In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2)

by Michael Atamanov

  Modified Vocal Chords. This mutation allows you to speak the languages you know and make yourself understood to the races that speak them. Requirements: Translator skill level 50, Intellect 20. Ability cost: 20 mutation points.

  For a kitten like me, this was a pathway to communicating with other players! I’d finally found a way! Sure, the mutation was costly, but without even thinking about it, I immediately put all nine of the free skill points I’d saved into leveling up the Translator skill to ten. Maybe that was unwise and first I should have gained a few levels the ‘natural’ way, but I just couldn’t stop myself!

  In the meantime, the conflict between brother and sister only grew. Arvedo was shouting and not holding back his words; I was starting to understand some sherkh words now, and I heard ‘naked,’ ‘shameless,’ and ‘disgrace.’ A little later came ‘traitor,’ which was somehow linked to the names of Avelia and Sergeant. Avelia proudly answered ‘no’ to her brother’s next question. And then Arvedo Un Ponar took a throwing knife out of his pocket and threw it into the ground at his sister’s feet, clear hatred on his face.

  Judging by the frightened twitch from the Swordmaiden, that knife meant something very important. Wait… Was it the same weapon that Avelia used to kill her brother in the old fortress? Could my new mistress have been so careless as to leave it in the victim’s body?

  “Kamo urti un yoka!” Arvedo pronounced, pointing contemptuously at his sister, struck dumb by the inarguable evidence of her guilt. Two sherkhs appeared from behind Avelia and grabbed the Swordmaiden by the shoulders, twisted her arms behind her back.

  My sensitive hearing hadn’t let me down after all. Arvedo hadn’t just sounded like more than one sherkh.

  Kamir Ur Vashi. Sherkh. Male. Guild: Eastern Garrison. Level 38 Inquisitor.

  ☠ Antoshi Ush Bahar. Sherkh. Male. Guild: Eastern Garrison. Level 45 Shadow Mage.

  While the Swordmaiden couldn’t fight back, Arvedo walked up to her and gave her a few ringing slaps, then spat in her face for good measure. After that, he moved off to root through his sister’s belongings. Avelia tried to pull herself free to stop him, but the other sherkhs kept hold of her. Out of the backpack flew a change of women’s underwear, a light blanket, a cup and plate, a few potions, some bare wooden tablets and writing tools, and various other trinkets. Arvedo took the potions for himself and threw everything else into the fire. The girl’s backpack itself met the same fate. Her belt bag was also cut off and checked. But, whatever Arvedo was looking for, he didn’t find it among her things. That made him even more furious.

  With a threatening air, he approached his sister and asked something about ‘night glasses,’ if I understood correctly. Avelia stayed quiet and turned her face away. That bastard grabbed his sister by the chin and forced her head back to face him. He squeezed, then repeated his question about the ‘night glasses,’ whatever the term meant.

  Stealth skill increased to level twenty-two!

  Translator skill increased to level eleven!

  I stayed in stealth and continued to watch from a few yards away as the Un Ponar family settled their affairs. I grew more and more uneasy with what was happening. Arvedo unclasped the crossbow and quiver from Avelia’s belt and gave the weapon to the Inquisitor. Then daggers and throwing knives were pulled from the many pockets in the Swordmaiden’s black bodysuit. The artifact that Avelia had been keeping in a small side pocket of her thin jacket was also taken and passed to the Shadow Mage with pleased comments.

  What was this? Was I watching my new owner get arrested? But apparently, that snake’s plans extended beyond simply disarming his sister. I heard words about ‘eternal shame,’ ‘wanton,’ and ‘showing off for everyone.’ Arvedo grabbed the fine cloth around his sister’s breasts, took out a knife and began to cut away a large piece of the material. He cut her bra and pulled that off too. That bastard clearly wanted to shame his sister by taking her back to camp like that. This must have gone far beyond what was accepted in the invisible race, since even the Inquisitor tried to stop it as a step too far, but Arvedo shouted down his countryman and continued down the low road of vengeance.

