by Rachel Aaron
***
By the time they reached the streets surrounding Trainers' Hall, the din had become deafening. The once too-quiet city was now a cacophony of screaming men and horses punctuated by the clash of steel. When they spotted the mass of support troops that formed the army's rear, the king reined in his charging horse. But before he could speak--before the support troops they'd come up behind could even turn around--a pack of mounted knights burst in from a side street, nearly riding the king over.
"Out of the way, idiot!" the lead knight shouted as his horse reared. "This street is supposed to be kept clear at all times for--"
The knight went silent, his ash-streaked face turning ghostly pale as he recognized the giant and unmistakable man he'd almost run over. "Your Majesty!" he cried, jumping off his horse to prostrate himself on the ground. "Forgive me! I did not know you would be here!"
King Gregory didn't answer. He was too busy staring at the bloody jubatus girl the knight had been carrying tied up over the back of his saddle. All of the royal entourage was, for every one of the horses the riders had abandoned to bow before their king had a shabby-looking prisoner tied up on the back of their horse. Player prisoners, as made clear by the way many of them were yelling for help in English.
"Who are these players?" the king asked in a low voice.
The lead knight pressed his forehead even harder against the dirty street. "Criminals, my lord! We're taking them to the front on Captain Malakai's orders."
"To the front?" The king scowled. "My orders were that all player prisoners were to be held in the mines to the north while they awaited trial. Why does Malakai need them here?"
The knight's eyes went round at the question, and he began to stammer.
When it was clear that no straight answer would be forthcoming, the king's look turned sharp. "What is your name?"
"Samuel Gardner, my king."
"Sir Samuel," King Gregory said, sliding off his giant horse so that he could better see the man cowering on the ground. "Answer the question. Why did Captain Malakai order you to bring these prisoners here?"
The knight said nothing. He just stood there shaking slightly.
The king clenched his fists. "What is it that steals your voice?" Gregory asked.
"My shame does, sire!" the knight cried desperately, clenching his eyes shut.
"There is no greater shame than disobeying your king!" Sir Townsend snarled, his face scarlet. "Answer His Majesty's question, knave!"
"I wish nothing more than to obey!" Sir Samuel said frantically. "But I cannot." He slammed his head down on the pavement. "Forgive me, my liege!"
King Gregory sighed and pulled his sword. The Dawnblade rang like a silver bell as it cleared the sheath, and James held his breath. But the king did not strike the shaking knight down. Instead, he gently lowered his golden blade to the cowering man's shoulders and tapped Sir Samuel once on each side.
"As Holy King, I hereby absolve you of your sins, Sir Samuel Gardner," King Gregory said. "Rise now a new man, and tell me what is going on."
He sheathed his sword as he finished, but Sir Samuel didn't get off the ground. If anything, he sank even lower, his shoulders shaking with sobs. "How could you forgive me?" He hiccupped. "You don't know what I've done."
"I don't," the king agreed, reaching down to take the sobbing man by the arm and gently pull him up. "But I'm giving you absolution anyway because I have to know what's happening, and I'd rather let one guilty man go free than risk the fates of thousands. The Sun has burned away your sins, Sir Samuel. If shame held your tongue, let it be dissolved, and tell me what these prisoners are for."
Sir Samuel wiped his eyes one last time, then he began to speak in a rush. "They are hostages. We had others, but the rebels rescued them before we could leverage them properly. Captain Malakai sent my unit to raid the Diplomatic Quarter for more."
The king recoiled. "The Diplomatic Quarter?" He looked up at the dozen pathetic-looking players lashed to the backs of the knights' saddles. "You mean these were not criminals but players who'd already surrendered and been handed over to their embassies?"
Despite the promise that his part in this had been burned away, Sir Samuel's face still turned red with shame. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Why?" the king demanded. "What does Malakai intend to do with them?"
