Scrambled Lives

by Rue Vespers

  Jenner just stood there amidst the insanity, not knowing what in the holy hell to do. Even Rosy was speechless in the utter bedlam all around them. Rosy, who was mad about trolls, gaped at the oncoming legions in mortal terror.

  The mermaid had foreseen this. Jenner hadn’t grasped at the time what she was saying; somehow he doubted that she grasped it either. And the children shall be lifted up as offerings. They were the offerings for the Blue Mountain trolls, to keep them busy against the ice wall as the higher-level battalions closed in. The distant, purple waves of fire had not ceased, routing the trolls west.

  A group of players fled south along the wall. Jenner looked down to his paltry weapons and dropped them. There was no glory to be wrested from this mess. They were going to be stamped into bloody gristle upon the earth if they could not get away. He didn’t trust that his grakel scales would hold up to those giant trolls.

  He had to get out of here. They had to get out of here.

  Seizing Ocelo’s hand, they ran after the fleeing players.

  Dragons dropped down to cut them off. One spat fire and scrambled the low-level runners in the lead. The rest stopped short and whirled around to run the other way. Now it was Jenner and Ocelo in the lead, charging north with his eyes straining in the darkness for where the ice spears ended.

  A flash of blue, a snarling laugh, and the mermaid’s hand was ripped out of Jenner’s. Commander Tetra had landed upon his dragon to block their way, his club nailing Ocelo in the head and striking Jenner on the back-swing. Jenner toppled over, the teacup tumbling away. The players coming along in their wake screamed and whirled around to run south again.

  Infuriated and unhurt, Jenner leaped back up. “Let us through!” he demanded.

  The club swung.

  Jenner caught it in both hands.

  He felt the sickness from that knot of demonic amulets, but at a distance. Adrenaline was papering over the worst of the unpleasant sensations. The commander tried to yank the club out of his grip, but Jenner held on stubbornly.

  Drawing a dagger out of nowhere, Tetra plunged it towards Jenner’s chest. The scales prevented it from entering his skin. Confused and enraged when the blade met a hard surface, the commander tried again to stab him, but the point bent at a ninety-degree angle.

  Jenner just smiled fiercely.

  “Up! Up!” Tetra yelled at his mount. The small dragon beat its wings, pulling Jenner off the ground since he hadn’t let go of the club. The commander angled his wrist and slashed at Jenner’s neck with the side of the dagger as they lifted higher. His eyes grew maddened when the scales blocked the blade once more.

  Jenner needed to push the commander out of the saddle and take control of this dragon, but he couldn’t let go of the club to fight! The commander seemed to put this together at the same moment, and his fingers slackened on the handle of the club. All he had to do was drop it, and Jenner would drop, too.

  Then a silver trident shot past Jenner’s face, and punched through the commander like his armor was made of tissue paper.

  They fell off the dragon, Tetra going down on one side and Jenner on the other. He landed on his ass just as the mermaid sank back to the earth. Her face was covered in blood.

  She had done it again. Given Jenner an assist for no reason.

  And now she was still.

  Oblivious to the trolls, oblivious to the efforts of the children’s battalion to escape, he scrambled over the ground to the commander’s body as the trident vanished. The cup hopped over and said frantically, “What are you doing, kid? We have to get out of here!”

  “She needs a health potion!” Jenner screamed, forcing his hand into the dead man’s pockets and finding nothing. She needed one before Tetra scrambled and disappeared! Yanking at the straps of the chest armor, Jenner pulled it off and jerked up the mail shirt.

  “It’s probably in his inventory,” Rosy said.

  “It can’t be! I don’t have access to that!” Jenner ripped down the shirt and grabbed at the knotted amulets. Whipping them over Tetra’s head, he broke the fang chain and chucked it aside, unwound the withered head and tossed it away in disgust. He had to work the Oderi out of this mess and put it around her neck to give her five more points of health . . .

  The cup looked somber. “It won’t work on her. She’s not human.”

