Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 62

A few minutes later, the players regrouped. They gathered around Gimbo Jimbo, having accepted him as their leader. Severance stayed off to the side with Awesome Dude. Neither of them had any desire to be part of Gimbo Jimbo's herd.

They set off towards the mine, with Gimbo Jimbo strutting in the lead. Severance trailed along, carefully watching everything around them. He wished he could be carefree like Awesome Dude, who strolled casually with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, but his paranoia had been triggered and he was just waiting for something to go wrong.

By the time they reached the mine workers, the three men were already pushing the ore car into the mine, so Gimbo Jimbo led his posse over to the women picking through the rocks. He stopped at the base of the pile, propped his fists up on his hips, and called out, "Hey!"

The women didn't even look over. They continued gathering rocks as if they'd heard nothing.

An ugly scowl spread across Gimbo Jimbo's face. He tried again, this time shouting loud enough for his voice to carry through town and echo off the surrounding mountains. "HEY!!"

The women ignored him. Gimbo Jimbo's expression contorted and he looked ready to explode. Severance winced. That was embarrassing.

"Maybe we're not supposed to talk to them," Awesome Dude piped up.

"Or maybe they're not listening because you're being rude," Karniah's clear little voice said. Her gaze fixed solemnly on the working women, her round little face quite serious. "Let me try."

"Tch," Gimbo Jimbo scoffed, but he did not stop her.

Severance watched from the sidelines as Karniah set forth, scrambling carefully up the side of the pile of rocks. She was shorter than most players, so she had some difficulties getting over the larger rocks. Her heavy green and gray robes didn't help her much either. Yet she managed to get to the top, panting slightly from the effort.

"Excuse me," she addressed the nearest worker. "Can you help me?"

To everyone's shock, the woman paused in her work to look down at Karniah. The woman's face showed no expression as she responded in a toneless voice. "What is it, child?"

Karniah offered a friendly smile, but it was not returned. "I'm looking for Tarface. Do you know where he is?"

In response, the woman wordlessly lifted a bruised arm and pointed with a filthy hand. Everyone turned to see where she pointed. It was one of the shacks.

Gimbo Jimbo immediately headed for it, with everyone hot on his heels. Everyone, that is, except Severance, Awesome Dude and Karniah. Karniah took the time to thank the woman before scrambling back down the rocks.

Severance hesitated, looking from the group to Karniah. He felt torn between sticking close to the others for the sake of his quest and waiting for the one player who seemed helpful and nice. He was about to suggest to Awesome Dude that they should wait, but already found the Shade poking through the rocks at the bottom of the pile.

"These rocks look strange." Awesome Dude picked one up and trotted over to Severance. "Look, it's kind of glittery."

Of course he gets distracted by a rock. Severance eyed the rock, though he didn't touch it. It was coarse and black, and just as his friend had said, there was a subtle sparkle when it caught the sunlight.

"Huh. I wonder what kind of rock it is."

"It's a sparkly rock." The rock vanished from Awesome Dude's hand. Severance didn't see it drop, which meant that the Shade must have placed it in his Inventory.