The Gods' Games Volume 1 & 2: Graphic Edition (The Gods' Games Series)

by Quil Carter

  Ben didn’t know whether he felt more guilty or less guilty for this. He was happy that at least Alé was safe, but also the heaviness he felt inside over the state of the rest of Alcove was backbreaking.

  At least he was doing something about it… and not just him, the demigod was helping them. As Teal and Malagant had said, the gods were finally answering their prayers in the form of the Anean Prophecies.

  Though apparently the demigod was helping Erick as well.

  Ben shuddered at the thought, his body becoming cold over the remembrance of what his friends called the gods’ games. Perhaps the gods weren’t really answering Alcove’s prayers, but were pitting the two against each other to see who could complete the prophecy first and win. The thought made Ben’s mouth flood with a bitter taste – this world was a scary one, and these so-called gods sounded scarier.

  The kitchen helper came back with their food. Two roasted chickens surrounded by whole potatoes and a loaf of bread and a generous chunk of cheese. Behind the kitchen helper was a ladyelf with their pitcher of beer and three silver tankards.

  Ben pushed down his caustic thoughts with the arrival of their food and drink, and tried to enjoy his first night in weeks with a roof over his head and a warm bed upstairs.

  It was all he could do anyway.

  The next morning Ben woke up warm and comfortable in his hay-stuffed bed. He nestled himself into his blankets and inhaled the smell of dry hay and wood fire and listened to the hearth crackle and snap. Malagant or Teal must already be awake but that was no surprise, Ben was always the last one to get up.

  Slowly he opened his eyes and watched the flames dance around. He was alone in the room which he wasn’t too happy about; he would’ve liked to go out and buy supplies with the two but perhaps they wanted him to sleep more.

  Ben finally crawled out of bed and saw that there was a note on the dresser. He picked it up and read it.

  We gave our clothes to the inn keeper’s wife Bedelia, she’s washing them for us. Put on the clothes on Teal’s bed and find us in the square. – Malagant

  Ben looked towards Teal’s bed and, sure enough, there were folded clothes resting on top of Teal’s pillow. Ben put them on, a red doublet and a grey blouse, and black trousers, all of them smelling like the ash soap Teal had cleaned their clothes with in the river.

  The morning had a chill to it but the cold air felt nice on lungs now used to the muggy recycled air of the forest. So Ben took a deep inhale and wandered into the square, already filled with elves walking from one shop to the next.

  There were elves of all types and statuses. Some of them wore roughspun tunics with stray threads and old patches, others wore colourful silk robes and hats with feathers sticking from the tops, Ben even saw travellers that were dressed similar to him and his friends: soft leather tunics and fur cloaks with swords strapped to their backs and bags in their hands. It was a melting pot of elves in this town, it was fascinating.

  It didn’t take long for Ben to spot Malagant and Teal, or for Teal to spot Ben. It was obvious Teal had been keeping an eye out for his friend.

  “Benzin!” Teal called and he gave Ben a wave.

  Ben paused for a moment at Teal’s choice of moniker. It was the nickname that Emett had for him back in his world, a combination of his first and last name. For a second it jarred Ben and tugged on his heart, but he brushed it off. The reminders of his old world were getting few and far between, and the knife that sliced him whenever these memories got brought up was becoming dull. Or perhaps there was so much scar tissue it was getting harder to cut through it.

  “Hey,” Ben said as Teal jogged up to him. He had his bag on his back and though Ben was sure it had many pounds of new supply in it, it still appeared half full. “What am I calling you here?”

  “Tealander is fine,” Teal said with a half shoulder shrug. “Malagant is Menniker but it’s not like many of the shopkeepers have asked.” The two of them started walking towards Malagant who was talking to a burly blacksmith, one that had biceps as big as Ben’s waist.

