City of the Dead

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Pull him away!” ordered Valanil, and Tailyn watched in surprise as the world turned on its head and began to move past. He was dragged over to the table. Once again, something hit the door, and new cracks appeared. Hinges flew off, the lock Dort had so deftly handled no longer held, and all that kept the door vertical were the backs of the elder’s son and the herbalist. But everyone knew they weren’t going to last long. One good hit, and—

  “I found it! Blocking access!” Valia called happily, and something changed. Valanil couldn’t tell what it was at first, so she kept pushing against the door as hard as she could.

  “Are they gone?” Dort asked nervously a few moments later. “Did we win?”

  And it was true—nobody was trying to break in, anymore. Valanil wasn’t able to make herself stand up and check to see what had happened for quite a while, though as soon as she did, the door collapsed to the group to reveal an empty hallway. There wasn’t a single lix to be seen.

  “Get up here!” Valia yelled. “It’s safe!”

  Tailyn finally came to. Pulling himself to his feet, he was about to head over to the window to get another glimpse of his personal enemy when the herbalist stopped him.

  “Your shield is almost gone. Do you have anything to boost it with?”

  “N-no,” Tailyn mumbled. “Everything’s gone.”

  “Then don’t expose yourself like that again. Dort, you climb up first. Eighty-five, you’re next. And you don’t hang around here too long, my boy—we don’t know when the lixes will be back.”

  Tailyn nodded and finally went over to the window. His enemy was still out there on his golden beast. While the boy had never seen a lion, he’d heard of the enormous cats with their luxurious manes, and from what he could tell, he was looking at one with just a few modifications. For instance, he’d never heard of lions having two tails. One in that case was tipped with a spiked mace; the other had a sharp blade. The beast looked powerful, enormous, definitely bigger than Tailyn, and it was impatiently pawing the ground in an effort to get into the palace and destroy the puny humans. But it couldn’t. Its master was waiting. To his surprise, the boy watched as Ka-Do-Gir was dragged over, a hunched green shaman waved a crooked stick over him, and his former partner transformed back into his usual look. And while Tailyn couldn’t hear what the lixes were saying, their gestures told him he was the subject of their conversation. Every time his personal enemy looked up at the palace, shivers ran down Tailyn’s spine. He was a dangerous opponent. So dangerous, in fact, that the boy could tell from a distance.

  Halas (black lix). Chieftain. Age 10. Level 82.

  Appearance-wise, the enemy looked much the same as his fellow tribesmen if a bit shorter. He had six limbs, a terrifying mouthful of teeth, and black skin. But it was his bright blue armor that stood out against the crowd of warriors and drew attention to Halas. How had a monster like that become the boy’s personal enemy? Tailyn made a mental note to go ask the god that question.

  The conversation with Ka-Do-Gir finally wrapped up, and the lix was sent off. Judging by the fact that Tailyn’s old partner was bathed in a white light, the meeting with Halas had gone well—he’d gotten a boost to one of his attributes. The boy ground his teeth in rage knowing Ka-Do-Gir had said something important. He should have finished the lix when he had the chance.

  The enemy leaped off his lion and clapped the creature’s flank. It turned, licked its master, and sprinted off toward the palace. Immediately, the security system kicked in—balls of fire began smacking into the onrushing beast. But the lion just kept trucking straight ahead. Soon, it disappeared out of Tailyn’s field of view, and the boy heard a noise in the main hall. Something was going on down there.

  Valanil’s advice struck him as smart, so he quickly climbed into the shaft and nearly lost his grip in surprise. There was fire all around him. The hole on the first floor was letting in flames from the inferno down there, and it just about reached the boy. The air was hot. Happily, his outfit surprised him by turning on a ventilation or cooling system, though it only worked up to his chest. Tailyn’s head was exposed to the heated air. Still, that wasn’t enough to keep him from climbing upward, especially since it was cooler higher up. The fire wasn’t reaching the second floor. A couple nerve-wracking seconds later, and the boy was next to the door. It was closed, so he had to knock.

  The door opened, and Dort poked his head out, not even bothering to hide his annoyance.

  “What took so long? Okay, empty your pockets.”

  Tailyn just about let go of the cable in surprise. What pockets?

  “Hurry up,” Valia said from behind Dort. “There’s a chance we can get away!”

  The elder’s son stepped to the side so Tailyn could climb in, and it was right then that the shaft wall on the second level exploded, sending pieces of plaster flying in every direction. Tailyn’s shield finally gave out. Painful wounds opened up on his legs, and the boy wasn’t able to bite his tongue before he squealed in pain. Down below, the lion’s golden head poked out of the hole, having made its way to the second floor and demolished the room with the dummy terminal.

  The animal roared and crawled into the shaft. The only problem there was that the walls weren’t strong enough to hold it, and the heavy monster toppled downward. For just a second, Tailyn hoped they were rid of the dangerous beast. But when a rumbling sound broke out along with a chorus of sparks, he saw that it had broken through the grille keeping it from the bottom of the shaft.

