Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Xanthe twirled about in the open. She had no clue where Leafblade had flown. Being in the air made it a lot harder to spot your opponents, as they could be below or above you. Fighting on the ground was so much easier. By the time Xanthe spotted Leafblade, it was too late. He had flown toward the imperial airship and waved goodbye. The Seraphim continued to fire its guns, this time aiming at the imperial airship. None of the shots connected, as a sentinel ship dipped down and used its hull as a shield to defend the airship. The Seraphim’s guns did minor damage to it. Xanthe looked for a way to fly past the sentinel ship, past the Seraphim, and into the airship. She was not finished with Leafblade. She found a gap she could fly between, flapped her wings, and moved to pass through the open air.

  Rachael yanking on Xanthe’s shoulder stopped her. “It’s not worth it, Xanthe. The sentinel ship will blast you out of the sky.”

  Xanthe grimaced. Upon a closer look, the sentinel ship was opening its weapon ports. Rachael was right.

  Seraphim’s side airlock doors opened. Guy stood at the opened entrance, yelling and waving for Xanthe, Rachael, and Zuran to fly aboard, his hair and trench coat rippling when the winds hit them. Reluctantly, Xanthe and her party soared into the airlock. They gave their fast-moving wings a break, allowing gravity to take hold of their bodies, and allowing their feet to hit the deck of the Seraphim.

  Her flight time slowly regenerated.

  Kill Slather’s Superior – Quest Failed

  Leafblade got away.

  “Fuck . . .”

  On the bridge, Xanthe saw a mixture of familiar and unknown faces. Everyone huddled around Ulysses and Arn as they fingered the machina that made the star-dweller ship work.

  Guy smiled at Xanthe. Or was it Rachael? The two had stood next to each other. He gestured ahead. “That’s everyone, Ulysses. Punch it.”

  The Seraphim angled upward and sped through the clouds so fast that the skies turned into the blackness of space dotted with uncountable stars. Once the Seraphim had put Faeheim behind it, Arn asked, “Where to?”

  Guy cut in. “Not the fleet!”

  Rachael nodded. “I agree.”

  “So do I,” Arn said.

  Ulysses groaned at the star-druid. “Arn . . .”

  “The sentinels can track us somehow, Ulysses,” Arn said. “And right now, they have two ships coming about.”

  “Take us anywhere but the fleet!” Guy pleaded.

  Ulysses looked at Arn, then Guy, then Rachael. They all gave disapproving motions to Ulysses’s plan and approving glances to Guy. Ulysses sighed, spun his chair around, and retook the ship’s controls.

  “Okay, initiating hyperspace jump,” Ulysses said. “Destination, not the fleet.”

  The Seraphim accelerated away from the planet as two sentinel ships left the atmosphere in pursuit. The machina device called the hyperspace drive activated, creating a flash of light that sent the ship away.

  The sentinel ships came to a full stop in front of the space the Seraphim used to occupy.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Two or three days had passed since the escape from Faeheim. The Seraphim spent most of that time jumping in and out of hyperspace to keep the sentinels guessing what their destination was. By the third day, it seemed they gave up their search, giving the Seraphim the luxury to fly through normal space without the fear of ambush.

  They never took the chance on returning to the star-dweller fleet or communicating with them, just in case the sentinels were anticipating that. The downtime gave everyone the chance to share stories, learn names, and exchange information about their classes—and secure empty bunk beds in the crew quarters.

  Xanthe wondered how long the Seraphim would be her new home.

  She found Averyl sitting in the Seraphim’s eating area, the galley as the star-dwellers called it. Averyl had been keeping her distance from everyone, even from Xanthe. It was like the fae princess never knew Xanthe. Averyl’s face was devoid of any emotion when their eyes met.

  Xanthe sat with her. Averyl made an uneasy flinch of her body. “I am relieved to see you are safe,” Xanthe said to her.

  “Yeah, uh, thanks,” she mumbled.

  “I know you wanted me to go with you.” Xanthe looked at the floor. “But it looks like it was a good thing I did not.” Averyl sat up and walked toward the exit, leaving Xanthe sitting there puzzled. Did she offend her? “What happened to the star-dwellers you had traveled with?”

