Both her hands returned to the hilt of her sword.
Thirty-three.
The next couple minutes passed without Shay getting cut again, but she finished off only three more enemies. Her wound continued to throb, sapping her concentration.
Fuck. It’s not like I’ve not been stabbed or sliced before. Don’t know why this shit hurts so much.
Shay again spun and shoved Lily out of the way to block an attack. The whistle of a blade to her left brought her sword up, and she parried a second attack. The enemy was starting to gang up on her. The tomb raider would probably never know whether that was a sign of intelligence or was just an inevitable part of the spell that had bound the men to the area.
“Nine o’clock, one yard,” Lily whispered.
Shay didn’t even think before she thrust that way. Her blade met another soldier, and he drifted in the wind as ash. The girl’s power had finally kicked in.
“One at ten and another at twelve, both half a yard.” Lily stepped beside Shay to point and reinforce the location of the enemy.
Knowing exactly where the enemy was helped. Despite their numbers, the spectral soldiers lacked the swordsmanship they possessed in life. It was likely the only reason Shay hadn’t been killed.
Lily kept her father’s artifact in hand as she continued to shout directions and point. Shay’s tachi reduced enemy after enemy to ash.
Twenty-five. Twenty. Ten. Five.
Shay panted, her arm on fire. She needed to close the wound, but she couldn’t spare the seconds to take a healing potion.
Lily stayed close to Shay. “Four surrounding you, evenly spaced out, with one directly in front.”
The tomb raider rushed forward, slashing low. She didn’t wait for her enemy to turn into ash before spinning and slashing to her left and right. More piles of ash appeared.
Lily pointed toward the last of the four. Shay sprinted forward and stabbed, but this time her blade met invisible metal. She twirled her blade around the hidden weapon until she found the body of the spectral soldier.
Just one more.
“He’s right in front of me,” Lily squeaked.
Shay twisted and shoved the girl out of the way. The tomb raider shot her sword up. Sparks flew as her blade scraped against the invisible sword of her final enemy. The soldier pushed down, and Shay hissed, the ache in her arm intensified by the force.
Two quick slashes and a thrust finished the final enemy. White ash now coated the entire area. It looked like it had snowed.
Shay sheathed her blade and winced. “Damn. They only got one hit on me, but it hurts like hell. Go get the first aid kit. We’ll do a little analgesic spray, and I’ll slap a bandage on it, then we’ll get the coffin. A little cut isn’t worth a healing potion.”
The tomb raider shook her arm.
Beating forty invisible men. Not bad for a woman with a sword and a Gray Elf.
Hours later, Shay’s eyes fluttered open. Her stomach tightened, and a few seconds passed before she remembered where she was. Safe. Well, safe enough. She was on a commercial supersonic flight back to Los Angeles.
Her arm throbbed and burned. She spared a glance at Lily. The teen slept peacefully in her first-class seat.
Shay rose and made her way to the lavatory. She’d thought the bandage and spray would have been enough. The wound hadn’t looked deep enough to need stitches.
She closed the door and pulled up her shirt sleeve. She hissed from surprise rather than pain when she stared at the mirror. Her arm was swollen.
Shay removed the bandage. The clean slice before now was a pus-filled green, red, and black mess, like some nasty infection from a wound in jungle water.
With a deep sigh, she pulled a healing potion from inside her jacket pocket and downed the contents. Thirty seconds passed without any relief. Then a minute. Then two minutes.
It didn’t work. What the fuck? How did it not work?
Shay held up the small blue glass potion bottle. What kind of wound couldn’t be fixed by a healing potion?
Chapter Sixteen
As Shay stepped into Prophecy Affiliates, her entire arm throbbed and a fiery ache shot up it. She’d done her best to conceal the wound from Lily before dropping her off at the tunnels, but she knew the girl was suspicious.
The tomb raider didn’t need Lily worrying about her or feeling guilty because her power hadn’t been reliable. Shay had known the risks when she’d chosen to take on a dangerous tomb raid and bring along a tomb-raider trainee with questionable magic.
Sometimes your luck just runs out.
Madge looked up from the tiny magazine she was reading.
What the hell? They make pixie-sized magazines? I can barely find human-sized physical magazines anymore.
The pixie fluttered out her seat and sniffed a few times. “Something smells off and nasty. Did you not shower today?”
Shay rolled up her sleeve. “A healing potion didn’t work, so I’m guessing this is magical. I was hoping Tubal-Cain might know something or someone who could help.”
Madge paled and made a face. “Damn spectrals. You’re in luck. He’s just in the back room. I’ll go get him.”
The pixie fluttered toward the back door. She lifted her hand, and the door opened without her touching it. She flew in, and about thirty seconds later, Tubal-Cain and Madge both emerged.
The pixie flew back to her chair and magazine, but the gnome walked toward Shay, clucking his tongue and shaking his head.
Not like I planned this. Cut me a little slack.
Shay shuffled toward a chair and dropped down with a hiss.
“Impressive.” Tubal-Cain tilted his head back and forth. “And what, Miz Carson, were you doing to get this kind of wound?”
“Making sure Michael Galbraith didn’t get brought back to life and making a shitload of money.”
The gnome’s brow lifted. “He was a very annoying wizard. And, what? One of his minions did this to you? That would be odd, considering the nature of
