Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “What about the other groups?” one of the civilians asked.

  “We had to split up, walking into a city with a group of fifty-four people is bound to raise alarms. In groups of nine, we have at least two guards in each one. We will meet up in King’s Hill and then disappear. There are plenty of trading caravans heading everywhere,” Kanoa said.

  They entered the tavern, pulling back their wet layers and feeling the warmth of the tavern Kanoa felt a little better.

  “Rooms for nine please,” Kanoa said.

  “Two sSilvers and forty coppers,” the man at the tavern’s table said.

  “Food?”

  “Four silvers total,” The man said.

  Its more here where they have to import it all. He gritted his teeth and passed the man the four silver coins.

  The owner smiled as the silver disappeared and two keys appeared.

  “Second-floor third door on the right. Do you want food now?”

  “Yeah that would be best,” Kanoa said.

  “Sit wherever,” the man said, waving to his tavern that had a few people sitting and talking, getting out of the late-afternoon rain.

  Kanoa noticed the trader sitting in the corner working on his different books. He missed how the man studied Kanoa and the others, his eyes falling on their shoes. Confusion appeared deep in the man’s eyes, quickly disappearing as he quickly started to write down more numbers. As he sat back in thought, he used the reflections in the bar and the pad of paper on his lap to sketch out the shoes that the people were wearing.

  ***

  Evernight had just returned to King’s Hill, night was just coming and Aditya was off to a meeting about trade agreements with the outposts and King’s Hill.

  She entered his office, looking around she smiled.

  One of these days I might get my own office, but this is comfortable enough. She sat down at her desk and looked out of the window at King’s Hill.

  As night came light formations lit the city up and it truly was a city, boasting a population of forty thousand people and a floating population of thirty thousand people. In the First Realm there were few independent cities that could boast such numbers.

  She looked over her region, the domain under her protection. She knew every alley, every backdoor gambling hall and tavern. Her network spread throughout the Beast Mountain Range.

  “I started with nothing more than an outpost under my influence, now I gather information across the entire First Realm,” a satisfied smile appeared on her face, thinking about Erik and Rugrat and their questions her smile grew wider.

  Even with their dominating presence they’re reasonable people. They don’t jump to conclusions and value the information that we bring them. Even going so far as to thank us for our work. I think that I was able to put all of my knowledge and skills to use. This feels so satisfying.

  She stretched out as if to capture the excitement in her heart. Her sound transmission device shook as she paused at her full stretch, her smile disappeared like a flame in winter as she listened to the message.

  She listened attentively before sending a number of different messages.

  Looking out at the rain she sighed.

  “Well looks like I should take a coat,” She pulled one out from her storage ring and then moved to the middle of the room. She activated a teleportation formation that not even Lord Aditya knew of.

  She appeared in a basement, around her there were crates and four doors.

  Evernight checked the crates, making sure that the weapons, armor, and supplies were all accounted for out of habit. She moved one of the crates checking a formation hidden behind it to make sure that there was no one else in the secret tunnels under the outpost.

  She opened a door and closed it behind her, it looked to be part of the wall of a large open area.

  She walked across the floor.

  I hate walking over trap formations, scares the hell out of me.

  She kept walking, passing through tunnels and hidden doors. She finally emerged from a stable. She exited and closed the door behind her.

  She walked out and found a stable hand waiting for her.

  The man put his forefinger and thumb against his other fore finger, creating a crude A.

  “It is mighty cold this time of year,” Evernight said.

  “It might be cold but the shadows stretch longer every day,” the ‘stable hand’ said.

  “They do, but the night does not come earlier,” Evernight replied.

  The man bowed his head and then quickly pulled out a package, he handed it to her and indicated for him to follow her.

  He led her through the stable to another disused stall. He opened a hidden door and they walked into an office. There were two others in the office, one was wearing the garb of a trader, the other a mercenary uniform.

  She walked in as the stable hand closed the door quickly opening the package and looking at the images inside.

  The shoes craftmanship is much higher than anything I have seen in the Ten Realms before, this sewing and these shoes, they remind me of the boots used by our military. That was only made possible with the use of the textile mills and the sewing machines.

  Evernight looked at the three people.

  “Report,” She said.

  The trader stepped forward.

  “I noticed a group of nine people that entered the outpost late in the afternoon. I was moving through the different inns, checking them out. Then I found a second group of nine people. I checked with the others. There are 6 groups of nine people that entered the outpost today.

  “All of them are in good health, good teeth and footwear not from around here. At least not from the first realm. Their levels weren’t high enough that they could get into the higher realms. I made those sketches of their shoes and I reported to my cell leader.

  I was told to check the other inns and look at people’s shoes.”

  Evernight could smell the alcohol on him, but sobering potions kept him completely alert.

  “I found a number of other groups that were in good health, and had shoes that I had not seen before,” the trader bowed, and stepped back the mercenary stepped forward.

