Author's Note: I'm guessing this has probably been done before. Here's my version. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know if you want to see more from me…if there's an audience, I'm more than happy to write it.
This is for Liv (BohemianCane04), for finding me a new obsession.
Disclaimer: They're not mine. If they were, this would be on fictionpress, and a whole lot fewer people would be reading it. Dialogue that doesn't look like mine probably isn't.
Going Native
"Four," Jonathan insisted in his whining accent, "four! I only want four, not a whole bloody herd! O'Connell! Can you believe the cheek?"
He'd been arguing with the poor merchant for the better part of an hour without much success. He seemed to think that the other man was deaf, not of another culture. The louder he yelled, the more upset the merchant became, and the camels as well. They'd begun to paw and spit, and truth be told I was getting a little worried about them stampeding. That and Jonathan's idea of bartering was just getting old.
"Will you just pay the man?" I cut in at last.
"Oh for heaven's sake!" Jonathan glared at me, muttering, "I can't believe the price of these flea bags," but pulled a wad of bills from his wallet and handed them to the merchant, whose frown immediately evaporated. He let go of the camels' harnesses, giving two to me and two to Jonathan.
"Yes, happy," said Jonathan, in an unmistakably insulting tone. "Veeerrry good."
"Probably coulda gotten them for free," I added, mostly because I figured it would shut him up. "All we had to do was give him your sister."
"Yes. Awfully tempting, wasn't it," moped Jonathan, still looking at his rapidly shrinking wallet.
I was a little surprised at Jonathan's sudden lack of loyalty, but I figured a bit of humor was worth it. I opened my mouth to agree with him…and then promptly closed it again when I caught sight of Evelyn, who had just walked up. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. She was dressed all in gauzy black, hair and half her face covered in thin black lace. The dress was low cut and tight, revealing for the first time the body I'd caught sight of in the water. Suddenly the Egyptian sun felt ten times hotter. She smiled at me, and I felt as though I was standing on quick sand.
"Awfully," I echoed, completely without conviction. Jonathan gave me a look and shook his head.
"About time, old mum," he said, breaking the silence. "I see you've got what you need. 'Bout time we're off."
I left Jonathan to saddle up the beasts and closed the distance between myself and Evelyn.
"You look um…you look nice," I mumbled, my tongue suddenly seeming about ten times too large for my mouth. She gave me another of those slow, enigmatic smiles, and any last shred of sense dropped out of my head.
"Thank you."
I just stared at her for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't make her either slap me or run. She just stood there and continued to smile, which was the whole reason I couldn't talk. I instantly wished I could see her looking like this all the time. Of course, I'd probably never be at all useful. And at the moment, I simply didn't care.
"So uh…can you ride?" I asked her at last, the camels' snorting finally bringing me back to my senses.
"Of course I can if the occasion calls for it," Evelyn echoed, still smiling. I swallowed, and hoped that her riding ability was considerably better than her swimming. We were never going to get anywhere if she was going to keep slipping out of the saddle, or fainting in the heat. But somehow I already had the idea that Evelyn wasn't the kind of girl who would let a little thing like desert weather keep her from what she wanted. Hell, when she made up her mind about something, the ten plagues of Egypt wouldn't bother her in the slightest.
"Trust me," I played back, "it calls for it."
I led the way back over to where Jonathan was standing with the camels. The warden had found his way back and was now trying to get up into the saddle, his mouth half full of a pungent-smelling red fruit. The camel seemed determined to throw him off, turning its long neck and nipping at him every chance it got. I turned to Evelyn, who was now struggling with her own mount, trying to get onto the beast's back without causing her skirt to fly up.
"Give you a leg-up?" I offered, though the camel was kneeling in the sand.
"No," answered Evelyn primly, pausing in her struggle, "thank you."
I mounted my own camel, then sat watching Evelyn struggle down below. Every time she managed to get in the right position, the camel would move, and she would lose her footing. She seemed so intent on doing it without allowing her clothes to get rumpled that the animal was getting impatient.
