Desert

by Caiden Walker

  Unfortunately for these few nomad bandits, the party wasn't in the mood to run. In fact, Nika's only thought going into the battle was a hope that their swords remained once they disappeared, and how much each of them might bring at the market.

  The three bandits put up a pretty good fight, but technically with Louella's clone, they were outnumbered from the start. They were decent fighters though, and very skilled with their blades. One of them managed to get a couple of lucky strikes in against Evan, and if Louella had been a few seconds later with the health potion, he might have gotten rebooted back to Waterton. As it was, the near miss just made him angry. An angry tiger-man was a scary tiger-man. Enough so that Nika wondered if there were some secret coding involved that gave him extra speed and endurance when injured. She wouldn't put it past Louella to have added a little something like that for him. After all, that type of ability wasn't unheard of.

  In fact, she just might ask if the girl could add that to all of their abilities. If she did it just right, the other players would never have to know, and it would help them out in a fight if they were close to losing. Might turn the tide of the battle even. A near loss is much better than an actual one.

  Her thoughts had distracted her and she let one of the bandits get a little too close with his blade. Her ax was a decent length, but their swords had a much larger reach than her weapon. She didn't jump back in time, and the tip of the blade sliced through her new robe and left a small trail of blood from a thin scratch. Blood immediately started staining her covering a bright red.

  Damn it! She hadn't had the robe all that long and now they'd gone and torn and stained it. Giving her WarCry again, she advanced, moving her ax to block each swipe of the nomad's blade and managing to get her ax to the man's body. One mighty heave of the ax and the man was nothing more than glitter on the desert sand. Being cut in half will do that to you.

  As there had been one monster for each of them, Nika glanced around to see if the others needed help with her enemy now gone. They didn't. They were actually waiting for her. Louella with a health potion in hand just in case. When the girl saw Nika's look she grinned, shrugged, and put the potion away.

  It was a good feeling knowing someone had your back.

  Looking around the small and sandy battlefield, they found three swords. Good, so you did get the enemies’ weapons after battle. That was nice. Nika's part of the game programming and design had focused on the world itself. The fauna, the flora, and the creatures themselves. How the game play actually worked sometimes came as a complete surprise to her. Truthfully, she loved that fact. It made everything new and exciting.

  Just how her dad would have wanted her first play through to be.

  Now Evan, on the other hand probably knew everything there was to know about the game play and exactly how the game worked. That was his area of specialty. But he was keeping to their agreement and only telling her what she had to know to make it through the game faster. Things like this she could learn as they played through.

  Besides the swords, they found a single health potion, a remedy, and an emerald. The jewel would come in handy later when they got to level twelve and could start using weapons with gem slots to hold them. Each type of jewel gave extra power to a stat class. If she remembered correctly, emeralds were for magic. This one would most likely be fitted to Ash's staff.

  "What do you think?" Evan asked. "Press on and ride until we hit another band or stray from the path and see what we find?"

  Off the path would probably yield more actual creatures. The path was where the nomads and other human types of enemies were normally found, preying on the supposedly unaware travelers. Nika considered for a minute.

  "How about we ride on? That way we can take in a little more of the desert and see if there are any surprises waiting for us there," Nika said. "What do you think Louella?"

  The girl turned guiltily from Sunshine's head. She'd been sneaking him another apple.

  "Sounds okay to me." Turning back to the horse, Nika could hear her whisper. "I promise you a whole bucket of water, a ton of oats, and a good rub down when we get in for the night." The girl patted the horse's nose and got ready to remount. Sunshine wasn't a small horse by any means, and with Louella's height being on the shorter side, she had to wait for Evan to give her a hand up before making it into the saddle.

  As soon as she was situated, Nika started to follow then hesitated. "Did you want to ride the next round?" she asked Evan. Tiger-man or not, the desert was awfully hot to be running in it. And he had a light fur coat too. "As an Amazon, I should be able to keep up fairly well myself."

