The Clan

by D. Rus

  Our second problem were the hundreds of pets, ghosts, familiars and the like who'd attacked us from all quarters. There were quite a few pet controllers in the crowd, so now they unleashed their beasties while keeping a safe distance, thus dramatically increasing the numbers of our opponents.

  But the main danger came from the high-level players who had finally found their bearings and were now rolling in on us, pushing the bravest of us aside, threatening to drown the mercs by their sheer numbers. The sound of opening portals announcing the arrival of the King's guard was just the cherry on the cast-iron cream cake which was heading toward us with a speed of a cannonball.

  Bang! The human flood hit the wall of steel shields and rolled back, leaving dozens of bodies hanging from the spikes. Bang! Rows of our more impatient enemies lunged at us again, reinforced by the pressure from those behind them. Again the human sea ebbed, losing more of the squashed, charred and pierced human shapes that turned into granite tombstones even as they were dropping to the ground. Bang! The third wave pressed into the line of shields so now we were backing up, our ranks serried, the patch of free space in the center collapsing.

  Our loss counter quivered and started spinning, faster and faster. But the enemy's casualties had passed the thousand mark, a lot of them slain by their own hands. While we as a raid were immune to friendly fire, the disjointed crowd kept loosing off arrows into the backs of their own warriors, covering them with blanket spells or just selecting wrong targets. How were you supposed to tell friend from foe in a couple of growling paladins jostling each other with shields and spears? Should you smother both in a cloud of Choky Death? This way even if you killed one of your own, you were sure to take out a few enemies, too. And if you managed to smoke someone on the sly, then crawl toward their body amid the fighters' shuffling feet and pick up a precious item from the hapless victim's body—then it was Christmas! This was the only explanation I can offer as for the amount of dead bodies piling up on our front line. We honestly couldn't take credit for at least half of them.

  Still, thirty to one was thirty to one. It wasn't as if we were sending a tank against a savage natives' army—we were on a battlefield opposing a matching force. The outcome was easy to predict. We weren't the three hundred Spartans and this wasn't Hollywood.

  There were barely half of us left when the dome imprisoning the Dragon split open.

  "Change of targets!" Widowmaker shouted without waiting for a command.

  Right he was, too. The bonebag wasn't part of our group. We could easily smoke him or at least do him some serious damage with our friendly fire.

  Now I could finally see why you needed a raid to capture a dragon. Spreading her wings and breathing venom, this spawn of the Dark began her deadly dance, striking her enemies down with direct emotional hits. Green peaks of poisonous gas spread around us turning the air into a viscous tide of swelling emerald. Not counting on her own accuracy, the blind dragon showered the area with acid rain and fragments of bone, guided by her hearing and glimpses of emotional echo alone. Still, somehow she managed to single out our group in the crowd, restraining her murderous surges whenever one of our mercs happened to cross her path. Thank God for that!

  "Go away! Fly to the castle!" I yelled, realizing there were barely a hundred warriors left.

  But the dragon was on a killing spree—alternatively, she could be dancing a sacral dance of death for all I knew and couldn't stop it halfway—I'm not big enough on Dragonology to know. The bone lizard kept swirling around like the harvester from hell, grinding thousands of sentients in her wake. I even got the impression that the battle had done her some good. Her eyes blinked once, then again, and lit up—the two pale-green search beams as I remembered them.

  "I can see," a thunderous whisper swept over the battlefield.

  "Go, now!" I yelled. "Your chicks are hungry! Go home! Shoo! Shoo!"

  "Just a moment... A few more life sparks—then the primal seed will rebirth in my chest, the seed of a new heart!"

  Pop, pop, pop, portals opened one by one, disgorging the white-clad sea of servants of Light. The unhappy Patriarch had sent in reinforcements although where he'd managed to find so many was a different question entirely. There must have been at least two hundred priests; most likely, the temples all over the cluster—if not of all AlterWorld—stood empty now. Had I known that, I would have asked Cryl to check out their treasury. Then again, they wouldn't leave their assets unattended even on Judgment Day.

