Last Bastion

by Rachel Aaron

James's head whipped around to watch SB. He'd never even considered that the Roughnecks wouldn't fight until the king had mentioned it. Now that the idea was in his head, though, he realized he wasn't sure. Tina was always so goal-focused, and her goal right now was to get home. Fighting a losing battle when they were no longer trapped wasn't part of that, but surely she wouldn't leave them here to die.

  SilentBlayde fiddled nervously with his face wrap. "I would fight," he said at last. "As would others who have a stake in this world's future, but I can't speak for Roxxy. We didn't get what we came to Bastion to find, so I'm not sure where she plans to lead us next. There hasn't been time to talk about it."

  "James said that you were looking for way home," Gregory said, nodding. "I don't know if they can help, but I brought all of my subjects from the castle with us, including the remaining Portal Keepers. I was thinking of selling access to them in exchange for further Roughneck employment, but I already promised Roxxy a meeting in exchange for Malakai's life." He scowled, thinking the problem through. "Do you think she'd take an arranged marriage as payment if I made it good enough? For a boon as great as the Roughnecks' help, lands and titles are not out of the question."

  James bit his lip and glanced at SB, who was clutching his fists so tight, his leather gloves creaked.

  "That would be a disastrous plan," the Assassin said in a flat, deadly voice.

  "Really?" Gregory replied, completely failing to pick up on--or else politely ignoring--the elf's obviously personal motives. "A pity. Making her a duchess would solve many problems."

  "Can we see the Portal Keepers?" James asked excitedly. "Tina... I mean Roxxy's still sleeping, but she's never been much for lore. I don't think she'd mind if SB and I spoke to the Portal Keepers on her behalf. Also, if we're able to get answers and have them ready for her by the time she wakes up, that will probably put her in a much better mood when she comes to speak to you."

  The king brightened noticeably at that prospect. "An excellent idea," he said, rubbing his hands together. "If you don't think she'd mind, I'd be happy to let you speak with the keepers. There's one in particular I think you'll be very interested to meet. Just be sure to inform Roxxy that I honored my debt."

  "We will," James promised, eager to finally speak with someone who might actually be able to tell him what was going on. "Where are the Portal Keepers now?"

  "In the army camp with the rest of my subjects," the king said, walking them out of the lodge. "The guard will show you the way. You there!" He pointed at one of the disgraced former knights standing at attention in the square in front of the Naturalist Lodge. "Escort these men to the Portal Keepers' tent."

  The soldier--a young, earnest-looking man with sandy-brown hair and a painfully honest smile--hurried forward to obey his king. With a final nod at both of them, Gregory stepped back into the lodge. Eager to get to the Portal Keepers--and hopefully some answers--James grabbed SB's arm and started down the stairs, but the elf didn't move. He just stood there staring at the young ex-knight who'd come forward like he'd seen a ghost. James was opening his mouth to ask his friend what was wrong when SB suddenly whirled around.

  "One more thing, Your Majesty!"

  "Yes?" the king said, poking his head back out.

  James looked at SilentBlayde in confusion. He had no idea what was going on, but the elf was vibrating like a high-tension wire.

  "I know you've stripped most of your knights of their titles," SB said, his voice strained with what was clearly a desperate attempt not to get emotional. "But I must speak on behalf of one whom I know does not deserve such punishment."

  Gregory raised a bushy red eyebrow and stepped out onto the lodge's porch. "He must be some knight indeed for you to say so. What is this exemplary person's name?"

  SilentBlayde pulled himself very straight. "Sir Jamie Tillerson."

  The young former knight SB had just been staring at jumped with a high-pitched gasp. "Oh no, my lord!" he said desperately, almost falling on his face in his rush to kneel before the king. "I was at the battle against the players the same as my fellows. I am not deserving of any special favor!"

  The king frowned, puzzled. "Are you Jamie Tillerson?"

  "I am, my king," the young man said, head still down. "But I know not why this player should single me out so. I have never even met this SilentBlayde! It is not possible that he can give such account of me."

