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

by Michael Atamanov

  “Shelly?” I asked, trying not to show in my voice how badly I wanted to hear news of my long-tailed girlfriend. Otherwise, I feared, the information trader would have demanded a high price for the answer.

  “Yes, that’s the one! Shelly! She was sitting on a rock by a veyer encampment right at the edge of the Misty Valley. I almost went down to ask her about Pan, but the wind was very unsuitable for turning and landing. And that damned Misty Valley… I have no love for that cursed place.”

  I made a mental note of ‘veyer encampment’ and ‘Misty Valley,’ then told the merchant the sad news:

  “Old Pan is dead. Killed by the bodyguard of Haze, noble of the Pharaoh.”

  The information merchant sighed heavily, lowered his head in what appeared to be sincere grief.

  “A shame, truly. He was a good man. I always enjoyed talking to him. He knew more about this world than any other human. His knowledge would have helped save many lives. Rest in peace, wise old man! Anyway… How did the winds of fate bring you here? Where are the castle’s owners?”

  Owners? So the Minotaur wasn’t alone here after all? I was already getting valuable information, and for free.

  I started to tell him the short version of what had happened in the last few days and how we ended up in the castle, but then the Minotaur appeared, drawn by the noise. And… rushed over to hug the Cartographer like an old friend! Damn… That was painful to watch. There’s no way my ribs would have withstood such a powerful embrace, but the traveling merchant didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t even stop smiling.

  The Minotaur finally released his mighty grip, looked at the merchant anxiously. “Have you brought it?”

  “Of course! Just as promised. Wine, tobacco, and…” the Cartographer cast a sidelong glance toward me, “and everything else you ordered.”

  The Cartographer unloaded two huge crates from the dragon’s saddle, one of which rang with the clear sound of bottles. That must have been the wine. The second crate was extremely heavy. No way was there only tobacco inside. It must have contained whatever the merchant didn’t want to mention aloud. The Minotaur picked it up that second crate in the crook of his elbow and rushed back inside the castle with it.

  “Let’s take a walk, Sergeant, just the two of us,” the Cartographer suggested in a conspiratorial tone, and I readily agreed.

  We strolled through the central gates and walked away from the tall, part-collapsed walls. The conversation was chiefly about the fates of the inhabitants of Pan’s Landing, who the Cartographer knew, and about the war between human and sherkh. He considered the news of Eastern Garrison’s departure and the death of the only Beast Catcher in the New Pharaohs very important, and worthy of some valuable information in return.

  Finally, the mysterious man turned around, considering us far enough away from the Southern Ruins, then brought up something else entirely:

  “Tell me, Sergeant, are you not afraid of living in these old ruins?”

  “Afraid? Do you mean the dark reputation of our man-eating minotaur host?” I said, taking a wild guess, but missing the mark. The man frowned unhappily and shook his head.

  “I do not know of a single case of the Minotaur eating humans. Not reliable facts and eyewitness accounts, in any case. There are only unconfirmed rumors spread by cowardly people who fled as soon as they saw the gigantic monster. The Minotaur is the protector of these ancient ruins, and he has been gifted special strength and abilities. He defends his territory, of course, and he has killed many thieves who tried to break into it. Killed them violently and without mercy. But regardless, he does not consume human flesh. His girlfriend, however…”

  The Minotaur had a girlfriend? A man-eating girlfriend?! But where was she hiding? I was struck dumb. The Cartographer, just like the Minotaur before him, raised his head and examined the dark cloud-strewn sky thoughtfully. Then he asked a strange question — did I know anything about lamias?

  “Only a little,” I said, racking my brains to remember what little I could of the mythological creature. “They’re snake women, right? From Greek mythology, I think. Just like the Minotaur.”

