by Shawn Kass
Stepping forward towards Sam, the man held out his hand, the one not on his sword, and offered, “How about we work out a deal? You could sell me those cloaks you got in there, and then you won’t have to worry about work for a while.”
Shaking his head, Sam answered, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. The cloaks aren’t for sale. Besides, one of them isn’t even mine.”
Now less than nine paces away and continuing to get closer, the man countered, “Oh, come on now. I’m sure we can work something out. You haven’t even heard my best offer yet.”
Smiling thinly, Sam began to back away, moving further down the alley, as he said, “I’m sorry, but I really can’t sell them. I need them for the excursion into the Tower later tonight.”
Smirking, the man said, “You don’t have to worry about that. In fact, there’s no reason for you to even bother wasting your time with the Reckoners’ little hunt tonight. You should just give me the cloaks you got from the blacksmith and forget all about the Tower.”
Letting his hand instinctively go to his sack, Sam said, “I don’t think that’s going to work for me. Why don’t you try asking someone else?”
The man’s smirk now shifted to a sneer as he answered, “Listen here, City Boy. I saw what the blacksmith gave you, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll hand them over before you get stomped and left for dead.” Then focusing on a spot just over Sam’s shoulder, he asked, “Isn’t that right, PJ?”
Turning slightly so that he could assess this new threat, Sam found a tall athletic-looking black man wearing brown leather armor walking up from the other end of the alley. As the man approached, he pulled out a knife which looked to be over a foot long. He pretended to pick something out of his teeth with it, and after apparently getting at whatever it was he had been trying to dislodge, he answered his friend, “Seems like the smart move to me, Ricardo. Ain’t nothing in it for him to go helping people in the Tower if he ain’t even knowing what he’s walking into. Especially if it means he’s going to be taking a thrashing out here in this alleyway first.”
Sam had seen player vs. player attacks, known as PVPs, while in online multiplayer games, but this was something different. These two thugs were NPCs, so Sam figured that this had to be part of the plot or perhaps a subplot in this world. Either way, he had no intention of handing over his hard won spoils, and with the threat of violence already made, Sam saw no choice but to protect himself.
Reaching slowly for the sack, he pretended to be scared as he untied it from his waist and said, “What you’re doing isn’t right. Rather than stealing from people, you should be helping them.”
“We are,” said the first guy with a confident chuckle. “I’m helping my pal PJ here to get one of those nice looking cloaks you’ve got, and he’s helping me to get one as well.”
“And whatever gold you’ve got, too,” chimed in PJ from a much closer distance than he was before. “We’ll worry about splitting it evenly between us once you leave.”
Opening the bag a little, Sam sent his familiar a quick thought before he set the sack gently on the ground. Then after taking a step away so that his back was positioned against the wall, he said, “If you try to take my stuff, this is going to go very bad for the both of you.”
Chuckling, PJ said, “You hear this, Ricardo? It sounds like City Boy here can’t count. Don’t he realize this is two against one?”
“It doesn’t matter, PJ. Just grab the bag, and let’s get out of here.”
Closing the distance to within two paces, PJ said to Ricardo, “I don’t know, man. This seems easier than the last couple. What if he’s only giving us the bag because he’s hiding something better somewhere else?” Then looking at Sam, he asked, “So how’s about it? You ain’t hiding anything else on you, are you?”
Appalled by the man’s grammar as much as the stench of his breath, Sam finally got sick of the charade and said, “Well, I have a few things, but I don’t think you want them.” “We’ll be the judge of that,” said PJ. “Let’s see ’em.”
“Okay,” began Sam. Then sending a second quick thought to Tezukayoshi, he said, “First, I’d like to clarify something you said earlier. Despite the way things look, this has never been two against one.” Sam pointed to the bag between them, and the lizard sprang out and took a position on the opposite wall.
