Morning had only broken across the desert and yet the air already burned. The sky was a soft milky blue, with hues of violet and pink at the horizon as the golden white sun started its slow ascent turning the blue shadows of the dunes to brown and then to gold. It might have been a pleasant sight were it not the third time they were seeing it, never mind the heat and the smell. When you travelled with twenty men in such a close cluster and no one had bathed properly for three days there tended to be an unpleasant odour.
When his horse's left hoof narrowly avoided a bleached white skull half-buried in the sand Beni Gabor was almost relieved. The sight of bones meant they had almost arrived at their destination and he was closer to both being rich and relieved of his unpleasant job as guide to American treasure hunters. He felt a prickle of foreboding as the number of skeletons grew and thought nervously, 'I don't remember there being so many.'
"What in the hell happened here?" Daniels queried gruffly as he gave the bones a brief look of displeasure.
"Seekers of Hamunaptra," Beni explained.
"All of them?" Dr. Chamberlain queried dubiously. "I doubt that very much. How could so many know the way to a fabled city?"
Beni sighed, muttering a curse under his breath before he turned to smile back at the Egyptologist. "Perhaps lost treasure hunters too, careless in the desert and left to die of thirst."
"Obviously they didn't have the wit to pay their guides only half until they made it home again," Daniels commented darkly as he gave Beni a warning look.
Beni gave an awkward laugh in answer. "Perhaps," he mused. "It is a good sign though because it means we are near."
"So close to Hamunaptra and yet so far," Burns muttered to the skeletons pityingly.
They had abandoned the river three days and two nights ago, hastening off with what possessions they could salvage all too aware that O'Connell and his party had also hurried off. It was good fortune that most of their hired help of Egyptians had survived the river to accompany them, and even better fortune that they had enough horses. They had been forced to stop briefly at a trading post to buy some more supplies, tents and digging tools, an irritating delay but a necessary one. It had only been for a couple of hours, made all the speedier thanks to Dr. Chamberlain being able to communicate with the traders and, eventually, persuade them into taking soggy dollars as currency along with what little native coin had survived the river. Unknown to them it had been this delay that had given Jess the crucial time she had needed to catch up to them.
Jess had been left with the other travellers to wait for help. She had been determined to follow instantly but Beni's eyes were too sharp on her and she had no horse, so they had bolted from the river before the dark dawn leaving her in despair and a great disadvantage but not hopeless. Yes they had been quick but they had a party of over twenty men and getting them gathered together and moving had still taken time. It had been enough time for Jess to converse with one of their helpers, offering some coin for information with the promise of more for further help. Not one for admitting defeat and suffering a desperation none of them could understand, Jess had resolved to begin her pursuit immediately after, following the trail left by the native helper.
She had moved on foot for a while which had been both exhausting and disastrous before she had finally bartered for a mule at the trading post. She had paid for the mule hastily with coins picked from the pockets of nearby traders and merchants. She had also managed to pluck the glass shards from her leg with a pair of steel tweezers secreted in her vest's pocket, and bandaged the wound hastily with a scrap of cloth.
Now she rode in the Americans' dust, there were no horse tracks to follow as the winds shifted the sands too hastily, dunes forming and dying in a matter of hours. Instead Jess followed the cloth snared on dead branches, the more unpleasant but still partially exposed horse dung, and the sparse clues her paid helper had carelessly left. She knew it was half-hearted at best, if she caught up it meant coin for him but potential complications too, and a large part of him probably hoped she would simply get lost in the desert and die. It was the greedy side of the man keeping Jess alive and she knew it and she knew he knew it too; one flick of fear or fickle decision that the woman wasn't worth the gold or she was lying about it and that could be the end of her.
She felt a prickle of relief when she finally spied them ahead- a small, confused cluster waiting for something but what? Her golden-brown eyes narrowed as she moved round the curve of the dune and spied another party as well, O'Connell's party. They were also waiting calmly but what for? She considered her options- hang back and give chase when it was safe, or abandon secrecy and expose herself? It wasn't like they could lose her now but they could make things decidedly difficult at the city of the dead. She sighed and hung back, rubbing some of the sweat drops from her face.
"What the hell are we doing?" Daniels demanded impatiently. He was thoroughly fed up now, they had been travelling in the desert for days suffering unbearably hot days and unnaturally cold nights and they didn't seem to be making any kind of progress. Now here was O'Connell's group, they were neck and neck again. Daniels thought of the five hundred dollars he no longer had thanks to an unexpected dip in the river and frowned.
"Patience," Beni said through a fixed smile as he and O'Connell both looked to the horizon with a serious stare.
Dr. Chamberlain shifted on his mule awkwardly, struggling to keep his open umbrella upright as he did. If ever a man was not designed for riding Allen Chamberlain was that man, something that seemed to hold no end of amusement for cowboy Henderson who seemed born to ride.
"Five hundred O'Connell, first one to the city, remember that!" Henderson called over cockily.
