A Mountain of Riches

As the heavy door swings open, your eyes go wide and your jaw hangs down. You slowly turn to see the same expression on Eudora's face. "Oh...my." She gasps, her eyes shimmering from the reflection of the glittering piles of gold and gems in the small room. You turn your gaze back to the treasure again, before slowly walking into the room.

"This is...unbelievable." You say slowly. "I've never seen this much gold and jewels in my life." You reach down and pick up one coin as if testing if it was real. You find that you are not hallucinating at all, it was very much solid.

"Neither have I." Eudora exclaimed. "Even Pyrrhus did not have this much wealth lying around in one location. Plenty of golden artifacts and expensive silks, but nothing like this." She follows you in and picks up a sapphire ring. "So beautiful..."

"This must be worth more than enough to start a new life." You ramble on, unaware of the words that are pouring out of your mouth. "A new life for both of us."

"No more being a ****..." Eudora mumbled, as she sifted through some small diamonds. Suddenly, your words sink into her head. "A new life for both of us." She repeats. "Do you mean...a new life for you and and a new life for me...or a new life for you and me?"

"Huh?" You ask, so entranced by the gold that you didn't realize she was talking to you.

"Ah, nothing." Eudora waves her hand. "I was just...wondering how much of this we can take with us."

"Good point." You nod. "I think I saw some backpacks in the main room. We can probably take whatever we can pack in and still carry with reasonable speed. It won't do much good if we can't leave the city."

"Right." Eudora nodded, then bit her lower lip. "It is okay for us to take this, right?"

"The merchant is dead." You shrug. "It's not doing him any good."

"Yeah, but this makes us looters." Eudora said. "Just like everyone else invading this city. Just like those men who killed Pyrrhus and kidnapped me." She stood up and tossed the gem she was holding back onto the pile. "I don't want to be like them."

"We're not." You assure her. You walk over and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're going to need this once we leave the city. We're just taking what we need out of necessity."

Eudora nods. "Okay, you're right Adonis. I guess we should look for the most valuable items in here." You are about to agree, when you hear some loud sword clashes through the wall. Apparently some fighting was taking place outside. Eudora flinched and you immediately began to inspect the walls. It looked pretty sturdy, and the room locked from the inside. Plus, you had the key.

"Well, this room looks safe." You say. "We could probably stay here for the night and be all right. Maybe the rioting will be lessened in the morning. The raiders have to fall asleep sometimes after all the fighting and fucking they've done, not to mention drinking."

"I could use with some rest." Eudora said. "Is it really safe though? What if the city is in worse shape tomorrow? The roads are being destroyed and the buildings are falling down."

"Right." You bite your cheek. "Wouldn't want the city to collapse around us while we sleep."

"Whatever you decide, we will do, Adonis." Eudora says, clasping your hand. "I trust in you completely."