Okay to all my faithful readers, I am so sorry I haven't updated. It's my senior year, but I will now update more frequently. I made this chapter extra long to make up for it. Thank so much for all the wonderful reviews and if you added my stories to your favorites list. Anyway I unfortunately, do not own The Mummy or Ardeth Bey *sigh*, I do however own Andy O'Connell. So on with the chapter.
I was helping Evy tell the boys what to do and how to use the mirrors. Rick was hitting the warden with a rope he was tying around a pillar. "That's the statue of Anubis. It's legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment containing the golden Book of Amun-Ra." She said looking around and then looking at Jonathan who was messing with a mirror he was supposed to be dusting off. "Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that." Evy said and Rick came up to her.
"So, uh, what are these old mirrors for?" he asked her. "Ancient mirrors. It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." I said before Evy could and smiled at her because I knew what the mirrors were for. "Uh, here, this is for, uh, you." Rick said stuttering hold a bag or a wrap of some kind. "Go ahead. It's something I borrowed off out American brethren. I thought you might like it-you might need it for when you're, uh-uh yeah." Rick said when Evy looked hesitant to take it.
I could tell that when Rick said borrowed he meant took. He walked away after stuttering and glared at the warden who was watching them. "What are you looking at?" he asked and the warden held up his hands. Evy opened the package and inside were tools perfect for digging or dusting ancient artifacts off. She smiled. "Hey. Look for bugs. I hate bugs." the warden said as my brother went into the hole by the Anubis statue.
When we all made it down the hole, I looked at the dark room. "Do you realize we're standing inside a room that no one has entered in over three thousand years." Evy said amazed and so was I. I looked around even ignoring Jonathan and what he said about an awful smell or something like that. Evy went and dusted off a mirror before pointing it towards the hole at the top of the room. "And then there was light." She said as the room filled with light from the sun which was reflecting from the mirrors.
"Hey, that is a neat trick." Rick said sounding amazed. "Oh, my God. It's a sah-netjar." Evy said. "Huh?" Rick said puzzled. "A preparation room." Evy said. "Preparation for what?" Rick asked. "For entering the afterlife." Evy said in an eerie voice. "This is where they made mummies Rick." I said smiling a all of the artifacts.
We were soon walking down a hallway with all of our torches lit. Rick was at the front with his gun out and the warden was at the back. We then heard a skittering sound like a lot of bugs running together. "What the-." Jonathan and then the skittering just suddenly stopped. "What was that?" Jonathan asked. "Sounds like…bugs." Rick said and I wasn't sure if he actually meant that or if he was trying to scare the warden. Probably both, knowing Rick. Evy turned around towards everyone.
"He said bugs." she told everyone who couldn't hear. The warden panicked. "What do you mean bugs. I hate bugs." He said turning around and looking for bugs.
As we started getting close to the statue of Anubis. "The legs of Anubis. The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here." Evy said and then we heard noises that we couldn't make out. Rick made everyone hide behind the statue while he pulled his other gun out and I pulled mine out. Did I forget to mention that Rick taught me how to shoot a gun, and I am very good at it. I can also use a sword. Rick and I turned and we were met with the Americans who had their guns out pointed at us while ours were pointed at them. Evy, Jonathan and the warden came out. The warden and Jonathan both had small guns.
"You scared the bejesus out of us O'Connell." Henderson said and I looked at Rick. "Likewise." he said as we all lowered our guns. "Hey, that's my tool kit." Burns said going towards Evy, who held the kit protectively to her chest. " No, I don't think so." Rick said pointing his guns towards Burns, which made everyone bring their guns up again. "Okay. Perhaps I was mistaken." he said a little scared while backing away from Evy. Everyone lowered their guns again. This was getting annoying. "Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with." Evy said trying to get rid of the other group.
