Right, I'm back again with the next chapter all written and stuff, purely for your entertainment. So you'd better be entertained, alright? Blood, sweat and tears went into this...sniffle! Oh, ignore me. I'm just feeling silly. I will shut up and get on with the chapter, round about now.

Disclaimer: I own Beth and Jimmy, and Lanky, Fatty and Mousy. Everyone else mentioned belong to the wonderful people who gave us The Mummy. You know this already, but I had to put it in for the sake of being a good little fanfic writer. However, I will greatly appreciate it if anyone is willing to sign Ardeth Bay over to me in a nice big contract.

By the way: Mara, you are very overdue in the reviewing of these latest chapters! Don't make me set my Krinks on you...which reminds me to remind you that Emma is desperate for the return of Sam + Em's Fairytales. But that is a private matter and I now have to get on with the story.

P.S. No one noticed yet but in chapter 1, I said that Jimmy had deep green eyes, but in chapter 3 I said they were dull and grey. Jimmy's eyes are grey and I only said they were green before because his character was still developing in my head at that point. Right, on we go...

A single thought crossed Beth's mind as she watched Jimmy aim the gun at Ardeth: she had to stop him, no matter what. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she wildly lunged at Jimmy intent on knocking the weapon from his hands, but she was too late. The smoke was already rising from the barrell. The gunshot already sounded through the air, but Beth didn't care. She still swung at Jimmy in attempt to hit him, to cause him some form of pain. He blocked her easily and took a firm grip on her left wrist, his bony fingers digging into her tanned flesh. She tried to wrench herself free but it was as though Jimmy's was the very hand of death, with a hold so cold and unbreakable.

"You should have left them behind, Beth." he hissed, pulling her closer to him. His voice was pure venom, as if he were a snake. "You could have spared them so much bloodshed." Beth craned her neck to see behind her as Ardeth unceremoniously slumped to the ground. She was not looking as Jimmy raised his other hand high in the air and brought it down like the hammer of Thor, so that the metal of the pistol thudded painfully against her skull. The blazing desert sun swiftly faded into blackness, and unconsciousness enveloped Beth into a world of twisted dreams.

Three brown horses galloped across the sandy terrain, long into the night. They were tired, but their masters were anxious to get to their destination quickly, and so the horses went on. By the time the first rays of sun peeked over the sand dunes, they had been forced to slow down to a begrudging trot. Their masters were no less anxious.

"They were on foot. We should have caught up with them by now." Rick mumbled to himself more than anybody. Beside him his wife matched his speed so that she could talk to him.

"I still don't know why they would have left us like that." Eve stated. Her face was unusually heavy with worry and confusion. "Beth I can understand, but Ardeth? I can't help feeling something is horribly wrong." Eve looked over at her husband. He sighed, but offered no reply. His eyes remained fixed on the road ahead.

Behind them Alex and Jonathon chattered and yawned, "All I'm saying is that losing a diamond as big as my head in a card game is nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to people all the time." Alex shook his head and ignored his uncle. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep, leaning against Jonathon's back and shifting in the saddle. It was hard work. Just as he was drifting off, a harsh cry from his father wrenched him from the Land of Nod and dumped him back into reality.

"Woss...wha?" he mumbled.

"Trouble ahead." Jonathon replied as he urged the horse into a gallop again. They swiflty reached a sheltered niche in the dunes where a dark body lay near a simple burned-out campfire. Alex's stomach lurched when he saw the body was Ardeth. He lay on his back, with his piercing dark eyes staring up at the sky. His crimson-soaked hands were clasping his belly, attempting to stop the spurting of blood that stained his black robes. He was dying.

"Ardeth!" Rick yelled desperately. He jumped from his horse without waiting for it to stop and staggered as best he could across the sand to his friend. "What happened?" He knelt down beside him and lifted Ardeth's head onto his lap. He smoothed a lock of ebony curls from his face and waited for an answer. Slowly, Ardeth looked up at Rick with pleading eyes. His voice spluttered to life and words forced themselves from his lips.

"Beth..." he whispered. "Jimmy has Beth...he is...reincarnation." Ardeth's eyes half-closed and his head flopped back against Rick's hand. His breathing was laboured, catching in his throat as new waves of pain shot through his system. Eve came and knelt down next to her husband and squeezed the Medjai's hand reassuringly.

