《The Seventh Spire》 1.1 - Catfish and kidnappers ¡°Someone just threatened to kill me!¡± Josh announced. ¡°I think you should call the police.¡± There was no response from the others. When Josh turned round he saw that Ben had claimed the bed, while Timothy was sprawled on the beanbag in the corner, and both were thoroughly absorbed in their phones. Wow, so much concern. Josh tried again. ¡°This kid threatened to get his Dad¡¯s shotgun,¡± he said. ¡°He told me he¡¯s going to come around to my house and shoot me.¡± Ben gave a disinterested grunt, but Timothy finally put his phone aside and said, ¡°If we arrested everyone who threatened to kill you I think it would clog up an entire police station for the evening. How many people has it been so far? Fifty?¡± ¡°It was only three!¡± Josh protested. ¡°You¡¯re doing really well!¡± Timothy said encouragingly, as if receiving death threats was the whole point of playing a game. Josh refrained from rolling his eyes. He supposed that for some people, it actually was. Ben finally roused himself and looked up. ¡°We¡¯re looking for a kidnapper, not a murderer. Shut up and play the game, before I¡¯m tempted to murder you myself.¡± ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Josh turned back to his computer, which was currently displaying Spiralia Online. ¡°But Ben, just to remind you in case you forgot, it¡¯s the RTX 4070 TI I want.¡± ¡°What¡¯s an RTX thingummy whatsit?¡± Timothy looked bewildered. ¡°It¡¯s a graphics card,¡± Josh explained. ¡°For my computer.¡± ¡°Am I supposed to know what that means?¡± Josh paused and recalibrated his brain from build-your-own-PC levels of technical knowledge all the way down to knows-how-to-open-emails-ninety-percent-of-the-time, which was Timothy¡¯s default. He opened his mouth to explain but Ben got there before him. ¡°It makes his computer games look prettier,¡± Ben muttered, still fixated on his phone. Timothy sat bolt upright. ¡°Wait, Ben, you¡¯re giving him a ... a thingy? An expensive computer thingy? Josh is getting paid for this?¡± ¡°Bribed,¡± Ben corrected. ¡°Why is he getting a bribe and I¡¯m not? I want to be bribed!¡± ¡°You¡¯re just here for moral support. That¡¯s free,¡± Ben pointed out. ¡°Also, I was recruited for my expertise,¡± Josh said smugly. ¡°You barely have any idea what a computer game is, let alone how to play one.¡± Timothy drooped on his beanbag. ¡°I¡¯m crushed. Eight years of medical training, I even have letters after my name, and this is what it gets me.¡± ¡°How long are we going to keep doing this by the way?¡± Josh asked. ¡°This game sucks.¡± It didn¡¯t suck. It wasn¡¯t the sort of thing Josh would normally play but it had some nice mechanics, including a tiered class system, each of which had dozens of different customisation options. Josh¡¯s favourite thing in games, however, was exploring. He loved finding obscure corners of the map or jumping puzzles that no-one else knew about, although it was about more than just physical exploring. He liked finding all the Easter eggs, like characters named after internet memes, and he even enjoyed reading all the forgotten bits of background lore, the kind of dialogue that most players impatiently clicked through in order to get to the quest reward. Spiralia Online had really gone overboard in catering to that kind of thing. It had a massively dense and detailed lore and Josh had only scratched the surface so far. ¡°Most of the missing teenagers on my list played this game for at least two hundred and fifty hours,¡± Ben said. Two hundred and fifty hours was not a lot of time to invest in a massively multiplayer online game. Josh had only been playing for three weeks, and was getting close to that already. He was guiltily aware that he had neglected far too much of his university course work, and would have a huge amount to catch up on when he was finally done with Operation Catch-a-Kidnapper. He wasn¡¯t going to be doing any of the catching himself, of course. Ben wasn¡¯t quite so ambitious that he was willing to risk the life of his younger cousin in what was, essentially, a highly unofficial sting. Not even Ben''s boss had been told about it yet. What Ben was hoping for was that the hypothetical kidnapper might befriend Josh in Spiralia Online, and attempt to set up a real-life meeting under dodgy circumstance, or recruit him into a cult, or whatever had happened to all the missing gamers. This would then be evidence Ben could take to his boss at the online magazine where he worked. Ben¡¯s boss would then be able to use his police contacts to set in motion a series of events that, Ben hoped, would culminate in a police investigation, and a warrant being issued to Six Spires Ltd, the company who made Spiralia Online, ordering them to release details of the missing gamers¡¯ accounts, which might then lead to the kidnapper being caught. This was assuming the missing people hadn¡¯t just run away from home, and that Ben wasn¡¯t imagining the Spiralia Online connection purely out of desperation for a good story. So far all they had caught was a catfish. ¡°LiLa wants me to lend her a thousand quid,¡± Ben announced. LiLa was the catfish. She had claimed to be a sixteen-year old girl and had sent Josh a photo of herself to prove it. This, they had subsequently worked out via a reverse image search, was actually a publicity shot taken from the website of an Italian porn star. Ben had immediately assigned LiLa to himself in case it was a lead. For the last couple of days he had been exchanging private messages with her, while pretending to be Josh, or rather, Josh¡¯s online persona. ¡°You should absolutely give, I mean, lend her money,¡± Josh said. ¡°She sounded like a lovely girl.¡± He paused, and added, ¡°Make sure you give it to her after you buy me my graphics card.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get it for you, alright?¡± Ben said irritably. ¡°Anyway, now that she¡¯s asked for money I can refer her to one of our online fraud guys.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s asking for money?¡± a voice demanded from the doorway. Josh and Ben ignored the newcomer, but Timothy immediately jumped up and blocked Josh¡¯s screen with his body so that she wouldn¡¯t be able to see what was on it, which was absolutely the worst possible way to hide something from a teenage girl. A real one this time¡ªTimothy¡¯s fourteen-year-old sister. Josh didn¡¯t see why Rachel had to be there at all, but she must have realised there was some kind of secret thing going on and, with her unerring instinct for knowing where she would be least welcome, had invited herself round. This was easy for her to do, because Timothy¡¯s family lived next door. Maybe Josh should have suggested they hold the gaming session at his flat instead of Ben¡¯s house, but the internet here was much faster and he¡¯d wanted to take advantage of that while he could. ¡°No-one,¡± Timothy said hastily, in answer to Rachel¡¯s question. He was always acting as if he thought she was in constant need of brotherly protection and guidance, when in fact she was the scariest kid Josh knew. ¡°A catfish,¡± Josh said, at the same time. He was pretty sure Rachel would know what that was. Sure enough, Rachel¡¯s eyes lit up with gleeful interest and she opened her mouth, but Ben got there first again. He was good at that. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°We¡¯re working, and you¡¯re interrupting.¡± How could two men be so unbelievably clueless when it came to interacting with girls? Hadn¡¯t they learned their lesson after the last time they¡¯d tried to hide juicy secrets from her? Rachel¡¯s eyes narrowed suspiciously, while Josh picked up his phone and quickly typed her message. Maybe he could salvage this. ¡°What work?¡± Rachel asked. ¡°Does Aunt Jools know? How does playing games count as work?¡± Aunt Jools was Ben¡¯s mother, and neither Rachel nor Timothy were related to her, but they¡¯d regarded her in the light of an aunt for their entire lives. ¡°Well ¡­ er ¡­¡± Timothy looked helplessly at Ben, who gave him a look back, as if to say, she¡¯s your sister. ¡°This isn¡¯t the kind of thing you need to know about,¡± Timothy said, with an air of finality. Why not just set yourself on fire while you¡¯re at it, Josh thought. It would be quicker and less painful. He sent the message, and Rachel¡¯s phone vibrated. Her hand dived into her pocket while she announced, ¡°I¡¯m going to tell Aunt Jools you¡¯re playing games in your sweaty man cave and pretending to work.¡± Her eyes flicked to the message. But apparently she could read messages and talk simultaneously, because she continued. ¡°Anyway, Ben, didn¡¯t you promise to clear all your stuff out of the garage today? When Aunt Jools gets back I bet she¡¯ll wonder why it¡¯s still floor to ceiling with boxes.¡± She finished reading the message, flicked a quick, speculative glance at Josh, bit her lip thoughtfully while she considered his offer, then turned back to her brother. ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°Keep your secrets why don¡¯t you?¡± She stormed out. Timothy sagged in relief. ¡°Thank god, I really thought we were in trouble there.¡± He ought to have been suspicious that she¡¯d dropped the subject so quickly. ¡°I don¡¯t get how she can have a go at us and read messages all at once,¡± Ben said resentfully. He was still annoyed about the time she had worked out that Timothy and Ben were planning to stake out a suspected local car thief, and had blackmailed them into taking her shopping, on pain of revealing everything to Jools. ¡°Because,¡± Josh held up a finger. ¡°Women¡¯s brains run on quad cores.¡± Even as he said it, he realised that his audience wouldn¡¯t have any idea what he was on about. Sure enough, Timothy asked, ¡°What the hell does that mean? Why is everyone speaking in tongues today?¡± Ben made a dismissive flicking motion with his fingers. ¡°It¡¯s some kind of computer speak.¡± Josh sighed and swivelled back to his game. Privately he thought that if Ben wanted a candidate to pretend to be an unsuspecting victim, Rachel would be extremely good at it. He¡¯d known her to play games for twenty-four hours straight before, and she was utterly ruthless, vanquishing monsters and even fellow players with a focused intensity bordering on obsession. But while it was okay for Ben to risk a male cousin, there was no way he could endanger his best friend¡¯s baby sister, even though the actual danger was minimal. Still, if they didn¡¯t tell Rachel what they were involved in, Josh knew she would inevitably insert herself into the proceedings anyway by spying on them, and the last thing they wanted was for either Timothy¡¯s parents or Aunt Jools to find out what they were up to. Telling Rachel about it was the safer option, Josh thought. She wasn¡¯t a vulnerable teen¡ªthere was no way she would ever let some basement-dwelling neckbeard take advantage of her. If he told her voluntarily she might be grateful enough not to blackmail them all about it. The call Josh had set up was now connected, so when he put his phone surreptitiously back on the desk he angled the screen away from Ben, so that he wouldn¡¯t see that Rachel was listening in. ¡°So how many people went missing, again?¡± Josh asked casually, for Rachel¡¯s benefit. In the game, the player Josh had knocked off the cliff on his way up the Dragon Spire was still sending death threats via private message. He didn¡¯t feel guilty for sending the little brat flying to his death¡ªit served him right for deliberately blocking the narrow ledge which was the only way to reach the final section of the Dragon¡¯s Egg quest. ¡°Six that I found so far, who fit the pattern,¡± Ben replied. ¡°Most of them older, aged between seventeen to nineteen. The youngest was fifteen, though.¡± The fifteen-year-old had been the latest to go missing several months ago, and there had been a nationwide manhunt for him, which was only just winding down. This was what had prompted Ben to research other missing teenagers from previous years, and in the process he¡¯d uncovered what he¡¯d thought was a pattern. The kid hadn¡¯t had a computer himself, but Ben had recently discovered that he¡¯d played Spiralia Online at a friend¡¯s house, on his friend''s account. ¡°But that¡¯s just in the UK,¡± Ben added. ¡°Spiralia Online has servers worldwide, so there could be more.¡± ¡°Wait, you think this is some kind of international conspiracy?¡± Josh said, startled. Ben scowled. ¡°Look, just play, alright? And if anyone in the game asks, your parents are divorced or on drugs or something, you have no friends, and you¡¯re depressed.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Josh nodded. ¡°One sad, lonely, teenager coming right up.¡± He¡¯d been mentioning his supposedly vulnerable background to pretty much anyone he came across in game, and had dropped heavy hints about it in the world chat several times. Pretending to be a couple of years younger than he really was felt creepy, but he decided that as long as he didn¡¯t act like a sleaze bag towards younger girls it would be okay. He had managed to sneak the dragon egg away from the mother dragon while Ben had been explaining his theories about the missing gamers, so now he teleported back to the main city, Celespire. It was a very pretty game, with Celespire in the centre of a circular world filled with varied terrain. In the north were snowy wastelands, bordered by a frozen sea, and in the south a vast desert separated arid mountains from a steamy jungle. The immediate lands around the capital city were mostly ancient woodland, broken up by patches of idyllic farmland, where green meadows full of wildflowers and sheep were criss-crossed by dry-stone walls. In every little valley nestled quaint villages of half-timbered houses with thatched roofs, overlooked by low hills bearing ancient, half-tumbled down stone circles or mysterious ruins. Celespire, however, was the crowning glory of the land, a cluster of white marble arches, columned palaces, and slender shining towers with pointy caps that had probably made any Disney artist who came across it weep with envy. This was where beloved Queen Halina held her Court of Flowers, and where the Royal Council of Wizards doled out urgent quests to save the land from desperate peril. Despite being regularly imperilled, Celespire was a happy place, where the citizens strolled about their daily business, exchanging their stock of daily comments with each other and happily greeting every heroic saviour of the land they came across. Josh had returned to his house in the city¡ªthe player houses were another beautifully designed mechanic in the game¡ªand started the long, complicated alchemical process that would hatch out the dragon¡¯s egg, eventually turning it into a flying mount, when he realised that Ben had been repeatedly trying to get his attention. ¡°Yeah?¡± he asked absently. Ben put a hand on his shoulder, and he realised it was nine o¡¯ clock in the evening. ¡°Look, thanks for this,¡± Ben said. ¡°I really appreciate it. But maybe you should take a break now? We¡¯re close to two hundred and fifty hours, and I want to be there the next time you log in, in case this bastard targets you. We can try again at the weekend, okay?¡± But my dragon egg, Josh wanted to protest. ¡°Yeah, no problem,¡± he said, and logged out of the game. He waited for everyone to leave, and then logged straight back in again. He would play another two, wait no, another three hours, and then go to bed. He started a screen recording, just in case something happened and he needed to show Ben. He spent some time sorting out his inventory, throwing stuff he wouldn¡¯t use on the player market, restocking his chests with health and mana potions, and then he finished off a couple of daily quests, all of which took him slightly more than three hours. He was just about to log off when he realised that the progression on his dragon egg had halted until he gathered firelily herbs, which you could only get on the smoky slopes of Vulcanspire, in the southern jungle. He had a teleport point near there, however, so the whole expedition would only take him twenty minutes, tops. While doing that he ended up running into another player who was trying kill fire drakes for their hides, but kept dying to their flame attack, so he stayed to help, and then his new friend offered to craft him an upgraded bow, which of course he had to test immediately by finding some monsters to kill, incidentally managing to clear a whole village of rampaging gryphons in the process. And then suddenly it was four am. Oops. When Josh teleported back to Celespire, promising himself that this time he would really log off, he got yet another quest. The odd thing about it was that, as far as he knew, he hadn¡¯t clicked on anything or achieved anything that might have prompted it. All his previous quests had come from interacting with non-player characters, or from discovering random things in the world, or from killing a monster. Normally there was some action that would set it off. This quest had just popped up out of nowhere. [Do you want to be immortal? Rewards Items: None Experience: 0 Gold: 0 Special rewards: The Adventure of a Lifetime Accept / Decline] That was ... odd. A quest with no rewards? And why did it ask him if he wanted to be immortal? His character was already effectively immortal, since he would just resurrect if he died. He hesitated, then pressed Accept. Nothing happened. The quest just sat in his journal, not doing anything, not pointing to anywhere, not asking him to go and kill one hundred giant toads as the first step towards immortality or whatever. He was too sleepy to deal with this. He¡¯d show it to Ben in the morning. He logged out, and crashed straight into bed. While he slept, he dreamed. He was walking through the woods behind Ben¡¯s house, a small copse of scrubby trees bisected by a series of muddy paths where people walked their dogs. It was early morning, the clouds in the east luminous with the promise of the day¡¯s sun, and the air was crisp and sharp in his lungs. He wondered why he was dreaming of the woods. In the funny way of dreams, he could remember getting out of bed, throwing on some clothes, grabbing his phone and his wallet, and walking out of the house, all without actually having lived through those moments. In the dream, Josh kept walking until he came to the road on the other side of the wood. It was a quiet little lane which saw few cars early in the day. He stood on the verge, a pleasurable sense of excitement and anticipation rising in him, like a tide surging in, fizzing through his bloodstream and rushing into his head. He heard his name being called and then there was light everywhere, so bright he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was somewhere else, and he was suddenly very, very awake. 1.2 - Its a feather in your cap Josh found himself in a blank space. There was landscape curving all around him, but it was grey, shadowy and indistinct. In front of him was a tall column of light with a shape that hinted at the figure of a person, but without distinguishing features. There was something dream-like about the place, but he could somehow tell, utterly and without doubt, that he wasn¡¯t dreaming. His first thought was: the kidnappers got me. His second thought was: Ben is going to go spare! His third thought was: but I didn¡¯t even get my graphics card. And then his brain caught up with events, and he felt very afraid. This was more than just a weirdo abducting teens, or a serial killer, or a ring of human traffickers. It was as if he¡¯d been kidnapped by aliens. He didn¡¯t even have a frame of reference to describe what was happening to him. ¡°This one greets you,¡± the shining figure of light said, in a beautifully modulated androgenous voice. ¡°Welcome to the land of the Six Spires.¡± Six spires, Josh thought. The game company. ¡°Where the hell am I?¡± he asked. ¡°You are in a state of potential. Be ready, traveller, for a seed of greatness waits within you.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer my question,¡± Josh said dryly, amazed that his voice sounded so calm. His heart was hammering in his chest. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°This one is the Guardian.¡± It followed that explanation by repeating its welcome greeting, with exactly the same inflection in its voice that it had used previously. Was Josh talking to some kind of automated voice response system? ¡°How do I get home?¡± he asked. In response, the Guardian gestured, and a window appeared in the air, like a futuristic floating semi-transparent computer screen. ¡°Please choose a profession to proceed to the world of the Six Spires,¡± it said. The list scrolled when Josh looked at it, pausing whenever he focused on any one line, as if it was reacting not just to the direction of his eyes, but also to his level of concentration. He saw some of the classes he¡¯d encountered in Spiralia¡ªenchanter, knight, paladin, necromancer, ranger, warlock, wizard, witch. There were also a host of crafter classes, like butcher, brewer, cook, glassblower, and so on. He ignored the menu, turned on his heel, and started walking in the opposite direction. After several minutes, the landscape hadn¡¯t changed, the low hills just as far away as they had been moments ago, and the shining figure behind him with its menu of classes had either drifted with him, or he hadn¡¯t been moving at all. Whatever kind of reality or simulation he was in, it was designed to keep him in the centre with the class menu. This wasn¡¯t something he could escape from physically. He stopped walking. ¡°What happens if I choose a class?¡± he asked. ¡°You will continue to your destiny, brave adventurer!¡± the Guadian said unhelpfully, and without a trace of irony. ¡°The land of the Six Spires needs you.¡± ¡°And what happens if I don¡¯t choose a class?¡± A timer appeared beside the menu. There were five minutes on the clock, and it immediately began counting down. ¡°If you are unable to decide, a profession will be chosen for you.¡± Josh hated being forced into a box like this. It felt like making a choice would be the first step to submitting to the authority of whoever¡ªor whatever¡ªhad put him here. Don¡¯t panic, he told himself. It wants you to panic, to not think too deeply about what was happening. Josh was going to use every second of those five minutes to wring as much information as he could from the Guardian. At least he now had a frame of reference upon which to hang his expectations. He was in character creation for a world that operated like a computer game. A world with a system. It was even a game he knew. It wasn¡¯t as if he¡¯d never fantasised about what it would be like to be transported into fantasy world based on a computer game. Of course he had. But usually he¡¯d envisioned himself materialising with his max level character, all fully geared and statted up. The other thing he didn¡¯t like about this scenario was that he was limited to one character. Josh habitually played on multiple characters¡ªhe¡¯d already created five in Spiralia Online. He¡¯d started with a ranger, since it was usually a good class for exploring, and was often versatile, with options for both ranged and melee fighting. In most games, rangers were able to wear medium armour, and had decent crowd control options from either traps or trick arrows, or both. Ranger was usually his first go-to class. However, he¡¯d found that the best class for exploring in Spiralia had actually been the paladin. It wasn¡¯t an archetype that normally interested him, but the high defence bonuses and healing meant he could run through a spawn of high-level monsters and survive, where the ranger would have died. He''d also tried a wizard, a knight and a bard, but the ranger and the paladin were the ones he¡¯d spent most time on. He focused on the class menu, taking his time despite the timer counting away. There were a couple of oddities about the list. First, most of the classes were greyed out. Second, to the right of each class were two numbers. He paused at the section that had ranger in it. Priest (15/15) Printer (10/10) Ranger (10/10) Shaman (5/5) Smith (50/50) Soldier (100/100) Sorcerer (5/5) Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.Spinner (50/50) Stonemason (15/15) Tailor (50/50) Tamer (15/15) Toad Doctor (5/5) Thief (5/5) Weaver (50/50) What on earth was a toad doctor? And why were there so many crafting classes when the players were supposed to be heroes? ¡°What do the numbers after the classes mean?¡± he asked. ¡°It is written that there can be no more than a thousand heroes,¡± the Guardian responded. ¡°Thus, the professions are limited, so that all may be represented. Those you see before you have been fulfilled.¡± Josh frowned as he unpacked that. The number on the right was the maximum number of slots of that class available, and the number on the left was the number of players who currently had that class. It meant there were five thieves out of a maximum of five, and fifty weavers out of a maximum of fifty. Almost all the classes on the list were full. Had the game truly sucked in nearly a thousand people? Ben, what did you get me mixed up in, he thought. This was way, way bigger than even Ben had realised. The timer was ticking down, and Josh needed to concentrate. Limiting the amount of players who could take a class meant that whoever had set this system up hadn¡¯t trusted their victims to choose a balanced distribution of classes when left to themselves. That could mean the classes were wildly unbalanced in power. Josh scanned through the list again. Crafting classes ranged in rarity, with only ten printers or ice sculptors compared to fifty tailors or cooks. Did that mean that printer or ice sculptor was a better class, or just that their profession was more niche? Combat classes were even more exclusive. There were only five of each type of mage, yet fifteen rangers and priests. If each player who got sucked in was intended to be a hero and saviour of Celespire, why were there so many crafting classes compared to the traditional combat archetypes? There were three minutes left on the timer. ¡°What can tailors do?¡± Josh asked the Guardian, and got a useless explanation in reply. ¡°Yes, I know they can sew clothes,¡± he said through gritted teeth. ¡°Can they do anything special or magical?¡± It turned out that tailors could use enchanted cloth to create garments of great power, or sew charms into clothing, and Josh reluctantly began to see how a crafting class might have some combat utility. If you could clothe yourself in magical items that would give you an edge. Cooks could produce a feast for heroes, imbuing diners with enhancements. Woodcarvers could craft amulets to keep away foul spirits, stonemasons could build guardian statues, brewers could brew ale that would keep an army marching for days without food. There weren¡¯t a lot of professions left. All the greyed-out ones had been taken, leaving only a few highlighted in bold. ¡°Show only available professions,¡± Josh said. The list condensed. Assassin (4/5) Demon (0/1) Plumassier (0/10) There was one assassin slot available, one demon slot, and ten plumassier slots. He didn¡¯t want to be either an assassin or a demon. Two minutes left on the timer. ¡°What¡¯s a plumassier?¡± Apparently, it was someone who arranged feathers decoratively. Josh was totally unable to imagine how you would weaponize decorative feathers, unless you fletched them and stuck them to an arrow. ¡°Can they do magic?¡± he asked. There was a pause, before the Guardian said, ¡°All crafting professions have at least one magic ability.¡± But the Guardian didn¡¯t know what it was? Or was it blocked from saying? ¡°Why don¡¯t you know?¡± ¡°This one has not seen a plumassier use a magic ability in times past.¡± That implied the Guardian didn¡¯t control the system, or have full knowledge of it. Who had created the system? That wasn¡¯t relevant right now. It was something Josh would have to come back to later. ¡°You said you hadn¡¯t seen a plumassier use a magic ability. Does that mean that people have chosen plumassier before but you¡¯ve never seen them use magic, or that you¡¯ve never seen one before?¡± The guardian paused again. The pauses made Josh suspicious, since that seemed like something a sentient intelligence would do, not an automated system. ¡°Alas, the rare few who have chosen this profession in the past were lost to the mists.¡± ¡°What does that mean? Did they die?¡± ¡°They were lost to the lands of the Six Spires,¡± the Guardian repeated. ¡°They are one with the mists, now.¡± That sounded like a euphemism for death. The inevitable conclusion was that the three options¡ªassassin, demon and plumassier¡ªweren¡¯t the leftover classes after nine hundred and eighty-eight people had chosen from the list. They couldn¡¯t be. Assassin would have been a popular class, and Josh was willing to bet all the assassin slots had been filled by the first fifty players. The fact that there was now a slot free meant players were exiting out of the game, or world, or whatever reality this was, leaving slots that could then be chosen by new players coming in. Not exiting, he thought. Dying. ¡°Once I travel to the land of the Six Spires,¡± he said. ¡°Is it possible for me to die?¡± ¡°All heroes are immortal,¡± the shining figure told him. ¡°If you fall in combat, you will arise again.¡± It paused, and added, ¡°Rarely are heroes lost forever.¡± So there was something in the world that could kill heroes. It sounded like you could resurrect, just as in the game, but there were certain things that could kill you permanently. He had one minute left on the timer. Assassin, demon, or plumassier? Josh didn¡¯t want to be a demon, and plumassier sounded useless, so useless that the people who had taken it had permanently died. He felt hollow inside. The only thing left was assassin. But he wanted a class that could protect itself, and assassin was a horrible class for that. It was usually a glass cannon¡ªinsane burst damage but super squishy, all its meagre defences piled into evasion. On the other hand assassin classes usually had good sneaking abilities. Maybe he could use it to hide from everything that wanted to kill him. Plus it was a class with only five slots, which probably meant it was good. So assassin it was, then. Even as he watched, however, the assassin count updated to (5/5), and it vanished from the available list. That must mean he wasn¡¯t the only other person choosing professions right now. ¡°You¡¯ve kidnapped other people at the same time as me?¡± he asked. Ben was going to go absolutely nuts. Demon (0/1) Plumassier (0/10) Even as Josh spoke, he stared at the demon class. It was suspicious that there was only one demon allowed. For a start, demon was a race, not a profession. Why was it in the professions list? Was it meant to be an antagonist? Would Josh find himself hunted or targeted if he chose it? What did it mean to be a demon? Would he change into something else? Would this game, world, whatever it was be able to affect his brain, manipulate his feelings, turn him into something else? He was overthinking things, as usual. It hadn¡¯t just been Josh sitting here agonising over class choice. What if there was a third person busy choosing? Someone else could take demon at any minute. He knew how this was supposed to go. When you got abducted into a world with a game system, you were supposed to get some secretly overpowered trick or skill or class. Demon was obviously the thing he was supposed to choose. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. The other nine hundred and ninety players had probably thought they were special too, yet a tenth of them had ended up taking the soldier class. Still, Josh hesitated. He had fifteen seconds left. And then demon was gone too, leaving just the ten plumassier slots. ¡°You kidnapped three people all at the same time?¡± he exclaimed. The Guardian didn¡¯t reply. Someone else was now on their way to being the super overpowered demonic antagonist. Josh wasn¡¯t sure whether to feel relieved or not. The timer counted down to zero. The word Plumassier flashed bright on the list, chosen for him after all. ¡°Farewell, traveller!¡± the Guardian said. ¡°May fortune find you!¡± Josh may have been abducted but, as the grey landscape around him faded, his last thought was that at least the world he was being involuntarily whisked off to would be an idyllic and pretty fantasy world. 1.3 - You cant go wrong with jewellery Josh opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, with grass tickling his neck, looking up at a dark sky threaded with skeletal branches. He sat up cautiously. He was wearing the fantasy game equivalent of medieval peasant garb, the sort of ragged clothing you normally spawned in when you first created a new character. His outfit consisted of a tunic, a separate hood with a fringe, hose, and thin leather shoes. Around his waist was a narrow, worn leather belt with a rusty knife stuck through it. There was also a pouch hanging from it which contained a couple of rounds of dry bread. The air smelled of damp earth and woodsmoke, and there was a baleful, fiery red glow on the horizon. At first Josh thought it was sunset, but when he looked in the opposite direction he could see distant shafts of sunlight piercing black clouds. He wasn¡¯t anywhere he recognised from Spiralia Online. Why was it so dark? A storm? There was no breeze, though, only a sullen humidity that made his skin feel instantly sticky. A sudden nearby crunch made him flinch. A large animal was moving through the undergrowth. He heard a snort of heavy breath, so he stood absolutely still until he heard it crashing away in the opposite direction. He stayed frozen for several eternal minutes, but it didn¡¯t come back. When he crept out of the thicket he had appeared in, he found himself on the edge of an overgrown field, with tumble-down farm buildings nearby. They looked like they might provide shelter, but Josh knew better than to go poking around them. Ruins invariably hosted monsters, and there were no guarantees that they would be the kind of monsters easily felled by a single rusty knife. He didn¡¯t see any sign of anyone else. It didn¡¯t look like the people who had taken the assassin and demon class had been sent here. Maybe there were different starting zones, but this looked way too dark to be a starting zone. Was this some kind of alien simulation, or a real world? Would Josh have a character sheet? Before he could investigate this possibility, he heard a mournful howl, and saw several sleek grey shapes loping towards the ruined farm buildings. Wolves. He knew that wolves in the wild wouldn¡¯t normally hunt humans, but these were fantasy wolves, so who knew what they might decide to do. He backed away slowly, and headed further into the woods. The ground beneath him became steeper, so he headed up slope, trying to walk as quietly as possible, although leaves and twigs kept inserting themselves under his feet so they could crunch and snap loudly. He mourned his lack of ranger skills¡ªwhat good would decorative feathers be in this situation? If he could get higher maybe he would be able to see more of the surrounding countryside, and work out where he was. Despite the noise he had made, there was no sign of wolves following him. When he came to just below the crown of the hill, he saw several large slabs thrusting up into the sky. It was one of the many abandoned stone circles you found in the territory surrounding Celespire. But he was nowhere near Celespire. Was he? He turned, his head drawn as if by a magnet to the eerie red glow on the horizon. Sure enough, now that he was high enough, he could see the distant but distinctive silhouette of Celespire¡¯s pointy towers and arches, rendered in a sooty black. The red glow was coming from there. Thick clouds gathered above the city, with occasional flashes of lightning stabbing into the ground around it. That was Celespire? What had happened to it? Maybe nine-hundred and ninety-one heroes had proved unequal to the perils besetting it. Josh stayed on the hill for several minutes, his mind blank as he tried to orientate himself in this strange new version of Six Spires. At length he shivered and looked around him. There was a gentle silver light bobbing in between the standing stones, and he hastily looked away. Will o¡¯ the wisps, dangerous only if you stared at them for too long. In the game, the lands around Celespire had been comparatively safe, but it didn¡¯t look that way anymore. It probably wasn¡¯t safe to stay out in the open. Josh skirted cautiously around the standing stones. His plan was start walking in the opposite direction from Celespire, and see if he could find out what had happened here. If he found somewhere safe to hide, he would see what his stupid class was capable of. Speaking of which, were there any feathers here? He did, in fact, see a bedraggled grey feather caught up in a tussock of grass, visible only because the moon chose that moment to sail from beneath the clouds. He picked the feather up, and immediately he found himself strangely aware of it, of the hollow structure of the quill, of the fluff near the point, and of the neat arrangement of barbs that made up the vane. He held it up to the moonlight to see it better, and it was only then that he remembered that one, it was daytime, and two, Six Spires had several tiny little moons, not a single large one like Earth. Where was the moonlight coming from? He whipped round. There, in the centre of the standing stones, a silvery blue light was growing, elongating and stretching until it resembled a door, flickering briefly when dark figures passed on the other side of it. Josh didn¡¯t wait to see more. He bolted for the treeline, tripping and sliding in his haste, and managed to reach it just as the fey from the other side of the doorway came pouring through. He crouched down in the bushes, holding his breath. In Spiralia Online the fey were more like elves than fairies, tall and fair and graceful. They were dressed in ornate, gleaming armour, with half cloaks of coloured silk flung over one shoulder, and they rode stags, or slender unicorns with curved horns. He recognised them as Trooping Fey, which was a relief. If it had been the Wild Hunt, Josh would have been in a lot more trouble. That didn¡¯t mean he was safe. The fey were known to be capricious, and not fond of humans. Trotting in amongst the hooves of the mounts were hounds, their coats gleaming white with tails waving like flags. Josh crouched further down in the bushes, and waited for the cavalcade to leave. Instead the fey milled around the stones. He caught only glimpses of them, but their faces seemed stern and serious. It was one of the dogs that found him, following his scent down the hill into the tree line with its nose to the ground until it reached him, whereupon it immediately started baying excitedly. The next moment, Josh was surrounded by fey mounts, their hooves trampling the foliage all about, while the fey riders called out in clear, high, bell-like voices. He crouched there, his mouth dry and his heart beating uncomfortably as the leader of the cavalcade approached. She rode a stag, a great white heavy-chested beast with antlers nearly four feet across, and she wore silvery scale armour. A silver circlet fashioned into thorns crowned her brow, and a light veil covered the lower part of her face, leaving only a pair of large, dark eyes, which regarded him coolly. Josh knew who she was. He¡¯d completed the entire Fey Questline in Spiralia. This had started out with the player bearing a message from Queen Halina, the ruler of Celespire, to the Queen of the Fey. However, the latter wouldn¡¯t even speak to you until you had completed another series of side quests to save the fey realm, all the while accompanied by the Fey Queen¡¯s warrior handmaiden, who had later turned out to be the Fey Queen herself in disguise. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Now what have you found, Belenus?¡± the Queen asked. She must have been addressing the hound because it wagged its tail so hard its whole backside wiggled to and fro, and it let out a series of happy yips. ¡°Yes, my dear, I heard you the first time.¡± One of the fey, a male with red hair in braids and a whip folded in one hand, dismounted and approached. He grabbed Josh¡¯s hair and pulled his head back. Josh didn¡¯t resist¨Che felt frozen in place. ¡°It¡¯s a spy,¡± the fey male said. ¡°I swear I¡¯m not a spy,¡± Josh gabbled. ¡°I climbed the hill to get my bearings, that¡¯s all. I didn¡¯t mean to intrude.¡± A memory from the Fey Queen¡¯s questline surfaced, of the appropriate etiquette to use when addressing a queen, and he added, ¡°Your Majesty.¡± She raised slender eyebrow. ¡°Are you lost, human?¡± Josh felt a shiver run up his spine at the sound of her voice, not from fear, but from the sheer, smooth beauty of it. ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± ¡°And what is your purpose here?¡± Josh had never been into the playacting part of roleplaying, where you walked around in games pretending to speak like your character. He admired it when it was done well, but it wasn¡¯t something he had ever got into. Now he wished he had. He could have used the practice. It would be simplest if he stuck to the truth. ¡°I¡¯m searching for people who were taken from my ¡­ village,¡± he said. Was the Queen even a real person, or just a construct? The cool intelligence behind the eyes that studied him seemed real enough. Her gaze flicked up to the fey with the red braids and the whip, as if asking a question. Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw him nod, once. Could he tell if Josh lied? ¡°Who took them?¡± the Queen asked. ¡°The scourge?¡± Josh hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think so? Ow!¡± The fey jerked painfully at Josh¡¯s hair. ¡°Speak with respect,¡± he growled. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, Your Majesty,¡± Josh amended. The Queen considered. She lifted a hand, and in answer to her summons another rider came forward, this one in armour coloured blood red, with a closed helm and a curved knife at their waist. There was a reddish glow about them, a visible nimbus. ¡°Well, Charral?¡± the Queen asked. ¡°What say you?¡± In answer Charral started drawing the knife with an ugly scrape, but at the last minute the Queen flicked her hand up again, palm out. ¡°Hold!¡± she commanded, and Charral immediately stopped, the blade half drawn. The Queen dismounted by throwing one leg across the withers of her stag and falling lightly to the ground. She knelt in front of Josh and studied his eyes carefully. ¡°Tell me, human,¡± she said. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± That, at least, Josh could answer. Thank god he¡¯d paid so much attention to the quest dialogue. ¡°The Queen of the Fey, Your Majesty,¡± Josh answered, ¡°The Duchess of Thorns, and¡­ and¡­¡± What were her other titles again? ¡°¡­ and the Countess of the Veiled Realms.¡± Thanks to the Fey Questline, he also knew her given name, Elarieth. Players didn¡¯t get to know that automatically¡ªyou had to choose the right dialogue options with her at the right moment, and she only revealed it once. Josh decided to keep that knowledge to himself right now. The recitation of the Queen¡¯s titles had awarded Josh a slow blink. ¡°Answer me this, then¡ªhave you ever laid eyes upon me before?¡± she asked. What was this about? Did the Queen know about players from Earth? About the game? She didn¡¯t seem like the kind of person who would appreciate humans claiming close friendship with her on the basis of an online flirtation with her virtual double. It had been a romance-heavy quest, which made Josh internally cringe in retrospect. The weight of her presence was too great and too overwhelming to make dalliance with her seem even the ghost of a possibility. ¡°Only by reputation, Your Majesty,¡± he said, playing it safe. There was a pause, while she considered him again. ¡°And what is your profession?¡± she asked at last, her voice light and languid. ¡°Are you a hunter? A tracker? What skill makes you suited for your role as saviour to your ¡­¡± she paused, ¡°¡­ your village?¡± She hadn¡¯t said anything overt, but it almost sounded as if she was aware of game mechanics. Josh no longer thought she was merely a construct. Or if she was, she was such a sophisticated one that she was indistinguishable from a real person. Tell the truth, he thought. ¡°I was the bait,¡± he blurted out. ¡°I was meant to draw out the ¡­ whatever was taking our people.¡± There was another silence, during which the Queen stared into his eyes. He could feel his ears and neck heating under the force of her gaze. ¡°My lady, let my blade taste his heart,¡± Charral said, at last. Her voice was low and rough. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question, human,¡± the Queen said finally. ¡°What is your profession?¡± This was beyond humiliating. ¡°I¡¯m a plumassier, Your Majesty,¡± he muttered. She looked almost amused. She snapped her fingers, and a slight puff of air blew something upwards into her hand. He realised it was the feather he had found on the hill top. He must have dropped it when the fey found him. ¡°Make me something with this feather,¡± the Queen said. ¡°And I will let you go free.¡± Make her something? Even as a flood of relief rushed through him, Josh realised he didn¡¯t have the first idea how to go about that. The fey with the red braids let go of Josh''s hair and he reached out hesitantly. The moment his fingers touched the feather, however, he felt possibilities curving away in his mind. He knew how to strip it, how to dye it pleasing colours, how to fluff up the barbs, and how to curl it like a ribbon. What could he make with a feather? What did women like? Jewellery? The version of Queen Elarieth in the game had been a martial sort of character, not the kind of person who cared about anything as frivolous as jewellery, and this version of her looked no different. But Josh had no idea how you made anything war-like out of such a light, flimsy object, and whatever it was the plumassiers did to feathers didn¡¯t include fletching them onto arrows. Could he make a ring? A necklace? A bracelet? The feather was about ten inches long, so it was too big to make a ring with, and too small for a necklace, but maybe he could manage a bracelet. Even as he had the thought, he found his hands were stripping some of the barbs, fluffing the rest into curls, and then gradually curling the quill so that it bent in a circle. When it was finished it looked ¡­ bracelet-like, which surprised no-one more than Josh. He hesitated before giving it to the Queen, however. There was something missing from it. He turned it in his hands, frowning, and felt something rise up from within him, a tiny rush of harmony in the form of a golden wave of sparks that flowed from his fingers and sank into the feathers. For a moment, the whole feather glowed, and then the light faded away. That was magic. Josh had just done magic, and for one moment he didn¡¯t regret anything¡ªnot agreeing to help Ben, not the two hundred and fifty hours in Spiralia online, not being torn from his friends and family and thrust into a dark and dangerous world, and not even his class choice. The feeling was so right and so beautiful and so poignant he wanted to cry. And then suddenly he snapped back to himself, hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, with damp patches on his knees where he¡¯d been kneeling in the grass. When he looked at the bracelet it was different, somehow¡ªmore real, more vibrant, the white quill a creamy band threading through velvety grey feathers that were as soft as a cloud. Hesitantly, he held it out to the Queen. He couldn¡¯t see her mouth because of the veil, but her eyes were slanted in an amused way, as if he was a puppy who had performed a cute and slightly unexpected trick. Instead of taking the bracelet, she held out her wrist, which made some of her retinue shift uneasily. Very slowly and carefully Josh slid the bracelet on. Her wrist was narrow but strong, and though he was trying not to impose, at one point his fingers brushed her skin, which was cool to the touch, and satin-soft. He felt himself flushing again. Even when he pulled back, he could still feel the feather, a tiny circle of golden motes that pulsed quietly. A bracelet for his life. To the fey in the game, balance was important. If you did one a favour, they would be obligated to perform and equal and opposite favour. They were masters of twisting their own rules to their advantage, but they held to them without fail. The Queen¨Cthis version of her¨Chad agreed to exchange his life for a feather bracelet. Leaving aside the matter of whether she had the right to take his life or not in the first place, the bargain was vastly unequal in Josh''s favour. If these fey were anything like the ones in the game, the bracelet he had given her was more of a promise, a recognition of a favour owed, a down payment towards a future service he might be called upon to provide. Was there anything Josh could offer now to even the trade? He knew her name, but she didn¡¯t know his. If he gave that, would that help? It might give her power over him, but she held his life in her hands already. He really needed to stop overthinking things. He came to a decision. ¡°My name is Josh,¡± he said. ¡°Josh Armstrong.¡± All the fey froze, and the Queen¡¯s eyebrows flew up. The silence hung on the moment, stretching out until the sound of a knife blade slamming back into its hilt made Josh jump. Charral was staring at him, and while he couldn¡¯t see her face, the aura of hatred emanating from her was palpable. The Queen rose smoothly to her feet and swung herself onto the back of the great white stag. She looked down at Josh. ¡°May you find what you seek,¡± she said. Her tone was ambiguous enough that he couldn¡¯t tell whether it was a blessing or a curse. Maybe it was both. There was a blurred sensation of movement, as a horn sounded sharply, and the forest of hooves surrounding Josh pranced this way and that in a confusing melee, and then suddenly the cavalcade of Trooping Fey was gone, and he was kneeling, alone and breathless in an empty patch of trampled grass. 1.4 - It’s harder without macros It turned out there was a character sheet. Josh just had to close his eyes and concentrate, and he could feel a slight response deep inside, as if he was asking a question. When he opened his eyes, the sheet was floating in front of him, a minimalist transparent window that seemed totally out of place. Even though it was transparent, it completely blocked his view, blurring out anything behind it, so he was glad he¡¯d found safe-ish place to check it out. He was currently huddled in a shepherd¡¯s hut, having choked down one of the rounds of dried bread as a meagre supper. He was still hungry. Also, night was falling, and the air was getting cool, but even if Josh had known how to light a fire, he wouldn¡¯t have dared. He¡¯d seen no sign of human activity. Everywhere had been abandoned¡ªthe fields choked with weeds, the farmhouses falling into disrepair, the wells dried up. He¡¯d found a small stream winding its way through the woods, and just hoped that either it was clean, or that e. coli wasn¡¯t a thing here. He¡¯d finally worked out where he was after coming across a road with a broken waystone. One side had pointed in the direction of Celespire, and the other to a town called Brackstone, which he remembered as being in the north. All the distances were different. In the game version of the world you could teleport between certain points, but even if you rode from one side of the map to the other, it would only still only take a couple of hours. However, Josh had been walking for at least half a day, and he was still in the farmland around Celespire. There were a lot more farmhouses and hamlets than he remembered, which made sense. If you were making a real place out of a fantasy game, the world would have to be a lot bigger, and have a lot more people in it too. Josh had no idea where the people were, but on the plus side he hadn¡¯t seen any monsters either. With no better destination in mind, he had decided to head for Brackstone, although at this rate it would likely take him several days to walk there. There was also a druid¡¯s grove not far off, and he was keen to check that out too, since it would only involve a short detour. Josh focused on the character sheet. The good news was that it was similar to the one in Spiralia Online. It was divided into headings: Basic Information, Physical Attributes, Magical Attributes, Senses, Knowledge, Skills, and Magic, followed by Achievements, Messages and Quests. He focused on Basic Information first. [BASIC INFORMATION Name: Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 1 Total experience points: 0 (Experience available! Check your achievements to apply experience!) Experience required for level 2: 100 Player rank: #865 Kills: 0 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #496 Outworld status: Visible Hide outworld status to other outworlders: Yes / No (Only available below level 10)] There were several interesting things there, and a couple of things which were of outright concern. Josh mulled over the implications, his mind racing, but eventually set it aside to consider in more depth later. The first thing he did was turn Hide Status on, so that Outworld Status showed as ¡®Hidden.¡¯ The second thing he did was update his name to his real one, Josh Armstrong, which was simply a matter of focusing on and thinking the words very clearly in his mind. He really wanted to investigate the experience he had received, but he made himself check the rest of his sheet first. [PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 29 | Strength 42 | Agility 24 | Speed 27 | Endurance 7 | Resilience 12 | Manual Dexterity 63 | Vocalisation 35 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 11 SENSES Vision: 10 (Colour 11, Distance 8, Night 1) | Smell: 3 | Hearing: 4 | Taste: 7 | Touch: 8] There were more physical attributes than in Spiralia Online, which Josh guessed was so that whatever system was in place could model the human body more accurately than in a computer game. However, there were no starting points he could apply to make himself immediately healthier or faster. That was massively disappointing. On the other hand, he was relieved to see the mental attributes were missing. While greater intelligence or wisdom would have been useful, the idea of some alien entity messing about with his brain was terrifying. That they¡¯d added extra magical senses was unsettling enough, but at least he still felt like himself. The levels of the physical attributes weren¡¯t surprising. In Spiralia the base attributes of a new character¡ªrepresenting a healthy young person of average fitness¡ªwould be 25 across the board. The ones on Josh''s character sheet were typical of an average twenty-one-year-old male who spent most of his time sitting around on his backside playing games, and occasionally went to the gym to lift weights, because that was the thing you did to attract girls. How did you level the attributes? In Spiralia, you got a certain number of points per level which you could allocate wherever you liked, but you also got a finite number of extra points from using skills and spells. For example, if you used movement skills a lot, the game saw that as ¡®training¡¯ and increased your Endurance and Speed. If you cast spells a lot, you would get boosts to Power or Chi, depending on the type of spell. This inevitably resulted in players setting up macros that trained their attributes while they were away from their computer. The cities were often full of unattended characters running and jumping in little loops, or casting spells, or stabbing at training dummies over and over again. Maybe it would work the same way here, except without the macros. Josh couldn¡¯t help feeling secretly excited at the idea of being able to make himself stronger or faster with just a click. But maybe it wouldn¡¯t be that easy. Next Josh looked at KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and MAGIC. [KNOWLEDGE Feather Folklore I: You understand the structure of common feathers. SKILLS Feather Fingers I: You know the basics of how to manipulate feathers into decorative objects. MAGIC Infuse I (feathers): You can imbue feathers with your magical essence. Feather Feel I: You can sense nearby feathers which have been imbued with magic.] None of it was a surprise, as he had already used or experienced the effects of each one listed. He would need to do a lot of testing, but he could already think of several things he could do with it. Limited things, granted, but they were possibilities all the same. There were three more parts to check: ACHIEVEMENTS, MESSAGES and QUESTS. It was with a sense of anticipation that Josh expanded these menus. [ACHIEVEMENTS A Paltry Plume I: Well done! You have crafted your first item, basic as it was. Reward: 10xp. (apply) Stolen story; please report. Royal Patronage I: You¡¯re moving up in the world! You have crafted your first item for royalty. Reward: 250xp. (apply) Fey Favour I: That was a lucky escape ¨C the Queen of the Fey spared your life! Reward: you get to live. For now. MESSAGES Congratulations! You have arrived in the land of the Six Spires. These are dire times, when bands of unruly brigands roam the land, and Celespire has been taken by the armies of the Storm King. As a humble apprentice, the world may seem a frightening place to you right now, but have no fear, all is not lost! Seek out friends in the humble village of Leybeck. First steps! You have enough experience points to reach level 2. Once applied, this will take effect during your next long rest. Keep it up! You have enough experience points to reach level 3. Once applied, this will take effect during your next long rest. QUESTS Seeking Sanctuary: Find the village of Leybeck. Reward: 50xp.] So the Storm King was the thing that had happened to Celespire. Presumably he was an end game boss, and therefore of no concern whatsoever to Josh. The Paltry Plume achievement looked like the same kind of reward for crafting you got in Spiralia, and Josh could guess future level ups would go, so no mystery there. The large bonus from Royal Patronage indicated that the encounter with the Fey Queen was just happenstance, and not something the game had planned as a story hook for a new player. This theory was supported by the fact that there was no Fey Queen quest. Josh still couldn¡¯t decide whether meeting her had been lucky or unlucky. The single quest he did have was useless. If he was tracking his location correctly, Leybeck was now a day¡¯s walk to the south-west. The quest system could go and die in a fire as far as he was concerned. Finally, he focused on the experience rewards, mentally commanded them to apply, and was startled when he heard a pleasant chiming sound. He supposed he shouldn''t have been surprised. That was the attraction of games after all, the auditory level up sounds were simply another way for the user interface to reward your hard work, resulting in that addictive little dopamine rush that kept you logging in time and time again. However, when the sounds were happening in his head it was suddenly considerably more ominous, not to mention blatantly manipulative. The uneasy feeling lingered, even when he checked the basic information panel: [BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 1 > 3 (pending) Total experience points: 260 Experience required for level 4: 225 Player rank: #865] Next, he looked at the handful of feathers in his lap. He¡¯d collected any he came across, and now he had five¡ªthree tiny little speckled sparrow feathers, a fourth from a pheasant, and a fifth in the form of a beautifully snowy white owl feather. The only reason he knew which birds they came from was because of his Feather Folklore skill. He could barely see them in the gloom, but whenever he touched one he could tell the properties of its physical structure simply from the way it felt. He made one of the sparrow feathers into a small ring, the pheasant into a quill pen, and the owl feather into a luxuriously curled plume for his stupid medieval hood. The second sparrow feather he pulled apart into six pieces and infused each part separately, which worked fine. He then infused the third sparrow feather, and pulled it apart afterwards. Interestingly, the imbued feather resisted, and shortly after the pieces separated, the magic faded. The last thing Josh did was move around the shepherd¡¯s hut, seeing how far his senses extended. It looked like he could dimly sense his enchanted feathers from about six feet away, which was less than he¡¯d hoped, but more than he¡¯d anticipated. He didn¡¯t get any experience or upgrades, but he hadn¡¯t expected any with so few materials. Towards the end, he started to feel slightly light-headed. It wasn¡¯t surprising that magic drained his energy, but it was disappointing that it happened so quickly. All the while, he thought about what he could do with his skill that would actually be useful, and he¡¯d had a couple of ideas, but he would have to wait until he reached the Druid¡¯s Grove. The shepherd¡¯s hut, meanwhile, seemed like the best place for him to sleep. He kept waking up in the night. There was no bed, but some shepherd had left a pile of fleeces in the corner of the hut, which were scratchy and absolutely reeked of lanolin, but were warmer and softer than lying on a dirt floor. Despite the fleeces, he couldn¡¯t quite get warm enough or comfortable enough, and he woke with a gasp at every little sound¡ªa bit of loose wood rattling in the wind, an owl calling, wolves howling in the distance. When morning finally dawned, he felt cold, tired, hungry and depressed. His muscles ached slightly, partly from walking, but also as if he¡¯d slept in the wrong position. It almost felt like the twinges you got from growing pains. He missed Ben and Timothy and Aunt Jools. He worried about what Ben would be thinking now¡ªdistraught, probably, not knowing whether Josh was alive or dead. Ben would have to call Josh¡¯s parents to tell them he was missing. They were currently enjoying a cruise, one they¡¯d saved for years to go on. They would have to interrupt their holiday of a lifetime, and would probably be flying home around now, distressed, afraid and uncertain. There was nothing Josh could do about any of that. He squashed the feelings down as hard as he could and focused on the only thing he had to look forward to, namely his character sheet. This was probably going to be the highlight of his day so he might as well enjoy it. The moment he opened the sheet, he heard another chime in his head, this one as pleasant as the you''ve-got-experience chime, but with a more triumphal fanfare to it, and he couldn''t help feeling a sense of achievement. He read through it while he ate his dry, tasteless breakfast. [BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 3 Total experience points: 260 Experience to next level: 225 Player rank: #865] The rank hadn¡¯t changed. This implied that the two other new players¡ªthe assassin and the demon¡ªhad levelled up at least as far as level 3. Maybe they had gone to Leybeck like they were supposed to. If Josh hadn''t run into the Fey Queen he would probably still be level 1. His attributes had also been updated. Maybe that explained the odd aches he¡¯d woken up with. [PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 29 | Strength 43 | Agility 24 | Speed 27 | Endurance 9 | Resilience 12 | Manual Dexterity 63 | Vocalisation 34 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 12 MESSAGES Start how you mean to go on! As a result of your labours, you have gained 1 point of Strength, 2 points of Endurance, and 1 point of Chi. You have reached level 2! You now have 1 free attribute point to spend. You have reached level 3! You now have 2 free attribute points to spend.] Josh had been planning to put his free points in Endurance, but the increase in Chi must have come from imbuing feathers with magic. Magic was important, and he would need it for what he planned to do, so he compromised between magic and physical, putting one of his free points in Endurance, and one in Chi. The points didn¡¯t apply immediately. PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 29 | Strength 43 | Agility 24 | Speed 27 | Endurance 9 > 10 (pending) | Resilience 12 | Manual Dexterity 63 | Vocalisation 34 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 12 > 13 (pending) He presumed the changes wouldn¡¯t happen until he rested again. Did he have to sleep, or would it still work if he just lay down with his eyes closed? Would meditating have the same effect? All things for him to try in the future. He stepped out of the shepherd¡¯s hut. The day was overcast, with a slight morning chill that still lingered. On the negative side he had no food left, no guarantee that he would find what he sought at the Druid Grove, and no reason other than general optimism that he would find helpful, friendly people in the town of Brackstone. On the plus side, he¡¯d walked far enough the previous day that the storm clouds centred on Celespire had thinned out, and the day was noticeably lighter. He face north, towards a distant line of spiny hills he thought must be the Lionback mountains, and started walking. 1.5 - Things you don’t do in the wilderness Josh had finally resorted to looting a farmhouse. Prior to that, he¡¯d found a blackberry bush and supplemented his breakfast with some small, hard, sour blackberries, but he had still been left ravenous. And at some point today he was probably going to find out just how much he missed toilet paper. The lack of movement so far in that direction had immediately set his mind to speculating about his situation. It normally took two to five days for food to pass through the body. The last thing he had eaten on Earth had been pizza with Ben and Timothy, which had been about twelve or thirteen hours before he¡¯d found himself whisked away to Six Spires. Had he been physically transported to a real place, or had his body had been recreated somehow? If the latter, would that also include all the half-digested food he¡¯d had on Earth, or not? Tracking his own bodily functions might give him a clue. It was also possible that Josh was in a simulation, but so far everything had seemed overwhelmingly real, so if that was the case, he didn¡¯t hold out much hope of finding a way to test that hypothesis. His body had all the hair it normally did, and all the little nicks he¡¯d accumulated over the last twenty-one years of his life. However, it suddenly occurred to him that the pimple on his back, which had been annoying him a couple of days ago, was missing. That, plus the fact that he¡¯d arrived with an empty stomach, pointed towards the recreation theory. It also explained things like his hands suddenly knowing how to manipulate feathers, all the additional feather knowledge he had gained and, of course, the ability to cast magic. The idea that some unknown agency had changed him to suit its own purposes was troubling, but Josh couldn¡¯t help feeling excited by the magic. When he¡¯d stopped for a rest, he¡¯d taken out the sparrow feather ring, and tried infusing it again, to see if he could make the magic extra dense, but as far as he could tell it made no difference. The little sparkles didn¡¯t get any thicker, they just stirred around a bit, and then settled again. At least all the physical exercise he was getting meant he wasn¡¯t cold anymore. The farmhouse he had reluctantly investigated had been deserted for some time¡ªyears at least. Despite Josh¡¯s conviction that any abandoned buildings in a fantasy world like this would invariably host monsters, he hadn¡¯t seen a single zombie or animated skeleton or mutated plague tomato, or anything. The previous occupants had had time to clear everything out, and had stripped the place almost clean. The only things Josh had found had been some frayed pieces of rope, a torn net of the sort that you put hay in for horses to eat, a rusty spoon with a hole in it, and the absolute prize¡ªleft behind in a broken crate in a pantry¡ªwhich was a small jar of pickled cabbages. He had no idea how old the jar was, or how long pickled cabbages lasted, but he was hungry enough to eat them anyway. He hadn¡¯t liked the silent, creepy atmosphere at the farmhouse, however, so he¡¯d decided to walk a little further on and, as he came to the top of a hill, he was rewarded by the sight of a glittery snake of river winding down the valley from the west to the east. He could find a nice spot of riverbank to sit down and eat his picnic. While he walked, he kept having to remind himself not to sing. The tranquillity of the landscape was giving him a false sense of security, and it was only when a pheasant went whirring up in front of him in fright that he realised he was doing it again. This wasn¡¯t the first time in his life he¡¯d been caught in an embarrassing singing moment. He sang to himself a lot¡ªto the radio, in the car, making dinner. It was an odd but understandable habit if someone heard you doing it in the shower, but he would never forget the utter humiliation being caught singing the Pee Pee Poo Poo song while going to the toilet by his girlfriend-at-the-time. His ears burned at the memory, even now. Focus on your surroundings, Josh, he told himself. The path he was following was beaten dirt, with two ruts for carriage wheels, but from the weeds sprouting everywhere, it was clear that nothing had passed this way for a long time. The road, insofar as it could be called that, curved down into the valley and then slid into the strip of woodland which screened the river. The river crossing was presently out of sight, and while Josh was hoping for a bridge, he was resigned to the more likely prospect of a ford. He thought he would face it after his pickled cabbage lunch. While he walked, he found himself speculating about the character sheet or, more specifically, the class system. He had already worked out that some classes must have been recycled previously, since there was no way assassin and demon would have been in the last twelve classes to be chosen. This implied that players were leaving the world, thus making their class available again, and from the things the Guardian was saying, Josh suspected this meant those players¡ªthose people¡ªwere permanently dead. And then there was the mystery of the player rank. From its position in basic information section, it looked like it based on total experience. [BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 3 Total experience points: 260 Experience to next level: 225 Player rank: #865 Kills: 0 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #496 Outworld status: Hidden Hide outworld status to other outworlders: Yes / No (Only available below level 10)] If all the classes¡ªexcept for nine plumassiers¡ªwere taken, and the guardian had said there were a thousand classes in total, that meant nine hundred and ninety-one players currently in the world. However, if the player rank was based on experience, why was Josh¡¯s player rank #865 instead of #991? That implied a hundred and twenty-six people with a lower rank than Josh. What had happened to those people? Was it possible to lose experience and levels? Or were all those players in some kind of stasis? Or was it possible to kill players¡ªpeople¡ªand then somehow stop their classes from returning to the Guardian? The fact that there was an outworld status, and an option to hide it below level 10, meant that if he met another player, there would be some visible indication. What would that look like? In Spiralia Online it was the usual name plate, with guild, level and an icon to indicate class. Josh imagined just how stupid that would look in the real world. And then there was the kill/death ratio, which Josh assumed was for killing or being killed by other players. On one hand it was a reassuring indication that death was not intended to be permanent. On the other hand¡­ In Spiralia, killing other players gave you small amounts of experience, although there were diminishing returns for killing the same player multiple times, and the lower level a player was, the less experience you got. If a player was more than ten levels below you the experience was reduced to zero. This didn¡¯t stop high level players killing low level players at all, and Josh didn¡¯t imagine that would be very different here. Spiralia had had a karma system, where you lost karma after killing another player under certain circumstances, but it was too easy to grind karma back up, and the penalties weren''t significant. The best thing Josh could do, he thought, was disguise himself as much as possible. The last thing of note was Josh''s class. He¡¯d been allocated plumassier at character selection, but once he¡¯d arrived here the system had tagged the word ¡®apprentice¡¯ onto it. One of the cool mechanics in Spiralia had been the tiered class progression. Unlike in many other games, you couldn¡¯t just start as a knight from level 1. If you chose the knight class you spawned in the starter zone as a squire, and part of the progression required you to follow a questline in order to win your spurs and become a knight. It was the same with all the other classes. If you chose a priest, you started as an acolyte. If you chose mercenary or commander, you started out as a soldier. What was the progression for plumassier? Was it merely crafting tiers, from apprentice to journeyman to master? Or was there some kind of special class evolution? Josh missed his chunky, buffed paladin, with its 150 strength and constitution, but the thing he was most disappointed about was that he hadn¡¯t been able to choose ranger. A ranger was a good balance between fast and agile, but had high endurance, and would have been perfect for walking miles over this kind of terrain. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Josh¡¯s attributes were completely the opposite of what they should be for his situation. His highest attribute was Manual Dexterity, which presumably came from playing games too much, while his Endurance and Resilience were abysmally low, for the same reason. Endurance was obviously the extent to which he could sustain continued effort. Resilience hadn¡¯t been in Spiralia Online, but Josh presumed it was your ability to recover quickly. His Vocalisation was probably high because he was good at singing, at least to the extent of holding a tune, embarrassing toilet songs notwithstanding. Looking at his baseline stats, the best class for him would have been bard. In fact, now that he thought about it, bard was a solid class in most games, albeit not one you saw very often. Yes, it was mostly support and utility, but it was flexible and matched his innate advantages. Why had he never chosen it before? Josh reached the treeline and, peering into the cool, green, dimness, had a sudden epiphany. The reason he never chose bard was because it matched his real nature so well. He always went for the ranger first, because that¡¯s what he wanted to be, not what he was. Games were all about the fantasy of being a different person. He liked the idea of being the solitary hunter, running through the forest, picking off his enemies with a bow, and laying clever traps. He didn¡¯t like the idea of being a twat in tights. That matter settled, Josh trudged into the short stretch of wood, and focused on his next goal, a picnic spot. He''d decided that a nice soft patch of grass by the side of the river, accompanied by the relaxing sound of burbling water, would be the perfect setting for pickled cabbage. His plans were thrown into disarray, however, when the road plunged steeply down onto a riverbank that was thick with mud. The mud wasn¡¯t a problem. It was the massive three-clawed webbed tracks embedded in the mud, each print more than a foot wide, that were the problem. Josh swore and backed slowly away, eyes frantically scanning the placid river. He saw no sight of any river monster, but the water here was opaque enough in colour that he wouldn¡¯t be able to see it until it was too late. He walked rapidly back up the valley, until he reached a little knoll that would allow him to see for a quarter of a mile in every direction. It had a largish, flat boulder at the top, so he climbed onto it and sat there, clutching his jar of pickled cabbage, while hurriedly scanning the landscape. There was no sign of any monster. He decided to eat his picnic, because he didn¡¯t want to have to think about this problem on an empty stomach. He kept a wary eye on the landscape, but there was no sign of anything big or scary. At least his position meant he would be able to see it from a distance. The pickled cabbage was surprisingly delicious¡ªits long sojourn in the abandoned farmhouse evidently hadn¡¯t done it any harm. It was made from cabbage, carrot and ginger, and was sweet, crunchy, tangy, juicy and slightly salty. It disappeared in a disappointingly short space of time, although he would have enjoyed it more if the prospect of shortly becoming something else¡¯s meal hadn¡¯t kept invading his thoughts. The jar might come in handy, so Josh tied it to his belt with the frayed rope, and considered his options. First of all, what kind of monster was it? Josh mentally listed all the ones that he¡¯d encountered close to Celespire when playing Spiralia, but none of them were that size. Celespire¡¯s environs contained the low-level starter zone, there simply weren¡¯t any huge, high-level monsters. But was no use thinking about Spiralia Online. Things were clearly different here. What was big, had webbed feet with three-clawed toes, and lived in rivers? It could be a drake of some kind, but they didn¡¯t tend to get any bigger than horses, and the tracks at the river had suggested something far larger than that. It wasn¡¯t a dragon, because they didn¡¯t have webbed feet. A horrible possibility occurred to him. What if it was a voracian broodmother? She was an elite boss, the kind of thing you needed five or six maximum level, well-geared players to take down. She also spawned a host of voracian hatchlings, which made up for their small size with potent venom attacks. It didn¡¯t seem a likely answer. Voracians were found far downstream, to the east, where the river was wider and deeper, and ran into the Mashar wetlands before reaching the Eastern Sea. Whatever it was, Josh didn¡¯t want to encounter it. He could go back to Leybeck, but he didn¡¯t fancy the prospect of retracing his footsteps, plus he would be walking back into the storm. It would take a day and a half, and he would have to rely on looting abandoned farmhouses for food, by no means a guaranteed source of sustenance. He could try continuing north, crossing the river at a different point, but he had no idea what a voracian broodmother¡¯s range was. In Spiralia they stayed in one place, but they were massive carnivores, the size of an elephant, and would presumably need a steady diet of fresh meat. How far up and down the river would it need to roam to fulfil its hunger? Unless it was like crocodiles, which could binge on half their own bodyweight in a sitting, and could spend up to a year living off their fat reserves. Josh traced the line of the river up the valley. He could see a jumble of rocks at the head of the valley, and the white threads of distant waterfalls where the river cascaded down from the plateau that was in the west. If he went west, the river would be smaller and narrower, and therefore less hospitable for elephant-sized things with clawed feet. The water would be clearer too, allowing him to see if there was anything lurking beneath the surface. And last of all, there were less trees there, which would allow him to see a long way in any direction. Giant river monsters of that size would stick out. And Josh was hungry. He would be more likely to find people if he continued north than if he turned back and sent south. Decision made, he headed for the plateau. Once he¡¯d reached the spot he wanted to cross, Josh was hugely delighted to find a bridge of sorts. It was crudely fashioned from a tree trunk, and someone had hammered two iron spikes into boulders on both banks, then used those to string a guide rope across. The wood was slick with spray, and Josh hoped that it wasn¡¯t rotten, because it was poised above a natural cauldron of foamy white water which thundered past his feet. He took a deep breath and inched onto the bridge. He kept swaying wildly from side to side, but as long as he held tight to the guide rope he didn¡¯t fall. He stopped briefly in the middle to look out across the valley, and found an unexpected lump rising in his throat, because it reminded him of the wilder parts of home. There were rolling hills, bisected by rivers and crowned with brown heather and rocky tors, the entire vista painted in a thousand different shades of green and blue and russet and grey. Above were high banks of clouds, outlined with a nimbus of light where the sun shone through and bathed patches of landscape. Josh couldn¡¯t help thinking about the shape of the world. Was it a globe? Had it been expanded into a whole planet, or was it a circular realm bordered by sea, as in Spiralia? It looked like he could see a horizon, which implied curvature, but the atmospheric haze made it hard to tell. He should stop thinking about things like that, particularly when he was clinging precariously to a rope above a waterfall. He should focus on survival. Josh glanced down at the river and that was when he saw the voracian broodmother. She lay in the deepest pool at the bottom of the waterfall, facing away from him with her eyes just above the water and a thick tail, taller than Josh, curving round onto the bank. In shape he knew she resembled a dunkleosteus except with legs and a tail¡ªhe couldn¡¯t see it from where he was, but she would have a domed, armoured head, and a giant maw with two thick ridges of triangular teeth. She was top heavy, all her weight and muscles in her powerful jaws, and a pebbly hide that was a muddy, patchy brown in colour. Her tail was curved protectively around a thick mat of glass bubbles floating in the water, in an eddy that kept them bobbing near the base of the waterfall. Her eggs, he thought. Voracian broodmothers had been immensely valuable in Spiralia. The hatchlings dropped venom sacs which could be used to create poisons or brew potions. The broodmother herself dropped thick leather hide that made good armour, but the other thing you could get from her were eggs. In the game the eggs were looted from her corpse after she died. It made more sense that, in reality, she would lay them in the water. The important thing was that, in Spiralia, each egg could be used to extract a tiny amount of the most potent venom in the game. The broodmother was so valuable that groups of players would camp her spawning points, and kill any other players who came near. There had even been wars fought between guilds who wanted to control access to the wetlands where the broodmothers were found. Josh looked down at the bridge he was standing on. Had a group of enterprising players lured a broodmother all the way from the east and installed her here so they could farm the eggs? Was it co-incidence that such a useful bridge had been installed right over the pool where she had spawned her brood? This set up implied that the eggs were as valuable here as they had been in the game. Why was no-one around guarding her? Josh looked across the empty, windswept landscape and thought that probably answered his question. He hadn¡¯t seen a single soul since the cavalcade of Trooping Fey. There was no need to guard her because there was no-one here to steal the eggs. Except Josh. Even as the thought took hold, he shook his head. No, no, no, no. It was a very bad idea. Extremely risky, highly dangerous, especially for someone who was only level 3. But on the other hand, at level 3 he was vulnerable. Every single other player in the world was higher level than he was. If there was something that would give him an edge, this was it. Josh studied the rocks to either side of the waterfall. The eggs were on the north side of the river. He had a net and some rope. Could he reach over and scoop them up without the broodmother noticing? He had some planning to do. 1.6 - How to take advantage of other people’s exploits Josh was currently poised on a rocky ledge directly over the pool of the broodmother. The eggs gently heaved and slicked in the water about fifteen feet below him. Leaning against the river boulder behind him was the tallest, thinnest branch he had been able to cut successfully from a tree. He¡¯d made a loop out of the thin, whippy end of the branch, to which he¡¯d affixed the net from the farmhouse, making it into an impromptu fishing net on a pole. He¡¯d also patched up the hole in the net with leftover bits of frayed rope. In his hand was a large, flat river stone. His supposition that players had been responsible for luring the monster out of the wetlands was borne out by the presence of a small wooden plaque affixed to the rockface. Someone had used a knife to carve the words BESSIE THE BROODMOTHER into it. Josh fervently hoped that no-one would mind him interfering with their pet, and even more fervently that the aforementioned pet wouldn¡¯t eat him. He had been sitting here for a good five minutes, psyching himself up for what was to come. Bessie wouldn¡¯t even need to chew if she got hold of him¡ªshe was big enough to eat him in a single gulp. Josh¡¯s mouth was dry and there was a hollow feeling in his gut. Get on with it, you coward, he told himself. She can¡¯t reach you here. Or so he hoped. He took a deep breath and threw the stone into the far side of the pool, where the river flowed down into the valley. The response from the Bessie was gratifying. She immediately plunged forward, causing the water in the pool to go splashing up the banks of the river, and her massive jaws snapped together with an audible clonk where the stone had landed. Josh grabbed his improvised fishing net and leaned over the rocky ledge. He tried to scoop some of the eggs with the net, but rim of the net just skipped the surface of the water. Too short. He braced himself on the rock, stretched out over the pool as far as he dared. When he tried again the edge of the net just dipped into the clot of eggs. Yes! He repeated the scooping motion, trying to get as many as he could. A sound like an angry foghorn made him jerk with shock, nearly causing him to tumble off the ledge. Bessie had sensed the attempt on her eggs. He started to haul his net upwards as fast as he could, but Bessie was turning her massive bulk surprisingly quickly. She lunged up towards the swinging net, the giant teeth clopping together inches from his precious burden. Josh shuffled backwards, scraping his knees on the rock, and swinging his fishing net out of the broodmother¡¯s reach. Her head exploded into his view, the great maw reaching for him, and Josh screamed as teeth the size off his head snapped angrily mere inches away from his feet. He crammed himself back into an alcove. Bessie thrashed wildly in front of him, but couldn¡¯t drag herself forwards far enough. She lost purchase on the rocks and slipped, falling out of sight. Josh stayed their paralysed for a minute. He was afraid to move from his position, but he knew he had to. He¡¯d waited too long. He should have climbed out of reach the moment she had fallen out of sight. The alcove he was huddled in had a steep overhang above him, impossible to climb. He would have to put himself within Bessie''s reach if he wanted to find a section of the boulder he could climb. He disentangled the net of eggs from the branch, his hands clumsy with fear, and clasped it firmly to his chest. This had been such a bad idea. How could he have been so stupid? A monstrous head burst up and into view again, in a surge of spray. Bessie had managed to get herself better leverage this time. She loomed above him and came crashing down onto the ledge . Josh wasn¡¯t aware of the next intervening moments with any clarity. One moment he was sitting in the alcove, the next he was standing up with his back pressed as far as possible while Bessie thrashed towards him, jaws slamming together loudly with a crack that echoed off the rocks. The alcove wasn¡¯t safe. She was only inches away from him. She slipped backwards a little, and he could see her tiny arms scrabbling for purchase. Josh grabbed the discarded branch. Even while he did so he thought, idiot, what are you going to do with that? Maybe she had a sensitive nose, like sharks did. He jabbed at her nose, and then at her eyes, but the latter were so small he missed. She twisted, chomping aggressively at the branch, her massive bulk pulling back. Josh let go of the branch immediately, and scrambled up the rockface as fast as he could while she was distracted. She didn''t seem to notice. When he got onto the boulder above him, he was close enough to the riverbank that he could pull himself up onto the short, springy turf. He lurched to his feet and ran. For some reason he had equated dry land with safety, but he¡¯d not factored in her legs¡ªafter all, that was how he had detected her presence in the first place. He risked a glance behind him. She was clambering out of the river. Ohshitohshitohshitoshit. His heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to come out of his chest. Crocodiles could run up to twenty miles per hour, faster than Josh at his top speed, and Bessie was bigger than a crocodile. He hadn¡¯t thought this through properly. In a race between Josh and a voracian broodmother, Josh would inevitably come second. He was such an idiot. He was going to die. The idea that he might resurrect was no comfort. What if a broodmother was one of the things that could kill you permanently? He ran faster. The ground was short, springy turf broken up by tussocks, and he tripped over one and nearly went flying. He looked behind him and saw her gaining on him with impressive speed. He regained his footing, and forced his tired, shaky legs to propel him onwards, leaping and stumbling over tussocks, then righting himself and pelting on. Every step he expected to hear the clop of her jaws, or for her to snatch him from the ground, but he didn¡¯t. He heard her cry again, an angry, challenging boom. Wait, that had sounded further away than it should. He risked another terrified glance behind him and realised she had already given up the chase. Her sides were heaving with great lungfuls of air, and even as Josh watched her, she raised her head and let out another frustrated cry, like a lonely foghorn. Now that he thought about it, he was sure he had read something about crocodiles only being able to sustain high speeds for very short periods of time. Bessie was probably the same. She was an ambush predator, not a long-distance runner. Josh slowed to a jog. He wasn¡¯t a long-distance runner either. When had he become so unfit? His breath was already coming in gasps, and the trembling aftermath of the adrenalin rush hit him. The eggs! Were they safe? Yes, they were still in the net, unpleasantly sticky against his soaked chest. Josh checked behind him again, but Bessie hadn¡¯t moved. Would she keep chasing him, or would she go back to the river? He gritted his teeth. He couldn¡¯t stop here. It would be sensible to get as much distance between him and the broodmother, and by association the players who had lured her here. If they were in the area they would have heard that cry, and Josh had no wish to meet them now that he had stolen their eggs. His hose was torn where he had scraped his leg against the rock, and he could see a smear of blood on his knee. There were also scrapes on his hands and part of one nail had torn down to the quick. The scrapes and tears began to sting the moment he became aware of them, but even if he¡¯d had anything to tend to them with, he couldn¡¯t stop now. He picked up his pace, forcing himself into a fast walk, and set off northwards again. When Josh found the village, he was tired, footsore and hungry. He was also sweaty and aching from his forced march through the wilderness, but so far there had been no sign of pursuit. The pouch at his waist now held a jar covered in a wax cloth, with the drawstring carefully tightened around the rim so that it would stay mostly upright. Squished into the bottom of the jar were the tiny venom sacs of the embryonic voracians, plus bits of voracian flesh and blood and ichor that he hadn¡¯t been able to separate out successfully, given that all he had to work with were a rusty knife and a spoon with a hole in it. The whole experience had been nauseating, but he¡¯d decided to stop and harvest the eggs a couple of hours ago because they¡¯d been drying out. He¡¯d even got 50 experience for escaping from the broodmother. The village was on a hill and protected by a ditch and a wooden palisade, which was an ominous sign. It suggested that the inhabitants might not be friendly, or that the nearby area around was dangerous, or both. If there were creatures like Bessie roaming around, it made sense that the villagers would want a protective barrier around their village. Would this village be populated just with locals, or would there be players here as well? Josh had his Outworld flag hidden, but he had a feeling that his status as a new player would be immediately obvious to anyone with half a brain. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. There was no reason for the villagers to be hostile to a lone stranger lost in the wilderness, he told himself. He didn¡¯t look dangerous, and he carried no weapon beyond the knife, which was more of a tool than a weapon. He was good at making friends. He could do this. Besides, he wasn¡¯t sure how long he could survive in the wilderness by himself. He didn¡¯t know how to fish or catch animals, or how to prepare them even if he did. He wouldn¡¯t be able to survive on berries, and he didn¡¯t want to rely on the meagre pickings in abandoned farmhouses. So, village it was. By the time he got to the foot of the hill, the sun was casting long shadows across the landscape, and he saw his first Six Spires person. Human person, that was, as opposed to the fey variety. It was a boy, and he was herding some geese up towards the gate. Josh hurried to catch up with him. As he got closer, he saw that the boy was dressed in a homespun tunic, with a hood similar to Josh¡¯s. His legs and feet were bare and grimy with dried mud. He had a stick which he held out any time a goose tried to break away from the main flock. They seemed indignant at being herded, but were nevertheless allowing themselves to be persuaded towards the gate standing open at the top of the hill. ¡°Excuse me!¡± Josh called out. The boy whipped round and gripped his stick defensively. ¡°Sorry!¡± Josh held up his hands. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to frighten you!¡± ¡°Who art thou?¡± the boy said. His gaze darted around suspiciously as if looking for accomplices. ¡°I¡¯m alone,¡± Josh reassured him. ¡°My name¡¯s Josh. Er. I was wondering ¡­ if I could come into the village?¡± The boy frowned and stared at him. ¡°Where frae thee?¡± His accent was thick and unfamiliar, and difficult to understand over the honking of the geese. ¡°South,¡± Josh replied vaguely. ¡°Stormspire?¡± The boy¡¯s eyes widened in alarm. ¡°No, no! Further south,¡± Josh said hastily. ¡°Wha¡¯ ye want frae us?¡± ¡°A bed for the night?¡± Josh asked hopefully. The boy suddenly realised one of his geese was wandering off the road and lunged to intervene. That duty accomplished he nodded his head towards the gate. ¡°Elder Tharn ull settle wi¡¯ thee.¡± ¡®Settle¡¯ sounded uncomfortably like arranging payment to stay the night, and the Guardian had not seen fit to provide Josh with any Six Spires currency. Still, it was an invitation, so Josh followed the boy up the hill, careful not to crowd too close or do anything that might seem alarming. The moment he stepped through the gate into the village, he became the focus of several stares, and a small crowd of people drifted closer. None of them looked hostile, however, so he stood his ground and tried to smile pleasantly and unthreateningly. The men wore clothes like his, but with wide-brimmed hats of felt, and the women sported homespun dresses with white aprons and wimples. Most of the inhabitants were shod in wooden clogs, and carried baskets or held onto tall crooks. ¡°It¡¯s naught but a lad,¡± one leather-faced old man said. ¡°Ee, lad, what art doing out there? T¡¯aint safe.¡± ¡°Could be a devil¡¯s spawn,¡± a woman cried out from the back of the crowd. ¡°Innocent he might look, till he murders us in our beds!¡± Josh held up his hands again. ¡°I¡¯m just an ordinary person!¡± he said. He would have said more, but at that point a newcomer arrived, and from the way the others stepped aside to let him through, Josh guessed this was Elder Tharn. He was a grim-faced thing, small and spare with a hooked nose and a downturned mouth, and his eyes, when he surveyed Josh, were dark with suspicion. Josh¡¯s heart sank. When Josh had been younger, he¡¯d been the kind of child over whom old women invariably fussed. They pinched his cheeks and told him what a bonny lad he was, and remarked to themselves that oh aye, in a few year¡¯s time he¡¯ll be out breaking hearts, no doubt. Unfortunately, these prophecies had not come to pass. Girls of Josh¡¯s own age usually found him goofy and geeky, and ruthlessly assigned him to the friend zone. Weirdly, Josh¡¯s appeal to old woman hadn¡¯t abated. Elderly waitresses flirted with him, other people¡¯s grandmothers said things like ¡°Ee, if only I were sixty years younger,¡± and burst out cackling, and even his friends¡¯ mums had treated him with a sort of smiling indulgence and offered him extra helpings of food when he visited. The few times Josh had had a girlfriend, her parents had liked him more than the girlfriend had. Being approved of by a girl¡¯s parents was usually the death knell to a relationship, Josh had found. He had honestly been hoping that his old lady catnip effect would work on the villagers as well, or at least the elderly female ones, but it didn¡¯t affect old men, and in any case it was clear from Tharn¡¯s grim perusal of him that the Elder was immune. The crowd quieted as they waited for Elder Tharn to speak. ¡°What business hast thee in our haven, stranger?¡± ¡°I¡¯m travelling north, and I was hoping I could stay here for the night,¡± Josh said. A woman nearby to him made a shocked little scoffing sound, as if Josh¡¯s request had been the height of impertinence. Elder Tharn ignored her. ¡°Fey and eldritch things travel abroad in the guise of men,¡± he intoned. ¡°Thou shalt be tested.¡± His gaze travelled over the crowd. ¡°Tested, I say!¡± he repeated in a louder voice. Josh concealed a wince. That didn¡¯t sound good. The crowed watched owlishly, and some of them stirred and muttered, although Josh couldn¡¯t tell whether it was with anticipation at the prospect of a testing¡ªwhatever that was¡ªor disapproval of Elder Tharn¡¯s proposal. Almost immediately, though, another voice interrupted. ¡°Algernon Tharn!¡± it said. ¡°Ye should be ashamed of yerself!¡± A woman pushed through the crowd, coming to stand next to Josh with her hands on her hips. Elder Tharn¡¯s mouth pursed at the sight of her. ¡°Look on this poor lad!¡± the woman said. ¡°Travelled for miles, no doubt, see how scratched and torn he be. And ye would set him a trial. What kind of village treats a guest in such a manner?¡± Oh, thank you, Josh thought fervently. It looked like his own personal brand of magic was working after all. Or maybe it was just that there were, in fact, friendly and hospitable people here. ¡°Goodwife Benton¡ª¡± Elder Tharn began, but was interrupted. ¡°No excuses!¡± Goodwife Benton said sharply. ¡°I won¡¯t hear of it! I know ye!¡± She pointed to the archway above the gate where, Josh realised, a horseshoe had been nailed. ¡°No fey would brave cold iron.¡± She pointed next to a small tree just outside the gate. ¡°Nor pass the rowan.¡± Elder Tharn attempted to rally. ¡°And what of the scourge?¡± he asked weakly. It was the second time Josh had heard that mentioned. He would have asked more, but he didn¡¯t want to reveal the depths of his ignorance. Goodwife Benton snorted. ¡°Aye, a mighty scourge he looks to be, and him with torn hose and a skinned knee.¡± Josh smiled weakly. ¡°Lad, come with me,¡± Goodwife Benton ordered. She raised her voice. ¡°The rest of you be about your business, and stop putting the poor boy to the blush!¡± The crowd scattered immediately, albeit with many backward glances, leaving Elder Tharn glaring impotently at Josh. Josh didn¡¯t stay to chat, but followed Goodwife Benton to one of the houses in the centre of the village. They were cruck houses with timber frames and wattle and daub plaster, each one only a single storey. Even Goodwife Benton¡¯s house consisted only of a single common room, with a fireplace and chimney breast at one end, and sleeping alcoves tucked on either side of it. An iron cauldron hung over the fire, from which delicious smells issued. Goodwife Benton talked constantly and without pause. Josh looked around her house while simultaneously attempting to parse the thick dialect she spoke in, and to unpack the implications of everything she said. She had a lot to say about a great many things. On the danger of the wilds: ¡°It used be a body could travel from Celespire to any town in a hundred miles and not fear for one¡¯s life, but in those days of course we had heroes. It¡¯s not like it once was.¡± While she said this, she was rapidly chopping a bunch of green herbs which she sprinkled into the cauldron over the fire. Then she tasted whatever was in it, made a face, and groped for the box of salt, which she measured out carefully, as if it was a precious resource. ¡°What happened to the heroes?¡± Josh asked quickly. ¡°Oh, I suppose most of them died or fled when the Storm King took over.¡± Now she was kneeling down to feed more logs into the fire, and poking it to throw up more flames. ¡°Are there none left?¡± ¡°A few,¡± she allowed reluctantly. ¡°Not like the ones we had in my day! I once saw the Tigerlily Knight, did ye know?¡± ¡°No!¡± Josh said, injecting fascination into his voice. Was the Tigerlily Knight a player? ¡°Well, I did! Six foot tall she was, with golden hair she could sit on, and armour so polished and shiny ye could have seen yer face in it! A favourite of the Old Queen.¡± At this point she broke off to go to the door and exchange loud, cheerful greetings with one of her neighbours. It seemed as if Goodwife Benton was the focal point of the village, because people regularly came to regale her with news or ask her advice on matters, and Josh¡¯s conversations with her were constantly getting interrupted. On the subject of Elder Tharn: ¡°What a grouch that man be! He needs a woman to shake some sense in him, but what woman would ha¡¯ wanted to shackle hersel¡¯ to such a curmudgeonly old sourpuss? Wants taking down a peg or two, he¡¯s got above himself since we founded Haven.¡± Haven was the name of the village, Josh gathered. Goodwife Benton was now cutting slices of bread, making each slice about an inch thick. Josh looked on in awe and no inconsiderable degree of anticipation. ¡°What was the test Elder Tharn wanted to give me?¡± he asked. Goodwife Benton explained it would have involved wearing a white shift and kneeling in front of Elder Tharn in the centre of the village square while he ritually poured water from the well over Josh¡¯s head and questioned him on the Eight Principles of Good Living. Since Josh had no idea what those Principles were, he was doubly glad that he had been rescued from that fate. When Goodwife Benton started popping the slices of bread on a toasting fork and holding them up to the flames, he offered to do it for her, while he tried to get her to talk more about the Queen and the heroes of old. All the while Josh¡¯s hostess was talking, various relatives¡ªmostly children and grandchildren, seemed to be wandering in and out at random. Every so often Josh would be introduced to one, before Goodwife Benton went haring off on a different conversational tangent. On the subject of the Old Queen: ¡°A troubled life she had, may the Saints bless her soul. Ay, and there¡¯s some as say the Young Prince hath not a tenth of her courage, but he¡¯s not done so badly, for all the Court is still in exile. What¡¯s that you say lad? How old? He¡¯s fifty years if he¡¯s a day, but he¡¯ll always be the Young Prince to me. I was born under the Old Queen and we¡¯ll never see her like again, that we won¡¯t!¡± From the things Goodwife Benton let drop, Josh gathered that the village of Haven had been settled by separatists. They rejected the governance of the nobility, choosing to believe that all people were created equal, and therefore espoused a philosophy of communal living and shared wealth. This made Goodwife Benton¡¯s staunch royalist outlook seem all the more contradictory, but Josh decided not to point this out, given that she was shortly planning to feed him. Dinner was served on the toasted slices of bread, which Goodwife Benton referred to as trenchers, and consisted of a thicky, stodgy mound of potatoes and vegetables that had been cooked in a meat broth, with little chunks of salty bacon and flecks of green herbs. Josh had never tasted anything so delicious in his life. Goodwife Benton beamed proudly when he scraped his trencher clean, and immediately offered him seconds. Best of all, he didn''t even have to offer to wash up the dishes, because you ate your plate afterwards, and the bits that were too hard and stale to eat went into a bucket to be given to the pigs. After dinner, Josh had been planning to ask some more discreet questions to get his bearings, but there were two things which foiled this plan. The first was that, after the meal, and in the warmth of the fire, he was feeling woolly-headed and heavy-eyed, and all he wanted to do was find a corner to sleep in. The second was the impromptu music session. 1.7 - How to party like an old-timer Josh gathered that the village didn¡¯t get many guests, and his arrival had been seized on as an excuse for a party. He didn¡¯t think it had even been planned. A handful of people turned up after dinner, chattering away with Goodwife Benton¡¯s family. Josh smiled sleepily at them, and tried to keep his eyes open while giving vague but coherent replies about the state of affairs down south whenever they quizzed him. Luckily they seemed to know as much about that area of the world as Josh did himself. He tried to explain about the broodmother, since presumably that was a danger they ought to know about, just in case, but he was just told, ee, lad, those are frae the swamp, ye dinnae get them in these parts. Then one of the guests abruptly started singing, right in the middle of all the chatter. Someone else turned up with a stringed instrument like a stripped-down violin, with a funny shaped bow. Another person arrived with a small harp, followed by a man with a keg of ale, who shared it round. And then suddenly there was a riotous celebration going on. Josh found himself squeezed between two ancient, weather-beaten men who smelled of lanolin and woodsmoke. In between musical sets, he tried to ask more about the scourge, and received vague and contradictory replies. Shapeshifters, one of his aged neighbours told him. Demons, said the one on the other side. Creatures crazed and mindless with bloodlust, opined a third, standing a few feet away and speaking with the careful diction of the very drunk. All three seemed to agree that it was a plague, and that the scourge couldn¡¯t be vanquished by ordinary means. However, none of his conversational partners could come to a consensus on the means by which the scourge could be killed. One maintained you had to cut off the head, another stated firmly that no, it was cutting out the heart what did it, and a third stuck to it that you had to burn the bodies to ash. It made Josh think of vampires, although there hadn¡¯t been any vampires in Spiralia Online. One thing he did learn was that the Storm King was the leader of the scourge. Josh couldn''t help thinking of it as a vampire-themed game expansion. That would fit with the circle of storm clouds swirling over Celespire. By the time the party petered out it was well into the night. Josh was given space by the fire to sleep, on a pile of sheepskins again, and awoke the next day to a notification that his Endurance and Strength attributes had increased by 1. Haven had no concept of sleeping in. The villagers rose at dawn, and that was that. There was livestock to herd, eggs to collect, fields to hoe and weed, corn to thresh and grind, water to carry, and all the myriad responsibilities smallholders had to undertake in order to keep their lives going. Josh was immediately asked his trade¡ªthey seemed bemused by the idea of a plumassier¡ªand set to work. They didn¡¯t even consider the fact that he might not want to pitch in and help. Clearly guest rights didn¡¯t include loafing around, not that Josh would have done so. These people had given him a meal and a bed for the night and, aside from Elder Tharn, had been friendly and hospitable. The least he could do was put in a bit of work in exchange. No-one had much use for a plumassier, however. He made the mistake of asking Goodwife Benton¡¯s eldest son, Meikel, for feathers, and was offered a live chicken, with the expectation that he could wring its neck, and Goodwife Benton would make it into a chicken stew. It was fortunate that Meikel, once he had got over his amusement at Josh¡¯s panicky request for assistance, was happy to demonstrate how it was done. Josh resolved to be more careful about how he asked for feathers in future. Once he had a pile of feathers, he spent a bit of time turning the larger feathers into plumes for hats, which he gave away to anyone who asked, and couldn¡¯t help feeling weirdly gratified when he later saw several men walking around with chicken feathers in their hatbands. While he worked, Josh considered the village and the world it was set in. He¡¯d been thinking in terms of player characters and non-player characters, but this was a real world with real people. Where had they come from? Had they also been snatched from Earth? Or had they been specially created for this world? Moreover, he couldn''t continue to think of them as non-player characters. It would be better to refer to outworlders and locals respectively, even if that would only happen in the privacy of his own head. There was a noticeable division of gender roles in Haven, which was something fantasy games often skipped over, understandably enough, but it made the world more genuinely medieval than Josh would have liked. It might resemble an idyllic version of a lost rural England, but he didn¡¯t want to get a close up look at sexism or feudalism or any of the other cultural plagues that had afflicted the medieval period, thank you very much. Maybe the defined gender roles had come about as a result of Haven being a separatist colony, and the rest of the world would be different. And beyond all this were the shadowy entities who had put Josh here in the first place. One step at a time, he thought. Figure out the world first. Josh managed to enchant five feathers again before feeling faint, although they were larger than the ones he¡¯d done the previous day, which was progress. The rest of the day consisted of following Meikel about and helping him with his chores¡ªcarrying lumber to a house that was being built for a newly married couple, herding the cows from one pasture to another, rescuing a sheep that had got itself caught in some briars, and carrying rocks for one of the wizened, leathery old men¡ªthere were many of them and they were all indistinguishable from each other¡ªwho was building a drystone wall. By late afternoon, Josh was deeply grateful that he had never been born and raised in a subsistence farming community. He and Meikel, who were of the same age and fast becoming as good friends as their differing life experiences would allow, were walking back up the hill to Haven, where Josh was pleasurably anticipating finding out whatever Goodwife Benton had done to the chicken. When they got to the village, however, a crowd had gathered in the main square. When Josh saw it was due to visitors, he was immediately worried that these were outworlders chasing him for the theft of the eggs, but when he heard their voices they were speaking in the same thick dialect as the Havenites, which implied more locals. They were also wearing the local-style clothes¡ªbaggy leggings over hose, tunics, belts and the same wide-brimmed hats. They were all men, and carried bows and wood-cutting axes. They had tense, serious expressions. Josh and Meikel joined the crowd around the newcomers, trying to overhear the conversation. ¡°Tracked them up into the old ruins,¡± one of the newcomers was saying. He was the tallest, a wide-shouldered specimen with light blue eyes and a strong jaw. Beside him was a shorter fellow with dark curly hair, whose lips were pressed tight together with a combination of distress and impatience. He shifted regularly from foot to foot, as if keen to be on his way. There was a third with them, a slender youth standing back a little. They were all about Josh¡¯s age. Josh could see a quest in the making, although the moment he had the thought he gave himself a mental slap. These were real people, with real problems. Surely the world wouldn¡¯t deliberately arrange emergencies simply for his benefit. He felt a worm of guilt swelling in his stomach at the thought, but consoled himself that it was unlikely, given that he was only a crafting class. Elder Tharn was standing opposite the three strangers, his hands clasped on his walking stick, and a frown on his face. It was a thoughtful frown, however, not like the unwelcoming one he had directed at Josh the day before. ¡°And when did ye say this happened?¡± he asked. ¡°They took her this morning,¡± the curly-haired fellow burst out. ¡°Right by the river.¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t travelling fast,¡± the blue-eyed man said. ¡°We¡¯re no more¡¯n two hours behind them.¡± ¡°And where did they go?¡± Elder Tharn asked, his manner non-committal. Josh could tell that he was working up towards being unhelpful, and felt a pulse of sympathy for the strangers. ¡°To the old ruins,¡± the blue-eyed man said, jerking his head to the north-west. There was a pause, but then Elder Tharn stirred and yes, there it was. He was going to brush them off. Sure enough, he said, heavily, ¡°I am sorry for yer loss, good sir.¡± The blue-eyed man and the curly haired man glanced at each other. ¡°Elder, ye have not taken my meaning aright.¡± The blue-eyed man clenched his jaw. ¡°I mean to go after them and take her back, as the Paragon is my witness, else I will die trying!¡± Elder Tharn raised his eyebrows. ¡°And dying is what ye will do, my lad, an¡¯ you take on the scourge. Forgive me for being blunt in your time of grief, but no doubt the lass herself is dead already.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°She was alive two hours past!¡± the blue-eyed man cried. ¡°Tell him, Aston!¡± Aston turned out to be the slender youth standing behind the others, for he nodded. ¡°Tracks, ay,¡± he said, but apparently decided this was all that was needed from him by way of corroboration. ¡°But three of ye against the scourge,¡± Elder Tharn protested. ¡°Yer throwing yer lives away!¡± ¡°She is my betrothed,¡± the blue-eyed man said flatly. ¡°She is my sister!¡± the curly-haired man added, at the same time. ¡°Besides,¡± the blue-eyed man said, eying Elder Tharn narrowly. ¡°We will not be alone.¡± He swung to the crowd that had gathered to watch the drama, and raised his voice. ¡°My name is Reiner! We will make these devils that plague our land pay!¡± His voice rang with powerful conviction. ¡°Is there any able-bodied men amongst ye who will stand with me against this evil?¡± There was a general shuffling amongst the gathering. Several women grabbed the elbows of their menfolk and muttered in their ears, perhaps promising dire consequences if they took Reiner up on his offer. ¡°What, are ye cowards?¡± Reiner called. This time the mutter was darker, angrier. Someone should help, Josh thought, and then realised that the person who ought to be volunteering first was him. He was the only one who was likely to survive an encounter with the scourge, because even if they did kill him, presumably he would be able resurrect afterwards. He didn¡¯t think any of the villagers had that option. Of course, that was assuming that the scourge weren¡¯t the cause of outworlders permanently dying. It wasn¡¯t Josh¡¯s responsibility to save anyone. He was a crafting class. ¡°The village of Haven stands strong against the wilderness,¡± Reiner continued. ¡°Every day we push back the darkness with our own hands and the sweat of our labour. Are ye going to cower in your homes, and let this infestation run rampant, doing as it will, taking whosoever it pleases?¡± There was another murmur, this one rising on a swelling note, as if Reiner¡¯s words had struck a chord. Josh had successfully escaped from a voracian broodmother. He wasn¡¯t completely incapable. This was a rescue mission, and he had a duty to help. One of the Havenites stepped forward, raising his fist in the air. Josh recognised him as the guy who, last night, had sworn he could drink three pints of ale back-to-back, and had proceeded to demonstrate this feat to raucous cheering. Josh didn¡¯t remember his name, but mentally dubbed him Hold My Beer, because he seemed the type. ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡± he cried. Reiner immediately seized his upraised hand, and yelled loudly. ¡°Well met, friend! Ye have the courage of a lion! Who else is with me?¡± Josh was strongly of the opinion that, when it came to disposing of monsters that were reportedly very hard to kill, what you needed was mob. A large mob, preferably, not one that could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Reiner needed a village elder on his side, or at least someone to talk some sense into everyone. Where was Goodwife Benton? Josh saw the goose boy trying to peer through the crowd, and grabbed hold of his shoulder. ¡°Run and tell Goodwife Benton to come,¡± he hissed under his breath. The boy gave him a sulky look, but did as he was asked. In the time that had taken, another Havenite had stepped forward. Josh thought he was either a brother or close friend of Hold My Beer, because the two had staggered out of the party together last night. Josh dithered. He should volunteer, but this was an operation against what was likely a superior enemy. They would need numbers and strategy on their side, not a bunch of farmhands with more courage than brains. And then Meikel raised his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll go! I¡¯ll go!¡± he cried and, before Josh could stop him, was admitted into the group of men standing with Reiner. The three Havenites all slapped each others¡¯ backs and boasted loudly about the number of scourge they would put down. That made six men, ordinary village men, and Josh didn¡¯t even know how many scourge there were. Meikel could die, permanently. Josh also couldn¡¯t help feeling wretchedly sorry for Reiner. He imagined what it would be like if Rachel, Timothy¡¯s sister, had been kidnapped. Would Josh have wanted people standing on the sidelines? He took in a deep breath, and pushed his way to the front of the crowd. ¡°Take me too,¡± he said. Reiner gave him an assessing glance, then nodded, short and sharp. ¡°This is madness, sir,¡± Elder Tharn said. ¡°Would ye have seven good men dead, and for what? Ye won¡¯t bring yer betrothed back!¡± Renier ignored him. He called for volunteers again, but when it was clear that no more would be forthcoming in the face of Elder Tharn¡¯s resistance, he ended his recruiting pitch. ¡°We move out in half a bell,¡± he told the seven of them, just as Goodwife Benton hurried up, wiping her hands on her apron, her face flushed from standing over the cookpot. In the top right-hand corner of Josh¡¯s vision was a small glowing exclamation mark. He hastily checked his quest log. A Nest of the Scourge. Clear the scourge from the ruins of Aileth-Mair. Reward: 10,891 xp (party). A Fair Maiden¡¯s Fate. Retrieve Reiner¡¯s fianc¨¦e alive from the clutches of the scourge. Reward: 1,252 xp (party). While the arguments went on around him, Josh stared at the reward amounts in a state of mind not far off gibbering panic. If levels and experience rewards continued to scale the way they had so far, there must be an army of scourge. If there was only a small group of them, each one would be mind-bogglingly strong. Even a seventh of ten thousand experience would push Josh ¡­ he tried to do mental calculations while the others shouted at each other ¡­ perhaps nearly all the way to level 7. They should focus on rescuing the girl, not killing the scourge, Josh realised abruptly. It was a lesser amount of experience, which implied an easier task. Of course, he was assuming the experience allocation was fair, and a reasonable indicator of the difficulty of the quest. Josh tuned back in to the argument, which was still ongoing. Goodwife Benton, in rare agreement with Elder Tharn, was giving the three Havenites and Josh her opinion in no uncertain terms, and when that seemed to have little effect, she counselled them to wait another hour or two until they could hold a village meet, and seek counsel of the Paragon. Reiner objected that he had already sought such counsel, but when asked where or what his own village had had to say on the matter, he was evasive in his reply, which gave Josh a bad feeling. He could see that Meikel was shifting his feet and looking uncertain, and Hold My Beer¡¯s friend was tugging Hold My Beer¡¯s sleeve as if he, too, was having second thoughts. Goodwife Benton might have succeeded in persuading them to rethink joining such a hastily planned mission, had not Elder Tharn said, in a manner he probably thought was kindly, ¡°There¡¯ll be no shame on ye if ye turn aside, lads. None will think the less of ye.¡± Even Josh gritted his teeth at Elder Tharn¡¯s patronising tone. Hardly surprising that this only stiffened the resolve of the three other volunteers, and if they were sticking it out, Josh couldn¡¯t do any less. And then it was somehow decided, and everything seemed to be happening at once. A knife grinder turned up and sharpened all the axes. Josh was offered an axe and a bow, but declined both, since he didn¡¯t know how to use either. He decided to stick with his knife, which the knife grinder sharpened until you could have shaved with it. Josh did accept the loan of a walking stick from one of Goodwife Benton¡¯s son-in-laws. He promised the son-in-law and Goodwife Benton that he would do his best to see Meikel safe, and the son-in-law tied the knife securely to the end of the stick, making it into a homemade spear. Hold My Beer had brought a scythe, and Hold My Beer¡¯s friend was brandishing a pitchfork. We¡¯re assaulting the forces of darkness with farming implements, Josh thought incredulously. And then in no time at all they were marching out of the gate, without Josh even getting a chance to taste the chicken stew that Goodwife Benton had been labouring over all afternoon. Reiner wasted no time in calling the order of march. He put Aston in the lead, and his fianc¨¦e¡¯s brother, whose name was Gerill, at the back, possibly to ensure that his new recruits didn¡¯t have second thoughts and drag their feet. He told them it would be a hard march to the ruins, and ignored Josh¡¯s plea to explain his plans for invading the scourge camp. Instead, he set a punishing pace north. There was no breath to spare for conversation, and it was all Josh could do to keep up. By the time they got to the ruins it was already dusk, and the six tiny moons were scattered across the sky like coins. Josh had a stitch in his side, and was too tired to do more than slump on a nearby stone. He knew the ruins from Spiralia. It was an ancient city, from a long-ago civilisation, called the Atalian Empire or something like that. He wondered tiredly if it had been an actual civilisation that had really existed thousands of years ago, or whether the ruins had been created merely to give outworlders somewhere to explore and monsters to kill. In Spiralia, ruins like these had thronged with undead, and there had been a lich boss at the centre. From the way the others were talking, though, it sounded like the undead had been cleared out a long time ago. Reiner¡¯s plan wouldn¡¯t have been bad if they had been up against a mundane enemy who wasn¡¯t expecting an attack. They were to move quietly through the ruins until they found the scourge nest, and would position themselves around it in a circle. At Reiner¡¯s signal they would let fly with their arrows. At the second signal they would rush into the camp and slaughter any scourge still alive. Josh had to restrain himself from clutching at his head and screaming Aaaaargh! in response to this brilliant idea. ¡°We can¡¯t do this,¡± he said, instead. ¡°The scourge are too strong. How many are there?¡± ¡°Afraid?¡± Reiner taunted him. Josh was liking him less and less. Missing fianc¨¦e, he reminded himself. ¡°I¡¯m not scared!¡± he said, aware that he had sounded defensive. ¡°But you didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± Reiner smiled slowly. ¡°There are five,¡± he said, and looked around. ¡°We outnumber them. They are mindless killers. We are here to rescue my woman, and protect our families and our homes. We have strength and right on our side.¡± He had the kind of deep, strong voice that people instinctively trusted, and it was going to get them all killed. ¡°We should at least watch the camp before we attack,¡± Josh said desperately. ¡°We can look at who is coming and going, or maybe there will be a chance to sneak in and rescue Ophala.¡± That was Reiner¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Looking at the others, Josh could see his own words were having no effect. Gerill, Ophala¡¯s brother, was resolute, and the Havenites¡¯ blood was up, the excitement evident in their faces. Reiner gave an easy, superior laugh in reply to Josh¡¯s idea. ¡°Fear not,¡± Reiner told him, putting a hand on Josh¡¯s shoulder that was clearly intended to be comforting. ¡°Thou art not of the hill folk, and I will not ask thee to stand with us. Thou shalt guard our backs, my friend, and mark my words, thou shalt see true valour this day.¡± Josh pulled away. There were all going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe he could convince them once they got closer and could see the scourge for themselves. There was one other thing he could help with, however. ¡°I have some venom,¡± he said ¡°We should rub it on the edges of our weapons. Or dip our arrow heads in it.¡± It might give them an edge. Reiner eyed him, but from this angle Josh couldn¡¯t see his expression in the low light. ¡°And how came such a thing into thy possession?¡± ¡°Further south. I took some eggs from a voracian broodmother,¡± Josh said. From the little snort that Gerill gave, it was evident they thought this a tall tale. ¡°It can¡¯t hurt,¡± Josh insisted, and so they carefully dribbled the liquid from the jar onto rags, and rubbed it on the edges of their blades, and dipped their arrow heads in it. Once this was accomplished, it was time to enter the ruins. 1.8 - When to listen to your inner bard The ancient Atalians had been powerful sorcerers, and had considered grandiose architecture to be the most appropriate use of their powers. All that was left now were the foundations, made from giant stone blocks, each one taller than Josh. Half of them had tumbled onto the winding old streets, barring the way, and were thickly obscured by briars and ivy. Above them, outlined against the stars, were the jagged ends of broken columns. There was no sound, and no sign of the scourge. Josh¡¯s hand was sweating where it held his spear, and his throat was thick with fear. He kept his eyes scanning the area, but the jumbled stone about them hid a hundred shadows. Something tickled his senses, high up on one of the columns, and Josh turned, giving a low shout of warning, even as a something blurred past him, a dark shape with a faint red nimbus about it. A moment later it had disappeared in a rustle of greenery, and when Josh turned around, Gerill was sprawled on the path, on his back. There was a black ribbon lying across his throat. Not a ribbon, Josh realised with horror. Gerill¡¯s throat had been cut. Josh was seeing an open wound. Reiner pushed roughly past him even as Josh backpedalled. The men all crowded around the corpse. Reiner face was white in the moonlight, his jaw set. He blinked rapidly. Hold My Beer backed away as well, saying in a high voice ¡°Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!¡± Josh watched them crowding round the body and thought, no, no, don¡¯t get distracted. ¡°Keep an eye out, it might come back,¡± he told them, but his words didn¡¯t penetrate their shock. Josh felt the tingle again, to the left. Something black, outlined in a red glow, materialised out of the darkness behind Hold My Beer. Josh lunged forwards with his spear, careful not to hit Hold My Beer. The point of his knife met resistance as it plunged into the half-seen attacker, and there was a human cry of pain, but the red glow blurred again, and then the figure was gone. Hold My Beer had a surprised expression on his face, and then he slowly pitched forwards onto the ground. Josh swore desperately and knelt beside the fallen villager, but knew their attacker could take advantage of that distraction, just as he had before. He kept his spear pointing outwards and his eyes darting all about him while he held his finger against Hold My Beer¡¯s neck. Josh couldn¡¯t feel a pulse, although he had no idea if he was pressing in the right place. There were no visible wounds. The remaining men swung around and saw the new body. There were multiple exclamations of dismay. Meikel dropped to his knees beside Hold My Beer and checked him. ¡°He¡¯s dead too,¡± he said, his voice wobbling. ¡°Hold fast!¡± Reiner ordered. ¡°Form a circle!¡± Instead, Aston turned and ran. The moment he did, Hold My Beer¡¯s friend started to panic. ¡°We¡¯re going to die,¡± he said, in a shaky voice. ¡°We¡¯re all going to die!¡± Meikel grabbed hold of him, as if to stop him running, and looked at Josh. ¡°Retreat,¡± Josh said tightly. ¡°Head towards the edge of the ruins.¡± This had been an utterly stupid idea, and he hadn¡¯t been any use whatsoever. He hadn¡¯t saved anyone. He had failed, and two people were dead because of it. Meikel obeyed, tugging Hold My Beer¡¯s friend along with him. Josh turned and walked backwards behind them, keeping his spear out, his senses straining for slight tickle he had felt every time the attacker had struck. Reiner still stood by the bodies, gripping his axe. ¡°Come on,¡± Josh said urgently. ¡°We need to get away!¡± ¡°My betrothed...¡± Reiner began. ¡°Two men are dead and the rest of us will die if we keep going,¡± Josh told him. He didn¡¯t feel a tickling sensation this time, but he saw movement behind Reiner. ¡°Behind you!¡± Reiner whirled and brought his axe up, catching his attacker¡¯s blade with the hook of his axe just in time. Instead of striking and vanishing, this time the black figure staggered. Had he tripped? Josh pushed Meikel further along the path, towards the outskirts of the ruins. ¡°Go!¡± he yelled. ¡°Run!¡± ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be right behind you!¡± Meikel went, Hold My Beer¡¯s friend on his heels. Josh turned back to the fight, which, surprisingly, was going in Reiner¡¯s favour. The black-clad figure was reeling, as if drunk, missing some of his strikes. The venom, Josh thought. He circled around, and the black-clad figure tried to put his back to one of the fallen blocks of stone so that he wasn¡¯t flanked, but his movements were increasingly unsteady. Reiner pressed the advantage, grappling the figure¡¯s knife hand and slashing desperately with his axe. Josh jabbed his spear at the figure again, and felt sick as the knife hit, jolted, and slipped in with a sudden rush. The figure stumbled back, which jerked the spear out of Josh¡¯s hands, then tripped and fell. Reiner flung himself forward, yelling and slashing with the axe in a frenzy, letting out all his pent-up hatred and anxiety at once. The figure was screaming, a sound Josh never wanted to hear again. Josh scrambled backwards, horrified, and then he realised that the screaming had petered out, and the body of the attacker was melting. No, it was disappearing into thin air, as if it was evaporating, clothes and all. Abruptly, and belatedly, Josh connected all the clues he had been given. The scourge were crazy, focused mindlessly on killing. They were devils in human skin. They couldn¡¯t be vanquished by ordinary means. They vanished when they died, leaving no trace of a body behind. The scourge were outworlders. A short while later, Josh was kneeling on the path while he hastily tied a tourniquet around Reiner¡¯s thigh. Reiner sat with his back to a stone pillar, his face creased with pain and gleaming with sweat in the moonlight. ¡°I can go on,¡± he said, gritting his teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t be a fool,¡± Josh told him impatiently. ¡°We defeated one, we can do it again.¡± ¡°Two of us are dead, and one of us is injured. It¡¯s three of us against four of them, and the ... the scourge are way faster and stronger than we are.¡± ¡°Four of us,¡± Reiner insisted. ¡°I can still fight!¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Josh said, exasperated. ¡°Even if that were the case, it would take ten of us to defeat one of them, so we need forty people.¡± ¡°My betrothed...¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go and look, okay? Let¡¯s get back to the others first.¡± Reiner seized Josh¡¯s shoulder with limp, shaking fingers. ¡°You would do that for me?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± Josh said. He was planning to go with his original suggestion of sneaking as close as he dared to their camp and spying on them. If he found an opportunity to sneak away with Ophala, then he would, but it depended on what state she was in. These outworlders had kidnapped a village girl, and when a group of her kin had come to take her back the outworlders had killed them without a second thought. The assassin guy, the black clad one, had clearly been going for maximum terror by striking out of the darkness, killing one of the villagers, and then vanishing again. He¡¯d been doing that for fun. And then there was the girl. There was only one reason Josh could think of for them to abduct a woman, and it made him sick to his stomach. That was why he was going back in. He tried to focus on his goal, but his mind kept flailing around in circles and getting hung up on people dying. Josh had killed someone. Most of the blows had been struck by Reiner, but Josh had physically stuck a knife into another human being. Every time he remembered the sensation of it sliding in, his mind flinched away from it. These outworlders were not the good guys. Josh had to remember that. And death wasn¡¯t permanent. He had to get Reiner and the others out of here before the assassin guy resurrected and came for them again. It took a long time for Reiner to hobble back to the outskirts of the city, leaning on Josh for support all the way. Josh wanted to curse at him to move faster, but he knew that wouldn¡¯t help. He kept looking over his shoulder, trying to sense the tickle he¡¯d felt. What had caused that? Could you sense the presence of outworlders somehow? This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it It wasn¡¯t until they were nearly back at the outskirts that Josh suddenly realised that, of course, the assassin wouldn¡¯t be able to return immediately. In Spiralia, if you died, you spawned at the nearest resurrection shrine, normally a giant blue crystal plonked down in the wilderness. If you were killed by a player, however, the nearest shrine would be locked to you. You would have to resurrect further away, which allowed for a decisive victory during player-versus-player battles, instead of having everyone repeatedly resurrect. Even if the assassin had respawned immediately, he would be miles away by now. That meant there was time for Josh to put his plan into effect. Once they¡¯d rejoined the others, it took even longer for Josh to convince Meikel that the party should head back to Haven without him. ¡°But you¡¯ll be killed!¡± Meikel kept repeating. There was a decent chance of that. The outworlders could have other scouts lurking in the bushes, who would be much better at sneaking than Josh. They might have some way of sensing if one of their party died, even if they hadn¡¯t been there to witness it. They might decide to kill Josh on sight, just because they could. Eventually, however, they loaded Reiner onto Meikel¡¯s back and the others set off. If the two who were uninjured took turns carrying Reiner, they should reach Haven in the middle of the night. Before Josh went back into the ruins, he reluctantly checked his character sheet. He now had one kill and zero deaths, and his gladiator ranking had jumped up by a whole ten points. [ACHIEVEMENTS Fledgling Gladiator I: You have defeated your first outlander! Don¡¯t feel too bad about it. He attacked first. Reward: 250xp. (apply) Hand of Karma I: You¡¯re going to be one to watch out for¡ªdefeating a murderer at your level is no easy task! Reward: 250xp. (apply) Shuriken (Lvl 18) Vanquished (1/5): It was your foresight and careful planning that saved the day. You avenged those who fell to his hand. Reward: as Shuriken was defeated as part of a quest, you may claim your reward from the Quest menu.] [QUESTS A Nest of the Scourge. Clear the remaining scourge from the ruins of Aileth-Mair. Remaining reward: 9,813 xp (shared).] ¨¤ Progress: you have defeated Shuriken. Reward: 539 xp (apply). Josh felt sick. These were real people, not video game avatars. What kind of psychotic nutcase had set up these achievements? The congratulatory tone of the messages, one moment attempting to reassure him, and the next sliding smoothly into sycophancy, was also worrying. Like the chimes for levelling up, there was something repellently manipulative about it. Speaking of levelling up, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to apply the experience. For one, it would be too much like congratulating himself for a job well done, when he felt like a miserable failure, and two, rewarding himself for killing someone, even if it was only temporary ¡­ just no. He would have to do it at some point. Not right now, however. The outworlder camp was pretty much in the centre of the ruins, in a small amphitheatre. The other outworlders had made no attempt to hide. They had a campfire going which blazed with sparks¡ªJosh had seen the glow some distance away. He had been cautiously sneaking from shadow to shadow, although he was well aware that he had no real sneaking skills, and that the other outworlders would probably be much higher level. Josh had no chance of staying hidden if they were paying attention. They weren¡¯t paying attention. He got down on his stomach and crawled to the edge of the amphitheatre, so he could see into it. There were five figures, which meant the remaining four outworlders were present, plus Reiner¡¯s fianc¨¦e, Ophala. She was easy to spot. There were tree trunks arranged in a circle round the fire, forming crude seats, and she was nestled into some furs, lying with her back against the tree trunk. Beside her, his arm slung around her shoulders, was a tall man with heavy dark brows, and short, tousled hair. Ophala didn¡¯t look like she was an unwilling victim. She had a satisfied expression, and every time her companion paid her a bit of attention, she would give a little toss of her head or a smirk. He was continually offering her things, like a drink from the jug the others were passing around, or a chunk of venison on a stick. The group had a deer haunch roasting on the campfire, and their survival skills were better than Josh¡¯s, because they had made a good job of it. One of them was slowly turning the carcass on a spit, and the aroma was tantalising. It reminded Josh that he hadn¡¯t eaten since the porridge Goodwife Benton had served him that morning. It had been a huge disappointment to discover that the villagers of Haven didn¡¯t know what lunch was. Each outworlder had the same red nimbus around them that Josh had seen on the assassin guy. It must be an indicator of an outworlder. Or no, Josh realised. It was the equivalent of a red murderer¡¯s flag in Spiralia. These players were all murderers, not just of locals, but of other outworlders. Charral, the fey knight who had wanted to kill Josh when he had first arrived, had had exactly the same red nimbus, except hers had been a much deeper, more intense red. That meant she had been an outworlder too. Could outworlders be fey, not just humans? And did a redder glow indicate the number of outworlder kills she had? Josh hadn¡¯t seen the assassin¡¯s nimbus when he had been hidden. It had only popped up when Josh had known he was looking at an enemy. That meant you probably couldn¡¯t use it to detect outworlders if you didn¡¯t already know they were there. Could Josh see others¡¯ character sheets? Would they notice if he did? Would that give him away? Shuriken had been level 18. This group must outlevel him significantly, to the extent that it probably didn¡¯t matter whether he knew their classes and levels or not. It would be better not to risk checking, just in case. Three of the outworlders had American accents, but the one rotating the spit sounded Eastern European. Weirdly, they all had sumptuous outfits, a little ragged, but extravagantly cut, and fashioned out of sumptuous fabric with fleur-de-lis patterns, or coloured stripes of satin which gleamed in the firelight, and folds of soft velvet. They looked like nobles roleplaying bandits. Or a bunch of cosplay fans lost in the wilderness. They were arguing about experience. ¡°It was a bad idea to come here.¡± That was the only female outworlder. She had a southern US twang and one of the others had called her Fren. ¡°This place was cleared out ages ago. I haven¡¯t levelled in six months.¡± ¡°Go east?¡± the Eastern European suggested. It sounded like his name was Meestra. ¡°Good hunting in swamp.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, fucking great idea!¡± Fren exclaimed. ¡°The Chinese got that place locked down, we might as well just offer to donate them free XP.¡± She added, in an aggrieved tone, ¡°Var are you listening to me?¡± She seemed to be addressing the outworlder who was cuddling with the village girl. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m listening,¡± he said, with obvious disinterest. His attention was wholly on his paramour. Josh hoped, for Ophala¡¯s sake, that she was here willingly, and not just faking compliance out of fear. ¡°Stop playing with your sex toy for two seconds and listen! We¡¯re talking about the XP situation!¡± Var rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve been talking about nothing else for days.¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s important!¡± ¡°The venison is nearly done. Why don¡¯t you run along like a good little girl and tell Shuriken the food is ready?¡± Fren swelled with indignation. ¡°I am not a goddam servant!¡± Her voice rose. ¡°I won¡¯t be talked to like that! Listen, mister¡ª¡± Var grinned at her, enjoying the reaction. ¡°Works every time,¡± he said to the others. The fourth guy, who was clutching the jug, sniggered. ¡°Well fuck you guys,¡± Fren said. ¡°Next time you need me to save your ass I¡¯m lettin¡¯ ya¡¯ll die, ya hear me?¡± ¡°Chill out, Fren, we¡¯re just teasing,¡± the fourth party member said. His words were slurred. He rolled over towards Varian and said in an ingratiating tone of voice, ¡°Hey, can I have a turn?¡± Fren made noise of disgust. Var leapt up, grabbed the sword that was propped up next to him and pulled it from its sheath in one smooth movement. The point was at the drunk guy¡¯s throat before he had time to do more than blink. ¡°Say that again,¡± Var hissed, ¡°And I will gut you and stake you out in the forest and leave you to bleed out for three days before I come back and strangle you with your own entrails.¡± Drunk Guy scrambled back. ¡°Sorry, sorry, sorry! I was just jokin¡¯, man, I dint mean it! Seriously, I dint mean it.¡± Var studied him, as if inwardly debating whether to carry out his threat or not. After a tense pause he pulled the sword away, and sat back down next to the village girl. She, Josh was repelled to notice, was bright eyed and smiling. She had visibly relished the little demonstration of power. Josh was tempted to crawl backwards and leave her to it. He had seen and heard enough to convince himself she was there voluntarily. But on the other hand, he wanted these guys out of the ruins and far away from Haven. He couldn¡¯t fight them, and he never wanted to repeat the experience of killing anyone ever again, even temporarily. What could he do? He should consult his inner bard. They achieved things via persuasion and trickery. This group was desperate for experience. Maybe Josh could tell them about the broodmother. That would clear them out of the area, and maybe they would run into the group of outworlders who had decided a broodmother made a good pet. Josh hoped they would focus on fighting each other, instead of interfering with villagers. He was going to have to walk right into their camp and speak to them. Josh stood at the top of the steps leading to the amphitheatre. He had already hidden his jar of venom, carefully detached the knife from the walking stick, wiped the blade thoroughly¡ªbecause he didn¡¯t want to kill himself if he cut himself with it accidentally¡ªand stuck it through his belt. He now held the stick as if it was just a walking stick. He had also turned his outworlder status back to visible. He took a deep breath. ¡°Hello!¡± He called from the top of the steps. The effect was immediate. Fren leaped up, scooping up a crossbow that had been lying nearby and cocked it in a casual way that implied she was stronger than she looked. Var rolled to his feet, grabbing for his sword again. The Eastern European lunged for metal shield and a spear. Drunk Guy just lay there, the jug in his arms, and blinked at Josh owlishly. Then Fren said, in incredulous tones, ¡°Oh my god, a level three?¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Is there a way to see people¡¯s character sheets?¡± And what, exactly could they see? Not his achievements, he hoped. He had a sudden flashback of a knife on a stick sliding into a body, and crazy screaming as a man died beneath a frenzied axe. The visceral memory of it left him light-headed, and he took a deep breath. He had to make these people think he was their friend. ¡°Oh my god, what a fucking noob!¡± Fren began to lower the point of her crossbow. Meestra said, ¡°Wait, there might be others.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me,¡± Josh said. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to alarm you. Well, actually some villagers came with me ...¡± he faltered for a moment. ¡°But ... er ... I, um, I persuaded them to go back.¡± Var jerked his chin at Fren. ¡°Check.¡± To Josh, he said, ¡°What do you want?¡± Var asked. Josh tried to calm his breathing and speak in a light, level tone of voice. ¡°To talk, mostly,¡± Josh said. ¡°I was curious.¡± Fren had put down her crossbow, and now she picked up a bandoleer full of tiny vials. She plucked two out, twisted off the seals, and knocked back the contents in quick succession. Meanwhile, Var gave a little snort. ¡°You came here, just to talk?¡± He sounded sceptical. ¡°Also I did have a quest to rescue, um, Ophala,¡± Josh admitted. ¡°But, uh, I can see...¡± His voice trailed away. Fren had closed her eyes and tilted her head, as if listening. ¡°Shut up,¡± she said, and everyone shut up. She rotated in a circle, hands held out around her, listening intently, and raising her nose to scent the air. When she was done, she took another vial, drank it down, and opened her eyes again, shaking her head and wincing as if in pain. ¡°Ugh,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s clear.¡± The others relaxed. ¡°How long you been in Six Spires?¡± Meestra asked. ¡°Two, no, three days?¡± Meestra glanced up at Var to see how he had reacted to this, then said, ¡°What part you arrive in?¡± ¡°I started out just north Celespire.¡± ¡°He might know something useful,¡± Meestra said to Var, who considered this, and then suddenly came to a conclusion. He sheathed his sword and smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come down and join us?¡± Var gestured to the campfire. 1.9 - Reasons to be wary of power-levelling Josh limped down the steps towards the campfire. His body ached all over, and his skin felt sticky and clammy with dried sweat. He hadn¡¯t washed since he¡¯d arrived in the world, and now he felt faintly embarrassed by that. That morning there had been a communal bowl in the Benton household for people to wash their face and hands in, and it had been easier for Josh to decline when it came to his turn rather than insisting on clean water for his own personal use. As soon as he got within six feet of Frenxy, he could feel the same tickle he had got from Shuriken right before he attacked, and he gave her a quick, alarmed glance. She had picked up her crossbow again, but it was dangling by her side rather than pointed at him. ¡°How do you view character sheets?¡± Josh asked, when he reached the bottom of the steps. ¡°You just need to look at someone and focus like you do when you bring up your own character sheet,¡± Var said. ¡°Oh cool! Do you mind if I do that with you guys? Can anyone tell if you look at their character sheet?¡± Josh was deliberately amping up his naivete and enthusiasm, although he couldn¡¯t tell how well it was working yet. Var sat down, and the others followed suit, although instead of sprawling on the ground they now perched on the logs. ¡°You can look,¡± Var said. Josh focused on them one by one. Transparent windows popped up each time he did, but the information was sparse. [Frenxy Master Alchemist Level 21 Player rank: 389 Gladiator rank: 276 Kills: 62 | Deaths 35 Karma: -1,200] Var was actually Varian, a level 29 commander. Meestra was spelled Mistrz, and was a level 25 man-at-arms. Drunk Guy¡ªhis name was Wook¡ªwas a level 19 tailor, which explained the group¡¯s fancy outfits. Their player ranks were in the 300-400 range, and their gladiator ranks were sitting around the 200-300 range, except for Varian, who was ranked at 186. They all had thousands of points of negative karma. Josh was hoping desperately that the same rules held here as they did in Spiralia Online, and that he was too low level to offer them any experience if they killed him. It felt like a flimsy shield against their combined, speculative stares. They must have been inspecting him as well, because Wook said, ¡°What the hell is a plumassier?¡± ¡°You put your real name in?¡± Frenxy crowed. ¡°That¡¯s so cute!¡± ¡°Nine hundred and ninety first player,¡± Mistrz said shortly to Varian, not even bothering to address Josh. Varian twisted his mouth thoughtfully. ¡°What class choice did the Guardian give you?¡± Varian asked. Josh hesitated. ¡°Just plumassier. Those were the only slots left.¡± They all glanced at each other. ¡°That means the fifth assassin slot was taken,¡± Varian said, his eyes gleaming. ¡°There¡¯s a baby assassin in play, boys!¡± ¡°It¡¯s been four weeks since Kenway got iced,¡± Frenxy complained. ¡°Stormzy probably picked the new guy up in less than a day. We got no chance.¡± Stormzy? The Storm King? If he was the leader of the scourge did that mean he was also an outlander? Josh should find out more about Kenway, since it sounded like he''d been killed and not resurrected. Mistrz had been busy cutting glistening slices off the haunch of venison. ¡°Worth checking out,¡± he said, eyes on the meat. Varian nodded, then turned back to Josh. ¡°How did you get so far from the starter zone?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t check my character sheet until the evening of the first day I arrived, so I didn¡¯t see the quest to go to Leybeck until then, and by that time I was miles away.¡± Frenxy gave a little snort of laughter. It was clear she thought it had taken Josh the whole of that first day just to work out how to open it. He bit down on the urge to correct her. ¡°Just as well,¡± Varian said, with lazy authority. ¡°Stormzy has agents in Leybeck. You wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance.¡± ¡°What happens if Stormzy gets you?¡± Josh asked cautiously. ¡°You¡¯da been his slave, that¡¯s what,¡± Frenxy said. ¡°Ain¡¯t nothin¡¯ happens in there what don¡¯t have his say so.¡± That sounded like a lucky escape for Josh. Mistrz had started handing out slices of meat to the others. Josh noticed that he gave Ophala¡¯s portion to Varian, instead of directly to the girl herself, and there was no portion for Josh until Varian jerked his head and said, ¡°Give the noob some too.¡± There was silence for a little bit. Varian hand fed bits of the venison to the village girl in a way that made Josh nauseous. He wasn¡¯t the only one, he saw¡ªFrenxy was disgusted too. Mistrz just ignored her as if she wasn¡¯t there. Josh decided this was probably the best course of action, and glanced down as his own portion. There were bloody juices leaking out of the meat onto the leaf that served as his plate. It suddenly reminded him of Reiner¡¯s axe slashing into Shuriken¡¯s body over and over again, and the trail of blood from the raw wound in Gerill¡¯s throat, and the way Josh¡¯s knife had slid into the assassin with only a little resistance, as if he was cutting butter, and suddenly it was all too much. Josh dropped his portion of meat and sprinted over to a patch of thick weeds, where he emptied the contents of his stomach in a series of involuntary heaves. He hadn¡¯t eaten since morning, so what came out was mostly a few teaspoons of bile. He knelt there, grasping for breath, then wiped his mouth. He just wanted to walk out of the amphitheatre and never speak to these arseholes again. Once he¡¯d regained his composure he took a deep breath, summed up every scrap of willpower he had, and walked back to the campfire. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. His voice sounded thick and ragged. They were all regarding him with bemusement. ¡°You vegetarian?¡± Frenxy asked. She said it with all the scorn a dedicated PC gamer would use for someone who played on a console. Josh shook his head. ¡°No.¡± He tried to think of an excuse, and his mind flashed back to Goodwife Benton expertly pulling the slimy mess of entrails and other innards out of the chicken carcass this morning. ¡°They made me kill and gut a chicken this morning, and it just ... reminded me...¡± ¡°Who did?¡± Frenxy asked. ¡°The villagers. In Haven.¡± She appeared to find the concept highly entertaining. ¡°Why d¡¯ya do it? Why didn¡¯t you just refuse?¡± Josh blinked at her. ¡°I couldn¡¯t ... I mean, they offered me a bed for the night and gave me food. It seemed rude to say no.¡± Frenxy laughed so hard she nearly fell off her log. ¡°Oh my god! That¡¯s so funny!¡± To Josh she said, ¡°They ain¡¯t real people you know.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°They¡¯re just NPCs. They don¡¯t have actual feelins, nothin¡¯ like that.¡± Her tone was one of someone kindly explaining an obvious truth to an idiot. Josh was surrounded by murder hobos. That was why Shuriken had killed Gerill and Hold My Beer as if it was nothing. He glanced at Ophala to see what she had thought of this conversation, but she and Varian were touching foreheads and she was giggling. Right. Josh should probably tell her that her brother was dead, but he would need to choose his moment. ¡°Is there any water?¡± he asked. Frenxy rolled her eyes, grabbed the jug from Wook and ordered Josh to hold out his hands so she could pour some in. It was a rough and vinegary red wine, but it still tasted better than the inside of Josh¡¯s mouth. He sat down, picked up his leaf plate and contemplated the meat. For the first time in his entire life he had no appetite. Frenxy glanced at Varian and said, ¡°So you must have questions about ¡­ you know ¡­ all this?¡± Josh put the leaf plate down again. Maybe he would try some later. Questions, he thought. Right, questions. Actually, I do. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°So ¡­ who put us here? Are there any clues? Who is the Guardian? Is Six Spires a whole planet or is it just the lands that were in the game? If we¡¯re just sitting on a flat fragment of terrain how come there¡¯s gravity and an atmosphere and stuff? Is Six Spires billions of years old or thousands or was it created recently and if so, who created it? Where do all the people and animals come from? It seems like we got recreated in this world, in new bodies that were almost identical to our old ones, instead of transported, but we could be in a computer simulation. Do you guys have any evidence to support either theory?¡± Josh paused for breath, and then thought of one more question. ¡°Oh, and did you all come here after playing Spiralia Online? Did you get the immortality quest? Did you get snatched while sleepwalking?¡± There was a stunned silence while everyone stared at him wide-eyed. Oops. Had he let out too much of his inner geek? These were gamers, though, surely they must all be geek-adjacent at the very least. Frenxy broke the silence. ¡°We don¡¯t mention the before,¡± she said flatly. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean those kinds of questions. I meant, more about levelling and stuff.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Josh blinked. ¡°Oh, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to ... sorry. Right. Levelling and ... yeah, okay.¡± He did have questions about that too. He took a deep breath. ¡°Is it true we resurrect after we die?¡± Varian answered him this time. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Okay, how does that work? Do you appear back where you died, or is there a shrine or something? Is it instant? Is there a limit to how often you can die? Do you lose levels or experience? Do you resurrect uh ... naked ¡­ or do you keep your clothes and things?¡± ¡°You appear at predetermined points,¡± Varian explained. ¡°They¡¯re not marked in any way, they¡¯re just somehow special. The place you appeared would have been one of them. Normally they¡¯re slightly hidden, like in amongst rocks, or bushes or whatever. When you die, you lose any experience you haven¡¯t applied yet. It takes anything from one to two weeks to respawn. You resurrect with your clothes and gear, so long as you were touching them, wearing them, or carrying them in a bag which you had on you.¡± Josh was conscious of a flood of relief. The timeframe meant Shuriken wasn¡¯t about to rush into the camp at any moment and accuse Josh of killing him. Josh had been planning to excuse himself as soon as was reasonably possible, but now he saw he had some leeway. Also, repugnant as the idea was, he needed to apply the experienced gained from Shuriken¡¯s death very soon. He couldn¡¯t do it while he was in the presence of Varian¡¯s group, though, in case they would be able to see the pending levels and realised how he must have gained so much experience. Suddenly hiding his status would be just as suspicious. ¡°Right,¡± he said. ¡°Thanks.¡± He should probably ask questions about levelling. ¡°What¡¯s the best way to level? How long does it take to get to max level? Is level 40 still the max?¡± ¡°Best way to level is to kill monsters,¡± Frenxy said. She directed a glare at Varian, and added, pointedly, ¡°Less¡¯n you¡¯re in an area which ain¡¯t got no monsters.¡± ¡°Not true,¡± Mistrz said briefly. ¡°At low levels crafting is very fast, as long as you have plenty materials.¡± ¡°But crafting classes are shit!¡± Frenxy protested. ¡°Nobody wants them!¡± Mistrz shrugged. ¡°Depends what you craft.¡± He added to Josh, ¡°Decorating with feathers probably not good. Paper maker is good. Tailor, cook, brewer, they are good. Very popular. You can be rich. Blacksmith is like god.¡± He nodded to Frenxy. ¡°Alchemist good, is like combat class.¡± ¡°I am a combat class!¡± Fenxy said, outraged. So basically, Josh thought, if you were the kind of crafter who could make everyday items that could be worn, ingested, or used as weapons, you were useful. Maybe he could make hats with magic feathers in them. Hats of disguise or invisibility! He had lots of feathers back at the village. If he could survive for long enough, he fervently promised himself that he would practice as much as possible, until he ran out completely. He suddenly realised that the tickle he had sensed earlier must have been the feathers on Frenxy¡¯s crossbow bolt. They must be enchanted somehow, maybe to improve how the bolt flew. Shuriken musst have had some kind of crossbow bolt or arrow with enchanted feathers too, allowing Josh to sense him just before he struck. It would be a really good idea to extend the range of Feather Feel. Josh noticed that Wook had been staring at him for a while now. ¡°We should power level you,¡± Wook said suddenly. ¡°Oh my god,¡± Frenxy said in disgust. ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°No-one is power levelling anyone,¡± Varian said easily, and gave Josh another smile. ¡°Sorry to get your hopes up, but we don¡¯t give out freebies to random level 3 players. You would need to convince us that you¡¯re worth our time.¡± ¡°Uh, yeah, that seems fair.¡± In his head Josh was thinking frantically. His initial gut reaction had been a kick of interest, but that was stupid. He didn¡¯t want them to power-level him, because if he got to a high enough level they would get experience for killing him, and if they were so desperate for it, then maybe they would be tempted. Or, he realised, that would be their reason for power levelling him in the first place. They would power level him deliberately just so they could farm him for experience. Ohshitohshitohshitohshit. Varian had just told Josh that he had to prove himself, but the little Josh had already seen of Varian showed just how manipulative he was. Varian would probably want to make Josh jump through hoops to gain the group''s favour, and generally act as if the power levelling was a huge reward. Maybe he thought he could make Josh feel grateful enough to agree to it. What would a bard do? Fake ignorance, and act like they would be doing him a favour, and the moment their backs were turned, high tail it in the opposite direction. So, nothing had changed really, since Josh had been planning to do that all along. He suddenly remembered his plan to tell them about the broodmother. He¡¯d let himself get distracted. ¡°Uh,¡± he said. ¡°If I knew about a potential source of experience not far away, and I gave you directions to it, maybe you could help me in return?¡± They all glanced at each other, except for Wook. Ophala, who had lost Varian¡¯s attention during this conversation, was looking put out. ¡°Alright,¡± Varian said finally. ¡°I¡¯ll bite. What did you find?¡± Now that he had their attention Josh hedged a bit, just to keep them dangling. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure some other outworlders set it up. They¡¯re farming it for resources, I think? So it¡¯s not without risk, right?¡± Varian shrugged. ¡°You let us worry about that.¡± ¡°Okay, someone dragged a voracian broodmother upstream onto the moors south of here.¡± Josh described the pool he had found her in. He tried to hint at the area, rather than give exact directions. ¡°And I wanted the eggs because of the venom, but if you guys could kill the broodmother too, that would give us experience, right?¡± They all considered it, although Josh could see the gleam of avarice in their eyes. ¡°Not egg farm,¡± Mistrz said. ¡°Maybe a few eggs, yes. But this XP farm.¡± ¡°Like, seriously?¡± Frenxy sounded excited. ¡°Like, you let them hatch and grow and pretty soon you got ¡®em all up and down the river? And you kill them all, rinse, repeat! Oh my god, I just about creamed my pants!¡± ¡°Nice setup,¡± Varian said, his brow furrowed. ¡°Who?¡± He looked across at Mistrz. ¡°Harrow¡¯s crew?¡± Mistrz nodded. ¡°I think yes.¡± ¡°We can take ¡®em, right?¡± Frenxy demanded. Varian smiled. ¡°We can if they don¡¯t know we¡¯re coming.¡± Josh wanted to mentally apologise to Harrow and his crew, but on second thoughts they were the ones who had apparently planned to fill an otherwise harmless river with man-eating monsters, so maybe he didn¡¯t feel that sorry for them after all. Maybe Harrow¡¯s lot and Varian¡¯s lot would all kill each other. That would keep them out of Haven¡¯s hair for a week or two, at least until they all resurrected. Now that he''d actually met some of the other outlanders, Josh was no longer surprised that they were being killed permanently. No doubt many of the locals had been given ample motive to find a method that worked. Josh could even blame them, not completely, if Varian''s group were a representative sample of what outlanders were like. There were so many things wrong with this world. His mission accomplished, all Josh had to do now was find an excuse to leave the camp and return to the village. He had a sinking feeling, however, that Varian¡¯s group wouldn¡¯t be willing to let him go so easily. ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Sleep,¡± Varian said decisively. ¡°Go south in the morning.