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

by Michael Atamanov

  I could still hear the cannonfire, although its intensity dropped as night fell. But even if the sherkhs lost their strongholds in the mountain pass, no doubt numerous invisible sabotage units had already infiltrated New Pharaohs territory. There was no way to avoid that. The border between the humans and sherkhs stretched out for tens of miles. It was unrealistic to post guards with thermal goggles all along it.

  Bald Skull’s manor was the one and only source of the humans’ tamed animals, and that made it a prime target for an attack. I’d bet any amount of catnip that the Beast Catcher’s home would be attacked tomorrow at dawn, or even tonight, and all Bald Skull’s animals would be destroyed. It was such an obvious move that if there was no attack, then the intellectual capabilities of the sherkh commanders would drop low in my estimation. And did Sergeant really fail to see that the sherkhs would gleefully slay every last member of the League of Losers in Bald Skull’s house, taking out their anger for the departure of Eastern Garrison?!

  But for some reason, the war didn’t bother those lumbering idiots in the slightest. My warning conveyed through Varya was ignored, even laughed at. Bald Skull had faith in his toothy defenders and had no fear of attack, since the pack raptorhounds possessed not only incredible speed and a powerful bite, but also the ability to reveal invisible targets. That was why they were so valued in the Pharaoh’s army. The master of the house even allowed himself some mocking comments about the white rock lizard sitting on Julie’s shoulder, also an animal that lives in packs, he said, but totally useless, unlike his fine raptorhounds.

  The atmosphere at the table was merry. The wine tasting went down well, and both Beast Catchers got pretty well cut. Their discussion of professional matters had long since grown into philosophical debate and nostalgia over past lives in a world left behind. This carelessness led the humans to very nearly miss nightfall. Only at the last moment, after a reminder from one of the servants, did Bald Skull suddenly stand up and stagger to the door to release his storied raptorhounds from their pen. That’s when it all happened. The master of the house barely took one step outside the threshold into the inner courtyard before he suddenly gasped, fell to the ground. A dozen arrows at once stuck out from the giant man’s chest. Oh, how I sometimes hated to be right.

  We were under attack! I screeched loud, warning the humans, then instantly turned invisible and ran to the window. I saw no one in the courtyard, which was no wonder, given that our attackers were invisible. Although… in the distance, by the far pen full of giga-komodos, I saw a body and recognized it even through the gloom. An old servant girl of Bald Skull’s, who helped her master feed the numerous animals on the grounds. I also heard the sound of many fast feet. The sherkhs were surrounding the house! A muffled voice drifted through the wall: “Ubi roto onsh vaye morte. Balt Skall non vat viota!”

  Radar Ear skill increased to level thirty!

  Translator skill increased to level thirty-one!

  I puzzled together that the sherkh squad commander was ordering someone to go meet Bald Skull at the respawn point and kill him again. Apparently, the target of this attack wasn’t just the animals, but the Beast Catcher himself — the sherkhs planned to kill him over and over again until the human lost all his lives. The second Beast Catcher in the house could expect the same treatment. I turned to my master in alarm. He couldn’t die. One death could lead to a whole chain of revivals and deaths at the nearest respawn point, and that meant the final destruction of his character.

  Credit where it’s due — as soon as Bald Skull died, Sergeant sobered up instantly. His high Physique and resistance to poisons must have helped. My master put on his helmet and rushed for the back door, closing it. Just in time! Only one arrow shot from the back yard hit the human on his bony armor and ricocheted upwards, thrumming into the ceiling.

  “Weapons out!” Sergeant shouted at the top of his lungs, heaving the huge crossbar across the heavy door.

  The human’s shout came in tandem with the howl of many voices at once. The night beasts appeared right on time, and there weren’t eleven of them, as the humans had been counting on, but far, far more. And worse…

  Magic Resistance check successful!