  I couldn’t help myself. I had to put a stop to it. Avelia needed help! First I had to neutralize the most dangerous of the three — the Shadow Mage. Which meant Curse Magic, Mana Drain! And once more just to make sure, especially since the mana I drained would come in handy for other spells. Infect on the Inquisitor! Infect again! Slow on Arvedo! And one more Infect on the Inquisitor!

  Kamir Ur Vashi groaned and bent over, releasing Avelia’s right arm and clutching his grumbling stomach. As if waiting for just such an opportunity, the Swordmaiden pulled a dagger from a scabbard at the Inquisitor’s belt as he stood with wide eyes, turned, and cut off the arm of the Shadow Mage holding her at the elbow. Antoshi Ush Bahar screamed piercingly, fell to his knees and used his right hand to try to stem the blood gushing from the stump of his left. Then the Swordmaiden drove the bloody blade into the Inquisitor’s eye right up to the pommel!

  I didn’t waste time either. Slow on the frightened Arvedo as he tried to run away! Slow! Weaken! Weaken!

  Curse Magic skill increased to level seventy-one!

  ATTENTION! Your game class has changed from Hexxer to Shadow Hexxer!

  I didn’t have time to check what this change of game class meant for me — I had to keep casting spells to help my new owner. Avelia took back her crossbow, loaded and cocked it within two seconds, took careful aim and fired at her retreating brother’s back. At the very last second, Arvedo disappeared into stealth, but that didn’t save him. Headshot! Right in the back of his neck! Dead in one hit! The bastard’s corpse fell face-first into the fire.

  No longer hurrying, the girl reloaded her weapon and turned to the last of the three foes. The fearsome Swordmaiden pulled the Artifact of Invulnerability from the Shadow Mage’s hand and, ignoring his screams and pleas for mercy, shot him in the head.

  Stealth skill increased to level twenty-three!

  Translator skill increased to level twelve!

  Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-three!

  Your character is now level twenty-two!

  Reward: three skill points and one mutation point (total available: twenty-one).

  Your character is now level twenty-three!

  Reward: three skill points (total available: six) and one mutation point (total available: twenty-two).

  Two levels at once! Now that’s what I’m talking about! A little more and I could pass through the energy barrier around the sandbox! The Swordmaiden slowly lowered her weapon. The girl had leveled up too during the short battle, to fifty-two, so her wounds had healed. Which couldn’t be said of her broken state of mind and her now useless clothing, cut at the breast. Yep… Minus ten camouflage, plus fifty attention from the opposite sex. She couldn’t show up in good company like this.

  Avelia, now with a skull over her name after her treatment of her three countrymen, approached the fire. She idly rolled her brother’s still twitching body away with her foot and looked at her burning backpack and burnt clothes. It was too late to save anything. The Swordmaiden kicked Arvedo’s corpse in anger, then looted all three bodies and started looking around.

  “Whiskers!” she called me. I emerged from stealth and limped toward the fire on my three good legs. “Ali tu!” Avelia said, and gave me a slight bow. I guessed that meant “Thank you!”.

  Wow, she figured it out. My former owner would have believed with all certainty that he’d handled it all on his own. The girl picked me up, kissed my furry face and put me on her shoulder. Then she disappeared into stealth and hurried away from that creepy place.

  Chapter 8 [Sergeant]

  Group of Outcasts

  THE NIGHT was tense. It wasn’t the night beasts’ attack — Rumbler, Washington and the other inhabitants of the river village easily dealt with the monsters. The defenders teamed up to kill the Alpha. The Feelers couldn’t pass through the flame barrier. Quiet s
oon came. But then something strange began. There were screams, shouts, the crack of gunfire. Someone ran somewhere, then broke the windows of the next house with stones. I was still bedbound and could barely move. I could only guess at what was going on outside. My sister watched through the window and told me what she could. The screams of the people of Rumbler’s Refuge didn’t stop. Unfortunately, our window faced away from the village center, so we couldn’t make out much. Julie tried to go out into the courtyard to find out what was going on, but Glutton sent her back firmly with an order to sit in her room and not get in the way of men fighting. The noise in the courtyard went on and on, at least until midnight. Then things slowly calmed down and people went back to their houses.

