The World Around the Corner

by Rick Ellrod

  “You like running raids with us,” Jeff said. “How come?”

  “We’re good,” Renee declared. “We took down the Fulgront in record time. We got through Darkfall Alley and didn’t wipe once. And you guys are always kidding around and stuff.” She smiled at them a little. “It’s fun to listen to.”

  “You can be good at something without having to fight showy monsters to do it,” Dana said. “Getting a car to run again may not be glamorous, but it feels good.”

  “Is that what you do?”

  “Yeah. So?” Dana drew herself up as if in dudgeon, but let a half smile show.

  “Oh—I meant—that’s fun for you?”

  “I don’t go around turning handsprings, but it is satisfying. You fix something and you can see what you’ve accomplished.”

  “Same is true of anything,” Jeff said. “I remember you like ice skating, right? Why do you do it?”

  “I feel graceful? It shines when you can do a trick or a turn without skidding out?”

  “It feels good to do it well.” Jeff nodded. “Even if no loot drops.” Renee giggled.

  “Unless maybe you knock somebody down, accidentally on purpose…” Dana said.

  “…and they lose their wallet. Or a purse goes flying,” Jeff continued. “The bosses drop more loot, of course.”

  “A rogue wouldn’t need to ram ’em,” Dana countered. “You glide by, doing a double spin or whatever…when they stop admiring your skill, the wallet’s gone.”

  “But of course you don’t get the experience points from taking them down,” Jeff said.

  “Point is, you don’t always have to have max drama to have fun.”

  “True. I grant you, this excursion here is about as close as I’ve actually come to an adventure in real life. But you never really know what you’re going to discover.” He turned a significant glance on Dana, who twinkled back at him.

  Renee grinned suddenly. “Hey. Did you discover something interesting on this trip, then?” She studied the two of them in turn.

  Dana felt her cheeks warming.

  “I’ll say,” Jeff said gallantly. “Maybe even exciting, dramatic, and adventurous.”

  Dana’s blush deepened, but she grinned back.

  “Do you mean you two never met till now?” Renee almost bounced on the bed, enjoying their discomfiture.

  “Well, not exactly,” Dana said. “Turned out I’d been repairing Jeff’s old clunker for years…”

  “Can’t be that long. It only seems like years.”

  “But you never figured out who you really were? After playing all this time?”

  “Pretty dim of us, huh?” Jeff laughed. “No, we hadn’t a clue.”

  “Wow. Cosmic.” Renee giggled. “So what do you think?”

  “About what?” Dana said, shifting her position a little.

  “You two always seemed to get along really well online.” Renee tilted her head and gazed at them archly. “So what do you think about each other now that you’ve actually met?”

  “It’s top secret.” Jeff chuckled. “You don’t have the ‘need to know,’ my friend.”

  Dana was with him there. She still felt a little shy about the whole situation. And with a third person…“I’m just gonna go back to saying you never know what you’ll discover, Renee.” She gave Jeff a sidewise smile.

  Jeff straightened up and jammed his hands into his pockets. “Now if we’re going to track down Princess Aurelie, we’re going to need Evanesce with us. So how about it?”

  “What?” Renee said, her expression wary.

  “Can we count on you and Rogann to be online, sometime in the next week or so?”

  The girl’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t go back there now. Can’t I, uh, play from here or something?”

  “You have broadband in this place? I don’t even see your laptop.”

  “I had to take it to a pawn shop,” Renee admitted.

  “That’s out, then. So what’s so great about here?” Dana gestured at the surrounding space. “These folks are so good to you?”

  The way Renee’s eyes darted around the room gave Dana a sense the girl was no longer entirely comfortable by herself among strangers. “Well…They understand…” Under Dana’s skeptical gaze Renee wilted. “I mean, suppose I go running back to my father. He’s gonna kill me.”

  “We did talk with him.” Jeff tilted his head to one side wryly. “Frankly, I think he’s going to be so glad to see you again that this, ah, adventure isn’t going to matter a lot.”

  Dana said, “He may take you more seriously if you come back under your own steam than if you get picked up by the cops.”