  “We already bought ourselves three horses,” Teal explained as they waited outside of the smithy. Malagant sounded like he was deep into haggling, it looked like he was trying to buy a sword. “They’re going to be delivered to the inn in an hour and we can be on our way. We also stocked up on silverwine, apple this time, and white wine and we got a lot of food too and even better bedrolls since we’ll be sleeping on the ground from now on. Oh, and I also got you this…” Teal snapped his fingers and then quickly held out both hands as a heavy black fur cloak appeared out of thin air and landed in his outstretched arms.

  Ben shook his head, still not over how neat it was to see Teal perform the magical enchantment that was on that backpack.

  “This is made from Aryd wolf,” Teal explained as he handed Ben the cloak, it was heavy but looked incredibly warm. “I got them for all three of us – well, the demigod did anyway. He gave me quite a bit of coin. It will keep us all warm during the trip to Lelan and until we get to the Lazarius Plains, and also–” Ignoring Malagant’s loud scoff, assumedly at the smith’s final price for the sword, Teal took off his pack and took out a pair of black leather gloves that were trimmed with the same black fur. “Your boots will do fine in the weather and the cloak has a hood. We’re all set for winter and the cloak will make a perfect blanket too!”

  Ben was relieved at this. If the crispness of the morning was any indication it was about to get cold in Alcove and living in Denver Ben knew all about rough winters.

  “Alright, deal,” Malagant said finally. Ben looked behind Teal to see Malagant shaking hands with the burly smith who seemed proud of himself. A moment later coin exchanged hands and Malagant was walking towards them with his new sword in hand.

  “If it wasn’t because this is a proper Evercovian steel sword I would’ve told him to shek off,” Malagant said as he admired the blade. It had leather grips and a crossguard and blade of a shiny silver that was darker than Ben and Teal’s sword, almost black. The pommel though was what was most interesting, it had a red polished jewel embedded in it, much like Malagant’s dagger.

  Malagant seemed to notice Ben looking. “The jewel is a focus stone,” Malagant explained, then he motioned for them to walk with him; the reason why was obvious when he started speaking again. “A focus stone is what is needed to do powerful spells,” Malagant explained to Ben in a low tone, away from the ears of elves that may find it curious that a nineteen-year-old hibrid didn’t know about focus stones. “It focuses your maegic into it, instead of it being all over the place, if you have a focus stone in your hand or near you, it’ll attract all of your releasing maegic into it and build it up, vital for any powerful spells.” Malagant beamed at the sword and twirled the blade. “I can’t do maegic like my father and brother – I never got the hang of it to Dad’s disappointment. But I lived by the border between Evercove and Alcove when I was little and my father trained with the best mage in Evercove after the war. The kingdom is close to my heart and I don’t feel right without an Evercovian blade in my scabbard. I lost my last one a while ago.”

  “Bellar!” a voice shouted in the distance. Ben looked towards the voice and saw the guard he recognized as the one who had let them inside the gate. He was sprinting towards the smith, another elf behind him.

  The three stopped and watched the guard go by, Bellar the smith was already walking out of the overhang, his stained apron now jingling with the sounds of Malagant’s coins.

  “We have Serpents,” the guard said, he was out of breath. “They are demanding to come in. Can you just go into Black Willow while they’re there and make sure they don’t cause trouble and the residents behave? They have a camp outside the walls; they’re not staying overnight.”

  Malagant’s face darkened; his temple spasmed from clenching his jaw.

  “I will,” Bellar said. “I’ll keep the residents in line. As long as we don’t react to their folly remarks – we should be fine
.”

  “I’ll make sure the drunks are out for the night,” the guard said. “Thank you, Bellar.”

  There was a clicking of boots on the red brick and the guard entered their vision again. He walked back towards the gate without another word.

  “Let’s get back to the inn,” Teal said. “We can leave before they arrive.”

  “No.”

  Ben and Teal’s heads both shot to Malagant, his tone was low and full of hatred. “We’re spending another night here.”

  Teal stared at Malagant, his eyes wide. Ben knew his meek friend wouldn’t be the one to question Malagant’s decision, it would be up to him.

