Dragon Kings of the New World

by Dante Doom

  “Sounds good to me,” Kenwar said. “My crossbows are getting antsy for a real fight.”

  “Van, a word?” Sang asked as she motioned for him to come closer.

  “Yes, of course,” Van said as he walked up to her. “What’s up?”

  “Not too much,” Sang said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. It was an odd gesture and he didn’t quite understand what she meant by it. “I just wanted to tell you that, uh, you’re doing well at this whole thing, and I’m appreciative of how hard you’re working. I understand that it’s difficult to be a leader and that the various pressures and assorted challenges are weighing heavily on you, but don’t worry. You’ll do exceptionally well, and I commend you for it.”

  Van wasn’t quite sure what she’d just said. He cocked his head. “Sang, I’m sorry, you just kind of rambled at me. What are you talking about? Is everything okay?”

  Sang tried to suppress her frown, but Van knew her well enough at this point to know he had annoyed her. “I’m trying to encourage you, Van,” she snapped. “I literally just told you you’re doing a good job.”

  “You said a ton of words in a rapid onset of sentences,” Van replied. “That’s not a great way to say ‘good job’ at all.”

  “Fine, then you tell me how to say it,” she said, folding her arms.

  “Fine. It’s easy. Try this: ‘Van, you are… a rugged and handsome man—’”

  “Alright, I’m walking this way. Take your damn encouragement for what it is,” Sang said as she briskly walked away. Van chuckled to himself as he followed after her. He wasn’t quite sure why she was being so kind to him, but he didn’t mind it. Things had been getting more tense over the last few days, and the chance to goof off and get on her nerves had been welcome.

  They made their way to Tower Banesfield. The tower itself was nothing special; it was just a large stone tower with a pointed top that made it look somewhat like a wizard tower from a fable about Merlin. At the base of the tower were several thousand players and several hundred thousand NPCs.

  “That is an army!” Sang said, pointing at the group. “How are there that many people in this game?”

  “It’s a popular game,” Kenwar said.

  Van abruptly turned to look at him. Kenwar was normally silent during the course of the game. The only time he ever talked was when helping make tactical decisions or when he’d tried to convince Van to join Draco’s side. Never had the man spoken so casually before.

  “Come on, I see the team,” Van said. He pointed to a large collection of his friends who were hanging out at the edge of the camp. They were all waving to Van. The entire party was there.

  “There you are!” Sahara said as she rushed up to hug Van. “Oh, my goodness, I am so sorry! My computer overheated at the worst possible time. Bidane said you all almost died because of my incompetency—I’m really sorry!”

  “Oh, hey, it’s not like it was something that you could control,” Van replied as he pried the girl off of him. She was far too handsy for his liking. He wondered if she had a crush on him. The way that she was always just a few feet away from him and constantly talking up to him made him curious. It wasn’t like he didn’t like the idea of having a girlfriend, but... what with all of the talk about the end of the world and facing his own potential death, he didn’t really have the time to think about it.

  “Good news,” Bidane said. “We’ve just gotten word that the entire freaking Kyrissian army is on its way. We’re looking at a force of about 30,000 players.”

  “Crap, that is a lot!” Van gasped. “Just players?”

  “Well, their NPCs are going to be triple that number, so yeah… it’s gonna suck,” Kylian said as he walked up to them.

  “What’s the good word from our commander?” Sang asked. She grimaced for a moment and adjusted her backpack’s strap.

  “Well, he hasn’t logged in yet,” Kylian replied. “So, we’re hoping that—” His words were interrupted by the sound of leather ripping open.

  Jet came tumbling out of Sang’s now torn bag and fell to the ground. The dragon rolled around and hopped up. He had grown significantly larger than Van remembered, and now broken out of Sang’s bag. Beforehand, Sang and Van had made an agreement to keep the dragon hidden, as a way to detract from potential thieves and protect them from curious players who wanted to know how they’d obtained a dragon at such a low level. Now it seemed that Jet was getting far too big to keep hidden.

