SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1

by Joseph Heck

  “What?” Mashkkha asked, turning toward him with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Nothing,” he said, but his mind continued to search for where he’d heard the name before. He remained distracted as he climbed the ladder to the loft and retrieved two blankets from one of the straw mats he found up there. As he began making his way down the ladder, Zak absently glanced out the nearby window, which looked out onto the rear of the cabin. His blood froze.

  “Oh, crap!” He scrambled down the ladder and, throwing the blankets in Mashkkha’s general direction, ran straight out the door.

  He kept running all the way around to the rear of the cabin. Mashkkha followed close behind, Harry forgotten for the moment, his gruff voice calling out, “What... What is it?”

  They came to a stop among several bodies lying scattered around the yard. Four were Human, an older man and a woman, and apparently their two teenaged boys. All four had been brutally hacked and sliced with sharp blades. All had died with swords in their hands. There were two hunting bows on the ground as well; one lying partially hidden beneath the old man, the other next to the eldest teen. Their quivers held only a few arrows, the others evidently spent in defense of their homestead.

  The remaining bodies had obviously been among those who had attacked the family. They looked evil even in death. Their lifeless eyes still an angry red as they stared blankly toward the blue sky. Short stubby horns grew from their heads and their bodies were covered with scaly hides. Their long snouts looked more wolf-like than anything, but they wore leather clothing and appeared to have walked upright.

  “What in the demon’s hell are these creatures?” Mashkkha said, gazing down at one of the limp and twisted bodies.

  “Kaboles.” Zak muttered.

  “Kaboles?”

  “They are fictional characters,” Zak said, looking around at the carnage thoughtfully. “They don’t exist.”

  “Well, then what are they doing here?”

  Zak didn’t answer immediately. He bent down and picked up one of the swords, balancing it carefully in his hand. “This is a virtual game!”

  “What?” Mashkkha looked over at him in confusion. “You’re telling me that we have become part of some computer game? Does that mean that the portal and the thing in it is part of the game as well?”

  “I don’t know.” A sense of urgency pulled at Zak as he thought of Megan alone in the woods. “Real or not, these weapons are deadly if the rules of engagement aren’t functioning!”

  The color drained from Mashkkha’s face, replaced by the same panic Zak had felt. “You mean...”

  “Exactly,” Zak said. He carefully scanned the tree line surrounding the yard, looking for any signs of movement. “Dead could very well mean dead!”

  “Oh...”

  Zak quickly collected weapons from the Humans. Each of the adults had wielded long swords, while the two teens had been armed with short swords. Upon examining them Zak found the blades to be of reasonable quality.

  “Take these,” he said, offering one of the long swords and one of the short swords to Mashkkha.

  “What am I supposed to do with these?” Mashkkha asked, gingerly accepting the weapons. “I’m not trained in sword play!”

  “Then use one of the bows,” Zak said. “They are the only weapons we have. Get back inside. Do what you can for Harry. But don’t let your guard down. Keep watch for any unwelcome company. Lock the door and shutters. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Zak was off toward the woods without waiting for a response. Balancing the blade of the long sword on his right shoulder and carrying the shorter sword similarly on his left, he ran across the yard and hopped the fence near where Megan had entered the forest. His heart was pounding; he was tense with anticipation, but forced himself to slow down and follow her trail more carefully. Again his concern for her safety ran deeper than the normal concern for a colleague. There were emotions involved that he was not used to dealing with. Fear was the predominant of those emotions: fear that she would come into trouble she would be unable to handle, fear that she would be seriously injured or worse, fear of losing her... As though he had some claim upon her to begin with. Other emotions orbited that fear. Physical attraction...desire...affection...

  He forced himself to stop there. He had no time for any of it. He did the best he could to force the unwanted emotions from his mind and concentrated on reading Megan’s trail. The pain in his shoulder also served as a distraction, which made following her even more difficult. She was Elf. Elves had a natural ability to walk through any landscape leaving next to no trace of their passing. This was even more the case when they travelled within a forest, their natural habitat. Megan hadn’t gone far before turning off the path she had been following. Zak nearly missed the fact that she had turned, which forced him to go slower and concentrate more closely on the task at hand.

  The forest trees gradually grew less dense, oak being replaced by Elvish fir, with flat dark green needles in clusters resembling suction cups. Although the forest became less populated with the fir, thick underbrush filled in much of the open areas. Zak couldn’t put a name to the species of plant, a dense shrubbery with leaves edged in a bright red that gradually changed to dark purple at the center. It grew twice as tall as a man and became so thick that Zak had to be extremely careful not to lose Megan’s trail.

  He had been following a narrow path through the maze of undergrowth for some time when again the forest became less dense, the persistent shrubs now reduced to scattered clusters among the giant boughs. As he continued on, his attention suddenly focused upon how quiet and still the forest had become. There were no longer any sounds of birds chirping high above or the bristling of small forest creatures within the underbrush. The quiet had become complete.

  He stopped dead still, cocked his head and listened.

  Nothing.

  He stood there for a long moment and continued to listen.

  And still he heard nothing.

  He was about ready to move on again when the sound of voices reached his ears...coming closer.

