The Azure Dragon

by Vladimir Vasilenko

  Only two left…

  Reluctantly, I spent another one to open up the Heart of the Oak. The last pearl was left in the quick access slot. It would be like the last bullet—in case something happens, and I had to end it all. I needed to restock on pearls ASAP. I'd be in trouble without them. I wouldn’t be able to get into the Misty Hall or use Qi charges in combat.

  The vanara cub suddenly started to act anxiously, squealing like a monkey. In a moment, he jumped up and popped back on the back of my neck, grabbing the hard leather shoulder strap with his tiny palms. I involuntarily tensed. The idyllic atmosphere reigning by the Eternal Banyan made me forget for a while where I was. There was dangerous jungle all around me.

  Someone was approaching me from behind—the steps were distinctly heard, though muffled by soft grass.

  The chakram was already in my hand. I turned around, slowly, holding the hand with the weapon so that it was not visible from behind.

  If the uninvited guest rushes to attack, I'll roll to the side, throw the chakram at him, and then…

  But there was no attack. Only a surprised cry escaped my throat.

  "Hey! What are you doing here?"

  Chapter 12. Adrift

  I always thought there was something catlike in Edge's walk. Her lazy graceful movements revealed a dormant power. I knew firsthand that when necessary, the assassin could move much faster than cats. And her claws were much sharper.

  "So what are you doing here, if I may ask?" I frowned.

  Edge paused and grimaced.

  "What are you doing here?" She said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Dozens of guesses started swarming in my head like ants.

  "How did you track me down?"

  "Guess!"

  "Did you put your assassin mark on me again?"

  She grunted vaguely and turned away as if listening to something or trying to see something.

  Is she checking something in the interface or listening to the chat medallion? She's acting so weird.…

  I rose to my feet, hid the chakram but picked up the staff. The monkey was fidgeting excitedly on my shoulder, occasionally opening his tiny mouth in a silent scream.

  "What a funny little guy!" Edge smiled.

  The cub tried to hide under my armpit at the sound of her voice, but I carefully got him out and put him back on my back. He grabbed the straps of my armor and peered over my shoulder, bulging his frightened eyes. During the course of our entire trip, this lad wasn't scared of anything, but now, he was panicking at the sight of a girl. It made me wonder.

  "Where's everyone?" I asked, looking around.

  It is unlikely that the Hounds could get there so quickly. Even if Edge was leading them, following her mark, I had a solid head start and I was moving much faster on the top tier than they could go through the thickets below. The assassin could technically be keeping up with me alone—she was fast, light-foot, and could hide in her invisible form from most of the dangers.

  "They're in trouble. I was the only one who managed to escape."

  "What do you mean they're in trouble? Were they attacked?"

  "Yes, by vanaras. But they didn't kill them. They captured them, tied them, and dragged somewhere in the jungle."

  Damn it! I immediately saw the scenes of the fight between the two flocks of vanaras that I had witnessed. In addition, for some reason, I imagined Kata, being literally torn to pieces. I shuddered.

  What could be worse than getting caught in the clutches of these rabid creatures?

  "Why didn't they kill them on the spot?"

  "How would I know? But there were three shamans with them. Maybe they need sacrifices for some kind of a ritual."

  "I wouldn't be surprised. Where are they taking them? Did you put a mark on anyone?"

  "Yep, I'm tracking them. They're heading south, deep into the jungle. It'll be hard to catch up with them."

  "What's the sense? What are we gonna do together against a whole pack of vanaras? The entire squad failed…"

  "So you're saying we should just leave them?" She squinted angrily, giving me a scornful look from head to toe. "Or have you already left everyone? Why did you run off here?"

  "To find answers!" I snapped. "Do you think I'm a deserter?"

  "Well, what did you find out?"

  "The vanaras are not the only tribe here. There are at least three large tribes. They worship different great trees, which supposedly remained since the creation of the world. As I understand it, the shamans of the tribe of the Whispering oak muddy the water. Remember, Hanuman muttered something about the one who whispers?"

  "Yep."

