Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  As we shook our heads in amazement, Jill and Krystal walked up with the rest of our friends to talk about the fight. Nearby, Sarka and Yun were already talking with Tinyr and Unalia along with the Devil Dogs about the Intimidating Shout that had made half of our team run away. I returned Krishna, Lyeneru, Angie, and Gaelin’s greeting as they hurried over along with a few of their guildmates. I didn’t blame them in the least for wanting to be in on this discussion. How the effect worked on a player was the big question on everyone’s minds. Zhou and Darkhorse were just describing their experience, when Helgath silently pointed out Assault Leader Dell approaching with a group of lightly armored mounted cavalry in tow.

  Oddly enough, none of the riders had yet to dismount from their horses. While I didn’t know what the proper etiquette was in a situation like this, it seemed oddly disrespectful to me as the group rode around like they owned the place, especially the main guy who was following behind Dell at the head of the cavalry unit. All of them had that rough-ridden look of being used to living in the saddle and fighting hard.

  These guys weren’t wearing the heavy plate armor of the Guardian Knights, but a lighter version that was mostly leather and chain mail. In addition to that, they did have what looked to be a light bronze breast plate to protect their torso. With how they were armed with a spear, shield, and saber, I instantly thought they were Scouts or a Light Cavalry. From what I could see from this distance, all of their gear looked well-used and well taken care for and, except for their matching red cloaks and blue tabards, none of it was for show. A quick Identify confirmed the man’s name, Cedric DeKhayed – level 45 Scout Leader of the Royal Light Cavalry unit.

  “I’ve got this,” I said, as everyone paused to glance over at the approaching newcomers. “Just keep an eye out in case things go south.” Getting a quick nod from Krishna, Thomas, and my other friends, I excused myself from the discussion and turned towards the approaching group. Helgath was just starting to give me a hand at removing the warped shield off my arm, when Fylreh came cantering up.

  “Here, let me give you a hand with that,” Fylreh said, without any of her previous hesitation or hurt feelings reflected in her tone. To my surprise, she didn’t give Helgath a second glance either as they began working together on getting the metal unbent off my arm. This was unfortunately the position that Assault Leader Dell and Group Leader DeKhayed found me in.

  “Lord Ironwolf, Scout Leader DeKhayed has been sent from the city of Paln-” Assault Leader Dell began to say in the way of introductions, only to be cut off by the outraged Scout Leader.

  “You’re a halfling!” Scout Leader DeKhayed exclaimed, as a look of pure disgust came over his face. “Is this some sort of sick joke?” I had to say, it was a pretty impressive reaction. The Human had said the word “halfling” like it was the worst curse word he had in his vocabulary. Though, that was until his eyes focused on Fylreh and Helgath standing next to me. “A halfling that consorts with demi-humans too!”

  I think it was that last part that drove the Scout Leader over the edge. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as I watched the Human dig his heels into his mounts sides to drive the stead in-between me and Neysa. Not that I honestly think he even saw her in his fury. The only reason the situation didn’t turn to bloodshed was that his spear was still gripped in his shield arm’s hand as he came up next to me.

  “You have truly lost all honor, General Dell,” Scout Leader DeKhayed disrespectfully snarled, “if you’ve chosen to align yourself with scum such as this!” Though Assault Leader Dell managed to grab the horse’s reins along with the man’s spear, he wasn’t able to stop what happened next.

  Not that I was ready for anything myself since my shield arm was still wedged under Fylreh’s elbow and her massive tits while the three of us worked to unbend the iron rim and broken Black Coral pieces enough to remove the shield from around my arm. The whole thing went down just as we were getting the bent metal over my arm. There was that moment of stunned surprise as we watched him raise his hand up and deliver a backhanded smack across my cheek with his leather-chain mail gauntlet. The hollow smack of the blow rang out across the plateau in the pregnant silence that followed.

  Though I could’ve stopped him with a spell, I was so surprised at being basically bitch slapped that I just let it happen. The smug look of superiority let me know this was some point of honor to him. Like he’d just insulted me beyond mere words. Nonetheless, it was a cowardly act when my hands were basically full.

