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One Thing After Another
By Deana Lisi
To Rick's relief, it did. He got his wounded friend to eat, and then Ardeth had slept the rest of the day.
It was late evening when Rick thought he heard something. Voices? He stood and looked out the mouth of the cave, and could see three shadowy figures on horseback. The cave was on a hill, and the men hadn’t noticed it. Yet.
Rick watched them, unsure of what to do. He could see that the people weren’t Med-jai.
“What is it?” he heard.
He turned to see that Ardeth was awake, looking at him.
Rick glanced again at the men, and then went over to Ardeth. “There are three guys out there on horses.”
Ardeth frowned. “What is their attire?”
“Uh, brown robes, with a weird symbol on the back.”
Ardeth’s face showed shock. “Nomads,” is all he said, however.
Rick studied him. “Just ‘nomads’? There’s something more to it. What?”
Ardeth sighed. “They are part of a tribe that…do not like me,” he said, getting to the point.
Rick decided this was a story he wanted to hear. “Oh great. What do we do now, kill them?”
Ardeth slowly shook his head. “If we did that the rest of their tribe would know it was done of the Med-jai, and attack. We must let them be, and hope that they leave.”
“But if not, and they find us, then we’ll have to kill them,” said Rick.
Ardeth nodded again, and winced, trying to shift his position, with little success.
Rick couldn’t help but notice that Ardeth didn’t seem any stronger, despite the food and rest. His fever-flushed cheeks emphasized his still-present paleness.
As he helped his friend get more comfortable, Rick couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that his delay in getting Ardeth home would prove to be a grave error.
“The horses!” Rick suddenly realized. “The nomads’ll see them and know someone’s in here! Why haven’t they already?”
“Too dark,” said Ardeth.
“True, but I should sneak out and move them. Oh great, do you think they found the dead pygmy?”
“Perhaps not, if they came from the direction of their last known campsite.”
Rick nodded, and stood, mumbling to himself. “Where the heck do I put the horses…”
Ardeth heard him. “Behind the cave is a corral.”
Rick's eyebrows shot up. “Really? Something you put there?”
Ardeth nodded.
Rick wondered why Ardeth hadn’t told him about it earlier, but knew he had enough on his mind, with his injuries.
“Will you be all right alone?”
“Yes,” Ardeth nodded. “It should only take you a few minutes.”
Rick took one of his guns out of its holster, and handed it to him. “Just in case,” he said.
Ardeth smiled his thanks as he took it.
Rick tiptoed outside; saw the men surrounding a fire. He reached for the horses’ reins—praying that Ardeth’s wouldn’t attack him, or something—and led them to where Ardeth had said.
He found the corral easy enough, and let the horses in, setting the cage of falcons on the ground outside the corral, not wanting to risk the horses stepping on it.
He cautiously made his way back, and when he walked back in, found Ardeth pointing the gun in his direction, towards the cave opening. His aim was unsteady, as if the weapon was too heavy. Ardeth weakly dropped his arm into his lap and closed his eyes when he saw that it was Rick.
Rick's fears doubled at the sight. He hurried over to his friend, put a hand on his shoulder. “Ardeth?” he said worriedly. He felt his friend’s forehead: it seemed hotter.
“I am all right,” Ardeth said, an obvious lie. Why let Rick know he felt worse when he knew there was no way they could leave with the three nomads out there? The odds were bad; Rick would have to face the men alone.
Ardeth suddenly realized Rick had his bandage off. He looked puzzled.
“I don’t understand it,” Rick said. “The wound isn’t infected. So what’s wrong with you?”
Ardeth suddenly had a humorous thought. “I am getting too old for this?”
Rick laughed. “I don’t see any gray hair on you yet, buddy! Besides, you’re a year younger then me, and I’m not too old for it yet!” He shook his head, but then suddenly his face showed alarm. “The pygmy’s knife! You don’t think he put poison on it, do you?”
Ardeth shook his head, even though the thought scared him. “No, they never have before. If he had, I would be dead by now. Some other type of germ from the knife is possible…”
Rick jumped to his feet, started pacing. “This is ridiculous. I gotta get you outta here! We should’ve left earlier, before those guys got here.”
“But we did not, my friend, that can not be helped.”
