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  At least she had the inklings of a plan to deal with it, but she would need help all the same.

  CHAPTER SIX: The Update

  When Nika and her party made it through the gates, they found Ash's party already waiting for them. From the grins on their faces, Nika assumed their trip was a rousing success.

  "You guys finished up already?" Nika asked.

  Ash's grin widened. "Yup," she said. Then she pointed at Blake. "Come to find out if this guy sings, it ups everyone's attack and magic by twenty percent. Came in pretty handy in battle."

  That was so not what she wanted to hear. Especially as a glance at Blake found him looking far happier than he had any right to. She wanted him miserable and useless, damn it.

  "Well, don't get too used to it," she said.

  Blake's face fell. "You mean you aren't taking me with you? Come on, you can't just leave me here. You don't know what I've been through the last few days."

  Nika whirled on him, her hand resting lightly on her ax handle. "We don't know what you've been through?" Her voice was cold as ice. Wisely, Blake took a couple of steps back, well out of ax range. "Me and my friends have been through hell in this game because of you and your cronies outside in the real world. Who knows what we're going to find once we finally make it to the end game."

  Blake's face lost color, and he held up his hands in surrender. "I know, I know. And saying I'm sorry won't cut it either, and I know that too. But if you promise to keep that blasted ax of yours sheathed, I do have something to say. Something important."

  "Will it get us out of the game faster?" Nika asked.

  He shook his head. "Not unless it gives you the motivation to move quicker. I'm afraid there isn't any shortcut to Gaia or the end game that I can help you with."

  Nika started to turn away. "Then I don't see any reason to listen to you."

  Evan reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think maybe you should hear him out," he said. "Remember, we have the terminal and we do have some access to people outside the game, even if we don't have our Gaia accounts any longer. Maybe he can tell us something we can use." His head lowered until his mouth was just at Nika's ear. "We won't know if we don't hear him out."

  Nika glared at him, but she knew he was right. Turning back, she spit her words out at Blake. "You have three minutes. Make it good."

  Blake swallowed but nodded. "I don't think they plan on us ever leaving the game."

  "We already kind of figured that out on our own," Nika said. "If that's all you've got..."

  "No, I don't think I made myself clear," Blake said. "I swear, I didn't know this when I agreed to work with them, and it isn't anything they've told me either. Just a feeling I get from some of Cora's phone conversations I've overheard."

  He paused and Nika started tapping her foot. Finally, he got the point.

  "It isn't just them keeping us in the game that is so worrisome," Blake continued. "The thing is I don't think they plan on letting any of us live." He swallowed again. "Including me now."

  "They're just going to kill us?" Dean's voice had a touch of a squeak to it.

  Blake gave a half-hearted shrug. "I have no proof, but that's the feeling I got. I heard Cora say there wouldn't be any loose ends. I think we would definitely qualify as ends that are loose."

  "And my company and all my employees?"

  Blake shook his head. "Remember, I don't know anything for sure. When I first started, I was told it was going to be a quick code grab and run. Then they ran into problems with your dad's security measures and had to end up copying the code literally line by line." His eyes met Nika's for a brief second before turning away. "There are a lot of lines to copy."

  "Years and years of multiple programmers’ worth," Nika said. "I take it things changed when they found that out?"

  "Well, for starters, I know it royally pissed Cora off. Maybe they had intended to kill everyone off from the beginning and they just never told me, but after that, I think our fates were sealed," Blake said.

  "You didn't answer my question," Nika prompted. "What about my employees?"

  Blake just shook his head. "I'm thinking your employees and even your fully functioning gamescape system would be huge loose ends to her."

  Nika's blood ran cold. "She's planning to bomb my entire building isn't she?"

  "That's kind of the impression I've been getting lately. Again, that isn't at all what I signed up for."

  "You didn't do anything to stop it once you found out either," Evan said.

  A strange look passed over Blake's face, but it was gone in less than the span of a heartbeat. "How do you know that I didn't? Just why do you think I'm stuck here in the game now?"

  Nika snorted. "I think you made an ass of yourself and your beautiful and sexy Cora got rid of you."

  "Believe what you will," Blake said. "But I didn't want the new plans—if there really are new plans—carried out." He paused. "I like you and Evan. And your employees have never done anything to deserve what's coming."

  Finally, something she could agree with him about. She wasn't buying his hero ploy one bit, but she did believe him about everything else.

  She took a deep breath and then turned to Evan and the others. "New plan. Blake comes with us."

  Ash glanced over at Blake then back to Nika. "All the way to the end?"

  Nika nodded. "As much as I don't want to have to look at him that long, if his singing will up your magic in battle, we need him. I'll make that sacrifice if it means we get to Gaia faster."

  Then she turned to Louella. "Any luck breaking into the part of the program with Gaia to let us know if there are any major changes we have to worry about?"

  Louella shook her head. "I'm sorry. It literally took me weeks of solid work just to hack into the character class creation section. The others are still eluding me." She paused. "Do you think you would be able to access them through my Gaia account?"

