by KJ Harlow
-2 Damage!
He turned back and lay on his back, the stars in his eyes picking partners and from the stars in the sky and tumbling wildly with them.
Kai’s face appeared, looking down at him with a sly smile on his face. “Face it, orc.” He offered a furred hand. “You need me.”
Cal stared at his hand then reluctantly took it. He launched his feet at a startled Kai, who dodged sideways. Cal pulled his legs across the werejaguar’s chest and pushed him down, grabbing onto his arm with both his hands. He manoeuvred his legs around Kai’s arm, completing the arm bar.
“Gotcha, fool!” He leaned back, pulling on Kai’s arm. He roared and thrashed like he was in his death throes. “Tap out, bitch!”
“What’s ‘tap out’?”
“Do you give up?”
“Never!”
Cal grunted, pulling his arm even more. It was lucky there wasn’t anyone in the square, Bracewell’s people had seen enough violence for a lifetime. Kai thudded his fist into the ground. “OK, ‘tap out’, ‘tap out’!” Cal let go of Kai’s arm and rolled back. He did a lap of honour around the platform as Kai grasped his arm.
“Hoo-ee! Always wanted to try that.”
Kai was holding his lance with his uninjured arm. He gave it a flick and it burst into flames. “You and me. Right here right now.”
Cal took a step back. “You know what, I just remembered that I was meant to meet up with Javal, so…” he turned on his heel and bolted.
Kai watched Cal dart – dart was the wrong word – lumber out of the town square. He extinguished the flames on his lance, stretched his arm out and chuckled.
“Javal.”
Cal walked into the manor. He half expected to see Natasha walk out of the kitchen, let some of her Charm out and laugh at him struggling to contain himself. He shook the thoughts out his mind. Her remains had been lit in a pyre outside the town, along with the hundreds of people who died in the arena that night.
“Javal–!”
“I’m in the kitchen.” The mayor’s voice came from deeper inside the manor. Cal motioned to Kai and together they walked into the kitchen. Javal had one of the maids’ aprons on. He was scrubbing one of the big pots, looking like he was about to grind a hole through it.
“Grand Uncle.”
Javal looked up. “Oh hello cub. Cal.” He stood up, threw the scrub into pot in disgust then stretched.
“Where are the maids?” Kai asked.
“I’ve given them time off,” Javal said, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. “You know, what with the loss of Natasha and all.” He glanced up at Cal. The orc was slowly walking around the kitchen, touching a tabletop here and a utensil there.
“They have to come back soon. You’re still not completely recovered.”
“From what? You mean that cretin’s spire?” Javal scoffed. “Please, Cal’s quick thinking made sure that I made a speed–”
“I want to know what happened.” Cal abruptly turned to the mayor of Bracewell. “When you disappeared, when you wrote the letter, when you came back, how Natasha… how Natasha got involved.”
“What letter?”
Javal shot his grand nephew a guilty look. “Why don’t we take a seat first?”
They sat around the barren dining table. “If you boys want something to eat or–”
“We’re fine,” Cal said, leaning his shoulder into his chin. He gazed intently at Javal who wanted to look anywhere but at the orc. He sighed and crossed his hands.
“That letter was entirely true.” Kai threw a bewildered look back and forth between his granduncle and Cal. Cal flipped open his satchel, fished the letter out then handed it to Kai. “I was tired of waiting for him to make the first move. I wanted to go and meet him one-on-one.”
Kai’s eyes grew wider and wider as he read the letter.
“I made it out of Bracewell. I hadn’t gone that far when I came across a camp flying the Dresham flag. Little did I know that that same evening, Fetter was planning on coming back to Bracewell.”
“His soldiers surrounded me. I wiped a dozen of them out, but Fetter stepped in. He had this grand plan all laid out. He was going to infiltrate the arena and kill everyone in it, with me being the last. Was ranting about meeting some sort of kill quota. Then he said that that plan changed.”
