A/N: This revised and edited chapter was uploaded on April 17, 2016
Chapter 6: Imhotep
Hamunaptra
When Ruth returned to her campsite, the sun was all the way up. She could hear some talking coming from the Americans' camp. That did not bode well. Ruth quickly removed Nile's tack and fed and watered him before going back to her camp. Rick was beginning to stir.
"Where were you?" he asked when he finally opened his eyes.
"Feeding Nile," Ruth answered quickly. O'Connell bought it.
"What time is it?"
"A little past 6 in the morning," Ruth answered glancing at her watch. She hadn't realized how long she'd been talking to the warrior for until now. Her brother was standing and stretching, trying to wake himself up. "Can you get some breakfast going?" O'Connell nodded, thankful for something to do. Plus, he had always been the better cook between the two of them. Ruth knelt down beside her best friend and gently shook her.
"Evie," Ruth tried. "Come on, Eves. It's time to get up." The brunette let out a low moan.
"No." Ruth laughed a little and Evie winced.
"Come on, girly." Ruth knew she was hungover, but if the Americans got the book of Amun-Ra because Ruth had let Evie sleep in… she'd never be forgiven. Ruth quickly ripped Evie's blanket away from her and the woman groaned.
"Do you mind turning down that light?" Evie asked. Ruth laughed lightly.
"You mean the sun?" she asked, thoroughly amused.
"And talking quieter?" Ruth laughed again.
"Come on, Evie." Ruth grasped her best friend's hands and raised her into a sitting position. Ruth handed her a canteen. "Drink all of this." Evie didn't argue and took the canteen of water.
"I'm going to kill Jonathan," she muttered. "And after that, I'm never drinking again." Ruth smirked a little.
"Why don't you wait until your hangover passes, all right Evie?" The woman merely nodded, but abruptly stopped due to the pounding it caused in her head. As Evie continued to drink the water Ruth had given her, the O'Connell woman moved to wake up Jonathan. She was not nearly as gentle with him as she was with Evie. There was a lot of screaming and smacking involved, but soon, Jonathan was drinking a canteen of water alongside his sister. Soon, the pair was being handed a particularly greasy breakfast by an amused O'Connell. The chatter from the Americans' camp was getting louder. It took over half an hour, but eventually, the O'Connells and the Carnahans were ready to start the day. After Evie and Jonathan had rehydrated and gotten some food in them, they'd returned to their regular selves. When the group of four descended back down into the City of the Dead, the Americans looked like they were just now rolling out of bed. However, when they finally arrived at the statue of Anubis, Ruth was surprised to find that Evie was much more curious about the sarcophagus they'd found. So they left the search for the book… for now.
"Oh, I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl," Evie breathed. O'Connell and Jonathan had just managed to lean the bottom layer of the sarcophagus up against the wall. They'd gone through the first layer fairly quickly and were now ready to finally see who was inside.
"You dream about dead guys?" O'Connell asked Evie, confused at her previous comment. Evie ignored him.
"Oh, look," she said while looking at the lid of the sarcophagus. "The sacred spells have been chiseled off. This man must've been condemned not only in this life, but in the next."
"Tough break."
"Yeah, I'm all tears," Jonathan added sarcastically. Ruth pushed aside her growing uneasiness as he unlocked the sarcophagus. "Let's see who's inside, shall we?" He and O'Connell grasped the lid and tried to remove it. They struggled for several seconds, but suddenly, it flew off and the body inside practically jumped out at them. All four screamed with surprise, but quickly recovered.
"Oh, I hate it when these things do that!" Evie cried.
"Is he supposed to look like that?" O'Connell asked while eyeing the body. Ruth's eyebrows furrowed in disgust and surprise. The body's wrappings were nowhere to be found. But then, Ruth found them. They were behind the body, torn and ripped, like something had forced its way out of them. The body itself looked… not right. It was still decomposing. But… that made no sense! He was too old to still be decomposing. How was this possible? The uneasy feeling in Ruth's gut grew as she gazed at the body.
"No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before," Evie said answering O'Connell's question. "He's still… still…"
"Juicy," O'Connell and Jonathan finished. That was the perfect word to describe this corpse.
"Yes," Evie agreed.
"God, he's over 3,000 years old and yet… he's still decomposing," Ruth said. "He shouldn't look like this. How is this possible?" Evie was nodding in agreement with her best friend's words.
"Hey, look at that," O'Connell spoke up. Ruth followed his gaze and fell upon the inside of the sarcophagus lid. There were deep scratches all over it. "What do you make of this?"
