Title:  Passion - Chapter Two -  Voices
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

*

It had been way too long. Evy paced back and forth between the hall and the main living room, worry furrowing her brow. Her eyes glanced out the window as she passed, taking note of two things; the sky was very dim and the storm hadn’t slowed. Where was Ardeth? Rick had said he had looked a little sad before leaving. That had been a good seven or eight hours ago. It wasn’t like him to leave the home for that long without telling them where he was going or calling.

The local authorities were keeping an eye out for him, but couldn’t expend much energy on a search without further evidence that he was indeed missing and not just out and about. Precious time needed to pass, time that could leave Ardeth dying somewhere.

They had waged their share of supernatural fights against foes both ancient and powerful, so it seemed unreal to them that anything as common as street thugs could take their friend away. Yet they had received no word from the Med-Jai warning of new threats from old places. Evy frowned at the sky for daring to darken before their friend was returned home safely.

Rick, Jonathan and Imhotep were all three out searching for him right now, while she had remained in case he came back. Each moment that passed found her glancing towards the door for any sign that someone would enter. Evy bit her pinky finger and started towards it, then sighed and stopped herself. They would return soon enough without her staring out the door.

That thought didn’t really curb her desire to go open the door. She wanted to be out there herself, looking for her friend. With a roll of her eyes, Evy finished the trip to the door and opened it. Only the darkness of her front yard greeted her. That was what I expected, she told herself, then sighed. No, I expected to see the four of them coming home. No doubt Rick would be making sarcastic remarks right now as they came up the walk.

She leaned against the doorframe, gazing out and paying no mind to the rain that fell on her. She was used to it well enough since Imhotep had moved in. Life was very different now. Sometimes she would look at her reflection in the mirror and see Nefertiri staring back. The priest’s spell had given her many memories; little flashes into what she had been once. Ardeth also would be experiencing the memories and they weren’t all very pretty.

Love denied him because Seti had kept Ancksunamun for himself. The poor girl had loved Ardeth’s former incarnation, but wasn’t free to express it to him without fear of death. And so it was with her lover, Akhenre. They weren’t allowed to love and so the concubine had sold her soul and ruined not only her own life and Imhotep’s, but also the life of that young Med-Jai who couldn’t bring himself to betray Seti.

Morally Akhenre had been right in his choice, but in the grand scheme of things how could one not question their own decisions? The Med-Jai had suffered greatly then and for that Ardeth suffered now. Another possibility to his whereabouts crossed her mind, one she immediately dismissed out of desperation to believe he wouldn’t go that far. He was somber, but things couldn’t be that bad.

The clanking of the front gate jarred her from her thoughts and Evy looked up to see who was coming. There were no voices, so it couldn’t be Rick and the others together. The person who came towards the home was having trouble walking, she could see. Her breath caught as his face was revealed in the moonlight. In an instant Evy was on the ground, running towards him. He didn’t look good. Ardeth braced himself against her at the offered arms.

“Ardeth?” she questioned, concern writing over the urge to scold him for worrying them like that. “Are you okay? What happened?”

He swallowed and looked longingly past her shoulder, shivering as he stood with her. Evy gasped, feeling how wet his sleeves were. She pulled him into the house and helped him peel off the soaking jacket. “You’re going to catch your death,” she murmured, ushering him into the living room and straight to the fire. He sank down to the floor, his eyes grateful for the warmth. His quiet troubled her. “Have you been in the rain this whole time?”

Ardeth took a deep breath and looked up with a reluctant expression. He nodded his head, holding his hands towards the fire. “How long have I been gone?” he asked her, those usually strong, dark eyes betraying fear. That made her nervous.

“I don’t know exactly. Some eight hours I imagine. You’ve been in the rain all this time?” His finally gone cold was going to return with a vengeance if that were the case. She watched him, wondering what on earth could have kept him out so long. “Ardeth, are you okay?”

When he looked up she saw uncertainty. That also made her nervous. “Evy, I don’t honestly know. I…I walked into a small wooded area to think and got dizzy and passed out. When I woke up I could barely remember my own name, much less where I was. I can only thank God my memory returned.”

Evy went to the couch and grabbed a blanket that was laid across the arm. Draping it over him, she sat on the floor beside him and watched him take in the warmth. While what he experienced must have been disorienting and frightening, she couldn’t help but feel there was something he was leaving out. Something that was the true cause of that strange fear in his eyes. She wouldn’t press him for it, though. “Can I make you some tea? Perhaps you should go upstairs and take a hot bath.” The important thing right now was to get him warm.

