by Byron Kings
“It’s a shame about Dot,” Morgana said near the front of the boat.
“Yeah,” Newton said as he rowed beside me. “I’m gonna miss her.”
“We’ll find someone else for you,” I said. “This is a big world.”
“As long as I’m around,” Newton said.
“Don’t talk that way,” Harper snapped.
“She’s right,” I said. “You have a better chance now than you did back in the 20th century.”
“If I had the money,” Newton said. “I spent the last of my savings to get in here and enjoy myself before I die in the real world.”
“You never know what’ll happen,” I said. “Something might come up.”
“Ahoy!” the captain said as we approached the side. “Success?”
“No,” I said as we stopped and tied to dangling ropes to the boat.
One after another, we climbed a rope ladder to the main ship. Sailors hefted the wooden boat and secured it on the side.
“Get that anchor up!” the captain yelled. “We’re going home!”
“Did you see anyone else come into the bay?” I asked.
The captain shook his head. “No, and that’s good. Where’s the rest of my gold?”
“Hold on,” I said, grabbing the sack of coins I’d promised him. “Here you go.”
The captain smiled as he lifted the bag a few times to determine its weight.
“I’ll see you guys later,” he said. “I’ve got work to do below deck.”
As the captain walked away, I turned to Newton.
“What can you tell us about your village?” I asked. “What’s the name?”
“Um, it’s small,” Newton said. “You wouldn’t know it.”
“I know just about all the villages on Gardonia,” Harper said.
“Probably not this one,” Newton said. “It’s small and hidden in a way.”
“What aren’t you telling us?” I asked.
“Nothing!” Newton said a bit too defensively.
“You’re sure you know someone who can charge the you-know-what?” I asked.
He nodded. “That’s guaranteed. Don’t worry about it. If you guys help me clear the village of King Gregor’s goons, I’m sure she’ll help you.”
“Great,” I said, leaning over the rail.
Morgana stepped next to me as the other two walked away.
“You doing okay?” she asked.
I peered over at her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “You seem preoccupied or something.”
“Just a lot on my mind,” I said, still staring out at the sea.
“Harper?” she asked.
“What about her?” I asked.
“You care for her a lot, don’t you?”
“What’s it to you?” I turned to her. “You’re acting weird.”
“It’s just I like her too,” Morgana said.
“Uh huh,” I said, nodding.
We both fell into silence as the ship sailed back toward the massive continent of Gardonia. Part of me wanted to celebrate getting the horn sword, but I kept calm during the journey. A lot of people would kill to have it. Until I got it charged, I needed to keep it on the down low.
After a few minutes, Morgana and I went below deck to join the others. I tried to sleep, but the rocking of the boat kept me up most of the night. Just as I fell asleep in the morning, I heard a sailor above calling out that land had been spotted. I sighed and got up to face the day.
* * * * *
Later that morning, after retrieving our horses from the stables where we’d kept them, we rode north of Yusgood. I saw a few of Xin Jang’s warriors as we rode, but none of them gave us any trouble. As Newton led us into a swampy area, I got concerned.
“Where the hell’s this village?” I asked, glancing over at him.
Harper and Morgana rode behind us.
“It’s up ahead,” he said. “It’s a small village.”
He stopped and nodded toward a rundown wheel boat two stories high.
“That’s not a village, it’s a damn whore house,” I said.
Newton tossed his head back and forth. “You say tomato…”
“Let’s go back to the city, this is greasy,” Harper complained.
“No, please, I wasn’t lying about King Gregor’s men,” Newton said.
“Does this female cuerno exist, at least?” I asked.
“She runs the place,” Newton said.
“Is she another NPC?” I asked bluntly.
He frowned and nodded. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“As long as she can charge my sword, I don’t give a fuck about the rest,” I said. “Come on, let’s at least go check it out. King Gregor is a fucking prick anyway. If we can shut down one of his groups of thugs, that’s not a bad thing.”
Harper sighed behind me, but she and Morgana followed as I got off the horse and tied it to a nearby tree. We trudged through the shallow toward the huge boat stuck in the mucky mud of the swamp. I heard moans and screams as we got closer to a stringy rope ladder.
“This is the only way up?” I asked. “What the hell kind of place is this?”
“Where poor people go to fuck,” he said then climbed up.
Harper frowned. Morgana shrugged them followed him.
“What?” I asked, wondering why she was acting so fucking weird.
“Forget about it,” she said then climbed up herself.
I followed, watching her ass and remembering why I put up with her bullshit attitude. At the top, after climbing onto the deck, a dozen heavily armed men and two war mages shuffled out. They surrounded us on all sides. I drew my regular sword.
“Hold on a minute,” I said. “We’re just here to sample the wares.”
“The house is full for the night,” one of the men said.
“Fine,” I relented. “We’ll leave. No harm, no foul.”
“Hold on,” the man said. “Don’t I know you?”
