Won’t be anything like what you can conjure, she sent.
Not yet, anyway, Shaman Decaru replied.
When you’re done sucking each other’s dicks, do you want to acknowledge that none of this would have happened without me? I’m special, too, KieraFreya commented.
Chloe rolled her eyes, making a note to thank KieraFreya properly later. Maybe when the others had logged off.
“So, are those greaves a part of being a battle mage, or is that just something that you picked up on your travels?” Ben said, a knowing glint in his eye.
Chloe turned to Gideon, whose mouth flapped. “I didn’t tell them.”
Ben’s face warped from playful teasing to curiosity. “Oh? Touched a nerve? What haven’t you told us?”
Chloe flushed. Tag sat up with a curious expression on his face. Jesepiah just stared at Tag admiringly. She could trust them. Couldn’t she? After all, they had just crossed the damn country for her. They had trusted her to return after she had snuck away to complete her mission. They were here with her now, willing and ready to protect her if she needed them to. And she was willing to die for them, wasn’t she?
Well, maybe not Jesepiah, yet. She hardly knew the woman.
Her eyes found Gideon’s again. He gave a curt nod, a sign that they could be trusted. If there was one person in this entire realm Chloe trusted, it was Gideon. He had kept his promise to not tell anyone what he knew, and he trusted these guys wholeheartedly. As strange a group as they were, they had each other’s backs, and had done so for years.
Chloe took a deep breath and told them everything, from her first moment in Obsidian to obtaining KieraFreya’s bracers, from their meeting in the woods to the journey she’d made through the Nauriel prison to obtain the greaves. The battle with the bugs. The lying to get them all to move in the direction she needed to go. All of it.
She spilled it all in a splurge of honesty that felt both good and terrifying. She stared at the ground as she told them of her mistruths, afraid that once she looked up, they’d be gone. Why would anyone want to be around a liar? Why would anyone trust someone who had used them to get to where she needed to go? Who would like someone like that?
But when she looked up, she was relieved to see that they all had small grins on their faces. Jesepiah had even lost interest in Tag as Chloe spun her tale. Tag’s jaw was practically on the ground.
“And that gets us here,” Chloe said, rounding up her tale. “I’ve acquired two pieces of her armor. I have the rough location of the others on my map, and I’ve got a world to cross in order to find them all.” She lowered her eyes again, focusing on a small beetle that crawled over the long grass with some effort. “I understand if you all hate me. My quest was my own. I didn’t know who to trust.”
She heard movement, rustling in the grass. When she looked up, Ben had taken a knee before her, his head bowed. “I am honored to have accompanied you on your mission thus far, and I swear by the gods that I will honor your valor and help you achieve your task.”
Tag struggled to his feet, his tummy so full of food that it hurt. “I too am honored and swear to stand by you until the task is done.”
Chloe’s eyes welled with tears of joy. She looked at her two companions, feeling a warmth she had never known before. In all her years of being the runt of the Lagarde family, she had never truly known what friendship felt like. She’d had an idea, or so she thought, but friends who absorbed your money and drained your drinks without reciprocating or even sparing a “How are you” were no friends at all.
Now she had two men laying their weapons at her feet, forgiving her shortcomings, and promising to follow her into the unknown. She looked at Gideon, who gave her a small salute and a wink.
Tag turned his head, glaring at Gideon and trying to wave him over. “Come on, man. Your turn.”
Gideon rolled his eyes. “Chloe knows I have her back.”
Tag finally caught on. “You knew?”
“Well, some of it.”
Jesepiah awkwardly got to her feet. “Erm, I’ll be honest, I would go with you on your quest, but I hardly know you.” She tiptoed over to the fire and took a cooked squirrel. “So, would anyone take offense if I just helped myself to one of these while you have your little bonding moment? No? Okay, then.”
They all laughed, Chloe hugged Ben and Tag , then waved Gideon over, and they all hugged, Chloe felt more at home than ever before in her life. She had adopted three new brothers, and that was something she could never have hoped to achieve.
