So I did the cleverest thing possible - still incognito, I went back to the square, throwing a single glance in the direction where I had once met with Snessa, who took me by the scruff of the neck and put me on her divine board game as a pawn. And it seems to me that I am still on it, on this very board, caught in the plans of the capricious goddess who does not want to go to hell. I just made a small move forward - instead of a pawn, I am now a more substantial figure. A knight, perhaps?
In one of the more secluded and shady corners of Algora, without taking off my hat, I took out a teleport scroll, thinking about where I had to go next. Preferably, without being followed. Today I had made some serious progress— and I was excited. My fingers were trembling… Tantarial!
But, as if fate itself had intervened, there was a ring, and a message came in on my screen. From a player I had already seen today - Gray Talon had sent me a message.
"Eon Drood has agreed to have a meeting, but his time is tight. Ros, can you fly over now? The meeting will take half an hour at most. Will you help? "
“Everything is going surprisingly fast today,” I chuckled thoughtfully, holding the teleport scroll in my hands. “Okay.”
“I will come. Where do we meet?”
"In the park “Blooming Magnolia.” In the center of the square, there is a large bifurcated eucalyptus - we need to go to Eon together, this is for sure."
"Understood. Wait for me. "
"Do not forget the statuette! The wolf himself is not necessary. "
"OK. The statuette is already in my pocket, my prec-c-cious, as Gollum used to say. You owe me, Talon. Beer - and real, instead of virtual "....
"Of course, my friend! All is well— whenever and wherever you want! I am waiting!”
The surprising light and almost transparent flash of the teleport moved me far, and spit me out on one of the rises of Lucerne Hill. Thank the gods - out of the way. Asking some of the locals, and using a map, I found the location of the small square.
There was a tall fence of dense prickly vegetation covered with lush pink buds. The arch of the entrance was braided with wild grapes. The ancient magnolias were visible behind it, and a floral and slightly spicy aroma hit me. I heard the crystal murmur of fountains is heard, and saw small stone benches everywhere, as well as little tables. Several elders were playing chess.
I walked over to the magnolias and went quietly to one of the small tables.
There was something like a breeze blowing on my back. I thought I saw a light greenish flare, I heard a short clink ...
Hit! Critical!
Before my eyes flashed dozens of panic lines, I my face was imprinted into the ground.
Hit!
Well, hello, rainbow of death.
“Sit, sir!" A girl of about seven years said, sitting on a shoulder of the huge gloomy guard who was looking at the child with trembling, fatherly love. “Step down from the plate, please!”
“Of course,” I smiled despite myself, and stepped aside, ignoring the fact that I was dressed only in a diaper— the only thing left of my clothes.
Hell….
I lost only my pants and my shirt. Nothing else - everything else I had hurriedly left in my private room. I did not have the statuette with me ....
But still - that was it…
I not only lost my clothes. Maybe I had also lost a friend ....
Or had I gotten rid of a traitor?
Chapter Ten
Thoughts after death.
If you are invited to a meeting by a friend, but you are killed as soon as you come to the specified place - what else can you think?
It should be noted that the meeting was in connection with an object of rarity and value - read "money" - and that this object has immunity to theft. Meaning, either the owner will give it himself, or you can take it off his dead body.
I am an ordinary person, so my thoughts immediately turned to the worst. The extreme worst.
I came “empty" to the meeting. Why? You can call it paranoia. Or caution which was associated with recent events and the constant persecution by various characters. It all started with the escape from the Graver, and ended with coming to a meeting with an old friend— the possible traitor.
Yes - I had changed a lot. My carefree attitude of a young moron had turned into the arctic cold of a matured fool. A fool, still, but a more sensible one.
The fact is that this is not a village or a town - Lucerne Hill. This is a hefty city with many hotels. And most importantly - there was a hotel located right next to the pet shop of Eon Drood. That is, it would take no more than three minutes to go there and back for Vlas once he had taken the statue. But I did not even meet Vlas, and we did not even get to the right street. I was killed as soon as I took two steps towards the magnolias.
And now, flaunting a loincloth, I lowered my ass onto a wide bench, threw my foot over my leg, tore off an apple from a branch, bit off a piece and waited.
What would you do if you killed someone who had some precious cargo and there was no cargo? That is, if the operation failed miserably?
I was sure that it was about the figurine. Of course, you can still say everything happened by mere coincidence - if you have karma like that, what can you do about it - but hell no! I already said, and I will repeat— I am not a genius. Half an hour before beginning my conception, my parents obviously did not memorize the encyclopedia. More likely they found the book "The Adventures of Dunce" covered with brake fluid, and set the book on fire. More likely, it was a volume of "Pinocchio". And the parents read the chapter about the "Field of Fools", and then they extinguished the book in the matrimonial bedroom and decided that, if a son was born, they would name him Rostislav.
I am inclined to believe in this version - in fact, in “Pinocchio," there are villains. Only in my case, in the role of Karabas-Barabas we have a black-haired girl in a tight leather suit, and in the role of Malvina is Kira, and Pierre is like Gosha, and I had believed Vlas to be the faithful dog Artemon, because he was faithful, a respected member of the Albatrosses.
