The Adventurer & The Librarian

Chapter 7: Traders

As time dragged on, the entourage of odd adventurers walked with very little rest.  William noticed Bonnie was very on edge, which wasn't surprising given the circumstances. However, he couldn't help but feel there was something more to it. What little he knew about the woman made her all the more mysterious, and unlike other women, her general demeanor was that of a battle hardened barbarian. He couldn't think of a logical reason for his gut feeling...other than he may be reading too much into things. Perhaps Bonnie was a simple woman with very little need to be social.

"Do you have any family?" William asked at one point.

"Orphan," was her answer.

"Friends? Gentleman callers? A husband?" he asked after fifteen minutes of silence.

"No."

"Not even a dog?"

"Not unless I want to eat it," Bonnie replied with the smallest of smirks.

William chuckled. "You're joking."

"Not exactly."

His eyebrows raised even further, gaping at her. "Have you ever eaten one?"

"No, but I hear they're good eatin'."

"Good eaten?"

Bonnie snorted then cleared her throat. "No, good eatin'. As in good eating."

"That must be an American term," William said, a confused look on his face.

"It is. Like "applesauce" and "kitten"."

"Do those words mean anything besides the normal thing that comes to mind?"

"Applesauce means bullshit, kitten means woman."

William smirked a little, suddenly feeling bold. "What if I were to call you kitten?"

"I'd say "applesauce"," she replied, looking straight ahead. William frowned a little but Bonnie looked at him again with a shit eating grin. "Clearly, I'm a full grown tiger."

William felt a twitch in his loins at the look in her eyes and gulped a bit. He couldn't believe how aroused he'd just gotten by that.  Bonnie suddenly stopped and so did he and the others.  "What's wrong?" William asked.

Bonnie tilted her head to the side before raising her gun.  "Eyes and ears open, gentlemen," she said, walking slowly across the sand.

The men trailed behind her closely and William could hear horses and camels in the distance.  They climbed up a sand dune and looked over it to see a small band of desert nomads.  "Who are they?" Jonathan asked quietly.

Bonnie replied with a grinned.  "We're in luck."  She walked across the dune and started waving her arms.  "Hey!"

The other three men looked at each other in shock.  "Should we follow?" Gad asked.

"Excuse me!  Hello!" Bonnie shouted.  "Our barge sank!"

Some of the nomads approached the woman and William could hear them conversing in another language.  Sounded like Arabic.  "I think we're okay," William said before walking in Bonnie's direction.  "C'mon!"

The three men caught up to Bonnie, who explained that the riders were Bedouin traders.  They came to investigate the smoke rising from the Nile and were here to offer assistance, equipment, food and shelter.  For a nominal fee, of course.  The men and Bonnie were grateful and luckily, Jonathan and Hassad had enough money to provide payment.  Although Hassad complained of being "bled dry" so far.

They spent the night with the large trading group, Bonnie being provided the company of sleeping in the woman's tent.  When morning came, they ate breakfast and went their ways to bargain for clothes, tools and equipment.  William bought himself new clothes to replace his pajamas.  Hassad had been kicked out of one of the tents full of women, only explaining that he was "a very lonely man".  Bonnie had gone off with a group of women because they had insisted on giving her some clothing.  She'd been reluctant about it, although William wasn't sure why. 

As him and Jonathan tried to buy four camels, William wondered what was taking so long with Bonnie.  They needed to leave soon if she wanted to win her wager with the other Americans.

"But I only want four!" Jonathan yelled at the herder.  "Four!  I only want four, not a whole bloody herd!"  The trader continued to argue in Arabic and William chuckled in disbelief as the two continued to shout at each other.  "Will!  Oh!  Can you believe the cheek?!"

"Will you just pay the man?" William blurted out in annoyance.

Jonathan grumbled, pulling out his wallet.  "Oh, for heaven's sake!  Can't believe the price of these flea bags!" he yelled bitterly, handing the trader the proper amount.  "Yes, happy.  Veeeeeeeery good!"

William and Jonathan grabbed two camels each and started walking away.  "We probably could've gotten them for free.  All we'd have to do is give Bonnie to him," William joked.

Jonathan giggled.  "Would you even agree to that?"

"It's awfully tempting," William said with a smirk.  "After all, she's-" he stopped walking and his jaw dropped a little as he saw what Bonnie was wearing as she walked over with some women.  Hassad joined up with Will and Jonathan, eyeing the now gorgeous woman.

Bonnie's hair had been brushed and was down, she wore a black decorated veil with a stunning black Bedouin dress.  And she was wearing makeup.  Her green eyes popped out more beautifully with the eye shadow and eye liner she was wearing.  She was exotically beautiful.

It was a shame she wasn't smiling about it.

Bonnie cleared her throat as she was still carrying her bag.  She walked over to one of the camels, tied her bag to the saddle and hopped on.  "I will not be wearing this for very long," she said while not looking at the men.  "We'll head out a mile or so, I'll find a sand dune to go behind to change out of this nonsense.  Let's go."

William had not taken his eyes off her at all as the men mounted their camels without a word.  They departed the encampment post haste and sure enough, after a mile, Bonnie found a large dune to hide behind to change, cursing under her breath the whole time from where William was riding.  After a few minutes, Bonnie came strolling back in her normal clothing.

"Where's the dress?" Jonathan asked curiously.

"Oh, I buried that thing," she chuckled as she mounted up on her camel.  "I don't need it."

"Then why wear it?"

"They made me wear it."  Bonnie clicked her tongue and got her camel moving. 

William had more questions, but as the other three moved on, he sped his camel over the dune to where Bonnie had supposedly buried it.  He found the dress and veil rather quickly, shook them out for the sand, folded them up and stuffed them in his bag before mounting up and chasing after the group.  Luckily they hadn't even noticed him not following behind. 

Why he wanted to keep it, he wasn't sure.  It was an impulsive decision that he seemed to make unconsciously.  Perhaps it was because of how much of a beauty Bonnie looked in it.  Maybe he could convince her to wear it again.

"Never did like camels," Jonathan groaned.  "Filthy buggers.  They smell, they bite, they spit.  Disgusting."

"Their moods match their environment," Bonnie argued calmly.  "Besides, they're better equipped for the desert life than horses are."

"What do you mean?"

Bonnie looked behind her at Jonathan.  "See the camel's feet?"

Jonathan looked down at the object in question.  "Uh huh."

"It's wider than a hoof, and therefore will not sink in the sand.  Sand slows horses down."

"So we're still going to win the bet?"

"What bet?" Hassad asked.

"Made a wager with the other Americans on board that we would get to Hamunaptra first," Bonnie replied.  "Of course, that wouldn't have happened if Jonathan knew how to keep his god damn mouth shut."

Bonnie's use of foul language made William burst out laughing, but it was moreso directed at his brother who argued that if he hadn't said anything, they would have been taken by surprise at Hamunaptra.  Bonnie chuckled and shook her head.

"I suppose you have a point," she replied simply.