"My God, these marks were made by…" Evie trailed off as she ran her fingers over the scratches, realizing they matched perfectly. "Fingernails." Ruth shivered. "This man was buried alive."
"Guys," Ruth suddenly said. She was still staring at the inside of the sarcophagus lid. "He left a message." Indeed, scratched into the stone, was Ancient Egyptian writing. "Death is only the beginning." As Ruth read the words, her blood ran cold. What could that possibly mean? Everyone hesitantly looked back at the corpse, unnerved and unsure what to do next. This man had been buried alive inside a locked sarcophagus with the sacred spells chipped away. He hadn't been named and he had been buried at the base of Anubis and he had most likely scratched those words into the sarcophagus lid with his dying breaths. Who was this man? And what had he done wrong? Ruth shivered as she thought of the possibilities. She could only hope and pray that she never found out.
~)8(~
It wasn't long after they opened the sarcophagus did the small group decide to call a day, a little spooked and drained. Evie and Ruth elected to stay behind and continue studying the corpse and sarcophagus, but eventually, the two paused for a break.
"So, what do you think?" Evie asked her, still bursting with excitement at everything from their location to the body they'd unearthed.
"I think we should leave," Ruth told her seriously. Evie frowned before laughing a little bit.
"Maybe we should call it a day," she agreed. Ruth shook her head.
"No. I meant I think we should leave Hamunaptra." Evie frowned in confusion.
"But…" she began to protest. "Ruth you live for discovery and travel. Plus, you have a passion for Ancient Egypt. This is your life. Why do you want to leave?" Ruth looked at her friend for a few seconds before sighing. It was time.
"Last time I was here… three years ago-" With a start, Evie realized that Ruth was about to tell her about the events from three years ago. Evie hurried to stop her best friend.
"Ruth, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Evie said. Ruth smiled a little at Evie's consideration but shook her head.
"You deserve to know," Ruth told her. Evie smiled a little, touched that Ruth trusted her that much. So, without further ado, Ruth told Evie about the events from three years ago. She told her about how she hid her true identity while in the French Foreign Legion. She told Evie about the long journey across Libya and Egypt. She told Evie about the battle. She told Evie how she watched as her friends and comrades were killed by Tuaregs. She told Evie how she, her brother, and Beni were the only ones from the Legion who survived. She told Evie about the whispering they'd heard. She told Evie about the sand that had thrown itself at them. She told Evie about the long journey back to civilization. She told Evie about the black riders on top of the ridge who had watched the entire thing. She told Evie everything. Down in that little chamber underneath the statue of Anubis, a decomposing mummy staring at them, both of them covered in dirt and sweat and grime, Ruth told Evie everything.
"Ruth… I… I don't know what to say," Evie eventually choked out. She really didn't. What Ruth had just shared with her was… awful. Just terrible! Ruth smiled a little bit at Evie's words.
"Eves, I'm not trying to force you into anything. You've wanted to find this book your entire life. And now that you're so close… I don't mean to rip that chance away from you. I just wanted you to know about what happened and why I hate this place so much. If you choose to stay in the end, I won't force you to leave. I'll even stay with you. But please… please consider what I've told you. Please consider leaving this place." Evie was extremely touched at Ruth's words. After everything she'd just shared, Evie could understand why Ruth didn't want to be here. But to know that her friend would stay with her if she chose to stay… it meant a lot to her.
"Well, I'm going back up," Ruth then said. "I've got to get started on those Ancient Greek letters." Evie nodded. Ruth quickly gathered her tools and grabbed a torch as she made to leave the chamber.
"Hey, Ruth?" She turned back to the brunette woman. "Thank you for telling me." Ruth smiled, wider than she had all day, and nodded. With that, Evie was left alone in the room.
~)8(~
That night, Ruth sat in front of a roaring fire, surrounded by her work. There was a large pile of photographs to her right and a larger pile of parchment next to the photos. On her left was a small pile of photos and parchment with the letters' translations written on them. Ruth held a writing pad in her lap with ink and a pen and parchment. In her hands she held a photo and a magnifying glass. At one point, Ruth registered her brother coming and sitting next to her with Jonathan and Beni. Not soon after that, the Americans joined them.
"Say, O'Connell," Henderson started as he sat down. Both Rick and Ruth looked up. "What do you think these babies will fetch back home?" Ruth had to snigger a bit as she saw what each of the Americans was holding. "Something funny, Two?" The Americans had taken up Beni's habit of calling her 'Two'.