Rick stopped pacing and sighed. “We need a plan. Those nomads—do you think they’re likely to leave in the morning?”
Ardeth resisted the urge to sigh back. “It is possible…”
Rick looked at his watch; it was nearly midnight. “All right, and if they leave it’ll probably be at sunup?”
“Most likely.”
“Okay then. If they leave, good, we leave too. If not—we still leave, with or without their permission.”
Ardeth had to admire his friend’s loyalty, but there was something to be said for knowing what you’re doing.
“And how do you propose we do that?” he asked, eyes growing heavy.
Rick sighed again. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
********
For the rest of the night, Ardeth slept like a log, not moving at all. Rick wasn’t sure if he was asleep or unconscious. He stayed awake as long as humanly possible, but the events and worry of the past few days had left him exhausted.
Suddenly, he jumped a mile and sat up, not knowing what had woken him. He looked to Ardeth and saw that he was still asleep. His watch said 7:04am, and he went to the cave opening to see if the nomads were still there—
—and came face to face with one of them.
Rick started to go for his gun, but the nomad had a sword in his hand, and pointed it at him. He spoke in a language Rick didn’t understand.
“Uh…what?”
“English,” the nomad snorted, as if it was an insult. “If you wish to live, American, you will step aside,” he said, taking a step towards Ardeth.
“I don’t think so!” Rick said; about to attack him, as another nomad came up behind the apparent leader.
Suddenly a gunshot rang out, echoing loudly throughout the cave, and the leader went down. Rick pulled out his gun and shot the other two. He turned around, and saw Ardeth with a gun in his hand. His eyes were closed, but when Rick went over to him he opened them.
“Good thing I gave you that thing,” Rick said, relieved.
Ardeth nodded, his eyes betraying his pain; from the sound of the guns, Rick knew.
Rick knelt beside him. “We’re getting out of here now. How do you feel?”
Ardeth sighed, wishing his head would stop ringing from the gunshots.
“I will be fine; first you must get the horses.”
Rick noticed that Ardeth didn’t answer his question. He nodded and ran out of the cave, bringing the horses and falcons back. He gathered all their stuff and managed to get the horses packed up pretty quick.
He went back to Ardeth. “Ready?”
Ardeth nodded.
Rick took him by his good arm, and pulled him to his feet. Ardeth immediately swayed dizzily, seeing spots before his eyes. He was so weak that his legs gave way but Rick was ready for that and held onto him and supported his weight. He helped Ardeth walk—if you could call it that—out of the cave, and he gently sat him on a piece of rock that stuck out.
“You okay?” Rick asked him.
Ardeth sat there unsteadily, his right hand covering his forehead and eyes, his wounded arm hanging limply. He didn’t answer, perhaps not having heard him.
Rick stood there and waited, knowing it would be cruel to force him to hurry.
After a few minutes the hammering in his head that the movement had caused lessened somewhat, and Ardeth lowered his hand, opening his eyes with a shuddering breath. He looked up at Rick.
Rick sighed inwardly. Why did you have to be so brainless, he thought. Look at how complicated you made everything by giving him a stupid concussion! He sighed, guiltily. “You need a sling.” He suddenly realized, started looking through the supplies for something to use.
“Use this,” he heard a minute later. Ardeth was holding out the sash he wore around his waist, having untied it with one hand.
Rick took it, and tried as gently as possible to tie it around him. It did the job perfectly.
“Good,” Rick said. “Now, the horse.”
Getting Ardeth on the animal wasn’t easy; he didn’t have the strength to pull himself onto it with only one hand. Rick had to stand on the piece of rock Ardeth had been sitting on, reach over the horse, and pull Ardeth up.
Rick smiled when it worked. “Great, you okay?”
Ardeth nodded, a little out of breath.
Rick jumped on his horse. “We’re outta here,” he said, with a sigh of relief.
********
The journey through the desert was a slow one. It was unbearably hot: more so then usual. Rick wasn’t surprised; everything so far had gone wrong, why not add to it? He’d tried to stop often, to give Ardeth a rest, but Ardeth had stubbornly insisted that he was fine. In truth, Ardeth knew he wasn’t going to last very long, and so was trying to get as far as possible as fast as they could.
Suddenly Ardeth heard his name being called, and he opened his eyes to see Rick's worried face above him. He realized that he was still on his horse, apparently having slumped forward onto its neck. He felt Rick's hand on his good arm, and he tried to straighten up.
