Fate of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “There’s a lot. This is …” He pauses in his answer to me to complete the circular gesture again and begin pulling his hands in slowly. “It’s called Absorb and it’s meant to extract any poison or infection, but I can’t get it all. Whatever this is is too deep in her, it’s permeated to every inch of her. I’ll have to extract several times to get it all.”

  He completes the series of movements for the second time and then resets and begins again.

  “I’m getting it.” He sounds like he’s panting now, and I see a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. “I’m pulling it out, but there’s so much.” His voice sounds tired.

  “You’ve got this, dude.”

  “Help me,” he groans.

  “What? Yes. Tell me! What do you need?”

  “Absorb doesn’t just drain my mana. Getting rid of the poison is draining my health too.”

  “Oh, no! Okay. I can do this. I remember.”

  I dig into my game menu and find my sad little magic healing spell, Bestow Relief. It’s not much, only level two, but it’s more than nothing. If TexBadass can absorb all of the poison that was killing Manon, the least I can do is offer the bit of healing I have. I cast the spell, hoping for any improvement in his health points.

  “Your time is almost up,” Cadoc says from behind me, but his voice doesn’t carry any conviction. He must see how TexBadass is helping.

  Throughout the spell casting, Manon has stayed more or less exactly where we left her. Each pull of the infection, however, causes her body to spasm and jerk. The color slowly returns to her skin. The effort of staying upright is draining her as much as the spell is. The poison must have latched on to her body, propping her up somehow. Maybe like a parasite. Whatever damage it has done on her body over the last three days, she’ll need to heal from that and from the gap left when it’s gone.

  TexBadass casts Absorb a final time, and I try to keep up with Bestow Relief. Once it’s clear that all of the poison has been pulled from Manon, TexBadass falls to his knees in the meadow, breathing heavily. I continue to pour health points into him as fast as I can, but at my low level of magic, it’s not very fast.

  The rest of us wait and watch for Manon’s reaction to the healing. She lifts her head up and looks around, more energy in her eyes than I had seen before.

  “Be careful, child,” Alwen says, rushing to her side. “You are very weak. You must be slow.”

  “I can do it,” Manon says, awkwardly climbing to her feet. She has to stop every couple movements to rest and regain her strength, but she is doing it.

  She stands. For the first time in I don’t know how many days.

  Manon beams at TexBadass. “Thank you.”

  “Now, don’t go thanking me yet,” he deflects. “Alwen will need to keep an eye on you to make sure you’re mending as you ought. But I do think you’ll be okay now.” He gets to his feet, his health points finally full again, and turns to Cadoc. “Satisfied?”

  The centaur scowls. “Very well.” He instructs one of the other guards to alert Derryth of the development, before turning back to us. “Now. You.” He doesn’t lower his arrow. “You healed Manon, as requested, but I believe your task was set to heal all the sick within the herd.”

  TexBadass lets out a long, slow breath. “Yeah, it is.” He sounds defeated.

  “Go.”

  TexBadass nods, resigned, and turns to the next patient in the infirmary, raising his hands to make the same circular gesture again and again. The young male centaur makes the same shaking, jerking movements that Manon did as the poison is extracted from him. TexBadass sweats with the effort of the spell and the absorption of the poison. But he continues. Over and over again, tearing down partitions, moving aside medical staff and insisting on our treatment as we make our way through the infirmary.

  With TexBadass casting Absorb and me keeping his health points from dropping too low, we are able to rid the herd of the illness in just under an hour. By the time we finish healing the last centaur—an older female who had not even been in the infirmary, but had been induced to come when the news spread of what we were doing—TexBadass and I are both completely exhausted.

  Cadoc and his guards wast no time in getting us moving toward Derryth, to report on our success. All I want is a hot shower and a full meal, but instead I need to stand alert and respectful and hope she keeps her word to let us go.

