WRATH of the MUMMY
By Lady JenDragon
Disclaimer: I don't own the movie characters. Story's mine though – my joyous-ness!
Author's Notes: Glad to be back. A bit disappointed with Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Still, I guess this story could be after that, might go back and work it into the beginning of the storyline. Though you don't know the ending of the story, could use that storyline as a prelude to this story. Hee hee…sometimes my mind amazes me! Ok, ok, read.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Fire and Med-Jai
Speedeater docked early the next morning, the lines quickly secured. Within minutes of docking all five, armed with all they could carry, ran for the ancient temple left in ruins.
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Rick, Evie and Jonathan reached the resurrection room first, finding the camp empty and trash strewn about. Xalla arrived seconds later. Bottle of liquor and plates were left on broken blocks. Rags and pieces of the sarcophagus were left where they landed.
The five spread out around the room checking shadows and any room attached to the main room. Rick carried the artifact bag with the sorcerer's book at Evie's insistence that the book not be left by itself on the boat. Xalla, Evie, Jonathan, and Rick convened by the three campfires set in a triangle pattern that continuously burned around the broken silica sarcophagus.
"He's back." Rick said with alarm in his voice.
"We're too late!" Evie looked around finding the place eerily abandoned.
Seamus entered the room and the walked along the back wall. Xalla made her way across the room searching for footprints and in which they led. Apparently, whoever was 'back' certainly made Rick, Evie, and Jonathan uneasy. Must be that 'Imhotep' guy they mentioned last night.
Seamus pushed the door to the small room open a little further, hesitantly looking inside. He frowned finding something odd about the floor. He squinted harder to get a better look, staying by the door.
"O'Connell!" Seamus called out. "Com' look at this, boyo!"
Rick ran to where Seamus rested against the threshold, closely followed by a panicked Evie. Seamus pointed inside the small room with his rifle. Rick removed the artifact bag from his shoulder, setting it against the wall before entering.
"It's Ardis, isn't it?" Evie asked Rick.
Rick ignored her, entering the room alone.
Jonathan strolled around the sarcophagus, peering inside at the silica, hands in his pockets. Deciding he was uninterested in the sarcophagus he walked towards the large stone block. Looking down, he stopped and frowned at something on the ground. He bent over and picked up bundled black clothing.
"Evie!" Jonathan called out alarmed.
Evie broke off from Seamus, reaching Jonathan quickly. He held out the clothes towards her. Hesitantly, she reached out for them recognizing them instantly.
"These are Ardis's clothing." Evie frowned.
"Ew!" Jonathan hurriedly put the clothing in Evie's hands. "Yuck! Smelly Med-Jai robes."
Rick, Xalla and Seamus reached Evie and Jonathan to peer at the clue. Evie looked to Rick, he nodded 'no'. Evie sighed with relief that their friend may still be alive when the sleeve of the Med-jai robe fell away from the bundle. White chalk writing was clearly visible on the fabric.
"He left us a message." Relief washed over Evie as she straightened the material out to translate.
"What does it say?" Rick asked unable to read the language.
Evie frowned then looked at Rick. "Beware. That's all he wrote."
"Of what?" Jonathan shrugged.
Rick, Xalla and Seamus glanced around the room guessing at the message true meaning. Jonathan bent to look closer at the sleeve.
"Goo' question, laddie." Seamus spoke cautiously as if his voice would trigger it. "We don't what was left behind. Writin' looks a bit rushe', doesn't it?"
"I'll say." Rick agreed. "Everyone, keep your eyes open."
Evie muttered something to herself, going over something in her mind. Xalla glanced around the room finding nothing that could remotely appear dangerous. Still, Rick and Evie had faced this kind of stuff before. It was best to listen to the experts.
"Why did she remove Ardeth's clothes?" Evie asked pushing the bundled robes into her bag.
"Makes him more vulnerable." Xalla replied this time. "Information can be obtained if the victim is willing or weakened. You said she wanted him for a sacrifice for this resurrected guy. Doesn't look like that happened."
"Don't the Med-Jai train against this sort of thing?" Jonathan wanted to know. "The whole torture thing?"
Seamus put a large arm around Jonathan's shoulders.
