Chloe gave a thumbs-up and continued forward, the water now around chest height. She held her arms above the water, not quite ready to swim yet.
“I swear on all that is good and pure, if you dunk me under the water, I will see to it that you drown where you stand,” KieraFreya whispered when Chloe was almost a third of the way across.
“You’re not afraid of water, are you?” Chloe grinned mischievously. They had, after all, gained a skill in swimming, and KieraFreya had been fine then.
“No,” KieraFreya said. “Lakes and pools are fine. You can see what’s in the water for the most part, and the heat warms them up. Running rivers, though? You have no idea what’s in this water, do you? There could be crocodiles, piranhas, eels, or any number of other things ready to drag you under the water.”
Chloe looked up and down the river, the water covered by a film of bubbly foam that obscured any view of what lay beneath.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Besides, if you make me drown, doesn’t that go against the whole ‘I’m sick of waiting for you to resurrect’ thing you complained about before? I know you miss me when I’m gone, so maybe don’t threaten to kill the one person who can actually help you get your equipment back and reunite the parts of yourself, okay?”
KieraFreya sighed. “Fine. On your head be it if we are attacked.”
Chloe smiled, always pleased when she won an argument with the goddess. Still, as she continued to wade and she was forced to lower the bracers into the water to start swimming, she began to wonder.
Occasionally she did feel the touch of slimy things against her legs as she swam. The water did grow faster in the center of the river. Chloe used her strength and stamina to fight the current, finding that, although she was making progress across, the river was taking her some distance downstream.
“Try to stay straight if you can,” she heard Ben calling.
Remembering what she had learned in her swim classes all those years ago, Chloe took a deep breath, slid beneath the surface of the water, and made an extra effort to reach the shallows on the other side.
If Chloe hadn’t have been trying to hold her breath in, the sight of the water under the river would have taken her breath away. The water was crystal clear, and unlike in the real world, Chloe was able to open her eyes without the sting of contaminants.
The water frothed and bubbled above, but underneath the river, it was a whole different picture. There were dozens of types of fish following the river’s path, except for a select few that fought with great valor to fight the current and head upriver.
The rocks were a combination of vivid oranges, blues, and greens depending on the type of moss that grew on them. Lengths of river grass waved as scuttling freshwater crabs made their way among the rocks. There were pockets where Chloe could see nothing but eyes in the small crevices between the rocks.
And then the land sloped up once more, and Chloe came up for breath. She emerged from the water and did her best impression of a shampoo advert, waving her hair around and arching her back.
She laughed as she looked back and saw the guys suddenly turn away from her, pretending they hadn’t just watched the whole thing.
Chloe worked her way back upriver and found a good anchor point for the rope.
“All yours!” she called to them through cupped hands. “Come join me. The water’s fine!”
Ben was the first to brave the water, grabbing the rope with nimble fingers and pulling himself along. Gideon followed shortly after, more apprehensive than Ben. He was mumbling that there must be some kind of spell that would keep his person dry as he entered bodies of water.
Tag was the last to follow, and it was with great reluctance. They all laughed when the water rose to his chest within seconds. He grabbed the rope so tightly that his hands turned white, and he mumbled and groaned most of the way across.
“Oh, sure. Laugh all you want. Wait until you need your ass saved again. Guess who’s not going to come to your aid?”
He wasn’t too far from the far bank when Chloe noticed something splashing in the water to her right. At first, she thought that it might just be water running over a large submerged rock, but then she saw some kind of large fish with dark skin leap out of the water at an impressive speed.
“What is that?” Ben asked.
When the fish leaped again, Chloe tried to use Creature Identification, but she was far too slow. Before she had found its entry, it had submerged again, now dangerously close to where Tag was.
“You might want to hurry up,” Gideon called, not knowing that was the worst thing he could have said at that moment.
Tag paused, turning to look for danger.
At that moment, the fish leaped out of the water once more. Chloe spotted the row of dagger-like teeth that lined its jaw now that the fish was closer.
