“But why didn’t Whiskers tell us all that?”
The girl shrugged uncertainly.
“I suggested he should reveal himself, but he didn’t want to. He said he doesn’t want to see sympathy and compassion in the eyes of the humans around him. He also thought it was best that people not take the little kitten seriously.”
“Wise move on his part. Some settlers would pity him, others would fear him, and in the end everyone would avoid him. But why did you decide to tell me?”
“I believe that for the sake of the whole group, the commander must know all the capabilities of the group members. Well, and…” The girl suddenly went bright red, took a deep breath before continuing… “I’ve decided to tell you that although I like you, out of the two Andreis available I’ve chosen the one locked in the cat body. I’m sure he’ll find a way to become a human, and I’m willing to wait for him. Don’t be upset. You’re my best friend, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Varya stopped and looked into my eyes, waiting to see how I’d react. Don’t be upset? I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I didn’t have to make any excuses or feel awkward anymore. But I knew better than to say that to the girl — then she’d be the one getting upset. So I said nothing. Varya misunderstood my silence.
“So you are upset. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I shouldn’t have said anything…”
“No, it’s fine. Thank you for your honesty. Shall we go back to the others?”
Varya turned to look at our companions on the bank and laughed.
“Dad and your sister are looking at us. Probably wondering what the big secret is. And Edward too. I have to admit, I’m a little afraid of him. There’s something… off about him. Sometimes he looks at me like he’s undressing me with his eyes. He made a pass at me a couple of times, but I made like I didn’t understand his gross hints. Sergeant, could I ask you to put your arm around me? That way everyone will think we’re together. He won’t try anything with the leader’s girlfriend, he isn’t the type.”
I have to admit, sometimes I can’t understand the wonderful ways that women think at all. Like now, for example, I was surprised. She just ‘rejected’ me, and now she was asking me to hold her, make to the others as if she was my girlfriend. But I didn’t refuse Varya the favor. I held the girl around the waist as we walked back to our traveling companions.
* * *
It wasn’t far from Hundred Skull City to where the snows began, around four miles. We traveled it in an hour and a half. ‘We’ meant Varya, my sister Julie, Avir Tan-Hoshi, Max and myself, plus the kitten sitting on the Scout’s shoulder. It was in this team that we set off to catch the dangerous Chimeric Cougar, which, according to Varya, could turn invisible. We had to leave Atlas, who was carrying our things, at the edge of the snows — the armored reptile stubbornly refused to enter the cold zone. Snowflake refused to go any further too — she jumped down from my sister’s shoulder and stopped obeying commands. I suspected that for the giga-komodo and the rock lizard, like for all cold-blooded creatures, going into the cold meant certain death.
Evening was coming, so we had to hurry. We didn’t want to run into the dangerous predator in the dark. And the night beasts hadn’t gone anywhere either. They’d be sure to visit us when night fell. Although I wasn’t particularly afraid of the beasts — there were six of us, so the night beast’s level would be very low. We could deal with them.
In the meantime, it was getting cold. The temperature must have been near minus twenty. The wet snow crunched underfoot, and sometimes we were up to our knees in it, making our journey a tough one. I got pretty lost in the snowy forest, although Varya told me we were literally only a mile or so from the spot where the night train arrives with new human settlers every midnight. We had to hurry to finish up before then, too — we didn’t want to run into Axe’s gang, the group that captured new slaves for the Pharaoh.
“The Chimeric Cougar’s lair is right over there!” our Scout informed us, pointing at a snowy mountain slope a little over a quarter of a mile away.
We’d already discussed our hunting strategy, so everyone knew what to do. The Thief, with warm clothes over his dark bodysuit, loaded his crossbow with a tranquilizing bolt. Max Dubovitsky and I took out our long spears. They were cut from hard wood and burnt over the fire to make them even stronger. My sister and Varya prepared their net, woven from rope (I got two levels of Item Crafting as I sat weaving with the rest of the group), and went into stealth — their task was to sneak up to the cougar, throw the net over it and then, while the beast was tangled up and pinned to the ground with our spears, to tie up the creature’s legs. Whiskers’ task was to slow and weaken our opponent so we could deal with it.
