The Arena

by Drew Seren

  “No. Geez, it’s not that. Maybe I want to find a way to leave a mark on the world. I’m the lead on a tech support team. That’s not a mark on the world. It’s not like there aren’t tons of people out there who could do my job. Hell, Mike could do my job and probably better than I do.”

  “Then what do you like doing in your off time? Who is Alan Gosling?”

  Horc kicked at the sand as they walked. “Maybe that’s the core of the problem. I’m thirty-four years old and have no idea who I am. There has to be more to life than just tech support and video games.”

  “I like to think there is. Rick and I like going down to the beach once in a while.” Greensleeves pointed with his free hand out to the gently rolling ocean that stretched out across the horizon. “Of course, it’s not as quiet and unpopulated as this one. There’re still waves and sand, but there’s lots of people.” He sighed. “Okay, come to think of it, that’s just escaping life, isn’t it? We play games like this together. We occasionally go out with friends…” He sighed again. “Okay, this probably isn’t a great time to get to thinking how pathetic my life is, it’s not going to help you.”

  His admission brought a chuckle to Horc. “Yeah, we don’t both need to get down in here. We can work things out once we get out of here…or when I get out of here. You’re not stuck. You can leave at any time.”

  “Not that long ago, we would’ve said that about Slasher and Steelmaiden too, now they’re stuck.”

  The palm grove appeared around the next turn of the island.

  “There is that,” Horc agreed. “This game is as fluid as life can be. We all need to watch out what’s happening around us and stick together.”

  “Right.” Greensleeves gave Horc’s shoulder a final squeeze and let go. “Nice to have gotten our brains thinking. We just have to stay focused.”

  “Hey!” Baladara shouted, jumped and waved from near the trees.

  “Looks like they made it back,” Greensleeves said. “Let’s see what they found.”

  Horc nodded, getting back into the action would help him out. It would make things easier, taking his mind off his problems, both in the game and outside of it.

  It took them a couple of minutes to reach the trees. When they got there, there was just Tufkakes and Baladara. They were leaning against the trees, looking tired.

  “Did you find them?” Horc asked as they entered the grove.

  “Yeah, that was the easy part,” Baladara replied.

  “So, we’re not going to be able to get them out?” Horc didn’t like the sound of that. Even in his case the techs were saying he’d be able to get out of the game, they just had to figure out the right way to do it.

  “We’re going to have to work something out,” Tufkakes said. “Their cells are protected by some kind of magic that is either keyed to players, or too high a level for us to be able to disrupt.”

  “Leveling might be harder without them.” Greensleeves put his hands behind his back and paced around the sand.

  “Honestly, I’m not that worried about leveling as getting them out,” Baladara said. “We don’t know how long people in pods can last.” She looked at Horc. “So far you’ve been lucky. Your power supply is holding out. What happens when that gives out? Even those fancy uninterruptable supplies run out of power at some point. Two weeks is what we tell most people.”

  “And mine hadn’t been going as long as that and was nearly gone when the rescuers reached me.” Horc almost forgot she and Tufkakes had headed out before Miranda showed up and he’d endured the change of power supplies.

  “You’re out?” Baladara’s face lit up. “That’s awesome.”

  Horc shook his head. “No. They got the pod out of the basement. The plugging in the new USP nearly killed me in game…well no damage exactly, but it hurt like hell. They’re taking it to a facility where they can hopefully work out what went wrong.”

  “Ah, man, that sucks,” Tufkakes and Baladara said at the same time.

  Pointing between them Horc raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so what’s up with you two? Having similar thoughts now? I wouldn’t have expected that.”

  Baladara shrugged. “Let’s just say we had a little bonding during our side journey and leave it at that. Tufkakes is cool.”

  “And so are you.” Tufkakes punched Baladara in the shoulder hard enough to make her take a step to the side and then rub her upper arm.

  “Okay, so now that we’re caught up, what are we going to do?” Horc asked. In the distance the sound of the bricks falling on the wall grew louder. “The wall’s getting closer.”

