Rick looked to the endless sea of black rolling sand before them with a tired stare. They had ridden for at least three hours now and the night seemed no brighter or warmer. The sun would be gone for another six hours at least, it was a long time to be exposed out here but he knew they couldn't just travel through the night.
Ardeth Bay finally drew his camel to a halt and held up his right hand. Daniels looked at him in displeasure and mumbled an insult as he drew his horse to a standstill. It was anyone's guess why the nomad leader had decided to help guide them out. Rick was particularly suspicious over it given the man's desire to find and stop the mummy. HeHHH He wondered if Ardeth Bay's followers were more liable to kill rather than guide Rick's party if their leader wasn't here to keep them in check. There was no mistaking the loathing in the nomads' eyes for Evelyn and the suspicion they glowered at Jess with.
Rick rode at the head of the group with the hot-headed Daniels. They were followed by a sulky Evelyn who was too tired and fed up to be bothered with panic, Dr Chamberlain was almost level with her though he kept as much of a space between her and him as possible. Henderson followed them alongside Burns, the blonde's right hand firmly clutching the reins of Burns' horse. Jonathan and Jess brought up the rear, Jess riding on the late prison warden's camel. They were flanked by six nomads, with Ardeth Bay at the very front, the clear guide of the hurried midnight expedition.
"We will camp up there," Ardeth announced as he pointed ahead to a small cliff side of rock and sand. There was a statue of the ibis headed god Thoth resting on it, the beak half missing, and the gold enamel long worn and stolen away. Beside the statue was a small building of limestone, partially in ruination.
"What an odd place for a statue," Evelyn murmured. "Is that a shrine there?"
No one bothered answering the woman; instead they started moving towards the sandy hill. As they moved a low wind blew and all the torches were immediately snuffed out in it.
"Why does that keep happening?" Jonathan quipped with a nervous smile.
Rick felt his horse suddenly tense beneath him, it was his only warning sign before his and everyone else's mounts suddenly reared up in a panic. The eerie silence of the desert was momentarily broken as the horses whinnied and the camels groaned into the night as they reared and bucked relentlessly until their riders were tossed to the sands. To Jess her camel almost seemed to be screaming as if in pain and it only took seconds before she found herself flying through the air and then crashing inelegantly into the sand. As she raised her head, spitting sand as she did, it was in time to see the horses and camels racing off across the desert, lost from sight thanks to the sand they kicked up behind them.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Jonathan queried in outrage as he wiped sand from his eyes and righted his pith helmet. He looked about in shock as he felt the ground suddenly vibrate beneath him.
There were several unnatural wails as the sand seemed to explode around them as some things burst up from the primordial desert. One of the nomads let out a howl of horror as the sand burst up between his legs and he fought to tug out his scimitar. There was a gargling sound and Jess flinched as she saw a dark liquid splash onto the sand beside him before his head suddenly flopped backwards, barely hanging on at the neck. Jess' eyes widened as she saw his lifeless pupils roll back in his skull before he fell limp to the sands revealing the thing that had killed him.
It was something undead, Jess knew that from the bad smell alone, something old and forgotten, animated by rage and a disturbing bloodlust. It wasn't a mummy, but something similar, less formed, more spirit than body and yet solid enough to do damage. It was a wraith, with scraps of cloth rotted to black hanging off its bony form and tarnished jewellery clinging to it. There was a many layered necklace of gold, jade and emeralds, and bracelets of bronze and pearl. It had a skull like head with fangs for teeth and claws at the end of bony fingers. It moved low to the ground as if to slither across the sands like a snake.
BANG! BANG! As the gunfire erupted Jess finally snapped to her senses, pushing herself to her feet and tugging out her sickle.
"Head for the cliff, there we will be safe!" Ardeth shouted.
Henderson and Rick were both ready to question the surety in Ardeth's voice but having little other option they stayed silent, focusing instead on their foes. The party found themselves forced to scatter as the wraiths, unharmed by the bullets, lunged for them with low, hoarse hisses.
