Desert Retrieval

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Job Sign-up: Page 1, Post 11

-Desierto, mid-afternoon-

"It's hot." Abigail complained as she and Victoria trudged through the unending sands that made up the country of Desierto. They had spent the past eight hours walking to the Tri-Council City where the armor shop named The Desert Defender was located. The pair were in Desierto to locate a woman named Liz on behalf of a client in Hargeon Town who had reported his sister missing roughly a week ago.

Abigail had worn a green t-shirt with blue jean skirt and brown boots. Victoria wore a blue t-shirt with Azure Armor and black skirt with white tennis shoes. On her back was her old backpack and inside was the Crown of Persephone and Silver Dagger. Draped across the Azure Armor was the Bandolier that had served Victoria well on so many adventures.

"I know it's the desert, but c'mon. I think global warming's really a thing. It wasn't this hot two years ago..." Abigail continued to complain about the climate while Victoria silently walked through the endless sand towards the gates of the city... or what she thought was the city. She saw a white gate with a high wall going all around the city and watchtowers positioned in each corner, meaning that the sultan's guards could see travelers long before travelers saw them.

A noisy wagon of merchants clad in white robes and white head covers that exposed their faces rode in the front seat of a cartload of hand-woven carpets that were colored burgundy with gold patterns rode by on a horse-drawn wooden cart that had been worn down by constant travel and was in need of maintenance. The sides had been repeatedly scoured by sand kicked up during sandstorms, giving the wooden cart a weathered look. The wheels of the cart were creaking so badly that the merchants all had their teeth clenched in an effort to endure the noise. The mages walking next to the cart clenched their teeth too; after a few moments Abigail cupped her hands on her ears to block out the infernal squeaking. After six seconds Victoria followed suit and protected her ears the best she could until the cart squeaked and squealed by them on its way to the city gates.

Once it was safely out of earshot Abigail lowered her hands and spoke to Victoria, who had lowered her hands as well.

"Man, I'm glad that's over. If it had kept traveling alongside us for any longer I would have lost my marbles." Abigail groused about the cart. Victoria was right there with her. The brunette knew that the sand could be rough on equipment, but the merchants should at least be able to afford taking the cart by the shop to have the crucial components fixed between runs. Oh well.

"The Tri-Council City's right there. We just have to go a little further." Victoria said to her companion, whose energy was obviously starting to run out. Victoria herself was getting more than a little tired, but they had a job to do and she would keep going until she reached the gates. However, no amount of professionalism could render Abigail or Victoria immune to the heat during the hottest part of the day. They needed to get to shelter soon before heatstroke became a real possibility.

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[Total Word Count: 566/12,500]

-Inside the gates of the Tri-Council City-

Abigail and Victoria hurried inside the large wooden double gate that had been opened for them by another merchant wagon going into the city. This wagon was hauling an assortment of clothing packed into wooden crates for the safety of the cargo. While the sides were starting to be worn away by sand, the wagon's mechanical parts were in far better shape than that of the carpet merchants from earlier; the clothing wagon did not squeak in the slightest and the only sound it made was the whisper of wooden wheels rolling over sand. Abigail rejoiced when the pair stepped inside the city walls and were greeted with the sight of locals and tourists milling about the enormous Tri-Council City bazaar, which stretched from the right wall all the way to the far left wall.

The bazaar was everything that storybooks portrayed it as. There were open-air stalls covered with white cloth to shield vendor and patrons from the sun and the stalls themselves were of simple wooden construction. On the counters were wares of almost every kind. The two mages saw a dizzying array of wares that ranged from fine jewelry to clothing to furniture to even a stall that sold incense for religious and everyday use. They were in search of a shop named The Desert Defender and they did not feel like they would find it in the open-air bazaar, so they began to look for shops laid out in a more contemporary style.

The pair walked side-by-side and parallel to the bazaar and gazed upon the sheer variety of wares from afar; they also got to see the diversity of the patrons perusing the goods. There were a lot of things that caught their eye, but the real prize would be found in The Desert Defender, where the shop owner might be able to fill them in on whether their client's sister Liz made it to her destination or not.

They kept walking until they reached the far left wall, then followed the wall straight through a continuation of the bazaar that specialized in selling food like couscous, rice pilaf, shish kebab, coffee of different blends, aromatic spices sold in little tan cloth pouches with the contents labeled on the front, and even fresh pastries like doughnuts. There was even a bearded man in a white turban selling shaved ice from a cooler with at least ten flavored syrups for the customer to pick from. Judging from the line of at least twenty-three people waiting in front of his stall, he was by far the most popular vendor in the food area due to the unrelenting desert heat. Child and adult alike lined up to purchase a frosty and sugary cup of flavored ice.

"I'm not sure where the shop we need to get to could be." Abigail said to Victoria, who was focused on the food offerings, if only due to astonishment at the variety available. She had not seen this much food in one place since the time she peeked through the window of a rich man's house in Capital Crocus and had to run from the police for her trouble, but the Autumn Jamboree with the weird personality flips and the Midsummer Festival came awfully close. Victoria took her mind off of food and tried to focus on their mission, which was hard because they did not know where to look.

"Maybe we should ask for instructions." Abigail not-so-subtly suggested to her partner. Victoria turned to look at the blonde who was standing to her right and spotted a wooden sign hanging above an arabesque archway. The wooden sign featured an emblem of a silver shield placed just in front of an expanse of desert as if protecting the desert and the words painted in black letters brought a smile to Victoria's face. The shop the Sabertooth mage had spotted was The Desert Defender!

"Found it." Victoria said, pointing towards the shop in question and beaming with pride at her serendipitous discovery. Abigail turned and looked in the direction the brunette was pointing in and saw their destination right in front of them in a sort of desert shopping plaza hidden behind food vendors. The blonde frowned in disappointment with herself for not seeing it first before reverting to her usual chipper demeanor.

"Well then, let's get going and talk to this Joanna." Abigail suggested, leading the way back towards the front gate and past the stalls that were so closely packed together that one could barely slip a playing card through a gap between stalls. The mages would have to loop around to the front gate and go behind the right row of vendor stalls lining the path, but it could not be helped. After the eight hours of walking they did to get to the Tri-Council City, what was a couple more minutes worth of walking to them?

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[Total Word Count: 1,406/12,500]

-Inside The Desert Defender-

When Victoria and Abigail walked through the wooden shop door, they were hit in the face with a sharp blast of cool air. After spending so much time out in the heat it was a welcome relief, but the pair would have preferred that they have a more gradual introduction to the cool temperature instead of being hit in the face with it. Beggars could not be choosers and they had more pressing concerns to deal with, namely getting information from the shop owner on where Liz was last seen.

"Just a minute!" A female voice called out from a back room. Victoria and Abigail looked around the shop and saw why it was named The Desert Defender. On the left side of the shop were kite shields, bucklers, and other styles made out of old-fashioned metal. On the right side were shields made out of more modern materials but still capable of offering protection to their users. Victoria could sense that some of them were magically enchanted to further boost their defensive properties.