"Boy-o, there isn't trainin' agains' a woman." He smiled widely. "Nature's bes' weapon agains' a man."
Rick and Xalla exchanged a quick, disturbed glance.
"That means he's alive." Evie said with a smile. "Why he wasn't used a sacrifice I don't know. She may have changed her mind. Ardis may have left a clue as to where they're headed. Jonathan, look around."
Jonathan lazily glanced around then down at his feet. His eyes widened then he pointed down.
"There's an arrow pointing southeast, towards the…sea?"
The others looked down, then in the direction the arrow pointed.
"Another city?" Seamus asked Evie.
"There isn't another ancient city southeast of here." Evie replied quietly.
"What about the book?" Xalla reminded the group. "It's helped us out before."
Rick pointed at the back wall where he left the bag with the Sorcerer's book when he went to investigate the small room. Evie walked off to get the book closely followed by the others.
Reaching the wall, Evie picked up the artifact bag and pulled out the book with Xalla's help. She quickly scanned the cover then frowned.
"You're right, the book has changed." Evie flipped the book over to the back cover then back to the front again. "It doesn't look like a city."
"A place known only to her?" Rick asked what seemed a logical question.
Xalla squinted at the cover, as did the rest.
"We can take the Speedeater to Ansiheb then find a way across the desert." Evie offered them the next portion of their journey.
"Tha's going to take another form of transportation, missus." Seamus pointed out.
"We'll worry about that when we get there." Rick took the book from Evie and placed it back in the artifact bag.
"Seamus, I think we might have a way but I'll need your help." Xalla said thoughtfully.
"Really?" Seamus raised an eyebrow. "Wha' have ya got on yar mind?"
Xalla took Seamus by the arm, whispering inaudibly. They strolled slowly towards the archway to the temple's center courtyard and out of the room.
"Should we be afraid?" Rick asked amused.
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The low burning campfires flared up, the fires reaching ten feet in height above the ground. Each fire spit out hundreds of what appeared to be debris ashes. The ashes suddenly grew larger into tongues of fire. Each tongue elongated as it fell towards the ground.
The first landed, its form a humanoid creature burning head to toe. It straightened up as the others landed around it. Quickly, a small army was beginning to form.
"What's that?!" Jonathan asked with serious nervousness in his voice.
"Let's not wait around to find out!" Rick urged.
The group found themselves cut off from the center courtyard by the Creatures and formed a backs-inside circle. Rick and Seamus open fired on the creatures to create an escape route. The sound of the shots spooked the creatures who quickly backed away from the loud sounds and possibly being injured. But there was no escape route.
Rick felt a bit shocked that the bullets melted in the creature's chest every time they hit. The creature looked down then up at the group as the bullet fell to the sand in a metallic glop. The lead creature fisted its hands and screamed loudly at high pitch.
The five covered their ears to keep their hearing.
"Tha's wha' the warning was for!" Seamus concluded out loud.
Xalla slipped her plastic water bottle out from under her overcoat and quickly unscrewed the cap. She threw water left to right, clearing a temporary path through the primitive fire Creatures. Obviously they understood water and that water was bad for them.
"Run!!" Xalla yelled.
The others followed Xalla's lead. Rick shot one creature as he ran past with Evie close behind him. Seamus grabbed Jonathan and dragged him from the resurrection room.
The creatures quickly recovered and began running after the escaping five-some.
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Leading the group into the courtyard, Xalla ran for the pool. She took a long running jump into the murky waters of the ancient built reflection pool. Her head broke the surface, finding that she was alone in her attempt to avoid the fire creatures. Suddenly she frowned then spat out a mouthful of water.
"Eckh!" Xalla mumbled. "I don't remember this from history class."
She swam to the edge as a fire creature landed on the pool's side. It raised its arm to attack her.
Xalla used her hands to splash water onto it. The creature smoldered as water began to put out the fires. It fell off the side of the pool.
A fire creature chased Jonathan, running by where Xalla exited the pool, her clothes soaking wet. He jumped into the pool as well to avoid capture. The creature followed him into the water. Jonathan broke the surface, sputtering and flailing around. The water smoked heavily where the creature had entered the water.