"Do you have any idea what those are?" she asked them. The men shook their heads but didn't seem to care. Too stuck on the idea of how much money they would make selling them, most likely. Not much, really. Canopic jars weren't exactly considered valuable, even ones that were in as good of condition as those were. Their value decreased when they didn't have the body that went with them. Ruth pointed at Henderson.
"Intestines." She then pointed at Burns. "Liver." And then at Daniels. "Stomach." The Americans sat there thoroughly confused, but O'Connell and Jonathan, who still remembered Evie and Ruth's lecture on the mummification process, had to snicker. Ruth debated whether or not to tell them they were holding someone's organs, but decided against it. Their ignorance was more amusing than their disgusted faces would be.
"We heard you guys found yourselves a nice gooey mummy," Burns said, trying to get O'Connell and Ruth to stop laughing at them. "Well, congratulations."
"You know if you dry that fella out you might be able to sell him for firewood," Daniels added. The three Americans and Beni found this amusing, but O'Connell, Jonathan, and Ruth merely ignored them.
"Look what I found!" Evie called as she came up to them.
"You're in her seat," O'Connell told Beni sternly. The Hungarian merely laughed. "Now!"
"Yeah." He got up and moved to the other side of Jonathan right as Evie came up to them.
"Scarab skeletons," she said as she sat down next to O'Connell in Beni's vacated seat. "Flesh-eaters. I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him." The Americans' moods instantly deflated upon hearing Evie's words and everyone around the fire fell silent. Evie was the only one who seemed to be excited about this. Ruth mentally sighed. Looks like she had decided to stay. Well, if that desert warrior came back, Ruth could tell him that she did her part and tried to get them to leave, just like she promised.
Ruth quietly reached across her brother and grabbed one of the skeletons in Evie's hands. She held it up between her fingers and studied it in the firelight. It was definitely a scarab. Vicious things. Ruth didn't care who you were or what you had done. No one deserved to be eaten alive by scarabs.
"So somebody threw these in with our guy and they slowly ate him alive?" O'Connell asked.
"Very slowly," Evie and Ruth confirmed at the same time. However, while Ruth's voice was grim, Evie was grinning.
"Well, he certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?" Jonathan said. Ruth couldn't help but agree. But, the Ancient Egyptians weren't barbarians. They must've had a good reason for condemning this man to the fate he had received.
"He probably got a little too frisky with the pharaoh's daughter," O'Connell said, trying to diffuse the tension a little bit. It worked. Evie laughed. However, she stopped when she saw the thoughtful look on Ruth's face.
"Evie…" her best friend started, "which curse did this guy suffer?" An excited gleam lit up Evie's eyes.
"The Hom-Dai." Ruth blanched.
"But… that was never performed! That was the worst of all Ancient Egyptian curses." Evie nodded, the gleam still in her eyes.
"I know." Ruth's eyes closed in horror. God, what the hell did this guy do? It must've been truly horrible if the Egyptians had condemned him to the Hom-Dai, a curse which had supposedly never been performed because the Egyptians feared it so much.
"That bad, huh?" O'Connell asked. Judging from his tone, he wasn't taking this as seriously as Ruth was.
"The Hom-Dai was never used because the Ancient Egyptians were terrified of it," Ruth told him. "If a victim of the Hom-Dai were to ever be resurrected, they would be like a walking plague. They would literally bring with them the Ten Plagues of Egypt." There was a tense silence as everyone took in this information. Not soon after that, everyone decided it was time to talk about something else and they all branched off in their own little conversations. Ruth turned back to her work.
"What'cha got there?" she heard. She looked up and to her right to see Burns sitting down next to her, curious at what she was reading. Ruth smiled a bit. As brash as Daniels was and as arrogant as Henderson was, Burns seemed like a decent guy.
"I'm a linguist and translator," Ruth told him. "I'm just getting some work done." He nodded and looked at the photo of the letter.
"What language is that?" he asked upon the realization that it was not English.
"Ancient Greek."
"You know Ancient Greek?" Burns asked with extreme surprise. Ruth looked up with a smile and nodded.
"I can read and write several dead languages," she told him. "I also know Ancient Egyptian, English, obviously, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Japanese, and Chinese." Burns' surprise and amazement grew with every language Ruth listed. "I'm currently studying Farsi. I hope to learn Russian and Swahili someday."
"Impressive," Burns managed to get out. And it certainly was. He'd studied a little bit of Spanish, but barely enough to get by. He could never hope to learn as many languages as Ruth had.
