Title:
Fury - Chapter Ten – The Arms Of Those Who Remember Us
Rating:
PG13 prolly eventually
Author:
Angel - ninthsaturn@yahoo.com - http://oocities.com/saturnfiction
Summary:
Evy finds a secret temple that holds an ancient deadly force. Cataclysm ensues.
Notes:
Set about a year after The Mummy. An alternate "Mummy Returns"
of sorts. At this point I have a vague idea of where this story will go,
so bear with me...and possible name changes. :D I haven't written Mummy
in a while, so if this little prologue sucks, I apologize. :D
Disclaimer:
No infringement intended.
Codes:
Imhotep/Evy, Ardeth/Meela
*
Meela and
Ardeth stood together in the lobby of the hotel. She was decorated in a
fine, long dress of silken white and wore a brimmed hat that was also white but
dressed in black trim that matched her coat. Her lips were stained in
that every present red she seemed fond of. She smiled at Ardeth and
looked him over.
Ardeth
didn't return the smile, but turned away and looked at his reflection in one of
the large mirrors in the grand lobby. His clothes were black,
non-descript but nice. They were close...very close to the other
seal. All that would be left is the one in Cairo, assuming O'Connell
didn't have it. But Ardeth had a feeling that his American friend would
in fact be in possession of it. He was resourceful and quick, and headed
towards the right city. Something must have tipped him off.
The plan
was, for now, to get a hotel room and settle in. He scowled at the idea
of spending another moment with her, much less sharing a room. But he was
keeping his temper in check. His worn emotions had gotten the best of him
before, but never again. He would obey without question until he found a
window - and there would be one - and then kill her or find some other way out
of this mess. She wasn't going to win. Final.
"Excuse
me, ma'am," said a soft female voice from the front desk. Ardeth had
never laid eyes on so many pale people in all his life. They had escaped
the sun blasted deserts of his origin and it showed. He looked down and
winked at a little girl no more than three, who had platinum hair and the
lightest blue eyes he'd ever seen. She smiled bashfully and batted her
eyelashes, hiding behind her father's leg. "Can I help you?"
Meela
stepped up to the front desk and inclined her head. "Yes,
please. My name is Niyati Aggarwal and this..." she paused to look
at Ardeth as he turned around, "this is my husband Amar. We would
like a room, please."
Ardeth
sighed as Meela made the arrangements. She seemed to like the irritation
it caused him whenever she referred to him as anything close to being
hers. Placing his hands in his pockets, he strolled off, ever aware that
she'd ordered him for the time being not to enter another room without
her. The spell kept him bound to this lobby and eventually to their room
and wherever else she wanted. "Amar?" he heard faintly and
almost didn't respond to the alien name.
With a
frown he turned and looked to her expectantly. She watched him with
bright eyes, a sly expression on her face. "Are we ready to go to
the room?" he asked curtly.
"Yes,"
Meela replied shortly, pointing a bell boy to their small luggage.
"We will follow him upstairs and unpack. The two of us have much
planning to do." She flashed a friendly smile to the handsome youth
that took their suitcases. "I'm very excited about touring London
and I bet you know all the best places to have breakfast?" She
seemed to have a way with people he noted.
Ardeth
stopped paying attention to the chatter being exchanged and followed in
silence. It was colder here in England. Today was a gray and rainy
day and the air was cold. A far cry from the desert life he was
accustomed to, but he found it pleasant to experience the home of the
Carnahans' finally. He sighed, remembering Evy.
He pushed
her from his memory as they came upon their room. It was decorated
serenely in shades of blue that were calming to the eyes. Meela gave the
attendant some money and sent him out, closing the door behind her.
Ardeth sank into a chair, not removing his coat. The rain had chilled
him. She pursed her lips and watched him thoughtfully. "I
suppose the first thing we should do tonight is find out whether or not our
friends are here. It's possible they don't know we knew to come
here."
"And
if they are?" he asked in low tones.
Ancksunamun
came to him and touched his face gently, making him glare up at her.
"I could make you love me, Ardeth."
He gripped
her wrist and pushed it away. "It would not be me that loved
you." His gaze softened as he looked into her dark eyes. They
seemed almost vulnerable sometimes. Certainly Ancksunamun had never known
true love, or even if Imhotep had really loved her that much, by then she'd
given herself to Set. "Why do you delight in evil? You can
find happiness without solitude."
She only
held his eyes a moment longer, then pulled away from him. She seemed
bothered as she stalked to the window and drew back the drapes. "We
have work tonight. Get up. We're going to go pay the Carnahan
residence a visit."
