Note: Something I forgot to mention before, italics mean they're talking in Arabic/ Egyptian. Sorry for the wait, my monitor died. Thank goodness for floppies.
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Lock-Nah kicked his horse again willing it to go faster, the wind whipped his robes back as he and his men raced across the desert towards Hamunaptra. Their horses looked on the verge of collapsing, but still they urged them on. They did not want to waste any time, they were still an hour away, in that time their enemies could banish their master to the underworld. If that happened he would never forgive himself, and he would exact his revenge on those who opposed his glorious leader, even if it meant his own life. As the Anu-Tep's mortal leader it was his duty, and he would carry it out no matter what.
Unknown to the Anu-Tep, ten Med-Jai were watching them from high up on a cliff, they had been following them from a distance since the priests had come within the Med-Jai's vicinity. Their leader had ordered the group to keep watch on the Anu-Tep, knowing they would make a move once they learned their leader had been reawakened. The Med-Jai had been unaware of the Anu-Tep's existence till about a century ago when the group of priests had tried to raise Imhotep. They had come close, but their leader was killed during the battle with the Med-Jai and the Anu-Tep fell apart after that. Now it seemed that their current leader, Lock-Nah, had decided to pick up where they left off almost a century ago.
Asrag sighed, they had not seen or heard from their leader in over three days and now the Anu-Tep had shown up which worried him more. He had known Ardeth since they were teenagers and with the Anu-Tep having a certain affinity for killing any Med-Jai they saw, he was becoming very worried. Asrag was small compared to most of the other warriors, but was powerfully built with close-cropped brown hair and dark gray eyes. As second-in-command he was in charge while their leader was away, but right now he was uncertain what to do, they were about a mile from Hamunaptra and would be there within ten minutes at full gallop. The whine of an engine brought him out of his reverie, looking up he saw a plane off to their right flying towards Hamunaptra, he hoped they were not more Anu-Tep, but he couldn't tell from where they were. As he watched a huge wall of sand began to rise up behind the plane and chase it. Now he knew he had to do something the creature was close and if the Anu-Tep made it to Hamunaptra they didn't have much of a chance at stopping the creature. Yelling a command to the rest of his men they turned their horses and raced toward the small band of red and black clothed figures their weapons held ready.
He knew they were close to their destination, he could see the tall monuments of Hamunaptra rising out of the sand in the distance. Lock-Nah smiled to himself, soon their master would live forever and their task for over three thousand years would be complete. Then he heard the sound he had been fearing ever since they had headed out for Hamunaptra, the Med-Jai's war cry.
"Yaha!" He cursed; they were going to ruin everything. Gritting his teeth he took one last glance at their destination then gave the order to attack. They had to deal with the Med-Jai quickly or they would never get there in time. The group charged towards the black- clad figures heading for them, their horses breathing heavily a sheen of sweat covering their bodies from the exertion. Pulling out his gun, he gave the order to fire and the group sent a volley of bullets towards the on-coming Med-Jai. Due to the distance they only managed to hit two of the warriors, knocking them off of their horses. Almost immediately the Med-Jai returned fire, hitting two horses and instantly killing one man. The rest of the men hurried on pulling their scimitars out of their scabbards, preparing to cut down any man who got in their way.
The Med-Jai charged forward blades glinting in the sunlight. Asrag felt confident they could easily dispatch the Anu-Tep, there were only five priests left and eight of his group was still standing. The two groups raced towards each other, as they collided dust billowed up around them mixing with the glint of metal and swirling colors to create an eerie scene of chaos.
Swinging his blade in a wide arch Asrag's sword struck the blade of another person, bringing the blade up he swung again behind him slashing the man across the shoulders. Turning back around he was just in time to see a scimitar heading straight for his neck, laying back before he even realized what he was doing the blade passed harmlessly over him. Sitting up he brought his horse around and chased after the man who had tried to decapitate him. Pulling a dagger from its sheath he threw it at the man, and the handle bounced off the back of the man's head with a dull thud. Growling in frustration Asrag kicked his horse and rode straight at the man swiping his blade across the man's midsection. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain run across his arm and his scimitar fell to the sand.
Turning his head to look at his assailant he came face to face with the smirking Lock-Nah.
