Title: Prophesy

Author: Leiasky

Rating: NC-17

Description: On the evening of his rise to manhood within the Med-jai, Ardeth Bay receives disturbing news in the form of an ancient Goddess.

Archive: Sure. Please tell me first

Notes: The ancient Egyptian translation is not exact. I'm no expert, but I've taken my knowledge of ancient Egyptian and researched the language to translate the text as best I could. I used books and web sites to assist me in my translations.

All of my fanfic is located on my web page. www.oocities.org/tenelkai/firstpage.html

The wind howled like a banshee, whirling among the dunes and whistling among the trees. Palm leaves snapped as their trunks toppled, wrenching the roots from the sand-covered ground.

Twelve warriors sat peacefully astride their steeds, waiting atop a small dune, clutching tightly at the reins, blinking back the bits of sand that poked at their eyes. The horses stomped restlessly, shaking their heads, hair intercepting the blowing sand and keeping it away from their eyes.

It was a storm as yet unseen in the last decade; A storm to herald the arrival of a great enemy; and a great warrior. One destined for greatness among the med-jai. Tonight, that warrior had been born, thrust into manhood, tested and found to be true of blood and honor.

Twelve sets of eyes glanced down at the man crawling up the dune toward them, his tattered med-jai robes twisting around his bronzed skin. Shredded by a creature, the likes of which dreams are made. The beast in which he’d fought was real; a living dream. One for which he’d been preparing to battle since his life began. It was written long ago; he would lead his people to great victory and he would lead his people to humiliating defeat. This had been prophesied long ago and those watching the evening’s events unfold knew it to be true. But in which order these events would unfold, was anyone's guess.

As Ardeth Bay completed the test every med-jai male must take and returned to his people as a med-jai warrior, another, half-way around his world, was receiving a brand that would identify him, when the time was right, as an honorary warrior of the ancient people.

"You have passed the tests, my son," A large, tan-skinned man reached beneath Ardeth’s shoulders and pulled the exhausted man to his feet. "We will feast at Siwa this night."

Ardeth could only stare at his father, breathless and exhausted as he was from his ordeal. He refused help to mount his steed, instead favoring the animal with a stern look and a soft grunt as he lifted himself into the saddle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the children was the first to see the cloud of dust driven into the sky by the horses’ hooves. She squealed her delight loud enough to draw the attention of the other women, who gathered at the edge of the Oasis to greet their men and to congratulate Ardeth on a successful quest.

As the sun settled behind the horizon, so settled the ferocious winds. Sand was cleared from the dwellings quickly and food speared and gutted, set to roast over an open fire. The meat turned slowly over the blazing fire; a great feast had been prepared for the new med-jai warrior.

The men settled into the cushions that had been prepared for them, smiling as they were brought drink and, when it was done, food. The people ate heartily, laughter echoing off the barren dunes.

Music began while they ate, and the men glanced about the palms expectantly. Chimes, cymbals and clapping could be heard but no one could see from where the sounds came. Drums echoed in the night sky and torches illuminated the bare skin of the women who wound themselves from around the palm trees, dancing, swirling their hips to the beat of the music.

Jewels clung to their waists, accenting their tattooed skin. Arm bands of fine gold twined around their arms, from which chimes dangled, ringing with each movement, each step, each sway of their hips.

The thin, colorfully-trimmed skirts kissed the sand-covered ground, flowing like water around their legs and into the air. The tightly fitted halter stopped below the breast line, revealing the flattened and jeweled stomachs of the dancers. Long, tanned fingers gripped colored strands of silk, swirling them around their heads and waists as if it were a lover to be caressed.

Men grunted their approval as each woman singled out a warrior on whom to bestow their attention. Once woman stood back from the rest, watching, waiting, seemingly shy, while the others descended upon the man of their choice. Her dark eyes searched no man, she simply danced to the music, undulated her hips in an erotic fashion as if no man existed in the world. She danced for her love of the art, the love of the movements and the excitement that coursed through her body. Every nerve tingled, her body alive as she moved sensuously through the palms, caressing each leaf with a purse of her lips or a stroke of a hand.

Ardeth, normally one to stare at the women as much as any other man, dozed where he sat, exhausted from the day. As the dancing, the cheering, the music continued, Ardeth fell back on his cushions into a deep sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Consciousness came slowly to the med-jai warrior and he found himself unclothed, a simple veil draped over his waist and falling only to the back of his knees. He groaned as the woman’s hands gripped tense muscles and kneaded them, slowly working away the tension. Ardeth grunted as her fingers touched a sensitive spot, muscles bunched as he turned, attempting to see who was providing such pleasurable discomfort. A slim, tanned hand slid into his hair, tugging at the dark strands and coaxing his head back onto the cushions.

