There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 46

We break through the tree line as the Saharan sun starts peeking out over the dunes. "Where are they?" I ask.

"They shouldn't be too far behind us." Ardeth says and we hear the pounding of hooves across the desert. Over the dunes comes the whole Medjai army.

"Oh, thank the gods." I say under my breath. They ride up to us and come to a stop.

"We thought you were lost." The leader of the 10th tribe says as we mount the horses they have brought for us.

"We ran into some... unforeseen obstacles, along the way." I say, looking sadly to Ardeth.

"Horus was... shot down, as we entered the oasis." He clarified. They nodded and before we could continue, the ground began to shake.

"Something is happening." I say and turn to Ardeth. We take off across the desert, coming to a stop when we see a giant scorpion shadow creep across the ground in front of us.

Ardeth brings a hand up, motioning us all to a stop. "So it begins." I hear him mutter under his breath.

I watch in horror as the shadow takes form and grows, before dropping back down and individual mounds start forming, growing into large walking jackals, the Army of Anubis. "Holy shit." I whisper under my breath.

Ardeth has us form into ranks, with me at his right side. "Be safe, ya amar."

"I always am." He gave me a look, as we both knew that was an outrageous lie. He raises his sword, giving the signal to attack before the whole army raises down the embankment.

In the chaos that follows I lose sight of Ardeth, until the last of the army is killed and those remaining start to celebrate. But my senses are going haywire, and Ardeth must feel it too as we both take off across the battlefield and come up the hill at the same time. Squinting, my eyes widen as I watch thousands of jackals race across the desert towards us. "God help us." Ardeth says quietly from beside me.

"There is no way we can beat them." I tell him quietly. "They will crash over us like waves against the shoreline." He looks at me, panic setting in.

"I must do what I can to slow them down. You must get out of here. Make for the village, get the children and Mother to safety." He says, and for the first time in many, many years, I see him truly frightened.

"You cannot ask this of me." I say, tears gathering in my eyes. "I will not leave you. I cannot. This is my duty, my job."

"You also have a duty to our people and our children."

"How can you expect me to go home to your mother and tell her that I left you to die?" he looks down. "I'm staying with you. I promised you till death do us part. I let you go out alone after Lock-Nah years ago because I had a duty to our son. But my duty now is to you, and this is well beyond us. This is gods and prophecies." He pulls me into one last kiss and the men around us do their best to look anywhere but here.

"You have been my greatest adventure." He whispers to me.

"As you have been mine." I say back before Ardeth turns to address the men.

"'Til Death!" he shouts and the men cry out the same, our swords raised to the sky. With one final command, we thrust our swords out in front of us before readying our stances, prepared to lay down our lives.

"Rick and Evy could really hurry the hell up." I say quietly, the army getting dangerously close to us. Just as they are upon us, and Ardeth draws me into his chest, the army is reduced to black dust, that sweeps through us like an angry cloud. As the dust clears, I pull my head away from Ardeth's chest. They're gone, nothing is left. "They did it. They actually did it." I say, relieved as Ardeth picks me up and spins me, before setting me down and letting out a tired cry of triumph.

The winds start rushing and what sounds like a deep scream pierces the air. We all turn around in fear, seeing a black cloud, with yet another face in it, rise above the Oasis of Ahm Shere. "Rick, Evy." I whisper under my breath. Once again, this didn't look good for my friends. The black cloud fell, dropping back into the valley and the winds started up again. "What's going on?"

"The oasis is returning to the desert from which it came." An elder commander says solemnly.

"We must go! They need our help." I plead with Ardeth, who grabs his horse and my hand. After situating me behind him, we take off, back towards the gorge.