by Rick Scott
She pulled a handkerchief from her coat and hacked loudly into it, turning away from him to lean against the window as a coughing fit took hold. It was a hellish sound to endure. A wet, gurgling cough that left her handkerchief stained with crimson. She didn’t make much effort to hide it.
Yet another accusation, perhaps. But maybe one he could make amends for now. He did promise Mike that he would authorize his mother’s treatment, whether he was successful or not. Of course, it wouldn’t matter if Mike wasn’t successful. Nothing would. They’d all be dead. But maybe this one act could balance the debt of karma he owed.
“Ah, your son did mention that you were ill. Perhaps there is something I could do to help.”
Her blue eyes squinted. “I don’t need your charity, Peters.”
The words struck like knives.
“Just do your job and give me back my sons.”
With that, she walked past him and left him alone in the observation lounge.
Chapter 18: Type_Unknown
“So, who do you think it was?”
I give Val Helena a shrug. It’s late now, and the villagers have cleared out of the Common Hall, leaving just our team and Blacktop huddled around the main table. I watch each of their faces as they react to my recount of what happened with Wilbur. Or the man I thought was Wilbur. Maxis seems skeptical, the rest contemplative.
“You sure about this?” Maxis says. “About what you saw?”
“I saw it, too,” Gilly says. “The guy looked just like Wilbur—sounded like him, too—but didn’t really talk like him, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, we never saw him leave the table, did we?” Rembrandt says. “So it definitely wasn’t the real him.”
“Could it have been a Builder?” Val Helena asks.
That’s the million-dollar question that’s been at the top of my list. There’s only one flaw to that theory. “They’re supposed to be like gods, right? All-seeing? All-knowing? I was able to ask him a trick question that proved he wasn’t Wilbur. I wouldn’t think a Builder would fall for something like that.”
“Maybe it was Aiko, then,” Gilly says.
I hadn’t thought of that yet. I look to Val Helena. “I don’t have a disguise skill like that. Does she?”
Val Helena shakes her head. “Trust me, I wouldn’t put anything past Aiko, but the conversation you described doesn’t sound like anything she’d say. Or ask about.”
I have to agree with her there. I look to Blacktop next. “What do you think, Blacktop? You’ve been here the longest. Can Builders just . . . appear like that? Take on the form of other people?”
The old gnome stares into his mug of ale for a few moments, contemplating my question. “They can, and they do. But not for just anything.”
“What do you mean?” Gilly asks.
“The Builder that controls this realm is known as Karlis. She’s worshipped as a goddess, as are most of the AIs in the fantasy worlds. For all my years here, I’ve never had her appear to me. At least, I don’t think so. But I have heard that she will appear if something threatens her domain. You remember that king guy I mentioned earlier? Braxus, in Stormwall?”
“Yeah,” I say. “You said he was kind of a prick.”
Blacktop chuckles. “That he is. He’s also a player.”
“Really?” Gilly says. “He’s from the Shards?”
“Been here maybe a year,” Blacktop says. “Caused a lot of disruption when he took over that city. I believe Karlis herself intervened at some point to put the peace treaties in place with the neighboring non-human tribes. He was about to start a war with them, wipe them out completely. But he’s gone and broken the treaties now, so I’m not sure what that will mean. Who knows? Maybe she’ll appear again.”
“What’s this got to do with the Wilbur clone?” Maxis says.
“What I’m saying is that Karlis mostly leaves people from the Shards alone, unless you make some big disruption.”
Rembrandt nods. “Well, I suppose killing the Goblin Queen and Lakota in quick succession could have raised an eyebrow.”
Blacktop shrugs. “Maybe. But if there was a quest attached to it, it pretty much means it’s sanctioned by her. Were there quests?”
I nod. “Yeah. For both.”
“I don’t know, then,” Blacktop says. “Did anything else happen to you? Anything unusual?”
My heart stops.
I share an inadvertent glance with Gilly, but look away quickly enough for no one to notice. I hope. I know I caught the attention of something down there in that cave. Could those giants be connected to this Karlis creature? I look up at Val Helena. If I mention all of this now, there’s no way we’ll be helping her. Ah crap . . . I’ve got to lie again.
I shake my head. “Nothing I can think of.”
Gilly: You sure we shouldn’t just tell them now? ):
Her PM makes me second-guess myself. But I’ve already said it.
Me: I think it might make things worse if we did.
I think . . .
“Well, I’m proceeding with the assumption that it was a Builder,” Maxis says, slamming down his mug. “And to me, that means it’s a threat.”
Uh oh . . .
“From here on, we need to treat all NPCs as potentially hostile.”
“Wait,” Val Helena says. “If Reece was able to fool it, then how could it be a Builder? They’re supposed to be in control of everything. Maybe it was something else?”
“Like what?” Rembrandt says. “A minion? A spy for her?”
“Are they able to take over NPCs like that, Blacktop?” Gilly asks.
Blacktop shrugs. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know how those things work.”
Maxis leans back in his chair, folding his arms. “Or maybe Builders aren’t the all seeing all knowing gods we think they are. And if they can be fooled then they can be beaten. And that’s good news to me.”
