Many apologies for the obvious delay of the chapter, but my computer is a bitch. Enough said, on with the story. I had to split the chapter up into two parts for suspense purposes and length purposes. Hehe. Muchas gracias to my reviwers.
Avalon: Why thank you. Hope you enjoy the last bits.
Saxifrage: Well, I suppose you shall find out. And gophers are not SO yesterday, they will be forever today! Btw…I have no idea what you meant by that statement lol.
lilylynn: Thanks, and I tried to get it in sooner. But spyware was invented, stupid techno-terrorists.
Lady Aleera: Geez, keep changing that penname and make me think I'm going crazier than usual lol. I'll read the RE fics when I see the movie so I don't get all spoiled and stuff. You're an October baby too? Mine was on the 11th, my sweet sixteenth. Crappy day really cuz it was Monday, I had to go to school, and I had an English exam on Gothic writing. Good thing I know Poe from front to back.
immortalwizardpirateelf-fan: Alex rocks my world, the little cutey. And no, it's not that chick cuz I've never seen the SK movie, never had the interest really. I made this gal up.
Chapter Ten Title: Death is Thy Game, Part I
--------------------
"Charmed," Elizabeth deadpanned, advancing closer.
Another surge of enemy rocked the very bowels of the pyramid causing Elizabeth to lose her balance and nearly fall forward. The demon chuckled derisively at the Slayer's display of abnormal clumsiness and started walking closer to the girl. A hand, a pure white in color, reached up to caress Elizabeth's wild, dark brown hair.
"Such a lovely girl. The last slayer I destroyed was a royal princess, a dainty little thing by appearance, but so feisty. My victory over her after five years of being enemies was absolutely priceless. I was honored to have battled such a valiant warrior and finally win." What struck Elizabeth as weird was that the demon woman's voice was not smug or filled with arrogance. She spoke of it as if she were speaking of what she had had for dinner the last night. The Slayer could not tell if she should be relieved by the tone of voice or alarmed. "I only wish we had known each other before so I could savor the moment in destroying you. At it is, you are not even worth destroying. You are exhausted and ravaged by grief; I can see it in your eyes. You would not last five minutes in a battle."
A flicker of pain was all Elizabeth allowed herself to feel before masking her entire face into a cold, hard guise of indifference. She stood up straighter, ignoring the painful twinges in her body, and brought her sword forward. She would allow no forms of weakness to be shown to the one who had already deemed her weak.
The demon woman silently let her hood come down to allow all in the vicinity to see her face. Dark green hair cascaded down narrow, muscled shoulders and made a drastic contrast with the chalk white skin. She was paler than many vampires Elizabeth had staked, which was really odd. Slanted eyes accentuated by dark eyelashes held blazing crimson orbs seeming to burn into the Slayer's very being. Elizabeth looked away from those terrifying eyes in fear of the power they might possess. She felt completely inadequate standing next to this ethereally lovely creature that one would have the gall to call a demon. Demons were more often than not, extremely ugly or at the very least, inhuman looking. This creature was far too beautiful to be called a demon.
From the sounds of the gasps of the others in the chamber, Elizabeth was brought hurdling back to reality. Imhotep and his bitch were still in the chamber with them. This was quite a conundrum she had caught herself in, Elizabeth realized. She knew what Imhotep had in plan for the world should he take over; it roughly entailed death and suffering for all of humanity. She had no idea what this demon woman planned, but had a hunch the good of humanity was not exactly her idea.
Elizabeth was trying to figure out how she was going to go about preventing the Scorpion King's death by one of their hands, but it was so hard to think through the haze of drowsiness that had descended upon her. Her sword suddenly felt a lot heavier than it usually did and she felt the urge to let it clatter to her feet. Her already fatigued body welcomed the chance at rest and responded by making her eyes flicker repeatedly. A small part of her fought against the unnatural lethargy bombarding her; it knew that this was just a ruse of the demon woman's to get her out of the way. The creature was so full of dignity and pride that she didn't even want to bother fighting Elizabeth in her weakened state.
But Elizabeth had pushed herself farther than her body had ever been pushed and yearned for the sweet release of sleep. So it was without struggle that she allowed the demon woman to lay her gently down on the Crest of Anubis. Elizabeth closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep with a barely conceived sigh of relief as the creature left the chamber. Imhotep and his lover had already gone.
