"How did you ever become the Med-jai chieftain?" she mocked him, her eyebrows arching as she took in his supine position. He felt the tip of the sword move down his neck and he swallowed, wondering why she hadn't finished him. If it had been him in the same position, her head would no longer be attached to her shoulders, he thought. He felt the blade move down his chest and tensed his muscles, waiting for the killing blow. But it never came. Instead he was shocked to feel her straddle his thighs and lean down until she was pressed along his length, her face mere inches from his own. "Feeling weak are we?" she taunted him and sniffed at his cheek, running her tongue along it. He recoiled from her and went to push her away, but she moved swiftly and ended up kneeling on his arms, rendering him defenceless for what felt like the first time in his life. He knew his strength was finally deserting him and that the adrenaline flow that had helped him fight her before was ebbing away. His last hope was that he could replenish his energy whilst she taunted him and maybe make a move when she least expected it. He let himself go limp under her and she smiled triumphantly as she felt him yield.
"Do you still think I am merely a weak woman?" she asked him, running a finger down the side of his face, supremely unaffected by the fighting going on around them. "or do you concede that I am actually the stronger fighter?"
"I will concede to that one point alone, that you are stronger at this moment," he said, his voice a harsh whisper. "But you are still a weak woman, and you are not as skilled a fighter as I, nor will you ever be!"
The triumph disappeared from her face instantly at her words and she raised the sword up, her eyes glittering down into his with savage satisfaction as she plunged it into his left shoulder, the blade going deep this time. He could not stop the hoarse yell of pain escaping his tight lips as he felt the steel cut through the muscle and hit bone, sending waves of pain screaming along nerve endings to his brain.
"Does it hurt Med-jai?" she hissed at him, smiling cruelly as she watched him suffer. "How about this?" she said and twisted the blade sharply, widening and opening the wound in one deft move.
He almost blacked out from the pain this time, forcing himself to stay conscious and ride the pain out, turning it into anger and adrenaline. He yelled loudly and brought his knees up, thrusting her up and off him in one swift movement and sending her tumbling across the floor, the sword quickly removed from his shoulder as she still held it in a tight grip. She landed awkwardly and her head hit one of the many rocks littered about, almost making her lose consciousness. She sat up, swaying slightly, one hand holding her forehead and stared around her at the chaos.
"Ardeth?" she asked, her voice small and confused and very frightened as she spotted him trying to get up from his prone position. "Oh my God!"
Ardeth couldn't believe his ears. When she had hit her head she had obviously been knocked back to herself, and he could see that this was Tilly again and not the evil woman who had just tried to kill him.
"Tilly," he said urgently, pressing one hand to the gaping wound in his shoulder. "Your hands, the sign. You must use it now! Now!" he almost shouted to her and she stood up shakily, holding her hands in front of her and moving them towards one another.
Seth had been immobile through most of the fighting, watching patiently as the guards were defeated one by one. He would not interfere until it was no longer possible to sit on the sidelines, but when he saw Tilly starting to join her hands, palm outwards, into the wedjat, he stood and shouted for her to stop.
"No !Meketaten, no!" he yelled, trying to stop her from doing what he knew his Queen would never do to him. He had no great powers yet to stop her. He turned to where Imhotep had been standing, intending to ask him to put a binding spell on her, but the bald man was gone, probably fighting some of the foreigners, no doubt.
Tilly paused briefly when he yelled the name Meketaten, almost as if she were being taken over again, and Ardeth moved toward her. He had taken only one step when she gritted her teeth and brought her hands fully together and he saw, for the first time, the full image of the wedjat scarred onto her palms. He had only a brief second to witness it before it glowed so brightly that he had to turn his head away or be blinded.
Tilly had no such luck, her eyes were transfixed to the sudden white hot brightness as it burned her hands and then sent out a vast stream of light toward the professor, hitting him squarely in the chest. Even the people fighting had stopped to witness what was happening, their mouths hanging open in shock.