  That awful part howl, part scream that pierced through to the bone. It was unmistakable. A Lesser Terror! For the first time, I’d managed to resist the influence of its panic-inducing scream, no doubt thanks to the long range, the dampening walls and my increased Intellect. The game system invited me to take the Magic Defense skill again, but I had other things to think about. I’d successfully deflected the mental attack, and the winged beast’s cooldown time was three minutes. An ocean of time by the standards of battle.

  But although I’d successfully defended against the psionic attack, the same couldn’t be said for the humans and the veyer boy. The big oafs screamed and careered through the house. Only Sergeant kept his wits about him and was now trying to calm down Varya, who was hanging off his shoulders and writhing in hysterics. Also, the Lesser Terror didn’t seem to affect Julie, for some reason. The Veterinarian girl stood uncertain in the middle of the room with Snowflake on her shoulder, staring wide-eyed at the chaos around here.

  The fact that a Lesser Terror had appeared meant that at least fifteen sherkhs were attacking us. Well, at least our attackers would be getting it in the neck too. I looked out at the yard and saw with surprise that not a single sherkh had emerged from stealth and started running around in panic. What the hell?! Why didn’t the flying creature’s magic affect them in stealth? And what were all those lights that suddenly lit up in the distance? There were at least twenty. One of them suddenly darted straight at me. I jumped back from the window in fear.

  Thud! An arrow flew through the window and stuck into the wall, its tip bound with burning hemp. And judging by the dull thuds that followed, all twenty burning arrows were now embedded in the walls. The sherkhs wanted to burn down the wooden manor! The humans had to do something fast to put out the fire or at least get out of the building. But the big oafs were still wasting time, running around in a panic or trying to calm each other down.

  Soothe! I activated the ability to try and remove the panic from my group members, but I didn’t notice much of an effect. My nose caught acrid smoke — the building was already burning, and it was dangerous to stay in it. Damn. I had to abandon these useless morons and act alone! Without leaving stealth, I turned into a bug and flew out into the courtyard.

  Stealth skill increased to level thirty-one!

  At the far end of the yard, behind a thick fence, twenty of Bald Skull’s tamed raptorhounds roared, desperate to enter the fray. The reptiles couldn’t see the sherkhs, but they heard the approaching howl of the night beasts perfectly. They knew a battle was afoot. The raptorhounds teemed in their pen, launching themselves at the fence in fury. Dumbasses. You’ll just die pointlessly! If there’s a Lesser Terror, then the night beasts have at least two Alphas and twenty-five Feelers. They’ll wipe the floor with you, and never mind your pack bonuses! The only way to win is to combine with the two other raptor packs, then attack the sherkhs first, otherwise they’ll just shoot you from stealth…

  Then I suddenly had a far more serious problem than Bald Skull’s pets. The Lesser Terror wheeled in the sky and came straight at me! Night beetles were probably part of the winged beast’s diet, and now it was planning to make a nice meal of me. Think again, Terror. I wasn’t about to be anyone’s dinner! Curse Magic! Slow! Slow! Slow! Slow! Paralyze!

  Invalid target for this spell.

  Paralyze failed to work again, although this time it didn’t matter. The huge black bat with its long tooth-filled face was now so slow that it was almost frozen a few feet from me, its wings not even moving.

  Level 17 Lesser Terror.

  Up close, it didn’t look so scary. It was around the size of a large raven, with flashing beady eyes, big bat ears and sparse fur dotted with bald spots on its chest. If it weren’t for its scream, nobody would have paid the pathetic
creature any mind. Before it fell toward the earth, I hit it with my combined fire and wind spell — my favorite flamethrower!

  It worked great! The monster fell from the sky in a slow fiery comet. I think the Lesser Terror burned up in the fire before it even landed.

  Elemental Magic skill increased to level twenty-three!

  Conjurer skill increased to level seven!

  Transformation Magic skill increased to level sixteen!

  Woah. Did I just take out a Lesser Terror all on my own? Now that felt good! Shame I wasn’t allowed to celebrate the triumph — an arrow whizzed by a hair’s breadth over my head, then another. Damn! I must have dropped out of stealth when I used my fire spell, and now I had the attention of the sherkh archers. And the attackers themselves were still invisible to me — I couldn’t even respond with magic. Quickly, before they shot me down, Incorporeal Form and Veil of Darkness to hide me!

