"I don't like this place..." I mumbled, leaning on a large pillar made of stone as Rick started to wrap a large rope around it. "I don't like this place one bit..." I added, looking around at all the work that was happening everywhere.
"Same here sister." Rick called, glancing up at me just as the warden came over and stood a little too close to me. "But you don't need to worry. Someone will protect you if something goes wrong." He grinned.
I shifted away slightly from the warden, only to have him fallow me. "Oh really?" I snapped, feeling the warden's eyes all over me."Shouldn't that be you, big brother?" I fired back as Rick started to tie the rope off.
"Don't worry." He smiled, swinging the rope suddenly and nearly hitting the warden in the face, making a whipping sound that sent him a few steps away from me. "I've got you covered." He grinned, before doing it again.
I chuckled as I reached up and crossed my arms over my chest. "Thanks."
"That's the Statue of Anubis," Evy explained, pointing to a statue with a large smile. "Its legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment, containing the golden book of Amun-Ra. Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that." She added as she looked to her brother who was cleaning off a large plate that was made of some kind of metal.
"You sure know a lot about this stuff." I commented as I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail, offering some kind of relief from the blistering sun.
"Um, thank you..." She replied softly.
"So...ah, what are these old mirrors for?" Rick asked, coming over and joining us.
"Ancient mirrors. It's an old Egyptian trick. You'll see." She answered with a smile.
"Uh, here, this is..uh, for you." Quite suddenly, Rick held out a leather bag. Evy stared at him for a moment, looking uncertain. "Go ahead, it's something I borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might light it...uh need it for when you're...uh, yeah." He made digging motions. "What are you looking at?" He added to the warden who was now beside him, and then turned to me. "You too." He snapped slightly.
"Why didn't I get something?" I joked.
"You got to come." He grinned before walking away.
"So, what did he...get you?" I held back on the word steal, knowing she would be displeased as I walked over to her, keeping my distance from the warden.
"It's a tool kit." She smiled, opening it and looking at it.
"How nice of him." I smiled, seeing exactly what was happening.
"Hey, look for bugs!" The warden called as Rick jumped into the hole. "I hate bugs."
"Oh please, shut up." I snapped, pushing past him and grabbing hold of the rope. "Rick?" I called down.
"Come on." He called back up before I ventured down, fallowed by Evy.
"Wow..." I called, looking around as Rick reached up and helped my off the rope. "This is...a first for me. Never been someplace like...this before." I smiled, stepping aside as Evy joined us, Rick helping her get down.
"You do realize we're standing inside a room no one has entered for over three thousand years?" Evy said happily as she looked around, just as Jonathan got onto the ground.
"Whoo! What is that god awful stench?" He said loudly waving his hand in front of his face as the warden entered above him. "Oh..." He called, glancing upwards as Evy ventured towards the only source of light in the room, aside from the torch that Rick was holding.
"Hey that's one of those old mirrors." I called, pointing to it as Evy reached up and brushed the cobwebs and dust off of it.
"Ancient." She corrected, sending me a smile. "And then there was...light." She tilted the mirror slightly, and instantly the room filled with light, reflecting off of each mirror onto another.
"Hey, that is a neat trick." Rick commented, and I smiled at him.
"Oh my God, it's a sah-net-jer." Evy said with surprise.
"Huh?" Both my brother asked.
"A preparation room," She explained.
"Preparation for what?" I asked softly.
"For entering the afterlife," She replied.
"Mummies, my good son. This is where they made the mummies." Jonathan explained as we ventured down the hall, Rick leading the way and me fallowing closely behind. Rick held a torch in one hand and his gun in the other and I quickly decided that if he was on alert, we all should be and pulled out the gun he had given me.
As we walked, an very noticeable noise surrounded us. "What the..." Evy called out, as we all started twisting and turning about.
"What is that?" I called, holding up my gun as I looked around, before quit suddenly, it stopped. "I really, really don't like this place!" I whined, looking to Rick.
"What was that?" Jonathan whispered in sheer terror.
"Sounds like...bugs." Rick answered softly, looking over his shoulder at me.
I smirked at him and turned around looking directly at the warden. "He said it's bugs!" I cried out.
"What do you mean, bugs? I hate bugs." He said, terrified as we continued to walk down the hall, before quite entering a room
"The legs of Anubis," Evy explained, looking around in awe. "The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here."
Suddenly, a new noise flooded into the room, coming from everywhere, echoing off the walls. "Okay, that sure as hell doesn't sound like bugs!" I called out in a harsh whisper as Rick handed his torch to Evy and pulled his gun out. Quite suddenly, it was clear that the noise was coming from the other side of the statue as we all placed ourselves against it, Rick and I pulling out guns out.
"Ready." He whispered to me as i nodded. "Go!" He called out, as he spun around the statue fast.
In that moment, we came face to face with what was coming at us...the American's.
"You scared the bejesus out of us, O'Connell," Henderson said.
"Likewise," Rick said, before lowering his guns.
"Hey, that's my tool kit!" Burns said, noticing the bundle in Evy's hands taking a threatening step forward.
"No, I don't think so," Rick said, before quite suddenly everyone's, minus my own, guns were up. "Um Ellen?"
"Oh right!" I said fast, pulling it up, as Henderson grinned at me. "Got something to say?" I snapped, turning my gun on him.
"Ah...nope!" He smiled sheepishly.
"O-kay. Perhaps I was mistaken," Burns said hesitantly, stepping back again, before Rick lowered his guns, and I fallowed suit.
"Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with," Evy said loudly.
"Push off! This is our dig site." The Egyptologist instantly said arrogantly.