But Artemon, Vlas? The only similarity is that he is a dog. Now I somehow saw Vlas more in the role of Duremar, trying to deceive the tortoise Tortilla.
I had heard about such cases, when one member of a group turned out to be a traitor. In such cases, he killed himself along with the rest, so as not to be caught. There were groups that died three times in a row, always with full backpacks. And only then, did they begin to think: maybe there is a rat among us?
That is, right now, I would have to hear the sounds of fierce fighting coming from the public garden. But in both cases, naked players would begin appearing on the revival plate.
Why was none of this happening?
Well, because Vlas was ALREADY supposed to be in the park, waiting to grab me by the hand and drag me to the bestial store. That is, he might not have had time to protect me, but he would have seen everything - the playground was small, the size of something like a tennis court. And then he would have thrown his body against my remains in order to protect them from robbery - to protect the a statuette. Talon is a powerful character.
Therefore, either Vlas himself was defeated— in which case my black distrust of him would be replaced by a gray distrust— or, he had betrayed me.
Why did I not think that I could have been attacked by "local"?
Impossible.
In the garden, there were old men, sitting quietly and playing board games. A selective attack of "local" on me? I agree that I could have roused some "local" to the boiling point, but how would he know where I would appear, and have time to get into the bushes to ambush me? I was hit from the back…
No, I was attacked by players. And they used some special artifact - extremely expensive and rare ones. There are several items that would be effective. I know, for example, "Vendetta Vial,” which is useful to any "green" player. With the "vial”, you could attack your enemy anywhere— at any location with any status. Then the vial flew apart, lea
ving no trace.
There was also a legendary artifact called the “nemesis." If you have such a thing in your pocket, you can attack any player in any location. But the price of such an artifact is unthinkable. Yet there are means, there are ways to do it. No one would use them at random. You would need precision. For example, this: “The moron will approach the Magnolia tree, and in his backpack will be a collectable, expensive object. Kill him — and I will pay!”
But Talon would not do this to me. We have a lot of experiences behind us, we went through good and bad times together. This is insane!
Shit….
To be honest, I was trying hard as hell to find a situation in which Vlas was not the traitor, but the poor deceived lamb.
Are there really such inconceivable coincidences? No, damn it, there are not! One chance in a billion!
And more importantly - why has no one appeared on the plate of revival? Not Vlas, nor anyone else. The silence is peaceful, and unsettling…
No, there was one more variant, but it was somewhat insolent, in my humble opinion— and it was unlikely that Vlas, if he was guilty, would venture to go this route. Just send some naive looking message like: "Ros, well, where are you?" I am waiting for you .... "Or simply and cowardly to write: "Ros, there were small problems, I shall be delayed for ten minutes".
There was a beep.
A message from Vlas.
Opening it, I read the amazing message:
"Ros, you tramp, where the hell are you? I came by, and you are not here. Why are you late? I am waiting at the magnolias.”
So…. what the hell am I supposed to do now?
And why would he suddenly call me a "tramp"? I somehow got stuck on this word, though I had been called worse than that. A tramp is a tramp.
Well, coincidences do occur.
But now, it was easy to find the truth— I would just go to the meeting point.
So I did, sending a one word, message— “coming—" and then went to the square, not paying attention to the laughter of two girl players going about their business.
I was back in the public garden. The old people continue to play cheerfully, but the two who sat at the last table were looking, with some surprise, at the passage leading to the magnolias, and the silvery clot of fog.
That was my corpse. I leaned down and collected my belongings in one movement and put on my clothes— no one had cared for my shirt and trousers.
One more step forward— tired, but broad and decisive.
And I stopped about ten paces from the cursed magnolias.
I did not know. I did not know that Vlas would be sitting there so happily, sitting on the tree root, dressed only in a simple shirt, black pants and shoes. And I did not expect to see a silvery clot of fog at his feet. Nor the arrows and strange curved daggers sticking out from the tree. And further, a little to the left, and closer to another exit, were two more "corpses" of players. A motherfucking tragedy .... And still, I could not understand anything. I could only recognize a few familiar characters.
A gigantic black bull stood phlegmatically chewing a green bush. On his back sat a beautiful and nearly naked Blind Zorya, who was smiling from ear to ear and holding a long chain with two prickly balls at the ends, clanging loudly against each other.
There were three more players. I had seen them on the stairs leading to the Temple of Sorrow. The half orc Gwantanamaru. And the gryphon - if I am not mistaken, his name was Bastshoe.
Two dark and strange trembling silhouettes reminded me of Whisper, but this was clearly not him— the players were from another clan. They were Albatrosses. It was a whole crowd of Albas. And everyone was staring at me.
“Well, what’s up, Ros,” snorted Talon. “You wrote me into the ranks of corrupt backstabbers, did not you? Into the list of friends in real life and backstabbers in the game?”
“Hmm …" I hesitated, trying to collect my thoughts. It felt like someone was playing "jenga" with my thoughts. Take one wrong move, and the whole design would fall apart. And now I was embarrassed, looking around with damp eyes - just like a pug caught having taken a shit on a Persian carpet.
