HAMUNAPTRA AGAIN
Chapter 3 : Return to Hamunaptra
It was Alex’s shifting about which woke Evelyn, and when she opened her eyes it was becoming day. Ahead of her Thomas, and Sylvia still road on their camels, and Thomas still had his gun. Her eyes fell to her son, and she was glad that she had put something warmer on him last night, for it was chilly at night in the desert. Knowing that he was hungry, as well as wet, she tended to the one thing she could help at the moment. She unbuttoned the blouse she had on, and in a moment he began to nurse. Evelyn remained quiet not wanting to draw any attention to herself or Alex. She wanted to run and get away from these people, and she was terrified to be returning to a place that held so many bad memories. The only good thing that had come out of Hamunaptra was her love for Rick, and his for her. Other than that there had been months of bad dreams, and now she knew it was all about to start again. For a moment Alex was content to nurse, then he pulled away and started to cry, and Sylvia and Thomas stopped and turned around.
“So you are awake. We will be there by nightfall,” Sylvia said. Evelyn lifted Alex out of the sling and found that he was wet.
“I need to stop, to get off this camel,” she said over Alex’s cries. He was a quiet baby unless he was hungry, or unless he needed to be changed, like now.
“You will make do,” Thomas said. He was not willing to let her have any sort of freedom, nor was he willing to hold up their journey due to a baby. They turned their camels and once again they were under way. Evelyn positioned herself to sit sideways on the camel glad that it seemed calm, and managed to get Alex’s long pants off of him then his diaper thankful that it was only wet, and hoped it would dry out before he made a mess. Once he was out of his wet cloths he quieted, but was still restless, and after sitting back the normal way, stradling the camel,” Evelyn moved the sling off of her shoulder, and set that aside with his wet cloths, then held him to her breast and let him finish his morning meal. She felt around the packs and found a skin, and snuck a few drinks of water, knowing that if she didn’t stay hydrated she wouldn’t have enough milk to last Alex.
It was easy for Rick and Jonathan to get the camels, and now they were underway, taking the same route to Hamunaptra that they had traveled when they had left the city all those months ago. Jonathan soon fell asleep, but for Rick sleep would not come. He was beginning to hate Egypt. He knew that Egypt was Evelyn’s love, but it seemed like this place brought them more bad times than good. He remembered a conversation they had on one of their nights out. They had left Alex with Safia one evening, and after dinner they had gone for a walk. It had been a beautiful starlit night, and they had gone just outside the city to a small oasis area
The moonlight cast down on the small watering hole as Rick and Evelyn sat on a quilt nearby in each others arms.
“What was your childhood like?” He had asked.
“We spent most of our early childhood in England. Father had always kept two homes, one there and the one we live in here. I sometimes miss the home in England. It is quite large, with several rooms, and a huge library with several books of different sorts,” she had told him.
That had brought a smile to his face.
“I bet you spent all your time there.”
“I never grew tired of reading, at first just children’s stories, then later about Egypt.” They had sat in silence for a while then he asked her another question.
“Do you ever thing about returning there. Now that we have Alex, not right now, but eventually he will need to go to school, and Egypt is nice but don’t you think he would have better luck learning in England?” he had asked. Her response had been a sigh.
“I think about that from time to time. I want him to have just as much love for this Egypt as I do but there are times that I have worries. What if someone comes in search of Hamunaptra, and somehow finds that we were there.”
He shook his head trying to forget that night. She had in a since foreseen this, and now she was in the hands, as was Alex, of people who might do both of them harm.
Time pressed on and soon the sun shown bright over the desert. Evelyn had put the dry diaper back on Alex and had him back in the sling to protect him from the light of the sun, but she couldn’t protect him from the heat, and he cried constantly.
“Shut that damn kid up,” Thomas yelled back at her. One thing she was getting tired of were his demands.
“I’m trying but he isn’t used to this heat,” she said and tried to get him to nurse but he would not. He was upset, most likely picking up on her turbulent emotions, but she couldn’t calm her fears. Alex let out a louder set of cries and Thomas stopped the camels.
“Give him to me,” he said.
“I will not let you touch my baby,” she said coldly. He clicked his gun, and pointed it at Alex’s head.
“If you kill him then I will follow,” she said though she was terrified.