"Push off! This is our dig site." the Egyptologist said glaring at Evy. "We got here first." Evy hissed. Once again everyone lifted their guns and I just gave up and went to stand by Evy, annoyed with all of the men and their toys. "This here's our statue, friend." Daniels said coldly. "I don't see your name written on it…pal." Rick said just as coldly. "Yes, well, there's only five of you…and fifteen of me. Your odds are not so great, O'Connell." Beni said with a smug smile, I just rolled my eyes. Rick pointed his gun towards Beni. "I've had worse." Rick stated glaring at him. "Yeah, me too." Jonathan spoke up glaring at Beni as well, which caused Rick to look at him with a funny expression.
I noticed that Evy had looked at the ground a little awhile ago but then she looked up and went towards all of the men. "Oh, look, for goodness' sake, let's be nice, children. If we're going to play together, we must learn to share." Evy said lowering everyone's guns before putting her hand on Rick's arm. "There are other places to dig." She said looking at Rick and I could see the hidden meaning in her eyes. She found a better place to dig. Rick just turned to look at the Americans and smirked at them.
A little while later, Rick was trying to dig up through the roof into the floor above the room. Jonathan was helping him. "According to these hieroglyphics…we're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs." Evy said and I started laughing very hard might I add and when Evy figured out what she said she glared at me and threw a rock at me I ducked it and smiled at her. She smiled back. "When those damn Yanks go to sleep…no offense." Jonathan said and then looked at Rick and I. "None taken." we said together. "We'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathan finished and then Rick and him traded tools.
"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment?" Rick asked Evy looking up at the ceiling. "Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it. No offense." She added looking at Rick and I. "None taken." we said once again. Jonathan looked around and then looked at us. "Say, where'd our smelly little friend get to?" he asked and I just shrugged, I didn't know and I definitely didn't care.
A little while later, Jonathan was playing golf with some rocks and Evy was explaining mummification to Rick. "So let me get this straight. They ripped out your guys and stuffed them in jars." He said and looked at Evy who nodded. "They'd take out your heart as well. You know how they took out your brains?" Evy asked excited. "Evy, I don't think we need to know this." Jonathan said while hitting a rock. Evy ignored him.
"They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils." She said smiling while I made and face and looked at my brother. "That's gotta hurt." He said while I rolled my eyes. He didn't think about the fact that they're dead when this happens. "It's called mummification. You'll be dead when they do this." Evy explained and I almost laughed. Rick looked at Jonathan. "For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification." He said and I nodded in agreement.
"Likewise." Jonathan said before hitting the rock with the tool he was using as a golf club. When he hit it though, the rock hit the ceiling and caused the ceiling to fall down, I quickly moved away from the middle of the room. Evy coughed and then looked shocked. "Oh, my God. It's a… It's a sarcophagus." She said and looked up at the big hole in the ceiling. "Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance…or he did something very naughty." Evy said looking a little worried.
A little bit later, Evy was using her new tool kit to dust off the sarcophagus. "Well who is it?" Jonathan asked while he was pacing around the room. "He That Shall Not Be Named." Evy said reading the hieroglyphics carved on the lid of the sarcophagus. Rick looked at something closely then blew dust away and I noticed something that looked like a lock, that was shaped like a star.
"This looks like some sort of lock." Rick said examining it with Evy. "Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out." Jonathan said in a serious tone, which I didn't know he had a serious bone in his body. "Yeah, no kidding." Rick agreed. "It'd take us a month to crack into this thing without a key." Rick continued with a annoyed face and a heavy sigh. "A key?" Evy said and it looked like she was thinking about something, while the rest of us looked at her confused. She started to look excited again. "A key! A key! That's what he was talking about!" Evy said. Rick looked at us. "Who was talking about what?" Rick asked confused and I shrugged.
"The man…the…m…man, the man on the barge. The one with the hook. He was looking for a key." Evy said while she frantically searched for something, while stuttering an explanation. I noticed that she had that little box thing that Jonathan stole from my brother. Evy opened the box thing and I noticed the shape of it was the same shape as the lock on the sarcophagus. "Hey, that's mine." Jonathan said, Evy and I both gave him the "yeah right" look. Evy put the key into the lock and it was a perfect fit, which caused her to look at us smugly, but before we could do anything we heard a loud scream. So we went to find out where it was coming from. Rick of coarse had his gun out.
