Rise of the Grandmaster

by Bradford Bates

  “See? Bounties can be fun.” Cassie pointed an accusing finger at Tim. “And if we hurry, there might be time to do one more.”

  ShadowLily looked at the corpse. “I don’t see any scorch marks. What happened to JaKobi?”

  Not wanting to throw the poor guy under the bus, Tim shrugged. “Guess he got knocked out of the fight early.”

  “’Cowering behind the boulders’ is a much more accurate description,” Gaston chided.

  “Hey, not everyone is cut out for this kind of thing,” Tim countered. “It can be a big shock if you’ve never done it before.”

  “Hey, guys.” JaKobi came around the gopher’s corpse. “I’m sorry I let you down. I think I’ll just head back to town.” He turned away from the group with his head hanging low.

  Tim was impressed he had the guts to come over and talk to them after what happened. It took courage to look into the eyes of people you let down. Being able to admit you made a mistake and own up to it was something not everyone could do.

  JaKobi might not have been ready for the big leagues yet, but there was potential there. Who knows? Maybe the kid just needed them to give him one more chance. Tim never minded giving someone a chance to prove they could do better. He looked at ShadowLily and she gave him a subtle nod.

  “Hey, wait up.” Tim ran around the gopher to catch up with JaKobi. “We’re going to do another bounty if you want to come.”

  The fire mage looked like he was stuck somewhere between crying and being furious with himself. “Why? I’m just slowing you down. You’re better off without me.”

  True, at least for that last fight, but Tim hated seeing someone with potential struggle because they didn’t believe in themselves. Maybe all he needed was a little push. There was always the chance he’d expected too much out of a new addition to the group. Most players were probably avoiding the stronger bosses until after they hit level ten and became adventurers.

  Now Tim just had to find a way to phrase his response so he didn’t sound like he was offering JaKobi charity. “If you don’t want to come, that’s fine, but I really want to see what a fireball looks like in action.”

  “They do look kinda cool,” the fire mage replied without looking up. “As long as I actually cast one.”

  Now they were getting to the heart of the problem. The kid just needed a little confidence. “I’m willing to give you another shot. All you have to do is want it.”

  JaKobi’s lips almost twitched into a smile before they gave up. “All right. I’ll come, but don’t expect too much.”

  Tim was already thinking of all the ways he could get the mage involved in their next fight without a lot of risk. It wouldn’t be too hard. I mean, who wouldn’t love throwing fireballs at everything?

  “Oh, I’ve got a plan.” Tim thumped him on the back. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

  ShadowLily appeared, and both men jumped. “You know it’s never a good thing when he says that.”

  Cassie trotted up. “It really isn’t.”

  “I don’t know.” Gaston snickered. “All of his ideas sound bat shit crazy, but his plans always seem to work.”

  JaKobi looked from one face to the other. “Is that supposed to reassure me?”

  “Didn’t you just hear them,” Tim blustered. “They said my plans always work. So like I said, you have nothing to worry about.”

  “Is he for real?” JaKobi asked the party.

  “He’s mostly full of shit, but he’s not lying about his success rate.” ShadowLily bumped her shoulder into Tim’s.

  “Except for that one time I died,” Cassie snarked.

  Tim smirked at their tank. “Hey, it’s not my fault you got all heroic without any magical protection. And if I remember correctly, you were only mostly dead.”

  “Mostly dead,” JaKobi croaked. “How can you be ‘mostly dead?’”

  “Never mind.” Tim waved away his cinematically brilliant reference as if it were of no importance. “The point is, Cassie’s still with us, and we haven’t lost a battle yet.”

  “And we throw really good parties.” Gaston smiled. “If for nothing else, stick around for the beer.”

  JaKobi grinned. “I do like beer.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Cassie started to lead the way. “Now, there’s just one last thing you have to tell me.” She paused dramatically. “What in the hell kind of name is ‘JaKobi?’”

