You know I'm not getting as many reviews as I was earlier in the story. Is it just because people are getting lazy , though I can totally relate to that (no laughing Marakins), or are there not so many people reading anymore? I want answers! So just to let you readers know that once you have read this you must leave a review, even if it is just to say 'Hello'. Just to let me know how many people are still reading this.
Anyways, celebrations! My year 9 SATS are all done and dusted and were nowhere as hard as I thought they were going to be! Whoop! And I can finally play MCR's 'Headfirst for Halos' on my trusty bass guitar! Whoop! And I'm on chapter 6 of this story! Hooray! And I mustn't forget watching the first ever episode of Invader Zim! That was pure comedic genius. So, yeah. I'm very happy at the moment. Come! Join me in the chicken dance! (Singing) Doo doo da da doo, la la la doo dum!
Looks around at lack of fellow chicken dancers Umm...right. Here follows chapter 6. Enjoy.
"Rick!" Eve called out. She could tell from the look on her husband's face before he rode off that Ardeth was dead. The realisation had hit her like sledgehammer, leaving her fighting for breath. Years of being a mother had taught her to be strong and to keep up a tough front for the sake of her son, but try as she might she couldn't stop the tears from spilling from her eyes. Ardeth, a man who had saved the lives of her and her family countless times over, was now a limp corpse hanging from Rick's horse as he galloped furiously into the distance. The burning desert sun had no effect on her body left cold from shock and loss, and Eve felt so incredibly alone now that her husband was no longer riding at her side, despite Jonathon and Alex being right behind her. Why had Rick ridden off without her?
Rick had panicked. Ardeth was his closest friend, no matter what Rick often felt when he turned up out of the blue. Now he was dead, killed by Jimmy. And Jimmy had the Book of The Dead. Or at least, that was what Rick was hoping. How else did he plan to bring that damn mummy back to life? Jimmy also had Beth, and Rick wasn't going to let her die right before his eyes as well. He had promised Ardeth that he would find them, and that was what he was going to do. He didn't have time to grieve for Ardeth, or even think too hard about his death. He had a mission, and he was going to complete that mission no matter what. Besides, he didn't have to worry about Ardeth being dead if he was going to bring him back, did he?
Jimmy had almost finished his chanting, and poised the dagger above Beth's heart with an ominous stance. He looked into the eyes of his sacrifice and saw nothing. No fear or anger, no hatred or despair. They were just blue pools of emptiness, and Jimmy's heart skipped a beat. He feared her soul had somehow escaped her body before he could finish the ritual and frantically searched for something to prove him wrong. Then, to his relief, Beth slowly moved her eyes to meet his as a sign that she was still alive.
"You've gone and spoiled the ritual now." she said, her voice flat and monotone. Her words held no feeling, they were just a simple fact stated by a woman past caring. Jimmy was slightly unnerved by how deeply Beth had broken.
Three men burst into the chamber and quickly surrounded the altar. To Beth they seemed familiar, like memories of a dream. "You're late!" Jimmy barked at them. "You had a head start and you still got here after me!" Beth saw one of them hang his head at his master's scorn and remembered where she had seen the three before. It was the hijackers from the train. They had worked for Jimmy all along.
"We didn't have a Medjai to guide us there, like you master. We got a little lost." Lanky replied. Jimmy merely snarled at him and signalled for them all to take up their places around Beth. Fatty and Mousy promptly got down on their knees and began rocking back and forth, but Lanky stayed put. He still had something else to say, "There were others, master. The O'Connells?"
"Yes, what about them?" Jimmy demanded.
"We fear they may have left the train and followed your tracks into the desert." Jimmy didn't seem to process the information at first. His face darkened with conflicting emotions, crossing from anger to disbelief, to pure annoyance. He was sure they wouldn't be able to find Nak Tahn without knowing how, but tracks were tracks. If they were still there after the rolling breeze, then Rick could follow them with ease.
Finally Jimmy spoke. "If they have followed us, then we haven't got much time. We'll have to perform the ritual as quickly as possible." His eyes flicked over to Beth. "At least the sacrifice won't put up too much resistance." But Jimmy had failed to notice the sudden fire in Beth's eyes. News of the O'Connells had ignited a spark of hope within her, and suddenly she was filled with angry reflections on how easily she had been broken. How dare Jimmy treat her like nothing more than a flimsy toy after all she had done for him? The thirst for revenge burned deep behind Beth's eyes as she searched for a way to get out of the situation, testing her shackles again and again.
"Oh, we're back in the world of the living are we?" Jimmy sneered, cruelly fingering his dagger. Beth ignored him and struggled harder. Ardeth had already died because of Jimmy; she wasn't going to be next. Jimmy observed her and chuckled, "Oh dear, not working is it? Don't panic so much Beth, anyone would think that you didn't want to join the Medjai in the afterlife!" Beth felt hot tears threatening to leak out. She was not going to let Jimmy get away with this. As soon as she was free from these shackles then she was going to thrash him until he begged for mercy, she was going rip him apart until he was in a thousand pieces, and she was going to hack off his copulatary organs and nail them to a door!
SNAP! Her ankle restraints abruptly tore free from the stone, sending a chunk of rock flying straight into Fatty's nose. It hit him with such force that he fell flat on the floor, unconscious. Jimmy sighed.
"Now that was very stupid. You've annoyed me now." He brought the golden dagger down, aimed straight at Beth's heart. With a grunt she swiftly lifted her legs so that she was bent double, pulling on her wrist restraints for leverage. Her feet connected with Jimmy's chin, making a satisfying crack and causing him to fall backwards onto the floor.
"Next?" Beth demanded, readying herself for another attack. Mousy took one look at his master groaning on the floor and quickly scurried out of the room, wherever that was. Beth made a mental note to find out exactly where in Nak Tahn she was, before her attention was drawn back to Lanky as he swung some lethal looking contraption above his head with a loud war cry. Beth had only time for instinctive action before he let it fall down towards her. She rolled to her left, causing the weapon to miss her by mere inches. It had, however, desecrated the shackle restraining her right hand, allowing her to swing off of the altar and stand up. Lanky let out another great cry and swung at her once more with what Beth could now identify as a mace. She stepped back, leaving her just out of Lanky's reach.
"Sorry," she pouted. "I forgot to stand still." This angered Lanky, surprisingly, and he made another swing, this time faster than Beth could anticipate. She moved as best she could, but the iron head of the mace connected with her belly, tearing through her side like it was paper. Lanky laughed in triumph, and stood gloating over a wounded Beth.
"Aw, the white girl is hurt. Will she cry now? Will she cry tears over her little scratch?" He mocked her a little too enthusiastically and let the mace hang limply by his side, thinking Beth finished. He snarled as she dropped to her knees with her arms clasping her side. Blood flooded from her wound, trickling onto her arms and leaving crimson trails on her skin, and all she could think of as her very life drained from her body, was that she needed to avenge Ardeth. She needed to kick Lanky's ass and then teach Jimmy not to mess with an O'Connell. Then, when that was done she could collapse and die peacefully, but not yet. Not yet.
Beth shuddered as the shock wore off and pain swept through her body in waves of purest agony. For a second she was blinded by how much it hurt, but she was woman: she was built to endure such agony as childbirth. She had to keep moving. It was at that point where Beth looked up, saw the mace hanging at ease and grabbed it before Lanky had the chance to even stop laughing. Within seconds Lanky was flat on the floor with only half of his face recognisable. His good eye was wide open and completely still, not even flickering. His mouth hung open in a silent scream. Beth dropped the mace and stepped over her deceased adversary, wincing as her left side screamed at her. It felt like her entire body was on fire, but she felt a slight bit better having slain the one that caused her suffering. Now all that was left was Jimmy.