When we made it into a hall, we saw the warden come out of a room and he was screaming and holding his head. It's like he didn't even see us, because he pushed straight through us and went on running down the hall. We all watched as he ran head first into a stone wall and fell backwards, I realized he was dead and quickly buried my face in Rick's shirt and he put his arms around me.
Later that night, we were all sitting around a fire. I wasn't really paying to attention to the conversation because I couldn't get the view of the man dieing out of my head. Suddenly, I heard shouts and horses so I stood up and looked around, so did Rick. I also got my knife out. "Take this. Stay here." Rick said handing his gun to Evy and he said stay here to all of us but I wasn't going to listen so I stood up to follow him as soon as his back was turned. "No, wait, wait! Wait for me. Wait!" Evy yelled to my brother, she had the same idea I had, that must be why we get along so great, neither of us listen to my brother. "Evy! Excuse me, but didn't the man just say "stay here"? Evy!" Jonathan called going after us.
When I got to the entrance of Hamunaptra and I saw all these men wearing black , on horses and carrying torches. I quickly got my knife ready and go prepared to fight. They came into the camp and started scaring people and attacking/killing some of them. "Mr. Henderson! Wake up!" The Egyptologist screamed running towards the American's side of the camp, I scoffed at him. "Wimp." I said as he ran past me, I don't think he heard me though.
The men started setting tents on fire and shooting at us, Henderson and Burns were shooting back at them as well. I waited for someone to come towards me, I wasn't going to kill unless I had to, and even then I would only kill if I had no other way of defending myself. Rick started shooting the guys off of their horses and I even saw Evy fire the shot gun at someone. I don't know where Jonathan was but I didn't really care, I noticed that the leader of the group, well I'm guessing he is the leader because he was at the front of the group when they came barging in. I finally found Jonathan and the leader was chasing him, and before my brother could knock him off his horse I did.
We both fell to the ground and he got out his sword, but then he noticed I was a women and froze, his face cover fell off though and I almost gasped out loud. He was the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. We just stared at each other for a few seconds, he had an odd look on his face, I noticed he still had his sword in his hand until I heard a gun shot and noticed that my brother had shot it out of his hand. My brother also pushed me behind him and when a guy on a horse came to attack my brother shot him and then the leader who I knocked off a horse had another scimitar in his robes and pulled it out then struck at my brothers gun which made him drop it. So my brother grabbed some dynamite and rolled near the fire and lit it holding it out towards the guy.
The guy in black stood up straighter but backed off, I noticed that him and all of his men had tattoos on their faces. It reminds me about when I read about the Medjai, the bodyguards of the Pharaoh's of Egypt. "Enough! Yallah!" he yelled at his men, who all stopped and turned towards him. He was looking at my brother and then looked at me, before turning back to my brother. "We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die. You have one day." he warned us and then one of his men came over on a horse and bringing the leaders horse back to him. Before he got onto the horse he looked at me and held my stare, before I blushed and had to turn away. Rick just stared at him still holding the dynamite and I finally looked over at the man again too, he was still staring at me. "Yallah! Nimishi!" He called to his riders and they all left.
I noticed they still had a lot of riders left, but the American's lost most of their diggers. Rick took the wire that had the flame on it off the dynamite then went to go find Evy, thinking she was dead because when she shot the gun off, the didn't expect to fall backwards from the power of it. She was holding her head but she was standing up so I'm pretty sure she was fine. "See. That proves it. Old Seti's fortune's got to be under this sand." Daniels said and I glared at him, he really knew nothing about Egypt at all or the desert for that matter. "For them to protect it like this, you know there's treasure down there." Henderson added and he got a glare from me as well.
These guys know nothing about Egypt at all. "No, these men are desert people. They value water, not gold." I started glaring at them before my brother could respond to them. I rolled my eyes as Burns came up to us, half of his face covered in shaving cream because I'm guessing when the men arrived he had been in the middle of shaving. "You know, maybe just at night, we could, uh, combine forces, hmm?" he suggested and I just looked at him shaking my head.