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any blankets,¡± Josh said. ¡°Or anything to sleep on.¡± Varian gave him a dismissive look. ¡°You¡¯ll live.¡± He didn¡¯t sound sympathetic. Josh wanted to suggest he go back to the village and sleep there, mostly because he wasn¡¯t sure how long he would be able to keep up his harmless, perky, upbeat fa?ade in present company. On the other hand, if he tried to leave they might try to stop him, and he didn¡¯t want to tip them into showing their hand too soon. Plus, if he did go to the village they might follow him, and he didn''t want them anywhere near the villagers. His heart sank as he realised he would have to stay with them, at least for a while. He didn¡¯t think Varian would start offering to power level him immediately, so he would probably be safe at least until he¡¯d shown them the broodmother. He would need to slip off before then. If he could. ¡°What was that?¡± Mistrz looked up at the steps leading down to the amphitheatre. ¡°What?¡± Frenxy asked. ¡°I heard something.¡± Mistrz gathered up his shield and spear again. ¡°Something moving.¡± Frenxy sighed dramatically, grabbed a vial from her belt and drank it, then closed her eyes. She held her hands out in front of her, as if trying to feel the air around her. ¡°No magic,¡± she said. ¡°Human. NPC I think.¡± She pointed to the top of the steps. ¡°There.¡± There was a shuffling sound as something small and hunched stepped into view. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said a thin, cracked, quavery little voice. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to intrude.¡± It was an old woman. 1.10 - When to be scared of little old ladies Josh stared at the old woman in disbelief. She was about four and a half feet high, and wore a ragged homespun dress shaped like a sack, with a coarse woollen shawl around her shoulders. She had a rush basket over one arm, with a couple of wizened roots in it. Her hair was bundled up in a messy bun which made her look like a demented witch. She had to be a witch, surely, because nice old ladies didn¡¯t wander around abandoned ruins in the middle of the night. If it was a disguise, however, it was a good one. Her face had a mild, sheep-like expression, with a button nose, and the rest of her features were wreathed in wrinkles. She looked more like someone¡¯s grandmother than a hag. Besides, Spiralia didn¡¯t really have hags in their lore. Sometimes there were aged wise women who lived in the wilderness and gathered herbs and spoke to birds, but they were rarely inimical. They gave out quests about restoring the balance of nature and things like that. Maybe she was one of those. ¡°She a witch or anything?¡± Varian asked Frenxy, who shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not gettin¡¯ anythin¡¯. Totally human.¡± She raised her voice. ¡°Go away, old woman.¡± ¡°If you¡¯ve got a quest, give us the damn quest,¡± Varian said, bored. ¡°If you haven¡¯t, then fuck off.¡± Josh was genuinely shocked. That was not how people spoke to elderly women where he came from. And it was doubly important in a game. Josh would have thought it would be obvious that you were never, ever rude to a sweet and doddery old lady who approached a campfire full of hardened adventurers in the middle of the night. She would invariably turn out to be a powerful sorceress. How did these guys not know something as basic as that? It was Game Questing 101. And even if she wasn¡¯t, common decency demanded that you at least speak to her with a minimum level courtesy. Frenxy had said the old woman was human, and a local. How sure could they be of Frenxy¡¯s magic sense? ¡°I dinnae ken what that means,¡± the old woman said in reply to Varian, sounding shaken and bewildered. ¡°Then what the fuck are you doing here?¡± ¡°I ... I ... I smelled the cooking ...¡± Was she hungry? ¡°Can you spare some of the venison?¡± Josh asked Mistrz quickly. ¡°You can¡¯t feed her!¡± Frenxy objected. ¡°How will we get rid of her then? I don¡¯t want to watch a crone with no teeth trying to suck on meat, eww gross.¡± Holy shit, these people, Josh thought. Mistrz hesitated, then wrapped some of the latest slices in one of the leaf plates, secured with a thorn so that it made a small green parcel, and handed it to Josh. The old woman looked at Josh worriedly as he climbed the steps towards her. He plastered a reassuring smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that,¡± he said. ¡°Please don¡¯t listen to them.¡± He proffered the parcel. ¡°Can I offer you some venison?¡± ¡°Oh!¡± she said, sounding breathless ¡°Oh, so kind of thee! I don¡¯t get to eat it very often, as it happens. If thou woulds¡¯t...¡± She held out her basket. Josh carefully put the parcel in. He could hear her breath wheezing in her thin lungs, and noticed she was holding herself up with a hand on one of the pillars next to the steps. He looked around, and saw a stone slab nearby which was about the right height for her to sit on. ¡°Would you like to sit down?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to be any bother...¡± ¡°No-one will be bothered if you want to have a seat for a bit,¡± Josh said, hoping very much that this was true. The others had been rude, but not aggressive. She only took a little persuading. Josh seated himself next to her and set himself to finding out as much about the ruins and the local area as he could. As he¡¯d suspected, she was a local herb woman, and made her living by gathering medicinal roots and herbs, which she sold to the nearby villages. There was a particular flower, she said, which opened only in moonlight, so she had set out to gather some, not realising that some folk had made the ruins their camp. It was just as well Shuriken wasn¡¯t around anymore. He might have killed her. But the rest of Varian¡¯s group were murder hobos too. Maybe they hadn¡¯t started out that way. Maybe the game had twisted them into this version of themselves, with its encouraging little chimes for gaining experience and levels, and its rewards for killing, until they¡¯d started doing things they would never have been willing to contemplate originally. That was Josh¡¯s future. No, he would never be like them. ¡°Penny for thy thoughts?¡± the old woman said, peering at him curiously. Josh gave her an automatic smile. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°A lot on my mind recently.¡± ¡°I¡¯m allus willing to lend an ear to a canny lad as thou,¡± she told him. Josh glanced at the campfire, and the four outlanders around it. ¡°I don¡¯t want to burden you with my troubles,¡± he said. ¡°A trouble shared is a trouble halved.¡± ¡°Well.¡± Josh hesitated. He wasn¡¯t about to tell her what he was thinking, but maybe she could help him in another way. ¡°I¡¯ve been travelling a lot recently, but I don¡¯t know anything about living off the land. How do I find things to eat?¡± She brightened up immediately¡ªin Josh¡¯s experience older people liked to be asked for advice¡ªand she was a genuine font of information on the subject, to the extent Josh desperately wished he had a pen and paper, because he ought to be taking notes. She was telling him a recipe for snails when Varian approached. ¡°...and if ye get some milk ye just put them alive in a pot with the milk for several days, which they eat the milk and get plump, and ye sieve off the scum as forms and then...¡± she broke off when she saw Varian, and shrank into herself. ¡°I¡¯ve outstayed my welcome,¡± she said, a tremble in her voice. ¡°My pardon, milord, I¡¯ll be out o¡¯ thy way...¡± Varian whipped his sword out. Josh yelled in alarm, but Varian was fast, and he had the sword at the old woman¡¯s throat before Josh could do anything, even supposing there was anything he could have done. The old woman froze. ¡°Fren says you¡¯re human, and she should know,¡± Varian mused, looking down at her. ¡°But. But. What if you weren¡¯t? If that were the case, you would be worth a shitload of XP. All I have to do is kill you, and if you are just an ordinary old bat, then I¡¯ve not lost anything but a bit of karma. But if you aren¡¯t...¡± his smile widened. ¡°Then it¡¯s all profit for me, isn¡¯t it?¡± There was a trace of moisture on the old woman¡¯s cheeks. Tears, Josh thought, with a sick lurch. She said nothing, but just sat there, like a rabbit in headlights. Josh noticed that her hands were shaking. I have to do something. It¡¯s up to me. But what could Josh do? What if Varian tried to kill him too? I can¡¯t die, Josh promised himself. I can¡¯t die, and Varian doesn¡¯t want to kill me yet. He edged himself slowly in between Varian and the old woman until he was staring Varian in the face, an arm¡¯s length away. He put his hand on the blade, and gently pushed it away from the old woman¡¯s neck. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Please don¡¯t do this,¡± he said. Varian looked at him, a little smile kicking up one corner of his mouth. ¡°You don¡¯t tell me what to do,¡± he said, and moved again. There was a blurred moment, and Josh was lying on his back on the ground, winded by the fall, with Varian straddling his chest, and Varian¡¯s sword point only millimetres from his eye. He doesn¡¯t want to kill me yet, he doesn¡¯t want to kill me yet, Josh repeated to himself frantically. It was lucky that he had hardly had anything to drink in the last few hours, bar the mouthful of wine from the jug, because if he had he would have pissed himself. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said, his voice wobbling helplessly. The word just popped out, and he wasn¡¯t sorry, not one bit, but Varian seemed to relax, and bounced to his feet. ¡°Just you remember who is in charge around here,¡± he said. He looked speculatively at the old woman. He still had his sword in his hand. Think like a bard, think like a bard. Bards were twisty, devious, and persuasive. ¡°If she is a witch, she¡¯s powerful enough to hide herself from Frenxy,¡± Josh said. He sat up, edging warily away from Varian, who shook his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that. It doesn¡¯t matter how powerful she is, you can¡¯t cloak magic. The more powerful they are, the brighter they shine.¡± Josh scrambled to his feet. ¡°Then she''s just an old lady. Please don¡¯t do anything to her,¡± he said. ¡°Please.¡± He could see that Varian liked it when Josh begged, because he smiled again, and after a moment he slid his sword back into its sheath. ¡°Get your wrinkly old carcass out of here,¡± he told the old woman, and strode back down the steps to the amphitheatre, not bothering to look back and see if his commands were being obeyed. They were. The old woman pushed herself to her feet, and shakily started to make her way back out onto the path that led into the ruins. ¡°Wait a moment,¡± Josh said. He felt nauseous and light-headed, and he didn¡¯t blame to old woman for her shakiness one bit. He stumbled down the steps to the fire, where his walking stick still lay propped up against one of the tree trunks. He grabbed it, and then laboured up to the top of the amphitheatre again. Every joint still ached, and all he wanted to do was keel over and sleep for a week. ¡°Here,¡± he panted, when he reached the old woman again. ¡°Take this.¡± He held out the walking stick. ¡°Ye sweet boy,¡± she said. ¡°I cannae take yer stick.¡± ¡°I can get another one.¡± He proffered it again. ¡°Please.¡± ¡°Well, if ye insist, thank¡¯ee kindly.¡± She glanced down at the campfire and lowered her voice a bit. ¡°Walk w¡¯ me a little way, lad, if ye please.¡± Just because she looked harmless didn¡¯t mean she was. On the other hand, Josh had the choice of escorting a nice old woman out into some mysterious ruins, or spending more time with a group whose only use for him was as a source of experience points. Josh glanced down at camp, and saw that none of the other outworlders were paying him any attention. Besides, he was curious about the old woman. He came to a decision. ¡°Of course,¡± he said, and offered her his arm, hoping it wasn¡¯t the last thing he ever did. The old lady¡¯s name was Mother Gwyn, which she¡¯d given when Josh had told her his own. They didn¡¯t say much as they walked, partly because Mother Gwyn was sparing all her breath for the exertion, and partly because Josh was keeping an ear out to see if anyone from Varian¡¯s group decided to follow him, not that he was confident of his ability to detect them if they did. Mother Gwyn lived in a small lean-to, created when a whole wall had slumped over onto the next, creating a narrow, triangular space, rather like a tent made out of stone. She had secured it from inclement weather using a crudely fashioned wicker door, which she heaved open with much huffing and puffing. ¡°Come in, come in,¡± she said, shuffling into a dim interior that smelled of peat smoke. Josh hesitated, then mentally shook himself. This constant paranoia was ridiculous. He ducked his head, and followed her into the nook. There wasn¡¯t much inside¡ªa small campfire thick with ashes, a sheepskin rug in the corner for sleeping on, a low, crude bench covered in earthenware pots of different shapes and sizes, and bundles of dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. Mother Gwyn immediately got a stick and poked at the dead ashes, revealing dim, glowing embers underneath. She took a brick of peat from the stack beside the door, threw it on the fire, and proceeded to get shakily to her knees so she could blow the embers back to life. ¡°Would you like me to do that?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Ah, yer a kindly lad,¡± she exclaimed, getting to her feet. ¡°Nay, it ull catch. Have a seat, will ye?¡± Josh nodded, and sat cross-legged on the opposite side of the fire, wincing at the burn of lactic acid in his muscles. He wondered what he should do now. Mother Gwyn¡¯s little hut was only a few hundred yards from the campfire, and if he stayed away too long Varian¡¯s group would probably come looking for him. Despite the danger facing him, he didn¡¯t think he had it in him to find his way out of the ruins tonight, let alone walk all the way back to the village. His escape plans would have to wait. ¡°I should get back to the others,¡± he said, reluctantly. Mother Gwyn tutted. ¡°Ach, bide a wee.¡± She fiddled with the fire again, which was now giving out a comforting glow. Josh stared into it. His eyes prickled with tiredness, and he rubbed them wearily, wishing he was back home and sleeping in his own bed, with its sprung mattress, smooth cotton sheets and warm, comfortable duvet. Between one moment and the next, Josh was hovering over the campfire in the centre of the ruins, above Varian¡¯s group. His mind seemed to accept this as perfectly logical, as if it was natural to be hovering overhead without a body. One part of him was dimly aware that he must be dreaming, but he dismissed the thought and looked down at the scene before him. Wook was passed out, spread-eagled on a sleeping mat with the jug lying on its side, not far from his hand. The remains of the deer haunch had finished cooking, and Mistrz was slicing it up and wrapping it into leaf parcels. Varian was walking back down into the amphitheatre, leading Ophala by the hand. Ophala had a leaf in her hair, and they had the rumpled look of a couple who had been enjoying a quiet moment alone together. Frenxy had her arms wrapped around her knees and was staring into the flames. ¡°Is he out?¡± Varian asked. Frenxy unfolded herself, and went to a sixth figure, who lay curled up on his side on the ground. Josh realised that it was his own form. His face was hidden, but he could see curls of dark blond hair sticking out from beneath the medieval hood. In the way that everything always made sense in dreams, he wasn¡¯t surprised to find that he was apparently in two places at once. Three, if he counted his out-of-body bird¡¯s eye view. He wondered idly if he was really in Mother Gwyn¡¯s hut, or really back at the campfire, but it didn¡¯t seem like something to worry about just now. Frenxy shook his sleeping form¡¯s shoulder, and when he didn¡¯t respond bent in close and tried peeling back an eyelid. ¡°He¡¯s out,¡± she said, sitting back down. ¡°That was the last of my night-night potion. Anyway, what you reckon? There really a broodmother up in the moors?¡± Varian slung himself onto his furs, pulling Ophala next to him. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like the kind of thing he would have the brains to make up,¡± he said dismissively. Ouch, Josh thought. ¡°So we check it out?¡± ¡°Yeah. But carefully.¡± ¡°You think he¡¯s a spy for Harrow?¡± Varian pursed his lips. ¡°No,¡± Mistrz said. ¡°If Harrow got him they would do same as us. Power-level and farm for XP, then harvest player core.¡± Wait, Josh thought. What? Player core? Was that was gave him his class and his skills? There was something inside him that allowed him to see all the floating menus and enchant feathers? And, apparently, it could be taken from him? What would happen then? Would he die? ¡°This is a unique opportunity for us,¡± Varian said, but Frenxy spoke over him. ¡°He¡¯s a plume-ass or whatever, no-one is going to want a shitty class like that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fucking interrupt me!¡± Varian roared suddenly. Frenxy flinched. ¡°Sor-ree!¡± Varian glared at her with a tightened jaw, and she looked away. Josh was still trying to unpack what they had meant about harvesting his player core. ¡°Ophala will get the core,¡± Varian said. What? Josh thought, again. His own incredulity was echoed by the two others, although for different reasons. ¡°Core is valuable, even if shitty class,¡± Mistrz pointed out. ¡°You¡¯re gonna give a player core to your fuck toy?¡± Frenxy asked. Ophala spoke up for the first time. ¡°I don¡¯t want plumassier,¡± she said. ¡°I want assassin.¡± Frenxy gave a disbelieving laugh. ¡°Everyone wants assassin, you stupid slut. Get in li¡ª" she bit off her words with a scream as Varian lunged for her, grabbing hold of her hair. ¡°I put up with a lot of your shit,¡± Varian growled while Frenxy squealed. ¡°But there is a limit. You keep that big mouth of yours shut unless you¡¯ve got something useful to contribute.¡± He shook her, then threw her away from him. She staggered, and fell to the ground, gasping and sniffling and clamping her hands to her head protectively. Mistrz hadn¡¯t reacted at all. Varian sat down and said, deliberately, ¡°Ophala will get the core.¡± He turned to her. ¡°And when we get a better core, I promise you will be the first to benefit, baby.¡± Ophala smiled, as if he was offering her a box of chocolates or a bunch of roses, instead of vowing to rip something out of Josh and embed it in her, instead, like a ghastly second-hand parasite. That was how players¡ªoutlanders¡ªpermanently died here, Josh realised with rising horror. ¡°We don¡¯t know how to put a core in a non-player,¡± Mistrz said carefully. ¡°We know it¡¯s possible,¡± Varian told him. ¡°We¡¯ll go to the Old Man if we have to.¡± He added, without looking at Frenxy, ¡°Fren, go and find Shuri. I¡¯ve had enough of him roleplaying fucking Assassin¡¯s Creed out there.¡± Frenxy got up and walked out of the camp without a word. ¡°Shuri will want assassin if we find it,¡± Mistrz said. ¡°He can stick with ranger and like it,¡± Varian snapped. Shuriken was a ranger, not an assassin? It made sense, though. If it was possible to steal other people¡¯s classes, there was no way this group would have let their lowest-level member keep a class as rare as assassin, given that there could only be five of them in the world at any one time. Varian would have sacrificed him, like they planned to with Josh. He was surprised that Shuriken had managed to hang onto his ranger class this long. No wonder Varian''s gang were half-psychotic, if outlanders went around farming each other for experience and cannibalising each other¡¯s classes all the time. And Josh was in grave danger. It was far, far worse than he¡¯d feared. 1.11 - Good advice that you probably won’t follow When Josh woke, it was with a parched mouth and a splitting headache. He was lying in Mother Gwyn¡¯s little lean to, and there was a scratchy blanket covering him. From the light filtering through the wicker door he could tell it was already day. In front of him sat a glazed earthenware pot, with ashes heaped around the base to keep it warm, and to one side was a parcel wrapped in waxed cloth. There was no sign of Mother Gwyn. She had to be a witch, Josh thought. But his memories of the previous night were uncertain. He must have fallen asleep¡ªhad he merely dreamed the conversation the outlanders had had, about harvesting his player core? No, because he wouldn¡¯t have been able to make that detail up. He had some pressing needs to attend to, but when he got to his feet he winced, because once again his body was stiff and aching all over. Was just one pain-free day too much to ask? He hadn¡¯t applied his experience. He didn¡¯t want to lose it, but what if he ran into the other outlanders today, and they saw the pending levels and realised what had happened? Or maybe they were suspicious already. They wouldn¡¯t have been able to find Shuriken and, oh god, there were the bodies of Gerill and Hold My Beer just lying abandoned in the forest. Josh felt obscurely guilty about that, even though there was little he could have done at the time. He pushed the wicker door aside warily and blinked in the bright daylight. There was still no sign of Mother Gwyn, or of Varian¡¯s gang. This corner of the ruins was thickly overgrown, with vines creating a lattice overhead that shaded the narrow paths between the stone columns in cool, dim greenness. Josh found a quiet corner that he hoped wasn¡¯t used for anything, and relieved himself, but when he retraced his footsteps he must have taken a wrong turning, because he came out into a wide circular space, ringed by columns, with a stream running through it. The water welled up through a natural crack in a boulder, and followed a narrow, purpose-built channel, which wound its way to a small pool in the centre. In the middle of the pool was a statue of a woman, or rather three women, or perhaps the same woman at different stages of her life. She had three heads, each facing in a different direction, and three arms, arranged so that each aspect had the use of two. One aspect was a maiden, joyful and slender, one was a mother, with a graceful bulge to denote pregnancy, and one was a gimlet-eyed crone. The statue obviously represented a goddess, and this must be her temple. Then Josh felt like he¡¯d been hit by a heavy, belated brick. Gods, he thought. There were gods in this world. He¡¯d even heard one mentioned yesterday¡ªthe Paragon of the Havenites¡ªbut he¡¯d been distracted with other things and hadn¡¯t thought through the implications. Were the gods responsible for Josh¡¯s abduction? Were they genuine creator entities, or merely immensely powerful spirits? Were they wise and benevolent, or jealous and judgemental, or maybe even quarrelsome and capricious? There had been gods in Spiralia, now that he thought about it, six of them, one for each spire. Ciandar had been the primary deity of Celespire, a sort of Sun God-themed version of Zeus, except without all the incest and rapine. He granted Celespiran clerics their powers. On the rare occasions Josh was asked about his religion, he usually described himself as an atheist, and, like most people raised in a largely agnostic household, had never found any compelling reason to change his mind. The idea that he was now living in a world potentially full of immensely powerful beings with a penchant for interfering in the affairs of mortals was less than reassuring, particularly given that Spiralia Online had taken a lot of its inspiration from the Greek, Roman, Norse, and Celtic pantheons. Josh approached the pool. It had been recessed into the floor, with three sets of stone steps leading down to the poolside itself. The stream flowed over a tiny, artificial waterfall at one end, which kept the water constantly circulated and fresh. Josh was very thirsty, so he cupped his hands under the stream and drank his fill. The water was tooth-achingly cold, but sweet, and he felt a little better. There were murals around the low walls surrounding the pool edge. They were faded and many of the tiles were chipped or missing, but the fragments that remained depicted people engaged in various ablutionary activities, some of which Josh would not have expected to find in a temple. He craned his head at the antics of a particular couple, and then realised the odd position was because the male partner was a satyr. That meant it wasn¡¯t some kind of special holy water you weren¡¯t supposed to touch without the permission of the priestess. Josh could probably bathe in it without defiling it, and therefore without subsequently getting blasted by a bolt of lightning for his pains. He barely recognised his reflection in the water. His hair was sticking up in all different directions, he had four days of beard scruff on his chin, and the stupid clothes really did make him look like something dragged willy nilly out of the pages of a medieval history book. He¡¯d been walking around feeling like he was playing dress-up the whole time, but he looked like he fitted right in. It was not a comforting thought. He flinched at the biting chill of the water, but persevered, scrubbing himself with his hands in lieu of soap. By the time he was done his skin was pink with cold, but he felt revitalised and refreshed, the cool purity of the water flushing out all the shame and disgust and regret from the previous day. He had no towel, and had to drag his clothes back on over wet skin, but even so he felt a hundred times better once he was done, his mind calm and focused with a strange sort of clarity. Goddesses could grant prayers. Josh didn¡¯t know who this goddess was, or if she still existed, or really if any of the Six Spires gods existed, but what did he have to lose at this point? He padded around the pool, wondering which aspect to pray to. The mother, he thought. She had the kindest, most sympathetic face, and would probably be most receptive to the nature of his plea. He felt absurdly stupid, because he¡¯d never prayed in his life before. He got down on his knees before the statue. ¡°Um,¡± he said. ¡°Hi. I hope you don¡¯t mind me using your temple. It¡¯s a very nice temple. Thanks. Er ...¡± he paused. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can help, but if you can ... anyway ... what I really want, first of all, is to let my parents and Ben know that I¡¯m okay. They must be besides themselves with ¡­ you know ¡­ and Ben must be feeling so guilty, but it wasn¡¯t his fault. Just some way to contact them, if that¡¯s not too much to ask? Even if I can never get home. I mean, obviously, if you can help me get home too, that would be amazing. I would be really grateful. But failing that, a way to speak to them would be really appreciated.¡± He stopped and looked up at the face of the mother, whose expression hadn¡¯t changed from calm, serene kindness. After a while he felt awkward, so he got to his feet, and yelped in fright when he saw Mother Gwyn sitting on an overturned column near the temple entrance. She must have heard the entirety of his inarticulate little prayer, and oh crap, had she seen him stripping off to bathe too? ¡°How long have you been here?¡± he asked, trying not to cringe openly with embarrassment. ¡°Ah, just a minute or so,¡± she said, which meant she must have missed the bathing spectacle. Josh still hadn¡¯t been able to make his mind up as to whether she was a witch or not, and if the conversation he had dreamed by the campfire had been real. ¡°I had a dream last night,¡± he said hesitantly. Mother Gwyn nodded, unsurprised. ¡°¡¯Twas a hidden moon last night. ¡®Tis when Her power is strongest.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hidden moon?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t ye know, lad? There are seven moons, but only six that can be seen with mortal eyes. When the seventh moon is out, that¡¯s when Mayad sends dreams. Did ye fast aforehand?¡± Josh hadn¡¯t eaten anything since yesterday morning, and he¡¯d drunk very little, which was probably why he had woken so dehydrated. ¡°Yes.¡± Mother Gwyn nodded again. ¡°She guided my steps toward the old theatre, though I knew what fell creatures nested there, but I put my trust in Her, as I allus do, and She saw me right.¡± ¡°Er ... what?¡± Josh said. ¡°But you could have been killed!¡± ¡°Aye, but there was a saviour at hand, was there not?¡± Josh stared at her. ¡°You mean me?¡± ¡°Who else, lad?¡± She seemed amused. Josh scratched his head. ¡°Well, I suppose I helped a little, but really I think you saved me, because I was able to get away from them.¡± Yes, and how had she done that? With hindsight the only reason Josh had walked out of the amphitheatre was because either Mother Gwyn or the Goddess had cast an illusion of Josh by the campfire for Varian''s gang. The illusionary Josh had drunk whatever Frenxy had offered him, and slept while the gang discussed him. He wanted to ask more about the illusion, but there was a more important matter to discuss first. ¡°Where are the others now?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Searching the ruins,¡± Mother Gwyn said placidly. ¡°They found your two fallen companions, and they know something happened to their fifth.¡± ¡°What?¡± Josh looked wildly around him. ¡°We need to hide!¡± Mother Gwyn shook her head. ¡°This place is a sanctuary still,¡± she said. ¡°A weak and hidden one, perhaps, but there are times when subtlety and misdirection win the day.¡± A sudden suspicion took hold of Josh. ¡°Are you ... a priestess?¡± he asked. Mother Gwyn let out a croak of laughter. ¡°The lady Mayad ain¡¯t one for big temples and fancy priestesses and all that. Me, I¡¯m just what you see, an old woman with more curiosity than sense. But I cleared the weeds away from her shrine, and I unblocked the spring, and she sees fit to guide me when I need it. Sometimes she guides others to me.¡± Josh shivered, and found he had nothing to say. The rest of the morning was sent sitting in Mother Gwyn¡¯s hideout. The pot she had left in the ashes had been intended for Josh, and was full of a nourishing broth of wild onions and herbs. The waxed cloth packet held several cakes made from a mixture of pressed seeds and nuts, bound with an egg and sweetened with honey. Josh devoured it all, and then they shared the slices of venison from the previous night. He spent the time enchanting feathers, listening to Mother Gwyn¡¯s tales and, because it couldn¡¯t be avoided, checking his character sheet. He had gained a point each in Endurance, Strength, Resilience and Chi, and was finally able to steel himself to apply the experience. There was 500 in total from the two achievements, and 539 from killing Shuriken. He was surprised the amount was so low¡ªafter all, he was level 3 and Shuriken had been level 18. But in Spiralia, experience you got from killing another player was reduced by half compared to the amount you got from killing monsters, plus it had presumably been shared between Josh and Reiner, since the latter had done most of the actual work. At that thought Josh had to sit and take deep, slow breaths for several minutes until the vivid mental images of the attack went away. Even with the reduced reward, applying the experience pushed his pending level all the way up to level 8, and while most of him felt nothing but distaste, there was a very tiny part of him that couldn¡¯t help feeling a sense of accomplishment. Was that how it had started for Varian¡¯s gang? That part of him that had celebrated the gain in levels shrivelled utterly when Mother Gwyn announced that the scourge had departed from the ruins heading south¡ªtowards the broodmother, Josh hoped¡ªand they would now be able to deal with the bodies. It was a grim task, and of necessity Josh did most of the heavy lifting. Mother Gwyn set up a travois, onto which Josh loaded the bodies of Gerril and Hold My Beer one by one. After that he dragged them to the temple, where he was instructed to lay them out on two flattish pieces of rock, and then roll them over while Mother Gwyn washed them, and then bound them in strips of cloth. ¡°I never even asked his name,¡± he told Mother Gwyn, when it was Hold My Beer¡¯s turn. She nodded, neither absolving him nor reproaching him, and that acceptance helped. There was no excuse for Josh not to have asked for Hold My Beer¡¯s real name, and the one Josh had given him seemed ridiculously cruel in hindsight. But the villager had made his own decision to come here. All Josh could do now was respect that. Eventually it was done, and by that time the shadows were lengthening into late afternoon. ¡°Where you headed now?¡± Mother Gwyn asked, as they stood at the edge of the ruins, looking out over the moorland. She had helped him extract a purer form of the venom, and given him a tiny pot, sealed with wax, to keep it in, claiming the pickle jar for herself as payment. She had also kept the stick. ¡°Back to Haven, to give them the news, and make sure they¡¯re alright,¡± Josh replied. She nodded, satisfied, and patted his hand. ¡°Yer a good lad.¡± ¡°Will you be okay by yourself?¡± ¡°Me? Oh aye, I¡¯ve lived here many a year. Thoughtful of ye to ask.¡± She paused. ¡°A word o¡¯ warning, though.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Ye should be careful what ye pray for. The gods give, but they also take.¡± The hairs on the back of Josh¡¯s neck rose. ¡°I appreciate the advice.¡± She gave a snort. ¡°The young never do, although I¡¯ll grant ye have a little more patience than most yer own age. Off with ye, now, lad, may ye find joy in that which ye seek.¡± It was an improvement on the Fey Queen¡¯s, blessing, at least. Haven had considered Josh dead, and if he thought there had been a crowd surrounding him on his first arrival, it was nothing to the one that gathered on his second. They pelted questions at him from every side, until Goodwife Benton¡¯s son-in-law came striding through and made them all step back to give the lad some air. And behind him, hobbling with a crutch, came Reiner, followed by a woman haranguing him, who demanded that he get back into bed this instant, mister, if he knew what was good for him. Josh looked at Reiner¡¯s pallid skin and hollow eyes and felt wretchedly unprepared for the news he had to impart. How did you tell a man his fianc¨¦e had gone off with monsters willingly, so that she could be one of them? ¡°It was too late,¡± Josh blurted out to him. ¡°It was too late before we even got there. Even if you¡¯d set off from Haven straight away, it would have been too late. She¡¯d already...¡± Reiner flinched back. ¡°Dead,¡± he said hoarsely, and Josh did not correct him. ¡°It was quick,¡± he said. ¡°She didn¡¯t suffer.¡± The sympathy veered immediately from Josh to Reiner, and Josh was happy to let it flow past him to a more worthy recipient. Quite a few of Reiner¡¯s closest sympathisers were young unmarried village women, and if Reiner wasn¡¯t exactly encouraging the attention, he wasn¡¯t discouraging it either. Josh dined with Goodwife Benton¡¯s family¡ªthey had even saved a portion of chicken stew for him¡ªand he apologised for the loss of the stick, which the son-in-law dismissed with a wave of his hand. They knew of Mother Gwyn, and would set out to retrieve the bodies in the morning. To Goodwife Benton and her son-in-law, Josh gave the truth, that Ophala had gone willingly to become one of the scourge. He thought someone ought to know. ¡°Ye did right not to tell him,¡± Goodwife Benton said, referring to Reiner. ¡°I felt so sorry for him,¡± Josh said. ¡°I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to say it.¡± The son-in-law sucked in a slow breath between his teeth and Goodwife Benton shook her head. ¡°I doubt it was for love o¡¯ her that he set off on this mad quest,¡± she said darkly. ¡°It were about his pride more¡¯n anything I¡¯ll wager. Prideful foolishness. That¡¯s what got our Ulman killed. A bad business all round.¡± The village held a sort of wake for the dead, presided over by Elder Tharn. Josh had initially dreaded it, because he¡¯d been sure that Elder Tharn would use it as an excuse to be patronising and sanctimonious, but Josh had underestimated him. Elder Tharn chose to tell the tale of the scourge. ¡°Tylas the Undying,¡± said Elder Tharn, ¡°He who had slain Good Queen Halina, and her oathsworn, the Tigerlily Knight, had been long imprisoned by the Chains of Weyland¡­¡± Weyland? Really? Josh thought. Why was there so much of Earth in Six Spires? It wasn''t a wholly alien world. What had come first? Had Six Spires always existed, and informed not just Spiralia the game, but Germanic mythology from thousands of years ago? Or was Six Spires a created world, its history derived from Earth legends? While Josh was considering that question, Elder Tharn described how the Undying had plotted in the darkness of his prison, and escaped by treachery. ¡°¡­driven to madness by his desire for power and arcane knowledge, seeking out unholy magics and delving deep into the mysteries that belong to the sphere of the gods, not to that of men¡­¡± The Frankenstein complex, Josh thought. He¡¯d written an English literature essay on the archetype of the mad scientist who put the pursuit of knowledge above all else, to his ultimate downfall. He¡¯d been quite proud of that essay. He¡¯d referenced Pandora¡¯s Box and everything. ¡°¡­devised a ritual to summon such power unto himself as would set him above the gods themselves¡­¡± And probably tore open a gateway to hell or something, Josh thought. ¡°¡­and in the void between the stars, poised in the firmament, was the Dreamer, the link between our world and theirs. And the Undying travelled through the dreams of the Dreamer, beset by many perils, but at last he found the land of the scourge, a hell so pitiless that its denizens were consumed by desperation, eager to escape its burning fires¡­¡± What, now? Josh snapped to attention. Tylas the Undying had performed a ritual which allowed him to dream his way to ¡­ that wasn¡¯t a very flattering picture of Earth. ¡°¡­and they came, the scourge, a mighty crew, shining like the sun, but their hearts were corrupted with greed and hatred¡­¡± Josh let the remainder of Elder Tharn¡¯s sermon wash over him unheard. He knew what he needed to do. Maybe Mayad had sent him his sign after all. He had to find the Dreamer. 1.12 - Less murder and more hobo Josh was currently staring at a stone guard tower. He had left Haven behind two days ago, and had been walking north ever since. The Havenites had been generous, seeing him off with a pack full of food, a change of clothes, another walking stick, a thick woollen blanket, a fire lighting kit, a short coil of rope, a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a great deal of well-intentioned but contradictory advice. There had been tearful goodbyes from Goodwife Benton, a solid, approving handshake from her son-in-law, and a short, manly conversation with Meikel, in which a great deal more was understood than was actually said. The pending levels to his class were still applying themselves at a rate of one per day. Josh wasn¡¯t sure why it was that slow, but he suspected it was so that whatever system was in place could apply the upgrades to his body in gradual and natural way. He¡¯d put his attribute points from levelling into Endurance and Chi, and was getting additional upgrades for all the walking and feather enchanting he¡¯d been doing. He¡¯d been attempting to practice with the bow, but the sole lesson that Meikel had given him before he¡¯d left had been notable more for its haste than its thoroughness, and Josh wasn¡¯t sure he was making much progress. The northern lands Josh was heading into were all that remained of Celespire¡¯s territory, after the Storm King had wrested control of the capital city from Queen Halina¡¯s son, King Rupern. The latter had established his court-in-exile the city of Drendal, a hundred miles or so north. If Josh couldn¡¯t find out more about the Dreamer in Brackstone, he would go to Drendal instead. First, however, he had this guard tower to deal with. It was a tall square tower, which reminded Josh of the old peel towers you got in the north of England, and was situated on a rise that overlooked the surrounding country. The road skirted the hill, but remained in full view of the tower. This is what you get for following a road, Josh told himself. There seemed no sign of occupancy. The door to the tower was closed, and there was no movement at any of the arrow slits on the upper floor, nor on the battlements. If there was anyone there, they would have seen Josh coming from a mile away, so there was no point in trying to avoid it now. Maybe it wasn¡¯t manned? This assumption was proved wrong when Josh reached the part of the road nearest the tower, and a sudden voice yelled at him. ¡°Hoy! Hoy!¡± Josh looked up to see a figure in a helmet waving at him from the battlements. The tone of the shout suggested that Josh had been doing something wrong and ought to stop it at once. Maybe the road wasn¡¯t for walking on? Maybe this was some kind of restricted area? He hesitated, wondering if he should just run away, but the landscape was clear for miles in every direction, and maybe the guard would have a bow or a crossbow. Josh¡¯s decision was made for him when a different guard opened the door at the base of the tower. He was a beefy, well-fed fellow, with a ruddy face, and wore an ill-fitting brigandine. In one hand he held a crossbow, pointed negligently downwards and, once he¡¯d let go of the door, he used his other hand to pick his nose. Josh and the guard stared at each other. ¡°Hello?¡± Josh said, eventually. It was at that point that Josh remembered the enchanted feather he¡¯d tied to the end of a long reed, which he¡¯d stuck in his belt, so that it danced and swayed in and out of his sense range as he walked. The idea was to try and improve the range of his Feather Feel skill. He was aware that it made him look like an absolute pillock, but he hadn¡¯t seen another person for two days, so it hadn¡¯t been a problem until now. He didn¡¯t blame the guard for staring. There was the sound of running footsteps, and the guard from the battlements appeared. This one was shorter and wirier, but similarly accoutred. He pulled the door open wider and pointed at Josh. ¡°You!¡± he shouted. ¡°Halt!¡± Josh wasn¡¯t currently moving. He looked down at himself and back up at the guard. ¡°Yes?¡± he said. His heart was beating a little faster, but he tried to sound calm, and he had deliberately thickened his accent, in an attempt to make himself sound like a local. The Havenites had sounded northern English, although their dialect didn¡¯t quite match any that he was familiar with. Which was its own mystery¡ªwhy would people from another world entirely not only speak English, but in an accent that was not dissimilar to the very part of England that Josh himself was from? Whatever the reason for the similarity in dialect, Josh was planning to do his best to sound like a local. He didn¡¯t think he had a handle on when it was appropriate to go around thee¡¯ing and thou¡¯ing people, but he could definitely slide his accent further away from the received pronunciation end of the scale. If the guard was put off by Josh¡¯s calm demeanour, he recovered quickly. ¡°Stop what you¡¯re doing right now!¡± he ordered. ¡°Ah...¡± Josh wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Should he point out that he wasn¡¯t doing anything, or should he ask what it was he was supposed to stop? From the little he had seen so far he wasn¡¯t confident that the guard was susceptible to the logical reasoning. ¡°I saw you,¡± the guard said. ¡°Sneaking along.¡± ¡°I was walking!¡± Josh protested. ¡°Walkin¡¯, aye,¡± the beefy guard corroborated. ¡°He could be scourge,¡± the thin guard said, gripping his crossbow tightly. The point of it wavered towards Josh. ¡°Invadin¡¯ our lands!¡± Josh¡¯s heart beat a little faster and he looked down at himself again. ¡°I¡¯m not¡ª" he began, but was interrupted when a third guard arrived. This one was older, and wore a breastplate, and a helmet with a plume on top. He stared at Josh, and then said, ¡°Grig, what the hell is going on?¡± ¡°I caught this scourge, sir!¡± Grig said. The newcomer raised his eyes to heaven, then took off his helmet and scratched at the red line where it had left a dent in his forehead. ¡°Grig,¡± he said, in thoroughly fed-up tone of voice, ¡°If this was a scourge you¡¯d be dead already. Get back to your post.¡± Grig looked as if he wanted to argue, but after a beat he went. ¡°You,¡± the new guard¡ªpresumably a sergeant¡ªsaid to Josh. ¡°What you doing ¡®ere?¡± ¡°I¡¯m travelling to Brackstone.¡± ¡°And where you from?¡± ¡°Haven,¡± Josh lied. ¡°It¡¯s a village¡ª¡± ¡°Aye, aye, I know the one. Alright, come in then.¡± ¡°Er...¡± Josh said. ¡°What for?¡± The guard post, it turned out, was one of the southern border forts established by King Rupern, there to provide an early warning system if the Storm King suddenly decided to invade. From the general level of preparedness exhibited by the guards, Josh gathered that no invasion was considered imminent. He hoped Private Grig wouldn¡¯t be too disappointed. ¡°But if yer going north,¡± Sergeant Kelso told him, ¡°You need papers. Can ye read?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said, before remembering he was in a different world and there was no guarantee that these people used the Roman alphabet. A moment later, as Sergeant Kelso laboriously transcribed his answers, he was relieved to discover that they did, or at least something that bore a passing resemblance to it. The piece of paper which Sergeant Kelso showed him read: I, Joshua de Haven, a plumier and apprentice seeking my trade, do certify that I am of sound mind and free from disease, and swear I intend no harm nor to His Majesty, King Rupern of Celespire, nor to the people of Dendralshire, nor do I travel with malicious intent. Josh hadn¡¯t thought to give his surname, and Sergeant Kelso hadn¡¯t asked, maybe assuming he didn¡¯t have one. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Needs a seal,¡± Sergeant Kelso said. ¡°Oh, and yer fee.¡± ¡°Fee?¡± Josh clutched the piece of paper defensively. ¡°I don¡¯t have any money.¡± ¡°Aye, well, see what ye can do.¡± Sergeant Kelso gestured. ¡°Turn out yer pack, lad.¡± Josh hesitated. The sergeant had a sword by his side, and a square, heavy build that meant he outweighed Josh by a good margin. He also had armour, and Josh had none. On top of that, he commanded two privates, both armoured and armed. Josh was fairly sure that there was no legal basis for what they were doing, but he didn¡¯t feel like he was in a position to decline. The sergeant gestured again, impatiently, and Josh didn¡¯t like the look in his eye. He put his pack reluctantly on the table. The sergeant emptied it out, and gave an unimpressed grunt. He took all the remaining food, the lovely warm, dry woollen socks the Havenites had given him, and the blanket. ¡°What am I supposed to eat?¡± Josh protested. ¡°Stop whinging. There¡¯s food to be had up north, if ye care to work for it. Now give me yer finger.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because yer need blood for the seal.¡± Josh insisted that this be accomplished with his own knife, still sharp, and long cleaned of the venom, and let a drop of his blood fall on the paper. Sergeant Kelso dribbled some melted wax over the top, and then pressed it with a seal. Weirdly, Josh could feel a tiny speck of magic caught inside the wax. Was that his blood? Or magic that was in his blood? Did it come from him, or from the process of embedding in sealing wax? He frowned and concentrated, but the feeling was small and elusive, and he didn¡¯t realise how much effort he was expending until he suddenly realised he was sitting on the stone floor of the guard tower, feeling light-headed, with both guards staring at him in bemusement. ¡°Paragon forfend, what a pansy!¡± the Sergeant said, obviously thinking this was in response to Josh cutting his finger. But he poured a cup of wine and made Josh drink it with a sort of rough kindness at odds with his blatant theft of Josh¡¯s things only a few minutes earlier. Josh left the guard post with a lighter pack and strong feelings of resentment. He came up with half a dozen plans for sneaking into the guard post and stealing back his things when the guards were asleep, even though he knew it was a stupid idea. To distract himself, and put himself in a better frame of mind, he focused on his character sheet. When he¡¯d woken up this morning, he¡¯d received a choice between three new skills. [Please choose one of the following skills: Glow: Enchant a feather to glow for a short time. Hide: Enchant a feather to blend into its surroundings for a short time. Extinguish: Enchant a feather so that it can dim light in a small area around it.] The descriptions could have been a little more informative. What did ¡®a short time¡¯ constitute? How bright did the feather glow? Specifically what effect would allow a feather to blend in¡ªwould it be like a chameleon, or would it go transparent? How large was ¡®a small area¡¯? If progression worked the same way as in Spiralia, Josh would get his next skill choices at levels 15, 25, and 35. Each time, one new skill would be added, giving him a choice of six skills, of which he would ultimately be able to choose four. Knowing this didn¡¯t help him in any way, because the choices you made, even at level 5, mattered a lot. The four base skills usually had minor effects, but when they could be combined for greater effects¡ªtwo skills would make a second-tier skill, for example. Combining all four skills together would give you a fourth-tier skill, a Grand Master Skill. If Josh could choose four skills out of six, that meant there were nine possible combinations, and therefore nine possible Grand Master Skills. The trouble was he had no idea how they would combine, or what the Grand Master Skills would be. He would be choosing blind. He already wanted Glow and Hide. Glow would be useful for lighting his way, and, remembering how the men of the village had liked the chicken feathers plumes he had made, he thought maybe he could sell glowing feathers as a novelty decoration. But it depended on what it looked like, and how long the effect lasted, and he wouldn¡¯t know until he tried it. Hide would be perfect for camouflage in the forest, even if it was a temporary effect. Josh suspected that Hide and Extinguish would synergise with each other to create a stealth effect, and that would ultimately be more useful than Glow. So he should probably choose Hide, but it would limit his options to earn money, unless there were a lot of people who wanted to use feathers as camouflage. Josh wasn¡¯t going to choose yet, however. There was no point, when he didn¡¯t have enough feathers to make anything that would be able to take advantage of Hide or Extinguish anyway. It would be better to wait until he had found out more about the world first. Despite the setback at the guard post, he had a plan. The first step would be to learn everything he could about the world of Six Spires, while keeping his outlander status hidden and under level 10. In the meantime, he would work on raising his attributes as much as possible. He needed to be much tougher. His strategy was hugely risky, because if he did die he would lose his unapplied experience, but on the plus side it would prevent any outlanders trying to kill him permanently for his player core. Then, when Josh had found out everything he could about the Dreamer, he would apply any levels he¡¯d accrued, and set off on his quest. For this to work, however, he needed to be able to pass as a local. Therefore, the short-term plan was to ask for work at farmhouses on the way north, in exchange for food and a place to sleep at night. Once he got to the Whortleberry Woods he would check out the druid grove, because they had something he thought would help. And maybe the druids would also know something about the Dreamer. Of course, it didn¡¯t go anything like Josh had expected. His catnip effect seemed to have worn off, because at the first house he stopped, the woman who answered the door would only open it a grudging couple of inches, and when Josh asked for food and lodging in exchange for work he heard a man yelling in the background, and then a dog came barrelling around from the side of the house and chased him off the property. The next few houses he saw all seemed to have guard dogs, and after the second time he¡¯d been chased away, he stopped trying. That night he lay shivering in a hedgerow, and when he did finally get to sleep it felt like he was woken only a couple of hours later by a dawn chorus of bird screaming their tiny little hearts out, by which time he was freezing cold, damp with dew, and ravenously hungry. The only bright note that morning was that he had gained two points in Chi in the night, as well as one in Resilience. Was the gain in Chi due to his feather-on-a-fishing-pole set up, or because he had nearly fainted trying to sense the magic in his blood? He would need to keep trying to sense the seal, but he felt too drained from lack of sleep and food. It wasn''t as if he''d never missed meals before, but that was because he''d been hyperfocused on something, like a paper for a deadline, or a game. He''d always been secure in the knowledge that there would be something to eat at some point, even if it was just a packet of instant noodles unearthed from the back of a kitchen cupboard. He had no such confidence now, and it made the hunger a gnawing ache that was all he could think about. Even his character sheet and speculations about the nature of the player core weren''t enough to hold his attention. When he finally did find a house without a dog, it was a ramshackle place with half-falling down fences and weeks choking the farmyard. However, there was a thin trickle of smoke coming from the chimney, so he worked up his courage and knocked on the door. The couple who lived there were old and thin, with filthy faces, bad teeth, and clothes that were caked with ground-in dirt. For some reason which mystified Josh, they had scattered reeds on the floor of their farmhouse and then left them to rot. The whole place had a sour odour that turned his stomach. He almost turned tail and fled, and it was only the prospect of food that forced him to stay, and ask for work. That, and the fact that they clearly needed help. Despite the unwholesome aura to the place, the old couple did their best to be hospitable. The old woman gave him some oatcakes, although, having seen the state of kitchen, Josh nearly gagged as he forced them down. They were also raw on the inside and charred on the outside, but they were plentiful and filling. That night he slept in their barn, in the hayloft. Getting into the hayloft itself had been an adventure in itself, because the ground floor was layered in compacted cow manure, which stank to high heaven. On the plus side, it was warm and dry. In exchange, the next day Josh helped the old man shovel some of the manure from the barn into a cart, which he took to spread on a nearby field. By the time he was finished, both Josh and his clothes reeked. At least he still had the spare set of clothes, so he washed both himself and the soiled clothes using water from the well. The old woman, having watched his pathetic attempts at scrubbing the clothes with amusement, showed him how to mix water and ashes to make lye, which stung his hands, but at least removed the manure. She gave him a slice of hard, gritty bread and mutton for his supper, and the old man offered him a permanent job on the farm, but Josh hastily made the excuse the family were waiting for him in Brackstone, and the next morning he set off northwards again. This day started better, because he immediately got a lift from a man driving a cart full of barrels of cider, who cheerfully shared the contents of a basket of food which his wife had packed. It was full of thick slices of bread, yellow butter, a soft white cheese wrapped in a cloth, juicy red apples, a pot of honey, and a pint of milk in a glass bottle. Josh had to restrain himself from falling on his portion like a starving wolf. Josh soon discovered that the main reason he had been picked up was because the carter was the kind of person who liked an audience. He talked almost without pause from the moment Josh climbed into the cart to the moment he got set down. However, since the carter¡¯s conversation related to the doings of the people who lived in his village, all of whom he referred to as if Josh would know exactly who they were, very little of what he said was either useful background information, or even comprehensible. All Josh was able to do was nod or say ¡®oh?¡¯ every so often, which he was perfectly willing to do if it would get him another slice of bread and cheese or honey. The carter was taking his barrels of cider to a place he called ¡®the Hall¡¯, owned or lived in by someone he referred to as ¡®Hisself¡¯, by which Josh gathered it was the manor some kind of land-owning nobility. After Josh¡¯s experience with the guard post he decided he didn¡¯t want to get mixed up with toffs, so when the carter turned off the main road he stuffed the last slice of honeyed bread in his mouth, wished the carter a slightly muffled farewell, and continued northwards once again. Ahead, Josh could see the edges of a forest, which the carter had confirmed was the border of Whortleberry Woods. It was dispiriting that neither the old couple he had stayed with the previous day nor the carter had ever heard of a grove of druids, but perhaps druids were secretive and kept to themselves. If that was the case, they probably wouldn¡¯t welcome a visit from Josh. However, he¡¯d had an idea that he could use his feather enchanting skill for, and it seemed a shame to come all this way and not check it out. Josh was still considering what to do when he reached the forest edge. He peered between the trees as he walked along the road, but all he could see was thick undergrowth and briars. Finding a druid grove in the midst of all that would not be easy. He nearly jumped mile when a nearby voice said, ¡°Oi, mate. Got a fag on yer?¡± 1.13 - Putting the ‘f’ into Fantasy The moment he heard the voice, Josh swung round. On the opposite side of the road from the forest was a small copse, and in the middle of that was a campsite. A small fire burned in a fire pit, although it gave off almost no smoke, which was partly why Josh had missed it. Hobbled nearby were two horses. One was clearly a warhorse, a big, muscled thing as tall as Josh at its shoulder, with hooves the size of dinner plates and feathery fetlocks. The second was a smaller horse, with sweat patches on its back that showed it had only recently been relieved of its saddle. Sitting by the fire was the owner of the voice, and presumably also the owner of the horses. He was a man in his mid to late twenties, with a homely face and sticky out ears. Like Josh, he wore a short scruffy beard, but the resemblance ended there. Instead of rocking the medieval hobo look, he wore a well-fitting brigandine, with a skirt of chainmail peeping from beneath it. He had a helmet sitting on the ground beside him, and sported armoured shoulder pads, bracers and greaves. Propped up beside him, within easy reach, was a two-handed sword with no scabbard. He had a tough, world-weary air about him, and there were scratches and dents on his gear that, even though they had been polished or repaired, showed he was no stranger to fighting. He looked like he would eat Varian for breakfast. Josh¡¯s ears replayed the question the man had asked him, and he felt his breath hitch. He¡¯d asked if Josh had any cigarettes. He was an outlander, and unless cigarettes were common here, which Josh hadn¡¯t seen any sign of so far, it looked like he had worked out that Josh was an outlander too. He was waiting for Josh to reply. ¡°Er...¡± Josh said. ¡°Do I look like I have any fags on me?¡± The man shrugged. ¡°You never know. Not had a fooking smoke for seven fooking years, mate.¡± He had a strong Birmingham accent. ¡°You¡¯ve been here for seven years?¡± Spiralia Online had only been released for three. The man squinted at him. ¡°How long you been here?¡± Josh calculated back. ¡°A week? No, eight days.¡± The man snorted. Josh realised he would be able to see his new acquaintance¡¯s character sheet, and focused. [Fuck You Hedge Knight Level 37 Player rank: 98 Gladiator rank: 12 Kills: 382 | Deaths 27 Karma: -14,600] Ulp, Josh thought. Hedge Knight Guy had already made him as an outlander. Josh hastily toggled his hidden status off, just so that it would be extremely clear that his level was far too low to offer Hedge Knight Guy any experience. It was Josh¡¯s only defence. If the guy wanted to kill him, or worse, kill him permanently and take his player core, there was likely nothing Josh could do about it. ¡°Um,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m Josh.¡± ¡°I can fooking read, mate,¡± the man said. ¡°What should I call you?¡± ¡°Rob. Fook me, level fooking 8? What the fook you doing all the way up here?¡± Josh had already gathered that every second word out of Rob¡¯s mouth would be obscene. He explained about not checking his character sheet and missing the quest for Leybeck. Rob¡¯s response was similar to that of Varian¡¯s group. ¡°Probably just as well, mate.¡± ¡°Because of the Storm King?¡± Josh asked. Rob¡¯s opinion of the Storm King was unprintable, and required the use of multiple words beginning with ''f'' and ¡®c¡¯. He appeared to feel very strongly about it. While the tide of profanity washed over him, Josh considered what he should do. A large part of him urged him to bid Rob a polite farewell, and scoot up the road as fast as he could. A small part of him wanted to sit down and ask questions. If Rob had been here for seven years, then he must know a lot about the world. A clear picture of Rob was emerging, however. Josh could already tell he was not the kind of person who dissembled. If Rob was going to kill Josh or harvest his player core, he would just do it. He wouldn¡¯t lull Josh into a false sense of security and try to trick him, the way Varian had. ¡°Um ¡­ just to check ¡­ are you planning to kill me?¡± Josh asked. To be on the safe side, he added, ¡°Either temporarily or permanently?¡± Rob didn¡¯t seem surprised by the question. ¡°Are you planning go round stabbing people in the back like a slippery little tosser?¡± Josh blinked. ¡°No.¡± He thought a bit and added, ¡°Not unless it¡¯s in self-defence.¡± ¡°Well good luck with that,¡± Rob said caustically. ¡°Sit down, mate, I¡¯m not going to kill you.¡± Josh cautiously arranged himself on the other side of the campfire. He had so many questions. He had to be careful though, because he strongly suspected that Rob was not the kind of person who had much patience for a lot of questions. He should start with the most important one. ¡°The last group of outlanders I met were a bit more, uh, murdery,¡± he said. ¡°I overheard them talking about harvesting player cores. Is that ¡­ is that the thing that kills outlanders permanently?¡± Rob gave him a hard look. ¡°You bin here eight days. How do you know so much about player cores and permadeath?¡± Josh explained how he had worked it out from the recycled class slots, and from all the things Varian¡¯s group had said and done. About halfway through the explanation he saw Rob¡¯s eyes start to glaze over, in a way that people¡¯s eyes sometimes did after prolonged contact with Josh. He hastily condensed the points he¡¯d been trying to make. ¡°Look, it¡¯s obvious that there are two types of permadeath, one that recycles player cores and releases them back to the Guardian, and one where the core is harvested and stays in the world. How does the first one happen?¡± ¡°Beats me, mate,¡± Rob said unhelpfully. Josh searched his mind for the name of the assassin Varian¡¯s gang had talked about, the one that they had described as having been ¡®iced.¡¯ His core had been released and made available again by the Guardian for Josh¡¯s character selection, but had been taken by a fellow kidnap victim before Josh could select it. Kenway! That was it. ¡°So, what happened to Kenway then?¡± Josh asked. ¡°He was an assassin, right?¡± Rob stared at Josh. ¡°Kenway got permed?¡± ¡°I assume you don¡¯t mean he had his hair done?¡± ¡°Permed means perma-killed, you twozzer.¡± ¡°Varian¡¯s gang talked about it happening.¡± ¡°Huh. Must of bin when I was up north. Couldn¡¯t of happened to a nicer bloke. Tell you what, mate, the ones that get permed are always absolute fooking raving loony fooking bastards. So don¡¯t be a raving loony bastard and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°But how does it happen? Do they get killed in any particular way?¡± Rob shook his head. His hand went automatically to the pouch at his hip, and he fumbled inside, bringing out a white cylinder. ¡°They die and they don¡¯t come back. Never met any fooker who had the least fooking idea.¡± He paused, and added, ¡°Met a bunch of fookers who thought they had some fooking idea and decided I fooking well needed to hear all about it, but what the fook do they know?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Josh was distracted by the cigarette Rob had taken out. ¡°Why did you ask me for a cigarette if you already have one?¡± Josh asked, non-plussed, as Rob lit up. Rob seemed enraged by the question. ¡°This? This is a fooking two inches of absolute shit. This, mate, is a fooking herbal fooking cigarette. Do you see what this fooking world had done to me? It¡¯s turned me into a fooking hipster. Herbie the fooking Hipster, that¡¯s me.¡± Anyone less like a hipster was hard to imagine. Rob inhaled deeply and expelled a cloud of smoke redolent of chamomile, rosemary, sage, and cloves. ¡°There¡¯s no tobacco in this world at all?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Never fooking found any. Anyone who can point me in the direction of a roll of baccy, I will worship the goddamn ground they fooking walk on.¡± ¡°Noted,¡± Josh said. While this conversation had been going on, Rob had been roasting a whole pheasant on a spit over his campfire. On being asked, he gave the feathers to Josh, along with a few choice words of commiseration when he found out what Josh¡¯s class did. Josh hoped that Rob would also decide to offer him some of the pheasant meat once it was done cooking. ¡°I was planning to stay under level 10,¡± Josh told him. ¡°I thought I would try to blend as a local until I can grind my attributes up, and level up all at once.¡± Rob roundly condemned this as a terrible idea. Not only would Josh lose any unapplied experience if he died, he wouldn¡¯t get any practice at using his higher level skills, and permanently staying at a lower level would just make him vulnerable. ¡°I¡¯m a plumassier,¡± Josh said dryly. ¡°Does it matter all that much?¡± ¡°Everythin¡¯ can be used for combat, mate.¡± Rob then relented. ¡°But to be fair, you don¡¯t actually need your class to get good. Nothing to stop you learning skills the old-fashioned way, right?¡± He nodded at the bow that Josh had put beside him. ¡°Having a class just makes shit quicker and easier, like you''re instantly learning something that would take you a year or ten years.¡± Josh absorbed this advice. If that was the case ¡­ his reason for visiting the druid grove was doubly important. It meant there was hope, because he could acquire combat skills, at least to defend himself with. He thought about the way he had just walked right past a man, two horses, a campfire, and a roasting pheasant without noticing any of them, and decided he should probably start with situational awareness. Unconsciously Josh rubbed at the raw patch on his inner forearm, where the bow string had scraped his skin. It was going to be a lot of painful hard work. ¡°Do you think I can pass for a local, though?¡± he asked. ¡°You realised instantly. How did you know?¡± Rob gave him a look. ¡°The fact that you was singing a Katy Perry song was a bit of a clue, mate.¡± Josh¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Oh.¡± Fuck. He hadn¡¯t even realised. ¡°To be fair, if I hadn¡¯t heard you doing that I might not of known.¡± Why couldn¡¯t Josh have been singing something edgier and more manly, like Eminem or something? He¡¯d been singing Dark Horse, he realised, probably because he¡¯d been thinking about his plan to pretend to be a local. He decided to move the conversation hastily onto another subject. ¡°Is it common for locals to be able to do magic?¡± He was disappointed when Rob shook his head. ¡°The moment any poor fooker shows any talent for magic the nob heads are down on them like a ton of bricks.¡± ¡°What happens?¡± ¡°They get sucked up into the fooking system, mate, working for the fooking nobs.¡± Josh wasn¡¯t sure that his disguise would pass muster under that kind of scrutiny. His heart sank. It meant that he would have to hide his outlander status and his ability to do magic. And then Rob added, ¡°Mind you, anyone can do charms. I can fooking do charms and I¡¯ve got as much fooking magic as a fooking brick.¡± Josh relaxed. Charms referred to small utility spells created by mages, usually written out on an amulet or a spell scroll. That, he could work with. Next question: ¡°Why is everyone I¡¯ve come across so far so desperate for experience?¡± ¡°Because the world is more badly fooked than a prostitute doing buy one get one free in a¡ª.¡± ¡°But how did that happen?¡± Josh interrupted, before Rob could complete his metaphor. ¡°How the hell should I know, mate? It were like this when I arrived. There I was, brand new shiny fooking hero, looking for monsters to slay, only there weren¡¯t no fooking monsters. They¡¯d all fookin bin wiped out.¡± He¡¯d obviously found other ways to gain experience instead. ¡°How did you get here, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± Rob didn¡¯t seem to mind the question at all. He¡¯d been on holiday in Thailand with a bunch of mates, but had eaten something that disagreed with him and spent two days in bed playing a mobile game on a borrowed smartphone. ¡°It were called Sea Spire and it were about fooking pirates,¡± Rob said. There were other games that kidnapped people? ¡°The Seamount!¡± Josh sat up. ¡°It¡¯s the pirate city. It¡¯s here too? Did you get an immortality quest?¡± ¡°To be honest, mate, I was fooking out of it at the time. I¡¯ve no idea.¡± Rob didn¡¯t seem to think his family would have noticed his disappearance. ¡°Fell out with me old man,¡± he told Josh. ¡°Had an argument with me girlfriend before I went off to Thailand. Me fooking mates were as drunk as fook twenty-three hours out of twenty-four. They probably thought I pissed off back home.¡± He seemed philosophically resigned to wandering around Six Spires for the rest of his life, and displayed more grief at the recent loss of his dog, who had died last year, than he did for his family and friends on Earth. At least on Six Spires, Rob said, he got to kill tossers on a regular basis, often more than once. At the mention of his dog, something visibly occurred to him. ¡°Did you get your lost dog quest yet, mate?¡± ¡°My what?¡± Josh stared. ¡°That¡¯s how I got me dog. It were an abandoned mutt, came across her when I first got here. Some complete fooking dickheads had been torturing the poor fooking thing.¡± This led to a side rant, in which the ratio of swearwords to normal words doubled, a story which culminated in three men beaten to within an inch of their lives, and Rob the owner of the mutt in question. ¡°But you got a quest for it?¡± Rob shook his head. ¡°Did I fook? Fooking system don¡¯t care about fooking dogs. This is something different, mate. Everyone gets a lost dog when they first come here.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any dogs.¡± Rob admitted that it wouldn¡¯t necessarily be a dog. A kid, maybe, he said, or an old lady or something. Mother Gwn! Josh related the tale to Rob, who nodded. ¡°Sounds like that was it, mate.¡± ¡°How do you know it¡¯s a quest? Rob shrugged. ¡°Cos it¡¯s weird, right? Everyone gets something like it. But what the fook do I know?¡± The quest, if quest it was, seemed to give no experience, nor offer rewards, except, Rob said, if you helped, if you did what was right, you got help in return. Josh still wasn¡¯t sure who had helped who the most in his meeting with Mother Gwyn, but decided to think about that later. He moved on to his next question. ¡°How else do I stop someone killing me to take my class?¡± Josh asked. ¡°What should I look out for?¡± Rob had lots of colourful advice to offer on this subject. ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere near the fooking Order of Up Their Own Arses So Fooking Hard Their Heads Come Out Their Fooking Mouths.¡± On being asked to clarify, he admitted that the official name was actually the Order of the Unyielding. He also recommended avoiding the Church of the Common Covenant, although it took Josh a couple of tries to get the genuine designation out of him, after it had been stripped of all other adjectives beginning with ¡®c.¡¯ Rob ended this advice with, ¡°Oh, and whatever you do don¡¯t have anything to do with the Queen of the Fooking Fairies.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Josh said. ¡°Actually, we already met.¡± At this, Rob jolted upright. ¡°You what?¡± After Josh had described his encounter with her, Rob gave it as his opinion that Josh was one lucky fooker. ¡°What do you want with the Queen?¡± Josh asked guardedly. It turned out that Rob was after Charral, rather than the Queen, because the former had a habit of harvesting players¡ªshe had perma-killed, as he put it, fook-loads of people. ¡°That is one rabid fooking bitch, mate, and I¡¯m going to fooking put her down if it¡¯s the last thing I do.¡± Charral nearly perma-killed me, Josh thought, staring at the campfire with wide eyes. And then the Queen had stopped her. Rob jolted Josh out of his reverie by quizzing him on every detail he remembered about the Trooping Fey. Which stone circle had they come out of, which direction had they travelled in, had there been any indication of their purpose? Rob¡¯s morose calm had disappeared. Instead, he jiggled his knee impatiently, and looked south along the road several times, as if he couldn¡¯t wait to be gone. Once they¡¯d finished sharing the pheasant meat, Rob stood up and started loading his gear onto the horses. ¡°The gate might still be open,¡± he told Josh, as he mounted the horse he had referred to as a palfrey. ¡°If I can get into fooking fairyland I can get close enough to nail that bitch once and for all.¡± Josh hadn¡¯t asked Rob about the Dreamer! ¡°Hey, have you heard of the Dreamer?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Rob said as he mounted up. ¡°The Dreamer,¡± Josh repeated. ¡°Not a fooking clue, mate.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Josh said. ¡°Okay. Thanks. Er, Good luck.¡± Rob nodded at him. ¡°Thanks, mate.¡± A thought occurred to him, and he cut a second dead pheasant from where it had been hanging from one of the saddle bags. ¡°Here have this.¡± Josh took the pheasant. ¡°And this.¡± Rob chucked something else at Josh, and when he caught it, it was a heavy leather pouch which clinked. Money! ¡°Stay safe, alright?¡± With that Rob clapped his heels to his horse¡¯s side and was gone in a clatter of hooves. ¡°You too!¡± Josh called after him. He would have liked to ask more questions, but Rob obviously had places to be. Josh looked down at the leather purse in his hand. When he opened it, it proved to be full of small copper coins, with a handful of silver ones in between. He had no idea what any of it was worth, but still, money. By the next day, Josh had managed to find a friendly farmhouse, and was the proud possessor of a new blanket (one silver), a sheep¡¯s fleece (ten copper pennies), woolly socks (two pennies), a needle and thread (one penny), a tallow candle (one penny), some sheets of notepaper (three pennies), and a small bottle of ink made from charcoal and oak gall (two pennies). He had also cut a strip off the bottom of his tunic, and had spent the rest of the day inexpertly sewing himself a money belt, with individual pockets for each of the remaining coins, which he was planning to wear under his clothes. He didn¡¯t want another greedy guard to go delving in his backpack and swipe it all. He also had a backpack full of food (five pennies). This was in addition to the pheasant, which he was proud to have plucked and pulled himself. He had shoved a stick through it and was attempting to spit roast it on the fire. This was proving difficult, however, because whenever he turned the branch the pheasant carcass didn¡¯t turn with it¡ªthe stick just rotated inside it. He obviously had a lot to learn about campfire cooking. He knew that finding the druid grove would take time. He had no maps of the forest, and there were no roads through it. It wasn¡¯t the kind of carefully pollarded and cultivated woodland he was used to from home either¡ªthe undergrowth was thick and tangled, and in many places impassable. What he did know was that the grove was beside a stream, with a waterfall running into a wide, round pool. The entrance to the grove was through the waterfall. This meant that all he needed to do was to trace the streams through the woods until he came to the right waterfall. Had the druids abandoned their grove, or were they just in hiding? If the latter, they might not appreciate Josh¡¯s interference. Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. 1.14 - Why roleplaying can save your life Josh had been tramping around the woods in circles for a week now. He had burrs in his hair, both sets of clothes were ripped and torn, everything he owned was damp and mildewy from the rain, which had started around the second day. Also, he had run out of food. He had gained more points in most of the stats¡ªStrength, Endurance, Resilience and Chi, but also some in Agility and Constitution. He wasn¡¯t quite sure what had caused Constitution to rise. In Spiralia, it had been from regenerating health points or eating food that gave health buffs. Maybe it was all the healthy, fresh, farm food he had been eating out of his pack. He still hadn¡¯t decided on whether to go for Glow or Hide, and despite the daily temptation to choose one of them and be done with it, he was forcing himself to leave it until he had more information. He wouldn¡¯t get another chance to choose a skill until level 15, and if he went ahead with his plan of not applying future experience immediately, he had no idea when that would be. Josh had been dispiritedly contemplating the trudge back down to the road, when he realised that the animal track he had been following had widened out into a path. It was a narrow path, and overgrown with bushes on either side, some of which he had to crawl under to get past, but it was a path nonetheless. It wound uphill, tracing the edge of the stream he¡¯d been following, getting wider and more clearly path-like with every twist and bend, until he eventually stepped into what felt like a green church. It was a circular space, bounded by rock face on three sides, festooned with some kind of green creeping plant¡ªhoneysuckle or ivy, Josh had no idea¡ªand with a small boulder in the centre, about three feet high, with a flat top. There was the sort of hushed, still atmosphere you would get in a holy place, broken only by the distant trickle of water from the stream. It wasn¡¯t the druid grove. Josh remembered what Varian had said, about the resurrection shrines being special places. Maybe this was a resurrection shrine. The more he stood there, the more he thought he was right. He was no woodsman, by any stretch of the imagination, but the path leading directly away from the shrine was the widest and most regularly travelled¡ªas it would be if outlanders resurrected here on a regular basis, and then took the obvious option of travelling downhill and following the stream. The path petered out the further away you got from the shrine, as if the various newly resurrected outlanders had chosen different routes after that. It suddenly occurred to Josh that it had been twelve or so days since Shuriken had been killed. What if he resurrected here? Josh immediately had the panicky impulse to back out of the shrine and make his getaway with all due haste. He stilled the impulse. It would be immensely unlikely¡ªand unlucky¡ªfor Shuriken to resurrect in this particular shrine, right now. There was no sense in hanging around, however. Josh came out of the shrine, and onto the bank of the river. Uphill he could see a thin stream of waterfall pouring down the rock face. What if the druid grove was further up? He judged it would be at least a day¡¯s walk back to the nearest farmhouse where he might buy food. The longer he spent exploring now, the longer he would have to go without eating. But he could be so close, and not even know it. He should at least try. It took him several hours of backtracking and scrambling up steep banks before he found a way to the top of the cliff where he could overlook the waterfall beside the shrine. If he peered over the cliff, he could see through the interwoven vines into the shrine itself. It would be a good way to keep watch on it, just in case Shuriken did revive there. On second thoughts, though, trying to hide in the woods from a vengeful ranger ten levels higher than him would be a quick and easy way to commit suicide. Josh turned away from the cliff and followed the stream upriver to the base of a second waterfall, where it fell into a wide, shallow pool, surrounded by boulders of thick, green moss. He recognised it instantly. The druid¡¯s grove. Slipping and sliding through the waterfall, he found himself in a narrow cavern leading upwards, with steps cut into the rock. He¡¯d saved his tallow candle for this very eventuality. Lighting a candle with a flint and steel was a pain. First, he had to get out some of his tinder, carefully stored in a waxed pouch in the centre of his pack to keep it dry, then he had to sit down and strike sparks onto it. The sparks had a tendency to fly everywhere except where he wanted them to go, and then when one did land he had to blow on it until it smoked furiously. This made the burning embers spread, and eventually it would produce a little flame. Only then, finally, would he be able to hold the candle wick to the flame. If he subsequently moved too incautiously, however, or didn¡¯t protect the candle from draughts, it would blow out and he would have to repeat the whole process. Plus, as the tallow burned, the wick didn¡¯t burn down with it, and the candle flame would gutter lower and lower, at which point he would have to let it go out so he could trim the wick before relighting it. He wanted an electric torch so badly. Or a phone with GPS and an interactive map. And dry clothes. And a tent. And a bed, and pillows. And a cheeseburger. Or a pizza. Or a cheeseburger and a pizza. There was no point in dwelling on things he didn¡¯t have and wouldn¡¯t be able to get any time soon. The quicker he got into the grove and found what he was looking for, the sooner he could get back to civilisation¡ªor what passed for it around here¡ªand buy more food. Guttering candle in hand, he trod cautiously up the rock-cut stairs, which led to a wider cavern, almost like an antechamber, with a door affixed to the opposite end. It was a heavy-duty door, make of thick, aged wood, and bound and studded with iron. Next to the door was a rusty bell and a decaying rope. Looking at it, Josh could already tell that the place was abandoned. Nevertheless, he rang the bell a couple of times, and waited. When there was no answer he tried the door, which he first thought was locked or barred, but it proved just to be wedged shut with damp, and he got it open eventually. Beyond the door was a thicket of greenery. When Josh edged into it, he caught a glimpse of a large, circular open space, perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, with tall rock walls enclosing it. In Spiralia Online, this had been a druid garden, a place of chaotic, rambling plants all fighting for space, where the inhabitants had grown herbs, vegetables and fruit. In the absence of the druids it had exploded into a thick jungle. He pushed and wriggled his way through it. If it was the same as the grove in Spiralia Online there would be natural caverns in the surrounding rock wall which the druids had used as living quarters. One of those caverns, which Josh thought was on the opposite side and a little to his right, would be the library. And in the library would be spell books. He absently noted some plants that looked like food crops¡ªwere those carrots, growing wild? And that was definitely an apple tree. He would be able to eat. But even though he was hungry he couldn¡¯t stop. He had to see the state of the library. His idea was based on the way spells were cast. In Spiralia Online, mages had the ability to learn spells off by heart, and could cast them at will simply by visualising them. However, simpler spells¡ªusually low-level cantrips and charms¡ªcould be committed to scrolls, and these could be cast by anyone so long as they had the scroll and a minimum level of magical ability. Spell scrolls had to be inscribed by spellcasters on specially prepared magic paper, or using specially prepared magic ink. Josh¡¯s thought was, what if he used a magically infused quill? Would the magic from the quill transfer to the ink as the spell was inscribed? Could he take spell books and copy some of the simpler spells and make them work? The crucial question was, had the druids taken the books with them when they left? If not, would the books have survived? Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. He finally got to the slice in the rock wall that he thought led to the library, and plunged into it without hesitation. There was wooden wall built across the cave mouth, with a door in it, which was promising. He grabbed eagerly at the handle, but his first intimation that something was wrong was when it came off in his hand. The door¡ªin fact, most of the wall he now saw¡ªwas rotten. Alarmed, he dug his fingers into the hole left by the handle and pulled a little more away. The wood was soft and spongey, and as he ripped chunks of it out, he saw the other side was covered in disintegrating black mould. Eventually he created a big enough hole to squeeze through. The library lay in ruins. The shelves had collapsed, and mulched paper was heaped in piles across the floor. It smelled intensely of mildew, and he could see the black mould carpeted the floor, walls and ceiling. It was a crushing disappointment. All that time struggling through the woods, wasted. All that sweat and blood expended, to no avail. He stood staring at it for some time, and then finally, and reluctantly, turned his attention to the overgrown garden. He should make a fire and find something to eat. There did prove to be a decent amount of harvestable food. Josh dined on roasted carrots and parsnips, and ate an apple, some lettuce and some raspberries raw. He consumed it mechanically, hardly tasting what he put in his mouth. Coming here had been a mistake¡ªhe would have been better going straight to Brackstone. A week of being wet, cold, and tired, and it had all been for nothing. It wasn¡¯t until he was staring at the embers of the fire, and remembering the druid quest line, that he suddenly remembered the foundation stones. The foundation stones! These consisted of six rocks in the central cavern below the grove, with complex sigils carved into them, which underpinned the grove¡¯s magic. The sigils were rune-based, from an older school of magic than the more refined, modern script used for spellcasting. Josh straightened he thought about them. Could those sigils work even if transcribed onto paper? It was worth a try. He hastily kicked soil over the fire, and jogged over to the library again. If he remembered correctly there was a stone in the centre which could be levered up to reveal a spiral staircase leading down into the lower caverns. He pulled more of the rotten wood from the door and squeezed into the library. Wait, he needed light. The sky was turning pink, and the sun had already set below the horizon. He needed to light the bloody candle again. He halted as he heard a flapping sound. What was that? He turned back towards the centre of the library and saw the fluttering shadow as thousands of moths lifted from where they had been resting against the mounds of rotting paper and cardboard that had once been books. The walls flickered and billowed as more waves of moths rippled off them and began to swirl in the centre of the room. Book moths. Book moths were dangerous. Josh turned and ran for the exit as fast as his legs could carry him, plunging through the door and into the relative safety of the garden, even as he felt the feathery touch of thousands of wings snatching at his hair and clothing. The moths fluttered uncertainly when faced with the fading daylight. Even as Josh watched, a susurrus boiled around the library and began to coalesce into a shape made entirely from moth wings, continuously crawling over each other. Josh shivered with horror. Not just book moths¡ªa book moth haunt. In Spiralia, book moths were pests that fed on books, particularly in magical libraries. They consumed magic-infused wood pulp from spell books, but if the moth swarm grew concentrated enough it could learn from the books it devoured, and a haunt would form, a moth spirit that believed it was a character from a scene in one of the books it had absorbed. Josh had first come across a book moth haunt during the quirky little introductory quest to the Royal Order of Mages in Celespire. Some absent-minded wizard had accidentally let a moth spirit take over his library, and would set the player to clearing the infestation. This could be achieved simply by fighting the moth haunt. In this scenario, the haunt would cast the player as the antagonist in the story it was mimicking. However, you could also use dialogue options to attempt to persuade the moth haunt that you were an ally from the scene in question, and trick it into vacating the premises. The quest had been used to give the player exposition on one of the main story arcs later in the game. Book moths were semi-ephemeral magical creatures. Their main attack was one that attempted to smother their victim, but even if you did fight them, they were easy to get away from because they evaporated into smoke in daylight. Josh stared at the holes he had just made in the door, and then looked westwards, where the last of the dying light lit the sky. The book moth haunt had been trapped in the library, probably for years, and now he had just let it out, and soon there would be no daylight to keep it contained. He turned and ran, not even stopping to collect his things. He could come back for them later. Assuming he survived this. He knew intellectually that he would resurrect if he died, but his hindbrain hadn¡¯t got the message, and it flooded him with adrenalin. He felt his way through the stone passageway, eyes straining to see in the darkness, using the wall to guide him down the steps. Once he stumbled, and a sharp pain lanced though his ankle, but he kept going, alert for the flutter of wings behind him. He splashed and skidded out of the waterfall. Would the shrine be safe? He didn¡¯t waste time trying to find the slow way down into the shrine. Instead, he ran straight to the cliff edge overlooking it, grabbed hold of some of the vines and started climbing down. Some of them were thick, and securely anchored to the cliff, so progress was easy until he came to a patch where another species of creeper had intertwined itself. This one had thorns, a fact he didn¡¯t realise until he grabbed a handful of foliage and let out a cry of pain. He let go, and then the vine he was clinging to slowly came away from the cliff. He flailed, and then fell. The ground was perhaps ten feet or so down, and slammed into him with a body-shaking thud that rearranged the whole world around him. All he could do was lie there and take shallow, shaky breaths. Had he got away from the book moth haunt? Eventually he pulled himself into a sitting position. He shouldn¡¯t stay here, just in case. He should follow the stream down and get as far away as possible. He took a step towards the gap in the thicket that led out of the shrine, and stopped. There was a smoky, shifting shadow standing at entrance, blocking his way. The book moth haunt. It had a vaguely female shape, with long sleeves, a wide skirt, a sweeping robe, and a billowing cloak. On its head was the faint suggestion of a crown. Could it enter the shrine? That question was answered when it stepped forward. Yes, apparently it could. It was going to smother him! He was going to die. He heard his own panicked rasping breaths. Calm down. Think. What could he do? Josh¡¯s only chance now was to attempt to write himself into the scene it was about to enact, but as an ally instead of an antagonist. The problem was he had no idea who the haunt was meant to be. It looked queen-like. The Queen of the Fay? Queen Halina? The former had worn armour, but the haunt looked like it was wearing a medieval dress. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything, though, because the haunt would be based on the version that was in a history book or a novel, not necessarily reality. It could be a completely fictional queen Josh had never heard of. The haunt stepped forward again, raising its arms, its sleeves fluttering and shifting around it. In the game, the smother attack had just been an attack, but now that he was faced with a real version, the thought of being smothered by hundreds of moth wings made Josh feel dizzy with panic. He could only pray it was Queen Halina, because if it was, he had a chance. He had nothing to lose by assuming that. Who would Queen Halina¡¯s allies be? The Tigerlily Knight? One of the wizards of the Royal Order of Mages? One of the nobles? Josh frantically tried to remember a character he could convincingly portray. ¡°My beloved knight, my tiger of the lily, lies dead,¡± the haunt cried dramatically. It had creepy, breathy, multi-tonal voice that sent shivers of horror down Josh¡¯s spine. Focus, he told himself. That meant the haunt had to believe it was Queen Halina. It was the best possible outcome. What scene was it though? There must have been an assassination attempt. That immediately triggered the memory of Elder Tharn¡¯s tale¡ªsomeone called Tylas the Undying had assassinated both Queen Halina and the Tigerlily Knight. That must be the scene the moth haunt had absorbed and grown from. The haunt would try to make Josh take the role of Tylas so it could kill him. A swirl of darkness began to form in the haunt¡¯s outstretched hand. Something hit Josh¡¯s back and he realised he had backpedalled all the way to the cliff at the opposite side of the shrine. It didn¡¯t matter what scene it was. He needed to write himself in as an ally. Who was one person Queen Halina would never harm? Her son, he thought, with a flash of inspiration. He should pretend to be the Young Prince. What was his name? Rupern, that was it! ¡°Mother, why are you attacking me?¡± he called. If he hadn¡¯t been so terrified he would have cringed at his pathetic attempt at acting. Some bard he was turning out to be. Once again, his lack of roleplaying experience was likely to get him killed. The haunt paused, with the smoky ball of moths levitating above its palm. It glided forward. ¡°You infiltrated my palace,¡± it insisted. ¡°You struck at me from the shadows. Even now, I can feel myself weakening, the poison clutching at my heart. You slew my best and brightest of knights.¡± How could Josh persuade her that he was Prince Rupern? He fell to his knees. ¡°Mother, it is a trick!¡± he cried. ¡°Tylas the Undying has cast a spell upon me, to prevent you seeing my true form!¡± The haunt paused. The ball of moths in its palm, presumably meant to represent a spell that would launch a smother attack, continued to swirl, but didn¡¯t increase in size or fly towards him. ¡°Lies!¡± it hissed. ¡°Let me prove it,¡± Josh called hastily. The trouble was, Prince Rupern hadn¡¯t been in Spiralia, and Josh knew almost nothing about him. What sort of details did he know about Queen Halina? He wracked his brain, thinking desperately. 1.15 - A reason to use flame as a light source The trouble, Josh realised, was that the haunt wasn¡¯t really Queen Halina, and therefore it would only know things about her that had been written in the book it had taken the assassination scene from. It wouldn¡¯t know, for example, what Prince Rupern¡¯s favourite toy had been at the age of five, the sort of thing the real Queen Halina might remember and use to ascertain the identity of her son. Josh couldn¡¯t make his claim factually convincing. Instead he needed to make it narratively convincing. The haunt was born out of a story after all. In Spiralia, Queen Halina had been a wise and fair monarch, concerned with dispensing justice and ensuring the best for her people. Josh knew very little of Tylas the Undying¡ªhe had never appeared in the game¡ªbut he sounded like the typical Prometheus-style villain archetype, whose ambition would inevitably cause him to overreach and thus visit tragedy and disaster upon everyone. From what the haunt had said, he was also underhand and scheming. Therefore, Josh had to be the opposite of that. While his mind was rapidly flickering through these thoughts, the moth haunt lost patience. The spell ball of moths hovering above its palm began to grow and spin faster. ¡°Tylas wants you to attack me!¡± Josh shouted. ¡°It¡¯s all part of his plan!¡± ¡°How so?¡± demanded the moth haunt. It sounded disbelieving, but the ball of moths stopped growing again. Good question. Why would Tylas want Queen Halina to kill her own son? What advantage would that have given him? Because would remove the succession and destabilise Celespire, obviously. ¡°He seeks not just your death, but the destruction of Celespire itself!¡± Josh declared. ¡°He struck at you, and at your loved ones, to make you angry and vengeful. To make you forget that you are the Queen of Celespire.¡± ¡°I do not forget,¡± the moth haunt said. The spell expanded again, the moths circling around the shrine. A wind was picking up, rifling through Josh¡¯s hair. ¡°I protect what is mine!¡± ¡°Then why does Tylas want you to kill me?¡± Josh shouted quickly. The moth haunt hesitated. ¡°You are Tylas!¡± it said, but this time it sounded uncertain. Josh pressed his advantage. ¡°But what if it is a trick? Does Tylas not work through deception and trickery? I am Rupern, your son! You would be doing what he wants!¡± Josh needed to push her towards the ideal of the heroine who would ultimately realise that revenge was futile, and whose personal story would be to choose justice and honour instead. "He wants you to be like him! He wants to corrupt you, to make you kill!" Was it working? The moth haunt hesitated. It glided forward. ¡°You seek only to confuse me!¡± ¡°Tylas seeks to confuse you,¡± Josh gasped out. He realised he should reinforce his role as Rupern, and added, belatedly, ¡°Mother.¡± The band of moths that had been circling around the shrine shrunk, swirling closer to Josh. ¡°You killed my Tigerlily,¡± the moth haunt said. It was now standing directly before Josh, who flinched away from it. He realised he was sitting on the ground, trying to cram himself as far back against the cliff as he could. The moth haunt towered over him, dark and terrifying. ¡°Tylas killed the Tigerlily Knight!¡± Josh cried. ¡°Um, Mother. Now he wants to destroy Celespire. He wants you to be the hand ¡­ uh ¡­ of destruction.¡± The flying moths approached closer, lighting on Josh¡¯s skin and crawling up his arms and onto his face. He nearly screamed in horror. He wanted to brush the moths off him and crush them, but the moment he did that he thought the moth haunt would see that as an act of aggression and kill him instantly. Letting them crawl over him was the hardest thing he had ever done, harder than trying to steal eggs from the broodmother, and harder than walking into the ruins of Aileth-Mair after a nest of scourge. The moth haunt wasn¡¯t buying his story. What would convince her? What always made the heroine turn aside from vengeance? ¡°Would the Tigerlily Knight want you to do this?¡± Josh cried desperately. The moth haunt paused again. The moths crawled over Josh and he lay there, hyperventilating, closing his eyes and flexing his hands to prevent himself clawing at the moths blanketing his skin. ¡°Tigerlily¡­¡± the moth haunt said on a long exhale. ¡°Tigerlily the merciful. Tigerlily the kind. Tigerlily the forgiving.¡± The moths withdrew. Josh gave one long gasp and finally couldn''t stop scrubbing at his skin, rubbing his hands over his face and his arms, and raking his fingers through his hair. ¡°Rupern, my son,¡± the moth haunt said. Josh abruptly came back to himself. He was lying curled up in a foetal position on the grass at the back of the shrine. There were no moths on him. The moth haunt was sitting in a cross-legged position on the grass nearby. ¡°I am dying,¡± the moth haunt said. It took several breaths before Josh could recover himself enough to reply. The danger was past, but he should complete the scene. ¡°We can look for an antidote to the poison,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll scour all four corners of the world¡ª¡± The moth haunt interrupted him. ¡°Alas, my son, it is too late. Even now, I can feel myself failing. Soon I will be no more. Now, it is up to you.¡± To do what? ¡°You must call upon the remaining heroes, those who were once seven, and are now five. You must send them against Tylas the Undying.¡± ¡°Who are the five heroes, mother?¡± ¡°Ahh,¡± the moth haunt sighed fondly. ¡°Oft as a child, would you beg for stories of the seven. Now you will take my mantle. Have them swear loyalty to you, for they are your greatest defence against the evil of Tylas.¡± Josh was relieved to hear that he was making a convincing Rupern. He waited patiently. ¡°First,¡± the moth haunt said, ¡°Came my beloved, my tiger of the lily, so fair and shining. Also came Sir Owain, the righteous one, strong of arm and undefeated in battle, and Sir Doug the faithful, he of the merry laugh and giant heart. With them was the Lady Selene, skilled in all the ways of the arcane, and Lord Shadow, he of the hidden arts. Steadfast against the darkness was Sir Wayland, he of the iron forge. And lost long ago, but living ever in our memory was the sweet and gentle Gwynifer.¡± Were these outlanders? Or indigenous heroes? Josh silently recited the names to himself¡ªTigerlily, Sir Owain, Sir Doug, Lady Selene, Lord Shadow, Sir Wayland and Gwynifer. Many of those names were pulled from different Earth mythologies, almost as if they were player names. Honestly, what kind of hero called himself Shadow? Sir Owain and Gwynifer sounded Arthurian, or at least Welsh, and Wayland was some kind of Germanic smith. Tigerlily was a fictional character, although Josh couldn¡¯t remember from where off the top of his head. Back home he could have just looked it up on his phone and he would have known instantly. ¡°I will seek out the five heroes and win them to my cause,¡± he told the moth haunt, even though he knew that Tylus the Undying had been defeated long ago, and bound in some kind of magical chains forged by Wayland. Josh tried to remember the story Elder Tharn had told. Tylas had escaped, and somehow made a link to Earth using an entity called the Dreamer, and summoned the outlanders. The moth haunt gave one long, last exhale. ¡°Farewell, my son,¡± it said, and then the moths making up its form scattered, lifting up into the sky in a whirring of tiny wings. Josh wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. That had been so close. He had nearly died again. He stayed in the shrine for some time, until he realised that his hands and feet were cold, his clothes were damp, and it was completely dark. He needed to find his way back to his campfire and his backpack. He checked his character sheet, and saw an update. [ACHIEVEMENTS Like A Boss I: You like flying solo, huh? This one is for the adrenaline junkies out there. Congratulations for soloing a boss. Reward: 500xp (apply). QUESTS The Haunted Library. Defeat the book moth haunt in the library of the druid¡¯s grove in Whortleberry Woods. Reward: 4,526 xp. --> Progress: you have temporarily dispersed the book moth haunt. Reward: 1,509 xp (apply). He nearly choked when he saw the experience. That would put him up to level 9. He applied it all immediately, and got the pending level message on his main character screen. It was only then that he reminded himself that, if he had died, he would just have resurrected. But when he thought of the sheer, visceral terror the moth haunt had inspired, he shivered. It was sensible to fear death, and he shouldn''t get out of the habit. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It took a long time to find his way back to the grove, which involved retracing his footsteps through the forest. Luckily the moon was out, and at least partially lit the way, but he got himself tangled in several thickets, and his ankle was sore where he had turned it coming down the stairs behind the waterfall. By the time he had gone back through the waterfall¡ªgetting wet again in the process, it had never occurred to him before how stupid and inconvenient this kind of secret entrance was¡ªand felt his way up the steps in the darkness to the grove, the night was well advanced. He found his backpack, with its precious try tinder, and the first thing he did was make a campfire. He put on his less wet clothes, hung his now very wet clothes on the branches of the apple tree, roasted another couple of carrots and a parsnip, and then finally tried to sleep That night he dreamed of thousands of wings coming to smother him. When Josh woke again at daybreak, he was stiff and his eyes were scratchy with tiredness, but nevertheless his heart lifted up. The moth haunt had been vanquished, and today he would see what was in the druid cavern below. He checked his character sheet to apply his pending attribute points while eating breakfast, and nearly choked on a raspberry. His A Nest of the Scourge quest had updated too. [QUESTS A Nest of the Scourge. Clear the scourge from the ruins of Aileth-Mair. Quest status: Complete. --> Progress: you have defeated Shuriken. Reward: 539 xp (applied). --> Progress: Varian, Mistrz, Frenxy and Wook have not returned to the ruins of Aileth-Mair for 14 days¡ªthe ruins have been successfully cleared. Reward: 9,813 xp (apply).] If he applied all that experience it would take him to level 11 or 12, and he would no longer be able to hide his player status. On the other hand, if he didn''t apply it, and he died, he would lose it all. But death was only temporary. If the Order of the Unyielding, or the Church of the Common Covenant realised Josh was an outlander, or if Varian¡¯s gang got hold of him, they would harvest his player core and he would die permanently. [BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 8 > 9 (pending) Total experience points: 3,358 Experience to next level: 3,409 Player rank: #863 Kills: 1 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #486 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 32 | Strength 55 | Agility 27 | Speed 19 | Endurance 28 | Resilience 27 | Manual Dexterity 63 | Vocalisation 34 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 32] MESSAGES You have gained 1 point of Constitution, 1 point of Strength, 1 point of Endurance, and 1 point of Chi.] His player rank had gone up by two points. Did that mean that he had gained more experience than the Assassin and the Demon outlanders? Using bard tactics seemed to be the right strategy for him. He should keep doing it. His gains in most of the attributes were now coming every second or third day, instead of every day, as if he had already got all the easily obtainable points. It would probably get slower from now on, and require greater effort, which made him wince internally. The last couple of weeks hadn¡¯t exactly been a walk in the park. At last he stood up, kicked soil over the campfire, and went to the library. He had been a little apprehensive that the moth haunt would be back, but it seemed to have disappeared. The quest log said he had only temporarily dispersed it, so presumably it would return at some point. He wasn¡¯t keen to experience another conversation with it. He trod carefully through the mulched and mildewy piles of paper¡ªwhat a waste of books!¡ªand eventually came to another door on the other side. This would lead down into a cavern below the grove, if he remembered correctly. The door gave him a little trouble, but the wood was infested with dry rot, and splintered easily, allowing him to squeeze past into a narrow stone stairwell spiralling down. He held his hand around the candle to keep the flame safe, and carefully went downwards. Josh had been poised to run at the slightest sign of monsters, or any kind of movement at all, but the stairwell was utterly silent. It culminated in a circular room with shelves, and three passageways leading in different directions, one left, one right, and one straight ahead. He hesitated, trying to orient himself, and chose the larger, central doorway, as that seemed more likely to lead to the cavern he wanted. He took several deep breaths, because the flickering candle seemed thin protection against the silent darkness. The grove had been abandoned for some time. Anything could be down here. He followed the central corridor, which opened out into a much larger cavern. His tiny candle was lone island of light, and he wanted nothing more than to turn tail and go back to the relative safety of the overgrown garden above. But he had to check for the druid sigils on the foundation stones. He couldn¡¯t just turn tail after all this effort. His mouth was dry as he took a few steps into the cave. Yes, there was one of the stones! The candlelight danced teasingly over the sigil, which was a complex glyph carved into the surface. He crouched down beside it and trying to make out the intricate curves when he realised that spaced around the chamber at regular intervals were metal braziers. That would make more light. An hour later, having harvested and carried down as much wood as he could from the broken door at the top of the stairwell, he had six braziers going. He''d considered leaving the door to try and block against the moth haunt, but he planned to be gone long before she came back. He would need to keep feeding the braziers fuel if he wanted light, but they burned cheerfully for now, and he would be able to see well enough to copy the sigils. He could feel a slight breeze on his face, which suggested that fresh air was being drawn into the chamber, which therefore meant that having the braziers alight wouldn¡¯t use up all the oxygen. The cavern was a large one, perhaps thirty feet high at its apex, and shaped like a dome. Rough pillars bearing the braziers had been carved out of the walls, and the six foundation stones were spaced at even intervals in a circle, halfway towards the centre. In the very centre of the room was a circular pedestal, rather like an altar. It was about waist high, and there were scenes of happily cavorting animals carved onto the outside. That seemed to be about right for the druids, who in Spiralia had been represented as hippy-ish tree-hugging sorts. Set into the top of the altar was a great bronze dish which contained the remains of ashes, although Josh had been wary of lighting a fire there, in case there was a druid god of some sort involved, who might take exception to his trespassing. He adopted a respectful expression just in case, and focused on the first sigil. It took him three tries to transcribe it laboriously to paper using a quill pen he''d imbued with magic and the ink he''d bought at that last farmhouse. Most of the effort was simply getting used to writing with a quill, which made him long for a nice, ordinary ballpoint. Maybe he should invent one after this. He¡¯d make a fortune. On second thoughts, if there had been thousands of outlanders in the world before him, likely there were loads of Earth inventions here. Although if that was the case, why hadn¡¯t he seen any of them yet? He forced himself to focus on the task at hand, and in a fairly short time, he had his first sigil. He could feel the tingle of magic on the paper¡ªit was very faint, but it was there. Josh hadn¡¯t been sure how he was supposed to cast the spell he had drawn. In Spiralia you put it on your hotbar and clicked on it, or used the associated key bind. He had no idea how that worked here. But it turned out to be pretty simple. All he did was hold up the piece of paper, and concentrate on the tiny trickle of magic he could feel embedded in it, and then suddenly a wave of warm air hit him in the face, and the paper turned instantly to ash. He''d done it! He¡¯d cast a spell! From the rush of warmth he¡¯d felt, Josh was sure it must be Heat or something of that nature, which would be an enormously useful spell ¡­ oh wait ¡­ He realised he was feeling faint and dizzy, and abruptly sat down. It was the same sensation he¡¯d got when he¡¯d imbued too many feathers in a row with magic that first night, or when he¡¯d tried to sense the prickle of magic in the sealing wax on his papers. He¡¯d thought his magical stamina, if that could be considered a term, had increased a lot, but the spell had really taken it out of him. If he¡¯d tried to cast something like that on his first day in Six Spires he probably would have passed out. He was a lot stronger now, and his Chi was higher, but it obviously needed to be higher still. These spells would be an amazing way to increase Chi. He would have to keep practicing, no matter how much ink or paper he used up. Speaking of which, he had more copying to do, because there were five more foundation stones to check. No matter how much he was tempted to focus solely on the sigils, he kept a wary eye on the braziers, and went regularly upstairs to make sure it was still daylight. How soon would the book moth haunt come back? Josh was able to work out four of the six sigils just from a single cast of the spell, although it got harder each time, and he had to sit and rest for longer after each one. In addition to Heat, there was Water, which summoned several droplets of water; Hide, which had made the skin of his hand adopt a camouflage effect, like a chameleon, which was really unsettling but amazing; and something he decided to call Force Field. This was more of an aspirational name than a description. It wasn¡¯t really an actual barrier, but after Josh cast it, and then walked forwards, he could feel a slight invisible bump in the air. If he threw a stone through it, he felt a tiny little mental blip. It would make a really good alarm spell if he could work out how to make it bigger than about six feet in diameter, and also make it last longer than an hour or two. And maybe, one day, he would work out how to make it repel physical objects too, and then it really would be a force field. When Josh cast the sigils from the last two foundation stones, the spell paper vanished, which meant the something had activated, but he wasn¡¯t sure what. After accidentally giving his skin a camouflage effect, he had ended up casting the spell on various spare bits of wood. If there was an effect, though, it was too subtle for him to detect, so he decided to wait until tomorrow to do more testing. He went round the chamber and made double copies of each sigil, thinking about what he could do with each one. Hide was going to be amazing. If he could get enough feathers together, he could use it to make a sort of camouflage cloak. Heat was obvious¡ªhe could use that to dry his clothes and his shoes, what absolute bliss, or keep his hands warm. Water might be useful if he couldn¡¯t find a water source, or didn¡¯t want to trust the local water, although he hadn¡¯t had any issues with that so far. And all this testing meant he could finally decide on a plumassier skill. He still had to decide between Glow, Hide, and Extinguish. The druid grove had given him Hide, so it wouldn¡¯t make sense to choose that. Extinguish would probably have a lot of utility at higher levels, but for now the most useful skill would be Glow. Not only would Josh have an instant light source, he might even be able to make glowing feathers as decorations and sell them. Maybe he could claim it was due to a cantrip, and not some innate magical ability that would bring all sorts of oversight crashing down on his head. When it got to mid-afternoon, he reluctantly put the spell papers away, and stood up. He hesitated, because he had another decision to make. He had noticed earlier that the braziers sucked a steady breeze into the cavern. The braziers nearest the spiral staircase, where the breeze came from, flared and guttered the most. However, on the opposite side of the cavern, the two there also seemed to respond to a draught of some sort. Was there a hidden passageway? It would be stupid to investigate now. The book moth haunt might be back tonight, and he didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near the druid grove when that happened. He had several hours of daylight still, and he shouldn¡¯t waste them. But it wouldn¡¯t take long just to check, would it? He went to the opposite side of the cavern and studied the rock wall there. He couldn¡¯t see anything obvious, but when he lit the hated tallow candle it immediately blew out, such was the strength of the draught. He tried again, cupping his hand around the tiny flame, and eventually was able to use it to trace an invisible seam in the rock wall. He put his hand on the seam, and even though he couldn¡¯t see it, he could feel a narrow crack, and cold air against his palm. A secret door! 1.16 - Things cats and adventurers have in common After several minutes of feeling every inch of the wall around the secret door, Josh eventually came across an odd wrinkle in the stone. He fumbled around a bit before realised that it was an indent in the shape of a handprint. He fit his hand into it, but nothing happened. It didn¡¯t seem to have any moving parts. When he tried pressing it, he just felt solid stone beneath his palm. Maybe it was a verbal command? ¡°Open,¡± he said. ¡°Appear. Move. Shift.¡± What other words could he try? He could be here all day going through different combinations. ¡°Obey! Open sesame!¡± The door stayed invisible. Eventually, it occurred to him to try feeding it a tiny bit of magic, the way you would if you were going to cast a spell scroll. He immediately felt a clunk and a vibration deep in the rock. Whatever magic had been hiding the door vanished, leaving a clear rectangular outline in the cavern wall, along with a lip he could get his fingers into. In films, ancient door mechanisms in abandoned temples always worked perfectly, whether or not they had been maintained. Josh hadn¡¯t had a lot of luck with the doors the druids had left behind, and this was no exception. It opened about six inches¡ªrevealing a tantalising glimpse of a narrow, artificial tunnel¡ªand then appeared to stick fast. It wasn¡¯t until he¡¯d been pulling and tugging on it for several minutes to no avail that he stepped back, and realised what a flaming idiot he was. Some chips of stone had somehow got lodged in the hinge side, preventing the door swinging open all the way. That dealt with, he managed to drag it open wide enough to admit him. Here Josh paused. In a few hours it would be dark, and the book moth haunt might come back. He should go upstairs and get all the rest of his things, find a safe place to camp that was well away from here. But once the moth haunt came back, he would need to defeat it again to access the foundation stone chamber. If he wanted to follow the secret passage, he had to do so now. He could feel a breeze on his face. There was air coming from somewhere, so it must lead to a way out. He gathered all his possessions from his campsite, filled his pack with as many of the remaining vegetables as he could find, and a few minutes later was standing in front of the secret passage again. He suddenly had a lot of sympathy for cats. Was this what all closed doors were like to them? If you die because of this, he told himself, it¡¯s your own fault. The floor of the cave was dry and gritty, but smoothed flat enough to make walking easy. Josh could only shuffle down it very slowly, because if he tried walking at a normal pace the candle would blow out. This, he realised, was why people used lanterns and torches. He had some idea that you could make a torch with tree sap or something, but he had no idea how you went about extracting it from actual trees. Next time he decided to go exploring, he would invest in a proper lantern. The passageway sloped down, and several times descended abruptly into crudely cut steps. Other than that, however, it headed in what was pretty much a straight line, getting deeper and deeper into the earth. Moving so slowly and carefully was excruciating, but the very last thing he wanted to do was let the candle blow out. He didn¡¯t want to be here in the dark, desperately trying to light it with the flint and the tinder. The darkness was already making him feel jumpy. There was no sound except his own breathing and the slide of grit under his shoes as he took his next step. He began to be worried that there was no end to the tunnel, that it just went on forever and ever, sloping down into fathomless oceans of stone. What if he met a monster? What if there was something down here that was worse than the book moth haunt. He kept nervously checking over his shoulder, and made his eyes water by continuously trying to stare beyond fading edge of the candlelight. Why had he come down here? What had he been thinking? He was an idiot. The next time he had an idea like this he should just slap himself across the face. He had been shuffling along the corridor for more than an hour when he suddenly realised he could hear water dripping, and the tunnel ahead of him was lightening. He came out into a little grotto that was open to the sky, full of boulders covered in thick green moss, with a narrow path snaking between them and plunging into another cavern at the other side. Water sluiced down into the grotto, a tiny trickle that was the birth of a stream. It plunged into the cavern on the other side, burbling merrily into the darkness. The candle blew out as soon as Josh stepped into the light. He cursed, and knelt to light it, but there was too much dampness and mist in the grotto, and the spark wouldn¡¯t catch. He was stuck here, because the rock walls around him curved inwards as they rose up, and the vertical parts of them were slick with algae. Unless Josh wanted to return to the chamber of the moth haunt¡ªno, thank you very much¡ªhe had to go on. He put the candle away. Maybe he would be able to light it a littler further on. He took a few steps into next cavern, put his hands on the rock wall to guide him, and felt his way into the darkness. After a few steps, he turned corner, and saw light. He blinked, his eyes adjusting, and moved further on. The artificial rock-cut passage he had been walking through before was gone. He was now in a natural cavern, the kind that formed over millions of years from dripping water. There were giant sponge-like boulders, the ringed teeth of stalactites and stalagmites thrusting up from the floor, and the banded colours of the earth¡¯s innards exposed for him to see. And all around him it was glowing. The cavern walls were covered in bioluminescent algae. It was sprinkled across the rock like a galaxy of alien stars, a hundred fairy constellations looking down from above, glowing blue and green and every shade in between. Beautiful as it was, Josh didn¡¯t think bioluminescent algae would keep the moth haunt away, so he kept going. The algae gave off just enough light for him to be able to see his footing. That was good, because the path was much more treacherous now, with sharply angled rocks and large, uneven steps. It plunged downwards at a much steeper rate, and the stream running beside him swelled with water. There were no monsters, for which Josh was relieved. Maybe they had already been killed by all the other heroes, which was inevitable if you invited thousands of heroes to your world, who could kill monsters faster they could breed. And then you got heroes running around desperate for experience and levels, because they had core things inside them that conditioned them to want it. What a stupid system it was. Not that Josh was advocating endlessly reappearing monsters as a solution, but there had to be a better way of doing things. He occupied his mind with that while he passed through cavern after cavern of mystical, underground grottos, each as visually spectacular as the last, until he came to the mouth of a cave, beyond which he could see the path led into a forest. The cave he was in was roughly circular, too regular to be natural. It was clear that the druids had used it, because there was a chest sitting up against one wall, where it would be hidden from outside view. It was a classic wooden one with a domed lid and sturdy iron bands. Josh stared at it, torn. It was probably empty. But it might not be. He should at least try to open it and see if there was anything in it. Shouldn¡¯t he? He knelt down beside it, feeling intensely grateful that there were no mimics in Spiralia mythology, although this would not be a great time to find out that he was wrong. The chest didn¡¯t have a lock, just an iron plate with a magical sigil scribed on the front. It would be stupid to feed magic into it, because if he wasn¡¯t authorised to open it then it might just shoot out a jet of flame, or melt his hand off with acid or something. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. If he copied the sigil onto a piece of paper, and then put the tiniest bit of magic into it, he would be able to see what the effect was, but, he hoped, aimed away from him. That meant lighting the stupid candle again, because there wasn¡¯t enough daylight for him to be able to see the fine detail on the sigil. However, it wasn¡¯t long before he had transcribed it onto a sheet of paper. He set the copy facing the mouth of the cave, on top of a tiny box he¡¯d made out of four flattish pebbles and a chip of bark, all balanced together to make a miniature chest. He cautiously set off the spell. The paper disintegrated, and the little chip of bark pinged off the box. The four pebbles collapsed. It was a spell for Open! Unless it was a spell for Explode Chest, but Josh didn¡¯t think druids would go to that extreme to protect their treasures. Josh could do good things with a spell like Open. It was probably more worthwhile to him than whatever item was in the chest. Grinning broadly, he forced himself to copy out two fair copies of the sigil so he would have a reference in future, and stored them carefully in his pack. Then he put his hand on the metal plate with the original sigil, and cautiously pushed magic into it. There was a clunk as the locking mechanism disengaged, and Josh let out a breath of relief. He used a twig to push open the lid, which screeched horribly as its rusted hinges protested the abuse. Inside was some fur. After failing to lift it out with the twig, he gave up, put his hand in the chest, ready to snatch it back at the slightest sign of movement, and lifted the fur out. No steel jaws snapped shut on his fingers, and no poisonous needles lanced his hand. The fur was an animal skin, made into the shape of a cloak. It felt silky smooth against his fingers, and smelled of musk and lavender. There was something else underneath the fur, but it didn¡¯t look as special. It was a pair of snow shoes, a rickety arrangement of thin strips of cane bent into circles, with straps to hold them onto the bottom of your shoes. Josh had no idea why such a thing would be necessary. Maybe the winters here were severe? Both items were magical. He could feel an ever so slight tingle on the pads of his fingers as the fur slid over them. The next step would be to try putting the cloak and the shoes on. But when he slipped the skin over his shoulders he doubled over with a gasp, shucking it from him as hastily as he could, and shivering with shock. It was like the cloak had a don¡¯t wear me notice embedded in it. It didn¡¯t want to be worn by him. It wanted nothing more than to go back into the chest and be locked away. No wonder no-one else had ever come along and stolen it. The shoes, now that Josh, concentrated on them, had the same effect. Regretfully he put them back into the chest, exactly as he had found them, then closed it. When he put his hand on the sigil and fed it magic again, he felt the clunk as it locked itself. It was a shame that the only magic items he had come across so far¡ªwhich he hadn¡¯t made himself, that is¡ªsimply didn¡¯t want to belong to him. But there was nothing he could do about that. At least he now had another, very useful, sigil. Josh stood and went to the edge of the cave. He had no idea if this forest was still the Whortleberry Woods, but he could see that the path continued, winding down the hill beside the stream, which was bracketed by steep, grassy banks and tumbled boulders. There were old wooden posts stuck into the ground to mark the way, their wood bleached and weathered. On top of them, were placed animal skulls, stripped of all flesh, porous and greying. It was an ominous sight, and Josh seriously considered abandoning the path, and turning north again. The problem was, he could no longer tell which way was north. The sky was full of clouds, which hid the direction of the sun, and the undergrowth threw only undifferentiated shadows onto the ground. He had come this far. He might as well go on. Another ten minutes or so of following the path brought him to the edge of the woods, where the ground flattened out, and became a mirror stretching as far as the eye could see. Josh was on the edge of marshland. The steam rippled into thick stands of reeds, where it became flat, calm pools broken only by sedge grass. It was so still that it was like there were two worlds, one above, and a reflected version below, as if the land had been sliced in half horizontally, and inverted. At the horizon, if this world did indeed have a horizon, was a misty haze. A wooden walkway had been constructed leading directly into marsh, marked by the same wooden poles that had marched through the wood, each one with an animal skull set atop it. Josh hesitated. He wanted to see what was at the end of the walkway, but the skulls were not a reassuring sight. They made him think of death and decay. He had come this far. He should, at the very least, see what was at the end of the path. The marsh was very silent. There weren¡¯t even ravens cawing, or frogs croaking. Josh jumped when he heard a tiny splash of some hidden creature, but all he could see of it were spreading ripples in one of the deep, peaty pools that lay beneath the walkway. At the end, the walkway it split into a ring running around a central pool, with a massive post at the junction where the walkway diverged. The post reached up at least ten feet, and as Josh came up to it, he realised there was a cross bar sticking out from it over the pool. From the cross bar dangled the remains of a noose. Josh stopped, his heart thumping uncomfortable. Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn¡¯t been a site of execution. Something ritual, yes, something magical, maybe, but not a gallows. He took a few steps to the side, staring at it in uneasy fascination. The gallows post had been carved with knotwork that looked vaguely Celtic to him¡ªnot that he was an expert. But it had the kind of loops that went under and over to create a continuous pattern. There were things had been tied to the post as well, bits of feathers, shells, and stones with holes in them. Fetishes? Abruptly, Josh realised what he was looking at. This wasn¡¯t a gallows for executing criminals. It was place for sacrificing people. Immediately he took a step back, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. The Six Spires version of the druids weren¡¯t the happy, tree-hugging, nature-loving hippies he remembered from Spiralia. These ones practiced human sacrifice. Despite himself, Josh couldn¡¯t help peering over the edge of the walkway and looking down into the pool in the centre of the ring. Was that where they dropped the bodies when they were done with them? Was he looking at the resting place of multiple victims of human sacrifice? He saw his face staring back at him, and thought, that¡¯s funny, why do I look like I¡¯m wearing a wolfskin cloak? He nearly screamed when he realised he was looking into someone else¡¯s face. It was a woman, in her forties or fifties, with a square jaw and broad cheekbones. The wolfskin had retained the snarling head of the wolf, and it framed her face. She had braided hair, and there were blue tattoos on her chin and forehead. He was looking at a reflection. The woman stood on the walkway, roughly where Josh was, and she was looking down into the water, just as he was. Her expression was thoughtful and interested. And then the woman and the pool and gallows were behind him, and Josh was running as fast as he could along boards back to dry land without consciously having decided to do so. Every step of the way he expected some ghastly drowned woman to launch herself out of the water, and clutch at his ankles with pale blue hands, cold and wet and clammy, trying to pull him into the mire where he would be smothered in thick, dark mud, to become of one of the restless dead. He made it onto path and into the forest without being accosted by ghosts or undead bodies rising out of the murk. As soon as he felt he had gained enough distance, he collapsed onto the grass and wheezed until he got breath back. That hadn¡¯t been a drowned sacrificial victim, he thought, as his mind replayed the horror of the moment. That had been a priestess. Or the spirit of a priestess. Or something. He¡¯d looked into the site of a ritual of human sacrifice and something had looked back. He wanted nothing to do with druids ever again. He had what he came for, in the form of the sigils. He should go straight to Brackstone, where presumably there were nice, ordinary human people of flesh and blood, and nice, ordinary human things, and never come here again. Once he felt able to travel on, he decided, in the absence of any other direction, to make his way uphill through the forest. That would send him in the opposite direction to the marshland, and allow him to put as much distance between him and that thing as he could before nightfall. The sky was getting dark again as he finally made his way to a ridge overlooking the next valley of woodland. Hang on, he thought, as he looked around him. This is familiar. He clutched his head to his hands, aghast at his own idiocy, as he realised back in the same area as the druid grove and the resurrection shrine. Now the moth haunt might be able to find him. Exploring the passageway had been the Stupidest Idea Ever. This wasn¡¯t a fantasy game, where any detour held the promise of a wonderful magical adventure. This world was full of ghosts and monsters and other horrors. There was no option but to find his way as far downhill as he could before night fell. He scrambled down the bank, found the shrine, and started following the path left by the other outlanders. He was concentrating so hard on finding his way in the gathering darkness that he had walked into the middle of the camp before he realised it. Someone was crouched over a ring of stones in the centre, presumably lighting campfire, and there were various packs distributed all around. There was a sword being held to his neck. Josh looked up into Varian¡¯s smiling eyes and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. ¡°Hello, Josh Armstrong,¡± Varian said pleasantly. ¡°Fancy meeting you here.¡± 1.17 – Stuck between a monster and a marsh Josh was lying on the ground with his feet bound together with rope, and his arms tied behind his back. Varian was seated on the opposite side of the campfire. To his right was Ophala. She now wore rich garments, consisting of a full skirt, the hems heavy with embroidery, and a fitted bodice fastened by criss-crossing ribbons. Around her neck lay a fur of some sort. The summer evening air was pleasant, so she didn¡¯t need it for warmth. She watched Josh with a blank, focused gaze that put him in mind of a snake. On the other side of Ophala was Mistrz, who was busy preparing dinner. To Varian¡¯s left was a scowling boy, maybe a couple of years younger than Josh, dressed all in black. That was Shuriken. ¡°You should have let me kill him,¡± Shuriken whined. ¡°Shut up,¡± Varian said, not taking his eyes off Josh. Frenxy was seated on the other side of Shuriken, and opposite her was Wook, the tailor. Varian was going through Josh¡¯s backpack. He had thrown the vegetables contemptuously aside, as well as the still-damp spare set of clothes. He had regarded the bundle of enchanted feathers as if they were the cute attempts of a toddler to draw a picture in crayon. The only item which had excited his interested was the jar of venom, which he handed straight to Frenxy, who took it with obvious pleasure. ¡°I tole you we should have gathered the eggs afore we killed that broodmother,¡± she said, shaking the jar and holding it up to the firelight to inspect the contents. ¡°The broodmother was the priority,¡± Varian said. Everyone except Shuriken had been pushed up a level¡ªWook was 20, Frenxy was 22, Mistrz was 26 and Varian was now 30. That Shuriken had missed out on a large experience gain due to being temporarily dead was probably yet another reason for him to feel resentful towards Josh. ¡°He¡¯ll give me experience,¡± Shuriken argued. ¡°Look, he¡¯s hiding his level.¡± Josh had toggled his Hide outworlder status the moment he''d left Rob''s company. He thought it was a shame that Rob hadn''t come across Varian''s gang on his way south. ¡°He was level 3, you dork,¡± Frenxy said, with disgust. ¡°How would he find that much xp in less¡¯n two weeks?¡± Varian set Josh¡¯s pack down very carefully, reached out, and grabbed hold of Shuriken by the back of the neck. From one angle it looked like a friendly gesture, but from the way Shuriken gasped and winced, it must have been painful. ¡°Josh stays alive until he is higher level,¡± Varian said, enunciating every word carefully. ¡°There are good reasons for that. If I find you have disobeyed me, I will make my displeasure clear. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Shuriken¡¯s voice was strangled, and he was gritting his teeth, but he didn¡¯t argue again. Josh¡¯s best chance was probably if Shuriken did kill him, because at least he would then be out of reach of Varian¡¯s gang, and presumably he would resurrect at a different shrine in a week or two. Or maybe they would know which shrine he was most likely to appear at, and lie in wait for him. ¡°You must be wondering what¡¯s going to happen next,¡± Varian said to Josh. His tone was still light-hearted and pleasant. ¡°You did do us a favour with the broodmother, but at the same time, you killed one of my people. I feel it¡¯s my duty to teach you how things work around here.¡± He smiled. ¡°Tomorrow, we are going to retrace our footsteps to the village of Haven, where we will clear out the villagers, and use that to power-level you.¡± What? Josh couldn¡¯t help jerking reflexively in his bonds. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t like that idea, do you? You must still they¡¯re people or something.¡± Varian laughed. ¡°You have such a lot to learn.¡± Josh¡¯s mouth was so dry it took him a couple of attempts to talk. ¡°They are people,¡± he said. Varian shook his head sadly. ¡°This is a game, haven¡¯t you realised yet? And those so-called people are NPCs.¡± He meant non-player characters, computer constructs who looked and acted like real people, but were simply following their programming. Varian¡¯s whole gang probably believed that because it was so much easier. If they didn¡¯t have to care about the locals, they could do anything they wanted. ¡°What about Ophala?¡± Josh said desperately. ¡°You can¡¯t think she¡¯s not a real person, surely!¡± ¡°She just proves my point.¡± Varian opened his hands. ¡°She¡¯s gone along with everything we¡¯ve done. If she was real, don¡¯t you think she would have protested before now?¡± He didn¡¯t mention upgrading her with Josh¡¯s player core, and Josh decided not to mention it either. If they didn¡¯t know he knew, they wouldn¡¯t expect him to be on guard against it. Josh looked over at Ophala to see what she thought of all this, but she had lowered her eyes to where her hands lay in her lap, and her expression was inscrutable. ¡°Once we get you past level 10, you won¡¯t be able to hide your level anyway,¡± Varian continued. ¡°So we¡¯ll know what we¡¯re dealing with.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t kill someone and make me complicit,¡± Josh said. ¡°There are indirect methods,¡± Varian told him. ¡°At the most basic, we could make you hold poison and pour it down the well, or even hold a knife in your hand. The system will count that as an assist.¡± Josh imagined being held down with a knife in his hand, and Varian¡¯s gang forcing villagers onto the end of it. There was a ringing sound in his ears, and he wanted to be sick. ¡°You can shove all the experience you want my way,¡± he panted. ¡°But you can¡¯t make me apply it.¡± ¡°Then you lack imagination,¡± Varian returned calmly. ¡°I assure you, I can be very persuasive. By the time I¡¯m finished with you, you will be desperately begging to apply every last little drop of experience I feed you.¡± Josh¡¯s throat closed up and he found himself unable to speak. His mind kept trying to suggest all the sorts of ways Varian might choose in order to bend Josh to his will. Varian saw his expression, and smirked, but after that appeared to lose interest in him. The gang busied themselves with their evening routines. Wook was working on a piece of embroidery, Frenxy finished her inspection of the venom and pronounced it poor quality and amateurish, Shuriken brooded, Varian sat and murmured in Ophala¡¯s ear, Ophala giggled and tossed her head, and Mistrz finished cooking and serving dinner. Josh wasn¡¯t offered anything, although he felt too sick and churned up to eat anyway. He had gone from hoping the moth haunt wouldn¡¯t respawn, to praying that it would. If it did, would it venture out of the library cavern? Would it explore its surroundings enough to find them here? If it found them, maybe he would be able to escape in the confusion. He didn¡¯t hold any hope that the moth haunt would be able to take out everyone in Varian¡¯s gang¡ªit wasn¡¯t a high-level boss¡ªbut it was the only distraction he could think of that might allow him time to escape. After dinner, Mistrz went through Josh¡¯s things, carefully inspecting each item and replacing it in Josh¡¯s pack. When he was done, he laid it against a nearby boulder, just out of Josh¡¯s reach, but still within his sight. Mistrz picked up the bow and arrows Josh had been practicing with. ¡°I want to test venom,¡± he said to Frenxy. She shrugged and held the jar out, and Mistrz went out into the forest. He came back a little while later. ¡°Is good,¡± he said. ¡°I coulda¡¯ told you that afore you wasted it,¡± Frenxy exclaimed with irritation. Aside from returning the jar, however, Mistrz ignored her. He carefully bundled up the bow and arrows with Josh¡¯s pack. It had been fully dark for several hours now, and there was no sign of the moth haunt. Josh had been slowly testing the rope that held his arms together, but all he had for his pains were red and painful wrists. He had felt all around him for a rock or anything that he might use to wear away at the rope, but his captors had inconveniently neglected to leave anything so helpful lying around. He also had another problem, and that was a full bladder. He had hesitated to announce his needs, fearing that Varian might use that to humiliate him, but perhaps Mistrz picked up on his discomfort, or maybe they had had experience of dealing with captives before, because Mistrz pulled him one-handed to his feet, released the bonds around Josh¡¯s ankles enough to allow him to take short steps, and escorted him into the woods to relieve himself. Of all Varian¡¯s gang, Mistrz seemed the most emotionally balanced. Wook was a mess, Shuriken was in love with the idea of becoming a cold-hearted killer, Frenxy was thoughtless and self-absorbed, and Varian was psychotic. Maybe, Josh thought, while he suffered the humiliating necessity of relieving himself under Mistrz¡¯s disinterested gaze, he should try to talk to Mistrz, try to relate to him. How should he go about doing that? Josh tried asking Mistrz how long he had been in Spiralia, but all he got in return was a command to shut up. Mistrz didn¡¯t sound the least bit sympathetic or caring. And then before he could think of a different tack, Josh was being escorted back to the campfire, and his bonds tightened again. He felt as if he¡¯d missed an opportunity to escape, even though he knew it would have been futile¡ªMistrz was a lot stronger than he looked, and Josh was confident that wherever he ran, Shuriken would be able to track him. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It was only as Mistrz re-tightened the rope around Josh¡¯s wrists that he felt something cold and smooth pressed into his hands. He did his best not to react, nor even look at Mistrz. His fingers explored the shape of the object he had been given, and he realised it was flake of flint, curved and wickedly sharp. Why was Mistrz trying to help him? Did he not agree with Varian''s plans? It didn''t really matter. All that mattered was Mistrz had given Josh a chance to escape. He made himself wait until the others were sleeping, a plan that was immediately put at risk when Varian ordered a watch rotation. Fortunately for Josh, Wook was the one who was allocated the first watch. This was, as Varian disparagingly put it, because Wook was the most useless of them all, but it meant that Josh¡¯s escape would be carried out under gaze of the least observant member of the gang. From the things the others had said earlier, Varian had banned Wook from drinking, and he didn¡¯t look happy about it. Cutting ropes around your bound wrists with a lethally sharp flake of flint was not nearly as easy as Josh had envisioned. There was no handle he could use to grasp the flint firmly, and after a while his fingers ached from holding it. At one point the flake slipped and sliced into his finger, which stung worse than a papercut, and rendered his fingers sticky and slippery with blood. Eventually, though, he felt the ropes loosen, and immediately froze, looking across at Wook, who had chosen to spend his watch with his hands clasped morosely around his knees while staring into the campfire. Very slowly and carefully, Josh pulled up his legs until he could just about reach the rope around his ankles, and started sawing at those. By this time, the blood on his fingers had dried and become sticky, but the flake was still sharp. At one point his leg cramped, but he just bit his lip, squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for the spasm to pass before continuing to cut. Finally, he felt the rope loosen around his legs as well. Wook was still staring at the fire. Then Josh realised that Wook had a flask or bottle hidden in the circle of his wrapped arms. It dangled next to his leg, and every so often he took a surreptitious sip. Josh didn¡¯t have long to wait until Wook had finished it. Wook gave the bottle a miserable glance, then stood up, took a torch from a series of three that had been jammed into the ground nearby, lit it using the embers of the campfire, and walked a little way into the forest to relieve himself. That was Josh¡¯s chance. He sat up as quietly as he could, afraid that at any moment one of the others would wake and see what he was doing, but none of them stirred. He shook himself carefully free of the rope, crawled over to his pack, and picked it up gingerly, doing his best not to let any of the contents jostle each other and rustle audibly. He took a torch, too, carefully dislodging it from where it had been staked upright, but didn¡¯t light it. After a moment, he grabbed the other torch as well. None of the others had moved or shown any sign of noticing his movements. Josh crept out of the camp and into the woods. There was no sound behind him, no cry of alarm. Wook would probably notice Josh¡¯s absence the moment he came back to the camp, however. Josh only had a short amount of time. Once he was far enough away that he thought his movement through the woods wouldn¡¯t be heard, Josh broke into a slow jog. He still didn¡¯t light either of the torches, because if the others did follow him it would create a beacon leading them to his position. He jammed one of the torches underneath the flap of his backpack, and held the other in his hand. He had traversed the way up to the druid grove a couple of times by now, and even in moonlight he found he knew the way. He went as quickly as he dared, stumbling over tree roots and walking into branches that whipped his face, until he came to the waterfall. Once he was through the water, he felt safe enough to light the torch, which was just as much of a pain as lighting the candle, and it seemed an age before his frantic striking produced enough of a spark that the resin on the torch head finally caught. From there he went straight to the druids¡¯ garden. It was covered in shadowy black moths, fluttering from plant to plant. Josh stopped to catch his breath, but even as the form of the moth haunt coalesced, he had his story ready. It was easier, now that he knew the script to work from, and it seemed as if the haunt accepted his explanations more readily. Did some part of her remember their last encounter? If he''d known how much simplier it would be to convince her, he would have come straight back to the grove, and maybe he wouldn''t have blundered into Varian''s camp at all. This time, Josh told the moth haunt of evil pursuers, allies of Tylas the Undying, who had tried to capture him, and who he was now escaping. He felt bad for trying to trick her. She didn¡¯t know she was a moth haunt, she truly believed she was the good Queen Halina, avenging her loved one, and that he was her precious son, whom she must protect. He found himself warning her not to face the enemy in the open, and told himself that it was just because she was a low-level boss, not because he felt sorry for her, and anyway, if they didn¡¯t see her coming maybe she would be more effective against them, and be able to delay any pursuit. Josh left the moth haunt watching the door to the waterfall like a vengeful cat in front of a mousehole. He plunged into the library, slipping and sliding on the rotting masses of books, when he heard a whirring of whings, and a male voice screaming. Was that one of the others, come after him already? He increased his pace, flinging himself into the stairwell that led down to the central cavern. A notification on his achievements showed that he had been awarded an assist for defeating Shuriken again, along with a reduced amount of experience. He almost felt sorry for the kid, and reminded himself that Shuriken had killed Hold My Beer and Ophala¡¯s brother without a second thought. Josh ran into the foundation stone chamber, where the secret door was still standing open. He squeezed through, and tried to pull it shut, worrying all the time that Varian would catch up with him. Had just Shuriken followed him, or were all the others chasing him too? The door finally clicked closed, and he saw a handprint carved into the wall by the door catch. He put his hand in it, and fed a little magic into it. He assumed that would engage the invisibility spell around the secret doorway again, but he didn¡¯t have time to check. Instead, he hurtled as fast as he dared down the passageway, and through the interminable grottos, until he reached the cave that exited to the forest and the marsh. The chest containing the magic items was where he had left it. He paused. If he had taken them with him last time, they would very likely already now be in Varian''s possession. Should he leave them or should he take them? They clearly didn¡¯t want to be taken, but would Varian¡¯s lot know some way around the don¡¯t-touch-me aura they exuded? Josh hastily opened the chest, and put his hand on the fur, then paused again, disbelieving. The don¡¯t-touch-me aura was gone. He lifted the cloak out, and then the shoes, throwing the cloak over his shoulders to be sure, and fastening the pin. It was as if there had never been an aura on them in the first place. That was suspicious. Who had taken the don¡¯t-touch-me off? It couldn¡¯t have just disappeared all by itself, could it? Was there someone or something out there trying to manipulate Josh? Something had cast the illusion that had allowed him to escape Varian¡¯s gang the first time, in the ruins. Was it the same something that had now arranged matters so that the cloak and the snowshoes wouldn¡¯t fall into Varian¡¯s hands? Was that something trying to help Josh? He heard voices and footsteps echoing from deeper within the cave system. Was that Varian and the others? It hadn¡¯t taken them long to find the secret door, or open it. Josh had thought that would buy him more time. He had to move. He couldn¡¯t leave the cloak and the shoes behind for them now. He clutched the snowshoes to his chest, and ran out of the cave into the woods. It was the second time that day he had traversed the entire cave system, and he had subsequently climbed back up the hill to the druid grove earlier that afternoon. It hadn¡¯t been a lot of walking compared to some of his previous treks, but it was still taking its toll. By the time Josh arrived at the wooden walkway, he was heaving and sucking for air, and there was a painful stitch in his side. He faced the quiet darkness of the marsh and nearly turned back there and then. He had really hoped not to have to use this part of his plan. Only the thought of what Varian would do to the villagers of Haven and then to Josh, if he caught him, forced him to keep going. Although what was in the marsh might be worse than Varian. Josh forced himself onto the walkway, until he had run, or limped, maybe three quarters of its length. He didn¡¯t want to go too far. He hastily strapped on the snowshoes, and began searching for a solid-looking piece of ground on either side of the walkway. He found a particularly thick tussock of grass, with reeds growing out of it. He cautiously used one foot to test how firm the footing was, and the whole surface of matted reeds in the area around him undulated, as if it was merely a thin skin of vegetation over deep, dark water. Josh snatched his foot back, then felt the vibrations underneath him¡ªVarian''s gang had reached the walkway. He couldn¡¯t see them yet, but they would catch up with him soon. He let himself down, clinging to the walkway and not daring to put his full weight on the tussock. Although it quaked, it held, and the snowshoes¡ªor marsh shoes¡ªmade it feel steadier. The torch had gone out a few minutes ago, the resin all burnt away. Josh drew back his arm, and threw it as far as he could along the walkway. Unfortunately, instead of staying on the walkway, it bounced, and rolled into the mire. Josh had hoped it would lead the gang further on, as a false trail, but there was no time to worry about that now. As carefully as possible, clinging hard to one of the wooden posts that the walkway was built on, Josh wriggled his way underneath it, so that he was hidden by the wooden slats. He immediately felt cold, muddy water soak into his clothes, weighing him down. He did his best to keep the backpack above the water, because his bow was tied to it, and he didn¡¯t want the string to get wet. He tried not to think about the cold, clutching hands of drowned sacrificial victims grabbing onto his ankles and made himself lie still, half submerged. Weirdly, the fur cloak just floated around him on the surface, remaining dry. It was a magic cloak. What could it do? Could he even activate the magic inside it? Would it help? Would it make him harder to see, or would it protect him from the marsh? Josh was fairly sure it had belonged to a druid priest or priestess. The marsh had spirits or ghosts within it. So presumably it would offer protection from those. He should turn the magic of the cloak on. But how? The cloak was fastened using a heavy pin at the collar, which had tiny sigils carved into the metal. Josh released his death grip on the wooden post, clinging on with just one hand, and put the other hand on the pin. He tried feeding it a trickle of magic. Immediately something snapped into place around him, a sort of bubble that made everything seem more distant. Above him, three sets of feet ran along the walkway, although they sounded muted. They stopped when they reached where the torch had fallen. Josh was pleased to hear that all three of his pursuers were gasping for breath, as much as he had, but they all recovered much more quickly. ¡°That¡¯s ¡­ his torch ¡­¡± he heard Frenxy say up ahead. ¡°There, you see it?¡± ¡°He went into bog?¡± Mistrz demanded. ¡°Fuck!¡± That was Varian. ¡°He¡¯ll kill himself! Fren, can you find him?¡± ¡°I¡¯m outta sense enhancement potions,¡± she said, sounding unhappy. ¡°I tole you I needed to restock.¡± ¡°Yes, alright,¡± Varian said irritably. ¡°Mistrz, scout ahead. Fren and I will wait for the others.¡± Josh heard Mistrz moving further along the walkway. ¡°How the hell did he get away?¡± Varian asked, and then swore savagely in frustration. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to teach Wook a lesson he won¡¯t forget.¡± After a while, Mistrz came back. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said. ¡°Really?¡± Varian demanded. ¡°Where does the walkway go?¡± ¡°Is old execution place,¡± Mistrz said. ¡°No sign of boy.¡± ¡°This I have to see!¡± Varian declared. He strode past Mistrz. He returned a little while later. ¡°It¡¯s not an execution place,¡± he said, and his voice was full of glee. ¡°Didn¡¯t you look at it properly? It¡¯s the entrance to a dungeon.¡± 1.18 - Dodgy invitations you dont want to trust Josh was stuck. He¡¯d been half lying in cold water for what had felt like an eternity, long enough for his skin to have wrinkled, and his teeth where chattering. At least there didn¡¯t seem to be any ghosts. He longed to move out of the water, but Varian was still pacing up and down on the walkway. Varian had ordered Mistrz back to the camp near the shrine to bring Ophala and Wook, and he¡¯d sent Frenxy to search the shoreline for traces of Josh. That meant Josh couldn¡¯t move. He¡¯d tried to crawl out of his hiding spot about fifteen minutes ago, but the moment he had, the muted bubble effect created by the fur cloak had disappeared, and Varian had come running, as if he¡¯d sensed something. That meant the cloak¡¯s effect was for camouflage or invisibility, but it only worked if Josh stayed completely still. After a while, Frenxy came back to report that she had found no sign of him. ¡°He must be somewhere,¡± Varian said, frustrated. ¡°It would be such a waste if he drowned ¡­ we need him to open the gate to the dungeon.¡± ¡°Why do we need him?¡± Frenxy asked, scornfully. ¡°Because it needs a sacrifice, idiot.¡± They both went to inspect the sacrificial pool, which gave Josh just enough time to wriggle out from underneath the walkway. He clung to the post holding up the boards, standing up to his ankles in muddy water, and lifted his foot to inspect the marsh shoes. He knew they were magic somehow, but what if they needed to be activated like the cloak? It was hard to see in the darkness, but the ties to the shoes had a small bone toggle which, when he fumbled at them with cold, numb fingers, had tiny inscriptions on them. He sent a burst of magic into them, and immediately heard Frenxy exclaim in the distance. Varian and Frenxy came running back. All Josh could do was freeze. His heart was thumping rapidly and there was a roaring sound in his ears. He found he was trembling, whether from fear, or cold, or both, he couldn¡¯t tell. He clung to the post. ¡°I¡¯m sure I felt something about here,¡± Frenxy declared. She was standing directly next to Josh on the walkway. His head was level with the wooden boards, and he was looking right at her boots, but she didn¡¯t react to him. Neither did Varian as he paced up and down, staring out over the marsh with his torch held high. ¡°Was it him?¡± Frenxy hesitated. ¡°No, it felt different. Like, old. Dark. Bloody.¡± That couldn¡¯t be coming from the cloak or the shoes, could it? Josh couldn¡¯t feel anything of the sort, but then his magic sense was probably a lot less powerful than Frenxy¡¯s. ¡°That open chest from the cave,¡± Varian said. ¡°The idiot found something magic in there and he¡¯s using it to hide from us. Shit!¡± He started walking up and down the walkway, using his torch to swipe at the air. Josh was glad he hadn¡¯t tried to climb back onto it, because he didn¡¯t think the invisibility effect would work if Varian actually collided with him. He was terrified that Varian would start brandishing the torch to either side of the walkway. If he swiped low enough, he might hit Josh on the head. ¡°Do you have ingredients to brew up more sense potions?¡± Varian asked eventually, after he had given up trying to find Josh via bodily contact. ¡°That will take hours!¡± Frenxy exclaimed. ¡°He¡¯s still in the area. If he was going to run away he would have done so already. Maybe he thinks we¡¯ll open the dungeon for him and he can sneak in, the little rat.¡± Josh couldn¡¯t think of anything he wanted to do less than go into the reflected world he¡¯d seen in the sacrificial pool. Varian¡¯s gang were so desperate for experience that everything they saw, said, or did was through that filter, and it was as if they couldn¡¯t envision other outlanders having any other sort of motivation. ¡°Let¡¯s keep patrolling while we wait for the others,¡± Varian said. It was a long wait, and Josh¡¯s feet were like blocks of sodden ice, to the point that he was struggling to stand. In the brief times that Frenxy and Varian were patrolling at the other end of the walkway, and out of his direct line of sight, he tried moving to a better position, and that¡¯s when he discovered what the magic of the shoes did. They let him walk on water, but only if he was moving. And if he was moving, the invisibility of the cloak immediately dropped. He spent a few minutes cursing the inefficiency of the druids, who had left two completely incompatible magical artefacts. Still, he had the tools to escape. He could walk directly across the marsh with the shoes, and every time he found a solid bit of land he could stand on, he would be hidden from sight. He just needed Frenxy and Varian to be distracted for a short while. Escaping was an agonisingly slow process. Each time there was a window during which Josh could move, he had to trust that he would be able to find solid enough ground to stand on before Varian and Frenxy got close enough to see him. If he stopped in the wrong place, where the ground wasn¡¯t solid, the shoes would stop working and marsh would probably swallow him instantly. Josh made it about twelve feet away from the walkway, but when he scanned the marsh all he could see ahead of him was water, where the marsh had turned into a small lake. To skirt the lake, he would have to backtrack parallel to the walkway, either towards the shore or towards the sacrificial pool, and that would give Varian and Frenxy a chance to spot him. Frenxy carried a crossbow, and he had no idea how good she was with it, but he had to assume she would be able to hit him at such a short distance, even at night. He was still standing indecisively in the middle of the marsh when Mistrz returned, leading Wook and Ophala along the walkway. Mistrz strode ahead, his expression abstracted, but Wook looked terrified. Ophala seemed to be reassuring him. Josh caught snatches of her words as she went past. ¡°Just ¡­ tell ¡­¡± she was saying. ¡°You ¡­ done anything wrong ¡­¡± Josh couldn¡¯t see Wook¡¯s expression clearly, but his shoulders were hunched and he had wrapped his arms around himself. Now that there were five of them to spot him, it would make it even harder for Josh to escape. Should he try just running directly away from the walkway and hope they didn¡¯t react in time? He would only have one chance to get it right. It was at that point the moth haunt attacked. Josh had all but forgotten about her. She had done well to take out Shuriken, but he had assumed the others had killed her when they had chased after him into the druid caves. She must have hidden, and then followed them all the way here, waiting for the best time to strike. Wook¡¯s form disappeared in a boiling cloud of inky shadow and he screamed, high pitched and desperate. Ophala fell back, also screaming loudly. Mistrz turned and swore, drawing his spear and shield, but hesitating. ¡°Fren!¡± he shouted. Frenxy ran in, pulling a vial from her belt. ¡°Fire,¡± Mistrz said. To her credit, Frenxy faltered. ¡°But what about Wook?¡± ¡°Dead already,¡± Mistrz said shortly. ¡°Get it now.