Behind the waist-high wooden counter was a selection of body armor modeled on mannequins and some of it was enchanted. Victoria saw old-fashioned chainmail and plate armor proudly modeled alongside modern body armor. There were all manner of price tags on The Desert Defender's wares too. The prices ranged from a few thousand Jewels for the basic chainmail to hundreds of thousands of Jewels for full suits of enchanted modern armor.

"There's so much armor..." Abigail mused aloud to her partner.

"Yeah. Wonder if there's anything that fits you here." Victoria mused to Abigail. Moments later a dark-haired woman with green eyes who looked to be on the younger side of middle age walked into the room and greeted them. She wore a white t-shirt under a black apron emblazoned with the shop's emblem and wore old cargo shorts with quite a few holes in them. Her black hair was styled up in a ponytail.

The woman's eyes were drawn to Victoria's Azure Armor. She appeared to recognize it for a moment before moving her eyes to Victoria and addressing the pair.

"Are you two Victoria Sheridan and Abigail Windstrider?" The woman asked.

"Yeah." Victoria and Abigail said in unison.

"Excellent. Welcome to The Desert Defender. I'm Joanna, the owner of this establishment. I'm the one who hired you to find my friend Liz, a fellow armor vendor from Hargeon Town." The woman explained who she was and what they were hired to do. Victoria casually looked at Joanna and saw that she was the genuine owner of The Desert Defender and their client. This new ability to detect lies from observing body language was worth its weight in gold... or Jewels. She did not even know if it could be weighed, but the point was that the ability was quite useful to the brunette.

"What happened to Liz? Did you see or hear from her before she went missing?" Abigail asked Joanna. The woman shook her head.

"Not at all. But I heard rumors around the city that a woman with a cart full of armor had been waylaid and captured by slavers around central Desierto. They're probably forcing her to make armor for them." Joanna answered, supplying what little information she could give to the mages. Victoria did not like the sound of that. She had enough issues with slavers to comfortably fill a magazine stand.

"Did you happen to hear a name for this group?" Victoria asked Joanna.

"I think they were called The Golden Band. I don't know why, though. I heard that they were an up-and-coming group with a lot of muscle. I even heard that they want to take over all of Desierto's slave trade and aren't afraid to clash with the established players to get what they want." Joanna gave a bit of information on the group she believed responsible for Liz' kidnapping.

"Taking over all of Desierto's slave trade, huh? That's certainly a modest goal for the new kids on the block." Victoria snarked. She loathed slavers more than she ever had that annoying guy she called Music Man. Music Man was just a nuisance with a bunch of fancy magic noisemakers, but slavers were responsible for untold misery and heartache. Wiping a few of them out would be doing the world a huge favor.

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"Yeah, talk about ambitious. I wouldn't want to be known for cornering the market on human trafficking, but I'm not the kind of person who'd think that's a good idea." Joanna snarked back at Victoria. The brunette was grimly amused by the remark. Engaging in human trafficking was a good way to attract the attention of authorities, competitors, and all manner of bounty hunters and vigilantes. Victoria turned her attention from the hazards of such an occupation to the burning question of where their camp was.

"Do The Golden Band have a camp anywhere?" Abigail asked Joanna. The dark-haired woman nodded.

"Yeah, in the middle of Desierto, which is prime outlaw country. There's large stretches of empty ground covered by nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. You can see them coming, but they can see you too. You're gonna have to fight your way to and from the camp because the outlaws tend to want to fight anyone they come across." Joanna warned them of the danger ahead. Victoria did not mind fighting too much... if anything she was excited about fulfilling Sabertooth's mandate. Abigail was much less excited about the prospect of fighting in the middle of the desert.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but that's kinda vague. Is there anything special about their camp? Is it at the base of some mountains, is there a fort they built in a hurry, or is the path to it marked by skulls mounted on pikes?" Abigail asked their client before Victoria could speak. Joanna looked at them for a moment before raising a finger.

"Oh yeah, I remember now! I heard some talk about them taking over an iron mine in Central Desierto. They also made a wall to protect it. As you two might know, iron mines are prime real estate here. They're probably gonna use the ore in the mine to either make weapons or to sell for cash. But they're gonna have a hard time keeping it." Joanna told them. The two mages looked at one another. What did she mean by The Golden Band was going to have a hard time keeping the mine?

"The latest word on the street is that some of the more established outlaw groups haven't taken kindly to the new kids muscling in on their action. The Crimson Sashes have it out for The Golden Band and want that mine for themselves. But they're not the only ones who don't like The Golden Band." Joanna told them.

"Who else is after them?" Abigail asked.

"That Wizard Saint who's from Desierto. She won't take this lying down. Not when she said that she was gonna take back the desert from the outlaws. When she goes into action it's gonna get ugly." Joanna hinted. Victoria knew instantly who the woman was talking about. It was that blonde chick who was the Wizard Saint of Courage. Abigail seemed to know who Joanna was talking about as well.

"We'd better get going, Vic. We need to get in the camp and rescue Liz before the Wizard Saint shows up. Once the fighting gets going the slavers might try to kill Liz rather than let her be rescued." Abigail said to Victoria. The brunette agreed with that idea.

"Abby's right. We need to get going." Victoria said to Joanna. Joanna simply nodded in agreement.

"I don't need to tell you that it's gonna be rough out there. You two are gonna be walking into outlaw country and the sultan's army might not ride to the rescue if you get in a tight spot. My advice is don't bother taking the outlaws alive because they won't show any mercy. Kill them before they kill you." Joanna grimly offered her advice to the mages.

"OK. We'll do our best to rescue your friend." Abigail told the dark-haired woman.

"Good luck out there." Joanna replied before the pair left the building to take a trip to central Desierto. Neither of them really wanted to go out into the scorching sun, but they had to rescue Joanna's friend and Jack's sister. They had given their word and they were going to keep it. The bell on the shop door DINGed as Victoria and Abigail left to go on their rescue mission.

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[Total Word Count: 2,966/12,500]

-Central Desierto, five hours later-

"It's hot out here." Abigail complained while tugging at her shirt collar. Victoria ignored the complaining and kept going. They needed to reach that iron mine and rescue Liz, but it was going to take awhile for them to get there because traveling through the sandy expanse was hard going. The heat did not make travel any easier... they had to stop and take short breaks to keep from passing out from heat exhaustion and there was no shelter from the heat. The heat was even worse on Victoria, who was wearing armor that covered her torso and shoulders; even though it was modern body armor that was made of material that reduced heat retention and was comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, it was still trapping heat faster than it was being released.

"Yeah." Victoria replied tersely. The deeper they traveled into Central Desierto the more she came to understand why outlaws made the inhospitable region their home. The sandy expanse made travel on foot slow and difficult. The relentless heat could wear down pursuers and possibly even kill them without the outlaws having to lift a finger. The terrain definitely favored the defenders... it was times like this that she wished that Dr. Hanlon's Centaur was available for her and Abigail to ride.

If they had the hovercycle they could zip over the sand and make far better time than they could make on foot. With the time they saved they could arrive at the Golden Band camp with more than enough energy to fight. The most important benefit to having the Centaur would be the ability to make a quick getaway once they had rescued Liz from her captors. The trio could zip off into the sunset while The Golden Band scrambled to mount their horses for a pursuit that would be a big waste of time because they had no hope of catching up to the mechanized steed.