  “Malagant,” Ben said slowly. “We have the jewel to protect; we can’t get involved in–”

  “Then go on without me, I’ll catch up,” Malagant replied; he was watching the guard, now on the dirt road and almost out of sight. “I don’t expect you two to understand.” Finally, he broke his gaze from the guard and started walking back to the Black Willow.

  Ben and Teal exchanged glances and started following Malagant back to the inn. They said nothing when they entered and still nothing when they were in their room.

  Several hours of silence later Teal went down to the kitchens and came back with some food. They dined in silence on thick stew and a loaf of black bread with nuts pressed into the crust.

  “The horses will have been delivered by now,” Malagant said, a half-full bowl of stew still on his lap, he had been spending more time staring at the fire than eating his food.

  “We’re not leaving without you, Malagant,” Ben said, wiping up the rest of his thick stew with a crust of his bread. “So you can get that idea out of your head right now.”

  Malagant picked up his spoon and prodded a chunk of borsow meat. “We can leave in the evening. We’ll need to anyway, and quickly.”

  “Why…?” Ben asked slowly, his stomach was already churning from anticipation for the answer he knew was coming.

  “Because I’m going to kill every single one of them,” Malagant replied. His eyes narrowed, dark blue eyes that held the reflection of the dancing flames in the fireplace. Though the flames were as cold as the Aryd sea compared to the inferno inside of Malagant’s eyes. “Once they come back to their camp – they’re mine.”

  Teal, who had been sitting on the fireplace’s hearth, looked up. “We can’t attract that sort of attention to ourselves, Malagant. We already have Nyte and Tseer to worry about and winter upon us…”

  Malagant roughly slammed his bowl of stew onto the dining room table, making a splash of steaming gravy land on the old wood. “I said I don’t expect you to understand,” he snapped. He grabbed his cloak and latched it underneath his neck. “I don’t expect you to understand what it’s like to see your comrades, one by one, become emotionless, mindless tyrants. I don’t expect you to understand how it feels to know your friends are still out there to this day raping, bullying, and terrorizing whoever they want with the blessing of your–” Malagant pointed to Ben. “–fucking brother. The King of Alcove.” Then Malagant’s burning eyes turned to Teal. “I don’t expect you to understand that these residents are unable to defend themselves, their families, and their holdfasts from my former knights. They just have to suck it up and behave as the knights who were once sworn to protect them do whatever they want.”

  Malagant drew his hood over his head. “So let me do as I will – I’m going for a walk. I expect you gone when I return. I’ll meet you in Little Lelan if I don’t catch up with you.”

  Malagant walked out of the wooden door, slamming it behind him, leaving Ben and Teal to stare at the closed door in shock.

  There was silence between the two of them, before Ben looked over to the hearth. Teal looked back at him.

  “We’re not leaving him…” Ben said slowly.

  “I know,” Teal replied with a small sigh. “There was never any question.”

  When Malagant came back several hours later he looked genuinely surprised to see Ben and Teal still in their room.

  “You really think we’d leave you?” Ben said, pouring Malagant a glass of wine. He and Teal had been testing out the new apple silverwine – it was quite good.

  Malagant’s mouth twisted to the side suggesting that he indeed did think they would. “I suppose, I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. There was definitely a dark looming cloud over Malagant, Ben could practically see his shoulders slumped over the weight of it.

  “You don’t know?” Teal said annoyed. “We’re in this together and that means during decisions that sixty-six percent of us think are idiotic. We’re both coming with you; we’ll bring the new horses and take off before their commander realizes that they’re missing.

  Malagant took the cup of wine and slowly tilted the white liquid back and forth in the tankard.

  “Perhaps I’m not used to having friends either,” Malagant said quietly, a funny expression crossed his face, a perfect combination of thankful and sad. “It is something to get used to, isn’t it? Having fellow elves to rely on.”

  Teal chuckled dryly. “Tell me about it.”

  The three of them stayed inside their room for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Around nine they could see the Serpent knights walking down the ashlar brick of the square and then into the inn. As the evening went on the Serpents got steadily louder and louder and the bar patrons all started to leave, until it looked like no one was in the inn’s dining hall but the four Serpent knights.