"A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet," Daniels addressed Beni pointedly.
Beni, who was just in front of the Americans, rolled his eyes and retorted with false sincerity, "oh, my pleasure." Even the thought of money wasn't enough for Beni to be happy about helping Daniels. He was still irritated by the fact that he couldn't abandoned the trio of would be adventurers and their obnoxious Egyptologist in the desert to perish.
"Get ready," Rick addressed Evelyn as he sat upright and gripped his reins tightly.
"For what?" she quipped quietly as she looked up at him curiously.
"We're about to be shown the way," he retorted as he kept his gaze straight ahead.
After that they all fell silent and looked to the horizon with the same keenness. They could all feel it, something stirring out across the sands as the sun continued its slow ascent and burned the sky red. Jess swallowed hard as she felt her heart skip a beat, something was out there. Burns filled with a sense of awe and anticipation whilst Daniels just felt uneasy. Dr. Chamberlain watched tiredly not expecting anything to happen but then it did and his shock was equal to everyone else's. Even Beni and Rick felt a wash of surprise, despite expecting it this time it was no less spectacular.
As the sun rose something started appearing, a shivering image at first, it was a golden mirage until it seemed to solidify as the sun continued to rise. Henderson's mouth parted slightly in awe as he squinted and leaned forward on his horse, not quite daring to believe his own eyes. Daniels bared his teeth as if he didn't know whether to smile or frown at the sight, it was magnificent but it definitely wasn't natural. His bottom lip rose hiding his lower teeth and turning his expression into a frown, what kind of city just appeared from nothing?
"Will ya look at that," Henderson marvelled.
"Can you believe it?" Daniels queried as much in suspicion as surprise.
Burns openly smiled and gasped, "Hamunaptra."
It was a ridge of ruins, sand and stone, like a mountain cut in half with a town or temple crudely shaped around it before being abandoned to time and the desert. The moment the image finally settled everyone snapped out of their trance, remembering that they weren't alone in witnessing this wonder.
The Americans let out several whoops as they urged their horses into a fierce gallop just as Rick kicked his camel on, not to be outdone. Caught in the adrenaline rush Jess urged her mule close to the back of the pack, knowing the animal was not designed for racing. Much as she would have liked the thrill there was just no point in wearing the poor animal out plus she didn't want to be noticed just yet if she didn't have to be.
Rick rode his camel hard feeling his competitive nature rise again, his fatigue and the heat forgotten as he got closer and closer to his fellow Americans. WHACK! He winced as his left shoulder immediately stung with the force of Beni's crop.
"Beni you asshole," Rick grumbled as the Hungarian leaned over his horse and started whipping at Rick repeatedly.
Rick felt his camel give a grunt of irritation beneath him, jerking as Rick tried to urge the beast to the right and away from Beni. Beni's horse closed the gap just as quick and the assault came again. Rick, in a moment of anger, leaned out and grasped Beni tightly by his collar. "See you Beni," he remarked moodily before yanking down causing the man to go falling to the desert.
Beni's horse gave a whinny of irritation, moving too close to Rick's camel, which turned and spat at the horse viciously, slowing its pace to express its anger.
"Serves you right," Evelyn called down to the fallen Hungarian as he tumbled through the sand.
Jonathan let out a curse as his own camel came to a sudden halt as Beni rolled in front of it. The camel let out a cry of displeasure and almost threw Jonathan off. He jerked it to the right, muttering curses at Rick's folly, which forced the prison warden to turn his own beast quickly as Jonathan's camel suddenly blocked its path.
Daniels looked back and let out a laugh at the sight. Good enough seeing that rat Beni on the ground but even better seeing O'Connell's party delayed by the bickering. Whilst he was looking back he missed Evelyn sneaking up his left side and only when she had passed him did he hear her voice calling out jovially, "hut, hut! Hut, hut!" Daniels let out a curse and kicked his dapple grey stallion hard, damned if he was going to be beaten by a woman. "Guys pick it up!" he shouted to Burns and Henderson.
As Beni stood Jess' mule let out a low bray as it too swerved to avoid the cursing man. As he spluttered out sand and swears the Hungarian's beady eyes narrowed as he looked at the unfamiliar brown mule. He saw the wild golden-brown hair and his frown deepened before the sand flying up impaired his vision.
"You go Evie!" Jonathan yelled out passionately as he saw his sister ride on past Daniels.
Evelyn had never felt so alive, the sensation of being part of a race was quite exhilarating and now that she had gotten used to the camel's size and mannerisms she actually felt confident as it reached an astonishing speed at her command. Even as she wavered slightly as it bumped hard over small dunes she couldn't help revealing a wide, glorious smile as she passed Burns and then Henderson.
Henderson knew he should be annoyed but it was hard not to admire the woman as she hastened past him. She looked beautiful on the camel and definitely in charge, one hand holding her dark curls and the other clutching the reins as she continued to shout the camel on confidently. He was fixated on her appealing form as she hurried on just three paces in front, a lead he should have been able to retake and yet he was just too distracted by her surprising ability to ride to try.
