Damn, he thought to himself, this is painful on the fingers! And sandals are not well-designed for rock climbing. He inched up, moving one limb at a time when he was sure that the other three had reasonably secure holds, and trying not to think about what lay below. Sure – he had managed to catch the ledge when he was aiming for it. But if he was to fall backwards now, there would be no stopping himself.
Gaining another handhold, he looked up again. There were only around two feet now between his fingertips and the upper surface of the bridge. He was sure that it was only a matter of time before Ajax appeared there – in fact, why would his rival wait until Troy pulled himself up before stabbing him? At the moment, he was an easy target.
Skill boost! You have developed your grit. +5XP
Another handhold, and then another, and finally he was able to place one hand onto the bridge’s edge. The sound of another struggle now reached his ears. A thump, and a grunt of pain…
“Clio!” he called out. With two hands now on the top edge of the bridge, he pulled himself back up and began to clamber over. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and just as he was beginning to flinch away, saw that it was Clio’s face just ahead, grinning at him.
“You made it!” she said. “I thought I was going to need to let down a rope.”
He swung his legs around, and smiled back, seeing Ajax sprawled face down in the middle of the bridge.
Troy shrugged, giving a half smile. “I was a decent climber back home, though I’ve never done anything like that! What did you do to Ajax?”
She glanced down. “He tried to hack at the back of my neck with his sword when I leaned over,” she explained, “but I was too fast for him, and spun the spear around into his face. I took your advice, by the way – he lives.”
“Good work.”
Clio smiled as she handed Troy back his shield, but then she pointed downhill. “But no time to celebrate – those warriors will be upon us before long.”
And indeed, the ten troops were now hurrying up the hill towards the bridge in formation. What’s more, a further column of perhaps twenty Spartan warriors could be seen marching from the direction of the training camp.
“Well then. Let’s go to the mountains,” said Troy, pausing only to relieve the prostrate Ajax of his sword and scabbard.
Level: Hoplite (Level 4)
XP: 1110 (unspent: 0660)
Hit points: 3/27
Luck points: 0
Mana points: 5
Equipment: basket of olives; belt; blanket; coin pouch; greaves; hoplon shield; iron sword.
Chapter 35: The Mountains
After about a mile of exhausting climbing upwards without a break, Troy and Clio stopped. To the right, the path disappeared, and huge cliffs rose up, getting larger the further away they were. To the left, the path gave way to a rocky slope dotted with heather and pine trees, and further off, the flank of the mountain was forested.
“Which way did the others go, do you think?” asked Troy.
Clio was breathing hard. She pointed to the left. “The forest most likely – it looks much more promising,” she said. “It’s hard to tell if there is a proper path either way, but at least there is some cover in that direction. On the cliffs we would be exposed, and we might need to climb without any equipment. I don’t think they would have risked it.”
“Right.”
“But let’s stop here for a bit,” she added. “I think we’ve lost those Spartan warriors behind us now, and I want to see if any of the other hoplites managed to get away.” She turned, staring back the way they had come, her proud face stern but calm.
“I know you are worried about Europa,” Troy began. “I am sure we can send a mission back tomorrow…”
“No,” Clio interrupted. “I mean, yes, I would love it if she manages to join us. But she can look after herself. We can’t take any more risks.”
“Do you trust her?”
“I do, yes. You should too. She’s more than just a good warrior.”
Troy nodded. “Did you have to face her at the trial?”
Clio smiled, still staring downwards towards the city. “It seems silly now,” she said. “After all that training, all that worry – here I am, in the mountains, on the night of the trial. I might as well have lost.”
“But you didn’t.”
Clio still had Troy’s hatchet at her belt, and Troy pointed towards it. “You can hang on to that axe, now that I have Ajax’s sword. I don’t know where he got it, but it’s a decent weapon! You can keep the spear, of course, too.”
“Thanks Troy. Are you sure?”
He shrugged. “The hatchet has proved useful a number of times. I’m glad to pass it on. And I certainly still intend to get my own spear back.”
“Well, take your dagger back, at least.”
“Right.”
They waited for another few minutes, but it soon became clear that there was no sign of anyone else moving on the path below. The Spartan warriors who had been pursuing them must have turned back. Any other hoplites from the training camp had either aligned themselves with the captains, or were somehow unable to escape.
Troy crouched, and used his dagger to scratch an arrow in the rock off to one side, followed by a ‘C’ and a ‘T’. “Well, if Europa does come this way, she’ll at least have some idea of where we went,” he said as he stood up. “Especially if it’s too late for our footsteps to be visible.”
They walked on together. The route to the left consisted of shale with clumps of dry grass growing through it; it sloped down to their left, and every now and then one of them lost their footing, causing small flat stones to shoot out to one side and bounce down the mountainside for several dozen yards.
It was also starting to get dark, something that Clio commented on more than once. As Troy glanced around, he saw that the last of the sunlight was now hitting the mountain peaks from the west, and a warming orange glow had filled the sky even as their surroundings started to cool.
