Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

The Mirror of Osiris	By : darkangel985 Category: M through R > Mummy, The (All) > Mummy, The (All) Views: 13131 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mummy movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Morningstar: When I
said the Nile's fiercest warriors, I was referring
to crocodiles as they are the meanest predators in that area. And
those who slay them: You just gotta wait.

Loki: I always write
ahead a bit, so I am currently writing a bit of smut. Or at least I
will be as soon as this is published. It won't be long.

Chapter 9 - Breakdown

Ardeth was awoken by
soft sounds outside the tent. Most people wouldn't have heard it, but
a life-time of living in the desert had trained his ears. Staring up
at the tent, he tried to concentrate on the sounds. Weeping. Rick was
crying. He was unsure, whether he should go out and try to comfort
the other man or if it would be better to leave him be.

They hadn't been
exactly friendly during the last few days and he didn't want to seem
imposing. Actually they had never been close friends at all. They may
have worked together before, but it wasn't more than a convenient
agreement. That was hard to admit, but Ardeth tried to not delude
himself or hope for something he couldn't have.

But the weeping didn't
lessen, but increased in intensity. When he started to hear sobs,
Ardeth finally couldn't stand it anymore. It was too painful,
to hear somebody he felt so strongly about be in pain. Throwing back
his blankets, the Med-jai stood up and walked over to the tent flap.
Looking out, he could see Rick sitting at the fire, his head buried
in his arms. He was shaking as lhuge sobs escaped his throat.

Maybe the other man
would be embarrassed to be seen like this,
but it was clear to Ardeth, that he needed the comfort. Stepping out
of the tent, he walked over to the fire and set down next to Rick. He
wanted to draw the other man into his arms, but feared that his
comfort would be rejected.

At first Rick didn't
react to his presence. He simply sat still, the tears running down
his face glittering in the soft glow of the fire. The look on his
face was so forlorn and hurt, that Ardeth could barely look at him,
without feeling his heart constrict. 'Vulnerable and beautiful.'
Those were the words that Ardeth thought, when looking at Rick's
face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It felt good to have
Ardeth sitting next to him. Rick could feel the heat radiating off
the Med-jai's body and it was a comforting presence next to him. He
wanted to scoot closer and be held in the other man's arms, chasing
his pain, his loneliness and the feeling of betrayal away.

'She's gone. Evy really
is gone. She would have never have let Nefertiri hurt Alex.' It hurt,
to admit that to himself. When Evy had first died at Ahm-Shere, he
had had the anger to numb his pain, but now there was nothing. Only
the realization, that she was gone and
would never come back to him.

He wanted to die. Just
to be rid of the pain and the feeling, that he had somehow failed
her. But he couldn't, he had to be strong for Alex. Alex, who had
been holding up so well the whole time. Hopefully, his son hadn't yet
realized, that his mother was really dead. He had to be there when it
finally happened. Rick felt guilty for sending Alex away at a time
like this, but he had lost his wife and he wouldn't loose his son
too.

If Alex died now, he'd
be completely lost. He hadn't lied, when he told Ardeth, that he
didn't care about the world anymore, but he still felt responsible
for it. He may have let Evy down, but he would never make that
mistake with somebody else again. The guilt he felt about Evy's death
made him sob even harder.

Suddenly, he felt a
warm arm slung around his body and a hand caressing his hair. It felt
good, to have the Med-jai there to comfort him, so Rick scooted
closer and continued to let the tears pour out of his eyes. It had
been years since he had cried the last time, always taking the hurt
and pain inside, keeping his tough exterior.
But it was strangely freeing to let go of his emotions, not caring
about strength or dignity and simply being held and comforted.

It felt right, to be
close to Ardeth. His body perfectly fitting into the Med-jai's strong
arms. During the last few days, he had felt guilt about the feelings
he had developed for Ardeth. It had been somehow like betraying Evy,
because he still loved her. Would probably always love her, because
she had been one of a kind. But being close to Ardeth, felt as good
and as right as being with Evy had done.

The exhaustion of the
last days and the emotional drainage finally catching up to him, Rick
felt himself slowly fall asleep. His tears had ceased a little while
ago, but Ardeth was still holding him, so Rick let himself be lulled
to sleep by the other man's presence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he awoke the next
morning, he was still firmly encased in Ardeth's arms. The Med-jai
was asleep and Rick tried to disentangle himself, without waking the
other man up. He didn't really want to do so, but the sun had already
risen and they needed to continue their journey.

Setting a kettle of
water to boil, Rick started packing their belongings. He was already
half-ways done, when Ardeth finally came awake. Offering a cup of tea
to the Med-jai Rick sat down next to him.

“We should set out as soon as
we can. If we hurry, we can still arrive at the temple before
Nefertiri does.”

Nodding his approval,
Ardeth helped Rick to saddle and load the horses. Pushing their
horses to a swift speed, they rode in the direction of the temple,
always staying close to the Nile, to keep them on the right path. It
was around noon, when they finally arrived at Kom-Ombo. The temple
looked empty, which meant that either Nefertiri had already departed
or hadn't been there yet.

“Rick? We should take some
weapons this time.”

Surprised at the use of
his first name, Rick nodded. Up till now,
Ardeth had always called him O'Connell. But it wasn't only that,
which had changed since the night before. They had gotten closer and
even formed a small friendship, without saying a single words about
it. It was still nothing great, but they were easier around each
other and were able to work together a lot better.

Their exploration of
the temple had led to nothing, so they were currently sitting around
the nilometer, that had measured the height
of the Nile's flood in ancient times. Rick was frustrated and had
developed a slight sunburn as most of the temple was caved in and
hadn't offered any protection from the afternoon sun.

“It has to be here somewhere.
Maybe an underground chamber that we missed like in Phylae.”

Ardeth didn't answer
him, but instead walked up to the well and looked down. Curious about
the source of the Med-jai's interest, Rick joined him and peered into
the semi-darkness at the bottom of the well. There was something
there. A portion of the wall was darker than the rest. It looked as
if it lead down to a tunnel.

“Is that the connection to the
Nile?”

“No. It is too large for that.
We should go down and take a closer look.”

Tying a rope around the
nearest palm tree, they carefully climbed into the well. The bottom
of the nilometer was slightly muddy, but not enough to cause their
boots to sink in. On the western side of the well was a small hole,
that obviously connected to the Nile, but it seemed to have been
blocked a long time ago. On the opposite side was a rectangular
doorway, that lead into a dark tunnel. They followed the tunnel, that
steadily lead them upwards, until they came to a fork in the way.

“How do we know, which way to
take?”

Ardeth leaned closer to
the doorways and read the hieroglyphics
engraved there. “They don't hold a clue, where we have to go.”

Shrugging Rick turned
towards the left tunnel and said: “We'll
try this one at first and if we don't find the key, we take the other
one.” Then he lit up a torch and disappeared into the dark
tunnel, Ardeth following behind him.

Neither of them had
noticed the slim figure, that had followed them into the well and was
now studying a plan of the temple. Without a light or anything else
to announce it's presence, the figure followed the two men into the
dark hallway.

TBC...
- 8
- 9
- 10
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Mirror of Osiris