  Jenner didn’t listen. He stripped out demonic amulet after demonic amulet and dumped them unceremoniously beside the corpse. At last he worked free a genuine Ichelen, which vanished into his own inventory as he pawed at the remainder.

  A fingerbone necklace snapped, scattering the bones everywhere, and Jenner pulled away the Oderi with a cry of triumph. Only one more amulet was tangled about it, Jenner separating them as he threw himself down by the mermaid.

  She moaned when he lifted her head. Still breathing, he thought in relief, and then her eyes opened. Blood was leaking from a nasty gash that ran from her forehead to her scalp, her blue-green hair and her earrings soaked in blood.

  “Kid, it won’t work!” Rosy protested.

  He pulled the amulet over her head and watched anxiously.

  It was working. Her eyes lost a little of the bleariness, and then a little more. She attempted to rise and he helped her into a sitting position on the jouncing ground. Her fingers went to the blessing, which then disappeared.

  “You can’t put that in your inventory! It’s making you better!” Jenner insisted.

  Ocelo smiled at him with gentle understanding. “No, Jenner.”

  “But-”

  “Don’t be troubled. Mermaids heal quickly on their own.” The cut on her head, so grievous only moments ago, was sewing itself up at the edges.

  He was still holding the last amulet of the commander’s. Starting to toss it away, he reconsidered and inspected it more closely. It didn’t have that bad feeling of demon magic; like the Oderi and Ichelen, this one was a true blessing. And it was a quite lovely one, the chain holding an amulet of a tree in full bloom. Carved from a moss green rock, the tree was encircled by a silver snake eating its own tail.

  Screams broke out.

  The trolls were barreling through those vain-glorious players from the battalion to run their way. Kicking them, stepping on them, clubbing them, it was over in seconds and the trolls charged on unimpeded.

  Jenner didn’t know what this tree-and-snake amulet did, nor was there time to inquire. He just put it on to reap its benefits.

  Congrats! You have acquired a Zerotte blessing! This amulet is rated Rare and its power ranked Strong. It will provide you with boosts in Combat Skills, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Perception, and Health, as well as weapons. While wearing this amulet, you are raised to Level 50. If you are already over Level 50, this amulet is worthless to you. If you are under Level 50, then enjoy your new skills!

  Congrats! You are now Level 50!

  Jenner stood up a different man.

  His clothes strained around a body suddenly bursting with muscle, strength coiled up in the fibers within. Energy flowed through his veins, making him feel like he could run a marathon or fight a siege solo in the gladiator rings without breaking a sweat.

  His head jerked this way and that as his enhanced perception rapidly took in the features of the battlefield he could not see before. Deep in the east were the battalions shepherding the army of trolls. Upon a distant scarp were the front lines, made up of wizards and demons shoulder to shoulder. As the trolls tried to mount the scarp, the witches shot their wands to the earth and purple fire raged upwards in response. The trolls staggered back and the wizards shot their wands to the sky to bring down lightning and force them to back off further.

  Behind the wizards and witches were elves, lifting their bows to fire. Furious that they could not get closer through the hail of lightning, arrows, and sheets of flames, the trolls hurled boulders that stopped in mid-air and flung themselves back.

  Ground battalions closed in from the north and south, so as the trolls gave off at the scarp,
they found no respite in either direction. Human warriors swung Gregallan gloves; elves hobbled trolls with blades and slit their throats. Shifters leaped to bite and slash, the werecats moving so fast that the trolls’ blows rarely landed on target. The battalions had their own breeds of trolls as well, lobbing boulders and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with those from Blue Mountain. Assault was also descending from air battalions of flying chariots, which harried the trolls into fleeing west as the only avenue left open to them.

  And then they saw the lures, and came willingly.

  This was no Blue Mountain troll army of fifteen thousand anymore, or even five thousand. But whether the count was two thousand or three thousand, one thing remained undeniable: they were coming Jenner’s way. Those in the lead were less than a mile off.

  With his boosted perception, he saw beyond the wall of ice spears to another wall beyond it, and a third wall beyond that. Even trolls of such size and strength would not be able to smash through these thick spears. Nor could they climb these slick walls of such towering height. Movement drew Jenner’s eyes upwards to a fleet of dragons racing overhead. Every saddle was occupied by an ice demon.

