Auction of Souls: Fantasy GameLit RPG Series (Pixel Dust Book 3)

by David Petrie

  “Well it wasn’t!” Corvin raised his eyepatch to wipe a tear from his eye.

  “It was kind of a low blow.” Kegan covered his own crotch sympathetically.

  “Whatever.” Piper crossed her arms. “He deserved it anyway.”

  “More importantly…” Corvin pushed himself up to his knees. “What happened to the ban?”

  “Maybe it ended?” Kegan assumed.

  “Didn’t Jeff-with-a-three say it would last until the ship landed?” Piper holstered her pistol.

  Corvin took a second to rest. “Or maybe it just doesn’t cover the whole ship.”

  “Well, that is a question that is going to have to wait for later.” Kegan bumped his hand into Corvin’s ear as if he was trying to get his attention, but not looking where his hand was going.

  “Cut it out.” Corvin swatted him away as the Leaf’s finger inadvertently probed his ear canal. Then he saw what the problem was. “Oh.”

  Three players stood at the end of the hall, the same ones that they faced before on the ship’s engine wheel. They must have snuck back on board after Cassius had been dropped off. Another two closed off their escape behind them, bringing the total to five.

  They were outnumbered.

  “At least we know we’re getting close to where they planted the bomb.” Kegan shrugged as the faunus in front of the group brought up his gauntlet’s barrier.

  “They must have heard the gunshot,” Corvin whispered.

  Piper winced. “I didn’t mean to–”

  “It’s okay.” Corvin moved past it. “It doesn’t matter now.”

  “Do you think they know about the ban not affecting us down here?” She glanced down at him.

  “They will soon enough,” Kegan answered for him.

  “Not if we don’t attack them.” Corvin eyed the men as they slowly approached, the Shield player staying in front. Then Corvin threw his hands up above his head. “We give up!”

  “Yup, no point in fighting with that damn ban in place.” Kegan followed his lead, dropping to his knees and raising his hands.

  Corvin shot Piper a look, telling her to do the same. Her tail twitched, in a way that suggested irritation, but she followed suit to continue the bluff.

  “Listen, Piper,” Corvin lowered his voice until it was barely audible, taking advantage of the enhanced hearing that the reynard race’s tall ears gave them. What he said was for her ears only. “We’re outnumbered just like we were before. I doubt we’re getting out of this. So when I see an opportunity, I’m going to use my basilisk eye and try to make some space. When I do, I want you to run and keep searching for the bomb. Kegan and I will slow them down.”

  Piper nodded her head almost imperceptibly. He smiled. Even if she was mad at him, he could still count on her.

  “Good luck.” He held his hand behind his head and slipped a finger under the strap of leather that held his eye-patch on. Then he waited.

  The five players from the House of Silver Tongues approached with caution. Corvin took the moment to make a note of their classes; one Shield, a faunus; a Blade and a Coin, two humans; and last, another Blade and a Leaf, a couple elves.

  We have to kill the Shield first if we’re going to stand a chance.

  “Any chance of you guys letting us go?” Kegan raised his eyebrows hopefully.

  “No, we’re going to throw you off the ship. PVP ban can’t protect you from that.” The faunus with the gauntlet glowered at them.

  “Okay then, should we just follow you to the deck or…?” Kegan trailed off, giving them an annoying smile.

  Corvin rolled his eyes as his friend continued to banter. Then, when they were close enough, he made his move. Ripping off his eye patch, he spun around and shoved into the Leaf behind him. At the same time, he locked eyes with the Blade blocking Piper’s escape. The player froze, trapped in place by Corvin’s yellow pupil as she dashed forward. Piper weaved past him, then disappeared around a corner.

  Kegan jumped to his feet, firing off several arrows to keep the Shield from moving forward. It didn’t last long. Clearly still under the impression that the ban was in place, the faunus charged forward with reckless abandon, shoving Kegan over.

  “Shit! The girl got away.” The Leaf that Corvin had pushed shoved him back, knocking him to the floor where he held him down with a boot.

