Rick dismounted and took a swig from his canteen. He saw Ardeth wearily wipe his sleeve across his forehead, and slowly climb down from his horse. He faltered when he touched down, his knees nearly buckling under him.
The sight alarmed Rick, who ran over to him as he rested his forehead against the saddle.
“Ardeth? Are you okay?”
Ardeth straightened up, and nodded. “Yes, I am fine.”
Rick grabbed Ardeth’s canteen, and handed it to him. “You look pale. Heat must’ve gotten to you; maybe you should take a rest.”
Rick expected Ardeth to shrug it off and refuse, so he was surprised when he nodded. He walked with Ardeth over to his tent —which some of the warriors had put up first, an advantage of being the leader— and went inside.
“Anything you want me to do?” Rick asked his friend.
“I do not think so,” Ardeth said, as he sat on the bedroll. “Ask Safti.”
Rick nodded, and went to find him.
Safti was standing at the edge of the campsite, looking to the south.
Rick felt bad for him, knowing what it felt like to have the woman you love ripped from your side. Thankfully, he had gotten Evy back, and he sincerely hoped that his Med-jai friend would too.
Safti turned at his approach.
“Anything you need for me to do?” Rick asked.
Safti thought for a minute, before shaking his head. “Where is Ardeth?”
“Resting.”
Safti looked at him, surprised. “Resting?”
“Yeah, I think the heat got to him.”
“What? Why do you think that?”
Rick told him what had happened, and Safti started walking towards Ardeth’s tent. He opened the flap a little, and they saw that Ardeth was asleep, lying on his side facing the opening.
Safti let go of the flap, and looked at Rick with a puzzled expression.
“What?” Rick asked. “What’s the problem?”
“I have not known Ardeth to sleep during the day.”
Rick laughed. “Come on, the guy’s tired, obviously. There’s a battle ahead of you.”
“All the more reason Ardeth would not sleep. He would be doing everything he could to prepare.”
Rick sighed. “So what are you saying?”
Safti shook his head. “I do not know, only that I do not have a good feeling.”
“Maybe he has a headache,” said Rick. “We know he gets headaches. The stress of the situation.”
Safti nodded. “Perhaps.”
An hour later, everyone was rested and ready to leave again, but Ardeth had not yet awakened. More then a few of them thought it strange.
Rick and Safti looked in on him again, to see him half sitting up, rubbing his eyes. They waited until he looked at them.
Ardeth saw the look on their faces, realized what it meant. “How long was I asleep?”
“Over an hour,” Safti said.
Ardeth nodded, and stood. “Are the men ready?”
Safti nodded.
Ardeth came out of the tent, and everyone started gathering the rest of their things, as a few of the warriors took down their leader’s tent.
Ardeth noticed the look Rick and Safti were giving him. “What?” he asked.
“That nap should’ve made you look better, not worse,” Rick said.
Worse? Ardeth thought, wondering just what they saw.
“Is it another headache, Ardeth?” Safti asked.
Ardeth nodded. “Yes, just another headache.”
Safti nodded and grabbed the reins of Ardeth’s horse, pulling it over to him. He and Rick watched as their friend mounted without mishap.
Ardeth gave them a reassuring smile. “Let’s ride!”
“Which way did they go?” Evy asked.
“South,” said one of the warriors who’d stayed to protect the camp. “Hut-waret sent a message telling them to take that direction.”
Evy nodded. “Shukran.”
She climbed back onto her horse, and she, Jonathon, and Adranji galloped off again.
“You didn’t tell him, huh?” Jonathon said.
Evy shook her head. “Are you kidding? It would’ve sent them all into a frenzy and they would’ve wanted to follow us. We don’t have time for that.”
Jonathon nodded his head in agreement.
They spurred the horses on, praying that they would reach them in time.
“Ardeth?”
Ardeth felt a hand on his arm, looked to see that it belonged to Rick, who was looking at him oddly.
“What?” he asked.
“Why did you slow us down?”
Ardeth realized that the horses were walking instead of galloping. He frowned, not remembering having slowed.
Safti called a halt to the rest of the Med-jai, figuring it was time for a break anyway.
He and Rick dismounted, and stood next to Ardeth’s horse, watching as Ardeth rubbed his aching forehead, eyes closed.
After what seemed like an eternity Rick said, “You gonna stay up there all day?”
Ardeth opened his eyes, looking down at his friends, and suddenly suffered a massive wave of vertigo. This was certainly one of the worst headache episodes that he’d experienced.