"Don't worry, buddy." Rick's voice cracked; it was so distressing to see Ardeth like this. "We'll find 'em." Ardeth smiled and let his face relax as he slipped into a deep sleep. Rick and Eve could only bind the wound and carry him gently to a horse, praying that he would eventually wake up.

Beth opened her eyes with difficulty. Fuzzy dark images whirled and cleared to show a huge statue of Bast, made entirely of gold. At its feet Jimmy was hopping around on one foot. On no, I'm still dreaming! she thought, but the sudden intense throbbing of her head told her other wise. Her head felt like it was about to pop and a splitting headache threatened to tear her skull in two. Now fully sobered up by the pain, she sat up and found that her wrists and ankles were shackled to an altar. A chill raced down her spine when she recognised it as a sacrifcial altar, and the memory of past events came flooding back. Jimmy had shot Ardeth, he had pistol-whipped her and now he was going to sacrifice her in order to bring an all-powerful nameless mummy back to life. Great.

"Let me go Jimmy." Beth demanded with a voice more confident than she felt. Jimmy stopped hopping and stared at her. A bemused grin spread across his face.

"Or you'll do what?"

"Or I'll damn well break every bone in your body you bastard!" she yelled back. She struggled against her shackles and angry tears stung her eyes. Jimmy snorted.

"How? You're chained to a sacrificial altar! And I doubt anyone is going to come and do it for you. Your little Medjai pet is dead, and your family are probably lost in the desert somewhere after the hijack. It's just you and me, all alone here in the depths of a lost city that nobody knows about. So just shut up and die quietly like a good girl." His words burned Beth like a red-hot poker. He was right. Ardeth was dead, and the others would never find Nak Tahn without his guidance. It was up to her to stop Jimmy, but she couldn't do anything when she couldn't get off the altar. She was going to die with only Jimmy there to gloat over her. She stopped struggling against her restraints, and Jimmy chuckled at his minor victory.

Ardeth awoke to find himself in darkness. All around him there was nothing, no light, no air, nothing at all that could lay claim to the physical state of the mortal world. He felt nothing, not even a dull resemblance of paralysis, and he no longer troubled his mind with thought. There was just affirmation. Ardeth could finally be at rest, free of worry and responsibilty. He could finally merge with the endless spirits of those that had gone before him, no longer an independant being, but part of those that had passed on. Eternal slumber welcomed him.

On the other side, Rick rode with all his might towards Nak Tahn. He had managed to catch a glimpse of it just before the sun had risen completely and once more hidden its whereabouts. He only hoped his sense of direction was as good as it once had been. He cradled Ardeth against his chest, frequently checking that his friend was still breathing. Rick was deeply concerned about how quickly the Medjai was losing body heat in the scorching desert sun. He didn't know what to do for the best.

"How's he doing?" Eve called from behind. Rick could tell from her voice that she was as worried as he was. They hadn't let Jonathon and Alex see Ardeth incase they started panicking, so only he and Eve knew how bad he really was.

"Not good." he replied as quietly as he could. "He's gone completely cold." Out of habit, Rick checked to see if he was breathing again. There was nothing, and his bronzed skin was drained of colour. His once sharp eyes were now dull and lifeless. Even the gun wound had slowed down from spurting a river of blood to oozing a smudge. Ardeth's heart had stopped pumping, his lungs had ceased breathing. He was dead.

"Oh my God, no!"

In the depths of Nak Tahn, Jimmy began to chant as he held out a golden dagger so intricately engraved it looked too beautiful to be be capable of killing someone, but it was...

Mwahaha! Sorry kiddies, this is no fairytale ending! Falconwings14 has gone evil on you Ardeth fangirls, but do not fear because he will make a reappearance in this story. Hmm, will it be a flashback, or will I bring him back from the dead? Ohmigosh this is so fun! I was gonna have it all perfect with Ardeth and Beth falling in love and stuff, but now I'm fighting against that desire to write the fic for myself and writing it for an audience instead! I think I might give up Mary Sues full stop now. They're boring to write, and to read as i have been informed by a helpful reviewer.

And on the banning of songfics - I am sad as I was going to write some, and i was looking forward to Veritas Indolentia Adamo's series of evanescence sonfics, but the mods do have a point. I mean, the lyrics were written by the songwriters and shouldn't really be put in someone else's fanfic, unless you have permission. Hmm, do you think My Chemical Romance woill let me write a Buffy fanfic with the lyrics to Vampires Will Never Hurt You in it? Oh, never mind. i was struggling anyway.