The Way of the Shaman [06] Shaman's Revenge

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “I don’t agree. I couldn’t care less about your clan’s relationship with Phoenix, but think for yourself—when the investigation gets going, and you know it will, some genius will be sure to notice that the Emperor’s wife was rescued by both clans—while even though I was the one who cast the portal to Armard, only some Azure Dragons went with me. Any intelligent person would suspect foul play and start digging further. It’s your call, of course, but I would only go there with both clans after signing some kind of contract. In my view, that’ll insulate us from any unnecessary prying or investigations.”

  “I’ll think about it,” grunted Donotpunnik. “What do you need Clutzer for?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I simply feel that he’ll come in handy tomorrow. Won’t the Rogue’s stealth shroud help us stay hidden?”

  “I purchased scrolls of stealth for the very purpose.”

  “Let him come,” Samuel intervened. “It’s better not to argue with Mahan about this. If his premonition tells him he needs to bring the Rogue, it’s better to bring him. It’ll be cheaper in the end.”

  “Sam, I have a question for you too. Of the things I’ve earned and achieved in this game, what were you involved in? I mean, my premonition, the chess set or the other items I’ve crafted?”

  “None of the above. I can’t intervene in the gaming process to that degree. I can only help indirectly. Adjust this, loosen that, boost the probability of something happening, delay a Herald—that kind of thing.”

  “In that case,” I said, trying to conceal the trembling that had fully spread across my body. It was a good thing that I hadn’t turned on my video channel! “I’m done! We’ll meet tomorrow.”

  “Mahan, what do you need three scrolls of Armageddon for?” Donotpunnik asked before I could disconnect.

  “I don’t know yet. I was planning on setting them off inside Phoenix’s castle, but I’m getting the impression that three scrolls won’t be enough. If I had another two, I’d smash the castle to smithereens for sure. You don’t have an extra one by any chance?”

  “You want to set them off inside the castle?” Donotpunnik frowned. “It’s an interesting idea, but how are you going to activate them. You’ll have to be in battle for a minute before you can cast them, and during that time Phoenix’s defenses will destroy you and anyone with you.”

  “Plinto. Even if he works for Phoenix, he owes me. This will be his payment. No matter how elaborate the castle’s defenses are, Plinto should be able to hold out a minute. I’ll strengthen him with buffs, load him up with scrolls of healing and send him in to cause a ruckus in the castle. But three Armageddon’s won’t be enough to raze it down to Level 1. I need two more. Don’t you want to knock Phoenix off their perch, Donotpunnik? Destroying their main castle will go a long way to doing that. I’m certain they have remote storehouses…”

  “Which they’ll lose access to until their castle reaches Level 20 again!” the old man smiled revoltingly. “You shall have two more scrolls tomorrow morning. No one’s ever set off five Armageddons at once before…An explosion that big might even kill the Emperor himself, let alone knock down some castle! But there’s something else that concerns me—why would Evolett give them to you?”

  “I didn’t ask him personally, but I’d guess that the brothers had a falling out.”

  “Yes,” Hellfire spoke up, “at our meetings lately, Killer hasn’t missed a chance to trash Evolett as hard as he can. I think Mahan is right—something happened between the brothers.”

  “Too bad for them then. If there aren’t any further questions, I suggest we start getting ready for tomorrow’s mission. Dr. Provo, please check one more time that the Tears are at the proper location. Marina, your warriors will have to be ready and…”

  Connection lost…

  Oh boy!

  What had I gotten myself into?! What stage of insanity does one have to be at to spend five years on planning the destruction of an enemy clan?! To sink immense resources into this plot, find the people you need, arrange the imprisonment of ten innocent poor bastards, only to discard the nine that turned out useless, adjust the game’s code—and all for what? To earn first place in the clan rankings? To satisfy Donotpunnik’s ambitions of world domination? To find a new clan for Hellfire?

