At Large

by Andrew Seiple

  And from off to one side was flickering green light, eerie and inconstant, dancing and foreboding.

  Chase turned...

  ...and then something crashed into her, and she went tumbling. Above her, Cagna swore.

  “We’re blocking the entrance,” Chase said, rubbing her head as she stood and half-ran forward. “Let’s...”

  She came to a halt, as she saw what lay ahead.

  Green pillars, standing on black nothingness, and stretching up to a... sky? Green numbers and letters flashed and flickered in patterns that her mind couldn’t quite catch. It reminded her of when Hoon had shown her the world— the true world, shorn of mortal perceptions.

  But that wasn’t the worrisome part.

  Shapes were moving through the pillars, great hulking shapes that she knew too well by now. The werewolves that Tabita had brought in with her moved among the pillars, reaching into them and pulling out screaming goblins. Blood followed, and Chase froze in horror. Somehow, though she couldn’t say how, she knew that these weren’t like the goblins in the dungeon. They LOOKED like them, but they screamed; they wept; they begged for mercy... and mercy was not given.

  Then one of the werewolves looked her way, and she scrambled, reaching for a rock...

  ...only to stop as a plush paw whacked her on the knee with strength unbecoming to a toy fox.

  “Ow!” She choked off her yell.

  The werewolf looking her way shook his head, then turned back to the goblin he was eating.

  “We’re behind an illusion,” Renny whispered. “Sight and sound. It’s not perfect and they have really sharp senses so try not to move or be loud.”

  “Renny, did I tell you I’m really glad you’re smart?” Chase whispered. “Because I’m really glad you’re smart. Really, really glad about that,” she said, trying to peer through the grove of pillars.

  “No but thank you.” The little golem stood a bit taller.

  Behind her, the Muscle Wizaard grunted as he came in, and Chase turned in time to see Thomasi following. She whipped a finger to her lips and shushed them, as Renny bounced over and explained the situation.

  Chase left him to do that and kept peering into the darkness.

  And after a moment, she found what she was looking for.

  PER+1

  It was comforting to see the words, as her eyes sharpened. Comforting to know that even in this weirdling space, the rules that she’d lived with all her life still applied.

  But that comfort was secondary. She’d found Tabita. And just like in her vision, the werewolf was sitting in the central part of things. She had the false skin in one hand and a knife in the other.

  With a shudder, she became a dwarf again and started undressing.

  She looked like she was going to throw up, and for a second, for just a second, Chase had sympathy for her. Chase knew what Tabita was going to do, and it was a nightmare.

  Then another goblin screamed and died, and Chase lost that sympathy.

  “She made her choice long ago,” Chase whispered.

  “Yes.” Thomasi said, squatting next to her. “And there’s the new Alpha.”

  “Mercutio,” Chase said, staring at the black-furred werewolf. He was talking with a few of the others, gesturing toward the pillars and back to the entrance. “I’d hoped we would beat him here. This is going to make things tougher.”

  “My Scouter skill says he’s a top-notch Burglar and a middling Duelist,” Cagna said. “That rapier’s going to be a problem.”

  Chase rubbed her chin. “Thomasi, can you help? You’re a Duelist too.”

  “No.”

  The answer derailed her train of thought. Chase stared up at him, and he was staring at Tabita, his face stern and sad and angry all at the same time.

  “Why?” she whispered.

  “You need to distract them. Renny, help me get over there without her noticing. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, but... why?”

  “I’m going to swap out the skins.”

  “She’s holding it!”

  And just as Chase said that, Tabita put the skin down, put both hands on the knife, and started cutting.

  “Oh gods,” Chase whispered, and looked away. “Fine. Do it. Just... this is your shot. If you fail...”

  “I won’t. Not this time. Not again,” Thomasi whispered, and then he was moving.

  “I’ll have to drop the screen, Chase!” Renny whispered.

  “We’re ready,” Cagna said, moving up to her left. Bastien gently pushed Chase behind him.

  “Are you?” he rumbled.