  Chapter 38

  As TexBadass and I are led back into Derryth’s presence, I have no inkling what we are walking into. Sure, Tex had been able to cure the centaur’s daughter of the deep, debilitating illness that had been killing her for the last few days, but we certainly had taken longer at doing that than we had been allotted, and I still don’t know what happened to Manon next. She was ushered from the infirmary and for all I know she was stricken again once out of our presence. Furthermore, since the rest of our party had been left behind, I have no idea what transpired in our absence. At least TexBadass and his complaining was with me and not just running unsupervised.

  I am hopeful in the fact that TexBadass and I have not been tied up again, but that deflates when we return to the space under the oak tree and I see that all the rest of our party are still in shackles.

  Derryth spots us immediately, cutting her current conversation short to give us her attention. I look around, but Manon is nowhere to be seen. I swallow nervously.

  “You have returned,” the leader of the centaurs says imperiously, looking down on us from her immense height. “I have heard of the chaos you caused in my infirmary.”

  I frown. “Chaos?”

  “Alwen reports that you tore down partitions that had been keeping patients quarantined.”

  “What?” I ask, dumbfounded.

  “Wait just a minute now,” TexBadass says. “Your daughter is alive because of what I did.”

  “We performed your task exactly as requested. In order to fully assess the patients and extract the poison, we needed the space and unfettered access,” I clarify.

  “You gotta break a few eggs if you want to make an omelet,” TexBadass points out. “Without what I did, Manon would still be dying.”

  Derryth listens to all our protests without comment or reaction. Her expression remains unchanged as we challenge his version of events. At this point, I feel like there’s nothing left to lose. Either she keeps her word and lets us go, or she doesn’t. Either way, now that the disease has been eradicated, we have no more bargaining chip to push her in any direction.

  Before Derryth speaks again, a small movement catches my eye from behind the trunk of the tree. I recognize the same coal black skin immediately and watch Manon approach her mother, aided in walking by another centaur. I grin; I can’t help it. For whatever her mother might put us through, I’m still relieved the girl is better.

  Derryth must feel the same relief. I see my own smile mirrored on her face, but with the softness of love only a mother could experience.

  “My darling girl,” she says, in a kind tone of voice we have not yet heard from her. “How do you feel?”

  “So much better, Mama.” Her smile is infectious.

  Derryth half-sobs in her grateful laughter. “I’m so glad.” She turns back to us, much more warmly than she had previously been. “You’re right. Thank you for the service you rendered my herd, my daughter and myself. I don’t know what I would have done without her. Our agreement is met.”

  Quest Completed: Save the Herd

  Description: The centaur herd of Dyrnwood has been stricken by a mysterious disease. You have successfully discovered what the illness is and have helped them heal.

  Reward: +1200 XP; +50 Fame; +30 Gold Crowns; Dyrnwood Woven Pants

  Everyone in our party gains a reward, despite the fact that only TexBadass and I did the work. The loot that I get to equip now is worth whatever effort I put in. Around me, I hear the reactions of the other players as they examine their own new rew
ards, and it looks like that extra XP pushed 88EGG88 to the next level.

  My eyes widen at the stats of the pants I just looted. I equip them immediately.

  Name: Dyrnwood Woven Pants

  Level: 29

  Description: +5% resistance to Earth damage; +5 Stamina; +5 Dexterity

  As we all go over the results of completing the quest, Derryth seems more relaxed, and less likely to call for our execution. I breathe a sigh of relief, but try to disguise it. The reward for this quest is great and all, but getting out of this herd and on our way again is the best reward we could get.

  “So, then,” I venture cautiously. “Can we … ?” I gesture to the other players who are still tied up.

  “Of course.” Derryth gestures impatiently with one hand and the centaur guards immediately move into action to free the others from their bonds. The leader’s tone and behavior immediately changed back to imperious when she asserts her authority. “We will ensure you have sufficient food and drink, and escort you to the border of our lands, but no farther.”