Unfortunately Dr. Hanlon's Centaur was still in the testing stages and thus not available to them, so Victoria and Abigail would just have to deal with the difficulties of desert travel. Maybe one day the brunette could ride a shiny hoverbike around instead of having to walk everywhere she went. A mage could dream.

Victoria was snapped out of her daydreaming by the sound of hooves on sand accompanied by screaming and begging coming from behind them and to the right. The brunette thought she had heard trouble, so she brought out her Light Machine Gun as much for its deterrent value as for its firepower. Maybe they could intimidate their way out of trouble for a change.

Victoria and Abigail stopped and faced the source of the noise, which was a large wagon fitted with a cage that held thirty people crammed inside of it. Accompanying the wagon was a cavalry escort of around fifteen horsemen. The horsemen wore white clothing with a golden collar around the neck... the mages had come across a Golden Band slave wagon!

The brunette held her fire as the wagon jolted to a stop. The white-robed man in the front seat looked them over for a few moments before motioning to the riders to take the mages for his collection. The riders pulled lengths of rope off of their sides and formed lassos that they began to twirl. That was all the confirmation that Victoria needed; now that she knew that she was facing slavers the gloves were coming off.

Three of the riders galloped towards the mages with lassos whirling above them and Victoria smirked. She flipped the fire selector switch to full auto, then aimed at the first man and opened fire. The first of them was dumped from the saddle with six bullet wounds to the chest and she fired on the second as he approached Abigail. The second screamed and fell backwards with seven holes in his chest, but the third had closed in before the brunette could take careful aim and knocked the weapon out of her hand with a kick.

The rider smirked at her, but Victoria got the last laugh when she produced her Submachine Gun and leveled it at his upper body. She pulled the trigger and riddled his chest and throat with over a dozen rounds, causing him to pitch left and fall onto the sand face-first. Abigail had not been idle while her companion was engaging in shotgun diplomacy. She had drawn her Sky Blade and was busy fending off slavers.

Abigail cut through a slaver lasso in mid-air, then swung the Sky Blade and created a sharp crescent of wind that cut the outlaw's head off at the neck. The second man to try and apprehend her was met with a stab through the thigh followed by her grabbing the waistband of his pants and slinging him off of his mount before stabbing him through the chest. A third rider turned to retreat but was stopped in his tracks by Victoria firing off her Submachine Gun and stopping him in his tracks.

Victoria dispelled the Submachine Gun and picked up her Light Machine Gun to continue the fight against the slavers. The rest of the horsemen had formed up and were bearing down on the brave mages, who stood their ground because there was no retreat. They would not retreat, not with the lives and freedom of the innocent at stake.

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Victoria's Light Machine Gun spoke for its wielder as it chattered and spewed death at the small slaver army arrayed before her. There was nothing she could say that could make her hatred for slavers any clearer than she had already made it. While she was in a guild that stressed a non-lethal approach to problems except in self-defense, the slavers had decided to try and add her and Abigail to the collection in the back of their wagon. The brunette was pretty sure that this was a clear case of self-defense. At any rate it was too late to back out now... she and Abigail were committed to the fight physically and emotionally.

Abigail was building a kill count of her own as she scythed through slavers and their lassos without breaking a sweat. She had cleaved through two Golden Band slavers and had bisected a third who had foolishly jumped down from his horse to subdue her in hand-to-hand combat by a single slash through the waist. The poor sap never knew what hit him until his top half hit the sand. After dealing with the hapless man she began carving a path to the wagon as the leader helplessly watched his small army getting butchered by the sword-wielding blonde. Victoria was impressed with the combat proficiency of Abigail, who had once lectured her about needless fighting.

Maybe the blonde was serious when she vowed to stop sitting on the sidelines and become a mage like her parents. Maybe getting back the Sky Blade gave her a purpose in life that she was lacking. Or maybe Abigail just hated slavers as much as she did. Victoria did not know what went through the blonde's mind, but she did know that Abigail was a lethally effective fighter once she set her mind to it. Victoria was just glad that the wind mage was on her side instead of against her.

After much effort and bloodshed the two mages had defeated the small slaver army. Abigail had already dealt with the driver and gotten the keys to the cage. Victoria hurried over to Abigail, who was busy unlocking the cage to free the people trapped within before more slavers showed up spoiling for a fight. Victoria stood a short distance away with weapon at the ready as Abigail freed them and doled out the provisions that the slavers had been carrying for their own sustenance. The brunette could hear the expressions of gratitude heaped on Abigail and herself as the former cargo ate and drank their fill before taking the horses of the now-deceased slavers and shoving the cage out of the wagon so that the physically weak could ride in it.

Once everyone who could not ride a horse had been helped onto the newly liberated wagon they bade Victoria and Abigail goodbye, then set off for their home in the slightly safer region of Southern Desierto. Once the wagon was gone the two mages looked over the bodies of the slavers and took a brief break before they resumed their journey. The blonde did not seem too upset about what had to be done, but she was not happy either.

"We couldn't let the slavers live. Even if they hadn't been transporting cargo or if they hadn't attacked us, they would have reported on us and would have had time to either move Liz... or kill her. We also couldn't let them get away with those people. Once slavers get someone to market it's uncommon to see or hear from them again." Abigail explained her ruthless extermination of the slavers to Victoria, who had even fewer reservations about wiping them out than the blonde did. A glance at Abigail told the brunette that her friend was being truthful about her reasons and was experiencing some level of genuine conflict.

"I won't be shedding any tears for those assholes. They almost took me in Capital Crocus. They got my friends and they almost got me." Victoria told the blonde. Her hatred of slavers was very intense and very personal. While it was easy to look like a hero by beating up those who sold others into slavery, the brunette would do it even if there was no fame boost as a fringe benefit because she hated slavers that much. She would have done it on principle. However, her hard-line attitude might not do her any favors with Sabertooth and it very well may lead to her expulsion one day, but it was a risk she was willing to take to save others from what had happened to her friends from the streets.

Victoria's childhood friends had been abducted right off the streets and no one gave a damn. None of the authorities cared what happened to a bunch of "street trash" as long as the wealthy were protected. Not even the Rune Knights could seem to be bothered to look into the matter. Victoria suspected that the police and Rune Knights were well-paid to look the other way, but she had no hard proof of that.

Abigail looked at the twenty white-clad bodies that now littered the sand. She looked long and hard at the scene before turning to Victoria, who had dispelled her Submachine Gun and Light Machine Gun now that they were not needed. Abigail then spoke two simple words.

"Let's go." Abigail said to the Sabertooth mage.

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[Total Word Count: 4,814/12,500]

-One hour later-

Ever since Victoria and Abigail had slaughtered the slaver army and liberated the slaves they had taken they had been quietly putting one foot in front of the other with only the sounds of sand crunching beneath feet and the occasional gust of wind. There had been no excited conversation, no play-by-play of how the fight went down or congratulations on beating the odds to win and free the slaves without any of them getting hurt; there had been mostly silence. The mages had not exchanged five words since they had left the scene to continue their search for the main Golden Band camp. The relentless desert heat did not help their moods in the slightest; ever since leaving Fiore behind and setting foot in the desert country the pair had been sweating profusely. How could anyone stand to live out in this hot and sandy hellhole?