Seth screamed as the light struck him, the beam made of an energy so pure that it made pain course through him in waves of sheer agony, sucking his soul out of the human body slowly. This was the power of Horus he could feel, his reviled enemy, the one who he had sworn he would defeat if it took an eternity. It seemed that the time to destroy him wouldn't be now, however. His scream took on a roar as anger joined the pain, anger at being denied an earthly existence.
Tilly's scream joined his as the pain in her hands travelled up her arms and settled in her chest, making her feel as if she were having a heart attack as the power flowing from her started draining her own reserves of strength. Her head shot back as the light grew just a touch brighter and then shot a bolt of energy straight into the body of the professor and then just stopped, as if someone had flipped a switch somewhere. Ardeth moved to catch her when she collapsed on the floor, but a hand digging harshly into his wounded shoulder prevented him from reaching her and he turned around with a grunt of pain to face his new assailant. He sucked his breath in through his teeth as he came face to face with Ankhef-Sem, the hated man holding a sword in his hand, obviously ready to kill, his eyes glittering in his disfigured countenance.
Ankhef-Sem smiled grimly at the wounded Med-jai, knowing that the time had finally come - finally! - when he would be able to kill the proud warrior. He rejoiced at the chieftain's weakened state, knowing that he could truly let him fight back without worrying about getting himself killed in the process. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this greatly. He thrust Ardeth's sword into his hands.
"Your sword, Ardeth Bay," he said, spitting his name out. "You will fight me!"
Ardeth bowed gracefully, his gaze fixed upon that of his enemy, the strength on his face belying the fact that he was badly wounded. "It will be my pleasure to destroy you, traitor," he said arrogantly to the priest, raising an eyebrow. "Let us begin!"
They began trading blows, skirting around Tilly who now lay unconscious on the floor, not seeing anything that was happening around her.
Evy and Rick had watched as the energy bolt shot into the professor and the scream that issued from his mouth was cut off abruptly. His figure almost seemed to shimmer in front of them, as if seen through a heat mirage, and he fell to the floor in a heap, the mirage free floating above him. Evy realised that what she was seeing must be the spirit of Seth and she was confused as to why it wasn't black, as the soul of Ancksunamun had been. She didn't have too much time to ponder this, however, as one of the few remaining guards roughly turned her around and attacked her. It took all her strength and skill to counter the attack and she was thrust back into the fighting with a vengeance. She hadn't even seen what had happened to Tilly.
Ardeth was having no small amount of difficulty fighting his deadliest human enemy, his strength sapped from every blow that he managed to block. Ankhef-Sem was fighting like a madman, his strikes becoming more intense as Ardeth weakened, sensing that he was winning the battle over the chieftain.
Jonathan finished firing on the last of the guards and looked around for someone else to fight, noting that Evy and Rick were both now in hand to hand combat with the last remaining men, and Ardeth was having a sword fight with their leader. He could see that Ardeth was losing this battle, blood leaking steadily from the wound on his shoulder and dripping on the floor wherever he moved, making a macabre pattern in the dust. Without a thought for himself he walked toward the swinging blades and raised his pistol, levelling it at Ankhef-Sem's head. Ardeth managed to yell out for him to stop just before he depressed the trigger and he swung his head toward him in confusion. "Why in God's name not?"
"This one...he is for me alone," Ardeth yelled back, bringing his sword up in the nick of time to stop Ankhef-Sem from taking his arm off.
"But Ardeth, old chap..." Jonathan began, about to say that it was obvious he was losing.
"No!" he yelled at him and Jonathan subsided, content to keep aiming at the man in blue robes in case the Med-jai chieftain had need of his help. It occurred to him, all of a sudden, that he hadn't seen Tilly for a long time and he glanced around, searching for her. In the dim light from some of the torches he could just make out her figure slumped in the shadows in a heap and he rushed over to her, hoping that this was still Tilly and not that creature that she had become. He knelt down and pulled her head gently onto his lap, stroking her hair back from her face and speaking softly to her, wondering if this was the right thing to do, never having had to deal with unconscious females very much. Dead females, yes, but not unconscious ones, he thought, glancing over to where Evy was beating the hell out of a man twice her size.
