Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  I took a quick second to write that down in my notes, memories of how many favours I’d forgotten in the past piling on as soon as he’d mentioned it.

  “Thank you Kilp, I’ll be sure to remember that.” I said with a polite nod before noticing that he had a shop option, “Would you mind if I took a quick look at your wares?”

  “Certainly!” Kilp shouted happily, “And I’ll be sure you get a good discount.”

  -750 gold.

  14,035 gold.

  Received 750 Steel Arrows: Damage: 11.

  Quiver: 750 Steel Arrows.

  “Thank you,” I said as I took a brief moment to admire my almost overfull quiver, “these will come in handy.”

  “Not a problem! I hope to see you next time you come this way. Farewell!”

  Mission Completed: Bridge Monster.

  +1500 XP.

  Level 13 Completed!

  Level Up!

  Level 14 Progress: 1270/5000.

  5 Skill Points awarded.

  There it was again, that complete lack of interest. I’m not trying to sound like a pessimist, I’m really not, but… I don’t know, I guess I was just having a bit of a hard time with the knowledge that beyond reaching Aldok’s hideout we didn’t have much going on.

  Something about sitting around all night didn’t feel like I was living, you know?

  “Mind if we shut it down for a bit?” Gerry asked, surprising me to say the least, “I think I need some time outside.”

  “You know what? I was just thinking that.”

  Kylia: Chapter 1

  “That was fun, wunnit?” Gerald asked as he started stretching while the half dozen crushed cans and two empty pizza boxes in the corner of the room stared at us in judgement.

  “Yeah, was a bit.” I replied as I rolled my shoulders around in an attempt to get a satisfying pop to come out, “What do you want to do now?”

  Gerald shrugged, “Could head out to London? See if we can find something to do there?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  I think Gerald may have noticed that I wasn’t all that interested in heading out to the city, but he chose not to say anything, instead opting to give me a mostly sincere looking smile and a nod, “I’ll go get dressed then.”

  “That fight was interesting, huh?” I asked as he went into the bedroom and I went to get a drink.

  It was the same line of questioning that he’d tried to open up before, I know, but the fact was I didn’t exactly have a whole lot of conversational topics coming off the top of my head.

  “Oh yeah,” Gerald called back through his shirt as he pulled it off, “never seen anything like it. Gotta admit though, scared the crap out of me.”

  “Me too! Ha, I thought I was just being a chicken.”

  “Same,” a red jumper wearing Gerald said as he came out of the room, “do you think they did something in the game to make it that scary?”

  “What? Besides putting in a ruddy big snake?”

  “No, I mean like… I don’t know, subliminal messaging and that. Like some kind of high frequency that sets off fear?”

  I had to think on that for a second, not because of the science of it or anything, just that I knew that if I denied it and inferred that Gerald was pansy I’d be admitting that I had no other reason to be scared either.

  “Dunno, maybe.” I said, finally deciding that my pride was a fraction more valuable to me than making fun of my boyfriend.

  “Something to think about anyway, you ready to go?”

  I finished my glass of water and nodded, an act that just about resulted in my brutal above water drowning as proved by my lungs trying to escape through my throat.

  “Mmhm…” I choked out between heaved coughs, “I’ll just grab my bag.”

  It wasn’t too late by the time we got out the door and I stopped dying, but I found myself already yawning halfway down the stairs.

  “You sure you wanna go out?”

  “Yeah, yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because you’re falling asleep on your feet, innit?” Gerald chuckled, “Honestly, if you’d rather stay in I’m happy to.”

  God he was nice, but I was already committed to at least getting to the door, so I forced my mouth shut, swallowed a yawn, and shook my head, “I’m fine, promise. This’ll be fun.”

  Boy was I wrong.

  We weren’t two feet outside our building before we were absolutely swamped by reporters and cameramen, the flashing lights and bombardment of questions getting lost in a weird haze as my brain struggled to keep up with each of the people.

  “Everybody clear out!” I heard Sergeant Griegs from… somewhere, I can’t be entirely sure where he started.

  Suddenly Gerald and I were being shuffled through the crowd toward a familiar looking black car by rough but caring hands as a path was cleared for us by armed MPs.

  “You two alright?” Griegs asked once we were in our seats and on our way, his body clad in his armour while his helmet sat on the seat beside him, something that Gerald absolutely could not take his eyes off of.

  “Yeah, yeah we’re fine. What’s going on?”

  “What do you think? Bishop got put down.”

  “Oh… right.”

  It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, I’m sure that little piece of information will stick around in my head for as long as I live, but I’d sort of pushed it to the back of my mind in an attempt to at least try and enjoy a night out.

  “What are you two even doing out here? I figured you’d be on lockdown for the next ten years.”

  “Provided we don’t get deported.” Gerald let out absentmindedly, “Do you mind if I try on your helmet?”

  Both Griegs and I were a bit thrown by that, mostly because when the subject of deportation normally rolled around people got kind of mopey, whereas Gerald was more like a child subtly hinting at his knowledge of his own mortality.

  “Um… Yeah, sure…” Griegs replied reluctantly before tossing the helmet over, “Seriously though Kylia, you’ve gotta know that it’s not the best idea in the world for you two to be out and about right at this moment.”

