Last Bastion

by Rachel Aaron

  "Do not speak so lightly of my work, magician," Malakai growled. "While you talk and hide in the castle, scuttling after imagined threats, my knights and I are out there dying to defend Bastion from the real demons that are already in our midst!"

  "Yes, yes," Raffestain said impatiently. "We've heard the story of your heroic death several times now. But this is--"

  "You are fools to take this demon at his word!" the captain snarled, reaching down to grab James by the scruff of his neck. "But you were so caught up in the 'Claw Born' part of his introduction, you missed the part that was actually important." Malakai yanked James around, putting them face to face again. "What did you say your name was, player?"

  "James Anderson of Claw Born," James repeated meekly.

  The captain's eyes flashed. "James Anderson. Any relation to Christina Anderson?"

  James went still.

  "Who's Christina Anderson?" Raffestain demanded. "And why should we care? Sounds like a little girl."

  "She's no little girl," Malakai growled, the hate in his eyes burning brighter than ever. "After my resurrection, I interrogated many players to discover more about the stonekin who killed me. Turns out, this 'Roxxy' was quite famous in their realm, a military scholar who taught others the art of combat on something called the 'YouTube.' But like all of them, she is merely a demon inhabiting a stonekin's body, and her real name is Christina Anderson." He tilted his head at James. "How interesting that the only player to make it into the king's presence would share a name with our greatest enemy and leader of the rebellion that even now threatens the throne."

  "Come, man," Raffestain said dismissively. "A common name is no proof. There's a thousand elves named Highcloud, and no one would say they're all related. Rends Iron Hides is an honorable old cat who is unquestionably loyal to Bastion. There's no way he'd adopt a son who was related to a rebel leader." The priest turned to James. "Right?"

  James swallowed, sweating bullets. This would be the perfect time to say he'd never heard of Roxxy, but denying his sister felt too much like betrayal, and it would undoubtedly come back to bite him later when the truth came out. Everyone in the Roughnecks' raid knew that he was Tina's brother. If Malakai was interrogating players, it was just a matter of time before he found someone who could prove James and Tina's relation. If he lied now and got found out, everything else he'd said would also be thrown into question, including the letters they'd nearly died to bring here. He couldn't let that happen, so with a wince, James told them.

  "Christina Anderson is my sister."

  "I knew it!" Malakai shouted, shaking James at the king. "Do you see their plot now? He's in league with them! This 'invasion' is nothing but a ploy by Roxxy and her rebels to distract our attention so they can buy time to build up their power and steal your throne!"

  "No, it's not!" James cried, reaching up to pry futilely at Malakai's impossibly strong grip on the back of his neck. "Tina is my sister, but we've been separated for most of our time here! She was stuck in the Deadlands, fighting the Once King's armies, while I was in the Savanna, defending Windy Lake. I only found her again when we teleported into Bastion yesterday, and even then, I wasn't part of her raid. I was her prisoner, as were Ar'Bati and Flameboyant. We're not working together! I actually tried to stop her from attacking your camp because I didn't want to be party to rebellion against the king!"

  "Such lies," Malakai scoffed. "You really expect us to believe that you, a player, would side with the king against your own blood?"

  "Yes!" James shouted. "Because I'm not lying!" He turned desperately to the king, who was watching all of this in shock. "The undead are coming, Your Majesty! And Tina doesn't want your throne. She's only fighting the knights because they were killing players. This whole war is a giant misunderstanding, and it's going to get us all killed when the Once King's army arrives and finds us in chaos. I tried to tell my sister, but she wouldn't listen, so the three of us escaped from her to warn you in person. My companions and I went through many perils to bring these letters to you, including defeating the Assassin my sister sent after us."

  James hated how that sounded. He was helping Malakai paint Tina as a villain when her only real crime was being too hotheaded and heavy-handed. But there was no room for gray areas or complicated family histories here. He had to make the king believe. "I swear all of this is true," he said earnestly. "The Ar'Bati does as well. We are not your enemies!"

