Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  “I did, but barely for a second, she was so fast I couldn’t catch any detail about her except that she was wearing white.”

  Sally noticed that Darcy didn’t seem tired anymore and her dark complexion looked almost pallid. “You said she. Are you sure it was a woman?”

  “It sounded like a woman, and she had a southern accent too.”

  “Shit,” Darcy moaned, rubbing a face over her face. “Oh, dear Lord, no, no, not this. Anything, but this.”

  Both Sally and Mina stared at her in unsettling silence. They had seen her upset and afraid before, but not like this. Even Sally had never seen her sister so frightened as if she was about to piss herself.

  It was Mina who broke the silence. “Do you know who she is?”

  “I, unfortunately, do,” Darcy said, wringing her hands. “White arrows, white direwolf, and white clothing, it matches what I’ve heard about her. Goddammit…of all the people to be trapped in this world with…”

  “Darcy, don’t keep us in suspense,” Sally said, getting impatient and more scared by Darcy’s reaction. “Who are we dealing with?”

  “Lemme correct you right there.” Darcy held up a finger and wagged it Sally’s face. “We aren’t dealing with this woman at all. We are staying as far away from her as possible.”

  “Okay, we get it. We understand,” Mina said, exasperated. “This isn’t someone we want to mess with. So please tell us who it is we don’t want to mess with.”

  Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose, looking haggard and so very tired. “I don’t know her name, but I do know she’s a PK.”

  Sally and Mina had different reactions. The Rogue’s jaw dropped open, and her eyes went wide with fear. Mina looked between the sisters, confused and afraid. “What’s a PK?”

  “It means Player Killer,” Sally said. Even though she was a single-player gamer, she had heard the phrase tossed around in the gaming community more than once. “It means she goes around killing other players for fun.”

  Mina’s dark eyebrows arched upward. “The game allows you to do that?”

  “There were some servers that are non-PK, but the more popular ones are not,” Darcy said, eyeing the demijohn longingly, but changed her mind and looked way. “And guess which one Aslan Twenty-Five is?”

  “Shit,” Sally moaned, also eyeing the demijohn.

  Darcy wasn’t finished with the bad news yet. “There’s this group that call themselves the Hunters. They ambush players for fun, but they don’t pick up their fallen items. They’ll leave them as bait for other players and kill them too.”

  “So, she’s one of these Hunters?” Sally said, tempted to take a swig of wine too.

  “She’d have to be one of them to be their leader,” Darcy said and let that hang in the air over them.

  “If it’s just one person…” Mina started.

  “Let me stop you right there,” Darcy said with a sharp motion. “The Hunters are high-level players. They all have twenty levels in one class and several levels in others. The last time their leader posted her stats online, she was a level twenty Ranger with five levels in Rogue and Fighter. Not only that, the Hunters all have top tier equipment and items. If you swing at her with your ax and manage to somehow, someway land a hit, it’ll just bounce off her masterwork enchanted leather armor like a Nerf bat.”

  There was a long silence as Sally drew a slow breath and Mina sat stoically, but even she could see beads of sweat forming on her brow.

  “What about the direwolf? How does she have control over it?” Mina asked, breaking the silence.

  “Rangers can get an animal companion,” Darcy explained. “It levels up with the player and changes into stronger forms. Hers would have started out a small dog and eventually become a direwolf. What’s more, animal companions have an empathetic link with their masters so they can follow complex commands and report whatever they see. And it knows when its master is in danger, so even if we by some divine intervention, manage to get the upper hand over her, it’ll come charging in to save her.”

  “She had it take over the wolf packs to see what she could make them do,” Sally said, looking haunted. “She’s been terrorizing the village and killing caravans for fun.”

  Shaking her head, Mina stood to her full height. “I just can’t believe that someone would do that! She’s…she’s like a mass shooter or a terrorist!”

