Title: Imhotep's Obsession (Chapters 16, 17, and 18)
Author: Darlene Evelyn
Feedback: Please let me know what you think but please don't be rude.
Copyright: All Characters from both TM and TMR except for the new ones of course, which are mine are sole property of Universal Pictures. No profit is being made with this story.
Chapter 16....
*~~~Giza Port~~~*
As Angela stepped off the boat, she inhaled a single, deep breath and thought to herself "Finally I'll be able to say good bye to Egypt, as much as it pains me to do so...I will".
She held the pure air in her lungs for a moment as if she could regain all the time that she had lost in the grand steamer. All of Egypt was the land that her body longed to be in day after day, night after night. It was the land whose sand, ruins, heat and siroccos had been her dreamland and her ultimate nightmare. This was the land she dreamed of, in chimerical, but very realistic visions of blazing skies, infinite temples of magic and enigmatic rituals dedicated to the many gods of the universe, and a very striking pair of eyes whose profoundness hid a tempestuous infinity rivaling both paradise and the inferno, eyes that she knew as well as the palm of her hand. And then she remembered the darker dreams of her past, her nightmares, in a swirling whirlpool of obsidian, gold, and lapis lazuli as she blithely danced in a temple, then walked out of a grand city crazed with a pain and love for the man of her life, to leave a city that she had never seen...it was better just not to think about it. Her immediate present was more than stressful enough. Drying moist palms on her jodhpurs, Angela realized suddenly that she was now in a taxi cab!
"What are we going to do?" Jonathan whispered.
"The important thing, Jonathan, is not to panic. Just don't do anything crazy. We'll think of something...it will all be all right" as well meaning as her phrase was, her voice held the tone of a coast guard watching the Titanic sink.
One eyebrow arching a surprised question mark, Jonathan smiled in spite of himself and softly laughed. "Angela, darling, you almost killed O'Connell using a stone and you're telling me not to do anything crazy".
The cautiously blank expression which immediately spread across her face suddenly told Jonathan that his attempt at teasing her had backfired worse than his Dusenberg had during the car chase the year before. Shuddering slightly as she sat back in her seat, Angela's eyes suddenly focused on a small puddle near the back of the passenger side seating, it's dark surface similar to the obsidian like that of the Book of the Dead. Then not surprising this puddle put her mind even more in thoughts and remembrances about Lewis...dark, sadistic things of any kind tended to do that to her more often than anything. Now, Lewis, the son of a bitch, had unfortunately been hired to supervise the workers at the Hamunaptra dig site because David had actually called his skills at managing people, worthy and good...a very mild description of Lewis's tendency to rule over the workers like the second coming of the Pharaoh's over the Hebrews. As each day had gone by, sweltering and hot as usual, Anti-Lewis feelings were building rapidly to their all time high and his attitude was the reason why.
Oddly enough, Lewis could and would brag a lot about certain big groups of female admirers for his refined if rather sly sense of style, or perhaps it was the glamour of his father's and uncle's war hero past or maybe it was all his bundles of money and all of his grand mansions. Angela had always bet on the mansions and money 100%. But whatever the reason, Lewis did think of himself as a god...after all he was very handsome. It came to him as a huge surprise then when Angela avoided him and shouted at him in front of people and often slapped him when he tried to kiss her or embrace her. Everyone at parties,
the girls especially, were always happy to be around him, so she was more than glad to be away from him. Of course Lewis being himself, it only caused him to lust for her more and more. She grimaced at the thought and shoved it out of her mind.
"Well, here we are, fort sweet fort" Rick said as he opened the door of the cab for Angela.
She smiled slightly and took his hand as he helped her out and closed the door. As they all took the luggage they sighed, sleepiness was setting in after the stressful ride on the steamer.
"I'm so tired, I need help with my luggage" Angela said wearily.
As if god...or Satan had heard her prayers, two soldiers suddenly appeared and gently took her bags.
"We'll help you out miss" one of them said thoughtfully.
"Oh no, it's OK, I'm fine" Angela said as she tried to reach for her bags. "It's really not a problem".
"No really Miss, you shouldn't strain your back so much, we'll help you take your bags to your cabin" the second one said.
"Well....if you insist"
They picked up her luggage and walked up the stairs where Jonathan was just opening the door.
"Oh! It's right here" she pointed out. "Just set them by the door, thank you so much".
"Oh, it's no trouble at all miss, we're here to help you out whenever you need it".
The soldier flashed a smile and a sudden vision flashed before her eyes...a vision of Lewis's best friend, Victor. He was a Slavic assassin who was very suave, stunningly handsome, but deadly when angered. The smile was one he had given her when she had been locked up in the deep, dark, dank basement of the Calabar's mansion for 5 days without any food or blankets as she had begged him with tears in her eyes to let her go.
"Um, do I know you?" she asked uneasily, suddenly feeling her heart beat and jump rapidly.
"Me? No, I'm a recruit from France, I decided to come and work here in Egypt because it's such a fascinating country, very lovely...more so than Paris".
"Oh well, I could have sworn I knew you from some where, but I guess it was just someone else that looked like you".
"Yes, it could've been, well we're off now, hope to see you sometime, Angela".
"Yeah, ok....good bye...and thank you"
The two soldiers walked out and Angela shut the door, realizing with a deepening horror "Wait a second! How did he know my name! We just met, how could he have possibly known? Unless...oh my god...please no....it can't be Victor!".
"Well, finally! I thought they'd never leave" Jonathan said, as he walked out of the bedroom.
"We need to leave....now" Angela said breathlessly.
"What? Why?...I thought you wanted to stay for a few more days".
"Lewis sent his men to find me and most of them are now disguised as soldiers! The two soldiers that just came in here were Victor and his brother Strav! I have no doubt about it! It's them!!! Oh my god, they're terrorists and assassins and they're here!!!" she said frantically as she paced around the room. "Victor clearly said my name....it's him, it's Victor, Lewis now will know for sure where I am and he'll come looking for me".
"It can't be, what do we do?" we can't just run out there now, they'll all be all over the place! ok let's think and calm down for a moment...we have to be rational and not do anything stupid that will draw attention". Jonathan said nervously.
"Please Jonathan, I need to get out! You need to get out! Lewis is going to kill you! don't you understand! we need to get out and Rick! oh my god Evelyn! they'll kill them too! and all because of me! God, Lewis is my shadow, he'll never let me be happy! god! I hate this!! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! I hate --"
Jonathan grabbed her and suddenly kissed her. At first she struggled but after realizing that it was calming her, she kissed him with equal passion. Every few seconds she would let out a slight moan or small gasp, trying to get some air into her lungs. Their kiss slowed to a stop, but their lips were still in contact. Through heavy breathing and gasps for a air, Angela smiled and said softly, eyes full of tears ."I-love-you".
"I love you too and don't worry we'll figure something out, even if it means blowing up this fort but we'll get out of here with Rick and Evie and then you'll never have to deal with Lewis or his men ever again" he said in a soft, reassuring voice as he cupped her face in his hands.
Angela looked away and dried her tears, laughing a bit as she did, suddenly it didn't seem as bad of a situation, this time she wasn't alone, she had Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan to be there for support, it was a great feeling though she knew that it would be a risk to their lives. Without another word, she walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Splashing some water in her face she suddenly broke down crying...the pain was too much for her to bear. What could stop Lewis? nothing... absolutely nothing.... except... death itself.
Meanwhile outside, Jonathan sat on the bed and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment then suddenly threw it away, the frustration was building and he knew sooner or later that he'd be the drunken fool that he use to be, but he had Angela now, his love...he couldn't let her down and he wouldn't.
"Sleep, sleep will be good...sleep is a good thing...it'll help" he thought as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, drifting off into his perfect dreamland of nothing but happiness along side Angela and their children, yes his perfect life was there, all there, but then out of nowhere Imhotep appeared and the children and Angela would all vanish and then the knot in his throat grew, he was being strangled, all this was too much...it completely destroyed his will of living... In a bright flash of light he opened his eyes, and there laying next to him was Angela, she was draped across his chest, still asleep.
"Oh my god, the dream...no" he thought "a dream is a dream, it can't be real"
He put his arms around her and hugged her gently, she looked so happy, so relaxed and she awoke, slowly gazing up at him, she smiled.
"It's morning" she said "Time to wake up..."
Wake up to a nightmare, the real world...time to wake up and face reality, reality scary enough that it brought chills to the mind and engravings to your tombstone.
Downstairs, Victor and David sat in the library.
"So the O'Connells and the Carnarvons are back now, perfect...splendidly perfect, So what room are they, I mean is Angela in?" David asked.
"She's upstairs, cabin number eight, it's in the right corridor she almost recognized me but she wasn't quite sure, thankfully, I convinced her otherwise" Victor said as he took off his soldier cap.
"Well, good, now it's my turn to act".
"She seemed pretty happy about something, we managed to hear something about a trip to Luxor, that's where they were all this time, now remember David, you get her to talk and confide in you then you take her--"
"I know, I know, for the love of god, I'm not a five year old, I know what
I'm doing".
"You better David, you better" Victor said as he waved a shot gun in his face.
David sighed and stood up "Don't worry you'll have her soon enough" he said and walked out the door.
*~~~Upstairs~~~*
"Evelyn! Wake up it's morning, time to rise and shine! Come on wake up!" Rick said as he shook the bed, causing her to wake up in shock.
"Rick, what on earth do you think you're doing? The least you could have done was to gently tap me on the shoulder or something" Evelyn replied sleepily.
"Oh right, and risk being punched or slapped in the face like last time? Or
don't you remember back in London when you when you almost knocked me out".
"Oh yes, well I apologize....but please next time say something, don't shake the bed, OK?"
"OK, well I'm going to see Angela and then I'll come back later, bye".
Rick then walked out of the cabin, shutting the door with a slam. Evelyn groaned and slowly sat up to stretch. "I hope he doesn't get himself into trouble". she thought. "But knowing Rick that's one thing that wouldn't surprise me one bit".
*~~~Down the hall~~~*
"Well I'm going out for some breakfast do you want to come?" Angela asked Jonathan.
"I'll catch up to you later, darling".
"OK well, good bye for now...I love you" she said as she walked out the door.
Jonathan smiled and walked over to the window that overlooked the fort and sighed. Suddenly as sound shifted throughout the room, a sound of sand being blown by a light breeze, or was it a snake? He turned and glanced around the room, but everything looked fine. Then whatever it was, came up behind him and stopped, cautiously he took a step forward, not daring to look back. The feeling of someone or something was still there, chills went up his body and he ran for the door. Suddenly in a burst, the window where he had been standing, burst open sucking out what appeared to be two sand figures and then boom! It closed again.
"Oh my god...Angela!!" he thought frantically.
Quickly putting his coat and shoes on, he dashed out the door.
*~~~Corridor~~~*
"Rick!" Angela called out. "Good morning!".
"Hey sis! Good morning...so are you up for some more adventure today?"
"Um well, first let's have breakfast then I'll let you know".
"Yeah that's fine, oh damn I forgot something...wait here, OK?" Rick said.
"OK sure, I won't move an inch".
With that Rick ran down the hallway and disappeared around the corner of the hallway. Angela sighed and looked around, something didn't seem right...this was just way too calm like the other mornings she had experienced in the fort. A hand suddenly touched her shoulder and she whirled around to find the man that she had never expected to see again....David Richardson.
"David! oh my...what are you doing here in Cairo?" she asked in surprise.
"Well, hello to you too" he said with a hint of sarcasm. "No, I'm just kidding...well lets see, I'm here in Cairo so I can go inspect the dig and check out the museum" he answered happily. "and to see you".
Angela blushed "Well I'm sure you heard the bad news about the dig, by now, or did you not?"
"What was I suppose to hear?"
"That the dig was destroyed by an ambush of um, marauders...some of us were lucky enough to escape with our lives...the artifacts were destroyed or are just still sitting out there in the crates still" she said.
"and how have you been? Where is Lewis? Wasn't he suppose to be always by your side?".
"Um well, I've been great, so much has happened that you won't believe it and Lewis, well I haven't seen him ever since the ambush, which to tell you the truth is a blessing from god...I never want to see him again".
"It sounds like you're pretty much loving life right now, so how are your friends?".
"My friends? oh! you mean my brother Rick and his girlfriend Evelyn"
"You're brother...is Rick...O'Connell? and his girlfriend is Evelyn Carnarvon? by any chance does she have a brother named Jonathan?" he said in heart stopping shock.
"Yes, yes, and yes! they know you too!".
"Um well, uh, yeah! we worked in the Museum in London...uh what have you heard about me?"
"Well, not much really, I only know that they know you".
"Oh...ok, um well, would you like to join me for a stroll right now? I know a really pretty part of town that has really nice cafes and you get a great view of the city from Hotel Stack's rooftop... so what do you say?"
"Oh David, as much as I'd like to go...I can't, my brother and I have been trying to spend as much time as possible together, but thank you so much for the invitation, maybe some other time".
"Are you sure you can't put that aside? I mean maybe the weather won't be as nice as it is now."
"Um well I --"
"Angela! sis come on now let's go and--" Rick said and suddenly stopped short in mid-sentence, glaring angrily "What the hell are you doing her, Richardson!".
David went into shock as he saw Rick take Angela by the hand and look at him angrily.
"Angela get back inside your room and lock the door" Rick said as he gently pushed her away. "No actually get a gun and bring it to me".
"Rick, what's wrong?" Angela asked uneasily.
David took a step forward and took a grasp of Angela's arm causing her to freeze in her place as he looked over at Rick then at David. She was going to be the center of their Tug O' War match and she was the rope!
"Let me explain please, I had absolutely no idea she was your sister"
"Oh you didn't! for Christ's sake! I think you did, didn't it ever cross your mind that we were related in a way?" Rick said as he lunged towards him, still holding on to his sister.
David suddenly yanked Angela in front of him abruptly as if she were his shield and he said "I swear I had no idea! Angela never told me her full name! I didn't know! please Rick calm down!"
"Let my sister go" Rick said as he froze in place.
"Um David, please, could you let me go" Angela said as she tried to pull away. "Now, please?"
"We need to talk Angela, I have so much to tell you and show you" David insisted as he pulled her aside. "Tell your brother to back off, it's very important...it's uh um...it has to do with Anton's death".
Angela whirled around and stared at him with shocked eyes. "What is it? do you know who killed him? please tell me".
"It can't be here, please come with me". David said.
Angela turned to Rick and took a deep breath "I'm going with him, Rick...I have to know who killed Anton...please? I'll be right back...I promise...David and I will only be gone for a few minutes" .
Rick stared at David then at Angela...he nodded and gently squeezed her hand as a silent phrase "Be careful". She smiled slightly in return.
"OK then, lets go" David said as he pulled Angela gently, causing her to let go of Rick's hand.
They walked down the hallway, downstairs and made their way to the garden.
"So tell me about Anton...what do you know?" Angela asked as she stopped in her steps.
"I can't tell you here" he replied, as she slowly glanced up at the corridor across from him where Victor stood, staring down at him gravely.
"Please I need to know, tell me! I can't wait!"
He looked at her thoughtfully. Even in great distress her face seemed open, her eyes searching the back of his mind trying to figure out the truth behind the story.
"Tell me Angela, Anton who was your greatest friend. Did you see his body? do you know where it lies? is it back in London? or here in Egypt?"".
Angela suddenly looked confused. "Wait, didn't you know where it was? you said you knew something about him...what is it? tell me damnit! I need to know the truth".
"Can you answer the question?".
"No David, no one knows what became of the remains of Anton, we lost his body in a riot".
"I found someone who says that they know of--". he paused as he saw Victor suddenly appear from behind a pillar about thirty feet from behind Angela. A smile spreading across his handsome face, wicked enough that he seemed to turn into another person, a sadistic killer. David stared at him for a moment, trying to look away.
Angela suddenly sensed it and she looked back, when suddenly a light...a red light went on in the back of her mind...it was Victor! No doubt about it...it was him, he was there ready to take her away, back to Lewis and her hellish past.
"Oh my god" she thought "This was a trap".
She looked back at David and from the look on his face it was impossible to tell if this pleased him or not.
"Who is it?" she asked, trying to go with the flow.
"Who is who? Oh! a man, he's a Bedouin, yes he had some translations and he wanted to show them to whoever was closest to Anton"
"Take me to him" she whispered seductively "I would be eternally grateful".
Suddenly he risked it all and moved in to kiss her, but she backed away swiftly.
"Ah, but you choose the oddest moments for your little advances" she said breathlessly "We were talking of...of a tragedy were we not?".
"Of being alone perhaps and being at the wrong place at the wrong time and the things that grief drives one to do" he said with an innoceny smile.
"Ok.....well......come on!!" Angela said as she suddenly took off in a swift run that took him by surprise.
Victor suddenly glared at David and without any words he took off after Angela who looked back as he came after her.
"Oh my god, horses" she thought. "I need one! I need one now!!".
She looked across the garden and seeing two soldiers appear guiding their horses into the middle of the fort she smiled and ran for one. Shoving the soldier aside she mounted the black stallion, pausing only a while as Victor came running towards her.
"Angela! I recommend you get off that horse...now!" he shouted angrily "Get off!".
Angela snickered and turned the horse around heedless of Victor's warning. "I don't think so, you'll have to kill me...I'd like to see you try" she thought.
"Stop that horse now!" he called demandingly. "Get off of it!"
The horse suddenly took off and she was just getting it to galloping speed when Victor stopped in his footsteps and pulled a rifle out, much to David's shock who looked at him in terror and then at Angela.
"No Victor! what are you doing!" he shouted frantically. "You can't be serious! Put the gun down!".
With his eyes locked on Angela, Victor aimed the gun to her back and steadied himself. Ready to fire and fire he did but to his surprise David grabbed him, taking him off guard and pointed the gun skywards where two shots were fired, cracking the otherwise still air.
The horse which Angela rode suddenly reared back at the sound and stood on its back legs, throwing Angela off. Tumbling in a heap of sand and rock, she hit the floor where her head smacked straight into the adobe wall, in a hit hard enough to knock her out instantly. David felt his heart stop in terror as her body lay limp and lifeless on the sands a few yards away from him.
"What the hell David!" Victor shouted infuriated at the action, yanking the gun out of David's grasp.
"What did you expect me to do? Watch you shoot her!! I'm not like you or any of Lewis's thugs!" David replied "Now come on we can't just stand here! We need to help her out!".
"Miss O'Connell! oh my god!" a voice suddenly said "Miss O'Connell!".
Victor and David look over at the unconscious body of Angela and looked about five feet away from her where a soldier stood.
"Christian! goddamnit!" Victor growled.
Christian ran to Angela and kneeled down beside her, frantically trying to wake her.
"Miss O'Connell, please say something" he murmured as he took her hand into his and gently squeezed it. "Please say something"
No answer.
"Help! anyone please there has been an injury...I need help!" he shouted "Please help".
Mark suddenly appeared from the barracks and stared out at the sight in horror. "What the hell happened? what one earth are you--". he said, but got cut off by Christian who suddenly picked up Angela in his arms and steadily walked to the cabins.
"What are you doing?" Mark shouted "Christian!"
"I'm being soldier!" Christian shouted back as he struggled up the stairs "If you don't want to help...then back off!".
Mark sighed as he regretted his actions from the week before and ran to him, helping him carry Angela up the stairs carefully.
"Who caused this?" Mark asked suddenly, his voice filled with suspicion "Did you see anything?"
"I don't know, I heard two gunshots and when I came out I saw Miss O'Connell lying on the ground unconscious and I, oh wait, come to think of it I saw two men standing about twenty feet away from her and one had a rifle and other looked completely scared...oh my god...it was them, I have a big feeling they had something to do with this!". Christian said suddenly in horror after having had calmly explained the situation.
As they kicked the door as opposed to knocking, Rick opened suddenly with a smile on his face but his expression changed dramatically at the sight of his sister's unconscious body being held by the two soldiers.
"Oh goddamnit! Angela! sis! answer me! please oh god Angela answer me! you can't be dead! you can't be!".
"She got thrown off her horse after two gunshots were fired, apparently she had been trying to get out of the fort when it happened" Christian said, as he and Mark set Angela carefully onto the bed. "From the looks of it she suffered quite a strong concussion".
"Was there a man with her?" Rick asked suddenly.
"No, no one was with her but I did see two men, a few feet away from her and one was holding a rifle, he looked like he was a foreigner from around the area of Yugoslavia and the second man was also in his early to mid- twentys and he looked like a Brit, he's been here hanging around a lot the last couple of days...he looked awfully panicky."
"What did he look like?"
"Um, dark brown hair, dark eyes, uh about this high" Christian said as he showed Rick. "He didn't have a gun though."
"David...it had to be him, damn bastard...I knew I shouldn't have let my sister go with him! Where is he?! ok here's my gun, I'm deal with that son of a bitch right now" Rick said angrily, as he reached into his holster, pulled out his gun and ran out of the room, saying "If I have to look for him throughout all of Cairo, I will and I'll personally put a bullet in his head".
"No wait!" Christian called out and stood up, but it was too late.
"I'm going to catch up to him, he can't take the law into his own hands, those men may be heavily armed and dangerous and we can't have another murder take place" Mark said as he peered out the door. "Something tells me those men may have had something to do with the murder of Anton Laramen, maybe they wanted to get rid of her as well...goddamnit...I'll be right back,stay here and watch over her".
Christian nodded and handed him his gun. "Glad you're finally acting like a true soldier, Mark, take careful precautions. I'll take her of her as best I can".
Mark nodded back and ran out after Rick.
Looking back at Angela, Christian walked to the clothes drawers where a water pitcher stood, he took it in his hand and carried it over to her where he sat down and pulled out a handkerchief and put some water on it.
"Oh Miss O'Connell, please wake up...you need to wake up" he said softly, as he gently padded the cloth on her head, cleaning off the sand and dust. "This action will not go unpunished".
Her still body remained still, she looked dead, but clearly she was breathing shallowly and this worried him more...what kept her in that state? Clearly she was alive but the blow to the head must have been keeping her in a state of shock.
Deep inside her dark dreamstate she was experiencing something else: One afternoon three years ago, when she had dusting and organizing some priceless china and a few books on British History and Asia in the Calabar mansion, she had heard the voice she had come to hate more than her own father.
"Hello sweetheart, mind if I join you?" Lewis had asked.
She had politely refused his offer of help and company and had courteously excused herself from his presence with a civility more nefarious than any slap ever given to him. Then in a gesture enough to make her freeze in place she had felt him press himself against her back, his hand sliding around her waist as he softly kissed her neck.
"Why don't you like me being around you Angela? Everybody says we make such a good couple, both of us being young and all, why don't we give it a shot and try to have a child, do you want that sweetheart?".
"Lewis, let go of me...now". she snarled as she tried to wrench herself away from him.
Lewis being a great master of elusiveness, pulled her back to him and renewed his strong hold on her, putting his lips closer to her ear.
"You know, you're such an icy bitch" he said snickeringly. "But you're going to be such a good wife, once we're married".
"For being twenty-one Lewis, you're such a moronic imbecile".
"You won't be saying that in three years".
The words echoed like a brass plate in her mind and suddenly something besides her voice gave way. A single sentence escaped her lips as she whirled around swiftly and swung her arm down viciously with the china pitcher, it's weight and deafening crash becoming a series of echoing angels deep in the depths of her memory. When she opened her eyes to look, she found Lewis lying senseless on the floor, a very interesting sight to see judging by the fact that the cuts and bruises and shattered blue and white delft china gave some really good contemporary artist's touch. The china had been an exceptionally good defense weapon and she stood staring down at him a moment longer. Then deliberately she knelt down as the maids came running in to see what had happened and quickly picking up the shattered pieces of the pitcher, she forced her mind to meet his wincing, dazed, emerald green eyes with a composure even the Nazi's would envy.
"I apologize, Lewis...but you...you uh startled me. I'm terribly sorry I can be so klutzy sometimes, I think it is best that you keep away from me from now on".
With her head held high, she gave him a little smile of satisfaction and walked out of the room, careful and serene as the Sahara after a sandstorm, hoping deep in the back of her mind that he'd be to scared about that to be angry and seek revenge...but oh how wrong she had been.
Outside in reality, Christian looked down at her with a worried look in his eyes, something was going terribly wrong and it showed on her face. She was crying but her eyes weren't opened, she was still in her state of unconsciousness.
"Oh my god, what's happening? Miss O'Connell? Miss O'Connell can you hear me?" he called as he gently shook her, no response.
He looked at the door and groaned in frustration. Suddenly he heard her let out a squeak of desperation and he saw deep struggle and anxiety on her face, frantically he tried to wake her up. He had absolutely no idea what was going on in her head. Angela was still in a sleeplike state and she suddenly gasped for air. Worried, Christian out his hand right above her nose and felt absolutely no air coming out but saw that she was trying to take in air in shallow breaths with all strength.
"God, where are O'Connell and Mark?"
The look inside her mind wasn't good...and if they lasted any longer out, Christian had no idea what was going to happen.
A sudden bell sounded throughout the fort. People were all peering out their cabins. Rick's face was a mask of rage and he started for the fort door, gun in hand. Mark caught up to him and suddenly stopped him.
"No! Mr. O'Connell! You can't!" he said "O'Connell, stop! I order you in the name of her majesty stop this instant!".
"Let go of me, Rennes!" Rick said angrily as she shoved Mark aside.
He ran into the crowd outside of the fort and searched frantically for David. They had moved up and down the streets looking for him. David was nowhere to be found and it wasn't surprising he may have well left the fort altogether during the brief period when no one had been out... the mystery was..."Why? why had he done this to her? what was in it for him?".
"Come on O'Connell, we need to get back to the fort maybe someone saw something, it's best if we get back"
Sighing, Rick nodded resignedly and they head back.
Down the road, Victor was pulverizing the road in his sleek, black '26 Ford Tudor Sedan as David looked back at the road behind them frantically.
"Goddamnit! why didn't you grab her! why didn't you stop that good for nothing soldier! we could have had Angela here! Do you know how angry Lewis is going to be!" Victor was shouting infuriatingly, as he honked the horn of his car.
"Well I'm sorry Victor but I wasn't about to let you shoot her! and what did you expect me to do? run over and grab her and drag her body into the car....no I don't think so...unless you consider the fact that the soldiers would've have chased us and put us into Cairo Prison!" David responded frantically trying with all his might not to have a nervous breakdown.
Victor suddenly braked and stopped the car. Frustrated, he put his head on the steering wheel and groaned. This had never happened and he knew this would look bad on his record (not that assassins kept any). The records of personal evilness were his own and he kept track of his ups and downs. Thankfully much to his relief he had all ups but this one down would cost him big time and he knew he couldn't tell anyone...Lewis especially.
"Ok, let's calm down, we can't afford to have Lewis find out about this mistake and we can't have him find out about me almost killing his fiancée, he'll kill me as well as you...so bottom line, we can't have him find out, ok? I don't tell him and you don't tell him and we're both fine".
David nodded and sat back in his seat. "So what are we going to tell him?" he asked as he stared out into the street.
"Um, well we're going to tell him that Angela never showed up and that they said that we should come back in the evening possibly around nine" Victor replied.
"Ok, well let's go".
They set out for Hotel Stack, suddenly fleeing the country was an idea looming on their minds as well. It was either fleeing or getting tortured and shot...fleeing was the main objective, getting shot wasn't an option they wanted. On the other hand they had the choice of getting shot point blank and having their bodies shipped out of the country. Lewis was a big lunatic so the last choice was always his favorite...unfortunately for them...their choices were quite different.
*~~~Fort Brydon~~~*
Jonathan enjoyed holding Angela as she slept, listening to the rhythm of her breathing and the soft little moans that she would make every so often. He enjoyed the warmth of her body next to his as he sat by her and caressed her hair, even under these circumstances she seemed so relaxed. The entire day he had spent with her, always checking her every five minutes. Rick still hadn't came back and Evelyn had gone to the museum and to see some of the parts of the city that she had never seen before.
As he began to lay her head down gently on the pillow Angela slowly opened her eyes and asked drearily "What happened? Where am I?....oh my god, what's happening?".
"Shhh, go back to sleep, Angela" he whispered. "It's OK, you're with me".
She laid her head down on the pillow and then he covered her with another blanket. The sky had gotten dark with the setting of the sun about two hours before and it was getting cold.
"I almost lost you today". He said solemnly "I don't know what I'd do without you. I think I'd die"
Angela smiled sleepily "You'll never lose me...I still can't believe David did that to me...I trusted him and he betrayed me no wonder Rick doesn't like him, he's a two faced moron".
Jonathan stood up and looked down at Angela and without another word he walked out of the room, pausing just a bit in the living room. He knew he needed to get some sleep but he needed to look at Angela for just another minute. The love that he felt for her grew everyday and it scared him to think about everything. He had never expected to need anyone his entire life, but he needed her, she was his life now and he shivered at the thought of losing her today. If Christian and Mark had been even a minute late today, David and the man with him would have slain her or kidnapped her, he didn't know what was worse. Thank god they had been there to save her.
"The next person who tries to harm her, I swear I won't hesitate to kill them" he thought.
With that thought he walked once more into the room and sat next to Angela and smiled. "I love you" he whispered.
"I love you too" she whispered back weakly, without opening her eyes.
After an eternal moment of silence, she slowly sat up and snuggled against him as he pulled her close to him.
"When we get back to London, please,please,please remind me that you get to choose the church and the engagement ring that you want, OK?".
Angela sat up suddenly and smiled "Oh my god...does this mean that?"
"Uh um, yes, it means that I'm asking you to marry me".
Angela's eyes were wide and tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks. "Jonathan, I don't know what to say...oh my god...yes! I'll marry you" she said tearfully, as she hugged him tightly to the point where his lungs were starting to run out of air.
"Angela, darling, ok...um" Jonathan choked, as he pulled at her arms. "Then let's not strangle the groom before the wedding".
"Oh, I'm so sorry. It's just that, I'm so happy. I can't believe this, it's all so surreal! I'm dreaming, this a dream. Oh I never want to wake up from this moment!" she said happily.
They both sat on the bed holding each other tightly savoring the happiness, until the door came flying open. Instantly they let go of one another and Angela laid down.
Rick came walking in, a look of fury on his face, it suddenly changed though as he saw Angela finally awake. He rushed to her and hugged her tightly as he felt the weight of tons fall from his shoulders.
"Oh thank god you're awake...you don't know how much I suffered. I thought you were going to die, how are you feeling?" he asked "Oh my god, thank you! You're still alive!"
"I'm feeling much better, thankfully... but ugh...my head feels so weird right now, it's in so much pain and I wonder if I can even stand up...or do anything else for that matter".
"The bash to your head was pretty hard so expect it to hurt at least for another day or so".
Angela giggled and winced suddenly. Jonathan gently nudged her and she laughed, wincing more.
"Well, I'm off to have a bite to eat, see you two tomorrow" he said before he walked out of the room. "Good night".
"So, it's time for you to go to sleep" Rick scolded. "After all, this day has been pretty tough on all of us".
"Wait, Rick I need to talk to you for a sec" Angela said solemnly.
"Ok...shoot for it".
"OK um, well I need to talk to you about Jonathan".
"So what's going on with him?" Rick asked curiously.
"Well um, how should I put this in terms you could just not get mad in...um I'm in lo--"her sentence was cut short as a tidal wave of sand suddenly blasted through the window, knocking Rick down to the floor and Angela to the opposite side of the bed where she hit her head and screamed in pain, but both of them not harmed much.
The furniture was mutely looking on untouched by the sudden sandstorm in it's midst. Rick quickly crawled over to Angela, as the spinning sandstorm twirled and suddenly drew away from the open window and gathered in upon itself, taking a human form, transforming into a dark robed Imhotep, looming above all. Though he had not seen them yet, he kneeled down and dropped two lapis lazuli objects which instantly touching the floor, morphed into two scarabs, they scurried towards the bed and scampered up, 5...4...3...2...1.
Angela let out a piercing scream and pounced onto Rick who slid into view of Imhotep's glance. Imhotep strode towards them and stopped.
"My love, it is time to return to Hamunaptra" he said in Egyptian, ignoring the fact that the man who had always foiled his plans was there beside her.
Angela stood up slowly and looked at Rick who while standing up pulled out his revolver. "Oh no you don't, you aren't touching' my sister".
Angela grabbed Rick and pulled aside. Stepping in front of him, as she smiled innocently at the High Priest.
"Imhotep, I never expected to see you again" she said in Egyptian. "Both of us need to talk about our relationship".
Imhotep smiled lovingly and strode to her and stood before her, staring at her silently, his expression hypnotic and his eyes intense with craving.
"Tell me my love what is it that you want? I would move mountains and oceans, even the heavens if you command me to do so, come with me, it is time to make you mine for all eternity".
He took another step forward and she backed away to his surprise. He offered his hand but she only stared at him guiltily.
"Please, we need to speak, it is a very serious matter concerning us...you must listen to me" she insisted.
Imhotep stood tall, arms crossed, a powerful handsome presence, smiling at his beloved with love of ages. "So then tell me my love, what is it that you wish to speak about?".
Rick stood tall and swiftly grabbed Angela. "Get out" he said sternly. "Get out now".
Something within Imhotep's mind suddenly snapped though and he pulled at Angela's other arm. Pulling her with such a force that Rick stumbled and let go of her. In a swift motion, Imhotep grabbed him with his left arm and suddenly his right arm shot out and punched him, throwing him into the wall across the room.
"Rick!!" Angela cried as she ran towards him. "Oh my god".
Imhotep beat her to him and with fists clenched slung his arms like a bat, across Rick's chest sending him spinning into the opposite wall where he crashed onto to the floor with an echoing slam. Rick, not quite our yet stood up drunkenly, trying his best to get to his feet but suddenly realizing much to his dismay that his knees were buckling.
Angela was at her brothers side, kneeling beside him, surprised to see him smiling if somewhat dementedly.
"Rick, please, get out of here, don't worry about me I'll be OK, just let me talk to him! for the love of god! Go! Go before he kills you!".
Rick breathing hard and wincing in pain smiled "No, I can't you're my sister and I'm not leaving you" he said, clearly proud, his pride was always there even in rough times. A definite defect at the moment.
"Get out" she ordered her brother as she deftly took out a locket that her mom had given her.
"Keep it and never forget me" she said dazedly, trembling, her eyes tearing up but chin held high.
"What you must be kidding....tell me you're kidding".
"I won't be needing it...not if what I'm about to tell him causes him to kill me, please Rick, leave"
Over by the door the regal and unstoppable high priest, eyes burning with rage, approached the semiconscious Rick, who was having trouble getting to his feet, and stopped just about five feet from him, suddenly he lurched forwards and grabbed Angela by the wrist, pulling her to him.
"Shall we speak then?" he asked her, as he glared at Rick.
Angela nodded and Rick was just about to resignedly step out of the room, but thought better of it, he had absolutely no intentions of going any farther than that. Hesitating, he turned back to Angela who signaled him to leave once more which he finally did.
"Angela better know what she's doing" he thought "I can't just leave her in there, but if I go in I'm even more of a risk for her because he wouldn't think twice about killing her".
Inside, Angela and Imhotep stood on opposite sides of the room, staring at one another.
"Where shall we begin" he asked suddenly, straightforward as usual.
Angela found to her horror that she couldn't think of what to say! "What is wrong with me?" she asked herself. She didn't know what to think. It was almost like she was starting to have second thoughts, but she couldn't. She loved Jonathan and only Jonathan.
"I am here, speak I am not an image that your in is tricking you to see" he said smiling, that one smile that seemed to always melt her instantly.
She stood by the door staring at him as he walked around the room, then walked to her and cupped his hands on her cheeks, caressing them gently, sending chills down her body.
"You my love, are the most important thing to me now" he said. "and I love you more than life itself".
"Did you not do this Evelyn?" she suddenly blurted out. "Did she not resurrect you and you came back with the idea of sacrificing her?".
"The other woman? No my love, I was being foolish back then, but time has made me realize that I needed to bring you back and with a blessing from Osiris...you resurrected me instead, you have Isiria's mind and body all you need now my love...is her soul".
Angela in complete confusion broke away from him and stood by her bed, leaving him standing by the door. The bizarre moment was ghostly in it's silence and pain filled agony.
"You left me" he said softly all of a sudden.
"What?"
"You left me and in pain I went back to Anck-Su-Namun and that is why I have been cursed all this time with the Hom Dai".
Suddenly the room became deathly cold and Angela suddenly knew that if she made it out alive that this day would be one that she'd remember forever. One for the reason being that she dumped a 3,000 year old high priest of Osiris and two that she escaped death for the third time and had lived to tell about it.
She looked into his eyes and felt her body and her mind freeze. Painfully she realized that she was drifting apart from him, his world, the magic and the intrigue. Her heart was breaking and she felt a deep pang of sadness enter her causing her to feel like crying out for Rick. "Oh my god, I can't do this, I can't, Why can't I say anything? I feel so weak, my chest hurts, I feel like I this has happened before, I feel weak, my mind is spinning, I can't think...my god, how can I say good bye? Help me I can't speak!" she thought nervously. "What can I say to him?".
The room was suddenly turning dimmer and dimmer and she could actually feel the denseness of the darkness surrounding her, engulfing her in a feeling of absolute suffocation.
"Look at me" he said.
Angela looked into his eyes and looked deep, they were so dark, so enigmatic and so hypnotic like those of the lethal Cobra and his intentions were just as suggestive.
"We must rid the world of these foolish mortals, so that only you and I remain to live as the rulers of all this world...the first to die shall be the fools who dared to wake me with their curiosity, they shall be the first to suffer as I have suffered".
"Um I--" Angela tried to say as she turned her back to him and thought in shock, trying to not scream for help...the words he had just spoken had been a slap in the face, her brother and her friends could not die and she looked at the wall for a moment in silence.
She suddenly turned around and lunged at him, causing him to fall back onto her bed. She was on top of him screaming and slapping him viciously unable to control all her confused emotions. "You will not kill anyone! you will not! how can you say those things! and, and you made me look like a lunatic in one of my dreams! and now you are here and you expect me to love you! how can you do this to me!".
He grabbed her wrists and turned the tables causing her to roll to the bed, now on her back as he pinned her hands to the bed. Trying to wriggle herself free she found it was to no avail and she looked up at him, out of breath with wide eyes.
"You do love me, look into your heart and soul and you will realize the truth. You found it in the desert and in your dreams and you cannot forget it so soon, you have to find it now...do not fight me and your emotions".
She unwillingly obeyed and looked into his eyes trying to find meaning to her confused situation. When he felt her body relax against him, he removed his grip on one of her hands and lightly stroked her face. Somehow this relaxed her and she closed her eyes. Imhotep looked down at her and smiled. He released his grip on her other hand and leaned into her face and pressed his lips to hers, giving her a lingering slow and lazy kiss. She obliged and kissed him more ardently as if asking him to increase the rhythm in his lips. Through heavy breathing and gasps for air, she suddenly realized he was trying to spellbind her! And she suddenly managed to scream "Rick! Help!...help me!".
Outside Rick heard her screams and immediately ran for the door, slamming against it, something was holding it tightly locked and a panic rushed through him, realizing that Angela could be in fatal danger.
"I'm coming Angela!" he shouted as he ran to the door, in a sudden answer it flew open and a blast of sand blew out sending him flying over the railing. "Oh holy shit!" he shouted as he reached for the railing, managing to grab onto a rail.
Angela suddenly came running out of the room and ran to him. She bent over the railings and held out her hands to him. "Oh my god, Rick! Give me your free hand! Come on! I'll pull you up!" she yelled frantically. "Come on!".
Rick looked up at her in shock and swung his hand up to hers, where she grabbed onto it.
"Get me up!" Rick pleaded. He now had one hand holding onto Angela's hand and the other holding onto the rail, trying his best to not let go.
"It's all right, now I'm going to pull you up and as I do, inch your way up the rail...hold on please, OK? Please don't let go!" Angela said as calmly as she could. "Oh god, please don't let go".
"I don't plan on letting go, sis, so less talk and more getting my ass over the rail please!" Rick yelled frantically.
They nervously worked together, with Angela looking back towards the room every so often, finally pulling him over the railing to safety. Angela kneeled down by him while he sat on the floor breathing heavily.
"How the hell did you get out?" Rick asked exhaustedly.
"Well, I uh, managed to make a run for it when he blasted the door, at the sound of you slamming against the door I guess he thought it best to blast you out of the way and to the floor below" she replied as she pointed down at the floor below.
"There is just something about me and getting hit by doors, I'm never going to quite understand that" he murmured with a weak smile.
Angela suddenly stood up and gasped, her eyes were fixed on someone or something behind Rick, who was just getting to his feet, he could feel its warm breath against his neck and he took a step forward causing the thing to let out a scream. He whirled around and raised his gun to fire only to have Imhotep bat the gun from his hand. Somehow the phrase of hors de combat lingered above Rick's head like a ten ton pile of bricks, his years as a soldier served him well for that phrase as he had many of his colleagues thrown smack into it with a bloody result. He slowly stepped back, quivering with fear as he clutched onto Angela's hand. Rick wasn't a religious person and he never had been but as he looked back at Angela with horror filled eyes he uttered the Lord's Prayer and closed his eyes wishing somehow that this was a nightmare and that he'd wake up from it, this time his intrepidity wasn't there, no this was sheer terror that he felt seeping into his body for the first time, a terror of being defenseless at his sister's side.
Angela was trembling, weeping hysterically as she saw Imhotep glaring and both of them. On instinct she pulled Rick back abruptly and they both ran down the hallway swiftly.
"You're scared of him?" Angela asked as they ran "OK, I have to admit I'm scared, but you?"
"Um, no, not really, I just didn't want to get us killed that's all" Rick said as he looked back, unable to admit the reality of the situation.
"Rick, you were trembling for crying out loud".
"No, I wasn't!"
"Yes, you were!"
"Where is he?" Rick said as he stopped and looked back in surprise.
"Oh-my-god there's no one there...nothing".
"Nothing at all, but he's got to be here, he couldn't have left" Rick said as he cautiously glanced around.
Somebody screamed, not a woman, not Angela, a man...a thing had done it, echoing down from the ceiling. They looked up in unison and saw nothing but eternal black. As Rick looked back towards Angela...she was gone!
"Angela!" he shouted, no response. "Angela! Where are you!"
Angela ran down the stairs struggling to see as the fort became darker and darker, only lighted by the gas torches and even the stars did not shine. Everything was turning pitch black and the moon was moving into a full eclipse becoming a death like cloak of darkness, even now the torches went out one by one in a domino effect of terror and chaos.
"and he stretched forth his hands towards the heavens and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt". Angela murmured.
The fort was somehow quiet...where was everyone? She looked back. Rick, where was he? She ran into the barracks, nothing, not a person in sight. She ran out and looked around...where was everyone? Suddenly her mind went blank she was unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or the understanding of it all and as she ran into the library, she found herself looking in horror. Five men or what little was left of them were sprawled upon the floor, drained of organs and bodily fluids. Angela screamed and didn't stay around to take their pulse, opening and running out the door quicker than she had came in.
Clambering up the stairs, she stumbled onto the floor taking in the cold fresh air of a night few of stars though the wind was whipping through the fort stirring the plants and sand in a silent whisper.... "Death will come on swift wings".
"Rick!" she called, no response. "Rick! Help!".
Suddenly to her utter horror she realized that nearly everyone was a husk of skin and bones! As she stumbled towards a room, a shelter, she could feel the horrid, sickening husks and see their light silhouettes. This was all too unreal and she felt like suicidal ideas would set in, the ideas that people often get when they no longer can take any more. She ran in the darkness of the fort, weeping.
"You are playing a dangerous game, Imhotep, it is dangerous to all of us. Nobody has to tell you what will happen if my brother gets his hands on the Book of Amun-Ra...you high station and your powers won't help you one bit, but you know that already" she thought. "How could you do this?".
She ran into an empty room and slammed the door behind her and found herself enveloped in the heavy, dense darkness of the room. Leaning herself against the door she sighed heavily, and as soon as she did..it moved suddenly as if an invisible force were trying to push it open, sending her tumbling forward, dumping her rather rudely onto the floor. Glancing up, she found much to her shock that it hadn't opened! It was still closed...what pushed her? Or what had pulled her? she wondered nervously.
She called out in her mind "Rick, help me!".