"This place is Darwinian, Victoria. Anyone who's not a native is in for a rough time if they don't stick to the city. Only the strong survive out here." Abigail broke the silence with a statement of the obvious. Victoria silently agreed with her blonde companion. It took a special kind of person to willingly call Desierto home, especially the region outside the relative comfort and safety of the Tri-Council Cities. Wizard Saints were supposed to be tough people who were not afraid to fight because they were magnets for trouble of all stripes from slavers looking for valuable merchandise to two-bit Dark mages looking to make a name for themselves by killing one of the Magic Council's chosen mages. The Wizard Saint of Courage was arguably more than qualified for the title because their childhood was preparation for the burdens of the role; they had to be a major badass to survive in a country where outlaws and the unrelenting heat conspired to make life miserable for anyone who did not live in the city.

"Yeah." Victoria voiced her agreement, if only to be polite to Abigail.  Abigail lifted up the front of her shirt and wiped the sweat off of her face with the shirttail. She then held the shirttail up to let a rare gust of wind blow up the front of her shirt and cool her off. Victoria watched silently and felt the wind rustle her short hair; it was just strong enough to make the sprig of hair on her head that always stood up move about but too weak to provide any real relief from the heat. Oh well... it was nice to at least have a moment where someone was not trying to kill them.

Victoria looked towards a sand cloud being kicked up by a group of oncoming horsemen wearing white robes with crisscrossed bandoliers of rifle bullets and pointed them out to Abigail, who was so sweaty that she looked about ready to take her shirt off completely.

"Hey Abby, looks like we might be having company. You might wanna put your shirt down... unless you really want to get their attention." Victoria commented. An embarrassed Abigail quickly pushed her shirt back down and faced the sand cloud. Moments later the sharp CRACK of a rifle split the air and Victoria and Abigail dropped to the sand. A bullet whizzed by Victoria's head and brushed the sprig of hair that stood up.

"They're not very friendly. You'd think they'd be nicer to two chicks in the desert." Abigail remarked as she drew her Sky Blade.

"Yeah, they'll be real friendly to us once we're on the auction block. You'll bring in a lot more than I will 'cause you look like a chick." Victoria said sarcastically, bringing out her Light Machine Gun. Abigail gave the brunette a dirty look that could burn a hole in the dunes before turning around to face the oncoming threats. More of the horsemen started shooting and Victoria raised her weapon to reply in kind. She aimed carefully and fired a Five-Round Burst that dumped a white-clad man from the saddle and gave the rest pause because they did not expect such resistance from two females.

While the seven mounted riflemen fired off shots and wheeled their mounts around to gather in formation Victoria decided to give them a little "encouragement" to move on by aiming and firing another Five-Round Burst. It hit another man in the chest and left arm, causing him to flop from the saddle and onto the sand, where he slowly got up and was pulled onto another horse by a fellow. It was for nothing because Victoria let loose a full-auto burst of over twenty rounds that hit both the rescuer and the wounded man in various places, making them both fall off of the horse and onto the sand, where they lay motionless. The remaining five horsemen fired off a few more shots before wheeling their mounts around and retreating, leaving Victoria and Abigail in command of the area.

Once the men were gone Victoria and Abigail carefully walked over to the bodies of the fallen and Victoria used the toe of her right foot to nudge one of the corpses over. Around the neck of the man's robe was a golden ring that marked him as a member of The Golden Band. Abigail walked a short distance away and examined the other two dead men. About a minute later the blonde walked back over to discuss her findings.

"They were both Golden Band members." Abigail confirmed what the brunette had suspected. Victoria frowned.

"We'd better get moving, Abby. It's risky because they'll be back for us with more of their buddies, but if we follow their trail we'll find their camp too. Victoria told her companion. Abigail nodded her consent and the duo began to walk alongside the trail left by the retreating riders. With any luck the trail would lead straight to the camp where they were keeping Liz captive. Now it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other until they reached the camp or they had to stop to fight slavers looking for revenge.

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After their first encounter with the Golden Band slavers the pair decided to follow their tracks in the hopes of finding their camp and rescuing Liz without too much difficulty. The Golden Band retribution squad had not shown up yet, so the pair continued to follow the trail to the best of their ability before it found them and hostilities began anew. However, the desert wind was not making things easy for them because every time it blew a little more of the trail of hoofprints was buried by shifting sand, something which annoyed Victoria to no end. Abigail was equally annoyed by the wind and was getting frazzled because she was hot and tired.

"This sucks, Vickie. We haven't seen those damn slavers ever since we kicked their asses. I wish they'd get here so that we can at least do something besides trudge through the sand all day." Abigail fumed. She had lifted the front of her shirt up to let the wind at least cool her down a little while they walked through the seemingly endless sand. Victoria was tempted to make another joke at her companion's expense but decided against it because the blonde was not in the mood for it. She was hot, she was tired, and she just wanted to rescue Liz and go home to a place that was not unbearably hot and did not have sand that stretched for miles or outlaws trying to kill them.

Victoria walked in silence while agreeing with Abigail's dislike for the unrelenting heat and the endless sand. The brunette had wanted to leave this sandy hellhole ever since she first set foot outside the Tri-Council City. She was tempted to take off the Azure Armor to cool down a little, but knowing her luck as soon as she took off the armor the Golden Band would show up spoiling for a fight. Victoria would waste precious time and dislocate something trying to hurriedly put the armor back on, so the brunette would continue to wear the Azure Armor until it was safe to remove it.

Abigail removed her shirt completely to show a white bra and a buxom figure that Victoria envied; the blonde was so hot that she did not care who saw her without a shirt. Again Victoria wanted to make a risque joke to lighten the mood, but right now her job partner was cranky and would likely murder her and bury her in the sand if the brunette dared to make a joke about the blonde's figure right now. It was best to keep quiet so that Abigail used the Sky Blade on the slavers instead of on her. Instead Victoria asked a question about Abigail's welfare.

"Are you OK, Abby? Do we need to stop and take a break?" Victoria dared to ask her partner. Abigail was sweating profusely and her long blonde hair was an absolute mess. Her face was also beginning to get sunburn from the prolonged exposure to the sun and a lack of sunscreen.

"No, Vickie. We'd better keep going 'cause Liz is depending on us to get her out of that slaver camp. We can't leave her hanging." Abigail refused the offer to stop for a few minutes. Victoria could respect her determination, so she did not question the blonde and they kept moving through the unforgiving desert in their quest to save the innocent woman from the slavers. Maybe they would at least see the bandit camp before they suffered from heatstroke.

-Thirty minutes later-

Abigail had walked the entire distance with her shirt off and her shoulders were starting to tan a little when the pair stopped about 1,000 meters from a roughly circular camp with wooden walls that were at least twenty feet high. Victoria stopped and looked at the structure. A brief glance and a note of the location led the brunette to believe that they were very close to the Golden Band camp and their objective.

