by Clay, Verna
Rainey rounded on him. "I hope you’re just having fun at my expense, because it you aren’t, and we’re not staying at a decent hotel, I’m going to be more pissed than I already am. I will make your life hell, Mr. Beowolf!"
Roth ignored her barb and returned his attention to the view, enjoying the startling contrast of vegetation to sand; an Eden planted in the midst of a desert. He remembered the luscious trees of dates, lemons, mangoes, olives, and guavas, while the palms growing throughout the oasis enhanced an already exotic location. It felt good to be back.
When they entered the outskirts of Bawiti, Rainey started another harangue. Roth drove through the village, ignoring her outburst.
Yes, much had changed. The modern era had definitely encroached. He spotted a small hotel and pulled into the parking lot, grinning at Rainey. "Just kidding about the hotel."
She sputtered and jerked the handle of her door. It didn't open.
"Unlock my door!"
Roth laughed. "Rainey, we're not in a luxury vehicle, you have to unlock it yourself." She looked at her door and fumbled around before locating the lock and jerking the door open. Mumbling under her breath, she darted inside the hotel. When Roth entered, she stood at a small counter impatiently tapping her foot. "Hellooo," she called. The delicious smell of food wafted through closed curtains behind the counter. Roth sauntered over.
When he reached the counter, a young, turban-headed man brushed the curtain aside and welcomed them. "Hello, you want room?" he asked in English.
"Yes, please," Roth said, and pressed his hand into the small of Rainey’s back when she started to speak. "My wife and I would like a room for tonight, maybe longer." He gently pressed her back again to keep her silent.
"Good…good. I have beautiful room. You sign here and pay me."
Roth signed the registry with his free hand. The clerk handed him a key and pointed out the window to a room at the far end of the small, stone-built hotel. The voice of an elderly woman called to the young man from behind the curtain and he bowed politely before retreating back into the unseen quarters with the wonderful smells.
Rainey hastened out the door and walked in the direction of their room. Roth had no doubt the spitfire would share another piece of her mind with him before the day was over. He sighed and followed.
* * *
Rainey waited for Roth to unlock the door to the shabby hotel room before brushing past him and entering the bathroom, slamming the door. Never had she been treated with such…such…brutality. Well, maybe brutality wasn’t the exact word, but she'd decided to use it anyway. Of all the arrogant, egotistical, bullish, boorish, chauvinistic men she had ever met, Roth was a million times worse.
She looked in the mirror and almost shrieked. She looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. Portions of her mousey brown hair stood on end. Her eyes were puffy from restless sleep. Her skin looked splotchy. Her mouth felt like a sewer.
She reached for the shower and turned it full blast. Unfortunately, full blast was little more than a trickle and the water didn’t get any hotter than lukewarm. But that was okay, because the room was hot enough to bake bread. She thought of her luxurious bedroom at home and groaned.
After she'd showered and put her scummy clothes back on, she returned to their modest room. Refusing to use her finger as a toothbrush again, she marched over to her "kidnapper bodyguard" to make demands.
Lying on the only bed in the tiny room, Roth stared at the fan blades circling above his head. "Hello, Sunshine," he said, without looking at her.
"I need money. My father must have given you a wad of Egyptian cash."
"Have you ever heard the word, ‘please’? In fact, make that, ‘please, Roth’."
"I do not intend to play word games with you, Mr. Beowolf."
"Nor I, you, Ms. Childress. As I've said before, you can make this easy, or you can make it hard."
Rainey walked to the curtains and jerked them aside. Staring at the parking lot, but seeing nothing but the red in front of her eyes, she pressed her nails into the palms of her hands and forced the words, "Please, Mr. Beowolf, may I have some money."
"Close enough, Sunshine. Okay, let’s go shopping."
Late that night, Rainey rolled over for the hundredth time. Finally, she settled on her back, staring at the dim ceiling. Her nightgown made her overwhelmingly hot, but being in such close quarters with Roth, she'd deliberately chosen it because of its primness. She'd unbuttoned the top two buttons. Even though the weather had cooled, their hotel room remained stiflingly warm. She unbuttoned a third button.
