by Ramy Vance
Alex opened her HUD and checked for messages. Her parents had responded almost instantly. This wasn’t the time to answer, but Alex promised herself she was going to make it through this if only to speak to her parents again.
Gill raised his hand to signal to the group to stop. “Wait. I see heat signatures up ahead through the walls. I want to check and see what they are.” Gill looked down at his map. “Oh, no. Those are cadets. They’re hiding. They’re not too far from here.”
Alex didn’t wait for him to say anything more. “We have to go help them. We can’t just leave them there by themselves.”
Brath forced his way up from the back of the group. “Weren’t you the ones who were saying we had to focus on getting to our dragons and that it was the adults’ job to figure out how to save the cadets?”
“Yeah, but that was before they were only a couple of feet away from us,” Gill countered. “I thought it was stupid to try to fight our way through half of the Nest to get to them, but these guys are right here. It’s a considerably smaller risk.”
Sometimes Alex hated the way Gill talked. He sounded like a walking computer program. She wondered if he was even capable of feeling anything. The way he had handled killing that orc was positively cold, even though he had been right.
Jollies shimmered from pink to red as she flew up to Alex’s face. “We can’t leave them behind,” she pleaded.
Alex swiped her finger across Jollies’ face. “Dude, don’t even worry about it. That was never an option. We’re supposed to be training to be heroes, aren’t we? Might as well start now. Take us there, Gill.”
Gill nodded as he turned his attention back to his map. There was a little bit more light in the hall, so it was easier to move around. They must have been off the main power grid of the Nest. Alex wondered if that meant they were more protected or less.
It didn’t take long to find where the cadets were being held. Gill looked through his map one more time and cross-referenced the surveillance videos. As it turned out, the cadets weren’t hiding. They had been captured by orcs patrolling the area.
Gill pulled up a couple of videos that had been taken before the power shut off. It looked like the orcs were regularly patrolling the area, making sure no one came for the cadets. “Great, this just went from stupid to impossible,” Brath grumbled.
“Are there any breaks in their pattern?” Alex asked. “Or are they just checking in every couple of minutes?’
Gill scrolled past a few videos. “It doesn’t look like there’s a pattern,” he admitted. “I think they just come in when they want. They aren’t even checking up that often.”
“So, all we gotta do is slip in and out fast. Real sneaky-like. Sounds easy enough.”
Gill chuckled softly, the sound reverberating in the silence of the corridor. “You know, you’re a little reckless.”
“Yeah, just a little.”
Chapter Four
The cadet dragonriders pressed their ears to the walls, hoping the walls were thin enough to hear through. Gill had brought them to where he said the other cadets were being held. Alex couldn’t hear anything. The walls weren’t as thin as she had hoped.
Gill looked at his map one more time, checking to see if there were any orcs patrolling the area. It looked clear. “Where will we take them?” Gill suddenly asked, realizing there was a massive gap in their plan.
Alex wracked her brain, trying to think of a place the other cadets might be safe. “Uh, I guess we’ll just bring them with us,” she finally said. “They’re all cadets too. That means they’re probably bound to dragons as well. More fighters for the battle.”
Gill’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you didn’t say anything about a battle!”
Alex turned to face the drow. “What did you think we were going to get our dragons for? To run away? We can’t leave everyone here without helping.”
Gill nodded that he understood before looking back down at his map. “It’s just that you weren’t specific about wanting to fight.”
An arm broke through the wall and wrapped itself around Alex’s throat. Alex let out a sharp yelp as she was pulled through the wall by the muscular gray arm of an orc.
The orc tossed Alex across the room, and she hit the opposite wall with a heavy thud. She would have assumed the force of the impact would knock her out. It didn’t and Alex, surprised, got to her feet. Her back still hurt like hell, though. “Huh, that’s new,” she muttered.
There wasn’t any time to revel in her realization because the orc who had grabbed her was running toward her.