  The fire mage shot a look at the group that said he’d explained this so many times, it hurt him to do it again. “My real name is Jackson, and my favorite Star Wars character is Obi-Wan. I used the name in my first online game, and it just kind of stuck.”

  Tim patted their newest member on the back. “JaKobi-wan, you’re my only hope.”

  Chapter Sixty

  “So what I want you to do is throw a fireball at it.” Tim made a throwing gesture.

  JaKobi looked incredulous. “But won’t he run right at me?”

  Cassie grinned at him. “That’s kind of the point.”

  Tim tried to pull JaKobi’s attention back from their crazy tank. “Don’t worry about her, she just doesn’t understand how getting hit by everything isn’t what most people want to do.”

  Ignoring Cassie’s stuck-out tongue, Tim continued. “But all you have to do is fry this fucker. We’ll handle the rest.” He tried to give JaKobi a reassuring smile, but there was no way to know how it came off. “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.”

  JaKobi stood and tapped his staff on the ground. His red robes streamed out behind him in the blustery weather. He looked briefly at the party, then walked toward his position.

  Tim noticed JaKobi’s free hand was shaking, but he was still moving forward. It took a lot of courage to be scared but keep going. Most people couldn’t do it. Being able to act when you were terrified was the very definition of what made a person courageous.

  It was a good thing no one could see JaKobi’s legs since they were wobbling like those of a newborn calf taking its first steps. He looked across the clearing at the Hobgoblin and his five minions. Was he really going to do this? As far as he knew, Tim was setting him up for some kind of payback because he’d failed so hard at the last fight. He would throw a fireball at the Hobgoblin, and the rest of the group would run off and leave him to die.

  Tim didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d leave him hanging.

  At some point, you had to trust that you’d made the right choice when you picked a group. They hadn’t kicked him out after one mistake like most people would have. This was his chance. All he had to do was throw a fucking fireball, and they might keep giving him chances until he figured out how not to shit himself in battle.

  JaKobi’s fingers twitched through the spell he’d used thousands of times in practice but never in a real fight, and the blue orb of flame appeared in his hand. Before he could talk himself out of it, he threw the ball of fire at the Hobgoblin.

  A wild cheer rose from behind him, and he realized the group was congratulating him. Then a roar erupted from across the clearing, and JaKobi knew his fireball had hit his target. Without thinking, his fingers moved through the spell again. A new flaming ball appeared in his hands, and he launched it at one of the regular goblins.

  The little fucker jumped out of the way, but JaKobi was warming up to the task now. He called on his spells and continuously rained fire on the enemy as if he could command the stars to fall from the heavens.

  Cassie ran past him and unleashed a battle cry as she charged the Hobgoblin. JaKobi wasn’t sure, but it sounded like she screamed, “Suck my balls.” He hoped that was in reference to the fire he’d been flinging, but these days, you never knew for sure.

  It was kind of nice standing in the back of the battle, sending bursts of flame wherever he thought they were needed most. Plus, with Cassie out there, his chances of getting hit by anything were relatively small.

  His staff clattered to the ground, and JaKobi looked at his arm and wondered what the hell had happened be
fore he saw an arrow sticking out of it. A moment later, the pain hit.

  “Son of a bitch!” JaKobi yowled.

  Tim ran to him. “Don’t worry. It hurts more when I pull it out.”

  What?

  Did he say “pull it out?”

  “You’ll be fine.” Before JaKobi could get away, Tim ripped the arrow out of his arm. A second later, he slammed a healing spell into the wound, then he picked up JaKobi’s staff and handed it to him. “Get back to work.”

  JaKobi tested his arm and it worked fine. Getting hit wasn’t so bad if you had a healer. Sure, it hurt, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Why waste so much time being worried when kicking ass was so much more fun?

  The biggest problem JaKobi had now was that he was just too fucking stationary. He had to figure out a way to cast and move. There was only one way to find out if he could.

  JaKobi started to run.

