Khalid said she couldn’t kill anyone, not that she couldn’t maim or wound them. If there ended up being a room full of armed guards around the chest, then she could stab a few legs and maybe still get out of there without failing. It’d be risky, but she might be able to pull it off.
God, she loved a challenge, even when it pissed her off.
She moved into the hallway and gently pulled the door closed behind her. The first entry on her left was closed, and she cruised right past it. The next one on her right was open, but it sounded like someone was sleeping in there. A glance confirmed only one person inside, and they were in bed. Part of her wanted to close the door to be safe, but any noise wasn’t worth the risk.
A crash sounded in the room to her left, and a man swore. It was the kind of noise someone made when they spilled something on themselves and had to clean it up. Her only choices were to move forward before that happened or go back into the room where the man was sleeping and hope she could hunker down until the coast was clear.
She was out of patience. It was time to move.
The door on her left burst open as she reached her destination. She heard a man stumble into the hall behind her while cursing quietly to himself. ShadowLily stepped inside the room and shut the door behind her. She rested her back against the door, closed her eyes, and drew a few deep breaths.
I’m inside.
The man in the hallway wasn’t screaming for her head. No one slammed into the door. Next time she did something like this, ShadowLily needed to remember that patience was key, and being safe didn’t necessarily mean run as fast as you can. Sometimes it paid to take time and be cautious.
She sighed in relief, tucked the knife in her hand back into the bandolier around her chest, and moved the knife from her mouth to her hand. Then she looked up for the first time since walking into the room and froze in place like a possum caught in the headlights.
A guard stood in front of the chest. He looked at her with the same shocked expression she must have been wearing. The only difference between them was the guard had a glass of wine in his hand, and she had a knife. They both stayed frozen, neither knowing what to do next, then everything turned to shit.
The guard threw his wineglass at her.
It was easy enough to dodge the glass and throw her knife, but the noise from the shattering glass would be loud enough to bring help. Her blade sank into the guard’s thigh as he reached for his sword and called for help. It would have been easier to kill him, but the guard limping toward her was using his sword more like a cane than a weapon. The guard stumbled forward, took a wild swing at her, and fell flat on his face with a grunt.
While rushing past the downed man to the chest, ShadowLily realized his attack wasn’t as wild as she thought. There was a long gouge in her leather pants, and a small amount of blood leaking through the split in the armor. That had been close, too damn close.
“I fucking love these pants!” It wasn’t exactly honorable to kick a man in the face when he couldn't stand, but this one had tried to cut her leg off so ShadowLily gave herself a pass.
His nose made a sickening crunch when her foot slammed into it. The snap was also pretty satisfying, kind of like when she snapped one of her late-night KitKats. After the kick to the head, the guard stopped moving. It might have been a little overkill, but a quick check of the guard’s pulse confirmed he was still alive.
That was more than she’d be able to say about herself if she didn’t hurry.
ShadowLily ran for the chest, flipped open the lid, and snatched the letters. Khalid didn’t mention anything about not stealing anything else, so she helped herself to a few of the more interesting items she saw right away and closed the lid. It felt kind of funny that she was risking her life for what looked like old love letters and none of the jewelry or coins.
Fuck it.
She’d never been that good of a thief so she shoved a couple of handfuls into her inventory and closed the chest, the entire time reminding herself it was a game. Once when she was a kid, she stole a candy bar from the store. All she could think about for days was how she’d done something wrong. As soon as she got her allowance, she went to the store and confessed everything. It made her feel better knowing she was honest, and going back wasn’t something her dad made her do.
Stealing gold from assholes didn’t bother her nearly as much, and if her conscience felt a little too heavy, she could hand over the loot with the letters. ShadowLily was sure the resistance could use all the financial help they could get.
A man burst into the room with a knife in one hand and rubbing sleep from his eyes with the other. It was simple enough to slip inside his guard and deliver an uppercut straight to his chin. The man crumpled like a suit after a sixteen-hour day at the office. ShadowLily took one step to the side and let his unconscious body fall past her into the room, and she was out in the hallway with the two unconscious men behind her.
It sounded like more guards were coming up the stairs to her right so she sprinted toward the room with the balcony. From there, it was simple enough for her to jump out the window and run. Her stealth was on, but it wouldn’t be good for much while moving at full speed in the sun. All she could do now was hope that by the time someone did a double-take, she was gone.
Running wasn’t her specialty.
ShadowLily was a swimmer, and when it called for it, a wicked good dancer. Dancing wouldn’t get her out of trouble here, and she didn’t see any water. With her two favorite methods of escape off the table, she did what any busted thief would do. She ran like a life sentence was chasing her.
Vaulting over crates, running through open doors, tip-toeing across roofs, she did it all on the way to the gate and her freedom. This was where things would get tricky. ShadowLily couldn’t hobble four armed guards, then get on her horse and ride away. It would be too easy to follow her into the desert, and she risked leading Jabari’s men back to the oasis.
“This shit isn’t worth five gold coins.” Still, ShadowLily knew she wouldn’t kill anyone, not when she was this close to getting out.