  And just as he did so, Mercutio looked up, eyes narrowing as he stared at the screen. He waved the werewolves along with him, and they dropped their goblins, moving toward the hidden group.

  “Silver Tongue. Do it,” Chase patted Renny, then pushed on Bastien until he let her pass.

  The four friends stepped out and the werewolves stopped. Growling rose from the first couple.

  “Tollen tried to bite me,” Chase called out. “Just like you knew he would.”

  Mercutio was silent for a bit, and Chase used the time to Diagnose him. Something he’d said earlier had caught her attention, something about conditions...

  ...but no. He had no conditions. No debuffs. He’d either been misrepresenting his powers or confused about the terminology.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Mercutio said. “But that doesn’t matter now. You need to turn around and walk out of here.”

  “No.” Chase said. “We have questions, and we need answers.” She couldn’t see Thomasi anymore and supposed that was a good thing.

  “Questions.” Mercutio rumbled. “If that’s all you want, is to talk then come out from behind the old man there.”

  “I have a name,” Bastien rumbled.

  “Your name is meat...” one of the other werewolves growled.

  “Shut it, Giacomo,” Mercutio cuffed him. But he kept his eyes on Chase. “Come closer, Medium.”

  It was a trick.

  It was obviously a trap.

  There was no way it wasn’t...

  Beyond him, Tabita paused in her gruesome work and looked up, staring around wildly. For a second Chase’s heartbeat raced...

  ...then the woman shuddered, throwing drops of blood everywhere. Again she looked down, and again she raised the knife.

  I have to give him his chance, Chase knew.

  For Thomasi, for her friend, she shoved aside caution and stepped forward. “My hands are empty,” she called. “You know I’m no match for you. I am no threat and mean you no harm. Can you say the same?”

  “Spoken like a true Grifter,” Mercutio rumbled.

  But he stepped forward. His rapier stayed belted around his waist. Step by step they walked toward each other, heading for the halfway point behind the groups.

  “Silent Activation, Foresight,” she mouthed.

  Your Silent Activation skill is now level 30!

  Chase watched her shadowy self walk forward and stop before Mercutio. He didn’t kill her, so that was good. But she knew that ten seconds was a short time, painfully short.

  Letting fate work, she finished the movement, feeling the tension in her chest ease as Mercutio did the same.

  The werewolf spoke first.

  “What I’m trying to figure out, what’s got me puzzled and confused is why you’re here. Why the HELL are you here, girl? What do you hope to achieve?”

  “She’s a player, and she’s going to where players go. I want to see how this works.”

  Your Silver Tongue skill is now level 19!

  “It’s not a place we can follow.” Mercutio closed his eyes, but not before Chase caught a glimpse of emotion in them. Sorrow? That was the most likely candidate. That would make the next bit tricky... there were a couple approaches here, and they all had seemed risky.

  “Silent Activation, Foresight,” she mouthed, barely moving her lips. She watched herself speak, watched the werewolf snatch her up and roar in her f
ace. Okay, nope, not that way. “Silent Activation, Foresight,” she spoke again while Mercutio’s eyes were still closed.

  There. THAT one went better. The pain in her chest turned to an ache, but she rode it out until she could speak. “What if we could?”

  Your Silent Activation Skill is now level 31!

  Your Foresight Skill is now level 40!

  “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re her dreams. She’s the sleeper here. She gets to go back, and we don’t.”

  “Really? Are you sure about that? Is she sure about that?” Chase spared her a glance then looked away. It was hard to tell how much of the player’s grisly work was done; the blood was everywhere. “She said that she doesn’t know how this works, pretty much admitted this was a long shot. What if the magic she works, the... glitch? What if the glitch can pull other people through as well?”

  She looked back to find Mercutio leaning closer. “You have my full attention,” he said, clearly pondering the matter. “Go on.”

  Well that’s good, but not good enough, Chase said, rubbing her chin... where am I going with this? I need to see how he reacts. She muttered “Silent Activation, Foresight,” as she took her hand from her face, and his eyes followed her fingers for a second. Fortunately the answer she chose seemed to work.