The knight looked down. "He means to use them against the players. The captain says the enemy loses discipline when their weakest members are in danger, so he sent us to fetch more. Captain Malakai was going to torture them in front of the bridges to lure the rebels out of their stronghold."
James's stomach clenched with every word. Given the absolute nature of Malakai's hatred, he could only imagine what the captain had in store, but imagination wasn't necessary when Sir Samuel continued, describing Malakai's original plan to burn the players alive. When that had failed, he'd sent back for more to carve up instead. He'd even ordered Sir Samuel to look specifically for players who were children because they'd be more effective. By the time the knight finished, bile was burning in James's throat, and from the expression on the king's face, he knew he wasn't alone.
"I see now why guilt stopped your tongue," Gregory said quietly, his huge hands clenching into fists. "But why would Captain Malakai do such a thing? I gave him my army, everything he asked for. He should have more than enough men here to subdue the player threat without sinking to such dishonorable acts. Why would he commit such crimes?"
"Because they deserve it!"
The sudden shout made everyone jump.
At the back of the group, one of the knights shot to his feet, his bloody face white with rage. "This is your fault!" he screamed at the king.
"Sir Dan!" Sir Samuel screamed. "Contain yourself!"
"Why should I?" the furious knight, Sir Dan, yelled back, pointing at the king with a look of pure rage. "He's supposed to be the Holy King! Chosen by the Sun itself! But if he had all that power, why did he let the Nightmare take us?" His burning eyes flicked to James. "We had to be their playthings for eighty years! They humiliated and insulted us, pillaging our world for their childish game. And when the Nightmare ended, they just became worse, killing and taking whatever they wanted!" He bared his teeth. "The players deserve whatever we do to them! My only regret is that we didn't kill more. They're greater demons than the Once King's undead, and you're no king of mine if you side with them!"
King Gregory staggered back as the knight finished, eyes wide with shock. Then his own rage took over. "So you did kill them?" he cried. "Not just here but in Founder's Square and the camp in front of my castle! Is it true you slaughtered them without trial?"
Sir Dan lifted his chin stubbornly. "Death is the only justice for the likes of them."
"But what of your oaths?" King Gregory cried, pointing at the player prisoners. "You were going to torture children!"
"You know nothing of our oaths!" Sir Dan roared. "You're the royal idiot who drinks all day in the castle while we're dying in the streets! Captain Malakai is the only one who understands. That's why he's been fighting on the front lines himself while you cowered inside your walls. You're a five-skull raid boss! If you cared to, you could have come out and saved us when the player army destroyed our camp. But you didn't. You left us to die, and you dare speak of oaths!"
He ended his tirade by spitting directly on King Gregory's metal boot. The other knights leaped to their feet in panic, grabbing Sir Dan and wrestling him away while Sir Samuel fell back to his knees.
"Please forgive his insubordination, Your Highness!" he cried, pressing his forehead into the ground. "Many of our comrades have perished today. He is out of his mind with grief. He doesn't mean it!"
"I meant every word!" Sir Dan screamed from where the others were holding him down. "The Buffoon King's a coward and a traitor and a sham--"
Someone punched him in the face to shut him up, but the king just lowered his head. "Take him away. And return the players safely to the Diplomatic Quarter."
The knights nodded and started dragging Sir Dan down the street. He left, screaming profanity and cursing the king's name.
Flinching at every insult, Gregory slowly turned to James. "You were right," he whispered, looking down at his hands. "About Malakai. About my knights." He shook his head. "I've made a mess of everything, and now it's too late."
"It's not too late," James said firmly, looking down the street toward the bridges, where he could still see players holding form. "The fight's not over yet. We can still put a stop to this."
"How?" Gregory demanded. "You saw Sir Dan. Even if I pardoned everyone's crimes, that hatred and anger isn't going to go away. Everyone would just keep fighting, and who am I to say they shouldn't? They went too far pursuing it, but my knights still deserve justice for what the players have done to them. But the players deserve justice as well, and I..." He shook his head hopelessly. "What can I do, James? I know now that I was wrong to stay out of this for so long, but even if I'm ready to do whatever it takes, I don't know what that is. There have been so many wrongs on every side. How can we ever make peace?"
It was a devil of a question. Even for a Holy King with legitimate divine powers, blood didn't wash out easily. The players and the knights had been killing each other for days. There was no magic fix to make them all forget and forgive. It was the same sort of thorny post-war situation he'd studied for his International Politics classes back when he'd actually paid attention in school. Lots of actual diplomats had wrestled with exactly this same problem, trying to resolve the bitterness left behind by civil wars and blood feuds. James was wracking his brain for historical examples he could steal from when he realized something important.
"Peace is the goal," James said. "But it's not the solution." He looked at the king. "Do you think you can make everyone stop fighting for a moment?"
"Not alone," Gregory said. "I've been killed by raids many times before, but I don't have to do it on my own." He pointed at the sky. "It looks as if my help has arrived."
Confused, James tilted his head back, but all he saw was the shimmering golden dome of the Bastion covering the sky. Then the barrier flickered, and he saw it. There was a winged shape as big as the castle itself flying just beyond the Bastion's shield. Even with all his lore knowledge, James had only seen it once before, but it wasn't the sort of thing you forgot.
"That should do it," James said, smiling grimly. "Let's go stop a war."
Chapter 17
Tina
Tina didn't know anymore how long she'd stood on the bridge next to Frank. She didn't know how many knights they'd killed or how the fight on the riverbank was going behind them. There was no space for any of that, no room in her mind for anything except the knights charging down the bridge, their eyes blazing with hate under the shadows of their helmets as they swung their swords at her head.
Tina slammed her shield up in reply, breaking their swords before cutting them down with her own. Beside her, Frank swung his shield like he was opening a door, sending the men on his half of the bridge flying into the river. She didn't even wait to see them splash down before she was back in position, yelling at Frank to get his shield up as the next wave of knights charged in.
As she struck for what felt like the millionth time today, slicing the knight who'd attacked her nearly in half, Tina grimaced at the blood that coated everything. There was so much of it that even her sword's red glow was lost in the mess. Frank looked as though he'd been swimming in the stuff, and Tina knew she was even worse. She could feel the blood in every crack and crevice of her armor, feel it in her hair and on her face and down her neck. If she'd been human, it would have been the stuff of nightmares. Frank certainly had a thousand-yard stare going. But Tina wasn't human. She was Roxxy, and she fought like a machine, picking up Frank's slack whenever he hesitated as they methodically slaughtered another five men. She was shoving their bodies over the railing into the river so they wouldn't get in her way when a horn sounded from the enemy's bank of the river in a pattern she hadn't heard before, and the knights she'd been bracing to take on suddenly started to fall back.
"Finally," Frank panted, his voice shaking like a leaf. "Did we win?"
"I don't think so," Tina said, nodding at the army that was still waiting across the water. Given how many they'd killed, she'd hoped she'd be able to see a decrease, but it didn't look like they'd made a dent. Ten thousand men, it seemed, was a lot more than she'd realized.
"They're probably re-forming to try something new," she said, raising her bloody sword high. "Roughnecks, back to the bridge! Rally on Roxxy!"
Her order rang out across the island, but nothing answered it. Suddenly terrified a disaster had happened while she'd been focused on the bridge, Tina looked over her shoulder, but it was fine. Her people were all coming. They just weren't making noise. They were very bloody, but they didn't seem injured. Like her and Frank, the blood on their armor had come from other people, but you wouldn't have known it from their faces. Despite being physically whole, the raid that formed behind her on the bridge had the same terrifying thousand-yard stare Frank was wearing, and though her stonekin's indifference kept Tina from feeling it, it wasn't hard to guess why.
The island behind them was almost as bloody as her bridge. Knights and soldiers had been hacked to bits in the grass, and the river was so choked with bodies that the usually swift water ran sluggish and red. Almost all of the dead seemed to be knights, which made her happy, but she was the only one. Everyone else looked like they were fighting not to vomit as they picked their way down the bloody bridge to get back into formation behind her.
"Good job protecting our flank," she told them, smiling to try to dispel the heaviness. "How did it go?"
"Not too bad," SilentBlayde reported, though his drooping ears told a different story. "We only had five people go down in total."
Tina froze. "Five dead?"
"We got the Raise Ally spells off in time," the Assassin assured her. "But they came back too weak to fight, so I had the support teams haul them inside."
That was a relief. "Thanks, Blayde," she said, turning back to the raid. "Good job, everyone! Looks like the enemy's giving us a break, so I want everyone to eat and drink while they can."
"I never want to eat again," someone said in a sick voice.
"I know it was rough," Tina said, doing her best to sound reassuring. "But you all made it work! I'm proud of you, but we can't quit yet. The enemy's still kicking, so I need everyone to eat, even if you don't want to. We've still got a lot of guys to chew through, and it's important that everyone keeps their--"
"I don't want to chew through any more guys!" yelled a Ranger, shoving his way forward. "This isn't like fighting the undead. Those were just skeletons and zombies. These are people." He held up his bloody hands. "I don't even know how many people I've killed this morning! It's mass murder. I don't want to do it anymore!"
"None of us want to do this," Tina said firmly. "We didn't ask to be stuck in this world. We're the victims here! We shouldn't have to bear these idiots' hatred or fight for our survival, but we do so we will."
"We didn't have to attack the king!" someone in the back called out. "That's what started all of this! We should have run when we had the chance."
A chorus of "yeah!" rang out, and Tina stomped her foot. "Should have run, huh?" she said angrily, glaring at them. "Fine. Raise your hand if you'd rather we left all those players in Malakai's camp. Tell me again how you were cool with leaving our fellow players to die."
The whole raid looked at their feet, and Tina nodded sharply. "That's right," she said. "We did what we knew was right. I'm not going to call anyone a coward for having regrets. We've all been through the shit today, and it ain't over yet. But never forget that this is happening because we were the only people brave enough to do the right thing! We're not murderers. We're the goddamn heroes! We're the best damn raid on this whole island. That's why I need all of you to eat your goddamn gourmet sandwiches and
truffle butter croissants, because if we don't keep it together, it's all going to fall apart."
Tina thought that painted a pretty clear picture, and sure enough, people started to eat. She was silently congratulating herself on finally learning to manage her raid when a hand went up in the middle.
"What about plan B?"
Tina cursed under her breath as the whole raid began to nod. She'd thought she'd done a good job keeping their wind-fire ace in the hole secret, but apparently she hadn't given the grapevine enough credit, because no one looked surprised.
"Plan B is only for emergencies," she informed them. "It's not something we can just roll out."
"Isn't this an emergency, though?" one of the Sorcerers in the front asked. "I don't know what plan B actually is, but we just had five people die. Surely that's cause enough to roll out the big guns."
Many players nodded, and Tina winced.
"This is a really big gun," she told them. "If we pull this trigger, all of Bastion is going to get blown away. You guys are upset about killing a few hundred knights who were trying to kill you. I know you're tired of fighting, but trust me when I say that plan B is not the better option. Hopefully, we won't have to use it at all."
"But will you use it?" SilentBlayde asked suddenly, looking at her.
"If I have to, absolutely," Tina said, speaking fast so no one would hear her voice shake. "If those assholes put our backs to the wall, I'm not afraid to give them the middle finger of God in return. But we've got a long way before we're in last-stand territory, so I want everyone to keep giving it their best, okay?"
The raid grumbled, but food was going into mouths, which was enough to make Tina happy. The horns coming out of the knights' camp, however, did not.
"Damn," she muttered, shielding her eyes against the sun as the knights across the water re-formed into squads for a fresh attack on the bridges. "Here we go again. I don't suppose you know how the other teams are holding up?"