Ardeth
stood quickly and waited while she threw her suitcase onto the bed and opened
it. Rifling through it's contents, she pulled the Seal of Horus out and
hid it within her coat. She must mean to keep it safe, he observed,
still wondering what was going on in her mind. Maybe violence wasn't the
way to deal with her. Maybe something else entirely would work.
He'd have to consider it carefully.
The ride
there wasn't long. They'd gotten on a bus and after Meela provided the
driver with directions, the ride hadn't been but five minutes away. The
bus stopped a ways off from the main part of town, before a few small
businesses. Left in the rain, Ardeth drew his coat around him and
followed without question as she started down a side road that had some few
homes built down it. They were large manors that made Ardeth wonder about
the families inside.
His hair
was starting to get damp in the sprinkling mist of rain and his body felt colder,
almost like a fevered chill. "Is it far?" he asked. She
shook her head in reply, but offered nothing else. Meela didn't speak
until they came before a large gate. He peered inside at the large,
lifeless house. Then he eyed the lock on the gate meaningfully.
"This is their home?"
Ancksunamun
nodded and looked through the bars. "It's in the middle of the
day. At this time the gate should have been open. They are not
here."
He grunted
at that. "Shall we return to the hotel?"
"Not right
away," she replied, rubbing her bottom lip thoughtfully. She smiled
and toughed the large lock with her hand and began murmuring softly.
Ardeth watched what she was doing, wondering how she was going to manage
breaking into the estate. Before his eyes something began taking shape in
her hand...a key. She turned it and the gate opened. "An
illusion," Meela supplied at his questioning glance. "The spell
felt the shape of the lock and created a temporary key for me. Let's go
inside the house and look around."
Ardeth
inhaled deeply and followed, wondering what she had planned.
*
Evy looked
at herself in the mirror, fiddling with her hair and trying to get it to
mind. She'd pinned it up, as per usual, but it was having a little
problem with staying in place. Rolling her eyes, she stepped back and
looked at the whole effect. The air above water was chilly, so she'd
taken to wearing a nay blue sweater over her white shirt and black skirt.
Overall it was satisfactory, she decided.
Putting the
top back on her powder jar, Evelyn folded her arms and exited the room.
She supposed paying the boys a visit would do her some good. This morning
had been dreary and the weight on her shoulders had added to the down
atmosphere. The hallways of the boat's interior were white and pleasant
enough, but she really looked forward to getting home. They would arrive
at England sometime in the middle of the night and she was very grateful for
that. Perhaps being home would take some of the pressure off.
Rick, Jonathan
and Imhotep were bunked in a large room together. Of course Rick had been
against Imhotep being there. He'd even suggested - jokingly, Evy hoped -
that they leave the priest on the deck. But Jonathan had brilliantly
remarked that if Imhotep were in the same room, he could be watched. And
so Rick relented. Evy knocked at the door and waited.
To her
surprise it was Imhotep who answered. He was wearing black, had insisted
his new clothes be black, and looked as uncomfortable in the modern attire as
unnatural. He looked at her and went back in, sitting on a couch in the
small sitting room. "Nefertiri," he greeted, picking up a book
and looking through it. He had it upside down, Evy noticed and smiled.
She sat
down beside him and took the book, turning it the right way. It was a
book of abstract drawings. She handed it back. "Why do you
call me that?" she finally asked.
He blinked,
looking up at her from a strange picture. "It is your name," he
answered simply, watching her.
Evy smiled
at him and looked down, raising her eyebrows. As far as she knew Evelyn
and Nefertiri never shared any common background. "You do realize
that the others call me 'Evy', right?"
"Yes,"
the priest said, nodding. He reached up and she moved away, but he frowned
sternly and reached again. She let him this time. His fingers
delicately traced her hairline and traveled through her hair. The pins
she'd worked so hard on getting placed were removed quite easily and she
scowled. "Do you not know who you are, princess?" She
shook her head and he sighed. "I knew you once, a long time
ago. Daughter of Seti, you were proud and beautiful. We...were
friends. Now you are here, reincarnated and different, yet the
same. Do you remember when I first took you from your people, I said,
"Come with me, my princess" and held out my hand?"
"Yes,"
she answered, swallowing at this knowledge he was revealing. She
was an Egyptian princess? "Maybe I just look like her."
Imhotep
shook his head. "I do not think so. You feel like her.
When I first saw you, the eyes I had were not clear, but I could sense I knew
your soul. This is why I mistook you for Ancksunamun. Later I saw
your face and knew you to be Nefertiri." He watched her expression,
seeing she still was doubtful.
"What
are you doing?" she asked as he suddenly pressed his hand to her
forehead. Evy tried to back away, but he wrapped his other arm around her
waist and didn't let go. He started chanting, but for the life of her Evy
couldn't make out what he was saying. She felt dizzy and distant, like
she wasn't even really all here. When he stopped, she slumped and caught
her breath. "What have you done to me?"