She got to her feet and began tentatively feeling her way along the wall, her eyes trying to adjust to the change of light. At least the room was empty. She walked into the middle and under her feet she hit something and fell to the floor where she landed in a painful thud. As she reached to stretch her hand which felt like it was broken into two pieces, someone unexpectedly grabbed her, causing her entire body to freeze.
In the hand that held her own, she felt the touch of all her deepest, darkest dreams. She knew deep inside that there was no way to try and fight the controversial feeling of the warm and unexplainable pressure in it's grip that pulled her up so she could stand. Her left hand reached out on instinct in a curious attempt to grab onto something solid and stable so she could brace her body against the painful fall to emptiness. Her heart stopped dead when her hand touched a wall of flesh, a smooth expanse of muscled chest, the hard powerful curve of a shoulder. Her lips were slightly parted on a word, a name to be exact, when that someone kissed her.
Pushing herself away from the person, she backed up a couple of steps and the obscurity surrounded her once again. Her eyes though suddenly focused on something in front of her, so she stared in that direction so she could see what or who it was. A distinct smell of spices and incense...of something exotic invaded her senses and her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest as she continued to stare uneasily at the person. Her mind slowly came to the realization that this person had a very muscular well built chest and her body suddenly began to shake as she saw the face that the chest belonged to and the person's eyes staring into hers, deep and dark as the mystical, but dangerous Indian Ocean. Angela took a few steps back again and felt a pair of hands slip around her waist, causing her throat to release an ear piercing scream. She could clearly hear the person that was holding her, talking to her, but she didn't want to one word and she didn't want to hear the voice, the voice she had heard for fourteen years. She writhed in it's tight hold, breathing heavily like a girl who doesn't want to listen to her parents when they say it's time to go to sleep, trying to get away-- a futile attempt. But her body stopped as the person placed sultry lips on hers, kissing her fervently. Engulfing her in a steamy dream. A dream that if not controlled would become a nightmare in itself, her very worst nightmare.
As the figure turned her towards him, he reached and slowly unbuttoned her blouse, pulling it off just below the shoulders. It kissed her shoulder and slowly worked it's way up her neck where it finally met her lips in a fiery kiss...quickly she turned and shoved him away, gasping for cold air.
"I cannot do this" she said in Egyptian "I cannot be with you".
"Why my love?" Imhotep asked seductively. "What is the problem?".
"I cannot be with you because I....I, do not love you, I am in love with another man...I will tell you once again...I am not Isiria and I cannot lie any longer, I am leaving Egypt and I will never see you again...that is my final decision."
Though it was dark she could instantly feel and see Imhotep glaring at her and his grip on her shoulders became stronger...any harder and she'd break, literally.
"Isiria will be mine and I will have her once again by my side, and you, you will not be an obstacle any longer" he whispered furiously. "You will not interfere between us."
Angela suddenly bolted for the door and frantically tried to pull it open realizing much to her horror that it had locked when she had closed it and she needed a key to open it. "Rick! Rick! Help me! where are you!" she screamed anxiously, tearfully as she pounded and banged on the door for a while, yelling, screaming, but it did her no good what so ever.
Imhotep turned her around so she stood facing him. "Why did you run away from me?" he asked softly "You cannot leave so why are you trying to do so?"
"I, I do not know" she replied nervously, not knowing truly what to say or do as she tried to restrain herself. "Please let me go."
"Forgive me my love, but you must come with to Hamunaptra." he said "Now close your eyes".
Jonathan's voice echoed in her head suddenly rephrasing that very phrase "Close your eyes". Angela stared at Imhotep uneasily trying with the little strength left in her to scream, but she realized much to her body's shock that she wasn't able to.
"Please close your eyes...I promise that nothing shall happen".
She sighed, resigned to her fate of a slow and very painful death, well she waited, and waited, and without warning he kissed her again. "For the love of you" he said in between kisses, as he nuzzled her throat. "I am willing to risk anything, including death itself".
Angela felt weak suddenly and she whispered. "Death itself". Before her mind completely blacked out causing her to collapse in his arms. He smiled, it had worked...the spell had worked it couldn't have been more calm and less chaotic. He picked her up and carried her limp body out the door to the corridor in a position in which she seemed to be an offering to the gods. It was a position of two newly weds that had just started to leave for their honeymoon, in a twisted otherworldly sort of way...all's fair in love and...death.
Rick struggling to get up from the massive headache he was just getting due to the fact that someone had slammed him in the head with a crowbar, was looking around dazedly. "Ow, my head....oh my...god, where's Angela?" he suddenly thought as he steadied himself, his head spinning in a maelstrom of confusion. But Rick was suddenly aware of a presence in back of him again and he looked back expecting to see Angela...close enough. He found Imhotep holding onto Angela's unconscious body, sending a gasp of fear through him, he yanked out his revolver from his holster and trained it at Imhotep's back.
"You get one chance to stop" he said sternly. "Let my sister go....now".
Imhotep kept walking away from him, heedless to Rick's warning, for one, he had absolutely no idea what he was saying and two, he really didn't care. Rick blasted away, swiftly stepping in front of him, blocking his path. The shots hadn't seemed to register much to Imhotep, except some very annoying metal objects stuck in his back, the bullets had made entrance wounds, but not one drop of blood came out. Instead, Imhotep roared with rage and with only a look he sent O'Connell flying across the hallway into Jonathan, who was just running in, knocking him down like a bowling pin...strike!
As Rick and Jonathan dazedly pulled themselves up into a sitting position, they saw Imhotep speaking softly, tenderly to Angela [who was unconscious] in Egyptian as he carried her and held her close to his chest. The goddamn mummy was going to take her!
Rick jumped to his feet and ran for them fast. "No, you son of a bitch you aren't taking her!!" he shouted.
Jonathan took off in the opposite direction and he skidded to a stop at this remarkable sight and any sign of shock got caught in his throat as the dire consequences of them not leaving Cairo sooner, stood holding Angela in his arms, tall...and menacing. Looking at him with loathing and scorn in his eyes, Imhotep looked face to face at Jonathan as if he were trying to decide whether or not he should kill him and how.
"Let her go." Jonathan said as he gathered every last bit of bravery left in him. His own voice suddenly reminding him with a vengeance. "The next person who tries to harm her, I swear I won't hesitate to kill them." He gulped at the remembrance, staring at the unhuman,undead, "next person who tries to harm her".
Seeing that this of course did not work, he repeated the same in Egyptian. Imhotep stared at him for a moment as he stood just a few feet from him.
"What makes you think, you fool, that I would let her go". He said to Jonathan in the same tongue. "Do not interfere".
And with that he sent Jonathan flying into a pillar. A sudden gust of wind blew in and Imhotep seemed to spin into a tiny twister of sand and speed, nothing but a sand tornado that grew larger by the second, spinning with incredible force, suddenly lifting itself into mid air before spewing out of the fort...disappearing into the silent Sahara.
"No!!" Jonathan shouted. "Angela!!"
Rick couldn't believe the sight of that either, Imhotep had taken his sister! He had lost his sister once when they were younger...and he realized that he couldn't lose her again. He was going insane as the crowd had been in the marketplace the year before as he yelled "Angela! No! You goddamn bastard you can't do this to me! Angela! No god! No!"
Jonathan ran to him "O'Connell, calm down, please! We need to set out to Hamunaptra now! There is no time to waste!".
Rick was going hysterical as he remembered the day 16 years before as his uncle's car had driven away from their house as Angela ran behind them screaming his name only to be restrained by her father and carried into the house. Jonathan was not far behind but he kept his sanity by thinking of how much Angela meant to him and the secret that both shared didn't help the mood as it pained him not able to reveal it.
"Well, I couldn't have put it better myself" a voice said from behind them. A voice that pretty much rang the bells of "Oh no" and a few unmentionable four letter words...damn.
Both Jonathan and Rick turned in the direction the voice had came from to find David, Lewis, Vinnie,Victor, and about twenty henchmen, all armed.
"We'll be more than happy to help you out...oh and by the way Rick here's your girlfriend" David said as two henchmen pushed Evelyn forward abruptly.
"What do you want Calabar?" Rick asked, ignoring David altogether.
"Were kind of in a hurry" Jonathan added coldly.
"Oh this won't take long, Jonathan, I mean it's in absolute demand for recovering that, um, you haven't been told of why we are really here. It wasn't a, how should I say, a decision that we just merely skimmed through lightly and truly I hope you know how we thought about it over and over and about the consequences of this as well. Vinnie, the gang, and I have only known you guys for a very short amount of time and although we never doubted your abilities and professional expertise we really need to deal with this. I apologize to interrupt you in such a bad time, but--" Lewis said as he sighed. "But I---"
Placing one hand on Evelyn's shoulder positively shining with sadism at being "honest". If anyone else in the group but Jonathan had thought about looking over, they would have seen a completely new expression of utter bewilderment and confused eyes on Vinnie and Victor's faces which actually revealed clearly that Lewis's noble actions were all a really big newsflash to them and everyone else there.
"What is his plan?" Vinnie wondered "What is he up to?".
"Calabar, get to the point...it's a nice beginning and all but why don't you just explain to us what the hell you really want with us or my sister" Rick said abruptly. "and please don't lie to me, I don't buy that goddamn sweet talk".
"Oh your sister" Lewis grinned innocently. Jonathan's presence suddenly showed that he was actually in a very exuberant mood at that moment. Angela hadn't told her brother or Jonathan and Evelyn the full story about her life with him, cutting out all of the attempted escapes and shouted curses and other unpleasant events and Lewis knew exactly how to change the entire story to his full advantage. "This will be too good".he thought maniacally.
"Oh god...I really did hope that I would not have to do this but I guess you really leave me with no other choice" Lewis said as he motioned one of his men...Victor to hand him a portfolio. "I am really afraid that this turn of uh, events has honestly left us, no other option...it came to--oh how should I say this? it came to something highly undesirable...but I --"
Lewis was suddenly cut off by David "It came to my attention a few days ago that artifacts were missing from the dig at Hamunaptra, being the incorruptible person that he is he couldn't hide the truth from me and soon we discovered as you can see by these papers that the people responsible for the taking of the artifacts and the peddling of them are...you have absolutely no idea how much this pains me to say, Rick...are your sister and Jonathan.
Rick suddenly punched him the jaw, knocking him to the ground. "Don't you ever accuse Angela of something that you goddamn moron, so this is who you've been working for all this time you two faced son of a bitch! I might of known".
David sat up and rubbed his jaw, glaring at Rick angrily. Rick now stared at Jonathan who was at the moment staring at Lewis. Lewis took a step forward and shook his head resignedly and sighed.
"Evelyn, with all your understanding and very extensive knowledge of Egypt and it's history, I'm sure you'll be able to fully understand our worries and anxieties, I mean all of this comes from the deep fear that the most, um no, the single most important dig, being Hamunaptra the dig of the century, cannot be taken away from the world by two very irresponsible people who care for nothing except their own fortune and well being...these two mindless people who would be more than willing to give it to a group of clueless,greedy,power hungry bureaucrats".
"Like you Lewis" Jonathan snapped coldly. "Because I certainly can't think of anyone else that fits those descriptions".
"Jonathan, you hurt me, how can you possibly think such things about me".
"Well, possibly because I almost got my brains blown out by one of your bloody henchmen and you tried to kill me here in the fort when we last met".
Evelyn sat down quietly, abruptly onto a wicker chair, her hand to her mouth and her legs refusing to hold her weight. To his utter shock Jonathan saw her suddenly look hurt and depressed, every inch of her face a look of sadness spelling out a curse, a
final reprimand, that cried out his name, spelling it, engraving it onto his tombstone if he didn't run for it soon.
Digging all his bravery through the deep despair he felt and looking serious and tranquil, Jonathan wished to sell his soul to Satan so that he could have the incredible physical build and strength to kill Lewis with his bare hands, but his mind ended only
wishing for Lewis to be quiet...not quite.
Lewis continued obviously enjoying himself. "I spoke to Jonathan a couple of days ago about this problem and I wanted to talk to Angela privately yet they both seemed so very, very close to one another that it was impossible to do so. To tell you the truth I was extremely afraid that maybe Angela might be just an assistant and a victim of bad loyalty to someone. Now all Jonathan has to do is give us the money and the artifacts and this little problem will be forgotten, erased, whatever you want to call it. But ugh, I see that they tried to change the story to their full advantage with lies and stories of unwelcome advances and beatings, this is so hurtful".
He shaded his eyes with his right hand, overwhelmed with the frustration of all of it. "Rick, believe me when I tell you that as gorgeous as Angela is, I have absolutely no interest in her, whatsoever".
"So why did you try to kill her the last time I caught you".Rick asked suspiciously.
"Oh that too, I don't know what came over me, she told me that she wouldn't give me the artifacts and I, I don't know what came over me...I'm really sorry about that".
"Listen Lewis, I'm not in the best of moods right now, we're kind of in a bit of a hurry...so could you save this for another time" Rick said, as he tried to walk away.
Seeing Evelyn in deep depression was horrible, but seeing Rick worried, sad and on the verge of backing down from a potential fight was more disillusioning than seeing a Med-Jai warrior like Ardeth Bay, at a UN Peacekeepers Meeting with a heart and a peace symbol painted on each cheek singing "It's a Small World After All" and surrounded by little children waving flags from all the countries of the world.
"Where are you going?" Lewis asked as they turned to leave.
"Lewis...I apologize to you" Rick ventured, his voice filled with a tone of sadness. "We're going to look for my sister, she's been kidnapped".
Moving between both Evelyn and Rick to put a hand on their shoulders, Lewis shook his head and sighed sadly. "Please understand, I'd like to help...though I'm not to sure whether or not your sister is to blame for this. I'm certain she didn't do anything to harm anyone. I think her uh, it was her love. It always happens when a very sensible girl falls in love with a very influential and bad role model" Lewis looked at Jonathan, anger in his eyes, as he aimed a sharp look of utter triumph at him.
Suddenly though that look became nothing but a faded remembrance when Rick looked at him suddenly, directing his eyes full of anger and disappointment at him. Jonathan had never felt so completely small and so utterly lonesome. God, why hadn't he died the year before, he thought. It would have been so much better.
"O'Connell I swear it's not like he's telling you the--" Jonathan tried to say.
"Did you take those things? Do you know where they are? Tell me Jonathan" His voice was cold enough for Lewis and Victor to take a few mental notes in their little Black book of Mental Torture.
"O'Connell it's not my --".
"Did you?"
"No and Angela told --"
For only the third time in her adult life, Evelyn looked at him with disappointed eyes and Rick suddenly gave him a left hook, sending Jonathan to the floor with a thump. He looked up at Rick in total amazement as the sharp swell started to go up his cheek. That's when Rick suddenly gave him one final murderous glance, rage outlining every inch of his face.
"As of this moment you are no longer getting near Angela. I'm glad you only got to being friends because I would personally kill right now, so get it clear...stay away from us, I don't want you getting near any of us from now on, do you get that? Now get out!".
"But we didn't ---"
"I said get out!".
Jonathan stood up and turned to walk away only to face the barrel of a gun...Lewis's gun. If he stayed here he had no doubts whatsoever that Rick would probably shoot him, or at least pummel him senseless, but seeing this made him prefer Rick killing him anytime. Either way he wouldn't do Angela any good at all. Swallowing his shock, fear and horror; he backed up into Evelyn and Rick determined to do what little he could to keep him and them alive for as long as possible.
"Going somewhere" Lewis walked towards them. He'd distilled his voice, eyes, and all his other aspects from the purest, deadliest venom possible...obsession.
"Lewis, what the hell are you doing I thought we were going to talk later" Rick said sternly.
"Well Rick, I changed my mind, I'm a very indecisive person but my final choices are usually the ones I stick too...you three are going to take us to Hamunaptra to get those artifacts from the dig, since we will be in the middle of the Sahara, well as they say...they'll be no witnesses...no one will even know that you're gone".Lewis said nonchalantly.
"Bug off, Lewis" Jonathan said. "You have no idea what you're dealing with and truthfully you don't want to know".
"I think we do, Jonathan" David said dryly. "You see I'm looking for the Book of the Dead and something tells me you're pretty in touch with that knowledge of it...you guys know how to use it and what it contains...so what I need is you three to accompany me, there are no options, you're coming and that's final".
"How dare you, David you have no right doing this, the Book of the Dead is highly dangerous! You just can't read from it and see what happens!" Evelyn said frantically, suddenly realizing that she had just blurted out the process.
Rick threw a hard "Why did you say that?" look at her causing her to look away, embarrassed at the henchmen.
A small smile traced David's mouth and he nodded "Thank You ever so, Evelyn now all I need is Angela to read from it and I'm set....or do any of you know? Oh wait, Evelyn you know how to read Ancient Egyptian as well as Jonathan, ha, that power is as good as mine".
"What powers are you talking about?" Lewis suddenly asked.
"Um, well, powers, um, well what I meant was powers as in money, but nothing else. I swear".
"Hanan, the curator, told me that the artifacts they want back are capable of unleashing a curse upon the world...is that the power you're talking about?".
Rick smiled mockingly pushing the sadness deep, causing Lewis to get angrier. "Tell us David, what are the powers? Cause personally I don't think it's money that you really want...come on Dave tell us" Rick insisted.
David looked around at everyone nervously, angry hate-filled eyes focusing on Rick. "It's money, Rick...that's all".
"Really David I heard that the artifacts were to release some kind of curse or grant power to whomever possesses them, so they can rule over the world, getting anything they desired...is that what you want?" Rick replied scornfully.
David glared. "How would you know?".
"I just know,David...why do you want to know?"
David didn't answer, he just thoughtfully looked at Rick.
"Oh David just doesn't want to admit that he wants the powers that the books supposedly have" Rick said. "You hypocrite".
"Now I remember" David said, nodding, smiling and admitting or, he managed to throw a sharp right jab into Rick's jaw, the punch dropped him to the ground, where he lay rubbing his jaw, not quite unconscious.
"Oh my god, Rick!". Evelyn screamed as she rushed to him, kneeling down beside him.
She looked up at David, who was looking down at them. "I always felt like doing that" David said. as he walked way. "Oh and by the way...now you're coming with us, take them"
The henchmen grabbed Jonathan and a struggling Evelyn, followed by Rick who was dragged downstairs.
Lewis got into his car with Victor and Vinnie and laughed. "David is such a bastard, he thinks he can outsmart me...well he has another thing coming, no one tries to outsmart me...no one".
"What do you plan on doing?" Victor asked.
"Follow along with his foolish story of powers and stuff, all I want is the money that those things are worth...I don't believe that foolish superstition and belief of supernatural powers and ruling the world, that is the biggest stupidity I've ever heard of".
"So are we heading to Giza Port" Vinnie asked, as he started the car.
"Yes, the trip is a day by boat and two by camel so we're starting our journey there".
With that the car sped away followed by five other cars, all disappearing into the dark Cairo streets headed for a danger greater than any could imagine, greater than death itself...greater than life itself, and this was just...only the beginning.
Chapter 17....
*~~~Sahara Desert~~~*
Out in the vast,shadowless Sahara Desert the quiet tranquility was suddenly interrupted by the swirling winds of a tornado making its way through the valley where itstopped. The swirling particles of sand condensing, molding themselves, fashioning into a statueof sand...the statue of the High Priest of Osiris and his future mistress. It transformed,color,and textures holding on, forming until finally Imhotep stood there, smiling smugly. Looking as handsome as ever,he looked down at his unconscious beauty and arranged her blouse and jodhpurs, smoothing them out with just a glance, covering her legs, putting some sweet words into her head before he kissed her forehead softly.
Angela stirred and drearily opened her eyes. "Oh my...god." she whispered,not referring to Imhotep. She had suddenly noticed the crates or what was left of some of them and she realized that there was a familiar landmark just ahead...the crushed ruins of the City of the Dead. She looked up at Imhotep as he held her and she whispered "We're back" before suddenly blacking out once more.
Imhotep smiled and closed his eyes, chanting. His handsome face in deep concentration asrecited a spell and though silent it was as if he were rallying the sand around him into a full scale battle with the wind as the sands rose from the desert floor, flying upwards and swirling around the ruins, covering them with a blanket of twisting winds. After five minutes the sand dissipated falling like a sheet of rain, out of it emerging like a gift from the gods...a dark shape, the silhouette of a volcano...the new Hamunaptra. As new as if it had been recently built, beautifully constructed. The sky now starry had turned the desert and the city itself into an azure tingled ivory.
From the distance, he could still see his men in their chariots following him, whips cracking as they rode, charging towards the city with Anck-Su- Namun's mummy, that had been the worst mistake he had ever done and looking down at his true beloved he thanked the gods for having her in his arms, before swirling back into a dervish and vanishing into the once ruined city of Hamunaptra.
Soon he found himself alone in the grandly pillared chamber where in the center, the strange twisted alter of granite stone and smooth obsidian surface gleamed in the torch light, there he placed Angela. The first stage of his power, the memory sleeper he'd cast ad been successfuland she was in a peaceful sleep. All he needed now, that vial, he needed the elixir and the incantation to bring Isiria back, but first.....
"We must dress you appropriately so you will completely be mine once the incantation is fully complete" he whispered lovingly. "What I now need are some slave girls to prepare you".
With that he pulled out the Book of the Dead from under his arm "This time the Med-Jai shall not stop me".he said. Then opening the book, he read an incantation as he strode to a large granite door in the chamber, holding it like a Holy hymn book as he chanted the ancient spell from the book's dark pages gliding his hand over the wall causing it to burst open.
As the dust cleared he could see clearly standing in the archway, two living mummies of slave girls, no doubt they had been buried with Pharaoh as part of the ceremony for the dead. They both stumbled forward and looked around not sure what had just happened...they looked normal! Absolutely human!
Bowing before him one asked. "What may we do to please you, Lord Imhotep?"
"Prepare her" Imhotep pointed at Angela, who was still asleep and grinned triumphantly. "Prepare her for the spell, dress her in her ceremony garments, she will dance for me once more"
The two girls nodded and walked towards Angela to prepare her...for the dance of her life.
*~~~The Nile,a Steamer~~~*
Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan all sat on the deck, surrounded by guards, neither able to get up or move in any direction. Since their hostage crisis had began all had refused to speak one word to Lewis or David who frustratingly tried to think of ways to make them talk and confess what the Book contained and what the artifacts were worth. Unfortunately money and power never brings out the best of people both on the giving and on the receiving end. In this case though there was an unwilling side and a demanding side that both caused a turbulence in the world of greed.
"For Christ's sake!...talk already, Rick!" David suddenly shouted after an eternity of silence. "Say something!" he shouted again in Rick's emotionless face, glaring at him angrily.
Rick continued to stare back, unwilling to speak. The men were getting restless and anxious as to find out the hidden secrets that the hostages had on their minds. Evelyn had refused to even look at him and Jonathan just whistled English jigs, ignoring the shouts of anger that David emmited.
"Fine! Don't talk! we'll figure out a way to squeeze those words out of you.....or better yet shoot those words out of you".
Rick suddenly laughed and shook his head, finally saying. "David, has it ever occurred to you that I could easily guide you to the middle of nowhere, far from here so that you wouldn't have enough time to make it to Cairo unless you were dead and being dragged by a camel".
David sneered and laughed, frankly unconvinced of Rick's intentions to abandon them. "Oh please Rick, so you honestly think I'm stupid enough to believe that....you'd go to the vile Inferno if you had to save your sister from Satan himself".
"Well, if you haven't noticed you bloody moron...we are going to theblasted Inferno to rescue Angela from one of the undead....the all powerful High Priest of Osiris" Jonathan murmured, suddenly annoyed by David's incessant evil that seemed to be penetrating his mind slowly to the point of migraines.
"What did you say?" Lewis suddenly asked, after so much time of being quiet. "Why don't you repeat it for us?"
"Who? Me? Nothing absolutely nothing, what? Are you going to pummel me?" Jonathan snapped back angrily.
Lewis pitched his revolver to the floor, not realizing that it had just slid by Evelyn, thinking. "Ya, I'm going to pummel you, you idiot" and threw the best left hook he had in him smack into Jonathan's jaw. Evelyn screamed and looked away, suddenly noticing the glimmer of hope...the shotgun.
Quickly she looked up the group, thinking "Oh my god...OK Evelyn, don't panic, just slide the gun over to Rick and he just might reach it".
In the meantime Jonathan looked up at Lewis, as he spit some blood out of his mouth and stared expressionless, for the first time he suddenly realized that he was taking this more like O'Connell...he suddenly didn't care how many times someone punched him and even it hurt or not. With a smile to himself he thought, "Love has it's advantages, I have to keep myself alive for Angela's sake".
Rick sat back in his chair, arms crossed as he stared at everyone "I swear,you guys are going to pay for this" he thought furiously. "I'm going to ring your scrawny little---".
His poetic description was cut off by a coughing Evelyn who while coughing managed to signal him to where the gun was. Rick smiled at her and lip spoke "Thank you". Slowly he picked up the gun as he slid it up the leg of his chair, unnoticed by anyone.
"Goddamnit! I'm going to bed! Figure out a way to make them talk! " David said as he walked down the corridor. "They can't remain silent for long".
Lewis shook his head "OK, you heard the man, six of you will stay at a time, you'll switch every four hours... I think it's time for the rest of us to go to sleep" he said, before walking away "and whatever you do, don't keep your eyes off of them!".
"It won't be the same without you, Louie!" Rick shouted sarcastically.
"and a cheery good night to you, Rick". Lewis answered before disappearing downstairs.
The rest of the men followed, only Victor,Vinnie, and four others stayed behind to keep watch. It was clear that all wanted to go to sleep but none could do so and they hated it, and this Evelyn knew. In a soft tone she slowly started humming a lullaby and nudged Jonathan who immediately started to hum along
"I have no idea what the hell Evelyn is doing". Rick thought. "But I hope it works somehow". He closed his eyes and Jonathan decided to join him as he stopped humming,realizing how odd he must have sounded humming a lullaby to a bunch of guards.
As she continued, Evelyn's voice became soothing to the guard's ears and unable to withhold the sleepiness that engulfed their very souls, one by one, they fell asleep. Only Victor and Vinnie remained awake, much to their dismay...throughout the entire humming session they had kept their eyes fixed on the one would be hummer, their stares never changing position, no blinking, no moving. Vinnie looked down at his watch and sighed "12:35".
"Come on go to sleep" Evelyn thought as she kept humming, closing her eyes,her throat was becoming sore from the endless repetition of the song.
Vinnie though reluctant at first, fell victim to Morpheus's power and soon he was fast asleep, reclining on the rail comfortably, his gun laying beside him as he gently breathed.
Victor looked around and softly tiptoed down the hallway. "They're asleep,thank god no I can finally rest". He thought as he walked downstairs, disappearing from view.
"Evelyn? Jonathan? Come on this is our chance" Rick hissed, still keeping his eyes closed.
Evelyn and Jonathan sat up suddenly and looked around at the snoring group of guards who all lay, sleeping soundly like a bunch of babies. They both smiled simultaneously and slowly stood up as Rick followed. As they cautiously made their way around them, a long silence seemed to surround them, only the sound of the water churning under the boat like a bubbling brook seemed to be the loudest thing. Even under the circumstances it was a quite a peaceful Zen sort of moment.
Then suddenly Evelyn and Jonathan felt themselves being yanked in the opposite direction of the hallway, their feet literally dragging on the floor as Rick, two guns in his holsters, held onto them with both hands as he walked along the deck, carrying them both like two sacks of flour.
"We're going to swim to the far bank and from there we run for it, it doesn't matter where, but we have to get as far away from them as possible" Rick said suddenly as he stopped.
"Well, we can swim, there's no need to worry about that" Jonathan said. "The occasion does certainly call for it you know".
They all nodded in silent agreement and suddenly they ran for the opposite side of the boat where without any second thoughts they jumped over the railing, back flipping into the icy cold river. Shocking everyone's body, numbing to the very deep notches of their bones. Rick was already stroking towards the far shore and Evelyn followed, soon clambering up the riverbank she found to her happiness that Jonathan was already there standing by Rick, both soaked and dripping wet, shivering with cold, but nonetheless alive.
"Well, now what?".Jonathan asked, as he wrung out his coat. "Next part of the plan ol' chap and fast!".
"Now we run for it" Rick said, as he looked at the steamer that was sailing down the Nile against the current. "Now come on".
"But we don't have any supplies!" Evelyn protested.
"Well we'll get some, now come on!".
Frantically running up the hill, they raced into the desert. Time was of essence and they couldn't afford another set back, this trip was a search and rescue and nothing was stopping them from saving Angela.
**"Where the hell are they!" Lewis shouted at his men. "I tell you to watch them and what do you do? You fall asleep! What do I have to do to get a job done right".
"Lewis, um, they were asleep...how were we uh, suppose to know?" Vinnie stuttered nervously, as he looked around guiltily.
"Ugh! OK you know what? As soon as we get off this god forsaken boat we're going back to the dig site!"
"But we don't know where it is!". One of the men protested suddenly.
"Oh how you underestimate me. It's very simple to find the dig all we have to is go to a Bedouin camp, rent a few camels, ask around and we're set, or do any of you happen to remember where it is?".
"I do" Vinnie replied. "Well, sort of".
"Good then, we're set...this is but a minor set back, lets just not make another mistake, got it?... Now get some sleep...all of you".
At that moment Lewis and David suddenly detected everyone's spirit waning further, but even though not admitting it, so were theirs. It was tough to do this but this was the point of no return in many cases than one and the only thing left was to move forward...into hell itself.
*~~~On Shore~~~*
"Ok--I--think--we--can--stop--now" Rick gasped as he stumbled to the floor in desperate need of air and exhausted from running. "We're--pretty-- much--far--enough--so--they--don't--find--us".
The cold wind made it impossible to breathe freely and so they slowed a little ways to small oasis where they struggled to gather some branches and some pinnate palm tree leaves and built a good size fire enough to keep them warm.
"I want you two to get some sleep" Rick said, as they all huddled together by the fire, each taking their own little space. "We're going to rise again around four in the morning, so we can make it to the nearest camp without the sun beating down on us".
Meaning only five hours of sleep, there was absolutely no arguments whatsoever. The idea of traveling under the stars and dawn skies sounded beautiful after the cold air had tortured them.
Rick woke just a little after four and quickly roused Evelyn and Jonathan. They stood up and started their walk over the sand dunes, Rick always leading the way with Evelyn and Jonathan walking behind him. He kept an eye out for any sign of anything that moved, even if he still was drowsy from such a short a sleep he was well prepared for anything that would pop out at them. After a while of walking then, his eyes looked straight ahead where he noticed a sand cloud moving towards them.
"What the hell?" he asked.
"What? What is it?" Jonathan asked. "Is it Lewis?"
"No...it's not Lewis"
"Then who is it?" Evelyn asked uneasily.
The cloud was too far away for Rick to be sure and with the navy blue sky painting the desert an ivory and blue tinge, it was hard to be sure of who or what it was...but he could swear the riders face had painted on them a familiar piece of antiquity, their faces were the tattooed flesh of the Med- Jai!! Of course they could also be a band of nomads or a sandstorm (Which was extremely unpredictable in this part of the desert).
"It's the Med-Jai" Rick said confidently. "Ardeth Bay has got to be with them".
As the horses were clear in view, Rick stood up straight and they all watched as little by little the riders got closer. The rumbling of the horses galloping suddenly getting louder, the sound of hoofbeats quickly joined by a thunder shower of shouts and battle cries filled the air.
"Stop!" Ardeth shouted in Arabic to his men, where they suddenly stopped their horses.
At the sight of the trio, he smiled and jumped off his horse so he could greet them.
"What are you doing out here in the middle of the Sahara without anything to protect yourselves with?". He asked.
"Well would you believe me if I told you that my sister was kidnapped by Imhotep, taken to Hamunaptra and we have just escaped being hostages of Lewis Calabar by jumping off a boat into the Nile again, plus we just spent a night at the oasis eight miles from here" Rick said with a wry grin.
The hard eyed, angular faced Ardeth smiled partly in respect to a valiant fellow fighter, partly to laugh at the story only to realize that he had just heard the creatures name, changing his mood dramatically. And when a Med-Jai changed his mood...god(s) help who ever he's angry at.
"Come now, you shall come with us to the camp, from there we will set out to the site of hell".
Climbing on three horses the trio watched and followed as Ardeth mounted his horse, reared his steed back and galloped off, crying out to the warriors who immediately raced after him, all vanishing into the dawn. In moments, only the dust and echoes of their hoofbeats remained in the lonely desert...far away from civilization, far away from hope.
*~~~Hamunaptra,City of the Dead~~~*
Angela awoke abruptly as if from a terrible nightmare suddenly realizing with alarming clarity that she had just woken to a reality worse than any nightmare her mind could have possibly fashioned for her troubles. She in an instant that she'd been laid a top a sacrificial alter in Hamunaptra's amphitheater for the dead and she was instantly aware that she was cold as well and that almost all her body wasn't covered with any piece of clothing!
"What the hell happened?" she whispered to an invisible, unknown being, as she sat up and looked down at her body finding that she was dressed in a blackish red cutaway skirt and a very small, revealing halter top. "How did this? could he have done this?" she stuttered to herself in a low voice as she examined her jewelry.
Without a second thought she jumped off the alter and ran up the granite staircase only to trip and fall on her knees, causing her to give up suddenly as she sat down in the middle of stairs. Angela mumbled angrily as she rubbed her knees at least she was alone, or at least she thought so until she looked up from where she was sitting on the steps of the chamber. As she froze she saw Imhotep had been standing at the end of the chamber standing between the statues and pillars, observing her, amused as only he could be at a moment like this.
"What are you finding to be so amusing?" Angela asked him, a bit annoyed she was suddenly irritated at being found comical at that moment, of course he only smiled at her.
Angela glared, which only made him ever more amused, he seemed to like to be in control of situations and actually watching how people reacted to them, but his fascination at the emotional effect of the parting look on the soldier of fortune's face had been quite apparent. Just noticing she realized that whenever Imhotep was involved in their togetherness, he was extremely interested in the communication both physical and verbal between both him and her, so it was a possiblity that it was just one of his things that he enjoyed doing.
"My love, the scarabs will not harm you" he said suddenly, causing her to be suddenly thrown back into reality. His deep commanding voice added "I control the scarabs since they have after all been a part of me for so long a time. I have marked you as my own, they will not harm you or let any harm come to you as well".
Angela glanced down to find a scarab made from lapis lazuli resting betweenher breasts where the garment met to for her cover.
"You did this?" she asked as she gestured to her barely clothed body.
Imhotep only smiled and walked to her, where he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, letting his hands slide down her body, causing her lips to release an incoherent cry of rapture as his sultry lips turned their attention from her lips to tantalize the skin of her neck stopping just above her pulse.
"Lord Imhotep" a voice suddenly interrupted in Egyptian.
Angela pushed him away from her suddenly and walked down a couple of steps...to find another person, a girl, about nineteen years of age.
Imhotep glared suddenly. "What is it that you want?" he demanded.
His voice harsh and cold caused the girl to jump and run out of the room suddenly without another word. Angela looked back at him and found him once again smiling and on instinct she smiled fixedly hoping deep inside that she would somehow pass the examination in a good way. As he got closer to her though, she backed away one step down at a time, never taking her eyes off of him, but that only made her more tense and his hand suddenly intercepted her next step down, grasping her wrist tightly enough as to not hurt her. Looking at him nervously she watched as he drew an uncertain finger across her sensual, pouty lips staring quietly into her hazel eyes. Several infinities passed while he hadn't said a word as he studied her features in a trance like state that almost drove Angela to scream. He interrupted that thought though, in a quick instant his dark, obsidian eyes met hers once again burning a hole in her soul with the most painful soul eating question this side of the Underworld.....: "What were you planning on doing?" he asked. "Escaping?"
When she didn't respond, he let go of her hand, walking down the down the stairs several paces, as the muscles in his jaw worked with a strain of a deep, never-ending feeling. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase, stopping just in front of a stone idol of Osiris, god of the dead. Staring at it, he flexed his fingers in a silent frenzy of anger and spite, then suddenly lashed out as if his inner psychologist had just told him to take his anger out on a stone pillow it shattered into dozens of fragments with a single swift hit, causing Angela to gasped in horror as she backed away farther up the stairs hoping that she wasn't the next intended to be broken like that.
Suddenly Imhotep spoke, his voice was eerily calm, fully in control and hypnotically charming with the same deadly determination of a cobra. "You think I will accept your curse any longer as a lesson for others? very well, but hear me well oh traitorous gods, Isiria will be mine, she will be mine!" With another swift back hand, he shattered the second idol that had been directly beside the one of Osiris...It was the idol of Isis, goddess of...rebirth. In a sudden motion his face was a mask of pain and anguish and Angela couldn't bear it any longer, she closed her eyes and sighed but as she opened them she found herself alone.
"What the? Where did he go?" she thought frantically.
Imhotep moved to swiftly for her to do more than gasp as he suddenly imprisoned her shoulders in a hold of stone and titanium. "Remember! You must let Isiria take over you! You must let her return!" he hissed.
Angela only trembled as she looked at him with wide eyes, shaking her head frantically."Please, please let me go...you are hurting me" she cried as he held her tightly.
And to her surprise, he did let her go and without another word or motion,he walked out of the chamber leaving her in it alone with nothing save the mice and the flickering torches. All she needed were some crickets and she'd be set for the haunted temple of doom setting of a weird Indy story gone wrong.
"Now what? I need to get out of here! But how? I have no idea which way to go!" she said frustratingly only to tell herself "God! well I'm not standing here for another minute!" and she ran into the nearest corridor.
*~~~The Sahara~~~*
Out in the vast,neverending desert, four mounted figures rode parallel to the sun, silhouetted sharply as an exceedingly close race for the nearest star. Sun, sky, sand and rocks had melted to single shimmering goblet of gold wine, that was the desert. If it had been a wine, it's perfect name would have to have been "Sahara Gold serving your glass for more than 3,000 years" ironic how there is not one drop of water and yet this would be it's slogan...well almost. And in the heat who wouldn't desire a nice, cold glass of wine no matter where it was from.
"No wonder the buggers live near the Nile, they practically lived in an oven! God when are we going to get there!".
Evelyn laughed. "Honestly now Jonathan, if you can't be nice and say nice things then I think you--".
"Then you have been out in the sun for way too long".he grumbled, completing his sentence with sarcasm as he thought to himself. "Or you simply can't stand to remember that the one you love is with another man who is deeply in love with her as well".
Stress and headaches are never too conducive to elegant moments of poetic inspiration. By Egypt's standards of well being, though, the trip had gone so far smoothly, not counting thechildish take over. The quartet of camels drew to a halt a little distance from a mountain about three miles away from the Med-Jai camp and like a shock of electricity you receive from sticking your hand into a socket when it's wet, all eyes combined their glances on single idol looming about ten feet away. The face of Isis was beautiful, though all the paint had been worn away by endless pounding of sandstorms. Her beauty still showed clearly and suddenly Jonathan dropped into a depression so deep he felt he'd collapse and die right then and there.
"It's Isis, goddess of motherhood and rebirth" Evelyn said in awe, as she dropped into her history teacher mode. "She was a very beautiful and very popular goddess back then, perhaps she was the most important of all goddesses. Many people believed that she was the most powerful magician in the universe. Her cult originally was centered in Abydos".
"She is very beautiful, she reminds me so much of---" Jonathan caught himself and sulked.
"She decrees the fate of people and decides if they are worthy of being reborn".
Jonathan thoughtfully excavated bits of info from the back of his mind."Isn't she the one who brought back her husband, Osiris, after Seth hacked him up into pieces?"
Evelyn nodded "Yes, she is".
He narrowed his eyes at the statue, then looked out at the desert. "To tell you the truth, I'd say popular and beautiful is a very big understatement".
"Come on we must go, it won't take long before we arrive at the camp" Ardeth suddenly interrupted.
"I'll catch up with you three later" Jonathan said dazedly. "I want to stay awhile longer".
"Are you sure?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"Yes, go on ahead".
With that said, the other three rode ahead leaving Jonathan alone as he stared at the statue of Isis. He jumped off his horse and suddenly felt a cool breeze blow throughand he closed his eyes, remembering the last full conversation in a peaceful surrounding that he and Angela had, had.
// "So tell me, Angela, what do you think is so unique and interesting about Egypt?" he hadasked.
"I think being an embalmer- he was one who prepared the mummies for living in the underworld was a unique thing and it was a solid career choice in Ancient Egypt. Embalming was a trade that was handed down from father to son. The embalmers actually lived in the necropolises, or the City of the Dead where they could prepare the dead for burial. Although embalmers were pretty well paid, no one outside of the necropolises wanted to be near them...they smelled awful!" Angela replied with a series of giggles towards the end.
"Well thank god, we don't live back then...with my luck I'd be the Joe who
did that job"
"Oh! and another thing I think you already know this but back then people believed that there was another life after death...which is pretty interesting if you think\about it . From the pharaoh down to the lowest peasant, they believed that they would need their earthly bodies to house their spirits. Preserving the body through mummification in their minds would ensure their soul a home in the day...they could then enjoy a happy stress free life after death, in other words--".
"It was a perfect vision of life on Earth"
"Well yes Jonathan, you took the words right out of my mouth"
"If the soul did indeed use their body as a home then technically speaking Imhotep was in solitary confinement for more than three thousand years"
Angela laughed nervously and nodded "Yes technically, but let's not talk about him"
"Why not?" he had asked suspiciously.
"I love you" she had said and without another word she had kissed him, changing his mind immediately //
Now standing alone in front of statue, Jonathan looked up at the face of Isis and sighed. It was so unreal how all this was happening. Looking back in the direction of which the group had gone to he suddenly felt a warm hand touch his own causing a feeling of deep fear to fill him. It scared him to think what or who it could be, he was the only one out here! His heart was narrowly about to enter total failure and his body trembled violently as he tried to find the words in his head to say, god why hadn't he left!
He swiftly turned around expecting to find god knows what only to find himself looking into the eyes of a woman, his beloved--Angela!
"Oh my god! Angela! How did you--?" he tried to ask only to be silenced.
"I saw you from a distance, looking out at the Sahara, How's it going?" she asked softly. "I really missed you".
Jonathan smiled tearfully. "Oh Angela, I can't believe I didn't hear you or see you for that matter when you arrived"
She smiled and nodded. "I tried to surprise you". She looked at him for a moment, he looked so depressed. "What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me?"
"Of course I'm happy to see you, I just didn't expect to see you here of all places! I thought you'd still be in Hamunaptra or on the pessimistic side...in Heaven for that matter, to tell you the truth I had no idea what to expect!"
Angela laughed, she had always loved how Jonathan would always admit his fears to her and only her. Some men that she had known in the past would have died before admitting their fears, whatever it may have been. "Don't worry Jonathan, no scarabs hurt me or anything else so no need to worry" she said.
"I was worried that you'd be hurt by those blasted bugs" his voice choked from holding back more tears.
"It's okay" she said as she moved closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder.
Jonathan smiled, he loved her and now she was here. Angela yawned suddenly and asked. "God, what time is it?". She moved her head for him to look at his watch.
"It's nine-thirty" he replied.
"Well, I better head back to Hamunaptra, I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is the big day" she said as she looked around apprehensively.
"What! Wait, why are you going back there? You just got out of there!"Jonathan frantically said as he tried to grab hold of her.
Angela smiled weakly and blew a kiss to him and turned to walk away, as she did though, he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her around towards him. "Why are you doing this? You can't be bloody serious! this is a joke" he said, putting his arms around her waist. "Tell me this is a joke!".
"Please, I need to go" she said dazedly as she tried to pull herself away from him.
"No!" he said and softly kissed her, their kiss becoming more fervent as time passed. Their tongues playing with one another in a soft chorus of moans and soft whimpers.
It suddenly ended abruptly, when she suddenly shoved Jonathan away and laughed nervously "Good Bye,Jonathan...I'll see you tomorrow" she said before kissing him on the cheek.
Jonathan froze as he saw her turn and run into the desert and as he tried to move he realized he was cemented to the floor, he couldn't move! All he could do was watch her run down dunes and evaporate suddenly into thin air. All had been a mirage, a phantasm that caused his heart to well up and his legs to lose all feeling.