Rick and Safti saw him waver in the saddle, and they automatically reached up to help him down. It was a good thing that they did, for they were able to grab him when he nearly fell in a heap on the sand.
They quickly brought him into his tent —which the warriors had put up with lightning speed again— and laid him down. Ardeth lay there unmoving, breathing heavily, half-conscious.
“This is more then just another headache,” Safti said, worriedly.
“I know,” said Rick. He felt Ardeth’s forehead. “He has a fever. Man, of all the times to get sick!”
Safti felt like he was going to cry. First his wife is taken, and on their way to rescue her his leader —his friend— falls ill, now causing a delay in finding her!
Safti sighed heavily, closing his eyes.
Rick knew what he was thinking, but couldn’t for the life of him think of anything to say. Evy would, if she was here. He suddenly realized that if they hadn’t left her in Cairo, she would be here to take care of Ardeth. His wife was good at taking care of sick people, mother hen that she was.
“I can’t believe they got this far!” said Jonathon, as they continued to ride. It was dark already, and he was thinking they’d never find them.
“Wait!” said Evy. “I think I see a campfire, way off.”
Adranji nodded. “Yes, that is the campsite.”
“Thank God!” Evy exclaimed. “I hope we made it in time.”
“Grab him—yeah, great. Hold him there!” said Rick. He was trying to get some water into Ardeth, and he was having a very hard time. The Med-jai Chief was in bad shape. He was delirious with fever, and kept trying to curl up on his side, as if he was in great pain. They couldn’t keep him in any other position long enough for Rick to get him to drink the water, before he’d try to curl up again and Safti would let go, afraid to hurt him. Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Safti finally grabbed Ardeth and pinned him down, and Rick was finally able to lift Ardeth’s head and get the needed water into him.
When Safti let go, Ardeth immediately curled up again, with a groan. Safti heaved a great sigh, placing a hand on his friend’s arm in sympathy—and in fear. He looked at Rick, could see the fear reflected back.
Suddenly they heard a commotion.
“Where is he?!”
“Evy!” said Rick, as she came flying in. He saw that she did not look surprised at all to see Ardeth is such a depleted state. She threw herself to her knees, holding something in her hand.
“Safti, Rick, hold him, he has to drink this!”
“What?” said Rick.
Adranji knelt beside Safti and reached towards Ardeth, saying something rapidly in Arabic.
Safti’s face registered shock, and he grabbed Ardeth as well, doing what Evy had said. “Let her do it!” he said to Rick.
The three of them held Ardeth still as Evy poured the vial’s contents down his throat.
Jonathon stood behind her, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot as he watched.
Evy handed the vial to Safti as they let go and Ardeth curled up again.
A sob caught in Evy’s throat at Ardeth’s suffering. She murmured soothingly to him, smoothing his hair.
“Will someone please tell me what just happened?” Rick asked, bewildered.
Evy sighed as she wiped Ardeth’s forehead with a wet cloth. “He’s been poisoned, Rick, that was the antidote.”
“What!” said Rick. “Poisoned? By what? I didn’t see him eat anything different then anyone else…”
“No, Rick, not food poisoning. We got the antidote from the jeweler. It must’ve been something put on the jewel he made, or on the case itself. It must’ve absorbed through his skin, and poisoned his blood.”
“But Ardeth said he could trust that guy!”
“Hut-waret,” Safti practically snarled. “He must’ve threatened the jeweler.”
“Or maybe the guy didn’t even know,” said Evy. “Maybe one of his men slipped in and put the stuff on the case while he was making the fake stone.”
“He was watched,” said Safti.
“Did any—shhh,” she soothed to Ardeth, who’d cried out in pain.
Everyone was quiet as Evy calmed him.
“I hope the antidote works faster then the poison did,” said Rick, breaking the silence.
Evy checked Ardeth’s pulse, and didn’t like how it felt. “I hope it works,” she said.
There was no change in Ardeth’s condition until 2am, when he fell asleep. They all hoped it was a good sign; that the antidote was working and had lessened his pain so that he could sleep. No one voiced the thought that he may’ve simply lost consciousness.
“Evy,” said Rick, quietly.
“Yes?”
Rick hesitated, as if he didn’t want to say what he was about to. “How do you know that really was the antidote?”
Evy paused, in wiping Ardeth’s face with cool water.
Safti and Jonathon looked at Rick, in shock.
“We don’t have any proof that it was the antidote, it could’ve been something worse! Tell me this,” said Rick. “If it was the antidote, how did the jeweler get it?”
Evy looked at him, fear written all over her face. “Oh, Rick!” She grabbed Ardeth’s wrist, feeling his pulse for the hundredth time. “He—he doesn’t seem any worse.”
No one said anything for a minute, until Safti sighed.
“All we can do is wait,” he said.
And wait they did. Rick, Safti, and Evy stayed up all night. Jonathon tried to, but he kept dozing off. They’d told the Med-jai that they’d given Ardeth the antidote, and that he was sleeping; with hopes that the warriors would get some sleep themselves. There was, after all, still a battle ahead of them. If they were to win it, they needed to be ready.
By morning, it seemed that it had been the antidote after all; to everyone’s relief Ardeth’s fever was lower. Around noon, he woke up.
Evy had been dozing when she heard Rick say Ardeth's name. He sounded surprised.
She looked at him, and saw that his eyes were open —halfway, at least— and he was looking at them.
Evy smiled, touched his arm. “Thank God! How do you feel?”
He didn’t answer, lying there blinking, looking confused.
“Ardeth?” said Rick.
“What…happened?” Ardeth asked, barely a whisper.
“You were poisoned,” said Safti. “Something on the Stone’s case.”
Ardeth looked at him, shocked. “But I am…alive,” he said, as if countering Safti’s statement.
“Evy got the antidote, from the jeweler,” said Rick, suddenly realizing that it had been a good thing after all that they’d left her in Cairo. If not, the poison would’ve killed him!
“The jeweler is dead, Ardeth,” said Evy. “I can only guess Hut-waret killed him.”
Ardeth’s eyes had been closing sleepily, until Evy mentioned that name. He opened them, looked at Safti.
“How long?” he asked.
“Only a day; you fell ill yesterday.”
Ardeth sighed. “I am sorry, sadiqi,” he said, knowing Safti had to be very upset at the delay in saving his wife.
Safti shook his head. “It is not your fault.”
Adranji stuck his head into the tent, saw that Ardeth was awake. “My Chief!” he said, smiling. Then he disappeared, and they could hear him yelling to the others in Arabic.
“Opps,” said Jonathon. “I guess someone should’ve told them.”
“Are you crazy?”
Ardeth looked at Rick, as he stood next to his horse. The motion made him dizzy, and he fought not to show it. “I need to go.”
“No you don’t! You can’t.”
Ardeth sighed as he looked at Rick and Safti; his second-in-command having the same look on his face as his American friend. Trying not to make it look like he was leaning on the horse, Ardeth tried to reason with them. “Hut-waret obviously intended for this poison to kill me before the meeting. He will not expect to see me there.”
“But Ardeth—”
The Med-jai chief sighed. “Who is the leader here? I am going,” he said, with a smile.
Rick gave up as Evy walked over to him, also looking worried. “He shouldn’t go, he’s in no shape,” she whispered.
Rick sighed. “I know. Don’t worry, Evy, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
She nodded. “I know you will. Don’t forget to keep an eye on yourself too.”
Rick smiled and kissed her, then mounted his horse.
“Don’t worry, Rick!” said Jonathon, putting an arm around his sister. “I’ll take good care of our Evy!”
Rick smiled, shaking his head, knowing darn well Jonathon would do anything to stay away from the battle. He waved at them, and they galloped off.
“Well, old mum,” said Jonathon, with a sigh. “I hope they get all the women back.”
Evy nodded, watching her husband and the Med-jai getting smaller and smaller as they got further away. “I hope all the men come back too.”
“Jamal!”
Jamal heard his boss call him, and he strode over. “Yes?”
“They are coming, give it to me,” said Hut-waret.
Jamal looked to the north, and saw a sea of black-clad horsemen. He dug into his pocket, and frowned. He checked his other pockets, and turned pale.
“Well?” Hut-waret said.
Jamal hastily checked all his pockets again, coming up empty.
“Jamal,” Hut-waret said, menacingly. “Give me the antidote.”
“I—I…”
“Find it! NOW!”
Jamal ran off, looking all over the place, terrified. What did I do with it? He’d gone to the jeweler’s place, and brought him a necklace to be repaired. When the jeweler turned he’d poured the poison onto the case he knew the Med-jai’s Stone was kept in. He’d come back later and thanked the jeweler for helping them, telling him the whole story. The jeweler had been devastated to learn that he had been the instrument for Ardeth’s demise. To add to the jeweler’s misery, Jamal had showed him the antidote that Ardeth would never get. Then he’d shot him, left, and gone back to their campsite. He distinctly remembered putting the antidote back into his pocket in the shop, before he’d shot the jeweler.
Jamal stopped dead, realizing that after he’d shot the man, he’d fallen into him before hitting the floor. He must’ve gotten the antidote out of his pocket!
He turned to see Hut-waret staring at the Med-jai, who were very close now, close enough for Jamal to see who was riding in front. I’m dead, he thought.
Ardeth and his Med-jai stopped in front of Hut-waret’s campsite. Ardeth took out the case with a piece of cloth, and threw it at his enemy.
Hut-waret automatically reached out to catch it, but then remembered the poison and the case flopped around in his hands like a hot potato before Hut-waret let it fall to the sand. He looked up at Ardeth with anger; anger that the Med-jai was still alive—obviously having received the antidote—and anger that he’d been caught red handed, his behavior at touching the case making it obvious. Darn that Jamal! If the Med-jai don’t kill him I will! he thought. He’d planned on waving the antidote in the Med-jai’s faces, after Ardeth would’ve been dead. He sighed and picked up the case with a handkerchief and opened it. Inside was a beautiful jewel. He took it out and held it up in the sun, where it sparkled.
“Very nice,” he said.
Ardeth noticed Safti growing anxious. “Now, uphold your end of the bargain.”
Hut-waret smiled. “My end?”
Safti made a sound heard only by Ardeth, and his horse took a step forward.
Ardeth held out his arm towards Safti, as if telling him to remain where he was.
“Hut-waret, you wanted the Stone in exchange for our women. Now you have it.”
Hut-waret made a motion with his left hand, and a couple men went into a small tent. They came back dragging a woman with them.
Safti gasped. “Suhaylah!” he yelled.
Rick felt his heart sink. Out of all the Med-jai women, Hut-waret had picked Safti’s wife to make an example of. Oh God, no! Don’t let him kill her…
Suhaylah stood there grasping the arm that was around her throat. She felt the knife against her skin, and tried to communicate to her husband through a look.
Safti seemed to understand, for he nodded at her slightly.
“You harm that woman and I will kill you where you stand!” Ardeth said.
Hut-waret laughed. “I told you I wanted the Euphrates Stone. This is not it. Therefore, the bargain is forfeit, and so are the lives of your women.”
He started to turn to his man holding the woman, to tell him to kill her, when he suddenly heard a yelp come from behind him, and saw Suhaylah drop to the sand and roll away from the man who was looking at her in surprise, as she now held the knife.
Safti yelled the Med-jai war cry and attacked, as did the rest of them.
Rick was taken by surprise, for he hadn’t seen the look that had passed between Safti and Suhaylah. He looked around for Ardeth, not seeing him. One of Hut-waret’s men came running towards him and he shot him dead. He kicked his horse into a gallop and rode into the fray, shooting men as he looked for his friend, who he knew would not be able to fight with his usual ease.
Rick spotted Safti and Suhaylah fighting side by side, and he was impressed with the strength of the Med-jai woman. Safti kept yelling to her, and she was ignoring him. He had a feeling what was going on, it reminded him of himself and Evy. “Evy, get out of here!” “No way, Rick!”
Rick finally saw Ardeth, fighting with Hut-waret.
Ardeth was losing the fight.
Rick jumped off his horse, as someone attacked him. He punched him in the face, knocking him cold. He saw Suhaylah running towards a large tent that was behind the others, probably housing the women. He ran towards Ardeth; saw Safti doing the same.
Ardeth and Hut-waret’s scimitars were locked together, each of them trying to push them towards the other. Ardeth nearly gasped with the effort, trying to keep the weapons from his throat, which they were getting dangerously close to.
“You can’t beat me!” Hut-waret laughed, seeing Ardeth’s lack of strength; the sweat on his face, the fatigue.
Ardeth knew that he would not survive this unless he did something fast, and he suddenly let go and dropped to the sand, rolling to the side and coming up with his scimitar to block Hut-waret’s next blow. His utter exhaustion caused him to do it too slowly and he was still on his back when Hut-waret reached him. He blocked the blow, and kicked Hut-waret’s legs out from under him.
Hut-waret hadn’t expected that and went down in surprise, giving Ardeth a chance to get up.
Ardeth’s whole body screamed at him as he tried to get up quickly, and he noticed scattered pains where he’d gotten a few slashes. He stumbled backwards a step as his vision started to cloud over. No, he thought, not now. He managed to blink most of it away, but before he’d even started to get his breath back Hut-waret was up and attacking him again. He blocked blow after blow as Hut-waret, with a maniacal look on his face, forced him back. Ardeth’s strength seeped out of him faster and faster, and when he was sure he was about to die the tide suddenly turned. Safti came out of nowhere and immediately jumped into the battle, getting Hut-waret away from his weakened chieftain. Their battle lasted only a few seconds before Hut-waret was lying on the sand, bleeding profusely.
Ardeth tried to keep from staggering as he walked over to Hut-waret, and took the real Stone out of his pocket. He held it in Hut-waret’s face, and said, “Was death really worth this?” He tossed it down, onto Hut-waret’s chest, who died looking at it.
Ardeth turned from the body and started to walk, but suddenly found himself on his knees in the sand. He felt hands holding onto him; saw that they belonged to Rick and Safti. They helped him up and he saw the happy crowd of Med-jai warriors hugging their wives and sisters. Ardeth saw with relief that none of his men had lost their lives that day, having had much motivation to fight well.
Suhaylah broke the hug with her brother Adranji, and ran over, into Safti’s arms.
“Suhaylah,” Safti whispered, with tears in his eyes, as he hugged her tightly. “Suhaylah!”
Evy and Jonathon were overjoyed to see the Med-jai come into view. They jumped on their horses and rode out to meet them.
“Rick!”
Rick dismounted and opened his arms as Evy jumped into them. “I’m so glad you’re all right!” she said.
“Me too,” he said, with a laugh. “We all are.”
Evy looked up to see Ardeth on his horse, and she smiled at him. He looked like he’d been dragged through the desert by a camel, but he was alive. He gave her a tired smile in return.
Evy saw a woman on Safti’s horse with him, realizing it was his wife.
Suhaylah knew who Evy was, having seen her when they’d been at the Med-jai camp over the years, although they’d never actually spoken. She gave Evy a big smile, which Evy returned.
“I say,” said Jonathon. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Everyone looked at him, and more then a few of them groaned as they urged their horses back to a walk.
At the Med-jai camp, the spirits were high. Everyone was elated that everything had gone right this time. Not only did they get all the women back safely, but none of the warriors had been hurt badly, they still had the Euphrates Stone, and Ardeth was alive.
Evy sighed happily, as they sat around a fire. She was nestled in Rick's arms, watching the flames. She could see Safti and his wife sitting by themselves a little way off, in each other’s arms, staring at the stars. She heard a sigh, looked up at Ardeth.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
He looked at her and nodded, looking very worn out. “I am relieved that it is over.”
Evy nodded.
“So are we,” said Rick.
They heard a laugh, looked to see Jonathon talking to a Med-jai woman who was looking at him oddly. He apparently saw the she wasn’t interested, said a quick goodbye and walked back over to his family at the fire. He plopped down next to Ardeth, and nodded towards Safti and his wife.
“Aren’t they the perfect couple.”
Ardeth nodded. “Yes. Safti and Suhaylah love each other very much.”
There was silence for a second, and then Evy suddenly gasped and busted out laughing.
Rick and Jonathon looked at her. “What?” Rick asked.
“Her name is ‘Suhaylah’? Are you serious?” she asked Ardeth.
He nodded, with a smile.
She kept laughing, a hand covering her mouth.
“What? What does it mean?” Rick asked.
“It means ‘soft’!”
“Soft?”
Rick and Jonathon busted out laughing along with her.
“’Softy’ and ‘Soft’! Mr. and Mrs. Softy! That’s bloody hysterical!” Jonathon said.
Ardeth nodded, laughing too. He put his hand in his pocket. “I want you to keep this.”
He handed Evy the Stone.
She quickly stopped laughing. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “It will be safe with you, no one will ever know you have it.”
Evy nodded as she took it. “Let us know if you ever need it again.”
He smiled. “Let us hope that I never do.”
She nodded, and snuggled closer to Rick. She looked at Safti and Suhaylah again, who were hugging like they’d never let go of each other. She thought how wonderful it was to be in the arms of a loving husband, and she wondered how she could ever live without Rick. She lifted her head up and kissed Rick on the nose.
“What was that for?” he asked, with a smile.
“Nothing.”
THE END
‘sabah al-hayri’: Arabic for ‘good morning’
‘shukran’: Arabic for ‘thank you’
‘sadiqi’: Arabic for ‘my friend’
*‘Softy’ is what Rick called Safti in ‘Wrath’s Return’, because that’s what his name sounded like to him, lol.