He gasped as a massive wave of dizziness swept over him, and if Rick hadn’t been holding onto his arm, he would’ve fallen right off the horse.
“Whoa, Ardeth!” Rick kept both hands on his friend to prevent him from falling, and jumped down from his horse. He then carefully pulled Ardeth down from his and laid him on the sand.
Ardeth was hardly aware of it until he felt water on his lips. To the average person it would’ve felt warm, but compared to the horrible heat it was great. Rick must’ve read his mind, for after Ardeth drank, Rick wet a cloth and placed it on his friend’s sweaty forehead.
Soon Rick had a tent up, effectively blocking the sun’s merciless rays. He sat next to Ardeth, who seemed to be in an exhausted daze. He sighed heavily, not sure now what to do, only able to think of one thing.
Please, God, he prayed. Please, help me get Ardeth home safely, please let him be okay.
********
When Ardeth opened his eyes again, it was night, and he found that he was freezing. It was a strange sensation, to fall asleep sweating and wake up shivering. It was colder then the previous night, the clear skies allowing for radiational cooling; the escape of the built-up heat of the day up into the atmosphere.
He opened his eyes when he felt something touch him; saw that Rick was covering him with blankets, not seeing that Ardeth was awake until he’d finished.
Rick smiled at him, glad to see him conscious.
“How you doing?” he asked.
“All right.”
“Do you need more blankets then that?”
Ardeth shook his head, knowing that there were only a couple left, wanting Rick to keep some for himself.
Somehow Rick knew. “You’re not very good at lying, buddy, even when you don’t use words.” He then proceeded to drape another blanket over him.
“You need that,” Ardeth protested.
“But you need it more,” Rick said. “Hey, I’m from Chicago, you know what winters are like over there? This ain’t bad,” he said, gesturing outside the tent. “It seems colder to you because you lost half your blood, remember?”
Ardeth knew he had a point. He sighed, wondering when his pain would lessen.
Rick checked his wound and was relived to see that it still wasn’t infected. He felt his friend’s forehead again.
“Fever hasn’t risen anymore. Does anything feel any better yet?”
“No.”
Rick sighed. They were silent for a few minutes, before Rick said, “Don’t worry, Ardeth, I’ll get you home, I promise.”
“I know, my friend,” Ardeth said, as he fell back to sleep. “I know.”
********
The next day promised to be as hot as the day before had been. Rick was upset; knowing they probably wouldn’t get very far that day either.
“Great, just great,” he said, as they still sat inside the tent. “I’m really beginning to hate the desert.”
“It has its disadvantages,” Ardeth agreed.
“Name one advantage,” said Rick.
Ardeth didn’t have a quick reply.
“Ha, thought so.”
“There is one.”
“What’s that?”
“It keeps the Med-jai hidden.”
Rick nodded. “Okay, one advantage.”
“We should start now, before the worst of the heat comes,” Ardeth said.
Rick nodded. He quickly got the horses ready, taking the tent down last.
Ardeth kept his eyes closed tightly against the sun’s brightness. It made his headache much worse, and he attempted to cover his eyes with his good arm, but he felt like he could hardly move. He wondered just why he was so extremely weak. He’d had a lot of injuries in his life —many serious ones— and had not been as weak as this. The times that he had been this weak were when he had many injuries at one time, such as when Lock-nah had kidnapped him the previous year. True, he did have more then one injury at the moment, but a stab wound and a concussion didn’t seem like enough to make his condition so depleted. He knew that fever could make one weak, yes, but again, not this much. Yet here he was, Ardeth Bay —strong, fierce warrior, leader of the Med-jai— weak as a baby. Could it really be a combination of the stab wound, head injury, fever and the massive heat? Maybe he was becoming dehydrated. That was a likely possibility. Anything other then that he didn’t want to consider.
“Ardeth?” he heard, having been unaware of Rick's voice.
He opened his eyes halfway.
“All set to go,” Rick told him.
Ardeth nodded, and Rick pulled him up. The whole world spun, and his legs felt like jelly.
“Oh, man!” Rick exclaimed, when Ardeth fell against him, having no balance. “What is this?” he said, scared that Ardeth seemed to be getting worse, instead of better.