Javal seemed to be exhausted, hunched over the table. “His men have been watching the manor since the night you thwarted his attempt to assassinate me.” He swallowed. “One night, one of his soldiers engaged with one of the maids who was out running an errand.”
Cal’s whole body went cold.
“Natasha was apparently brought back to the camp and questioned. They held her against her will and did unspeakable things to her, but she wouldn’t buckle.”
Javal sighed, deep and long and looked up at the ceiling. “Fetter gave me a choice. Kill her right there, right then and they don’t march to Bracewell, or they give the responsibility of killing her to someone else.”
Cal stood up, the chair clattering on the ground. “Why didn’t you kill her immediately?”
“How could I have done that?” Javal said, eyes blazing up the orc.
“What happened to always putting your people before yourself?” Cal’s fists were clenched. He knew the arguments were pointless but now that he had started, he couldn’t stop. Kai was also on his feet, looking frantically between the two.
“She was one of my people!”
“You were too weak, Javal,” Cal seethed. “Your decision meant that hundreds more people died.”
“I didn’t trust that monster,” Javal seethed. “What if I took Natasha’s life and they still marched to Bracewell?”
“Oh, so then you just give the responsibility of deciding whether she lives or dies to me then.”
“They didn’t say that it would be you to decide that!”
“Enough.” Kai walked around and stood at the other side of the table between the two men. “This is exactly what Fetter would want to see right now.”
The younger werejaguar put his hands on the table and stared at his grand uncle. “You were put into an unthinkable position by a tyrant. Yes, people have died but right now they don’t need their leader to be hiding in his manor cleaning pots and pans. You need to be on the streets rebuilding the faith and confidence your people have in you and the city you built. That’s what I would do if I was chief, anyway.”
Kai then turned to Cal.
“You did what Grand Uncle couldn’t. You took away Natasha’s life but the bigger picture is that you saved thousands of people.” He looked back at Javal. “You don’t get to condemn him for letting so many people die, either. Natasha meant something to him. Have you never had someone you cared about so much that you would let thousands die just for them to live?”
“Why do you think I’m childless, cub? I couldn’t afford to let my personal feelings get in the way of the wellbeing of my people. Plus I didn’t need small versions of myself telling me how I should run my own life.”
Kai shied away momentarily. “I–”
Cal righted his chair and sat back down at the table. “Kai is right. Natasha did mean something to me but I’m glad I was able to save the majority of the people in the arena that night. I am sorry.”
Javal sat up, regarding the orc with the same exhausted expression from that night. “You might be young Cal, but there is a strength inside you that I could never possess. I’m sorry for your loss and thank you for protecting my people.”
Kai froze, eyes sliding back and forth between the two. He sat down slowly, cautious as to not disturb the fragile truce.
“Did you really think that you could talk some sense into Fetter?” Cal asked.
“I didn’t know,” Javal shrugged. “All I knew was that I hated being protected and the feeling of waiting to be attacked.” A silence descended upon the three people at sitting at the table. “I take it you’ll be still heading to Thaylia then.”
Cal nodd
ed. “But it’s not because I want to leave Terrafaytum. Not anymore.”
“I know,” the mayor said, nodding slowly. Seeing the confusion in Cal’s eyes, he continued. “After you sparred with Marc and Anton, you told me that the previous night you met up with someone in the cave behind the falls next to the arena. She gave you the means of escaping Terrafaytum. All you told me was that you didn’t take up her offer.”
“Yeah, I didn’t,” Cal said.
“You didn’t tell me why.”
Cal looked at Kai, who had been watching the two of them intently. “I’ve got so much growing left to do. In my old life on Earth, I didn’t have those opportunities to grow. There is so much to fight for here. I want to see how far I can go.” He flipped open his satchel and pulled out the parchment Natasha had been holding on to. “Fetter is a delusional lunatic who shouldn’t be sitting atop the throne. He and his hooded companion are clearly targeting me, so I’m going to Thaylia to see what they want and give them a piece of my mind.”
“Bold words, Cal.”
