| THE ADVENTURES OF THE O'CONNELL FAMILY Page 56 |
| away with the spear still sticking out of his ribs. Evelyn picked up the dropped sword and ran in to fight with one of the men that was ganging up on Nefertiri. Nefertiri relaxed a little as her clone, Evelyn, relieved her of the second man. The guard she was fighting sensed this change, and charged in on Nefertiri. Startled by the charge, Nefertiri struck out randomly and both her knives and the man's sword were flung away. She recovered quickly and brought her leg straight up into the air and swung it back down with all her might onto the man's head. Her kick struck, and the man slumped and was down for the count. Nefertiri saw that the Egyptian man had two men fighting him, so she went in to stab the second man after she had once again picked up the knives, but the man sensed her there and turned around before she could penetrate his skin. The man jumped out of the way, and Nefret backed up into the Egyptian stranger just as he killed the man he was fighting by putting the end of his sword into the guard's neck. "Where is my father?!" Nefertiri had to yell over all the sword-clanging. Just as she asked the question, the enemy thrust his sword in their direction. Nefertiri thought she was done for, but right before it struck, Ardeth glanced it's blow with his sword. Nefertiri took this opportunity to stab both her knives into the man's rib cage. Just as the defeated guard slumped to the floor, dead, Ardeth said, "He is with a friend of ours. She will take him to a doctor so that he may rest and recover. Osiris went with him to meet our friend. We have come a long way to get you, and we will meet him as soon as we can, if we can ever get out of here!" "Why are you guys just standing and talking?! We could use a little help over here!!!" Nefret had just downed another guard, and was heading over to fight another when she turned to speak sarcastically to the two. Ardeth smiled and went to stand next to his loved ones, all of them. Nefertiri followed, and they all gathered round Rick to protect the still bleeding man. Just as the guards were closing in on the outnumbered group- fighting dearly for each others lives- a shot rang out, and a guard fell dead to the ground. Rick stood up with two pistols in his hand, and he started to shoot all the guards. The startled men backed up and turned to run because of this new and deadly danger. What was this thing that made much noise and killed so easily? "Let's get out of here." Rick had stood up and was leaning on his wife for support. The entire group staggered out of the hallway, and towards the entrance. Just as they were reaching the outside pillars, the group met with Osiris. "Osiris?!? Where the hell have you been?!?!" "I am sorry, Seti passed out, and I had to help Gabrielle load him onto the camel. She and the children are headed back to Senbi's hut. We are to meet them there as soon as we can. Nefertiri!!!" Osiris had just noticed Nefertiri standing ragged next to Ardeth and Nefret. He ran up to her and took her in his arms. She hugged him back gratefully and the two kissed momentarily. Evelyn smiled and Rick cleared his throat, "There'll be plenty of time for that later. Ok, who here is hurt?" "I am. One of those damned guards sliced my waist. It's not too bad, but I can't stand up straight." Nefret's side was pretty well bloodied up, and Ardeth looked extremely concerned. "Ok, Nefret rides back with me. I can't stay, I'll bleed to death with this arm. Anyone else? Evie, are you ok?" Rick looked down at his wife who was tearing the cloth on her shirt to bandage Rick's arm. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. You and Nefret go on. Take Nefertiri with you- she'll want to be with her father, and make sure he's all right. I'll stay here. We need to find Jonathan- where is he by the way? Looking for the book I suppose?" At Rick's nod, Evelyn continued, "Right, Osiris, you go looking for Jonathan. Ardeth? You and I will go looking for Nephthys. I have a bone to pick with her." "All right. It's all settled. Nefret, Nefertiri, come with me. We'll head back to Senbi's. The rest of you, good luck. Now, let's get going. Osiris, where are the rest of the camels?" As Osiris led the way to the camels, the rest followed, except for Ardeth, who pulled Nefret to stay behind with him. "Nefret, I've wanted to do this ever since I first saw you..." Ardeth took Nefret's head in his hands, and kissed her full on the mouth. A minute later, dazed, the two stood hugging each other. "I love you, I always have." "Oh, Ardeth." Nefret laughed, "I love you, too... Now... come back to me alive, damn you." Ardeth smiled and kissed her again, "You can have no doubt of that." Ardeth took off his head wrap, and wrapped it gently but securely around her ribs to try to stop the bleeding. Ardeth finished his bandaging, and kissed Nefret one more time, "Now, go." Nefret walked over to the camels in time to see Evelyn and Rick breaking their kiss, and Rick getting on his camel. Nefertiri was already on her camel, but she was leaning down to kiss Osiris, who was on the ground. Nefret giggled; she wasn't the only one to get a kiss goodbye. "We'll see you again soon. Good luck. Kick some immortal ass!!!" The party turned and started out back towards Senbi's hut. After a minute or so of watching the party ride away, Osiris broke the silence by addressing what needed to now be done. "Ok, let's go. We need to find your brother, Jonathan. Hopefully, he'll have found the Golden Book by now." "Well, knowing Jonathan, he's probably having a drink or stealing some gold." The three remaining laughed, a nice relief to the tension they were feeling. They were all worried about the ones they loved, but not nearly as worried as their loved ones were about them. No one had wanted to leave, but they had to and they knew it. "Everything will be ok. I can feel it." Evie tried to take comfort from her own words, but it proved more difficult than she expected. As the three turned to find Jonathan, Evie had one last thought. It was, we're all gonna sit back and laugh about this someday. That thought, somehow, cheered her up. Sheri ([email protected]) July 9, 2002 Meanwhile, back in the Un-Mummification Room ... Jonathan was sitting on the floor trying to decipher the Gold Book. Lost in concentration, Jonathan didn't hear the five guards creep up behind him until it was too late. "What the ... who's there?" was all Jonathan could say before two guards grabbed him by each arm and yanked |