I’m not liking how this is sounding, but Maxis could be right. If this Builder knows I saw something I shouldn’t have, then what does that mean? One thing I do know: I’m definitely not telling Maxis about the mine right now. He’s ready to go on a war path. And if even just peeking down there brought the attention of a Builder, then I can only imagine what sending my hot-headed brother down there would do.
“If that’s the case,” Val Helena says, “then what do you think it wants from us? I never encountered anything like this during my time here before.”
“I’m presuming it wants us dead,” Maxis says. “Why else would it want to know how many people are left in Citadel?”
“It didn’t seem threatening,” I say. “Just kind of curious.”
“Well, we can’t really do anything about this, now can we?” Val Helena says. “We just need to proceed as planned. Maybe with more caution, but there is no sense getting paranoid over it. If it wanted to do us harm, I’m sure it could have already.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Rembrandt says.
The table goes quiet for a moment as everyone ponders the situation. I’m not quite sure what to think myself. Even if it was a Builder, it certainly didn’t feel like something that wanted to hurt us. In fact, it almost felt the opposite. Like it wanted to know if we were there to hurt it. Maybe I’m reading too much into things.
“Well, on that note,” Blacktop says as he stands, “I wish you all good luck.”
“You’re not going to walk all the way home in the dark, are you?” Gilly says.
Blacktop points at his faded gray eyes. “Night vision. Besides, I’d rather be in my own bed. I don’t see any that look too comfortable around here.”
That gets a small round of chuckles.
“Maybe we should be joining you, then,” Val Helena says with a laugh.
“Doubt you’d fit,” he retorts, joking. “But you’re all welcome at any time. Especially if you manage to hop through the wild to reach that tech world.”
“Aye,” Rembrandt says. “We got your shopping list right here,
mate.”
“Oh, speaking of that.” Blacktop turns to me, and a trade request pops up onto my HUD.
Blacktop wishes to trade with you.
Blacktop offers you:
A Poison Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Poison Damage
A Lightning Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Lightning Damage
Do you accept the trade? (Y/N)
Whoa! “You’re giving these to me?”
“Consider it a down payment on my flamethrower,” Blacktop says. “I figure if you’re going to make the trip across the wild, I might as well give you every advantage possible to actually make it back. Plus, that was the best dinner I’ve eaten in months, so I figured I owed you a little something for inviting me.”
I laugh. “Totally not necessary, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I accept the trade request, and the two Level 85 katanas get added to my inventory.
Sweet!
“Now you really do have something to look forward to at Level 85, Reece,” Val Helena says with a smile.
“One more thing,” Blacktop says.
I grin. “Name it.”
“When you get to Stormwall, tell that prick Braxus that he still owes me money.”
* * *
We hunker down for the night in the same spots as before. Maxis, Rembrandt, and Val Helena spread across the room, while I lie down next to Gilly. After a few moments, everyone else seems to be asleep, but for once, Gilly is awake and restless.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She doesn’t respond right away, just nestles a little closer into me in the dark. Her body heat has my body reacting of its own accord, and again my brother’s stupid warning comes to mind. But those thoughts are scattered when she finally responds.
“I’m worried about you.”
Her statement takes me by surprise. “What? Why?”
She releases a sigh, her breath warming the back of my neck. “What if this thing is after you now? Like out to get you or something?”
I chuckle, more for bravado’s sake than out of actual surety. “I fear my brother more, for when I finally tell him everything.”
I don’t hear a laugh in response. Instead, there comes a small whimper and a sniffling back of . . . tears? Oh geez. Is she crying? I turn on my side to face her and can only just make out her features in the darkness. Gilly lets out a choking cry, and I pull her into my arms. She clings to me tightly in response.
“I miss my mom and dad,” she says in a sob. “I miss home.”
Her words make me think of my own mother, of how much I miss her. At least I have Mike here. And Val Helena, even. Gilly doesn’t have that. The thought makes me pull her closer. “It’s okay, Gilly. I miss my mom and home, too.”
Although, to be honest, I almost wish that here could be our home and that my mom could join us instead. It makes me wonder if such a thing could even be possible. For all of us to live out here like Blacktop and Val Helena did. I know what my brother’s stance on that would be, though.
“Are we going to be okay?” Gilly asks. “I feel nervous about leaving the village now.”
Part of me almost wants to tell her to stay here. Thinking back, even in the Shards, Gilly had more of an affinity for the craftsman life than the adventurer one. In an ideal scenario, Gilly would be a master at running the village and the mine. She was really good at stuff like that. Probably way better than me. But for now, we have to try to get back home. And she, as the main healer, is invaluable for what we still have to face.
The Shadow King.
“We’re going to be fine, Gilly. And we’ll be home before you know it.”
“Promise you won’t let anything bad happen to us, Reece.”
“I promise,” I say, and kiss her in the darkness.
She kisses back, and we lose ourselves in each other, embracing tightly, until sleep finally takes us both.