“I do not know,” Ardeth admitted, trying to blink back the black spots. “Rick—you will have to tie me to the horse.”
“Tie you to the horse?” Rick echoed.
“Yes,” Ardeth said, trying to remain upright.
Rick sighed, somehow got Ardeth on the horse, and tied him to it so he wouldn’t fall off. Ardeth laid forward on the horse’s neck, knowing he wouldn’t be able to sit up for very long.
Ardeth wasn’t aware when Rick took the reins of his horse, and they started walking.
He was hardly aware of anything that went on that day, period.
********
Ardeth felt like it was a dream, but it wasn’t. He could feel tiny pellet-like things hitting his face, could hear the howling wind and the reverberating thunder.
He felt himself being moved, wondered what kind of dream contained sounds, but total darkness. Then he heard a grunt and his arm blossomed with pain.
He opened his eyes; realized he wasn’t dreaming. All around him sand was being whipped around in the wind. A sandstorm? No, a thunderstorm.
He looked at Rick to see him furiously digging the tent out of one of the packs. He had it up in record time, and he brought the horses in under it. It wasn’t till then that Rick saw that his friend was awake.
“Thunderstorm,” Rick told him unnecessarily, as lightning flashed.
Ardeth nodded, and winced.
“Sorry, Ardeth, when I was getting you off the horse I accidentally touched your arm.”
“It is not that,” Ardeth said. He tried to reach over to the shoulder on his wounded arm, but his good arm felt heavy as lead.
Rick frowned. “What is it?”
Ardeth wouldn’t’ve bothered to mention it, but it was driving him crazy. “An itch. I can not stand it anymore.”
Rick frowned deeper, as the sky opened up in a downpour.
“When did it start?”
“I…do not remember.”
Rick crawled over to him, tried to sit him up. “Let me check it.”
“What for, it is only an itch,” Ardeth said, trying to hide the dizziness sitting up was causing.
“Sometime people get a rash when they get sick,” said Rick. “Maybe it was a germ from the knife after all.”
Rick managed to hold Ardeth there and get his robes off his shoulder. What he saw made his jaw drop.
“Oh…my…gosh.”
His tone struck fear into Ardeth’s heart. “What?”
“Ardeth, um, something bit you. Something big.”
Anxiety made his head hurt even more. “Describe it to me.”
“Uh, well, there’s a really huge bump—a welt. It’s all red.”
“Can you see the bite marks?”
“I only see one. How can there only be one?”
Ardeth sighed. “Is there swelling around it, that is hard to the touch?”
Rick touched it, making Ardeth gasp. He knew what the answer was.
“Yes,” said Rick.
Ardeth sighed again. “A scorpion.”
“WHAT?!” Rick yelled, nearly louder then the thunder. “Ardeth, scorpion bites kill!”
Ardeth shook his head, slowly. “No, my friend, the majority of them do not, they make the victim ill.”
Realization dawned on Rick. “So that’s what’s wrong with you!” He frowned. “But when did this —ohh, when the pygmy knocked you off your horse, you must’ve landed on the sucker.”
Ardeth nodded, while the world started spinning again.
“Oh man, what do we do?” Rick asked.
“The venom must come out.”
“How?”
Ardeth looked at him, and Rick knew what he was going to say.
“Oh, no...” he mumbled.
********
Rick sterilized his knife in the flames of the fire he’d built after the storm had ceased. As he held it there he couldn’t believe what he was about to do. Stitching up Ardeth’s stab wound was one thing, in fact, that had been bad enough. But now this? He shook his head, wondering what else his poor friend would have to endure before they made it home.
As he walked back into the tent he was amazed at how much the temperature had dropped, thanks to the storm. They were both extremely grateful.
Rick saw that Ardeth was still in the position he’d left him, on his right side so that he wasn’t lying on the bite.
“Rick,” Ardeth said. “You must…do it…now.”
Rick could see that Ardeth was shaking, and had hardly been able to get out the words. Seeing how much he’d deteriorated in less then an hour scared Rick to death.
He quickly knelt next to his friend. “Ardeth, I gotta warn you, I can’t knock you out this time, and give you another concussion on top of the one you already have.” He’d meant it to sound funny, to alleviate the fear they both felt.
Ardeth smiled slightly. “That is all right…I will…pass out…anyway.”
