Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  “Did Star take on the whole Goblin invasion force by himself?” Ashley meaningfully looked around at her friends as they shuffled uncomfortably under her gaze. “Or, did he have the Devil Dogs, the Valkyries, the NPCs, and the rest of his friends there to help him out?”

  Everyone in the raid immediately looked away and shuffled their boots at her words. The problem was that none of them wanted to admit that they were out of their league. That, and the enemy had taken them out like a bunch of chumps. It wasn’t that they’d fought badly or choked up during the fight. If anything, they’d played smart and held their lines against overwhelming odds until the bitter end. The simple truth of the matter was that they couldn’t handle the numbers or levels that they were up against.

  While there were the House of Kayden’s NPC forces available to call upon for emergencies, it made no sense to pull them away from their work on the new defenses being built for a situation like this. Besides, the NPCs were already behind the eight ball as it was time-wise. If they were going to have any hope of getting the new defenses completed before the Hobgoblin army arrived, then they needed all the time they could get. That left only the Valkyrie players to ask for help.

  To rub salt into an open wound, many of her fellow vets had been acting cocky as hell of late to the Valkyrie players that were running around doing quests to help get BrokenFang Hold operational. The main point of contention between the two groups of players being that the Valkyrie guild was made up of a bunch of gamers that didn’t know what real battle was all about. Now the remaining Devil Dogs were suddenly faced with a situation where they didn’t have the personnel inside their own guild to take on the enemy and the only help available was the group of gamers that they’d been ragging on for the last week and a half. This was the perfect time for a learning opportunity if she’d ever seen one, the NCO officer inside of Ashley thought, as a savage grin twisted her lips. But, before she could speak up, an all too familiar voice brought her up short.

  “How did you guys get back here so quickly?” Kyarina asked in a knowing tone, as the Devil Dogs around her immediately bristled in annoyance. “I thought the sulfuric mines were a day out?”

  “Ah, Kyarina, we were just looking for you,” Ashley said, forcing her ire down at the capable woman’s innocuous question as she looked around suddenly realizing where they were.

  Of course, Kyarina would be onsite during the construction of the defensive wall to make sure everything was moving forward as it should to prepare for the coming invasion. The twinkle in the other woman’s hazel eyes left no doubt that she’d already figured out what had happened to them. While Ashley honestly didn’t know the woman from Adam, she heard enough rumors of Kyarina’s exploits in previous games to not take the other woman’s combat abilities lightly. Besides that, her management of the building projects going on within BrokenFang Hold were impressive as all hell in their own rights. Letting out a deep sigh, she continued in a more normal tone.

  “We ran into a group of monsters twice the size of our raid that we couldn’t take out on our own,” Ashley plainly stated, ignoring her guildmates unhappy muttering at the admission. “I was hoping that the Valkyries could give us a hand,” a smile lit up her comely face, “and that the opportunity would give our guilds a chance to get to know each other a little better.”

  Ashley knew that she was gambling on the other woman’s good-nature. If Kyarina gave into her ego and smacked her down, the uncomfortable friction between their two guilds would quickly move from nasty comments to open warfare. At the same time, Ashley knew she had to nip this friction in the bud or they’d wind up being at each other’s throats no matter what. Besides, the only way to address shit like this was to face it head-on.

  “I think that’s a grand idea,” Kyarina said in an overly friendly tone, as she stepped forward and hooked her arm in Ashley’s. “It would be a nice break for everyone from running all of these escort quests for the crafters and,” a toothy grin came to the other woman’s face, “maybe we can even get in a few duels between everyone too. You know, just for the heck of it.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Ashley readily agreed, ignoring the cold shiver of excitement that suddenly ran down her spine. Why did she feel like she’d just met a life-long friend? Shaking the bemused thought away, she glanced back at the rest of her raid mates who suddenly didn’t look as confident as they did before. Laying her hand on the other woman’s forearm, Ashley threw her head back with a laugh. “Why do I have the feeling this is the start of a wonderful relationship?”