  “Fine with me,” TexBadass mutters.

  “Wait!”

  We all turn to see Manon peeking out from behind her mother, her expression timid.

  Derryth says nothing, but turns to her daughter expectantly.

  “I want to say thank you,” the foal says softly.

  She turns to TexBadass and me and takes a few steps. She has a whispered conversation with her aid who had been helping her, then proceeds to take the next and following steps on her own, without assistance. I want to rush forward, to make sure she is okay, to help her myself, but I know that’s not what she wants. The look of determination on her face make it clear she wants to do this on her own. The entire group watching stay silent, no one moving to help her, but we all breathe a collective sigh of relief when she finally reacher her destination and takes TexBadass’s hand in hers.

  “I don’t know how you ended up here with us,” she begins. Behind her I see MadMachine roll his eyes. “But I appreciate all that you have done and all that you have sacrificed yourself to help me. To help the herd. I don’t know what we would have done without you.” She glances back to her mother, but then continues. “As long as I am here, you are welcome with the Dyrnwood herd.”

  Her mother smiles, and does not contradict her.

  “Thank you, darlin’” TexBadass says. “Just doing my job. ‘Preciate the offer, but we do got to get going.”

  “I understand,” she says with a smile.

  “Maybe we can come back through here sometime,” I suggest.

  “Oh yes!” Her face lights up and she turns to me next to shake my hand. She is oddly formal for such a young child, but I imagine as the offspring of the leader of the herd, she has very particular training.

  “We’ll see you soon,” TexBadass promises.

  Chapter 39

  With all our goodbyes said, we are soon on our way out of the centaurs’ meadow. Tolius, Cadoc and two other warriors keep an eye on our progress until we have crossed the border of their territory. The meadow is larger than I would have expected, and we spend another twenty minutes walking in almost complete silence with our armed guards, as it seems the warriors do not harbor the same tender feelings toward us that the foal does. Once we are finally out of earshot of the herd, and striding back towards the forest, MadMachine takes charge again.

  “Hurry it up. We have a lot of distance to make up,” MadMachine says.

  He’s curt, ungracious, and seems to resent the fact that he wasn’t included in the tasks to save the centaur herd. Reasserting his position as the leader and the only one of us with any information seems to be his way of ensuring, at least to himself, that he is needed.

  “You want to go back there sometime,” I say to TexBadass. “I’m surprised. You seemed so disdainful of the centaurs when we first were captured by them.”

  He shrugs. “I dunno. They kinda grew on me. I do love horses.”

  “Tex, you know you can’t call them that.”

  “I won’t do it to their face,” he says with a grin. “Anyway, I’m just kidding. I know they’re good people— uh, creatures. You saw what that poison was doing to them. No wonder they all were wary of strangers. It’s easy to blame outsiders when you’re security or health is threatened.”

  “We’re almost to the foothills,” MadMachine says to the group, interrupting our conversation. “And then it’s just another short hike north to Slade Pass. We should reach it by the end of the day if we hurry.”

  The meadow extends a little ways on this side of Bors River, which we then cross before reentering the forest at the edge of Dyrnwood. We eat as we walk, filling our health points and restabilizing our Stamina. With 88EGG88 again scouting ahead and leading us towards our goal, the rest of us can check out for a brief time and reorganize inventory, read up on the game’s lore or quests while we walk.

  It’s precisely for this reason that I suddenly look up to realize 88EGG88 has led us into a dark, crowded valley within the forest. Evidence of spiders is all around us. My arm brushes too near a tree trunk, and the sticky web of a spider clings to my elbow and cloak.

  “Damnit,” I say under my breath, trying to wipe it off. The consistency is stickier than I expect, the gossamer thread thicker than I’m used to. I have a very bad feeling about this. “Egg, where are we going?”

  “To the pass,” she says, looking over her shoulder. “This is the most direct way.”

