Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  No, stop, think! That was would Darcy would tell her. Even if Naomi died, as tragic as that would be, she would still be trapped in this world and she had a chance to make herself stronger in skills that would boost her odds of surviving. Rushing through this could lead to regrets later.

  Sally looked at the skills, all of them, with a critical eye. Sneak was a no brainer as she had used that the most. So two points went to it. She tapped the word Sneak twice and the skill list updated: the +6 flipped to a +8.

  Okay, Perception made sense, so she could see trouble coming. Two points into that. The +2 went to a +4.

  Recalling her spurt of antics in the forest, she considered putting two points into Climb, but paused when Swim caught her eye. It had been a struggle to swim after Naomi and likely she had a 0 in that. It would cost two points to raise that by 1 and four to raise it by 2. After a moment’s thought, she tapped Swim, likely they would need to leave the way they had entered the hideout. The 0 switched to +1 and she was down to four remaining points.

  Maybe it would be wiser to spread them out among her other Class skills: Charm (+6), Deceit (+6), Climb (+5), and Legerdemain (+7). She tapped each skill and as they updated to reflect her choices, she thought to herself that she might come to regret them. But that would come later.

  When the skill list disappeared. Sally pushed herself from the wall and hurried to Naomi. The girl was very pale, lips almost white, and eyes closed. Tom was supporting her head with an arm while pressing his hand across her stomach to stop the bleeding. How long had she been allocating skill points while Naomi bled out?

  His eyes widened when he saw Sally approaching. “I thought you were injured.”

  “I’m fine, but Naomi…” Tears sprung to Sally’s eyes as she took in Naomi’s state. “God, she can’t be dead.”

  Would Naomi disappear and reappear in a graveyard? Or would she die and leave behind a corpse? Guilt filled her to the point that Sally believed she could burst. They had been overconfident and careless and Naomi was paying the price for it.

  She didn’t hear Tom calling her name until he touched her shoulder and shouted at her. “Sally! She’s still alive, but barely that.”

  “Then we have to get her to a doctor or a hospital.”

  Tom’s face hardened in a grim mask. “The nearest hospice is a five-day journey by horse. Her best chance is if there is a healer in Spring Bell, but I don’t believe we can get her there in time.”

  Inside her heart, Sally felt an intense determination. “Darcy is a Cleric who can cast healing spells.”

  She began to rise, but Tom grabbed her wrist. “You don’t know where she is, and that thing is still out there, and it almost killed you too.” His eyes flitted to her now solid leg and then back to her face. “What happens if you come across it or get attacked by Cut Throats?”

  “I can handle myself,” Sally said, checking her character screen. Her HP had gone up from 9 to 18. “I’ll be back with Darcy. Keep Naomi safe until then.”

  ***

  They found the door exactly where Darcy remembered it from the game. As she feared, it was locked tight. Becoming a bit more confident in her new body’s strength, Mina tried to force it open, but the door wouldn’t budge nor creak from her efforts.

  “Sorry, you can’t force it open, even if you use Rage. The dungeon is designed to make the players fight a werewolf for a key to advance to this level.” Darcy half-heartedly hit the door with her mace, which made a hollow thunk.

  “So, what do we do now?” Mina said, almost sagging against the door.

  “Well, we could go up and try to leave the way we came.” That was impossible with their low Sneak skills giving them away at every turn. There was the option of fighting their way out, but it just as useless as sneaking. There were too many Cut Throats, and there was McRando who was the second and final boss of this dungeon. Though Darcy had spells, she only had six of them left. Mina was strong enough to handle two or three bandits, but any more would overwhelm her and she certainly couldn’t fight McRando on her own.

  No, their best option was to wait until someone came along and opened the door for them. Then they could knock that person out and then head downward. The only question was whether that happened before or after the men they assaulted woke up and sounded the alarm. This would be a bad place to get trapped.

  “Do you hear something?” Mina pressed her ear to the door. “There’s something on the other side.”

