Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  It took a little running and some acting on his part, but eventually, he circled the entire area and backed out of the fort. He tried to look as weak as possible while backing up, doing his scant best to deflect each of her attacks. It was hard not to laugh when he had her right where he wanted her.

  Vizerene smiled. “Is that all you’ve got?”

  JaKobi grinned from ear to ear and launched into the Carlton dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air while singing, “You can’t start a fire, you can’t start a fire without a spark.”

  Vizerene thought he’d lost his mind as he let the last note trail off until his voice broke. With a flourish, he created a whip of fire in his hand and snapped it forward. As it cracked in the air, the smallest spark flew from the tip and glided down to the ground as gently as a snowflake. His opponent must have noticed the smell for the first time. Her eyes went wide as they followed the little glowing ember’s progress.

  The ember hit the accelerant with a wet fizzle, and nothing happened.

  Vizerene looked up at him, a smile spreading across her lips as her eyes filled with smug satisfaction. “Look who couldn’t get it up.”

  One second the world inside the fort looked as it always had, and the next, flames filled it from end to end. It didn’t happen like in the movies where the flames chased around in a circle for dramatic effect. This fort went up like someone had dropped a nuclear bomb in the center.

  “Maybe a little less accelerant next time.” JaKobi opened his notepad and made a short notation before turning and looking for his camel.

  Vizerene screamed once, but it cut off as the flames destroyed her.

  The camel was waiting for him right where he left it with a look on its face that said, was all that necessary?

  JaKobi sprang into the saddle, and they started the long journey back to the oasis. “Don’t worry, friend.” He patted one of the camel’s humps. “The violence is all done for today.”

  He leaned back to get into a comfortable position and pulled out the book he’d been reading earlier about arcane spellwork. One thing JaKobi knew for certain was that he didn’t mind these long trips. It gave him time to do the research he’d been slacking on. If he could figure out the spell and rub it in the faces of the people at the mage’s college, it would make his day.

  He truly did love to make things burn, and the shinies that came along with doing so.

  He hadn’t spent a lot of money since coming into the game, and with the crazy stupid bonus Tim paid him, it was probably time for him to buy Cassie a present. What did a guy buy for a mouthy little tank that he loved? Maybe he’d know it when he saw it.

  JaKobi made a few small adjustments to get comfortable before letting out a contented sigh and turning the page of his book. The future would come to him soon enough. There was no reason to hurry.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Balls.” Cassie snorted under her breath.

  She watched JaKobi ride off into the desert on his camel, and all she wanted to do was go with him. The guy couldn’t function without her. He needed her, and she loved that about him. What kind of self-respecting mage goes toe-to-toe with an enemy when they could have their girlfriend take the heavy hits for them?

  Sure, their relationship turned traditional stereotypes on their heads, but who cared? She certainly didn’t, and she would be the one kicking all the ass. Being little and ignored gave her all kinds of reasons to get up in people’s faces. Truth be told, part of why she became a tank was that people said she couldn’t.

  Cassie loved proving people wrong.

  If they said it couldn’t be done, she’d do it. That was who she was. Sometimes it worked out to her detriment, but she kept pushing. No one liked it when you were all up in their face, about everything, all the time. She was working on that, but meaningful change took time.

  At least here she could take out her aggression on the bosses.

  People always said it was wrong to express your feelings by punching people's faces in, but as a tank, she never had to worry about that. Her job was to get in front of the big uglies and hit them as hard as she could repeatedly. Once the bosses were trying to kill her and only her, she knew she was doing her job right. Not a role for the faint of heart, but no one had ever accused her of lacking courage. If anything, she was a little too ballsy.

  Now that Cassie found a man who appreciated her finer points everything was fine.

  She sat and poured a glass of the honeyed tea. Despite what Tim thought about teas in general, she thought this might be the best drink she’d ever had. There was something about it that was more refreshing than a simple cool beverage. It was as though after drinking the tea, everything felt a little better.

  It was like drinking the happy juice from Big Trouble in Little China.

  Now that she was in the right state of mind it was time to grab a horse and get out of here. The others could ride camels if they wanted, but she wasn’t into it. They spit, and the saddles weren’t nearly as comfortable as the one on a horse. There was a reason you never saw the fearsome warriors riding into battles on camels.

  Because horses were better.

  Cassie mounted and gave the horse a long rub on the neck. “Get me where I’m going and back, and I’ll make sure you're well taken care of.”

  The horse turned its head, focused one big eye on Cassie, and nodded once before taking off at a gentle trot.

  Damn, she was in for it now. Making a promise to a horse was the same as making one to a kid. They never forget when owed something cool. It could be a candy bar or a new video game, but once promised, you had to deliver. In this case, Cassie would have to track something special down for her buddy. Oats and hay weren’t going to cut it for her big guy.

  She patted the horse’s neck again and pulled out her letter from Khalid. The envelope opened, revealing a single golden hieroglyph. It was so pretty she couldn’t help running her finger across it.

