"It is only a legend." Charles sighed as he looked up from the book he was reading.

Being in a tomb, there wasn't always the best lighting to read anything, yet he seemed to take that as a challenge. He had heard of some many legends throughout his life, mostly thanks to his somewhat famous explorer family. He knew just how accurate legends could be and when to place trust in any of them.

"That's rich coming from someone of your background." Marion replied as she turned away from the tomb wall she was dusting the sand off with a small brush.

Being the only female of the group, most thought she would be easy to intimidate but that was the farthest thing from the truth. Having grown up an only child but also to a somewhat famous explorer family, she knew when people were underestimating her and decided to use that to her advantage. Her grandfather had taught her a good many things as did her father.

"Why am I the one that has to carry all the equipment? I thought we hired people to do that?" another male, Derrick, complained as he sat down a large chest and began to unpack more equipment.

"Ask Mr. Gambler over that." Marion said, looking right at Charles.

"One game Marion, it's not like I bet all of our funds due to being drunk." Charles sighed as he put the pencil he was using to write things down in the book he was holding, into his mouth though you could still hear his very distinct english accent, thanks to his grandmother's side of his family.

"Right, I still remember having to pay three girls to leave our quarters because you had promised them and I quote "the time of their lives'' Derrick replied with a raised brow.

Charles tried to remember that night, he hated when they were right. Yet as he tried to think back, nothing came to mind. He looked a deer in headlights, unsure what he would say next.

"I don't remember any of that." he mumbled.

"You passed out, in my bed, right next to me while I was asleep." Marion answered unamused.

"This doesn't help us with the legend, we have no idea where the pendent is and if there even was one to begin with." Charles said, distracting his teammates.

Shaking her head, Marion took the book from his hand and made eye contact with him.

"Helps to look at the right book, that one is for the temple of Edfu." Marion helped Charles by handing him the proper book. "That is the legend of the Amshere pendant."

Derrick chuckled and shook his head. Of course Charles would be the one to read from the wrong book. Still they had a lot of work ahead of them. This was a brand new dig and many of the halls and rooms were still left unexcavated. The walls seemed to hold nothing more than the inscriptions of the book of the dead for whatever mummy was found there.

Hearing a loud noise from behind them, Derrick, Marion and Charles turned around to see Gerald, a former colleague looking at them with a gun raised at them. Not the friendliest of welcomes they had ever had. Three men also armed with guns came up behind Gerald and grinned when they saw the other three standing there.

"You fools actually came, permits and all, leaving quite the paper trail." Gerald chuckled as he lifted up their permits.

"You still follow us, completely unoriginal or willing to do any real work yourself." Marion said as she stood before the two men in her group. "You have no right to be here, clearly we got here first, move along."

"Marion, you never did learn when to shut that pretty little mouth of yours." Gerald said walking forward but both Charles and Derrick pulled Marion back behind them.

"Enough Gerald, what do you want?" Charles asked, clearly fed up with his game.

"What anyone wants in this business, fame, fortune and you already know about the woman Charles." Gerald chuckled knowing Charles' past.

Derrick could feel Marion push up against his back, clearly upset by the statement that Gerald had just made about her longtime friends.

"I gave that up and you know it."

"Yeah, cause one of em went after Marion. You only gave up because you didn't want anything to happen to her." he replied as he looked at Marion. "You can't watch over her all the time, neither can you."

"I'll have you know, I don't nee-" Marion started as Derrick turned around and gently put his hand over her mouth.

"Ok ginger, can we keep the crazy to a minimum today?" Derrick asked in a joking manner.

Marion narrowed her eyes at Derrick but knew he was right. So she shrugged and allowed the nonsense that dribbled from Gerald's mouth continue.

"Still trying to tame her, huh Chambers?" Gerald laughed.

"Now you've done it." Derrick sighed as he felt Marion grab his gun and gently push him to the side.

"Get out, you are not welcome here and I will not hesitate to put a hole right between those eyes." Marion warned Gerald.

"You don't have the guts."

"I'd really not suggest testing her on that theory." Charles warned them now.

"You have 24 hours to leave or else you blow with the rest of this place." Gerald said as he turned and left with the other three men.

Marion slowly lowered Derrick's gun as the men had disappeared out the path. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she tried to make sense with what had just happened. Blow with the rest of the place?

"He plans to find the pendant by blowing up its resting place?" Derrick asked, unsure he heard the jerk right.

"If that's true, everything undiscovered will be destroyed." Charles sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"We need to find it first then, we have to get further into the tomb than this." Marion said in a rushed voice as she turned around and tried to find a way for the wall before her to open.

"Marion, you know that's not possible, this place is probably vast, that pendant if it is here, it's not gonna be in the first room we find, the odds of that are truly unpredictable." Charles pointed out as he went up to her and held her arms in a paused motion. "It may not even be here."

Marion starred up at Charles, he was tall, over 6 ft in height. Lean but muscular with his white cotton shirt untied at the start of his neck, his tan pants and boots. His sandy blonde hair is a little longer than he preferred it to be. Those eyes though, the dark brown eyes she knew he had gotten from his grandmother. They were full of knowledge both he and she knew. He had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. They grew up together thanks to their families adventures. Only a handful of times had their friendship gone a little further than they intended but it never caused any trouble.

"Marion, come on, we can finish up this room and then head back. They'll lock the place up the best they can and we can start again tomorrow." Derrick called out from behind her.

Marion blinked quite a few times, as if coming out of a trance. Nodding she continued her work once Charles had released her arms. She insisted on doing the most she could with the time that she had.

8 hours later, the whole room had been entered into the computer system and the translation was being processed. That would take overnight to find out what the room would have truly been used for.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Marion looked over to see her best friends loading things back into the chest hopefully to avoid people from stealing anything. Charles grabbed his drink while Derrick shut the chest and took off his shirt to reveal his well toned chest that Marion was having a hard time ignoring at the moment. In truth she had a good friendship with both of the men, one she knew she had overstepped at least twice.

"Keep staring at me like that and I may take it to heart." Derrick teased her as she quickly looked away.

"She feels the need I bet, it's been a while since she was with a guy." Charles also teased as he sat down in a chair and packed up something around it.

"You two think that is the answer to everything. Depressed? Get laid. Sad? Get laid. I swear, is that what all men think about?" she said, tying her hair back.

Both Derrick and Charles shrugged in response but she knew that that meant yes. Rolling her eyes at the notion, Derrick had moved a few things to the front and was now going to call for the ride back.