  “There are a total of six groups in the city, fifty-four people in total. There are about sixteen fighters among them in total, with at least two per group. The rest seem to be smart people. I had some of my people listen to them. Some were talking in medical terms, similar to what medics do in the Army. No common First Realmer would know. Their main weapons are crossbows. They are moving fast and light. A few of them had tattoos.”

  Evernight couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow. Rugrat had introduced tattoos and they had taken off, some formation masters and scroll makers had turned it into an art form and created formations on one’s skin. The buffs were limited but they used a person’s own power and could glow with power. Few other groups use them. Most have scarification instead.

  “It appears that they are on the run from King Ikku.”

  The mercenary finished his report and stepped backward.

  “Shit,” Evernight hissed remembering the report she had of the group of people that were fleeing towards the Beast Mountain Range.

  She pulled out her sound transmission device and started to send out messages. She felt the information network that stretched across the realm coming alive as information flowed back to her.

  In a matter of minutes, she had the latest information from those around the Empress and the odd rumors going around.

  Evernight closed her mind, checking the information she had pulled together and the conclusion she had made.

  With a deep sigh, she used her sound transmission device.

  “Evernight?” Director Silaz’s voice came over the sound transmission device, sounding immediately alert.

  “We have a situation. I think that I have a group of around fifty Earthers on the run that have just entered one of our outposts. They are wearing high-quality boots like people in our army.
They have tattoos, use crossbows and talk of what is advanced medical terms in the First Realm. They are being chased by King Ikku. It looks like she drew them in and then wanted to enslave them but they were able to escape and are on the run. She made a number of alarming advances rapidly and then after the people ran away there have not been any more advances. She only told her closest advisors about new advantages and then turned sour. Linking it all together it makes sense.”

  “And now you have a group of Earthers, potentially military figures that have entered our outposts and are on the run from a foreign force. They’re tired, angry and armed. You need to diffuse them and prove their ability to trust us,” Silaz seemed to be absorbing all of the words he had just spoken.

  “Yes sir,” Evernight said.

  Silaz was quiet for a few moments.

  “Erik and Rugrat are going to want to know and they are the best people to diffuse the situation. One moment.”

  Evernight’s connection went dead as she and the three other agents waited. They had sat down, the mercenary was cleaning his weapons. The stable hand left and came back, checking the area while the trader was going through information slips and reading textbooks from Alva. It was one of the few places he could do so openly.

  “Which groups are in inns that we control? Who is their leader? Are they military or civilian? What are their plans, find it out for me,” she said to the agents.

  The three of them put their heads together, with the mercenary heading out to talk to some of his people while the trader and stable hand sent messages out.

  A few minutes later Evernight’s sound transmission device buzzed.

  She activated it, once again cut off from the outside world.

  “Erik and Rugrat are mobilizing and are heading your way. They should be there within the hour. Keep the Earthers there and safe, make sure no harm comes to them. Roska and her Special team will be with them for protection. Confirm their identities and make sure they are Earthers. Organize a place where they can meet that is away from prying eyes,” Director Silaz’s words were heavy as if carved into stone.

  “I will make the preparations and make sure that nothing bad happens to them,” Evernight vowed.

  “Good, they’ll be with you shortly.” The connection went dead again.

  Evernight curled her fists, she felt as if her brain cells were on fire. It was time for her to carry out her job in an uncontrolled outpost, without the leader knowing anything.

  They had cells in all of the outposts now, it was a good way to raise intelligence agents with a safety net in place. Once they graduated from here, they could be sent across the ten realms.

  I’ll need to bring in these groups and set up a meeting. If everything goes well then I’ll still need to make fifty-four people disappear and leave just enough of a trace to lead King Ikku on a wild chase. Alright, lets get the meeting prepared first, then we can move to extraction.

  She started to snap off orders to the others in the room with her and then contacted different agents under her command, the outpost shadows shifted under the cover of night.

  ***

  Kanoa was down in the tavern. He nursed the beer slowly. It wasn’t the best beer he had had, but it had the bite of alcohol that relieved his mind and his body.

  Just one beer I can’t lose my focus or edge.

  He quietly surveyed the room. The patrons had left some time ago. The tavern owner was cleaning the area quietly, most of the staff had gone home.

  There was only one way up to their rooms. Kanoa watched downstairs while Miller was upstairs. If they were attacked then Miller would wake everyone and jump out of the windows. They had scouted the area and found three routes, pressing it into the brains of their charges.

  They’ve changed a lot from who and what they were before. They would think we were alarmists before, now they accept what we’re saying and think of their surroundings like we do. Back on Earth they could just be civilians, but here in the Ten Realms where the powerful rule and steal from others, there is no such security.

  He had trained boys and girls into iron-face soldiers. He had little mercy for those that complained and whined because they were uncomfortable, too used to their leisure lifestyles. He was a hard man, but they needed a hard man.

  Certainly didn’t make any friends that way. Kanoa grinned to himself and took another tiny sip of his beer.

  The tavern owner walked to the door and opened it. Kanoa looked over his mug, his dark eyes flickered to the two men who walked in. He felt his nose flare as the two men scanned the room and locked onto him.