  They were going to round up the remaining troll army and build a cage of ice to trap them in. While these rampaging beasts slaughtered the children of the game, the demons on dragon-back would close the ice wall behind them so there was no way out. Once penned, the battalions could fire down at the trolls like proverbial fish in a barrel.

  Jenner was here because he didn’t count.

  In some fundamental ways, this damn game was the world he came from, it was exactly the same world, and it made him angry.

  Something fell from the sky and slammed into the ground inches from his boots. It was a lure in a cage, which was attached to several feet of chain. High above upon the onyx dragon, Dan the Troll had a sword in each fist and was slashing and stabbing at the lures to break them. “Smash it!” he bellowed down to Jenner before swinging to the side to avoid a burst of fire from a dragon enraged to lose its lures.

  Dan the Troll hadn’t known the plan. It looked like he was the only one of the commanders not told of what was intended for this battalion; the others were turning on him to fight.

  As one dragon swooped downwards to retrieve the lure, Jenner leaped into action. He brought his boot down on the thin metal bars holding the light. Stomping hard, the bars crumpled inward. Yellow-green flames spurted up around his boot and winked out. With an angry cry, the dragon changed course to go after Dan the Troll.

  Two more lures rained down, Jenner chasing after them. He stamped them out in short order, although he knew in his heart that it was too late. There were too many lures up there, too many dragons both chasing Dan the Troll and fleeing him to spare their lights, and the first of the Blue Mountain trolls had covered half a mile in a minute.

  Would you like to use a weapon from your Zerotte blessing? These weapons are contained within the blessing itself and their weight will not affect your inventory.

  ARTEMIS LONGBOW: Prized among elves for its craftsmanship, an Artemis Bow is carved from Nymph Hickory. Comes with a Replenishing Quiver: Never get caught short in a battle with an empty quiver – you will always have the arrows you need.

  SAKATA SABER: Long favored by warriors of renown, this blade is carried by the Elite Guards of the High Council in Talvenor. This self-cleaning, self-sharpening carbon steel sword has a blade length of 32 inches and comes with a leather scabbard.

  GREGALLAN GLOVE: A bracelet with-

  There wasn’t time to explore the amulet’s inventory. He skimmed down to the bottom of the notification.

  Allow the blessing to determine which weapons you need for combat? Y/N

  He blinked at yes.

  The cuff bracelet was instantly around his right wrist and melting into the glove. In his left hand was the saber, yellow-green light slipping along the blade as a dragon with lures flew overhead. Another caged light was falling, Dan the Troll’s roar piercing through the swirling dragon bodies above. Jenner pivoted but Ocelo beat him to it. Her gash closed up in full, she dashed over to the lure and destroyed it.

  Rosy hopped fast for Jenner. He grabbed up the cup and shouted for Ocelo, who sprinted for him with her trident in her fist. “We have to get out of here before they grow those ice spears all the way around!” Jenner exclaimed.

  They ran, swinging wide to bypass the nearing army.

  “Troll! Troll! Incoming troll!” Rosy yelled. Jenner had already seen the creature breaking right to chase after them.

  The Ichelen blessing was definitely weak, and Ocelo had nothing at all to protect her from attracting the troll’s attention. Jenner swerved to run on the mermaid’s other side, hoping to block her, but it made no difference.

  With the troll’s gigantic strides, the distance between them closed in heartbeats. Fat fingers curled into a fist and the troll lifted its long arm. As it punched down, Jenner punched his glove upwards to block the fist.

  Their blows met with a reverberating crash that nearly sent Jenner down to his knees. As the troll recoiled, twisting to the side, Jenner stabbed it through the thigh with his sword. The blade came away drenched in blackish blood, which sank into the steel and left it clean. The troll reeled back and fell.

  Hearing the pained cry of their comrade, several more trolls started for Jenner, Rosy, and Ocelo.

