part0023

The door crashed open. I screamed and rolled out of bed. Tarnax rolled to the other side. My first thought: Mundy was in a jealous rage.

Orcs in black lamellar armor, with red lacings, stood glaring at us. Swords out. Arukhan City Watchmen stood behind them in the corridor. Okay, so I was wrong about Mundy, but where was he?

I didn't know how long Tarnax and I had been asleep. It didn't feel long, especially since I was still a little sweaty. But there was no music or sounds of revelry coming up from the common room. City Watchmen did kind of kill a party mood.

"Halt. You are both under arrest," a human City Watch officer shouted. "Yield, or die!"

"Death before dishonor!" Tarnax cried, and the orcs rushed us.

I can be brave. I can be valiant. I can be all those glorious words. I still turned tail and ran to the window. Second floor. Yeah, I could survive that height.

"Screw it, Tarnax," I shouted. "Come with me."

It was too late for the dragon-shifter. Most of the orcs went after him. I felt a little offended, since they didn't think I was as much of a threat as him. He was bigger, stronger, and had a much higher PL, but a few more of the orcs could've tried to engage me.

It didn't look like Tarnax would survive the raid, much less escape. So I pushed off before the orcs reached me. I'm not proud to say I screamed on the way down. It just comes out of women sometimes, okay? Besides, it was dark and I couldn't see what I was falling onto in my rush to escape.

It was City Watchmen herding the drunken men out into the street.

"Ugh!" a man grunted, and then collapsed when I landed feet first on his head.

At least he cushioned my fall. Rolling away, I took off running. Men shouted and gave chase. My blonde hair and naked white skin glowed in the moonlight. I raced through the streets, trying unsuccessfully to keep my boobs from flopping all over the place, and praying I didn't step on anything sharp. I'm not a barefooted kind of girl.

I turned left and right down alleys and streets, until my light nakedness outpaced the heavily armored Watchmen enough to duck into a dark crevice unseen and let them run past. Huffing and puffing, I stayed in place until I got my wind back. Then I pulled a dark shirt and dark colored pants out of inventory, along with my boots and sword. I left the heavy, shiny armor inventoried until needed.

I paused only long enough to hurriedly put my long hair in a loose braid. When not braided, my hair tended to fly all over the place in a fight. My fighting style involved lots of sharp dodges and spins.

My first thoughts were for Mundy. Did he escape? Like Tarnax, his first instinct would be to fight. Stupid testosterone-soaked male characters. Tarnax would respawn, but God only knew where. He was lost to me. Mundy, though…

"Please don't be dead, Mundy," I whispered, a cold lump in my belly.

I moved quickly down the street. My escape left me lost, but I had a map. Pulling up as I walked, I tested my new Directions function. "Directions to the Desert Palm… Oh, wait. I tagged Mundy. Directions to Mundy."

A yellow line appeared zigzagging through the city. It showed me the most direct path to my friend. I hoped that meant Mundy was still alive, but his location was the inn. I made it about halfway to him when the end point started moving.

I stopped and watched his progress. He moved along the main road, heading toward the Amana Palace. Did he think I went that way? Or were the orcs carrying his corpse to show the sultan? That cold lump in the belly returned.

I redoubled my pace, heading to a parallel street to get past them. That left me panting for breath by the time I moved through an alley connecting the two streets. I arrived a few minutes before Mundy, giving me time to catch my breath. My HP and Stamina were good, and I'd gained another 150 XP.

I heard them before I spotted their dark shapes marching up the street. Mundy was alive, but in chains and surrounded by orcs. Five orcs, to be precise. Oh, and he looked pissed .

I waited until the first two orcs passed my location, and then softly sang out with, "Here I come to save the day."

The orcs all stopped in their tracks and spun toward me, dropping into defensive stances. I charged out of the alley as Mundy cried out in joy, "Isobelle!"

The big minotaur wasn't content to just stand there and be saved. He started kicking left and right, knocking surprised orc warriors down. His attack distracted them, allowing me to plow into them with sword and shield. Moonlight reflected off my silvery armor and helmet.

I started by caving in the face of an orc. Spinning left, I kicked out and snapped another orc's knee. I ended his wail of agony by slashing his throat.

"Watch out, Isobelle," Mundy shouted. "More coming!"

My jaw dropped when I spotted the City Watchmen charging toward us. There had to be thirty of them. Mundy was surrounded by orcs trying to regain control of him, so there was no way I could break him free before the Watchmen reached us. Hell, I didn't think I'd be able to escape without Mundy.

And then those Watchmen went up in flames.

Something swooshed past overhead. One of the orcs shouted, "Dragon!" And they scattered. The dragon swooped down and grabbed one, lifting him up and away.

"Tarnax!" I shouted, raising my sword high.

"Quick," Mundy shouted. He was kicking a dead orc over onto his back. "This one has the key."

I quickly searched the dead orc. Besides the brass key, I got his purse and stripped off his distinctive lamellar armor. Then I unlocked Mundy's manacles, before inventorying the orc's armor and the manacles. Mundy pulled his great sword out of inventory before we raced back into the alley I attacked from.

"Why did you keep the armor? You have armor, and it's too big for you anyway."

"I got it for you, big guy."

"I don't wear armor."

That armor was heavy. I felt the increase of my weight. After all the running and fighting, I was starting to regret keeping it.

We couldn't go back to the inn. I wasn't sure we could stay in any inn, for that matter. We made a distinct pair. It wouldn't take long for the authorities to track us down in that city. I considered using our disguise spells, but that was only good for twenty-four hours. I wasn't ready to give up on the Legendary Sword in the Amana Palace treasury.

"I don't think we have a choice, Mundy."

"What are you talking about?"

I looked toward the center of the city. The golden dome of Amana Palace loomed above the surrounding structures. He followed my line of sight, and his eyes widened.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I can," I said, wagging my brows. "This might be our only shot at the sword, Reaper. It's either go for it right now, or go home with our tails tucked firmly between our legs."