Disclaimer: The Mummy still isn't mine!


Chapter 24

In all their years of marriage, never once had Evy and Rick had an argument that blasted longer than five minutes. Minor disagreements had occurred, of course, and sometimes an argument over how to invest money or whether Alex should be brought along on their latest adventure or be left with his governess. But never this.

According to the pocket watch he carried, Evy had not spoken to him in three days, eight hours, twenty-nine minutes, and forty-six seconds. That time, conveniently enough, coincided with precisely the duration of time that had passed since Ardeth had returned and reported the news that both Libby and Jonathan had been captured. Evy's face held no expression as she listened. Her head had snapped in his direction, and she shouted one loud, "I told you this would happen!"

Then silence.

Though he was unsure whether Libby had successfully retrieved the scorpion from Menkahour's tomb- he had an inkling she had- Rick knew that with the single scorpion that his sister was carrying, Arabella now had enough to partially raise Seth. With the armies of the Medjai, they traveled a half-day's journey behind Arabella's minions, taking an unmarked path all but Alex knew well. The path to Hamunaptra.

And all this occurred in silence. She'd slept alone in her tent the past three nights. He'd slept alone by the fire, not wanting to risk angering her even more. Ardeth had looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and pity. No woman in the Medjai culture would get away with something like this.

Sitting before the fire on the third night, he found himself depressed. Their life of adventure had certainly been fun, thrilling, and everything he could have hoped for. He'd counted himself lucky that his wife had a passion like his for travel, for exploration. But at what cost? Had the strain and stress finally destroyed his marriage beyond repair? And how had they not seen it coming?

He poked at the fire, half-heartedly attempting to keep the blaze up. You let her go, buddy. Maybe it was never love. It was a common love of adventure.

He paused in his thoughts. How could you even say that, you idiot. You love Evelyn. She loves you. Suck it up and apologize. You were in the wrong. Apologize and make this right.

Pulling himself up, he tapped on one of the wooden poles that held Evy's tent up, hoping it would be loud enough to wake her up had she fallen asleep. The seconds were endless as he waited for some sort of movement inside the tent.

"Evy. Evy please let me in. We can't keep going on like this."

The tent flap was ripped open. "It's 2:30 in the bloody morning, Richard O'Connell. You'd best have an excellent reason for interrupting my sleep."

"I was wrong," he said simply, trying to convey all he felt in those three words.

Her eyebrow rose ever-so-slightly. "Well then. You should come inside. We should talk."

Though several activities that required minimal talking passed through Rick's mind (he was, after all, only a man), he entered the tent with his heart set only on righting this situation. True love was not to be trifled with. He didn't need anyone to tell him that.

The first thing Jonathan felt as he woke up was a throbbing pain in his head. As he blinked slowly, attempting to regain his bearings, he found that the world surrounding him was a bit hazy. Looking up, he saw that he wasn't outside- there was no sun, no blue sky there- and he was definitely was not in the pyramid. He was in a tent, and an unfamiliar one at that.

Slowly, he began wriggling his toes and fingers, his muscles aching from disuse. How long have I been out? Moving his arms, he felt his right one restrained. Jonathan turned his head quickly- much too quickly, as it resulted in a shooting sting to his head- to see. A thick rope bound him to a pole at the center of the tent. What the hell happened?

He definitely remembered the stone falling, and hitting him hard on the head. But what had distracted him? The pyramid appeared, and we explored, and Davey was killed, and kissing Libby—Libby!

Jonathan sat up, and another twinge reminded him that any sudden movement was still unpleasant. "Libby! Libby-love where are you?"

"Jon?" a soft voice questioned from across the tent.

"Libby-love!" he cried.

"Would you shut up, you idiot!" she shot back quickly, quietly moving across the tent. "Do you really want to attract their attention?"

Confusion and trepidation overcame him. "Whose attention?" he whispered.

