by Mia Archer
“Oh look,” Erin said. “A notification from ARealms! Looks like I’m not queen anymore, but I do have a nice new faction to call my own!”
“You wouldn’t! You can’t!” Sarah said.
“Except she can and she did,” I said. “Now I believe you owe her something?”
Sarah grumbled, but she at least had the good grace not to try and keep the emblem of the Mage Tower faction leader away from Erin. It would’ve been in bad form considering Erin had just offed her and absorbed her powers.
“Nice talking to you,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow on the field, if you can find anyone who’s still willing to back you after the disaster you led them into today.”
“I still have my friends! We’ll see what happens!”
And with that she turned and stormed out of the room. Meanwhile I felt exhilarated. I never thought this politics stuff could be so much fun, but it really was interesting. Sure part of that was because I was playing the role of a despotic black queen ruling with an iron fist over a kingdom in rebellion, but still.
“I’m surprised you went that dark that fast,” Erin said once Sarah was out of the room.
“Well I knew you needed a new job and it didn’t seem like she was the type who was going to give up. I figured we might as well start reforming some of the problem factions from the inside.”
“You. Are. So. Fucking. Evil. And I love it!”
“Well I think I love you too, and fuck it being too early to say that!”
Erin wrapped her arms around mine and stared deep into my eyes. I loved how her eyes were deep pools I could get lost in for hours, if not days. I always thought people who talked like that were ridiculous, but that was before I met this lovely creature. She looked worried for a moment, but then she shook her head and smiled.
“Fuck it. I couldn’t agree more!”
Erin looked over her shoulder. “I know this isn’t exactly my place to be giving orders, but would you mind terribly clearing out for a few George?”
“Whatever you say, mum,” he said with a grin and a salute that earned him an eye roll from Erin. As he closed the doors he stopped and grinned. “I’ll be sure to stand guard on the other side. Make sure no one disturbs you while you’re in conference with the queen.”
“Perfect,” Erin said as she shimmied around in my lap and somehow managed to wrap her legs around me despite how impossible that seemed given how cramped and uncomfortable this chair was. Not that it stayed uncomfortable for long with her so up close and personal like that. “Y’know for once I’m not all that annoyed about him calling me mum.”
The door to the throne room clicked shut behind Erin, and she leaned in for a kiss that quickly became so much more.
20: Back to Camp
What a wild Gathering. I still couldn’t get over all the crazy stuff that happened over the course of the five day event. The first couple of days didn’t hold anything to the craziness that came after. Sarah getting upset about me taking over her faction and trying to organize a takeover courtesy of everyone who was pissed off about the change. A full on war blowing up between all the factions where old grudges that had been festering for the past five years finally came out in the open in one hell of a major way.
Yeah, it had been one hell of a Gathering. Far more interesting than anything I would’ve anticipated when we first arrived, though I suppose I should’ve known I was in for something crazy when I was attacked by some crazy on the first day before even arriving at the playing field.
I suppose it helped that the crazy who attacked me turned out to be insanely hot on top of the crazy, but then again wasn’t that how it always seemed to work out?
I looked over to Anna and then to everyone around us who was taking down their tents and getting ready to head away from Alternate Reality and back to boring old reality. Almost everyone had a smile on their face. It had been five days of crazy fighting, but it had also been the single most eventful gathering since the game launched. The only people who didn’t have a good time were the ones who were eliminated early on, and even they couldn’t complain too much. So many people had been getting offed in the crazy fights going down in the playing field that there was a nonstop party out in the campground too as people streamed back to get drunk and talk about all the crazy heroic things they’d managed to pull off before their character was offed.
Crazy but fun.
“What are you thinking about?” Anna asked.
I turned and favored her with a smile. I seemed to be smiling a lot ever since I met her. She just had that effect on me. Had ever since the first time I saw her in that diner just a few days ago, though it felt like an eternity now.
“Just thinking about all the crazy fun we’ve had over the past couple of days. And how sad I am that it’s over,” I said.
Anna leaned forward and ran a hand along my cheek. It was a familiar gesture and I leaned into her hand. Thought of all the things she’d done to me with those hands over the past couple of days. The game wasn’t the only thing that got a little crazy over the past five days, if you catch my drift. And as I stared at her and felt the hustle and bustle of everyone around us striking the massive camp and heading back to reality I was realizing that the fun was over. I wasn’t going to have that easy access anymore, damn it.
