Shepherd's Wolf

by M. Andrew Reid

  Pills hit the floor, scattering in a blue and yellow wave. The shaking in Victor’s hands intensified, “Get your stuff. George will take you to your friend’s house.”

  Choking back tears, the girl stepped out of the spacious bathroom and back into Victor’s luxurious bedroom.

  Victor Valor, at twenty-years-old one of the richest men in the world, hated life. Now, he could add this to his accomplishments, occupying a spot near losing to those two morons the night before. Viper had never lost a fight before that battle at the Haven. No wonder he had hosed himself. Had he really told the girl about his family? His eyes trailed to the newspaper articles on the bathroom mirror. Some of them were beginning to yellow. He focused on the word “TRAGEDY” and his thoughts drifted.

  “Mister Victor?” George appeared at the door. He had been the Valor’s butler since Victor was a small boy. He had the sad brown eyes of a basset hound.

  “The girl will tell you where to take her. Try to be discreet.”

  “You know that’s my middle name, Mister Victor.”

  “I keep forgetting.”

  “I made breakfast for you, sir. It looks like you need to eat something,” George’s eyes flicked momentarily to the pill bottles strewn across the counter. He sighed and left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

  “Thanks, George,” Victor jumped in the shower. He planned on skipping breakfast and logging back on to Verdia. There was a rumor of something even more elusive than a rainbow dragon’s nest.

  Chapter 6

  Unlikely Hero

  Ten Miles West of Bluegrass

  The sky was its usual beautiful blue in the grasslands. Laura closed the camera’s lens and let it hang around her neck. She pulled out a notepad and scribbled furiously as she watched a herd of very large and very strange-looking animals in the valley below her. She was gathering information almost faster than she could absorb it. Laura loved it; she was in her element.

  According to Laura’s Character Manager, these animals were called stiltmen. Whoever had discovered the majority of Verdia’s animals was not always imaginative, and this annoyed Laura to no end.

  The name was descriptive at least. Stiltmen were elephant-sized creatures with similar grayish leathery skin. They had rhinoceros-like heads with hard beaks and big dull eyes. A pair of padded paws were at the end of their front set of legs; designed for pulling spiky branches from their favorite trees. The rear set of legs were sturdy and ended in thick hoof-like feet.

  Stiltmen got their name from the middle pair of legs. The “stilts” were extremely long shins that ended in a set of hooks. Nearly three times as long as the other legs, they folded at the knee and tucked back against the animal’s body when it was moving.

  When a stiltman found a tree, he (or she) would unfold the long stilts and rise up to the level of the branches. Normally, a stiltman would prop itself up on its hind legs, but when the branches got too high it could set the hooks into the ground and lock the stilts open, giving it several extra feet. This left the stiltman balanced some twenty-five to forty feet in the air on its two long legs- on stilts. They made wonderful perches for Verdia’s many colorful birds and smaller dragons, and flocks would gather whenever a stiltman rose up; it was common to see a stiltman outlined against the sky on a hilltop, surveying miles around for predators.

  Laura was fascinated. Muted bellows from the herd called to her as she intently studied her notes. She was so focused that she ignored a strange glint that suddenly appeared over the crest of a far hill. It wobbled and danced as it got closer, slowly growing larger. Then, it stopped, and a gleam of light settled on Laura’s face.

  Ignoring the glint was not working out. Squinting, Laura could barely make out a man on a horse. She went back to her work. The glint danced again in the corner of her eye, getting larger and more irritating every second.

  Eventually, Laura realized the rider was definitely coming straight for her. Her hand went up to shield her eyes. Whatever armor the horseman was wearing was incredibly bright. The reflection kept finding its way to Laura’s eyes. Finally, she threw down her notepad in frustration and stood up to get a better look. She froze.

  A spear waved high above the rider’s head. Shining in the light, the pointy end was aimed right at Laura. Hoof-beats grew louder as the horseman drew near. Laura had no idea what to do, so she did nothing. The horse had bright wings on its saddle; it looked like it was flying. This would have been very graceful were it not for the deadly-looking spear.