  “Ah, crap,” Sang said as she scrambled to pick up the items that had spilled all over the ground. “That’s what I get for feeding you beef jerky every few hours.”

  The group laughed at that. Everyone was laughing, in fact, with the exception of Kenwar. Van noticed that the man’s eyes had narrowed upon seeing the dragon. He shifted uncomfortably as he watched the manhunter’s eyes intently gaze at the beast.

  Jet slowly turned its head and looked right at Van. “Bad!” it hissed.

  “Yeah, I know, it’s bad that you’re out of your bag,” Van said. “But we’re going to have to let you wander alongside us now.” He groaned as he tried to think of some kind of plausible lie to tell every curious player they would encounter.

  “Oh man, we’re going to be flying on him soon enough!” Dolly said as she giggled and bent over to pet the dragon. It snapped at her with its jaws.

  “Behave, Jet,” Sang said.

  “What a marvelous creature,” Kenwar said. “I must know how you guys acquired it.”

  “Why don’t you shut the hell up!” Sang barked. The yell startled Kenwar, who raised his hands up immediately.

  “Sorry, I was just curious.”

  Van glanced at Sang, who knowingly nodded at him. Sang stormed up to Kenwar and whispered a few words into his ear. Van could see the man’s face grow pale. He nodded vigorously a few times and backed away from the dragon.

  “Alright, let’s get moving,” Capello said as he rushed up to the group. “Our glorious leader just logged in. He’s going to be making a speech.” He pointed to the tower, where they could see Captain Edwardson standing atop one of the balconies.

  Everyone rushed to get to a good spot where they could hear their leader. As Van scrambled with the others, a private message popped up for him:

  Van, please come to my location at once. – Captain Edwardson.

  This was an odd missive. What did the captain want with him? With a shrug, Van made his way through the throngs of players and up to the tower.

  “Please enter!” the guard said, opening the door for Van immediately. Van moved up dozens of stairs, unable to hear any of the speech from the captain. He grumbled a little as he walked. He’d wanted to hear the famous man speak.

  He finally reached the balcony where he expected Edwardson would be standing. He opened the door just in time to hear the end of the man’s speech.

  “And what is a good battle without a speech? There are over fifteen thousand players here today, but literally only one of you chose to be a bard! This goes to show how under-represented that class is.” He paused and allowed for laughter to sweep through the crowd. “But fortunately for us, I have made the acquaintance of a bard who has the skills necessary to buff us all up before this fight! His name is Semimodo!”

  The crowd clapped as Edwardson gestured for Van to stroll up. “Oh uh, I’m doing what?”

  “Just do your Rallying Speech,” Edwardson muttered. “And if you’re funny, make a joke or two. Just keep it light.”

  Van looked at the sea of people and NPCs. He couldn’t believe that he was standing in front of so many of them. And they were all expecting him to say something clever. Normally, he was somewhat of a funny guy, but standing in front of so many people, he had no idea what to say. He took a deep breath, activated his Rallying Speech ability, and just started talking.

  “Greetings, seasoned warriors of Melvania! Today is a great day!” he said. “For today is the day that we fight the Kyrissians for the first time ever!” This elicited a great deal o
f laughter from the crowd. “Now, I know what you’re thinking: you’re wondering if we have what it takes to fight our foe; you’re maybe worried that our inexperience at fighting these jerks will somehow slow us down. But to this, I say, yes, our inexperience is a huge problem!” This elicited more laughter. “But let’s really be honest here... how many times have we kicked their asses?” Van asked. “How many times have we been forced to beat them so hard that they had to change their flag to black and blue?” Everyone cheered at that.

  “We’re not here to let them take this tower! We’re not here to let them take anything except for our excess arrows!” The crowd cheered again. Van could see the words Inspired hovering above the heads of every single player at once. This was crazy, to see how powerful this effect was! The inspiration would increase their stamina regeneration, give them +5 to every skill use for an hour, and give them additional hitpoints known as Vigor.

  “Nice work, Semimodo,” Edwardson said as he grabbed Van and pulled him away from the crowd.