Ardeth was slowly gaining the upper hand in his own battle, his powerful and undamaged right arm making a mockery of Ankhef-Sem's gradually weakening blows, the older man no match for the leader of the Med-jai, even in his wounded condition. His mind was once again overriding the pain and weakness, battling as if this was the most important fight of his life, his sword slicing through the air and deflecting the oncoming blows with growing ease. He caught Ankhef-Sem twice in the following minutes. Once across the chest and once across the stomach, cutting him but not mortally wounding him, merely weakening him.
Ankhef-Sem could feel victory slipping out of his hands and was filled with an incandescent rage that the man in front of him should once again escape death. He began taking foolish risks, raising his arm too high when he attacked and giving Ardeth Bay an opening for his own sword, backing away too slowly, allowing the other man to fool him into making unnecessary and clumsy movements. He spun around as Ardeth tried to slice his sword arm and used his momentum to try and land an upward rotating slice to the chest of the already wounded Med-jai. Instead he had just enough time to widen his eyes in dismay as he saw Ardeth's sword moving swiftly toward his neck, the blade slicing through the flesh and bone like a knife through butter.
Jonathan gulped and turned an interesting shade of green as Ankhef-Sem's head landed near his legs, the sightless eyes seeming to look up at him. He tore his gaze away from the dead man's and looked up as Ardeth approached him, his eyes dropping to look at Tilly.
"Is she..." Ardeth began, his voice trailing off as he tried to ask if she dead.
"She's alive, she just hasn't woken up yet," Jonathan said and then gave Ardeth a glare. "I say, did you have to take his head off like that? Not that I particularly mind, you understand, it's just...well, you could have aimed it in another direction couldn't you? The beastly thing is staring at me!" He gave a delicate shudder and moved Tilly from his lap, laying her down carefully before standing up. "Couldn't you move it somewhere else? I don't think Tilly or Evy will appreciate seeing that!"
Ardeth frowned as he thought about that. "Of course," he muttered and, instead of picking up the offending body part, he gave it a swift kick that sent it rolling off into a dark corner.
Jonathan swallowed once, twice and then made a mad dash for the cave where the sounds of vomiting could clearly be heard. Ardeth shook his head and allowed a weary smile to touch his lips before the pain and weakness of the last few hours caught up with him and sent him down to his knees beside Tilly. All sounds of struggles or fighting had ceased and he could vaguely hear Evy and Rick talking to each other, checking that the one they loved was unhurt. Then there was nothing but blessed oblivion as he lost consciousness.
Rick watched as the body of a large guard slumped to the floor in front of him, his neck at an odd angle due to his efforts. He even remembered smiling as he heard the loud crack signifying the break in the spine that had finally killed the man. He spotted the professor and moved over to him, checking for a pulse. His eyes closed and he frowned in disappointment when he felt nothing. His hand turned the professors face toward him and he examined him carefully. Jackson Millbrook's eyes were wide open and milky, his expression one of pain, etched forever on his face in his dying moments. There was a huge, ugly, wound in the centre of his chest, burnt there by the strange light that Tilly had shot at him, and very obviously the cause of his death. What a bloody waste, Rick thought angrily. His eyes looked helplessly over at Evy, watching with awe as she despatched her attacker in a similar manner to the way he had dealt with his own foe. He had taught her well, it seemed, and his brow furrowed at that thought.
She turned and caught the frown and smiled reassuringly at him, and he quickly moved to her side, feeling her plaster herself against him in a well deserved hug. His big arms closed around her and squeezed her, his eyes closing as he bent his head down and kissed her soft hair. The love he felt for this woman sometimes overwhelmed him with it's intensity and he found himself crushing her even more.
