Expedition- Summerlands

by Nathaniel Webb

  Dr Agony had disappeared in the first rush, but he appeared suddenly with the rest of Golden Apple at the heart of the melee, shouting orders and pointing. I saw Rad first; he rose up from a humped pile of bodies, throwing elves off him in all directions—I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead—and swung his maul in a sweeping arc that crumpled an elven helmet and the skull inside it. Valkyrie kept under the shelter of the huge warrior, darting out to slide her knives into necks, armpits, and groins where the armor of the elves was weakest, then retreating back into Rad’s kill radius. Even Wolfheart was more engaged than usual; he’d apparently discovered the same violent use of the white magic surgery spell that Noah had, and his face was tight with focus as he lashed out in all directions with a wooden wand that left long red gashes like an invisible whip.

  For a moment, it seemed like the humans stood a chance.

  Something shifted up and down the battle; I caught a glimpse of Eneri in his golden armor running along behind the elven front line shouting orders, and whatever he told them proved effective as they slowly formed up into something resembling order. The entire elven line shouted as one, a remarkably sharp sound that cut through the ruckus, and shoved forward with their shields. With another shout and another step, they forced the disorganized adventurers back a foot or so and with that the momentum of the battle shifted and the players were forced into a chaotic fighting retreat that spilled back across the square toward me and my party.

  “Stay together!” Cass screamed as the melee swallowed us. One of Merric’s Angels, her white leathers sprayed with blood in blue and red slashes, bolted past me, and then the elven line reached us and we stumbled backwards with the other players.

  Panic crashed down on me like a bucket of ice water. I spun in a helpless circle, looking for anywhere I could hide, or at least retreat to, to catch my breath and start working a spell. The elves in front of me were still pushing forward and the players behind were finally starting to push back, trapping me between hammer and anvil.

  An elven spear lanced at my face and I ducked aside. Too slow: the tip made a burning line across my cheek. To my left, Noah deflected another spear with his sword, his teeth showing in a snarl of focus. Cass was struggling to get space of her own to nock an arrow; she managed to get one up but it was immediately dislodged by an errant sword and trampled. Magpie had his knives out, but could barely fend off the assault of elves with shields and a far greater reach.

  I took another step backwards and my foot landed on something other than the flat ground. It was an elven sword, lost by someone somewhere, and I snatched it from the cobbles as the same spear that cut my cheek lashed out again and caught the empty space above my head.

  I could feel the warrior spirit within the weapon, begging to be used, and mentally whipped it into order as surely as Eneri had done for the elven army; the curved edge of the sword flared red as the spirit leapt to my command. I came up swinging, cleaving an elven shield in half from bottom to top to reveal a startled soldier with a broad patch of his unprotected chest suddenly revealed. An arrow appeared there and he fell away, gasping.

  “Come on! Come on!” someone was screaming and my throat was raw and I realized it was me. My sword left burning red trails in the air as I bulled forward, slashing through shields and weapons all around me. I broke through the elven line; on either side of me Magpie and Noah turned my point into a wedge and Cass trailed in our wake putting arrows through elven armor at point-blank range.

  I caught a flash of gold a few ranks back: Eneri. He disappeared into the melee, but I turned our vanguard in his direction and chopped into the next row of elves with renewed fury. Our drive bought us a few more bloody yards before I stumbled over something that checked my forward momentum. A body lay at my feet, black against the cobblestones: the handsome ranger from the forest. He’d saved me, but I hadn’t returned the favor. I’d never even learned his name.

  “Linnaea! Linnaea!” Someone was screaming for me. I ignored it. They could follow me or not; I had to get to Eneri and the Eldest.

  “Linnaea!” The voice wasn’t behind me; it was ahead of me, somewhere among the mass of elven infantry who blocked my way. A white face smeared with blue blood floated up and my sword flickered out of its own accord. I caught it at the last moment as I realized I was staring into the face of Scytri.

  “Stop! Stop!” he shouted. A spearman bumped into him and Scytri shoved the other elf away. “Listen!”

  “What?” I yelled back, struggling to be heard over the chaos. I jabbed my sword at a soldier who fell back with his shield up.