  “Because you’re a smart cookie,” Kyarina laughingly replied without hesitation. Letting Ashley’s arm go with a pat, she turned back to the three men that had been standing with her and began giving out orders.

  “Terdian, be a dear and work with Pevral on swapping out his people once their replacements show up. That should keep the construction moving along nicely.” As both men nodded, she turned to the commander of the House of Kayden’s forces. “Theric, could you please return to BrokenFang Hold and let Lady Chiara know that the Valkyrie and Devil Dogs are going to be busy for the next few days dealing with a monster infestation.”

  “Immediately, Lady Kyarina,” the Half-Elf replied with a polite half-bow.

  “Hush now,” Kyarina said with a friendly laugh. “You and that silver tongue of yours can cut out that silly Lady nonsense.” She laid a friendly hand on Theric’s bicep as she leaned in and lowered her voice. “While you’re there, I would greatly appreciate it if you’d let Vardrid and Demonslayerz know that the raid is a go and that I’ll wait for them at the construction site.”

  “As you wish, Kyarina,” Theric said, as he nodded and hurried off at a run.

  “Now where were we at?” Kyarina innocently asked, as she turned around to see the frozen expressions on all of the Devil Dogs’ faces. “Oh, don’t act so surprised. I just asked the Valkyries to be on hand in case you ran into any problems and needed a hand.”

  Everyone settled down quickly enough as Kyarina did her best to put the Devil Dog raid at ease. She did this with a mixture of her easy going attitude and the impromptu tour of the construction site that she led them through while they waited for the rest of the Valkyrie guild to show up. While the inventions she’d introduced to the NPCs seemed simple at first, it quickly became apparent that they were anything but as she explained her reasons. These were many of the major laborsaving devices that had been invented during Earth’s classical antiquity period that had helped to turn Rome into the world power that it had become. Not only that, the crane and block and tackle were pillars of our modern-day construction processes.

  The casual way in which Kyarina explained the technology tree that she’d developed to help their alliance get ahead in the game was awe-inspiring as much as it showed the terrible intelligence behind the woman’s pleasant façade. Already, it was easy to see the results of her brilliance as she explained how far ahead of construction they were in comparison to the time such construction would typically take. It was like listening to a James Burke episode of Connections. To say that her guildmates were taken aback by this mild-mannered, female gamer would’ve been an understatement. Kyarina was just getting into how she thought rune magic might be able to be used to create a steam power like force for larger devices, when the rest of her guild came running up.

  Honestly, Ashley hadn’t really known how many Valkyrie players were in and around BrokenFang Hold. She’d just been told that they were a smaller guild that had agreed to join the alliance. While Ashley had noticed Valkyrie players being around wherever she went within the valley, she’d never seen more than two or three in any location at once. Like the other Devil Dogs, she’d taken that to mean that there really weren’t that many of them around. So the thirty-nine fully kitted out players running up were a surprise to say the least.

  Instead of looking like a bunch of hobos in mismatched clothing like the rest the Devil Dogs who put on better gear as they looted it, the Valkyrie pla
yers were wearing well-crafted equipment and clothing that gave them an almost uniformed appearance. Although much of it was worn from constant battle, nonetheless their armor and weapons were obviously well cared for, which earned them nothing but respect from the combat vets. There was just something about looking squared away that soldiers automatically appreciated.

  The last thing that was noticeably different was that they weren’t multi-classing like the rest of the alliance. Even so, the raid did have a well-balanced group of defensive tanks, healers, and mages but without any obvious Rogues or Rangers in their group. While Ashley didn’t quite understand what was up with that, they were all in the level thirty-six to thirty-eight range. That alone was a welcomed sight for the lower-level Devil Dog raid.

  Introductions went easily enough. Even Killtet, her husband, was surprisingly respectful as he shook hands with Vardrid, Demonslayerz, Lorelai, and the other Valkyrie players. Neither Vardrid, the Valkyrie guild leader, nor his officers tried to be bossy or tell anyone what to do, nor did they give any of them shit when they got into the discussion about the Dreadherd and the attack that had taken their raid out. Everything was going well between the two groups, when a shout from the guards on watch about a Scout Pherala returning sent Kyarina racing off.

