by Dmitry Bilik
I darted off, zigzagging like a chased hare across the entire width of the road. I avoided his trident by pure chance — and lost my balance in the process.
So much for my well-laid plans. I was lying on the road, trapped under his net.
[ ∞ ]
This time I dodged to make sure the trident missed me, then stopped dead in my tracks, waving my hands to dampen the momentum. The net dropped to the ground right in front of me. I ran over it toward him and took a swing, intending to slash out at the joint in his armor. Still, the Kabirid proved quicker on the draw than I thought. He flung the trident aside, drew a dagger and parried my blow with it. The moon steel clanged plaintively. The Kabirid let go of the net and went for me.
He was just as dangerous with a dagger; in actual fact, he was suspiciously agile for his burly build. If Hunter hadn’t taught me some basic defense, things would have turned sour.
Which they did, anyway. As I backed off, I stumbled over a rock and went sprawling onto my back. Impatient to finish off one of his attackers, the Kabirid lunged at me, pointing his greedy dagger at my chest.
Admittedly, I wasn’t a big fan of piercings, decorative or otherwise.
[ ∞ ]
As I fell to my back, I managed to stretch out a hand and pushed myself back up. In this position, there was only one spot I could hit. Shuddering, I slashed out at his groin.
How he screamed! He put H.P. Baxxter to shame, I tell you. Blood squirted out of the wound onto the dry rocks while I froze, still crouching, unable to move with shock.
I only came round when I saw a sword piercing the Kabirid’s throat.
“Happy now, slimeball?” Traug shouted, apparently pleased with himself.
The question required no answer. The “slimeball” had already dissolved, his ashes spiriting away on some business of their own. I wistfully eyed the generous loot he’d dropped while Traug shamelessly bagged it all.
“Sergei, look, he’s got Devil’s Sulfur on him! That must have been some very special demon. One of Lucifer’s own spawn.”
“You could say that again. He gave me a full dose of his specialness.”
“We need to stash it away before the Archali saw it. They have a nose for this stuff.”
“Why, what can they do?”
“They’ll be all over this place like flies over… er, I’d like to say “over honey” but…”
“But that’s excellent,” I interrupted him. “How much sulfur have you got?”
“Just a gram. That’s all they drop normally.”
I didn’t try to dissuade him. Later, I might tell him about much better places for sulfur mining, right in the heart of the capital of France. Now, however, I just produced all the leftover sulfur I had on me and waited for Traug to add his precious gram to it. Then I just lifted my cupped hands over my head.
In the meantime, the battle had moved over to the castle. Its gates had been smashed open; a couple of Cerberi were already wreaking havoc in the city’s nether districts. I made out some strange skinny creatures which looked like dogs, only bigger and remarkably repulsive, with red eyes and spiky collars. Their skin hung in tatters.
“Hell hounds,” Traug whispered.
They could be here in less than a minute and a half, by the looks of it. Still, the glistening of the sulfur had already attracted the attention of a few retreating Archali, causing them to freeze in the air in hesitation. Finally, the biggest one of them — the one with the most scars and broken feathers — dove right onto us.
I’d barely managed to put the sulfur back into my bag when Preceptor — whatever that was supposed to mean — landed next to me.
“Sulfur,” he said, licking his lips.
“It’ll be yours,” I spat out. “On one condition.”
“Tell me.”
“We need to get into the Community. The only way to do it now is from above,” I pointed. “As soon as you depose us inside, we’ll give you the sulfur.”
He didn’t hesitate for very long. I could already see that my offer was incredibly generous. Still, I valued my life more.
Your Persuasion skill has increased to level 9.
The Preceptor nodded and turned to his brethren still hanging in mid-air. “Cover me. That’s an order.”
This was one of the rare cases where I had nothing against abuse of authority. The Archalus grabbed us with his arms like two wooden logs, kicked off and shot up upwards.
I definitely wasn’t astronaut material. I clung to our feathered helper for dear life, watching in horror as the earth distanced from under me — and as more Kabirids approached.
It would have been stupid to believe a stunt like this would go unnoticed. Now we were chased by six demons — which luckily were apprehended by the Preceptor’s team. It was by no means an equal fight, but I didn’t get the chance to enjoy it: in a few powerful wingbeats, the Preceptor delivered us to the hole at the mountain top. He stepped into it and plummeted down.
My stomach lurched. Amusement parks weren’t my thing, that’s for sure.
We landed some distance away from the central square. The Preceptor offered me a demanding hand, and I gave him the sulfur. In another brief wingbeat, he headed out, the same way he’d got inside. I wouldn’t be in such a hurry if I were him. It looked like the Kabirids were about to take the castle. With all due respect and sympathy to Ilya and possibly even to Commander Vifeil, they didn’t stand much chance.