  “You can’t kill the Eldest!” Scytri had his face next to mine now. “This war will never, ever end if you do.”

  “It’ll never end if we don’t!” I replied. “He’s forcing you to fight!”

  “The caller in the red robes on your side—”

  “Dr Agony,” I snarled. “Now get out of my way!”

  “He did the same for your people—drove them to fight—listen! Listen!” I was trying to push past Scytri, but he had his hands on my shoulders, keeping me in place by sheer physical strength. “If we can stop them both, we can stop this fight. Do you understand?”

  The red sword in my hand was really a shield, I thought insanely. As long as I kept swinging and cutting, nothing would hurt me or my friends. So I would just cut my way to the Eldest and chop him apart too and then I’d be safe… but something in Scytri’s eyes caught me and held me there more powerfully than his hands. He was as panicked as I was, but somehow he’d managed to keep his senses in a way that I really hadn’t.

  But Scytri was right. Killing the elven leader would only make things worse. I didn’t want to win this fight, I wanted to end it, and I wanted to end the war of which this was only the first terrible moment.

  “What’s your plan?” I said.

  “I’ll kill the Eldest,” said Scytri, and I saw in his eyes how serious he was. “When I do, my progenitor will become Eldest. You stop Dr Agony and tell your side to stand down.”

  “Kill Dr Agony?” I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. Killing monsters was one thing, but killing another player…?

  “Just stop him! It has to be one of you, don’t you see?” Scytri’s eyes were wide, and for the first time I could see that the gray in them was a raging, swirling stormcloud. “We stop our side, you stop yours. We both make that sacrifice to prove we’re serious about peace.”

  “You’re talking about revolution—”

  “Just tell me you understand!”

  Then the melee swept him up and carried him away from me as the elves surged forward, bristling with spears and thirsty for blood.

  “What’s the plan?” That was Noah at my left shoulder, falling back with me against the elven shields. His face gleamed with sweat and blood of both colors and his chest was heaving. He swiped his forehead with the back of one hand, then jerked suddenly to swat a spear away from me with his sword.

  “Find Golden Apple,” I said between gritted teeth, shoving back against the shield wall. A sword darted through a gap and I sheared it in half with my own enchanted blade. “Stop Agony. Scytri stops the Eldest. Battle ends.”

  “Over there!” Magpie pointed with a dagger to a break in the battle where Rad’s hammer rose and fell as steadily as a pendulum. Cass grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the elven line, spinning around to take my place so she was now at the rear of our new wedge, aimed perfectly to drive towards Golden Apple.

  I shoved Pixie out of my way as I bulled towards Dr Agony with my party at my heels. She sneered, opened her mouth, and shut it after a look at my face, and the roiling fray carried her off. The last of the elven line had disintegrated again, and the whole of Portal Square was engulfed by the melee, which seemed to be rotating slowly in a vortex of clashing steel.

  “Halt, witch!” St George forced his way between two other adventurers to block my path. His tabard was purple with blood and torn nearly to shreds that fluttered
around him. “I have seen you consorting with demons and speaking their tongue! Kneel and repent or taste my sacred blade!”

  “Get out of my way,” I growled. St George raised his sword. His eyes were wild with holy madness.

  “And let you betray God’s children? I think not!” He brought the sword down in a two-handed slash and I swept mine up into a high guard, hoping I could shear his blade in half and keep moving. The swords met, and a numbing shiver ran down my arms. His blade ground against mine, throwing red and blue sparks of magical force that sizzled where they hit us; obviously his hatred of witchcraft hadn’t prevented him from having his blade enchanted.

  Over his shoulder, I caught a flash of Dr Agony’s robes disappearing farther into the melee. He was getting away while I wasted time toe-to-toe with my mom’s favorite madman.

  “This guy bothering you?” Merric stood by my side, his chest puffed out and his chin raised. He wore steel plate armor enameled white, though the enamel was chipping and flaking away, and he carried a battered steel shield and a mace with all its flanges badly bent. His long hair was plastered to his head by sweat, revealing how thin it was on top.

