by K. T. Hanna
Jirald opened his mouth to speak, and from the smirk on his face it was something smart-assed. But Masha shot him a withering look, and Murmur experienced the first ever time she saw Jirald with a hint of shame on his face. Risk on the other hand, was still angry.
Masha sighed exaggeratedly and turned to face the older guild leader. “Just what is it about these raids you aren’t liking? I mean, we all got chests at the end of Vahrir. And we still got trash loot too. So what’s the deal?” He spoke clearly, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Murmur was starting to get nervous about the time, because she knew they had incoming. And they’d wasted far too much time on this nonsense.
Risk glowered at Masha, but in honesty, Murmur didn’t know what he could say, so she was surprised when he spoke. The words were soft and controlled.
“This isn’t how dungeons are supposed to be fought. All these puzzles, riddles, don’t kill all the mobs quests, try to save some mobs quests. Every single key we gained, all four of them, we got by zoning in and mowing through the dungeon. That’s how we’ve always played. That’s how I’ve played my entire life.” He took a breath and shot a glance Murmur’s way that told her nothing at all. She couldn’t tell if it was irritated, angry, or assessing.
Damn, the interference the tension was causing screwed up her ability to gauge a person’s true intent. She’d never felt so limited in her life.
Risk continued, his hands now relaxed by his side while his creations hovered at his back. “There’s a time and place for puzzles, but I don’t think choosing a different way through the dungeon should reward you more or less. It just pisses me off.”
He looked away, and Murmur saw a brief glimpse of petulance. He didn’t like the fact that he’d played by what he’d assumed were the rules and been negatively impacted. She couldn’t find it in herself to care.
“Great,” she said, a stony feeling sweeping over her. “Enough with the fucking drama. We have incoming. Either get ready to fight or get out. Both of you.”
Her words carried clearly through the chamber, and all fifty-eight other eyes rested on her for a moment. The weight of that gaze tried to flatten her. But she knew they didn’t have time to worry about it because she could feel the floor reverberating beneath them, like the sound and beat of hundreds of feet marching toward them.
She really didn’t like the sound of that. At least her outburst had cleared the tension levels a little, and she could feel her tenuous grasp on Snowy’s connection again. Murmur didn’t wait for anyone to interrupt or yell at her again. She shot a pointed look at both Jirald and Risk. They could kill her on their own time. Right now, she needed everyone to do their jobs.
“Assist Rashlyn. Until we know what we’re facing, single target on her target.” Murmur gave the command, knowing that as soon as they could judge their opponent’s formation, Devlish would change up the tanking order as needed.
She had a sinking suspicion they were going to end up in another area of effect battle. While she enjoyed those, she wasn’t as fond of them as she once had been. They took too much concentration and required that she neglect too many of her other abilities in order to maintain a stun lock.
She focused in on her sensing abilities. These icy fae troops were coming at them in groups of six spaced apart at even intervals. She couldn’t tell from the information she was able to glean whether or not these opponents were made up of different classes. All of these fluctuations in her sensing net had her wary about trusting any of them.
Murmur was starting to get a really bad feeling about the incoming waves of mobs. She had the distinct suspicion that they were exactly that, waves, and they’d come to the shore whether or not Murmur and the raid had dispatched the previous one.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices – Conference Room 2
Day Twenty-Eight
James swept into the room with his nose held high and a sneer affixed to his face. It made him appear more weaselly than Shayla had expected. He was flanked by what she assumed to be a lawyer on each side of him. He probably thought it was intimidating—at least that’s what his expression said until Davenport walked into the room.
Now, Davenport’s army of lawyers was far more impressive. Five people accompanied him, one of which was his press secretary who handled all of his communications, promotions, and public image. Davenport did not take a seat and instead stood at the head of the table with his legs apart about shoulder width and his arms clasped behind his back. Shayla thought the term was at ease. At over six feet and in his silvered charcoal suit, the founder of Storm Corp. was imposing.
James’s expression faltered for a moment, a brief glimpse of uncertainty shadowing his otherwise cocky attitude. But he regained his equilibrium rather quickly. “You called this meeting after receiving our missive yesterday. I don’t have all day.”
Davenport didn’t even let the words register or affect his expression. Neither did his entourage. They were busy pulling out sections of what appeared to be a contract and highlighting lines in the old-fashioned hard copy way. Shayla focused on what they were doing, hoping that James didn’t realize Laria wasn’t just not at the meeting, but also wasn’t in the building. She still wasn’t sure why they had been called to this meeting but considering Davenport’s business savvy and his insistence that he had an ace, she was trying not to look like she was enjoying it too much.
“Ah, there we are.” Not even those words held any inflection which could give away Davenport’s mood, motivation, or reasoning. He took two of the pages with lines highlighted in a pink pen and pushed them toward the middle of the table so that James’s lawyers could retrieve them for themselves.
