![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: SG-Mummy - Part 3 and 4
By:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kellifer_fic
Rated: PG
Disclaimer - Don't own, don't sue.
Is: Sam/Jack - Team
Summary: The Mummy - SG-1 style
Edited: Posted without a cut tug for about 15 second so apologies for anyone who had the misfortune of refreshing their f-list right at that moment!!
Part Three
Sam sat at a table nestled along one wall of the passenger steamer, the ocean air playing through her hair. She had one of Daniel’s numerous journals on her lap and was looking at the writing on the hand device, trying to determine its origin. Daniel’s journals were rambling accounts of random thoughts, no real organisation to them, much like the man himself.
A mystery, wrapped in an enigma, Sam thought dryly.
A bag thumped down on the table in front of her and Sam jerked her head up as Jack slid into the seat opposite. As she watched with widening eyes, he pulled from his bag a collection of guns, knives and a fairly ancient looking rifle.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you,” Jack apologised, grinning and Sam grunted.
“The only thing that frightens me is your manners,” Sam sniffed, pushing at one of the guns that had clattered to her side of the table until it was safely back on the other edge.
“What? Because I said you were hot?” Jack asked, an eyebrow arching as he rescued the gun she was about to push off the edge of the table and pulling a dirty rag from an inside pocket, starting a methodical progression of dismantling and cleaning it.
“It’s just not...appropriate,” Sam said, hating how silly her objection sounded.
“Well, that might be a problem, because I make a habit of being as inappropriate as much as humanly possible,” Jack smiled, reaching across the table. Sam jerked her hands away, thinking he was reaching for her, but at the last moment his questing hands diverted and picked up a second gun.
He smirked.
“So, what are you hoping to find in this great Lost City, hmm?” Jack asked, by way of conversation. “I mean, I get why your brother is here. He looks like the greedy type, but you don’t look like a city full of treasure would be enough to get your heart going.”
Sam blinked, taken back that the man before her could seem so dense and be so observant. “I like to answer the great mysteries, and one of which was why there seemed to be some inconsistencies with the level of technology the Ancient Egyptians possessed and what they were able to achieve. Hamunaptra is reputed to house the Book of the Living which is said to have the answers to all the mysteries of Egypt.”
“Plus,” Jack said, scratching at his temple with the flat edge of a particularly nasty looking bowie knife. “It’s apparently made of solid gold.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “That would just make it annoyingly heavy,” Sam said and Jack snorted.
“Wow, I actually believe that’s how you think. So, are you into the whole alien thing like your brother? You don’t really look crazy but sometimes it’s the quiet ones you have to watch.”
“Daniel’s not crazy. He’s just… misguided,” Sam sighed, knowing her life would have been very simple if not for Daniel. Of course, it would have also been boring. If not for his passion for Egypt, she might not have followed him and found herself on such an amazing adventure.
“So… you think I’m hot?” Sam asked, toying with a smaller dagger.
Jack raised his eyebrows again and there was a glint of amusement in his eye. “I have been in prison. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a woman.”
Sam’s mouth dropped open and she pushed back from the table, storming down the gangway and back into her room.
Jack watched her go, smiling.
<8>
“Ngerk!” Maybourne squeaked, feeling the press of a blade against his throat.
“Maybourne,” Jack growled. He had spotted his wayward companion a few minutes earlier and had trailed him to a more deserted part of the ship. “There’s this whole bloody revenge thing I swore on you if I ever saw you again. Nice of you to oblige.”
“You know me Jack,” Maybourne croaked. “Always an accommodating kind of guy.”
“So, I noticed you’re acting as tour guide for some fairly unsavoury looking fellows. Planning on taking them out into the desert and then running away?”
“It’s what I’m good at,” Maybourne smiled thinly. “But no, not these guys. I don’t think there’s anywhere that would be safe if I tried to double-cross them. They’re… connected.”
“Well, I hadn’t realised you were in mortal jeopardy there, Maybourne. Maybe I can help you out with that.”
“What?”
Jack smiled, leaning over to grasp Maybourne’s legs and then upending him over the edge of the boat. There was a yelp and a splash and then the sound of swearing intermingled with spluttering gasps for air.
Jack leaned on the ship’s edge, watching the man below flail in the darkness. He then stood and straightened his shirt.
“Yep, much better,” he sighed, but his amused grin faded as he noticed wet footprints on the decking beneath his own boots. His eyes followed the path of the footprints and Jack felt something cold grip his heart when he realised the cabin they’d been headed for.
Sam’s.
<8>
Sam felt hands on her shoulders and sighed. “Daniel! I’m not in the mood!” she snapped.
“I am not your Danyel,” a deep voice growled right in her ear and Sam yelped, pushing her chair back as she stood, hard. The man let out an exhaled pain and Sam whipped around, realising he was still in front of the door and she was trapped.
