IRRITATION

Disclaimer:- © Ardeth Bay, Rick, Evelyn and Alex O'Connell, Jonathan Carnahan, Imhotep, the Med-jai themselves and the entire concept belong to Stephen Sommers & Universal. I am merely borrowing the idea and expanding on a small but important part of it, namely Ardeth! Apparently I don't own him or the rest of them. But I do own everyone else! So there!

PROLOGUE

Ardeth Bay sat on the beautiful, elegant black horse and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the endless terrain of sandy dunes and distant peaks. He barely felt the heat anymore, not after more than thirty years of living in this harsh, unforgiving land. His turban helped keep the worst of the sun off the top of his head and he had a healthy respect for what the fierce heat could do to anyone who ignored its power. His full lips curved into a reluctant smile as he thought of some of the more hapless westerners he had saved from the desert over the years. That thought brought him back to his current mission and he focused on the sands again, watching the tiny figures of human beings making their way toward Hamunaptra.

The Med-jai had been aware of their movements since they had left Cairo two days ago and knew that they were ill-prepared for such a journey, their provisions barely enough for half of them. In all there were about ten people. Two men who appeared to be the leaders of the little expedition, seven local inhabitants who had been hired as carriers and diggers and one woman. She was the one who confused Ardeth and, for that matter, all the Med-jai.

She appeared to have no role to play in the expedition at all. From what he had observed she was largely ignored and, when she was spoken to or confronted in any way, she seemed to shrink back from whoever spoke to her. Once he had seen one of the men strike her and he had forced himself to remain at a distance, gritting his teeth in anger. It was the act of a coward to strike a helpless female as one would a man, especially in his custom.

The woman wore a head covering at all times, a deep, dark green, completely obscuring her features from his view. She was small, by the looks of it, cloaked and veiled as she was, she appeared to be a good deal smaller than the men. The way she was treated he could assume that she was to be a sacrifice, but there seemed little further evidence to lend any weight to that theory. She was not tied in any way and, being ignored as she was, she rode at the back of everyone else and had ample opportunity to attempt an escape. He pursed his full lips thoughtfully. No, she was a mystery. There would be time to figure her out once they had attacked their camp, because he would not take the life of a woman unless the woman first tried to kill him or proved to be a risk to his life's duty.

Turning his horse away from the cliff edge that overlooked the lost city he made his way back to the other Med-jai standing watch with him. It would be a mere two hours before the sun set and then they would attack, when night was upon them and the expedition was at it's most vulnerable. In the meantime, all they could do was wait.

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CHAPTER ONE

Rick O'Connell blearily opened his eyes and stared at the small fat child who had been dumped on his chest. He groaned as the pudgy little two year old girl grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged, squealing with laughter as he became a monster for her, roaring at her and trying to eat her stomach.

"Good morning sweetheart!" Evy chirped happily as she turned Alex in front of the mirror to examine his new school clothes. Alex was twelve now and was looking very disgruntled at the way Evy was fussing over him.

"Mum, stop it...Mum!" he moaned, as she turned him again and adjusted his new blazer.

"I wouldn't bother arguing with her son, you know she always wins. Just let her have her way and get it over with," Rick told him wisely, shooting her a butter wouldn't melt look.

"I just want him to look smart for his new school, that's all!" Evy fussed, standing back and examining her son with a critical eye. Alex was going off that afternoon to his new school. It was a boarding school and, although Rick had been dubious about it at first, he had soon admitted that it wasn't the usual stuffy public school that the English seemed to favour. In fact, of all the pupils he had actually met, he was surprised to find that they were all normal and affectionate youngsters. Alex would fit in well and it was really about time he had a little more discipline. Besides, they had a dig in Egypt that would keep them busy for the next two months and Rick had been emphatic about Alex not going with them. He didn't want his son put in any danger, not anymore. Evy had surprisingly agreed with him, the first time it had happened for quite a while. Rick frowned at that. In fact, Alex had been only too happy to go along with it all as well, he thought, puzzled. That wasn't like his family. Still, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

His eyes turned back to his daughter, still bouncing happily on his chest, knocking the air out of him with every move. She looked just like Evy, which he decided was a very good thing. Elizabeth Tambalyn O'Connell, known as Libby to everyone who had met her, had dark, curly hair that had only just reached her shoulders, and mischievous eyes, blue like his, but shaped like Evy's. He would have to keep an eye on her when she got older because she had all the makings of a real heartbreaker.

She was to go with them to Egypt, but she would be in the care of a nanny and a hired bodyguard at all times. Neither Rick nor Evy would take any chances with her safety, but they had wanted to show her off to Ardeth Bay as he had never seen her. They hadn't seen their desert friend since Evy had been midway through her pregnancy, when he had suddenly appeared on their doorstep in London bearing a gift for the unborn child. How he had known she was pregnant was anyone's guess, but Evy and Rick had been overjoyed to see him, especially as it had just been for a normal visit, nothing dangerous or deadly. His gift had been a handmade gold bracelet, small enough for a child to wear, engraved with the marks of the Med-jai. He had told them that it would protect her from danger and mark her as one of his people always, a westerner that his people would be glad to watch over, as were the rest of the O'Connell-Carnahan clan. It hadn't been until Libby had been born that they realised Ardeth had always referred to the unborn child as female.

