370Daughter of the Desert
By Alexia Goddess
7-12-03
Epilogue
Someday
I wasn't Max anymore.
I was Tarah. Tarah, Tarah, Tarah. The Tarah that had kissed a king, the Tarah that had tackled the pharaoh from his horse, the Tarah that had punched an Egyptian noble, Tarah that had been a guest to the sun god incarnate on his private barge. Tarah –I just couldn't think of myself as 'Max' anymore. I just couldn't. Max had seen the world, but Tarah had held it, when she'd held the love of her king.
How did I know Tank loved me? I will counter that with another question- how could I not know? It was in every fiber of my being.
I had told everything to Kilimah that day when I'd woken up. Everything.
And paid for it.
Apparently one of the men my father had enlisted come along, the professional photographer, had felt it in my best interest to 'report' me to my father. Thus I had been confined to my tent for the remainder of the trip, my laptop taken, as was my satellite phone- not that I wanted to use either. So strong reminders of just exactly when I was…so far from where and when I truly wanted to be…
Yes, I've wondered countless times if it was all a dream…but then I can recall with startling clarity the sound of his voice, his laughter, his arms around me, his lips on mine… And then I look at the ring on my finger, feel his arms around me…
How could I possibly doubt?
I wanted to go back to the pyramid, to say goodbye at least before we moved on, but a man that had been placed outside to stand as nanny/guard wouldn't let me. I am ashamed to say I hardly tried. I was too afraid of what I'd see. Somehow I knew the words would be gone… No matter. I knew them by heart, anyhow. But still…
It was when we boarded the plan heading back for the US three days later that I began to know what depression was. It was when I looked out my window and saw the Nile and the Pyramids below, fast taking up their place behind us, that I fell into it, and fell hard. And I knew no pills, no drugs, no therapy on the planet could help me.
How long would it be before I came back out? If ever? I didn't really know. I only knew one thing- until I found Tank again, somehow, someway, I was as good as a walking corpse.
But someday…
Someday…
Somehow, halfway through the plane trip, ignoring all attempts at conversation and offers of pillows and food, barely blinking, I managed to drift off to sleep, slipping into that blank world of slumber that precious few have the willpower to manipulate.
I knew I slept. I knew he slept, too- for how else could we both suddenly be standing on that balcony, facing the grand Egyptian city I had come to love, his arms around me from behind?
We were dreaming, I knew. Both of us. Together. Our minds linked, somehow. Did we question it? No. We simply stood. I was clad as his queen, I knew. The finest of sheer silks. I felt, on my dream body, my clothing shift, twist, melt, reform until I was clothed to his satisfaction. I smiled slightly, leaning into his arms.
"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice teasing.
"Seeing what looks best on you," he told my plainly. "Such a gown will take a while to have made, and I want it fully ready for our wedding by the time you find your way back to me."
I turned in his arms, looking up into his face, hardly believing what my dream-ears heard. I searched his face, sinking deeper and deeper into those pools of ebony affection and love and truth. I saw nothing but raw passion and sincerity, feeding off his very soul.
On arm unwound itself from around my waist to take my left hand, the one with the sphinx and diamond ring on my left ring finger, and kissed it, then turned my hand over and kissed my palm, tenderly. Those kisses slowly made their way up my arm to my shoulder, then my collar bone, then the one of the hollows of my throat, his nose and lips nuzzling me there, holding me tight. Even in only a dream, my knees felt weak from his attention.
"I suppose," I murmured into the warm skin of his chest, the side of my face pressed into his shoulder, my entire form snuggled in his embrace. "that it is only fitting, that a sun-god incarnate marry a goddess." I looked up into his face, and saw my eyes reflected there. We saw each other.
So much a dream…and yet so very real…
He kissed me then, and it was every bit as wholesomely breathtaking as it had been in real life- in some ways more so, because we knew it was not real and it made us long for each other all the more.
We took our time- for dreams knew no time. Ever notice that? You sleep but an hour and yet your dreams span the space of days, weeks, months, years…eternity…
And so we spent eternity just standing there beneath the stars, overlooking a star kissed city, kissing every way. Soft and slow and warm, exploring and memorizing. Fast and hard and possessive, bruising. Tearful, pulling, longing. Sweetly suckling and caressing, melting…
And every single moment was as glorious as if we were joined by more than just our lips. If this was what it was to merely kiss him…oh, to be his wife in every way!
That was when the dream became a nightmare- I began to wake up.
Would we ever find our way to each other in our dreams? Ever? Somehow, my lips found his ear, and I whispered all I knew. Words and knowledge flowed from my mind and lips like water- I had to tell him all! Of the murder, of the suspects, the motives…he had to be prepared! I told him of how his was the one tomb that would go unmarred, how a bash to the skull was how he had gone…
"If you die before I find a way back to you," I told him harshly as I began to fade in his arms. "I will never forgive you."
"Save yourself for me," he told me, eyes intense as he held me closer, kissing my fading lips one last time. "Find me. I'll be here. I will search ever way I can to get to you."
"I won't give up." I told him. I choked…was there even air in a dream? "Someday…" I promised. He nodded.
"Someday. I love you, Tarah."
I awoke.
The window by my side had been closed.
I opened it, and gazed at the stars. Was he looking at those same stars now? No, how could he- he'd been dead for thousands of years. But did he, upon waking, seek for the moon and diamonds of the sky? Yes, he did…
I closed my eyes, savoring the one thing that kept me sane…
Someday…
Someday.
The End.
Don't kill me- hear me out. This is NOT the end.
After much deliberation *coughunderstatementcough* and struggling with myself over writer's blocks and just plain life, I've decided to make this a two part story. The sequel will be a bit more…eh, sci-fi-ish. I had the several next chapters written, but I loathed them. Thus never posting. I spent forever trying to get them to work. They just didn't fit. Same characters, entirely different 'feel.' It felt like an entirely different story.
So.
I made it a different story. ^_^ Go me. Watch for the sequel- Seductress of Time.
Yes, the title has a meaning other than sounding fancy and, I hope, alluring.
Hopefully you won't have to wait an eternity for the sequel, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful patience, coaxing, and support. It thoroughly overwhelms me every time I think about it. I really can't thank you enough.
Until our next meet.
Smile More, Dream Always,
Alexia Goddess
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All right, all right- here's a lil teaser. ~.^ Enjoy.
-Alexia
Four Years Later, Tank's Time.
"Well?" The boy king that was no longer a boy asked, standing from his crouched position, pausing his examination of a roughly etched map on the sandy floor and exchanging that task for the one of interrogating the man that had just entered.
"It was blocked, just like the others," the man scowled. The man had been one of Tank's lower ranking guards when he had been Pharoah of Upper and Lower Egypt. Now he was the right hand of a renegade king, outlawed by his advisor, now Pharoah by way of marriage to Tank's sister, the Princess Ankhesenpaaten.