The Life and Times of Bonnie Chance

The Devil You Know

In the Arabian Desert... Carol had passed out in Izmir's tent.

"Hmm... She fainted because she was so scared," Izmir said. "I didn't even do anything..."

"Of course she's scared! After everything you put us through last time, is it any wonder?" Bonnie said angrily. "Now stop harassing her! Carol didn't do anything. It was me who—"

"I'm well aware," Izmir said. "I'll talk to you when I'm finished with Carol. Don't worry! I'm only going to look at her wound."

"That had better be all you look at!" Bonnie said threateningly, knowing there was very little she could actually do to stop him. But she finished inching her way over to them anyway. If Izmir's hands or eyes wandered, she would seriously bite him! Izmir could tell what Bonnie was thinking. He rolled Carol over onto her back and pulled her dress down.

"Oh god! The wound created by the lion has disappeared!" Izmir said.

"See? We told you," Bonnie said, annoyed on Carol's behalf.

'Not even a scar exists... at the time I saw the lion bite into this girl's shoulder...?' Izmir thought, taken aback. He was sure there would have been some sign of the serious wound remaining. "Unbelievable! Both of her shoulders, and her back are silky... There's no trace that tells me she was wounded!"

"I think you've see enough. Pull her dress back up!" Bonnie said sternly. To her surprise, Izmir did as she asked.

"There. Happy?" he asked.

"Untie me, and we'll see," Bonnie said.

"Hmph!" Izmir said, almost laughing. "Was she saved by the gods, like the rumor said?"

"If you say so..." Bonnie said. She didn't think it was safe to tell Izmir the truth. And why should she when they were enemies?

"... Tell me the truth," Izmir said, frowning at Bonnie. Her answer was too evasive for his liking. Carol opened her eyes, then immediately sat up and scooted away from Izmir. "Lucky! You've come to... I was worried about your condition..." he told Carol, grabbing her before she could get too far away from him.

"Let me go!" Carol said. "Did you look at me while I was unconscious? It's ill mannered for a man to look at woman who's become unconscious, understand?"

"Carol, are you really the daughter of the Nile goddess, and the goddess has cured you?" Izmir asked. "Don't hide from me, tell the truth. I won't touch you anymore... I will even welcome you and Bonnie like honored guests of the Hittites' court!"

"Huh?" Bonnie said, taken aback to hear herself included in that deal after what she did.

"You're mistaken!" Carol said. "My wound was operated on by famous surgeons with the best surgical techniques that modern medicine—"

"Carol!" Bonnie said sternly, appalled that she would give an enemy information about the future.

"Ah! Carol gasped, realizing her mistake. "A-Anyway, there is no scar because of the skill of the doctor who treated me! It isn't because I was cured by the gods!"

"It's because you went back to the future, yes?" Izmir asked, startling the girls.

"How do you know about that!?" Carol asked.

"Don't confirm it!!" Bonnie scolded her.

"I wouldn't have believed it, but Bonnie seems so anxious to keep the information from me..." Izmir said, watching the girls carefully. "So, that's the truth, is it? You two are from the distant future, and that is the source of your exceptional knowledge and skills?"