  “I appreciate the concern, but I guarantee that you have nothing to worry about. We can…” I trailed off when I spotted Gerald looking around excitedly with the helmet, “…handle ourselves.”

  “You sure about that? ‘Cause it looks to me like I just pulled both of your arses out of the fire.”

  “Yeah,” I snapped accusatorily, “I was meanin’ to ask you about that. Why exactly are there armed escorts hanging around my flat?”

  Griegs clearly didn’t appreciate my tone, his left eyebrow raising so high I was sure it was going to form into his hairline, “That was a precautionary measure.”

  “For what?”

  “Well I don’t know, maybe if we think really hard we can take a guess at what recent event might prompt some protection for you and yours.”

  “What, so you knew I’d try and go outside? Whole lotta foresight required for that.” I scoffed.

  I’m not entirely sure what was making me so belligerent, it’s not like I wasn’t grateful for the rescue. Guess it probably has something to do with the fact that I kept having people save me and it was starting to wear down on me.

  I know that sounds weird, trust me, but when everyone around you is making sure you stay out of harm’s way it starts to make you think that they think you’re incapable.

  I don’t know, maybe it’s just me and I’m reading too much into it, but that’s just the way I felt.

  “No, actually, I was talking about what happened with Bishop.”

  Gerald beat me to the punch, tilting his head and asking through the helmet’s inbuilt speaker “What does that have to do with us though?”

  “Other than the fact that those kidnappers mentioned Kylia by name?” he asked, putting the harrowing footage back in my mind, “How about the fact that they found him in a matter of hours when we had absolutely no chance of tracking him, let alone holdin
g him for more than half an hour? Fact is you’ve got a lot of people at the top of the food chain wanting to keep you two safe, which means MPs on you like white on rice.”

  “What, why?”

  “Oh my- What is it that you two aren’t getting? The UBR has put you in the blast radius with a psycho on a morning talk show. What’s to stop them from rigging a camera to blow? Hm? What happens when they decide that the best way for them to send a message is to attack one of the most protected people in Britain?”

  If my mind would stop panicking for three seconds I probably would’ve replied with something snarky, or at the very least shown any sign that I’d heard him.

  Instead I just sat there wondering exactly when everything had gotten so screwed up.

  “Where are you even taking us?” Gerald asked, taking off his helmet and tossing it over to Griegs.

  “Somewhere safe.” Griegs said before glancing down at his watch, “Some place away from London. Your employer’s already been notified.”

  “What!?” I shouted, “Were you just waiting for us to come outside so you could snatch us up?”

  “This isn’t fairyland Kylia.” Griegs replied sharply, “We waited to see if you’d leave your flat and you did. From now on you’re going to be staying somewhere under constant surveillance and guard. Someone’ll be picking up your computers shortly and following us, I’m assuming you left your flash drives in them?”

  “Uh, yes, but… there’s a couple you can leave running, just grab the two in the middle…” I said as I tried to process what was going on.

  Griegs gave me a nod as he pulled out a small walkie-talkie and conveyed what I’d said to someone on the other end of the line.

  Another few seconds passed and I was finally able to get my thoughts in order, “Okay, so many questions. First off, constant surveillance? Aren’t we already under that?”

  “What? Like in general as a citizen?” Griegs joked half-heartedly.

  “…No. I mean weren’t we already being watched back at the flat? Unless I hallucinated all that grabbing and pushing and am presently dreaming that is.”

  Griegs sighed and shrugged, “Yes and no, at this new place you’ll have two guards posted at the door, a sniper team on rotation at an undisclosed location, and an SAS unit ready to be dropped in as soon as needed. There’s simply too much foot traffic to do something like that here.”

  “Alright then,” I said, making it as clear as I could that I was far from satisfied with his answer, “secondly, why am I even getting shipped off? Can I not be trusted to just stay at home?”

  “Do you want me to lie or hurt your feelings?” Griegs joked again, his attempts at awkward humour falling flat between his robotic, militaristic ‘this is the way it’s gonna be’s, “Look, I’m sorry, but we can’t have you becoming a shadow on the wall.”

  “Why? Because it sends the wrong message?”

  “No, because… ugh, is she this difficult with you?”

  Gerald, being the smart guy that he was, decided that it’d be for the best if he just looked off into the middle distance and recused himself from the conversation altogether.

  “We don’t want you to die, alright? If you die it proves that we can’t do our job and then one half of the citizens decide that we can’t be trusted to protect them, and the other half start making conspiracy theories to turn you into a martyr.”

  After that I gave up and crossed my arms, the idea that the only reason anyone was looking out for me was because it would make them look bad was well worse than the fact that they thought I needed looking out for at all.

  I got that they were just trying to keep me as safe as possible, I really did, but… I don’t know, I guess that I thought that if I couldn’t go outside and breathe the fresh air to feel alive I’d just argue and kick and scream my way through life.

  Possibly not the best way of dealing with death, but it was my way and no one was gonna take that away from me.