  “Wall’s getting closer?” Baladara put a hand over her brow and stared into the distance. “Is that what we’re hearing?”

  Horc nodded. “Yeah. Bricks are appearing out of thin air as the AI builds the wall.”

  “Okay then, we need to get on the inside of the wall.” Baladara looked around. “It sounds like they’re going to start having arena games with their people and players…their people meaning the kidnapped folks and from what Steelmaiden said, animals too.”

  “It might be a way to put on some levels while we’re here and would give us the opportunity to stay on the island while not attracting too much attention to ourselves,” Tufkakes added. “We can probably work out a plan better that way too. If we have to take out the bad guys, having a plan always works better than not.”

  “Right.” Horc really hoped things weren’t going to get to the point they were going to have to run for it, with or without the rest of their party, but as Tufkakes and Baladara laid out what they’d discovered, it sounded more and more like they needed to be ready to run at a moment’s notice. That wasn’t good, but they had to save their friends.

  15

  Although they made sure to cut along the inside of the wall, they walked around until they found the gate. After a brief discussion, they decided it was probably safest for them to stay on the inside of the wall, so that if they couldn’t find a gate, they could still be close to rescue Steelmaiden and Slasher, once they had a plan.

  “We definitely need to apply to fight,” Baladara suggested. “That way nobody thinks it’s weird that we’re hanging around.”

  “You don’t think they’re going to have spectators at these arena games?” Horc asked, not really sure if he wanted to put his name into the hat for those people fighting in the arena. There was a lot of possibility for accidents, or worse yet, death in such games. If the pirates were as ruthless as Baladara and Tufkakes claimed, they could be in for a real problem.

  “Not this early in the game,” Greensleeves said. “Odds are they aren’t going to have many players wanting to fight either, although there’s sure to be some. A lot of players love Player Versus Player combat, they live for PVP.”

  “Being able to beat up other player and not suffer a penalty for it gets them off,” Tufkakes added.

  “That’s right.” Baladara agreed. “Odds are those folks will be swarming the place as soon as word gets out.”

  “Then, we’re better off finding a way to get the others out quickly before those guys start showing up,” Horc muttered. He didn’t like the idea of beating up on other players. His thing was having adventures in games. He liked having adventures. Maybe he needed to be finding ways to have them in real life. He patted Wolf as they walked up to the gate. It might be nice to have adventures he could take a dog on. It could be a lot of fun.

  “There is that.” Greensleeves turned and pointed. “Let’s start there.”

  Just inside the gate was a small hut with a window cut into the thin wooden sides. It looked like it was meant to be a ticket booth or something similar. The palm fronds that made up the roof, hung low enough to provide a modicum of shade for the skinny Goblin sitting on the other side of the window with his chin sitting on his green hands.

  “Oh, he looks like a real winner,” Tufkakes whispered.

  “With you there, TK” Baladara said.

  Greensleeves waved them off and heade
d for the hut.

  “TK?” Horc asked as they headed after the Druid.

  “It’s easier to say than Tufkakes.” Baladara hurried a little harder than the taller folks.

  “I’m okay with it,” Tufkakes said. “I might even start calling her Ba.”

  Baladara shook her head. “B.A. maybe, ‘cause I am a bad ass, but not Ba. I ain’t no sheep.”

  Horc rolled his eyes as they reached the hut. It was fairly obvious the two had gotten some major bonding done over the course of their split from him and Greensleeves. He was a little surprised by it; Baladara had sounded fairly anti-Tufkakes at first. But he hoped their bonding wouldn’t be short lived and they wouldn’t be back at each other’s throats in no time.

  “So, what do we need to do to sign up for the arena?” Greensleeves was asking the Goblin as Horc walked up to his side.

  “The boss didn’t say anything about the portals being opened yet. Where are yous guys from?” The Goblin’s high voice squeaked slightly as he spoke.

  “Red Wind Terrace,” Horc said, doing his best to look tough and ornery. “Words out among the Orcs that you’ve got a major battle arena going here and they sent me to check it out. We didn’t use any portals to get here, came by boat.”

