A second later, the tip of AlexOrder’s longsword froze an inch away from the bandit leader’s face. In his left hand, rune symbols lit up, swirling and changing shape.
A moment later, Alex was surrounded by a ring of blades, spears, and arrows aimed point-blank, all in the hands of Nonames, or, rather, clanless players, who were following the order Blackie had given in clan chat. Our Err was the only one who did not move.
“Nothing personal, guys!” Black Don continued. “It’s just that I got contacted by the PROJECT leader, and he offered me a hundred grand for the NPC you’re escorting. So...”
“You won’t get the money!” AlexOrder said confidently. “And don’t leave the clan, it’s pointless!”
“Really? And why’s that?” Alex threw me an odd look, then shifted his gaze to the Err.
* * *
“The locals wouldn’t assemble.” Mirgus said, approaching bu sounding preoccupied. “I’m a hundred percent certain, they’ve bailed.”
“Let them try!” Tentacle snorted. “Miserable bums!”
“Svoy’s party used to think so, too,” Tao said. “Don’t underestimate them. But they’re scattered. Gathering a crowd to zerg rush us will take a while, if they do it at all.”
“Tao, have you tried bargaining with them? Offering them money for them to hold the guys and the Err?” asked Mirgus.
“I have. I offered a hundred thousand,” answered Tao brusquely.
“And they refused?” Tentacle asked, surprised.
“At first it seemed to pique their interest, but then they fell silent and stopped talking.”
“Tao, it’s the Steppe! The locals are shady, negotiating with them is meaningless.” The girl said. “Good thing they aren’t answering. We’ll save a hundred grand! It’s bad enough we lost the Living Armor to Jerkhan...”
Tao was silent, making as if he did not notice the reproachful stares. They were in a hastily set up PROJECT camp, bang in the middle of the Steppe. The warriors were resting, feeding birdies, and rebuffing, waiting for the portal masters’ abilities to recharge. They had to jump through the pentagram just once before the raid reached its target.
“Yes, we screwed up with Jerkhan.” Mirgus said. “How much do we owe them?”
“Five hundred,” Tao replied briefly. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it myself. Jerkhan didn’t want to wait, he took on another contract. The Steel Guard left for the Astral Plane.”
“Your Pandas are (uncensored)!” Tentacle said, vividly expressing her opinion.
“Stop whining. When we get the Crown, we will be compensated for all our losses,” said Tao. “The Living Armor is nothing compared to what Ananizarte will give us when we bring her the Crown...”
“I hope so!” Tentacle snorted. “People are starting to speak up!”
“People aren’t happy,” Mirgus said, backing her up. “They’re tired of waking up to the alarm, and doing combat duty, not to mention constant raids. Today, we gathered just a hundred and fourteen people. Tomorrow, it will be even less... It’s the May holidays, everyone wants a vacation. Plus, the rollback caused a huge loss of morale.”
“Not to mention, boss, that you don’t log in as often, as you used to!” Tentacle chimed in. “Did it occur to you, that if you had gone after the Crown yourself, instead of sending Svoy’s party, we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place?”
“I get it,” Tao nodded, his expression unreadable. “I get it, sister. But I have work problems right now. I sleep for three hours a day! We need to stick it out a bit longer, especially since we’re almost...”
He froze, listening to something, then straightened up.
“The scouts report that they have seen them, right next to the Order stronghold. When can we light up a pentagram?”
“In fifteen minutes.”
“All right. We should make it.”
* * *
It was hard for me to grasp how the procedural generator could sculpt landscapes with such powerful aesthetic effect. Of course, it had an almost infinite set of templates to work with, but still, it seemed improbable that an AI could create such a breath-taking sight. The fortress of the Order of the Lily on the Sword made an impression as soon as I saw it come into view after climbing the latest hill. It was situated at the top of a huge stone hill in the middle of a vast steppe; from its towers, one could probably see the Wild Fields ten leagues away.