Imhotep
didn't make any move to be sure she was okay, merely watched her
struggle. "I have created a link from your spirit to your
mind. The memories will come to you slowly and we shall see who you
really were."
Instinctively,
Evy searched her mind for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed silly,
she knew, but she had to know what he'd done. Apparently this was
different than what had happened to Meela. Meela had seemed to virtually
change into Ancksunamun, but still held the memories of her present
incarnation. She sighed and looked him over, having mixed feelings about
him being here. "Why did you save my life?" she asked him.
The priest
swallowed and furrowed his brow, searching himself. Apparently he was
having trouble deciphering his reasoning too. Finally he looked away,
resting his eyes on the stucco walls. "I find betrayal to be distasteful,"
he told her finally.
She had to
say it, even though it likely wasn't a good idea. "Like you betrayed
my father?" My father?
He appeared
distinctly uncomfortable with that statement and anger flashed through his
expression. Yet he didn't take it out on her, but merely stated, "I
do not claim to be without blame. I've suffered for my transgression and
now so will the Med-Jai for what he did to you." His fist tightened
as he focused his anger of ages on Ardeth. Evy wasn't sure what to feel
about that. The bond she had felt for Ardeth made her against Imhotep
avenging her, but there was a part of her that was furious at the Med-Jai for
causing her to ache inside. He'd taken something precious from her - his
friendship.
It was too
painful. She couldn't think about it right now, so she changed the
subject. "Where are Jonathan and Rick? Did they leave you all
alone?"
Imhotep
nodded, his eyes no less hard. Not until he looked at her. Then
they grew soft, an expression she remembered him having just before he tried to
raise Ancksunamun. "Your brother invited me to drink with them, but
the Greek Med-Jai would hear nothing of it."
She
blinked. "Greek Med-Jai?"
The priest
smiled at her surprised stature. "Rick," he said, frowning at
the taste of the alien word. "I knew him too."
Evelyn
stood up and gazed at the door. "Why don't you and I wander around
and see if we can find them? Rick would like to hear this, I
think." She held out her hand before she even thought not to.
Imhotep
took it with a small grin and went with her. Evy pursed her lips and
wondered what memories of her past awaited her, and why she seemed a little
more comfortable with this dreaded priest than before--almost as if she knew
him.
*
Ardeth paced
down a hallway, examining the pretty pictures that hung on the walls.
Exploring the Carnahan home proved to relax him - as much as one could relax in
his place. This was frustrating and maddening and any other bad emotion
you could imagine yourself having. It was hell.
She'd left
him here. Meela had left him here, waiting for his friends to return
home. Waiting to kill them if he could. The Book of Amun Ra was in
his hands; he couldn't leave it behind at command, and would be his means of
getting rid of Imhotep. And once the priest was mortal again, Ancksunamun
had commanded that he kill him, then his friends. The pull at his will
drove him to madness. He couldn't kill them. He wouldn't!
And yet the
spell made him hunger to do it. He stopped, forcing himself to
relax. Being angry would cloud his judgment and make matters worse.
He had to find a way to keep himself from causing them harm, but what? If
they happened to come home anytime soon, he would be forced to act out the
commands that the spell had on him. Meela would go in the morning, by
herself, and get the seal from the museum. She would kill people in order
to get it, and he could do nothing to stop that, much less stop himself when
his friends returned. That was if they returned.
It was that
'if' he was counting on. With every ounce of hope within he was praying
they didn't know where the final seal was and wouldn't think to come
back. But what if they did? What could he do? His mind raced,
trying to come up with a way to cover all the bases.
His dark
eyes glanced up, meeting a photo of Evy on the wall and the pain of her death
washed over him once more. The memory of her face and the reality of what
he'd done. She was gone. And then it hit him. Meela had
commanded that he stay in this house until the job was done or she came for
him, but she hadn't commanded that he live. A chill passed through him at
the images of possible ways entered his mind. End his life that they may
live.
It made his
pulse race and his stomach hurt. He didn't want it all to end here.
His mind flicked to Abdu and he trembled at the thought of not knowing how the
young man grew up. And what of the rest of his people, his friends and
family? Would the last thing he laid his eyes upon be this house in a
strange land? Would they even do him the honor of giving his body to his
people to rest where his home was?
He began
walking again, unnerved by the conclusion he'd come to. Everything in him
cried out against dying, but he had to do whatever he could to keep everyone
safe. Ardeth descended the main stairs and wandered into a living room
with large, comfortable couches. He could simply lay upon one and take
his scimitar...
