by David Petrie
He grinned.
Then she grinned.
Corvin let out a confused, “What the hel–,” just before she head-butted him in the nose, which had been where she had been looking to avoid making eye contact.
Somehow she had known.
He fell back, slipping down the smooth surface until he hit the roof below with hard thud that took another ten percent from his health. The Coin followed, dashing down the pyramid at full speed.
Corvin braced and raised his sword, just as she leaped clear over him. She landed in a crouch on the roof behind him, her dagger thrusting forward before he even had the chance to turn.
Then an arrow punched through her chest.
Her face contorted as the emblem on her hand faded to indicate a near lethal drop in health.
“It’s about time.” Corvin breathed a sigh of relief. He had been waiting for Kegan to get back into the fight ever since he noticed his health bar hadn’t depleted after he had slipped off the roof earlier.
“Sorry, used my last Shift Arrow to save myself, and I ended up on the second floor. Had to climb all the way back up.” Kegan nocked another arrow.
Aawil spun on her heel just in time to deflect before taking another hit that would have killed her.
She looked pissed.
Kegan, however, looked pretty damn pleased with himself.
Aawil reached to her item bag for a health vial, but another arrow aimed at her head demanded her focus. The fight was over. There was nothing she could do.
She let out a furious growl and ran toward the Leaf, deflecting arrows one after another. Desperation took over as she threw her dagger, her only means of defense gone.
The weapon hit Kegan the shoulder, doing little more than to delay his next arrow. He ignored it and fired.
Then shock flooded Kegan’s eyes as the wild Coin snatched the arrow out of the air and leaped straight at him. She tucked her legs into a crouch, hitting him feet first before plunging his own arrow into his neck. Together, the momentum carried them off the edge of the roof. She grabbed her dagger and kicked him with everything she had left, ensuring his fall while launching herself back to safety. She hit the tile roof in a heap as the Leaf disappeared over the side.
Corvin froze, unable to process what had happened.
Kegan’s last words rang out over the house line. A warning for the others. “Get out of there now! Our cover’s blown–” It was the only thing he could do before his words were cut off by the ground.
This time, his health crashed to zero.
Aawil pushed herself up, using her dagger for support. The tip of the blade scraped against the tile with an awful screech. She crouched to and turned her attention back to Corvin.
Without hesitating, she rushed forward.
He did the same. There was only one option left.
Corvin thrust his sword at her head with both hands in an all-out attack that left him open. She ducked and plunged her dagger into his stomach. Shoving upward, her head rested against his shoulder, his arms around her in an embrace of simulated pain.
“This one’s for Kegan,” he rasped in her ear as closed the trap he had set using himself as bait. All he needed was an opening. It was simple.
Throwing one arm around her back, he held her tight and ran her through, impaling them both.
She gasped against his neck, and for a moment, her body relaxed. Corvin fell to his knees with her in his arms as he waited for the world to fade.
Then together, they drifted into the night air in a single cloud of shimmering light.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“Damn it!” Max punched the wall of snow-covered stone that surrounded the teleport point of Mount Feech.
They hadn’t arrived there for any particular reason other than that it had been the first place that their drunk-ass teleporter had picked. It was as good a place as any to regroup since it was at least it was quiet and secluded.
Only ten minutes had passed before Kegan and Corvin respawned. It had taken even less time for Luka and Rando to pick them up before teleporting to the rest of the group for debriefing.
“We were so close.” Ginger eyes watered with a crestfallen expression. She rested her chin on Kira’s head as she held the wobbling fairy against her chest to keep her from wandering off.
“Quit clingin' on me,” Kira complained.
“No, you might fall down if I don’t.” The Coin held her tighter. “Plus, you’re fun to squeeze, and I need something to make me feel better.
“I’m really sorry,” Corvin said, clearly blaming himself for blowing everything. “Aawil just snuck up on us. There was no time to hide our house rings.”
“It’s not your fault. Things happen.” Max waved away the apology.
Rando stepped up, looking just as bland as he did before when they first met. “What’s important is that we try to salvage the op.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” Max threw up his arms. “Our cover’s blown.”
“Well, there’s really only one way,” answered Rando, sounding a little condescending. “Just teleport yourselves back to the palace before they revoke your access.”
Max scoffed at the idea. “Yeah and walk right into a trap.”
“Actually, he’s kinda right.” Farn stepped forward. “Nix and Aawil are mercenaries, so they aren’t really loyal to Berwyn. Just his money. And if I was them, I’d wait to find out more before doing anything. They might not have told on us yet. So teleporting in might be the fastest way to find out if our cover really is blown.”
Max flipped through his journal to see if his base point was still set to their room in the palace, which it was. “They haven’t kicked us out, and they’ve had enough time to do it already. But that could also mean that they're waiting there with a team to kill us all as soon as we appear.”
“That does seem like something Berwyn would do,” commented Luka, provoking an annoyed glower from Rando.
