26.

  Santi left the others behind as he started to work his way up and into the dry brush and hills. The prickly plants around tugged at his pants, leaving burrs in the hem and in his socks as he kept moving up. The hill was nude, bare of any vegetation aside from scrub as he kept climbing.

  It had taken three hours before the [Scout] had appeared again. When they had shown up, Santi knew that Duncan wasn’t far behind. He needed to talk to the man to start the next part of his plan. Without a way to contact him directly, he just had to hope that this would work.

  He pulled out his bottle of water and drank it while he sat. He munched on a meal stick and waited. And waited. And waited.

  The sun sank below the horizon, dusk flowing across the land. Santi kept waiting, his senses stretched wide and far. Duncan would be coming soon enough, the twilight of the world his perfect operating time.

  The assassin came right as the entirety of the world teetered on falling into darkness, the bruised horizon hardly emitting light and the stars yet to make their appearance. Materializing unseen and unfelt, the palid faced man walked up to him with little thought of his own safety.

  “We keep meeting like this and your girlfriend might start getting upset,” Duncan called, his one remaining hand close to the pommel of his knife.

  “I need that riftcore you stole from me.”

  “Sure, let me just hand over a powerful possession to one of my enemies,” his tone dripped with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes. The longer he interacted with Santi, the more personable the man got, little slivers of his personality showing.

  “What do you want for it?”

  “Your help. Mercy is about four days out. She crossed the mountains into Nevada and is razing what’s left of Reno to the ground. If she backtracks, and she should, after us killing a bunch of her people, it’ll be four days. I found a dungeon but I’m missing a good mage.”

  “A dungeon run? You want me to participate in a dungeon run for a riftheart?”

  “You participate and don’t claim any of your share. It’s a five man dungeon, you can bring your girlfriend or the healer. I keep all of the dungeon rewards, I pay you with the riftheart.”

  “This seems much too good to be true. What’s the catch?” Santi asked.

  “It’s a level fifty dungeon. None of my people can handle it. Rewards will be juicy since we’ll be the first clear team.”

  “Average level in the dungeon is fifty, with the boss monster probably being close to sixty?”

  “Probably sixty-five. The dungeon hasn’t been cleared yet afterall.”

  “That’s a big ask. You, me, Tank, and two of your damage fighters?”

  “Yeah. I got a pair of guys. Bout as good as your girl, but not quite up to standard. No defender class though. Your friend isn’t good enough yet to do it.”

  “I wouldn’t drag them into a level fifty dungeon. Even with the two of us, this is a big ask. What’s the dungeon?”

  “Labyrinth.”

  “We don’t have a pathfinder,” Santi protested, even as he started to feel the itch to try it. If there was any dungeon type to attempt with a level discrepancy, it was a labyrinth.

  “Please. I’m a former Champion. I could figure out the way through the labyrinth by myself. Killing everything in it on the other other hand.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  “This the only way you’ll give me the riftheart?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck. When?”

  “Tomorrow at dawn. It’s closer to your home. Four to six hours of hard travel. Your medic should be able to keep up.”

  “I’ll go let them know. Bring your people here to stage. I have a plan to lure Mercy here. Trap and kill her and her people.”

  “Was wondering what you were planning on doing. This is agreeable. Should only take a day or so to get there and back.”

  “Meet you in the morning then.” Santi stood and left, exposing his back to the assassin. Part of him was waiting for the blade to enter it, but nothing came of it as he walked back to their new camp. He slowed his steps and thought of what was going to happen, rationalizing and plotting his steps out. Every step of the plan was analyzed and attacked in his mind as he searched for hints of the curse’s influence.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Santi needed the riftheart. There were no other power sources that he knew of that he could acquire in the necessary timeframe. Was this plan the only plan that could work? Probably not, but it was the best he had at the moment. It would accomplish multiple goals at the same time and offered the safest path with the least amount of weak points.

  Would Duncan betray him in the dungeon? Doubtful. Not as long as Mercy was alive. What was the dungeon reward and why was he so certain he needed it? The expansion of Earth’s potential had changed the dungeon spawns, none of them having appeared around Homebase. So how did Duncan know what this one had?

  His ruminations were cut short as he entered the little town they were planning their ambush in. Some of Rayleigh’s people were awake and on watch, hiding behind cover on rooftops as they looked about for threats. He waved lazily at one of them and marched into the house that his team and family had occupied.