Seeing his familiar clinging to the brick before him, Sam hadn’t realized when he had last looked in the sack because everything seemed to shrink inside in order to fit, but now, he realized he had grown even more. In fact, Tezukayoshi’s body was now about the length of Sam’s leg, and his tail was just as long. In a matter of days, he had gone from a small caged animal to this fierce looking creature, and Sam had to wonder how much bigger Tezukayoshi might get.
Brushing away the thought for another time, Sam managed to recover from his surprise much faster than the two thieves. While drawing his sword with his right hand, he pointed his left hand, palm first, towards the closer of the two men. By the time they looked back, he had the spider blade within striking range of Ricardo, and a searing ball of flames ready to be deployed towards PJ’s chest. Looking seriously ready to dispatch them both, Sam continued, “Second, I’m willing to bet that you two have no idea what to do with these.”
Dumbfounded and at a loss for words, the two men stared at what was easily their death sentence. Neither of them had anything to defend themselves from such an attack, and they both knew that their measly leather armor would do nothing more than keep the flames from Sam’s fireball burning a little longer once they had dropped dead.
Taking a step back, Ricardo began apologizing in a rapid and desperate tone, “I’m sorry, man. We had no idea. Really, this was just a big mistake. Tell him, PJ, that we were just joking around, right?”
“Yeah, we were joking around. That’s all. We’re sorry.”
Not wanting to kill other humans, NPCs or not, Sam decided to ask Tezukayoshi what he thought they should do. Without taking his eyes off the two men, Sam sent his query through their mental link.
Rather than respond with words, the lizard flicked its long tail quickly like a whip, once to the right and once to the left, using the barb at its end to scar both men across their cheeks.
As the men yelped and tried to stanch the blood flow with their hands, Sam said, “If I were you, I’d leave Anozira and never return because by tomorrow, everybody here will know what you tried to do.” Then focusing on their clan pins to examine their affiliation, he added, “And I’ll make sure everyone here thinks this was ordered by your Tower Kings clan, so you won’t even have a home with your own people.”
The two men looked at each other as the ramifications of Sam’s statement set in and then nodding to each other, they both said, “Agreed,” simultaneously.
Closing his left land, Sam reabsorbed the magic from the fireball and said, “Get out of here,” and watched as the two men ran back down the alley together the way Sam had come.
When the two had finally disappeared around the corner, Sam breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Tezukayoshi. Shaking his head, he asked, “Can you believe that? They wanted to rob us.”
Sending his thoughts back to Sam, the lizard said, ‘Clearly they didn’t know their adversaries.’
“No, I guess not,” agreed Sam. Then remembering that they were under a time limit, he asked, “Did you listen to everything in the meeting?”
‘Enough,’ admitted Tezukayoshi. ‘You and Anna agreed to help the other people from the pub where we got those excellent hamburgers find that girl.’
Amazed by the improvement in Tezukayoshi’s language skills, Sam nodded and said, “That’s about the gist of it. Apparently she is in the boss room on the first floor of the Tower.”
Tezukayoshi’s tongue flicked out a few times before he asked, ‘Do you think there will be things to eat in the Tower?”
“If you mean meat from kills then yes. From what I’ve heard, the Tower is full of strange mon
sters.”
‘Okay. Then I will join you, and you will get me this monster meat.’
Smiling, Sam said, “Sure, buddy. I’ll get you some more kills, but I have to ask. How much larger do you think you’ll get? I mean, I can’t really carry you around in a bag if you get too big to fit inside.”
Crawling down off the brick wall, Tezukayoshi crossed the alley over to Sam’s side and after a moment stated, ‘I do not know how big I will become. My kind lay their eggs and leave before they hatch, so we never know the size of our parent. I can say that I feel stronger now and can continue to grow more so.’
Kneeling down to reach for the sack, Sam said, “Good enough for me, little buddy. Now, if we’re going to make it over to Madame Esmerelda’s in time, we’re going to have to hustle. Question is, do you want to hop back in the bag or stretch your legs a bit?”
