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In the name of Sekmet	By : darkangel985 Category: M through R > Mummy, The (All) > Mummy, The (All) Views: 8293 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mummy movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
I know I'm torturing
you with the lack of updates, but my Internet
connection is currently down and I can only publish while I'm at my
parent's place.

Chapter 5 – A fresh start

The
cloth fell away, revealing the handsome face of a young man. But that
fact wasn't what shocked the Med-jai leader. No. It was the fact,
that not only was the young man familiar to him, but he also bore the
typical markings of his own tribe. Every tribe bore their own
distinct marks, so the young man couldn't
be anything other than a Med-jai.

Betrayed
by his own people. Betrayed for the fact that he had chosen
Rick over the bride they had intended for him. Betrayed because he
wasn't willing to give up the love of his life. Ardeth was completely
speechless, staring at the boy in front of him.

Anger
and hurt were waring in him, trying to break to the surface, but he
refused to show even the slightest bit of emotion. He could see
tremors of fear run trough the man in front of him, clearly expressed
in his face.

The
longer he stared at the attacker, the more he pitied the scared young
man. He didn't look as if he had wanted to attack them, but rather
had been ordered to do so. Although he didn't know who was behind his
tribe's betrayal he had a certain suspicion. Since Ardeth wanted it
confirmed, he addressed the young Med-jai.

“Who ordered you to attack
us?”

“Rashid, the leader of my
tribe.” The young man bowed down in front of Ardeth, hoping
that the gesture would placate the Med-jai, whose anger was now
clearly displayed in his face. “I'm sorry. I would never have
defied you, my leader, but he order to kill the foreigner as my
coming of age duty. There was no way for me to refuse.”

Rashid. He should have known, that
the older man wouldn't give up that easily. The tribes questioned his
lover, in turn also questioning his judgment,
which weakened his standing in the tribes. This had been the
incentive the power-hungry bastard had needed to try to challenge
him.

The young man was still kneeling in
front of him, while Ardeth was lost deep in thought until Rick
finally shook him out of his stupor. “What are you planning to
do with him?” Perking up at the mention of his fate, the boy
tried to listen without drawing attention to himself. But Ardeth had
noted the slight movement.

“Look at me, boy.” He
deliberately didn't address their attacker
by name, since it was a privilege to have
your name called out by the leader. His following words were directed
at Rick rather than at the boy. “It wasn't his fault. He only
did what he had been ordered to do. It was a matter of honor, that
left him no chance to refuse, even if he resented it.”

“Why couldn't he have come to
you and told you about it?”

“Like I said his honor
wouldn't permit it. He would have had to expect punishment from that
as well as from failure. He was only the weapon used, but I need to
speak to the one responsible.” Getting up from the ground he
told the young Med-jai to sit on one of their horses, before mounting
the other one.

Rick took his place right behind
him, but Ardeth barely felt the hands tightening around his abdomen
or the kiss pressed to the nape of his neck. There were still quite
many things puzzling him about the ambush that he simply couldn't
figure out.

Obviously his tribesmen believed
Rick to be weak, if they sent a young, unexperienced warrior and only
one other to back him up. Maybe this was one reason why the tribe
despised his lover or maybe it was just a
mere coincidence. Not knowing what awaited them at the village they
rode back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ardeth strode into the council hut, his anger now edged on his
features. He had kept it hidden the whole time he had been with Rick,
trying to keep his lover from worrying. But Rick was safely
staying at his hut and he was sure that he would need all his
strength and ferocity for the oncoming confrontation.

As soon as he opened the door and saw the guilty and challenging
faces of his fellow leaders, his anger rose another notch. He could
have understood if it had been Rashid's doing and the other leaders
hadn't known what was going on. But obviously the only one who had
been unawares of their plan was Muhammad, who looked puzzled at
seeing his seething face.

“How dare you try to have my lover assassinated?”

His angry statement caused an eery quiet to descent upon the hut,
while only Muhammad's face showed surprise and an immediate anger
that matched his own. Rashid, who had obviously elected himself as
the new leader, spoke up, a broad grin spread over his face.

“The council has decided that your decisions aren't for the
benefit of the tribe anymore. You were asked to give up your lover,
but since you refused to give him up, we had to try to eliminate this
threat to the Med-jai tribes.”

A threat to the tribes? Rick? Ardeth could feel his self-control
slipping. He wanted nothing more, than to attack Rashid and bury his
sword deep in his traitorous chest. But now was not the time. If he
brought the tribes against himself Rick's and Alex's safety
would be at stake and he would never risk that.

“How dare you call Rick a threat? He was the one to beat
Imhotep and finally kill the Scorpion King.
Without his help the hordes of Anubis' army would have swept over us
and not left a single man alive. Is that what you call a threat?”

“Your judgment is clouded by your
desire. The council has decided that you can no longer lead the
tribes, since you have lost your dedication to us. The only way to
prevent this is to let go of your foolish love.” Rashid also
delivered this line with a smirk, obviously delighted in the anger he
could see coursing over Ardeth's face.

