Orc Glitch- The Mad King

by KJ Harlow

  If there was one word that could be used to describe the trek from the Lightblades hide out to the castle, it would be eerie. Word had travelled quickly, it seemed. There were soldiers and eryn; plenty of them.

  They lined the streets, watching Fairshade and his procession walk through. The soldiers – mostly male – were trying their hardest to look intimidating. They either had their weapons drawn, walked along side the party for a while before backing off or just glared at them. Their accompanying eryn were either indifferent or watched Fairshade with inscrutable, dark, bird-like eyes.

  There were two things that weren’t in doubt: one, they had been given a clear instruction not to get involved with Fairshade or the Lightblades and two, they were trying their hardest to incite them to strike out at them so they had an excuse to fight back. It was like walking on eggshells where the path was over a mile long.

  Like Fairshade, Cist kept his eyes directed ahead. He too issued a directive not to let the soldiers’ intimidatory tactics get under their skin. It had worked well so far. He turned back. “Good job, everyone, we’re not far now.” The Lightblades met his gaze and acknowledged it then went back to guard duty.

  The castle loomed up ahead. It was a grand, old structure, composed of grey, stone bricks. An elegant, tall staircase led up to a wide paved area. In the past, it would have hosted many a fete or grand event, perhaps for diplomatic purposes or strengthening the relations with leaders within the country. Over a hundred yards in front were darkwood doors as tall as five men.

  Fairshade looked up at the turrets on either side of the castle. Sure enough, there were glints of metal from the glassless, arched windows. Snipers had been stationed there, their crossbows at the ready.

  As they climbed the stairs, a daunting sight presented itself: an entire regiment of soldiers. Eryn stood at the front, swords and bucklers drawn. Soldiers were visible behind and slightly to the side.

  “Moons above,” Cist whispered. “There must be thousands of them.” They stretched over 200 across and dozens deep.

  “It doesn’t matter if there are ten or ten thousand,” Fairshade responded quietly. “They will not stop us.” Cist nodded and kept walking. The eryn stepped forward, staggering their formation and opening their wings. They flapped and rose into the air, like a flock of white-winged vultures.

  Cist stopped, a dagger at the ready. The rest of the Lightblades drew their weapons. Fairshade put a hand on Cist’s shoulder.

  “Your Highness…”

  “It’s OK, Lightblade.” He looked up at the thousands of eryn. “They’re more scared of Fetter than they are of me.”

  Fairshade led the group towards the soldiers. One wasn’t in formation. He stood at the front and as Fairshade approached, unfurled an exaggerated bow.

  “Your Highness.” Col kept his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

  “Step aside, soldier,” Fairshade commanded.

  “I’m here to escort you to Lord King Fetter, Your Highness,” Col responded oilily.

  Fairshade raised an eyebrow. Col visibly shrunk away. He then turned around.

  “Make a path for Fairshade!” The soldiers and the eryn divided through the middle. They left just enough space for the party to walk through. Col stood side on and extended a hand towards the doors.

  “This way.”

  “Why hello there!” Fetter had his feet up on the throne. His arm was draped over the armrest. Red, velvety carpet lead from the entrance to the room to the regal throne that was over 30 feet tall. Soldiers and eryn stood at attention either side of the room. “I didn’t expect to see you again. And with g-guests too!”

  “Fetter.” Fairshade rumbled.

  Kai beared his teeth. “Easy,” Cal said under his breath. “We’ll get our chance.” The Lightblades fanned out and stood behind Cist, who was next to Fairshade. A knife was in his palm, glowing with mana.

  Fetter jumped off the throne and started walking down the stairs. “It appears that you have b-broken the terms of our little agreement.” With every step, his scabbard bounced against his leg.

  “Some agreements are made to be broken.”

  Fetter waggled a finger at him. “Remind me, what were our t-terms?” Fairshade stared at the little man. “The terms, Fairshade.”

  “My kingdom or my life.”

