DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lara Croft or Tomb Raider. I am not making money
with this work of fiction.
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net and "Lara Croft's Tales of Beauty and Power". All other sites please email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Tomb Raider: Prevail by Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Chapter 3
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Josephine asked, as Lara parked the jeep they had rented in Senga Bay. Lake Malawi shimmered in sunset, and a group of local boys were fishing with primitive-style harpoons in low water. Josephine got out, leaving Lara struggling with the car keys, and walked to the edge of the waves. She sunk her palm in the water and smelled it.
Behind her, Lara leapt over the low jeep door and walked up to Josephine. "Awfully muddy, isn't it?"
Josephine nodded. "We'll be needing the lights. It's lovely to have a walk outside like this after the flight. Too bad Virgin Airlines doesn't fly here. I hate those small planes."
Lara didn't reply. She had never disliked any form of transportation after experimenting with camels in Morocco.
"You know, I've never been to Africa before," Josephine said matter-of- factly.
Lara frowned. "An archaeologist who's never been to Egypt? Surprising. I take it you've been too busy sitting in your little office."
"Unlike you, my dear, most archaeologists are busy sitting in stuffy offices. No, actually, the annual few trips to Mexico, Peru et cetera are enough. I haven't found it necessary to begin any new digs outside South America."
Lara sat down on a rock formation a few metres from the water's edge. "Peru's still as hot during summer as it used to be?"
"All the same. You asked about Egypt. In my opinion it's been thoroughly searched. There's nothing left. All the lovely monuments have disappeared into thin air or the tourists' suitcases." Josephine threw a rock to the still lake. Framed by mountains, it looked isolated and lonely.
"How can you judge if you've never personally been there?" Lara replied a bit angrily.
"Hit a bit of a sore spot, didn't I?" Josephine walked back to the car and waved her hand at Lara, "Let's get going. I promised the hotel owner we'd get our rooms keys before dark."
Taking one last look at the lake, Lara followed her and started the car. "Why don't you indulge me a little more on the background story of the treasure, as you call it. I feel a bit like someone who's been dragged into something."
Josephine smiled. "I don't think you could be classified as a draggable person, really. You came because I made you interested. And that's good."
Lara put her sunglasses on and pressed the gas pedal. Josephine quickly grabbed the shade of her white peaked cap as it was in danger of getting grabbed by the dry wind. Remembering Lara's question, she continued.
"We're looking for the death mask of a tribune of Ramses the Second, and the jewellery of his wife."
"And they were buried in Sudan," Lara confirmed.
"Yep. At Jebel Barkal, the sacred mountain. Under the Egyptian period it used to be a temple of some ancient Egyptian god..."
"-Amun," Lara added loudly over the engine noise.
"I'm impressed. The graves were found in Napata, on the West Bank of the Nile."
"Have you any idea who this mysterious archaeologist who found them was? You never told me what your link was to all this."
"I knew about it because this archaeologist happened to be my grandfather."
"Charles Bronson Ross?" Lara sounded surprised.
"How did you know?"
Lara tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. "He's a legendary guy in egyptology, unless you knew. What reason would he have to smuggle or hide artefacts?"
"You're smart. Act up to it."
Lara thought about it. "He must've found something pretty pricey."
"First prize and full points. That's what I figured, anyway." Josephine stood up in her seat to see more clearly the fields of sunflowers on the side of the dirt road. She marveled at Lara's behaviour - she acted as if driving a jeep through Malawi backcountry was the most natural thing in the world. No culture shock whatsoever.
"You come from a family of archaeologists, then?" Lara asked.
Josephine started to feel light-headed in the heat, so she sat back down. "My grandfather, my father and me. Like you, I assume."
"You couldn't go more wrong. My father's retired from the parliament, and my grandfather - let's just say had money by birth."
"No wonder you had everything so easy, then. Kinda explains a lot."
"I did not get everything easy. I can't believe this," Lara spat out, and pressed gas. "All this time you've loathed me for my alleged success and you never even bothered to check the facts."
"You got everything easy. At least admit it. I'm not going to fight with you over this, but need I remind you that you were even allowed to do your thesis in advance in contrast to us mere mortals?"
"Why should I even try to explain? You've obviously made up your mind in I being a rich bitch, so why should I insult you by proving it wrong?"
"You are as prejudiced as me, if you haven't noticed."