  Oh, sh… Through some miracle, I dodged the fireball headed toward me. The bright flame sped off into the night sky. Even Incorporeal Form might not have saved me from such deadly magic if the enemy mage had hit. Perhaps Veil of Darkness helped me, blurring my outline, but next time I might not be so lucky. I needed to get out of the firing line! My beetle form buzzed as I descended, describing mad circles in the air to try to avoid attack. Forked lighting lanced through the night sky only ten feet away. The enemy spellcaster was strong in Elemental Magic, far stronger than me. I wouldn’t mind hitting him with a Paralyze! Ugh. If only I could see my foes…

  Wait! I had an idea! The raptorhounds could reveal invisible targets! I needed Julie’s new pet, who was far more likely to listen to me than the other raptorhounds. It was a ginger female with bright feathers on its head… There she was! Already in the pen for tamed raptors!

  Princess. Pack Raptorhound. Level 24 Female. Julia Sinitsyna’s pet.

  I dived at Princess and landed on the raptor’s back. Meow! Meow! Listen to me! Yes, I’m your ally in this fight. Now tell your family to roar with all their strength! Hard enough to knock those sherkhs out of stealth! I’ve seen you do it before with my own eyes!

  It was useless. Princess didn’t understand me. Or maybe she understood, but just ignored the annoying bug distracting her from a more important task — furiously throwing herself at the fence with the other raptorhounds and trying to bite through it. I really didn’t want to spend my Mutation Points, but it seemed I had no other choice…

  Basic Animal Speech.

  This ability allowed me to not only understand, but also talk to wild beasts, more or less. This addition to the Translator skill cost a whole eight mutation points, but it could help out in situations like this one. I repeated my message to Princess, but the mottle-feathered airhead just ignored me again! But another raptorhound understood me — a large black female at level fifty, apparently the alpha of this pack. The matriarch turned to me, stared at my huge bug body with surprisingly clever eyes, then bowed her head right to the ground and emitted a piercing howl! Right away, all the other raptorhounds stopped their fruitless attempts to break through the fence and entered into chorus with their leader. My ears rang from the howling of twenty throats at once.

  ATTENTION! Your character is deafened! Duration: 180 seconds.

  That hurt like hell. But I’d done what I set out to do — figures in black clothes suddenly appeared all over the big courtyard. Sherkhs! And, judging by the descriptions above their heads, they were fighters of Southern Garrison. As soon as our enemies appeared, a double shot boomed out from the house, and the two nearest sherkh archers fell. The panic debuff on Max and Varya in the house had finally ended! The father and daughter had joined the fight!

  Unfortunately, they couldn’t do any more — after the two archers in the group dropped, all the other sherkhs leaped into action, quickly moving out of the line of fire. The Elemental Mage also responded on the move, firing a burning fireball at Bald Skull’s house. The fire spread across the wall and the straw roof like a furious red inkblot, sending the flames of the wooden building three times higher into the air. If the humans didn’t leave the burning building right now, they were doomed. But the attackers were keeping both exits tightly covered…

  Fortunately, soon the sherkhs had bigger problems — the first night beasts arrived on the battlefield, and a huge burning Alpha at level thirty-nine raged into the courtyard, surrounded by several Feelers. Most of the archers switched targets to the Alpha while one of the sherkhs — a sharp level 40 Warrior — drew the dangerous monster’s attention, deftly dodging its attacks right beneath its nose.

  The warrior’s agility and self-possession amazed me. But this was a rare case in which I was on the side of the night beasts. Slow on that too-fast sherkh! Slow! Slow! That did it! Now moving sluggishly, the Warrior failed to dodge the next attack from the toothy monster.

  Curse Magic skill increased to level seventy-seven!

  Shapeshifter skill increased to level twenty-eight!

  Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-eight!