  Their evolutions had reduced the biological need to sleep, but there was still the psychological need for it. Sometimes the brain just needs to be shut off for a few hours. His Mom was sprawled out in the corner, her arms and armor stacked neatly next to her as she snored softly.

  Daniel and Hana had called the other bedroom and were locked in there. Chloe, Bianca, Cameron, and the dwarves were playing a vigorous game of dominos. Santi watched them play for a moment before deciding all five of them were cheating and not in the same ways.

  Yessi was in her bedroom, locked away from the world for at least a little while. Tank was perched on the too small couch watching the game with a smile on his face. Santi flopped down next to him and pulled his boots off and started picking at the burrs stuck to his clothes.

  “Get done what needed done” Tank whispered.

  “Yeah. Going to get the riftheart. Plans changed though.”

  “That’s kinda the running theme with this group. Plans always change.”

  “You know what they say, plans never survive first contact with the enemy.”

  “Santi, your plans don’t survive the walk to the enemy.”

  “Fuck off,” Santi shoulder bumped the bigger man, hardly stirring him.

  “So, what's the new plan?”

  “Dungeon run. You, me, Duncan and two of his guys.”

  “Me. Not Chloe? Or Cam?”

  “Naw, they’re needed here. When Daniel and Hana disentangle themselves, they’ll have to go and find Keegan. Chloe, Daniel, Hana, they can move fast and bring Keegan back. You guys heard that, right?” Santi said, turning to look at the five rowdy dominos players. He got a quick thumbs up or nodded heads as nobody looked up from their hands.

  “Rayleigh and her team will stay here, along with Mom, Torin, Grimvr, Cam, and Bianca. They’ll provide security and help for Yessi. We get this set up right, we can save a lot of lives.”

  “This Duncan. He’s going to fuck us over, yes?”

  “Undoubtedly. Doubt he’ll do it in the dungeon. He needs me and you are valuable.”

  “Told you that the healer is the most important person on the team,” Tanks smiled widely.

  “Yes, yes you did. And it’s true, especially now. We’ll split the health potions, give Chloe and them a couple a piece, leave some here, and take the rest.”

  “How dangerous is this dungeon?”

  “Dangerous enough that Duncan needs me to clear it.”

  “And what does he get from it?”

  “The rewards from clearing it.”

  “Interesting. What is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I think that's what we need to focus on. If he’s willing to take this type of risk, the dungeon, you and me, whatever, then the reward has to be something he thinks will tip the balance.”

  “It could be a future thing he has going on? Plans on plans on plans.” Santi didn’t think that was likely what was happening, but it could be.

  “He knows you're going to kill him. He knows you’ve already beaten him once, took off his arm. I will assure you that he believes that what’s in that dungeon will give him the edge in the fight.”

  “Tank’s right!” Chloe yelled over her shoulder. She shoved a handful of dominos to her right and into Grimvr’s stack. Santi was sure that none of them actually knew what they were doing.

  “Damn straight. So how do we counter this plan he has?”

  “He’s focused on me. I took his arm, I beat him. He’s not thinking about the rest of us. Let him focus on me, make all his preparations for me.”

  “Uhmmm…Santi, that’s what we’re trying to avoid?” Tank asked, genuinely puzzled.

  “No. It’s how we beat him. He hard counters me. He plans everything out, thinks it through, makes contingency plans, everything about me.”

  “Ahhh, then we just stalk up behind him and hit him in the back of the head while he’s not looking?” Tank asked, half joking.

  “Close enough. I’m playing this one close to the vest. Not that I don’t trust you guys, it’s just loose lips sink ships.”

  “Sure. Have to be careful with sneaky fucks running around.” There was a chorus of amens and nodded heads as everyone agreed.

  “Did someone say my name?” Daniel asked as he walked out of the backrooms. He sat down between the Santi and Tank.

  “Your counterpart,” Tank supplied.

  “Ohh, that asshole. Can’t believe he literally snuck around my city. Didn’t get a single good look at him while it was happening too.”

  “He’s damn good. So we keep our plans quiet and to ourselves. If anything happens to me, Yessi has what you need.”

  “Not a huge fan of this secrecy. But if you think it’ll work, then let's do it. When do we take off?” Tank asked.

  “At dawn. We meet Duncan outside of town and we hit the dungeon.”