  Late in the night, I got strong enough to swing my legs over the side of the bed and limp to the toilet cabin in the yard. It was hard to walk — my Stamina Points were balanced at zero and I nearly fell. I had to pick up a stick and lean on it as I went. On the way back, I circled the house, trying to find out what had happened. I saw broken shutters on the next house, blood on the walls and spent ammo casings on the ground. A frowning man in army fatigues with an assault rifle on his knees sat on the porch — one of the overseers brought to Rumbler’s Refuge. He watched me walk toward him on shaky legs, narrowed his eyes.

  “Get gone while the going’s good, Beast Catcher,” he shouted threateningly. “This doesn’t concern you!”

  I didn’t listen. I kept limping toward him, at the same time taking a closer look at this unfamiliar inhabitant of the village.

  Andrew Whitesteed. Human. Male. Guild: The New Pharaohs. Level 33 Overseer

  He was a young man, twenty-two to twenty-four, blond, tall and muscular. His uniform bore the stripes of a junior sergeant, just like mine had, but another badge showed he was a paratrooper too. My approach raised Andrew’s hackles. He put a hand on his rifle, but showed no aggression.

  Groaning like an old man, I sat down heavily on the porch next to him.

  “Been in the new world long?” I asked.

  “What do you care?” the man grumbled. A moment’s silence, then he sighed. “Fifty or sixty days, somewhere around that. I lost count.”

  “You landed here with your gun and three full magazines of ammo?” I asked in surprise. That kind of situation was rare good fortune. Some found themselves in the new world just in swimshorts, or without even that.

  “My parachute didn’t open and I was too close to the ground to pull my backup chute,” the guy explained, then asked where I’d served and how I’d gotten here.

  I had nothing to hide. I told him the short version of my service, my return from the army, how my girlfriend cheated on me and how I ended up in the new world.

  “You’re lucky you didn’t leave anyone behind in the old world, Sergeant,” the young man said sadly. “I’d give half the lives I have left just to tell my wife and mom that I’m alive and well, and doing okay. I wonder how they’re doing without me. And is my child a girl or a boy? Shame the kid will have to grow up without a dad. I worry about my mom the most. I hope she recovered from the grief. I was her only son, and I died in a training exercise. But maybe her grandson or granddaughter will give her reason to go on living…”

  I patted my new friend on the shoulder reassuringly, but even that simple gesture nearly made me fall over. His next question was about what led to my current weakness, and I told him about my conflict with the sherkh, his arrow and the lingering anesthetic.

  “Yeah, the sherkhs are ballsy now. We see their scouts near our villages more and more often. Rumor has it, the long ears even kidnapped a noble of the Pharaoh sent to them as emissary. Our boys are definitely going to be striking back at the invisibles. I overheard some plans…”

  My new acquaintance suddenly fell silent in mid-sentence, grimaced as if he’d said too much. I waited around a minute, then stood up and started hobbling back toward my room, leaning on my stick. Suddenly, Andrew Whitesteed called to me:

  “You should get out of here, Sergeant. Our squad leader Crazy called for reinforcements over the radio. All because of that fight. Your boys stood up for the doctor woman when Knave and Bluetit lifted her skirt in the kitchen, then dragged her here. By midday, Spike’s punishers will arrive. They’ll bring order, deal out retribution for opposing the Pharaoh. They’ll beat the men hard and rape the girls. You need to get your sister out of here — those bastards won’t care how young she is. For some of those perverted sadists, the girl’s age makes it even better. I saw things when those punishers were putting down a revolt from the second caste…”

  “The second caste?” I asked, grasping onto the unfamiliar term.

  “You been living under a rock, Sergeant?” he said. “How could you not know that? The Pharaoh introduced the hierarchy for all the players in his guild last year, then expanded the same system to cover all players. The lowest caste includes bound slaves, players from other guilds and prisoners of other races. The second caste is made up of free settlers, craftsmen and others who wear no slave collar, but are still bound to pay tribute for their freedom. The first caste is warriors and their families. The nobles are the highest caste. And the Pharaoh himself is at the top of the pyramid.”

  Wow… I’d have to keep that in mind. I thanked the guy for the explanation and the advice, then limped back to my room. My heartbeat quickened. We couldn’t stay here. But I’d already been planning to leave soon. The conversation with the Overseer just made that decision easier.

