by Rick Scott
“I’m seventeen!”
“Exactly.”
“What the heck does that mean?”
“It means it’s probably a good thing that you weren’t able to put that guy down. A kid your age shouldn’t be into killing people. Would be kind of messed up if you were.”
I’m not sure how I feel about that statement. Relieved a bit, I guess. But in a way it makes me feel inadequate. Like me not being able to walk is okay, just because I’m a cripple. Although being able to kill another person is not something I wish to aspire to. I don’t think. I’ve got to get off this topic.
“How much do you even remember, Aiko?” I ask her, changing the subject. “When you were under that spell?”
Her eyes go vacant for a moment perhaps reliving things she’s rather not.
“Enough...” She looks to the Palace in the distance, a grimace tugging at her lips. “Thankfully it’s not all too clear, but it makes me sick to my stomach to think of what that creep did to me.”
I can honestly empathize with her. It’s the same way I felt about Gilly.
“I’m really sorry you went through that,” I say, but I can’t think of anything else to do to comfort her. Giving her a hug was out of the question. Even patting her on the shoulder would be like petting a shark to me.
“I have half a mind to run to that palace and still try and take him out.” Her eyes fill with hatred. “But that’d be impossible now. He’s probably healed back to full and surrounded himself with a battalion of troops. After tonight, he won’t take his safety for granted ever again.” She then looks at me. “And after cutting off his hand, you shouldn’t take yours for granted either.”
Her words send ice coursing through my stomach. I hope it’s not true.
But something tells me it is.
“I’m not looking forward to that.”
Aiko shrugs. “Actions have consequences, good and bad. I just hope you don’t live to regret yours.”
What was this? Another dig? “What the heck does that mean?”
“It means that sometimes it’s safer to kill a snake on sight than to wait to see if it will bite you.”
That was the same logic Braxus used when he decided to throw us in the coliseum—a pre-emptive strike born of paranoia. I’m beginning to see a pattern here.
“So is that why you went and attacked him first?” I ask, leveling my eyes at her.
“What?”
“Braxus said you’re the one who set him off from the get go. He said all he was trying to do was help you and then you went and attacked him to collect on that quest. Is that true?”
She laughs her cocky cackle laugh. “Is that what he told you?”
“Lady Diana confirmed it, she said you attacked unprovoked.”
She scoffs. “I attacked him because I knew he was going to trap me with that stupid dress.”
“You knew it was cursed?”
“Not right away.” She folds her arms and shivers a bit. “When he invited me to dinner I thought he was just trying to woo me or something, but I figured I’d entertain the little troll. It was during dinner when I noticed the hidden effects.”
“How? I couldn’t see anything on my clothes.”
She laughs mockingly. “They’re not called hidden for nothing, pretty boy. You can adjust and hide descriptions but not the true effects. Check your resistances.”
I do so and the display registers on my HUD.
Fire 15
Ice 15
Earth 15
Wind 15
Lightning 15
Slashing 20
Blunt 10
Piercing 5
Charm 15
Poison 10
Death 10
“Wow,” I say. “I didn’t even see this stuff before.”
She laughs again. “Such a cute noob, you are. Anyway, I noticed my charm resistance was sitting at -300. And when I couldn’t take off the dress, I figured out pretty quickly what Braxus was planning to do. So I beat him to the punch. Or tried to.”
“So you weren’t just trying to collect on that quest?”
She scoffs again. “Please… like I even want to be back here. You really think I have any interest in playing king of the castle with that idiot?”
That brings me to an even more important question. One Val Helena would surely want the answer to as well. “So why did you come back then? Did you come to help us?”
Aiko glares at me. “Come on. We need to get going. I’m freezing out here.”
Guess that one was in a no-fly zone. I let it rest for now. “You still haven’t said where we’re going yet.”
“To the garrison.”
“What!?” I balk at her. “Are you kidding? The whole army is looking for us and you want to head to their HQ?”
“Best time to do so. No one will be there.”
“What’s there that’s so darn important?”
“My gear for one. Plus something else I need.”
I do notice she hasn’t changed out of her lingerie yet. “They took your gear but not your weapons?”
“These aren’t my weapons,” she says pulling the blades into her hands. “These are props. Stupid level 10 weapons they gave me to fight in the arena.”
“Braxus made you fight in the arena?”
“He was going to. And against you guys, I guess.”
“Eesh, I’m glad that didn’t happen.” The fact that Aiko was doing so much damage with just a couple of level 10 weapons is scary. I wonder what her strength must be to do that.
“My real stuff is locked up in the garrison dungeon. Braxus forced me to remove it all when I was charmed.”
Yikes. I don’t even want to think about that scenario. And what it might have led to. I then remember something else. “Well… if you need decent weapons. I suppose you can have these back.”
“What?”
I initiate a trade with her.
You offer to trade with Aiko.
You offer:
A Poison Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Poison Damage
A Lightning Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Lightning Damage
I shrug. “I can’t use them yet so…”
Her eyes light up with recognition. “How did you get these?”
