WOWWWW. That's all I have to say about the last month of my life. Who knew college could be so crazy??? Anyways, I have finally written chapter 11 of my story… many people have been begging me for it, and so here it is! Extra long, and extra sweet, if I do say so myself, although I might be just a little biased. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update… but school is a crazy place, as I'm sure most of you know from experience, and so you will have to forgive me for taking such a long time. I will try to do better next time, but I'm sorry in advance, just in case I can't.
Anyways… I want to thank each of my reviewers one by one, but before I do that, I would like to just say that I'm open for suggestions in this story! If any of you have any ideas for this story, let me know! I know what Lilylynn will have to say to that (wink wink, I love you so much, girl!), but if any of the rest of you have any ideas, let me know! Still looking for a better title too for this story… but that's a whole other issue.
I have the greatest reviewers! You guys rock!
Snowfire the Kitsune: Wow, you think this story has a lot of action? I'm glad you think so, action has always been the hardest part of a story for me to write. And don't worry, some day you will have your own mummy fic. You should be proud of all the stories you've published, it's a very long list! Anyways, I hope you think this chapter is as good as the others!
sassy lady: Glad you love it! Hope you continue to love it!
Cindy: I loved that scene too! I actually threw that scene in as an afterthought; it wasn't even part of the original chapter, but I've written stories before that have involved near death experiences, and I thought that was the perfect place for it. And guess what, your wait is over, and here is a brand new chapter for you to read!
Lea: Have I ever told you that I love your name? Lol! Thanks for the compliments about my story! I'm so glad you love reading this story; it makes me feel really good about myself, and believe me, I need some uplifting right now, since I'm struggling so much with school and work and everything. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others!
SandraSmit19: Thanks so much for reviewing! I love new reviewers, because I love hearing that I'm still getting new readers! I am definitely planning to continue this story, I promise! And when I make promises, I always keep them, although they might take me awhile!
Empathy Is Me: You rock! You're so awesome! I was very worried about your sanity after reading your last review of my story. I thought, wow, if my story is making somebody that crazy, I wonder what I could do if I became president or something! Anyways, thanks for being one of my regular reviewers; I love hearing what you have to say, and I love reading your story about The Mummy! I love you, you are totally awesome!
And, of course, Lilylynn: How could I forget you, mummy mate? You are one of the huge reasons that I want to continue writing, even with all of the craziness at school. I love opening my inbox and finding an e-mail from you; and I know it takes me awhile sometimes to get back to you, but I would never forget you, and I would never forget about Leah and Ardeth and everyone, because I know that my story makes you happy. I'm so glad that you are so patient with me, and I'm so glad I have my mummy mate! I love you, girl, you have no idea how glad I am to know you! This chapter is for all of my reviewers and friends out there, but it is especially for you. Hope this makes up for how long you've had to wait for it!
Thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are so awesome! Thanks for sticking with me on this; as long as you all stick with me, I'll stick with you! Now, on with the show!
Chapter 11 Love Conquers All
She was tired, but she rode on. Evelyn O'Connell was a woman with a mission, and those who knew her best knew not to mess with her when she was in this state of mind. Jonathan and Alex were no exception to this, and so they stayed back from her, following along, their eyes barely staying opening.
"We need to get her back," Alex said suddenly as his animal plodded along.
"Wha--?" asked Jonathan, jerking himself from sleep's door and nearly falling off his camel as he did.
"Uncle Jon," Alex whispered through the dark of the night to his uncle riding next to him. "What if—what if it is too late for Aunt Leah?"
Jonathan, who was still half asleep, reached his hand to his pocket and felt the whiskey bottle that he had deposited there before they had left Thebes that morning. He pulled it out and took a sip, shaking his head as the liquid coursed down his throat.
"Uncle Jon, stop drinking! This is serious!" Alex complained.
Jonathan groaned a little in protest, but reluctantly put the bottle away.
"Uncle Jon, what if it is too late for Leah? What if Imhotep has hurt her? What if…" Alex gulped, not able to say it, too afraid for his beloved aunt to actually utter the words he was thinking.