Later, after everything had settled down, I noticed that my brother was trying to teach Evy how to fight, she was drunk so it was a pretty comical sight to behold. "Hey, tough stuff, try a right hook. Ball up your fist and put it- put it up like that." He said showing her how to position her fist. "Mm-hmm." Evy said paying somewhat close attention. "And then mean it. Hit it right here." he said hitting his palm.
"I mean it!" Evy said giggling and ended up slipping, turning and my brother caught her under the arms before she fell to the ground. "Okay." he said making her sit down on the log in front of the fire, she was giggling the whole time. " Okay. Time for another drink." my brother said softly, so he didn't wake up Jonathan who was sound asleep. Evy finally calmed down but was breathing hard. She held up a finger as to make a point. "Unlike my brother, sir…I know when to say no." She said her words slurring and she seemed to have trouble sitting up straight but she still went for the wine bottle. She took a big gulp of it. "Uh-huh. And unlike your brother, miss…you, I just don't get." Rick said and I laughed a little.
"Ah. I know. You're wondering…what is a place like me doing in a girl like this." Evy said and I almost laughed too loudly because of how she mixed up that statement. "Yeah, something like that." Rick agreed nodding, he was smiling and looking very amused though. Evy held up her wrist. "Egypt is in my blood. You see, my-my father was a very, very famous explorer and he loved Egypt so much, he married my mother, who was an Egyptian and quite an adventurer herself." Evy said showing Rick the pictures in her locket. He nodded. "Hmm. I get your father, and I get your mother and, uh I get him, but what are you doing here?" Rick asked and Evy looked very offended.
"Ohh! Look I- I may not be an explorer or-or and adventurer or a treasure seeker or a gunfighter Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am." Evy said standing up and swaying sometime during her rant and smiling at the end of it. "And what is that?" Rick asked a little unsure. I…am a librarian." She said looking into the distance with a proud look on her face and on the inside I was laughing so hard. "And I am going to kiss you Mr. O'Connell." Evy said whispering and putting her face right in front of his. I know Rick likes this girl so I am guessing he is ecstatic that he is finally going to be able to kiss her. "Call me Rick." he stated looking at her. Evy smiled a very drunken smile. "Oh! Oh, Rick." She said in a breathy tone and I wanted to laugh really loudly but I controlled myself, but barely. Their lips were centimeters apart, and she passed out and his lips were still puckered up to kiss her.
That is when I started laughing out loud. "Oh my god, Evy is my new favorite person, that totally made this whole trip. That was awesome." I said and he glared at me before throwing a rock at me, which I dodged. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
The next day I chose to stay outside, while everyone else went into the tombs, I didn't want to see anyone else die and I am actually taking heed of the man's warning. I promised Rick I would stay in the camp area though and so I did. I simply walked around for a little bit and started cleaning some things up. I had a feeling this is going to be our last day at Hamunaptra and for that I was very glad. I just sat by the fire pit to wait for everyone to come back up. I got bored of waiting and went to take a nap in my tent.
I got woken up from my nap, by my brother, he told me about the juicy mummy they found today and how he was buried alive and about the message he left on the sarcophagus "death is only the beginning." isn't that a lovely saying? Note my sarcasm please. We were all sitting outside that night by the fire and I decided to go walking around the camp towards the entrance to the city. When I got there I noticed that the Medjai were on top of the hill watching us. I have a feeling they were watching me all day because I was the only one not underground.
I don't know why but I got the sudden urge to go over to the leader, so my legs without my command started walking over there. Amazingly, the leader rode up to me on his horse. "I warned you people to leave, but you did not." he said and I shrugged. "Well my older brother is the one you fought with last night and I can't go anywhere without him and he wouldn't leave, but I know that you saw me above ground today I actually took your warning seriously." I said and he just looked at me. Then I heard a very loud scream that didn't sound human and saw locust flying towards us. I cried out and covered my face, the leader pulled me up onto his horse with him.