  So what are Samuel and Marina working for then? For money? I couldn’t even imagine how much you’d have to pay them for something like this. If someone finds out that they’re involved…

  Erm…

  What a good idea it was to run away! Why did they suddenly reveal the other two conspirators today? Why reveal to me that they had hacked Barliona to achieve their desired result? Wasn’t I about to become useless to them? As soon as Phoenix buys the Tears, Shaman Mahan will become useless! Not even that—I’d become a nuisance at best and dangerous at worst—someone who knew too much. What happens to dangerous people? They’re discarded to oblivion! The kind of oblivion that causes them to forget themselves too! Hadn’t they openly told me that I’m a pawn that has just about completed the task it was needed for?

  And yet I had escaped from their sight. They wouldn’t find me!

  …

  And yet at the same time, although they know that I’m hiding from them, they seem so completely calm about it as if I’m right there within arm’s reach…It can’t be!

  “This is the Omega operator.”

  “I’d like to move to a new location. What do I have to do?”

  “Your request has been received. Tomorrow our associate will get in touch with you to discuss the details.”

  “I want to do it today!”

  “Unfortunately, it is impossible to arrange a relocation today. We do not have a residence prepared for you. Please wait until tomorrow.”

  This simply can’t be!

  “Put me in touch with the police,” I made a final attempt to check my hunch. “I need to verify my current status.”

  “Unfortunately, we cannot fulfill your request. The police desk for general inquiries operates between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. The desk has closed for today.”

  “Call the emergency line! It’s always operational.”

  “Please accept our apologies, but that is not possible. Our company will be fined for a baseless call, negatively impacting our reputation. You are not in any danger at the moment, so there is no reason to worry. Were you told something on the closed channel that gives you cause to worry for your life?”

  “I want to leave. Right this instant!” I almost had a panic attack when I realized that I was trapped in these four walls. “I am terminating our contract!”

  “Pursuant to item 14.3 of the current Contract, you may leave our custody only 24 hours after you have issued the relevant request. Your request has been received. We ask that you wait until tomorrow, so that we may arrange your proper release. Thank you for using our services. All the best!”

  “I won’t get into my capsule tomorrow!” I barked angrily into the silent handset. “You can forget about that portal!”

  Despite the rancor in my voice, the only reply was silence. Neither Donotpunnik nor the operator replied to my threat.

  Well they can go to hell tomorrow instead of Armard. If they don’t want to play nice, I’ll play mean. With this thought, I slipped away into sleep.

  * * *

  “Good morning, Daniel,” the girl’s voice awoke me. “You have submitted a request to terminate our contract. Please tell me, would it be convenient for you to terminate it right now? We will transport you to any location you choose. Thank you for using our company’s services, and please accept our apologies for the conduct of our operator yesterday. He was not authorized to refuse your request for termination and relocation. Please sign here and here,” she offered me a tablet, “to confirm that our services have been duly performed. We will send you an invoice within three days.”

  Oops!

  “Hold on,” I began to backpedal, “I was upset yesterday and maybe said somet
hing I shouldn’t have. Can I step out to the street? Even for a minute?”

  “As our client or as our former client?” the girl clarified.

  “As a client.”

  “In that case, please give us five minutes. We must ensure your security…Right this way,” the girl said after a few minutes. “Over here.”

  The door of an ordinary apartment building in which I had been living led me to a likewise ordinary courtyard. It could have been in any neighborhood in the city—a playground full of children running here and there. Their mothers, chattering about this or that, and a surly street sweeper kicking up the dust with his broom. It’s strange to think that humans have grasped the deepest secrets of the mind, but the streets are still swept by street sweepers in yellow vests. Capsules, high-speed networks, Imitators…A long stick with branches tied onto it—this is the instrument of the true son of humanity.

  “Daniel, excuse me for interrupting, but we need to head back in. Will you be terminating our contract?”

  “No,” I shook my head, understanding that I wasn’t trapped in the cellar of someone’s house but living calmly on the third floor of a typical apartment building. “But I’d like to change locations. I suspect that the current address is known to people beyond your organization.”

