“Nice, right?”
“What level are you guys, anyway?” I asked.
“69,” Baltos replied with a giggle.
“71,” Xavier told me.
“Okay, we’re going to use the Bindstone glitch,” I told them as we raced along the wall to the edge of the fort that abutted the cliff. I looked down in awe at the drop that lay beneath it. Og was right, it was like standing on top of a skyscraper. “Take out your Bindstone Shards, jump, and activate them midair. There’s plenty of height to portal out before you hit the bottom.”
“What’d you do with your armor?” Kattenschind asked, eyeing my piecemeal set of plate with obvious disdain.
“You weren’t around to upgrade for me,” I said with a shrug. “It’s sitting in a chest back at my fort.”
“Damn shame,” Kattenschind replied. “We’ll have to sort that out immediately.”
“Wait a second, where’s D?” Baltos asked, looking around at our party. I didn’t know how to answer and remained silent.
Beneath us, the mob was beginning to exhaust itself.
“He’s not here, you idiots!” someone shouted. “Stop fighting!”
“It’s falling apart,” Cavey said worriedly.
“We don’t have much time,” Xavier added.
I looked back across the courtyard for D. People were finally starting to calm down, and there was less chaos, but the sheer number of bodies made it hard to make anyone out.
“You guys go,” I told them. “You’ve got Bleed tabards. If they give you a hard time, just make something up until I get back.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Xavier asked, grabbing my hand as I moved back towards the courtyard.
“I can’t leave D,” I replied. I nodded at Baltos, who gave me the thumbs-up. “Go on. Get out of here.”
I turned away from them as they began taking out their Bindstone Shards. With the mob quieting down there was a good chance they’d spot me and attack again, but I wasn’t about to throw away my friendship with D. It would be next to impossible to return to Fort Keth once we left, so if something was to be done, it had to be done now.
I heard Baltos shout as he jumped off the wall. “Geronimo!”
Good, I thought. At least they were on their way to safety—hopefully. All that was left was to get D.
I ran as fast as I could across the wall, circling the courtyard to the spot where D was still standing. And that was a mistake. Someone spotted me.
“There he is!” a voice rang out from below. “Up there! Get him!”
Some kind of lightning arrow screamed through the sky, just grazing my helm. I ducked and rolled under another volley as the troops below started to fire.
“D!” I shouted, swatting an arrow aside with my sword as at least five others struck my side. “D, come on!”
I was approaching the corner of the fort and jumped the remaining gap from one wall to the next. D was only a few yards away, but he was down in the courtyard beneath the ramp.
A crazed Bleed mage was racing up the ramp towards me, holding her staff above her head and screaming. “You’re mine!”
She aimed at me and fired some kind of frost bolt I’d never seen. It was smaller but much faster and gave me no time to get out of the way. The icy shards slammed into my chest. The damage was good, not catastrophic, but I was below 75 percent. More Bleed raced up the ramp behind her.
I used Warrior’s Charge and dashed into her with everything I had. The blow sent her flying back into the others, causing a chain reaction that sent them all tumbling back down the slope and into the courtyard below, giving me just enough space to make it down the ramp without being swarmed instantly.
I whipped around the corner and saw D right where I had left him. I didn’t even bother trying to talk to him. There was no time.
Grabbing him by the wrist, I pulled with all my strength. Clearly, I had a much higher strength than him, and practically yanked him off his feet as I dragged him back up the ramp.
“What are you doing!?” he screamed at me, struggling against my grip as I pulled him across the wall.
“Getting you out of here,” I growled.
“Let go of me, you jerk!” he snapped back. “Let go, let go!”
It was an uncharacteristic display of emotion from D, and I realized just how badly I’d hurt him by leaving. But I only knew one way to make things right, and that was what I was doing. If he still wanted to yell at me later, he was welcome to.
“Just leave me here!” he cried as another volley of arrows slammed into me. Voices roared as the mob began to swarm the tops of the walls. “You’re an asshole! You don’t even care, stop pretending you do!”
“Shut up!” I roared. “I do care, D! That’s why I’m risking my life for you!”
More Bleed players charged up the ramp in front of us on the far wall that bordered the cliff. If they were able to get in our way, we’d never be able to make the jump.
This is it, I thought as I summoned every bit of strength inside of me. Fueled by Gehman’s death, by Shorros’, by what I’d done to Chaucey, by The Ripper—by everything that had happened to me since arriving in Carrethen, I leapt into the air and soared across the courtyard towards the other wall, D dangling behind me like a tail on a kite.
“What the Hell are you doing!?” he snarled as we plummeted down onto the other wall, scattering the horde of Bleed players beneath us.
One of them managed to maintain his footing and struck out at me with a short axe. I took the blow to the chest and replied with a swing of my sword. It was awkward, and with my off hand, as I was still holding onto D’s wrist, but it was enough to get him away from me, and that was all I needed.
“Get your Bindstone Shard out!” I bellowed at D as I lifted him onto his feet. His back was to the wall and he stared at me with an unmistakable hatred in his eyes. I felt my heart break as I looked at him.