She wiped away her tears, grinning and laughing still while Jesepiah busied herself with the squirrel, occasionally picking bits of gristle from between her teeth.
“Right,” Ben said, clapping his hands. “You’ve got the map, we’ve got the muscle, and—hey! I’ve got a new quest alert.”
Ben, Tag, and Gideon all confirmed that they’d received an alert for a quest to help Chloe on her mission. The rewards were much lower than Chloe’s, but were still huge compared to what they’d been working toward so far. Each one was pretty much almost guaranteed to go up at least a level for helping Chloe.
They laughed, high-fiving each other in the clearing.
Then they heard the growl, and something furry charged into the clearing.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chloe and the others dived out of the way, leaving the big cat to skid across the ground, scrabbling for purchase.
“What is that thing?” Gideon shouted.
Chloe used Creature Identification, seeing the small label appear above its head.
Plains Jaguar (Lv 9)
320HP
“It’s a jaguar,” Chloe said, drawing her sword as the others got into attack positions around her. “Just a big kitty, really. Ben, can’t you do something with her? Don’t rangers have affinities for animals?”
“If you’re asking if I’m good with pussies, you might want to re-think which version of cat I love.”
Tag and Choe laughed Jesepiah was now on her feet and she started laughing into her hand, too.
The jaguar regained its feet, turned to them, and began to charge, its fangs and claws bared as it crossed the clearing in no time.
Chloe cast an ice shard and hurled it at the beast, missing by inches. Tag planted his feet, preparing for the clash, the haft of his hammer held tightly in his hand. The jaguar leaped, its face meeting Tag’s hammer as he smacked the creature’s skull like a baseball, sending the screeching jaguar off-track. Its health dropped by a third.
“Home run!” Tag shouted.
Jesepiah clapped in admiration. “Go, Tag!”
“Oh, give it a rest,” Chloe said, closing the gap between them and aiming for the cat, which rose unsteadily to its feet, shaking its head and peering at Tag.
Ben closed one eye, inhaled, and released his arrows, two of them finding a home in the jaguar’s side.
Its health dropped to 30%. The jaguar growled, stumbled, and sprinted away into the trees. Chloe came up next to Tag, another ice shard ready, and they waited for the creature to return. Gideon, Ben, and Jesepiah joined them and they huddled back-to-back, keeping a 360 degree watch on the clearing.
The hawks’ heads were raised now, although they seemed unaffected by the jaguar’s presence. Chloe was not surprised. With their size and muscle, they could surely knock the jaguar out with one kick.
“Where is it?” Chloe asked. “Ben?”
Ben squinted, doing his best to utilize his Tracking skill. They could all hear the creature, although through some kind of aural illusion, the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere. Chloe just hoped it wasn’t more jaguars come to join the fray.
“I can’t get a lock on it,” Ben relayed.
Chloe pointed to the wisp. “Decaru? Any help, please?”
Decaru bobbed in the air, then darted into the trees. Sure, leave your fate in the hands of the shaman, KieraFreya said. Trust the guy who keeps running off and leaving you all to your own devices. Where does he ev
en go, anyway?
Not now, Chloe snapped.
Although the trees were shaded, there now came a white light spilling out from within. They watched as Decaru journeyed the perimeter, stopping suddenly as the jaguar became visible. It panicked, left its hiding place, and dashed back toward them on a mad quest to finish what it had started.
“I’ve got it,” Ben said, arrow nocked and ready to fire, tracing its movement toward them.
“Forget it. This one’s mine!” Tag exclaimed, elbowing Ben just as he released and sending the arrows into the tops of the trees. Tag charged forward, his hammer held high.
“Just one more kill to get me to level 10,” Tag muttered, an intense expression on his face. “Just one more…”
He was moments away from the jaguar, the creature bleeding from its side as it raised its paws to slash at Tag. He reared his hammer back, ready to smash it once more into the creature’s face and end its miserable life. He had a sick look of glee on his face.