  “Do you wish the new residence to be equipped in a similar way?”

  “Yes.”

  “We will need two days to get everything ready. In the meantime we can tighten your security—if you suspect that your location is known to someone. What do you think?”

  “I’m all about it!”

  “Understood. Your request is being processed. I’d like to apologize once again for the conduct of our associate. It will not happen again. We value long-term collaboration with our clients.”

  Enter!

  “Everything’s ready, Mahan. We can begin.” No sooner had I entered the game, than Donotpunnik got in touch with me. Whether or not he knew where I lived didn’t matter. In two days I’d vanish for good and not even show up in Barliona. I’d spend a month or two reading books and getting a tan on some beach. I’d find a girl and live the high life. It’s incredibly easy for a thirty-three year old to entertain himself. Barliona isn’t the only interesting thing in the world. “Summon Plinto and Clutzer—they’re coming with us. I’ll send you the contract between our clans in a second. Read it, study it, and sign it. We’re about to make history…”

  Achievement unlocked: ‘Armard is no place for newbies.’ You have reached the palace in the capital of Shadow. Speak with the Emperor to find out what your reward is.

  You have received a ticket for two to an audience with the Emperor. You may claim it in any branch of the Barliona Bank.

  “Cast the shroud of stealth, Clutzer,” Donotpunnik ordered, carefully examining the area that our portal had brought us to. The small meeting hall, in the middle of which stood a rectangular table with an armchair at its head, was illuminated by a dim torch. The air here was so stale that it was evident that this place was used very infrequently. If it had ever been used at all.

  “Plinto, Unpal—you know your objective. Get to it. Mirida—make us a path. You three,” Donotpunnik turned to his Mages, “hide yourselves and pretend you’re statues. Do whatever you like, but the portal has to survive until we return. Off we go!”

  The two Rogues dissolved in thin air, setting off in search of the Emperor’s wife, while we moved to the hall’s exit, concealed under Clutzer’s shroud of stealth. In theory, an NPC would be able to see us only if he came within arm’s length from us. How the shroud actually works in practice, no one knew, since no one had tried to use it against Shadow in a Shadow palace. According to Donotpunnik, it wasn’t possible to sneak into Armard under the shroud, but the rules should be different in the palace. At least, I really hope they are…

  I wouldn’t exactly call Geranika’s residence beautiful or unique. All the walls were bare stone that no one had ever finished with plaster, and what little ornament there was, was wholly perfunctory. The part of the palace we were in lacked anything that didn’t have some rational function. Even the torches illuminating the corridor we were sneaking along were arranged in a manner that allowed them to illuminate the largest area possible with the least amount of torches.

  “We’re in the upper levels,” Marina remarked when the corridor led us to a second hall, which unlike the first one had windows. Armard stretched out before us like in the palms of our hands. In the distance, by the walls we could see the flashes of spells going off. The players were trying to capture the capital of Shadow by storm. “We need to descend.”

  “The loot’s a bit underwhelming here,” Clutzer wrinkled his nose, not forgetting to maintain the cloak. “Can’t even pry anything loose.”

  “Agreed. I never figured the devs for ascetics.”

  “Why decorate a place that no player will ever visit?” Hellfire theorized. “Even if the players managed to enter Armard, no one would come here. They wouldn’t have the guts.”

  “Does that mean that there may be loot down below?” Clutzer asked hopefully. “What are we standing for? Who are we waiting for?”

  We passed through another two empty chambers before we found an open door with a staircase descending beyond it. Judging by the broken lockpicks lying on the floor next to it, Plinto and Unpal had already been here.

  “Here’s your loot,” grinned Hellfire, indicating the fragments to Clutzer. Then, he grew serious and asked: “How is your lockpicking skill?”

  “Seventy-two levels until I reach Apprentice level,” Clutzer confessed sincerely. “I could handle this lock, but I’m not sure about the ones beyond it. I imagine that…”

  DONG!

  The palace resounded from the deafening tolling of a bell. Even the walls shook.

