He looked at the pop-up and noticed the reward for fulfilling the quest was a thousand gold bars if they could deliver the shipment within twenty days. The normal overland journey time for a caravan was three weeks and four days, so Furtui told Cain. The delivery would need to leave in the morning before the spices and herbs lost their potency.
Celebration Mishap
With the storage barn a building ten paces wide by fifteen long, Cain was confident they could move large groups of people and equipment faster than the normal two or three people using a travel-post.
^D^ Cain, is the location Thessele estate, your travel-post? ^
^C^ Hi Daphne, Bethany. Yes, but it is more than just a post, Violetta has blessed a storage barn and the entrance, and the inside space is all the travel-post.
We are going to a celebration in Thessele in three hours. Why don’t you leave your company and come to the celebration. ^
Daphne and Bethany travelled from Serrena, arriving one hour before Cain, Lesley and Violetta left for the celebration. Myrina and Areto were standing guard with the Amazons inside the walls of Thessele, as Cain had a bad feeling about the celebration.
"If none of the elders or their players know we are here, we can provide backup in case someone needs it," Bethany said.
Cain knew it was a good idea to have player backup, if things went south. Bethany gave Cain a large ring, with a large sapphire, roughly cut mounted and held by a five fingered clasp.
"Daphne and I have one too, I made one for each of us, including our concubine sisters. The rings enchantment blocks our Gamer Tag and projects a generic NPC tag when we activate the enchantment. I suggest you don’t wear them until after the celebration though take it with you. I will give Lesley, Myrina and Areto those when I see them," Bethany said.
"You will need to give Violetta one too, she became a concubine last night, although Toni thought she would have joined with us before you all left on your missions," Cain replied. "Violetta has gone to Athena’s temple to spend the night in prayer," he added. "Personally I don't think she likes partying."
:Should anyone read their Gamer Tags, Daphne and Bethany will come across as lowly NPCs. Making them invisible when anyone tried to read a persons Gamer Tag, they would be part of the crowd, not part of Joseph and his DreamBabes,: thought Cain.
Lesley, sent the twenty specialist trained Amazons to Thessele early, so they could find locations to provide a protection screen. She like Cain was not feeling happy about being on display, especially after smashing Jason’s mercenary army so convincingly.
The city elders invited Lesley and Cain to the top table to sit with them and their wives and concubines. One elder stood welcoming everyone to the celebration, telling everyone Joseph and the DreamBabes saved the city.
Cain and Lesley were using the paste Daphne had given each of them as they were leaving for the celebration. The green paste would change colour if somebody poisoned the food or drink. Cain had a small smear of the paste, on the little finger of his left hand; Daphne said the paste will last until the morning. Cain's little finger touched each piece of food he ate, each goblet received the same treatment.
Three hours passed and the food was still coming though none of it was poisoned. Cain lost count of the courses as a waitress handed out desserts made from cream, layered around flakes of ice. Licking his lips, Cain forgot to test the food. He raised the small spoon full of the chilled dessert to his mouth when Lesley kicked him painfully on his shin, and pinched his thigh out of sight under the table. His eyes snapped up, Lesley wagged her little finger at him, the green paste was black.
Cain put the spoonful of dessert back into the small dish. He messaged everyone, telling them to be aware, they tried poisoning Lesley and me. On receiving the message Myrina and Areto who had brought two companies into Thessele as the celebration began. The two companies left early and were already hidden around the city and central square where the celebration was taking place.
Cain and Lesley, as they stood to excuse themselves from the table, Furtui Deshonor followed by Simon Bruixot stood from their seats and shouted assassins, and pointed at Cain and Lesley.
Not wasting any breath, Cain took two Aspis shields from his inventory, giving one to Lesley, while Lesley took her gladius from hers.
Areto led her company from where they waited, up the main street toward the main square, a shield wall, four deep and thirty wide, barred the way. An officer stood in front of the shields holding his hand up.
"Halt, you cannot pass. We know you are succubae disguised as She-Devils. You are trying to turn this city into an outpost for hell. We will not let you pass, turn around and flee while we deal with your daemon lord," The officer said.
Areto said two words to her sisters, "Clay pots," Followed by three words, to those foolishly blocking the street, the officer and men. "Move or die."
The first fifteen Amazons took two clay pots from their hip pouches. Using the magic lighting stick Cain invented, a self-striking match, they lit the clay pots fuses. Riding toward the shield wall, controlling their horses by their knees each Amazon threw their pair of clay pots, then returned to the rest of the Amazons. The concussive blasts, exploding arrow heads and ceramic shards of thirty grenades ripped the shield wall to pieces.
Areto led the company over the pieces of men and equipment formerly blocking their way. A few stunned guards tried to stop the Amazons, were swiftly dispatched with Doru spears. Lesley looked at Cain as they heard the sound of rolling thunder, she like Cain knew someone was using their grenades.