¡± Frenxy tipped the vial into her mouth, and Josh realised he had the perfect distraction. He gulped a breath, and then turned and splashed as fast as he could, directly away from the walkway, out onto deeper water of the lake. If the others saw him go, they were too busy to point it out. Josh looked over his shoulder and saw a bloom of fire, like something from a flamethrower, light up the night. It was the moth haunt¡¯s turn to scream, in its multitude of voices. The moth haunt had sacrificed itself to save Josh. He felt obscurely guilty about that, even though it was monstrous and terrible. He couldn¡¯t let its sacrifice be in vain. As soon as he felt he was far enough away from the walkway that he wasn¡¯t visible, he dropped back to a walk. He thought he was currently heading south, so now he turned in the direction he thought was west. He would walk around the edge of the marsh, avoiding the sacrificial pool in the centre, then go north. The shoes however, didn¡¯t make walking easy. Josh had to keep his feet far enough apart that the they didn¡¯t get tangled, just as with snowshoes, and the surface of the water still felt liquid beneath him. Every step he took had the dangerous, wobbly feeling of being just about to overbalance, and before he had gone very far he was aching and exhausted. Finally, he came across a half-submerged tree, a blackened, dead thing with branches clawing out of the water like skeletal fingers, but it looked solid enough to stand on. He collapsed onto it gratefully. He was cold, his wet clothes were chafing, his real shoes were completely ruined, and his thighs and calves burned from the unaccustomed mode of walking. Josh couldn¡¯t rest for long. He had no idea what time it was, but dawn was probably only a few hours off, and he had to be far away from the marsh by the time the sun rose. It was at that point that a thick mist suddenly rolled in. It happened fast. One minute Josh was looking over water as flat and silvered as a mirror in the moonlight, decorated with a filigree of dark sedge and rushes, and the next moment it was blanketed in fog, which muffled sound and obscuring everything, until Josh could only see about six feet in front of him. Stolen novel; please report. The fog would make it extremely difficult for Varian¡¯s gang to find him. On the other hand, Josh thought, this doesn¡¯t feel natural. He took a deep, shaky breath and leaned cautiously to look down into the water. Sure enough, reflected in the surface was the priestess he had seen earlier, with the wolfskin hood. She smiled at him. This time, Josh had nowhere to run. Nevertheless, he hiked his feet up as far away from the water as possible, until he was almost sitting in a cross-legged position. The water-walking shoes forced him to cock his feet at an odd angle, making his ankles ache, but that was the least of his worries. The priestess spoke. Or at least, her mouth moved, and a voice came out of the air around him. Whatever magical effect allowed her to speak to him had never heard of lip syncing, because the words didn¡¯t match the shape her lips made. After a moment, Josh realised she was speaking a different language. There must be some kind of magical Google translate in effect. She said: ¡°The way to the Otherworld will soon be fully open.¡± Her voice was a low alto, full of command. She had the same kind of presence the Fey Queen had exhibited. Josh wasn¡¯t sure what she was getting at. Did she want him to go through the sacrificial pool, which he assumed must be the gateway Varian had talked about? ¡°I¡¯m okay here,¡± he said. His voice sounded quavery, and he cleared his throat. ¡°Thanks.¡± She laughed gently. ¡°The Otherland has answers to deepest of mysteries,¡± she said. If she was trying to lure Josh with mysterious knowledge then she had him bang to rights, which was an unsettling thought. What mysteries was she referring to? ¡°Do you know anything about the Dreamer?¡± he asked. ¡°Nothing so trivial,¡± she said, seriously. The Dreamer? Trivial? Josh shifted uneasily on his tree. ¡°The pool ¡­ there was a gallows ¡­ it¡¯s ... I mean, human sacrifice,¡± he said, inarticulately. She nodded, slow and sombre. ¡°Death weakens the path between the world of the Six Spires and the Otherland. With two deaths, the barrier becomes thin, but another is needed if you wish to pass, one that is dedicated and true.¡± She held up her hand, and a dark moth alighted on her finger. She studied it for a minute, then turned her head, as if looking elsewhere. ¡°The children of the outlands will find the way soon.¡± Of course they will, Josh thought, a pit forming in his stomach. ¡°Who are they going to sacrifice?¡± he asked. She turned back to him with a slight smile. ¡°Watch,¡± she said. She vanished from the reflection, and the scene changed. Now, Josh was looking at the walkway from a vantage point within the sacrificial pool itself. Varian was standing near the post with the noose. On his right side was Mistrz, and to his left were Frenxy and Ophala. ¡°Goddammit,¡± Varian was shouting. ¡°How the fuck did none of you notice a moth haunt?¡± No-one said anything. Varian made an impatient sound and paced up and down in front of the gallows. Josh wondered whether blaspheming in front of a site of ritual human sacrifice was a sensible thing to do, but maybe the druid gods didn¡¯t care about that sort of thing. ¡°God fucking dammit,¡± Varian said again. ¡°Someone¡¯s got to be the one. Wook let the low-level go, so I would have used him, because god damn he needed to be taught a lesson, but you fuck ups let the moth haunt get him. So it¡¯s got to be one of you!¡± ¡°You said we wouldn¡¯t ever do each other for xp,¡± Frenxy said. Her voice sounded small and resentful next to Varian¡¯s expansive anger. ¡°You said¡ª¡± Varian rounded on her. ¡°I know what I said! But this is different. This is a gateway to a dungeon, full of monsters and experience and loot. We can¡¯t pass up this chance.¡± ¡°One of us got to,¡± Frenxy muttered. She cast a snide sideways glance at Ophala, and said, ¡°You should sacrifice your fuck toy. It¡¯s the only thing left to do.¡± Varian looked impatient. ¡°Fren¡ª¡± he began, but Ophala spoke over him. ¡°It wasn¡¯t Wook¡¯s fault the boy escaped,¡± she said. In contrast to Frenxy, her voice was high, clear and carrying. ¡°Someone helped him. Someone here. Someone let him go.¡± Varian stopped pacing, and the others all stared at her. Mistrz¡¯s expression was closed and blank, whereas Frenxy¡¯s brow was knotted. ¡°I saw,¡± Ophala said, once she had everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°I saw someone leaning over him. I didn¡¯t realise it at the time, but they were loosening his bonds.¡± Had Ophala really seen something, or was she making it up? Mistrz had helped Josh, but he had done so by giving him a flake of flint sharp enough to cut the ropes, not by untying him. Varian¡¯s jaw tightened. ¡°Who did you see?¡± he asked. ¡°Fren,¡± Ophala said. ¡°It was Frenxy.¡± Frenxy lunged for Ophala, but Varian was quicker. He hooked his arms under Frenxy¡¯s armpits, got her in a lock, and hauled her back, kicking and screaming. There was a note of terrified outrage in Frenxy¡¯s voice. ¡°I never did, I never did, you filthy little liar, just you wait till I get hold of you, I will tear your fuckin¡¯ hair out, I¡¯m gonna poke your filthy lyin¡¯ eyes out, you fuckin¡¯ bitch, you fuckin¡¯ liar,¡± Frenxy screamed. Josh jerked. He could hear Frenxy¡¯s voice echoing across the marsh. The sacrificial pool wasn¡¯t all that far off. Ophala just watched this display with cool eyes, and then said, ¡°I think she¡¯s working for Harrow.¡± Frenxy was so surprised by this that she stopped struggling for a moment. ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°What? You lyin¡¯ bitch. I ain¡¯t never ¡­ I ain¡¯t never ¡­¡± Varian was still holding on to Frenxy, but his forehead was creased in thought. ¡°We have had bad luck recently,¡± he said, slowly. ¡°We lost our camp at the old fort. We haven¡¯t been able to get hold of any low levels to trade, except that feather-fucking idiot. The only good thing was the broodmother, and we lost Frenxy in that fight against Harrow after and had to run for it.¡± That must have been why they were at the shrine, Josh realised. They had come here to pick up Frenxy after she resurrected. Varian paused, and a thought occurred to him. ¡°Why would Harrow¡¯s group kill Frenxy if she¡¯s working for them, though?¡± Ophala and Frenxy both opened their mouths at the same time, but whatever they had been going to say was left unsaid, because Mistrz attacked Varian. Varian had had his back to Mistrz, and only the dawning horror on Ophala¡¯s face gave him the slightest bit of warning. Varian dropped and rolled, throwing Frenxy into the path of the spear. Mistrz managed to jerk the spear to the side at the last moment, and it tore a line across Frenxy¡¯s ribs, but didn¡¯t penetrate. She screamed and dropped to the walkway. Varian came up with his sword drawn and a buckler in his hands. Josh didn¡¯t know all that much about sword fighting, beyond watching the occasional video on YouTube, but he could see that he was witnessing masters of their art. Their movement was tight and controlled, and the points at which their weapons were engaged were so fast that Josh could barely track what was happening. Mistrz must be a spy of some sort, but Josh didn¡¯t know enough about outlander politics to hazard a guess as to who he worked for. It was a close fight, particularly given their level disparity. But Frenxy, once she had recovered, immediately started pulling vials from her belt. The first she threw beyond Mistrz, where it shattered, leaving a slick of oil on the surface of the wooden boards of the walkway, forcing Mistrz to push aggressively into the fight to avoid being backed into it. It cost him though, because it meant he couldn''t keep Varian at the distance he wanted. The second vial Frenxy merely uncapped. A thread of smoke oozed out, which wove through the air like something alive and tried to slip into Mistrz¡¯s mouth and nose. He countered that by taking a deep breath before it reached him, and holding it, but the lack of air made his face go beet red, and again it gave Varian an advantage. It ended when Varian dodged past the point of the spear and went in for a grapple, managing to twist Mistrz¡¯s weapon out of his grasp. His sword pierced Mistrz¡¯s shoulder, and when Mistrz fell to the ground, the point of the sword jammed itself into the board beneath him. Mistrz¡¯s left hand scrambled for his boot, presumably going for a knife, but Varian caught the hand and twisted his wrist. ¡°Quick,¡± Varian said over his shoulder. ¡°Give me the potion the Old Man gave you.¡± Frenxy hurried nervously towards them, one hand clamped to her side, which was red with blood. ¡°But I haven¡¯t worked out what¡­¡± she began. ¡°Give me the goddamn potion!¡± Varian yelled. ¡°You gonna ¡­ you really gonna go for his core?¡± Frenxy asked. She fumbled at her belt for another vial and held it out to Varian, who took it, and forced it down Mithrz¡¯s throat. Mithrz¡¯s struggles weakened, and his limbs slumped. Varian stood. ¡°Ophala, did you really see someone free the feather wit?¡± he asked wearily. ¡°I knew it was someone, but I didn¡¯t know who,¡± Ophala said. Frenxy rounded on her. ¡°Then why did you say it was me, you bitch, so help me¡­¡± ¡°Enough,¡± Varian roared. ¡°We need to harvest his core, right now, and use him to open the gate.¡± He glanced at Frenxy¡¯s white face, and ground out, ¡°He¡¯s not one of us. He¡¯s a traitor and he deserves only death. Real death.¡± ¡°Can you ¡­ we¡¯ve never done it before¡­¡± ¡°Of course I can.¡± Varian said, arrogantly. He drew a knife from his belt, and knelt down beside Mistrz. ¡°All we need to do is keep him alive long enough to cut the core out of him. Then if he dies after that, the core will stay here instead of going back to the guardian. The Old Man¡¯s potion should stop him from dying.¡± Josh stared at the reflection, feeling sick. That was how they did it? Yet another person was dying after trying to help him. Permanently dying. But what could Josh do? The last thing he wanted was to let his feet go anywhere near the water with the scary priestess reflection in it. He edged his way along the trunk of the tree, to a patch of water that reflected normally, and cautiously stretched down until the shoes were balancing on the water. There was no sign of the priestess, and when he looked back at the part of the water that had showed the reflection from the sacrificial pool, it had vanished. Just as he stood up and started walking, he heard a scream not far away. That sounded like Mistrz. Josh broke into as much of a run as he could, and unslung his backpack to get at his bow and arrows. It was a good thing he had been so careful before to ensure the string had stayed dry earlier. He headed towards the screams. It was as if the mist parted for him, billowing out of his way as he splashed across the marsh. Ahead, the circular shape of the walkway loomed out of the darkness. Josh could see one figure spreadeagled on the surface, with another hunched over him, and a third standing behind him with its hands over its mouth. The spreadeagled one was Mistrz, the one cutting him open was Varian, and standing behind him was Frenxy. Frenxy was repeating, ¡°Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,¡± in a panicky voice. Mistrz screamed again. Josh saw a thick tussock of grass he could take a stand on, which would give him a clear shot of Mistrz at a distance he thought he could reliably hit. Varian was too focused on his grizzly task to notice Josh¡¯s arrival. Josh nocked the arrow to the string, brought the bow up, and pulled arrow back to his ear. He concentrated on keeping his back straight, and his arm and elbow aligned. He took a deep breath, trying desperately to ignore Mistrz¡¯s cries, breathed out, and loosed the arrow. It thudded into Mistrz, taking him in the upper arm. ¡°Shit!¡± Varian leapt up, shoving the bloody knife into its sheath, and drawing his buckler. Josh stayed stock still as the camouflage effect surrounded him, hardly daring to take a breath. He needed to fire another arrow, because he didn¡¯t think the one he¡¯d put in Mistrz would kill him, but if he did that, Varian would see him. Beside Mistrz, Frenxy had her crossbow out, and was scanning the marsh. If Josh could kill Mistrz before Varian extracted the player core, then Mistrz would be safe. Well, he would be dead, but only temporarily dead, and Josh was sure that Mistrz would take that trade. There was a potion temporarily keeping Mistrz alive, but it sounded like the sort of delicate operation that would go wrong if it was disrupted. But Josh had missed his chance. The moment he took a step in either direction, or moved his arms enough to set an arrow to his bow, the cloak¡¯s invisibility would drop. There was a wheezing, choking sound. Was that Mistrz dying? No, it was Mistrz laughing. Or at least as close as he could get with multiple injuries and his chest all carved up. ¡°Brood ... mother ¡­ venom,¡± he whispered. ¡°I put ¡­ on Josh ¡­ arrows. Now ¡­ I go.¡± And with that, his body evaporated as he died, his player core intact. The mist rolled in, hiding Josh from Varian and Frenxy on the walkway, and he took a shaky breath. He nearly let out a scream of his own when the mist beside him compressed itself into a humanoid figure, slowly coalescing into the shape of the priestess. ¡°The sacrifice is made,¡± she said. "The way is open." ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to the Otherlands,¡± Josh managed to gasp out. He had a quest already. He was going to find the Dreamer and contact Earth. He wanted nothing to do with druids and their horrible gallows, and their horrible pool of human sacrifice. The priestess tilted her head as she studied him. ¡°As you wish, child of Mayadth,¡± she said. ¡°Fare thee well. I will see you again.¡± And then, suddenly, she was gone. 1.19 - When the delights of civilisation dont include toothbrushes Josh was currently sitting on a bed in an inn¡ªan actual bed in a genuine inn¡ªand practicing his skill that made feathers glow. This was more like how adventurers should live, he decided. Camping out in the wilderness was hugely overrated. He had managed to evade the remnants of Varian¡¯s gang in the mist, and walked through the night and most of the next day until he was stumbling and weary with exhaustion. By that point he had been out of the woods and travelling through farmland, but he had been too tired even to look for a farmhouse, and in any case had assumed he was too scruffy and demented-looking to receive friendly treatment from farmers. He had instead found a thicket that seemed safe to sleep in, and the next morning he had woken to find the Glow skill applied to his character sheet. By late afternoon that same day, Josh had come across a small market town with the aforementioned inn. And a market in progress. A shopping spree had commenced. Two weeks of tramping about the woods had resulted in dirty, ripped clothing, and the shoes the Havenites had given him had been all but falling off his feet. The first thing Josh had done was find some market stalls that sold second-hand clothes, and bought himself a new outfit. There hadn¡¯t been a great deal of choice, but he had unearthed a couple of vaguely white shirts, a padded coat of faded orange, two pairs of darned britches, some long woollen stockings, a pair of soft leather boots that were only a little too big, and a brown hat with a bedraggled feather in it. Josh had no idea what you called that kind of hat, but it looked like the sort of thing Robin Hood might have worn. Then he had gone to the inn and found that it had a bathhouse attached to the side of it, one that was actually for washing in, not a euphemism for anything else. There, he had paid a small fee to soak gloriously in hot, soapy water for the better part of an hour. It had almost been a religiously transcendent experience. He had tried not to inspect the colour of the water too closely when he got out. Following that, while wearing his new clothes, he had paid a copper to a barber to shave the fuzz off his face. The barber had given him a haircut too, cropped a little more closely than Josh would have chosen, but it meant he would fit in and look like a local, not a traveller from twenty-first century Earth. Now, when Josh looked in the little circle of polished bronze which the inn had provided by way of a mirror, he almost recognised himself. He glowed with health, actually, for someone who had been living rough for three weeks. His skin had never been better¡ªmaybe it was all the vegetables he¡¯d been eating and the lack of processed food¡ªand he could see that all the physical exercise he was getting had made a difference to his figure and his muscle tone. He had also paid a whole silver for his own room for the night, so he wouldn¡¯t have to share. Tonight, Josh was going to sleep in a bed. He had fallen onto it the moment the inn servant had shown him the bedchamber, and spread his arms out with utter bliss. The sheets smelled like fresh air and sunshine, the blanket of quilted woollen squares was soft and warm, and the pillow was stuffed with feathers. Josh¡¯s head had sunk into it as if he was being caressed by a cloud. The innkeeper had promised him a dinner of mutton and gravy with potatoes and asparagus. Josh was looking forward to sampling that shortly. He had already decided he would stay here another night. There were only three silvers left in his money belt, but it was still heavy with coppers. Once he went back on the road he would be more cautious with Rob¡¯s largesse, even if it meant sleeping in haylofts. At this point, he felt he deserved every single luxury he could afford to heap on himself. Now he held a feather between his thumb and forefinger, and infused it with Glow. For a moment nothing happened, and then, slowly, the feather looked as if it was pulling in magical pixie dust from the air, a thousand tiny glowing springles of glitter landing and nestling within the feather¡¯s barbs. It was beautiful. Josh felt sure the Fey Queen would have liked her bracelet much better if it had glowed like that. In some ways, though, Glow was disappointing. The feather didn¡¯t shine brightly enough to give off a lot of illumination, so Josh couldn¡¯t use it instead of a candle, and, like the sigil spells, it only lasted an hour or so. It was more like fluorescence than light. Presumably at some point, when he got better at the skill, he would be able to make the effect brighter or more permanent. He would keep practicing and see what happened. He had gained 100 experience for making his first feather glow, which he had immediately applied. He had also received 867 experience as an assist for killing Shuriken. It was less than he had received previously, either because there were diminishing returns for killing the same player more than once, or because the moth haunt had done all the work. Or a mixture of both. He had applied that too. It had been easier the second time. Both bonuses had left him at level 9. He had received 2,548 experience for killing Mistrz, and he still felt sick whenever he had a flashback of his arrow thudding into Mistrz¡¯ arm. From the way Mistrz¡¯s body had disappeared, Josh knew that in a week or two he would resurrect somewhere, and could only hope that the rest of Varian¡¯s gang would focus on going into the mirror world, where maybe something bad would happen to them, instead of lying in wait for Mistrz at the most likely resurrection shrine. Josh hadn¡¯t really killed Mistrz. He¡¯d saved him. He had to keep telling himself that. He was still relieved that he couldn¡¯t apply the experience for Mistrz because it would take him to level 10. It would have felt wrong to profit from it. He tried not to think too hard about it, and instead put his glowing feather aside, and went downstairs for dinner. The inn had what it called a taproom, where local men and women drank ale, and a private parlour across the hall, where the more refined travellers dined. Josh found a small table in the taproom while he waited for his dinner, and looked around curiously. He wanted to attune his ear to the local accent as much as possible. The town itself was full of half-timbered houses with thatched roofs, and roads that had originally been paved with cobblestones, but had long been obscured by a layer of compacted dirt and horse droppings. Earlier, the whole place had smelled strongly of horses, woodsmoke and manure, as well as cooking steam from the various food stalls, which sold roasted nuts, or pies, or sugar-glazed fruit. After weeks alone in the peace and quiet of the woods, it had also been incredibly noisy. Every market trader had seemed to be having a conversation at the top of their voice with a customer, and those that weren''t marketed their wares aggressively, catching the eyes of passersby and inviting them to inspect the goods laid out on the stalls, or remarking in an oily tone of voice about how this hat would look marvellous upon the young sir, so it would, all the ladies would faint at the sight if he would just but try it on. That had been the Robin Hood hat, and Josh had to admit, it did look pretty cool. In amongst all this it there had been gangs of kids just running around, either scampering past with the pinched, serious faces of errand runners, or darting in between the crowds and playing games of tag and follow-my-leader, and none of the adults paying any of them a blind bit of notice. Josh had felt safely anonymous in the crowd, but also weirdly lonely. No-one had turned around and pointed a finger at him to expose him as an outlander, though, so he must be fitting in. At least the food at the inn was tasty. He¡¯d assumed that mutton would be tough, but it was so tender it was falling off the bone. It was smothered in a meaty onion gravy, and served with new potatoes steamed in their jackets with springs of mint, bright green spears of asparagus, and a thick slab of bread spread with yellow butter. The meal came on an actual plate, and Josh realised it was the first plate he had come across since he had been here. He felt it was a sign that he was getting closer towards civilisation. After Josh had eaten, he felt suddenly uncharacteristically shy and too sleepy to fall into conversation with his fellow diners, so he made his way up to his room. They might be advanced enough to use plates here, but apparently no-one had yet invented toothbrushes or toothpaste, so he was still going to have to clean his teeth with the chewed end of a twig and a pinch of salt, the way the Havenites had showed him. Before dinner he¡¯d opened his pack and spread everything around the room, to air it all out after its damp sojourn in the woods. There had been black mildew on the inside of the pack itself, so he had turned it inside out and hung it on the back of the door to dry. He checked it now, to see if he could brush the mildew off, but it was nowhere to be seen. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. That was odd. Now that he thought about it, the black mildew had been suspiciously similar to the flattened shapes of the moths that had coated the surface of the druid¡¯s ruined library. Oh shit, he thought. The moth haunt. He¡¯d mistaken it for mildew back then too. Could a moth haunt survive if there were just a few moths left of the swarm? Would it remember its previous incarnation as Queen Halina? Would it lay book moth eggs in someone¡¯s library and breed a new swarm? Josh didn¡¯t want to be responsible for a new moth haunt, particularly not in a small market town with nary an adventurer in sight, not counting himself. Maybe he could feed it a nice children¡¯s book about cute animals or something to stop it trying to kill people. He searched the room from top to bottom but couldn¡¯t see any book moths. Had they escaped out of the door? After a while, he gave up, and collapsed at last into his beautifully soft, comfortable bed. It took him a surprisingly long time to fall asleep. Part of that was the noise¡ªthe taproom was directly below his bedroom, and he could hear the voices of men carousing, as well as horses clip clopping up and down the lane, and other guests moving about the corridors. On top of that some kind of bell would strike every hour and jerk him awake just as he was ready to drop off. When he did sleep, his dream centred on a sinkhole or cenote of some sort, one of those deep, round, bottomless pools of utter darkness, into which he was dragged willy nilly by the Fey Queen, who peremptorily ordered him to follow her, but when he tried he kept losing sight of her, and all the while there was some vast, shadowy shape, like a giant shark, that chased him wherever he went. When he floundered out of the dream in the morning, he was wreathed in sweat, and it was a relief to wake up. Despite the late night, and the uneasy dreams, however, he felt refreshed in a way that he never had while sleeping out in the open. He had a whole day while he didn¡¯t have to walk anywhere if he didn¡¯t want to. What glorious bliss. The bell that had clanged so inconsiderately all night, he discovered, belonged to a monkish order with a monastery in the main square who, the chambermaid serving breakfast informed him, were ever so learned and had a library with nearly a hundred books in it! Fancy that! Did you ever hear of so many books in one place? But those monks was all hunched over on account of all that reading, which just went to show how unhealthy it was. On being asked, she disclosed that they were called the Order of the Paragon. She explained all this while piling Josh¡¯s plate high with fried bread, slivers of bacon, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs, and although afterwards Josh could hardly move, he resolved to pay a visit to the monks later on. Maybe their shelf of a hundred books would include information about the Dreamer. Josh hoped that the Paragon Order had nothing to do with the Church of the Common Covenant, and he also prayed that the moth haunt was still in his room somewhere and hadn¡¯t winged its way over to the monastery to start munching on religious texts, because there was no possible way for that to end well. Before that, though, Josh had some spell testing to do. He spent more of his precious, limited coppers on paper and ink, then returned to his room and carved himself an incredibly fine quill pen from one of his enchanted feathers. First test¡ªhow small could he make the sigils and still have them work? Did they have to be the same size? Did the thickness of the pen matter? He found that, as long as the penwork was fine enough, the only limit to the size of the sigil was how small he could accurately draw. The thickness of the lines did matter to an extent, but only in relation to the sigil as a whole. The size and strength of the effect must come from the elements of the sigil itself. Later, he would have to experiment with seeing how distorted he could make it. Was it just individual elements within the sigil that had to be the same relative size and thickness, or could he spread it out into its constituent parts? Being able to draw the sigils small meant he could save a huge amount on paper, and also, he thought with intense delight, make himself the tiniest spellbook in the world. He would prick out perforations with a pin on each page so that he would be able to tear out each spell individually in order to cast it. He could hardly wait to get started, although he wasn¡¯t sure what he would use for a cover, as they didn¡¯t seem to have card here. Maybe little sheets of very thin wood covered in embroidered cloth? Or little scraps of leather? Maybe he could make lots of tiny little spellbooks and sell them? Before that, though, he needed to work out what the last two sigils did. To this end, he had acquired some pebbles, some chips of wood, some scraps of cloth, and some more feathers, and now he proceeded to cast the two unknown spells on each material type to see if he could work out what it did. The first one he worked out was Strength. It seemed to make no difference to the pebble or the wood, but when he cast it on the cloth and the feather, both suddenly became stiffer, and refused to tear. That was huge. Josh could make armour with that. And what would happen if he cast Strength on a knife or an arrow point? Casting test sigils to see how small he could make them, and then Strength four times in a row in quick succession, had rendered Josh dizzy with Chi exhaustion, and by the time he had worked out the spell effect he was seeing coloured spots in front of his eyes. He made himself rest, but he had only been lying there for half an hour or so before he got bored, and decided to try casting the last spell anyway. It was only because he had cast so much magic earlier that he realised what was happening. The last spell seemed to use no Chi, and caused no additional feelings of exhaustion. It just gave his hand a warm tingle when he used it on the second set of materials¡ªthe pebble, the wood chip, the cloth scrap and the feather. But when he tried casting it on the pebble that had already been imbued with Strength, he got a sudden rush of energy that made his hand tingle, as if he¡¯d been given an electric shock. He yelped and jumped, and shook his hand until the feeling went away. He tried it again, cautiously, on the strengthened scrap of cloth, and nearly whooped in joy when the cloth slumped, now stripped of its Strength imbuement, and he got the same rush in his hand again. The last spell was Chi Siphon. It was giving him back Chi. That was probably the best spell yet! If he could work out how to make Strength last longer, like a day or two, he could precast it onto multiple pebbles, and then use them as Chi batteries. That was amazing! Josh got up and did a little dance around the room. It had all been worth it¡ªthe week stumbling around the woods, defeating the moth haunt, the run in with Varian¡¯s gang, the most uncomfortable few hours of his life ever lying half-submerged in water under a walkway, his desperate flight away from the sacrificial marsh. Now he had spells, actual spells he could utilise to protect himself, and not just a skill to make feathers look pretty. It was time to hit the library. The monastery was one of the few stone-built properties in the market square. It had an imposing wall across the front, in which was set a stone arch over a heavy wooden gate, but the doors stood open, revealing a courtyard lined with stone benches, and decorated with bushes in planters. Several monks stood there, dressed in the sort of brown, homespun robes that Josh would have associated with monks, and chatted with locals. Josh hesitated, just outside the archway, but the monks had mild, friendly-looking faces and most of them had adopted a courteous listening posture towards the people they were conversing with, so Josh was emboldened to step through the gate. The locals seemed to be asking for advice. It looked like Josh¡¯s visit had coincided during a period when the monks made themselves available to petitioners. One local, with the ruddy skin of a man who worked out of doors, was having an intense discussion about weather patterns and crop yields, which Josh immediately zoned out of. A woman not far off was talking about whether she should allow her daughter to marry a young lad from the next village. ¡°So long as your families both bless the young couple, why should they not marry?¡± the monk speaking to her asked, smiling gently. ¡°Because they¡¯re half brother and sister and they don¡¯t know!¡± the woman wailed, a little too loudly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do!¡± The monk started, looked around him to see who in earshot, then put a gentle hand on the woman¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Oh ¡­ yes ¡­ I can see how that would pose a problem,¡± he said hastily. ¡°Ah, perhaps we should go inside and discuss this further.¡± And he shepherded the woman away. ¡°Are you here to ease your heart, lad?¡± a voice near him asked. It was Josh¡¯s turn to be startled, and he turned to see a tall, slender monk standing beside him, with an amiable face, and his hands folded inside his robe. ¡°Um,¡± Josh said. ¡°Not exactly?¡± He hesitated. ¡°I was hoping to learn something.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± the monk broke into a beaming smile. ¡°A scholar?¡± That was a brilliant cover story. Why hadn¡¯t Josh thought of that before? ¡°Yes!¡± he said. ¡°Or at least, I hope to be.¡± ¡°Seeking a position at university?¡± the monk asked. That was also a really good cover story. ¡°Yes,¡± Josh agreed. ¡°I haven¡¯t applied yet, but¡­¡± his voice trailed off. ¡°You don¡¯t have a patron,¡± the monk guessed. Wow, this guy was doing all the work for him. ¡°Not at this stage,¡± Josh said, trying to adopt the optimistic expression of a young scholar-to-be with potential, who would doubtless shortly have dozens of patrons queuing to offer him sponsorship. ¡°What is your area of study?¡± Ulp, Josh thought. ¡°History,¡± he said. ¡°From before the time of the Seven Heroes.¡± He had absorbed quite a lot of lore in Spiralia online. He could probably fake it. The monk¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Ah,¡± he said. ¡°A much-neglected period in these times.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Josh. ¡°Everyone is so obsessed with the Seven Heroes and the scourge and everything these days.¡± He added hastily, ¡°I mean, that¡¯s understandable, of course.¡± The monk sighed. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°But I feel quite strongly that we should not ignore the lessons of older times.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Josh said reluctantly. ¡°My reason for being here today isn¡¯t to do with the pre-Heroic age. I¡¯m afraid you will be very disappointed with my question.¡± The monk twinkled. ¡°I will endeavour to reserve my disapproval.¡± Josh launched into his prepared explanation. ¡°While I was travelling north, I stayed at a village where the elder told a story in a way I hadn¡¯t heard before. I didn¡¯t know if it was a standard telling in these parts, or if it was unique to that village. I wanted to find out more about it.¡± ¡°And what was that story, young man?¡± ¡°It was about the Dreamer,¡± Josh said. ¡°And how he was the link between our world and the world of the scourge.¡± The monk¡¯s eyebrows rose. ¡°You should have care with your research matter, my dear boy. The Church does not look kindly upon those who seek to follow in the shoes of Tylas the Undying.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Josh¡¯s heart sank. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to do that, obviously! Er ¡­ because my question was really ¡­¡± he hesitated again. ¡°Has anyone ever tried to send the scourge back?¡± Chapter delayed untill Thursday (and snippet) Rob had noticed that something was following him. He was currently leading both horses up through the woods to one of the stone circles that dotted the landscape near Celespire. This was the fourth he¡¯d checked out, and he could already tell this was the one he wanted, finally. There were traces of hoofprints, old and faded now, where deer and horses both had trampled through the undergrowth. The only troop that used both kinds of mounts belonged to the fey. It was getting dark by the time he reached the brow of the hill and saw the stone circle before him. ¡°Got you,¡± he said, in satisfaction. Getting into fairyland had to be easier than sneaking into Celespire at least. He was never doing that again. The Storm King could suck his¡­ Rob saw a shadow moving on the flat plane of the nearest stone, and realised he wasn¡¯t alone. His weapon was in his hand without conscious volition, and he whirled, dropping the leading reign. His foe proved to be nothing more than a fox, however. It had a russet coat with a white-tipped bushy tail, blacked-tipped ears and black socks. It sat on its haunches, with its brush wrapped neatly around its feet, and looked at him with an inscrutable expression. Its manner reminded Rob of a cat. He hated fookin¡¯ cats. Give him a dog any day. He looked around in case the fox was accompanied by an actual person, but no. It appeared to be alone. ¡°Fook off,¡± he told the fox, and stamped his foot aggressively at it. The fox looked down at his boot and then back up at him, as if wondering whether that was the best Rob had got. This fookin¡¯ place really did his nut in sometimes. If there were weird foxes wandering around, though, that meant Rob had to be in the right place. After waiting a moment, the fox walked off into the undergrowth, in a casual, sauntering sort of way, as if to show that it had chosen to leave of its own accord, and its departure had nothing at all to do with Rob¡¯s threatening behaviour. ¡°Fook off and don¡¯t come back,¡± Rob muttered. The horses were well-trained, and hadn¡¯t gone far. He recovered the leading reign and walked them around the stone circle, looking at the centre of the circle out of the corner of his eye. That was the problem with all this fookin¡¯ fairytale shite. You couldn¡¯t just march up to a fairy door, open it and walk in. There would be some mystical bullshit like walking seven times widdershins and then hopping on one foot in circle and closing one eye and singing a song backwards until you felt like a right pillock, and all the actual fookin¡¯ fairies were probably watching from the other side of the door while killing themselves with laughter. He marched around the stone circle seven times one way, and seven times another way, until the horses were beginning to get restive, which Rob didn¡¯t blame them for one bit, and if there were any fairy doors left, they firmly refused to open. It was fully dark now, so there was nothing to do except set up camp. Not in the centre of the stone circle, of course. He wasn¡¯t an idiot. He set up his campfire, careful to feed it old, dry wood so that it wouldn¡¯t give off smoke, and keeping it low so the light wouldn¡¯t show from a distance. Game was thin this close to Celespire, because of the storms that regularly swirled around it, and because the Storm King was an arrogant shithead who didn¡¯t care what effect his stupid magic had on everyone else. One day Rob was going to show him the error of his ways, but that was some way off yet. Rob hadn¡¯t been able to catch anything, but he still had some of the hare he¡¯d caught last night. He threaded the meat efficiently onto a stick and held it over the campfire. It was at times like this that he missed Pepper, his dog. The horses were all well and good, but they weren¡¯t companions like Pepper had been. After a while, Rob noticed that there were gleaming eyes on the opposite side of his campfire. It was that bloody fox. It was sitting belly down, with its little black paws out in front of it, and its mouth hanging open in a sort of vulpine grin. ¡°This is my fookin¡¯ dinner,¡± Rob said, irritated. ¡°Fook off!¡± A few minutes later, the fox was gulping down half the chunks of meat that had been roasting on the stick and Rob was scowling as he ate the rest. He couldn¡¯t help noticing how thin the fox was. Its ribs were showing, and its fur was dull and lank. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It wasn¡¯t his problem and he didn¡¯t care. Of course, the fox didn¡¯t go away after that. It settled in as close to the fire as it could get without singing its fur, looking like a contented cat. Rob decided he was, in fact, an idiot. ¡°If you¡¯re still here in the morning¡­¡± he began. ¡°You won¡¯t get in that way, you know,¡± the fox said. Rob could see its mouth opening and moving, and its lips wrinkling unnaturally as it uttered words that a fox should never have been able to pronounce. A fookin¡¯ talking fox! He relieved his feelings by swearing for a minute straight. ¡°I don¡¯t know most of those words,¡± the fox said, with interest. Rob¡¯s mouth shut with a clack. ¡°Who the bloody hell taught you to speak?¡± he asked. The fox gave him a look as if he was being dense. ¡°I¡¯ve always been able to speak,¡± it said loftily, in a way which made Rob think it was lying. ¡°What the fook do you want, anyway?¡± Rob asked. ¡°To get back into the fey realm.¡± The fox shivered suddenly. ¡°This place is cursed.¡± It explained that it had gone through the circle from the fey realm out of curiosity some days ago, but hadn¡¯t been able to get back. There was something evasive about its gaze that made Rob think it wasn¡¯t telling the whole truth. ¡°How the hell are you going to help me?¡± Rob asked, unimpressed. The fox looked away. Was that embarrassment? ¡°I can show you where the door is, and you can open it.¡± Rob stared at it grimly. ¡°You¡¯re fookin¡¯ lying to me,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± the fox protested. ¡°Why the hell can¡¯t a fairy creature open the fookin¡¯ door to fairyland?¡± Rob demanded. ¡°I''m a fey creature, not a fairy,¡± the fox said, with dignity. ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit what you are. Why can¡¯t you open it?¡± Either something bad would happen to the person who opened the door, or ¡­ the fox had been banished. The more Rob thought about it, the more he liked that explanation. It would explain why the fox was being so evasive. Rob didn¡¯t care about that, though. ¡°It needs the right person,¡± the fox said, not meeting his eyes. ¡°And I¡¯m the right fookin¡¯ person? Bit convenient for you, innit?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll owe you a favour,¡± the fox said, reluctantly. ¡°A door for a door.¡± Fey creatures offering favours like that was unheard of. The little wretch must be really desperate to get back into fairyland. ¡°Show me the door,¡± Rob ordered, not committing himself. The fox got to its feet. Rob kicked soil over his campfire, making sure it was properly out, and gathered up his things, then collected the horses. He followed the fox to the stone circle. ¡°Your mistake was to walk on the outside of the circle,¡± the fox said over its shoulder. ¡°You need to thread between the stones, to walk the path on the edge of this world and the next.¡± Rob followed, keeping his hand tight on his palfrey¡¯s bridle. The horses had assumed they had stopped for the night, and were not pleased to be weaving through stones in the darkness. They had ridden hard to get here, and they deserved a break. They trod the stones seven times, widdershins. As Rob followed the fox, he noticed that sparks of light were beginning to gather in the centre of the circle, like fireflies. It was working. The fox rounded the last stone, and led him to the centre of the circle, where the outline of a doorway was forming, a thin crack in the fabric of reality with golden light pouring through. It was hovering more seven or eight feet off the ground. No wonder the fox couldn¡¯t get back in. It couldn¡¯t reach. Rob let out a crack of laughter that startled the horses, and made the fox flinch. ¡°You¡¯re too short! That¡¯s why you¡¯re stuck!¡± he crowed. The fox''s ears twitched, and it pointedly turned its head away. ¡°You need to pull the doorway down so we can walk through,¡± it said coldly. ¡°You short-ass!¡± At six foot two, Rob had been asked by more than one woman to reach for items on the highest shelves in supermarkets. This was the first time he had ever been approached by a fox for the same service. ¡°Can you catch hold of it or not?¡± the fox snapped. "You want me to touch it?" Rob asked sceptically. "You can use a stick or something if you like," the fox said, indifferently. "Just nothing steel or iron, and particularly not cold-forged iron." ¡°Alright.¡± Rob took his quarterstaff from where he''d fastened it to the saddle bags. He reached up and carefully used the staff to press down on the glowing line that formed the edge of the doorway. He could feel the effect of it, even through the staff. It felt cool and hot at the same time, with that weird tingle that magic always gave you, but this was fizzier, like a bottle of bubbly some idiot had shaken up before trying to open. ¡°Why the fook was it hovering in the air?¡± ¡°Because it was tethered to the ground, but the tether gets weaker and it tends to drift away.¡± ¡°What did you go through it for in the first place then?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to happen so quickly,¡± the fox said sulkily. ¡°They don¡¯t want outlanders marauding through and trying to kill everyone left, right and centre, no offence.¡± Rob pulled, and the door slid downwards, until he was looking over a foreign landscape. It was a canyon, with towering cliffs on either side. As soon as the bottom of the doorframe was hovering just above the grass, the fox poked its head through and gave another expressive shiver. ¡°Oh, it did have to be here,¡± it said crossly. Rob noticed that there were a lot of round caves set into the canyon walls, the sorts of holes that might hide ambush predators. Some of them looked nearly six feet wide. Just his luck. It was going to be giant spiders or something like that. Rob hated spiders more than he hated cats. The fox leaped through the door way and skittered rapidly through the canyon, disappearing out of sight around a rock. Rob sighed, mounted the war horse, and unslung his blade. Then he clapped his heels to the horse¡¯s sides, and clattered through the doorway into fairyland. Seriously, fook his life. 1.20 - How to make a baby moth haunt It seemed that Josh had made a new friend. The monk was the first person he had met in Six Spires who actually appreciated the sort of questions he asked. He also completely got the way that questions multiplied, so that every time you asked one question, it would suddenly link to a new thread of thought that spawned a whole load of more questions. Josh hadn¡¯t got round to introducing himself yet¡ªevery time he had meant to, something the monk had said had distracted him, and he had found himself getting side-tracked into another discussion. ¡°But, let us return to your original point,¡± the monk said eventually, ¡°where you posit that the world of the scourge is not, as has hitherto been understood, a terrible one, and the long-held supposition that they will do anything they can to escape it is false.¡± They were sitting in a back garden, this one more functional and less decorative than the courtyard at the front. Between them was a rough wooden table upon which someone had deposited a pile of terracotta plant pots, a pile of spilled earth and several plant bulbs. Surrounding them were long lines of raised beds and vegetable plots, where the monks presumably grew a lot of the food they ate. ¡°On what basis do you claim this?¡± the monk asked. ¡°Because I met one,¡± Josh said. The monk¡¯s brows rose incredulously. Listening to his inner bard had worked out for Josh well so far. Therefore, he was going engage in a classic form of deception where he mostly told the truth, and changed only a few details. He was going tell the monk his own story, but pretend it had happened to someone else. He would make this hypothetical outlander female, a nice touch of obscuration that he was particularly pleased with. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it at the time,¡± Josh said. ¡°Not until afterwards. I met her while skirting the edge of the borderlands.¡± ¡°I am amazed that you survived to recount the experience,¡± the monk said. Josh felt a spurt of irritation, which he repressed. What on earth had been happening in this world for outlanders and locals to get to the point where they regarded each other as less than human? ¡°She hadn¡¯t been in Six Spires for very long,¡± Josh went on. ¡°I thought she had maybe been the victim of bandits and lost everything. She had nothing on her except some ragged clothing, a small knife, and a pouch with some trail rations. She said she was meant to go to a village, but she¡¯d got lost and wandered in the opposite direction. She didn¡¯t know anything.¡± Josh paused as he mentally listed all the things he had learned since arriving in Six Spires. ¡°She didn¡¯t know how to make tinder, gather firewood, or light a fire with a flint and steel. She had no idea how to gather food, or how to prepare it. She was revolted at the idea of washing dirt from a vegetable in order to eat it.¡± ¡°She had never seen food taken directly from a farm or garden?¡± the monk asked with fascination. ¡°This implies that the world of the scourge has division of labour, and possibly even cities.¡± Josh resisted the temptation to describe places like London and Tokyo and New York. ¡°She mentioned there were cities, yes. But it wasn¡¯t just that,¡± he said. ¡°She complained about how primitive everything was. Granted, we were in the buffer zone between Celespire and human settlements, so all she could see were abandoned farmhouses. But she was aghast at having to walk everywhere. She said that her homeworld had magic horseless carriages. They didn¡¯t need to burn torches or candles or lanterns for light, they just¡­¡± Josh snapped his fingers. ¡°If they wanted it, it was there immediately. They had devices for everything ¡­ cooking meals, washing clothes. They had ways to talk to each other instantaneously even if they were hundreds or thousands of miles apart.¡± The monk¡¯s eyes were wide with interest. ¡°She said it was peaceful there. Yes, there were wars, but they were very far away.¡± Josh went on to describe the small-town life he himself had been raised in. Then he took a breath, and tried to explain, as levelly as possible and without tearing up or showing his own distress, how much the hypothetical outlander had missed her family, and how desperate she had been to reassure them that she was alive. There was a short silence while the monk contemplated his words. ¡°You haven¡¯t read, I take it, A Modern Plague: the Problem of the Scourge and its Solution by Sir Menias Auriel?¡± he asked. Josh shook his head. ¡°It is considered the definitive work on the nature of the scourge, and their effect on our lands.¡± ¡°And what solution does he propose?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Eradication, naturally.¡± Josh tried not to react to that. Rob had already warned him of the two religious orders who would kill him permanently if they got hold of him. The monk steepled the tips of his fingers together. ¡°Are you familiar with the legend of Ikzarik?¡± ¡°A mythical lost land, said to be found amongst the islands south of Vulcanspire,¡± Josh said. Ikzarik had been a legend in Spiralia too, but it hadn¡¯t been an area in the game. It had had the sort of story hooks associated with it that implied it would be added as a future expansion. It was weird to think that, here, it might already exist. The monk nodded. ¡°The Ikzarik were said to sacrifice their victims to their fire gods,¡± he said. ¡°It was said that they abhorred foreigners, and any unfortunate with the bad luck to be cast upon on their shores would be immediately taken up as an offering. We have records from two thousand years ago, towards the end of the Auran Empire, when there was limited diplomatic contact with the Eternal Flame, the supposedly immortal ruler of the Ikzarik.¡± Josh nodded seriously, as if he knew all this already. ¡°And of course, presumably you know the situation of the Aurun Empire at the time.¡± Josh hastily wracked his brain for the scraps of lore he come across in Spiralia. The Auran Empire had usually been touted as a long-lost golden age, but there had been something about internal troubles before the cataclysm that had heralded its fall. He could probably fill in the gaps. The lore in Spiralia was created out of fairly standard fantasy fare, an as every fantasy enthusiast knew, the end of a golden age was usually heralded by complacency, bureaucratic inertia and corruption. ¡°A weak Emperor, corruption in the Senate, and civil unrest,¡± Josh suggested, and mentally crossed his fingers. ¡°Exactly!¡± the monk said. ¡°We will never know how true the accusations were against the Ikzarik, but we do know that public opinion against them was very convenient for Emperor Lorenas. Faced with an external threat of that nature, the proletariat rallied behind him, allowing him to pass decrees which increased his power and influence, and gave him the leverage he needed to dispose of several political rivals.¡± Josh could see where this was leading. ¡°Did you know,¡± the monk went on, ¡°that although the scourge¡ªthe outlanders¡ªwere summoned by Tylas the Undying, they chose to oppose him instead?¡± ¡°No,¡± Josh said. That had been conveniently missed out of Elder Tharn¡¯s tale of how the scourge had come to Six Spires. But it made sense. If Tylas the Undying had been an archenemy whom heroes were supposed to defeat, then it would be natural for a bunch of gamers summoned from Earth to oppose him. Most of them, anyway. ¡°The trouble between human and outlanders began afterwards,¡± the monk said, ¡°once there was no foe for either of them to fight.¡± Josh could immediately see the parallel the monk was trying to draw. The Aurun Emperor had declared the Ikzarik an enemy that threatened the existence of all Auruns, thereby uniting his people in the face of a common foe. It wasn''t as if Earth politicians had never pulled that trick. After the fall of Tylas the Undying, Rupern must have looked around for a faction that could serve him in the same way. And there, conveniently, had been a thousand or so gamers, probably bored, with nothing to do and no monsters to kill, bursting with powerful skills, and conditioned to think of killing in terms of experience points and levels. Had they believed the locals were nothing more than non-player characters, that they weren¡¯t real, even back then, or was that a belief that had taken root since? ¡°Was it inevitable that the scourge would become the enemy?¡± Josh asked. ¡°The court of Celespire was, at the time, politically divided,¡± the monk said, his tone very neutral. ¡°Tylas the Undying had been permanently defeated, but the years of war had taken its toll. Once the scourge had been identified as a threat to the stability of the realm, however, the nobles rallied around King Rupern, and supported his reforms. They did not see that Celespire itself would fall as a result.¡± The monk paused, and then went on. ¡°In the twenty years since¡­¡± Josh nearly twitched in shock. All this had happened twenty years ago? How long had this world been abducting people from Earth? Were there really gamers who had been here for twenty years? The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Josh imagined being still stranded in this world, two decades in the future, with no way to get any word to his family, no way to see them again, and was unable to repress a shudder of horror. He wrenched his mind away before it could get lost down that particular rabbit hole, and focused on what the monk was saying. ¡°¡­the policies of the Church of the Common Covenant have never had greater support.¡± The monk looked at him curiously, and Josh adopted an expression of mild, scholarly interest. ¡°I understand,¡± he said. He did, in fact, understand exactly what the monk was telling him. The exiled populace of Celespire would not lend their support to a plan to banish outlanders. The scourge had been demonised too thoroughly, and their eradication formed the central tenet of governmental and mainstream religious policy. Josh realised abruptly how lucky he had been to speak to this particular monk, who now seemed remarkably clear-sighted and level-headed in comparison. What Josh had just suggested had probably strayed very close to heresy. That meant he couldn¡¯t be open about his interest in the legends of the Dreamer, or finding a way back to Earth. He would have to do all his research in secret, all the while pretending that he wasn¡¯t a player and that he couldn¡¯t even do magic. His plan was stupid. ¡°Do not be downcast,¡± the monk said, in a gently encouraging tone of voice. ¡°I forget how passionate the young can be in their resolve to seek solutions that have defeated the elder generations. Your willingness to rethink old prejudices does you credit. I have a feeling you will go far, young man.¡± I¡¯ve already gone too far, Josh thought miserably. So far I¡¯m not even on Earth any more. That¡¯s the whole problem. He made an effort to smile at the monk. ¡°Thank you for explaining,¡± he said. A young monk materialised at their side. ¡°Forgive me for interrupting, father,¡± he said, holding out a scroll to his superior. ¡°But a messenger just arrived, and it looked important¡­¡± ¡°Of course, my son,¡± the monk said, in his kind, gentle voice. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve been taking up all your time,¡± Josh said, standing. The monk rose too. ¡°Not at all,¡± he said, with genuine warmth. ¡°I enjoyed our conversation. I should really be thanking you! It made a difference from the usual sort of problem the townsfolk like to set before me, at any rate.¡± Josh bowed awkwardly, because it seemed like the sort of thing he should do, and the monk inclined his head in return. It didn¡¯t feel like the right time to ask about the Order¡¯s library, however, so Josh left and went back to the inn. Maybe he could come back the following day, and ask to be shown around. Would that be the sort of thing a young university applicant might do? The inn seemed to be full of people in fancy clothes arguing loudly with the proprietor. Josh skirted around them and went to his room. Now that he had met the monks, he was even more determined that the book moths shouldn¡¯t get an opportunity to wreck their library. He needed to try and capture them, which meant he needed bait. Since he didn¡¯t know where to find a children¡¯s book, and probably couldn¡¯t have afforded one even if he did, he was going to have to write one himself. It would be the true test of a bard, although the only stories Josh had ever written had been years ago, at school, and according to his teachers, hadn¡¯t exhibited any special talent. Still, how hard could it be? He decided he would take inspiration from the kind of children¡¯s books his Grandma had read to him when she had babysat for him as a kid, the ones that had the kind of nice talking animals which were appropriate for children¡ªWinnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, the Wind in the Willows, Dick King Smith, that sort of thing. Grandma had read him Watership Down very early on, which young Josh had found harrowing, so maybe not anything where any of the animals actually died. He gathered up his spare sheets of paper into a little booklet, dipped his quill pen in the ink bottle and stared at the page. Three hours later, Josh¡¯s fingers and face were covered in ink, and the sheaf of papers in front of him were a mess of spidery handwriting, ink blotches, and inky fingerprints. Still, in between all the messily spilled ink, was a reasonably coherent story which didn¡¯t have anything in it that would encourage a nascent moth haunt to kill people. The story followed a small pig called Babel and its spider friend and sidekick, Charlotte, although the latter only appeared in the first few pages and was rapidly forgotten about thereafter. Babel was a sheep-pig, who escorted sheep between paddock and barn every day by asking them politely to move. One day, however, the sheep refused to go into the field. Babel went to investigate, and found the grass had all been eaten by a family of rabbits, who were lost and looking for a new home. Babel went round all the animals in the farmyard to ask their advice, from Winnie the Bear to Eeyore the Donkey, eventually finding the best advice was given by Josh the Sage, a wise human who lived on the farm. Following Josh the Sage¡¯s guidance, Babe successfully led the rabbits through the Wild Hundred Acre Wood, which was slightly scary, with lots of rustling and mutterings in the undergrowth, but no actual danger, and nothing bad happened. Here the rabbits seemed to develop a personality of their own, and started asking if they were there, yet, or wanting to explore off the path, but Josh wrenched them firmly back on track. On the other side of the Wild Hundred Acre Wood was a beautiful meadow of wildflowers and lush green grass, and a bank where a rat and a mole who were best friends lived. They welcomed the rabbits as their new neighbours, offering them an afternoon tea with scones and cream and jam, which Josh found he was describing in slightly more detail than was warranted, and they all lived happily ever after. Josh assembled the pages back into its booklet shape, and used his needle and thread to fasten the centre spine, so that it almost became a real book. He was hopeful he would be able to capture the book moths before they spawned enough to become another haunt, but just in case he didn¡¯t manage that, at least it would be a talking rabbit or something, and not a powerful mage Queen flinging deadly spells about. Actually, now that Josh came to think of it, how did book moths read? What would have happened if he¡¯d written about Babel the sheep-pig in French or Spanish? Not that he was capable of speaking or writing either, but still. Did French or Spanish or any other language exist in Six Spires? Could moth haunts form in libraries written in languages other than English, and would they subsequently speak only that language? He was just standing up, ready to go to the innkeeper and ask if he could have a jar with lid, when a woman opened the door, walked into the room, and shrieked when she saw him. After a several mutual rounds of What are you doing in my room? followed by the summoning of the innkeeper, and a great deal of arguing, Josh realised that his room had been rented out from under him by the well-dressed party that had been causing a ruckus earlier. According to the innkeeper, who irritated Josh beyond measure with his obsequious manner towards the new guests, the party included a noblewoman, along with her priest and her chaperone, and assorted servants, and therefore simply couldn¡¯t be turned away. All the guests who were being turfed out of their rooms were being offered a full refund and palettes in the hayloft above the stable for the price of one copper. It wasn¡¯t until Josh was sullenly packing up his things, under the triumphant gaze of the room-stealing woman, that his eye caught the story he had written. The book moths! Where were they? Were they still in the room or had they hidden in his pack? He checked inside it again, on the pretext of making sure he had all his things, but he couldn¡¯t see anything that looked like black mould. The moths must either be hidden in the room somewhere, or they had fluttered off and were already playing havoc in book collections across town. There was nothing Josh could do if they had escaped, but if they were still in the room then he could leave his magnum opus behind and maybe they would take the bait. He surreptitiously flicked the booklet onto the floor and used his foot to shove it below the bed. He decided, as compensation, to treat himself to another session at the bathhouse, which would have the added benefit of washing off all the ink. A hot bath put Josh in a vastly better humour, so that when he came back to the inn to get his supper, and ran into the monk he had spoken to that morning, he was able to greet him quite cheerfully. ¡°I see you have been pursuing your studies,¡± the monk said, looking at the remains of ink stains that Josh hadn¡¯t yet been able to remove from his fingers. ¡°Er ¡­ yes.¡± Josh followed his gaze, which brought the book moths to mind again. ¡°Do you know anything about book moths?¡± he asked impulsively, then immediately wished he hadn¡¯t, because if anyone in the town did subsequently get infested with one, the monk might remember him asking. The monk paused, blinking at the sudden change in subject. ¡°I have read a treatise upon them,¡± he said. ¡°Ah!¡± Josh said. ¡°So I was wondering ¡­ how is it that they can read? Can they read any language? And if a moth haunt forms it takes the appearance of a character from a story, but how do they know what the characters look like? Where do they get the context to understand what, for example, a dress is? Or what people look like in general?¡± The monk¡¯s eyebrows rose in pure delight. ¡°You do ask the most interesting questions. This is said to be due to their magical nature, but I realise that is hopelessly inadequate as an explanation. Please don¡¯t tell me you encountered some book moths.¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± Josh said. The monk looked amused. ¡°I take it back! I must hear that story, my dear fellow.¡± ¡°Er, yes ¡­ of course¡­¡± ¡°Forgive me for being so uncivil earlier today, but I did not get your name?¡± ¡°Josh ¡­ de Haven,¡± Josh said, recalling at the last minute the name on his paperwork. The monk would have introduced himself, but at that point one of the inn servants approached and spoke deferentially to him. ¡°Father, they are ready to see you now.¡± The monk nodded. ¡°Please do come with me,¡± he said. ¡°You shall have a chance to tell your story, and come to the notice of some very influential individuals, which can be no bad thing for a young man in your situation.¡± Josh could only presume that the monk was here to speak to the rich people who had taken over all the rooms at the inn. He had no desire to meet room thieves, or recount the story of the book moth, but he found himself following the monk anyway. The inn servant opened the door to the private parlour and announced, in a loud voice: ¡°The Abbot of High Howe Priory and Josh de Haven.¡± Inside the parlour, the tables had been set up in a banquet arrangement, with the room thieves arrayed in a row along one side. The central, and presumably most important, person was a young girl of perhaps seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a gown of blue and gold, and wearing a white headdress wrapped around her head. She was dripping with jewellery¡ªthe pieces were clearly part of a matched set of red jewels, presumably rubies, that lay on her breast, dangled from her earlobes, and glittered on her wrists and fingers. She had a serious expression, an aquiline nose, and slightly protuberant eyes. She must be the noblewoman. On her right was a tall, thin man with large, tufted eyebrows, who sported priestly vestments. These consisted of a black gown, a square collar that heavy with embroidery, and a skull cap decorated in the same manner. He also wore an amulet, this one a circle with spokes, each spoke picked out in diamonds, and his fingers were thick with heavy gold rings. Clearly the priest. To the young girl¡¯s left was a stunningly beautiful woman of about thirty or so. She was short and plump, but she carried it well, and she had skin like cream, with full, soft lips and sleepy brown eyes. She wore a white wrap around her head, in the same manner as the young girl, but a cluster of glossy dark brown curls were piled on top. Her jewellery was more restrained, consisting of silver pearl earrings, and a matching tear-drop pendant that served to highlight the delightful hint of cleavage disappearing into her well-shaped bodice. She must be the chaperone. There were a handful of other people to either side, but Josh hardly had time to notice them before the Abbot swept a respectful bow, and he immediately followed suit, copying the Abbot¡¯s motions exactly. Unfortunately, the Abbot paused at the lowest point of his bow, instead of returning upright, which Josh hadn¡¯t expected, and he nearly overbalanced, adjusting his weight at the last moment to compensate. After a second or two, the young girl spoke. ¡°Abbot,¡± she said. ¡°So good of you to call.¡± She had a slightly wooden inflexion, as if speaking a rote courtesy that she wasn''t quite comfortable with. The Abbot rose from his bow. ¡°It is my great honour to meet you, my lady,¡± he said. He managed to sound warm, genuine and respectful all at the same time. ¡°And may I also congratulate you on the honour you are shortly to receive from the hands of the Hierophant himself. A Philosopher¡¯s Stone, no less!¡± From the ripple of unease that passed through the young girl¡¯s party, Josh realised that this was perhaps something that either the Abbot wasn¡¯t supposed to know, or something he shouldn¡¯t be talking about in public. 1.21 - Social minefields of the medieval period A short silence followed the Abbot¡¯s pronouncement. Josh wondered what a Philosopher¡¯s Stone was. He had some vague idea that it was related to medieval alchemy. Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be a magical substance that turned lead into gold or something? The young girl frowned. ¡°Abbot, who told you of my mission?¡± The Abbot paused, surprised. ¡°Ah, forgive me if I have erred,¡± he said uncertainly, ¡°But I heard the news from no less than two separate correspondents.¡± The chaperone gave a delicate little snort of amusement, whereas the priest looked as if he had bitten into a lemon. ¡°It was meant to be a secret,¡± the girl said, shrilly. ¡°This is preposterous!¡± The priest stated, and added, ¡°My lady, I will find out who has been so free with your business. ¡®Tis outrageous for low-born vulgar folk to be gossiping about their betters!¡± The chaperone sighed loudly, earning her a reproving glance from her noble charge. ¡°All this secrecy has been remarkably tiresome,¡± she said languidly. ¡°I, for once, am relieved we can dispense with it. Perhaps when we get to the capital, my lady, there will be a crowd to cheer your triumph, and we might parade through the city. How marvellous that would be!¡± ¡°But grandmother said¡­¡± The girl began, and then stopped. ¡°Her Grace¡¯s orders pre-supposed that our mission would be carried out discreetly,¡± the chaperone said carelessly. ¡°I do not propose that we waste our time by wringing our hands over things we cannot change.¡± Now she smiled graciously at the Abbot, and then turned back to the girl. ¡°So kind of the Abbot to pay his respects, my lady. Perhaps he might join us for dinner?¡± The girl was caught off guard. ¡°I ¡­ well ¡­ yes¡­,¡± she said, and the chaperone clapped her hands. ¡°Splendid!¡± To the people seated on her left she said, ¡°Do make space, my loves.¡± The Abbot had been regarding the conversation with a pained look on his face, but now he hesitated, then bowed graciously to the young girl. ¡°You are kindness itself, my lady. I deeply apologise if I have caused you any awkwardness or concern.¡± Once the party had shuffled to make room, and the Abbot had been seated in amongst the diners, only Josh was left standing in front of them. ¡°Now,¡± the chaperone said. ¡°What is your purpose here, young man?¡± And that was how Josh ended telling the story of the book moth haunt while the first course was served. He changed it so that he was fleeing from ordinary bandits, not scourge, and consequently became lost in a mysterious forest. He made the druid grove an abandoned manor house, and Queen Halina into a sorceress, the last scion of a noble family who had been poisoned by an ex-lover and rival. He got carried away and described the moths in a little too much detail, to the extent that when he recounted the part where they had nearly smothered him, he was suddenly back there, in the shrine in the forest, covered in thousands of soft but lethal moth wings. It was so vivid for a moment that he thought it was real. When he came back to himself, it had only been a few moments, but his audience were beginning to give him puzzled looks. He took several deep breaths to calm himself, threw back another gulp of wine, and recounted how he had pretended to be the woman¡¯s loyal servant. At the last minute she had believed him, and let him live. When the bandits had captured him, he had saved himself by telling them there was treasure in the abandoned manor house, and luring them into the library just as the sun set for a second time, straight into the arms of the moth haunt. He ended the story with him fleeing into the woods while the abandoned manor lit the sky with flames. By this point his audience were on their main course, while Josh was on his third cup of wine on an empty stomach, and seriously feeling the effects. As he made to leave, a servant¡ªone belonging to the chaperone¡ªapproached him and handed him a small purse. He was being tipped! Yes! He counted the coins surreptitiously under the table, while waiting for his own supper in the taproom, and discovered there were ten silver coins in it. That would keep him in style for a week! This bard thing was really working out. On top of that, the Abbot found him when he was finishing his dinner, and offered him a bed at the Priory, in compensation for losing his previous one to one of the noble party¡¯s hangers on, which was a generous offer, considering it wasn¡¯t the Abbot¡¯s problem to fix in the first place. It also meant Josh didn¡¯t have to sleep in the hayloft and, best of all, he might get a chance to check out the Priory¡¯s library in the morning. He retrieved his pack from the inn¡¯s strongroom, and followed the Abbot out into the night air. He¡¯d been given a pint of ale with his meal and, while he could walk in a straight line and talk coherently, he was still feeling the effects of the wine, although it had now reduced itself to a pleasant buzz and made him feel as if the whole world was his friend. ¡°You left the entire party speculating on the identity of the noblewoman the moth haunt was imitating,¡± the Abbot told him, as they strolled back towards the Priory. ¡°Ah, it wasn¡¯t really a noblewoman,¡± Josh told him. ¡°It thought it was Queen Halina.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± The Abbot said. ¡°Yes, I see.¡± ¡°And I pretended to be Prince Rupern,¡± Josh found himself saying. There was a pause. ¡°In that case, I congratulate you for not disclosing those details. I cannot think they would have gone down at all well with your audience.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought!¡± Josh said. He showed the Abbot the purse. ¡°They gave me ten silvers!¡± ¡°It was a fine story,¡± the Abbot replied, and Josh could hear a glimmer of amusement in his voice. At the Priory, he handed Josh off to a younger monk, who escorted him to a small room with a high, narrow window, a narrow bed with a thin mattress and a single blanket, and a small table with a jug full of water, a ewer, and a pamphlet lying on it. It wasn¡¯t nearly as comfortable as the inn, but it was a whole lot better than a pallet in a hayloft, surrounded by the snoring shapes of other travellers. Josh was feeling restless, but he didn¡¯t feel able to concentrate well enough to practice his magic, or scribe spells. He reached for the pamphlet instead, and discovered that it was the Testament of the Paragon. According to the pamphlet, the Paragon had originally been an ordinary mortal, but had ascended to semi-godhood as a result of his purity and wisdom. This had all happened hundreds of years ago, otherwise Josh would have suspected the Paragon of being an outlander. Although, come to think of it, the entity which had abducted all those people from Earth had been doing so for twenty years at least. And before outlanders came, there were legends of the Seven Heroes, who might also have come from Earth. And then Josh thought, what about all the locals? They had Earth accents that weren¡¯t all that dissimilar to British ones. They must have originally come from Earth too. How long had this been going on? In the back of his mind, Josh had imagined his journalist cousin Ben running around investigating Spiralia Online, and unearthing some massive conspiracy. Maybe this was a secret virtual reality project by a tech billionaire. Maybe there was an actual gateway to another dimension and it was being utilised by someone who wanted their own private fantasy world. But at each juncture the conspiracy seemed to grow until it was impossibly, world-changingly big, and had clearly been operating for decades. Now Josh hoped that Ben had had enough sense to realise he was out of his depth. But when had Ben ever backed down from a challenge? When Josh fell asleep, he had the sinkhole dream again, although this time it featured the Paragon beckoning him into the lightless depths. The Paragon looked just like the Guardian who had offered Josh the list of classes, a tall, shining but indistinct figure, who kept vanishing around corners just ahead of him. In the dream it seemed perfectly logical that there would be corridors and doors and rooms submerged at the bottom of the sinkhole, each one shadowy with threat, and behind him there was always the looming bulk of the shark, getting closer with every desperate turn. Once again, it was a relief to wake up. The dream was because he felt manipulated, Josh thought, as he washed his face with water from the jug. It felt like there were shadowy, unseen figures controlling events in the background. The encounter with the Queen of the Fey might have been pure coincidence, but the goddess Mayad¡¯s interference had been blatantly obvious. Josh was sure she was the one who had created the illusion which had allowed him to escape Varian¡¯s gang the first time. And then there was the deity of the marsh, with its ritual of human sacrifice. Someone or something had removed the don¡¯t-touch-me spell from the cloak of invisibility and the shoes of water walking, in between the first time Josh had found them, and the second, when he had needed them to escape from Varian¡¯s gang. It was as if something was watching him, and helping him. Whatever their motive, it was unlikely to be for his own benefit. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. It wasn¡¯t like he was anyone special or unique. He didn¡¯t even have a unique class. That would have been the person who took the Demon class. Josh wondered what had happened to them, or to the Assassin who had arrived in the world at the same time he had. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He went down to breakfast in a sombre mood, but the company of the monks immediately cheered him up. They served him a hearty oat porridge, with cream and berries and honey, and asked him how his head was. ¡°My head?¡± Josh looked at them blankly. ¡°You were somewhat the worse for wear when you went to your bed,¡± said the young monk who had showed him to his room. ¡°I was?¡± He¡¯d felt buzzed, but not badly drunk. The monk smirked. ¡°You were singing.¡± Oh crap. He hadn¡¯t been singing Katy Perry again, had he? ¡°What was I singing?¡± ¡°It was a song about dancing. And sunshine in your pockets or words to that effect.¡± Dancing? Sunshine in his pockets? Josh groaned and thunked his forehead on the table, to the intense amusement of the monks. He must have been singing Justin Timberlake¡¯s Can¡¯t Stop The Feeling. That wasn¡¯t any better than Katy Perry. What was the point in pretending to be a local when he was going around singing Earth songs all the time? He felt a cold shiver run up his spine as he remembered giving the Abbot the real details of the moth haunt, and how he had faked being Prince Rupern. He hadn¡¯t intended to tell anyone that. It could have been worse¡ªhe could have let slip that he was an outlander. You can¡¯t get drunk, Josh thought. Not even halfway buzzed. You could get yourself killed if you say the wrong thing. The monks seemed to be decent people, and not stuffy either. They ribbed Josh about his lack of hangover¡ªyou¡¯re young, just you wait until you¡¯re older, one of them told him¡ªand then moved on to discussing their plans for the day, laughing and joking with each other with a free and easy camaraderie that welcomed Josh instead of excluding him. When Josh raised the subject of the library, a round-faced monk who had nerd written all over him immediately perked up and offered to show him. He introduced himself as Brother Ferno, and turned out to be one of those people who opened his mouth and stream of consciousness fell out, so Josh didn¡¯t have to go into too much detail about his supposed field of study, for which he was grateful. The library itself filled a whole room and, by Josh¡¯s estimate, contained considerably more than a hundred books. Maybe that had been the biggest number that the chambermaid could imagine. Josh had always been more of an online person than a book person, but in the absence of the internet, a library was the next best thing. The Priory had several bestiaries, a whole shelf of atlases that Josh itched to study to see how closely they hewed to the map from Spiralia, and some treatises on the theory of magic, which he also wouldn¡¯t have minded checking out. Most of the books, however, focused on either history or religion. Josh scanned for anything on Mayad or druidic religion, but it all seemed related to Ciandar, the sun-god of Celespire, or the teachings of the Church of the Common Covenant, or the Paragon. He did see a history book about the Seven Heroes, which might give him clues as to whether they were outlanders or not. He was waiting for Brother Ferno to pause for breath so he could ask to look at one of the atlases, when they were interrupted by an apologetic brother who said that Josh had been summoned to the inn by no less than two separate messengers¡ªone from the priest, and one from the chaperone. Josh was getting really fed up with the noble party. They seemed to have no idea just how high maintenance they were. All the monks had expected him to leap immediately to obey, and he had the sudden, overwhelming temptation to dig his heels in and refuse, just to be contrary. But for all he knew they wanted him to tell them more stories, or give him more money. Accordingly, within twenty minutes of receiving the message, he was knocking on the door to the room of the priest, who was apparently called Father Lomer. It turned out that Father Lomer didn¡¯t want to give Josh any money, or even employ him. Instead, in a patronising tone of voice, he instructed Josh in the behaviour that was expected of him, namely that he should not talk or gossip about anything he had heard or seen while in the presence of Lady Alianne. Josh assumed that must be the name of the noble girl the priest was accompanying. Father Lomer ended this lecture by informing Josh that if he discovered the latter had been spreading tales, he would have him whipped. He could do that? Besides, given that everyone appeared to know all about Lady Alianne¡¯s affairs already, how would he even be able to tell? Josh gritted his teeth against the anger and resentment rising inside him. He said, tightly, ¡°I have no interest whatsoever in Lady Alianne¡¯s business!