Lara didn't reply. She decided an African evening like the ongoing was far too stunning to spoil with ridiculous arguments.
Hours later, the sun had set, inspiring legions of animals to come out and begin hunting. Stray dogs clattered litter bins behind Lara's room window. The tiny city of Monkey Bay was waking up. Lara, in the privacy of her own room, changed into her jogging wear. Peeking out of the window, she saw lights in Josephine's room, and decided it was unnecessary to inform her where she was going. Lara spread a mosquite net over her bed so she could at least try to sleep later, and left her room.
She nearly trampled over Josephine in the corridor. Lara noticed she had changed her knee-lenght leggings and a T-shirt to a linnen skirt with a matching white blouse. Her sandals looked muddy, even though Lara had not seen her wear them before. It was as she was already coming back from somewhere.
"Going running?" Josephine asked.
"That's quite well phrased." Care to join me? Lara almost asked, but changed her mind.
"You'll have to drop that idea. I'm going out and so are you."
Lara grew suspicious. "Going out? You'll have to enjoy your own company. I planned on taking a run and then going to bed."
"You sure? We could get a bottle of wine from the reception and sit on the lakeshore. Or take a round at the local bars. I bet I can drink you under the table."
"Josephine, practically anyone could drink me under the table. I don't respond well to alcohol. A glass of wine is enough every once in a while," Lara explained more apologetically than intended. There was no way she would agree to try to outdrink anyone.
"Don't be a bore. Go get changed. You have to enjoy yourself for a change, believe me. Do it for minesake, huh? It's no fun celebrating alone."
Lara eyed Josephine sharply. "And what do we have to celebrate? We've just arrived, our work results are an honest zero, and I'm dead tired. You'll have to get Samuel from the reception to accompany you. What we could do, though, is to go through all the material you've got over a cup of coffee."
Josephine gave her a mildly disappointed look. "Shoulda guessed. Going through the papers is okay, but I just felt like..."
"I know what you're talking about. Living rough. I used to do that until I became too old and tired," Lara said bitterly.
"I'll get the papers. But you're going to have to indulge yourself with them - I'm going to bed."
Lara laughed.
"And what might be that funny?" Josephine asked.
"First you're trying to soak me up and when that doesn't work you get grumpy. You're one piece of work, you know Josephine Ross."
"Whereas you're not?"
"I never said that."
Josephine woke up late. Aware that Lara might not appreciate the fact, she dropped herself from her bed - the only way to wake herself up completely in a split second, and dove into her suitcase for a fresh outfit. She picked out a clean version of her previous wear - knee-lenght shorts, bleach-smelling tennis socks and a T-shirt.
She stopped to look herself in the mirror, struggling with the buttons of her shorts. There had never been a need to lose weight - as a child she'd been thin as a rake, and in her youth she'd competed in gymnastics. Adulthood had only brought a few extra pounds - the leftovers of doomed relationships and one marriage. In her opinion she wasn't very beautiful, perhaps only pretty, and whatever the truth might be, she would never be able to compete in looks with the person staying in the room left of hers.
Lara Croft. Josephine had considered earning the job of a dig curator to be an achievement, but to Lara achievements seemed to fall down from the sky. She was a pet child of modern archaeology.
And the men. In university they'd first mooned over Lara, and after learning a few lessons in manners from the person aforementioned, they'd mooned over Josephine.
How nice it was, always being number two in the line, Josephine reminded herself, and finished brushing her hair. She'd learned to keep up her own things. She was a well-known academic and South America specialist, and someone had even called her a great speaker.
Josephine was an ambition-driven person, and she knew that she would, unconsciously dislike every person happening to be more skilled than her in any subject. Lara, though, was one of her favorite subjects to discuss. And the fact that Lara Croft's personal life was a mystery to both the press and her colleagues.
The most annoying thing about Lara was that she seemed like a nice person, in general. Quiet and unsocial maybe, but nice all the same.
Josephine pulled the window close, and grabbed her peaked cap from the chair under the vanity table. She went to knock on Lara's door but got no reply.
In the reception she greeted Sam, a smiling young African and left her room key for safe storage. Then she went out and got attacked by the burning South African sun.
Lara was already outside, packing their jeep with diving equipment. As Josephine closed the hotel - if you could call it such - door, she was struggling to get Josephine's tanks in the open trunk. Sweat gleamed on her forehead.