  “Don’t worry about it.” The Shield kicked Kegan’s bow away. “Even if she finds the bomb, she can’t move it alone and it can’t be disarmed. Let’s just get these two overboard.” He reached down and grabbed Kegan by his ankles and started dragging him so one of the others could get his hands.

  “That some kind of contract ability?” The enemy Coin placed a hand over his comrade’s eyes to break Corvin’s hold on him.

  “Yeah.” Corvin glared up at the player from where he lay on the floor.

  The Coin picked up his eye patch off the floor and tossed it back to him. “Put that back on, and don’t try that again.”

  Two of the Silver Tongues grabbed his hands and feet, like they had Kegan, and hefted him off the floor. Thankfully, none of them had realized the PVP ban’s range was limited, otherwise they would have executed them right there. Corvin decided not to struggle for fear of giving away their advantage. No, it was best to wait for another opportunity. Although, with Kegan’s bow left behind on the floor, it wasn’t looking good. At least they hadn’t bothered to take away his sword.

  Corvin closed his eyes and let his mind fall back to Piper.

  One of them still had a chance.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Stupid goddamn Corvin!” Piper stomped her way up a narrow flight of stairs that climbed back and forth toward the Night Queen’s upper decks. She checked her map page, making sure she was heading to the right floor, the one where she’d run into the Silver Tongues earlier that night.

  She continued to rant as she slid her journal back into her item pouch.

  “That jerk just had to go and sacrifice himself for the good of the mission while I’m still mad at him.” She stopped mid-step and checked his health on the party readout inked onto her wrist. He was still alive, so technically there was still time to save him, even if the idea of it pissed her off. For a moment, she raised her house ring, debating on calling her mother to come rescue him.

  Nah. Corvin was right, as much as it pained her to admit it. She lowered her ring and continued up the stairs. The priority had to be finding the bomb and calling the rest of her house down there would only slow them down.

  Besides, calling her mom for help was something a kid would do, and she was not a damn child. That was what she’d been telling herself for months, every time she caught herself fantasizing about Corvin. Whether she thought of his avatar or the boy behind it, she always told herself that he wasn’t that much older and it wasn’t that weird. Honestly, her mom was going after a guy almost a decade younger than she was, and no one seemed to bat an eye.

  It wasn’t like it was her fault for liking the jerk either. Corvin simply had no right being that cute. Out there in the real world, he was tall, handsome, and had amazing hair that she just wanted to run her hands through. Even worse, he didn’t even seem to realize he was hot. He just acted like a sweet nerd that went to college a couple towns over and never stared at her hearing aids.

  The help he gave her with her school work had pushed her to the top of her class. If things kept going the way they were, she would be able to take her pick of colleges. She could even go to UMASS along with him. He would be a senior when she started, after all. How could he say no to her then?

  She stopped mid-step again and slapped a hand to her forehead.

  Don’t think like that, Piper. He’s an ass. No way you’re following him to the same college. You’d basically be stalking him and that’s not a good look on anyone.

  Finally, she buried the thought and continued on. This time, going over her current mission in her head. A mission to find a bomb set to blow up a virtual ship, so that
her mom’s boyfriend could capture a woman that had kidnapped his best friend.

  “How did my life get screwed up so fast?”

  She turned up the next flight of stairs only to stop yet again in mid-step as soon as the landing came into view. At least this time she hadn’t stopped because of her thoughts.

  No, this time, she had stopped because she had just come face to face with Aawil, Nix’s silent but deadly accomplice. The faunus Coin was in the middle of eating an apple and standing on the landing that lead to the floor that Piper was heading to.

  “Oh shit!”

  Piper drew her pistol and fired on reflex, the sound of gunfire reverberating up the stairwell. Aawil threw her half-eaten apple and darted to the side. Chunks of bullet-riddled fruit splattered Piper’s cheek as splinters exploded from the wall where Aawil had been a second before.

  The faunus hopped onto the banister and leaped up the center of the stairwell to escape the line of fire. Piper’s mouth went slack as Aawil shot up several flights in an inhuman display of physical prowess.

  Damn…

  Piper had heard that the Coin was strong, but that kind of vertical leap just wasn’t possible, even in game. The only way to jump that high without the help of an ability would be if Aawil’s body were that strong in the real world. Her natural prowess would be used as baseline for her character, just like everyone else’s. Either way, it was still impossible.

  What the hell is she?

  Piper didn’t bother to ask, instead she fired up the stairwell to keep the faunus pinned down. The last thing she wanted was to let Aawil get anywhere near her. Bullets slammed into the railing above with a crack as wooden shrapnel filled the center of the stairwell.

  “Damn it! I am not in the mood, Aawil. Now poke your stupid head out so I can shoot you in the face!”

  Aawil decline to accept her polite invitation. Then Piper’s pistol locked back, empty. She reached for a new magazine but before she could reload, a pop came from above.

  “Shit!”

  A grappling line streaked by her face, a metal anchor spike hitting her in the hand. It threw her arm back and pinned her to the floor. Piper fell against the wall. She reached for her gun with her free hand, but she wasn’t fast enough to stop what came next.

  Aawil drew her dagger and leaped from a perch on the banister above. The Coin slipped her thumb through a metal ring at the butt of the knife and twirled the weapon as she soared down to claim Piper’s life. The impact took her breath away as the dull blade pushed into her chest.

  Damn it!

  Even after Corvin had bought her some time, she wasn’t able to do anything but die. Piper cursed herself, even though she wasn’t surprised. Based on everything she had been told, Aawil was a monster. The only one who had actually beaten the feral Coin was Piper’s mother. It had been during the heist six months back, and that had only been because they’d lined the halls of Reliqua’s palace with explosives.

  A low growl rumbled through the Coin’s throat as she straddled Piper and twisted the dagger in her chest.

  It felt… strange, not like any attack she had felt before. Absent was the muted sensation of pain that the system produced for the sake of realism. Instead, there was just an uncomfortable pressure.

  Aawil snarled in Piper’s face, giving her a long look into her eyes. There was something animalistic and predatory about them. Then, suddenly, her pupils dilated and a more human side took over again. It was like someone had thrown a switch.

  The faunus pulled back and looked Piper all over, clearly confused as to why she wasn’t dead. Actually, for that matter, why wasn’t she? With a critical hit to her chest like that, she should’ve been sent straight to spawn, but there she was, still breathing with a dagger shoved through her heart.

  Piper followed Aawil’s eyes down to the wound on her breast, finding the outlines glowing blue. That could only mean one thing…

  That little jerk was right.

  Apparently, Corvin’s guess about the PVP ban having an area of effect was correct. She must have passed back into its range while climbing the stairs.

  “I guess there’s no point in fighting, huh?” Piper tried her best not to let on that the ban was limited. For all she knew, the difference between life and death might only be a single flight of stairs.

  Clearly coming to the same conclusion, Aawil pulled her dagger from her chest.

  Piper let out an involuntary gasp. The sensation felt weird, but not painful. It was like something inside her had been out of position and removing the dagger caused it to snap back into place.

  Aawil sheathed her knife and stood up, holding her hands out to her sides, empty, as if agreeing that the fight was over. Piper cleared her throat and gestured to the grappling line that still pinned her hand to the floor. The faunus flexed her fingers, triggering the wire to retract.

  Piper felt something click within the metal spike in her hand, as if something released its hold. A second later it whipped out of her palm and snapped back to the launcher on Aawil’s wrist. Piper wasted no time, scrambling back away from the monstrous woman and standing up. She clasped one hand around the other as the blue glow faded from her skin. It didn’t hurt, but she was glad not to have part of her body nailed to the stairs.

  “So, we can just go our separate ways.” Piper stood with her back against the wall, trying to put as much space between them as possible.

  Aawil simply gave her an expressionless nod.

  “Okay then.” Piper crouched down to pick up her gun without taking her eyes off the Coin. Then she took a step up the stairs.

  To her dismay, so did Aawil, their shoulder’s bumping together as they turned in the same direction in the narrow stairway.

  “Ah,” Piper looked at the door that lead to the level she intended to search, remembering that Aawil had been standing in front of it when they had stumbled upon each other.

  “You’re searching for a bomb, aren’t you?”

  The faunus nodded.

  “And you intend to check this floor next.”

  She nodded again.

  “Okay then, I guess we’re not going our separate ways.” Piper started walking again.

  Aawil fell back to let her take the lead but remained behind her up to the door.

  “Great, just great.” Piper grumbled to herself, not ready for the responsibility of interacting so closely with her mother’s enemies.

  Nevertheless, the two of them walked in silence. Piper regretted taking the lead as soon as they passed through the door, feeling like she might be attacked from behind at any second. The image of Aawil slitting her throat kept running through her head. She tried her best to forget about it as they checked every room they came across. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find some familiar ground.

  “We’re close.” Piper slowed as they entered a room full of empty crates. “This is where we were smuggled on board. We ran into the Silver Tongues’ team right after and they attacked us almost immediately. That ass, ah, I mean Corvin,” she corrected, “thinks we walked in on them before they could plant the bomb. That must have been why they came back.”

  Aawil nodded but raised an eyebrow at the ‘ass’ comment.

  Piper pretended she hadn’t said it and pressed on, pushing past the empty crate that she had ridden in earlier.

  Beyond the storage room was a wide corridor that led to what could only be described as a kitchen. Various cooking equipment lined the room’s wooden shelves and a butcher-block island stood in its center. A small crate, half full of food items, sat on top, while a large old-fashioned stove took up one wall.

  Piper hadn’t invested anything to raise her cooking skill, so she didn’t really recognize much in the way of equipment. She’d helped Corvin farm ingredients for his confectionary skill, which was a subset of cooking, but that was as close to a kitchen as she’d ever gotten. For that matter, she knew even less about cooking in the real world.

  The kitchen was spotless, which made
sense since it seemed like most of the ship’s food items were delivered ready to serve. It probably would have taken too much to craft everything served aboard the ship in individual batches. Apparently, this space was only used for plating, and from the looks of things, it was specifically for special events like the auction. There must have been a much larger kitchen area that serviced the rest of the ship. That realization brought up a new concern in Piper’s mind.

  “Why aren’t there any people here?” She rested her hand on the butcher-block counter. “On a ship this size, there would normally be at least a few people working to earn some extra money.”

  Aawil responded by pointing down with one finger.

  Piper inched her way around the island, finding a serving tray on the floor. Cheese and crackers littered the area around it. She leaned her head to one side, not sure what the Coin was getting at.

  Suddenly, Aawil drew her dagger and plunged it through a square of cheese, causing Piper to jump halfway across the room. The faunus pulled the morsel off with her mouth, then tapped one of her horns with the flat of her blade. Then she spoke.

  “The serving staff is dead.” Aawil chewed and swallowed. “The Silver Tongues killed them just before planting the bomb. That’s what I would have done.”

  “Umm, okay.” Piper eyed the suddenly not so silent Coin, noting the presence of an accent. It sounded British. Piper stored that thought away for later, returning back to the suggestion that the staff had been murdered.

  “That’s… probably right. Sending the staff back to spawn would ensure nothing gets discovered here. Especially with all the confusion that killing them would cause for the twins running the auction topside. I doubt they would think to come down here and go looking for trouble.”

  Aawil nodded.

  “And you do talk after all, apparently?” Piper added.

  Aawil raised her hand, holding her thumb and pointer close together as if to say, ‘a little.’

  Piper didn’t press the subject, opting to find the bomb as soon as possible. Though, after taking in the room, there wasn’t anything that resembled an explosive, not that she really knew what one would look like.