A/N: Here's the next installment. Thanks for the reviews! Oh, and by the way, would anyone happen to know a good site for English-Arabic translations? Please e-mail me or leave a review if you do!
And now, onto chapter three!
Chapter 3: Pending Journey
"Come, come! Step over the threshold! Welcome to Cairo prison, my humble home!"
Evy and Jonathan walked inside Cairo's prison, a filthy and disgusting place that housed equally filthy and disgusting scumbags in its cells. Even the warden, a fat little man with rotted teeth and body odor, was just as grubby as his prisoners.
Actually, thought Evy as the warden led them past rows of cells and human-sized exercise wheel, 'grubby' might be an understatement. She wished she had stayed behind with Nabila, who had opted to remain at the museum and translate the hieroglyphics on the puzzle box.
That reminds me… "You told me you found it a dig down at Thebes!" Evy hissed angrily at Jonathan.
"I was mistaken," replied Jonathan, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
"You lied to me!"
"I lie to everyone," said Jonathan, speaking to Evy as if she was a toddler. "What makes you so special?"
Evy glared at him. "I am your sister!"
Jonathan grinned smugly. "That just makes you more gullible," he said.
"Jonathan, you stole it from a drunk at the local Kasbah!"
"Picked his pocket, actually," corrected Jonathan sheepishly. "So why don't we just…" He tried to steer Evy away, but she pulled back towards the row of holding cells.
"Jonathan, don't be so ridiculous. Now what exactly is this man in prison for?" Evy asked the warden.
"This I did not know," the fat little man answered, "so when I heard you were coming I asked him myself."
"And what did he say?"
"He said he was just looking for a good time."
At that moment, the inner cell door burst open. Four guards dragged forward a rather dirty man in chains, with long hair and a scraggly beard. Bruises, new and old, dotted his face. Evy guessed that he had been in the Cairo prison for quite a long time. This was Rick O'Connell.
"This is the man you stole it from?" Evy asked Jonathan, looking aghast.
"Yes," responded Jonathan anxiously, "so why don't we go and find something to drink, or…"
The guards shoved Rick up against the cell bars, causing him to wince in pain. He looked at Jonathan and said, "Who are you?" Then his gaze turned to Evy and he added, "And who's the broad?"
"Broad?" Evy cried angrily.
Jonathan chuckled nervously. "I'm just a local sort-of missionary chap…spreading the good word and all that." He pulled Evy forward. "This is my sister, Evy."
Evy gave him an uncertain smile and said, "How do you do?"
Rick looked at Evy from head to toe and said, "Well, guess she's not a total loss."
"I beg your pardon?!" snapped Evy, barely hearing the warden telling them he'd be back in a moment.
"Ask him about the box," hissed Jonathan in her ear.
Although she ached to reach out a hand and slap the man, Evy forced herself to calm down. "We've found your…um… your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it," she said, stepping closer to the bars.
"No," Rick said.
"No?" repeated Evy, taken aback.
"No." Rick smirked. "You've come to ask me about Hamunaptra."
"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" Evy whispered, so the guards wouldn't hear.
"Because that's where I was when I found it. I was there," replied Rick matter-of-factly.
Evy was shocked into silence, but Jonathan looked at Rick suspiciously and said, "How do we know that's not a lot of pig swallow?"
Rick shifted his gaze from Evy, who was still gaping at him like a goldfish, to Jonathan, and a flash of recognition appeared in his eyes. "Hey, do I know you?" he asked.
"No, no, I've just got one of those faces…"
Before Jonathan could finish, Rick's fist darted out from between the bars and caught Jonathan on the chin. He staggered and fell to the floor, out cold. The guard in the cell struck him on the head. He showed no pain, but instead threw a dirty look at the guard.
"You were actually at Hamunaptra?" Evy asked, stepping over Jonathan's body.
"Yeah, I was there," said Rick, grinning at Evy's lack of concern for her brother.
"You swear?"
"Every damn day."
"No, I didn't mean—"
"I know what you mean," Rick interrupted. "Seti's place…City of the Dead…"
"C-could you tell me how to get there?" asked Evy, stuttering from excitement. "I mean"—she took off her hat to hide her face and muffle her words—"the exact location."
"You want to know?"
"Yes."
"You really wanna know?"
"Well, yes," said Evy, stepping so close to the bars that her nose was barely a centimeter from them.
Rick then snaked out a hand, grasped Evy's chin, and kissed her fully on the lips. "Then get me the hell out of here!" he snarled.
Evy stared, stunned, as the guards ran forward and pulled Rick away, putting in a few punches as they went. She snapped out of her stupor and turned to the warden, who had come back inside. "Where are they taking him?" she demanded.
"To be hanged," the warden replied. "Apparently, he had a very good time."
As Evy entered the warden's personal viewing room, she looked out at the courtyard. A gallows was built right in the center, and Rick O'Connell stood upon it. The executioner was tying a rope around Rick's neck. Around the courtyard were people watching, who looked ready to riot.
"I will give you one hundred pounds to save this man's life," she said.
"Madam, I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hanged," the warden retorted.
"Two! Two hundred pounds!" cried Evy desperately.
"Proceed!" the warden called out to the executioner, ignoring Evy.
"Three hundred pounds!"
Down in the courtyard, Evy's words were heard quite clearly. Rick glanced up at the balcony, but his head was jerked back as the executioner tightened the rope. "Any last requests, pig?" he asked, grinning maliciously.
Rick glared at him. "Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go," he snapped sarcastically.
The executioner looked confused for a moment, then looked up at the balcony where the warden was sitting. He spoke something in Arabic, asking the warden if he should comply with Rick's request.
The warden shouted something back in Arabic, then, in English, "Of course you don't let him go!" Then he shouted a few more insults in Arabic.
The executioner slapped Rick upside the head. Rick rolled his eyes.
"Five hundred pounds!" cried Evy desperately.
The warden looked at Evy lecherously. "And what else?" he asked. "I am a very lonely man…" He placed his greasy, dirt-covered hand on Evy's knee. Disgusted, she swatted it away with a book like one would a fly.
The onlookers who saw this laughed, pointing at the warden. Looking very insulted, the warden gestured to the executioner. He nodded and pulled a lever, causing the floor beneath Rick's feet to fall open. He struggled on the rope, choking.
"HAHA!" the warden laughed. "His neck did not break!"
The crowd grew even angrier and those in the courtyard attempted to get past the line of guards, pushing towards the gallows. Chants echoed around the balconies. "Let him go! Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!"
Evy was horrified. Determinedly, she turned to the warden and said, "He knows the location to Hamunaptra."
The warden gaped at her. "You lie."
"I would never!" protested Evy.
"Are you saying this filthy, godless son of a pig knows how to find the City of the Dead? Truly?" he demanded. Greed had begun to form on his fat, flabby face at the thought of all the treasures buried in Hamunaptra.
"Yes! And if you cut him down," Evy said, grateful for this man's greed, "we will give you…ten percent."
"Fifty percent."
"Twenty."
"Forty."
"Thirty."
"Twenty-five."
"AH!" Evy cried triumphantly. "Deal!"
The warden, too late, realized his mistake. Groaning, he yelled out to the executioner, "Cut him down!"
The man pulled out a sword and sliced the rope. Rick fell to the ground, groaning and sputtering for breath. The crowd cheered.
Evy grinned and stood up, smiling superiorly at Rick and raising her eyebrows a fraction of an inch, as if to say, You owe me.
A/N: I just loved how this chapter ended:-) Review, people!
