Chapter Text
It wasn’t unheard of for one of the Medjai tribes to host their allies, but until marrying Lysandra, it was a rare occurrence in Ardeth’s lifetime. Now, for the second time since Sekani’s birth, he had overseen arrangements for additional lodging for their visitors. The first suggestion was the barracks, as until now their allies would have been visiting men offering arms, until Lysandra reminded him that they would be hosting a group of women.
It had been just shy of four days since sending a summons to her compound in Cairo when the sentries signaled the arrival of an armed escort of Medjai leading twelve women into the village borders. Lysandra met them as they entered the village to welcome each with an embrace, touching their foreheads together in greeting. Ardeth offered his welcome with respectful distance, concealing his amusement at the shy giggles that escaped some of their younger guests.
There was a time when Lysandra argued with him when they had gathered their forces against the cult that some of the men among the Medjai were just children and had no place on the front lines. He argued they were of age, well-trained, and had sworn their oaths as any other Medjai. Now, as he watched three young women, girls, huddled together holding hands and whispering with hushed giggles, peeking at the strangers around them, he felt her pain. These were not the powerful witches he was expecting. These were shy children who were expected to protect his people against a curse designed to wither them to nothing.
As Lysandra continued to greet their guests, she suddenly gasped, caught him by the sleeve, and pointed to the two newcomers who had arrived uninvited among their guests. A tall man, dressed in light, airy expedition wear and a matching pith helmet, gave a nervous wave and fidgeted awkwardly under their gaze. Beside him, a blonde boy without an ounce of shame, smiled widely and ran to throw his arms around Lysandra, only to be blocked by their Medjai escort.
“Tell them to let him go!” Lysandra ordered, giving Ardeth’s sleeve one last tug before rushing to free Alex O’Connell from the guards. At their Chieftain’s order, the men stepped aside, and Alex launched into Lysandra’s waiting arms.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, looking up at Jonathan as she knelt to hug Alex. “And where are your parents?” she added, turning her attention to his nephew.
“They’re at home. I, uh, might not have told them I was coming. “
“You what?! ” she gasped. “Jonathan!”
“Now, let’s be reasonable. To be completely fair, I was not informed until we were well on our way already.” Jonathan held his hands up in surrender. “I sent word as soon as I was able. Rick knows he’s snuck off with me, and that we came here to see you.”
Lysandra gave a frustrated groan of disbelief and stood, hands on her hips, glaring at the Englishman before her. Though so much had changed since they had begun their travels together, Ardeth smiled to himself to see such a familiar sight as if nothing had changed at all. When she turned to face him, her expression softened, and she nodded toward the women gathered off to the side of their unexpected reunion.
“Can you handle this? I have to get them settled, show them around… I don’t want them to be as intimidated as I was.”
Ardeth glanced past her to the same three girls who were now whispering to each other and trying, albeit failing, to be discreet, while watching a group of young men make their way to the barracks after training. “Somehow, my love, I do not think that is what we must worry about.”
“Can you blame them? I fell in love with you pretty easily,” she smirked with a playful tug to his shirt before she turned in a whirl of skirts and scarves to guide her guests to their temporary home. Ardeth said nothing and silently motioned for Jonathan and Alex to follow him back to his home.
As much as he disliked uninvited and unplanned guests, Ardeth remained a gracious host, ensuring Jonathan and Alex were comfortable and well fed. He knew that Lysandra had not reached out to the O’Connells, and their arrival was far too coincidental after the events of the last several days for him to believe this was just a surprise visit from an old friend.
“Well, you see, we had a bit of an unexpected visitor ourselves,” Jonathan nodded. He gestured to his plate with an approving smile, “This is delicious, by the way,” he added.
“What kind of visitor?” Ardeth pushed, keeping the conversation on topic while Alex played with Bakri in the newly repaired children’s room.
“A gentleman from the Shield of the Shattered Moon.” Jonathan’s expression and tone sobered as he told the story of how he came to show up at his doorstep.