  Quest Received: Be Our Champion

  Drix is a warrior nomad who earns much of his income from capturing resistance fighters and selling them to Jabari for interrogation. He has a shipment of our men on the way to the palace now. Catch up to the caravan and use Drix’s fondness for gambling against him. Challenge him for the slaves and face his champion.

  Reward: Ten gold coins

  Despite Khalid being a cagey old bastard, she was starting to like the guy. This quest felt hand-tailored for her. All she wanted to do was be a hero, to show people that anything was possible if they put their minds to it. A person could learn to do almost anything if they cared enough to put the time in or wanted to give a big middle finger to the person who told them it wasn’t possible.

  She wasn’t saying everyone was born to be a star, but a good teacher could get a raven to caw in the right keys.

  While simply working hard might not make someone a starter, every coach loved someone who put in the daily grind without complaint. Head down, nose to the grindstone, making the most of every single opportunity given. That was the kind of person Cassie wanted to be. So basically, the same thing she was doing now with a little less punching when things went wrong.

  Still, what was life without a little punching between friends?

  If there was something to be done, she wanted to be doing it. Staying idle wasn’t on her radar, not when she could be out living. JaKobi, on the other hand, could plunk his fine ass down anywhere and be as content as a bug in a rug. She wished she had his quiet resolve. They were total opposites, but it worked for them so she didn’t fight it.

  She watched the horizon for any change, then checked her map and tried to guess how long it would take to get to her destination. The answer was too fucking long. How could she have expected anything else in a land where everything looked the same? It was like being trapped on a raft at sea. Only here the water was the desert, and her horse was the raft.

  And her only company.

  “Wake me up when we get there.” Cassie patted the horse'
s neck and closed her eyes.

  She needed to save her mojo for when she got to their destination. If she took a little nap, it would keep her mind from running a mile a minute as it tended to do. That was why she tried to stay so busy. She couldn’t shut the damn thing off unless she was sleeping. At least the problem didn’t keep her up at night.

  Most nights anyway.

  Cassie jolted awake when her horse stopped moving.

  “Thanks for the heads up.” She gave the horse’s neck an affectionate pet. “You keep doing good things, and I’m going to run out of gold keeping your belly full of apples.”

  The horse nickered in appreciation as Cassie dismounted.

  She wondered if Khalid kept spare apples around or if she would have to hunt some down. Did they even have apples in the desert? If they didn’t, what did they give their horses for being extra good boys?

  A problem for another day.

  As her feet hit the ground, Cassie took in her surroundings. There was a small cluster of tents to the right and a single larger tent on the left. Between them stretched a caravan of covered carts, only they were big enough to carry Khalid’s men instead of supplies. Seeing the covered carts filled her with more rage than she expected.

  Anger was good when you could harness it for the right reasons. The trick for her had always been finding the correct times to apply her rage. Cassie tended to fly off the handle before it was called for. A caravan full of people being sold off to be tortured seemed like the right kind of thing to throw down for.

  Who was she trying to kid anyway? She loved a good fight and a fat stack of coins.

  Cassie boldly walked into the camp and shouted, “I need to see Drix!”

  A large man robed head to toe in luxurious green fabric strolled from the big tent on the left. Two armed guards huddled in the entrance behind him. “I do hope you have something interesting to say. I’d hate to think you came all this way just to die.”

  Cassie smiled. It was the same one she got on her face when some asshole asked if she needed help reaching the top shelf. “I heard there was a man in the desert with a cargo of resistance fighters and said to myself, that’s a man I have to meet.”

  The guards behind Drix bristled, but he only looked her over with an appraising eye. “From the looks of things, I doubt you can match what Jabari is paying. Stop wasting my time. It’s too hot out for such foolish nonsense.”

  “A wager then?” Cassie grinned.

  Drix hesitated for a moment while rubbing his fingers through the stubble on his cheek. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I take on your greatest warrior. If I win, I get the resistance fighters.” Cassie tried her best to look innocent, but who was she kidding? She was a cocky bitch.

  Deep rich laughter bubbled from Drix’s lips. “What do I get if I win, your mangled corpse? There isn’t a lot of resale value for broken girls. No deal.” He turned and headed back into the tent.

  Shit!

  Cassie was missing her chance. Offering him nothing for winning clearly wasn’t the kind of bet he wanted to take on, and a few gold coins wouldn’t be nearly enough to cover the cost of the fighters. So she had to make an offer that wasn’t enough, but one that would allow him to save face for accepting win or lose. Cassie reached into her inventory and separated a hundred gold coins into a bag, along with a hundred silver to make it seem heavier.

  The bag of coins landed at Drix’s feet. “Then let’s make the wager a little more interesting.”

  Drix looked at the bag and back at Cassie. “Now I think we have something to discuss.” He pointed at the caravan. “If you win, this rabble is all yours. My champion wins, and I keep the coins, and maybe get to sell what’s left of you with the rest.”

  Cassie smiled sweetly. “You’ve got a deal.”

  Drix gave her an apologetic smile and bent to pick up the bag of coins. “I’ll hold onto these until the decision is made. I’d hate to have you run off and leave me with nothing.”