It was an awe-inspiring, majestic, mighty stronghold. A narrow road that spiraled around the hill’s scarp slopes led upward, to the thick walls, round towers and donjons, and massive bastions built with large blocks of dark red basalt. The plate armors of soldiers, who seemed toy-like from a distance, gleamed in the light of the setting sun behind the tall forked crenellations. The fortress was large enough to hold a small town. Even from our spot, we could see spacious inner courtyards, fortifications, and the citadel’s main tower. Heraldic banners with silver lilies around a stylized sword fluttered in the wind.
It was getting dark. We spurred onward, as our destination was so close, just a few leagues away. Would we finally get into the Order? Would I learn the secret of my sword?
AlexOrder suddenly cried out a warning, raising his hand and pointing at something. Following his gesture, I saw a lone birdie, a cloud pegasus rapidly gaining on us, blocking our way. I couldn’t make out its rider at that distance. It was the PROJECT!What was he hoping to do alone? Or...
Or. We reined in our mounts in unison, and the PROJECT player landed several hundred steps from us, blocking the way to the Order’s fortress.
“A scout!” Alex yelled, drawing his sword. “He’s going to light up a pentagram. Let’s go, Cat, maybe we’ll be fast enough to kill him!”
Alex was correct. A bright red flash enveloped the enemy, and for the second time, I saw scarlet lines cut through the steppe, forming the image of a huge pentagram, and the rainbow haze of a portal appeared above it, dozens of players pouring out.
There was nothing we could do. In less than a minute, we were surrounded by the enemy on all sides, even from the sky. War birdies, archers, mages, fighters—it was PROJECT HELL in all its glory, shining with epics and legendaries. At last, they caught up with us, mere steps away from our goal, and now, could blow us away in a few moments.
My left hand squeezed the Grey Scroll that I had obtained in the Temple of Shadows. Might it be our last chance to survive the day?
The rows of PROJECT players around us shifted, giving way to Tao. He was as arrogantly graceful as ever, twirling his black demonic blade.
“Good evening!” He said, smiling and adjusting his leather eyepatch. “I have to give it to you, not a bad try. I was almost starting to get nervous!” We said nothing.
“But now, you’re in my hands. Is there anything you wish to say, before we send you to respawn?” Tao was gloating, pleased as a deer tick on a prize bull.
And then, we laughed. Together with Alex, we cackled like crazy, clutching our bellies and wiping the tears from our faces. For a few seconds, Tao looked at us, confused, then turned his gaze to the Err.
The Err removed the hood of his disguise, unbuttoning the robe and discarding it. Then, he slowly pulled off the close helmet that covered his head, and took one step forward, stopping in front of us, and just a few feet away from Tao.
The man clad in Endved Elyon’s black armor and equipment, who was staring back at the PROJECT leader was Komtur. A wide grin on his face, he tussled his short blond hair and said,
“Hello, Tao. I guess you didn’t expect to see me here?”
It is always funny to watch a man, who realizes, he has just lost the biggest bet of his life. Tao’s face betrayed a variety of emotions, from basic inability to grasp what was happening, to a grimace of pure hate. For a second, he pressed his hands to his face, and by the time he had lowered them, his expression was impenetrable, yet still somehow frightening.
“You betrayed me, Komtur-san. What is this masquerade?”
“
I betrayed you?” Komtur’s surprise was sincere. “How?”
“You violated our agreement. You promised to give me the Err!”
“I promised you the exact things written in our contract,” replied the leader of the Watchers calmly. “Leave the faction wars, declare our clans neutral, stop mutual aggression, and give you the Err’s current location.” He placed particular emphasis on the word “current”. “And I fulfilled them all,” he continued. “If you were unable to make use of that, Tao, then that’s your problem.”
“I don’t remember a paragraph about me being forbidden to use cloaks of disguise, or armor belonging to others.” Komtur threw up his hands. “Or to travel incognito with my friends. Therefore, I consider your allegations unfounded!”
“I hear you,” Tao said between clenched teeth, his face pale like snow. “And I swear, I’ll make you regret it!”