"The guards outside the tent. Or worse, Arabella. They were waiting outside the pyramid for us. Kaysar helped me carry you after you got knocked out. We've been with her for three or four days now, I think. Let me see your head."

Libby sat next to him, ruffling his brown hair as she pushed it aside to check the lump on his head. In front of his face, he saw that her wrist was bound as well, tighter than his, the skin a bright red from the rope burns.

"I tried running," she said softly. "The guards weren't so keen on that. Arabella was questioning me, but I refused to say anything 'til I saw Charlie. She's got him too; he's got a dozen guards on him. One of her men was bringing me back here, and I ran. I wanted to find Rick and Evy, to get us some help. He caught me though. You're head's healing up alright, I think. The lump has gone down quite a bit.

Moving away, Jonathan got a closer look at her face. Her right eye was black. The stitches where Tamir had attacked her had been ripped open, and her upper lip was split and swollen.

"Please don't be angry at me for trying to leave without you," she said softly when he hadn't replied to what she said. "I just… I wanted to find Rick and Ardeth. I don't know what Arabella's plans are, but I think she's going to hurt Charlie. We can't--"

"Libby, why on earth would I be angry at you? You would have been stupid not to try escaping. That was brave, love. You've got more bollocks then I do." She smiled at his words, leaning into his free hand as it traced over the less wounded side of her face. "Just where the hell have we been traveling these past days?"

Outside the tent, he could hear murmuring, the sounds of a small community in motion. The heavy breathing of camels emerged from a pair of shadows walking by the tent, one damp nose sniffing under the fabric wall that separated the pair from the outside world.

"They brought us that place Evy talked about. Hamun… Hamunaptra. Jon, she took the scorpions from me."

When the words passed her lips, he thought he'd be shocked, or scared, or at the very minimum have some sort of reaction. But deep down, he wasn't surprised to hear that. Now Arabella had five of the seven. That was all she really needed. It was enough to partially raise Seth into a human host, and to do that she needed to be at Hamunaptra. "Bloody hell!" he heard himself exclaim.

"Quiet!" she hissed, as she saw one of the guards outside shift. "What?"

"She can raise Seth, but she needs a person to act as the host. That's why Charlie's under such heavy guard. She's going to use the boy… not that that's a problem, the little turncoat."

"No, Jon you're wrong. There's more to it than that. Think about it. Charlie had a choice, didn't he? He could tell Arabella where we were or where Rick, Evy, and Alex were. Isn't it better this way?"

Thinking about it calmly, logically, it now made sense. Jonathan had to give Charlie credit for holding himself together enough to make the smart choice.

"Now you see. We have to help him—" She stopped speaking suddenly. "You need to lie back down. She can't know you're awake, I don't know what she'll do to you. Pretend you're still out. Think of a way to get the three of us out of here."

Libby kissed him briefly, pushing him back so he was lying down again. She returned to the other side of the tent, a sullen look on her face. Moments later, the two guards entered. Through eyes squinted almost entirely shut, he watched as one grabbed her roughly by the arm, heaving her up. She emitted a soft squeak in pain. The other guard untied the rope that bound her. "Let's move missy. The boss wants to have a chat with you."

"I'm still capable of walking, asshole," she muttered, pulling away from the two guards as she walked out of the tent.

The little bitch wasn't going to talk until she saw Charlie. Arabella had quickly established that fact three days prior, the first and only time she attempted speaking to her adopted daughter. The fact was, though, that she couldn't allow Libby to see Charlie. The only way to wear the tough boy down, to keep him from having any hope of being saved and facilitate the process of sacrificing him to Seth, was to keep him isolated. Make him feel as if he were alone, abandoned by those who swore to protect and save him.

It was like a game, and Arabella loved every moment of it. He'd fought quite a bit at first; yanking at the ropes that held him, kicking and scratching at every guard that came close enough. In all of three days, she'd managed to stop all that foolishness. Charlie barely even acknowledged the man who delivered him food every morning and evening.

