WRATH of the MUMMY
By Lady JenDragon
Disclaimer: Guess I must continue to reiterate that I don't own the movie characters. However, the story does belong to me and any new characters I created. My joy.
Author's Notes: Okay, okay, it's been a very long awhile. But while I was away I got to graduate from school. Well, they have to verify first then send me my diploma. Why does it always have to take so long? In other news: Sadly my cousin passed away at the end on November. He was only 38. There was a screw up in his meds that did not get noticed in time. I was very sad and went into a funk. Otherwise this chapter would've been up right after I finished school. Enjoy!
CHAPTER NINE
Ahm Shere
Ardeth sat at one of the small train tables, his bare arms folded trying to maintain what little dignity he had left. The guards standing at attention glared at him hoping to make him uncomfortable. The Med-Jai wore only a black-bronze cross-patterned tunic and leather sandals. Heavy iron shackles hung at his wrists and ankles. His eyes shifted to the dead, fleshless cat leaping onto the table in front of him and begin bathing its paws. Ardeth frowned but did not jerk back,
The cat appeared annoyed that he was not remotely afraid of its appearance. It hissed at him, the long teeth with a swinging piece of mummified flesh hanging freely. Irritated with the creature, he knocked it off the table with the chains of his wrist shackles. A nearby guard moved forward and smacked Ardeth upside the head for his actions.
At that moment Amolitiye entered the train compartment. Finding her cat on the floor crouched into an angry stance, she looked from the Med-Jai to the guard then back at her feline. Suddenly the room got very cold and her eyes flared white then silver. The Guard backed away, eyeing the shivering Med-Jai. Amolitiye looked to all the other guards in the room. Many chose to stand their ground, keeping up the outward expressionless fasod. Some shrunk back against the wall or nearest firm object.
"Princess, we should stop." Serin entered from the other end, eyes on the cloud forming as he spoke. "Ahm Shere is still several hours away by camel."
"There will be no need for camels." Amolitiye spoke softly.
She walked forward passing the Med-Jai. Amolitiye closed her eyes, stretching her hands out to her sides. Ardeth chose that moment to look up from his cold seat, his skin riddled with goose bumps. Few things made him quiver. This creature rattled him.
Then he felt the jerking sensation.
Several Guards jumped back when her eyes suddenly opened, glowing a bright purple. Unable to tear their gazes from the young woman, none noticed the ground falling away from the windows.
Except the Med-Jai gripping the table with both hands white-knuckled, his neck stretched to the window. Eyes were wide with fear and awe. Ardeth anxiously glanced at Amolitiye's back then out the window again. The others took notice and glanced for themselves. The floor barely lurched as the train rose higher.
Ardeth sighed quietly as the railroad tracks grew more distant. He cursed himself for foolishly believing O'Connell would make it to Ahm Shere to prevent the creature from finding Imhotep. She kept eerily still as the train moved towards its destination. They would arrive in an hour if he calculated correctly.
A shadow on the passing dunes below showed a train traveling through the air on a cloud of purple and red cumulonimbus. The guards managed to remain calm. Serin narrowed his eyes but did not hide his surprise about Amolitiye's power. His dreams showed him the power she possessed. But not how she would use those powers. She could destroy Imhotep with ease.
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Two Med-Jai Warriors sat on horses' drinking water from black canteens attached to lanyards around their necks. The first Med-Jai spotted the train whistling its way towards the desert of Ahm Shere on tracks of clouds in purple and red.
"Look!" Cried the first Med-Jai.
The other had to steer his horse around to face the on-coming enemy. He narrowed his eyes at the train clearing the top of the small mountain, lowering sharply back towards the ground. It hovered a hundred feet above the desert floor suspended by magic neither knew existed.
The train wheels continued to rotate as it approached their location quickly, passing them with great speed. For brief moments they were cast in shadows. It chugged loudly, the occasional whistle spouting off. The Med-Jai Commanders must be told both realized simultaneously. The second Med-Jai dropped his canteen and rode off hard towards the south with a quick glance over his shoulder to his partner.
The first Med-Jai rode north after the train.
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The train came to a halt just on the edge of the sacred Ahm Shere, setting down on the largest dune. Ardeth dreaded returning to this place as the train settled into the sand. The sudden release of magic made him grunt slightly as the train's weight was placed back on the Earth. He waited in his seat until he would be forced to move. They would not need him to find the Imhotep. The creature already knew how to find him.
