“Except I’ve been the champ for ten years. It would seem that no one else can be me.” I groaned, and then walked over to the large cable rack machine. There was a pull up bar on top, and I jumped up to perform the exercise.
“I’m not going to try and follow that rabbit hole too far. They like you and I understand why. There could be a lot of reasons for them not to feel that way, and maybe some people do, but most love you. That is why I am happy you are on my team, and why I felt like I got a good deal out of our contract.”
“Maybe I should have asked for more money.” I chuckled at her as I let go of the bar and landed on my feet.
“Ha. It is too late now. I’ve got you.” She winked at me and then moved over to stand next to me by the pull up bar. “Mind if I have some now?” she purred her question as her lavender eyes met mine.
“Uhhh.” I couldn’t remember the last time a woman had excited me as much as Zarra. She was smart, sexy, charming, and had a great work ethic. I hadn’t bothered to step away from her when she walked near me, and I felt my stomach flip as I thought about kissing her. Damn. It was like I was back in high school or something.
“The pull up bar?” she raised an eyebrow and then lifted one of her fingers toward the edge of the cable machine.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” I stepped away from below the bar and my heart tried to brake from its frantic pace.
“Thank you.” Zarra jumped up to the bar and did ten smooth pull ups. It was an impressive feat for a woman, and I found myself studying the small lean muscles under the tight lycra of her outfit when she did the lift. As soon as she finished I reminded myself that I was probably being all sorts of creepy watching her, and I looked away before she could notice my cheeks turn red.
I need to get away from her before I made a complete idiot out of myself.
“Did you play any games before Astafar Unlimited?” she asked after she walked around the floor of the gym to cool down.
“Yeah. I played Rintar, and Virtula. They were okay, but remind me of your earlier comment about doing the game first and then trying to add too many real life elements to it. Did you play any games before you developed Ohlavar Quest?”
“Yes. I’ve played pretty much everything,” she said as she jumped up to the pull up bar and started on her next set.
“Everything?” I snorted. “You couldn’t have possibly played everything.”
“Oh? You don’t think so?” She raised an eyebrow at me after she dropped down.
“That would be impossible. There are millions of games.” I smirked at her.
“When I was in school, I wrote a software program that analyzed the play style, graphics, and storyline of nearly every single game made for the last one hundred years. This let me group the games up into similar buckets of types. Then I played the leaders of those genres.”
“Still seems like a lot of time. You look like you’re my age. Playing a hundred years worth of games would be impossible, even if you distilled it down to just the bests of each type.”
“You can choose not to believe me.” She shrugged her shoulders, but didn’t seem upset by my comment.
“I want to believe you, but it just seems impossible. Where did you go to college?” I asked.
“Waterloo, it is in Canada.”
“I’ve heard of it,” I said.
“But I wrote the program when I was seven. I had just started grade school.”
“Shit,” I said before I whistled. “I didn’t think you were really the software engineer type. You seem more like the marketing person here.”
Zarra jumped back to the pull up bar and did another set. Her last reps were starting to look hard to pull, and I guessed she had one or two sets left in her.
“I’m the president. I always liked games, and computers. I do prefer human psychology, especially when it comes to games, but having a background in software programming lets me get real with my developers.” Zarra let out a laugh and then winked at me. “You would not believe how often these programmers try to bullshit their way through a project.”
“I can imagine.” I laughed with her. “I’m a bit nervous about owning some of the company honestly. I don’t really know how to tell people what to do. Sal did most of that for me.” Thoughts of my dead friend made my smile fade, and I moved back next to Zarra so that I could busy myself with some pull ups.
“Yeah…” she said with sadness. “I’ll help you through that transition. You’ll do fine. You are the kind of man that works hard at something. We are going to make a great team.”
I dropped down from the bar and nodded at the woman. Our eyes met again and I felt as if I was falling onto her. She licked her lips slightly, and I saw her eyes drift down to my mouth. We were standing only a few feet apart, and it would have been easy enough for me to reach out and pull her in for a kiss.
“I, ummm. Think I need to do my stretching,” she said before I could act on my desires. “I have a call at seven.”
“Oh,” I said as I looked at the clock on the wall. It was six thirty already.
“I need to get a jump start on my work so I can have dinner with you and your parents tonight. I lost half my day yesterday.” Zarra turned from me and walked over to the large open space area of the gym that was covered with expensive looking mats.
“I’m glad you still want to join us,” I said, and I tried to hide a bit of my frustration that she’d walked away from me.
“Of course! I am eager to meet them. I asked my parents to come as well, but we’ll see. They are super busy with their work.”
“That’s okay.” I jumped up to the pull up bar and did another set. I should have been feeling some fatigue from the exercise, but my body was holding up great. It almost felt like I could have done double the reps. It happened when I took some time off, but I normally didn’t feel twice as strong.
To keep from distraction, I kept my eyes off of Zarra while she stretched and I set up a bar for deadlifting. We did talk a bit more about her gaming experience, and some of her favorite games. The beautiful woman really did have an extensive knowledge of games, especially classic role playing games, and I was once again impressed by her incredible intelligence.