She made a faint protest at the strength of his arms and he relented slightly, pulling his head back to look into her face, vaguely aware of Jonathan speeding past them. He watched as his beautiful wife smiled up at him, apparently unconcerned at the deaths she had just brought about. "You're brooding again aren't you? I can tell!" she said softly, hugging him even tighter.
"Well, it's pretty hard not to when you see your wife break a man's neck!"
"Maybe so, but as I've told you before, my life is just great as it is! I don't regret meeting you and I definitely don't regret all the things you've taught me!"
"Yeah, sure, but how many women do you know who have the same sort of life you have? It's not exactly normal, is it?"
"No it isn't, but you remember what Ardeth said before? That you were destined to protect me? Well, I think that must be true, and I wouldn't trade up my life for anything in the world! I love knowing how to kill a man, as bad as that may sound, and there are other perks to being married to you, you know," she said and reached up on tiptoe to kiss his lips.
"Mmm-hmm, and what might they be?"
"Oh, you know, your lips," she gave him another kiss. "Your lovely, strong, hands," she drew his hands to her mouth and kissed them too. "Your gorgeous eyes," she pulled his head down and planted a soft kiss on each eye, and he smiled wickedly.
"Anything else you want to kiss?"
Her head shot up and she slapped him. "Richard O'Connell!"
He laughed delightedly. "My God, I haven't heard that tone of voice since I threw you over my shoulder at Fort Brydon to make you stay put! I must be slipping!" He avoided her next blow and grabbed her up against him, covering her mouth with his and giving her a long, seductive kiss. He knew that there was little she could do to fight against such sensual attack, it being his favourite weapon to use against her. He had learnt long ago that she had a peculiar weakness for his deep, drugging kisses and he used them as often as he could.
After a few seconds he lifted his head and noted the satisfactory glazed look that had come over her. Her eyes narrowed. "Oooh, you are the most maddening man...!"
"But you love me," he said softly, grinning at her.
"Yes I do, stupid woman that I am!" She glanced to the side. "Where are the others?"
"Over there," he said calmly, nodding his head towards the other end of the temple. "Come on, they're going to need our help."
They walked over to where Ardeth and Tilly were laying unconscious and Evy gave them both a quick examination. "Tilly seemes...well...fine I suppose, just unconscious. Her hands are in a pretty bad state though, look," she said, lifting one of the younger woman's wrists up so Rick could see what she meant. "That light, that...energy," she said, for want of a better word, "it's burnt her palms. There's a first aid kit I brought along back at the tent. Ardeth's the one that's worrying me though."
She pulled his tattered robes aside and showed Rick the wound to his shoulder and chest. "He's losing a lot of blood, We're not going to be able to help him on our own, we need to get him to his people. You go and find Jonathan and see if you can find any other Med-jai. Oh, but help me move him first, and Tilly." She realised, belatedly, that she had totally forgotten about the professor and she told Rick so, going to move toward the altar where she could see his body, but Rick stopped her. She looked up at him and saw all she needed to see in his stern expression. "Oh no," she whispered.
"I'm sorry honey, but it's not a pretty sight. Best leave it to me to..." he searched for a word, "...dispose of it. Him," he corrected himself.
Evy nodded in response and gave him another hug, burying her face against his chest as she thought of the poor professor. Jonathan returned after a short time, looking pale, but a little better and he helped move the unconscious couple out of the temple and then down through the underwater tunnel. This was the hardest part of the manoeuvre, even though Evy assured him that their bodies would automatically stop breathing once they were under the surface and not breathe in the water whilst they were passed out. The first thing Jonathan checked when they emerged at the other side was whether they were still breathing, relieved to find that both of them came out alright. It was night and the desert was pitch black, but they unerringly found their way across to the tent.
