[DISCONTINUED UFN] BENEATH SANDS OF BLOOD ⟶ THE MUMMY 1999/2017

𝐢𝐯 ⟶ 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬

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"The sweet taste of despair. . ."

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CAIRO PRISON
CAIRO, EGYPT
1926

PRISONS HAD CERTAINLY CHANGED FROM FLORENCE'S YOUNGER DAYS.

As the Warden of Cairo Prison ushered the woman and her siblings in, she had to turn her nose up at the smell. Gad Hassan was his name, she remembered, and the woman's eyes flicked to him briefly. He was greedy. That much she could tell. And not in the classy sort of way. He would do anything for some money, and Florence always saw those sort of people as below her.

"Welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble home," the Warden all but shouted. He waved his arms about a bit, reminding Florence of the wardens of old. Perhaps it was simply a sort of personality that the job made one take on - proud to be Warden, but overcompensating for only being the guard of such a small place. Some things simply didn't change, did they?

"You told me you got it on a dig down in Thebes!" The exasperated tone of Evie's brought Florence back to the present, shaking her out of her thoughts. The elder woman turned, darkened eyes landing on her siblings. Another spat. Though, to be fair, it was amusing to watch.

"Yeah, well, I was mistaken."

"You lied to me!"

"I lie to everybody. What makes you so special?"

"I am your sister."

"Yes, well, that just makes you more gullible--"

"Jonathon, you stole it from a drunk at the local casbah!"

"Evie, Jon. Let's not fight. Come now, can we be civil for a minute at least?" Florence scolded, turning to them after a long moment. The bickering was amusing until it wasn't. Now it was annoying, and she wanted to get on with fetching the man who knew the way to the city. The Medjai had seen fit to curse her so that she could never find the city on her own. No amount of magic or even godlike power could assist her. Only a human, and a mortal one, could show her the way to Hamunapatra.

As if curses weren't annoying enough, Florence didn't like her choice of clothing. She would much rather be in old Egyptian linen than this modern skirt and shirt. It had taken her a little bit to get used to such an outfit. Heavy fabrics and hats were certainly different from what she was accustomed to, and not in a welcome way. How did modern women bear this?

"Stop being so ridiculous!" Evie's voice dominated Jon's as she practically dragged him to a particular cell. "Now, what exactly is this man in prison for?"

"This I did not know," the Warden replied, but his eyes weren't on Evie's face. Florence rolled her own briefly. A quick mutter took care of his wandering eyes, with a particularly nasty mosquito biting at his neck. "But... when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself."

"And what did he say?" Evie asked.

"He said he was just looking for a good time." The Warden scoffed at his own words, but he immediately backed away when the man was brought out of the cell. The man wasn't the cleanliest, dressed in torn and stained clothing. His chestnut hair was in tangles and looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. He clearly hadn't shaved for a little bit too.

Despite all these cons, Florence's wine-red lips were curled into an almost predatory grin. Oh, she remembered him. In fact, Florence knew this man well. He was the key to her plans, and he would play a very special role. So special that she had to watch him for years, ensure that the right things happened so that he would end up in prison on this day, awaiting her arrival. He certainly didn't know it, nor did the fools standing at her side, but Florence was happy. Everything was beginning to fall into place.