destination." That was honestly the most Ardeth-like reply and I smiled at how much wit and vagueness suited him.
"Convenient," Rick replied sarcastically.
"How else do you explain Evie's visions? That it is your son who wears the bracelet? How do you explain your mark?"
"Coincidence."
"My friend, there is a fine line between coincidence and fate." Rick turned away from Ardeth, unwilling to continue the conversation.
It was quiet for a moment, before I spoke up. "Evie, not to bring up bad memories, but I heard you call for the Medjai." I looked once at Ardeth, then back at her. "What exactly did you see?"
"I saw my father, Seti the first killed by Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun. I called for the Medjai when I saw them begin to attack." I nodded, processing the information. It was always contended on when Seti had died and how long he had reigned before his son took over for him. I suppose if he was murdered by his trusted advisors, they would want to cover up the information especially if the accused was sentenced to the Hom-Dai.
"And you were the protector of the bracelet?"
"The bracelet of the Scorpion King, yes. I fought for the right to guard my father as well, but lost to Anck-Su-Namun for the right." It took a few minutes for my academic based mind to outright reject, then rethink the possibility.
"So when do you see these dreams?" I asked her. "Was there any particular time or place? Any trigger that you can remember?"
Evie only shook her head. "The visions come when they come. I have no control and I don't know how to make them happen." She thought for a moment. "But…as I saw Anck-Su-Namun die, I heard a voice in the mists."
"A voice?" Rick asked, turning back to his wife fully.
"It was one of power. It was speaking of ritual chanting. It sounded familiar to me…" she trailed off as her features darkened.
"Don't worry about that for now," I told her. "We don't have to know the reason why your visions are happening. But we can use the knowledge that you learn from them. Maybe you will see a way to defeat Imhotep, or something we can use against him." She nodded and Rick pulled her closer to him, leaning his face against the top of her head as if to shield her.
"While you're at it, if you dream of any races, you'll let me know who wins, right?" Rick rolled his eyes while Evie reluctantly smiled. I snuck a glance at Ardeth, who caught my glance and turned to me.
With a smile we both knew what we were thinking. It was good to have Jonathon around even for a brief moment of levity. Ardeth had been right on the matter.
For now we all lapsed into quiet retrospection as the sun rose, illuminating the beautiful landscape around and below the ship. The second day had begun, with only five days left to save the world.