“Well, let’s go!” Time pressed, and I wanted this done before nightfall.
Eagle Eye skill increased to level twenty-four!
What was that? In the opposite direction, in the depths of the murky forest, some shadow flickered. I activated night vision. Damn. Too far away to make out the creature’s heat signature. No problem — I had a special something for occasions like this. I put on the infrared goggles… and my jaw dropped! There were humans there! A group of humans! At least four, lying down in the undergrowth and tracking our movements. That was all we needed! I told my companions about the observers.
Everyone stopped, afraid. We couldn’t even think about hunting the dangerous Chimeric Cougar with someone hunting us.
“What are we going to do, Sergeant? Retreat?” Max Dubovitsky asked.
Everyone stood tensely, waiting for my answer. I said nothing, just examined the snowy slope and the dark forest again carefully. I saw no other strangers, only the first four.
“For now, we act like we know nothing. Move slowly and carefully toward the Chimeric Cougar’s lair. But we need to know more about those people. Varya, that’s a job for you!”
The Scout shifted the kitten onto my shoulder and then soundlessly moved off toward the mysterious watchers, walking in a wide circle around and towards them. All the other members of my group left the woods into clear space and moved slowly forward, step by step.
Now I recognized the place. Over there, by the small cliff, was where I revived after Badass killed me. Not far from the beast’s lair, as it turns out. I was very lucky not to run into the Chimeric Cougar back then, on my very first day in the new world. I would have had no chance whatsoever. And there was the lair! A warm spot in my night-vision goggles against a backdrop of snow and cold stone. Well camouflaged. There was no way I would have seen it without night vision. Was the Chimeric Cougar inside right now? Or had she smelled us and gone into hiding?
I looked from side to side, trying to find our target. There she was! The huge beast was lying by a heap of rocks just thirty paces from us, watching tensely as the strangers approached her lair. I don’t know how, but the cougar knew she’d been seen. I didn’t even have time to warn the others properly before the huge beast attacked us!
“Careful! There she is!” I shouted and pointed toward her, although to the others, the Chimeric Cougar was still invisible, with only her pawprints appearing in the wet snow. At that speed, she’d be on us within three seconds. A bolt thrummed as the veyer got his bearings and shot at the approaching enemy. The Engineer pulled the Thief back and stepped forward decisively, his spear at the ready.
“Meow!” Meow! Meow!” Whiskers screeched hysterically from up on my shoulder.
Just yesterday, I would have thought the dumb cat was just scared from hearing our shouts and feeling the tense atmosphere. But after my conversation with Varya, I knew that the critter was casting spells as fast as he could, helping the rest of the group. And his spells were working! Our enemy’s speed dropped noticeably until she was walking at an unhurried pace for the final few yards. That gave Julie time to open her net and throw it toward the beast. It wasn’t too successful — the cougar didn’t get tangled up, — but she at least showed us the outline of her invisible
body. Then I rushed forward, stuck my spear into the ground and took her main strike!
Hand-to-Hand Combat skill increased to level eighteen!
Tracking skill increased to level seventeen!
Heavy Armor skill increased to level thirteen!
Damn it! The apparently solid spear broke like a thin match and the leaping cougar knocked me off my feet. If it weren’t for my strong bone armor, I would have lost an arm — first she tore at my shoulder with her horrifying five-inch claws, then she sank her teeth into my left elbow and squeezed until it crunched. Ouch! In the first second, I lost a third of my health, then kept losing around eight or nine percent every second. But I didn’t panic or try to separate the fierce predator’s steely jaws and free my arm from her mantrap mouth. On the contrary, I tried to stuff the limb further into the maw of the beast, holding on to her as hard as I could with my legs and free right arm wrapped around her, trying to hinder the Chimeric Cougar’s movements. I don’t know when the beast came out of stealth, I just suddenly realized that I’d been able to see my deadly opponent for a while.