It wasn't long before they had them comfortably laid out in the original tent, both on a soft bedroll, Evy fussing about and tending to Tilly's wounds. A gasp escaped her when she looked at Tilly's hair in the light from one of the torches Rick had brought in. Long brown streaks of colour had appeared in amongst the red. Was her hair now going to revert to it's original colour, she wondered. She felt an intense relief pass through her when the younger woman's eyes flickered open and stared up at her, the coldness that had been there previously now gone forever. But they, too, had changed. They were no longer the clear green she had come to recognise, now they were blue, exactly the same shade as Ricks.
"Are you alright?" she asked her softly, bandaging Tilly's hands as best she could. "Your hands are a bit of a mess, I'm afraid, but they should heal up in no time, so don't worry."
"Did...did it work?" Tilly croaked, her throat feeling sore for some reason.
Evy smiled. "It worked. There's no more Seth, no more Meketaten, no threat at all. You did really well," she told her.
"I can remember some things...I'm not sure if they're real memories, mine or..." she shrugged and stared at Evy with guilty eyes. "I hurt you all didn't I?"
"Not all of us no. You didn't touch me or Jonathan, well, you did kiss Jonathan actually, but I don't think that could be classed as hurting him!"
"I kissed him? Why on earth would I...I mean..." she broke off in embarrassment. "Who did I hurt then? Rick? I didn't hurt Rick did I?"
"Only a tiny bit, just by touching a cut that Imhotep gave him, nothing to worry over."
Tilly searched Evy's eyes and could tell she was holding something back. "Please tell me what I did, I need to know. It's like I've got an empty space in my head, like the memories are there but I can't reach them," she said slowly, trying to explain how she felt.
"You had a...well, a sword fight with Ardeth, and you very nearly won," Evy said, watching the shock that flared in Tilly's eyes.
"But, I can't fight with a sword, I've never..."
"No, but Meketaten has. She...you...were very good at it, but fortunately not as good as Ardeth."
Tilly seemed to think about that for a second. "So, how come I'm not dead then? He said that one of would have to die..." she stopped and her eyes widened. "Oh no! Evy, tell me I didn't kill him!"
"No, no! He's wounded, but he's alive! Please, don't panic like this, you need to stay calm and get some rest!"
"No, I want to see him!" she said and sat up, waiting for a few seconds to make sure she didn't feel dizzy.
Evy wasn't sure, but she helped her stand up anyway, and led her from her own small compartment to the one where Ardeth lay. Tilly frowned with concern as she looked down at the man who had undoubtedly saved her life. His breathing was deep and even, that was a good sign. Surprisingly, his colour wasn't bad either. But the bandages that Evy had applied to his chest and shoulder were already becoming stained with blood and she knew without being told that she had done this to him. She closed her eyes and she could actually see the memories replaying in her head like a moving picture, sickening her at the way she had hurt these people. Not her, she told herself sternly, Meketaten. She opened her eyes again and looked down at her bandaged hands. She couldn't even be of any help to him changing the bandages, she thought.
"Evy, I don't feel any pain. Why don't my hands hurt?"
"They don't hurt at all?" Evy asked in amazement. She had seen the burns and she knew how painful they could be.
"No .I mean, I remember them hurting when I put them together and that light...but now, they don't hurt at all! I guess I should just be grateful for small mercies, huh?" She gave a lopsided smile. "Where's Rick and Jonathan? And Jackson?"
"Rick and Jonathan have gone off on horseback to find the Med-jai, so that they can come and help Ardeth. Jackson..." she shook her head. "He didn't make it."
Tilly closed her eyes briefly, opening them again and looking at Evy with a saddened expression. "Now that I did do, I remember it," she said.
"Yes, but you had no choice and none of us knew it would kill him. It was the only way. Now come on," she said briskly, "you may have big, fat, bandaged hands, but you can still help me dress his wounds. You can hold the bandages, okay?"