The annoying rattle of the overhead fan kept her awake and did little more than move hot air. In an attempt to lessen her discomfort, she closed her eyes and visualized her eagle. For some reason, thinking about him comforted her. She didn't know enough about eagles to know a male from a female, but she sensed her eagle was male from its size. Intruding into her thoughts, Roth’s face and graceful body suddenly replaced her vision of the eagle. "Go away," she said.
"What did you say? There’s no one here but me," Roth said from his pallet on the floor.
"I must have been dreaming." Rainey unbuttoned another button and willed cool air from the fan to reach her.
"If you relax and accept the change, you might actually find yourself enjoying Egypt."
"Good night, Roth."
* * *
Roth listened to Rainey’s quiet snores. He longed to escape the confines of the room and slip into the night. He considered the various creatures he might shift into. His blood heated at the thought of soaring high above the Western Desert, part of the Sahara Desert of Egypt
Forcing himself back to the present, he considered their next step. He knew beyond a doubt it would be impossible for both of them to remain in this hotel room together. Rainey needed privacy, and he needed to escape and shapeshift at night. Tomorrow he would begin searching for a rental house, hopefully without neighbors and off the beaten path.
An owl hooted, and Roth’s restlessness increased. He stood and walked to the window, pulling the drapes aside. Staring at the full moon, he envisioned Fawn roaming the woods behind the Childress Estate. He thought about the few times they had met to speculate about their overlapping missions: his to protect Rainey, and hers to protect the laboratory. As with every mission, the Thirteen co-Princes had not revealed the entirety of the reason for their assignments.
Roth remembered his assignment to protect a photographer during the American Civil War. At the time, he had not been advised of the reasoning behind his mission; only that the co-Princes wanted the man to survive. It wasn’t until much later that he'd understood the significance of that assignment. The man, Matthew Brady, was later credited as being the father of photojournalism. It was because of him the horrors of battle were forever captured in photography as a reminder of the brutality of war. His photography had memorialized history for those coming after him.
Roth turned to look at Rainey and the moonbeam slanting across her chest. Her hair, fanned out in disarray, looked like a halo. A fallen angel, he mused. She had unfastened several buttons of her nightgown and her full bosom stretched the fabric tight, teasing his eyes.
He looked away and made himself focus on Fawn. She had tried to entice him. As wolves they had enjoyed each other intimately. However, he had never desired her as any creature other than a wolf.
He looked back at Rainey and felt an overwhelming desire to trace the "V" of her unbuttoned top. Jerking his eyes away, he stared out the window again and made himself deep breathe. He refused to entertain even the slightest thought of an encounter with Rainey. At that moment, he wished he had accepted Fawn’s invitation for a tryst.
While Rainey slept late the next morning, Roth used the time to read a two-day old newspaper he'd spotted stashed among a display of faded brochures in the hotel office. As a shapeling who had lived thousands of revolutions of the sun, he had acquired substantial knowledge of many languages. He flipped to the rentals' section whe
re only three ads captured his interest.
Returning to their room, he heard Rainey in the bathroom. The clothing she had purchased the day before lay strewn across the bed: slacks, skirts, blouses. After some frustrating visits to shops selling clothing more appropriate to Egyptian women, they had finally received directions to a women’s clothing store catering to tourists. She had demanded he visit another section of the store while she shopped for underclothing.
Curious, he opened the sack on her bed and pulled out lacey pink underwear. Glancing back at the drab array of outer clothing, he shook his head in bewilderment.
Using the landline phone in their room, he placed a call to the three rentals. One was already rented, and he made appointments to look at the other two. Rainey stepped out of the bathroom, her hair pulled back in its usual severe style. She wore a bland pair of slacks and a colorless blouse that made her pale complexion look lifeless.
"Well, Mr. Beowolf, what exciting plans do we have for today?"