  “Listen. I’m going to lie down.”

  “Of course,” Xanthe said, standing up. “The sleeping spaces are this way—”

  “I can find it, thank you. Been here long enough to remember where it is.”

  And Averyl left saying nothing more.

  Xanthe could not figure it out. Was it because I chose not to go with her? She must have viewed my choice as rejection. Whatever.

  Xanthe spent the next five minutes wandering the corridors of the Seraphim, familiarizing herself with it so she would not get lost while searching for its restroom. She walked past the ship’s sleep space, an open dorm-like area full of bunk beds, and a single washroom shared by everyone on board. She had yet to figure out how to operate the shower. She committed the location of the washroom to memory; it was connected to the sleeping area.

  “. . . seriously thought I had lost you, Rachael.”

  That was Guy’s voice. Xanthe followed the chatter and found Guy and Rachael standing next to one another and leaning against a sizeable floor-to-ceiling observation window. They were watching the stars pass by.

  “Same,” Rachael said. “We knew each other for so long, and like, I thought for a moment, I’d have to go on without you.”

  A devious smile spread across Xanthe’s face. She stood behind Guy and Rachael, then leaned forward to lay her chin on his shoulder. “You never told me that, Guy?”

  Rachael shifted her attention to Xanthe and Guy. “Wha?”

  “You and Rachael.” Xanthe laughed. “You two knew each other for a long time?”

  Xanthe tickled the square of Guy’s back. It triggered a hateful glare from Rachael. Her fuming face turned red.

  “Guy . . .” Rachael said, shutting her eyes. “You know Xanthe?”

  He looked nervous and tried to back away. Too bad for him. Xanthe remained behind Guy, preventing him from backstepping. “Yes,” he finally said.

  “And you were talking about me to Xanthe?!”

  “Hmm?” Xanthe grinned at Rachael. “Something wrong? Guy told me lots of stories.”

  Rachael clenched her fist like she wanted to punch him. “You rarely tell me stories, Guy!”

  He groaned. “Xanthe . . .”

  “Anyway,” Xanthe said and stepped away. “Guy, would you like to pick up where we left off?”

  He looked at her. “What do you mean?”

  Xanthe made a jackoff gesture with her left hand and smiled at him—

  Now his face turned red, likely remembering the fun Xanthe’s pleasuring hand had given him.

  Rachael snapped. “Guy!”

  “What?!”

  “Did you try to build a harem again?!”

  “No! I . . . I . . .”

  Xanthe bid goodbye by stroking his arm. “On second thought, I will leave you with her. When you are finished, Guy, come talk to me.”

  Rachael was competition.

  Xanthe heard a swift thump as she left the observation room. Rachael punched his shoulder, she figured.

  “Guy . . . explain to me what that was . . .” Rachael snarled.

  Kam never understood how star-dwellers could remain sane. It had been three days since he last saw sunlight, and he was ready to lose it. Sure, sometimes light would beam through the Seraphim’s windows if they passed by a star, but that was it. Much of the light came from the machina tubes on the ceiling, artificial light.

  He lay on his bunk to hold off a headache. Footsteps echoed to the side; someone had entered the sleeping area. Kam sat up to see the fae princess enter alone, keep
ing to herself and acting out of character. She had been doing that since the battle at Jenkovi. Kam never told the crew about what he saw that day: how Averyl handled a sword, how she saved herself, and then how she played the role of the rescued maiden afterward.

  It was time to confront her. Kam leaped off his bed and stood ahead of her, arms crossed, hooved foot tapping the floor. “You are not the princess.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I am.”

  “No,” Kam said, his voice firm and serious. “The princess is not one to wield swords or act the way you did. I get it now, why the empire believed you worked for the resistance. Because you do, or at least you did something that would suggest you did. You are a fake, lass.”

  An evil smile graced her face. She pointed at Kam’s bunk. “What’s that?”

