Chapter 11

Elizabeth looked out her hotel window in the early morning light and sighed. Cairo was just as she remembered it, the smell, the sound, the sight of it all. When Nana and Lina had told her of their desire to go to Cairo, Elizabeth had consented, but reluctantly. There were so many memories there that she was afraid she would turn melancholy. They had been in Cairo for two days now, and instead of being depressed, Elizabeth had the strangest feeling of coming-home and peace within her. Eleth was excited by his new surroundings and quickly made friends with the staff of the hotel. This morning they were all going to go shopping among the vendors that Elizabeth remembered so well. For some unknown reason, she had forgone wearing her usual English attire and pulled out her blouse, skirt and scarf that she had worn five years ago and put it on. Once again, she felt sinful for not having undergarments on, sticking true to the Medjai way of wearing the garment, but when Nana and Lina saw her in it, they ooh'd and ah'd and finally she felt comfortable wearing it again. Lina turned her this way and that, as she critiqued the garments.

"Well, it is definitely feminine, my dear, almost a little daring, if I do say so."

Elizabeth's smile faded. "Do you think I should take it off?"

"No! No, keep it on," said Lina with a smile. "The colour suites you beautifully. No wonder the Medjai chief couldn't keep his hands off of you!"

Elizabeth blushed and quickly got Eleth ready to go out. When they were all dressed, they headed downstairs and out into the morning sunshine.

"Everyone remember the name of the hotel in case we get separated," called out Lina as she walked on ahead.

Elizabeth stopped and looked down at her son. "Eleth, do you remember the name of our hotel?"

Eleth screwed up his face in concentration and then smiled as he remembered. "Bend the knees!" he said triumphantly.

Elizabeth laughed. "Well, that's close enough I guess! Ben'Zahnee, is how you say it," she corrected gently.

"Bend the knees," repeated Eleth dutifully.

Elizabeth shook her head in amusement and they joined the throng of people milling about in the dusty streets.

All morning long they wandered in and out of little alleyways, stopping at every vendor to see what was being sold. Eleth found a vendor selling local pastries and he pulled his mother away from Nana and Lina and towards the sweets. Elizabeth laughed at him.

"Eleth! If you eat a pastry now, you'll spoil your lunch!"

"Please mummy? Just one sticky bun? I promise I'll eat all of my lunch." He looked up at her, his dark eyes pleading.

Elizabeth looked down at her son in adoration. "All right, just one, and remember, you promised!" Elizabeth purchased the pastry that Eleth had picked out, letting go of his hand for a moment to pay the vendor, and when she turned back around to take his hand, he was nowhere to be seen.

The Medjai were tying down the last of the supplies onto their horses when the old warrior walked up to the dark chief.

"Why do you keep looking at the people in the street? You know she will not be there."

Ardeth looked at his grandfather and sighed. "I know that in my head, but my heart keeps hoping." He turned back to the mass of people, watching them as they hurried about their daily routine. Down at one end of the street a handler was having a difficult time containing a feisty horse, as it reared and bucked, making passers by stop and stare at the excitement it generated. His gaze left the wild animal and continued searching the street.

The old warrior looked at his grandson with pride and joy, knowing how close he had come to losing him. Ardeth had lived through that terrible night and had grown stronger as the days went by. Anara and Hamid had tended him vigilantly, never leaving his side for a moment, as they nursed him back to health. The worried villagers were tremendously relieved to know that their great chief would live, and offered many prayers of thanks to Allah, for His wisdom in saving their precious leader. The only part of Ardeth that had never healed was his love for the English woman. The old warrior sighed, realizing that it would take time for the young lord to find someone else, a long time. "The horses are almost ready to go. Is there anything else you need before we head back?" He waited for a response, but no sound came from the dark chief. "Ardeth?"

Ardeth didn't hear his grandfather's question, for he was mesmerized by a small boy standing in the middle of the street, crying for his mother. There was a familiarity about the child, almost as though he'd seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. "What do you think of that boy?" Ardeth nodded his head in the direction of the crying child.

Ardeth's grandfather turned to look, but the staccato sound of horse hoofs at the end of the street drew his attention away. "Ardeth, someone has lost control of their pack animal and it is stampeding..."

Ardeth looked at the horse, then looked at the child and realized the young boy was directly in the path of the wayward animal and would be trampled within moments. With a burst of energy, Ardeth ran towards the boy as fast as his legs could carry him, swooping the child up and out of harms way, just as the horse thundered past. Ardeth watched the retreating backside of the animal as he breathed heavily, being momentarily out of breath from the few moments of exertion, then he turned his attention to the child in his arms. The boy had dark, curly hair, almost down to his shoulders, dark eyebrows that framed large, dark brown eyes, a long, straight nose, square jaw line, and a full bottom lip. Ardeth couldn't shake off the strange sensation of having seen this child somewhere, but the memory of it, if there really was one, eluded him.

Stunned by his sudden change of location, the boy stopped crying. He stared at Ardeth's face, in awe of the fierce-looking warrior and having never been held in a stranger's arms before, as Ardeth carried him back over to his grandfather.

Ardeth searched his mind, frustrated that he couldn't figure out why this child was so familiar to him. The child reached up with one hand and began tracing the tattoos on Ardeth's face and forehead, while Ardeth's grandfather looked keenly at the handsome chief holding the small boy, and suddenly, it clicked.

