Disclaimer: I do not own the Mummy. I am just writing for fun.

Chapter 19: Horus Ol' Boy

Now they were on foot. She was sure the Med-Jai warrior was happy. He seemed to prefer it. Rory preferred anything else other than walking. But they had no real choice in the matter. The Mummy's sand wall dug them in good and then the quicksand took their airplane along with Winston Havelock in the process.

"So, my warrior friend," Jonathan chimed during their trek as he threw his suit jacket over his shoulder. "What's the plan?"

"We keep moving. Horus is this way," he replied. Rory and Jonathan shared a wary look but shrugged and followed him anyway with Rick right beside him.

They weren't too far from the crash landing. Hamunaptra was just a few feet away. Down into the city they went. Deeper. Darker. Another direction this time. Rick grabbed a torch from the wall, and lit it on fire so they could see through the narrow tunnels. Their mission was to find the golden book that should kill the Mummy, and stop him from raising hell. Their feet shuffled the sand beneath them as they walked, and echoed behind them, careful not to alert so much attention to them that they were here.

But the further they went, the more of a dead end they found. A pile of rocks blocked their way.

Rory sighed, and ran a hand over her forehead. "Makes sense I guess. No one would want anyone to find the book of Amun-Ra, right?" she glanced at him.

Rick shrugged. "Start digging."

A groan and a grunt left her lips, but they had no choice. This was the way to Horus according to the hieroglyphics.

Rick handed Jonathan the torch, and started digging with the Medjai warrior and Rory. They started to take the rocks away as fast as they could. There was a lot that blocked their direction.

"I'd take the bigger ones first," Jonathan said, pointing towards the ones that were bigger than the smaller ones, of which Rory was able to remove. "And take them from the top too, otherwise the whole thing will cave in on us!"

She gave him a dry look. "I can't, they are too heavy, and I'm too short."

Jonathan shrugged at her sheepishly. She continued taking off rocks from her end.

"Come on! Put your backs into it!"

Then they turned around and glared at him as if he should be the one telling them what to do.

"Yes, well," Jonathan coughed, and nodded. "You got the idea. Chop. Chop!"

Rory rolled her eyes and went back to work. "You know, Jonathan, you'd do well to help us too. I'm sure your sister would be proud."

"Mhmm. Undoubtedly," he said absentmindedly, as he seemed more interested in something that had caught his eye along the walls.

Something blue and metallic-y had caught his interest. He carefully removed it from the wall, totally in awe of it. "I say…you all should come take a look at this…"

Rory furrowed her brows together a bit curiously, and glanced at Rick, but he shook his head. They needed to keep digging, and could really use his help. They were almost through. He could see a small clearing finally start to form through the pile of rocks.

Then all of a sudden he screamed hysterically, causing the three of them to look up in alarm. "What? What?" Rick asked, scrambling over towards him.

Jonathan panicked, and nodded his chin at his arm. "My arm! My arm!" he held it up to show Rick as something big and bulging scrambled through it.

"Whoa!" Rick exclaimed at the bug that traveled inside Jonathan's arm. Rory cringed her shoulders, and covered her mouth in shock. Thinking quick on his feet, Rick reached for his knife, and grabbed the screaming Jonathan to hold him still, or at least try. The Medjai warrior went to help him, and hold Jonathan, while Rick grabbed the beetle from going up further in his arm.

"Not that! Not that!" Jonathan cried, and shouted out in agony.

Rick carved the beetle and flicked it out onto the sandy floor in front of them. Jonathan looked almost like he was going to pass out from the pain and the fear all wrapped up inside of him. Rick pulled out his shotgun and shot at the beetle to keep it from screeching and attempting to eat any of them alive. Sand flew up in the air from the shot, but the beetle had exploded in pieces.

Rory let out a sigh of relief and looked over at the poor man, still shaking in his shoes. "Are you okay?"

Jonathan blinked, trying to regain his self-composure, though he slowly nodded at her question. The two men set him down on a rock.

"Damn it," he exclaimed, glancing at the Medjai warrior, who was also concerned. "I'm sure he would've heard that," Rick muttered. He pulled out a white handkerchief and stretched it out.

"Rory. Come on. Need your help here. It'll be a lot faster if we took out the rocks. We're almost through. Help him. We'll continue to dig," he said, wrapping the handkerchief around Jonathan's forearm tight to keep the blood from spilling out. "Put some pressure on it. He should be good."

Rory licked her lips but nodded and rushed over to his side, and sat down beside him. Jonathan winced and looked over at her apologetically as she held his arm in a delicate manner and tried to apply as much pressure as she could with her fingers.

