Chapter 15- Prelude to A Kiss

Ah, Bonjour mes amis! Merci Beaucoup pour revewing my little fic ) tis making me very happy indeedy!

I promise that if yous want, I will have a sequel to Prelude concerning marriage etc etc

listening to: Kasabian- Test Transmission

currently: in a frantic mess trying to find her floppy disk :(

-- Archaeology like writing ;) is a fascinating persuit, but afterall one cannot work day and night... --

"You would. For when we reach Hamunaptra, our love shall blossom like a lotus my Princess...we shall be together again...forever..."

His words echo in my ears...I need to get away. I have to get away. I'm not who he thinks I am...how could I fool myself that I could keep up this charade?

Rick's pained face flashes into my mind, and I have to do it for him.

And Jonathan. My darling brother, his pale pallor as I was pulled away...

I know that this evil high priests threats are not such- they are promises. I fear what I may have to experience at Hamunaptra...

I feel a lone tear escape down my face.

"Please..." I whisper to him as we round a corner, past ruined stalls and eerie streets. "Please...let me go..."

It is as though I haven't spoken. His hand burns into my upper arm.

"Imhotep!" I demand in his language. He turns to me, a small smile creeping across his bronzed face. Arrogance spoils him.

"Let me go. I know what happened. I know what you went through and I sympathise with you-" I plead as he drags me forwards.

"I do not need your sympathy." He tells me abruptly.

"I-"

I look; a long had stare. This man before me is no man...he is a monster.

"So you wish for me to suffer, as you both did?" My voice cracks. I watch as a shadow creeps across his proud face...an unusual shadow.

I follow its path. It's coming from where we crashed the car- following us almost. A thick, black shadow...but it is already the dead of night.

Slowly and surely it reaches our feet, and passes us by. I look to Imhotep.

"Your fate is regretable, but you will help me reach my means."

"You heartless-" I think an epithet that I hear my brother utter so often. I fix him with a look that I hope to be condemning.

Beni trots up behind us. "My Lord, how are we to get to the city?"

Imhotep turns around, his robes chasing him. He raises his head to the heavens, sensing something. I turn to Beni.

"Why did you say that?"

Evelyn has gone with that bastard. I'll never understand why. No scratch that, I don't think I'll ever allow myself to understand why she did it. I'll never know. Unless I ask her...

And I will get a chance to ask her, 'cause I'm going to get her back.

If he so much as lays a finger on her, he'll wish he stayed dead.

"She's alone with that creature...she needs us..." I find myself saying.

"We'll get the girl back my friend, I promise." reasures the man in black.

"Er, excuse me. What's your name? I mean, I hate to refer to you as-" interupts Jonathan.

"Ardeth. Ardeth Bey."

I watch this desert warrior. I mean, I'm curious about why he's here-in my eyes he's failed...but he seems determined to stop this thing wreaking any more havoc than it already has.

I guess you never fail unless you allow yourself to.

Just like you never love unless you allow yourself to...

And I love her. I know that I do, because even though she isn't with us now, I want her back next to me.

I won't rest until she is.

"We're almost at the end of the sewer." I tell them, pulling myself up some rotted steps and forcing my way up.

I inhale deeply when fresh air hits me. I look up into the night sky, knowing that somewhere Evelyn is doing the same.

Without me.

With that half-dead bastard...

"Jonathan, we're going to have to get the car."

"What? What do you mean-" He bleats. "Go back?"

"Uh-huh. We need the car. We're going to Hamunaptra."

"My friend, we cannot cross the sands in that vehicle-"

"Ardeth, I need it to get to somewhere that can take us to Hamunaptra." I allow myself a small smile. "You remember Winston, dontcha Jonathan?"

I'm perplexed with anxious thoughts. How is he going to get us to Hamunaptra? How did he get to this modern city so fast in the first place?

My breathing is far from steady as I regard Beni with all the hate I can muster. Idiot.

I open my mouth to speak when a rush of air hits us. I feel sand slapping my skin, stratching, etching itself on me...

"Im- Imhotep-" I manage to splutter as I am engulfed. I can hear Beni's womanly screams as I imagine he is suffering the same.

I try to fall back against the wall behind me to steady myself, but my flailing hands never find it as I stagger backwards.

Instead they meet flesh. Hard, toned skin. I spin around, managing to consume vast quantities of sand as I do so.

"Imhotep!" I spit, squinting through the particles that are circling me.

I cough...I can't breath...the sand...it's too much--disorientated, all I can think is that I need air. I need-

I feel myself fall forwards and into strong arms that pull me into the folds of their gown.

And then I felt no more.

Jonathan smiles, nods, and then frowns. "You don't mea-" He strains to get out of the hole.