--------------------
Had his uncle not been walking behind him carrying the corpse of his beloved mother, Alex might just have paused in his journey through the passageways of the golden pyramid amidst the enchanted oasis to admire the intricate and ancient beauty of it. But his mind was far too preoccupied with the major crime of nature he was about to commit. He seriously must have been out of his eight-year-old mind to think he could actually accomplish a resurrection using the same book that had gotten his parents into this whole mess in the first place over fifteen years ago. His grasp on the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was mediocre at best, but he had to try; if not for himself, then for his father.
Having seen the way his father had grieved so terribly over the body of his mother, Alex was terrified that he had lost his father the way he was as well. He felt the only way to bring his father back to himself would be to bring back the woman he loved. He hoped against hope that his father and sister were still alive, but he didn't let himself think about their fates too much.
Feeling the deafening silence weighting heavily down upon his shoulders, Jonathan decided to try and break the chain. He needed something, anything, to take his mind off the fact that he was carrying his little sister's lifeless, bloodied body in his arms. "You do know that you actually have to be able to read Ancient Egyptian to do what you're planning," he said nervously. "I don't know about you, but I'm a tad rusty." Tad was putting it lightly; Jonathan had not so much as looked at hieroglyphics since the whole fiasco at Hamunaptra years ago.
Alex halted before a graphic encrusted onto a wall right before a turn in their passageway. He nodded his torch toward it and said, "Kasheesh assyrian nye…basically, 'This way to the Scorpion King'." The boy shrugged and turned his sky blue eyes onto his mother's older brother.
The man stared at his nephew in complete incredulity and opened his mouth to ask where the hell that boy had learned that, before his common sense finally made itself known. Evelyn must have taught him all that rubbish. Alex confirmed it, "Mum taught me."
Alex continued walking down the musty corridor, and Jonathan shook his head. "You know, this might just be crazy enough to work."
--------------------
His bloodstained hands were holding onto the battle-axe like it was a lifeline. His light blue eyes were tainted by fury and pain so palpable the very air seemed to wedge a pathway for the warrior. He flicked some light brown strands of hair out of his eyes as he stomped down the winding corridors of the golden pyramid. Though he had no supernatural instincts like his daughter boasted, Rick O'Connell had a little something of his own. He had a keen warrior's sense prevalent since birth and intended to take full advantage of it. He knew somehow where his enemy lay within the dank catacombs of this treacherous place, he knew he was headed in the right direction.
He had not yet found Elizabeth, which caused Rick to jump to outrageous conclusions about her fate. He feared her lying on the ground, bleeding like her mother from a startlingly similar wound, calling out for help when none would hearken to her cries. He quickened his pace subconsciously and approached a stairway made completely of sand. The whispers in the air continued in their subtle, yet annoyingly eerie fashion causing more than a few hairs on Rick's person to stand on end. When he saw what lie in the chamber below he felt like something had just punched him in the stomach.
On a beautifully wrought insignia of Anubis, lay the curled up, inert form of a teenaged girl. There were no other teenaged girls that Rick had seen in this vile place so that left only one person. Elizabeth, no. He felt his heart palpitate painfully in his chest as he struggled to breathe, but found his lungs were suddenly denying the passage of air. No. It could not be the cold, lifeless body of his only daughter, his firstborn child, on that gilded floor.
"Lizzie?" he whispered hoarsely. He flew down the steps at break neck speed and slid across the floor towards his child. She had no weapons with her; her body seemed no more injured than when he had last seen her and her face was set peacefully. Rick kneeled down beside her and flipped her onto her back. His hands shook uncontrollably and he felt the beginnings of tears start to prickle his eyes. When his panicked mind finally registered the steady up and down motion of her chest and the soft sounds of air passing through her nostrils he rocked back on his heels in insurmountable relief. She was alive, merely sleeping soundly.
His brow furrowed and his eyes darkened with suspicion. Why was she sleeping? He knew she had been pretty tired, but surely not enough to lie down on the floor and take a nap with all that was going on. Elizabeth wouldn't shirk her duties like that no matter how weary she was. Something was wrong; more so than what was already wrong.
He shook her gently and called her name with a great amount of urgency in his voice. "Lizzie! Wake up! No time for napping, princess!"