“This is nothing personal and done with regret,” the man intoned, raising a sword and levelling it with Sam’s throat.
Just at that moment, the door behind him burst open and Jack came barrelling through, knocking the attacker to the floor and giving him a swift quick for good measure. “Time to leave,” Jack barked, just as another similarly black clad man leaned into the room. Jack spun, bringing up his gun and cocking it in one smooth motion. He fired and then second attacker fell out of the room with a wet groan.
Sam leaned sideways and snagged the bracelet from the small desk in her room, slipping it over her hand and wrist. She looked down at herself, cringing that she was in only a long slip and robe. “Do I have time to-“
“C’mon!” Jack yelled, grabbing her arm and yanking her out of the room. “This boat’s crawling with these guys. You obviously pissed someone off.”
“Me?” Sam squeaked. “You’re the one who was supposed to be hung only two days ago.”
“Can you swim?” Jack demanded and Sam looked at him, startled.
“Yes, why-“ She didn’t get to finish her sentence as Jack swept her up into his arms, took two short strides to the edge of the steamer and pitched Sam over. Sam’s shriek of outrage was cut off when she hit the water beneath. Jack looked behind himself and spotted Daniel, making his way towards him through a throng of panicked passengers.
“Where’s Sam?” Daniel demanded, sounding panicked.
“Not time to explain,” Jack snapped, hooking a leg under Daniel’s ankles and tipping the younger man over the edge of the steamer as well. “Sorry about that!” he called over the side, before leaping over the edge himself, bracing for the shock of cold water beneath.
“Are you insane?” was the first words he heard when he surfaced and a hand smacked him in the face.
“Hey, watch it,” he protested, rubbing his jaw and looking at Sam who was treading water and looking madder than he’d ever seen anyone, in his entire life. He turned to see Daniel trying to shrug out of a sodden jacket that was weighing him down. “Um, I didn’t ask if you could swim, did I?” Jack asked sheepishly, watching as Daniel then pushed sodden hair out of his eyes.
“No,” Daniel sighed. “But being pushed into a river is nothing new for me.”
Despite their dire situation, Jack laughed.
Part Four
Sam emerged from a tent, followed by the twittering of about five women and Jack turned, his mouth dropping open. She was covered in head to foot with a deep blue Bedouin dress that still managed to hug every curve of her body. Her lower face was covered with a sheer blue veil and her blue eyes lighted on him and narrowed.
“Not a word,” she snapped.
“Not even if that word is nguh?”
He couldn’t see the rest of her face, but Sam’s eyes crinkled at the corners and Jack knew she was smiling, maybe even blushing. He wished she could see it.
“I got camels!” Daniel jogged towards them, towing four large and smelly beasts who looked like they’d seen better days, and those days had been some years ago.
“What happened? Were they all out of dead ones so you got the next best thing?” Jack backed away when Daniel turned the camels so they came within smelling range.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, I seem to have forgotten my cheque book, what with being thrown off a boat and all. We had to make do with the cash I had on me.”
“I don’t know, I think they’re adorable,” Sam sighed, taking the lead of one of the camels and getting it to lower to the ground with a few clicks of her tongue. She swung into the saddle and the camel rose in one fluid motion.
“How can you stand their smell?” Jack demanded, truly mystified. Sam’s eyes crinkled again but this time she unclipped the veil covering her face so he could see the rest of her smile.
“I improvise,” she said, holding a small ceramic tub out to Jack, about the size of a coin. Jack opened it and took a sniff. It was a paste that smelled like a fairly innocuous perfume, rose petals and the ocean. “Rub some under your nose and that’s all you’ll smell.” Sam said, tapping the camel’s flank with her heels and the large beast moved away.
Jack watched after her as Daniel moved up to stand beside him. “Your sister…” he sighed, at a loss.
Daniel smirked, handing a lead over to Jack. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”
“Why? You threatening to kick my ass?” Jack asked, amused at the very idea.
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t have to. Sam can kick your ass more effectively than I ever could.”
<8>
“Are we there yet?” Daniel asked plaintively, cursing whatever cruel God had invented camels and why they had totally disregarded the male anatomy when coming up with the design.
“Lost City of the Dead, right?” Jack asked and Daniel nodded. “Pretty close then, yeah.” Jack waved at the sand before them and the bleached white rib bones, reaching out of the sands before them like grasping fingers. Daniel blinked and paled.
“Are these-?”
“My men? Nah. We got a lot closer than these poor blighters,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Of course, we did have a whole platoon of men.”
“Ah, and we’re stumbling in, two men, a woman and a couple of camels exactly why?” Daniel asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
“I thought you wanted to see the lost treasure of the Pharaohs,” Sam said, turning in her saddle to look back at both men.
“I can’t spend it if I’m dead,” Daniel grumbled, reaching out to give his camel’s head a pat, who snorted good naturedly.