Agility increased to 19!
I managed to beat back a claw a few times as it tried to tear me from my armor shell and rip me to pieces, but then I failed to block a heavy blow to my head. Holy..! My vision went dark for a few seconds. My head rang with the weight of the strike on my helmet. I must have been concussed. My companions were shouting something to me, but I couldn’t hear them. Finally, Max Dubovitsky’s face swam into focus above me, leaning over me. More by the motion of his lips than any sound, I made out his words:
“Let her go, Sergeant! We can’t bind her back legs!”
What did he mean ‘back’? What about the front ones?! Although… for some reason, my health bar had stopped falling. It was frozen at twenty-seven percent, and there hadn’t been any new strikes in some time, and the cougar’s jaws had opened. With difficulty, I focused my eyes and saw that I was lying on the snow with my arms around the furry beast. And the Chimeric Cougar was firmly pinned to the ground, with a spear haft across her neck. She seemed completely limp. Had we accidentally killed her? Our mission was to take the mother cougar alive! Where else would we find milk for little Hope? But no, I could feel the cougar’s breath — she was alive. The beast was stunned or paralyzed. I disentangled myself from her heavy paws and sat up in the snow.
Oh, my head… And my arm was in tatters too… But it looked like we did it. I must have said that aloud, because Max Dubovitsky answered:
“Yes, Sergeant, we did it. There were some hiccups at first, but on the whole, your plan worked. We wrapped her up, pinned her down, stunned her and bound her. I think if we had my daughter with us as planned, we could have dealt with the creature easily. Although the cougar is… wow… level eighty-two!”
I didn’t believe him and turned to look at our trophy.
☠ Chimeric Cougar. Female. Level 82.
Wow… Quite the catch! Varya didn’t tell me our enemy was so strong. Thick black fur, orange cat’s eyes, a long tail. Two hundred pounds of muscle, teeth and claws. Even stunned, I couldn’t help but feel respect for the Chimeric Cougar. We had to make sure she was well tied up before she came round…
While the Thief and Engineer tied the Chimeric Cougar’s legs with wire, Julie gave me first aid. I had a graze and a massive raised bruise on my forehead. My left arm looked like a tractor had run over it, all bloody from shoulder to elbow. But, surprisingly, I had no broken bones or serious injuries. The bleeding and torn skin was nothing — my regeneration would soon fix it.
“What, did I miss all the action?” Varya said as she materialized next to me. “Couldn’t you have waited for me?”
“Tell that to her,” I nodded at the huge cougar lying nearby. “She attacked without asking permission. Did you find out who those people were?”
“Sure I did,” the Scout answered as if it went without saying. “They’re from the New Pharaohs, levels between thirty and thirty-five. Not the ones we met on the bank. But the most interesting one was the fourth, who I just barely caught up to — a runner sent to report our position. He’s an old acquaintance of yours — Badass. He’s a level seventeen Marauder now, and in the New Pharaohs too, but fetching and carrying for stronger players. From their conversations, I heard that it was Badass who somehow found you, and the other three came to confirm his information.”
Badass found me? No way… I started to feel a cold sweat. The game system had told me that I’d killed that player three times, which meant that I would be marked for him as a ‘personal enemy.’ And that he would always see a marker showing the direction to me and the distance between us. Not very fair. How was I supposed to hide from a furious and persistent criminal?
I revealed this alarming information to my companions. There was no way to hide from the New Pharaohs while they had Badass tracking us, or more precisely — tracking me. At least the trio didn’t have a radio, since they sent a runner for reinforcements. We had twice their numbers, so I doubted the three would do anything until their reinforcements came. That gave us a little time to breathe. We’d be able to load up the Chimeric Cougar onto the stretcher we’d made from branches and drag her to Atlas, then take her back to the raft. Then, once we were safely floating down the river, I’d tame the tied-up creature. I said exactly that to my companions, suggesting that we not waste any time — we had to hurry.