“It’s not all that bad,” Anna said. “You’re only about an hour away, after all. We’ll be able to hook up plenty.”
“I certainly hope so!” I said. “Because if you lose my phone number when you get back home you can bet your sexy ass I’m going to hunt you down at the next Gathering and make sure you’re not queen for more than a year!”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t want to endanger my crown, after all,” Anna said with a grin and a quick kiss that sent a fire raging through me because I knew it was one of the last kisses I was going to get to enjoy for a good while. At least until we both got home, settled in, and figured out how we could work out our work schedules.
“What are you two lovebirds talking about?” Danielle asked. She came up to us arm in arm with Anna’s friend Colin. Their budding relationship had been another surprise, though not an unpleasant one. Besides, it’s not like I had any room to talk about moving a little fast in the relationship department considering how fast things had gone between me and Anna!
“You’re one to talk about lovebirds,” Anna said, sticking her tongue out at Colin.
“Hey, this is strictly sexual,” Colin said. “I can’t help it if she wants my body.”
Now it was Danielle’s turn to roll her eyes and smack Colin. I saw the way they looked at each other. Sure there might be some sex going on there, she never had told me how she managed to get the keyring away from him on that first fateful night even though I had a few ideas, but there also seemed to be something deeper going on there. Something like what I was enjoying with Anna even though we hadn’t known each other for that long and it was more than a little crazy.
“So Colin and I were talking…” Danielle said.
I arched an eyebrow. She had that tone of voice she always used to use when she was trying to get me to come to an Alternate Realms event that I really didn’t want to attend. Back when I was bored with the whole queen routine. Not that there was any worry of boredom keeping me away from one of these events ever again!
“Yeah? What were you and Colin talking about?” Anna asked.
“Well Trevor’s pouting and getting a ride back to the city with someone from the fighter faction who got taken out on day two as well, so we were thinking maybe we could switch partners until we got back to your city? Then I’d drive the rest of the way with Erin, of course.”
I looked at Anna and grinned. I knew it was silly to say this sort of thing, but I really didn’t want to leave her yet. I didn’t want to leave her at all, for that matter. I’d grown accustomed to having her around and already I was dealing with some serious withdrawal and she was standing right here in front of me!
“Sounds li
ke a fine idea to me. What d’you think Anna?”
She smiled and practically dragged me back towards her car. I guess that was all the answer I needed! We’d been on all sorts of crazy adventures together over the past couple of days, but I had a feeling that those would be nothing compared to the adventures we’d get up to as we headed off into the real world. Together.
I couldn’t wait!
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1: Mysterious Stranger
The heavy wooden door to the inn slammed open and everybody turned to look. The human who stepped through the door stopped for a moment, his hands on his belt, and surveyed the room as though he owned the place. He exuded power and authority. He had the calm confidence of someone who was in his element, someone who knew nobody in this room would dare cross him.
This close to the city I’d say he had all the cocky swagger of an enforcer, though he wasn’t wearing their uniform. Perhaps he was an officer. Perhaps he was off duty. Perhaps he was simply working in secret and doing a terrible job of keeping that secret.
Whatever it was, everybody immediately paid attention to their drink. Paid attention to what they’d been eating. The conversation that had filled the large room was gone.
I sighed. Humans and their petty squabbles.
The man looked around the room one more time and then did a double take when his eyes ran across me. I fought the urge to smile. It wasn’t very often that my kind traveled in the human realms. It definitely wasn’t very often that my kind graced a simple tavern this close to the city.
Apparently my uniqueness was enough to draw his attention. I was immediately on guard. My fingers crackled with the energy of several magical surprises I’d worked up just in case it turned out he wasn’t a member of the enforcers. In this city somebody with that cocky swagger could just as easily be a member of a local criminal syndicate. Crime families seemed to spring up and disappear on an almost nightly basis in this place.
No matter what the circumstances, whether he was enforcer or criminal, I’d found it was always a good policy to be on guard when traveling through the human realms. Better to fireball first and ask questions later.
He moved over to the bar slowly which gave me plenty of time to give him a cursory inspection. He had a tunic that was made of fine materials, though not so fine that it would mark him as a member of one of the local human noble houses. Those also seemed to spring up and disappear on an almost nightly basis around here. Part of the turmoil in the human lands. He had a sword at his side and from the way he moved with a dangerous coiled grace like a cat about to spring it seemed that he knew how to use it. He was ruggedly handsome, though not too pretty. Nothing like the men from my homeland. He had a scar running along one cheek and a nose that looked like it had been broken on more than one occasion.