"Hey Abby, looks like we made it!" Victoria said to try and cheer up her job partner, who was on the ropes despite her determination to see the job done. Abigail was walking a lot slower than she did when they had first set out and it was all the blonde could do to put one foot in front of the other. However, the pair had walked almost non-stop for six hours in the desert, so Abigail was justified in feeling exhausted.

"Oh really?" Abigail asked while wiping the sweat from her forehead with her shirt.

"Yeah. Joanna said that the slaver camp was in Central Desierto and fortified with a wooden wall. I think we're staring right at it." Victoria answered, pointing her left index finger towards the structure. Abigail squinted and used her shirt to shield her eyes from the sun enough that she could see what the brunette was pointing to. After spending twenty second looking at it Abigail turned to Victoria.

"I think you're right, Vickie." Abigail opined.

"Well, let's keep going. We're almost there." Victoria suggested before bringing out her Light Machine Gun in case a welcoming committee of mounted riflemen was waiting nearby. Abigail nodded and wiped her face off before the pair walked closer to the fortified camp to take a closer look at it. The pair slowly approached the camp and waited for a contingent of mounted riflemen to fill the air with lead, but so far no one had rode out to engage them in combat.

-250 meters away-

"Strange. No one's rode out to kill us yet. You'd think they'd send everyone they had to kill us and drag our bodies back to camp after killing two parties worth of their friends." Abigail mused to Victoria.

"Yeah. It's quiet. Too quiet." Victoria replied as she looked towards the wooden wall. She noticed a large double gate that served as the entrance and exit. The gate doors looked thick and resistant to forced entry, but every gate had a way to get past it. The enormous gate in front of them was no exception.

"I wonder why that big gate hasn't opened yet." Abigail mused to the brunette. Victoria took this opportunity to make a dry remark about the camp's security.

"Maybe it's because we don't know the password." Victoria dryly commented. Abigail gave Victoria a dirty look before turning back to examine the camp walls for another way in. How could they get past the gate without having to climb the walls?

[Post Word Count: 1,087]
[Total Word Count: 6,924/12,500]

-100 meters away from the camp-

Having finally found the Golden Band camp after a grueling six-hour trip that tested their endurance along with their fighting abilities, Abigail and Victoria now faced a new challenge. In front of them loomed a fortified camp full of slavers who stood between them and Liz, the armorer that the pair needed to rescue in order to earn some armor for Abigail. Keeping them out of the camp was a set of double gates that was not going to open without a whole lot of force. How would the pair get inside of it?

"The walls are too high and too sheer to climb without using special gear. I also see guards patrolling the top of the walls, so climbing them is out of the question even if we had the climbing gear and the right training." Abigail reported to Victoria, who was keeping an eye out for any Golden Band horsemen charging in their direction with rifles blazing. So far it was quiet. They had not been spotted and no alarm had been raised. Maybe the sentries on the wall were so bored from the endless walking that they did not notice a shirtless blonde and a brunette wearing blue body armor standing a fair distance away from the gates.

"Yeah. I don't think that climbing's an option. Neither is digging a tunnel." Victoria chimed in. Abigail hmmm'd and tapped her right foot on the sand.

"It's a shame we can't make a giant wooden horse to leave outside the gate for them to bring in while we hide inside of it." Abigail mused. Victoria looked at her and blinked. What in Earthland was the blonde talking about?

"It's a reference to a book about a war that happened in ancient history. Remind me to tell you about it some time once we're out of here." Abigail answered. Victoria gave a thumbs-up and the pair returned to the task of trying to figure out a way past the imposing wooden gates. What could they do to get past them?

They could not fly over the gates because neither of them had the means to fly and the sentries would sound the alarm the moment they were spotted in the air.

They could not dig under them because the mages did not have shovels, support beams for the tunnel, and the mathematics education necessary to calculate how long a tunnel to dig and where to dig up to end up precisely where they needed to go.

They could not phase through the gates like ghosts because neither of them had the required magic to turn intangible.

"Do you have any ideas on how we can get in?" Abigail asked Victoria. Victoria smiled.

"Maybe if you dance for the sentries they'll open the gates for us. You've got the goods for it." Victoria cheekily suggested, finally making the risqué joke she had been holding onto for over an hour. Abigail frowned deeply, then blushed furiously and crossed her arms over her chest. The look she gave Victoria could have blown a hole in the gates if it were possible to weaponize it... wait a minute. That was it.

They could blast through the gates with Victoria's Rocket Launcher!

"Wait a minute, I just had an idea." Victoria said in a serious voice. Abigail frowned again.

"What? You want me to take my shorts off and dance for the sentries in my underwear?" Abigail snarked. Victoria chuckled a bit at her companion's sarcasm.

"No, I'm serious this time. You can keep your clothes on for this one." Victoria answered. Abigail stopped frowning long enough to hear the brunette out.

"I'm thinking that we blast a hole in the gates with my Rocket Launcher. If we blast a big enough hole we should be able to get in and out without too much trouble." Victoria suggested to Abigail. Abigail looked skeptical of the idea because the sound of explosions would draw the attention of all but the most bored or inattentive guards. Victoria could understand that skepticism, but it was not like they had a whole lot of options at this point. They had to make their move soon because they were already pushing their luck by standing out in the open and having a conversation. It was only by sheer luck that they had not been detected yet.

"Hmmm... you're right. Blowing open the gate would guarantee us a way in and out. However, once we blow a hole in the gate we'll have to move quickly because everyone and their brother will be shooting at us." Abigail opined about Victoria's idea. Having to run through a hail of bullets in an unfamiliar camp to save a captive was not Victoria's idea of a good time nor her idea of a good plan of action. Again, they were handicapped by a lack of any real alternatives. They would have to go in blind, find Liz, and escape all while keeping her safe and keeping themselves alive.

"It's not my best plan, but what choice do we have?" Victoria asked Abigail. Abigail put her hands on her hips and tapped her right foot on the sand. Her facial expression suggested that she was trying to come up with an alternative to the dynamic entry Victoria had suggested. As time wore on her frown grew deeper and deeper until she gave a sigh.

"We might not have any other choice but to make some noise to get in, Vic. I've got nothing." Abigail conceded. Victoria took that admission as the go-ahead to get ready to make some noise. The brunette dispelled the Light Machine Gun and brought out her Rocket Launcher.

"OK. I've equipped the Rocket Launcher, but I won't fire it until you're ready to go." Victoria said to Abigail. She wordlessly aimed at the middle of the gates and waited for the order to fire.

"Hold your fire. We need to wait until the sentries are far away so that their response time will be slower when the fireworks start." Abigail ordered. That order made sense, so the brunette went along with it.

"You've got it." Victoria said, easing her finger away from the trigger while maintaining her aim on the middle of the gates. She took a deep breath and waited for her colleague to give the command to fire.

[Post Word Count: 1,065]
[Total Word Count: 7,989/12,500]

-Ten minutes later, 100 meters outside the camp-

Victoria had awaited the order to fire for about ten minutes without complaint, but this was starting to get ridiculous. The sun was beating down on her and she was fairly certain that they were about to be detected and the element of surprise they had enjoyed so far would be lost before the brunette could even fire the rocket. What on Earthland were they waiting for?

