by Cat Wilder
"Damned stupid nun-assassins," Elky snarled. "Bunch of religious zealots, I bet, all hell-bent on death and destruction."
"You're the Amazon warrior, Elky," Laryn sneered. "We know all about the three of you. Lord Quinton will pay five gold crowns for your return to him, but only a single gold crown for your heads. He wants his escaped slaves back."
"Really?" Elky asked, pulling her sword. "I'll return your head to the abbey that shit you out."
"Elky! She's a bound and helpless prisoner," I said. "You can't hurt her."
"Wanna bet?"
The Amazon glared at me a long moment, before sheathing her sword. Laryn didn't help the situation by smirking. I looked up at the heavens and shook my head. I regained the assassin's full attention before she pushed Elky too far.
"How long do we have here before your abbey sends more assassins?" I asked. "And when we leave, is there one direction safer than the others?"
You know that question pissed off Kahlan. She joined Elky in glaring daggers at me.
Laryn barked a laugh. "You're not safe now, Cormac. None of you are." She gave my ladies a contemptuous look. "I told you, there are two priories. Rival priories. I'm the Red Priory assassin sent to Tartha. There's a Black Priory assassin here as well, and she will find you sooner rather than later."
"Is there a way to identify her?" Meike asked.
"Sure, when a black bolt rips through your heart."
I stiffened, as did Elky. We looked at each other.
"We've had both red and black crossbow bolts shot at us today," I said.
Laryn's eyes snapped back to me. She looked surprised, so the two assassins weren't working together.
"If that is true, assume she knows exactly where you live," Laryn said. "She's probably outside and waiting for you to show yourselves." She grinned at Elky. "She'll probably just kill you. Lord Quinton wants the healer and witch back a lot more than you, so you're not worth the effort."
"I'm not a witch," Meike snarled, and tried to kick the assassin. "I'm a full sorceress, and if I had a single mana point I'd fry your brains."
"You aren't the make friends and influence people type, are you, Laryn?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I kill people, and I enjoy it."
"She is not joining the family," Kahlan said, glaring at me. "So get it out of your head."
Elky and Meike nodded in agreement. I hadn't planned to seduce her into joining us, but then I never really intended to get the other women to join up with me. It kind of just happened.
"Ditch the bitches," Laryn said. Kahlan and Meike blocked Elky from attacking her. The assassin barely paid them any heed, but caught and held my eyes. "Let the Black Priory have them. And then, while your harem is taken back to their rightful master, I'll help you escape my sister-assassins."
Why did Laryn insist on insulting my ladies like that? Was it because assassins hated people? She was a mob, so it could just be her programming. My ladies didn't try to understand her problem either. They looked incensed, and ready to hand out a sound ass-whooping.
"Cormac, I'm going to kill her," Elky said in a grim, deadly tone. "Some people just need to be killed, and she's top of my list."
"We're not murderers," I said.
Honestly, I didn't know what to do with Laryn. If we let her go, she might come after us again. Her Red Priory could glean pretty good information about us from her, if nothing else. We'd made the mistake of discussing our options in front of her. The whole affair had us rattled.
"Cut her hands off. She can't assassinate anyone without hands," Meike said, grinning when Laryn gasped. The sorceress turned to Kahlan. "Do you have enough mana to share? I know a spell to wipe her brain clean as the day she was born, and it only takes 200 mana."
Only 200? I wasn't a caster, but I knew that had to be a powerful spell to use that much mana.
"No! The authorities will kill me anyway," Laryn cried.
"No," Elky said, a smug grin spreading across her lovely face. "You're pretty. I bet they sell your ass to a brothel."
Laryn stared at her in horror. I couldn't believe that option even occurred to her, and both Kahlan and Meike blanched. Thankfully, Elky covertly winked at me. What a relief. And I found Meike's idea of striping her of all memories almost as unsettling.
Still, I could use that threat.