  At this, SilentBlayde whirled around and yanked his mask off his face. Now it was James's turn to gasp. He'd never seen SB take off his face mask. Ever.

  "I know you, Sir Jamie," SilentBlayde said, his voice cracking as the emotion he'd been so desperately trying to keep down finally broke through. "You saved me in Bastion when your fellow knights would have murdered me for no reason other than that they didn't like my face."

  He reached up to pull back his filthy hair, and the young man gasped. "Master Sky!" he cried, shocked. "Is it really you?"

  "It's really me," SB said sadly. "But I'm not Sky of Highcloud. I lied to keep you from guessing that I was a player. But while Sir Dan and the others would have killed me anyway, you didn't let them. You didn't know that I deserved their vengeance. The reason I was wounded wasn't because I'd been beaten by players. It was because I'd just killed eight of your fellow knights in an alley. I was the monster Sir Dan accused me of being, but you didn't see that. All you saw was a hurt man who needed your help, so you risked your life for me. I bet you looked for the Highcloud family as you promised, didn't you?"

  "I did look," Jamie said, still confused. "But I never did find them."

  "Because they don't exist," SB said desperately. "Only me. Your compassion and dedication to your knightly duty saved my life that night. It's because of you that I survived to help the Roughnecks destroy the Once King's raid bosses and defend Bastion." He turned back to Gregory, his bare face stark. "Please, Your Majesty, I beg you to return this man's knighthood. There's no one who deserves his title more or does it more honor than Sir Jamie."

  The king sighed, then the morning was filled with the pure ring of the Dawnblade as he drew his sword. "I cannot ignore such a heartfelt defense," Gregory said, reaching out to tap the still-kneeling Jamie Tillerson on the shoulders with his golden sword. "On the word of this player, I, Gregory Heraldsford, hereby restore the title of Knight of the Crown to Jamie Tillerson in recognition of his ceaseless devotion to the oaths of knighthood. May you continue to serve as a good example to your fellows in these dark times."

  Tears were running down Sir Jamie's face by the time the king finished. James was feeling dangerously close to breaking down himself. But though the king had clearly been moved by SB's story, his face was furious when he sheathed his blade.

  "You're very lucky that your past crimes have already been forgiven, Assassin," Gregory said quietly. "You just confessed to murdering eight of my knights in front of me. Fortunately for you, I am not my father. He would have had you beheaded for waiting until after your absolution to pull this ploy."

  "I'm sorry. That was not my intention," SilentBlayde said, bowing deeply from his waist. "Please believe that I truly regret what I've done in Bastion."

  He looked pointedly at James as he finished. Smiling, James nodded back. He knew SB was sorry. He was always sorry, but James was hopeful he'd actually learned something from it this time.

  "Yes, well, it has already been forgiven," the king said angrily. "I can't punish you without violating my oaths. But I would still like to know whom you killed, seeing how they died in my name."

  "It was a patrol led by Sir Roals near the Diplomatic Quarter," SilentBlayde answered without hesitation. "I understand you can't give me the punishment I deserve, but when this is over, I'd like to make reparations to their families if I may."

  "It will be costly," Gregory warned. "The lives of knights are not cheaply bought."

  SB shook his head. "I don't care about cost. It's the very least I can do to atone for my crimes."

  "Very well, then," the king
said with a sigh. "I'll hold you to it once this war is concluded."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty," SB said, bowing low again as the king turned and walked back into the lodge. When he straightened up, James had to fight the urge to slap his friend on the back in congratulations. He was so proud of Blayde he could burst, but this wasn't the time or place for his emotions. Now that the king was gone, the knight SB had saved had fallen into the dirt, his whole body shaking as the sobs he'd been so desperately trying to hide from the king finally broke free.

  "Sir Jamie?" Blayde said nervously, crouching down to put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

  "Oh yes," Sir Jamie said, hiccupping. "I'm sorry, Master Sky--Master Blayde!" He stopped to scrub his face, but the tears kept coming. "This is a terrible way to repay your kindness. I'm just... My mum and dad worked so hard to get me my chance at knighthood. I didn't know how I was going to tell them that I'd lost my title and disgraced our family. I didn't know if I could go home again after this, but you saved me." He looked at SB with heartfelt gratitude. "Thank you."

