by Kirk Dougal
My thoughts returned to the smoke I had seen rising in the morning sky on the road. The betrayal by a large number of the Horde made their sneaking away from the group in the day following our visit to Bear Run feel even more sinister. My stomach jumped at the thought of what we might find there. I glanced at Saleene and the lines around her eyes appeared even deeper in the dancing firelight.
“And after Bear Run?” I asked.
DeBrest shrugged. “It depends. If we can get food and all the arms and other items we need, then we can cut cross country back to the tavern at the beginning. If all we can get is the food, then we head back to Breton and my family's armory, take what we need, and then go back.”
The plan made sense. But the uncertainty of the smoke kept nibbling at my thoughts. After a few minutes, I glanced over at Saleene. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows but said nothing. I did not receive even that much of a suggestion from Bree.
“Okay,” I said. “We head for Bear Run.”
*****
I stared from around the tree, searching for a sign, any sign, of movement in Bear Run. Card was a few feet away, hiding behind a tree of his own, but his grunt still reached my ears.
“I don't know, Beast. It could be deserted.”
“Or a trap,” I said.
A reflection caught my eye, the late afternoon sun catching Saleene's hair, and I watched her sprint across the open fields from the forest to the town walls. She stopped in the shadow at its base, crouching in the semi-dark and staring up at the top of the wall for signs she had been seen. After a few more seconds of no reaction, Bree joined her. Now that the two women warriors were in place, Card and I moved toward the road where the main gates stood.
We had decided to leave DeBrest with the horses. His orders were to come galloping to our aid if something went wrong. The other reason he was left in reserve was because he was well-known to the Gargians inside. He had spoken to one of their town leaders, face to face, and would probably be easily recognized. Card, however, had not even been inside Quest Call when we visited Bear Run earlier, and I had just been one of many looking on from horseback. There was little chance they would remember me. We were the perfect choice to ride directly to the front gate and enter the town.
Of course, my mind was still worried about the smoke.
Card and I moved through the tree line, walking close enough we could see into the open area but far enough in the shade to be obscured from any prying eyes inside the walls. I noticed nothing unusual about Bear Run except for the suffocating silence. The walls were undamaged. The fields, although untended in spots, were still growing. Even the few buildings outside the town's protection appeared to be untouched.
The area in front of the main gates extended beyond the roadway and left a large open clearing. I led Card to one side that was actually closer to the front. From there, with the sun sinking in the distance and beginning to throw fingers of orange across the sky, I stared, still waiting for that sign of people.
None came.
Despite the day's temperature beginning to drop, sweat poured down my back, causing my shirt to stick. I stepped into the sunshine and walked toward the road, my gaze glued to the front gates. Card had not spoken since voicing his hope the town was deserted, but I heard the crunch of his boots on leaves and sticks behind me, letting me know I was not alone.
The main gates moved further into view. One of them stood wide open, and soon I could see down an empty street inside Bear Run. At first glance, the other gate appeared to be closed, but as I continued to stare, I realized it was slightly ajar.
“Look at the ground near the gate.” Card's whisper near my ear caught me by surprise, my heart leaping in response, but I saw immediately what he had noticed. Dark patches dotted the dirt in several spots, the ground solidifying like mud in a drought-choked river. I wished it had been only water that originally wet the area.
“It's blood,” I said.
Card moved up beside me. In his left hand was a flat-headed mace, longer handled than the one the holy crusader had used to bash my leg but not nearly as heavy. Wrapped around his right wrist and hanging loosely from his fingers, a leather thong was strung through a set of orange-red stones. He had said the avatar he thruffed was a war wizard. I had no idea what exactly he could do, but I had no doubt the stones were far more dangerous than the wood and metal weapon. I let my hand drop to the knife in my belt and one side of his mouth curled.
We walked around the blood-stained dirt and into Bear Run, each step a loaded spring ready to release. The door in the guardhouse near the walk-in was smashed in half, the top still clinging to the hinge by a nail. The next building, a tavern or inn by the remaining shape of it, was not much more than blackened walls while the next building in line was barely touched, only some gashes in one wall and a broken window to tell anyone that something bad had happened here.
That was the story of the town. Card and I walked past stores and homes, some ravaged or destroyed by fire and accounting for the smoke I had noticed the morning after the Horde returned to our group, while others revealed only scratches or no damage at all. But as we walked through street after street, we did not see the one thing I expected to find.
There were no bodies.
By the time we searched the whole town, the sun was ready to disappear behind the west walls. Shadows already crossed the streets, long dark hands reaching out to capture us in their grasp, leaving too much of what we were walking through unseen. I stared up, turning around as I surveyed the nearby wall and the tops of the buildings still standing. After a few seconds, Saleene stuck her out from behind a chimney and returned my stare.
“Go get DeBrest,” I said. “Help him bring the horses inside.”
Saleene eased her way to the edge of the roof and jumped down, her feet making puffs of dust rise in the setting sun. I saw movement from farther down the street and Bree did the same.
“You want to stay here tonight?” Saleene asked. Her tone told me all I needed to know about her thoughts on the idea.