  His spell fizzled as he tried to cast it, but he wasn’t out of the fight yet. After a little trial and error, he figured out he could cast the spell and run with it for about five seconds. Any longer than that and the fireball disappeared before he could throw it.

  With his new ability to run for a brief stint after casting, JaKobi found he could stay just in front of the goblins’ arrows. The thief, the assassin, and the tank were engaged with the massive Hobgoblin, so it was up to him to pick off their ranged opponents. He’d already brought one of the archers down, but there were four left.

  A second goblin caught on fire and ran around. The flames only burned faster because of his antics. Guess goblins never heard of stop, drop, and roll. JaKobi hit him with another blast to make sure he was out of the fight, then he got moving. He kept his eyes up and waited for the next goblin to show itself. It didn’t take long.

  And then there were two.

  JaKobi was warming up to his role now. The roars of pain from the Hobgoblin indicated he didn’t have a ton of time to do his part before the fight was over. The fireballs flew from his hands like bullets from a semi-automatic weapon. He grinned as the next goblin fell victim to his fiery wrath.

  JaKobi scanned the battlefield in search of his final target. Where in the hell was the last goblin? He turned slowly and tried to figure out how he missed it or if one of the others got him. A cheer went up as the Hobgoblin went down. When he looked back, the scared look on his party’s faces told JaKobi something was wrong. Instead of asking if he was about to die, his fingers twitched through a spell he’d never used before. Flame shield roared to life behind him, but not soon enough.

  The first arrow made it through before the spell took effect. A shot in the arm had felt bad, but an arrow through his hamstring hurt worse. JaKobi fell to the ground and turned to look for his attacker.

  Flameshield destroyed the arrow aimed at JaKobi’s chest. All that was left of the projectile was a trail of smoke hanging in the air. His biggest problem now seemed to be that the spell only had enough juice to stop one attack, but there was a goblin with a sword running straight for him.

  JaKobi tried to stand, but his leg wouldn’t support him. He could only scuttle backward like a three-legged crab. Each time he moved, the arrow bumped the ground and he cried out.

  The goblin seemed to get more excited by his squeals of pain. He tried to call on the flames to protect him again, but his mind was too scattered to cast the spell. His next attempt at flame shield winked out of existence before even being touched.

  The goblin gibbered some curse JaKobi couldn’t understand and lifted the sword above his head.

  It’s been nice knowing you. He watched death coming at him, but the only thought running through his mind was that the little green bastard was smiling. JaKobi closed his eyes, not wanting the last thing he saw to be a sword splitting his head open. He grimaced. It wouldn’t be long now.

  CLANK!

  When JaKobi opened his eyes, Cassie was standing behind him. She had somehow turned the blade away with her staff before the goblin could split JaKobi’s skull. The others were rushing ahead to finish the goblin off, but there was no need. Cassie had the little bugger occupied, and he was ready to end this.

  JaKobi shoved all the pain in his leg into a little box and locked it away. Then he felt the flames surge to life in his right hand. “Get out of the way.”

  Cassie didn’t need to be told twice. She hit the goblin, shoving the creature a few feet away before diving to the side. Flames washed over the little green bastard, reducing him to ash in a matter of seconds. With the last threat to their party dead, the pain rushed back in.

  Fuck that hurt, but at least he wasn’t hiding behind rocks anymore.

  With Tim’s face above him, the pain hit him hard. What was Tim’s fascination with ripping arrows out? A nice cooling sensation took the pain away as Tim worked to close the wound. At least he had someone to help. Healing potions were still out of his price range.

  JaKobi propped himself up on his elbows and a grin spread across his face. “That was fucking awesome!”

  “Dude gets filled with arrows like he tried to hug a porcupine, and he’s smiling.” Cassie shook her head.

  “Big improvement.” Gaston snorted.

  ShadowLily held out a hand to help the fire mage to his feet. “Hey Mikey, I think he likes it.”