  The cables of sticky light sprang swirling upward from the servants' hands, entangling the dragon. She tore through them with ease, simultaneously counterattacking, eliminating the priests nearest to her. Still, her speed kept dropping until finally another power line entwined the dragon's bone body and, ringing like an overstrung string, resisted her attempts to break it. Another one lay next to it, and yet another... In less than a minute, the dragon was struggling in a powerful net, breaking her bones, entangling herself even further.

  Shit! I bit my lip surveying what was left of my army. Fifty at the most. That was it, end of war. Some general I was.

  Ding, the skies rang. The jingle of a billion little bells drowned out the battle.

  Macaria! Today more beautiful than ever, in full makeup this time, shining like a Super Nova with divine energies.

  "O the Sentient! I am giving you your reward and a purpose on the day of this glorious and equally pointless battle! Accept it as a sign of the gods' gratitude for your faithful service and this exceptional show!"

  Ding! The goddess disappeared, leaving behind a few snowflakes floating in the sky. The players' interfaces flashed with a quest message:

  New Quest alert: The Glorious Battle.

  Divine Macaria will bestow her gifts on anyone for any victory in this battle! Take a look around and bury your blade into any enemy survivor.

  Reward 1: 100 Faith points for every Light follower killed.

  Reward 2: 200 Faith points for every guard or officer killed

  Reward 3: 300 Faith points for every Light priest killed

  Silence fell, replaced by cautious sideways glances. Then, simultaneously, the clashing of thousands of swords meeting swords. There were no idiots there. The new quest was exactly what the crowd needed. There were hundreds of mortally wounded lying around begging for the coup de grace, their bodies a promise of rich reward. Allies only a moment ago, now they turned to face each other, slaughtering everyone who still moved. For ten bucks a frag plus loot why wouldn't they?

  "Hold the ranks!" Widowmaker shouted, still alive, bringing the remaining mercs into some sort of formation.

  "Thank you, Macaria," I whispered soundlessly, activating Appeal to Gods.

  The last thing I wanted to hear back was something along the lines of, You owe me one. But today was a day of surprises. With the gleam of her kind smile in the air, I heard a soft, I hereby pay part of my debt.

  I shook my head in surprise but immediately switched my attention back to the battlefield. No one seemed to pay much heed to the mercs' thinning numbers anymore. Everyone was busy choosing easy targets: the already wounded and the low-level players, trying to earn themselves as many points as possible before they themselves fell prey to a stronger opponent. In any case, it looked like we'd lost the dragon. The priests had split into two groups, one of which made an outer defense circle, fighting off the attacking crowd while the other group kept tightening the net, breaking the unfortunate creature's bones, pressing her into a gigantic sphere.

  "Dragon," I groaned, unable to stop myself.

  "I'm sorry," I barely heard her. "Take care of the chicks..."

  "Fuck you!" I exploded. "What's wrong with all you, people, everyone bossing me around? First it's those newborn gods, then it's that underage newblette telling me to go and get you, and now you? You're not just trying to die on me, you're giving me more tasks again?"

  I was ranting and raving, all the while leafing through my by now quite considerable skill list trying to find
something at least remotely relevant. Wait-wait-wait, what was that? The Help of the Fallen One? Completely restore health of any creature in AlterWorld?

  I hastily selected the bonebag as target and gasped. 2% Life!

  Activate!

  Bang! The tangled mess of the white threads exploded, freeing the furious dragon. With a crushing sound, white-robed body fragments went flying. Attacked from both sides, the priests' ranks staggered and broke into helpless individuals. Slaughter had set in.

  I glanced at the clock. Fourteen minutes since the start of the action. But the mercs were still fighting. I touched Widowmaker's shoulder. "Why are you still here? The time's up. The contract's closed."

  He flashed me a grin. "It's personal now. Well, the dragon is free. You still need us?"

  I shrugged. "I don't think so. Thank you for everything!"

  "Well, then," he turned to the remains of his army and bellowed in a practiced commanding tone, "Formation type four, arrowhead, direct at the priests! Three, two, one! Barrraah!"