"Go to hell, Med-Jai." The Nubian growled, bringing his sword up preparing to strike.
Asrag did the only thing he could think of, and fell off his horse to avoid the deadly blade. He let out a cry as his injured arm hit the sand, but scrambled to his feet anyway and dove for his scimitar feeling a sense of relief as his hand wrapped around the hilt. Rolling forward he jumped to his feet and spun around bringing his scimitar up ready to fight. Before he could make a move Lock-Nah jumped up onto a nearby horse and galloped off, in the opposite direction of Hamunaptra. Looking behind him Asrag smiled, five of the remaining Med-Jai stood behind him weapons ready.
"Should we go after him?" The youngest of the Med-Jai asked staring at the quickly retreating form.
"No" Asrag replied, they all looked ragged and he didn't want to risk losing anyone else.
Swiftly gathering up any weapons they had lost, the Med-Jai mounted their horses and rode off towards Hamunaptra in time to see the sacred city collapse to the ground. The slowed their horses and watched as huge columns and obelisks crashed into the sand and the great walls that had surrounded the city for milleniums crumble. Shock was evident on their faces, since the time of the pharaohs the Med-Jai had guarded the city, now it was a pile of rubble.
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Ardeth took one look back at his newfound friends as they headed off towards Cairo, Evy sitting comfortably in O'Connell's lap. He wouldn't be surprised if the next time he saw them they were married. Even Jonathan seemed to have changed, he was no longer the cowardly brother of Evy from when they first met, though he still seemed to retain his liking for gold. Turning back the way he was headed he spotted some men on horseback riding towards him, reaching for his scimitar he found it missing, finally remembering he had lost most of his weapons fighting the mummies. Slowing the camel he waited for till the figures came closer, then to his relief he realized the were Med-Jai, his friend Asrag at the head of them. Raising his hand in greeting, Ardeth dismounted and was met by a grinning Asrag.
"Good to see you alive and in one piece." Asrag said, patting his friend on the back.
"Likewise" Ardeth replied as they remounted and began moving towards the Med-Jai camp.
"Has He-who-shall-not-be-named been destroyed." The smaller of the two asked as they rode along, not entirely sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.
"For now, there's still a chance he could be reawakened if the book of the dead is recovered" Ardeth replied solemnly.
"Where is the book?" Asrag asked.
"Buried under a ton of sand and stone somewhere." Ardeth said gesturing back towards Hamunaptra.
"That's good." Asrag said, sighing in relief.
The rest of the ride was uneventful, as the group rode in companionable silence towards the place they called home. When they arrived, everyone came rushing out to greet them, smiles on their faces. They dismounted and were quickly surrounded by the flood of people, everyone was overjoyed that their leader was back and the creature was destroyed, hopefully for good. One of Asrag's group had ridden ahead and announced the good news, and the celebrations were already underway.
Ardeth wove his way through crowd trying to get out of the pressing mass of people; he had just gotten past the last person when a mini-rocket slammed into his stomach knocking him to the ground.
"Daddy!" They rocket said grinning brightly, the absence of her to front teeth giving a slight whistle to her speech.
"Zahra, shouldn't you be in bed?" Ardeth said trying to sound angry, but failing miserably.
"Nope, mama said I could stay up." Zahra replied proudly.
"Only if she promised to stop beating up the boys." A feminine voice said from above him.
Suddenly realizing he was still laying on the ground Ardeth stood up, holding onto Zahra. Smiling, he gave his wife a kiss and hugged her tightly, happy to have his arms around her again and told her as much.
"I've missed you too." Khepri replied, her raven hair picking up the glow from the fire.
"Uh-um" Zahra said clearing her throat. "What about me?" she said her arms crossed in front of her.
"Of course I missed you!" Ardeth said and began tickling her to emphasize his point.
"C'mon you two, its time to go eat." Khepri said with mock seriousness, which she regretted as the two turned towards here with a mischievous look, then both attacked and began tickling her. After their tickling war the exhausted family went and joined the festivities. Everyone happy to be back home and with their loved ones.
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In case you wanted to know: 'Yaha' means 'Oh shit' and 'Asrag' means 'blue'
TBC…