He heard a half-hearted groan sounding all too similar to the many he and his wife had heard over the years of trying to coax their daughter out of bed for school. She was most certainly not a morning person. Rick rolled his eyes and sat her limp body up into a sitting position and violently shook her awake until her eyes opened and she reflexively gasped in surprise and batted him away. The slight force of her disoriented struggle sent Rick stumbling backwards to fall flat on his rear a few feet away.
Elizabeth felt the drowsiness whoosh away in an instant and tried to regain her bearings. When she realized it had been her father who had awakened her and her father that she had pushed away, she cringed. "Dad! Oh, sorry! It…was…uh…reflex." She shakily got to her feet as her father rose to his own and surveyed her surroundings in utter confusion. The last of the enchantment was beginning to unravel and Elizabeth felt her ire grow by the second.
When she realized her weapons were missing and that all three of the known enemies were gone, she reddened in anger directed towards her self and that demon. "That bitch! She took my bloody weapons and put me to sleep!? Why didn't she just kill me?! I'll never learn how evil people tick!"
Rick looked questioningly at his daughter and she glared towards the gateway enshrouded in mist. "I am going to disembowel that wench," he heard his daughter grumble.
"What are you talking about?" Rick finally queried as Elizabeth shook off the vestiges of sleep.
"Remember those demons I went after, well I killed six of the blokes and…erm…persuaded one into telling me about his mistress's plan to up the competition. So, it looks like Imhotep is no longer the only evil nutter who wants a shot at the Scorpion King."
Rick sighed and muttered, "Dammit."
"My sentiments exactly."
--------------------
Anck-Sunamun rubbed the stomach of her new body in a vain attempt to dissolve the tight knot of liquid fear roiling and tumbling about in her gut. She tried to dispel the worries for her love that plagued her, but to no avail. She could only picture his dead and broken body at the hand of the Scorpion King or that demon or their true enemies, the O'Connells. She wanted to leave this place and go into quiet seclusion with her beloved Imhotep. The world at her feet was not worth his death.
While the strange creature spoke to the O'Connell girl-child, Imhotep and she had slipped away to another chamber not far off. He had left her there with the black Book of the Dead should she need to use it to resurrect him if he should fail to defeat the Scorpion King. Then he had left her there, despairing and tear-stricken, to fight the ancient legend soon to come to life.
The once proud Egyptian princess ran her hands over the smooth surface of the book and tried to ponder over its hand in all these events to keep her mind off her doomed lover. It was a marvel that such a harmless object could be the cause of such cataclysmic events. It was the reason she and Imhotep both were alive again today. But she often wondered if she wouldn't be better off dead, at peace. Sometimes she dreamed of being wrapped in the warm shadowy breath of the afterlife feeling supreme contentment. Though she couldn't conceivably remember with her mind where her Ka had resided in the roughly four thousand years since her death, her heart recalled it fondly. But she was too entranced with living in this world of technology and modernization to let it go.
Anck-Sunamun turned in surprise at the voice of a man. She sneered when she saw it was that doddering brother of the woman she had recently killed. His hazel eyes sparked with a mixture of fear, nervousness, and anger directed towards her.
"So lady, you fancy going around stabbing innocent damsels? Why don't you fight a real man?" Jonathan taunted, balling his fists up and holding them in front of him unsteadily. He really ought to have had Elizabeth give him some combat pointers on that bloody balloon. He looked over at the beautiful, dark-haired woman and gulped in uncertainty, but put a brave face on. "It's time to teach you a lesson, wench!" he spat in acute disgust. "Come and get it!"
The woman smirked and stepped down of the dais flexing her long, slender fingers. Her black eyes gleamed with mirthful anticipation and Jonathan got the idea that she wasn't afraid of him in the least bit. He surreptitiously glanced briefly past her to see his nephew quietly tiptoe up to grab the book and slink away as quickly as he could manage without making a sound.
As Jonathan turned his eyes back on the woman who stood in front of him sizing him up, he felt the stirrings of emotions he had never felt in his life. The woman before him was a sight to behold indeed. She had lovely, smooth skin tanned to a golden brown hue with shimmering ebony locks and bold black irises complimenting the almond shaped eyes and dark eyelashes. Her body was just the right size for his particular tastes, curvy and firm. Her face was firm and beautifully wrought as if the Gods themselves had bestowed their radiance upon her.