  Fighters, they’re spacing to cover one another.

  His eyes flicked to the tavern owner who closed the door. He didn’t lock it, Kanoa noticed, and headed into the back of the tavern, closing the door behind him.

  The two men pulled off their hats and their cloaks.

  Kanoa’s eyes widened and then thinned looking at the all too similar carriers covered in magazines, tools and with a few patches on the front that denoted blood type and units.

  “So, who did you serve with? I was with the Marines personally, United States of course,” Rugrat said.

  “A hello would have worked,” the other man said.

  The Marine shrugged as Kanoa was holding his crossbow at the ready under the table, his thoughts in a mess.

  “My name is Erik West. This fine redneck creation is Jimmy Rodriguez, but we call him Rugrat. We served together. I’m an army medic, yeah I know, weird, but I’m guessing you know how the military works based on your boots. We landed here, three nearly four years ago I want to say, got the two week curse when we were working a security contracting gig in Africa, got shipped back stateside and then to wherever the hell this is,” Erik grabbed a seat and straddled it, Rugrat did the same and sat down, too.

  “You got anything to prove it?” Kanoa asked.

  “Sure, but don’t shoot me,” Erik said.

  Erik pulled a cellphone out of thin air he moved forward and tossed it onto the table, he kept away, not crowding Kanoa.

  Kanoa grabbed the cellphone and looked it over.

  “Shit,” he said and looked at Erik and Rugrat both.

  “What do you want?” Kanoa asked.

  “We want you to help train up our fighting forces. The people under your protection can study in our academies, though they’ll need to pay for it, tuition costs did follow us over, unfortunately,” Erik said.

  “I worked my way up to Captain One-oh-One, Airborne,” Kanoa said. “How do I know you’re not trying to be slavers or sell me to Ikku?”

  “Well, if Ikku saw our gear and us walking around here in the First Realm she would try to capture us like she did you. We can make an oath on the Ten Realms if you want,” Erik said.

  “Don’t shoot me,” Rugrat said.

  Kanoa eyed him as a rifle appeared in Rugrat’s hand. He held it by the barrel and threw it on the table with a heavy thud that made everyone wince.

  Rugrat pulled a magazine from his carrier and tossed it over as well.

  Kanoa pulled out his crossbow, keeping it aimed at the two. He had his right hand on the bow and then used his left to turn the rifle over. It was rough but looked to be based off of the FAL. He pulled back on the cocking handle and looked inside the chamber and studied the mechanisms inside.

  He checked that the barrel was clear and the firing pin was there. He released the cocking handle and aimed the gun away, dry firing it with a satisfying click.

  Kanoa watched the two men, checked the magazine and the rounds inside before slapping it into the rifle and pulling back on the cocking handle and loading a round into the rifle.

  Still he held his hand on his crossbow, not trusting a weapon that he hadn’t disassembled personally.

  “Where were you based?

  “Where did you serve and what is your name? Don’t want to be calling you Cap throughout,” Erik grinned.

  “Kanoa Nalani, from Hawaii,”

  “Hawaii, is
pretty far from Kentucky,” Rugrat said.

  “The island boy wanted to jump out of planes. My parents weren’t best pleased when I signed up,” Kanoa relaxed a bit more, looking at the two others.

  “You make this?” he pointed at the rifle.

  “Yeah,” Rugrat nodded “The firearms from Earth they work in the lower realms but needed stronger materials to handle the more powerful rounds and powder we were using. Also integrated them with formations to increase their force output.”

  “I think I know what might make you trust us a bit more, it is another gun,” Erik pulled out another rifle. Erik unloaded it and racked it back twice, ejecting the loaded round before he turned the rifle around.

  Kanoa realized that he didn’t feel threatened as Erik cleared the weapon, seeing the rote functions that had been burned into the other man’s brain.

  Erik stood up and extended the rifle out.

  “She’s my personal, been through a lot with her,” Erik said.

  Kanoa took the butt of the rifle. His increased strength since arriving in the Ten Realms allowed him to hold it easily. Erik retreated and Kanoa pulled the AR platform rifle back.

  “Shoots a six point eight round, AR platform uses the piston system, keeps it operating for longer, with an ACOG mounted on the top and a red dot on the side rail, I had to mark in the red dot because it doesn’t work in the Ten Realms,” Erik said.

  There was no hiding the look in his eyes or the expressions of Rugrat as well.

  Kanoa looked at the HK on the side of the magwell and turned it over.

  “German engineering, can’t beat it,” Kanoa said with a smile and pointed his crossbow in another direction.

  “Okay, so I’ll listen,” Kanoa said, his smile faded as he looked at the two men with a cold face.

  “If you trust your people, we will supply you all with plate carriers, magazines and rifles. Gear that you can use and defend yourselves with if we fuck with you. Then we come to an agreement. At the very least, hear our pitch. We’ll smoke screen Ikku and get you on your way,” Rugrat said.