  Your character is now level thirty-two!

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

  My mana fully recovered when I leveled up, bringing me back to full strength. I was ready to continue the fight. A sherkh Scout rushed in to replace their fallen Warrior and I hit him with seven slows at once. He followed in the Warrior’s footsteps in short order. A young level 44 female Scout quickly replaced him, blonde hair streaming out from beneath her black hood. And I… I know it was irrational and stupid, but I couldn’t raise a hand against the cute young woman. I switched my attention to the other sherkhs, casting Weaken and Slow, then focused on the most dangerous of my foes — the level 57 Elemental Mage, who had just hit the Alpha with a lightning bolt right in its open mouth and killed it.

  Mana Drain on him! Another Mana Drain! Slow! Weaken! And finally, Paralyze! Uh-oh…

  Invalid target for this spell.

  Paralyze wasn’t working for some reason, and I’d made a critical mistake by drawing the high-level enemy’s attention. The Elemental Mage turned toward me. When the bright fiery point of light appeared between the spellcaster’s spread palms, I knew what was about to happen, but there was no time to do anything.

  In the blink of an eye, the giant fireball crossed the distance between us and exploded in the middle of the raptorhound pen, throwing the six-foot reptiles into the air like toy figurines. Heat consumed me, threw me into the wall of the pen. I felt no pain. All I saw was my character’s Health Bar dropping to zero. The last thing I remember thinking before the world went dark was NEVER AGAIN WILL I TRY TO FIGHT A HIGH-LEVEL MAGE!

  ATTENTION! Your character has died! Second of ten possible deaths!

  You will revive in 14 minutes and 59 seconds.

  Looked like it was time for another mini-game, like after every death. I knew from the humans’ conversations that this time I’d be a wolf running in a big pack, chasing a deer and earning Mutation Points for successfully biting the fast and strong target. But… for some reason, the game didn’t start. Pain came instead, and a message appeared before my eyes on a blood-red background:

  ATTENTION! Your character has been successfully revived.

  Spent life restored.

  What was happening? My whole body hurt, I almost couldn’t open my eyes and when I did, my vision was murky. My Health Points were balanced at 3-4%. But I seemed to be hearing just fine, and I recognized the voice of Julie the Veterinarian.

  “You got hit bad, Whiskers… Your fur is all gone, you’re all covered in burns! But you can’t die now. Sergeant needs you, and so do the others. Without your magic, the sherkhs and night beasts will bury us all here. So get back into the fight, kitty cat! Try to level up to heal. And you get that mage for what he did to my Princess…” she sniffled. “I couldn’t get her back.”

  Chapter 27 [Sergeant]

  Slaughter in the Night

  BALD SKULL’S big wo
oden house burned. The heat and acrid smoke made it a worse hell to be inside every second. We had to get out. But sticking a nose out of the back door meant instantly drawing fire from at least a dozen archers. We had to use the front door leading out to the pens of still untrained wild beasts. A servant girl tried to jump through it, but she didn’t even make it two paces before she fell down, peppered with crossbow bolts. Sherkhs on that side too.

  “Go into stealth!” I shouted to my sister, the only one apart from me to maintain her sanity after the attack from the Lesser Terror. “Get to our animals and try to release the Marsh Mistress, Darkness and Irosaurus. They’ll help us.”

  “Princess can help too, and the other raptorhounds,” Julie nodded and disappeared with Snowflake on her shoulder. Only the swirling smoke showed my sister’s path to the open front door. I clenched in pained anticipation, but no shots came. Julie successfully made it past the sherkhs’ watchful eyes.

  At that moment, the smoke parted for a second and I suddenly saw my enemies — a group of three sherkhs in black bodysuits, crossbows and bows held at the ready, just fifteen feet from the door. I don’t know who was the more surprised, me or the sherkhs. They saw me too and realized they’d dropped out of stealth. Their second of confusion was enough for me to jump and roll across the floor to get out of the firing line and take cover in the house. Then the smoke covered up my opponents again.