“Okay. I really need to go now. Damn.” She laughed. “I could talk to you all day.”
I glanced at the clock and saw that it was fifteen minutes till seven. The time had really flown by, and while I hadn’t gotten much of a workout in, I was more than happy to spend the time with the purple eyed woman.
“Yeah. I need to grab a shower and jump in game. Ky and Jennifer are probably waiting for me.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge in the gym, and then held the exit door open for Zarra.
“Good. I’m excited to talk to you about it tonight. I’ll have Jennifer ring me as soon as you are out.”
“Great. Well…” I trailed off as we stood in the hallway. “Have a great day at work, Honey. I’ll see you at dinner.” I winked at her and the woman laughed. The sound was like ringing bells and her voice made my smile broaden.
“See you tonight, Sweetie.” She winked at me, looked at my lips again, and then turned to walk away from me.
As she walked, I let my eyes linger on her back side. I knew it was all sorts of rude, but damn, Zarra was absolutely rocking that outfit, and keeping my eyes off of her felt close to impossible.
But I did have to log back into Ohlavar Quest. It was probably in the middle of the night in the game, and I didn’t want the dwarves we were traveling with to ask why I wasn’t there when they woke up, so I regretfully turned away from Zarra’s retreating form and walked back toward my own room.
Chapter 8
“Thank my great-grandfather’s knee length beard you are here!” Gratia hissed a whisper at me as soon as my eyes opened to Ohlavar Quest.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. Her voice was panicked and my stomach filled with ice.
“There are city guards at the front entrance to the farm. One of my fellow dwarves
saw them approach. They can’t see us because of the slope of the hill and this large barn, but I’m guessing that they are looking for you.”
I followed Gratia’s finger point, but it was still early morning, or late night, or a time when it was pretty near darkness. I was curled up next to the small fire pit we had built a hundred feet from the edge of the barn, and the back light from the flames didn’t help my vision at all.
“Grrr. Leo,” Artus said as he emerged from the darkness beyond the barn. “I’ve just checked. There are eight of them. The guards at the farm gate have pointed in our direction.”
I sprung out of bed, glanced around the camp site, and noted that I had my clothes on. Thank god that they had finally fixed that bug.
Beernie was speaking with the other dwarves near our wagon, and once the woman saw me jump up, she nodded to them and walked over.
“Allurie, get up.” The elf girl had started the night sleeping on the other side of the camp, but her hammock had somehow ended up right next to mine. She blinked sleepily and then her eyes opened wide when she realized that I had woken her.
“No. Not now,” I said before she could ask me the question. “City guards are coming.”
“Darn,” she sighed.
“Leo,” Beernie greeted me as she stepped closer. “We’ve got a few minutes until these guards get here. I don’t know about the problems ya got with Lord Halafast, but I’d prefer not to get our stronghold involved.”
“Leo saved my life. I’ll stand beside him until—” Gratia began, but the Blood Smith raised her armored fist.
“I understand ya, Gratia, but I don’t have such freedoms. I can’t fight these men. It might start a war between Cutno and our stronghold. It’s not something I can decide on without consulting the rest of the clan. Cutno doesn’t know we are in their backyard. I’d prefer to keep it that way. Lord Halafast has no love for the other races.”
“I understand,” I said as my stomach sank. Did this mean that the dwarves would just stand by and watch Artus, Allurie, and I get captured? I didn’t think I could fight eight of them at once. Especially if any of the soldiers carried crossbows.
“We are going to load you up,” Beernie said, and as the words left her mouth the dwarves sprung into action and began to put all of our camping gear into the wagon with a flurry of efficiency. “And we are going to take most of your beer.”
“Most of our beer?” Gratia’s voice was a mixture or surprise, outrage, and sadness.
“Aye. So when those idiot humans round the corner, we’ll delay them with a shower of dwarven hospitality. We’ll tell them that we don’t know of ya, and then beseech them to stay for a drink with us. It will buy some time while you sneak around and exit out the back entrance toward the valley.”
“Won’t they see the wagon tracks?” I asked, but then I realized the question might have been a bit stupid. I couldn’t see a single arm’s length out of the campfire radius. The air did smell a bit wet, and I wondered if clouds were concealing the moon and stars.
“I’ll do my best to stop them. Ya got my word as a Blood Smith.” The armored woman held out her fist and I bumped my knuckles against it.
“Thank you for doing this,” I said with a grateful smile. I didn’t know if we could actually escape a group of eight soldiers with our wagon, but I didn’t want to fight inside of our friendly host’s farm, and I didn’t want to get the dwarves involved if it meant they might have issues in the future.
“Now get out of here,” Beernie said. “It was nice to meet ya Leo, Artus, and Allurie.” The Blood Smith turned to Gratia. “Good luck, cousin. I’ll pray to my grandfathers and grandmothers that you’ll do well, and that I’ll see you before we turn to stone.”
“Before we turn to stone,” the other dwarf woman echoed as she fist bumped the warrior.
“I’ll drive. I can see some in front of us,” Artus growled as he lept up to the wagon.
