The Way of the Clan 7

by Dem Mikhaylov

  “Everyone to battle!” The Baroness snapped, awarding the merry fellow a kick in the ass. The knight was lifted into the air from the blow, where he was immediately seized by an awful winged creature and again jerked into the heavens. From above, his laughter continued.

  “Hope he is treated like a hawk treats a turtle!” The head of the Sleepless burned me with her gaze. “Ros, leave here at once. Somewhere far away. And, nothing personal, but you understand from whose share the damages will be paid for?”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “My fault. I will pay.”

  “Great. We will count everything by tomorrow evening, and will not take any extra.”

  “A wicked aunt Guorra is looking for me,” said my daughter unexpectedly, and a chill went up my spine. “She’ll find me soon. And she is strong… very strong…”

  “Dan-ger! Orcs!”

  “Leave! Right now!” Ordered the Baroness. “Ah shit… Ros do not touch the scroll!”

  “Why?!” I shuddered.

  “The magic is ordinary! It won’t be able to take with it a divine creature, which already has a name!”

  “Huh… and now?”

  “Get out of here! Whisper! Orbit! Take them to the elite stables on Lorde Street!”

  “Why a horse?” Came a voice from behind me. “K-kolyvan express! A-all aboard!”

  “Time to go mammoth riding,” I concluded, grabbing Kolyvan by the trunk. “Roska, climb! Tyrant, follow us! Orbit, does he run fast? … I mean… I have seen him myself. Roska! Hold tight!”

  “I will be in touch soon!” The Baroness shouted, and in the next moment, the mammoth lurched forward.

  The shaggy elephant ran straight through a miraculously preserved crystal wall with iridescent beams. It shattered. He ran out beyond the edge of the roof, and collapsed down from the height of the fourth floor, falling directly to the pavement!

  “Oh, shi-” I shouted, clutching for my life to the harness belt.

  “We are flying well!” Whisper happily remarked. “Come on! Faster! Oh! They are diving for us!”

  Clutching my head, I saw a screeching rock harpy going for us, its claws exposed. The Kolyvan is not a very maneuverable creature - it probably would not have escaped the blow, but then a black strike of lightening hit the creature. It turned out to be the Baroness, who had planted two long beams into the harpy from the window of a neighboring building. Wild shrieks were heard, some tufts of feathers flew…

  “Ros! What are the instruments showing?” Inquired Orbit, bravely looking at the approaching concrete.

  “That you’re a complete moron!” I roared back.

  “Excellent!”

  With a savage roar and a huge carcass Kolyvan hits like a cannon in the pavement of the street of an Algora, nearly crushing the city guard with crossbow.

  “Hey!” The guard cried out indignantly.

  “Leave the landing field!” Whisper shook his head reproachfully.

  “So interesting!” Concluded Roska.

  “Do you w-want to be even m-more interested?”

  “Uh-huh!”

  “Then let’s blindfold the K-kolyvan!”

  “Do not you dare! And stop giving my daughter ideas! Damn it! Tyrant! Keep up!”

  “R-r-ruhf!” Sounded the wolf in an indignant tone.

  My legendary pet was not puzzled when the divine mammoth leapt from the roof. Tyrant was not divine, but he had an abundance of foolishness and jumped after him. He managed to land on the terrace of the fourth floor, and from there he jumped down again, losing only a little life.

  In the next twenty minutes, I nearly lost my nerve. The huge beast carrying us was like a bulldozer, mowing down everything in the way. As it turned out, we did not leave much behind us in our path.

  We demolished someone’s clothing trading tent, rammed into a rack of magazines… a sultry magazine cover promising carnal delights stuck to my face… Oh, where was Doc in such a moment… I hardly even had time to apologize when the mammoth punted someone’s peacefully creeping tortoise and instantly, Orbit’s nickname blazed bright red. Right… he is the one behind the wheel.

  A flowering shrub in a tiny well-groomed park disappeared, as did a string of fir trees with yellowish gray needles. Tulips were trampled, leaving only their aroma…

  “Barbarians!” The gardener threw himself after us, tearing at his hair.

  Someone’s brick - brick! - Fence became broken in two places.