“Want to? No.” I glanced up and down the street again. “But this is even worse than I feared. Something is wrong and I'd rather find out inside these walls instead of on the road or in the forest.”
Chapter 27
By the time Saleene and Bree returned with DeBrest, Card and I found an almost untouched house with a clear view of the front gate. Just as importantly, the back of the building faced the near wall. If we had to move fast, we should be able to move in shadow to the wooden boundary and be up and over before anyone knew we had left. To help our odds even more, we pushed the one main gate closed and, with some help and a little hand waving from Card, managed to close the damaged gate as well. They were barred from the inside like the walk-in door. It was not much of an effort, but it was the best I could think of to try.
Inside the house, the mystery of what happened to the people deepened. Many of the shelves in the kitchen held food, canned and preserved with nothing fresh but still edible. The rest of the house was a wreck, furniture overturned, closets emptied with clothes strung over the floor, and anything that could hold value ransacked.
“I don't get it,” Card said as he stood in front of a set of ledges. He gestured toward the empty boards. “Why did the Horde take some of the food, but not all of it?”
“Maybe they couldn't hold it all,” I said. “They were on horseback, and I'm sure they grabbed all the other valuable stuff they could carry.”
“Why didn't they burn the whole town down?” DeBrest asked. “What was in those buildings they destroyed that made them so important to burn?”
My stomach tumbled with the questions, and I put down my fork. I could not eat last summer's peaches with the sour taste in my mouth. I had an idea of what was in the burned out buildings, but I was waiting for some answers before I knew for sure.
I did not need to wait long. Shortly after we finished eating, Saleene returned from her scouting trip. Bree was still outs
ide on guard duty, but DeBrest and Card had already fallen asleep in chairs near the fireplace. When Saleene walked in, she saw them sitting and motioned with her head toward the door behind me. She followed me into the next room, grabbing a candle on the way.
“Do I even want to know?” I asked as soon as she closed the door behind us.
“It's what you thought,” she said. Saleene crossed to the bed and sat down, placing the candle on the stand. She rubbed both hands over her face and sighed before she continued.
“I found bones in all the burned buildings. Human bones.”
My stomach gave up. I ran to the corner and heaved my supper onto the floor. When nothing else would come up, I leaned onto a wall, my forehead pressed against the cool siding.
“Those bastards,” I said. “When we go back to Dinas Farwolaeth, I'm going to kill every one of the damn Horde that's still alive.”
“And I'll help, but what I found only raises more questions,” Saleene said.
I turned from the wall. “What kind of questions?”
She shook her head and frowned. “I found a lot of bones, but I don't think there was enough for a whole town's worth of people.” She sighed again. “But I didn't go into every building. At first light, Bree and I will go around the outside Bear Run one more time and see if we can find signs of some of the townspeople escaping into the woods.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said. “Card, DeBrest, and I can make a pass through some of the buildings nearby and look for supplies we can take with us. But what we really need is what we haven't seen yet.”
“No weapons?”
“Not that we found before dark.” I shook my head and paced back and forth at the end of the bed. “Not even in the guardhouse. I've got to agree with Card, what the Horde took and what they left behind doesn't make a lot of sense.”
Saleene stood. “If we're going to figure it out tonight, I need to eat first.” She leaned over and blew out the candle.
I caught a flicker of light on her hip as she moved. “What's that?”
The room went quiet. “What's what?” Saleene asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I don't hear anything.”
“No,” I said. “There, on your belt. What's that light?”
The glow grew brighter as I heard metal move against a scabbard. “This?” Saleene chuckled. “It's my dagger, Beast. I thought you couldn't see the magic.”
“I can't. I mean, I couldn't. I don't know.” I wanted to reach out to touch the blade but in the dark room, I was afraid she might misunderstand. A question popped into my mind. “Pagul was scared to death of your dagger. What does it do?”
“When I stick the blade into you, it sucks the fight out of you. A wound from this blade makes you lie down and die, not matter how small the scratch.”
“Poison?”
She shrugged. “I've never put anything on it.”
I thought back to the first night we met when she tried to surprise me in the alley. I had thought she was trying to cut off my sword but now I realized she intended on killing me with the magic in the blade.
“I'll be sure to be careful if you ask me to hone it.”
I was smiling at my own joke when I opened the bedroom door and walked back into the kitchen, Saleene on my heels. We both stopped.
Standing in the doorway was Bree and the glare she gave us promised a quicker death than Saleene's dagger.
*****
I slipped out into the night. The sun was still a far off promise but the moon had already disappeared, leaving Bear Run dark and cold. A few stars twinkled in the sky, but it appeared even they wanted nothing to do with us.
Saleene had chased Bree out the door earlier and returned without her friend. She sat down and shoved food in her mouth without a word, chewing hard enough to make her teeth click. Unsure of what had happened to cause the extreme emotion, I tapped Card with my boot until he woke and went out for the next guard shift. DeBrest was no good for the responsibility since he was still leaving the game every night.
