Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

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sixgunzloaded
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Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

Postby sixgunzloaded » Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:09 pm

So, it's finally ready! This one took a lot longer than expected but I hope it'll be worth the wait.
This year's tale is a prequel in the "Muddyverse" to give a little backstory to some of the characters.
I'll be posting it all at once this time, as opposed to splitting it up like usual. It just made more sense to do it that way because the action in this one is more in the second act (third?) of the story and splitting it would leave it unbalanced. Be sure to read the written part first so it makes sense. lol
So have a great Easter and please enjoy and leave a little feedback if you have the time, good or bad!
Sixguns
P.S. Though I'll be posting it all at once, it might literally take all day to get it posted due to the GoDaddy firewall issue. It also may need to be put into more than one thread. I don't know. I'll find out as I go.


Historian's note: These events take place approximately four years prior to the events of "Artifact Hunter - The Passage to Zinj".


The Rise of Esme - An Artifact Hunter Tale


EGYPT, SUMMER - 2017

Excitement. Anticipation. Nervousness. Avarice. These emotions, and more, all played in the mind of Esmerelda Lochley as she waited patiently for her friend to arrive at the small airport outside of Cairo. This was it. This was the day - well, tomorrow was the day - she was going to make her dreams come true. But today was the start of it. Layla's plane would land any minute. After that, they'd secure their ground transport, meet up with Sapphira at the hotel, and go over tomorrow's events one more time.
It had been Layla's idea to bring Sapph along on this...adventure. Esme wasn't completely thrilled with the idea but she could never say 'no' to Layla anyway so...
Sapph, who was Esme's half-sister, had just turned eighteen two weeks ago and Layla figured this would be a great way for the two of them to bond, become closer, more sisterly. A 'birthday present,' she'd said. Esme was dubious about it. They hadn't grown up together. Their father - cheating bastard that he was - had left Esme's mother for another woman when Esme was still small. She had only learned a couple years ago that he had had another child with the woman. And suddenly, out of nowhere, Esme had a sister. Half-sister, she reminded herself. Sapph seemed okay enough but, although she was of legal age now, she was still a kid in many ways. Eager, but naive and untrained. And this little side mission required training. Esme had gotten hers in the Artifact Hunter's Guild, Layla, in the Army. But Sapph had none. Layla insisted it would be alright. The two of them could look after her and still get what they wanted "easy peasy". Besides, they needed a third anyway. So Esme had agreed. She hoped she wouldn't regret it later.
She watched Layla's little plane touch down and jogged out to meet her on the runway. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Esme grabbed her friend around the waist and pulled her into a hungry, wet kiss.
"Wow..." breathed Layla, "That's a quite a welcome! Miss me?"
"You know I did." Esme purred.
"Well, you're in luck. My C.O. gave me the full amount of time I asked for. So, for the next two weeks, I'm all...yours."
Esme giggled and kissed her again with a low moan. "This is going to be so great," she said after coming up for air. "Once the treasure from that tomb is ours, we're set for life! You can quit the Army once your time is up, I can quit the Guild next week and we'll be able to buy any little island we choose. We'll live the rest of our lives like royalty."
"And Sapph too, right?" Layla scolded mildly, one eyebrow raised teasingly.
"Yeessss, Sapph too." she replied, rolling her eyes.
"She's your sister, babe, Layla said, nibbling Esme's ear lobe, "She holds no blame for your father's betrayal."
"Half - sister. And I know. She's just... young. And inexperienced. And this is a big deal for us. If the locals catch us, they'll put us in prison for the rest of our lives. If they don't kill us. And neither the Guild nor the Army will be likely to want us back. A lot is riding on her."
"Well I trust her." Layla said. "After all, she's still a Lochley, right? That same hunger and drive are bound to be in there, yeah? That infamous desire you're always bragging about..." She reached down and stroked the hardening excitement clearly visible under Esme's bra-less tank top with the backs of her knuckles, eliciting another moan.
"Fine. Fine," Esme quavered. "You win. You always win."
"That's 'cause I know you, babe." Layla said. "I know what you like. And how you like it."
They giggled together for a moment, then Layla said, "C'mon. Let's go secure our truck, then find your sister and set up for tomorrow. Then I want you to take me out to the best restaurant in Cairo. This is gonna be so freakin' awesome."