  With a grunt, the rider released the spear. It whizzed through the air toward her face. Laura threw up her arms and held her breath. She felt the spear pass through the air near her head, and heard a muffled gurgle behind her. Laura whirled around to see an Agilus atop a strange, two-legged dragon creature. The spear was protruding from his chest. He rolled off his mount, but before he struck earth, a strong hand grabbed Laura’s arm and lifted her up.

  She came to rest facing backwards on a speeding horse. The rider had one arm around her, and the other held the reins. She could see now why the armor was so bright; it was made of metal scales that reflected light in every color. It looked pretty, but it did not make her want to stick around.

  “Let me go!” she shouted, beating on the chest of her captor.

  “Stop squirming! They’re after your camera,” the rider said in a gruff voice. He pulled her tighter so she could not move her arms.

  Laura looked over the rider’s shoulder - between the white wings - and saw what they were running from. They were being chased by a mixture of thirty to forty horsemen and riders of those strange dragons. Laura had never seen these dragons before, but she knew what they were.

  Flamestriders were the dragon equivalent of an ostrich. Their small middle wings served as stirrups for a rider, and their larger wings were adapted into strong arms ending in sharp claws. Flamestriders were very fast, but lacked a horse’s stamina.

  Regardless of what the pursuers were riding, they were all nasty looking and appeared to be very angry. Laura decided that she liked it better with this knight-in-shining armor, and made the choice to stop squirming.

  “Turn around if you can.” The rider relaxed his hold on Laura so she could face the right way.

  After some awkward shuffling, Laura managed to turn around, “Ok.”

  “Can you ride a horse?” the rider asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Well you’re about to learn. This is Venom.” The rider handed Laura the reins. He leaned forward and whispered something in the horse’s ear. Then, he was gone.

  The load lightened, and the horse picked up speed. Laura worked up the nerve to glance behind, and gasped when she saw how close her pursuers were. The pack of horses and striders were barely twenty yards away. Laura searched anxiously for the rider, but he was nowhere to be found. He had vanished into thin air.

  Several of the striders suddenly added a burst of speed and gained on Laura and Venom. They were led by a particularly large gray Agilus with speckles of dark throughout his fur. Laura gripped the reins tightly and willed the horse onward. She hoped that the rider was doing something to help her.

  …

  Viper landed at a dead run fifty feet behind the pack. His boots pounded the earth as he struggled to cast a spell. Finally, he completed the spell, and his armor glowed red with an inner fire. In three bounds he closed the gap, leaving scorch marks in the grass behind him. He sprinted between two riders, trailing a smoky, crimson blur.

  In one smooth motion, he pulled a rider off his horse and hopped up on the saddle. The red glow slowly faded from Viper’s armor as his speed boosting spell wore off. The man to Viper’s left did not even notice that his buddy was no longer by his side. Viper drew Flame and clubbed him in the face with the blunt end, sending the man sprawling over the back of his horse.

  Viper approached the group of attackers. They were intent on their target and totally unaware that they had themselves become prey. Holding the reins in
one hand, Viper crouched atop the saddle and gave Flame a little twirl, setting the axe on fire. When he drew close to a small group of riders, he leapt to the nearest horse, swinging the axe hard into its rider’s back. The man grunted and slumped over. Viper jumped to the next horse and tore its rider from his saddle. He shot out his left hand and froze a flamestrider solid. The beast tipped over and slid across the ground like a giant frozen turkey; throwing its rider, an Agilus with black fur, into a cluster of field stones.

  Viper closed his fist, and the air around him distorted and rippled. Another flamestrider was consumed by a swirling cloud of purple and red flame and lifted into the sky. Strider and rider disintegrated as they were torn apart by dark energy.

  Now, he had been noticed. Shouts rang out as the group realized they had a bad apple in their midst. When cries reached the Agilus leading the group, some sixty yards ahead, he turned and stared at Viper with cold yellow eyes- Grave. Grave nodded to his group and resumed his pursuit of Laura.

