It took a few moments for the foot traffic to slow down enough she could leave the cafe. As she stepped out into the flow of bodies, a golden light splashed across her vision. Turning to search for the source, Neema homed in on a necklace a merchant was holding up to a torch. She was about to shout at the man to fuck off as so many of those around her were doing when she spied the tattoo she’d been looking for all morning.
Praise the fucking goddess.
Did the gods care if you swore when you honored them? There was no way to be certain until she died, but Neema was pretty sure emphatic praise counted as the best kind. Who wanted a worshipper quiet as a mouse when she was willing to shout it from the rooftops? Eternia was the most badass goddess around.
Although it might be prudent to keep the shouting to a minimum until after she secured the scroll.
The skeptical side of her mind told her that it could have been a coincidence that the man revealed himself right after she prayed, but sometimes it didn’t pay to question things. If bad things happened for a reason, certainly good things could too.
Who couldn’t use a little extra good luck?
Now she had to move. Standing still and staring at any person was an invitation for disaster. With what Neema hoped looked like casual disdain for those around her, she kept moving until she was about twenty feet behind the man. Then she peeled off to look at some worthless merchandise.
The man with Vitaria’s tattoo argued with the merchant over the necklace’s price. Neither man looked happy, and their exchange ended when her target spat on the ground and tossed the jewelry back to the vendor in the stall. The tattooed man moved away from the cursing merchant and continued into the market.
It didn’t seem if any other items were catching his eye, and the man started working his way out of the market. The crowds were growing thinner now, and she couldn’t risk him spotting her. Slowing down to let the man out of her sight was one of the hardest things Neema ever did. If the bastard called for help, she could end up dead. Or worse, someone else would kill him and take the scroll.
Never ask for help in the Grotto.
Casually moving with the crowd's speed to remain out of sight almost cost Neema the chance to see her prey make a sudden turn. She picked up her pace, knowing that if she lost him in the winding caverns the game was over. Eternia had given her this chance, and she kind of doubted that if she prayed real hard again a magical line would point her in the right direction.
The tunnel was long enough that she saw Vitaria’s thug duck into the next passage. Now the chase was truly on. The thief either knew someone was following or was damned determined to make sure no one was. Neema tried to get her bearings as they ran, but with the endless turns, there was no way to be sure which direction was up let alone left or right.
The two of them spilled into a long, wide tunnel gasping for breath. There wasn’t time to do things nicely. Dropping to a knee, Neema pulled her bow free and launched an arrow. Her eyes tracked the bolt as it closed the distance, and her prey hit the ground with a cry. It wasn’t a perfect shot, but it didn’t have to be. Any warrior could tell you that getting hit by an arrow hurt like hell no matter where it hit.
Some places were a little more sensitive than others.
Neema sprinted toward the man on the ground. He wasn’t moving, but that was a gambit. The arrow had hit him right in the meat of the ass. Nothing vital there to worry about, so she pulled her sword free and approached the man with caution.
The sound of her sword scraping against the scabbard forced the fool into action. He rolled onto his side while holding his hands up in the most pathetic manner. “Please don’t kill me.”
“The scroll,” Neema growled.
“Here, take it.” He reached inside his cloak with one hand and tossed a sealed tube at her feet.
Before she could reach for it, a shadow fell across the man on the ground. The sound of a blade slicing through flesh reached her ears as she ignored the new attacker and lunged for the container. Her hand clasped around the hard tube. With it in hand, Neema tossed herself to the side and brought her sword up in a defensive position.
The attack she’d expected never came.
“It’s a pleasure to see you here.” The killer's words dripped with acid. “Dropping your head at Khalid’s feet will feel better than a full belly on feasting day. I do enjoy seeing the man suffer.”
Neema snorted. “No need to be so dramatic, Jalen. We both know you don’t have the skill to beat me.”
Laughter flowed from Jalen’s lips. “A servant of Jabari never travels alone.”
Fuck.
Without hesitation, Neema grasped her sword’s hilt and threw it in an overhead motion like it was a gigantic hatchet. The blade moved through the air with a vicious swoosh but was so far off target that Jalen didn’t have to move to avoid it. The man rushing past him to attack her wasn’t so lucky.
As the body hit the ground, Neema had her bow back in her hands and was firing arrows as fast as she could grab them. The first three men who fell made the others hesitate before coming straight at her. She climbed to her feet and backed down the tunnel. The bastards knew as well as she did the longer she stayed down here, the easier it would be to surround her.
The Grotto wasn’t going to instantly become a friendly place where Neema had friends to hide her. If she wanted to get out of this, she would have to do it on her own and do it quickly. When a warrior didn’t have anything left in their bag of tricks, they did what cowards did at the start of a fight.
They ran.
Running was something Neema loved. She’d always fancied herself as a cheetah when sprinting around the yard as a child. Those days spent racing around had given her an endurance Khalid hadn’t been able to keep up with for years. Neema found something special in that place between heartbeats and breaths that she couldn’t get anywhere else.