  There was no time to think. He instinctively slipped into the nearest cluster of undergrowth. As he slid in among the vines he was grabbed suddenly from behind, a hand covering his mouth as he was pulled to the ground. As he wrestled to get free, a hushed voice spoke near to his ear, warm breath tickling against his neck.

  “Sshhh! It is me,” Megan whispered.

  Zak stopped struggling immediately, relief that he finally found her washing over him. He followed her instruction and remained silent, his instincts warning him of impending danger as the voices he’d heard grew louder. Still, he felt distracted by the close proximity of the Elf woman, her body pressed against his own. He slowly and quietly turned to face her, listening to the voices all the while. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with something like humor as she looked back at him. He suddenly got the feeling that she could read his inner conflict, could detect his emotional turmoil concerning her. He was just as suddenly embarrassed by it. But then the time for such nonsense ended. He handed her the short sword and she took it without question. They both hunched down and waited, peeking through the dense leaves that hid them.

  As he looked out into the forest, a group of creatures blinked into view. From what Zak could see of them, they looked to be the same ugly mythical creatures he’d seen back at the cabin. They were fully immersed in an animated discussion, their language unrecognizable to Zak. He counted eight of the creatures and they were heading straight for them!

  The fictional monsters walked in a half-hazard line, their weapons slung over their shoulders in a casual indifference to any possible threat, mumbling and grunting and laughing in their own harsh language. To Zak’s ears it sounded as though all eight of them were gagging at the same time. Their entire language seemed to consist of just three guttural sounds, “auch” and “dok” and “arg”. He could not understand one word of what they were saying. Their faces seemed naturally twis
ted in snarls, their angry red eyes looking out at the world with hatred and contempt.

  As they drew nearer Zak feared they were going to trample straight through the dense brush where he and Megan hid. Holding his breath, he clenched the long sword firmly in his hand, ready to strike if the need should arise.

  But the Kaboles did not trample into their hiding place. Instead they turned wide, leisurely travelling deeper into the forest. Both Zak and Megan remained still, listening to the grating dialect gradually fade into the distance. The deep silence that followed seemed unusually heavy. After a few quiet moments Zak judged that it was safe. Letting his tension slip away with a sigh of relief he led the way out of their hiding spot.

  “That was a bit too close for comfort,” he said, looking down the trail in the direction the creatures had gone.

  “Zak, those creatures were Kaboles,” Megan said.

  “You know what they are?”

  “Do you think I have never played virtual games?”

  “I didn’t know Elves went in for such frivolous past times.”

  “There are obviously a good many things you do not know about Elves.”

  Megan once again pushed Zak’s annoyance button. He bit back the argument he wanted to start. This was not the reunion he’d imagined as he searched for her.

  If Megan was able to read his annoyance, she showed no indication of it. “If this is some sort of game... You had better come with me. I have something to show you.”

  She led him in the direction the Kaboles had come from. Not far from where they had hid, the trees broke onto an open road. A bright sun combined with the looming forest to create a patchwork of light and shade across the hard dirt of what appeared to be a well-used road judging by the deep wheel ruts.

  “Those tracks were not made by modern vehicles,” Megan stated the obvious. “See how narrow the individual grooves are? Those were made by a cart of some kind, drawn by horses. If this is a game of some sort, I would guess it is a sword and sorcery game.”

  “Well, that fits in with the farm we found. And the Kaboles.”

  “There is more,” Megan said. She led him further down the road until they reached a place where the road forked. Without saying a word, Megan simply pointed.

  An old and weathered sign hung from a cracked wooden post that sat crookedly in the ground where the two paths separated. The sign was in the shape of an arrow pointing down the left fork.

  Zak stared at the faded words of the sign and realization suddenly hit.

  Tahmore Ferry.

  The voice of the SHIAM guard, Jonas, suddenly echoed in his mind.

  ...and there’s a dock with a sign that says Tahmore Ferry...

  Jonas had spoken these words to him just two days ago. At the time Zak had impatiently disregarded the android’s questions concerning the virtual game. Now those questions suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

  “Oh crap, this...Tahmore Ferry. This is the link to Grimrok Corporation!”

  24

  “Warriors and Wizards...I think that was the name of the game.” Zak said, recounting his conversation with the SHIAM security guard on his first day at Grimrok. “The android was going on about how he was the only player that could access a game segment containing a boat landing called Tahmore Ferry. According to him, none of the other on-line players he was in contact with had any reference to it.”

  “So the thieves used sorcery and a virtual game?” Megan questioned, a puzzled look shaping her face.

  “Of course, this may not have anything to do with the theft,” Zak said, pushing away the thought of how cute Megan’s expression was as she looked over at him. “I mean, it’s common for kids to break into these old deserted buildings and hack into Comm Net. Some junior nerd could be responsible for hacking the game module.”

  “And these kids just happened to break into the same warehouse where the thieves opened a portal to some unknown place and murdered five Elves? I don’t think so!”

  “Yeah well, maybe not.” Zak had to admit that it sounded pretty far-fetched. The problem was that the theory that the thieves somehow used magic, some sort of worm hole and a virtual game in order to steel a SHIAM unit from a high security building sounded even more ludicrous. “We seem to keep running up more questions than answers.”