"Hold on just a little bit longer... they're about to be far enough away for you to fire." Abigail updated Victoria on the position of the guards patrolling the top of the walls. Victoria frowned but did as she was told. The brunette thought that the blonde was abusing this opportunity to get back at her for the risqué joke about the shirtless Abigail dancing for the guards to get them to open the gates. Victoria nevertheless did as she was told and held her fire a little longer.

Holding the Rocket Launcher steady under these conditions was starting to become a grueling task. Her arms were starting to get tired and her aim was starting to suffer accordingly... it was wobbling ever so slightly and a rocket launcher was not exactly a precision weapon, but a minor deviation in aim could result in the rocket hitting anywhere but where the brunette wanted it to go. It would be ideal for the hole to be blasted in one or two shots in order to gain the most benefit from the initial confusion that the brunette's sudden attack would create. She hoped that Abigail would give the command sooner rather than later.

"OK, get ready." Abigail notified Victoria with an economy of words. Victoria looked behind her and saw the shirtless blonde standing almost directly behind the launcher. That was not a good place to stand because the exhaust from the rocket would be directed through the rear of the launcher and could give Abigail a nasty burn. The brunette saw fit to notify the blonde to relocate before the projectile was fired.

"Abby, you should stand to either side of me so the rocket exhaust doesn't burn you when I fire." Victoria warned her colleague. Abigail's eyes widened and she quickly stepped to Victoria's left; now she was well out of range of the exhaust. With that safety issue resolved the brunette focused her attention back onto the wooden gate that was soon going to have a large hole in it. Moments later the brunette realized something of some importance.

Abigail still had not put on her shirt!

"Abby, you might want to put your shirt on. Unless you wanna distract the guards for me when we go in... you'd be a very good distraction." Victoria took the opportunity to make another, slightly less risqué joke regarding Abigail's chest size at the blonde's expense. Abigail frowned at the brunette until the former realized what the latter was getting at and blushed furiously before putting her shirt on. Victoria chuckled and faced forward again. Shoving her embarrassment aside to focus on the task at hand, Abigail watched the patrolling sentries and judged when they would be out of position, then began a countdown for Victoria.

"Steady..." Abigail started. Victoria exerted enough effort to steady her arms just a little bit longer.

"Steady..." Abigail repeated. Victoria concentrated enough to keep the proper aim point focused in her sight.

"Fire!" Abigail gave the long-awaited order. Victoria's right index finger squeezed the trigger and the rocket was finally launched. The gate gave off a cloud of wooden splinters and had an opening about the size of a manhole cover blasted into it. Victoria aimed slightly higher and fired a second rocket to get largely the same result. A third rocket aimed just a little bit higher made the opening even wider and taller.

"The gate's kinda thick, but I think we've done it. We should be able to get in and get out now." Victoria remarked to Abigail. The pair could hear the guards shouting and the sounds of a camp being mobilized to repel the intruders. Victoria dispelled the Rocket Launcher and brought out her Light Machine Gun. Its rate of fire would come in handy for suppressing slavers even if she missed them because all but the bravest (or dumbest) people would not willingly stand in front of a weapon that had a rate of fire measured in the triple digits. Once it was firmly in hand Victoria spoke to Abigail.

"Are you ready, Abby?" Victoria asked the blonde. Abigail drew her Sky Blade and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's do this!" Abigail answered confidently.

The sound of rifle fire reached their ears and puffs of sand were kicked up around them. It was time to hurry inside the fort before the defenders could fully mobilize and prevent their entry. Victoria used her weapon to suppress the guards on the wall while she and Abigail hurried towards the opening that had been blasted in the gate. The guards ducked down to avoid the bullets directed at them and the mages steadily made progress until they reached the gates, where they entered through the hole and began their search for Liz.

-Inside the Golden Band's fortified camp-

Once they had hustled inside Victoria and Abigail briefly paused to get the lay of the land before proceeding any further into unfamiliar territory. About 300 meters to their left was what looked like the entrance to a mine of some sort. Of greater interest was a small cluster of about a dozen canvas tents about 200 meters to their right that had an anvil and forge within a stone's throw of the cluster. The pair figured that their best chance to find Liz would be in the tent city.

Victoria took the lead and picked off a guard on the wall with a Five-Round Burst that caught him in the chest and sent him stumbling back until her toppled backwards over the wall. Abigail raced ahead of the brunette and decapitated a guard who had emerged from a nearby tent to do battle with the intruders before doing the same to another one clutching a bolt-action rifle and struggling to work the bolt to chamber a round. So far the mages were holding their own, but they needed to hurry up and find Liz before their luck ran out.

[Post Word Count: 1,068]
[Total Word Count: 9,057/12,500]

Hurrying into the tent city that had caught their attention, Abigail and Victoria began to search for the woman they were sent to rescue. Following her partner closely, Victoria made the guards keep their heads down by using her Light Machine Gun for suppressive fire while Abigail looked inside each tent. A puff of sand kicked up near the brunette's feet and she turned towards the source, a guard on the wall who had just finished working the bolt and loading a round into his rifle for another shot. Victoria raised her weapon and fired a Five-Round Burst into his chest, causing him to fall forward onto the ground and his left arm to dangle limply from the edge of the wall that overlooked the interior of the camp. She then turned her attention to Abigail, who was looking for Liz.

"Any luck yet?" Victoria asked Abigail, who was peeking inside a tent while rifle shots whizzed by the brunette.

"No, not at all. She's gotta be here somewhere. I hope she's not being kept in that mine." Abigail answered while withdrawing from the tent.

"Yeah. We'd better keep looking. We can't leave here without her 'cause once we leave we're not gonna get another shot at this." Victoria reminded Abigail. A rifle shot struck the sand near her feet and Victoria looked for the source, which was a white-robed man putting another box magazine into his rifle and working the bolt. This man was quick on the draw; he was leveling his weapon at Victoria's chest by the time she could raise her weapon to aim at his chest. Both shooters fired at once; Victoria was hit in the chest by the rifle shot and the man received two out of five shots from the Five-Round Burst in his chest.

Victoria fell backwards and dropped her weapon in mid-fall to avoid shooting herself in the head when she landed. The Light Machine Gun landed on the sand and rested on its side.

"VICTORIA!" Abigail shouted. The brunette sat up and raised a hand.

"I'm OK. The Azure Armor stopped the bullet from penetrating. Keep looking for Liz!" Victoria instructed Abigail, who was about to leap from the tent to help the brunette to her feet. Abigail dove back inside and Victoria stood up and dusted herself off. She brushed off the armor and the flattened bullet fell from the center of her chest and onto the sand. The flattened bullet was about the size of a quarter, but the hole in Victoria would have been much bigger had the shot actually punched through her armor and reached her flesh. Her chest was bruised from the shot because the kinetic force of the round still reached her body despite the protective plates stopping the bullet, but there was no long-lasting damage to her body.

The brunette was glad that the Golden Band marksmen did not use armor-piercing ammunition. Otherwise she would have been in a world of hurt. She could have healed herself with her magic, but doing so would have left her defenseless at a time when she could ill afford to stand still and devote herself to healing. As it stood Victoria was winded but not out of action, which was good enough for her. She scooped up her Light Machine Gun and rejoined the fight.