"You've started off early," Josephine commented, shading her eyes with her palm.
Lara climbed down from the jeep and took off her sunglasses. "I'm starting to think we need a pick-up instead of this old thing."
"As long as we get everything to fit in, we'll be okay. Have you found a boat yet?" Josephine asked helpfully.
Lara nodded, tapping light brown sand off her hiking boots. "Dear old Sam in the reception knows a man who has the biggest fishing boat around the bay. He's willing to help. Why don't we go and get the rest of the stuff?"
Josephine opened the hotel door to Lara and followed her inside.
"I take it you're a good diver, then?" Lara asked. She hadn't asked before because she assumed Josephine would be smart enough to inform her if the situation was that she wasn't a diver at all.
"I have PADI diving teacher's license," Josephine replied, hoping Lara wouldn't ask of her actual experience. She'd dived quite a lot, but Lara's experience would probably beat hers by any number. Besides she had never dived in shipwrecks. Lara probably wouldn't appreciate that bit of information very much.
"More of marine archaeology or puddle archaeology?" Lara teased.
"Mainly holiday diving. Well, the closest I've ever come to marine archaeology was when I was the only one willing to dive into a sacrificial well in La Venta last year."
"Nasty, aren't they?" Lara asked. They had arrived in Josephine's room, and Josephine dug out her swimming suit from the cupboard. Lara disappeared and returned a few minutes later with a sports bag.
"So you've come across those, then?" Josephine asked, interested. After all, Central and South America was her field.
"Excuse me?" Lara asked, crossing her arms in the doorway while waiting for Josephine.
"Sacrificial wells? Where?"
Lara thought for a second. "Vilcabamba, around 1996, I think. Plus one in Chiczen Itza."
"Actually, I don't think Vilcabamba wells are sacrificial ones at all. There was vulcanic activity in the area around the time the city was deserted due to the Spaniards, and a flood is supposedly the reason of some rooms and corridors filling with water," Josephine replied enthusiastically and a little proudly. It was her theory that the Incas had never actually sacrificed humans.
"That's new to me. Interesting," Lara replied without a hint of negativity in her tone. She went out, leaving Josephine to look for her left fin.
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net and "Lara Croft's Tales of Beauty and Power". All other sites please email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Tomb Raider: Prevail by Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Chapter 3
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Josephine asked, as Lara parked the jeep they had rented in Senga Bay. Lake Malawi shimmered in sunset, and a group of local boys were fishing with primitive-style harpoons in low water. Josephine got out, leaving Lara struggling with the car keys, and walked to the edge of the waves. She sunk her palm in the water and smelled it.
Behind her, Lara leapt over the low jeep door and walked up to Josephine. "Awfully muddy, isn't it?"
Josephine nodded. "We'll be needing the lights. It's lovely to have a walk outside like this after the flight. Too bad Virgin Airlines doesn't fly here. I hate those small planes."
Lara didn't reply. She had never disliked any form of transportation after experimenting with camels in Morocco.
"You know, I've never been to Africa before," Josephine said matter-of- factly.
Lara frowned. "An archaeologist who's never been to Egypt? Surprising. I take it you've been too busy sitting in your little office."
"Unlike you, my dear, most archaeologists are busy sitting in stuffy offices. No, actually, the annual few trips to Mexico, Peru et cetera are enough. I haven't found it necessary to begin any new digs outside South America."
Lara sat down on a rock formation a few metres from the water's edge. "Peru's still as hot during summer as it used to be?"
"All the same. You asked about Egypt. In my opinion it's been thoroughly searched. There's nothing left. All the lovely monuments have disappeared into thin air or the tourists' suitcases." Josephine threw a rock to the still lake. Framed by mountains, it looked isolated and lonely.
"How can you judge if you've never personally been there?" Lara replied a bit angrily.
"Hit a bit of a sore spot, didn't I?" Josephine walked back to the car and waved her hand at Lara, "Let's get going. I promised the hotel owner we'd get our rooms keys before dark."
Taking one last look at the lake, Lara followed her and started the car. "Why don't you indulge me a little more on the background story of the treasure, as you call it. I feel a bit like someone who's been dragged into something."
Josephine smiled. "I don't think you could be classified as a draggable person, really. You came because I made you interested. And that's good."