  He grinned and shook his head. "The fur actually works as a wicking agent. It's amazing actually. Running almost seems to cool me off rather than heat me up." He thought for a minute. "Maybe it's my brain telling my body that it's making a breeze as it runs?" A shrug. "Either way, I'm good. For now at least. But thanks for offering."

  "Anytime," Nika said as she quickly mounted Sunshine behind Louella. She sure as heck wasn't going to argue about being able to ride. It was actually quite fun. With the horse's speed, there was a bit of a nice breeze up here too.

  They made it another half hour, and another estimated four miles when four red dots appeared on Nika's virtual map display. They weren't right on the path, but rather beside it and back a ways. It appeared that they were in hiding behind a massive sand dune. Way out here, the dunes were well over the players’ heads. No way could you see behind them. An elephant could hide behind one. As could an army of nomads.

  Luckily, the map display gave her the numbers. It helped to know how many they were facing before they engaged. Going into a losing battle would be bad news as they would lose everything they had gained in the first nomad fight.

  Four should be doable, right? She looked over to Evan. He would have his display permanently on too. Evan gave her a nod.

  "Hey, Louella," Nika said casually. "Ready for some more fun?"

  The pixie glanced back over her shoulder, smiling. "Sure." Then Nika could tell from the girl's movements that she was pulling the display up. "Four of them, huh?"

  "Yup. Keep in mind that this far out, they might well be mounted," Nika warned.

  The girl nodded. "Looks like they are hiding. Maybe we should try to surprise them? If they are mounted, we might be able to catch them off their horses." She paused. "Hang on a minute. Is it possible to steal an enemy's horse?"

  Nika looked over at Evan who shrugged. Obviously, that thought hadn't come up while programming. Of course, the originally planned game hadn't had a thief class.

  "Well, if they are mounted, I suggest you try and we'll find out. That sure as hell would save us some money," Nika said.

  Louella's face scrunched up in fierce concentration. "Should I leave the party and try to steal the horses while you two fight the nomads?"

  Nika shook her head. "If there were only three of them maybe, but facing four of them, I'm afraid we're going to need your help on this one."

  The pixie nodded. "Okay, but do you think we could keep one of them alive until I get a chance to steal at least one mount? I'm thinking if we take them all out, their horses might just disappear with them. I'd rather not risk it if we don't have to."

  "We should be able to handle that," Evan said. "But you'll want to call up your clone as soon as we engage. That way we're going up against even odds."

  "Deal," Louella said. “I'll cast Earthquake too, to take them down a notch.”

  "Okay, enough planning," Nika said grinning. "Let's go steal us a horse."

  "One more thing, oh Miss Spontaneous," Evan said, putting out a hand to stop Nika. "It might help if we ditch our mount and see if we can get between them and their horses before we let them see us."

  Nika lifted one shoulder. "We can try."

  They dismounted and Nika gave Sunshine a hard look. "You stay put, you hear me?" She hefted her ax. "I'd hate to have to chase you down when we were done."

  The horse
snorted and shook his head. Louella came out around Nika to touch his nose. "I know," she said. "Threats don't work well with you, do they?"

  Sunshine again shook his head, then gave Nika a soulful stare.

  "Well, then," the pixie continued. "You might want to think about how much you really want to give up your never-ending source of apples and sugar cubes."

  At the mention of sugar cubes, the horse’s ears perked, and he literally slobbered.

  Louella laughed. "He'll wait for us here," she said.

  Taking her word for it, as there was nothing close to restrain the horse to anyway, the small group made their way around the backside of the large dune that was currently hiding the nomads from sight. Their soft boots made no noise on the soft sand.

  Evan went first, leaning out and peering around the dune that they were trying to stick close to. All the better to sneak up on them. Finally, he ducked back and motioned for them all to back up a bit.

  "There are four of them just like the map showed," he said. "And they do have horses, but only two. They are tied up a few yards to the left of their little camp."