  “Are you kidding me? I was just getting started!” Van said as he tried to scramble back to the limelight.

  “It’s always better to end a speech early rather than to let it go on for too long,” Edwardson said. “Besides, the speech I already gave was a good one. Now then, we’re going to have several thousand warriors pouring at us any minute. I suggest you grab your team and get ready to earn your keep.”

  “What’s the assignment?”

  “It shouldn’t be too difficult. As you can see, the tactical value of this tower is the fact that it is sitting in an empty field with no higher ground. This means they’ll be forced to come from all directions or, better yet, they’ll be forced to pick just a few flanks to charge down. If they spread too thin, we’ll easily be able to route them.”

  “Got it,” Van said.

  “So, what I need a strike force to do is to cause some trouble in the rear flanks of the opposing forces that are waiting to serve as relief. No army is going to send all of their forces at once. My question is: what are those rear flanks looking like? Our scouts have unfortunately been killed, and so we can only estimate the size of the initial force.”

  “So, do you want us to go out and scout the position of the rear flanks? Count their numbers?” Van asked.

  “Not at all. I want your team to go and disrupt them. I’m not a micromanager, so just do whatever it takes. Stop the rear flanks from moving in when they are supposed to.”

  Van saluted the captain and turned to leave.

  “Oh, and Van? That joke about this being our first fight was hilarious.”

  Van silently did a fist pump as he moved out to inform his team of what the big plan was.

  “Man, if this works, I’m going to have to reconsider all of my life choices,” Kylian said from beneath his tarp.

  “Shush it!” Van whispered as he steered the cart toward the large horde of soldiers. The mission he had come up with, unfortunately, wasn’t the best one he’d ever thought up, but considering the circumstances, it wasn’t the worst idea either. He had dispatched Dolly and Sang to get some information about the rear flanks, only to discover that, indeed, the flanks were composed of nearly 7,000 players. If they struck at the right time, it would be a disaster for the defenders of Tower Banesfield.

  Their side would have no ability to fight off such a large force, and Edwardson had been dismissive of any request for additional forces, so that meant Van would have to use all of his wits to disrupt the forces. And his team hadn’t been terribly happy with the decision to pile into the back of a wagon, as they were handcuffed.

  “You know the drill, right?” Van asked Kenwar, who was sitting next to him.

  Kenwar sighed heavily. “Yes, I know the drill.”

  “Don’t screw this up,” Van hissed.

  “I’m sure it’ll work,” Kenwar replied. “Now, you better get in the back before they see you talking to me.”

  Van climbed into the back and hid underneath the tarp with the others. He grabbed the extra shackles and cuffed them around his arms loosely. Kenwar’s Discrete ability prevented players from figuring out what his name was or what his allegiances were, meaning that he could pose as a member of the Kyrissian army. Everything hinged on this one detail working.

  “Alright, you all know the drill,” Van whispered. “We all have the same story.”

  “We’ve been going over this for almost an hour,” Sahara fussed. “I can repeat it in my sleep.”

  “Van, I really do trust you here,” Sang said. Her tone indicated, however, that she was skeptical as hell about his brilliant plan.

  “You know, people only say ‘I trust you’ when they aren’t sure,” Van replied.

  “Can it!” Kenwar hissed. Everyone lay perfectly still and began to moan as if they were in agony.

  “Halt! You are approaching the King of Kyriss’s forces!” called a stern voice. “What do you want?”

  “Greetings, friend, I am but a simple journeyman who has acquired some goods that I thought you might be interested in,” Kenwar said. Van could hear him shuffle to stand up and pull the tarp off.

  The entire party writhed and moaned some more.

  “Prisoners of war!” Kenwar said. “I captured them! They’re beat up pretty bad, but this one over here,” he pointed to Van, “was by the side of Captain Edwardson. I believe he even gave a speech.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” the man said as he looked at the group. “What good fortune is this? How much for them?”

  “In this wartime? I’m charging 20,000 gold pieces.”

