Anyway, hope y'all like the new chapter.
BTW, just watched "The Quiet American." Awesome movie, Brendan is about an 11 on the hotness scale of 1 to 10 lol. Especially in the green shirt…mmmm. Anyway, I would recommend it.
Enjoy!
Chapter FourFor the next week I did my best not to talk about the myth, or my ever-growing suspicions, in front of my cynical husband. I knew the idea of actually following up on my allegations made him nervous, if not angry, and wanted to keep my thoughts under lock and key before he could have the chance to shoot them down.
But this didn't stop me from doing more research on the subject. Whenever I had a break at work, or some free time at home, I was pouring into book after book. Unfortunately, I was only coming up with the same information over and over again. No one seemed to have a clue to what the two pieces of jewelry were and nobody seemed to have the slightest speculation as to where the treasure was. Most just dismissed the story as, what else, fairytales and hokum. But, as you all know, these fairytales and hokum have proved real in other situations- why couldn't they, or it, rather, be real now?
However, a few things had begun to jump out at me. Tuya had uttered "never ending circle" on her deathbed. This made me wonder what she meant, because obviously, a circle doesn't end anyway. So she had to have been talking about something specific. A ring perhaps, or maybe a bracelet? Could they possibly be the famous lost jewelry?
I'd checked the trinkets I had kept with me from Hamunaptra (without Rick's knowledge) and one of them, a hoop earring no less, had the name of Karnack inscribed on the inside rim. Interesting development if you ask me.
What I couldn't explain, nonetheless, was the draw this story had on me. Honestly, it was like it was calling to me. It was all I thought about; from the moment I woke up to the minute I shut my eyes. I wanted to know more, because I knew, deep in my heart, that the myth was true. And that I was destined to find it for some reason.
I suppose I took this week to build up my courage as well. I knew that asking Rick to help me would be stepping out into a far limb. He'd formicated, quite elaborately, that he'd had quite enough of running after suspicions. However, he never said that we had to refrain from the activity all together.
One morning at breakfast, I sat pensively, watching him devour a big plate of eggs and sausage. He ate more then anyone I knew and still managed to stay taught and fit. If I ate as he did, I would be fat as a bloody horse in no time.
I had hardly touched my toast, picking at it with my fingers instead of eating it. When Rick noticed this, he stopped in mid bite and stared at me over his fork.
"Everything okay?" he asked through his food, spewing eggs everywhere. Honestly! You could take the man out of the legion, but you couldn't take the legion out of the man.
"Really Rick," I chided sternly, grabbing a napkin from the center of the table and throwing it toward him. He shrugged, cleaned up his mess quickly, and then launched the thing toward the sink where it landed, thankfully, in its rightful place. After repeating his question, without making a mess, he went back to shoving food into his mouth, watching me over his fork.
I took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. "I want to go to Karnack follow up on the Treasure of Nefertiri myth."
Rick started choking on his food and immediately started whacking himself in the stomach before being able to breathe again. At once he took a big drink of his milk and then stared at me with big eyes.
"Are you fu- insane!" he yelled.
"Shh," I warned, bringing my finger to my lips. Predictably, Jonathan was sleeping one off in the next room and any sort of loud nose might wake him up, causing him to come in and start screaming about how loud everyone was. "No I'm not, and watch your language." I had to hand it to him; at least he had stopped before he had cursed instead of me reprimanding him afterward.
"Evy, last time you-"
"We!"
"We," Rick sighed, "went chasing after legends all hell broke lose, literally." He sat staring at me long and hard, his face set in a grim expression.
I was determined to do this however and turned my expression to be just as stern as his for a moment. "Rick," I started slowly, "this isn't some hidden city with a curse hanging about it. There are no ancient books involved."
"Yet," Rick muttered darkly.
All right, time for plan two. I slid out of my chair and crossed the kitchen floor to where he was. Perching myself comfortably in his lap, I draped my arms around his neck and laced my fingers together, creating a clasp. Rick shifted uncomfortably and didn't look at me until I thrust his chin, somewhat difficulty, up with my index finger.
"Honey," I began sweetly, "its just Karnack."
"It was just Hamunaptra," Rick reminded me.
"I promise, that if I can't find any other clues within a week or so we can leave. I promise," I assured him, tightening my hold.
Rick stared at me for a long time, his blue eyes peering into mine with a wide array of emotions. They changed from moment to moment; angry, then devoted, then soft, and then to suspicious. I never tore my gaze away from his own until, at last, he sighed heavily.
"You wont read any books?"
I tried to quell my elation as I diligently shook my head.
"And you wont open any chests that have curses on the lid?"
Again, the dutiful shaking of the head.
"Promise?" Rick was almost smiling now as he leaned his head closer to mine so that our foreheads were almost touching.
