12. The Heart of Babylon, Part 2 (Drabble 29)
Title: The Heart of Babylon, Part 2
Author: lastglances
Drabble: #29 by IJ's dirtylttlescret
Notes: Set anywhere between the mid-1920s and late 1930s; Brian Kinney is a retired ad man in search of the Heart of Babylon, an ancient jewel said to be imbued with unspeakable powers. He has two problems, however: to find it he needs Justin Taylor, a down on his luck Egyptologist, and he soon realizes he's not the only one after the jewel, or Justin. There is minor character death but nobody you’d really care about.
Part Two
Justin rubbed his hands together at the chill that had settled over their campsite since the sun set. He was standing at the entrance to the cavern, which Brian had prepared throughout the day while Justin and Hakim whiled away the hours at camp.
It was a beautifully carved door, trees and flowers entangling together in sandstone and semi precious jewels. Justin pulled a brush from his tool kit and expertly cleaned away a tree at the bottom of the door. There were runes carved along the trunk. He looked at them with curiosity but said nothing.
“Ready, Hakim?” Brian said as he walked over from the campsite.
Justin turned to look at him and Hakim lifted his torch high so he and Brian could lock eyes. Brian had changed. He now wore a pair of tight black pants tucked into tall dark brown boots. A white shirt made of light fabric was draped over his lithe chest. Justin wanted to pull away the black undershirt he wore and kiss the soft skin it would reveal.
“Yes, Mr. Kinney.” Hakim moved the torch once more, throwing light across Justin’s frozen expression.
“Are you alright, Justin?”
“Yes,” Justin choked out after a few more moments of looking Brian up and down.
“Good. You’re not looking too bad yourself.” He gave Justin a half smile before handing a digging bar to Hakim. “Justin, hold the torch while we break the door in.”
Justin did as he was told, standing over the door as Brian and Hakim dug the heavy bars into the side of the door and levered this way and that. It was several long minutes before the soft hiss of sand seeping down like an hourglass alerted them that they were in. With a swift kick from Hakim and a grimace from Justin, the door broke apart.
All three stared into the hole, a dark endless passage that seemed to breath back at them.
“How exactly do we get down?”
Brian and Hakim shared a look before giving Justin a dumb expression. “You act like you’ve never been in a tomb before," Brian said, looking at Hakim with a smile.
“This is a tomb?” Hakim squeaked. He still had his ancestor’s old superstitions.
Brian sighed, placing his hands on his knees before heaving himself up into an upright position. He mumbled unintelligibly as he dug in one of the packs by his side for a long length of rope.
Justin gave Brian some light as he hammered a steel ring into the side of the doorway. Tying the rope to it, Brian threw the rest down. It slithered like a snake; the faint snap of it hitting ground following a few moments later.
“Any takers or should I just be the man and let you ladies follow?”
Justin thrust the torch at Brian, who yelped as it edged towards his face, and rubbed his hands together once more, not taking his eyes off the other man who looked at him with amusement. “Watch a professional,” he said. Easing himself into the entrance, Justin gripped the rope and began to climb down into the unknown.
His feet touched hard ground quicker than he thought he would. Everything was cool and dark around him. Looking up, Justin saw the torch a few yards up.
“What is it like down there?” Hakim shouted, waving the torch down towards Justin.
“How would I know?” Justin yelled back. “It’s pitch dark!”
“There’s no need to shout,” Brian admonished as he too lowered himself down. Justin took a few steps back to allow Brian room. When he looked around, Justin focused on anything.
“Jesus,” Brian whispered, “it’s cold as hell down here.” He rubbed his arms a few times before calling up to Hakim to lower their supplies. They spent the next hour situating the packs and gauging their location on the map before Hakim finally joined them. For all of Brian’s bravado, Justin enjoyed their close proximity. Brian’s breath on his cheek was a comfort.
Taking one last look at the night sky, Brian, Justin, and Hakim continued down the passage each with a torch in hand. The weight on their backs was only a slight hindrance and Justin liked that the exertion warmed him as did Brian, who walked in front. Justin could trace the muscles in his forearm as he held the torch aloft, seeing what kind of architecture surrounded them.
“When is this thing going to end?” Justin whined after half an hour of walking and finding nothing but dark, dry walls around them. Brian stopped, sending Justin and Hakim tumbling into his back. He took a step forward, gave them both an annoyed look, and smiled.
“Now,” he explained cryptically, tucking the map into a pouch he wore around his neck. “We’re here.”
“Where?” Hakim demanded, stepping in front of Brian and waving his torch back and forth. “All I see are more damned walls!”
Shoving Hakim aside, Brian walked towards the wall to their left. It was obvious to them all that they were now in a large chamber as opposed to the cramped passageway. They all felt left less claustrophobic and the air around them was warmer, less oppressive.
Fitting the torch in a vacant spot on the wall, Brian stood back with his arms still raised towards the torch. After the space of a breath, a line of torches running along the wall and away from them burst into a sphere of warm light. They now saw that the passage was still a passage but wider and curved down. And to their left wasn’t another wall but an abandoned atrium containing items none of them had ever seen.
Jewels glittered in Justin’s eyes as he stumbled like a sleepwalker towards the atrium. Hakim and Brian stood back with looks of wonder on their sweaty faces.
“Gems!” Justin exclaimed, throwing his arms wide as he tried to take everything in at once.
The atrium was filled with trees and exotic plants and flowers only they were constructed of gems, not leaves and bark. Every facet glowed beneath a layer of cobwebs. Justin took a cloth from his pack, wet it with some water, and rubbed away a layer of grime from a fern.
“Emeralds,” he whispered. “This fern is made of emeralds.” He stumbled to his feet, hands and dirty cloth raised to his head in speechlessness. “This is…”
“Fucking incredible,” Brian boomed.
Hakim laughed, setting his pack on the ground and stretching. “That is one way to look at it.”
Brian stepped towards Justin, casting his honeyed gaze across the atrium that seemed to stretch for miles. Myriad colors washed across them both: blood red rubies, diamonds as white and pure as freshly fallen snow, onyx dark and heavy as sin. Their fingers itched to touch everything.
They had been in the Gardens only an hour and already Brian had forgotten about the Heart. He seemed more captivated by the atrium and Justin standing only a foot away. Hakim putting his pack back on and adjusting the straps woke him from his reverie.
“If this is only the first level,” he mused, “imagine what the ones beneath must look like.”
Brian and Justin both looked back at him, their eyes growing wide at the possibility of that thought.
“We should go,” Justin suggested, looking at Brian with an ecstatic grin on his lips.
“Yeah,” Brian agreed, finding his eyes settling on Justin’s mouth. “Yes, we should.”
Justin’s hands found themselves on Brian’s chest, pushing him away playfully before joining Hakim as he began to walk down the new passage.
Brian watched them walk away, Justin turning his head once or twice to give Brian a half look. Shaking his head of the thoughts that were clouding his judgment, Brian pressed his palm to the pouch around his neck. Opening his eyes, he remembered what he was here to find and then followed the pair as they made their way deeper into the Gardens.
-
They had been walking for hours and Brian, exhausted as well, finally allowed them a moment’s rest. Easing their packs down and drinking some water from their canteens, the trio looked around. The second level down was flooded with light, torches in sconces burning on every wall. This chamber expanded beyond the walls of the first and they found themselves surrounded by glittering trees and stone trellises encrusted with jewels.
“This is far beyond anything I had expected,” Hakim said, staring at the ceiling and slowly lowering his gaze until he was staring between Brian and Justin at a patch of paradise drowned in shadow. “Not that I am complaining,” he quickly explained, opening his canteen and taking a deep drink to mask the awkwardness that followed.
“When do you think we’ll reach the Heart?” Justin capped his canteen and dug his heels into the ground, running them back and forth until two identical furrows were revealed in the hard packed earth.
Brian shrugged, reclining on the ground and using his pack as a pillow. “At the pace we’re going, tomorrow night maybe.” His brow furrowed as he thought some more. “Although I can’t really say since I don’t know what time it is. It could be midday for all we know.”
The ceiling seemed to fall in on Justin. No one had any idea where they were; if something happened, they would all die. His breath growing labored, Justin eased himself down and covered his face with his hands.
“Are you okay?” Hakim asked, leaning across the space between them to shake Justin’s leg.
Justin breathed heavily several more times before finally lowering his hands and looking at Hakim and then Brian, who had fallen asleep. “I’m…fine.”
“Good.” Hakim smacked his leg and went back to his own area.
“Hakim,” Justin ventured. “Where exactly did Brian find you?”
“I am Egyptian,” he explained. “I used to be in the army but when I got out, I found myself with no place to go. I knew no one outside of the army. I met Brian when he was there on research.”
“When was that?” Justin wanted to know all the things that Brian wouldn’t tell him.
“About five years ago,” Hakim answered. He opened his pack and withdrew a short scabbard. Justin watched his every move as he withdrew a highly polished blade. Next he removed a small whetstone. Setting both in front of his crossed legs, Hakim looked back to Justin.
“And how come I didn’t see you until you drove us down from Fallujah?” Justin raised an eyebrow in question before narrowing his eyes.
“I had some business to attend to in Fallujah. There are other men that Brian works with. I’m certain you met them on the boat to Beirut.” He slowly drew the blade across the whetstone. “I am the only one that Brian trusts so I am here with the two of you.” He looked from Justin to Brian who was now awake and staring at the dark ceiling overhead. “Do you hear something?”
Brian ignored the urgency in Hakim’s voice. “No,” he said blandly as he sat up. “We should get a move on. I say we explore the rest of this level and move onto the next before calling it a night…or day or…” He waved the thought aside and stood. Holding out a hand to Justin, he pulled the young doctor up.
Justin went ahead of them and Hakim pulled Brian aside. “You looked distracted.”
“I am,” Brian admitted. “He’s here.” His eyes shot towards the sky they couldn’t see. “He wasn’t supposed to make it this far, Hakim. I sent you ahead to Fallujah to…”
“You said kill his men,” Hakim interrupted, “not him.” He looked at Brian with a mix of anger and shame.
Brian rolled his lips into his mouth and stared after Justin. “That I did,” he agreed.
