Title:  Passion - Chapter Eleven – Innocent

Rating:  PG13 for now
Author: Angela - jedinineofnine@hotmail.com - http://oocities.com/saturnfiction
Summary:  Something’s bothering Ardeth. Of course it’s never as simple as that.
Disclaimer:  No infringement intended.  I own Asenath, Drake, Samira, Mahmud, Abdu, Omar and Ali.
Prequel (which should be read to get this):  http://fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=654922&chapter=1
Codes:  Ardeth/Ancksunamun, Imhotep/Evy

*

He was slow to awaken. He knew there was little reason that he should be awake, for this day would be filled with desolation—as would the days that followed. This was the sacrifice he made for Evy and the man she loved. Ardeth had no desire to leave this world, but if he failed to find a way to kill Ancksunamun then he held little doubt that thoughts of death would find him. She was stronger in her magic than before, a fact he hadn’t counted on. That frightened him. He had to kill her, even if it meant dying himself, but if her spells constantly protected her, what then?

Could she be killed in her present state? There had to be something, some weakness.

He himself was a weakness, Ardeth knew. Her obsession with him was nothing if not consuming in all appearances. And when she finished breaking him she would likely move on to another—perhaps Imhotep, or someone else. Ancksunamun was empty inside and did all within her power to fill that void. He still mourned that for her, that she had been driven to such a state.

But he no longer felt guilty. Akhenre had offered her redemption and still she had turned away, too far gone from sanity to desire salvation. The path she traveled was of her own doing.

The coldness of the floor seeped through the fabric of his clothing, spreading a chill over his body, so reluctantly he allowed himself to rouse. His arms were bound behind his back and his ankles tied, he soon discovered—much to his irritation. It was a hard, clumsy trip to sitting up. In the dim, dying torchlight he discovered he was alone. He didn’t like that. Ancksunamun could be anywhere, doing anything to anyone. Perhaps she had gone after Evy and Imhotep anyway, making his sacrifice in vain. Ardeth leaned back against the stone wall and exhaled. Maybe there wasn’t any escape from this.

He glanced at the door with that very thing on his mind, however. He was a brave man, he knew that not in immodesty, but even the bravest man would be foolish not to fear that which could defeat him. Ardeth truly did not know if he could win this time. Ancksunamun was gone. He could get up if he chose, get out of this and disappear forever. Save himself from this terrible fate. Yet he remained on the floor like a puppy waiting for his master to return.

Time passed, leaving him to his solemn thoughts until finally the sound of footfalls filtered down from the stairs. Two pairs. Ardeth sat straight quickly, wondering if Evelyn and her priest had defied his orders never to return. A small cry proved that wasn’t the case. A form tumbled down the stairs and a sharp laugh followed. Ardeth’s eyes widened when he saw who had fallen.

He had grown a little thicker, more muscular and had a little more facial hair, but that boyishness that was Abdu was unmistakable. His young friend, who had all the promise of becoming a good hearted, strong warrior for his people, raced to his feet and pulled at the ties holding his wrists behind him. “I’ll kill you, witch! I hate you!” he shouted in near hysterical rage. But his strength wavered, his face pale and stricken. The boy dropped to his knees and hovered as if he were going to be sick. Something had happened.

Alarmed, Ardeth leaned forward as if it would bring him closer to the anguished young Med-Jai. “Abdu,” he breathed as Ancksunamun came down the stairs, tossing his scimitar to the concrete below. Her body was no longer clothed in the ragged, decayed dress she had died in. She had replaced it with the clean robes of a Med-Jai woman. “What has happened?” he demanded of the priestess, afraid of why she would be wearing such clothes. They certainly weren’t on loan.

Ancksunamun ignored him and used her magic to refresh the torchlight. Bay brushed his questions of her aside and concentrated on Abdu, who looked for all the world as broken as he felt. “I killed her, Ardeth,” he sputtered, tears flowing freely down his tattooed cheeks. He looked up at his older friend and Bay felt his pulse rise. “What have I done?”