Unable to move from the table as people were trying to leave from around them. One elder rather worse for the drink he’d consumed had fallen asleep, his face resting on a plate of food his nose making bubbles in the sauce as he breathed.
Using his legs, Cain was able to push people out of his way and reach the administrative buildings front wall. Lesley followed in his wake saying, "Guess we wait here until the protectors and our other troops come stop this awful noise. I knew I didn’t like Furtui Deshonor, I bet he works for Jason."
Cain looked at Furtui and Simon who were trying to get the few militia troops to move on Lesley and his position, they were refusing as they were trying to bring the crowd under control.
The sound of horse shoes striking coble sets grew louder as Areto and her company rode into the square. The look of shock on Furtui’s face was priceless.
Areto and half her company dismounted and moved as a tight square, shields to the front pushing their way through the people as they made for Furtui and Simon.
Furtui shouted to Areto, "Areto, you must go and save Joseph and his wife Lesley." Areto replied saying, "We will keep you both safe too, until we reach our Lord husband."
The square split in the middle as it reached the table where Furtui and Simon stood, flowing around them closing up with them in the middle. Two of the Amazons on the inside of the square snagged Furtui and Simon, knocking them out with the flat of their Gladii. Unconscious, the Amazons stripping them, leaving them in only their sandals as they bound their hands and
feet.
Areto and her square retreated to the waiting mounted Amazons. Daphne and Bethany reached Cain and Lesley as the four assassins rounded the corner, six seconds later the other two joined them. They faced Cain and Lesley. One assassin told Daphne and Bethany to move away, this is a fight between your betters. Daphne smiled and slipped her sapphire ring off her little finger, Bethany followed suit.
"Excellent, three of you DreamBabes and Joseph too. Jason will pay us handsomely for permanently killing you four tonight," the assassin said.
"Can I buy your contract from you? I can double what Jason has paid. You get your money and leave rather than you painfully dying, what do you say?" Cain said.
The assassin didn’t reply, rather he drew a long sword which shimmered with a green hue in the light from the torches burning on the wall behind him. The other assassins drew their own blades, equally shimmering green in the torch light.
The twenty Amazons who were trained by Nithey and the VETS as a close protection squad, appeared from beneath tables and on the roofs of buildings around the square. Twenty arrows hit the assassins, killing four instantly. The remaining two assassins were hit but not killed. One had an arrow through his neck, he dropped his blade as his hands tried to keep the blood from escaping. A second arrow hit his head, exiting his left ear, killing him outright. The last of the assassins, the one Cain spoke to dropped his long sword and fell to his knees, three arrows sticking in his back.
"You played us, how did you know?" he asked.
"Easy, Jason’s player in the city is rather inept. We gathered you would strike at us here. You know we will chase you down in the real world. My team will search for your POD and from there we will find out everything about you,"
{His real name is Sean O’Conner,}
"Sean, everything," Cain said. Sean forced his eyes open wider, he tried speaking but fell forward on his face as his heart stopped beating.
It took an hour to round up the city elders, Violetta came back from Athena’s temple and helped locate them.
Cain told the elders, "Violetta is my concubine and is now in charge of the city, you will answer to her. She would stay at the estate and you will serve at her discretion. For too long you have paid lip service to the gods, especially Athena, now you will have a priestess who follows Athena and Cybele, making the important decisions. I suggest you follow her instructions or move to another town or city."
Cain, Lesley, Daphne, Bethany, Violetta, Areto and all the Amazons in the city returned to the estate, taking the still unconscious, naked and bound Furtui and Simon with them.
Chapter 39
Roman Candles
Arriving back at the estate, Cain had Furtui and Simon placed in two separate rooms, leaving them overnight. Cain poured a glass of cold water over Furtui which woke him like he had been electrocuted. His hands and feet were still fastened. Cain had one of the three Amazons in the room with him cut his hands and feet free, another Amazon dropped a few items of clothing on the floor. Once Furtui was dressed, Cain began to question him, "Why do you work for Jason?" Furtui opened his mouth, and did not stop talking as he said,
"I don’t know what you mean, I follow Simon, have done since we met on the first day in the game as beta testers. We hit it off and I ended up with him going around doing quests, finding sacred groves delivering messages: the typical noob gamer stuff. We were in the 2027 zone to start with then we used the portal and ended up here in Greece before the system rebuild and game launch.
"In the last month Simon has become more focused as he wormed his way into helping the city elders, he was getting to the stage where he was becoming a right hand man for two of them. Before the mercenary army turned up he suggested to the elders he as an impartial player should go observe the army and whoever they fight, which was four days before you and the She-Devils showed up.
"He told the elders you don't bring five thousand of the best mercenary troops and not intend to use them. The elders all agreed. We exited Thessele, made contact with the mercenaries and camped with them for nearly a week. Simon and Sir Hardy, acted like they knew each other from the off, I asked Simon and he dismissed my worries.