“Nope,” Newton said then scrambled over the edge and down the ladder.
“I don’t like the looks of you four,” the man said. “You’re all banned. I don’t want to see any of you back here. Understand?”
“We understand,” I said, putting away my sword. “We’re leaving.”
I waited for Harper and Morgana to climb down then followed them. On the bottom, I glared at Newton. He stood up straight, not looking away.
“You could’ve told us how much firepower they had with them,” I said.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “They must’ve brought more since I left. I fear for Alondra. King Gregor hates cuernos with a passion. They’re likely abusing her.”
“We’ll leave the swamp and camp for the night near the road,” I said. “We can talk about an actual plan of attack then get up early and surprise them when they’re all asleep.”
“Sounds good to me,” Harper said, standing almost knee-deep in the water. “I hate the swamp.”
“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”
We waded back to the horses on the somewhat drier land then rode back to the main road leading south to Yusgood. Newton kept pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself while the rest of us set up camp for the night. Even after we got a fire going and settled down around it for the night, he kept walking back and forth in a short line.
“Come over here,” I said. “We need some information.”
He looked up distractedly, frowning. “What?”
“Come sit by me at the fire,” Harper said, patting the ground.
I threw another log into the flames as he approached. A shower of sparks filled the air as he sat down on the other side of Harper.
“Can you draw a map of the layout?” I asked. “We need to know where the female cuerno will be and where King Gregor’s men will likely set up their defenses.”
“I’ve got a map,” Newton said, reaching into his shirt. “I didn’t want to show you because you would’ve fig
ured out it wasn’t an actual village in the normal sense of the word.”
“You think?” I quipped.
He opened a map and passed it to Harper.
“Alondra will be here,” he said, pointing to the second floor at the front of the boat. “King Gregor’s men will likely be here, here, and here. I don’t think we have enough to take them all out ourselves.”
“That’s not the plan,” I said. “We get in, rescue Alondra, and then get her to charge my sword.”
“And what about the rest of the women?” Morgana asked.
“Once I have the sword charged, we’ll be in a better position to take out the rest of King Gregor’s men and send him a message at the same time.”
“I say we go back to Yusgood and try to find another way to charge the sword,” Harper said, once again surprising me. “These women chose their own life in the game.”
“Damn,” I said. “You’ve gotten cold.”
“I’m just being realistic,” she said, shrugging it off.
“Getting the female cuerno is our best bet for now,” I said.
“I agree with Drake,” Morgana said, adding her support.
“Fine,” Harper sighed. “Whatever…”
“Your spells are what’s going to get us in and out easily,” I said. “Do you have any ideas?”
“I’ll come up with something,” she said. “Invisibility maybe. Or our disguise hats.”
“Yeah, I forgot about those,” I said. “We’ve got this.”
Harper leaned over and kissed me as Newton stood.
“I’m going to scout around and take first watch,” he said.
“Suit yourself,” I said as Morgana also started kissing me.
After a bit of fun with the two women, I went to sleep. While drifting off, I thought about our assault on the brother boat in the morning. Even a few hours of sleep would’ve helped, but I couldn’t turn my mind off as I went over the floor plans in my mind.
With Harper’s magic helping, we’d be able to get in and rescue the female cuerno without any problem. After she charged my sword, I’d return and deal with the rest of the creeps as a gift to Newton. He was odd, but I liked having him around.
┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑
CHAPTER 14
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙
Escape Not an Option Anymore
Toward morning, I dozed off, but Newton woke me by shaking my arm.
“Get up,” he said. “It’s almost first light. We should get going.”
“Five more minutes,” I moaned, rolling over.
“He’s right,” Morgana said, sitting up and stretching.
I groaned but got up myself as Harper stirred and moaned next to me.
“Morning already?” she complained.
“Come on,” I said. “We’re so close to getting my sword working.”
She sighed but sat up as I got to my feet and stretched.
“Let’s wear the hats of disguise, so I can save my mana,” Harper said.
“That works for me.” I dug mine out of my sack and put it on. “Still work?”
“Looking good,” Morgana said then giggled nervously.
I smiled and turned to Newton.
“We don’t have one for you,” I said. “Do you want to stay back and watch the horses?”
“No way,” he said. “I’m coming with you.”
“They’ll notice you too easily,” I said. “You’re staying behind.”
“But I can help,” he whined.
“No,” I said firmly.
He stood down as we put out the remains of the fire and packed our meager belongings. As we rode back into the swamp, the sun slowly began its ascent in the sky. I stopped further away than last time and dismounted.
“You stay right here,” I said. “We’ll bring the cuerno female back.”
“She has a fucking name,” he snapped.
I grimaced and bit my tongue.
“We should have a story,” Morgana said.
I nodded. “Good idea. Any ideas?”
“You’re our pimp and selling us to the brothel,” Harper said.
“That should work,” I said then turned to Newton. “Stay here. Understand?”
