Disclaimer: Of the characters I can claim only very few of them as my own - namely Rebecca. I do not make any claim on the characters featuring in "The Mummy".

Chapter 8 - Enter One Heroic Rescuer

"That's far enough".

Jonathon jumped as a female voice came from behind him, spinning round and trying to jump out of the way of the men following him at the same time. His first impression impressed him greatly - a tall, young, enchanting woman with mesmerising eyes, and a wave of silky blonde hair. His second, more careful look also showed Ardeth, hands bound and looking fairly groggy and disorientated. Despite the obviously dangerous situation, Jonathan gave Ardeth an insouciant smile. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything" he said cheerfully, nodding towards Ardeth's hands. The Med-jai's eyes opened in indignant anger and he began to reply, when sweet laughter cut him off, the sound chiming through the room.

"Not at all" the tall woman assured him. She gestured at the two armed brutes who had been attacking him, and they both walked away. Jonathon hoped that Rick would be able to cope with them as well as the pair he was already fighting, wherever he was. He still wasn't sure precisely how they'd become separated.

"What are you doing here?"

Jonathon grinned at Ardeth. "Rescuing you. Why? Have you got any better ideas?" Keeping a careful eye on the young woman, Jonathon took a step towards Ardeth, lifting his sword and intending to cut the bindings on Ardeth's hand. Before he could do so Rebecca gestured with one hand and Jonathon yelped, throwing his sword away from him as the handle heated up, burning his hand. The sword lay on the floor for a moment with flames licking the handle, heat bending and distorting the blade before finally flickering out, leaving the warped blade lying on the floor.

"Don't tell me this is another one you're supposed to be keeping locked away" Jonathon groaned, thinking back to Imohtep, and those wonderful little powers he'd been able to use.

"No" Ardeth said coolly, glaring at the woman, "She's just another one I was supposed to kill." As the words left his mouth, Rebecca's own mouth twisted in anger, and she threw her hands out towards him. Twisting ropes of power flared out from them, lashing out at Ardeth and throwing him backwards, slamming him into the wall before finally ending, allowing him to drop to the floor, fighting against the pain. Jonathon rushed towards him, ears ringing with the ear-splitting screaming noise the power had made, eyes aching in the aftermath of the glare. He gently reached out and helped Ardeth to sit upright, where he leant against the stone wall, panting raggedly.

Jonathon looked up, intending to … well, to say something pretty nasty at the very least, but before he could the girl smiled at him, dark blue eyes temporarily melting his heart before he remembered what she'd done. "I know who you are." The girl's musical voice sent shivers down his spine, but something about her eyes - the hint of madness he could see - sent ice water trickling down it in turn, turning the shivers into a shudder of fear. "Evelyn O'Connell's brother, or alternatively, Rick … " She broke off, and mused "I suppose it's Richard, although I was never interested enough to find out…" She shrugged, and continued "….Rick O'Connell's brother-in-law. How many people know you as Jonathon? Except the people you owe debts to, of course?"

"Now hang on a minute…" Jonathon began indignantly, but the girl cut him off once more.

"You're nothing more than a footnote, Jonathon. An assistant to all those talented intelligent people who have done so much to help this world - Evelyn, Ardeth, Rick." Her English accent gave a mocking twist to the American name. "I've heard people talking about them. However … both you and I know that isn't the complete picture." She tilted her head, smiling at Jonathon, who felt warmth melting the ice that had begun to form in his stomach, melting the feelings of apprehension. He knew that was what a lot of people thought of him, and whilst he didn't usually mind, it did sting when occasionally, but only occasionally, Evy and Rick felt the same way about him.

Ardeth managed to reach out, grasping Jonathon's sleeve, making him jump and his gaze finally broke away from the woman's beautiful, mesmerising eyes. "She thinks she can become a god, by killing me" he whispered hoarsely, his lungs aching too much to be able to summon a louder voice. He sagged back against the wall, world spinning in front of his eyes again.

"Not 'Think'" Rebecca corrected, glancing briefly up at the sky, and the sun. Soon be time now. "Have you ever heard of the god known as Sorus?" She smiled. "You won't have. He was killed by the other gods or so the story goes." She shrugged. "Who believes in stories? No one, except me. Because it's true." She reached up again, touching the pendant around her neck, and again her eyes danced with insane amusement. "All it requires is for someone to die in the right place, at the right time, and then I can take his power. It doesn't have to be you, Ardeth, but I just thought, well, why not? It would be justice, of sorts."

"Why?" Jonathon asked.

Rebecca tilted her head sideways, looking at the two men. Jonathon stood up, moving protectively in front of Ardeth. "He killed my family. Right in front of my eyes." Her expression darkened, eyes flashing, an ugly scowl twisting the perfect beauty of her face. "He destroyed my life. I didn't have much, but he took it away. I'd finally found somewhere I could be happy - Hamunaptra. It called to me. I felt peace there - I could have stayed - I wasn't hurting anyone. He took it away from me. I had to hide for days, amongst the silence, and the voices. They helped me, told me what I should do - Imohtep, and the others. They helped me, when no one else could. He destroyed my life."

"Hardly destroyed" Jonathon commented, trying to block from memory the vision of when he'd camped at Hamunaptra, how Evy and Rick and himself had almost been killed by Ardeth and his men. He understood now why they had to do what they did, but still…

He wasn't sure how to cope with the madness in the young woman. "After all, you've still got a life."

To his relief, Rebecca laughed. "Maybe not. No, it's not completely destroyed, not totally gone. Fractured then. Broken." She tilted her head sideways again, left hand drifting up and playing with her hair. She smiled.

Jonathon turned to see what she was looking at, and then swallowed as he saw Rick dragged in by two of the woman's men. Rick looked in a pretty bad state. "We've got him" one of the thugs said, and Jonathon saw the woman give a wry smile at the man's stating the obvious. "So I can see. Very good. Except, why have you got him? I didn't ask for him alive." She gave a bright smile and gestured with her left hand. Once again a stream of power hissed out, streaming in an eye searing blur across the room, and hitting Rick in the throat. Once it stopped he sagged in the men's' grip, and they dropped him to the floor.