The weasel himself was still lying on the floor, drifting in and out of consciousness. 'God, he's pathetic!' Beth thought. 'One hit and he's out like this?' She kicked him in the ribs, feeling her own in agony over the rough movement, then gritted her teeth, bent down and grabbed hold of a handful of his clothes. She hoisted him up, grunting in pain, and shoved him against the wall.
"Wake up, shit-for-brains, so I can hear you scream when I kill you!" she yelled into his ear. Her breathing had become haggard and her words were spoken in a strained voice, but Jimmy could feel every inch of pure hatred being sent towards him. He woke up.
"Hey Beth, you're looking crappy. Had a bad day?" he hissed. Beth smiled sweetly and kneed him right in the crown jewels. He cried out and tried to lean forward, but all he did was lean against Beth.
"You know, if I were Ardeth, you'd have been dead hours ago, Jimmy." she whispered into his ear.
Jimmy shuddered. Beth's tone was icy, unfeeling, frightening. "But you're not Ardeth."
"No. I'm not. And he's not here because you killed him before even giving him a chance to defend himself." Beth traced a finger down Jimmy's arm and stopped to close her hand around his. He looked down to see that he still had the dagger. He had forgotten that, but it was too late react, because Beth soon tore it from his grasp and pointed it towards his exposed throat. The intricate carvings on the dagger depicted scenes of war and death; many Egyptian figures were shown dead upon the ground, lying in a river of their comrades' blood. Jimmy looked away from the dagger to meet unfamiliar eyes. Beth had changed from the kind-hearted girl he had been hoping to rip off and sacrifice. Now she had taken another human life, and she was cold, colder than the stone wall she had Jimmy pinned up against. "Jimmy," she whispered, "You killed Ardeth. So now he's not here to kill you for all the terrible things you've done." Jimmy tried to swallow using a suddenly very dry throat. Beth's tone sent shivers down his spine. "Do you know what that means?" she asked him. He could barely shake his head. "That means it's up to me to kill you, and you've graciously given me a weapon. How kind."
Jimmy began to panic. He wasn't supposed to die yet. He still had years of service to his master. He had sold his soul to him, if he died before fulfilling his purpose then he would be condemned to an eternity of Hell. He had to talk Beth out of killing him, "Beth, I can explain. It wasn't me...it was the key! It possessed..." The last word faded into a strangled cry as the dagger of death sliced through his tender stomach. His guts writhed as blood flowed into places it wasn't designed to be in, and bile rose to the back of his throat. He didn't have time to register the pain before a second blow was dealt to his neck, killing him instantly. Beth didn't grimace, didn't smile as she killed her former employer. She just dropped the knife and wondered out of the ceremonial chamber of Nak Tahn to begin her search for somewhere suitable to curl up and die.
"Beth! Beth!" Rick yelled. Ardeth was slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and his gun was in his other hand. He searched for his sister in every nook and cranny of Nak Tahn, apart from, of course, the one nook that she was hiding in.
Behind the great crumbling tower, Beth lay soaking in a pool of her own blood. She had lost so much blood...too much. Everything was turning black, and she couldn't even hear her brother calling her. As far as she knew he was somewhere in the desert buried by a sandstorm. She had nothing but pain and sweet, blissful unconsciousness to keep her company while she slowly slipped away, though Rick was mere feet away from her. He would miss her by a hair.
Rick had descended into the lower levels of Nak Tahn in his search for his sister. He stumbled into the ceremonial chamber, with Ardeth still slung over his shoulder, and was shocked at the sight before him. Two strangers lay on the floor, one of them killed by such horrific injuries that even Rick had to turn away. Then there was Jimmy, slumped on the ground with his grey eyes wide and lifeless. Blood overflowed from his gaping mouth, dripping onto hands that clasped a greater wound in vain. His neck was ripped open by a stab wound, as was his stomach. As he looked upon these corpses, Rick could only think of one thing: Beth. How committing such violent murders must have changed her; how she must have been in utter desperation to do so in the first place. How there was another alarming pool of blood some way away from any of the bodies. Beth's blood. Rick studied the blood, as if he would be able to distinguish it from his sister's just from sight. He couldn't, but there were small splats leading from it where she must have moved over to kill Jimmy. They went all the way from his body, to the passage outside the chamber, and possibly further. Rick growled in frustration at having not noticed the trail before and quickly followed it right to Beth's hiding place. He seemed to have completely forgotten about the dead Medjai bobbing along on his back.