  * * *

  When the first sunbeams streamed in through the window, I rose and woke up Julie. It was no easy task — the sharp-toothed white lizard was guarding her mistress. The reptile bared her fangs and hissed at me, not letting me close to my sister’s bed. Once Julie did wake up, she calmed her pet and apparently marked me as ‘friendly’ in her settings, because Snowflake calmed down entirely and stopped even paying me any mind.

  I was already feeling surprisingly well. The injury on my back still hurt, but it wasn’t slowing me down much. Better yet, the debuff from the potion that was burning my Stamina Points was gone. I was back to my old strength again. My sister started rolling up our bedrolls, then suddenly she stopped, straightened up, started listening hard. It was the silence that surprised her. Usually, the river village was full of noise in the daytime — there was always someone cutting up timber, carrying stone to the storehouse, hammering away at the palisade, or just talking. There was none of that now. I agreed with my sister that this was very unusual, went outside… and the last remnants of slumber fled in an instant.

  Five bodies hung from the roof beam of the open storehouse. Knave, Bluetit, Crazy, Ample Arcadius and my nighttime acquaintance, Andrew Whitesteed. All five were players from The New Pharaohs. Broken necks, lolling tongues, faces turned blue. All that meant they had been hanged alive. The overseers’ hands were tied behind their backs, too, and all their weapons and valuables had been taken, which couldn’t have been done after death — the game rules prevented it. I saw no signs of blood or other wounds on any of the victims — it seemed all five had been taken unawares, maybe as they slept, then tied up and hanged.

  “What a way to start the day…” my sister said from behind me. “What did they do to deserve that, brother?”

  “Plenty,” I said, not delving into the story of sexual harassment followed by gang rape. “But something else matters more now: where do we go? It’s too dangerous to remain in the village. The Pharaoh’s punishers will get here soon, and they’re going to be angry. They’ll take it out on the first people they meet.”

  I told my sister to pack her things, then I ran from house to house. Rumbler’s Refuge was empty. All the tools, clothes, weapons and crockery were gone, and even some building materials from the storehouse. It seemed all the villagers save me and my sister had left the village early in the morning, or maybe in the night, after dealing with those hateful overseers. For some reason, they hadn’t warned me and Julie.

  I saw many track
s from booted feet all around Atlas — it looked like the villagers had tried to unroll my giga-komodo and bring him with them, but they’d failed. Strange that they hadn’t invited me along with them. Unless the people of Rumbler’s Refuge were headed beyond the barrier, where the servants of the Pharaoh couldn’t reach them, and I wouldn’t have been able to pass through with the rest.

  That must be it. The main gate was open, the drawbridge lowered, and all the tracks led to the river bank, then east — the shortest route to the forcefield. If they hurried, they’d be out of the sandbox by nightfall, and out of range of Spike’s punishers and the Pharaoh’s other minions.

  Tracking skill increased to level fifteen!

  We started to get ready. We saddled up the creeping crocodiles and I woke up Atlas and unfurled him. Avir Tan-Hoshi flew in from wherever he’d spent the night on the river bank. Without a word, the winged boy started helping us to pack our bags and saddle the animals. My sister and I exchanged glances.

  “Don’t chase him away!” Julie asked. “He has nowhere else to go.”

  I just shrugged. I didn’t much trust the Thief, although I noted that Avir Tan-Hoshi had drawn in his talons and found all kinds of ways to make himself useful. The Cartographer had said that there was no friend more loyal than a veyer. Maybe we’d made ourselves such a friend? We were already saddling up the Marsh Mistress when we saw the Philosopher and Engineer approaching. The two were so deep in conversation that they nearly walked right into the hanging corpses before they stopped.

  “Holy (censored)!” the Philosopher commented, a normally very cultured and delicate man who never swore. “What happened here?”

  “Looks like Washington kept his word,” Max Dubovitsky said, examining the corpses, the wooden frame and the bench lying nearby. “After that incident that made Varya leave the village, and that time they harassed Rita while she was feeding the babe, he threatened to hang all five of those overseers if they harassed the women again. They must have thought he was bluffing…”