  In truth, I think Scout Leader DeKhayed expected a very different reaction from the Human element of the Kayden Troopers around us than the palpable outrage that suddenly filled the air as literally the entire raid aggressively turned around to face the light cavalry unit. Partly, I think that was because he wasn’t used to being stood up to by anyone he didn’t think deserved his respect. Though, even in his righteous fury, there was that incredulous “oh shit” moment that came to the Scout Leader’s face just as a bestial growl rumbled from the other side of his mount.

  It unfolded like a typical horror movie scene. You know the one where the asshole of the film is doing or saying something stupid while the Werewolf is standing directly behind them. Then there’s that “Fuck me” moment when they suddenly realize how much they just fucked up as the monster growls in their ear. They turn around in time to see the terrible monster’s fang-filled jaws lunging at their face as another victim dies a horrible death.

  ‘Don’t kill him!’ I sent, as Neysa tackled the Scout Leader from the saddle and bore him to the ground. As his terrified screams filled the air, Assault Leader Dell’s voice boomed in command to both the light cavalry unit and the raid.

  “In the name of the Protector of the Kingdom of Kader and the Overlord, I command you to stand down!”

  Those words caught the Palnisdale Royal Cavalry unit by complete surprise as they froze in their saddles unsure of what to do. Whatever authority Assault Leader Dell had wielded in his previous life, it was enough to command respect even in this tense situation as both forces froze where they were. Even Scout Leader DeKhayed’s screaming came to a stop, at least after he realized he wasn’t going to be eaten alive. It was in that second, Jill’s annoyed voice cut the nearly visible tension.

  “What the fuck is this guy’s problem, Jay?” Jill grumbled, as she came to a stop to look down at the man’s terrified face.

  “Sounded like he has an issue with halflings,” Thomas answered for me, as Hefe walked up arm in arm with Bonnie Smash.

  “I can give him a salty pats,” Hefe offered helpfully, as AJ and John let out a bark of laughter while the Devil Dogs grinned at the joke. Though, looking at my team and the Uten Syn guilds’ faces, it was obvious not everyone understood the intended insult. Not that I was about to explain the process entailed pulling one’s pants down to rub your anus across the offending person’s face. Still, the mental picture made me chuckle in spite of myself.

  “Please forgive me, Lord Ironwolf,” Assault Leader Dell apologetically said, as he took a knee before me. “I didn’t think this young fool would be stupid enough to disrespect you so cowardly during the course of carrying out his duty.”

  “Have you lost your mind, old man?” Scout Leader DeKhayed demanded from his back. “You dare to attack a direct representative of the Royal Forces outside of the city of Palnisdale,” the man screeched, “You’ll be put to death for this!”

  ‘Let me eat him and be done with it,’ Neysa said in a growl to me, as I denied her request with a tired sigh.

  “There’s no need for all of that,” I said in an annoyed tone, as I pulled my subordinate to his feet. “Rise to your feet, General Dell. We can discuss exactly what happened later, but for now, any ideas why this idiot attacked me?” Silently hoping that Prince and Princess Isolde weren’t secretly playing games. I’m not sure if Dell was on my same wavelength or just naturally understood the politics of the situation.

  “There’s no need to change my rank
-” Dell began to say, as I waved his concern away.

  “I’d been planning on doing that for a while now,” I said in the way of an explanation, “but I was wanting to do it back in BrokenFang Hold.” I frowned down at Scout Leader DeKhayed. “If doing it now helps stop any disrespect from these assholes, you’ve more than earned the title and my trust.”

  “Thank you for your trust, my lord,” General Dell said from the heart, before continuing. “I don’t think this is a plot from the royal family to go back against their oath but simply a case of simple prejudice and ignorance.” He dipped his head apologetically as he explained things further. “Those of us that were enslaved to the Orcs and newfar have a slightly different perspective on such things now.” He nodded towards the Scout Leader. “Mostly though, such attitudes are that way because that’s just the way things have always been.”

