Julie stopped stock-still, her eyes widening in surprise. Sergeant stopped and looked back.
“Are you with me?” he asked. “Or are you staying in the village?”
That shook Julie out of her stupor. She hurried to reassure him that she wouldn’t abandon her brother. She’d stay with him through hell and high water.
“Great! Let’s go pack!”
So they were leaving. Had it really come to this? In any case, I saw no reason to stay at Pan’s Landing without my master. My little paws beat into motion and I hurried after the humans to make sure they didn’t forget their kitten. Incidentally, I’d never seen Sergeant so angry. The boy answered all his sister’s questions unwillingly and curtly, until finally revealing the reason for his anger.
“They’re letting those four stay in the village! They barely agreed to take us in, but those guys — no problem! Everything I told them about how Badass couldn’t be trusted, that he’s a crook, a killer and a cannibal… Pan and Max didn’t even listen. They said it was all empty words, that Pan’s Landing needed strong arms to grow and expand. And they’d need strong men to protect against the beasts in the future, they said, especially since Grip is injured and out of the defense squad.
“Yeah, I heard that an alpha got Grip bad last night. Nearly chewed off his arm,” Julie confirmed, still packing away her things from the workbench and shelves into the backpack. “Annie is looking after her husband now. He lost lots of blood and fell asleep. Grip already died seven times, so he can’t just die and get a new body. Too risky.”
Woah! This news that the village’s main defender was injured was a surprise to me, and an unpleasant one. Sergeant thought quietly a moment, then continued.
“I told them that I can replace Grip. I could fight off the beasts up on the Marsh Mistress’s back. But they didn’t even want to listen. They just said ‘stop fantasizing’ and ‘level up first’! Badass isn’t the only problem. Those guys with him, Hulk and Haze, they seem cut from the same cloth. But the worst is that Eddie is among the newcomers. He’s the mayor’s son I fought in a restaurant. He’s the reason I’m in this world! How could we be this unlucky!? That bastard couldn’t have turned up somewhere else in this world?! I don’t believe for a second out here beyond the snowy pass is the only place newbies arrive at in the new world!”
An insistent knock on the door interrupted my master’s rant. Sergeant opened it. An alarmed Varya Tolmachyova appeared on the threshold in her usual military uniform.
“Andrei, they say you and my father argued and you’re leaving…”
Sergeant turned away, taken aback.
“Not your father. I have a history with the newcomers that your dad has allowed to stay in Pan’s Landing. I don’t know two of them, Haze and Hulk, and don’t know why they didn’t like me right off the bat. The two others have already killed me once each. Badass killed me as soon as I arrived in the new world. Eddie and his influential relatives tried hard to bump me off in my past life.”
That argument didn’t convince Varya at all.
“From what I heard, you killed them once each too. So you’re quits. You can forget old grudges. And where will you go, Andrei? There are no other human settlements on this side of the mountains all the way to the forcefield. I’ve explored all over and I know! I mean, there’s a man and wife in a cave half a day’s walk from here, but they never let anyone near. Or are you going to the slavers? With your sister and Shelly? They’ll take them away.”
My master’s frown deepened. He dropped his eyes. It seemed Sergeant hadn’t even thought of his companions’ fate until now. Varya kept up the pressure.
“And you planned to leave Pan’s Landing without even saying good-bye to me! And after I thought you seemed like the most interesting and upstanding person in the village. You took care of your sister, you helped other people without needing a reason. I defended you to my father, made excuses for you! But apparently I mean nothing to you!”
Sergeant sighed heavily, put aside his full backpack and leaned against the workbench. He said nothing for a minute, staring at the floor, then asked Varya:
“Tell your father that I’ll keep hold of myself and try to get along with the newcomers. I won’t attack them first. Beyond that, it all depends on them. And by the way, about Shelly. The she-wolf is going to live here. I won’t stay in Pan’s Landing unless she’s allowed to stay too.”