"Little help, baby sister?" asked Jonathan at last, and she allowed him to help her into the saddle. I swallowed a pang of jealousy and watched raptly as she took hold of the reins. I noticed she rode facing straight forward, with her booted feet up around the camel's neck, exposing a few inches of pale knee. It was uncommon for a woman, but then, I figured, side-saddle probably wouldn't be the best idea for Evelyn.
"So," I said as Jonathan mounted, "are we ready?"
"Ab-soluta-ly," belched the warden, chewing with his mouth open. Fruit juice dripped onto the camel's tan hair, staining it red. "Let's go fint some treasure." He winked at Evelyn, who looked ready to hit him with her crop. I wished he'd give me an excuse to shoot him, but decided the middle of the trading post probably wasn't the best place to do it.
We made good progress for the remainder of the morning, invigorated by fresh food and clean clothes. I rode out in front, being the only one who knew the way, the others forming a small cluster behind me. I wondered about the Americans and their progress; they had started out on the wrong side of the river, yes, but I was willing to bet that didn't slow them down as much as our little shopping spree had us. There was also the small fact that I didn't have five hundred dollars to give them should we lose. And I was willing to bet Evelyn wasn't going to shell out any cash to cover my gambling losses. I was so caught up in worrying about the wager that I didn't even notice when she rode up beside me.
"Thinking about our friends?" she asked, making me jump. I barely knew this girl, and already she was reading my mind. Not a good sign.
"Ah, no, no," I lied unconvincingly. I wasn't ready to admit to her what I'd gone and gotten myself into. "Why would I be?"
"Oh, I don't know." She smiled wickedly at me, and I knew she knew. "Maybe because, if we don't get a move on, you're going to have to find five hundred dollars in cash somewhere?"
"Jonathan," I groaned, not really caring anymore. I was already too caught up in watching her to worry any more about the impending wager. I'd deal with that later.
Evelyn was a much better rider than I'd expected; atop a camel she was almost graceful, managing to sway and lean with the animal's paces so as to stay perfectly upright. Her cheeks were flushed from the sun, her skin seemed luminescent, and her eyes were like precious stones.
"So…um…when you do find this book…what um…what are you gonna do with it?" It was a lame question, I couldn't think of a better topic, but I didn't want her to leave.
"You mean if I find it, Mr. O'Connell," she corrected. My name sounded formal and foreign in her mouth, and suddenly I wished she'd say it again.
"You will." I flashed her a smile and nearly fell off my camel looking sideways at her. Evelyn giggled, and I nearly lost my balance again.
"Well I…I suppose I hadn't really thought about that part," she said at last, looking a little disoriented. She looks like her brother when she's confused, one of the rare similarities between the two. The difference lay in the fact that Evy—and I realized I'd already begun to think of her familiarly—looked this way hardly ever, while Jonathan seemed to display little other expression.
"Let me get this straight," I said, stealing a glance sideways again and managing to keep my balance this time, "you've dreamed about finding this book for years and years, but you've never thought about what you'd do with it."
"Well of course I've dreamt about it, but there's a difference, Mr. O'Connell!" She said this as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I will admit, that had me clearly stumped. This woman wanted me to believe that she was going to the lost City of the Dead, in search of a book made out of pure gold, not for treasure, not for fame—merely to find a book. And if she'd dreamed about what she was going to do with it, then she'd clearly thought about it. I hadn't known it was possible to dream of something without the thought ever entering your mind.
"Evelyn…I'm lost here. Help me out."
"Ooooh, Mr. O'Connell, you are an impossible man!" exclaimed Evelyn, kissing the back of her camel's head as though purposely trying to make me jealous. The animal grunted and spit, a gesture of appreciation, I supposed. I couldn't imagine not being grateful if Evelyn kissed me.
"How can you have dreamed about it if you've never thought—"
"There's a difference!" she insisted, as though repeating it would make everything clear. She glanced at me and obviously saw that I was still confused. "Ooooh, listen, will you."
Always, I thought, and instantly wanted to slap myself. I had to force myself to keep looking ahead or I'd get us lost. Evelyn created quite the picture, impassioned by her revelation, bouncing along atop a camel, waving her hands in the air as though directing a symphony. I half expected her to fall off, but I was too preoccupied by her lips when I did turn to the side to really worry about anything else.