  “That?” Kam glanced at what her index finger aimed at—an ocarina he left on his bed. “It is an ocarina I found during our escape from a keep on the planet Mennaze. I am not sure where it came from.” Kam grabbed and brought the wind instrument to his face. “Or why it is called Dianna’s Ocarina.” Dianna . . . wait, was that the name of that human farmer’s daughter? I cannot remember. Human names are so strange.

  “Can I see it?”

  “Yeah, no. People get afflicted when they touch magic items like this. And I do not trust imposters.”

  She put her hands behind her back. “What if I were with the resistance? Would you trust me then?”

  “Maybe.” He made a half-smile. “Are you with the resistance? Or did we just pick up a deceiving imposter?”

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Snow and ice blanketed the city ahead, the chill causing Guy to shutter a bit when the winds hit him. He stood looking at the wooden platform docks of some land-dweller city on the planet Sayaron. Xanthe had suggested they dock there. Guy had never been there, but apparently, this was the planet on which Xanthe had first boarded the Seraphim.

  Speaking of Xanthe, she strode ahead of Guy, left Seraphim’s open entrance, and stepped foot onto the docks. “Welcome to Ziron,” she said. “There should be a market here where farmers come to trade their harvest.”

  Guy nodded and joined her. “I’ll take a peek and see what they got.”

  “Grab as much as you can,” Ulysses shouted from within the ship. “If we can’t return to the fleet, then we’ll have to resupply with food and water frequently on planets like this.”

  “Don’t forget fuel,” Arn added.

  Guy snorted. “Don’t remind me. Land-dwellers can’t help us with that.”

  Ulysses sauntered back onto the ship. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta get these tutorial quests done.”

  Xanthe walked ahead while Guy and Rachael followed behind—

  A third party pushed their way forward and locked arms with Guy.

  “May I come with you?”

  It was Averyl. She was smiling up at Guy too. It was the first time she had looked happy since her rescue, and she got a jealous glare from Xanthe when she saw Averyl keeping close to Guy. He was too afraid to look at Rachael’s facial expression.

  “Shouldn’t you stay on board?” Guy said to Averyl.

  “I doubt a planet like this is privy to who I am, or even knows of the fae world. I’m just a traveler like you.”

  He scratched the back of his head and wandered into the city. “Sure, you can come, but why with me?”

  Averyl beamed. “You’re the Paladin, of course.”

  “And I heard you’re good with the sword,” Guy said. “You don’t need mine for protection.”

  “Do you always talk to women like this when you’re alone with them?—”

  “No, he doesn’t!” That was Rachael pushing forward to send a message with her body language. No harem making.

  A bustling marketplace touched by the winds of winter surrounded them. The sight of Ziron’s land-dweller human, fae, and elvan population caused Guy and his female companions to pause and stare in shock. Everyone in the market of the underdeveloped city fiddled with screens floating in front of them. They all had a class assigned to them, and some townsfolk had gained a few levels.

  “These people are afflicted . . .” Xanthe said.

  “Oh, shit . . .” Guy said, fixing his gaze on the passing shoppers. “It’s spread here too.”

  “It’s going to spread everywhere, according to the White Dragon,” Rachael said. “Damn, I really wished I could have talked with it longer.”

  “We have to get off this planet before the sentinels find out about this,” Guy said.

  “Agreed.” Xanthe nodded and continued walking across the snow and ice. “Let us make this quick.”

  Guy entered a warm shop with Averyl still clinging to his arm, his sack of fae denars jingling in his trench coat pocket. He hoped they accepted them here—according to Xanthe, they should. Rachael, still visibly upset at the fact that Averyl clung to Guy, followed behind. He might have heard her growl too.

  The shopkeeper looked at Guy and Averyl as they entered, his eyes gazing for a long while at Averyl. He pointed at her. “Princess Averyl Autumnfall, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes, that’s me.”

  “You are back already?” asked the shopkeeper. “I thought you left for the elvan realm the other day?”

  Averyl brought her hand to her mouth, covering the sudden gasp she made. “Ah.”

  “Yeah, you had stepped off a star-dweller ship that landed here the other day to shop. The Gabriel, right? Yeah, it was, I remember. You told me Captain O’Connor was going to take you to visit the world of the elves. I was not expecting you back already.”

