Thebes, City of the Living, crown jewel of Seti the First. Home of Imhotep, High Priest and Keeper of the Dead. Birthplace of Anucksunamun, the Pharaoh's mistress. No other man was allowed to touch her.
But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.
Anucksunamun walked into the room, her body painted with hieroglyphics in black paint. She walked up the stairs, past Imhotep's priests, into the veiled room. Imhotep and her embraced.
The priests attempted to close the door as they were burst open by the Pharaoh.
"What are you doing here?" He asked the priests. He walked towards Anucksunamun, who was leaning against a cat statue. The Pharaoh glanced down at her arm, where the paint had been smeared. "Who has touched you?"
He asked Anucksunamun, who looked up in alarm as she saw Imhotep behind the Pharaoh. He stole the Pharaoh's sword. The Pharaoh turned around in surprise. "Imhotep? My priest!" He asked, betrayed. Imhotep glared at the Pharaoh before stabbing him with the sword. Anucksunamun and Imhotep both stabbed the Pharaoh and jumped as they heard the doors burst open again.
"Magi. Pharaoh's bodyguards." Imhotep said, staring at Anucksunamun in fear. "You must go!" She told him and Imhotep's priests came and dragged him away. "No!" He said, trying to shake them off. "Only you can resurrect me!" She told him as he was dragged away. She turned towards the Magi as they ran in, glancing down at the Pharaoh's body. "My body is no longer his temple!" Anucksunamun yelled and plunged the dagger into her stomach. Imhotep winced as he watched from afar.
Imhotep and his priests stole Anucksunamun's body from her tomb, and took it deep to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead.
Imhotep dared the gods anger by going deep into the city.
Imhotep had also taken the Book of the Dead from its holy resting place.
Anucksunamun's soul had been sent to the underworld, and her vital organs placed in five sacred jars.
Imhotep was prepared to raise Anucksunamun from the dead, but the Magi stopped him before he could finish the ritual.
Imhotep was condemned to suffer the Hom-Dai, and his priests condemned to be mummified alive.
Imhotep was placed in a sarcophagus, the undead for all eternity.
The Magi would never allow him to be released, for he would arise a walking plague to this earth, with the strength of many and the glory of invincibility.
My name is Adalind O' Connell and I have a story to tell you. You probably won't believe me, but it is true, and it happened to my friends and I. I better start with the beginning.
Cairo 1926
I walked along the roads of Cairo, Egypt. I was on the way to see my best friends Evelyn and Jonathan Carnahan. Evelyn worked for the Museum Of Antiquities. She could read and translate Ancient Egyptian like no other. I met her at the museum when I came in looking for a book. She spent hours finding me the perfect one and we ended up talking. We'd been instant friends after that.
Later, I met her older brother, Jonathan, who had a real aptitude for 'finding' things. I suspected he actually stole them, but I wouldn't ever tell anyone that. Over the last three years I'd known them, I'd grown quite fond of them both and considered them my best friends.
I walked into the library to see the huge bookshelves begin to fall like dominos. I heard a small squeak as Evie slid down the ladder, hitting the floor. I rushed over. "Evie! My goodness! Are you alright?" I asked, helping her off the floor. I'd heard Jonathan call her Evie once, and it had stuck. Evie stood up and brushed off her skirt.
"Yes, I believe so." She said uncertainly as she looked at the wreckage around us. "What ? Oh my!" The curator yelled and I winced. The curator of the museum was definitely not my favorite person in the world, especially with the way he addressed Evie.
"Give me flies, frogs, locusts! Anything but you! Compared to the other plagues you were a joy." He said to Evie and I rolled my eyes. He tended to be prone to dramatics. "I'm sorry, sir. It was an accident." Evie said apologetically, not wanting to argue with the curator. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind for talking to Evie that way.
"My dear, when Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You are a catastrophe. Tell me why I put up with you." The curator said angrily.
"Well, you put up with me because I can read and write Ancient Egyptian, I can decipher hieroglyphics, and well, I'm about the only person in one hundred miles that can properly code this library that's why!" Evie said, getting bolder as she went on until the curator shook his head.
"No, I put up with you because your mother and father were our finest patrons, Allah rest their souls." The curator said, bowing his head. I glanced at Evie who winced at the mention of her parents. They passed away four years ago, right before I met Evie and Jonathan. Maybe that was why Evie and I had been such fast friends. We both knew what it was like to be orphans.
"Clean this up." The curator said before walking off, muttering curses the entire way.
I took Evie's arm and we walked into the other room, looking for something to help us clean up the disaster Evie had created. There seemed to be no one present as we walked into the room.
Evie took a torch off the wall and walked ahead of me. I followed slowly behind. "Mohammed?" She called and I looked around. "Bob!" I called next, but no one that worked with Evie seemed to be around. We walked slowly to a tomb. I started to look in when the mummy shot up suddenly.
Evie and I shrieked, and I staggered back, clutching my chest. I scoffed as I saw who was now sitting up beside the mummy. Jonathan. Evie and Jonathan looked alike in many ways, they both had light brown hair and blue eyes. Jonathan was very handsome to me in a rather unconventional way. He wasn't like the movie stars most girls swooned over, but there was something about him that attracted me. Of course, I'd never tell him this. It would inflate his ego far too much.
I slapped him on the arm then, fed up with his pranks.
"Have you no respect for the dead?" Evie scolded him.
"Of course I do. But sometimes I'd rather like to join them." Jonathan said, laughing at us and throwing his shoulder around the mummy's. I rolled my eyes at him before smiling slightly.
"Now get out of there before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours." Evie told him, and Jonathan climbed reluctantly out of the tomb.
"My dear, sweet, baby sister. I'll have you know that my career is on a high note right now." He said happily and I scoffed in disbelief. He turned to give me a smirk, his blue eyes shining. "Really, Jonathan. I'm sorry but it's hard to believe." I said doubtfully and he laughed, unbothered by my comment. "Oh Adalind, how you flatter me." He said, blowing a kiss at me and I rolled my eyes. Jonathan was always flirting with me. I never took any stock in it. He just seemed like the kind of guy to flirt with everyone. Sometimes I found myself beginning to like him though.
"Well, you're doing better than I am. I've just made a mess of the library and the Bembridge scholars have rejected my application again. They say I don't have enough experience in the field." Evie said gloomily, sitting down on a bench.
I didn't understand why the Bembridge scholars wouldn't hire her. Evie was one of the smartest women I knew. I suspected it was because of just that-the fact she was a woman and therefore somehow beneath the scholars in their minds. Which of course, was absolutely ridiculous.
I walked over and sat beside her. "Well, you'll always have me old mum." Jonathan said to Evie. I patted her on the back. "You'll always have me too, Evie." I said, squeezing her hand. She grinned at us. I had never seen a more beautiful woman than Evie, inside and out.
"Besides I've got something that might cheer you up." Jonathan said walking back over to rummage around the tomb. "Oh not another worthless trinket." Evie said and I snickered. Jonathan was always bringing Evie "artifacts" he thought were valuable, but they never turned out to be.
"Evie, my whole life I've never found anything. Tell me I've found something." Jonathan said, handing Evie a small, circular, metal box.
Evie examined the little box for a second. She pressed something and it opened. As it opened she reached inside and pulled out a very old piece of parchment. She held it out and I could make out ancient drawings and hieroglyphics.
"Jonathan I think you've found something." She said and gave me the box to look at. It did look quite valuable. "Wow, Jonathan, I never would have thought." I said sarcastically and he rolled his eyes at me.
"See that cartouche there. It's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it." Evie said. "Perhaps." The curator said as he looked at the map. I had come along with them on their visit to the curator.
Although, no one seemed to notice I was there. I was very good at becoming invisible in a room. This made it very easy to steal things when I was younger and in the orphanage. That was before my brother, Rick had turned eighteen and left on his countless treasure pursuits, leaving me alone. Of course he did write letters of his adventures, but he didn't even bother with that anymore. Last I'd heard he was heading off to Hamunaptra. That had been three years ago.
"Two questions." Jonathan said, and I sighed as I looked over at him. He was probably going to ask if the man had been rich. Jonathan would do anything for money, I was sure of it. "Who the hell is Seti the First and was he rich?" He asked and I chuckled lightly. I could read Jonathan like a book.
I don't know if it was because I'd known him for so long, or because he was just very predictable, but I could. "He was the second Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty and said to be the wealthiest pharaoh of them all." Evie told him happily.
I'd never understood how Evie could rattle off information about Egypt at any given instant. Perhaps it was because I'd never shared her certain devotion to learn. I'd been more interested in other things, like learning how to defend myself and be independent.
Jonathan smiled widely then, his white teeth gleaming. "Good. I like this fellow. I like him very much." He said with a twinkle in his eyes. "I've already dated the map. It's almost 3,000 years old." Evie said, showing the curator. "And if you look at that hieratic there, well, it's Hamanaptra." Evie said and Jonathan's face lit up.
I also stiffened with shock. Was it pure coincidence that Hamunaptra was the last place my brother had set off to and now we suddenly found a map leading us there?