“I’ll give you five seconds to hand him over,” he said. She closed her eyes wishing Rick were there but he was not, and she wasn’t going to risk having Alex shot. Reluctantly she road close to them and winced as Thomas plucked Alex out of her arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he emptied out a basket bag. Alex was small enough to fit in it as a sort of a bed and he cried louder. Thomas ordered the camel to lay, then put the basket on the desert sand. When he stood Evelyn screamed.
“NOOOO,” she yelled and started to sob.
“I won’t help you,” She said, and was grabbed off her camel and quickly tied up.
“Oh you will and without that damn baby,” he said and they moved off with her screaming. She knew that Alex didn’t stand a chance of surviving on his own. She was gagged but she still screamed, until sleep from exhaustion took over.
The Med-jai patrolled the desert as a necessity to keep unwanted travelers away, and part of that patrol was using Falcons to send messages and bring them anything that was associated with intruders. Falcons are known for their strength, and some could carry prey weighing in fairly heavy. Now at the village of the Med-jai, a young girl waited for her Falcon to return. Olia was not like most of the girls in her village, in that she kept a falcon, despite what the elders said, and had managed to train it herself, which had impressed most of the younger men. She sat just outside the village waiting for Serus to return, and wondered why he was taking so long. Soon however she heard his cry, and when she saw him he flew low carrying some sort of basket. He came to her and she reached up and took hold of the basket and heard a baby cry. That was alarming and she looked inside finding a young baby who looked unharmed but would need someone to care for it. She hurried back to the village to her mother. Once inside she took the baby to the kitchen where her mother, Kyllie was making lunch.
“Mother, a baby,” she said in their native tongue. Kyllie turned to her daughter about to get after for being fanciful the stopped when she saw the basket and went to her.
“Where did you find this child?” she asked.
“Serus brought him to me,” she said. Kyllie was raising Olia on her own having lost her husband in one of the raids at Humanaptra a year ago.
“Go to the elders and find Ardeth,” she said. Olia ran off and Kyllie cradled Alex in her arms.
“We need to get you cleaned and fed,” she said speaking English to him. She took him into her bedroom and got a cloth and wet it from the wash basin, then wiped him clean. She guessed that a baby this young would be fed by his mother, and knew the chances were slim that he would take anything else, but he needed nourishment so he wouldn’t get dehydrated or starve.
When Olia arrived at the central building in the village a few of the younger Med-jai were standing outside.
“Shouldn’t you be helping your mother?” one asked her.
“She has sent me for Ardeth. Serus found a baby in the desert and my mother wants him to come to our home,” she said. Usually they just pushed her off, but the way she spoke and the fact that her father had been well known among the warriors, as well as her mother being well respected, the boys let her past and she entered the small stone building. It had a central entry then a hall which led to the main room, and it was there she found the chief of the Med-jai. When she entered, Ardeth looked up.
“I wouldn’t bother you but its important,” she said afraid he would be angry at her. He was one intimidating man, and though he had never yelled at her, she was still afraid of him.
“What is it you have come to tell me?” he asked. He was one of the ones opposed to her keeping a falcon, but now was not the time to discuss that. He had a sense that she had an important message for him.
“Serus found a baby and brought him to me. My mother requests your presence at our home,” she said. He left word with the younger Med-jai of where he would be and went with Olia to her home. When they arrived it was quite.
“Mother?” she called out, and in a moment Kyllie came for out of her room.
“Shh,” she instructed, then greeted Ardeth.
“He is healthy, though I would wonder why he would be in the desert or who would bring a child like him out so far,” she said. They all knew how dangerous the heat of the sun could be and that doubled with a baby like Alex.
“May I see the child?” Ardeth asked. She nodded and led him into her room. Alex was asleep on her bed between two pillows. By what the baby was dressed in, he could tell it was not from one of the villages, for he wore a shirt with little lambs on it, and the babies in their villages wore things made by hand. He guessed the baby was from Cairo, and would send some of his men there to see if anyone was missing a baby. When he walked out of the room Olia was sitting at the small table in their front room petting Serus.
“Olia does Serus know the way to Cairo?” he asked her. She shook her head. It was his fear that the baby had been taken by mistake, and he hoped he was wrong.
“I don’t want you to fly him anymore, not until we know where this child came from,” he said. She wanted to protest but know better, and went to her own room a little upset.