  “Greek mythology?” the Cartographer asked, as if the answer was unexpected and strange to him. “Forgive me, Sergeant. I am a veyer by race and am not familiar with the folklore of the old human world. I speak of creatures that exist and live in this world. Yes, lamias are rare, but they are perfectly real. The deadly serpentine creatures can sometimes be found in this area, mostly in the marshy forests on the banks of the great river. Lamias dislike heat and bright light, so they usually spend their time in their burrows and submerged caves. But on damp gray days like these, they hunt. They can even end up quite far away from their usual abode. Their queen took a liking to this old castle as her main hunting ground — there’s always been someone trying to hide here, or even make a home of the place. Once, around a year and a half ago, the lamia ran into a group of humans whose guild had lost a war against the New Pharaohs and disbanded. The leader of those humans was…”

  “Zachary Horn?” I said, almost certain that my guess was right.

  The Cartographer nodded.

  “He was the only one to survive the encounter with the lamia. He lived only because he used a scroll to turn him into a minotaur, to make him a huge and mighty monster. He could have protected his friends and maybe even won the battle against the man-eating beast. But he didn’t. Instead, he fed all his companions to the lamia and promised to regularly catch more for her. He fell in love with the dread snake woman! And she answered in kind! Even when the transformation time ended and Zachary Horn turned back into a man, the lamia did not kill him. She just slithered back to her swamp.”

  The Cartographer told me that this case of passionate, insane, bloody, but perfectly sincere love aroused the interest of those powers that host the GREAT GAME. Love, after all, is the most ambiguous and contradictory of all feelings. For the sake of love, humans — and veyers too, — will betray any friend, descend to any depths, do murder and worse. But does all that make love a dark feeling? Not at all! Love is beautiful! And the human who had fallen in love with an NPC monster was given the form of a minotaur permanently. From then on, he became the mighty Minotaur, the immortal guardian of these ruins, who punishes trespassers severely. And the Lamia, she who is queen of the snake people, sometimes visits him on overcast days like this. She drinks wine with the castle’s master, makes love to him, eats the human meat he has prepared for her, or even live prisoners whom the Minotaur lures into his lair as treats for his beloved.”

  I stood silently, in shock from the Cartographer’s words. So that was why the Minotaur had lured us into his castle — he wanted to throw a tasty feast for his girlfriend! In the meantime, a branch cracked behind me. Someone had followed us secretly and listened in! I turned sharply, took out my axe. There was nobody in sight, but that meant nothing in a world where almost every other creature could turn invisible one way or another. I activated night vision. Oh, boy…

  “She’s been following us for a while,” the Cartographer murmured, his voice perfectly calm. “Come into the light, girl!”

  Five paces from us, Anita Ur Vaye appeared, now a level 48 Huntress. But it wasn’t the girl’s level that drew my eye — it was the babe wrapped up in a blanket in her arms.

  Hope Bastet. Human. Female. Guild: The New Pharaohs. Level zero Infant.

  A minotaur. A man-eating lamia. A war between humans and sherkhs… It all seemed like nothing but background noise now, in comparison to our real problem. The sherkh girl from my League of Losers had kidnapped the Pharaoh’s child!

  Chapter 32 [Kitten]

  ¡No pasarán! They Shall Not Pass!

  “I THINK WE’RE OUT of it…” Varya suggested tentatively, wet through and up to her ears in mud, looking back at the swampy valley behind us, a green spread stretching out all the way to the horizon.

  “Are we really finally out of it..? I can’t believe it…” the little Veterinarian said,
taking the red kerchief off her head, pouring some water on it from her flask and wiping her raptorhound Laika’s face, especially her nostrils and eyes.

  Avir the veyer, beating his wings heavily, dropped down exhausted to the ground next to the toothy maw of the megasaurus, who was lying down and breathing heavily. The winged boy answered barely audibly that he saw no pursuit, although he’d flown in a wide circle above the swamp at a great altitude. The aerial scout suggested that their pursuers had finally fallen behind, switching to a group of deserters they discovered trying to flee the Pharaoh’s army. Then Avir Tan-Hoshi groaned in pain, sat down and tried pull a bullet out of his heel with his fingers. The Veterinarian walked over and offered her help.

  We’d all had a pretty rough time…

  The passage through the marshy forest nearly ended in tragedy for our group. And it was nothing to do with the wild beasts that hide in their multitudes in the murky shallow waters and thick undergrowth. The predators feared Irosaurus Regina and didn’t want to go near her, but they hung around at a distance, waiting for us to make a mistake. Slowly, with weapons at the ready, we pushed through the thick undergrowth, pressed through marshes, swam across small streams, until we ran face-first into a hit squad led by Spike, one of the Pharaoh’s nobles. There were thirty of them, if not forty. We didn’t even have time to think about whether the humans were dangerous or not before they opened fire on our little group with their rifles.