“Crap,” Jack sighed and both Sam and Daniel looked at him. “We’ve got company,” Jack pointed. In the hazy distance was a line of horses, bearing down on them quickly.
“Well, we’d better get there before them, then,” Sam grinned. She then dug her heels into her camel’s flank, hard, letting out what sounded like a war cry. The camel dashed forward, kicking up a trail of dust.
“You heard the lady!” Jack called, laughing.
<8>
Jack bumped into Sam when she had halted. They’d found a small crevice in the pyramid they had come to and had all managed to squeeze inside, just as the sound of the pursuing hooves had reverberated from outside.
There was only a small sliver of light, but enough to spot a torch on a wall sconce. Jack reached over Sam and pulled it free, pulling a lighter from his breast pocket and setting the end alight. The shadows were chased back and Sam gasped, looking about the sprawling chamber they were standing in.
“It’s a preparation chamber,” Daniel breathed, darting around the others, itching to explore and touch. Sam watched him, worried, knowing that he was liable to fall and break something in his haste to explore.
“Preparation for what?” Jack asked.
“Mummies,” Sam breathed. She leaned back a little and he felt her shudder through his own skin. He reached up and put hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently. Off to the far left was a large and ornate statue of Anubis. As they glanced over, there was a huge crashing sound and sunlight burst through the wall. Figures appeared, outlined by the daylight.
Daniel had turned an alarming shade of red. “What are you doing?” he demanded, looking appalled. “You can’t just break through the wall of a pyramid!”
“I’m sorry to say son, looks like we can.” A tall, oily looking grey-haired man appeared out of the dust and shadows, brushing off his jacket and he stepped through the wreckage. “And it looks to me like you were about to try and claim something that’s rightfully ours.”
“The hell!” Jack growled, stepping forward, his momentum only being arrested by Sam’s arm shooting out and grabbing the elbow of his shirt.
“Darn,” she sighed. “Looks like they beat us. What a pity. You don’t mind if we still have a look around, do you?” Sam asked sweetly while Jack turned amazed eyes on her, wondering where the tough, no nonsense woman had gone that he was really getting to like.
The older man waved a dismissive hand, his attention completely focused on the statue. “Do whatever you want,” he snapped.
Sam smiled and nodded, dragging away a protesting Jack and also reaching across to snag Daniel, who was still standing in the middle of the room, looking for all the world like someone had just run over his puppy.
“What are you doing?” Jack protested.
“When we first came in, I noticed a recessed chamber over by the East wall. Chances are there’s a chamber under this one. If the stories of this place are correct, the book will be in that statue and we can dig right underneath them and steal it from under their noses.”
Daniel blinked amazed eyes at Sam. “I’ve never been prouder to call you my sister,” he said, his voice full of emotion.
“There should be a compartment in the statue but unless their Egyptologist is very good, it’ll take them a good while to find out how to open it.”
Jack smirked, looking over at the gathered people and the tall man barking orders. Slinking around, looking furtive as usual was Maybourne. So far as Jack could tell, Maybourne was their Egyptologist.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about in that regard,” he smiled.
<8>
“We might have a small problem,’ Daniel said, panting. He’d run up to the chamber above them to check what was happening with the other expedition. All three of them had been worried about how quiet it had gotten.
Sam and Jack paused, holding sledgehammers that they were using to make progress through the floor of the temple. Daniel had initially protested again about wanton destruction, but the further promise of golden books had silenced him almost entirely on the subject.
“What?” Jack sighed, taking the chance to upend his sledgehammer and lean on the handle, wiping a grimy bandana over his face and only managing to moosh the dirt there more effectively into his skin than actually removing any. Sam fought the very real urge to take her own, wet it with the canteen she had and make a proper job of it. She didn’t really want to go to the mother place with this man. Not at all. He might’ve been smelly and abrasive, but he also had an undeniable charm and saving her life had definitely allowed him to go up in her esteem.
“Well, it looks like they’re strapping explosives to Anubis,” Daniel sighed, looking defeated.
“What? They risk bringing this whole place down on top of us! What kind of moron-“ At that moment there was a hollow boom and their world shook. Jack grabbed a handful of Daniel’s and Sam’s shirts and hauled them sideways as a large chunk of the ceiling they had been digging at broke free, followed by something larger. When the tremors finally passed, all three looked up from their huddled position on the floor.
“What is that?” Daniel breathed, making his careful way over to the large object that had come free from the base of the statue.
“It looks like… a sarcophagus,” Sam said, wiping a forearm over her eyes, trying to dislodge some of the grit.
“Who’d bury one of those in the ceiling?” Jack asked, blinking in surprise.
“It wasn’t. It was in the base of the statue of Anubis. He was either very important, or very naughty.”
“Well, who is it?” Daniel asked, watching pensively as Sam brushed the dirt from the top of the Sarcophagus and traced the Hieroglyphs with a delicate finger.