Ardeth nodded tiredly and she began to get up, but his hand on her arm barred her. His grip was tight and she couldn’t help but swallow at how lost he looked. He looked like he was puzzling through something he would rather leave in the dark. “Evy…” There was a pause as he presumably thought about what he was going to say, but she saw him dismiss it. “Nothing. I’ll be fine here.”

Her friend turned back to the fire, his eyes steadily watching the flames dance. The light reflected in his dark eyes, making the fear written there appear all the more worrisome. While her biggest emotion right now was relief at his safe return, confusion swept through her as well as concern for him. His less than detailed explanation of where he had been wasn’t like him. Something felt horribly wrong.

Heading into the kitchen, she ran through the entire sequence of events. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him look so, well unlike himself. He had been recovering from the traumatic things he had suffered from Ancksunamun and had his less than happy moments, but this was just odd. It was Ardeth and it wasn’t.

She poured some water into a kettle and began heating the oven, not really sure if he. The front door opened and she abandoned her work, heading into the hallway where Rick was already removing his coat. He threw it over a chair and looked to Jonathan and Imhotep. “We couldn’t find him.”

Evy nodded her head quickly and she glanced into the living room. He was gone. The others frowned at her suddenly bothered expression. “He was…he…” She looked around and sighed in relief, spotting his blanket on the stair railing. “He must be upstairs changing.”

The three men collectively looked upstairs as if it would allow them to see the answers to their questions. “When did he get back?” Rick asked her, returning his blue eyes to her face. His brow narrowed at her uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”

Jonathan and Imhotep gathered closer, also removing their wet jackets and shoes, both intent on listening to her answers, both in English and Egyptian. She wished she could give them some, but nevertheless spoke in English first. “Just a few minutes ago.” She bit her bottom lip and wrapped her arms together. “He didn’t look good and told me very little. All he said was he had passed out in the woods and when he came to didn’t remember much of anything. Rick, I think you should talk to him. He looked…upset.”

The ex-Legionnaire glanced upstairs again and nodded slowly. “Okay. Be right back.”

*

Ardeth sat in a chair, hugging a soft blanket to his cold, damp body. His wet clothes had been removed and tossed into the tub, and a fresh outfit covered him. He didn’t know what to think about what had happened. Even now his memory was still a bit hazy, not to mention his senses and thoughts. His body ached with chill and all he wanted now was to sink into bed and sleep. But he owed them better answers than he had offered to Evy.

She must think him crazy, wandering to the house without saying much of anything and then giving scant details of where he had been for so long. The truth was he was exhausted and confused. His memory loss hadn’t lasted much past a few hours, but things were still fuzzy around the edges. He could remember falling to the ground and the rain, and had a very vivid recollection of whispering, but little else than that came back to him. It was frightening to have a shadow in one’s own mind. What was happening to him?

Apparently his attacker—assuming there had really been someone there—had done nothing to him. His pockets and wallet had been intact and certainly the damage he suffered now was due to an evening in the rain and not some physical attack. Why would a thief leave him without stealing his possessions? Had he imagined the whole thing?

His door was knocked upon and tiredly Ardeth looked up and called out, “Come in.” Doubtless Evy had wondered where he gone off. It wasn’t Evy that entered, though, but Rick. His blue eyes mirrored worry as he sat on the bed.

“Hey,” O’Connell began, eyeing his friend thoughtfully. “I hear you had an exciting day?”

Ardeth inhaled deeply and allowed a smile to grace his features. He closed his eyes. “Hardly exciting. More like exhausting, terrible and very unwelcome to happen again.” He paused a moment as Rick grunted, then reopened his eyes slightly to view his friend. Ardeth was unable to control the uncertainty in his voice. “I do not know what happened to me, Rick. I remember walking into the woods and losing consciousness. When I woke up my memory was all but gone and it wasn’t for hours that it returned. I wandered London, pretending nothing was wrong and praying that somehow I would at least recall where I lived.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Rick inhaled and shook his head. “Wow. I…I don’t know what to say. One thing’s for sure though.”

“What is that?”

Rick smiled a little wanly. “You ain’t going anywhere alone for a while. That’s if you aren’t as sick as a dog for the next year and a half. Evy’s gonna insist we take you to the doctor tomorrow probably.” He leaned back on his hands.