“What do we do?” Hakim, despite his intimidating looks, could act like a child before Brian’s hidden wrath.
Brian shook his head. “We just hope he doesn’t get to the Heart before we do.”
“Aren’t you two coming?” Justin called, peering around the curve of the atrium. He looked happy but tired. Brian knew they couldn’t walk much longer without a few hours of sleep. Telson was probably blasting his way through the first level while they were standing around on the second.
“Yeah,” Brian called. He slapped Hakim on the back before turning towards the area where Justin was eagerly uncovering more unique pieces of foliage.
“What an exquisite ruby,” Justin sighed as he looked at a jewel sitting on a wide, flat leaf. He bent down to examine the gem, immediately realizing that it was crafted into a large spider. Its abdomen and thorax were made of a large carved ruby and its legs were expertly bent wire, delicately studded with crushed hematite.
Just as Justin leaned closer, the spider rose on its legs with a spitting hiss.
A loud shriek filled the chamber and Hakim and Justin both turned to Brian as the spider lowered itself into a prone position and stared vacantly, its many eyes blinking madly after being woken from its long sleep.
Brian looked at the other two with a hand over his mouth. Lowering it slowly and licking his lips, Brian wondered how quickly he could come up with an explanation that was remotely believable.
“I had no idea you could scream that…” Justin began before Brian’s hand was clenched around his lapel and pushing him against the nearest wall.
"I will throw you into the nearest abyss if you mention that to anyone,” Brian hissed, his voice deliberately lower than usual.
"I wouldn't dream of it,” Justin replied, coughing into his hand a bit and rolling his eyes.
Hakim watched this exchange with amusement. When Brian and Justin moved away, Hakim looked at the spider. It stared back at him with glittering onyx eyes. After tickling its thorax, he followed the other two as they continued to deny and make fun of Brian’s girlish scream.
-
The third level proved to be much bigger than the first two but no different in terms of wonder. It was just as jewel encrusted and Justin actually got tired of marveling over jewel flower petals and precious metal trees. They had yet to encounter any animals made from rare jewels, although Justin found the possibility of finding a tiger carved from tiger’s eye rather unlikely.
They walked to one of the farthest corners of the third level, building a fire in an alcove away from the plants and trees, if they could be called that, and surrounded by piles of stones that had been dumped their by the workers as they finished the subterranean gardens.
“I wonder who built this place and why,” Justin mused, tugging at a piece of dried meat and being unsuccessful. He cut it into smaller pieces with a knife Hakim had provided for their evening meal.
Brian threw a scrap of meat into the fire before looking at Justin through the haze the flames produced. “Maybe someone loved someone else and they wanted to make them happy…”
“Brian, shut up,” Justin demanded with more than a touch of weariness. “Just because you think gestures like this made out of love are ridiculous doesn’t mean they are.”
Brian opened his mouth but Hakim set his eyes upon him like a hawk and his jaws snapped shut. “So much for conversation.”
The trio settled down for a long night and their attitudes towards each other were beginning to mirror the enclosed, dark space they were in. Justin couldn’t stop thinking about Brian; Brian was constantly thinking about Telson somewhere above them; and Hakim sat up perfectly straight with his eyes and ears alert to any sight or sound that might send them packing.
Brian held up the map. There were still three more levels to go and none of them knew how big they would be. They would certainly take some of the jewels on their way back but now he ached only for the Heart and…
“Justin,” Hakim whispered, setting a long dark finger to his lips. “Do you hear anything?”
Justin chewed thoughtfully for a moment before tilting his head to the side as if to listen more closely to the silence that cloaked them. “No,” he said. “Do you?”
Brian chuckled under his breath but sat up as Hakim stood.
“It sounds like scuttling,” Hakim explained, “coming from over there.” He turned towards the open area of the level and pointed at an enclosed atrium, one of four that faced a still stone fountain.
The sound was soft but grew rapidly, a thousand legs skittering across a hard, sandy surface. Justin peered over the top of the toppled stones and swallowed the lump of masticated meat in his mouth.
The scorpions spilled over the edge of the fountain, a spill of black across the floor that grew bigger as Hakim scrambled in his pack for something.
“Justin,” Brian said, pulling him up by the arm, “we need to go.”
“What?” Justin started only to have the blast of a gun silence anything more he might have said.
“Go on!” Hakim said, loading the shotgun and taking another shot. A group of scorpions burst into the air, their carcasses a mess of blood and poison on the pristine floor. “I’ll catch up.”
Throwing his pack over his shoulder and pushing Justin ahead of him, Brian mapped out a route around the main body of the scorpions that were desperately making their way to the source of heat. He faintly heard the blasts of Hakim’s gun and the silence that was immediately followed by move crawling.
There was a blast overhead and a deluge of debris came down near them. Giving Justin a final push forward, Brian leapt and rolled. Justin crashed into the wall, grasping his nose as blood dribbled from his left nostril.
“Jesus,” he muttered, pinching his nose closed.
It was dark but Justin could make out a faint light near his feet. Brian had lit a match.
“Are there any torches on the wall?” he asked, his voice soft and strained.
Justin felt around, sniffing as he did so. “God,” he said when he’d found an unlit torch a foot above his head. He dislodged it and handed it to Brian who lit another match. Justin wiped his nose on his sleeve. His blood was vivid against the dusty color of his shirt, he noticed, when Brian handed him the lit torch.
Kneeling down, Justin realized that Brian’s leg was pinned beneath a rather sizeable rock.
“Jesus, Brian! Why didn’t you tell me you were stuck?” Sticking the torch in a pile of rubble, he tried to shove the boulder off. He overexerted himself quickly and took a quick break only to begin again, throwing himself against the rock despite it begin too large for him to move.
“To think only a moment ago you were telling me to shut up,” Brian said breathlessly, “and now you’re trying so desperately to save my life.” Biting his lower lip, Brian bent his leg and eased it from beneath the rock.
When Brian moved to sit beside him, Justin punched Brian in the arm. They shared a companionable smile before looking back the way they came. It was completely blocked and Justin voiced his concern for Hakim.
“He’ll be fine,” Brian reassured him, standing up and patting Justin on the knee as he did so. “Hakim is the bravest and toughest son of a bitch I know.” He was concerned when he didn’t hear more gunshots. It wasn’t like Hakim to give up in a battle despite how hopeless it appeared.
“Come on. We can’t stay here.” Brian grabbed the torch and held out a hand to Justin. “Someone followed us and if they’re willing to blow this place to kingdom come, they’re more of threat than I originally thought.”
Justin opened his mouth to ask Brian a question but decided he would know things when he was meant to. Putting his hand in Brian’s, he allowed himself to be pulled up. Steadying himself in the darkness that was so different from the bright and somewhat airy chambers of before was disorienting, and he rested his damp forehead against Brian’s shoulder for a moment.
Together they walked down the darkened passage - they seemed to be in a landing of some sort between the next level and the last - and Brian tried as best as he could to hide his limp.
-
They rested a few hours later in a pavilion of some sort, unlike any other structure they’d seen in the underground gardens. It was surrounded on all four sides by expertly carved sculptures. If bedding had been provided, Justin would have thought the pavilion was for the royal family. He picked out a spot in a corner that looked remotely comfortable while Brian slowly climbed the steps up one at a time.
“Are you alright?” Justin unrolled his sleeping bag before digging in his pack for the only book he’d brought below. It was the one volume he had on Babylon and he wondered if it would shed any light on the subterranean gardens’ existence.
“Marvelous,” Brian hissed through clenched teeth. He visibly relaxed when he had conquered the stairs. He watched Justin for a while, noticing that even as Justin leafed through the pages he seemed unsettled. The Egyptologist was dirty and looked miserable. Worry was evident as he chewed rather harshly on a thumbnail.
“Don’t worry about Hakim,” Brian suggested, easing his pack down on a carved stone divan on the opposite side of the pavilion. “He’ll get out of this just fine.” Justin looked up at him for a moment before returning to his book. “And if he doesn’t,” Brian continued, “at least he went down with a fight.”
“That is certainly a comfort,” Justin bit out, licking his index finger and turning a page.
Brian shook his head before turning away from Justin to attend to the wound on his thigh. Realizing he couldn’t get a good look at it without removing his pants, Brian did so. Setting his foot on a bench opposite him, he began to probe the wound. It was grievous but better than a sting from a scorpion.
“Getting ready for bed already?” Justin asked, having curled up in his sleeping bag with his book already. His eyes swept across the muscles in Brian’s thighs before meeting his hazel eyes.
“No, I’m taking care of something. Why don’t you return to your book?” He didn’t mean to snap at Justin but his injury wasn’t a big deal and…
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?”
Brian removed the bloodied cloth from his leg and shook his head a few times. “I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are!” Justin spat, throwing aside his covers and setting his book down. “I knew you got injured when the roof fell in.” He dug in his pack for a tin of salve. Warming it between his hands as he walked, he wondered if Brian would sit still or try to come up with some excuse as to why he needed no help.
“I said I’m fine,” Brian replied, turning away from Justin once more but finding it futile when the tin was opened and Justin rubbed a liberal amount on the wound. Brian hissed softly. “You really should have washed your hands before doing that.”
Justin slapped his leg once before returning to work. Brian realized that Justin attended to his injury like he worked. He had watched Justin before approaching him about the map and noticed the intense look in his hard, cerulean eyes that melted when he thought he had found something. Failure had a similar look to it, which had always followed the hope, and Brian found him just as beautiful in his disappointment.
“Do you have something I can wrap it with?” Justin held his palm up as he replaced the lid on the salve tin with the other hand.
Brian stared at him intently before handing over a roll of gauze he’d packed. Justin’s fingers were even more delicate as he lifted Brian leg to wrap the wound. He knotted it tightly drawing a pained groan from Brian’s lip.
“And to think,” Justin admonished, “you’ve been walking around all this time in pain.” He slid the tin into his pocket and tucked the roll of gauze into Brian’s pack.
“It was nothing,” Brian said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling gently.
“Of course it was. Good night, Brian.”
As he began to walk towards his own corner, Brian stood. Placing a hand on Justin’s shoulder, he pulled him back for a kiss. His hands framing Justin’s face, Brian took what he wanted and gave what he felt Justin deserved.