Not a moment later, they finally reached a breach up top, enough for them to climb over. They paused in another room, darkened. Rick looked around his surroundings until he saw a mirror turned on its side. He grabbed his handgun and aimed at it. Rory, and Jonathan watched with the utmost curiosity as he shot at the mirror. It ricocheted and bounced off the silver disc, twirling upward so that light from above could show the way and strike around the room just like Evelyn had shown him a few days ago.

Rory and Jonathan's mouths dropped open.

Suddenly, Rory's heart was filled with all sorts of need and want at the very sight of golden statues, gold pieces in piles and piles, from top to bottom. Holy…

Her mouth almost watered at the very sight of Seti's gold. This was way too much gold for one man to handle. For any one to handle for that matter. Rory blinked and almost found herself wanting, craving just a piece of gold. Hell, she'd be set for life, and wouldn't have to worry about scraping the streets of Cairo anymore.

"Can, can you see?" Jonathan asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Rick nodded as they entered the floor from the steps of the golden treasure room that sparkled and gleamed all around them.

"Can you believe…?"

"Yeah," Rick agreed. Rory was utterly speechless.

"Can we just…?"

"No," Rick shook his head.

Rory looked upward, noticing a familiar statue. The statue of Osiris. He was the god of the underworld. But she couldn't understand why that was familiar to her. Perhaps in a nursery rhyme from the orphanage? It's why she was able to memorize the ten plagues of Egypt during an apocalypse. She thought she'd longed forgotten those memories when she was young, alone, abandoned, with no real direction in her life. Just her pursuit of where her real parents were, why she stayed in Egypt this whole time in search for the one book, Book of the Dead that could change her life. She was tired of stagnation and feeling like she didn't belong. She was tired of questioning her life's purpose if she even had one.

Suddenly an arm stretched up from the ground, grabbing Rory's ankle, making her scream. The guys spun around and Rick was about to shoot at it until she kicked it away from her and scrambled over to stay behind Rick and Jonathan. She glanced at more hands popping out of the sandy floors, cracks of dirt and debris fell around them.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick asked.

"They're priests," the medjai warrior explained. "Imhotep's priests."

"All right then," he nodded. It was all he needed so he could shoot at them. The medjai warrior joined in with his machine gun, shooting them back to the holes from which they came from. Jonathan even chimed in this time, reaching for two of Rick's guns after he'd been nursing his wound from the beetle. Rory looked around for a weapon and found a golden bow and arrow set that rested on one of the statues, nearby Osiris. More of the priests were climbing out from the ground. She grabbed the bow and arrow, and strapped the quiver over her shoulder. She reached for a golden arrow and slid it against the string carefully, stepping back as one came at her. She let go of the arrow and it shot straight through him, knocking him out cold. She shot at another. Jonathan threw Rick's guns at the mummies to keep them from going after them. They ran as fast as they could, trying to find the statue of Horus. They didn't have time to stick around and keep fighting these guys.

"There he is! Hello Horus old boy!" Jonathan said, dipping another torch into the fire basin next to them.

"Come on," the medjai warrior urged as they finally entered the chamber adjacent to the gold room.

Rick and Jonathan knelt down beside the statue. Rick placed his duffle bag beside it, while the Medjai warrior reloaded his machine gun with Rick's extra ammo. Rory counted how many more arrows she had left and closed her eyes, but a noise made them open. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest once more. It was a weird small screechy and scratchy noise that sounded ill in her ears. Rick paused slightly, glancing up at it too.

"These guys just don't quit do they?" he asked.

"Keep digging," the medjai warrior urged him, and cocked the weapon in his hand, keeping it tight against his chest. Rory looked at Rick apologetically. "I'm going with him."

"What? No. I need your help, Ror. We gotta kill the bad guy together," Rick said.

Rory bit her bottom lip. "Rick. There's more of Imhotep's priests coming this way. You and Jonathan get the book, rescue Evie, and save the world. I figured it out," she said, admiring her bow in her hands. She strummed the string carefully, smiling to herself. "I don't know how I did it, but I'm pretty damn good with a bow if I do say so myself. This is my reason. I need to go."

Rick looked at her sadly. "But, you're my best friend."

"I know. And you've given me everything I could ever ask for in a best friend. I love you like my own brother," she smiled at him.

"You don't have to do this, Rory. You don't have to sacrifice yourself," Rick pleaded with her desperately, trying to stop her from going after the oncoming priests.

She smiled. "Yes I do. Please do me a favor and don't screw this one up," she said. "Fall madly in love, get married, have a kid, maybe name them after me, you know? She's good for you, Rick. I like her. Please just…save her," she looked over at Jonathan and hugged him tight. "Thank you. Good luck with finding your sister." She felt him hug her tight, not wanting to let go, but he did. She looked over at Rick and his fallen face.

"We both know I was never going to escape this," she said.

Rick swallowed hard.

"I can do this," she said. "You get the book. It'll be okay."

