by Pdmac
“I did,” Raquel interrupted.
“I’m coming anyway,” Manas replied, “just to make sure. Let’s go.”
They stepped back as Dieter moved in, grabbed Karl’s arm and lifted him up onto his shoulder.
“I’m ready,” Dieter said, shifting the Viking’s weight for comfort.
Manas led the way, marveling that Dieter kept the pace, despite the added weight. Half an hour later they stepped through the door in the cottage.
“I’d forgotten about the mess we made,” Annabeth said, gazing at the surrounding tents and dead bodies of what had been part of Cyril’s army.
“We’ll burn the bodies once we collect any useful weapons and valuables,” Manas said by way of explanation. “And the catapults are a nice addition to the army.” He walked with them to the edge of the cottage. “Your group is about half a kilometer beyond the outer walls, on the main road heading towards Durness. I recommend you halt only while the mist is active. Good luck… and thank you. We would not have been successful without your help.”
He stood to the side and waited until they had all passed by then waved as they zigzagged their way around the campsites and finally disappeared. With a slow deep breath, he retreated back through the tunnel, rehearsing what he was going to tell Gwen.
Raquel led the group through the forest with practiced ease, passing the numerous trolls all turned into stone statues, emerging farther south from the main gate where it seemed not all that long ago they had entered. They maintained a steady pace and soon enough saw Ross impatiently standing next to a wagon, a large draft horse harnessed in front. The rest of the teams stood in the forest edge close by.
“About time you got here,” he fussed. “I’ve had a hard time explaining why I was just waiting here.” He frowned at Karl as Dieter hefted him into the wagon. “What’s his problem?”
“A certain somebody wanted him to stay here,” Annabeth sweetly replied, “and we’re making sure he comes along.”
Ross shook his head with disdain. “Whatever. Why not just leave him here. He was happy enough.”
Raquel glared at him. “That’s not the way we operate. He was under a spell and couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“Like I said,” he shrugged. “He was happy enough. What he don’t know won’t hurt him.”
“Remind me to apply the same principle to you when you’re in trouble,” Raquel said. She turned to the group. “We ready?”
“Who made you boss?” Ross challenged.
“We all did,” Dieter growled. “She’s second in command. If you don’t like it, you’re free to stay here.”
Ross held up his hands in defeat. “Down big guy. I was just asking.”
“We’re wasting time,” Annabeth pointed out. “We need to get moving.”
“Why all the secrecy and rush?” Ross asked.
“Because when the queen finds out he’s gone, she’s not gonna be happy,” Conrad intoned. “Now can we get going?” He climbed up onto the wagon and reached down to help Kendra up. Wendell followed suit with Tina.
When Conrad saw Ross’ cocked eyebrow, he curtly explained, “We’re dwarves, remember? Our feet don’t cover as much ground as fast as you do. While we can march just as far as any of you, if you want to make time, you best let us ride.” He then climbed into the driver’s seat and took hold of the reins then patted the place next to him for Kendra to sit.
“Let’s move out,” Raquel commanded.
The road to Durness was well travelled and by the time the sun was at midday, they had put almost four hours of distance between them and Westhaven. Had they known that the sleeping potion Kamdyn gave to Annabeth was more placebo than spell, their confidence might have faltered. Coupled with that fact was Gwen’s own strength and protection against spells reduced the effect of Annabeth’s spells and what should have been a six hour sleep lasted but three hours. When Gwen awakened and discovered the plot, her wrath unfurled.
Knowing that he would be the first target, Manas had put his affairs in order, designated his successor and calmly waited for the guards to arrest him. A knock on the door to his apartment in the castle alerted him that his time as commander of Westhaven’s army was about to end. He opened the door to four apologetic guards.
“I’m sorry, General,” the sergeant, a middle aged wiry man, said, “but the Queen has sent us to escort you to her quarters.”
Manas held out his wrists to be shackled.