When they parted, Justin looked into Brian’s eyes with the intent of finding an explanation. The hazel depths were flecked with green and nothing else.
“You shouldn’t kiss me like that,” Justin breathed against Brian’s lips, “if you don’t plan on taking it any further.”
Brian kissed him again. Justin felt Brian’s length harden against his thigh as Justin’s finger tightened in the back of Brian’s shirt. More than anything his senses were enveloped by the warm wetness of Brian’s mouth and the distant sounds overhead. Brian’s fingers burrowed in Justin’s hair and they both knew that they were well and truly lost.
Pulling back, Brian tried to shake away the darkness that threatened to consume his vision. Justin’s hands smoothed along his shoulders and down his chest. He placed kisses on the underside of his jaw before looking at Brian in confusion.
“What is it?”
Brian laughed before sitting down heavily. “I think I’m going to pass out.”
Not finding it funny in the slightest, Justin eased Brian down into a reclined position. “You did lose a lot of blood, Brian. I’m surprised you were able to stand as long as you did.” He nodded to Brian’s discarded pants that were stained with blood. It had even gone as far as to drip down into his boots. “You just need to rest.”
Brian nodded despite wanting to take things with Justin further. The blackness threatening his vision finally subsided long enough for him to study Justin once more before finally succumbing to sleep.
Justin wiped a hand across his eyes as he adjusted the torches that had placed in the center of the pavilion to provide them with light while they slept. He stood by them for a moment, breathing in the pungent scent they produced. His cheeks were flushed, with desire or exertion Brian didn’t know, and he returned to his sleeping bag and book.
In the middle of their rest, Justin’s eyes opened to a large, dark-skinned man standing at the edge of the pavilion. He shrank against the stone he was lying on as the man took a step forward.
“Mr. Telson,” he whispered to himself, “is not going to be happy they’ve made it this far.”
Justin clenched his eyes shut, trying to even out his breathing as the behemoth walked towards Brian. He rummaged through his pack, withdrawing a gun Justin didn’t know Brian carried. He flicked it open expertly to count the bullets. Replacing it, he dug deeper. His displeasure was obvious when he threw the pack aside and turned towards the darkness beyond the lit pavilion. Justin knew what he was looking for and it was safe around Brian’s neck.
“Damnit,” the man hissed before walking back the way he had come. As the sounds of his footsteps finally died out, Justin drew aside his covers and crept over to Brian.
“Brian,” he whispered, “wake up! Something’s happened.”
It took several more shakes before Brian finally opened his eyes. “What? What is it?”
“Some big man just stomped through the pavilion. I think he was looking for the map.”
Brian didn’t seem disturbed by the news. “What did he look like?”
“I don’t know!” Justin shouted. “He reminded me of Hakim only his skin was darker and he was much bigger. He had a very deep voice from what I could hear.” This time he got a reaction from Brian, who once more looked like he was going to pass out.
“Great,” Brian groaned. “Sefu is here.” He rubbed his eyes only to have Justin grasp his hands and pin them to his chest.
“Sefu? Who or what is Sefu?” When Brian didn’t answer, Justin took the opportunity to ask for every scrap of information he needed from the beginning. “Tell me right now, Brian. Why am I here and who is following us?”
Brian knew it was now or never and he began to tell Justin whom Telson was, stepping ever so delicately around Justin’s first demand. As he spoke and Justin reacted more calmly than he had expected, Brian realized that his leg didn’t hurt as much as it did before.
-
There was still no Hakim when they decided to move on the following morning and Brian was silent to all of Justin’s questions. “One more level,” he had whispered as if someone nearby were listening to their conversation and the thing Brian wanted was to be heard. “One more level and the Heart is mine and we can get the hell out of here.”
Brian didn’t say anything about Sefu or Telson, either. Justin wondered if he was going to remain in the dark about things until he ran into them. Brian’s bad, paranoid mood was contagious and, against his better judgment, Justin gathered it around him like a cloak.
The scuttle of scorpions sounded overhead and they both paused to look up, their eyes following the quick trail they blazed overhead. Brian shook his head before trudging on.
“You really didn’t need me, you know,” Justin said, climbing over a swell of demolished stonework that Brian had no trouble scaling despite his injury. “You could have done this all on your own and left me to my work.”
Brian paused and looked back at him. “I do need you,” he admitted. “Stop being such a stage queen and hurry up.”
“I’m being the stage queen? You’re the one running the show, Brian!” Throwing his hands into the air dramatically, Justin lost his balance. He slid down the sheer rock face, taking Brian with him all the way down to the last level.
Justin coughed and lifted his head, a cloud of dust crowning him like a halo.
Brian was still, his eyes fixed on the gaping hole above them from which small pebbles and motes of dust rained down. His arm hung over a dark abyss, Justin’s fingers clenched around his forearm. Blinking the dust from his eyes, Brian knew that they were there. In a place nearby where he couldn’t see, Brian knew the Heart was beating silently. It called to him, blood to blood.
“Brian,” Justin whispered. “I think we fell.”
“No,” Brian replied sarcastically, his voice scratchy with dust. “We plummeted like a couple of stones into a lake. Damn, my ass hurts.” He sat up, pushing Justin off him and massaging his left cheek. He slyly looked sideways to check that Justin was well.
The doctor stood, squinting his eyes to take in a dark, pulsing glow before them. He felt he could reach out and grasp it, like a star that had come down to earth. Reaching and stepping forward, he could feel the warmth of the jewel in his hand.
“Justin, no!” Brian lunged forwards, wrapping his arms around Justin’s torso and pulling him away from the edge. They tumbled backwards, Justin’s hand still outstretched.
“It’s beautiful,” he hissed. “I saw it, Brian. My God, it was everything you said it would be and more.” Justin rested his head against Brian’s shoulder and looked up at him. His face was drugged with a roguish smile and he reached up to run his fingers across Brian’s cheek. “We should get it before…”
“Before I come along?”
Brian’s eyes closed, his chest heaving against Justin’s hot back. Slowly peeling his lids back, Brian looked to Telson and his abominable manservant, Sefu. They looked thoroughly surprised to see Brian and the good doctor embracing on the floor of the chamber but Telson had seen Brian in far more compromising situations than the one at hand.
“What are the odds,” Telson began shrugging off his pack and handing it to Sefu, “that we would both end up here at nearly the same time? It’s most…” he waved his hand around, looking for the proper word, “coincidental.” His smile was smug.
“You can’t look at it,” Brian said, slowly turning to face Telson. “It will drive you mad.”
“Nonsense,” Telson laughed, glaring at Sefu to stay where he was, before walking down a short set of stairs. As Justin’s breathing calmed, Brian took in the chamber. It was enormous, the ceiling and most of the walls extending farther than he could see. Down the steps Telson had taken was a walkway of sorts, narrow and long, leading to a circular platform upon which the jewel was mounted.
Telson was halfway along the walkway when Brian took action. Resting Justin’s head on his pack, he prowled towards Sefu whose attention was fully ensconced in Telson’s leisurely walk towards the jewel.
Justin turned his head towards Brian, his gaze still slightly dazzled by the sight of the jewel. As it cleared, he caught sight of Brian pulling a blade from the back of his belt. With a final step, Brian pulled Sefu against his chest and held the knife against his throat.
“Where is Hakim?” he whispered through clenched teeth.
“Dead,” Sefu answered, “but you must know it was the scorpions that got him, not me. I would, however, have jumped at the opportunity. You know what he did to me back in Egypt.”
Brian shook his head. He wasn’t going to hear Sefu’s plans for revenge for longer than necessary. “Move and I’ll come back and slit your throat. You know I can and you know I will.”
Sefu smiled, a row of white teeth set in his dark face. “I promise.”
Brian thought for a moment. “No,” he said, “You won’t” and raised the knife before bringing it down against the back of Sefu’s skull.
Justin barely registered the crack as he sat up. Lifting a hand to his head, he watched Brian ease Sefu’s large body to the ground before pursuing Telson.
Telson was transfixed, his hands folded at the base of the jewel. The soft golden-red color reflected in his eyes and he was unaware of everything around him. Setting his fingers on the pear shaped jewel, Telson took a deep breath, and didn’t make a move.
“You’re not going to get it, Marvin. Admit defeat like the sore loser you’ve always been and step aside,” Brian called to him from the walkway, knife hanging limply from the fingers at his side.
“I always thought you were so much smarter than you are, Brian, but time and again I have been proven wrong.” Keeping his hand on the jewel, he looked back at Brian and beyond him to where Sefu was waking from his short sleep. “Sefu!” he yelled. “Bring Dr. Taylor over here, please.”
“He’ll have to get through me. Justin is my…”
“Your what?” Telson prompted when Brian faltered. “Say it or did you finally grow a conscience and care about someone else but yourself?”
Brian didn’t break eye contact as he whispered, “My sacrifice. Justin is my sacrifice.”
“There. That wasn’t terribly hard was it? We both know we need the blood of a believer to possess the jewel and in a few minutes, your precious doctor will be dead and I will have the stone. Oh,” Telson mockingly realized, “but that leaves you in the cold, doesn’t it? The poor Brian Kinney without his precious jewel or his newfound love.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed and he stepped towards Telson.
“Ah,” Telson chastised, pointing towards Sefu who had lumbered behind Brian with a struggling Justin thrown over his shoulder. “Just push Brian off the edge, Sefu, and we’ll get on with it.”
“Over my dead body,” Brian hissed.
Telson sighed. “That is the plan.”
They were several feet apart and Sefu’s smile only widened, growing more frightening as it seemed to glow in the darkness of the chamber. Tightening his hold on Justin, Sefu began to close the distance.
Throwing one last look over his shoulder to Telson, Brian withdrew his last defense.
Justin dropped to the ground, rolling inelegantly towards the edge of the walkway and finally over it. Sefu’s knees hit the ground, his fingers scrambling slowly across his chest to find the wound. In the center of his heart, a rivulet of red poured forth and grew wider as he probed it childishly.
“I knew I should have taken that damned gun,” he said softly before falling to his side with a faint, blood-bubbled breath.