“Ba’al,” Sam read, her brow furrowing.
“Ball?” Jack asked, incredulous.
“There doesn’t seem to be a way to open it,” Sam said, brushing more dirt away. “There’s a seam that runs the length of the lid, but it doesn’t look like any sarcophagus I’ve ever seen. Your traditional sarcophagus is quarried granite with a cobalt lining. I can’t even tell what this is made of.”
“No lock, nothing?” Jack asked.
Sam blinked. “Of course. The bracelet. It might open it.”
She pushed up her sleeve, revealing the ringed bracelet and held it over the sarcophagus. She gave it a small shake and then sighed. “Worth a try, I guess.” Jack smiled.
Jack stilled, cocking his head to the side. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
“What?” Daniel and Sam both asked, together.
Jack pulled his gun free from its holster and made his way towards the stairs leading up to the higher floor. “Stay here,” he instructed.
Sam made to follow him but Daniel grabbed her arm. “Didn’t the man say to stay here?” he asked.
Sam pulled free, jogging lightly to catch up with Jack. Daniel, noticing he was left alone in deep shadows with nothing but a sarcophagus, sighed in resignation and darted forward.
<8>
Jack was collected by a fleeing Maybourne as he emerged from the pyramid into the light of day, the sounds of gunfire and men yelling surrounding him on all sides. As Maybourne scrambled up, Jack latched into his collar.
“I’m getting an extreme case of dejavu,” he growled and Maybourne paled.
“I was… coming to find you. To warn you!” he gasped desperately.
“Looks to me like you were running away,” Jack corrected, giving Maybourne a little shake and ducking a stray bullet. He started dragging Maybourne back towards the fighting, who squeaked in protest.
“We should be moving away from the gunfire!” Maybourne’s voice was shrill.
“Looks like we only caught the tale end of it,” Jack said watching as a number of riders in black and red robes fanned away. One turned just as he reached the ridge of the topmost dune and Jack looked at him, noting he was large and had an impressive tattoo adorning his forehead.
“Leave this place or die!” the man’s voice echoed across the sand.
Sam appeared at Jack’s elbow, looking ashen. “Are you alright?” he asked, turning to her and relinquishing his hold on Maybourne so he could grasp her shoulders.
“Yes, I’m okay,” she said, worrying her lower lip with her teeth as she noticed a number of bodies strewn about the base of the pyramid.
“I’m fine too, in case anyone cares,” Daniel chimed in, before throwing up his hands and sauntering off to see if their camp had been completely demolished.
“What happened?” Sam asked.
“Not sure, but I think someone objects to people coming in and just blowing up things.” Jack smiled, running a thumb along Sam’s temple. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” she nodded, stepping away from him and he let his arms drop to his sides. “Thanks.”
<8>
“Oh my god, is alcoholism a family trait?” Jack demanded, ducking into their shared tent and noting that he had two very inebriated siblings on his hands. Sam grinned at him goofily while Daniel made a show of straightening his shirt.
“I jus’ thought Sam needed to unwind a little. Very traumatic day. Very traumatic.”
“I’m sure,” Jack grumbled, backing out of the tent and making his way across their camp to sit by the fire outside. Sam rolled out of the tent a few moments later, clutching a small silver hip flask in her hands and weaving her way over to the fire, plopping down beside Jack, almost in his lap. Jack sighed and shifted her until she was sitting on the blanket beside him.
“I’m not an alcoholic,” Sam snapped, slurring the last of her word so that it didn’t hold much weight. “My brother is a complete lush but I haven’t had a drink in…years.” Sam stretched lazily and managed to overbalance and Jack deftly caught her as she tipped backward, righting her.
“That’s pretty obvious,” Jack said, rescuing the flask from Sam’s hands and finishing it off with a few swallows.
“What are you doing?” Sam protested, retrieving the flask and holding it over her face, making a mew of protest when she found it empty.
“Saving you from a worse hangover than you’re already going to have.”
“I don’t need saving,” Sam grumped, sliding sideways and wriggling down until she had her head on Jack’s thigh. He was about to move her again when she made an almost contented purring noise and his hands froze as she reached up dropped her fingers over his knee, drumming them lightly. He knew it was wrong and she’d probably be embarrassed, but she looked so damn comfortable that he couldn’t move her.
Didn’t want to, he corrected.
“Oh, I know that. I’m wondering though, how did you end up here? With that big brain of yours, you should be in a lab somewhere, coming up with a cure for something.”
Sam sighed, settling more firmly against his leg and managing to curl in such a way that her back was pressed alongside the rest of his thigh. “Daniel loved Egypt and he’s all I have. Where he goes, so goes my nation… or something.”
Jack smiled, watching the fire crackle, devouring the small amount of wood they’d fed it with relish. “Not many people would give up their dreams for someone else,” Jack sighed.
A gentle snore was his only response.