Ardeth had been through much in his fifteen years over Abdu. He knew the evils of the land and more acutely knew the evils of this woman before them. And knowing all this he had been torn by her. Abdu was an innocent, plunged into the very things Ardeth himself had not yet overcome. “Who?” he asked gently, knowing in himself that talking would help.

The young man’s shoulders slumped and his eyes twinkled with wetness. He looked so startlingly broken that Bay idly wondered if he hadn’t killed the entire Med-Jai tribe. “I can’t…I can’t…” Abdu whispered, falling back against the ornate sarcophagus of Set. He leaned against the tomb to brace himself through his hurt. Ardeth saw it all pass through the youth’s expression: fear, grief, self-loathing, and desperation for peace—those feelings that revisited the elder. “Why couldn’t I stop myself? I’m stronger than this! Stronger!” Ardeth looked away, unable to watch Abdu suffer. It brought up a well of emptiness in him…the fear that they might not make it through this.

With a soft expression Ancksunamun crouched beside the boy, petting his dark hair much as she had Ardeth’s. “Shhh, my little love. The hurt will pass.” She had a mother’s touch with him, comforting him in way that sickened Ardeth. She looked at the older Med-Jai. “I went out to survey that which will be mine—that which you will help me to attain, and saw a sweet, innocent sight. He and a pretty little lover were out last night, kissing and touching each other in the sand.” She cocked her head slightly. “Then he killed her.”

“You forced him to kill her,” Ardeth amended in dark tones.

Ancksunamun rubbed Abdu’s shoulder. “That, my Ardeth, depends on how you define being forced. I made him see my face and hear my voice instead of that of his lover. I whispered to him that it was I he was kissing, I told him my name and he more than willingly killed the girl beneath him. Then, as she lay there dying, I showed him what he had done in haste.” She smiled and brought Abdu’s face to hers. “It’s all right, young one. Shhh. I’ll train you to be just like Ardeth. You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Please, leave me,” Abdu whispered, staring at the ground in disbelief that reality could be so cold.

The priestess traced his jaw, then forced him to face Ardeth. “If only he could have stopped me, young one. Abdu is it? If he had only stopped me from returning. Then your pretty love would no doubt be whispering your name in pleasure now.”

She meant to turn Abdu against him and by what Ardeth saw written in those tormented, light brown eyes, it wouldn’t take much effort. He shook his head, knowing that this wasn’t the time to be against one another. “Abdu, she is trying to make us enemies. Don’t listen to her. You don’t know all of the facts.”

Abdu pulled himself away from Ancksunamun’s touch and leaned tiredly against the sarcophagus again. “I’m not stupid, Ardeth, even if I am as weak as you.” He closed his eyes tightly, obviously trying to stop the tide of tears.

Ancksunamun lowered herself to sit beside Abdu, watching Ardeth through amused eyes. “Do you want me to hurt him?” she whispered sensually, brushing her hand against his side. “Or I could let you hurt him. What would you like, my little love?”

The youth gave no indication that her caress had any effect, whether pleasing or otherwise. He merely stayed rested, glaring at Ardeth through half-lidded, pain-ravaged eyes. Ardeth no longer felt the guilt of where Ancksunamun had ended up, but it hit him then just what the cost of his blind compassion would be. Abdu knew it too. The older Med-Jai could feel her words echo through that angry gaze. If only, if only.

“Abdu,” Ardeth said evenly, trying to pour reason through his worried voice. But the boy wouldn’t have it.

Abdu turned his cold glare back to their captor, hissing in such a contemptuous tone that Ardeth again had to look away, “Do what you will, witch. Kill us for all I care. We are both deserving of that fate!”

The priestess took on a pitying air as she soothed her young victim and Ardeth could only watch in sadness. Abdu was like any young Med-Jai: impetuous, enthusiastic and quick to judgment. It was the downfalling of all young, male warriors and such rash choices to retribution could, like last night, lead to tragedy. But Ardeth didn’t blame the boy. He was being his age. He blamed himself and Ancksunamun would feed off of that.

So he said nothing and watched until Ancksunamun came to some sort of decision. Her lips twisted suddenly into a grin with hidden purpose and she reached behind Abdu, untying his roped wrists. “He can do me no harm,” she explained complacently as she stood up from her work. Abdu made no move to attack and Ardeth was thankful for that wisdom on his part.