"Of course I've always dreamt about keeping it, but that just wouldn't be proper. If I actually were to find anything, I suppose I'd have to take it to the museum to be catalogued and added to the collection. And after that I'd have to report all the details about where I'd found it, the condition of its surroundings, etcetera. There would be a huge investigation, treasure hunters, investors…" Her face fell. "Well, you can imagine all the commotion. I suppose I'd rather not really think about it just yet if you don't mind. Rather spoils the dream."
"Evelyn…" I felt instantly sorry for upsetting her, but I did see her point. Reality had a nasty habit of creeping its way into your dreams and rotting them away.
"What?"
"I…nevermind."
She gave me an odd look, but didn't push it any further. I decided I preferred her chatter to the way she was looking at me now, and pushed my mount faster just to give myself something to do. Evelyn didn't miss a beat, falling into stride beside me again in a few seconds.
"So," she said at last, "what are you going to do when we get back from all this?"
Great, just wonderful. Finally a question directed at me, and I had absolutely no idea how to answer. Somehow Evelyn did that to me, I was noticing—she made me uncertain of everything including myself.
"Well um…you know…uh…stuff." Brilliant, O'Connell. Just wonderful.
Evelyn looked at me as though what I'd just said made perfect sense to her, and was, in addition, terribly scandalous. She was blushing so hard her ears were pink, unless that was just the heat of the afternoon.
"Mr. O'Connell!" she chirped, "really, I should think being given a second chance would make you think a bit about how you spend your time."
"Hey!" I blurted, not knowing how else to respond, "what makes you so interested in what I do with my time?" Wrong answer. Very wrong answer.
"Oooh," she huffed, and fell back into line behind me, effectively ending the conversation.
We rode on in silence for another hour or so before stopping for an evening meal. We'd lost a fair amount of daylight in stopping at the trading post, and I could see we were going to have to ride all night if we were to make it to the city by dawn. We ate mostly in silence, except for the warden, who seemed to require commentary on all the food.
"Tasty," he said at one point, looking not at his dinner, but instead at Evelyn. Jonathan and I gave him threatening looks, but it was she who spit seeds from the orange she'd been eating neatly in his direction. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much as he regarded this as flirtation. He flung a bone from the leg of meat he'd been chewing back at her, nearly catching her in the face. This was followed by a hearty chuckle, during which pieces of meat flew out of the corners of his mouth.
"All right," said Jonathan hastily, "better be off then." He got up and mounted, effectively ending the transaction.
Evelyn remained behind me and refused to speak when we were off again, apparently still miffed at what I'd said earlier. I realized it probably hadn't been the best choice of words, but still, punishing me for her own interpretation of what I'd said seemed a bit harsh. And typical of women. Of course she wanted to manage me. And yet I found that in this particular case, I didn't quite mind as much as I should have.
"Never did like camels," said Jonathan conversationally, riding up behind me opposite Evelyn, "filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit…"
This last was punctuated by the sound of the warden spitting loudly, as if to prove Jonathan's point.
"Disgusting!"
"I think they're adorable," said Evelyn, speaking for the first time since before dinner. Mentally, I kicked myself for feeling jealous of a camel.
The warden began singing in a painfully bad voice, still gnawing on a bone of whatever he'd been eating at lunch and pausing occasionally to spit into the sand. The sun was high overhead, the shadows of the occasional palm tree or brush plant lengthening, and I found myself wishing that Evelyn would sing instead, or at least talk to me again. I slowed down a little experimentally, hoping to force her into step with me again, but she adjusted pace as before, staying a solid few feet behind me, far enough that I couldn't speak to her without losing my balance. Jonathan, on the other hand, took no notice of the change in pace until the last minute, and very nearly collided with her.
"Feeling all right, old mum?" I heard him ask from behind me.
"Perfectly fine, thanks."
"Because you know, this heat is really getting to me, and if you wanted to stop it wouldn't be anything to be ashamed about—"
"I'm fine, Jonathan."
"Well, yes, yes, that's good because um…if you were to faint, I'm sure our friend the Warden, or O'Connell here wouldn't mind giving you mouth to mouth."
"I heard that," I said, mostly to save Jonathan from the beating he had coming.
