The True Enemy Revealed

by Jason Cheek

  “Yes, milord.” The swordsman said, understanding the situation. “I’ll get busy organizing the surviving troops-“

  “First, I need you to confirm our troopers still hold the graveyards. If they do, that’ll make this simple.” I said, cutting the other man off apologetically. In the future, I’d have to make sure to remember the names of all of my Sub-Leaders, instead of relying solely on Assault Leader Dell for the task. Not that I couldn’t use the older man’s skills at organization. I just wanted to better know the soldiers sworn to me.

  “Sub-Leaders Burns and Miller are reporting in that they’re still in control of their assault points,” Dell reported in a second later, before his voice rose in concern. “Sub-Leader West and his men are showing as dead, milord.” Seeing the questioning look on my face, he hurried finished up with, “They were guarding the southwestern graveyard.”

  “Fuck!” I swore as my raid-mates looked at each other in consternation. That was the graveyard we’d been respawning from during this last battle. The question was, how bad of a situation were we going to be facing? My raid leader persona took over as I began shouting out orders.

  “Assault Leader Dell, I want fifty troopers sent to hold the city’s main gate.” I saw Sir Hemmet and Princess Reeva walking up as I hurriedly continued. “The rest of us will head to the southwestern graveyard and see if we can catch the Dread Pack survivors there.”

  “We’ve done our duty,” Princess Reeva’s shrill voice rang out as she came to a stop before me. “Now, my Royal Knights and I are headed for the Warden’s castle to see the situation there.” Surprisingly enough, I saw Sir Hemmet frown at the princess’ words as he bowed his head sheepishly to me.

  “The status of the Warden’s castle is that everyone’s dead!” I shot back without any preamble, speaking to her in the same tone that she’d addressed me in. Her head snapped back as if she’d been slapped, since I hadn’t used any honorifics in addressing her either. Whatever, if she couldn’t show the same respect to me, then I wasn’t going to go out of my way to stroke her sensibilities either. “Look at it this way, princess. If the Dread Pack manages to climb their way out of the trap I’ve set for them, we might be facing another battle and this time with over nine hundred newfar.”

  My words seemed to deflate the princess’ pompous attitude somewhat, as her mouth closed with an audible snap. While she didn’t say anything further, I could see she was fuming as Sir Hemmet quickly spoke up. “Princess Reeva is concerned about getting to the capital and taking her rightful place as ruler of the Kingdom of Kader.”

  “The capital is the last place you should be thinking of going until you’ve solidified your position,” I said, shaking my head irritably. “From the intel we were able to get on the Chaos Storm Guild’s alliance, they’ve got Telrain completely under their control.”

  “The Royal Forces will support me over any newfar usurper-“ Princess Reeva began to go off as I held up a hand cutting her off abruptly.

  “First we win this battle, then we plan the best way to meet the next.” I stated in no uncertain terms as Sir Hemmet stepped in-between us, doing his best to settle Princess Reeva down. Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, she stalked away as the Guardian Knight turned back to me apologetically.

  “Excuse her frustration, lord Ironwolf.” Sir Hemmet said, doing his best to play peacemaker. “She’s distraught over the loss of her father and the betrayal of her brother …” His voice petered away as he shook his head to get back on topic. “I’ll have the Royal Knights prepare to head out.”

  “Thank you, Sir Hemmet,” I said, feeling my nerves relax somewhat. I wasn’t sure what had come over him, but I’d take this man over the previous asshole any day of the week. “We’ll have to do some major planning if we’re going to be able to yank the Chaos Storm weed that has taken root in Telrain without creating a disaster.” Shaking the foreboding feeling away, I continued, focusing on the issue at hand. “Please have your knights ready to go in five minutes.”

  “By your leave, lord Ironwolf,” the noble knight said as he saluted and hurried back to his command calling out orders.

  I focused back on Assault Leader Dell just as he finished laying out his orders. The man was good. He’d even thought to warn Sub-Captain Windcoat of our current situation and to have her people prepared to repel boarders if necessary. Handing over some of Mariona’s wolf jerky, I waited for him to scarf the food down, before handing him one of my few remaining beer flasks from The White Unicorn. Taking a long pull, the veteran swordsman let out a satisfied sigh as the color returned to his face.

