Kingdom Come

by James Osiris Baldwin

  Curious, I watched him work through the process of quest giving on his end. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes, I got an alert.

  New Quest: Reality at All Costs

  Oath breaking is a serious crime among the Tuun, and the stigma you carry for breaking the Kara Bukat Talom - however justified - makes Matir-aligned parties unwilling to work with you. Not only this, but Count Lorenzo Soma has done his best to sow discord among the garrison and undermine your efforts to improve and increase your reputation with the lords, knights and soldiers of the defense.

  Now you have the opportunity to erase both problems: after praying on the matter, Vash has challenged you to undertake the Supply Train sub-quest without your party or the assistance of your dragon mount. Not only will you atone for breaking the Pact, you will inspire the garrison with your heroism and not only reverse the damage done to your reputation, but exceed it.

  The rewards and difficulty rating for this quest replace the Supply Train subquest of the Unto Death quest line.

  Speak to the Chief Weaponeer, Viktor, or Sheriff Istvan Arshak to learn more.

  Difficulty: Unknown

  Rewards: +1200 renown (Myszno Defense Force), Unknown.

  Special: As part of the atonement process, this quest does not award EXP. The Renown acquired on completion only applies to you and your mount, not your party. Allowing anyone to assist you with the quest causes the quest to automatically fail.

  "Wait a sec," I said. "How far is Krivan Pass from here?"

  "A day's ride north-east by ground," Vash replied. “Give or take.”

  "We don’t have enough time for this." I frowned. "Two days ride there and back? The Demon's on the march and we might only have three days before a major assault. Can Karalti fly me there and then come back?"

  "No." He shook his head.

  Agitated, I jumped down off the edge of the wall. "Then how am I supposed to get it done in time?"

  He made a sound of exasperation. "Use your brains and find a way, you moron. And quit whining."

  "I'm not whining!" I snapped.

  Vash gave me a long-suffering look. "Complaints are dribbling from out between your lips, are they not? That IS the definition of whining. Now, either accept the cock-sucking quest and spend five seconds thinking about how you can get it done, or reject it and continue to dance to His High Lordship's tune."

  I eyed the quest. My first inclination was tell Vash to go fuck himself. But as much as I hated it, he had a point. And this was as close to an olive branch he could bear to offer.

  "Fine. I'll go figure it out." Furious and frustrated, I swiped the quest back in and confirmed it. "Karalti can pick me up when I'm done killing whatever is there, right?"

  "Yes. When you return after your inevitable victory, I will make sure that word of your deeds gets out to Istvan, to the troops and their lords so that we can wrap up this mummer’s farce." Vash blew a strand of hair out of his face, then hopped down. "Did you know that we still don't even know why the Demon is in Myszno? Why Napath has invaded Vlachia? Tens of thousands slain, the House of Bolza extinguished, the land scourged... and we have no idea why."

  I thought back to Lazar's mention of the plates in the library of Karhad. "No one's really heard much about Napath since the end of the Drachan War, right? When the Caul of Souls was established."

  "Since about that time." Vash cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his gauntlets clinking softly.

  "One of the undead commanders said something weird to me yesterday. Just before he died - again - he said: ' We will take back what you stole’."

  "In a language you understood?" Vash cocked his head.

  I hesitated for a moment, mouth open. What language HAD the Wraithlord spoken? "He said it in... uhh..."

  "Not Vlachian. Not Tuun." He watched me curiously. "No one has ever made sense of their snarling babble before. In Karhad, the demon turned a Vlachian woman into a vampire so that she could demand that we surrender the city. Their language has been impenetrable to us."

  "I don't remember. It could have been Draconic." I shrugged, disquieted by my lack of memory.

  "Hrrrn." Vash frowned, the scars on his face twisting his features in slightly different directions. "Well, it matters not. Go now, dog. And pray to your un-gods that you make it back in time, for all our sakes."

  Chapter 32

  There were a few things I needed to do before I left for the Pass. I had Skill EXP to assign, potions to make, and travel to plan. But first, I needed to check in on Suri.

  I found her in the training grounds with a group of thirty [Militia Swordsmen] - a side-quest, I realized, as I checked my Quest menu and saw that several side-quest leads had been added to the list. She was pacing a square ring with a freshly repaired axe in one hand, facing off with a man in knight's armor and surcoat. She wore her breastplate and greaves, but had taken off the rest of her armor.