"Hah hah!" Jonathan rejoiced. "Bloody idiot!"
He paused in his victory swim as Xalla ran by with a full water bucket, dripping wet.
"Where the bloody hell is she going?"
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Farther down the pool near the disintegrating stone wall away from the water, Seamus threw stone blocks at several Fire Creatures to keep them at bay. So far, it was going well. But, his plan failed quickly as the creatures became aware that the stone would not hurt them. The stone blocks did not scare them anymore.
The creatures prepared to rush Seamus.
Xalla skidded to a halt then threw the water from her bucket onto the group of fire creatures, the lead creature taking the brunt of the water. The creature smoked heavily as it fell to the ground and began to fall apart. The other remaining creatures scattered fearing the water.
"Why thank ya, lass!" Seamus wiped his sweaty brow. "Thout' I was a goner!"
"Come on, I've got an idea." Xalla took the lead, heading toward the pool again.
Jonathan came running towards them with two more buckets, water spilling over the sides.
"Help Evie!" Xalla ordered.
Jonathan skidded to a halt and changed direction. Seamus paused before following Xalla back towards the reflection pool.
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Rick and Evie shot at the Creatures with both guns until each ran out of ammo. Agitated that there was no more ammo rounds available, Rick pick up the nearest block and tossed it at the Creatures. This would not last much longer.
"Okay!" Rick asked all out of options. "So what do we do now?!"
"I don't know!" Evie breathed. "I've never read about anything like this!"
Rick picked up and threw more sand and pieces of broken blocks. Evie joined him in the throwing, the sorcerer's book momentarily forgotten.
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Xalla and Seamus poured water on the campfire nearest the broken silica sarcophagus. Two of the three source fires now smoked heavily in thick puffs of gray smoke where the buckets of water were dumped on them. Seamus glanced at Xalla slightly confused.
"Why ar' we doin' this again?" Seamus frowned at the smoldering fire ring.
"Eliminates re-enforcements." Xalla shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."
Seamus bowed his head in her direction in agreement. They head back towards the pool to finish off the last campfire. Rick might need re-enforcements, Seamus reminded himself.
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The O'Connell's back against the wall, Evie held onto to Rick as the fire creatures advanced towards them taking their time screaming and holding up their arms in attack formation. Both were sweaty from the heat of the creatures in close proximity. She spotted the sorcerer's book and broke off from Rick.
Undecided about the next step, Rick followed Evie to the sorcerer's book leaning against the wall, discarded in a moments notice due to its weight. Evie picked up the book. Standing with it, a fire creature came at her. Instinctively, she held up the book between her and the fire creature.
The fire creatures cowered away, fearing the book.
Rick smirked, taking the book from Evie. He rushed towards the fire creatures with the sorcerer's book held out in front of him. The fire creatures cowered away and quickly put distance between them. They maintained a fifteen-foot distance but did not completely run away.
"The book must be repelling them!" Evie gripped Rick's shirt, following closely behind him.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Rick agreed that the book was weird. "Where's Jonathan?"
Evie found Jonathan with Seamus fending off six creatures with buckets of water a hundred feet away.
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Jonathan handed Seamus the last full water bucket. He had gotten caught and was surrounded by a group of fire creatures. If Xalla and Seamus had not returned to help fight him out of it, he would have been turned into a crispy critter.
Now they were completely cut off by fire creatures from the pool to refill. Seamus kept the army of fire creatures back with little bits of water but the bucket was emptying quickly.
"This isn't going well!" Jonathan screamed.
"We'a' goin' to need another plan of attack." Seamus agreed.
Rick joined Jonathan and Seamus and Evie seconds later, holding out the sorcerer's book in front of him. Evie gripped Jonathan by the arm and began pulling after Rick. Seamus followed automatically. They slowly made a path through the creatures swinging the sorcerer's book side-to-side, pushing towards the reflection pool.
"Wha' the hell is tha' thing?" Seamus wanted to know, nodding towards the sorcerer's book.
"I don't know." Rick shrugged. "But it's darn handy on occasion."
"Where's Xalla?" Jonathan looked around.
"Poo'l" Seamus replied, standing behind Rick exhausted. "She wen' to refill buckets."