  The king and Raffestain exchanged looks, and then the old priest sighed. "This does complicate matters," he said, picking the stack of letters up off the throne again. "But no matter the source, this threat is too dire not to act upon. I suggest we lock the player and his companions up until we've investigated everything thoroughly."

  "If that's how you feel, then I agree," the king said, looking relieved. "We'll proceed with the arrests of the accused traitors. Meanwhile, these players and the Ar'Bati shall be locked in the dungeon until this is sorted out. Will that satisfy you, Captain Malakai?"

  "No, it will not," the captain said sharply. "You are allowing Raffestain's weakness to cloud your judgment. We have the brother of our most dangerous enemy in our possession! This is an unprecedented opportunity." He tightened his grip on James's neck. "Let me keep James Anderson, your majesty. I'll make him howl such that his demon sister will crawl out of her camp on her--"

  "No," the king said, making everyone jump. He hadn't shouted, but his deep voice was suddenly deafening, filling the room until the stones shook. The noise made Gregory jump, too, and then he dragged a hand over his face. "We'll not torture one sibling to lure out another," he said, quietly now. "Such acts stain the honor of Bastion."

  "But this is war," Malakai argued. "We can't ignore such a powerful--"

  "No, Malakai," the king said, his eyes tired. "I've already given you my armies and my siege weapons and everything else you've asked for to deal with the player threat. But this goes too far. We can't torture the player whose warning might well be our salvation."

  The captain's grip began to shake on James's neck. "You can't possibly--"

  "The king has spoken," Raffestain said sharply. "Let him go, Malakai. He can do us no harm locked in a dungeon, and we might need him later should we have questions."

  "Yes, questions, quite right," the king agreed, nodding quickly. "Take all three of them to the dungeon. Gently, please."

  The guards waiting outside the door looked at each other nervously, but they didn't actually obey until Raffestain waved them in. With a growl that would have done a jubatus proud, Malakai released James at last, dropping him to the floor, where he landed on his feet and immediately put his hands out for the guards to bind, doing his best to look as docile and nonthreatening as possible. After a few pointed looks, Ar'Bati did the same, though he looked decidedly sourer about the iron bands being slapped around his wrists.

  "You will regret this," Malakai promised the king as the guards started easing Flameboyant out of the arch-sorcerer's bubble. "Players do nothing but destroy what we have built. You are making a terrible mistake trusting this one."

  Raffestain rolled his eyes at that, but the king looked deeply troubled, and James stepped forward. "If I may ask a boon," he said gently. "I'd like to request an audience with His Majesty to prove we mean Bastion nothing but good. It can be through cell bars. I just want a chance to talk."

  The king looked baffled by this request, but when he looked at Raffestain, the old elf shrugged. "I see no danger in the request. If His Majesty wills it, it makes no difference to me."

  The king's lips twitched in the hint of a smile. "Then I will consider the request," he said, nodding at James.

  James beamed back, giving the king his most earnest smile as the guards dragged him away.

  Chapter 13

  Tina

  After the frantic battle-planning session for Camp Comeback broke up, Tina got everyone present to agree to keep the wind-fire powder, aka plan B, hush-hush. They didn't require much convincing. All the
guild leaders and officers understood that wind-fire powder was a weapon of mass destruction and therefore not something to be used lightly. Tina didn't want to think she was the kind of person who would seriously consider engulfing the world's largest city in a nuclear-grade firestorm just to win, but she had people to protect, and their backs were to the wall. It was definitely a last resort, but there was no point in making a threat if you weren't prepared to use it. If they were cornered and push came to shove, she was prepared to shove with all they had.

  When everything was decided and everyone was on the same page, CincoDeMurder ordered his PVPers to let everyone in to hear the plan. The players, who'd been waiting outside for an hour now, crammed themselves into the former training hall's giant stone building. With so many people, Tina expected chaos, but the crowd was grim and silent, listening without so much as a peep as she, Cinco, and Assets explained what was coming and the plan they'd worked out to beat it.

  "I'm not going to lie," Tina said once everything had been explained. "The odds are hella against us. But we've got a good position, a plan, and a whole bunch of badasses of our own. The Roughnecks have already proven that we can munch through Royal Knights like popcorn. We've got no problem doing so again, but this fight is too big for just one raid. It's going to take all of us--low levels, max levels, healers, crafters, everyone--working together to survive, so I want everyone to go back out into the yard and organize yourselves by level and class. Also, if you have a max-level crafting skill, get together in front of the Blacksmithing Hut. The guild leaders, officers, and CraftyJohn, our new civic engineer and master base builder, will be out shortly to give everyone new quests."

  The crowd slumped a bit at the mention of quests. Tina didn't blame them. It was already afternoon. Most of the players in front of her had been working since dawn, and that was on top of yesterday's harrowing march. Many of them were still injured and exhausted from hiding in the city, but there was nothing for it.

  "I know you're tired," she said gently. "I'm tired too. But this is our big stand. Remember: we're the survivors. We all worked our asses off to make it this far. Like hell are we going down now. So get out there and get yourselves ready. We'll be out to get this thing started shortly."

  The players nodded and started walking back out into the yard to organize themselves into the groups Tina had described. When she was sure everyone was on task, she turned back to the gathered leaders and CraftyJohn, who'd left the larger player mass to join them.

  "You guys know the drill," she said. "Assets, you're on logistics, so all the lower-level players and crafters are yours. Cinco, you're training battle teams. Anyone out there who's geared and over level sixty is all yours. CraftyJohn, you're in charge of base defense. Grab all the muscle you need from the other groups, and don't be afraid to rip stones out of buildings if that's what it takes to get our borders secured. My Roughnecks will handle heals and any boss fights as well as contributing to general defense."

  "What about quest rewards?" Assets asked. "People won't work if they're not motivated."

  "Their motivation is not dying," Tina said firmly. "If we survive this, everyone who contributed gets max-level faction status with Camp Comeback. People understand what that means now."

  "And no one's going to slack when their asses are on the line," Cinco finished.

  "Exactly," Tina said, looking around at her fellow leaders. "Everyone know what to do?"

  They all nodded and started toward the doors. Cinco started bellowing for fighters to come to him before he was even outside, while Assets had his assistants rounding up the low-level players for him like sheepdogs, sending all the burly-strength classes over to CraftyJohn. Satisfied that everything was running smoothly, Tina went out to round up her Roughnecks, only to find they were already together and waiting for her.

  The sight made her grin. She wasn't sure when exactly things had changed, but the group in front of her looked entirely different from the grudging crowd she'd addressed in the Room of Arrivals. They were still quiet and grim, but it was a determined sort of silence now, all of them gripping their weapons as Tina hopped up on a rock to address them.

  "Roughnecks," she said proudly, "we're the only real raid here, so we've got the toughest job of all. We're going to be holding the north bridge, which is the largest and most likely the main avenue of attack. We've got the best gear in this whole place, so if you haven't already, I want everyone to stop by Assets and his crafters and make sure your equipment is in top shape. But as powerful as it is, our gear is only part of our advantage. Our real strength is our ability to fight together. As I mentioned earlier, Malakai's alive again, and there's also the king to worry about. That's at least one, possibly two bosses, but raid bosses are our thing. As soon as one appears, I'll give the signal, and we'll all group up to take them down just like we did Grel."

  "But we don't have walls to collapse this time," Zen pointed out.

  "Our enemy's also not the size of a building," Tina replied, leaving out the part where that actually made them harder to fight. Grel, at least she could position. She hadn't been able to control Malakai at all. The king would probably be even worse, but there was nothing she could do about that. She'd just have to cross her fingers and hope that a raid could still kill a raid boss, even an intelligent one.

  "This isn't like the Deadlands," she said firmly. "Grel'Darm was a boss from the Dead Mountain, the hardest instance in the game. The king and Malakai are normal-world bosses. They're tough, and they hit hard, but they don't have any fancy mechanics or ghost fire. This is a classic tank 'n' spank. All we have to do is keep them controlled and burn them down. Easy peasy."

  "Maybe we'll even get loot!" Neko said excitedly.

  "Maybe," Tina said with a smile. "But we all know how to do our parts already, so after you take care of your gear, I want all the damage dealers helping Cinco train up the others. We're also in charge of healing, so Naturalists and Clerics, you're going to be organizing the lowbies into healing raids. Anders, you're on point for that."

  The fish-man Cleric lifted his staff in agreement while Neko glared murder at him. Tina wasn't happy about that dynamic, but there was no way she was putting NekoBaby in charge of other people. If she left Neko under Anders, though, there were sure to be problems, so she came up with a quick solution instead.

  "NekoBaby, you're helping Zen expand the hospital to get it ready to receive non-critical wounded. Other Rangers, you're on scout duty. I want to know every move the enemy makes."

  The Rangers saluted and immediately grouped up to start organizing shifts. Zen rolled her eyes at being given Neko duty, but she didn't object, which was good enough for Tina.

  "That's it except for Sorcerers. You guys come to me. I've got a special job for you. Everyone else, get to work."

  The raid saluted and split, everyone hurrying off to their assignments except for the Sorcerers and SB, who stayed stubbornly by her side.

  "Don't want to go help Cinco?" she asked him quietly as everyone else moved off.

  "He doesn't need me," SB said, shaking his head. "There's not much I can offer so long as the Bastion's up, and anyway, I just got back. I'd like to stay by you, if that's all right."

  Tina's heart began to pound at that. If she'd still had real blood or flesh, she was sure her face would be burning. Thankfully for her pride, stone didn't reveal anything, leaving her looking only slightly off kilter as the Sorcerers came forward, chattering excitedly.

  "Roxxy!" cried an exuberant jubatus Sorcerer with red-streaked fur. "Did you know that Richard joined the Roughnecks?"

  "Um, I'm the guildmaster, so yes," she replied dryly, turning to give the tall, black-haired human Sorcerer of mention a smile. "Liking it so far?"

  "No one has made fun of me yet for my lack of PVP Arena titles, so yes. I am enjoying it very much," Richard replied flatly. Then his gaze flicked past her to SB. "You're an elf Assassin standing next to Roxxy. I don't suppose you're the SilentBlayde, are you?"
<
br />   "I am," SB said, stepping up to offer his hand. "Hi, Richard. It's an honor to finally meet you."

  For the first time, Richard's ever-serious face burst into a smile as he lurched forward to shake SB's hand. "The honor is mine, I assure you. Your gearing spreadsheet comparing the optimal DPS output for all endgame Assassin armor was genius. I made all of my raiders use it before we fell apart."

  SilentBlayde blushed. "I got the idea from your famous Mega-Sorcerer Math post a few years ago. But I'm so happy you survived! Welcome to the Roughnecks, by the way."

  "I was most thankful to be admitted," Richard said. "It is a relief to be back among civilized people who appreciate the execution challenge of raiding."

  "No argument there," Tina said with a cocky grin before turning to the other Sorcerers, who were still talking excitedly about getting to play with the Richard. "All right, folks, serious-pants time. I called you over here because I've got a secret mission for you."

  "Really?" one of the Sorcerers gasped.

  "Legit," Tina confirmed. "As in you can't spill the fucking beans on this 'cause it might get us all killed. The Sorcerers didn't have an officer in the meeting earlier because--"

  Because KatanaFatale died was what Tina had intended to say, but her throat was still having trouble with those words, and they weren't necessary, anyway. She knew from the way everyone's shoulders fell that they felt the loss as much as she did. "Anyway, someone needs to be in charge. Which one of you wants to be the new officer?"

  All the Sorcerers turned to look at Richard, who looked slightly abashed.

  "Actually, they've already chosen me."