  “Donotpunnik, your Rogue is as dumb as a bag of dumbbells!” Plinto announced in the raid chat as Unpal’s frame went gray—the player had been sent to respawn. “You should kick him out of your clan for being an armless moron. He actually tried to kill Geranika! Go down the stairs, it’ll lead you to a corridor. Geranika’s hall is straight ahead. The guards have been alerted, so be careful. The guard nearest to you is directly next to the exit from the stairwell. To the left. A big old stone fellow of Level 300. The shroud of stealth should get you through. I’m going to keep moving.”

  The enemy has breached our palace! Rally the defenders of Shadow! Guards, awake from your ancient slumber! The palace must be defended! Rally the defenders of Shadow!

  Chapter Eleven. The Tears of Harrashess

  “We need to descend to the dungeon,” Marina wrote in the raid chat. Like the rest of us, the girl was pressing herself to the wall in the hopes of dissolving in its stony embrace and thereby ensure that the squad of Level 300 iron hulks who were now wandering all around the palace would pass us by without notice. The guards tarried a few moments beside us as if they had sensed something, but then went on with their patrol. If avatars in Barliona had hearts as accessories, ours would have burst from the tension. But everything turned out okay—the shroud of stealth that Level 228 Clutzer had cast over us did its job flawlessly. Given the nearly 100 level difference, all the mobs had to do was loiter and sniff around us a little longer, yet they had moved on. I can’t even imagine what would happen if we stumbled across some Level 350 monster. Donotpunnik’s scrolls were Level 180 and wouldn’t have an effect, and Clutzer’s shroud wouldn’t work against such high-level boys, so all that’d await us would be a long a tortuous wait to respawn.

  “Do you know where the exit is?” Hellfire asked.

  “If you need to go down, you’ll have to go through the throne room with Geranika,” Plinto replied from some nook in the palace. He was on his own now. “Be careful in there—it’s full of ‘old timers.’ In fact, let me help you get through it—if we use my shroud of stealth, only Geranika will be able to detect us. But we haven’t come here to fight him anyway. Right, Donotpunnik?”

  “
All right,” Donotpunnik agreed unwillingly, exchanging an uneasy glance with Marina. “We’ll wait for you at the entrance to the throne room.”

  “I’m already here,” the Rogue whispered right behind us. “There aren’t any survivors left in the dungeon, so I figured I’d go check out the upstairs.”

  “You already went through the entire dungeon?” Marina asked with concern.

  “In the immortal words of Mahan—uh-huh. If you sneak past two Level 400 guards, you’ll reach the Armard treasure vault. They haven’t yet relocated it beyond the palace walls. The gold and gems are inaccessible, but the items…Everyone shut up! I’m casting my shroud.”

  Another cavalcade of guards turned the corner; however, with Plinto’s shroud now over us, they didn’t even sense anything and walked straight past.

  “Let’s hug it out friends!” Plinto embraced me and Marina, and only then replied to Marina’s questioning glance: “The closer we are to each other, the less chance they’ll have of detecting us. Level 400 guards won’t see me, but they’ll sense you two if you’re at the edge of the shroud. Do we really need that? I doubt it, which is why I recommend hugging it out. Get in here, Hellfire. I’ll make sure to take a selfie later: Plinto and Hellfire, BFFs four evah.”

  “You know where you can take your selfie, right?” Hellfire growled glumly.

  “Yes! In fact I was planning on framing and hanging it in there…” Plinto replied glibly, drawing an angry scowl from Hellfire. The strange thing was that I had grown accustomed to Hellfire’s impassivity. In my view, the Warrior was utterly unshakable, and yet there was something deeper that linked him with Plinto—something that forced Hellfire to hear the Rogue’s jibes. Moreover—he actually heeded them. And growled as a consequence. Was it possible that Hell was jealous? His reaction didn’t resemble anything else. Surely this was run-of-the-mill envy of Plinto’s new position as the highest-level player on our continent. The Rogue had stripped Hellfire from the title that Hell had proudly borne for the last five years.