He paused. “You’re right, Clio. I hardly noticed it getting so dark, but it will be hard to find our way before long. Let’s hurry on before nightfall.”
“Not scared are you?” she asked, glancing around at him.
He chuckled, clenching the hilt of the sword. “It’s nothing compared to the swamp. I assume that there isn’t a hydra lurking in the woods ahead.”
“We’ll soon find out.”
They walked on for a moment, both glancing from time to time towards the diminishing sights of Sparta; the amphitheater, the harbor with its great warships, the training ground itself. It looked like a model town now, no larger than a map held between someone’s hands.
Looking ahead, Troy wondered again how far the explorable world of Sparta Online extended, and how detailed it was. When it came to their trip to the swamplands, clearly that was part of an ongoing quest within the game. But this? Surely it wasn’t expected that hoplites would abandon their training and flee for the mountains.
Or was it?
They pressed on, and soon began to reach a flatter area that marked the beginning of a plateau between two peaks. And soon, Troy spotted some footprints in a patch of bare earth on the ground ahead of them, and he paused, crouching. “You were right, Clio,” he called out. “Someone has come this way recently – a warrior in sandals. A few, more likely.”
“Then our friends made it to the trees,” she replied. “Not far now.”
“Another half an hour, perhaps,” said Troy, opening out the black blanket as he spoke. “Are you still warm enough?” He himself was feeling the chill of being higher up, and no longer climbing but instead walking along on flat ground in the shade.
“I don’t feel the cold, my friend,” said Clio.
But Troy knew that she was just being brave. He looped half of the blanket over her shoulders as they walked and the other across his own, and she held onto the corner of it without complaint.
Soon the sporadic trees became more numer
ous, and the way ahead flattened into a broad mountain valley. The pine trees were especially tall, and there were also numerous broad oaks and beech trees visible up ahead, though none were as mighty as those which could be seen lower down in the foothills or upon the streets of Sparta itself.
“These are so big up close,” said Clio, pausing and looking up at a pine. “They looked tiny, almost like nothing when we were down at the bridge.”
“I know.” Troy peered ahead into the near-total darkness amongst the trees. “I can’t see a damn thing now. Do you think we should stop?” he asked.
And then another voice spoke: “Surely not when you’ve got so close to our camp, man!”
“Plato!”
Their friend emerged from among the trees, grinning and clapping his hands together. “What the hell took you so long?”
Troy embraced his friend and then stepped back. “We had an encounter with Ajax. Let’s just say he won’t be joining our cause after all.”
Plato raised an eyebrow. “You sent him back to boot camp?”
“Troy persuaded me not to,” said Clio.
“Hmm. I hope you don’t come to regret that, my friends.”
“So do I,” said Troy.
But in his heart, he felt that it had been the right call, both as a human being and as a Spartan.
* * *
Morning found the hoplites up at dawn, exploring. Troy, feeling well rested and recovered from his injuries of the day before, was walking alongside Clio and Plato. As they went, he quizzed the other boy about his use of the golden statues which had allowed them to escape the clutches of Captain Theseus and Captain Semele
“It was amazing what you did,” said Troy. “With the golden animals, I mean. Without your efforts we’d all be prisoners right now. How did you figure out how to do it?”
Plato shrugged. “Well, we were basically right. The golden circlet controls the animals telepathically. I had to will the beasts to come to life. It’s hard to say whether I could have had more control over them – made them last longer, maybe, or grow bigger. To be honest, I don’t think I’m good at it, though it was just as well that I’d practiced the night before.”
“It was amazing, I am telling you. You saved Clio and me.”
“Glad to help.”
“And you still have the eagle?”
Plato nodded “Yeah. Though sadly I lost the others. I wonder what happened to them. If only I’d had more control…” He patted his canvas shoulder bag as he spoke. “Oh, that reminds me – I brought your own bag from the Elysian Fields.” Plato lifted a canvas shoulder bag which had been under his own and passed it over to Troy. “I saw you stowing it there yesterday. You’ll find a spare one inside it, too – the one that Glaucus had.”
“That’s great – I really appreciate it,” said Troy. “It’s got my waterskin inside. But I wish I’d had it back at the city. I came to a garden full of fruit trees. Delicious peaches…”
“Don’t make me jealous, man,” said Plato. “I’m absolutely starving already, and kind of wondering what we are going to find to eat up here.”
Soon they had returned to camp. There, seven other hoplites had returned to the circle of trees where they had overnighted. A small fire was smoldering within a ring of rocks, and Nyx prodded at it with a long stick as the others arrived back.
“Find anything good?” asked Plato, stepping off to one side.
Ianthe shook her head. “Not much at all.”
“There’s plenty of wood, and most of it is dry,” said Canis. “We have started to build a shelter so that we can stay dry when it rains.”
Troy shrugged, looking around the group as he stepped forwards towards the fire. “I really appreciate your efforts,” he said. “Thank you for your trust and loyalty. It’s great to see you here – all of you.”