  Kylia: Chapter 2

  “Smell weird in here…” Gerald said as he sniffed the air in our little, ten-by-ten metre cottage, “Like…”

  “It’s damp,” I said, looking over at the BNB style queen bed in the far corner, “the water’s leaked into the wood and now it’s starting to rot. I thought that this place would be nice.”

  “What do you mean?” Griegs asked from where he stood in the doorframe, “It’s cosy. You’ve got a fridge there, a fireplace, a gas cooktop and a sink there, a closet for your clothes, a desk for your computers, a table to eat at, and did I mention that the WiFi is great out here?”

  “That’s just because there’s no one around for twenty bloody miles. Seriously, who’d think that this place was liveable?” I asked as I gestured around at the tiny space with my arms outstretched, nearly knocking over a lamp in the process.

  “That’s enough, alright? It’s free and protected ‘round the clock by armed guards.” Griegs said with a confidence that quickly dissipated, “Alright, so you’ve got a bit of a point, fine. To tell you the truth there is a nicer one over… elsewhere, and we were sending people there before so that this one could get renovated.”

  “So, what? We’re not good enough for the nice one?”

  “It’s not that, the other one’s just not available at the moment.”

  “Is it occupied?” Gerald butted in curiously.

  “Nope, burned down.”

  “Ah, electrical?”

  Griegs shrugged, “Couldn’t tell you, different division. But I assure you that this one is perfectly safe.”

  I took that moment to point out a small amount of black mould that had started to spore in the corner above the refrigerator, something that made Griegs’ eyes widen and caused him to almost involuntarily bite his lips.

  “…Maybe try to hold your breath near that ‘til I get someone out here to fix it up.”

  As much of a bitch as I was being, I kinda liked the place. It wasn’t great, granted, but it also gave me a sort of free feeling.

  It’d been at least an hour since I’d heard anyone’s voice other than our own, longer still the sounds of a nearby train or the loud footsteps of people rushing to and from work.

  It was, and I feel like an absolute dork using this word, tranquil.

  ‘Tranquil’ is how an elderly person describes an over fifty’s village or a hospice. Yes, I know some people would prefer the word ‘Hell’ if they missed unassisted living, but that’s beside the point.

  “You guys think you’ll be alright here on your own until your gear gets here?”

  I rolled my eyes in an attempt to hide the fact that the place had started to grow on me, “Yeah, I reckon we’ll be-”

  “Where do we go to the bathroom?”

  In that moment I saw true panic in Griegs as he looked around the wall-less house in search of a lav and a bath, “Um… hold on.”

  A quiet laugh escaped me as Griegs disappeared out the door, “This is why I keep you around.”

  “Really?” Gerald asked as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my midsection, “And here I thought it was for my sick dance moves and tree knowledge.”

  Another laugh came out before I could stop it as I spun around to face my hugger, “What is it with you and trees lately?”

  Gerald shrugged and gave me a peck on the cheek, “Dunno, just realised the other day that I think they’re really quite cool. Guess I was spending a lot of time at the park while you were in hospital and that kinda stopped when you got out.”

  For a second there I felt guilty that I’d somehow stopped Gerald from doing something that he’d come to love while I was away, but at the same time I decided to give myself a pass on account of the fact that I wasn’t exactly on holiday.

  “Well you know what? I reckon we should find more time to go outside.”

  “You sure?” he asked, not bothering to hide his excitement.

  “Definitely. It may surprise you to know that I quite like the outdoors as well… In small doses,
of course.”

  The door crashed opened, stopping our conversation, “There’s a tub and a toilet downstairs.” Griegs practically shouted.

  “Downstairs?” I asked as I looked around for any sign of a stairwell.

  Griegs, with a smile that was just a bit too proud for my liking, marched over to the centre of the cottage and shifted a circular rug, revealing what looked like a medieval escape hatch, rope handle and all.

  “Oh, so you did bring us out here to kill us.” I said with a laugh that hid the mild ping of fear that had set off within me.

  Gerald cautiously nodded in agreeance, “I think I’d rather piss in a literal pot than go down there.”

  Griegs rolled his eyes and shook his head, “I’m serious, take a look.” he said as he grabbed the handle and pulled, disturbing a large spider web that had accumulated around the base of the door.

  It was a dark pit, no two ways about it, a pit with a ladder, but a pit nonetheless.

  “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “Yeah… I’m gonna go ahead and find a pot.”

  Kylia: Chapter 3

  Griegs eventually accepted that there was no way we were going to go down into the death hole until we absolutely had to, and once our stuff got brought over in what was disguised as a flower delivery van, a weird choice to say the least, he’d taken off, telling us that if we needed him there was a button by the door that would send out for backup.

  “So… wow.” I said as I finished plugging in the rigs.

  “Yeah…”

  The long silences that had been hanging over us since we’d been left alone were getting to the point of being unbearable, and what was worse was we had no idea what we were going to do with ourselves.

  Gaming seemed like a stretch to say the least, cooking was impossible what with the fact that the fridge was broken, and there wasn’t even a TV.

  Oh yeah, and you try having sex with the knowledge that there are two guys standing right outside who, in an act of complete stupidity, said ‘Don’t worry, we can’t hear you.’ when we were whispering as far away from the door as we possibly could.