"Yup. He's got a plane." I respond, ignoring him.

"A plane." He repeats dumbly, brushing down his battered suit.

Ardeth gracefully climbs out of the hole. "Quick, we do not have much time."

And we walk back towards the casbah square.

"Uh, why did we walk all the way here, only to walk back?"

"Unless you wanted to feed the zombies Jonathan, I like to think it was a good idea."

I look around at the distruction.

"The curator-" I begin.

"It's alright O'Connell. We Medjai swear an oath to die for our cause."

We continue onwards, until we reach the curators trampled body. We are all silent. Jonathan winces.

"Jonathan, the car." I mutter as I take away oranges and various other items from the crumpled fender. He climbs in and I hear an unhealthy crunch as he starts it.

"Oh great. Bloody great-" He smacks the steering wheel.

"Just put it in reverse."

"It won't go into reverse O'Connell. It's knackered-" I can see his jaw is firm. He's holding it together- just.

"Don't worry."

I climb in and he scoots along for me. I look at the stick, and then lift my boot.

"NO-!"

But I've already kicked it. "Sorted."

He looks like he's about to cry, regardless I jump out of the car and rest my hands aganist the fender. Ardeth joins me. "On three."

We push until the car rolls free. It's thoroughly trashed, but that can't be helped.

"Start her up then." I order, wiping the oil from my hands.

Jonathans pained face tells it all. The car chews on its insides before starting. I've uncrumpled the front as best I can, but it will last until we get to Winston.

I hope.

It's not a long drive anyway, and the most part is in silence. There isn't much to say, but there is a lot to think about.

Like, what if I don't get her back? Or say I get her back too late...or-

"O'Connell...I, uh, I know that if there is anyone with a chance of getting Evelyn back it's you old chap." A small smile that I return to him.

He doesn't need to know my thoughts, my fears...

Before I know it, we've passed landmarks and we're at the airbase.

"WINSTON!" I yell, ignorant of the few people around me.

I head towards the plump man seated with a cup of tea with a record playing. Accompanied by a parasol and an Egyptian.

"Hey Winston. I need a favour." I call as I approach him, taking a different path from the one so many other feet have in the sand.

"And what has it got to do with his Majesty's Royal Air Corps?" He begins, sipping his tea.

"Not a damn thing."

"Is it dangerous?" He enquires.

"You probably won't live through it." I reply truthfully.

He puts down his cup and saucer. "By jove, you really think so?"

"Sure. Everyone else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" quips Jonathan.

Winston thinks for a moment.

"Save the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world." I tell him his assignment, certain that we've got him now.

"Not to mention the treasure-" mutters you-know-who.

"Winston Havlock at your service sir! Aha!"

I smile. "Nice to have ya on board Winston. Now, where's your plane?"

We follow him to a small hangar, and inside is a rough looking bi.

"Jonny old boy, go and fetch me that rope."

"Rope?" asks Jonathan, turning from Winston to me with a puzzled look.

"Passengers boy, passengers."

I slowly drift in and out of consciousness...a hand around my waist...my shoulders...sand everywhere...

I clutch at the person holding me up. "Whe-wher-" I cough.

And then I fall.

"Aaaahh!"

Sand and air rush against me as my stomach ties itself in knots, until I finally land brusquely against the mass of sand that could only be the desert.

Another person lands on me.

"Get off me...get off...!" I demand, pushing Beni off my person.

I hear a swish of sand, and then, groans of what could only be regeneration. I look as Imhotep walks towards us, the perfect picture against the golden backdrop.

Transfixed, I just stare. I blink, and manage to choke out-

"Please, take me back..."

I'm desperate; I can feel my chest tighten when it dawns upon me that I could die...I won't wake up tomorrow, I won't see the sunrise or feel the wind on my face or-

And then, I remember in a sudden wave of clarity that I was speaking English. I repeat my request in his own words.

He slowly turns to face me, his bronzed muscles better suiting a statue than a man.

"You're not going back there. They are already dead."

I hold my breath to stop the sobs.

He seems so heartless, but it is because of his heart that he ended up being cursed in the first place.

"Imhotep...Imhotep! I know what you have been through...what you have suffered...I sympathise with you-"

"I do not need your sympathy." I am told hotly. "Listen Ameerah." His demeanor softened and his eyes met mine. "Now is not the time to talk. As I said before, your fate is regrettable, but so was mine and Anck-Su-Namuns." When he says her name, it is as though he has been winded. He longs for her more than anyone could ever know. A love that spans the ages and the essence of time...

The feeling of impeding doom and death is intolerable. I need my brother...I need O'Connell...I need salvation...

Ameerah is Princess in Arabic. I couldn't find the Ancient Egyptian :( More soon!