  His eyes narrow with anger, Viper dug his heels in. The horse snorted and put on a burst of speed.

  …

  Venom jumped a creek, nearly throwing Laura from the saddle. She held on tighter as she heard her pursuers splashing through the water. Venom slowed a bit, swung her head around, and looked back. A big brown eye met Laura’s, and she could swear that the horse winked at her. Of course she could only see one eye, so Venom could have been blinking. Whatever the case, Laura realized that Venom was more in control of the situation than her pursuers, who had not gotten any closer for quite some time. They had to be getting tired.

  The rumble of hooves and talons behind Laura suddenly stopped, leaving only Venom’s hoofbeats and the ruffle of feathers. Laura glanced back to find that most of her pursuers had turned around. Only the big gray Agilus and two companions remained in pursuit.

  Venom turned, and her path lead toward the herd of stiltmen that Laura had observed only minutes before. Venom had a plan, but Laura wondered exactly what her strange savior was doing.

  …

  Viper was not doing well - at least it would appear that way to most observers. His horse had been shot out from under him with an arrow, and he was surrounded. He no longer had surprise or speed in his favor, and the enemy was numerous and agitated. They looked down on him from their horses and striders.

  “Well,” Viper panted, “are you going to come down, or do I have to kill your mounts too?”

  A few men laughed, but one of them, an Agilus, shrugged and hopped off his strider. Death for a player meant inconvenience; death for a mount was permanent. The others followed suit and tightened the ring around Viper. At about ten yards, they drew their weapons. A wide array of swords, axes, and maces were out and ready.

  “Thanks for playing fair.”

  Viper slowly moved his arms. He waved them back and forth, starting low and working his way up higher. It would have been a humorous sight in the real world, but in Verdia it was nothing to laugh about; he was channeling a powerful spell.

  “Stop him!” the Agilus yelled, sprinting toward Viper. Several men followed, but the rest hesitated. Some of them even backed away in fear.

  Viper brought his arms close to his body, then brought them out. He repeated the motion again; his eyes met those of the Agilus who was charging him. Quickly he brought his arms up and behind him, hands open and fingers curled, and stopped. He took a breath.

  “Oh no,” the Agilus stopped and dug his claws into the ground, scrabbling to turn and run.

  The air around Viper warbled and compressed in on itself. A shadow raced outward over the grass. The dead horse at Viper’s feet slid across the ground and flipped over like a trash can caught in a hurricane. An unlucky Agilus was smashed by the shockwave, his body landing hundreds of feet away. Weapons clattered to the ground, vibrating and humming like tuning forks. Teeth chattered, and several men fell to their knees, screaming with their hands over their bleeding ears.

  Silence.

  A man rushed at Viper with his sword held high. An Agilus picked himself up and joined in, drawing a sharp dagger. The Agilus leapt through the air from behind Viper, howling like a banshee. Viper turned and held out his hand, freezing the Agilus solid. He stepped aside as the frozen Agilus dropped to the ground and shattered like a glass vase. Then, Viper pulled out Flame, whirled around, and buried the axe in the other man’s head. The man vaporized in a green cloud, dropping empty armor and his sword.

  The disruption wave had left most of the men so disoriented that they could not even find their weapons. Others were totally blinded, wandering around in confusion. Those unfortunate enough to be lower level were comatose, their senses devastated by the wave. The few Agilus that were in the group were better off, their higher intelligence allowing them to resist the wave. They picked up their weapons and jumped at Viper.

  One by one Flame and Frost cut them down. The last Agilus found herself held in the air with the axes buried in her shoulders. Viper threw her off in a spray of blood and turned back to the remaining humans. Most of them were still straining to their feet.

  Both axes clicked into their special sheaths on Viper’s back. He held up his arm and opened his hand to the sky. His other hand stretched toward the group of men struggling to regain their senses. The air filled with static and the smell of ozone.