¡± then turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving Father Lomer spluttering in outrage behind him. The moment he reached the passageway, Josh felt a wash of ice rush down his back. Did nobles randomly go around ordering the lower classes to be whipped? Was that a real danger, or just empty rhetoric? It was too late to change anything now. Josh stalked off to his second appointment, which was with Lady Paleyna, the chaperone. Lady Paleyna, it appeared, had been given a whole suite, which consisted of a tiny sitting room, with two other doors leading from it. One door was firmly shut, but the other was open, and gave Josh a glimpse into Lady Paleyna¡¯s bed chamber, which looked like a hurricane had hit it, because there were dresses strewn everywhere. The maid who had opened the door was one of Lady Paleyna¡¯s servants, and she was clutching a jewellery box. ¡°Oh,¡± she said distractedly. ¡°It¡¯s the young man from last night, my lady. Did you want to speak to him?¡± Lady Paleyna moved into view through the door of the bed chamber. She was wearing a brown velvet dress with gold embroidery, and fastening an earring to her ear. ¡°Yes, tell him I will be there directly,¡± she said vaguely, even though Josh could see and hear her perfectly well. ¡°I think the topaz after all. Don¡¯t you agree?¡± The maid looked at the jewellery box and fiddled with the clasp, which jerked unexpectedly. The lid flew open and a fortune in jewels scattered all over the floor. Josh had been standing in the doorway, but now he stepped inside and closed the door, so that any random people passing by wouldn¡¯t see all the valuables lying on the floor. ¡°Er¡­¡± he said. ¡°Would you like me to help you pick them up?¡± To his surprise, the maid said, huffing and puffing as she got on her hands and knees, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s very kind of you! If you wouldn¡¯t mind!¡± So Josh knelt beside her, and carefully picked up one piece at a time. He didn¡¯t want to be accused of theft himself, so he kept his hands in clear sight, and the moment he found anything he put it immediately in the box. The maid beamed at him as she closed the lid on the last of the pieces, and thanked him breathlessly. ¡°My topaz,¡± Lady Paleyna called through the open door of the bedroom. ¡°Coming, my lady.¡± ¡°And the rose brooch.¡± ¡°Of course, my lady. I have the topaz here, but ¡­ oh ¡­ where is the rose brooch?¡± Shit, Josh thought. Was this some kind of trick? Were they going to accuse him of stealing it? ¡°I¡¯ll have another look on the floor,¡± he said. ¡°My lady, forgive me,¡± said the maid. ¡°I don¡¯t ¡­ perhaps I didn¡¯t bring the rose brooch. I don¡¯t recall seeing it since we set out¡­¡± ¡°Oh, but I particularly wanted it today!¡± Lady Paleyna sounded annoyed. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you left it at home, Rellie!¡± ¡°Forgive me, my lady¡­¡± ¡°Is everything else there?¡± Rellie raked through the jewellery box, counting under her breath. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all here, my lady. Except for the brooch. I am so sorry, my lady!¡± By this point Josh was back on his hands and knees, peering under the furniture. There was, in fact, something that looked brooch-like lying beneath a side table behind the door. He reached for it. It was a made of very fine china or porcelain, in the shape of a rose, tinted with different shades of pink, and with little diamonds to represent dew drops. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± he called, ¡°I¡¯ve found it.¡± As he got to his feet, he suddenly realised he hadn¡¯t needed to say anything at all. Both women had clearly assumed the maid hadn¡¯t brought the brooch along in the first place. He could have pocketed it and walked away with no-one the wiser. The diamonds would be worth something at least. He could have sold it and been ¡­ well, if not rich, at least richer. Safe from starving, with a roof over his head. Even as the thought flashed through his head, however, it was academic. These women were rich and annoying, but that didn¡¯t mean it was okay to steal from them. He wasn¡¯t starving, and he had a purse full of silver. He could do magic and make glowing feathers and probably tiny spell books. He didn¡¯t need to become a thief to survive. He would make a terrible thief anyway¡ªhe didn¡¯t have the right instincts. He handed the brooch over to the maid, who said, ¡°Oh, here it is, my lady, how stupid of me!¡± Lady Paleyna moved into the sitting room. ¡°I¡¯ve decided not to wear it after all,¡± she said, and sat in one of the chairs by the fire. ¡°It won¡¯t go with the topaz.¡± She looked over at Josh, and he realised just how large and brilliant her eyes were. ¡°De Haven isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said. He remembered he was pretending to be a local. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± She raised an eyebrow, and he realised he was expected to bow as well. He did so, the same way as the Abbot had last night. She looked amused, but not offended, although she didn¡¯t offer him a seat. ¡°What did old Lomer have to say?¡± she asked. Josh blinked in surprise, wondering how she knew about his visit to the pirest, and she smiled. She had dimples, he noticed, which only served to highlight the flawless cream of her cheeks. ¡°I heard him ordering a servant over to the Priory to fetch you earlier,¡± she said. ¡°So I sent a messenger of my own.¡± Which meant this interruption to Josh¡¯s morning was the result of a battle of one-upmanship between two nobles. Not content with stealing his room, they had to resort to dragging him halfway across town simply because they didn¡¯t like each other. ¡°He asked me not to say anything about Lady Alianne¡¯s business,¡± Josh said, trying not to grit his teeth at the memory. ¡°And went about it in a very high-handed way, I¡¯ll wager. Don¡¯t mind him, my dear, he¡¯s all bark but no bite.¡± If so, that was a relief, but now he had to worry about what Lady Paleyne wanted. ¡°You seem like a clever young man,¡± Lady Paleyne mused, and her eyes flicked up and down him in a way that suggested she wasn¡¯t cataloguing the strength of his intellect. ¡°Where are you travelling after this?¡± ¡°Brackstone.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°Delightful! We will be staying there ourselves for a few days. It so happens I may have some tasks for you, if you would call on me once I am there.¡± What did that mean? ¡°What sort of tasks?¡± Josh asked suspiciously. ¡°Nothing too onerous,¡± she said lightly. ¡°Taking messages for me, escorting me to the market. Duties of that nature.¡± That seemed too simple. The door to the other half of the suite opened abruptly and Lady Alianne stood on the threshold. She gave Josh an incredulous, disgusted glance, while Lady Paleyne rose smoothly to her feet. ¡°Pally, what is he doing here? And in our rooms? At this time?¡± ¡°Paying us a morning call, my lady,¡± Lady Paleyne said. ¡°I was just going,¡± Josh said hastily. Lady Alianne ignored him, and Lady Paleyne gave him a warning glance, which implied he had committed some kind of social solecism, although he had no idea what. ¡°Is that respectable?¡± Lady Alianne really did have a shrill voice. ¡°At court,¡± Lady Paleyne said languidly, ¡°it¡¯s not only respectable, but expected.¡± ¡°Father Lomer will be here shortly, for morning prayer. I doubt he will be pleased to see all the world paying morning visits.¡± Lady Paleyne¡¯s dimple flashed again. ¡°Oh, I do hope so,¡± she murmured. ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± ¡°I will send the young man on his way, my lady.¡± Lady Alianne didn¡¯t reply, but marched back into her own bedchamber. Lady Paleyne came forward and offered Josh her hand, but not as if she wanted him to shake it¡ªinstead she held it with the palm down, her fingers dangling. Josh had a moment of pure panic. What was he supposed to do? He took her hand uncertainly, which felt small in his own. Then scenes from various period dramas flashed through his head, and it clicked. He was supposed to bow over it or something. Oh wait, no, was he supposed to kiss it? He could feel his ears getting hot, and it didn¡¯t help that she could somehow see his internal dilemma and was visibly repressing a smile. He compromised by bowing. He had no idea how you were actually supposed to kiss a lady¡¯s hand. Was it meant to be an actual kiss, with your lips pressed against it? It seemed weirdly intrusive. ¡°I will see you in Brackstone,¡± Lady Paleyne said. ¡°This going to be so much fun!¡± Not if I can help it. Josh backed out of the door, feeling as if he had removed himself from a tiger¡¯s den. Pretending to be a local was going to be a lot harder than he had originally thought. 1.22 – Alternative career options for adventurers Brackstone was built at the foot of a plateau, where a river from the highlands plunged over cliffs to create a small lake. On a rocky promontory by the lake shore was a small castle built of local grey stone, with a thick curtain wall protecting it. The settlement had grown up around it, ringed by a lesser, outer wall, which in turn had been engulfed by houses spreading out along the road. Josh was feeling strangely nervous. This wasn¡¯t some sleepy hamlet, or a provincial little town. This was close to being a city, albeit a small one, and there was no guarantee it would have kind, friendly people like Goodwife Benton or the Abbot of High Howe Priory in it. It was more likely to have people like the Sergeant at the border post, who had raided half the contents of Josh¡¯s pack as an impromptu ¡®fee.¡¯ On the other hand, a city would be more anonymous than a small town, where everyone knew everyone else¡¯s business. Josh had arrived in the early afternoon, but spent a good few hours after that walking up and down the streets until he got a feel for the different areas. He didn¡¯t want to rent some lodgings and then find out he was in a disreputable part of town, and that the proprietor was planning to steal all his stuff. The place he found was shabby, but seemed respectable enough, and for a single copper a night, he could have it indefinitely. He paid up for a week in advance. It was a small attic room, where the only place he could stand up straight was just inside the door. The bed was directly underneath the eaves, and the walls were panelled with faded and bleached wood. There was a wooden-framed bed strung with rope, with a thin mattress on top, and the rest of the furniture consisted of a small bedside table, a washstand and jug, and a set of shelves recessed into the wall. The room was hot from the afternoon sun, and smelled of wood and dust. First, Josh unpacked all his things. The sheep fleece, which he had had laundered in High Howe, went on the bed, and on the bedside table he put a palm-sized book of the Paragon¡¯s teachings. He still felt guilty about the book. He no particular desire to follow the Paragon, but pretending an interest had seemed like a reasonable excuse to ask the monks to show him how to bind books and sew covers for them. At least now he knew how to make tiny spell books. He had stayed at the Priory for three days, much of it spent in the library reading history books and, whenever Brother Ferno had gone out of the room, quickly pulling down one of the volumes he was really interested in, and scanning that. He had learned a lot, but nothing about the Dreamer. In the evenings he had been invited to speak with the Abbot, sessions that had been simultaneously alarming and enervating. At every point he had been worried that he would say something that would reveal him to be an outlander, but if the Abbot had guessed his origins, he said nothing. Josh had forgotten how much he enjoyed lively debate with a thoughtful, intelligent person, and by the time he had left the Priory, he had a letter of recommendation from the Abbot in his pack, which he could use to introduce himself to possible patrons. In High Howe, Josh had bought himself two more sets of clothes from the market stall, and a leather vambrace that he could use to protect his arm when he practiced his archery, as well as some more arrows. He could be reasonably sure of striking a target at thirty or so paces, although everything he shot at had been stationary, and he hadn¡¯t been able to bring himself to go for birds or rabbits, for fear of hitting them but not killing them straightaway, and having to deal with the consequences of that. He also now had a large collection of feathers, the newest ones bought from the High Howe market, many of which he had primed to glow. He had discovered that if he cast Glow on a feather once, then it would have that enchantment laid on it permanently, and all he needed to do was feed it a trickle of magic, and it would start glowing again, although he still hadn¡¯t managed to make the effect last for more than an hour. He needed to test whether someone else could make a feather glow after he had primed it, and then maybe he would be able to start selling them. The cloak of invisibility and the shoes of water-walking he had bundled up in an old, burlap sack, and now he looked for somewhere to hide them. Careful investigation of the eaves revealed a cracked section of wood panelling, and by widening the gap he was able to place the burlap sack in the narrow space between the panelling and the roof tiles. The rest of the evening was devoted to creating miniature spell books. In the end, he¡¯d decided to create a sample spell book which had a single version of each different kind of spell, which he could show to prospective buyers. The proper spell books, however, would contain multiple copies of a single spell, except the one for his own personal use, which would contain all of them. He wanted to prevent people from simply being able to copy the sigils themselves, so he had tested glueing extra sheets onto the spell sheets to hide the ink. He found that the spell would still work, even though he couldn¡¯t see the sigil itself. If the extra sheets also had mundane writing on them, like tiny poems, then it would be good way to disguise what they were. He didn¡¯t think that buying spell scrolls was illegal, but selling them would immediately mark him as a mage, and Rob had said the nobility didn¡¯t like mages wandering around who weren¡¯t working for them. That meant he needed to sell his spells secretly. He was hoping that there was a market for cheap spell scrolls where people didn''t ask too many questions. Josh had also started to experiment with the parameters of the sigils, although all he had succeeded in so far was wasting a fair amount of paper. Most of the changes he made to the sigils didn¡¯t even accept the magic he tried to infuse, which meant it wasn¡¯t a viable spell pattern. He would keep at it. It was just a matter of trial and error. That night he dreamed of running through the streets of the city trying to hand out spell papers to random citizens. He had to keep arguing with them to take it, while shadowy tentacled things oozed from the alleyways towards him, but he couldn¡¯t move on until he¡¯d given out a spell paper. When he woke up, he was covered in insect bites. He scrambled out of bed as soon as he realised. He¡¯d been sleeping on top of the fleece, but the bites were clustered wherever his skin had been close to the mattress. Ugh. Was it fleas? Or, he realised, more likely bed bugs. He¡¯d already paid for this room a week. How did you get rid of bed bugs? None of his spells would kill insects. After pacing up and down the room for several minutes while thinking up various solutions and then discarding them, he eventually settled on heat. Smoking them out would have been the most sure method he could think of, but he didn¡¯t have any way to create smoke safely. But maybe he could heat up the mattress enough to kill anything nesting inside it. Ugh. He didn¡¯t want to use up his pre-prepared book of heat spells, so that meant he had to spend an hour or more drawing twelve new ones. The heat effect spread over an area about three or four feet in diameter, so if he overlapped them it would raise the temperature just high enough to kill the bugs, but hopefully not enough to set anything on fire. If this worked, maybe he could work as a bed bug exterminator. Casting Heat twelve times in short succession was a struggle, even with all the practice he had been doing. By the time he¡¯d finished he was feeling limp and dizzy and there were dark spots floating in front of his vision. The bed smelled faintly of scorched linen, and was too hot for him to lie on, so he sat down on the floor to recover instead. He had intended to keep watch to make sure the mattress didn¡¯t suddenly burst into flames, but found himself jerking awake some time later. He felt less dizzy, but he was ravenous. The bed hadn''t started a fire, and had had enough time to cool down to room temperature, so he must have been out for some time. When he emerged from the boarding house it felt like late or mid-morning. He revived himself with a pie from a street vendor, and walked to his first goal. Towards the edge of the town there was a complex called the Gymnasium, where every able-bodied citizen under the age of fifty was mandated to train for an hour or more every day. Training consisted of weapons drills, with wrestling and archery for the men, and archery for the women. Josh presumed this was preparation against the Storm King and his minions, although whether for defensive or offensive operations he wasn¡¯t sure, and didn¡¯t want to ask in case it made him look like a spy. Rob the Hedge Knight had said it was possible to learn weapon skills without having the class for it, albeit at a slower rate. Josh was determined to learn to defend himself. He had been in several dangerous situations now, and while it would probably take years to reach the proficiency Varian and Mistrz had demonstrated, he had to start somewhere. Josh had missed the morning training session due to the bed bugs, but the second session was held in the middle of the day. His paper from the Sergeant at the border was sufficient to let him in, and the gate guard solemnly noted down his name in a thick book to confirm his attendance. During the sword fighting lesson, he found himself put with youths who couldn¡¯t be more than fourteen. He didn¡¯t even get to hold a sword, but spent the whole session shuffling backwards and forwards while the drill instructor corrected their balance and posture. Josh wasn¡¯t a fighter, but he¡¯d watched enough online videos about it to know that footwork was massively important, so he didn¡¯t really mind. At least he wasn¡¯t put with the beginners for archery. All the practice he had done while travelling, every morning and every night that he could, had paid dividends, because he managed to get his last set of arrows clustered nicely in the centre of the target. The master archer in charge of the training gave him an approving nod, and then jerked his head towards a shaded stand at one end of the field. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Asking for you,¡± he said. ¡°What?¡± Josh asked, stupidly. ¡°Who is?¡± ¡°High ups. Sent for you.¡± ¡°Wait there are ¡­ people watching in there?¡± The shaded stand had a discreet screen that prevented anyone on the outside from looking in. Josh had just assumed it was a storage shed or a changing room of some sort. He hesitated, then walked over, unstringing his bow as he did so. The stand was open on one side, he saw as he reached it, so he went to the opening. There were several nobles there, their clothing as bright and clean as flowers, frothed with lace and embroidery. Standing in the centre was Lady Paleyne. ¡°De Haven,¡± she called. ¡°What magnificent shooting!¡± She was exaggerating, Josh thought with irritation. The next group was setting now by putting the targets back a good twenty paces, which would make a much better spectacle. He couldn¡¯t help but feel she had followed him here, somehow, but how would she have known he was in Brackstone? She had left the inn at High Howe with her party six days ago. He hadn''t expected to see her again. ¡°Thank you, my lady,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s very kind of you to say so.¡± The assembled ladies all tittered and glanced at each other, making Josh feel distinctly uncomfortable. ¡°And where are you headed next?¡± Lady Paleyne inquired. He had been intending to go to the bathhouse, but he wasn¡¯t going to tell her that, so he gave her his next destination. ¡°The library, my lady.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°Oh, capital! I was planning a visit there myself. Didn¡¯t I say just now, Clarisa, that I would fancy a trip to the library?¡± One of the other ladies, presumably Clarisa, smirked. ¡°Yes, I heard you say so, quite distinctly, my dear.¡± It was as if they were playing some kind of game. Lady Paleyne looked at Josh expectantly. ¡°We can walk there together, then,¡± he said, reluctantly. ¡°How kind of you!¡± She picked up the edge of her skirts and glided towards him, saying over her shoulder, ¡°Clarisa, my love, do send Jann to me at the library in a couple of bells, if you would be so kind.¡± And before Josh knew it, she had taken his arm and they were walking down the street, away from the Gymnasium. ¡°Would you like some advice, sir?¡± Lady Paleyne asked. She smiled up at him. He¡¯d forgotten about the dimple. Her eyes were liquid and dark, and her lips were soft and pink, and the dress she was wearing, although it covered her from head to toe, was a symphony of delightfully veiled curves. ¡°What advice?¡± If she noticed the ungracious tone in his voice, she ignored it. ¡°If a lady is going in the same direction, the appropriate term is to offer to escort her.¡± Josh was confused. ¡°There¡¯s a difference?¡± She let out a peal of laughter, causing a man wheeling a barrow-load of turnips to turn his head appreciatively. ¡°You may not see the distinction, but a woman will, I assure you.¡± Oh, it was one of those mysterious female things. She tapped him on the arm with one finger. ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you say it for me, properly this time?¡± Josh felt like a dog which had unexpectedly found itself in a puppy training class. But if she was going to teach him social conventions, he should humour her, galling as it was. This will help with your disguise. It will help you survive. He took a deep, slow, breath to calm himself, then cleared his throat. ¡°May I escort you to the library, my lady?¡± he asked, feeling stupid. She tsked, and tapped him on the arm again. ¡°No, no, no. You need to sound as if you mean it.¡± Inhale. Exhale. Pretend he actually liked her, even though she was flighty, false and manipulative. He repeated the words, but this time trying to sound as if nothing would please him more than to walk to the library with a deranged noblewoman. She gave another trill of laughter, but replied, ¡°I would be most grateful, sir!¡± Then she spoiled it by adding, ¡°There, that wasn¡¯t hard, was it?¡± He ignored that. ¡°What are you planning to read at the library?¡± he asked instead, not because he cared¡ªshe didn¡¯t seem the sort of person who would be interested in books¡ªbut purely to change the subject. ¡°What would you recommend?¡± she answered instantly. For fuck¡¯s sake. ¡°Perhaps the librarians will suggest something," he said. Josh was feverishly trying to remember the right way to the library. He had passed it twice the previous day, but he had an idea that he would be committing some kind of deadly social sin if he asked Lady Paleyne for directions. Happily, he recognised a statue¡ªone of the Heroes fighting a giant monster in a lake¡ªand a few minutes later they had arrived at the front door. Josh went to pull out his letter of introduction from the Abbot, but Lady Paleyne sailed up the steps without stopping, and he had to scramble to get to the door before her so he could open it. He could imagine what she would have to say to him if he left her to open her own doors. Inside, the library was an atrium full of reading desks laid out in rows, and radiating out from the atrium were alcoves lined with shelves of books. The Abbot had told Josh that the library was funded and kept by the Church of the Common Covenant, which probably meant it was censored according to religious sensibilities. At the far end of the atrium was a large archway blocked by a desk and beyond that he could see more shelves. Presumably that was the section were all the valuable or restricted books went. Anything about the Dreamer would likely be there, which meant he would need to find a way in. Today he would just scout out the premises. A librarian hurried over as soon as they stepped inside, bowing low to Lady Paleyne. ¡°How may we assist you, my lady?¡± ¡°My young friend here will be choosing a book for me to read,¡± Lady Paleyne announced. Josh had books of his own he wanted to find. Why did he have to be responsible for her too? What sorts of things would she like? Probably novels about nobles having extra-marital affairs and stealing love letters to blackmail each other with, like uh ¡­ Josh didn¡¯t read those kinds of books himself. Something that read like Downton Abbey, or Bridgerton? ¡°Do you have any fiction?¡± he asked the librarian. From the look on the librarian¡¯s face, he might as well have asked for porn. ¡°Do you mean¡­¡± the librarian hesitated before saying, in an aghast tone of voice, ¡°¡­story books?¡± Wow, really? Josh couldn¡¯t help noticing that Lady Paleyne had lowered her eyes¡ªshe had long, thick lashes that swept across her cheeks in a dark crescent moon¡ªand was biting her lip as if to keep from laughing. ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said breezily. ¡°Story books.¡± The librarian hesitated again. ¡°We don¡¯t¡­¡± he began. ¡°We only have morally improving works, such as the Tales of Anjafrid.¡± Morally improving works sounded ghastly. ¡°You don¡¯t have anything¡­¡± Frivolous? Scandalous? Romantic? ¡°¡­suitable for a lady?¡± ¡°I can recommend Guidance for Young Ladies by the esteemed cleric, Ponson de Verlow.¡± There was a tiny, stifled sound from Lady Paleyne. She was still biting her lower lip firmly. Did she just find everything Josh said or did amusing? He couldn¡¯t imagine her appreciating advice for women that was not only written by a cleric, but a male cleric at that. That sounded like a suicidally bad idea. He imagined Timothy''s cousin Rachel being presented with a book like that. It was the sort of thing you would only want to witness from a safe distance. ¡°So ¡­ no legends?" he asked. "Or fairy tales? Or, I don¡¯t know, epic poems? With stories?¡± ¡°I would hardly refer to the literature of classical philosophers and great poets as story books,¡± the librarian said, in freezing tones. ¡°Where are they?¡± Josh asked. There was a pause as the librarian recalibrated, and then he said smoothly, ¡°Follow me.¡± He added a little bow towards Lady Paleyne. ¡°If you please, my lady.¡± Josh rated neither a bow nor an ¡®if you please.¡¯ The librarian left them at a section full of leather-bound tomes with curly gold writing on the spines. Josh plucked one at random, and opened it. That man is altogether best who considers all things himself and marks what will be better afterwards and at the end; and he, again, is good who listens to a good adviser; but whoever neither thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what another tells him, he is an unprofitable man. Ugh. No. He tried another, which fell open in the middle of a dramatic scene involving a young girl being sacrificed on an altar. That was too close to the memory of the sacrificial gallows in the marsh. He shuddered and put it back. There was one labelled The Queen of the Fey. He pulled it out and flipped to the first chapter, which featured a gentle knight in shining armour, riding out across a plain upon a feisty steed. Further in, the knight was slaying a dread monster in a cave, after having previously been advised not to enter by the lady accompanying him. The Queen of the Fey had not, so far, figured in the story. Still, that was probably as good as Josh was going to get. He passed it along to Lady Paleyne, with a short bow, and went to look for history books. But did she leave him in peace to do so? No, she followed him, book in hand, which made it harder for him to surreptitiously glance over to the restricted section. His best idea to get access to the restricted books was to come into the library, disappear out of sight in one of the alcoves, and don the cloak of invisibility and wait until the library was closed. He might need to repeat that several days in a row, until he found the information he needed. The history section had little that he hadn¡¯t already read back in at the High Howe Priory. Spiralia, the online game version, seemed to have been set in the version of Six Spires that had existed fifty years previously, just before Prince Rupern had been born. The same year, the Seven Heroes had ¡®arrived from beyond the mists, come to this mortal realm to aid the land of Celespire in its time of dire need.¡¯ The Heroes were long-lived, and ¡®if dealt a mortal blow, would rise again, renewed.¡¯ Each had a different speciality ¡®in the arts martial or magical.¡¯ Three were knights, two were mages, one had a skillset that sounded rogue-like, and one had been a smith. Josh was convinced they must be outlanders. One of the mages, Gwynifer, had been killed by Tylas the Undying, when he had first risen as a threat thirty-five years ago. The remaining Heroes had banded together to imprison him. Had Gwynifer had a player core? Was that why Tylas the Undying was, well, the Undying? Had he stolen it to give himself a brand of immortality? If so, the Heroes had been either unwilling or unable to strip it from him, which was maybe why they had imprisoned him instead. All this had raised even more questions. The system that went along with the player cores appeared to owe a lot of its inspiration to Spiralia Online, which had mechanics developed over decades of roleplaying games. If the Heroes had come from Earth fifty years previously, that would mean they were from the nineteen seventies. Back then, video games had been in their infancy, and people had mostly played in arcades¡ªgames like Space Invaders and Pong. Game consoles had existed, but roleplaying games had been mostly text-based, like the 1971 version of The Oregon Trail. Josh had studied all this as part of his introductory course work in Computing Studies and Game Design. It didn¡¯t seem possible that the fully evolved character screen in Six Spires had been created fifty years ago. It had too many game mechanic elements that had been developed since then. Did that mean time was passing faster in Six Spires than it was on Earth? Josh almost hoped that was true. If fifty years on Earth was, for example, five years here, it means that he had only been missing for less than a week, not a month. ¡°You¡¯ve been staring so hard at those books you are like to wear a hole in their spines,¡± a voice said, and he gave a start as he remembered the existence of Lady Paleyne. For once, she didn¡¯t have an amused look on her face. ¡°Just thinking,¡± he said. ¡°Then let us leave this place, and find a decent tea shop.¡± She tilted her head invitingly. ¡°And I will buy you tea, and you can tell me what troubles you.¡± Was the wretched woman never going to leave him alone? They were interrupted by a slight disturbance as a messenger arrived in the library. He was panting and his face was shiny with sweat. The moment he saw Lady Paleyne, he made a beeline for her, and bowed hastily, then gasped out his message. ¡°My lady,¡± he gasped. ¡°There is an infestation in Mistress Hallon¡¯s chambers! Some kind of deadly magical summoned swarm!¡± 1.23 - Ways in which books can be distracting Josh was standing outside the room which apparently held the deadly, magical summoned swarm. He had expected the castle to be all grey stone flags and stone walls, but the floors were thick with scattered rushes that let off a faint sweet grass smell when people walked on them, and the walls were whitewashed and hung with tapestries. Mistress Hallon was, of course, the lady who had stolen his room at the inn in High Howe. Josh thought it was likely the book moths had hidden themselves amongst her possessions, and been carried into the castle this way, but he didn¡¯t want to point that out because then it would become obvious that the infestation was his fault. Mistress Hallon stood well back from the door, wringing her hands, and telling her story for the third or fourth time. ¡°I had the shutters closed against the sun!¡± she said. ¡°To protect the hangings, you know, because I didn¡¯t want them to become all faded! And I went to retrieve my knitting, but all of a sudden there was a dread voice, and whirr of wings, and a black cloud arose. A soon as I saw it I knew it meant me harm. I ran out and closed the door straightaway, calling for help!¡± According to Jann the messenger, calling for help was a euphemism for screaming hysterically until one of the servants found her. Lady Paleyne stood beside Josh, courteously listening to the repetition of Mistress Hallon¡¯s story. ¡°My dear, how frightening for you!¡± she said, for the fourth or fifth time. ¡°You were so brave!¡± Mistress Hallon perked up at this. ¡°Yes, I wonder that I didn¡¯t faint. Just think, it might have slain me while I lay insensible!¡± Happily, at that point they were interrupted by Jann, bearing the items Josh had asked for. Naturally Lady Paleyne had appealed to Josh to destroy the swarm the moment they had heard the news. ¡°You are the expert at this sort of thing!¡± she had said admiringly, and Josh hadn¡¯t felt able to say no. He¡¯d also got a quest on his character sheet, offering him a measly 50 experience to clear the infestation from the room. The servant handed him a lantern, glass bottle with a stopper, several sheets of paper, a quill pen, and a bottle of ink. Josh needed to light the lantern, so he looked around for a candle or something that was already lit, but the servant had a little box and was pulling out ¡­ matches! Josh needed to get himself some of those. Latern lit, he faced the door, took a deep breath, and went inside. He heard Mistress Hallon¡¯s squeak of terror as he did so, and then he closed the door and looked around the chamber. It was completely silent. The shutters were closed, with only a narrow crack of daylight filtering through, and if he hadn¡¯t had his lantern, it would have been almost totally dark. There was no sign of the book moths. Mistress Hallon had a writing table in one corner, so Josh set the lamp on it, and sat down. This time, the story of Babel the Sheep-Pig was much quicker and easier to write. He made some improvements while he was at it, making Charlotte the spider merely one of the creatures at the farm, who recommended that Babel speak to Josh the Sage for advice. He decided it was better not to have Charlotte as a sidekick, because he didn¡¯t want any of the book moths to think they needed to impersonate spiders. The thought made him shudder. It took him no more than an hour to write out the story this time, and when he was done, he folded it into a booklet shape, then rolled it up and posted it into the glass bottle. After that, he retreated from the room. Even as he closed the door he thought he heard the sound of moth wings, which made him slam the door shut a little quicker than he meant to. He looked around to see who had noticed his panic. Mistress Hallon had gone, but Lady Paleyne was still standing there, looking at him with bright, smiling eyes. For the first time it occurred to Josh to wonder why she had been the one Jann had come running for. So far she had acted shallow and self-centred. Why would anyone turn to her if there was some dangerous magical creature loose in the castle? And why had she waited for an hour in the corridor? It wasn¡¯t as if she could do anything to help if Josh got swarmed and smothered by book moths. Could she? He eyed her suspiciously, and she returned his gaze with a limpid look. ¡°Thank you for waiting,¡± he said. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to.¡± She clasped her hands together, in what Josh thought was an over-dramatic way. ¡°Oh, but I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you!¡± she said. ¡°Do you know anything about book moths?¡± he asked. She gave him a wide-eyed glance. ¡°Is that what this is?¡± What else would it be? Josh gave up speaking to her and put his ear to the door to see if he could hear moth wings still, but it seemed quiet. He opened the door and slipped back in. His heart was thumping uncomfortably, and he wished had the lantern, but if the trap hadn¡¯t worked the light would just scare the book months into dark corners again. He forced himself to wait until his eyes adjusted to the light. He could see the bottle on the desk now, and the inside was dark and opaque. The trap had worked. He realised he could also feel something, at faint tickle at the edge of his senses. Was he sensing the magic of the book moths? As he approached the desk, he saw that there was movement within the bottle, and he could hear the faint scrape of the booklet against the sides of the glass as the moths crawled over it. He shuddered with horror, but he had to make sure they were completely trapped. He made himself carefully take the stopper from the desk and gently push it into the bottle. There, done. All he needed to do was open the shutters and the light of the sun would destroy the book moths. They had saved him from Varian¡¯s gang. The moth haunt had killed Shuriken, and attacked the others on the marsh. It had died to keep him alive. These newly hatched moths were the former moth haunt¡¯s children. He sighed. He was such an idiot. He picked up the bottle, and shoved it down the front of his shirt, where it would be protected against the light. Lady Paleyne must have seen the shape of the bottle against the cloth, but if she did, she said nothing. Instead she clasped her hands together and thanked him in a manner that was as effusive as it was irritating. On his way out, Jann offered him a purse, in which he found another ten silvers, and his resentment towards Lady Paleyne eased. They were paying him for something that was ultimately his fault. He could have confessed that the book moths were from the same swarm he had encountered, but he didn¡¯t know if that would have got him into trouble. Maybe he was destined for a career as a magical pest exterminator. He could even go around secretly releasing book moths, and then offering to remove them. It could turn out very lucrative. But he didn¡¯t want to earn money so dishonestly, and in any case Lady Paleyne had seen him take the bottle away. Would she suspect? If more book moths appeared would she accuse him of running a con? On impulse he turned back to Jann. ¡°If there are any other outbreaks in the castle,¡± he said, ¡°Or even in the city, then I will do my best to deal with them, and please tell Lady Paleyne I won¡¯t require any payment.¡± Jann gave him an astonished glance. ¡°Because it means they won¡¯t have been cleared properly the first time,¡± Josh said. ¡°I think I got them all, but just in case some escaped¡­¡± Josh hoped there wouldn¡¯t be any more outbreaks, because he had just signed himself up for a great deal of hassle if that were the case. Jann¡¯s expression indicated he thought Josh was an idiot, but he bowed. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I will convey your message, sir.¡± And now, finally, Josh was free to do what he¡¯d been planning to do all day, and break into the library. When he reached his room, he put the book moth bottle in the space between the eaves. He¡¯d discussed book moths with the Abbot, so he knew they were magical creatures and didn¡¯t breathe, which meant the bottle didn¡¯t need to have air holes in it. They would lay eggs in the booklet, and the paper would then be consumed by the grubs that hatched, after which they spin themselves little paper cocoons, and metamorphose into the moths. At what point they learned to read, or to understand what they were reading enough to build three dimensional talking copies of the subject matter they had consumed, the Abbot hadn¡¯t been able to say. Josh would have to think of what to do with them, but that was a problem for future Josh. He took his miniature spell book, and on the blank cover sheets that disguised the spells, he spent a bit of time writing bad poetry and snippets of lines he could remember from real poems, some of which were, admittedly, taken from rap songs. He privately thought that a lot of rap lyrics were more like poetry than most actual modern poetry was. Then it occurred to him that if he lost the spell book, or if some dishonest guard stole it, he wouldn¡¯t have any spells. He spent a bit of time making tiny little spell scrolls, which he rolled up and tucked into various places in his clothing. By the time he had done all that, it was getting towards evening, and the library would be closing soon. He was briefly tempted to stall and try tomorrow instead, but made himself retrieve the cloak of invisibility and walk out of the door before he got cold feet. The moment he arrived at the library, the librarian hurried over to interrogate him, and warn him that they would be closing within half a bell. ¡°I only need to consult something quickly,¡± Josh said. He¡¯d disguised the cloak by buying a second, much more colourful cloak on his way over, and then throwing it over his arm, with the fur cloak underneath, so that it looked as if he was just carrying it because it was too hot to wear. This time, now that he wasn¡¯t accompanied by a noble, he was forced to show his letter of recommendation from the Abbot before he was allowed to browse the shelves. The moment the librarian was distracted, Josh retreated to the back of an alcove, swiftly donned the fur cloak, then activated the invisibility effect. Now all he had to do was stay still for half an hour. It was a lot easier said than done. If he¡¯d been waiting at, for example, a bus stop for that length of time he would have been checking his phone, and moving around, or leaning against the bus shelter, or pacing up and down. Staying completely still was excruciating, and the half hour felt like an eternity. Every so often he would get a prickle on his nose, or the back of his neck, and want to scratch it, but to do so would be to break the invisibility effect. He worked out that if no-one was glancing his way, he could very slowly raise his hand and scratch the itch, and then just as slowly lower it again. His feet began to ache from staying in the same position all the time, and so did his back. Who knew just standing still was such hard work? And then, even once the library was closed, the librarians spent another half hour or so pacing around, making sure all the books had been put away and were properly straight on the shelves. Josh hastily checked the shelves near him, to make sure that no-one had stuffed volumes in the wrong places, or rendered the bookshelves untidy, but everything looked straight and in its proper place. What would happen if a librarian came into this alcove and started reshelving books and bumped into him? A librarian did, in fact, pause at the entrance to the alcove. Josh waited with his heart thundering in his ears, but all the librarian did was glance along the shelves, and he must have been satisfied with what he saw, because he moved on. After an eternity of agonised waiting, the librarians from the restricted section all filtered out. The last one went around blowing out the lanterns, and Josh heard his footsteps as he left via a side door. There was the click of a key in the lock, and then the library was silent. Although the lamps had been extinguished, there were small windows set high in the atrium which let in the slowly fading daylight. Josh had bought a candle, hidden in his tunic, but he didn¡¯t want to light it just yet, in case it was obvious from the outside. He stretched, trying to relieve himself of some of his aches, and leant limply against one of the bookshelves, although he didn¡¯t move from his spot, in case one of the librarians had forgotten something and decided to come back for it. He decided he would wait another thirty minutes or so, although he was just guessing at how much time was passing, since he didn¡¯t have a watch or a clock. That caution saved him, because he was still leaning against the bookshelf when he felt a vibration, and heard a faint scrabbling sound above. He looked up, just in time to see something weirdly thin and pale swinging overhead. His brain couldn¡¯t make sense of what he was seeing for a moment, and then he realised it was a creature with a central body and multiple limbs, like a giant spider, clambering around on top of the bookshelves. It was huge, the span of its legs about eight feet in diameter. Josh wanted to gibber in terror. There was a giant spider in the library! It wasn¡¯t really a spider, he realised, as he took the details in. It didn¡¯t have an exoskeleton. He was looking at something with an internal skeleton and musculature, overlaid with pale skin, but in the shape of a spider. Its eight legs were multi-jointed, covered in thick hairs like boar bristles, and tipped with three claws, which pinched the edge of the bookshelves as it swung overhead. Instead of a spider-like abdomen, its body consisted of a bloated tube, like a worm, swelling to a pallid white belly in the centre of its mass, threaded with a threaded network of blue veins, and narrowing to wrinkled, puckered flesh at one end. He couldn¡¯t see the front end, where its head would be. It had already clambered past him and the head was out of sight. There was something horrifyingly, grotesquely wrong about it. A giant spider would have been bad enough, but this was ¡­ monstrous. It hadn¡¯t seen him. The body dipped and swayed as it crawled over the tops of the shelves, moving onto the next alcove and out of sight. What the hell was Josh supposed to do? He stayed frozen against the shelf nearest him. For all its size, the creature made almost no sound as it moved. He had heard very little except for the faint clack of its claws on wood. He couldn¡¯t even see where it was now. He felt certain that if he moved at all, it would see or hear him. It was obviously set to guard the library at night. They must have something extremely valuable here to set such a monstrous guard loose. Josh didn¡¯t want to steal anything, all he wanted was to find out more about the Dreamer. He¡¯d previously decided that, if the first break-in went well, he could return on successive nights to get the information he needed. There was no way he was coming back after this. If he stayed where he was all night, would the creature overlook him? He could sneak out again when the library opened. He didn¡¯t want to stay in the alcove, though. If the creature did find him, he would be backed into a corner with no avenue of escape, easy prey for something that size. He had to try to sneak past it. The monster hadn¡¯t seen him when it was clambering overhead, which suggested that the camouflage of the cloak worked against it. What if he tried moving very, very slowly and carefully? The Hide spell functioned the same way as the cloak of invisibility. You could move things around a little, but too far and the spell would be interrupted, until the object was stationary again. It resembled a magical version of a chameleon¡¯s camouflage, by projecting an image of the background behind it onto the surface of the item being hidden. If Josh moved slowly enough, would the cloak be able to compensate? Why hadn¡¯t he thought to test that before now? Instead of moving, he found he was rooted to the spot. Maybe he should put Hide on something and throw it into the centre to see how the monster reacted. Would it chase after movement, like a cat? What if it was intelligent, and decided to investigate the alcoves for the source of the thrown object? Josh needed to stop thinking up increasingly unlikely what ifs and choose a course of action. He looked at the nearby shelves and picked out a small, thick book that had a cloth cover which he thought would slide well across the floor. He carefully and quietly tore a Hide spell out of his spell book, and cast it on the cloth-covered book, keeping a careful eye out for the monster. There was no sign of it above him, or in the section of the library he could see from the alcove. He crept forwards as cautiously as possible, knelt with glacial slowness, and sent the book skittering across the floor towards the centre of the atrium. He nearly yelled in fright when the monster dropped down from where it had been clinging to the ceiling, just out of his line of sight, and slammed onto the desks. He could see its head, which was bullet shaped, with a prominent ridge sticking out of the back of its skull. On the front it had three pairs of large, insectile eyes, and giant mandibles. It clawed the space where the book now lay with its front legs. The camouflage effect on the book was back in place, now that it wasn¡¯t moving, and the clawed tips of the monster¡¯s feet stabbed down to either side of it, missing the book itself. That meant the monster couldn¡¯t see through the invisibility effect, and as long as Josh stayed still, it wouldn¡¯t be able to sense him. However, the slightest sign of movement would cause it to pounce. He was further towards the entrance of the alcove, now, and he could see it laboriously clamber up onto the bookshelves opposite, and then leap at the central chandelier, which swung wildly. The monster turned itself upside down and settled into position. If Josh kept throwing books¡ªhe winced at the idea of mistreating them so¡ªthen the creature would be distracted and he could quickly dart between alcoves while it was facing away from him. Perhaps he didn''t need to cast Hide on the books first. But he didn¡¯t want the monster tearing them up. What kind of insane idea was it to have a monster of that size loose in a library full of expensive volumes anyway? The Abbot had told him that printing was a recent invention¡ªJosh privately suspected it had been introduced by an outworlder¡ªand most books were hand-crafted works of art, with a commensurately high price. He only had four more copies of Hide in his spell book, and one tucked into his sleeves. He wished he¡¯d made ten copies of each spell for the spell book, instead of five. Maybe it would be better not to cast Hide on the book, because the monster might get distracted by it for longer. Josh slowly pulled out another book, took several deep, slow breaths, mentally apologised to the librarians, and threw it. It flew over the desks, towards the opposite side of the atrium, and landed on the floor with a loud thump. The creature slammed down again, and as soon as its back was turned, Josh bolted to the next alcove. As soon as he reached it, he flung himself into the farthest corner, and whipped around to look at the monster, his back against the bookshelves. This time he did yell with fright, because the monster had abandoned the book he¡¯d thrown, and was now charging towards him. 1.24 - Secrets you find in libraries The monster pushed through the reading desks, scattering them out of the way as it galloped towards Josh. He was frozen against the bookshelf. The cloak¡¯s magical camouflage effect now rendered him effectively invisible, but the creature would be able to probe the area with its legs. Josh couldn¡¯t think of anything else to do except distract it. He grabbed another book and threw it directly at the monster¡¯s head as it arrived at the entrance to the alcove. The monster immediately snapped towards the book, rising up on its back legs to batter at it in midair, exactly like some giant, misshapen cat. While it was occupied, Josh gathered up armfuls of books from the bottom shelf and flung them all at the spider. It skittered back, confused. As soon as the shelf was empty, Josh rolled into it, squeezing as much of himself into the space as possible. The bottom shelf was double the height of the higher shelves, but even so his shoulders only just fit, and he had to curl himself up into a foetal position. He realised he was gasping for air and tried to breathe quietly and slowly, even though his lungs screamed for oxygen. He stared right at the monster, and it stared back, its eyes like black glass. The hairs on its legs raised and stiffened. Did it use the bristles on its body to sense things, like a tarantula? Was that how it could sense movement? Josh stayed absolutely and completely still. He had never been more still in his life. All the while he fought his lungs, which only wanted to gasp in air as deeply and loudly as possible. The monster moved into the alcove, its claws clacking against the wood as it supported itself on the shelves. It towered over him, an abomination of blood and flesh and pale skin in the shape of giant spider eight feet wide. Its two front legs probed the top shelves above Josh, tapping against the spines of the books. The tapping got closer as it worked its way down. One claw landed on his shelf, directly in front of his face. It was close enough that he could see the yellowed claws scraping against the wood right next to his nose, and the pores on its skin. He could smell it now too, a musky odour, with an undertone of rotten milk. It only had to move its foot a centimetre and it would knock against him. It stabbed ineffectively at the shelf above him with its other front leg, then paused, as if waiting. There was a clacking sound and then a loud hiss, and if Josh hadn¡¯t had every single muscle locked tight to prevent himself moving, he would have jumped and given himself away. After a frozen moment which seemed to last forever, the monster heaved itself up onto the bookshelf above him. He heard clacking sounds and felt the vibrations as it moved around, and then he saw it come into view again, clambering along the top of the shelves and heading away from him, towards the centre of the atrium. At the entrance to the alcove it paused, crouched, and then leapt to the chandelier, where it resumed its watchful, upside-down position. Josh sucked in great lungfuls of air, trying not to make too much noise. A wash of coldness flooded over his body, and he realised he was clammy and sweating in the cloak. He wished he had never set foot in this stupid library. Also, unless he got past the horrible spider thing, he would be stuck here until morning. The librarians would come in and find books all over the floor, and they would inevitably discover Josh hiding on a shelf. They would assume he was here to steal whatever valuable thing the monster protected, and he would be arrested. What was the penalty for breaking and entering, and attempted theft? It was unlikely to be pleasant. So much for sneaking in and out without anyone being the wiser. Maybe being arrested would be better than dying. You idiot, he thought. You won¡¯t die permanently. Even if the spider thing kills you, you¡¯ll just come back. He¡¯d completely forgotten that in the heat of the moment. He had to think of this like a computer game. That idea helped. He was still afraid, but he found himself feeling instantly calmer, enough that he could think clear-headedly about his next move. The only thing he had left to do was to move slowly enough that the camouflage effect stayed in place. Was that possible? He was already getting uncomfortable from being squeezed up in the bookshelf. The last thing he wanted to do was get cramp while trying to stay still. Moving at a snail¡¯s pace, he slithered out of the shelf and onto the floor. The spider didn¡¯t react, which meant that it hadn¡¯t detected him. He got onto his hands and knees and crawled towards the alcove entrance, moving his hands a centimetre at a time. It felt like it took hours, although really it was only minutes, but the spider thing didn¡¯t move. It just stayed suspended from the chandelier. Finally, Josh reached the alcove entrance. There was a distance of about twelve feet to the desk which barred the entrance to the restricted section, about the same distance he had just crawled. He would be out in the open from now on, though. He kept going. He was still crawling on his hands and knees, even though there was no logical reason to do so. It just felt stealthier, as if being closer to the floor would camouflage him better. He kept his senses extended as far as he could, alert for the slightest tremble of the camouflage effect. Did the spider thing use its bristles to sense movement in the air and vibrations? Maybe that was how it tracked the books he had thrown. In that case, did its eyes see visible light? Did it have a sense of smell? Josh now wished he had experimented more with the cloak to find out exactly what senses it was designed to fool. Was it just light, or would it camouflage his body heat and his scent as well? That was the issue with invisibility. In a society that was sufficiently advanced to create technology that could render people invisible, such an item would normally be useless, because there would be many other methods of detection, such as radar, or sonar, or infrared. If cloaks of invisibility were a thing here, then presumably there must be counters to them. Josh couldn¡¯t rely on it to solve all his problems. At least it was solving this one. He finally reached the desk, and slowly got to his feet. He had spent the whole journey looking over his shoulder at the spider thing, and now his neck ached, but the creature hadn¡¯t moved. It was when he was climbing onto the top of the desk that his foot accidentally hit the front panel with a small thud. The monster unfolded itself, swinging its head around toward Josh, and he froze. He was in an awkward position, with the corner of the desk cutting into his upper thigh. It was rapidly becoming painful, but he couldn¡¯t move while the monster was paying such close attention. At last, just as Josh thought he would have to dive head first behind the desk and hope for the best, the spider thing folded itself up again. Josh immediately shifted slightly to take the weight off his thigh, and climbed as slowly as possible over the desk. Once he was behind it, and out of the monster¡¯s line of sight, he rubbed the sore spot on his leg, and let out a long, quiet, relieved breath. He was nearly there. Ahead of him was an archway, leading into the restricted section. The bookshelves were laid lengthways, which meant that once Josh was behind the first one, he would be out of the spider thing¡¯s line of sight. He let himself have a short break, and then he got on his hands and knees and started crawling again. Once through the doorway he slipped to the left, so that he was hidden by the wall. He''d done it. Of course, he still had to escape from the library somehow, and when the librarians arrived in the morning they would know there had been an intruder, but there wasn¡¯t anything he could do about that. He pulled a copy of the Alarm spell out of his spell book and cast it on the archway. For the next hour he would feel a tiny flicker whenever something passed through it, so he would at least get some warning if the spider thing decided to investigate this section, or patrol around. His priority now was to find out about the Dreamer, the entity who had supposedly opened the way to Earth. He got up, and walked as quietly as he could to the first row of bookshelves. It was fully dark by now, so he cautiously lit his candle, wishing he had some matches. He waited, his heart beating nervously, but the monster remained where it was. After everything Josh had risked in order to break in, he was somewhat disappointed by the collection. It contained much of the same subject matter as the library at High Howe Priory¡ªtreatises on Ciandar, the sun-god of Celespire, thick and turgid homilies by clerics of the Common Covenant, essays on the Paragon, fantastic bestiaries, colourful atlases and inumerable history books. Most of the books were richly bound, with lettering or decoration picked out in gold, and ornately decorated hand drawn letters starting every chapter. It seemed as if the restricted section was set aside to house books for the sake of their value and craftsmanship, not the sensitivity of their contents. After some searching in the section on the period covering the campaigns of Tylas the Undying, he found a slim volume recounting the trial of a noblewoman who, during the second campaign twenty years ago, had been arrested for the attempted assassination of one of the Seven Heroes, Sir Owain. Curious to see if it would give more details about the Heroes, he flipped through it, and came across a passage where the accused recounted her motive. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡­and though you will say it is treason, I say not, for it is only my devotion and loyalty to our King that persuaded me to this course, for I had seen how Sir Owain stayed closeted many hours with His Majesty, and how the King would follow his advice in all things. Our noble Heroes have sworn to uphold honour, justice and mercy, but it is not their right to dictate to our King, nor to sway him in pursuit of their own ambitions. Have you not witnessed how Ciander now turns His face away from us, and does refuse all offerings¡­ That was odd. It was the first time Josh had heard of Ciandar rejecting his own worshippers. It hadn¡¯t come up during his conversations with the Abbot. When had that happened and why? He scanned along the row of history books, until he saw one titled The Mysteries of Ciandar. Sadly, it had nothing to do with Ciandar¡¯s motivations, and everything to do with the author trying to rediscover the secret rites the Ciandaran priests used to propitiate their God. It seemed that gods were fussy about the nature of the rituals performed in their honour, but that knowledge had been restricted to the senior priesthood, many of whom had been elderly at the time of the Sundering, as it was called, and had since all died out. A second book, titled The Old and New Religions, merely discussed the philosophical differences between the worship of Ciandar, and the teachings of the Church of the Common Covenant. The Church, Josh discovered, had originally been founded to preach morally correct behaviour to the general populace as a way to win back Ciandar¡¯s good opinion. The author, however, pointed out that the greatest sin in the eyes of the Gods was that of hubris, and all other crimes, terrible though they might be, were considered lesser. In the author¡¯s humble opinion, Ciandar¡¯s repudiation of his worshippers was a blessing in disguise, since this paved the way for new philosophies to emerge, which focused on promoting right thinking and respectable behaviour, rather than seeking to placate the gods and turn aside their anger or buy favour with offerings. Which was all very interesting, but not the information Josh needed. He looked instead for a book about Tylas the Undying. He found three, but none of them gave him any details about how Tylas had torn open the gateway between worlds, merely calling it a dark rite, or unholy magic. Had Tylas also been a player? Maybe he had been trying to get home. But that didn¡¯t fit with Josh¡¯s theory that the reason Tylas had killed Gwynifer was in order to take her powers and her immortality for himself. On impulse Josh sought out a book on the Seven Heroes. They had several, so he chose the thickest, on the basis that it would have the most details in it. He scanned the pages, crouched over the inadequate, flickering light of the candle, and there he found his answer. Gwynifer had once been known as Gwynifer the Dreamer, one of her lesser-known powers. She had been able to walk in the dreams of others, and had possessed farsight, the ability to see events unfolding far away. Tylas had killed her and stolen her magic during his first campaign, but then had been imprisoned. He had escaped five years later, and used that power to bring more outlanders from Earth, but they had turned against him and he had ultimately been killed. What had happened to his powers? Had someone else taken them, or had they gone to the Guardian? Josh didn¡¯t recall seeing a Dreamerclass on the list, although he had only had a few minutes to look through it. But now he had a lead. The visit to the library had been worth it after all. As soon as he had that thought, the alarm spell flickered in his mind. The monster! It was coming into the restricted section. He hastily looked around for a place he could hide. There was a bottom shelf stuffed with atlases, each one about two feet high. He turfed them out onto the floor and, oh no, the candle, which was sitting in the candle stick and dribbling warm wax onto the floor. Josh ran back and blew it out, then slid onto the empty shelf, curling up tightly. For a long time, nothing happened. The monster made no sound, and he wondered if it was even in this section, or whether it had stopped in the archway, then gone back to its perch on the chandelier. It was too dark for Josh to see anything. How long should he wait? Just as he was wondering if he should crawl out of the shelf and check, he heard a clacking noise. The monster was still in the room with him. He strained his ears, but heard nothing else. He stayed still and concentrated on breathing evenly, trying not to imagine its thin, spindly legs with their yellowed claws reaching out to him in the darkness. He saw something pale slide into view, down the side of the bookshelf opposite. It was hard to see, but he could dimly make out the great, spidery shape of it, as it lowered itself down into the aisle. It looked as if it had climbed over the tops of the bookshelves. It was poking and prodding at something with its two front legs. The candle! That was where Josh had left the candle. The wax would still be warm. Was the monster attracted to heat? Did its eyes see heat, instead of light? It seemed quite at home in darkness. After a while, it seemed to lose interest in the candle, and clambered back up onto the shelves. Josh waited until he felt the flicker of the Alarm spell again as it passed through the archway and back into the library atrium, and only then did he cautiously climb out of the shelf. He had six Heat spell scrolls. That meant he could distract it. He had to blunder about in the restricted section without lighting the candle, all the while terrified that the monster hadn¡¯t really gone away at all, and was waiting to pounce on him in the darkness. He found a place in the far corner, which he though would be in line of sight of the chandelier, not that he could see it. He crouched down, cast the heat spell on the ground, and crept silently back along the wall, hurrying as soon as he thought he would be hidden, and moving around the bookshelves by feel. The moment he felt the flicker on the Alarm spell he stopped where he was. The monster had entered the restricted section with him again. He didn¡¯t dare light the candle, because doing that with the flint and steel would make tiny scraping sounds that might summon it. He waited, counting silently in his head until he thought it had been about ten minutes, all the while imagining pale, spindly limbs reaching out towards him, unseen. Just then he did hear a noise, a brushing sound that came from the far corner, as if something was dragging against the floor. It sounded like it was directly over the heated spot. Very slowly and cautiously, Josh moved towards the archway leading out of the restricted section. He heard nothing more from the monster, although for all he knew it could have sensed him, and started climbing back over the tops of the bookshelves. His scalp crawled in fearful anticipation, and he jolted in shock when his questing hand met wall, instead of the next bookshelf. He was close to the door. He turned and followed the wall, placing his feet with care and still moving cautiously. His mouth was dry, and he felt suddenly intensely thirsty and drained to the point of exhaustion. He just wanted the night to be over, and to be back in his shabby little bed in his shabby little room at the boarding house. Keep going, he told himself. You¡¯re nearly there. He realised he could now sense his alarm spell over the doorway, a slight magical tingle that told him how far away he was. He felt immediately better, as if the alarm spell was a beautiful little spot of safety, even though intellectually he knew it would do nothing to protect him. He reached it, and his hand found the lip of stone that lined the arch. As long as he kept himself crouched low to the ground, and to the left of the archway, he didn¡¯t think the monster would be able to spot him from where it was. That was assuming that it had stayed next to the heated spot. Maybe it had got bored and poised on the bookshelf above him. It took every ounce of willpower Josh had to keep creeping silently through the archway, until he was behind the desk. He climbed over it, and crouched on the other side. He was now close to where the librarians had exited the building earlier that evening. If he remembered correctly, there was a short corridor, and a door that presumably led to the outside. He had heard the last librarian locking the door before they left, but maybe there would be a spare key somewhere. At the very least he might find an office or a storeroom or something where he could light the candle and regroup. He stood up, put his hand against the wall, and kept walking. He nearly walked straight into a wooden plinth of some sort, upon which his questing fingers found a vase. Why did they have a vase in a library? If he hadn¡¯t been crawling along so slowly, he might have knocked the vase off and smashed it. He went around it, and on the other side of it he found the wall again. By this point he was somewhat disoriented. Should he light the candle? The monster was still in the restricted section, because he hadn¡¯t felt it go through the Alarm spell again, but if he lit the candle it might investigate. There was a slight buzz of magic close by, in the direction he was heading, the constant tingle of an active spell. What was that? Josh put his hand to the wall again and slowly made his way towards it. Maybe he should stay clear of it. Maybe it was a trap or an alarm spell or something. Just as he was thinking he should light the candle anyway, his hands came across a doorframe. Was that the door out? He groped for the doorknob, but there wasn¡¯t one. There was just a metal plate where the doorhandle would normally be, and that was the source of the magical buzzing. He paused. What if he lit the candle and the monster came to investigate while he was out in the open? It hadn¡¯t noticed the candlelight immediately the first time. Or, he could try to open this door and maybe there would be somewhere he could rest behind it. He hesitated, and then felt for his spell book. He flipped to the back of the book, and carefully tore out the last page by feel, then put the spell paper against the metal plate, and cast Chi Siphon. The rush of Chi made him feel dizzy with sudden energy, but there was a click, and the door drifted open. Josh slipped through it, pushing it closed, and putting his back against it. Then he lit the candle. He felt immediately better as the darkness receded, leaving him in a warm bubble of beautiful golden light. He was standing at the head of a set of stairs leading down. He hadn¡¯t known there were stairs in the building. Would this lead to another way out? No, he realised suddenly. This was where the valuable thing was, the precious item which the monster was guarding. You idiot, he thought. You just broke into their vault. He went to go back into the library atrium, then hesitated. What if the valuable thing was Gwynifer¡¯s power? What if it was the thing that Tylas the Undying had stolen from her? What if the answer to his quest was here, right now? It was a stupid idea. Brackstone was an insignificant town in the grand scheme of things. Why would it have a world-destroying power locked its basement? What if it was a clue? What if it was something that would help him find the Gwynifer¡¯s lost power, even if it wasn''t the power itself? He had to check what was down there. There might be traps. You will survive, he told himself. He didn¡¯t want to lose all his unclaimed experience, but it was only a few levels. Levelling wasn¡¯t important right now. Surviving was. He checked his character sheet anyway, and saw a new quest. QUESTS The Secret in the Library: Defeat the wormspider defending the library and retrieve the valuable magical item from the vault. Reward: 400xp. The quest system was now trying to make him into a thief instead of a murderer. The only time Josh had ever broken into a secret vault had been with a bunch of friends during a tabletop roleplaying game. That vault had been owned an evil wizard who had deserved it. At the moment, Josh was in the middle of a church library, and even if he didn¡¯t have a very high opinion of organised religion, that didn¡¯t mean they deserved to be stolen from. On the other hand, there wasn¡¯t any harm in looking at the vault. And the quest experience was lower than it had been for his previous quests, which suggested that, this time, it was more likely to be within his capabilities. Or rather, within the capabilities of a level 9 outlander, which wasn¡¯t quite the same thing. Josh had gone to a lot of trouble to break into the library and, given the mess he¡¯d made, he didn¡¯t think he would be coming back. This was his only chance. Decision made, Josh crept down the stairs. 1.25 - Magical clichés of the worst kind Beyond the stairwell to the vault was a large stone arch, into which was set a thick oak door banded and studded with iron. Like the previous door, it had a metal plate inscribed with a spell, instead of a lock or handle. Now that Josh had the candle lit, he could see that the spell marks on the door plate were completely different from the druid sigils. For a start, they included writing, or at least symbols, although not in a script that he could read. It was also laid out differently, in a more linear sequence, whereas the druid sigils were more concentric. He wished he¡¯d bought materials to make a rubbing with, so that he could copy it. He wasn¡¯t here to study enchantments, tempting as that was. He needed to try and get through the door. The door at the top of the stairs had been protected by the wormspider as well as the arcane lock. This door just had the lock, so it might have a second layer of extra, hidden protections. Like traps. Maybe Josh had played too many tabletop and video games and was just being paranoid, but better paranoid than dead, even temporarily. He had stopped on the last step of the stairs, and now he studied the flagstones in front of the door carefully, in case one of them was a pressure plate or something, but they were all closely fitted and worn down in a pattern that suggested they hadn¡¯t moved since they had first been laid down. Next, he looked at the door itself. Aside from the arcane lock, it looked like any other large, heavy, iron-studded door, the kind you got in old castles. The oak was dark with age, and he didn¡¯t see anything trap-like about it. Last, he studied the frame and the wall surrounding the door. He almost didn¡¯t notice it, because the holes were randomly placed, instead of in a pattern. They were tiny, less than half a centimetre across, and scattered over the wall to the right of the door. They looked just big enough to hold poisoned needles or darts. How were they set off? Was the mechanism mechanical or magical? Josh strained his senses as far as possible. He could feel the magical buzz of the doorplate, but also lots of tiny individual prickles of magic where the holes were. He hesitated, then stepped closer, keeping out of the line of fire of the holes. He could feel more magic now, a thin string of it leading from the door plate, which separated out and became even finer strings, like individual hairs, each one leading to the little prickles of magic behind the dart holes. He thought he knew what he was looking at. The moment the door plate magic was disabled, it would somehow release the darts. The librarians must have some way to prevent that, though, if they wanted to go through the door themselves. Would Josh be able to work that out if he got closer? That would put him in the line of fire from the darts. He hesitated and then went back up the stairs, and cautiously opened the door to the atrium. There was no sign of the spider hanging from the chandelier in the centre, and he hadn¡¯t felt a flicker from his alarm spell, so it must still be in the restricted section. He put the candle on the floor, removed the colourful cloak he had used to disguise the magic cloak, and jammed part of the fabric underneath the door to hold it open. Then he crept cautiously into the atrium, his eyes on the archway to the restricted section. There was no movement, and no sign of the wormspider. He reached the first row of desks, and picked up a desk as quietly as he could. It was made of solid hardwood, and it weighed a ton. He staggered back towards the vault doorway with it, ready to drop and run at the first sign of the wormspider, but maybe the monster found the heat spot more interesting than any slight sounds he was making. He retreated behind the vault door, still bearing his prize, with a sense of relief. A few minutes later, he was ready. The desk had been carried down the stairs and tipped on its side, so that the solid wood surface covered the dart holes in the bottom half of the wall. Josh was crouched down behind it, with the door plate at eye level. He studied the spell. It felt different to the one on the door above, which had been a fairly simple ball shape. This one was more diffuse, with more outlying areas, and more fuzziness. He stared at it, trying to see it in greater detail, but it was like trying to see writing that was too small to read. After a while he felt the tightness in the back of his neck and his temples that normally preceded a headache, and decided he should probably give up and just use Chi Siphon to rip the whole enchantment off. And then there was a sudden blurring in his head, his mind going fuzzy, and everything shifted, like a camera coming into focus, and he could suddenly see the mechanism in more detail. It was like some imaginary magical clockwork edifice, a spell of many interlinked parts. He didn¡¯t have a hope of understand it. It was like scrolling down lines of computer code in a language you didn¡¯t know. That idea gave him a hint, though. A magic spell like this might be constructed like a computer program. Was the language or structure it used composed as a series of linear steps, or was it more modular? He studied it again. It seemed to be in the shape of multiple loops, which suggested modularity. Even as he stared at it, he realised it was in two parts. There was the part that seemed to be superimposed over the door plate and the jamb, and the part that was connected to the threads leading to each dart. There was only one narrow thread connecting the two. If he could get Chi Siphon to target just the part of the spell on the doorplate itself, and not the part that connected to the darts, maybe he could disrupt it without setting off the trap. The problem was that he couldn¡¯t control the parameters of Chi Siphon. His experiments in changing the sigils hadn¡¯t yet borne fruit. He thought about how Chi Siphon worked. It couldn¡¯t remove a base enchantment, only the charge on that enchantment. So if Josh cast Glow on a feather, it then became permanently enchanted, but the glow effect would only show if he kept charging it with small bits of magic. Chi Siphon could remove that charge, but not the original Glow spell. Josh had used Chi Siphon to remove the magic from the door plate at the top of the stairs, but it hadn¡¯t removed the original spell, and to re-engage the arcane lock all he would need to do was push magic into it again. Additionally, Chi Siphon would only remove enchantments from very close range. You had to hold the spell paper within a centimetre or two of the object you wanted the suck the power out of. That gave Josh a possible solution. If he held the spell paper close enough to the door-locking part of the spell, would it ignore the dart-throwing part of the spell? At least if he got it wrong, he would be protected by the desk. He situated a Chi Siphon spell paper close to the fuzzy ball around the doorplate, on the opposite side of the magical threads, took a deep breath, and cast it. The surge of bright energy that rushed into him nearly made him fall back in surprise. There was a metallic taste in his mouth, and his vision was odd, as if everything around him was pulsing in bright, primary colours, outlined with a nimbus. His heart hammered away at what felt like hundreds of beats per minute. He slumped on the floor. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Maybe sucking magic out of enchantments was a bad idea. The door upstairs hadn¡¯t felt like that. Was this because the lower door had a bigger, more powerful enchantment on it? It felt like the worst kind of sugar and caffeine rush, but without the high, just the weird physical side-effects. He wasn¡¯t sure how long it took, but eventually the overloaded feeling began to fade somewhat. He sat up and inspected the desk and the holes in the walls. The magical threads and the little magical sparks inside the holes were still there, but half of the door plate enchantment had gone. It had worked! Although what would have happened if he had siphoned off the entire enchantment? He might have hurt himself badly. He needed to be careful when testing this stuff. Josh crouched behind the desk again, just in case, and cautiously pushed the inner vault door open. The enchantment thread just sat there, and no darts slammed out of the holes. He picked up his candle from the floor, and stepped into the room. It was an old cellar, lined with brick and divided into separate spaces by arched columns, with stone flagging on the floor. There were lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and several storage crates and chests arrayed against the walls. Josh stayed by the door for some time, but no monster jumped at him out of the darkness. He went a little further in, and raised the candle. There, at the far end, was the thing the wormspider had been protecting. It sat on a wooden plinth, underneath a glass dome that was etched with spell work. Josh walked towards it, watching the flagstones carefully for pressure plates, or trip wires, but there were no other traps. As he got closer, and the light from the candle slid over it, he saw that it was a small metallic object, about the size of his palm. One end consisted of a flat triangular shape, like the head of a pin, and sticking out from that was an ornate stick, covered in bumps and protrusions and twists. Like the glass dome that protected it, it had tiny spell-writing all over it. It looked like one part of a key that had been cut lengthways into three segments. You cannot be serious, Josh thought. It was such a stupid clich¨¦. A powerful arcane key separated into three parts, and presumably each third hidden away in the different part of a country. What kind of treasure would the whole key unlock? Elder Tharn had said that, after Tylas¡¯s first campaign, he had been defeated by the Seven Heroes and bound by the chains of Weyland. Was this the key to those chains, and if so, what did they now hold? Tylas the Undying¡¯s power, Josh realised. It was the only think he could think of. Josh was tempted, really tempted, to take the key. But that would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, piled on top of all the incredibly stupid things he had already done today. If he stole the key, it would be noticed. The librarians would raise the alarm, and there would be a city-wide hunt for the thief. No doubt the librarians would remember the youth who had entered the library, with a colourful cloak over his arm and a letter of recommendation from the Abbot of High Howe Priory. Josh would be a prime suspect. And he didn¡¯t know, with any certainty, that the key did unlock the chains of Weyland, or that the latter held anything relating to the Dreamer. He also didn¡¯t know where the other two parts of the key were, or even if it had been broken into three pieces rather than four. He should establish that first. Now that he knew how the library safeguards worked, he could come back and take the key fragment at any time. Wait, no, in the morning the librarians would know someone had broken in. The first thing they would do would be to increase the protections around the key fragment, or move it to a safer location. Could he keep watch on the library the next day, and follow them? He gave the key a regretful glance, then backed away. He hated to leave it, but there were too many unknowns and if he took it now he would be on the run with limited funds and no-one to turn to. He crouched down behind the door again, and carefully poured a dribble of magic into the door plate to re-engage the arcane lock. It took surprisingly little effort to prime, compared to the druid sigils. Even that small amount of magic, however, made the fuzziness from the Chi Siphon spell recede a little from the edges of his vision, which gave him an idea for using Chi Siphon in future. Except right now he should be concentrating on getting out of here instead of letting himself get distracted. He replaced the desk, once again keeping a careful eye out for the wormspider. Close to the vault door, set into one of the alcoves, was the side door he had heard the librarians leaving from earlier in the evening. This was an ordinary door, and when he tested it, he found it was unlocked. It led to a short corridor, with other doors leading off from it. One was a small room which reeked of the wormspider, and which had a large cage in the corner. This must be where they kept the monster during the day. The cage was on a wide, thick stone slab, below which was a cavity containing cold ashes. On the opposite side of the room from the cage was a large fireplace. That must be how they lured the wormspider back into its cage. If it liked warm spots, all they had to do was light a fire, and then shovel the ashes into the cavity below the slab to heat the slab up. Josh went back into the corridor, and saw how the door to the wormspider¡¯s room could be used to block off a section of the corridor, which he could then stand in. A convenient lever would allow him to open the door to the atrium from this position, thus luring the wormspider out of the library and back into its cage without ever being in danger from it. He felt a flush of excitement and relief run through him as he realised that he could put the library back to how it was, so that the librarians would never know he had been here. It was a simple matter to cast another couple of Heat spells on the slabe below the cage, and the work of a minute to set the doors into the arrangement that would allow the wormspider to be lured into its room. He closed the door on it hastily, the moment it had gone through, and dropped the heavy bar that secured it. He felt almost dizzy with relief. The first thing he did was re-lock the vault door at the top of the stairs. Next, he found all the books he had thrown or chucked off the shelves, and put them back, and if they didn¡¯t go on in quite the right order, at least it didn¡¯t look as if an intruder had been anywhere near them. At this point he could leave, but he had one more thing he wanted to do, and that was look for books on magic. It felt like he had spent an eternity in the library already, but it had only been a few hours, and it was still the middle of the night. He had time, and he needed to know more about the language of spell casting. The desk that separated the atrium from the restricted section had a shelf that stored paper and ink, so he would be able to take notes. There weren¡¯t any spells, but there were books that discussed the theory of magic, and a primer of the language used to create spells, which was the next best thing. By the time he was ready to leave, he had a sheaf of papers full of notes stuffed underneath his shirt. The wormspider had become fractious once the effect of the Heat spell had faded. Maybe it expected to be fed or something, but Josh didn¡¯t have anything to give it, and had no idea what it ate. He gave a shudder of disgust at the thought. Did it eat like a real spider, by wrapping its prey up in a cocoon and dissolving it into soup? He hoped he would never have the opportunity to find out. He released it back into the atrium, ensured the atrium door was properly shut, and then went to the side door that he thought would be the way out. It was locked. He¡¯d known that. Of course it would be locked. He¡¯d just forgotten in the excitement of finding books about magic. He looked around the corridor. There was the door to the wormspider room, the door to the atrium and the outer door. However, there were two others which he hadn¡¯t investigated. One of them was also locked, but the second turned out to be a workroom of some kind. After inspecting the workbenches and supplies laid out, Josh decided it must be where the librarians repaired or rebound books, and maybe also copied them. The best thing about it was a small, high window set in the far wall, which overlooked an alleyway. It was just big enough to allow him to climb through it. It was barred on the inside, which meant he wouldn¡¯t be able to close it properly after him, but hopefully the librarians would just think they had accidentally left it open the night before. He bundled up the cloaks and threw them into the alleyway, hoping they hadn¡¯t fallen in anything too noxious, although this was a better part of town, and the streets were swept regularly. It had surprised him when he had first arrived that there hadn¡¯t been raw sewage running in the gutters, or chamber pots being emptied out of windows, which he had a vague idea would have been more likely in a real medieval city. Granted, some of the poorer parts of the town were grubbier, but not stomach-churningly so. Josh climbed up onto the shelf below the window, stuck his feet through, and wriggled out. It was a tight fit, and the window frame scraped against his back, but he made it, landing on the cobbles and scooping up the bundle of cloaks. The town was quiet, and from what he could see the streets were empty of people. Now he just needed to get back to the boarding house. He had just turned the corner onto the main street when a bag went over his head and tightened around his neck. At the same time, someone punched him hard in the kidneys and that hurt, badly enough that he would have screamed if the string on the bag hadn¡¯t been choking him. He was still gasping and trying to recover when he felt rough hands pick him up, bind his wrists behind his back, and sling him onto something hard. 1.26 – Just when you think it’s going so well… Josh lay on the hard surface, churning with pain, fear and nausea from the blow. He knew he should try to get up and escape, but when he tried to move his body only stirred weakly, and he heard himself groan. Something creaked, and he felt the surface he was on tip slightly as someone moved past him. They searched him where he lay, confiscating the letter from the Abbot, the sheath of papers in his shirt, and the spell book, although they didn¡¯t find all the little scraps of spell papers he had hidden in his clothing. He¡¯d dropped the bundle of cloaks. Had they picked those up too? There was a snap of leather, and a quiet murmur. The surface Josh was lying on lurched, followed by sound of horse hooves clopping against the cobbles of the street. He realised he was lying in the back of a cart. His first, terrified thought had been that it must be Varian. But one of the abductors¡ªa man with a deep, rough voice¡ªsaid something in a conversational tone of voice, and another responded. Josh couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying very well, but they had a thick local dialect. Maybe they were bounty hunters whom Varian had paid to find him. That couldn¡¯t be it, though, because they didn¡¯t take him far. The cart stopped and Josh was hoisted up and dragged into a building, down some steps, where he was pushed none too gently into a chair. He felt rope winding around his torse and legs, tying him in place. He wanted to ask who these people were, but his throat was so thick fear he wasn¡¯t sure he could get the words out, so he stayed silent. He was sure he would find out their motives soon enough. Once he was fastened securely to the chair, the men walked out and left him. They left him for hours. Josh had seen enough movies to know that this was a deliberate tactic, designed to make his apprehension spiral and grow as he imagined all the things that could happen to him. The problem was that knowing this didn¡¯t stop it from working. He started out by reminding himself that if he died, he would resurrect. It was easy to forget that in the heat of the moment, and allow a lifetime¡¯s worth of survival instincts take over, but for now he tried to use that to keep himself calm. He had to think of it like a video game. What would the hero do in this situation? First, list his assets. He had nothing except the clothes he stood up in and the spell papers hidden in his clothing. That meant he had one of each spell. He also had his ability to make feathers glow, so useful, what had the stupid Guardian been thinking, offering such a useless class? Focus, Josh. He didn¡¯t know anything about the room he was in, except that it smelled a little of coal dust and mildew, and they had gone down some steps to get to it, so it was probably a cellar. What else did he have? Well, there was the blindfold, the rope, and the chair. Yes, okay, those were currently impediments, but if he could get free they would be things he could use. The next thing he needed to do was untie himself. At that, his imagination failed him. He couldn¡¯t use Heat to burn the rope because it wasn¡¯t focused enough to heat only the rope. Even if he had enough Heat spells to raise its temperature to ignite it, he would end up overheating or burning himself too. He twisted his wrists, trying to test the give in his bonds, and realised something odd. The rope they had used felt soft against his skin, almost like silk. That was weird. And creepy. Josh couldn¡¯t think of any good reasons his captors might have to bind him with silk. He felt a churn of disgust and horror in his gut, but repressed it. Focus on getting free. Despite the softness of the material, whoever had tied him had been experienced, which wasn¡¯t reassuring either. Josh couldn¡¯t stretch the ropes or ribbons or whatever they were, so there was no wriggling out of them. The ropes around his chest tying him to the chair were thicker and rougher, but no easier to dislodge. Josh tried scraping off the blindfold, but just succeeded in twisting it slightly, not enough for him to be able to see anything. He had exhausted his list of meagre assets, and established that he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape his bonds right now, so all he had left to do was think about why he might have been abducted. He was increasingly of the opinion that this was nothing to do with Varian, which was a relief. That left only one thing¡ªit had to be because of the library. Had there been people watching the library, guarding it from thieves? If that was the case, why had they waited until he was out, rather than catching him in the vault? His captors couldn¡¯t be official guards. This wasn¡¯t an arrest, this was skulduggery of some sort. What the hell had he got himself mixed up in? After spending all night awake in the library, Josh was now thirsty and exhausted. He felt himself shivering and realised the effects of the adrenalin from the kidnapping encounter were wearing off, leaving him tired and shaky. It only got worse from there. He had no idea what his captors wanted, so any speculation just served to increase his nervousness. The blindfold was now half-skewed over his eyes and felt irritating. He was dehydrated and hungry. Even though he continually worked on the bonds, all he achieved was to make his wrists feel sore. If the ropes had been coarser, it would have rubbed the skin around them raw, which, he realised, must be the point. His kidnappers didn¡¯t want to leave any evidence of his capture, like rope marks on his skin. He couldn¡¯t decide if this was an encouraging sign or not. By the time he heard the door at the stop of the cellar stairs open he had worked himself up into a state of nervous exhaustion, and the relief of having something, anything, happen, made him feel almost giddy, although it was leavened with a solid dose of fearful anticipation. Two sets of heavy footsteps tramped down the stairs, and took up station behind him. His scalp prickled in awareness. No-one said anything immediately, and then one of people standing behind him ripped the blindfold off. There was a lantern in the room which blinded him, so he squeezed his eyes shut against the light. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw in front of him a table which held his cloak of invisibility, the wad of notes he had taken in the library, and the spell book. Standing beside the table was a man. Josh had never seen him before. He was dressed in rich fabrics, but dyed in subdued colours, and the cut looked more practical than gaudy. A sword hung at his waist. He was big, over six feet, and broad of shoulder, with a square, handsome face, bright green eyes, and air of arrogance. He also had magic thrumming in his boots, and a fainter signature from his sword, which meant both were enchanted, but only the boots were currently active. The man didn¡¯t say anything but nodded to one of the people behind him. Josh heard movement, and then someone grabbed hold of his fingers and bent them. The pain was excruciating. He heard himself screaming, and he twitched and rocked the chair, but the second person behind him held it steady. Josh was as helpless as a fly trapped in a spider¡¯s web. When the man let go, he gasped in relief and tried to twitch his fingers. Nothing was broken, but they still felt painful. ¡°You are completely in my power,¡± the man with the green eyes said. He had one of those deep, authoritative voices, and spoke in slightly bored way, as if all this was routine, and he didn¡¯t consider Josh terribly interesting. ¡°I can have you whipped, tortured, broken, and killed. No-one knows you are here, and no-one will find out. I can keep you here indefinitely if I want to.¡± Josh didn¡¯t say anything. He had nothing to say, even if he could have brought himself to speak. When he¡¯d envisioned his first interaction with his captors, he¡¯d fantasised about being defiant and cocky, like a hero in a movie. He¡¯d never really got the chance when he¡¯d been kidnapped by Varian¡¯s gang, but this time he told himself he¡¯d do better. Only a few minutes ago, he¡¯d been trying to keep his spirits up by imagining himself demanding water, or off-handedly complaining about the standard of the accommodation. This didn¡¯t seem like the right moment for that. ¡°Give me your name,¡± the man said. Josh¡¯s mind lurched back into operation again. They didn¡¯t know his name? Did they even know he was an outworlder? When he didn¡¯t immediately respond, the man nodded to one of the people standing behind him, presumably ordering him to inflict more pain. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°De Haven,¡± Josh croaked out desperately. ¡°I¡¯m De Haven.¡± It wasn¡¯t really his name, so it didn¡¯t feel like he was giving anything away. The man smiled. ¡°There, that wasn¡¯t difficult, was it? Now tell me, what were you doing in the library?¡± Josh hesitated, but only for a second. They had taken his notes on magic, which meant they already knew that. These were just setting up questions, he realised. The man was testing the truthfulness of Josh¡¯s answers, and getting him into the habit of answering their questions. ¡°I was looking at the restricted section,¡± he muttered. His voice was dry and cracked, and he went into a coughing fit afterwards. His interrogator frowned in irritation and snapped his fingers. One of the people behind Josh came forward¡ªa burly man in cheap clothes with a club strapped to his side¡ªand held a skinful of water to his lips. Josh drank gratefully, although he was only allowed a few mouthfuls before it was taken away. The man with the green eyes pulled a chair from the table and sat in it, leaning towards Josh. ¡°Any what did you want in the restricted section?¡± He sounded like he knew the answer, and of course he did, because the answer was obvious. ¡°I was trying to learn about magic,¡± Josh muttered. He decided to say nothing about the Dreamer. They might not know about that, if they only had his notes to go on. The man leaned back, pleased. ¡°You have a little talent, then? But you chose to hide it.¡± He sounded disappointed, as if this was some kind of sin. ¡°You know what the Church does to unregistered mages.¡± Josh had no idea, but he found himself trying to adopt an intimidated expression anyway. This was not particularly hard. ¡°Now,¡± the man said. ¡°Tell me about your association with Lady Paleyne.¡± Josh stared at him with astonishment. This was to do with Lady Paleyne? Did that mean it was her fault that he had been kidnapped? That wretched woman was nothing but trouble. The man seemed amused by his reaction. ¡°You surely didn¡¯t think it hadn¡¯t been noticed? Lady Paleyne¡¯s appetites are well known. Have you bedded her yet?¡± Josh felt his ears getting hot despite himself, and the man chuckled. ¡°Evidently not. Well, no matter.¡± They were interrupted by a woman arriving, wearing a shabby grey dress and an apron, and a huge scowl. She carried all of Josh¡¯s belongings from the boarding house. His pack, full of his things. His bag of enchanted feathers. Even the shoes of water-walking, and the moth haunt bottle, bundled up in a shirt. Were the book moths still alive? The interrogator nodded at the woman and she put everything on the table next to him, then left the cellar. The man with the green eyes cracked his knuckles, as if getting down to business, and the real interrogation began. He asked questions, and Josh answered them. Josh describe his interactions with Lady Paleyne. He recounted how he had got rid of the moth haunt in Mistress Hallon¡¯s chambers. He confessed how he had used the cloak of invisibility to hide in the library and look through the restricted selection. After a short time, it became apparent to Josh that his interrogator had no real interest in finding out Josh¡¯s real motives or background. This wasn¡¯t an interrogation to find out the truth about him, or at least not any kind of objective truth. The man with the green eyes thought he already knew everything about Josh and about Lady Paleyne, and was only interested in making Josh admit it. ¡°A useful little trick,¡± the man said of the moth haunt swarm, as he flicked the bottle with his finger. ¡°I am sure you planned to make a lot of money with this.¡± That was precisely what Josh had been worried people would think. He knew it was no use explaining he had felt sorry for the book moths. The only motives the man in the green eyes wanted to hear about, or seemed to believe existed, were greed, ambition and lust. The moths had gone quiescent, and were merely black sludge against the glass. There were tiny speckles of moth haunt eggs all over the booklet, which would hatch out in a couple of days. Josh didn¡¯t want the moth haunts to become a weapon, but he couldn¡¯t help wishing he could release them to smother everyone in this room. The swarm was too small. It probably wouldn¡¯t work. As far as Josh could work out, this was the story his interrogator had decided must be true: Josh was a small-time con man, a trickster who wandered around with a bottle of moth haunts, telling an invented story about them, and then releasing them into an unsuspecting victim¡¯s room, so that he could play the hero and recapture them. He had presented himself to the Abbot as a scholar purely in order to be introduced to Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne, so that he could latch onto them and secure their patronage, or work his con, or both. Lady Paleyne had a reputation for dalliance with younger men, behaviour which the green-eyed man described in far from flattering terms, and he went on to hint slyly at what he imagined must be Josh¡¯s own plan of seduction. He picked up the miniature spell book and leafed through the pages. ¡°Bad poetry won¡¯t get you under her skirts,¡± he said, with contempt. ¡°Some flashy clothes, a few compliments, and she¡¯ll be yours. It won''t take much, trust me.¡± Josh was getting the impression that the man thoroughly despised Lady Paleyne. Was he a rejected suitor? ¡°But delightful as I¡¯m sure it would be to plough her,¡± the man said, ¡°I know what you¡¯re really after.¡± And he smiled smugly. So far Josh had let the man think what he wanted to think, but with this he had no idea what his supposed motivation was for seducing Lady Paleyne, or what he was supposed to confess to. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t play the innocent with me,¡± the man went on. ¡°You must have thought she could teach you. But she¡¯s a poor mage, little more than a court sorceress, capable of nothing more than casting a handful of minor illusions to please the King.¡± Lady Paleyne was a mage? That explained a lot, such as why she had been so interested in Josh. She had probably noticed the enchanted feather in his Robin Hood hat. He had cast the Glow skill on it, although he had been careful not to leave it glowing when he was in public. Would she have passed by his room closely enough to sense the cloak of invisibility and the shoes of water walking? It also explained why the servant, Jann, had summoned her to deal with the book moth swarm. Would she have been able to banish it? Had she not needed Josh at all? The man with green eyes grinned at the expression on Josh¡¯s face, which he clearly though was a result of his own revelation. ¡°Now,¡± the man said, ¡°How would it be if I introduced you to a proper mage? One with real power, who can cast more than a few, fancy illusions.¡± Wait, he wanted to recruit Josh? Josh couldn¡¯t imagine anyone he wanted to work for less. Even leaving aside the matter of the abduction, he could already tell the man with the green eyes was one of those insufferable idiots who routinely ascribed the worst motives to other people¡¯s behaviour, and who was constitutionally incapable of seeing anything from anyone else¡¯s point of view. Josh had known someone like that in one of the online games he¡¯d played, and had sworn never to have anything to do with that kind of personality again. Meanwhile, the man was describing all the riches and power that would belong to Josh if he was able to learn real magic, instead of few meagre cantrips. As a demonstration, the man held up his sword. ¡°You see this?¡± He concentrated. Josh felt him push a trickle of magic into it, and the enchantment on the sword suddenly bloomed to life. It was like the sword itself, simple and sharp, but with loops that seemed to increase its power with every iteration. It felt deep to Josh¡¯s perception, as if there was more to it folded out of his sight. Despite himself he leaned forwards. The man grinned at Josh¡¯s fascinated expression. Josh suddenly noticed that there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Had that tiny trickle of magic really cost him so much effort? Josh was careful to keep that thought from showing on his face. He didn¡¯t want the man getting offended while he was still tied to a chair with two brutes standing behind him. ¡°Now,¡± the man said, sheathing his sword and leaning forward again. ¡°What do you say?¡± Josh couldn¡¯t help but be tempted at the idea of being taught by a real mage. He didn¡¯t have any desire to be a blacksmith, but anyone who could craft that sword would be able to teach him something useful. However, he knew the offer was a trap. If they had wanted to recruit him honestly, they could have just approached him. Instead, they had abducted him and threatened him. They thought he was a conman who went around targeting women and taking advantage of them like some kind of social parasite, and would treat him appropriately. ¡°What would I have to do?¡± Josh asked cautiously. His hope was to agree with everything right up to the point where he could get free of them and then leave town. He was pretty much done with Brackstone anyway. There were other cities further north. ¡°One small thing,¡± the man said. ¡°It''s not much, considering the rewards you would gain.¡± Josh waited with considerable scepticism. ¡°You would go to the castle,¡± the man continued. ¡°You would ask to see Lady Paleyne.¡± He waved a hand. ¡°You may seduce her if you wish, consider that a side bonus. I don¡¯t care what you do with her either way. Lady Paleyne has an amulet. She wears it often, but reportedly hangs it by her bedside when she is not wearing it. Inside this amulet is a pearl. You will take the pearl, and infuse it.¡± Presumably infuse meant charge it with magic. Josh had a bad feeling about this, and the man wasn¡¯t even done. ¡°As handmaiden to Lady Alianne,¡± he went on, ¡°Lady Paleyne prepares a nightly drink of milk and herbs to help her sleep well. You will take the pearl and put it in the drink for Lady Alianne. She must drink it. That, my boy, is your task.¡± What the hell would the pearl do? ¡°I don¡¯t want to poison anyone!¡± Josh said. ¡°You won¡¯t be poisoning her,¡± the man said impatiently. ¡°The pearl is just one that makes its recipient lethargic. Everyone will merely think the Lady Alianne mildly ill, that is all. She will take to her bed. After a week or so it will wear off.¡± ¡°Why do you want to make Lady Alianne ill?¡± Josh asked. And why would Lady Paleyne walk around with an amulet of that nature around her neck? The man stood up from his chair suddenly, and took a step towards Josh, looming over him. His face was suddenly unfriendly. ¡°I ask the questions here,¡± he said, his voice vibrating with threat. ¡°And I give the orders. Your duty is to listen and obey. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said. ¡°Yes, sir,¡± the man insisted. ¡°Yes, sir,¡± he repeated. Meanwhile, his brain was whirling. What was the likelihood of the pearl being poison? Quite high, he thought. The man must have seen the reluctance lingering in his face, because he put a heavy hand on Josh¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re imagining how you can get out of this, aren¡¯t you?¡± he said, his voice low and confiding. ¡°Oh, believe me, I know how a little worm like you thinks. You¡¯re thinking you can promise me anything I ask, and then walk out of here and do as you please, aren¡¯t you?¡± Josh said nothing. The man squeezed his shoulder, painfully. ¡°That is why we need a surety.¡± He raised his voice to shout up the stairs. ¡°Come!¡± The cellar door opened shortly after that, and the same woman who had brought Josh¡¯s things from the boarding house now entered. She was no longer wearing a shabby dress and apron. Now she was gowned in dark red velvet, with a black cloak hanging from her shoulders. Josh didn¡¯t spend much time looking at her, however. He was staring at the item she carried. It was the glass dome with the key fragment from the vault underneath the library. It had a handle set into the top, and had a mesh of gold wire around it to support it. Why was the key fragment doing here? 1.27 – Things you can do with paper The dome containing the key fragment was sitting on the table next to Josh¡¯s things, with the woman standing behind it. Josh hadn¡¯t approached the key fragment too closely in the vault, but now that it was sitting only a few feet away he could feel a wash of icy cold numbing magic. It drowned out the quiet, subtle feeling of his own magic items, and even the stronger buzz of the magic sword and boots the green-eyed man wore. ¡°It seems there has been a theft at the library,¡± the man said, in a smugly jovial tone of voice. ¡°An item of historical significance and astonishing power has been stolen by a thief. The vault lies wide open, and the dread guardian was slain. The librarians are beside themselves with worry, to have lost such a precious obligation. Happily, I have some influence with the Church, and rather than make the theft public, they have agreed to keep it secret whilst I track down the thief.¡± Josh was running through a litany of swearwords in his head. He had been in the library. His captors had caught him climbing out of it, and it was only his word against theirs that he hadn¡¯t taken anything. After kidnapping him, they must have broken in through the window he had left open, killed the wormspider and stolen the key fragment, just so they could accuse him of the theft. The green-eyed man took a piece of paper out of his coat, unfolded it, and held it up. It had dense writing on it. ¡°Here is a confession,¡± he said. ¡°By a young thief.¡± The man smiled. ¡°All you need do is sign it with your name. Once you have done so, I will let you go free. However, if you do not complete your task by ensuring that Lady Alianne consumes the pearl and is afflicted by its effects, then I am afraid this confession will make its way into the hands of the Church.¡± He looked stern and serious. ¡°They will have no mercy upon you. You must know the nature of the justice Church deals out to transgressors.¡± He paused, as if to let his words sink in, although Josh had no idea what Church did to its enemies. He decided he didn¡¯t want to know. ¡°Once your task is complete,¡± the man went on, ¡°I will give you the confession to destroy. And the Mistress Mage here will gladly take you on as an apprentice.¡± The woman looked at Josh neutrally. She didn¡¯t look as if she was particularly looking forward to the prospect. ¡°So,¡± the man said, placing the confession on the table. ¡°Sign it. Serve me. And be rewarded.¡± He regarded Josh calmly. ¡°Or be executed as a thief. Which is it to be?¡± Josh said nothing, still frantically trying to think of a way out of the trap. The man didn¡¯t seem surprised or disappointed by his silence. ¡°I will leave you to think about it,¡± he said. The two burly men, the ones who had been standing behind Josh for the entire conversation, gathered up all Josh¡¯s things, including the moth haunt bottle, the magic cloak, the magic shoes, and the miniature spell book. They left the lantern and the confession, along with a bottle of ink and a quill pen. Since they had neglected to untie Josh, it wasn¡¯t as if he could sign it, or destroy it, or even scribble rude comments in the margins, so it was probably just there as a reminder. His captors filed out of the cellar, leaving Josh alone. He knew perfectly well that the moment he signed the confession he would have given them leverage over him, and they had no reason ever to let go of that. Poisoning Alianne¡ªand he was fairly certain the pearl was something that would kill her, not just make her temporarily ill¡ªwas just the first step. Once she died, they would have even more to hold over him, and they would order him to do something else, something equally horrible, or worse. He had to escape. He hadn¡¯t had much opportunity to study the cellar, but now he looked around him. It was timber-framed, but lined with brick, and had literally nothing in it except for the staircase, the chair Josh was tied to, and the table which held the lantern and the confession. Could Josh shuffle the chair over to the table and burn the ropes off with the lantern? He decided to start shuffling. It was very slow going, worse than inching across the floor of the library while hidden only by the invisibility cloak. Several times the chair rocked and teetered and nearly fell over, but he managed to retain his balance. Every second he waited with bated breath for the cellar door to jerk open again, and the green-eyed man to appear to make him sign the confession. By the time he reached the table he was sweating from the effort, and he had a headache. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been in the cellar, but it felt like it might late morning, or maybe early afternoon, and he¡®d had nothing to eat or drink since yesterday, bar a few mouthfuls of water. When he got closer to the lantern, his heart sank, because it had chains and a screw holding it shut. He had optimistically imagined he might be able to knock the chair against the table until it overbalanced into his hands or something and then somehow extract the candle and hold it against the rope. It had been a stupid, unrealistic idea from the start. The only other thing he had were the individual spell papers hidden in his clothing. He had Hide and Chi Siphon tucked into his sleeve cuffs. They were the most readily available because he had judged them the most useful. He had Heat and Alarm tucked into his boots. Stone was tucked into the back of his belt. He could cast Hide on himself, so that when his captors returned they might think he had escaped. But they wouldn¡¯t see an abandoned chair or discarded rope, because those would get included in the Hide spell. Plus, maybe the mage would be able to cast some kind of Reveal spell. Also, Hide did obscure you from sight, but it usually left a lingering trace of enchantment in the area, which the mage would also probably detect. There was nothing magical about his bonds, so Chi Siphon was no help. The only other spell he could easily reach was Stone. Heat, Chi Siphon and Alarm were area of effect spells. Stone and Hide, however, would focus an object and anything connected to it, although Josh was still working out the rules that governed what ¡®connected¡¯ actually meant. What could he do with Stone? He glanced around the cellar. Casting it on his bonds would just make them harder to escape from. Likewise, it wouldn¡¯t do anything useful to the table. That left the lantern, the ink bottle, the quill pen and the confession, none of which would ¡­ wait, what about the confession? It was written on paper, and paper could cut. If he cast Stone on it, would it be stiff enough to cut through the bindings around his wrists? He slowly shuffled the chair so that it was sideways to the table. If he leaned his head forward, he could just touch the paper with his forehead. He nudged it towards him until it was at the edge of the table. When it was sitting halfway off, he shuffled backwards and then turned the chair until his hands were below the table. Then he tipped the chair carefully forwards until he had raised his hands enough to grasp the paper. It took him several tries, and for one heart-stopping second he thought the paper was going to fall onto the floor. Finally, he was holding onto the confession. He kept hold of it with one hand, and used the other to retrieve the scrap of paper holding the Stone spell. He touched the spell paper to the confession, and pushed magic into it. He felt the paper stiffen in his hands as the Stone spell took effect. It turned out that Stone-hardened paper was lethally sharp. It took him back to the time he had cut through his bonds in Varian¡¯s camp in the Whortleberry Woods, using a flint knife that Mistrz had given him. He had cut his fingers then too. He really needed to find a better way of escaping from being tied up, if this sort of thing was going to happen often. The silk ropes which had been used to bind his wrists were much easier to cut through than the rope in Varian¡¯s camp. It only took a few slices and he felt the bonds loosen and fall away. After a bit of wriggling, and passing the paper from hand to hand, he managed to get himself into a position where he could saw at the thicker, tougher rope tying him to the chair. A portion of the paper fragmented and fell off. It made sense that the paper would be brittle, since it was so thin. That still left three remaining edges that he could use to cut with, and soon enough the rope around his torso fell away too. He hastily untied his feet and tried to stand up. Being tied to a chair for hours hadn¡¯t done him any good. He staggered and winced as he massaged his thighs and calves, trying to get the pins and needles out of them. He felt as stiff as an old man, but he couldn¡¯t delay. He had to get out of the cellar. He crept up to the cellar door and put his ear to it. At first he heard nothing, but then a woman¡¯s voice rose sharply in tones of disgust. It sounded like she was in the room beyond the cellar. Was that the mage? It was followed by the soothing murmur of the man with green eyes, his deeper voice rumbling. It sounded like he was placating her. After a moment Josh heard the sharp clack of heels and the sound of a door slamming. The man with the green eyes laughed, sounding closer now. Was he going to come into the cellar? Josh backed away from the door, his hard pounding. Should he use the Hide spell? But the door stayed closed, and when the man''s voice came again, it was further away. Josh wouldn¡¯t be able to get out that way if all his captors were sitting in front of the door. His only option was to use the Hide spell to make them think he had already escaped. He retreated back down the stairs, his mind spinning furiously. He had some preparations to make. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The confession had been written only on one side of the paper, giving him a blank sheet on the other side. His captors had helpfully left him a quill to enchant, which meant he could write himself more spells. It was lucky he had written the spells out so many times that he knew them by heart. He scribbled out another copy of Stone, which he cast on his clothes, then wriggled out of them, leaving them puffed out stiffly in the shape of his body. He arranged the clothes and boots on the chair, and carefully draped the ropes around them, so that it looked as if he was still tied up. Of course, they were just empty clothes, and it was obvious there was no head or arms, so he had put the chair on its side, obscuring it with the table, so that the missing head and hands weren¡¯t obvious. Now it looked as if the chair had fallen over while he was trying to escape. To further obscure everything, he blew out the lantern, and tipped it over, so that it looked as if it had gone out accidentally. The cellar stairs were wooden, and had a handrail on one side. Josh positioned himself at the top of the steps, on the wrong side of the handrail, directly behind the door. He was naked, aside from his underwear, but that was okay, because he then cast Hide on himself. He didn¡¯t have to wait long. The door swung open abruptly, and there was a grunt as the man in the lead realised there was no light. It was one of the burly thugs. ¡°He¡¯s knocked out t¡¯ lamp, little bugger. Pass me yon shiner, will yer?¡± New lantern in hand, the thug tramped down the stairs. He stopped when he saw the overturned chair, supposedly with its kidnap victim still secured, then continued down. The second thug and the green-eyed man followed closely behind him, leaving Josh invisible at the top of the stairs. Josh vaulted over the handrail, ran out of the cellar door, and slammed it shut. It had a bar on the outside to secure it, so he dropped it immediately, and looked around him. He was in a kitchen with a wooden table in the centre, and a stove at one end. There was a door that must lead further into the house, and a back door that opened directly out onto the street. How convenient. His own belongings were scattered on the table, as if his captors had been pawing through everything. There was no sign of the mage, for which he was thankful. Even as he scanned the room, a heavy body flung itself against the cellar door, which shuddered against the bar holding it. Josh ran around the other side of the kitchen table and pushed it against the door. It was solid wood and heavy. Hopefully that would delay them. He hastily grabbed all his things, stuffed them into his pack, flung it over his shoulder, and then sprinted to the back door. There was a small window of diamond glass panes to the left of the door, and as he peered through, he saw the mage walking along the street, on her way back to the house. Josh swore under his breath, even as the point of a sword came slicing through the wood of the cellar door as if it was made of butter. He flinched, and ran in the opposite direction, through the door that led deeper into the house. The kitchen opened straight onto a front parlour containing dusty furniture, with a set of stairs going up and beyond that a front door, which had a bolt keeping it closed. He unbolted it and flung it open, then hesitated on the doorstep. Josh had been right about the house being on the outskirts of Brackstone. It was on a rise, overlooking most of the town, at the opposite end from the library and the castle. In front of him was row of cottages, divided by a street that was little more than a dirt track. It wasn¡¯t the network of narrow streets and alley ways he was expecting. It was too open and spread out. Also, he didn¡¯t want to start running about semi-naked, and there wasn¡¯t time to put any clothes on. He pushed the front door open as wide as it would go, to make it look as if he had run out that way, and then turned and ran lightly up the stairs, keeping his feet on the outside of the steps to prevent anything creaking. At the top of the stairs was a small landing. He heard angry voices from the kitchen and knew he was running out of time. He tried the door directly ahead of him, which opened onto a bedroom. This was where they had put the key fragment. It was sitting in the middle of the floor, with some kind of magic circle drawn around it in chalk, maybe to protect it. There was a bed in one corner, and a narrow chest of draws, but little else. Josh scrambled under the bed, pulling his things in as tightly as he could, and backing up against the wall. The floorboards felt rough against his naked skin, and the skirting board was cool against his spine. The numbing field the key fragment put out was strong, much stronger than the mild feeling of the cloak and the shoes and his own Hide spell, and would help disguise them, he hoped. Under the bed was a stupid place to hide, but it was only temporary. From downstairs came the sound of footsteps and the mage shouting something. There were booted feet running out of the door. Yes, he thought. You run that way. But then he heard someone running up the stairs. Whoever it was crashed into the room where Josh lay, then exhaled with a loud sigh of relief, presumably at the sight of the key fragment. Josh thought it was probably the mage. She must just have been checking that Josh hadn''t taken it, because she immediately slammed the door shut and ran down the stairs. Josh realised he hadn''t been breathing for the last few second and sucked in a relieved lungful of air. He climbed out from under the bed and dressed in his spare set of clothes as quickly and quietly as he could. There was a ewer and a jug of water on the dresser, and when he checked it the water seemed clear and smelled clean. He was so thirsty by this point he didn¡¯t care if it made him sick. He forced himself to drink it as slowly as possible. He could feel the Hide spell on him, but it wasn¡¯t affecting his clothes, so he would either need to recast it, or use the cloak of invisibility. Should he hide under the bed again? Or should he find a better place to stay out of sight until the pursuit died down? Could he climb out the window? He stepped towards it, and then saw one of the thugs in the street. He was striding around with a stick in his hand, poking it at empty space all around him. Trying to find an invisible person. Josh looked around the room. There was nothing in it except the chest of drawers, the bed, and the key fragment in its circle. There was no attic, either. The roof was supported by two heavy cross beams, and the ceiling went up to the rafters. If he hid under the bed they would be able to find him just by shoving a stick in there, like the thug was doing in the street. However, Josh could sit on the cross beams in his cloak of invisibility. Would the mage see him? Did she have a spell that revealed invisibility? The cross beam was just low enough for him to reach up and balance his pack on the rafters. Josh jumped, caught the beam and hoisted himself onto it. It wasn¡¯t until he was sitting there, with his pack on his lap and the cloak around his shoulders, that he realised just how easy it had been for him to climb up. He was much fitter than he had been when he had first started out. He inched towards the edge of the magic circle, although he was careful not to cross it. The closer he was to the fragment, the more its strange numbing effect would cloak any magical effects he was giving out. There seemed to be no sounds in the house, but that didn¡¯t mean they hadn¡¯t left one person on guard. Should he try to sneak out now? As soon as the street was clear, maybe he could get out of the window and onto the roof or something. But that would take him further away from the magic-numbing effect of the key fragment. He couldn¡¯t stay here forever. His decision was made for him when he heard the clattering of boots and a murmur of voices from downstairs, as the search party returned. It was only now that they apparently thought to search the house, because he heard them tramping into the other rooms and the sounds of furniture being moved. It sounded like they were being very thorough. He huddled on the beam, which was rapidly beginning to become uncomfortable, but he didn¡¯t dare move. The door to his room was opened, more cautiously this time. The green-eyed man was standing on the landing, along with the mage. The latter lifted a veil of fabric up to her eyes, and peered cautiously through it at the room. She was staring right at Josh and he froze, the tension so thick in his throat he could almost taste it. ¡°I can¡¯t sense anything," she said after a moment, "but the artefact makes it hard, and that cloak¡­¡± ¡°Yes, you said,¡± the man snapped. He stepped over the threshold, sword out and ready, as if Josh was going to jump him at any moment. That was the last thing on Josh¡¯s mind right now. The man walked cautiously around the magic circle, and Josh was glad he had moved from his initial hiding spot, because the first thing the man did was go to the bed and swipe the sword underneath it. He then checked all the corners, sweeping his sword through the air. ¡°You said the invisibility will break if he moves?¡± the green-eyed man asked. ¡°Yes!¡± The mage sounded impatient, as if she had already had to repeat that several times. ¡°Why can¡¯t you sense it? I thought you mages can find anything that reeks of magic.¡± ¡°Normally yes, but it was a holy item, imbued by a high priestess. Once the effect is active it seems to hide him from different kinds of sight and magic sense...¡± Her voice trailed away in frustration, then she added, ¡°Although I don¡¯t know how he could even stand to put the horrible thing on. It had a strong keep-away on it.¡± ¡°He must have dispelled it,¡± the man snapped. Neither of them had thought to look up yet. Josh concentrated on staying still, and breathing as quietly as possible. ¡°I told you, it was holy,¡± the mage said irritably. ¡°Some kind of religious ceremonial regalia. The only way he would be able to use it was if he was an ordained priest, or chosen in some way.¡± The man snorted. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem likely, unless it was a god of thieves.¡± ¡°It felt druidic to me.¡± ¡°The last druids were killed in the battle at Reldan¡¯s Ford.¡± ¡°Yes, but their artefacts remain.¡± The man finally sheathed his sword. ¡°He¡¯s not here,¡± he said, his voice surly. ¡°And I don¡¯t have the manpower to scour the town for him, invisibility or no. We need to clear out.¡± The mage frowned. ¡°He won¡¯t go to the authorities, surely.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t risk it. We have to assume this safe house is now compromised.¡± The man gestured to the key fragment. ¡°Get that packed up.¡± ¡°But I only just put down the circle!¡± the mage protested. ¡°Do you know how much¡ª¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s chucking out a field that even I can sense then you need to get a muffler on it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any spelled material for that, I told you, you need to warn me before¡ª¡± ¡°You have your cloak,¡± the man interrupted. ¡°You said that conceals magic. Use it for the key instead.¡± The mage stared at him in outrage, then drew a deep breath, ¡°That¡¯s¡ª¡± she began, but got no further before she was interrupted. ¡°Stop arguing and do as you¡¯re told, or by the gods I will make you regret it!¡± The green-eyed man walked out, brushing past the mage who remained standing by the door, flustered and furious. After a while she compressed her mouth, then pulled a wand and an amulet from a pocket within her cloak. She proceeded to use a spell similar to Chi Siphon to pull charges from sections of the circle, although as far as Josh could see the Chi was being siphoned through the wand and into the amulet, not directly into the mage. Josh needed a wand and amulet like that! As the mage gradually dispelled the magic, sections of chalk puffed up and disintegrated, leaving coloured smears on the floorboards. Josh couldn¡¯t help watching in fascination, as each interlocking segment was revealed and dispensed with. He wished he could take notes. Once the circle had been removed, the mage stared at the key fragment for several seconds with her hands clenched, and then reluctantly pulled off her cloak. The moment she bundled the cage containing the key fragment into the cloak, the numbing sensation it had been emanating was suddenly muted. Josh¡¯s heart sped up, as he waited for the woman to sense the effect of his own magic cloak, but she seemed oblivious. One of the burly thugs arrived at the door with a chest, which he dumped on the floor beside the mage. The bundled-up cage containing the key fragment was carefully placed in the chest. ¡°You can tell him I want that cloak back at the end of this,¡± the mage snapped. The burly man just shrugged. ¡°Well, what are you standing there for? I don¡¯t need you. Get out!¡± The thug went, and the mage crouched by the chest. It had a complex lock with a dial pointing to several arcane sigils, each one with a trail of magic leading from it, in a slender thread. The mage did something with her hands, and the threads twitched and moved towards her. She braided them into a sort of knot, one which had a clear order of precedence. Once she had finished braiding, she did something complex, and the knot of magic sank into the lock, where it suddenly vanished from Josh¡¯s senses. An arcane combination lock! Then the mage rose and walked out of the room, leaving Josh alone with the chest. 1.28 - Traps you avoided and didnt even notice Josh was busy convincing himself not to drop down from the crossbeam he was hiding on, so he could try to open the arcane lock on the chest, and take the key fragment. One good reason not to was that he might get the sequence wrong. However, he had seen the mage braiding the threads of magic together, and was confident he knew what the order was. Remembering sequences of commands for coding was something he¡¯d learned to do for his university coursework, and this passkey only had six elements. Six was easy. You could chant it in your head in groups of three. So, okay, opening the lock would be possible. But what if the gang came back when Josh had the chest open? The mage had gone downstairs, and if anyone came up to the first floor, would he have enough warning to relock the chest? Would he even be able to relock the chest? It didn¡¯t look complicated. Operating a lock mechanism was the sort of thing a good locksmith would make simple by design. It had taken the mage only a second or two to braid the threads of magic. It wouldn¡¯t take Josh long to redo the braiding and hide in a corner of the room or something. Besides, from his high vantage point on the cross beam, Josh could see through the window down into the street, where his kidnappers were currently loading a cart by the backdoor. They were busy right now. Distracted. But that wouldn''t last long. They would come for the chest soon. Josh was moving before he¡¯d consciously made the decision, and even as he did, he thought, you stupid idiot. But he was committed by now, and he was curious about the lock. This was his only chance to interact with it. He crouched down by the chest, and cautiously stretched his hand towards the dial. There were symbols around the face of it, and each one had tiny threads leading from it and vanishing, presumably into the invisible knot. The threads all had a slightly different feel that made it easier to visualize the pattern the mage had braided. It hadn¡¯t been complicated, just a matter of setting an order that would need to be unraveled in reverse. The outermost thread had been the one with the triangle symbol. Josh reached out and clicked the dial around to the triangle. Next had been the bisected circle. Then the symbol that looked like a squashed Chinese character. It wasn¡¯t actually a very good lock, now that he thought about it. There were six symbols, and if they all needed to be used, the total possible combinations would be in the hundreds rather than the thousands. You would think that a world that had had gamers arriving from Earth for decades would be better at security, particularly if magic was involved. He turned the dial to the last symbol. The lock clicked open. He exhaled in relief, and realized he had been holding his breath. Inside the chest was the key fragment, still bundled up in the cloak. He examined it carefully with his senses, then picked it out cautiously. Nothing happened. He went to close the lid, then wondered if they would be able to tell the chest was lighter. Neither the glass cage holding fragment nor the cloak were heavy, but he should substitute something of equivalent weight, just in case. He looked around the room. There was a blanket folded at the end of the bed, and the jug on the washstand. He bundled them up quickly, wrapping the jug in the blanket, then put the bundle in the chest, and closed the lid. Now to test if he could actually relock it. He stretched his hands out for the threads and willed them to move. They lifted gently, coiling towards him like seaweed pulled by a current. He briefly debated changing the combination, but then, to his horror, he heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. His first fumbled attempt failed, and he found his fingers were shaking as he twisted the braid into the same combination the mage had used. The footsteps were too close! He wasn¡¯t going to finish in time. Then he heard the person on the stairs stop, and call down a question. It was one of the thugs. Josh completed the braid and made the same pushing motion that the mage had used. The threads sank behind the lock, hidden from sight. He stood up and looked wildly around him. The footsteps on the stairs started up again, so he stepped lightly, setting his feet down at the same time as the thug, and headed for the corner of the room that was behind the door. Josh made it just as the door opened. He wrapped the fur cloak around the bundle with the key fragment as best he could, and stood stock still, letting the camouflage effect fall over him again. The thug lumbered into the room, picked up the chest, and lumbered out, without giving Josh¡¯s corner a second glance. Josh had done it. He had the key fragment. Did it count as stealing if you stole something from thieves? It didn¡¯t seem to him that they had been planning to return it to the library. He contemplated returning to the cross beam, in case they did one more search of the house, but even as he thought that, he heard the sound of voices in the lane. He crossed quietly to the window, and saw the cart, with the green-eyed man taking the reins, the mage seated next to him, and the two thugs perched uncomfortably in the back. Even as Josh watched, the cart lurched into motion, and disappeared down the street. A couple of hours later, Josh was at the castle. He¡¯d thought carefully about this step. There was a not insignificant danger that this would get him imprisoned or worse, particularly since he was in possession of an artefact that was supposed to be sitting securely in a vault protected by the Church. On the other hand, if he returned the key fragment to the authorities, it would no longer be missing and there wouldn¡¯t be any hue and cry for the thief. Unless the very act of returning it put him under suspicion. But he had an idea for that. ¡°Lady Paleyne will see you now,¡± Jann the servant said austerely, as if he disapproved. When Josh advanced, the bundle containing the key fragment in his arms, Jann cleared his throat. ¡°Without,¡± he gestured at the bundle and the pack over Josh¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Any of this.¡± Then he waved a couple of negligent fingers at the knife in Josh¡¯s belt. ¡°And no weapons.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Josh said. He hoisted the bundle in his arms. ¡°But I need to show her this. It¡¯s a magic item.¡± Jann sighed. ¡°Show me first.¡± Josh bit his lip, then cautiously peeled back a corner of the muffling cloak. Icy, numbing magic filled the room. Jann leaned forward for a better look, then recoiled and gave Josh a narrow-eyed glare. ¡°Is there any reason I shouldn¡¯t have you arrested immediately?¡± he demanded. ¡°I rescued it from some thieves!¡± Josh protested, gripping the bundle defensively. He spoke the next words rapidly. ¡°And there was a plot against Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne needs to hear about it.¡± Shortly afterwards, he was standing in a small sitting room, where Lady Paleyne was seated demurely in a carved wooden chair, with an embroidery hoop, a needle and thread on her lap. He couldn¡¯t help noticing that she was wearing a particularly fine silver amulet about her neck. Was that the one that had the poisoned pearl in it? The explanation of the day''s events came out less coherently than Josh would have preferred, but he was exhausted and running on the lingering fumes of adrenalin. When he mentioned the green-eyed man, Lady Paleyne cried ¡°Ow!¡± and looked at her finger, which she had accidentally jabbed with the needle. She frowned, and thrust both embroidery hoop and needle at Jann. ¡°Take this horrid thing away!¡± she commanded, sucking on her wounded finger. To Josh, she said, ¡°Describe this man for me!¡± Josh did so, and then relayed the rest of the encounter. He had left out his adventures in the library, merely saying that he had been walking home late at night from an evening meal in a tavern when he had been abducted. Lady Paleyne questioned him several times, particularly when tiredness made him lose the thread. She eventually commanded Jann to bring him a cup of wine, which Josh dared not drink, given he had had so little to eat. He had managed to purchase a meat pie on the way to the castle, glad that his money belt and purse had been included in the things he had managed to retrieve, but that had only taken the edge off his appetite. And he had no desire to be questioned by Lady Paleyne while drunk, or even tipsy. She kept opening her eyes wide in a kittenish way, and saying in a helpless tone of voice, ¡°Oh, but I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± and then Josh would have to backtrack and clarify. But he couldn¡¯t help noticing that she picked up a lot of detail along the way, and her questions were always pertinent. In the end, he had to confess to having the Hide spell, since his escape didn¡¯t make sense without it, but pretended that it was a spell scroll he had just happened to have on his person. Anyone could use spell scrolls with simple effects. It wouldn¡¯t out him as someone with magic. Lady Paleyne raised her eyebrows, but to his relief she didn¡¯t ask him where he had got it from. Josh didn¡¯t mention the invisibility cloak, or his other spells. At last he came to the end of his account. Lady Paleyne had given up on her helpless act, and sat there with a furrow between her brows as she thought. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Eventually she raised her head and said to Jann, ¡°Summon Lord Ernheart.¡± Ernheart was the lord who owned the castle, and who governed the town of Brackstone and the surrounding area. Lady Paleyne was his guest, but if she was the one summoning him, that indicated just how high her own status was. Once Lord Ernheart had arrived in the sitting room, and been shown the key fragment, he reacted by staring at it expressionlessly for a moment. Then he turned his head and traded glances with Lady Paleyne. Some swift, unspoken agreement passed between them. ¡°My dear De Haven,¡± Lady Paleyne said. ¡°I thank you for your service to Lady Alianne.¡± That sounded like a dismissal. Josh stood up. He wasn¡¯t sure how to react, but settled for an awkward bow. ¡°You must be tired, hungry and thirsty, after your adventures,¡± Lady Paleyne went on, as a servant girl came into the room. ¡°Bethca here will look after you, and attend to all your needs. Please follow her. I will speak with you when you have eaten and rested.¡± The place Bethca led him to was another small sitting room. Josh eyed a chintz-covered couch with plump cushions longingly. However, he was pleased to note that his pack was there too, and a quick check through it showed the contents were still present. Against one was a table with a tray, upon which was a loaf of bread, some slices of cold chicken, a wedge of cheese, a small earthenware pot of butter, an orange peeled cut into a spiral and sprinkled with sugar, and a bottle of wine. More wine! Were they trying to get him drunk? ¡°Do you have any water?¡± he asked Bethca, who gave him a blank look at the request. ¡°Or tea?¡± She looked even more astonished, but agreed as how she could procure him a pot of tea. When she came back, bearing a steaming teapot and a little glass cup, he was scarfing his second chicken and cheese sandwich, and beginning to feel more human. The tea was a delicate, flowery brew, and served without milk. It was exactly the sort of thing that people like Lady Paleyne drank, but it washed the sandwich down beautifully. It would have been a perfect meal if Bethca hadn¡¯t kept annoying him. She had seated herself beside him after bringing the tea, without asking, and proceeded to address various comments to him which he belatedly realised were attempts at flirting. She seemed a nice enough girl. She had a round, freckled face, and whenever she breathed in deeply¡ªwhich she did a lot¡ªit would press her breasts against the tight buttons of her servant¡¯s gown. But her giggle got on Josh¡¯s nerves, and the expression of breathless admiration she adopted came across as fake. She was like a miniature Lady Paleyne. Maybe she had taken Lady Paleyne as her role model, which was an awful thought. Josh wanted to tell her to find someone else to emulate. Once he had finished eating, he found his lids growing heavy, so he got up from the table and went over to the couch. To his horror, he found Bethca following him. She wasn¡¯t going to sit next to him, was she? ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind,¡± he said in a firm but polite voice, which strongly suggested it didn¡¯t matter if she minded or not, ¡°But I am going to take a nap now.¡± She blinked at him as if, once again, he had said or done something unexpected. Josh lay down on the couch, rearranged a cushion under his head, and closed his eyes. He heard Bethca moving away to clear the dishes, and then he was out. When he woke up with a start, some hours later, it was fully dark. He sat up and rubbed his neck, which ached from being in an uncomfortable position. The room was silent, and felt empty of anyone else¡¯s presence. He stumbled around, bumping into furniture until he found his pack, extracted the flint and steel by feel, and then managed to get to the table. There had been a candle on it, he remembered. Once he lit the candle, he saw was no sign of Bethca, and the tray of food had long since been cleared. Was it merely late evening, or the middle of the night? His bladder indicated that he had been asleep for a good several hours. He gathered up his things, took hold of the candlestick, and ventured out into the corridor. He found the toilet facilities partially by smell¡ªthey consisted of a small wooden closet with a wooden seat over an extremely noisome shaft. Having taken care of that business, Josh wondered if he should go back to the sitting room and wait some more, or look for Lady Paleyne. He hadn¡¯t been arrested, so presumably she and Lord Ernheart had decided to believe his story. Looking back at their reactions, he now wondered if he had returned the key fragment to the right people. He had assumed that, because Ernheart was the Lord of Brackstone, that the library would come under his authority. But there was some complicated intrigue going on between Lady Paleyne, Lord Ernheart, the green-eyed man, and the Church. He didn¡¯t understand it well at all, but Lady Paleyne and Lord Ernheart were on one side, and the green-eyed man and potentially the Church were on the other. Josh didn¡¯t want to get involved, but it looked like he had already thrown his lot in. He found the door he thought led to the first sitting room, where Lady Paleyne had received him. The castle was confusing. How many sitting rooms did these people need? But when he knocked on the door, there was no answer. Was it so late she had gone to bed? He turned the handle and peered inside. The room was empty. The candles were lit, although guttering low. He saw the black muffling cloak that had been used to mask the magic effect of the key fragment, and hesitated, then decided that he might as well claim ownership of it. It looked as it had thrown aside without any thought. Of the key fragment there was no sign. Josh stuffed the cloak in his pack and looked around him. There was another door at the far end of the room, with a thin strip of light coming from underneath it, and the muffled sound of voices. He wanted to hear what they were saying. He could go up to the door, and, if he was discovered, he could make it look like he was just about to knock. He trod towards it, but then hesitated as he felt two magic items come into range of his sense. The aura appeared to be coming from two ornaments hanging on the wall, and it felt like they were joined somehow. It felt similar to his own alarm spell, a sort of one-dimensional twist, although in the shape of a flat wall, rather than the bubble he was familiar with. How could you get past an alarm spell? Would his cloak of invisibility work? As far as he had been able to work out, the alarm spell signalled when something physically passed through the barrier. The cloak of invisibility wouldn¡¯t prevent that. Nor would the magic-muffling cloak, and he really needed to find a better name for it. The alarm spell was attached to two ornaments, Josh realised, which had been set opposite each other on the wall. What would happen if he moved one of the ornaments? Would they notice if one of them was moved away from the wall, and closer to the other, leaving a gap? He might as well try it, and if it did trigger, all it would do was warn the occupants of the inner room that he had just passed the barrier, and he could hastily replace the ornament before they came to investigate. The ornament on the left side was some kind of silver angel. Josh carefully slid his fingers underneath it, and hooked it away from the wall. The alarm spell stayed intact. He slipped past, then carefully replaced it. He trod as quietly as possible to the door, crouched down and laid his ear against the keyhole. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why him,¡± came a male voice. Josh thought it sounded like Lord Ernheart, but hadn¡¯t been in his presence for long enough to be able to tell. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything about him!¡± ¡°On the contrary, I know a lot.¡± That was Lady Paleyne. ¡°How can you possibly¡­?¡± ¡°I am not a fool, Lerit. I have tested him upon every occasion we have met thus far.¡± ¡°But how? And why?¡± ¡°Because it seemed all too convenient that such a fair young lad, catering to what our enemies know of my tastes, happened to come across the very inn at which I was staying during a mission of such import, and apparently went to some pains to secure an introduction to our party.¡± ¡°You should have more care for your reputation!¡± the man snapped. Josh was pretty sure now that it was Lord Ernheart. ¡°If you didn¡¯t carry on in such a loose way¡ª¡± Lady Paleyne interrupted him. ¡°Don¡¯t be such an imbecile, Lerit, it doesn¡¯t become you. I encourage such rumours! If the northern faction think me vulnerable to such clumsy and obvious ploys, then it is to our advantage, I assure you.¡± She paused, and then continued in a quieter tone of voice. ¡°As the first test, I caused my maid to drop a jewellery box in front of him. He helped secure the pieces¡ª¡± Lord Ernheart snorted. ¡°A fine way to lose them!¡± ¡°Indeed, I made sure there would be an opportunity where he could have safely taken one, thinking no-one would be the wiser.¡± She paused again. ¡°He did not.¡± ¡°Alright, go on.¡± ¡°Still, I reserved judgement. If he was not truly an innocent, I needed to know. And if he was, it occurred to me he could be of some use. I knew he was coming to Brackstone, so I paid watchers to send me word of his arrival here, and to follow him. I hid in the stands while he attended the daily arms training, but he did not approach me, and showed no signs of being aware of my presence until I summoned him. I invited myself along with him upon his next errand¡ª¡± ¡°Good gods, what possessed you to go jaunting off with a man of whom you had such suspicions?¡± ¡°If you think this is the first time I have used this tactic, you have another think coming. Most men are either blindly flattered or despise me for being so obvious. Several have attempted to lure me into taverns, or remote locations, and one even tried to blackmail me.¡± Lady Paleyne sounded pleased by all this. ¡°Besides, I am not without protections, and this was on a busy street. And do you know how he reacted?¡± Another pause. ¡°I annoyed him, Lerit. He was irritated by my presence.¡± ¡°How refreshing for you,¡± Lord Ernheart said dryly. ¡°Perhaps his preferences lie in another direction.¡± ¡°No. He is not immune to women. Trust me when I say this. But annoyance and irritation are not the reactions of a spy desperately trying to sweet talk his way into my bed.¡± Lord Ernheart sighed. ¡°And last,¡± Lady Paleyne said triumphantly, ¡°I left him alone with Bethca.¡± ¡°Yes, your little understudy,¡± Ernheart said dryly. ¡°She said he was unfailingly polite and courteous, never once stared at her breasts, and didn¡¯t touch her.¡± There was a silence. ¡°It¡¯s one thing for a boy of his class to make a pass at a noblewoman. He might well have been intimidated by my station. But a servant girl? There are many towns, many houses, many castles, where no-one could care what he did with her.¡± ¡°So he¡¯s a little white knight. He might still intend you ill beyond the obvious, he just hasn¡¯t had the opportunity yet.¡± ¡°He had the perfect opportunity today, and didn¡¯t take it, despite the pressure that Orlad brought to bear on him.¡± Was Orlad the green-eyed man who had abducted Josh? ¡°You only have his word for that.¡± ¡°Yes. But I know how Orlad works. A double con such as you suppose isn¡¯t his style. He doesn¡¯t think well enough of me to employ tactics any more advanced than the one De Haven described. And, if De Haven was working for Orlad, there is no chance upon this earth that the latter would have allowed his cat''s paw to hand us the advantage De Haven gave us today.¡± Lady Paleyne paused again. ¡°Despite his naivete, De Haven is intelligent and resourceful. Also, I believe I know his secret, and it has nothing to do with our struggle, my friend. Indeed, it can turned to our advantage.¡± What? Did Lady Paleyne know that Josh was from Earth? His heart began thumping uncomfortably against his ribs. ¡°What secret?¡± Lady Paleyne said nothing. ¡°Alright,¡± Ernheart said at last, reluctantly. ¡°You have made your point.¡± At that moment, the door from the corridor to the sitting room opened. Josh immediately jerked away from the inner door, but realised he was standing on the wrong side of the alarm barrier. Jann the servant stood there, his eyebrows raised. After a moment of staring, Jann coughed loudly, which alerted the occupants of the inner room, whereupon the inner door was opened by Lord Ernheart, who stood behind Lady Paleyne. She paused on the threshold as she saw Josh on the wrong side of the alarm spell. Josh groped for something to say. ¡°You really need to make it so that the ornaments know what distance apart they are supposed to be,¡± he said. It was a glaring flaw in the alarm spell. After today, maybe he should pursue a career as a security consultant. Lady Paleyne¡¯s lips twitched, but she inclined her head gravely. ¡°I see. How kind of you to test my ward, sir.¡± Lord Ernheart, standing beside Lady Palayne, gave an amused grunt. ¡°I see now what you mean,¡± he said. ¡°Very well then, he shall go with you.¡± Josh blinked at Lady Paleyne. Wait, what? Go where? Update: next chapter at weekend BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 9 (Experience available! Check your achievements to apply experience!) Total experience points: 6,006 Experience to next level: 401 Player rank: #865 Kills: 2 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #476 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 34 | Strength 58 | Agility 27 | Speed 21 | Endurance 32 | Resilience 32 | Manual Dexterity 67 | Vocalisation 35 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 40 SENSES Vision: 10 (Colour 11, Distance 8, Night 1) | Smell: 3 | Hearing: 4 | Taste: 7 | Touch: 8] KNOWLEDGE Feather Folklore I: You understand the structure of common feathers. -> Progress to next level: 56/100. SKILLS Feather Fingers I: You know the basics of how to manipulate feathers into decorative objects. -> Progress to next level: 30/100. MAGIC Infuse I (feathers): You can imbue feathers with your magical essence. -> Progress to next level: 98/100. Feather Feel I: You can sense nearby feathers which have been imbued with magic. -> Progress to next level: 78/100. Glow I: Enchant a feather to glow for a short time. -> Progress to next level: 44/100. MESSAGES You have gained 1 point of Strength, 1 point of Dexterity, 2 points of Resilience, and 4 points of Chi. You have 10,680 unapplied experience points. Go to the Quest and Achievements menu to apply these points now! You have enough experience points to reach level 12. Once applied, additional levels will take effect during your next long rest. Multiple levels may take more than one rest period to apply. ACHIEVEMENTS Mistrz (lvl 26) Vanquished (1/5): You dealt the final blow, saving Mistrz from, well, death. Presumably he is grateful. Reward: 2,548xp (shared) (applied). The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Shuriken (Lvl 18) Vanquished (2/5): 1) It was your foresight and careful planning that saved the day. You avenged those who fell to Shuriken''s hand. Reward: as Shuriken was defeated as part of a quest, you may claim your reward from the Quest menu. 2) You lured Shuriken to his death in the moth haunt''s lair¡ªa clever move. Reward: 867xp (apply). Fledgling Gladiator (I): You have defeated your first outlander! Don¡¯t feel too bad about it. He attacked first. Reward: 250 xp. (applied) -> Progress to Rookie Gladiator (II): 2/10. Reward: 1000xp. Hand of Karma I: You¡¯re going to be one to watch out for¡ªdefeating a murderer at your level is no easy task! Reward: 250 xp. (applied) -> Progress to Hand of Karma II: 2/10. Reward: 1000xp. Like A Boss I: You like flying solo, huh? This one is for the adrenaline junkies out there. Congratulations for soloing a boss. Reward: 500 xp (applied). -> Progress to Like a Boss II: 1/10. Reward: 2000xp. Fey Favour: That was a lucky escape ¨C the Queen of the Fey spared your life! Reward: you get to live. For now. Royal Patronage I: You¡¯re moving up in the world! You have crafted your first item for royalty. Reward: 250xp (applied). -> Progress to Royal Patronage II: 1/10. Reward: 1000xp. A Paltry Plume (I): Well done! You have crafted your first item, basic as it was. Reward: 10 xp (applied). -> Progress to A Painstaking Plume (II): 56/100. Reward: 100xp. OUTSTANDING QUESTS A Fair Maiden¡¯s Fate. Retrieve Reiner¡¯s fianc¨¦e alive from the clutches of the scourge. Reward: 1,252xp. Seeking Sanctuary: Find the village of Leybeck. Reward: 50xp. COMPLETED QUESTS A Magical Infestation: Clear the book moths infesting the chambers of Mistress Hallon. Reward: 50xp. -> Progress: you have removed the infestation. Reward: 50xp (applied). The Secret in the Library: Defeat the wormspider defending the library and retrieve the valuable magical item from the vault. Reward: 400xp. -> Progress: you have defeated the wormspider. Reward: 100xp (applied). -> Progress: you have retrieved the magical item. Reward: 300xp (applied). The Haunted Library. Defeat the book moth haunt in the library of the druid¡¯s grove in Whortleberry Woods. Reward: 4,526xp. -> Progress: you have temporarily dispersed the book moth haunt. Reward: 1,509xp (applied). -> Progress: the book month haunt has been vanquished. Reward: 300xp (shared) (applied). A Nest of the Scourge. Clear the scourge from the ruins of Aileth-Mair. Quest status: Complete. -> Progress: you have defeated Shuriken. Reward: 539xp (applied). -> Progress: Varian, Mistrz, Frenxy and Wook have not returned to the ruins of Aileth-Mair for 14 days¡ªthe ruins have been successfully cleared. Reward: 9,813xp (apply). 1.29 - The true nature of dungeons Josh was staring at an enormous pair of nostrils, set in a wide, soft nose. The nostrils flared at him. ¡°What do you mean, you¡¯ve never ridden before?¡± Jann asked, exasperated. They were standing in a stable yard in the pre-dawn light. Above the stable door poked the head of a curious horse. Josh had decided that if Lady Paleyne was going to travel to Dendral on a journey lasting three days, instead of the week it would take to walk, then he might as well give in and go along. No-one last night had mentioned horses, however, and in the general flurry that had followed, Josh hadn¡¯t thought to clarify the question of transport. Insofar as he¡¯d considered it at all, he¡¯d imagined a nice, comfortable travelling carriage. Similarly, the rest of the party hadn¡¯t thought to inquire into Josh¡¯s horse-riding skills, or lack of them. Jann and Josh were interrupted by one of the castle servants, arriving with a tray containing slabs of bread soaked in beef dripping, and mugs of ale. ¡°The poor Lady Alianne, eh?¡± the servant said, although he sounded more curious than sympathetic. ¡°Surprised your mistress ain¡¯t staying to dance attendance on her.¡± Lady Alianne had taken to her bed the previous evening, claiming symptoms of weariness and fatigue. Maybe it had been to get out of a last-minute expedition to Dendral. Now that Josh was realising what it would entail, he could sympathise. From what he had overheard last night, Lady Paleyne¡¯s purpose in going north by herself was to fulfil one of Lady¡¯s Alianne¡¯s obligations. Since Lady Alianne¡¯s primary mission had been to travel to Dendral and receive a Philosopher¡¯s Stone, whatever that was, Josh wasn¡¯t sure how it was possible for Lady Paleyne to achieve that in her stead. Happily, it wasn¡¯t his problem. Jann gulped down a mouthful of ale and gave the servant a baleful look. ¡°It¡¯s not your place to question your betters,¡± he growled. ¡°No offence intended,¡± the servant said, adopting a wounded tone. While this conversation was going on, a couple of grooms had been bringing the horses out. There were four riding horses with empty saddles, and one pack horse, none of which looked any more enthusiastic at the early start than Josh. The party would consist of Josh, Jann, Lady Paleyne, and the little female servant, Bethca. ¡°So, you¡¯ve never ridden any horse at all?