  Darcy could hear it too. Her eyes went wide as she recognized it as someone struggling to jam a key inside a lock. “Mina, back away from the door!”

  Mina barely cleared the way before the door was swung open with enormous force, and a snarling werewolf with blood-matted fur glared bloody hatred at them. A dagger was sticking out of the side of his damaged neck. He bared his teeth, lips twitching from the force of his growl and his ears folded back to its skull.

  Mina froze in utter terror, but the Cleric raised a hand. A cold calm came over Darcy, and she knew what to do. Her lips moved, forming words she had never spoken before and pointed with two fingers towards the werewolf. The air around them streaked and danced as tiny branches of power gathered and convalesce into a small ball at her fingertips. She cupped her hand before her, gathering the ball of energy into her palm. The power radiated through her arm, almost painful, but also wonderful. Her hair rose off her shoulders, waving from the wind generated by the magic Darcy had summoned and she zeroed in on the werewolf and threw the ball at it.

  The ball burst and white lightning, so bright as to be blinding, arced through the air in zagged branches. It struck the beast in the chest, and he began to howl in pain as electrical currents set all its nerves aflame. The smell of burning flesh and fur hit her nose, and Darcy cringed as the power evaporated, leaving behind a smoking figure whose fur was darker than it was before the spell.

  “Mina! Attack it! Now!” Darcy cried, remembering that the spell, Divine Lightning, granted a bonus to the next attack against the target.

  Spurred into action, Mina raised the sword she had stolen from a Cut Throat, and brought it down across the beast’s forearm. The severed limb spun through the air before it flopped on the floor, inches from Darcy’s feet. The resulting scream was incredibly loud. Darcy worried that it could be heard throughout the complex, bringing McRando and his full gang down upon them.

  “K-k-keelll yuuuuu,” the werewolf rasped through his canines. “Make yuuuu ssssssufffferrrrrr.”

  And this is where he kills us. Darcy thought miserably. We hurt him, but not enough to kill him. I don’t have time to cast another spell before he’s on us.

  The werewolf lowered himself in a ball of fury to pounce, but halted, his amber eyes widening. The tip of a blade burst from his chest, skewering his heart. He swayed on his feet, blood dripping from his maw, and collapsed on the floor. Black fur receded into flesh that rippled like water. Long limbs shortened, and the muscular frame shrunk until what remained was a naked man with a dagger in his throat and right arm chopped off below the elbow. Darcy recognized him as Lieutenant Wolfe’s human form, with chestnut hair and gray eyes, which remained open in death.

  A beautiful half-elf was standing in the doorway, holding a bloody rapier. She stared uncomprehendingly at them. Darcy, however, knew at once it was her half-sister, but saw that she was different, stronger somehow.

  “Sally!” Mina cried, breaking into action first. She swept up the half-elf woman in a huge bear hug, lifting her off the floor as she would a child. “You found us!”

  Sally grunted as the hug squeeze the air out of her lungs, but she hugged Mina back, clearly just as happy to see her again. When she was released onto her feet, she turned to Darcy, and both sisters embraced tightly.

  “I was so worried about you,” Darcy said, feeling tears forming in her eyes. “I was afraid you were alone in this crazy world.”

  “I—I wasn’t alone,” Sally’s voice cracked as she spoke. Darcy was alive, and they were reunit
ed and all the fears and worries she had carried all this time was gone, and the relief was almost overwhelming, making her feel exhausted. She wanted to collapse on the floor and sleep for years, but they had to hurry.

  “Darcy, you were right,” Sally drew back, clutching Darcy’s arms tightly. “There are others trapped in the game too. I met one of them. Her name is Naomi, and she helped me get here, but the werewolf hurt her pretty bad.”

  Darcy wiped away a tear and said, “Lead the way.”

  As the two sisters hurried through the now broken door, they failed to notice that Mina was staring wide at something only she could see.

  Chapter 10

  Battle

  “They’re in the tunnels!” McRando bellowed.