Yet, to Jonathan, this was the most hideous, despicable woman on the planet. The ne'er-do-well British man who frequented pubs more often than libraries felt a hatred so deep it seemed to scorch his very soul as he stared at the woman who had viciously stolen his beloved sister away from him. At any other time, (well, actually he had contemplated upon it a week ago in the mansion when he first met her) he might have entertained the notion of wooing this delectable lady. He had no gift of insight into human souls or any extra sensitivity to the person inside, but the fact that this was the woman who had killed Evelyn was enough to distort her striking features into grotesque horrors.
Feeling bile rise up in his throat he growled at Anck-Sunamun, "This is for my sister." He swung at her, the first swing he had ever taken at a lady, and was shocked to have his blow blocked. He looked at the woman, awestruck, before trying to dodge out of the way as she punched him. He foolishly stayed within striking range thus letting the woman punch him again.
Jonathan finally backed away from the woman, but took care to keep her attention on him lest she should notice something was missing. He tasted the coppery tang of blood seep into his mouth and winced when he realized she had busted his lip. A few weeks ago, he would never have believed a young woman could do such a thing even to a shoddy fighter such as himself. But after witnessing his niece's skills and hearing of his sister's own nascent combat prowess, he was apt to never take a woman's meek appearance for granted again. Hell, this broad here didn't even look timid.
Anck-Sunamun's lovely face twisted into a devious grin of wicked delight and her eyes brightened. She felt a bestial sensation overtake her system and circled the twitchy man who eyed her nervously. She could practically taste the fear pouring from him and she reveled in it. She would play with him like a cat does with its prey before lunging in for the kill. At least she would have something to occupy her time with while awaiting her lover's triumph or defeat.
--------------------
Rick followed his extremely pissed off daughter down the passageway behind the misty gateway. The stale air crackled around her as proof of her intense ire. Rick would definitely not want to be on the receiving end of that ire. As the two warriors passed into a dark cavern filled with an even grander display of eerie shadows and smoke, they heard the ringing of a giant gong. The two O'Connells saw that it was Imhotep striking the gong with a large pole in order to quicken the awakening of the Scorpion King. This guy was completely insane in Elizabeth's opinion. He wanted to make sure the thing that was most likely going to render him a few limbs short of a body awoke faster? Like she intoned before, she would never understand how evil people ticked.
She scanned the chamber for a sign of the despicable demon that had hoodwinked her into falling asleep and letting them escape. She spotted a pair of golden sais ensconced in the hands of a gold statue and marched forward to withdraw them. The soft sliding sound of metal on metal was oddly soothing to her ears and she twirled the weapons around in her hands experimentally. Though sword fighting was her obvious forte, like all slayers she was pretty much a natural at the use of any weapon. She had practiced with sais before and had taken quite a liking to the less commonly known weapons. Though the small, three-pronged blades had to have been in that statue for thousands of years, they glittered brightly without a sign of wear or tarnish. They felt smooth and comfortable against the skin of her hands.
She nodded in approval of her father's double-headed axe and smiled cheekily amidst all the tension. "Taking a leaf out of my book, are we?"
Rick smiled sardonically in spite of himself. "Well, technically I've used axes before you were born. So it would be the other way around."
"Like father, like daughter," Elizabeth murmured.
Imhotep whipped around as he senses their presences and his black eyes appraised them calmly. He looked like he didn't know what to do about them at first before he smiled maliciously. Elizabeth would have to find out where these evil people learned how to smile so icily that it turned her spine into a veritable ice pop. She wanted to learn how to do it. She fought for composure and said quietly to her father, "You take him, he's lost his powers," she told him, "Kick his arse, please?"
Rick gnashed his teeth at the sight of the excuse for humanity that had been the cause of all his pain. "Will do, Lizzie. Will do." He didn't even say a last word or anything of affection before lunging across the crevice that separated the two men and swinging his axe downward.
Imhotep brought up the pole to deflect the blow. The pole got caught just under one of the blades and Imhotep used his own human strength to flip Rick's axe right out of his hands. Unfortunately, he had flung his own pole out of his hands as well. Apparently he should have spent some time brushing up on his combat skills instead of relying on his supernatural powers because they wouldn't do him any good now seeing as how they were gone and all.
He and Rick backed off from one another and stood facing each other. Imhotep grinned and said, "The eternal warriors meet again. Now we shall see what Fate desires."
Rick rolled his eyes. Would this yahoo ever figure out he didn't understand anything he ever said?