The only thing he was able to get a good look at was her hand, and on it a strange, yet familiar tattoo.

Ardeth groaned his appreciation for her expertise and silently decided her identity could wait. His body languidly rolled in the direction her hands rubbed, muscles loosing their tense grip on his body and sinking nearly lifeless into the cushions.

He trembled when oil, from a jar sitting beside the cushions, dripped across his back. Her hands immediately began to rub the liquid into the tanned skin, warming it, heating it, with the scented oil. Hands, well versed in the ways of relaxation, moved slowly over his skin, up his back, around the well-defined muscles of his shoulders and upper arms. She took great care to lavish his tense shoulders with just the right amount of attention. His bronzed skin glowed in the torchlight, the oil catching the flames and reflecting them across the broad expanse of his back.

Without a break in her slow caress, she moved down his body, momentarily leaving the thin veil in its place. She began with his feet, massaging slowly, dripping oil and rubbing deeply into the soles of the well-worn skin. Slowly, the slim hands moved up the well-muscled legs, dancing across the dark hairs and slicking them with oil, relaxing him, sending him into a dreamless slumber.

As she worked up his legs, her hands slipped beneath the thin veil covering his backside. He awoke with a start, muscles clenching, as he felt her hands grip and release, rub the tension and the alarm from his well-rounded buttocks. She flattened her hands across his skin and kneaded gently.

When she was finished, she sat astride him and leaned across his back, beads and chimes dancing against his heated skin, teasing, taunting, sending chills racing down his spine.

A groan escaped his lips as her hands wove themselves into his raven-hued hair, pulling gently, massaging the scalp, fingers pressing into his forehead to trace small circles along the pulse point.

When he found the words to speak, his voice was deep, heightened with the arousal he struggled to hide. "Do not go."

" Set iew em ten wej," [It is as you command] Her voice was light, but carried with it an air of authority.

So content and relaxed, he did not notice the ancient language in which she had answered. His eyes fluttered shut as her fingers danced across the hollow of his back.

Slowly, she rolled him over and began dribbling oil across his upper chest and shoulders, straddling his hips, settling her thighs just south of his jutting erection. Her eyes were downcast, concentrating on her work, long, dark lashes masking any view of the eyes he so longed to see. ‘The eyes are a window to the soul.’ His father had always said and Ardeth had come to believe these words as he grew older.

If she could feel him harden beneath her, she gave no indication, and simply continued to push deeply at his muscles, releasing the tension with a mixture of strength and sensuality.

He tossed his head back onto the cushions, breathing deeply, stifling a groan as the thin material clinging to her hips brushed his straining erection.

She slowly moved down his legs, dribbling more of the heated oil down his sculpted thighs, rubbing and massaging the tension from the muscles. She hummed as she worked, the sounds reverberating through her frame and straight into Ardeth’s bones. She carefully avoided his burgeoning erection, favoring instead, with each pass of her hand near the base, to blow a stream of cool air across the heated head.

His eyes dilated and his vision blurred. Large, callused hands shook and his body tensed, strength quickly returning to muscles she had loosened with her caress.

"Enough!" he growled, startling her. In a flurry of motion that only a well trained med-jai warrior could have seen, he rolled her off his thighs and onto her back beneath him. He settled between her thighs and tilted her head so as to look at her face.

It was then that he got his first look at the eyes that would forever hold his heart. Piercing green jade burned their way into his soul and a cold breeze swept across his bare skin. She was not of his people. No one with such features was a full blood of the desert, of the med-jai. Her eyes, narrow and bright, pinned him speechless above her. Her hair, tightly coiled around her head as she danced, now spilled over her shoulders in a darken wave. She appeared to him as a picture only remembered through lore; an ancient race that his people had once sworn to protect. She was at once beautiful and ugly, with the face of a demon and the face of a Goddess.

"Goddess above," he whispered in shock.

Her eyes glowed beneath him, waning torchlight reflecting off the jade pools. Long, tanned fingers wound themselves into his dark hair, pulling his head to her mouth. She pressed brightly-painted lips to his neck, nipping gently at the skin. Her tongue traced the shell of his ear and he groaned, body shaking with desire and disbelief. His heart threatened to pound through his chest as she spoke the ancient tongue, as she spoke a language no longer understood but for the ancient guardians of the once mighty Pharaohs.

"Ee ren iw Sekhmet. Kenel netert ew Neb neter Imen-rah." The words rolled off her tongue as easily as droplets of water rolled down a palm branch. "Ten iew nefer neb medjayu. Her ten iew."