Rick nodded then began pushing towards the pool at a faster pace.
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Xalla collected more water with her two water buckets. She barely had time to pivot and throw water at an attacking fire creature. She ducked just in time for another creature to fly over her head and into the pool.
Another creature replaced the last, screaming and hold its arms up in attack position. Xalla, prepared with water, aimed and tossed her full water bucket. It smoldered, staggering backwards and fell to the ground, the body shrinking back as if sucked inside. The creature's skin began to blacken and disintegrate.
Xalla jumped into the pool to avoid four more creatures. She broke the surface again, eyeing the fire creatures waiting for her.
"We don't have time for this!" Xalla splashed in a flurry of aggravation until the four creatures smoldered heavily, falling to the ground. "They're to keep us occupied while the cowards get away."
A group of twelve fire creatures walked at her from the resurrection room. Xalla thought better of getting out. There was nothing but creatures beginning to form a rim around the reflection pool close to her. Something made the fire creatures halt.
Xalla paused then frowned.
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Rick stopped the group being followed by a growing collection of fire creatures, curious if the ground was moving on its own or if he was imagining it. If they did not think of something, the creatures would attack and they would never break free long enough to escape. The sorcerer's book seemed to hold them off but for how long?
The rumbling continued for several seconds, Rick glanced around for the source. What else had this sorceress left behind? The pounding sounded familiar to him. Like a herd of hooves pounding the ground, and they were getting closer to the temple, as if a thunderstorm was sweeping through from above.
Suddenly, a band of Med-Jai warriors galloped into the temple on horseback, their swords drawn and held out in front of them to indicate an attack. Many dismounted at the far end of the reflection pool and prepared to engage the creatures to draw the fire creatures away from the O'Connell's and others.
The fire creatures, momentarily stunned, moved off to engage the newly arrived Med-Jai. One Med-Jai broke off and rode towards the weary five-some, slashing two creatures as he plowed through the group that parted at his audacity.
Rick. Evie, Jonathan, and Seamus joined Xalla where she got out of the water. Tired and exhausted, they look at the Med-jai with weary expressions of relief.
"Are you bloody seeing this?" Jonathan could not believe his eyes, exhausted.
"There's neva' a dull moment with ya, O'Connell." Seamus dropped his shoulders.
The Med-Jai warrior dismounted his horse near Rick O'Connell.
"You are O'Connell?" Dark eyes met the taller blue eyes.
Evie withheld a smile, this Med-Jai reminding her of Ardeth. She remained quiet, too tired to hold a conversation. Besides, he seemed more interested in Rick at the moment.
"Who are you?" Rick narrowed his eyes, his head slightly turned to the left.
"You and your friends must leave." The Med-Jai's deep voice was calm with a slight hint of an accent. "Go, now. Go!"
"Aim for the remaining source fire in the next room." Xalla offered the advice and her bucket. "We got two out of three of them."
Xalla pointed at the temple room just beyond. The Med-Jai nodded he understood, taking the bucket she offered.
"Water works best." Jonathan added. "I doubt your swords will be any good."
Evie, Jonathan, Xalla and Seamus ran for the temple entrance, using the opposite side of the reflection pool to avoid the battle. The Med-Jai fared well against the opponent. Rick noticed a gold symbol on the shoulder of the Med-jai. A special group perhaps? The Med-Jai grasped him by the forearm.
"Save our brother, O'Connell." The Med-Jai's eyes went dark. "He's more important than you realize."
The Med-Jai released Rick after he nodded that he would do all in his power to return Ardeth Bay to the Med-Jai. The Med-Jai satisfied with O'Connell's response turned and ran to engage several fire creatures. The sword seemed to kill the creatures easily enough.
Within a few minutes, Rick caught up to the others tired but relieved they were out of that battle. At the temple entrance, Evie turned and waited for him. Rick slowed then began walking.
"Rick, what is it?" Evie asked, seeing the look on Rick's expression.
":Nothing." Rick shrugged. "Come on, they've got this one."
Evie knew not to push the subject, following Rick back towards the harbor. Xalla, Seamus and Jonathan are far ahead on their way back to the Speedeater.