Ancksunamun next came to him and despite agreeing with Abdu’s choice of doing nothing, Ardeth found himself tempted to attack her. She shoved him against the wall and freed him, but made no move to leave afterwards. His master began petting him and Ardeth heard the younger Med-Jai grunt his assessment. “You should have given in to me last night, Ardeth. All I wanted was a time with your body and look what refusing got you. Now will you still deny me?” With a small smile Ancksunamun took her manipulation further by pulling him into a kiss.

Her hand found his stomach and Ardeth pushed her from him. He was tired despite the sleep he had gotten. But this was only the first hour of the day. He couldn’t give in to this, he couldn’t play into her hands like this. Not until all hope was gone and even then he prayed death would come first. “Do not touch me, Ancksunamun. I will never give in to you.” Above all else Abdu needed to see he wasn’t on this evil woman’s side.

A small flicker of anger smoldered in her dark eyes, but he could see she had counted on this. Ancksunamun sat up folded her arms around her knees. “Very well, my love. Let us instead play a game. As you know inside Nefertiri there is a child but three weeks conceived—barely a thought in her mind. I want you to cause her to miscarry, whether by poison or,” she smiled, “an accident.” She was sick. Beyond evil. He opened his mouth to give her his disgusted answer, but she held her hand up. “Or you can choose that I end the life of another Med-Jai. You won’t have to do the killing. I’ll do it. Which will you choose?”

Ardeth looked away, knowing his mistake. She was trapping him into a no win situation. “Take me,” he breathed in low, husky tones. When she said nothing, he met her eyes. “I give in to you. Take me. I’ll not make that choice if all you desire is to use me.”

Ancksunamun’s ruby lips spread into a smile and he allowed himself to appreciate it and the softness of her hair. He didn’t want her touching him, but there were worse fates than the attentions of a beautiful woman. It wouldn’t mean anything. A moment’s gaze into her eyes told him that she knew that as well and wouldn’t have it. “No, my Ardeth. You passed your chance by. Now you have another choice. Make it, or I shall make it for you.”

He was trapped. Abdu glared, having his own choice firmly in mind. But Ardeth’s loyalties weren’t so cut and dry. His mind kept screaming at him, saying that Evy didn’t even know this child. If a Med-Jai were killed, they would be missed. He could poison Evy and she would never know…she would think it was nature’s choice. An image rose to mind of her teary face, Imhotep trying to comfort her.

Fool’s logic. He couldn’t rob Evelyn of her baby and three weeks old or not, it was a human life. The thought of living with that made him ill. Yet someone would lose a brother or sister or mother today. “I cannot make that decision, Ancksunamun. You know I can’t. If you kill someone it will be your own doing.”

“As you desire, my Ardeth,” she replied, standing to her feet and heading up the stairs, leaving them both untied. He listened as she closed the stone doors that would undoubtedly lock them in.

His eyes slid to the scimitar a few feet away.

*

The desert was hot today, like everyday and Evy was tired already. Two strange men—their followers from the days past, she suspected—had shown up some distance from the Temple of Set by miracle and offered to help them to Cairo. The help was very welcome.

Evelyn was surprised at how this ordeal was wearing her out. She sat behind Imhotep atop a gorgeous Arabian horse, slumping into her priest with her arms around his waist. Occasionally he would pet her barely clasped hands and she would lose her precarious balance, which immediately won him a half-hearted rebuke and a pinch. At least if offered her a diversion.

She worried for Ardeth constantly. Her friend was likely going through hell right now for the sake of her safety. That left a cold feeling in her. His eyes haunted her, that hopeless, fearful expression of knowing what would happen if he stayed with Ancksunamun. And here she was, riding away to safety. If Cairo even offered that for long. Someday Ancksunamun would either kill him or stop humoring him, then she would come for those she had left behind.

Evy sighed and felt Imhotep do the same. He worried for her. The priest cared that her friend was in trouble, but she was always forefront on his mind. She and their baby. Again his hand slipped over hers, but this time she was prepared and didn’t jar. “You are under too much stress, Nefertiri. Our daughter will feel it.”