Rick sighed, wishing he’d do that before he took the knife to him.
He touched his friend’s good arm reassuringly, and then crawled behind him. He looked at the horrible bite; saw that the swelling was increasing. He gingerly touched the knife to it, genuinely afraid to hurt his friend.
Ardeth managed to hold in his reaction, knowing that Rick had to keep the nerve to do it.
“Rick,” he said, pleading.
With a sigh, Rick quickly drew the knife across the bite.
Ardeth was out before he was able to make a sound.
Rick made a face at the grayish fluid that mixed with Ardeth’s blood. He prodded at the swelling to make sure he got all the venom out. The majority of the swelling disappeared as the poison was extracted. When he thought he got it all Rick bandaged it up, the cut not being deep enough to require stitches. Besides, he was afraid that in case he hadn’t gotten it all, stitches would seal it in.
When he finished, he sat back and looked at his friend, and couldn’t help but wonder what else could possibly go wrong.
********
It was late the next morning when Ardeth woke up again. Rick had just finished checking the bite, relieved to see that he had apparently gotten all the venom out. He’d rolled Ardeth onto his back again to see that his eyes were open, blinking tiredly.
Rick smiled. “Hey, how do you feel?”
Ardeth smiled slightly. “No worse.”
Rick smiled back. “Finally! Do you think I can get you home now without anymore catastrophes?”
Ardeth smiled again. “I sincerely hope so.”
********
After they ate they were again on their way. They tried to keep the pace as fast as possible, but Rick made sure they stopped frequently for water breaks. It’d been one thing after another, and he wasn’t about to give heat exhaustion a chance to overcome them too. While relieved that Ardeth was no longer worsening, Rick was still worried about the fever plaguing him as a result of the poison that remained in his blood from the scorpion.
Ardeth was lying across the horse’s neck again, knowing it was pointless to waste strength by trying to sit up. Rick kept talking to him, trying to keep him awake, not knowing if Ardeth was still susceptible to passing out.
“Say that again?” said Ardeth, not sure if he’d heard right.
“I said: Alex was jumping around with a tree branch, pretending to be you. The branch was curled almost like the shape of a scimitar. He didn’t know I was watching him as he swiped at invisible mummies!”
Ardeth knew that Alex was fascinated with the Med-jai, and seemed to think him his hero, but he hadn’t quite known the extent of it. He couldn’t help but laugh. “You must be very proud.”
Rick laughed with him.
Ardeth looked at Rick, decided to tell him a story of his own.
“When I was a child, at four years of age, I used to pretend that I was fighting ‘the enemy’. I used to use anything I could find that resembled either a sword or a scimitar. The elders thought it a sign that I would be a great warrior.” He rolled his eyes at the last two words, and Rick laughed.
“They were right,” Rick said.
“Yes, but besides that,” said Ardeth, getting another laugh out of Rick. “One day, I came upon my father’s scimitar that he’d left unattended.”
“Uh oh,” said Rick.
“I managed to unsheath it, and drag it out of the tent.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“No.”
“So what happened?”
“I dragged it as far as I could, close to where my father was talking to a group of warriors. Someone saw me then, and gasped, making them all turn and look at me. When I saw that I had their attention, I yelled out, ‘I am a great warrior!’ and tried to pick it up.”
Rick chuckled. “You remember this? Did someone grab it from you?”
“Yes, I remember it. Someone did grab it, but not soon enough. Naturally, the scimitar was too heavy, and I fell on it.”
Rick gasped. “You fell on it? Did you get hurt?”
Ardeth nodded. “It sliced across my stomach; I still have the scar. It wasn’t so much the wound that nearly killed me —thankfully it wasn’t too deep— but the loss of blood. The future ‘great warrior’ almost didn’t live to the age of five.”
“Wow,” said Rick. “I’ll bet they kept all weapons away from you for a long time after that.”
Ardeth smiled. “Yes, they did. My father never admitted it, but the first time he put a scimitar in my hands to train me, I could see the fear in his eyes, fear that I’d hurt myself again.”
Rick shook his head. “I can understand you hurting yourself at the age of four, but did he really have reason to be afraid when you were older? You don’t seem like a klutz to me!”
Ardeth frowned. “Klutz?”