  Darcy gave her a sad look and touched her arm in a comforting pat. “You’re not a gamer, so you haven’t seen the toxic side of gaming. Some gamers can be complete and utter assholes just for laughs and the Hunters are the worst.”

  “She doesn’t see the NPCs as people,” Sally said, her voice started weak and scared, but it rose to a firm tone as she drilled into Mina all that she had learned. “She sees them as playthings, people she can kill and hurt without consequences. She loves being in this world because no one can touch her.”

  “I can see how she would see NPCs as toys, but she knows we’re players too, right? She gave Sally a potion and didn’t attack her.” Mina was looking between them almost desperately.

  “Don’t fool yourself into believing it was out of any kindness,” Darcy said hotly. “It’s possible we may be the first players she’s come across, but that could mean anything. She might want an audience for her atrocities, or hasn’t decided what she wants to do to us yet.”

  “Then how did she get so strong?” Mina demanded as she rounded on Darcy. “You said this was a new server! We all had to make new characters…”

  “You can transfer a character to a new server by paying a fee,” Darcy groaned. “That’s what makes the Hunters so dangerous. They either have a rich member that can pay for all of them to change servers so often or they’re all wealthy enough to afford it. They don’t stay in one server for long so you never know when they’ll show up. One week, they had a genocide contest where each member killed off players of different races and our friend in the forest won that contest.”

  Sally hung her head, hating this conversation with a passion. The more she learned about the Hunter, the more frightened she became. “So what can we do? Since we can’t fight, can we at least hide from her?”

  “Everguard is our best bet,” Darcy said with a stiff nod. “The game developers didn’t want to take away options from players, but they did install serious consequences for causing trouble in a city. If you attack an NPC or they see you stealing, then all the guards converge on your location. They aren’t as high level as our Hunter, but there’s a lot of them so they might be able to overwhelm her.”

  Mina sat down while Darcy was talking and looked a bit more at ease. “How big is Everguard?”

  “Pretty big,” Darcy replied. “There’ll be enough people there that she’ll think twice before going there to start trouble.”

  Mina nodded, “Good and we’ll find other players. As scary as this is, this proves we’re not alone.”

  “And don’t forget, we got Naomi’s lycanthropy to cure too,” Sally reminded them. “We lost a whole day and if your heal spell doesn’t help Tom, then we’re going to be slowed.”

  “Ah, no worries,” Darcy said breaking into a bright grin that she could bring some bit of good news. “I talked to the mayor and he says that since the wolf problem is gone they’ll start sending rafts up to Everguard and we’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Mina praised, relieved by the notion they wouldn’t have to do any more walking or camping.

  Darcy gave a long jaw popping yawn. “Let’s get some rest. We’ll have plenty of time to plan tomorrow morning.”

  “One more thing before we go to bed,” Sally said. “I leveled up.”

  Mina grinned, a smile clearing away the fear and dread that had darkened her face. “So have I. Level three.”

  “When did that happen?” Darcy asked, looking between the two of them with large eyes.

  “It happened after we saved the kids. Just before I left to go find Tom and Sally. Didn’t you see
me just standing there and poking the air?”

  “Uh, no, you just said you were going to find them and left. That’s when you leveled up? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I don’t know,” Mina said, shrugging. “I think…maybe this is going to sound weird, but I think time stops when we level up.”

  “What do you mean?” Sally asked, leaning forward with her hands clasped together before her.

  “Well, when I first leveled up, I didn’t know what I was doing so it took at least ten minutes. It would have been more if I had more skill points.”

  “Wait, but you were right behind us,” Darcy said.

  “I was, and that confused me. At first, I thought you two had waited for me despite what happened to Naomi. I just haven’t had a chance to speak about it until now.”

  “Mina, did you feel rejuvenated after you leveled up?” Sally said, touching her chin in a resemblance of Darcy in deep thought.

  “Ah, yeah, like I just drank a Red Bull.”

