Charly ached all over. She had remembered being on the boat and being knockout by what ever then dark man had made her drink. She figured she was still in Egypt then, but she didn't know where she was now. It was so cold. She had balled her self up, and stayed that way until she had woken up. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a dark wall, in a dark room. She twisted her head around to the only light source in the room and saw a small torch above her burning.
Charly began to sit up, but sharp pains went piercing through her body. She gritted her teeth and barred with the pain and brought herself into a cross-legged position in the sand. She looked around the room in the shallow light.
She seemed to be underground (that would explain the cold and the rock walls.), and there was a statue at one end of the rather small room. She looked behind her and found a door. She decided she needed to get up. She stretched her legs out in front of her and stood very slowly. When she reached her full height she swayed a little. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, but she knew it had been awhile so her stomach growled and she was pretty weak.
She walked over to the door to try and find a way out. She banged on it and pushed on it, and pulled on it, but nothing took, all she walked away with were sprained fingers, scratches and bloody knuckles.
She noticed two unlit torches by the door. She walked over to the lit torch a few feet away above where she was laying. She picked it up and took it to the door and lit the two torches. The added light made a huge difference in the tiny room. She could now see hieroglyphics lining the wall along with picture of the Egyptian people. The statue at the end of the room was one of a woman in a gown standing nobly. Charly was amazed at the sight of the statue. The eyes of it seemed to bore into her soul. She couldn't help but stare at it for many moments.
She shook her head back into reality and looked at the hieroglyphics. They were painted on the wall in dull blues, whites, black and reds. She could just imagine what they looked like when they were freshly painted.
"Interesting aren't they?"
Charly whipped around to look at whom the voice was coming from. The small English man was standing at the door with a small bag and a canteen.
"Where am I? Why did you do this to me?" Charly asked as strongly as she could.
The man stepped forward. As he did she could just make out the shadow of a man in the hall. Very muscular with broad shoulders. He seemed to remain at attention as the English man continued. "You are in Aknatri, The City of Lost Souls." He dropped the bag and canteen at her feet. "You are here because, I hate your family and now you must be killed." He reached up to touch her face, but she stepped back. "Don't run away, my girl" he began to step towards her again.
That was enough for Charly. She reached into the bag she had carried all the way from Cairo, felt around and pulled out to pistol and had them held at his eyes within a few mere seconds. She cocked to pistols. "I'm not your girl. You try to touch me and I will kill you!"
The small man was surprised by her quick actions. He backed up and moved towards the door again. He clicked his tongue three times before he turned and left.
Charly was alone again. She picked up the canteen, wary of it. She opened it and sniffed to contents. It didn't smell weird so she took a very small sip, to test it. It tasted normal. Then she picked up the bag. Inside she found an apple, a piece of a loaf of bread and small piece of turkey. She ate the contents quickly and drank more water, since she had yet to feel any weird effects.
After eating she sat for another hour. She traces the hieroglyphics with her fingers, she hummed songs to herself, she thought about Jonathan. Surly he realized she was gone by now. Was he trying to save her? Or, did he think she ran a way? She wished that he were with her at that very moment. She sat worrying about him for about ten more minutes before she put her hair up in a ponytail and stretched out on the sand and fell asleep, dreamily wearily of Jonathan the whole time.
Carl could not believe that wench had pulled a gun on him, even after he brought her food and water. He stalked back through the hall to the large room at the end. There he would wait for the people who had paid him to kidnap her.
They paid him in gold, that he found upon entering the tomb in the middle of the city. Terrence had carried her in; he was the strongest and most trust-worthy man he had ever dealt with. Of course, Terrence was also dumber then stump, so he could easily lie to Terrence and instead of giving him fifty percent of the profits he would only give about ten percent. It would be perfect.
Carl, with Terrence close in step behind, entered the large room. In the corner stood a man dressed in black. The man watched as Carl and Terrence as they entered the room. "Do you have the girl?"
"Yes, we locked her in a room down the hall."
"Show me," he said walking towards Carl. They began to head towards the door then the man spoke again. "Your friend must stay here."
Terrence growled and stepped in front of Carl. Carl looked into the eyes of the man to see if there was any suspicion, he found none. "Terrence" the large man looked down at Carl, "Stay here!" Terrance stepped aside and let the man in black step towards Carl. "This way."
Carl and the man disappear down the dark passage. Terrence watched, and then turned away to find something to amuse himself while Carl was gone. He saw the gold and decided that was good enough. He squatted down and began to rifle through some of it, looking at each piece three or four times over. He was so interested in that gold that he failed to see the person behind him emerge from the shadows.
The person stepped silently in the sand, slowly and cautiously. He took the sword from behind his back a slowly lifted in up, he brought it up as far as he could that when he dangled it over the back of Terrence, it was only a hair away from piercing his skin. Then he forced the sword down, deep into his back, silently cutting through all in its path. Terrence grunted at the force, then coughed a few times and fell over, onto the gold in front of him.
Meanwhile, down the passage Carl brought the man in black to the door the O'Connell girl was behind. "She is here, you just press that button their to open the door. Watch out though, she is a tough one."
"So was her brother and a dealt with him."
Carl laughed at the comment, "Not very well, you didn't. O'Connell is still alive."
The man frowned, "Oh really?" The man then reached forward and took the gun out of the holster on Carl's waist, and shot. Carl fell back into the sand.
"That's how." Beni said throwing the gun back on the dead body of Carl Whalen.
They arrive at the gates of the city of Aknatri by sunset. The sky was an orange color, and the small, faded crescent of the moon was hanging low in the sky. The party of rescuers barely seemed to notice it. They had been riding for hours and were tired and fed of with the smelly, spiting camels they rode.
They hopped off their camels wearily, and tied them up the best they could to a small obelisk just inside the city.
"So where is she? Where do we find her?" Jonathan yelled to Ardeth.
"She is in the Temple of Spirits."
"Well where is that?"
"I do not know."
"Well how is that going to help us? We need to find her before she dies!"
Evy saw the fiasco that was irrupting, and went to intervene. She ran to her brother and put her hand on his shoulder and turned him to her.
"Jonathan, don't worry we'll find her." She said soothingly. He nodded at his sister and walked away. Rick walked up to Evy and they both then turned to Ardeth. "How will we find this Temple?" Evy said
"I think we will find it at the center of the city. We will find a golden Statue of Osiris inside. On the statue will be the sign of the Med-jai"
"Well let's find this Temple. We need to save my sister." Rick smiled down at Evy, and then looked up at Ardeth.
Ardeth saw in his eyes that he was trying to strengthen his family once again. Ardeth nodded. He picked up his Thompson and began to lead the group to where he suspected the Temple to be.
They walked to what seemed to be the middle of the city, where they found a courtyard surrounded by six buildings.
Rick turned to Ardeth, "which building is it?"
They all looked around at each building. Jonathan stopped and stared at the smallest, plainest one, he began to walk towards it. Evy stared after him, "Jonathan, where are you going?" He didn't answer her as he continued walking. Evy turned to Rick, "Should we follow him."
Before Rick could answer Ardeth walked up beside them and said, "Yes, that is the Temple."
Evy grabbed Alex's handed and followed Rick and Ardeth into the Temple.