  “He called me a witch,” I said. “And he’s in my way.”

  “Angels!” Merric barked. Three women with white leathers and dangerous expressions readied their weapons. “Clear a path! First one to knock him down gets a raise!”

  They charged, attacking St George from all sides; he batted at them like a bear swatting away wasps. There was no time to watch, though, and I drove Hearthammer onwards towards the knot of fighting that surrounded Golden Apple.

  They saw us coming and either somebody had warned them or they could read the look in my eyes, because Rad, Valkyrie, and Wolfheart formed a line between us and Dr Agony as the swirl of the battle dragged the fight away from us and cleared a little space in the square. The red wizard eyed me warily from behind his party. He’d taken a cut across the forehead and his face was smeared with blood.

  “Move aside,” I said. “Or surrender, that would be easier.”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to?” Rad said with a laugh. His maul was black with gore. “Golden Apple never surrenders.”

  “Actually,” said Noah, “you ran from some hell rats about three years ago, in that dungeon under the Crown Oak.”

  “That was a tactical retreat,” said Wolfheart.

  “I’m sure the rats could tell the difference,” said Cass.

  “Their souls weren’t worth the harvest,” said Valkyrie. “At least you will know the glory of Valhalla after you die.”

  “Is that a threat?” Magpie took a step forward.

  “It’s a promise,” hissed Valkyrie.

  “Show me,” Magpie said. “Or are you afraid to fight a bunch of noobs?”

  “We’re not afraid of you,” Wolfheart said.

  “Then show me!” Magpie screamed, and Valkyrie attacked. It was incredible how fast she was, darting at Magpie with both knives leading, pricking at him from all directions in a flashing blur of steel. They came together and stumbled apart again. Their fighting styles couldn’t be more different: Valkyrie moving with flashy precision like a fighter in a martial arts movie, Magpie like a back-alley brawler, ducking his face behind one elbow as he lashed out at Valkyrie’s eyes with his free hand.

  Cass had Wolfheart pinned down with arrows; he was trying to cast something, but kept being interrupted by near-misses that I suspected were going exactly where Cass wanted them to. That left Rad for me and Noah, and we stepped forward together to confront the huge warrior.

  He went for Noah first, bringing his maul down in a double-handed blow that would crush its target into the ground if it landed. Noah dodged to the side and the maul crashed into the cobbles where he’d stood a moment earlier, cracking the paving stones with a bang like a gun. I stepped into the opening, swinging my elven sword, but Rad brought an arm up with surprising speed and, incredibly, caught the blow on one of his neon armbands.

  “Yeah, they’re magic,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at me. He grabbed the blade of my sword, twisted it out of my hands, and snapped it over his knee. The last of the enchantment rose from the broken pieces with a puff of red and a sound like a gasp.

  Rad grabbed his maul as Noah came back in and swatted Noah’s sword away with a one-handed sweep of the huge weapon. Unable to check his charge, Noah fell to his knees and slid to a stop at Rad’s feet. The huge warrior raised his maul for a killing blow.

  “Don’t be a PK!” Noah shouted.

  “What?” Rad stopped, his brow furrowed.

  “You already initiated PvP combat,” Noah said in a rush. “Don’t be a player killer, too.”

  “You attacked us, kid,” said Rad.

  “Not by the rules,” I put in. “Valkyrie made the first actual attack. Then you tried to kill Noah.”

  “Fine!” Anger creased Rad’s face. “So what? Expedition ain’t gonna bring the hammer down on us. We’re Golden Apple.”

  “It’s not Expedition you need to convince,” I said. I gestured upward, where something like a thousand drones swirled like a stormcloud. “It’s them.”

  Rad looked up, dismay dawning on his face. He looked at Noah with disgust, then raised his maul and prodded Noah roughly in the shoulder with its tip. “You ain’t worth the trouble, you little shit.” He stomped off into the melee, looking for something he was allowed to kill, muttering, “Ain’t no goddamn PK…”

  “Well, that was—” A red line appeared on Noah’s chest, parting his armor and the skin and muscle underneath. He opened his mouth like a fish and fell onto his back, gasping. I whirled around. Behind me, Cass stood with her bow in two pieces, looking stunned. Magpie and Valkyrie were locked together in a sort of death grip, frozen like a classical painting of two wrestlers with their free hands around the other’s wrist, each straining to drive his or her knife into some soft part of the other.