--------------------
Feeling confident that her father could hold his own with Imhotep, Elizabeth sent her senses searching for that elusive demon woman. She could feel her presence faintly, but the creature must have been masking it somehow for her not to be able to narrow it down a bit more.
Elizabeth didn't have to wait long as a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows. The beast stood there with an unreadable expression upon her face and the Slayer's own sword in her hands. That had been Roland's father's sword, a gift for her on her fifteenth birthday. Her loathing for this creature became reality as she stroked the silver blade lovingly.
"An impressive piece of weaponry. Late medieval I would say and fashioned by a blacksmith who had dabbled in the black arts. It has quite a few protection spells upon it. Luckily, its sort of magic only harms abominations like vampires. For pure creatures such as myself, it does nothing." Her tone of voice was again merely conversational and it was really beginning to irk this slayer. Why couldn't she come off as haughty and garish as the rest of them?
But Elizabeth hadn't known the sword had protection spells upon it? Why did her watcher never tell her that? Or had he been ignorant of that fact as well. Somehow she found it quite unlikely that her studious mentor would overlook such an important factor.
"I suppose that you will not allow me to go through with my plans without some sort of battle, Slayer. I am surprised you have awakened from my sleeping spell sooner than expected. Guess you're stronger than I thought," the demon woman continued. Then, without a semblance of warning, she swung Elizabeth's sword so fast the Slayer only just managed to bring up the sais to deflect it. Elizabeth's arms vibrated from the immense force used. She gritted her teeth and twirled around to kick the creature in the face. She went scattering across the chamber. On the other side, Imhotep and Rick continued their own deadly duel.
--------------------
Jonathan's attempt at trying to withhold his cry of pain failed slightly by turning into a muffled grunt as Anck-Sunamun leveled a hard, expertly executed kick to his ribs. He stumbled back as the princess cackled manically at his plight. This was something he would never live down if he happened to survive it at all. One could paint it anyway he liked, but the fact was Jonathan was getting his skinny arse kicked by a woman.
His green-brown eyes widened as she pulled some wicked, three-pronged blades—crafted completely out of gold it appeared—from a statue. He barely had time to bring up his gold scepter to block the blow she dealt him with her new weapons. He was starting to get frantic now and called out in a panicked howl, "Hurry up, Alex!"
Anck-Sunamun's lovely brow creased in a frown of puzzlement as she turned around. Jonathan gasped and impulsively struck out with his scepter. His ploy of distraction worked and she was forced to bring her sais upwards to parry it.
--------------------
Alex sat in front of his mother's body taking great care in avoiding looking at the shell of the woman whom he cherished most in this world. He had the Book of the Dead propped up in his lap and had quickly found the section meant for resurrecting souls up from the underworld.
Under Evelyn's tutelage, Alex had a better grasp on the ancient Egyptian languages and writings than most children his age, but he was nowhere near her level. Yet, he found reading from the heavy, black book easier than he had thought it would be. The words seemed to flow from him mechanically instead of his constant stumbling over the correct way to say the word and matching the words to the symbols accurately. Perhaps it was his exposure to the dark, ancient magic of the Bracelet of Anubis that increased his prowess. At least he got something good out of this rotten deal.
"'Hootash naraba oos Veesloo. Ahm kum Ra. Ahm kum dei. Efday shokran. Efday shokran'…erm…blast…em," Alex stammered, trying desperately to recall what the last symbol meant. He groaned in frustration and yelled out to his uncle in a shrill, anxious voice, "Uncle Jon! I can't remember what this last symbol means!"
Jonathan heard his nephew's cry and threw Anck-Sunamun off of him before yelling back, "What's it look like?!" It just figured that the kid would forget the last symbol. And Jonathan thought it was a rather narrow chance that he would remember it. Well, it was too bloody good to be true that we would get Evy back. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I might as well take a crack at it though, 'snot like there's much hope we'll survive anyway.
After a cursory glance at the symbol, Alex scrunched his small face up and yelled, "It's a bird, I think! No, a stork! Yeah, I think it's a stork!"
Right before Anck-Sunamun barreled into him, Jonathan felt ecstasy fill his entire being at those words. He could kiss Fate right now for making that symbol the one in question because that had been the exact same symbol he had not been able to recall over fifteen years ago at Hamunaptra. Ironically, it was one of the only hieroglyphic symbols he could remember now.