"Well, Ms. Childress, I think we should go house hunting. Of course, if you prefer sharing a room with me, we can always stay here."
"Actually, Mr. Beowolf, I abhor being your roommate."
"Then the sooner we find a house, the better."
"My sentiments, exactly."
* * *
For Rainey, the first house proved to be a huge disappointment, and the second wasn't much of an improvement. But the thought of spending another cozy night with Roth convinced her to voice her opinion that they should rent the second house.
"Are you sure," he asked. "You must be desperate to escape my presence. However, the house does have advantages. It’s secluded, it’s semi-furnished with good lighting, fans in every room, and your room is next to mine." He smirked on the last advantage. "Yes, I guess we should rent it."
Rainey whooshed in relief. She wouldn’t have to spend another night with her stomach tied up in knots because Roth was sleeping so close to her. She refused to contemplate the ramifications of her stomach issues, however.
Thankfully, the house was clean and she made quick work of putting her few belongings into the one bureau in her bedroom. Next, she stowed her toiletries in the bathroom across the hall in a box she’d ripped off from the hotel trash can. She'd have to share the bathroom with Roth, and that grated like nails on a chalkboard.
By late afternoon, with their transition into the rental house complete, Rainey lay across her bed stroking a wet cloth over her face and arms, hoping the air movement from the overhead fan would give her some relief from the heat. Her eyes drifted shut. A knock on her door woke her. "Wh-what?" she croaked.
She heard the door creak open and then Roth asked, "You hungry?"
She opened her eyes to muted light. She couldn’t see anything. Then she realized she had fallen asleep with the wet cloth over her face. It was dry now. She brushed the cloth aside and looked at Roth standing in the doorway. Backlit by the late afternoon sun filtering through a hall window, the trick-of-light caused an aura affect to surround him. He looks like a freaking god, Rainey thought, and groaned aloud.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, fine. I’m hungry. Are we going out?"
"Yes, I saw a small restaurant not far from here. How long do you need to get ready?"
"Only a few minutes."
"Okay, knock on my door when you're ready."
Rainey sat on the side of her bed, rubbed her eyes, and threaded her hands through her hair. Smoothing her slacks, she changed into a fresh blouse, tossing the sweaty one onto a chair. It already needed to be washed. I wonder who does the laundry.
In the bathroom, she combed her hair into a ponytail, brushed her teeth, applied more deodorant, and rinsed her face in tepid water. Her small cache of makeup consisted of an eyebrow pencil, blusher, and pale pink lipstick. She applied a little of each, and then wondered why she even bothered. A final glance in the tiny mirror convinced her that she looked about the same with or without makeup. As if I care.
She met up with Roth in the small entry. He held the door for her and placed his palm at the small of her back, guiding her to the car. She got that strange feeling in the pit of her stomach again. Some wispy hairs blew across her mouth and she reached to smooth them back into the band. Roth opened the car door and she stumbled getting inside.
With the grace of a panther, he walked around the car and slid into his seat. Rainey watched his hands on the wheel, steering the vehicle exactly where he wanted it to go. She had a vision of his hands on a woman steering her… Stop it!
* * *
Rainey opened her bedroom door. She couldn't sleep. After eating at the tiny restaurant that had been characterized mostly by antagonistic silence on her part, they had returned to the house and gone their separate ways. She'd tried reading the novel the clerk had shoved in her face when she'd paid for her undergarments. For some unknown reason, she’d purchased the silly romance paperback with a half-man, half-animal hunk on the cover and a title of, TAMING THE BEAST. The subtitle read, CAN SHE TAME THE ANIMAL IN HIM? What a bunch of crap.
Tiptoeing to the door leading to the back courtyard, she turned the lock and slipped into the night. The air, now cool and refreshing, gave no indication of the overwhelming heat this part of the world was famous for. Lovely date palms graced the courtyard, but she scarcely glanced at their dark shapes. She walked to the edge of the bluff. Below, only a few lights braved the night. The oasis slept.