The cadets in the room started screaming and asking for help as Alex tried to get her bearings.
The room was still pitch-black. Even though the orc had managed to snag her through the wall, it didn’t seem to be able to find her in the dark room. The place was larger than Alex had assumed, based on the map Gill had shown her.
That was when Alex remembered the Nest was plugged into everyone who was residing within it—everyone other than the invaders. The room had probably expanded based on Alex’s need, and she needed a very large room at the moment.
Alex turned and ran as she shouted, “Jollies, find me. I have an idea!” She knew she was going to give away her position, but it was more important that Jollies know where she was. If Jollies came for her, the rest of them would as well. Then they’d have a chance against the orc.
Alex wasn’t sure she could take the orc by herself. She preferred not to think about it chasing after her, gnashing its teeth and waiting to sink its blade into her chest. She had managed to kill one before, and it hadn’t been too hard.
There’s no way I could have done that back on Earth, Alex thought as she realized she wasn’t having any trouble breathing. She hadn’t been unfit before, but physical education wasn’t her strong suit.
It seemed like Alex’s body had been given an upgrade since she had arrived at the Wasp’s Nest. Maybe her Captain America theory wasn’t wrong after all.
She wasn’t sure if it was the realm she was in (honestly, she was still confused as to exactly where the Nest was) or if it was her armor.
Suddenly, the prospect of fighting an orc didn’t seem as terrible. Maybe she wasn’t as weak and defenseless as she’d thought. Maybe she was just scared, and being scared was something she could deal with.
Alex ran straight ahead, hoping she wasn’t going to run into a wall, but the wall never came. She could still hear the orc behind her.
It was time for the first step of the plan. Alex stopped, turned around, and sprinted straight back the way she had come.
As Alex ran, she could hear the orc getting closer, but it was somewhere to the side. She had figured the orc was going to be searching, walking back and forth, unaware of exactly where Alex was.
It didn’t take long to sprint past the orc and around the corner.
Now was the hard part. Alex stopped running and pulled up her blindfold a little bit. She could see the faint outlines of her friends in the darkness, and she ran toward them. “Jollies!” she whispered as loud as she could.
It was enough for Jollies to hear. The pixie came racing over to Alex. “There you are,” she exclaimed. “Where are the other—”
“We’re going to worry about them in a second. We have to deal with that orc before he catches us again. Can you control your colors?”
“Yeah, if I try hard.”
“Can you make them brighter?”
“I might be able to.”
That was enough for Alex. It was going to be a gamble, but Alex realized she was comfortable taking risks in these kinds of situations. “All right, come with me. Gill and Brath, can you stay with Manny and start helping the cadets?”
Brath stepped forward and pulled out his dagger. “Don’t you want backup?” he asked.
“I’d love some, but more people with me means fewer people to help the cadets. Also, that would put three of us in danger for a really stupid plan I’m still not sure is going to work. S
orry, Jollies.”
Gill rested his hand on Brath’s shoulder and turned the gnome around. “Come on, we need to help the other cadets.”
Brath, Gill, and Manny went back in the direction they thought the other cadets might be in. In the dark distance, there was a roar from the orc.
Alex reached out to Jollies. “Could I hold you?” she asked. “It’ll make moving in the dark easier since you’re going to be farther from Manny.”
Jollies flew into Alex’s palm, and she closed it as loosely as she could to keep from hurting Jollies. Then she took off in the direction of the orc’s shout. “All right, Jollies,” Alex explained. “On my signal, you’re going to turn bright white, okay?”
Alex could feel Jollies nodding. Then Alex stopped for a second, trying to calm her heart so she could listen for the footsteps of the orc. It was going to be a race to see who heard the other first. Alex had a slight upper hand, or at least she thought she did. She wasn’t sure if orcs had better vision in the dark.
The orc grunted, voicing his frustration at his prey getting away. That was all Alex needed. She sprinted toward the sound. When she thought she was close enough, she squeezed Jollies a little bit.