  Bellar could be seen standing in front of the entrance to the inn, several times elves came up to the bar looking to wet their throats only to be turned away by the burly elf.

  It wasn’t until one in the morning, with the moon high up in the air and the stars sparkling through a crystal clear night sky, that the Serpents decided it was finally time to leave. By this time Ben, Teal, and Malagant were all packed and ready to go and their three black horses saddled and waiting for them in the stable.

  It would be a quiet exit back into the northern section of the Forest of Jare. Malagant did whatever Malagant could do and had requested for the gatekeeper to keep the gate open after the Serpents had left. Malagant had insisted that they didn’t know what they were planning on doing, but also refused to comment further on the explanation he had used.

  Ben hopped up on his horse and grabbed the reins. He looked over at Malagant and watched as he nudged the horse on the side and clicked his tongue. Ben followed suit and the horse lurched forward and started walking behind Malagant’s horse, Teal taking up the flank.

  No one spoke as they rode through the square, then down the dirt road towards the north gate. As Malagant had said the gate was open, and Ben could see guards lined up on either side of the wall, but no one spoke to them; they only loomed over the small party, like crows lined up on a long tree branch.

  And just like that, Alé was behind them; Ben wasn’t sure when, if ever, he would see the small town again. He said goodbye in his head, and faced the approaching forest in front of them. The forest looked even more sinister with the knight’s torches in the distance, like a spider glaring at them with its sparkling eyes, wondering why they were walking closer to it and not fleeing in the opposite direction.

  Eventually the forest swallowed the torches and before Ben knew it they were riding their mounts down the road.

  Ben inhaled the stale air, muggy even at night, and sighed. He and his lungs had both enjoyed this small reprieve from the forest but it was back to feeling like he was breathing through a thin cloth.

  After an amount of time lost on Ben, Malagant stopped his horse and held up his hand to signal the other two to do the same. Quietly, they slipped off their mounts and tied their reins to a root that had erupted out of the black soil.

  “Stay behind me,” Malagant whispered, then he turned to Ben. “Use your daggers. They’ll be better with their swords than you, but you’ll be quicker than them.”

  Ben nodded, a spark of pride flaring inside of him at
the fact that Malagant and Teal weren’t trying to force him to stay behind. Though when Ben looked over at Teal to get Teal’s dagger his friend was giving him a wide-eyed look.

  “I’ll be careful – I’ve stabbed people before,” Ben said with a reassuring smile. “Come on, I’ve been here for almost a month now, right? Longer? It’s about time you cut the apron strings.”

  Teal just kept staring at Ben, his lips disappearing into his mouth like he had to make a physical barrier to stop the anxiety Ben knew was crawling up his throat. Then, still not speaking, Teal slipped his dagger into Ben’s hand, before turning to follow Malagant who had started walking into the forest.

  Malagant was a grey shadow in front of him and even though Ben knew he wasn’t able to see as well in the night as a hibrid could, Malagant’s movements were steady and had a stealth to them that rivalled Teal’s.

  Ben knew he was making more noise than he should, but every step he took he had already mentally planned out by spotting any noise-making brush or stick that lay ahead. He avoided them and eventually, when Teal had snuck up ahead of him, he just stepped where his friend stepped.

  When the glowing light of a fire could be seen peeking through a large tree, Malagant held his hand up; Ben and Teal stopped in their places.

  Malagant reached behind him and brought out his black crossbow which he had slung over his back. He belted it to his arm and motioned for the two to start following him again. Teal drew his and Ben’s swords as he started walking, and on that cue Ben got out his twin daggers.

  They got close enough that they could make out the four knights, three males and a female, all of them wearing serpent garb with fur cloaks clasped under their chins. They were drunk and talking amongst themselves, smoking from a long pipe and passing around a leather wineskin.

  Malagant shifted over to another tree, twenty feet away from the camp, and glanced up. He pointed up to the tree, then pointed to Ben.