He had been visiting with his sister, listening to her ramble on about the newest artifacts at the British Museum and the work she was doing with them, when Rick answered a knock at the door. It was far too late in the evening for any conventional visitors, so the trio was already on edge when Rick answered the door to find a man in a formal suit greeting him with apologies and asking to be let in.
He identified himself as a friend, regretfully unable to share his name due to his assignment, but showed the shield and moon tattoo that identified him as a member of Frank’s order. He opened his briefcase and provided a stack of letters, writings, and rubbings from slate tablets for them to go over, and told them of the attacks from the cultists and how what was once thought to be unrelated crimes were actually interconnected and very well organized. He gave reports of a plan targeting Ardeth and Lysandra’s family directly, as well as the cult’s intent of raising the Black Army.
“We had agreed, between Evy’s work and Alex’s education, it just wasn’t the right time to be running about on another grand adventure to save the world. So, I volunteered to come offer what help I can. At the very least, offer another set of hands to it all, and here we are.”
Ardeth nodded toward the doorway separating Bakri and Alex from their conversation. “And the boy?”
“Quite literally a stowaway,” Jonathan admitted with a wince. “He had heard us talking as I was getting ready to depart, and stubborn as his mother, had decided it was best I not go alone. He wanted to help you as much as I do, and hid in one of my trunks with a supply of rations. I didn’t know he had followed until well into my trip, when he came bounding along the train car to sit beside me!”
“And you did not send him back to his parents?”
“Tell me, my good man, would you send your boy alone with all this? Cults and curses, and all? I thought as much.”
Meanwhile, Lysandra had a much more serene gathering on her hands. The women Eithne had chosen, Stella, Kaia, Katherine, Maria, Maeve, Eva, Adeline, Valerie, Anu, Frida, Cassidey, and Tori, sat with her in a circle in the temporary home provided to them. Tea, juice, and baked goods sat in the center as the women discussed the expectations for the coming weeks before they would each be sent to one of the tribes to intervene should any of the Medjai there be affected by the curse. Anu, the oldest of the group, would return to Cairo to pass the knowledge onto Eithne and serve as a practitioner assigned to the Medjai compound there.
The three youngest of the group, Eva, Adeline, who preferred to go by Addie, and Cassidey, were inseparable, sitting together and moving as a group during Lysandra’s tour of the village. Lysandra regretted Eithne’s choice to send them, knowing they would be separated when the time came to depart for their assigned villages, but she couldn’t deny their gifts as practitioners.
Lysandra led a ritual to create a sacred space within the upgraded campaign tent they shared, and helped them to unpack their belongings and turn empty canvas rooms into a temporary home. She had introduced them to Daneen, Haidya, and Rameen, and now sat enjoying refreshments together.
For Lysandra, hosting these women was more than preparing to protect her husband’s people from terrible fates woven by evil men, but a piece for her home and life before marriage reclaimed. She had spent countless evenings gathered in tents or cabins, surrounded by women of different backgrounds and clans, partaking in similar rituals hosted by her Old Oak. It was something she had missed, but had forgotten how much, and now she felt a reconnection to her old life as part of the clans and covens, deep in her spirit and soul.
“What if we aren’t fully prepared when someone has the curse?” Stella asked. An Italian woman who had stood on the battlefield beside Lysandra against the cult, Lysandra knew her to be a determined and outspoken woman who had argued for changes in the structure of the medical tents that ultimately eased the strain on their healers after the battle.
“You will be,” Lysandra answered with confidence. “The first time I did this, I had no tools and no guide for how to do it. I drew symbols in the sand with my fingers, stole Ardeth’s dagger from him since I didn’t have mine with me, and worked based on what felt right.”
She set a stack of papers in the middle of the circle for each woman to take. “I wrote out how I do it. This is what works for me, the ritual that I found, but you may find a way to do it differently that works for you. I didn’t ask for people who could copy what I did and imitate the motions. I asked for gifted practitioners, strong in your own rites. You have your own teachings and prayers; don’t be afraid to use them if it feels right.”
“Stones at the feet to draw the curse out, stones for the heart to invite healing, and a lot of prayer,” Maeve summarized, reading the page she had taken. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Blood sacrifice?” Cassidey questioned, looking up at Lysandra over her page.