Komtur laughed. Then he turned to us, shrugged—what can you do, this Tao just doesn’t seem to get jokes—and summoned an archgriffon, which he mounted before flying up into the air. A host of PROJECT archers and mages aimed at me, but Tao raised his hand abruptly, forbidding them to fire. Komtur was part of the Watchers, and attacking him meant breaking neutrality between the clans, and violating the agreement.
Together with the PROJECT players, equally entranced, we watched him soar through the sky, spiraling up, and then, like in an old movie, I had a moment of déjà vu. Just like back then, above the battlefield, a bubble of twisted space swelled up, shining with all the colors of a rainbow, and from it, an enormous flying ship slowly emerged. I had already seen that figurehead before, a horned demon, and the ghostly sails shrouded with lightning bolts, and those sharp edges. It was the Stormbringer, Steel Guard’s astral juggernaut.
Using his invulnerability, Komtur had pulled something off that was totally unexpected for the PROJECT: he had opened up an Astral Portal to Pandorum mercenaries. Ironically, of itself, this action was neutral to PROJECT, and not considered hostile.
But the Pandas arriving from the Astral were anything but neutral. A furious swarm of birdies circled around the juggernaut, and the first squads darted downward with a battle cry, attacking the HELL’s raid. Flames glowed around the astral ship, burning brighter and brighter—armaments were preparing to fire.
“Cat, it’s time for us to cut and run!” Alex said quietly. I was in complete agreement, but how could we survive in the middle of an enemy raid?
Tao was standing just two steps away from us, his head raised. He threw a brief look at us, and I heard the tag end of his command.
“...these ones? Kill them.”
Then he rocketed upward, unmounted, to meet Pandorum’s flying birdies, his cloak fluttering behind him like white wings.
* * *
Slightly earlier, somewhere in the Wild Field…
“You won’t get the money!” AlexOrder said confidently. “And don’t leave the clan, it’s pointless!”
“Really? And why’s that, then?”
Alex threw me an odd look, then shifted his gaze to the Err. Endved Elyon stepped forward, pulled back his hood, and then took off a helmet with a T-shaped visor. I saw the watchful stare of a pair of clear blue eyes, that definitely did not belong to the Eyrian Err, short light hair flattened by the helmet, and the face of a simple farmer. Before us, dressed in the Err’s armor, his sword in his sheath, stood the leader of the Watchers, Komtur.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Still, I quickly put two and two together, and decided to keep quiet, especially since Alex was gesturing for me to do so, suggesting I let Tikhon do the talking.
“Komtur?” Arrow asked, shocked. “What are you doing here?”
“And where’s the NPC, whose head is worth a hundred grand?” Thirteenth spoke up.
“Who’s the boss here?” Komtur asked, looking above them. “You, Don? Or you, Arrow? Or is it anarchy?”
Blackie was still gripping me, his knife against my throat. Abruptly, he let me go, pushed me away, and smiled.
“That’s enough joking around! What did you want to say, Watcher?”
I didn’t heard the conversation between Komtur and Black Don, but it was brief, and after it was over, the Nonames, having received a clear command, stopped aiming at us and scattered, surrounding the respawn point. Komtur came up to us, grinning.
“Everything’s fine, pack up!”
“What did you promise them?” Asked AlexOrder.
“The coordinates of a location with lots of goodies.” Komtur replied, waving his hand. “They’ll have to deal with other looters themselves, though.”
“Won’t they betray us?’
“No. What would be the point? Tao won’t give them a hundred grand for us. He wants the Err.”
“Speaking of which, where is the Err?” I asked, speaking up now. “And where did you come from, Komtur? This morning, you gave us up to the PROJECT, and now, you’re saving the day?”
“Yeah, right!” Komtur laughed. “Don’t be a baby, Cat! Nobody gave you up, I never meant to. As for the Err, he’s probably drinking crimson wine inside the Order’s stronghold. They have great cellars there. The Magister is a real connoisseur of fine wine.”
“So, Alex, I guess, you’ve been on it from the start?” I grumbled, angrily. I hated the fact, that I had been unable to see through the Watchers’ scheme.
“I wanted to tell you,” AlexOrder mumbled, clearly embarrassed. “but they wouldn’t let me.”