“Oh, umm…a klutz is what you call someone who drops things a lot, gets into dumb accidents, trips over invisible things, and generally gets into trouble.”
“Ah, Jonathon.”
Rick laughed. “Yeah, Jonathon, now he’s a klutz!” He thought for a minute. “Come to think of it, Evy’s done a few klutzy things in her lifetime too, it must be a shared trait.” He stopped the horses, and dug out the canteens. He handed one to Ardeth.
The water tasted good; Ardeth had to force himself not to drink it all, knowing it was a possibility that they could run out before they made it back. His arm shook as he lowered the canteen. Darn this weakness, he thought, as he blinked back spots.
Rick noticed. “You okay?”
Ardeth nodded slowly.
“Here.”
Ardeth took the wet cloth that Rick held out to him, and gratefully wiped his face and forehead with it slowly. He was amazed at how hot his skin was, and he knew it wasn’t only due to the desert sun.
Rick watched him, concerned at his sluggishness. “Maybe we should stop here.”
“No,” Ardeth said, even though he wanted nothing more. “I am all right.”
“You sure? You don’t look it.”
Ardeth nodded, not having spared a thought to his appearance. He must look pretty bad. “I am fine,” he said, lying against the horse’s neck again.
Rick saw no point in countering Ardeth’s statement, knowing that the poor guy just wanted to get home. He kicked his horse back to a walk, and they continued on.
********
They only managed to travel for another hour when Rick chose to stop. Ardeth was more asleep/passed out then awake, and Rick put up the tent and brought him inside.
It wasn’t until after dark when Ardeth became aware that they’d stopped. “How far did we get?” he asked.
“Pretty far, we should get there tomorrow.”
Ardeth smiled, and closed his eyes with a relieved sigh. “Good.”
********
The next morning, Rick was itching to get moving, but Ardeth was still asleep, and Rick didn’t want to wake him. He paced back and forth in the tent, waking for his friend to awaken, when he heard one of the horses whinny. He paid it no heed until he heard the other one do it, and then both of them. Rick then became aware of the sound of galloping horses, and he grabbed his guns and peeked out the tent flap. Not sure what to expect, what he saw nearly made him whoop with glee.
The group of Med-jai came to a halt, one of them dismounting.
“Safti! Thank God! You won’t believe what’s happened.”
Ardeth’s second-in-command looked at him, puzzled. “What?”
“Ardeth’s hurt—”
Safti ran past Rick to the tent and went in. Seeing his friend with an arm in a sling and looking pale and sick shocked him. “What happened?”
Rick sighed. “I’ll explain on the way, it’ll take that long.”
********
When Ardeth woke up again, he was in his own tent. He heard Rick's voice and he opened his eyes to see Rick explaining to Safti what had happened. Ardeth watched them for a minute before Safti saw him awake.
“Ardeth!”
Rick stopped and looked at his Med-jai friend, with a smile. “Hey Ardeth, feeling any better?”
Ardeth nodded.
“Great! Told ya I’d get you home.”
Ardeth smiled. “I knew you would, sadiqi.” He looked at Safti. “Did he tell you about the part yet when he punched me?”
Safti looked at Rick with horror. “What?”
********
A few days later, Ardeth was up and around somewhat. He left the tent, nearly bumping into Rick.
“Hey Ardeth, how ya doin’?”
“I am doing good. I was looking for you.”
“Yeah? For what?”
“After what happened in the oasis, I feel that I owe you something.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that,” Rick asked, slightly wary.
“This,” Ardeth said, and drew back his fist.
Rick closed his eyes, anticipating the punch that he knew he deserved.
Nothing happened.
Rick opened one eye, then the other, to see Ardeth standing there smiling, his fist mere inches from Rick's face. He lowered it, laughing.
Rick started to laugh too.
Ardeth held out his hand. “What I owe you is my thanks.”
Rick took his hand, and shook it. “Anytime, Ardeth, anytime.”
THE END
Note: I wanted so badly to name this story, ‘Pygmies, Rabid Camels, and Scorpions, Oh My!’ but I didn’t want to give away the plot, LOL, so consider that to be this story’s a.k.a., lol! Also I wanted to say ‘shukran’ to all the people who left me the great reviews on ‘Wrath’s Return’!
“Sadiqi’ Arabic for ‘My Friend’