Abigail had searched five of the twelve tents and had come up empty each time. The volume of gunfire was increasing as more Golden Band members joined the fighting. Victoria suppressed them the best she could and even scored the occasional kill shot on an outlaw who stayed out in the open a bit too long, but she could tell that the surprise of the gate being blown open had worn off. Now the Golden Band was getting organized and wanted the intruders dead. Victoria spotted a trio of horsemen thundering from the back gate and heading in their direction.

"Abby, you'd better hurry. Horsemen are heading our way and there's gonna be more of them real soon!" Victoria warned Abigail as she raised her weapon and fired a Five-Round Burst at a horseman aiming his semi-automatic rifle with one hand as he galloped towards her. Two of the shots from the burst hit him in the head and he pitched from the saddle and landed on the sand. His colleagues fired at her and Victoria had to duck into the same tent Abigail had entered.

-Inside the tent-

Victoria looked at Abigail and saw that she was standing in front of a woman with curly shoulder-length blonde hair who was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jean short shorts. The woman's feet were bare and her mouth had dried blood in the right corner and bruising from where she had been punched. Around her feet were the remnants of rope that had presumably bound her before Abigail had cut it with her Sky Blade.

"Abigail here told me that you guys were looking for me. I'm glad you showed up when you did. I'm Elizabeth, but everyone just calls me Liz." The blonde said to them. Victoria looked at her and spoke.

"Hi Liz. Your brother Jack in Hargeon Town told us that you went missing in Desierto and that bit of information put us on your trail. Then your pal Joanna in The Desert Defender shop told us that you had been kidnapped by The Golden Band about a week ago. We fought some of them and followed the rest to their camp and here we are." Victoria gave a short version of the chain of events that had led the duo to the slaver stronghold. Liz looked somewhat impressed by the bravery of her rescuers when bullets whizzed overhead and the trio instinctively ducked to avoid catching a bullet in the head.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but we'd better get going. Their reinforcements are on the way and we don't wanna be here when they arrive." Victoria urged Abigail and Liz. Liz nodded.

"I'm with you guys. These slavers have already sold off the rest of their merchandise and I'm next on the auction block!" Liz told them. Abigail looked at the taller blonde and asked a question.

"Do you know where we can get some transport out of here? Vic and I walked here and... well, we don't know how to ride horses." Abigail sheepishly admitted to Liz. Liz smiled at Abigail.

"Yeah, I know where we can get a cart. They took my cart from me when I was captured and I want it back. Follow me!" Liz answered before standing up and dashing out of the tent without further delay. Abgail and Victoria looked at each other in surprise, then hurried to follow the blonde woman to her cart. The story of this rescue would make a good one for the folks back at Sabertooth Guild Hall... if Victoria survived to tell it.

[Post Word Count: 1,159]
[Total Word Count: 10,216/12,500]

-Inside the Golden Band's fortified camp-

Abigail and Victoria burst from the tent and began following Liz, who was way ahead of them and running for the mine as fast as she could go. Victoria spotted the two horsemen who had been shooting at her earlier and took this chance to take them out. She dropped to one knee and aimed at the first before firing a full-auto burst of seven bullets that hit him in the right shoulder, the throat, and finally the head before he fell off the saddle and onto the sand. She aimed at the second one and fired a Five-Round Burst that hit him in the head and made him fall off backwards when his horse reared up on its hind legs. Once they were gone Victoria gunned down a man running towards her and firing a revolver before she hurried to rejoin Abigail and Liz.

By the time she could rejoin them the blondes had already made it to the mouth of the mine and were running to the left of it. Victoria hustled to catch up but the pair were running for all they were worth and leaving her in the proverbial dust. She did not blame them for not waiting on her; neither of them wore armor and neither of them knew healing magic, so if either one of them was shot the wound would affect them a lot worse than it would Victoria, who was wearing armor and knew healing magic to patch herself up. Victoria finally passed the mouth of the mine and paused to take down a rifleman kneeling on the wall above her and to the left. He had fired a bullet that just barely missed her head by a matter of inches... she did not want to give him another shot at her because next time he might not miss.

She fired a Five-Round Burst into his chest and the rifleman stumbled backwards and fell over the wall with a loud scream. Victoria then continued the 400-meter run as more bullets whizzed by her and one flew just above her right shoulder. She had to meet up with Abigail and Liz before she was turned into Swiss cheese by all the lead flying around her. The brunette ran for all she was worth and kept going until she reached Abigail, who was helping Liz hitch a pair of horses to a hole-filled wooden cart that had seen better days. It looked like the bandits had used it for target practice because the sides had more holes than Swiss cheese.

"Damn outlaws. They don't have any respect for other people's property. This cart was loaded with armor for Joanna's shop, but those assholes took it and sold it all. I'm gonna have to eat this loss and make more armor when I get back to Hargeon Town. I won't be able to take a vacation for weeks!" Liz groused as the horses were hitched to the wooden cart. She climbed into the driver's seat and Abigail climbed into the seat beside her. Victoria put her weapon in the bed of the cart and then jumped onto it, pulling her legs in and trying to take cover from the bullets the best she could. Wood was not very good cover against rifle bullets, but it was better than nothing. Liz and Abigail were sitting out in the open and had more right to complain than she did.

"They almost shot your ass off, Vic! You lead a charmed life!" Liz said to Victoria with a smile. Victoria forced a smile and grabbed her Light Machine Gun with her right hand. She was going to give these slaver assholes a dose of lead poisoning and she had plenty of lead to go around. Victoria raised herself to one knee and balanced herself the best she could, taking aim at a rifleman who looked like he was about to try and jump onto the cart as it passed by.

Victoria took careful aim and loosed a full-auto burst of ten rounds that made the man stagger and fall over the wall behind him with a scream. Victoria then brought out her Rocket Launcher and moved back a bit, then stood up and fired a series of three rockets to widen the exit for the cart. The first rocket impacted the right side of the hole and tore a chunk out. The second hit a little higher and took a bigger chunk of wood out of the gate, but it still needed widening. A third rocket was fired and it tore out another chunk, widening it just enough that the wagon would fit.

"Nice shooting, Vic!" Liz complimented the brunette as the trio approached the hole blown into the gate. Victoria dispelled the Rocket Launcher and picked up her Light Machine Gun to fend off the enemy horsemen who had taken up the chase. They were about 50 meters away from the back of the wagon when Liz shouted a warning.

"Get down, Vic! Hang on, Abby! This is gonna be a close one!" Liz shouted. Victoria got onto her stomach and Liz and Abigail ducked while the cart barreled towards the opening that Victoria had blasted into the gate. Victoria grabbed the grip of her Light Machine Gun to make sure it did not fly out of the back of the cat, carefully keeping her finger away from the trigger. The brunette held her breath as the cart passed through the hole.