It couldn't be. His mind refused to believe what his very eyes were seeing before him. An ancient goddess of war, the fierce protector of Amun Ra; She represented the brightness of the sun as well as its destructive power. Her temper was well known, passed down from generation to generation by the ancient ones who lived thousands of years ago.

She loosened her grip on his hair and settled into the cushions beneath him, a smug look of victory marring her otherwise smooth features. It was common knowledge that man was not among her favorite creatures.

"How?" he muttered in disbelief.

"Heri!" [Silence!] she commanded, reaching her arms around his neck and raking her nails over his shoulders, down his back, breaking the skin.

His body trembled with excitement and fear. His eyes searched her face, felt her hands tug at his hair, her breath on his skin, and he was spellbound. Her beauty, hidden beneath the veil as she danced, her scent flowing over his body like burning incense...his eyes were deceiving him. This woman could not be here. In this time. In this place. It couldn't be real.

"Ee wen-mahah," [I am real] She breathed, pink tongue darting across his lips before closing around his bottom lip and sucking softly.

Ardeth grunted a response that she took to be one of disbelief. But his body betrayed his will and he gripped her shoulders and returned her kiss, swallowing her mouth in one breath.

She laughed, biting at his lips, squeezing her eyes shut as his hands pulled possessively at her remaining clothing.

"Ee redi k pehetey jed ne-me iew, medjayu" [I will give you the strength to endure what is to come, med-jai] Her accent was thick, and his knowledge of the ancient language was not complete, making it difficult for him to understand her words. She knew the impact of her words would come to him eventually, even after she was long gone.

"And that price will be?" Ardeth's voice deepened still but he continued to answer her in his native tongue rather than that of the ancients for whom the med-jai had served.

"Te ahnekh." [Your life.] Her hands fell to the cushions beside her head and she stared at him, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue.

His eyes raked over her body, almost bare save for the thin fabric that covered her breasts. The material that served as a skirt was now bunched around her waist, revealing the specially cut undergarment.

"My life, and those of my people, have always belonged to the Gods," Ardeth groaned as she trailed a hand down his bare chest, stopping at the dark nest of curls surrounding his most rigid member.

"Yes." She whispered, trailing a long nail around the base before gripping the thick stalk.

His hips arched involuntarily as she gripped him, stroking, pumping, slowly, squeezing just….tight…enough.

He groaned, eyes squeezing shut. Sightless, he clawed at the material preventing him from touching her moist center. He panted, short, quick breaths as he tore the cloth away and plunged a finger into her.

It was her turn to whimper as, much to his delight, he found her wet and ready. His thumb found the small, hidden nub and circled lightly, driving her into as much of a frenzy as her touch was causing in him.

"Neterew!" [Gods!] he cried, eyes flying open, swearing in the tongue of the ancients. In one smooth movement he widened her legs and impaled her, cock sliding deep on the first stroke.

Large, tanned hands cupped her breasts, clawing, fervently pulling at the material covering the ample flesh. He could feel the hardened nipples brush his hands as the material gave way and tore from the pressure of his grasp.

"Ahes, Medjayu!" [Harder, med-jai!] She cried, sinking her teeth into his shoulder, "Meh Ee!" [Fill me!] She arched her hips to meet his every thrust, whimpering like a child beneath the warrior whose ancestors were so loved by the gods.

"Why….are…you…here?" He grunted, each pause punctuated with a hard thrust. "How …are …you….. here?"

She remained silent, instead choosing to weave her hands into his hair, tugging, pulling until it hurt, driving him closer and closer to an explosive climax.

"Ah rewee r-ahew," [We have slept too long. It is time to return] She tightened her legs around his hips, pushing, urging, arching, meeting each thrust with one of her own.

Suddenly, he lurched above her, short, hard thrusts joining the quick, circular movement of his hips. Each thrust hit her oversensitized bundle of nerves, teasing, bringing her closer to the edge. She clenched his cock, tightening her muscles and milking each thrust as if it were the last.

She sunk her teeth in his shoulder blade as she came, his now torn skin muffling her screams of release.

His body went rigid above her and he gasped, thrusting hard one , two, three times before spending himself within her. His head fell into the cushion beside her neck, long, black hair falling around his face like a curtain.

Her body curled around him, tightening, as he filled her body with his seed.

"How?" He groaned, collapsing to the cushions beside her in exhaustion.

"Pah weser bew-been newey. Bew-been Re. Bew-been-t. Iew khwee. Ee Khper jew," [The ancient enemy is returning. Ra's enemy. Your enemy. You must be prepared. I precede the darkness.]