But after slipping off to sleep by the fire, I woke up when I felt Card's hand on my shoulder. He had given me his mace as I walked toward the door, at least allowing me a chance to defend myself if something appeared out of the night.
Now I stood outside the house we had borrowed. I moved to one side of the door to ensure I was not framed by any light escaping around the edges and waited for my eyes to adjust to the night. Shapes slowly appeared out of the dark, empty houses and burned out skeletons of structures. When I felt my vision was not going to improve anymore, I stepped away from the house and moved down the street.
My first checkpoint was the main gate. Both swinging doors were still closed and barred, as was the smaller walk-in opening. I should have felt relief at finding the area undisturbed, but something ate at me, a nagging sensation of being watched, setting the hairs on the back of my neck on end.
I walked up the street, sticking close to the buildings, moving past our house and farther into town. Every ten or fifteen paces I stopped, cocking my head to one side. I heard the beating of wings more than once, bats or other night fliers on the hunt for their supper, and a couple of times the scurrying of little feet, which was most likely rats come to find scraps left behind.
One time, I thought the sound of a single footstep landed after I froze. I stood still, holding my breath, legs ready to lift into a sprint. But the silence dragged out until an owl sang to the stars, and I was no longer certain it had been a foot on the street.
I ranged as far as four streets away from my companions before I doubled back, checking and rechecking the shadows near buildings, listening over and over for sounds only a human would make. The footstep never returned, however, and soon, I was back in the darkness beside the house sheltering my friends, all of them except for Bree, and I was certain she did not think of me as a friend.
Minute passed by minute and soon those turned into hours. In due time, a single finger of pink thrust itself into the sky, heralding another day, before I finally saw Bree. She was lying on a rooftop a few buildings down the street, her body wedged in between the chimney and the angle of the roof. Her body was hidden behind the stones, but her head and shiny silver hair, now reflecting the growing kaleidoscope of the dawn's light, were out in the open. I wanted to give her some space but our mission was too important to be held up by emotions and misunderstandings, so I stepped out and walked straight down the street, making no effort to hide the fact I was staring at her. She stood and eased to the edge of the roof before dropping down. She made no move to leave but, instead, waited for me. Suddenly, I was not sure if talking to her was a good idea.
“Shouldn't you be inside with Saleene?” she asked. The dirt on her face was streaked, and I wondered if tears had caused the marks. “You'll want to be there when she wakes up.”
“I don't know what you think is going on,” I said, “but I've already told you, the only reason Card and I are inside Quest Call. We need to find the terrorists.”
“Did you find any inside the bedroom last night?” Each word Bree said was cut short, snipped in my direction like formless darts hoping to harm me. “Don't deny it. I saw you both coming out and smiling.”
For a moment, I was stunned into holding still, then I threw my head back and laughed, eventually grabbing my sides because of a stitch.
“Is that what this is about?” Another handful of chuckles escaped. “Oh my god, Bree! I'm here to do a job!”
Bree's face grew pink and then went straight to scarlet. Her jaw worked back and forth, and I heard her teeth grinding. Even worse, her hand had dropped to the hilt of her short sword, baring a couple of fingers width of blade.
“Don't fucking laugh at me,” she said, voice dropping lower and lower on each syllable. “I'm through putting up with this shit.” She drew the sword out the rest of the way, but I hardly noticed.
“You're…you're a man!” I said.
Bree's face changed, anger slipping away while
her eyes widened and mouth dropped open.
“Don't…I…you can't say anything.” Her voice trembled, but was back to its normal tone. Or at least the tone I was accustomed to hearing. She realized the sword was still in her hand and replaced it in the scabbard, then reached out, her fingers brushing my arm, trying to make a connection that would convince me to listen. “Please. Saleene can't know.”
“You love her,” I said. “I mean, real life love and not just inside the game.”
Bree pulled her hand back and glanced away, unable to look me in the eyes. “Yes. We…we work together. At least we did until I was transferred to another department. We used to work on projects together, eat lunch sometimes. Her laugh used to make my day worthwhile. Then I was moved, and we never saw each other anymore. I knew she played so I…I.” His voice trailed off.
“So you joined her in Quest Call where you could still talk to her,” I said. I waited for his halting nod. “Listen, man, it's none of my business.”
Bree's head snapped around. “You won't tell her?” I shook my head and relief flooded over her face. The smile that started to form, however, froze into a straight line. “But you two, you two are—”
“Just two people working toward the same goal,” I interrupted. “Nothing more inside the game and nothing more outside. I just want to catch the terrorists and make the world a little safer.” I smiled. “Maybe get a few days off before I go back to my normal assignment in a different game.” I thought of Helen. “There's someone there for me.” Bree did not need to know I was talking about a construct.
A door shut down the street, and we both turned to watch Saleene walk toward us. Stalk might have been a better description for her strides. She did not even glance in my direction as she approached.
“Bree,” she said.
“I'm going to get Card and DeBrest moving,” I said, cutting her off and drawing a nasty glare in response. “Saleene, when you and Bree are done talking, check the area outside Bear Run for signs of Gargians escaping the Horde. I want to know if we might run into trouble on the road.”