"Damn it Henry!" Daniels cursed him out. "You can take her! Get a move on! I don't have five hundred bloody dollars to lose!"
Henderson ignored his friend as he watched Evelyn seize a victory as her camel reached the ruins at last. He should have been furious to lose to a woman, he knew it, but damn what a woman to lose to. Instead the blonde simply shook his head and gave Evelyn the gracious smile of a loser. "Congratulations," he praised her in his thick Texan accent.
Burns slowed his horse as they arrived and looked around in silent awe. There were arches, broken columns, worn statues and the temple itself, a grand sight now he could only wonder how magnificent they must have been in their day.
Rick frowned at the ever watching image of Anubis, the tallest statue in the place, it stood near the entrance of the site warning rather than welcoming. The jackal head seemed to grin at him morbidly as if laughing at his bold return. He dismounted from his camel and walked past it quickly, hiding his unease. Even under the bright morning sun he still felt the dark shadows of the place. Worse, as he moved he started to notice the bones wearing tatters of a familiar uniform. His fallen companions were still here, a stark reminder of what he had narrowly escaped.
Seeing Daniels, Rick welcomed the distraction as he gave the grim faced man a wide, mocking smile. "You owe me five hundred dollars!"
"Yeah you'll get it," Daniels snarled back before hastening over to Henderson and dismounting from his horse. "Why the hell did you let her win?" Daniels snapped at his friend.
"I didn't let her do anything Daniels," Henderson retorted calmly. "You think I wanted to lose to a woman on a camel?" he quipped sardonically with a raised golden-blonde eyebrow.
"I think you got distracted," Daniels accused, "and cost me a bet."
Henderson grinned and shrugged. "Don't make bets you can't win yourself Daniels, where were you in the race? Third? Fourth?"
"Guys forget it," Burns injected quickly as he stepped up to his friends to prevent their squaring off, "it's Hamunaptra." He let out a laugh of disbelief as he stared in astonishment at the ancient ruins, noting the detailed carvings of pictures and hieroglyphs that were still somehow intact and legible after all this time. "We're here, we're really here," he said jovially.
Rick led his small party up part of the crumbling mountainside to an almost perfectly preserved rectangular arch on it with Ra's protective wings carved on its top and a statue of the benevolent Bast beneath it. It was enough of a distance from the statues of Anubis for Rick to feel just a tad easier, and it gave them a decent viewpoint.
The Americans settled closer to the main entrance on flatter ground, allowing Dr. Chamberlain to dictate their helpers into setting up their camp. Henderson sat on a crumbled column taking in their surroundings as Beni finally joined them whilst Burns moved about the ruins with intrigue and Daniels helped himself to the contents of a brass flask whilst mumbling curses to himself.
No one noticed the young woman who slinked in across the shadows on foot, crouching and hiding behind the ruins when necessary. She was soft and swift on her feet, well practised at being quiet when necessary. She picked her own site near the pillars with carvings of Osiris and Anubis on them, and a slanted arch with hieroglyphs that told the grim story of judgement by Anubis. The few people who noticed her mule dismissed it as a mount of the Americans' party, save for Beni who stared at it with a frown and searched the cluster of servants with a troubled look, trying to spy one with flaxen hair.
It took less than an hour after arriving at Hamunaptra before everyone found themselves in the labyrinth of a temple, which was part of a forgotten underground city that played host to ancient Egypt's many dead. They had all taken different entrances- the Americans opting for the obvious one, Evelyn guiding her group through a crevice into a room lit with mirrors she had dusted and positioned, and Jess entering through a stone door none of the rest of them had noticed.
Jess' door was on the very outskirts of the ruins, almost not a part of them, it sat in the mountainside, sunken and partially obscured by sand and dust. Too heavy to move, the only way of opening it was with a very peculiar key. A key to lost treasure, it seemed as Jess slotted the gold and ruby star shaped form into place that it was the only lie that Mr. Salih had not told. Jess wondered as she turned it first clockwise then anti-clockwise twice if it was fate or coincidence that the day she should finally get this key she should also find a group going to the city. She had stolen the key with little hope of using it anytime soon, simply seizing a forced opportunity as she knew once the man was hung the trinket would either be buried with him or thieved by a prison guard and lost to her forever.
Once the door opened she finally lit the wooden stick she had salvaged for a torch, fuelling it with a scrap of cloth bound about it until she saw the dusty brass bowl at the entrance, still slick with oil. Surprised but hopeful, she had dipped her torch into the oil before lighting it with matches stolen at the trading post.
