Alex watched from the sidelines as Ardeth showed his father the proper way to wield a scimitar feeling rather lonely. Most of the other boys whose families lived in the palace hadn't been sure of what to make him. To most of them he was a stranger and outsider and not one of them no matter what Ardeth had said. And it wasn't just his light skin and hair that made him an outsider, but the fact that he had an English accent and strange ways. Alex had thought he couldn't possibly be lonely here, but in that he had been dead wrong—he was even lonelier here then he was at home.
"Hello," said a voice in Arabic from beside Alex.
Alex looked to the source of the voice to see a boy with black hair and eyes and around his own age standing there causally looking as if he had just sprung up out of nowhere.
"Hi," Alex answered in the same language. "I'm Alex O'Connell."
"And I'm Borak Ahmed. My father and mother both work at the palace."
Both boys looked at each other for a moment not sure of what to say after introducing themselves but then Borak broke the ice by saying "I noticed you speak Arabic where did you learn it?"
"I learned it from my mother actually. My mum is half English and half Egyptian so she grew up not only speaking English but Arabic and Egyptian to. When I was a baby my mum discovered that I had her ear for languages and so she began teaching me Arabic when I was only about three."
Borak seemed to absorb this explanation then began talking about his family and after that the ice between the two boys was broken and they walked off the practice field still talking seeming unaware of anything else going on around them.
"So I heard your father put the Creature back in his grave twice."
"Yes that's true," said Alex. "The first time was before my parents were married, but they told me about it. The second time just last year."
"I also heard that you were kidnapped by the Creature," said Borak seeming unaware of how uncomfortable he was making Alex.
Alex however fought down his fear and started talking not wanting to lose his new friend. "Yes, that's true. I was stupid and opened the chest that contained the Bracelet of Anubis. How was I supposed to know though that I was the Bearer of the Bracelet? After that, bracelet clapped itself on my wrist and I was kidnapped well as much as I hate to admit it I was scared even though I knew my mum and dad would come after me to rescue me if they could." As Alex told about the bracelet of Anubis showing him pictures of the way to the Oasis of Ahm Shere and how he had left his parents and Uncle Jon clues so that they could follow a little bit of the fear that had been pent up inside him ever since it had happened began to leak away with every word he spoke.
When he was finally finished he felt considerably better and hoped that this little talk would help with his nightmares as well.
"Wow you were really brave," said Borak in a slightly awed whisper.
"I didn't feel brave at the time, just scared, but later mum said that bravery is not the absence of fear but being able to act whether or not you are afraid. So yeah, I guess I was brave, even though at the time I didn't feel brave at all."
Borak stopped asking questions about Alex's misadventure after that and the two boys talked about other things and learned about two different cultures and about each other in the process. And also from that moment on the two of them became friends either though neither realized it till later.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~
One day a little over a week after the lessons had begun all three O'Connells were sitting down to lunch in their quarters for none of them felt like eating in the community room which was where all Medjai both men and woman associated with the palace ate unless they had private quarters or they were eating outside the palace.
A few minutes after the O'Connells sat down at the table in their room one of the Medjai woman brought in a huge tray of food. It was true that the Medjai didn't have servants in the traditional sense, but what they did have was people who volunteered to cook the food and clean and a hundred other chores that needed doing in order to keep such a huge community running smoothly. So it was that all the Medjai took turns and that included the men if they weren't out on patrol. The O'Connells had learned very quickly that everyone had a place here, and some of them had more than one job. The cooking staff was all volunteers and rotated by the month. From what Rick could tell it was a very effective system and one that had been in place for centuries.
The woman who Rick didn't recognize put the tray down on the table and left. The staff must have changed again he figured.
All three began eating and Evie and Alex talked to Rick in Arabic in-between bites and Rick responded in the same language having trouble with a few words but doing okay otherwise. Evie corrected Rick on the few words he either mispronounced or said in English.
"I'm very proud of you," said Evie near the end of lunch. "You're picking up Arabic more rapidly than thought possible."
"Perhaps it is because I have more time to concentrate on it," Rick suggested. "That and with a dozen or more people helping me, correcting my pronunciation and telling me words I do not know is helping me pick it up more rapidly than I could at home."
"That makes sense," agreed Evie. "At home Alex and I are the only ones that speak it, that we know of anyway."
"And even if there were others who's to know if we could trust them. If we found someone to give me lessons they probably ask questions we could not answer about why I wanted to learn it."
"True," Evie agreed, "and with my work at the museum I just don't have as much time to put into the lessons as you need to learn a new language, especially one that is totally alien and not based on your native tongue."
