Linai sat in silence atop her muscular steed following her latest employer through this godforsaken desert. The endless sands and the dry heat making her want to turn around and head back to the luscious cool of her homelands. Her eyes searched ahead as he signalled the approach of their destination, a weather beaten stone Temple. It didn’t look like much from here, the man’s promise of the treasure inside was the only reason she had agreed to accompany him. He had said something about a god as well but that didn’t interest her, she had no belief in or will to devote to religion. It had never offered her anything she could actually use.<br/><br/>The place was old, very old, but the subtle signs outside made it obvious to her trained eye that this place had been visited before by bandits and treasure hunters. It didn’t bode well for the promise of riches inside, then again there was a heavy superstition about places like this which may have dissuaded even the hardiest rogues from entering. Her employer seemed to know what he was doing, however, and where he was going so she would just have to wait and see.<br/><br/>She followed his lead, dismounting and leading her horse to the water he had provided, a shiver of excitement running through her as she saw the glimmer of precious metal that still remained outside.<em>Maybe this journey would be worthwhile after all</em>, she thought. The bag of gold she had been given to entice her interest had been generous and she had never been one to turn away the promise of more… it’s what made her a good mercenary. She had few morals in her work, payment was the most important thing.<br/><br/>Through the thin covering of her cloak her fingers tapped at her waist feeling for the dagger she always kept there. A small smile flickered briefly across her face,<em>of course</em>, she mused,<em> I can always take my payment if he refuses to keep to his end of the deal</em>. She had to make a living after all, work was scarce, few people needed hired swords right now, those that did tended to avoid female mercenaries. As a woman she was often underestimated and that was always a good thing in her line of work.<br/><br/>“You ride well. I didn’t expect that from a woman” …his attempt at teasing had her glaring from the shadow of her cloak. She wasn’t even going to dignify that with a response. Instead she concentrated on checking the supplies strapped to her horse. She stroked and patted his flank as he drank before finding her own water flask.<br/><br/>As she cooled down in the shade Linai pulled her cloak hood down revealing her roughly cut short brown hair, which made her look a few years younger than her real age, which was somewhere between 25 – 30 years old, she didn’t know for certain. The crop did nothing to disguise her feminine features which were marred with small scratches and scars… an occupational hazard.<br/><br/>She glanced over to her employer, Diran he had said his name was. He looked at home here, his complexion seemed to fit with the landscape unlike her rosy hued skin, lightly tanned from her travels but still considerably paler. She watched him, there was more to this man then met the eye. He didn’t seem like an adventurer and he certainly hadn’t told her everything about this journey, but then not many of her employers did and she didn’t make a habit out of asking unnecessary questions. The whys were of no concern to her. Still, as always she held a fair amount of suspicion and an uncharacteristic amount of curiosity as she kept her eyes on him and the strange marking just visible at the top of his back.<br/><br/>Removing her sword from her pack and checking it over she cleared her throat to gain his attention. “So how do we get in?” she asked nonchalantly, sweeping her sword out to gesture toward the structure before continuing her inspection of the blade.<br/>