“Yes,” he sighed then looked away.
Harper, Morgana, and I walked away, heading toward the boat brothel stuck in the swamp. None of the locations players came up with in the game surprised me anymore. The really devious stuff happened on Discordia, an even larger continent on the other side of the planet, but Gardonia could be weird and wicked on occasion too.
“You should tie us up,” Harper said as we got closer.
I stopped and wrapped some rope loosely around their necks before leading them toward the boat. A guard leaned over the railing on deck, watching as we approached.
“You’re early!” he shouted.
“I’m here for business,” I replied then lifted the ropes.
He grinned then motioned me up. I let the two disguised women climb up the rope ladder before following them up myself. At the top, the guard had his hand on Morgana’s left tit.
“Don’t touch the merchandise!” I shouted.
He lifted his hands. “Settle down. I had to check…”
“Fucking touch her again, and you and me will have a problem,” I said. “Understand, friend?”
He nodded.
“Good,” I continued. “Take us to Alondra. She’ll want to buy these women. I’m selling them cheap, and they’re both good whores.”
“Hold on,” the guard said. “I need to check with the captain. He’s asleep with everyone else. I drew short straw and had to stay sober to watch everything.”
“Are you a fucking pussy or what?” I asked. “Let us up to work this out, or you’re going to end up getting demoted even more, dumb-fuck.”
He straightened up. As the only sober man among King Gregor’s men, I knew he had to be low on the totem pole of power.
“Follow me,” he said then turned and headed toward the stairs hugging the side of the wooden, two-story structure.
I heard moans as we walked up in disguise, but I kept my mouth shut. The place would be named Greaseville if it ever became a proper village. At the top of the stairs, the guard led us inside then down a hallway. He made a right then headed toward the front of the building. I kept my eyes on him, wondering when I should go for it.
As he stopped and turned, I made my move. By getting surprise from behind, I slit his throat and bled him out without having to struggle. My few levels in rogue came in handy occasionally. When I leveled up all my classes, I would be a fucking powerhouse.
“You two throw him over the side into the swamp,” I said.
The women nodded then dragged the body back down the hallway.
“Get his shit first,” I hissed then turned to go see Alondra.
I opened the wooden door and walked in. She stood in middle of the room, completely naked. While her head and neck were scaled like a reptile, she had a perfectly human body below all the way to her toes. As an inferior NPC race, they never wore clothes and weren’t smart enough to really do anything on their own. Well, most of the time. Some of them had gotten a mind of their own. I stared at Alondra, wondering if I’d run into one of them.
“You knock first!” she said, too loudly for my taste.
“Shh,” I said in a firm, low voice. “We’re here to rescue you.”
“I no go without my women,” she said, stiffening her posture.
“Newton’s waiting for you,” I said.
She stepped forward. “Newton?”
“Yes,” I said. “He sent us to get you. Are you ready to go? We don’t have much time.”
“Get them! Now!” someone yelled from deeper in the building.
“Fuck,” I muttered and held out my hand. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”
She put her delicate, feminine hand in mine. I led her back into the hallway. Harper and Morgana, no longer
in disguise, came barreling toward us, barely stopping in time.
“What the hell’s going on?” I asked.
“The body splashed and woke someone up who had fallen into the swamp last night,” Harper said. “The rest of them are waking up, and they’re pissed.”
“Can you make us all invisible, so we can get out of here?”
“I don’t think I should waste my mana on that,” she said.
“Fuck,” I said. “They’re not getting this horn sword. I’ll die for it.”
“We should hide it here on the boat,” Morgana said.
I nodded, digging the idea. “That could work.”
“We need to hide something,” I said, turning to Alondra.
“This way,” she said then scurried back down the hallway.
We followed, Harper coming last and shutting the door behind herself. I went to the far side of the room where Alondra pried up one of the floorboards. She smiled as she put it to the side. I saw a pile of coins, a dagger, three rings, and a few other baubles stored.
“This will be safe?” I asked. “They don’t know about it?”
She shook her head. I pulled the blanket-wrapped sword out and placed it under the floor, scooting it away from the hole. After I removed my hands, she plopped the board back in place and moved a rug over it. We all stood just as the door crashed open. Three armored men with repeating crossbows burst in and pointed their weapons at us.
“Hands up!” they shouted in unison.
I complied along with Harper and Morgana.
“Take off that damn hat!” one of them shouted.
I did as they asked, tossing it to the wooden floor.
“Thought it was you four,” he said. “We caught that Newton fellow too.”
“Newton!” Alondra cried, rushing forward.
“No!” I shouted, grabbing her arm. “Don’t shoot!”
“Fuck cuerno-bitches,” the man said, lowering his crossbow.
The other two kept theirs aimed at us.
“Walk this way,” he said, moving aside.
I led the way out of the room with Harper, Morgana, and Alondra behind me. A war mage in the hallway held up his hands as we approached.
