Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Namesake	By : lotusbalm Category: M through R > Mummy, The (All) > Mummy, The (All) Views: 5763 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mummy series and do not make any profit off of this.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Namesake
Chapter 9
Previously...
Her dragging feet suddenly tripped over something hard under the thick layer of sand. She braced herself as she fell, landing into the forgiving sand. Hastily, she wiped the sand away from the hard object, curious to see what lay beneath. It was stone. Perfectly carved stone with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics on it! She dusted more sand away, finding that it was much larger than she had originally thought it to be. Her hand brushed something that pushed inwards and suddenly the stone was awakening from its dormant phase and was slowly rising. Tiri, Laxmi and Manuel quickly jumped off of it before it rose too high.
"What's happening?" Manuel asked in a panic.
The sun broke over the horizon as the enormous stone edifice emerged before them.
The ancient city rose higher and higher, its daunting shadow blanketing them as they backed away.
Tiri had accidentally risen Hamunaptra, City of the Dead.
"I think what's happening here is Tiri may have accidentally pressed an ancient button of doom," Laxmi answered slowly in awe.
Tiri cursed under her breath.
"Is this...?" Laxmi said, losing her train of thought as the sound of stone sliding against stone ended in a solid 'click' noise, signaling that the city had fully risen.
"Hamunaptra," Tiri breathed out.
The City of the Dead was as impressive as its descriptions in the stories that Grandpa Alex had told to Tiri. It was like a splendid mirage which had unfurled in the middle of the desert to trick hallucinating travelers... Only it was no trick. It was definitely there.
"Hamu-what? You mean that place in your family's make-believe stories?" Manuel asked shakily, looking a bit green.
Tiri glanced at the movie star. Her insides twisted horribly. This was real and she had led a missing famous person right to it. This could not bode well for the Medjai's secret-keeping of this place. 'Oh bother,' she thought, her inner voice sounding a lot like the bumbling librarian her Great Grandma Evelyn had once been.
"We should leave," Tiri said quickly.
She turned her back to the foreboding city. An endless expanse of sand lay before her. She noticed that the unforgiving sun had quickly burnt off the chill to the air. A haze of heat was all ready starting to ripple across the desert. Tiri was suddenly made all too aware of how dry her throat was, and how so very exhausted she was from traveling by foot most of the night. She bravely took a step forward out of the shadow cast by the city. It only took her a few steps to realize that her companions were not following along.
She turned back to find Laxmi and Manuel looking undecidedly between the endless expanse before them and the miraculous city.
Tiri did not like the look of curiosity lurking on Laxmi's face. "Laxmi..."
"Oh, come on!" her best friend burst out in a needling tone. "I mean, you said so yourself, we need shelter-and this just came our way! You know there isn't going to be anything else for us. We went in the wrong direction! We'll be fine as long as we don't touch anything."
Tiri sighed and looked back out to the barren desert, squinting into the distance. Laxmi was right. They were so very far from Cairo. "All right," she said in defeat. A small blossom of hope formed as she remembered something. "I saw Ardeth Bay at the club. I think Grandpa Alex might have sent him to keep an eye out for us. There's a chance that he might be looking for us right now. He knows the desert. If we stay in one spot he'll have a better chance of finding us."
"Ardeth Bay? You mean that guy with the tats on his face? What if he doesn't find us?" Manuel asked.
Tiri bit her lip pensively. "We should get some rest. If he doesn't find us by night fall we'll have to back track until we find the nearest village and hope that they're welcoming." She sincerely hoped that it wouldn't come to that.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Laxmi said with a yawn. "I'm so tired I could sleep on a blasting amp at a rock concert right now."
Tiri gave an uneasy laugh as she turned back to Hamunaptra. Laxmi and Manuel walked up to the large entranceway. As soon as they were about a yard away the heavy stone door slid open automatically by some magical force. Tiri stood glued to her spot for a moment.