  “The first time I leveled up,” Sally said, taking off her boots. “I broke my leg fighting the werewolf. It healed when I leveled up.” She stretched her legs out for them to see. They were whole and solid without a mark or bruise. “And earlier, when Tom and I were fighting the wolves, one of them bit me here.”

  She touched her ankle where a wolf had sank its fangs into her boot. “It hurt like a sprain, but the pain went away when I leveled up. Darcy, does the game heal restore all hit points when you level up?”

  “Yeah, it does,” Darcy said. “It’s convenient when you’re low on hit points and out of health items. I had no idea whether that would remain the same in this world or not.”

  “It’ll be useful one day,” Mina said with an ominous air. Then she gave a long jaw popping yawn.

  This was contagious, as Sally followed Mina’s example and yawned too. “Are we forgetting anything? Is there anything else we need to talk about before going to bed?”

  It was the Cleric’s turn to yawn and began removing her armor. “No, I don’t think so. Unless you can think of something.”

  Considering it for a moment, Sally shook her head. “I’m too tired to think. Maybe it’ll come to me in the morning.”

  Without another word other than a brief goodnight, the women retired to bed. Mina and Darcy stayed in the room, and since Sally had the highest Sneak skill of +9, she crept into the next room to share with Naomi. As she undressed, she watched the Monk sleep. She was spread almost eagle spread across the bed with one arm curled above her head and one leg hanging off the edge.

  Sally remembered Mina questioning how old Naomi was and now Sally was seeing something that Mina had noticed…but couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

  Well, it was too late to care about it now. It could wait until morning.

  Chapter 19

  Innpeasea

  It was hours before the sun would rise, but Tom didn’t believe he could sleep for another moment as his body was still bruised and painful from the attack. He remembered the wolf biting him: the smell of his blood and the pain of almost being ripped apart. Then there was darkness. When the light returned it revealed Darcy bending over him and a cup of oddly sweetened tea pressed to his lips.

  He had seized her wrist and demanded where Sally was or if she still lived. Darcy gave him a wry smile and assured him she was safe and the direwolf was gone, and with it, the village’s wolf problem.

  Reflecting on the events, he was content that they had done well. They saved a boy’s life, rescued children, and aided a village in their time of need. They had accomplished so much, and done so much good.

  “I did more for my people in one day than I ever had in my whole life,” he said to the ceiling as it was his only listener. “And I did it outside the safety of the castle with my own two hands…and with companions.”

  He couldn’t have done it alone without Sally and her friends. This must be what it meant to travel with companions and see the world and have adventures. It was childish to think such things, but it was there all the same.

  There was an unsteady movement outside the door and it opened slowly. He expected it to be Darcy or Sally coming to see him, but instead, it was the boy, Mikel, who peered at him from the door.

  “Lad? Are you alright?” Tom sat up despite the ache in his chest and back.

  “Aye, I’m fine, but the healer said I shouldn’t walk or climb trees for several weeks.” The boy edged into the room on a crutch. The ankle that had been pierced by the arrow was bandaged. The skin at the edges was red and swollen.

  “You shouldn’t be on that ankle, boy,” Tom said firmly. “You’ll likely hurt yourself again or do more damage than what the healer can mend.”

  “Can the cleric woman heal me again? So I can run and climb again?” Mikel asked, hopefully.

  “I shall ask her on your behalf,” Tom promised. “Now, go you to bed before you’re caught out of it.”

  Mikel started back through the door, paused, and then turned back. “Did they catch the woman who shot me?”

  Tom blinked for several long moments. “It was a woman who shot you? You never said anything about it being a woman.”

  Mikel shivered and looked very small and frightened. “I didn’t know it at first. Not until your elf friend spoke to her.”

  “What do you mean?” Was the lad dreaming up such things?