Kicking Sefu’s body off the walkway, Brian called out Justin’s name. He knew Telson wouldn’t try anything until Justin was on solid ground.
Brian bent down to help Justin up from the ridge he was stranded on only to receive a kick to the ribs.
“I didn’t know you had that in you, Brian. A cold-blooded killer is always useful.” Telson kicked Brian again, sending him on his back. Clutching his side, Brian began to stand only to realize that Telson was now bending down to drag Justin up.
“No,” Justin replied faintly as Telson reached for him.
Telson withdrew a small knife from his belt as his hand clenched around Justin’s right wrist. With a hiss and struggle from Justin, Telson drew the blade across Justin’s palm. “Come near me, Brian, and I’ll shove him off.”
Brian stopped where he was, watching helplessly as Telson turned towards the jewel again. Swallowing, he didn’t know what to do next. They had Justin’s blood, what use was he now?
“Brian!” Justin yelled as loudly as the fear that clenched his chest allowed him. The ridge that supported his weight was beginning to crumble and his hands scrambled along the wall of rock and dirt before him, crying from the pain that emanated from his fresh wound.
Brian’s attention snapped to Justin just as Telson set the bloodied blade at the base of the pedestal the jewel rested on. With a soft sigh, the jewel was released from its prison and fell into Telson’s greedy, waiting hands.
More rocks fell from beneath Justin’s feet as Brian walked towards Telson. His eyes were drawn to the jewel again and he was unable to look away. It pulsed with beauty, its dark golden red color more pure than he had imagined. Reaching for it while Telson looked down, marveling at its beauty, Brian missed the look in Telson’s eyes. He lifted the jewel and smashed it into the side of Brian’s face.
“Idiot,” Telson muttered when the dust around Brian’s body settled. He was about to slip the jewel into the empty bag slung across his shoulders when the sound of feet dragging slowly across the floor reached him from across the chamber. “Who is it?” he called. “Whose there?”
“I suggest,” the voice said wearily, “that you put that jewel back where you found it and leave this place. It is not yours to take.” The figure stopped at the beginning of the walkway and held out his hand.
“You think I’m just going to put it back and walk away?” Telson asked with a tone of incredulity. “It will be a cold day in Hell when…I…” His voice died off as the figure cocked the hammer of his gun and steadied his hand.
Brian’s eyes opened and, lifting his leg as silently as possible, he directed a kick at Telson’s stomach. The older man crumbled to the ground, the jewel rolling from his hand and balancing on the edge of the walkway, waiting patiently for someone to take it and let it possess them completely.
“Brian.”
It was a whisper and Brian’s gaze drifted from the jewel to Justin who clung desperately to the side of the walkway, a mixture of blood and tears on his face.
Telson recovered and reached for the jewel, his hand scrambling across the dusty path until his fingers contacted its warmth. His hand fit around it slowly until the shot of a gun sounded and it slipped from his grasp. It didn’t fall. It hung suspended in the air as if on a thread of silver. Brian and Telson watched its inner glow diminish gradually until its beauty disappeared and a large, ordinary gem was all that remained.
“No,” Brian whispered and quickly lowered himself down to hold his hands out to Justin. “Justin,” he called to the doctor who could barely hold on. Justin lifted his head and looked at Brian with half-closed eyes. “Take my hand.” Reaching up with the last of his strength, Justin allowed Brian to pull him to the walkway. Brian closed his eyes as Telson jumped off the walkway, reaching for the jewel only to plummet into the darkness below with a livid shout of defeat.
The Heart of Babylon sparkled blue, flamed red, and finally winked out like a dying flame as it tumbled eternally down the abyss.
Brian took no notice of the Heart once it had been eclipsed by darkness. He turned his attention to Justin, who shook against Brian’s chest, grateful when arms came around him.
The figure with the gun lowered his arm, gave Brian a half smile, and walked back the way he had come.
“Hakim?” Justin whispered against Brian’s shoulder.
“Yes,” was Brian’s reply. “Hakim was the Heart’s protector. He led me here to retrieve it and take it elsewhere. It wasn’t safe here, not with Telson tracking it like a bloodhound.”
“So you’re not just a greedy bastard?”
Brian laughed against Justin’s hair. “I can be one,” he admitted, “but my motives for the Heart weren’t entirely motivated by greed.”
Justin pushed himself away from Brian. “Then why did you need me?”
“We needed a blood sacrifice,” Brian explained, “from someone with a pure heart, who knew the true value of things. Hakim is pure hearted, yes, but he is unable to take the jewel because he is its protector. His family has been protecting it since the subterranean gardens were built. Ow!”
Justin clenched his fist tighter and punched Brian in the shoulder again. “You lied to me! This entire journey has been a lie!” He prepared for another punch only to have Brian’s fingers wrap around his fist and lower it to his lap.
“I had to protect it, Justin. I just didn’t think I’d have to protect you.” Brian’s smile was endearing and Justin found himself, once again, completely lost to everything about Brian, be it his eyes or his roguishness.
“What about Hakim? What will he do now that the jewel is lost?” Justin’s fist relaxed and he smoothed a hand across Brian’s thigh, wondering how he’d done everything with his injury only to realize that he was injured now as well.
“It’s not lost,” Brian said. “There are tunnels that run all through this place. He will go down until he reaches the bottom.”
“And how long will that take?” Justin enclosed himself in Brian’s arm again, pressing his nose to the underside of Brian’s jaw and inhaling deeply.
“The hell if I know,” Brian replied, looking over the wide abyss with even wider eyes. He shared a soft laugh with Justin. “I’m…sorry,” he began, “for leaving you in the dark about so many things but…” he paused to clear his throat, looking away as he continued, “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
Justin smiled, turning Brian’s face towards him so he could kiss his lips. “So am I.”
“Really?” Brian’s tone was truly incredulous.
Justin thought for a moment. “For the most part,” he settled on before kissing Brian again, weaving his fingers in Brian’s hair as the sun far above them settled beneath the mountains and deserts for its own moment of solace.
-
Justin ran a hand across his sweating forehead before checking his watch. It was still broken. 3:34. He couldn’t help but smile at his neglect. Crouching down again, he swept granules of sand from a beautifully preserved skull.
He had been in the desert again for three months and already things seemed to be looking up. The curator of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was scheduled to arrive the following morning to visit the dig site and Justin was already putting together what he would say.
“You’ve been at that for quite a while, haven’t you?”
Justin shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up at the interrupter. “My entire life,” he answered. “I suppose you’ve been doing important things, such as discovering a tomb?”
Brian sighed, turning his face towards the sun. He was dressed in white linen, his hair and face protected by a hat tilted low over his forehead. The light gilded him like an Anubis protecting a pharaoh in his tomb, the Adonis Justin thought Brian to be upon their first meeting. When he looked down at Justin, he saw that an answer was expected.
“No,” he said. “I’ve been lounging all day waiting for you to dig yourself out of this hole. I suppose it’s a good thing I came to check on you otherwise you’d be here until the curator dragged you out. All work and no play make Dr. Taylor a very, very unsatisfied boy.” Brian and Justin shared a secret smile. It was all soft touches and whispered words.
“I can be a bit obsessive,” Justin admitted sheepishly before taking Brian’s hand and climbing out. “Was there anything you were waiting for?”
“There was one thing,” Brian started, wiping a smudge of dust from Justin’s cheek.
They kissed for several minutes until the sunlight finally began to die out.
When they parted, Justin looked down at the skeleton he was uncovering. It was a young woman, curled into herself as of asleep or afraid and hiding. Justin wondered what life she had lived. He wasn’t sad, only resigned to the truth that someday he too would join her in some afterlife.
“I don’t think this would mean as much to me if you weren’t here, Brian.” He turned to look at Brian who was gathering the drop cloth they used to cover the site at night.
Brian met his eyes and smiled. He nodded and Justin understood it as Brian’s way of saying, “and I cannot imagine my life without you, too.”
They spread the cloth over the pit and walked back to their tent. It was still early but Justin was tired and both knew how strenuous the following day would be. While Justin pulled the covers back on the bed, Brian shed his linen clothes, kicking them to one side of the sleeping chamber before placing his hands on his undergarments.
“Ah,” Justin chastised, “allow me.” He scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled the thin cloth down until Brian stood naked before him. He traced the scar on Brian’s thigh. It had healed and Brian suffered no lingering effects from it but every time Justin saw it, he though of what might have happened, how his life would be if he’d never met Brian. The thought of losing Brian before they had ever begun was a thought that visited him most often.
“Do you think we’ll ever see Hakim again?” Justin asked as Brian placed his hands on his shoulders and guided him up.
“I’m certain of it,” Brian reassured, unbuttoning Justin’s dusty shirt, trailing his fingertips across his skin as it was revealed. “Hakim is very resourceful. I bet he even has the Heart in a new place where no one, not even the extraordinary Dr. Justin Taylor, can find it.” He pushed the shirt down Justin’s arms as he kissed the hollow of his throat.
Justin’s hands followed the grooves of Brian’s back, his head falling back as Brian’s fingers worked on his pants. When they were loosened enough, his hand slid inside and Justin moaned into the air. Joining their mouths together, Brian continued to stroke Justin’s eager length until standing became impossible and they lay on the soft sheets together, unwilling to think of anything beyond the beautiful moment they had been given.
-
A figure beyond the tent kept watch over their site. His fingers itched to touch the object at his feet but it was better left disturbed. He would find it a new home and then find Brian again. The American gave him a new purpose in life and he wished to thank him for it.
Instead he focused his attention on Brian’s hands as they slid down Justin’s sides and loosened his belt. There was a playful struggle before they tumbled across the bed and extinguished the lamp, their soft laughs barely audible.
It brought him joy to see Brian happy despite not having the Heart. He knew how his friend’s desire for the stone had possessed him so thoroughly. Now, he understood, Brian loved something that could love him back and would bring him treasures far more valuable than any stone or treasure chest. Brian would be content and that brought Hakim much comfort.
He watched them long after the tent fell dark, when only the moonlight picked up any movements nearby. There was a soft wind that blew, lifting the corner of the cloth covering Justin’s dig site but it settled a moment later. Hakim committed the moment to memory before picking up the heavy bag at his feet. He turned towards the desert, walking into the darkness until he disappeared altogether.
