Morgyn Leri (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
morgynleri) wrote2007-02-05 02:50 am
morgynleri) wrote2007-02-05 02:50 am
Entry tags:
A Long Journey Home
Title: A Long Journey Home
Word Count:
Status: In progress
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG13
Commentary: Any.
Notes: Watched The Mummy again. Watched most of The Mummy Returns. Remembered why I watch them at all. *sighs* Yummy Ardeth. Rick and Evy aren't too bad, either. Imhotep and Anck-su-namen are good looking, but they have issues they need to deal with. So does the level of cultural accuracy... Anyway. Read, if you're interested. Enjoy, I hope.
Note 2: Will be updating this post until I work on something else to post, so...
Note 3: Wherever there are italicized words in quotations, these are words translated from a language the POV character doesn't understand.. ie. Sale'ah's language for Ardeth, pretty much anything anyone else is speaking for Sale'ah, in the beginning, at least. Subtitles, as it were.
A Long Journey Home
The first thing Sale'ah noticed as she roused was the heat. Dry, like the deserts she once called home, before the demons had come to torment them. Welcome as a journey back to her own world would be, if she had the chance to but achieve it.
A chance she doubted she would, if this world held as little technology as her own. Prying open eyes that felt glued shut, she struggled out of the chair that had sheltered her as the stolen pod had crashed through the atmosphere.
Sunlight poured through a gash in the hull, sand trickling through it, driven by a gentle breeze. Sale'ah raised her hands, tilting her head back as she murmured a heart-felt thanks to the gods for delivering her from her masters onto a world so fine. Even if she died here, she had seen open sky once more, a sight she barely remembered, held so long in the metal cage of the ships.
Humming, Sale'ah gathered the items she had managed to steal on her way to the pod. A wide swath of fabric that once hung across her master's sleeping alcove, a carry-bag of water that held as much of her ration of water as could be spared over the last month, and the tiny carving her mother had pressed into her hands when the masters stole her away. Her personal protector, sent by the gods to guide her to her path.
She climbed from the wreck of the pod, wriggling through the half-buried hatch, spitting on it once she stood on the shifting sands that had cushioned her fall to earth. "Gods be blessed, you have served your purpose. May your masters find nothing more of you than of me."
Wrapping the fabric around her head to hide her skin from the blazing sun, she turned to walk from the wreckage, her shadow a small pool of inky black in front of her as she trekked over the sands. Gods be praised, she could only hope the demons never found her here.
~ ~~ ~
Ardeth looked out over the desert with a faint frown on his face. A star had been seen crashing to the earth three nights before, close to the sunken ruins of Hamunaptra. Brighter than anyone could recall a falling star being in the past, perhaps an omen of some ill tidings. Ill tidings or no, he knew something waited in the desert, ever since the star had fallen. Something or someone.
A glint caught his eyes, and his frown deepened as he nudged his horse forward, his gaze drawn towards movement on the dunes, a figure sliding down the near side of one in an akward motion that spoke of someone unaccustomed to the desert, or parched from lack of water. He nudged his horse into a gallop, approaching the figure quickly.
The figure, a woman, let out a frightened yelp, dropping to the sand to cower there with upraised hands. Delicate hands, fine-boned and pale, with slender wrists bared by the sleeves of the strange jacket she wore. A scarf wound around her head, hiding her face, even as the rest of her clothing hugged curves that no woman of the desert would reveal.
"Who are you?" Ardeth reined his horse to a stop, imposing himself between her and the sun so she could look up at him. He met the gaze of a pair of fearful and confused brown eyes, peering up at him from between layers of veil. "Where did you come from?"
She shook her head, a chaotic babble of sounds coming from her, dropping her gaze once more to study the sands at the feet of his horse. Or rather, the hooves of his horse, reaching out to touch the dainty hoof nearest her, the mare snorting and shifting slightly under him. The woman drew her hand back, still crouching in the sand, her manner reminding him much of a beaten dog.
"I will not hurt you." Ardeth switched languages from Arabic to English, hoping she might understand that language.
Again, she showed no sign of understanding what he said, and Ardeth let out a soft sigh, sliding from his horse with the hope that she might feel more comfortable with him on the ground. She flinched when he reached out to pull her to her feet, fear momentarily flaring before it gave way to surprise. As if she'd expected violence, or anger from him, not kindness.
"What is your name?" He fell back into the comfortable cadance of Arabic once more, even though she didn't understand.
She looked down, her hands at her sides curling briefly into fists, as if trying to bring emotions under control. The silence stretched out for a long moment before she let out a soft sigh, and brought a hand up to touch her chest. "Sale'ah."
Ardeth met her gaze as she looked up again, an inquiring light in her eyes. "Ardeth Bey. Where do you come from, Sale'ah?" He gestured to the desert around them, raising his eyebrows slightly.
Sale'ah tilted her head slightly, keeping her tone quiet as she spoke, looking up as she pointed towards the sky. "I come a long distance. That is what you ask?"