Cal clasped the folded up parchment in his fist. “Bold, but the right thing to do.”
“And Kai,” Javal turned to his grand nephew, “what’s planned for you?”
“I will continue with Cal to Thaylia. Fetter has something to do with the eryn attacking Rawdriad. I too shall ‘give them a piece of my mind.’” Cal raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Very well. There are a couple things I want to give you…” Javal got up and walked towards his chambers. Moments later he returned, a bowling ball-sized hide bag in one hand. “Winnings from the tournament in a brand new shard wallet. And I don’t want to hear anything about not deserving it. Karst knows after what’s happened you deserve it. I’m sure the extra shards will come in handy too on the way to Thaylia.”
Cal stared at the large bag as Javal dropped it onto the table with a thud. He picked it up by the top with both hands where it was bunched together. It felt like it if it weighed a few bowling balls. As he moved it towards the satchel, it shrunk down to size so it could fit through.
You have obtained Large Wallet!
Hold up to 10,000 shards with this Wallet.
You have obtained 8,000 shards!
“What’s the other thing, Grand Uncle?”
“Information.” Kai looked slightly crestfallen. “I have sources in Thaylia that have informed me that Fairshade lives.”
Cal leaned in to Javal. “Fairshade? The previous king of Dresham?”
Javal nodded. “Yes. Apparently he is locked up in the catacombs beneath Thaylia. Karst knows why. He’s weak but apparently he lives.”
“Is he strong enough to defeat Fetter?” Cal asked.
“Not right now. But if you rescue him and get him back to full strength, you may be able to topple Fetter and help him reclaim the throne.”
“Perfect. Dresham might be at peace again yet.”
“Yes, after Fetter is defeated.”
Cal nodded. That was the hardest part, especially considering that as a player of ValorVale, he could never truly be killed.
25
Soldiers’ Whispers
20,156th Cycle
7-Hyten
Gale Cliffs
The name of their new location shimmered in the air above their heads before disappearing. The Gale Cliffs were a craggy, mountaneous area where calm breezes were somehow magnified to become gale force winds. It didn’t help that it was 7-Hyten either.
There were hundreds of cliffs clustered together, some mere feet apart allowing you to jump across from one to the next. Miss the jump though and you would plunge deep into the cracks. Even if Cal would respawn, his fear of small, tight spaces made him tread extra carefully.
“We can always go back,” Cal yelled at Kai.
“What?”
“I said,” he grabbed onto the werejaguar’s shoulder. “I said that we could always go back.”
“What, scared of a little wind?”
Cal shook his head. He realized that if they went back to Bracewell and waited until Hyten ended, that would be too much lost time. Plus, if what Javal said was true and Fairshade still lived, they needed to get to Thaylia as soon as possible. Javal hadn’t said who they should have been looking out for in Thaylia but that when they arrived, his contact would find them instead.
“Earth Wall,” Kai yelled.
“What?”
“Earth Wall, put your Earth Wall up now!”
“What, wh–”
Cal caught a fluffy, cube-like monster. It knocked him back a few steps and he skipped over the foot-wide crack. Its flesh felt squishy and warm but it only weighed as much a football. This one in particular had a scattering of red spots on one side. Hundreds tumbled through the air, a few with spots, some with stripes and some without any markings, carried by the lusty Hyten winds.
Cal turned it around in his hands, until he stared at a pair of large round eyes. It blinked the fur out of his eyes as it curiously looked at him. Kai flicked the butt of his lance at the fluffy monster and it flew out of Cal’s grasp. It spun through the air, looking back at Kai when its face came back around.
“What’s the big deal?” Cal yelled. He raised an Earth Wall a few feet right out of the top of the cliff. It held firm in the wind, not budging when the fluffy cubes bumped into it and tumbled past. “You don’t even know what they are.”
“Tumblefluffs. Seen around the Gale Cliffs and can only travel when the winds are strong. Attack in groups by building charge and delivering electric shocks.” Kai stopped yelling, leaning his hand into the Earth Wall. “Unlike you, I took the liberty of Examining them when they were still far ahead of us.”
