Chapter 13

11 1 0
                                    

"The Kushites were the people of the Kush Empire who settled around the Southern regions of the Nile River— modern day Sudan." Natty explained pushing aside old cobwebs. 

Fin nodded and looked around as old granite walls surrounded  them. Carvings were inscribed, and some paint remained.

"Alright, so why is this important again?"

Natty rolled her eyes. "Because nobody knows anything about the Kushites except for what the Egyptians wrote."

Fin nodded and sighed, "Well what did they write?"

Natty took a deep breath and fixed her hat. "The Kushites were traders with Egypt, but soon Egypt took them over around 1504 BC. In around—"

"So they're Egyptian, you could've said that." Fin groaned. 

Natty eyed him hard. "I was going to tell you about the spider on your back but now I don't want to."

"WHAT?!"

Fin jumped up and started frantically trying to feel his back.

"NATTY GET IT OFF!"

Natty burst out laughing and almost dropped the torch. Fin looked up as his blue eyes glared at her.

"NOT FUNNY!"

"Kinda was."

"NO IT WAS NOT!"

"So are you going to let me finish now?!"

Fin glared at her for a second before rolling his eyes. "Go on Jonesy." He grumbled, fixing his red hair.

"Thank you." Natty snapped. "Anyways when Egypt got busy fighting other countries the Kush rose to power in Egypt. They basically took over around 744 to 656 BC." Natty said softly. "Almost everything about their religion and other stuff is similar to Egypt but not always one hundred percent."

"Like you?"

"No, more like you." Natty snapped. 

Fin rolled his eyes and looked at the walls. "So these hylogriffons—"

"Hpieroglyphs."

"Yeah, that, what do they do?"

"They're ancient writings." Natty said softly. "Want me to read some?"

Fin looked up at Natty and his eyes widened. "You know how to read this rubbish."

Natty rolled her eyes. "Yeah idiot. My grandpa taught me how."

"Grandpa, as in, Indiana Jones?"

"Yeah idiot."

Natty walked over and ran her finger up and down reading it off to Fin. Most of it was like the Egyptian burial tradition stuff, and pretty easily.

"How does a bird mean A, U, W, and M?!" Fin asked.

Natty shrugged. "Because it does."

Fin looked around and nodded and his eyes fell on one. He pointed to it. "Okay, so what does this hippo mean?"

"It's a hippo."

Fin raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean it's a hippo?! It has to mean something!"

"Well it dose." Natty said with an eye roll. "It means Hippo."

Fin glared at her. "I feel like you're lying."

"And I feel like I'm telling the truth because, news flash, not every animal is a letter of the alphabet!" Natty yelled.

Fin rolled his eyes and folded his arms. The two kept walking and Fin couldn't keep his eyes off of Natty. She pushed more cobwebs out of the way and the two came to a stop.

A large trench laid in front of the two and Fin gave a small sigh.

"Oh well, to bad, let's go!"

"No."

Fin groaned and out his face in his hands.

"Natty," He said angrily looking up. In the torch light you could tell he hadn't shaved for a while. His red hair reflected in the orange torch light. His face was getting covered in a red facial shrub. "Look, I know you want to do this, but this is stupid and we're going to die!"

Natty put her free hand on her hip, and outstretched her arm with the torch over the trench.

"NATTY!" Fin yelped in a panic.

"Fin!" Natty said happily with a smirk.

"Don't be rash, we can work this out. Let's get Sallah and— NATTY NO!"

Natty dropped the torch down and smiled as darkness took over them. 

"ARE YOU INSANE!" 

"Insane, no. Willing to do whatever, yes."

Natty looked over the ledge and saw the touch light. "Looks about twenty feet down. We can make it, then we'll find the tomb." Natty said softly.

Fin stared at Natty for a second then gave a smile.

"What?" 

"You said we. We'll find the tomb."

Natty's face went bright red in the dark and he pulled her hat down to cover her face in case, as the glow from the torch below, reached up to where they were.

"Come on Jonesy, we gotta king to find."

Natty looked up and gave a small smile and Fin grabbed her hand. They took a deep breath and Fin squeezed Natty' hand.

Natty squeezed his hand back, and the two jumped.

Indiana Jones and the Lost Kingdom of Kush// Book 1Where stories live. Discover now