And Jonathan, though not a sensitive or caring guy, felt his heart do a strange dance as he saw the worried look on his nephew's face. He, too, was worried about Leah, though he would never admit it. He instead just shrugged his shoulders and reached over to touch Alex, nudging his camel closer so that he could reach him. "Alex, I believe you're underestimating your aunt Leah."
"What do you mean?" asked Alex.
"Well, when has your aunt ever let anyone… or anything get the best of her?" Jonathan asked.
Alex thought for a moment, then conceded, "Never. Unless you count the time that Dad bet her that she couldn't drive his car without stalling it out less than ten times and she lost. Or the time that she tried to bake a cake for the ice cream social at the British museum, and the yeast exploded all over the kitchen. Or when she tried to build me a toy boat for my birthday, and instead of gluing the pieces together, she glued her hands together.
Or--"
"All right, all right, enough already," said Jonathan, a bit exasperated at how talkative he thought Alex had become. "So, aside from the fact that she can't drive a car, and she can't cook, and she can't build anything, when else has she ever been defeated at?"
Alex thought again, then said, "Well, I guess nothing."
"Exactly. That's why I'm not worried." Jonathan, who was not very good at this fathering, or uncling thing, wasn't quite sure what else to say to Alex, who still did not look placated. "Look, ol' chap," he said, reaching his hand out to take Alex's. "We can't be sure if she is okay or not. But there is one thing we can do."
"What's that?" asked Alex, eager to hear what advice Jonathan could offer.
Jonathan, serious for what seemed like the first time in his life, said, "We could pray. Prayer is the only thing that can save Leah."
Alex considered this, and nodded his head. "You're right, Uncle Jon. Can we?"
Without hesitation, Jonathan agreed.
And under the stars and moonlit sky of the clear desert night, uncle and nephew bowed their heads, hoping that their prayers were meeting the ears of the Almighty, and would be granted, so that they might see Leah O'Connell's smiling face once again.
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Leah woke up with a gasp and sat up, her head spinning. She looked around her, taking in her surroundings. She was inside a tent now, alone, lying on a thick wool blanket. Her mouth was absolutely parched, and she was thankful to find a small canteen of water sitting next to her. She eagerly picked it up and drank, and was relieved that it actually stayed in her stomach where it belonged. Though she knew that there was still something seriously wrong with her body, she was feeling a little better. Her fever had broken, for now, anyway, and her mind was clear enough that she could actually think somewhat clearly. Clearly enough, in fact, that when she looked down at herself, all she could do was scream.
"Oh. My. God!" she shrieked. She couldn't believe it. While she had been out cold, her "father" had taken it upon himself to dress her up like his own personal Barbie doll. Instead of the cute pair of black slacks and the baby blue pajama top that she had been wearing earlier, she was dressed in a long, golden dress studded with blue beadsand woven with tiny golden plates. "Oh, my god!" she cried, her voice scratchy from lack of water as her head began to ache from the sudden noise that had come from her mouth. She ripped at the material, trying to take it off, not wanting any part of Imhotep's scheme to make her into someone that she wasn't. When she had finally pulled the dress off her body, she sat, nearly naked except for her undergarments, wondering where her real clothes were, and wondering if that even mattered, as she was probably going to die in less than twenty-four hours if she couldn't manage to escape.
She reached a hand up to her hair and cried out again. Tears tumbled from her eyes as the truth hit her; and though she knew she had other, more serious problems to worry about, she couldn't help but shed a few tears over this one.
Her beautiful, waist-length curls, which had been left to fly freely around her face and waist earlier in the day, were gone. Literally, they were no longer on her head. Her beautiful locks had been cut away and straightened, leaving a just below shoulder-length bob of straight red hair in their place.
She crumbled onto her blankets in the strange tent, crying her eyes out. She was separated from her family, kidnapped and held hostage in the middle of the desert, suffering from severe heat exhaustion, and all she wanted to do was cry over shorter hair.