  "You’re gonna have to give up your shields and switch for two-weapon fighting if you can," she said, calling out to be heard. "Except for the volley at the beginning of a major battle, they're a liability. These rotters - zombies AND skeletons - are fragile enough you can kill 'em with a single good hit to the head. Tactic number one is don't let them swarm you. Shield on your back, push with your weapons, disable the charge before they pull you off your feet or off your saddle into the mud. Watch this. Come at me like we saw the skeletons do: overhead, shield forward, as hard as you can."

  The knight looked dubious. "My Lady-"

  Suri’s eyes narrowed. "'M’Lady' me again and I'll shove that sword so far up your arse you’ll taste the hilt. Put up or shut up."

  Guffaws rang out around the plaza. The knight didn't like that much. He set his weapon and charged in with a roar, mimicking the swordplay of the enemy as we'd seen from the wall. In a single fluid motion, Suri stepped under the swing, grabbed the edge of his shield, pushed it aside, and bashed her axe into the man's helmet just hard enough to make him cross-eyed. She pushed him back. "Again!"

  The knight came in a second time, a low chop much harder to dance away from. Suri swung her axe down, knocking the blade away from her thigh, and pulled her second axe from her belt to swing it overhand. She just barely tapped the center line of her opponent's head. His lips quirked in a bemused, admiring smile.

  "You lot." She beckoned to a cluster of eight men on the sidelines. "Come here. All of you at once, full speed, real swords."

  The crowd of students began to buzz. I stood back, arms crossed, watching as they collected themselves. Suri belted her axes and went to get a pair of padded training batons instead.

  "Charge!" She barked.

  All nine opponents rushed her as a group, mimicking the aggressive, jerky motions of the undead. Rather than wait for them to swarm her, Suri bull-rushed them. One sword slid along her breastplate with a screech, but the men began to fall, stunned, as she took each one out with blows to the shoulders, head and neck. Soon she was surrounded by nine groaning 'zombies', each one clutching their vital points above the collar bones.

  "They can't fight without arms. They can't fight without heads. They can push you down. Their ribs and spines WILL catch a narrow-bladed weapon and twist it out of your hand." She called out. "Ditch the shield if you're infantry, or take a smaller shield if you're mounted. Your worst enemy is your stamina, so trust your hookwing's jaws and claws. Switch swords for maces, axes, hammers... you're chopping these bastards like firewood, not poking them in the liver. Everyone group up into threes, grab weapons, and start practicing against the thrust, overhead, jab and slice. Look what hand your partner is using for their weapon and find a way around it. They don't bleed. You do. Get to it."

  [Suri has gained +25 Renown (Myszno Defense Force)]

  [Two-weapon fighting is now available to Militia Swordsmen: anti-charge ability added!]

  [Current Renown: -249]

  The buzz of conversation among the men was hopeful, their spirits lifted by the sight of one woman so effective
ly taking out so many opponents. Suri went to the men she'd flattened and offered them a hand up. All but one refused, flashing her a suspicious, but respectful look. They left, and she sighed contentedly.

  "Hey beautiful." I crossed the yard to join her. "You alright?"

  "Yeah. Sorry about before. I lost my temper." Her jaw clenched, and she looked back to the administrative wing of the Fort with hot, angry eyes. "Soma looks like one of them."

  "'Them' being...?"

  "The Architects. The ones in Al-Asad." She worked her teeth for a moment, then tossed her head. "Today, he sounded like them, too."

  "I'm sorry." I raised a hand, silently offering to touch her. She looked at it, drew a deep breath, and shook her head. I left off.

  "Don’t worry, lover: I’ll be okay. I'm working through it the way I used to back in the pits. Put a weapon in my hand and suddenly everything’s easier to deal with." She jerked her chin at the yard, now teeming with troops wailing on each other with clubs, dull axes, and padded maces. "We're going to be working for days to repair the damage that soaking cunt did to our reputation. I don't think we're gonna make it in time."

  "I wanted to speak with you about that." I beckoned to her and stepped back. "Vash is offering an out, but it’s not easy. I have to go and solo one of the subquests."