“Either way, we should probably get this one sobered up a bit first.” Farn gestured back at Kira who was trying to get free of Ginger's arms by going no-bones and dropping to the ground like a child.
“I’m fine,” argued the fairy while leaning against the Coin’s legs for balance.
“I know you are, but just in case, why don’t you have a snack and rest a bit anyway.” Farn crouched down and materialized the last lagopin bun from her inventory.
Kira immediately snatched the item and scarfed it down.
There were no further arguments.
About a half-hour later and few more food items from everyone’s supply, Kira was relatively stable, or at least, stable enough to build a small family of snowmen. Well, snow-people. She gave two of them breasts.
“Oh great, I feel better about this already,” Max said sarcastically as he stepped toward her for a teleport along with Farn and Ginger.
“Report back as soon as you know where things stand.” Rando stood back with the others.
“Yeah, yeah, we know the drill.” Max tried to act as if covert operations weren’t anything new. “Make sure you take us to the right place this time,” he added in Kira’s direction.
She gave a harrumph but took her time selecting the correct glyphs from her menu just in case.
Tendrils of orange light weaved a sphere around them, replacing the cold of the mountains with the collective, uncomfortable warmth of four bodies breathing.
“It’s probably a good thing that none of this is real,” Kira rubbed at her stomach, “'cause I would totally throw up on all of you right now.”
Max tried his best to keep his distance.
As expected, the shell of mana dispersed in a burst of light and color.
They moved fast.
Weapons were drawn, and casters snapped open. They ready for anything.
Well, almost anything.
“Hi, guys.” Nix sat in one of the chairs, ignoring the guns, sword, and dagger, pointing at in her direction. Her tail peaked out from
under her, swishing happily. On the arm of the chair, just within reach, was her M9. “I was afraid you all might not come back.”
“Hi, Nix,” Max breathed through his teeth without lowering his pistols. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Now, is that any way to talk to your new partner?”
Max gave a low snort meant to sounded sarcastic. “And when exactly did we become partners?”
The reynard’s ears twitched back and forth for a moment before letting out a long sigh. “Okay, so I’m just gonna lay everything out on the table here. Aawil and I might have an ulterior motive for working for Berwyn. And I assume, judging from the two jackasses that you guys have had hiding up on the roof all week, that you might not be here just to join up with Berwyn either. After watching you for a while, I can only assume that you are after the same thing as us.
Max started to say something but stopped just short, not wanting to give her any information. “And what’s that?”
“The vault.” She rolled her eyes as if it had been obvious.
“Okay, so why didn’t you tell on us? Shouldn’t you want us out of the way?”
Nix shifted in her seat, almost seeming embarrassed. “Well, we sort of need your help here anyway.”
Max said nothing, forcing her to continue.
“Both Aawil and I are too big and heavy to get through the laser grid.”
“Mana fence,” Kira and Farn corrected in unison.
Nix ignored them.
“So you need our help then?” Max assumed, letting a smug grin crack on to his face.
She ignored that as well and gestured to Kira. “Well, you have such a perfect solution right here.”
“That’s true. We do,” Max agreed before repeating the words, “We. Do,” with more emphasis. “So the question here is why do you think we need to take you two on as partners?”
“True true.“ Nix nodded. “For starters, we’re not greedy. So we’re happy with just a cut of the hard, even though we were here first. And as for what we have to offer, well, we just won’t tell on you.”
Max decided to play hardball. “But what’s to stop us from just telling on you first?”
“That’s simple, I have Aawil in position to tell Berwyn right now that she just killed two Lockheart spies on the roof, and of course, I’m already right here to take prisoners.” Her eyes flicked to her gun, still resting on the arm of her chair.
Max adjusted his aim to draw her attention back to his pistols. “You really think you can take the four of us?”
“You think I can’t?”
Max didn’t answer. Instead, he just let out a pensive, “Hmm.” He wasn’t sure. He could call her bluff, but that would blow the whole plan. Then again, if they took her on as a partner, she might jeopardize everything anyway. Not to mention, that they would be adding two players into the split of the take when things were over. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it showed when he let the silence go on too long.
The others to looked at him awkwardly as if they were wondering if they should still be aiming their weapons at the mercenary.
Nix clasped her hands together. “I’m sensing that you might need a little more convincing. So I could sweeten the deal a bit.”
“Oh yeah, how?” Max said, partially hoping it would be enough to justify the risks of working with her as he let his aim fall to a more relaxed position.
She hesitated a moment, her ears twitching. “I wasn’t going to get involved in your problems, but hey, I’m curious.” Her gaze drifted to Kira. “I could get that pendant off you.”
Max raised his guns back up so fast that she may as well have issued a threat. Instead of firing, he looked to Kira who was just as stunned, clasping the amethyst gem that clung to her throat with one hand.
Farn stepped closer until she pressed against the fairy, shielding her with her body just in case.
“How do you know about her pendant?” demanded Max, practically shouting before realizing that he should keep his voice down.