The flap of the tent opened, and Libby was swiftly tossed inside, landing on her side. "Good morning, Elizabeth."

"Let me see Charlie," was the only response she got. The younger woman's jaw was clenched, determined. This side of Libby, brave and courageous, had never existed in the years they'd shared a home.

"Why can't you just trust me when I say that he is fine and being looked after?"

A look of incredulity passed over Libby's face. "Hmm… let's ponder that a bit, shall we?"

"I don't want your attitude Elizabeth. I want answers, starting with where I can find the last of those damned scorpions."

"Even if I did know what the last clue said, I wouldn't tell you. We couldn't translate it. It's not common ancient Egyptian." The girl's voice remained even, calm; and if Arabella wasn't already used to her evasive, stubborn ways, she would have been thoroughly convinced Libby was telling the truth.

"Oh really. Then, indulge me, what language was it in exactly?"

"Uncommon ancient Egyptian. How the hell am I supposed to know? I can barely read English on a good day, no thanks to you!"

Arabella had wanted to remain calm in hopes of having an easier time getting information out of Libby, but frustration with their lack of success in combination with the stinging, surprising sense of loss that had accompanied Davey's death caused her to lose all patience. She slapped Libby hard across the face, watching as the woman's entire head snapped right and a bright red hand print appeared.

"Elizabeth, what did the final clue say?"

Libby struggled to stand up, and looked straight into her eyes. "I. Don't. Know."

"This isn't time to play games, you stupid girl. Tell me where I can find the final scorpion."

"How many times do I have to tell you—"

"I will kill him," Arabella stated bluntly.

She didn't even have to identify the "him" in the sentence. The widening of the younger woman's eyes indicated that she already knew where Arabella's train of thought was going.

Like I'm very well going to sit here and wait for Arabella to finish questioning my girl. Not bloody likely. The ceramic plate that the guard had provided Libby to eat from had been easily crushed by his foot, and he used one of the sharper shards to cut at the rope binding his wrist. The twine was older than he expected, and it separated easily under the blunt makeshift blade he had created.

Rolling his wrist gently, ensuring no further damage had been caused by the rope, he watched the shadows outside his tent. Getting past the guards was going to be difficult. Slowly he moved toward the flap of the tent, praying the guards wouldn't turn and see him moving.

Suddenly, one of them jerked, turning around and looking into the tent. Jonathan froze. He still held the ceramic shard, but that would hardly offer any defense against any modern weapon. There was a moment of recognition, where the guard realized he was moving about the tent. Jonathan watched as the guard looked at his surroundings, observing the area around the tent. Then, pulling a knife, he sliced through the second guard's throat and pulled him into the tent.

"Quickly, switch clothing with him," the young man demanded. "Arabella has Libby. She's threatening to kill you. Thank Allah you woke when you did."

"You're the lad from the hotel! Kaysar, correct? Why are you here?" he asked, unbuttoning his dirty white shirt and taking the rough, dark shirt that the guard had been wearing.

He grinned. "Helping the Medjai. Saving the world. It's a bit more thrilling than being a bell hop. Listen, I heard you speaking to Libby earlier, and you're right. Charlie is going to be used as the sacrifice to raise Seth. There's no way the three of us can stop this on our own. There are too many soldiers here. I've killed some when I caught them alone, buried them under the sands, but it hasn't been enough to make a real difference."

Jonathan pulled on the pants that Kaysar handed him, continuing to listen to the instructions the young man was passing on.

"There are two camels hidden behind a dune just outside of camp. They have water and food packed on them. Your family and the armies of the Medjai are a half-day behind us, to the south. Tell them, when you get there, they have a day to prepare for attack. Tomorrow, traditionally, was one of Seth's feast days. They want to raise him at dusk. You absolutely must attack then. Let them think they will win. Arabella is intelligent, but egomaniacal."

