by Thad Ward
“I… lost him,” Clay said as Ike ran up. “It wasn’t a goblin. Some guy in red.”
Ike drew his short sword and planted it in the ground next to Clay without breaking his stride. “The warrior got away! He’ll be back with more! Get the herd and run! I’m going after Ada!” He heard Clay say something but didn’t stop long enough to listen.
Ike ran alongside the river, his eyes scanning the water for Ada. How could he have been so stupid? The goblins weren’t the only threat out there. Hell, the first monster he’d fought had been the animated corpse of an outlaw. He’d been too focused on the goblin. He’d dropped his guard, and Ada had taken an arrow meant for him.
As Ike searched, the memories of Ada's explanation about death kept playing through his mind. If she died, she'd have to start over somewhere else in the world, probably so far away they’d never see each other again. She'd be alive in real life, but he'd lose her in the game. Why hadn’t he asked for her real name? Did it even matter if he couldn’t log out?
It took Ike several minutes to find Ada, but the search felt like a heart-pounding eternity. The sleeve of her red shirt had caught on a branch. He waded into the water, ignoring the sudden chill running up his legs, and took hold of her limp form, pulling her over to the shore.
“Ada?!” Ike said. In real life, he knew removing the crossbow bolt would’ve been a bad idea, but he needed to turn her over. With a tug and a grunt of effort, he pulled it from her back, gritting his teeth in anger at its barbed tip before tossing it aside. He turned her face up. “Ada, can you hear me?!”
Ada lay still, her eyes closed. Her skin was pale and cold to the touch. Her long brown hair clung to the sides of her face. Somewhere in the distance, Ike heard a dog howl but paid it no mind.
“Healing potion!” Ike said, shaking. He fumbled at Ada’s potion bandolier, drawing out one of the vials she’d identified for them earlier. “Here.” He opened her mouth and poured it in.
Ada didn’t respond.
“No, no, no,” Ike said. There was desperation in his voice now. “Air. I need to get you air,” he said, leaning down. He’d learned a little about artificial respiration in school, but never had to do it in real life. He tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and breathed into her mouth, tasting the potion he’d just poured there. “Damn it! I should’ve done air first!”
The dog howled again, closer this time. Ike looked around, frantic, hoping against hope that someone might be nearby who could help.
“Back away, boy,” came a voice. “I will take this one.”
Ike looked up almost hopefully, but what he saw wasn’t a person who could help. There, standing three meters away, was the biggest dog he’d ever seen. It had a shaggy coat of dark green and eyes so dark they seemed to drain the light around them. It stood perfectly still, regarding the two of them, and its deep voice seemed to reverberate from the air all around them.
“Who… who are you?” Ike asked, holding Ada close.
“I take the dead,” the cu-sith said. “Give her to me.”
“No!” Ike said. He rocked slightly as he held her. “You can’t have her!”
“Give her to me,” the cu-sith repeated, taking a step forward. “I will bay once more. When I do, you will die along with her. I give you one chance.” The cu-sith growled, a low, threatening sound that Ike felt on a visceral level. “Give her to me.”
“Let me say goodbye?” Ike said, his eyes filling with tears.
The cu-sith stood unmoving.
Ike looked down. “It’ll be okay, Ada,” he said. He reached down and gently lifted the rune-inscribed pendant hanging around her neck, the first treasure they’d ever gotten together. “You’re going to a better place,” he said.
“It is time,” the cu-sith said, its tone neither sympathetic nor impatient but nonetheless implacable.
Ike nodded. “It is,” he agreed, then he activated Ada’s Necklace of Safe Haven. The wind whipped up suddenly, lifting Ada’s body from Ike’s hands before it vanished in a burst of light.
Your Magic Item Improvisation skill has increased to level 2.
You have achieved a World First: Death Defiance
“What have you done?!” the cu-sith’s voice boomed like thunder.
Ike stood shakily, raising his gaze to meet the void where the monstrous dog’s eyes should have been. “I already told you,” he said quietly, “you can’t have her.” He stuck his chin out. “Go ahead and kill me.”