  "Which one?" Suri's mouth twisted.

  "The one with the caravans. Supply Train."

  She grunted. "You should be alright if you’ve got Karalti."

  "Except I won’t. I have to do it alone. Vash won’t even let her drop me off." I shook my head. “But if I can pull it off, this quest awards twelve hundred Renown. That's more than enough for us to rally the entire garrison."

  "Really? Twelve hundred sounds like a lot." Suri went to her own quest log, looking through it. "For you."

  I cocked my head, confused. "For me?"

  "It's enough for YOU to rally the entire garrison." She irritably brushed the invisible display to one side. "The bonus only applies to you, not your party."

  "Only to me?" I hurried to check - and when I re-read the quest description, I groaned. "Shit, Suri. I didn't even see that. I thought it was for all of us."

  "It is what it is. And it’s better than nothing." She jerked her shoulders up. "You've been leading us this whole time anyway."

  Something was wrong. "I'm sorry? I seriously didn't-"

  "I know, okay?" She glanced over at me sharply. "When do you leave?"

  "As soon as I speak with Karalti, then Istvan."

  She gave me a curt nod. "I was hoping we could go this afternoon and rally the Orphans. My gut says that getting them to come back here is going to be a case of kicking someone's arse six ways to Sunday.”

  “Yeah.” I frowned, looking to the sky for Karalti. There was no sign of her. “I can’t come. I have to go do this thing.”

  “Right.” Suri sighed. “I’ll handle it. If the undead hit the walls before we have our shit together, we're all fucked. We need the Orphans."

  “Yeah, for sure.”

  Suri looked back at the melee. The combatants were enthusiastically boffering each other, and the arena was full of the sounds of clashing armor. "I'm beginning to wish I'd listened to you and stayed in Taltos."

  "Same. I didn't mean to just kind of take shit over, by the way. I'm sorry."

  "It happens. Rin's too busy with her projects, Karalti's too busy growing up, and I… I dunno. I probably shouldn’t try and lead anything outside of a brawl. People piss me off." With a backward glance at the training soldiers, she leaned in and planted a kiss on my forehead, freezing in place as an unearthly screech pealed out from the direction of the stables.

  "Is that..." I drew back as screams - male, female, animal - cut the air. "Oh no."

  "Aww shit." Suri broke into a rambling trot for the gate to the stable-yard. “CUTTHROAT!”

  We weren't the only ones heading for the ruckus. As the sounds of mayhem began to escalate, a crowd began to form around the gates. We squeezed through just as a man's agonized cry pierced the air.

  "THAT’S MY PRIZE COURSER!" It was one of Bolza's bannermen. My HUD flagged him as 'Lord Zediwitz'. He was as small and jumpy as a terrier, with a long drooping black mustache and big buggy eyes that were currently bulging with rage, because our beloved feathery murder-chicken was dragging a horned corrun's head - with spine still attached - through the broken stable doors in a scene straight out of a horror movie.

  "PURRR! PURRR!" When Cutthroat saw Suri, she pranced toward us with her prize, kicking aside dead horses, dead horse parts, and miscellaneous organs on her way across the bloody flagstones.

  "Cutthroat! You big dumb bitch!" Suri hollered, storming toward her. "What the fuck d'you think you're doin’?!"

  “PURRR!” Slowly - one might say, sensuously - Cutthroat struck a tall, trembling pose in front of Suri, showing her the full length of her body. Her jaws gripped the skull right at the base of the huge scimitar-shaped horn, behind the eyes and in front of the ears so that the horn rested up along one cheek. Then, once Suri was close enough, she began to slowly gyrate her upper body. The quills on the top of her head and neck flexed in a crested wave pattern, rippling under the sunlight.

  “Dude,” I said. “Karalti’s not in heat, but Cutthroat is.”

  Suri scowled at her. "Jesus fuckin' Christ, bird."

  "That's my CORRUN!" Lord Zediwitz screamed, circling as he tried to find a way to get to Cutthroat without being disemboweled. He clutched his sword in one hand, his shield in the other. His cuirass was unbuckled on one side. "Guards! GUARDS! Help me!"