  “Good to see that creeperslugs didn’t invade your brain down there… or have they?” He stepped off the last step and started walking up to Fairshade. It didn’t seem to bother him that he was a foot shorter than him. “Correct me if I’m w-wrong but by coming here, it appears that you have reneged on the agreement.”

  “My life and my kingdom are one and the same,” Fairshade said. He stared at Fetter, who wasn’t backing down.

  “Apparently you didn’t think that when I first gave you a ch-choice.”

  “People change.”

  Fetter’s smirk faded.

  Fairshade drew himself up. “I, Magnus Fairshade the First, invite you, Fetter Knox, to challenge me for the throne of Dresham.”

  His words echoed through the tall room.

  “You ‘invite’ me to challenge you.” Fetter shook his head and chuckled to himself. “You speak as if you have authority.”

  “Dresham laws state that the king can only be succeeded by one who has defeated him in battle.”

  Cal dragged his eyes away from the confrontation and looked up at the dais where the throne was. C stood there, her hands hidden in her sleeves. Her silver hair gleamed gently, reflecting the light of the torches that burned nearby. Her eyes penetrated Cal’s.

  Good work with the riddle.

  There was something different about this notification: it had a flashing cursor at the bottom, like it was an instant chat window. He thought the words he wanted to say and they appeared:

  Thanks. So you can just create any monster you want?

  The window closed by itself.

  “I am the law now,” Fetter said, lowering his voice. “That law of yours is f-f-fucking stupid. Yet…!” He turned on his heel and scampered back up the steps. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I will honour your outdated law and accept your challenge. However…” he crossed his arms and looked down at Fairshade. “I get to decide when and where the f-f-fight is to be held.”

  He put a finger on his chin in mock thought. “Let’s see, I’ve got war meeting on this day, a s-succubi orgy the next…” he giggled then cleared his throat. “We will fight on 10-Sibelle in the town square. Though now it’s more of an oval. I demolished a bunch of houses around it because they were an eyesore and I might not have notified the p-p-people living inside them at the time.”

  Fairshade clenched his fists and relaxed them. “I will meet you there at the start of the moonshift. The winner of the battle will be the true king of Dresham.”

  “And the loser will die.” Fetter tittered as if he’d told a hilarious in-joke. Fairshade clenched his jaw and jerked his head. He turned around and walked back out of the throne room. Fetter assumed his place on the throne, glancing across at C. Cal tailed the party when he felt the notification push in through the back of his head.

  What are you trying to do?

  He looked at the cursor then typed in the first thing that came into his head.

  What are you trying to do?

  31

  Foe To Friend

  20,156th Cycle

  2-Flulia

  “I’m not going to allow it.” Cist was hovering around Fairshade. The King walked through his old castle, ignoring the empty threats contained in glares of Fetter’s soldiers. He moved quickly and with purpose, as if he had somewhere to be.

  “You’re not going to allow it?” Fairshade chuckled. “The last thing I checked, you weren’t king.”

  Cist immediately inclined his head. “Your Highness, my apologies I didn’t mean it that way I…”

  Fairshade clapped a hand on the Lightblade’s shoulder. “Despite what you may think, I am not severely overpowered. Yes, he
will have the advantage of the earth moon on his side, but a favourable moon doesn’t determine everything.”

  Cal thought back to the first time he met Fetter. His Earth Wall had been the difference between saving Javal’s life and their journey across Dresham being all for naught. He was with Cist on this one; if Fetter was going to pull dirty tricks again, he would also take advantage of Sibelle and make sure that Fairshade did not perish.

  Kai had been surprisingly quiet since Fairshade had joined their party. He was probably still in awe of the King’s raw power. He jogged up to Fairshade’s side. “Your Majesty.” Fairshade looked at him. “You don’t need our help, but you do need more training. I take it you have already Examined Fetter?”

  “Aye, that I have,” the King said. “He is more than twenty levels higher than me.”

  “We can go back down to the Catacombs and–”

  “No.” Fairshade stopped and bore down on Kai. The werejaguar flinched but stood his ground. “No going back down to the Catacombs.”

