Chapter Ten
Well it was official, Olivia decided. She had gone completely crazy, risking her life for a man that she did not know very well. Ardeth looked positively stunned and somewhat pleased that she had followed him into the labyrinth of tunnels surrounded by crazy, scary-looking mummies. She shot at them with her gun as they snarled loudly, all trying to grab her and practically trying to tear her limbs off. They were strong.
"Save yourself!" Ardeth yelled. "Get out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you here to die!" Olivia shouted back. With gritted teeth and absolute determination rattling her insides, she yelled as loudly as she could, firing her gun and borrowing a dagger from Ardeth which he pulled out of his robes, and tried to slash at the mummies.
"If we die..." Ardeth said breathlessly, stumbling beside her. He stopped as they managed to break free of the crazed mob and ran down yet another passageway. Olivia ground to a halt and stared at him, wondering what was on his mind. "What is it?" he asked her tenderly.
"If we die..." she repeated his words, murmuring. Olivia, feeling somewhat scared of death, thought: screw it. She just had to do it. Leaning forward, she raised a hand and rested it on the side of his neck, pulling him gently forward so their lips met. It was only a sweet, innocent brush on the lips but she felt him tremble at the touch. They broke apart as the shadows of the mummies appeared around the corner: they were getting closer again.
"Perhaps we should wait, for a better time and place," Ardeth said lightly, chuckling. Olivia bit her lip and smiled as they gripped hands and ran. Again.
They ended up back in the Horus chamber. "We must help the others," Olivia said to Ardeth, as they followed Rick and her brother's trail. They heard the commotion before they saw it, and ran into a huge room with giant steps leading down into it. There were even more mummies storming the place and Olivia breathed a sigh of relief and silently thanked God in her head when she heard Evy's voice from afar. She was alive. A table which looked like it could be used to sacrifice Evy on was sat in the middle of the room, alongside a black bog.
"When you're both finished checking the place out, maybe you could help me out a little?!" Olivia jerked her head and ran towards Rick who was bravely taking on all of the mummies. Evy was trying to fight a rotted Anck-su-namun, who unfortunately had been brought back to life, and Jonathan was clutching the Book of the Living. "I'm coming Evy!" Olivia ran to her sister's aid, grinning at the sight of her, before being attacked by Anck-su-namun. Olivia had long ago ran out of bullets, so they were both fending her off with their bare hands.
"HURRY UP JONATHAN!"
"Oh God, what is doing?" Olivia asked whilst ducking from a swing from the walking corpse. Considering she had just been raised from the dead and was still using her fetid body, Anck-su-namun was taking things rather well.
"If he finishes the inscription on the front of the book," Evy told her as they ran, "he can control the mummies."
"In that case—JONATHAN LISTEN TO OUR SISTER AND HURRY THE HELL UP!"
All the while Ardeth and Rick fought off the mummies, who were at the moment being commanded by Imhotep.
"I can't figure out this last symbol!" Jonathan shouted.
"What does it look like?" Evy asked him. Anck-su-namun then jumped Evy and grabbed her throat, knocking Olivia into a stone statue. This was the second time she was almost knocked out and it was quite frankly getting annoying. She tried to stand up, her vision blurring a little.
"It's a...a bird, a stork!" Jonathan was saying.
As Evy was being choked by Anck-su-namun she managed to spit out, "-Ah! Ah! Ahmenophus!" Olivia muttered the translation too as she managed to pull Anck-su-namun away and onto the ground.
"Oh yes, I see!"
"WILL YOU HURRY UP AND READ THE BLOODY THING?" Olivia cried out as Anck-su-namun pulled a knife on them both. She turned her head and saw Ardeth and Rick defenceless, with the mummies approaching them both with their long spears.
"Hootash im Ahmenophus!"
The mummies stopped just in time, and Rick and Ardeth were spared. Olivia didn't have time to feel relieved as she felt the ice-cold blade on her skin. It was then Evy's turn to save her as she knocked the knife out of Anck-su-namun's hand. Olivia felt a stinging sensation, but was lucky as that could have ended up a lot worse if it wasn't for Evy. Imhotep tried to order his priests to destroy Rick and Ardeth but found he no longer had control.