"Ardeth," he said in a whisper, "this child...it is you!"

Ardeth looked at his grandfather in confusion. "What do you mean?" he frowned.

"He is the same as you were when this age," continued his grandfather in amazement. "The same hair, the dark eyes that were so intense, the strong jaw line, the full bottom lip..." the old warrior faded away as he compared the man and the child together. "Ardeth, I tell you, this is your son!"

"My son? How can that be, old one?" demanded Ardeth.

"You have sought comforts here in Cairo, have you not?" asked the old warrior, knowingly.

Ardeth frowned. "That was many years ago."

"How many?" pressed his grandfather.

Ardeth reflected for a moment. "It was before Elizabeth..." he said softly. Ardeth let his thoughts continue, wondering if he had left his seed within some harlot who had hidden this treasure from him. He looked at the boy's face and noticed he indeed had the same features as himself. "If this child is mine, then I will bring him before the council as my heir," declared Ardeth to his grandfather.

"It would probably be best if you brought the mother along also, for you will have to marry her," reminded the old warrior.

Ardeth scowled at that remark from his grandfather, having no wish to marry someone he didn't love, but he would deal with that later. The first thing was to find out if this truly was his son. He turned to the little boy in his arms and smiled, receiving a smile return. "Where is your mother?" he asked gently.

"In the hotel," replied the child confidently.

"Which hotel?" continued Ardeth.

The child thought for a moment, and then brightened as he remembered the name. "Bend the knees!"

"Bend the knees?" repeated Ardeth's grandfather.

Ardeth's eyebrows drew together in concentration, and then it came to him. "Ben'Zahnee," corrected Ardeth. "We will take you back to your mother, little one." They started walking in the direction of the hotel, which wasn't too far away, when Ardeth asked the boy another question. "What is your name?"

"Eleth," replied the boy confidently.

"Eleth, you will have quite a little adventure to tell your mother."

Eleth smiled big. "Yes! But I lost my sticky-bun in the street," he said, suddenly remembering the sad demise of his favourite treat.

"We shall get you another one, then." Ardeth gave Eleth an encouraging smile, and then turned to his grandfather. "I do not think he can be of a harlot. He has the accent of the foreigners, and I have only lain with..." Ardeth faltered in mid-sentence as it hit him. He stopped in his tracks and turned to his grandfather, who gave him a questioning look. "Tell me again, old one. Does this child truly look like me?"

The old warrior, not sure where Ardeth was going with this question, nodded his head emphatically. "I swear by Allah, he looks exactly as you did when you were his age."

Ardeth faced forward again and picked up the pace, his long legs covering the ground in smooth strides. His grandfather was mystified by Ardeth's sudden behavior and trotted next to him to keep up. "Ardeth? What is wrong?"

"Possibly nothing, but we shall see." His face was a mask of non-emotion but inside, his heart was beating wildly. The child looked like him but spoke like and Englishman. There was only one answer for that. Elizabeth was here, somewhere in Cairo, and this was their son.

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Elizabeth was frantic as she searched the streets for Eleth. One moment he had clung to her skirt and the next he had disappeared. She walked up to every vendor that she knew could speak at least a little bit of English, asking them if they had seen her small boy, but they all replied negatively. Finally, after an hour of search, she found Nana and Lina, and told them what had happened, while the tears streamed down her face. The three of them together continued the search but to no avail. Eleth was nowhere to be found. Elizabeth slunk to the ground as great sobs racked her body at the loss of her only child. Nana got down on her knees next to her and put her arms around her sympathetically.

"Come on, Elie, let's go back to the hotel. We can get the local police to help us search for him."

"I have to stay out here on the streets! He may be looking for me! He'll be so scared and alone..." said Elizabeth through her tears.

"Lovey, he might have gone back to the hotel. Remember, we told each other if we got lost to remember the name of the hotel, and he remembered it. He's a smart lad, I'll bet his sitting in the lobby eating, with the hotel staff waiting on him."

Elizabeth looked up into Nana's smiling face and remembered that Eleth knew the name of the hotel. "Yes, you're right! He might be there after all!" She got up with Nana's help and the three women ran as quickly as they could back to the hotel.

The milling throng of people frustrated Elizabeth, for they were so thick in some places that the women had to walk slowly and squeeze through the crowd before they could pick up the pace again. They turned this corner and that and soon, they were back on the familiar street where their hotel resided. Elizabeth pulled off her headscarf, which hindered her movements, and threw it back to Nana, racing on ahead in her desperation to find Eleth. She ran through the lobby doors but stopped short at the sight in front of her. There stood Ardeth and his grandfather, and in Ardeth's arms was their son, wearing Ardeth's turban and looking like an exact replica of his father. Elizabeth and Ardeth locked eyes in disbelief at seeing each other, shock mirrored on both of their faces. Elizabeth didn't even hear Nana and Lina come up behind her and gasp at the situation, for time seemed to have stopped for her.

Ardeth took a step towards her. "Elizabeth."

The sound of his low voice carried her back to five years ago and the last night they had seen each other, unlocking all of the pain and misery she had since hidden deep inside her, and suddenly, it was too much for her. Her eyes rolled up and she collapsed to the ground.

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