-Outside the Golden Band's fortified camp-

"Damn, that was close!" Liz declared as the cart just barely cleared the hole and the trio reached the outside world. Victoria was not sure how Liz had done it, but the vehicle made it through without much difficulty. She was also not sure how she managed to land three accurate Rocket Launcher shots on the gate while standing in the back of a moving cart that was being fired upon by angry slavers. The brunette felt pretty sure that she could not replicate the feat of marksmanship any time soon, if she could ever replicate it again. At least they were outside of the camp and on their way to somewhere safer, but the Golden Band was not going to give them up without a fight.

Ten horsemen with bolt-action rifles had pursued them through the gap and were hot on their heels. Abigail glanced back and stated the obvious.

"Vic, look alive! We've got company!" Abigail shouted a warning to the brunette.

"Keep your shirt on, Abby! I'll get them!" Victoria shouted back. Abigail glared daggers at the brunette and Victoria realized what she had just said. A swift apology was in order.

"Oops. Sorry." Victoria meekly apologized. Abigail silently turned around and left Victoria to deal with their pursuers. The brunette aimed her Light Machine Gun at one of the horsemen and let loose a Five-Round Burst that hit him in the head and dumped him from the saddle. Now there were only nine more pursuers, but that did not mean that nine men was all that would be pursuing them. More Golden Band horsemen could join the chase at any moment.

[Post Word Count: 1,202]
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Victoria did her best to defend the cart from the pursuing slavers, but they were sending a lot of lead in her direction and that was making her life difficult. She aimed at one of them and fired a Five-Round Burst that went wide and he replied with a shot that bounced off the floor of the cart and passed through the space between Liz and Abigail. That was a close one. The brunette had better try again because the horsemen had found the range and were starting to land more and more hits on the cart the brunette was sitting in.

Victoria aimed again at the same person and fired off another Five-Round Burst, this time hitting him in the left shoulder. The man's rifle flew out of his hand and the wounded horseman fell off of his mount, landing on his stomach and being left behind by his colleagues. While that was not a kill, she had gotten rid of another pursuer. She then turned her attention to another horseman who was firing directly at Liz in an effort to bring the pursuit to a lethal close.

"That was close!" Liz commented as she ducked to avoid another shot that would have punched through the back of her head had she not ducked at the very last moment. It passed through her hair instead, which was a very lucky break for the woman.

Victoria aimed at the offender and held down the trigger, rattling off fifteen rounds before she let go of the trigger. The first five shots missed while the other ten hit; six of them found his chest and and left shoulder while the last four grazed his horse. He fell from the frightened steed, which galloped away from the man and left him lying on the sand. Seven more were left.

More rifle bullets lodged themselves in the cart and one shot made Abigail scream as one punched through the back and just barely missed her right leg and the horse in front of it. The Light Machine Gun just was not doing the job. She needed a weapon which could hit all the horsemen in one shot and she needed it now. Victoria dispelled the Light Machine Gun and brought out the Grenade Launcher.

Victoria aimed her new weapon at the front of the pursuers and fired off a high-explosive grenade that landed short of a horse. The men galloped by shortly before the round exploded; it kicked up an impressive cloud of sand but otherwise did not harm them. However, two of the men got the message and decided not to press their luck, instead breaking off the pursuit and retreating to tend to their wounded. Now there were only five particularly persistent men chasing the trio.

"Damn, are they using explosives now?" Liz asked. Abigail glanced back at Victoria and spotted the remnants of the sand cloud drifting back to earth.

"No, that's Victoria's doing. She's a walking arsenal who has a weapon for almost any purpose." Abigail replied to Liz while Victoria loaded another grenade and aimed again. The brunette aimed further in front of her targets and let the grenade fly. It lodged itself in the sand and exploded moments later, this time catching a man in the edge of the blast and knocking him off his horse. He lay on the ground with his hands cupped over his ears, bringing the count down to four men.

Victoria loaded a third grenade while under fire and aimed it at the men, achieving an unexpected result in the process. The men immediately wheeled their mounts around and rode away from the fleeing cart, leaving without so much as even a single token parting shot. While Liz and Abigail celebrated this unexpected reprieve, the brunette began to worry about why the Golden Band had suddenly given up the chase when the slavers had chased them this far.

"Guys, why did the slavers suddenly stop chasing us?" Victoria asked the blondes in all seriousness. She had the sinking feeling that they had been deliberately chased into the territory of the Golden Band's rivals so that if the slavers failed to kill them then someone else could. Abigail turned around and addressed the brunette's concerns.

"I think you scared them off with your firepower, Vic. Not too many people want to be on the receiving end of a grenade launcher shot." Abigail made a very good case for why the slavers had abandoned the pursuit. Victoria hoped that her friend was right and the slavers had just figured that chasing the trio would be more trouble than it was worth. The brunette dispelled the Grenade Launcher and settled into the back of the cart for the rest of the ride. No matter what the reason, the end of the pursuit was a gift from above.

-Six hours later: The Tri-Council City, inside The Desert Defender-

It was well past nightfall by the time the trio reached the Tri-Council City, but Victoria was not complaining because they had made it to that oasis of civilization without any further bandit encounters. The trio was tired of riding, they were tired of being out in the heat, and they just wanted to sleep somewhere for awhile before returning to Hargeon Town. Liz had suggested The Desert Defender as a place to crash and the two mages readily agreed. Now Liz was talking with Joanna while Abigail and Victoria sat in wooden chairs behind the counter and sipped from plastic water bottles provided by Joanna, who was glad to see her friend alive and well.

"Well, we made it through that adventure. I don't know how, but we did." Abigail mused to the brunette, sipping from her half-empty water bottle.

"Yeah. There were a lot of close calls, but we're still alive." Victoria replied to Abigail.

"I can't wait to get back to Hargeon Town. We've gotta get ready for that mission to Sin and time's almost up." Abigail reminded Victoria, who frowned.

"Please don't remind me." Victoria said dryly. She still resented the fact that Pergrande authorities refused to let the mages land in their country if they got wounded. Abigail and Victoria were doing them a huge favor by taking Alexander Kerwes out of the picture before he could convert the hostile wildlife of Sin into test subjects amped up on who knew what experimental medical concoction the nutcase could craft and Pergrande would not even extend them the courtesy of medical attention should they need it. It was all that Franklin Kerwes could do to get their helicopter permission to even fly over Pergrande airspace to get to Sin. The country was so determined to avoid being "contaminated" by the presence of a mage that they would rather be overrun by the denizens of Sin than admit mages into their borders for any reason. Whatever... if it were not for the innocent people of Pergrande who would be harmed by an invasion from Sin, Victoria was halfway tempted to let the idiots destroy themselves by antagonizing mages who only wanted to help.

She was sure that Pergrande's leadership would take comfort in their mage-free country as everything went to hell and their people died at the hands of Sin's innumerable creatures. As their people died in the streets the leaders would huddle in their castles and toast to living their lives without owing anything to mages. What a spectacle that would be.

Victoria turned away from that dark thought and focused on what lay ahead. Once she and Abigail were back in Hargeon Town, the blonde would need to get fitted for armor. Then the two mages would have to split up and make their preparations before their helicopter flight to Sin. There were so many preparations that had to be made and not very much time in which to make them. Time was running out for the blonde and the brunette.

[Post Word Count: 1,327]
[Total Word Count: 12,745/12,500]