"I promise," I, well, promised, closing the gap and resting my brow against his. We both broke into big smiles and with a kiss, I jumped from my position on Rick's lap. I heard him laughing, but I didn't even care as I excitedly did a little dance right there in our kitchen. Finally, I had the power and money to go out on actual digs! And I had a husband who agreed to do it with me, even if it took just a little convincing.
******
It took us another week and a half to completely prepare. I had to get time arranged off of work, and it actually panned out quite well. They had recently picked a new curator to take over my job when I left, and were going to use this time for a sort of a training session. Then of course, arrangements had to be made as to how we would get down to Karnack. It was finally decided upon that we would simply obtain some camels and trek there. As Rick pointed out, the less people who knew about this the better. And camels spoke to no one but themselves.
Of course, Jonathan demanded to be taken along once he found out what was going on. This, needless to say, turned into a sort of a debate between Rick and myself. We both had reasons for taking him, and both had reservations about doing so. On one hand, John, as much as I loved him, seemed to be followed closely behind by trouble. Just the other night he had gotten into a squabble at a bar and had wound up a hundred dollars out with a black eye and a very bruised ego. And all he had done was accidentally bump into a large, angry native. He also had a mouth that couldn't be hushed and no idea when it was appropriate to do so. In addition, Rick likes his- or rather, our- privacy and was not at all thrilled about having my brother sleeping in the tent next to us.
However, Jonathan had "saved" us once before, if you could call it that. And it would be more sensible to bring a third person along, just in case. Besides, neither Rick nor I were ecstatic at the idea of leaving him home alone in our apartment. Who knows whom he might have up there, or what he might tell them.
So we were stuck between a rock and a hard place, as Rick would say. In the end, we agreed to take him on the accord that he realized Rick was in charge, we got to tell him what to do, and if he did anything to ruin the expedition, he was gone, quiet possibly back to England, depending on the severity of the offence.
The morning we were set to leave, I woke up ridiculously early and climbed out of my warm bed to the crisp November air. Making some coffee for Rick and tea for myself, I began bustling around, taking care of all the meticulous last minute things that needed to be done. Rick arose a couple of hours later, and, grumbling about his cold coffee, managed to make himself presentable in a reasonable amount of time.
He didn't have to tell me; I knew he wasn't looking forward to this. His scowls, reluctance to take part in much of the planning, and his ever growing angst about the whole thing was obvious. But if it's possible, I loved him even more for doing it even though he didn't want to. I would have done the same for him.
Jonathan was, surprisingly, sober and ready to go at the delegated time. He started whining when I told him to leave his gold stick behind, but other then that he behaved decently.
Around eight we went down to the little shop and picked up our four camels- one for each of our persons and then another to carry things. Neither Jonathan nor I were light packers and how we had managed to only need four camels was beyond me.
By nine we were heading south down the Nile, traveling along the shore. It was a nice day, considering it was November, and I was rather enjoying myself as I followed behind Rick. Jonathan was beside me and didn't say a word except for an occasional grunt to acknowledge one of us. Just as well, I wasn't in the mood for his insipid ramblings.
As Cairo was fading into a smaller area, to a dot on the horizon, and then finally into nothing, I was trying my best to study Rick from my rear view. He was hunched over his Camel, not talking at all. Every few minutes he would turn around, check to make sure we were okay, and then turn back. Once he gave me a weak smile, which I returned, but that was it.
We had been riding for a couple of hours when I finally began to miss my husband. Jonathan was, for once, silent, and I was getting very bored with just sitting there. The Nile was rapidly losing its romantic charm and the stillness of the desert was beginning to get on my nerves. Kicking the camel slightly, it sped up and I quickly catch up with Rick.
He didn't even acknowledge me as I came up beside him.
"How far do you think we'll get?" I asked softly, unable to think of anything else to say.
Rick, turning his head toward me, shrugged. He looked at me for a long moment before returning his concentration back to the horizon.
"Could you possibly slow down," I inquired, angry with him for dismissing me like that. His camel, the strongest of the four, was traveling at a rapid pace and my poor little one couldn't keep up without a fight.
Rick ignored me and gave his camel a swift kick. Within moments, he was ten feet ahead of me.
Ohhh…the nerve of that man! My mind kept shouting all sorts of words I'd heard him use but was too afraid to utter myself as I stopped the camel, waited for Jonathan, and then continued on my way along side him. Rick certainly had no right to treat me like that! What had I ever done to him?
"Bloody hell Evy. If you're going to fight with the man at least do it when we're not out in the middle of the blooming desert, for Christ's Sake!"
Now Jonathan chose to open that mouth of his. I was already beginning to regret bringing him along. Slowly, I turned my head and gave my brother a murderous glance. Jonathan gave me a sheepish smile and then quickly apologized.
I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze back to Rick, now pretty far ahead of us. Well, I thought lowering my eyelids; two can play at this little game. If he didn't want to talk, I could solve that problem quickly. Very quickly.
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