At that Ardeth felt a little uncomfortable. There was sense in seeing a healer for wounds and illness, but even still he wasn’t much for that unless he was bad off. He didn’t like relying on medicine to heal him and he might have refused if what happened hadn’t scared him. His life was filled with strange things that weren’t him. Fear and need. He had never experienced these so deeply and so often. His mind swam in so many different thoughts that wore him out that he merely nodded and closed his eyes once more.

He felt Rick’s eyes on him as he fought back sleep, his mind on Evy’s tea downstairs. That thought drifted further and further away until Rick too left his notice. His body was starting to feel warm again, cozy and pleasant. Flashes of gold passed before his vision and the smell of sand entered the room.

The night fell upon the sand and hands pawed at him from the desert floor. Ardeth lay there, seeing nothing and unable to move. Upon the wind a voice whispered words unintelligible as hands pulled at his body, drawing him down, down, but to where he could not guess.

He thrashed from side to side, trying to fight back the terrible sounds that filled his ears. The air wept with mourning. “Leave me,” he hissed. His reward was two strong hands that pulled his head down to the earth. He could feel those hot fingers on his forehead as if this creature was clawing at his mind.

Sand was beginning to cover him. The hands were burying him alive. The darkness did not break, did not allow even the smallest vision to give him hope. He did not understand what was rapidly becoming, but knew well it was to some dark purpose.

Ardeth slammed his hands into the ground, pulling sand up with his fingers and clawing the surface that threatened to cover him. The whispering grew in pace, it’s voice hidden away from definition. Whether this was man, woman or beast, he could not tell. The force that pulled at him was malevolent and determined to see it’s will done.

“Please,” he groaned, feeling sand enter his lips. He coughed and his lungs ached, almost burned. Something fought to cover him, to hide him away from the world outside his dreams. Ardeth fought until at last he could sit upright.

But those hands, ever clawing and touching, drew him back down again and he could feel his will failing. He was losing the battle to an unseen foe.

Ardeth’s head dropped and he awoke with a start. His room was now dark and the blanket pulled against his neck, nearly strangling him. He pushed it down and looked around him, desperately seeking some source of light to quell the darkness that fell over him. The window brought relief as the moon greeted his eyes. Precious sight had not been taken from him.

The feelings of the dream were still very near and only added to his worries concerning whatever was going on. Is this what insanity felt like? It was true that lately he wasn’t feeling himself, but losing his mind seemed just a tiny bit far-fetched. He wanted to tell the others and receive some comfort from them, perhaps some suggestions and answers, but a part of him didn’t want them to know about this. He could only imagine the jokes about lucidity that would issue from both Jonathan and Rick.

He groaned and stretched in his now uncomfortable chair, noticing with some irritation that an ache had settled into his muscles. He had a fever. That was always wonderful. Obviously life wasn’t going to go easy on him anytime soon. He could do without feeling sick again.

Tiredly he pushed himself up and removed his shirt and pants, content to crawl into bed as he was. Ardeth didn’t even bother to bury himself into the blankets, but simply crashed to the softness and looked once more to the window for reassurance that his dream had been only just that. Still the fear and sorrow of that vision lingered within, making sleep difficult now. If some English doctor could take these strange occurrences away then by all means he would see one.

As sleep started creeping back into his body he couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. Something was wrong with him and he had the distinct feeling that a good night’s sleep wouldn’t see an end to it. Something was happening.

But as apprehensive and jarred as he felt, he was again finding it difficult to maintain consciousness. He began drifting again and with that came the voice. He would give anything if it would shut up long enough to let him rest, but it stayed, ever whispering it’s evil words. It kept his mind dark.

*

Against my better judgment I decided to go ahead and get on with this, since it and another story I’m working on have captured my inspiration. My poor Buffy and Trek fics…lol. Heck, my poor other Mummy fics…my next one is even taking over more than this. Lol. Oye.

Anyhow, thanks to Deana who cheers me on and always runs her ideas by me. I appreciate it! Thanks to Karri for her enthusiasm through Deana on AIM. :D Nice to know people are wondering. :-) Lula, thanks for your review also…I’m pleased the tension I had wanted to come across did. I had just seen Signs, so blame that. ;-) Cacina, who can know where minds go? I haven’t a clue where mine went so long ago. ;-) Thanks! Thank you Marcher and Montana, yes poor Ardeth can’t keep out of harm’s way, can he? There’s just something about him that begs to be written like that.

Thanks everyone!!! :D You all rock, my reviewers and my readers. :D -Angela