Rick knelt beside his sister with silver tears streaming down his face. He was too late. Always too late. Ardeth was laid out beside Beth, his ghostly skin contrasting with the crimson blood she lay in. Rick had lost both of them in one fell swoop and he was helpless to do anything about it. He couldn't bring them back as the Book of The Dead was nowhere to be found and, thankfully, so was the mummy. But Rick didn't care about the stupid mummy, he cared about the two people in front of him, both so cold in the cursed desert sun. He could do nothing but weep for them as grief finally caught up with him and tore out his heart. If only he had been faster.
A warm hand was placed on Rick's shoulder. He turned round to see Alex standing behind him, with a solemn face no twelve-year-old should ever wear. "It's not hopeless, dad." he whispered, his own eyes filling with tears. Rick pulled his son into a fierce bear hug and smoothed down his blond hair.
"I know, Alex." he replied, not really meaning it. He looked up to see Eve and Jonathon behind them, and the anguish in his wife's eyes made his words even more meaningless. Suddenly, O'Connell and Carnahan alike were all drawn into the hug, each mourning the loss of loved ones. Alex tried to wriggle free, but Rick just tightened his grip.
"Dad!" he protested, to no avail. Grief had too strong a hold on his father for him to listen. "Dad, listen! I can bring them back!" He broke free from the tangle of relatives and stood with his hands on his hips. "I can remember the words from The Book of The Dead!"
"How?" Eve demanded.
"I just do!" he responded. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!" Jonathon yelled with his usual tact. Rick raised an eyebrow questioningly in his direction. "Well I'm not completely emotionally detached you know!" he explained. "I miss them too!" Alex shrugged and hopped over to Beth and Ardeth. He forced himself to ignore the twisted mess of flesh that was now Beth's side, and he wouldn't look at the gun wound that Ardeth bore. Instead, he threw himself a year back, to Ahm Sher, where he had The Book of The Dead in his hands and was reading from the black, heavy pages. The words began to flow from his mouth, filling the air with their meaning. It was as if the very breeze crackled with life, and then as quickly as that life had come, it disappeared again, leaving nothing but calm.
"It didn't work." Rick sighed, disappointed. Alex hung his head in defeat and stared at Beth and Ardeth, willing them to live again.
"Perhaps it is the act of reading from the book, rather than the words, that bring the dead back to life." Eve suggested. That didn't help everyone's mood.
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Jonathon cried. He kicked angrily at the sand, carelessly sending it all over the two bodies. Rick grabbed him roughly by the arm.
"Hey! Be respectful towards the dead!" he yelled. Jonathon squirmed in his grip, refusing to face him. Rick became angrier and brought Jonathon's face up to his, only to see tears in his brother-in-law's icy blues. What was he doing?
"Oh, for crying' out loud! Put him down Rick!" Beth growled. Slowly, four pairs of eyes turned to meet her as she stood up and dusted herself off. Her hands lingered on her missing side, and she looked questioningly at her family.
"Beth!" Rick cried before he rushed at her and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. "You're alive! Oh my God, you're alive!" Beth laughed and pushed her brother away, only to be bombarded by everyone else. They all toppled onto the sand in a big heap of ecstatic joy.
"Oh, get off! I won't be alive for much longer if you all dog pile me!" Beth giggled, rolling out from underneath Jonathon and Alex. She found herself looking straight at Ardeth, who was still lying on the ground. "Oh, God!" she whispered.
"Did it work on Ardeth too?" Eve asked. She watched as Beth poked him in the face with the usual O'Connell subtlety. He grunted and rolled over, as if being woken up early on a Saturday, then suddenly sat bolt upright with a shriek.