“You’ve forgotten one thing, brother. There’s a little helpless Chimeric Cougar kitten in the lair. We can’t leave it here alone! It’ll die of hunger!”
That was a good point. I approached the lair. It was a dark hole that twisted down into the earth. Kind of creepy. It didn’t seem right to send a little girl down there, but I wouldn’t fit, nor would the Engineer or even the winged veyer. Varya crawled into the narrow gap between the stones and, a minute later, pulled out a small black kitten a little bigger than Whiskers. It whined in fear.
“Give it to me!” I asked the girl, taking the little furball from her hands.
It only took me one Calming Touch to calm the critter down. Another touch and the black kitten relaxed, stretched out luxuriously in my arms and started purring.
Taming skill increased to level sixty!
Beast Master skill increased to level nine!
Your character is now level twenty-three!
Reward: three skill points and one mutation point (total available: ten).
Perfect timing! My cuts and bruises from the fight with the kitten’s mother instantly healed, and my Health and Stamina Points fully recovered. Whiskers was still sitting on my shoulder, and together we looked down at the black kitten with a sense of tenderness.
Chimeric Cougar Level 2 Female. Sergeant’s pet.
A girl. Small, furry and adorable, at least for now. Her little teeth were just starting to get sharp. It was clear that the little thing still lived off her mother’s milk. And that was good — it meant there would be food for little Hope too.
“By the way, Sergeant, about our recent conversation about radios,” the Engineer said as he and the veyer finished tying up the huge cougar. “You said you have one. Have you tried to listen in on the radio chatter among the New Pharaohs?”
“Yeah, I tried switching on the radio outside the river village, but I couldn’t hear anything. We must have been too far away, and the mountain range probably interfered with the signal too. We could try again.”
I took the batteries out of my thermal goggles and put them into the radio. I left all the settings as they were. This time, as soon as I switched the radio on, I gasped as I heard a loud and unfamiliar voice speaking.
“… what do you mean civvies took your tokens? Stop talking nonsense. How is that even possible?”
“But that’s what happened, Spike! They say they ambushed them by the river. Stunned them, took their weapons and their first caste badges.”
“If they lost their marks, that means those six morons are unworthy of the first caste! Punish them al
l. Hang three of them. Maybe a death will teach them to be more careful. Take the other three as slaves. They can draw straws. And send a search party to find out about these strangers at the river.”
Wow! That was about us! It was a good thing we’d decided to move the raft to the opposite bank of the big river and hide it in the rushes before we left. I hoped they didn’t find it. Even if they did find it, crossing the river in that spot was no easy task — there was a strong current, dangerous beasts, and Katy and Tick-Tock were always happy to turn hapless fools into snacks. On top of that, there’s a reason Edward Samarsky trained so much to use the ballista — he wouldn’t miss a swimmer or a boat.
In the meantime, the Engineer, who sat listening to the radio chatter with me, was making strange gestures, pointing first at the radio and then at me. What was this strange pantomime? Was he trying to warn me that they might hear us if we talk? I hurried to calm him down.
“Don’t worry, they won’t hear us. You have to press the activation button here to transmit.”
“Do you think I’ve never used a radio, Sergeant? That’s not what I mean. Let’s try to play for time by feeding the slave traders bad intel! So that they not only stop listening to Badass, but even arrest him and investigate him. Let me try! I’m good at imitating voices. It was a trick of mine in drama class in my youth.”
I didn’t know what exactly Varya’s father was going to do, but I handed him the radio. The Engineer cleared his throat, took a breath and pressed the transmit button.
“To anyone who can hear me! This is Haze, noble of the Pharaoh,” my jaw dropped — the voice was near perfect. “Hulk and I are being held captive somewhere near the village of Un-Talavi. We were betrayed by a low-level rat by the name of Badass. That snitch sold intel to the sherkhs. He’s working for them. If you see Badass, rip his guts out without a second thought. When I get the chance, I’ll report more details. I don’t have long to talk right now. Over and out.”
In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2) Page 16