I listened and couldn’t believe my furry ears. Three days ago, Sergeant had been begging the village leaders to let him and his sister stay. Now he was giving them conditions? But it seemed my master knew what he was doing. Varya came back a little later with an answer from her dad. Shelly was allowed to stay in the village.
* * *
Sergeant and Shelly sat on the shore of the oxbow lake. My master fished for loaches with his gauze net, planning to train the nearby creeping crocodile with some new commands. The long-tailed girl sewed up her torn belt bag and spoke about a journey of a group of veichs to the forcefield. I sat nearby on the sand, cleaning myself and listening closely. According to the Huntress, about a day’s hike south-southeast of Pan’s Landing, there’s a tall transparent barrier that blocks any further travel, so high it stretches into the clouds, and infinitely long.
The veich Hunters walked along the barrier for two days, but never saw an end to the transparent border. Or rather… Shelly’s voice lost some confidence, because she herself wasn’t quite sure what had happened… two of the strongest veichs from the Hunter group did manage to get through the forcefield to the other side. But they couldn’t go back to the waiting members of their group. They could see the two veichs, but not hear them. Items could be transferred to and fro through the forcefield, but they couldn’t drag through a living player. The divided group tried for a long time on both sides of the forcefield until they admitted defeat. Then Uncle Ugmai, now the eldest in the Hunter group after the two leaders were gone, ordered the others to pray to the forest spirits for the departed veichs and return to the village of Orshi-Ur.
Badass’s showed up, interrupting Shelly’s gripping tale. He was level seven now, still without a class. I heard his shambling steps from afar and hurried into a hiding spot, even turned myself translucent — I didn’t want the unpleasant and dangerous player to notice me. Badass would have been just the type of character to grab Sergeant’s limping pet later on and drown him in the nearest stream just out of spite.
The unshaven convict walked onto the bank of the oxbow lake with a careless stroll, hands in the pockets of a bodysuit stretched to his knees. He stood with a mocking smirk on his face a few paces from Sergeant as he fished. He looked at the furry girl, spoke.
“What’s up, soldier boy? Normal girls don’t give it up for ya? Decided to try out dogs?”
Sergeant ignored the jab, continued catching little loaches with his net. Badass crouched down, looking more and more like a thug. He continued to dig at my master with his words, trying to get under his skin:
“Angry you couldn’t chase us out? Surprised that they didn’t listen to you? Your fault for going up against the big guns! That white guy by the name of Haze can talk anyone around to his point of view. In his past life he was a big conman. Heard a lot about him from some high-up gangsters. He woulda gone far. But he died. From what he told me yesterday, he pushed it too far, got caught running a game on some gangsters. Sold them shares in a non-existing company that he said would be building a new bridge across the Volga. The gangsters weren’t exactly overjoyed when they found out. They shot Haze along with Hulk, his personal bodyguard. Now they’re both in this new world. For Haze, talking round that pair of suckers you call leaders was a piece of cake. Haze said he’s going to work, help build up Pan’s Landing… my ass! As if Haze would ever pick up a saw or hammer. Not before the Pope abandons his post at the Vatican to go be a ballet dancer! Let me tell you something: it’s going to take Haze less than ten days to take over this place, with his ability to talk his way to the top. You’
re in big trouble, soldier boy! There ain’t gonna be space here for you, that I promise you!”
Sergeant kept ignoring the convict and silently went on catching fish, knee-deep in the water with his back to his enemy. I felt it was unwise not to keep the dangerous and treacherous player in view. He’d taken advantage of such carelessness before. And Badass was true to form. Quickly glancing around and seeing nobody but Shelly, who he considered harmless, the convict stood and took his right hand out of his pocket. I saw a makeshift shank in Badass’s hand, made from a big sharp branch wrapped in leather. It looked like history was about to repeat itself, with Badass ready to stab Sergeant in the back again…
But not if I could help it! I opened my list of Curse Magic spells and used slow on Badass! Slow again! Weaken! Slow! Infect! Infect! Badass, whose actions immediately became slow, sluggish like a sloth’s, was practically frozen in place, his arm raised to strike. Shelly saw the danger and screamed in fear.