"He told me he was trying to find usable information on who they were going to fight, what the upcoming battle was all about. Simon said, Sir Hardy told him a group of players, lead by a psychopath were heading toward Thessele. This group wanted to ruin everything, they wanted to close the game down and destroy every player they came across.
"I already had doubts and wondered if I had made a mistake in following Simon, as I thought no player would be so stupid as to destroy such a wonderful game. Yeah, we’re stuck here sure, but I have a nice relationship with an NPC, called Joleen. Why would I want to change that? Simon though, he has a different NPC each night, sometimes I never see them around after, they disappear and Simon never talks about them.
"The last two women he was with, their families came seeking them and Simon lied saying he’d never seen them. But I share the same villa and he was with them both, he tells loads of lies. I wonder if he killed them, they disappear you know when they, when someone kills them. I couldn’t do that to one I slept with, not someone like Joleen."
Furtui stopped talking as he broke down and cried. "I don’t want to leave the game, it’s way better in here than outside in the real world. Look I’ll prove it to you, our respawn point is our villa. There is a hidden cellar accessed by a trap door in the kitchen.
"There are two beds hidden down there and that is where we come back to if we die. Simon died two weeks ago, someone caught him cheating in some gambling game, well that’s what he said. I have nothing I want in the real world, my name is Jasper Strider, who the flip calls their child Jasper," Furtui cried again.
{Found his POD location. I located him in room 147A, Bosworth House, Spa Road, Weymouth. He has no links to anyone, he is as he says, a sad lonely player. Simon though, received a large cash payment from an offshore bank in Sark. The payment was eighteen million credits, one hour ago. He works for Jason, or one of Jason’s company fronts,} Enoch said.
Cain left Furtui crying in the room with the three Amazons guarding him. He sent a company of Amazons to the villa Furtui told him about, to bring both beds from the hidden cellar. As Cain approached the door to Simon’s room, Daphne walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his body and pulled him into a hug. She then kissed him, leaving him breathless.
"You don’t have to do this alone you know, we are here to help," Daphne said. Cain told her he knew, but he didn’t want them to get their hands nor minds messed up with interrogating.
"As if! I’m used to interrogating people, remember, finding the truth no matter how dirty; former investigative reporter here buddy," Daphne said before she gave Cain another kiss.
Together, they went into the room where they held Simon. His Amazon guards standing in the room corners, the naked and bound Simon unconscious on the floor.
With Daphne's help, Cain sat Simon on a chair as Daphne used her Geomancer skill and moulded stone around Simon’s feet. Cain cut the rope around his feet then woke Simon, he slapped him around the face, twice.
"We don’t need your," Simon said then realised he was not in Thessele’s square waiting to see the assassins kill Joseph. "Oh, you didn’t die then? Shame, I was expecting those six assassins Sir Hardy was sending, would have been enough to kill you. Never mind. You’ll kill me and once I’ve respawned I arrange to have Sir Hardy send more assassins to kill you."
"You’re wrong, we won’t kill you, but we will fin
d you a room, nice and secure to keep you in. A room where you will be kept alive, unable to leave, unable to die. We need nothing from you, because you know nothing. You’re a puppet, or should I say Muppet," Daphne said. Then turning to Cain, she said. "We need nothing from him, he’s so low in the organisation he knows no useful information. We don’t even need his name."
"What do you know bitch, I know they will kill you and once they find you in the real world, they will kill you in your POD. I’ve been playing games for over a decade, I’m a chess champion and master gamer. You’ve probably never heard of me Deacon Blair, I’m a winner and you bitch are a loser," Simon stopped speaking as Cain kicked him in the head, forgetting the strength of his legs as Simon’s head exploded in a mist of bone, brain and blood.
"Oops, forgot my own strength for a moment. He shouldn’t have called you a bitch," Cain said. He then apologised to the Amazons who were standing guard behind Simon, for covering them in the pieces of blood, bone and brain when Simon’s head exploded.
^D^ Cain, we need to talk in Bounty. ^
After checking on the Amazons, Cain and Daphne walked the short distance from Simon’s former room to Bounty. While they walked Cain messaged the company he’d sent to bring Furtui and Simon's respawn beds. He asked them to gently but firmly bring the woman called Joleen. If the woman is not there leave a squad for when she returns. Ask her nicely and bring her to the villa.
Once inside Bounty with everyone barring Toni and Sophie, they sat around the table. They discussed what happened and how to defend against such incidences in the future.
{Cain, talk to Toni, urgent,} Enoch said.
^C^ Toni, what is wrong? ^
^T^ Eleven Triremes began attacking us, they approached our location ten minutes ago. We tried rowing away, but they have stationed five more boats to our north. Both groups have joined together and all sixteen are slowly closing the gap between us. ^
Forsaken 337 BC Page 49