“Move!” she shouted.
Tag tried to hurry, but in his panic, his hands started slipping. The fish jumped out of the water once more, just a few feet away from Tag. Its mouth caught on the rope for a second before it came apart in its teeth with a chomp.
Tag yelped for barely a second before the sound was cut off by the water. He disappeared beneath the surface and was gone.
“Tag!” Chloe shouted, desperately trying to find the shape of the dwarf below the white foam.
“Where is he?” Ben said, panic in his voice.
“I don’t know.”
“Help!” They heard him before they saw him a short way away down the river. He was only a head and flailing arms as the water carried him away. The only relief was that the large fish was still leaping out of the water, making great speed far downriver, seemingly uninterested in the drowning dwarf.
They tore down the river after him, Ben staying just long enough to untie the length of rope that remained on their side. As he ran, he nimbly looped the rope around, creating a makeshift lasso. When they had caught up, he threw it to the dwarf.
The first several attempts failed. Tag’s cries grew weaker and weaker as he fought to keep his dense body afloat. Eventually, Chloe grabbed the other end of the rope and dived into the water, chasing Tag urgently.
When she finally reached him, she looped the rope around his wrist and gave a thumbs-up to Ben and Gideon. They pulled and pulled until the dwarf’s body reached land, his legs still in the water as he coughed and spluttered up the water that had found its way down his throat.
“Are you okay?” Chloe asked, kneeling by his side.
Tag took a few moments to catch his breath before managing, “I always knew…I’d be the first of us...to get you wet.”
Chloe slapped the laughing dwarf, causing another bout of coughing to erupt. Gideon rolled his eyes and Ben tried to stifle his laughter.
“I hate you,” Chloe said, unable to suppress her smile.
They dragged Tag the rest of the way out of the water, then laid in the sun and allowed their soaked clothes to dry.
“What was that thing?” Gideon asked, laying his robe out on a rock to hasten the drying process. “I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.”
“I know,” Ben said. “It was, like, part-dolphin, part-piranha, but it also...wasn’t.”
Chloe polished her bracers on her damp trousers. “I guess there’ll be a lot of aquatic creatures we’ll know nothing about. If you think about it, there’s a whole load of stuff going on under the waters on Earth that we don’t know anything about.”
Tag nodded. “She’s right. It’s always the water creatures that screw you up in these games. Developers seem to have a lot of fun creating wacky new creatures for water environments. Remember that thing from Relic Hunter? The cave thing with the tentacles?”
“The arachtapus?” Gideon asked, scratching his chin.
“That’s the one!” Tag continued. “Part spider, part octopus, all parts a tough mother—” Beep.” Oh, damn that censoring thing!”
“That thing was creepy AF,” Ben agreed. “Took our whole party to take
it down, even with all our upgrades and mods.”
Tag’s eyes went hazy as he considered the arachtapus.
Chloe thought for a moment. “Why would you have a party when fighting a monster?”
The guys looked at Chloe incredulously before bursting into laughter. Chloe even heard KieraFreya laughing at her in her head.
“What?”
“You’re not serious, right?” Tag asked between fits of laughter.
Ben tried to stifle his chuckles after Chloe glared at him. “Oh, right. Remember that she’s a noob. She won’t know half this terminology still. A party is a group of adventurers who go out specifically to complete quests together. Parties can get pretty big, and it’s all pretty tactical. Y’know, a leader and several people to suit various purposes.”
“So, kind of like us?” Chloe asked.
Gideon scratched his head. “Kind of, although I’d argue that four people isn’t really a party. If we all came to your house with food and drink, it would be more of a gathering, right?”
“I thought we weren’t comparing this to real parties?” Chloe winked.
Gideon smiled. “Okay, fair enough.”
Chloe looked upriver, which was where the strange creature had come from. She was upset that she hadn’t had the chance to identify the creature, but she also thought there’d surely be plenty of opportunities to analyze the weird and wonderful beasts that lived in Obsidian.
As the water chuckled by, innocent from a distance, Chloe saw a speck of bright light shooting toward them from the other shore. It traveled at a great pace, skimming over the top of the water without any difficulty.
“I wondered how long it was going to be before you joined us again.” Chloe grinned.
The wisp bobbed up and down excitedly before circling her head in a dazzling display.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
By midday, the sun was relentless. Chloe could feel her skin sizzling, and desperately sought the cover of shade.
They headed in the direction the stableboy had pointed, their clothes drying relatively quickly in the heat. Chloe led the way as they made for the trees, questioning the shaman’s wisp in her mind as to where the hell he had been over the last few days.
Research was all she had managed to pull from him, and she left it at that. She had learned since discovering Shaman Decaru’s hut outside of Oakston that questions didn’t get her anywhere. He was a mysterious sort, and Chloe still remembered her feeling of dislocation when the shaman had somehow flipped the house around so she was sitting on the ceiling, before falling ungracefully to the floor.
When they reached the trees, they could just make out a small settlement beyond the copse.
“That must be the farm,” Chloe said.
“Oh, sure. Must be,” Tag replied. “How can you tell from this distance? What if we’ve been tricked by the stableboy or there’s something evil afoot here?”
“‘Something evil afoot?’” Ben mocked. “You’re not a bad guy from a crappy B-list movie, so why are you talking like one?”
Tag folded his arms. “I’m just saying that we should be careful. This world seems to have a way of tricking us into a false sense of security.”
“Oh, I see what this is about,” Ben said. “Someone’s a little upset from nearly drowning in the river. It’s okay.” He draped an arm over Tag’s shoulder, bending down to do so. “I’m sure we’ll find you some magical armbands that will help you swim better. Might even be able to fashion you a pair of goggles out of some vines and the cones of a beehive.”
Chloe and Gideon laughed, changing the subject as Tag’s face grew redder than it already was.
“We should get out of the sun,” Chloe suggested. “Stay in the shade. We can travel through the trees and gain some ground, then see if we can get a closer look at this place before we make a move.”
The others nodded, although as they entered the trees, Gideon hesitated a moment longer than the others. Tag’s words of mistrust had found their way into his mind.
They walked through the trees until they were near the tree line once more. Despite Tag’s and Gideon’s misgivings, they encountered very little in the way of threats.
Thanks to Ben’s elven eyesight, they managed to navigate around a pool of quicksand that had been covered with foliage. A couple of birds had hopped from branch to branch to watch them pass, but a quick shot with one of Ben’s arrows scared them enough that they kept their distance. Otherwise, besides a few furry critters raising their noses to sniff out of interest, all was well.
They stopped at the tree line in a place where they could see the bee farm from afar, then made a small fire, and Chloe cooked some of the meat she had procured in Hobblesville before they set out on their journey.
As they sat and ate, Chloe studied the farm, trying to figure out a game plan.
The farm was large; they could see that much from afar. A multi-story farmhouse loomed on a rise over the fields where large dark shapes stood. Chloe presumed that these were the beehives. Surrounding the farm was a long picket fence, and, over by the far side of the house, tied up to posts, she saw several horses stamping impatiently.
“We’ve got our man,” she said, chewing the tender meat.
Tag swallowed his mouthful. “It’s not going to be easy.”
“You’re right,” Ben said, leaning against a tree and looking at the farm. “He’s bound to have some kind of protection. That last thing he’ll do is steal a bunch of horses and then sit pretty with nothing in place to defend them.”
A smile curled Tag’s lips. “Looks like he’ll bee on guard.”
“Do you think he’ll have any sort of enchantments or spells around the farm?” Gideon wondered. “Anything magical to protect him?”
Chloe shook her head. “I can’t imagine a farmer utilizing magic, can you? Most he’ll likely have are dogs, or maybe a rudimentary gun of some kind. Do you think they have guns here in Obsidian?”
“I haven’t encountered any in these kinds of games,” Ben replied, returning to his place around the fire.
“No, most people tend to beehive in fantasy MMORPGs,” Tag said, trying to catch their eyes. His face fell when they ignored him again.
“I think the best plan is to wait until nightfall,” Ben offered. “Play by his rules and attack in the darkness, when there’s a greater chance of being able to hide and do this covertly.”
“Won’t he be expecting an attack? Some kind of offensive maneuver?”
Tag placed a hand on his hip and wagged a finger. “Honey, I’m sure he ain’t stupid enough to sit still tonight.”
“What are you doing?” Chloe chuckled, a little alarmed by Tag’s theatrics.
“Oh, come on! Bee puns? Seriously? You guys have picked up on none of these?”
They all turned to each other and shook their heads.
“You guys suck.”
Chloe shuffled closer and leaned toward Tag. “Bee calm, buddy. Wouldn’t want you to feel stung because of your poor puns, honey. We’ll just bumble over to the farm and wait until we’re nectar the horses before stealing them back and taking them to our hive.”
Tag crossed his arms again. “You all suck.”
While they waited for the cover of darkness, Tag, Ben, and Gideon wished Chloe a brief farewell as they logged out of their avatars and headed back to the real world. Chloe watched over their sleeping bodies, wondering what kind of trick she could play that would be funny.
Maybe she could stick Tag’s finger up his nose? What if she replaced all of Ben’s arrows with twigs? She could trim Gideon’s beard into strange shapes, or maybe put his hand in a bowl of warm water and see if the avatar peed itself in its sleep like she’d heard people did back home.
KieraFreya sighed. “Trust me to get stuck with a child who prefers messing around with pranks to focusing on the job at hand.”
Chloe raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me? I’m just having a little fun while we wait to get those horses back so that we ca
n get around this place faster. Do you know how big this realm is? It’d take us days to travel from town to town.”
“Do I know how big this realm is? You realize I’m a goddess, don’t you? Literally a goddess. Of course, I know how big this realm is.”
“But you’re not knowledgeable enough to know where Nauriel is, or where your scattered parts are?” the shaman asked, transforming from his wisp form into the strange-looking old man he was. He leaned over the fire and lit his hookah, taking a long draft of smoke. “I’d advise putting the fire out now, child. Don’t you think a smoke signal will alert the farmer to your whereabouts?”
Chloe’s eyes widened. She hadn’t even thought about that. As KieraFreya and the shaman got into a semi-heated discussion about KieraFreya’s lack of geographical knowledge, Chloe doused the fire using the remaining river water from their skins.
Damn. We’ll be thirsty for the rest of the day.
“You realize I could smite you without a second thought?” KieraFreya snapped at the shaman. “Once I've united with my body again, I could snap my fingers and end your miserable life.”
“I neither believe you, nor do I have a miserable life,” the shaman shot back, his face placid and thoughtful. “Although the gods exhibit great amounts of power, I don’t fear them. I certainly don’t fear you.”
Chloe felt KieraFreya shake with rage. “Why, you son-of-a—”
The shaman’s eyes suddenly glowed as he chanted and collected strands of etheric power in his hands. He pointed them at the bracers and Chloe stepped back in alarm, the bracers now surrounded in a mystical orange glow.
There was silence.
“What did you do?” Chloe asked with awe.
“A little silencing spell,” the shaman replied. “Something to clamp her mouth shut before more venom can spill.”
“You have to teach me that one.” Chloe grinned, turning the bracers over and admiring the charm. She half-expected to hear KieraFreya’s voice in her head, but there was quiet.
“Seriously, teach me—”
“Really!” KieraFreya said, the orange mist shooting in all directions as Chloe’s hands suddenly pointed at the shaman. “You actually thought you could hold me back? Of course, I had to do a quick analysis of your piddly little charm, but a simple reversal spell, and I’m back.”
Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1) Page 28