The other leaders had been silent the whole time, but now all
except Muhammad spoke up, giving their
support to Rashid. Ardeth was nobody who ran from decisions and he
loved his tribe. For most of his life the tribes had been the only
thing he loved. It was a love filled with duty and devotion, but
compared to the all-encompassing love he felt for Rick it was almost
insignificant.

He still hated that they made him choose, made him give up his
love and the life he had led his whole life, since that was the only
option he had. Leaving the Med-jai would break his heart, but loosing
Rick would be the same as killing him.

The others looked at him expectantly, seemingly confident that he
wouldn't give up his power and leadership for someone they saw as a
cheap whore. How wrong they were. Ardeth had never cared about the
power his position offered him and although it wasn't a light
decision, his voice was firm and clear as he spoke.

“You want me to choose between being your leader or keeping
Rick as my lover? So be it.” Forcefully pulling the necklace
that announced his status from his neck he threw it on the floor.
“You have my answer.”

And with these words he strode out of the hut, leaving not only
his old life, but also a part of himself behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Ardeth entered the hut Rick knew that the meeting had
gone terrible wrong. His lover was still wearing the proud mask he
usually put on for his tribesmen, but Rick could see it cracking,
peeling away to reveal the vulnerability his lover showed only to
him.

He had barely gotten up from the bed, when his arms were filled
with a crying Med-jai. Never before had his lover shown such signs of
weakness, but now he clutched at Rick's shoulders and sobbed into his
neck.

He didn't really want to know what had caused this total breakdown
in his lover, but he knew that he would have to ask eventually.
Especially since Ardeth was slowly calming down, ceasing his crying
but still clinging to Rick's body as if his lover was the only thing
that kept him upright at the moment. Steering the Med-jai over to the
bed Rick pushed him down, before sitting next to him.

Quickly pressing a kiss to his lover's lips he asked: “What
happened?”

“They made me choose.” Ardeth pulled Rick close to his
body as if he was afraid that the other man would be gone as
soon as he let go. “I had to choose between being their leader
and you.”

A feeling of dread immediately settled in Rick's stomach. It was
one thing for his lover to defy his tribe, but to give them up
completely just to be with him, was something he didn't expect Ardeth
to do. But his lover's next words rendered him speechless.

“We should leave before nightfall.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ride back to Cairo almost passed in complete silence. The sun
had already started to sink, when they hastily left the Med-jai camp.
Ardeth couldn't help but feel that he was shying away from his
duties, but he simply couldn't sacrifice Rick for his tribe.

Alex had been puzzled by their sudden departure, but Rick had told
him that Ardeth had important business he had to conclude in Cairo
and that he wanted to check up on their home. Ardeth hadn't
completely agreed with the lie, especially since lying was contrary
to every principle of Med-jai honor. But his lover had insisted and
he had been too tired and wary to argue with Rick. He only hoped that
when Alex finally found out about them he wouldn't be too hurt.

So the three of them found themselves in front of the O'Connell
mansion in Cairo, the still and dark Egyptian night surrounding
them. The windows were brightly lit, supposedly owed to Jonathan's
presence.

As soon as they had entered the door he spotted a brightly colored
skirt hanging from one of the ceiling fans. Rick obviously spotted it
too, since he immediately yelled for the Englishman, before he
ushered Alex in the direction of his room.

Rick's son had barely left, when Jonathan staggered into the room,
followed by two lightly dressed women, who couldn't be anything other
than whores. “Rick. I hadn't expected you back.” Jonathan
schooled his face into a winning smile, trying to cover up the fact
that the women obviously had believed this to be his house.

“Jonathan. Where is the golden statue that stood in the
court yard?”

“Statue? Which statue? It must have gotten lost, probably
one of the servants stole it.” Another winning smile, while
Rick just threw up his hands in exasperation
as he walked out of the room, motioning for Ardeth to follow.

Calling back over his shoulder, he said to Jonathan: “We'll
talk about this tomorrow.”

Rick walked up the stairs, putting his bag into the bedroom before
going into the bathroom. Ardeth followed him, seeing the tiredness in
his lover's back. He was tired and tense himself, not knowing what
his future would bring.

He knew nothing except the life of the
Med-jai tribes, although he had occasionally veered into larger
cities while he had been younger. But he had never felt a wish to be
there, always contend with the life he had. And now he had no other
choice but to adapt to the life his lover led. It was a strange idea.

But as soon as he entered the bathroom, the reason why he had
given up everything he knew came into sharp focus again. Rick was
already completely naked, his beautiful body stretched out as he
fiddled with the tabs on the tub. It was almost completely filled
with water, steam rising up and blurring everything in view. His
lover looked just like a god of old, mist from the bathtub swirling
around his body as he drew Ardeth closer to
himself.

TBC...
- 4
- 5
- 6
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In the name of Sekmet