  "I have a plan: find Hanuman and try to find out more about all this. We'll talk him into helping us."

  "How are you going to persuade him? What can we offer him?"

  "Remember, when we asked him, why he wouldn't put back line these presumptuous shamans himself, he responded that being righteous and fair as he is, he can't cause harm to his own subjects?"

  "Well... I think I remember."

  "What if he just can't? What if he's programmed this way and can't directly attack other vanaras? Why else would he secretly destroy their altars instead of going to the tribe and showing them who is the master in the jungle?"

  Edge pondered, and I, benefiting from her silence, continued.

  "We can do it for him and give these bloody shamans a good whooping, for example. Or... I don't know, burn that oak. I mean, we'll eliminate the root of the problem for him. Anyway, these hairy punks clearly have exceeded all bounds. They're out of control. I watched them attack a flock of other vanaras, gray tailed guys. I think they belong to the tribe of the Celestial Tree.”

  "Are you saying that vanaras fight not only the players but also among themselves?"

  "Yep. I think Hanuman doesn't like it either. So here we have a point of contact. We will help him get rid of the unwanted shamans, and he will help us with Genghis."

  "That's your plan?" Edge winced skeptically. "You're hoping that Hanuman will stoop down to talk to us and agree to help?"

  "Well, at least I have a plan!" I couldn't resist. "Terekhov is just like a puppy fetching for Genghis. Why wait? Time plays against us; don't you all understand? Am I wrong?"

  "Sure, you are," reluctantly agreed the assassin. "But your plan has one serious mishap. We have already tried to offer our help to Hanuman, during our very first meeting. He made fun of us. Why do you think that is?"

  "Because he's an insane ape with superiority complex?"

  "That too. But if we face the truth—what can we really do? Kill the head shamans of Whispering Oak? Seriously? We can't even deal with the ordinary vanaras. You just asked yourself—what's the point of us catching up with the squad if we can't do anything?"

  I sighed.

  "Yes, I was wrong about that. We should try to catch up with Terekhov and the others and fight for them. Whatever it takes. And then we can try to negotiate with the monkey king. We will prove to him that we can compete with his savage subjects."

  I walked away from the Banyan to the shore of the lake. The assassin followed me.

  "Can we really do that?" She chuckled.

  "We haven't really tried. They just caught us off guard."

  "Well, are you trying to make yourself feel better?"

  "Who are they, after all? Just stupid mobs. And we are the Steel Hounds!"

  We walked out to the lake, and I stopped, looking at its slightly rippled surface. The lake, the Banyan, and the ruins of the white stone city on the opposite bank occupied the main part of the valley. There was nothing more to see. I sat down on a large flat rock near the water. Three cycles of meditation would be nice right now to bring my thoughts and emotions in order, but Edge loomed behind me and distracted me.

  "Where are they right now?" I asked. "Can you show me on the map?"

  The assassin hesitated, and I rolled my eyes painfully to the sky.

  "Not again! You don't want to show me you
r personal map? What could I possibly see on it?"

  But Edge wasn't the only player who preferred not to spot her map with personal notes. Information in Artar could sometimes be more expensive than gold.

  I took mine out and unfolded it in front of me, spreading it out on the stone.

  "Show me."

  "Here," the assassin confidently pointed her finger at the area three miles south of us. "They are moving to the southern tip of the peninsula.”

  So, let's estimate the distance... Damn, that's disappointing. I have more or less gotten the hang of jumping on the branches in the upper tier, but I hardly move through the jungle faster than the vanaras, even if they are a little slowed down by the burden. There are no Shadowbird towers in the depths of Uabo either. What other transport can we come up with? Maybe…

  I ran my finger along one of the thin, sinuous lines that entangled the entire peninsula like blue blood veins.

  "What if we go down this river? Do you think we can catch up with them?"

  "Well, maybe," said Edge, not very confidently. "If they keep going south, their route will cross this river. Somewhere here. But do you think we can get there fast enough? Moving along the river is quite dangerous—there is a thick undergrowth, and a lot of beasts…"

  "I didn't say 'along the river.' I said, 'down the river'."

