The next morning they found a Bedouin tribe where Evie went to get some clothes other than her wet nightgown, Sam worked on procuring some supplies, and the men bartered for camels. After getting what they needed she rejoined them smiling at how O'Connell was looking at Evie in her new bedouin dress. As they started to ride Evelyn brought up the subject that Sam was hoping to avoid.
"The French Foreign Legion?" She asked.
"A few years ago. It's where I met O'Connell." Sam explained.
"Didn't anyone notice you were a woman?" Jonathan asked.
"Nope, we all just thought she was a young boy, until I tackled her out of the way of a Tuareg blade, and noticed a few things were missing."
"I had my hair cut short, I bound my breasts and stayed clear of any possible compromising situations."
"Did you go to Hamunaptra as well?" Evelyn asked, and Sam looked down.
"Yep, I almost died there too."
"Never did like camels," Jonathan said, to change the subject. "Filthy buggers, they smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting. Sam looked at the Warden who fit the very description Jonathan gave and sneered.
"Yeah, disgusting."
"I think they're adorable," Evelyn said, scratching the head of her camel. That night Sam was starting to drift off when she happened to glance up at the ridge and noticed a group of riders keeping pace with them.
"Medjai." She whispered to herself, before falling asleep.
The next day as she listened to Jonathan and the warden argue about whether or not the disgusting slob snored as they came to a stop at a large dune. Sam didn't want to get any closer.
"Good morning, my friends." Beni greeted riding up to them, leading the Americans.
"Hey, Sam." Henderson greeted.
"What the hell are we doing?" One of the other Americans asked.
"Patients my good, sahib," Beni called back.
"First one to the city, O'Connell! Five hundred cash bucks." Henderson called.
"Hundred of those bucks are yours if you help us win." They told Beni
"My pleasure." He replied half-heartedly as he joined Sam and O'Connell in staring into the horizon, toward their version of hell.
"Get ready," O'Connell said, glumly.
"For what?" Evelyn asked.
"We're about to be shown the way." Ahead of them, the city seemed to appear before them from the top down, and everyone took off toward the city. Evelyn beat everyone to the city but Sam's camel burst forward with more speed.
"Sammy slow down!" O'Connell yelled, but her camel wouldn't stop. Finally, it stopped short and she went flying over its head into a large dune. "You boys owe me five hundred bucks." He said as the Americans rode in and Sam sat up laughing.
"Where'd all these camels come from?" Henderson asked, walking up to her as she set up camp.
"They belong to the dead. They will wait years for their masters to return before they leave." She told him watching them, saddles and saddlebags still slung over their humps.
"That's sort of depressing." He said and she nodded, then went over next to her party who were standing by a narrow crevice where O'Connell was tying a rope around a pillar. Jonathan bent over looking into the crevice and yelped bumping into a statue of Anubis.
"That thing gives me the creeps." Her brother said looking at it.
"Be nice. That thing saved my life." O'Connell told him. Evelyn was polishing an ancient mirror next to the crevice.
"That "thing" gets me excited," Sam said, smiling at the statue. Out of all the old gods Anubis was probably her favorite.
"The things that get you excited." Rick teased.
"That's the statue of Anubis, his legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge scholars, inside the statue was a secret compartment, perhaps containing the Book of the Living." Evelyn explained.
"What are these old mirrors for?" O'Connell asked.
"Ancient mirrors. It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see."