A Cheshire grin crept across Nix’s face. “You’d be surprised what I know about what goes on in this world. I am rather well informed.”
“Then do it. Get it off her now!” Farn jumped into the conversation, sounding a little desperate.
Kira nodded along with her.
“Not so fast.” Nix shifted in her seat, turning her eyes to Kira so that she could address the fairy rather than letting everyone else discuss her fate in front of her. “We haven’t even gotten into the vault yet. Besides, getting that thing off isn’t as easy as it sounds. But if you stick with me on this, I can promise you that it won’t be a problem much longer.” She looked back to Max. “And don’t worry, I’ll answer whatever you want when this thing is over.”
He wanted to say more but wasn’t sure how to respond. Kira’s situation had sat at the back of his mind ever since she had almost died the year before. Having it brought up now by someone as shifty as Nix in the middle of the heist threw him for a loop.
She raised an eyebrow. “Should I take it from your lack of shooting me that you’re on board here?”
“I guess, but–” he started to say before being cut off.
“Perfect.” She got up, making sure to pick up her M9 as non-threateningly as possible before slipping it back into her holster.
“I’m glad we could work this out.” She held out her hand to shake as if they had all just become the best of friends. However, when it became obvious that that none of them were putting down their weapons, she just gripped the muzzle of one of Max’s pistols and shook it instead.
“Well, I’ll be logging off, but I’ll be on tomorrow night bright and early. So we can all hang out then and go over the plan. There’s still one night left to kill before Checkpoint deposits the city’s hard anyway. Might as well get prepared while we wait.”
With that, she slipped out of the room, leaving Max with his eye twitching. He let his guns drop to his sides and stared at the door where she’d been.
“What the hell just happened?”
Chapter Forty-Eight
NIGHT FIVE: THE HONEY POT
Max wrapped his knuckles against the rickety door of a small shack near the edge of Port Han.
There was no answer.
“Is the right place?” Corvin swiveled his head around the street of the quiet fishing village. The lantern hanging by the door bathed the scene in an eerie light.
“Yeah, it kinda gives me the willies,” Kegan furrowed his brow, “or is it the heebie-jeebies.”
“Keep thinking about that. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Ginger checked the time on her stat-sleeve despite having only just logged in for the night.
“Is it possible to have the willie-jeebies?” Kegan continued. With Kira and Farn absent, he seemed to be taking it upon himself to lighten the mood.
Max hadn’t wanted to leave them behind, but it seemed prudent to keep a presence back at the palace to keep an eye on their new partner, Nix. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of her for a second, but he had questions, and right now, answers came first. He banged on the door of the shack hard enough to make the lantern beside it rattle.
“Hey, Luka, open up. We don’t have all night!”
Finally, an annoyed elf answered the door, “Are you trying to call as much attention to our secret field office as possible.”
Max gave her a humorless stare, then gestured back to the empty fishing village.
“Point taken. Come on then.” Luka nodded before showing them inside and down a stairwell that lead beneath the structure. Max followed her down the creaking planks until they reached a plain looking door. She pushed it open.
Max let out an involuntary, “Whoa,” as he took in the brightly lit, modern hallway that lay beyond. It was as if he had just stepped out of Noctem and into an office building in the real world.
“We get that a lot.” Luka chuckled at his dumbfounded expression.
“I had no idea some
thing like this was sitting here under Port Han.” Ginger blinked and glanced around.
“Actually, I’m not sure if it is.” She directed their attention down the hall where dozen more doors lined the wall. “These all lead to different places all over Noctem, so technically, this hallway could be anywhere. Though, the bureau rents the space from Checkpoint Systems, so I always assumed it existed in Valain.”
“Yeah, I get it, it’s all very impressive, but we do have to get back to the palace,” Max tried to speed things up, coming off a little rude. He wasn’t comfortable leaving Kira and Farn alone with Nix.
If Luka was offended, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she led them to a door at the end of the hall which housed an office. A number of terminals of floating glass, similar to a player’s inspector, lined one wall.
Rando stood in the center. “Sorry to call you out here, but we didn’t think it would be good to keep meeting in the open.”
“What were you able to find out, Rando?” Max asked, cutting to the reason they had come. After being forced into a partnership with Nix, he had thought it wise to have Rando and Luka find out what they could about her during the day. The mercenary had to be more than she appeared. He was sure of it.
“You can call me Dawson down here; this location is secure. And sorry to disappoint, but Nix is clean.”
“That’s it?” Max asked, unsatisfied with such a basic answer.
“That’s it.” Dawson held his hand out empty. “I can’t tell you much about her since you’re not cleared to go digging into the private information of a civilian, but she’s just your average college student. Average grades. No record. Nothing out of the ordinary. If you can work with her, you should still be able to pull this off without–”
“You’re wrong.” Max interrupted.
“What?”
“You must have missed something.”
Dawson glowered at him. “We were thorough, I assure you. So unless she’s somehow better than us at putting together a cover, then I think she’s just a normal girl.”
“What if she is better than you?”