Now they would finally be able to meet with him again, if they could find him, when they arrived in Cairo to stay in the large house they had purchased on the outskirts of the city. Evy couldn't wait. Her cousin Charlotte was going to meet her there with her little brother William on their very first trip to Egypt. Evy hadn't seen them for years, not since Alex had been a toddler, although they wrote to each other as often as possible and Charlotte had shown great interest in Evy's exploits. In her last letter Evy had suggested that they join them for their trip since Charlotte didn't seem to get much time to herself.

Her parents, Evy's aunt and step-uncle, had died a year ago, leaving Charlotte with a big house, lots of money and the care of her four year old brother. Evy had never met him, but she was sure he would make a perfect playmate for Libby. Rick had been a bit more dubious as he had only met Charlotte twice and found her extremely quiet. He hadn't had much chance to get to know her because she seemed so timid, but Evy thought it was about time that the situation was rectified.

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One week later Evy carried Libby into the beautiful large house they now owned, staring happily at the pillars that graced the entrance and continued on through the hall. The floor was made of marble, and the walls were the colour of sandstone, warm and inviting. Wood decorated many of the surfaces and a large sweeping staircase curved to the upper floor, where an open gallery overlooked the hall. It was not as large as their London home, but Evy would have been happy to live there forever. As usual it was filled with artefacts, objects that Evy and Rick had collected over their years as explorers and even a few items that Jonathan had obtained and reluctantly let them have instead of selling them.

Evy smiled when she thought of Rick's reaction to the news that Jonathan would be joining them. He had started stomping about and yelling and Jonathan had made a hasty exit from their room, leaving Evy to calm him down. Which had been quite easy. All she had to do was grab him and kiss him, it worked almost every time, depending on how much passion she could pour into the kiss. After a few seconds she had him agreeing to anything she wanted and he hadn't even been in any condition to get angry at her smug expression. Evy cleared her throat and wondered at her ability to still be able to blush when she thought about what he had been in the right condition for!

Rick followed her into the cool confines of the house and caught the faint flush of colour that made her face even prettier, his lips curving into a knowing smile. "And what, exactly, are you blushing for?" he whispered casually into her ear, one arm snaking around her waist from behind and pulling her back against his tall body. She reluctantly smiled as she glanced at him over her shoulder. "Nothing that you need to know about!"

"Mmm-hmm. Sure about that?" he teased, bending to give her a light kiss that was interrupted by a small fat hand grabbing his bottom lip.

"Libby! Be careful of daddy, sweetheart," Evy said softly, gently prying the small hand open so that Rick could rub his sore lip.

"She's worse than you," he said, giving the little girl a mock glare before responding to her invitation to hold her by stretching out her arms to him. He lifted her high in the air and then hugged her to him, one hand ruffling her mop of curls.

Evy watched father and daughter play together and felt a warm curl of happiness move inside her stomach. She was well aware of how lucky she was.

A round lady came bustling out of the kitchen and beamed when she saw them, rushing to greet them. Tilly had hired Maria in London, loving the fact that the large Italian lady was an excellent cook and could run a house with her eyes closed. The fact that she also spoke about seven different languages, including Arabic, had persuaded her that she would be the perfect housekeeper.

"Maria! It's so good to see you again," she said and received a hug from the warm, motherly woman.

"And you, Mrs O'Connell. How was your trip?"

"Lovely, very relaxing. Is Charlotte here yet?"

The woman nodded and snapped some orders in Arabic to the few waiting employees, directing them to take the luggage up to the appropriate rooms. "She arrived yesterday with her little brother. Such a beautiful child, young Elizabeth here will get on well with him!"

"I'm sure she will. Where are they now?"

"Why, they went exploring early this morning. I sent Amir with them for protection," she looked up at the grandfather clock that stood at one end of the hallway. "I told them to be back in time for lunch, but that was an hour ago and still they have not returned." She shrugged and smiled. "I am sure they have just become too involved in the sights of Cairo to return early!"

Evy smiled and nodded in agreement. "I expect so. After all, she's never been here before and I remember exactly what it feels like to discover a place so ancient and historical for the first time! I'm sure they'll be back soon!"

"I hope so. I hope nothing bad has happened to them. Cairo can be a dangerous place for a woman alone and if Amir let them out of his sight…" Maria tailed off.

Evy frowned. "He wouldn't though, would he?"

Maria shook her head and gave a reassuring smile. "I am sure he would not, but Miss Charlotte seems a little...headstrong. She may have wandered off. Never fear, you can trust Amir, I am sure!"

Evy relaxed a little, and joined Rick as Jonathan walked in the front door, the three of them taking Libby upstairs for a well-needed nap. Evy wondered about Maria's description of Charlotte as being headstrong but shrugged it off. She must be mistaken, she thought, because Charlotte was anything but headstrong.

Had Evy been able to see what had really happened to her cousin, however, there would have been no rest for anyone.

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