Someone
banged on the door and Ardeth jumped at the unexpected interruption to his dark
thoughts. Forgetting his private wonderings for the moment, he turned and
headed towards the main entrance. Who could it be and would they make an
issue of him not being one of the usual inhabitants? He silently thanked
Meela for obviously forgetting to lock the gate back. Hopefully he would
get arrested. He opened the door.
A young man
stood in a navy uniform. His eyes widened at the sight of the large and
built Med-Jai. He held out a piece of paper. "Telegram for
Rick O'Connell."
Ardeth
clasped the paper and held to it, nodding. "Thank you."
The young man eyed him for a moment, then turned away. Ardeth closed the
door and held the paper up to the light. What he saw made his blood run
cold. Apparently he and Meela had been seen leaving Egypt and Ali had
sent this telegram to warn them to be mindful. That meant they were on
their way...could get here very soon. He simply had to find a way to stop
himself from hurting them.
But how?
*
Imhotep
watched Nefertiri sleep soundly on the chair. They hadn't planned on
going to bed, but apparently she had needed a nap. Her arms were on the
arms of the chair and her body slumped down. She looked like a queen that
had fallen asleep on her throne and he smiled. Nefertiri whimpered in her
sleep and he knew she was dreaming of what was. What would she think of
who she had been...who they had been?
And in what
they had been lay why he had given her back her life. She'd caused the
greatest pain in his life - twice, yet he couldn't remain angry right
now. Something always brought them together, even if they hated each
other passionately. He idly wondered what moment she was reliving
now. "Sleep on, my princess," he breathed, finally pulling his
eyes away. Carnahan and O'Connell were playing a game with cards.
Neither had heard him whisper, nor cared that he was mesmerized by the dozing
woman.
And so he
continued his private vigil, wondering to himself what she was seeing in her
dreams.
*
Nefertiri
gazed at her reflection in the small pool of water in the gardens beneath her
apartments. Her hair was in place and her makeup was nicely done.
Her body had been bathed in the scent of flowers. All in all she was
satisfied with her appearance. She smiled slyly, hearing deliberately
quieted footsteps. Her hearing was very keen.
Even
still, she pretended to startle when he knelt down behind and wrapped his arms
around her. He cupped his hand over her lips in an attempt to scare her,
but she remained still. "You look lovely today, Princess."
Nefertiri
pushed his hand away and turned around in his arms. The High Priest of
Osiris was lavish in the attention he gave to her. They had been good
friends since she'd been a young girl of fourteen, but as time passed she
perceived a change in their relationship. She put on a pretty smile and
touched his cheek. "Thank you, High Priest," she laughed at his
formality.
Imhotep
was a kind man, complex and strong. Handsome. His smile was enough
to make her pause and stop breathing. He looked her over, still holding
her close. "I mean what I say, Nefertiri. You
look...amazing." His voice was soft.
"What
has gotten into you? More wine?" she asked playfully.
His
smile didn't fade, but he held her closer now, looking at her lips.
"How long will you make me wait?" he asked with a sly grin.
This was
one of Imhotep's more pleasing sides, even if he were only playing with
her. What should she say to this? She wanted him to mean it, but of
course he never did. Well, if he could joke, so could she. "No
longer," she replied dramatically, wrapping her hand behind his neck and
leaning forward to kiss him.
Expecting
him to be making his usual jest, she was surprised when his lips actually did
press over hers. Definitely not joking. Her eyes closed as he
parted her lips and sent his kiss deeper while his hands found other places to
explore. "Imhotep," she breathed when he let her lips go to
find her throat. She pulled him closer, reveling in the seriousness of
what they were doing.
"I
could not have waited longer," he mumbled between kissing her bare
shoulder. He gently pushed her to the ground and looked into her eyes,
hovering on his knees above. "The joke is over, Nefertiri. I
cannot hide myself from you anymore. What would you have me do?
Leave you now or love you?" Imhotep's gaze was now unguardedly hot
and his emotions clearly displayed. What did she truly want? Her
decision would be final, she knew. If she told him to leave he would and
likely never return. If she told him to love her...
Slowly
her hand traveled his thigh and to his loincloth. She gripped the top
near his belly button and with a smile, yanked him down.
*
Another
chapter ended..whew. Again, truuzt me. Please. :) And
Montana, yer last threat didn't work cause I'm a person that who, if I had been
Evy, when Imhotep reached his hand out and asked her to come, would have raised
my fist, jerked my hand down and cried, "Yes!" ;) Glad
you're all enjoying and sorry I hurt Ardeth for a while, but such is the nature
of Meela. Just think of it as "character growth", my
friends. And thanks for the reviews...they let me know what you all are
thinking and how to proceed. :) -Angel