CHAPTER TWO

Charlotte Carnahan had arrived in Cairo on the previous morning and had stepped off the boat with relief. She had spent the journey with her head buried in a large bowl, emptying her stomach contents with alarming regularity at the hated motion of the ship. She had never travelled before and, now that she had, she realised how lucky she had been. Next time she would find a plane carrying cargo to this part of the world and hitch a ride on that instead, she decided. Knowing her luck she would be sick on that as well, but at least the journey would be vastly shorter. Her little brother William, known as Billy unless he was being naughty, had been very grown up about the whole thing, even rubbing her back on occasion. Luckily, there had been a kindly couple in the next cabin who had taken care of him when they found out how ill she was and they would have her eternal gratitude once she returned to the land of the living.

For now, all she wanted to do was get to Evy's house and die in peace, with no-one knocking on her door and asking how she was in between bouts of vomiting. Sleep would be a welcome relief. There were a few ancient looking cars dotted along the port, the word Taxi written haphazardly on boards tied to rusty doors. Well, however much they would cost, it would be worth it. She raised a hand to one particularly eager looking man and smiled as he rushed over and asked how he could help her, his English broken but understandable. She gave him the address and valiantly tried to help load the luggage on the car with him, but he motioned her into the back of the car and told her to rest, she looked 'very much like the chalk'. She supposed he meant pale, but that was close enough.

Not too much time passed as they travelled through the narrow streets of Cairo, Charlotte taking in all the quaint houses and market stalls, hotels and what appeared to be brothels as they passed them. When they pulled up outside a large house she was almost asleep, the motion of the car welcome after the rolling motion of the ship. Before she knew what was happening a group of young men had surrounded the car and taken her luggage indoors and she was pulled out of the vehicle and into the embrace of a large, greying woman.

"I am most pleased to meet you, cara. Mrs O'Connell has told me so much about you!" the woman said, beaming infectiously. "And this must be the young master William, such a beautiful bambino! Come, Miss Charlotte, follow me, you must be exhausted! I am Maria."

"I'm pleased to meet you and yes, I am tired. I was a little ill on the journey, I'm afraid," she said, understating the sickness she had suffered.

"You poor child. Come, come, we will make you all better!"

She had allowed the older woman to virtually take her over, finding herself tucked into bed for the first time since she was a child and actually enjoying the pampering. The day passed incredibly quickly whilst Charlotte did little else but sleep and eat when food was placed under her nose, pleased to find that her stomach held the food quite comfortably now she was on land again. That evening she made her way downstairs and explored the house and gardens, surprised and delighted at how green and lush the grounds were. She had somehow expected the gardens surrounding the house to be as dusty and dry as the desert, but they were full of blooms and shrubs, some of which she had never seen before.

Maria joined her, a man wearing dark robes following her. He bowed respectfully and she gave him a hesitant smile which he returned, his eyes seemingly transfixed by her long, curly blonde hair and brown eyes, an unusual combination even in England. Charlotte was equally fascinated by him, wondering at the odd tattoos that seemed to be all over his face, his cheeks, forehead and even his chin decorated with the ornate designs.

"Miss Charlotte, this is Amir. He was hired by the O'Connells to be a guard here, in case of any trouble. If you want to explore tomorrow then he will accompany you," Maria said as they wandered into the house. Billy came barrelling out of the house and ran smack into Amir, falling back on his bottom as he rebounded off the tall man. His face crumpled as he hit the floor and Amir instantly picked him up and cuddled him, obviously extremely comfortable around small children. Billy stopped sniffling almost straight away and leaned back to get a look at the tall man who was staring intently at his small face. Billy had the same colouring as she did, the hair and eyes the same as their late mother's. The little boy examined the face of the Arab and smiled slowly, his hand reaching out innocently to trace the strange markings on his face.

"Your face needs a wash," his voice piped up and he giggled as the man grinned at him.

"These marks are not dirt, child, they are the signs of a warrior."

"What's a woryer?"

Charlotte spoke up before Amir could. "A warrior," she corrected him. "It's like a soldier, Billy." She turned her attention to Amir. "Are you a soldier then?"

He nodded. "In a sense yes, I am a soldier."

Her eyes narrowed. "In a sense? So you're not really a soldier? What are..."

Maria cut her off. "Come, come, Miss Charlotte. It's time to eat and I have prepared a beautiful meal for you and the bambino," she said, taking Charlotte's arm and distracting her from any more questioning. She knew all about the Med-jai, but it was obvious that Charlotte didn't and she wasn't sure if the O'Connells wanted her to know about them. Come to that, she wasn't even sure if the Med-jai themselves wanted her to know. It should be left up to the O'Connells to tell her.