I'd much given up on any hope on my brother writing about his finds, and he hadn't written in three years, which led me to believe he'd simply had more important things than me on his mind. I didn't want to think of the alternative.
"Dear God, don't be ridiculous. We're scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra's a myth told by ancient Arab storytellers to amuse Greek and Roman tourists." The curator said, looking at Evie like she was insane. "Actually, I've done studies and my research has led me to believe that the city itself may have actually existed." Evie said and Jonathan leaned onto the table. I leaned against the wall, observing this conversation.
"Are we talking about the Hamunaptra?" He asked, looking very interested. "Yes. The City of the Dead. It's said to be the place where pharaohs hid the treasures and wealth of Egypt." Evie said and the curator looked alarmed at this. Something was off about him, he seemed very against Hamunaptra to not believe in it.
"Best not to put stock in rumors. Besides it's all just fairy tales and hokum as the Americans say." He said dismissively and I laughed. The curator's eyes snapped over to me. "Actually it's hocus pocus. That's the phrase." I said and he looked at me skeptically. "I'm American. Or was."
I knew I sounded American, for my voice or accent hadn't changed. Strange since I was raised in a Cairo orphanage and not in America. I supposed I just had an American accent because of my brother and growing up with him.
The curator ignored me and held the map over the fire, examining it. "My, would you look at that!" He said as the edge of the map set fire. Evie and Jonathan rushed to put it out, while I looked at the curator suspiciously. It seemed to me like he burned the map on purpose.
"You've burnt off the part with Hamunaptra!" Evie exclaimed sadly, dusting ashes off the map. "Maybe it's for the best. Many men have lost their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra. Others have never returned." The curator said dramatically.
"My brother has been there." I said quickly and the three of them turned to look at me. "You have a brother?" Jonathan asked, his voice raising an octave.
I wondered for a moment why he was so shocked, but then recalled I'd never told Jonathan and Evie about Rick. I'd never told them much about my past, only that I was raised in the orphanage. I supposed now was the time to tell them something, at least.
"Yes, his name is Rick. I've never told you because I thought it wasn't necessary information." I explained to them, though I had really been avoiding the topic because I'd been too upset about it.
Jonathan pressed his lips firmly together in disagreement, while Evie only looked at me curiously. She would probably question me about my brother later.
"Well, my dear, I'm sorry for your loss." The curator said sympathetically and I stiffened. I also didn't like him calling me dear.
"Rick is one of the strongest men I've ever met, -no offense, Jonathan- and call me Miss O' Connell please." I said icily, and Jonathan grinned. "I know he made it out." I said, praying I was right. I knew that if Rick was gone, I would have known. I would have felt it.
>>>>>
Cairo Prison
"I thought you said you found it on a dig in Thebes." Evie said angrily to Jonathan as we walked into the prison. It seemed Jonathan hadn't been too honest with his information about where he'd found the map. I should have known he'd stolen it off someone, and a prisoner no less.
I stepped cautiously over a man that was lying on the ground as we continued walking. "I lied about that. I may have borrowed it off of someone." Jonathan said guiltily and I rolled my eyes. "And by borrowing, you mean you stole it?" I asked him and he winced.
Evie turned to Jonathan angrily. "Jonathan, you shouldn't have lied to me!" She scolded him. "I lie to everyone, what makes you so special?" He retorted instantly. "I'm your sister, that's why!" Evie said, her face reddened and I was glad that Jonathan was on the end of her anger and not me. She could be quite scary.
"That just makes you more gullible." Jonathan told her and she opened her mouth to retort. Thankfully I was spared having to hear any more of the argument as the warden of the prison walked up to us. "Welcome to Cairo Prison." He said grandly as if it was some sort of magical place. The warden was a fat, older man with a paunch hanging over his pants.
I noticed him eyeing Evie's body and I began to feel angry. Were all the men in this city bound by law to be creepy or something? I glanced over to see Jonathan glaring at the man. So he'd noticed too. At least someone cared.
I stayed close by Evie and Jonathan as we followed the warden to a large outdoor cell.
"Are you sure this is the man?" Evie asked, rearranging her hat. Evie and I were wearing basically the same outfit as we were both wearing a white blouse and skirt, only Evie had on a multicolored hat. I'd really only bothered with a skirt because of Evie. Usually I wore trousers that Rick had left behind.
"What was this man arrested for?" Evie asked the warden, glancing around the prison once more. The warden shook his head. "This I do not know. When I asked him, he said he was just trying to have a good time." The warden said, shaking his head.
There was a thudding sound and a shout. I looked up to see two guards dragging a man towards us. I observed he was very dirty and had long dirty blonde hair, but it wasn't until he looked up at me that I let out a shriek.
"Rick!"