  “The answers are sure to come eventually,” Megan said. “We just have to keep looking.”

  Zak didn’t feel quite so confident about that at this point. He took one last look around and said, “We better get back to Mashkkha and Harry.”

  They backtracked toward the cottage following the same path Zak had followed to find Megan, winding their way through the giant old trees and thick undergrowth. The forest life now seemed to have returned to normal, colorful birds calling out to one another, black squirrels chattering as they jumped from tree branch to tree branch, as small ground animals crept through the underbrush. The sounds and smells made it a rather pleasant walk, now that Zak was relaxed enough to take notice of it, although it was only a virtual forest. Or perhaps the pleasure he got from it was because he was now certain it was a virtual forest and not some bizarre blend of virtuality and reality. But it had also become another piece of the puzzle he was working on, as well. A puzzle that Zak was far from solving.

  They had been travelling for some time when Megan suddenly bent down to examine the forest floor, interrupting Zak’s thoughts. She searched the ground carefully, gently working her fingertips over the leaves that covered the area.

  Zak cursed as he looked over her shoulder. He could read the signs as well as Megan. A group of Kaboles had come upon the path and were now some distance ahead of them, making their way toward the cottage where Mashkkha and Harry Mathers waited for them.

  “Let’s get going,” he said.

  Megan looked up at him and nodded without saying a word and then they were off, sprinting down the trail as fast as they could travel.

  Zak admonished himself as they went. He had allowed himself to become distracted, too wrapped up in the mystery of all that was going on to have noticed the telltale signs that the mythical creatures had joined the path. The forest had regained the same eerie silence as before. He was unable to tell if these were the same Kaboles they’d seen earlier, but the tracks clearly indicated that if it was the same group, they had met more of their kind before coming to the trail. And that was extremely troublesome considering that Zak had no idea if the rules of engagement were in place.

  Even at the increased speed Megan moved in complete silence through the woods. Zak kept pace with her and managed to be nearly as quiet, but at the speed they were travelling his Elvish abilities downgraded somewhat. Even though his skill at stealth was still considerably higher than that of a full-blooded Human, Megan turned a disapproving glare upon him at each small sound he made. And each time he glared right back at her, not appreciating what he interpreted as an attitude of Elvish superiority.

  They caught up with the Kaboles just as they were closing on the cabin. It was difficult to tell just how many of the fictional beings there actually were as Zak caught only brief glimpses of them through the trees ahead. The best he could calculate was that there now appeared to be at least a couple dozen. If the Rules of Engagement were turned off as Zak suspected they were, then his team was in a great deal of danger!

  They followed more cautiously now. Zak could think of no safe plan to handle these made-up monsters. He wondered what the game skill levels of these Kaboles might be. He hoped they were on a lower level of play, but he had no way of telling. He tried to remember the last time he’d played a sword and sorcery game, but it had been a good long time ago.

  A sudden scream pierced the quiet of the forest. The inhuman sound, a cry of surprise mixed with pain, came from up ahead of them. It had been cut short, in mid-scream, and Zak was pretty sure it had been a death cry. He was also pretty certain that it had come from one of the Kaboles. It had taken him only a split second to determine these things. In t
he next second much shouting and yelling filled the air. He could see the Kaboles scrambling for cover in the distance. He and Megan did the same, plunging into the dense brush that lined the trail. As they took cover, Zak heard another of the Kaboles shout out in pain. This creature didn’t go silent like the first, but continued to call out, begging for help from what Zak could tell. His comrades, now safely tucked behind trees, didn’t seem too keen on the idea of exposing themselves just now in order to give their companion any aid.

  “Is that Captain Mashkkha with the bow?” Megan asked in whispered amazement.

  “Apparently,” Zak replied. They were too far away, with too many trees between them and the cottage, for him to be able to make out any details. “I didn’t think he had the talent. Two quick shots like that - both hits. Must be a good thirty meters from the cottage to the tree line.”

  The wounded Kabole continued to call out to his comrades, his pleas for help sounding pathetic even in his harsh language.

  As Zak scanned the scene ahead, he could feel his Adrenalin pumping. The situation was not good. Game or no game, they were heavily outnumbered and couldn’t reach the cottage without having to circle around and approaching from the rear. There was no way they could make their way through the dense forest and reach Mashkkha and Harry in time.

  “It’s not going to take them long to figure out there is only one shooter in the cottage,” he said. “Once they do, they will rush the cabin. You have any magic tricks up your sleeve?”

  “It will be difficult with all these trees,” Megan said. “We must get closer. And even then, I am not sure how much I can do with so many of them.”

  Zak nodded his understanding and they began to slowly work their way closer. Fortunately, the Kaboles all seemed to be fully focused on the cottage, so they were able to get quite close without being noticed. Zak could now see several of the squat, ugly creatures hiding on either side of the trail. He could also see the two Kaboles that Mashkkha had shot, lying just beyond the tree line. The first was dead, an arrow sticking out of his chest. The second was writhing in pain as he continued to call out to his companions, an arrow protruding from the center of his abdomen.