In the confusion Burns was lost, and found himself running about the dark sands blind, turning and twisting in alarm as he felt a dead, hot breath race along the back of his neck. He choked down a sob, certain the mummy had come for him again as he made out the odour of decay, an odour that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his days. He fumbled for his gun, swinging it about in a panic before letting out a groan of frustration as he knew he could not shoot it without risking harm to his friends. He wanted to call out to Daniels and Henderson but without his tongue he could not form the words and only drool seeped out.
Jonathan darted along the desert like a madman, clinging to his hat with one hand as he did. He let out a scream when a nomad running beside him was suddenly dragged down and back by his feet. Jonathan glanced back and immediately regretted it as he saw claws sinking into the man's back and raking down it, drawing blood as they did. "Come to Hamunaptra they said," he grumbled as he continued to flee, "there will be treasure they said. I don't even have one coin to show for this curse!"
Dr Chamberlain let out a grunt of pain as he unwittingly collided with Burns. Both men tumbled to the ground in a heap of limbs and struggled to separate themselves from one another. Burns let out several incoherent sounds that were meant to sound threatening but failed as the tremble in his hands betrayed him. The nozzle of his gun pointed at Dr. Chamberlain's alarmed face briefly before Burns turned left and then right with it in confusion.
The Egyptologist's brown eyes darted to the right as he heard a rattled hiss. His skin turned white and his eyes went wide as he saw a wraith heading their way. He stood just as Burns did and thought coldly, 'it would be a mercy; he has only a half life now.'
Burns let out a gasp of surprise as he was shoved hard to the ground. He tried to cry 'wait' to whoever had pushed him but only a gargle came out. He froze up suddenly hearing a hiss before letting out a scream of pain as claws slashed violently across his face and sent him reeling back.
The wraith halted before it could strike out again at the fallen American, pausing in a moment of confusion. Embedded in the creature's skull was a bronze sickle. Jess, who was on the higher point of a slope in the sands, kicked hard at the thing's neck just as she tugged out the sickle. It had the desired effect; the head seemed to crumble down onto the thing's shoulders as the thin neck crumbled to dust with the blow.
"Run Mr. Burns!" she yelled. "Turn left and run straight! Run!"
Burns snapped out of his trance, wincing as the numbness in his cheek turned to a fiery pain and he became aware of the blood dripping down his cheek. He wiped it with one hand, smearing fresh blood across his face before he obeyed Jess and stood up, turning to the left before he ran. He stumbled several times as he moved, his feet catching against sandy slopes he couldn't see and rocks that appeared and disappeared with the now ever present cold breeze. The wind was icy against the American's skin and he felt his skin bubble up with goose bumps as the breeze seemed to grow sharper and colder by the minute.
"Keep going!" Jess shrieked.
She was behind him this time; it gave him a small measure of comfort to know that. When he tripped over a rock and fell to his knees her small hands were quick to rouse him to his feet again before she barked at him to run once more.
Under the pale, ghostly light of the moon they finally reached the bottom of the cliff side. Jess was quick to grab Burns' right hand and pull him to a halt before he collided against it. She glanced nervously back hearing hisses and her eyes went wide as she saw three of the wraiths hastening towards them, propelling their bodies up and down through the sand, leaping out of it as if it were water.
"There's a cliff," she explained hastily as she raised Burns' right hand up and pressed it against a hold in the rocky side. "You have to climb, get moving!" She craned her neck upwards and saw Henderson not too far up, scaling the cliff with little effort. "Mr. Henderson!" she shouted, her voice barely audible over the shrieks and wind. She cupped one hand round her mouth and yelled again, this time as loud as she could manage. "MR. HENDERSON!"
The blonde froze and looked down in surprise, his hat sloping down his brow as he did. He squinted in the darkness as he dared to release his left hand grip to push his hat up. He saw two forms, one jumping up and down and waving to him anxiously and another struggling and failing to climb the cliff. "Bernie?!" he gasped in disbelief. He started scaling down then, his blue eyes widening as he saw a form different to the wraiths moving towards Burns and Jess with a fierce determination.
Burns finally, with Jess' help, got a foothold and was able to start climbing. Henderson's right hand swung down as he shouted a warning to Burns and Jess. His hand grasped Burns' flailing hand just in time and he pulled him up as the strange new form collided hard with Jess as she started to climb. Henderson was too occupied with helping Burns up to see where Jess went to but he heard the snarl and felt the rush of wind as she was taken from the cliff side and he knew that she was gone.