  Nika took a deep breath before answering. "No. My dad was a bit too thorough. Evan's account and mine were given access to everything. Anyone else only had access to the section they were working on." She smiled at the girl. "I'm no hacker, unfortunately. I'm beginning to have a lot of respect for them, though."

  Louella smiled at her. "I promise to keep trying every chance I get with the terminal."

  "That's all we can ask," Nika said. "And if we ever get out of here, I promise I'll make it up to you."

  Instead of answering, Louella looked away and gave a small shrug.

  That was odd, Nika thought. But then the girl had been odd since day one. It was part of who she was.

  "It's still early, and now we have all the more reason to move as quickly as we can through the game," Ash said. "So anyone else want to go kill some monsters?"

  Nika hesitated. "With one small thing first," she said. "I want to collect our horse and then, if we are still going to do the smaller team thing for a while, maybe my team can use him to get a little deeper in the desert to the bigger and badder monsters. That's where we'll start getting the nicer loot drops."

  "It might be smart to pool our gold before we leave and see what we need for the other two mounts," Evan said slowly. "That way we won't come back before we have enough to do the job."

  Ash nodded. "I wish there was a way we could communicate with each other even when we split. It would make things easier."

  "Something to definitely set the programmers on once we get out of here." Nika's face hardened. "And we are getting out of here." She made sure she met everyone's eyes as she said it. Nika had no intention of letting any of her new friends be killed. The same thing went for her old employees too. They'd get out of the game and face down Cora and all her cronies.

  She just wished she could take her Viking ax with her.

  The team had a quick lunch before splitting up again to do their tasks. They had debated switching the teams up a little, but in the end, they decided to stick with what was working. That didn't mean they didn't stock up on re
medies before leaving the town again.

  When they parted once more, Ash's team had taken over the quest for the missing pig to gain that precious gold, and Nika and her team had decided to just wing it and take on any nests of monsters they could find. As they were going to be going deeper, they should still be able to make a good haul.

  They were headed to turn in the hyena quest when Evan finally spoke up.

  "When we took that hyena quest, didn't the guy seem a little too anxious for us to take it?"

  Nika looked at him. "What do you mean?"

  Evan took a deep breath. "Well, I had my hand in a lot of the game's code, but not nearly all of it. Some of the other programmers had odd senses of humor. It's just got me thinking, that's all."

  "You think he's going to try to give us a nag or something? A bait and switch?"

  He hesitated. "No, not that. I mean he showed us the horse we would get."

  "Then what?"

  Evan shook his head. "I'm not sure. Maybe it was just my imagination." He gave her a sad smile. "I guess maybe learning that our days may be numbered has me doubting everything."

  "Our days aren't numbered," Nika said. "We have the best team anyone could ever ask for, and we are going to kick the desert’s butt, find Gaia and kick her butt, then exit the game and kick Cora's butt."

  "Am I part of that team?" Louella asked her voice quivering.

  Nika glanced back at her. "Of course you are. We'd still be leveling up to face blood elves if it wasn't for you." She motioned over to Evan. "Not to mention that he'd still be walking around on all fours and purring."

  Evan just grinned. "Yeah, I'll admit I had my doubts about you at first. But you did me a solid with that one."

  The girl gave a tiny shrug. "Thanks for that." It seemed like she was going to say more, but she must have changed her mind because she stayed silent.

  When they reached the small barn on the outskirts of the town where they had taken the hyena quest it took them a minute to find the rancher. When they did, he was wearing a cast from his toes up to his shin and walking with the help of massive crutches.

  "What happened to you?" Evan asked.

  The rancher recognized them and his eyes immediately lit up.

  "Oh, it's nothing really," he said. "Did you finish my little task?"

  Evan was right, the man did seem a bit anxious. Now that Nika thought about it, she wondered how much of a threat the hyenas had been to the man. Towns were safe havens, and the man’s ranch was within the town’s limits.

  "We did," Nika said. "Did you want the hides of the beasts?" They still didn't know what they were to be used for. Maybe they were simply proof of the kills.

  The rancher shivered. "Goodness no," he said. "Although there is a furrier in town that will pay a decent price for them."

  More gold in their pocket. That would be nice, Nika thought.

  "So when can we get our horse?" Evan asked.

  The man gave them a huge grin. "Right now! Follow me. I have him all saddled up for you and everything." He paused. "I guess you can consider the saddle a part of the reward too." He seemed a little sad about the offer, but as badly as the team needed their gold right now, Nika took it.

  The horse was standing in a stall, and like the man said, he was wearing a saddle. It wasn't until they got closer to the stall that the horse turned his head toward them. His eyes sought out the rancher’s, and his lips curled away from his huge horse teeth.

  The rancher immediately started backing up. "Well, there you go. Be sure you take him with you when you go." By now he was back at the barn door. Man, he was moving fast for a guy on crutches. "Thanks again. Bye!"

  And he was gone.

  "Okay," Nika said slowly. "Now I totally see what you mean."

  They all looked at the horse. It looked back. At least once the man had left, it had the decency to cover its teeth.

  Now it looked like a perfectly fine horse. Its solid black color was only marred by one single white streak that ran from the top of his eyes down his muzzle. He was quite striking, even up close.

