Last Bastion

by Rachel Aaron

  Flameboyant didn't wait to be asked twice. He just teleported ahead then reappeared in a poof of purple energy at the entrance to the alley fifty feet ahead. "It's clear," he whispered, waving them in.

  Fangs darted past him, ears swiveling as his feet fell swiftly but silently on the cobbles. James couldn't quite match the warrior's natural stealth, but he managed not to make too much of a muddle of it as they vanished between the buildings, leaving the battle behind.

  "What's the plan, James?" Ar'Bati asked when they were clear.

  James glanced in the direction of the castle, which he could no longer see through all the buildings. "The front gates are a no go, so I say we head for the Diplomatic Quarter. It's a bit of a walk, but it's our best shot at a way into the castle that won't be guarded by insane Royal Knights." And since two of them were players, that was definitely a plus.

  "Sounds good to me," Ar'Bati said, glancing up at the sun to orient himself before turning and starting down a road that led to the west. "This way."

  Clutching his bag of precious letters to his chest, James hurried after him, motioning for Flameboyant to stay close as they jogged as quietly as they could through the warren of streets toward the castle and, hopefully, the victory that would make backstabbing one of his best friends and betraying his sister worth it.

  Chapter 6

  Tina

  The fight with Malakai wasn't going as well as Tina had hoped.

  Now that SB had sliced the bastard up, she'd been ready for a comeback. The battle for the camp was winding down, which meant backup would be arriving soon. But chasing down all the knights had left her Roughnecks scattered and separated, out of sight and yell distance from her position near the gallows in the camp's center. Which was bad.

  "I'm going to kill you slowly," Malakai said, hunching down as he watched for an opening. "Then I'll have a healer raise you so my men can have a turn at torturing you. Or maybe I'll just break your neck and leave you unable to move. Force you to watch as we kill your companion, helpless and immobile, just as we were during the Nightmare."

  "You need therapy," Tina said, keeping her shield up to hide how badly she was limping. Her whole body twitched to look at Neko and see how that heal was coming, but she didn't dare turn her head. The only reason Malakai hadn't gone for her yet was because he didn't know the Naturalist was hiding in the tent. If Tina gave her position away, it would be like Anders all over again. She had to buy time, and given how bad she was bleeding, talking was a lot safer than taking another hit.

  "You know the Nightmare wasn't our fault, right?" she said, keeping her eyes on Malakai's feet. "We're as much innocent victims of this as you are. Up until three days ago, we thought this was all a game. I didn't even know magic existed until this shit fest went down."

  "There is nothing innocent in you, demon!" Malakai snarled. "It wasn't enough to torture us while we were helpless. The moment the Nightmare broke, you players began to kill our people and ravage our city. You burned and raped and looted to your heart's content, using your power to crush those who were too weak to stand against you. But I am not weak! I will curse the Nightmare to my dying day, but I will use the power it gave me to kill every last one of you! I will make your kind pay in blood for what you did to us!"

  "Our kind?" Tina cried. "Newsflash, dude, we're all human. These bodies are just characters we made for the game. Back in our world, we're just normal people. I'm sorry a bunch of dicks went nuts in your city, but that wasn't those level tens you've been indiscriminately hanging. You can't just kill all players because of the bad actions of a few!"

  "It doesn't matter," he said, baring his teeth. "You are all guilty of something. The very nature of your 'game' turned my people into your targets and cannon fodder! Do you know how many of my knights were forced to die repeatedly every single day so you players could take your quests in safety? How many times I have died defending my king so you could win beer steins and ponies and other worthless trash?"

  "Hey, King Gregory's Endless Beer Stein was not trash," Tina said. "And again, not our fault. We didn't know you were real!"

  "Ignorance does not excuse the crime!" Malakai roared. "You will all pay for what you have done to us!"

  He charged as he finished, launching himself into her guard with mad strength. Tina swore and ducked behind her shield for cover, wishing she'd had time to grab her sword as well. Sadly, the glowing red-runed blade lay a good dozen feet away in the crater filled with her silvery blood--way too far away for her to get to with Malakai pounding on her shield with his crushing fists. She'd just have to make do with her shield until Neko came through.

