Chapter 9
Felled by a bloody parasol and tripping over his own feet… Laknah should have been victorious. Strangle her till she was unconscious and interrogate and torture her if needed to get the information he wanted. Then, the bitch started kicking him repeatedly in the balls; and his vision turned red. All he felt was rage… and then pleasure. Laknah had never felt such pleasure as when he was squeezing her throat tighter and tighter. Her death would have been amazing for him. Unfortunately, he had made the mistake of underestimating the walking disaster of a woman with her ridiculous flowered parasol. And then, the even bigger mistake of letting go of his prey. Her knife was painful, but he was still capable of catching her, and then Laknah had inexplicably tripped. He had never tripped before in his life. And now, they were gone and he was losing blood in a way that he never had before. Laknah couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t staunch the blood. Laknah had received his fair share of wounds during his training. It should have been easy to treat his wound quickly and then get the hell out of there, but he couldn’t walk because of the pain and the ever flowing blood.
“Her blade was poisoned, Laknah.” Laknah glared in the direction of his ‘chieftain.’ “Miss Evans is a smart woman… and far too kind. When I found out what you had done to her,” Adham stepped forward with Nasir at his side. “...I was planning on having you executed. There is no room for someone so honorless in our tribe. But…” Adham held up a tiny bottle. “Miss Evans gave me this. To SAVE your honorless hide.”
“Then she is a fool,” Laknah sneered.
“That fool,” Adham said calmly. “...you owe your life to. And you will have to live your life owing it to a ‘fool’ and an ‘invader.’” Laknah glared even harder. “And you will have to do it on your own. You are banished from the Medjai, Laknah. There is no place in our tribes for an excuse of a man who harms women for no reason. You were ordered to follow her and listen. You have brought dishonor on us. Now, let us assist you to get medical treatment. I wouldn’t want you to bleed out and not live through the torment of being bested by not one, but two white women you look down on.” Laknah spat at Adham’s feet, and was immediately kicked in the face by Nasir.
“He is already bleeding out Nasir,” Adham said calmly before grabbing one of Laknah’s arms.
“And yet, he is still a disrespectful and ungrateful piece of garbage,” Nasir said moodily before grabbing his other arm. Laknah began cursing at the two of them profusely. “Maybe we should get Ms. Carnahan back over here with her parasol. She could whack him unconscious and we wouldn’t have to deal with his foul mouth.”
“I am sure she would happily oblige,” Adham grunted as they heaved the heavy and still spitting mad Laknah to a nearby cheap lodging to treat his wounds.
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Terrence couldn’t stop himself from snorting in amusement when he unlocked his office to find his nephew blushing at being caught with Miss Evans nestled in his lap.
“Should I leave the two of you alone?” Terrence grinned. Ardeth blushed brightly and glared at his Uncle.
“She was indisposed and insisted I be her ‘pillow’?” Ardeth defended.
“So, you just let her? And besides, you could have moved after she fell asleep.” Terrence said with amusement before taking a seat at his desk and beginning to sort through some documents for the next day. Ardeth looked at Miss Evans hesitatingly. He could move her… but it would be like moving a cat. He just did not want to.
“I don’t want her to wake up,” Ardeth argued weakly. Terrence raised his eyebrows at his nephew before determining to ignore him. Adham had a similar reaction… coupled with shock. He was relieved to finally leave behind the snarling Laknah to walk in on a woman cuddling with his son.
“Did something… meaningful occur in my absence?” Adham said teasingly.
“Miss Evans took some medicine which had the unfortunate side effect of making her drunk. She is fine though, and insisted on using your son as a pillow,” Terrence said matter-of-factly. Ardeth looked up at the ceiling beseechingly. Was there any way to escape this embarrassment? He could clearly see that his Father was never going to let this go and was about to extract himself simply so he could make his escape; when Hermione began thrashing and crying.
“I didn’t take it!” Her scream was loud and heart wrenching and caused Adham and Terrence to immediately start running over. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. “I didn’t take it! Please! Get off. Of. Me!” Ardeth struggled to try to calm her as she actively tried to escape. Her begging was gut wrenching. Adham felt his heart drop in his stomach as she continued to beg and plead for her life and grab at her arm painfully. Ardeth tried to stroke her hair, but it just caused more panicked attempts to escape.
“Miss Evans! You’re asleep! Miss Evans! HERMIONE!” Her eyes finally snapped open and she startled away from Ardeth to crouch in the corner tearfully. Miss Evans started patting her person frantically before her right hand found what it was looking for and settled in her pocket. They all stood in anticipation while Miss Evans breathed in and out desperately.
“Miss Evans?” Terrance ventured. She didn’t even look at him. “Miss Evans?” Still no response. “Hermione?” he finally tried and was rewarded when she looked at him. “Would you like to sit down?” Hermione inched in front of the furthest part of the couch and sat down cautiously. “I’m going to make you some tea.” Hermione nodded distractedly and Terrance breathed a sigh of relief and walked out the door as fast as possible. Adham sat down slowly in a seat facing Miss Evans and Ardeth.
“Are you alright?” Adham asked gently.
“That’s a stupid question,” Hermione whipped out without even considering. Adham chuckled despite the impudence of the response, and Ardeth smiled as she immediately blushed. “Sorry.” Adham bowed his head at the apology. “Why am I…sleeping of all things… in MISTER Bay’s office?” Adham smirked at her use of Mister.
“One of my men tried to strangle you.”
“No… I remember that part,” Hermione gave a strangled laugh. “AFTER that… is the fuzzy part.”
“Well… I’d love to hear that part as well,” Adham said with a sneaky grin. “Ardeth, how about you tell us?” Ardeth glared at his father. He couldn’t control his blushing and stammering throughout the entire story. His only consolation was that Hermione was (if at all possible) even more embarrassed than he was. Her face was in her hands by the end, but Ardeth could see her bright red neck and ears.