  "What are the nomads doing?" Louella asked. "Do they act like they know we're here?"

  Usually, the game's enemies and monsters relied on sight alone to alert them to the party's presence. But there was no telling if that still applied. Too many changes had happened in the game so far.

  Evan grinned. "I don't think they know about us. They're all bunched together over something. Maybe a game of some type? They seemed to be having a good time of it."

  Nika nodded. "Well, let's go make it a bit more interesting for them then," she said. "But remember, try to get between them and the horses." She hesitated, looking over at the pixie then back to Evan. "And do try to keep one of them alive."

  They sneaked around as far as the dune would take them out of sight, and then all of them rushed to form a line between the nomads and their mounts. At their sudden appearance, the would-be bandits quickly straightened and drew their swords. Once straightened, the source of their fun was partially revealed. A large burlap sack was tied tightly around the head and upper body of a small person.

  A child? Had the party missed a quest? Another kidnapping?

  Nika pushed the thought away. No matter. They'd deal with it later. Right now, there were nomads to fight. She gave her WarCry and moved in to the closest of them.

  As soon as the WarCry left her mouth, Louella followed through with Earthquake. The nomads were just far enough away that it affected them but left the party on solid, non-shaking ground.

  It was the diversion Nika needed to get close to the nomad who suddenly was simply trying to keep his balance on the ever-moving sand beneath him. In a matter of seconds, he was reduced to glitter before he could even rally to make one strike with his sword.

  Evan was already on the next, who had unbelievably dropped his weapon when the Earthquake hit. Soon he followed his friend into the virtual nothingness.

  The other two tried to get around them and to the horses, but Louella's nature magic spell lifted them off their feet and threw them back several paces.

  Before they could regain their feet, Nika and Evan were on them.

  "Leave one alive," Louella shouted, looking nervously over at the horses. Unfortunately, it was too late. All four nomads were gone. Her party had gotten too carried away with the battle.

  Nika only realized her error when she heard the pixie's shout. By that time the battle instinct had already taken too deep of a hold and she hadn't been able to stop it in time. It was hard to try to keep someone alive when that someone had a sword and was trying to kill you.

  Straightening from the pile of glitter in front of her, she glanced back at the horses, just sure she would see them vanish right before her eyes. But they didn't.

  Laughing, she looked over at Louella. "Easiest horses you'll ever have to steal," she said.

  "Looks like it," the pixie answered. "You know I would have bet on them vanishing with the nomads. Isn't the game making this awfully easy? Like too easy to be believed?"

  "Let's take it as a blessing until proved otherwise," Evan said. "Maybe this is a way to compensate those players who were trying to make it through the desert with just one mount?" He shrugged. "Either way, I'll take it as a win.

  As they were gathering up the pitiful dropped loot, no swords remained this time, but the gold in their inventory did take a nice jump upwards, the burlap bag began struggling frantically.

  Oh, yeah, the nomad's prisoner.

  Nika walked over and untied the rope holding the sack in place and then stood back in shock. Looking up at her in wonder was none other than Striking Striker, the dwarf from the forest region.

  "My Goddess!" Striking said, reverently. "You've saved my pitiful life yet again. My worthless being is now pledged to your eternal whim."

  Nika sighed. She'd hoped the dwarf would have gotten over his programmed crush on her by now. The coding must have been done a bit too well.

  "How on earth did you get here?" she asked. "And why?"

  "The why is easy, my Goddess," he said. "I was searching for my lovely lady Amazon. The how is over there." Striking motioned over toward the horses who were still standing motionless, now with Louella firmly holding their reins.

  "These mounts are yours?" she asked, sounding more than a little disappointed. Taking horses from the enemy was one thing. Taking them from a friend was another.

  "They are indeed," Striking answered. "I knew they would come in handy for my Goddess and her friends. In the desert, a mount can make the difference between life and death." He looked around. "I see you have taken care of my nomad bandit kidnappers?"