Nuzzling against his back, she sighed again, wishing he would stop. She knew he only meant well, but how could she turn her feelings off? Still, Imhotep wasn’t one to argue about such matters. He was firm in his resolve. “I’ll try to sleep,” she told him gently, feeling almost strange to be with him again.

Their relationship was a month old. A month and a week, now. Their romance was odd enough without having Ancksunamun cloud things with her games. Evy could feel the other woman’s hate for her priest whenever she looked at him. It made her want to hold him, love him, but she couldn’t help but feel strange.

Of course she felt strange anyway, not just with him. Ancksunamun had been so much a part of her this week, had dominated her unlike anyone ever had or ever would. Evy could well imagine why Ardeth feared her. But she had grown to know this person and while she in no way cared for Ancksunamun or wanted her back, she still felt alone now. It was unsettling.

Imhotep could sense the change in her, but bore it patiently. He wouldn’t pressure her for closeness and that was nice. The thought made her hug him momentarily, and he brought one of her hands to his lips. “Do you love him?” he then asked, and that question threatened to make her lose balance again.

She pulled away from Imhotep and leaned over, trying to see his face. “What on earth would make you ask that?”

He didn’t look directly at her—a thing he did when he was trying to be the better man—and said, “You worry so.”

“I’m not allowed to worry for my friends?” she asked. She made ready to pinch him again if he answered wrong.

Imhotep reached behind him and grasped her thigh without breaking concentration on their leader. “Not when they are male.” He squeezed her leg and she jumped, then slapped his shoulder. “Truly, Nefertiri. I know Ancksunamun must have wanted to lay with him. And you knew him before me.”

“Oh, for goodness sake,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around him again and giving him a tight squeeze. “You’re jealous of all things. She wanted to, yes. But Akhenre wouldn’t allow it. Imhotep, I do love Ardeth and yes, we will have a different bond after everything that’s happened, but that doesn’t change us. I love you. I forgive you.” Evy kissed his shoulder, knowing he was a man that had a lot to carry. He had done so many terrible things and in his position, who wouldn’t find forgiveness hard to believe? She wanted to take that away from him, make him feel like the past 3,000 years were worth the wait for her love. She would certainly try. “Do you understand me?”

The priest nodded his head and darted his hand back again, squeezing her thigh in a very ticklish spot. “I understand, my love.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “But I like not this loving of male friends and having bonds. Do away with it.”

“Ooh!” Evy hissed, giving him a sharp slap on the hip.

He wiggled his finger chidingly and retorted in a quite serious tone, “Obey me, Nefertiri.”

At that she laughed, drawing his face around for a kiss. Imhotep pulled her arms around his waist again and she leaned close to his ear, running her hand up his side. “Mmmm. You know I love it when you’re imperious.” Her lover smiled and she felt better.

“Truly?”

“No.”

*

Elenhiril – Thanks for the review! Ugh, I hate studying. I feel it calling to me as well. Doh! :D

Lula – Actually, my plan wasn’t to have Akhenre back, but I’m reconsidering as an idea has sprung to mind. I’ll have to see which way I like better. Hmmm. I’m happy you like what I’m doing. Yes, having one’s with Ardeth is a nice thought. ;) Which way to the matrix? It might come to that for our hero. :O Yes, we both do like to see Ardeth in those very distressful sitch’s…poor guy. ;) Thanks a bunch!

Hadassaknamu – Thanks…hope you enjoyed their moment up there as well. ;) They need a rest from Anck…everyone does! :D

Mommints – Yeas, I talk about Ardeth quite a bit. *lesigh* Him’s such a pretty man. ;) Thanks for the review! Always nice to see a new face. I’ll have to check into your story tonight!! :) I meant to last night, but ff.net was down! Doh!

Deana – Thanks as always for reading and giving me comments, cheering and reminders too. ;) Lol. I run this work by you first, so if the others think I’m nuts, I’m blaming you! HA! No, not really. ;) Thanks very much, my friend!! :D

Thanks everyone…hope you’re enjoying. :O -Angela