The cu-sith took a step forward, its fangs bared. “None may defy me, boy.”
“It seems I just did,” Ike said, gulping. “So what will you do now?”
The cu-sith stared at him for a long moment. “Now is not your time,” it said. “Fortune favors your bravery this day, boy, but know this: You have spurned an agent of death, and death does not suffer fools.”
Then the cu-sith was gone, vanishing from the world so completely it left Ike wondering if it had ever really been there to begin with.
Ike’s heart was still racing and he gasped for air, suddenly realizing he’d been holding his breath during most of the encounter. “Sounds like a problem for later,” he said. Without hesitating, he opened the enchanting window for his ring, added Safety, and activated it. Ike shut his eyes as the wind whipped around him.
Chapter 23
Confessions
I ke’s feet touched down against solid wood. He opened his eyes to find himself in his room at the Weir Crest. Without hesitation, he rushed out his door and down the hall to Ada’s room. He tried the handle only to find it locked. “Ada, are you okay!? Ada, I’m coming in!”
The lock was metal, so Ike couldn’t affect it with Minor Reshape. He did the next best thing: He reshaped the frame of the door where the lock latched instead. Without anything to press against, the door swung free, and Ike raced inside.
“Ada!” he said, finding her pale and dripping wet in a puddle of water and blood. “Maisy!” he called, trying to lift her. “Anybody! Help!”
Dusty appeared at the door of the room moments later. “My god!” she said.
“She got shot in the back. She needs healing!” Ike said.
“I’ve got her,” Dusty said, leaning down to lift her. Ike had forgotten Dusty’s Might attribute was a few points higher than his. Together, they got Ada up and carried her downstairs.
Maisy appeared by the stairs a moment later. “Good heavens!” she said. “What do we do?”
Ike didn’t want to do it but didn’t see any other choice. “Someone run and get Warren. He may be able to help.”
Angus gave a firm nod and bolted out the door faster than Ike had ever seen the big man move.
“She was in the river, so she’ll be cold. I’ve got some bandages. Lie her on her side,” Ike said. He strained from the effort but managed to help Dusty set her down next to the hearth gently.
What followed were several tense minutes of focus. Ike was vaguely aware of other people coming and going from the tavern’s common room. He dressed the wound as well as he was able, though he couldn’t be sure if that was the reason the bleeding stopped. While he worked, he gave an abbreviated explanation of events to Dusty and Maisy.
“You saw it…,” Maisy said, stumbling backward away from Ike. “You actually saw the Cu-Sith? And lived?”
“What exactly is it?” Ike asked. “It said it was an agent of death or something.” He glanced up to see Maisy turning white as a sheet, her hand trembling over her mouth, then he turned back to his work.
“Aye,” Maisy said at last. “Some say it’s a deadly hunter. Others think it comes to take those who are doomed.” She couldn’t take her eyes off of Ada.
“Well, scary death hound or no scary death hound,” Ike said, his eyebrows set in a grim line, “nobody’s taking Ada on my watch.”
At that moment, the door to the Weir Crest burst open and Warren rushed in, followed promptly by Angus. The barber’s normal appearance was slightly off, his hair rustled and his shirt partly un
tucked from the run. His eyes locked on Ike’s and he rushed over.
“She took a barbed crossbow bolt to the back,” Ike said. “She was in the water for a few minutes, too. Lost a lot of blood. Not breathing. Is there anything you can do?”
“Relax,” Warren said, kneeling. “It’s just a game, after all. And yes, there’s something I can do.” He gave Ike a serious look devoid of his usual cheer. “Always happy to help a friend.”
Ike caught Warren’s meaning. He didn’t care about the price. “Right. Do it. We’ll talk later.”
“Okey dokey,” Warren said, smiling and lifting Ada’s arm. “Here’s how this works. I’ve got a spell called Minor Humours. It heals one person but harms someone else who’s willing. Think of it like donating blood.”
Ike nodded and extended his arm. He focused on his heartbeat, confirming that his attacks on the goblin had replenished his lost health. “I’ve got six health. Give her five.”