For some reason when I wrapped my arms around him, it felt right, like I belonged right here with him. "I know this is a weird question, but are you Medjai?" I asked him and the whole group just stared at me. "Well I remember reading how Medjai had the same tattoos that you do on your faces and that they were very good with scimitars just like you are. I pay attention to a lot of things." I said as we rode down to the city after the locust had gone past it. "Yes, we are. But you are not to tell anyone." The leader warned me and I nodded. "I won't I promise. So what is your name?" I asked him when he got down off his horse and helped me down.
For some reason he didn't take his hands off my waist. "Ardeth Bey. I am the leader of the twelve tribes of the Medjai." he said and I nodded. "I'm Andrea Raina O'Connell. Pleasure to meet you and your secret is safe with me." I said and I am pretty sure he trust me which is good because I won't tell anyone not even my brother. His hands still hadn't left my body, they seemed to have traveled down to my hips and I might of moved closer during our introductions. Just then Ardeth's men came back dragging two people. One was the Egyptologist and he was holding the Book of the Dead, and the other person who was being dragged was Mr. Burns.
"Oh my god." I said hiding my face into Ardeth's chest when I saw the Burns' eyes and tongue were gone. Automatically, Ardeth's arms wrapped around me, which I am pretty sure confused us both. "Ardeth, the creature has been awakened." One of his men said. "What creature?" I asked quietly. "Did you and your team find a sarcophagus buried at the base of Anubis?" Ardeth asked and I nodded. "Did you find something in there?" he asked and I looked at him. "My brother, Evy and Jonathan did today I didn't go down there because I took your warning seriously like I said. Is that mummy a creature that has come back to life?" I asked and he nodded, before we could say anything else, I saw Evy, Rick, Jonathan, Daniels and Henderson all running out of the tomb.
All had guns in their hands except Evy and Jonathan. They all turned when they heard the Medjai readying their guns to fire. My eyes widened. "Please don't fire at them, Rick is the only thing I have left. Please." I begged and he looked down at me with soft eyes and I swear I saw him nod. He then turned to look up at everyone with cold eyes. He still hadn't let me go and seemed reluctant to do so, but in all fairness I didn't want him too. I have never felt so comfortable or safe with a person, especially not one I just me.
"Andy! Hey, let go of my sister." Rick demanded. "You left her out here, we protected her." Ardeth said seeming to pull me closer. "It's fine." I whispered putting my hands on his arms and he reluctantly let me go. He then started to speak to everyone else. I still hadn't moved away from him even though he let me go.
"I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now you may have killed us all…for you have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3,000 years." Ardeth said not exactly in a cold tone but in a strict one. "Relax. I got him." Rick said and I rolled my eyes, like that would help, if he was feared for so long there is obviously a reason why. "No mortal weapon and kill this creature." Ardeth said, and that's the reason he is feared, see I knew there was a reason or maybe more. "He's not of this world." Ardeth said before moving aside and letting his men drag Burns over to Henderson and Daniels.
Everyone looked at Burns in shock and I just turned my head away again, I felt Ardeth put a hand on the lower part of my back without anyone noticing. "You bastards." Daniels said. "What did you do to him?" Henderson accused Ardeth, they're nice aren't they? "We saved him, saved him before the creature could finish his work. Leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all." Ardeth said. "Yallah. Nimishi!" Ardeth commanded and they pushed the Egyptologist away.
"We must not go on the hunt and try and find a way to kill him." Ardeth said walking by Rick. "I already told you I got him." Rick said again and I frowned. Ardeth stopped and turned back to Rick with a glare. "Know this, this creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep…and he will never stop." Ardeth said and everyone began to go and pack up.
"Ardeth! Wait!" I called and he stopped but I knew I had to hurry. I kissed him on the cheek quickly blushing. "Be careful." I whispered hugging him very quickly and squeezed his hand and walked back towards my camp before my brother noticed I wasn't following them. I looked back at Ardeth, he looked shocked, but nodded. When I got back to the camp area right behind Rick, we started packing up everything and got on our camels or horses and left.
Well does that hopefully make up for the lost time. I will start updating more, this is after all my stress reliever from school. Anyway thank you to all my faithful readers who are still reading this.