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“Prove it? How am I supposed to do that?” Ardeth asked the criminal.
“Yeah, I guess there’s no way for you to, huh?” Montoya started to laugh, walking closer to him. “Especially since we both know you are a cop! Humm, lets see, you got a wife named Sheri, and two sweet little kids, right, Tony Merlino?”
This is it, Ardeth thought. I am probably going to die, now…“You are right, Montoya,” Ardeth said, walking closer. “I am a cop, and you are under arrest!” With that, he pulled a second gun out from the small of his back, pointing it at Montoya. Unfortunately, Ardeth didn’t know about the fireplace poker Montoya had behind his back, and, not having the experience that Frank Donovan had, didn’t get a chance to shoot before Montoya swung it at the gun, hitting his wrist and sending the weapon flying.
Ardeth gasped when he felt a bone snap, and jumped back when Montoya swung the poker again, narrowly missing him. Montoya ran the short distance to the wall housing the swords, and grabbed one, holding it out towards Ardeth, menacingly.
Ardeth stood there, clutching his arm for maybe 2 seconds, before he dove towards the other wall, grabbing a scimitar off it with his left hand.
Montoya’s confidence wavered when he saw the assurance Ardeth exuded, in handling the weapon. He was further surprised when Ardeth made the first attack.
“What is he doing?!” Alex cried, as they watched the screen in shock. “Why doesn’t he go for the gun? He’s fighting with a sword! With his left hand, even!”
“He’s a man of many talents,” said Cody, in awe.
Montoya was thinking the same thing, as Ardeth attacked him. He quickly regained his composure, and fought back, ferociously.
Ardeth hardly thought at all, his mind concentrating on the fight. He was surprised at the man’s skill, and he wondered who had taught him, in this time period. Trying to ignore the pain of his broken wrist—which was tucked safely behind his back, at the moment—he tried to focus all his strength to the arm wielding the scimitar, which he really needed two hands to hold, due to its weight. He didn’t have all of his strength, thanks to the sickness that he hadn’t even recovered from, and was quickly tiring.
Montoya saw this, and hope of getting away gave him the extra strength he needed. He feinted a move down low, but then brought the sword up, towards Ardeth’s head.
Ardeth recognized the move and was able to step back in time, but the sword caught his arm enough to leave a painful gash.
Suddenly a gunshot echoed outside, and Montoya jumped. Ardeth had his opportunity, and focused all his remaining strength in a blow that threw Montoya’s sword against the wall.
Montoya gasped, backing up with his hands raised.
Breathing heavily, Ardeth advanced on him, pointing the sword at the criminal’s chest, feeling as if he were about to drop it.
A desk behind Montoya stopped him in his tracks, and he hurriedly scrambled around to the other side of it.
“You,” said Ardeth, trying to get his breath back. “Are…under…arrest.”
“Search the house!” Montoya said. “You won’t find anything. You can’t arrest me!”
“You admitted it to me,” said Ardeth. “You told me about your business.”
“Your word against mine!”
“Your words against ours,” said Ardeth. “People were listening, Montoya. Besides, you can add assault and attempted murder of a federal agent to the drug charges.”
“Fe-federal agent? You aren’t Merlino...?”
Ardeth shook his head, with a smile.
At that moment the door opened, and Jake and Alex came running in.
Ardeth turned to look at them, taking his eyes off his enemy for only a second, but it was one second to many.
“Look out!” Alex yelled.
Ardeth turned back to see that Montoya had quickly grabbed a gun from one of the desk drawers, but a shot from Jake’s threw Montoya back, his weapon never having fired.
Ardeth just looked at him for a minute, realizing that after all this, he could’ve still gotten killed. He lowered the sword abruptly, dropping it as the adrenaline left him, and leaned against the desk for support.
“Frank!” said Alex, running over to him, and grabbing him by the arms.
Ardeth winced when she touched his sword wound, as she turned him around to face her. “Are you all right?” she asked.
Ardeth didn’t bother to say ‘yes’ this time, as he knew she wouldn’t believe it anyway. He let her check his wounds, knowing that it would be pointless to refuse her, as he knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Your wrist is broken,” she said, holding his arm gently, not even having to feel the bone to know; the massive swelling already forming making it apparent. “You probably need stitches in your arm. How do you feel?”
As she spoke, Ardeth suddenly felt a stabbing pain lace through his head, and he closed his eyes when his vision swam. It suddenly felt like something was ripped from his mind, and he gasped, abruptly collapsing.
“Jake!”
Jake turned, from making sure that Montoya was dead and reclaiming Frank’s gun, to see Alex trying to gently lower Frank to the floor. He dashed over and grabbed him, helping her.