  Nika looked at the other inhabitants of the small barn. There were three other horses, and none of them looked as fine as this one.

  "Are you wondering why he would give us the pick of the litter instead of one of the others?" Evan asked.

  "Actually, that's exactly what I was wondering."

  "I'm kind of thinking he's the reason the rancher was wearing that cast," Evan said.

  "You may be right. I'd say we should probably take a lot of precautions when dealing with this mount," Nika answered.

  While the two of them had been hesitating, Louella had walked right up to the stall door. Before they could stop her, she had reached into the stall to offer the horse an apple.

  The horse looked at the offering, then up into Louella's eyes and gave a soft neigh. Then his giant teeth reached down and took the apple from her hand as softly as it possibly could.

  "Well," Evan said. "At least it looks as though he likes our pixie."

  Nika grinned. "She is a nature creature. Louella just might be our saving grace with this beast." Then she noticed the nameplate over his stall. Sunshine. Who was the rancher trying to kid, anyway?

  They approached the pixie and her new friend cautiously, not wanting to spook the horse. Especially Evan, who could definitely be seen as a threat to any type of livestock. The whole tiger-man persona and all.

  Sunshine didn't seem to mind him at all. Or Nika either. At least as long as the pixie was there with them.

  Louella opened the stall door and took the horse's reins in her small hand, leading him out in the open center of the barn where they could all take a better look at their prize.

  "Isn't he beautiful?" Louella said in awe, her voice hushed in reverence. "Can we really ride him?"

  Nika laughed. "That's the plan, anyway." She paused as she watched the horse nuzzle its head against the girl's hand. "I think we might want to stop off at the mayor's house and stock up on apples before we head out."

  Sunshine's large muzzle turned to Nika and his head raised and lowered. Twice, to be sure she got the point.

  Not only was he fast, he was smart too. That had her worried. Just why was the rancher so anxious to get rid of him?

  THE STOP OFF FOR APPLES didn't delay them much, and with their virtual inventories now stuffed with the fruit, they made their way to the far gate. So far, none of them had tried to actually mount the horse. Once at the gate that was the obvious next step.

  "I'll go up first," Louella said, handing Sunshine another apple. "That's the last apple for a little while, fella. I've got plenty more, but you've already had five. We don't want you to get a bellyache now do we?"

  The horse gave her a sad look but shook his head slowly from side to side.

  The pixie looked over to Nika. "Are all horses this smart?" she asked. "I never got to meet one in the real world."

  Nika was staring hard at the horse. "No, I don't think they are. Something tells me this particular horse is very special indeed. I just hope he's as fast as he looks." And doesn't try to throw them when they got on his back. But that she kept to herself. Maybe they should have kept the healer with them after all.

  Louella nodded, then motioned for Evan to give her a lift up onto the beast's back. Sunshine stood as still as possible while she got situated. Then it was Nika's turn.

  He didn't seem quite so happy when he realized there would be two riders, but after a brief sidestep, he allowed Nika to join her in the saddle. After all, the pixie didn't take up much room.

  Evan would be running beside them. Tiger-men were apparently very fast all by themselves. Putting him on a horse would be wasting a ride needed by another party member.

  The territory out this gate was new to them, but in the desert, the scenery was pretty much the same in every direction. Until you got to an oasis, of course. There were only a couple decent sized ones between Waterton and the Outpost. There were a few tiny ones alo
ng the way, though, for travelers who hadn't taken the care to properly prepare their water supplies. Nika was pretty sure those hadn't existed in the real world. Some things simply had to be better than life to make it easier on the players. After all, they would be paying to come here.

  Close to town, there were palm trees and some sparse grass in certain areas. As they got farther out, those disappeared pretty much completely. And as fast as they were traveling that didn’t take long.

  There were no mile markers in the desert, but there was the occasional signpost to alert the traveler as to how much farther the next water source was and in what direction. They'd been riding at a pretty good pace for about thirty minutes when they reached the first one. According to the sign, Waterton was about four miles behind them. Not bad. Farther than they would have gotten by walking and no one in their right mind ran in the desert in the middle of the day.

  The game did a good job conveying to the brain just how hot it was here. Too good of a job to Nika's mind. She knew that her body was in a temperature-controlled environment and that she really wasn't hot at all. Unfortunately, her brain thought just the opposite. That meant that logic wasn't in control here. The game's desert sun was.

  A mile or so from that first signpost, they ran into their first band of desert nomads. There were only three of them, and they were dressed in the long white, skin-covering robes the sandy terrain called for. But their head wraps also covered their faces. If there had been a strong wind blowing the sand around, this would have been normal. With no wind, this was a sure bet they were bandits.

  A quick glance at her area map showed three red dots right in front of them. That clinched it. That, and the fact that they were blocking the lighter colored path between two fairly large sand dunes. Oh, and of course, they had all drawn swords as well.

  If the party had wanted to avoid the fight, they could have easily done so. A simple turn of their mount followed by a quick retreat and there was no way the nomads could have overtaken them. Of course, that would change once they started meeting mounted nomads. Those were pretty much fight or die. Especially if they had bows rather than swords.