Jess fell hard on her back, gasping as the wind rushed from her lungs. She winced as her eyes watered and she felt blood trickling out of her nostrils. She opened her eyes at last and immediately regretted it. The form towering above her was more humanoid than the wraiths. It was wearing a rotting kilt of dyed red linen and gold, at its rotted legs were patches of fur, dark in the night, and on its decayed head was a mask that for a moment she mistook for a very real face. She felt her body tremble and her bladder threaten to weaken at the sight; it was her nightmares made real, the face of the monstrous god that haunted her night and day- the canine face of chaos.
BANG! Only when the black and gilded mask shattered with the impact of the bullet did Jess realise it was a mask. The illusion ruined, she was able to get a hold of her senses just in time to roll and avoid the blade that came down. She rolled once more to create distance before pushing herself upright again. She screamed when she was dragged down just as fast by a powerful hand and then kicked in the back. Her eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils filled with sand as her face was planted into it. Panic surged through her when a foot pressed down hard on the back of her skull, embedding her face deep into the sand, suffocating her in it.
Jess struggled hard, flailing like a fish as her arms and legs swung in all directions in a vain attempt to free her.
BANG! BANG! Daniels and Rick both shot at the creature but it ignored the bullets as if they were flies. Taken over by a moment of insanity, Rick let out a sudden roar and charged at the thing. Daniels could only stand and watch with both horror and admiration for his fellow American as he tackled the thing as if they were playing a sport.
Both forms hit the sands hard with the force of Rick's tackle. Daniels seized that moment to rush to Jess, struggling to juggle his gun and reach to her as he crouched beside her. Daniels was forced to holster his gun just as Rick let off a close range shot into the thing's gut. Jess wasn't moving. Daniels yanked her up from the sand and turned her over, in the moonlight she looked almost blue, it wasn't a hopeful sight.
"Aw shit," the Texan cursed mournfully as he leaned down to her and tilted her head slightly as if to loosen the sand from her. Her lips were shiny with blood from her nose, it gleamed a deep scarlet, almost black in the night.
"Daniels get her up!" Rick shouted at him as he continued to wrestle with the fiend, his hand about its rotted throat as it pulled at his right shoulder.
"I...I can't," Daniels choked out. This was too familiar, a limp woman in his arms, blood at her lips, still no matter how he shook her, how much he pleaded. The difference was Jess' eyes were closed, a small mercy he supposed, he didn't need another pair of glassy eyes to haunt him.
She let out a small, brief gasp before the choking started and her eyes flashed open, wide and confused but mercifully full of life. "Daddy put down the knife," she choked out pleadingly, "mummy can't see anymore."
Daniels frowned at her words before dismissing them, now was definitely not the time to be puzzling over that.
The haze of confusion faded from Jess' eyes just as Rick let off another shot and yelled, "RUN ALREADY!"
Daniels and Jess hastened to their feet together and started running alongside Rick, none of them daring to turn back and see the foe they could hear snarling and spitting behind them, close at their heels. They dodged to the left to avoid a wraith and then jumped over a small mound of sand before they reached the cliff together, panting heavily as they did. Daniels was swift in loosening his wounded arm from its makeshift sling knowing he needed both hands to climb.
Jonathan and Evelyn's inquisitive faces peered over the edge of the cliff as they heard the commotion from below. "CLIMB! CLIMB!" The siblings both yelled anxiously as they saw what was coming at them fast from behind.
Ardeth appeared too with another nomad, both ready with guns. "They can't climb up here!" Ardeth called reassuringly as three faces looked up at him anxiously.
BANG!
"Shit," Daniels cursed as the bullet whizzed past just above his hat and sank into a wraith's skull, delaying it for a few precious seconds.
Jess winced as her burned leg throbbed in pain and scraped against the cliff side uselessly.
"Faster chaps!" Jonathan called. "And don't look down, definitely don't look down!"
Jess lagged behind, gritting her teeth to the pain in her leg as a cold sweat coated her palms and made it even harder to get a grip against the small juts in the rock.
"Come on Miss Jess!" Henderson called out as he finally appeared in sight, gun at the ready. "Keep going, not much further!"
