The Snake and the Flower
I don't own The Mummy.
The Raid
"What do you suppose killed him?" Evy asked as they were settled around their campfire for the evening. Helen had fallen asleep in her mother's arms and Bridget clung to her daughter as if she would disappear if she let her go. The warden's sudden death had been very shocking, no one was particularly upset over it but it was still incredibly unexpected.
"Do you ever see him eat?" Jonathan asked jokingly.
"Seems our American friends had a little misfortune of their own today," Rick interjected. "Three of their diggers were…uh…melted."
"What?" Jonathan said.
"How?" the three women all added at the same time.
"Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. Some kinda ancient booby-trap."
"Maybe this place really is cursed," Jonathan said. Just then a strange wind blew around them. Everyone turned to look at Evy.
"Oh honestly, you lot," she mumbled irately.
"You don't believe in curses, huh?" Rick inquired.
"No I don't. I believe if I can see it and I can touch it then it's real. That's what I believe."
"That's a very narrow-minded way to view the world, Evy," Megan pointed out. "I believe that, as our good friend Mr. William Shakespeare would have put it, 'There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'"
"I believe in being prepared," Rick concluded.
"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in," Jonathan added as he began rustling through the dead man's bag. Without warning, Jonathan gave a startled yelp leading the others to get worked up, and shaking Helen from her sleep.
"Oh my God what is it?" Evy asked hurriedly.
"A broken bottle." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Jonathan withdrew the bottle. "Glenlivet, 12 years old. Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste."
After Jonathan took a swig, Bridget reached out for the bottle.
"Well, kindly share it."
"Gross," Megan exclaimed. "How can you lot drink that? The warden drank from it."
"It's alcohol. It kills any bacteria. However numerous they may be."
Suddenly, they all heard the sound of whinnying horses and some shouts. Rick handed Evy his shotgun.
"Take this. And stay here."
"No, wait! Wait for me!" Evy shouted as she followed him.
Megan and Bridget also got some weapons out of the bag that they had managed to keep after the barge incident. Bridget once again handed elen a small pistol, instructing her to stay put and not to shoot unless someone attacked her.
"Excuse me, but didn't the man just say 'stay here'?" Jonathan whined as the two other women followed and he trailed right behind them.
They found the American camp in utter pandemonium. Bridget really hated chaos, that was one of the reasons why she hated weapons, but it was also the reason she carried them with her. They recognized the black-robed men instantly as the ones who had attacked the barge. Bridget hid behind one of the pillars, shooting at the masked men with skillful aim. Megan had concealed herself in a crevice in one of the ruins before leaping out to attack the man she assumed to be the leader, throwing him from his horse. They wrestled in the sand for a moment, before Megan got the upper-hand and had him pinned. As she lowered her gun to his face, the man made a grab for it. They fought over the weapon for a few minutes before it slipped from both their hands. Taking opportunity of the distraction, the man grabbed Megan by her arms and rolled them both over so that he was now the one on top. He withdrew a dagger and was about to ram it into her throat when she caught the blade; clasping her hands together, as if in prayer, with the blade in between.
"I am impressed. I did not expect a woman to fight so well," the man said.
Megan narrowed her eyes at him. She hated it when men talked down at her just because she was a woman. Megan had her green veil over the lower half of her face as she liked wearing her veil like that as it gave her an air of mystery. The man must have become interested in seeing what she was hiding as he nicked the point of the dagger over the corner of the veil, pulling it to the side so he could see her face.
"I rather liked that veil," Megan complained to the man in Arabic.
"You are of our blood," he replied, astonished.
The man pulled his own mask away to reveal his face. Their eyes met for a moment and neither one could say but there was something they found familiar about each other. Megan instantly snapped back to the present, taking advantage of her opponent's moment of distraction, just as he had done, and rolled them over once again and dove for her gun. No sooner had she grabbed it than Rick O'Connell had jumped in with a lit stick of dynamite.
"Enough! Yallah!" the man shouted. "We will shed no more blood. But you must leave. Leave this place or die. You have one day." He then rallied his men and led them back into the desert.
Bridget ran over to Megan and held her, relieved that she was alright. Rick helped Evy up from where she had fallen. The Grosvenor sisters couldn't help but notice the way Rick held Evy after he had gotten her to her feet.
"See, that proves it!" Daniels exclaimed. "Ol' Seti's fortune's gotta be under that sand."
"For them to protect it like this, you just know there's treasure down there," Henderson added.
"Are you Americans really that daft?" Megan asked. "These are people of the desert. They'd take a glass of water over a lake of gold any day."
"You know," Burns, who still had shaving cream on his face, interjected, "maybe just at night, we could combine forces, hm?"