Rick nodded and pulled her in for a hug. She hugged him back, before she went to help the medjai warrior attack Imhotep's priests. She wasn't sure why she felt such a need to do this. Maybe it was the touch of the golden arrows suddenly sparking to her soul, speaking, as if she was meant for this. She was attached to the Book of the Dead, that was probably in the Mummy's hands right now ready to sacrifice Evelyn for his own love. Rory knew Rick wouldn't let that happen. She also knew she couldn't let the Mummy win and would kill every last resurrected Mummy so that Rick could save the world.

Rory saddled up beside the Medjai warrior, who was placing more shells into his machine gun. He looked at her crazily, puzzled, but then saw she was fixing an arrow to her bow like an expert. "You shouldn't be here. You should be with them."

"I know my fate, dear fellow warrior. So, with that said, I've given you my name, I think it's only fair I know yours."

He looked down after he cocked his machine gun tight, hearing more of Imhotep's priests on the way.

"Ardeth Bay." Rory grinned at the name. He shot at a mummy that was heading their way, and it fell backwards down on the ground.

"Well, played."

Rory grinned and shot her arrow at the other mummy that came next. She shot arrow after arrow, while he shot the machine gun until it was running out again. He sighed, breathing heavily, and pulled on the trigger but came out empty. Rory had just fired her last golden arrow.

"Are you sure your fate is death?" he asked her.

Rory looked down and over at the statue of Horus, seeing Jonathan uncover the golden book of Amun-Ra. She looked over at him and nodded.

"I'm sure."

He turned towards the others as everything seemed to be heightened in haste. The mummies weren't giving up it seemed. Rory could see their shadows dancing along the walls.

"Go!" Ardeth cried to Rick and Jonathan. "Save the girl! Kill the creature!"

Rory licked her lips softly, and sadly, and gave Rick her final word.

"Ready?" he asked her and she nodded.

"I was born ready," she said with much determination.

"Go! What are you waiting for! Get out of here!" Ardeth cried at Jonathan and Rick as they watched in awe and horror at the same time. Hearing Ardeth's last cries had Rick scrambling for a weapon in his duffle bag. He took out a TNT, ignited it, and threw it at the blocked alcove. "Time for a score!" he shouted, and hid behind the Horus, statue covering their ears when it blew up and shattered to pieces. "You alright?" Rick asked. Jonathan nodded. "Let's go!" Together they scrambled out of the chamber and into the next tunnel.

She smiled as they finally made it, and moved on. She wasn't sure what made her suddenly detach herself from Rick and Jonathan, but she knew in her heart this was somehow her way out. Freedom. Was death freedom? She didn't have to worry about trying to find her way in life anymore. It was a strange calling she couldn't really pull away from. Of course Rory was petrified on the inside, fighting the mummies, but there was something about being inside that golden chamber, holding the bow and arrow, and seeing the God of Osiris that had given her an extra surge of courage to course through her veins like her body was on fire. They continued to fight the never ending mummies, raging in forever darkness unitl she was cornered, and attacked, causing her to cry out,and slump forward, around as if she was a ragdoll, and lost her balance, suddenly loosing her will to see, as more of Imhotep's stronger mummies sought after them. Ardeth charged after them and fought with all of his might, trying to get them away from her that had clawed their way into her skin, trying to get into her body, to her soul, of which she suddenly felt like she was dying, becoming dizzier. She was loosing. They were loosing. They needed a miracle to help them through the night. Rory suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream, making Ardeth turn in fear. She fell slightly in the hands of a mummy. The mummy had forced her into Ardeth's arms, as they tried to keep the fight under the city and away from the Mummy himself who was inside the ritual chamber with Evelyn. One could only hope that Rick and Jonathan had gotten there in time.

"Rory, Rory!" Ardeth shook her body gently into his arms. Blood covered her face from the mummy's nails that had scratched her face. He gently lowered her to the ground, and picked up a weapon from one of the statues, a sword in his hands, and started fighting them once more as each one came after him. He kept the fight on him until they all disappeared into sand, and just vanished.

Breathing hard, Ardeth dropped the sword on the ground, and staggered over to Rory's body. She had her eyes closed. Her hair was in a tangled mess. Her body was limp, and cold to his warm touch. He ran his fingers along the marks on her body that still sparked underneath the pads of his fingers like electricity that sparked a golden light through the finger nail marks from their foes on her skin. She was still in there somewhere. Who was she really? That was the question burning on his mind. He picked her up in his arms and started to head for the exit.

~*TM*~

A/n: Rory's abilities have gotten stronger! She's definitely not a nobody, that's for sure. :D Anyway. Hope you guys liked. I'm not that good at action scenes, hopefully it was okay! I tried, lol. I'm trying to get better, but anyway thank you for reading, following, and favoriting. They're loved and welcomed!