“Allurie, get in the back of the wagon. Gratia, stay up front,” I ordered as I helped the elf girl get in the back of the covered bed.
Artus flicked the reins as soon as the dwarven woman and I sat on the bench. The ponies kicked forward with a snort, and we plunged into the darkness.
New Quest: Escape the Cutno patrols and reach Arnicoal. Artus, Allurie, and Gratia must survive.
“No shit,” I let out a nervous laugh when I saw the lighted text flash on my screen.
“What’s wrong?” Gratia asked with concern.
“Oh, nothing.”
The cover of our wagon prevented me from looking directly behind us, but I could lean my head out of the side and glance behind us. I did so, but the inky blackness of the night was all that I saw.
“Allurie, call out if you see them.”
“Okay!”
“Shhhhh!” the three of us hissed at her.
“Oh. Okay,” the elf girl whispered.
The next ten minutes crawled by at a snail’s pace. We reached the far gate of the property, and saw a pair of sleepy farm guards leaning against the walls.
“We are heading out early,” I said as we approached.
I didn’t recognize the men, and I figured that they didn’t actually know who we were. They opened the door quickly enough, and then I bid them an early morning as we rolled into the valley.
“The main road is up ahead. I’m thinking it will take us ten minutes to get there, but it will take us at least four days to get to Arnicoal. What will we do if the guards catch us?” Artus asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said with a sigh. “I’m hoping that Beernie can convinced them that we were never with them, or at least throw them off the trail. I don’t think the guards will ride out for two or three days. Do you?”
“I’m not sure. Part of me doesn’t think they would bother, but you did kill Lord Halafast’s fifth son, and then a bunch of his guards. He isn’t a poor man, and he has hundreds of soldiers that work for him.
“Hundreds?” I felt my voice catch in my throat.
“Yes. Arnicoal is a big city, no, it is massive, and it is filled with all the races of Ohlavar. As soon as we make it through the first set of gates, it will be very difficult for his men to track you down. We just have to get there.”
“Understood. Can this go any faster?” I pointed at the wagon and let out a nervous laugh.
“Not when it is this dark. The ponies are stout, but if we damage one, we’ll be even worse off.”
“I see,” I sighed again and then leaned my head out to peek around the wagon cover. Still nothing, but it did seem like there was a slight glow to the distant mountains. It could mean that the sun was preparing to rise, or it could mean that I was getting more used to the darkness.
We rode in a painful silence for what felt like four hours, the sun was beginning to rise, and each extra sliver of light allowed Artus to push the speed of the ponies a bit more. There was a thick layer of fog, or cloud cover, in the sky, and the ground was still poorly lit even after I had guessed the sun had risen to an early morning height.
We kept pushing, but every minute of travel brought me a pang of relief along with a feeling of dread. I felt like I didn’t have control over the situation since I couldn’t make the ponies move any faster, or do anything to stop the guards from coming after us.
Early morning turned into a mid morning, and then the clouds began to burn away from the sky. We continued to push, but Artus began to look more worried as the sun climbed higher into the sky.
“What is wrong?” I asked.
“The ponies are getting tired. They are tough animals, but they had a tough go with the steep slopes yesterday, and they didn’t get enough rest through the night. The one on the left has stumbled a few times. I feel as if we must slow down soon, or it might injure itself.”
“Shit,” I sighed. “Is there a forest, or glen of trees, or anything we could maybe hide in so that it will be harder for them to find us?” Around us were endless fields of long grasses and the occasional oak tree
. The scenery looked like central California, only with less hills and more vivid colors. I thought about the purple leaved trees where I had originally logged into Ohlavar Quest. We were a good ten miles away from that spot now, but there had to be somewhere where we could hide.
“I don’t remember seeing anything like that, Leo. This is the landscape for the next few days. When we get closer to Arnicoal, the hills become a bit more dramatic, and there are some cliffs. What do you think? Should I continue to push the ponies? Or should we slow down a bit?”
“What do you think?” I asked Gratia.
“I don’t know anything about horses. Sorry, Leo.” The short woman shrugged.
“I think we should continue to push. I don’t like the risk of injuring one of the ponies, but I figure that the guards might give up their chase after a bunch of miles, and figure that we didn’t go this way. It’s not the optimal plan, but—”
“I see the guards!” Allurie called out from inside of the wagon.
“Grrr,” Artus said as he leaned over the side. I followed his example and saw a cloud of dust way off in the distance behind us.
“They are a few miles behind us,” my fenia friend growled with disappointment.
“They are just looking for you eh? What if you all climb in the back of the wagon and cover up with some of the blankets? Maybe I can convince them that I am traveling alone,” Gratia grunted with annoyance.
“They will search the inside, and I’ll get caught flat footed. Damn. Let me think for a few moments.” I had actually been considering what would happen if they reached us all morning, and come up with a dozen different ideas. All of them seemed to end with my death and probably the capture of Allurie and Artus. At least I would respawn in a day, but I wasn’t looking forward to traveling all the way back to Cutno and making another rescue attempt. Every day that passed was pushing up against my deadline of finding these relics.
Lion's Quest: Dual Wield: A LitRPG Saga Page 8