Ardeth felt a chill go down his spine despite the blazing sun. Perhaps the fireball streaking across the sky the night before hadn't been a falling star, but if not, what had it been, to bring this woman, who spoke no language he'd heard spoken, to the desert?
Scene 3
Word Count:
Status: In progress
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG13
Commentary: Any.
Notes: Watched The Mummy again. Watched most of The Mummy Returns. Remembered why I watch them at all. *sighs* Yummy Ardeth. Rick and Evy aren't too bad, either. Imhotep and Anck-su-namen are good looking, but they have issues they need to deal with. So does the level of cultural accuracy... Anyway. Read, if you're interested. Enjoy, I hope.
Note 2: Will be updating this post until I work on something else to post, so...
Note 3: Wherever there are italicized words in quotations, these are words translated from a language the POV character doesn't understand.. ie. Sale'ah's language for Ardeth, pretty much anything anyone else is speaking for Sale'ah, in the beginning, at least. Subtitles, as it were.
The first thing Sale'ah noticed as she roused was the heat. Dry, like the deserts she once called home, before the demons had come to torment them. Welcome as a journey back to her own world would be, if she had the chance to but achieve it.
A chance she doubted she would, if this world held as little technology as her own. Prying open eyes that felt glued shut, she struggled out of the chair that had sheltered her as the stolen pod had crashed through the atmosphere.
Sunlight poured through a gash in the hull, sand trickling through it, driven by a gentle breeze. Sale'ah raised her hands, tilting her head back as she murmured a heart-felt thanks to the gods for delivering her from her masters onto a world so fine. Even if she died here, she had seen open sky once more, a sight she barely remembered, held so long in the metal cage of the ships.
Humming, Sale'ah gathered the items she had managed to steal on her way to the pod. A wide swath of fabric that once hung across her master's sleeping alcove, a carry-bag of water that held as much of her ration of water as could be spared over the last month, and the tiny carving her mother had pressed into her hands when the masters stole her away. Her personal protector, sent by the gods to guide her to her path.
She climbed from the wreck of the pod, wriggling through the half-buried hatch, spitting on it once she stood on the shifting sands that had cushioned her fall to earth. "Gods be blessed, you have served your purpose. May your masters find nothing more of you than of me."
Wrapping the fabric around her head to hide her skin from the blazing sun, she turned to walk from the wreckage, her shadow a small pool of inky black in front of her as she trekked over the sands. Gods be praised, she could only hope the demons never found her here.
Ardeth looked out over the desert with a faint frown on his face. A star had been seen crashing to the earth three nights before, close to the sunken ruins of Hamunaptra. Brighter than anyone could recall a falling star being in the past, perhaps an omen of some ill tidings. Ill tidings or no, he knew something waited in the desert, ever since the star had fallen. Something or someone.
A glint caught his eyes, and his frown deepened as he nudged his horse forward, his gaze drawn towards movement on the dunes, a figure sliding down the near side of one in an akward motion that spoke of someone unaccustomed to the desert, or parched from lack of water. He nudged his horse into a gallop, approaching the figure quickly.
The figure, a woman, let out a frightened yelp, dropping to the sand to cower there with upraised hands. Delicate hands, fine-boned and pale, with slender wrists bared by the sleeves of the strange jacket she wore. A scarf wound around her head, hiding her face, even as the rest of her clothing hugged curves that no woman of the desert would reveal.
"Who are you?" Ardeth reined his horse to a stop, imposing himself between her and the sun so she could look up at him. He met the gaze of a pair of fearful and confused brown eyes, peering up at him from between layers of veil. "Where did you come from?"
She shook her head, a chaotic babble of sounds coming from her, dropping her gaze once more to study the sands at the feet of his horse. Or rather, the hooves of his horse, reaching out to touch the dainty hoof nearest her, the mare snorting and shifting slightly under him. The woman drew her hand back, still crouching in the sand, her manner reminding him much of a beaten dog.
"I will not hurt you." Ardeth switched languages from Arabic to English, hoping she might understand that language.
Again, she showed no sign of understanding what he said, and Ardeth let out a soft sigh, sliding from his horse with the hope that she might feel more comfortable with him on the ground. She flinched when he reached out to pull her to her feet, fear momentarily flaring before it gave way to surprise. As if she'd expected violence, or anger from him, not kindness.
"What is your name?" He fell back into the comfortable cadance of Arabic once more, even though she didn't understand.
She looked down, her hands at her sides curling briefly into fists, as if trying to bring emotions under control. The silence stretched out for a long moment before she let out a soft sigh, and brought a hand up to touch her chest. "Sale'ah."
Ardeth met her gaze as she looked up again, an inquiring light in her eyes. "Ardeth Bey. Where do you come from, Sale'ah?" He gestured to the desert around them, raising his eyebrows slightly.
Sale'ah tilted her head slightly, keeping her tone quiet as she spoke, looking up as she pointed towards the sky. "I come a long distance. That is what you ask?"
Ardeth felt a chill go down his spine despite the blazing sun. Perhaps the fireball streaking across the sky the night before hadn't been a falling star, but if not, what had it been, to bring this woman, who spoke no language he'd heard spoken, to the desert?
Scene 3