She tugged her worn, crimson scarf, another item stolen at the trading post, up over her mouth as the stench of four thousand years of stale air, dust and worse invaded her nostrils. She looked about the small, square chamber with uncertainty, and frowned at the only way out of it and into the temple, down into the darkness. The chamber itself was mostly bare, save for one small, almost crumbled statue sitting in an alcove, lost behind cobwebs and dust. Jess eyed the statue with uncertainty; it was a head sitting beside half-made legs, the rest now dust and pebbles but she recognised it even beneath the silvery webs. An animal no one could identify, almost like a jackal but far stranger, its ears were triangular like a jackal's were depicted only upside down and its muzzle was long at the top and curved down, beaklike nearly, some folk were quick to suggest it was the head of a mule or donkey rather than a canine. It was the set animal, or sha, named for the god who had it for a head, with no counterpart in reality; it seemed to exist only as a representation of Set- the red desert god of violence, storms and foreigners. This statue had no place here in a city sacred to Anubis and yet here it was.
Jess' eyes hardened at the sight, she knew the image of Set all too well, and all it did was strengthen her resolve to continue.
Evelyn was all smiles as they moved through ruins, the first people to do so in four thousand years! The Bembridge scholars wouldn't reject her after this, hell they would be begging her to come work for them! Though she wouldn't admit it, part of her smile was due to the unexpected gift from Rick. A thoughtful gift too, it was an archaeologist's digging kit, which she now hugged close to her chest in both arms as they walked. It was not something silly like jewellery or mundane like a cheap perfume or, worst of all, flowers! It was a gift Evelyn actually wanted, a gift that proved he had picked up on her interests and cared about them. Too happy with the present the woman never bothered to concern herself with wondering where or when Rick had actually procured the gift for her.
They had just moved out of the preparation room much to warden Gad Hassan's chagrin. "Where's the treasure?" he grumbled.
"Good question," Jonathan murmured. He was relieved to leave the preparation room, especially after his sister's vivid description of the mummification process but he wasn't happy to be entering another dark and foul room that seemed to hold more cobwebs and dust than anything else.
Up ahead was a wall, slanted and half-sunk into the ground bearing numerous carvings of the falcon headed god Horus complete with wings for arms. "Horus," Evelyn murmured as she leaned close to them and beckoned Rick and his torch closer. "Son of the underworld god Osiris and half-brother to Anubis," she explained. She gestured to the hieroglyphs. "A war god but a benevolent one, these ruins indicate him helping to guard something."
They all suddenly tensed as they heard a noise echo from somewhere nearby.
"What was that?" Gad queried, a little too loudly. The portly man had no interest in history or myths and it set his teeth on edge for the woman to delay their treasure hunt with stories. All he wanted was to grab his share of gold and go, back to Cairo to retire in a stately city house with a woman or two.
It came again, like scratching on the wall and a few pebbles bouncing off the ground. "Yes, what was that sound?" Jonathan queried nervously as he looked about the room.
"Sounds like bugs," Rick answered calmly.
"He said bugs," Evelyn informed Gad calmly with a nod.
"Bugs?!" Gad exclaimed as his brown eyes bulged in his round head. "I hate bugs!"
"Shush!" Evelyn scolded him with a glower.
They tensed again and Rick handed his torch to Evelyn before tugging out his two Colts. "Everyone be careful," he said quietly as he put his back to the imagery of Horus. Evelyn lined up beside him and Jonathan stood beside her, tugging out his own gun as Gad surprised them by drawing out a revolver.
"You didn't think I'd be unarmed?" the smelly warden queried with a dirty smile.
"On my lead and quietly," Rick ordered with a stern look thrown back at the warden.
They moved together, inching round the edge of the walls. The noise grew louder as it seemed to be coming towards them, creeping through the darkness. They turned as one, guns out and aimed as they met their foes at the base of a towering statue of Anubis.
Four sweaty, filthy faces looked back at them along with the nozzles of several guns.
"Aw shit," Daniels cursed with a shake of his head.
"You scared the beejezus out of us O'Connell!" Henderson chided as he pushed his hat up slightly with the nozzle of his gun.
The Americans stood side by side with Beni on the end, beside Henderson, frowning at Jonathan. Dr. Chamberlain was cowering behind them, eyes shut and fists clenched tight as if anticipating gunfire, and behind him were their weary, confused and tired looking helpers.
When the gunfire failed to go off Dr. Chamberlain finally opened his eyes, they immediately burned with rage when he spied O'Connell and the others. Burns' eyes suddenly widened and he took an accusing step towards Evelyn, almost oblivious to the guns aimed his way in his anger. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "That's my kit!"
Evelyn looked back at him with genuine surprise as she clutched the archaeologist's kit closer to her chest whilst Rick took a side step, raising his pistol in Burns' face with a glower. "No it ain't," he snapped.
"Er...yeah," Burns said nervously as he shrank back from the gun, "perhaps I was mistaken; maybe it just looks like it."
"Maybe," Rick agreed with a smile as Daniels shook his head in despair at his friend's cowardice. "Have a nice day gentlemen, we have a lot of work to be getting along with."