  Renee’s eyes lifted to them. “Would you come with me if I did?”

  ****

  When they emerged from the bedroom Renee was carrying a sports bag and a backpack full of gear, and wearing a hesitantly determined expression.

  Her roommates were waiting for them. Kyle stepped forward. “So what’s all this, Renee?”

  “I’m going back.” Renee’s voice was low but under control. “For a while, at least.”

  “Giving up so soon?” jeered one of the boys. “Not much fight in you, huh?” Renee flushed but did not respond.

  The other woman curled her lip. She sported spiky black hair and a spiked collar. “What were they feeding you in there, honey? Trank juice? You don’t have to go with them.”

  “I want to. They’re not making me do anything.”

  “Oh, no, not at all,” the third boy said with heavily affected sarcasm. “You just changed your own mind. Thought it over for all of twenty minutes.”

  Kyle moved toward them, addressing Jeff. “Draggin’ her back to fleeb world, huh? I’m not so sure that’s what she really wants. Who are you to bust in here and order people around?”

  “Not giving any orders; just leaving.” Jeff’s voice was calm. But he had fallen into a seemingly-relaxed ready posture.

  Kyle stepped forward and made as if to grab at Renee. Jeff stepped sideways between them, deflecting the grab with his forearm. Kyle snarled and swung at Jeff, who moved slightly out of the way of the blow, then grasped Kyle’s arm and pivoted, sending the acid boy stumbling out of control into the wall. A second boy was moving in on Jeff. Dana threw her weight into a smart shoulder block to knock the boy out of line, allowing Jeff to turn again and send him falling after his comrade. The others paused, taken aback. None, including the two now scrambling back to their feet, seemed inclined to follow up.

  Jeff faced them, poised. “Renee will make her own choice.”

  Dana took Renee’s arm and hurried her out the door before further hostilities could develop. Jeff was right behind them.

  Renee’s eyes were huge. “What are you, Badon? A cop? Some kind of karate guy?”

  “He’s a history professor,” Dana said, an edge of laughter in her voice.

  “A professor?”

  Jeff nodded, with a grin. “As we were saying—even the boring and mundane may have its surprises.”

  Chapter 10

  The pyrolith’s giant fists hammered at Badon, but as fast as the warrior’s health dropped, it surged up again. Rogann was casting healing spells without pause. To one side, blue-white bolts slashed past. The “boss” they faced in their climactic battle—at least, Jeff devoutly hoped there were no more to follow—was fire- and earth-based, and Arc had resorted to Humeric’s Wand of Icy Doom.

  “Go get him, Bad!” called Dana. Rosmara was slipping around to come up from behind the creature.

  “I’ll set him up for you.” Jeff grinned.

  Above, where the creature’s face would have been had it had one, a cloud of darkness suddenly appeared. The dark-wizard had cast a blindness upon it, reducing the monster’s chance of hitting what it struck at.

  “Good one, Evanesce!”

  “Any time!” A black hooded cloak and grey robes gave Renee’s young wizard a mysterious air. A sparkling tiara on her head lent a bit of color.

  J
eff smiled again. Renee’s reunion with her father had not precisely been a love feast. But they were both here now together, which seemed auspicious.

  The pyrolith roared again and twisted to one side. Rosmara had struck from behind and to its right.

  “And Rosmara strikes a wrenching blow!” Jeff announced.

  “Karate-chop it, you lugnut!” Dana said.

  “I can be a nut as long as Arc keeps flinging those bolts.” He heard Dana chortle.

  With a rumble like an avalanche, the pyrolith emitted a blast of fire in all directions. Was it his imagination, or was the creature smaller than it had been at the start? Suddenly it paused and turned toward Evanesce. The pyrolith raised its rocky fists in an arcane gesture, and Jeff saw a torch tear itself loose from the walls and hurtle at the wizard like a blazing spear. “Hey!” she yelped as it struck.

  Archonis managed to complete a protective spell just as a second torch struck, dissipating its energies in an impressive explosion. Another was aiming at Evanesce, who was in the middle of a complex attack spell and had no chance to raise a shield.