  "You want to get in the water? We'll be eaten in no time!"

  "We'll build a raft or a boat. We need something small for the two of us. Let's go down the hill now and look for something suitable. Hey, what are you doing?"

  Edge was obviously not listening—her gaze was directed somewhere past me, to the surface of the lake. I looked around.

  The lake seemed to glow from within, and a bright white spot was breaking through the water, rapidly increasing in size. It looked like a surfacing submarine, covered with floodlights. I put the map away and raised to my feet to get a better look at the light source.

  An elongated triangular head on a long neck appeared on the surface slowly and silently, without making even the smallest splash. The neck kept stretching, sticking out of the water like a crane. It was very flexible and covered with large glowing scales. Finally, the beasts back emerged—smooth, sloping, resembling one of a hippopotamus, glowing so brightly that it could be seen in the light of day.

  I can't even imagine the way this animal shines at night. Probably like the moon plunged into a lake.

  The giant resembled a brontosaurus or a lizard, with a huge torso, snake-like neck, and a small for this size head. A sort of a Loch ness monster. Due to the fact that most of it was still under water, it was difficult to estimate its exact size. I think it was about fifty to sixty-five feet in length at least. That is, it was like a large whale in size. I wondered how much the thing weighed and thought it would have to be dozens of tons, for sure. It's amazing that it lived in this small pond, which was about five hundred yards in diameter. But I didn’t know how deep the lake was. Given that this was a volcano, it could go hundreds of feet down.

  The lake giant dove again, arching its back. Its huge hump with triangular fins flashed above the surface, slapping the hefty flat tail on the water and splashing a cloud of water.

  "Wow," I breathed out.

  In the last couple of days in Uobo, I saw a lot of amazing creatures, but this one was beyond all expectations. The size alone was incredible. What was more shocking was the system hint that I got from closely watching this beast for long enough.

  Mokele-Mbebe. The One Who Stops the Flow of Rivers.

  Ahh... Another piece of the puzzle found. I thought the quest description said something about a sorcerer. But this nickname was almost literal. A beast of this size could definitely serve as a living dam and block the flow of a river. What do I need for the quest? There was something about glow... Does it mean I need to get its glowing scales? How am I going to do that?!

  At that point, I was more concerned about other things. Not wasting any time, Edge and I sprinted along the lake, in search of a place on the river where we could set a raft off. It was quite simple because the shore was smooth, sandy, and the rivers that flowed from the lake had stone bridges, which were decrepit with time, but were still strong.

  If Doc were there, he would have started pondering about how the local hydraulic system operated just like he did at the waterfalls of Gray Peak. The lake, that had several rivers flowing into it at once and none of them flowing out made me wonder too. Where did all this water come from? It seemed to me that this was another mystery, which we should just let be if we didn't want to be reproached by the Ghosts again. Even this humongous beast the size of a whale, living in such a tiny lake looked very much like Cerberus.

  Going down the rocks was always a lot more difficult than climbing up, but only when you didn’t have the Silver Stinger. The twenty-feet-long magic rope that could be securely attached to any rock, and, in a matter of seconds, stretched to maximum length and contracted back was a dream for a climber. Edge also appreciated my new device, because it was useful to her as well. I fixed the Stinger on a steep slope, quickly jumped down, pushing off a rock with my feet. Edge went down the rope when it was unwound to its full length. I released the tip and fastened it to a lower point.

  It was much more difficult to find something suitable for rafting on the river. Being a typical city dweller of the mid-21st century, I had no idea how to build something out of materials at hand. If we had axes, saws, and other tools, that'd be different. However, constructing a simple raft would take at least a couple of hours, and we didn't have that much time.

  Therefore, we had to walk along the bank on foot. We walked half a mile while fighting off the local animals before we came across a huge dry stump a few feet from the water. It was a piece of fallen tree about three feet in diameter. Its carcass was sticking out of the ground a little way of the stump. Apparently, the tree has withered, and then the wind took it down. The trunk fell across the river, breaking in several places, and the middle part of it has long been carried away by the current.