  We swept along a narrow street, removing from the walls that lined it linen ropes, small balconies, windowsills and flowerpots. On the back of the mammoth was attached someone’s enormous pants with a small flower print. Whisper tore a woman’s shirt off his neck, which had been fluttering behind him like a pink silk cloak. Tyrant, running behind, dragged a fluttering peacock behind him… Lord! Where did he get it?!

  “Drop the bird!” I hissed, trying not to fall off. “Drop it!”

  The wolf heard me, and the peacock fell onto the pavement littered with rubble, leaving us with a very non-musical trill. A mop flung by the owner of the peacock reached the backside of the mammoth, but did no damage, but making him run faster.

  The next victim of the mammoth was a wagon with a huge barrel on it. From our strike, it was set into motion and descended down the slope, spraying whatever was in the tank. It was not water - it was tar. Damn it!

  We flew into a wider space and yelled in unison - there were too many people here! Crowds! Players and locals! And we were rushing directly into them! The bald elf clung onto the elephant’s ear and yelled something unintelligible. The beast understood and abruptly turned, and we made a new passage in a brick fence leading to a strange yard, and then into a lane. Wood was scattered and splintered, and there were fragments of stone and glass. Flowerpots went flying, ficuses, shrieking mandrakes and other flora.

  “You there! On the mammoth! You are breaking the law of…” The guard who was shouting was swept away by a powerful blow of the wheel of a carriage. Glory to all, the wheel was not thrown by us- it was the harpy. The ugly rock beast stared at my daughter with bloodshot eyes and squealed joyously:

  “I see her! I see her! Little devil! I will rip your heart out! I will - ”

  She was interrupted by a direct hit from a huge arrow that pierced her breast and almost immediately exploded. Following an intricate spiral down, she “dropped” somewhere behind the roofs.

  “B-beast!” I grumbled, holding out my hand for the next projectile.

  “Very interesting!” My daughter summed up, looking around admiringly. “Dad! Dad! The bakery! We will stop by?”

  “Another time, my-” I began, but was unceremoniously interrupted.

  “Ye-eah!” Shouted Orbit, and the mammoth made another speedy maneuver, aiming exactly at the glass storefront decorated with loafs and cupcakes.

  B-A-A-AM! B-BAM!

  Kolyvan “struck” through the store, and jumped out onto a parallel street. I wiped the mask of strawberries and cream from my face, blinked, and looked around. My daughter was eating a cake. Orbit was eating a cake. The mammoth was eating a cake. And Whisper was eating a cake. Only Ros ate nothing, and spat out broken glass along with the cream. Oh, and yes - Tyrant also got something. Not sweets, but something oozing with emerald juice… or blood…

  “Thank you, Uncle Orbit!” Politely thanked Roska.

  “Want some f-fruits?” Offered Orbit generously.

  “Yeah!”

  “Damn the fruits!” - No, it was not me - it was Whisper, having eaten his cupcake and livened up - “Let’s get the hell out of Algora! Otherwise, a fucking harpy will have our heads!”

  “Fucking harpies!” Roska remarked.

  “Do not curse in front of my daughter!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “Do you want to teach her?”

  “Sorry, sir,” the spy bowed his head. “It won’t happen again. If it does, throw me off the mammoth. Want me to lick your boots, too?”

  “Absolutely!”

  “I will right no
w!”

  “Me too!” Joyfully pronounced the young deity.

  “Damn it…”

  “Fruit shop-ah!” The bald elf remarked. It was the next stop. He should be a guide in the madhouse…

  “Hooraaay!”

  B-A-A-A-AM! B-B-A-M!

  “Robbers!” A thin, but extremely malicious female voice came from behind. We were to blame - a bunch of various fruits was piled atop the Kolyvan. There was even a watermelon - green with pink stripes and ten legs - trying to get out, but also held down by Whisper’s boot. Roska enjoyed an apple, and the mammoth finished a second watermelon. And I decided to become purely a meat eater from this moment on… the watermelon troubled me so.

  “To the gate!” I almost begged. “Come on! Time to go! We have an emergency here!”