“We ran into Blacktop. He’s the one who told us you were here.”
She chuckles. “Old goat. Hope you didn’t pay too much for them.”
“Haven’t paid at all, actually. I still owe him a flamethrower for them though.”
She laughs. We make the trade and the new blades materialize in her palms. She studies them with a wicked grin. “Oh yes... These should help out nicely.” She then turns to me, licking her teeth. “Come on, Reece. Time to give you an education.”
* * *
Aiko takes off again and I hesitatingly run after her.
An education in what? I’m not sure if I should be gung ho about learning anything from her. We jump across a few more roofs and head in a somewhat easterly direction across the city. Below, I see the fallout of our escape starting to unfold; guards kicking in doors and pulling people out of their homes. As we pass close to the bazaar, I recognize a woman being dragged across the street by two solders. It’s the old woman from the Magick shop. She’s yelling as they clutch her under the arms and lift her feet off the ground, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. The look on her face however, is far easier to read: pure terror.
I swallow involuntarily as guilt rises in my belly.
I’m beginning to understand now what Aiko meant by actions having consequences, good and bad.
As we approach the garrison, the place looks somewhat deserted just like Aiko predicted. It’s a walled off area like the barracks we saw earlier, but at the center of it, is a two-story stone structure with narrow windows and only one visible means of entrance: a large gate with a portcullis.
Thankfully it’s open and guards rush in and out, in squads of ten and twenty. But mostly I see them rushing out.
/> “Keep invis on and stick with me,” Aiko says casting Shadow Cloak. “Use party chat to communicate and don’t mess up your Sneak!”
I follow her blurred outline as she jumps from the roof to the top of the high wall, surrounding the garrison perimeter. We run along it until we’re adjacent to the main portcullis and then drop down to the cobblestone courtyard below.
“Wait for an opening,” she says crouching in stealth.
It takes a good five minutes and a couple of nervous refreshes of Shadow Cloak before Aiko finally moves. She does so in a flash, skirting across the courtyard soundlessly and through the main gate. I stick close behind her, my heart pounding with adrenaline as we cross right under the noses of the two lone spearmen left to guard the entrance.
“We did it!” I say triumphantly in the chat. “Now what?”
“Follow me.”
My Sneak skill starts to skillup like crazy as we make out way deeper into the fortress. The corridors are tight and well lit, and we have to press our backs against shallow doorways to conceal ourselves as the soldiers walk across us. I hold my breath, fearing that even that might give us away.
As I cross the opening to a large common room I hear a voice I recognize.
“That’s the king’s order. Carry it out!”
I peek inside the room and see Sir Ziegfried. He’s conversing with another man that’s clad in banded mail with a red cape flowing off his back. He looks to be in his sixties with a clean-shaven face and close-cropped silver hair around the sides of his head in a typical male pattern baldness fashion. I focus on him to check who he is.
Name: General Lyons
Level: 85
Class: Soldier (Garrison Commander)
Lyons is studying a piece of parchment in his hand. He then looks from it and up at Ziegfried, who is a good foot and a half taller than him. “Why isn’t Lady Diana bringing me this?”
“She’s in the infirmary recovering from the attack,” Ziegfried says. “I’ve taken command of the praetorian guard for now.”
Diana…I hope she’ll be okay through all this. I’ve got to make this right somehow. Someway. I’ve got to keep my promise to her. A promise I already failed to keep by botching up my attempt to force Braxus into relinquishing his power earlier. Instead of just killing him. It’s a decision I’m going to have to live with. I think back to that moment, and try to will myself to kill that stupid kid again, but still I can’t. I haven’t even told Aiko that part yet. She only thinks I erred when I took out his hand instead of his head. If she knew I actually had a chance to backstab him, she’d probably freak out all over again.
“Why the hesitation, general?” Ziegfried says. “It bares the king’s seal, does it not?”
Lyons doesn’t respond to him right away. He sighs and then folds the parchment. “That it does. The order will be carried out. But please be sure to pass on my disapproval of this course of action to the king.”
Ziegfried grunts. “Your objection is noted.”
What the heck are they talking about? What’s Braxus going to do now?
“Come on, Reece!” Aiko hisses through the party chat. “We need to move.”
I break away from the conversation and follow Aiko down a couple of flights of stairs to what must be the dungeon. My thoughts are still focused on what Braxus is going to do though. So much so that I don’t notice when Aiko stops and I bump into her from behind.
“Watch it, idiot!”
“Sorry!”
I can’t see her, but I just know she gave me another glare.
“Now pay attention, pretty boy,” she says. “There are two guards just around the corner. We need to kill them at the same time.”
Great…more killing. “How about we just knock them out?”
“Do whatever you want. But just make sure they don’t make a sound. They’re only level 50 so they should go down easily.”
I’m not even sure I know how to knock someone out. Before I can even consider it some more Aiko says, “Go!”
Crap!
I scramble after her as she dashes around the corner. Like she said, there are two guards in chainmail posted on either side of a heavy iron door. She positioned herself behind the furthest guard and instantly I see 90% of his HP disappear in a single backstab.
