For what seemed like eternity, Tari watched the dangerous looking men coming closer and closer towards Fantu and herself. Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest as she saw them grin wickedly, clutching their weapons of swords and spears tightly as though ready to pounce. They were about a dozen of them, each with dark, leathery cracked skin giving evidence of how long they've been scrounging a living in the desert. Some wore the traditional Egyptian kilt, while others just wore loin cloths. But what made Tari most afraid of all was the sheer desperation, the sheer loss of hope and anything good left inside in their eyes. It was like...they had no soul!
One of the men grunted and step forward ahead of the others, and grinned a wicked grin. "Give us your valuables, or pay with your lives," he sneered out, holding out a hand.
"What? But we don't.." Tari started to say, but Fantu stepped forward in front of her and pushed her back slightly with her arm.
"Stay back! I'll take care of this!" the tall Kushite woman said, narrowing her eyes dangerously. Tari was about to argue, to say that she could fight these thugs as well as she could, but the men all began to laugh out, stepping closer and closer.
"Foolish woman!" said the one who had first spoken. "Don't you know better than to go traveling in the deserts with alone...with only that child with you?" He held his sword in front of him, it's blade gleaming, and grinned wide to show his yellow, crusted teeth. "Now don't make this harder than it is, just surrender, and maybe we'll make sure you don't have much bruises...so we can sell you off later!" The men laughed more.
"Heh, that's what all you men think!" smirked Fantu, a dangerous glint in her eye. "That we're nothing but weak, obedient creatures to bend to your will! Well I shall show you that is not the case with me!" With a mischievous grin of her own, Fantu twirled her long wooden staff above her head and around her body expertly, then slammed the end of it in the ground. She then looked up and flicked her hand towards herself, as if to say "come and get me!"
The men looked at her in indignation for a moment, then another of them drew out his own sword, cursing under his breath. "Why you....!" he yelled out. He dashed towards her, swinging his sword, but as soon as he reached her, Fantu went down in a crouch, then swung her staff upwards, knocking the man's head back hard and nearly crushing his jaw. He went down with a strangled cry and laid still.
"Get her!" screamed out their leader. It was then all chaos broke as the men rushed Fantu. But she fought like a demon, jumping, flipping, and ducking out of the way and knocking down each man that dared come near her. She even laughed out loud after she bent and knocked the legs from under another thug that nearly grabbed her.
Tari barely had a few moments to look on in admiration for the warrior woman before she saw a shadow coming up towards her from the camp firelight. She gasped, turned, and barely ducked down in time from being grabbed by a pair of dirty, sandy arms. Tari ran from him a short distance, then stopped herself. No! I can't run away like a coward! I have to help Fantu! She looked down on her bracelet and remembered with a sinking heart that it hadn't worked before. Instead of the eyes of the golden snake on the bracelet shining like it did before in her time, it was now dull and lifeless, and she knew in her heart that if she tried it again, it would be the same result as the last time. But I can still fight! she told herself determinedly. There's no way I'm letting these morons stop me when I'm so close to getting home!
With that, Tari turned and faced the bandit that was chasing her, going into a fighting stance. But to her horror, she saw he was carrying a large club....large and thick enough to crack a skull. With a strangled scream, Tari ducked down barely a second before the club was swung where her head was. When she got back up, she tightened her hands into fists, and after taking a deep breath, swung her arm forward and punched her assailant in the face as hard as she could. The man stumbled back in surprise, gasping in pain. But before Tari could savor her victory, he snarled deeply and rushed forward once again. Tari had no time to move or defend herself as his hand surrounded her neck and she was shoved heavily to the desert ground.
"You will pay dearly for that!" he grunted out. He raised his club, but before he would strike down and crush her head, he gave a strangled gasp, and Tari watched in complete bafflement as the end of a sword protruded from his midsection. The thug looked down at his belly for a moment, looked at the blade coming out in shock, then fell over dead. When Tari looked up to see, her eyes widened in delight as Nkosi looked down on her, holding out his hand.
"Come on!" he shouted. Tari took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. The two looked at each other for a moment, and all time seemed to stop. There was so much Tari wanted to say then, to let him know how much she appreciated him doing so much for her, and to say sorry for literally dropping out of the sky and disrupting his life.....then she suddenly remembered that Fantu was all alone, fighting for her life.
"Oh no, Fantu!" Tari yelled before rushing off back to the campsite. Nkosi followed closely behind, his heart also filled with things he had wanted to say to her. Quickly they reached where Fantu was still surrounded by the bandits, but this time, Atreus was with her. The young blonde Greek was trying his best to fight off the attackers, but being a scholar, he hadn't had much experience with sword fighting.
As Tari got closer, she could hear Fantu yelling at him as he stood behind her back. "Fool! I told you to get away, to run for your life!" She kicked away a bandit that tried to jump at her, and turned angrily towards Atreus. "You should have listened!"
"I...I couldn't...just leave..you!" the young scholar panted, trying desperately to keep up with the onslaught of sword strikes and blocking them. While Fantu was distracted, another one of the thugs tried to sneak up behind her. Atreus saw this from the corner of his eye, and just as the dirty man was about to stab Fantu through the back, he yelled out "NO!" and pushed her out of the way. The Greek scholar screamed out in pain as the sword went nearly through his shoulder. He fell to the ground heavily before laying still, blood gushing from the wound.
"Atreus!" Tari screamed out in fear. No! It couldn't be! He couldn't die so early in their journey! Time seemed to slow as she saw Fantu turned her head to look at the fallen man, her dark brown eyes wide with shock and disbelief. She then narrowed her eyes dangerously once more, with with lightning quick moves, the Kushite warrior jumped up and turned towards the bandit that stabbed Atreus. She gave a loud, warrior yell, then began pummeling the attacker with her staff, giving hit after hit after hit. She never let up, slamming her staff on his head, his chest, legs, and back. She finally gave one last slam against the side of his side, and he went down like a broken statue, blood leaking from his nose and mouth.
The other attackers turned to see what she had done, and after they saw the look of "Who's next?" on her face, hey all rushed at her. But they quickly found out she was not alone. Tari and Nkosi joined the fight. Tari quickly picked up the sword from the fallen bandit, and together, they fought with all their might against the remaining thugs. Nkosi was nearly unstoppable, slashing and hacking with his wording, years of his training as a palace guard paying off. Fantu fought like a she-wolf, never letting up for even a moment and just reveling in the fight and enjoying every strike she made with her staff. Even Tari fought with all she had, swinging her heavy sword back and forth and making sure no one could sneak up on them again. Her heart fell each time she slashed and stabbed a man, but she knew that if she didn't, they would all be dead. Finally, only about three of the bandits were left...the rest on the ground dead or dying. They looked up at Tari, Fantu, and Nkosi, looked back at each other, then began to slowly back away.
Fantu stepped forward and growled deep in her throat. The remaining men yelped in fright as they turned and ran way, leaving behind their comrades. When they were finally alone again, Tari rushed over to where Atreus lay. She fell to her knees and checked for a pulse at the side of his neck, and breathed out a sigh of relief. "He's alive, but his pulse is weak." she said, turning his face towards her.
"Quickly, let's bring him into our tent, I have some ointments and wraps." Nkosi said, nodding towards the tent he and Atreus slept in. Tari backed away to let Nkosi pick up the blonde man, but it was Fantu who stepped forward and easily gathered him in her arms. Even though Atreus was near the same height as she was, Fantu picked him up with ease as Tari looked on in surprise. She then shook her head and joined the others in the tent to do the best they can to help the young scholar.
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With a sigh of relief, Tari stepped out of the makeshift tent and walked towards the campfire. She sat down before the fire and wiped off the sweat from her dark forehead. For what seemed like hours everyone did their best to clean and patch up the wound on Atreus's shoulder, and for a scary few moment, Tari thought they would lose him. But the Greek scholar held on, and even though he was unconscious, Tari knew that inside, he was fighting for his life. Nkosi quickly cleaned off the wound and bounded it up tightly with wraps, but as much as the wound was cleaned and medicated, Atreus still developed a fever, and after a verylong night, it had finally broken, and he was now peacefully sleeping.
Through out all of it, Fantu stayed closely by his side, barely saying anything and just looking at him as if she couldn't believe what he did for her. Tari didn't know the circumstances of her hatred towards men, but maybe...just maybe what Atreus did could help change it. She chuckled at that, drawing her knees up to her chest. She looked up at the night sky and sighed, watching the stars twinkle and wink at her. She suddenly began thinking of home, wondering how it was there and how her parents and her younger twin brother and sister were holding up. Before she could help it, a tear ran down her cheek. For all she knew, Set could already have found the boy with Osiris's soul and caused havoc, and it would be too late. What could she do if it was?
She barely noticed someone else coming out of the tent, and when the figure sat down next to her, she looked up in surprise, then smiled shyly when she saw it was Nkosi. She quickly wiped away the tear.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, looking at her with concern.
"Oh! Yes, I'm....I'm fine, really. Just thinking about...you know, home." She looked up at the stars again as she ran a hand through her dark braids. "I was just wondering how my family were doing, that's all."
"You miss them, a lot." Nkosi observed. He smiled and nodded to her. "I'm pretty sure if they can see you now, they would be very proud of you. I know I am."
Tari blushed slightly as she turned her head away. I...umm....thank you," she whispered. She gulped in nervousness and decided to try and change the subject. "Gosh, I..errr...only hope I get back home in time for Christmas. My brother and sister would be SO mad at me for not getting them anything!" She chuckled and turned to look at Nkosi, and saw he had a look of complete bafflement.
"Christ...mas?" he asked, blinking his eyes and tilting his head.
"OH! Err..it's nothing much, really! It's just...just...something we celebrate where I come from!" Tanya said in embarrassment, waving her arms. "You see, in the Winter, we..." But at the word "Winter", Nkosi only looked at her in more confusion. Damn, I should have known, he wouldn't know anything about Christmas or the Winter season! She sighed and bowed her head, defeated. "Look, just..forget it."
At the look on Nkosi's face, Tari couldn't help herself, and she began to laugh at herself until tears came out of her eyes. Nkosi stared at her for a moment, then also unable to help himself, began to laugh too. After a long moment, Tari took a deep breath and composed herself before turning to look back at Nkosi. she gasped slightly as she saw he was giving her an intense look. Tari blushed before she could help herself, and turned her head away again. "W..why are you looking at me like that?" she asked her heart pounding faster.
Nkosi blinked, barely knowing that he was staring at Tari, looking so beautiful in starlight and laughing so sweetly. He opened his mouth and was about to give some excuse...that he was considering something, anything about their journey, but then he decided to just tell her the truth, to heck with it all. He sighed and turned back to look at her, his eyes serious. "Because...because I want to kiss you," he whispered.
Tari eyes widened to nearly twice their size as she turned to stare at Nkosi. Did he just say what she thought he said? Could it be that he had feeling for her, as she thought she might have for him? But...it was impossible! There was no way she could allow herself to fall in love again, not after what happened the last time. It..it was too much to risk. There would be no way she could recover if she was hurt like that again. She barely did the first time. But as much as her head screamed at her, told her NO! Don't trust him!, her heart also screamed to allow herself to love him, to let him hold her and comfort her as she wanted him to. But before she could say anything, do anything, Nkosi was already leaning towards her, his hand on top of her own on the sandy ground.
But looking into his eyes, Tari knew without a doubt that she wanted this moment to last, to allow him to kiss her with as much passion she saw in his eyes. As he was getting closer, she closed her eyes, but as she did, the memory came flooding back, of cruel eyes boring into her own as another boy she thought loved her ripped her innocence apart. She saw herself laying on the bathroom floor, wanting nothing more than to just die. She saw herself surrounded by doctors and surgeons that saved her life when she tried to end it because of the pain and she shame, looking at her in pity.
At that memory, Tari gasped in sorrow and stood up, shaking her head. She stepped away from Nkosi as he stood up to, reaching his arm out to her and trying to understand her reluctance. "I'm...sorry, I..I just can't!" At that, she turned away and ran to the tent she shared with Fantu.
When Tari was gone, Nkosi stood there, a look of sadness and incomprehension on his face as he looked in the direction where she ran. Perhaps....she didn't feel the same way. It could be that, but he also saw the deep pain in her eyes, and he knew, he just knew that she must have been hurt badly in some way. But how was he going to let her know that there was no way he would hurt her? He didn't know, but as he balled his hand into a fist, he vowed he would find some way.....somehow.
Inside the tent, Tari fell on her bed, curled into a ball, and cried softly. This was turning into a real mess! She had never expected to love again, but then again, she had never expected to meet real life Egyptian gods and be hurled thousands of years into the past! How she wished Isis was here, to give her advice and to help her sough out her feelings. She didn't want to admit that she was in love, but then what else could it be? Even if she was, it would do no good. She would be home soon, and Nkosi far, far away. At that thought, Tari cried more, her heart feeling as though it broke into a thousand pieces before she finally fell into a fitful sleep.
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In the desert, morning came in a burst of sunlight, striking everything in it's path with an intense ray of heat. Barely a few moments passed as the sun rose in the horizon, and already the temperature began to rise, sending steam and waves of heat rising from endless sea of sand dunes.
Tari woke with a start, then rubbed her eyes and turned to see Fantu already up, putting on her sandal and tying the strings. The two smiled in greeting to one another. After freshening up, the two stepped outside to find Atreus and Nkosi already waiting for them. Although slightly paler than usual, the young scholar smiled and waved in greeting with his free arm, the other bandaged up tight.
"Atreus, you're okay!" Tari smiled, rushing up to him and giving him a quick hug.
"Yes, thanks to all of you!" he smiled back. He hugged Tari back before looking up to see Fantu. The dark-skinned woman nodded her head as she blushed just slightly, and headed back to help take down the tents. Atreus looked as though he was about to say something to her, but then thought against it. Besides, he didn't want to risk getting her angry and beating him up!
Tari looked over at at Nkosi coming towards her. She lowered her eyes shyly and ran a hand nervously through her hair. "Hi," she whispered, shuffling her feet.
Nkosi smiled slightly and nodded his head. "Hi," he said back before also looking down nervously. "Ummm...we should get ready. I'll go help Fantu, and...we should get going. Fantu said earlier that it shouldn't be long before we find the Temple of Nhut." Tari nodded, and with that, the tents were taken down, and soon they were on their way to another day in the merciless, drying desert. What other dangers they would face, they didn't know, but all knew that they would face it together, whatever Fate threw at them.
As Tari climbed her camel, she thought about last night and the kiss she and Nkosi almost shared. Should she tell him why she was so scared? She sighed and shook her head. No, she wouldn't. At least not now. There was something more important at stake, and there was no time to lose. With that, Tari turned her head to where the others were headed, and determinedly followed them.
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To Be Continued...
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