  “Running isn’t what I do,” Cassie replied through gritted teeth. Being accused of cowardice made her bristle. She had to be sure she didn’t get sucked into a Marty McFly moment. No insult was worth putting herself at risk, and taking on Drix plus an entire caravan’s worth of guards would certainly put her at risk.

  Drix clapped once, and men swarmed out of the tents on the right like ants. They moved the caravan out of the tents’ protection and formed them into a circle.

  The old warrior nodded as they finished setting up the fighting area. “Everyone says they won’t run. Not all of them live up to the promise.”

  Cassie snorted. If the man wanted a little bravado, she could provide some. “Saving the men is merely a bonus for me. The only reason I’m here is that I like taking on the best. I heard you have a worthy challenger.”

  She pointed at the circled wagons. “Maybe it’s time to stop the chatter and start the fighting.”

  Drix whispered something to one of the guards, who ran off. “I like you. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a job than be the job?”

  “I’m fine with the side I’ve chosen, but I appreciate the offer.” Cassie walked toward the circled carts.

  Drix huffed a few times as he ran to catch up. He laid a hand on her arm. “It’s just that it would be such a waste to see such a pretty thing destroyed.”

  “Better back the fuck off before this pretty thing destroys everything you hold dear.” Cassie grabbed the staff from her back and glared at the warrior.

  All she wanted to do was beat that smug little smile off his face. Was being pretty a crime, or being a woman for that matter? She was going to make this arrogant shit eat his words for underestimating her, and it would be glorious.

  Holding up his hands in surrender, Drix motioned for the carts to part and let her in. “Sometimes the voice of reason sounds like madness. Once you enter the ring, there will be no backing out.”

  Fuck this guy.

  Instead of dignifying that with a response, she walked into the open circle as though she owned it. Intimidation didn’t work on her. If anything it only served to harden her resolve. Cassie wasn’t going to get the opportunity to take it out on Drix, but she was going to break his champion in half.

  The ring of carts closed behind her, and Drix climbed on top of the nearest wagon. “Today another has come to challenge me, and in my place fights the one, the only, Fraxus.”

  Guards climbed on top of the caged wagons all around the circle. All of them chanted the name of their champion repeatedly. Cassie hoped the guy lived up to the hype because if he wasn’t amazing, this would be one hell of a letdown.

  Wagons at the far side of the circle split apart, and a man walked in holding a sword in each hand. He gave the weapons a few furious swooshes and screamed. The cheers doubled as he lifted his arms and drank in the appreciation of his people. Cassie watched it all with icy detachment. So far she wasn’t impressed.

  Fraxus moved toward the center of the circle. “Ready to die, little flower?”

  “I’m ready to shove your big furry balls so far inside you that singing like a girl would be considered a compliment.” Cassie bellowed and charged.

  As she ran, she split her staff into two parts to match his twin blades. They crashed together a moment later. Cassie played to her strengths while she waited for Fraxus to make a mistake. His hands were fast, and his footwork was impeccable, but hers was better. She had an answer for each of his attacks. The cocky-ass smile Fraxus wore when entering the circle was quickly fading.

  “Turn that frown upside down.” Cassie grunted as she pushed him back a few steps and snapped her staff back together.

  She launched herself at him without another word, putting every ounce of strength she had into each of her strikes. The single staff moved faster than his two swords as Cassie dodged and weaved around Fraxus’ weak counters. She could tell he was getting upset, and upset people made mistakes. Maybe she could push him to further stupidity with the righ
t insult.

  “And to think, I was looking forward to this.” Cassie dodged a round of attacks and then delivered a hit with her staff to his back.

  She put every ounce of cockiness into her smile as she watched his eyes for the next move. “I should have stayed home. Khalid didn’t need me to beat the likes of you.”

  Drix looked worried, but it was the kind of nervous twitching that led to cheating rather than running away. As if on cue, the warrior reached inside his green robes and pulled out a small vial.

  He tossed the container to Fraxus. “Don’t let me down.”

  The champion snatched the vial deftly out of the air and drank the contents in one fell swoop. His pants and shirt ripped as his muscles enlarged. Fraxus bellowed as the pain of transformation ripped through him. He stood panting in heavy, ragged breaths. When Fraxus’ head snapped up, his eyes had turned solid black and were locked onto Cassie the way hers latched onto a slice of cake after dieting for three months.

  Instead of being scared, she was excited. “Now that’s more like it.”

  Fraxus charged across the space between them with his swords raised to come in from different angles of attack. In every fight, there was a moment. An instant where the fighter knew they won or lost based on a single attack. The champion’s charge was what Cassie had been waiting for. Despite his bigger size, or maybe because of it, Fraxus was coming at her off balance and out of control.

  The hook on her belt was the weapon she needed. Fraxus bore down on her, and Cassie stood stock-still, looking like a deer in the headlights. The idiot was soaking up every second of it. When Fraxus was ten feet away, she rolled forward and to the side as she tossed the hook.

  Big ol’ Fraxy must have been surprised when he ended up eating a face full of dirt instead of cutting her in half as he planned. But hey, that was the way the asshole crumbled.