Slumping down into the sand, he wept "What just happened? Why? What was that for?...god why the bloody hell are you doing this to me?!".
Without another thought he mounted his horse and kicked it, causing it to gallop away into the desert, away from the statue and the horrid place on which it was. Not suprisingly, he felt a chill go down his back as the horse rode away from the statue, something though about it didn't seem natural, not that there was anything natural about gods and goddesses in Egypt. It's presence seemed to be following him and he rode even faster until it was out of sight.
The rest of the gang had stopped for a while and were conversing over issues of the past.
"Hey look, there's Jonathan coming back". Rick said, "Whoa, he's in a hurry".
"I wonder, from this distance it seems like something scared the living daylights out of him" Evie said uneasily. "He is completely pale, my god, what on earth could be the matter?"
Jonathan rode up to them and stopped his horse in a misty cloud of dust and Saharan sand. Rick could tell that he was beyond terrified of something, even as the cloud settled Jonathan was trembling with a look of terror spread across his face, but under all that terror to his surprise and everyone elses....he was flushing!
"Jonathan, what happened? What on earth is the matter?" Evelyn asked. "You look awful".
"Um, well, I uh, then she uh came, then left I uh, then I came riding back, because I, I didn't want to stay there" Jonathan stuttered. "Let's go now, please"
With a flick of the wrists all of them rode away into the desert, the sun was already rising to it's full intensity in the great vastness of the Egyptian sky. Now you may say that all the sky is not just in one country, but this is special, the Egyptian Sky is special, it's a space full of magic, wondrous sites of stars on the evening followed by the cloudless endless sun-filled sky in the morning, this was awe inspiring and adding the perfect setting of the Sahara and you're wildest imagination would set in, giving you daydreams of a lifetime.
"Someone is coming" Ardeth suddenly stated, his hand pointing at a large sand dune ahead of them. "Keep alert"
They all watched in worried silence as a figure suddenly popped out from behind the dune. Coming close enough to identify, they all realized that the little person posed absolutely no threat to them whatsoever, unless it was to a pair of puppies.
"Kaila!" Dismounting in a hurry, Ardeth ran to the child and hugged her tightly as she squeezed him. Holding her he fondly ruffled her long black hair that was now up in a braid. She broke into a series of giggles and squeals of delight as he sat her up on his horse. Like a little soldier she sternly surveyed the desert, her sandy domain of goldenrod waters and sienna patches of cliffs.
"You, you have a daughter" Jonathan asked in shock, hardly believing that this was true. His tone was equivalent to that of Dante's when he was about to enter the ninth circle of hell just barely getting the feel of the icy wind coming from Satan's own pair of wings.
The Med-Jai had always been known to be some of the greatest warriors that ever lived, but nowhere had they mentioned it being a family bonded group of any kind. So it came as a deep surprise to see a little munchkin come running to Ardeth.
"She is my daughter, Kaila" Ardeth explained, as he gently took Kaila's hands from his hair which she was trying to braid like her own. "Her mother passed away a few months ago from a fever and she is now in care of her grandmother".
"She is so adorable" Evelyn said cheerfully, with a smile as the little munchkin kept surveying the area, imitating her father in a cute display of wincing and sighing frustratingly.
Tugging at Ardeth's sleeve for some attention, she started to speak and gabble a very excited, almost frantic message. He nodded sternly and immediately remounted his horse, holding on to Kaila tightly. "Kaila has just reported to me that she has seen the whirlwind of sand traveling in...that direction" Ardeth said, as he pointed forward. "Let us go, we mustn't waste time"
Nodding, the gang drew their horses close and simultaneously galloped away to a day and a half's ride, a ride that would test everyone's sanity and everyone's lifeline.
*~~~Hamunaptra,City of the Dead~~~*
Torch showing the way, Angela guided herself into a passageway in the underground tunnels, her face streaked with deep confusion, her barefeet softly walking along the path. Up ahead of her was light, not the light of the torch but sunlight, filtering down through a crevice above. Smiling, she moved towards it, her hope sky rocketing as she walked faster. Something though stopped her, a feeling, an instinct from the back of her mind...telling her to stop. A feeling of a presence behind her perhaps ten to eleven feet away caused her to feel a chill of utter terror as it swept through her body as she froze and just stood, stock still. The torch kept flickering brightly though with the breeze seeping in from the above crevice but she didn't dare move, something internal told her not to move an inch, not to make a sound, but her curiosity told her otherwise and won her over.
"Who's there?....please answer me...I know someone's there" she said frantically, waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, she demanded "Come on dammit! Tell me who you are!"
"We've met before, come on now, you honestly don't remember me?" the voice said "A place ....the marketplace"
A sharp gasp escaped Angela's lips and she whirled around to find a scrawny, fez warring, little man, narrow shoulders, sunken chest, and a pencil line mustache.
"You! again! But how did you?-- and you were rotting! And now you're here! And you're looking normal!" she said frantically. "How can that be?!".
"Heh, it's not important how and why, all that's important is that I know now who you really are" he said a thin,weasly voice.
"What...do you mean by...that?"
"You're not Isiria, and as much as you tell Prince Imhotep, he hasn't believed one word...has he? But I know that indeed you are not her, in fact you're Rick O'Connell's little sister...Angela".
"I, I am not, uh, her" she replied "What makes you think I am?"
"Do you honestly believe I'm stupid enough to believe that, my master won't be too happy when he knows you tried to escape and that you're loved ones are the ones who killed him".
"Master? you're master is Imhotep!" Angela asked puzzled at the fact.
"Yes, indeed, my master is the great High Priest of Osiris and future ruler of the world...the great Imhotep" replied Beni.
"Oh my god, I should've known, I should've remembered! that explains how you got the ring and why you looked like a mummy! oh my god so the story is true! you were Rick's little back stabbing friend!".
The scrawny, little man didn't acknowledge her and he quickly dragged her down the way she had come, as she struggled, screaming, slapping him but to no use. Shortly they had reached the amphitheater like room and Angela could see once again the altar in the center of the room. As she got pulled further into the room she suddenly noticed something in her surroundings tha she hadn't noticed before, black bog, a decayed residue of human remains mingling with what had been water, a river or channels of despair like the river of Styx of Hades slithered through as bluish, yellowish fires lit up the place, the flames dancing on the torches and pyres like temple dancers trapped within.
Taking everything in for the first time, Angela wondered about the gang and hoped deep in her heart that they were all safe and sound. Gazing at the hieroglyphics on the walls, she failed to notice the little man walk out of the room and another man, quite different appear. Imhotep drew quite close to her, without alerting her of anything, moving with a saunter that so caused people to feel cold chills down their spines. In fact he remembered suddenly, a day when the temple dancers had all been gossiping. Isiria had been alone, meditating against a pillar, when all of the girls rushed over to her and crowded around her.
One of the girls had asked "Oh Isiria tell us! Tell us what is Lord Imhotep like? We are all deeply curious to know. Is he kind? Is he mean? Tell us please! you have spoken to him more than anyone!"
Isiria had opened her eyes and smiled at all of them. They had all since crowded around her and were all helping her to her feet.
"Tell us, Isiria!" they all insisted.
Laughing, she said "Well, Lord Imhotep is a very kind man, the only thing that nerves me though is....he's like a phantom, I swear to you all, if you are not watching your surroundings he'll glide right up behind you and--"
Little had she known that Imhotep had decided to choose that exact moment to appear from the dark shadows, issuing a seductive greeting right behind her right ear, causing her to release an ear piercing scream and fall into almost total heart failure. It had been the highlight of every girl who had jumped back and some had even ran out of the chamber screaming as well. Isiria though, had whirled around to find him with a smile on his face, almost on the verge of bursting out laughing.
"Lord Imhotep! I, I did not know you were here! I, I am truly sorry, I did not mean to say what I said I was just trying to--" Isiria nervously stuttered.
"There is no need to be apologizing to me, Isiria. It is wonderful that I hear you speaking of me, after all, from what it seems you enjoy doing so"
"Indeed" she had murmured under her voice as she blushed.
And with that she had skipped out of the temple, leaving him alone with only the torches and statues to accompany him. Now three millennia later, he was once again close enough to touch her, to enjoy the copious heat and soft hyacinth fragrance radiating from her voluptuous body, he quietly observed Angela as she read from the wall. In a motion so indescribably sensual, she slid her fingertips over the cool granite, caressing it with a soft, delicate touch. Soon Imhote found that he was wishing quite fervidly that she would do the exact same thing to him, letting out a sigh of frustration he continued to stare at her.
At the sound of his sigh, she jumped and turn around to face him, her cutaway skirt flowing in the motion of her body movement. She stare guiltily for a moment, as she thought something over, then suddenly three pennants appeared on her face, the pennants of anger, passion, and embarrassment.
"I was just look at the hieroglyphics on the wall" she said nervously, the angry undertone of her musical voice in extreme odds with her lowered lashes. "The hieroglyphs are so beautiful, mysterious and speak for themselves on occasion. I am thankful that I know how to read them".
Imhotep only smiled, back in Thebes only scribes and people of the high class had known how to read these symbols, no other person could master it, especially not a woman. A temple dancer learning how to read and write in the sacred language was about as likely and just as suitable as the Pharaoh and his army general to don Zoot suits and dance swing music like that of Cheery Poppin' Daddies for a crowd of a million people.
"I cannot believe this is all happening" she said, sighing in amazement, her beautiful breasts rising and falling with the motion as she walked a few feet away from him. "I am so confused!"
"Do not be, soon everything you have forgotten shall return to you and youwill be Isiria once more...your current persona will only be a slowly fading ember in your mind" he said "That is all".
As he cupped her face in his hands and looked at her lovingly they did not see Beni enter from another passageway once more, standing a few feet away to eye the priest and his dancer He smiled evilly and overcame all fear and nervousness with the sight of the happy little couple smiling at one another with the tenderness of a dove....ready to be shot. Catching both their attentions, he laughed. Love and kindness only meant two things to him: Ick and Puke. As he continued to walk towards them, Imhotep let Angela go and her heart suddenly sank: Beni was going to tell him everything about Rick and the gang's relationship to her, Imhotep would dispatch who knows what to kill them....and she'd surely be dead.
Face tight with self-satisfaction, Beni stopped at the sacrificial alter and pulled out four pictures of Rick and her and their parents, plus one of Evelyn and Jonathan. As he was arranging them in a row along the tope of it's smooth, obsidian surface he suddenly spoke to Imhotep in Hebrew. Surprised at first, Angela realized that the little weasel didn't want her to understand a wor he said. Avoiding Imhotep's own language because he knew she'd understand, Hebrew after all was the language of the slaves...it was a tongue both shared.
"What is he saying?" Angela asked Imhotep in Egyptian, afraid of his answer.
Instead Imhotep smiled, putting his arms around her waist as he looked at her adoringly even as his hands glided over her curves. "He has just told me that I should be pleased to have won your heart".
Looking at Beni, she sneered a bit. "Is that all?" she rephrased in both Egyptian and English, as she glared at Beni.
Beni smiled back at her "Perhaps you shouldn't ask so many questions. You see after I finish telling him the rest he'll want your liver, kidneys, brain, and what do you call them? Oh yes, intestines. There won't be enough left of your sweet little body for Rick to bury".
Though suddenly chilled by the revelation that Beni had planned for her,she managed to smile weakly. "Well, for your information Beni, I'll make sure you don't say one word to him".
"Oh really and how do you plan on doing that? You won't know when I tell him or not. He'll want to tear you apart...what's the expression that Rick would use? Oh yes...with the works."
Chin high, she walked away from both Imhotep and Beni and stood at the bottom of the granite staircase and turned to face them, she suddenly called out defiantly to Beni in Egyptian "So you only want to kill me when you get the opportunity to do so? you're jealous that I have Lord Imhotep's attention! so how like a traitor, betray your prince and lie to him about helping him get his loved one back, will you stab him in the back like you plan to do with me?"
Imhotep was suddenly taken back by the comment and glared at Beni who absolutely had no idea what had just happened. The priest strode to him, showing him how high a chin could be held and smirking smugly, looked at him straight in the eyes and punched him. In a blow so savage, so hard that Beni was unconscious before he had landed on the floor.
Angela gasped and taken back from the viciousness of the hit looked at Imhotep timidly, she had accomplished exactly what she had wanted somehow, though she hadn't planned on getting a person knocked out cold. In a motion so easily done, Imhotep picked up Beni's limp body. Angela had long turned away and was not aware of him turning and walking toward and adjoining mausoleum chamber.
Frowning, she turned back and looked at the alter, the pictures were still there! Running swiftly to it, she reached a hand out and slowly slid the pictures into her palm asshe admired them. Hastily she read the message on a picture and picked them up in both hands. Recalling Beni's plan and Imhotep's violent temper, not mentioning the scarabs and other creatures lurking about she moved out of the room and down a passageway. Finding it safe, she stopped under a torch and looked the photos once more.
"Rick, where are you?" she asked apprehensively to herself.
In an instant her mind brought back the scene of Beni being knocked out, the echoes of the punch and thud reverberating in the catacombs of her mind seemed to not leave her and as she shook it off she thought. "That's what happens to little scumbags like you". It almost seemed like she was speaking to him telepathically and she closed her eyes tightly to forget it.
As she continued walking down the passageway she realized how lonely she felt in this great city of the dead and she was the only mortal resident soon to be the next immortal resident if Rick didn't come sooner.
"God I'm lost" Angela said, gliding her hand down the wall. "I want to leave"..
Out of the corner of her eye she suddenly spotted what appeared to be a crevice in the wall, just big enough for a man to squeeze through. "What the hell?" she wondered, as she took the torch above her, into her hand "What can that be?".
Walking to the crevice she saw something shimmer within, making sure no body was behind her, she shrugged "This tunnel may lead deeper into the city, but then again it could be my way out of this place....there's nothing to lose, I'm going in".
Edging through, Angela dropped straight down to the floor of the chamber and as she stood, she dusted herself off and picked up her torch. A shaft of light that was going through a crevice in the ceiling was hitting a pyre like object. Squinting Angela put a torch up to the pyre and lit it. One by one she continued lighting them until the entire room was filled with light, saturating the chamber with reflective light and damn straight it was reflective light.From everywhere the eye could see: light was bouncing here and there, off of the golden surface of statues, jewels, coins, ebony with marble, some ivory, arrays of treasures not capable of anyone imagining shining glittering before she wide, hazel eyes.
"Oh...my...god, Pharaoh's treasure!" she gasped in shock. "It's all the wealth if Egypt in one chamber!...my god, this...is....unbelieveable!"
She turned to look away at the rest of the chamber seeing one of the passageway the fed into the treasure room as if it were the center of the universe with the passages leading to galaxies out in the farthest corners of her memory. The universe collapsed suddenly as a mumbling sound unlike anything she had ever heard, caught her attention: mummies, chopped up but still moving, lower halves and upper halves, stumbling and dragging themselves forward undeterred by her presence. In fact her presence seemed to emanate as much as blood would do to lure a pack of Great White Sharks.
"Okay...you don't tend to see this everyday" she thought as she looked around in awe. "Life has more imagination than we can ever carry in our own dreams" she backed away into a golden throne where she sat, stunned looking at the few mummy chunks that were still squirming and grimacing "Now what do I do? Which way can I go without running into things?" she thought "What is the gang up to!?"
***Out about twenty seven miles away in the middle of the vast Sahara, the little caravan had finally arrived at the great Med-Jai camp. The camp was full of neighboring tents and dozens of camels and horses with dusty packs and rifles slung over them. It almost appeared to be a site of a Bedouin commerce, Gun and weaponry commerce, a few people here and ther were trading food and water, it was like a little village of sorts. Silent, the group climbed off their horses and looked around at the campsite, occasionally looking out at the desert, this was to be home for a day and Evelyn noticed Rick's stricken expression as he watched men and women walking around and talking to one another in low voices, some were laughing, others arguing.....this was a Med-Jai camp? Where was all the training squad?
"I can't believe it" Rick said in shock."This is the Med-Jai camp?"
"Why of course" Ardeth implied. "Did you expect us to be warriors even with our families? we have our lives just like any other person, but our families do come second to our duty as Pharaoh's soldiers, thus we only spend a limited amount of time here in the encampment".
"So at what time are we leaving for Hamunaptra tomorrow?" Jonathan suddenly asked.
"We shall leave camp at 1:00am in the morning it is not much sleep but we will need the darkness to hide us from the creature and from the sun" Ardeth replied "One thing that I cannot quite put together is that Hamunaptra was destroyed...why would the creature return to a pile of stone?" his expression was puzzled as he looked at Rick who only stared back.
"Maybe he forgot something" Rick then answered.
"Or maybe he wanted to pick up something that we accidentally left behind" Jonathan said solemnly "Like the Book of Amun Ra".
"Oh dear" Evelyn responded with a gasp "He's going to make sure we don't have a weapon to kill him, he's beaten us to the only object we need to destroy him....my god we must get to Hamunaptra as soon as possible!".
"How the hell is he going to get in?" Rick asked "Everything is totally destroyed".
"Well, that is a bit of a bugger if you think about it, he'd have to do some serious digging, no, wait, he has his immortal powers, uh well then technically ol' chap we've hit bottom now" Jonathan replied resignedly.
"Gee thanks Jonathan, you ever the optimist" Rick commented dryly.
"I wasn't trying to be a pessimist I was just saying--"
"Forget it, let's just settle in and get some rest, we're seriously going to need a plan if we want to save my sister and make it out with our organs still inside our bodies".
Evelyn and Jonathan nodded in unison and followed him into the camp. Kaila and Ardeth Bay were just walking into their tent, the hot sun was now completely on the poor camp but nonetheless life went on normally. Continuing to walk into the camp, a ringof black clad horsemen made the gang's hearts leap, but they knew they wouldn't hurt them, or at least they hoped they wouldn't. As Kaila came running out of the tent, Evelyn called out to her in their own tongue "Can we speak to your father for one moment?". For a moment Kaila stared at her sternly then smiled and shouted to someone in Arabic before running Evelyn, where she hugged her legs and leaned on her.
"I think she likes you" Rick said with a grin.
"She's adorable" Evelyn responded "I cannot get over how cute she is".
Suddenly a voice called out "You may come". They looked up to find Ardeth stepping out of his tent, signaling them to follow him. Being outsiders, the women of the camp gawked and everyone stared suddenly. Swallowing hard, the trio all shared worried glances and knew that this was a good choice. All silently forced themselves to relax and be calm, there was nothing here that would harm them in the camp and they knew it. But the single minded purpose of protect and serve the world and save Angela, scared them all to death.
Ardeth's tent dominated over all the others, it was like the Taj Mahal of all tents and even in appearance it was beautiful. The procession paused for a moment in front of the entrance and Kaila suddenly stood in front of them, signaling them to stop, at the age of 4 she had the capability of acting like one of dutiful and brave ancestors that had been the keepers of Pharaoh's safety. Hushed words that Evelyn and the gang couldn't quite hear passed between father and daughter before the little girl broke out into a chorus of giggles and let them in.
"So do you have any ideas on what we're going to do?" Evelyn asked with the confidence that she in no way felt all, to Jonathan and Rick. "To tell you the truth I am a bit confused about all of this".
Incense filled the tent as did the smell of spices and sand. They blinked as they let their eyes get use to the dimness, stumbling forward over thick, soft carpets. When finally their vision cleared, they found little Kaila sitting cross-legged on a large pillow that belonged to her father.
"Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable and tell me....what do you have planned for this time around? Why have you returned to the desert? And what can we, the Med-Jai, do for you?" Ardeth asked, with a calm straightforwardness that send a feeling of relief through all of them.
"We're here because like I said earlier, my sister has been kidnapped by the mummy and she's been taken to Hamunaptra" Rick replied honestly.
"Hamunaptra. That cursed place...the creature must surely be planning once again the end of all mankind"
"None of us doubt Imhotep's power or the curse's consequences...how can we? It's just that now with the curse and my sister mixed into one another, the situation had just gotten to a very personal level and I won't let that son of a bitch win" Rick said, his face turning red with anger and determination.
Ardeth Bay nodded "I understand perfectly, it will give me a second chance to show the creature that the Med-Jai are still quite capable of ridding the world of his cursed being...he will not triumph".
Rick could tell he understood his wish to kill Imhotep again, but as Ardeth's penetrating eyes sank into everyone, they all swallowed and felt as if the warrior was measuring each and every one of their souls. Simultaneously they shifted on their cushions, but neither could actually look away until Ardeth finally turned to look at Kaila, who was silent, deep in thought of stories and playfully mimicking her dad. Evelyn sighed and Ardeth turned to stare at them once more, serious as ever.
"What else do you want? I can tell that killing the creature is not the only thing you want to do. If you had wanted just that, you would have just gone there and damn the consequences" Ardeth said, his eyes interested, but not hostile in the least.
"We want to kill Lewis Calabar" Jonathan suddenly stated calmly, taking everyone off guard, wondering what he would make of that.
"Well, I see you have changed" Ardeth said with a dry chuckle.
"Because I'm not a coward so much anymore, I don't drink and I'm a scholar not a treasure hunter?" Jonathan squeaked, as Ardeth's eyes bore into him again.
"Enough. I know what you are Jonathan Carnarvon. You may try and fool us that you are no longer who you use to be....but to tell you the truth, that matters little now. As for the dreaded high priest" Ardeth said, weighing all his alternatives. "All of us will be needed no matter how brave or how cowardly we may be".
Eyes widening, Jonathan wondered what he could do to help. He was just beginning to be a scholar and really had no special skills, in fact he was just a recent convert into the religion of True Love, Bravery, and No Booze R Us. His heart kept pounding fast with the adrenaline that flooded every inch of his being, but he quietly retained himself from standing up and saying "What are we waiting for!".
When the desert leader, had called an end to their conversation, all had been thankful and Jonathan's nerves weren't all too sure how much more they could take...he needed to see Angela, safe and sound. "So how can we all help? Do each of us get a specific job?" he asked as she shifted again in his cushion.
"I will tell you this first" Ardeth replied "When Imhotep killed our Pharoah Seti, the Med-Jai could not act swiftly at all. Imhotep was needed to preserve Seti's body for the afterlife. Of course he had no choice, it was either that or risk being detected. He had no idea that the Med-Jai knew of his betrayal. Cautiously they all prepared a trap until he stole Anck-Su-Namun's body from her crypt. After the Hom-Dai was cast upon his body, the guards and the high priestess of Isis, Seniat, made sure there were the necessary weapons to stop him....the Salvation, if you could call it that....there were two weapons...the Book of Amun Ra and the Necklace of Isis, if used against the cursed one, he'd be destroyed or purged of his blasphemy".
"There are two weapons?!" Evelyn cried in shock.
"Yes, the stories handed down each generation cannot be doubted at all and so we must find the other weapon, the necklace".
"I- I suppose we cannot doubt the stories. You mentioned the Necklace of Isis...".Evelyn said and held herself back, wondering if Ardeth would say more.
"You are so hungry for knowledge. Our stories tell how if the Necklace is read correctly and truthfully its powers would strip the high priest and make him mortal, thus right for the killing... it would reverse all the plagues and stop the world from coming to it's final chapter".
"Angela has it!" Jonathan murmured, shocked. "Don't you remember!"
"What?!" Ardeth asked in shock.
"Angela has the Necklace".
Ardeth glared and pulled Jonathan to him, hissing "What! How did she retrieve it!".
"Uh, I don't know, she just has the bloody thing".
"We must reclaim it" Ardeth Bay said with a warning look, as he handed Jonathan a cloth. "When you see her...ask her for the necklace...you must put it in this cloth and give it to me when you have it".
"Of course" Jonathan said a bit unsettled "I'm sure Angela will not oppose".
"I will guide you to Hamunaptra" Ardeth Bay finally concluded, and with that the three walked out of the tent and to theirs where they decided to get some must needed rest. There was a long road ahead of them...a long road to salvation...a long road to hope.
**~~~The Nile~~~**
"Goddamnit I can't believe I let you talk me into getting off of the boat back there" Lewis complained frustratingly as the group walked down a large sand dune towards a Bedouin camp.
They passed walking by the Egyptian version of Southwestern United States Sagebrush, otherwise known here in Egypt as Vissigia. As they continued walking closer to the camp, they found that it was rather a trade bazaar of an oasis several miles inland. It's Fig and Date Trees were thriving bountifully along a shallow stream and things couldn't be more tranquil and serene...."couldn't" being the key word here.
"It seems pretty decent here" Vinnie said "Maybe we should spend the night here after a day of some questioning".
"Vinnie, I couldn't have put it better myself" Lewis said, as he walked passed everyone calling out ."Get as much information as you possibly can about the myth of Hamunaptra and damnit don't mess up this time!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" David said suddenly. "Start interrogating the natives"
"You know what, Richardson? You are seriously getting on my nerves" Victor hissed as he pulled out his shot gun and aimed it at David's head. "Why don't I just blast you to kingdom come then you can start interrogating....the demons of hell".
"Um, on second thought why don't I go and start interrogating the natives, you guys do what ever you want" David said nervously, as he backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on the barrel of the gun.
"Good idea, you're a smart man David, now go along, ask questions, seek answers, we'll see what we can do from our end".
David nodded frantically and ran into the bazaar, kicking a few stones from his path as he looked back at the henchmen, muttering something angrily while he ran.
"Hurry up, David!" Victor called as he swiveled his shotgun back and forth "We need as much information as possible! now go! go! go!" he continued as he laughed along with everyone else "God life is so sweet". He said.
Yes, Life is sweet but like any other thing in this world it can be sour,bitter, or just plain rotten, just hope that when your chances are one out of four, that it's not the bitter,sour or the rotten, chances are...you'll hate it beyond all comprehension.
*~~~Hamunaptra~~~*
Sitting indian style between two piles of gold and jewels, Angela reflected on everything around her, both mentally andvisually, and everyone she had ever met. The treasure room was unbelievable full of all the riches of Egyptian royalty, but something wasn't right in the chamber as much as it was full of jewels, it seemed to be filled with the presence of sadness and death. For one Angela didn't mind the sadness part, but it was the death feeling in the large hall that caused her to close her eyes and fall back into a pile of gold baubles, heedless to the minor pinches on her back.
"I'm out of solutions" she said to herself frustratingly. "I'm so seriously out"
She didn't see however that a girl had walked into the treasure room crying. Until something told her to look up towards the entrance archway.
"What--the--hell?" Angela said softly as she stood up. "Who's there?" she asked in English, then waiting for a moment she asked in Egyptian. "Please answer me"
"It is only a slave" the weak, sobbing voice replied in Egyptian.
Angela walked over without thinking, slowly getting to the staircase where she saw the girl was sitting at.
"What is wrong?" she asked.
"I do not know what I am doing here in the world of the living...I was in the Fields of Peace with my family and all of sudden I found myself here once again...I am so very confused!" the young girl replied.
"What is your name?" Angela asked, almost feeling a sense of familiarity with the girl.
"My name? my name is Ta-Meri"
Angela stared at the girl for a moment and sighed "Well Ta-Meri, I am Angela" she noticed the depressed expression on the girl's face. "Do not be sad, I am sure we can reunite you with your family once more if that is what you want".
"You, are not Isiria?" the girl asked, as if the shock had just hit with full force.
"No, I am not Isiria, I am what I guess you would call her...twin. Somehow I am connected to her by rites of spirituality or something close to that power of mysticism, your Lord....Imhotep is planning to bring back Isiria from the Fields of Peace".
"and do you want that to happen?"
The question rudely slapped Angela in the face with a sudden blast of fear. "To tell you the truth, Ta-Meri, I really have no say in this matter".
"Like Jantra and I, we both had no choice in this game of his"
As Angela took a seat by Ta-Meri, she couldn't help but ask. "Did you know Isiria? What was she like?"
Ta-Meri jumped at the question and suddenly nodded. "Isiria was my best friend, we had both known one another ever since we could remember......she was the sweetest most caring person that I had ever known. In fact, she was so kind and caring to other people that all of Thebes loved her as if she were a daughter or a sister to all. Many times they would compare her to Pharaoh's mistress,Anck-Su-Namun, and she would always be the one who received all the well thought and good comments, the people would always say that shewas the better of the two and that Anck-Su-Namun deserved no pity or sorrow from anyone since she was a cruel, cold wench to the heart".
Angela stared straight out into the room, not staring at any particular object, deep in thought as the words sank into her mind, when she felt Ta- Meri staring at her, she turned and asked "So Isiria was kind to all? she must have had a lot of friends"
"Indeed, Isiria had many friends, her energetic, high spirited soul seemed to draw people to her and when it came to all her friends in the Temple of Osiris, well, they we all like sisters to her, and she treated them as much" Ta-Meri said happily. "In fact the love that she had for all of the other dancers and I actually brought her to do very brave things that I never thought possible"
"Like what?"
"Many times if she were to see Pharaoh's soldiers or even the great High Priest, Imhotep treating us a bit too harshly or rudely she would always be there to defend us from them".
"How would she defend you?"
"With words, shocking to all, she would use words to silence them or make them stop whatever it was that they had been doing...her strict often fiery temper granted her the respect of many people including Lord Imhotep".
Angela sighed and smiled. "I can hardly believe that Isiria and I have so much in common, I always thought that I was the only one like this, but I guess I was wrong, there was one other person identical to me in being".
"Yes, it is true, the only thing that would complete you in being Isiria was to have her soul, but Isiria would never accept replacing another person's soul, no matter how much she loved something or someone, she cared for the well being and health of others so I would doubt that she would accept coming back into this world once more".
Angela remained quiet for a moment, what if Ta-Meri was wrong?, sitting there, hesitantly, nervously, she looked away and stared at a lit pyre, it's flames swirling and flickering like the temple dancer within her. It was apparent that she was trying deeply to get the nerve to ask or say something but something told her to wait.
"What is it?" Ta-Meri asked, causing the question within Angela's mind to be shoved to the number one spot on her list.
"I was...wondering, what happened to Isiria and Imhotep? Does anyone know? or did she just disappear?"
"Isiria left Thebes after the day of the Festival of Osiris" Ta-Meri replied, the memory suddenly causing her to cry. "The same day Lord Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun murdered Pharaoh Seti and the Med-Jai cursed both their souls, Imhotep's to the undead and her's to the dark regions where Ammut resides".
"What happened to then to Isiria?"
"Isiria returned after a year and told me that her mind and her heart would not let her be tranquil for even a second...I was very happy that everyone who had been worried about her mysterious disappearance the year before had welcomed her back with open arms as if she had never left".
"She was very loved" Angela replied softly.
"Yes, but the happiness did not last long because she suddenly asked what we, the dancers and the slave girls, had feared...noticing that Lord Imhotep had disappeared and how his name was erased from all view, she asked the High Priestess of Isis and I what had become of him".
"and....what did you two tell her?"
"The Priestess of Isis, Seniat, told Isiria to meet her outside of city that evening. Isiria agreed and all three of us met Seniat at the gates where she took us by chariot....to the City of the Dead"
"She brought you here?".
"Yes, and when we arrived here and climbed out of the chariot, Isiria looked rather confused and distraught. When she asked us why we had brought her to the necropolis, Seniat and I finally had no choice but to tell her about the murder and the curse"
"When you told her, what was her reaction?"
"Isiria, my beloved kind hearted friend, did not believe what she was hearing and she kept telling us that the words we were speaking to her were just nonsense, that we were just telling her all of this as a cruel joke because of her departure, I could stand seeing her like that and I took her by the hand and led her to the statue of Anubis" Ta-Meri took a deep breath and continued. "Seniat then began to read aloud the writings, telling all that underneath the statue, He Who Shall Not Be Named was buried, cursed for his blasphemy against Pharaoh Seti, accomplised by Anck- Su-Namun who did not receive the proper rites of burial. Both cursed to forever suffer, one in the next life and one in this".
"Did Isiria....finally believe you?"
Ta-Meri's eyes swelled up with tears. "She went insane at the moment and began to weep uncontrollably, screaming and shaking her head, denying that the moment was happening. After she was overcome by grief, she collapsed on her knees before the statue of Anubis, asking the gods to forgive Lord Imhotep and to take her soul in place of his...she then began to shout that life could not be so cruel, in an act of desperation and sadness she started to literally claw at the sand, digging, screaming that she wanted to go with Lord Imhotep, that she wanted to join him. It was futile of course, and after a moment she let out a scream of agony before finally falling to the ground at the base where she continued to sob as she caressed the sand and repeated over and over all her moments of happiness"
Ta-Meri stopped and looked up the ceiling of the chamber, it somehow reminded Angela of her mother and how she would look up at the ceiling of the church with tears in her eyes asking the Lord to forgive her for her sins.
A moment of tense silence passed between them before Ta-Meri continued. "Speaking in a clearer voice, Isiria spoke to the sand asking it ''How could you have done this?'' I am so sorry my love...this is truly all my fault...it is all my fault. I should be the one dead and not you"
"My god" Angela tearfully said as she held her hand to her heart, feeling it heavy with an unknown pain. "What happened after that?".
"Seniat and I carried her to the chariot and from there we rode back to Thebes, where Isiria remained depressed" Ta-Meri choked on her words sadly as she suddenly began to sob. "and she died of a broken heart about six days later".
Angela gasped and shook her head. "I cannot believe that" she said as she wept, unable to control herself "I am so sorry".
Ta-Meri dried her tears, finding she was unable to, she smiled weakly. "It was not your fault, you should not feel bad. Isiria would have found out sooner or later....all Thebes mourned the loss of her bright spirit. It was a very sad day, the Med-Jai buried her here in the City of the Dead, in a special chamber, isolated from the world of the living so that her soul could and still may find peace".
"I am still unable to believe all of this, but now I understand why I felt so drawn to Hamunaptra ever since people named it to me.....she was here all along, my twin was here".
"That is what the gods decided to do, they destined her future being to come to the exact place Isiria is located...that is how this was meant to be"
"Yes, what happened the day of her death? If I may know".
"The gods, caused the sky to rain down on Thebes for an unending amount of time, the thunder and the lightning were unlike anything Thebes had ever experienced, the gods were saddened and were somehow showing it by this act of nature...even they felt the loss".
Angela remained silent as tears trickled down her eyes and Ta-Meri suddenly burst out into uncontrollable crying hysterics. Then to Angela's surprise, Ta-Meri hugged her tightly, she hugged her back, both crying and consoling one another like sisters.
"If--it--helps--any--why not let us--be friends?" Angela asked tearfully. "I would feel like I was doing Isiria a great honor by becoming your friend as well".
Letting go, Ta-Meri nodded, a smile slowly appearing on her face as she dried her tears "I would like that very much...this is the only thing at the moment that is truly making me feel more accompanied in this world. I have a friend, one that is the other half of my best friend, Isiria"
"I will try to be the best friend that Isiria was to you and so much more, I will try to be like a sister to you....I promise you that...on my soul".
"Thank you....and I in return, I will help you get out of here. I know they way out, follow me, Isiria would have wanted you to live a prosperous, free life, let us go".
"Very well,Ta-Meri and thank you"
"It is not a problem, now let us go before it is too late".
And with that they ran out of the treasure chamber to find the entrance to the world of the living. A world that little by little seemed to be drifting farther away than anything possible...farther away than anything natural, farther away than anything docile, seeping closer to a reality far beyond real where life and death rolled into one and love and hate create a chemical reaction far beyond the limits of past, present, and future where anything determines the fate all and all determines the fate of one.
Chapter 18
*~~~The Med-Jai Camp~~~*
As Rick stirred, he sat up suddenly...realizing it was 2:10 am. Outside, Ardeth seemed to have not moved an inch since the day before. As for Evelyn, she mounted her horse once again and let herself be guided out of the camp. Jonathan looked a little wane than normal under his tan and he felt somewhat unnerved but he followed nonetheless. After strapping his guns into place Rick mounted his horse and galloped behind them, taking a deep breath of the cool morning air . He stared at Jonathan for a moment before finally catching up to the trio of riders. Life seemed to be a lie, a lie that was destroying the lives of every member of the caravan and all in Hamunaptra. A lie that had begun with love and slowly had transgressed into an obsession,a hate, and a vengeance. Overall it had taken a 360 degree turn for the worse, a complete opposite of how it had all begun and what it could lead to and with much needed sleep the quartet was going to find out indeed what this would lead to....which to some pertained their final...resting place.
"I'm glad Ardeth Bay gave us some time to sleep....we'll be needing all the energy we can get" Rick said
"Yes, but I wonder if that's enough" Jonathan commented questionably.
"Oh please Jonathan, it's too complicated to get into little details about what we have or don't have" Rick answered, knowing it was a bit more than just a plea.
As they rode on, Rick galloped to the lead where he rode along side Ardeth Bay who vigilantly kept watch of the desert as he held a sleeping Kaila. The little girl was the apple of her father's eyes even if he never wanted to admit it, under those warrior attributes lyed a man that was a loving father willing to tell stories to his daughter and to hug her and cherish her as any father would do to his only child...not that anyone ever mentioned this to him, but everyone just knew and were willing to keep it a secret in order to save the warrior's ego from having a crash that could cost them their heads. Evelyn and Jonathan were now trailing behind, their horses trotting along, following the lead of both Ardeth and Rick's horses. The lack of rest had hit them pretty hard and both were sound asleep as they went along.
Vigilantly, Rick kept a close eye on them both as they rode on into the desert. THe coolness of the night began to slowly disappear before the Saharan sun had shown it's bright face and as the glowing heat of the dawn began to assert itsel, the four lone horseback riders stopped to take a short rest and fill their canteens in an oasis, taking sips every so often of water.
Soon they all mounted once more and the small caravan was on it's way again. The slowly rising sun was hidden behind an immense dune-like mesa, along which their horses trotted slowly. The still desert air conveyed something along the line of a ghost town, only the silent whisper of the breeze could be heard and amidst this atmosphere neither of them spoke a word as to not break the silent, tense moment of worry like an pitcher of glass.
Evelyn's horse fell besides Rick's "What are you thinking of? she asked,causing him to jump slightly. "You haven't said a word".
"I'm thinking that...we're almost there....we're getting closer to Hamunaptra"
"How can you be sure? in a year almost everything has changed...one stretch of desert looksmuch like any other"
"Not if you pay attention to the road signs"
"What road signs?"
"Well for one there is the mesa here that hasn't moved an inch as you can see...and there" he said pointing at the sky. "is the star called Sirius, the brightest star in the sky....she's pretty much our guide"
"Oh my dear...it's beautiful"
O'Connell just nodded. They nudged their horses gently and caught up with Ardeth Bay, who had long galloped up ahead on his black stallion, there they began to edge along the mountainous mesa, to face the rising sun which had not quite shown itself at the moment.
"So what should we expect to see?" Evelyn asked.
Jonathan, finally catching up said "Expect to see a whole lot of rocks and piles of them".
"Can't argue with that" Rick said solemnly "But get ready to see hell once more, no matter how destroyed it may be....it will always be hell....now get ready" he sighed "We're about to be shown the way....again" His eyes tightened and he weakly smiled "I hope".
The crimson, yellowish sun was now showing itself, rising above the horizon to inundate the desert with it's bright rays and yet to their wonderous shock...a dark shape was rising along with it too, revealed by the sun's light, it was a silhouette of a volcano, older than all antiquity...but as unmistakable and as undeniable to their eyes and minds. Majestic as nothing else they'd ever seen....it was a landmark created by the gods...or by a god...it was a rebuilt City of the Dead.
"It...can't be" Jonathan uttered "But how?"
"I have no idea" Rick responded in shock.
"My god, it's completely restored nack to it's originality! it looks as if it were only completedyesterday!" Evelyn sat up straight on her horse, stunned at the sight, every detail of Hamunaptra was there up to the last bit of hieroglyphics and intricate paint. "It's absolutely gorgeous!".
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Jonathan asked impatiently "Let's go save Angela!"
"No! Jonathan wa--" Rick tried to say
Jonathan was racing towards the looming, ancient city. Leaving the others behind in even deeper shock, blinking as if their eyes were playing some kind of dreadful joke on them.
"He's insane! he can't make himself known like that!" Rick shouted.
"Well, that's my brother for you" Evelyn mumbled.
"If the creature realizes our arrival we're finished...do you know that!" Ardeth glared angrily.
Finally gathering up their shock, they rode faster. The horses were magnificant Arabian steeds, all black, as the enigmatic night sky without a moon and they rode swiftly like the fiercest siroccos of the Sahara. In the lead, Jonathan was suddenly amazed and delighted by the turn of events and how he was now way ahead of everyone else, though Ardeth was almost ctaching up...Rick was keeping pace with Evelyn as they rode side by side, her hair streaming in the wind like wheat in a field. Ardeth, his face an expression of seriousness and anger, whipped his horse viciously and glanced back to find find Evelyn and Rick beside him, both keeping a fast steady pace...their eyes glittering with anxiety and one true goal. The volcano loomed ahead, guiding them all into the valley where ahead the new Hamunaptra beckoned them to it's interior, it's venom.
Meanwhile, back at Hamunaptra~~~*
"I'm out! I'm finally out!" Angela shouted triumphantly as her voice echoed through the corridor leading to the entrance.
Her torch showing the way, Ta-Meri and Angela were soon clambering up the steps into the sunlight, taking in the cool, fresh air of a new day, though the wind was beginning to rustle a little more a good sign of a coming sirocco, stirring the sands around them in a hushed whisper, they turned to look at one another and smiled triumphantly.
"All I need now is a camel and I would be set, but since I do not have one I guess I will just start walking" Angela said nonchalantly.
"By the gods! they have sent you four horses!" Ta-Meri suddenly squealed, as she pointed out into the desert through the archway "The gods have heard your wish!".
"What are you talking about?"
""Those! those horses are coming towards Hamunaptra! the gods have answered your prayers!"
Indeed, as Angela turned around to face the arch she saw something her eyes could not believe.Mirages are all but common in the Sahara Desert and as she took off running to the entrance,Ta-Meri smiled. Stopping about a yard out of the entrance to the City of the Dead, Angela continued to look out into the desert where she saw the four horses Ta-Meri had told her about, riding towards the city.
"It can't be...oh my god...it can't be possible, it looks like, Jonathan!" she said excitedly "It's all of them!".
Running down the stone ramp passed the pylons of the city, she stopped and waved frantically.
"I'm seeing things, it's a bloody mirage" Jonathan said, realizing otherwise "It's really Angela!"
As he rode towards her, he decided "To hell with this horse" and he stopped and jumped off of it and ran towards his beloved. At the sight of her running towards him....alive, joy seeped into his body once more. "Why was she dressed like that?" and "How the hell did she get out?" and "Who is that girl standing at the entrance?" ran through his head as well as he dashed towards her.
And as they hugged tightly and cried of happiness, Jonathan picked up Angela and spun her around in circles as she laughed. Putting her down, he kissed her ardently, like a man who hadn't had any water for a long period of time and indeed he drank her kisses like the ambrosia of the gods, it gave him a feeling of utter strength and happiness in his longing,lonely soul. As they parted, his lips still retained their unique put, but though tired and worn he still managed to show a somewhat clear touch of the debonair schoolboy that he was in his rumpled, khaki suit.
"I missed you so much" he said as he choked on his words "You're all right!, but tell me something ...why are you wearing that?" he looked at her somewhat shocked,suddenly realizing with full impact just how little clothes she was wearing, the cutaway skirt and the strapless bra- like top left him somewhat if not completely dumbfounded.
"What is it?" Angela asked curiously.
"You, you uh, you're dressed like a..."
"Temple dancer? yes, I know"
"You look beautiful is all I can say" Jonathan said with a smile, suddenly though it faded as he felt not so lovable at a thought. If Rick didn't kill him there, Imhotep surely would. He was stuck between the sword and very shiny and freshly sharpened sword. "Oh Angela" he groaned, squinting his eyes shut aganist a very blurry vision of a world that seemed to want to kill him "We are so seriously in bloody trouble, but at least you're safe and sound".
Leaning backwards, he flung out his arms and sighed "Well all I can say now is, go ahead and hit me, you'll feel better, after our delay I'm sure you want to kill us. Hell maybe I'll feel better if you hit me, try it" he said as he shut his eyes tightly.
Angela laughed "Honestly, Jonathan, I wouldn't hit you for the world...I'm glad you showed up,I didn't know if I'd make it out of here or not, so don't worry I'm not at all mad at anyone and I'm not going to hit you, the important thing is that at least I'm out".