Warren accepted Ike’s hand and closed his eyes in concentration. Immediately, Ike felt his heart pounding in his ears. His vision faded into a tunnel with Ada’s face at the center. His fingers shook and he breathed heavily, worried he might pass out before Warren finally released his grasp.
Health: 1 / 6
Ada gasped, coughing and doubling over. “Fuck…,” she wheezed between breaths. “Thought I was…”
Ike slumped next to Ada, feeling relief wash over him. “Dead?” he asked. He smiled despite the pain and weakness in his own body. “Don’t worry. Death and I talked it over already.”
Ada tried to sit up and almost fell back down. Dusty, who had been standing close by, caught Ada and helped her up the rest of the way. “Easy, hon,” Dusty said.
“I got flashes,” Ada said. “Pain, cold, water.” She brushed her hand against her lips. “Did you…?”
Ike held his hands up. “I panicked. It turns out I suck at CPR.”
Ada didn’t blush, which Ike was sure was due to blood loss. “Then there was this barking. It was awful. Like it made my heart skip a beat.”
“Clifford the big green dog. Some sort of scary death hound,” Ike explained. He gestured vaguely toward Maisy. “A local legend according to Maisy. I told it to go to hell.”
Ada turned to Ike, her face serious. “You… told off death?” she said, then added in a whisper, “For me?”
Ike met her gaze. “You got shot for me,” he said in the same tone. They remained that way, staring at each other for several long moments in unbroken silence.
“Well, my work here is done,” Warren said, grinning and turning to leave. “I can see you two have a lot to talk about. Ike, come by the shop tomorrow, okay?” He waved over his shoulder and gave Ike a wink on his way out the door.
“I’d tell you two to get a room,” Dusty said, “but you’ve already got two upstairs. How about you love birds go rest up. Get some blush back in those cheeks. You’ve got a few hours before the show starts.”
Both Ada and Ike tried to protest, but Dusty practically pushed them up the stairs. They ended up in Ada’s room before either of them could fully process what was going on. Ike used Minor Reshape to fix the door frame, then turned to find Ada sitting on the end of the bed.
“Ike,” Ada started uncertainly. “I don’t know what to say.”
“What’s to say?” Ike said. He sat on the end of the bed next to her, leaving some distance between them. “We’re in a party. We watch each other’s backs.”
Ada shook her head. “It’s more than that. Ike, I…,” she said, then stopped and lowered her head. “God, I’m such a chicken. I like you, okay?”
It wasn’t news to Ike, but it still struck him hard to hear her say it out loud. “I… like you, too,” he said without turning toward her. “I didn’t want to lose you.”
Ada let out a breath that was half laugh, half exasperation. “This game’s got us all messed up. I mean, what sort of RPG are we playing? It all seems too real.”
It was Ike’s turn to shake his head. “I know what you mean. I tried doing mouth-to-mouth and all I could think was how I’d never had to do it in real life. And I still haven’t. It’s easy to forget this is a game.”
“Ike, I need to get something off my chest,” Ada said, clasping her hands in her lap. “I don’t want you to say anything until I’m done, okay?”
“Okay,” Ike said, looking at her and furrowing his eyebrows in concern.
“I…,” Ada said, choking a bit, “I read your letter from the game master. The first one you got that morning by the lake. I snuck into your room and dug it out of your satchel.”
Ike felt a brief moment of anger, not just at Ada, but at himself. He’d been so eager to harvest the enchantment on the letter, he didn’t bother putting it back on. It had been there to ensure his privacy. He’d even made the same stupid mistake with the other two.
Ada continued. “I’m really sorry. I know I shouldn’t have. I understand if you don’t like me or trust me after this. But it made me worried. Who gets letters from the GM saying their apartment’s being taken care of? Why would people running a video game board your cat or talk to people at your job?”
Ike didn’t respond. He told himself it was because he promised he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t ignore being scared. There was a pit in his stomach whenever he thought about how long he’d been stuck in the game.