Charlotte let Maria lead her indoors and into the dining room, but she kept looking back at Amir who was following with William, questions trembling on the tip of her tongue. Maria shook her head. Another headstrong English girl, she thought and tutted loudly as she seated her at the table and went off to fetch the food.

The next morning Charlotte was up almost as soon as the sun started flooding in through the curtain, rummaging through her wardrobe to find something suitable to wear in the intense heat. She finally chose a long green skirt and matching loose blouse, fastening a wide black belt around her middle. The material was perfectly decent but also gauzy and cool. Along with the large hat with its huge gauzy scarf, she felt she looked decent enough and would also remain fairly unaffected by the sun. At least, she hoped.

She rushed along the landing to William's room and found the little boy already sitting up in bed and staring with excitement at the view from his window. "Ready to get dressed and go explore?" she asked him, grabbing his little body and lifting him up.

"Can we go and see the primids?" he asked eagerly.

"The pyramids, yes," she said, correcting him. "But first we have to get you dressed and feed you, okay?"

He nodded and gave her his dubious help in selecting an outfit. Soon they were sitting downstairs in the kitchen with Maria, much to the woman's outrage.

"You should be sitting in the dining room, not in the kitchen like servants!" she admonished, but Charlotte merely smiled.

"Don't be silly, this is much nicer than that huge dining room. It feels more like a family room."

That seemed to please Maria and she placed the most enormous breakfast Charlotte had ever seen on the table in front of her. "I can't eat all of that!" she exclaimed, staring at the mountain of food.

"You will eat as much as you can. You are too thin, you English girls. You need to put some weight on those hips!" she said and placed another large plate in front of William, who had no trouble at all dealing with the food.

Charlotte valiantly tried to eat the monster breakfast, but had barely made a dent in it when she felt incredibly full. "I'm sorry, Maria. I did try, but..."

Maria tut-tutted and took the plate away, calling for Amir as she busied herself clearing up. The tall Arab strode into the room a few seconds later, and Charlotte gasped at the sight of him. Yesterday he had been in dark robes, but today he seemed to have extra layers on top of them and also a dark turban. But what had shocked her were the two large curved swords resting at his hips and the leather gun belt that criss-crossed his chest and looped around his waist.

"Please, do not fear. These are for protection and I wear them always when I am...on duty," he said hesitantly, as if searching for the right term. Charlotte nodded and picked her hat up from the table, taking the small fedora style hat she had found for Billy and placing it on his head. "I hope you don't mind accompanying me today? I mean, if there's anything else you have to do, then don't let me keep you. We'll be fine on our own I'm sure..."

"No, Miss Charlotte," he said, addressing her in the same manner with which Maria did. "Cairo can be dangerous for a woman alone, especially for a woman of your colouring I fear. I have nothing more pressing to do today than to accompany you, do not trouble yourself."

Charlotte nodded and gave him another tentative smile, ushering Billy out of the house in front of her, aware as the day wore on of the stares they were receiving because of their companion.

Maria had warned them to be back in time for lunch because Evy and Rick would be arriving shortly thereafter, and Charlotte had reluctantly agreed. As it neared that time, she turned to Amir to say that they should make their way back when her eyes were caught by a flash of metal next to him. Before he had time to react a large man wearing dirty robes had smashed him around the head with the butt of a gun and he fell to the ground unconscious. Charlotte had no chance to even scream, a large hand coming around her from behind and fastening over her mouth, lifting her small frame easily and dragging her back down a dark alleyway. Her frantic eyes looked around for William and found him being held by yet another man, this one obviously a westerner. They were taken through a doorway and virtually thrown into the corner, Charlotte gathering her sobbing brother against her side and trying to comfort him as best she could in her own shaken condition.

The man who had lifted her stepped into the dim light coming in from a partially covered window and she saw that he, too, was not an Arab.

"Hello Miss Carnahan," the taller of the two men said, crouching down in front of her and smiling.

"How...how do you know my name? Who are you?"

"My name is Peter Hall, Miss Carnahan, and my colleague there," he nodded to the other man, "is Philip Stewart. As you can tell, we're both English and we're here in Egypt on a very special mission."

She stared warily at them and wondered what on earth they were going to do to them. "Why have you brought us here?"

"We need to use you in a little ceremony, Miss Carnahan. May I call you Charlotte? Good," he said, not bothering to find out if he could or not. "You see, your cousin Evelyn O'Connell and her husband sent a certain priest to the underworld a few years back and we need to bring him back again," he explained calmly.

"Imhotep?" Charlotte whispered, aware of the mummy that Evy and Rick had vanquished twice now.

"Yes, that's correct, I see you know all about him. Well, you see, we need him back so that we can...how should I put it? Ah yes, take over the world, I suppose the expression would be."

"You can't..." she began and he cut her off with a fierce look.