  Now that I’m paying attention, I realize my Power Perception has lit up this entire area in bright red. Every direction we can turn will be dangerous for us. There’s nothing to do but fight our way through it. I stifle a groan.

  I have my Bow of Eternal Rest equipped and I hasten to nock an arrow, looking everywhere for signs of movement and an enemy. The bright red warning of Power Perception has me on guard in every direction. I can’t differentiate the biggest threat; it seems to be coming from everywhere.

  The others in the party have also noticed the lack of sunlight, the spider webs that edge closer and closer to our path through the trees. The smallest of the spider webs is still at least six feet across. My stomach drops as I consider the size of the creatures that live here.

  That live and catch their prey here.

  “Faster,” I whisper. “Let’s try to get through here without disturbing any of them.”

  No sooner are the words out of my mouth than my attention is pulled up, into the branches, between the boughs where the webs are even thicker and larger. At first I think I imagined it, but then what I had taken to be a thick tree branch moves again and I realize it is one of eight legs crawling its way down the tree toward our party.

  Name: King Spider

  Level: 35

  Description: The King Spider is common to dark, cramped spaces, living near its cousins in large communities. The face and joints are the most vulnerable to attack, but your chance of hitting those small targets are small.

  “Here we go,” MadMachine says.

  Enhancement received: Bubble of Protection

  Description: You will sustain -5% damage for the next sixty seconds

  Enhancement received: True Aim

  Description: You will enjoy +3% accuracy for the next sixty seconds

  Enhancement received: Arm of Monmouth

  Description: You will enjoy +5% Strength for the next sixty seconds

  I ready a poison arrow and wait for the exact second that I have a clear shot of the King Spider’s face or joint.

  In that couple seconds of waiting, however, half a dozen more huge spiders appear in the trees above and around us. They are at least three feet across, just in the abdomen, with the legs extending their reach another several feet. We are surrounded immediately, enormous, eight-legged monsters all slowly creeping down the trees towards us.

  I fire at the leg of the closest one. It flinches, pauses, and does have some health drained from it, but continues its progress almost immediately. I fire another
arrow, and a third. Erinocalypse has begun sending spell after spell at the King Spiders. ElJugador contributes his own magical attack. The faster we can kill them before they approach, the safer our tanks will be.

  But it never seems fast enough.

  If it weren’t for the additional members of our party, we could have easily been overwhelmed by this mob. They just keep coming and it seems like for every one I kill, three more show up.

  I fire again, as fast as I can, hitting a King Spider right in the eye. But still it advances.

  Chapter 40

  “These are cray!” SteelFeather says with a laugh.

  As soon as a King Spider crawls down the tree close enough to him, the tank swings his sword, and stabs at the creature. It takes him two hits, but he’s able to bring down the spider before it can get any closer to us.

  Because we have wandered into a small valley, however, we are surrounded almost immediately. There is nowhere for our healer and ranged damage dealers to stay back out of the fray. Instead, we have to turn our backs towards the center of the valley, facing out toward the trees, and hope that we can kill the spiders fast enough.

  My Bow of Eternal Rest carries a heavy hit, but soon the next wave of spiders is on its way to us. Closer and closer until I start to feel frantic about how fast I can nock and fire an arrow. I give up trying to coat each with poison; there’s no time.

  “Gah!”

  I look around to notice that TexBadass has been bitten. The King Spider’s huge fangs are latched on to his arm. Both Balderdash13 and SteelFeather rush to his side, weapons flying. I shoot my next arrow into his attacker. Tex is our only healer. He needs to be our priority.

  While our attention is fixed on TexBadass, the King Spiders make their way closer to the players on the other side of the circle. ElJugador casts some kind of fire spell, as MadMachine attacks the spiders with his own sword. 88EGG88 is nowhere to be seen, so I hope that means she is under Stealth and doing something productive. If it were Callidus, at the very least I’d be able to trust him, but with 88EGG88 …