  “The Gabriel,” Guy said and paused. “Hmm, why does that name sound familiar?” He stared at the fae princess holding his arm. “Wasn’t the Gabriel the starship Xanthe said she put you on?”

  “Oh, mmm. I think.”

  “How did you make it from the Gabriel back to your room in the empire?” Guy asked.

  Averyl looked away with her face turning pale. “Ah . . . hmm, well, you see—”

  “There is an imposter . . .” It was Kam.

  Guy and Averyl turned around to see Kam standing at the shop’s exit, leaning his faun body against the doorframe, arms crossed. Kam continued. “. . . and it’s clear Averyl’s imposter was the one who Xanthe put on the Gabriel and has now gone off to visit the elves.”

  The Planet of the Elves

  Objective: Travel to the elvan homeworld and investigate the second Averyl.

  Issued by: White Dragon

  Reward: 2000 Experience Points

  Accept quest? Yes/No

  Guy grimaced. “And I just got a new quest.” He accepted it, and the screen disappeared.

  “Wonder why she went to the elvan homeworld,” Kam asked.

  “Who knows, but now we have a new destination,” Guy replied. “And the White Dragon wants us to check it out.”

  “Might as well,” Rachael said. “We can’t return to our homes or the fleet.”

  “Yeah,” Guy said to Rachael. “And that Jane Doe land-fae you were working on in the hospital has probably woken up by now.”

  “Rain,” Racheal said. “I think Jane Doe’s name is Rain.”

  “Wasn’t that the name of the daughter of that couple we met in Muruai?”

  “Yes, and supposedly traveled to the empire, became a servant, and . . .” Rachael collected her thoughts. She faced Averyl. “Rain and you became lovers, right?”

  “Um, well . . .”

  “The Gabriel,” Guy cut in, his head connecting the final dot. “Now I know why that name is familiar. I remember Ulysses saying something about O’Connor planning to smuggle a lot of land-fae off of Faeheim. Ulysses also suspected that the Jane Doe fae, Rain, was a fae whom the Gabriel’s crew smuggled during a previous trip.”

  “I wonder . . .” Rachael said and stroked her cheek. “I think Rain might be related to all this. Maybe she was trying to warn us star-dwellers about the affliction.”

  “Then someone f
rom the Gabriel tried to silence Rain by spacing her. And now the second Averyl is on the Gabriel and heading to the elvan homeworld.”

  Kam had remained leaning against the shop’s door, watching as Guy and Rachael purchased four sacks of produce. They turned to leave the shop with their items and walked past him.

  Nijana Celestina, the fae whose appearance looked exactly like Averyl’s, watched as Guy and Rachael left and returned to the Seraphim, hoping they believed that she was Averyl. Once they left, she approached Kam and tugged on his arm, signaling for him to lower his head so that she could whisper into his ear.

  “Thanks for covering for me,” Nijana whispered.

  “They will find out your secret soon, once they get to the real princess,” Kam said to the Averyl imposter.

  “I’ll be gone before that happens.”

  “Unless I speak up.”

  “But you won’t, if I’m conducting an operation for the resistance. You speaking up might compromise me.”

  Nijana grinned and left the shop to follow Guy and Rachael.

  Was Kam part of the resistance? It’d explain why Kam and Zuran were friends as Zuran was a member of the Firethorn family, the Firethorn Kingdom's rulers. The only nation desperate enough to ally with the resistance. As long as Kam kept thinking Nijana was with the resistance, she was safe.

  And as long as the people on board the Seraphim believed Nijana was Princess Averyl Autumnfall, she was safe too.

  Once the Seraphim landed on the elvan world, Nijana would be free to carry out her next heist and vanish—along with that ocarina Kam had.

  That ocarina’s worth a fortune, since it’s the only way to get a class. Some rich elf will pay a handsome sum of gold for it.

  Epilogue

  Ulysses and Arm took their chairs on the bridge, put their hands on the dashboard’s controls and buttons, and read the computer screen’s information output. Guy stood behind, arms crossed, and stared at the stars of space outside the windshield.