“So it was all part of the show? Leaving the clan?” I asked.
“More like an improvisation!” Komtur laughed, happy as a clam. “You didn’t think you were the only ones guarding the Err, did you? Two more groups covertly accompanied you as insurance. All of them had to temporarily leave the clan, so our neutrality with Tao would hold.”
“Tao thought he could buy me with Helt Akor, and take me out of play!” He continued. “Me, an old bird! The damn Japanese thought he was smarter than everyone else. Whatever, soon, we’ll clip his wings.” Seeing my expression, he clapped me on the shoulder with full strength. “Don’t fret, Cat! It was a loyalty test! Now, we know you can be trusted. I haven’t told anyone this yet, but I gave out different information concerning our ‘surrender’ to different clan members, and as a result, we’ve already identified two PROJECT spies. Now we know who won’t jump the gun.”
“Where did you intercept the Err?”
“Back when you ambushed PROJECT. Great job killing off their birdies, by the way, I didn’t expect that. And then, in the Temple of Shadows, while you were dealing with the PKers at the resp point, I pulled on his armor and a cloak of disguise, sending the Err himself straight to the Order on a birdie, together with the rest of our guys.”
“That’s cool, I guess,” I sighed. Everything was turning out to be much better than it was, five minutes earlier, but my heart was still pumping. “So what now?”
“The interesting part,” said the Watchers’ leader, his eyes flashing. “A PROJECT raid led by Tao marched out, following your trail. I want to engage them and arrange a small Waterloo for that half-baked Napoleon.”
“How? Aren’t you neutral with them now?”
“Hear me out, Cat, especially since this concerns you.”
“Me?”
“I talked to the Pandas. Their standard fee is a million gold, an insane amount of money, as you know. But there’s an alternate way to pay them...”
“How?”
“With souls. Pandorum is populating the Astral Plane, and NPC souls are worth more than gold to them.”
“I still have no idea what that has to do with me.”
“Cat, Cat. You’re the key. You have a Soul Eater!”
I was beginning to understand what he was getting at. My sword could absorb and hold the souls of NPCs it killed, but I had no idea that they could be used in some way, especially released from the sword! I asked the Watchers’ leader more about it.
“Olaf says there’s a way,” Komt
ur replied. “You’re not the first to have a Soul Eater. Souls can be freed.”
“I remember Olaf saying that Pandas have a few Soul Eaters of their own! Why aren’t they using them?”
“The law of Balance!” Komtur sighed. “They tried to...and it wasn’t pretty. But you, you’re already stained. There was a retaliation against you and your sword. Our analyst thinks that nothing is threatening you any more.”
I wasn’t exactly worried about what the Watchers’ analyst thought. He was human, and humans tended to make mistakes. I would be the one to clear up the mess. I was also mad that Komtur had played me like a fiddle with his dressing-up. Essentially, I was sick and tired of being an unwitting pawn in some clan scheme, and judging by the tone of the conversation, they were going to keep doing it. Only now, I was fed up with it. Still, the amount stated by the Watchers’ leader was impressive. Hmm... The equivalent of a million gold! It was such a fat sum of money, that it was practically dripping with grease. I wondered where they would get the souls the Pandas wanted, and how many of them were required. Turned out, Steel Guard considered a hundred souls a worthy payment, which meant that one NPC was valued at about ten thousand. As for the source of the souls, Komtur said the following:
“It’s faction war! If you fight with NPCs with our support, you’ll get as many souls as you want, and level up your sword, too.”
“I just have one more question,” I said, looking at the head of the Watchers, chuckling. “How much would I get for all this, personally?”
CHAPTER 29 THE ORDER
Sometimes, seconds count for everything. Who would be first, me or the PROJECT’s mages and archers, who were ordered to kill us? The closest resp point was twenty-five leagues away, and the residents of the Wild Fields resembling the Nonames were probably already camping it. How much time would we waste getting out of there, if the Order’s stronghold was right here, two steps away?
You activated the Grey Scroll! You are under the effect of Greater Shield of Shadows!
Cat's Quest Page 40