Those flyaway curls had been the essence of Leah. She claimed that they were what made her so bold and outgoing. She had loved her hair; of all the things that Leah had though wrong with herself, her hair was one of those she thought right. Though not of a common color or texture, her hair was what set her apart from other people. The waves were the first things people noticed about her, especially males. Ardeth had been a prime example. Andrew was also the same way. Andrew had loved her hair; when she and Andrew had first met, after Andrew had quickly recovered from the impact of Leah into his body, the first thing he had said about was her hair.
Leah's heart clenched. Andrew. She hadn't though of him in so long. She had been distracted by another man, and for some reason, Leah felt guilty about this. You aren't with Andrew any more, Leah chided herself. Andrew cheated on you. He doesn't care about you. Ardeth cares about you. Leah began to sob even harder. What if she never saw Ardeth again?
"I love you so, Ardeth," Leah said between sobs as she laid on her side, salt water trickling from her eyes. "I just want to see you again… even if it's just to say good-bye…" Her eyes closed, the fever returning, her mind wallowing into oblivion.
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"Can't you make this thing quieter?" Rick yelled to Izzy over the whir of the engine. "They'll hear us coming, and we'll never get Leah back with this noise!"
"Why, yes, of course I can make it quieter, all I have to do is just toss you overboard!" Izzy yelled back sarcastically from the front seat of the plane.
Rick kept his mouth shut as he sat on the edge of his seat. They had to be close to Rathshad; he knew that Imhotep and his men were not that far ahead of Rick and his family. He scanned the dark desert sand beneath him, his eyes searching for any sign of the lost city or his precious sister. "Do you see anything?" he yelled back to Ardeth.
"No, I do not see my Leah," Ardeth called back. "Do you see her?"
"No," Rick said, still thinking it strange that Ardeth had feelings for his little sister. Just as he was about to turn around and ask Ardeth about it, he heard Izzy yelling from the pilot's seat.
"Izzy! What do you see?" asked Rick, reaching up and grabbing his friend's shoulder.
"Camp! Straight ahead!" Izzy hollered, pointing to the ground.
Rick and Ardeth moved quickly to look over the righthand side of the plane. They both snapped into action when they saw what was below. Ardeth began gathering his guns, while Rick instructed Izzy to turn the plane around and land about a mile from the site so that the noise of the plane would not be conspicuous.
The wheels weren't even on the earth when Ardeth and Rick both hit the ground running, their weapons banging against their holsters.
"Hey! What do you want me to do?" Izzy yelled as he cut the engine, his voice loud as silence settled over the sand.
"Stay here," Rick said as he dashed back to the plane and reached into his seat to grab a gun that he had left behind. "Evelyn, Jonathan, and Alex will be arriving here by morning. Wait here for them." Then he turned and loped after Ardeth. They were going to rescue Leah if it was the last thing either of them ever did.
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Imhotep lay awake in his own tent, unable to sleep. This was not a big deal, as being the undead, he could function on no sleep, but Imhotep, even if he had wanted to sleep, could not find the peace of mind to allow himself to slip into slumber. He continued to worry about Samir-hi, wondering if she would survive the night to see tomorrow.
After he had cried at her side, he had asked his men to move her to a tent to remove her from the elements. While they did, Imhotep found himself by his camel, removing a package that he had hidden beneath his saddlebags. He had unpacked the beautiful gold studded gown that Princess Samir-hi had worn at one of Rathshad's kingdom balls, and ordered that his "daughter" be dressed in it, hoping that perhaps, by making her look like the Samir-hi that he remembered, it would somehow bring her back to him, the way he had known her. That is, if she ever became conscious.
When he had seen her in her dress, his heart (if the undead have hearts), swelled with pride. She looked every inch the princess that she had once been, albeit under false pretenses. Imhotep could scarcely believe how beautiful she looked, sleeping serenely, her fever looking as though it were gone.
And now, after bidding her good night, he laid. Clutched in his hand was a bead off her dress. He held it with a death grip, his mind swirling with thoughts of once again having his beloved daughter back with him. He wasn't sure if she knew the truth about her parentage, but he promised himself that when she was Samir-hi again, that he would make it known to her, no matter how much it hurt her.