Lara put her sunglasses on and pressed the gas pedal. Josephine quickly grabbed the shade of her white peaked cap as it was in danger of getting grabbed by the dry wind. Remembering Lara's question, she continued.
"We're looking for the death mask of a tribune of Ramses the Second, and the jewellery of his wife."
"And they were buried in Sudan," Lara confirmed.
"Yep. At Jebel Barkal, the sacred mountain. Under the Egyptian period it used to be a temple of some ancient Egyptian god..."
"-Amun," Lara added loudly over the engine noise.
"I'm impressed. The graves were found in Napata, on the West Bank of the Nile."
"Have you any idea who this mysterious archaeologist who found them was? You never told me what your link was to all this."
"I knew about it because this archaeologist happened to be my grandfather."
"Charles Bronson Ross?" Lara sounded surprised.
"How did you know?"
Lara tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. "He's a legendary guy in egyptology, unless you knew. What reason would he have to smuggle or hide artefacts?"
"You're smart. Act up to it."
Lara thought about it. "He must've found something pretty pricey."
"First prize and full points. That's what I figured, anyway." Josephine stood up in her seat to see more clearly the fields of sunflowers on the side of the dirt road. She marveled at Lara's behaviour - she acted as if driving a jeep through Malawi backcountry was the most natural thing in the world. No culture shock whatsoever.
"You come from a family of archaeologists, then?" Lara asked.
Josephine started to feel light-headed in the heat, so she sat back down. "My grandfather, my father and me. Like you, I assume."
"You couldn't go more wrong. My father's retired from the parliament, and my grandfather - let's just say had money by birth."
"No wonder you had everything so easy, then. Kinda explains a lot."
"I did not get everything easy. I can't believe this," Lara spat out, and pressed gas. "All this time you've loathed me for my alleged success and you never even bothered to check the facts."
"You got everything easy. At least admit it. I'm not going to fight with you over this, but need I remind you that you were even allowed to do your thesis in advance in contrast to us mere mortals?"
"Why should I even try to explain? You've obviously made up your mind in I being a rich bitch, so why should I insult you by proving it wrong?"
"You are as prejudiced as me, if you haven't noticed."
Lara didn't reply. She decided an African evening like the ongoing was far too stunning to spoil with ridiculous arguments.
Hours later, the sun had set, inspiring legions of animals to come out and begin hunting. Stray dogs clattered litter bins behind Lara's room window. The tiny city of Monkey Bay was waking up. Lara, in the privacy of her own room, changed into her jogging wear. Peeking out of the window, she saw lights in Josephine's room, and decided it was unnecessary to inform her where she was going. Lara spread a mosquite net over her bed so she could at least try to sleep later, and left her room.
She nearly trampled over Josephine in the corridor. Lara noticed she had changed her knee-lenght leggings and a T-shirt to a linnen skirt with a matching white blouse. Her sandals looked muddy, even though Lara had not seen her wear them before. It was as she was already coming back from somewhere.
"Going running?" Josephine asked.
"That's quite well phrased." Care to join me? Lara almost asked, but changed her mind.
"You'll have to drop that idea. I'm going out and so are you."
Lara grew suspicious. "Going out? You'll have to enjoy your own company. I planned on taking a run and then going to bed."
"You sure? We could get a bottle of wine from the reception and sit on the lakeshore. Or take a round at the local bars. I bet I can drink you under the table."
"Josephine, practically anyone could drink me under the table. I don't respond well to alcohol. A glass of wine is enough every once in a while," Lara explained more apologetically than intended. There was no way she would agree to try to outdrink anyone.
"Don't be a bore. Go get changed. You have to enjoy yourself for a change, believe me. Do it for minesake, huh? It's no fun celebrating alone."
Lara eyed Josephine sharply. "And what do we have to celebrate? We've just arrived, our work results are an honest zero, and I'm dead tired. You'll have to get Samuel from the reception to accompany you. What we could do, though, is to go through all the material you've got over a cup of coffee."
Josephine gave her a mildly disappointed look. "Shoulda guessed. Going through the papers is okay, but I just felt like..."
"I know what you're talking about. Living rough. I used to do that until I became too old and tired," Lara said bitterly.
"I'll get the papers. But you're going to have to indulge yourself with them - I'm going to bed."
Lara laughed.
"And what might be that funny?" Josephine asked.