Jess grumbled a curse, to her it may as well have been a hundred feet given the aches rushing up her leg, it was tingling now and refusing to bend right for her foot to get a good position. She let out a yelp of pain when the formerly masked fiend jumped into the air and its claws raked down her right leg, drawing fresh blood. Terrified, she froze up against the cliff face, not daring to move.
Daniels and Rick both looked down at the yelp, their eyes widening as they realised just how far behind them the woman was. "Come on Jess!" Rick snapped down at her. "You have to keep moving!"
She was shaking her head now and muttering under her breath incoherently.
"Hang on Miss Jess; I'll come down for you!" Henderson offered in a moment of bravado, he had seen how she had gotten Burns to safety before herself, he knew they owed her.
"Don't be daft Henry!" Daniels shouted back to him as he glared up at his friend. "I'm closer!" He sighed and grumbled a curse before he started to move back down, slow and tensing when he heard the creature from below springing up again with a snarl, this time it thankfully missed Jess. He was in no mood for the woman's moment of panic but he knew if he didn't go for her Henderson would.
"Careful Daniels, watch that arm of yours!" Rick called warningly. "Start moving already Jess!" He stayed where he was, prepared to climb back down if necessary though the sight of the wraiths made that thought less than appealing. They were waiting there, their heads turned up with empty eyes as they were hopeful for someone falling.
Daniels finally found himself within reach of the woman. "Alright, give me your hand," he called down to her commandingly.
Either Jess did not hear Daniels or was simply ignoring him for all she murmured was, "I don't want to see. I don't want to see."
"Then don't look," he scorned her as he held out his hand, digging his feet deep into the cliff side as his injured arm screamed in pain as he stretched it out to her.
"Mummy can't see!" she shrieked it out before her head snapped up and her wide eyes looked to Daniels. There was that clouded confusion as if she were elsewhere before it faded fast to that intelligent spark she usually bore. She grasped his hand then and he pulled hard just as the almost human attacker leaped again. Its claws waved uselessly through the air, missing her feet by a mere inch.
Daniels and Jess climbed together, soon catching up to Rick who kept an eye on the woman as he climbed, making sure not to go faster than her. It was with great relief that they reached the top and allowed themselves to be pulled up by their friends. Limbs aching, they moved slowly across the cliff top. All three were quietly delighted to see a fire lit and burning bright in the cold night. The fire had been formed hastily by torches the nomads had on their persons, some oil Evelyn had on hers, scraps of black cloth cut from the nomad's robes, and Henderson's matches and tobacco snuff. It burned in the safety of the small building in which Burns was taking refuge.
The building had two columns at its entrance with numerous engravings on them, many of which were worn away. Part of one wall had broken and part of the ceiling lay in its place in cracked blocks but it still offered some shelter, which was better than nothing. It was small and as they slowly ventured inside they saw that there was little to it. There was a lone, broken, dust covered, stone table on which statues, now pilfered, had probably sat. Any other furniture was now in unrecognisable ruination and any relics were long gone.
"We will stay here until the dawn," Ardeth announced solemnly as he took up a post by the entrance.
"It's freezing," Evelyn murmured as she hugged herself tight and moved to the fire.
"We should stay close," Rick mused as he sat beside her and gave an innocent smile when she turned in his direction, "you know, for body heat."
"How on earth did you manage to climb with that thing?" Jonathan queried the pallid Allen Chamberlain with an incredulous look at the black book he clutched at.
The Egyptologist sat silently in the shadows of the room, back against the wall as he kept a wary stare on Evelyn as if daring her to try and snatch the book from him.
"I've already read from it," the woman snapped at him crossly with a glower.
"You saved Bernie," Henderson blurted out as he approached Jess as she limped into the building.
Jess looked from the blonde to the blind man with a dark expression. "No," she retorted bleakly in a quiet voice, "unfortunately I didn't."
Dr. Chamberlain looked to Jess sharply as he wondered if she had seen him pushing that wretched Burns away. When the woman didn't even bother glancing his way he decided to himself that she probably hadn't seen anything and even if she had, he could always deny it or claim it had been a dreadful accident.
Henderson and Daniels both filled with guilt as they followed Jess' gaze to their wounded friend. Ardeth had offered him something for his pains but the effects of it were getting briefer and briefer and it never completely numbed the pain for the man.