"I know that one! I know that one!" He cried jubilantly, grinning widely in spite of his dire situation. A delicate, golden-brown hand latched tightly onto his throat and Jonathan was forced to grab Anck-Sunamun's wrist before she shoved the tip of her blade into his throat. He tried to choke out the word, "Ah…ah…ah." An unexpected surge of adrenaline and strength gave him the edge he needed to push her off of him and shout, "Ahmenophus!"
Alex's blue eyes lit up and he quickly intoned, "That's it! 'Efday shokran Ahmenophus!'"
Jonathan felt the tip of Anck-Sunamun's blade slash against his chest and he looked down at the crimson thread of blood beginning to form. He felt his death was very near and was too exhausted to combat it. With his back up against the stone column, he yelped in alarm when his opponent came forward to deliver the final, fatal blow. That blow never came for a very familiar hand connected to a very familiar arm stopped it.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" an icily, cool voice growled. That voice sounded like the voice of angels to Jonathan.
Anck-Sunamun was shoved off of Jonathan and sent falling to the stone floor. She quickly stood back up, but made no move to attack just yet.
In complete shock, Jonathan looked up into the cold, dark blue eyes he never thought he would see in that particular woman (since another girl boasted the same exact eyes) again. He felt his throat choke up with too many emotions at once and he stuttered over words while tears of joy stung his eyes, "Oh my god, Evy! It worked!"
Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell did not answer. She stood there, completely alive, completely healed, and completely ticked off at the woman who killed her and had been about to kill her brother. Her son was standing behind her looking like he had just pulled off the greatest trick in the world, which he had, and his grin was wider than his headmaster's ample waist. He held onto the Book of the Dead, holding it close to his body in case he might need to use it to mess with nature again. He rather liked messing with nature he fancied.
For a beat, Anck-Sunamun stared in complete incredulity at the woman she had killed not an hour before while Evelyn eyed her in total malevolence. Their eyes were twin pools of hatred stemming from a four-thousand-year-old rivalry and betrayal. This was an extremely old score to settle, a score that had survived death and the afterlife, but it had to be settled. Evelyn could not allow this woman to walk away from what she had done to her father in her past life as Princess Nefertiri and what she had done to her family in this life. And of course, there was that pesky thing about Anck-Sunamun being the one who killed her and all. It's the sort of thing a girl doesn't forget.
"Jonathan," Evelyn addressed her brother calmly, never taking her eyes off of the other woman. "Take Alex, and find my husband and daughter. Make sure they're all right."
"But Mum!" Alex whined, afraid of losing his mother so soon after having regained her.
"No buts, Alex. Do as I say," Evelyn replied sternly in a voice that brooked no argument. "I'll be just fine."
Jonathan was just as reluctant as Alex to leave his sister alone with that bitch, but he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was serious. And although he didn't know how he knew, but he knew that she would come out fine from this conflict with Imhotep's whore. He could tell from the mutual heat of pure hatred radiating off the two that it was much better for him and Alex to leave them be. So, he took his nephew by the shoulder and steered him out of the chamber to find his brother-in-law and niece.
Meanwhile, Evelyn had snatched two golden sais out of a statue and circled Anck-Sunamun with a calculating gaze. At first, her opponent looked completely mystified as to her true identity, but once she twirled the sais around in her hand in a manner reminiscent of a pupil of hers from long ago, she smirked in recognition and understanding. It would seem she wasn't the only Ancient Egyptian princess who got reincarnated. Fate had brought them to this final destination to finish what was started thousands of years ago and Anck-Sunamun had accepted the call. So had Evelyn or rather Nefertiri reincarnated.
"Nefertiri," she stated coolly.
Evelyn responded with another twirl of her sais and replied back in an equally cool voice, "Anck-Sunamun."
"Good," Anck-Sunamun said in Ancient Egyptian before lunging forward.
And so the battle that had been fought thousands of years ago by the same women only in different bodies was forged anew with a greater intensity. Their blows were no longer mock blows for sparring, but were true attempts at ending the life of the other. It was a true battle to the death now and only one would walk away from this fight. Evelyn used her knowledge from her previous life coupled with the more modern ways of fighting her husband had taught her in a unique combination. When Anck-Sunamun pushed her against a stone column and sneered, "You still remember the old ways?", Evelyn had glared and snapped her head forward to hit the woman in the forehead with the crown of her head. Anck-Sunamun was sent reeling back from that unexpected blow.