His lawyers perused the papers they’d been handed, growing paler by the second. One of them, in a navy-blue suit spluttered rather indignantly, “This is the side contract. It has nothing—”
Davenport raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, but no contract here at Storm Corp is ever signed without the side contract, and all work we do with every party is subject to the same terms in that contract.”
Navy suit scowled sourly and continued to read, jotting down a couple of notes on the paper. It was like he, too, had been transported back to the time of handwritten notes.
Meanwhile, Davenport activated the wall screen, turning the wall into a holographic projection system.
“Just in case you’re having difficulty following the old-fashioned record keeping I insist on maintaining, I’ll give it to you in digital format.” He maintained a perfect air of impartiality as if nothing in this room affected him whatsoever. A split second later, a series of legal paragraphs appeared on the wall he had activated. His tone was almost jovial when he continued speaking, but his expression never changed once. “As you can see—and you can see, right?—your department either neglected to go over or didn’t realize the side contract was a separate entity. Regardless of how much leeway I gave my lead scientist, any agreement Storm Corp or any subsidiary of it enters must always have these clauses included. My lawyers never let any company sign a contract without these additions. This extends to the contract between Storm Corp operating as Storm Entertainment and the entity you represent.”
James stood up, his eyes stormy. “No. I oversaw this damned contract myself. There is no way I missed this. It’s forged.”
Davenport’s gaze glinted dangerously. “Excuse me, are you saying you did not sign these?”
“Damn right I didn’t,” James asserted boldly, not even glancing at the very loud evidence projected for them all to see.
“Ah,” Davenport smiled. “I do believe this here is your signature though, isn’t it?”
He enabled the contract and side contract to show side by side. Both signed by James. While Shayla wasn’t a handwriting expert, the signatures looked as identical as signatures can.
Even James looked pale at this point, his mouth open and closing for a few seconds like he just couldn’t figure out what to say.
“Of course, I’m perfectly willing to let you have these analyzed. I’m uncertain whether Michael informed you of this contract or not while you signed the portion you had prepared, but surely you read everything you signed, didn’t you?” From the sparkle in Davenport’s eyes, that had definitely not been the case.
The man paused, waiting for a response as James grew redder and redder, before continuing. “Now, I’ve had my lawyers go over your employment history with Storm Entertainment and the documents you provided to us, including the falsified work history and background that passed a rudimentary background check. Because of how you obtained your employment with my company, this clause does indeed protect our interests.”
Shayla practically held her breath as she narrowed her eyes and read through the clauses in front of her.
Part three – communication between the parties and the relationship of trust.
B) At no point should an employee of either party to the contract reside on or in the opposite’s domain without prior approval, invitation, or notification. To do so is to be called in breach of this contract. Should such an incident occur, the contract becomes null and void as of the date such a breach was first executed.
F) Should the employee of either party be terminated in a position, due to conflict of interest that employee may not obtain gainful employment with either party to this contract until after the duration of this contract has passed plus six months. To do otherwise is to be called in breach of this contract. Should such an incident occur, the contract becomes null and void as of the date such a breach was first executed.
Shayla read them over again. While the clauses were likely never written for such a breach, these noncompeting clauses which highlighted conflict of interest were perfect for the current situation. Because James’s breach occurred due to underhandedness, his approval in such a position was void. Had he obtained his job with his real credentials, and had Storm employed him knowing his background, he would have been fine.
Whoever found that and realized how it could be interpreted was going to be getting a big bonus. Although the fact that it had probably been Davenport wasn’t lost on her. She watched for James’s reaction, half expecting fireworks and half expecting him to simply storm out.
For his part, it seemed James was controlling his reaction. Though he couldn’t hide the furrowing of his brows, nor the darkening of his expression, he managed not to explode. He bowed his head conversing in rushed whispers with his legal team before sitting fully upright and gesturing toward the projection.
His voice held measured diplomacy when he spoke. “I see that part three subsection B and F can be interpreted in a manner we had not anticipated. As it stands according to this I must recuse myself from these negotiations. Since I do not fully agree with the findings, we will have our full legal team go over these results. Our joint business is on hold until such time that we can reconvene to discuss the ramifications of part three of the contract.”
Davenport raised an eyebrow. “The wording isn’t difficult, nor does it disguise its intentions, unlike you did when you applied for employment here.” Just as James was about to open his mouth again, Davenport continued. “But by all means, you can try to find a loophole.”
James balked at the last statement. Whatever he’d been about to say died on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he shot the entrepreneur a heated look of dislike and led his entourage out of the office.
Shayla waited while Davenport discussed matters in low tones with his lawyers and dismissed them. Then, with it certain that James had vacated the premises, he turned to them both. “That took a lot of research. Those clauses are always included in every single contract I make so as to minimize potential company espionage and to deter conflicts of interest from arising. I had to make sure we were not aware of his duplicitous nature before I could pull this ace. Things can be overlooked, but he was subtle in his falsifications. Just not subtle enough.”
