by S. R. Witt
My nerves were jangling when I left the pawnshop. I kept expecting an alarm to sound or for the dwarf to come rushing at me with an ax. But, for once, nothing went wrong. I left the back room, locked it up, and then vanished into the shadows.
I headed back to the smith’s shop. It was getting on toward dark, now, which suited me just fine. Moving from shadow to shadow took almost no effort. I even managed to pick up a couple of Hide in Shadows skill points along the way.
The shadows along the eastern side of the smith’s home provided a convenient place for me to ditch my gear. I’d stripped out of my leather pants when I heard a gasp from behind me.
“Saint?” Lyr stood ten feet away from me, her eyes wide. “What are you—“
“It’s not what it looks like. I’m just…”
My mind raced and my heart pounded. For a long moment the barbarian and I stared at one another. There had to be some lie I could tell, some words I could say that would make all of this go away.
Then I saw the flash of recognition in her eyes and knew what I had to do.
Chapter Thirty-Six
There wasn’t any good option. Lyr was going for her bow and I could see the hard glint in her eye. She’d gone out of her way to help me, and now she felt betrayed. She caught me red-handed, and now knew I was a thief and not to be trusted.
She had an arrow knocked and aimed at my face before I could even drop the armor I’d just removed. “Don’t move.”
“Listen,” I said. “I didn’t choose this. It just happened.”
The elf licked her lips. “There’s a bounty on thieves. There’s also a bounty on people who help thieves.”
That’s what the leader of the Shadows had meant. It wasn’t bad enough that thieves were hunted and hated throughout the Game, the Devs had added an even nastier wrinkle. Associating or aiding a thief put you in as much danger as the thief himself—you became a criminal by association. By not telling Lyr what I was I’d let her put the crosshairs on her own back. She’d trained me in a skill, and now she had a price on her head.
“I’ll leave. I’ll go and no one will ever have to know—“
Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Anyone who sees me will know about the bounty. What have you done to me?”
You have been exposed and marked as a thief.
Your ally has been marked as a conspirator. The bounty system will alert any other characters or NPCs who see you of your Wanted status. Anyone who kills you will gain a monetary reward and the bonus experience from completing the “Keep the Streets Clean” quest.
You and your ally will remain Wanted until you are killed.
You can remove your Wanted status by killing witnesses to the actions that exposed you as a thief.
The arrow was in flight before the bounty message had faded from my view.
Lyr was right. She was a damn fine shot and she didn’t miss. Her arrow punched through the armor above my left shoulder and drove into my arm.
Instinct took over and I ducked into the thick shadows next to the smith’s house.
Another arrow whistled through the space I’d been standing in. Lyr drew another arrow and searched the growing darkness for me. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but it’s the only way.”
She was right. The only way for her to clear her name was to kill me. And the only way I could go back to being a thief in secret was to kill her.
See what happens when you trust someone? See what happens when you try to do the right thing?
Lyr turned in a slow circle with her bow drawn. She couldn’t see me.
My health bar shrink by the second. Blood ran down the inside of my armor and soaked through my wool pants. Soon, I’d pass out. Even worse, my timer was almost gone. If I didn’t get some money and buy more game time, all the work I’d done would be gone. Bastion would be right— I was a loser.
And my mother wouldn’t get what she needed. How long could that old machine holdout? How many chances would I get to get the money?
The elf turned away from me, still searching.
I drew my dagger.
Then I drove it up under the ribs on the left side of her body.
She stiffened and my hand wrapped around her mouth, clamping down on the scream before it could escape. I dragged her into the shadows and waited for her struggles to cease.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my throat tight. “I’m sorry, but I have to.”
But Lyr wasn’t going easy. She twisted her arms back and clawed at my face. She pushed back against me and tried to buck me off.
I drove the stiletto into her back again. Then again.
Her arms stopped moving. A moment later, her legs sagged.
The life went out of her and she became a limp weight against me.
I eased her down into the snow next to the smith’s house, and slumped against the wall. I was covered in blood and couldn’t tell how much of it was mine and how much of it was hers.
My pulse thundered in my ears and I let its steady rhythm wash away the pain and the sorrow.
I lost myself in its beating, and waited for the shame to fade.
It never did.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Karl stared at the slate I’d handed to him. “How the hell did you do this?”
I shook my head. “It’s better if you don’t know. It’s not important, anyway.”
“You have to tell me. We could double our income if you just—”
“No.” I shook my head again and sat down across the kitchen table from my brother. “You couldn’t do what I did and wouldn’t want to even if you could.”