The pair left in a taxi that took them, per Esme's direction, to a small shipping port further down the Nile and out of immediate site of the city. As they pulled in, Esme paid the driver in cash and told him to wait. Then they got out. She led them toward one of the berths that held a small privately owned freighter. Layla raised that sexy eyebrow again in that way that always drove Esme wild.
"You found us a truck in a shipping yard?" Layla asked.
"Ooohhh, not just a truck." Esme replied, "Wait till you see what I got us!" She thrilled at the way the corner of Layla's mouth turned up in curiosity.
The owner of the freighter came out to meet them. "Have you got the rest of the money?" he asked, without preamble.
Esme dug in her pocket and pulled out a wad of American bills thick enough to choke a camel. She handed it over as Layla watched, her jaw dropping slightly. The man counted it in front of them and then led them to a large crate recently unloaded from his craft. He pulled the canvas off the crate and pried open its front panel with a crowbar. As the wooden wall fell away, Layla's jaw dropped the rest of the way down.
"Oh my god!" she gawped.
Inside the crate sat one of the most bad-ass looking vehicles she'd seen outside the Army. It looked like a cross between a dune buggy and the Batmobile. The man handed Esme a key and she walked into the crate and climbed behind the wheel. A moment later the engine fired up and Esme rolled it out onto the cracked asphalt. It sounded like a muscle car and, in the bright sunlight, it looked even more impressive. A high-tech digital dashboard faced four comfortable, yet functional looking bucket seats inside a sturdy frame and a sizeable bed sat out in the back. And in that bed sat the most impressive thing yet - a six-barreled, drum-fed .308 caliber Gatling gun, mounted on a swiveling plate attached to the bed and tilting pivot that could be aimed skyward. The vehicle's sand-colored paint would blend right in with the desert.
"Where the hell did you get this???" Layla asked, wide-eyed.
Esme laughed. "It's the A.H.G.'s latest high-tech toy. It's for emergency team extractions from hostile situations in the field. I umm...borrowed it before our supply officer had a chance to log it into inventory. He thinks its delivery date was pushed back"
Layla gave a bark of laughter. "Well let's try not to ding it up too much in that case. We don't want him getting suspicious when it does show up!
"Emil will hide it for us here until morning." Esme said, indicating the man who had taken her money. The man nodded once.
The two of them ogled over the vehicle a while longer, then returned to the cab for the drive back to the city. Upon arriving at the hotel, they found Sapphira waiting for them outside. Her face lit up with a big smile when she saw her sister and Layla get out of the car and walk toward her.
"Heeeyyyyyy!!!" she wheedled, excitedly.
Layla returned her big grin and wrapped her in a tight embrace. "Hey Kid!" she smiled, "Happy belated birthday!"
"Thank you!" Sapph replied and turned to Esme. "Hi Sis!" she said, waving enthusiastically.
"Hi Sis!" Esmerelda replied, putting on her best happy-to-see-you-face. She embraced Sapph as well, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder at the widely grinning Layla, who was trying to stifle a laugh. Esme rolled her eyes, which only made Layla snicker more.
They went inside afterward and up to their room where they layed out their gear and went over the next day's plan again to be sure everyone was on the same page. Then they showered, redressed, and headed out for dinner and a little fun before settling down to get some rest for tomorrow.
After dinner, they decided to walk back from the restaurant. On the way, Esme spotted a shop selling exotic pets and they stopped in for a look. The shop was filled with all kinds of creatures that would never get past Customs in the States. Reptiles, exotic birds, caracal kittens, all sorts of animals. Many of which looked like they almost certainly came from parts of Africa other than Egypt. Esme's eyes were drawn, in particular, to an adolescent Burmese python slithering its way through some branches in a glass cage that was way too small for it. As if sensing her stare, the snake halted its movement, turned its head and peered back at her. They held each other's gaze for almost a minute before Esme spoke again. "Beautiful," she whispered, "I want her..."
Layla chuckled. "I'm jealous." she grinned, with a sidelong glance.
Sapph was a bit less impressed. "Ugh... You want that hideous thing?!" she said, bluntly.
Esme was only mildly miffed at the comment. "I do." she replied.
"Well... I repeat, ugh! And to that, I'll tack on an emphatic ick!"
Esme rolled her eyes.
Layla was still chuckling, now at both of them. "Well, you can buy her on our way back tomorrow with some of our new-found fortune. For now, lets get back and get some sleep. We leave early."

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Re: Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

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Re: Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

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Re: Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

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Re: Happy Holidays - Easter Edition!

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