"Jonathan!" exclaimed Evelyn, and I could practically hear her blushing.
"Carry on," said Jonathan, and rode up beside me. "I say, O'Connell, when you were out there before, you didn't happen to uh…see any of the…you know, did you?"
"Treasure?" I guessed. Jonathan nodded enthusiastically. "No. We were attacked as soon as we got there. Didn't even get a chance to go inside."
His face fell noticeably at this, and he started glancing up at the sky, which was rapidly darkening.
"Shouldn't we be umm…stopping soon? It's getting rather dark out."
"We're not stopping tonight," I said loudly, hoping I wasn't about to be shot off my mount.
"Oh yes, yes, very good," said Jonathan, bobbing his head, then abruptly stopping as he realized what I'd just said. "We're…we're not?"
"Nope."
"But…but why…If this has anything to do with those Americans, I'm warning you, I'll…I'll—"
"Isn't that your sister's line?" I interrupted.
"What? Oh, yes. Evy! Evy, come tell this madman we're going to have to stop tonight."
"We're what?" she asked, riding up beside me. I was certain she'd been listening the entire time, but if she wanted to play innocent I wasn't about to protest. Hell, at this point she could've told me to ride headfirst into a sand dune and I probably would've done it had I thought it would improve her opinion of me.
"We're going to ride through the night. We've already lost too much time."
"Why, because you think the Americans are getting ahead of us?" she asked predictably.
"Because we need to be there by dawn or we'll lose another whole day sitting around waiting."
"And why is that?"
"Just trust me." I knew she'd never believe me if I told her the truth. She narrowed her eyes at me, but there was a spark of excitement behind her suspicion.
"You're saying that if we ride all night, we'll be there by tomorrow morning?"
"Yes," I answered, hoping this would be the end of the discussion. Something changed in her face, and she smiled at me.
"All right. The sooner the better, I suppose."
Jonathan fell back, still looking at the sky as if flames were about to come shooting out of it. In a way I didn't blame him. We were getting closer to the city, and I was starting to feel the unease come creeping back under my skin. I pictured the face in the sand and wondered what really awaited us out there. I had thought I might bring them out here and then bail, but I knew I'd never be able to leave Evelyn with whatever had attacked my garrison. Besides, I never had been like Beni; always despised his type as a matter of fact. I didn't intend on turning into the little rat. Still, I'd feel much better on the way back.
"Worried about something?" asked Evelyn. I hadn't even realized she was still there.
"What? Why—why would I be?"
"Oh, I've no idea…because you don't have five hundred dollars? Because of what happened on the barge? Because of whatever you think is out there?"
I grinned at her. Apparently she'd forgiven me for before. Either that or she just couldn't go too long without someone to gab to.
"Sounds like you've got several. Ideas."
"So what'll it be? All? None?"
"Look, Evelyn…" I needed a way to avoid the question. "Can you honestly tell me you're not the slightest bit afraid of what might be out there?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, smiling at me. "You mean am I frightened by three thousand year old ghost stories? Not a bit."
"And how do you explain all the stories of expeditions that go out to these places and then never come back? Weird things that happen to people who don't respect the legends."
"Oh, I don't know. Lots of things can happen. They get lost, they don't take enough supplies…they die of dehydration." She paused and looked around as we passed what appeared to be a sun scorched skeleton in the sand. It was too dark to really tell, but for a moment I felt my blood run cold. "I've always had a healthy respect for nature, Mr. O'Connell. But as far as I'm concerned, ancient curses only work as far as keeping people out and occasionally making them scare themselves into leaving should they actually get there."
"And this won't happen to you because…"
"Because I know better. There is no scientific evidence to support any expedition ever having been killed by a ghost or a curse." She leaned forward and hugged her camel's neck, earning herself an appreciative grunt from the beast. I found myself wishing the animal would snap a leg, or better simply drop dead so we'd be short a camel.
"You haven't ever seen anything to make you believe in ghosts?" I asked, a little surprised.
Evelyn looked at me, eyes wide and luminous in the dark. The desert night is never quite black, but a very dark blue with the moon reflecting off the sand. It was getting cool, and I was beginning to wonder if we'd need to get the blankets out and start a fire after all.