Jollies got the point, shut her eyes, and tensed her whole body until she flashed bright white. The part of the room they were in brightened instantly.
The orc turned around, dazed and confused, his eyes trying to adjust to the sudden bright light. Alex pulled out her knife and slammed it into his chest, pushing him back against the wall.
The orc didn’t go down. It wrapped its hands around Alex’s neck and lifted her into the air.
Alex gasped for air as she pulled out her knife and drove it into the orc’s skull. It let go of her and fell to the ground dead as Jollies’ white light faded.
Jollies flew down to the orc to check if it was really dead. “Holy crap,” Jollies gasped. “That just happened. You killed him!”
Alex wiped the blood off her blade before she sheathed it. She was still trying to catch her breath, but her neck didn’t hurt as much as she expected.
Her second orc of the day.
Alex knelt beside the body of the orc and checked it for anything useful, but found nothing. Guess this place is not going to beat that VR randomly-generated loot system. She laughed.
The limits of Alex’s physical body had definitely been extended. She was strong enough to drive a knife through solid bone. That was definitely an upgrade.
Jollies perched atop Alex’s shoulder. “That was crazy. I didn’t know you were such a tough guy. Never would have thought it from how you were acting with Brath.”
Alex chuckled as she walked back toward where she thought the other cadets were. “Well, I wasn’t trying to kill Brath. Dealing with bullies is harder than killing an orc. At least the orcs aren’t trying to torture me psychologically.”
By the time Alex and Jollies caught up with the other cadets, Brath and Gill had freed them all. “You took care of the orc?” Brath asked.
Jollies lit up bright white for a second, illuminating everyone. “Oh, man, you should have seen it! She was so flippin’ cool! That orc didn’t stand a chance.”
At least ten other cadets had been captured. Alex could barely make them out in the dark. She didn’t want to waste time trying to introduce herself to everyone, so she just asked the group, “How are you guys? Is everyone okay?”
A quiet voice came from the mass of bodies. “Yeah, they didn’t do anything to us. They just said they were going to hold onto us for someone.”
“For someone?”
“Yeah, they kept going on like they were waiting for someone.”
Alex looked around the room, trying to make out its features and figure out where exactly in the Nest they were. “Uh, anyone know where we are?” she asked.
Gill pulled up his map and pointed to its center. “We’re in the Great Hall. Guess when we aren’t all paying attention, the Nest relaxes or something.”
“Is this place alive?”
“Honestly, I’m starting to wonder about that.”
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Alex was dazed for a second and she covered her eyes, but before she could orient herself, a strong force like a wall of metal slammed against her and sent her flying.
Alex struggled to get to her feet as her eyes adjusted to the light.
“Ah,” a deep voice crooned. “More cadets for me.”
Chapter Five
In the blinding light of the Great Hall stood a man in a black cloak, its hood pulled down over his face. The light was emanating from him. He held a gnarled wooden staff with a glowing crystal atop it.
The man pulled back his hood. It was impossible to tell if he was an elf or a human or some other race. The features of his face seemed to shift continually, his eyebrows growing larger and moving as his eyes dropped to his mouth, which curled up to his ears.
The dark wizard raised his staff and laughed, a sickening sound like glass being broken. “I am Holmorth for the Dark One, and I have come for you, dragonriders!” the creature screeched, his high-pitched voice making Alex’s ears prickle. “My dragonriders!”
A horde of orcs filled the hall behind Holmorth. They looked like a pack of rabid dogs waiting for their master to unleash them.
Alex pulled her blindfold back down as she made her way to her feet. It was too bright, and there was too much visual information for her to process. She was glad to cover her eyes again. The image of Holmorth’s contorting face would probably haunt her nightmares. Seeing it once was enough.
Manny severed his psychic ties with the cadets and floated ahead of them. This action forced Alex to use her own eyes.