  Sweat stood out on Sike’s brow. He could feel a bead sliding along his temple and down his jaw. It was never safe for anyone when McRando was in this state. The large man gnashed his teeth, and his eyes blazed like hot embers. The only man whose temper matched McRando was Lieutenant Wolfe, and he was now dead. Upon hearing a piercing scream from below, men were sent to investigate and they returned with the word the werewolf was killed, and the prisoners had escaped.

  “Sir, I’ll take a score of men down below and bring them back.”

  “No!” McRando jabbed a thick finger at Sikes’s face. It was so close it nearly poked his left eye. “You’ll take a score of men around to the waterfall and block their escape while I take the rest down below to root the buggers out myself.”

  “Yes sir,” Sikes said and quickly departed to carry out the orders, not wishing to be around an enraged McRando any longer than necessary.

  The Cut Throat boss began shouting orders and summoning men as he donned his cutlass and stormed from the office. The wenches had been helped. There was no way the two of them had killed Wolfe alone. Someone else had found the secret cave and had come in that way. Whoever was on guard duty at the cave would find themselves covered in honey and bound near a bed of ants before the day’s end.

  Losing Wolfe was a grievous blow to the gang. Wolfe had been a lieutenant in the Farron army until he had contracted lycanthropy from a rogue werewolf. Were-people were shunned, thus he was forced out of the army to eke out a living in the wilds. When McRando had found Wolfe, he had seen someone of great value: a strong right-hand man with leadership skills. Surprisingly, Wolfe had been the closest thing to a friend that McRando ever had in his long years as a bandit. Oh, how he would make these wenches pay for what they had done to Wolfe and for humiliating the Cut Throats. They would serve as a lesson for all who would dare to cross him.

  ***

  The hallway was empty when Sally led both Darcy and Mina back to where she had left Naomi and Tom. The only sign they had been there were the bloodstains on the floor and walls and the dead or unconscious Cut Throats.

  “Tom, where are you? Where’s Naomi?” Sally cried, feeling that panic was about to overtake her. Had Tom decided to risk Naomi’s life and take her to the village, or had the Cut Throats had found and taken them both?

  “Here!” A side door opened, and Tom’s head poked out and came out when he saw her. He was shirtless, showing off a lean torso and pale skin. “I didn’t want to be out in the open, so I brought her inside. She’s still alive, but she hasn’t much time.”

  “I found Darcy,” Sally cried, towing Darcy along by the hand.

  With Tom holding the door for them, they hurried inside, to what had once been an old workroom. Naomi was prone on a table, deathly white, with Tom’s shirt wrapped around her waist. It was already soaked through with blood. Sally touched Naomi’s face and was shocked by how cold she felt. How could she still be alive after losing so much blood?

  Darcy drew back the cloth and grimaced as more blood flowed from open wounds, but swallowed back her horror to summon up the necessary magic. The magic pooled in her hand, and when she laid it across Naomi’s chest, it flowed from the palm and into the girl’s body. Before their eyes, flesh webbed and knitted together forming smooth skin with no marks or any sign of damage. Naomi’s face flushed as color and warmth returned to her cheeks and her lip began to darken.

  Slowly, Naomi’s eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes opened. Sally nearly whooped for joy as Naomi turned her head, first to Sally and then to Darcy and whispered so softly, “Did we save them?”

  Sally nodded, tears rolling down her face. “Yeah, we saved them. This is Darcy, my sister.”

  “Hi, Darcy,” Naomi said with a weak smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Yeah, same here,” Darcy returned the smile. “How do you feel?”

  “Sore, but it’s getting better. I think I can walk.”

  “Rest a few minutes before you try,” Darcy warned. “Let me know if you’re still sore, and I’ll cast another healing spell before we leave.” She turned to Sally with a questioning look. “You came in through the waterfall, right?”

  “Yeah, and the way back should be clear. We took care of the guards, but there might be more.” It was comforting to have Darcy back in control again and a weight was lifted off her shoulders that she didn’t realize was there before. Sally looked around and found Tom watching them near the door. “Tom, can you go make sure the way out is clear of Cut Throats?”