Guards began to move towards the exit, stepping out onto the barren terrain from the stairs at the end of the compartment. Amolitiye eyed the guard near her and nodded towards the Med-Jai. He nodded his understanding and went to fetch the prisoner.
Ardeth witnessed the exchange and knew he would be forced to exit. Would they leave him here after she got Imhotep? He slid to the end of the seat booth, waiting for the guard to reach him before slowly getting to his feet. Managing to walk with shackles would be a difficult task in sand.
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Amolitiye walked ahead of Serin, Madara, and the other guards. She wanted to feel the scared desert ahead of the non-magic. She would need all her energy to focus on the sands hiding what she truly desired. She felt the gun trained on the Med-Jai prisoner. She felt his fear yet the curiosity in him. Madara's hatred for all things male echoed in her head. Serin's intense desire to kill the Med-Jai prisoner made her smile.
Such simple Humans.
Amolitiye stopped, feeling the power that once touched these lands; the battle that ensued here between Anubis' army the Med-Jai tribes, the triumph of good over evil. But these were not all the memories of this desert. Many men fought over land to possess it, to command it, to fill it with their own peoples.
Serin halted the others, keeping himself between Amolitiye and those behind him. His head lifted at the sound of Madara hitting Ardeth behind the knees, a small crack echoed from the contact. He turned to watch the Med-Jai fall to the sand with a small smile. He nodded towards Madara then returned his attention to Amolitiye. 'What will she do? How will she find him?'
"Observe Med-Jai." Came Amolitiye's soft voice.
It was not a request. Even in such a soft, almost a gentle voice, she commanded power no other Human possessed on Earth. Her seemingly reserved manner hid her true intentions. Ardeth found the idea disturbing that one person could amass such magic in one small body. Yet, he understood that appearances were deceiving. Even the ancients understood this concept, handed down through generations of Med-Jai sons and daughters.
Amolitiye's hands drew circles in the air, as the wind picked up aggressively. Both eyes began to glow green then turned to gold. Her black hair swirled around her as the sands before them turned to chaos, her clothes strained against her petite form. Ardeth nearly blinded by sands, raised his arms to block his view. He wanted to see what was happening. Ardeth glimpsed Serin, Madara, and the Guards also trying to keep from being blinded by the swirling sands.
It was then that Ardeth noticed that Amolitiye clutched something in each hand, both glowing gold. 'The medallions stolen from the museums! She holds both the Zai and Kai medallions!' Then the sands stopped battering him and the others. He lifted his head, finding the sands formed large pillar tornadoes that were dislodging the deeper, compacted sands.
They waited for what seemed like minutes. The sands before them began to bulge upward. Seconds passed at the bulge grew and grew until it seemed the sand would burst forth. Black liquid oil colored flesh beetles broke free and swarmed out over the sand. They immediately changed direction heading for the train and its passengers.
Many guards began to retreat to the train in hopes of evading the fast moving creatures. The panic stopped when it seemed an invisible wall prevented the bugs from swarming the train after all. Almost instantly, strong winds pulled the bugs back into the swirling sands, turning the pillar tornadoes black.
Imhotep's melted sand sarcophagus and corpse rose from the chaos and floated towards them slowly through the black tornadoes.
"God help us all." Ardeth spoke quietly.
His eyes rested on Imhotep's silica sarcophagus setting down before Amolitiye. He could barely make out the mummified remains inside the transparent to slightly brown and tan impurities sealing the corpse. Ardeth hoped for the first time that the O'Connell's and the woman were coming for him.
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Rick O'Connell glanced at his pocket watch and smiled. They were making good time. If all went well, they could be at Ahm Shere long before the new friend showed up. They would stand with the other Med-Jai in the area against her. Not sure how to accomplish that task, he refused to think about it until the moment arrived.
"Hey!" Rick called out. "Slow down!"
Something on the horizon caught his attention. He began to slow his camel down, raising his arm up to signal the others behind him. He stopped his lead camel, eyes widening as he realized what was coming at them. The other three came to halt behind him.
"What the hell is that?" Came Jonathan's suddenly interested voice.
All eyes fixed on the approaching figure on a cloud of purple and green. No one moved. No one glanced at one another. Only when the train passed them overhead did anyone make a move. The train whistled loudly as it cast them and the ground in shadows. Armed guards could be seen in the windows looking out and down towards them
"Wasn't expecting that." Rick said finally, his eyes wide.
All turn their camels to watch the train floating away from the sacred desert of Ahm Shere. Rick positioned his camel away from the others. Xalla and Evie exchanged a quick glance between them before returning to the train. Jonathan leaned back on one hand, behaving as a spectator at a sporting event.
