Chapter 16-

Ravena hesitantly blinked her eyes open. For a moment she didn’t know where she was. When she looked down and saw a pair of strong, muscular arms wrapped around her, she panicked. But then, with a deep blush, she remembered what happened the previous night. He had been better then Philippe, but she quickly pushed him out of her mind. Without disturbing Ardeth, Ravena placed a hand in her hair and noticed how tangled and dirty it felt. She needed to bathe, and luckily, she noticed a small pool of water nearby that would be large enough for her to soak in. Ravena was thankful it was early, and it seemed like no one was up yet. She felt Ardeth’s gentle breathing mimic her own as his head lay on her chest. It was going to be hard to get out of this position, although most of her wanted to stay like that. But Ravena knew she would die of embarrassment if Ardeth saw her like this. Quietly, she lifted up his arms and crawled away from him. She silently grabbed a sheet and wrapped it around her. With one last glance at her lover, she ducked under the flap of the tent.

Ravena looked around to see if the coast was clear, then slipped off the sheet. She walked in slowly into the pool, shivering at its sudden coldness. She quickly dived under and swam under water for a few moments, get accustomed to the pool. She lifted up her head from underneath the blue water, and started to cleanse herself. She didn’t notice Ardeth watching her from a short distance away, a smile playing on his lips. Nor did she notice him take off his robe and sneakily slipped into the water.

Ravena was in the middle of running her fingers through her hair when suddenly she felt strong arms pull her down. She struggled for a moment, but relaxed when she opened her eyes and saw Ardeth. He held her close to him, playing with her hair underwater.

Ardeth had ,somehow, held his stoic expression when he saw her. Her golden hair was floating inside the pool like a bursting sun radiating from the horizon. Her face was angelic, she was like a siren. He pulled her closer to him underwater, and placed a deep kiss onto her full lips. They shared a breath for a moment until enough was enough and they came up gasping. They smiled at each other serenely.

“Well Ardeth, good morning to you too.”

A huge grin lighted up his face as he kissed her again, running his fingers through her halo of hair. Suddenly, their heads both snapped up when they heard movement from one of the tents. They gave each other before stepping out. Embarrassed, (because Ardeth never saw her naked in daylight before) Ravena quickly placed the sheet over her naked body again. Her lover put back on his robes, and hand in hand they both walked back towards their tent.

Inside the tent, Ravena put on her underwear and skirt. She was about to put on Rick’s shirt when suddenly Ardeth’s hand grasped her shoulder.

“Here, your clothes are dirty. Here is an extra shirt of mine that might fit you.”

Ravena flashed him a grateful smile and picked up the shirt he handed to her. It was a loose, black shirt that barely covered her shoulders. It was a little large, (It went down to her thighs), so she placed a belt over the shirt and also the khaki skirt she was wearing. She was happy that it smelled like him. Ardeth’s heart had stopped when he saw her in his shirt. It was as if she really belonged to him. He bent over to kiss her, lingering on her lips for a moment, then they both stepped out into the burning Egyptian sun.

Everyone else was in the process of waking up. But when Rick saw Ardeth and Ravena step out of the same tent together, his face went red with rage, mostly because his cousin was wearing the leader’s shirt. That made him suspicious about what happened last night between them. He sighed, Ravena deserved a great man like Ardeth, it was just hard, and Rick had really begun to like Philippe. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth when he remembered what happened between him and Evelyn last night. They were aiming for a brother or sister for Alex, but luck just wasn’t with them anymore. Ravena’s daughter, Paris, was like a sister with Alex. They loved each other, and never fought. In his heart he silently prayed that nothing bad had happened to Paris, she played a large part in his remaining family.



When everything was packed and ready to go, they took one last look behind them and rode towards the Hamunaptra. They were hoping to reach it by early afternoon, possibly even in late morning. It wouldn’t be hard finding the City of the Dead, considering the amount of Medjai Ardeth had positioned to guard there.

It was hard for Ardeth to concentrate on the endless desert. The small breeze was playing with Ravena’s hair against his face. He wanted to make love to her right there and then. Of course Rick would probably kill him. He chuckled inwardly when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the fury written on his friend’s face. He knew Rick would accept him in the end, he was just having brotherly protection against his cousin. Ardeth knew the feeling. When Sati had wanted to marry his sister, Nami, the leader was ready to beat the tar out of his second-in-command. But, as he got to know the young man, and realized that he truly did love his sister, he gave them permission to get married. Although he did give extreme warnings to Sati.

Ardeth was still reminiscing of the perfume of Ravena’s hair that had traveled up to his nose, when suddenly he saw one of his commanders, and behind him were thousands of his men. He broke into a grin.

“Look, we have arrived.”

With that he kicked his horse in the sides to gallop. They all went into a mad dash towards Hamunaptra. Ravena’s voice was caught in her throat when she saw all the Medjai. To think that Ardeth was their leader. That thought brought a smile to her mouth. God, he would’ve made a good father to Paris. When she thought of her daughter, her smile quickly disappeared. She held back tears and forced a smile to her lips as they neared the Medjai.

When they arrived, they were greeted happily. All they had left to do was find Rafe, get the amulet, retrieve the Star of Hephaeliates, and defeat Imhotep. They were all hoping it wasn’t going to be too hard.