  “That’s just what the healer ordered, milord.” Dell said, as he handed the flask back with a nod of thanks.

  “You said it,” I shot back, taking a deep pull of the strong beer myself. Before I could secret it away in my rucksack, Thomas snatched the flask from my hands.

  “Damn, you have more of these?” The Devil Dog said, before taking a deep pull. “My God, that hit the spot!” Thomas exclaimed, smacking his lips as the flask quickly made its way around the circle of my friends and the recovering troopers that I’d raised along with Dell. Even Sarka and Yun got in on the action, which caused me to raise an eyebrow at them both. Yun just smiled and gave me a salute, while Sarka blushed and handed over the flask to Kenzie who took the last pull.

  “Dude, how many of these flasks did you bring along with you?” Kenzie asked, tossing me back the empty.

  “Obviously, not enough.” I shot back with a shake of my head. “We ready to do this?”

  “Ready like a heart attack!” Kenzie crowed, drawing her blades. “Where are we headed to?” I shook my head at her oblivious attitude at times.

  “The southwestern graveyard.”

  “The one we kept respawning from?”

  “The one and the same.” I said, trying not to grin at her sudden lack of enthusiasm.

  “Well, at least we’re heading in the opposite direction this time around.” Sarka chimed in helpfully, as she drew her sword and unlimbered her shield.

  “Let’s finish this then,” I said, getting a nod from my friends and Assault Leader Dell, before switching to the raid’s general chat. “Okay everyone, you’ve got your orders. Let’s move out!”

  Immediately, we took off at a fast jog. Troopers seemed to be moving in every direction as the Shadows Scouts fell in behind me with Scout Captain Dherler at their lead with Sub-Leader Eevro at his side. Krishna and Lyeneru from the Uten Syn guild was with them and both greeted me warmly. Thinking back to the group heal he’d cast during the fight, I reminded myself once again that the two of us needed to talk once this was all over. The Royal Knights and surviving troopers either fell in formation with me or were heading towards Darom’s main gate as I headed in the reversed direction of the graveyard run.

  Reaching the southwestern graveyard tucked away in the city, the Shadow Scouts took up defensive positions at the outer edge of the area with their bows drawn, while the rest of us charged through the stone archway near the center or leapt over the low stone. Rushing through the aged gravestones, dilapidated statues, and trampled weeds, we came to an abrupt stop at the center of the forty yard long by twenty yards wide area. Strewn across the bloody graveyard were the decapitated bodies of the fifty troopers that had been sent with Sub-Leader West. Even more eerie, all of their heads had been taken.

  Whatever had occurred here had been excessively violent. As everyone looked around in shock at the mutilated corpses, I nodded for Assault Leader Dell to follow me into the middle of the gory mess as my friends took up a defensive position around the two of us. As I searched for clues as to what had occurred here, I asked the veteran swordsman to check on the status of the troops at the other graveyards and the main gate.

  Squatting down, I inspected the ground and the numerous pieces of cut rope that had been casually tossed aside from where the Dread Pack prisoners looked to have been being kept. Without a word, Kenzie and Thomas joined my inspection
as Assault Leader Dell reported in. So far, the other graveyards were doing fine, while the troopers at the front gate said that they’d seen a force of five hundred or so newfar outside the city’s walls headed into the nearby woods. As I stood up dusting my hands off, Princess Reeva came striding over with a fidgeting Sir Hemmet at her back.

  “It looks like we’re done here.” Princess Reeva announced imperiously. “Our main focus should now be on securing the capital and solidifying my reign, so we can deal with this treasonous alliance.” As soon as the words left her mouth, I had a set of quest windows pop-up before my eyes.

  New Quest! Escort Princess Reeva to Telrain so she can take her rightful place on the throne to rule over the Kingdom of Kader!

  Escort Princess Reeva with the Royal Knights and deliver her to the Royal Forces in Telrain so that she can take her rightful place on the throne and remove her younger brother who betrayed her to the Sea Orcs.

