I looked off into the distance to see dozens of stray camels roaming the decrepit city; dusy backpacks and old saddlebags still slung over their limbs.
"Where'd all these camels come from?" I looked to see Jonathon behind me.
"They belong to the dead. They will wait years for their masters to return before leaving." I told him before we joined the other at the dig site they chose. The five of us were working next to a narrow crevice, which wove its way through the ruins. Rick tied a rope around a pillar and threw the rest of the coils into the crevice, about to rappel down when Jonathan bent over to have a better look before yelping and backing away. We looked at what scared him to see the face of Anubis.
"That thing gives me the creeps." Jonathon told us.
"Be nice. That thing saved my life." Rick told him.
"That "thing" gets me excited." Evelyn told us, a large grin on her face while positioning ancient mirrors along the crevice..
"The things that get you excited." I said sarcastically to her.
"According to Bembridge Scholars, inside the statue of Anubis was a secret compartment, perhaps containing The Book Of The Living." Evelyn told us.
"What are those mirrors for?" Rick asked her.
"Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." She told him and he just shrugged before rappelling down into the crevice. Rick waved a torch as we joined him in the chamber.
"Do you realize, we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over four thousand years." Evelyn told us.
"Who cares? I don't see no treasure." the warden said, looking around the darkness.
"You're welcome to my share of the spider webs." Rick told him.
"And it stinks to high heaven in here." Jonathon joined in.
"Cretins." Evelyn said. I watched as Jonathon sniffed the foul air before looking at the warden and realized where the smell was coming from. Evelyn brushed cobwebs away from a metal disk on the wall before repositiong it on its pedestal, aiming it at a ray of light shinning from the outer mirrors. The ray of light hit the disk and quickly shot around the room from one disk to another until the whole chamber was lit up. Light rays shot off down the passageways revealing that it was an embalmer's chamber.
"That is a neat trick." Rick told her.
"Oh my god, It's a preparation room." Evelyn told us.
"Preparation for what?" Rick asked her.
"For entering the afterlife." Evelyn said with a smile. Rick quickly drew his gun and Jonathon nudged him.
"Mummies, my good son, this is where they made the mummies." Evelyn headed down a narrow passageway and we followed with me at the end. I wasn't going to lead them anywhere. The warden left on his own and I didn't stop him as the rest of us made our way through a narrow, cobweb infested labyrinth. Then we heard something and froze. It sounded like somebody clawing inside the walls. We all shared a look before slowly moving forward. It grew darker and darker as we went. The strange sound was getting louder and louder before suddenly it stopped. We slowly crept out of the labyrinth and up to the foot of an enormous half-buried statue. The lower half of Anubis. We then heard the sound again, coming closer now, from the other side of the statue. Rick pulled Evelyn behind him while pulling out his gun. I pulled out a small gun I'd kept with me at all times. The noise was coming closer and closer. Rick and I lept out and three horrible sweaty faces lunged at us. We reacted and raised the guns but didn't pull the trigger. It was just the Americans, their guns were like our: cocked and aimed.
"Ya scared the bejeezus out of us, O'Connell." Henderson said.
"Likewise." Rick told him. Nobody lowers their guns. One man, Daniels, grinned at us.
"This here is our statue,... friend." he told us.
"Don't see your name on it,... pal." Rick told him. That was the moment that Beni, five diggers and the Egyptologist stepped out of the shadows - all holding guns aimed at us.
"Ten to one, O'Connell, your odds are no-so-good." Beni said.
"I've had worse." Rick told him.
"Yes, me too." Jonathan said, clenching a tiny derringer. I glanced at Jonathan before looking back at the others. Beni cocked his gun, grinning, he wanted this to happen. You could see it on his face. Evelyn stepped between us and gently took Rick's gun hand and pulled it down.
"Let's be nice, children, if we're going to play together, we must learn to share." Evelyn pulled Rick away and Jonathan and I followed her. Beni and the Americans slowly lowered their guns and I watched as the Egyptologist excitedly began translating the hieroglyphs. I then followed the others out of the area into a new one.
I watched the boys as they used sledge-hammers against the ceiling and Evelyn as she gently chipped away with a tiny chisel.
"According to my calculations, we should be right under the statue. We'll come up right between his legs." Evelyn told them before blushing and laughing. "Oh my."
"Quite a dirty mind." I told her and her blushed deepened.
"And when those dirty Yanks go to sleep - No offense." Jonathon told the two of us.
"None taken." Rick told him.
"We'll sneak up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathan told us.
"And you're sure you can find the secret compartment?" I asked her.
"Yes, if their Egyptologist hasn't already found it." Evelyn told me.
"I say, what's our smelly little friend got himself up to?" I looked around for the Warden, never having noticed him missing.
"Lemme get this straight, they stuck a sharp, red hot poker up your nose, cut your brain into small pieces, then ripped it all out through your nostrils?" Rick asked Evelyn as we continued digging.
"OWCH! That's really got to hurt." Jonathan said, holding his nose.
"It's called mummification. You're dead when they do this." I told him.
"Still..." Jonathan said, making a face.
"Yeah, that'd bring you back to life." Rick said.