The sergeant hesitated. “I can’t do that to you, General. Your word that you will cooperate is enough.”
Manas gave the man a respectful nod and smile. “Thank you, Sergeant Tyril. You have my word.”
Manas led the way through the hallways to Gwen’s suite, the guards sent to arrest him falling in behind. He was startled to see Kamdyn approaching from the other end of the hallway, the four guards sent to arrest her surrounding her like devoted puppies.
“Good to see you, my friend,” she said with a smile.
“Good to see you too,” he answered, “or should I say, surprised to see you. How long has it been since you roamed these halls?”
“Three years,” she replied with a sigh. Pausing before the door, she leaned closer to him and while the door guard knocked, she said, “My sister is rather angry that we helped her lover escape. I fear I may be spending a lot more time in my prison.”
The door opened and the two were ushered in, the two sets of guards tumbling in behind them.
Two hours past midday, Karl began to stir then finally sat up and yawned, scratched his head and frowned as he looked around.
“Well good morning sleepy beauty,” Conrad teased. “Nice of you to join us.”
“Where are we? Why am I riding in this wagon? How long have I been asleep?” He cracked his neck as he took in the surroundings. The vista had opened up to rolling hills covered in neatly ordered farm fields surrounded by low stone walls and small groves of fruit trees.
“We’re about six hours out of Westhaven,” Conrad answered. “You’re riding in this wagon because that was the only way we could get you away from her. And third, you’ve been asleep for about six hours.”
Karl licked his lips and shook his head. “The last thing I remember is drinking wine in Gwen’s suite.”
“She had your number, lover boy,” Conrad chuckled.
“What do you mean?”
“He means that you were under her spell,” Annabeth said dropping back when she saw that he was awake. “You know she’s a succubus, right?”
“Yeah, sure,” he replied, “but she promised she wouldn’t do that to me.”
Annabeth gave him a stare that said he was dumber than a box of rocks. “Puh-lease. I can’t believe you fell for that line. Actually I can, because not only did you swallow the hook, you ate the entire fishing pole.”
“What are you talking about?” Karl’s frown deepened.
“Dude,” Conrad chimed in. “You told us that you were going to stay with Gwen and rule with her.”
“What?” Karl blurted. “That’s crazy. Why would I do that?”
“Because, lover boy,” Annabeth cooed, “she used her succubus powers to persuade you that you wanted to stay. Do you remember Raquel and me having a glass of wine with you and Gwen in her apartment in the castle?”
“That’s pretty much the last thing I remember.”
“Do you remember what you told us the day before?”
Karl thought for a moment then shook his head. “I don’t remember anything of what was said.”
“Do you remember the battle?” Conrad joked.
“Yes, I remember that,” he huffed.
“Here’s the short and sweet of what’s been happening since we arrived in Westhaven,” Annabeth said as Raquel slowed down to walk alongside the wagon. “Gwen healed Carole. We traded her healing for the quest to save Westhaven from Cyril’s armies. During our stay here, you and the little tart, also vixen and succubus, by the name of Gwen, became rather intimate, so
much so that you had us worried, rightfully so, that she was using her succubus powers on you. You, Mister Clueless, went right along with her. Thankfully, with the help of Manas and a certain sorceress named Kamdyn, we were able to drug you and kidnap you to bring you back to your senses. And here we are, or rather you are, riding in a wagon, escaping the evil clutches of a woman who wanted you all to herself, preventing you from not only leading the elite team of players, but of crossing the first bridge.”
Karl sheepishly looked at Annabeth then Raquel. “That bad, eh?”
“That’s just the good parts,” Raquel smiled.
“What’s the plan?” he asked, climbing out of the wagon to walk alongside the two women. He did another glance around the wagon, noting who was where. Sakura and Ross were at point with the remainder arrayed around the wagon.
“We’re headed towards Durness,” Raquel answered. “We turned down the offer of an escort due to the fact no one in Westhaven had even been farther south than Durness, and more importantly, we didn’t want to be slowed down by having to deal with an escort.”
“Map?”
“Here.” Anticipating his request, Raquel handed him a folded map from one of the merchants in Westhaven. “This one’s better than the others we have.”
Karl opened the map while he called up his screen, tapping the map button to compare. After a moment of examining the two maps, he complained, “Why is our computer map so inferior to this one? All it shows is the towns we’ve been through, where we’re headed and the old ‘you-are-here’ arrow.”
“Yeah, I know,” she nodded. “I think it’s done on purpose so that we have to use the NPCs to help us achieve our quests. At least that’s what I came up with.”
“I suppose,” he said, turning his attention to the map in his hand. “According to this, we’re about two-thirds of the way to the bridge.”
Annabeth chuckled at him. “You missed something important when you checked for the map.”
“What?” He pulled the screen back up, scrutinizing the map. “I don’t see anything unusual.”
“That’s because it’s not on the map.”
“So where is it?” he said, shaking his head, already tired of the game.
“What level were you when we came to Westhaven?”
“Level 6,” he replied then blurted, “I’m a level 9 now.”
“So are the rest of us.”
Karl looked at the rest of his stats, noting the marked rise in leadership and strategy skills. His mana and XP were both over 100. Scrunching his face, he wondered again what it all meant. He thought he understood what mana was, but it still seemed confusing. Why was it important? Health he could understand. Mana? As far as he understood it, it had to do with magic, but his magic skill was still frozen so what did it matter how much mana he had?
Gazing at his other stats, he struggled to make sense of it all. From what they told him, he would lose health and mana if he was wounded in battle, and if he lost all health and mana he would die then respawn and regain his health and mana. It was all too confusing, especially as he hadn’t so much as received a scratch in all the skirmishes he’d had. What was the purpose of having health and mana if he could keep regaining them once he respawned?
He looked at the two women and thought about asking their input, but quickly realized they were as ignorant as he was. In fact, no one on his team had ever gamed before, which was either good in that it gave them all equal footing, or it was crazy because they were all equally ignorant.
Finally, he gave thoughts to his questions. “Can anyone tell me what all the stats mean? Like, what does it matter how many points I have in a certain skill?”
“I think I have an answer,” Annabeth replied. “It has to do with what you can accomplish. Take me for instance. I’m a Level 1 sorceress. I’ve got something like 165 spells, which I’m still trying to figure out what to do with. But some spells have no points in them because I haven’t used them. Others, like my fireball spell, have more points in them because I’ve used them and my skill with them has improved, so the more I use it, the better I get and the more points I get so that when I use it again, it’s a more effective spell. At least that’s what I can figure out so far.”
Ross meandered back, a look of puzzlement creasing his face. “I feel a disturbance in the force,” he said.
“Like what?” Karl said with a grin at the reference.
“Something’s just not right,” he glanced up at the afternoon sky and pointed. “A few minutes ago, several birds flew by here, rather quickly.”
“So?” Karl replied while Raquel’s ears perked up.
“I tried using my ‘Call Animal’ spell, but they ignored me. I know I may only have level one spell skills at the moment, but I’ve been able to call down birds and hawks before.”
“Which way were they heading?” Raquel asked.
“That way,” he said pointing south, “towards Durness.”
“Maybe they were out of range,” Karl opined.
“No,” Raquel said, her eyes fierce. “It’s her. She’s sending messages to Durness.”
“Gimme a break,” Karl moaned. “Why the sinister plot. Maybe it’s just a couple of birds flying too high and they just happen to be heading south. Talk about conspiracy theory.”
“You don’t know her, like we do,” Raquel solemnly said. “She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
“You’re making something out of nothing,” Karl objected.
“Even if I am,” she answered, “it wouldn’t hurt to be on our guard when we get there.”
“At this pace, we’re not getting there until tomorrow,” he said. “We need to find a place to spend the night.”