Hurting her. That was the thought that was keeping him awake. He knew that she deserved to hear the truth; Samir-hi was, after all, Egypt's biggest advocate for honesty. However, he also knew that Samir-hi did not take betrayal lightly, and though Imhotep and Samir-hi's mother had never meant to deliberately hurt her, Samir-hi could certainly hold a grudge for a long time. Forever, thought Imhotep. She could hate me forever. Can I handle that? Now that I have just found my baby girl, can I really handle having her hate me for eternity?
Imhotep turned over in his bed covers, lost in thought. He was facing a dilemma now. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted his Samir-hi back. But the problem was, could he continue living a lie with her that had lasted over thousands of years, or should he tell her the truth, no matter how badly it could destroy his relationship with his daughter?
As his mind whirled, he was oblivious to his surroundings, including anything that was going on outside the tent. He didn't know what he was going to do. And he also didn't know that two armed men were creeping into his camp, ready to attack.
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Rick glanced around the grouping of tents. Not a soul was in sight, but he knew that buried deep into the canvas walls was an army of men, ready to defeat him.
"Something is wrong," Ardeth whispered as he and Rick crouched behind the camp.
"You're right," Rick whispered back. "They wouldn't leave her unattended, not when they know that we are hot on their tail."
"Unless…" Ardeth trailed off, his tone saying it all.
Rick's face went pale as he pictured what he knew Ardeth was thinking. "No!" he whispered loudly. He looked around himself quickly, knowing that he could have busted their cover, then breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that they were still safe. "No. I refuse to believe it. My sister is alive, I know she is. We are not too late. We are going to rescue her, if it's the last thing I do."
Ardeth was about to agree wholeheartedly when they heard noise coming from the tents a hundred feet away.
"Shh," Rick said, grabbing Ardeth's shoulder and yanking a gun off his holster. "Look." He pointed.
A lanky, ugly manservant of Imhotep was lurking around camp. Leah's two men watched as he paced a little around the dwindling embers of a campfire, then checked over his shoulder before heading to the very last tent in the semicircle.
Nothing happened for a good while. Finally, when Rick and Ardeth were about ready to give up watching this tent and conclude that the drone had just turned in for the night, they heard a crash from inside the collapsible walls.
"Get away from me, you ugly bastard!" a voice wailed. "If you touch me, you'll die!"
Rick and Ardeth snapped to attention as they recognized the voice.
A bang sounded, and the two watched a canteen go sailing through the open door of the tent. "Let go! Let go!" Leah shrieked. "Please, don't do this!" She broke into loud sobs.
Her cries ripped Ardeth's heart into two pieces. Without even thinking twice, the normally level-headed Medjai had leapt to his feet and begun to run, Rick hot on his heels.
Meanwhile, the rest of camp had stumbled out of their respective quarters to see what all of the ruckus was about, weapons drawn.
"Leah!" Rick shouted, his voice deep, his tone showing his desperation, as he ran behind Ardeth, straight into the middle of the campsite. "Leah!"
Their cover blown, the two were suddenly aware as the army stopped moving towards Leah's tent and turned their attention to the intruders.
Ardeth and Rick halted in their tracks as they noticed the barrels turned on them. They stood back to back, staring as a dozen men circled them, their guns held high.
"Who do we have here?" one of the ugly men asked as he clicked the hammer of his weapon into place.
"I believe we have a couple of soon-to-be dead men," commented another of Imhotep's men.
"This ought to be fun," said another.
Ardeth and Rick, still standing back to back, began circling inside the ring of men.
"You don't have to do this," Rick told the men as their faces slowly swirled by in front of him. "Imhotep doesn't care about you. You don't have to do this."
"Yes, we do," said another ugly man, stepping forward and jabbing the barrel of his gun into Rick's neck. "And we are proud to do it."
"Proud, indeed," Ardeth said. "Pride goeth before the fall." He didn't even flinch when another of Imhotep's men shoved a barrel into his own neck.
"Shall we do it now?" asked a man with a scraggly beard. "Or shall we torture them for a bit?"
"Torture is the only option!" a loud growl erupted from behind the crowd in Egyptian. "Torture, and then death!"
The circle around Ardeth and Rick parted and Imhotep was seen walking towards them, his loincloth bouncing slightly against his bare legs (A/N: Go, loincloth! Go, go, go!!!!).
"Whoa, he's uglier than ever!" Rick whispered at Ardeth as they stopped turning, their back still to each other.
Imhotep's hands went up into the air, ready to perform some magic on his midnight visitors. A hush fell across the desert night as his men held their breaths, waiting for what was going to happen next.
The silence was broken when suddenly, a scream ripped across the site.
That was it. Totally in sync with each other, Rick and Ardeth snapped into action. In two moves simultaneous with each other, the two men had knocked the guns that were trained on their necks to the ground. Ardeth pushed his way through the crowd while Rick stayed behind, taking out one man after the other.
Imhotep stared in surprise at the spot where his prisoners had stood just a split second before, then turned and watched as Rick finished beating the last of his men to a pulp. He growled aloud and uttered something unintelligible, and suddenly, as Rick was wiping his hands on pants, proud of a job well done, his eyes widened.
"Great! Well, that's just freakin' great!" Rick said sarcastically as he watched a crew of mummy soldiers running across the sand towards him. "I thought we killed all of you!" He reached into his holster, ready to fight to the death, if only his sister could be rescued.
Meanwhile, Ardeth had reached the tent that he knew Leah was in. She was still screaming her lungs out, and Ardeth began to yell a war cry as he ripped inside.
"Leave her alone, you bastard!" Ardeth shouted in his careful English, his tongue stumbling over the foreign words as he took in the ugly man trying to force a kiss onto an unwilling Leah's lips. With strength rivaling that of a superman, he yanked on the shirt of Leah's attacker and pulled him to his feet. "I said, leave her alone!" With that, he sent a well-aimed kick at Leah's perpetrator, and he bounced out the door.
Leah was still screaming, even though the threat was gone from her.
"Miss Leah," Ardeth said, quickly kneeling to her side. "Leah!"
She closed her mouth at the mention of her real name. It was the first in what seemed like ages that somebody had called her by something other than Samir-hi, and though she knew that her fever was slowly returning and that this could just be some kind of a hallucination, she felt her heart swell nonetheless. "Ardeth," she whispered softly, her fair lips stained with blood from the recent battle with Imhotep's slave. "Ardeth… is it really you?"
"It is I, Bent Hair," Ardeth whispered, taking her frail hand in his.
Leah's breathing became labored, whether from the illness that was ravaging her body or from excitement, she didn't know. All she knew was that he was here. "Ardeth… I knew you would come for me…" she said breathlessly. "I knew you would. I knew you would."
Ardeth's own heart was doing a dance inside his chest, and he also spoke breathlessly as he took in his love's pale face. He was so happy to have her back, but he knew that they were not out of the woods yet. "Leah, we must go. We must leave at once."
Leah nodded her head, her eyes swimming, straining to focus on her knight in shining armor as unconsciousness threatened her mind. Though Leah always prided herself in her ability to be strong and courageous on her own, this time, Leah didn't mind being rescued. She was happy to finally be out of her hellish nightmare and in the arms of her love.
With barely any sign of effort, Ardeth hoisted Leah into the air and carried her out of the tent, into the chilly night air of the desert. When his feet hit the sand outside the door, he began muttering in Arabic at what he saw.
Rick was battling at least a dozen of Imhotep's warrior mummies in the middle of the campsite while Imhotep stood aside and looked on, laughing. Rick was clearly outnumbered, and clearly having trouble defending himself all alone. He looked up just as Ardeth stepped out with Leah, and he began yelling. "Leah! Leah! Ardeth, run! Get her out of here!"
Ardeth, an honorable man who could never knowingly leave one of his men behind to die, stopped dead, his heart torn. What should I do? I must save them both, I cannot allow either of them to die! he thought to himself.
"Run! Get out of here! Save yourself! Save Leah! Just run!" Rick shouted as he was slowly becoming overwhelmed by Imhotep's attacking mummies.
Ardeth knew it was decided then. He saw the desperation in Rick's eyes. In that split second, he understood the love that Rick felt for his sister, and understood that Rick would sacrifice everything, even his own life, to save a family member. And Ardeth felt the same way. Although he didn't know where to run to, he felt his legs begin to move deftly across the textured surface of the desert.