"You two are worse than a couple of schoolboys." Evelyn told them and I agreed. Suddenly a huge chunk of the roof gave out. Rick grabbed both me and Evelyn and jerked us clear as Jonathan dived for the far wall. A massive casement dropped out of the ceiling and crashed to the floor making dust fill the room. We waited for the dust to clear before slowly getting up and going to the stone casement, my heart about to pound of my chest.
"Oh my god,... it looks like, it looks like a sarcophagus." Evelyn said in wonder.
"Why would they bury somebody in the ceiling?" Rick asked looking up.
"They didn't, they buried him at the foot of Anubis." I said, scared.
"He was either someone of great importance. Or he did something very naughty." Evelyn said. I watched them clear the dirt off of the top of the sarcophagus, revealing a single, ominous hieroglyph.
"Well?... Who is it?" Jonathan asked us.
"'He that shall not be named.'" I told them and they gave me a strange look before turning back to the sarcophagus.
"There's some sort of lock here. You say these thing's are made of granite with a steel interior?" Rick asked us.
"Quarried granite with a cobalt lining." Evelyn told him.
"Whoever's in here, sure wasn't getting out." Jonathan told us.
"No kiddin', without a key, it'll take us a month to crack this thing," Rick told them.
"A key! That's it! That's what he was talking about." Evelyn said suddenly.
"Who was talking about what?" Rick asked her as she started rummaging through the pack on Jonathan's back.
"The man on the barge. The one with the hook, he was looking for a key." Evelyn told us. She pulled out the box as her brother tried to take it back.
"Hey that's mine!" Evelyn slapped his hand away from it and quickly unfolded the box, showing the same shape as the lock in the sarcophagus. Suddenly we heard screams echoing through the labyrinth. We turned and took-off running. We ran out of the room we were in just in time to see the Warden ripping out his own hair out of his head. Jonathan and Rick grabbed his hands, but he was far too crazed, he shoved them aside and ran full bore down the length of the labyrinth and slammed his head straight into a rock wall. He dropped to the ground, dead as lead and his eyes wide open. We all just stood there staring, breathing hard, wide-eyed.
That night Evelyn, Jonathan and I were nuzzled up to a campfire, in our thoughts.
"What do you suppose killed him?" Evelyn asked us.
"Did you ever see him eat?" Jonathan asked her and she made a face as Rick walked up to us.
"Seems the Americans had a little misadventure of their own today, three of their diggers were killed." he told us.
"How?" I asked him.
"Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. Some sort of ancient booby-trap." Rick said.
"Maybe this place really is cursed." Jonathan said. A gust of wind blew trough the camp making the campfire flicker. The boys and I shared a nervous look before Evelyn laughed at us.
"You three!" She said a grin on her face.
"You don't believe in curses?" I asked her.
"No. I believe if I can see it and I can touch it, then it's real. That's what I believe." she told us before Rick cocked his rifle giving her a big grin.
"I believe in being prepared." he told us. I watched Jonathan open the Warden's pouch and reach in, scrounging around. Suddenly he screamed in pain and ripped his hand back making us both jump.
"WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?!" We all shouted. Jonathan sucked his finger, before reaching back into the pouch and pulled out a chipped off liquor bottle.
"Seagrams!" he smiled at the bottle before turning the pouch inside out and shaking it, revealing nothing but sand inside it. "Well, he may have been a stinky fellow,... but he had good taste." Jonathan took a swig of the drink and I relaxed, slightly. Suddenly, Rick knelt down and stuck his hear to the sand. The three of us watched him for a beat before hearing a barrage of gunfire was heard coming from the American camp. Rick stood up and threw a gun at Evelyn.
"Stay here!" he ordered. He took off running and I jumped up and joined him, running through the ruins to the sounds of the gunfire. When I got to the camp I saw two dozen black riders gallop though the camp, firing rifles. Several Americans emerged from their tents, firing, killing multiple riders. I quickly joined the fight firing my gun at the Americans who attacked the Medji. When I ran out of ammo I picked up my scimitar and cut through the people attacking me. I heard a gun hit one of the sword and turned to see Rick about to shoot one of the Medji when another one of them rode between them and nearly take off his head, but miss. I turned back to the fight and ended up fighting close to my brother. I turned to him and we paused. Suddenly I heard a thundering behind him and turned to see a black rider on a horse swing his scimitar. Rick instinctively raised his hands to protect his face as the sword struck, hitting his gun. I watched the gun flip away and my brother was disarmed. Rick dived and rolled before suddenly coming up with a stick of dynamite in his hand. He shoved the fuse into a fire and it ignited. Rick turned and faced us. The black rider pointed his scimitar at Rick's head.
"LEAVE THIS PLACE!... LEAVE THIS PLACE OR DIE!" he ordered and the man galloped off with the remaining Medji raced after him. I watched them leave, before looking back at Rick. He blew out the fuse as Evelyn staggered up to us, looking very shaken. Rick gently took her and held her close.
"You alright?" Rick asked us. I nodded to him before Evelyn looked into his face.
"Yes,... fine,... thank you." Evelyn said to him.
"See! That proves it! Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand!" Daniels said and I rolled my eyes.
"For them to protect it like this, you just know there's got to be treasure down there." Henderson agreed.
"These men are a desert people. They value water, not gold." I told him.
"Where's Jonathan?" Evelyn asked suddenly. We found Jonathan before we all went back to base camp and going to sleep, well I did. The others drank the night away.