  “They know where we are now, so we need to hurry,” Valanil said in a surprisingly calm voice. “Valia, can you describe what’s going on?”

  “Sure, let me project the picture.”

  The last numerical girl left alive let out a muffled squeak as a three-dimensional projection of the palace full of colored dots appeared above the desk.

  “We’re right here,” Valia said, pointing at a room at the top of the palace. “The only way to get here is by climbing the shaft or breaking through this wall. And it may be thick, but I think a legendary animal like that one is up to the task. There’s no more security system on the first floor—that thing took it out completely. I can’t even imagine how…”

  “It’s a Nemean lion,” Valanil explained, suddenly realizing that she would be forgiven and even restored to her position in Crobar in exchange for information about the black lix and its card. But is that what she wanted? “A companion summoned with a legendary card. The thought was there were only two of those cards, one with… Well, that’s not important. Anyway, there are apparently three Nemean lions. That definitely changes the balance of power… I have no idea where the lix could have gotten his, and I really don’t know how it can possibly use it—those cards require 64 wisdom. Magic won’t work on the lion. Instead, it’ll just make it stronger, making it perfect for hunting mages and anyone else used to relying on their damn cards.”

  “There are three of them? Aren’t legendary cards unique?” Tailyn asked.

  “Why would you say that? There aren’t many of them, they’re expensive to use, and they’re powerful, but they’re not unique.”

  “Is there such a thing as unique cards?” he continued.

  “Sure. They don’t have a rank, though there aren’t many of them, at all. If we get out of here alive, Tailyn, there’s a lot I’ll tell you that you won’t even hear from your mentor.”

  “How do you know all that?” Valia asked with a frown. The girl was confused as to how an herbalist in a provincial town could have gotten her hands on such high-level information. Actually, she wanted in, too.

  “We all have our secrets, don’t we, sweetie?” Valanil looked over at Valia strangely. “But we’re losing time. Tell Tailyn what we need to do.”

  Valia nodded, though she definitely wanted to have that conversation with the herbalist. Just a little later. In the meantime, she pointed at the two posts.

  “There’s a chance we can get out of this. We’re going to try using a portal!”


  “I’m not really sure how they work,” Tailyn muttered in embarrassment.

  “You’re not the only person here,” Valia said. “I already rerouted all the energy here, and we’re good to go!”

  “So then, why aren’t we going?” Tailyn could tell there was a catch just from her tone, and he wasn’t wrong. Valia closed her eyes and let him have it.

  “Because you need three things to completely activate a portal. First, there’s the card with the destination. Second, the card creator has to have enough mana. And third, you need the resources it takes to make the card.”

  “Okay, but what does that have to do with me? I don’t know how to make cards.” Tailyn had yet to hear the catch, but everything in him screamed that it was coming up.

  “We have a designer,” Valia replied with a nod toward Dort, who puffed his chest out proudly. He was ready to save the world. “The only problem is that our designer is so bad, he doesn’t have enough mana to cover half the card.”

  “I still don’t understand what you want from me.” The boy looked away from the projection of the palace and yanked the door open.

  Ka-Li.

  There was a shriek followed by a thud that sounded like chunks of meat dropped from high up slamming into the ground. Actually, that wasn’t far from the truth. The lixes had been climbing up the shaft, the electric strike had stunned the one at the top, it had knocked the others off, and they’d all fallen together. And since the lion had gotten rid of the grille, they dropped all the way to the bottom. Judging by the number of opponents left, none of their shields had been capable of withstanding the fall. Four down.

  “If we’re going to buy the resources we need, it’s going to cost five and a half thousand coins,” Valanil said when she realized the girl was taking forever to get to the point. “I have two thousand three hundred. Valia’s going to give you another two thousand, so we need one thousand two hundred so Dort can get to work.”

  “But that’s not all?” Tailyn launched another charge at the lix peeking out of the hole beneath him only to himself jump back as three enormous icicles whizzed past and slammed into the ceiling. There was a shower of ice, plaster, and stone, and Tailyn was forced to close the door. Keeping a close eye on the dots in the projection, he waited for the next few to climb into the shaft.

  “Dort will need a thousand mana to create a temporary portal card. I don’t have that much. Valia and I are letting him borrow rings, but it still isn’t enough. We need something better.”

  “A designer without mana?” Tailyn was having a hard time wrapping his head around the process. “I have gold and mana, so why don’t I just unlock the skill in the terminal and make the card myself?”

  “I thought about that,” Valanil replied frankly, “but it’s impossible. After you get the designer skill, you’re supposed to head over to the temple and add the location to your list of potential destinations. That’s the only way. Even if you teach yourself how to make cards, it’ll still be pointless. You don’t have Culmart. Dort does—he already showed me. Tailyn, the shaft!”

  The boy had already noticed the lixes climbing up. A few shots later, and his electric strike card was down to forty-two charges. More icicles hit the roof to shower the area in debris.