  “Are you kidding me?” the guard replied. “You’re a lunatic.”

  “I might be nuts,” Kenwar said, “but even a crazy person knows how much the right information can be worth during a battle.”

  “Lemme get the boss,” the guard said as he hustled off to find his superior.

  “Great work, team,” Van whispered. “I think he bought it.” The make-up from his disguise kit was a good touch. His Disguise skill was so good that it had even fooled a player’s UI, convincing them that each player was only at 10 hit points or less. Jet had been safely stored away in a barrel back at the base. They had thrown a few live chickens in the barrel to keep the dragon sated while they were gone, and since the dragon didn’t seem to do much other than sleep, it had barely seemed to care when Sang had promised to return.

  A few minutes later, a retinue of soldiers and players rode up on horses. In the center was a very tall woman, wearing the traditional blue and gold colors of the Kyrissian army.

  “I hear that you are a seller of prisoners,” she said as her horse stopped by the cart. Several dozen other horses were surrounding them at this point, making it clear that, if Kenwar was up to anything clever, he’d be easily overpowered.

  “That I am. These are worth a lot of coin to the right people. Information and hostage trades—you can’t beat what I’m offering!” Kenwar said.

  The woman looked Van right in the eyes. Her name was Clara of Clane. “I see… well, we’ll pay you five thousand for him, and you can just kill the rest.”

  “I don’t kill my slaves,” Kenwar said. “If you don’t want them, I’ll just ransom them back to the Melvanians.”

  “What kind of players like to pretend like they are slaves instead of just logging out?” Clara asked.

  “The kind that don’t like to lose their wartime bonus,” Kenwar replied. “Don’t forget that, if you log out during a war, you lose your entire bonus.”

  Clara frowned. “You know, I haven’t lost a battle in such a long time, I barely even remember that’s a rule. Very well... we’ll pay you seven thousand for all of them.”

  “Ten thousand gold,” Kenwar said.

  “Eight.”

  “Done,” Kenwar said, taking off his hat and bowing to the woman. “It was a pleasure, my lady.”

  “Pay him,” Clara said as she reached down and grabbed Van by the arm. “And you are coming with me.”


  “Ma’am,” said a man on horseback. He was coming from the direction where the massive battle was underway. “We’re at second signal!”

  Clara nodded. “Perfect. Everything is going well then?”

  “Exactly as planned for; no surprises,” the outsider replied.

  “Great. Everyone else, let’s get moving. I don’t like being so exposed out here.”

  “Ma’am, we’re in a valley,” said one of her aids.

  “So? Only fools think they are safe in wide open spaces,” Clara replied.

  The prisoners were loaded onto the backs of the horses and quickly transported to the camp where the rest of the reinforcements were waiting.

  “Alright, here is the deal,” Clara said. “I’m in somewhat of an auspicious mood right now, so I’m going to give everyone a chance here to help me out. No doubt your wartime bonuses are very high and, goodness me, aren’t the penalties for death just so steep these days?”

  Several guards had pulled each of Van’s team members off of the horses and forced them all onto their knees in front of her as she’d spoken.

  Clara grabbed Van and pulled him over to her. “They told me that a bard had given some kind of speech that bolstered them all. It is rare to find a bard these days. Too many nerfs, if you ask me.”

  “Well, you know how it goes,” Van said. “We’re not the easiest class to play.”

  “No, no, you aren’t,” Clara replied as she forced him onto his knees again. “Now, I have some basic questions for you. Answer me right, and you all get to walk out of here after the battle. Answer me wrong, and… well.” She paused to count all of Van’s party members. “Let’s just say that you have six chances to answer me. After that, I’ll kill you.”

  “Right, right,” Van said. “Look, we’re just players who wanted to fight in the war; we’re mercenaries, and we don’t know anything.”

  “Mhmm,” Clara said as she looked Van directly in the eyes. She squinted a little. “You know, even though we are in a video game, I know that the eyes can tell me everything that I need to know. You’re definitely lying. What do you know?”