Maybe it was time to pull a Sparrow.
Jack Sparrow might have been a shitty pirate, but he was good at getting out of trouble. With direct confrontation off the table, she had to find a new way to handle things. Just like when she needed to ditch an overeager guy at the bar, it was time to get creative. It was time to pull a Sparrow.
ShadowLily paused and pulled out one of JaKobi’s prototype fire pong balls from her inventory. She had no idea why she kept the damn thing. It was one of the early prototypes, and only JaKobi could touch the damn things without burning himself. It was just the thing she needed now to get out of this mess. The ball appeared in her hand, and she yelped as the flames burned her skin.
Before the burns could get too bad, she tossed the flaming sphere into a pile of crates.
A minute later, a nice little blaze burned not far from the gate. A bell rang somewhere behind her, but with the smoke rising into the air she hoped most of the guards would think it was for the fire and not from her exploits stealing the letters. As the men scrambled to contain the blaze, she slipped through the gate and sprinted toward her horse.
Once ShadowLily was in the saddle and off to rejoin the others, she felt terrific about how things had gone. Hopefully, Tim would be waiting for her at the oasis when she got back and could heal her hand and leg. JaKobi’s little death balls might not work as intended, but they did work, and that had to count for something. She wrapped a spare piece of cloth around her hand and directed her horse toward the oasis.
Maybe she wasn’t such a bad thief after all.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lorelei was having a blast.
The desert itself wasn’t that great, but Neema was phenomenal. It was as though she finally met someone who got her. There was this thing that happened where they knew what the other one was thinking even if they didn’t say the words out loud. She’d never felt like this with
anyone else before.
The only thing holding her back was that she knew it wasn’t real.
Eventually, she’d have to leave the game and Neema behind.
It was funny what a person could rationalize away when they wanted to. Neema might have only been code, but she was brilliant code that made Lorelei feel wanted. At the end of the day was the woman any less real? She could see, hear, touch, smell, and taste her. If that wasn’t real, maybe they were all bits of random code, and God was their developer.
Things might not be that simple, but they could be however she wanted them to be. Inside the game, she was the boss and created her destiny. Right now Neema was part of that, and she loved every minute of it.
“Neema, where are we going?” They’d left so quickly that she hadn’t opened her quest card from Khalid.
The Desert Wolf turned in her saddle so she faced the ranger. “Why don’t you open your quest and find out?”
She hated playing games. It was like bitch, if you know where we’re going, tell me already. Then there was a part of her that knew that wasn’t how videogames worked. If she wanted the quest, she had to accept it.
Those were the rules.
Lorelei reached inside her vest and pulled out Khalid’s envelope. It took her a moment to pull the card free. Then she downloaded the quest information the way Chuck flashed on the intersect.
Quest Received: It Takes Two to Tango
Hidden treasure doesn’t need to be hidden all that well when it has a guardian. Find the tomb of Nemset, and secure The Viridian Shroud. Our people need a symbol to show them they can trust us. The Shroud is a symbol of Eternia we can display for all to see.
Quest Reward: Ten gold coins
Lorelei accepted the quest.
Entering a tomb and killing the guardian to retrieve an ancient piece of treasure sounded like a quest that was right about her speed. The fact that she could hand Neema the shroud and further her goals for the resistance was a bonus. One she hoped the Desert Wolf would pay back with a kiss.
Gold, treasure, girls—just another day at the office.
Things might not have gone her way since she entered the game. Still, a broken heart and a horrible rebound weren’t enough to keep her from stepping up to the plate to take another swing. What good was the ability to love if you were too scared to use it?
“Now that you see where we're going, are you excited?” Neema was grinning from ear to ear, thrilled about the possibility of a treasure hunt.
Lorelei jumped from the back of her horse and landed behind Neema, easily swaying with the her new mount’s movements. She turned the warrior’s head to kiss her. “I’d be more excited if we were back in your tent, but a treasure hunt comes in a close second.”
“Good, now get back on your horse and settle in. We have a long ride ahead of us.” Neema leaned back and gave her another kiss.
Jumping from Neema’s steed back to hers, Lorelei felt herself finally letting go. There was no reason for her to be worried. Things felt so natural right now, as though this was where she was supposed to be. She’d learned a long time ago to trust her instincts about people and places. They weren’t always right, but they served her better than she liked to give them credit for.
Her gut told her she could trust Neema with her life. So that’s what she did. Lorelei leaned back in her saddle and tried to get comfortable for the journey. If she could fall asleep for a while, it would feel like they got there in an instant.
Treasure hunts were never really her thing.
She did have a little crush on the women who played Laura Croft in the movies. It didn’t matter to her if it was Angelina or Vikander. Lorelei thought both of them rocked the outfit with their brand of sexy. Who wouldn’t be attracted to a billionaire with a penchant for danger and adventure? It was like Laura was Batman and Indiana Jones rolled into one.
Smart and badass were the new sexy.