“How long are we going to stay here, though?” asked Ianthe. “There are no buildings, no Bathhouse, no Feasting Hall…”
“That,” Troy replied, “depends on the situation down at the training camp.”
“How so?” she persisted.
“Well, we now know for sure that the captains are corrupt, and we can start to gather evidence to expose them. The Spartan warriors only stood against us because they thought we were the rebels and traitors. If we can show them that we are loyal to the city and that the captains have been working with our enemies…”
“What about the others?” asked Nyx, still crouching by the fire. “Europa, for example?”
“Europa and Andros helped us escape yesterday,” said Clio. “They’re on our side, and we wouldn’t be here without them.” She looked at Troy.
He mustered a smile in response, while feeling despondent inside. Andros had always planned to stay at the training camp to uncover the captains’ plot, but the fact that Europa had not yet joined them surely suggested that the brave hoplite had been captured and thrown into a cell – or worse.
Plato leaned back against the broad trunk of an oak tree, and nodded. “If they can make it here, they will. Everyone knows where to go.”
“Everyone?” asked Clio, as she took a seat on a log beside Canis.
He nodded, looking meaningfully at both her and Troy. “Yeah. And I know – that means our enemies, too, because we asked all of the hoplites. So we could soon have columns of Spartan warriors coming up here, searching for us.”
“Taking prisoners,” added Canis.
Clio glanced around at her comrade. “If we’re lucky,” she murmured.
“Very well,” said Troy firmly, looking at the mountainside above them. “But the mountains are large. This valley will do as our base for just now. But we’ll explore as best we can, and find a safer place to hide over the long term. Ways to disguise ourselves, too. There may be caves high up in the cliffs – if so, we should try to find them. But for now, hiding out among the trees where there is some shelter seems like the best idea.”
Skill boost! You have developed your creativity. +5XP
“The trouble is,” said Ianthe, “what are we going to do next? We know next to nothing about survival. How long are we going to last up here without food and supplies?”
Plato stepped forward. “I had expected the mountains to be cold, bare and snowy. But here in the forest, I think we can find a way to survive. We have wood, and we can build. There’s a stream close by. Everything we need is here.”
Clio nodded thoughtfully. “No food, though. And while we can all shoot, our supply of arrows won’t last forever.”
This reminded Troy of the white light that he had been able to shoot from his hand on several occasions. What was his level of mana now, a day later? He checked his status, and sure enough, it had regenerated overnight:
Combat skills: 8
Creativity: 8
Grit: 17
Interpersonal skills: 12
Knowledge: 16
Quick thinking: 14
Survival skills: 13
Valor: 17
Inventory: arrows (3); belt; canvas bag; coin pouch; dagger; empty glass vials (3), greaves; hoplon shield; iron sword; waterskin (87%).
Level: Hoplite (Level 4)
Experience points: 1115 (unspent: 0665)
Hit points: 27
Mana points: 10
The update also showed him that while many of his skills were progressing well towards the basic level of 20 that Andros had mentioned on his arrival in Sparta Online, his combat skills and creativity were lagging behind. Perhaps this was the perfect time to develop both, however – fighting off threats in the wood, and finding ways to feed and shelter the group.
He glanced over at Plato, briefly wondering whether the remaining golden animal statue of the eagle was too damaged to be used for hunting, and then strode away from the fire, gesturing around at them all. “Friends, we will work together – that is how we will survive,” he said decisively. “We are Spartans, and can manage without comfort and plenty.”
There were some nods at this sentim
ent, and he continued, circling the fire. “And never mind about running out of arrows for the next few days at least. For now, we split into pairs, hunt, and bag what we can. Ensure that each group has at least one spear, one bow and a few arrows. We may be only new recruits, but we are smart and good with our weapons – I’m sure at least one pair can manage to catch something.”
Skill boost! You have developed your interpersonal skills. +5 XP
As the hoplites began to form up, Plato called out, “Just be careful as you go. Who knows if the captains have already sent teams of warriors after us?”
The others nodded, and soon Troy and Clio had formed up as a pair once again. Clio had been given a bow, so Troy took back the spear from her.
“We should head off that way,” said Clio, pointing towards the upper flank of the mountain valley, where tall pine trees grew up the rising slope until they reached the tree line far above them. “I have a good feeling about that area.”
“Dream team,” said Plato to them with a wink, patting them both across the shoulders. “See you soon, and happy hunting.” With that, he turned and began to walk away.
Troy was about to reply, when he saw some movement in the trees to their left. With a “Shh,” he pointed and raised his spear, crouching. Was it an animal – a deer, boar or bear, perhaps? A friend or a foe?
And then a person came into view who didn’t fall into any of those categories. Or perhaps all of them at once. The young man – no more than a year older than the hoplites, by the look of him – had antlers attached to his head as part of a leather skull cap, and a hugely long double-ring of teeth strung across his front. He wore mismatched clothing, had bare feet, but somehow had obtained armor, including a pair of iron greaves and a dirty set of light armor on his torso.
Nemesis (Sparta Online Book 1) Page 27