"Oh we can, Charlotte. With your help of course. We need you for several reasons actually. Firstly we need a human sacrifice and that would be...you. Secondly we need an insurance policy against the Med-jai and that would be you again. Thirdly, we need someone who can read ancient Egyptian."

"I can't read ancient Egyptian," she said, trying not to sound smug, wondering what a Med-jai was.

"I know. But your cousin can and when she finds out where you are she, and her family, will come after you. Oh, and just in case you were thinking of refusing to help in all this as you're going to die at the end of it anyway, well, we'll just take your little brother here." He nodded to the large robed man who had knocked Amir out and he forcibly took the little boy away from Charlotte's grasping hands. "Now, if you do as you're told then he'll come to no harm and will eventually be adopted by a wealthy local family. If, however, you try and defy us, we'll kill him. And be assured, Charlotte, we'll do it slowly so that he feels every single slice of the blade we use."

"Please don't hurt him," she gasped, her eyes brimming with tears as she listened to the little boy scream for her, sobbing as he was carried out of the room. "Please, please bring him back," she said, getting to her feet and moving toward the door he had been taken through.

The tall man stood up with her and viciously backhanded her, sending her sprawling back to the floor again.

"I don't remember giving you permission to get up. That's the first thing you'll have to learn, obedience." He turned as the large man came back and nodded to him again, watching impassively as he pulled Charlotte up and flung her over his shoulder, carrying her out into the street where a group of camels stood waiting. The Englishman called Philip stood next to her as she was placed next to the animals and quickly threw a robe over her, securing it in place and pulling a piece of the dark green material over her face so that only her eyes were showing.

The next second she found herself on the back of one of the beasts, holding on for dear life as they all moved out into the streets and then beyond, into the desert. She was so scared by this point that she thought she might faint, beginning to hyperventilate behind the stifling material. Peter Hall glanced back at her and gave her a warning look as they left civilisation behind, her last hope of attracting anyone's attention disappearing. They had been joined by several other men and they rode out across the sands in a tight group, Charlotte bringing up the rear. She wondered at this at first, but soon realised that they didn't really have to watch her at all. She couldn't do anything in case they hurt her brother and even if she did, she would probably get lost and end up dead. She allowed a few tears to fall and then gritted her teeth against them, knowing that even this small loss of precious fluid was bad.

That night, after what seemed like years on the back of the camel, they finally stopped and the men went about making a camp. Charlotte sunk down onto the cooling sands and hung her head, one hand going around to massage her neck. She jumped when she heard footsteps nearby, jerking her head up and glaring at Peter Hall.

"We'll be having some food soon, so you may remove your facial covering. But don't even think about removing the robes."

"Why not?" she asked quietly and cringed as he lifted his hand to her face, wondering if was going to hit her again. She had tasted blood on the inside of her cheek for hours after the last time and knew she would have a bruise on her face.

Instead of striking her he pulled the veil down and trucked it almost tenderly behind her ear. "You mustn't uncover your hair or clothing in case we're being watched. Whoever saw you would know instantly that you were European and probably alert the authorities, which I simply won't stand for."

"I'm suffocating in these robes, though. Couldn't I..." This time he did hit her, smiling as blood trickled down her chin.

"Don't question me, Charlotte. Remember what I said about obedience? Well, that's exactly what I expect from you. Silence unless told to speak, no moves unless told to move. Only if you need to relieve yourself at any time may you speak without permission, do you understand?"

She nodded, the moonlight sparkling off the tears in her eyes. "I need to...relieve..." she began, embarrassed at having to speak of such things in front of this stranger.

"Of course, come," he said, taking her hand and helping her to stand unsteadily in front of him. "Over here you can have some privacy. Don't worry, I'll turn my back and you can go as far as you like. I don't think I need to mention that if you try and run away we'll kill your brother, do I?"

She shook her head and moved away from him, across the dune in the pitch blackness and down the side of it, affording her complete privacy. After she had finished she climbed back to where he was standing, surprised to find that he had kept his back turned the whole time. The gentlemanly behaviour didn't gel well with what he was going to do.

He took her back to where the tents had now been erected and led her into a small one, watching her sit down on the bedroll contained therein. "I'll bring you some food in a minute but for now, here's some water. Drink it slowly," he advised, handing her a small skin of water and leaving her. She was grateful for being left alone and she used the water to rinse her mouth out, spitting the blood in the sand and then drinking some more of the cool fluid slowly.

Later that night, after having eaten a stew that she didn't even taste, she lay down and tried to sleep, knowing that it would be a long time, if ever, before she would be able to close her eyes and relax. Her mind kept going over her situation again and again, picturing Billy screaming and sobbing as he was dragged away from the one secure person in his shifting world.

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