Anck-su-namun was not one for giving up, as the two sisters found. "Jonathan, will you do something!" The corpse was screaming and snarling and had punched Olivia to the ground, which had a lot of impact considering she already had a sore head. Evy yelled, but Anck-su-namun pushed her into a wall, and held her knife, reading to strike. Olivia shot up, stumbling towards them, ready to stop Anck-su-namun, until Jonathan gave the priests a command.
They marched after Anck-su-namun and she backed away from Olivia and Evy. They watched as they repeatedly stabbed her to death. Well, her resurrection sure was a short one.
"ANCK-SU-NAMUN!" Imhotep's strangled cry echoed throughout the chamber as they heard her scream in pain.
In his rage, Imhotep was now fighting Rick and Ardeth himself. Rick had cut his arm off too, but Imhotep being immortal and invincible just screwed it back on as if it were nothing.
"Ladies! I've got it!" Jonathan held up the key, which he had effortlessly pinched from Imhotep's robes when he tried to strangle him for being responsible for Anck-su-namun's death.
"Great work Jonathan!" Olivia said sincerely, never again going to moan at his pick pocketing skills.
"Keep him busy!" Evy shouted to Rick and Ardeth as she opened up the Book of the Living.
"No problem," Rick replied sarcastically.
Jonathan held the book in his arms as Evy and Olivia wildly flicked through the book, trying to find something that would weaken or even kill Imhotep. Jonathan saw Ardeth and Rick being thrown across the room by him and said, "Hurry!"
"You're not helping," Evy said in a sing-song voice.
"What? You both rushed me when I was reading!"
Olivia glared at him before returning to the pages. Never had she had to read hieroglyphics so quickly before, it was making her head pound more than ever. She panicked at the sound of Rick and Ardeth being strangled by Imhotep as he held one man's neck in each hand. "Now it's your turn."
"THERE EVY! READ IT!" Oliva shouted, sounding panicked, scared and relieved all at the same time.
"We'll say it together!" Evy said defiantly. "Kadeesh mal! Kadeesh mal! Pared oos! PARED OOS!"
Imhotep backed away from Rick at their words. Olivia looked on, stunned, at what seemed to be a spirit of some kind, perhaps of the Egyptian gods themselves, riding down the steps of the chamber in a ghostly horse-drawn carriage, appearing in a blinding flash of light. Imhotep appeared from the swirling dust and the light fully intact, leaving Olivia wondering what the hell just happened and if it would be of any help.
Rick picked up a sword and Olivia held Ardeth's arm as they joined them, watching Imhotep menacingly walk towards them. "I thought you said it was gonna' kill him!"
Imhotep growled, and lunged for Rick who plunged his sword straight through his chest. Imhotep winced and shivered at the blood which poured onto his fingers. He looked amazed and horrified at the sight.
"He's mortal."
Rick pulled the sword away from his body and stood back. They all watched silently as Imhotep fell into the bubbling black bog, sinking slowly as his body began to rot. Just before his face became nothing more than rotting flesh, he grinned and said, "Death is only the beginning." His eyes became black sockets and with that, he went under the water, disappearing.
Evy translated out loud. They caught their breaths and stared at the black bile.
It was over.
But there was no time to waste as a deep, rumbling sound surrounded them and the large stone doors began to move, threatening to shut them in. Even the walls themselves began to descend, some smaller ones already sinking into the ground. "Time to go!"
Rick had dropped the Book of the Living, much to Evy's horror, it being her life's pursuit, but they dragged her away and into the treasure chamber. This time, it was Jonathan's turn to stop and stare. He looked at the treasure sadly. "Couldn't we just—?"
"No Jonathan!"
Olivia shared worried looks with them, as she hoped and prayed that they would make it. They must get out of there alive. Her head was still hurting, her heart was pumping so furiously she was sure she would die of a heart attack if she made it out, and sweat poured off of her as she practically sprinted out of the treasure chamber, then crawling through the lowering wall.