  “Boat. Yeah, I cans see that. There was a boat out by the pier a while ago.” The Goblin rubbed his pointed green chin, pulling slightly on the thin verdant goatee growing there. “What took yous all so long to get this far? It ain’t like it’s very far from there to here.”

  “Had to stop and fight off those cultists that are hanging out near the dock,” Horc replied, hoping he remembered what the aquatic serpent men had been called.

  “They’re supposed to weed out the weak.” The Goblin grinned, showing broken teeth. “But if yous guys made it past them, then yous must be ready for the arena. I’ll let the boss know we’ve got our first contenders. He’ll be pleased.” The Goblin leaned over the windowsill and frowned. “But we’ve got a bit of a problem here.”

  “What’s wrong?” Horc’s heart sank. Things had seemed to be going really well, but the Goblin didn’t seem happy about something. With the NPC leaning toward them, the yellow text over his head was visible. Bo’ Jangle, Goblin, Thug, Level 25

  “There’s four of yous guys. The arena ain’t set up for four players in a team, three or five, not four.” Bo’ settled back on the stool that raised him up high enough he could see out. “One of yous gotta go.”

  “What if we only fight in a team of three?” Greensleeves suggested before Horc could say anything. “We won’t ever have more than three on the field at one time.”

  Bo’ squinted at them. “So, like one of yous would be an alternate?”

  Horc nodded. “Exactly. We promise not to have more than three of us on the field at one time.”

  For a moment, a thoughtful quirk danced on the corner of Bo’s thin lips. “Okay.” He pulled out a clipboard from under the windowsill and slid it to them. “I need names, classes, and levels.” He seemed to study them for a moment, then pointed at Baladara. “Put the Elf as your alt. Mages don’t normally do as well in arena fights as others, particularly low-level Mages. They run out of mana too fast, then dash around screaming to distract the other team.”

  Baladara frowned and put her hands on her hips. “I wouldn’t run around screaming.”

  “Unless there were rats,” Tufkakes said with a grin.

  “Unless there were rats,” Baladara agreed with a scowl.

  Greensleeves took the form and started filling in the spots without saying anything. After a moment, he lifted the quill and looked at the rest of the party, then nodded. “Okay. I think that’s it. The form doesn’t say if our Ranger will get to have his companion with him or not.”

  Bo’ took the form back, and ran a narrow-pointed finger along the lines of text Greensleeves had filled in. “Looks fine to me. Yeah, yeah, an animal is part of being a Ranger. But by signing up for the arena means you’ve agreed to the regulations, so yous all will be responsible for cleaning up after him. We find any wolf poop in the sand and there’ll be trouble. Understand?”

  Horc tried to remember if he’d ever seen Wolf poop or pee. Sure, he ate all the time, but he couldn’t remember if anything came out the other end. If that might be a problem in the arena, then he was going to have to keep an eye on things and make sure there wasn’t anything left behind.

  “Sure, we got it,” Horc said.

  “Good. Now, give me a couple minutes and I’ll show yous to the competitors’ quarters where yous can rest, sharpen yous’s swords and get ready for yous’s matches. Oh yeah.” Bo’ again leaned across the windowsill. “If any of yous guys has magical weapons of any kind, the arena’s magic will block your weapons’ spells. We take magical cheating very seriously in the arena.” He hopped off the stool and dashed out the back of the hut.

  A lump rose in Horc’s throat. He might be in big trouble, and it was too late for them to change their minds. The paper had been signed. “Does anyone have any arrows?”

  “What are you talking about?” Baladara’s eyes grew wide. “Crap. Your quiver. If the arena is going to eliminate any imbedded spells on weapons, you’re going to be stuck with one magical arrow from each kind you had in your quiver.”

  “Exactly.” Horc wished they had a better answer. He was going to be stuck using his sword and Wolf to win battles. Then an idea hit him. “Either that, or I’ll need a new quiver and a supply of arrows.”

  “And where are we going to get that?” Baladara asked.

  Horc glanced at Tufkakes as Bo’ returned, coming through a large wrought iron door in a fence behind the hut. “We’ve got our Rogue. Maybe he can find something.”