  His gaze swept over the battlefield . . . the children’s battalion was under siege, those on the scarp were now upon the ground as the last of the troll army fled, ice spears were pushing upwards from the soil to extend the wall . . . The need to fight raged in his blood, but only a fool would let himself be the pawn in someone else’s game and Jenner was not that fool.

  Not today. He was getting out, and he was taking Rosy and Ocelo with him.

  They jumped over rocks and skirted boulders, dodged slamming fists and bolted between tree-trunk legs. The saber vanished and Jenner raised a wand to a solid wall of troll flesh heading for them.

  A wand!

  For a second, he was a giddy little boy with that narrow, crooked staff in his fingers. The blessing itself moved his arm upwards and triggered the spell, which burst from the wand tip in a cloudy stream. It raced up to the heavens and returned as a bolt of lightning. Striking down amongst the trolls, it tumbled them.

  A notification flashed before him and was gone so fast that he only got the gist of it: while the blessing did provide him with a wand, the replenishing power was weak and extremely slow. One wand with one spell in one week was all the amulet contained. Even as his arm was lowering, the wand was replaced by the saber.

  “That was so cool,” he blurted.

  “Who fucking cares? Run!” Rosy screamed.

  Dragons carrying ice demons rushed past. The circle was being closed.

  They fought their way across the battlefield, never quite able to catch up with the sprouting ice spears. Twice Jenner cut over to them, and twice they grew just out of his reach. The escape route was growing narrower and narrower as the last trolls were driven in.

  Putting on an extra burst of speed, he aimed for the gap. And missed it by seconds, stalks of ice shucking the soil and forcing upwards into the sky.

  They were going to be trapped!

  He dashed to the shortest spears just before they grew over his head. Hurling himself into the air, he caught the top of a spear and heaved himself up to the flat surface. “Come on, Ocelo! Hurry!” She hauled herself up beside him.

  Positioned on the other side of the spears were the higher-level battalions. Most wore severe expressions; a few openly laughed to see Jenner, Rosy, and Ocelo trying to climb over. A wizard took aim with his wand, and then a percussive force knocked them off the spears and blasted them back into the cage.

  As Jenner soared backwards, the sprouting spears cut off his view of the world beyond the cage. He crashed down to the earth near the mermaid, the teacup spinning away out of control. It came to rest within a knot of running tro
lls. Hopping in terror among the thicket of feet, it screamed, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

  The trolls took no notice of the cup; the lures were pulling them away. Rosy jumped back to Jenner. “FUCK!”

  “Jenner!”

  It was Dan the Troll.

  Covered in blood, the emerald dragonling still swaddled to his back, the troll steered his onyx dragon down to the ground and extended a hand.

  Bolting for him with Ocelo and Rosy in tow, Jenner pushed the mermaid up first behind the saddle before climbing up after her. She wrapped her arms around Dan the Troll’s waist and Jenner wrapped his arms around hers.

  The dragon lifted into the air, beating its wings hard.

  In a tiny, hopeless voice, Rosy said, “Lasers.”

  “What?” Jenner looked up. “Oh, shit! Dan!”

  Wizards were stepping off chariots to the tops of the ice spears. One by one, they were extending their wands to shoot those glowing, buzzing bars over the top of the circle. The onyx dragon lurched to fly beneath them, Jenner feeling the sizzle of a bar in the roots of his hair.

  “Faster!” he cried.

  There was a pocket up ahead, since a wizard had stumbled upon exiting a chariot. He regained his balance, pivoted upon the ice, raised his wand . . .

  The dragon slipped through the pocket in the nick of time, and they flew away.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Upon a high, grassy hilltop just north of Galadras, Dan the Troll brought the dragon down.

  The injured troll dismounted and dropped to his knees, his fingers fumbling at the knot of the sheet around his torso. Ocelo lifted the dragonling away and Dan the Troll fell onto his side. Long gashes were bleeding upon his belly and legs.

  Their onyx mount shifted into a woman with clipped brown hair. Her eyes were sober as she knelt down beside the troll. “Do you want me to scramble you, Dan? Are you done with this life?”