Jonathan processed the information as fast as he could, the words running through his brain repetitively. I'm not going to let Libby down. I'm not going to let Evy and Rick and Alex down like I always do. No way. It's my turn to be the hero.

"Arabella is interrogating Libby now. We're going to take her out of there, and the two of you will esape together. I will watch over Charlie tonight. If they try anything, I will find a way to get him out of here. You must follow this plan exactly as I have told you, do you understand?"

"Ah yes, absolutely old chum!"

"Guard!" he heard Arabella shriek from outside the tent.

"You ready, Jonathan?"

Pulling the collar of the shirt up to hide his face, he nodded in response. Time to break his girl out.

"You wouldn't dare kill Jonathan. Rick would kill you," Libby said softly, calling her bluff.

"Do you really want to risk that? What do I have to lose; I have immortality on my side."

She hadn't thought of that. Damn those stupid scorpions. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!

"I have nothing to tell you, Arabella. Nothing. You know where I stand," she said deliberately.

"Then he dies," she said quietly. "We needed a sacrifice to honor Seth's rebirth anyway. Something to celebrate the resurrection with. And you, my dear, can watch as he burns."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Guards!" Arabella called, before Libby even had the opportunity to reply, to beg for leniency or mercy, or anything that would save Jon's life.

Two men entered the tent, roughly pulling her out. She went limp in their arms, knowing it would be easier on her sore body. She didn't even care. Jon was going to die because of this damned treasure hunt, and there was nothing she could do. She barely knew anything about Egypt, there was no way she could have made up some sort of false clue.

The journey back to the tent seemed longer than before. It's cause Jon didn't have a death sentence looming over his head fifteen minutes ago. Looking around her, however, she saw that they were coming to the end of the line of tents. They'd passed where where she was being held captive long ago.

They're going to kill me. I'm dead, I won't even be able to warn Jon. What if they take me in the desert and just leave me there? Oh God, I hope it's quick, please, let it be—

"Libby, you need to stay absolutely silent. We're getting you out of here; you need to go find your brother."

A feeling of hope swelled in her chest; never before had she been so relieved. "Kaysar, thank God. But who's…"

Kaysar shushed her. "We will bring you over that dune. From there you're on your own. Go south. Alright?"

"Go south. Find Rick. Got it," she replied. But who else was carrying her? It had to be someone on their side. A Medjai soldier, perhaps?

Kaysar and the guard climbed the dune, still carrying her between them. "Are you going back to Arabella?" she whispered.

"Yes, I am returning."

"You have to help Jon. She's going to kill him, you have to help him!"

The two men set her down in front of two camels, laden with supplies. "God helps those who help themselves, Libby-love," Jonathan said with a laugh.

She launched herself at him, wrapping in a hug that was more of a strangle hold. Libby wasn't quite sure if she was happy or irked that he hadn't revealed himself earlier and let her worried, but all the same, she was thrilled that he was safe.

"Get going you two," Kaysar said with a smile, sneaking away to return to camp.

"Be safe," Libby called after him softly.

"And thanks a bunch, old boy," Jon added. "You were right, they're going to sacrifice Charlie. We have a day to save him. The resurrection begins at sunset tomorrow."

"Help me up," she commanded, and Jonathan lifted her onto the camel. Climbing atop the other, they set out at top speed, moving quickly southward to where the Medjai armies were waiting.

Happy Holidays everybody! Sorry for the delay- between end of the semester, Christmas, and the Lost Secret Santa challenge, I've been a bit sidelined. Don't worry! I'm hoping to update pretty frequently now!

A million thanks, as always, to all of you who have read and especially those who are reviewing: shadowxofxdarkness, Nelle07, The One and Only Charcoal, thatgirl0303, LuckyFannah, Samuel B'sGirl, Psycho8, Opera-Gypsy, Lift the Wings, Hansolofan, Xanthiae, Sky-Pirate325, and FemaleofTheSpecies. Your words & encouragement mean so much to me!

Next chapter should be up soon! Best wishes! Jac