"Laryn, you know I really like you," I said. "But if you aren't going to help us, we have no choice but to do something really drastic." I turned away from the assassin, and winked at Kahlan and Meike. "Don't you agree, ladies?"
They looked grim. Kahlan and Meike shared a look, then glanced at me and Elky, before turning their full attention on wide-eyed Laryn. Kahlan shrugged, and Meike nodded.
"Kahlan can give me the mana and step into the other room while I cast the spell," Meike said. "Should only take a moment, and we'll be free of her burden."
"Laryn, you better have some answers," I said. I looked at Meike. "Otherwise…"
"I'm doomed! Just kill me," she said. "Give me the honor of death."
"You refuse to help me?"
"No, but there is nothing I can do to save you," she said. "The Order of the Sacred Death worships Vyx, Goddess of Vengeance. She has followers all across the world, from sea to sea, north to south. Every abbey, every priory, will be looking for you. There is nothing short of your death and your ladies death or enslavement that will stop their pursuit."
"Well, that doesn't leave us with many options," I said, standing to face my women.
"Wait! I can still help you," Laryn said. "I know how they think, where they will look, even – "
A bolt streaked through the room and pierced Laryn's heart. We gawked down at the black bolt embedded in her chest.
Chapter 5
Cormac
"Lock the windows and doors!" Kahlan shouted.
That broke me out of my daze. I turned toward the front door, even as Meike and Elky split up to close the windows. We made it halfway across the shop before a figure in all back flew through a window.
Nun-assassin floated above her head. Another mob, but a dangerous one.
"Assassin!" I shouted.
She dressed exactly like Laryn, armed with two curved swords. Elky and I attacked, while Meike continued to close and secure the windows and door. It occurred to me that we might want to leave avenues of escape for the assassin, so maybe she would run away, but I found myself a little too hard pressed to voice that thought.
You know the assassin came straight at me, her primary target. I always had trouble fighting anyone using two swords. Not sure why, but I had to give ground as she drove me back across the shop. My Stamina bar appeared at the bottom of my vision, slowly dropping as she pushed me toward exhaustion. Elky showed up just in time, slamming shield first into the black-clad bitch.
Elky swung that enchanted shield as hard as she could, and the impact activated its magic. The shield strike blasted the assassin across the shop to slam into the wall. Yeah, Elky loved her white and gold magic shield with the golden ankh painted in the middle. A shield for a woman warrior.
"Kahlan, don't you dare heal her after we cut her down," Elky shouted.
"I'll try to control myself."
"Surrender, assassin," I demanded. "You can't win against two players of our level."
"Players?" she whispered, looking incredulous. Then rage filled her eyes as she muttered curses under her breath. She then threw herself at me. "I'll kill you a thousand times, renner!"
I dug in my heels and put everything I had into parrying her swords. Our exchange only lasted a few seconds, but felt like a year. I finally managed to knock both blades to the side at the same time, spun and smashed a roundhouse to her head. She staggered back, only to be engaged by Elky. The Amazon drove her back across the room, but also appeared to struggle fighting a two-sword fighter.
Meike pulled her sword and headed our way.
"Defend Kahlan," I ordered. The sorceress's sword skills weren't that great. I had
to keep her safely away from the assassin. I didn't want to lose either Meike or Kahlan. "And don't let her heal the assassin."
"Cormac!" Elky cried. She'd disengaged with the assassin. The two women panted furiously and glared at each other. "Less yapping, more fighting. Pull up your shield and we'll hit her at the same time."
"Fuck you," the assassin snarled. Her swords vanished into inventory, and a crossbow appeared in her hands. She looked at me with amusement in her eyes. "I can't kill you, but I can kill your sluts."
Elky moved between her and the two mobs. Meike pushed Kahlan through the door into the back storeroom. Then the sorceress pulled her own oval shield out of inventory and took up station in that doorway. The assassin tried to catch me off guard by taking aim at Elky, but swung her weapon around toward me at the last second.
