Chapter 4-


Ardeth Bey sat atop his majestic black horse and stared across endless dunes scanning the horizon for anything worth watching. Nothing. He knew the Nazi party wouldn’t arrive until later on, but, even though he held an emotionless, stoic expression, his heart was beating a mile a minute. He urged himself to calm down. After all, it was only a woman. He chuckled to himself. If his mother or his sister caught him saying that they would both slap him. If anyone in the Medjai found out about his feelings...they would probably rejoice. Despite the fact that she was from a different culture, the council was desperate in getting a heir. After all, Ardeth WAS in his thirties. Some of the men got married and had families by the time they were 16. But he preferred to focus on protecting the lives of these people instead of adding on more worries. After all, his own father died because of his love for a woman. Because of that mistake, 30 Medjai died, and Ardeth wasn’t about to make that same mistake. Not to mention that the woman, despite her being Italian, was with the Nazi party. He could never trust anyone like that. Why she was handcuffed he will never know. He pushed Ravena from his mind and secretly vowed to himself that she wasn’t going to linger in his thoughts anymore.

Though Rafe Steinburger gave his word he wouldn’t go to Hamunaptra, he was still, after all, a Nazi. Thus, the Medjai would never trust him. There was no doubt in their minds that if Mr. Steinburger ever found out the kinds of treasure in the city of the dead, he would no doubt try to attain it. Which meant Ardeth knew he had to bring at least 50 to 100 of his men in case they tried to pull something. They would hide behind the many dunes and watch them from a safe distance, hidden from view. (Same way they kept watch when O’Connell and his bag of bad luck came along). Ardeth knew the location they were going to set up. There was an immensely tiny little oasis with only a (surprisingly) large pool of water and a few palm trees surrounding it. It’s where almost everyone camps when they’re traveling through the desert for two main reasons. 1- in case they run out of water 2- sweet, merciful shade. Ardeth slowly turned his horse around and galloped to the place there his own men were setting up. It was only a matter of time when they came...

And yes, they finally did come. But it was in the afternoon, not in the evening like Rafe had told Ali Bey when they were to be expected. They came with IMMENSE noise!!!! Apparently, Hitler was quite serious about looking for this relic. They had over a hundred workers in tow, and the workers were dragging along heavy machinery and wheelbarrows of digging supplies. Ardeth winced when he saw that all the soldiers were carrying guns. Those obviously never helped. He still didn’t see Ravena. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before looking out once more. Half the workers were setting up tents for the Nazi party (it was chosen that the workers were going to sleep outside) and the other half prepared the machinery. Ardeth stared in disgust. It looked like a slave-fest out there. Pretty soon there were going to be blood and sweat shed like never before. Revulsion was the perfect word to describe the Nazis. He figured out their plan soon enough. They were going to set up today, and work tomorrow.

It wasn’t till before dusk set in that he saw Ravena. She was in a car with two other important men (one was obviously Rafe Steinburger) but this time wasn’t handcuffed or wearing a big hat. Her hair was piled into a careless bun and she was wearing some kind of dark glasses. (sunglasses) When she stepped out of the car he noticed she was wearing a white blouse with the sleeves rolled up, black leather (feminine of course) gloves and a khaki, navy blue skirt, which Ardeth did NOT fail to notice, revealed her long, gorgeous, slender legs. He somehow tore his gaze off of her and looked at the man who was holding her by the arm. No doubt was it Rafe. He looked definitely the most important man there, and had a very sinister look to him. His face in fact looked like a bulldog. He was a tall man, with a strong but a little chubby body. He looked around for a moment until he looked completely satisfied. He pulled Ravena briskly along to one of the tents, handed her to a guard, barked an order, and stalked off. The guard shoved the woman inside. It was finally dark outside. There was a light inside of tent in which she was in so he could see their shadows. Ardeth saw the guard tie her up to a small post that came up from the ground and tied her feet together too. All Ardeth wanted to do was beat the living daylights out of this men. But, there was nothing he could do. He didn’t even KNOW the woman after all!!!!!!!!!!!