Murderess

The wind chilled my bones as I followed Evy through the many vendor shops in this little town. The wet clothes on my body made everything that I was feeling worse at that moment. I felt naked without my hijab, I wore it because those who are native to Egypt always had a way of staring me down, I couldn't describe the feeling it gave me. Though I had experienced this one too many times when I was trying to find my brother. This is one of the reasons I preferred to travel at night, I didn't want to see the stares I knew were on my back like a target. Evy didn't seem to notice the stares I was receiving, just as I was debating stealing a hijab from the vendor we were passing Evy pulled us into a tent. The feeling immediately dissipated. She spoke to the ladies telling them what we needed and handed them the money before I could even have a second to think about it, I was surrounded by women.

They stripped my body of my wet clothes that were sticking to my skin and put me in a silky see-through dress with a halter neckline that crossed over itself in the front and clasped at the back of my neck. They placed an ornate black corset on me, which I wasn't expecting, the silver inlay was gorgeous. It was still a light and breezy outfit and the ladies made sure I could breathe in the corset. The final touch was a veil, the silver on mine shown in the sun catching the light beautifully. Although it was not my usual pick the mirror in front of me made me look like a dark entity. I was impressed with the stoic woman looking back at me in the mirror, she seemed powerful. For the first time, I smirked at myself in the mirror and she did the same. The moment passed quickly as Evy grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the shop, I barely had time to thank the ladies that gave us the clothes. I looked at Evy as she discretely asked me how she looked. They had clothed her with the same beautiful silk that I had on, however, her dress almost seemed goddess-like, unlike mine which matched the dark aura I felt around me constantly. The dress wrapped around her figure with a sash of coins that accentuated her body. She looked stunning, the veil they placed around her face was see-through and beaded with gold sparkles, it emphasized the makeup around her eyes.

"Prepare yourself for my brother's reaction," I mumbled into her ear. She giggled at that, and I smiled at her encouragingly. They really would make a cute couple. We walked toward the camel vendor where Jonathan was shouting at the man that he only wanted 5 camels. Rick yelled something at Jon as he grabbed the reins and started directing the camels toward us.

"You probably could have got them for free, all we had to do was give them your sister." He mumbled to Jon.

"Yes, awfully tempting wasn't it?" Jon chuckled back at him. Rick looked up seeing Evy and me for the first time.

"Awfully..." Rick breathed out, I rolled my eyes at the cheesy moment that they were sharing, going to the camel I had decided was mine and mounted up, pulling my body over the huge animal. I patted its neck while the others mounted their own camels. The morning sun was rising into the sky as we made our way out of the town. The warden had caught up to us, unfortunately, he survived the boat incident. I was less than satisfied with that, but he would be dead soon. I shook my head, how did I know that? It was like there was another voice in my head that said that.

"Never did like camels, filthy buggers, they smell, they bite, they spit" Jonathan complained, I sighed feeling the rays of the sun hit my body attempting to ignore him.

"I think they're adorable" Evy smiled leaning forwards to pet hers on the head. Just at that moment the man who was annoying me the most started singing a song. I tried not to let it bother me, feeling the heat that the black silk soaked up on my body, I was nice and warm. I held onto that feeling happily letting my mind drift back to a time when I was a teenager, before I knew it I was asleep in a dream.

Rick and I were teens, trying to make it on our own as we had been kicked out from the orphanage in Cairo after turning 16. I remember I was about 14 years old at the time and had no idea what was happening, Rick was 16 at the time and he was trying to show them that he was able and willing to take me on as his responsibility. This was far from the truth, but as he said, we must stay together. From there on out he was considered my guardian. The orphanage did not put up much of a fight as they were ready to be rid of us, we were quite the troublemakers inside. There was no telling what we would get up to outside these walls.

It wasn't long before we realized that the only way to live was to earn money. Or I should say steal money, it wasn't too hard once we met Izzy Buttons. Rick learned quickly the ways of a con artist. It wasn't hard considering Rick was growing into his looks. The women fawned over him and men wanted to be him. It wasn't until a bank job in Marrakesh that we had more than enough money to live in an apartment. Rick had become overly enthused with a girl he had met, I could never remember her name. But I wasn't even with him at the time, I was with Izzy, and we were flying in his airplane. The job itself was simple Rick would go in rob the bank and hopefully get out unscathed based on what he called "intelligence" although we all knew he was going to try to bribe them with his stupid eyes. I would never understand his obsession with himself. Izzy and I had been instructed to hide in the sun, when Rick gave the signal we would then fly in low for the pickup. When we did, there was trouble, a few of those who were securing the area had shot Izzy, and he tumbled out of the plane, which wasn't too terrible considering he had flown us in a bit too low for my liking. I managed to maneuver the plane out of sight and land not too far away. By the time I had walked myself back to Izzy with some medical supplies. Rick was waltzing up with some belly-dancer girl, money in hand. She probably thought she was going to get a cut of the money but there would be hell to pay if she thought that.