“We passed through three small villages and a larger town already, so we’re about right here,” Raquel said, pointing on the map in Karl’s hands. “The next town is Brynford. I figured we’d spend the night there.”
“Works for me.” They walked in silence for a while. Ross wandered back to his place at point.
Once Ross was out of hearing, Karl turned to Raquel then Annabeth and back to Raquel. “Thank you for saving me,” he whispered with heartfelt gratitude.
“Any time, lover boy,” Annabeth said, affectionately patting his cheek. “Gotta take care of our own. No man left behind and all that.”
“Besides,” Raquel smiled impishly, pinching his butt and winking at Annabeth, “she was intruding on our claims.”
Brynford wasn’t much of a town, perhaps a dozen buildings arranged around a crossroads in the middle of broad farm fields. The road leading to town had a bridge just wide enough for a single farmer’s wagon and crossed a creek one could almost jump across, providing one had a good running start.
Initially, the town seemed deserted, until a back door opened and a middle aged woman tossed out a pan full of table scraps into the small garden. She paused when she saw them, giving a friendly wave before disappearing back into the house.
Ross stopped at the edge of the bridge and gazed down at the creek only to realize it was far deeper than first impression and that the water moved rather quickly. Turning to the others, he grinned. “How about we play toss-a-dwarf? You all toss them and I’ll get on the other side and catch them.”
Conrad reined in the wagon and leveled a long suffering glare at him. “How about we play hunter-sailboat? We’ll tie your hands and feet and see how long you can float?”
“I was just kidding. Jeez. Get over yourself,” Ross smirked.
“How about you go scout the town while we wait here?” Karl said.
“What’s to scout?” he sniffed in disdain glancing around at the few buildings. “I just hope this dump has a tavern.”
“We’re waiting,” Karl said.
“Damn,” Ross retorted. “Feeling our oats today? You sleep half the trip here and now it’s suddenly ‘do this’ and ‘do that.’ You oughta be thankful you’re even here. I was all for leaving your sorry ass back in Westhaven.”
With a bemused smile, Karl narrowed his gaze at him. “I’ll ask you one last time. Go scout the town.”
Ross returned the stare then shifted his gaze to the others who seemed to be either unaffected by his challenge to Karl’s authority or smiling, waiting to see the outcome. Deciding now was the time, he retorted, “Go scout it yourself.”
With a sigh and shaking his head, Karl stepped to the side as Raquel notched an arrow in her short bow and drew back the string, aiming at Ross.
“You’re going to shoot me?” he mocked. “This is the way you lead? By threatening to kill someone if they don’t obey your whims? I don’t need this or you. I’m outta here.” He was about to turn away when he heard Karl say,
“Too late.”
The arrow found its mark in Ross’ chest, penetrating his heart. His shocked face twisted as the pain shot throughout his body and he dropped to his knees
“You… bastard. You’re… gonna… pay…”
Sakura came up from behind him, jerked his head back and slit his throat.
As life sloughed from his body, he turned glazed eyes to give Karl one last hateful glare.
“Never did like the jerk,” Conrad mumbled.
“See what he has that you can use,” Karl said addressing the group, “before he disappears to respawn.”
“He’ll go back to Westhaven,” Dieter said, “which means he’s mad and he knows where we are.”
“That’s if he changed his respawn spot there,” Annabeth said, hoping he forgot and was stuck back in Abeloft or Marbeck.
“We can’t count on that,” Dieter replied. “We’re eight hours out of Westhaven.”
“We can make the assumption that she’s awake. That’s why we saw the birds headed south. She’s telling someone somewhere about us,” Raquel observed. “Still, she can’t send anyone out once it gets dark, and that will be soon enough.”
“What about Ross?” Lana asked, looking down at the Ranger. “He’s going to want revenge.”
“That he is,” Karl answered. “I doubt he’ll travel alone. My guess is that he’ll wait for another player to come along and team up.”