"First you're trying to soak me up and when that doesn't work you get grumpy. You're one piece of work, you know Josephine Ross."
"Whereas you're not?"
"I never said that."
Josephine woke up late. Aware that Lara might not appreciate the fact, she dropped herself from her bed - the only way to wake herself up completely in a split second, and dove into her suitcase for a fresh outfit. She picked out a clean version of her previous wear - knee-lenght shorts, bleach-smelling tennis socks and a T-shirt.
She stopped to look herself in the mirror, struggling with the buttons of her shorts. There had never been a need to lose weight - as a child she'd been thin as a rake, and in her youth she'd competed in gymnastics. Adulthood had only brought a few extra pounds - the leftovers of doomed relationships and one marriage. In her opinion she wasn't very beautiful, perhaps only pretty, and whatever the truth might be, she would never be able to compete in looks with the person staying in the room left of hers.
Lara Croft. Josephine had considered earning the job of a dig curator to be an achievement, but to Lara achievements seemed to fall down from the sky. She was a pet child of modern archaeology.
And the men. In university they'd first mooned over Lara, and after learning a few lessons in manners from the person aforementioned, they'd mooned over Josephine.
How nice it was, always being number two in the line, Josephine reminded herself, and finished brushing her hair. She'd learned to keep up her own things. She was a well-known academic and South America specialist, and someone had even called her a great speaker.
Josephine was an ambition-driven person, and she knew that she would, unconsciously dislike every person happening to be more skilled than her in any subject. Lara, though, was one of her favorite subjects to discuss. And the fact that Lara Croft's personal life was a mystery to both the press and her colleagues.
The most annoying thing about Lara was that she seemed like a nice person, in general. Quiet and unsocial maybe, but nice all the same.
Josephine pulled the window close, and grabbed her peaked cap from the chair under the vanity table. She went to knock on Lara's door but got no reply.
In the reception she greeted Sam, a smiling young African and left her room key for safe storage. Then she went out and got attacked by the burning South African sun.
Lara was already outside, packing their jeep with diving equipment. As Josephine closed the hotel - if you could call it such - door, she was struggling to get Josephine's tanks in the open trunk. Sweat gleamed on her forehead.
"You've started off early," Josephine commented, shading her eyes with her palm.
Lara climbed down from the jeep and took off her sunglasses. "I'm starting to think we need a pick-up instead of this old thing."
"As long as we get everything to fit in, we'll be okay. Have you found a boat yet?" Josephine asked helpfully.
Lara nodded, tapping light brown sand off her hiking boots. "Dear old Sam in the reception knows a man who has the biggest fishing boat around the bay. He's willing to help. Why don't we go and get the rest of the stuff?"
Josephine opened the hotel door to Lara and followed her inside.
"I take it you're a good diver, then?" Lara asked. She hadn't asked before because she assumed Josephine would be smart enough to inform her if the situation was that she wasn't a diver at all.
"I have PADI diving teacher's license," Josephine replied, hoping Lara wouldn't ask of her actual experience. She'd dived quite a lot, but Lara's experience would probably beat hers by any number. Besides she had never dived in shipwrecks. Lara probably wouldn't appreciate that bit of information very much.
"More of marine archaeology or puddle archaeology?" Lara teased.
"Mainly holiday diving. Well, the closest I've ever come to marine archaeology was when I was the only one willing to dive into a sacrificial well in La Venta last year."
"Nasty, aren't they?" Lara asked. They had arrived in Josephine's room, and Josephine dug out her swimming suit from the cupboard. Lara disappeared and returned a few minutes later with a sports bag.
"So you've come across those, then?" Josephine asked, interested. After all, Central and South America was her field.
"Excuse me?" Lara asked, crossing her arms in the doorway while waiting for Josephine.
"Sacrificial wells? Where?"
Lara thought for a second. "Vilcabamba, around 1996, I think. Plus one in Chiczen Itza."
"Actually, I don't think Vilcabamba wells are sacrificial ones at all. There was vulcanic activity in the area around the time the city was deserted due to the Spaniards, and a flood is supposedly the reason of some rooms and corridors filling with water," Josephine replied enthusiastically and a little proudly. It was her theory that the Incas had never actually sacrificed humans.
"That's new to me. Interesting," Lara replied without a hint of negativity in her tone. She went out, leaving Josephine to look for her left fin.