'The last time the Creature had been defeated had been at Ahm Shere. His mummified body isn't even here,' she internally reassured herself. 'But other evils must lurk here. Otherwise the Medjai wouldn't still be guarding this place.' Her reassurance wasn't very reassuring.
Laxmi popped back out from the entranceway. Her eyes were alight with relief. "Come on in Tiri! There's nothing spooky. Just a nice soft floor of sand and a barrier to keep the pesky sun off us while we sleep."
Tiri did have to admit that at this moment the idea of a comfortable place to rest was very tantalizing. With a sigh full of resolve she stepped inside.
Tiri found the inside of the entrance chamber to look pretty harmless. She let out the breath she had been holding. Just a boring beige chamber filled with boring beige sand. There wasn't even any hieroglyphics in the interior of this room because age had disintegrated them. She eyed the passageway that led further into the City of the Dead. That, however, she didn't trust. "We are to rest as close to the entranceway as possible," she said warningly, eyeing her companions. Wordlessly they agreed and they all settled down to rest just within the entranceway to Hamunaptra.
Surprisingly, they all found sleep quiet easily-even Tiri.

Tiri dreamt...
She was navigating through a long passageway. Burning wall sconces lit the way to the dark, winding space. She came to a dead end, but she didn't panic. She had a key. She took the octagonal shaped box out of her outer robes, unlatching it so that it sprung into a star shape. She placed it in the stone wall and turned it in the proper combination. The heavy door unlatched and swung open, revealing an expansive room fit for the princess of Egypt.
She made sure to close the door all of the way, so no hint of the secret passageway could be found out. On this side of the doorway it looked to be shelving filled with her papyrus scrolls for study and fine pottery created by the best artisan's Thebes had to offer. With a satisfied feeling that everything was in order, she pulled off her robes and let them fall to the marble floor before pulling back the gauzy wall hangings that cloaked her elegant platform bed. She walked up the steps leading to her bed and then sunk into the plush Egyptian linens and imported silks. Her eyes closed in comfort...
Tiri woke up to find that she must have sleep-walked, because she was standing and she was no longer in the entrance chamber with Laxmi and Manuel. She was alone and standing before a runic passageway.
'Not good,' was her first thought.
An eerie wave rushed over her, and she twisted about as she could swear she felt the whisper of ancient voices brushing against her ears like a lover's caress. The sound became more decipherable. Ancient chanting and heartfelt cries to the Gods and Goddesses pressed in on her. Glowing golden-orange wall sconces flickered in and out of her perception, lining the passageway that intermittently turned from ruins to perfectly preserved paint and gold encrusted walls. The shadowplay of the imaginary wall sconces made the symbols and reliefs of ancient Egyptians look like they were moving. Her breathing accelerated in panic and her gaze skittered around. The space felt like it was closing in around her and she didn't know her way out of this passageway!
"There you are," a relieved voice called out.
The voice was rich and heavily lilted with an Arabic accent. Tiri felt a wave of comfort crash over her. She sharply turned and ran straight into Ardeth Bay. "Uumph!" Her sudden bout of claustrophobia had put her depth-perception off.
The agile warrior steadied her. He noticed the scared look on her face and the fact that she was shaking. "Are you all right? What happened?" he asked in concern, an alertness to his voice giving his tone an edge. He pressed her closer to him in a protective stance and checked the periphery of the area, in full warrior-mode.
Her breathing slowed as she came down from her alarm. She was so close to him that she had to tilt her head way up to meet his gaze. For the first time she noticed just how much taller he was than her, more than half a head taller than her-and she was tall for a girl. "I'm fine," she said softly. "I just thought I heard something," she added awkwardly. She abashedly looked down at a point on his chest so she didn't have to meet his gaze.
He gently tilted her chin up with a darkly tanned finger, studying her features carefully. Tiri could feel his brown eyes sweeping over the bruise on her cheek and the crimson crusted cut on her neck. Suddenly his tone was fierce. "You could have been killed last night. From the looks of all this," he gestured toward her beat up face and the City of the Dead passageway they currently stood in, "you came very close. I do not want you to ever jeopardize your safety to satisfy a personal vendetta against me ever again. Do I make myself clear?"

Tiri pushed away from him, feeling a rush of heat come to her face. "Oh well don't you think highly of yourself? What makes you think that any of my actions last night had anything to do with you?"
His gaze swept over her form in a knowing way before his dark eyes settled back to meeting her hazel gaze. Tiri bit the inside of her cheek and dropped her eyes from his piercing brown gaze when she remembered the intricate barely-there top she currently wore. Her midriff was bare and her small breasts were pressed up high and on display.
"Do you normally dress in this fashion or did you do it to make me jealous?"
"I," she started in a wavering voice. Did she do it to make him jealous? "I don't even know you," she settled on saying.
Suddenly there was a promise in his eyes. You will, it said. "I am taking you to my tribe to clean up that wound before it becomes infected," he settled on saying matter-of-factly.
"What?" she said, thrown through a loop. She let out a frustrated little huff. "You're so arrogant! Why don't you just ask me instead of tell me what to do you -"
"Tiri?"
Tiri cut off her fuming tirade as she heard foot steps approaching. Her grandfather, father, uncle, Laxmi and the Casablancas men immerged. Her family immediately embraced her. "What's going on Tiri?" Grandpa Alex asked within the litany of 'Thank God you're ok' being repeatedly said by her dad and uncle.
Ardeth Bay answered for her. "We will go to my village before you make your way back to Cairo. She has a cut on her neck that needs tending to."
"Yes, thank you Ardeth," Grandpa Alex said while inspecting Tiri's neck. He clasped his granddaughter in an embrace. "Thank the Gods you're all right! You had your old grandfather worried sick."
Tiri instantly felt her ire melt. "I'm sorry," she said, remembering her last words to him before she had left for the club had been haughty and aloof. She'd really acted childishly.
And, yes, that meant she had acted childishly towards Ardeth Bay as well. She still was acting childishly towards him, but she couldn't seem to help that. His controlling attitude raised her hackles because, after all, she was a person with very little control over the happenings of her own life, and at least fighting him gave her some semblance of control.
That is, when she wasn't throwing said little semblance of control straight out the window and brainlessly kissing him.
"Oh all that matters is that you're all right," her grandpa said with a gentle smile. He turned to take in their surroundings. His eyes were filled with wonder and awe. Tiri realized her grandfather was seeing for the first time the ancient city where his parent's had fallen in love. "Tiri, you really are a chip off the old block, aren't you?" he said in amazement. "You managed to raise a city that was thought to have been permanently lost to the sands."
Tiri winced and took in the sight of her ancient (and previously thought mythical) surroundings. Her gaze fell on the Casablancas men. Manuel looked more than ready to leave this dusty place, but there was a gleam in Raul Casablancas' eyes as he drank in his surroundings. Grandpa Alex followed her gaze and gave a heavy sigh. He turned to Ardeth Bay. "I believe you know what to do."
Tiri gasped as she heard the sudden rush of metal zinging through the air. Ardeth Bay had his scimitar pointed threateningly in the filmmaker's direction. "You will tell no one of what you have seen here today. As far as you are concerned this place is only a myth. Do you understand?" the dark warrior said in a voice filled with deadly intent.
The filmmaker's eyes widened in fear and he adamantly nodded his head to indicate that he understood perfectly well. "Only a myth. Not real. Got it," he croaked out.
The dark warrior pointed the sharp blade at Manuel next. "It's not real! Don't hurt me!" the movie star squeaked out.
"Good," Ardeth Bay said in finality.
'Bully,' Tiri thought rather prejudicely, since it was her grandfather that had signaled him to do it.
He re-sheathed his scimitar and led the way out of the passageway. Everyone awkwardly cleared their throats and decided it was best to follow along.
Outside of the entrance to the city was a sleek personal-sized airplane which stood gleaming in the sunlight. Tiri raised her eyebrows in wonder. "Where'd this come from?" she asked her grandfather.