Next Part
By:
kellifer_ficRated: PG
Disclaimer - Don't own, don't sue.
Is: Sam/Jack - Team
Summary: The Mummy - SG-1 style
Edited: Posted without a cut tug for about 15 second so apologies for anyone who had the misfortune of refreshing their f-list right at that moment!!
Part Three
Sam sat at a table nestled along one wall of the passenger steamer, the ocean air playing through her hair. She had one of Daniel’s numerous journals on her lap and was looking at the writing on the hand device, trying to determine its origin. Daniel’s journals were rambling accounts of random thoughts, no real organisation to them, much like the man himself.
A mystery, wrapped in an enigma, Sam thought dryly.
A bag thumped down on the table in front of her and Sam jerked her head up as Jack slid into the seat opposite. As she watched with widening eyes, he pulled from his bag a collection of guns, knives and a fairly ancient looking rifle.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you,” Jack apologised, grinning and Sam grunted.
“The only thing that frightens me is your manners,” Sam sniffed, pushing at one of the guns that had clattered to her side of the table until it was safely back on the other edge.
“What? Because I said you were hot?” Jack asked, an eyebrow arching as he rescued the gun she was about to push off the edge of the table and pulling a dirty rag from an inside pocket, starting a methodical progression of dismantling and cleaning it.
“It’s just not...appropriate,” Sam said, hating how silly her objection sounded.
“Well, that might be a problem, because I make a habit of being as inappropriate as much as humanly possible,” Jack smiled, reaching across the table. Sam jerked her hands away, thinking he was reaching for her, but at the last moment his questing hands diverted and picked up a second gun.
He smirked.
“So, what are you hoping to find in this great Lost City, hmm?” Jack asked, by way of conversation. “I mean, I get why your brother is here. He looks like the greedy type, but you don’t look like a city full of treasure would be enough to get your heart going.”
Sam blinked, taken back that the man before her could seem so dense and be so observant. “I like to answer the great mysteries, and one of which was why there seemed to be some inconsistencies with the level of technology the Ancient Egyptians possessed and what they were able to achieve. Hamunaptra is reputed to house the Book of the Living which is said to have the answers to all the mysteries of Egypt.”
“Plus,” Jack said, scratching at his temple with the flat edge of a particularly nasty looking bowie knife. “It’s apparently made of solid gold.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “That would just make it annoyingly heavy,” Sam said and Jack snorted.
“Wow, I actually believe that’s how you think. So, are you into the whole alien thing like your brother? You don’t really look crazy but sometimes it’s the quiet ones you have to watch.”
“Daniel’s not crazy. He’s just… misguided,” Sam sighed, knowing her life would have been very simple if not for Daniel. Of course, it would have also been boring. If not for his passion for Egypt, she might not have followed him and found herself on such an amazing adventure.
“So… you think I’m hot?” Sam asked, toying with a smaller dagger.
Jack raised his eyebrows again and there was a glint of amusement in his eye. “I have been in prison. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a woman.”
Sam’s mouth dropped open and she pushed back from the table, storming down the gangway and back into her room.
Jack watched her go, smiling.
<8>
“Ngerk!” Maybourne squeaked, feeling the press of a blade against his throat.
“Maybourne,” Jack growled. He had spotted his wayward companion a few minutes earlier and had trailed him to a more deserted part of the ship. “There’s this whole bloody revenge thing I swore on you if I ever saw you again. Nice of you to oblige.”
“You know me Jack,” Maybourne croaked. “Always an accommodating kind of guy.”
“So, I noticed you’re acting as tour guide for some fairly unsavoury looking fellows. Planning on taking them out into the desert and then running away?”
“It’s what I’m good at,” Maybourne smiled thinly. “But no, not these guys. I don’t think there’s anywhere that would be safe if I tried to double-cross them. They’re… connected.”
“Well, I hadn’t realised you were in mortal jeopardy there, Maybourne. Maybe I can help you out with that.”
“What?”
Jack smiled, leaning over to grasp Maybourne’s legs and then upending him over the edge of the boat. There was a yelp and a splash and then the sound of swearing intermingled with spluttering gasps for air.
Jack leaned on the ship’s edge, watching the man below flail in the darkness. He then stood and straightened his shirt.
“Yep, much better,” he sighed, but his amused grin faded as he noticed wet footprints on the decking beneath his own boots. His eyes followed the path of the footprints and Jack felt something cold grip his heart when he realised the cabin they’d been headed for.
Sam’s.
<8>
Sam felt hands on her shoulders and sighed. “Daniel! I’m not in the mood!” she snapped.
“I am not your Danyel,” a deep voice growled right in her ear and Sam yelped, pushing her chair back as she stood, hard. The man let out an exhaled pain and Sam whipped around, realising he was still in front of the door and she was trapped.
“This is nothing personal and done with regret,” the man intoned, raising a sword and levelling it with Sam’s throat.