  “Learned prejudice, without any evidence to the contrary,” I muttered to myself, as Dell nodded in agreement. He made a good point. Did that mean getting the Royal Army here in Palnisdale to swear allegiance to me was going to be a lot more difficult because they hadn’t gone through the same horrors that the others had? While the constant disrespect was annoying whenever I met a new group of people, I didn’t hold their ignorance against them but constantly strived to change people’s minds by my own actions. Such behavior was usually propagated by ignorance and tension when resources grew scarce. So far, once the men and women under my command swore their oath of allegiance to me, this hadn’t been an issue.

  Though, a part of me worried how the personal interactions would work between all of my vassals. I had a feeling that the saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” was still just as relevant in The World as it was in the real world. Personal interaction between people hadn’t changed that much from when the saying was first coined ages ago. Would I find myself dealing with racial tensions between my people in the near future? Unlike the real world, there really were major differences in Skills and Abilities between the races.

  While I hoped that wouldn’t be the case, only time would tell. I had the ability to make an amazing empire by mixing the best of what each of the various races had to offer. I just had to make sure people didn’t focus on the negative aspects of their differences. Partly, that could be accomplished by making sure that everyone’s basic needs were met. While I was doing that now, it was only working because we had the fear of constant death hanging over our heads.

  What would happen when that wasn’t the case? Where would people find the motivation to naturally improve themselves and increase their own skills to make themselves and our budding empire better and stronger? In my experience, motivation was a tricky subject and one that few people took responsibility for on their own.

  “My lord,” General Dell said, interrupting my thoughts as he pointed towards the ridge fifty yards away. “The rest of the cavalry unit has arrived.”

  “You’re dead now,” Scout Leader DeKhayed snarled from where Neysa held him by the neck. “Release me now and perchance Sir Anon will take pity on your reckless indiscretion!”

  “Sir Anon you say?” I murmured out loud, as General Dell met my eyes with a knowing nod. This would be a good test as to what we’d find in Palnisdale. Looking around at my friends, it seemed like they were thinking the same thing as I announced in raid chat. “Okay people,” I announced as my eyes scanned the raid around me. “It looks like we’re going to find out if Princess Isolde can truly be trusted now that she’s back in her seat of power.”

  “Ain’t that the million dollar question,” I heard Thomas mutter next to me, as the rest of the Devil Dog crew nodded in agreement.

  They weren’t the only ones muttering under their breaths. That same general thought was basically coming from the entire raid. I waited for the murmuring to die down before continuing.

  “Let’s form up and be ready to either fight or to move out!”

  “As you command, Lord Ironwolf,” the House of Kayden Troopers answered as one. As the people of The World began getting ready to move out, I turned back to Dell just as several of my friends joined us.

  “You ready to move out, General?” I asked, as he gave me an affirmative.

  “Want some company?” Thomas asked with his people.

  “The more the merrier,” I said, clasping hands with him as my other friends joined the group.

  “We’re with you,” Krishna said, as his crew eagerly nodded beside him.

  I had a feeling they were a little upset at missing out on the last fight with the Ogres, since they were on defense at the plateau. The rest of my friends just gave me a silent nod or shit, depending upon who it was as they walked up. Sarka, Yun, Tinyr, and Unalia silently joined my side as my companions joined them, while AJ, Jill, and Krystal were quite vocal. Daniella, Tony, Kat, Glen, Jimmy, and the rest of my friends that we’d pulled out of Domenic’s fortress joined in as well. Hell, even John decided to come.

  The last pair to wander over was Bonnie Smash and Hefe. For a long moment, no one said a word, until AJ busted out laughing. It was all over after that. You have to understand, my friends and I were all 80s geeks and had watched most of the old Sci-Fi and Fantasy movies plenty of times over the years. Though, like most people from my generation, the people of The World had no idea what was so funny. Anyone who’d ever seen the old-school reruns of the Showtime Aerobicise videos or the Beastmaster and original Conan the Barbarian movies would immediately understand the joke.