  Ten minutes later, I stood amid a sea of tombstones roamed by occasional bediapered human shapes looking for their graves. Even more occasional armored ones studied each other suspiciously, not sure what to expect from the opponent. They'd soon discovered, by trial and error, that the repeat murder of a player brought no faith points, so those flashing their naked butts were mercifully left alone which made me wonder how many of those were genuinely smoked and not just being clever by removing their clothes and stashing them away in their bags. Either Macaria had shown some mercy or even the gods couldn't afford to allocate millions of extra faith points to the prize fund. Had it not been for that particular restriction, the place would have been Armageddon in the flesh. As it was now, it rather resembled a village cemetery on a Saturday morning.

  I couldn't see anything past the forest of tombstones. So I summoned Hummungus and gave him a hearty smacker on the nose. I'd missed my Teddy. Pushing pens in the office had done me no good.

  I climbed into his tall saddle and had a look around. Far on the other side of the square the Dragon was still chasing single players. A few tight groups were mopping up their areas of responsibility trying not to cross paths with each other.

  A few hundred feet away I noticed the shape of a virtual policeman who was studying the battlefield with disapproval whispering something into his communications line. A nasty chill ran through my veins.

  The cop sensed my stare and turned round. He flashed a smile full of promise. Then he shook his finger at me, pointed at his own eyes and made a clenched fist—meaning, he was keeping an eye on me, prepared to crush me the moment I stuck my neck out.

  'xcuse me? What did he have to do with it? Okay, so a few players engaged in hand-to-hand, slaughtering each other and boosting their PK counter which was an acceptable way to have some fun in the game. The virtual police only dealt with either explicit crimes or money but even so, they showed no interest in sums under a million. Or could it be something personal? AlterWorld seemed to have been exceptionally generous in creating enemies for me. I really, urgently, had to grow: in power as well as in influence and connections. I had to gain some weight and security if I wanted to finally be able to ignore petty ill-wishers.

  The cop gave me a mock salute and disappeared in a portal flash. Excellent. You have nothing to look for here.

  I shrugged and went on surveying the battlefield. One of the organized vulturine groups seemed to be heading toward me. Sorry, guys, that's the last thing I need. I was about to activate the portal—the bonebag didn't need me to show her the way to her own castle—when I recognized, in the crowd of warriors, the familiar outline of LAV. Whom you could call Hummungus' brother, I suppose.

  I nudged my bear, directing him toward Eric. So! This looked like the bulk of the Vets' entire combat section. I knew virtually all of them, so no problems there.

  How's that for a meeting on the Elbe! The two bears brushed their sides as Eric and I hugged each other.

  "What brings you here?" I asked.

  He was about to speak when I heard an unstealthed Dan's voice, "Just checking to see who it was painting the town red this time. The General even refused to bet it was you. Listen, dude, you're getting a bit too predictable!"

  Fed up with talking with his head tilted up, Dan pulled an artifact whip out of his bag and cracked it in the air. I liked his mount—a proper knight's charger, gigantic and powerful. Not as impressive as Hummungus, of course, but still.

  Once he mounted it, I offered him my hand with a smile. "And seriously speaking?"

  "Seriously speaking, we were in town so we thought we'd check out the event they were having here. Eric out of curiosity and me, to level my new pickpocket skill. Might come in handy in my line of work. And there you were, as large as life and twice as ugly. Once the tea party started, we announced a yellow alert over the castle and pulled in a few guys so you shouldn't think you've been battling them all on your own like a Biblical lion. And once that celestial beauty had kindly offered us more of her bottom views, no amount of God's—let alone Goddess'—wrath could keep them back."

  "Thank you very much, guys. So what's the score?"

  Eric shook a proud fist in the air. "Seven, I got seven of the bastards!"

  Dan gave him a pitying look. "I have sixteen. Overall for the Guild, three hundred eleven frags, plus some gear and Faith points. All in all, not a bad day."

  With a start, the Vets shrunk back, drawing their weapons and raising their shields.