All her training was serving her well now, but she needed some help. There wasn’t enough room for her to get away clean. If the men followed her outside, she had no chance of making it back home alive. Running into the market with a gaggle of Jabari’s thugs chasing after her would normally be suicide, but she had one advantage today she usually didn't have.
A pouch full of silver.
Neema reached inside her vest and pulled out the bag she’d taken off the woman who attacked her. It was the kind of money that would have been a game-changer for the resistance, but not in the way the scroll was. Sometimes it was worth sacrificing the needs of right now for the promise of the future.
After making sure the scroll was secure, Neema rounded the corner into the market. She threw the bag over the crowd of smugglers with one hand, then shot the flying pouch as it sailed high above them. The weight of the coins split the fabric wide open, and the silver pieces fell among the smugglers like rain.
Men and women fell to their knees grasping for the money. The smart ones grabbed a single coin and darted for cover while the bold reached for weapons and started shouting. Neema dodged through the crowd keeping her distance from anyone who looked too dangerous. Jalen’s men didn’t have that luxury as they barreled into the market like a pack of braying hyenas.
Not one to press her luck too far, Neema shot Jalen a parting glare and sprinted toward her freedom. A victory was a victory, and she wouldn’t have to explain to Khalid how she failed because of her ego. She doubted Jabari would have anything kind to say about Jalen’s failure here today.
The sounds of battle faded away as she continued down the caverns and back to the hidden entrance. Neema pictured Jalen already turning and calling for horses. He’d be scouring the sands for her soon enough, and in broad daylight, there wouldn’t be anywhere for her to hide. It didn’t matter how tired she was. Neema had to move faster.
It was funny how things often worked out. Her first mission was supposed to be a dull affair, something any child past ten summers could handle with ease. Instead, it had turned into quite the story. One Neema wo
uld be much happier to tell now that it had a happy ending.
Twenty minutes later, the hot desert air hit her in the face like a punch to the gut. There was something to be said for breathing in air that didn’t make your mouth turn to dust in an instant. To her surprise, the camel she left behind was sitting outside the entrance. Another instance of divine help, or simply a loyal camel not wanting to be left behind?
It never paid to look the gift camel in the mouth, so Neema did what anyone with a bit of sense would do. She praised the goddess for her help. “Eternia, see me home, and I will be in your debt.”
The camel started toward Naroosh, and a smile spread across her lips.
She had done it. Neema wouldn’t fail.
Khalid felt the laughter rumbling up from his gut and through his cracked lips.
They had been in the desert for two weeks following the directions on the scroll. While Neema cursed herself relentlessly, assuming she must have returned with a fake scroll potentially leading them out into the sands and their deaths, Khalid chose to believe Eternia would protect them and see them safely to their destination.
Then the water ran out.
It was easy to have faith when everything was going great. When you were trapped in the desert without water for two days, faith was a little harder to come by, and yet he had found enough hope to keep his.
This very morning as the sun rose on the horizon very well could have been his last in the world, but the growing light also brought with it a sight he’d been praying to see since they set out. Just over the hill, Khalid spied the tops of a palm tree. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The treetops were still there. He reached out and shook Neema awake in her saddle.
“What?” She shoved his hand away, trying to go back to sleep.
“Neema, I see something.” It could have been a mirage, but Khalid felt the small ember of hope he’d been holding onto flare into a fire.
The young warrior opened her eyes and glared at her mentor. “That’s what happens when you run out of water. First, you get tired. Then you start to see things.”
“If I’m going to die, let me do it in the shade of those trees.” Khalid pointed in the direction they were going.
Neema snorted. “There aren’t any trees…” Her words caught in her throat as she turned to follow Khalid’s outstretched arm. There were trees and quite a few of them. “I see them too.”
“Then let us go find out if Eternia has smiled upon us or if we have fallen victim to the trickster goddess.” Khalid nudged his camel forward.
The camel didn’t seem pleased at the notion of having to run but slowly picked up the pace. Khalid felt the weather change as they drew closer to the top of the hill. There was moisture in the air that hadn’t been there before. If Vitaria was doing this to trick them, she had gone all-out. Two pitiful humans didn’t warrant this kind of attention from the gods.
Cresting the top of the hill and seeing what lay below them almost made his heart stop. Khalid had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. Nestled inside a wide circular valley was a giant lake surrounded by miles of shoreline. It was the kind of place they could build an army and finally fight back. Eternia had blessed them in a way he hadn’t thought possible.
His camel had a mind of its own now that it had seen the water. The creature sprinted down the hill into the valley and straight toward the lake. Khalid almost cried out for the animal to stop for fear there could be a crocodile, but one of the river dragons would never survive the trek across the desert.
The camel hit the edge of the water, made it a few steps in, and tipped over as though the ground under its front feet disappeared. Khalid hit the water with a splash and found it was so deep that his feet didn’t touch the bottom. His camel struggled for a moment but managed to find the edge and climb out. He would have been upset under normal circumstances, but after days of thirst, the water filled him with joy in a way nothing had for a long time.
