Land of the Undying

by Dave Willmarth

  Mace took a deep breath. His anger threatened to goad him into doing something stupid.

  These damned centaurs and their mule-headedness is what got so many people killed in the first place! They’ll just keep doing it. If this one lives, he’ll spread rumors, and eventually do something stupid that’ll get me or Shari or someone else killed. Better to just end him.

  Mace’s hand twitched with the urge to just cut the scout’s throat and be done with it. Instead, he said “Okay you horse-brained moron. I was asking about reinforcements so we’ll know whether the settlement is likely to be attacked soon. You heard the answers. They just stumbled across the battle, and had not reported back. We’re safe for now. That group was told to look for Kobolds west of here. In a village they didn’t know the location of. They won’t be missed for a week at least. And no other group, if she was to be believed, will dare hunt here. Now, you may say one word in answer to my next question. Do you think I could have obtained all that very valuable information if I had not asked them questions?”

  The centaur growled. “No.”

  “And do you think they would have answered my questions if they did not fear me for some reason? There were 4 of them.”

  Again, the centaur answered “No.”

  “Now let me ask you this. If I were with them, and my job was to weaken your people and the settlement, why would I have just killed them? When you ‘discovered’ me… why wouldn’t I just let them kill you? My secret would be safe, and my mission could continue.”

  When the centaur’s muscles relaxed a bit, he pulled the knife away and hopped down. Moving to stand in front of the scout, he said “If you’re going to survive much longer, you’re going to need to be a lot less stupid.”

  He turned and walked in the direction of the settlement, fully expecting the scout to restring his bow, or use the other bow, and put an arrow in his back. After a moment of silence, the centaur followed.

  “I am sorry, Mace.” He said as he caught up. “I heard your words and was blinded by anger. All I saw was betrayal. It did not occur to me that you were gathering information to help us. I guess… I guess I expect betrayal from a drow.”

  Mace chuckled. “As you should. From every single drow but me. They are liars and murderers and thieves and should be killed on sight if you encounter them. But I am an outworlder, not a true drow. Though I was sorely tempted to go with my drow nature in cutting your throat just now.”

  They walked in silence until they reached the settlement. As they passed through the gate, the centaur broke off to report to his elders. Mace located the captain and did the same. Not feeling much like crafting, he retired to the inn and logged out.

  *****

  Shari was reading again when she got Mace’s message. She quickly copied the list onto one of the parchment pieces Ramon had sold her. She showed the list to Falin, who nodded his head. Then she left to find Master Arlon. He was in his tree, as usual. She called up to the window, and he told her to come upstairs. She handed him the list.

  “Hmm… no big surprises here. We’ll have to adjust our requests to the merchants a bit. We did not plan on supplying bows or arrows. But it can be managed. A dozen bows and a few hundred arrows are no hardship for elves. Thank you, child.”

  Shari spent a little time with him, talking about the forest and some of the things she’d learned in her healer’s training as they watched Snuffles and Mion mock battle on the floor. They had tea and sandwiches, and Arlon retrieved another handful of grubs for Mion to devour. He seemed to take great joy in feeding her. And she seemed to equally enjoy letting him.

  When everyone was fed, Shari bid Arlon goodbye and returned to the temple. There was much to learn, and only a few more days to study. She spent the remainder of the day there, learning from books and from Falin directly when she asked questions. She invited him to the inn for dinner as thanks for all his time. They enjoyed a nice meal of mushrooms with gravy, elven bread, and salad with nuts and honey-vinegar dressing.

  Afterward, Falin bid her good night, and departed. Shari took her small zoo up to her room and dismissed them before logging our herself.

  Chapter 18

  It All Remains the Same

  For the next two days, the routine remained… just that. Shari and Mace would meet for meals to talk about their in-game adventures. They would spend a little time on their gardens, and they both spent some time on their real-world projects. Shari was studying anything she could find on the zombie particles, and learning more about how a person’s consciousness connected with the pod’s systems. Mace was monitoring their sync levels, and making modifications to the operating code that he thought might ease their eventual permanent transfer.

