Lazy Days (44 page)

Roth quickly dismounted, pulled the blanket more
securely around her, and lifted her to the ground. Holding her shoulders until
she was steady, he bent his head to the burqa and shouted above the wind.
"We've reached the Sacred Cave, thank God. The blowing sand will cover our
tracks and we'll stay sheltered in the cave until it dies down."

The Sacred Cave? She was going into a cave?

Placing one arm around her shoulders, and
grabbing the reins of the camel with his free hand, Roth guided them deeper
into the tenuous shelter of a looming boulder. The dark shapes of Tahnoon,
Zayed, and their camels awaited them. Tahnoon yelled at Roth and Roth yelled
back. His lips touched her ear again. "Zayed is staying here with the
camels while Tahnoon leads us to the cave."

When Roth grabbed her hand and started to pull her
forward, she resisted. Her effort proved futile against his determination. The
wind whipped her dress and she struggled to stay upright. She kept the burqa in
place with her free hand.

Finally, Roth paused in the shelter of another
boulder. A moonbeam broke through the clouds and she saw Tahnoon motion to
Roth. He turned to her and said loudly against her ear, "Don't move from
this spot. I have to help Tahnoon clear the stones from the entrance. Don't be
afraid. I'm not far away."

Before Rainey could respond, he was gone. The
moon disappeared again and the wind howled through the boulders. To keep from
shrieking with fright, she thought of one thing—her eagle. She closed her eyes
and envisioned him soaring above the shifting clouds in a calm night sky. In
her minds eye, he saw her too and dove through the tumult to land beside her.
He stretched a wing toward her.

Rainey felt a hand on her arm and jumped. Roth
had returned. He clasped her hand and pulled her forward. She followed him to
looming shapes and suddenly found herself enclosed within stone walls and out
of the wind. He reached and removed the burqa from her head, and then placed
something in her hand. Leaning toward her, he said, "I just gave you a
flashlight. Don't turn it on until I tell you. I'll return your burqa when we
leave. Now, I'm going to step in front of you and lead the way. Grab the back
of my robe."

Rainey felt for the fabric of his robe. Slowly,
he led her forward. The ground started a steep decline and she bumped into
stone walls on either side of her. Roth paused and flipped his flashlight on.
He turned and told her to do the same. They shuffled downward, their lights
casting gigantic shadows on the walls of the narrow stone passage and the air
grew stale. Eventually, the winding passage ended and they stepped into a room.
Rainey heard Tahnoon speak, his voice echoing. Roth pointed his beam of light
above Tahnoon's head to reveal a rough hewn ceiling. She shined her light
around the base of the walls.

They stood just inside a small chamber. Tahnoon
knelt in a posture of respect. He murmured what sounded like a prayer.
Afterwards, he arose and walked to the center of the square room. Roth also
knelt in respect and looked at Rainey. She read the message in his eyes and
knelt beside him. When he stood again, she did to. He followed Tahnoon to the
center of the chamber and shined his light on a bare side wall, and then on the
opposite wall, also bare. Impatiently, Rainey raised her light beam and hastily
flashed the back wall.
We've traveled two days to an empty cave.
She
wanted to laugh aloud. With all the secrecy, she had expected to enter a tomb
like Tutankhamen's. Roth said something to Tahnoon and he replied.

"Rainey, I was asking Tahnoon if this is
the only chamber, and he said yes. It looks to be about 15 by 15 feet.

"Yeah, and it's empty. Can we return to the
U.S. now?

"Rainey, shine your light on the back wall
again."

"There's nothing there, Roth." Rainey
raised her flashlight and Roth horizontally centered his own beam, moving it
across the stone from one corner to the other. Rainey stepped closer and
inspected the area.

The remnants of ancient hieroglyphs, etched
about a foot in height, spanned the width of the back wall exactly across the
center like a band. A closer inspection revealed barely visible colors of red,
blue, and yellow.

"Well, I'll be a…"

"Rainey, take my flashlight in your free
hand and shine both lights on the markings so I can snap some pictures. My
camera has a flash, but the extra light will help."

"You brought a camera?"

"Sure did. It takes videos too." Roth
handed his flashlight to her and retrieved a small camera from inside his robe.

She asked, "Does the Egyptian government
know about this? It looks to be very old."

"This chamber is known only to Tahnoon and
his tribe. They are the gatekeepers, and have been for centuries. It must
remain a secret. "

"Then how did you know about it and
convince Tahnoon to bring us here?"

"I can't reveal that. However, I can tell
you these hieroglyphs have been hidden for a reason. Within their translation
are revelations concerning the mysteries of sound."

"What! What does that mean?"

"It means we're going to take our photos
and video to an expert for translation. Perhaps it will aid in your own
work."

"Roth, that's crazy! How can hieroglyphs in
a cave in the middle of the Sahara Desert shed light on frequencies that have
the potential for restoring body organs?"