  Objective: Arrest the new King and place Princess Reeva on her rightful throne.

  Special Circumstances: Required to leave immediately.

  Difficulty: Nightmare.

  Reward: Unknown.

  Accept: Yes / No

  Or

  New Quest! Keep the promise you made to the commoner soldiers under your command that have either sworn allegiance to you or have agreed to fight to save their loved ones!

  You have sworn to find, save, and resurrect all of the dead civilians, guards, and Royal Army in Darom that you can before continuing on your personal quest.

  Objective: Find, save, and resurrect the people of Darom that were captured or slaughtered by the Dread Pack.

  Time Remaining: ten hours.

  30/370 Royal Army.

  20/600 Guards.

  1,724/4,474 Townsfolk.

  25/375 Children.

  Difficulty: Nightmare.

  Reward: Dependent on how you complete this quest.

  Accept: Yes / No

  “The first thing we’re going to do is get our troops resurrected and secure the town.” I said, squeezing the bridge of my nose as I selected ‘Yes’ for the second quest and ‘No’ for the first. There was no question in my mind that this was going to turn ugly fast. Taking a deep breath, I continued, doing my best to remain calm. “In the interim, we’ll send scouts to the capital to get a handle on the current situation. There’s no telling what we’ll run into otherwise.”

  Arrrgggghhh! The wordless scream of aggravation that came from the princess’ dainty lips managed to attain the level of a Hulk-like roar, albeit without the bass, as her whole body clenched up the entire time she released her pent-up anger at me. Not that it surprised me in the least. I knew our constant bickering was headed to a confrontation like this. Besides, it perfectly reflected my own building frustration at her overbearing attitude since we’d landed in Darom.

  “Listen you backwater lordling!” Princess Reeva breathlessly shrieked as she poked a finger in my chest to emphasis her words. “I don’t know how the House of Kayden determines sovereignty, but here, I am the heir to the Kingdom of Kader. There will be no questions in regards to my rightful place on the throne! Once I appear at the capital’s gates, the Royal Forces will establish order and my brother will be called upon to answer for his crimes!”

  Seeing Sir Hemmet uncomfortably look away, I ran a tired hand down my face and pressed it to my eyes hard before speaking. “It seems like even Sir Hemmet agrees that this isn’t the best course of action.“ I said, unconsciously flinching at the golden glow that came from the princess’ closed fist as her face turned splotchy from anger. “You might be willing to bet your life by thinking that the Chaos Storm guild and their alliance don’t have troopers loyal to them waiting for you to show your face, but I’m not.”

  “We will scout the city first and discover exactly what’s going on before putting our heads in the proverbial noose.” I stated in no uncertain terms. “First though, I have a vow to uphold to the troopers who put their lives on the line to fight the Dread Pack. Once we’ve resurrected our fallen, rescued their families, and secured the city, we’ll head to Telrain.”

  “You’re willing to put the lives of these commoners ahead of my sovereignty?” Princess Reeva’s voice took on an ugly tone and got progressively louder. “These townspeople and troopers, they mean nothing in comparison to restoring my throne!”

  “They’re your people that you’re sworn to protect. Not garbage to be thrown away whenever it’s convenient for you.” I snapped back, doing my best to keep my voice calm and failing miserably. “If I’d thought the way you do, I’d have left you chained to the foot of the bed where I found you to suffer a fate worse than death. Instead, I took the time to save you and the rest of your people, before continuing on my way to help my friend whose lands are even now under siege.”

  “Similar to how I helped you, I’ve been doing my best to help those in need that I can. So, if I can break the hold that the Chaos Storm alliance has over your kingdom, then I will, but only if it’s possible to do so without putting my peoples’ lives needlessly in jeopardy.” I ruthlessly overrode her protests.

  “These useless commoners, as you put it, are the only ones adhering to their oaths.” I shouted in her face. “It’s you who needs to understand the situation. The Isolde Line has fallen, your father has been assassinated, and you were sold into slavery by your younger brother who even now sits on the kingdom’s throne. It doesn’t get any worse than that unless you’re dead.” I didn’t stop there as her faced turned white as a sheet.