  When they weren’t eating, working or sleeping, they were in the game. On the third day, Shari had just logged in and was heading to the healer’s temple when Arlon approached her in the street. “Good morning, Shari. I am informed that the caravans are fully supplied and ready to go.”

  Shari instantly had butterflies in her stomach. She had studied hard, and Falin had told her she’d made tremendous progress already in her learning. She was, in fact, reaching the limit of spells she could learn at her level. Class specific magic and all but the most basic of spells were limited by level requirements. At Shari’s level 20, she simply didn’t have enough mana to cast many of the more complex spells. The more mundane knowledge- the herbs, potions, surgical techniques and the rest, had no level requirement. But Falin assured her she was prepared for most situations.

  “Thank you, Master Arlon. What time would they like to leave?” she asked with no little trepidation. This was it. She was going to leave the city and head into the forest to meet Mace.

  “They’ve been waiting on you, actually. Everyone has gathered. You have time to get whatever gear you have in your room, and then we can go meet them.”

  Shari obediently returned to her room and emptied the chest at the bottom of her bed into her bag of holding. She’d spent a little bit of her wyvern heart gold to purchase two large bags with one hundred slots each. She was wearing one, the other was for Mace. Once she had everything ‘packed’, she returned to Arlon. The two of them walked to a staging area near the city gate. There was a caravan of four wagons lined up, each one piled high with supplies. Each wagon had a driver at the reins, and a ranger sitting next to them.

  The commander approached and gave Shari a hug. “Remember all that I’ve taught you, and you’ll do just fine. My rangers will watch over you until you reach the settlement. I’ve also instructed them to test you a bit along the way.” The evil smile on her face told Shari she was in for some sore muscles.

  Falin was there as well, along with Lonien . They each hugged her, and presented her with gifts. Falin’s was a mortar and pestle, along with a bag filled with healing herbs. She promised to practice and improve her alchemy skills. Lonien’s gift was a dozen high quality potions, six health and six mana.

  Ramon was next. He’d waited for the others to step away before approaching her. She smiled at him and said “I promise I’ll practice, so that next time I see you, you’ll be amazed by my skills!”

  Ramon returned her smile, saying “I’ll hold you to that! In the meantime…” he held out a leather-wrapped parcel. “This is a little something I whipped up for you. Do not open it until you are alone and safe. Many would be tempted to do you harm to obtain it.” He hugged her briefly and turned away to join the others.

  Arlon, who had been holding Snuffles, put the pig on the ground and embraced Shari. “Good luck, young one. Know that we’re all hoping that your quest is successful, and you can bring back more outworlders. You are always welcome back here, regardless.” He let her go, scratched Mion’s belly one last time, and stepped away.

  Shari, fighting to hold back tears even though she knew in her rational mind that these people were just code, lifted Snuffles up onto the back of the nearest wagon before climbing up herself. She made a sort of nest for them among a b
unch of grain sacks, and they settled in for the trip. The commander called out to the lead wagon, and they began to move. She waved at the gate guards as she passed through, then pulled up her UI and sent a message to Mace that just said “Caravan is leaving now. Be there soon.”

  *****

  Mace was crafting arrows when he got Shari’s message. He’d taken a break from repairing damaged buildings while he waited for more planks to be delivered. The centaurs were felling trees in the forest, but it took a while to clean and cut the logs into usable boards. So Mace had decided to use the time and gather some likely looking branches from the pile that’d been stripped from the logs. He had made about twenty decent quality arrow shafts so far. And maybe twice that many crappy ones. He looked at his pile of discarded early efforts. One shaft was so curved that he imagined it flying in a circle when fired.

  He gathered up his remaining sticks and went to find the captain. As he often was, the ogre was standing near the gate. “Good morning, captain. I just wanted to let you know that the caravan from the elves is on its way. I don’t know exactly how long it’ll take them to get here.”