Flicking his tongue out once more, Tezukayoshi tilted his head to look at the bag and then back at Sam before he said, ‘I have rested enough for now. I will walk with you.’
“All right, let’s go.”
Making their way down the alley to the far end, Sam and Tezukayoshi exited out onto the street. From there, they were able to jog their way over to Madame Esmerelda’s by taking a few turns at the intersections Sam remembered. After about ten minutes, they found themselves staring at the back end of a small line leading out of the woman’s little psychic shop.
Confused for a second, Sam realized that these people must have been like the soldier he had seen the last time he visited the psychic, each one of whom were hoping that she could shine some light on their fate as they decided whether or not to venture into the Tower tonight. Frustrated, Sam told himself that he should have known better and come here first, but at the same time he couldn’t deny the benefits of the new cloaks he had gotten.
Picking up on his distress, Tezukayoshi asked, ‘Why can we not simply walk in? I’m sure she would see you.’
Shaking his head and wishing he had a watch, Sam explained, “I can’t. There is a line. We’re just going to have to wait.”
Tilting his head first towards Sam and then towards the line, Tezukayoshi asked, ‘What if she asked for you like she did the last time there was a line?’
“That would be great, but she doesn’t even know I’m here. If there is a line outside like this, her little sitting area inside must be completely packed. I don’t think she’s going to be calling for me until I can at least let her know I’m here, which means waiting until we can get inside.”
Looking at the line and back once again, Tezukayoshi said, ‘Then I shall tell her that you are here,’ and before Sam could object, the lizard ran off.
Snorting, Sam figured nothing would come of it, and that his familiar would simply end up raiding someone’s trash can for something to eat. After a few moments, Tezukayoshi sent him a telepathic invitation to walk to the front of the line. Worried someone might say something about him cutting, Sam eased his way up to the front cautiously without making eye contact with anyone else. The way he saw it, no one would believe him if he said his familiar had told him to enter.
As he approached the front of the line, his prediction came true, and he heard a couple of the people murmur something about him, but no one stopped him. That was, until the door he was reaching for suddenly opened, and he found himself staring at Madame Esmerelda herself.
Speaking first, the psychic said, “Stop standing there acting all surprised, and get in here. I have plenty of other people to see before the day is over.”
From behind Sam, a heavy looking man wearing little more than a loin cloth and a thick covering of his own hair which spread across his back and arms asked, “Why’s he get to see you before the rest of us?”
Sam noted that his voice sounded like he was gargling with gravel when he talked, but he let Madame Esmerelda answer the man.
With a sly smile on her face, she said, “He’s ahead of you because I’ve seen it that way.” Then glancing back to see how many more people were waiting, she said, “Now, if all of you could give us just a moment, we’ll get this line moving.” Ignoring both the crowd’s nods of acceptance and moans of protest equally, she turned and pushed Sam inside before anyone else could ask more questions.
Once inside, Sam saw that his initial thought was wrong and that there was no one waiting inside the psychic’s lobby. Thankful for this, Sam said, “Thank you. I thought I was going to get lynched on my way in here.”
“Well, maybe next time you decide to venture off on a suicidal run into the Tower, you’ll make it a priority to come see me before you see the blacksmith.”
“How did you know?”
“I’m a psychic,” stated Madame Esmerelda confidently, and then after a short pause, she added in a whisper, “and Tezukayoshi told me as much.”
Shaking his head, Sam said with mock disgust, “That lizard. I’m going to have to tell him to keep his mouth shut in the future.” Then in a more serious tone, Sam asked, “By the way, were you serious a second ago when you said this was a suicidal run?”
Taking a deep breath as she gestured for Sam to take a seat at her table in the back, Madame Esmerelda said, “That is what we are here to see.”