  Rogann cast a cleric spell, protecting her just in time. “Thanks, Dad!”

  The pyrolith, almost down to human-size now, launched a new attack. A flying sheet of flame shot forth and wrapped itself around Evanesce, doing continuous damage. “Oh, fleeb,” she moaned.

  Jeff saw her begin casting a massive attack spell, Final Shadow, which would drain all her magical energy but inflict continuing damage on the monster—if she could complete it. Rogann threw a small-scale instant heal, keeping her alive for the moment, and began casting a larger-scale healing spell.

  “Go, Renee!” Dana’s voice rose over the battle noises.

  Rogann completed his heal as his daughter’s hit points neared extinction, keeping her up long enough to finish Final Shadow. The pyrolith was enveloped in black flame. Evanesce’s time ran out and she collapsed.

  “I’m out,” Renee called.

  “Good work, Ev!” Pen told her. “Arc, give it all you’ve got.”

  With a rising sound like an avalanche running in reverse, the pyrolith shrank to a fiery dot and winked out as its hit points went to zero. The group burst into cheers.

  “Rezzing Evanesce.” A golden light shone as the paladin began reviving the fallen wizard. “Well done, everybody! A lot of good teamwork there.”

  “Let’s see what we’ve got for treasure.” Arc examined the creature’s loot. “Leather, that’s Merry…Here’s a good healer’s mace, Rogann, is it better than yours? Thanks for the shield spell, by the way.”

  “Watch out, Garth, he’s carrying a torch for you.” Jeff chuckled.

  “I’d rather carry one than get one between the eyes.”

  No sooner had the last item been picked up than a vertical seam of light appeared in the rock wall behind where the pyrolith had stood. Great double doors were turning on invisible hinges. Cool light poured into the chamber as the gap widened.

  “The gate into Erelanni.” Pendragen moved forward. “We’ve made it.” By his side, the group advanced into the light.

  ****

  They entered a wide plaza, paved with grey-green stone that flashed silver here and there as the light caught it. Green and white buildings rose around the plaza. The architecture was reminiscent of ancient Greece, though Jeff also saw graceful flying buttresses characteristic of the Gothic. Beyond the buildings rose steep rock walls, garnished with greenery. The city lay in a deep circular valley.

  Around the outskirts of the plaza stood numerous aes sidhe, watching the newly-arrived adventurers. These were elf-like humanoids, fey and often unaccountable, but generally helpful in the long run. Their name-labels were yellow. To the left, a wide stair of white stone, broad enough for thirty to march abreast, led up to a round colonnaded building that might have been a temple or court. On the flat landing at the top of the stair–

  “At last,” Meretreia said. “It’s the princess—and her kidnappers.”

  “Forward,” said Pendragen, “but slowly.”

  The crowds of aes sidhe made way for them as the players advanced to the bottom of the stair and began to ascend. At the top, at least two dozen apparently human figures surrounded a young woman in blue robes and a golden tiara. They waited as the Northern Lights approached.

  “The sidhe are still neutral.” Rosmara rotated from side to side. “They might turn against us if we do the wrong thing.”

  “Or help us if we make the right choice,” said Archonis.

  “They seem to have given safe harbor to the abductors.” Pendragen pointed at the group guarding Aurelie.

  As the adventurers arrived at the wide landing in front of the colonnade, the princess stepped forward, though she still remained behind a screen of heavily-armed human warriors, labeled in red. Aurelie had a distinctive, winsome beauty. In fact, though he could point to no specific similarity, she reminded Jeff of Dana.

  “Time for the rescue?” wondered Rogann.

  “Wait!” Evanesce pointed. “Look at the princess. She’s red to us.”

  It was true. Her name showed as red—hostile—like those of the other humans who surrounded her. “Shouldn’t she be glad to be rescued?”

  “Hold fast; no sudden moves, people.” Pendragen stepped carefully forward, closing to a distance where he could interact with the princess without quite antagonizing the hostile abductors.

  “What do you want of us, travelers?” she said.

