Hardly anyone laid out a paper map in the age of illuminated screens, but that made her all the more willing to shove the scattered random items on the table and slam the yellowed relic for the rest of the crew to see.
“Hey, you knocked off my sticks!” came from a gruff Hobusian man. He paid no mind to where her scaly finger pointed, opting to reach down and grab the tightly wrapped leaves.
A tall Bentulousian crossed her arms. Her face made her words unnecessary, but she provided them all the same. “That map looks too old to be valuable. You wasted money, Amaris.”
Though both had long faces, the furred snouts of Amaris’ companion were always hard to read. Was she angry? Was she joking? The line between was often hard to delineate. Amaris scratched a sharp finger to the red scales at her neck.
“We can make some good cash here, the stash–”
“Is completely a rumor. Do you honestly think there are any more Needaimus vaults left?”
The Hobusian popped up and laid his sticks on the table. One sat in between his lips and he pulled a flame close to ignite the end. He breathed out a burst of putrid smoke as he spoke.
“Got to say, Daisy’s right. No way any of the major nations would have let something this big go untouched for so long, specially with it between Bents and Zenos space, you know how much those fools hate each other.” His round eyes moved back and forth between his Bentulousian and Zenotote companions. Amaris wondered if he was self-aware, or if the smoke had gotten to his brain at long last. She shook her head, taking a deep breath that was careful not to inhale any of the smoke, and tapped on the map with her pointed finger.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Collin’s concerns are well noted. But look at this location, this is far in the ocean beyond the continent. No one in their right mind would recklessly sail that far into the sea. We have a chance to make a fortune!”
Daisy groaned but didn’t say anything when Amaris looked her way. Collin just chuckled and continued sucking in the smoke from his favorite treat. “So, we are in agreement?”
“I’m getting the feeling you’re going to go whether we want to or not,” Daisy said with a possible roll of her eyes—her head was too high for Amaris to be sure, “and if I don’t go the two of you will most certainly end up dead.”
“Hey now,” Collin spat smoke out, “I can handle myself!”
“The last time we encountered trouble you completely lost your head; do you not remember me pulling you out from that pit?” Daisy said. Mockery laced her words as she crossed her arms. This time Amaris was sure she grinned. “You were practically crying.”
The Hobusian man held his stick between two fingers and blew a puff of smoke up to his companion’s face. She coughed and waved it away.
Had Amaris not been covered in scales, she was sure a vein might bulge as it did on some of the other races.
She snapped, “Enough you two!” The other two grew stiff. They glared at each other one last time before shaking their heads and wandering off to different parts of the hideout. The Zenotote scratched her scaly scalp. They were worse than children.