"Push off!" Dr. Chamberlain snapped at him rudely. "This is our dig site!"
"We got here first," Rick pointed out as they all aimed their guns once more.
"This here's our statue, friend" Daniels answered carefully.
"Yeah, I don't see your name written on it...pal," Rick retorted hotly as he pointed the nozzle of his Colt in Daniels' direction.
"Yes, well, there's only four of you and fifteen of me," Beni chided him with a smug smirk, "your odds are not so good."
"I've had worse, or don't you remember?" Rick retorted savagely as he leered back at his former friend.
"Yes me too," Jonathan chirped up with false bravado as he glowered over at Beni.
The guns clicked nervously as the tension thickened and some of the Egyptian servants reached for their own weapons. Evelyn rolled her eyes in despair, 'boys and their toys,' she thought sardonically. She paused as she felt the dirt shift beneath her and glanced down, there was a tiny crack in the floor, an indication of yet another floor. "Oh for heaven's sake!" she exclaimed. "Let's be nice children," she scorned them all, "if we're going to play together, we must learn to share."
Daniels frowned at her, little liking her chiding whilst Henderson smirked, impressed with her guts, and Burns just looked pointedly at his kit. Burns knew the kit was his, he didn't know how or when it had been swiped but it was definitely his. There was even a faded gold monogram on it- B.B; it had been a gift from his sister. He wanted to snatch it right back but he could feel Rick's cerulean eyes burning into him and knew his head would be blown through before he even raised his hands for the kit.
It was hard for Evelyn to surrender the statue, she knew what was meant to be buried at its feet, supposedly the gold book of Amun-Ra. Perhaps if they went below they could work up to the statue and catch the Americans unaware. It was a risky plan and it meant hoping that the Yankees didn't know about the book, but she doubted they did. She doubted they knew about any specific treasure here, more likely they just had the uneducated belief that ancient ruins meant ancient treasures. They didn't care what the gold represented or what the statues meant, gold was gold, and that was it. She frowned; they would have this place ruined with their reckless desire for treasure, probably smashing priceless artefacts and destroying walls and doors of hieroglyphs forever in the process.
"Come on," she urged Rick as she gripped his left arm gently and dared to give it a consoling squeeze, which she hoped conveyed her optimism rather than defeat.
Rick gave the woman a curious and annoyed look, certain he could win this but then he saw the spark in her eyes and knew the woman had a plan. So he finally lowered his guns, seemingly submitting to the Americans who sneered appropriately, and then he followed after Evelyn.
Daniels' smirk was the widest; he considered a justified victory after their embarrassing defeat getting here. "Now what?" he quipped.
Dr. Chamberlain stepped forward then with a look of importance before he began studying the ancient symbols with intrigue and excitement.
Jess scowled in frustration when she heard familiar voices up ahead, the Americans and the Egyptologist were yelling furiously at the workers. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere to end up with them but it was difficult to tell, the place was a maze and truthfully after so long of darkness and silence she was a little relieved to hear the voices. She followed after the voices slowly, cautious of her torch giving her away.
"Feni! Feni!" Dr. Chamberlain yelled.
Jess moved round a corner to a narrow, dark tunnel and followed it, wondering why she couldn't see the flicker of torchlight when the voices sounded so close.
"How long is this going to take?" she heard Daniels grumble. She flinched and glanced to her left, it sounded like he was just there! There was nothing though save the hard stone of the wall.
"As long as it takes Daniels," Henderson chided, "just relax and think of the gold."
"That was my kit," Burns pouted.
"Yeah well why the hell did you stammer that it wasn't?" Daniels snarled at his friend.
Jess frowned and pressed against the cool wall, were the voices coming through the wall? Impossible, they were too loud and the wall too thick. So she pressed on, her nerves growing just a little when she turned another corner and still saw no one.
"Because I didn't want to get shot Daniels," Burns retorted moodily, "because getting shot is stupid."
"We had them outnumbered," Beni chirped up sweetly.
"Bullets ricochet," Henderson grumbled, "we started a gunfire we all coulda got hit."
"You see?" Burns retorted defensively.
"I seen you let a woman walk away with your property," Daniels replied tauntingly.
"It wasn't worth it," Henderson spoke up.
"Well..." Burns sighed. "Katie got it for me, going away present..."
"Shit," Daniels murmured, "I...I'm sorry Bernie."
Jess wondered what exactly they were talking about, 'a woman walk away with property, do they mean me?' She shook her head as she pressed on. 'Nonsense,' she scorned, 'I didn't take anything personal, well except the necklace, but I didn't know, hell it's not him complaining anyway, it's the man with the glasses. Kit? What kit? What woman? These guys can't guard their property too well.'