Chapter 19: Stormwall
We set off for Stormwall early the next morning. It’s a brand new experience for me, leaving the village for someplace so far away. Part of me is excited and eager to see what living in the true wilderness will be like; the other part is downright terrified at the thought of having to sleep out in the open with no protection at all. I keep that thought to myself, however, as I stick with Gilly in the middle of our party and chat sporadically with her while Rembrandt takes point, and Maxis and Val Helena bring up the rear.
We make good time, traversing the pine forest with ease as we head north, and by the time we camp for the night, we’re all exhausted. We make a fire and cook some regular buffalo meat, Val Helena again doing the honors with her cooking skill, which I learn is somewhere in the hundreds. As night begins to fall, we set up a watch order, and Gilly and I share the first watch.
“I got a present for you, Gilly,” I tell her when the others are asleep.
The night is cool, and we both huddle under a shared blanket for warmth as we put our backs to the dying fire so as not to spoil our night vision. I open up my village administration screen and send her a prompt.
[Gilly has been added as a town administrator.]
“Huh?” she says. “What’s this?”
“I thought of it last night,” I say. “You were always so much better at working out numbers and stuff than me, so I figured we could run the town together.”
He eyes light up with both excitement and the glow of her HUD as she peruses through the menu screens. “Wow, so many options!”
“I figured you could work on a strategy while we’re out here, and send it back to Wilbur when the first pigeon shows up.”
She giggles and gives me a hug. “You’re the best! Ooo, let’s start with the mine.”
I laugh. “Somehow, I knew you’d say that.”
She elbows me under the blanket with a grin.
We spend the rest of our watch brainstorming ideas on how to improve the village and before we know it, Rembrandt comes to relieve us and we both crash into our sleeping rolls like we haven’t slept for weeks.
The next two days go by slowly. Where the first day was new and exciting, the following become an exercise in endurance. Back in Citadel, I hadn’t walked since birth, but I seem to be making up for that fact in double-quick time.
I notice Maxis and Val Helena chatting together a lot more, and often hear her booming laugh coming from behind us as my brother entertains her with stories of our life growing up in the habs. Most of them are at my expense, of course, but Val Helena and Gilly always rush to my defense. They chastise him playfully, which usually gives us all a laugh. During breaks, Gilly practices her bow with Rembrandt, who teaches her the finer points of aiming and shooting targets.
On the morning of day three, I get my first pigeon from Wilbur and learn that the construction projects are going well. Together with Gilly, we write him back and send him Gilly’s plans for future upgrades, which include adding a waterwheel to power a sawmill, as well as the bellows of the forge, increasing both its output and quality. She also sets up mining points and builds long houses both at the mines and in Brookrun to attract more workers and hopefully grow the town’s population. It’s all so fun that I almost can’t wait to see how it will look when we finally get back there.
As the forest begins to thin, the ground grows rockier and the air colder. My Ninja garb starts to feel inadequate as the winds pick up and the foothills of the mountain range come within view.
My feet and back are killing me as I help Gilly along; I can tell she’s feeling pretty much the same. Maxis, Val Helena, and Rembrandt, however, seem used to this kind of travel and don’t seem to be struggling at all. Val Helena covers far more distance with her long gait than any of us, though, so I suppose it makes sense. Suddenly, I notice a debuff appear on my HUD.
Fatigued
Max Stamina and Stamina Regeneration reduced by half.
Great . . .
Toward the end of the day, it gets so bad that Gilly has to top us up with Second Wind every so o
ften to keep us in pace with the others. Our only reprieve is that we aren’t carrying most of the gear and supplies we brought along for the trip. It seems that even here, when things are stored in inventory, they exist only as information, just like in the Shards, and only come into being when recalled at the expense of nano, sort of like printing in a nano-processor. I can only imagine how bad things would be if I were actually lugging 10 pieces of buffalo meat.
Its late afternoon when we get our first glimpse of Stormwall.
The mountain range is looming big in the sky above us now—rocky at the base, dotted with sparse trees and snowcapped peaks at the very top. I’ve never seen a mountain before, but the sight of it is enough to transport me to another world for a moment. So silent and majestic, I can easily see how people used to consider them holy places.
Near the base of the mountain is a walled city, built into the hard granite of the mountain itself. I count at least five towers that look to be made of a lighter-colored store, or perhaps they’re just painted that way. Nestled between them are smaller buildings with roofs made of red tile. And surrounding everything is a massive wall, at least four-stories high, that protects the front of the city from the plains, as well as the rear of the city from the mountain slope.
“That looks nothing like how I remember it,” Val Helena says as she gazes out over the three or four miles of flat land that separates us from the massive city. “When I was here a month or so ago, that place was half that size, and the wall wasn’t as high.”
“I guess that Braxus guy has been busy,” Maxis says.
“Busy doing what?” Gilly says. “Preparing for war?”
She means it sarcastically, but I get the feeling she might actually be right. “I don’t like the looks of this, guys.”
“You want to skip it?” Val Helena asks.
My eyes say yes, but my aching feet and back say no. “Maybe . . .”