“They don’t understand,” she said to her friend. She put him on his perch and lay on her bed, and after a few minutes she decided that tonight she would take her horse and fly Serus, and follow him to where he might have found the baby. She had no desire to be a Med-jai, and knew she would never be, but her thirst of adventure was strong, and she was willfull to a fault.
It was hushed voices talking which woke Evelyn, and she found herself tied up in a tent. How she had managed to sleep was beyond her, and she stayed still to listen to the conversation.
“We should wake her,” Thomas said.
“In good time, I think our first line of business is to ride to the city ourselves and see if we can find the way to erect it ourselves, if we cannot then we will use her,” Sylvia said. At the mention of the city, Evelyn shuttered, and caught their attention.
“So you are awake,” Thomas said as he walked to her. He helped her sit up and gave her a skin, after cutting the bonds on her hand, and she drank despite her terror and sadness. He also brought her some soup.
“We are going to the city,” he said. She didn’t say anything.
“Don’t bother trying to leave us, we will be taking both Camels, and we will find you, and you will join your baby in death.” They left and she ate a little then lay against the sand and cried. Her heart ached for her son, and she wasn’t sure how to cope with his loss, much less tell Rick he was gone.
Once it was dark, Olia left the safety of her village and once she was away she took a piece of cloth she had gotten from the baby’s shirt and gave it to Serus, then set him to fly. He stayed close to her as they road, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at the hill top which looked over Hamunaptra, or what was left of it. Right away she saw the light from two sources, lights over the ruins of the city, and a light from a fire she guessed that was a good ways away from the city. There was fear but also excitement that she had found someone at the city and she decided to go to the camp. It took her 20 minutes to get close, and once she was fairly close she got off of Sieanna, and left her, then snuck closer to the camp. It was quiet, and there were two tents. Once she was close to one tent she peeped in and didn’t find anyone there, and was walking around the other one when a hand clamped over her mouth.
“What do we have here?” Sylvia said as she took the girl into Evelyn’s tent. Her words woke Evelyn who sat up as Both Thomas and Sylvia entered with a little girl.
“Who are you?” Thomas asked the child. She didn’t speak and he raised his hand to smack her, but Evelyn cried out for him not to.
“She is probably from one of the villages around these parts, and may not understand your English,” Evelyn said, and very quickly asked in Egyptian if she was from a Med-jai village. Olia nodded.
“She is from a village a little away nomads,” Evelyn lied. None the less, Olia was tied up and put next to Evelyn.
“Come on we need to get back to the city,” Thomas said to his wife and they left. They heard the camels go, and once they were gone Evelyn spoke English.
“Do you know Ardeth Bey?” she asked. Olia nodded.
“Can you get a message to him, and tell him that Evelyn O’Connell is here, and that the city is in danger of being raised?” Evelyn spoke that part in Egyptian and Olia’s eyes got very big. She screached and in a moment Serus flew in and landed on her hand. Thomas had only tied her to a pole so she had use of her hands and was able to take out the little scroll. She wrote her name, and a small message with a pen she kept in her little pocket.
“Fly,” she said and the bird took off. Olia looked at Evelyn.
“You look sad,” she said softly, afraid.
“I am sad, but right now that isn’t important. We need to find a way to get you out of here,” Evelyn said.
“No I will stay with you. I’m not supposed to be here,” she said, and looked down.
“I’m glad your here,” Evelyn said and that made her smile. It wasn’t all that much later that Sylvia returned and took Evelyn away, and once they were gone Olia did her best to get out of her bonds but she could not and she closed her eyes knowing she should rest while she could.
At the site of where the city once stood, Evelyn was led to the only thing that was in tact which the giant statue of Anubis.
“Find a way to bring the city back,” Thomas told her.
“I would rather die. You took away my baby, which you had no right to do,” she said, and was slapped hard by the mad, hard enough for her lip to start to bleed.
“You will find the way to raise the city, and I will do what I must to get you to do that,” he said. She refused again, and again was smacked hard across the face. She cried out that time, and then spat the blood in his face, and jumped on him biting his hand as he tried to get her off, and drew his blood. Sylvia grabbed her off and held her while Thomas punched her first in the stomach then in the face. She hurt and indured blow after blow, until darkness took over, then there was nothing.
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