  "We have," Evan said. "Did you ever think about trying harder not to get kidnapped?"

  Striking bristled, his feathers clearly ruffled. "It's not me that's the problem. These horrible creatures won't leave me alone. First the blood elves and the blasted hermit's treasure, and now these horse hungry nomads. It wasn't me they wanted," he said. "They were just having some sport. Not a kidnapping at all."

  "They'd have killed you all the same if we hadn't shown up," Nika said gently.

  Striking sighed. "Oh most assuredly, my Goddess. Most assuredly."

  "I'm thinking we might want to head back to town before it gets much later," Louella said, looking up at the quickly setting sun. "I don't want to have to run Sunshine too hard, and we have a good hour's ride to the gate."

  "Well, now," Striking said, smiling. "If you don't mind me joining your little party, we can take it a bit easier on that horse of yours. With three mounts, he won't have nearly the load he had before."

  The dwarf had a point, but Nika still hesitated. She just wasn't sure that she was up to Striking joining them. Then again, given the little man's tendency to find himself in dire danger, she couldn't very well just leave him alone out here either. From the grin on his face, he knew it too.

  "Fine," Nika said grudgingly. "You can join us."

  The little man jumped up. "Then I'll be sharing the treasure with you too," he said.

  Louella's eyes lit up. "There's treasure?"

  "Oh, aye," Striking said. "I saw them hiding it before they caught me with that blasted sack of theirs."

  Nika was kicking herself. That was why the loot drop was so pitiful. There was a treasure chest nearby. She hated to admit it, but she would have totally missed it.

  The dwarf led them straight to it, in a little indention they had dug into the dune and then recovered with sand. It wasn't the safest of hiding places as the dunes tended to shift over time as she recalled. But then, it wasn't meant to stay there forever. Just until the winner of the fight took possession.

  Nika's day was made when they opened the chest and not one but two bright columns of light shot toward the sky. Legendaries! A sword that, by the gleaming look in Evan's eye when he saw it, wouldn't be getting sold back to the market at any price. And a very nice mage's staff, complete with a place for a
gem add-on. Nothing for an Amazon, but that was okay. It'd take a hell of an ax to replace the one she already had.

  They stored the loot in their various inventories, and yes, they did end up giving Striker a share. It was only fair as they would never have found it without him. Then they started around the dune to where Sunshine stood waiting for them.

  It didn't look like he'd moved an inch from the spot. His eyes locked on Louella's and she gave a snort. That didn't stop her from pulling an apple and a few sugar cubes from her inventory for him.

  He munched them down in a matter of seconds and then nuzzled her, wanting more.

  "Oh no," the pixie told him. "I'll not have you spoiling your supper with too many sweets, young man." She rubbed his muzzle gently to take the sting out of her words. "But I'll try to find the sweetest oats I can for your dinner."

  Sunshine looked a bit sad, but he seemed to accept that he wasn't getting any more treats at the moment. Then he shocked them all by kneeling down in front of Louella.

  Her eyes lit up when she realized that with him kneeling, she could easily reach the saddle's stirrups and hoist her own self up and onto his back. It wasn't until she was already in place that she thought about the other horses. She turned concerned eyes to Nika.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "I should have asked who was going to ride Sunshine before I just took him."

  Nika laughed. "Right now, I don't think Sunshine would have it any other way." Remembering the rancher's cast, she was pretty sure that anyone trying to ride the stallion without Louella already in place on his back wouldn't stay up there long. The horse seemed to have grown very partial to the pixie. And, of course, her ready hand with the treats.

  With the extra two mounts, there was a horse for each of them. Striker seemed a bit disappointed that Evan chose not to ride. He'd clearly been counting on doubling up with Nika. Not gonna happen, little dude. Not today anyway. If Striker did end up joining their party going forward, there may come a time when that might need to happen. Right now, Nika was torn though as to whether or not that was a good idea.