Just at that moment, the door behind him burst open and Jack came barrelling through, knocking the attacker to the floor and giving him a swift quick for good measure. “Time to leave,” Jack barked, just as another similarly black clad man leaned into the room. Jack spun, bringing up his gun and cocking it in one smooth motion. He fired and then second attacker fell out of the room with a wet groan.
Sam leaned sideways and snagged the bracelet from the small desk in her room, slipping it over her hand and wrist. She looked down at herself, cringing that she was in only a long slip and robe. “Do I have time to-“
“C’mon!” Jack yelled, grabbing her arm and yanking her out of the room. “This boat’s crawling with these guys. You obviously pissed someone off.”
“Me?” Sam squeaked. “You’re the one who was supposed to be hung only two days ago.”
“Can you swim?” Jack demanded and Sam looked at him, startled.
“Yes, why-“ She didn’t get to finish her sentence as Jack swept her up into his arms, took two short strides to the edge of the steamer and pitched Sam over. Sam’s shriek of outrage was cut off when she hit the water beneath. Jack looked behind himself and spotted Daniel, making his way towards him through a throng of panicked passengers.
“Where’s Sam?” Daniel demanded, sounding panicked.
“Not time to explain,” Jack snapped, hooking a leg under Daniel’s ankles and tipping the younger man over the edge of the steamer as well. “Sorry about that!” he called over the side, before leaping over the edge himself, bracing for the shock of cold water beneath.
“Are you insane?” was the first words he heard when he surfaced and a hand smacked him in the face.
“Hey, watch it,” he protested, rubbing his jaw and looking at Sam who was treading water and looking madder than he’d ever seen anyone, in his entire life. He turned to see Daniel trying to shrug out of a sodden jacket that was weighing him down. “Um, I didn’t ask if you could swim, did I?” Jack asked sheepishly, watching as Daniel then pushed sodden hair out of his eyes.
“No,” Daniel sighed. “But being pushed into a river is nothing new for me.”
Despite their dire situation, Jack laughed.
Part Four
Sam emerged from a tent, followed by the twittering of about five women and Jack turned, his mouth dropping open. She was covered in head to foot with a deep blue Bedouin dress that still managed to hug every curve of her body. Her lower face was covered with a sheer blue veil and her blue eyes lighted on him and narrowed.
“Not a word,” she snapped.
“Not even if that word is nguh?”
He couldn’t see the rest of her face, but Sam’s eyes crinkled at the corners and Jack knew she was smiling, maybe even blushing. He wished she could see it.
“I got camels!” Daniel jogged towards them, towing four large and smelly beasts who looked like they’d seen better days, and those days had been some years ago.
“What happened? Were they all out of dead ones so you got the next best thing?” Jack backed away when Daniel turned the camels so they came within smelling range.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, I seem to have forgotten my cheque book, what with being thrown off a boat and all. We had to make do with the cash I had on me.”
“I don’t know, I think they’re adorable,” Sam sighed, taking the lead of one of the camels and getting it to lower to the ground with a few clicks of her tongue. She swung into the saddle and the camel rose in one fluid motion.
“How can you stand their smell?” Jack demanded, truly mystified. Sam’s eyes crinkled again but this time she unclipped the veil covering her face so he could see the rest of her smile.
“I improvise,” she said, holding a small ceramic tub out to Jack, about the size of a coin. Jack opened it and took a sniff. It was a paste that smelled like a fairly innocuous perfume, rose petals and the ocean. “Rub some under your nose and that’s all you’ll smell.” Sam said, tapping the camel’s flank with her heels and the large beast moved away.
Jack watched after her as Daniel moved up to stand beside him. “Your sister…” he sighed, at a loss.
Daniel smirked, handing a lead over to Jack. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”
“Why? You threatening to kick my ass?” Jack asked, amused at the very idea.
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t have to. Sam can kick your ass more effectively than I ever could.”
<8>
“Are we there yet?” Daniel asked plaintively, cursing whatever cruel God had invented camels and why they had totally disregarded the male anatomy when coming up with the design.
“Lost City of the Dead, right?” Jack asked and Daniel nodded. “Pretty close then, yeah.” Jack waved at the sand before them and the bleached white rib bones, reaching out of the sands before them like grasping fingers. Daniel blinked and paled.
“Are these-?”
“My men? Nah. We got a lot closer than these poor blighters,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Of course, we did have a whole platoon of men.”
“Ah, and we’re stumbling in, two men, a woman and a couple of camels exactly why?” Daniel asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
“I thought you wanted to see the lost treasure of the Pharaohs,” Sam said, turning in her saddle to look back at both men.
“I can’t spend it if I’m dead,” Daniel grumbled, reaching out to give his camel’s head a pat, who snorted good naturedly.
