When I awoke, I was in a small square room of stone with a barred door to the side which was guarded by a few men who looked oddly like Med-jai. A dungeon cell, that's what it was. Next to me, Lin and Alex lay unconscious. And across the room were the others, Mathayus and Amun were the only other ones conscious. "Are you two alright?" I asked them, since I was in charge of the group, their welfare was in my hands.
"Yes." Mathayus told me. "Cassandra is close to coming to."
I nodded and was about to assess the conditions of my friends when Amun called my name. "Nara," my head snapped up to look at him across the small room. "Since you all know who we are, could you please tell us who your companions are?"
"Of course." I stood so I could walk around the cell and point them out. Walking over to the Americans first, "This is Michal Henderson, but he usually goes by Mich, this is Trevor Burns, and this is Louis Daniels." I picked up his fallen glasses and tucked them into his vest. Then I walked over to my family. "This is my cousin, Alex O'Connell, and his fiancée Lin. And you already know my name. Since you have been awake longer than I have, do you by any chance know where we are."
Just then, Cassandra sat up slowly and leaned against Mathayus. Blinking her eyes into focus, she answered my question. "It is more of a question of when than were. We are in Hamunaptra, but this is Hamunaptra a millennia ago."
I sat heavily down in the sand and tried to wrap my head around this new information. "So the creature sent us back in time?"
"Yes." Mathayus told me.
"And I think I know why." Cassandra added. "He will try and change history by choosing a different mistress, thus saving himself from being killed and being able to overthrow the pharaoh. He plans on choosing you, Nara." My eyes widened to their limits before they sharpened in anger.
"No!" I shouted and shot to my feet. "I will kill him first!" then it downed on me that I did not have my weapons case, but that meant little to me. I could and would still kill him.
Then Mich, Lin, and Alex started to come around. "Where are we?" was the first thing Lin said.
"When." Cassandra corrected. "We are in Hamunaptra a millennia ago."
Mich looked over at me in shock and a bit of fear. "How are we going to get back?"
"First, we need to kill Imhotep so he cannot change history or take Nara as his mistress." Amun added in, standing up to pace the cell.
"What?!" Alex croaked. I could see the pure rage flash though Mich's eyes, but I don't think it was meant for anyone but himself.
I raised my hand to quiet him. "Let us wait until everyone is awake." We only had to wait about twenty more minutes until the others came to. Then Mathayus, Amun, and Cassandra told us everything that they knew was going on. I did not miss that when they spoke of the creature taking me to be his mistress, Mich and Amun shifted themselves towards me. I didn't know if they did it consciously, but they still did; and I didn't know why. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.
"We can't let that happen!" Alex piped up after they were done.
"That's why we need to find a way out of here." I said. "We need to find a way to escape." The others nodded in agreement to my rather simple but logical solution. The only problem was how to get out. "This is Hamunaptra, and I have been inside here many times before. If these are the cells that I think they are, then there is a back hallway that leads to a courtyard open to the desert. From there, it would be your lead, Mathayus."
He bowed his head slightly to me, acknowledging the passing of leadership. "We should make our escape at night, when it will be harder to see us."
"But first we need to get our weapons back." Lin added, eyes all of our empty sheaths and holsters.
"We do not have time to get our own weapons, for they will probably be in the armory. That room will have even guards and is in the opposite direction of our escape route. Do any of you not know how to wield a sword?" I asked, stealing a glance at the guards outside our cell.
The Americans raised their hands. "Do you think you could handle one?" Alex asked, having seen my glance at the guards and interpreting my plans.
"Probably." Mich shrugged.
"Maybe." Trevor added.
"No." Louis flat out stated.
"Then you will stay with Amun, Mathayus, Lin, or I at all times. Now, these people will be speaking ancient Egyptian. I am useless in that language, but what of the rest of you?" We needed to see how we could be divided if we had to mingle in towns or such after our escape and before we returned to kill the creature.
"I can speak it. And I know Mathayus and his family can." Alex piped up.
"We can't speak modern Arabic, so don't even look at us!" Trevor laughed. The Americans were at a severe disadvantage with this mission.
"I cannot speak it, either. I have enough trouble as it is with English." Lin added, smiling deprecatorily at herself.
"Alright. Then in the case of us becoming separated, we will split into groups of three. Alex, Lin, and Trevor will make up one group. Mathayus, Cassandra, and Louis will be another. And Amun and Mich will be with me." I made sure that the groups were evenly split. There was at least one sword fighter and at least one person who could speak ancient Egyptian in each of the groups.
"One last question." Mich added. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, at the bar door and guards. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"That, my friend, you need only leave to me." I smiled slightly him, gaining a mix of reactions from my narrow-minded friends. Only Alex and the Americans did not look at me funny. To show what I meant about getting out, I reached inside my robes to an inside pocket and took out a small roll of canvas. Placing it on the sand beneath me, I untied the string and rolled it open; revealing the set of lock-picking tools my mother had gotten me.
Apparently, being captured and put in a locked room when you desperately needed to be somewhere else was a common occurrence for O'Connells and Bays.
We're back! And we're very sorry that this took so long, but school and stuff just got in our way.
So, the group has been sent back in time and taken captives by Imhotep who plans on rewriting history. NOT GOOD.
Here's a little challenge: we wonder if any of you can foresee something going wrong with their escape plan. We have already planned for a little snag that we hinted at in this chapter, but can any of YOU find it???
As always, your reviews are cherished and always replied.
Sincerely,
C M + L W = idkaname.