  Tina hoped it was soon. She'd managed to stay on her feet so far, but her whole body ached from the hits she'd already taken. Malakai wasn't a building-destroying monster like Grel'Darm, but he was fast, small, and skilled, which was actually way harder to deal with. Grel's attacks had been easy to see coming, and he was so stupid it had been simple to position him wherever she wanted. Malakai was the exact opposite. He was impossible to control and didn't respond to taunts, and his punches were lightning fast and always changing up. She couldn't predict where he was going to hit next, which was how his hits kept sneaking past her guard, battering her arms and shoulders.

  He hadn't managed to land a finishing blow yet, but the damage was adding up. With every hit he landed, Tina slid a bit farther back, leaving a trail of silver blood on the ground. She tried to tell herself that was fine, that a little damage was to be expected when you tanked a four-skull boss solo, but her body was starting to feel dangerously numb. Cold stiffness like she'd never felt before was creeping up her stone limbs and turning her vision gray. She was focusing on avoiding as much damage as possible when she felt the first swell of NekoBaby's nature magic.

  Relief hit Tina so hard, she felt like she'd been healed already. Finally. She wasn't sure how long it had been, but the six-minute window on KatanaFatale's resurrection had to be nearly closed. They'd cut it as close as possible, but if even a magic-deaf class like her could feel the spell, it had to be almost done. Once the rez went off, the heals would start dropping, and this whole fight would change. She just had to survive until then, but when she went to whack Malakai with her shield to make sure his attention stayed on her, the captain grabbed the top of the giant metal plate and shoved it down.

  Tina let him, rolling with the blow instead of fighting it as he plunged the bottom lip of her shield into the stones. She was planning to use that as a brace for his next hit when Malakai put his boot on the flat of her bulwark and heaved himself over it, leaping over her head like she was a ramp.

  Eyes wide with shock, Tina yanked her shield out of the ground and shot to her feet, cursing her stupidity as Malakai landed behind her and started sprinting toward the tent where NekoBaby was hiding. She was a moron. If she could feel Neko's magic, of course he could too. She should have gotten a hold on him the moment the spell started to build, but it was too late for that. Neko's tent was already overflowing with brightly glowing magical vines and flowers. She might as well have put up a sign that read Healer Here!

  Tina's only chance was to get there before Malakai did, but the old elf was so fast, and she was so numb, her joints grinding together like old rocks. There was no way she could beat him. He was already yanking back the flap, hand shooting inside to grab Neko and break the spell that was their last chance to save KatanaFatale. Everything she'd bled to save was about to die, so Tina did the only thing she could think of and threw herself forward, dropping her shield to tackle the captain around the legs and bring them both down on top of the tent in a snarling heap.

  The heavy white canvas tangled around them like water. Malakai rolled and twisted in her arms as she scrambled to pull him away from Neko with the last of her strength. His metal boot collided with her shoulder, sending a shock wave through her whole collarbone, but she refused to let go. Instead, she dug her fingers into the gaps in his breastplate, using the metal to hold him in place
as she flopped her whole weight on top of him.

  She was so focused on pinning him down, she didn't notice the scrape of steel as Malakai's flailing hand landed on some dead knight's sword until it was too late. His arm swept the blade toward her in a blur, but her hands were too busy holding him in place--and away from Neko--to block it. Tina turned instead, hunching her shoulder up to catch the blow...only to realize what a bad move that was when the sword hacked into the side of her unarmored head.

  There was a silvery chime and the familiar sound of breaking steel. Then pain exploded through her head, making the whole world spin and throb as silver blood started pouring down her face. She was still alive, though, so she gave the elf captain the most crushing bear hug should she could manage, overlapping the edges of her bracers to lock her arms behind his back to avoid him slipping loose like last time.