What the fuck is going on? Now, in theory, I was to put a heroic foot on Vlas and start telling him the hard and tough words only a real man could. But somehow, it did not make sense.
"Well, well," I said carefully, "Until I understand what's what, dear friend.”
“I lost a bet of a thousand gold coins,” this fucking guy informed me, thoughtfully scratching his cheek. “I told my clan members confidently that you trusted me as a brother, and would bring the statuette. And you brought only your ass in torn pants.”
“Hey, beautiful,” I greeted the Amazon on the black bull.
"Hello, little Ros," the girl smiled charmingly.
"How is the Foggy Jungle?"
“All the loggers were devoured,” sighed Amazon. “But the plan for felling timber is on its way. The boss is pleased and has handed over the award.”
"So you have accepted me as a relative of Judas, have you not?” Talon did not stop, just dying to put me in an awkward position.
“I am going,” I informed everyone. I turned and walked busily away, my hands in my pockets.
“Hey,” Vlas jerked “Well, wait, Ros. What are you doing?”
Already on the move, I explained:
"I do not understand what's going on. So why stand here? I will go for a walk.”
"Wait!" Talon rushed after me, putting on battle armor with each step, turning into a walking tank. “We will discuss how you will pay me off in gold. I agree to take the debt in installments …."
“Get lost!”
“Ros, stop it! You took me for a traitor— I am hurt! I did not tell you the subtleties. Did you really think I sold you out? Stop! Where the hell are you going?”
“I want a beer.”
“Then let’s go! I am treating you! Especially since the reason is a double one. No, even triple.
“Tell me,” I said, despite myself.
“Well, firstly, we found the mole,” Vlas smiled broadly. “Caught the bitch! Secondly, we went out to find those who pumped the gallant paladin with drugs. We will pay back to the monster with the same banknotes.”
"This is important,” I replied seriously, looking at the joyful Talon for the first time.
“You do not say! We caught all the rats, and now we are going to punish them! We thought they were friends. Right…. Traitors wherever you spit!”
"And who's the traitor? If it is not a secret.”
"Do you remember the half-orc in the swamp, all smiling and serious?”
"I remember. What’s his name…”
“Korvard,” Vlas finished for me. “He turned out to be a rat with one hundred percent vision and hearing. We trusted him! Ros, you do not even know what I am going to do with him! And not here! In real life!”
“Do not overdo it,” I warned, and plopped down on a chair in the corner in the outdoor restaurant.
“I was not born yesterday,” Vlas waved me away. “We will do everything with finesse. But he will greatly regret it. But, Ros! The rat was taken!”
"Congratulations," I snorted. “Let’s have a beer. By the way, you said that there are three whole reasons to drink.”
“Yeah. The first two are good news. And the third is not. My friend took me for a traitor.”
“Damn it, Vlas …."
“What, Vlas? Did you bring the statue with you? No. So what is there to talk about? You took me for a rat.”
I did, I confessed to myself. “Vlas, I am looking at everyone like that nowadays. I search for something suspicious in everyone, I see dirty tricks everywhere, everyone is a crook. Most try to extort something from me.”
“That’s how you are— just like a rotten sea urchin.”
“Thanks for the comparison. But you did not show me all the cards to me either,” I remarked. "What was I supposed to think, if you were so keen on the statuette? You muddied the waters first.”
“I wanted to sit with you in real life and discuss all the details with a mug of dark beer!” Snarled Talon, frightening the slender waitress, who dropped the menu. “But I cannot get through to you! And if someone opens your door, then your furious father and his goons begin to fight with you at once, promising to stick my head in the oven! They interrogated be so well that I remembered trigonometry! And by name, all the classic writers of the nineteenth century!”
“Well …."
"Negotiate in Valdira? Why, you hardly agreed to talk with me, and before that you kept me in the block list! And we have a deadline, our caravans are being robbed, our ships are burning and burning! It was easier to use you as a bait - and you did not risk anything. Say you have the figurine, and do not let them take it. And they could not leave - we cast a spell to prevent teleportation.”
“You and your mysterious Order of the Gray Wardens?”
“And what do they have to do with it? Ros, consider this my hobby, okay? I like the secrets and solving riddles, communicating with intelligent people. Is it prohibited? Did I spend my entire life to be a stupid redneck fighting in the garages backyard? You, too, have passed through this revelation. Only you went to the Far North, but I do not want to do that! But if I want to become smarter, wiser and more experienced, if I do not want to spend all my time on "local" fuckers, but by reading dusty books - it does not mean that I started selling out my friends! If you do not want to help me with the figurine— then shove it in your safe and walk with your head high!”
“I know where to shove it! Damn it ... I am so fucking tired! I want to go away, really,” I gestured to the waitress, hurrying up the beer.
“I cannot drag you up there! I already promised beer, the bathhouse, and the girls! But you resist! Maybe you need boys instead?”
“Ha ha ha .... So you did not sell me out, Vlas?” I asked directly.
The Way of the Clan 7 Page 21