"It took a lot of hard work, but it eventually paid off," Ruth said. "As someone who grew up in an orphanage, communication was an essential skill I needed to learn. I grew up learning both English and Arabic. After learning Ancient Egyptian out of curiosity, I just… continued. I never stopped, I still haven't."
"That's amazing, Two, really," Burns complimented. Ruth smiled.
"You can call me Ruth, you know." Burns smiled.
"As long as you call me Bernie." Ruth's smiled widened and she nodded. Then, she showed Burns what she was working on.
"This is a letter from a man in Ancient Greece to his lover. A woman recently approached me and asked me to translate a series of these letters for her and her family. None of them know Ancient Greek. Normally, I don't do personal consultations, but I wasn't busy at the time so I took the job. The correspondents of the letters are the woman's ancestors."
"What do they say?" Burns asked in curiosity. Ruth looked at the piece of parchment in her lap.
"My love, I can only hope that you are doing well and this letter makes it to you. I know how your father feels about us, so I think it best we keep the letters few and far between. But, I can't help it. I want to see you. I need to see you, my love. I need to see your flowing hair and your shining eyes and your bright smile. Do you want to meet?"
"What? That's it?" Burns asked, slightly disappointed at the shortness of the love letter. Ruth laughed.
"That's all I have translated so far," she said. Burns flushed a little bit and took off his glasses to clean them. He and Ruth spent some more time talking and reading the letters, but soon, it was time for everyone to turn in for the night.
"Oh, Bernie?" The man stopped and turned back to Ruth. She knelt down and picked up something from the ground before handing it to him. Burns frowned in confusion before unwrapping the large parcel. When he saw what was inside it, he gasped. It was a new toolkit.
"I apologize for my brother," Ruth said to him. "I know what he did and I had a spare toolkit so…" Burns gaped at the woman.
"Thank you," he eventually breathed. Ruth smiled and nodded.
"Goodnight, Bernie." The woman turned and walked back towards her camp. Ruth went to feed and groom Nile before turning in for the night. She had finally finished and was heading back to camp when she heard Dr. Chamberlain yelling at the top of his lungs.
"NO! You must not read from the book!" Ruth followed his gaze and saw O'Connell and Evie. In front of them was an open book. It was black and made of stone. Ruth rushed forward, but halted gasped as she got closer and realized what the book was.
"Is that what I think it is?" she breathed, her eyes wide and her heart pounding. Yes, it was. It was the Book of the Dead, the complete opposite of the Book of Amun-Ra. How they'd gotten that particular book she had no idea, but at the time, she didn't particularly care. Her question went unanswered as there was a rush of wind. But that wasn't all. There was a rumbling from somewhere off in the distance. Jonathan jerked awake as the rumbling got louder and everyone looked in the direction it was coming from. At first, they all wondered if it was those desert warriors coming back for them in greater numbers, but they quickly ruled it out. The rumbling didn't at all resemble hooves. And it was far too loud. So, if it wasn't those desert warrior guys, where was the rumbling coming from? Ruth was mentally cursing herself for putting away most of her weapons for the night. The only things she had left on her person were the knives down her boots. She didn't even have the dagger in her hair anymore because she'd used it to injure the desert warrior. Ruth quickly crept to her things and began strapping on her swords. She didn't have time to do much else because she finally saw what was making the rumbling. It was a swarm of locusts!
"Run!" O'Connell yelled. Everyone bolted. O'Connell, Evie, Jonathan, Beni, the Americans, and Ruth rushed into the city as the locusts swarmed them. At one point, Beni, the Americans, and a couple of their diggers broke off. O'Connell, Evie, Jonathan, and Ruth cautiously made their way through the corridors of Hamunaptra. Ruth held one of her swords in front of her and O'Connell held on of his guns. Both he and Jonathan had torches in their hands. Evie was holding one of Ruth's knives, which the woman had thrust into her hands as they'd entered the city. Suddenly, there came more rumbling. Everyone paused as a small mound of sand began to rise out of the floor. The four watched with wariness and caution as it continued rising. A few seconds later, hundreds of scarabs burst from the sand.