"This is compliments of Dr. Terence Bey III," her grandpa said with a grin. "It's his way of saying sorry for pointing a gun at you and also a way for him to suck up to his Medjai chieftain."
Tiri recalled the rather amusing tale of her great uncle Jonathon and Ardeth Bay being strapped to the wings of an ancient biplane that belonged to the elderly fighter pilot, Winston Havelhock. As the tale goes, Ardeth Bay had enjoyed the precarious flight immensely. 'All right then,' Tiri thought and boarded the aircraft. She watched said Medjai chieftain get into the pilot's seat. The usually stoic dark warrior had a certain gleam in his eyes. He rather looked like a kid in a candy shop... "Does he have a pilot's license?" she asked warily.
Her grandfather became pensive. "Hmmm well he did all right getting us here." He seemed to think it over. "Just make sure to buckle your seatbelt."
Tiri woodenly took a seat between her grandfather and Laxmi, double and then triple checking to make sure that her seatbelt was properly latched. She looked at Hamunaptra through the round airplane window. She shivered as she remembered the thick feel of magic in the air while being in that passageway she had woken up in. "Will it go back down?" she asked her grandfather.
Grandpa Alex stared at the City of the Dead through her window too as he answered. "Ardeth Bay and the Medjai will handle it."
He had so much faith in his words, so much faith in Ardeth Bay, that there was nothing for her to do but have faith as well.
She came to find out that her fears about Ardeh Bay's level of flying skill went unfounded. He was an amazing pilot. The flight was quick and smooth. They ascended into the air, the City of the Dead becoming just a dark speck, like a grain of sand, before Tiri could see it no more. Tiri had a feeling that when Ardeth Bay set his mind to something, perfect mastery was the only option he allowed himself. They gently touched down near a breathtaking desert mountain range.
The craggy mountain peaks were a washed-out, light earthen color similar to the warm colored sands surrounding them. Though beautiful, she hadn't the foggiest why they would land in such a barren place.
Suddenly three black-clad figures appeared from the base of the tallest mountain, as if out of thin air.
"Welcome to my village," Ardeth Bay said with a wry grin on his face, as he took in the agape expressions on the travelers' faces.
Now it was her grandfather's turn to look like a kid in a candy shop. "Mountain dwellers! I've heard of concealed villages such as this but never in all my days have I seen one! What are we waiting for, Ardeth! I want the grand tour!"
Tiri shook her head as they all stepped out of the plane, chuckling at how adorable and childlike her grandfather could get. Her eyes met Ardeth's. He too had been chuckling at her grandfather's antics. His dark brown eyes were dancing with merriment. When he was enjoying himself his face really transformed. Tiri felt her stomach do a flip-flop and she quickly broke eye contact.
"I will show you around," the dark warrior said to Grandpa Alex. "But first, Tiri needs to have her wound cleaned, and I am sure her and her friends will want to freshen up."
As he said the words, the black-clad figures approached them. They lowered their hooded cloaks. They were females wearing black veils embellished with silver metalwork and beading. Tiri noticed something very peculiar about them...
They all had an indigo streak of blue woven into their shiny black hair.
Laxmi made a show of looking from the black-clad women to Tiri. She gave Tiri a sly look. "Looks like you'll be right at home here."
"Jahira, Aaliyah, Karawan," Ardeth Bay said in greeting. He spoke to them in Arabic. "We have visitors this evening." He nodded towards Tiri and Laxmi and the tribe women instantly surrounded them, giggling and gently guiding the two girls to follow them. Tiri shuffled forward but looked over her shoulder at her grandfather questioningly. He smiled encouragingly for her to go with them. She chanced a glance at her father and uncle. But surprise, surprise they were too busy staring admiringly at the beautiful veiled women. Tiri rolled her eyes and let the women lead her towards the mountain.

Author's Note: Hope you're enjoying yourself so far! :) Whose excited to get acquainted with Ardeth's peculiar home life? :D As always feedback is very much appreciated!
- 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

Namesake