  Your Foresight skill is now level 41!

  “Basically I’m seeing a chance for ALL the gold. Not just a one-time payoff.” Chase spread her hands. “A new world? One without magic? What’s to stop us from going in there and taking what we want? What’s to stop us from using our magic to be kings or queens or whatever?” She smiled.

  Your Silver Tongue skill is now level 20!

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Chase’s eyes flicked over to the werewolf’s clawed hand, where it tapped against the hilt of the rapier.

  “I admit that’s tempting,” Mercutio said.

  This is a new tell, Chase thought. Why is he...

  Then it occurred to her.

  He was marking the seconds.

  He’s marking out the seconds from when I used Foresight!

  INT+1

  Panic then, and as his finger tapped the hilt for the tenth time she tried to run, found herself frozen, frozen for just a bit too long...

  ...as he lashed out and the world blurred. She squeaked and found herself pushed up against a furry chest, with one of his arms holding her snugly in place.

  Chase heard the whining of steel on leather as the rapier slid free and a coolness on her throat as he twisted it to her neck.

  “Chase!” Renny yelled and raised his paws.

  “Drop her!” Cagna snarled, pulling out her pistol and aiming above Chase... until Mercutio shifted her, and she was looking down the barrel of the gun.

  “You’re making a mistake BIG TIME, buddy!” The Muscle Wizaard boomed.

  “Ten seconds. Ten seconds, that’s your trick, isn’t it?” Mercutio growled. “Ten seconds into the future.”

  “How did you know?” Chase didn’t have to fake the quaver in her voice.

  “You think you’re the only Oracle out there? That first time we met, you were shouting Foresight like a lunatic! We went and found an Oracle and asked him what the hell you were doing. And I know you can silently activate things, so it was just a matter of counting time from when I saw your lips move.”

  She closed her eyes. It was irritating, finding out that she’d underestimated somebody. Chase knew full well the value of your enemy underestimating you and finding it turned around here was galling, to say the least. “Well played,” she murmured.

  “Thanks. You lot, relax, you’ll get her back.” Mercutio raised his voice. “Put down your weapons, and we wait. As soon as Tabita’s back home, we’re leaving this place.”

  “Okay! Okay, that’s fine. You can put me down, I wasn’t planning on trying anything anyway!” Chase said, flailing her feet a bit for dramatic effect.

  “Nope. Stop kicking or my hand might slip. I don’t trust you one bit.”

  Chase stopped flailing. Her feet had told her what she needed to know, anyway. Her head was resting on Mercutio’s lower chest, which meant her hand was... yes, there was the leather of his belt.

  She had the glimmerings of a plan, but it was a desperation move. “This is pointless. The army is coming for you. And if Tabita succeeds you’ll have to face them alone! If she fails, then...”

  Chase thought about using foresight, discarded the idea. Mercutio was holding her close, he’d likely feel or detect her talking, hell at this distance he could probably smell her breath when she opened her mouth.

  So she decided to risk it. “If she fails, then the Inquisition will get her. They’re sending someone along with the army. Some evil witch named Camerlengo Zenobia.”

  “H’aht?” Tabita shrieked.

  “What? Who? What are you talking about?” Mercutio twitched, and for a horrible second Chase felt cold pain on her throat...

  ...but then it was gone, and the blade was off her neck. “Sorry, sorry!” Mercutio said. “She’s alive! Seriously, drop your weapons! I was surprised, that’s all!”

  “Zeno’ia...” Tabita roared, and her voice was filled with such distortion and rage that Chase almost shook to hear it. “Here? Noh? I’ll ... no. No, I hah to go. I hah to...”

  “Grace.”

  Thomasi’s voice rung through the room. And though it wasn’t loud, it cut through the noise, stopped the rising tension cold, and drew all eyes to him... even Chase, though she had to turn, and she felt the blood ooze from her neck as she beheld the Ringmaster emerging from between the pillars.