"Rainey, you may have a giant I.Q., but
sometimes you're not smart. Point the flashlights at the hieroglyphs, please."

She pursed her lips but did as requested. Roth
snapped several pictures from every angle and then videoed the hieroglyphs.
Tahnoon stood in the entrance and watched. The air grew clammy from the release
of their body heat.

"We're done." Roth turned to Tahnoon
and said something in the Bedouin's language, to which the tribe leader
responded and left the cave.

"Tahnoon's going to check on the weather
condition. Why don't you sit down, I know you're exhausted."

"Shouldn't he take one of our
flashlights?"

"He's a Bedouin, Rainey," Roth replied
as if that explained everything.

Rainey shrugged and shined her light on the hewn
floor. Not seeing anything objectionable, she sat with her knees drawn to her
chest and her arms wrapped around them. Roth sat beside her. He muted his
flashlight beam and switched hers off. A soft glow illuminated the chamber,
casting their shadows like ghostly figures from floor to ceiling. Rainey
shivered, but not because it was cold."

"Are you cold?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why did you shiver?"

"It's just that…it's kind of creepy being
in the belly of the earth in a room thousands of years old with giant shadows
snaking around the walls. Get my drift?"

Roth laughed. "I hadn't thought about it
like that, but yes, I get your drift. Why don't you lean your head on my
shoulder and rest?"

"No, I'm okay."

"If you say so."

Rainey closed her eyes and envisioned her eagle.

"Wake up, Rainey." She felt a tender
caress on her cheek and turned her head toward it. The caress repeated and she
looked up into the blue heat of Roth's gaze in the soft light. She blinked
once, twice, and then bolted upright, bumping into his chin.

"Whoa girl, it's okay. You fell asleep so I
laid you down and put your head in my lap. You've been out for at least an
hour. Roth stood and reached beneath her arms to help her up.

"I'm okay," she said, and shrugged
away from his touch.

He hesitated and then dropped his hands to his
sides. "Tahnoon said the wind has calmed enough to leave. We should go
quickly."

"Okay."

Rainey followed Roth to the entrance of the
subterranean room. Before they left, however, she turned for a last glimpse of
a chamber probably never seen by westerners—a sacred place claiming to hold the
mysteries of sound in its faded hieroglyphs.

Holding the back of Roth's robe, she ascended
the passage and reconsidered her
adventure
. An unexpected exhilaration
bubbled. She'd wanted freedom, and here she was in the midst of the Western
Desert, part of the vast Sahara Desert, about to mount a camel after leaving a
cave supposedly containing ancient secrets. She pinched herself.

The air freshened and cooled. Shortly thereafter
they were back in the open. Roth led her to the outcropping of rocks where
Zayed waited with the camels. He returned to Tahnoon to help camouflage the
cave's entrance once again.

After leaving the Sacred Cave and traveling
toward Bahariya Oasis, Rainey had expected the sway of the camel to lull her to
sleep. Instead, she found herself pondering the unexpected turn in her life
while staring into the dark night. Only occasional glimpses of terrain appeared
when winds pushed clouds aside for a moment or two. She envisioned her eagle.
Why
am I obsessed with this eagle?

The sun crested, causing the sand to sparkle.
She spotted a desert reptile speeding over a sand ripple. Pulling her blanket
tight, she edged closer to Roth's back.
I'll just absorb some of his body
heat until the sun warms the desert.
She laid her head against him and
finally dozed.

* * *

Roth felt Rainey shift position and snuggle.
Desert nights were bitter cold, but soon blistering heat would replace the low
temperature. He watched lizards scamper under rocks and an occasional insect
buzz around him, sunlight glinting off its wings. He longed to pray the Prayer of
Secrecy and join the desert life. Before he had honed the ability to meld both
creature and shapeling, the instincts of that creature had followed. As a lion,
he had hunted gazelles, as an eagle, he had snatched salmon from the river, as
a polar bear, he had killed seals. However, with his shapeling instincts
remaining intact, he now had no desire to kill, and would not do so unless
forced to.

Rainey pulled herself tighter against him and
distracted his thoughts. He pondered the co-Princes' claim that he had not
obtained mastery of being human? Had they recognized a distain in him for the
species? He often felt at a loss to overcome his ambiguous attitude towards
humans. At times, they proved heroic beyond belief; other times, cowardly. More
often than not, they sorely disappointed him, and he wondered at the shapeling
imperative to protect them.

After becoming an orphan before puberty, sorrow
had matured him beyond his years. The death of his parents while they protected
a child lost in the wilderness, had ended his naïve belief in the goodness of
all humans. He remembered the day Endesha had come to him with sad eyes,
placing a hand on his shoulder and cautiously choosing the right words. He'd
explained that Roth's parents, as wolves, had been killed by humans believing
the wolves meant to harm their child. Endesha had tried to make him understand
the humans had killed in ignorance, but the explanation had done little to
comfort him. The feelings of mistrust and dislike he now harbored had taken
root that day, which explained why he'd never wanted to shapeshift into a
human; and the co-Princes had intuitively known that. Being a shapeling, he
understood he had to overcome his ambivalence towards humans.