“Crap,” Jack sighed and both Sam and Daniel looked at him. “We’ve got company,” Jack pointed. In the hazy distance was a line of horses, bearing down on them quickly.
“Well, we’d better get there before them, then,” Sam grinned. She then dug her heels into her camel’s flank, hard, letting out what sounded like a war cry. The camel dashed forward, kicking up a trail of dust.
“You heard the lady!” Jack called, laughing.
<8>
Jack bumped into Sam when she had halted. They’d found a small crevice in the pyramid they had come to and had all managed to squeeze inside, just as the sound of the pursuing hooves had reverberated from outside.
There was only a small sliver of light, but enough to spot a torch on a wall sconce. Jack reached over Sam and pulled it free, pulling a lighter from his breast pocket and setting the end alight. The shadows were chased back and Sam gasped, looking about the sprawling chamber they were standing in.
“It’s a preparation chamber,” Daniel breathed, darting around the others, itching to explore and touch. Sam watched him, worried, knowing that he was liable to fall and break something in his haste to explore.
“Preparation for what?” Jack asked.
“Mummies,” Sam breathed. She leaned back a little and he felt her shudder through his own skin. He reached up and put hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently. Off to the far left was a large and ornate statue of Anubis. As they glanced over, there was a huge crashing sound and sunlight burst through the wall. Figures appeared, outlined by the daylight.
Daniel had turned an alarming shade of red. “What are you doing?” he demanded, looking appalled. “You can’t just break through the wall of a pyramid!”
“I’m sorry to say son, looks like we can.” A tall, oily looking grey-haired man appeared out of the dust and shadows, brushing off his jacket and he stepped through the wreckage. “And it looks to me like you were about to try and claim something that’s rightfully ours.”
“The hell!” Jack growled, stepping forward, his momentum only being arrested by Sam’s arm shooting out and grabbing the elbow of his shirt.
“Darn,” she sighed. “Looks like they beat us. What a pity. You don’t mind if we still have a look around, do you?” Sam asked sweetly while Jack turned amazed eyes on her, wondering where the tough, no nonsense woman had gone that he was really getting to like.
The older man waved a dismissive hand, his attention completely focused on the statue. “Do whatever you want,” he snapped.
Sam smiled and nodded, dragging away a protesting Jack and also reaching across to snag Daniel, who was still standing in the middle of the room, looking for all the world like someone had just run over his puppy.
“What are you doing?” Jack protested.
“When we first came in, I noticed a recessed chamber over by the East wall. Chances are there’s a chamber under this one. If the stories of this place are correct, the book will be in that statue and we can dig right underneath them and steal it from under their noses.”
Daniel blinked amazed eyes at Sam. “I’ve never been prouder to call you my sister,” he said, his voice full of emotion.
“There should be a compartment in the statue but unless their Egyptologist is very good, it’ll take them a good while to find out how to open it.”
Jack smirked, looking over at the gathered people and the tall man barking orders. Slinking around, looking furtive as usual was Maybourne. So far as Jack could tell, Maybourne was their Egyptologist.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about in that regard,” he smiled.
<8>
“We might have a small problem,’ Daniel said, panting. He’d run up to the chamber above them to check what was happening with the other expedition. All three of them had been worried about how quiet it had gotten.
Sam and Jack paused, holding sledgehammers that they were using to make progress through the floor of the temple. Daniel had initially protested again about wanton destruction, but the further promise of golden books had silenced him almost entirely on the subject.
“What?” Jack sighed, taking the chance to upend his sledgehammer and lean on the handle, wiping a grimy bandana over his face and only managing to moosh the dirt there more effectively into his skin than actually removing any. Sam fought the very real urge to take her own, wet it with the canteen she had and make a proper job of it. She didn’t really want to go to the mother place with this man. Not at all. He might’ve been smelly and abrasive, but he also had an undeniable charm and saving her life had definitely allowed him to go up in her esteem.
“Well, it looks like they’re strapping explosives to Anubis,” Daniel sighed, looking defeated.
“What? They risk bringing this whole place down on top of us! What kind of moron-“ At that moment there was a hollow boom and their world shook. Jack grabbed a handful of Daniel’s and Sam’s shirts and hauled them sideways as a large chunk of the ceiling they had been digging at broke free, followed by something larger. When the tremors finally passed, all three looked up from their huddled position on the floor.
“What is that?” Daniel breathed, making his careful way over to the large object that had come free from the base of the statue.
“It looks like… a sarcophagus,” Sam said, wiping a forearm over her eyes, trying to dislodge some of the grit.
“Who’d bury one of those in the ceiling?” Jack asked, blinking in surprise.
“It wasn’t. It was in the base of the statue of Anubis. He was either very important, or very naughty.”
“Well, who is it?” Daniel asked, watching pensively as Sam brushed the dirt from the top of the Sarcophagus and traced the Hieroglyphs with a delicate finger.
