A Trap for the Potentate
Page 31
But, before Taisha called the Legion of Steel, I needed to somehow meet the Dark Sovereign and agree on a new land for the orcs and rougarou to inhabit, but that was not going to be easy...
On the wide field right before the walls of the fortress, our path was blocked by defenders in combat position. There were many thousands of them, and they came from all kinds of species! Squads of skeletons and ghosts, mountain giants and cyclopes, rougarou warbands from unknown clans, trolls and ogres, beasts both from the swamps and forests, and totally incomprehensible magical creatures. The defenders of the fortress were standing in densely packed rows and, apparently, had no intention of letting my squadron through the easy way. And before all these variously-furred, but numerous and dangerous armed forces, there towered four ghastly Dark Riders, frozen stock-still...
I ordered my warriors to stop two hundred meters from my adversaries and called the commanders for a meeting. It was clear that acting by force here would not be possible. But how could I force the enemy to negotiate?
“They look impressive...” said First Mate Ziabash Hardy, stroking the back of his head in thought and clicking his tongue in admiration as he looked over the ranks of the enemy.
“There are rougarou of many clans here, and all of them once swore loyalty to the Dark Sovereign,” advisor Uvari-Dor Shu stated the obvious, but didn't have any advice on what to do.
Max Sochnier and Leon just looked at me in expectation of further orders, and even my sister was in thoughtful silence looking over the ranks of the enemy. Taisha paid attention first:
“Look, the fortress gates are opening! Probably, the Dark Sovereign himself will come out for us now!”
And in fact, behind the rows of defenders, the huge metal gates opened without a sound. We were all frozen in anticipation of who would appear from the huge gates. However, a minute passed, then a second, and a third, but nothing happened. What the heck?! Where was the owner of the fortress? Finally, the extended silence was broken by the biting voice of Valerianna Quickfoot:
“Tim, your lack of perception disappoints me yet again. You really haven't figured it out? You're the Dark Sovereign!”
“Me?! I was generally hard to shock, but now was just such a case.”
“Obviously! You're a ghastly vampire, a bloodthirsty pirate, the lord of orc cutthroats and fierce rougarou, and practically already Fenrir, the enemy of all Boundless Realm! Who other than you meets even half the qualifications of the Dark Sovereign? Go in and occupy the fortress. It's your right as its true owner!!!”
There was a certain logic in my sister's words. Still not fully believing in such a solution, I started forward step by step. I was walking, accompanied by the innumerable watchful eyes of the living creatures and the empty sockets of the undead.
The four Dark Riders started off at the same time in my direction, gaining speed and holding their sharpened pikes out in front. Despite their unambiguously aggressive stances, I just kept walking forward. And I wasn't wrong. A few steps from me, the emissaries of the Dark Sovereign stopped their mounts sharply and threw their pikes upward in a sign of greeting and respect.
That served as a signal. The army of fortress defenders started to part, forming a corridor to the gates of the black fortress. Ancient skeletons, unintelligent beasts, ghosts and cyclopes, trolls and rougarou — they all made way and gave a deep bow. On my approach, it was as if the fortress grew in size, the arrowslits in the walls grew more distinct, the towers shot upward. Most likely, I was now nearing the separate server the President had told me about. These were the very gates I needed to lure Taisha into.
And then, as if sensing that I was thinking about her, the goblin beauty sent me a private message, just like a living player:
“Amra, I sense there's something wrong with this fortress! Be careful!”
“If you want, let's go through together,” I suggested, and Taisha unexpectedly agreed.
I waited for the green-skinned beauty to catch up to me and took the girl by the hand. We went up to the huge gates together, but just a few steps from the entrance, I stopped Taisha:
“Wait, I can't do this to you! You have to know!”
And I told her everything! About her uniqueness, about the attempt to capture her AI, about the President of the corporation and this fortress trap made specially for Taisha. The girl listened to me carefully, then answered:
“What can I say, Amra? Truth for truth. I just sent you a message. It contains a video file. Watch it and think it over. You'll find me when you figure out what is happening to you. And now, forgive me. I feel that I need to get out of here as fast as possible! Djinn, save me now!!!”
Taisha touched a ring on her finger and... disappeared. For just a second, the purple cloud of the djinn sultan flickered before my eyes, then Al-Hassan Godsbain dashed away, taking Taisha with him and, together with her, the Legion of Steel portal scroll that still had yet to activate.
I then opened my messages and saw that a letter that had just come in with an attachment. There was just one line of text: “Is digitization really impossible?” and a short video file of just twenty seconds, which I immediately played:
Graveyard. Funeral. People wearing black. I immediately saw my sister Valeria, sitting in her wheelchair with her new implanted legs and bawling. Kira was standing over my sister's chair and also weeping. Next to her was a whole crowd of employees of the Boundless Realm Corporation. I saw my director Max Tohner, I saw Leon and Max Sochnier, I recognized a few other coworkers. What place was this? Who was being buried? Why was my sister there? The camera turned, and I saw a large ornate coffin being lowered into the grave.
And at that, the short recording, made by god-knows-who cut off, leaving me with more questions than answers. Was the person in the coffin... me? How could that be?! This was probably some kind of edit! But I could perfectly make out a watermark on the video file icon, a digital marker meaning the recording was authentic and unedited.
End of Book Three
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