  James watched in quiet amusement as SilentBlayde awkwardly patted the crying knight on the shoulder. Neither of them seemed to know what to say after that, though, so James stepped in to fill the gap before the silence got awkward.

  "Well, sounds to me like you two are even," he suggested, reaching down to help the newly re-knighted Sir Jamie back to his feet. "You should shake on it to make it official."

  He elbowed SB in the ribs until SilentBlayde offered the knight his hand. Sir Jamie took it, and they shook. When it was over, Sir Jamie pulled out a dirty handkerchief to wipe his nose, looking very much like the kid he was only a few years away from being.

  "So, sirs," he said, his voice still wavering. "What now?"

  "Portal Keepers?" James suggested.

  "Right," Sir Jamie said, wiping his nose one last time before he pulled himself straight again, as befitted a knight. "Please follow me."

  James happily fell into step behind Sir Jamie as they walked through the village. On the way, the young knight asked about Forever Fantasy Online the game. Happy to have a safe topic, James eagerly launched into his now very well-polished rundown of FFO's main concepts, slang, and terms, covering SB's uncharacteristic silence all the way to the knights' area by the lake.

  "You're so good at this, you should write a book," SB said when James finished his rundown. "'Forever Fantasy Online for NPCs.'" He frowned. "Wait, no, NPC is racist now. Or would that be playerist? Non-playerist?" He shook his head. "We need a new term."

  "We need a lot of stuff," James said, suddenly serious. "So many of our problems are just misunderstandings caused by ignorance. We're not the only ones who got shoved into a new world. The people who lived here have also suffered catastrophic changes, and it's not over yet." He looked around at the tents where Bastion's soldiers and former knights were glaring at them with open hate. "Even if we defeat the Once King, it'll be a long time before this world heals."

  "We can make it," Sir Jamie said confidently, smiling over his shoulder. "If I can be forgiven, anyone can."

  "You did nothing that needed forgiving," SB said firmly, but he looked much more hopeful than he had this morning, and that made James hopeful too. He was patting his friend on the shoulder when Sir Jamie stopped them in front of a tent that was very different from the others.

  Like the players, most of the soldiers were living in the small, white portable tents the jubatus used for hunting. This one was much bigger, a richly decorated yurt that had clearly been donated by one of the richer families of the four clans. When Sir Jamie opened the flap, three people--two men and a woman--put down the books they'd been reading and stood up. James recognized them at once. Not by face--he wasn't that attentive--but they were all wearing the exact same purple silk robes decorated with constellations every Portal Keeper had sported back in the game.

  "These players have won the trust of the king," Sir Jamie announced formally. "His Majesty requests that you answer any questions they may have."

  The two male portal keepers looked at James--and the still dreadfully bloody and dirty SilentBlayde--with open terror, but the woman grinned.

  "Ooh, players!" she said with a distinctly New York accent. "You're going to want to talk to me."

  "Very much so," James said, incredibly intrigued, because while the slender, brown-haired, middle-aged woman in front of him was clearly a Portal Keeper, which meant an NPC, she talked like a player. "Who are you?"

  The woman grinned as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Leylia."

  The End

  Book 2 of 3

  Thank you for reading Last Bastion! If you enjoyed the story, or even if you didn't, we hope you'll consider leaving a review. Reviews, good and bad, are vital to any author's career, and Travis and I would be extremely grateful if you'd consider writing one for us.

  Not ready for the ride to end? The final book in the FFO trilogy, The Once King, comes out at the end of 2019! If you want to be the first to know when new books are available, sign up for our New Release Mailing List! List members are the first to hear about any new projects, and you get bonus content, including the list-exclusive Heartstrikers short story, Mother of the Year! The list is free, and we promise never to spam you or give your info to anyone else, so sign up and join the fun! You can also follow us on Twitter @Rachel_Aaron and @TravBach or like Rachel's Facebook page, facebook.com/RachelAaronAuthor.

  Liked FFO and want something new to read right now? Check out one of Rachel's other completed series! Just click over to the "Want More Books?" page in your eReader's table of contents or visit www.rachelaaron.net for the full list of Rachel's novels complete with their beautiful covers, links to reviews, and free sample chapters!

  Thank you again for reading, and we hope you'll be back soon!

  Yours sincerely,

  Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach

  Glossary of Terms

  Forever Fantasy Online is a full-immersion Virtual Reality game. It uses the proprietary Sensorium Engine to hijack players' senses and convey a fake world to them. For safety and health reasons, players can still feel about 10% of their normal senses (sans sight) while in VR.

  FFO is a massively multi-player game set in a high-fantasy world involving millions of players across the globe. Though once the unrivaled juggernaut of VR gaming, eight years after its launch populations have declined in favor of newer full sensory VR games. The active player-base of FFO is now estimated to be around 5 million with about 200,000+ players online at any one time.

  Unlike some MMOs, FFO doesn't have its player community divided up across multiple servers. Instead, it favors a dynamic zone-based system. Whenever there are too many people in a zone (like the Deadlands), the game will load another zone-server and start assigning newcomers to that version of the zone instead. So a million players could all be in the Deadlands at the same time, but the game would split them across 10,000 different servers to keep the load down.

  Game Terms

  HP & MP - Health Pool and Mana Pool, aka Hit Points and Mana Points. Damaging attacks reduce the health pool. If HP hits 0, the character is killed and must either be raised by an allied healer's spell or they must relinquish their current location in favor of respawning at a safe graveyard or shrine. No matter where they pop up, dead players always respawn with all of their gear and inventory.

  Mana points are used to fuel magical abilities and are only possessed by the spell-casting classes (Sorcerers, Naturalists, and Clerics. See below.) Casting spells uses up mana. When a character is out-of-mana (aka OOM), they must wait to recover before casting any more.

  Character Class - All players in Forever Fantasy Online must choose from one of seven classes: Knight, Berserker, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Cleric, and Naturalist.

  Each class has a fixed set of abilities and equipment they have access to. For example, all Berserkers have the same stun abilities and use two-handed weapons, while spell-caster classes
such as Sorcerers must wear cloth armor and use caster weapons such as staffs or wands.

  While abilities and equipment vary, character classes all fit into the three general roles of FFO combat.

  Tank (Role) - Heavily armored characters whose job it is to keep enemies from attacking less durable players. Tanks are not good at dealing damage, but they take it very well, making them hard to kill and easy to heal. To keep enemies on them, and not attacking the more vulnerable players, Tanks have abilities called "taunts"--such as Roxxy's Ground Stomp--which force monsters to attack them.

  Healer (Role) - A magical character who specializes in healing spells. They can also remove status effects such as poisons, curses, diseases, bindings, and even bring players back from the dead. Healers do have some damage-dealing abilities so that they can quest and level on their own, but while they aren't completely helpless, they will never do as much damage as the specialized damage-dealing classes.

  Damage / DPS (Role) - Damage dealers are the most numerous classes of character in FFO. Berserkers, Sorcerers, Assassins, and Rangers are all high-damage classes. Tanks can keep monsters at bay while healers heal them, but it is the damage dealer's job to actually kill the attacking enemy.

  Group / Party - a small team of two to five players. Used by friends to play together or strangers to tackle challenges too great for a solo player to handle. There are many dungeons and quests in Forever Fantasy Online which require five players to beat. (Ex: The Red Canyon's Lich Lab dungeon.)

  Raid – a group of up to fifty players. Typically subdivided into ten parties of five, raids are basically player "armies" created to fight massively epic battles against foes no small party could hope to handle.

  Raiding is a big part of the FFO endgame since the coordination required to get fifty players together and to fight well together is very hard. Because of all that work, the rewards for killing raid bosses are among the best in the game.