Thank you so much everyone for reading my story and for reviewing! I am sorry I write so slow! Most of the time I have at least a pretty good idea where the chapter is going to go before I even put my fingers to the keys but most of the time the refuse to come out smoothly. Instead it comes out in fits and bursts. Like the first part, it has been sitting on my computer for a while, the first part of the chapter I wrote, and it was not even the portion I had planned! Then more of the chapter came out a few weeks later, but again I was halted for a while. Finally last night the chapter was finished! Anywho. We are somewhere in the middle of the story; I know how it is ultimately going to end, though the specifics of that ending are not forth coming as of yet. Anywho. I will not be writing a story for The Mummy Returns, since little changes, but I will be writing a one-shot that takes place after that movie and is in this universe. I may continue on after that with another story…I am pretty sure I will, and it will still be part of this universe, though rather different… I'm sorry I am making little sense and that is way too far in the future at the moment to be even thinking about right now. Anywho, here is what you really came here for! I hope you like it!
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Deirdre silently walked through the ancient, twisting pathways of Hamunaptra. A breeze blew past her; she tightened her grip on her scarf around her shoulders.
She had refused to enter any of the inner spaces of the cursed ground, feeling the same evil that Rick had alluded to and not wanting to come into any further contact with it than was necessary. Until now.
Her brother and the Carnahan siblings had opened the sarcophagus they had found and the mummy had not been what they had been expecting; rather than being dried out and covered in bandages like all other mummies it apparently was still, to quote her brother and Jonathan, "juicy". For some reason she felt the driving need to see this body for herself.
She turned the corner and could see the sarcophagus leaning up against the wall; there was something leaning slightly out from it. She paused for a moment, knowing that she really did not want to see what it was, but also knowing that she needed to.
Taking a deep breath the young woman slowly came to stand in front of the open sarcophagus.
Her brother's description of "juicy" was rather apt really, for the body was indeed still quite…moist. Her stomach turned a bit and she swallowed hard to keep any bile down.
She wanted to turn and leave but found herself unable to. She felt almost drawn to the corpse; her eyes locked on what was left of the face.
What was it about this mummy that drew her so?
There was a crash.
She spun, barely holding back a scream.
A rat scuttled along a ledge high on a wall, it had knocked an urn over in its haste.
Deirdre let out a relieved breath; turning back to the mummy.
He continued to stare at her.
She rubbed her hands over her upper arms before finally, rather reluctantly, turning and walking away. She had a meal to put on the proverbial table.
In the flickering torch light the empty sockets seemed to burn with hate and the face twisted in malice, promising death to the world.
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Deirdre dished out bowls of the stew she had managed to scrape together with some of their supplies. She was not overly happy that they were still at Hamunaptra or that there were not any plans to leave.
Hadiyya was sitting on a pile of blankets by the fire playing with Kahlilah, which she had been ecstatic to get back. Her brother and Jonathan were sitting by the fire along with, for some unfathomable reason to Deirdre, Benni Gabor. She had handed her daughter, brother and the British man bowls. When Benni opened his mouth to protest not being given any she shot him a glare that had him cringing in his seat. She then sat down beside her daughter with a bowl of her own.
"Say, O'Connell, what do you think these babies'll fetch back home?" Henderson asked, waving an ancient jar at them gleefully, as he and his two comrades approached them.
"We hear you boys found yourselves a nice, gooey mummy. Congratulations," Burns laughed as the trio joined them around the fire.
"If you dry that fella out, you might be able to sell him for firewood," Daniels jabbed.
"Look what I found," Evy announced, walking up to their group.
Rick turned to Benni. "You're in her seat."
The small man gave a snort; not moving, obviously thinking the American next to him was joking.
"Now!" Deirdre's brother snapped.
"Yup." He was on his feet instantly.
"Scarab skeletons, flesh eaters." She sat down, holding her find out for the rest to see. "I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse." There was almost glee in her voice as she told them this. "Unfortunately for our friend he was still alive when they started eating him."
"So somebody threw these in with our guy and then they slowly ate him alive?" Rick looked a little disturbed.
"Very slowly," she said with some relish.
Deirdre had a feeling that under all of the woman's stiff, proper exterior was a woman who craved adventure and thrills as much as Deirdre's brother did.
"He certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him," Jonathan commented.
"Well, he probably got a little too frisky with the pharaoh's daughter." Rick smirked.
Hadiyya looked up at her mother. "Mummy, what does 'frisky' mean?"
Deirdre sent a death glare at her brother who shrugged sheepishly. "Maybe you should ask your uncle that another time."
Evy laughed lightly. "Well according to my readings our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses, one reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers. In my research, I've never heard of this curse having actually been performed."
"That bad, huh?" Rick frowned.
"Yes, well, they – They never used it because they feared it so." Her voice became quiet, almost reverent. "It's written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise," she began to smile, obviously thinking what was to follow was a silly myth, "he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt."
Deirdre clutched her wrap tighter around her and wrapped an arm around Hadiyya protectively.
"How many plagues?" Rick asked apprehensively.
"Ten," his sister repeated; she shifted closer to her daughter. "Like from the story of Moses in the Bible."