Yes, definitely an enforcer or a criminal. The question was, which one? I would just have to wait and see.
He leaned against the bar and it creaked under his massive weight. He really was enormous. Not fat, just big. Broad shoulders, heavy chest, a stomach that was perhaps a little larger than most in this area which once again made me think he was working for somebody with the means to provide a regular meal. That was a rare luxury in these lands since the Sundering. He definitely didn’t have the lean look of someone who spent their time out in the world adventuring.
He grinned down at me. One of his teeth was missing. His eyes openly ran up and down my body and I fought the urge to reach out and smack him. Reaching out and smacking him was the last thing I should do no matter how tempting that might be. With the magic that was just itching to be released from my fingertips I was just as likely to engulf him in a column of flame or disintegrate him where he stood as actually physically smack him.
Occupational hazard of working with powerful magic.
Stranger finished his inspection and chuckled. The inspection made it clear he was the kind of man who had to categorize everything as to whether or not it was a threat. The chuckle and the way he smiled at me made it clear I’d been dismissed as no threat at all. There was a time when that would’ve made me bristle with anger. There was a time when I was out to prove myself and my ability when I might have been tempted to teach him a lesson.
But that time passed while his great grandparents were probably still children. Experience taught me that having somebody dismiss you out of hand like that could be an advantage rather than a liability. Especially with meatheads like this who thought a sword at their side was the only thing they needed to make their way through the world.
He returned his attention to my eyes for a moment, then moved down to my chest. That was another move that would’ve made me bristle once upon a time. How dare a human look at me like that! Only now it was just one more thing I welcomed as a potential advantage, a potential weapon in my arsenal, and I have to admit that feeling his eyes on me like that did send a thrill running through me. A thrill that I’d never admit even to myself because that was definitely not the sort of thing I was looking for in these taverns. That was definitely not the sort of thing I would ever do with a barbarian human like this for that matter!
“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before,” he said.
His voice was deep and gravelly. It promised danger. It promised quick death to anyone who crossed him. I had to fight the urge to giggle as he stood there trying to look imposing and threatening with no idea that I could disintegrate him with the flick of a finger if I wished it.
“I sometimes have reason to travel in human lands,” I said.
“Oh?” An elf is rare enough, but it’s even rarer that we see an elf maiden from the Elven Order traveling these lands.”
I bit back a curse. He wasn’t supposed to know that. Wasn’t supposed to know who I was, what I was, who I represented, and yet here he was saying it plain as day for everybody in the tavern to hear. Talk about bad manners! Poor form and bad manners!
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
There was still time to salvage this. Still time to hope he’d take the hint. This had been off to a promising start, and I didn’t want to be disappointed now. Of course it wouldn't be the first time I was disappointed by a guy who was probably doing all of his thinking with his dick. In-game or out.
“Of course you do, elf,” he said.
“Why would you think I was in the Order?”
He grinned. “I just have a way of knowing these things.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. Of course he
’d say something like that. Of course he wouldn’t have any good reason why he knew what he knew. He just expected me to take it at face value that he was some super genius fantasy Sherlock Holmes who could immediately tell everything about a person’s background from looking at them. Of course I knew he could tell everything from looking at my profile and the guild tag over my head, but he wasn’t supposed to bring that into our conversation. It was supposed to flow naturally. It was supposed to come out in the back and forth. Not for the first time I regretted ever using one of those role-playing profile plugins in the first place. They caused more trouble than that they helped in my experience.
“I think our conversation here is done,” I said.
That grin on his face grew even wider. It was definitely ruined by more missing teeth that became obvious as his mouth opened. Sometimes it felt as though humans had never heard of hygiene or its benefits.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about! So are we going out to the edge of the zone or what? Maybe a little fun?”
I pulled away from the keyboard let out a noise that was halfway between a frustrated angry cry and a strangled retching noise. I should have expected this. I leaned back in my chair and stared at the screen for a moment, tried to collect myself, tried to think about how I was going to respond to this asshole.
“Something wrong?” Megan asked.
I wheeled my computer chair around to face my roommate. She also had Tales of Elassa up, but her gaming experience looked way different from mine. She had a massive gaming rig set up on her desk that glowed with various LED lights. It seemed to positively hum as various fans turned on and off to make sure all the expensive widgets she’d put in the thing to make sure the game ran at maximum settings at all times worked.