"We haven't made it out yet" Jonathan said, as he thought "Have I ever been in such a bad situation as this?"
Backtracking through the worn out map of his mind, he grimaced and rubbed his throat repeatedly, turning it bright red at the memory of a name, a name that he would never forget if made it out alive, it was a name that could bring him, his own death, a very slow, painful and horrifying one at that.....:Imhotep. Since the day they ahd made it out alive, he could never forget the sickening,odd feeling of his throat suddenly closing abruptly as Imhotep had picked him up with just one hand while he had futilely writhed and squirmed like a lizard in a snake's coil. His sub-concious had, had the full enjoyment of seeintg him wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, shouting and sweating like crazy as he awoke from his dark, horrifying vision of black and mist, only a vivid view of Imhotep's maddening,evil smug half smile was all that was shown to him.
He opened his eyes and saw that Angela smiled softly and instead hugged him, saying "I love you".
"I love you too".
"Oh! oh,oh my god, I can't believe I forgot to tell you this, this girl here is Ta-Meri, she well, how can I say this...is a three thousand year old slave girl who was brought back by Imhotep and it turns out that she was Isiria's best friend!"
Jonathan glanced over at Ta-Meri who was standing a few feet away, watching their joyous
reunion.
"Hello Ta-Meri, I am Jonathan...a friend of Angela's" Jonathan said in Egyptian, a cute Egyptian with a British accent.
Ta-Meri smiled and replied "Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you, though it seems you are a little more than just her friend, you are her very close consort".
Taken back a bit, Jonathan smiled "Uh, yes I am her consort, so uh, yes I am a little more than just a friend".
"This is the man that I love"Angela stated, as she took a step forward "I love him with all my heart"
"Lord Imhotep will not accept it" Ta-Meri replied.
"I know and I must figure out a way to somehow be able to--" Angela was cut off by the sound of more galloping horses as Evelyn, Rick and Ardeth rode in.
"Rick!" Angela shouted happily as she ran to him, he had just climbed off of his horse and was running towards her, embracing her tightly as they hugged.
"Angela, oh thank god you're okay...I was worried about losing you again" he said in a relieved tone of voice "You had me so worried"
"You'll never lose me, Rick...never".
"What the hell are you wearing?" Rick asked a bit puzzled.
"Um, well, this is technically Isiria's garment, believe me I was as shocked as you are now
when I first saw it".
"You look good suprisingly enough, I'm glad you're okay, but just one other thing...who dressedyou like that? was it you? who was it?"
"I think it was, um, two slave girls that Imhotep awoke with a spell, that girl over there by Jonathan is Ta-Meri, she is is one of Isiria's friends"
"Wow, well--" he was cut short by a squealing noise that came from the little girl behind him "This is Kaila, Ardeth Bay's daughter"
Angela smiled as the little munchkin appeared from behind Ardeth Bay, the sound of her name had caught her attention and she looked up at Angela and giggled.
"She's so cute" Angela said with a chuckle "Hi, sweetie"
The little girl walked up to her and started to talk and babble and create grand hand gestures as she giggled and looked over at her father.
"What is she saying?" Angela asked Ardeth Bay, as he walked behind Kaila to hold her.
"Kaila, says that you are quite beautiful and that you look like a princess taken out of a story" Ardeth replied coldly "My daughter is quite fascinated by stories of the past and she likes jewelery like the one you wear now as well".
Angela watched him for a moment as he held on to Kaila protectively, before walking to Evelyn and hugging her.
"How are you feeling?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"A bit confused, but otherwise I'm okay, nothing out of the ordinary".
Tired, the gang unloaded some of their things from the horses and pitched their tents. The dying sun ,which at the moment was up in the middle of the sky,was oddly enough...dying! The eclipse was once again repeating itself at a fast speed.
"Oh my god, I think Imhotep knows we're here" Evelyn said frantically. "We must take cover"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary, I mean, I don't think it's him" Angela replied calmly
"How is that?" Evelyn asked
"Well uh, for one I uh think he would have showed up and uh, oh god, I can't lie to you...down below there is another cursed one and another woman whom Imhotep awkened"
"What! oh dear god, Angela are you sure of this?"
"I'm positive! In fact I ran into him a couple of times and just a few hours a go I got Imhotep to knock him out"
"Wait, it's a man?"
"Yes and--" She was suddenly interrupted by Ta-Meri who came running to her.
"Angela! I need for you to come with me once more down to the amphitheater, there I will show you where Isiria lies" She said in Egyptian. "It will be very dangerous and onlywith your consent may we go if not then we shall leave all as it is"
"I do indeed want to go, but I do not want to disturb her tomb I would just you to point it out for me" Angela replied "Let us wait until it gets darker and the moon rises and then we may go down".
Evelyn listened intently, translating their words slowly before suddenly realizing that the conversation had stopped and both Ta-Meri and Angela were staring at her, both with questioning looks as if asking silently "How much did you just hear?" along with "You heard all of this didn't you?".She smiled guiltily and looked at Angela's then serious expression before turning and walking away sheepishly.
Ta-Meri looked at Angela with worry filled eyes and turned to look at Jonathan who was speaking to Evelyn,who then happened to glance over at them anxiously, a look of shock spead across his face as Evelyn spoke to him more with urgent hand motions and pointing fingers over at the two girls who just looked at the two siblings in silence not knowing what to do or say for fear of getting judged anymore than they already were.
"She told him everything" Ta-Meri said suddenly.
"It does not matter,I am glad that she did" Angela replied sternly. "We will not be looking at Isiria's tomb, it is best not to get anyone involved in this matter...instead Jonathan and I will be going to the chamber of the sun god to get some engravings that is all".
"Very well I shall find shelter then to rest, I have been feeling weak and I need to get some sleep and strength back" Ta-Meri said before walking away into the corridor of the entrance to the underground as Angela looked on in guilty silence.
Jonathan walked over to her and put his arms around her waist, pulling her to him "So you're planning a little adventure without me?"
Angela smiled weakly "No, I was just talking to Ta-Meri about Isiria's tomb and how I wanted to go see it...I changed my mind though"
"Oh really? and is it because I'm coming with you?"
"No it's because I don't want my brother following me down there, so I just decided that you and I will go down to get some engravings from the walls, so please don't tell Evelyn or Rick, about my plan for tonight, you know how they are about anyone going down to the underground corridors and I really don't need a scholar and a soldier of fortune telling me what I should or should not do"
"and what about a man who was drunken fool not to long ago" Jonathan asked slyly
Angela giggled "I would gladly take him along any time" and with that they kissed. As they parted Jonathan laughed softly and pressed his forehead against hers, their noses touching as they looked at one another lovingly.
"Why don't we go pitch up the other tents before anyone else realizes that we are the only onesnot working" Jonathan said before taking her hand into his and walking down to the camp.
The quintet hurrily set up the rest of the camp before the deep crimson, eclispsed sun had made its full peak up in the middle of the Saharan sky. As the sky grew slowly redder and darker, the dying sun soon passed and with it the heat of the day died down and Angela thankfully wrapped herself in Jonathan's coat as she watched another day of her nightmare go by in the eternal circle that was revolving around Egypt threatening to engulf her within it in a vortex of heat and desire,threatening to kill all if she refused to step into it's world of darkness and sorcery and threatening to break her sanity if she was not willing to accept the key of another to open her mind and move in for the part of deal that is the escrow, her mind,her body and her soul put into the custody of a third party for the delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified are complete...her death, Isiria's life. Knowing there was little else she could think about, Angela lay down in her tent and remained there in silence, meditating and repeating to herself constantly "I'm calm,I'm relaxed, everything will be okay" while the darker part of her mind said "I'm afraid,I don't know what to do, I'm going to die".
Outside, Jonathan opened up the cloth package that Ardeth had given to him, with an uneasy feeling of guilt and second thoughts he remembered how much Angela trusted and loved him and he sighed in frustration. His mind would then slap him with questions of doubt and anguish "Was Angela once a part of Isiria? Had she been the cause of a man ruining his souland her own? What would she do if she indeed became Isiria? Would she kill them all in the name of her love for Imhotep? Did he want to really know that answer? Shaking his head, Jonathan walked into the tent and took a seat down by Angela,who smiled at him.
"Hi" she said softly "Come to pay me a visit?"
Jonathan smiled "Actually I've come to give you something"
"Really? What is it?"
"Close your eyes"
Angela suddenly laughed at the remembrance if the Casbah "Okay, but please don't scare like last time"
"I won't,I promise"
Obediently, she closed her eyes and waited....and waited...and waited. "So what is it?"
Jonathan didn't reply as he sat staring at the scarab resting between her breasts, it had come to life right before his eyes, it wasn't moving from it's place, but he knew deep inside what a livescarab looked like and this one was definitely alive. Slowly backing away from her he stuttered "Angela,darling....uh, look down" signaling to her where to look "You have,uh, a uh, scarab"
Angela slowly opened her eyes and lowered her glance downward and as she did she gasped "Oh my god....he was right"
"Who was right?"
"Imhotep said that the scarabs would not hurt me unless I took this pendant off. He's marked me as his own, so this will keep the scarabs away and people as well if they get near me at all. This comes to life as if they get near and will remain lapis lazuli if they keep their distance"
"Bloody hell! so I have to keep away from you!" Jonathan said frustratingly "This is too much!"
Angela thought for a moment as she stared down at the pendant and sighed resignedly "I guess Imhotep wants me to be somewhat cautious of my actions"
"He is trying to impose his will upon you"
"That may be" she said as she wrapped his coat tightly around herself "But you know that I love you with all my heart and absolutely nothing wull change that...not even a little scarab like this"
"What about Imhotep and Lewis?"
"Not even Imhotep and Lewis...nothing"
Leaning foward, keeping a few inches away she kissed him softly, saying "I love you". Before laying back down and closing her eyes to sleep. Jonathan looked down at her lovingly and sighed "I love you too" before laying down next to her and closed his eyes as he rested. But with a sigh of frustration,he opened them and stared at Angela for what seemed to be an eternity. She was so far away and yet so near that it hurt to think of what could happen.
"I love you Angela and though you possibly are off in another world I will just say that I will never let anything or anyone hurt you and when we get married I promise to make you the happiest woman that ever lived...I swear to you now and always". As he spoke the last words in a soft whisper, he kissed her cheek and fell asleep.
Peaceful sleep,It was sad that the dead could not sleep easy,nor eat...nor stop. Ardeth Bay had suggested to them that the souls were damned for all eternity and thus could not rest from the torments that they suffered. Angela knew what had happened to Isiria and she knew deep withn her subconcious that she was being naive at the whole situation. The Book of the Dead held the key to all knowledge,all power...and all dreams.Dreams that seemed to not occur to them in their sleep filled state of serenity. No, the dead were lucky, or unlucky in some cases one might say to be awake for all eternity....never dreaming...never knowing...never dying.
*~~~Middle of the Sahara,A Trading Bazaar~~~*
"Come on! Doesn't anyone know where Hamunaptra is located!" David shouted angrily at a silent group of Bedouin traders .
The desert went silent as the breeze rushed in creating small dervishes to rise up from the ground as the palm trees swayed gently, as if trying to futily escape some unknown danger that lurked around them.
"I know where you can find Hamunaptra" a voice said slyly.
David turned around suddenly to find a small heavily cloaked man,that was obviously very skinny and shrimpy and a had a thin,pencil line mustache.
"And who if I might ask...are you?"
"My name is...Beni....Beni Gabor"
David smiled confidently "Well Beni, would you be willing to show me and that charming group over there....how to get to Hamunaptra?....Would you be willing to be our guide?"
Beni grinned "Of course, but you will have to pay a good price for me to take you...after all it is Hamunaptra and a trip to Hamunaptra is worth...dying for"
"We're willing to take that risk...how much do you want?"
"How much are willing to give?"
"I'd pretty much say our lives"
Beni's smile grew wider "That'll do"
"What?"
"Oh don't listen to me, we can discuss prices on our way there...now gather your group and follow me. I'll take you to Hamunaptra and we're all set...but I must warn you...there is already another excavation group there from what I've heard"
"What do you mean...another excavation group?"
"Well I think the groups there are the O'Connell and the Carnarvons"
"No....it can't be"
"Why yes? Why the reaction? do you by any chance happen to know them?...Are you well
acquanited with them?"
"You might say that...but that issue is of no importance to me...just take us to Hamunaptra and we'lll give you what you want"
Beni shrugged "Okay, fair enough deal".
Turning to the group of henchmen David grinned and shouted "Hey! I found someone who can take us to Hamunaptra!...saddle up some horses...we're off to the City of the Dead!"
Victor glanced uneasily over at Lewis who stood stock still, his face masked into a painting like that of Dorian Gray except without the rotting,withering finality of the painting itself...no that was all on the inside. His exquisitely handsome looks seemed to well hide the horrendous,withering, dark visage of his internal wicked feelings and thoughts devoted to the gods that gave to their followers all the pleasures of the senses. Yes, he was the perfect Picture of Dorian Gray and along with this package...his Cybil Vane awaited him just a hand's grasp away, ready for the final act of his dark desires.
"Ready for the journey, Lewis?" Victor asked.
"I'm set, lets get going" Lewis replied with a confident smile "Our wonder is waiting to be fullfilled, and my beloved Angela, won't know what hit her"
"Lewis, why do you speak like this?" Victor asked curiously "Why are you so intent on going to find Angela if you know that she will never be willing to come to you?"
"I've given her so many opportunities to come to me and she's thrown them all away like trash, she mocks me everytime she gets a chance....I'm not playing games anymore, I'm done playing and I'm just simply going to take what is rightfully mine"
"Angela?"
Pulling out a revolver, Lewis smiled weakly, examining the weapon carefully "Yes, Angela...and so much more".
*~~~Hamunaptra~~~*
"Where's Angela?" Rick asked curiously as he set up a few stones for campfire. "I haven't
seen her"
"Asleep" Evelyn replied "She's asleep"
"and Jonathan?"
"I don't know,Rick, I haven't seen him anywhere, I'm sure he's asleep as well"
Rick shrugged then looked over at Evelyn who was sitting down on a small rock, reading a book on Ancient Egyptian Gods. He then walked to her and sat next to her "Evelyn, why don't we go back to Cairo tomorrow I think it would be the best thing we could do,Imean come on we practically have nothing to defend ourselves with here! So why not best that we lead the priest to Cairo and finish him off there where we can get everything we need at the museum?"
"No Rick, we have to destroy Imhotep...here in Hamunaptra. We have to keep as many innocent people out this problem as possible, and if it's possible we'll try to destroy Imhotep before he realizes we are here, though with Angela now missing from the underground...I'm sure it won't take him long to find us here".
"Oh great.....so where is Ardeth Bay? wasn't he here a moment ago?"
"He told me he was going to take a look around the temples and then maybe head back to the Med-Jai camp, he left Kaila so we could take care of her, you know how a child can get after a long journey"
"So where is the munchkin?" Rick asked as he looked around only to look back and see a worried look on Evelyn's face as she surveyed the area. "Oh my god! Evelyn you lost Ardeth Bay's daughter in five minutes of babysitting!"
Evelyn jumped to her feet and started to run into the city, calling out to her as Rick did the same only he ran into the opposite direction. What if the little child had managed to go into the deeper corridors of the city?...What if she were down there? with the scarabs, darkness...silence...and mummies. A little 5 year old could hardly imagine how dangerous those things are...a curious 5 year old child worse of all...curiosity killed the cat.
Rick continued running, calling out "Kaila! Hey Kaila!!". He hurdled a huge block of stone as he hit the ground running fast, trying to get a glance at everything. As he paused for quick moment though suddenly feeling the on coming sideache he noticed something flash across from him. In second he forgot about the sideache as she sprinted like hell for the door, which he had seen move along with the shadow of a girl, who swiftly managed to stop the door in his face, her unapologetic eyes disappearing behind it just as he slamed into it with a curse.
As he looked back he saw Evelyn walking around across the courtyard where the massive columns of the shrine where he stood were located.
"Rick,what on earth are you doing there?"
"Well, I uh, well...I was just surveying the area from here that's all"
"Have you found her?"
"No, and you?"
"Me neither, god, where could she have ran off to?"
****As Angela rested peacefully, dreaming of the Gala of St. Eve that she had gone to with her family when she was five, she felt another little body snuggled against her. Shrugging it off subconciously all she continued to see was her brother at fourteen years of age in a suit, dancing with her as the band played music. Everybody had seen it as the most adorable things that had ever occured at the hall of politics and money....and destiny. During those moments of hapiness as they whirled around the dance floor along with everyone, her father was selling her off to Alan and Valerie Calabar, a signature that gave her to their son of eight years of age....Lewis, when Angela turned twenty one. Her lifelong death sentence if that's what people could call it, a death sentence that she would sooner precipitate than get married....a sentence that seemed to follow her everywhere, in her dreams,her nightmares, her present and....her past. One must escape the darkness or forever be lost in an abyss of infinite pain and infinite repitition.What then?
"Kill him".
As the veil of mist slowly circled around her memories, she could see herself in the maroon dress her mother had made for her as she twirled around the ballroom with her brother as they laughed, and stumbled because of the height difference.
"Rick, aren't you mad that daddy made you wear that?" she had asked as she looked up at him.
He nodded "Dad always wants me to be proper and polite like all the other boys here, but I just want to be a regular boy like the ones at school that are always playing Cowboys and Indians with their friends and most of all I don't--"
"Want to wear a suit?"
"Yes, baby sis, I don't want to wear a suit" Rick had grinned, even then he had the same familiar grin of his that seemed to be very optimistic even in the worst of times.
"I don't like wearing dresses, I want to be like you and run around with the big kids that you play with"
"You're too little"
Angela had suddenly stopped in mid-step and with hands on her hips, she glared and even as a little munchkin her looks were utterly sharp "I- am- not- too- little!" she had screamed, catching the attention of all, who only smiled at her comment. "I am a big girl!"
"You are not! you're always going to be the baby and I'm always going to be the oldest, now when dad goes to heaven I'm going to be your dad and I'll always take care of you and never let anyone hurt you...ever, because you're my little sister and I'm always going to be by your side"
"Really?" Angela had smiled adorably.
"Yes, so lets make everyone happy and dance even though I'm not too good at it, okay?"
"Okay, Rick"
Just they were about to start, a boy stepped into the crowd of eight years of age. He was a very prim, cute boy with a slight air of arrogance in him, wearing a little black tux. Taking careful steps into the crowd he looked around at everyone old and young with a look of supremacy on his face. His hair slicked back and with a confident look, he looked like that Casanova of all the boys his age.
"Rick and Angela O'Connell?" he had asked suddenly, as he drew closer to them, catching the siblings attention as they circled around for a moment.
"Yes that's us, who are you?" Rick had asked curiously
"Me? My name is Lewis Calabar...how are you?" he replied, as he looked at Angela with a sly smile.
Angela had stared at him for awhile and didn'y answer, he seemed so cold and arrogant for his age.
"You're sister is quite shy"Lewis had said.
"Yeah my sister can be like that sometimes" Rick replied, as he nudged her.
"Hello" Angela murmured.
"Angela, you're daddy told my parents and I so much about you"
Angela smiled weakly before curtsing and skipping off towards the food table, giving him a cold slap of uncaring sincerity.
"Wow, my sister doesn't like you Lewis" Rick said with shrug "That's too bad, you two could''ve been the best of friends"
Lewis only smiled through the wounded pride that burned deep within him and shrugged as if uncaring. Childhood can be a very dangerous thing when altered in a hurt, twisted child's mind and Rick had no idea just how close good of 'best' friends Angela and Lewis would become after that fateful day.
With a shock of bright light flashing in her eyes, Angela was jolted awake suddenly as she gasped for air "What the hell? why the sudden drastic change in dreams?" she rubbed her temples as they throbbed in pain, dazedly speaking in a low tone "How come my past is showing up?"
When the pain subsided, she sat up and heard a small whimper. Glancing down she found that little Kaila was looking up at her with welling tears in her eyes.
"Hi sweetie, what's the matter? are you hurt?" she asked in English, though knowing that she did not understand it, she signaled to her in sign language.
"Oh you miss your father...that's it, well I'm your babysitter for now, so I'm going to take of you until he comes back" she smiled and wrapped the little girl in blanket as she caressed her tearful, innocent face and kissed her cheek "How about you take a nap, ok? maybe that will calm you down a bit, a cute little girl like you should not cry... Allah forbids little girls from crying at all" and she laughed softly which caused Kaila to smile and giggle as well.
Jonathan suddenly awoke drearily at the sound of the giggles and rolled onto his side to face them. His eyes slowly opening, he stretched out and yawned...sending the 5 year old into a chorus of laughter and smiles.
"She likes you" Angela said softly.
Jonathan smiled and sat up "Well I like her too, she is quite an adorable little bugger"
Using the power of speaking, which was just gestures, Kaila communicated quite a bit without any single word of sorts as they both found by her curious nature. Kaila was in a way like Imhotep, only she was much smaller and there was little less hurting involved with her, unless she pinched you.
"You like children don't you?" Jonathan asked as he watched Angela put Kaila on her lap and tickle her playfully as both giggled.
"Yes...I do. I can't wait to have a child of my own someday" she sighed suddenly "I would try to be the most loving mother there ever was...so that he or she could have a happy, carefree childhood"
Kaila got up suddenly and crawled over to Jonathan where she began to try and braid his hair as if realizing that he could be her own personal doll.
"No. Kaila. Let go of my hair please. No you can't braid my hair" the child and him struggled for a bit "Kaila, it's too short to braid....here have a mint" he said as he handed the child two mint candies, which she instantly chucked into her mouth
Then like a little cat, she crawled back over to Angela and pointed then in fascination at the jewelery she was wearing, her necklace, ring and bracelet. A curious little sparrow on the search of small seeds and sparkling, gold water. For a moment the child could only stare in awe at the sight of it and then as if gaining the courage, she finally spoke a sentence which was probably asking "May I see them?" or saying "They are very pretty". Angela instinctively took off her bracelet and her necklace as well as her ring and held them out to Kaila who picked them up and looked at them in awe, smiling adorably at them and then back at her.
"You like jewelery, don't you?" Angela smiled lovingly "Those are from my adventures. I've had some of those ever since I came to the dig site in search of a great archaeological find....I found them in an excavation".
"All of it?" Jonathan asked suddenly, taking her completely by surprise.
"Um, well, just the necklace, the ring I bought at the bazaar in Cairo and this bracelet is a gift from my mother to me when I was five, before she left our family"
"Oh...well, um, Angela....may I see the necklace?"
"Sure, go ahead"
Hesistant at first, Jonathan finally picked up the necklace and looked at it for a moment. But as he recalled Ardeth's words a sudden bell rang off in his conscience "you can't take it from her!"
"It's a very beautiful necklace, here" he said, as he handed it back to her "It's lovely".
For a moment both were silent and even Kaila seemed to have quited down, the atmosphere had become heavy with something none could even imagine, and they sat still...waiting for what ever was hanging in the air to leave. Suddenly though, the tent flap blew open, causing everybody even the little child to scream like banshees and jump back into a tight huddle like cowering mice.
"Oh my god! okay we're not suppose to give each heart attacks! for the love of St Peter!" Rick frantically gasped as he stood up and dusted himself off.
Peering inside, he saw the three sirens all huddled together in a ball as they looked up at him with terrified looks in their eyes, as if he were god incarnate ready to unleash the worst retribution ever beset upon mankind.
"Oh, good, Kaila is here, we've been looking all over for her" Rick smiled weakly, as he sighed in relief.
Angela got to her feet slowly and helped the trembling child up "Yes, she's been with us, we've been taking care of her in such a peaceful surrounding up until you abruptly showed up....why didn't you say anything?" she caressed the child's hair as Kaila held onto her waist "You could have afforded us the trauma".
"I thought you were asleep" suddenly noticing Jonathan, Rick glared "And what the hell is Jonathan doing in here?"
Angela sighed frustratingly "Well, he's helping me take care of Kaila.....is that a problem?"
"No, it's a not a problem, I'm actually glad you two are taking care of Kaila....it keeps you three out of trouble...not to mention busy"
"What do you mean trouble?" Angela glared incredulously "and what do you mean busy?"
"Oh, nothing" Rick joked as he walked out of the tent "Nothing at all"
Angela growled and slumped into the sand as Jonathan sighed and scooted next to her "O'Connell will never change" he then tipped her chin so she then faced him, and he looked into amber eyes "He's never going to change"
"You got that right" Angela snickered "But let's just forget it, there's no point in
getting mad about that"
They smiled at one another and kissed tenderly before suddenly realizing that Kaila was looking at them. The child then seeing her opportunity as they parted,snuggled in between them and sighed. Angela shook her head slowly, she could tell the child was getting bored. Children and the desert were a bad combination, children and the Sahara were ten times worse, especially being the daughter of a Med Jai, where most of your life you were even restricted to playing a game of marbles with the boys.
"Poor child, come on let's go outside and play a game with her" Angela said "How about a game of tag?"
"Tag?" Jonathan asked curiously
"Yes, it's a game Rick and I use to play when we were children, someone has to chase the rest of the people around and tag another person, if he or she tags someone then that person is automatically the next tagger, and so on and so forth, it's actually kinda fun"
"Well then, a game of tag it is" Jonathan smiled
Guiding Kaila out of the tent, Angela sighed, the calm surroundings were becoming somewhat tranquil to her nervous mind and it all seemed to guide her to a place of rippling waters and a small stream with songbirds chirping and trees softly whispering as the breeze of Indian Summer blew in. Ah, she could still remember when her parents would take Rick and her to their uncle's house out in the middle of the forests of Michigan. She had loved it though she was only a tiny five year old at the time, but then, she had come to hate it ever since that baumy October afternoon when she had heard her mother yelling to her father....they were arguing and it seemed to intensify as the time had passed. Rick could only hold her as their little rowboat came into the cove of the lake.
"What's happening Rick?" Angela had asked "Why are mommy and daddy fighting?"
Rick had looked at the house and sighed sadly, shaking his head slowly "They're just mad about mom asking to be separated from dad, don't worry Angie, it'll be all right they'll be happy soon, okay?"
Angela had waited and soon it flashed to her in a split second that both were in the family car, as their parents sat in the front seat silent. Then the dreaded day came when her mother had came into her room while she had been asleep and woken her up to say that she was leaving and that she had a gift for her.
"What is it mommy?" the little girl had asked sleepily.
"Honey, I want you to have this, always keep it with you...close to your heart and never forget me, I love you so much and I'll come back....I promise" her mom had said with tears in her eyes.
"Don't cry mommy, I love you too"
"Don't tell your brother or your daddy until later, okay?" her mother had instructed as she sobbed and slipped the locket around Angela's neck "Inside there are two pictures, one of your dady and I and the other of you and your brother, keep it always and never forget me, I have to go now" she had said before she had given her daughter a kiss on the forehead and tight embrace, before walking out the door.
Angela had looked out her window and seen her mother get into a cab, she had looked up and smiled weakly before waving softly 'good bye' as the cab sped away. Then her life had changed abruptly, as she had spoken the words of her doom... everything had crashed with the sounds of brakes, plates crashing, trains exploding, and people screaming, everything had spun around like a whirlwind. In flashes of agony, she could see her brother being taken away to an orphanage while she had been sent to London to a boarding school to be closer to her fiancee. Suddenly as if shaken, she awoke suddenly and looked around to find herself once again in the desert city and Jonathan standing behind her.
"Angela?....Angela, darling, are you okay?" he was asking as he tapped her shoulder nervously.
She quickly turned to face him and nodded "I'm, uh, okay, I was just daydreaming that's all" she looked away as she tried to conceal her tears "I tend to that a lot".
"Yes, but for three hours now, Angie? It's a bit much don't you think"
The name suddenly echoed in her head painfully as she shook it away and looked back at him and smiled weakly "I'm sorry, I'll try not to do it too often"
"Okay, very well" he had chuckled "I forgive you" With that he kissed her softly, placing his hands on her waist as she gasped and then relaxed letting herself delve into the kiss more.
"I love you Jonathan" she said breathlessly "You know that"
"I love you too"
"Um, by any chance have you seen the Book of Amun Ra?"
Jonathan jumped back, startled suddenly by the question "Why do you want to know?"
"No reason in particular, being jhere in Hamunaptra seems to bring out the curiosity in me, I just want to know everything about it"
"Angela, darling, sometime it's best to leave things to be unknown and untouched... for the better of all of us...for the better of the world itself".
"So I guess I shouldn't be curious then?" she asked innocently.
Jonathan sighed "I dropped it into the bog, down there, that's all I really know so far about it's location, but I didn't even realize what part of the bog I dropped it in"
"Just forget I asked" she sighed, before she suddenly stumbled.
Jonathan quickly caught her and looked at her, realizing she was becoming pale and she was taking deep breaths of air as she began to hyperventilate. "Angela? Angela, what's wrong?" he asked frantically.
"Suddenly I'm not feeling well" she gasped weakly "I think it's the heat and--" she couldn't finish her last word before she suddenly collapsed in his arms.
In shock, he picked her up and carried her to her tent where he then gently laid her down as she made no attempt to wake up from her peaceful state. Caressing her features softly Jonathan then sat across from her, thinking "I'm just going to let her rest for a few hours" he then looked out at the desert from opening in the tent "Hopefully this was just due to the sun and not another one of Imhotep's spells"
Angela's eyes were tightly closed as she slept but her mind was was swirling around as she lay unconscious. Within this surreal world of her dreams, she could still see her world of the past as it flashed in front of her eyes, the dark mists of her fantasies and nightmares showing her the painful memories of her childhood up until her present state. It was all accompanied by the strange, phantasmagorical images of otherworldly things, spirits, screaming echoes, bubbling black ooze, music, voices, something about them all combined and she suddenly felt like she was floating on air, swirling along the mists the farther regions of her mind. A mind that seemed to burn like an ember, glowing faintly with the occasional outbursts of flames once it was stirred.
"No, I am not yours!" she screamed in her head as two images suddenly appeared before her, Lewis and Imhotep "I will never be yours, leave me be! You are not my owners, stop impeding me from being happy, why do you these things?! why? no! let me go! let me go!".
Jonathan looked down at her in horror as she frantically writhed and screamed. Finding no other option to stop her from hurting herself, he quickly pinned her arms above her head with one hand while he held her down with the other and pinned her body beneath his own. Hearing the screames, Rick suddenly came running into the tent and looked down to find Jonathan almost pinning down his sister's unrestraining form as she screamed frantically "Let go of me! let go!"
"Jonathan what the hell are you doing?!" Rick shouted angrily as he reached forward and pulled Jonathan to his feet. "I always knew you were a no good son of a bitch, but I never once thought you'd be capable of trying something like this!"
"O'Connell! please you don't understand! I wasn't trying to the moves on her or anything beyond that, if that's what you're thinking! Angela was having a nightmare and I was trying to wake her up, it didn't work and so I tried to prevent her from hurting herself....look at her!" he shouted frantically,as he pointed down at Angela who was just opening her eyes and dazedly looking up at them.
"What's, what's going on? what happened? and Rick why are you holding a gun to his head!" Angela suddenly bolted from where she sat and she scrambled up quickly to pull him away from Jonathan. "Put the gun down, Rick, please!".
"But he was trying to, and I saw you screaming, and --" Rick was shocked beyond words that she would defend him after what he had seen.
"Rick, for the love of god! Jonathan would never even think of doing a thing like that! I was having a nightmare amd I couldn't wake up from it, he was doing me a favor if he was trying to wake me from it!"
"But I saw him! how can you defend him even now!"
"Ugh! You just never give up, Richard, do you?"
"What do you mean, never give up?!"
"Forget it, I'm just dazed...I don't know what I'm saying"
"Jonathan, get out" Rick said sternly as he kneeled down beside Angela, he looked up then and glared coldly "And don't come back in here...just go take care of Kaila"
"But Rick, he wasn't doing any--" Angela tried to say suddenly.
"Jonathan, get out now before I change my mind and decide to shoot your brains out"
Jonathan looked down at Angela desperately and pleaded to her with his shocked green eyes as she pleaded back with her own amber. Neither dared to speak but both knew what the other was saying deep down inside. As Rick then held onto Angela, he could notice Jonathan's hesitation and he glared daggers.
"What are you waiting for?!" Rick demanded "Get the hell out of here!"
"Right, well, I'll be outside if you need anything" Jonathan stammered nervously.
But even then he couldn't help but look back at Angela who even then was looking at him in desperation, once more the realization of what Rick was capable of doing dawned upon them. Feeling a tenseness, they suddenly glanced over at Rick as if seeing for the first time, his angry face and fists clenched with the severity of a sledgehammer.
"I'm going then" Jonathan squeaked, before slipping out of the tent
Angela sighed and rested her head on Rick's shoulder as he sat down by her. It pained them both as they sat in the still silence of the tent, somehow each knew that the other had nothing more to say. Silence was then, always the best option, as it helped to relieve the stress and brought the family closer together. It all gave the mind some time to think things through and give the right choice of words a chance to come into clarity before the mouth even ordained to lecture, to lecture another about life and pain, it was often a great feeling and a often even then, a great disadvantage.
"Angela, are you all right" Rick suddenly asked softly, breaking the silence.
"I'm fine Rick, nothing happened....so there really is nothing to be hurt or worried about" Angela replied as she then sat up.
"I guess....I uh....overreacted a little"
"A little? you call putting a gun to someones head a little overreaction! try a hell of a lot of overreaction....hell I don't even want to know what you're like when you're extremely angry" she spoke incredulously "What are you going to do? shoot'em point blank before they have time to explain what's happening!"
"Maybe"
Angela jumped slightly at that comment "Well, then, I'll make sure to get out of town if I give you any reasons to be furious at me"
"I doubt you ever will....it's not like you're going to tell me that you lied about not loving Jonathan and that you plan on getting married to him or that you gave Imhotep the Book of the Dead.....because on all accounts you didn't have it to begin with"
Angela laughed uneasily as she looked away in horror at the sand that barely revealed itself under the tent and the blankets. Her giggles were becoming more hysterical as she started to hyperventilate again to the point where she felt she would suffocate. As his words echoed in her mind, it all seemed to spin around another series of memories: Jonathan proposing,their first kiss, everything was showing before her as she realized just how Rick had guessed the truth in a joke. She felt herself blacking out suddenly and before she knew it her mind went blank.
"Oh my god, Angela.....are you okay?" Angela what's wrong? calm down try to breathe" Rick said frantically as he held her close to his chest, rocking her back and forth as she slowly relaxed and fell asleep again.
Rick glanced down at her and sighed, the rowboat, that Indian Summer, he had remembered that autumn afternoon as he had held her form tightly. 14 and 5, such an age difference yet they were so close to one another. And even now 29 and 21 seemed the same as that far gone afternoon, except there wasn't any rowboat or any shouts, only the previous that had led up to that moment. The soft whisper of the sand and the wind flapping the tent were the only sounds in that still silent and frozen moment.
"God, I feel so alone" he said softly, as he caressed her head lightly "We've always been so alone and now that we're together finally, we seem to be drifting apart slowly" he looked out at the desert through the opening of the flap and watched the wind kick up some sand into some eerily familiar dervishes. Protectively, he looked down and held Angela tighter "Egypt is destroying us both, it's destroying everyone...if we make it out alive, we are never coming back to this goddamn country" Her non responsive form only made him feel so much more lonely "Angela, if only you trusted in me more, you use to tell me all your little secrets and now you just seem to be terrified of telling me what happened to you the day you read the Book of the Dead and even about your past....I hardly know you anymore and it scares me"
"Rick, I've never heard you speak like that before" a voice suddenly said softly.
Rick suddenly looked up to find Evelyn peering into the tent.
"Well Evie, now you finally heard" Rick said dazedly.
"And I can't believe it, you, Rick O'Connell, the man who shoots first without asking any questions, the man who is so brave and courageous against any odds, feels alone? Rick do you know how happy this makes me! I always thought you were to much of a man to admit your emotions and now I see that you are not such a brute after all"
"Thanks...I guess"
"You and Angela look so adorable together, look at her, asleep....peacefully resting against you...in your arms"
"Ya, when we were younger she would always follow me almost everywhere I'd go, we were both the best of friends, there wasn't anywhere that you wouldn't see us together, playing games, singing songs, arguing, dancing, everyone who knew our family back in Chicago thought we were the cutest thing since the teddy bear" Rick then sighed suddenly "And now look at us, drifting, fighting, disagreeing on everything...time has totally changed us both, I often wonder what would have happened if both of us had gone to the same orphanage in Cairo after our uncle and aunt passed away" he looked down at her "but what am I saying, she was sent to a boarding school in London to be closer to her fiancee while I was sent to Egypt to live alone in an orphanage until I was 18...our past has been so--"
"Unfair, and you hate it, Rick"
"It's not so much that I hate it, it's more or less the feelings and the questions that have been left unanswered by our family and by the separation of two continents, not mention the years, the time spent separated for so long, it hurts that we...the last two remaining members of our family....aren't even getting along like we should be".
"Perhaps you should let Angela live her own life, make her own decisions, solve her own problems, depending on what they are, and most importantly you have to let her love who she wants to.... you cannot force her into being separated from people" Evelyn took a seat beside him and put her hand on his cheek as he turned to look at Angela then back at her. "You are causing her to feel what she felt the day you two were separated....you're hurting her, more than she can bear".
For a moment Rick looked at her thoughtfully and then looked back down at his sister, who softly breathed as she slept. At 21 she still looked like a little girl at certain angles and he always enjoyed seeing her asleep or even laughing.
"You are being too overprotective of her" Evelyn said suddenly "You can't guard her all her life"
"I don't want her to get hurt, I'm trying so hard to be the father we never had after our mom left".
"Being overprotective and demanding isn't being a good father...or a good brother for that matter. She knows you love her and she loves you as well, but you can't live her life for her"
"I know....I know, as soon as we get out of this mess I'm letting her go her own way, far from Jonathan"
"Oh for the love of god! I completely give up, you just won't change one bit"
"Gee Evelyn, you just noticed" a voice suddenly said in a cold, sleepy tone
Both suddenly looked around the tent and then down at Angela whose eyes were wide open and frigid.
"Angela! oh dear...my lord ,uh....weren't you asleep just now?" Evelyn said uneasily.
Rick's face had grown pale as he looked down at her "How much did you hear?" Along the list of the most apparently clueless questions, this had to be in the top 3 worst ones ever.
"All of it" Angela replied as she sat up quickly "And quite frankly I agree with you Evelyn, all the way" she suddenly looked back at Rick and he couldn't believe the tearful, icy glare she was giving him "You are destroying me, Rick, you are being way too overprotective! I'm twenty one years old! I'm not a child anymore!".
"Don't you give me that attitude, Angela" Rick suddenly reacted to her fury with his own.
"But--"
"As long as we're here in Egypt....you're going to obey my rules!"
"But if you would just listen me, Rick!"
"I'm not done talking! and get this straight now Angela, I'm nevet letting you out of
my sight...is that clear!"
"Look at yourself Rick, look deep inside, you're trying to decide my own future! I'm not a prize Rick! I'm not an object that's going to be auctioned off only when you decide it's fit! You are not going to decide who is worthy of my love or not, you are not our father Rick! so stop acting like you are!" Angela shrieked in tearful anger.
In a sudden rush, she ran out of the tent taking a silent Evelyn and a frustrated Rick by surprise, she had left in such a fury of curses that even then in the distance they would hear her sobs of agony.
"Goddamnit!" Rick shouted as he looked away in disbelief.
Evelyn mumbled and shook her head slowly as she looked outside of the tent towards the desert, she held the tent flap open and stared out in silent resignation. She could see Angela standing tall as she too looked out at the Sahara, letting the wind dry her tears. It seemed to be that she was the fitting figure of a queen reigning over her own realm of death and peace... ironically as that sounds. But paradoxes are all but common in the Sahara and death with peace was no exception. Angela was indeed the queen of her realm and it all but seemed that Rick was like the reigning tyrant that would just not let her rule and force her to bow to his orders. Now a war was imminent but who was going to win in the end? all's fair in love and...war.
"I can't believe this, I have to deal with him, why did you give me a brother,god? why?"
Angela sighed and walked out of the city then and looked on at the vast desert that stretched out before her. She felt like the only person on the face of the planet and it somewhat relieved her senses, though she hardly felt relieved at the remembrance of her brother and Imhotep....they both wanted to kill Jonathan and possibly even herself. It surprised her somewhat that even the two enemies had something in common and in light of all of this, it pained her so much more.
"Well, now, I'm sure with my luck, they'll both join forces and then surely kill Jonathan and I" she snickered coldly at the thought and then spoke aloud, only loud enough that it was a whisper "And then they'll start to tear each other apart... how typical of men".
"Angela?" a voice broke her from her revery.
She quickly turned around to find Jonathan somewhat disheveled and confused a few feet away from her.
Hello Jonathan, how are you feeling?" she asked softly.
"Pretty well actually, is it all right if we talk? or is Rick going to suddenly come out of nowhere and beat me to a pulp?"
Angela smiled weakly "Let's talk, after all, I am your fiancee...we need to think of a way to get ourselves out here... because something tells me that if we don't we both are in for some serious trouble".
"I'm all ears" Jonathan replied as he walked closer to her.
"That's just the problem, I need help....I have no idea what to do...and at the moment I can't seem to come up with any solution to anything"
"O'Connell, would know the way, no, wait, he'd just make it a tad bit worse, shooting first is always his perogative"
"Speaking of which, we're both in seriously deep water with Rick, Imhotep and Lewis....they all want you or me or possibly even both of us dead and six feet underground, and then again Rick would probably most likely dig our bodies up and burn them 'til there's nothing left of them".
"And Imhotep would just gut us and cusre our souls to the darker depths of the underworld or better yet he'd rearrange our anatomy then curse our souls, there is just really nothing much to think about Lewis...other than the fact that he'll shoot me at seventy, eighty, or heck maybe even ninety until all that's left of me is a hunk of human swiss cheese"
They both gave each other worried, frightened glances and gulped simoultaneously. Stuck between the sword and the wall, not a great thought when in fact you have three swords pointed straight at you and you have no where to run other than into
one of those swords to your death.
"God, I hate it when fate does this!" Angela hissed anxiously.
"Calm down, Angie, I know how you feel, believe me I've been through this type of situation many times except it really never had to do anything with magic....it was always, well, um, bar brawls, well I was always the one getting pummeled so I guess I'm now just preparing for the worst of the moment"
Angela stared at him for a moment and sighed in resignation "Preparing for the worst is something I'm use to as well....funny really, how I never look for trouble, trouble just always is the one looking for me even in the case of Lewis and all the rest" she felt her body weakening and she fought to stay strong "Quite frankly I really have to calm down and stop being so hopeful and curious of things"
"I like you being curious and having hope, it's a part of you, your personality and...your beauty".
"Thank you" Angela replied shyly as she blushed.
"So what are we going to do when we go down into the tomb? I mean, we can't be there long unless you consider giving ourselves to the scarabs as a midnight snack".
Angela chuckled "No, first of all, the only thing I plan to do is see the underground and that's it, maybe get some imprints but that's it really, then we'll never have to go back down there ever again"
"What time then?"
"Around ten, when Rick and Evelyn are asleep"
"and how do you plan on staying down there?"
"About two or three hours, four hours max"
"But Angela, we're going to get ourselves killed. Imhotep never sleeps....in fact maybe all he does is the Egyptian equivalent of sleepwalking around the city...onlyhe'll be awake and when he finds us well, um, then we'll be turned into husks or be eaten"
"I promise we won't get eaten, Jonathan"
"Or caught?"
"Definitely not get caught"
Getting caught...the sheer thought was enough to get your stomach cringed up and your head buzzing with thoughts of escape and inevitable retribution. Depending on what do, the thoughts are always very different...your actions count a lot when you get caught in the act, but when it come to getting caught in Egypt, In the Sahara...in the middle of nowhere. Just pray to allah that you NEVER do get caught, the punishments are all on a scale like those of Ma'at herself, the scales of fate and destiny, the scales of life and death...all only ranging from nine to ten, nothing more, nothing less. Nine being torture, Ten being death. Which in the end would one prefer to choose? often time one doesn't have that choice and often times one doesn't even know that the path they have chosen, is the path to the final judgement hall of ma'at.
Author: Darlene Evelyn
Feedback: Please let me know what you think but please don't be rude.
Copyright: All Characters from both TM and TMR except for the new ones of course, which are mine are sole property of Universal Pictures. No profit is being made with this story.
Chapter 16....
*~~~Giza Port~~~*
As Angela stepped off the boat, she inhaled a single, deep breath and thought to herself "Finally I'll be able to say good bye to Egypt, as much as it pains me to do so...I will".
She held the pure air in her lungs for a moment as if she could regain all the time that she had lost in the grand steamer. All of Egypt was the land that her body longed to be in day after day, night after night. It was the land whose sand, ruins, heat and siroccos had been her dreamland and her ultimate nightmare. This was the land she dreamed of, in chimerical, but very realistic visions of blazing skies, infinite temples of magic and enigmatic rituals dedicated to the many gods of the universe, and a very striking pair of eyes whose profoundness hid a tempestuous infinity rivaling both paradise and the inferno, eyes that she knew as well as the palm of her hand. And then she remembered the darker dreams of her past, her nightmares, in a swirling whirlpool of obsidian, gold, and lapis lazuli as she blithely danced in a temple, then walked out of a grand city crazed with a pain and love for the man of her life, to leave a city that she had never seen...it was better just not to think about it. Her immediate present was more than stressful enough. Drying moist palms on her jodhpurs, Angela realized suddenly that she was now in a taxi cab!
"What are we going to do?" Jonathan whispered.
"The important thing, Jonathan, is not to panic. Just don't do anything crazy. We'll think of something...it will all be all right" as well meaning as her phrase was, her voice held the tone of a coast guard watching the Titanic sink.
One eyebrow arching a surprised question mark, Jonathan smiled in spite of himself and softly laughed. "Angela, darling, you almost killed O'Connell using a stone and you're telling me not to do anything crazy".
The cautiously blank expression which immediately spread across her face suddenly told Jonathan that his attempt at teasing her had backfired worse than his Dusenberg had during the car chase the year before. Shuddering slightly as she sat back in her seat, Angela's eyes suddenly focused on a small puddle near the back of the passenger side seating, it's dark surface similar to the obsidian like that of the Book of the Dead. Then not surprising this puddle put her mind even more in thoughts and remembrances about Lewis...dark, sadistic things of any kind tended to do that to her more often than anything. Now, Lewis, the son of a bitch, had unfortunately been hired to supervise the workers at the Hamunaptra dig site because David had actually called his skills at managing people, worthy and good...a very mild description of Lewis's tendency to rule over the workers like the second coming of the Pharaoh's over the Hebrews. As each day had gone by, sweltering and hot as usual, Anti-Lewis feelings were building rapidly to their all time high and his attitude was the reason why.
Oddly enough, Lewis could and would brag a lot about certain big groups of female admirers for his refined if rather sly sense of style, or perhaps it was the glamour of his father's and uncle's war hero past or maybe it was all his bundles of money and all of his grand mansions. Angela had always bet on the mansions and money 100%. But whatever the reason, Lewis did think of himself as a god...after all he was very handsome. It came to him as a huge surprise then when Angela avoided him and shouted at him in front of people and often slapped him when he tried to kiss her or embrace her. Everyone at parties,
the girls especially, were always happy to be around him, so she was more than glad to be away from him. Of course Lewis being himself, it only caused him to lust for her more and more. She grimaced at the thought and shoved it out of her mind.
"Well, here we are, fort sweet fort" Rick said as he opened the door of the cab for Angela.
She smiled slightly and took his hand as he helped her out and closed the door. As they all took the luggage they sighed, sleepiness was setting in after the stressful ride on the steamer.
"I'm so tired, I need help with my luggage" Angela said wearily.
As if god...or Satan had heard her prayers, two soldiers suddenly appeared and gently took her bags.
"We'll help you out miss" one of them said thoughtfully.
"Oh no, it's OK, I'm fine" Angela said as she tried to reach for her bags. "It's really not a problem".
"No really Miss, you shouldn't strain your back so much, we'll help you take your bags to your cabin" the second one said.
"Well....if you insist"
They picked up her luggage and walked up the stairs where Jonathan was just opening the door.
"Oh! It's right here" she pointed out. "Just set them by the door, thank you so much".
"Oh, it's no trouble at all miss, we're here to help you out whenever you need it".
The soldier flashed a smile and a sudden vision flashed before her eyes...a vision of Lewis's best friend, Victor. He was a Slavic assassin who was very suave, stunningly handsome, but deadly when angered. The smile was one he had given her when she had been locked up in the deep, dark, dank basement of the Calabar's mansion for 5 days without any food or blankets as she had begged him with tears in her eyes to let her go.
"Um, do I know you?" she asked uneasily, suddenly feeling her heart beat and jump rapidly.
"Me? No, I'm a recruit from France, I decided to come and work here in Egypt because it's such a fascinating country, very lovely...more so than Paris".
"Oh well, I could have sworn I knew you from some where, but I guess it was just someone else that looked like you".
"Yes, it could've been, well we're off now, hope to see you sometime, Angela".
"Yeah, ok....good bye...and thank you"
The two soldiers walked out and Angela shut the door, realizing with a deepening horror "Wait a second! How did he know my name! We just met, how could he have possibly known? Unless...oh my god...please no....it can't be Victor!".
"Well, finally! I thought they'd never leave" Jonathan said, as he walked out of the bedroom.
"We need to leave....now" Angela said breathlessly.
"What? Why?...I thought you wanted to stay for a few more days".
"Lewis sent his men to find me and most of them are now disguised as soldiers! The two soldiers that just came in here were Victor and his brother Strav! I have no doubt about it! It's them!!! Oh my god, they're terrorists and assassins and they're here!!!" she said frantically as she paced around the room. "Victor clearly said my name....it's him, it's Victor, Lewis now will know for sure where I am and he'll come looking for me".
"It can't be, what do we do?" we can't just run out there now, they'll all be all over the place! ok let's think and calm down for a moment...we have to be rational and not do anything stupid that will draw attention". Jonathan said nervously.
"Please Jonathan, I need to get out! You need to get out! Lewis is going to kill you! don't you understand! we need to get out and Rick! oh my god Evelyn! they'll kill them too! and all because of me! God, Lewis is my shadow, he'll never let me be happy! god! I hate this!! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! I hate --"
Jonathan grabbed her and suddenly kissed her. At first she struggled but after realizing that it was calming her, she kissed him with equal passion. Every few seconds she would let out a slight moan or small gasp, trying to get some air into her lungs. Their kiss slowed to a stop, but their lips were still in contact. Through heavy breathing and gasps for a air, Angela smiled and said softly, eyes full of tears ."I-love-you".
"I love you too and don't worry we'll figure something out, even if it means blowing up this fort but we'll get out of here with Rick and Evie and then you'll never have to deal with Lewis or his men ever again" he said in a soft, reassuring voice as he cupped her face in his hands.
Angela looked away and dried her tears, laughing a bit as she did, suddenly it didn't seem as bad of a situation, this time she wasn't alone, she had Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan to be there for support, it was a great feeling though she knew that it would be a risk to their lives. Without another word, she walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Splashing some water in her face she suddenly broke down crying...the pain was too much for her to bear. What could stop Lewis? nothing... absolutely nothing.... except... death itself.
Meanwhile outside, Jonathan sat on the bed and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment then suddenly threw it away, the frustration was building and he knew sooner or later that he'd be the drunken fool that he use to be, but he had Angela now, his love...he couldn't let her down and he wouldn't.
"Sleep, sleep will be good...sleep is a good thing...it'll help" he thought as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, drifting off into his perfect dreamland of nothing but happiness along side Angela and their children, yes his perfect life was there, all there, but then out of nowhere Imhotep appeared and the children and Angela would all vanish and then the knot in his throat grew, he was being strangled, all this was too much...it completely destroyed his will of living... In a bright flash of light he opened his eyes, and there laying next to him was Angela, she was draped across his chest, still asleep.
"Oh my god, the dream...no" he thought "a dream is a dream, it can't be real"
He put his arms around her and hugged her gently, she looked so happy, so relaxed and she awoke, slowly gazing up at him, she smiled.
"It's morning" she said "Time to wake up..."
Wake up to a nightmare, the real world...time to wake up and face reality, reality scary enough that it brought chills to the mind and engravings to your tombstone.
Downstairs, Victor and David sat in the library.
"So the O'Connells and the Carnarvons are back now, perfect...splendidly perfect, So what room are they, I mean is Angela in?" David asked.
"She's upstairs, cabin number eight, it's in the right corridor she almost recognized me but she wasn't quite sure, thankfully, I convinced her otherwise" Victor said as he took off his soldier cap.
"Well, good, now it's my turn to act".
"She seemed pretty happy about something, we managed to hear something about a trip to Luxor, that's where they were all this time, now remember David, you get her to talk and confide in you then you take her--"
"I know, I know, for the love of god, I'm not a five year old, I know what
I'm doing".
"You better David, you better" Victor said as he waved a shot gun in his face.
David sighed and stood up "Don't worry you'll have her soon enough" he said and walked out the door.
*~~~Upstairs~~~*
"Evelyn! Wake up it's morning, time to rise and shine! Come on wake up!" Rick said as he shook the bed, causing her to wake up in shock.
"Rick, what on earth do you think you're doing? The least you could have done was to gently tap me on the shoulder or something" Evelyn replied sleepily.
"Oh right, and risk being punched or slapped in the face like last time? Or
don't you remember back in London when you when you almost knocked me out".
"Oh yes, well I apologize....but please next time say something, don't shake the bed, OK?"
"OK, well I'm going to see Angela and then I'll come back later, bye".
Rick then walked out of the cabin, shutting the door with a slam. Evelyn groaned and slowly sat up to stretch. "I hope he doesn't get himself into trouble". she thought. "But knowing Rick that's one thing that wouldn't surprise me one bit".
*~~~Down the hall~~~*
"Well I'm going out for some breakfast do you want to come?" Angela asked Jonathan.
"I'll catch up to you later, darling".
"OK well, good bye for now...I love you" she said as she walked out the door.
Jonathan smiled and walked over to the window that overlooked the fort and sighed. Suddenly as sound shifted throughout the room, a sound of sand being blown by a light breeze, or was it a snake? He turned and glanced around the room, but everything looked fine. Then whatever it was, came up behind him and stopped, cautiously he took a step forward, not daring to look back. The feeling of someone or something was still there, chills went up his body and he ran for the door. Suddenly in a burst, the window where he had been standing, burst open sucking out what appeared to be two sand figures and then boom! It closed again.
"Oh my god...Angela!!" he thought frantically.
Quickly putting his coat and shoes on, he dashed out the door.
*~~~Corridor~~~*
"Rick!" Angela called out. "Good morning!".
"Hey sis! Good morning...so are you up for some more adventure today?"
"Um well, first let's have breakfast then I'll let you know".
"Yeah that's fine, oh damn I forgot something...wait here, OK?" Rick said.
"OK sure, I won't move an inch".
With that Rick ran down the hallway and disappeared around the corner of the hallway. Angela sighed and looked around, something didn't seem right...this was just way too calm like the other mornings she had experienced in the fort. A hand suddenly touched her shoulder and she whirled around to find the man that she had never expected to see again....David Richardson.
"David! oh my...what are you doing here in Cairo?" she asked in surprise.
"Well, hello to you too" he said with a hint of sarcasm. "No, I'm just kidding...well lets see, I'm here in Cairo so I can go inspect the dig and check out the museum" he answered happily. "and to see you".
Angela blushed "Well I'm sure you heard the bad news about the dig, by now, or did you not?"
"What was I suppose to hear?"
"That the dig was destroyed by an ambush of um, marauders...some of us were lucky enough to escape with our lives...the artifacts were destroyed or are just still sitting out there in the crates still" she said.
"and how have you been? Where is Lewis? Wasn't he suppose to be always by your side?".
"Um well, I've been great, so much has happened that you won't believe it and Lewis, well I haven't seen him ever since the ambush, which to tell you the truth is a blessing from god...I never want to see him again".
"It sounds like you're pretty much loving life right now, so how are your friends?".
"My friends? oh! you mean my brother Rick and his girlfriend Evelyn"
"You're brother...is Rick...O'Connell? and his girlfriend is Evelyn Carnarvon? by any chance does she have a brother named Jonathan?" he said in heart stopping shock.
"Yes, yes, and yes! they know you too!".
"Um well, uh, yeah! we worked in the Museum in London...uh what have you heard about me?"
"Well, not much really, I only know that they know you".
"Oh...ok, um well, would you like to join me for a stroll right now? I know a really pretty part of town that has really nice cafes and you get a great view of the city from Hotel Stack's rooftop... so what do you say?"
"Oh David, as much as I'd like to go...I can't, my brother and I have been trying to spend as much time as possible together, but thank you so much for the invitation, maybe some other time".
"Are you sure you can't put that aside? I mean maybe the weather won't be as nice as it is now."
"Um well I --"
"Angela! sis come on now let's go and--" Rick said and suddenly stopped short in mid-sentence, glaring angrily "What the hell are you doing her, Richardson!".
David went into shock as he saw Rick take Angela by the hand and look at him angrily.
"Angela get back inside your room and lock the door" Rick said as he gently pushed her away. "No actually get a gun and bring it to me".
"Rick, what's wrong?" Angela asked uneasily.
David took a step forward and took a grasp of Angela's arm causing her to freeze in her place as he looked over at Rick then at David. She was going to be the center of their Tug O' War match and she was the rope!
"Let me explain please, I had absolutely no idea she was your sister"
"Oh you didn't! for Christ's sake! I think you did, didn't it ever cross your mind that we were related in a way?" Rick said as he lunged towards him, still holding on to his sister.
David suddenly yanked Angela in front of him abruptly as if she were his shield and he said "I swear I had no idea! Angela never told me her full name! I didn't know! please Rick calm down!"
"Let my sister go" Rick said as he froze in place.
"Um David, please, could you let me go" Angela said as she tried to pull away. "Now, please?"
"We need to talk Angela, I have so much to tell you and show you" David insisted as he pulled her aside. "Tell your brother to back off, it's very important...it's uh um...it has to do with Anton's death".
Angela whirled around and stared at him with shocked eyes. "What is it? do you know who killed him? please tell me".
"It can't be here, please come with me". David said.
Angela turned to Rick and took a deep breath "I'm going with him, Rick...I have to know who killed Anton...please? I'll be right back...I promise...David and I will only be gone for a few minutes" .
Rick stared at David then at Angela...he nodded and gently squeezed her hand as a silent phrase "Be careful". She smiled slightly in return.
"OK then, lets go" David said as he pulled Angela gently, causing her to let go of Rick's hand.
They walked down the hallway, downstairs and made their way to the garden.
"So tell me about Anton...what do you know?" Angela asked as she stopped in her steps.
"I can't tell you here" he replied, as she slowly glanced up at the corridor across from him where Victor stood, staring down at him gravely.
"Please I need to know, tell me! I can't wait!"
He looked at her thoughtfully. Even in great distress her face seemed open, her eyes searching the back of his mind trying to figure out the truth behind the story.
"Tell me Angela, Anton who was your greatest friend. Did you see his body? do you know where it lies? is it back in London? or here in Egypt?"".
Angela suddenly looked confused. "Wait, didn't you know where it was? you said you knew something about him...what is it? tell me damnit! I need to know the truth".
"Can you answer the question?".
"No David, no one knows what became of the remains of Anton, we lost his body in a riot".
"I found someone who says that they know of--". he paused as he saw Victor suddenly appear from behind a pillar about thirty feet from behind Angela. A smile spreading across his handsome face, wicked enough that he seemed to turn into another person, a sadistic killer. David stared at him for a moment, trying to look away.
Angela suddenly sensed it and she looked back, when suddenly a light...a red light went on in the back of her mind...it was Victor! No doubt about it...it was him, he was there ready to take her away, back to Lewis and her hellish past.
"Oh my god" she thought "This was a trap".
She looked back at David and from the look on his face it was impossible to tell if this pleased him or not.
"Who is it?" she asked, trying to go with the flow.
"Who is who? Oh! a man, he's a Bedouin, yes he had some translations and he wanted to show them to whoever was closest to Anton"
"Take me to him" she whispered seductively "I would be eternally grateful".
Suddenly he risked it all and moved in to kiss her, but she backed away swiftly.
"Ah, but you choose the oddest moments for your little advances" she said breathlessly "We were talking of...of a tragedy were we not?".
"Of being alone perhaps and being at the wrong place at the wrong time and the things that grief drives one to do" he said with an innoceny smile.
"Ok.....well......come on!!" Angela said as she suddenly took off in a swift run that took him by surprise.
Victor suddenly glared at David and without any words he took off after Angela who looked back as he came after her.
"Oh my god, horses" she thought. "I need one! I need one now!!".
She looked across the garden and seeing two soldiers appear guiding their horses into the middle of the fort she smiled and ran for one. Shoving the soldier aside she mounted the black stallion, pausing only a while as Victor came running towards her.
"Angela! I recommend you get off that horse...now!" he shouted angrily "Get off!".
Angela snickered and turned the horse around heedless of Victor's warning. "I don't think so, you'll have to kill me...I'd like to see you try" she thought.
"Stop that horse now!" he called demandingly. "Get off of it!"
The horse suddenly took off and she was just getting it to galloping speed when Victor stopped in his footsteps and pulled a rifle out, much to David's shock who looked at him in terror and then at Angela.
"No Victor! what are you doing!" he shouted frantically. "You can't be serious! Put the gun down!".
With his eyes locked on Angela, Victor aimed the gun to her back and steadied himself. Ready to fire and fire he did but to his surprise David grabbed him, taking him off guard and pointed the gun skywards where two shots were fired, cracking the otherwise still air.
The horse which Angela rode suddenly reared back at the sound and stood on its back legs, throwing Angela off. Tumbling in a heap of sand and rock, she hit the floor where her head smacked straight into the adobe wall, in a hit hard enough to knock her out instantly. David felt his heart stop in terror as her body lay limp and lifeless on the sands a few yards away from him.
"What the hell David!" Victor shouted infuriated at the action, yanking the gun out of David's grasp.
"What did you expect me to do? Watch you shoot her!! I'm not like you or any of Lewis's thugs!" David replied "Now come on we can't just stand here! We need to help her out!".
"Miss O'Connell! oh my god!" a voice suddenly said "Miss O'Connell!".
Victor and David look over at the unconscious body of Angela and looked about five feet away from her where a soldier stood.
"Christian! goddamnit!" Victor growled.
Christian ran to Angela and kneeled down beside her, frantically trying to wake her.
"Miss O'Connell, please say something" he murmured as he took her hand into his and gently squeezed it. "Please say something"
No answer.
"Help! anyone please there has been an injury...I need help!" he shouted "Please help".
Mark suddenly appeared from the barracks and stared out at the sight in horror. "What the hell happened? what one earth are you--". he said, but got cut off by Christian who suddenly picked up Angela in his arms and steadily walked to the cabins.
"What are you doing?" Mark shouted "Christian!"
"I'm being soldier!" Christian shouted back as he struggled up the stairs "If you don't want to help...then back off!".
Mark sighed as he regretted his actions from the week before and ran to him, helping him carry Angela up the stairs carefully.
"Who caused this?" Mark asked suddenly, his voice filled with suspicion "Did you see anything?"
"I don't know, I heard two gunshots and when I came out I saw Miss O'Connell lying on the ground unconscious and I, oh wait, come to think of it I saw two men standing about twenty feet away from her and one had a rifle and other looked completely scared...oh my god...it was them, I have a big feeling they had something to do with this!". Christian said suddenly in horror after having had calmly explained the situation.
As they kicked the door as opposed to knocking, Rick opened suddenly with a smile on his face but his expression changed dramatically at the sight of his sister's unconscious body being held by the two soldiers.
"Oh goddamnit! Angela! sis! answer me! please oh god Angela answer me! you can't be dead! you can't be!".
"She got thrown off her horse after two gunshots were fired, apparently she had been trying to get out of the fort when it happened" Christian said, as he and Mark set Angela carefully onto the bed. "From the looks of it she suffered quite a strong concussion".
"Was there a man with her?" Rick asked suddenly.
"No, no one was with her but I did see two men, a few feet away from her and one was holding a rifle, he looked like he was a foreigner from around the area of Yugoslavia and the second man was also in his early to mid- twentys and he looked like a Brit, he's been here hanging around a lot the last couple of days...he looked awfully panicky."
"What did he look like?"
"Um, dark brown hair, dark eyes, uh about this high" Christian said as he showed Rick. "He didn't have a gun though."
"David...it had to be him, damn bastard...I knew I shouldn't have let my sister go with him! Where is he?! ok here's my gun, I'm deal with that son of a bitch right now" Rick said angrily, as he reached into his holster, pulled out his gun and ran out of the room, saying "If I have to look for him throughout all of Cairo, I will and I'll personally put a bullet in his head".
"No wait!" Christian called out and stood up, but it was too late.
"I'm going to catch up to him, he can't take the law into his own hands, those men may be heavily armed and dangerous and we can't have another murder take place" Mark said as he peered out the door. "Something tells me those men may have had something to do with the murder of Anton Laramen, maybe they wanted to get rid of her as well...goddamnit...I'll be right back,stay here and watch over her".
Christian nodded and handed him his gun. "Glad you're finally acting like a true soldier, Mark, take careful precautions. I'll take her of her as best I can".
Mark nodded back and ran out after Rick.
Looking back at Angela, Christian walked to the clothes drawers where a water pitcher stood, he took it in his hand and carried it over to her where he sat down and pulled out a handkerchief and put some water on it.
"Oh Miss O'Connell, please wake up...you need to wake up" he said softly, as he gently padded the cloth on her head, cleaning off the sand and dust. "This action will not go unpunished".
Her still body remained still, she looked dead, but clearly she was breathing shallowly and this worried him more...what kept her in that state? Clearly she was alive but the blow to the head must have been keeping her in a state of shock.
Deep inside her dark dreamstate she was experiencing something else: One afternoon three years ago, when she had dusting and organizing some priceless china and a few books on British History and Asia in the Calabar mansion, she had heard the voice she had come to hate more than her own father.
"Hello sweetheart, mind if I join you?" Lewis had asked.
She had politely refused his offer of help and company and had courteously excused herself from his presence with a civility more nefarious than any slap ever given to him. Then in a gesture enough to make her freeze in place she had felt him press himself against her back, his hand sliding around her waist as he softly kissed her neck.
"Why don't you like me being around you Angela? Everybody says we make such a good couple, both of us being young and all, why don't we give it a shot and try to have a child, do you want that sweetheart?".
"Lewis, let go of me...now". she snarled as she tried to wrench herself away from him.
Lewis being a great master of elusiveness, pulled her back to him and renewed his strong hold on her, putting his lips closer to her ear.
"You know, you're such an icy bitch" he said snickeringly. "But you're going to be such a good wife, once we're married".
"For being twenty-one Lewis, you're such a moronic imbecile".
"You won't be saying that in three years".
The words echoed like a brass plate in her mind and suddenly something besides her voice gave way. A single sentence escaped her lips as she whirled around swiftly and swung her arm down viciously with the china pitcher, it's weight and deafening crash becoming a series of echoing angels deep in the depths of her memory. When she opened her eyes to look, she found Lewis lying senseless on the floor, a very interesting sight to see judging by the fact that the cuts and bruises and shattered blue and white delft china gave some really good contemporary artist's touch. The china had been an exceptionally good defense weapon and she stood staring down at him a moment longer. Then deliberately she knelt down as the maids came running in to see what had happened and quickly picking up the shattered pieces of the pitcher, she forced her mind to meet his wincing, dazed, emerald green eyes with a composure even the Nazi's would envy.
"I apologize, Lewis...but you...you uh startled me. I'm terribly sorry I can be so klutzy sometimes, I think it is best that you keep away from me from now on".
With her head held high, she gave him a little smile of satisfaction and walked out of the room, careful and serene as the Sahara after a sandstorm, hoping deep in the back of her mind that he'd be to scared about that to be angry and seek revenge...but oh how wrong she had been.
Outside in reality, Christian looked down at her with a worried look in his eyes, something was going terribly wrong and it showed on her face. She was crying but her eyes weren't opened, she was still in her state of unconsciousness.
"Oh my god, what's happening? Miss O'Connell? Miss O'Connell can you hear me?" he called as he gently shook her, no response.
He looked at the door and groaned in frustration. Suddenly he heard her let out a squeak of desperation and he saw deep struggle and anxiety on her face, frantically he tried to wake her up. He had absolutely no idea what was going on in her head. Angela was still in a sleeplike state and she suddenly gasped for air. Worried, Christian out his hand right above her nose and felt absolutely no air coming out but saw that she was trying to take in air in shallow breaths with all strength.
"God, where are O'Connell and Mark?"
The look inside her mind wasn't good...and if they lasted any longer out, Christian had no idea what was going to happen.
A sudden bell sounded throughout the fort. People were all peering out their cabins. Rick's face was a mask of rage and he started for the fort door, gun in hand. Mark caught up to him and suddenly stopped him.
"No! Mr. O'Connell! You can't!" he said "O'Connell, stop! I order you in the name of her majesty stop this instant!".
"Let go of me, Rennes!" Rick said angrily as she shoved Mark aside.
He ran into the crowd outside of the fort and searched frantically for David. They had moved up and down the streets looking for him. David was nowhere to be found and it wasn't surprising he may have well left the fort altogether during the brief period when no one had been out... the mystery was..."Why? why had he done this to her? what was in it for him?".
"Come on O'Connell, we need to get back to the fort maybe someone saw something, it's best if we get back"
Sighing, Rick nodded resignedly and they head back.
Down the road, Victor was pulverizing the road in his sleek, black '26 Ford Tudor Sedan as David looked back at the road behind them frantically.
"Goddamnit! why didn't you grab her! why didn't you stop that good for nothing soldier! we could have had Angela here! Do you know how angry Lewis is going to be!" Victor was shouting infuriatingly, as he honked the horn of his car.
"Well I'm sorry Victor but I wasn't about to let you shoot her! and what did you expect me to do? run over and grab her and drag her body into the car....no I don't think so...unless you consider the fact that the soldiers would've have chased us and put us into Cairo Prison!" David responded frantically trying with all his might not to have a nervous breakdown.
Victor suddenly braked and stopped the car. Frustrated, he put his head on the steering wheel and groaned. This had never happened and he knew this would look bad on his record (not that assassins kept any). The records of personal evilness were his own and he kept track of his ups and downs. Thankfully much to his relief he had all ups but this one down would cost him big time and he knew he couldn't tell anyone...Lewis especially.
"Ok, let's calm down, we can't afford to have Lewis find out about this mistake and we can't have him find out about me almost killing his fiancée, he'll kill me as well as you...so bottom line, we can't have him find out, ok? I don't tell him and you don't tell him and we're both fine".
David nodded and sat back in his seat. "So what are we going to tell him?" he asked as he stared out into the street.
"Um, well we're going to tell him that Angela never showed up and that they said that we should come back in the evening possibly around nine" Victor replied.
"Ok, well let's go".
They set out for Hotel Stack, suddenly fleeing the country was an idea looming on their minds as well. It was either fleeing or getting tortured and shot...fleeing was the main objective, getting shot wasn't an option they wanted. On the other hand they had the choice of getting shot point blank and having their bodies shipped out of the country. Lewis was a big lunatic so the last choice was always his favorite...unfortunately for them...their choices were quite different.
*~~~Fort Brydon~~~*
Jonathan enjoyed holding Angela as she slept, listening to the rhythm of her breathing and the soft little moans that she would make every so often. He enjoyed the warmth of her body next to his as he sat by her and caressed her hair, even under these circumstances she seemed so relaxed. The entire day he had spent with her, always checking her every five minutes. Rick still hadn't came back and Evelyn had gone to the museum and to see some of the parts of the city that she had never seen before.
As he began to lay her head down gently on the pillow Angela slowly opened her eyes and asked drearily "What happened? Where am I?....oh my god, what's happening?".
"Shhh, go back to sleep, Angela" he whispered. "It's OK, you're with me".
She laid her head down on the pillow and then he covered her with another blanket. The sky had gotten dark with the setting of the sun about two hours before and it was getting cold.
"I almost lost you today". He said solemnly "I don't know what I'd do without you. I think I'd die"
Angela smiled sleepily "You'll never lose me...I still can't believe David did that to me...I trusted him and he betrayed me no wonder Rick doesn't like him, he's a two faced moron".
Jonathan stood up and looked down at Angela and without another word he walked out of the room, pausing just a bit in the living room. He knew he needed to get some sleep but he needed to look at Angela for just another minute. The love that he felt for her grew everyday and it scared him to think about everything. He had never expected to need anyone his entire life, but he needed her, she was his life now and he shivered at the thought of losing her today. If Christian and Mark had been even a minute late today, David and the man with him would have slain her or kidnapped her, he didn't know what was worse. Thank god they had been there to save her.
"The next person who tries to harm her, I swear I won't hesitate to kill them" he thought.
With that thought he walked once more into the room and sat next to Angela and smiled. "I love you" he whispered.
"I love you too" she whispered back weakly, without opening her eyes.
After an eternal moment of silence, she slowly sat up and snuggled against him as he pulled her close to him.
"When we get back to London, please,please,please remind me that you get to choose the church and the engagement ring that you want, OK?".
Angela sat up suddenly and smiled "Oh my god...does this mean that?"
"Uh um, yes, it means that I'm asking you to marry me".
Angela's eyes were wide and tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks. "Jonathan, I don't know what to say...oh my god...yes! I'll marry you" she said tearfully, as she hugged him tightly to the point where his lungs were starting to run out of air.
"Angela, darling, ok...um" Jonathan choked, as he pulled at her arms. "Then let's not strangle the groom before the wedding".
"Oh, I'm so sorry. It's just that, I'm so happy. I can't believe this, it's all so surreal! I'm dreaming, this a dream. Oh I never want to wake up from this moment!" she said happily.
They both sat on the bed holding each other tightly savoring the happiness, until the door came flying open. Instantly they let go of one another and Angela laid down.
Rick came walking in, a look of fury on his face, it suddenly changed though as he saw Angela finally awake. He rushed to her and hugged her tightly as he felt the weight of tons fall from his shoulders.
"Oh thank god you're awake...you don't know how much I suffered. I thought you were going to die, how are you feeling?" he asked "Oh my god, thank you! You're still alive!"
"I'm feeling much better, thankfully... but ugh...my head feels so weird right now, it's in so much pain and I wonder if I can even stand up...or do anything else for that matter".
"The bash to your head was pretty hard so expect it to hurt at least for another day or so".
Angela giggled and winced suddenly. Jonathan gently nudged her and she laughed, wincing more.
"Well, I'm off to have a bite to eat, see you two tomorrow" he said before he walked out of the room. "Good night".
"So, it's time for you to go to sleep" Rick scolded. "After all, this day has been pretty tough on all of us".
"Wait, Rick I need to talk to you for a sec" Angela said solemnly.
"Ok...shoot for it".
"OK um, well I need to talk to you about Jonathan".
"So what's going on with him?" Rick asked curiously.
"Well um, how should I put this in terms you could just not get mad in...um I'm in lo--"her sentence was cut short as a tidal wave of sand suddenly blasted through the window, knocking Rick down to the floor and Angela to the opposite side of the bed where she hit her head and screamed in pain, but both of them not harmed much.
The furniture was mutely looking on untouched by the sudden sandstorm in it's midst. Rick quickly crawled over to Angela, as the spinning sandstorm twirled and suddenly drew away from the open window and gathered in upon itself, taking a human form, transforming into a dark robed Imhotep, looming above all. Though he had not seen them yet, he kneeled down and dropped two lapis lazuli objects which instantly touching the floor, morphed into two scarabs, they scurried towards the bed and scampered up, 5...4...3...2...1.
Angela let out a piercing scream and pounced onto Rick who slid into view of Imhotep's glance. Imhotep strode towards them and stopped.
"My love, it is time to return to Hamunaptra" he said in Egyptian, ignoring the fact that the man who had always foiled his plans was there beside her.
Angela stood up slowly and looked at Rick who while standing up pulled out his revolver. "Oh no you don't, you aren't touching' my sister".
Angela grabbed Rick and pulled aside. Stepping in front of him, as she smiled innocently at the High Priest.
"Imhotep, I never expected to see you again" she said in Egyptian. "Both of us need to talk about our relationship".
Imhotep smiled lovingly and strode to her and stood before her, staring at her silently, his expression hypnotic and his eyes intense with craving.
"Tell me my love what is it that you want? I would move mountains and oceans, even the heavens if you command me to do so, come with me, it is time to make you mine for all eternity".
He took another step forward and she backed away to his surprise. He offered his hand but she only stared at him guiltily.
"Please, we need to speak, it is a very serious matter concerning us...you must listen to me" she insisted.
Imhotep stood tall, arms crossed, a powerful handsome presence, smiling at his beloved with love of ages. "So then tell me my love, what is it that you wish to speak about?".
Rick stood tall and swiftly grabbed Angela. "Get out" he said sternly. "Get out now".
Something within Imhotep's mind suddenly snapped though and he pulled at Angela's other arm. Pulling her with such a force that Rick stumbled and let go of her. In a swift motion, Imhotep grabbed him with his left arm and suddenly his right arm shot out and punched him, throwing him into the wall across the room.
"Rick!!" Angela cried as she ran towards him. "Oh my god".
Imhotep beat her to him and with fists clenched slung his arms like a bat, across Rick's chest sending him spinning into the opposite wall where he crashed onto to the floor with an echoing slam. Rick, not quite our yet stood up drunkenly, trying his best to get to his feet but suddenly realizing much to his dismay that his knees were buckling.
Angela was at her brothers side, kneeling beside him, surprised to see him smiling if somewhat dementedly.
"Rick, please, get out of here, don't worry about me I'll be OK, just let me talk to him! for the love of god! Go! Go before he kills you!".
Rick breathing hard and wincing in pain smiled "No, I can't you're my sister and I'm not leaving you" he said, clearly proud, his pride was always there even in rough times. A definite defect at the moment.
"Get out" she ordered her brother as she deftly took out a locket that her mom had given her.
"Keep it and never forget me" she said dazedly, trembling, her eyes tearing up but chin held high.
"What you must be kidding....tell me you're kidding".
"I won't be needing it...not if what I'm about to tell him causes him to kill me, please Rick, leave"
Over by the door the regal and unstoppable high priest, eyes burning with rage, approached the semiconscious Rick, who was having trouble getting to his feet, and stopped just about five feet from him, suddenly he lurched forwards and grabbed Angela by the wrist, pulling her to him.
"Shall we speak then?" he asked her, as he glared at Rick.
Angela nodded and Rick was just about to resignedly step out of the room, but thought better of it, he had absolutely no intentions of going any farther than that. Hesitating, he turned back to Angela who signaled him to leave once more which he finally did.
"Angela better know what she's doing" he thought "I can't just leave her in there, but if I go in I'm even more of a risk for her because he wouldn't think twice about killing her".
Inside, Angela and Imhotep stood on opposite sides of the room, staring at one another.
"Where shall we begin" he asked suddenly, straightforward as usual.
Angela found to her horror that she couldn't think of what to say! "What is wrong with me?" she asked herself. She didn't know what to think. It was almost like she was starting to have second thoughts, but she couldn't. She loved Jonathan and only Jonathan.
"I am here, speak I am not an image that your in is tricking you to see" he said smiling, that one smile that seemed to always melt her instantly.
She stood by the door staring at him as he walked around the room, then walked to her and cupped his hands on her cheeks, caressing them gently, sending chills down her body.
"You my love, are the most important thing to me now" he said. "and I love you more than life itself".
"Did you not do this Evelyn?" she suddenly blurted out. "Did she not resurrect you and you came back with the idea of sacrificing her?".
"The other woman? No my love, I was being foolish back then, but time has made me realize that I needed to bring you back and with a blessing from Osiris...you resurrected me instead, you have Isiria's mind and body all you need now my love...is her soul".
Angela in complete confusion broke away from him and stood by her bed, leaving him standing by the door. The bizarre moment was ghostly in it's silence and pain filled agony.
"You left me" he said softly all of a sudden.
"What?"
"You left me and in pain I went back to Anck-Su-Namun and that is why I have been cursed all this time with the Hom Dai".
Suddenly the room became deathly cold and Angela suddenly knew that if she made it out alive that this day would be one that she'd remember forever. One for the reason being that she dumped a 3,000 year old high priest of Osiris and two that she escaped death for the third time and had lived to tell about it.
She looked into his eyes and felt her body and her mind freeze. Painfully she realized that she was drifting apart from him, his world, the magic and the intrigue. Her heart was breaking and she felt a deep pang of sadness enter her causing her to feel like crying out for Rick. "Oh my god, I can't do this, I can't, Why can't I say anything? I feel so weak, my chest hurts, I feel like I this has happened before, I feel weak, my mind is spinning, I can't think...my god, how can I say good bye? Help me I can't speak!" she thought nervously. "What can I say to him?".
The room was suddenly turning dimmer and dimmer and she could actually feel the denseness of the darkness surrounding her, engulfing her in a feeling of absolute suffocation.
"Look at me" he said.
Angela looked into his eyes and looked deep, they were so dark, so enigmatic and so hypnotic like those of the lethal Cobra and his intentions were just as suggestive.
"We must rid the world of these foolish mortals, so that only you and I remain to live as the rulers of all this world...the first to die shall be the fools who dared to wake me with their curiosity, they shall be the first to suffer as I have suffered".
"Um I--" Angela tried to say as she turned her back to him and thought in shock, trying to not scream for help...the words he had just spoken had been a slap in the face, her brother and her friends could not die and she looked at the wall for a moment in silence.
She suddenly turned around and lunged at him, causing him to fall back onto her bed. She was on top of him screaming and slapping him viciously unable to control all her confused emotions. "You will not kill anyone! you will not! how can you say those things! and, and you made me look like a lunatic in one of my dreams! and now you are here and you expect me to love you! how can you do this to me!".
He grabbed her wrists and turned the tables causing her to roll to the bed, now on her back as he pinned her hands to the bed. Trying to wriggle herself free she found it was to no avail and she looked up at him, out of breath with wide eyes.
"You do love me, look into your heart and soul and you will realize the truth. You found it in the desert and in your dreams and you cannot forget it so soon, you have to find it now...do not fight me and your emotions".
She unwillingly obeyed and looked into his eyes trying to find meaning to her confused situation. When he felt her body relax against him, he removed his grip on one of her hands and lightly stroked her face. Somehow this relaxed her and she closed her eyes. Imhotep looked down at her and smiled. He released his grip on her other hand and leaned into her face and pressed his lips to hers, giving her a lingering slow and lazy kiss. She obliged and kissed him more ardently as if asking him to increase the rhythm in his lips. Through heavy breathing and gasps for air, she suddenly realized he was trying to spellbind her! And she suddenly managed to scream "Rick! Help!...help me!".
Outside Rick heard her screams and immediately ran for the door, slamming against it, something was holding it tightly locked and a panic rushed through him, realizing that Angela could be in fatal danger.
"I'm coming Angela!" he shouted as he ran to the door, in a sudden answer it flew open and a blast of sand blew out sending him flying over the railing. "Oh holy shit!" he shouted as he reached for the railing, managing to grab onto a rail.
Angela suddenly came running out of the room and ran to him. She bent over the railings and held out her hands to him. "Oh my god, Rick! Give me your free hand! Come on! I'll pull you up!" she yelled frantically. "Come on!".
Rick looked up at her in shock and swung his hand up to hers, where she grabbed onto it.
"Get me up!" Rick pleaded. He now had one hand holding onto Angela's hand and the other holding onto the rail, trying his best to not let go.
"It's all right, now I'm going to pull you up and as I do, inch your way up the rail...hold on please, OK? Please don't let go!" Angela said as calmly as she could. "Oh god, please don't let go".
"I don't plan on letting go, sis, so less talk and more getting my ass over the rail please!" Rick yelled frantically.
They nervously worked together, with Angela looking back towards the room every so often, finally pulling him over the railing to safety. Angela kneeled down by him while he sat on the floor breathing heavily.
"How the hell did you get out?" Rick asked exhaustedly.
"Well, I uh, managed to make a run for it when he blasted the door, at the sound of you slamming against the door I guess he thought it best to blast you out of the way and to the floor below" she replied as she pointed down at the floor below.
"There is just something about me and getting hit by doors, I'm never going to quite understand that" he murmured with a weak smile.
Angela suddenly stood up and gasped, her eyes were fixed on someone or something behind Rick, who was just getting to his feet, he could feel its warm breath against his neck and he took a step forward causing the thing to let out a scream. He whirled around and raised his gun to fire only to have Imhotep bat the gun from his hand. Somehow the phrase of hors de combat lingered above Rick's head like a ten ton pile of bricks, his years as a soldier served him well for that phrase as he had many of his colleagues thrown smack into it with a bloody result. He slowly stepped back, quivering with fear as he clutched onto Angela's hand. Rick wasn't a religious person and he never had been but as he looked back at Angela with horror filled eyes he uttered the Lord's Prayer and closed his eyes wishing somehow that this was a nightmare and that he'd wake up from it, this time his intrepidity wasn't there, no this was sheer terror that he felt seeping into his body for the first time, a terror of being defenseless at his sister's side.
Angela was trembling, weeping hysterically as she saw Imhotep glaring and both of them. On instinct she pulled Rick back abruptly and they both ran down the hallway swiftly.
"You're scared of him?" Angela asked as they ran "OK, I have to admit I'm scared, but you?"
"Um, no, not really, I just didn't want to get us killed that's all" Rick said as he looked back, unable to admit the reality of the situation.
"Rick, you were trembling for crying out loud".
"No, I wasn't!"
"Yes, you were!"
"Where is he?" Rick said as he stopped and looked back in surprise.
"Oh-my-god there's no one there...nothing".
"Nothing at all, but he's got to be here, he couldn't have left" Rick said as he cautiously glanced around.
Somebody screamed, not a woman, not Angela, a man...a thing had done it, echoing down from the ceiling. They looked up in unison and saw nothing but eternal black. As Rick looked back towards Angela...she was gone!
"Angela!" he shouted, no response. "Angela! Where are you!"
Angela ran down the stairs struggling to see as the fort became darker and darker, only lighted by the gas torches and even the stars did not shine. Everything was turning pitch black and the moon was moving into a full eclipse becoming a death like cloak of darkness, even now the torches went out one by one in a domino effect of terror and chaos.
"and he stretched forth his hands towards the heavens and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt". Angela murmured.
The fort was somehow quiet...where was everyone? She looked back. Rick, where was he? She ran into the barracks, nothing, not a person in sight. She ran out and looked around...where was everyone? Suddenly her mind went blank she was unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or the understanding of it all and as she ran into the library, she found herself looking in horror. Five men or what little was left of them were sprawled upon the floor, drained of organs and bodily fluids. Angela screamed and didn't stay around to take their pulse, opening and running out the door quicker than she had came in.
Clambering up the stairs, she stumbled onto the floor taking in the cold fresh air of a night few of stars though the wind was whipping through the fort stirring the plants and sand in a silent whisper.... "Death will come on swift wings".
"Rick!" she called, no response. "Rick! Help!".
Suddenly to her utter horror she realized that nearly everyone was a husk of skin and bones! As she stumbled towards a room, a shelter, she could feel the horrid, sickening husks and see their light silhouettes. This was all too unreal and she felt like suicidal ideas would set in, the ideas that people often get when they no longer can take any more. She ran in the darkness of the fort, weeping.
"You are playing a dangerous game, Imhotep, it is dangerous to all of us. Nobody has to tell you what will happen if my brother gets his hands on the Book of Amun-Ra...you high station and your powers won't help you one bit, but you know that already" she thought. "How could you do this?".
She ran into an empty room and slammed the door behind her and found herself enveloped in the heavy, dense darkness of the room. Leaning herself against the door she sighed heavily, and as soon as she did..it moved suddenly as if an invisible force were trying to push it open, sending her tumbling forward, dumping her rather rudely onto the floor. Glancing up, she found much to her shock that it hadn't opened! It was still closed...what pushed her? Or what had pulled her? she wondered nervously.
She called out in her mind "Rick, help me!".
She got to her feet and began tentatively feeling her way along the wall, her eyes trying to adjust to the change of light. At least the room was empty. She walked into the middle and under her feet she hit something and fell to the floor where she landed in a painful thud. As she reached to stretch her hand which felt like it was broken into two pieces, someone unexpectedly grabbed her, causing her entire body to freeze.
In the hand that held her own, she felt the touch of all her deepest, darkest dreams. She knew deep inside that there was no way to try and fight the controversial feeling of the warm and unexplainable pressure in it's grip that pulled her up so she could stand. Her left hand reached out on instinct in a curious attempt to grab onto something solid and stable so she could brace her body against the painful fall to emptiness. Her heart stopped dead when her hand touched a wall of flesh, a smooth expanse of muscled chest, the hard powerful curve of a shoulder. Her lips were slightly parted on a word, a name to be exact, when that someone kissed her.
Pushing herself away from the person, she backed up a couple of steps and the obscurity surrounded her once again. Her eyes though suddenly focused on something in front of her, so she stared in that direction so she could see what or who it was. A distinct smell of spices and incense...of something exotic invaded her senses and her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest as she continued to stare uneasily at the person. Her mind slowly came to the realization that this person had a very muscular well built chest and her body suddenly began to shake as she saw the face that the chest belonged to and the person's eyes staring into hers, deep and dark as the mystical, but dangerous Indian Ocean. Angela took a few steps back again and felt a pair of hands slip around her waist, causing her throat to release an ear piercing scream. She could clearly hear the person that was holding her, talking to her, but she didn't want to one word and she didn't want to hear the voice, the voice she had heard for fourteen years. She writhed in it's tight hold, breathing heavily like a girl who doesn't want to listen to her parents when they say it's time to go to sleep, trying to get away-- a futile attempt. But her body stopped as the person placed sultry lips on hers, kissing her fervently. Engulfing her in a steamy dream. A dream that if not controlled would become a nightmare in itself, her very worst nightmare.
As the figure turned her towards him, he reached and slowly unbuttoned her blouse, pulling it off just below the shoulders. It kissed her shoulder and slowly worked it's way up her neck where it finally met her lips in a fiery kiss...quickly she turned and shoved him away, gasping for cold air.
"I cannot do this" she said in Egyptian "I cannot be with you".
"Why my love?" Imhotep asked seductively. "What is the problem?".
"I cannot be with you because I....I, do not love you, I am in love with another man...I will tell you once again...I am not Isiria and I cannot lie any longer, I am leaving Egypt and I will never see you again...that is my final decision."
Though it was dark she could instantly feel and see Imhotep glaring at her and his grip on her shoulders became stronger...any harder and she'd break, literally.
"Isiria will be mine and I will have her once again by my side, and you, you will not be an obstacle any longer" he whispered furiously. "You will not interfere between us."
Angela suddenly bolted for the door and frantically tried to pull it open realizing much to her horror that it had locked when she had closed it and she needed a key to open it. "Rick! Rick! Help me! where are you!" she screamed anxiously, tearfully as she pounded and banged on the door for a while, yelling, screaming, but it did her no good what so ever.
Imhotep turned her around so she stood facing him. "Why did you run away from me?" he asked softly "You cannot leave so why are you trying to do so?"
"I, I do not know" she replied nervously, not knowing truly what to say or do as she tried to restrain herself. "Please let me go."
"Forgive me my love, but you must come with to Hamunaptra." he said "Now close your eyes".
Jonathan's voice echoed in her head suddenly rephrasing that very phrase "Close your eyes". Angela stared at Imhotep uneasily trying with the little strength left in her to scream, but she realized much to her body's shock that she wasn't able to.
"Please close your eyes...I promise that nothing shall happen".
She sighed, resigned to her fate of a slow and very painful death, well she waited, and waited, and without warning he kissed her again. "For the love of you" he said in between kisses, as he nuzzled her throat. "I am willing to risk anything, including death itself".
Angela felt weak suddenly and she whispered. "Death itself". Before her mind completely blacked out causing her to collapse in his arms. He smiled, it had worked...the spell had worked it couldn't have been more calm and less chaotic. He picked her up and carried her limp body out the door to the corridor in a position in which she seemed to be an offering to the gods. It was a position of two newly weds that had just started to leave for their honeymoon, in a twisted otherworldly sort of way...all's fair in love and...death.
Rick struggling to get up from the massive headache he was just getting due to the fact that someone had slammed him in the head with a crowbar, was looking around dazedly. "Ow, my head....oh my...god, where's Angela?" he suddenly thought as he steadied himself, his head spinning in a maelstrom of confusion. But Rick was suddenly aware of a presence in back of him again and he looked back expecting to see Angela...close enough. He found Imhotep holding onto Angela's unconscious body, sending a gasp of fear through him, he yanked out his revolver from his holster and trained it at Imhotep's back.
"You get one chance to stop" he said sternly. "Let my sister go....now".
Imhotep kept walking away from him, heedless to Rick's warning, for one, he had absolutely no idea what he was saying and two, he really didn't care. Rick blasted away, swiftly stepping in front of him, blocking his path. The shots hadn't seemed to register much to Imhotep, except some very annoying metal objects stuck in his back, the bullets had made entrance wounds, but not one drop of blood came out. Instead, Imhotep roared with rage and with only a look he sent O'Connell flying across the hallway into Jonathan, who was just running in, knocking him down like a bowling pin...strike!
As Rick and Jonathan dazedly pulled themselves up into a sitting position, they saw Imhotep speaking softly, tenderly to Angela [who was unconscious] in Egyptian as he carried her and held her close to his chest. The goddamn mummy was going to take her!
Rick jumped to his feet and ran for them fast. "No, you son of a bitch you aren't taking her!!" he shouted.
Jonathan took off in the opposite direction and he skidded to a stop at this remarkable sight and any sign of shock got caught in his throat as the dire consequences of them not leaving Cairo sooner, stood holding Angela in his arms, tall...and menacing. Looking at him with loathing and scorn in his eyes, Imhotep looked face to face at Jonathan as if he were trying to decide whether or not he should kill him and how.
"Let her go." Jonathan said as he gathered every last bit of bravery left in him. His own voice suddenly reminding him with a vengeance. "The next person who tries to harm her, I swear I won't hesitate to kill them." He gulped at the remembrance, staring at the unhuman,undead, "next person who tries to harm her".
Seeing that this of course did not work, he repeated the same in Egyptian. Imhotep stared at him for a moment as he stood just a few feet from him.
"What makes you think, you fool, that I would let her go". He said to Jonathan in the same tongue. "Do not interfere".
And with that he sent Jonathan flying into a pillar. A sudden gust of wind blew in and Imhotep seemed to spin into a tiny twister of sand and speed, nothing but a sand tornado that grew larger by the second, spinning with incredible force, suddenly lifting itself into mid air before spewing out of the fort...disappearing into the silent Sahara.
"No!!" Jonathan shouted. "Angela!!"
Rick couldn't believe the sight of that either, Imhotep had taken his sister! He had lost his sister once when they were younger...and he realized that he couldn't lose her again. He was going insane as the crowd had been in the marketplace the year before as he yelled "Angela! No! You goddamn bastard you can't do this to me! Angela! No god! No!"
Jonathan ran to him "O'Connell, calm down, please! We need to set out to Hamunaptra now! There is no time to waste!".
Rick was going hysterical as he remembered the day 16 years before as his uncle's car had driven away from their house as Angela ran behind them screaming his name only to be restrained by her father and carried into the house. Jonathan was not far behind but he kept his sanity by thinking of how much Angela meant to him and the secret that both shared didn't help the mood as it pained him not able to reveal it.
"Well, I couldn't have put it better myself" a voice said from behind them. A voice that pretty much rang the bells of "Oh no" and a few unmentionable four letter words...damn.
Both Jonathan and Rick turned in the direction the voice had came from to find David, Lewis, Vinnie,Victor, and about twenty henchmen, all armed.
"We'll be more than happy to help you out...oh and by the way Rick here's your girlfriend" David said as two henchmen pushed Evelyn forward abruptly.
"What do you want Calabar?" Rick asked, ignoring David altogether.
"Were kind of in a hurry" Jonathan added coldly.
"Oh this won't take long, Jonathan, I mean it's in absolute demand for recovering that, um, you haven't been told of why we are really here. It wasn't a, how should I say, a decision that we just merely skimmed through lightly and truly I hope you know how we thought about it over and over and about the consequences of this as well. Vinnie, the gang, and I have only known you guys for a very short amount of time and although we never doubted your abilities and professional expertise we really need to deal with this. I apologize to interrupt you in such a bad time, but--" Lewis said as he sighed. "But I---"
Placing one hand on Evelyn's shoulder positively shining with sadism at being "honest". If anyone else in the group but Jonathan had thought about looking over, they would have seen a completely new expression of utter bewilderment and confused eyes on Vinnie and Victor's faces which actually revealed clearly that Lewis's noble actions were all a really big newsflash to them and everyone else there.
"What is his plan?" Vinnie wondered "What is he up to?".
"Calabar, get to the point...it's a nice beginning and all but why don't you just explain to us what the hell you really want with us or my sister" Rick said abruptly. "and please don't lie to me, I don't buy that goddamn sweet talk".
"Oh your sister" Lewis grinned innocently. Jonathan's presence suddenly showed that he was actually in a very exuberant mood at that moment. Angela hadn't told her brother or Jonathan and Evelyn the full story about her life with him, cutting out all of the attempted escapes and shouted curses and other unpleasant events and Lewis knew exactly how to change the entire story to his full advantage. "This will be too good".he thought maniacally.
"Oh god...I really did hope that I would not have to do this but I guess you really leave me with no other choice" Lewis said as he motioned one of his men...Victor to hand him a portfolio. "I am really afraid that this turn of uh, events has honestly left us, no other option...it came to--oh how should I say this? it came to something highly undesirable...but I --"
Lewis was suddenly cut off by David "It came to my attention a few days ago that artifacts were missing from the dig at Hamunaptra, being the incorruptible person that he is he couldn't hide the truth from me and soon we discovered as you can see by these papers that the people responsible for the taking of the artifacts and the peddling of them are...you have absolutely no idea how much this pains me to say, Rick...are your sister and Jonathan.
Rick suddenly punched him the jaw, knocking him to the ground. "Don't you ever accuse Angela of something that you goddamn moron, so this is who you've been working for all this time you two faced son of a bitch! I might of known".
David sat up and rubbed his jaw, glaring at Rick angrily. Rick now stared at Jonathan who was at the moment staring at Lewis. Lewis took a step forward and shook his head resignedly and sighed.
"Evelyn, with all your understanding and very extensive knowledge of Egypt and it's history, I'm sure you'll be able to fully understand our worries and anxieties, I mean all of this comes from the deep fear that the most, um no, the single most important dig, being Hamunaptra the dig of the century, cannot be taken away from the world by two very irresponsible people who care for nothing except their own fortune and well being...these two mindless people who would be more than willing to give it to a group of clueless,greedy,power hungry bureaucrats".
"Like you Lewis" Jonathan snapped coldly. "Because I certainly can't think of anyone else that fits those descriptions".
"Jonathan, you hurt me, how can you possibly think such things about me".
"Well, possibly because I almost got my brains blown out by one of your bloody henchmen and you tried to kill me here in the fort when we last met".
Evelyn sat down quietly, abruptly onto a wicker chair, her hand to her mouth and her legs refusing to hold her weight. To his utter shock Jonathan saw her suddenly look hurt and depressed, every inch of her face a look of sadness spelling out a curse, a
final reprimand, that cried out his name, spelling it, engraving it onto his tombstone if he didn't run for it soon.
Digging all his bravery through the deep despair he felt and looking serious and tranquil, Jonathan wished to sell his soul to Satan so that he could have the incredible physical build and strength to kill Lewis with his bare hands, but his mind ended only
wishing for Lewis to be quiet...not quite.
Lewis continued obviously enjoying himself. "I spoke to Jonathan a couple of days ago about this problem and I wanted to talk to Angela privately yet they both seemed so very, very close to one another that it was impossible to do so. To tell you the truth I was extremely afraid that maybe Angela might be just an assistant and a victim of bad loyalty to someone. Now all Jonathan has to do is give us the money and the artifacts and this little problem will be forgotten, erased, whatever you want to call it. But ugh, I see that they tried to change the story to their full advantage with lies and stories of unwelcome advances and beatings, this is so hurtful".
He shaded his eyes with his right hand, overwhelmed with the frustration of all of it. "Rick, believe me when I tell you that as gorgeous as Angela is, I have absolutely no interest in her, whatsoever".
"So why did you try to kill her the last time I caught you".Rick asked suspiciously.
"Oh that too, I don't know what came over me, she told me that she wouldn't give me the artifacts and I, I don't know what came over me...I'm really sorry about that".
"Listen Lewis, I'm not in the best of moods right now, we're kind of in a bit of a hurry...so could you save this for another time" Rick said, as he tried to walk away.
Seeing Evelyn in deep depression was horrible, but seeing Rick worried, sad and on the verge of backing down from a potential fight was more disillusioning than seeing a Med-Jai warrior like Ardeth Bay, at a UN Peacekeepers Meeting with a heart and a peace symbol painted on each cheek singing "It's a Small World After All" and surrounded by little children waving flags from all the countries of the world.
"Where are you going?" Lewis asked as they turned to leave.
"Lewis...I apologize to you" Rick ventured, his voice filled with a tone of sadness. "We're going to look for my sister, she's been kidnapped".
Moving between both Evelyn and Rick to put a hand on their shoulders, Lewis shook his head and sighed sadly. "Please understand, I'd like to help...though I'm not to sure whether or not your sister is to blame for this. I'm certain she didn't do anything to harm anyone. I think her uh, it was her love. It always happens when a very sensible girl falls in love with a very influential and bad role model" Lewis looked at Jonathan, anger in his eyes, as he aimed a sharp look of utter triumph at him.
Suddenly though that look became nothing but a faded remembrance when Rick looked at him suddenly, directing his eyes full of anger and disappointment at him. Jonathan had never felt so completely small and so utterly lonesome. God, why hadn't he died the year before, he thought. It would have been so much better.
"O'Connell I swear it's not like he's telling you the--" Jonathan tried to say.
"Did you take those things? Do you know where they are? Tell me Jonathan" His voice was cold enough for Lewis and Victor to take a few mental notes in their little Black book of Mental Torture.
"O'Connell it's not my --".
"Did you?"
"No and Angela told --"
For only the third time in her adult life, Evelyn looked at him with disappointed eyes and Rick suddenly gave him a left hook, sending Jonathan to the floor with a thump. He looked up at Rick in total amazement as the sharp swell started to go up his cheek. That's when Rick suddenly gave him one final murderous glance, rage outlining every inch of his face.
"As of this moment you are no longer getting near Angela. I'm glad you only got to being friends because I would personally kill right now, so get it clear...stay away from us, I don't want you getting near any of us from now on, do you get that? Now get out!".
"But we didn't ---"
"I said get out!".
Jonathan stood up and turned to walk away only to face the barrel of a gun...Lewis's gun. If he stayed here he had no doubts whatsoever that Rick would probably shoot him, or at least pummel him senseless, but seeing this made him prefer Rick killing him anytime. Either way he wouldn't do Angela any good at all. Swallowing his shock, fear and horror; he backed up into Evelyn and Rick determined to do what little he could to keep him and them alive for as long as possible.
"Going somewhere" Lewis walked towards them. He'd distilled his voice, eyes, and all his other aspects from the purest, deadliest venom possible...obsession.
"Lewis, what the hell are you doing I thought we were going to talk later" Rick said sternly.
"Well Rick, I changed my mind, I'm a very indecisive person but my final choices are usually the ones I stick too...you three are going to take us to Hamunaptra to get those artifacts from the dig, since we will be in the middle of the Sahara, well as they say...they'll be no witnesses...no one will even know that you're gone".Lewis said nonchalantly.
"Bug off, Lewis" Jonathan said. "You have no idea what you're dealing with and truthfully you don't want to know".
"I think we do, Jonathan" David said dryly. "You see I'm looking for the Book of the Dead and something tells me you're pretty in touch with that knowledge of it...you guys know how to use it and what it contains...so what I need is you three to accompany me, there are no options, you're coming and that's final".
"How dare you, David you have no right doing this, the Book of the Dead is highly dangerous! You just can't read from it and see what happens!" Evelyn said frantically, suddenly realizing that she had just blurted out the process.
Rick threw a hard "Why did you say that?" look at her causing her to look away, embarrassed at the henchmen.
A small smile traced David's mouth and he nodded "Thank You ever so, Evelyn now all I need is Angela to read from it and I'm set....or do any of you know? Oh wait, Evelyn you know how to read Ancient Egyptian as well as Jonathan, ha, that power is as good as mine".
"What powers are you talking about?" Lewis suddenly asked.
"Um, well, powers, um, well what I meant was powers as in money, but nothing else. I swear".
"Hanan, the curator, told me that the artifacts they want back are capable of unleashing a curse upon the world...is that the power you're talking about?".
Rick smiled mockingly pushing the sadness deep, causing Lewis to get angrier. "Tell us David, what are the powers? Cause personally I don't think it's money that you really want...come on Dave tell us" Rick insisted.
David looked around at everyone nervously, angry hate-filled eyes focusing on Rick. "It's money, Rick...that's all".
"Really David I heard that the artifacts were to release some kind of curse or grant power to whomever possesses them, so they can rule over the world, getting anything they desired...is that what you want?" Rick replied scornfully.
David glared. "How would you know?".
"I just know,David...why do you want to know?"
David didn't answer, he just thoughtfully looked at Rick.
"Oh David just doesn't want to admit that he wants the powers that the books supposedly have" Rick said. "You hypocrite".
"Now I remember" David said, nodding, smiling and admitting or, he managed to throw a sharp right jab into Rick's jaw, the punch dropped him to the ground, where he lay rubbing his jaw, not quite unconscious.
"Oh my god, Rick!". Evelyn screamed as she rushed to him, kneeling down beside him.
She looked up at David, who was looking down at them. "I always felt like doing that" David said. as he walked way. "Oh and by the way...now you're coming with us, take them"
The henchmen grabbed Jonathan and a struggling Evelyn, followed by Rick who was dragged downstairs.
Lewis got into his car with Victor and Vinnie and laughed. "David is such a bastard, he thinks he can outsmart me...well he has another thing coming, no one tries to outsmart me...no one".
"What do you plan on doing?" Victor asked.
"Follow along with his foolish story of powers and stuff, all I want is the money that those things are worth...I don't believe that foolish superstition and belief of supernatural powers and ruling the world, that is the biggest stupidity I've ever heard of".
"So are we heading to Giza Port" Vinnie asked, as he started the car.
"Yes, the trip is a day by boat and two by camel so we're starting our journey there".
With that the car sped away followed by five other cars, all disappearing into the dark Cairo streets headed for a danger greater than any could imagine, greater than death itself...greater than life itself, and this was just...only the beginning.
Chapter 17....
*~~~Sahara Desert~~~*
Out in the vast,shadowless Sahara Desert the quiet tranquility was suddenly interrupted by the swirling winds of a tornado making its way through the valley where itstopped. The swirling particles of sand condensing, molding themselves, fashioning into a statueof sand...the statue of the High Priest of Osiris and his future mistress. It transformed,color,and textures holding on, forming until finally Imhotep stood there, smiling smugly. Looking as handsome as ever,he looked down at his unconscious beauty and arranged her blouse and jodhpurs, smoothing them out with just a glance, covering her legs, putting some sweet words into her head before he kissed her forehead softly.
Angela stirred and drearily opened her eyes. "Oh my...god." she whispered,not referring to Imhotep. She had suddenly noticed the crates or what was left of some of them and she realized that there was a familiar landmark just ahead...the crushed ruins of the City of the Dead. She looked up at Imhotep as he held her and she whispered "We're back" before suddenly blacking out once more.
Imhotep smiled and closed his eyes, chanting. His handsome face in deep concentration asrecited a spell and though silent it was as if he were rallying the sand around him into a full scale battle with the wind as the sands rose from the desert floor, flying upwards and swirling around the ruins, covering them with a blanket of twisting winds. After five minutes the sand dissipated falling like a sheet of rain, out of it emerging like a gift from the gods...a dark shape, the silhouette of a volcano...the new Hamunaptra. As new as if it had been recently built, beautifully constructed. The sky now starry had turned the desert and the city itself into an azure tingled ivory.
From the distance, he could still see his men in their chariots following him, whips cracking as they rode, charging towards the city with Anck-Su- Namun's mummy, that had been the worst mistake he had ever done and looking down at his true beloved he thanked the gods for having her in his arms, before swirling back into a dervish and vanishing into the once ruined city of Hamunaptra.
Soon he found himself alone in the grandly pillared chamber where in the center, the strange twisted alter of granite stone and smooth obsidian surface gleamed in the torch light, there he placed Angela. The first stage of his power, the memory sleeper he'd cast ad been successfuland she was in a peaceful sleep. All he needed now, that vial, he needed the elixir and the incantation to bring Isiria back, but first.....
"We must dress you appropriately so you will completely be mine once the incantation is fully complete" he whispered lovingly. "What I now need are some slave girls to prepare you".
With that he pulled out the Book of the Dead from under his arm "This time the Med-Jai shall not stop me".he said. Then opening the book, he read an incantation as he strode to a large granite door in the chamber, holding it like a Holy hymn book as he chanted the ancient spell from the book's dark pages gliding his hand over the wall causing it to burst open.
As the dust cleared he could see clearly standing in the archway, two living mummies of slave girls, no doubt they had been buried with Pharaoh as part of the ceremony for the dead. They both stumbled forward and looked around not sure what had just happened...they looked normal! Absolutely human!
Bowing before him one asked. "What may we do to please you, Lord Imhotep?"
"Prepare her" Imhotep pointed at Angela, who was still asleep and grinned triumphantly. "Prepare her for the spell, dress her in her ceremony garments, she will dance for me once more"
The two girls nodded and walked towards Angela to prepare her...for the dance of her life.
*~~~The Nile,a Steamer~~~*
Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan all sat on the deck, surrounded by guards, neither able to get up or move in any direction. Since their hostage crisis had began all had refused to speak one word to Lewis or David who frustratingly tried to think of ways to make them talk and confess what the Book contained and what the artifacts were worth. Unfortunately money and power never brings out the best of people both on the giving and on the receiving end. In this case though there was an unwilling side and a demanding side that both caused a turbulence in the world of greed.
"For Christ's sake!...talk already, Rick!" David suddenly shouted after an eternity of silence. "Say something!" he shouted again in Rick's emotionless face, glaring at him angrily.
Rick continued to stare back, unwilling to speak. The men were getting restless and anxious as to find out the hidden secrets that the hostages had on their minds. Evelyn had refused to even look at him and Jonathan just whistled English jigs, ignoring the shouts of anger that David emmited.
"Fine! Don't talk! we'll figure out a way to squeeze those words out of you.....or better yet shoot those words out of you".
Rick suddenly laughed and shook his head, finally saying. "David, has it ever occurred to you that I could easily guide you to the middle of nowhere, far from here so that you wouldn't have enough time to make it to Cairo unless you were dead and being dragged by a camel".
David sneered and laughed, frankly unconvinced of Rick's intentions to abandon them. "Oh please Rick, so you honestly think I'm stupid enough to believe that....you'd go to the vile Inferno if you had to save your sister from Satan himself".
"Well, if you haven't noticed you bloody moron...we are going to theblasted Inferno to rescue Angela from one of the undead....the all powerful High Priest of Osiris" Jonathan murmured, suddenly annoyed by David's incessant evil that seemed to be penetrating his mind slowly to the point of migraines.
"What did you say?" Lewis suddenly asked, after so much time of being quiet. "Why don't you repeat it for us?"
"Who? Me? Nothing absolutely nothing, what? Are you going to pummel me?" Jonathan snapped back angrily.
Lewis pitched his revolver to the floor, not realizing that it had just slid by Evelyn, thinking. "Ya, I'm going to pummel you, you idiot" and threw the best left hook he had in him smack into Jonathan's jaw. Evelyn screamed and looked away, suddenly noticing the glimmer of hope...the shotgun.
Quickly she looked up the group, thinking "Oh my god...OK Evelyn, don't panic, just slide the gun over to Rick and he just might reach it".
In the meantime Jonathan looked up at Lewis, as he spit some blood out of his mouth and stared expressionless, for the first time he suddenly realized that he was taking this more like O'Connell...he suddenly didn't care how many times someone punched him and even it hurt or not. With a smile to himself he thought, "Love has it's advantages, I have to keep myself alive for Angela's sake".
Rick sat back in his chair, arms crossed as he stared at everyone "I swear,you guys are going to pay for this" he thought furiously. "I'm going to ring your scrawny little---".
His poetic description was cut off by a coughing Evelyn who while coughing managed to signal him to where the gun was. Rick smiled at her and lip spoke "Thank you". Slowly he picked up the gun as he slid it up the leg of his chair, unnoticed by anyone.
"Goddamnit! I'm going to bed! Figure out a way to make them talk! " David said as he walked down the corridor. "They can't remain silent for long".
Lewis shook his head "OK, you heard the man, six of you will stay at a time, you'll switch every four hours... I think it's time for the rest of us to go to sleep" he said, before walking away "and whatever you do, don't keep your eyes off of them!".
"It won't be the same without you, Louie!" Rick shouted sarcastically.
"and a cheery good night to you, Rick". Lewis answered before disappearing downstairs.
The rest of the men followed, only Victor,Vinnie, and four others stayed behind to keep watch. It was clear that all wanted to go to sleep but none could do so and they hated it, and this Evelyn knew. In a soft tone she slowly started humming a lullaby and nudged Jonathan who immediately started to hum along
"I have no idea what the hell Evelyn is doing". Rick thought. "But I hope it works somehow". He closed his eyes and Jonathan decided to join him as he stopped humming,realizing how odd he must have sounded humming a lullaby to a bunch of guards.
As she continued, Evelyn's voice became soothing to the guard's ears and unable to withhold the sleepiness that engulfed their very souls, one by one, they fell asleep. Only Victor and Vinnie remained awake, much to their dismay...throughout the entire humming session they had kept their eyes fixed on the one would be hummer, their stares never changing position, no blinking, no moving. Vinnie looked down at his watch and sighed "12:35".
"Come on go to sleep" Evelyn thought as she kept humming, closing her eyes,her throat was becoming sore from the endless repetition of the song.
Vinnie though reluctant at first, fell victim to Morpheus's power and soon he was fast asleep, reclining on the rail comfortably, his gun laying beside him as he gently breathed.
Victor looked around and softly tiptoed down the hallway. "They're asleep,thank god no I can finally rest". He thought as he walked downstairs, disappearing from view.
"Evelyn? Jonathan? Come on this is our chance" Rick hissed, still keeping his eyes closed.
Evelyn and Jonathan sat up suddenly and looked around at the snoring group of guards who all lay, sleeping soundly like a bunch of babies. They both smiled simultaneously and slowly stood up as Rick followed. As they cautiously made their way around them, a long silence seemed to surround them, only the sound of the water churning under the boat like a bubbling brook seemed to be the loudest thing. Even under the circumstances it was a quite a peaceful Zen sort of moment.
Then suddenly Evelyn and Jonathan felt themselves being yanked in the opposite direction of the hallway, their feet literally dragging on the floor as Rick, two guns in his holsters, held onto them with both hands as he walked along the deck, carrying them both like two sacks of flour.
"We're going to swim to the far bank and from there we run for it, it doesn't matter where, but we have to get as far away from them as possible" Rick said suddenly as he stopped.
"Well, we can swim, there's no need to worry about that" Jonathan said. "The occasion does certainly call for it you know".
They all nodded in silent agreement and suddenly they ran for the opposite side of the boat where without any second thoughts they jumped over the railing, back flipping into the icy cold river. Shocking everyone's body, numbing to the very deep notches of their bones. Rick was already stroking towards the far shore and Evelyn followed, soon clambering up the riverbank she found to her happiness that Jonathan was already there standing by Rick, both soaked and dripping wet, shivering with cold, but nonetheless alive.
"Well, now what?".Jonathan asked, as he wrung out his coat. "Next part of the plan ol' chap and fast!".
"Now we run for it" Rick said, as he looked at the steamer that was sailing down the Nile against the current. "Now come on".
"But we don't have any supplies!" Evelyn protested.
"Well we'll get some, now come on!".
Frantically running up the hill, they raced into the desert. Time was of essence and they couldn't afford another set back, this trip was a search and rescue and nothing was stopping them from saving Angela.
**"Where the hell are they!" Lewis shouted at his men. "I tell you to watch them and what do you do? You fall asleep! What do I have to do to get a job done right".
"Lewis, um, they were asleep...how were we uh, suppose to know?" Vinnie stuttered nervously, as he looked around guiltily.
"Ugh! OK you know what? As soon as we get off this god forsaken boat we're going back to the dig site!"
"But we don't know where it is!". One of the men protested suddenly.
"Oh how you underestimate me. It's very simple to find the dig all we have to is go to a Bedouin camp, rent a few camels, ask around and we're set, or do any of you happen to remember where it is?".
"I do" Vinnie replied. "Well, sort of".
"Good then, we're set...this is but a minor set back, lets just not make another mistake, got it?... Now get some sleep...all of you".
At that moment Lewis and David suddenly detected everyone's spirit waning further, but even though not admitting it, so were theirs. It was tough to do this but this was the point of no return in many cases than one and the only thing left was to move forward...into hell itself.
*~~~On Shore~~~*
"Ok--I--think--we--can--stop--now" Rick gasped as he stumbled to the floor in desperate need of air and exhausted from running. "We're--pretty-- much--far--enough--so--they--don't--find--us".
The cold wind made it impossible to breathe freely and so they slowed a little ways to small oasis where they struggled to gather some branches and some pinnate palm tree leaves and built a good size fire enough to keep them warm.
"I want you two to get some sleep" Rick said, as they all huddled together by the fire, each taking their own little space. "We're going to rise again around four in the morning, so we can make it to the nearest camp without the sun beating down on us".
Meaning only five hours of sleep, there was absolutely no arguments whatsoever. The idea of traveling under the stars and dawn skies sounded beautiful after the cold air had tortured them.
Rick woke just a little after four and quickly roused Evelyn and Jonathan. They stood up and started their walk over the sand dunes, Rick always leading the way with Evelyn and Jonathan walking behind him. He kept an eye out for any sign of anything that moved, even if he still was drowsy from such a short a sleep he was well prepared for anything that would pop out at them. After a while of walking then, his eyes looked straight ahead where he noticed a sand cloud moving towards them.
"What the hell?" he asked.
"What? What is it?" Jonathan asked. "Is it Lewis?"
"No...it's not Lewis"
"Then who is it?" Evelyn asked uneasily.
The cloud was too far away for Rick to be sure and with the navy blue sky painting the desert an ivory and blue tinge, it was hard to be sure of who or what it was...but he could swear the riders face had painted on them a familiar piece of antiquity, their faces were the tattooed flesh of the Med- Jai!! Of course they could also be a band of nomads or a sandstorm (Which was extremely unpredictable in this part of the desert).
"It's the Med-Jai" Rick said confidently. "Ardeth Bay has got to be with them".
As the horses were clear in view, Rick stood up straight and they all watched as little by little the riders got closer. The rumbling of the horses galloping suddenly getting louder, the sound of hoofbeats quickly joined by a thunder shower of shouts and battle cries filled the air.
"Stop!" Ardeth shouted in Arabic to his men, where they suddenly stopped their horses.
At the sight of the trio, he smiled and jumped off his horse so he could greet them.
"What are you doing out here in the middle of the Sahara without anything to protect yourselves with?". He asked.
"Well would you believe me if I told you that my sister was kidnapped by Imhotep, taken to Hamunaptra and we have just escaped being hostages of Lewis Calabar by jumping off a boat into the Nile again, plus we just spent a night at the oasis eight miles from here" Rick said with a wry grin.
The hard eyed, angular faced Ardeth smiled partly in respect to a valiant fellow fighter, partly to laugh at the story only to realize that he had just heard the creatures name, changing his mood dramatically. And when a Med-Jai changed his mood...god(s) help who ever he's angry at.
"Come now, you shall come with us to the camp, from there we will set out to the site of hell".
Climbing on three horses the trio watched and followed as Ardeth mounted his horse, reared his steed back and galloped off, crying out to the warriors who immediately raced after him, all vanishing into the dawn. In moments, only the dust and echoes of their hoofbeats remained in the lonely desert...far away from civilization, far away from hope.
*~~~Hamunaptra,City of the Dead~~~*
Angela awoke abruptly as if from a terrible nightmare suddenly realizing with alarming clarity that she had just woken to a reality worse than any nightmare her mind could have possibly fashioned for her troubles. She in an instant that she'd been laid a top a sacrificial alter in Hamunaptra's amphitheater for the dead and she was instantly aware that she was cold as well and that almost all her body wasn't covered with any piece of clothing!
"What the hell happened?" she whispered to an invisible, unknown being, as she sat up and looked down at her body finding that she was dressed in a blackish red cutaway skirt and a very small, revealing halter top. "How did this? could he have done this?" she stuttered to herself in a low voice as she examined her jewelry.
Without a second thought she jumped off the alter and ran up the granite staircase only to trip and fall on her knees, causing her to give up suddenly as she sat down in the middle of stairs. Angela mumbled angrily as she rubbed her knees at least she was alone, or at least she thought so until she looked up from where she was sitting on the steps of the chamber. As she froze she saw Imhotep had been standing at the end of the chamber standing between the statues and pillars, observing her, amused as only he could be at a moment like this.
"What are you finding to be so amusing?" Angela asked him, a bit annoyed she was suddenly irritated at being found comical at that moment, of course he only smiled at her.
Angela glared, which only made him ever more amused, he seemed to like to be in control of situations and actually watching how people reacted to them, but his fascination at the emotional effect of the parting look on the soldier of fortune's face had been quite apparent. Just noticing she realized that whenever Imhotep was involved in their togetherness, he was extremely interested in the communication both physical and verbal between both him and her, so it was a possiblity that it was just one of his things that he enjoyed doing.
"My love, the scarabs will not harm you" he said suddenly, causing her to be suddenly thrown back into reality. His deep commanding voice added "I control the scarabs since they have after all been a part of me for so long a time. I have marked you as my own, they will not harm you or let any harm come to you as well".
Angela glanced down to find a scarab made from lapis lazuli resting betweenher breasts where the garment met to for her cover.
"You did this?" she asked as she gestured to her barely clothed body.
Imhotep only smiled and walked to her, where he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, letting his hands slide down her body, causing her lips to release an incoherent cry of rapture as his sultry lips turned their attention from her lips to tantalize the skin of her neck stopping just above her pulse.
"Lord Imhotep" a voice suddenly interrupted in Egyptian.
Angela pushed him away from her suddenly and walked down a couple of steps...to find another person, a girl, about nineteen years of age.
Imhotep glared suddenly. "What is it that you want?" he demanded.
His voice harsh and cold caused the girl to jump and run out of the room suddenly without another word. Angela looked back at him and found him once again smiling and on instinct she smiled fixedly hoping deep inside that she would somehow pass the examination in a good way. As he got closer to her though, she backed away one step down at a time, never taking her eyes off of him, but that only made her more tense and his hand suddenly intercepted her next step down, grasping her wrist tightly enough as to not hurt her. Looking at him nervously she watched as he drew an uncertain finger across her sensual, pouty lips staring quietly into her hazel eyes. Several infinities passed while he hadn't said a word as he studied her features in a trance like state that almost drove Angela to scream. He interrupted that thought though, in a quick instant his dark, obsidian eyes met hers once again burning a hole in her soul with the most painful soul eating question this side of the Underworld.....: "What were you planning on doing?" he asked. "Escaping?"
When she didn't respond, he let go of her hand, walking down the down the stairs several paces, as the muscles in his jaw worked with a strain of a deep, never-ending feeling. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase, stopping just in front of a stone idol of Osiris, god of the dead. Staring at it, he flexed his fingers in a silent frenzy of anger and spite, then suddenly lashed out as if his inner psychologist had just told him to take his anger out on a stone pillow it shattered into dozens of fragments with a single swift hit, causing Angela to gasped in horror as she backed away farther up the stairs hoping that she wasn't the next intended to be broken like that.
Suddenly Imhotep spoke, his voice was eerily calm, fully in control and hypnotically charming with the same deadly determination of a cobra. "You think I will accept your curse any longer as a lesson for others? very well, but hear me well oh traitorous gods, Isiria will be mine, she will be mine!" With another swift back hand, he shattered the second idol that had been directly beside the one of Osiris...It was the idol of Isis, goddess of...rebirth. In a sudden motion his face was a mask of pain and anguish and Angela couldn't bear it any longer, she closed her eyes and sighed but as she opened them she found herself alone.
"What the? Where did he go?" she thought frantically.
Imhotep moved to swiftly for her to do more than gasp as he suddenly imprisoned her shoulders in a hold of stone and titanium. "Remember! You must let Isiria take over you! You must let her return!" he hissed.
Angela only trembled as she looked at him with wide eyes, shaking her head frantically."Please, please let me go...you are hurting me" she cried as he held her tightly.
And to her surprise, he did let her go and without another word or motion,he walked out of the chamber leaving her in it alone with nothing save the mice and the flickering torches. All she needed were some crickets and she'd be set for the haunted temple of doom setting of a weird Indy story gone wrong.
"Now what? I need to get out of here! But how? I have no idea which way to go!" she said frustratingly only to tell herself "God! well I'm not standing here for another minute!" and she ran into the nearest corridor.
*~~~The Sahara~~~*
Out in the vast,neverending desert, four mounted figures rode parallel to the sun, silhouetted sharply as an exceedingly close race for the nearest star. Sun, sky, sand and rocks had melted to single shimmering goblet of gold wine, that was the desert. If it had been a wine, it's perfect name would have to have been "Sahara Gold serving your glass for more than 3,000 years" ironic how there is not one drop of water and yet this would be it's slogan...well almost. And in the heat who wouldn't desire a nice, cold glass of wine no matter where it was from.
"No wonder the buggers live near the Nile, they practically lived in an oven! God when are we going to get there!".
Evelyn laughed. "Honestly now Jonathan, if you can't be nice and say nice things then I think you--".
"Then you have been out in the sun for way too long".he grumbled, completing his sentence with sarcasm as he thought to himself. "Or you simply can't stand to remember that the one you love is with another man who is deeply in love with her as well".
Stress and headaches are never too conducive to elegant moments of poetic inspiration. By Egypt's standards of well being, though, the trip had gone so far smoothly, not counting thechildish take over. The quartet of camels drew to a halt a little distance from a mountain about three miles away from the Med-Jai camp and like a shock of electricity you receive from sticking your hand into a socket when it's wet, all eyes combined their glances on single idol looming about ten feet away. The face of Isis was beautiful, though all the paint had been worn away by endless pounding of sandstorms. Her beauty still showed clearly and suddenly Jonathan dropped into a depression so deep he felt he'd collapse and die right then and there.
"It's Isis, goddess of motherhood and rebirth" Evelyn said in awe, as she dropped into her history teacher mode. "She was a very beautiful and very popular goddess back then, perhaps she was the most important of all goddesses. Many people believed that she was the most powerful magician in the universe. Her cult originally was centered in Abydos".
"She is very beautiful, she reminds me so much of---" Jonathan caught himself and sulked.
"She decrees the fate of people and decides if they are worthy of being reborn".
Jonathan thoughtfully excavated bits of info from the back of his mind."Isn't she the one who brought back her husband, Osiris, after Seth hacked him up into pieces?"
Evelyn nodded "Yes, she is".
He narrowed his eyes at the statue, then looked out at the desert. "To tell you the truth, I'd say popular and beautiful is a very big understatement".
"Come on we must go, it won't take long before we arrive at the camp" Ardeth suddenly interrupted.
"I'll catch up with you three later" Jonathan said dazedly. "I want to stay awhile longer".
"Are you sure?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"Yes, go on ahead".
With that said, the other three rode ahead leaving Jonathan alone as he stared at the statue of Isis. He jumped off his horse and suddenly felt a cool breeze blow throughand he closed his eyes, remembering the last full conversation in a peaceful surrounding that he and Angela had, had.
// "So tell me, Angela, what do you think is so unique and interesting about Egypt?" he hadasked.
"I think being an embalmer- he was one who prepared the mummies for living in the underworld was a unique thing and it was a solid career choice in Ancient Egypt. Embalming was a trade that was handed down from father to son. The embalmers actually lived in the necropolises, or the City of the Dead where they could prepare the dead for burial. Although embalmers were pretty well paid, no one outside of the necropolises wanted to be near them...they smelled awful!" Angela replied with a series of giggles towards the end.
"Well thank god, we don't live back then...with my luck I'd be the Joe who
did that job"
"Oh! and another thing I think you already know this but back then people believed that there was another life after death...which is pretty interesting if you think\about it . From the pharaoh down to the lowest peasant, they believed that they would need their earthly bodies to house their spirits. Preserving the body through mummification in their minds would ensure their soul a home in the day...they could then enjoy a happy stress free life after death, in other words--".
"It was a perfect vision of life on Earth"
"Well yes Jonathan, you took the words right out of my mouth"
"If the soul did indeed use their body as a home then technically speaking Imhotep was in solitary confinement for more than three thousand years"
Angela laughed nervously and nodded "Yes technically, but let's not talk about him"
"Why not?" he had asked suspiciously.
"I love you" she had said and without another word she had kissed him, changing his mind immediately //
Now standing alone in front of statue, Jonathan looked up at the face of Isis and sighed. It was so unreal how all this was happening. Looking back in the direction of which the group had gone to he suddenly felt a warm hand touch his own causing a feeling of deep fear to fill him. It scared him to think what or who it could be, he was the only one out here! His heart was narrowly about to enter total failure and his body trembled violently as he tried to find the words in his head to say, god why hadn't he left!
He swiftly turned around expecting to find god knows what only to find himself looking into the eyes of a woman, his beloved--Angela!
"Oh my god! Angela! How did you--?" he tried to ask only to be silenced.
"I saw you from a distance, looking out at the Sahara, How's it going?" she asked softly. "I really missed you".
Jonathan smiled tearfully. "Oh Angela, I can't believe I didn't hear you or see you for that matter when you arrived"
She smiled and nodded. "I tried to surprise you". She looked at him for a moment, he looked so depressed. "What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me?"
"Of course I'm happy to see you, I just didn't expect to see you here of all places! I thought you'd still be in Hamunaptra or on the pessimistic side...in Heaven for that matter, to tell you the truth I had no idea what to expect!"
Angela laughed, she had always loved how Jonathan would always admit his fears to her and only her. Some men that she had known in the past would have died before admitting their fears, whatever it may have been. "Don't worry Jonathan, no scarabs hurt me or anything else so no need to worry" she said.
"I was worried that you'd be hurt by those blasted bugs" his voice choked from holding back more tears.
"It's okay" she said as she moved closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder.
Jonathan smiled, he loved her and now she was here. Angela yawned suddenly and asked. "God, what time is it?". She moved her head for him to look at his watch.
"It's nine-thirty" he replied.
"Well, I better head back to Hamunaptra, I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is the big day" she said as she looked around apprehensively.
"What! Wait, why are you going back there? You just got out of there!"Jonathan frantically said as he tried to grab hold of her.
Angela smiled weakly and blew a kiss to him and turned to walk away, as she did though, he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her around towards him. "Why are you doing this? You can't be bloody serious! this is a joke" he said, putting his arms around her waist. "Tell me this is a joke!".
"Please, I need to go" she said dazedly as she tried to pull herself away from him.
"No!" he said and softly kissed her, their kiss becoming more fervent as time passed. Their tongues playing with one another in a soft chorus of moans and soft whimpers.
It suddenly ended abruptly, when she suddenly shoved Jonathan away and laughed nervously "Good Bye,Jonathan...I'll see you tomorrow" she said before kissing him on the cheek.
Jonathan froze as he saw her turn and run into the desert and as he tried to move he realized he was cemented to the floor, he couldn't move! All he could do was watch her run down dunes and evaporate suddenly into thin air. All had been a mirage, a phantasm that caused his heart to well up and his legs to lose all feeling.
Slumping down into the sand, he wept "What just happened? Why? What was that for?...god why the bloody hell are you doing this to me?!".
Without another thought he mounted his horse and kicked it, causing it to gallop away into the desert, away from the statue and the horrid place on which it was. Not suprisingly, he felt a chill go down his back as the horse rode away from the statue, something though about it didn't seem natural, not that there was anything natural about gods and goddesses in Egypt. It's presence seemed to be following him and he rode even faster until it was out of sight.
The rest of the gang had stopped for a while and were conversing over issues of the past.
"Hey look, there's Jonathan coming back". Rick said, "Whoa, he's in a hurry".
"I wonder, from this distance it seems like something scared the living daylights out of him" Evie said uneasily. "He is completely pale, my god, what on earth could be the matter?"
Jonathan rode up to them and stopped his horse in a misty cloud of dust and Saharan sand. Rick could tell that he was beyond terrified of something, even as the cloud settled Jonathan was trembling with a look of terror spread across his face, but under all that terror to his surprise and everyone elses....he was flushing!
"Jonathan, what happened? What on earth is the matter?" Evelyn asked. "You look awful".
"Um, well, I uh, then she uh came, then left I uh, then I came riding back, because I, I didn't want to stay there" Jonathan stuttered. "Let's go now, please"
With a flick of the wrists all of them rode away into the desert, the sun was already rising to it's full intensity in the great vastness of the Egyptian sky. Now you may say that all the sky is not just in one country, but this is special, the Egyptian Sky is special, it's a space full of magic, wondrous sites of stars on the evening followed by the cloudless endless sun-filled sky in the morning, this was awe inspiring and adding the perfect setting of the Sahara and you're wildest imagination would set in, giving you daydreams of a lifetime.
"Someone is coming" Ardeth suddenly stated, his hand pointing at a large sand dune ahead of them. "Keep alert"
They all watched in worried silence as a figure suddenly popped out from behind the dune. Coming close enough to identify, they all realized that the little person posed absolutely no threat to them whatsoever, unless it was to a pair of puppies.
"Kaila!" Dismounting in a hurry, Ardeth ran to the child and hugged her tightly as she squeezed him. Holding her he fondly ruffled her long black hair that was now up in a braid. She broke into a series of giggles and squeals of delight as he sat her up on his horse. Like a little soldier she sternly surveyed the desert, her sandy domain of goldenrod waters and sienna patches of cliffs.
"You, you have a daughter" Jonathan asked in shock, hardly believing that this was true. His tone was equivalent to that of Dante's when he was about to enter the ninth circle of hell just barely getting the feel of the icy wind coming from Satan's own pair of wings.
The Med-Jai had always been known to be some of the greatest warriors that ever lived, but nowhere had they mentioned it being a family bonded group of any kind. So it came as a deep surprise to see a little munchkin come running to Ardeth.
"She is my daughter, Kaila" Ardeth explained, as he gently took Kaila's hands from his hair which she was trying to braid like her own. "Her mother passed away a few months ago from a fever and she is now in care of her grandmother".
"She is so adorable" Evelyn said cheerfully, with a smile as the little munchkin kept surveying the area, imitating her father in a cute display of wincing and sighing frustratingly.
Tugging at Ardeth's sleeve for some attention, she started to speak and gabble a very excited, almost frantic message. He nodded sternly and immediately remounted his horse, holding on to Kaila tightly. "Kaila has just reported to me that she has seen the whirlwind of sand traveling in...that direction" Ardeth said, as he pointed forward. "Let us go, we mustn't waste time"
Nodding, the gang drew their horses close and simultaneously galloped away to a day and a half's ride, a ride that would test everyone's sanity and everyone's lifeline.
*~~~Hamunaptra,City of the Dead~~~*
Torch showing the way, Angela guided herself into a passageway in the underground tunnels, her face streaked with deep confusion, her barefeet softly walking along the path. Up ahead of her was light, not the light of the torch but sunlight, filtering down through a crevice above. Smiling, she moved towards it, her hope sky rocketing as she walked faster. Something though stopped her, a feeling, an instinct from the back of her mind...telling her to stop. A feeling of a presence behind her perhaps ten to eleven feet away caused her to feel a chill of utter terror as it swept through her body as she froze and just stood, stock still. The torch kept flickering brightly though with the breeze seeping in from the above crevice but she didn't dare move, something internal told her not to move an inch, not to make a sound, but her curiosity told her otherwise and won her over.
"Who's there?....please answer me...I know someone's there" she said frantically, waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, she demanded "Come on dammit! Tell me who you are!"
"We've met before, come on now, you honestly don't remember me?" the voice said "A place ....the marketplace"
A sharp gasp escaped Angela's lips and she whirled around to find a scrawny, fez warring, little man, narrow shoulders, sunken chest, and a pencil line mustache.
"You! again! But how did you?-- and you were rotting! And now you're here! And you're looking normal!" she said frantically. "How can that be?!".
"Heh, it's not important how and why, all that's important is that I know now who you really are" he said a thin,weasly voice.
"What...do you mean by...that?"
"You're not Isiria, and as much as you tell Prince Imhotep, he hasn't believed one word...has he? But I know that indeed you are not her, in fact you're Rick O'Connell's little sister...Angela".
"I, I am not, uh, her" she replied "What makes you think I am?"
"Do you honestly believe I'm stupid enough to believe that, my master won't be too happy when he knows you tried to escape and that you're loved ones are the ones who killed him".
"Master? you're master is Imhotep!" Angela asked puzzled at the fact.
"Yes, indeed, my master is the great High Priest of Osiris and future ruler of the world...the great Imhotep" replied Beni.
"Oh my god, I should've known, I should've remembered! that explains how you got the ring and why you looked like a mummy! oh my god so the story is true! you were Rick's little back stabbing friend!".
The scrawny, little man didn't acknowledge her and he quickly dragged her down the way she had come, as she struggled, screaming, slapping him but to no use. Shortly they had reached the amphitheater like room and Angela could see once again the altar in the center of the room. As she got pulled further into the room she suddenly noticed something in her surroundings tha she hadn't noticed before, black bog, a decayed residue of human remains mingling with what had been water, a river or channels of despair like the river of Styx of Hades slithered through as bluish, yellowish fires lit up the place, the flames dancing on the torches and pyres like temple dancers trapped within.
Taking everything in for the first time, Angela wondered about the gang and hoped deep in her heart that they were all safe and sound. Gazing at the hieroglyphics on the walls, she failed to notice the little man walk out of the room and another man, quite different appear. Imhotep drew quite close to her, without alerting her of anything, moving with a saunter that so caused people to feel cold chills down their spines. In fact he remembered suddenly, a day when the temple dancers had all been gossiping. Isiria had been alone, meditating against a pillar, when all of the girls rushed over to her and crowded around her.
One of the girls had asked "Oh Isiria tell us! Tell us what is Lord Imhotep like? We are all deeply curious to know. Is he kind? Is he mean? Tell us please! you have spoken to him more than anyone!"
Isiria had opened her eyes and smiled at all of them. They had all since crowded around her and were all helping her to her feet.
"Tell us, Isiria!" they all insisted.
Laughing, she said "Well, Lord Imhotep is a very kind man, the only thing that nerves me though is....he's like a phantom, I swear to you all, if you are not watching your surroundings he'll glide right up behind you and--"
Little had she known that Imhotep had decided to choose that exact moment to appear from the dark shadows, issuing a seductive greeting right behind her right ear, causing her to release an ear piercing scream and fall into almost total heart failure. It had been the highlight of every girl who had jumped back and some had even ran out of the chamber screaming as well. Isiria though, had whirled around to find him with a smile on his face, almost on the verge of bursting out laughing.
"Lord Imhotep! I, I did not know you were here! I, I am truly sorry, I did not mean to say what I said I was just trying to--" Isiria nervously stuttered.
"There is no need to be apologizing to me, Isiria. It is wonderful that I hear you speaking of me, after all, from what it seems you enjoy doing so"
"Indeed" she had murmured under her voice as she blushed.
And with that she had skipped out of the temple, leaving him alone with only the torches and statues to accompany him. Now three millennia later, he was once again close enough to touch her, to enjoy the copious heat and soft hyacinth fragrance radiating from her voluptuous body, he quietly observed Angela as she read from the wall. In a motion so indescribably sensual, she slid her fingertips over the cool granite, caressing it with a soft, delicate touch. Soon Imhote found that he was wishing quite fervidly that she would do the exact same thing to him, letting out a sigh of frustration he continued to stare at her.
At the sound of his sigh, she jumped and turn around to face him, her cutaway skirt flowing in the motion of her body movement. She stare guiltily for a moment, as she thought something over, then suddenly three pennants appeared on her face, the pennants of anger, passion, and embarrassment.
"I was just look at the hieroglyphics on the wall" she said nervously, the angry undertone of her musical voice in extreme odds with her lowered lashes. "The hieroglyphs are so beautiful, mysterious and speak for themselves on occasion. I am thankful that I know how to read them".
Imhotep only smiled, back in Thebes only scribes and people of the high class had known how to read these symbols, no other person could master it, especially not a woman. A temple dancer learning how to read and write in the sacred language was about as likely and just as suitable as the Pharaoh and his army general to don Zoot suits and dance swing music like that of Cheery Poppin' Daddies for a crowd of a million people.
"I cannot believe this is all happening" she said, sighing in amazement, her beautiful breasts rising and falling with the motion as she walked a few feet away from him. "I am so confused!"
"Do not be, soon everything you have forgotten shall return to you and youwill be Isiria once more...your current persona will only be a slowly fading ember in your mind" he said "That is all".
As he cupped her face in his hands and looked at her lovingly they did not see Beni enter from another passageway once more, standing a few feet away to eye the priest and his dancer He smiled evilly and overcame all fear and nervousness with the sight of the happy little couple smiling at one another with the tenderness of a dove....ready to be shot. Catching both their attentions, he laughed. Love and kindness only meant two things to him: Ick and Puke. As he continued to walk towards them, Imhotep let Angela go and her heart suddenly sank: Beni was going to tell him everything about Rick and the gang's relationship to her, Imhotep would dispatch who knows what to kill them....and she'd surely be dead.
Face tight with self-satisfaction, Beni stopped at the sacrificial alter and pulled out four pictures of Rick and her and their parents, plus one of Evelyn and Jonathan. As he was arranging them in a row along the tope of it's smooth, obsidian surface he suddenly spoke to Imhotep in Hebrew. Surprised at first, Angela realized that the little weasel didn't want her to understand a wor he said. Avoiding Imhotep's own language because he knew she'd understand, Hebrew after all was the language of the slaves...it was a tongue both shared.
"What is he saying?" Angela asked Imhotep in Egyptian, afraid of his answer.
Instead Imhotep smiled, putting his arms around her waist as he looked at her adoringly even as his hands glided over her curves. "He has just told me that I should be pleased to have won your heart".
Looking at Beni, she sneered a bit. "Is that all?" she rephrased in both Egyptian and English, as she glared at Beni.
Beni smiled back at her "Perhaps you shouldn't ask so many questions. You see after I finish telling him the rest he'll want your liver, kidneys, brain, and what do you call them? Oh yes, intestines. There won't be enough left of your sweet little body for Rick to bury".
Though suddenly chilled by the revelation that Beni had planned for her,she managed to smile weakly. "Well, for your information Beni, I'll make sure you don't say one word to him".
"Oh really and how do you plan on doing that? You won't know when I tell him or not. He'll want to tear you apart...what's the expression that Rick would use? Oh yes...with the works."
Chin high, she walked away from both Imhotep and Beni and stood at the bottom of the granite staircase and turned to face them, she suddenly called out defiantly to Beni in Egyptian "So you only want to kill me when you get the opportunity to do so? you're jealous that I have Lord Imhotep's attention! so how like a traitor, betray your prince and lie to him about helping him get his loved one back, will you stab him in the back like you plan to do with me?"
Imhotep was suddenly taken back by the comment and glared at Beni who absolutely had no idea what had just happened. The priest strode to him, showing him how high a chin could be held and smirking smugly, looked at him straight in the eyes and punched him. In a blow so savage, so hard that Beni was unconscious before he had landed on the floor.
Angela gasped and taken back from the viciousness of the hit looked at Imhotep timidly, she had accomplished exactly what she had wanted somehow, though she hadn't planned on getting a person knocked out cold. In a motion so easily done, Imhotep picked up Beni's limp body. Angela had long turned away and was not aware of him turning and walking toward and adjoining mausoleum chamber.
Frowning, she turned back and looked at the alter, the pictures were still there! Running swiftly to it, she reached a hand out and slowly slid the pictures into her palm asshe admired them. Hastily she read the message on a picture and picked them up in both hands. Recalling Beni's plan and Imhotep's violent temper, not mentioning the scarabs and other creatures lurking about she moved out of the room and down a passageway. Finding it safe, she stopped under a torch and looked the photos once more.
"Rick, where are you?" she asked apprehensively to herself.
In an instant her mind brought back the scene of Beni being knocked out, the echoes of the punch and thud reverberating in the catacombs of her mind seemed to not leave her and as she shook it off she thought. "That's what happens to little scumbags like you". It almost seemed like she was speaking to him telepathically and she closed her eyes tightly to forget it.
As she continued walking down the passageway she realized how lonely she felt in this great city of the dead and she was the only mortal resident soon to be the next immortal resident if Rick didn't come sooner.
"God I'm lost" Angela said, gliding her hand down the wall. "I want to leave"..
Out of the corner of her eye she suddenly spotted what appeared to be a crevice in the wall, just big enough for a man to squeeze through. "What the hell?" she wondered, as she took the torch above her, into her hand "What can that be?".
Walking to the crevice she saw something shimmer within, making sure no body was behind her, she shrugged "This tunnel may lead deeper into the city, but then again it could be my way out of this place....there's nothing to lose, I'm going in".
Edging through, Angela dropped straight down to the floor of the chamber and as she stood, she dusted herself off and picked up her torch. A shaft of light that was going through a crevice in the ceiling was hitting a pyre like object. Squinting Angela put a torch up to the pyre and lit it. One by one she continued lighting them until the entire room was filled with light, saturating the chamber with reflective light and damn straight it was reflective light.From everywhere the eye could see: light was bouncing here and there, off of the golden surface of statues, jewels, coins, ebony with marble, some ivory, arrays of treasures not capable of anyone imagining shining glittering before she wide, hazel eyes.
"Oh...my...god, Pharaoh's treasure!" she gasped in shock. "It's all the wealth if Egypt in one chamber!...my god, this...is....unbelieveable!"
She turned to look away at the rest of the chamber seeing one of the passageway the fed into the treasure room as if it were the center of the universe with the passages leading to galaxies out in the farthest corners of her memory. The universe collapsed suddenly as a mumbling sound unlike anything she had ever heard, caught her attention: mummies, chopped up but still moving, lower halves and upper halves, stumbling and dragging themselves forward undeterred by her presence. In fact her presence seemed to emanate as much as blood would do to lure a pack of Great White Sharks.
"Okay...you don't tend to see this everyday" she thought as she looked around in awe. "Life has more imagination than we can ever carry in our own dreams" she backed away into a golden throne where she sat, stunned looking at the few mummy chunks that were still squirming and grimacing "Now what do I do? Which way can I go without running into things?" she thought "What is the gang up to!?"
***Out about twenty seven miles away in the middle of the vast Sahara, the little caravan had finally arrived at the great Med-Jai camp. The camp was full of neighboring tents and dozens of camels and horses with dusty packs and rifles slung over them. It almost appeared to be a site of a Bedouin commerce, Gun and weaponry commerce, a few people here and ther were trading food and water, it was like a little village of sorts. Silent, the group climbed off their horses and looked around at the campsite, occasionally looking out at the desert, this was to be home for a day and Evelyn noticed Rick's stricken expression as he watched men and women walking around and talking to one another in low voices, some were laughing, others arguing.....this was a Med-Jai camp? Where was all the training squad?
"I can't believe it" Rick said in shock."This is the Med-Jai camp?"
"Why of course" Ardeth implied. "Did you expect us to be warriors even with our families? we have our lives just like any other person, but our families do come second to our duty as Pharaoh's soldiers, thus we only spend a limited amount of time here in the encampment".
"So at what time are we leaving for Hamunaptra tomorrow?" Jonathan suddenly asked.
"We shall leave camp at 1:00am in the morning it is not much sleep but we will need the darkness to hide us from the creature and from the sun" Ardeth replied "One thing that I cannot quite put together is that Hamunaptra was destroyed...why would the creature return to a pile of stone?" his expression was puzzled as he looked at Rick who only stared back.
"Maybe he forgot something" Rick then answered.
"Or maybe he wanted to pick up something that we accidentally left behind" Jonathan said solemnly "Like the Book of Amun Ra".
"Oh dear" Evelyn responded with a gasp "He's going to make sure we don't have a weapon to kill him, he's beaten us to the only object we need to destroy him....my god we must get to Hamunaptra as soon as possible!".
"How the hell is he going to get in?" Rick asked "Everything is totally destroyed".
"Well, that is a bit of a bugger if you think about it, he'd have to do some serious digging, no, wait, he has his immortal powers, uh well then technically ol' chap we've hit bottom now" Jonathan replied resignedly.
"Gee thanks Jonathan, you ever the optimist" Rick commented dryly.
"I wasn't trying to be a pessimist I was just saying--"
"Forget it, let's just settle in and get some rest, we're seriously going to need a plan if we want to save my sister and make it out with our organs still inside our bodies".
Evelyn and Jonathan nodded in unison and followed him into the camp. Kaila and Ardeth Bay were just walking into their tent, the hot sun was now completely on the poor camp but nonetheless life went on normally. Continuing to walk into the camp, a ringof black clad horsemen made the gang's hearts leap, but they knew they wouldn't hurt them, or at least they hoped they wouldn't. As Kaila came running out of the tent, Evelyn called out to her in their own tongue "Can we speak to your father for one moment?". For a moment Kaila stared at her sternly then smiled and shouted to someone in Arabic before running Evelyn, where she hugged her legs and leaned on her.
"I think she likes you" Rick said with a grin.
"She's adorable" Evelyn responded "I cannot get over how cute she is".
Suddenly a voice called out "You may come". They looked up to find Ardeth stepping out of his tent, signaling them to follow him. Being outsiders, the women of the camp gawked and everyone stared suddenly. Swallowing hard, the trio all shared worried glances and knew that this was a good choice. All silently forced themselves to relax and be calm, there was nothing here that would harm them in the camp and they knew it. But the single minded purpose of protect and serve the world and save Angela, scared them all to death.
Ardeth's tent dominated over all the others, it was like the Taj Mahal of all tents and even in appearance it was beautiful. The procession paused for a moment in front of the entrance and Kaila suddenly stood in front of them, signaling them to stop, at the age of 4 she had the capability of acting like one of dutiful and brave ancestors that had been the keepers of Pharaoh's safety. Hushed words that Evelyn and the gang couldn't quite hear passed between father and daughter before the little girl broke out into a chorus of giggles and let them in.
"So do you have any ideas on what we're going to do?" Evelyn asked with the confidence that she in no way felt all, to Jonathan and Rick. "To tell you the truth I am a bit confused about all of this".
Incense filled the tent as did the smell of spices and sand. They blinked as they let their eyes get use to the dimness, stumbling forward over thick, soft carpets. When finally their vision cleared, they found little Kaila sitting cross-legged on a large pillow that belonged to her father.
"Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable and tell me....what do you have planned for this time around? Why have you returned to the desert? And what can we, the Med-Jai, do for you?" Ardeth asked, with a calm straightforwardness that send a feeling of relief through all of them.
"We're here because like I said earlier, my sister has been kidnapped by the mummy and she's been taken to Hamunaptra" Rick replied honestly.
"Hamunaptra. That cursed place...the creature must surely be planning once again the end of all mankind"
"None of us doubt Imhotep's power or the curse's consequences...how can we? It's just that now with the curse and my sister mixed into one another, the situation had just gotten to a very personal level and I won't let that son of a bitch win" Rick said, his face turning red with anger and determination.
Ardeth Bay nodded "I understand perfectly, it will give me a second chance to show the creature that the Med-Jai are still quite capable of ridding the world of his cursed being...he will not triumph".
Rick could tell he understood his wish to kill Imhotep again, but as Ardeth's penetrating eyes sank into everyone, they all swallowed and felt as if the warrior was measuring each and every one of their souls. Simultaneously they shifted on their cushions, but neither could actually look away until Ardeth finally turned to look at Kaila, who was silent, deep in thought of stories and playfully mimicking her dad. Evelyn sighed and Ardeth turned to stare at them once more, serious as ever.
"What else do you want? I can tell that killing the creature is not the only thing you want to do. If you had wanted just that, you would have just gone there and damn the consequences" Ardeth said, his eyes interested, but not hostile in the least.
"We want to kill Lewis Calabar" Jonathan suddenly stated calmly, taking everyone off guard, wondering what he would make of that.
"Well, I see you have changed" Ardeth said with a dry chuckle.
"Because I'm not a coward so much anymore, I don't drink and I'm a scholar not a treasure hunter?" Jonathan squeaked, as Ardeth's eyes bore into him again.
"Enough. I know what you are Jonathan Carnarvon. You may try and fool us that you are no longer who you use to be....but to tell you the truth, that matters little now. As for the dreaded high priest" Ardeth said, weighing all his alternatives. "All of us will be needed no matter how brave or how cowardly we may be".
Eyes widening, Jonathan wondered what he could do to help. He was just beginning to be a scholar and really had no special skills, in fact he was just a recent convert into the religion of True Love, Bravery, and No Booze R Us. His heart kept pounding fast with the adrenaline that flooded every inch of his being, but he quietly retained himself from standing up and saying "What are we waiting for!".
When the desert leader, had called an end to their conversation, all had been thankful and Jonathan's nerves weren't all too sure how much more they could take...he needed to see Angela, safe and sound. "So how can we all help? Do each of us get a specific job?" he asked as she shifted again in his cushion.
"I will tell you this first" Ardeth replied "When Imhotep killed our Pharoah Seti, the Med-Jai could not act swiftly at all. Imhotep was needed to preserve Seti's body for the afterlife. Of course he had no choice, it was either that or risk being detected. He had no idea that the Med-Jai knew of his betrayal. Cautiously they all prepared a trap until he stole Anck-Su-Namun's body from her crypt. After the Hom-Dai was cast upon his body, the guards and the high priestess of Isis, Seniat, made sure there were the necessary weapons to stop him....the Salvation, if you could call it that....there were two weapons...the Book of Amun Ra and the Necklace of Isis, if used against the cursed one, he'd be destroyed or purged of his blasphemy".
"There are two weapons?!" Evelyn cried in shock.
"Yes, the stories handed down each generation cannot be doubted at all and so we must find the other weapon, the necklace".
"I- I suppose we cannot doubt the stories. You mentioned the Necklace of Isis...".Evelyn said and held herself back, wondering if Ardeth would say more.
"You are so hungry for knowledge. Our stories tell how if the Necklace is read correctly and truthfully its powers would strip the high priest and make him mortal, thus right for the killing... it would reverse all the plagues and stop the world from coming to it's final chapter".
"Angela has it!" Jonathan murmured, shocked. "Don't you remember!"
"What?!" Ardeth asked in shock.
"Angela has the Necklace".
Ardeth glared and pulled Jonathan to him, hissing "What! How did she retrieve it!".
"Uh, I don't know, she just has the bloody thing".
"We must reclaim it" Ardeth Bay said with a warning look, as he handed Jonathan a cloth. "When you see her...ask her for the necklace...you must put it in this cloth and give it to me when you have it".
"Of course" Jonathan said a bit unsettled "I'm sure Angela will not oppose".
"I will guide you to Hamunaptra" Ardeth Bay finally concluded, and with that the three walked out of the tent and to theirs where they decided to get some must needed rest. There was a long road ahead of them...a long road to salvation...a long road to hope.
**~~~The Nile~~~**
"Goddamnit I can't believe I let you talk me into getting off of the boat back there" Lewis complained frustratingly as the group walked down a large sand dune towards a Bedouin camp.
They passed walking by the Egyptian version of Southwestern United States Sagebrush, otherwise known here in Egypt as Vissigia. As they continued walking closer to the camp, they found that it was rather a trade bazaar of an oasis several miles inland. It's Fig and Date Trees were thriving bountifully along a shallow stream and things couldn't be more tranquil and serene...."couldn't" being the key word here.
"It seems pretty decent here" Vinnie said "Maybe we should spend the night here after a day of some questioning".
"Vinnie, I couldn't have put it better myself" Lewis said, as he walked passed everyone calling out ."Get as much information as you possibly can about the myth of Hamunaptra and damnit don't mess up this time!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" David said suddenly. "Start interrogating the natives"
"You know what, Richardson? You are seriously getting on my nerves" Victor hissed as he pulled out his shot gun and aimed it at David's head. "Why don't I just blast you to kingdom come then you can start interrogating....the demons of hell".
"Um, on second thought why don't I go and start interrogating the natives, you guys do what ever you want" David said nervously, as he backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on the barrel of the gun.
"Good idea, you're a smart man David, now go along, ask questions, seek answers, we'll see what we can do from our end".
David nodded frantically and ran into the bazaar, kicking a few stones from his path as he looked back at the henchmen, muttering something angrily while he ran.
"Hurry up, David!" Victor called as he swiveled his shotgun back and forth "We need as much information as possible! now go! go! go!" he continued as he laughed along with everyone else "God life is so sweet". He said.
Yes, Life is sweet but like any other thing in this world it can be sour,bitter, or just plain rotten, just hope that when your chances are one out of four, that it's not the bitter,sour or the rotten, chances are...you'll hate it beyond all comprehension.
*~~~Hamunaptra~~~*
Sitting indian style between two piles of gold and jewels, Angela reflected on everything around her, both mentally andvisually, and everyone she had ever met. The treasure room was unbelievable full of all the riches of Egyptian royalty, but something wasn't right in the chamber as much as it was full of jewels, it seemed to be filled with the presence of sadness and death. For one Angela didn't mind the sadness part, but it was the death feeling in the large hall that caused her to close her eyes and fall back into a pile of gold baubles, heedless to the minor pinches on her back.
"I'm out of solutions" she said to herself frustratingly. "I'm so seriously out"
She didn't see however that a girl had walked into the treasure room crying. Until something told her to look up towards the entrance archway.
"What--the--hell?" Angela said softly as she stood up. "Who's there?" she asked in English, then waiting for a moment she asked in Egyptian. "Please answer me"
"It is only a slave" the weak, sobbing voice replied in Egyptian.
Angela walked over without thinking, slowly getting to the staircase where she saw the girl was sitting at.
"What is wrong?" she asked.
"I do not know what I am doing here in the world of the living...I was in the Fields of Peace with my family and all of sudden I found myself here once again...I am so very confused!" the young girl replied.
"What is your name?" Angela asked, almost feeling a sense of familiarity with the girl.
"My name? my name is Ta-Meri"
Angela stared at the girl for a moment and sighed "Well Ta-Meri, I am Angela" she noticed the depressed expression on the girl's face. "Do not be sad, I am sure we can reunite you with your family once more if that is what you want".
"You, are not Isiria?" the girl asked, as if the shock had just hit with full force.
"No, I am not Isiria, I am what I guess you would call her...twin. Somehow I am connected to her by rites of spirituality or something close to that power of mysticism, your Lord....Imhotep is planning to bring back Isiria from the Fields of Peace".
"and do you want that to happen?"
The question rudely slapped Angela in the face with a sudden blast of fear. "To tell you the truth, Ta-Meri, I really have no say in this matter".
"Like Jantra and I, we both had no choice in this game of his"
As Angela took a seat by Ta-Meri, she couldn't help but ask. "Did you know Isiria? What was she like?"
Ta-Meri jumped at the question and suddenly nodded. "Isiria was my best friend, we had both known one another ever since we could remember......she was the sweetest most caring person that I had ever known. In fact, she was so kind and caring to other people that all of Thebes loved her as if she were a daughter or a sister to all. Many times they would compare her to Pharaoh's mistress,Anck-Su-Namun, and she would always be the one who received all the well thought and good comments, the people would always say that shewas the better of the two and that Anck-Su-Namun deserved no pity or sorrow from anyone since she was a cruel, cold wench to the heart".
Angela stared straight out into the room, not staring at any particular object, deep in thought as the words sank into her mind, when she felt Ta- Meri staring at her, she turned and asked "So Isiria was kind to all? she must have had a lot of friends"
"Indeed, Isiria had many friends, her energetic, high spirited soul seemed to draw people to her and when it came to all her friends in the Temple of Osiris, well, they we all like sisters to her, and she treated them as much" Ta-Meri said happily. "In fact the love that she had for all of the other dancers and I actually brought her to do very brave things that I never thought possible"
"Like what?"
"Many times if she were to see Pharaoh's soldiers or even the great High Priest, Imhotep treating us a bit too harshly or rudely she would always be there to defend us from them".
"How would she defend you?"
"With words, shocking to all, she would use words to silence them or make them stop whatever it was that they had been doing...her strict often fiery temper granted her the respect of many people including Lord Imhotep".
Angela sighed and smiled. "I can hardly believe that Isiria and I have so much in common, I always thought that I was the only one like this, but I guess I was wrong, there was one other person identical to me in being".
"Yes, it is true, the only thing that would complete you in being Isiria was to have her soul, but Isiria would never accept replacing another person's soul, no matter how much she loved something or someone, she cared for the well being and health of others so I would doubt that she would accept coming back into this world once more".
Angela remained quiet for a moment, what if Ta-Meri was wrong?, sitting there, hesitantly, nervously, she looked away and stared at a lit pyre, it's flames swirling and flickering like the temple dancer within her. It was apparent that she was trying deeply to get the nerve to ask or say something but something told her to wait.
"What is it?" Ta-Meri asked, causing the question within Angela's mind to be shoved to the number one spot on her list.
"I was...wondering, what happened to Isiria and Imhotep? Does anyone know? or did she just disappear?"
"Isiria left Thebes after the day of the Festival of Osiris" Ta-Meri replied, the memory suddenly causing her to cry. "The same day Lord Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun murdered Pharaoh Seti and the Med-Jai cursed both their souls, Imhotep's to the undead and her's to the dark regions where Ammut resides".
"What happened to then to Isiria?"
"Isiria returned after a year and told me that her mind and her heart would not let her be tranquil for even a second...I was very happy that everyone who had been worried about her mysterious disappearance the year before had welcomed her back with open arms as if she had never left".
"She was very loved" Angela replied softly.
"Yes, but the happiness did not last long because she suddenly asked what we, the dancers and the slave girls, had feared...noticing that Lord Imhotep had disappeared and how his name was erased from all view, she asked the High Priestess of Isis and I what had become of him".
"and....what did you two tell her?"
"The Priestess of Isis, Seniat, told Isiria to meet her outside of city that evening. Isiria agreed and all three of us met Seniat at the gates where she took us by chariot....to the City of the Dead"
"She brought you here?".
"Yes, and when we arrived here and climbed out of the chariot, Isiria looked rather confused and distraught. When she asked us why we had brought her to the necropolis, Seniat and I finally had no choice but to tell her about the murder and the curse"
"When you told her, what was her reaction?"
"Isiria, my beloved kind hearted friend, did not believe what she was hearing and she kept telling us that the words we were speaking to her were just nonsense, that we were just telling her all of this as a cruel joke because of her departure, I could stand seeing her like that and I took her by the hand and led her to the statue of Anubis" Ta-Meri took a deep breath and continued. "Seniat then began to read aloud the writings, telling all that underneath the statue, He Who Shall Not Be Named was buried, cursed for his blasphemy against Pharaoh Seti, accomplised by Anck- Su-Namun who did not receive the proper rites of burial. Both cursed to forever suffer, one in the next life and one in this".
"Did Isiria....finally believe you?"
Ta-Meri's eyes swelled up with tears. "She went insane at the moment and began to weep uncontrollably, screaming and shaking her head, denying that the moment was happening. After she was overcome by grief, she collapsed on her knees before the statue of Anubis, asking the gods to forgive Lord Imhotep and to take her soul in place of his...she then began to shout that life could not be so cruel, in an act of desperation and sadness she started to literally claw at the sand, digging, screaming that she wanted to go with Lord Imhotep, that she wanted to join him. It was futile of course, and after a moment she let out a scream of agony before finally falling to the ground at the base where she continued to sob as she caressed the sand and repeated over and over all her moments of happiness"
Ta-Meri stopped and looked up the ceiling of the chamber, it somehow reminded Angela of her mother and how she would look up at the ceiling of the church with tears in her eyes asking the Lord to forgive her for her sins.
A moment of tense silence passed between them before Ta-Meri continued. "Speaking in a clearer voice, Isiria spoke to the sand asking it ''How could you have done this?'' I am so sorry my love...this is truly all my fault...it is all my fault. I should be the one dead and not you"
"My god" Angela tearfully said as she held her hand to her heart, feeling it heavy with an unknown pain. "What happened after that?".
"Seniat and I carried her to the chariot and from there we rode back to Thebes, where Isiria remained depressed" Ta-Meri choked on her words sadly as she suddenly began to sob. "and she died of a broken heart about six days later".
Angela gasped and shook her head. "I cannot believe that" she said as she wept, unable to control herself "I am so sorry".
Ta-Meri dried her tears, finding she was unable to, she smiled weakly. "It was not your fault, you should not feel bad. Isiria would have found out sooner or later....all Thebes mourned the loss of her bright spirit. It was a very sad day, the Med-Jai buried her here in the City of the Dead, in a special chamber, isolated from the world of the living so that her soul could and still may find peace".
"I am still unable to believe all of this, but now I understand why I felt so drawn to Hamunaptra ever since people named it to me.....she was here all along, my twin was here".
"That is what the gods decided to do, they destined her future being to come to the exact place Isiria is located...that is how this was meant to be"
"Yes, what happened the day of her death? If I may know".
"The gods, caused the sky to rain down on Thebes for an unending amount of time, the thunder and the lightning were unlike anything Thebes had ever experienced, the gods were saddened and were somehow showing it by this act of nature...even they felt the loss".
Angela remained silent as tears trickled down her eyes and Ta-Meri suddenly burst out into uncontrollable crying hysterics. Then to Angela's surprise, Ta-Meri hugged her tightly, she hugged her back, both crying and consoling one another like sisters.
"If--it--helps--any--why not let us--be friends?" Angela asked tearfully. "I would feel like I was doing Isiria a great honor by becoming your friend as well".
Letting go, Ta-Meri nodded, a smile slowly appearing on her face as she dried her tears "I would like that very much...this is the only thing at the moment that is truly making me feel more accompanied in this world. I have a friend, one that is the other half of my best friend, Isiria"
"I will try to be the best friend that Isiria was to you and so much more, I will try to be like a sister to you....I promise you that...on my soul".
"Thank you....and I in return, I will help you get out of here. I know they way out, follow me, Isiria would have wanted you to live a prosperous, free life, let us go".
"Very well,Ta-Meri and thank you"
"It is not a problem, now let us go before it is too late".
And with that they ran out of the treasure chamber to find the entrance to the world of the living. A world that little by little seemed to be drifting farther away than anything possible...farther away than anything natural, farther away than anything docile, seeping closer to a reality far beyond real where life and death rolled into one and love and hate create a chemical reaction far beyond the limits of past, present, and future where anything determines the fate all and all determines the fate of one.
Chapter 18
*~~~The Med-Jai Camp~~~*
As Rick stirred, he sat up suddenly...realizing it was 2:10 am. Outside, Ardeth seemed to have not moved an inch since the day before. As for Evelyn, she mounted her horse once again and let herself be guided out of the camp. Jonathan looked a little wane than normal under his tan and he felt somewhat unnerved but he followed nonetheless. After strapping his guns into place Rick mounted his horse and galloped behind them, taking a deep breath of the cool morning air . He stared at Jonathan for a moment before finally catching up to the trio of riders. Life seemed to be a lie, a lie that was destroying the lives of every member of the caravan and all in Hamunaptra. A lie that had begun with love and slowly had transgressed into an obsession,a hate, and a vengeance. Overall it had taken a 360 degree turn for the worse, a complete opposite of how it had all begun and what it could lead to and with much needed sleep the quartet was going to find out indeed what this would lead to....which to some pertained their final...resting place.
"I'm glad Ardeth Bay gave us some time to sleep....we'll be needing all the energy we can get" Rick said
"Yes, but I wonder if that's enough" Jonathan commented questionably.
"Oh please Jonathan, it's too complicated to get into little details about what we have or don't have" Rick answered, knowing it was a bit more than just a plea.
As they rode on, Rick galloped to the lead where he rode along side Ardeth Bay who vigilantly kept watch of the desert as he held a sleeping Kaila. The little girl was the apple of her father's eyes even if he never wanted to admit it, under those warrior attributes lyed a man that was a loving father willing to tell stories to his daughter and to hug her and cherish her as any father would do to his only child...not that anyone ever mentioned this to him, but everyone just knew and were willing to keep it a secret in order to save the warrior's ego from having a crash that could cost them their heads. Evelyn and Jonathan were now trailing behind, their horses trotting along, following the lead of both Ardeth and Rick's horses. The lack of rest had hit them pretty hard and both were sound asleep as they went along.
Vigilantly, Rick kept a close eye on them both as they rode on into the desert. THe coolness of the night began to slowly disappear before the Saharan sun had shown it's bright face and as the glowing heat of the dawn began to assert itsel, the four lone horseback riders stopped to take a short rest and fill their canteens in an oasis, taking sips every so often of water.
Soon they all mounted once more and the small caravan was on it's way again. The slowly rising sun was hidden behind an immense dune-like mesa, along which their horses trotted slowly. The still desert air conveyed something along the line of a ghost town, only the silent whisper of the breeze could be heard and amidst this atmosphere neither of them spoke a word as to not break the silent, tense moment of worry like an pitcher of glass.
Evelyn's horse fell besides Rick's "What are you thinking of? she asked,causing him to jump slightly. "You haven't said a word".
"I'm thinking that...we're almost there....we're getting closer to Hamunaptra"
"How can you be sure? in a year almost everything has changed...one stretch of desert looksmuch like any other"
"Not if you pay attention to the road signs"
"What road signs?"
"Well for one there is the mesa here that hasn't moved an inch as you can see...and there" he said pointing at the sky. "is the star called Sirius, the brightest star in the sky....she's pretty much our guide"
"Oh my dear...it's beautiful"
O'Connell just nodded. They nudged their horses gently and caught up with Ardeth Bay, who had long galloped up ahead on his black stallion, there they began to edge along the mountainous mesa, to face the rising sun which had not quite shown itself at the moment.
"So what should we expect to see?" Evelyn asked.
Jonathan, finally catching up said "Expect to see a whole lot of rocks and piles of them".
"Can't argue with that" Rick said solemnly "But get ready to see hell once more, no matter how destroyed it may be....it will always be hell....now get ready" he sighed "We're about to be shown the way....again" His eyes tightened and he weakly smiled "I hope".
The crimson, yellowish sun was now showing itself, rising above the horizon to inundate the desert with it's bright rays and yet to their wonderous shock...a dark shape was rising along with it too, revealed by the sun's light, it was a silhouette of a volcano, older than all antiquity...but as unmistakable and as undeniable to their eyes and minds. Majestic as nothing else they'd ever seen....it was a landmark created by the gods...or by a god...it was a rebuilt City of the Dead.
"It...can't be" Jonathan uttered "But how?"
"I have no idea" Rick responded in shock.
"My god, it's completely restored nack to it's originality! it looks as if it were only completedyesterday!" Evelyn sat up straight on her horse, stunned at the sight, every detail of Hamunaptra was there up to the last bit of hieroglyphics and intricate paint. "It's absolutely gorgeous!".
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Jonathan asked impatiently "Let's go save Angela!"
"No! Jonathan wa--" Rick tried to say
Jonathan was racing towards the looming, ancient city. Leaving the others behind in even deeper shock, blinking as if their eyes were playing some kind of dreadful joke on them.
"He's insane! he can't make himself known like that!" Rick shouted.
"Well, that's my brother for you" Evelyn mumbled.
"If the creature realizes our arrival we're finished...do you know that!" Ardeth glared angrily.
Finally gathering up their shock, they rode faster. The horses were magnificant Arabian steeds, all black, as the enigmatic night sky without a moon and they rode swiftly like the fiercest siroccos of the Sahara. In the lead, Jonathan was suddenly amazed and delighted by the turn of events and how he was now way ahead of everyone else, though Ardeth was almost ctaching up...Rick was keeping pace with Evelyn as they rode side by side, her hair streaming in the wind like wheat in a field. Ardeth, his face an expression of seriousness and anger, whipped his horse viciously and glanced back to find find Evelyn and Rick beside him, both keeping a fast steady pace...their eyes glittering with anxiety and one true goal. The volcano loomed ahead, guiding them all into the valley where ahead the new Hamunaptra beckoned them to it's interior, it's venom.
Meanwhile, back at Hamunaptra~~~*
"I'm out! I'm finally out!" Angela shouted triumphantly as her voice echoed through the corridor leading to the entrance.
Her torch showing the way, Ta-Meri and Angela were soon clambering up the steps into the sunlight, taking in the cool, fresh air of a new day, though the wind was beginning to rustle a little more a good sign of a coming sirocco, stirring the sands around them in a hushed whisper, they turned to look at one another and smiled triumphantly.
"All I need now is a camel and I would be set, but since I do not have one I guess I will just start walking" Angela said nonchalantly.
"By the gods! they have sent you four horses!" Ta-Meri suddenly squealed, as she pointed out into the desert through the archway "The gods have heard your wish!".
"What are you talking about?"
""Those! those horses are coming towards Hamunaptra! the gods have answered your prayers!"
Indeed, as Angela turned around to face the arch she saw something her eyes could not believe.Mirages are all but common in the Sahara Desert and as she took off running to the entrance,Ta-Meri smiled. Stopping about a yard out of the entrance to the City of the Dead, Angela continued to look out into the desert where she saw the four horses Ta-Meri had told her about, riding towards the city.
"It can't be...oh my god...it can't be possible, it looks like, Jonathan!" she said excitedly "It's all of them!".
Running down the stone ramp passed the pylons of the city, she stopped and waved frantically.
"I'm seeing things, it's a bloody mirage" Jonathan said, realizing otherwise "It's really Angela!"
As he rode towards her, he decided "To hell with this horse" and he stopped and jumped off of it and ran towards his beloved. At the sight of her running towards him....alive, joy seeped into his body once more. "Why was she dressed like that?" and "How the hell did she get out?" and "Who is that girl standing at the entrance?" ran through his head as well as he dashed towards her.
And as they hugged tightly and cried of happiness, Jonathan picked up Angela and spun her around in circles as she laughed. Putting her down, he kissed her ardently, like a man who hadn't had any water for a long period of time and indeed he drank her kisses like the ambrosia of the gods, it gave him a feeling of utter strength and happiness in his longing,lonely soul. As they parted, his lips still retained their unique put, but though tired and worn he still managed to show a somewhat clear touch of the debonair schoolboy that he was in his rumpled, khaki suit.
"I missed you so much" he said as he choked on his words "You're all right!, but tell me something ...why are you wearing that?" he looked at her somewhat shocked,suddenly realizing with full impact just how little clothes she was wearing, the cutaway skirt and the strapless bra- like top left him somewhat if not completely dumbfounded.
"What is it?" Angela asked curiously.
"You, you uh, you're dressed like a..."
"Temple dancer? yes, I know"
"You look beautiful is all I can say" Jonathan said with a smile, suddenly though it faded as he felt not so lovable at a thought. If Rick didn't kill him there, Imhotep surely would. He was stuck between the sword and very shiny and freshly sharpened sword. "Oh Angela" he groaned, squinting his eyes shut aganist a very blurry vision of a world that seemed to want to kill him "We are so seriously in bloody trouble, but at least you're safe and sound".
Leaning backwards, he flung out his arms and sighed "Well all I can say now is, go ahead and hit me, you'll feel better, after our delay I'm sure you want to kill us. Hell maybe I'll feel better if you hit me, try it" he said as he shut his eyes tightly.
Angela laughed "Honestly, Jonathan, I wouldn't hit you for the world...I'm glad you showed up,I didn't know if I'd make it out of here or not, so don't worry I'm not at all mad at anyone and I'm not going to hit you, the important thing is that at least I'm out".