The crossbow bolt hit my shield with a loud report in that closed up room. Then a second, third, fourth, and fifth bolt struck my shield.
"How the hell is she reloading so fast?"
Elky's voice was a low growl. "Crossbow is enchanted."
"Stupid goddamn magic," I grumbled. "Let's just fucking kill her!"
"You think?" Elky said.
We both charged the assassin, but she proved too wily to corner. She went over and under furniture, and slipped between us a dozen times.
"Why aren't you using that Epic Sword?" Elky asked.
"Because she's not a player," I said. "My regular sword will kill her just the same as the Epic."
"What about we strike a bargain?" the assassin asked, stepping back out of her fighting stance.
Elky and I shared a look, and then shrugged. We weren't exactly killing it at the moment.
"What kind of deal do you want to strike?" I asked.
"I thought I'd just leave, and you could…" Her swords vanished again, replaced by the crossbow. She shot at Elky. "Die!"
The Shield of Isis protected the Amazon, and sent the bolt straight back at the assassin. She barely saved herself by getting the crossbow in the way, so the bolt embedded in it. I noticed a confused look in her eyes, so launched myself at her with a mighty battle cry. I'm a barbarian warrior. That's what I do.
It must've been a ruse, because she turned on me in a flash and fired another bolt straight into my chest. I felt the impact as it pierced my breastbone. There wasn't really any pain, but it felt like something seized my heart in an iron grip. Mostly, I felt stunned. And then she flew at me with a pair of long, curved knives in her hands.
"Know the Sacred Death of Vyx!"
She must have stabbed me a thousand times in five seconds. Never felt anything like it before. Blackness sucked me down super fast, before it even registered that she'd killed me.
"Son of a bitch," I cried, sitting up in my bed upstairs.
Then it occurred to me. I respawned. I actually respawned. Twice in less than thirty minutes, no less. Elky and I hadn't been a hundred percent sure we would. We hadn't run across anyone else trapped in the game, so I worried we had been turned into mobs and would die forever.
"What a relief," I said, and smiled.
Death and respawning put me back to pristine condition, back in my black furry loincloth and boots, thanks to the assassin. Fully rested. HP 100. Stamina 100. XP 565. I checked my stats.
Name: Cormac mac Brocc Race: Human Class: Barbarian warrior
Level: 33
XP: 565
SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES:
Health: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Charisma: 5 (1000 female only)
Mana: N/A
Swordfighter (Lvl 30)
Horseback riding (Lvl 29)
Hand-to-hand (Lvl 25)
Spear fighting (Lvl 22)
Wrestling (Lvl 20)
Archery (Lvl 16)
Shield fighting (Lvl 14)
Cooking (Lvl 10)
Foraging (Lvl 8)
Hunting (Lvl 7)
Haggling (Lvl 7)
Robbery (Lvl 5)
"Alright," I muttered with a smile. "I'm doing okay."
Then I realized I'd returned to my default condition, with only the clothes and weapons I started the game with as a level 1 newb. Yeah, I'd dropped my inventory again! And that included the Ring Sword of Kiantor and the Heart of Aphrodite.
Then I heard a crash downstairs. My heart skipped a beat. While I sat upstairs basking in my glory, my ladies faced death down in the shop. So I pulled up my map.
Three green dots and a red. One green dot and the red circled each other in the middle of the shop. The green dot in the storeroom doorway started creeping toward them to help.
"No, Meike!" I cried, rolling out of bed.
I started for the door to rush downstairs and rejoin the fight, but I saw the assassin's red dot dart over to Meike's dot, then I heard a scream downstairs. My heart froze. Did that godless bitch kill Meike?
"I'm going to skin her alive!"
Meike's dot didn't go away. She remained alive, but pressed against the assassin. Captured? Used as a prisoner bargaining chip? Elky moved around to defend the storeroom door, while the assassin started backing toward the closed and locked front door. I had to make a decision right then, so I headed for the window above the street.