  “Yes, of course,” Tom said. He turned to Darcy and Mina and gave them a gentlemanly bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both at last.”

  Once the door closed behind him, Sally sighed, relieved to have a chance to speak freely. “We’ve been careful of what we say around him since he’s an NPC.”

  Mina shrugged. “He seems nice.”

  “He’s alright, I guess,” Sally said, crossing her arms. From the corner of her eye, she saw Darcy’s staring in open mouth awe at the door where Tom was a moment ago. “What is it?”

  “That…that guy just now.” Darcy pointed with a quivering finger. “Did you find him locked up in a room?”

  “Yeah,” Sally said, concerned by Darcy’s reaction. “We were looking for you, but found him instead. He said his name was Tom. Do you know who he is?”

  Darcy nodded, slowly recovering from her shock. “His name is Prince Alexander Tomas Dragoran.”

  Sally blinked. “He’s a prince?”

  “Yeah! He’s the third prince of the Farron Kingdom.” Darcy wrung her hands together and began pacing from the edge of the table towards the door. “He’s a major NPC in Shadow’s Deep. He got captured by Cut Throats on his way back from negotiating a peace treaty with the Saige Republic and rescuing him is a bonus side quest for this dungeon.”

  Naomi was pushing herself up to sit cross-legged. Her skin tone had returned to its natural color, and though there were still dark circles beneath her eyes, she looked quite happy. “I knew rescuing him was a good idea.”

  Reeling from the revelation, Sally leaned against the table. A prince? Was that what he was hiding from them? His comments about girls Naomi’s age being interested in balls and of being unused to receiving orders made sense now. “So, what happens after you rescue him?”

  “He becomes a temporary follower and helps you clear the dungeon,” Darcy said.

  “Well, it seems he’s been doing that,” Mina said with a shrug. “Does this mean he’s following the game’s protocol or just doing what seems natural for a prisoner?”

  “I don’t think so,” Sally said, considering everything they had seen since arriving at the village. The NPCs had all acted as though human, from their prejudices to their greed. No, the people they met were real, or, at least, as good as the real thing. “If the people were following a program, then Smiley Pete wouldn’t have been such a jerk about me, and the Cut Throats would never have come into the village to kidnap people. Those are things would never have happened if they were following the game’s script.

  “Darcy, what happens to the Cut Throats after the players clear the dungeon?”

  Darcy touched her chin in thought. “In the game, the Cut Throats never really go away. Once you clear the dungeon, the
prince proclaims the party the heroes and that Spring Bell is safe from the Cut Throats, but the dungeon resets for the next group of players.”

  “But do you encounter them again after this dungeon?” Sally asked though she suspected she knew the answer.

  “Only as random encounters in the forests in this area,” Darcy said tiredly. “However, I have the feeling that it’s going to play out differently in this world. McRando, he’s the Cut Throats’ boss, the guy who thought we had the stolen letters.”

  “Letters? Oh! I have them right here.” Naomi reached into her tattered gi and pulled out a leather packet containing the desired letters. It was wet and covered in blood, but the contents within were still intact. “I got these while I was playing the game the day before. It was a drop from a random encounter with the Cut Throats.”

  Sally had forgotten entirely about the letters until now. “That’s right! Just like when you were leveling up as Sister Korra. Everything that Naomi did before this craziness happened has stuck.”

  Darcy turned her gaze to Naomi as if only now realizing she was a fellow player and stalked over to her. “Were you playing the game when you appeared in this world?”

  “Yep! Just like you guys.”

  The corners of Darcy’s mouth twitched before she took the letters from Naomi’s hand and opened the packet. She flipped through the pages and squinted at the writing. “These are written in code.”

  “Can you read it?” Mina asked, peering over Darcy’s shoulder at the unfolded page.

  “No, but I don’t need to. I already know what they say. They’re correspondences between corrupt officials whom the Cut Throats were acting as couriers for. Is there a candle in here? We need to burn these.”

  “Why?” Naomi burst out, aghast at having what she deemed as loot destroyed.