  A bullet pierced my right ear, and Irosaurus Regina took at least ten hits. It was a critical moment. But I had enough mana to paralyze the three most dangerous gunners, and Varya neutralized Spike with two shots from her rifle to the shoulder and neck. We got some distance between us, and then a breakneck chase through the swamp began. Our enemies were strong and numerous. There were skilled riders among them with high-level riding skills and the ability to read our trail. The punishers also had pack raptorhounds as mounts, which got good bonuses from the high number of creatures in the pack.

  Slow, Infect, Paralyze, Soothe… I worked furiously to spread curses across our pursuers and top up my allies’ Stamina Points. When my strength was at an end and it seemed all hope was lost, my Shadow Hexxer reached level thirty-four. Then my ear healed up and my mana and Stamina Points recovered.

  We managed to break away, although we were all exhausted. Laika the black raptorhound and Snowflake the orange-crested white rock lizard were now the same color — an even brownish-black from the moss and mud. Only little Julie’s eyes shone out from the crust of mud covering her. The Veterinarian was deathly tired, and had barely held herself in the saddle for the last hour. I was even afraid that the girl would lose consciousness and fall.

  The bullet was already out when a big flock of spooked birds flying over the marshy undergrowth drew our attention.

  “Damn…” followed by an unprintable word. For the first time, I learned that our well-bred and cultured Scout knew how to swear after all. “Spike’s people picked up our trail after all. They’re around three hundred yards away. Come on, into the hills!”

  I looked over our little cohort sceptically. None of us had any strength left, and they’d quickly catch up to us on level ground. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help my friends either. I was exhausted. Until my Stamina Points returned, I wouldn’t be able to activate Soothe to help encourage my group members. On the other hand, I’d restored a little mana. I had twenty-five Magic Points out of a hundred and sixty-nine. Not enough for Paralyze, but enough for five Infects or eight Slows. I climbed onto Varya’s shoulder and tapped out a message with my paw.

  “Go! I’ll hold them off!”

  “You’re like brave Athos from The Three Musketeers!” the girl said, smiling happily. “Keeping the enemies back at any cost. No, Whiskers, we won’t abandon you. We leave together!”

  “Trust me! ¡No pasarán! I think that’s what they said in your time.”

  Varya tried to raise another objection, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I jumped down from her shoulder and headed off toward the bog behind us. Here on these almost bare hills with the extremely occasional flimsy bush and lone tree, it would be impossible to hide from pursuit, or escape it, and that meant the group was doomed. Someone had to hold the pursuers off, give the others time to reach safety. Why shouldn’t our Shadow Hexxer do it? And the place to do it was in the swamp, where there were hiding spots.

  The big oafs didn’t stop me. They climbed into their saddles and hurried to get away from our dangerous pursuers.

  “Find us at Hundred Skull City, Whiskers! We’ll wait for you there, little hero! And… thank you!” Varya shouted back to me, then turned the megasaurus away and kicked the huge reptile into motion.

  I was left alone. No, I felt no fear at all; I had other things to worry about. My only thought was to win time for my friends, whatever the cost. How many enemies were left? The infantry were far behind, and some of the riders had switched to following the group of deserters. Two or three enemies would be fine — I could deal with that. But my sensitive ears soon told me that at least ten riders on raptorhounds still continued to chase the League of Losers. I crept up to the very edge of the swamp and, without entering the murky sucking slime, I hid in the thick bushes at the very edge of the water.

  Mysticism skill increased to level thirty-four!

  Nice, and just in time too! My maximum Magic Points went up to a hundred and seventy, but right then, my mana restoration speed was more important. Twenty-six… no, now twenty-seven Magic Points. Ugh, if only I had forty minutes to rest, I’d be back to my usual deadly self. Shame my pursuers didn’t plan on cutting me a break. The first enemies were already coming into my field of view. They were twenty yards away at the most.