  …

  Flashes of light flickered at the edge of Laura’s vision. She turned her head to see bolts of lightning arcing down from the sky. Her pursuers noticed it too, and Grave’s companions exchanged worried glances. Grave, however, barely took notice. The big gray Agilus was intent on his prey.

  Venom suddenly darted right. Laura gasped as the horse ran between the legs of a stiltman that was taking a nap. Venom raised her head and poked the stiltman’s tummy with one of the dragon teeth on her nose, waking the giant beast. The stiltman let out a muted bellow and reared up. Grave and company separated to avoid the angry monster.

  Horse and rider darted in and out among the herd. Most of the stiltmen ignored them, but some took lazy swipes with their gathering claws. The three attackers struggled to keep pace as Venom broke from the herd. She began a broad sweeping turn across the grassy hills, curving back toward the place where Laura had seen the lightning only seconds before.

  A glimmer appeared directly in front of Laura - the same glimmer she had seen before being swept up in this ridiculous chase. The man in sparkling armor was running straight at her.

  Venom picked up speed. Laura looked back at the striders chasing her. None of the three riders could see what was coming their way.

  The glimmer suddenly turned a bright red, and Laura’s hero closed the remaining distance almost instantly. He flew into the air, trailing a crimson blur.

  His feet hit the large gray Agilus square in the chest, driving him off his strider. Dark, wispy tendrils snaked from his hands and grabbed at the other men. Caught in miniature vortices of dark energy, the men rose from their saddles. The man hit the ground running, pulling the riders behind him. He threw his arms forward, and his captives sailed away.

  He turned around and faced the gray Agilus, “Howdy, Grave.”

  Two dull thumps were heard as the other riders found their way back to earth.

  Grave brushed off his gray leather armor. Piercing yellow eyes looked up at the man in the iridescent armor, “I see that my horse is doin’ well.” Grave’s syrupy Southern drawl was thick and cold.

  “The horse is mine, Meow Mix,” Viper replied. “Now, I’m going to cut off your stupid cat ears and make a wallet.”

  “I’m afraid it will clash with them feathers. Are you workin’ in Vegas now? Gonna be a showgirl?”

  Laura’s protector growled and charged; two axes burned blue and red. Grave reached into a slit in his leather armor.

  …

  Grave and Viper had history. They had started playing Verdia at nearly the same time during beta testing. Grave had had always been a Conqueror, quickly becoming one of the
most powerful players in the game. Viper remained a loner, occasionally pairing up with Verdian legends such as Kogan for mutual benefit.

  One day, Viper was completing a quest in the taiga near Gilgal when he came across Grave and a beautiful black horse. Grave was not riding the horse, but was beating it with the flat of his long skinning knife.

  Agilus had a connection with the animals native to Verdia, and could befriend them easily. Animals from outside of Verdia, such as horses and dogs, tended to be afraid of Agilus. Things had not been going well in breaking the horse in, and Grave apparently thought he could make things better by beating the horse to a pulp while it lay on the ground.

  Viper walked up to Grave, “Hey Kitty Cat, what are you doing?” He reached over his back to draw his sword, the Spark Katana.

  “Mind your own business, partner,” Grave drawled. “You don’t wanna’ mess with me.”

  “Why is that, friend?” Viper asked.

  Grave finally stopped hitting the screaming horse, “I’m Level Twenty-Four. Unless your name is Kogan you don’t wanna’ mess with me.”

  “The name is Viper, and I’m going to take that poor horse off your hands,” the katana trailed sparks through the air as it reached for Grave’s neck.

  Grave parried with his knife, succeeding only in shocking himself as the two blades touched. With his hand now stunned, he could do nothing but watch as Viper ran him through with the katana.

  “See you later, Meow Mix,” Viper whispered in Grave’s ear as the gray Agilus disappeared in a green cloud.

  Viper was the highest ranked player in Verdia who had never died. Grave had only died once. Viper had given him his only death and stolen the most valuable horse in Verdia, and Grave was always looking to settle the score. Viper enjoyed keeping his record, and intended to add another death to Grave’s tally.