"Well…no…what do you mean?" She sounded a little uncertain now, and I didn't blame her. There was almost a bit of wind in the stillness, and far off the sound of a hawk shrieking. I was suddenly hit with a pang of loneliness, something that didn't happen often. I'd never been one to put much stock in the company of others.
"Oh, I don't know. Heard footsteps at night, or seen something in the dark." It sounded lame now that I'd said it aloud, but Evelyn just looked at me curiously. I sensed she was the kind of person who always wanted to know any story, no matter how unbelievable or how dull.
"No, I haven't. Looks like you have, though."
"Well…yeah, you could say that."
"Tell me about it?"
"Now? Out here?" I could hear Jonathan and the warden snoring lazily behind me. It had to be after ten by now.
"What, afraid you're going to scare yourself?" There was a hint of a challenge in her voice, and suddenly I liked this girl more than ever. Which was saying a lot.
"Maybe uh…maybe the camels." Right. Good one.
"All right, go on then." She glanced back at her sleeping brother and giggled.
"When I was sixteen, I lived in a cemetery." Evelyn's head snapped back around and her eyebrows shot up. "No, no, it's not what you think. I grew up in an orphanage…got the hell out of there as soon as I could. Turned out a graveyard is the safest place to sleep outside."
"You lived on the street?" interrupted Evelyn, sounding horrified. "And you grew up in an orphanage."
"Yeah. Tell you about that some other time."
"I'll hold you to it."
"Evelyn…"
"All right, all right, go ahead." She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm sorry."
"There's not that much to it. I just…I can't even describe to you how it felt. Really sad. Lonely. Like a thousand hands reaching out to me and begging me to notice."
"But…but you never actually…saw anything." Her voice was quiet now, as if we were actually in a graveyard. And probably, I thought, we were. I'd been noticing things buried in the sand for the past few minutes but hadn't said anything about it. I was hoping it was dark enough that the others wouldn't notice. When I looked back over at Evelyn she was regarding me strangely.
"Now what?"
"Did your parents die?" She asked absently, and I realized she'd been fixated on this single detail the entire time.
"I don't know," I answered simply. This was the last thing I had wanted to talk about, and yet suddenly I felt an overwhelming urge to tell her everything. Thinking it might earn me sympathy in her eyes, I guess. Right.
"What do you mean you don't know? You must know something…"
"Evelyn…" I groaned. Evelyn Carnahan was many things, but she would never, ever be a realist. "It's not that simple."
"Well…what happened?"
"My father left when I was too young to remember. My mother and I always lived on the street. She would leave and go try to find food, sometimes money. One day she just didn't come back."
"That's awful!" She looked so horrified by my revelation that I felt suddenly compelled to play the hero, a nasty habit of mine.
I shrugged. "I'm still here."
"But…but don't you ever think about them? Don't you wonder what happened?"
No, I don't, I thought silently. I drink myself silly and shoot things instead.
"Sometimes." The truth seemed too bad to tell her. The last thing I wanted right now was to make her angry again.
Evelyn smiled at me for a moment, then yawned, and nearly fell sideways.
"Easy!" I yelped, catching her by the shoulder. "You should try and get some sleep." I didn't really want her to, of course, but I knew she'd stay awake all night if I didn't stop her, and the last thing any of us needed was her fainting before we reached the city.
She opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by another yawn. I laughed, and she gave me another of her looks and fell back. I sighed. Who was I trying to kid? Guys like me didn't end up with girls like her. End of story. Not to mention the fact that she'd probably get me killed on one of her crazy adventures. Then again, at the moment it sounded a hell of a lot better than drinking myself to death or dying on the street, which appeared to be my only other options.
I rode on for most of the night, stopping every now and again to make sure the other camels were still following me. They were smart animals, smarter than most people gave them credit for. They continued to follow obediently even though the others were asleep. Jonathan and the warden snored, Evelyn murmured to no one in particular about curses and treasure. I had to smile to myself; she'd been so stubborn regarding any notion of finding either one, and now her dreams betrayed her. It was cute. But then, so was everything about her.