"We'll fix it," Henderson vowed recklessly with a serious stare, "we will."
"Let's just get warmed up," Daniels grumbled as he led the way to the fire, sitting down opposite Rick and Evelyn.
Rick gave Daniels a smirk through the amber flames, glancing pointedly at his battered fedora. "Hey Daniels isn't that my hat?" he quipped tauntingly.
Daniels gritted his teeth before he plucked it off and plonked it on Jess' head. "No, it's hers," he answered flatly. The Texan then started to fumble with his injured arm, the entire limb felt like it was ablaze and it was awkward trying to fit it back through the brown, leather sling.
"Let me," Jess offered quietly as she saw him struggle.
Daniels did not retort but offered the wounded limb out to her with a calm, indigo stare. He watched thoughtfully as her cheeks darkened slightly as she undid the bandage and then redid it before slipping the arm through the sling carefully. Her fingers were cold against his arm and yet he didn't mind, he found it almost soothing. "Thanks," he murmured bluntly when she was done.
"Can I have a look if I promise not to read it?" Jonathan queried innocently as he sat down beside Dr. Chamberlain and held out a hand.
Dr. Chamberlain looked at his fellow Englishman as if he were a beetle and wrinkled his nose in disgust before shrinking back slightly with a grunt of displeasure.
As the night wore on and the fire grew low they all seemed to move into one another to share both body heat and the safety of numbers. Ardeth and his two remaining men remained alert throughout, their robes occasionally dragging softly along the stone floor as they swapped positions. Jonathan and Dr Chamberlain nodded off against each other; their heads sloped against the other's. Evelyn and Rick coiled around each other, snuggling as close as they could, Rick wrapping his arms tight around the Englishwoman as she shivered against him. Henderson and Burns were back to back, Burns facing the fire whilst Henderson faced the open doorway and kept one eye on it for as long as he could. Daniels leaned back against a limestone block and stretched his legs out, reluctantly welcoming Jess when she sleepily moved into him before nodding off with her head in his lap. On another night he might have dismissed her but right now he was too tired and too cold. Yes he was still mad at her, she had taken something precious from him and left him distraught over its loss for days but she had also saved his friend. Then there was that confused, frightened look in her eyes as she had screamed about her mother being unable to see, that had disturbed him but it also made him sympathetic to the woman. He knew from that haunted stare of hers that she had seen something terrible, perhaps even worse than the horrors they had viewed tonight.
"Jessie, my little bunny wake up."
Jess stirred sleepily at the voice, certain it was part of a dream she just as quickly dismissed it.
"Little bunny wake up."
Her eyes flickered open then at the honeyed voice that called to her, as hopeful as she was suspicious. The building was dim, the fire now faintly glowing red ashes, and for a moment it was hard to distinguish the form standing near it, still with its back to the woman.
"Little bunny are you awake?"
Jess felt her throat tighten, knowing whose voice it was that called from that figure. It was impossible, she knew it was and yet she called back anyway in a voice soft and uncertain. "Mother?"
The figure turned revealing the pallid face of a woman with her eyes gouged out and her mouth slit open from ear to ear giving the appearance of a disturbing, bloody smile. Jess let out a scream of horror before she could help herself.
Ardeth turned sharply from the entrance he had been peering out of, scimitar raised at the ready as his two men immediately lifted their guns as everyone else awoke in a fluster. Rick and Henderson's guns clicked as they hastened into action, moving to stand and search for the danger.
"What's going on?" Dr. Chamberlain snapped anxiously as he pushed Jonathan off his shoulder and fumbled for the book, which had slipped from his clutches to the floor.
"We're not under attack again are we?" Jonathan queried wearily as he rubbed at his neck with his right hand. "You're rather bony you know," he chided the Egyptologist.
"Jess?" Daniels quipped as he noticed the woman upright, stiff and staring directly beside the fire as if something was there.
"The girl had a nightmare," Ardeth explained calmly as he took a step towards her. "Or perhaps a vision from Set," he added scornfully.
"Ah good," Jonathan chirped with a smile. His smile wilted slightly at the glower Henderson gave him and Evelyn's chiding tut. "Oh I don't mean that," he retorted hastily, "just that it's good there's no mummy."