Shayla smiled and let out a small laugh like a pent-up breath. “I’m glad we have an out.”
Davenport hesitated. “So am I. It was necessary to keep this to myself until I was certain. I hope you understand.”
This time Shalya laughed out loud. “Of course! Though I do think you enjoyed it a bit.”
Davenport guffawed somewhat loudly, turning it briefly into a snort of laughter. “Maybe just a bit. I got sick of that young upstart acting like he owned my corporation. At the very least I will have bought you some time; at best, we may not have to deal with handing anything over to them for a long time if at all.”
With a nod he exited the room and Shayla heaved a sigh of relief. For the first time since James had started playing stupid games, she felt the pressure to hide her research into the world of Somnia lift.
“Groups of six per wave,” Murmur barked out as groups rushed into formation. “Rash is assist. Crowd control on alert.”
And still she couldn’t feel her connection to Snowy properly. Luckily, she had something to distract herself with.
She watched as stances switched, weapons gleamed, and buffs were readjusted. The group in front of them was getting closer with every breath, and she could feel trepidation radiating to her now through Snowy’s connection.
Snowy was traveling with the icy fae. While she didn’t know exactly what he was doing with them, she knew that whatever his reason was, it was for the good of her and the raid. Sensations cascaded through their tether and let her know that as much as possible her wolf was safe. That reassurance allowed her to concentrate on the attack with the sole focus of getting to her wolf again in the end.
The rangers, led by Merlin, readied the path in front of them with snare arrows, hoping to halt or at least slow some of the incoming. Ranged damage dealers and healers moved toward the sides of the cavern back behind where the melee gathered. As the icy fae began to crest the path downward, the rangers drew their bows.
Not giving their enemy a chance to get a leg up, Devlish raised his sword arm in the air and screamed a guttural cry before casting Darkness Lariat and pulling the front icy Fae to him. Whether it was lucky or not didn’t matter, but the tug that moved the icy Fae guard to him interrupted its casting of Alarm. Immediately, Rash took the mob off Dev and moved to the side where melee waited.
“Interrupt rotation on all icy fae guards.” Devlish’s voice roared over the sound of the battle as he engaged yet another icy fae while the bards and Murmur attempted to lock down the other four opponents.
There was still no sign of Snowy. Worry began to eat at her, and it was all Murmur could do to concentrate on maintaining her Mezmerize on the singular target she had.
Dansyn spoke next to her. “The caster classes have high resistances, I think. I’m controlling the only caster in the group, and its resistance is diminishing the length of my spells effectiveness.”
Murmur nodded, taking in the information and adjusting strategies accordingly. “Excellent. We’ll take down icy fae guards first so they can’t scream for backup and then any casters that are in the group.”
These icy fae attackers didn’t appear to have abilities she would’ve expected in a raid. Instead they appeared to float their way into the group intent on being killed. Murmur didn’t know what to make of a group of opponents who didn’t seem to be fighting for survival. And then she remembered that these attackers were judging them, as it were.
She pulled back, maintaining her hold over the icy fae rogue she’d managed to Mezmerize. He seemed less important than a caster or guard. Taking a step back allowed her to gain a better perspective over the entire battle. But it took her a while and the second group of icy fae to begin to see a pattern.
Each makeup of the icy fae team pressed subtly toward different areas of the raid’s makeu
p. It was almost as if these groups were scouts who were testing the true strength of their raid. Once they figured out the whole groups weaknesses, she was positive the attack makeup of the icy fae would change.
“Everyone, alter your tactics. Use skills out of your habitual rotations. Change up your casting, your weapons, and your mob approach.” She glanced around her, still keeping an eye out for Snowy, even while she examined their opponents. “We are being tested and observed, and they are learning our combat styles.”
“Sneaky little buggers,” muttered Ishwa, but she thought his tone sounded sort of proud.
Murmur was so glad for raid chat. It allowed her to speak to the whole group and keep it within their hearing abilities. Anger flitted over everyone’s face. Nobody argued, not even Jirald—in fact, his expression darkened so much that the following murderous rampage he went on was to be expected. His movements streamlined, and he fought like a demon possessed. Murmur shuddered. He definitely changed up his attack tactics, and as unpredictable as it appeared to be, she was glad they were currently on the same side.
Suddenly a wet nose pushed at her fingers, and she looked down expecting to see her wolf. And it was her wolf, but something was different about him. His eyes glowed with an otherworldly shine, and he seemed to have shrunk somewhat, yet his aura was more powerful than ever. It was almost like he was holding all of his power in one spot. He glowed in her sensing webs in such a way that a tiny sliver of fear crept up her back.
“Snowy.” Either way, she couldn’t keep the relief from her voice at having him back by her side. She felt a pulse of power run through her, replenishing her mana and revitalizing her spirit. His glowing eyes locked with hers for just a moment before he dashed off at high speed and vanished again.