  "Cursed stonekin!" Malakai choked out as he stabbed her with the broken hilt of his sword. Every hit sent the jagged inch of blade digging into her neck, but Tina barely felt the cuts. The world was getting fuzzy, and her body felt as if it was slowing down. She'd always heard that blood loss made you weak, but her limbs seemed to be hardening into place, tightening around Malakai like cooling magma.

  It was a terrifying feeling. Even against Grel, she didn't think she'd gotten this low on health. The captain was still smashing her in the head with his broken weapon, but even through the cooling fog in her head, she could hear him wheezing, and that gave her an idea.

  It took several seconds to get her hardening muscles moving, but eventually, Tina managed to stand up. Since her hardened arms were still locked around Malakai, this meant she took him up with her, lifting his feet straight off the ground.

  "Heh," she huffed as he struggled and cursed, kicking his legs wildly in the air. "You're big, but I'm bigger."

  She locked her legs in place, using the support to squeeze him even tighter. The captain was struggling for breath now. His wild blows were still hammering her shoulders and head, but each one felt a little weaker than the last. Her vision was almost entirely black now, so Tina closed her eyes and just focused on squeezing, locking her arms down on him so tight, his breastplate crumpled like a tin can. She was working on squeezing hard enough to dent her breastplate next when she heard Killbox yelling her name.

  "Hold on, Roxxy!"

  The Berserker charged into the fight swinging his massive ax at Malakai's upper back. There was a wet thwack as it chopped into the captain, sending blood flying everywhere.

  With no breath left to scream, the captain could only gape, eyes bulging as Killbox yanked his blade out and swung again, hacking at the elf like a post. His red blood flew in arcs to join Tina's silver pool on the ground, but even with her failing vision, she knew it wasn't going to be enough. The damn four-skull Malakai had a health pool meant for ten players to beat on, and Tina couldn't breathe anymore.

  Her body was so stiff it felt like she was using Earthen Fortitude, but this wasn't the protection of the Bedrock Kings. This was something final, something cold and terrifying. She'd never thought too much about what death would feel like, but she recognized it now. Her body was closing around her like hardening concrete, burying her alive inside, but she had nothing left to fight it. Even though she was certain she could choke out the captain now--he seemed to need air regardless of health points--she knew there was no way she could do it before her health pool gave out. She also knew that if she let go, this guy was going to kill a lot of her people.

  Gritting her bloody teeth, Tina held on. Malakai was still beating on her, ignoring Killbox's attack as he stabbed at her neck and shoulders in a furious attempt to get free, but she refused to let him. She ignored the pain and kept her arms as tight as a vise. She kept a shit-eating grin on her face, too, because if she was going to die locking this asshole in place, she was determined that grin was going to be the last thing he saw. Hell, they'd have to bury him with her.

  That felt like a suitably hardcore death for the leader of the Roughnecks. Widening her grin, Tina steeled herself not to panic as her senses shut down one by one. The world went black, then her skin turned cold and numb. Next, her hearing filled with static, which slowly faded to nothing at all. She couldn't taste the blood in her mouth or smell the smoke of the city anymore. Soon, all that was left was crushing and the desperate vibrations made by Killbox's attacks on Malakai, then even that began to fade, leaving her sinking into the dark.

  No, not sinking. She was being pulled, her soul tangled up in invisible coils as something reached up from the depths of the world to pull her down. But then, just before she lost hold of her grip on Roxxy entirely, Neko's ringing voice cut through the final silence.

  "Verdant Glory!"

  The shout was followed by a nuclear detonation of life magic. Vines, flowers, and translucent energy leaves burst into Tina's vision as the world around her exploded back into focus. Power and vitality flooded into Tina as glowing plants curled up her legs, banishing the cold and the numbness with an intoxicating rush of burning, vibrant life. Blinking in the new brightness, Tina realized she could see her silver blood running up from the ground and back into her, pouring through the cracks in her skin to resume its flow inside her. It was the weirdest, most uncomfortable sensation ever, but it was soon topped by the creaking inside her chest as all her metal bones bent themselves back into their proper places. She felt her severed copper hair regrowing, her joints unlocking as her flexibility returned. Malakai was still in her arms, though, so Tina didn't move them. She just stood there and kept squeezing, locked on her goal with tunnel vision until she felt familiar hands grab her shoulders.