  Oblivious, Cutthroat began to work it like a Bird of Paradise, turning so that the unfortunate equine's head was parallel to Suri. The corrun was still wearing a bug-eyed expression of terror. Its tongue flopped out of the side of its mouth as the dinosaur wagged her muzzle up and down, dramatically lifting up her arms, neck and tail to flash her glossy ultraviolet plumage for Suri's viewing pleasure.

  I began to giggle.

  "Oh my god. Okay, girl. I get it. You’re hot for me." Suri face-palmed. But as she dropped her head, her curly red hair fell in front of her face like a flag in front of a bull.

  Cutthroat shrilled a muffled sound of excitement. The scaly skin that surrounded her eyes tightened abruptly, making it seem like her brilliant gold eyes were three times their usual size. She snaked her muzzle forward, the horse's head extended out, and did one of the weirdest fucking things I'd ever seen an animal do. Her left pupil constricted to a black point, then expanded until it was almost at the edge of her iris. As she did that, the right pupil contracted... and then she began to pulse them back and forth hypnotically, rapidly weaving her head.

  "Yes, sweetie, I know. You're absolutely the most impressive creature that ever lived, and the loveliest." Suri winced and leaned back from the huge floppy head that Cutthroat was shoving in her face.

  Every word that fell from Suri's lips seemed to thrill Cutthroat to her core. Quivering with excitement, she dropped the horse head at her feet, backed up a step, and then struck a dramatic flamenco pose. Then, slowly, she withdrew her scythe-blade claws, tucking them up into her armpits as she spread her elbows out and up. As she did, the iridescent pinions of her arms stood on end, fanning out around her neck. She inflated her throat and chest with a hiss, and then - holding eye contact the entire time - she bounced her head, neck and shoulders up and down while holding her claw arms steady.

  "Oh my god. It's... she's..." I gazed on in awe. "It's the chicken dance."

  The other hookwings in the yard began to bob and dance along, yarping and snapping their jaws. This was clearly some A-grade dinosaur fan service.

  “Stop this now!” Lord Zediwitz screamed.

  "How? What the fuck do you think I’m gonna be able to do about this, you useless cunt?! I didn’t ask for my dinosaur’s hand in fuckin’ marriage!" Suri edged back, and Cutthroat pursued her, the bobbing and weaving and throbbing pupils growing more intense with every step. The dinosaur
put one back foot on the corrun's head, and absently flexed her killing claw right into its eye. It burst like a ripe passionfruit.

  That was the last straw for Lord Zediwitz. He screeched in fury, boiling up on Cutthroat from a 45-degree angle - well within her line of sight. In an instant, the hookwing went from trying to seduce Suri to turning on the man who was rushing in with his shield up and his sword raised. Cutthroat's massive jaws parted, and she stood tall on her back legs, unfurling her hook arms and lifting the huge claws up like a praying mantis ready to strike. Standing like that, she was almost twelve feet tall.

  Every other hookwing in the stable-yard roared and reared up as well, screeching encouragement to the alpha female. At that moment, Lord Zediwitz realized exactly what he was doing. He squealed like a piglet as the hookwing lunged at him. Her jaws smacked off his shield, knocking it from his arm. She bellowed at him as he scrambled back, spraying him with bloody drool. The man tripped over his spurs and fell back on his ass with the crash of metal on stone.

  Tears poured down my cheeks. I went to one knee, choking with laughter.

  [You are incapacitated!]

  [We have detected that you may be experiencing hysteria. Would you like to check in with a member of our support team?]

  Satisfied that her rival was out of the picture, Cutthroat tossed her head, trotted back to Suri and reached down to delicately rip the equine's tongue from its skull. Suri rolled her eyes as the dinosaur resumed posturing, jabbing the tidbit toward her as if to say: "Take it! It's yours! Look how well I can provide for our hatchlings!"

  "Okay, jeez." Suri reached out and snatched the floppy blue thing from her, then scratched her on the side of the neck.

  Cutthroat swelled with emotion at the touch, both pupils contracting to tiny points in her enlarged eyes. I could almost hear her HUD chime. Success!

  "You have gained a Bonded Mount?! What the fuck does that mean?!" Suri P.M'd me as Cutthroat got a pensive look on her face, and then began to bob her head and gurk, like a cat about to throw up a hairball. "I just got a notification telling me she's a- Cutthroat! NO!"