  Wolfheart stalked towards me, wand in hand.

  “That’s what I get for giving out discounts,” he told Noah. “Now, you stay down while I deal with your red wizard.”

  My spells flickered through my mind, but they all seemed equally useless: I had no coin to throw, no weapon to enchant, no enemy spirit to hold. There wasn’t even a breeze I could try to whip up.

  A small smile blossomed on Wolfheart’s face as he drew near.

  “Cleave!”

  The same spell that had lashed Noah now split Wolfheart from the shoulder to the belly button. He crumpled into a pile on the cobblestones, leaking blood.

  “Holy shit, what—” I choked on my words as Scytri appeared from the throng, the wand he’d used to cut away my infection in his hand.

  “I must admit,” he said, “you humans are certainly creative in your use of spells.”

  “Did you do it?” I rushed to him. He was battered and bloodied, with a purple swell threatening to close off one eye, but he looked whole.

  “No.” Scytri shook his head. “The Eldest still lives.”

  “What are you doing here?” I wanted to shake him.

  “I saw you in trouble.” He caught the look on my face. “Don’t worry. My progenitor leads the fight against the Eldest.” He glanced at the drone-clouded sky. “There’s revolution in the air.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I gripped his shoulder for a moment, then a movement drew my eye, and I saw Dr Agony pull a bell from a pouch at his hip. “Look out!”

  I pushed in front of Scytri, but it was too late: he was frozen, victim of Agony’s spell. Valkyrie and Magpie tumbled past me, now fighting for control of a single knife that flashed back and forth between them. I leapt over them and ran for the red wizard. There was a sword on the ground and I grabbed in. In a flash of dizzy homesickness I realized it was the same one Dr Agony held in the billboard near my old apartment block.

  Then I tried to kill him with it.

  I reached into the blade with my mind, probing for its fighting spirit, ready to command it to give
itself up for the cause, but the sword was empty. There was nothing there, just dumb metal.

  “I know that look,” Dr Agony said. His left hand was still swinging his bell, and he had a green gem in his left fist: he must have just plucked it from his necklace; there was a gap in the string right over his chest. Something warped the air around him, like the shimmer of a mirage.

  I lunged. The sword caught on something and was yanked from my hand as though pulled on a string. It hit the ground at my feet and skittered a few feet to the side.

  “Nice, right?” Agony opened his fist and jeweled green dust fell out, to get caught by the same force that had taken the sword from me. The gem dust swirled once in the air and flew off like a scarf taken on the breeze. “I call it wind shield. Doesn’t last long, but it’s a great surprise.” He sighed dramatically. “I’ll miss that sword, though. I saw you trying to enchant it. Bet you didn’t know I bring all my gear over from the real world.”

  “Call off this fight,” I said.

  “Why?” Dr Agony shrugged. His bell kept on swinging, clattering tinnily as it looped back and forth. “So you can play diplomat with the natives? Nobody wants to see that shit. Blood and guts, that’s what gets views.”

  “I’ll kill you if you don’t.”

  “Wow, you look serious!” Agony made a mock-impressed face. “But no you won’t. I’m a superstar. I’m number one, kid, despite your pretensions. Do you have any idea how much money I make for Expedition? I’m untouchable. So piss off, hater.” He waved a dismissive hand.

  His little monologue had given me the time to find what I needed: a spirit I could latch onto. This one was in a coin, just a copper piece, that sat forgotten at the bottom of Dr Agony’s belt pouch. It was a funny thing to try to talk to a piece of metal. The spirit wasn’t very smart, but it was proud, and it resented being hammered into a flat, orderly shape. It wanted to burst out into the random fractal it had been when it was born deep in the earth, before the elven miners had come and cut it out, before the elven minter had melted it down and molded it into a little disc. All I had to do was suggest that maybe now would be a good time to break free.