The jaguar suddenly cried out in pain. Tag’s hammer connected with its body a second later and the creature fell to the ground, skidding for some distance.
Tag’s eyes went unfocused as he watched his experience points, waiting for that notification.
But nothing came.
“Huh?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. I…”
And then he saw it—the little round wound in the jaguar’s hide. A perfect circle with a shard of ice sticking out of it, now dripping in the heat of the afternoon sun.
“You son of a—” beep! he said, face turning red. “You swiped my kill.”
Chloe shrugged, her face a mask of sweet innocence. “You left it too long, and I thought it was going to get you. What else was I supposed to do when my friend was in danger? Just stand there and watch you die? No, no.”
Ben snickered behind his hand, trying not to catch Tag’s eye.
Tag tossed the handle of his hammer in one hand, reared it back, and flung it into the woods in frustration, roaring as he fell to his knees. Behind him, Jesepiah clapped her hands to her mouth, Tag’s pain reflected in her eyes.
When Tag was done shouting, he lowered his head, chest rising and falling in deep pants. He raised his head as he was lifted off the floor by some unseen force. The others looked around for what was going on, and Decaru floated back into the clearing to join them.
“Wha—” was all Tag managed before he felt the ecstatic sensation that came from the golden glow which now surrounded him. His beard fanned out in all directions as the bells rang to indicate his changed level. He laughed, the sound an orchestra in the clearing, and he was eventually lowered softly back to the ground.
“What the hell was that about?” Gideon asked, scratching his head.
Tag’s eyes unfocused as he read his notifications, a smile on his face as he said, “Killed a fox, didn’t I? Over there in the trees. Hammer must’ve conked it one on the head and triggered the last bit of experience I needed.”
Ben noogied Tag with the love of a sibling. “You are one lucky SOB, you know that?”
Tag beamed. “And you thought you could stop me from leveling up.” He poked his tongue out at Chloe. “Takes more than that to stop this dwarf from becoming a champion.” A hungry expression crossed his face. “Now, to look at my classes…”
They looted the jaguar’s body and finished their food while Tag deliberated his choices of class. With Jesepiah sat loyally beside him, he mumbled quietly, re-reading his choices, unsure of what decision to make. The game had given him three classes to choose from: Tank, Warrior, and Paladin.
According to Tag, tank would give him defensive prowess in battle, drawing enemies toward him so he could shield his comrades. He’d be adept with a shield, and be able to withstand large amounts of damage.
Warrior was much the same as Chloe’s description, and paladin offered something a little bit more special, the only unique class Tag had been offered. It was between tank and paladin that he now struggled to choose.
“Bound to a holy mission? What does that even mean?” Tag muttered. “A holy mission? Me? Working for the good of the gods? That doesn’t sound right, does it?”
Jesepiah squeezed his arm, sitting so close her breath tickled his ear. “I bet you could do anything you put your mind to.”
Chloe crossed to them and kicked Tag’s knee. Tag unfolded his legs and rose to his feet. “What was that for?”
“Decision time is over. We’ve got to move.”
“Already?”
“Well, while you’ve been deliberating over your class, we’ve been exploring the map, looking for our next location. Seems we’re not too far from somewhere we can stop off and go hunting for more goddess body parts.”
Not body parts, armor, KieraFreya growled.
“So what’ll it be,” Chloe asked. “Made your mind up yet?”
Tag wobbled on his feet, a moment of lightheadedness causing him to swoon. Jesepiah leaned in to catch him.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said, swatting her away. His face got resolute, the sudden headrush leading him to his conclusion. “I have. I’ve decided.” Tag closed his eyes, opening them again and smiled.
“What did you go for?” Ben called over from where he was checking the saddles on the hawks.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Tag said smugly, whispering as he passed Chloe, “See? You’re not the only one who can keep secrets.”