“You’ll be fine; it’s just a little cut and a pool of blood to feed the spirits,” Kaia reprimanded, shaking her head while folding the page into a pouch she wore on her belt.
“It can be intimidating if you’ve never done it,” Lysandra nodded, validating Cassidey’s concerns and intervening before any feelings could be hurt. “Don’t worry, though, when the time comes, I know you, all of you, will be more than capable.”
“So, if there is so little for you to teach us with this ritual, why have us come here for training?” Tori asked, earning nods of agreement from the others around her.
“Oh, because I also wanted to make sure you’re prepared for living with the Medjai. They’re very different from the Grove of the Sun, and to be blunt, can be hard to live with. And I wanted to be available to answer any questions you might have while learning about the curse. It’s not just the ritual I have to prepare you for, but I need to teach you what to watch for, what to know about the curse itself and its history. For now, though, I’m going to go and let you all rest. If you need anything, you know where to find me!”
Lysandra made her way home escorted by Tariq, who served as her guard for the evening. Before she left him to enter her home, however, she slipped him a bundle of cloth containing sweet bread with berry jam. She was surprised to find Ardeth still at home. She had expected him to be out making his rounds with sentries and guards for their night watch.
“Before you say anything, Asim is taking your gifts to the men tonight. I have already sent him with them to be delivered.”
Lysandra looked to the table where she had packaged cookies for him to take that morning and smiled at the empty space. She gave Ardeth a kiss on the cheek as thanks and peeked into the boys’ bedroom to see Alex and Bakri sleeping sprawled across the floor together and Sekani sleeping peacefully in a makeshift crib, as she had not deemed his safely cleansed yet.
Jonathan, surprisingly, was still awake after his journey and lounged comfortably in their sitting area, sipping a glass of water. “I am sorry to drop in on you like this,” he said, raising his glass in greeting as she joined him at Ardeth’s side.
“No, you’re not,” she laughed, “don’t lie to me in my own home. We probably should get things ready for Rick and Evy, though.”
“You expect them to join us?” Ardeth asked, pouring her some water.
“If Sekani were older and ran away with Asim without telling us, do you think we wouldn’t go after him?”
“I think it would take an act of God to keep you from following him.”
“Exactly,” she nodded, chewing at her lip. She couldn’t imagine what they must have felt, finding his room empty, calling for him, and getting no answer. She had learned a little of their experience involving the Scorpion King when Alex had been kidnapped, and she knew it was terrible for them to endure. To think of them feeling that pain again tore at her soul.
“It’s not just that, is it, Andy?” Jonathan pushed, reading her expression just as easily as he always had.
“I got a message when I was with the others. From the other side,” she sighed. “Sekani, the uh, the spirit, not my son, he’s gone to protect Rick.”
“The ghost Medjai that’s followed you around?” Jonathan asked, missing the glare he earned from both of his hosts.
“Her guardian, yes,” Ardeth corrected before turning his attention to Lysandra. “What message were you given?”
“I… don’t really know, exactly. You know how it is; I get flashes - it’s like a memory of something, or an image. I saw Rick, and a flash like a flame or a spark, and then Sekani standing in front of him, guarding him.” She scrunched her face while recalling the images she saw during the ritual. “He was blocking whatever it was, but I don’t know anything more. Only that he’s gone to watch over Rick.”
“Then let us hope, wherever they are, the O’Connells have a safe journey and arrive with us soon,” Ardeth nodded and offered to prepare a bed for Jonathan until a better arrangement could be made.
Sleep didn’t come easily for any of them as worries for Rick and Evy’s safety, fears of the Cult’s plans against Ardeth and Lysandra’s family, and the vast tempest of unknowns brought a night of restlessness. Lysandra only found peace while listening to Ardeth’s heartbeat, watching through the doorway to see Bakri and Sekani sleeping soundly. Ardeth, reminiscent of the nights they had traveled together, slept lightly and stayed alert for any dangers. Jonathan lay awake most of the night, thinking about his sister and praying for her safety, and hoping to see her safe arrival soon.