“That was smart!” Traug slapped my shoulder so hard he very nearly dislocated it. “I would have never thought of something like that! I thought we were as good as dead.”
“There’s nothing good about it. Not my thing.”
“So what do we do now?”
“We’re getting the hell out of this place. I’ve had your Purgator up to here. It’ll give me indigestion for months.”
Traug grinned. Despite his recent captivity, he was now all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Now he headed for the Gatehouse. I was about to follow when I thought I saw a familiar face.
The funny thing was, the face in question wasn’t supposed to be here. And still it was — heading for the Governor’s mansion, of all places. The person walked over to the front door, opened it as if he owned the place, and walked straight in.
“Traug? Can you wait a second?”
“Why, what’s up?”
“We seem to have another unfinished business here. It won’t take long. We need to pay a courtesy visit to the city’s new Governor. Just to present our compliments and hopefully to get paid what’s due to us.”
Chapter 11
QUITE A FEW GREAT DISCOVERIES were made by accident. Alexander Fleming came across penicillin by sheer chance after he’d forgotten to wash a test plate containing live bacteria. Similarly, Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity while studying the phosphorescent effects of uranium salts. And me, I’d just discovered that you should never attempt to enter a stranger’s house uninvited.
I can only say that we did knock first. Polite nerd that I was, I knocked on the door, and kept knocking until my knuckles became sore. Then Traug joined in, leaving a couple of nice big dents in the wood. Still, no one seemed in a hurry to greet us — so we just let ourselves in, seeing as he door wasn’t locked, anyway.
That’s when we walked into another problem. The guy I’d recognized must have been a complete introvert — otherwise why would he have set up a magic trap on his own doorstep? And us, we just walked right into it.
In a blinding flash, a giant fireball rocketed toward us from the opposite wall. No one would have been able to react to it in time. As I activated time rewind, I sensed my hair curl with the heat, forming a warm wooly hat around my head. My skin crackled, turning into a thick juicy crust.
[ ∞ ]
I forced myself to think pronto. The moment the wretched front door closed, the BBQ show would begin.
“Traug — down!” I grabbed my uncomprehending partner and forced him onto the floor. The fireball d
isintegrated in the air without causing us much harm. Which was good news, I suppose. But just as we climbed back to our feet, a ring of frost appeared in front, spreading toward us. It touched the edge of my trench coat, then frosted my skin. I sensed a deadly cold which was less than pleasant, but the spell didn’t seem to have any other effects on us.
Your Resistance skill has increased to level 1.
Traug chuckled. “What are they like? Trying to hurt a Korl with a frost spell! They might just as well send a water mage down here.”
He jinxed it, didn’t he? No, they didn’t send any water mages to fight us — what they did send was water itself. We were showered with a gazillion tiny strangely-shaped droplets which were long and sharp like sewing needles. Traug just stood there legs akimbo with a contemptuous smirk on his face, proud and apparently pleased with himself. But for me it was no laughing matter. That wretched needle rain had stripped me of 30% life! All Korls seemed to have a high resistance to all Water and Frost spells — but apparently, this didn’t apply to half-bloods.
Before I got the chance to recover from this last adventure, an electric lightning ball formed right in front of me. That was really the last thing I needed now. I’d run out of time rewinds. So I just gritted my teeth and clenched my white-knuckled fists, digging my nails deep into my own flesh and bellowing like a cow led to the slaughterhouse. What else did you want me to do when I had high-voltage electric current sent right through me?
Your Resistance skill has increased to level 2.
You’ve reached level 8.
I really wasn’t in the mood to celebrate or even distribute the available points. Yes, I was happy that my health had been restored — but my chest still felt constricted so badly that I struggled to breathe. My head buzzed as if infested by a swarm of butterflies. Unless…
I looked up. No, it wasn’t in my head. It was indeed a swarm of tiny fluorites heading toward me — only these ones weren’t cute and cuddly at all, their angry jaws full of tiny but very sharp teeth.
Of course. They hated electricity, didn’t they? For them, this was a party. Having said that… hadn’t Jumping Jack scared them away with light last time? And I had just the thing in my little box of tricks.
I cast Light, pointing it at the closest fluorites. Blinded, they stopped in hesitation and hovered in the air, rubbing their eyes. Excellent. How about those over there?
I started moving my hand like a torchlight. It seemed to be working just fine, had it not been for Traug who, clumsy as usual, managed to upend a small table by the door.