  “Maybe he can.” Tufkakes grinned.

  “This way,” Bo’ waved them toward the gate he’d just came through. “I’ve got yous the best room in the barracks. The boss is really excited to get going, so yous’s first match will be in an hour. He wants to see what yous can do before he risks yous on any of our stronger players.”

  “Sounds good,” Horc said as they turned from the hut and followed Bo’ through the fence and toward a low stone building he could only figure was the barracks Bo’ mentioned moments before. Stepping through the gate sent a shiver up Horc’s spine. It felt like they’d just entered another part of the game, like they were separate from where they had been, but that was ridiculous. If there was something like that, either Baladara, or Tufkakes would’ve said something. He was just being paranoid.

  After Bo’ left, Horc studied the small room they’d been brought to. It wasn’t much to look at. Five narrow wooden beds with straw mattresses and no sheets or pillows, a washbasin, a rickety table with three chairs, and a threadbare rug that looked like it might’ve been brightly colored when it had been made.

  “If this is their best room, I don’t think I want to see their worst,” Baladara quipped as she sat down on one of the beds, then got right back up again. “Okay, yeah. I have no idea how people used to handle straw mattresses.”

  “I think we’ve already seen their worst rooms,” Tufkakes said as he started to pace. “Those cells below were definitely worse than this.”

  “Okay, you’ve got me there, TK,” Baladara agreed. “I wonder if we can get some food, or if we’re expected to eat our own.”

  “Why don’t I slip out and see what I can find.” Tufkakes walked over and tested the door. “Okay, at least this isn’t locked. I’ll be back.” And he faded away into the shadows. Seconds later the door closed.

  A sense of ease washed over Horc. Something deep in his guts unwound. “Why does the door being unlocked make me feel better about this whole thing?”

  “It means we aren’t prisoners…yet,” Greensleeves said.

  Wolf hopped up on one of the beds, circled once, laid down, wrapped his tail around his nose and closed his eyes.

  “The yet bit doesn’t make me feel better about this,” Horc muttered as he went and sat on the bed with
his companion. The matress was lumpy and thin pieces of straw stuck out of the mattress and into his legs. It was definitely something he wasn’t going to take his clothes off to sleep on.

  “Okay. Tell you guys what.” Baladara stretched and yawned. “If nobody has any objections, I think I’m going to log out for a while and get some real-world rest. You guys are in pods, I’m the only goggles and gloves guy here and my chubby butt is getting worn out.”

  Greensleeves nodded. “I’m good with it. Since we don’t know how long you’re going to be, or how long we’re going to be here, I’m going to partially log out and check with Rick to see if there’s any way he can link your coming and going to Horc. If I’d have thought of that earlier, you wouldn’t have had to work so hard to catch up with us at Tragiczan.”

  “Just don’t let me pop back in somewhere in the middle of Red Wind Terrace, or some other zone where the natives will be hostile.”

  “Good point. If you want to hang out for a few minutes, I’ll check with Rick and come back.” Greensleeves sat on the bed across from Horc and slid back until he was leaning against the wall. He frowned and shifted to pull a piece of straw out of his pants. “Human druid leathers were definitely thicker and sturdier than the Desert Elf linen pants are.” He closed his eyes.

  Baladara stared at Greensleeves for a moment, then looked at Horc sitting on the bed petting Wolf. “Okay, so how are you really holding up?”

  Horc shrugged. If Baladara had asked earlier, before his talk with Greensleeves, the answer would’ve been different, but he was feeling better than he had been. “Decent. Not as great as I was, but I’ll get through.”

  “Dude, I’ve got no idea how you’re holding out as well as you are.” Baladara resumed the pacing she’d done earlier. “I’d be a total basket case. That incident with the power source swap sounds awful.”

  Horc nodded, not really wanting to go over it again. “It was bad. I’ve got to have confidence that we’re going to get through this. If I don’t I’ll fly apart.” He took a deep breath. “Do you feel like you’ve got a good life? In the real world, I mean.”