FIN
Author: lastglances
Drabble: #29 by IJ's dirtylttlescret
Notes: Set anywhere between the mid-1920s and late 1930s; Brian Kinney is a retired ad man in search of the Heart of Babylon, an ancient jewel said to be imbued with unspeakable powers. He has two problems, however: to find it he needs Justin Taylor, a down on his luck Egyptologist, and he soon realizes he's not the only one after the jewel, or Justin. There is minor character death but nobody you’d really care about.
Part Two
Justin rubbed his hands together at the chill that had settled over their campsite since the sun set. He was standing at the entrance to the cavern, which Brian had prepared throughout the day while Justin and Hakim whiled away the hours at camp.
It was a beautifully carved door, trees and flowers entangling together in sandstone and semi precious jewels. Justin pulled a brush from his tool kit and expertly cleaned away a tree at the bottom of the door. There were runes carved along the trunk. He looked at them with curiosity but said nothing.
“Ready, Hakim?” Brian said as he walked over from the campsite.
Justin turned to look at him and Hakim lifted his torch high so he and Brian could lock eyes. Brian had changed. He now wore a pair of tight black pants tucked into tall dark brown boots. A white shirt made of light fabric was draped over his lithe chest. Justin wanted to pull away the black undershirt he wore and kiss the soft skin it would reveal.
“Yes, Mr. Kinney.” Hakim moved the torch once more, throwing light across Justin’s frozen expression.
“Are you alright, Justin?”
“Yes,” Justin choked out after a few more moments of looking Brian up and down.
“Good. You’re not looking too bad yourself.” He gave Justin a half smile before handing a digging bar to Hakim. “Justin, hold the torch while we break the door in.”
Justin did as he was told, standing over the door as Brian and Hakim dug the heavy bars into the side of the door and levered this way and that. It was several long minutes before the soft hiss of sand seeping down like an hourglass alerted them that they were in. With a swift kick from Hakim and a grimace from Justin, the door broke apart.
All three stared into the hole, a dark endless passage that seemed to breath back at them.
“How exactly do we get down?”
Brian and Hakim shared a look before giving Justin a dumb expression. “You act like you’ve never been in a tomb before," Brian said, looking at Hakim with a smile.
“This is a tomb?” Hakim squeaked. He still had his ancestor’s old superstitions.
Brian sighed, placing his hands on his knees before heaving himself up into an upright position. He mumbled unintelligibly as he dug in one of the packs by his side for a long length of rope.
Justin gave Brian some light as he hammered a steel ring into the side of the doorway. Tying the rope to it, Brian threw the rest down. It slithered like a snake; the faint snap of it hitting ground following a few moments later.
“Any takers or should I just be the man and let you ladies follow?”
Justin thrust the torch at Brian, who yelped as it edged towards his face, and rubbed his hands together once more, not taking his eyes off the other man who looked at him with amusement. “Watch a professional,” he said. Easing himself into the entrance, Justin gripped the rope and began to climb down into the unknown.
His feet touched hard ground quicker than he thought he would. Everything was cool and dark around him. Looking up, Justin saw the torch a few yards up.
“What is it like down there?” Hakim shouted, waving the torch down towards Justin.
“How would I know?” Justin yelled back. “It’s pitch dark!”
“There’s no need to shout,” Brian admonished as he too lowered himself down. Justin took a few steps back to allow Brian room. When he looked around, Justin focused on anything.
“Jesus,” Brian whispered, “it’s cold as hell down here.” He rubbed his arms a few times before calling up to Hakim to lower their supplies. They spent the next hour situating the packs and gauging their location on the map before Hakim finally joined them. For all of Brian’s bravado, Justin enjoyed their close proximity. Brian’s breath on his cheek was a comfort.
Taking one last look at the night sky, Brian, Justin, and Hakim continued down the passage each with a torch in hand. The weight on their backs was only a slight hindrance and Justin liked that the exertion warmed him as did Brian, who walked in front. Justin could trace the muscles in his forearm as he held the torch aloft, seeing what kind of architecture surrounded them.
“When is this thing going to end?” Justin whined after half an hour of walking and finding nothing but dark, dry walls around them. Brian stopped, sending Justin and Hakim tumbling into his back. He took a step forward, gave them both an annoyed look, and smiled.
“Now,” he explained cryptically, tucking the map into a pouch he wore around his neck. “We’re here.”
“Where?” Hakim demanded, stepping in front of Brian and waving his torch back and forth. “All I see are more damned walls!”
Shoving Hakim aside, Brian walked towards the wall to their left. It was obvious to them all that they were now in a large chamber as opposed to the cramped passageway. They all felt left less claustrophobic and the air around them was warmer, less oppressive.
Fitting the torch in a vacant spot on the wall, Brian stood back with his arms still raised towards the torch. After the space of a breath, a line of torches running along the wall and away from them burst into a sphere of warm light. They now saw that the passage was still a passage but wider and curved down. And to their left wasn’t another wall but an abandoned atrium containing items none of them had ever seen.
Jewels glittered in Justin’s eyes as he stumbled like a sleepwalker towards the atrium. Hakim and Brian stood back with looks of wonder on their sweaty faces.
“Gems!” Justin exclaimed, throwing his arms wide as he tried to take everything in at once.
The atrium was filled with trees and exotic plants and flowers only they were constructed of gems, not leaves and bark. Every facet glowed beneath a layer of cobwebs. Justin took a cloth from his pack, wet it with some water, and rubbed away a layer of grime from a fern.
“Emeralds,” he whispered. “This fern is made of emeralds.” He stumbled to his feet, hands and dirty cloth raised to his head in speechlessness. “This is…”
“Fucking incredible,” Brian boomed.
Hakim laughed, setting his pack on the ground and stretching. “That is one way to look at it.”
Brian stepped towards Justin, casting his honeyed gaze across the atrium that seemed to stretch for miles. Myriad colors washed across them both: blood red rubies, diamonds as white and pure as freshly fallen snow, onyx dark and heavy as sin. Their fingers itched to touch everything.
They had been in the Gardens only an hour and already Brian had forgotten about the Heart. He seemed more captivated by the atrium and Justin standing only a foot away. Hakim putting his pack back on and adjusting the straps woke him from his reverie.
“If this is only the first level,” he mused, “imagine what the ones beneath must look like.”
Brian and Justin both looked back at him, their eyes growing wide at the possibility of that thought.
“We should go,” Justin suggested, looking at Brian with an ecstatic grin on his lips.
“Yeah,” Brian agreed, finding his eyes settling on Justin’s mouth. “Yes, we should.”
Justin’s hands found themselves on Brian’s chest, pushing him away playfully before joining Hakim as he began to walk down the new passage.
Brian watched them walk away, Justin turning his head once or twice to give Brian a half look. Shaking his head of the thoughts that were clouding his judgment, Brian pressed his palm to the pouch around his neck. Opening his eyes, he remembered what he was here to find and then followed the pair as they made their way deeper into the Gardens.
-
They had been walking for hours and Brian, exhausted as well, finally allowed them a moment’s rest. Easing their packs down and drinking some water from their canteens, the trio looked around. The second level down was flooded with light, torches in sconces burning on every wall. This chamber expanded beyond the walls of the first and they found themselves surrounded by glittering trees and stone trellises encrusted with jewels.
“This is far beyond anything I had expected,” Hakim said, staring at the ceiling and slowly lowering his gaze until he was staring between Brian and Justin at a patch of paradise drowned in shadow. “Not that I am complaining,” he quickly explained, opening his canteen and taking a deep drink to mask the awkwardness that followed.
“When do you think we’ll reach the Heart?” Justin capped his canteen and dug his heels into the ground, running them back and forth until two identical furrows were revealed in the hard packed earth.
Brian shrugged, reclining on the ground and using his pack as a pillow. “At the pace we’re going, tomorrow night maybe.” His brow furrowed as he thought some more. “Although I can’t really say since I don’t know what time it is. It could be midday for all we know.”
The ceiling seemed to fall in on Justin. No one had any idea where they were; if something happened, they would all die. His breath growing labored, Justin eased himself down and covered his face with his hands.
“Are you okay?” Hakim asked, leaning across the space between them to shake Justin’s leg.
Justin breathed heavily several more times before finally lowering his hands and looking at Hakim and then Brian, who had fallen asleep. “I’m…fine.”
“Good.” Hakim smacked his leg and went back to his own area.
“Hakim,” Justin ventured. “Where exactly did Brian find you?”
“I am Egyptian,” he explained. “I used to be in the army but when I got out, I found myself with no place to go. I knew no one outside of the army. I met Brian when he was there on research.”
“When was that?” Justin wanted to know all the things that Brian wouldn’t tell him.
“About five years ago,” Hakim answered. He opened his pack and withdrew a short scabbard. Justin watched his every move as he withdrew a highly polished blade. Next he removed a small whetstone. Setting both in front of his crossed legs, Hakim looked back to Justin.
“And how come I didn’t see you until you drove us down from Fallujah?” Justin raised an eyebrow in question before narrowing his eyes.
“I had some business to attend to in Fallujah. There are other men that Brian works with. I’m certain you met them on the boat to Beirut.” He slowly drew the blade across the whetstone. “I am the only one that Brian trusts so I am here with the two of you.” He looked from Justin to Brian who was now awake and staring at the dark ceiling overhead. “Do you hear something?”
Brian ignored the urgency in Hakim’s voice. “No,” he said blandly as he sat up. “We should get a move on. I say we explore the rest of this level and move onto the next before calling it a night…or day or…” He waved the thought aside and stood. Holding out a hand to Justin, he pulled the young doctor up.
Justin went ahead of them and Hakim pulled Brian aside. “You looked distracted.”
“I am,” Brian admitted. “He’s here.” His eyes shot towards the sky they couldn’t see. “He wasn’t supposed to make it this far, Hakim. I sent you ahead to Fallujah to…”
“You said kill his men,” Hakim interrupted, “not him.” He looked at Brian with a mix of anger and shame.
Brian rolled his lips into his mouth and stared after Justin. “That I did,” he agreed.
“What do we do?” Hakim, despite his intimidating looks, could act like a child before Brian’s hidden wrath.