Her eyes widened when she reached a statue, carved from obsidian it was of the god Set in full royal Egyptian regalia and armed with a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. Jess let out several expletives, it was the exact same statue she had seen twenty minutes ago and walked away from, how in the hell could she be back to it? How could she hear the Americans? She hadn't moved in circles, she had been careful not to double back on herself, very careful. She frowned and pressed a hand against three nicks in the wall, nicks made from a crude dagger she had found in one chamber that resembled a war room, which made no sense in a city for bodies. She had circled back but how?
"Bastard," she cursed up at the god boldly with a glower, "ugly bastard. This won't stop me."
She tensed at the screams that suddenly filled the tunnel, almost deafening in her ears.
"Oh shit! What happened to their faces?" Daniels yelled, losing his composure in a rare moment.
"This place is cursed!" Beni shrieked.
Jess turned sharply as she heard footsteps behind her, her face turning stark white as she felt the rush of air as if someone had actually run past her and yet she saw no one. As the screams grew louder and seemed to surround her she felt a prickle of fear, which only worsened when the ground beneath her began to shake. She frowned at the cracks that appeared beneath her dusty boots, spreading out like a spider web, and tried to calm herself. 'Move slow,' she told herself, 'slow and easy, it's an old place, that's all.'
The young woman took a tentative step forward and was relieved when nothing happened. She dared to take another, then another, nice and slow. Yes, there was an exit just to the right of the statue, best heading that way.
The floor gave way without warning and Jess let out a bloodcurdling scream as she felt herself falling into blackness. Down and down into the unknown. She let out a gasp of pain when she slammed into hard plaster and started choking as she struggled in the dust cloud to get her lungs working again.
She ached all over and tasted blood from a fresh cut at her lip but she was still alive, that was something. As she blinked back dust she found her eyes rolling up to the hole she had fallen through and spying the malevolent face of the statue of Set looking down upon her mockingly.
She pushed herself up slowly with several winces, her ribs hurt but they mercifully weren't broken, there was a cut on her head dripping blood into her right eye but it didn't seem deep and she had numerous new bruises and scrapes but all in all, nothing serious. She made it to a sitting position just as she heard anxious footsteps. At first she was relieved to see a real person to match the steps to this time but her eyes filled with hate when she realised who the person was. 'Impossible!' she thought as she glowered at him and clenched her fists, hoping his image would fade away. 'What the hell is he doing here? Is this real?'
It was the warden Gad Hassan who was staring back at Jess with shock. When he saw her tumble of hair as she shook it out and finally pushed herself unsteadily to her feet he realised she was a woman. 'From where?' he wondered. 'And who is she with here?' He took a step towards her and his large bearded mouth turned down into a frown. He knew those fierce golden-brown eyes, it couldn't be though, those eyes belonged to a boy. "Can I assist you?" he offered as he tried to subdue his lecherous smile.
"No," she snarled back heatedly as she rubbed some of the dirt from her face.
"Come now, you took quite a fall." He headed towards her and when she tried to step back she tripped over some debris and fell hard on her rear. "Careful," he chided, "it's dangerous down here. Did you get lost from your party? Who are you?" he pried as he extended down a fat, sweaty palm.
Jess waved the hand away, she would be damned if she took help from him of all people. "No one," she grumbled as she pushed herself back up, biting down a yelp of pain as she did.
"Nonsense," the warden's dark eyes burned with suspicion, "and who are you with?" He pondered over it, she definitely wasn't anyone his party was connected with and there was no way those brash Americans would be laboured with a woman, but there was no one else out here. 'No one to know she's here,' he thought as a few wicked thoughts danced through his mind. "I can help you," he said sweetly, "I know the way out."
Jess continued to frown at him, she was lost, she had to admit that now but she would rather stay that way than take help from him. She sighed and growled, "I don't need your help pig."
He looked at her with shock before it melted into an ugly expression of outrage. "Fine!" he snapped before cursing at her in Egyptian. He turned from her then and hastened on his way. Let her rot then, he didn't care, she wasn't a member of his party.
Jess swallowed down her own curses before following after him as he disappeared round a corner and she suddenly filled with unease. 'Maybe better him than no one,' she thought bitterly. The darkness down here felt heavy as if there was something else in it and she was beginning to believe that becoming lost in here and forgotten was a very real possibility.
She rounded the corner, half-frightened that the warden would be gone and frowned to see him now at a wall, pawing eagerly at some jewelled rocks set in it. "Greedy pig," she grumbled as she looked about the chamber for a way out.
With effort the warden pried the oval shaped jewels out of the wall with a few grunts and his knife. One hit the floor with a low crack and he was quick to bend down and snatch it up, running his finger over it to check for damage. It was smooth and strangely hot but he thought nothing of it as he pocketed it and reached for more.
When two suddenly twitched in his hand he realised in vain that maybe they weren't jewels after all. Curious and fascinated he just stared down at them as they rolled in his fingers and seemed to expand. His golden-brown face turned an unnatural white when he made out a split down their back and the familiar shape of a beetle. "BUGS!" he shrieked as he went to throw them too late. At his voice all the forms remaining in the wall shuddered.