  “And an angry Baroness!” Said the spy. “With a ravaged restaurant. Almost totally…”

  “No worries!” Orbit cheerfully assured us as the Kolyvan broke the cast iron railing of the embankment. We splashed into a river.

  “Periscope!” Came the command.

  The mammoth left his head submerged in the water, only his back protruding out and his trunk, around which the bald elf was curled, continuing to give commands. Roska absorbed the details of our first outing together… oh, may she grow up to be a better girl…

  One good thing - the river was familiar to me. I was sure that we would soon be within the wall.

  “Another trick like that - and the guards will shoot us!”

  “Very int-teresting!” Responded Roska, biting into the apple.

  “Oh y-yes!”

  “A little more to go,” Whisper reassured me. “As long as the harpies do not see us, we’re fine.

  Orbit, as it turns out, can camouflage to any oak or spruce tree - anything with thick foliage or needles. And I will disguise us, as much as my skill allows…”

  Whether the game was on our side or luck had smiled down on us, our short term plans had been realized, despite everything - we swam to the wall unhindered, climbed unto a stone beach and trod through the open gates. The harpies, it seemed, had partially dispersed. And the guards were not here - engaged in battle with the enemy, if anything. Nobody stopped us and soon we were outside, where we got to a thick fir grove, startling a couple of owls who were likely very taken aback at the giant mammoth disturbing their peace.

  We saw the twisting harpies in the distance and froze. Whisper quickly piled fir branches and other leaves on top of us. Several notifications popped up:

  Masking +10

  Masking +20

  Masking +15

  The spy twisted together some branches, set them up at a particular angle, and threw a canopy of yellow-green over the back of the giant animal. My wolf climbed under a pile of spruce branches, and I lost sight of him immediately.

  “And now we wait,” said Whisper. “Harpies are intelligent beasts. Do not make any noise.”

  “We won’t have to stay here long,” I said, looking up at the sky over the city.

  “That’s right. I am going to report that we are alive and well. And also report about the fruit carts, the bakery, and…”

  “That’s no longer on my account,” I muttered.

  “It is on him now,” the spy pointed a finger at Orbit. “We will still have to pay. There were a bunch of witnesses, and the guards will soon find out who exactly decided to play such a cruel joke.”

  “No!” The elf said. “Traitor!”

  “Traitor!” Said Roska, finally having matured to the stage of “teenage rebellion.” “Badass!”

  “How do you know that word?” I jerked up.

  “Uncle Orbit said it!”

  “Uncle Orbit,” I hissed angrily. “Stop teaching my daughter these words! Express yourself culturally!”

  “But the word “badass” is the word “badass!”” The elf was indignant.

  Rubbing my temples, I sighed and asked wearily:

  “Quiet down. Dad needs to gather his thoughts.”

  The choosing of the name was unexpected. As a result, there was no special meaning in my daughter’s name, but nothing could be changed. From now on, she was Roska.

  I answered five questions after this, never hesitating, blurting whatever first came to mind. And unfortunately, I sputtered some kind of nonsense. I answered without thinking. I just hope I did not screw up too much.

  There was the next problem - until I prepared a safe haven, I would have to carry around my daughter with me, because there was no one to leave her. Although… she did get her name, right? So now I could lock Roska in my private room. I would buy her twenty different books, a magical TV - a crystal ball projecting on the wall - some notebooks and textbooks, and furniture. Let the little girl sit comfortably, read books, eat goodies, and her daddy will engage in heroism. That’s a plan!

  “Roska,” I said softly, “Dad will take you home now and…”

  “No!” Cut off Roska. “I do not want to go home! I won’t!”

  “Listen…”

  “No! I won’t go! I want to go out! I want to speak to people! I want to see the world!”

  “At this age, adolescents often begin to challenge the authority of adults,” began the voice-over of Whisper. “In such cases… you may as well give up.”

  “Thanks for the advice!” I angrily snapped. “Hey! You! With the shovel! The hell are you doing?”

  With a yell, I turned to a player of the seventeenth level who, dressed simply, was armed with a large shovel. He did not see us - we were very well masked. Therefore, thinking that he was here alone, “Digger Unlimited” walked to the Kolyvan, scratched his ass, scratched his groin thoughtfully, and then picked up the shovel and was about to stab the mammoth in the knee.

