✘ 'The Journey.' The Mummy, Ardeth Bay x OC Soulmate!

Chapter 4

"How beautifully neat!"
"How romantic; now he can find you!"
"I wonder what they mean?"
"Are they apart of a poem to you?"
"How sweet!"
"How lovely!"

These sentences were cooed everywhere in the dressing room, because the women were helping me change and warm up.  So obviously, they saw my tattoos, so I had to explain that they were my soulmate's.  And since then, they have been cooing, oohing and aahing at them.  They obviously spoke in Arabic though, and didn't know what they meant either.  Eventually, I got through the oohs and aahs, and finally have my own dress.  It was black with long sleeves and the skirt part reached my ankles.  I had pants underneath and the skirt wasn't restricting, so I could easily run from danger if those, 'Medjai' reappear.  Soulmate or not; I wanna stay with my sister and brother, and Rick too I guess, and NOT be kidnapped...thank-you very much.

I had a pair of gloves, a black mask to cover my cheek tattoos and a veil to go in front of my face and a scarf to go over my head and neck to keep the sun off.  My outfit was outlined and decorated with gold.  Evie's was very similar, except instead of gold, she had silver.  Evie and I looked identical now, except our eyes which were also lined with kohl and she had silver accents, and were both ready to greet the men.  Thanking the generous women who insisted we don't pay, we left the store and greeted the men who had bought a few camels.

"Awfully tempting, wasn't it?"  Jonathan questioned Rick.  Who knows what on Earth they're talking about.

"Awfully.."  Rick replied dreamily.  I noticed he was looking towards a suddenly less confident and more shy Evie, who was blushing under her veil.  I smirked knowingly.  They're perfect for each other.  I heard Jonathan sigh as we mounted our camels--a camel each.  Rick led the way, then Evie, then me, then Jonathan and then the Warden at the rear.  As we trekked to Hamunaptra on our camels, Jonathan began to speak again when we had made some good distance between us and that town.

"Never did like camels."  He told us.  "Filthy buggers."  He continued slowly.  "They smell."
I looked at the Warden who was definitely apart of that definition.
"They bite."
The Warden grossly tore cooked flesh from his chicken leg and grossly smacked on it.
"They spit."
The Warden spit to the side.

"Disgusting."  Jonathan and I nodded at the same time with pretty disgusted faces.  I forgot he was talking about the camels after watching the Warden, and Jonathan thought I was just agreeing with him.

"I think they're adorable!"  Evie cooed, petting her camel's head.

"Wait-"  I paused, "Wha-?  Oh!  The camel!  R-Right--!  Y-Yes, I'm gonna stop talking now."  I chuckled nervously.  They raised their eyebrows at me, but I just blushed and looked down to the sandy ground.  So they shrugged it off with a few chuckles and we continued peacefully.  Hours and hours of travel passed and everyone fell asleep by the time it was quite dark and we were only travelling under moonlight.  Rick and I were awake, unlike the others who were sleeping and riding, but I felt myself falling asleep.  But here's the difficult part:  I'd fall off the camel if I fell asleep.  Because it's happened before and I can't sleep upright.

I watched as Rick smiled sweetly at a sleeping Evie riding beside him.  He fixed her position quite carefully, so she wouldn't fall off and wouldn't wake up.  It was super sweet to watch.  I rapidly shook my head and peeled my eyes open.  I'll be sleeping the moment I lay down tomorrow, it seems.  Evie's camel groaned quite loudly, so Rick quietly shushed the creature so it wouldn't wake Evie.  I looked around us and saw nearby, high cliffs to our right with horses and 'Medjai' on top.  I saw Rick spotted them too and turned to me in worry.  I had told my siblings (and Rick) what that man said to me on the boat and I have a feeling he told whoever was in charge.  Lucky, lucky, me...

They were very shocked and surprised; but also happy that we got a answers for my tattoos.  We've spent years trying to figure out, not only what language they're from, but also what they say.  They felt bad though, because they were worried my soulmate might take me away from them while we were at Hamunaptra.  Subconsciously, I pulled my mask up more as a nervous habit.  By the time the sun was starting to rise, we woke the others up.  We were riding alongside a sandy dune cliffside.  When we had ridden just past it, right beside us, or on the other side of it, were the Americans from the boat, and they were being led by Beni.

"Good morning, my friend!"  The Hungarian man greeted enthusiastically as we all halted to a stop; the Americans too.

"What the hell are we doin'?"  An American asked quite rudely; obviously annoyed we've all stopped.

"Patience, my good barat'm...patience."  Beni told him.  Another American took the opportunity to remind Rick of something.

"Don't forget our bet, O-Connell!  First one to the city gets five hundred cash bucks!"  He then turned to Beni, "A hundred of those bucks is yours, if you help us win that bet."  He told the Hungarian man.

"Oh--my pleasure to be of service."  He smiled greedily.  Beni then turned to O-Connell, "Hey O-Connell--nice camel you got there!"  Rick said nothing and simply pet his camel on its neck with a smile.  Then his attention sparked to the horizon when the sun began to come up.

"Get ready."  Rick ordered us.

"Ready for what?"  Evie asked with confusion sprawled across her features.  I pulled my own mask down to show my personal confusion as well.

"We're about to be shown the way."  Was all Rick replied with.  'Ominous.'   I thought.  The sun rose past the horizon and over the hills and sandy mountains, appearing to shine down a hallucination of something in the distance.  Then the 'hallucination' of a city covered in sand, became more formed and sturdy--then; it stayed completely still, like a proper city with stone would.  The guy who reminded Rick of his bet was the first to speak.

"Well, will ya look at that!"

"Can you believe it?"  Another American asked with surprise.

"Hamunaptra..."  Came another shocked response.

"Here we go again..."  Rick sighed...he definitely did not sound up for doing this all over again.  Yet here we are.  Then, the race to the city began.  Beni and Rick in the lead, Evie and I right behind and everyone else rode behind us.  Beni began to hit Rick with his riding crop, until Rick took advantage of this situation, grabbed the riding crop and pushed Beni off his own camel.  "So long, Beni!"  Rick laughed.  Evie raced past Rick, so I did my best to follow.

"That serves you right, Beni!"  I laughed, passing him.  He just looked at me confused with a look of:  'Do I know you and are you important?'  Rather rude, but whatever...I guess it could've been rude of me to laugh at him....so....Even Steven.  I watched as Evie took the lead and was the first to get into the city, then Rick, then me and then everyone else.

"Woohoo, Girls!"  Jonathan called ahead to us, just before everyone else entered the city.

"Wait, what about me?"  Rick scrunched up his face at Jonathan.

"You too, you too."  He nodded quickly, quite willing to save his own skin as fast as possible.  We made a plan with the Americans after we got the money, and we set up our camp on one part of Hamunaptra, and the Americans set up on the other side.  Then, Evie lead us all to a digsite and handed us a mirror.  A whole mirror.

I know there are going to be more mirrors down below, but that doesn't change how hard it is to setup the one up top to shine down and stay in place.  Then we let a rope down and Jonathan made Rick go first.  Then Evie and I slid down after.