  The captain answered “Most of two days. Wagons don’t move quickly. We’ll send the boat across tomorrow to meet them at the other side of the lake. And we’ll have it take what little we have to offer in trade. I’ll go notify the crafters and merchants to begin rounding up what they can. It won’t be enough to pay the elves. Not by half. But it’s all we can do.”

  Mace shook his head. “Don’t worry too much about the elves. Shari gave them a thousand gold to help ease their burden. And they’ll receive more later. Whatever you have to send back to the elves will be enough.”

  “Ha! Outworlders. I’d almost forgotten. Your people piss away gold like you can just pull more outta your arse anytime you want!” the ogre said. “Thank you, Mace. And your friend.”

  Mace stood still for a moment, staring at the ground and thinking hard as the captain moved away. Something the ogre had just said struck a chord within him.

  Why shouldn’t we pull gold out of our butts? I mean, I can get admin access. And there are no players around to object. It wouldn’t be like we’re cheating anyone. And we could improve the economy wherever we went. Make up for the lack of players spending gold. Maybe buy ourselves an island somewhere. Build a port city with a keep on it. Overpay everyone for labor and materials. Hell we could start our own country.

  Mace stood there a good long while, distracted with dreams of living like a king for a hundred years or so. When he shook his head and came back to reality, Stuart was standing in front of him. The goblin still looked angry, but he wasn’t holding any knives. Mace said “Can I help you, Stuart?”

  Stuart looked up at him and said “I ‘pologize fer tryin to kill ya.” before turning and stomping away. As Mace watched him go, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye. A distortion he’d been trained to notice. It was a sign of someone moving about in stealth mode. Immediately Mace suspected more drow. Had there been more to the group he’d killed? If so, could they have sent a runner back to report? He needed to find out.

  Avoiding looking in that direction, he began to walk toward the nearest building. He whispered to Minx as he walked. “Keep your eyes open Minxy. There’s someone sneaking about the settlement.”

  Minx head-butted him and he heard her think at him “Bunny. Big bunny. Been here whole time. You not see?” She sounded surprised. “No… I did not see a big bunny. I think I would remember that. Can you see it now?” Mace asked.

  Minx thought at him again. “Not now. Minx find.” And just like that her weight disappeared from his shoulder. Mace reached the building he’d been aiming for, and stopped to look around. There were people about, but nobody was paying any particular attention to him. So he moved into the building’s shadow and went into stealth mode. He quickly climbed up the wall and onto the roof, moving against the stone chimney where it cast a small shadow. From there he surveyed his surroundings.

  Mace focused his vision on nothing. He scanned his head left and right, letting his peripheral vision take in the entire area. This was one of the secrets Jervis taught him. Illusions made to fool the eyes could sometimes be penetrated by using one’s lizard brain. Any movement in one’s peripheral vision caused an alert of potential predators deep down in the lizard brain. There was a corresponding boost of adrenaline, so that even if one didn’t realize they’d seen something, the rush would alert them.

  He registered the various citizens moving around. None seemed in a hurry or to be moving suspiciously. After a couple of minutes, he refocused. Whatever had been there had gone behind a building somewhere. So he crouched in his meager shadow and waited.

  Less than five minutes later, he couldn’t help but laugh as Minx, fully visible, bobbed out from behind a building into an alley. She wasn’t walking, but seemed to be floating about five feet above the ground. Mace quickly realized she was sitting atop whoever it was he’d seen.

  Taking advantage of his target’s location in an alley, Mace sprinted down the rooftop and leapt off. Hitting the ground with a roll, he was up on his feet instantly and moving into the alley. Slowing down a few feet in front of Minx, he pulled his daggers. “Show yourself, bunny.” He said in his best tough-guy voice. He was starting to enjoy the ridiculousness of this whole thing.

  There was no answer, but Minx was no longer moving. Mace fixed his gaze just below where she sat, and said “Last chance, bunny. Show yourself or be gutted.”