  Jeff typed to Dana, You know, Rosmara doesn’t do you justice. You look better in person.

  No way. These toons are all impossibly hot.

  Not as hot as the real thing!

 

  And she really was blushing, Jeff could tell. He grinned.

  On the screen, Pendragen faced a set of possible answers:

  1. The King has sent us to save you.

  2. We have come far to your aid.

  3. We’ve found you! Come with us.

  “They sound almost the same,” said Meretreia.

  “Not exactly.” Renee sounded thoughtful. “The middle one is a lot more vague.”

  “You know,” said Dana, “every time we’ve invoked the King on this trip, we’ve gotten into trouble. Maybe—”

  “–we should avoid the first option?” Jeff finished. “I’m with you.”

  Pendragen said, “You think she doesn’t want to go back with us? That would explain why she’s still red.”

  “Unless she’s under mind control or something.” Archonis hopped back and forth with impatience.

  Jeff considered it. “Even so, it would still start a fight if we tried to take her back against her will.”

  “And that makes the third option chancy,” added Evanesce.

  “Yeah. Okay, I’ll give number two a try.” Pendragen paused; no one objected.

  “And how do you wish to aid me?” the princess asked.

  1. We are at your command, my lady.

  2. We will slay your abductors and bring you home.

  3. We will set you free peacefully if possible, by force if necessary.

  “Yes,” Archonis said eagerly. “I go for number one.”

  Jeff nodded. “Second. I mean, I second the motion for number one.”

  “These lunkheaded warriors,” Dana said, “always confusing the issue.”

  “Maybe we should just launch a sudden attack.” Evanesce initiated a spell-cast. Over Archonis’s yelp of dismay, she chortled, “Kidding! Kidding!” and cancelled the spell.

  “Do you think they’re trying to tell us we’re on the wrong side here?”

  “It could be, Badon,” said Pendragen. “It’s an old HC trick. You start out on a quest and then find out you’re really working for the bad guys.”

  “Everyone we’ve met loves the princess.” Dana sounded decisive. “They all hate the king. If we have to choose, it sounds to me like we ought to stick with her side.”

  “I think we’re in agreement.” Pendragen clicked on t
he first option.

  ****

  Jeff’s screen cleared, and when the scene reappeared, the usual framework of control icons was gone. The tableau now showed from a new perspective. Rather than seeing from the viewpoints of their characters, the Northern Lights saw themselves facing Princess Aurelie from the outside, as in a movie. They were watching a cut scene, a pre-designed sequence in which the players would make no decisions and take no free actions. That generally meant a crucial plot point.

  “I’m not sure if I can trust you.” Aurelie stood firm and gazed at the adventurers one by one. “You have entered this refuge by force, pursuing me.”

  Pendragen, now under the game’s control, said, “We are your true servants, milady, sent by the king to bring you home.”

  “You cannot be both.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have broken with my uncle.” The princess stretched out her hands. “Year by year, King Harro has become a tyrant. His courtiers do as they will without justice or hindrance. His soldiers oppress the common folk and abuse their power.”

  “That burning town we saw at the start of the quest,” Archonis said, sotto voce.

  “In the last months we believe he has allied himself with dark forces,” Aurelie continued. “By the sea, to the east, wizards are shaping a portal of some kind. We do not know where it leads, but we fear the worst.”

  Pendragen stepped forward. “Who is ‘we,’ Princess?”

  She smiled. “Some of those who prize liberty have made our own secret alliance to resist this tyranny.” She gestured at the armsmen surrounding her, who bowed gracefully in response. “We laid our plans carefully, and a picked group of our warriors brought me forth by night from Relekki.”

  Pendragen said, “We believed we were sent to rescue you in good faith.”

  Aurelie nodded. “I know the King is a master of deceit. You have followed faithfully, and you have not attacked us without cause.”

  “Aha,” Evanesce murmured.

  “But now your choice lies before you. Will you seek to drag me back to my uncle, or will you help me seek my own path—and join us?”

  The programmed video faded, and the normal game screen reappeared. Pendragen’s word balloon now bore two choices: