Sword

by Byron Kings

“You’re coming with us,” the guttersnipe snarled.

  The entire gang walked closer, all carrying knives and daggers.

  “Don’t you know not to bring a knife to a sword fight, son?” I asked.

  I chuckled as they continued forward. Their leader put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. Over a dozen other men came out from behind the building, carrying swords and crossbows.

  “What were you saying?”

  Several of the other gang members laughed.

  “Get ready to run,” I whispered as I reached for my coin pouch. “Now!”

  I threw the contents of the cloth sack up into the air.

  “Free gold!” I shouted.

  A few people nearby stopped and ran toward the falling coins. I bolted down the street. Morgana kept up with me as we ran back toward my house. The punk kids didn’t follow. Baron Rando had probably put a bounty out on me for stealing the map. Once I had more power, I could hire some protection and not have to worry about it. Until then, I didn’t want to get overwhelmed.

  “Better to run away and fight another day,” I said as we stopped at my front door.

  Morgana nodded, not even winded. I unlocked the door then held it open for her. After she went inside, I glanced around before doing the same. Harper came down the stairs as I walked into the living room.

  “You’re back already?” she asked.

  “Baron Rando sent some punk kids to jump us,” I explained.

  “He made it rain gold, and we got away,” Morgana said. “That was so much fun.”

  “Did you translate the map?” I asked.

  Harper frowned and shook her head. “No…”

  “Dammit, woman. What’s wrong?” I snapped.

  “It’s difficult,” she said. “We must’ve missed a clue getting out of the dungeon so soon.”

  “Don’t you dare blame this on me,” I said.

  “I’m not blaming it on you or anyone, I’m just telling you what I think.”

  “You’re fine,” I said, waving my hand then sitting down on the couch. “This has been a hell of a day. King Gregor is a fucking prick for not helping me. And Baron Rando needs to pay too.”

  “Do you want me to boost your sex energy?” Morgana asked.

  While her offer was tempting, I shook my head. “Not now. We need to translate this map. Once Baron Rando spreads it around that we have it, everyone will be knocking on our door. We should leave soon and camp outside the city in the wilderness.”

  “Isn’t that less safe?” Harper asked.

  “We can go to our cabin,” I said. “Nobody knows about it. Well, almost nobody.”

  Harper smiled. I remembered spending so many wild nights with her in the secluded cabin.

  “You two pack.” I stood. “We’ll eat then get on the road.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to fuck before we go?” Harper asked. “I’m running low on sex energy myself, and I could use some attention.”

  “Have Morgana help you get off,” I said, my stomach rumbling.

  “I don’t mind.” Morgana slid toward Harper.

  As the two women wandered upstairs to do their thing then pack, I went into the kitchen and checked the stocked cupboard for food. Everything worth eating took time to prepare except for the beef jerky. I grabbed a jar of the heavily salted and seasoned meat then opened a jar of wine to wash it down. Moans filtered from upstairs as I ate, chewing slowly.

  I thought about going upstairs to join them after all, but a loud knock at the door got my attention. That better not be those gutter snipes. I stood then walked to the front door. Peeking through a tiny hole, I saw strange men in fancy purple armor.

  Who could this be? Should I just ignore them and hope they go away?

  They banged again.

  “Alright, already!” I reached for the handle. “This better be good.”

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  CHAPTER 6

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  Truth Comes Out of Her

  “What do you want?” I demanded as I flung the door open.

  “Xin Jang requests your presence,” a man with jet black hair said.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “He wants to talk to you about Harper,” the man answered.

  I noticed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  “What about Harper?”

  “That’s between Xin Jang and you. I suggest you don’t try to kill the messenger.”

  A few burly men behind him all unsheathed their katanas.

  “I don’t want any trouble. We’ll come, but you need to give me time.”

  “You have twenty-four hours,” the messenger said. “If you fail to appear at his palace, we will hunt you down and bring you to him. Do you understand?”

  “I’ll be there.” I slammed the door. “Harper! Get down here!”

  The moans continued upstairs. I took a deep breath then went up to talk to her. The two women, both naked, looked up from my oversized bed.

  “You coming to join us?” Morgana asked.

  “No,” I said. “A messenger just stopped by and told me Xin Jang wants to talk about you. Was there something you failed to tell me?”

  Harper’s smile faded. She stood and grabbed a robe.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I meant to tell you, but after you got here full-time, we started playing, and... I forgot. That’s all it is, I swear…”

  She stood, frowning. I walked over to put a hand on her shoulder.

  “You’re fine,” I said. “Just took me for a surprise, okay? What does he want? Do you know?”

  “I stole one of his katanas and sold it,” Harper said.

  “You did what?” I snapped.

  Harper lowered her head.

  “You weren’t in the game much, and I needed the gold,” she said.

  “Look on the bright side,” Morgana said.

  I glanced over at her. “What bright side?”

  “We wanted to get out of the city anyway,” she said. “This gives us a destination.”

  I shook my head. “You two are going to be the death of me. Get dressed. We’re leaving.”

  “Can you give us another half-hour?” Morgana asked.

  “No! Get packed! We’re leaving!”

  I stormed out of the room acting angrier than I really was. Women like Harper and Morgana needed to be kept on their toes, guessing my real feelings about them and the world in general. The trick to keeping a sizable group intact was letting them know who was in charge. I couldn’t wait to get my first horn sword and really start to form my group.

  Downstairs, I finished off the rest of the beef jerky and wine while waiting on the women. They came down a little while later with three backpacks.

  “We still need to pick up stuff,” Harper said.

  “Are we going back to the wizard’s shop?” Morgana asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get those special items and a bit more. Harper, I want you to keep trying to translate the map. Maybe we can find something to help you at the Mage’s Pickle shop.”

  “You better not be keeping anything else from me,” I said. “You can be replaced.”

  Harper lowered her head. Morgana slipped an arm around her waist.

  “Let’s go,” I said. “We’ve got a lot to go before leaving the city.”

  The two women followed me outside and across the city to the Mage’s Pickle. I didn’t see any sign of the street punks, but I expected someone to jump us on the way to Xin Jang’s palace on the north side of the city.

  “Anything else?” the shopkeeper asked.

  “What about another teleport recall spell for all of us,” I said.

  “Haven’t restocked that scroll yet,” the shopkeeper said. “If you wait a week…”

  “We don’t have a week,” I interrupted.

  “Disguises,” Morgana said.

  Everyone turned to her on the other side of the back showroom.


  “What about disguises?” I asked.

  “Does the mage have any magic items to disguise our appearance? We can get out of the city more easily without anyone noticing we’re even gone.”

  “Good idea,” I said, nodding my head. “Well?”

  “Yes, yes,” the shopkeeper said. “I’ve got three hats that should do the trick.”

  “How much are they?” I asked.

  “Not expensive at all,” he said. “Let me see…”

  After glancing around the room, he walked to one of the shelves and retrieved three boxes. I saw crazy, colorful hats inside them.

  “These are going to draw attention to us,” I said.

  “Look at Morgana!” Harper exclaimed, covering her mouth with one hand and pointing with the other. “She looks so different!”

  I glanced over and saw a woman knocking on death’s door.

  “Whoa,” I said. “That’s a powerful disguise.”

  “Five hundred gold each,” the shopkeeper said, getting greedy.

  “Here's two diamonds worth two thousand gold,” I said, tossing them to him. “Keep anything good you get in for me, okay? If I don’t want it, you can sell it to someone else, but I want first dibs on anything good. Understand?”

  “Yes sir, yes sir,” the shopkeeper said.

  “Can you keep a secret?” I asked.

  The shopkeeper nodded. “What is it?”

  “I have the map to the new horn sword,” I said.

  The man’s eyes widened.

  “We’re having trouble translating it.”

  “Leave it with me,” he said, reaching out a hand.

  “Nice try, but no,” I said. “Do you have anything to help?”

  The shopkeeper shook his head. “No, but I’ll keep my ears and eyes open.”

  “You do that,” I said. “We’ll be back this way eventually.”

  “Good, good…”

  After packing all our new items up, we headed north to see Xin Jang before leaving the city for a while. I planned on paying him for the stolen katana and asking to owe him a favor to get out of it for Harper’s sake. Under no circumstances would I give her over to him. No way in fucking hell. She meant more to me than simply the first woman in my group.

  * * * * *

  “Halt,” a guard in purple armor said in a snooty tone.

  I raised my hands in the air as we stood in front of a three-story building. The back of it formed the northern wall of the city.

  “Xin Jang sent for us,” I said.

  The man in front of the door stepped aside as it opened.

  “Go in,” he said. “Master Xin Jang is waiting for you.”

  I stepped through the doorway with Harper and Morgana behind me. A few guards milled about inside the foyer. I kept walking deeper into the building, hoping Xin Jang hadn’t changed since I last saw him. Harper and I had gone on many quests with him over the years. She had even fucked him a few times before officially joining my group. I took off my Hat of Disguise.

  “There you are, old dog,” Xin Jang said as we entered his reception room. “Drake in the flesh.”

  “How are you doing?” I asked, stopping a few feet away from where he sat.

  “I’m good, thank you.” He peered at Harper. “Except for my missing katana.”

  “She sold it,” I said. “You’ll get the gold for it and a favor from me if you forgive her transgression. Do we have a deal, old friend?”

  Xin Jang stroked his long, black beard.

  “It was an expensive sword,” he said.

  “Whatever the price.” I kept my eyes on him.

  “Do you have the gold?” he asked. “I heard you found the map to the new horn sword. There’s a bounty on your head that would cover the cost of my missing katana.”

  “I’m sorry,” Harper said, shutting up when I raised a hand.

  “You’d do that to an old friend?” I asked.

  Xin Jang grinned then stood and walked over.

  “I’ll let you make payments on the katana,” he said. “Good to see you.”

  He stuck out his hand. I shook it, gripping tightly.

  “Good to be in here full-time,” I said. “Time to start my own empire.”

  “I’m rooting for you,” Xin Jang said. “Whatever help you need. Just don’t forget me when you make it big, okay?”

  “You know it, man. We’re on our way out of the city, but I wanted to stop by and work this out before we left. I’m not sure when we’ll be back.”

  “The horn sword won’t be easy to find,” he said.

  “I know. We’re having trouble translating the map.”

  “Leave it with me,” Xin Jang said.

  I grinned. “Nice try, buddy.”

  “Seriously, if you’re short on gold, you can pay me later. I mainly wanted to see you in person. You’ve been talking about coming on full-time so long.”

  “Well, it finally happened,” I said, glancing over at Harper and Morgana. “My group’s coming along nicely, don’t you think?”

  “Very wonderfully,” Xin Jang said, appreciating both women. “Do you three want to sleep here tonight? The sun’s going down.”

  Harper looked over at me expectantly.

  “Not tonight,” I said. “That bounty on my head is no joke. We’re going away to finish translating this map then going to get my sword.”

  “Send word if you need help,” Xin Jang said.

  “You know it, brother. Thanks for understanding.”

  “I’m betting on you becoming a big deal in this game now that you’re in here full time.” He smiled. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?”

  He snapped his fingers. Three nude women stepped into the room. I glanced over at Harper, knowing she would want to stay.

  “No, we need to go,” I said firmly. “We can fuck around after we get the sword.”

  “Okay,” Harper said, resigning herself to my will.

  I loved her so damn much. She didn’t even know.

  “Let’s go,” I said, nodding my head toward the door.

  “Until we see each other again,” Xin Jang said.

  We both bowed slightly in front of each other. I left his reception room with Harper and Morgana close behind. Outside, she spoke up right away.

  “I wanted to stay,” she said. “Can’t we go back inside for the night?”

  “Yeah,” Morgana added. “It’s getting cold outside.”

  “Put on a cape,” I said. “We’re leaving tonight. Get your hats on.”

  The two women sighed then put on their magical disguises. I did the same. After purchasing horses for all of us, we left through the northern gates. The cabin would take a half a day to reach which I liked because it made it harder for others to find. After a few days of fucking for sex energy and translating the map, we had to make a breakthrough.

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  CHAPTER 7

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  Find the Daughter of Time

  We made good time after leaving the city. I slowed down my horse as I noticed a commotion ahead. Random encounter? Or someone coming to get us?

  “Hold up,” I said, stopping completely.

  “What is it?” Harper asked.

  She and Morgana were on opposite sides of me.

  “There’s something ahead. I can sense it.”

  “Want me to cast a spell and check it out?” Harper asked.

  “Please,” I said, dismounting and pulling my sword.

  Harper moved her arms through the air until a dove appeared. The bird flew into the sky, quickly disappearing in the night sky.

  “It’s a group of mostly humans,” Harper said. “Ouch! They killed the bird!”

  “How many?” I asked. “All fighters? I need info, woman!”

  “Three tanks, two spell casters, and one druid or a really trippy bard,” she said.

  “How close?” I asked.

  “Close enough,”
a man said nearby.

  I glanced over and saw the other party of players.

  “We don’t want any trouble, but we’ll dish it out if you insist,” I said.

  “Give us the map, and you won’t have any problems,” the large warrior said.

  “That’s not gonna happen,” I said then slapped my horse on the flank.

  It neighed then took off toward the others with me following close behind. The other group spread out to avoid my charging horse. I hoped it didn’t keep running as I ran forward and slashed at their druid or bard. My sword hit his arm, cutting deep into his flesh.

  “Kill them!” their largest fighter shouted.

  Several green energy orbs shot by, hitting one of their two spell casters. The woman shrieked like she was having an orgasm and began stripping off her clothes. I grinned as I stabbed at the bardish druid again. He went down before being able to call any nearby animals to the battle.

  Morgana rushed two of their fighters, screaming bloody murder as she went. Neither of the men stood a chance as she plowed into them, her weighty sword cutting and slicing their leather armor. The largest fighter ran toward me with a huge war hammer above his head.

  I dodged to the left as he got close. He swung, completely missing. The naked spell caster fell to the ground, moaning and wiggling around as she had another orgasm. I swung at the big, chunky fighter, hoping to whittle him down while the others mopped up his companions.

  “You picked the wrong group to fight,” I snarled as I stuck him with my sword.

  I pulled out my blade covered in his blood.

  “Not before I kill you,” he said then drank a potion.

  The warrior’s armor and sword glowed red. He swung several times, hitting me in both arms. I almost dropped my sword it hurt so damn much. Morgana charged him from behind, distracting him long enough for me to deliver a finishing blow. My sword went right through his throat. He gurgled up blood as he fell to the ground.

  Morgana grinned then turned toward the others. Our fight wasn’t over. With one spell caster and one fighter remaining, we had a decent chance of winning. At least I thought so. Their damn mage moved her arms and chanted.

  She disappeared right before a powerful fireball exploded where she’d recently been standing. The force of the blast threw me back and to the ground. I rolled immediately to put out the flames, but the damage had been done already.