We didn’t talk for a while after that. He warmed up a pair of frozen dinners for us and we ate in silence. He wanted to celebrate, but I wouldn’t let him. “That money’s not for us, it’s for mom.”
Karl ordered the new machine and everything else my mom needed while I watched. I made him show me the receipt and the delivery date. Everything would arrive the next day.
I’d done it. Karl hadn’t believed in me. Hell, I hadn’t believed in myself.
But I’d done it.
I’d saved the day.
So why did I feel so awful?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Xi leans in as I get to the end of that part of my story. “That’s touching,” she says. Her voice is soft and tender, but her eyes stab at me like the dagger I’d buried in Lyr’s back.
“I never got over that. I still feel bad about Lyr.” Which is the truth. I’ve done a lot of horrible things since that, but Lyr was my first real step down a path I’ll always regret. “But I didn’t have a choice. I had to help my mom.”
Xi leans back in her chair and crosses her legs. “Is that what you have to tell yourself to sleep at night?”
She isn’t going to let up. It’s exhausting and I know there are still hours of this interview to go. I have to keep it together if I want to survive this mess. “It helps. I never meant to hurt anyone, you know that. But the situation—“
“Lots of people end up in bad situations, but they don’t do what you did.”
And that is also true. But not everyone can do what I can, and not everyone has the guts to do what needs to be done. I can’t say that, for obvious reasons, so I choose to remain silent. The less I respond to Xi’s taunts and jabs, the easier it is for me to stick to my story. And I need to stick to it, no matter what. People have to hear my side of things.
They have to.
Mercy gives me a weak smile from off-camera. She’s scared and knows she can die at any moment, but she’s not going to let me go through this alone. I have no idea why she’s stuck with me so long, but I’m grateful.
Xi catches me looking at Mercy and decides to stick me in a sore spot.
“You’ve told us how you became a thief, and about your home life. But I think my audience would like to hear something they’ve all wondered about.”
I know where she’s going before she says the words, but I still feel tears in my eye
s and a lump in my throat. I know what’s coming next. This is the story Karl and I never told to anyone else.
It’s the only secret I ever kept from her.
Xi senses my despair and moves in for the kill. “Why don’t you tell us about how you killed Mercy?”
THE END OF BOOK 1
COMING SOON
BOOK 2
DRAGON WORLD ONLINE: DOMINION
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Also by S R Witt
Writing as Sam Witt
THE PITCHFORK COUNTY SERIES
Half-Made Girls
Ghost Hunters
Night-Blooded Boys
Witch Hunt
Dead-Eyed God
THE ARMAGEDDON THRONES SERIES
The Apocalypse Hive: Episode 1
The Apocalypse Hive: Episode 2
Parting Shots
No book has ever been more fun for me to write than the one you’re reading right now. I love the Pitchfork County books, and the Apocalypse Hive story is one that keeps pulling me back, but this one...
It’s just so much damned fun to write. And I hope you’re having just as much fun reading it.
The good news is that fun books write fast. I’ve been looking for the right way to combine my two great loves (games and writing) for decades. When I was writing for Dungeons & Dragons and Vampire: The Masquerade, I was gnawing on the idea of a novel that combined all the things I loved about games with great fiction. Little did I know that some Russian dudes were busy creating the LitRPG genre - and here we are.
What’s up next?
First, you can click the link above and get yourself a free guide to the World of Invernoth. This setting is one I’ve been working on for a long, long time, and you’re going to get a lot of great new content related to DWO every month.
But that’s not all! I’m also going to be sending folks free short stories (coming first, what’s the deal with Lyr?), sneak peeks at the next DWO books, and some other goodies that I’m not allowed to talk about just yet.
Trust me, you’re not going to want to miss this stuff.
Dragon World Online: Dominion will be out before the end of the year, and it is a monster. I’d say it’s about 3x the size of DWO:I, and has tons of dungeon crawling, monster slaying, and world building galore. Saint and his buddies have their hands full with this one, trust me.
Thanks for hanging out with me. Stay in touch, all right?
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About the Author
When I was a wee lad, my mother bought me the Blue Box edition of Dungeons & Dragons. You know the kind with no dice, just cardboard chits you had to cut up and draw out of a cup to generate your random numbers? Ah, the olden days...
So started my lifelong obsession with writing and gaming, the culmination of which you are now holding in your hands. It’s been a long, strange trip, and it’s going to get even stranger as we travel through Dragon Web Online together.
Strap on your shield, grab a sword, and call up the hirelings - it’s time for adventure!
For more kick-ass litRPG excitement, check out the Facebook group at: http://samwitt.com/fb-litrpg
Stay in Touch
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