Sometime just before dawn, Jonathan woke, claiming the warden's snores had disturbed him. I fell back far enough to look at him and found Evelyn's head resting on my shoulder as she leaned over instinctively. I rolled my eyes and pushed her back into the saddle. She was going to fall off if she kept leaning over like that. Her camel snorted, and I glared at it, hoping it would get the message and be quiet. The warden began muttering about food and snoring even louder, and Jonathan hit him as hard as he could with his crop.
"Ayy!" yelped the warden, still not awake.
As the sky began lightening over the cliffs to the side of us, I caught sight of the group of desert people I'd seen before. I had no doubt they were the ones who'd attacked my garrison, and yet they made no move toward us. Just sat there watching. I didn't like it one bit.
Nearly an hour later we were greeted by the sight of Beni and the long train of Americans and their diggers snaking up from the opposite direction. I recognized the cliff face here, but the sun wasn't high enough in the sky yet to reveal the rest of the way to the city. We were going to have to sit it out here with them.
"Good morning, my friend!" called Beni obnoxiously.
"Rat," I heard Evelyn mutter behind me. So she was awake. And apparently had been talking to Jonathan about my little friend across the way. I led the group the rest of the way into line, then stopped.
"What the hell we doin'?" Henderson demanded.
"Patience, my good barat'm, patience," soothed Beni.
"Remember our bet, O'Connell," drawled Henderson. "First one to the city, five hundred cash bucks." Beni wheeled to look at him. Apparently the Americans hadn't let their guide in on this little secret.
"A hundred o' them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet," added Daniels.
"Oh, my pleasure," answered Beni, lighting up at the prospect of money. The bastard would do anything for enough cash. "Hey, O'Connell! Nice camel."
I leaned forward the patted my mount on the head. This earned me a smile from Evelyn as well as a smirk from the Americans. A bonus.
I turned back to Evelyn as the sun neared the right height in the sky. "Get ready for it."
She continued to stare absently at the sky for a moment before turning back to me.
"For what?"
"We're about to be shown the way."
As the sun turned the sky orange, the air a few hundred feet away from us began to shimmer. It was in all appearance a desert mirage, only I knew from experience that this was real. In streaks at first the city appeared, ancient stone nearly blending in with the desert sand. Beside me I heard Evelyn gasp. Jonathan raised his crop, poised to outrun the Americans as soon as someone gave the word.
"Will ya look at that?" gasped Henderson.
"Can you believe it," said Daniels.
"Hamunaptra," said Burns.
"Here we go again," I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.
And then it happened. Not a second after the city was fully visible in front of us, the Americans were off and running. Beni quickly took the lead with me a few paces behind him. The Americans might have laughed at our camels, but they made faster work of the desert sand than their horses ever could have. They were left to rely on their guide to win the bet for them.
I caught up to Beni quickly, but had a hard time outpacing him. We rode even for a few seconds, each of us trying to speed up, each of us failing. Then Beni got the brilliant idea of using his crop to whip my mount. And then to whip me. In my hurry it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was happening, then I made my move. I grabbed him by the collar and urged my mount away, pulling him from the saddle.
"So long, Beni," I muttered as I heard him hit the sand.
"And that serves you right," I heard Evelyn say behind me. I hadn't realized she was so close.
Beni's camel stood around looking confused, but I wasn't about to stop and give it directions. The city was almost within reach. Evelyn rode up beside me, chirping to her camel and hardly touching it at all. She turned and grinned wickedly at me, as if to let me know she had me beat.
Then a second later she was off and running again, urging her mount faster. The camel sped up nearly double time, and for a moment I thought she was going to fall. But then she got back into the rhythm of it, throwing her head back and cheering into the desert dawn. A few paces behind me, Jonathan did the same.
"Go, Evy!" he yelled, making no move to speed up. "Go!"
I knew I couldn't catch her, she was practically at the city gate already, but I did my damnedest anyway. It had never really crossed my mind that we might lose the wager, but then I'd assumed I would be the one winning it for us.
Watching Evelyn as she made it into the city, long hair whipping in the wind behind her, her face alight with an ear to ear grin, I couldn't care less that she'd stolen my glory.
"Guess you won't be needing me after all," she said, gesturing to her wallet and still grinning.
And I knew that I'd be needing this girl for everything, all the time from that moment on.
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