"What? Where? Why?" he demanded, turning to each O'Connell/Carnahan in turn with wild, questioning eyes. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. Beth stared at him in disbelief, her blue eyes stopping at the raw, bloody hole in his abdomen. She never had a chance to grieve for him, only to avenge his death, and now he was alive before her eyes again. She was alive again. It was all too much, for her as well as for Ardeth.
"Ardeth?" Eve said soothingly. "It's all right. Jimmy's dead, the mummy is still dead, and you're alive again. We brought you back."
"You brought me back?" Ardeth's eyes went wider still as anger was added to his flood of emotions. "I was finally at rest, with no responsibilities, or temptations." He looked pointedly at Beth. "I had fulfilled my path in life, with no need to think or to care or to worry, and you tore me from the afterlife to bring me back to this place!" He jumped to his feet and took a few shaky steps. "I had total peace and tranquillity. Now I have pain, noise, burning heat, and evil to fight again! This is like a...like Hell! Why did you bring me back to this place of fire and pain? Why?"
Everyone stared at him in shock. No one had any answers for him, other than 'Because we missed you', which would have sounded terribly selfish at the time. Their silence only angered Ardeth further, and with a howl of frustration he stormed off, out of the city and rode off into the desert on one of the O'Connell's horses.
"Well that was unexpected." Eve sighed. Her voice betrayed the tears that were threatening to spill out.
"But it was completely understandable." Beth retorted. She looked at the faces of the people she loved most in the world, and wondered what they would have done if they hadn't brought her back. She wondered what they would have done if she hadn't turned up on their door with the key in the first place. Probably would have had a nice peaceful summer. a voice in the back of her head told her. Still, it was useless hanging around on the what-ifs and why-fors. Life was too short, and Beth knew that now better than most. "Come on, let's go home." she murmured with a voice as weary as she felt. Being raised from the dead was tiring work.
Yes, I brought him back. What, you thought I could really leave my precious Ardeth dead? Sorry, no. That body is too good to leave as a rotting corpse. At least it wasn't all 'Oh-thank-you-for-bringing-me-back-and-I-forgot-to-mention-Beth-I-love-you-insert-smooshy-stuff-here'. That comes later grins.
I think I enjoyed murdering Jimmy too much. Considering he was never originally meant to be evil, this could be a bad thing. But he was evil, so don't get all upset, kiddies. I don't like the way I did the bringing-back-to-life bit, but I couldn't think of any other way to put it, so there you go. And poor Ardeth, spending most of this chapter slung over Rick's shoulder. Anyway, any queries or bloopers to point out are welcome as my ego needs some serious deflating. And flamers are also welcome, as I am deserved of some punishing right now for reasons I will not go into. Oh, and there is one more chapter to come, but it will be much shorter than usual and it may contain major soppiness. You have been warned.
Review please! Remember, I need an idea of how many people read this, and the general reception would be appreciated.
Also, sorry for taking so long to post!
ZELINIA: Yeah, was not good the way I brought them back. Grr! Next chapter is written, it's just waiting to be read over a few hundred more times, accepted as half decent at least, and then posted. Sigh! I'm glad I'm at the end of this. I need a new story. Thank you for reviewing! aw, you've been so supportive of me. It's nice to have support from a total stranger when your best friends give up reading what you post cough! cough! Marakins!. Yeah, I'm happy I didn't put in horrible cliches, but I warn you they may come later. Sorry. couldn't help it.
movieluver: grins Did I get ya with the whole Ardeth dying thing? To tell you the truth, I didn't think they were gonna get together after that, either. grins again Thank you for reviewing and complimenting me and stuff. grins again, with face falling off from too much grinning
blackmagic111090: Hmm, people are liking how Ardeth reacted. I did something right! Thankies for reviewing. Glad you like the story.
immortalwizardpirateelf-fan: No, not unexpected reaction, but hopefully not a cliche reaction. Update coming right up. grins Do I grin too much?