  Cist took a step forward. “Your Majesty, Kai has a point. The beasts, monsters and fiends of the Catacombs are of a reasonable level. They would allow you to get strong enough to match Fetter.”

  Fairshade started walking again, but slower. He pressed his hands into the tall, darkwood doors and the hinges groaned in protest. The thousands of soldiers and eryn that had barricaded the entrance had disappeared. The paved area was empty again.

  Fairshade turned around and faced the party. “I appreciate all of your concern. You have helped me come this far and get Fetter to agree to a public duel. For that, you have my gratitude.” He inclined his head but no one said anything. “When I left my cell in the Catacombs, I also shed a part of me that I had clung on to for as long as I could remember. It was the need to fear. All through my life, I had grown so accustomed to questioning everything and fearing the repercussions of my actions. Yes, surrendering the crown to Fetter was the first action I had made on my own, but it was the wrong choice.”

  He turned around, put his hands behind his back and walked towards the steps. Everyone else moved towards him, keeping a safe distance of a few feet. “My kingdom is my life.” He nodded to himself. “Even if I were to stay in the Catacombs forever, I wouldn’t be living because my people would eventually have all been wiped out or exiled.”

  Fairshade looked at Cist. “The way that you spoke with your people and rallied them to support me was admirable.”

  The leader of the Lightblades inclined his head. “I lead under your guidance.”

  “No.” Fairshade shook his head. “It’s the other way around. Your leadership is what has inspired me to fight for what’s ours.” He acknowledged each of the Lightblades, who were nodding.

  He turned around and glided towards the stairs, leaving the rest of his party in his wake.

  “King Fairshade, where are you going now?”

  “Thaylia Square, to see the extent of the damage that fiend has wrought.”

  They had walked about 10 minutes before they arrived. The actual square was twice as large as the one in Bracewell. Fetter wasn’t mincing his words; he had also demolished countless houses around the perimeter, leaving empty space several hundred yards around the square. A silver-gray drizzle wrapped around them. Cal half expected rotters to come ambling out.

  A woman was crying out somewhere in drizzle. It sounded vaguely familiar. Fairshade raised a hand, pale blue light glowing around his fingers. Like a screen demister, the air became clearer and clearer before the mist disappeared entirely. Fairshade rushed across to the source of the noise. The woman was propped up against the inside of a shack. She was on the ground, her legs spread apart. The wall looked like it was just about ready to collapse. She pushed and screamed, the wood splintering creaking her.

  Standing mere feet away chewing his fingernails was Hector. His eyes darted up to Cal then back down at the woman again. Laish was on her knees, her wings spread open to give the woman some decency.

  Kai popped his head over Cal’s shoulder. “Hey what’s happening – Karst!” He leapt back a few feet.

  “Hector,” Cal said.

  “Not now.” He strained over his eryn’s shoulder. “How is she?”

  Laish bent her wings, further obscuring all the prying eyes.

  “Everyone but the eryn and the woman, out of the building, now,” Fairshade commanded.

  Hector glanced up at Fairshade. “I am not going to abandon my child.”

  Child? But that would mean…

  “I’m not asking you to abandon her, soldier.” Fairshade said gently. “Step outside and let me build a more comfortable dwelling for her to give birth.”

  Cal and the Lightblades took several steps back as Fairshade moved into the doorway. “I am Magnus Fairshade, the true king of Dresham. You can trust me.”

  “The child is crowning,” Laish said tersely. Hector stepped out of the doorway that had partially caved in. He took a few steps back, not noticing that he stood next to Cal.

  All eyes were on Fairshade. He put his hands on either side of the doorframe. Inspecting it, he hunched over as if he was about to yank the whole thing free and bring the remaining structure collapsing on himself, Laish and the mother-to-be.

  His entire being started glowing with a faint golden glow. Right before their eyes, the caved in top of the doorway pushed itself back up. Pieces of wood, mortar and mud floated in a ring around the structure like debris in the rings of a planet. Fairshade stepped carefully around the structure, touching it here or thumping the palm of his hand into it there. Piece by piece, the debris in the ring found its rightful place in the structure. Within the next five minutes, the entire house was whole again.