 Casting old memories aside, he thought about
their next destination. In the cave while Rainey slept, he had prayed the
Prayer of Connection and received one word,
Luxor.

The desert quickly warmed and he felt Rainey
remove her blanket, fold it, and place it between them. Other than infrequent
stops to take care of nature's call, Tahnoon intended to travel until early
evening before making camp and then rising before daylight, arriving at
Bahariya Oasis around noon. Their new route bypassed the Black Desert and
angled across a corner of the White Desert. After they reached Bawiti, Tahnoon
and Zayed would follow Roth and Rainey to their rental, where two of the
tribe's young men would be waiting with the Toyota 4x4. The young Bedouins
would return to camp on Roth's camel.

Roth hadn't told Rainey of their next destination.
Dealing with her reaction wasn't something he looked forward to.

* * *

Their caravan had not stopped to rest since
leaving the Sacred Cave. Rainey felt for the pouch of salve in her pocket.
She'd definitely need to rub it on her legs again. Shifting her weight, she
tried unsuccessfully to find a comfortable position. At least dozing all day
had made her temporarily oblivious to her discomfort.
How does Roth keep
going with so little sleep?

Their camel stopped and Rainey glanced ahead at
the kneeling beasts.
It's about time!
Her camel pitched and rocked and
she braced herself by grabbing Roth's shoulders. A combination of desert heat,
pain, and exhaustion had weakened her substantially. Dismounting was difficult.
She looked into Roth's eyes, silently asking for help. He lifted her from the
animal.

"We'll be home before noon tomorrow,
Soiuer
."

Rainey, too weak to speak, wondered at the
strange name he'd called her. He carried her away from the camel and braced her
against his body while he spread her blanket on the sand and then lowered her
onto it. The sun had dipped to the horizon and Rainey watched the men prepare
camp. Afterward, she hungrily accepted the nourishment offered. The cheese soup
and dried fish tasted heavenly. She'd lost weight.

Darkness descended and she lay in her tent on
the makeshift bed. Unable to open her eyes, even when she heard her name being
called, she drifted into dreams of secret caves, slithering reptiles, and
looming shapes. Overshadowing her dreams, a magnificent eagle soared and
protected her. The eagle had arms and hands and removed her clothing, massaging
and rubbing a soothing balm onto her legs.

* * *

Roth applied the last of the salve and covered
Rainey with a blanket. He watched her sleep. A slow smiled curled her lips and
he wondered what she dreamed of. Moving to his own pallet, he lay and stared at
the top of the tent. His superb shapeling vision traced seams in the fabric
with his eyes. The term
Soiuer
had unwittingly slipped from him earlier.
He rubbed his temples. Why had he addressed Rainey by that term of endearment?
It was a shapeling word reserved for shapeling lovers. He pressed his palms
into his eyes. He needed to complete this mission and move on as a Shapeling
Master.

He rose before sunlight and stepped from his
tent. Rainey's deep breathing evidenced her exhaustion. Humans were a frail
species, especially females. He gave her credit, however, for stoically
enduring their return to Bawiti. After being such a hellion on the journey to
the cave, she'd surprised him on this return trip.

He spotted Tahnoon standing near the camels and
walked to greet him. The elderly man bowed his head respectfully and then
smiled, before asking, "How is the woman?"

"Still sleeping. She certainly tested my
patience on the journey to the cave, but she's surprised me during this return
to Bawiti."

"Perhaps the Sacred Cave affected her
spirit. My tribe would guard it to the death."

"You said before that you do not know the
secret the cave protects. Have you ever wondered or tried to find out?"

"We know only that a great mystery is
recorded there. If it is the will of Allah for us to understand, it will be
revealed. For centuries, the cave has been under the protection of our tribe.
Even though you shocked me with your ability to change shape, I would never
have agreed to take you to the Sacred Cave had it not been for prophesy handed
down from my ancestors. I would have died by your hand before revealing its
location."

Roth chuckled, "I may have scared you to
death by changing into a viper, but I would not have harmed you. Can you tell
me about the prophesy?"

"Yes, my friend, it speaks thus: One day, a
man of unusual ability will approach the keeper of the Sacred Cave and request
access. The keeper will grant the father of a prince his request after
witnessing the impossible. The man of unusual ability will be accompanied by a
woman of great knowledge." Tahnoon paused.

"That's interesting, Tahnoon. Is there
more?"

"Yes, but you may not want to hear
it."

"Please, continue."

"The woman of great knowledge is the mother
of the prince."

Roth sucked a breath.
Impossible!