  “Come on, everyone! That’s the news we’ve been waiting for!” Kyarina shouted over her shoulder, as the rest of the Valkyrie players jerked to attention like they’d been hit with two hundred volts of electricity. As one, the Valkyrie guild raced after her without a word.

  “What’s so important about a Plain Centaur scout?” Killtet asked no one in particular, as Ashley whipped around to focus on him.

  “How do you know it’s a Plain Centaur?” Ashley asked her husband in confusion.

  “Oh, come on, you have to know this one,” Killtet incredulously said, as if it were child’s play. “Could Pherala be anything but a Greek name?”

  “Greek name …” Matt asked, not getting the reference as the Rogue rolled his eyes. “What’s so special about that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Killtet sarcastically said, as he looked around at his guildmates like they were a bunch of dumb grunts. “What, none of you geniuses has figured out that all of the Plain Centaurs have Greek derivative names?”

  “Wait, did you say, Pherala?” Ashley exclaimed in sudden realization, as she took off after the Valkyrie players at a full sprint. “That’s the Centaur that Vector and Forest went to scout with!”

  “Why is everyone’s panties in a knot about the arrival of a freaking Centaur Scout?” Blu3buck whined in confusion, as he followed after the raid not understanding what the big deal was all about. “And where the hell did Keith and Tony go?”

  It took around seven minutes for Ashley to catch up to the other woman. By then, Kyarina had reached the Centauride and was offering the exhausted-looking female a water skin. Stealing a quick glance at the Plain Centaur’s heavily damaged armor and nearly empty quiver, it was pretty self-evident that she’d been through some heavy fighting to reach them. Also, from the sweat rolling down her heaving sides and the exhaustion clear on her face, she’d been galloping hard to reach them. The only question Ashley had besides the obvious was where were the two Devil Dogs that had been traveling with her.

  “Thank you Lady Valkyrie,” Pherala said, as soon as the Centauride caught her breath. “I hadn’t been able to replenish my own supplies since Vector bade me return to BrokenFang Hold with our report.”

  "Honey,” Kyarina said, in a heavy southern accent. “If Pevral can call me Kyarina, than so can you.”

  “You honor me,” Pherala said, nodding her head respectfully at the newfar woman before continuing. “Nearly eight days ago, we passed an enemy vanguard that Forest said was nearly twenty thousand strong. We took out what scouts we could and began moving deeper into the foothills of the Northern Tribes territory, since our quest was for information and not deaths. Four days ago, we ran into the main force as they setup camp for the night.” The Centauride took a deep breath as she took in the concerned faces looking back at her.

  “Forest said there had to be nearly forty-thousand enemy troops if not more in that one camp alone,” Pherala said, as she saw the looks of dread on the newfar faces. “Vector insisted that I return with the information and said you’d know what to do.” The Centauride bobbed her head apologetically, before continuing. “Both newfar said that they would work on slowing down the vanguard as much as they could until the rest of you could join them.” The Centauride’s face turned suddenly serious as she looked Kyarina in the eyes. “I just ask that you allow me to join you in that fight. Such brave warriors should not be left to die on their own.”

  “Thank you, for returning as quickly as you did,” Kyarina said, looking the Centauride in the eyes as she gripped her forearm in thanks. “Please pass on your message to Theric at BrokenFang Keep. Once you do that, refill your supplies and meet us back here in thirty minutes if you wish to join us, but, I’m warning you now, we’ll be keeping a stern pace.”

  “Even exhausted, I can keep to any pace a two-legged can hold,” Pherala stated unapologetically, as she handed Kyarina’s water skin back.

  “Then go, and hurry back,” Kyarina replied back with a smile, as the Centauride reared onto her hind legs, before racing off towards BrokenFang Hold. Kyarina watched the Centauride gallop away for a long moment, before turning to Ashley and grimly meeting her eyes. “Well, isn’t that some perfect timing.”