The action was just what Tilly needed and she threw herself into it wholeheartedly. After bandaging Ardeth they went about collecting all their belongings into a big pile so that they would be ready to leave. They were both surprised when they heard the thundering of horses hooves as they sped across the desert towards them. Rick and Jonathan had only been gone two hours. But as they got closer she could see that it was, indeed, the two men surrounded by Med-jai warriors.
They wasted no time moving into the tent and picking up Ardeth. He was placed up on a horse in front of his second in command, the other man taking great care over his leader's safety and comfort, before bidding them thanks and farewell and galloping off again.
"What's their rush?" Evy asked her husband, staring into the darkness.
"There's a small problem, honey," he began, taking her hands in his and squeezing them absently. "Something I didn't tell you before."
She frowned. "What ?What could be so bad..."
"Imhotep's gone." His words had the ability to strike her dumb almost instantly. "We couldn't find his body, and there were no readings from any ancient books to dispose of him either. He's just disappeared, and so has the Book of the Dead."
"But...we...we don't have to stay...? Alex!" she exclaimed, gripping his arm tightly. "What if he goes after Alex?"
"He has no reason to, not anymore, but that's why we're going home. The Med-jai have assured me that they will no longer need our help, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, I'm sure if they find they do need us, they'll also find a way to let us know. They've been doing this for centuries, we haven't .Even if it does feel like it sometimes!"
Evy nodded and allowed a frisson of relief to pass through her at his words. They could go home. She just hoped that Ardeth would be alright. "How will we find out about Ardeth?"
"We can't leave for a couple of days, honey, mores the pity. There's no way of getting the plane here any sooner and it'll take us forever to get to Cairo or anywhere else without it. We still have camels, so we can ride out to the plane when it arrives." Rick caressed her cheek and gave her a comforting smile. "The Med-jai promised to let us know how Ardeth is before we leave."
"I'm so glad," she whispered and pressed into his embrace, closing her eyes contentedly. "Everything will be okay won't it?"
"It always turns out okay, honey. It'll be fine," he replied, his eyes going to Tilly over Evy's head, happy to see that she seemed to have recovered okay. His family were safe, for now, and that was all that mattered.
Jonathan sauntered over to them and looked at them for a while, wondering whether or not to interrupt. "I say, er, is Tilly okay?"
Evy nodded. "She's doing fine. You helped get her out, I'm sure she'll want to thank you for that."
Jonathan raised his eyebrows. "Well, it's about bloody time someone around here showed some gratitude!"
Rick rolled his eyes and then stuck his hand out, shaking Jonathan's hand when it was given. "Sometimes, Jonathan, you can try the patience of a saint. But I am grateful for all you've done, even if I don't always say it."
The thinner man looked taken aback for a second and then he gave an embarrassed smile. "Well, nice of you to say so, old chap!"
"Hmm, well, don't expect me to say it again anytime soon," Rick said, ruining the whole thing. Evy jabbed him in the ribs and smiled at her brother.
"You know he really does respect you, he just has a hard time showing any sort of emotion," she said, ignoring the glare that Rick shot her. "You are his brother after all."
"Brother-in-law," Rick said instantly, still looking sullen.
"I always wanted a brother," Jonathan mused happily, oblivious to Rick's glares. He looked at him and caught one, grimacing. "Of course, I never realised he would be such a throwback, but still, I suppose I can live with that."
Rick's mouth fell open at the insult and then he laughed when Jonathan smiled at him, showing him that he didn't really mean it. Whatever Jonathan did, however bad it got, Rick couldn't help liking him. He just didn't want to show it too often. Evy was constantly telling him off about it, but he figured that if he let on that he liked the man, he would take advantage of that fact and commit even dumber acts. It wasn't a risk worth taking.
Rick slid an arm around his wife and took a deep breath. He had more family than he had ever dreamed possible, always having been on his own. His life had changed because of the thin man standing looking like a spare part, merely from the moment when he had stolen the key from him. Had that not happened, he would never have met Evy. He had a lot to thank the man for.