"No eyes," Jess muttered hoarsely, "no eyes, mummy can't see."
"What horror did Set plague you with?" Ardeth demanded as he cast the girl in his shadow, blocking her sight of whatever she thought was beside the fire.
When Ardeth moved into her vision, banishing the horror of her undead mother, Jess flinched and her eyes rolled up to the nomad in confusion. She was so pale she looked grey in the faint light and her skin was shiny with sweat. Ardeth noted the cloudiness at the edge of her eyes and wondered if the wound that created her limp was starting to become infected. "What chaos did you bring on yourself?"
"It was just a nightmare," Evelyn remarked haughtily, "no need to assume a god was involved. Leave the poor woman alone."
Daniels reached out a hand to the woman and found her own burning and sweaty. "Jess," he called to her, prompting her to turn his way sharply. "Are you alright?" He saw the same thing Ardeth did- sweaty skin, an unhealthy pallor, and a fogginess in her gaze.
She shook her head and made as if to withdraw from the American, pausing when she heard footsteps on the ground. It was Henderson, who stopped at her left side and crouched before her with a curious look. "Was it a bad dream?" he queried with a small, kind smile.
Jess turned to the blonde this time and retorted quietly, "somewhat."
Henderson frowned and pressed the back of his hand against her brow. "You're burning up," he scorned. "That leg of yours must have gotten worse."
"It's fine," she murmured as she shook off his hand and finally seemed to return to her senses.
"It's the wrath of Set, between him and the creature none of you will have long now," Ardeth warned.
"Ah the doom and gloom again," Jonathan commented with fake cheerfulness, "I suppose it has been at least two hours since we last had that."
"Okay you," Rick addressed Ardeth bluntly as he pointed at him, "enough of the curses and death, save it for morning. And you, Jonathan, leave Dr. Chamberlain alone already, the man doesn't deserve to be elbowed constantly, the building's big enough for all of us. And you, Jess, no more nightmares, let's just get through this night already."
"And then what?" Daniels queried testily.
"And then we continue on our way to Cairo, hopefully without anymore mummies Mr. Daniels," Rick answered flatly as he lay back down. "Now, if anyone else wants to stay awake they can go outside and keep watch for mummies."
"Off to sleep then," Jonathan remarked brightly as he nestled back against the wall but not before forking his tongue out at Dr. Chamberlain childishly.
Henderson sighed before glancing from Jess to Daniels and then back to Burns. Burns had remained quiet throughout the brief ordeal but was noticeably troubled as he turned about the room searchingly, his hands reaching out across the floor as if hoping to brush against someone. "I'll go back to Bernie," the blonde said quietly. "David be nice and keep an eye on Miss Jess, she's getting feverish whether she wants to admit to it or not."
"I'll be fine," Jess grumbled.
"I don't doubt it," Henderson retorted with a grin before he finally retreated back to Burns. He gave his friend's right shoulder a consoling squeeze before he took a seat beside him.
Ardeth finally retreated leaving Jess to tense and squint at the fireside once more but there was no one there.
"Has it gone?" Daniels queried quietly.
"Huh?" Jess turned and looked at the Texan in puzzlement.
"Whatever you think you saw standing by that fire, has it gone?" Daniels asked.
"Yes, it was just...a dream," she retorted weakly even as she turned back to the fire with uncertainty.
"Stop staring then," he advised bluntly as he leaned back against the block behind him.
She gave him an annoyed look before making as if to move away from him but his hand grasped her sweaty fingers once more and held her in place. "You might be burning up but I'm still bloody freezing," he chided, "so just stay where you are."
Jess frowned but obeyed anyway, moving back up beside Daniels. She lay beside him with her head upright against the limestone block as she kept a suspicious stare on the spot beside the fire.
"Stop looking," Daniels murmured in her ear as he placed his hands across his stomach and shut his eyes tiredly.
The party arose a couple of hours after dawn, which came hot and golden, seeming to banish the spectre of the night, and turning the merciless blue seas of sand to a rich, enticing gold. The white light of the rising sun pierced through the gaps of the ruined building warming and awakening the weary adventurers one by one.