They mounted the hawks again, took off, and headed toward the horizon. The sun had begun to set in the west, but the sky was a dazzling, perfect blue. From their winged steeds, they could see across the landscape as the grass of the plains began to fade into stretches of barren mud and eventually sand. Lakes and pools shimmered beneath them, and once Chloe spotted a herd of elephantine creatures below as they bugled from their trunks at the travelers overhead.
Riding on a hawk was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Each beat of its wings caused an undulation in her stomach that wasn’t wholly unpleasant. The bird screeched and carved open the sky with the point of its beak, speeding at some unimaginable velocity as the world blurred beneath them.
Chloe’s face hurt from smiling, and her ass hurt from the seat, but her heart was lighter than the birds’ wings as they began to descend, the hawks slowly circling their way down to the top of a high, windswept sand dune that created a border between where the lakes and pools dwindled and the desert began.
Chloe nudged the hawk’s neck with her knee, willing him (or her, she hadn’t worked out their genders yet and didn’t want to hunt through their body parts for genitalia) to rise back up and continue flying, but the hawk had other ideas.
A small cloud of dust and sand kicked up as they hopped off the back of the hawk, the setting sun behind them as they looked over the stretch of sand they had landed in the middle of.
“Why have we landed?” Gideon asked, bunching his robes in his fists to keep them from getting dirtied by the sand. “This was a bad place to land. There’s nothing around for miles.”
“I don’t know,” Chloe said, circling to the front of the bird and stroking its chin. The bird gently nudged her in the direction of the sand, and looked back up at the sky. “Does anyone here speak bird?”
Ben raised his hand.
“Not ‘chick,’ perv,” Chloe chided.
“They look like they’re unwilling to go any further,” Jesepiah said, the last one to hop off the hawk’s back. “It’s as if they’ve reached their limits. Maybe birds just don’t like flying over deserts, particularly when they’re friggin’ huge—”
“Jesepiah! Don’t let go!”
But it was too late. The minute Jesepiah let go of the reins and hopped down the sand, the two hawks screeched into the sky, rising onto their feet and flapping their wings. They took off and circled above them several times, then zipped back the way they had all come.
The group all watched them as they changed from large silhouetted black shapes into tiny black
dots that vanished into the brightness of the setting sun.
A long silence fell over them, broken only when Gideon said, “Erm, well, what do we do now?”
Chapter Sixty
“I guess we walk,” Tag said, looking comical as his thick boots and heavy steps sank his toes into the sand. “Not a lot of other options, are there?”
Ben, who had rather a light step given the combination of his race, class, and skills, trod easily over the sand, barely leaving an imprint behind him. “You’ve got the map. Why don’t you tell us which way to go, Chloe?”
Chloe started, only now remembering the map, and pulled it up. The places they had visited showed in full color, with the buildings and areas labeled and highlighted. Across the grayed-out areas of the rest of the world was a small track carving its way northeast across the land toward the familiar sigil of the gods.
She could trace their path easily, the small track showing the plains and trees and lakes they had flown over, although she struggled to believe that they hadn’t even made it halfway across the map yet. In the games Blake had played, the maps had always been disappointingly small, only able to contain as much as the developers had wanted to show the player.
Was Obsidian’s AI really so advanced that it had created and implemented this entire world? Where did it end? She hoped she wouldn’t have to journey to all four corners in the search for KieraFreya’s armor.
“The good news is that the hawks dropped us off not all that far from the sigils,” Chloe said, the other members of her team coming back into focus.
“So what’s the bad news?” Jesepiah said.
“The bad news is that I have no idea how far this desert stretches. It could be endless. It could be a mile. I have no idea if there are any civilizations here or not. All I know is that we need to go, er,” Chloe opened her map again and lined up her small avatar in the direction of the sigil, “That way.”
“Well, no time like the present, eh?” Gideon said, starting to walk. “If we want to get anywhere before the sun sets, we better make haste.”
Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1) Page 42