“You can’t log out,” Ada said, openly crying now. “And you won’t talk about it. I’m not sure if it’s because you can’t stand the real world or you don’t want to worry me or what, but it doesn’t change the fact that this might as well be real for you right now.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Ike said, very carefully, making steady, unblinking eye contact with Ada.
Ada sniffled and looked back at Ike. “Wait, it’s a legal thing?” she said. She let out a relieved laugh. “Is it weird that makes me happy? Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
Ike winced. “What can I say? Maybe I’m not that good at subterfuge. Or maybe I was worried the game admins would be able to detect that sort of thing. Or maybe…”
“Maybe you just choked talking to a girl you like.” Ada smiled. “I can forgive that. I just thought…”
“You thought I didn’t trust you,” Ike finished her thought. He reached over and brushed her hair away from her cheek, smiling. “I’m not mad. After this, I trust you with my life.”
Ada let out a sob and hugged Ike, burying her face in his shoulder. “I trust you, too,” she said. She raised her face to his. “It’s not every girl whose boyfriend stands up to death himself to keep her.”
“Is that what we are now?” Ike asked softly, swallowing. “Boyfriend and girlfriend?” His pulse started to race. He’d wanted this, he knew, but something about the closeness of Ada’s face to his or the intimacy of the conversation made it all feel brand new somehow.
Ada smiled. “You’re a smart guy,” she said, her lips parting gently. “What do you think?”
Rather than answer, Ike leaned in and kissed Ada, wrapping his arms around her as he felt tears coming to his own eyes. Ada pressed into the kiss with a sort of desperate relief. His mind reeled at the softness of her lips, the warmth of her body, and the gentle touch of her hand on the back of his neck.
It was several long moments before they separated. Both of them had regained enough of their health to blush by then.
“Oh my god,” Ada said, putting a hand on Ike’s arm. “I completely forgot to ask. What happened to Clay?”
Ike shrugged. “I’m not sure. He went after the sniper at first. The goblin I was fighting got away. I gave Clay my sword then told him to get the herd and make a break for it before I came to save you. That was the last I saw of him.”
“I hope he makes it back okay,” Ada said. “I don’t want him to think we abandoned him.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Ike said. “Clay’s a decent guy. I’m sure he’ll understand one way or the other. Even if he didn’t get the herd this tim
e, we can still go back and get it next time.”
“I guess,” Ada said, getting up from the bed. She held a hand out to Ike. “Well, this almost dying stuff is enough to make a girl famished. Want to grab a bite to eat?”
Ike took her hand and stood up. “Dinner and a show? How do you feel about Chinese?”
Ada leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Ike’s cheek, beaming a smile that made his heart flutter. “It’s a date.”
Chapter 24
Putting on a show
“I
ke! Ada!” Fu said, his catfish whiskers waving excitedly at the pair’s approach. They hadn’t had to go far; Fu had moved his stand next to the Weir Crest’s entrance. Behind him, Ike saw the butcher who’d fought during the goblin raid unloading casks from a wagon and adding them to a growing pile.
“Nice to see you again, Fu,” Ike said with a smile. He gave a passing wave to the butcher, who gave Ike a nod of respect as he continued working. “I see the party preparations are almost done. What have you got on tap?”
Fu clasped his hands and surveyed the goods within the stand. “That depends on your mood. I’ve got plenty of ale. Affordable but,” he leaned forward conspiratorially, “still quite tasty. Good if you have a light budget and a mind for revels. I also have a nice mead flavored with cinnamon if you prefer something relaxing. And I’m mulling some wine if you want something warm and don’t mind waiting a few minutes.”
Ada hooked her arm under Ike’s elbow and held his hand, leaning against him. “Anything good for a date?”
“Oh, I see,” Fu said, putting a hand on his chest in mock indignation. “And here I thought Ike only had eyes for me. I guess the wedding’s off.” The three shared a laugh. “Hold on. I have a ruby port that should suit the occasion nicely. It’s a little pricier, though.”
Ike drew a silver knight out of his pouch and laid it on the counter. “Is this enough for two?”