Lightning slammed into a cliff 10 yards in front of them and Cal threw his hands over his head. Cal peered around the corner just in time to see stone crumble into a yawning abyss that was starting to form. Another cloud of Tumblefluffs, easily triple in quanity of the first cloud were coming straight at them.
“If they all start attacking, we’re going to fall straight down these cliffs.”
“There’s no where else to go,” Kai said.
“Wait.” He was staring at Kai’s lance. He peered ahead at the abyss, wind slamming into his face. To its right was a flat slab of porcelain white bedrock. “Stab your lance into that rock over there.”
“Why?”
“Trust me.” Also hope I can trust my knowledge of high school physics.
Kai stared at him a moment longer then left the safety of the Earth Wall. The Tumblefluffs were five seconds from their cute and fuzzy impact. Kai lifted his lance over his head with both hands and drove it into the stone. Cal waved him back. Kai threw himself behind the Earth Wall just as a sea of fluffy cubes flew over the top of them.
Rock burst all around them, thunder bolts shattering the already fragmented cliffs. Cal peeked back around the edge of the Earth Wall. Tumblefluffs rolled through the air, crashing into one another. Every time enough of them collided into each other, a fork of electrical current would shoot down from Tumblefluff itself, as if it were a little, square storm cloud. The electric bolts would arc through the air and bend towards Kai’s spear. Most of them were drawn to it, with the odd one or two hitting a random cliff.
After a few minutes, the cuboid monsters were all behind them, bouncing on the plains and trying to catch another updraft. Most of them swivelled around, some upside down and yet others on their side as the gales stopped.
Kai took his arms off his head. “That was close.” He looked back at his lance, sticking straight up out of the rock. “Is my lance OK?”
Cal stood up and collapsed his Earth Wall. In the past, he would have run out of mana. He was pleasantly surprised that it was getting easier and easier to use the craft. “Yeah, it should be fine. The lance acted as a ground, taking the electrical current away.”
Kai stepped up to his Blood Lance and eyed it suspiciously. “Does that mean I can touch it?”
“Yeah, go for it.”
Kai’s hand hovered over it. “You touch it.”
“Why? Scared of a little electricity?”
“No, but if you’re wrong and you die, at least you will respawn.”
Cal sighed and walked over to the lance. He closed his hands around it. “Yaaargh!”
“Argh!” Kai screamed. Cal’s yelp of pain devolved into laughter. Kai punched him in the guts, only making him laugh harder.
“OK, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Kai growled, flexing his fingers. He tugged his weapon out of the ground, scattering some stone shards onto the orc’s boots. Without another word, he continued manoeuvring across the cliffs. Cal wiped a tear out of his eye and caught up to the werejaguar.
“Lighten up.”
“Orc.” Cal looked at him. “Your succubus is dead.”
Cal stopped dead in his tracks while Kai kept walking forward.
Too soon.
He skipped over a gap five feet across with a casual leap. Cal liked the added stat boost by having Kai at Support Level B, but if it meant that he would strike low blows like that more often, he wasn’t sure he liked it so much.
He walked forward, creating a shelf of rock that protruded out from one cliff and extended to to the next for him to cross the long gap.
“Look there.” Kai started jogging forward, negotiating the last few cracks and cliffs. He paused and peered over a ledge then jumped, disappearing out of sight. Cal took his time, making sure he didn’t overbalance and fall into a gaping crevasse.
The cliffs had abruptly ended. While there were still tall walls of rock as far as the eye could see, the path Kai had jumped down about 20 feet to wasn’t bottomless and appeared to be well worn.
“Hold on, wai–” Cal humphed, raising a tall, narrow Earth Wall to feet height from the bottom of the cliffs. “Why do I even bother?” The earthen lift carried him down to ground level and he stepped off. Cal ran forward, following the walking cat’s footprints. He turned a corner and a furred hand clapped over his mouth.