I awoke late in the night; my camel had moved its way toward Ricks and I knew this was my opportunity if I wanted to let him in on what was happening with me. I debated the idea in my head not sure if I really wanted to bother him with the silliness that I thought was actually happening. If it happened again, it would be something to mention. The camel that Rick was riding groaned next to me alerting me that it was time to announce that I was awake.

"How much further?" I whispered to my brother.

"Not too far," he said looking around the darkness around us. I knew better than to ask him what was wrong.

"Someone's following us," He said as he nodded his head towards the ridge. There were at least ten figures on horses just observing us as we traversed the desert.

"They seem peaceful, no need to start the theatrics just yet" I whispered back to him. Feeling around for my bag that Rick had gathered from our room before the ship went to hell. He had strapped it to the back of my camel, I assume while I was sleeping. I slowly rooted around in there, searching for one throwing knife. I found one and pulled it out hiding it within my sleeve.

"I agree, let them be" He nodded. I enjoyed the silence for a while before Jonathan whacked the warden with his crop for snoring too loudly near his ear. I released the veil from its hold near my ear and let it drop down. I took a deep breath taking in the crisp cool air. It was refreshing, like a cool drink on a summer day. All too quickly the night faded away and the orange of the sky replaced it. We started to come up near a dome-looking rock formation. I saw the Americans and Beni slowly walking up toward us as well.

"Good morning my friend" Beni shouted to us. A growl emanated deep within my throat. It was a sound I didn't even know I made until Rick looked at me with eyes of concern. The sheer amount of horses the group had was inconceivable.

"What the hell we doing??" Henderson asked Beni clearly not used to living in the moment, always looking for the next thing.

"Patience, my good barat'm, patience." Beni chiding him, I wanted to rip his head off.

"Remember our bet O'Connell, first one to the city, 500 cash bucks." I rolled my eyes, this man really had no manners, he was chewing on something too loudly and talking as if he had too much spit in his mouth.

"100 of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet," one American I had played cards with said directing his attention to Beni. I remembered him briefly sitting across the table from me. He reminded me of a snail.

"Oh, my pleasure" Beni replied. Rick's camel let out a groan and Beni decided to capitalize on the opportunity.

"Hey O'Connell, nice camel" Rick smirked and patted its head. He didn't even grace Beni with a reply.

"Get ready for it." He muttered to us.

"For what?" Evy asked him looking from the direction we were about to travel in towards Rick.

"We're about to be shown the way." He explained to her. As we waited the sun rose quickly over the desert. It created a sort of mirage, showing the rocks that were hidden prior.

"Will you look at that?" Henderson breathed out.

"Can you believe it?" The American said.

"Hamunaptra" Burns smiled.

"Here we go again." Rick groaned. The sun glinted on what I assumed was a golden statue inside the city. The yelling started quickly after as we started to race towards the city on our camels and horses.

"Zig zig zig zig hut hut hut" I heard Evy uttering to her camel to get him to move fast. I started clucking hoping that it worked like a horse. I ended up near Beni and Rick. Beni was hitting his camel with his crop very hard, I could see why it didn't want to obey him. As soon as he started hitting my brother I knew my opportunity had come. I brought my camel closer to him, it felt as though a force overtook my body I brought the knife I had hidden in my sleeve early out into view. I slashed specifically at Beni's forearm creating a parallel cut that would stun him enough to stop whacking my brother. It wasn't just a scratch, it was a deep cut that I knew would hurt and need stitches for. Blood poured out from the wound I had caused. I smiled at him as his eyes met mine he gasped, almost as if he saw something else beneath my irises. He was trying to grab the scarf from around his neck to staunch the bleeding. Before he had the option, Rick pulled him from his camel and threw him to the ground. He ducked and covered as he hit the ground rolling away from us as his camel started to run away from him.

"Serves you right," Evy said to him as she watched what had happened. Rick caught up to me as I had flown past Beni's camel.

"What the hell was that??" He asked me.

"Punishment," I replied to him nonchalantly.

"We'll talk when we win this bet," Rick said sternly to me. As Evy caught up to us she kept chanting her little diddy to make her camel go faster. She and Rick shared a smile and the camel groaned loudly galloping towards the city of Hamunaptra.

"Wooo!!! Go Evy, Go!!" Jonathan happily cheered his sister on, and just like that we had won the bet leaving the American's in our dust.