She had her version of smart and sexy dismounting right in front of her. They had reached the Tomb of Nemset, and it was time for them to go inside. Lorelei slid from her saddle and pulled her bow free as soon as she hit the ground. She looked over the weapon enjoying the feel of her new toy.
Neema saw Lorelei’s selection of weapons and yanked her sword from its sheath. “I’ll lead the way.”
The Desert Wolf pulled a torch from her inventory and walked into the square archway. Was it odd that the tomb’s entrance wasn’t sealed? This place was out in the middle of nowhere, but surely someone would have found and looted it by now.
Unless the guardian killed them all.
As the quest said, a tomb didn’t need a door when there was a scary-ass monster waiting inside. Neema stepped into the Darkness, and Lorelei followed. The torch gave off a good deal more light than she thought it would, but right now she would have killed for one of JaKobi’s little light balls. It was funny how she got so used to her group's perks. Doing things the old-fashioned way felt harder than it should have.
There was plenty to be thankful for. She had a light, and she wasn’t as alone as the rest of her guild was right now. Looking on the positive side of things wasn’t her specialty, but she was working on it. Why be grumpy all the time? Life had become so much easier to live when she stopped worrying about what other people were doing and focused on what made her happy. Like going on treasure hunts with super sexy girls.
The view from behind Neema was exactly the kind of content she was into.
Lorelei forced her eyes away from Neema to look at their surroundings. It wouldn’t do her any good to die because she was too busy checking out Neema’s ass. The cavern around them wasn’t much larger than the entrance had been. She’d expected the space to open up relatively quickly, but it was as if they were walking down the world’s longest hallway.
“Wow.” Neema sounded awed as she stopped moving.
Lorelei closed the distance between them and looked over Neema’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”
A single ray of sunlight penetrated the cavern from above. The hallway they were in must have sloped down the entire time they were inside. Lorelei was kind of surprised that she couldn’t tell as they walked. She usually was more in tune with the environment around her.
The sunlight wasn’t strong enough to illuminate the entire space, but it did highlight a stand with The Viridian Shroud draped over it at the far side of the room. “I don’t see the champion.”
Neema inched forward. “Nor do I. Maybe it died. There can't be a lot of food out here.”
“Just idiots looking for treasure.” Lorelei’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
Pausing again at the entrance, Neema looked back at her. “You know, just once, I’d like to get lucky.”
“I can help you with that after we get the shroud.” Lorelei winked at her.
It could have been the firelight, but Neema might have also blushed. “Let’s see what we’ve gotten ourselves into first.” She handed the torch to Lorelei. “Care to do the honors?”
Lorelei took the torch but was unsure of what to do with it. Neema pointed past her to a sconce on the wall. It didn’t take much thought to figure out what to do from there. She walked to the sconce and lit the torch resting inside it on fire.
Flames snapped and crackled as the old dry torch lit. It took a moment for the fire to take hold. Then it burst to life as if waiting for this very moment to shine. One by one, torches lit all around the cavern. The entire space was as well-lit as if they stood outside in the bright desert sun.
Lighting the room didn’t accomplish much more than that.
Now it was easier to see the wide-open space between them and the shroud, but nothing else had changed. Sadly there weren’t any secret characters revealed on the floor leading the way to the artifact. A champion hadn’t yet appeared to challenge them either. Maybe they were going to get lucky.
The door behind them started to rumble closed.
Luck didn’t appear to be on the menu tonight, but at least
they were being offered a chance to back out if they wanted. The door slid closed at a pace that would allow them to dive back under if they wanted to. Part of her was screaming to roll under it and take Neema back to her tent for a lovemaking session. The look of pure excitement on the Desert Wolf’s face made her dismiss that idea out of hand. They came to get the shroud, and that was what they’d do.
The door’s rumble stopped, and the floor started to shake. The earth in the middle of the room broke apart as if something large was digging its way out. Whatever was coming for them must have been giant—and pissed off. Lorelei was starting to get a bad feeling. Rocks shifted, and something emerged.
One giant pincer appeared, and another one.
They were in the desert. It sure as fuck wouldn’t be a lobster crawling out of the ground. That only left one creature she could think of, and Lorelei wasn’t pleased. The full scorpion burst from the cavern floor and shook the dirt off its dark golden carapace. Now that the monster was free, its multitude of eyes searched the room for the cause of the disturbance.
“That’s not what I was expecting,” Neema breathed out in a low whisper.
Not what she was expecting?
All Lorelei wanted to do was lie in bed all day exploring the wonders of Neema, and now she had to face off with an ancient monster. Why couldn't the tomb’s champion be some asshole she could fill with arrows from far away?
Fuck it. She could fill a bug full of arrows as easily as a person.
The first arrow hit the scorpion on the back and skittered off into the cavern. “Maybe not as easy as people.” Lorelei looked at the creature, trying to decide how she could make a bigger impact.
Neema didn’t seem worried by Lorelei’s effectiveness. She ran into the battle with a smile on her face. She bounced her blade off one of the arachnid's armored legs. “Aim for the gaps, as you would with plate mail.”
Deserts Of Naroosh Page 38