  "Roxxy! Roxxy!"

  SilentBlayde's voice was loud and terrified in her ears. She blinked in surprise, turning her head to see her favorite Assassin standing beside her.

  "It's done," he said, his tone growing gentle, like he was trying to talk her off a ledge. "Let him down. We need to go."

  Confused, Tina looked at the black-and-gray-haired elf in her arms. Malakai's eyes were rolled back in his head, and his face was a terrifying dark purple. He looked so horrible, she couldn't understand how he was still twitching.

  Then she realized it was her.

  Dropping Malakai, Tina fell to her knees. Her body was shaking so violently, the overlapping plates of her armor clattered like metal bells. Even her teeth were knocking together, making it nearly impossible to form the question she desperately needed to ask.

  "Katana," she got out at last. "Did we Raise Ally on Katana?"

  NekoBaby shuffled into view, ears down. "He was gone halfway through my cast," she said in a tiny, frightened voice. "I'm so sorry, Roxxy. At least I saved you, though."

  Tina felt as though the world had been yanked out from under her. She sagged to the ground though not from lack of strength. Neko's healing had repaired her body, but something deep inside her still felt broken. Stamped out. Lost forever.

  "Tina," SB's voice was close and shaking as he tugged on her arm. "Tina, you have to get up. We have to leave."

  Working together, SilentBlayde and Killbox hauled her back to her feet, sliding their shoulders under her arms to help her hobble away. The rest of the raid was already running past them, yelling something about reinforcements from the castle. Behind them, Tina could dimly hear the horns and the clatter of horses, but while a distant logical corner of her brain knew how much trouble that meant, she couldn't bring herself to care. All she could think about was how badly she'd failed Katana. He'd come when she'd needed him, and she'd gotten him killed. Now he was gone forever because of Malakai's stupid, pointless hate. Looking at the fleeing raid, Tina realized with a start that no one had even thought to grab Katana's body. He was still back there, forgotten with their enemies. Back there alone.

  She started to cry then--quietly, secretly, because she was still the raid leader. If she went to pieces, everything else would, too, so though all she wanted was to bawl, Tina forced herself to keep it in, tilting her he
ad down so that her copper dreadlocks fell to cover her face. In the end, the only one who saw her was SB, and he was polite enough to look away, his arm tight around her waist as they fled through the smashed barricades into the Royal Mile.

  "Well," NekoBaby said when they made it to the shelter of the side streets where the lowbies were hiding. "At least we won. All the bad guys are dead, ZeroDarkness managed to free all the players in the cages, and you beat the boss! We're, like, heroes and stuff!"

  The healer flashed her a sharp-toothed grin, but Tina just lowered her eyes. She didn't feel like they'd won. When the officers came over, Katana's absence was stark, a painful reminder of the cost of the risk she'd decided to take.

  "Roxxy."

  Tina looked up to find Zen staring at her, her face uncharacteristically soft. "We freed all the players," she reported. "Killed pretty much the whole camp and then some. We were about to start raiding their supplies, but the castle gates were opening, and you were down, so I gave the order to run. I know that should have been SB's call as your second, but he was knocked out too. By the time we got him healed up, the castle garrison was about to ride out. We were about to be overrun, so I told everyone to retreat." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I know we planned to arm and feed everyone on the knights' supplies, but we just couldn't make it."

  "You made the right call," Tina said quietly, finally letting go of Killbox and SB to stand on her own. "Thank you for getting everyone out safely." It was more than she had managed.

  "We only made it because you kept the boss busy," Killbox said, giving her a respectful look. "For what it's worth, what you did back there was the most hardcore thing I've ever seen."

  "Thanks," Tina said with a weak smile. "I never want to do it again."

  "I never want you to do it again," Neko agreed, shuddering. "You scared the nine lives out of me! I thought for sure I wasn't going to land that heal in time."