  A voice said “Oh, very well. How did you find me if you can’t see me?” The air shimmered slightly, and the speaker appeared. Mace was not prepared for what he saw. The voice’s owner was indeed a bunny. A five-foot tall rabbit beastkin with green fur. The bunny stood upright and wore, of all things, a maroon velvet smoking jacket with a gold ascot. On its head was a bowler with two holes cut out to accommodate his ears. Mace instantly decided his name was going to be ‘Pimp-bunny’.

  “I’m trained to see through illusion.” Mace said. Then he added “And I had some help.” He pointed to Minx and watched the bunny’s eyes lift upward. He reached up and removed his hat, and Minx, from his head. Minx gave a little wave and leapt back onto Mace’s shoulder. She wrapped her tail around his neck again and said “Funny bunny”.

  “My name is Mace. What’s yours?” Mace put his daggers away. The bunny didn’t seem threatening. He swept his hat in a graceful downward flourish and bowed “I am Ian. Pleasure to meet you.”

  “You’re quite the snappy dresser, Ian. My compliments.” Mace gave a small bow in return.

  “Why, thank you sir. It is good to be appreciated, yes. No one here ever comments on my attire. Though, I suppose always being invisible, they may not have noticed, no.”

  “You stay invisible all the time? Whatever for?” Mace asked “And how?”

  Ian’s nose twitched, and he tugged gently at his ascot. “Magic, dear Mace. My ascot here. A gift from my mistress.”

  “And your mistress would be…?” Mace prompted the bunnykin.

  “Ah, that would be a secret. Yes. The mistress does not like her name bandied about all willy-nilly, no!” He looked Mace up and down. “But you might interest her, yes? A drow like her. Good with the knives. And no small amount of magic yourself, yes.” Ian sniffed at him.

  Mace was trying to maintain a healthy suspicion of this foppish bunny. “Fine. Take me to her.”

  Ian shook his head, causing his ears to flop about. “I’m afraid that would be difficult. She is far from here. In a city called Graf. Many days’ travel, yes.” He gave Mace a sorrowful look. “Dangerous is the forest. Full of animals that can smell an invisible bunny, yes! Not safe to travel alone, no no!”

  Mace’s smile clearly made the bunny nervous. “Graf, you say? As it happens, I am headed to Graf myself. As soon as a friend of mine arrives with supplies for this settlement. You can travel with us, and we’ll keep you safe from nasty predators. Yes?” Mace mocked the bunny just a bit.
>
  “Yes. That would be helpful. I agree most happily, yes. My mission here was complete weeks ago. It will be good to return to civilization, most certainly.” Ian returned his hat to his head.

  Quest Received: Meet the Mistress

  Difficulty: Medium

  Reward: 50 gold; 1,000 experience, variable bonus

  Safely escort Ian the invisible green bunnykin to meet his mistress in the city of Graf.

  Receiving another quest for basically going where he needed to anyway didn’t hurt Mace’s feelings at all. “You are staying at the inn?” Mace asked, turning to walk that direction.

  Ian didn’t follow. “I must not be seen, no.” he explained. “And the inn, yes. In a manner of speaking. I could not rent a room without being detected. So I was sleeping in the cellar, yes. Until someone froze it. Now I sleep in a burned building. It is comfortable enough, yes.” He pointed to a nearby home that was missing part of its roof and one wall. The rest seemed habitable enough.

  Mace asked “And you have enough food?”

  The bunnykin in the velvet smoking jacket looked uncomfortable. “When one is invisible, one… finds what one needs, yes.”

  Mace pulled a couple days’ worth of travel rations from his bag. He’d looted several from the drow slaver scouts. “Take these. Stealing from these folks might get you caught. I’ll come and find you when it’s time to go.” He handed the food to Ian and turned to go. He saw the green bunnykin fade from sight out of the corner of his eye.

  He resumed his path toward the inn, and was passing near the gate when a wounded centaur stumbled through. He was bleeding from several cuts on both his human and equine halves, and seemed barely able to stand. Mace ran toward him, as did several other townsfolk. Another centaur came through the gate and offered support.