Brian shook his head. “We just hope he doesn’t get to the Heart before we do.”
“Aren’t you two coming?” Justin called, peering around the curve of the atrium. He looked happy but tired. Brian knew they couldn’t walk much longer without a few hours of sleep. Telson was probably blasting his way through the first level while they were standing around on the second.
“Yeah,” Brian called. He slapped Hakim on the back before turning towards the area where Justin was eagerly uncovering more unique pieces of foliage.
“What an exquisite ruby,” Justin sighed as he looked at a jewel sitting on a wide, flat leaf. He bent down to examine the gem, immediately realizing that it was crafted into a large spider. Its abdomen and thorax were made of a large carved ruby and its legs were expertly bent wire, delicately studded with crushed hematite.
Just as Justin leaned closer, the spider rose on its legs with a spitting hiss.
A loud shriek filled the chamber and Hakim and Justin both turned to Brian as the spider lowered itself into a prone position and stared vacantly, its many eyes blinking madly after being woken from its long sleep.
Brian looked at the other two with a hand over his mouth. Lowering it slowly and licking his lips, Brian wondered how quickly he could come up with an explanation that was remotely believable.
“I had no idea you could scream that…” Justin began before Brian’s hand was clenched around his lapel and pushing him against the nearest wall.
"I will throw you into the nearest abyss if you mention that to anyone,” Brian hissed, his voice deliberately lower than usual.
"I wouldn't dream of it,” Justin replied, coughing into his hand a bit and rolling his eyes.
Hakim watched this exchange with amusement. When Brian and Justin moved away, Hakim looked at the spider. It stared back at him with glittering onyx eyes. After tickling its thorax, he followed the other two as they continued to deny and make fun of Brian’s girlish scream.
-
The third level proved to be much bigger than the first two but no different in terms of wonder. It was just as jewel encrusted and Justin actually got tired of marveling over jewel flower petals and precious metal trees. They had yet to encounter any animals made from rare jewels, although Justin found the possibility of finding a tiger carved from tiger’s eye rather unlikely.
They walked to one of the farthest corners of the third level, building a fire in an alcove away from the plants and trees, if they could be called that, and surrounded by piles of stones that had been dumped their by the workers as they finished the subterranean gardens.
“I wonder who built this place and why,” Justin mused, tugging at a piece of dried meat and being unsuccessful. He cut it into smaller pieces with a knife Hakim had provided for their evening meal.
Brian threw a scrap of meat into the fire before looking at Justin through the haze the flames produced. “Maybe someone loved someone else and they wanted to make them happy…”
“Brian, shut up,” Justin demanded with more than a touch of weariness. “Just because you think gestures like this made out of love are ridiculous doesn’t mean they are.”
Brian opened his mouth but Hakim set his eyes upon him like a hawk and his jaws snapped shut. “So much for conversation.”
The trio settled down for a long night and their attitudes towards each other were beginning to mirror the enclosed, dark space they were in. Justin couldn’t stop thinking about Brian; Brian was constantly thinking about Telson somewhere above them; and Hakim sat up perfectly straight with his eyes and ears alert to any sight or sound that might send them packing.
Brian held up the map. There were still three more levels to go and none of them knew how big they would be. They would certainly take some of the jewels on their way back but now he ached only for the Heart and…
“Justin,” Hakim whispered, setting a long dark finger to his lips. “Do you hear anything?”
Justin chewed thoughtfully for a moment before tilting his head to the side as if to listen more closely to the silence that cloaked them. “No,” he said. “Do you?”
Brian chuckled under his breath but sat up as Hakim stood.
“It sounds like scuttling,” Hakim explained, “coming from over there.” He turned towards the open area of the level and pointed at an enclosed atrium, one of four that faced a still stone fountain.
The sound was soft but grew rapidly, a thousand legs skittering across a hard, sandy surface. Justin peered over the top of the toppled stones and swallowed the lump of masticated meat in his mouth.
The scorpions spilled over the edge of the fountain, a spill of black across the floor that grew bigger as Hakim scrambled in his pack for something.
“Justin,” Brian said, pulling him up by the arm, “we need to go.”
“What?” Justin started only to have the blast of a gun silence anything more he might have said.
“Go on!” Hakim said, loading the shotgun and taking another shot. A group of scorpions burst into the air, their carcasses a mess of blood and poison on the pristine floor. “I’ll catch up.”
Throwing his pack over his shoulder and pushing Justin ahead of him, Brian mapped out a route around the main body of the scorpions that were desperately making their way to the source of heat. He faintly heard the blasts of Hakim’s gun and the silence that was immediately followed by move crawling.
There was a blast overhead and a deluge of debris came down near them. Giving Justin a final push forward, Brian leapt and rolled. Justin crashed into the wall, grasping his nose as blood dribbled from his left nostril.
“Jesus,” he muttered, pinching his nose closed.
It was dark but Justin could make out a faint light near his feet. Brian had lit a match.
“Are there any torches on the wall?” he asked, his voice soft and strained.
Justin felt around, sniffing as he did so. “God,” he said when he’d found an unlit torch a foot above his head. He dislodged it and handed it to Brian who lit another match. Justin wiped his nose on his sleeve. His blood was vivid against the dusty color of his shirt, he noticed, when Brian handed him the lit torch.
Kneeling down, Justin realized that Brian’s leg was pinned beneath a rather sizeable rock.
“Jesus, Brian! Why didn’t you tell me you were stuck?” Sticking the torch in a pile of rubble, he tried to shove the boulder off. He overexerted himself quickly and took a quick break only to begin again, throwing himself against the rock despite it begin too large for him to move.
“To think only a moment ago you were telling me to shut up,” Brian said breathlessly, “and now you’re trying so desperately to save my life.” Biting his lower lip, Brian bent his leg and eased it from beneath the rock.
When Brian moved to sit beside him, Justin punched Brian in the arm. They shared a companionable smile before looking back the way they came. It was completely blocked and Justin voiced his concern for Hakim.
“He’ll be fine,” Brian reassured him, standing up and patting Justin on the knee as he did so. “Hakim is the bravest and toughest son of a bitch I know.” He was concerned when he didn’t hear more gunshots. It wasn’t like Hakim to give up in a battle despite how hopeless it appeared.
“Come on. We can’t stay here.” Brian grabbed the torch and held out a hand to Justin. “Someone followed us and if they’re willing to blow this place to kingdom come, they’re more of threat than I originally thought.”
Justin opened his mouth to ask Brian a question but decided he would know things when he was meant to. Putting his hand in Brian’s, he allowed himself to be pulled up. Steadying himself in the darkness that was so different from the bright and somewhat airy chambers of before was disorienting, and he rested his damp forehead against Brian’s shoulder for a moment.
Together they walked down the darkened passage - they seemed to be in a landing of some sort between the next level and the last - and Brian tried as best as he could to hide his limp.
-
They rested a few hours later in a pavilion of some sort, unlike any other structure they’d seen in the underground gardens. It was surrounded on all four sides by expertly carved sculptures. If bedding had been provided, Justin would have thought the pavilion was for the royal family. He picked out a spot in a corner that looked remotely comfortable while Brian slowly climbed the steps up one at a time.
“Are you alright?” Justin unrolled his sleeping bag before digging in his pack for the only book he’d brought below. It was the one volume he had on Babylon and he wondered if it would shed any light on the subterranean gardens’ existence.
“Marvelous,” Brian hissed through clenched teeth. He visibly relaxed when he had conquered the stairs. He watched Justin for a while, noticing that even as Justin leafed through the pages he seemed unsettled. The Egyptologist was dirty and looked miserable. Worry was evident as he chewed rather harshly on a thumbnail.
“Don’t worry about Hakim,” Brian suggested, easing his pack down on a carved stone divan on the opposite side of the pavilion. “He’ll get out of this just fine.” Justin looked up at him for a moment before returning to his book. “And if he doesn’t,” Brian continued, “at least he went down with a fight.”
“That is certainly a comfort,” Justin bit out, licking his index finger and turning a page.
Brian shook his head before turning away from Justin to attend to the wound on his thigh. Realizing he couldn’t get a good look at it without removing his pants, Brian did so. Setting his foot on a bench opposite him, he began to probe the wound. It was grievous but better than a sting from a scorpion.
“Getting ready for bed already?” Justin asked, having curled up in his sleeping bag with his book already. His eyes swept across the muscles in Brian’s thighs before meeting his hazel eyes.
“No, I’m taking care of something. Why don’t you return to your book?” He didn’t mean to snap at Justin but his injury wasn’t a big deal and…
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?”
Brian removed the bloodied cloth from his leg and shook his head a few times. “I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are!” Justin spat, throwing aside his covers and setting his book down. “I knew you got injured when the roof fell in.” He dug in his pack for a tin of salve. Warming it between his hands as he walked, he wondered if Brian would sit still or try to come up with some excuse as to why he needed no help.
“I said I’m fine,” Brian replied, turning away from Justin once more but finding it futile when the tin was opened and Justin rubbed a liberal amount on the wound. Brian hissed softly. “You really should have washed your hands before doing that.”
Justin slapped his leg once before returning to work. Brian realized that Justin attended to his injury like he worked. He had watched Justin before approaching him about the map and noticed the intense look in his hard, cerulean eyes that melted when he thought he had found something. Failure had a similar look to it, which had always followed the hope, and Brian found him just as beautiful in his disappointment.
“Do you have something I can wrap it with?” Justin held his palm up as he replaced the lid on the salve tin with the other hand.
Brian stared at him intently before handing over a roll of gauze he’d packed. Justin’s fingers were even more delicate as he lifted Brian leg to wrap the wound. He knotted it tightly drawing a pained groan from Brian’s lip.
“And to think,” Justin admonished, “you’ve been walking around all this time in pain.” He slid the tin into his pocket and tucked the roll of gauze into Brian’s pack.
“It was nothing,” Brian said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling gently.
“Of course it was. Good night, Brian.”
As he began to walk towards his own corner, Brian stood. Placing a hand on Justin’s shoulder, he pulled him back for a kiss. His hands framing Justin’s face, Brian took what he wanted and gave what he felt Justin deserved.