Jess watched in wide eyed horror as the 'jewels' in the wall came to life and leaped from it, springing at the warden with a deliberate violence. She saw one sink into his palm and then another. 'Oh God they're burrowing into his skin!' Her eyes widened as he looked at her and started to scream.
The warden looked down at himself in horror as he felt them there wriggling beneath his skin. It was maddening and agonising, a horrid invasion and he ripped open his sweat stained shirt suddenly to see. Six forms were bulging beneath the flesh and heading up, up to his heart, to his brains. "NO!" He screamed again and started to run.
His hands reached for Jess as she jumped back from him in horror. "HELP ME! HELP ME!" he yelled at her.
Jess turned and started to flee as he chased after her, shrieking on and on. She couldn't run fast, the fall had taken it out of her and her legs ached in pain and protested.
The warden felt the creatures up at his scalp and reached up to them with a howl. It was as the warden started ripping skin from his own skull that Rick and the others arrived.
"What the..." Rick left the curse unsaid as the unfortunate man suddenly collided with a wall and fell down on his back, completely still.
"Oh my God what happened?" Evelyn exclaimed in dismay.
Jonathan's suspicious blue gaze flickered from the man to Jess. "Who are you?" he demanded as he held out his torch.
Jess made to run but she was laboured by her own injuries and though she made it past Evelyn for the exit she wasn't quick enough to avoid Rick's knowing gaze. "Little jackal," he commented wryly with a shake of his head.
"Who?" Jonathan demanded. She had looked familiar; he had definitely seen that face before, he was sure of it.
"What?" Evelyn quipped. "Is he dead?"
Rick looked at the corpse, squinting his eyes to the stench before reeling back in disgust. "Yep."
"And what killed him?" Evelyn queried, trying to hide her unease.
Rick shrugged. "Did you see what he ate? Come on; let's get back to camp for now. We need to find out what that other noise was about."
The Americans turned to Rick as one, guns out and the same wary looks on their dirt stained faces. Rick held his hands up and gave a disarming smile in response. "Fellas let's not start this again."
"What do you want O'Connell?" Daniels demanded moodily as he kept his gun aimed whilst Burns raised his slightly.
"I want to know what happened in there today," Rick retorted as he gestured to the temple with one hand.
"What concern is it of yours?" Dr. Chamberlain quipped. He sat at the edges of the fire, an open book in his lap and a hookah pipe clutched tightly in his right hand. He would have sat further away if possible but he needed the light and quite frankly desired the safety of the fire.
"We lost a man today," Rick confessed. He paused to survey the faces of the hired labour, mostly in shadow as they looked to him with unease and he took a mental count. "From the looks of it you lost more than one."
"What's your point?" Daniels snarled.
"Ease up Daniels," Henderson chided as he finally lowered his own gun, "let's play nice like Miss Carnahan wanted." He grinned at the sullen look of annoyance his friend gave him. "You tell us what happened to your guy and we'll tell you what happened to ours," the blonde addressed Rick.
Rick sighed as he rested his hands on his hips slightly and looked to the game of poker he had interrupted and Daniels' and Henderson's empty glasses along with the half-empty bottle sitting between them. He guessed that the men were trying quite hard to distract themselves from what had happened today and he wasn't helping. 'I could use a drink myself,' he thought wearily. 'That warden didn't die of nothing.'
"I don't know," he confessed. "Our friend, and I use that term very loosely, warden Hassan left our small group to fill his greedy pockets I suspect. We found him only when the screaming started, just in time to catch his final moments." He thought of the girl, or woman rather, and wondered, not for the first time, if she had anything to do with the warden's death. 'A thief who was briefly imprisoned, she'd have as much a reason as anyone to hate our dearly departed friend,' Rick mused to himself.
"That's it?" Daniels queried doubtfully as he finally lowered his guns.
Rick nodded with a smile. "Yes, pretty much, he ran into a wall and fell down dead."
"Well our guys got their faces melted off, how's that for a story?" Daniels retorted hotly.
"It's not a competition," Burns commented softly. He paled slightly as he recalled how the men had turned to them wailing, accusatory and pleading all at once as they staggered forward, arms outstretched with their skin dripping off their bones like candle wax.
"We made them do it," Henderson murmured darkly as he reached for the bottle and uncorked it.
"We made them do their intended job," Dr. Chamberlain chimed in coldly. "That is what you hired them for Mr. Henderson and better them than us."
"What was their job exactly?" Rick pried.
"Well it wasn't to die," Henderson retorted fiercely as he gave Dr. Chamberlain an ugly look before filling his glass with whiskey, and then grasping Daniels' glass and filling it too. "Drink O'Connell?" he offered as he glanced up at the man. "Share one with your fellow countrymen just this once."
Daniels gave a grunt of displeasure but Henderson ignored it as he reached for another glass, filled it and held it up to Rick.
Rick accepted it with a look of gratitude. "So what were your men doing exactly?"