"I know," said Rick with a lopsided grin.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~
Several hours later Evie who had eaten a great deal at lunch begin to feel very nauseated. Evie breathed deeply hoping it was nothing more then something from lunch that had disagreed with her. A few minutes later the feeling seemed to pass and Evie breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her reading. Suddenly no more than five minutes later she groaned clutching her stomach for not only was the nausea back but now she had serve stomach cramps and had to pee so bad it was as if her bladder was going to burst if she didn't go to the bathroom right that second. She got up to go use what passed for the bathroom here and immediately got so dizzy that she had to grab onto the arm of the chair she had been sitting in just seconds ago. What was wrong with her? This just couldn't be something she had eaten for Rick and Alex had shared the same food and as far as she knew they weren't sick. I had better head to the infirmary, she decided, and have one of the healers check me out.
She headed for the door having to hold onto whatever she could grab because she was so dizzy that the room was spinning and turning upside down. This is not food poisoning. Eating spoiled food might give you stomach cramps or nausea but not make you so dizzy you couldn't even stand up straight. Evie managed to get the door open with what seemed a greater effect then was absolutely necessary, but at this point she was so weak she could barely stand. Evie took a step out the door making sure to hold onto the wall, for she was sure so weak that without the wall for support she wouldn't have managed to stand at all. Evie slowly put one foot in front of the other, each step feeling as if she was lifting a thousand pound weight. Finally she stopped for a moment unable to contemplate going any further. Where was everybody when she need them? Evie wondered.
"Evie? You okay?" asked a very worried voice.
Evie shook her head and immediately regretted it for it made her even dizzier. Unable to speak for a moment Evie struggled to form words which was getting more and more difficult by the second as she was also struggling for consciousness.
"Kadin," she finally managed starting to struggle for breath. "Healer… poisoned."
That was all Evie managed to say before she collapsed into unconsciousness.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~
Evie awoke laying on something soft her mouth as dry as the desert. "Here drink this," commanded a gentle but firm voice beside her. A pair of hands held up a fired clay cup to her lips and Evie drank small sips, knowing better then to gulp in the condition she was in.
"That's it small sips, Mrs. O'Connell."
Evie tried to speak and found she couldn't.
"Don't try to talk," said the gentle voice. "It's an aftereffect of the poison."
Evie tried to ask a question and couldn't get a single sound to come out of her throat.
The person behind the voice seemed to understand what Evie was asking and said, "Yes, you will recover your voice but it will be a few days before you can talk above a whisper. As for your husband and son, both are fine and were not as much affected as you were. As for the person or persons that did this that is still being looked into and if you want the truth I would not want to be in the position of whoever did this when the king finds them. Now you get some rest for your system is still recovering from the damage the poison did."
Damage? Evie wondered. What kind of damage and was it permanent? But all these questions would have to wait for suddenly she was so sleepy that she could keep her eyes open any longer and with that thought she closed her eyes and slept.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~
"How are they?" asked the voice of Ardeth Bay of the head healer who was an older lady and had been serving in the capacity for quite a number of years. The concern in the king's voice softened the healer's usually rather prickly temper.
"They will be fine, Ardeth," the healer whose name was Ulima assured him.
"You're sure?"
"Yes," Ulima answered looking into Ardeth's eyes. "Both Rick and Alex got off rather lightly and only a little of poison got into their system. Although a little can kill it was caught soon enough that not much damage was done."
"And Evie?"
"Now Evelyn is a different matter, she is more affected by the poison then either of the men. I would have said perhaps, it had to do with her body weight for she is considerably lighter then Rick, but then there is Alex to consider who is lighter than either of his parents."
"Could it have to do with how much was eaten?" Ardeth suggested, for he knew a little about poisons and their affects.
Ulima considered then nodded. "That is a possibility I had not considered."
"What are the symptoms of this poison?"
"Well, from what we have been able to determine, from talking to Rick and Alex, nausea, lightheadedness, profuse sweating, stomach cramps and eventually unconsciousness and death seem to be the main symptoms."
"Whoever did this wanted them to suffer then," Ardeth mused. "By using a slow acting poison."
"Who of our people would be so vengeful when they have done nobody any wrong?"
"I don't know, but when I find out they are not going to live to regret making such a decision, that I promise you," Ardeth said, his voice full of rightful fury, that this had happened not only under his very nose but to people that were part of his family. No once he found the person or persons responsible they would live only long enough to regret their decisions.