"Get out of here! Just run!" Rick yelled after them. "Take care of Leah! Take care of my family! Please--" Ardeth heard no more as Rick gave in, overtaken by the enemy.
A shout came from the direction of camp. "Samir-hi!" Imhotep roared.
Ardeth ran for all he was worth, away from camp, away from Imhotep, away from the men who had tried to hurt his beloved. When he was out of ear and eye shot of the camp, he estimated a good mile from the disaster scene, he heard Leah, who had slipped into unconsciouness, begin to moan.
"Leah," he said, barely winded from his trek. He stopped abruptly and gently laid her on the ground in front of him. "My Leah, are you okay?"
Leah didn't respond at first, and Ardeth began to worry. "Leah?" He examined her face urgently for any sign of life. He knew she was ill; that much he knew from the extreme heat that he had felt radiating off her body as he had carried her away from Imhotep. But he wanted to hear her voice, those tinkling tones that he had come to love.
Leah didn't say anything. Instead, huge alligator tears began to spill out of her eyes, and sobs erupted from deep within her soul.
"What is the matter?" asked Ardeth, alarmed. "Leah, please tell me, where does it hurt?"
"Every where," she mumbled through swollen lips. She tasted the blood on them and winced, the memories of her fight in the tent for the gift she had been saving her entire life for Ardeth, haunting her. "But that's not important. You must find me revolting."
"Why is it not important, my Leah? I want you to be well," said Ardeth, stroking her burning face with his cool hands. Heat stroke, he thought to himself. She is not thinking clearly. She needs treatment. "You are not revolting. You are beautiful, my Leah. My love."
Leah just began to cry harder. "My hair! My clothes! You hate it all!" she wailed.
Ardeth did not know why she was going on about trivial things such as hair and clothes when she was knocking at death's door, but it was only then that he noticed two things. First, he noticed that Leah's luxurious locks had been chopped off. And secondly, he noticed that she was barely clothed, stripped down to her undergarments. His eyes widened as he took it all in. And though shorter hair and no clothes was not something that was going to make Ardeth love Leah any less, he was still surprised at what was in front of him. Anger rose up in his throat as thoughts of what may have happened in the tent before he had reached it popped up in his head. "Leah… what did he do to you?" he asked, struggling to keep himself under control.
"He cut my hair!" Leah cried. "My beautiful hair! He cut it all off!"
"And… what else did he do?"
"He gave me this… this hideous dress! A dress, Ardeth! I hate dresses, yet he dressed me in one… and it was so ugly… and it was Samir-hi's… and I'm not Samir-hi… I'm just me, Leah… it was so horrible… my hair… the dress… I took it off. It was ugly! Ardeth, I'm so sorry… please… I'm sorry…" Leah trailed off as she gasped for breath, her sobs ceasing.
Ardeth's heart stopped thudding in his chest as he realized that Leah's dignity was still in tact. However, he couldn't understand why she was apologizing to him. "What are you sorry for, Bent hair?" he whispered, leaning forward. "What have you got to be sorry for?" He touched his lips to her forehead and planted a kiss there, then backed up suddenly as his skin was met with a fiery inferno that was the fever taking over Leah's body.
"For all of this, Ardeth. I'm so sorry," Leah whispered as her eyes closed. "Please… promise me that you won't leave me?"
Ardeth was appalled at what he had just heard her stay. "Leah… I would never leave you," he whispered. "Never." He stroked a hand through her short curls. "I love you, Bent Hair."
"I love you, too," Leah breathed, and she gave into the darkness, slipping away to her own never-never land.
Ardeth laid on the ground beside her, his arms around her. Death was lurking around this desert; he sensed it, and he knew who it was after. "You will never have her," he whispered fiercely as he clung to Leah's burning body. "Never!" But as he spoke, he knew that he had no control over it. Warriors never show their weak sides; but that night, one Medjai warrior did just that. Ardeth Bay wept at his love's side, his heart breaking as he realized that he might just have to let her go and live the rest of his life without her.