  “Does that mean you plan to abandon Orion and Minny?” Ashley asked, as a sinking feeling hit her stomach. This was some serious shit. What should she do if Kyarina tried to order her to leave her comrades behind? Would that put the two of their guilds back at odds with one another? Before she could decide how she was going to handle the situation, the other woman surprised her.

  “I don’t see why anything so extreme like that would be necessary,” Kyarina said, looking around the circle at the people from both guilds. “It sounds like the sulfuric pools are on the way to the enemy.” Nodding to Vardrid, she continued as a feral grin split her lips. “We’d be happy to give you a hand getting your people back and taking out the Dreadherd while we’re at it, but only if you’d be willing to join us on carrying out operation seventeen seventy-six.”

  “What the hell is operation seventeen seventy-six?” Ashley caustically said, when her husband suddenly busted out laughing. Giving Killtet the evil eye, she angrily demanded. “What the hell is so funny about that?”

  “It’s operation American Revolutionary War,” Killtet said, laughing even harder at the incredulous look that came to his wife’s face.

  “What kind of history geek would come up with a name like that?” Ashley asked in exasperation, as Kyarina sadly shook her head.

  “That would be me, ma’am,” Vardrid sheepishly replied, as the rest of the Devil Dogs busted out laughing. “It has more to do with the style of hit and run tactics we’re planning to use more than anything else.”

  “Well, it’s not any worse-” Ashley began to say.

  “Or better,” Killtet added.

  “Than any of the named operations that we’ve ever been a part of,” Ashley said with a shrug, as the rest of the Devil Dogs more or less agreed with her on that point. Looking around at her guildmates and getting nods of agreement, she turned back to Kyarina and gave her a shit-eating grin.

  “How could a group of jarheads say no to something like that?”

  Chapter Four

  (Jason, Domenic, and Mike in the real world)

  Ring … ring ... ring … ring … I don’t know how long my smartphone had been ringing by the time I became conscious enough to realize what the hell the noise was. Thankfully, the call finally went to voice mail as I covered my head with the other half of the bedspread I wasn’t laying on and tried to fall back to sleep. The problem now was that the sun was up and my bedroom was a little too bright for me to easily fall back asleep. Laying there with my eyes closed, while h
oping against hope that if I simply closed my eyes that I’d automatically fall back to sleep, the ringing started up again.

  Ring … ring … ring … Instead of answering the phone, I just laid there under the covers silently swearing up a storm. Unfortunately, instead of falling asleep, the annoying sound was bringing me more fully awake whether I wanted to be or not. The only good news was that I realized my migraine was gone, albeit my head still felt a little bit too sensitive. As the call was sent to voice mail again, I sighed in relief and hurriedly tried to make myself fall back to sleep.

  Ring … ring … Cracking my swollen, red eyes open, I finally realized that I was now fully awake whether I wanted to be or not as the incessant sound continued to drone on. With my head still covered, I slipped an arm out from under the blanket to blindly search for the phone on my nightstand. My coordination was completely off as some papers went flying onto the floor. The bottle of hand lotion was next. A second later, my smartwatch was the next victim. The cursing didn’t start until the full water glass went bouncing across the tile floor.

  “Fuck my life!” I exclaimed as I ripped the blankets off my head and hurriedly searched for the ringing smartphone like a vampire afraid of the light. Seriously, what idiot couldn’t fucking figure out that I didn’t want to be disturbed this morning? I saw that the device was just out of my normal reach at the far edge of the nightstand. With an annoyed exhale, I snatched up the still ringing smartphone and flopped back into bed, before pulling the covers over my head. Annoyingly, the fucking smartphone stopped ringing just as I turned it over to answer, but not before I saw the time and the name on the caller ID. It wasn’t even nine o’clock in the morning and I had fourteen missed calls.

  “This had better be good, Mike,” I angrily growled into the MIC, as soon as I swiped up to answer his next call.