Looking first this time, I jumped out of the window and landed as quietly as I could amid all the foot traffic and domestic animals. I cause a minor disturbance, but then I discovered way too many locals staring at our shop. They heard the fight raging inside.
Pushing through them, I hurried to the door. The assassin would find me waiting when she exited. I pulled my two-handed sword, raised it high, and stared at the door. I could see them just inside, red dot still holding the green dot. The street noise was too loud to hear more than feminine murmurings on the other side.
I tensed up when I heard the bar lifted on the other side, and prayed the assassin didn't slit Meike's throat before opening the door. My breath caught when the door slowly swung inward, and then I spotted the shiny black-clad back of the assassin easing backward out the door, with knife to Meike's throat. Elky stood beyond them, pacing them step for step, fury in her eyes.
"If you come out this door, Amazon, I swear I'll cut her head off."
I did a quick assessment of the situation. The assassin's right hand held the knife threatening the elfmaid sorceress, while her left wrapped around the redhead's waist. I had a perfect shot at her back, and heart within. But if I thrust too hard, my blade could pass through the assassin and into Meike. And that wouldn't necessarily keep her from cutting Meike's throat.
So I shifted slightly, and swung my blade instead of thrusting.
Normally, I'd go for decapitation. But I had to incapacitate the hand and arm that threatened my woman. So I chopped off the assassin's right arm just below the shoulder. That did the trick. My swing proved savage enough to severe the arm completely, and still have enough power to cut deep into the assassin's chest.
As her arm fell to the ground, the assassin looked back over her shoulder with an astonished expression. And died before she hit the ground.
"What took you so long?" Meike asked, trying to act unfazed while shaking like a leaf.
"Traffic," I said, hugged her tight. "Are you all right? She didn't hurt you, did she?"
"I'm fine."
"That bad, huh?"
Elky rushed up and jerked us inside, before slamming the door and locking it.
"You two can get all lovey-dovey later," she snapped. "You just killed a woman in front of a hundred people."
"Everyone can see it was self-defense," I said. "Hell, she's dressed in all black assassin's garb."
"But the City Guard will still arrest and interrogate us," Elky said. "And they are already looking for us about the fight in the street."
"Yeah, we're in deep shit," I said.
"Eww," both Kahlan and Meike said, looking at me like I was disgusting or something.
"It's an expression where I come from."
Elky growled as she glared
at the rest of us. "Focus! We have to get the hell out of here. Now."
"She's right," Kahlan said. "Let's get out of here before the City Guard shows up."
A City Guard's ram horn filled the air. I froze, heart dropping into my stomach.
Chapter 6
Cormac
A big brouhaha rose up out in the street. I could well imagine everyone heading toward us to watch all of the fun. Everyone loved playing Game of Neighbors, until it was them or their family being beaten and dragged away in chains.
"Quick, inventory anything you absolutely have to take," I said. "Don't forget the Encumbrance Rules! Don't weight yourself down."
Elky and I had the smallest inventories, with the worst Encumbrance ratios. Ours weighed us down with half the weight of everything in our inventories. The two mobs were only weighed down a single pound for every ten stored. Technically, only Elky and I had inventories. Meike and Kahlan had Cache Stones which were the inventories for Battle for Glory's NPCs, though I also had a Cache Stone I picked up after slaying a foe.
Meike cached away all of her potions, along with some herbs and other ingredients. Kahlan headed to our cupboard to stash food: potatoes, jerky, bread, etc… Elky and I went for clothes and weapons. I found the Sword Ring of Kiantor still in a little pile I dropped when killed, with my purse and everything else in my inventory.
I started grabbing things in my pile of dropped items to return to my inventory, while looking for the red ruby Heart of Aphrodite. Maybe we'd all be better off if I didn't reabsorb it. I had mixed emotions about it. And then my finger touched something enchanted at the bottom of the pile. That bare touch proved enough for the enchanted ruby to be sucked up into my body a second time in the last ten minutes. Yeah, reset to Love God again. Wish I could say it disappointed me.