Henderson snickered when he spied Jess lying with her head on Daniels' chest and murmured teasingly, "you cosy David?"
Daniels glared up at his friend with a heated indigo gaze before he made to shift the young woman. He realised his shirt had a damp patch where her head was resting and frowned as he guessed it was sweat. The woman let out a groan that sounded as if she were in pain when he tried to move her, prompting him to murmur, "it's okay, time to go is all."
Jess opened her eyes at last, they were bloodshot and still a little clouded at the edges. She rubbed them tiredly with one hand before tugging off the fedora, finding it heavy and uncomfortable on her sore head. She passed the hat to Daniels with another groan before rubbing at her frizzy hair and attempting to stand. She wobbled and leaned to the right slightly before resting on her knees with a weary look.
Ardeth and his companions passed round the canteens of water they had and Jess was quick to take a deep gulp from one when it came her way, telling herself that she was merely suffering from thirst and fatigue.
"Can I see your leg?" Ardeth quipped as he stood before Jess once more. "I might be able to help."
Jess frowned up at him and grumbled, "how, by cutting it off to appease Set?"
Henderson let out an appreciative snort at that whilst Jonathan paled at the thought and Rick shook his head scornfully.
Ardeth gave the woman a scolding look in response before replying calmly, "by treating it to undo whatever infection may have come upon it."
Jess sighed and, deciding there was little to lose, she stretched out the offending limb with a wince and rolled up her trouser leg to expose the bandaged wound. The bandage was now a golden brown with drying pus and blood.
"Hmm maybe I was mistaken," Ardeth mused dryly, "maybe it's not Set trying to kill you, seems you might be able to kill yourself without help."
"I'd have got it looked at in Cairo," she murmured sulkily.
The nomad kneeled down before her and extended out two hands, pausing to look at her questioningly. "May I?" he queried politely. Jess nodded and he hastily undid the foul bandage, discarding it to one side with ease.
Henderson wrinkled his nose slightly at the sight of the wound. He had seen worse and for a burn it wasn't bad and the infection was mild but it was still a budding infection and the wound was still sore looking. The skin was swollen and red around the exposed wound, which had drying flecks of golden-brown at its edges and a thick blood congealing at its centre.
Ardeth hunted in his robes before producing a small, brown, clay jar with a cork stopper in it. "This will sting," he warned, "but it will clear the worst of it." He tugged out the cork and poured its contents liberally onto the wound without waiting for permission.
Jess let out a hiss of pain followed by several curses.
"Most unlady like," Dr. Chamberlain chided.
"Really?" Jess snapped sardonically through gritted teeth. "Only now am I unlady like?"
"She makes a valid point," Rick commented approvingly.
Ardeth pocketed the now empty jar and tugged out a small pot. "A balm to help the wound heal quicker," he explained before opening the pot. Inside was a pale green tinted cream that he rubbed onto the wound gently. Once this was done he cut off a strip of cloth from his robe with a dagger and used this to re-bandage the wound, pinning it together with a brass clip Evelyn offered hastily.
"Thanks," Jess remarked grudgingly before she allowed the nomad to help her to her feet. "You're nice for a man who thinks I've brought the wrath of a chaos god onto the country."
"And a creature who will bring forth the plagues of Egypt," Ardeth added frostily.
"That wasn't me," Jess answered defensively, "I just happened to be there, by coincidence, guilt by association."
"Oh really," Evelyn grumbled as she threw her hands up in the air in mock desperation and rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry I read from the book, alright!"
"Good, I'm sure that's all our undead friend needed to hear," Rick joked, "now that you've apologised he'll go right back to sleeping in the desert."
Evelyn gave him an unimpressed glower as she lowered her arms and folded them. "How was I to know a mummy could be brought back to life? Did you know that Mr. O'Connell?"
"No but I wasn't the one who tempted fate."
"Well they broke the chest!" Evelyn snapped as she gestured across to Daniels, Henderson and Burns.
"And they've been cursed too, don't worry," Rick continued to mock, "the mummy won't play favourites I'm sure."
"That is not a thing to joke about," Henderson snarled angrily as Burns let out a slight whimper.
Rick had the grace to look apologetic as he glanced over at the blonde and his blind companion. "You're right, let's just get to Cairo already."