  “Even if I had all of the survivors in the city of Darom trained and under arms, I wouldn’t have a force strong enough to stop the shitstorm that’s headed this way. You’ve got the Chaos Storm guild and their alliance of nightmare start newfar that number in the thousands and a massive northern invasion force obviously headed this way. Honestly, I can’t even begin to say which of the two is the worse threat.”

  “What I can do is turtle up in my lands and come out swinging once I’ve secured my borders and built up my forces.” Pointing to the Warden’s castle at the top of the hill, I bellowed. “So, you and your noble knights,” my voice dripped with sarcasm, “can either help with the recovery operations that’ll be going on or wait up at the Warden’s castle until we’re done and ready to move out. But, under no circumstances, am I going to break my oath to these people.”

  For a long moment, we glared at each other not giving an inch, while the troops around us shifted uncomfortably. I thought the princess’ head was going to explode as her face turned three different shades of red. Was she simply being an idiot or did she truly not want to believe the evidence before her eyes. To be brutally honest, I didn’t know or care in that moment. Whichever it was, I wasn’t about to fight her tooth and nail every step of the way.

  Besides, while the Chaos Storm guild situation in the capital was bad enough, I didn’t even want to think about how the game was going to react with thousands of Nightmare start players all in one spot. Hell, even if all of their thousands of guildmates didn’t actually take a nightmare start, there were still too many that did. Between that and the fortresses being down on the Isolde Line, the size of the invasion force headed our way had to be like nothing any of us had ever seen before.

  Yeah, just picture that for a second. It was bad enough whenever I entered into an area. Usually quests became much harder, creatures evolved into insanely powerful monsters, realm altering events could pop-up at the drop of a hat, and that was while I was in my twenties. Now picture that in my thirties times two thousand. How much worse was it going to be when some of these nightmare start players were in their forties? My balls clenched at just the thought of how the game might react. Honestly, all that I wanted to do at this point in time was grab Domenic and run, but, unfortunately, it was never that easy.

  Giving me a look that could kill, Princess Reeva wordlessly stomped off with her Royal Knights in tow, since all of her Royal Navy troops had been slaughtered. Sir Hemmet
and the rest of the Guardian Knights looked at me with hooded eyes as they silently passed. While I understood their situation, their refusal to contradict her highness wasn’t helping the situation. Not saying that I didn’t understand on one level, since by now all of us knew the princess wasn’t particularly open to contradictory opinions. While that was a situation that needed to be dealt with, at this particular moment, I had other issues on my plate. Turning back to my people, I addressed Assault Leader Dell.

  “I’m not seeing Mercenary Sub-Leader Hawkin or his people in the raid. Does anyone know what happened to their group?”

  “Hawkin isn’t answering any of my messages and the last I heard from Sub-Captain Windcoat was that they’d failed to report in after being sent in to help rescue the townsfolk from the arena.” Assault Leader Dell said, his voice harsh with emotion. “Have they finally shown their true allegiance?”

  “It looks that way,” I said, trading grim looks with my friends.

  “I don’t get it,” Sarka said unhappily, as she picked her way carefully through the piles of dead. “Why take their heads?”

  “To stop us from finding out the truth as to what happened here,” Thomas replied grimly.

  “At some point in time, the Falcon Mercenary Commander and I are going to have a reckoning,” I angrily groused, as my eyes surveyed the remaining troopers silently watching me. Most were the soldiers I’d saved from the Sea Orcs, while others, like Laurie Butcher, had been rescued from the Darom dungeon. They were all watching me expectantly. I knew they were all worried about their loved ones and comrades that had fallen in battle or were slaughtered when Darom was taken over by the Dread Pack. From the look in their eyes, my words to Princess Reeva had affected them greatly. With that thought in mind, I came to a decision.

  “While I start resurrecting our comrades that fell during the battle, the rest of you can begin gathering the dead and bringing them to the arena.” I paused making sure everyone understood exactly what I meant. “I mean all of the dead. Go door-to-door if needed. Unless there is no possible way for me to resurrect them, I expect them to be brought to the arena.”