  “Valia, keep an eye on the shaft. Tailyn, the first thing we need is coins. One thousand two hundred. Please.” Valanil pointed at the terminal. “Sell everything you don’t need, everything you can buy back later. If we don’t survive, none of it will matter.”

  That made sense, and Tailyn jumped into the store to see what everything he had was worth. He needed that information to make an informed decision.

  CARDS:

  Fireball-II card valued at 940 coins.

  Last Chance card valued at 8015 coins.

  Dragon card valued at 2500000 coins.

  Electric Strike-I card valued at 220 coins.

  Enhanced Shield-I card valued at 260 coins.

  Wave of Fire-I card valued at 50 coins.

  EQUIPMENT:

  Booster-III amulet valued at 1500 coins.

  Bag with 36 slots valued at 500 coins.

  OGM-II outfit valued at 1500 coins.

  OGM-III outfit valued at 8000 coins.

  Tailyn sighed in frustration. He didn’t have that many things he could sell for coins, and they were all valuable and important. Really, his OGM-II outfit was the only candidate, but how was Dort going to get mana without it? Tailyn certainly wasn’t going to hand over his own outfit.

  Heading back over to the store, the boy set the filters to just show him the square little papers.

  Enhanced Shield-I card costs 780 coins.

  It was exactly three times more, which was a surprise. Tailyn checked the rest of his cards and discovered the same to be true with the exception of his legendary card—it was nowhere to be found. The terminal was like the street hustlers marking up their goods at the edges of the empire. After buying something in the capital for a song, they’d sell it off as if it were incredibly valuable. And people paid what they asked, too. What choice did they have?

  “Tailyn, hurry up!”

  You sold Last Chance. 8084 coins available.

  The boy was loathe to give up the card, the first epic item he’d gotten his hands on, especially as it had come at such a high cost. But having already saved his life once, it was going to do it again. At least, that was his thinking.

  “Here you go.” Tailyn stepped back out of the store and materialized a small disk worth 1,200 coins.

  “Dort, go buy the ingredients!” While Valanil wanted to throw him toward the terminal, the little bastard just jerked away in recognition that the fate of the group rested on his shoulders.

  “Get your hands off me,” he replied in a tone of contempt. “Forget the coins—I need equipment! I’m not doing anything without mana. Let’s see it, and make it snappy!”

  Valia and Valanil handed him their rings. Dort grabbed them and slipped them on.

  “Not enough. Tailyn, get naked!”

  “How much more does he need?” the boy asked Valia rather than Dort.

  “Do you not see the frames?” Valanil asked with a frown. Tailyn and Dort were in the same group, so they should have been able to see each other’s mana levels.

  “A bit less than four hundred.” Valia knew about Tailyn’s challenges and jumped in to keep his secret safe.

  In the time they’d spent as a group, Dort had picked up level three, which put him well within reach of the amount of mana he needed.

  “You’re giving this back whole and intact,” Tailyn said as he materialized his OGM-II and handed it to Dort. That was 150 mana for a level three player. Too little. Oh, so unwillingly, he pulled his Booster-III amulet off and watched sadly as his parameters plummeted.

  “Give it to me!” Dort practically ripped it out of the lowborn kid’s hand and threw it around his neck. “Now, I can get to work. Protect your savior—I’ll be back soon!”

  The boy went over to the terminal and froze, his consciousness carried over to the store and its workshop.

  “Is this definitely going to work?” Tailyn asked, watching the kid he hated warily. “I don’t trust Dort. He could betray us.”

  “He doesn’t have a choice,” Valanil replied. “If he does, he’ll die, too. The lixes want to get back at us for everyone they lost.”

  “Look, it’s the lion!” Valia exclaimed with a finger jabbing at an enormous red dot. The creature had finally found its way out of the lower palace level and was back on the second. Right then, it was directly underneath the room with the terminal, down where the dummy had once been.

  A thunderous roar ripped through the air as a fearsome blow shook several floors at once. Tailyn couldn’t help opening the door and peeking out, though he quickly shut and threw his body against it. Gripping the cable with its teeth and burying its claws in the outer wall, which had lasted thousands of years, the Nemean lion crawled slowly upward with the help of both tails.

/>   “Where’s Dort?!” Tailyn yelled. “We need the portal right now!”

  “Sorry, babe, unlucky for you,” Valanil said. With one punch, she stunned the unsuspecting numerical, grabbed her by the leg, and dragged her over to the shaft.

  “Tailyn, get out of the way!”

  “Don’t do it!” Valia cried in horror.

  “Nobody asked you, kid. And if it doesn’t work, you’re next. Tailyn, I told you to get out of the way! Don’t make me angry, you little wretch!”

  “No, I’m not going to let you,” Tailyn said as he barred the path to the door. “She’s part of the group—you can’t do that.”

  The noise coming from the shaft intensified. Apparently, the lion had found a good way to climb and was making its way toward the door.