"We haven't made it out yet" Jonathan said, as he thought "Have I ever been in such a bad situation as this?"
Backtracking through the worn out map of his mind, he grimaced and rubbed his throat repeatedly, turning it bright red at the memory of a name, a name that he would never forget if made it out alive, it was a name that could bring him, his own death, a very slow, painful and horrifying one at that.....:Imhotep. Since the day they ahd made it out alive, he could never forget the sickening,odd feeling of his throat suddenly closing abruptly as Imhotep had picked him up with just one hand while he had futilely writhed and squirmed like a lizard in a snake's coil. His sub-concious had, had the full enjoyment of seeintg him wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, shouting and sweating like crazy as he awoke from his dark, horrifying vision of black and mist, only a vivid view of Imhotep's maddening,evil smug half smile was all that was shown to him.
He opened his eyes and saw that Angela smiled softly and instead hugged him, saying "I love you".
"I love you too".
"Oh! oh,oh my god, I can't believe I forgot to tell you this, this girl here is Ta-Meri, she well, how can I say this...is a three thousand year old slave girl who was brought back by Imhotep and it turns out that she was Isiria's best friend!"
Jonathan glanced over at Ta-Meri who was standing a few feet away, watching their joyous
reunion.
"Hello Ta-Meri, I am Jonathan...a friend of Angela's" Jonathan said in Egyptian, a cute Egyptian with a British accent.
Ta-Meri smiled and replied "Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you, though it seems you are a little more than just her friend, you are her very close consort".
Taken back a bit, Jonathan smiled "Uh, yes I am her consort, so uh, yes I am a little more than just a friend".
"This is the man that I love"Angela stated, as she took a step forward "I love him with all my heart"
"Lord Imhotep will not accept it" Ta-Meri replied.
"I know and I must figure out a way to somehow be able to--" Angela was cut off by the sound of more galloping horses as Evelyn, Rick and Ardeth rode in.
"Rick!" Angela shouted happily as she ran to him, he had just climbed off of his horse and was running towards her, embracing her tightly as they hugged.
"Angela, oh thank god you're okay...I was worried about losing you again" he said in a relieved tone of voice "You had me so worried"
"You'll never lose me, Rick...never".
"What the hell are you wearing?" Rick asked a bit puzzled.
"Um, well, this is technically Isiria's garment, believe me I was as shocked as you are now
when I first saw it".
"You look good suprisingly enough, I'm glad you're okay, but just one other thing...who dressedyou like that? was it you? who was it?"
"I think it was, um, two slave girls that Imhotep awoke with a spell, that girl over there by Jonathan is Ta-Meri, she is is one of Isiria's friends"
"Wow, well--" he was cut short by a squealing noise that came from the little girl behind him "This is Kaila, Ardeth Bay's daughter"
Angela smiled as the little munchkin appeared from behind Ardeth Bay, the sound of her name had caught her attention and she looked up at Angela and giggled.
"She's so cute" Angela said with a chuckle "Hi, sweetie"
The little girl walked up to her and started to talk and babble and create grand hand gestures as she giggled and looked over at her father.
"What is she saying?" Angela asked Ardeth Bay, as he walked behind Kaila to hold her.
"Kaila, says that you are quite beautiful and that you look like a princess taken out of a story" Ardeth replied coldly "My daughter is quite fascinated by stories of the past and she likes jewelery like the one you wear now as well".
Angela watched him for a moment as he held on to Kaila protectively, before walking to Evelyn and hugging her.
"How are you feeling?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"A bit confused, but otherwise I'm okay, nothing out of the ordinary".
Tired, the gang unloaded some of their things from the horses and pitched their tents. The dying sun ,which at the moment was up in the middle of the sky,was oddly enough...dying! The eclipse was once again repeating itself at a fast speed.
"Oh my god, I think Imhotep knows we're here" Evelyn said frantically. "We must take cover"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary, I mean, I don't think it's him" Angela replied calmly
"How is that?" Evelyn asked
"Well uh, for one I uh think he would have showed up and uh, oh god, I can't lie to you...down below there is another cursed one and another woman whom Imhotep awkened"
"What! oh dear god, Angela are you sure of this?"
"I'm positive! In fact I ran into him a couple of times and just a few hours a go I got Imhotep to knock him out"
"Wait, it's a man?"
"Yes and--" She was suddenly interrupted by Ta-Meri who came running to her.
"Angela! I need for you to come with me once more down to the amphitheater, there I will show you where Isiria lies" She said in Egyptian. "It will be very dangerous and onlywith your consent may we go if not then we shall leave all as it is"
"I do indeed want to go, but I do not want to disturb her tomb I would just you to point it out for me" Angela replied "Let us wait until it gets darker and the moon rises and then we may go down".
Evelyn listened intently, translating their words slowly before suddenly realizing that the conversation had stopped and both Ta-Meri and Angela were staring at her, both with questioning looks as if asking silently "How much did you just hear?" along with "You heard all of this didn't you?".She smiled guiltily and looked at Angela's then serious expression before turning and walking away sheepishly.
Ta-Meri looked at Angela with worry filled eyes and turned to look at Jonathan who was speaking to Evelyn,who then happened to glance over at them anxiously, a look of shock spead across his face as Evelyn spoke to him more with urgent hand motions and pointing fingers over at the two girls who just looked at the two siblings in silence not knowing what to do or say for fear of getting judged anymore than they already were.
"She told him everything" Ta-Meri said suddenly.
"It does not matter,I am glad that she did" Angela replied sternly. "We will not be looking at Isiria's tomb, it is best not to get anyone involved in this matter...instead Jonathan and I will be going to the chamber of the sun god to get some engravings that is all".
"Very well I shall find shelter then to rest, I have been feeling weak and I need to get some sleep and strength back" Ta-Meri said before walking away into the corridor of the entrance to the underground as Angela looked on in guilty silence.
Jonathan walked over to her and put his arms around her waist, pulling her to him "So you're planning a little adventure without me?"
Angela smiled weakly "No, I was just talking to Ta-Meri about Isiria's tomb and how I wanted to go see it...I changed my mind though"
"Oh really? and is it because I'm coming with you?"
"No it's because I don't want my brother following me down there, so I just decided that you and I will go down to get some engravings from the walls, so please don't tell Evelyn or Rick, about my plan for tonight, you know how they are about anyone going down to the underground corridors and I really don't need a scholar and a soldier of fortune telling me what I should or should not do"
"and what about a man who was drunken fool not to long ago" Jonathan asked slyly
Angela giggled "I would gladly take him along any time" and with that they kissed. As they parted Jonathan laughed softly and pressed his forehead against hers, their noses touching as they looked at one another lovingly.
"Why don't we go pitch up the other tents before anyone else realizes that we are the only onesnot working" Jonathan said before taking her hand into his and walking down to the camp.
The quintet hurrily set up the rest of the camp before the deep crimson, eclispsed sun had made its full peak up in the middle of the Saharan sky. As the sky grew slowly redder and darker, the dying sun soon passed and with it the heat of the day died down and Angela thankfully wrapped herself in Jonathan's coat as she watched another day of her nightmare go by in the eternal circle that was revolving around Egypt threatening to engulf her within it in a vortex of heat and desire,threatening to kill all if she refused to step into it's world of darkness and sorcery and threatening to break her sanity if she was not willing to accept the key of another to open her mind and move in for the part of deal that is the escrow, her mind,her body and her soul put into the custody of a third party for the delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified are complete...her death, Isiria's life. Knowing there was little else she could think about, Angela lay down in her tent and remained there in silence, meditating and repeating to herself constantly "I'm calm,I'm relaxed, everything will be okay" while the darker part of her mind said "I'm afraid,I don't know what to do, I'm going to die".
Outside, Jonathan opened up the cloth package that Ardeth had given to him, with an uneasy feeling of guilt and second thoughts he remembered how much Angela trusted and loved him and he sighed in frustration. His mind would then slap him with questions of doubt and anguish "Was Angela once a part of Isiria? Had she been the cause of a man ruining his souland her own? What would she do if she indeed became Isiria? Would she kill them all in the name of her love for Imhotep? Did he want to really know that answer? Shaking his head, Jonathan walked into the tent and took a seat down by Angela,who smiled at him.
"Hi" she said softly "Come to pay me a visit?"
Jonathan smiled "Actually I've come to give you something"
"Really? What is it?"
"Close your eyes"
Angela suddenly laughed at the remembrance if the Casbah "Okay, but please don't scare like last time"
"I won't,I promise"
Obediently, she closed her eyes and waited....and waited...and waited. "So what is it?"
Jonathan didn't reply as he sat staring at the scarab resting between her breasts, it had come to life right before his eyes, it wasn't moving from it's place, but he knew deep inside what a livescarab looked like and this one was definitely alive. Slowly backing away from her he stuttered "Angela,darling....uh, look down" signaling to her where to look "You have,uh, a uh, scarab"
Angela slowly opened her eyes and lowered her glance downward and as she did she gasped "Oh my god....he was right"
"Who was right?"
"Imhotep said that the scarabs would not hurt me unless I took this pendant off. He's marked me as his own, so this will keep the scarabs away and people as well if they get near me at all. This comes to life as if they get near and will remain lapis lazuli if they keep their distance"
"Bloody hell! so I have to keep away from you!" Jonathan said frustratingly "This is too much!"
Angela thought for a moment as she stared down at the pendant and sighed resignedly "I guess Imhotep wants me to be somewhat cautious of my actions"
"He is trying to impose his will upon you"
"That may be" she said as she wrapped his coat tightly around herself "But you know that I love you with all my heart and absolutely nothing wull change that...not even a little scarab like this"
"What about Imhotep and Lewis?"
"Not even Imhotep and Lewis...nothing"
Leaning foward, keeping a few inches away she kissed him softly, saying "I love you". Before laying back down and closing her eyes to sleep. Jonathan looked down at her lovingly and sighed "I love you too" before laying down next to her and closed his eyes as he rested. But with a sigh of frustration,he opened them and stared at Angela for what seemed to be an eternity. She was so far away and yet so near that it hurt to think of what could happen.
"I love you Angela and though you possibly are off in another world I will just say that I will never let anything or anyone hurt you and when we get married I promise to make you the happiest woman that ever lived...I swear to you now and always". As he spoke the last words in a soft whisper, he kissed her cheek and fell asleep.
Peaceful sleep,It was sad that the dead could not sleep easy,nor eat...nor stop. Ardeth Bay had suggested to them that the souls were damned for all eternity and thus could not rest from the torments that they suffered. Angela knew what had happened to Isiria and she knew deep withn her subconcious that she was being naive at the whole situation. The Book of the Dead held the key to all knowledge,all power...and all dreams.Dreams that seemed to not occur to them in their sleep filled state of serenity. No, the dead were lucky, or unlucky in some cases one might say to be awake for all eternity....never dreaming...never knowing...never dying.
*~~~Middle of the Sahara,A Trading Bazaar~~~*
"Come on! Doesn't anyone know where Hamunaptra is located!" David shouted angrily at a silent group of Bedouin traders .
The desert went silent as the breeze rushed in creating small dervishes to rise up from the ground as the palm trees swayed gently, as if trying to futily escape some unknown danger that lurked around them.
"I know where you can find Hamunaptra" a voice said slyly.
David turned around suddenly to find a small heavily cloaked man,that was obviously very skinny and shrimpy and a had a thin,pencil line mustache.
"And who if I might ask...are you?"
"My name is...Beni....Beni Gabor"
David smiled confidently "Well Beni, would you be willing to show me and that charming group over there....how to get to Hamunaptra?....Would you be willing to be our guide?"
Beni grinned "Of course, but you will have to pay a good price for me to take you...after all it is Hamunaptra and a trip to Hamunaptra is worth...dying for"
"We're willing to take that risk...how much do you want?"
"How much are willing to give?"
"I'd pretty much say our lives"
Beni's smile grew wider "That'll do"
"What?"
"Oh don't listen to me, we can discuss prices on our way there...now gather your group and follow me. I'll take you to Hamunaptra and we're all set...but I must warn you...there is already another excavation group there from what I've heard"
"What do you mean...another excavation group?"
"Well I think the groups there are the O'Connell and the Carnarvons"
"No....it can't be"
"Why yes? Why the reaction? do you by any chance happen to know them?...Are you well
acquanited with them?"
"You might say that...but that issue is of no importance to me...just take us to Hamunaptra and we'lll give you what you want"
Beni shrugged "Okay, fair enough deal".
Turning to the group of henchmen David grinned and shouted "Hey! I found someone who can take us to Hamunaptra!...saddle up some horses...we're off to the City of the Dead!"
Victor glanced uneasily over at Lewis who stood stock still, his face masked into a painting like that of Dorian Gray except without the rotting,withering finality of the painting itself...no that was all on the inside. His exquisitely handsome looks seemed to well hide the horrendous,withering, dark visage of his internal wicked feelings and thoughts devoted to the gods that gave to their followers all the pleasures of the senses. Yes, he was the perfect Picture of Dorian Gray and along with this package...his Cybil Vane awaited him just a hand's grasp away, ready for the final act of his dark desires.
"Ready for the journey, Lewis?" Victor asked.
"I'm set, lets get going" Lewis replied with a confident smile "Our wonder is waiting to be fullfilled, and my beloved Angela, won't know what hit her"
"Lewis, why do you speak like this?" Victor asked curiously "Why are you so intent on going to find Angela if you know that she will never be willing to come to you?"
"I've given her so many opportunities to come to me and she's thrown them all away like trash, she mocks me everytime she gets a chance....I'm not playing games anymore, I'm done playing and I'm just simply going to take what is rightfully mine"
"Angela?"
Pulling out a revolver, Lewis smiled weakly, examining the weapon carefully "Yes, Angela...and so much more".
*~~~Hamunaptra~~~*
"Where's Angela?" Rick asked curiously as he set up a few stones for campfire. "I haven't
seen her"
"Asleep" Evelyn replied "She's asleep"
"and Jonathan?"
"I don't know,Rick, I haven't seen him anywhere, I'm sure he's asleep as well"
Rick shrugged then looked over at Evelyn who was sitting down on a small rock, reading a book on Ancient Egyptian Gods. He then walked to her and sat next to her "Evelyn, why don't we go back to Cairo tomorrow I think it would be the best thing we could do,Imean come on we practically have nothing to defend ourselves with here! So why not best that we lead the priest to Cairo and finish him off there where we can get everything we need at the museum?"
"No Rick, we have to destroy Imhotep...here in Hamunaptra. We have to keep as many innocent people out this problem as possible, and if it's possible we'll try to destroy Imhotep before he realizes we are here, though with Angela now missing from the underground...I'm sure it won't take him long to find us here".
"Oh great.....so where is Ardeth Bay? wasn't he here a moment ago?"
"He told me he was going to take a look around the temples and then maybe head back to the Med-Jai camp, he left Kaila so we could take care of her, you know how a child can get after a long journey"
"So where is the munchkin?" Rick asked as he looked around only to look back and see a worried look on Evelyn's face as she surveyed the area. "Oh my god! Evelyn you lost Ardeth Bay's daughter in five minutes of babysitting!"
Evelyn jumped to her feet and started to run into the city, calling out to her as Rick did the same only he ran into the opposite direction. What if the little child had managed to go into the deeper corridors of the city?...What if she were down there? with the scarabs, darkness...silence...and mummies. A little 5 year old could hardly imagine how dangerous those things are...a curious 5 year old child worse of all...curiosity killed the cat.
Rick continued running, calling out "Kaila! Hey Kaila!!". He hurdled a huge block of stone as he hit the ground running fast, trying to get a glance at everything. As he paused for quick moment though suddenly feeling the on coming sideache he noticed something flash across from him. In second he forgot about the sideache as she sprinted like hell for the door, which he had seen move along with the shadow of a girl, who swiftly managed to stop the door in his face, her unapologetic eyes disappearing behind it just as he slamed into it with a curse.
As he looked back he saw Evelyn walking around across the courtyard where the massive columns of the shrine where he stood were located.
"Rick,what on earth are you doing there?"
"Well, I uh, well...I was just surveying the area from here that's all"
"Have you found her?"
"No, and you?"
"Me neither, god, where could she have ran off to?"
****As Angela rested peacefully, dreaming of the Gala of St. Eve that she had gone to with her family when she was five, she felt another little body snuggled against her. Shrugging it off subconciously all she continued to see was her brother at fourteen years of age in a suit, dancing with her as the band played music. Everybody had seen it as the most adorable things that had ever occured at the hall of politics and money....and destiny. During those moments of hapiness as they whirled around the dance floor along with everyone, her father was selling her off to Alan and Valerie Calabar, a signature that gave her to their son of eight years of age....Lewis, when Angela turned twenty one. Her lifelong death sentence if that's what people could call it, a death sentence that she would sooner precipitate than get married....a sentence that seemed to follow her everywhere, in her dreams,her nightmares, her present and....her past. One must escape the darkness or forever be lost in an abyss of infinite pain and infinite repitition.What then?
"Kill him".
As the veil of mist slowly circled around her memories, she could see herself in the maroon dress her mother had made for her as she twirled around the ballroom with her brother as they laughed, and stumbled because of the height difference.
"Rick, aren't you mad that daddy made you wear that?" she had asked as she looked up at him.
He nodded "Dad always wants me to be proper and polite like all the other boys here, but I just want to be a regular boy like the ones at school that are always playing Cowboys and Indians with their friends and most of all I don't--"
"Want to wear a suit?"
"Yes, baby sis, I don't want to wear a suit" Rick had grinned, even then he had the same familiar grin of his that seemed to be very optimistic even in the worst of times.
"I don't like wearing dresses, I want to be like you and run around with the big kids that you play with"
"You're too little"
Angela had suddenly stopped in mid-step and with hands on her hips, she glared and even as a little munchkin her looks were utterly sharp "I- am- not- too- little!" she had screamed, catching the attention of all, who only smiled at her comment. "I am a big girl!"
"You are not! you're always going to be the baby and I'm always going to be the oldest, now when dad goes to heaven I'm going to be your dad and I'll always take care of you and never let anyone hurt you...ever, because you're my little sister and I'm always going to be by your side"
"Really?" Angela had smiled adorably.
"Yes, so lets make everyone happy and dance even though I'm not too good at it, okay?"
"Okay, Rick"
Just they were about to start, a boy stepped into the crowd of eight years of age. He was a very prim, cute boy with a slight air of arrogance in him, wearing a little black tux. Taking careful steps into the crowd he looked around at everyone old and young with a look of supremacy on his face. His hair slicked back and with a confident look, he looked like that Casanova of all the boys his age.
"Rick and Angela O'Connell?" he had asked suddenly, as he drew closer to them, catching the siblings attention as they circled around for a moment.
"Yes that's us, who are you?" Rick had asked curiously
"Me? My name is Lewis Calabar...how are you?" he replied, as he looked at Angela with a sly smile.
Angela had stared at him for awhile and didn'y answer, he seemed so cold and arrogant for his age.
"You're sister is quite shy"Lewis had said.
"Yeah my sister can be like that sometimes" Rick replied, as he nudged her.
"Hello" Angela murmured.
"Angela, you're daddy told my parents and I so much about you"
Angela smiled weakly before curtsing and skipping off towards the food table, giving him a cold slap of uncaring sincerity.
"Wow, my sister doesn't like you Lewis" Rick said with shrug "That's too bad, you two could''ve been the best of friends"
Lewis only smiled through the wounded pride that burned deep within him and shrugged as if uncaring. Childhood can be a very dangerous thing when altered in a hurt, twisted child's mind and Rick had no idea just how close good of 'best' friends Angela and Lewis would become after that fateful day.
With a shock of bright light flashing in her eyes, Angela was jolted awake suddenly as she gasped for air "What the hell? why the sudden drastic change in dreams?" she rubbed her temples as they throbbed in pain, dazedly speaking in a low tone "How come my past is showing up?"
When the pain subsided, she sat up and heard a small whimper. Glancing down she found that little Kaila was looking up at her with welling tears in her eyes.
"Hi sweetie, what's the matter? are you hurt?" she asked in English, though knowing that she did not understand it, she signaled to her in sign language.
"Oh you miss your father...that's it, well I'm your babysitter for now, so I'm going to take of you until he comes back" she smiled and wrapped the little girl in blanket as she caressed her tearful, innocent face and kissed her cheek "How about you take a nap, ok? maybe that will calm you down a bit, a cute little girl like you should not cry... Allah forbids little girls from crying at all" and she laughed softly which caused Kaila to smile and giggle as well.
Jonathan suddenly awoke drearily at the sound of the giggles and rolled onto his side to face them. His eyes slowly opening, he stretched out and yawned...sending the 5 year old into a chorus of laughter and smiles.
"She likes you" Angela said softly.
Jonathan smiled and sat up "Well I like her too, she is quite an adorable little bugger"
Using the power of speaking, which was just gestures, Kaila communicated quite a bit without any single word of sorts as they both found by her curious nature. Kaila was in a way like Imhotep, only she was much smaller and there was little less hurting involved with her, unless she pinched you.
"You like children don't you?" Jonathan asked as he watched Angela put Kaila on her lap and tickle her playfully as both giggled.
"Yes...I do. I can't wait to have a child of my own someday" she sighed suddenly "I would try to be the most loving mother there ever was...so that he or she could have a happy, carefree childhood"
Kaila got up suddenly and crawled over to Jonathan where she began to try and braid his hair as if realizing that he could be her own personal doll.
"No. Kaila. Let go of my hair please. No you can't braid my hair" the child and him struggled for a bit "Kaila, it's too short to braid....here have a mint" he said as he handed the child two mint candies, which she instantly chucked into her mouth
Then like a little cat, she crawled back over to Angela and pointed then in fascination at the jewelery she was wearing, her necklace, ring and bracelet. A curious little sparrow on the search of small seeds and sparkling, gold water. For a moment the child could only stare in awe at the sight of it and then as if gaining the courage, she finally spoke a sentence which was probably asking "May I see them?" or saying "They are very pretty". Angela instinctively took off her bracelet and her necklace as well as her ring and held them out to Kaila who picked them up and looked at them in awe, smiling adorably at them and then back at her.
"You like jewelery, don't you?" Angela smiled lovingly "Those are from my adventures. I've had some of those ever since I came to the dig site in search of a great archaeological find....I found them in an excavation".
"All of it?" Jonathan asked suddenly, taking her completely by surprise.
"Um, well, just the necklace, the ring I bought at the bazaar in Cairo and this bracelet is a gift from my mother to me when I was five, before she left our family"
"Oh...well, um, Angela....may I see the necklace?"
"Sure, go ahead"
Hesistant at first, Jonathan finally picked up the necklace and looked at it for a moment. But as he recalled Ardeth's words a sudden bell rang off in his conscience "you can't take it from her!"
"It's a very beautiful necklace, here" he said, as he handed it back to her "It's lovely".
For a moment both were silent and even Kaila seemed to have quited down, the atmosphere had become heavy with something none could even imagine, and they sat still...waiting for what ever was hanging in the air to leave. Suddenly though, the tent flap blew open, causing everybody even the little child to scream like banshees and jump back into a tight huddle like cowering mice.
"Oh my god! okay we're not suppose to give each heart attacks! for the love of St Peter!" Rick frantically gasped as he stood up and dusted himself off.
Peering inside, he saw the three sirens all huddled together in a ball as they looked up at him with terrified looks in their eyes, as if he were god incarnate ready to unleash the worst retribution ever beset upon mankind.
"Oh, good, Kaila is here, we've been looking all over for her" Rick smiled weakly, as he sighed in relief.
Angela got to her feet slowly and helped the trembling child up "Yes, she's been with us, we've been taking care of her in such a peaceful surrounding up until you abruptly showed up....why didn't you say anything?" she caressed the child's hair as Kaila held onto her waist "You could have afforded us the trauma".
"I thought you were asleep" suddenly noticing Jonathan, Rick glared "And what the hell is Jonathan doing in here?"
Angela sighed frustratingly "Well, he's helping me take care of Kaila.....is that a problem?"
"No, it's a not a problem, I'm actually glad you two are taking care of Kaila....it keeps you three out of trouble...not to mention busy"
"What do you mean trouble?" Angela glared incredulously "and what do you mean busy?"
"Oh, nothing" Rick joked as he walked out of the tent "Nothing at all"
Angela growled and slumped into the sand as Jonathan sighed and scooted next to her "O'Connell will never change" he then tipped her chin so she then faced him, and he looked into amber eyes "He's never going to change"
"You got that right" Angela snickered "But let's just forget it, there's no point in
getting mad about that"
They smiled at one another and kissed tenderly before suddenly realizing that Kaila was looking at them. The child then seeing her opportunity as they parted,snuggled in between them and sighed. Angela shook her head slowly, she could tell the child was getting bored. Children and the desert were a bad combination, children and the Sahara were ten times worse, especially being the daughter of a Med Jai, where most of your life you were even restricted to playing a game of marbles with the boys.
"Poor child, come on let's go outside and play a game with her" Angela said "How about a game of tag?"
"Tag?" Jonathan asked curiously
"Yes, it's a game Rick and I use to play when we were children, someone has to chase the rest of the people around and tag another person, if he or she tags someone then that person is automatically the next tagger, and so on and so forth, it's actually kinda fun"
"Well then, a game of tag it is" Jonathan smiled
Guiding Kaila out of the tent, Angela sighed, the calm surroundings were becoming somewhat tranquil to her nervous mind and it all seemed to guide her to a place of rippling waters and a small stream with songbirds chirping and trees softly whispering as the breeze of Indian Summer blew in. Ah, she could still remember when her parents would take Rick and her to their uncle's house out in the middle of the forests of Michigan. She had loved it though she was only a tiny five year old at the time, but then, she had come to hate it ever since that baumy October afternoon when she had heard her mother yelling to her father....they were arguing and it seemed to intensify as the time had passed. Rick could only hold her as their little rowboat came into the cove of the lake.
"What's happening Rick?" Angela had asked "Why are mommy and daddy fighting?"
Rick had looked at the house and sighed sadly, shaking his head slowly "They're just mad about mom asking to be separated from dad, don't worry Angie, it'll be all right they'll be happy soon, okay?"
Angela had waited and soon it flashed to her in a split second that both were in the family car, as their parents sat in the front seat silent. Then the dreaded day came when her mother had came into her room while she had been asleep and woken her up to say that she was leaving and that she had a gift for her.
"What is it mommy?" the little girl had asked sleepily.
"Honey, I want you to have this, always keep it with you...close to your heart and never forget me, I love you so much and I'll come back....I promise" her mom had said with tears in her eyes.
"Don't cry mommy, I love you too"
"Don't tell your brother or your daddy until later, okay?" her mother had instructed as she sobbed and slipped the locket around Angela's neck "Inside there are two pictures, one of your dady and I and the other of you and your brother, keep it always and never forget me, I have to go now" she had said before she had given her daughter a kiss on the forehead and tight embrace, before walking out the door.
Angela had looked out her window and seen her mother get into a cab, she had looked up and smiled weakly before waving softly 'good bye' as the cab sped away. Then her life had changed abruptly, as she had spoken the words of her doom... everything had crashed with the sounds of brakes, plates crashing, trains exploding, and people screaming, everything had spun around like a whirlwind. In flashes of agony, she could see her brother being taken away to an orphanage while she had been sent to London to a boarding school to be closer to her fiancee. Suddenly as if shaken, she awoke suddenly and looked around to find herself once again in the desert city and Jonathan standing behind her.
"Angela?....Angela, darling, are you okay?" he was asking as he tapped her shoulder nervously.
She quickly turned to face him and nodded "I'm, uh, okay, I was just daydreaming that's all" she looked away as she tried to conceal her tears "I tend to that a lot".
"Yes, but for three hours now, Angie? It's a bit much don't you think"
The name suddenly echoed in her head painfully as she shook it away and looked back at him and smiled weakly "I'm sorry, I'll try not to do it too often"
"Okay, very well" he had chuckled "I forgive you" With that he kissed her softly, placing his hands on her waist as she gasped and then relaxed letting herself delve into the kiss more.
"I love you Jonathan" she said breathlessly "You know that"
"I love you too"
"Um, by any chance have you seen the Book of Amun Ra?"
Jonathan jumped back, startled suddenly by the question "Why do you want to know?"
"No reason in particular, being jhere in Hamunaptra seems to bring out the curiosity in me, I just want to know everything about it"
"Angela, darling, sometime it's best to leave things to be unknown and untouched... for the better of all of us...for the better of the world itself".
"So I guess I shouldn't be curious then?" she asked innocently.
Jonathan sighed "I dropped it into the bog, down there, that's all I really know so far about it's location, but I didn't even realize what part of the bog I dropped it in"
"Just forget I asked" she sighed, before she suddenly stumbled.
Jonathan quickly caught her and looked at her, realizing she was becoming pale and she was taking deep breaths of air as she began to hyperventilate. "Angela? Angela, what's wrong?" he asked frantically.
"Suddenly I'm not feeling well" she gasped weakly "I think it's the heat and--" she couldn't finish her last word before she suddenly collapsed in his arms.
In shock, he picked her up and carried her to her tent where he then gently laid her down as she made no attempt to wake up from her peaceful state. Caressing her features softly Jonathan then sat across from her, thinking "I'm just going to let her rest for a few hours" he then looked out at the desert from opening in the tent "Hopefully this was just due to the sun and not another one of Imhotep's spells"
Angela's eyes were tightly closed as she slept but her mind was was swirling around as she lay unconscious. Within this surreal world of her dreams, she could still see her world of the past as it flashed in front of her eyes, the dark mists of her fantasies and nightmares showing her the painful memories of her childhood up until her present state. It was all accompanied by the strange, phantasmagorical images of otherworldly things, spirits, screaming echoes, bubbling black ooze, music, voices, something about them all combined and she suddenly felt like she was floating on air, swirling along the mists the farther regions of her mind. A mind that seemed to burn like an ember, glowing faintly with the occasional outbursts of flames once it was stirred.
"No, I am not yours!" she screamed in her head as two images suddenly appeared before her, Lewis and Imhotep "I will never be yours, leave me be! You are not my owners, stop impeding me from being happy, why do you these things?! why? no! let me go! let me go!".
Jonathan looked down at her in horror as she frantically writhed and screamed. Finding no other option to stop her from hurting herself, he quickly pinned her arms above her head with one hand while he held her down with the other and pinned her body beneath his own. Hearing the screames, Rick suddenly came running into the tent and looked down to find Jonathan almost pinning down his sister's unrestraining form as she screamed frantically "Let go of me! let go!"
"Jonathan what the hell are you doing?!" Rick shouted angrily as he reached forward and pulled Jonathan to his feet. "I always knew you were a no good son of a bitch, but I never once thought you'd be capable of trying something like this!"
"O'Connell! please you don't understand! I wasn't trying to the moves on her or anything beyond that, if that's what you're thinking! Angela was having a nightmare and I was trying to wake her up, it didn't work and so I tried to prevent her from hurting herself....look at her!" he shouted frantically,as he pointed down at Angela who was just opening her eyes and dazedly looking up at them.
"What's, what's going on? what happened? and Rick why are you holding a gun to his head!" Angela suddenly bolted from where she sat and she scrambled up quickly to pull him away from Jonathan. "Put the gun down, Rick, please!".
"But he was trying to, and I saw you screaming, and --" Rick was shocked beyond words that she would defend him after what he had seen.
"Rick, for the love of god! Jonathan would never even think of doing a thing like that! I was having a nightmare amd I couldn't wake up from it, he was doing me a favor if he was trying to wake me from it!"
"But I saw him! how can you defend him even now!"
"Ugh! You just never give up, Richard, do you?"
"What do you mean, never give up?!"
"Forget it, I'm just dazed...I don't know what I'm saying"
"Jonathan, get out" Rick said sternly as he kneeled down beside Angela, he looked up then and glared coldly "And don't come back in here...just go take care of Kaila"
"But Rick, he wasn't doing any--" Angela tried to say suddenly.
"Jonathan, get out now before I change my mind and decide to shoot your brains out"
Jonathan looked down at Angela desperately and pleaded to her with his shocked green eyes as she pleaded back with her own amber. Neither dared to speak but both knew what the other was saying deep down inside. As Rick then held onto Angela, he could notice Jonathan's hesitation and he glared daggers.
"What are you waiting for?!" Rick demanded "Get the hell out of here!"
"Right, well, I'll be outside if you need anything" Jonathan stammered nervously.
But even then he couldn't help but look back at Angela who even then was looking at him in desperation, once more the realization of what Rick was capable of doing dawned upon them. Feeling a tenseness, they suddenly glanced over at Rick as if seeing for the first time, his angry face and fists clenched with the severity of a sledgehammer.
"I'm going then" Jonathan squeaked, before slipping out of the tent
Angela sighed and rested her head on Rick's shoulder as he sat down by her. It pained them both as they sat in the still silence of the tent, somehow each knew that the other had nothing more to say. Silence was then, always the best option, as it helped to relieve the stress and brought the family closer together. It all gave the mind some time to think things through and give the right choice of words a chance to come into clarity before the mouth even ordained to lecture, to lecture another about life and pain, it was often a great feeling and a often even then, a great disadvantage.
"Angela, are you all right" Rick suddenly asked softly, breaking the silence.
"I'm fine Rick, nothing happened....so there really is nothing to be hurt or worried about" Angela replied as she then sat up.
"I guess....I uh....overreacted a little"
"A little? you call putting a gun to someones head a little overreaction! try a hell of a lot of overreaction....hell I don't even want to know what you're like when you're extremely angry" she spoke incredulously "What are you going to do? shoot'em point blank before they have time to explain what's happening!"
"Maybe"
Angela jumped slightly at that comment "Well, then, I'll make sure to get out of town if I give you any reasons to be furious at me"
"I doubt you ever will....it's not like you're going to tell me that you lied about not loving Jonathan and that you plan on getting married to him or that you gave Imhotep the Book of the Dead.....because on all accounts you didn't have it to begin with"
Angela laughed uneasily as she looked away in horror at the sand that barely revealed itself under the tent and the blankets. Her giggles were becoming more hysterical as she started to hyperventilate again to the point where she felt she would suffocate. As his words echoed in her mind, it all seemed to spin around another series of memories: Jonathan proposing,their first kiss, everything was showing before her as she realized just how Rick had guessed the truth in a joke. She felt herself blacking out suddenly and before she knew it her mind went blank.
"Oh my god, Angela.....are you okay?" Angela what's wrong? calm down try to breathe" Rick said frantically as he held her close to his chest, rocking her back and forth as she slowly relaxed and fell asleep again.
Rick glanced down at her and sighed, the rowboat, that Indian Summer, he had remembered that autumn afternoon as he had held her form tightly. 14 and 5, such an age difference yet they were so close to one another. And even now 29 and 21 seemed the same as that far gone afternoon, except there wasn't any rowboat or any shouts, only the previous that had led up to that moment. The soft whisper of the sand and the wind flapping the tent were the only sounds in that still silent and frozen moment.
"God, I feel so alone" he said softly, as he caressed her head lightly "We've always been so alone and now that we're together finally, we seem to be drifting apart slowly" he looked out at the desert through the opening of the flap and watched the wind kick up some sand into some eerily familiar dervishes. Protectively, he looked down and held Angela tighter "Egypt is destroying us both, it's destroying everyone...if we make it out alive, we are never coming back to this goddamn country" Her non responsive form only made him feel so much more lonely "Angela, if only you trusted in me more, you use to tell me all your little secrets and now you just seem to be terrified of telling me what happened to you the day you read the Book of the Dead and even about your past....I hardly know you anymore and it scares me"
"Rick, I've never heard you speak like that before" a voice suddenly said softly.
Rick suddenly looked up to find Evelyn peering into the tent.
"Well Evie, now you finally heard" Rick said dazedly.
"And I can't believe it, you, Rick O'Connell, the man who shoots first without asking any questions, the man who is so brave and courageous against any odds, feels alone? Rick do you know how happy this makes me! I always thought you were to much of a man to admit your emotions and now I see that you are not such a brute after all"
"Thanks...I guess"
"You and Angela look so adorable together, look at her, asleep....peacefully resting against you...in your arms"
"Ya, when we were younger she would always follow me almost everywhere I'd go, we were both the best of friends, there wasn't anywhere that you wouldn't see us together, playing games, singing songs, arguing, dancing, everyone who knew our family back in Chicago thought we were the cutest thing since the teddy bear" Rick then sighed suddenly "And now look at us, drifting, fighting, disagreeing on everything...time has totally changed us both, I often wonder what would have happened if both of us had gone to the same orphanage in Cairo after our uncle and aunt passed away" he looked down at her "but what am I saying, she was sent to a boarding school in London to be closer to her fiancee while I was sent to Egypt to live alone in an orphanage until I was 18...our past has been so--"
"Unfair, and you hate it, Rick"
"It's not so much that I hate it, it's more or less the feelings and the questions that have been left unanswered by our family and by the separation of two continents, not mention the years, the time spent separated for so long, it hurts that we...the last two remaining members of our family....aren't even getting along like we should be".
"Perhaps you should let Angela live her own life, make her own decisions, solve her own problems, depending on what they are, and most importantly you have to let her love who she wants to.... you cannot force her into being separated from people" Evelyn took a seat beside him and put her hand on his cheek as he turned to look at Angela then back at her. "You are causing her to feel what she felt the day you two were separated....you're hurting her, more than she can bear".
For a moment Rick looked at her thoughtfully and then looked back down at his sister, who softly breathed as she slept. At 21 she still looked like a little girl at certain angles and he always enjoyed seeing her asleep or even laughing.
"You are being too overprotective of her" Evelyn said suddenly "You can't guard her all her life"
"I don't want her to get hurt, I'm trying so hard to be the father we never had after our mom left".
"Being overprotective and demanding isn't being a good father...or a good brother for that matter. She knows you love her and she loves you as well, but you can't live her life for her"
"I know....I know, as soon as we get out of this mess I'm letting her go her own way, far from Jonathan"
"Oh for the love of god! I completely give up, you just won't change one bit"
"Gee Evelyn, you just noticed" a voice suddenly said in a cold, sleepy tone
Both suddenly looked around the tent and then down at Angela whose eyes were wide open and frigid.
"Angela! oh dear...my lord ,uh....weren't you asleep just now?" Evelyn said uneasily.
Rick's face had grown pale as he looked down at her "How much did you hear?" Along the list of the most apparently clueless questions, this had to be in the top 3 worst ones ever.
"All of it" Angela replied as she sat up quickly "And quite frankly I agree with you Evelyn, all the way" she suddenly looked back at Rick and he couldn't believe the tearful, icy glare she was giving him "You are destroying me, Rick, you are being way too overprotective! I'm twenty one years old! I'm not a child anymore!".
"Don't you give me that attitude, Angela" Rick suddenly reacted to her fury with his own.
"But--"
"As long as we're here in Egypt....you're going to obey my rules!"
"But if you would just listen me, Rick!"
"I'm not done talking! and get this straight now Angela, I'm nevet letting you out of
my sight...is that clear!"
"Look at yourself Rick, look deep inside, you're trying to decide my own future! I'm not a prize Rick! I'm not an object that's going to be auctioned off only when you decide it's fit! You are not going to decide who is worthy of my love or not, you are not our father Rick! so stop acting like you are!" Angela shrieked in tearful anger.
In a sudden rush, she ran out of the tent taking a silent Evelyn and a frustrated Rick by surprise, she had left in such a fury of curses that even then in the distance they would hear her sobs of agony.
"Goddamnit!" Rick shouted as he looked away in disbelief.
Evelyn mumbled and shook her head slowly as she looked outside of the tent towards the desert, she held the tent flap open and stared out in silent resignation. She could see Angela standing tall as she too looked out at the Sahara, letting the wind dry her tears. It seemed to be that she was the fitting figure of a queen reigning over her own realm of death and peace... ironically as that sounds. But paradoxes are all but common in the Sahara and death with peace was no exception. Angela was indeed the queen of her realm and it all but seemed that Rick was like the reigning tyrant that would just not let her rule and force her to bow to his orders. Now a war was imminent but who was going to win in the end? all's fair in love and...war.
"I can't believe this, I have to deal with him, why did you give me a brother,god? why?"
Angela sighed and walked out of the city then and looked on at the vast desert that stretched out before her. She felt like the only person on the face of the planet and it somewhat relieved her senses, though she hardly felt relieved at the remembrance of her brother and Imhotep....they both wanted to kill Jonathan and possibly even herself. It surprised her somewhat that even the two enemies had something in common and in light of all of this, it pained her so much more.
"Well, now, I'm sure with my luck, they'll both join forces and then surely kill Jonathan and I" she snickered coldly at the thought and then spoke aloud, only loud enough that it was a whisper "And then they'll start to tear each other apart... how typical of men".
"Angela?" a voice broke her from her revery.
She quickly turned around to find Jonathan somewhat disheveled and confused a few feet away from her.
Hello Jonathan, how are you feeling?" she asked softly.
"Pretty well actually, is it all right if we talk? or is Rick going to suddenly come out of nowhere and beat me to a pulp?"
Angela smiled weakly "Let's talk, after all, I am your fiancee...we need to think of a way to get ourselves out here... because something tells me that if we don't we both are in for some serious trouble".
"I'm all ears" Jonathan replied as he walked closer to her.
"That's just the problem, I need help....I have no idea what to do...and at the moment I can't seem to come up with any solution to anything"
"O'Connell, would know the way, no, wait, he'd just make it a tad bit worse, shooting first is always his perogative"
"Speaking of which, we're both in seriously deep water with Rick, Imhotep and Lewis....they all want you or me or possibly even both of us dead and six feet underground, and then again Rick would probably most likely dig our bodies up and burn them 'til there's nothing left of them".
"And Imhotep would just gut us and cusre our souls to the darker depths of the underworld or better yet he'd rearrange our anatomy then curse our souls, there is just really nothing much to think about Lewis...other than the fact that he'll shoot me at seventy, eighty, or heck maybe even ninety until all that's left of me is a hunk of human swiss cheese"
They both gave each other worried, frightened glances and gulped simoultaneously. Stuck between the sword and the wall, not a great thought when in fact you have three swords pointed straight at you and you have no where to run other than into
one of those swords to your death.
"God, I hate it when fate does this!" Angela hissed anxiously.
"Calm down, Angie, I know how you feel, believe me I've been through this type of situation many times except it really never had to do anything with magic....it was always, well, um, bar brawls, well I was always the one getting pummeled so I guess I'm now just preparing for the worst of the moment"
Angela stared at him for a moment and sighed in resignation "Preparing for the worst is something I'm use to as well....funny really, how I never look for trouble, trouble just always is the one looking for me even in the case of Lewis and all the rest" she felt her body weakening and she fought to stay strong "Quite frankly I really have to calm down and stop being so hopeful and curious of things"
"I like you being curious and having hope, it's a part of you, your personality and...your beauty".
"Thank you" Angela replied shyly as she blushed.
"So what are we going to do when we go down into the tomb? I mean, we can't be there long unless you consider giving ourselves to the scarabs as a midnight snack".
Angela chuckled "No, first of all, the only thing I plan to do is see the underground and that's it, maybe get some imprints but that's it really, then we'll never have to go back down there ever again"
"What time then?"
"Around ten, when Rick and Evelyn are asleep"
"and how do you plan on staying down there?"
"About two or three hours, four hours max"
"But Angela, we're going to get ourselves killed. Imhotep never sleeps....in fact maybe all he does is the Egyptian equivalent of sleepwalking around the city...onlyhe'll be awake and when he finds us well, um, then we'll be turned into husks or be eaten"
"I promise we won't get eaten, Jonathan"
"Or caught?"
"Definitely not get caught"
Getting caught...the sheer thought was enough to get your stomach cringed up and your head buzzing with thoughts of escape and inevitable retribution. Depending on what do, the thoughts are always very different...your actions count a lot when you get caught in the act, but when it come to getting caught in Egypt, In the Sahara...in the middle of nowhere. Just pray to allah that you NEVER do get caught, the punishments are all on a scale like those of Ma'at herself, the scales of fate and destiny, the scales of life and death...all only ranging from nine to ten, nothing more, nothing less. Nine being torture, Ten being death. Which in the end would one prefer to choose? often time one doesn't have that choice and often times one doesn't even know that the path they have chosen, is the path to the final judgement hall of ma'at.