Neema was laughing at him as he struggled to find the false edge of the oasis. He caught her eye as he finally gripped it and pulled himself free. Laughter bubbled out of him as he watched her. Once she had been a young girl, and now she was a fine woman and one hell of a warrior. He wasn’t her father, but Khalid would have been proud to call her daughter.
The secret oasis was theirs and with it a chance for a better future for all their people. Khalid looked at the sky and praised Eternia.
Now the real battle could begin.
Chapter Sixteen
The inside of Doctor Zacharias’ lair wasn’t a clean-looking surgery room as shown in the video they watched outside the dungeon.
In reality, it looked like most of the dungeons he’d been inside during his time as a gamer. Although instead of rough cavern walls, these were as smooth as the stone countertops at the inn. Tim wasn’t a stonemason so he had no idea if magic had shaped the walls or if thousands of very talented dwarfs had spent a thousand years making this cavern perfect. His money was on magic since he preferred that outcome over a thousand dead dwarves waiting for them.
That’s why Cassie goes first.
“Far out.” The tank reached out and brushed her hand against one smooth surface.
JaKobi tapped his staff against the same wall, and it sounded the same as when Tim used to knock his baseball bat against the curb outside his house.
The fire mage shrugged. “Sounds solid enough. We’re also getting some ambient lighting, but I don’t see any torches.”
Tim thought about the darkness in the underground prison, and again when they fought the lizard rat that almost ate him. Things had a way of going pear-shaped when the lights went out, and now they had a very elegant solution to the problem. The group could laugh at him for being overly cautious, but there was a reason the turtle won the race.
While running headfirst into danger might not be his thing, Tim knew that sometimes you had to wing it. He was always reading how no plan survives first contact with the enemy. That was why he usually had more than one option. As the team continued to gel, he became more comfortable with giving up more control and might even do something downright hasty at some point and shock everyone.
This dungeon would be interesting, and he was looking forward to wrapping up his time in Tristholm and seeing what the desert held for them. First, they had to get there so it was time for him to stop worrying about other things and start locking in on what they needed to accomplish right now. They hadn’t run into any trash mobs so far, but that might not last.
On top of the lack of monsters, there was no way to know what other kinds of magic Vitaria might have given Doctor Zacharias. All they knew now was that he could make animal-human hybrids. In essence, the dark goddess had created her very own Doctor Moreau. If he remembered correctly, none of the island’s guests were thrilled with the outcome of their stay.
As much as Tim wanted to spend time looking at as much of the new dungeon as possible, he also wanted to get moving. Now wasn’t the time for him to lay down his normal prep talk about caution and doing your best. Today, Tim wanted to give the crew something different so he dug down deep for one of his favorite preparation scenes in a movie. When it came down to preparing for things, there was no better role model than a space marine.
Tim channeled his inner badass and shouted at the startled group, “Assholes and elbows, people. I want to see buffs cast and everyone in formation.”
When no one moved, Tim growled, “Now!”
Cassie laughed. “Aliens? Really?”
“Just seemed to fit.” Tim looked down at the ground and back up. “I guess I should be happy someone got the reference, and you all don’t think I’ve turned into some kind of tyrant.”
“Tyrant, nope.” The fire mage snickered. “You’d have to be able to control any of the ladies for that.”
Cassie spun and glared at JaKobi. He held up his hands in surrender. “Just saying.”
Tim tried not to laugh. It was good to know that despite
being their leader, he had about as much control over everyone as his fiery friend did. “I learned a long time ago that when it comes to love, you have to pick your battles.”
Reaching out, Tim laid a hand on the fire mage's shoulder. “How about you toss one of those lights in the air for us before I tell Cassie what a bad boy you are?”
“You wouldn’t.” JaKobi looked shocked.
“Hey, what are you two talking about?” Cassie shouted back from the front of the group.
“Nothing.” The fire mage tossed two of his lights in the air before looking back at Tim. “Bro code man, we gotta stick together.”
Tim laughed, knowing he’d never throw his buddy under the wheels of the Cassie express. “Don’t worry. I got you.” He turned away from his friend and shouted to the front, “Cassie, I just wanted you to know what a good job your man is doing!”
“Fucker,” JaKobi growled.
Trying to keep the smile out of his eyes, Tim recast his buffs and took his customary spot at the back of the group. It wasn’t just that it was safer back here. It also let him get a better view of any potential battlefield. Cassie was upfront doing her tank thing, with ShadowLily trailing right behind her. Their two ranged DPS stuck out on the sides a little so they could use their skills without hitting the two melee characters. Tim liked to call it the Christmas tree formation.
Cassie kept her pace even and steady. For once, it seemed their tank was content to see what they were facing before pummeling creatures with her giant stick. With nothing jumping out at them he felt a little antsy, and maybe she did too. They kept moving forward, and he kept checking behind them, but there wasn’t any sign of trouble. Something had to give.
When the tank stopped moving, the entire party froze as one.
In front of them, the hallway they were following ended in a giant room. Cassie probably stopped for everyone to catch up in case it was a boss room. Tim couldn’t count the number of times he thought they were facing a simple puzzle only to be swarmed by monsters moments later.
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