Looking Frank over, he saw that he was out cold. “It doesn’t look like he’s losing that much blood…” Jake said.
Alex shook her head. “I think it’s the West Nile, he hasn’t recovered yet, and look at the fight he just got into!”
At that moment, Monica and Cody came in, after having seen on the screen that it was safe.
“Oh no!” Monica exclaimed when she saw Frank lying on the floor. “Looks like the ambulance I called for Montoya will be put to better use,” she said, with a sigh.
********************
Safti touched Ardeth's hand to the symbols, and instantly a bright light filled their vision. He let go of Ardeth, hoping that Rick did too, but when he went to grab Ardeth again, he couldn't see him, blinded by the flash.
The same thing happened to Rick, who thought quickly and dropped to the sand where he figured Ardeth would land. Safti must've had the same idea, for Rick felt two bodies land on top of him, and he grunted. Knowing they could do nothing to help Ardeth while they couldn't see him, they simply laid there, blinking the light from their eyes, until they had their vision back. Quickly scrambling out from under Safti, Rick sat up, grabbing Ardeth's still-limp form.
"Ardeth!" he shouted. "You can wake up now, buddy!"
Shatira knelt beside them, while Evy and Jonathan ran over.
"Did it work?!" Evy cried.
Before anyone could answer, they heard a groan.
"Ardeth!" everyone cried, in unison.
Ardeth opened his eyes slowly, saying nothing, staring up at everyone in confusion.
"Ardeth?" said Rick.
Ardeth blinked up at him. "Jake?" he said.
Everyone looked at each other as if to say, 'huh?'
"Ardeth! Thank God! It worked!" Evy said, clapping her hands happily.
Ardeth still said nothing, disoriented, not sure who or where he was. Suddenly he was pulled up gently, and a canteen was held to his dry lips.
"Slowly, Ardeth," said a voice he recognized. The canteen was pulled away all too soon. "A little at a time."
"Grandmother!" Ardeth said, finally snapping into reality, and trying to sit up. I am home! They figured out how to get me home!
He was held back in the half-sitting up position firmly by Safti and Rick, and given more water.
"Shh," Shatira said. "Do not move, Ardeth; rest, save your strength. You've been unconscious for five days, your muscles are probably weak and stiff from non-use."
Ardeth shifted his body, and found that she was right. "Feels just like West Nile," he mumbled, voice sounding scratchy.
"Huh?" said Rick.
"Hush," Shatira told them, seeing the dazed look in Ardeth's eyes.
No one said anything as they watched Ardeth, wondering what was going through his mind, and whether or not he was really all right.
Ardeth closed his eyes, trying to make sense of everything, not understanding why it was being so hard. My mind has finally come back to my body, he thought. I suppose it will take a little time for it to adjust. Those words were like music to his ears. My mind has come back to my body…he sighed in relief.
Everyone heard it, and thought something was wrong.
"Ardeth?" Safti said, worriedly.
Ardeth opened his eyes, and smiled at his friend to let him know he was all right. "What happened to me, that day?" he asked.
"One of the pillars shot a beam, and it hit you. That was five days ago!" Rick told him.
"Five days," Ardeth repeated. He looked amazed. "Time passed more slowly here..."
"What?" Evy asked.
"While my body was unconscious here, my mind was somewhere else. That beam sent my mind into the future, into the body of a man named Frank Donovan."
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed.
He nodded. "It was the year 2002, and I was in America; the head of a team of law enforcement agents who handle special cases."
The looks everyone gave him were priceless. Ardeth wondered if they thought him mad.
"What's this 'West Nile' you mentioned?" Safti asked.
"West Nile Virus, a disease that will soon be discovered in Africa, and spread to America." Ardeth answered, tiredly. "A sickness that I suffered while in Frank Donovan's body."
"Oh, Ardeth!" said Evy, taking his hand and stroking it gently, in compassion.
"Hush, now," said Shatira. "He needs to rest, and regain his strength. Sleep, grandson."
Ardeth nearly argued with her that according to them his body rested for five days, but before he had the chance he fell asleep in her arms.
********************
"Frank?"
Frank Donovan opened his eyes, looking at the four faces above him. The faces smiled at him, but Frank just stared back, confused.
"Frank?" Monica said, unnerved by his blank stare.
"What happened?" he asked.
Jake frowned. "You don't remember?"
Frank shook his head, slowly, feeling groggy.
"You did a stint for Morgan, going UC as a drug dealer to capture Tito Montoya."
Frank's eyebrows rose. He vaguely remembered being in a house with the man, and fighting him with a sword.
"We never knew you could do that, Frank," said Cody, as if reading his mind.
Frank smiled. "There's a lot about me you don't know." There's a lot about me I don't know! He'd done fencing in his time, but never fought with a sword as heavy as a scimitar. He didn't know what possessed him to choose that sword over Montoya's lighter ones.
"How long have I been in here?" Frank asked, seeing his hospital room surroundings.
"Less then a day, it's nearly 5pm. Montoya happened last night," Alex said. "They stitched your arm, but it was a while before they were able to cast your wrist; they had to bring the swelling down first. How do you feel?"
Frank brought his left hand up to rub an eye, wincing when it pulled at the stitches. "Like I've been out of it for a week."
"You have," said Cody, with a snort.
"Ready to get out of here?" Monica said. "The docs told us when you woke up, they'd look you over and probably let you leave. You're not injured enough to warrant a lengthy stay."
"Thank God," Frank said, about to reach over to pull the IV out of his left hand, but the cast on his right wrist prevented him. He frowned. "Than why am I here?" He remembered nothing after the fight with Montoya.
"You passed out," said Alex. "You weren't fit for that fight! You should've listened to us."
Frank shook his head, memories of the past week fuzzy.
The doctors looked him over, and made him promise to finish the medicine he’d been given for the West Nile, and sent him home, telling him to rest.
Frank sighed with relief when he walked into his apartment, puzzled to feel like he'd hardly been there for a week. He didn't let the women stay to mother-hen him, insisting that he was fine and just wanted to get some sleep. Thirsty, he went to his fridge, and found the bottle of orange juice. Using his stitched arm carefully—since his right wrist was in a sling—he poured himself a glass, wondering when he'd started to like OJ so much.
********************
Ardeth opened his eyes, looking around in confusion. He was in his own tent, and he wondered for a minute if the whole thing had been a dream.
Suddenly the tent flap opened, and Evy came in. "You're awake! How do you feel?"
"I am all right," he said. "Did all that really happen?" he asked, still unsure.
Evy nodded. "You gave us quite a scare. We couldn't understand why you wouldn't wake up."
"I am sorry to have worried you," he said, feeling bad about it.
Evy made a face. "Sorry? It wasn't your fault!" She sighed. "My being nosy is to blame."
Ardeth shook his head. "There is nothing wrong with being curious to know how things came to be, Evy. Too many people fail to appreciate ancient objects."
"You two done assuming blame?" they heard, as Rick came into the tent. "How you feeling, buddy?"
"Fine."
"Sure." Rick sat on the right side of him. "You hungry?"
"Oh!" said Evy. "That's what I came here to find out. You must be! I'll be right back."
Rick shook his head, smiling, as Evy left. He looked at Ardeth again, with concern. "So, you're really okay?"
Ardeth nodded.
"Good," Rick said, with a *phew*. "When we realized the beam came out of that pillar, we wondered if it had hurt you, or something."
Ardeth nodded. "Aside from having my mind ripped from my body and sent through time, it has done me no harm."
Rick's jaw dropped, when he saw the twinkle in Ardeth's eye. "You made a joke? EVY!" he shouted. "Ardeth made a joke!"
Ardeth couldn't help but laugh.
Rick stood, shaking his head with a smile. "Speaking of Evy, I'll go find out what's taking her so long. Knowing her, she's probably bringing you enough food to feed an army."
Ardeth nodded. "Yes, she loves to mother hen, just as Alex and Monica do."
"Who?"
"I shall explain later. First, I have a favor to ask of you," Ardeth said.
Rick nodded. "Anything."
Ardeth hesitated. "Could you find out for me if they have already invented 'orange juice'?"
Hey everyone! Remember Ardeth's grandmother from, 'Wise One'? She’s the person that my friend Karri asked me to write another story about, and she fit into this one very well, wouldn't you say? LOL! Thanks for reading!
'La' Egyptian Arabic for 'No.'
'Ash in-naharda itqatil bukra!': 'Live today, fight tomorrow!'
'Nagga il bint, qatil il masikh!': 'Save the girl, kill the creature!'
'Shatira': 'Wise One'
'hola' Spanish for 'hello'
'por favor' Spanish for 'please'
'nada' Spanish for 'nothing'
'ninguno cualquiera' Spanish for 'none whatsoever'
'mi amigo' Spanish for 'my friend'
*'Cool Night' by Paul Davis. Great song of the 80's!
**'Africa' by Toto. Another great song of the 80's!
***‘In Your Eyes’ by Peter Gabriel. Yet another awesomely great song of the 80's! (The long version, lol) Yes, I LOVE 80's music! WOO HOO!