"O'Connell! O'Connell!"
Olivia watched as Rick tried to save his old comrade, but it was too late. Beni was shut in, this time for good as the wall smashed into the ground, sealing him off. "Goodbye Beni," Rick muttered. Olivia had completely forgotten about Beni until this point; he was probably skulking around the treasure the entire time.
A couple of minutes later Olivia squinted at the harsh sunlight as they ran through the ruins of Hamunaptra, the temple collapsing around them. They yelled and turned this way and that, trying to avoid toppling monuments and pillars. A sinking crevice dropped out right behind them as if chasing them out of the city. Camels too were running away from the destruction. As they ran, the whole city rumbled ominously and a huge cloud of dust and debris engulfed the collapsing ruins.
They stared at the sight from the middle of the plateau, surrounded by the stray camels. There was silence for a few moments. Olivia ran a hand through her hair and focused on calming her breaths down, having been running on adrenaline for a couple of hours.
Ardeth placed a hand on Jonathan's shoulder, who after the events of the morning jumped right out of his skin. "Oh, thank you very much," he said, shaking and placing a hand over his heart.
"You have earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people," Ardeth said sincerely.
Evy smiled widely, as Jonathan said, "Yes, well, it was nothing," pretending to be blasé. "Anytime!"
"May Allah smile upon you always."
"And...yourself."
Olivia chuckled and followed Ardeth slightly away from the others, as he chose a camel. He clutched the reigns and turned to look at Olivia. She appreciated his beauty as he smiled, his black wavy hair flowing slightly in the breeze.
"I do not think I would have made it, had you not followed me earlier," Ardeth said quietly. "Thank you...for saving my life."
"Will I see you again?" she asked hopefully.
"I think so," he said, somewhat mysteriously. "I must return to my people and inform them of what has happened, as you can understand. But after that, I shall come and find you."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise, my crown jewel." He took her hand and kissed her knuckles softly. "Until we meet again."
"I hope it will not be too long," Olivia said honestly. Ardeth turned to get on his camel, but thought for a moment before turning back to Olivia and kissing her, this time on the lips. She was surprised at this spontaneous act; they lingered for a few more seconds than they did down in Hamunaptra, and he pulled away, stroking her cheek.
"Do you still have my stone, your token?" he asked her softly.
Olivia pulled it out of her pocket, and held it out in her palm. He placed a hand over it. "I want you to keep it for a while longer. This time, it's my promise to you that I shall see you again."
Olivia nodded and smiled as she clasped her hand over it, squeezing it tight. He kissed her forehead and climbed up onto his camel. "Safe journey back to Cairo."
He rode away and she walked back to the others, who were smirking at her. "Oh shut up," she said, grinning and getting onto a camel too.
"Stay out of trouble," Rick called after him.
"He's just...leaving us here," Jonathan said in disbelief.
Olivia however hadn't failed to notice that Rick and Evy were sharing a camel and looking very cosy but Evy then said, "Well done you, Olivia. He's very handsome!"
"Is he?" Rick asked, half-annoyed and half-amused.
"I know an attractive man when I see one," Evy said slyly as Rick winked at her.
"Oh please don't kiss again," Jonathan groaned. Olivia gasped at this, happy that they are getting together. "All I got from this was a camel burping in my face, and all of you got bloody lucky. And we didn't even get any treasure, so we're going home empty-handed. Again."
"I wouldn't say that," Rick said softly, looking at Evy, who blushed.
"Oh please."
Olivia couldn't help but smile some more as they rode away from Hamunaptra, looking forward to getting back to work with Howard...but most importantly, seeing Ardeth again. Never had she felt so excited to see a man before, but then he had had made her feel like nobody else ever has, even though they've only known each other for a short while and had only kissed a couple of times.
And then there was Evy to think about, who would be telling her story about Hamunaptra.
Things were only just getting started.
Author's Note:
Thank you so much everybody, for everything. Please let me know what you thought, and don't worry – THIS ISN'T THE LAST CHAPTER! :) who wants to read some more Olivia/Ardeth?!