“I asked to use you as a pillow?” her strangled voice came out. When he didn’t respond, Hermione immediately groaned. “Excuse me, I need to go dig myself a hole and bury myself in it.” Hermione carefully stood up, but immediately had to sit down again as Dr. Bay walked in with her cup of tea. Adham grinned and was about to ask Ardeth to elaborate on some of the finer details he had clearly left out. However, Terrence was very anxious to not discuss anything with the hysterical woman and thankfully; Adham was not able to extend his son and her embarrassment.
“So, Brother, what is to become of Laknah?” The mood immediately sobered.
“Banishment.” Adham held out the balm to Hermione, but she waved him off.
“Keep it. It will heal most injuries. For a rainy day… not that it really rains in Egypt.” Adham nodded his thanks.
“My men will still be following you, Miss Evans.” Adham said bluntly. Hermione took a sip of her tea unconcernedly.
“That’s alright. I enjoy their company for the most part,” Hermione smirked. “Not that the enjoyment is shared.” Hermione looked over at Ardeth. Something was niggling in her mind. “You look familiar? Have you followed me before?” Adham and Terrence began sniggering and Ardeth looked to the ceiling in frustration. Was one time not enough? Did Alla really take so much enjoyment from watching him humiliate himself in the same way over and over again?
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“Hermione!” Evelyn was hugging the life out of her and checking she was okay. Once that was ascertained, she smacked Hermione hard on the arm.
“OW! What was that for?”
“A week! You disappear for a week with only a written note delivered by Doctor Bay! I don’t see you. I don’t hear from you!”
“I was spending time with Harry and making sure that Mr. Handsy had time to leave Cairo before he got any more ideas. I didn’t leave my house once in that entire time,” Hermione rubbed at her arm. Evelyn pulled Hermione into another crushing hug.
“NEVER die in front of me,” Evelyn said tearfully.
“I’ll do my best,” Hermione said. Evelyn pulled back and stared at her emotionally. “Not to interrupt our… uh… moment, but I need coffee. Desperately. I ran out.” Hermione saw the flash of black in the corner of her eye… Still being followed.
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Ardeth had been antsy. He had been following Miss Carnahan completely out of sight for a week… and there was still no Miss Evans. Where was she? He was starting to become concerned. Had Laknah come back to finish the job? Was she lying dead in an alley with a crushed neck? He had rarely known the relief he felt when he saw her waiting for Miss Carnahan at the front entrance to the Museum. Ardeth was confident that at the very least, Miss Carnahan had no idea he was following her. He had been obsessively working on becoming invisible for the last two years. Miss Evans probably at least saw him partially still… but Ardeth WOULD be good enough to follow her unnoticed. Someday. His Father had left for the village after a few days of Miss Evans being gone.
“Let your Uncle know when she comes back… and until she pulls her usual stunts; keep following and listening.” In light of the nightmare both his Uncle and Father witnessed, Ardeth had shared what Miss Evans had shared when she was under the effects of the medicine. Even Uncle Terrance had been absolutely horrified, and despite still not knowing what exactly Miss Evans was; his Father had decided that Miss Evans was most definitely not a threat (at least not for now). It was just as much the information that Ardeth had gathered as the fact that Miss Evans had willingly saved the man that had tried to murder her. And, from Ardeth’s point of view, he was following her to make sure that Laknah didn’t come back.
It was shocking… that Laknah was no longer there. Ardeth had grown up with Laknah. He couldn’t believe that he was no longer going to join the guard with him. No more sparring. No more crude jokes (not that he would miss those), but… he couldn’t understand what exactly had happened. Ardeth was camped out on top of a nearby building overseeing the cafe that the two women always went to. The nice thing about Miss Evans being gone… Ardeth actually had a chance to learn the lay of the land and put research into how to follow her from this point and Miss Carnahan’s apartment from a distance. Ardeth could see Miss Evans trying to pinpoint exactly where he was. He thought he did a good job of staying out of sight, but many of the other Medjai had thought similarly just before she did something absolutely insane… and humiliating for them.
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“It’s nice that the men in black are no longer following us around,” Evelyn sighed peacefully.
“Yeah, sure,” Hermione snorted.
“What are you talking about? Don’t you like them being gone?” Evelyn asked, confused.
“I will answer when they are ACTUALLY gone. We’ve been followed this entire time.”
“That is not possible?” Evelyn said with disbelief. “I haven’t seen a single one of them.”
“He’s been following at a distance,” Hermione said simply. “I don’t know exactly where he is at this moment, but I’ve caught glimpses of him several times. He has definitely been practicing on you while I was gone. Probably learning your patterns. Getting used to hiding more effectively where you generally go.” Evelyn’s mouth dropped in disbelief.
“Are you telling me I was being followed this entire time… and I didn’t even NOTICE!” Evelyn yell whispered and was clearly scandalized. She began looking frantically around in paranoia. Ardeth watched in amusement as Miss Evans clearly clued Miss Carnahan into his presence. He smirked when she completely glossed over his hiding place. “What about the man who strangled you? Why aren’t you more worried?”
“They dealt with him,” Hermione shrugged. “Plus, my life would be very boring without them; don’t you think?” Evelyn scoffed in disbelief.
“I can’t believe you,” Evelyn said derisively.
“I like my habits… even when they are absolutely insane.”
“That’s a good word for it,” Evelyn muttered.
“So, what have you been reading in my absence?” Evelyn was clearly unimpressed with the change of topic, but began going over the manuscript she was working through on Socrates anyhow. Ardeth immediately perked up and grinned when he saw the women preparing to part. NOW was going to be the real test. He couldn’t wait.