SEHKMET'S REVENGE
Chapter Three "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOOK HER THERE!" Rick screamed at Jonathan as the three of them rode to the temple. "I...didn't think any harm would come of it!" Jonathan said sheepishly trying to avoid the evil glare that was focused on him. "HARM? HARM!" Rick spit the words in Jonathan's face. "Don't you know enough to stay away from ruins now? Especially since we seem to get into trouble whenever we're in them!" "I know," he said. "But I thought this time would be different." He cringed in horror as Rick raised his fist to strike him. "Enough!" Ardeth said. "I know you are upset, but you must save your strength!" Lowering his fist, Rick grumbled a curse and spurred his horse on faster. Jonathan let out a sigh of relief, and then he saw Ardeth glaring at him. "What?" he said. After a half hour ride, they finally reached the ruins. Rick dismounted and grabbed his shotgun. "EVIE?" he called while he checked to see if it was loaded. "ARE YOU HERE?" The three of them stood still and listened, but the only sound they heard was the relentless desert wind. Rick began to walk towards the temple entrance with Jonathan and Ardeth following behind. He paused at the entrance and raised his gun as Ardeth lit a torch. Checking the entrance, he found it was all clear and nodded to the others as he started down the corridor. "Where did you last see her?" he asked Jonathan. Nervously, Jonathan pointed down the corridor. "Just down there!" he said. "Okay!" Rick said, "Stay close behind me." After a few moments, they reached the mural that Evie had been studying. Jonathan gulped when he saw that the painting of Sehkmet had vanished. Ardeth silently read the inscription along the side of the painting. "It appears she has been possessed by Sehkmet," he said grimly. Rick turned and looked at him. "Who?" "She is the goddess of war," Ardeth said. "Long ago, she was sent by the god Ra to punish those who had sinned. However, she became so consumed with bloodlust that she continued to kill even those who were innocent. It is said that Ra finally was able to trick her into drinking beer that had been colored red, so that it looked like blood. This placated her and she turned into her benign form, Hathor." "Beer?" Rick said. Ardeth nodded. "Yes, but it seems she has been reborn again and from what Jonathan has said, she has possessed Evie." At the mention of Evie's name Rick stiffened as his stomach began to churn. "So all we have to do is get Evie to drink some beer then?" Jonathan said. Ardeth shook his head. "It will not be that easy, I doubt Sehkmet will not be so easy to fool this time!" "Lovely, just lovely," Rick muttered under his breath. "Why is it that all the evil in the world somehow finds its way to me?" All of a sudden, they heard a thump further down the corridor. "Oh shit!" Rick uttered as he cocked his gun. Inching silently down the corridor, he saw that there was a corner up ahead. He backed up against the wall and slid down the hall. Reaching the corner, he motioned for the others to stop as he put the gun to his shoulder. "One...Two...THREE!" he yelled as he flung himself around the corner. He yelled in shock when he saw it wasn't Evie, but a grizzled man wearing a hat and a leather coat and carrying a whip. Rick kept the gun pointed at his head as Jonathan hurried around the corner. "Okay buddy! Who are you?" he said to the stranger. "I'm Doctor Henry Jones, Archaeologist!" he said. "Would you mind not pointing that at my head?" Rick cautiously lowered the shotgun. "What are you doing here?" he said. "I'm down here on a fact finding mission for the Cairo museum, they recently discovered this temple, and they want me to see if I can determine its age and if there are any artifacts." Doctor Jones said. "Oh trust me, old chap. there isn't. I've looked...Ow!" Jonathan yelped as Rick elbowed him in the ribs. Rick pointed the muzzle at the ground. "Um...you haven't seen a half woman, half lion lurking around here, have you?” he asked. "A what?" Doctor Jones looked him up and down. "Are you drunk or something?" As Rick opened his mouth, Ardeth came around the corner. "I think we should continue our search down the other corridor. I've found some tracks" He looked over at Doctor Jones as he stared at Ardeth in amazement. "Jesus Christ!" he said. "Where'd you find this guy?" Ardeth bowed to him as he continued to stare. "Ardeth Bey, at your service," he motioned to the others "This is Rick O Connell and Jonathan Carnahan. Doctor Jones shook their hands. "Name’s Henry Jones, but you can call me Indy." Jonathan snorted. "And why would we want to call you that?" Indy seized Jonathan and pulled him to his face. "Because I prefer it over my real name, got a problem with that?" Jonathan shook his head "No, no problem whatsoever!" He gasped for air when Indy dropped him to the floor. "I'm comin' with ya, you might need my help!" Rick watched as he turned the corner. "Geez and I thought I had an attitude problem!" he muttered. "So let me get this straight," Indy said. "Your wife has been turned into a lion woman and she wants to destroy the world?" he shook his head "And I thought I had odd experiences!" "I wish I could say this is the first one we've had." Rick said. Indy looked at him "Oh? What else have you encountered?" "Um...usually mummies!" Indy snorted. "And I thought Nazi's were bad, I'll take them over mummies any day!" "So...do we have a plan if we do find Evie?" Rick said. Jonathan grinned. "I figure all we have to do is find a chair and if Evie attacks, we'll use the chair and the whip and tame her into submission, heh, heh, heh..." His smile fell from his face as everyone turned and glared at him. "Just a bloody joke."He said sullenly. The four of them stopped when they reached a four-way junction. "Now what do we do?" Rick said as he scanned the hallways. Indy shrugged. "Maybe we can split up in pairs and try a couple of the corridors?" He said. "Split up?" Jonathan said nervously. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rick sighed and turned to face Jonathan. "Of course it's a good idea! If we search two corridors, we have a better chance of finding Evie than if we are all together." Jonathan backed away. "What if something goes wrong?" he whined. Rick rolled his eyes "Jonathan! Will you quit whining? Nothing is going to happen to you with the three of us here!" he said. All of a sudden, Evie's feline hand shot out from the darkness of the corridor behind Rick. Grabbing him around the neck, she pulled Rick into the blackness before he could scream. The three stood in shock for a moment before they raced down the hall, frantically searching for any signs of Rick. They ran until they were out of breath, but there was no sign of Rick anywhere, not even his footprints. Indy shook his head. "It's like he's vanished into thin air!" he said. Behind them, in the darkness, a laugh emanated from the darkness as two red eyes watched them mockingly.
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