“We’ve got him now!” someone screamed beneath me.
“He’s mine!”
“No, he’s not! I’m getting out of here!”
D just glared at me indignantly.
“No.”
“All right then—have it your way,” I told him. “But you better get it out before you hit the ground.”
I saw D’s eyes go wide as he realized what I was about to do. I took a step back.
“I’m sorry, D.”
And with that, I kicked my best friend off the wall of the fort and over the cliff edge below.
63
Out of the Frying Pan
For the first time in my life of being a gamer, I prayed for lag.
Let me just stay here a few seconds longer, I thought as portal space swept me back to the Mountain Retreat.
My friends would be back in Stoneburg waiting for me. I hadn’t told them I wouldn’t be returning there with them. I’d have to take the Mountaintop portal and run and hope that nothing had happened to them while I was gone.
But I couldn’t help thinking about what would happen when I ran into D.
His outburst back there had been so uncharacteristic that I almost didn’t know what to make of it. D was always reserved, unless of course he was angry at someone who had managed to best him in a fight, which rarely happened. Those were the only times I’d ever seen him get legitimately upset, but the way he was screaming at me when I was pulling him along the walls was something I’d never expected.
But of course, the gods of Carrethen, or god, did not answer my prayers for a lag spike, and the portal peeled away from me and I found myself standing in the courtyard of Mountain Retreat, the snow gently falling all around me. I heard the familiar sound of the fountain and knew that if I turned around and walked inside, Frank would be there waiting to greet me.
It was all so familiar. It was my home. After the Plaguelands, Mountain Retreat was like the warm embrace of an old friend and I found myself not wanting to leave. But I knew if I didn’t put one foot in front of the other immediately, and get my ass
through that portal, I might not have the strength to go.
“Man up, Jack,” I told myself as I looked at the portal swirling in front of me. “There’s work to be done.”
I gritted my teeth and made a move to step into the portal, but just as my foot was about to pass into the swirling purple rings, I stopped.
Wait. There will be Bleed in Stoneburg, and if they spot me, we’ll have problems.
I couldn’t rely on my friends being able to get themselves out of town safely. The bigwigs there might see them and put them to work or keep them under steady watch. With a policy of “join or die” I doubted Bleed would have any tolerance for deserters.
I turned on my heels and walked back into the tower.
“Hey, Frank,” I said as I passed the NPC.
“Welcome, traveler! What can I do for you today!?”
“Nothing today, Frank,” I replied as I turned down the hall. “This is all on me.”
There they were. The chests where I’d been keeping my items. There was a chance someone had come while I was gone, picked the lock and looted them, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. The game recognized me as the owner of the chest and I opened the first one and found it right where I had left it—the Executioner’s Blade.
The key to my rescue, I thought as I lifted my trusty sword from where it had been resting for the last two months. Slipping my Froleal’s Sword into my inventory, I equipped my old, trusted blade and headed back to the portal.
“See ya, Frank.”
“Good luck on your travels!”
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’m gonna need it.”
Without hesitating, I stepped into the portal.
After making my mind up to take action, I couldn’t get out of portal space quick enough. It swirled around me like an annoying special effect, and the sound of rushing water was so familiar I wanted to spit.
Let’s go! I thought as it continued to swirl.
Finally, the edges sloughed away, and I found myself on the hilltop just outside of town. Without hesitation, I ran towards Stoneburg as fast as I could.
They’re fine, I told myself as I raced past camps of Horngrin, weaving past trees and rocks. They’re wearing Bleed tabards; no one will mess with them.
Even still, I couldn’t help but worry. It seemed like every time I tried to get a handle on the way things worked in Carrethen, something changed. It was strange that a video game with sets of preprogrammed rules could be somehow more chaotic and unpredictable than real life.
Back at home, I knew that my mom would go to work at a certain time and come home at another. Either that, or the boss would ask her to work late, but even then, I knew when the shift would end and when to expect her. I knew that no matter how bad my neighborhood got, my house would always be there to come back to.
But in Carrethen, I never knew what to expect. The world was supposed to be safe, and then The Ripper had arrived and made everyone Red. I’d been a nobody, but he’d made me someone with the wave of his hand.
The Bandit Tower had been safe, but then Alfrin was killed and we were attacked. We’d made friends in Stoneburg, and then the raids started. We set out with a plan, but then The Ripper had showed up again and everything went sideways. Every step of the way the world was being turned on its head. Carrethen had become The Lord of the Flies.
As I crested the hill I gazed down at the Stoneburg Bindstone and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my friends standing there together. Stoneburg was still overrun by Bleed players, but they seemed to be paying little attention to my friends. If I could just get their attention without alerting the scouts, who still formed a massive ring around the town.
But that wasn’t going to happen. There were just too many scouts and no way of signaling my group without alerting them. But I had a plan.
Confidently, I strode out of my cover and walked straight towards the town. A couple of scouts instantly spotted me but saw my tabard and just waved like I was part of the group.
So far so good, I thought. But if anyone inspects me, that’ll change fast.
“Hey, fellas,” I said with a grin as I passed them.