  “Grace,” he repeated, staring at Tabita. “I’ve got her taken care of. Let it go.”

  “Hoh...” the skinless thing that had been Tabita said, and Chase felt her gorge rise, forced herself to shut her eyes as it spoke without lips.

  Off to the side Cagna vomited, and that didn’t help one bit.

  “Oh Grace... what you’ve done to yourself,” Thomasi said, stepping forward.

  “Tay ack! Tay ack you gihter!” Tabita screeched.

  “As you wish. But look... look at this. You have to go through with it. You have to try. You really think you’ll get up the nerve to do this TWICE?”

  Dead silence, as green letters flickered between worlds.

  “No,” Tabita gasped. “No.”

  “Then do it. And if the gods are grateful, then maybe you’ll pull me along with you.”

  Silence again, broken only by the Loup Garou’s gasping. “Noh I see. Noh I see your lan. How nuch of dis? How nuch uss you acting eehind de scenes?”

  And Chase wondered the same thing. Had he intended this all along?

  But it didn’t matter. He was her friend. If he wanted to go home, then he could try it here.

  “Otay. Otay. Hine. No ricks.”

  “No tricks. Do it before you lose your nerve! Do it, Grace!” Thomasi shouted.

  “Hnnnn.... Ritual Skin!”

  The world stopped.

  Everything slowed down.

  Not in the same way as her foresight. There were no ghosts here. There was just a sense that everything was stuttering; everything was caught between the seconds, that the world itself had come up against a great invisible wall and was beating itself senseless and shaking everything and everyone in it to bits. She turned her head and for a second, she saw the world as she’d seen it with Hoon, and everyone was numbers and letters, coiled together so tightly that they were garbled and incomprehensible... but they weren’t, because somewhere something was reading them.

  Then the screaming started, and stopped again, and started again as the world did its thing, breaking like an arrhythmic heart, gasping along and shuddering, and she realized that everyone in the core chamber was screaming, and she was screaming, too.

  But none of them screamed louder than Tabita.

  Another jerk and the numbers were invisible again, save for those flowing overhead. Another skip, and the world s
topped stuttering, as everyone turned to stare at Tabita...

  ...or rather, the garbled mess where Tabita had been.

  No longer skinless but not whole, a bloody hand poked out above her, fading in from blurry air. One of its fingers was replaced by an eye, which blinked. Her head was half bisected by a patch of the fur, that drifted down impossibly long and stretched, disappearing into the blackness that served for a floor, here.

  Those were the most recognizable parts of the woman. Everything in between was blurred and glowing but in weird patterns, square like blocks, flesh and fur colored blocks that melded into each other. The overall effect was like colored crystals of salt or something similar, all jumbled together in a standing heap.

  “Mother of gods,” one of the werewolves whimpered.

  And then it moved.

  It thrashed and swirled, and the blocks moved around within it, and to her horror, Chase realized that the blocks were spreading. Like one of those crystal growing kits that her parents let her buy from Mimby Doonel sometimes, only sped up a thousandfold.

  Chase knew, just knew that touching whatever that was would be death. It would be worse than death.

  Which is why she screamed herself, when Mercutio moved toward it. “You! You’re an Oracle! Fix her! Fix this!”

  “I can’t!” Chase wailed and knew it was true. Knew that even trying to diagnose this would invite doom.

  Then his blade was back at her throat. “Fix it or die!”

  “All right! I’ll do it! Put me down!”

  Your Silver Tongue skill is now

  Oh, oh that was bad: even the words that governed the world feared this thing!

  But it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter, because Mercutio had believed her.

  And as the rapier slid away from her throat and he lowered her to the ground, she waited until her hands were passing his belt and mouthed, “Silent Activation, Pickpocket.”

  Your Pickpocket skill

  She had no time to read the words, because her hands were full of silver, now. Silvered cards, stolen back from Mercutio. And with a scream she shouted, “Rapid Fire, Razor Card!” as she threw them all into Mercutio’s face at point blank range.