  It was obvious that Hefe was trying to look like a mini-version of a wannabe Marc Singer from the old Beastmaster movie. Let’s just say his loincloth showed off a lot of unwanted side-hip, so I guess he got that part right. While that was funny in itself, it had nothing on the furry leather wraps around his ankles. I’m sure he got the furry boot idea from the original Conan the Barbarian movie and thought that would look cool. Unfortunately for him, they came out looking more like the fuzzy leg warmers from one of the hot exercise models in the old Showtime Aerobicise videos … with the big hair and all. It was completely ridiculous.

  “I told Honey Bear that the leather wraps were a little bit over the top,” Bonnie Smash apologetically said, as AJ keeled over laughing.

  “Honey Bear!” The Cobra Kai twins howled with tears coming out of their eyes.

  “Can you get down and do some leg kicks?” Jimmy asked, as a panicked look came to Domenic’s face.

  “Please, just don’t,” Domenic said in all seriousness as everyone howled in laughter.

  “Oh come on, guys,” Hefe said, strutting around like a rooster. “I don’t care what all of you say, these things are the shit!”

  What do you even say after someone makes a statement like that? I thought, when Jimmy began strutting around on an invisible catwalk singing, “I’m too sexy for my leg warmers, too sexy for my leg warmers.” I had tears in my eyes after that. It was truly some funny ass shit.

  In a way, this was exactly what all of us needed after the day we’d been through. Yeah … yeah, I know some people would wonder why the hell we were complaining. I mean, we’d gotten some sweet XP and loot for all of our trouble. While all of that was true, the forced grinding had still been a complete ballbuster.

  All around us, the Kayden Troopers had begun to raise their zombies. I took a minute to do the same. Casting my Raise Zombie spell with Helgath, I pulled out fourteen soul stones for us to use. Two were for Helgath and the rest for me. Manipulating the spell with my new skills, we were able to raise up all fourteen undead pets within a few minutes time. While not everyone caught the significance of what I’d just done, Thompson was another story altogether.

  “How the hell did you manage that?” He demanded, as he sidled up to me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

  “I’ll show you the new skills I picked up later, if that’s cool,” I said, as I noticed everyone looked more or less ready to move out.

  “Come on, everyone,” I said, once the laughing had died down. “Let’s go see what thes
e guys want.”

  To either side of me, my companions closed in to make a defensive circle around me and Dell, while Helgath stayed glued to my side with Neysa and our prisoner as Fylreh took up her usual position in the rear. It might’ve been smarter to leave Helgath and Fylreh behind, but I wasn’t in the mood for anymore crap. If any of these fuckers wanted to make a big deal of me or my people, they could kiss my Half-Elf ass.

  “You’re so dead,” a sullen Scout Leader DeKhayed muttered under his breath, as Neysa snapped her fangs at the Human to keep him moving.

  Yeah, we’d finally let him up. Well, in truth, it was more like he nearly jumped out of his skin when the zombies started popping up. Neysa hadn’t been gentle with him either. His cloak was all ripped up and he had quite a lot of blood on his blue tabard. Whatever, we left his weapons on his mount and brought him with us. Not that anyone else paid him any mind. Although, I was curious to see how Sir Anon would handle the situation.

  In the three or so minutes that it had taken for all for us to get prepared, the Heavy Cavalry unit had crested the ridge and had spread out into four separate double row formations. There had to be around five hundred horsemen in the entire formation, so it was an impressive demonstration of their riding ability and skill. I’m sure I’d have appreciated it more if I’d actually been watching, I thought with a mental shrug, as we began walking up the slope towards the ridge.

  Though, with all the zombies being raised, I’m sure having our numbers suddenly more than doubled must have caused some excitement in their ranks. If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like the command group near the center of the line seemed to be having some sort of arm waving argument going on. I don’t know what all the excitement was about since we’d left our zombies back with the main force.

  “I’m getting tired of being surprised by this freaking ridge,” I grumbled to Dell, as I watched an excited ripple go through the Heavy Cavalry’s ranks. It started as soon as someone in the ranks noticed a bloody and roughed-up Scout Leader DeKhayed walking at my side with a massive Silver Dire Wolf at his back.