When they parted, Justin looked into Brian’s eyes with the intent of finding an explanation. The hazel depths were flecked with green and nothing else.
“You shouldn’t kiss me like that,” Justin breathed against Brian’s lips, “if you don’t plan on taking it any further.”
Brian kissed him again. Justin felt Brian’s length harden against his thigh as Justin’s finger tightened in the back of Brian’s shirt. More than anything his senses were enveloped by the warm wetness of Brian’s mouth and the distant sounds overhead. Brian’s fingers burrowed in Justin’s hair and they both knew that they were well and truly lost.
Pulling back, Brian tried to shake away the darkness that threatened to consume his vision. Justin’s hands smoothed along his shoulders and down his chest. He placed kisses on the underside of his jaw before looking at Brian in confusion.
“What is it?”
Brian laughed before sitting down heavily. “I think I’m going to pass out.”
Not finding it funny in the slightest, Justin eased Brian down into a reclined position. “You did lose a lot of blood, Brian. I’m surprised you were able to stand as long as you did.” He nodded to Brian’s discarded pants that were stained with blood. It had even gone as far as to drip down into his boots. “You just need to rest.”
Brian nodded despite wanting to take things with Justin further. The blackness threatening his vision finally subsided long enough for him to study Justin once more before finally succumbing to sleep.
Justin wiped a hand across his eyes as he adjusted the torches that had placed in the center of the pavilion to provide them with light while they slept. He stood by them for a moment, breathing in the pungent scent they produced. His cheeks were flushed, with desire or exertion Brian didn’t know, and he returned to his sleeping bag and book.
In the middle of their rest, Justin’s eyes opened to a large, dark-skinned man standing at the edge of the pavilion. He shrank against the stone he was lying on as the man took a step forward.
“Mr. Telson,” he whispered to himself, “is not going to be happy they’ve made it this far.”
Justin clenched his eyes shut, trying to even out his breathing as the behemoth walked towards Brian. He rummaged through his pack, withdrawing a gun Justin didn’t know Brian carried. He flicked it open expertly to count the bullets. Replacing it, he dug deeper. His displeasure was obvious when he threw the pack aside and turned towards the darkness beyond the lit pavilion. Justin knew what he was looking for and it was safe around Brian’s neck.
“Damnit,” the man hissed before walking back the way he had come. As the sounds of his footsteps finally died out, Justin drew aside his covers and crept over to Brian.
“Brian,” he whispered, “wake up! Something’s happened.”
It took several more shakes before Brian finally opened his eyes. “What? What is it?”
“Some big man just stomped through the pavilion. I think he was looking for the map.”
Brian didn’t seem disturbed by the news. “What did he look like?”
“I don’t know!” Justin shouted. “He reminded me of Hakim only his skin was darker and he was much bigger. He had a very deep voice from what I could hear.” This time he got a reaction from Brian, who once more looked like he was going to pass out.
“Great,” Brian groaned. “Sefu is here.” He rubbed his eyes only to have Justin grasp his hands and pin them to his chest.
“Sefu? Who or what is Sefu?” When Brian didn’t answer, Justin took the opportunity to ask for every scrap of information he needed from the beginning. “Tell me right now, Brian. Why am I here and who is following us?”
Brian knew it was now or never and he began to tell Justin whom Telson was, stepping ever so delicately around Justin’s first demand. As he spoke and Justin reacted more calmly than he had expected, Brian realized that his leg didn’t hurt as much as it did before.
-
There was still no Hakim when they decided to move on the following morning and Brian was silent to all of Justin’s questions. “One more level,” he had whispered as if someone nearby were listening to their conversation and the thing Brian wanted was to be heard. “One more level and the Heart is mine and we can get the hell out of here.”
Brian didn’t say anything about Sefu or Telson, either. Justin wondered if he was going to remain in the dark about things until he ran into them. Brian’s bad, paranoid mood was contagious and, against his better judgment, Justin gathered it around him like a cloak.
The scuttle of scorpions sounded overhead and they both paused to look up, their eyes following the quick trail they blazed overhead. Brian shook his head before trudging on.
“You really didn’t need me, you know,” Justin said, climbing over a swell of demolished stonework that Brian had no trouble scaling despite his injury. “You could have done this all on your own and left me to my work.”
Brian paused and looked back at him. “I do need you,” he admitted. “Stop being such a stage queen and hurry up.”
“I’m being the stage queen? You’re the one running the show, Brian!” Throwing his hands into the air dramatically, Justin lost his balance. He slid down the sheer rock face, taking Brian with him all the way down to the last level.
Justin coughed and lifted his head, a cloud of dust crowning him like a halo.
Brian was still, his eyes fixed on the gaping hole above them from which small pebbles and motes of dust rained down. His arm hung over a dark abyss, Justin’s fingers clenched around his forearm. Blinking the dust from his eyes, Brian knew that they were there. In a place nearby where he couldn’t see, Brian knew the Heart was beating silently. It called to him, blood to blood.
“Brian,” Justin whispered. “I think we fell.”
“No,” Brian replied sarcastically, his voice scratchy with dust. “We plummeted like a couple of stones into a lake. Damn, my ass hurts.” He sat up, pushing Justin off him and massaging his left cheek. He slyly looked sideways to check that Justin was well.
The doctor stood, squinting his eyes to take in a dark, pulsing glow before them. He felt he could reach out and grasp it, like a star that had come down to earth. Reaching and stepping forward, he could feel the warmth of the jewel in his hand.
“Justin, no!” Brian lunged forwards, wrapping his arms around Justin’s torso and pulling him away from the edge. They tumbled backwards, Justin’s hand still outstretched.
“It’s beautiful,” he hissed. “I saw it, Brian. My God, it was everything you said it would be and more.” Justin rested his head against Brian’s shoulder and looked up at him. His face was drugged with a roguish smile and he reached up to run his fingers across Brian’s cheek. “We should get it before…”
“Before I come along?”
Brian’s eyes closed, his chest heaving against Justin’s hot back. Slowly peeling his lids back, Brian looked to Telson and his abominable manservant, Sefu. They looked thoroughly surprised to see Brian and the good doctor embracing on the floor of the chamber but Telson had seen Brian in far more compromising situations than the one at hand.
“What are the odds,” Telson began shrugging off his pack and handing it to Sefu, “that we would both end up here at nearly the same time? It’s most…” he waved his hand around, looking for the proper word, “coincidental.” His smile was smug.
“You can’t look at it,” Brian said, slowly turning to face Telson. “It will drive you mad.”
“Nonsense,” Telson laughed, glaring at Sefu to stay where he was, before walking down a short set of stairs. As Justin’s breathing calmed, Brian took in the chamber. It was enormous, the ceiling and most of the walls extending farther than he could see. Down the steps Telson had taken was a walkway of sorts, narrow and long, leading to a circular platform upon which the jewel was mounted.
Telson was halfway along the walkway when Brian took action. Resting Justin’s head on his pack, he prowled towards Sefu whose attention was fully ensconced in Telson’s leisurely walk towards the jewel.
Justin turned his head towards Brian, his gaze still slightly dazzled by the sight of the jewel. As it cleared, he caught sight of Brian pulling a blade from the back of his belt. With a final step, Brian pulled Sefu against his chest and held the knife against his throat.
“Where is Hakim?” he whispered through clenched teeth.
“Dead,” Sefu answered, “but you must know it was the scorpions that got him, not me. I would, however, have jumped at the opportunity. You know what he did to me back in Egypt.”
Brian shook his head. He wasn’t going to hear Sefu’s plans for revenge for longer than necessary. “Move and I’ll come back and slit your throat. You know I can and you know I will.”
Sefu smiled, a row of white teeth set in his dark face. “I promise.”
Brian thought for a moment. “No,” he said, “You won’t” and raised the knife before bringing it down against the back of Sefu’s skull.
Justin barely registered the crack as he sat up. Lifting a hand to his head, he watched Brian ease Sefu’s large body to the ground before pursuing Telson.
Telson was transfixed, his hands folded at the base of the jewel. The soft golden-red color reflected in his eyes and he was unaware of everything around him. Setting his fingers on the pear shaped jewel, Telson took a deep breath, and didn’t make a move.
“You’re not going to get it, Marvin. Admit defeat like the sore loser you’ve always been and step aside,” Brian called to him from the walkway, knife hanging limply from the fingers at his side.
“I always thought you were so much smarter than you are, Brian, but time and again I have been proven wrong.” Keeping his hand on the jewel, he looked back at Brian and beyond him to where Sefu was waking from his short sleep. “Sefu!” he yelled. “Bring Dr. Taylor over here, please.”
“He’ll have to get through me. Justin is my…”
“Your what?” Telson prompted when Brian faltered. “Say it or did you finally grow a conscience and care about someone else but yourself?”
Brian didn’t break eye contact as he whispered, “My sacrifice. Justin is my sacrifice.”
“There. That wasn’t terribly hard was it? We both know we need the blood of a believer to possess the jewel and in a few minutes, your precious doctor will be dead and I will have the stone. Oh,” Telson mockingly realized, “but that leaves you in the cold, doesn’t it? The poor Brian Kinney without his precious jewel or his newfound love.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed and he stepped towards Telson.
“Ah,” Telson chastised, pointing towards Sefu who had lumbered behind Brian with a struggling Justin thrown over his shoulder. “Just push Brian off the edge, Sefu, and we’ll get on with it.”
“Over my dead body,” Brian hissed.
Telson sighed. “That is the plan.”
They were several feet apart and Sefu’s smile only widened, growing more frightening as it seemed to glow in the darkness of the chamber. Tightening his hold on Justin, Sefu began to close the distance.
Throwing one last look over his shoulder to Telson, Brian withdrew his last defense.
Justin dropped to the ground, rolling inelegantly towards the edge of the walkway and finally over it. Sefu’s knees hit the ground, his fingers scrambling slowly across his chest to find the wound. In the center of his heart, a rivulet of red poured forth and grew wider as he probed it childishly.
“I knew I should have taken that damned gun,” he said softly before falling to his side with a faint, blood-bubbled breath.
Kicking Sefu’s body off the walkway, Brian called out Justin’s name. He knew Telson wouldn’t try anything until Justin was on solid ground.