"Go! Run! Go!" Ruth yelled. The four sprinted through the corridors. O'Connell shot at the scarabs as they chased them. At one point, the four ran into a little room where the floor was nothing more than a stone bridge. The floor beneath them seemed to drop into nothingness and everyone made sure to stay far away from the edges. Evie and Ruth flattened themselves against a wall and O'Connell and Jonathan jumped onto separate side platforms as the scarabs rushed passed, not giving them a second glance. Evie and Ruth grasped hands and pushed themselves against the wall even harder as the flesh-eaters ran by them. But suddenly, there was no more wall. The two women fell back with screams. It was a trapdoor. Evie had managed to stay standing, but Ruth fell back on her bum. When they finally calmed down, the women saw they were in a dimly lit room, something Ruth seethed at. With both of their nerves running high, Ruth picked herself up off the ground and crept closer to her best friend as Evie looked around frantically. The women froze in fear when they heard a quiet moaning. They turned and saw Burns standing behind them, his back facing them. Both women gave little sighs of relief.
"Oh," Evie breathed. "Oh, Mr. Burns. Thank goodness. We were just starting to get scared. We lost everyone…" Evie trailed off as Burns turned around. Ruth's eyes widened and she very nearly screamed. Burns' eyes were missing and he stared at the pair with empty sockets.
"My eyes! My eyes!" At his muffled cries, Ruth was able to determine that his tongue was missing as well. Evie shuffled away from the man in fear, but Ruth made to catch him as he collapsed. Good God, what the hell happened to him? Ruth snapped her gaze up when she heard Evie give a scream. Evie was scrambling away from a menacing figure. Ruth froze and fear pumped through her entire being as she stared at the walking and talking mummy. It was their mummy, the one they'd unearthed. He was alive and stalking towards Evie. Ruth couldn't have muffled the squeak of fear she gave even if she wanted to. The mummy paused and turned to face Ruth. Then, he started coming towards her. Ruth froze. She felt petrified. She couldn't move. She was absolutely shell-shocked with fear.
"Amunet… come." The mummy spoke in Ancient Egyptian. As he spoke, he reached his hand out towards Ruth, as if he wanted her to take it. How could he speak? And his eyes…? Ruth nearly threw up. They were the same blue as the eyes Burns had previously possessed. The mummy had taken Burns' eyes and tongue for itself. And more than that… who was Amunet, and why had the mummy called her that?
Finally, Ruth was able to shake herself from her terrified stupor and she reached for the sword she'd dropped when she'd caught Burns. She swung her blade at the mummy, missing completely, but still feeling a little braver. The mummy got the message. He lowered his hand and walked back over to Evie. Ruth had a choice. She could either stay there and help Evie with the mummy, or she could save Burns' life and get him out of there. Ruth was saved from making a choice she felt she was physically unable to make. O'Connell came rushing into the room. Evie would be fine with her brother. So, Ruth sheathed her sword and grasped Burns' underarms before practically dragging him out of the chamber. It took a lot of Ruth's strength, as Burns wasn't exactly a small man, but she knew that if she didn't get him and herself out of there, they would most likely die. Ruth turned a corner in the corridor and stopped. She set Burns back on the ground and leaned him up against the wall. He was quietly moaning with pain. Quite understandable considering the state he was in. Suddenly, Ruth heard fastly approaching footsteps. Panic filled her.
"Shh, shh," Ruth quietly shushed Burns. His moaning got a little quieter, but it wasn't enough. Ruth gently placed her hand over his mouth to quiet him and drew a sword with her other hand. Ruth breathed in and out slowly, trying to quiet her breathing and racing heart. She listened. They were getting closer. Within 30 seconds, numerous men came around the corner with torches and guns. They all pointed their weapons at Ruth and Burns upon seeing them. Ruth sent her strongest glare at them. She was so done with… Ruth's thoughts cut off as a familiar face came forward.
"You," Ruth breathed. It was the warrior she'd fought and spoken with on the ridge.
"What have you done?" he asked. Ruth's glare returned.
"Nothing!" she insisted. Well, not exactly true, but she truly had no idea what was going on. "What is happening?"
"You have raised the Creature. You have doomed us all."
"I did not read from that damn book!" The warrior looked a little surprised at her words. "That's what this is about, right? 'The Creature' suffered the Hom-Dai, Evie accidentally resurrected him, and now the Plagues are coming. There was already a swarm of locusts." The man raised his eyebrows, admittedly a little impressed that the woman had been able to figure it out so quickly. He'd thought so before, but she certainly was a clever one.
"What happened to Bernie?" Ruth quietly asked while lowering her sword and gently stroking the hair of the pained man next to her.
"The Creature has taken his eyes and tongue for himself," the warrior said confirming what Ruth had already figured out. "He must've been one of the ones to open the chest."
"What chest?" Ruth asked, confused.