The Beholder squared off against Holmorth, all of his eyes facing forward, giving the wizard his undivided attention. “Holmorth, what are you doing here?” he asked. “Have you gotten bored pretending to be a dark magician in that hell pit you call a home?”
Holmorth laughed again and swiped his staff upward. A bolt of lightning issued from it and hit the ceiling, sending a cascade of glass falling. The recently rescued cadets screamed in fear as they backed up, inching closer to the far edge of the hall.
Alex, Brath, Jollies, and Gill did not retreat. They held their ground behind Manny, who had moved forward, his eyes still trained on Holmorth.
Holmorth rested his staff against his shoulder as he chuckled. “I see Myrddin is still having you play babysitter,” he said tauntingly. “I wonder why a powerful and eldritch creature such as you has allowed a lowly human to make you his errand boy?”
Manny’s body swelled as if he were growing in size. A pulse of energy came off him, which Alex felt wash over her like a wave of heat. “We both know Myrddin is far from being a lowly human,” the Beholder countered. “He’s a finer wizard than you’ll ever be. I’d be surprised if you are even capable of handling me alone.”
Another wave of energy came off Manny, hotter than the last. “Apparently you need an entire army to deal with children now,” he followed up. “Are your powers waning? So sad to see your potential wasted.”
Holmorth took a step forward, and dark energy radiated from his body. Even though the light was shining from him, he was still cloaked in blackness. “Hardly,” Holmorth said, snarling. “Nothing you taught me has been wasted, unlike that fool Myrddin.”
Holmorth waved his hand, and the floor before him broke into spikes that floated into the air and flew at Manny.
Manny did nothing, yet when the spikes should have hit him, they disintegrated into pebbles.
Holmorth laughed again, the same ear-piercing sound. “You are wasting your potential, Manny. The Dark One would reward power such as yours instead of delegating his menial tasks to you. An eldritch being of your power should be a ruler.”
“And that’s what you’re doing? The Dark One wants to rule. He won’t share it with anyone.”
“That is where you are wrong, Manny. The Dark One will indeed rule, and there are some of us
who will also rule what has been given to us through his many graces.”
One of Manny’s eyes flipped over and looked at Alex before he turned to face the cadets. “Do you all have weapons?” he asked.
Alex and the rest of them solemnly nodded, and Jollies pulled a tiny crossbow out of her knapsack. Alex whispered to the Beholder, “If you could do all that, why not save us all the stress? The cards, the sneaking around. You could have just blasted them the whole time.”
“Because I won’t always be with you, and I needed you to see your actions and understand your potential. You are a leader who cares for her soldiers. You are a strategist who seeks survival over frivolous battle, and you are more powerful than you know. Myrddin was right about you, Alex the Boundless. I am proud to have been your eyes, as brief as that time has been.” the Beholder’s eyes softened as he looked upon her. Then turning to everyone, he said in a loud voice, “Good that you have weapons, because you’re going to have to fight your way to the stables. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can, but you make it to the stables and you leave. Don’t turn back. Don’t try to help anyone else. Do you understand me?”
Alex grabbed the rifle slung over her shoulder. “No way,” she shouted. “We’re not just going to leave you.”
“You have to. You cadets are more important than me. You’re the hope of Middang3ard. Do you understand me?”
A bolt of plasma went flying past Manny and hit an orc in the chest. The rest of the orcs screamed, ready to bolt forward, but Holmorth held his hand up to keep them back.
Gill, who was holding his smoking rifle, shrugged. “We’ll go,” he said slowly. “But we aren’t leaving you alone. If we’re running, so are you.”
Manny sighed as one of his eyes flipped over to watch the horde of orcs across the room. “Fine, we’ll all go,” he agreed. “But I’m going to need to stall Holmorth if we’re going to make it. When I say go, go. No questions asked. Understood?”
Manny faced Holmorth again and floated forward as the dark wizard started to walk toward Manny. “I assume you still honor the old ways?” the Beholder asked. “The eldritch traditions I trained you in?”