Brian bent down to help Justin up from the ridge he was stranded on only to receive a kick to the ribs.
“I didn’t know you had that in you, Brian. A cold-blooded killer is always useful.” Telson kicked Brian again, sending him on his back. Clutching his side, Brian began to stand only to realize that Telson was now bending down to drag Justin up.
“No,” Justin replied faintly as Telson reached for him.
Telson withdrew a small knife from his belt as his hand clenched around Justin’s right wrist. With a hiss and struggle from Justin, Telson drew the blade across Justin’s palm. “Come near me, Brian, and I’ll shove him off.”
Brian stopped where he was, watching helplessly as Telson turned towards the jewel again. Swallowing, he didn’t know what to do next. They had Justin’s blood, what use was he now?
“Brian!” Justin yelled as loudly as the fear that clenched his chest allowed him. The ridge that supported his weight was beginning to crumble and his hands scrambled along the wall of rock and dirt before him, crying from the pain that emanated from his fresh wound.
Brian’s attention snapped to Justin just as Telson set the bloodied blade at the base of the pedestal the jewel rested on. With a soft sigh, the jewel was released from its prison and fell into Telson’s greedy, waiting hands.
More rocks fell from beneath Justin’s feet as Brian walked towards Telson. His eyes were drawn to the jewel again and he was unable to look away. It pulsed with beauty, its dark golden red color more pure than he had imagined. Reaching for it while Telson looked down, marveling at its beauty, Brian missed the look in Telson’s eyes. He lifted the jewel and smashed it into the side of Brian’s face.
“Idiot,” Telson muttered when the dust around Brian’s body settled. He was about to slip the jewel into the empty bag slung across his shoulders when the sound of feet dragging slowly across the floor reached him from across the chamber. “Who is it?” he called. “Whose there?”
“I suggest,” the voice said wearily, “that you put that jewel back where you found it and leave this place. It is not yours to take.” The figure stopped at the beginning of the walkway and held out his hand.
“You think I’m just going to put it back and walk away?” Telson asked with a tone of incredulity. “It will be a cold day in Hell when…I…” His voice died off as the figure cocked the hammer of his gun and steadied his hand.
Brian’s eyes opened and, lifting his leg as silently as possible, he directed a kick at Telson’s stomach. The older man crumbled to the ground, the jewel rolling from his hand and balancing on the edge of the walkway, waiting patiently for someone to take it and let it possess them completely.
“Brian.”
It was a whisper and Brian’s gaze drifted from the jewel to Justin who clung desperately to the side of the walkway, a mixture of blood and tears on his face.
Telson recovered and reached for the jewel, his hand scrambling across the dusty path until his fingers contacted its warmth. His hand fit around it slowly until the shot of a gun sounded and it slipped from his grasp. It didn’t fall. It hung suspended in the air as if on a thread of silver. Brian and Telson watched its inner glow diminish gradually until its beauty disappeared and a large, ordinary gem was all that remained.
“No,” Brian whispered and quickly lowered himself down to hold his hands out to Justin. “Justin,” he called to the doctor who could barely hold on. Justin lifted his head and looked at Brian with half-closed eyes. “Take my hand.” Reaching up with the last of his strength, Justin allowed Brian to pull him to the walkway. Brian closed his eyes as Telson jumped off the walkway, reaching for the jewel only to plummet into the darkness below with a livid shout of defeat.
The Heart of Babylon sparkled blue, flamed red, and finally winked out like a dying flame as it tumbled eternally down the abyss.
Brian took no notice of the Heart once it had been eclipsed by darkness. He turned his attention to Justin, who shook against Brian’s chest, grateful when arms came around him.
The figure with the gun lowered his arm, gave Brian a half smile, and walked back the way he had come.
“Hakim?” Justin whispered against Brian’s shoulder.
“Yes,” was Brian’s reply. “Hakim was the Heart’s protector. He led me here to retrieve it and take it elsewhere. It wasn’t safe here, not with Telson tracking it like a bloodhound.”
“So you’re not just a greedy bastard?”
Brian laughed against Justin’s hair. “I can be one,” he admitted, “but my motives for the Heart weren’t entirely motivated by greed.”
Justin pushed himself away from Brian. “Then why did you need me?”
“We needed a blood sacrifice,” Brian explained, “from someone with a pure heart, who knew the true value of things. Hakim is pure hearted, yes, but he is unable to take the jewel because he is its protector. His family has been protecting it since the subterranean gardens were built. Ow!”
Justin clenched his fist tighter and punched Brian in the shoulder again. “You lied to me! This entire journey has been a lie!” He prepared for another punch only to have Brian’s fingers wrap around his fist and lower it to his lap.
“I had to protect it, Justin. I just didn’t think I’d have to protect you.” Brian’s smile was endearing and Justin found himself, once again, completely lost to everything about Brian, be it his eyes or his roguishness.
“What about Hakim? What will he do now that the jewel is lost?” Justin’s fist relaxed and he smoothed a hand across Brian’s thigh, wondering how he’d done everything with his injury only to realize that he was injured now as well.
“It’s not lost,” Brian said. “There are tunnels that run all through this place. He will go down until he reaches the bottom.”
“And how long will that take?” Justin enclosed himself in Brian’s arm again, pressing his nose to the underside of Brian’s jaw and inhaling deeply.
“The hell if I know,” Brian replied, looking over the wide abyss with even wider eyes. He shared a soft laugh with Justin. “I’m…sorry,” he began, “for leaving you in the dark about so many things but…” he paused to clear his throat, looking away as he continued, “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
Justin smiled, turning Brian’s face towards him so he could kiss his lips. “So am I.”
“Really?” Brian’s tone was truly incredulous.
Justin thought for a moment. “For the most part,” he settled on before kissing Brian again, weaving his fingers in Brian’s hair as the sun far above them settled beneath the mountains and deserts for its own moment of solace.
-
Justin ran a hand across his sweating forehead before checking his watch. It was still broken. 3:34. He couldn’t help but smile at his neglect. Crouching down again, he swept granules of sand from a beautifully preserved skull.
He had been in the desert again for three months and already things seemed to be looking up. The curator of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was scheduled to arrive the following morning to visit the dig site and Justin was already putting together what he would say.
“You’ve been at that for quite a while, haven’t you?”
Justin shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up at the interrupter. “My entire life,” he answered. “I suppose you’ve been doing important things, such as discovering a tomb?”
Brian sighed, turning his face towards the sun. He was dressed in white linen, his hair and face protected by a hat tilted low over his forehead. The light gilded him like an Anubis protecting a pharaoh in his tomb, the Adonis Justin thought Brian to be upon their first meeting. When he looked down at Justin, he saw that an answer was expected.
“No,” he said. “I’ve been lounging all day waiting for you to dig yourself out of this hole. I suppose it’s a good thing I came to check on you otherwise you’d be here until the curator dragged you out. All work and no play make Dr. Taylor a very, very unsatisfied boy.” Brian and Justin shared a secret smile. It was all soft touches and whispered words.
“I can be a bit obsessive,” Justin admitted sheepishly before taking Brian’s hand and climbing out. “Was there anything you were waiting for?”
“There was one thing,” Brian started, wiping a smudge of dust from Justin’s cheek.
They kissed for several minutes until the sunlight finally began to die out.
When they parted, Justin looked down at the skeleton he was uncovering. It was a young woman, curled into herself as of asleep or afraid and hiding. Justin wondered what life she had lived. He wasn’t sad, only resigned to the truth that someday he too would join her in some afterlife.
“I don’t think this would mean as much to me if you weren’t here, Brian.” He turned to look at Brian who was gathering the drop cloth they used to cover the site at night.
Brian met his eyes and smiled. He nodded and Justin understood it as Brian’s way of saying, “and I cannot imagine my life without you, too.”
They spread the cloth over the pit and walked back to their tent. It was still early but Justin was tired and both knew how strenuous the following day would be. While Justin pulled the covers back on the bed, Brian shed his linen clothes, kicking them to one side of the sleeping chamber before placing his hands on his undergarments.
“Ah,” Justin chastised, “allow me.” He scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled the thin cloth down until Brian stood naked before him. He traced the scar on Brian’s thigh. It had healed and Brian suffered no lingering effects from it but every time Justin saw it, he though of what might have happened, how his life would be if he’d never met Brian. The thought of losing Brian before they had ever begun was a thought that visited him most often.
“Do you think we’ll ever see Hakim again?” Justin asked as Brian placed his hands on his shoulders and guided him up.
“I’m certain of it,” Brian reassured, unbuttoning Justin’s dusty shirt, trailing his fingertips across his skin as it was revealed. “Hakim is very resourceful. I bet he even has the Heart in a new place where no one, not even the extraordinary Dr. Justin Taylor, can find it.” He pushed the shirt down Justin’s arms as he kissed the hollow of his throat.
Justin’s hands followed the grooves of Brian’s back, his head falling back as Brian’s fingers worked on his pants. When they were loosened enough, his hand slid inside and Justin moaned into the air. Joining their mouths together, Brian continued to stroke Justin’s eager length until standing became impossible and they lay on the soft sheets together, unwilling to think of anything beyond the beautiful moment they had been given.
-
A figure beyond the tent kept watch over their site. His fingers itched to touch the object at his feet but it was better left disturbed. He would find it a new home and then find Brian again. The American gave him a new purpose in life and he wished to thank him for it.
Instead he focused his attention on Brian’s hands as they slid down Justin’s sides and loosened his belt. There was a playful struggle before they tumbled across the bed and extinguished the lamp, their soft laughs barely audible.
It brought him joy to see Brian happy despite not having the Heart. He knew how his friend’s desire for the stone had possessed him so thoroughly. Now, he understood, Brian loved something that could love him back and would bring him treasures far more valuable than any stone or treasure chest. Brian would be content and that brought Hakim much comfort.
He watched them long after the tent fell dark, when only the moonlight picked up any movements nearby. There was a soft wind that blew, lifting the corner of the cloth covering Justin’s dig site but it settled a moment later. Hakim committed the moment to memory before picking up the heavy bag at his feet. He turned towards the desert, walking into the darkness until he disappeared altogether.
FIN