"And how is Evie doing I just realized you didn't mention her condition when you were telling me about Rick and Alex other than to say that she was more effected. Has she regained consciousness?" asked Ardeth his voice calm once more even though his eyes were still sparking in fury.
"Briefly, long enough for me to give her some water and for me to assure her that both her husband and son were fine. As for her symptoms they are slightly more severe than either of the others and perhaps it is also because she ate more of the poisoned food then either her husband or son."
"So what can we expect of her symptoms?"
"Well extreme weakness for one, even more in Evelyn then either of the others—and again perhaps that is due to the fact that she ingested more of the poison—and for another she won't be able to talk for a few days, as the antidote runs through her system. Neither Rick or Alex is showing either of those symptoms at least not to the extent Evelyn is."
"I see," said Ardeth. "You're sure they are going to be alright?" Ardeth asked this question again seeking reassurance because the O'Connells had come to mean a great deal to him over the last decade and even more now that they were legally part of his family.
"I'm sure," said Ulima. "They will need to stay here for a few days, but after that they will be able to go back to what they normally do."
Ardeth studied Ulima for a moment then nodded. "I thank you, it eases my heart greatly to know that they will be alright."
"You're welcome and if you would like to step into the recovery rooms for a minute to check on them you are welcome to."
Ardeth nodded and headed towards Rick's room first.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~
"How are you feeling?" Ardeth asked Rick as soon as he stepped in the door.
"Fine," said Rick with a tired grin. "And it sure as hell beats the alternative."
"That it does," said Ardeth coming to stand by the bed and clapping Rick on the shoulder. "You sure as hell scared me to death."
"Yeah, well I scared myself," said Rick. "Can you tell me why in the hell we keep getting into these situations? Are we bad luck magnets or something?"
"Maybe the gods are trying to tell you something," Ardeth suggested with a genuine grin.
"Maybe," Rick agreed.
"Or perhaps it is just that you have bad karma," said Ardeth in a teasing tone.
"Yeah, well whatever it is I wish it would take a vacation—a nice long one, where my life has nothing more dangerous in it than crossing the street and risk being run over by someone who doesn't know how to drive."
Ardeth laughed at that, "You wouldn't be able to take being normal for more than six months before you would be begging for your life to return to what it was."
"You're probably right, I suppose I've become a man of action," Rick admitted. "I mean ten years ago it was up to me to fight the Creature and help put it back into its grave then just a little over a year ago it is again my responsibility and that of my family's to put Imhotep down again plus I have to fight the Scorpion King and just recently I have to catch a knife in midflight before you got yourself skewered. So I suppose that yes, I would get bored if life stayed normal for too long."
The two Medjai guards standing on either side of the door almost smiled at this but managed to keep their faces expressionless.
"So any idea who did poison us?" asked Rick finally.
"Not at the moment, but when I find them I'm going to make them wish they had never been born and that's a promise."
Rick studied his brother's expression for a moment then said, "Well, all I can say is, I'm glad it's not me your mad at. I don't particularly ever want to find myself in that position either."
Ardeth smiled and then said, "That will never happen. I will leave you to rest."
"Alright, but you be careful," said Rick seriously. "If this person can poison me and my family then they would probably have no problem with poisoning you if they feel you are in their way."
"I'll be careful," Ardeth promised. "You just rest and let that antidote do its work." And with that last comment Ardeth turned to leave but as he did, he said something very quietly to the Medjai on either side of the doorway in Arabic.
Rick listened intently and caught words like, let know one in...healer...Kadin...Sabira.
Finally, Ardeth's instructions to the two guards came to an end and he left the room without a backwards glance still radiating more fury then any man could maintain for long.
Both guards stood straight and grim-faced not wanting their king's anger directed at them. Their instructions had been simple. Let no one in except him, the head healer, Kadin or Sabira and protect Rick O'Connell and his family with their lives. It was true that normally Rick was perfectly capable of defending himself, this both guards knew for they had seen Rick practice against other opponents with a knife and they had seen him training with Ardeth in the use of the scimitar, but most of all they had seen him practice his shooting on set up wooden targets and every time he hit the mark dead center. Rick O'Connell was truly a dangerous man to mess with they had come to learn just like Ardeth was a dangerous man to anger. What really impressed them though was the fact that the foreigner was trying his hardest to learn Arabic the language spoken by all of their people and to the two Medjai that just proved that Rick O'Connell was trying his best to learn their ways and truly become a Medjai not only in name, but in fact and that was only one of the reasons they would gladly die for him if it ever became necessary to do so.
~~~Rick and Evie~~~