  Though the stump was dried up and thoroughly eaten by beetles, it was quite heavy. I puffed for half a minute, rocking it, until I started thinking about using my last pearl on the Lashing Branch. An explosive force of + 200% in addition to my own Strength wouldn't hurt. The only doubt I had was whether this technique could be used in a situation like this. In the description, it said the bonus is added to Strength during an attack, but I wasn’t certain if it was possible to direct this energy in a more peaceful way. Spending the last pearl to find out wasn't my intention.

  To my surprise, Edge saved the day. Together we managed to pull the log from its place and drag it to the shore. The assassin came up with an idea to use a long solid pole as a lever. She was also strong, as it turned out. I always forget that looks are deceiving in Artar. After a couple of weeks of playing, any more or less upgraded character was much stronger than an ordinary person in real life. I imagine what it would be like in six months or a year when some of the players develop characteristics that are worth not two or three hundred points but thousands. I predict wars of the demigods.

  But the developers had foreseen the possibility of this. Most of the content in Artar was clearly made to “be grown into”. For instance, ordinary players wouldn't be able to tackle vanaras, armed with simple swords and spears. Having firearms would slightly increase their chances.

  The log plopped into the water and surfaced, picked up by the current. We barely had time to jump on it. We almost fell over because the log was odd-shaped, with fragments of boughs sticking out from it, and it was hard to keep it from constantly spinning in the water. But, in the end, cursing and falling into the water a couple more times, we got ourselves situated. Our improvised boat, carried by the current, pulled into the middle of the stream and quickly rushed ahead.

  The current was fast here, and we were moving on much faster than if we kept on walking. The slope was quite steep. According to the map, in three miles,
the terrain would level up, and the river would be twice as wide. It would certainly slow us down, but I was pretty sure that the river would take us through the jungle a lot faster than trying to get through it on foot. As long as we didn't come across any rapids.

  This wasn't the only danger there. The ride surely didn't feel like a fun boat trip. To put it mildly, the level of comfort wasn't the same. I was riding in the front, and Edge was on the other end behind me. We had to use all our might to maneuver the log between the rocks in the water and keep it straight. Edge used the same pole that served as leverage before. I wielded my staff, pushing it off the obstacles on our way. Unfortunately, it wasn't long enough to reach the bottom of the river. It might have been if I bent over more, but I didn't want to tip us over.

  So it felt like a long ride on a scary roller coaster. I could swap spots with Edge because she seemed to have a harder time, but it was impossible to do it on the go, so I just hoped that the girl would be fine. So far, she seemed to have been doing well.

  It wasn't like I was having any downtime. By now, our speed was close to 6-7 miles per hour, and at this rate, any collision would mean another dip in the water for us. Swimming in these murky yellowish waters sounded unappealing. I didn't even want to get my boots wet. Now and then, there were some dark silhouettes flitting in the water, and sometimes they looked rather big. Some of the rocks and bumps, that I used to push off with the end of my staff turned out to be crocodiles or something worse. Fortunately, they did not immediately rush to attack—the log looked large and scary, so they didn't perceive it as prey and were too blind to see us on top of it.

  We watched the surface of the water intensely, shying away from every shadow. The memories of incanyamby's attack on Kata were still fresh. These toothy creatures seemed to be a cross between eels and piranhas, and could easily jump out of the water to attack. The log wasn't particularly safe in that regard.

  There were enough dangers on the banks, too. I saw a huge spotted cat, a leopard type, on a branch hanging over water. The predator watched us go by, but didn't attack. Not sure whether we were out of his aggravation radius or the mob just didn't want to get wet. Another hundred yards down the river, I saw an anaconda slipping into the water. My hair stood on end when I saw this—good thing my head was shaved. The spotted, glossy serpentine body, that was as thick as a grown man’s arm, uncoiled and entered the water from the shore. When we were on the same level with the monster, I distinctly saw its long dark silhouette in the water. For some time, we moved parallel to each other, and I could tell that the snake was much longer than the log.