Holy moly!
She phases into existence and finishes him off with two quick stabs to the kidneys.
Aiko defeats the Garrison Guard!
You gain 8000 experience points.
I stare dumbfounded for a second, along with the second guard. But then I realize I’ve got to do something. Fast! I whack him over the head with the flat of my blade like I saw Diana do.
You hit the guard for 12 HP
He cries out both from the hit and the shock of seeing his comrade murdered in less than a second right in front of him. The suddenly he yells, “Alarm! Alarm!”
Aiko quickly stabs him in the throat, turning his shout into a gurgle, before finishing him off with a series of lightning quick strikes to his torso.
Aiko defeats the Garrison Guard!
You gain 8000 experience points.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” she snarls at me through the chat. “You just screwed everything up!”
Shouts and yells come from above. I’ve really done it now. Crap, this thing with Braxus has me all messed up! I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.
Aiko stoops down and grabs a ring of keys off the dead guard. “Better hope I’m fast enough for us to get back out of here alive. If anyone comes… you deal with it!”
She emphasizes you, like it’s my problem alone. Aiko unlocks the door and disappears down a short flight of steps into the darkness of the dungeon. From above I hear more yells and footfalls. Soldiers coming.
My heart races and my legs shake with adrenaline. I buff myself with Shadow Haste, Shadow Copy and finally throw on a Shadow Cloak. A full thirty seconds go by before three guards come running around the corner. They stop in their tracks and balk at their slain brethren, strewn across the floor.
“Sound the alarm!” one of them shouts. “Someone’s broken out of the dungeon!” The same one then turns to the two other. “See who it was. I’ll seal the portcullis.”
Oh no!
“Aiko!” I yell in the chat. “We need to go now!”
I press myself to the wall as the two guards rush down the stairs. Moral qualms or not, I’m going to have to do something now. I move to stalk behind them, but muffled cries come from the darkness.
Aiko defeats the Garrison Guard!
You gain 8000 experience points.
Aiko defeats the Garrison Guard!
You gain 8000 experience points.
Aiko emerges clad in her full ninja gear. “Let’s go!”
She throws on a Shadow Cloak and runs full tilt down the corridor. I struggle to keep pace with her as she zips past onrushing guards, running up the sides of the walls to avoid them. I mimic her and am amazed we’re both able to squeeze through. But we don’t go unnoticed.
“They’re cloaked!” someone yells. “Close the gate!”
We’re in for it now.
The garrison becomes a hive of chaos. Screams and shouts resound off the walls. It’s only thanks to most of the soldiers already being outside that we’re able to make it back to the entrance without being hemmed in. But it’s too late. The portcullis is down and there is a squad of guards waiting both inside and out.
Not good. “Aiko! What are we going to do?”
She doesn’t answer. Instead she becomes fully visible as she casts a spell while still on the run.
Aiko casts Shadow Step!
She flashes briefly with a purple hue and the guards recoil in shock as the elf woman barrels straight at them. Aiko activates Charge Strike and I expect to see her go crashing into the lead guard, but instead she vanishes in a puff of purple-black smoke and reappears on the other side of the portcullis, jabbing her katana into one of the guards outside.
/>
Holy crap!
The solider releases a grunt of pain as he’s stunned by the attack, losing a quarter of his health. Aiko then spins in a 180 and uses Retreat, not flipping as normal, but vanishing again and reappearing some distance away before tuning and running full tilt toward the wall. It’s amazing to watch, but how am I supposed to get out?
“Aiko! I don’t have that spell!”
Her voice comes back melodically over the partychat, mockingly almost. “Oh well…”
What the heck? Did she just ditch me?
My insides freeze with panic and then melt with the heated anger of betrayal. What am I going to do? The guards seem as bewildered as I am by what just happened. There are about a dozen of them, but there’s no way I can fight through them all. Suddenly the one who seems to be the leader cries out: “Open the portcullis. Get after her!”
Wait, what? Holy cow! They don’t realize there are two of us!
I focus on hiding and stay out of their way as the gate slowly opens again, cranked by a pair of guards on the inside. I wait until its fully open and the guards to pour out before following quickly behind them. My heart is beating like a jackhammer as I rub shoulder to shoulder with them before peeling off and making a Bee line for the wall.
I’ve never so felt so free and alive. Thank goodness I’m out of that situation. I scan for Aiko and catch her already jumping off the top of the perimeter wall and to the rooftops beyond. I chase after her but take a wide arch over the adjacent roofs to intercept her when she eventually turns south toward the main city wall.
Cries from the guards reach the rooftops as they point and vainly shoot arrows at the fleeing elf, but eventually she casts Shadow Cloak and vanishes from sight. I keep an eye on where she is though and catch up to her as she makes her break toward the city wall.
“Hey!” I shout at her angrily. “STOP!”
Remarkable she does, becoming visible again. And then she fires back at me, sounding annoyed: “What?”
“What?” I echo her sardonically. “You left me in there, Aiko! What’s wrong with you?”