  The first was a tired, mud-spattered Tracker at level 46, riding a limping raptorhound. Right behind him came Spike, a bloody and dirty bandage on his right shoulder. His raptorhound was noticeably bigger than average and was sniffing, turning its head this way and that and noisily pulling air through its nostrils, trying to catch the runaways’ scent.

  ☠ Spike. Human. Male. Guild: The New Pharaohs. Level 61 Torturer.

  ☠ Devouress. Pack Raptorhound. Level 111 Female. Pack Alpha. Spike’s pet (17).

  The other punishers rode behind him in a long chain of foes disappearing into the swamp mist. I looked at the number seventeen over the raptorhound’s head. Seventeen. That meant seventeen raptorhounds and the same number of riders. Too many for me alone. And the most dangerous of my enemies was Spike and his alpha mount. At some point, Devouress froze for a second, then turned her face precisely toward me and howled. No doubt remained — she’d found me! I had to act right away, and I got to work.

  Infect on Devouress! Infect on Spike! I only had a little mana left, just enough to turn incorporeal and change my form. Transform into fish!

  Transformation Magic skill increased to level nineteen!

  Shapeshifter skill increased to level thirty-three!

  And… drumroll… here’s something new!

  Level one Swimming skill learned!

  13 of 13 possible character skills at level 34 chosen.

  No, this was no spontaneous decision. I’d been thinking for a while of how my kitten might escape enemy troops and high-level mages throwing fire spells. It made sense that water was a good place to escape fire in snake or fish form, but I was too slow, weak and vulnerable under the water. The Swimming skill meant spending less energy to move through the water, it meant speed, and importantly, the ability to not drown when my transformation time ended.

  A quick little fish like an eel slid into the murky swamp water and worked its tail like a snake, quickly leaving the bank for the deep water and hiding among the reeds. Just try to find me now! My hearing was good under the water, but I still couldn’t make out words. All I knew was that my enemies were making a lot of fuss and noise in a crowd on the bank.

  A minute later, I carefully stuck my nose out around twenty yards from where I’d gone down. The who
le squad of the Pharaoh’s people were gathered around Spike, who was noisily throwing up on the bank. There was nothing they could do to help their leader; they just muttered useless advice and threats against whoever had done it. The humans aimed their shotguns and rifles at the thick bushes around, even wasted ammo on a few blind shots. I knew that none of them had seen the mage who attacked them, and Devouress couldn’t speak human, so she couldn’t explain that the squad’s attacker was a little kitten. All the better for me! I carefully edged closer, trying to move my tail and fin slowly and not disturb the water.

  Swimming skill increased to level two!

  Shapeshifter skill increased to level thirty-four!

  Your character is now level thirty-five!

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

  I laughed happily, my fish mouth opening and closing silently. My transformation time was ending. I didn’t extend the spell, instead crawling out onto a spit of bog hidden amid the reeds. Now that my Magic Points and Stamina Points had fully recovered, I could fight for real!

  Paralyze on that Healer. No need for him to help Spike with his healing potions. Then another Infect on the squad’s leader just to make sure he was out of action. Then a Slow on that Scout who was steering his mount toward the hills. Afraid not, boys. I’m not going to let you go that easily. My friends need time to get away, so I’m going to be terrorizing you guys with magic curses for a while! Oh, and… I almost forgot; didn’t I learn to talk to animals? Obeying my order, three pack raptorhounds left unsupervised, with Devouress at their head, suddenly sprang up and ran back into the depths of the bog. Have fun catching your escaped mounts, guys. That’ll keep you busy for half an hour at least!

  * * *

  I caught up to the exhausted Laika and Irosaurus Regina outside Hundred Skull City itself, having had a lot of fun playing with Spike’s punishers and completely derailing their plans. I didn’t kill any of my foes, but the upset stomachs, painful weakness and four paralyzеd bodies they had to carry certainly won’t have done them any favors, particularly with half their mounts gone. The hit squad didn’t even think about resuming their pursuit. All they wanted was to reach the nearest fortress before nightfall, ideally without running into any sherkh sabotage units.