"I don't like this...thing." I groaned, looking down at the red seethrought material that was now covering my arms and that was also being draped around me against the thicker skirt and bodice of my newly acquired outfit.
"It's traditional Egyptian clothing." Evy explained as we got dressed with the aid of a few Egyptian woman in a tented area in a village we had managed to find.
"But it's so...flowy." I noted, as a red shall with gold decals was placed over my head before being draped down around my shoulders. "And I hate it when my hair is down! I mean honestly! This can't be..."
"That's the way it's supposed to be." Evy smiled, interupting my little tantrum before suddenly the women were linking their arms with us and walking us out of the tent.
"Rick is never gunna let me live this down." I groaned, stepping out into the hot sun.
"I only want five! Five! I only want five, not a whole bloody herd! O'Connell! Can you believe the cheek?"I heard Jonathan call, and I looked over to see him standing in front of a man who had camels in his possession.
"Would you just pay the man?" Rick snapped, and Jonathan let out a sigh and thrust the money into the man's hands. Rick took three of the camels and Jonathan took the other two and led them towards us.
"Oh, for heaven's sake! Can't believe the price of these flee bags! Yes, happy. Veeerrry good," Jonathan grumbled, shaking his head.
"You probably could have gotten them for free," Rick explained. "All we had to do was give him your sister." Rick commented jokingly.
"Yes. Awfully tempting, wasn't it?" Jonathan replied, just as Evy and I reached them. "What about your own sister?" Jonathan suggested.
"Yes...awfully." Rick muttered, staring at Evy as she walked forward, her face covered in a thin black material. "But my sister?" He turned and looked at me, smirking. "Not on your life." He smirked at me as the camel grunted, and Rick patted its head. "Don't you look..."
"Don't even start with me Richard O'Connell." I warned, before reaching up and grabbing my hair and putting it into a pony tail.
"Okay, okay. Come on. We've got a long road ahead of us." He explained, before we all mounted up, and started out journey to Hamunaptra.
"Never did like camels," Jonathan complained along the way. "Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit." Just then, the warden spat into the sand close to me and I felt my stomach turn. "Disgusting." Jonathan finished his opinion glancing over at me as I nodded in agreement.
"I think they're adorable," Evy replied with a smile as she gave her's a friendly pat on the head as the warden started to sing a song in what I've now come to learn is Arabic. And so we rode on into the night.
"I think she likes you." I called, as Rick turned to look at me late in the night as the moon was high.
"What?" He asked, before slowly pushing Evy away from him as she leaned over, asleep and mumbling to herself.
"Evy...I think she likes you." I smirked.
"Ahuh. I'm sure." He snapped, as he camel made a loud grunting noise. "Shhh..." He called to it, and I chuckled as the warden started to snore.
"Oh dear lord..." I groaned, turning around and looking at him just as Jonathan woke up and turned, before reaching back and smacking him in the face with his whip. I had to pull my hand up and slap it over my mouth to stop from laughing as he snorted and woke up for a moment, shaking his head and looking around. "I'm starting to like Jonathan more and more." I noted, kicking my camel to join Rick on his left side.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He asked.
"Probably. But it's a little hard when your on top of a camel that's moving." He smiled at me, before his eyes slowly started to trail away and behind me. "So, how long till we get to...Rick? Hey? Are you listening to...what the hell are you looking at?" I demanded in a low voice, before I turned to see what he was looking at.
Standing atop a large mountain were horses, with riders. "Who...who are they?"
"I don't know." Rick answered, as I turned back around to look at him. "But I get the feeling this isn't the last we're gunna see of them."
Slowly, I turned back around and looked up at them once again, a shiver running down my spine.
V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~V~
The glowing of the sun behind the horizon slowly crept up as Rick ordered us to come to a stop, meeting up with out American friends in what looked to me to be the middle of the god damned desert.
"Rick?" I called looking over to him. "Is everything okay?" I asked. He simply ignored me.
"Good morning, my friend!" A voice I recognized called out as a camel appeared in between Rick and I. I knew him immediately as Beni. "Ah, and you must be O'Connell's radiant sister that I've heard so much about!"
"Indeed I am." I smiled. "And you must be the filthy little pig of a man named Beni. Who left my brother to die in the desert." A look of shock passed over Beni's face. "Charmed, I'm sure." I snapped, before looking away as Rick chuckled.
"What the hell are we doing?" Daniels demanded angrily, looking around
"Patience, my good barat'm. Patience." Beni answered quickly, his eyes, like my brothers, on the horizon as the sun started to creep up even more.
"Remember our bet, O'Connell. First one to the city, 500 cash bucks." Henderson said to us and Rick nodded.
"A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet," Daniels added to Beni.
"Oh, my pleasure," Beni said with a small nod. "Hey O'Connell. Nice camel." He added to Rick. Rick simply patted his camels' head.
"Get ready for it," Rick said suddenly, and I turned my attention to where he was looking
"For what?" I asked softly.
"We're about to be shown the way."
And then, almost as if on cue, the sun rose up. And where there simply was more and more sand, appeared the city of Hamunaptra. Like in a dream.
"Will ya look at that," Henderson called, leaning closer looking amazed as the waves of heart that came forth with the sun exposed the hidden city for us all to see.
"Can you believe it?" Daniels added with a smile.
"Hamunaptra." Burns called.
"Here we go again," Rick groaned.
In that instant, both he and Beni shot forward, racing towards the city, everyone fallowing suit as the race for 500 dollars started.
"Teek-teek-teek!" Evy yelled as she whipped at her camel. I whipped mine too tying to gain some lead on everyone as Rick raced in front, until he was side by side with Beni.
"Rick!" I cried out, watching as Beni quickly lifted up his whip and started hitting my brother. "You stupid little..." I groaned, kicking at my camel and suddenly gaining some speed, landing right beside Beni. "Hey!" I yelled, grabbing his attention as he turned to look at me before I reached out and punching him in the nose. Just at that moment, Rick reached over and grabbed Beni and pulled him off his camel, flinging him to the ground.
"So long, Beni!" Rick yelled out happily.
"That's what you get when you mess with the O'Connell's!" I cried out after him as Rick and I started chuckling, before quite suddenly Evy sprang forward and passed us and racing into the city limits, winning us the race.
"Whoo-oo! Go Evy, go!" Jonathan yelled out.
A large smile spread over my face as we joined her, the American's behind us, clearly unhappy.