  “Guy’s a natural.” Tim grinned as he enjoyed his girlfriend’s reference to one of the most epic science fiction films ever. Before splashing another healing orb on JaKobi’s leg, Tim asked, “How do you feel?”

  JaKobi looked into the smiling faces of his group and felt like he finally found a home in the game. “So, what’s next?”

  Tim wrapped an arm around the fire mage’s shoulders, and together, they walked back in the direction of the city. “First, we’re going to turn in these bounties, then we’ll drink.”

  Taking a few arrows for the team should earn me a drink or two.

  JaKobi grinned, but his expression turned serious as he looked at the group’s leader. “The real question is, did I do enough to make the cut?” His voice wavered as he finished speaking.

  This was it—the moment of truth. He’d totally failed during the first fight, but he’d redeemed himself during the second. Now that he had some experience, he was starting to warm up to the idea of becoming an adventurer. How hard could it be when he’d be surrounded by these fearless veterans?

  Tim took his arm off JaKobi’s shoulders and considered the question for a moment. “I think you’re doing great, but it’s not only my choice. Why don’t we do a few more bounties tomorrow, and then the guild will vote on it?”

  Not quite the answer he wanted. “Sounds good to me.” JaKobi felt betrayed by his voice as he heard the hint of disappointment that had crept in. A vote was the best he could expect after his epic fail with the giant gopher.

  “He’s got my vote,” ShadowLily chimed in as she gently nudged Tim in the ribs.

  “Mine too,” Cassie chortled. “Did you see when he lit the goblin on fire? It was fucking awesome!”

  “I don’t see why not,” Gaston said with an easygoing smile.

  Tim didn’t hesitate. “I guess you’re in. One more reason to celebrate tonight.” He leaned closer. “Welcome to the Blue Dagger Society.”

  JaKobi had never before felt like he belonged anywhere, but with this group, he felt like he could finally be himself. He couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m in a guild.” No one back home would ever believe it.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Malvonis was fucking tired.

  Tired of working for the cardinal, tired of not being respected, tired of every fucking obstacle that stood in his way. It wasn’t as if he’d decided to have an orc for a father. As if any child could pick who their parents were.

  “Shunned” was the word Malvonis used when describing how others treated him, and that was the nice version. Reviled, despised, and disgusted was probably closer to the mark. That was why he chose to spend his life in the shadows and hidden away under his cloak, on
ly stepping outside when there was work to be done.

  But things weren’t getting done, and he was growing upset.

  It wasn’t good for the people around him when Malvonis lost his temper. He liked to think it was his orc nature that made him this way, but the truth was he just had a disposition for violence. Not to mention a hair-trigger when it came time to mete out justice for life's constant disappointments.

  Say one thing for his father, he’d beaten him until Malvonis understood his place. There wasn’t an orc alive who didn’t reject him, and the humans merely tolerated him. He’d never been treated like an equal, not by either fucking race. So he made his own way in the world and carved out a place for himself amongst the thieves.

  Since leaving home, not one damn thing had been easy.

  Spend a few nights sleeping in the gutter after getting robbed, and you started to realize it was better to be the one doing the robbing. Violence in the face of resistance had become his first, second, and third option. It was the mark’s choice if they didn’t want to give up the goods.

  Malvonis’ life lessons didn’t end there. He’d learned not to beat around the bush when it came to blows. There was no point in hemming and hawing or pushing someone around. If you were going to act, it had to be with everything you had, and a knife ended a fistfight rather quickly.

  Years of study with the blade made him a master, his size and strength made him fearsome, and his intelligence set him apart from most assassins. In a perfect world, he would have been an asset, maybe even employed by the crown, but not here. Here, he was just gutter trash, no matter how much he accomplished.

  Promethia could burn for all he cared.

  But where would he go then? There wasn’t a place for him in this world, yet he chose to live. Clawing, fighting, and scratching his way to some semblance of a normal life. It might not have been the life he wanted, but it was a damn sight better than sleeping in those huts in the forest.