“Ba’al,” Sam read, her brow furrowing.
“Ball?” Jack asked, incredulous.
“There doesn’t seem to be a way to open it,” Sam said, brushing more dirt away. “There’s a seam that runs the length of the lid, but it doesn’t look like any sarcophagus I’ve ever seen. Your traditional sarcophagus is quarried granite with a cobalt lining. I can’t even tell what this is made of.”
“No lock, nothing?” Jack asked.
Sam blinked. “Of course. The bracelet. It might open it.”
She pushed up her sleeve, revealing the ringed bracelet and held it over the sarcophagus. She gave it a small shake and then sighed. “Worth a try, I guess.” Jack smiled.
Jack stilled, cocking his head to the side. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
“What?” Daniel and Sam both asked, together.
Jack pulled his gun free from its holster and made his way towards the stairs leading up to the higher floor. “Stay here,” he instructed.
Sam made to follow him but Daniel grabbed her arm. “Didn’t the man say to stay here?” he asked.
Sam pulled free, jogging lightly to catch up with Jack. Daniel, noticing he was left alone in deep shadows with nothing but a sarcophagus, sighed in resignation and darted forward.
<8>
Jack was collected by a fleeing Maybourne as he emerged from the pyramid into the light of day, the sounds of gunfire and men yelling surrounding him on all sides. As Maybourne scrambled up, Jack latched into his collar.
“I’m getting an extreme case of dejavu,” he growled and Maybourne paled.
“I was… coming to find you. To warn you!” he gasped desperately.
“Looks to me like you were running away,” Jack corrected, giving Maybourne a little shake and ducking a stray bullet. He started dragging Maybourne back towards the fighting, who squeaked in protest.
“We should be moving away from the gunfire!” Maybourne’s voice was shrill.
“Looks like we only caught the tale end of it,” Jack said watching as a number of riders in black and red robes fanned away. One turned just as he reached the ridge of the topmost dune and Jack looked at him, noting he was large and had an impressive tattoo adorning his forehead.
“Leave this place or die!” the man’s voice echoed across the sand.
Sam appeared at Jack’s elbow, looking ashen. “Are you alright?” he asked, turning to her and relinquishing his hold on Maybourne so he could grasp her shoulders.
“Yes, I’m okay,” she said, worrying her lower lip with her teeth as she noticed a number of bodies strewn about the base of the pyramid.
“I’m fine too, in case anyone cares,” Daniel chimed in, before throwing up his hands and sauntering off to see if their camp had been completely demolished.
“What happened?” Sam asked.
“Not sure, but I think someone objects to people coming in and just blowing up things.” Jack smiled, running a thumb along Sam’s temple. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” she nodded, stepping away from him and he let his arms drop to his sides. “Thanks.”
<8>
“Oh my god, is alcoholism a family trait?” Jack demanded, ducking into their shared tent and noting that he had two very inebriated siblings on his hands. Sam grinned at him goofily while Daniel made a show of straightening his shirt.
“I jus’ thought Sam needed to unwind a little. Very traumatic day. Very traumatic.”
“I’m sure,” Jack grumbled, backing out of the tent and making his way across their camp to sit by the fire outside. Sam rolled out of the tent a few moments later, clutching a small silver hip flask in her hands and weaving her way over to the fire, plopping down beside Jack, almost in his lap. Jack sighed and shifted her until she was sitting on the blanket beside him.
“I’m not an alcoholic,” Sam snapped, slurring the last of her word so that it didn’t hold much weight. “My brother is a complete lush but I haven’t had a drink in…years.” Sam stretched lazily and managed to overbalance and Jack deftly caught her as she tipped backward, righting her.
“That’s pretty obvious,” Jack said, rescuing the flask from Sam’s hands and finishing it off with a few swallows.
“What are you doing?” Sam protested, retrieving the flask and holding it over her face, making a mew of protest when she found it empty.
“Saving you from a worse hangover than you’re already going to have.”
“I don’t need saving,” Sam grumped, sliding sideways and wriggling down until she had her head on Jack’s thigh. He was about to move her again when she made an almost contented purring noise and his hands froze as she reached up dropped her fingers over his knee, drumming them lightly. He knew it was wrong and she’d probably be embarrassed, but she looked so damn comfortable that he couldn’t move her.
Didn’t want to, he corrected.
“Oh, I know that. I’m wondering though, how did you end up here? With that big brain of yours, you should be in a lab somewhere, coming up with a cure for something.”
Sam sighed, settling more firmly against his leg and managing to curl in such a way that her back was pressed alongside the rest of his thigh. “Daniel loved Egypt and he’s all I have. Where he goes, so goes my nation… or something.”
Jack smiled, watching the fire crackle, devouring the small amount of wood they’d fed it with relish. “Not many people would give up their dreams for someone else,” Jack sighed.
A gentle snore was his only response.
Next Part
Tags: