**Over the Nile**
**The Present**
As his beloved Evelyn stared sightlessly out over the edge of the old boat that was attached to the large balloon, Rick O'Connell finished cleaning his weapon and handed it to Ardeth Bey to store it. He looked over his shoulder to see a small grimace of pain - or hatred - cross Evelyn's face as her mouth formed ancient words that came from the all-too-real vision she was experiencing. He got up and started to leisurely make his way over to her. A little more than halfway towards her, his entire body froze in place turning him into a living statue.
His body may have been frozen, but his mind was alive with images, smells, feelings, and sounds of Thebes at its height - during the reign of Pharaoh Seti I.
**Thebes**
**The Past**
Princess Nefertiri walked past the curtains that concealed her bed from view of the balcony. She knew that one of her father's Med-Jai had followed her, but had stopped short of joining her on the balcony, giving her privacy. Her eyes roamed out over the great city, now mostly sleeping.
She cherished her time alone, away from all of the prying eyes of her father's court, and away from the heavy responsibility of protecting the Bracelet of Anubis. Out here, on her private balcony, she could simply stare at the stars... or look out over the courtyard to see her future stepmother's lavish rooms.
As if that involuntary thought directed her body, her eyes strayed to that point to see her father's high priest Imhotep waiting. Her mouth twitched as she saw Anck-su-namun's golden-painted body move lithely through the rooms towards the high priest. Her breath caught as she watched the two share a loving glance, then kiss. She hurriedly turned her face away with the shame that her father had been betrayed by two of the people closest to him, but with morbid fascination, she turned back to witness the unfolding drama. She heard her father's chariot drive up and his footsteps echo through the courtyard, and she prayed to the deities that he would discover Anck-Su-Namun's treachery and have her banished along with Imhotep to the desert.
Her breath caught as the two hurriedly sprang apart and Imhotep closed the curtain separating the open balcony from the room. She looked down and saw her father's Med-Jai down by the front steps, always keeping watch for the dangers without. They did not know about the treachery that just took place within the walled city.
"Med-Jai! My father needs you! Hurry!" She yelled at them, praying that they would make it. She could see two shadows moving on the curtain, one, Anck-su-namun's figure, the other, her father's larger frame. Her eyes swept the length of the curtain, hoping to see Imhotep's shadow and warn her father, but she did not see the shadow sweep over the curtain until Imhotep had already divested her father of his sword. Her mouth opened wide as she saw Anck-su-namun raise a dagger high, then sink it swiftly into her father's open back.
"*No!*" She yelled as she watched with rising sickness the two shadows keep stabbing her father, until she knew that there was no hope for any healer to fix those wounds. Her vision swam and she swayed back and forth, dangerously close to the edge of the balcony, until reason and consciousness deserted her and she fell forward over the edge.
She did not feel her personal Med-Jai's strong arms grab her waist, stopping her descent and saving her from certain death. She didn't hear his whispered apology for touching her royal person, nor did she feel him lay her gently down on the bed.
**Over the Nile**
**Present**
Rick dashed forward when he saw Evelyn falling over the edge of the boat and grabbed her foot, preventing her from falling to her death in the Nile. He pulled her up with all of his might, the strange vision that flashed before his eyes completely forgotten. Ardeth moved the weapons from the two chairs, leaving space for Rick to set Evelyn down.
As Evelyn told them all what she was experiencing, Ardeth's mind wandered back to an old tale of the Med-Jai.. a tale that was beginning to sound eerily similar to Evelyn's memories.
Later, after Jonathon and Izzy had turned in, Rick kept his arm around Evelyn, who gratefully snuggled into his warmth. Ardeth idly stroked Horus as he kept watch over his friends. Evelyn's soft voice floated to him.
"Do you know how the rest of the story ends, Ardeth?"
He turned his head to one side, an action mirrored by Horus, who also looked at her. "There is one tale that has been handed down from the time that the hom-dai was evoked that sounds similar, but would not your memories be clearer?"
Evelyn shook her head, a bit sadly. "They stop with Pharaoh Seti's murder and Nefertiri passing out. Perhaps that is why Anck-su-namun attacked me so violently when Imhotep tried to raise her eight years ago. I reminded her of her old adversary - the one that she could not kill." Evelyn seemed quietly proud of her ancient self. "Also, I know for a fact that Princess Nefertiri did not appear in any writings that we know of after her father's murder."
Ardeth nodded slowly. "There are only two surviving tales that come from the time the hom-dai was placed upon the Creature. One is of the cursing of the Creature. The other is a more personal tale to the Med-Jai."
**Thebes**
**The Past**
"Princess?" The dark voice was calling her mind back from its unconscious state. Nefertiri's eyes opened to meet the worried gaze of her personal Med-Jai, Djarnan.
"Djarnan? I had the most awful dream. I dreamt that my father was killed..." her voice trailed off as she saw his the sadness in his eyes. Her own eyes quickly filled with tears before she hurriedly turned her face away and bit her lip to stop them. Once she had composed herself, she turned back to Djarnan. As the chieftain of the Med-Jai, the failure of his men to protect the Pharaoh fell on his shoulders, and she knew that the only way the Med-Jai could redeem themselves was if Djarnan took his life.
"Djarnan, you will not sacrifice yourself."
"I must, Princess. It is the only way."
Her jaw set itself stubbornly. "I lost my mother two years ago. I just lost my father tonight. Am I to lose a friend as well?"
"Princess..."
"Enough! Do not make me invoke my title on this matter Djarnan. Now tell me what has happened while I have been asleep."
Djarnan knew that there was no arguing with Nefertiri when she set her mind to something, but he was as stubborn as she was, and he knew that they would discuss the matter again, at a later date. "Anck-su-namun took her own life when the Med-Jai reached her chamber. The high priest escaped."
Nefertiri gasped. "Do we not know where he is?"
"A few hours ago, he broke into her crypt and stole her body. My men are following him to Hamunaptra."
Nefertiri frowned. "How long have I been asleep?"
"One day."
"And you did not wake me?"
"Sleep helps the mind heal, Princess."
She gave him an annoyed little expression. "What are you going to do with Imhotep?"
Djarnan took a deep breath. "We are going to invoke the hom-dai. It is the only option."
"You're sentencing you and your people to exile!"
"We know. The twelve chieftains agree with me in that decision. Please do not argue with me on this matter, Princess."
She was silent for a long moment, her head bowed. "I will not argue with you, Djarnan," she said from beneath her hair. "But in return, I want you to take me with you. Both the Bracelet and I *must* disappear before my uncle takes the throne. This is my choice and my right."
"As you said before, Princess, this is exile for me and my people. Are you sure that you want to throw yourself into exile with us?"
"I would be nowhere safer," she whispered as she brushed her fingertips lightly over one of the many tattoos on his arm. "I will come with you and your people, Djarnan."
He pulled out a dagger and cut a small section on each of their hands, then mixed the blood together. "They are now your people too. You are Med-Jai."
**Over the Nile**
**Present**
"So she went with the Med-Jai?"
Ardeth nodded once. "She chose to give up her royal heritage in order to do her father's wish: to protect the Bracelet of Anubis."
Evelyn grinned slightly. "Something tells me that is not the end of the story."
"You are right. That is not the end. Nefertiri continued on with the Med-Jai, showing them a secret place where they could live in peace, since no one would show them kindness for invoking the hom-dai. It is a place where we still live to this day while we are not guarding the City of the Dead."
**Somewhere along the Nile**
**The Past**
Nefertiri smiled triumphantly at Djarnan. "I told you that I could find it, Djarnan."
"So you did." He looked out at the lavish jungle and graceful waterfall, a stark contrast to the bare desert. "At least I know that my people will be safe."
She looked sharply at him. "Djarnan..."
"I must."
"*No.* Djarnan, I need you. I need you to protect me, as I protect the Bracelet. There is no one I would trust with that duty more." She caught his face in her hands. "*Please* Djarnan. Please." She begged him with her eyes.
"It is my sacred duty to give my life for your father's."
"I release you from it!" she yelled. "You paid that debt when you saved me."
"She is right, you know. Your life debt was paid when you saved her from falling to her death.," a new voice said. Djarnan tried to turn his face to see who had come, but was hampered by Nefertiri's hands still on his cheeks. She looked back at him, meeting his eyes, feeling a warm spark inside as they stared into each other's eyes, the protocol that prevented them from feeling anything towards the other except friendship, long gone.
The two Elders looked at one another knowingly and turned their horses back the way they had come. "It is just as the Old One predicted."
His companion nodded. "It will be good for the Med-Jai." They both looked over their shoulders as Nefertiri and Djarnan kissed before the waterfall that was the center of the Med-Jai's new home.
**Over the Nile**
**Present**
Evelyn sighed quietly with a small smile on her face as Ardeth finished his story. She snuggled back into her husband's arms and thought quietly for a moment.
"Are all of the tales handed down this way?"
Ardeth shook his head. "Tales like that are personal, tribal tales that tell of ancestry. I was told that tale by my grandfather when I was a child."
"You mean...?"
"Yes. The leadership of the Med-Jai has not been interrupted ever since then. Nefertiri and Djarnan are two of my ancestors."
Rick snorted softly. "No wonder our old buddy hates the three of us so much. You're not only a Med-Jai, but also a descendant of the men responsible for his being cursed. He hates Evie because she helped defeat him before *and* she's the reincarnated version of the Princess Nefertiri. And he hates me because I helped kick his ass last time."
Ardeth shrugged slightly. "There is also another reason why the Creature has reason to hate you. Your destiny is to love and protect her, just as her destiny was to find the Bracelet to protect it."
"I don't think so. I am not some reincarnated version of an ancient Med-Jai that cursed him!"
"You are flying towards your destiny, O'Connell, just as we all are." Ardeth looked down. "We are approaching Karnac, and if we are to do battle, we must rest."
Rick nodded a bit reluctantly, still wanting to argue the point that he wasn't some reincarnated version of some Med-Jai. But then Evelyn snuggled into his arms and he willingly forgot everything but the feel of his wife's body against him.
--The End