  “Who’s there?!” Digger Unlimited jumped, almost dropping the shovel. “Who?”

  “No one! Do not touch the mound!”

  Still, he did not see us - the disguise was top notch.

  “What the…” Digger turned in place, with the shovel in front of him, stamped his foot, called a black rabbit, picked it up and threw it into the distant trees, spat three times over his shoulder, and waved his shovel again: “Fucking glitches…”

  Open mouthed, we watched his motions, unable to utter a word.

  “What does he do?” My daughter asked in surprise.

  “Voodoo?” I suggested. “But in voodoo there’s a black chicken, not a rabbit… Man! Take the shovel away!”

  “What for? Who’s there? You’re kidding right? Right?” The player shouted so loudly that I was sure we would be heard by a harpy. “It is nobody’s hill! Anyone can dig!”

  “Let’s get out of here,” I commanded to Orbit. “While Digger Unlimited has not yet found the elephant’s leg and used it as cooking meat…”

  “Cha cha,” joyfully yelled Orbit. “Cha cha! Akukarachacha!”

  With a loud sigh, the hefty hillock stirred and turned heavily. Spruce branches flew down, and stalks of grass, and dust went everywhere.

  Bam!

  Before the shocked player appeared a huge mammoth, who’s drooping tusks were aimed at the player’s groin.

  “Oh!” With a cry, the player rushed off, taking his shovel. A few seconds later, the rabbit sprung out of the bushes, followed by a snake.

  “Crazy one!” I noticed.

  “Where are we going?” Asked whisper.

  “We should go to Naykal and the city itself. And then… Tishka, where you were shot. Then I will find Kirea. Then a little rest and the forest with the cannibals… what about you? Before the forest, you have to stop for five or six hours, or we will be kicked out of the game…”

  “It’ll do! Orbit, let’s go north! To the Hand of the Giant.”

  “He’s dead,” I remarked with surprise. “Half a year now.”

  “Yes,” agreed the spy. “The divine battery ran out. It is not easy to recharge it, but it sometimes works. But Roska is with us. Who knows? Maybe she will succeed.”

  “It is a
thought,” I nodded, after a pause, glancing sideways at my daughter, who was looking through Orbit’s bag. “Let’s try. Roska, that’s someone else’s things.”

  “I was allowed!”

  “S-she was,” Orbit nodded, leading the Kolyvan out of the spruce forest.

  “Uncle Orbit, what is this?”

  “A slingshot!”

  “For what?”

  “I will show y-you right now!” The elf promised, rubbing his hands with anticipation.

  I did not object any longer. I was tired of it! Too bad for the unfortunate player who was going to be shot, but otherwise, let them do what they want. I will not forbid shooting birds, for example! This is Valdira - here, killing monsters is commonplace.

  The mammoth broke into a run, and I was again astounded at the sight of such a fast elephant. An eight-ton cheetah with tusks. It is good that Tyrant did not lag behind, easily racing beside the Kolyvan, glancing at Roska and me. The wolf was happy - he was tired of sitting in the private room.

  The mammoth was powerful, throwing aside boulders and tearing up trees. We were heading to the Hand of Giant, and the road was not very long. If only it was not to be in vain…

  Chapter Three.

  The Dead Giant. And again, the cunning of the Sleepless…

  What is a dead giant?

  Especially if you try to understand this by ear, not seeing the object itself firsthand, you will probably be mistaken. What kind of picture is generated in the mind of a tired and excited player when he hears the words “dead” and “Giant?”

  I do not know about anyone else, but personally, I first imagined the simplest and most probable image: a giant lying dead in a meadow. I am not a very poetic person, and I am deprived of the gift of high imagination. A giant is a giant. Dead is dead. Simple. The reality is somewhat different, and more like ancient Greece from school textbook.

  The dead giant of Valdira was a few huge scattered fragments of stone. In one place, there is the head - the lips and chin, and lower part of the name. The slice of brains is a glowing bluish stone. There are two palmy hands, each as tall as a three-story building, sticking out of the ground. Altogether, it looks like a huge arch, leading to nowhere. I had no idea where the rest of the statue was, nor did I burn with interest to find out.