"That's a little something new," Evelyn retorted. With her confidence renewed, Evelyn advanced forward. She could not lose this battle like she had lost the last one fought between the two. She flung Anck-Sunamun's sais out of her hands and sliced at her opponent's cheek drawing blood. Her ancient rival looked at her in utter shock and fear before thinking twice about coming to blows with her again. She ran. Evelyn cursed and ran after her.
--------------------
Their weapons having been lost in the fight, Imhotep and Rick were fighting each other with their bare fists. Rick had been surprised at the Egyptian priest's stamina and skill in unarmed combat. He had expected less from someone who had come to rely on fancy magic tricks, but life was just full of surprises. Rick himself was rather sick of surprises; he had had his more than fair share of them. Surprises for Rick O'Connell usually turned out to be bad, very bad.
Rick was glad they had unintentionally dispensed with the weapons because he was reveling in his chance at beating the life out of the man who had ruined his life…or choking….he couldn't decide on which method to use yet. Imhotep seemed just as pleased. Well, then we're all happy, aren't we? The man thought sardonically as he doubled over from the kick to his abdomen.
His eyes strayed ever so briefly over to the vicious battle of blades between his daughter and that…he was sure it was a demon, but it was moving too fast to tell. He had never seen a slayer truly in action because all he had ever seen Elizabeth fight was normal humans. He had not witnessed her actions against the soldier mummy on that double-decker back in London a week ago except for the last one and that had been over as soon as it began. He was caught speechless at the intricate dance of death the two were unwittingly performing. He couldn't track either of the two's moves because both moved faster than he could see from his vantage point.
--------------------
Elizabeth finally came to the conclusion after the fiftieth time she had narrowly missed a fatal lunge that this was to be her final battle. She was too battle-worn and weary from grief to contend with this creature…did she even have a name? Her will and anger were the only things keeping her of the living, but even that was beginning to wane. She already had been sliced open a few times by her own damn sword, which pissed her off to no end, and was always thinking the next one would be the end of her. But by some miracle, she was still standing in marginal good condition. But luck has a tendency to run out in life, especially in that of a slayer's.
A great tremor rocked the cavern the two pairs of warriors battled in. They heard a rumbling sound sounding like the roar of a living thing, a big living thing. Elizabeth would swear until her dying day that her heart literally stopped the moment the Scorpion King materialized into view.
Awoken from an incredibly long slumber, this fellow gave the expression, "not a morning person", a whole new meaning. Both Elizabeth and her demon foe paused in their deadly duel to goggle at the immense monstrosity that was the Scorpion King. With a lower extremity of a giant, dark brown scorpion and the torso and head of a muscular, warrior-built man, the ancient warrior king was a grotesque monument to a dead culture indeed.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Elizabeth grumbled aloud.
"What's the matter, Slayer? Afraid?" her foe mocked.
Elizabeth looked at the woman-demon and gestured wildly to the Scorpion King. "Bloody hell! Yes! What, did you think me insane?! Look at that bloke! I didn't think he would literally be half-scorpion!"
"Ah, Slayer, you must learn to expect the unexpected in your line of work. Of course, you will no longer have to worry about that soon," the creature replied.
Elizabeth scowled and spat sarcastically, "Well, I'll just thank my lucky stars for that! And would you quit calling me, 'Slayer'?! My father did not name me Slayer; he named me, Elizabeth."
The creature smiled viciously and responded, "Well, Elizabeth, I am called Sarfresca. If you'll excuse me," she swung Elizabeth's sword forward, "I have a half-human monarch to obliterate and an army to control."
"Over my dead body," Elizabeth vowed, jumping on Sarfresca. She cringed at her word choice because it might just come to exactly that. Hopefully, Sarfresca's arrogance would undo her like all the rest of them but hope was running out. The two continued their vicious battle with their blades clanging together in a ferocious intensity. Elizabeth lost hold of her sais and tripped over a raised bit of stone floor. She felt her blood freeze in her veins at the sight above her.
"Well, if you insist," Sarfresca growled. She thrust the Slayer's sword right at her exposed stomach to impale the girl with her own weapon.
A scream of agonizing pain echoed throughout the caverns and corridors and filled every mortal and immortal's ears, causing everyone to pause in their respective battles.
--------------------
Damn, I'm evil aren't I?