"We got here first," Evy replied angrily. Even then, I knew to put up my gun fast, as everyone else did the same.
"This here's our statue, friend." Daniels said angrily.
"Oh is it now?" I shot back cockily.
"Yes, well, there's only five of you, and fifteen of me. Your odds are not so great, O'Connell." Beni said, clearly saying it in my direction.
"You better watch what you say to me before I..." A quick jab in the side from Rick shut me up fast, as i turned my attention back to the problem at hand.
"I've had worse," Rick called.
"Yeah, me too," Jonathan agreed, and I had no doubt he wasn't lying.
"Honestly." I called, and all the men in both the American group, and our own, look at me. "So have I." I growled, my teeth clenched together.
"Oh, look, for goodness' sake, let's be nice, children." Evy said, interrupting our little argument as she stepped out and pushed our guns down. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share."
"Excuse me?" I snapped, looking at her shocked. "But we..."
"There are other places to dig," She said quietly, her eyes on Rick, who lowered his guns.
"Come on." He said fast, turning and marching away.
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~
"According to these hieroglyphics...we're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs." Evy explained as Rick dug at the roof standing on top of a small statue, Jonathan standing beside him with me on the ground looking up.
"When those damn Yanks go to sleep- -" Jonathan began, but then quickly added, "No offense," Turning to Rick and myself.
"None taken." Rick replied and I nodded.
"- -we'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them."
"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment?" Rick asked.
"Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it," Evy answered, "No offense." She added.
"None taken." Rick said again, and I nodded.
"Where'd our smelly little friend get to?" Jonathan asked suddenly, looking around.
It was then that I noticed, the warden was missing.
"Oh well." I noted, spinning back around and looking up at Rick. "I'm not worried."
"Neither am I." Jonathan smiled. "Smells better in here already."
"Come on guys. Nows a good time as ever for a break." I called, waving them down before venturing around a little bit, joined by Jonathan.
"Creepy isn't it?" He asked, still holding onto his pick axe.
"Wouldn't wanna get caught down here alone." I chuckled.
"You've got that right." He laughed, while Evy and Rick struck up a conversation behind us, sitting down on a large pillar that had fallen.
"Anyone up for golf?" Jonathan asked, kicking a stone out and aiming up his hammer, before whacking it.
"Only you would decide to play golf down here." I laughed.
"Need something to do don't I?" He smiled.
"Well seeing as you're not helping..." I noted.
"You're one to talk." He chuckled.
"Let me get this straight," I heard Rick call, as Jonathan lined up another rock. "They ripped out your guts and stuffed them in jars."
"Ou, nice one." I commented as Jonathan managed to hit something off in the distance. He looked up and grinned at me as I kicked over another rock for him to hit.
"And then they'd take out your heart as well. Oh! And you know how they took out your brains?" Evy said.
"Evy, I don't think we need to know this," Jonathan interrupted.
"I agree..." I moaned, feeling sick suddenly while Jonathan aimed up his neck shot.
"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."
As if the explanation wasn't enough to make me want to be sick, her demonstration made it all the worse.
"Ow, that's gotta hurt," Rick commented, bringing is hand up and touching his nose as he spoke.
"It's called mummification; you'll be dead when they do this," Evy explained.
"But still..." I mumbled, kicking over another small rock for Jonathan.
"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification," Rick said looking to Jonathan and I asked Jonathan lined himself up again.
"Likewise," Both Jonathan and I called, before he swung the hammer and hit a rock, before a thundering crash entered the room as a large object fell to the floor.
"Jesus!" I cried out, turning around fast and grabbing hold of Jonathan. "What the hell happened?" I called, looking over to Rick and Evy who were standing behind what had apparently fallen from the ceiling.
"Oh my God. It's a...it's a...sarcophagus." Evy whispered in amazement and then looked up at the gapping hole where it had once rested as we made our way over to it. "Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance. Or he did something very naughty." She explained as she brushed off the dust from the sarcophagus.
"Well, who is it?" Jonathan asked.
"He That Shall Not Be Named," Evy replied, reading the hieroglyphics, as Rick went around it, blowing off more dust.
"This looks like some sort of a lock," He commented suddenly, pulling my attention towards him and the onto the star shaped indentation on the sarcophagus.
"Well, whoever was in here sure wasn't getting out," Jonathan said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Rick agreed, then added, "It'd take us a month to crack this thing without a key."
"A...key?" I whispered, remembering having heard that somewhere.
"A key? A key! A key! Now that's what he was talking about!" Evy said as she started rummaging through the bag.
"He? He who?" I asked.
"Who was talking about what?" Rick called out, looking to Jonathan and I who were just as confused.
"The man! The man on the barge," Evy answered, looking over at me as it all fell into place. "The one with the hook. He was...he was looking for a key." She took out the puzzle box and fiddled around with it for a moment, before suddenly it popped open and revealed a star, which matched exactly the star on the sarcophagus.
"Hey, that's mine!" Jonathan added, reaching for it before i reached out and stopped him. "Hey."
"Shush." I ordered, turning my attention back to Evy.
She placed it on the sarcophagus, and it fitted perfectly. Evy looked up at us and smiled triumphantly.
She was just about to turn it, to unlock whatever we had discovered, when we heard the warden screaming.
"Oh god what now!" I called, as Rick and I pulled out gun's out and rushed towards where the screaming was coming from.
"Hey!" I called, as he rushed down a hall, to see him standing there, his arms wrapped around his head, screaming. "Hey!" I yelled again, before he ran past us and down the hall before slamming into the wall and falling down to the sand...Dead.