  Fairshade made his way back around the front of the house. Sweat beaded on his head, but his eyes were brimming with life. The redwood door opened up, Laish’s head popping out.

  “Could I get some assistance please?” Hector made to go into the house but Fairshade slipped in first. He gave a conspiratorial wink to the soldier then closed the door.

  Cal came up and put his green hand on Hector’s shoulder. “Would Fetter build a new house for your wife and kid?”

  “Construct is an Ability that is automatically bequeathed unto royalty.” Fairshade was stretching as if he was warming down from a strenuous workout. “Being king isn’t all pomp and grandeur. It’s a role with a lot of responsibility, one of which is building or at least maintaining your kingdom.”

  Cist had almost had a heart attack seeing Fairshade’s crimson stained sleeves when he came out but the king had waved him off. With Laish tending to the newborn, she needed someone to carry the mother to the bed.

  “Every kingdom has access to a well of mana. The king is able to channel mana from this well and use it to accelerate the construction of buildings. If he didn’t have access to this well, he could use his own mana. Naturally, he is limited by how much mana he can store in his own body.”

  Cal and the Lightblades were nodding while Kai was shaking his head, which caught the attention of the king.

  “That human and eryn were the ones who killed my… the chief of my village,” Kai said. He was staring at the door.

  Cal knew what Kai was thinking: how could someone so fundamentally evil care about a child and her mother? He had his own food for thought, namely how could a ValorVale player actually impregnate an NPC? Was the game so immersive that it even made… ejaculation real? Thoughts of Natasha suddenly entered his mind.

  “People change, Kai,” Fairshade said gently. “I don’t know what the motives of Hector and Laish were, but it just takes a meeting with the right person to change your entire outlook on life.” He glanced across at Cist. The leader of the Lightblades was laughing uproariously with his men several yards away.

  “It will take a long time to rebuild Thaylia, which is why I’m starting now. I might not have access to the mana well right now but that won’t stop me from rebuilding my city house by house.” He gestur
ed towards the house the new family was in. “It made a difference to them right when they needed it. If I build up enough houses, maybe, just maybe, people will start returning to Thaylia.”

  The door to the only house for around the square opened and closed. Laish, resolute as ever and a tired but beaming Hector came out. They met Fairshade’s glance, hesitated then started approaching them. Seeing the soldier and his eryn walking towards the king, Cist and his men hurried over.

  “Whoa whoa whoa, take it easy. I come in peace.” Hector raised both of his hands. He looked at Cal. “Fetter demoted me. Told me that I wasn’t suited to commander. I’ve been on sentry duty since the middle of Hyten.”

  The orc crossed his arms. Hector shifted guiltily. “Look, I’m sorry about chopping your head off in Bracewell and–”

  “There’s time for that later,” Cal said. “What’s with the woman?”

  Hector blushed angrily. “The woman is my… partner.” He went on to explain how he had helped her escape just before Fetter had bulldozed her house down. “One thing led to another then… yeah,” he finished lamely. “But I love her. I really do.” His glance back over the house contained such tenderness that it took Cal completely off guard. Guess people do change.

  “What happened to ‘death to all NPCs’?”

  “I never said that!” Hector exclaimed. “This is just a game but if I’m stuck here, then I might as well make the most of it. One day, I might wake up and find myself back at home.” A maelstrom of emotions passed his face.

  “What game do you speak of?” Fairshade asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Hector and Cal said in unison. They shared a laugh and in that moment, they weren’t on opposing sides. They were just a couple of gamers who started playing the wrong game at the wrong time.

  “What are you going to call your kid then?” Cal asked.

  Hector opened and closed his mouth. He took a while to collect himself then became rather stiff. “Grace and I were talking and thought it was fair to name her after the people who had made her birth possible.” He first looked to his eryn. “Laish, I’ve been an absolute cunt towards you.”