Sergeant turned around in surprise to see… and further events showed me that my master had accounted for the possibility of aggression from Badass and even prepared for it. The water to the right and left of Sergeant bubbled, and two creeping crocodiles launched themselves at their master’s enemy at once. Katy was the first to reach him. She grabbed the convict around his torso and bit him in half. A few seconds of furious fighting over scraps of meat… and two happy and well-fed creeping crocodiles disappeared again in the murky water of the lake. A big cloud of blood slowly floated downstream.
Curse Magic skill increased to level twelve!
Stealth skill increased to level thirteen!
Shelly howled in fear, shocked by the gory sight. Sergeant hugged the girl, calmed her down, then picked up Badass’s shank. He inspected the weapon and put it in his backpack.
“I thought he’d attack. I provoked Badass into an attack and ordered the creeping crocodiles to protect me. Only without a direct command, Katy and Tick-Tock still wouldn’t attack. I don’t know why. Maybe because he counted as being in the same group as the rest of Pan’s Landing? Well, I don’t know how many lives Badass had, but it’s one less now. Maybe that’ll knock him down a peg or two. Just a shame those nice boots didn’t drop…” Sergeant finished and continued catching loaches as if nothing happened.
I sat on the bank and blinked, not knowing what to think of what happened. Sergeant’s calm amazed me. He was either fearless or foolish. In the meantime, the Huntress sat back down, examined her clothes, the sand around. She laid her ears back anxiously.
“Damn! I think I lost my needle! The steel one you gave me. I was holding it, but now it’s gone…” It was painful to look at Shelly. She expected reproach or even punishment. Sergeant just waved a hand.
“It’s just a needle, don’t worry about it! If it weren’t for you warning me just in time, I could have lost a life. Go see Julie, she should have another one.”
‘Just in time’ my ass… If it weren’t for the three slow spells on Badass, the convict would have landed his blow before Sergeant could set his creeping crocodiles on him. I’d stepped in again as the big oaf’s guardian angel, just like when he was taming the Marsh Mistress. I’d already saved Sergeant at least two lives, and got no thanks for it… Meow!
Shelly left, but a new character came to replace her on the lakeside.
Edward Samarsky. Human. Male. Guild: Pan’s Landing. Suggested class: Mechanic. Level 6.
Mechanic? A strange class for someone who looked like a fragile and clumsy momma’s boy. Edward was also dressed far less elegantly and stylishly than back in the restaurant. He wore a mud-splattered white hospital gown with frayed edges. Both his feet were wrapped with grimy rags made from those so-familiar curtains from the night train. The knapsack over his shoulder was made of the same material. Makeshift fingerless leather gloves covered his hands. The dark-haired boy approached and watched for some time while Sergeant caught fish and put them in the birchbark bucket on the shore. Finally, Edward broke the silence.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t expect to see you here at all, Andrei. If I’d known, I would have gone elsewhere. I know you don’t like me, and I don’t like you either. And if you point me to another human settlement, I’ll leave right now.”
An unexpectedly sincere start to the conversation. My master even stopped fishing, turned to his strange rival. It was true; there was no love lost between them.
“No other human settlements around here, I’m afraid. I would have left myself. After all, a decent man can’t live with those criminals you showed up with.”
“You’re telling me,” Edward said, laughing bitterly and sitting down on the lakeshore. “I’ve taken so much shit from them the last couple of days. Wish I’d died back in that hospital bed! See, working is against their thieves’ code… But beating allies half to death, using them as slaves and walking rations, eating people… Apparently their code allows all that.”
What was I hearing? Did this mean that Edward was with those criminals against his will? But then how did he end up in such strange company? Shame I couldn’t speak human as a kitten and ask these important questions. We needed to know the answers. But Edward told it all himself.
“I didn’t wake up from the anesthesia after the operation on my brain. I died. And agreed to be reborn in a primeval world. On the night train, I met someone interesting. A professional philosopher. He even named himself The Philosopher in this world. The Philosopher told me that he’d had an interesting conversation with Woland himself and been invited to the new world. Why the smirk? Don’t believe me?”