"Opening something," Burns admitted, "but it was booby trapped, salt acid."
"Ouch."
Daniels frowned at the memory; he didn't think he would ever forget those faces, sunken, bloodied and hateful and those eyes, bright and terrified, sinking into their own skulls. He drained half his glass quickly.
"Another question," Rick said, after taking a gulp from his own glass, "any women with you?"
The trio exchanged a look and a dry laugh. "Women, O'Connell? This ain't a pleasure trip," Henderson mocked. "You got Miss Carnahan over there, what are you looking women for?"
"Because she's too sensible for him," Daniels mocked. He grinned just a little too much at the memory of Evelyn Carnahan in the water, white nightdress tight and damp against her perfect curves. He shook his head scornfully at his own crude thoughts; maybe they had all been in the desert with just men for too long.
Beni, who had lingered back with the labour, almost out of sight, let out his own mocking snort, daring to grin when Rick frowned his way.
"Not what I meant but never mind," Rick said with a smile before he finished his glass and passed it down to Henderson. "Good night gentlemen and pleasant dreams, try not to let the thought of curses and death keep you up too late."
"Ha," Daniels was quick to scorn him, "bullshit."
"You don't believe in that nonsense do you O'Connell?" Henderson quipped.
Rick turned away from them, pausing when the wind let out a low and sudden rattle. "Maybe," he murmured as he continued staring ahead at the now ominous shadows of the ruins, "or maybe it's just the weather." Rick left them at that, hastening up to his own camp.
He was wary as he walked under the black shadows of columns, arches and statues, feeling like Anubis' eternal gaze was always upon him as he did. He paused to look around, wondering if there was anyone or anything else watching from the shadows. Feeling a prickle of unease he made himself hurry up to the campsite. He was not a superstitious or cowardly man, quite the opposite in fact but something about this place just made him feel out of sorts. There was something here, something other than treasure, bones and ruins, something older, something evil, yes it was evil, much as he didn't want to believe it he couldn't help himself.
When he reached the campsite Evelyn and Jonathan looked up at him curiously. "Our American friends had their own misadventure today," Rick informed them as he took a seat before the fire and close to Evelyn. "They lost three of their diggers to salt acid; they tripped some ancient booby trap apparently."
"How awful," Evelyn murmured.
"Maybe this place is cursed," Jonathan said quietly as he glanced about their campsite warily. "And what about that girl?"
Rick shrugged as he sagged back slightly in the sand. "She's not with them."
"Well I shouldn't think so," Evelyn remarked, "she might be scruffy but they're brutes, what woman in her right mind would travel with them?"
"What woman in her right mind would come to a lost city of the dead in the middle of the desert?" Rick pondered sardonically.
"Apparently two," Jonathan murmured as he started to busy himself with the bags he had procured from the late warden's section of the campsite. "Actually, scratch that because you're right O'Connell, they couldn't be in their right minds."
"Oh really Jonathan," Evelyn chided as she glowered across at him through the flickering amber flames. "And you Mr. O'Connell, she could be lost, part of another party that came here or-"
"Or not," Rick interrupted as he looked over at Evelyn reassuringly. 'She really does look lovely in the firelight,' he thought to himself admiringly. "She's not lost Evie, no more than us."
"Well how did she get here?" Jonathan demanded as he continued nosing.
"She was on the boat," Rick admitted.
"What?" Evelyn and Jonathan exclaimed together before looking to Rick with surprise.
"Well come on man, who is she?" Jonathan demanded. 'I knew I recognised her face, but I don't remember her on the boat,' he thought to himself with a puzzled look.
"I don't know," Rick confessed, "but I intend to find out."
"Jonathan it's disrespectful rummaging through a dead man's property you know," Evelyn scolded her brother.
"Why? He's not going to need it now," Jonathan grumbled as he opened a pouch. "Do you think that woman killed him?" He let out an inappropriate laugh. "Wonder what he did to her if she did, probably breathed too heavily near her one day."
The Englishman suddenly let out a gasp of pain causing Evelyn's jewel like eyes to widen in alarm. He pulled out a bloody finger and sucked on it with a look of annoyance. "Jonathan," Evelyn chided even as she sagged in relief.
"Broken glass," the Englishman grumbled before his cerulean eyes widened with joy. "Ah and an intact bottle!" He tugged out said green bottle with a grin. "Good vintage too, hmm so the smelly fellow had some taste then."
"Robbing the dead and then talking ill of them, Evie your brother is quite the catch," Rick jested to Evelyn with a grin.
"Indeed, I fail to understand why he's still single," Evelyn grumbled as Jonathan opened the bottle.
Rick suddenly tensed and glanced over his shoulder curiously. He could hear something out in the darkness. He strained to listen and then frowned as it seemed to get closer, hoof beats. He tugged out his pistols and jumped to his feet as the unmistakable sound of gunfire echoed around the ruins. "Stay here!" he snapped before bolting off.