"The chest containing the Book of the Dead and the five sacred canopic jars." Ruth thought about the book she'd seen O'Connell and Evie with. Then, she thought back to a few hours ago when the Americans had bragged about their finds, unknowing of what the canopic jars really were. Guilt swept through Ruth as she remembered how she had mocked them.
"What's going to happen to him?" Ruth whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the American man she had recently come to consider a friend. The warrior didn't say anything, but the grim look in his eyes said everything. Ruth closed her eyes, unknowing of the tear that made its way down her face.
"What do you know about Imhotep?" the warrior suddenly asked. He looked down at the clever woman before him and decided to test her knowledge, see just how much she knew and was able to figure out. The woman furrowed her eyebrows.
"Not much," she admitted. "Only what I read in an obscure text in the library at the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. He was Seti I's High Priest. That mummy… was that him?" The warrior nodded and Ruth's eyes widened a bit. Pharaoh's High Priest had been condemned to the Hom-Dai. What exactly had he done to deserve that? The warrior turned to his men and ordered them to go back to the surface in Arabic. Two men came forward and gently lifted up Burns. The man began to panic.
"Ruth? Ruth! Don't leave me, Ruth! Ruth, where are you? Don't leave me! Please!" Ruth's heart broke as she listened to the man's muffled cries. She rushed forward and grasped the man's hand.
"I'm here, Bernie. I'm here. I'm not leaving you. I promise." The man calmed down and was reduced to small cries and moans. Ruth's heart continued to ache as she let go of Burns' hand and allowed the desert warrior men to carry him away.
"Who are you?" Ruth asked as she fell into step with the leader.
"We are the Medjai," he answered, finally telling Ruth what she wanted to know. "For 3,000 years we have watched over Hamunaptra and tried to keep the Creature from being raised. Ruth felt guilty. 3,000 years… and they had failed. All because Ruth couldn't convince Evie to give up her search and leave.
"Medjai… Pharaoh's sacred bodyguards, right?" she asked, trying not to think about her guilt. The warrior looked impressed and nodded.
"We are their descendants, yes."
"So, why was Pharaoh's High Priest condemned to the worst curse in all of Ancient Egypt?"
"There's not enough time to explain," he told Ruth. "But, he will bring death wherever he goes. No one is safe." Ruth's guilt only increased at his words and she took a small step away from him.
"Okay, so who's Amunet?" Ruth asked.
"What?" The man faltered in his steps at Ruth's question.
"Amunet. Imhotep called me that back there. He called me 'Amunet' and wanted me to come with him. He also seemed rather interested in Evie." Ruth had noticed Imhotep's interest in her best friend. She'd been able to tell as Imhotep spoke to her, but hadn't been able to make out what he'd said.
"I have never heard the name Amunet before," the warrior told her. Ruth sagged a little in disappointment. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she had heard the name before. She just… couldn't remember where. And it bothered her.
"Okay, then," Ruth merely replied. The two fell into a slightly awkward silence as they followed the rest of the Medjai from the pits of Hamunaptra. "How…" The warrior turned to Ruth and silently egged her on. "How do we kill Imhotep?" The man turned more serious than Ruth had ever seen him before, and that was saying something because that man always seemed to be serious.
"We can't." Ruth's eyes widened and her heart plummeted at his words. Her steps faltered a little. The warrior looked at Ruth, his eyes soft with empathy. He was as worried and scared as she was. The two continued in a tense silence before Ruth felt the need to break it.
"How's your back feeling?" The warrior surprised Ruth by laughing lightly. Ruth caught a glimpse of his smile. It was nice… really nice. His eyes lit up and his serious face became even more handsome than it had already been. Ruth liked his smile.
"It is a little sore," he admitted. "And your arm?" Ruth looked down at it, noticing the red stain on her bandages.
"It's bleeding. I must've popped a stitch at some point. It doesn't hurt, but I'm sure that's because of the adrenalin."
"I'm sorry… for that," the warrior said. Ruth smiled a little.
"Me, too." The two walked the rest of the way out of Hamunaptra in silence, a comfortable silence this time. Soon, they emerged out of the city and into the night. The locusts had gone, Ruth noticed. The Medjai lined up in front of the city's entrance and waited. Ruth had returned to her spot next to Burns and took his hand, hoping to give the man a little comfort and security. All they could do was wait for their friends and family to return from within the City of the Dead.
Hey all! Here's another edited and revised chapter for you all! Hope you all like it :)
Cheerio!