Sergeant hurried to hide his smile.
“No. On the contrary, I believe you. Go on.”
“The Philosopher was the only one out all of us that wasn’t afraid and didn’t panic. He suggested that I ran away from the dangerous-looking people that kept telling us to walk through the barrier. He came with me too, but there was a blizzard in the night and the night beasts killed me. We were separated. I wandered around a while. Nearly froze to death, but then Haze’s group picked me up. If only I’d known what kind of people they were… I’d rather have died back home… There was another man with them, beat-up, scrawny. The first time we stopped in the snowy mountains… Three of them cut him up for meat, roasted him and ate him. And I knew perfectly well who those monsters had in mind for their next meal…”
“Shame you didn’t tell that to Pan and Max. They wouldn’t have been so quick to ignore me then!”
But Edward just shook his head.
“It wouldn’t have helped! It would have made things worse. I know. Haze, he’s…” The boy stopped, unable to find the right words. “He has magic and can control people. Sometimes it seems like he isn’t a man at all, but a demon, or something even worse. Haze and his bodyguard weren’t in that night train! I’m sure of that. I’d have seen them! But then how did they show up in the mountains? And… Haze is level seven. He was level seven when we met two days ago and he still is now. But how could he be so strong at level seven? You must have seen it; Haze can’t be resisted! Even the night beasts fear him. They run away in horror!”
Edward was shaking in superstitious fear. My master tried to calm him down.
“Come on, he isn’t a demon. He’s just a conman, a shyster. Used to run scams in the last world. In this world he probably strengthened his abilities by choosing the right skills for it.”
Sergeant started relating what he’d recently heard from Badass, but Edward stopped him.
“Wait, wait! I’ve heard this story from my uncle already. A million-dollar state contract to build a bridge across the Volga that his rogue company won… It was our city where some executive and his bodyguard got assassinated for being involved. Only that was in winter. Half a year ago!”
Edward fell silent, apparently scared by his own words. I couldn’t believe my ginger ears either. Half a year ago? This smelled of mystery beyond the bounds of even this world full of supernatural wonders. Edward’s words were worth thinking
about. If the boy was telling the truth, of course. Sergeant suddenly took a step closer and patted his old enemy on the shoulder gently.
“Come on, calm down. This is just my third day at Pan’s Landing. There are plenty of problems here; with food, with housing, with the night monsters and all the beasts that roam around. But the people here are friendly and kind. And on the whole, things were pretty good before those criminals got here. No matter how strong and nasty Haze and his gang are, Pan’s Landing is my new home, and I won’t give it up without a fight!”
Chapter 22 [Sergeant]
Cartographer
EDWARD HAD LEFT a while ago, but I still stood on the shore, deep in thought. What was going on? Haze and his bodyguard Hulk had been here in the new world for half a year already? That was an eternity. What heights might they have leveled to in that time? Obviously both characters would be far higher than level seven, which is what the ‘official’ nameplates over their heads said. Apparently, Haze had found a way to change that piece of information for others, hiding the true power of his group members. Badass was right when he said that I shouldn’t have gone up against him. A war of words against some psionic at whatever ridiculously high level. It was like taking on a tank bare-handed.
Of course, it was possible that Haze and Hulk had arrived in this world recently, only they’d been taken from another point in time just like Varya Tolmachyova. Just not so far back in time. But personally I didn’t believe that, because it didn’t explain Haze’s phenomenal ability to convince all the other players of his point of view, to put strange ideas in their heads. After all, if I really thought about it, right then I couldn’t understand the spontaneous desire I suddenly had to drop everything and run away from Pan’s Landing in any direction. The only explanation was that it was an idea was from some outside influence. But the most awful thing was: if it wasn’t for Varya who had managed to shake my confidence in my decision, I really would have gone. That was scary. And I had to accept that I couldn’t go toe to toe with Haze yet.
A Cat and His Human (League of Losers Book #1): LitRPG Series Page 18