Rainey hugged the shapeless housecoat she’d bought against her body. The magic of Egypt was hard to resist. She looked beyond the oasis and out into the desert. Dark shapes of dunes stood sentry over mysteries buried in the preserving power of sand. Although she feigned disinterest whenever Roth spoke of the area, she knew from news reports that a cache of corpses, one of the most amazing discoveries ever found, had been uncovered near Bawiti.
She sighed and looked toward the sky, thinking about her eagle back home. As if conjuring him up, a dark form flew above her. It soared high enough that she couldn't discern details, but she could make out the magnificent wing span. Her breath caught. Although an impossibility, she wanted to pretend it was the eagle from home. Unexpected tears flooded her eyes and she blinked them away. How I wish it was you.
* * *
Roth shifted his wings and circled. Rainey stood directly below him, gazing upward. He caught a downdraft and circled lower. His eagle eyes saw a shimmer in hers. He wanted to land and listen to her revelations like he had done in the field of flowers; listen to the woman with her defenses down. He circled for ten minutes and she never took her eyes off him.
Movement a few feet from her distracted him. In an instant he dove toward it. He heard her gasp. Before it could strike, he slipped his talons and sharp beak into a deadly viper. Swooping over the edge of the bluff, he dropped it into the field below and flew back to Rainey. She held her hands to her cheeks and her mouth formed an ‘O’. He landed near one of the date palms and watched her hesitant approach.
"How can this be? Are you the eagle from home? It’s impossible. You must be another bird native to this area. Oh, my god, if you’re the same bird… I wish I knew. You saved my life. Oh, my god. I can’t believe this. I was just thinking about you, and then I looked up and saw you."
Roth suddenly took to flight. Her innocence touched something in him he didn’t want touched. It made him want to pray the Prayer of Secrecy and reveal himself to her, but that was impossible.
Chapter 7: Finding Tahnoon
Roth eased back on a worn chair in the courtyard, lifting his face to an Egyptian sun. Earlier that morning, he’d slipped out while Rainey slept. After a few inquiries of people working the orchards, he’d located a wizened old man whom the natives said might know the whereabouts of the Bedouin tribe he was seeking. Physically, the old man appeared frail, but his eyes were alert and wise. After assessing Roth, he’d used his cane to draw a map in the sand showing a possible location of the tribe.
Roth listened as a s
light breeze ruffled palm fronds. It was the kind of day he needed to accomplish his task. He could soar as an eagle and see for miles, and hopefully locate the Bedouin tribe quickly.
Stretching and crossing his long legs, he rehashed the events of the previous night. After abruptly flying away from Rainey, he’d circled high above their rental until she'd returned to the house. Even now, he couldn't believe he'd wanted to reveal himself to her. Shaking his head at his lapse in judgment, he glanced across the courtyard, expecting her to appear shortly. Although she’d been up late—no telling how long it had taken her to fall asleep after her encounter with the eagle—it was now mid morning.
Absently, he drew designs in the sand with the heel of his boot and pondered his dilemma. He didn’t want to leave Rainey for any extended length of time because of her tendency to find trouble. As her bodyguard, her safety depended on him night and day.
The squeak of the door drew his attention. The object of his thoughts, wearing another version of bland slacks and prim white blouse, entered the courtyard. He could see the excitement in her eyes, although she feigned a look of boredom. She yawned and sat in the chair beside him.
"Good morning to you, too, Sunshine," he greeted.
"Please stop calling me that. What are we doing for breakfast?"
"I thought we’d try out the kitchen. Cook something up. You do know how to cook, don’t you?"
"Not really."
"Are you telling me you've received the highest education possible, with enough diplomas to plaster a wall like wallpaper, and you can’t cook?"
"I was too busy getting my diplomas to acquire that skill."
"Well, then, I guess it’s about time you learned. We stocked up on supplies yesterday. How about something easy? You know, taking baby steps until you can grasp the complexity of the culinary art—what about toast?"
"Very funny. I think I’ll watch your mastery of the art. Now, to change the subject, remember when I asked if you knew anything about eagles?"