"Does that mean she's got our old pal?" Jonathan asked Evie, choosing to lean forward on his camel, clearly uncomfortable.
Rick rolled his eyes then lowered his head in defeat.
"How we will find Ardeth now?" Evie asked quietly.
She felt as if she let Ardis, her nickname for Ardeth, down somehow. There would be no way to keep track of the train, even a floating one. It moved so quickly, the train would be out of sight in no time. Neither did they know the creature's destination now that she had Imhotep.
Metal clanked loudly, almost as if moving past another metal object. The sounds emanated from Rick's artifact bag.
"What was that?" Evie wondered out loud.
Rick looked down at the side of his camel where the bag was tightly attached lifted his artifact bag onto his lap and removes the sorcerer's book. The lines inside the circle on the cover form a map.
"You aren't going to believe this." Rick frowned.
He was sure the book did not look like this before he put it in the bag. Rick handed Evie the sorcerer's book, keeping a grip on it even as he let the full weight into her hands. Evie paid her husband no mind. Her eyes carefully studied the metal book cover with awe.
"It's a map of some kind." Evie spoke with finality as she traced a finger along the metal lines. "Look, here's Ahm Shere. I…think it's showing us where to go next. It must be the companion to the book the sorceress has in her possession."
"So where are we supposed to go?" Jonathan smiled at Xalla.
"Give…me…a moment." Evie responded softly.
"If this is a second book, then why make two?" Xalla asked more out of curiosity.
She did not want to get involved with this whole mess that seemed to just find her. Xalla preferred to stay out time's way and let the human race deal with its own problems of this era. She felt strongly that to become involved in such an operation could have severe affects on the future. All those movies of people going back in time and screwing something up could only make the world a worse place to live. If Hitler actually won the second World War? She shook the crazy thoughts away. Thinking about all the ways she could screw up history would indeed lead her to think she could redeem an error not corrected. No, she had to keep out of history's way. That did not mean she had to participate in her current situation.
"You think this one was made by someone else?" Rick looked at Xalla.
The woman seemed to resent being here, Rick noted. She certainly did not seem to be like the other women he had met before Evie. Even by Evie standards, she was unusually. With her tan overcoat hanging to her ankles, he spied her barren legs free of hair. She wore army-style boots in black. She knew more about weapons and once spied the whip that hung at her waist under the thin coat she always wore. He would make a point to ask her about where she grew up later.
"Who makes two books?" Xalla reasoned. "If that is a map. Why would you make one book that helps someone to find the other book? Could it have been made by someone who knew what she was planning?"
"There must be something written inside that could tell us how to stop her!" Evie said eagerly. "If what you say is true anyway. Now…we just have to figure out how to open it."
"Only the one who wrote it can open it, remember?" Rick reminded Evie. "It's a sorcerer's book. Have you forgotten what Ardeth said already?"
"If anyone can open that book, you can, Evie." Jonathan put in.
Jonathan let his eyes wander around until they settled on the woman named Xalla Kane. An interesting female indeed, Jonathan nodded, smiling at the thoughts running through his mind. She possessed a confident air about her and an uncanny ability to know what he was thinking. Xalla frowned at him now, raising her left eyebrow at him over her darkened glasses. He looked away suddenly self-conscious.
"That won't help us." Xalla shrugged. "Any idea who left it behind?"
"Our friend James found it in an unmarked box on a dig outside Giza." Evie added. "There was no indication of who owned from ancient times."
"I don't see any hieroglyphs." Jonathan reported.
Jonathan had moved his camel closer to Evie to get a better look. His eyes were only a few inches from the metal book, studying the cover with glossy eyes.
"There aren't any, Jonathan." Evie sighed with irritation. "She's heading to. Thebes. Thebes was Imhotep's home in ancient times."
"Any suggestions on how to get there?" Rick asked sarcastically.
Xalla shrugged then leaned over to get a closer look at the book. She finally gave in to curiosity hoping that there might be a way for her to return to her own time written in its pages. If the sorceress could travel through time to get here, she could certainly go back. Xalla found her eyes mesmerized by the cover. The lines inside the circle on the cover rearranged themselves before her eyes to form a map of the Nile Valley. Xalla's mouth dropped in shock.
"It just changed again!" Evie spoke excitedly. "Book says…we take the Nile!"
Rick hesitated, shrugged then turned his camel back to the south. The train was long gone by the time they got underway.