"Let's see how much Sunday school stayed wit me." Jonathan began numbering the plagues on his fingers, "You have your frogs, your flies, your locusts…dear me. I'm stuck already."
"Hail," Burns continued. "And fire."
"Sun turning black," Henderson put in.
"Water turning to blood," Daniels chimed in.
"Well, and then there's my personal favorite," Jonathan picked up again, "boils and sores all about the body – always a crowd pleaser…Can't anyone thing of the other two?"
Everyone was silent, seeming to not want to give voice to them. As if to finish the list would call down the very plagues on them.
"Death of the animals." Everyone turned at the abrupt break in the silence. Deirdre stared into the fire as she finished, "And death of the first-borns." At some point she had pulled Hadiyya into her lap; now she tightened her arms around her. "The death of every first-born child and what finally drove the pharaoh to release the Israelites…after he lost his son and heir." She pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head.
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After everyone had finished eating and started wandering away from the fire to their respective sleeping places Deirdre lay down, curling her body around her daughter protectively while Hadiyya slept. She stared into the fire for a while, allowing her mind to wander over all the things that had occurred since they had left Cairo. She looked down at her daughter's head and began to gently comb her fingers through the dark, curly locks. The little girl "hmm"ed contentedly in her sleep and snuggled closer to her mother. Deirdre smiled, kissed the top of her daughter's head; then closed her eyes.
"NO! You must not read from the book!"
Deirdre shot straight up from her sleeping position. She did not know how long she had been a sleep, but the fire was now burning lower and her brother and Evy were sitting not far from her; the woman was holding a strange looking book-like object in her lap with a very guilty look on her face.
The Egyptologist fellow from the American's crew was running toward them franticly, obviously the one whose yell had woken Deirdre, and apparently everyone else since most were stumbling out of their tents.
The redhead opened her mouth to ask what was going on when she heard an ominous buzzing noise. She, along with all the others, turned toward the desert where the noise was coming from.
"Mummy?" Deirdre glanced down at her daughter's sleepy voice. "What's going on? What's that noise?"
The buzzing was getting louder; they could soon see a strange looking cloud coming toward them, quickly.
Deirdre frowned, trying to make out what it was; then her eyes went wide, about the same time that everyone else realized the same thing.
Locusts descended upon the encampment.
Hadiyya was crying and swatting at the creatures; Deirdre scooped her daughter up, wrapping the girl in her scarf, and ran deeper into the ruins to find some shelter. Everyone else was doing the same; most headed inside but Deirdre refused to expose Hadiyya to the evil lurking there unless there was no other option. She spotted an outcrop and nearly dove underneath it. It was so low that Deirdre could not sit up, but all the better she thought, easier to protect themselves from the insects. She positioned them so that they were facing the wall; pressed up against it. She covered their heads and most of Hadiyya with the scarf. The little girl could not seem to stop crying. Deirdre murmured soothingly to her daughter and silently prayed that this would be over soon.
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Ardeth Bey and his men rode into the cursed ruins, having seen the descent of the locusts and knowing exactly what had happened; what the idiot outsiders had now brought down on them. They reached Hamunaptra just as the insects had begun to leave. Most of the people were not in sight; he had seen them heading inside the ruins. However they soon came across one of the "idiots", a man kneeling on the ground, clutching the Book of the Dead. The man, obviously the scholarly type who did not believe in learning any sort of fighting skills, gazed up at them in fear.
Ardeth dismounted, his men following his lead. "Watch him," the chieftain ordered briskly; then set off further into the ruins. His sharp eyes scanned everywhere, looking for any sign of Deirdre and her child.
Sobs came from his left; he turned and followed the sound; it came from underneath a deep inset in what used to be a wall but was now mostly destroyed and nearly completely buried in the sand. He knelt down and could see a lump clothed in familiar blue fabric.
"Deirdre."
The lump moved and the woman's face appeared from under the fabric.
He reached out one of his hands toward her. She shifted around until she had maneuvered Hadiyya closer to the opening and whispered soothingly to her before gently pushing the child to crawl toward Ardeth. The desert warrior reached both hands into the space and whisked the little girl out, swinging her up into the air for a moment before setting her back on the ground. Hadiyya let out a teary giggle and calmed down further. Ardeth then reached back under the stone and assisted Deirdre out of the space. He checked them both over as discretely as possible, though the redheaded woman noticed and rolled her eyes at his obvious over protectiveness.
"We are fine, Ardeth." Though he could see behind her brave words that she was shaken. She looked him levelly in the eye. "What is going on?"
His expression became dark. "The end of the world, perhaps," he said just loud enough for the woman to hear, but not the child.
Deirdre blanched.
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I hope that I did ok! I am not sure of the quality of the writing, but I was so caught up in the story once the chapter actually got going that my fingers were stumbling over themselves. Anyway. That first part was never planned but when I sat down to start this chapter it appeared quite suddenly and vividly in my mind, and I just had to write it and put it in there. I hope you liked it! As always and ever constructive criticism and praise are welcomed and adored. Flames belong in the fireplace and on candles.