  “It was after the large wolf near killed you. I was so certain you were dead, sir. There was blood everywhere, and your elf friend was trying to rouse you, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

  Tom touched his shoulder, just above his armpit. A forgotten memory of a white missile and sudden pain in his shoulder returned to him. “I was shot with a white arrow…white arrows…”

  How could he have forgotten about finding the man dead with arrows in his back? Or the news of the caravan of the dead, all killed by white arrows. Whoever was responsible had been there, had tried to kill him.

  “What happened? Was Sally hurt?”

  “No, she wasn’t hurt, but she talked to the woman.” The room was dim, with only the light of the moon coming through the window. Mikel’s face almost glowed in the dark, making his eyes larger and skin white, like a ghost. “I never saw the archer because she was talking from the trees. High up, higher than anybody should be able to climb, sir. And when she spoke, I almost made water on myself. It was like she was talking from all around us.”

  “What did she and Sally say?” Tom felt his throat going dry.

  “I don’t know. I was so afraid I was going to be shot too and what I did hear I don’t understand,” Mikel said. “I can tell that you that Sally was scared too, and was angry. And the woman…the woman called you a…something strange.”

  “Strange?” Did she know about his being a prince? Did Sally tell her?

  “It was a foreign word. I don’t know what it means. She called you a-a,” Mikel struggled with the word, “innpeasea.”

  “Innpeasea? Are you sure that’s what she said?”

  “Yes. I think so…your friend knew what it meant. Is it an elven word?”

  “Not one that I had ever heard of,” Tom said. The elven word for humans was Drikens, a word originally meant for short-lived little devils, but now more suited for the humans who had usurped the elves’ rule over the continent.

  “Mikel, have you spoken of this to anyone?”

  “No, only to you.”

  “My friends and I will take care of this woman, so you need not speak of it again. Go back to bed and rest. I’m sure Sister Darcy will heal your leg before we leave.”

  Relieved, Mikel’s face brightened, and he nodded, “Yes sir, I like her. She’s not as strict as any other cleric I’ve met. I didn’t have to pray at all while she was helping me.”

  “Yes, she is an odd one.”

  Tom wished he was as confident as he sounded for the boy. When the door closed, he lay his head on the pillow and could not rest because his mind was full of too many questions,
not enough answers. Yet again, Sally and her companions presented another mystery.

  When they had seen the dead bandit, they had been horrified: innocent Naomi had been in tears. And when they heard of the caravans, they had been equally concerned. Unless they were all good actors, which he doubted, they knew how to feign shock and sadness well.

  Naomi was too open to hide any ulterior motives, and Mina’s emotions were too visible for any deception. He couldn’t say the same for Darcy nor Sally, however. If any one of their group could lie or deceive, then it would be them. They were the ones who spoke in hushed whispers, and more than once he saw them exchange a communicative look when they thought he wasn’t observing them.

  Though he welcomed their lax treatment of him, it was still bewildered him. They treated him as an equal, as if his station was no higher than theirs. There was no servitude, reverence, nor admiration in how they acted around him. Sometimes he felt ignored and out of place.

  Who were they? The way they spoke, their mannerisms, and even how they interact with everything around them was queer. And worst of all, they were somehow familiar with the white arrow culprit.

  What was their connection to that fiend?

  ***

  “Sally! Get up! Now, please!”

  Sally moaned into the pillow and tried to return to that warm, wonderful place where she didn’t have to wake up, but a rude prodding at her side wouldn’t let her do that. Her eyes reluctantly opened to see Darcy bending over her.

  “Five more minutes?” Sally pleaded meekly.

  “You said that twenty minutes ago. Get up, or I’ll have Naomi come up here and get you up. And she suggested a bucket of cold water.”

  Sally didn’t start to wake up until she was halfway downstairs, and the pleasant smell of fresh coffee hit her nose. She hurried down to the table where Naomi was having a grand old time recounting the tale of Mina single-handedly lifting the pillar to save the children. A few early risers were listening intently and cheering at the right moments, and Mina was trying to hide her red face in her coffee mug.