“Seriously?” asked Sam. “Look, I’ve already been through a lot, and all I’m doing is trying to get home. If helping these people out is going to get me killed, I’ll leave it to the line of folks you have standing outside.”
Waving her hand towards Tezukayoshi who was just climbing his way up onto the table, Madame Esmerelda said, “I see from how much your familiar has grown that you have indeed been getting stronger. The question is, are you strong enough?” Then holding out her hand, she added, “Now if you don’t mind, I have quite a line out there today.”
Realizing what she wanted, Sam placed his hand in hers, palm side up, and watched as she performed her ritual. Having already gone through the skin peeling twice, he knew what to expect, but the whole idea of it was just so foreign to the world he had come from that he couldn’t resist watching it happen yet again. As she had done before, she went through the tracing and circles and then did the weird pinching part, but this time he noticed that when she pulled he could feel some resistance. It didn’t last long, but apparently the psychic had noticed it as well because she smiled when she felt it.
Curious about her smile, Sam asked, “What is it?”
“It seems that you’re getting tougher, is all.”
Smiling at this and extremely eager to see the results, Sam asked, “Can I have a look?”
Holding up a finger, Madame Esmerelda took another moment to analyze the writing on the skin peel before she said in an astonished voice, “I didn’t think something like this was possible.”
“What is it?” asked Sam with a mix of concern and excitement.
Looking up to meet his gaze, Madame Esmerelda pronounced, “You are the first to show so much promise, Sam,” and then handing him the sheet of skin, she said, “Here, take a look.”
Looking over his stats, Sam was surprised with what he found.
Sam Kyoshi: Adventurer Exp: 159,076 Lv: 15 Health: 133 Dexterity: 81 Strength: 163 Agility: 87 Luck: 103
Magic: 142 Fireball Lv: 3 Catalyst Lv: 3 Magic Channeling Lv: 1 ??????????
Familiar - Tezukayoshi Exp: 97,841 Lv: 13 Acid Tongue: Lv: 2 Burning Blood (Weapons Only) ????????????
“Do you know what these question marks mean?” asked Sam.
“As with the last time you were here, I believe that they
are special abilities or skills which you have access to but have
not used yet. When you need them, however, I’m sure that
they will be there for you.”
Knowing from previous visits that pressing her for more
information wouldn’t yield anything more about the subject,
Sam said, “Okay, well then, I’ll be looking forward to them.”
After a final look over his stats, he rolled up the skin sheet.
Remembering what she had said when he first walked in, Sam
decided he might as well ask, “What about the rest? The whole
suicidal trip into the Tower. Now that you’ve seen these, am I
strong enough to make it?”
Closing her eyes, Madame Esmerelda said, “As much as
you have changed since arriving here, I do not know if there is anything you cannot do. You are stronger than most in this town, but I must caution you. There is tragedy in your future, Sam. Despite both you and your familiar’s growth, you will not
be able to avoid it all.”
“Tragedy? What do you mean?”
“I cannot say. You are at a crossroads, and your
decisions now will affect the path which remains before you.” Frustrated, Sam went for the direct approach and asked.
“Can you at least tell me if I’m going to die in there?” “What is death but another change?”
Shaking his head, Sam knew any more inquiries would
be futile, and so he gave up on asking any more, stood up, and
emptied his remaining gold onto the table. It wasn’t much,
maybe eighty or ninety coins, but he felt like it was something
he was supposed to do.
“What is this?” asked Madame Esmerelda. “It’s too
much.”
“Take it,” said Sam in a determined tone. “Either I won’t
need it where I’m going, or I’ll be able to make more when I get
back.” Then without waiting for her reply, Sam turned and
headed back out into the city, and as he did so, he sent
Tezukayoshi a message through their mental link for him to
follow him.
Once back outside, Sam noticed that the line looked to
be about half as long as compared to when he went in and
figured that some of the people must have given up on waiting
in the hopes that they would still be able to make it to whatever
other shops they could manage before the time was up. As he