The noise stirred the fluorites back into action. Their little faces distorted into bloodthirsty snarls. The sight was horrible. Their transparent wings whirred as the whole swarm descended upon me. I yelped as their tiny teeth bit right through my trench coat. You’d think it was nothing, but when a dozen of these little critters bit you almost simultaneously, you’d know all about it!
Traug wasn’t having it easy, either. You could say what you want about the fluorites but their lightning attack had cost me 20% life.
“Enough now!” I heard Traug’s voice, followed by a flash. This wasn’t my miserable excuse for a flashlight: the spell he’d cast was more like a surge of light which barreled toward us, sweeping away the fluorites.
“Jack! Is this how you meet all visitors?” I asked, peering at the bite marks covering my skin. It looked like I’d just been attacked by a bunch of microscopic Jack Russells.
“An unbidden guest brings unrest,” Jumping Jack replied, hopping toward us. “Hey you, Korl, mind straightening this up?” he pointed at the table Traug had upended.
“I thought you’d be happy to see us.”
“I don’t like visitors, whether humanoid or beastmen. Mechanoids are the only bunch I don’t mind. They never waste your time. That’s why as soon as those idiots elected me Governor again, the first thing I did was set up visiting hours. Whoever comes at any other time, has to run a small obstacle course.”
“So small it might be the last in your visitor’s life.”
“You had everything you needed in order to complete it. You wouldn’t expect me to set up impossible tasks for you, would you?”
I didn’t say anything, hoping that my meaningful silence spoke louder than words. In the meantime, Jack continued to analyze my recent actions.
“Those were elemental attacks which any experienced wizard should be able to neutralize. Plus the fluorites’ attack which was triggered by the lightning ball. You did the right thing by blinding them with light. Quite a few well-known Players — or some Gods, even — wouldn’t have even thought about it, believing themselves above understanding such inferior creatures. It would have gone really well, had it not been for your Korl friend who was stupid enough to push that table over. One thing that all fluorites hate just as much as they hate electricity is any loud noise. They’ll attack anyone who happens to be next to its source.”
“Is there anything those midges actually like?”
“Not much, really,” Jack agreed.
We fell silent. You could cut the air with a knife, so I tried to defuse the tension. “I killed Pull, didn’t I?”
“Oh yes, oh yes! Honestly, I didn’t expect it from you. Come with me… guys,” he added, glancing at Traug.
We followed him to the familiar room. Nothing had changed here. The table which only recently had been presided over by Pull; the chair where he’d spent the last seconds of his life — torturous, agonizing seconds. The only difference being, the table was now crowded with vials, test tubes, pestles and mortars, distillation retorts, little bottles containing all kinds of colorful liquids, and other alchemic paraphernalia. A large candelabra groaning with brightly lit candles sat at its center. I was about to say that there was no need to waste precious wax with so many fluorites in the house, but I bit my tongue just in time. This passionate environmentalist might not appreciate the joke. I didn’t want any more problems with him.
“Here,” he picked up one of the vials containing the familiar thick acid-orange liquid. “It’s yours now.”
“The Elixir of Power,” I said. I didn’t need to check its stats — I just knew it.
“No idea how you managed to get rid of Pull, but you did. You’ve saved the Virhort Community from a terrible tyrant.”
“Yes, and helped another one to ascend,” I joked, putting the vial into my inventory.
I still had to work out what to do with it. If I drank it now, it would do me little good. First I needed to level up my skills like all normal Players did. Should I sell it? Possible. But in that case, I needed to research its real price so as not to make a fool of myself.
I slid the vial into my bag and looked up at Jack. Only now did I notice the unkind glint in his eye. The kind of glare you give to a bailiff who’s arrived to seize your property.
“Anything wrong?” I asked.
“You’ve done a great thing by ridding us of Pull. I really appreciate that. But I didn’t ask you for his job.”
“That’s just a nice bonus, isn’t it? I thought you would like it.”
“What’s there to like? They made me leave my cave and brought me to this noisy place where I’m constantly distracted from my experiments!”
That was something I hadn’t thought of. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I’d realized, of course, that Jumping Jack had every chance of winning free elections — the outcome which suited my own ends just fine. That way, everybody in Purgator would have their own piece of cake and eat it too. But I’d forgotten to take his own personality into consideration. My own idea of common good didn’t quite agree with Jack’s idea of comfortable living. He was indeed happier lounging in the magic grove in his cave, surrounded by his fluorite friends. And I’d only just realized it.
“You could have declined. That’s what democracy is about. They can’t force you.”
“Forget it,” he shook his head. “I tried, I really did. But then those idiots decided to come to
the cave and started dropping like flies.”
“Which idiots?”
“The electors. They came to ask me to govern the Community. No self-preservation instincts whatsoever! I had to agree, simply to stop them dying.”