Rick nodded, grudgingly. The Grosvenor sisters just shrugged.
"I don't know about the rest of you," Bridget said, "but I could use a drink. Where's Jonathan with that Glenlivet?"
Back at their camp, Bridget was relieved to see that Helen was perfectly safe and had clearly been left alone during the attack. The little girl snuggled up to her mother who wrapped her arms around her protectively, gently running her hand over her daughter's dark-brown hair. After a few more swigs of the Glenlivet, Bridget was being asked how she and Megan knew how to fight so well.
"Well, you have Richard to thank for that." Bridget pointed to the American who just smiled innocently. "Some years back, before Richard left for Hamunaptra, we were both in 'financial situations.' I engaged in a few activities of questionable legality and so had to learn to defend myself. Megan was still in school and I had not yet gone to work for our uncle at the Cairo museum. I had my family to support and it only got more complicated after I got married to Ali. Ali and Rick were 'business associates,' I was a young and somewhat reckless girl. A few things got out of hand, and Megan got caught up in it as well and so had to learn to fight, too."
"Whatever happened to Ali?" Rick asked. "All you said that it was our buddy Beni's fault that he's gone."
Bridget stared into the flames in the fire pit. Remembering that day was like opening an old war wound.
"After you came back from your first visit here and recounted the story, you remember how Megan and I didn't believe you? We thought you were just delusional from your adventure."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Megan added.
"Thank you, Megan, that's quite enough. As I was saying, Ali believed every word of your story. After you left, he started planning a venture into the desert, when who should pop up but our little friend Beni. Beni promised to lead my husband and his team into the desert. However, the little rat double-crossed us when a certain old boss turned up. Let's just say, things got out of hand and didn't turn out pretty. After that, I knew it wouldn't be wise to keep going in that line of work. It was bad for me, bad for Megan, and I didn't want to give my daughter the opportunity for it to be bad for her. And then, a Godsend came in the form of Uncle Terrance and Uncle Arthur. Uncle Arthur, our father's brother who is in charge of the British fort back in Cairo, allowed us to help him manage the place and Uncle Terrance, our mother's brother, gave us respectable jobs working for him at the museum."
"I always wondered how you got that apartment," Rick said. "But you never mentioned your dad's brother is in charge of that fort."
Bridget gave him a short stare.
"So, that's why you get all upset whenever violence happens?" Evy questioned. "It threatens the peace you've worked so hard to build after all those years."
Bridget nodded slowly, her eyes now brimming with a few tears she refused to allow to flow.
"And it's also why she's not afraid to get her hands dirty," Rick added. "Anything that we find disgusting doesn't faze her at all. Bridge could wander through the dirtiest sewer in Cairo all night and be none the worse for wear."
"I have to be the strong one," said Bridget. "Because no one else can bear burdens like I can. If someone I cared about had been dragged into the jaws of Hell, I wouldn't ever think twice about going after them. Now, with all this said, I bid you goodnight." Bridget closed her eyes and lay down on the blankets that served for a bed and pulled her daughter close to her.
"Well," Megan said, "I do believe I'll turn in too. Night, everyone."
But Megan, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't get to sleep. She kept thinking about that man she had been fighting. What was it that was so familiar? She realized she must have at least drifted off to a certain extent because when she opened her eyes Jonathan was fast asleep and Evy was drunkenly attempting to learn how to hit from Rick. Megan observed their discourse through half-lidded eyes and was very tempted to say "Hear, hear!" in support of what Evy said to Rick towards the end of the conversation.
"I may not be an explorer...or...or an adventurer...or treasure-seeker, or gun-fighter! Mr. O'Connell! But I...am proud...of what I am!"
"And, what is that?" he asked.
"I...am a librarian!" She dropped to her knees in front of Rick, her voice instantly softening. "And, I am going to kiss you, Mr. O'Connell."
"Call me Rick."
Evy leaned in and, just as she was about to kiss him, she passed out.
"Saw that one coming a mile away," Megan said in a clear voice, drawing her old friend's attention.
"How long have you been awake?"
Megan just shrugged off the comment with a look that screamed 'How long do you think?'
"You know, a few years ago, that would've been me passed out there after trying to kiss you."
"Yeah, where does the time go?" Rick said ironically.
Megan rolled her eyes.
"You like her, don't you, Ricochet?" Rick smirked at his old nickname.
"No one's called me that in a long time."
"It's still who you are, Ricochet. Anyway, you're avoiding my question."
"When did you give up on your little crush on me?"
"The day Bridget taught me how to shoot."
"Ouch. I was replaced by weaponry."
"Once again, you're avoiding my question. Do you have feelings for Evy?"
Rick just chuckled and ruffled her hair, much to her annoyance.
"Goodnight, Megs."