“Where you coming from?” one of them asked.
“Just farming some mats,” I replied, spinning my Executioner’s Blade in the air in front of me.
“That’s a sick sword!” one of them remarked.
“I know right?” I laughed.
Little do you know, guys…
As I approached the Bindstone, Baltos turned and spotted me. His face lit up and he opened his mouth to shout, but I quickly held a finger to my lips. He got the message and kept quiet as I stepped up to them.
“Sup, guys,” I said casually, my eyes on D, who was shooting daggers at me with his eyes. “Let’s get out of here. The scouts up there aren’t suspicious. We can get out if we move now.”
“Jack here to save the day,” D scoffed. “You ever stop to think what would have happened if I couldn’t get my Bindstone Shard out after you kicked me off that cliff?”
“I never doubted your skill,” I replied sarcastically. It was a little snippy, but my regret was starting to turn to anger every time D opened his mouth. Regardless of what had happened, I’d gotten them out of Keth and was still taking a great risk to get them out of Stoneburg.
“Let’s do this later,” Xavier said. “Come on, Jack. Lead the way.”
“Wait—where’s Kattenschind?” I looked around the group, but he wasn’t there. “Did he go down into town or something?”
“He’s not here,” Cavey replied.
“What? Didn’t he jump with you?”
“We thought he did,” he answered. “But he must have—he must have gotten tied up in all the confusion.”
“Either that or he didn’t get his Bindstone Shard out in time,” D suggested. “And went splat.”
“Would you shut up!?” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down.
“Oh, excuse me for saying what everyone else was thinking,” D replied angrily.
“We have to wait for him,” I told them, looking around. So far, the Bleed scouts weren’t paying much attention to us. But a couple of them were eyeing us from down by the town square. I moved behind Cavey to make it harder for them to inspect me.
“If we stay here, we’re dead,” D said. “We have to get out of here, now.”
“Just wait a few minutes—”
“We don’t have a few minutes!” D growled. “You can stay here, but I’m getting out of here.”
D set off in the wrong direction, forcing me to grab him by the wrist. “Stop! We’re this way.”
I turned around and led my group back up the hill in the direction I’d come. There was no choice. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, D was right—if we stayed any longer the chances of me being discovered went up exponentially. We had to move.
D lagged behind us, but he followed eventually. I nodded again to the Bleed scouts as I passed, hoping they’d be more interested in my sword than me, but when I saw the way one of them was looking at me, I knew we weren’t that lucky.
“Hey, isn’t that—?” one of them began.
“It’s Jack!” the other one shouted.
“Goddamn it.”
I didn’t even wait for the response from the others. I hit him with a Warrior’s Charge, stunned him, then slashed his buddy standing beside him. Before he even knew what hit him, he was flying back from the strength of my blow.
I heard the sounds of commotion behind me.
“Here they come!” Baltos hissed.
64
Alice the Feared
Everyone drew their weapons and D fired an arrow as I spun around in time to see a small group of Bleed players headed our way. His arrow found its mark and dealt a devastating blow to a lower-level melee character. It occurred to me that I didn’t even know what level D was and took a brief second to quickly inspect him.
Level 67. Not bad. If the rest of the town were significantly lower than us, w
e might actually be able to fend them off. But that meant fighting, and fighting meant the possibility of someone dying, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
“Come on, let’s go!” I shouted, waving my sword in the air, beckoning my group to follow me.
D fired another arrow and raced after me.
“Some rescue,” he muttered.
“Will you shut up already!?” I snapped as Bleed began to fire arrows in our direction. A few of them hit but didn’t do much damage. Most of Bleed’s members must have been in their 40s, but they were a swarm of ants and if we let them catch up to us, that damage would add up quick.
“Get them!” someone shouted.
“They’re with him!”
“Traitors!”
Arrows pelted the ground around us as we reached the tree line and pushed through. I remembered watching Bonecrusher make the same retreat that day I’d killed Chaucey.
“Cavey! Take them to the cave,” I told him, gripping my sword tightly.
“What? Where are you going!?”
“I’m going to hold them off,” I told him as I slowed to a stop.
“Are you nuts?!” Baltos asked, stopping beside me.
“Don’t worry, Baltos,” I assured him. “I got this.”
“I’m staying with you.”
“No, you’re not,” I replied, shaking my head. “You’re going with Cavey. I have a plan.”
D just looked at me, along with the rest of them. Cavey and Xavier knew better than to argue with me, and Og didn’t know me well enough to say anything. But D was silent, and that hurt.
“Go,” I told them as the sound of the Bleed players grew louder behind us. The group had grown by the sound of the thunderous footsteps, and time was running out. “Go!”
I shoved Baltos away from me as the Bleed players broke through into the trees.
“Come on!” Cavey shouted. I turned to face the attackers as my group ran. When I looked at the horde, I knew I had made the right choice.
There had to have been at least 50 of them. With the rest of my friends with me, I wouldn’t be able to focus their attack on me. If ten of them decided to gang up on Baltos, that would have been the end of him. No—I needed their full attention if my plan was going to work.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 27