  "WTF?" I turned round to take a look. It was indeed impressive—the dragon, glistening in the sun, was heading in our direction. I waved to the Vets—no worry—and rode out to meet her.

  "Priest, I'm ready! Thanks for your help. I owe you. But now I'd love to see my children."

  No, I definitely wasn't a dragonologist. Was she a boy or a girl? After the dressing-down the Hell Hound had given me, I didn't dare ask. Or maybe, her skeleton didn't have gender by definition, but once it accumulated a bit of energy, it could start laying again?

  In any case, she didn't need to yell. I shook my head restoring my hearing. "Don't mention it. And turn the sound down, will you? My brains are about to explode. In any case, how do you expect us to travel? You're a bit too bulky to teleport."

  "We can fly!" the dragon bared her teeth and lowered one wing to the ground as an improvised boarding ramp. "Put your critter back into his artifact and climb up. The sky's the limit! There you can find the ultimate freedom!"

  Oh, well. Teleporting would be faster, of course, but who was I to resist the invitation of a dragon ride? That wasn't some Boeing-manufactured aluminum tube shared with a hundred sweaty bodies. This was an honest-to-God, wind-in-my-hair, earth-the-size-of-a-handkerchief flight. Yes!

  With a pat on Teddy's neck, I folded him back into his artifact and ran up the bony steps. So! The game developers had thought of everything. A reclining bone chair with anatomic armrests was just as comfortable as your office one. I had barely sat down when the dragon took a quick run and kicked herself up into the air, spreading her wings. A flying mount, the first one in AlterWorld, had taken her rider to the sky!

  My inbox pinged. Need to talk, Dan PM'd me, followed by a new message, from Eric this time,

  You're too much, dude! Can I borrow your dragon for a ride?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As we approached the castle, I didn't sense any of the chicks' emotional pressure. Below lay the Valley of Fear, rather sad and boring, striped by ancient roads and pockmarked with ruins. All that I diligently marked on my map. You can say what you want but air recce is a great thing. From the ground, you don't notice one tenth of what I copied from half a mile's height.

  The dragon emitted occasional broadband impulses, scanning the horizon and listening in to the echo. It was probably why the chicks had quietened down, their sensitive hearing detecting their mother's sonar.

  Finally, the Castle. Now the outer walls looked much more presentable than the
sad picture of bombed-out desolation that had been revealed to me a week ago from the top of the hill. The sleepless Lurch had done a great job. His hands were oozing magic. The inner courtyard had been transformed, too, and now looked like a botanical garden set amid a field of flowers. And the Castle! I nearly fell off the dragon when the clouds parted and the sunrays illuminated the once gloomy stones. The donjon's gray towers erupted in billions of colored sparks that glistened rainbow-like as if some upscale interior designer had studded them with countless handfuls of precious stones.

  Precious stones? Lurch!

  "Lurch!" I yelled into the communications artifact. "Why are you sparkling like a diamond factory on steroids?"

  "Greetings, Master! It is beautiful, isn't it?" he asked rather timidly.

  "You can say that! Now answer my question."

  It haltered while I was hurriedly leafing through his access levels. Where had he gotten the resources for all this magnificence?

  "Master, when the chicks were crying, everything here cried and wept with them. These are Tears of Stone. They seeped through thousands of its pores until they hardened and turned into perfect crystals. I must be the most beautiful castle in the entire AlterWorld now. I wonder, Master, if you wouldn't mind me taking part in this year's exterior design contest? I'm more than sure we'll get first prize."

  "Wait! You and your contests! The crystals, do they have stats?"

  "Random ones, from +1 to +20 depending on their caliber. But please don't start ripping anything off, I beg you!"

  "Or what?" I teased him, repaying him for the moment of anxiety. "You gonna cry too?"

  "Dunno..." Lurch whispered.

  His voice was filled with so much sadness I felt like a real piece of work. "Not to worry. It is very pretty. You are undoubtedly the nicest castle in the whole of AlterWorld. Just in case, could you please calculate your square surface and the average quantity of gems per square foot? I'd love to know how many gems you've got stuck to you. And if you think you can grade them by size, that would be-"