The Medjai's Keeper

Chapter 5

After settling a couple necessary items in her dormitory, Aurelia decided to lay in bed for some relaxation. That was how most of her afternoon consisted of. She looked up at the ceiling. The riverboat was to take them a step closer to their destination, Hamunaptra. 

Thinking about what Burns mentioned earlier, 'City of the Dead' she thought it was a pretty wicked name to call a city. She really hoped whatever they all were getting themselves into, it won't be a violation to its history. 

She never really understood the joy of taking ancient antiques from their original place, claiming them, and making profit out of it, however she couldn't really say much, everyone does something that someone else doesn't approve of.  

She had so many unanswered questions, her curiosity seemed to develop even more with each second passing by. Rick just told her about Hamunaptra being this 'lost city' with rumors about a lot of gold artifacts. He did sometimes mention about the possibility of the place being 'cursed' but Aurelia didn't believe in any of that paranormal stuff. And she also knew wondering at the ceiling wasn't going to answer any of them. 

With a sigh she got up from bed, straightened her outfit, and walked out of the room to look for her companions. Her room was located on the right side of the ship, viewing both the beautiful sunset sky and soft waves of the river. 

Out of the corner of the hall she heard some piano music playing faintly and the bickering of passengers. With a final turn she came into view with Burns and his three buddies separated on almost all sides of the round-table playing cards, Jonathan included, meanwhile the good ole doctor sat at another table near them most likely reading some notes of his research. 

Getting closer she noticed it was the stoic one shuffling the cards. She watched him slam the cards on the table, "quit playing with your glasses and cut the deck, would you Burns?"

Burns cleaning his glasses replied calmly, "without my glasses I can't see the deck to cut it, can I, Dave?" Daniels stood quiet. 

She laughed. Excellent, right on time, she thought.

Henderson was the first one to look up and notice her presence, "Ah miss Aurelia!"

"And here I thought she bailed on us" Daniels mumbled.

"She would never." Burns finished with a snicker. She smiled and waved as she sat down in between him and Jonathan. 

"Ah O'Connell! I see you met our dearest rivals." Jon gushed while giving her a nod in bewilderment.

"Rivals? Oh good heavens! You men and your competitiveness." she shook her head in disapproval. "Not even the first day and already scorching one another." 

"Well we did place a bet on who'd get to Hamunaptra first." 

"Can't you guys just get to Hamunaptra together? And boom! No money taken from a bet. " She replied in a duh tone.

"And share the gold together?" Henderson gave her an incredulous look, "Oh no miss."

All of the present men nodded in agreement.

"Oh goodness." She face palmed herself, "Fine. Enough of this talk. "She grabbed the cards on the deck, "Gentlemen," she gave them a taunting look, "Let the games begin."

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The game went on for about thirty minutes until it became noticeably the chirps of the birds completely quietened. The dark eerie night sky settled in. Shuffle after shuffle, their surroundings became a blur as each one of  them were immensely focused on this everlasting battle. Because of this choice, they failed to realize the Medjai's were successful in nearing onto the steamboat, unnoticed.