¡± Jann demanded of Josh, handed the mug of ale back to the servant without looking at him. Josh swallowed his bread and dripping, and said ¡°No,¡± defensively. Jann swore under his breath, but immediately cut his profanity short as they were joined by the two women. Lady Paleyne flung back her hood and directed an anguished look at the horses. ¡°Oh, must we?¡± she asked, in a martyred voice. Her voice rang around the courtyard, causing everyone to turn and look. Bethca, beside her, was quiet and withdrawn by comparison. ¡°The approach to the Abbey is single track, my lady,¡± Jann said. ¡°It won¡¯t take a carriage.¡± Abbey? What Abbey? ¡°How inconvenient,¡± Lady Paleyne said, in the same ringing voice. ¡°And the shrine itself is only accessible on foot, my lady,¡± Jann added. ¡°Oh heavens! Do not say so! Why did I allow myself to be talked into this?¡± Bethca approached and tentatively touched Lady Paleyne¡¯s arm. ¡°Lady Alianne is counting on you, my lady,¡± she said, in a small voice. It sounded like something she had been coached to say. Lady Paleyne heaved a huge, put upon sigh. ¡°Of course, Bethca my dear, you are right. I can only hope the beds the Abbot will offer are soft enough to make up for it. I shall sleep well tonight!¡± Presumably she meant the Abbot of whatever this Abbey was, and not the Abbot of High Howe Priory. Was this going to be the party¡¯s first stop along the way? What shrine did she mean? It took the combined efforts of two grooms to assist Lady Paleyne onto her horse, leaving Jann to boost Bethca into the saddle. Both women were wearing split skirts for riding, and Lady Paleyne sported an ostentatious hat with a wide brim and a tall plume. Bethca, by contrast, merely wore a subdued cloak, presumably because she was a servant and didn¡¯t rate fancy clothing. Jann stopped by Lady Paleyne¡¯s stirrup and murmured to her, possibly warning her about Josh¡¯s lack of riding skills. She sent a quick glance towards Josh and nodded. Then Jann snared the reins of one of the remaining horses and tugged it towards Josh. How hard could this be? In movies, everyone leaped agilely onto horses. You put your foot in the stirrup and then you vaulted up. However, the stirrup hung just level with Josh¡¯s waist, which meant he needed to stretch his leg up until his knee was practically level with his ear in order to put his toe in it, and then somehow lever himself up into the saddle. Even with his improved fitness, it seemed a daunting task. Nevertheless, he followed Jann¡¯s instructions, and to give himself the necessary boost he grabbed onto the ends of the saddle with both hands. Instead of boosting Josh up, the saddle twisted around on the horse¡¯s back. Jann gave Josh an irritated look, reset the saddle and told him to try again. This time Josh pushed off properly using the foot that was still on the ground, but somehow the foot that had been in the stirrup slipped out, and he ended up boosting himself into the saddle on his stomach, so that he was lying across it like a sack of potatoes. The horse snorted and side-stepped, evidently offended by this unusual method of mounting. Josh scrambled around as quickly as possible until he was facing the right way. Jann sighed, and showed him how to put his feet in the stirrups, and how to sit. Then Josh had to take his feet out of the stirrups while Jann checked and tightened the girth, and adjusted various straps. Humiliatingly, Jann didn¡¯t offer Josh the reins, but instead tied them to his own saddle. Josh started when his horse walked forward, because the saddle dipped and rolled as it did so. It was weirdly like trying to balance on a boat at sea. He held firmly onto the pommel as the cavalcade clopped through the narrow gateway leading out of the castle, and emerged into the town square. At first, Josh merely concentrated on staying on top of the horse. It felt far less secure than it looked. After a while, however, he began to relax as he got used to the motion, and instead focused on his character sheet, because he had managed to get enough rest that night for some of his attributes to advance. Running away from Varian¡¯s gang had given him 2 points in Speed, all the healthy eating in the druid¡¯s grove had given him 4 points in Constitution, and walking and shooting a bow had given him another 3 points in Strength. Scribing the spells had given him a total of 4 in Dexterity, and all his magical exertions over the last two days had given him 4 points of Chi, on top of the 4 points he had gained from regular magical practice along the road. He¡¯d even got a point in vocalisation after telling the story of the book moth to Lady Alianne¡¯s party at the inn in High Howe. Josh¡¯s player rank had dropped two places, which suggested that the Assassin and the Demon who arrived in the world at the same time as him had out-levelled him. His Gladiator rank had gone up by ten after the death of Mistrz. Josh hoped Mistrz was okay, and that he had managed to resurrect somewhere safe and hadn''t subsequently run into Varian¡¯s gang. He focused on his character sheet again and decided he should do some running every day to see if he could boost his Speed, Endurance and Resilience a little more, and maybe think up some acrobatic exercises that would improve his Agility. What kind of bonus would horse riding give him? BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Apprentice Plumassier Level: 9 (Experience available! Check your achievements to apply experience!) Total experience points: 6,006 Experience to next level: 401 Player rank: #865 Kills: 2 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #476 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 34 | Strength 58 | Agility 27 | Speed 21 | Endurance 32 | Resilience 32 | Manual Dexterity 67 | Vocalisation 35 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 40 MESSAGES You have gained 1 point of Strength, 1 point of Dexterity, 2 points of Resilience, and 4 points of Chi.] You have 10,680 unapplied experience points. Go to the Quest and Achievements menu to apply these points now! You have enough experience points to reach level 12. Once applied, additional levels will take effect during your next long rest. Multiple levels may take more than one rest period to apply. QUESTS A Magical Infestation: Clear the book moths infesting the chambers of Mistress Hallon. Reward: 50xp. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.-> Progress: you have removed the infestation. Reward: 100 xp (applied). The Secret in the Library: Defeat the wormspider defending the library and retrieve the valuable magical item from the vault. Reward: 400xp. -> Progress: you have defeated the wormspider. Reward: 100 xp (applied). -> Progress: you have retrieved the magical item. Reward: 300 xp (applied). The message prompting him to apply his remaining experience tempted him every time he saw it, but he held off. Level 12 was still pathetically low. So far, the lowest level person he had come across was Shuriken at level 18. Josh thought he would need to level up into the high twenties or early thirties to be able to defend himself against the likes of Varian. And presumably there were level 40 predators out there, even stronger than Rob. Was the max level was capped at 40, like it had been in Spiralia Online? Josh wished he¡¯d thought to ask Rob about that, while he¡¯d had the chance. He looked up, blinking as a shaft of light from the rising sun met his eyes, and realised that the shadows were being cast behind them. They were travelling south-east along the road the Josh had walked along a few days ago, when he had been heading to Brackstone. Why weren¡¯t they taking the north-west road to Drendal? He wanted to ask, but everyone was several paces ahead of him. How did you make a horse go faster? Were you supposed to nudge it with your heels or something? Josh tried, but the horse just ignored him and continued plodding along the road. Before he had the chance try again, he saw a group of riders waiting at a crossroads ahead. It was a party of four people, two men and two women. Josh recognised one of them as the fellow noblewoman Lady Paleyne had been speaking to in the stand at the archery training. Clarice or Clarissa or something like that. They greeted each other, and Lady Paleyne handed Clarisa her ostentatious hat. ¡°One day you must tell me what this is all about,¡± Clarisa said, adjusting the hat so that it tilted stylishly. ¡°A wager, my dear. I promise I will write to you and give you all the salacious details,¡± Lady Paleyne told her. Clarisa¡¯s eyes were bright with glee. She gave Josh a sly, sidelong glance that made him grit his teeth. ¡°I would be most grateful! You want me to ride to the Abbey of Saint Kraster, stay one night, and return to Brackstone?¡± ¡°Precisely. You do me a great service. I will not forget this.¡± After taking their leave, Clarisa¡¯s party spurred their mounts on down the road to the south-east, and Josh realised what all the pageantry had been about. Lady Paleyne had made a big obvious scene about going to some Abbey, and now Clarisa was taking her place. Lady Paleyne, meanwhile, turned her horse to the road the led north-east. This took them further away from Brackstone, on a road that followed along the base of the plateau. Josh tried to reconcile the geography in his mind, based on what he knew of Spiralia. To the north-west, on the other side of Brackstone the road looped in a series of switchbacks to get onto the plateau, and then it followed the river north to Dendral. The switchbacks had been a prime spot for players to ambush other players in Spiralia, but Josh guessed they would be better guarded here, since it was one of the key arteries between the north and the south. But they weren''t going that way. Lady Paleyne''s mission must be more secret than Josh had realised. To the north-east, the way they were heading now, the land broke up into a steep, rocky, mountain range, and although there were passes to the north, they were narrow and probably unsuitable for horses. Lady Paleyne couldn¡¯t be planning to take one of those routes, could she? It would take much longer than going by the main road to the north-west. Josh¡¯s thoughts, however, were increasingly distracted by the state of his thighs. After the first hour he was aching and mildly uncomfortable. After the second hour, muscles he didn¡¯t know he had were queuing up to complain. After the third hour, he was in agony, and all he could do was cling grimly to the pommel and endure. He didn¡¯t immediately notice that the horses had halted in the middle of a small hamlet, until the others dismounted. He desperately wanted to get off, but he wasn¡¯t sure if he would be able to stand if he did. Lady Paleyne came to stand beside his horse. To Josh¡¯s surprise, she laid a hand on his knee, closed her eyes and chanted under her breath. Chi, warm and tingling, flooded his limbs, easing his muscles until the agony faded to a dull ache. That was a spell! Lady Paleyne wasn¡¯t some small-time illusionist, but a healing mage. Josh eyed her with surprised respect. She gave him warning look, as if daring him to say anything, and returned to stand beside her own mount. Jann, Josh realised, had gone into the house where they had stopped, and he came out with a jug, four mugs, and a plate of warm pastries. These turned out to contain minced meat, potatoes and cheese. Josh devoured his portion, and washed it down with cider from the jug. By the time they set off again, he felt almost human. They travelled like that for hours. Every three hours they would stop, more to give the horses a rest than the riders, and Lady Paleyne would cast the spell that soothed Josh¡¯s aches and pains, allowing him to ride on without falling off or dying. By the time they came to their destination it was late afternoon. They had ridden up into some low foothills, and before them lay a massive, weathered stone archway, sandwiched between two high, sharp-edged cliffs. Set into the archway were two vast doors of wood that towered above the mounts and their riders. Although the archway was ancient, with crumbling stone and weathered decorations, the wooden fittings, and the two wooden towers mounted on either side, were recently built and in good repair. Josh recognised this place from Spiralia Online. They were at the Azure Cathedral. They were going into a dungeon? In Spiralia, the Azure Cathedral had been a subterranean end-game dungeon, the kind that needed a twenty-man raid to complete it. Josh had done it once, with a guild who had been advertising for extra players to pad out their party. He had been playing his paladin at this point, and a paladin in a dungeon would normally function as a tank, which involved getting the enemy monsters in the dungeon to focus on him, while the damage dealers killed everything, and the healers healed. Being a tank was challenging. You had to know the route through the dungeon, all the stages the boss monsters would go through, all their attacks and mechanics and how to avoid them. While you were fighting, you not only had to keep boss monster''s attention on you, you also had to keep an eye on the damage dealers and routinely pull enemies off them before they crumpled like the wet paper towels they were. A dungeon was not a place for exploration and adventure, it was a pre-planned and tightly choreographed event requiring the intense focus of multiple people all working together. To ensure that he wouldn¡¯t look like an idiot, Josh had watched several video guides, and read through a number of written guides and walk throughs before even attempting the dungeon. It was a good thing he had. When the guild group had invited him onto their comms, half of them had been either drunk, or stoned, or both. The main tank had dropped out halfway through, because his wife had needed him for something, which had left Josh suddenly in the hot seat, despite being a relatively new player. Their comms discipline had been horrible, with everyone talking over each other and people gossiping when they should have been focused on combat. Meanwhile the healer had refused to use a microphone at all, and then raged in text chat at the damage dealers for not paying attention, and not doing their jobs properly. It had taken them eight hours to clear a dungeon that was supposed to take three, but they had made it by the skin of their teeth. When the guild had subsequently asked Josh to join them as a permanent member he had politely declined and backpedalled as fast as he could. For one moment, Josh wished very intensely that he was back in that raid, exhausted after an eight-hour stint of gaming, and desperately trying to keep the boss¡¯s attention on him while staying alive long enough for the party to focus fire it down. Then he shook himself out of the memory. He was here, the Azure Cathedral was apparently a real place, and it was no use wishing otherwise. The Cathedral had been a stunningly beautiful dungeon. Part of him couldn¡¯t help wondering if it would be as amazing in real life as it had in the game. In Spiralia, it had once been a holy place of the stone elves, but some catastrophe centuries previously had resulted in the caves being overrun by crystalline monsters. The elves had all but died out since, and of their lineage only a handful of half-elves had remained. It was one of these half-elves who had provided the quest that allowed players to raid the dungeon. What had happened to the Cathedral in the fifty years since Spiralia¡¯s timeline had diverged from the world of Six Spires? Had the Cathedral been taken back? Was Josh about to meet some half-elves? While Josh had been pre-occupied, a small door set into the massive wooden gates had opened, and a guard beckoned them inside. Sadly, all the guards seemed to be human. The party was led into a courtyard beyond the gate, where everyone dismounted. Above them, carved from the three sides of the cliff that enclosed them, were a maze of round turrets, which formed a jumbled castle. Narrow stone steps led up to a balcony overlooking the courtyard, and continued on, criss-crossing and connecting the turrets in a series of stairs that made Josh dizzy just looking at them. Apparently stone elves hadn¡¯t considered guard rails a necessary architectural feature. It was familiar from Spiralia Online, although there the courtyard and the castle had both been in ruins. Josh had admired it then, but now, looking at it in real life, it made his throat close up with unexpected awe. ¡°Magnificent, is it not?¡± Lady Paleyne murmured beside him. ¡°This is my first time seeing it, too.¡± He glanced down at her, and noticed that there were shadows under her eyes, and her cheeks looked pale with exhaustion. What was wrong with her? Had she been overdoing it with the healing spells? Little Bethca moved up to Lady Paleyne¡¯s side. As she did so, Josh felt a gentle wash of magic radiating out from her. He hadn¡¯t felt it before, but was the first time he had been this close to her all day. He shook his head, blinked, and looked her more closely. Bethca hadn¡¯t exhibited any signs of magic yesterday. The line of her neck as she turned her head towards Lady Paleyne seemed different too. There was something more autocratic about her posture. Did that mean she wasn¡¯t really a servant? Was she a hidden mage, too? Had she been faking the role of servant? Before Josh could pursue this thought, three people¡ªall humans¡ªstepped out of the balcony and came down to meet them. From the ensuing conversation, he gathered that one of them was some kind of Warden, and his job was to guard the entrance to the Cathedral. He seemed to disapprove of Lady Paleyne¡¯s request to gain entry, but his protestations stopped short when she held up a small metal medallion. After that he bowed stiffly, and led them towards a set of double doors set into the bottom of the cliff at the far end of the courtyard. The doors opened with a ponderous creak, revealing a great hall with stone columns, each carved to resemble the roots of a tree. This was also familiar from Spiralia, although it had been the trigger point for a cut scene which Josh hadn''t been able to watch because the guild group had skipped it and got impatient when he didn''t immediately do the same. The Warden instructed the party to proceed to the end of the hall and ring the bell. The riding horses had been led away by the guards, but Jann kept the pack horse, which clopped into the great hall after them with every sign of disinterest. As the made their way down the hall, Lady Paleyne stumbled on an uneven tile, but Bethca seemed not to notice. Josh hesitated, then offered the former his arm, which she took gratefully. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have helped me,¡± Josh said in a low voice, feeling guilty. Lady Paleyne shook her head. ¡°Not that,¡± she said shortly. Was she casting some kind of other magic? The magic on Bethca perhaps? Even as he thought that, Bethca turned her head again, frowning. ¡°We cannot have you fail now, Pally,¡± she said. The moment she spoke, the illusion blinked away for a moment, and Josh realised he was looking at Lady Alianne. It had been Lady Alianne all along, pretending to be Bethca. Had Lady Paleyne been casting an illusion spell all day? No wonder she was exhausted. ¡°If I give you a magic feather, can you, uh, suck the magic out of it to replenish your reserves?¡± Josh asked her, as they reached the doorway on the opposite side of the hall. There was bell hanging to the side of the door with a rope attached. Lady Alianne just stopped and folded her hands inside her cloak, so it was left to Jann to step forwards and ring the bell. ¡°Sucking magic out of enchanted objects is an extremely bad idea on many levels,¡± Lady Paleyne said, with some asperity. After a moment, she added, ¡°Presumably you mean the feather in your hat.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± There was a short silence, and then she sighed. ¡°Give it to me, if you please.¡± Josh took off his hand, charged the Glow enchantment so that it lit up, and handed it to her. She didn¡¯t take the hat, merely laying a finger on the feather. The sparkles faded and she took in a deep, relieved breath. ¡°That helps, a little.¡± ¡°Again?¡± Josh asked. She let him charge it twice more, and although by the end of that she still had shadows under her eyes, her cheeks were flushed instead of pale. ¡°That will do,¡± she said. ¡°Any more, and¡ª¡± She broke off as the door in front of them opened with a jerk. Everyone turned to face it. Was Josh about to meet some stone elves? 1.30 – Practice makes perfect Josh was disappointed when the door-opener turned out to be yet another human guard. This one was wearing pearly grey scale armour that looked as if it had come from a giant snake, and had a black cloth mask over his face so that only his eyes were visible. Over his armour was a black tabard with a golden eagle emblazoned on it. Lady Paleyne held up the medallion that had got them past the Warden in the castle courtyard. The guard nodded, opened the door wider and they all filed through into broad tunnel, where a second guard waited, dressed in the same manner. Like the great hall, the tunnel had columns set into the walls, carved to look like twining tree roots, and at regular intervals were diamond shaped panels into which crude iron brackets had been hammered, each holding a flaming torch. The tunnel curved down, forming a giant spiralling ramp which took them deep below ground. The guard who had admitted them led the way, with the second guard following behind, extinguishing the torches as he went. The deeper they travelled, the more the style of the columns changed, from the organic branching curves of tree roots, to more angular geometric shapes. Once upon a time the carvings had been set with crystals or semi-precious gems, but most of these had long since been gouged out and looted, leaving gaping holes that marred the beauty of the decoration. Gradually, the torches in iron brackets were replaced with diamond-shaped crystals set into the walls, which started to glow as they approached, and faded away behind them. At the base of the spiral ramp was a large cavern, with yet another archway at the far end. In Spiralia it had featured a set of double doors made from some kind of crystal, but a wooden fort had been built in front of them, hiding them from view. It was a small fort, and crudely utilitarian against the graceful pattern radiating out from the door frame, but it was a structure that obviously meant business. It had two watch towers to either side, connected by a walkway, and a square gate below that. They were admitted to the fort, and Josh caught his breath, as the doors came into sight. They were about thirty feet high, tall and slender in proportion, and resembled nothing so much as magical glowing ice, carved with fractal patterns that were a perfect blend of organic and geometric. The magic they emitted had a frosty, numbing feel to it, and it reminded Josh of the key fragment. The guard cleared his throat, and Josh realised the entire party had been staring at the doors for several moments. The commander of the fort was waiting to one side, holding a glowing crystal set into a wand. ¡°You know the rules?¡± he asked. Lady Paleyne inclined her head, and Josh realised that he didn¡¯t know the rules, and he should probably find out. But before he could say anything the commander was already striding towards the doors. When he reached them, he touched the wand to a section directly at eye height, where the pattern spiralled around a small indentation. There was a clunking noise from the doors, and they gradually began to swing open. The commander backed away, and waved the party through. Through the doorway was a second cavern, even larger than the first. It had a vaulted roof, forming a perfect arch, and the walls were set with glittering crystals, many of which glowed. It was like walking into the centre of a rock geode lit by lantern light. The walls plunged down steeply, straight into perfectly still lake of azure blue that filled the cavern, reflecting the twinkling light of thousands of tiny-faceted reflections. This was the first chamber of the Azure Cathedral. A pontoon was waiting by a stone jetty, directly in front of them. Both ladies stepped carefully onto it, and Josh followed them, which left poor Jann to manage their pack horse by himself. The horse had displayed no consternation at the long ramp into the darkness, or the glowing doors, but now it decided it didn¡¯t want to trust its safety to the pontoon. Eventually, however, Jann managed to coax it onto the boards. There were two pontoon men, dressed in the same eagle tabards as the guards, who poled the boat out into the middle of the lake. In Spiralia Online, the lake had been patrolled by a giant white serpent, which had functioned as the first boss encounter. Josh looked at the water nervously, but any monsters it contained must have been defeated long ago. He checked on Lady Paleyne again, but she seemed to be fine. Lady Alianne had her hood pulled forward to hide her face. Maybe Lady Paleyne only needed to keep the illusion up when there were other people around, but right now the pontoon men were focused on their task. Lady Paleyne noticed Josh looking at her, and smiled faintly. ¡°Do you know what this place is?¡± Josh wondered how much he should admit to knowing about the Azure Cathedral. Technically, he¡¯d studied it from top to bottom, and spent hours wandering around a virtual version of it. But why was it full of humans? Where were the stone elves? ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it,¡± he admitted. ¡°But only that it used to be full of monsters. I don¡¯t know anything about it now.¡± Lady Paleyne nodded. ¡°It was lost to a great crystalline construct, the product of a spell gone awry, at the heart of the huldra city deep within the caverns. The construct was defeated by the Seven Heroes nearly fifty years ago, and the Cathedral retaken. The huldra were able to reclaim their ancestral domain, and in gratitude they offer passage through the Azure Lakes in times of need.¡± The huldra were the stone elves. The medallion Lady Paleyne carried must be one of their tokens of admittance. She was using the caverns to get Lady Alianne to Dendral as swiftly and secretly as possible so the latter could be awarded her Philosopher¡¯s Stone. Were there other factions out there who would try to prevent that? Was that the goal of the green-eyed man who had abducted Josh, the one Lady Paleyne had called Orlad? And what was so special about a Philosopher¡¯s Stone? Josh wanted to ask about it, but he bit down on the urge. Lady Paleyne was up to her neck in political intrigue, and the less he knew the better. They poled onwards through glimmering aquamarine water beneath a glittering field of crystal stars. Josh could see why it was referred to as the Cathedral. It had the same atmosphere of hushed reverence, and filled him with quiet awe at its beauty and immensity. At the far end of the cavern were more doors rising up out of the water, which swung slowly open at their approach. The pontoon men guided the craft into a narrow berth beyond, surrounded on three sides by straight walls cut into the rock. The water began to foam and bubble, and the level rose swiftly. Josh realised they were in a canal lock. No wonder this was considered a fast method of travel, compared to walking or riding along the north-west road. Once they reached the top of the lock, the doors at the other end opened, and the pontoon poled out into a much smaller cavern. This one had a series of stone archways leaping over the lake, and balconies built into the walls, behind which were the dwelling places of the stone elves. Instead of a cavern roof covered in thousands of glittering crystals, there were six giant crystals set in a row. These glowed, which provided enough illumination for everyone to see clearly. There was another group of people standing on a quayside situated just beyond the doors of the lock, and Josh was once again disappointed that none of them were huldra. He wasn¡¯t concerned, though, until he heard Lady Paleyne suck in a sudden breath of alarm. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Josh asked in a low voice. There wasn¡¯t time for her to answer him, because the guards jumped onto the pontoon, making it tilt in the water, and sending the pack horse snorting and stamping in alarm. They spread out to surround the party, hands on the hilts of their weapons. Their commander had stayed behind on the quayside, and now she bowed to Lady Paleyne. ¡°Welcome to the Azure Cathedral, noble visitors. My lord has given orders that you be detained until his arrival. Please, step this way.¡± Lady Paleyne stiffened. ¡°I have right of passage!¡± The commander inclined her head. ¡°At milord¡¯s discretion.¡± What could be granted, she seemed to imply, could also be revoked. ¡°Indeed?¡± Lady Paleyne said. ¡°And what business does the Earl of Northcrag have with me?¡± ¡°His lordship has not informed me of his reasons,¡± the commander said, still in the same polite but inflexible tone of voice. ¡°And, forgive me, my lady, but as you are a notable illusionist, I must insist on mage containment protocols.¡± Lady Paleyne protested, and Lady Alianne¡ªstill disguised as Bethca¡ªlooked as if she very much wanted to do so too. Josh could see there wasn¡¯t any point in resisting. There were too many guards, and nowhere to run. They were polite but implacable while they took away Josh¡¯s belt knife, his bow, his quiver and his pack. They didn¡¯t find any of the spell scrolls or paper he had secreted in his clothing, and he had wrapped the magic muffling cloak around his magic items before putting them in his pack, so he hoped they would escape notice too. One of the guards had some kind of monocle, which he focused on the party one by one. He declared Jann and Josh clear immediately, but pointed to Lady Paleyne¡¯s neck and wrists, which resulted in the removal of an amulet and a set of bracelets. Josh presumed the monocle was a way of sensing magic, which made him immediately want to look through it. There was very little chance of the guards permitting that, however. The guard with the monocle also indicated Lady Alianne with a general sweep of his hand. The commander turned to Lady Paleyne expectantly, who gave a bitter twist of her lips, but a moment later the illusion around Lady Alianne dissipated. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Mage containment protocols, apparently, required everyone¡¯s hands to be bound in front of them, and, in Lady Paleyne¡¯s case, covered with gloves that prevented her from moving her fingers or being able to touch anything. They also tied a strip of cloth over Lady Paleyne¡¯s mouth that would prevent her from speaking, an indignity she suffered in stony silence. The guard post had taken over a set of rooms that had once been living quarters for the stone elves. The room the party were locked in was small and windowless with a single door, and had two benches set against the walls. Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne sat on one side, and Josh and Jann on the other. So here Josh was, tied up and captive, again. Why did this keep happening all the time? Luckily he had had time to take precautions at the castle before they left. ¡°Pally, you said this route would be safe,¡± Lady Alianne said. She sounded distraught, and Josh didn¡¯t blame her one bit. Lady Paleyne couldn¡¯t reply, due to the gag, but the expression in her eyes was bleak. Josh, meanwhile, reached into the cuff of his sleeve for the folded scrap of paper he had prepared the night before. He pushed magic into the spell paper, which was wrapped around another paper object. The spell paper disintegrated, leaving Josh with a small paper knife, now imbued with the Stone spell. Lady Paleyne¡¯s eyes had darted to him the moment he had cast, but she didn¡¯t react in any other way. Josh started cutting the ropes around his wrists. It was so much easier with his hands in front of him, and he didn¡¯t nick himself at all this time. Clearly practice made perfect. The moment his bonds fell away, he stood up, stepped over to Lady Paleyne, and started cutting at the ropes around her wrists. Her eyes widened at him, and she made urgent noises against the gag. Josh looked confusedly at the door, thinking that maybe one of the guards had come in and he hadn¡¯t noticed, but it wasn¡¯t that at all. Instead, Jann¡¯s arm snaked around Josh¡¯s neck, hauled him away from Lady Paleyne, and squeezed tight. What the hell? Josh stabbed him in the forearm with the paper knife, and Jann grunted, but didn¡¯t let go. Josh struggled for breath, and tried to throw Jann off him, but instead found that his vision was dimming. He threw them desperately to the side, and they crashed into the door, landing on the floor. Jann didn¡¯t let go, however. Josh struggled, but the other man¡¯s grip was too tight. Just as he realised he was going to lose consciousness and there was nothing he could do, Jann¡¯s arm around his neck suddenly went limp. Josh rolled over, heaving air into his lungs, and saw Lady Paleyne. She had managed to get one of the finger gloves half way off, and had her hand on Jann¡¯s ankle. She must have rendered him unconscious. With magic. It was good to know that she could do that. The door jerked open, and the guard who had been standing in the corridor appeared in the doorway, sword in hand. Josh scrabbled for one of his spells, and cast Stone again, this time on the guard¡¯s own armour. It didn¡¯t stop him, but it slowed him enough that Josh was able to scramble backwards, even as Lady Paleyne ripped the gag from her mouth and said something. Josh didn¡¯t hear exactly what she said, but there was a force behind it, an effect that spread out in a ripple. He didn¡¯t realise what it had done at first. He saw Lady Alianne jump forward and throw her cloak over the guard¡¯s sword, but everything happened in complete silence. There was only a ringing sound in Josh¡¯s ears, and the rushing of his own blood, but he couldn¡¯t hear anything else. That had been a silence spell! Josh rolled out of the way as Lady Paleyne jumped over the prone form of Jann, and reached out towards the guard. He evaded her, trying to step back, but was hampered by his own stiffened armour and the cloak that tangled his sword. Josh was still holding the paper knife. He stabbed at the side of the guard¡¯s knee, but the knife just shattered against the pebbly grey armour, so he grabbed hold of the guard¡¯s leg and tried to pull him off balance. The Stone spell on the armour made that harder, but the guard felt him and tried to kick him away, and that distraction finally allowed Lady Paleyne to get within reach. She only needed to brush the guard¡¯s temple with her fingers, and the guard collapsed, landing heavily against the door. Lady Paleyne was really dangerous. Even as Josh had that thought, she stumbled, and then collapsed on the floor in a faint of her own. What had caused that? Was that what happened when you magically over-exerted yourself? Josh crawled towards her. Luckily, she had landed top of Jann, instead of onto the stone floor of the cell, so she hadn¡¯t hit her head or injured herself, as far as he could see. She had deep, bruised shadows under her eyes, which were closed, and she was very pale, but she was breathing evenly and steadily. The silence spell disappeared with a pop, and Josh realised that Alianne was crying something. ¡°Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods,¡± she was saying in her high, piercing voice, over and over again. ¡°Quiet!¡± Josh said to her urgently. She shut up, and stared at him with huge, offended eyes. ¡°Help me get her up.¡± He indicated Lady Paleyne, then realised he would need to untie Lady Alianne first. That accomplished, they lifted Lady Paleyne onto the bench, and laid her down. Josh removed the remains of the bindings around her wrists. Jann and the guard were still unconscious, but he had no idea how long they would be out for. Wait, they were unconscious and not dead, weren¡¯t they? Josh checked their pulses and breathing, and was relieved to find them still alive. Jann¡¯s arm was still bleeding, though, where Josh had cut him with the paper knife. Why had Jann attacked him? Had he thought that Josh was trying to hurt Lady Paleyne with the knife? No, it should have been obvious what Josh had been doing. The guards had been prepared for Lady Paleyne. They had known she was coming, despite the last minute and secretive nature of the expedition, and the decoy in the form of Clarisa. This implied a traitor. Jann had tried to stop Josh from freeing Lady Paleyne. Therefore, Jann must be the traitor. Josh''s thoughts felt muzzy as he slowly worked this through, and he shook his head. If he was going to escape he needed to be sharper. Jann¡¯s hands were still tied together. Josh checked the ropes, then used a fragment of his paper knife to tear a strip from the bottom of Jann¡¯s shirt, and bound the cut on his arm. Then he hauled Jann into a sitting position on the bench, leaning his head against the wall. Josh went to tie up the guard, then realised that maybe this would be a way to escape. He hesitated, then used Chi Siphon to pull the Stone spell out of the guard¡¯s armour. ¡°Can you help me strip him?¡± he asked Lady Alianne. The expression on her face indicated that he might as well have asked her to perform an indecent sex act. ¡°You should refer to me as ''my lady'',¡± she said, haughtily. Josh repressed a sigh of exasperation. ¡°Would you please help me strip him, my lady? Maybe I can wear his armour and help us escape.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± she said, as if she had only just cottoned on to the reason for the request. ¡°Oh! I see. Well, yes, that seems a worthy course of action. Only, it would not be appropriate for me to look while you do so.¡± After a short discussion, she graciously consented to help him roll the guard if she got to keep her eyes closed. Eventually the guard was slumped beside Jann, wearing Josh¡¯s clothes, with his head turned away from the door so that he wouldn¡¯t be immediately recognisable. Josh was wearing the grey snakeskin armour. It had a separate cloth lining that smelled strongly of its previous occupant, but Josh didn¡¯t want to suffer from chafing issues, so he had donned that too. The outer leather was buttery soft and smooth, and seemed to stretch to fit him so that he could move easily. And the mask was a godsend. Josh had no idea whose idiotic idea it had been to put masks on the Earl of Northcrag¡¯s guards, but he mentally thanked them from the bottom of his heart. ¡°How does it look?¡± he asked Lady Alianne, before remembering to add, ¡°My lady?¡± She gave him pleased smile. ¡°You certainly look the part!¡± Josh gave her both of his Hide spells. ¡°If I don¡¯t come back, use these for you and Lady Paleyne.¡± He explained how the spell operated. Lady Alianne took the spell papers. Her brows quirked as she peered at them. ¡°They seem very ¡­ odd,¡± she said uncertainly. ¡°The markings are somewhat crude.¡± ¡°They will work,¡± Josh told her firmly. She nodded. ¡°Good luck!¡± Josh took a deep breath, then opened the door and peeked out into the corridor. It was empty. The door had been barred from the outside previously, and Josh wanted to leave it that way while he scouted their escape route, so that it looked like the prisoners were still secure. He dropped the bar, and ventured down the corridor, his mouth dry. The stone elf apartment wasn¡¯t large. There was a straight corridor from their cell directly to the balcony overlooking the underground lake. There were six doors lining the corridor, three on each side. One was the cell Joshua had just come from. It hadn¡¯t originally been designed to keep prisoners¡ªthe bar was an obvious, crude addition hammered onto the delicate scrollwork of the doorframe. Where were all the stone elves? Josh told himself to shut up and focus. That wasn¡¯t important right now. He moved quietly and listened carefully at each door, but heard nothing until he got to one of the doors closest to the balcony. There he heard the low murmur of voices. They sounded relaxed, as if it was just two guards idly talking. There had been the commander, plus six guards, which made seven in total. One guard was out of commission, two were in the room next to Josh, which left five unaccounted for. There were also the two pontoon men. Had they gone back to the lower lake? Josh edged as close to the balcony as possible. He jerked back when he realised there were two guards standing on it, looking down onto the quay. In Spiralia Online, the route through the dungeon had taken the party over the bridges that laced across the cavern lake, and which connected the rows of balconies on each side. The party had fought swarms of giant, crystalline spiders. No-one had bothered with the apartments, which had been full of undead stone elves, and hadn¡¯t contained anything worth looting, so Josh didn¡¯t know the layout, but it seemed fairly simple. He retreated to the cell door, and studied the corridor again. Five of the six doors were obviously elven in nature. They were built from something light but hard and resilient, and had once been covered with lacquer, then decorated with an intricate patterned inlay. The inlay material had long been ripped out, leaving just the impression behind. The sixth door, however, was little more than rough planks of timber hammered together, with another bar bolted into the decorative elven stonework. It looked like it had been installed to block off access to somewhere. Josh glanced around, then lifted the bar and peered through the doorway. There was a spiral stairway leading down. He hesitated, then followed it to the floor below. This turned out to be an open area, with an arched ceiling, walls of shelves on either side, and a marble countertop taking up pride of place in the middle. It looked like a shop layout. The shop opened straight out onto a walkway which ran along the lower part of the cavern. Josh crept towards the opening and peeped out. He could see the pontoon men, sitting on their craft and talking idly to each other, and three guards standing on the quayside. That accounted for six guards, leaving only the whereabouts of the commander unknown. He looked along the length of the walkway. It was hidden from the two guards on the level above, but in sight of the quayside. None of the guards were facing this way, though. Their attention was focused on the lock doors. It would be risky to move along the walkway, but possible, so long as none of the guards decided to stare in this direction. The Hide spells would be useful for that, but Josh only had two spells to cover three people, unless he could retrieve his magic cloak. If he knew where the commander was, he would be able to search all the rooms. Had she gone to report to the Earl of Northcrag that she had captured her prisoners, as ordered? Josh quietly returned to the upper corridor. He couldn¡¯t stop to search for his things, agonising as it would be to abandon his little collection of magic items. And what would happen to the book moths? But Jann or the guard might return to consciousness at any moment. Josh had no idea what had prompted Jann¡¯s treachery, but he could no longer be trusted, and would have to be left behind. Josh was just about to re-enter the prisoner¡¯s cell when he heard a door in the corridor opening. For a moment he panicked, but then he remembered he was wearing a guard uniform, and took up a position outside the cell, as the real guard had done. The commander emerged from the middle door. She glanced incuriously at Josh, but evidently saw nothing amiss, for she turned in the other direction, and headed to the balcony. Josh waited another few moments, but only heard voices. He crept along the corridor and peeked out. The guard commander was looking out over the lake, and conversing with the guards. She had her back to Josh, with her hands clasped behind her back in a sort of parade rest. Maybe there would be enough time to search her office. 1.31 – It’s not stealing if it was already stolen The guard commander¡¯s office contained a soldier¡¯s cot, with a folded blanket and pillow, a wooden chest beside it, a stand for holding armour, a rack of weapons¡ªmostly swords¡ªand a desk with several neat stacks of paper. There was a side table with a bottle of wine and a goblet on a tray. There was no sign of Josh¡¯s things, but he could feel the slight buzz that meant there were magic items nearby. He glanced desperately around the room, and that was when he saw the second chest, hidden behind the commander¡¯s desk, beside which were piled the bags from the pack horse. The chest was fastened, but not locked, and inside Josh found his bow, quiver, knife, and pack, all untouched. There was also a small pouch containing Lady Paleyne¡¯s jewellery. Josh stuffed that into his pack. Jann¡¯s sword also lay in the chest, and Josh hesitated, but he decided to leave it, since one lesson didn¡¯t qualify him to use it, and he didn¡¯t think Lady Paleyne or Lady Alianne would be able to either. There was one more thing tucked behind the chest¡ªa long staff of polished wood, with elaborate carvings. Was it a wizard¡¯s staff? He picked it up and felt the heft of it. It tingled in his hands, and he realised it was enchanted. He didn¡¯t want to risk activating it, in case anyone noticed, and in any case it would be a really stupid idea to get distracted by a magic staff when he was supposed to be escaping from his captors. Was this corner of the room piled with all the spoils the commander had taken from people she had detained on behalf of the Earl of Northcrag? If it had been the commander''s own weapon, Josh felt sure it would have been on the rack with her swords. She seemed like more of a sword enthusiast than a staff-user. Josh, however, would feel a lot happier wielding a staff compared to a sword. A quarterstaff would go with his Robin Hood hat. Also, he felt more confident with the idea of poking at someone from the other end of a long pole than waving a sword about. The staff would give him reach. He decided to take it. The commander had probably stolen it from someone else anyway. He rifled quickly through the bags from the pack horse, filling a sack with various supplies, and then redistributing the remainder so that it didn¡¯t look like anything had been taken. Hoisting the sack over his shoulder, he opened the door cautiously, his heart pattering away like a hummingbird, but the commander was nowhere in sight. He hoped she was still standing with the guards. He crept back to the cell, lifted the bar, and went in. Jann and the guard were still unconscious. So, unfortunately, was Lady Paleyne. Lady Alianne sat there with Lady Paleyne¡¯s head on her lap. She had wrapped the gag around Lady Paleyne¡¯s mouth, and the ropes around her wrists, so that it looked as if she was still secured, but loosely enough that Lady Paleyne could shake them off if she woke up, which was a good thought. Josh piled the items he had retrieved behind the door, where they would be out of sight of anyone coming it. ¡°Do you know how long Jann and the guard will be out?¡± Josh asked Lady Alianne, who gave him a severe look. For a moment he wondered why, then remembered her insistence on protocol. ¡°My lady,¡± he added, trying not to sound irritated. ¡°I¡¯ve only ever seen Pally do it once before,¡± she said. ¡°When Lord Booly was drunk and making a fool of himself. He was out for several hours, but I was the only one who realised what she¡¯d done. Everyone else thought he was just sleeping it off.¡± She hesitated. ¡°The healers always say the person has to consent to it. They normally make it into a sort of ritual where they tell them to go to sleep, and it¡¯s several minutes before it takes effect. I didn¡¯t know it could be done instantly like that.¡± If Josh could render people instantly unconscious with just a touch, he would keep that secret too. Assuming Lady Paleyne could control the length of time she could put people under, she would likely have made it as long as possible for both Jann and the guard. Maybe that was why she had collapsed. ¡°I¡¯ll just be a minute,¡± Josh said, and slipped out of the door before Lady Alianne could demand that he address her properly. The commander was still on the balcony. Josh could collect the two ladies and go now, before she returned to her office. Or he could wait until after she returned, and then they might have more time before their absence was noticed. What if the commander decided to check on the prisoners? What if she came up and spoke to Josh while he was pretending to be the guard? The masks were useful from a distance, but he had to assume she would know her own men well enough to see through the deception up close. He stood in an agony of indecision as the minutes trickled by. Several times he nearly decided that, to hell with it, they should escape right now, but each time he forced himself to wait. It felt like an hour, but was probably only ten or fifteen minutes before the commander returned to the corridor. Was Josh standing right? Would she notice anything off? Was he supposed to salute? He hadn¡¯t before. What if she came to speak to him? He watched her out of the corner of his eyes, but once again she barely glanced at him and went back into her office. He was so relieved he wanted to fall limply against the wall, but he stiffened his spine. Now was their chance. He opened the cell door and hissed, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± He gave his bow and quiver and the sack of supplies to Lady Alianne to carry, and then, with her assistance, heaved Lady Paleyne onto his shoulders in a fireman¡¯s carry. Last of all he took the staff, and they shuffled out into the corridor. Lady Alianne barred their cell door again, locking Jann and the guard inside. ¡°The door opposite,¡± Josh whispered. They wouldn¡¯t be able to bar it behind them, but there was nothing they could do about that. Josh descended the stairs as rapidly as he dared, Lady Alianne on his heels. When they got onto the lower level, Josh laid Lady Paleyne carefully down on the shop¡¯s countertop, hurriedly took out his invisibility cloak, and activated it. He then cast Hide on both women, using the spell papers, before lifting Lady Paleyne onto his shoulders again, a process that became a little more challenging now that he couldn¡¯t see her properly. They crept along the walkway leading further into the Cathedral, with Lady Alianne walking backwards and watching the guards, ready to warn Josh if they decided to glance in this direction. They would never have made it without the cloak and the Hide spells. They couldn¡¯t walk too fast, partly because of Josh¡¯s burden, but mostly because they didn¡¯t want the guards to catch any flash of movement out of the corner of their eyes. Twice, he felt Lady Alianne¡¯s warning hand on his arm when a guard glanced idly at the walkway. At any moment Josh was expecting the cry to go up. If the commander or any of the guards went into the corridor, they would immediately notice that the guard outside the cell door was missing, or that the stairwell door wasn¡¯t barred, and raise the alarm. They made it all the way down to the other end of the cavern, by which point Josh¡¯s back and shoulders were aching, and he was sweating heavily under the cloak. At the end of the walkway, the cavern narrowed, the walls pinching in on either side, leaving a channel for the pontoon, with a thin ledge beside it. Josh had to shuffle sideways along it, but at least the rock walls crowding in now hid them from the guards. There was another canal lock to allow vessels to pass from this cavern to the next, but this one had a stone staircase and a stone elf door at the top. ¡°What if the door is locked?¡± Alianne whispered nervously over his shoulder. Josh glanced at the levers that would open the canal lock doors. ¡°It¡¯s intended to be opened from this side,¡± he whispered back. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°What about the guards on the other side? And you should address me properly.¡± For fuck¡¯s sake. ¡°Yes, well, luckily I¡¯m dressed as a guard, my lady.¡± Josh set Lady Paleyne carefully down on the top step, and leaned her against the wall, careful not to bang her head. Lady Alianne crouched beside her while Josh put his hand on the doorlatch and slowly eased it open. Beyond the door was another fort, in the same square, blocky style of construction as the first, with the addition of an artificial canal running down to the lake, blocked off by an iron gate. The other main difference was that this fort was facing outwards, protecting the door they had just come through from the cavern ahead. The previous two guard posts had been protecting the entrance to the Azure Cathedral from the south, which made sense. They weren''t that far in yet. This fort, however, was guarded against the Cathedral itself. Were there still monsters roaming about? What could the Earl of Northcrag¡¯s men be so afraid of, that lived within the depths of caverns? Maybe it had been a bad idea to escape in this direction, but it was the only route that had been open. The fort had guards present, but they were standing on the walls of a wooden walkway, looking in the opposite direction. Josh eased the door back until it was nearly shut, and asked Alianne what she thought the purpose of the fort might be. He couldn¡¯t see her, but her whispered reply sounded as confused as he was. Josh debated taking off the cloak, and walking around in his solder disguise, but that meant Lady Alianne would have to be the one carrying Lady Paleyne. He whispered quick instructions, then found Lady Paleyne by feel, trying not to put his hands anywhere she might object to, and hoisted her onto his shoulders. Then he very gently opened the door a crack. The guards were still looking the opposite way. Josh squeezed through, then closed the door again and watched them. He could feel his hands shaking with fear, and his stomach was just a hollow pit. There were two wooden towers at the outer corners of the fort, each with one guard, and a third guard pacing up and down the walkway that connected them. Josh waited until they were all facing fully away, and then quickly opened the door for Alianne. Her blurred form slipped through, and then she vanished. Josh closed the door, his eyes still on the guards. It would only take a glance at the wrong moment, and they would be discovered. Lady Paleyne¡¯s weight was pressing down on him. She wasn¡¯t a tall woman, but he¡¯d been carrying her some distance already. If he¡¯d been able to walk normally it might have been easier, but their slow progress made it harder. He reached his hand out slowly until he felt Alianne¡¯s arm. She started at his touch, but clung onto his sleeve. Josh started shuffling towards the left tower. If he moved slowly enough, the Hide spell and the cloak would compensate, and the invisibility effect would remain in place. It took about twenty minutes for them to make their way across the inner courtyard, up the wooden steps, and onto the walkway next to the tower. Josh¡¯s feet hurt, his back was in agony and his shoulders were screaming at him. By the time they reached the base of the tower, he wasn¡¯t sure he would be able to make the next section. He put Lady Paleyne down, and crouched over her, feeling spent. Lady Alianne¡¯s hand clutched urgently at his wrist, probably to ask why he was delaying. He didn¡¯t dare even whisper, in case the guard in the tower directly above them heard it. Their position meant they were out of the line of sight of all three guards. The one in the tower would have to peer over the edge and look directly down at them, and the tower blocked them from the two others. Josh peered over the fort wall. This cavern was the biggest yet, but it was also the least well lit. He couldn¡¯t see it, but he knew it consisted of a vast, shallow lake, with a path around the outside, and an island in the centre. The only natural illumination came from clusters of blue flowers which floated on the surface of the lake. The guards had compensated for the low light conditions by planting flaming torches in a radius around the fort. Beyond the ring of torches, the cavern fell into darkness. Which was perfect. All Josh and Lady Alianne needed to do now was get past the torches, and they would be out of sight. In Spiralia Online, this cavern had held a variety of crystalline creatures, but the worst had been the swarms of bats. Josh very much hoped that the bat problem had been dealt with. Once he felt able to stand again, he propped the staff against the tower, whereupon it immediately became visible, but he couldn¡¯t help that. He tapped Lady Alianne on the arm, and tied the rope he had taken from the pack horse supplies around the sharpened stakes that formed the fort¡¯s outer wall. The rope was visible too, but it was a similar colour to the wood it was wrapped around. Josh helped Lady Alianne over the edge, and watched while she made her way down. She didn¡¯t do too badly, given that she had probably never climbed down a rope before. It was reassuring how little of her he could see¡ªjust a blurry outline, and a flash of hair or skin or clothing every now and again. Still, the movement would catch the guard¡¯s eye if he happened to look down. Josh couldn¡¯t see the top of the tower from his vantage point, so he just had to trust that the guard would be staring out over the water. Once Lady Alianne reached the bottom, she stepped to the side, and Josh hauled the rope up. He wrapped it around Lady Paleyne in a crude harness, and then lifted her with it, which was no picnic, and made something in his back twinge painfully. He lowered her over the side, and paid the rope out gradually. He hadn¡¯t thought this through properly, because the rope burned the skin on his hands, and she still wasn¡¯t all the way down when he heard a door slamming shut on the other side of the fort. He froze, and very slowly looked over his shoulder. A guard captain was strolling through the courtyard, on his way to the very set of stairs that Josh had climbed up. Josh¡¯s muscles were already beginning to feel the strain. When he had carried Lady Paleyne in a fireman¡¯s hold, her weight had been more distributed, but with this he was pulling on a rope, and the coarse texture of it was already pulling at the skin of his palms and burning his fingers. The guard captain didn¡¯t seem to be in any rush. How far down was Lady Paleyne? Josh thought she must be about six feet from the base of the fort. His hands were hidden from the view of the guard captain and he continued letting her down. As the captain reached the top of the stairs, Josh let the rope slip through his fingers, which was excruciating. He hope that Lady Alianne would be able to catch her. drop the rope so that it wouldn¡¯t look as if it was floating in mid-air. It still trailed on the walkway however. Should he throw it over the side? But how would he get down? And, oh shit, the staff was still visible where it leant against the tower. Would it go invisible again if he picked it up? Before Josh could decide on a course of action, the guard captain had climbed the stairs and reached the walkway. He walked towards the tower, calling up to the guard there. Something about the evening run, whatever that meant. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t see the rope and the staff, and he would just go back down the stairs, or walk straight past Josh and onto the middle section of the walkway¡­ Josh saw the moment it happened. The guard captain nodded, and his eyes fell to the side, and a little frown appeared between his brows, and then his eyes widened. He was drawing a breath to yell when Josh broke invisibility, threw himself forwards, and pushed the captain off the walkway. The moment he had done it, he felt sick. What if the captain had been killed? Josh didn''t want to hurt him badly. He couldn''t stop to think about that. He needed to focus on escaping. He turned back to the tower and realised that the rope had fallen from the wall. Had Lady Alianne pulled it down by accident? Shit! He grabbed the staff, which gave a little thrum in his hand, as if it knew that something was happening. He activated the magic, and feel deep, endless coils of spell work flare to life within it. It had a similar feel to the sword of Orlad, the green-eyed kidnapper. No, it felt deeper and more complicated than that. A cry went up amongst the guards. Josh was so dizzy with panic that for a moment he didn¡¯t understand what they were saying. They were shouting: ¡°Huldra! Huldra!¡± They thought Josh was a huldra. There was no time to puzzle over the magic in the staff. Even with an enchanted weapon, there was no way Josh could fight off three guards, and more were piling out of the fort¡¯s inner buildings. He peeked over the outer wall, and saw only the rope and harness coiled on the ground. Where were Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne? The guard captain would have seen the blur before he was pushed. They would know there was an invisible person here. Josh was going to have to jump. He climbed over the wall, hung onto the base of one of the stakes with one hand while holding the staff in the other, then glanced down. That was a mistake. The ground seemed very far away. It was a much bigger drop on this side of the wall. Josh prayed that Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne weren¡¯t directly under him, and let go. Instead of the massive jolt he was expecting from landing on the ground, he felt the staff tugging violently away from him, nearly ripping itself from his grip. He grabbed hold of it instinctively with both hands as the cavern and the fort whirled unexpectedly upside-down¡ªno, he was the one who was upside-down¡ªand then he staggered, and realised he was on the ground. He was fine. It was as if he had only jumped a few feet. What the hell? Was it some kind of magical acrobatic staff? He didn¡¯t have time to process that, though, because he needed to find a place to hide. There was still no sign of Alianne or Lady Paleyne. They were probably hiding nearby, but the guard might think to search the area by poking spears everywhere, or by swinging swords around, the way Orlad had done. Should Josh run or hide? If he hid, he would inevitably be discovered sooner or later. But if he ran, the guards would be able to see him immediately. They would shoot arrows at him, or chase after him. The shore curved away ahead of Josh. The cavern wall ran to his left, with the lake to the right. An arrow thudded into the ground a few feet away. He stared at it stupidly, and then saw another one appear, about three feet closer. The guard in the tower was peppering the ground with arrows, trying to find the invisible person. Josh bolted. 1.32 – When you don’t need to ask for directions Josh was probably going to die. He had enough wits left to remember to zig zag as he ran from the fort, just as he would have done if he had been in a first-person shooter. Arrows began to ricochet around him, striking the stony ground with a loud crack. He flinched at each one, hoped that Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne were safe, and that his flight would cause enough of a distraction for them to stay hidden. The outer circle of flaming torches seemed impossibly far away. They were just beyond bow range, he realised. He pelted for them, keeping his strafing movements random. An arrow pinged ahead of him and he swerved to avoid it, then swerved again. Was he just imagining or were the guards beginning to anticipate his movements? The staff thrummed in hands. He¡¯d momentarily forgotten he was carrying it. Red lights suddenly appeared, darting through the air and striking the ground. Did the guards have some kind of magic spell? A split second later, he saw arrows striking the points the red light had marked. What were the guards doing? Did they have some kind of magical targeting system? Didn¡¯t they know Josh could see it? The staff kept giving out little thrumming pulses that timed with the red lights as they lanced around him. Josh realised the targeting lights weren¡¯t coming from the guards, they were coming from the staff. It was warning him where the arrows were about to land. Just as he had that thought, a red light pierced through the centre of his chest. He threw himself to the side as an arrow thwacked on the ground in front of him. If he hadn¡¯t moved, he probably would have died. Temporarily died, he reminded himself, even as he threw himself the other way to avoid a shaft through his arm. But if he did, he would lose all his experience, not to mention he would be abandoning two women in a hostile environment, one of them unconscious, and neither of them with a secret resurrection ability. If they died, that would be it, and it would be partly Josh¡¯s fault for getting them into this particular situation. The staff became even more helpful, casting illusions of person-shaped outlines which showed where Josh should step. He followed its instructions while arrows pinged around him, but with the staff¡¯s help, each one missed. The illusion consisted of a trail of multiple images through the air, followed by a wire-framed mesh that settled over his body and grew brighter every time he was out of alignment. The clever, intuitive feedback was suspiciously game-like, but it wasn¡¯t easy to follow its instructions when he was running flat out. He didn¡¯t want to get it wrong. Then the staff added an illusory copy of itself to the Josh-shaped figure, and the illusion swirled its imaginary staff expertly from side to side, to no purpose that Josh could see. He did his best to copy it anyway, just in case. A moment later, the hail of arrows faltered briefly. Josh had a brief flash of hope that he was out of the danger zone, but new lights flashed all around him, saturating the area he was in. The guards were going for a massed volley. Josh saw the outline of himself turn to face the arrow storm. What? But the staff had guided him well so far, so he stumbled and turned, trying to get himself into place within the guide mesh as best he could. He held the staff in front of him, rotating it just as the illusion suggested, then realised he was standing in a guard position just as the hail of arrows reached him. You couldn¡¯t block arrows with a staff! That was the sort of stupid, unrealistic thing that happened in martial arts movies. But then there was a knocking sound and the staff was nearly torn out of his grip as it deflected an arrow that would have taken him in the stomach. At the same time, a line of fire bloomed on his right calf and his left arm. The arrows fell away, so Josh whirled and kept running. A couple of seconds later more red lights bloomed around him, but the distribution pattern was looser, allowing him to dodge. By the third volley, the range had widened up, and he hardly needed to dodge at all. And there was the outer ring of torches, only a little way ahead. The last handful of arrows clattered away, and the last torch flashed past him. He was in the darkness beyond the torch line, and out of arrow range. For the moment. He slowed to a jog, gasping for breath. His calf and his arm felt like they were on fire. He automatically put his hand to his upper arm, where he found a tear in the snakeskin armour. He couldn¡¯t stop to inspect the damage though. The fort might send a squad out after him, so his first priority was to find somewhere he could rest and take stock. At first he could hardly see anything, but as his eyes adjusted, he began to pick out landmarks around him. There were scattered islands out in the lake, and a dark cleft in the rock wall ahead. This cavern had multiple small caves and tunnels leading away from it, all feeding into to a large maze called the Myriad. This was the section of the Cathedral which had caused Josh¡¯s raiding group the most trouble in Spiralia Online. Subjectively, it had only been a month or so ago, but he wasn¡¯t sure he could remember the route well enough to get everyone through it. That was assuming he could find Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne at all, given that the Hide spells were still active. They only lasted an hour. How long did they have left? They would probably be running out soon, Josh realised with alarm. It had taken them a long time to cross the previous cavern, and getting out of the fort had been a slow process. They might only have fifteen or twenty minutes of invisibility left. Josh hadn¡¯t thought to give Lady Alianne a place they could meet if they got split up, even supposing she would be able to find her way in a cavern that was close to full darkness. Maybe Josh should have told her to go to the stone elf shrine on the island in the middle of the lake, which was reasonably well lit, although that would be an obvious place for the guards to look. Josh darted into one of the side tunnels which led to the Myriad. He remembered this one¡ªin Spiralia, the tank had directed them there because he knew a place they could sit that was free of monsters while he dealt with whatever his wife had wanted. They¡¯d waited for twenty minutes before he sent them message to say he couldn¡¯t continue, and that they would have to go on without him. In the game, the Myriad had been full of a subtle ambient light that allowed the players to see. There was no such benefit in the real version of it, and the moment Josh took the first turn he was plunged into deep darkness. He dug around in his pack and brought out a handful of his largest feathers, using a tiny trickle of magic to make them glow. It helped a little, even though he still had to find his way by feel. His boot felt wet and sticky. Had he stepped in something? The tunnel led eventually to an open area, which was bisected by a wide chasm, just as Josh remembered. To one side of the cave was a rocky ledge, situated above head height. The party had amused themselves while waiting by trying to use a shield bash ability to boost each other up onto it. Josh would be able to get up there easily without the restrictions imposed by a video game. He squashed himself back into the ledge as far as he could, and tried to use the glowing feathers to inspect his calf. The area around it was drenched black, and when he felt the tear in the armour, his hands came away sticky. That meant it was bleeding. That was why his boot was wet¡ªit was full of blood. The rip on his arm was similar, although it seemed to have bled less. Josh had no bandages, and he didn¡¯t want to cut strips off his spare set of clothing, because it was now his only set, aside from the armour. He clamped his hands over both wounds, trying to use pressure to stop the bleeding. He was beginning to feel sick and lightheaded, either from loss of blood or shock or both. Lady Alianne had taken the sack of supplies, so he had nothing to eat. He hoped she still had it. A short while later, Josh saw a faint glimmer of torch light spreading through the cave, and quickly shoved the glowing feathers underneath the cloak, just in time. It was a squad of four guards. Two of them arranged themselves outside the entrance to the open area while a third thrust a torch in, and the fourth stood back with his weapon drawn. ¡°There¡¯s blood,¡± the one with the torch said, bending down to touch something on the ground and then rubbing his fingers together. ¡°It came this way.¡± It? Did they think Josh was some random monster? The guard with the torch took several steps into the cavern, studying the ground, but to Josh¡¯s relief found no more blood. The bleeding must have slowed enough by that point. ¡°It never got across that,¡± one of the other guards said, nodding towards the chasm. ¡°It dint have no torch. Maybe it fell?¡± a third suggested. ¡°Them buggers can see in the dark. Maybe climbed down.¡± The first stood up and held up the torch while he looked around. Josh froze and stopped breathing. Another guard grunted. ¡°We should smoke the lot of them out. Don¡¯t know why we always sit around staring out into the darkness and waiting for them to throw that powdery shit at us. Gives me the creeps, this place.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Another one said, ¡°Money¡¯s good at least.¡± ¡°It bloody well should be.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go back. Little fucker¡¯s probably trying to draw us into an ambush.¡± They withdrew. Josh waited for some time, enough for the sweat to dry on his skin and cause him to shiver, and for his wounds to stop bleeding. He felt drained by the events of the past few hours, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. He needed to find the others. Maybe even rescue them. He was uneasily aware, however, that escaping may have put both himself and the two women in more danger than if they had stayed captured. It was evident that Lady Paleyne had been utterly wrong when she¡¯d said the stone elves were the ones who granted passage through the Cathedral. Josh didn¡¯t know exactly what was going on, but it was looked like it was the Earl of Northcrag had control of the Cathedral, and was at war with the huldra. Were the huldra dangerous? Did they hate humans? Josh was uneasily aware that he had run straight into huldra territory wearing Northcrag guard armour. It probably didn¡¯t matter what the huldra though of humans in general if he was clothed in the uniform of their enemy. Maybe it would be better for Josh and the two ladies to return to the fort and surrender. The Earl of Northcrag probably wasn¡¯t going to kill them. Josh wished he could discuss it with Lady Paleyne. Eventually he climbed down off the ledge, limped towards the tunnel entrance and peered out into the cavern with the lake. There was no sign of the guards. He stood there uncertainly. Had they captured the women? He should at least attempt to search for them, but he should be careful, because the guards might have left a squad lying in wait. Josh eased out of the cave and flattened himself against the rock wall. He moving slowly and carefully, first clockwise, away from the ring of torches, and then edged his way back again. He saw no sign of guards, and if the staff held any opinion on the matter, it kept its own council. He had no idea what to do now. Go and find the women near the base of the fort? How could he get there without being discovered? Could he hide in the water? It looked cold and inky black as it lapped at the shore. The blue glow of the shrine was visible in the middle of the lake, which was dotted with flowers. They were even more beautiful than they had been in Spiralia, a mix of cerulean, sapphire and lapis lazuli, cupped like great lotuses, but with rounded petals. They floated serenely on the water, each one about two feet in diameter. Wait, was that flower moving? Was there some monster underneath? Something pale and misshapen rose up from the lake and collapsed on the shore, coughing horribly. Josh realised it was Lady Alianne. He ran forward, and saw Lady Paleyne sprawled on the shore beside her, still unconscious, her dark hair tumbled around her in wet coils. He knelt by Lady Alianne, worried about the noise she was making. Sound carried far in this cavern. ¡°Shhhh, my lady, please, if you can,¡± he said, looking around them, although he couldn¡¯t see any sign of guards. Lady Alianne nodded and tried to muffle her coughs with her hand. She was shivering uncontrollably, and the cold and wet couldn¡¯t have done Lady Paleyne any good either. The Hide spells had already dissipated, so Josh de-activated the invisibility effect on the fur cloak and held it out to Lady Alianne. She burrowed into it gratefully. He took out the second cloak, the magic muffling one, then dragged Lady Paleyne fully out of the water, and draped it over her. ¡°Did you hide under a flower all the way from the fort?¡± he asked in a low voice, impressed. She nodded. ¡°That was really clever!¡± At her fulminating glance, he added, ¡°My lady!¡± She gave another weak cough. ¡°Where next?¡± ¡°We need to go into the Myriad,¡± Josh said. Either that, or turn themselves in. He wasn''t sure whether to suggest that or not. Lady Alianne stared at him. ¡°What do you mean?¡± she hissed. ¡°We can¡¯t ¡­ we need to go back to Brackstone!¡± It was Josh¡¯s turn to stare at her. ¡°We¡¯re in the middle of the Azure Cathedral. My lady.¡± ¡°I know that! I¡¯m not an idiot! I mean, how do we get back to the surface?¡± Josh stared at her some more. ¡°We have to keep going,¡± he said, slowly. ¡°We find our way through the Myriad, then into the Huldra city, and out via the north exit, and then we¡¯ll be close to Dendral.¡± She clutched at the cloak. ¡°What!? Are you utterly mad?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Josh asked, perplexed. ¡°I thought you were leading us back south! Out the way we came in! You seemed to know where you were going!¡± How had she not noticed which direction they were going in? And there was no way he could have operated the first canal lock to get them back through it with all the guards standing around. ¡°I do know where I¡¯m going!¡± ¡°Through the Myriad? Without a guide?¡± Josh had not previously been entirely certain that he would be able to find the way through a network of underground tunnels which continuously crossed each other, turned back on themselves, or unexpectedly turned into vertical drops or impassable chasms. He¡¯d only done it once before, after all, and that had been in a video game. Also, it hadn¡¯t been nearly as dark as this. His resolve firmed. ¡°I can guide us!¡± he declared. ¡°We¡¯re going to die!¡± Lady Alianne clutched her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth. Josh felt insulted. He had got them this far, hadn¡¯t he? At some point the guards at the fort would check in with the commander in the previous cavern and connect the dots. Would the commander organise a search for Josh and the others when they found out the invisible escapees weren¡¯t just huldra ninjas, but human travellers escaping detainment? ¡°Let¡¯s get out of the open,¡± Josh said. ¡°You both need to warm up, my lady, and we should rest before we continue.¡± ¡°Lead on then.¡± Lady Alianne didn¡¯t sound happy about it, but she helped him lift Lady Paleyne into a fireman¡¯s carry. Josh swayed a bit, and ignored the puzzled frown Lady Alianne sent him. His leg felt like it was on fire every time he put weight on it, and his muscles were stiff and ached all over. But they couldn¡¯t stop here. He led them into the caves of the Myriad. This time Josh navigated to a rat¡¯s maze of twisty little tunnels. It was only a short distance from the lake cavern, but it had multiple exits and entrances, and if the guards did come after them, it would be hard to pin them down. Lady Alianne stopped them before they were more than a few metres in, and insisted on lighting a lantern, although Josh had to use a heat spell to dry out the candle, which had been submerged in the lake along with everything else Lady Alianne had been carrying, including their food supplies. Josh could only hope the lake water didn¡¯t contain any harmful bacteria. He could see he was going to be casting a lot of Heat spells. Once they¡¯d found an alcove to settle down in, and Josh had scribed and then cast Heat spells onto the women¡¯s clothing to help get them stay warm, he took himself off a short way and changed out of the armour. That was painful. Where he had bled, the armour was stuck to his skin with dried blood. The cut on his arm and the gash on his leg both started bleeding sluggishly as he pulled it off. He hissed in pain, but he had nothing to bandage himself with, for all the good that would have done. He should probably have stitches, but they didn¡¯t have anything like that in the supplies Lady Alianne had been carrying. He shrugged his spare set of clothes on carefully, and he was probably going to get blood on them, but he couldn¡¯t help that. The wounds settled into a hot, persistent ache that was hard to ignore. Back in the alcove, Lady Alianne was inspecting their remaining soaked food. There was soggy bread, a bag of oats that had solidified into one big lump of porridge, a wheel of cheese with a hard rind, and some kind of smoked sausage. There were also five apples, which Josh initially thought were rotten, but Lady Alianne called them medlars, and claimed they were supposed to be that way. He dubiously added them to the edible pile, along with the wheel of cheese and the sausage, and cast the Heat spell on all three a couple of times. When he cut into the cheese, he found the heat had made it go slightly runny, so they dipped the sausages into the cheese and ate them that way, and then finished with the medlars, which tasted a little bit like caramelised apples or dates, except with a soft, mushy texture. Josh set aside a portion for Lady Paleyne. ¡°Are you sure you know your way through this place?¡± Lady Alianne asked, giving the tunnels a dubious look. ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said confidently. As far as he could tell, the layout of the Myriad had been replicated in Spiralia exactly. In fact, the landscape of the entire Cathedral had rendered faithfully in the game. That made him hopeful that the rest would be the same, except without monsters. They hadn¡¯t seen any so far. There was only one truly unknown factor. ¡°What do you know of the huldra? Uh, my lady?¡± Lady Alianne¡¯s eyes flickered nervously around them. ¡°Only that they are savage creatures, and tricksters. However, in gratitude for being able to claim their ancestral home in these caverns, they allow agents of the Crown to use the Cathedral to traverse between north and south swiftly and safely. The huldra have little concept of diplomacy, however, so the relationship is managed by the Earl of Northcrag. Whose protection, it appears, we cannot rely on.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it is at all,¡± Josh said, and explained what he had seen¡ªhow fort faced outward into the lake, presumably to defend from the huldra, how the fort¡¯s guards had immediately assumed Josh was one of them, the disparaging way the guards had spoken of the huldra, and of the conflict between them. ¡°So,¡± he concluded, ¡°that means we are in huldra territory now.¡± ¡°You mean they could attack us at any moment?¡± Lady Alianne¡¯s voice rose sharply. Josh made shushing gestures. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like they have any reason to be grateful to humans. Um, my lady. But if the Cathedral is supposed to be a safe route to the north, Northcrag¡¯s couriers must have some way of getting past them. If the huldra were routinely attacking Northcrag convoys then I think everyone would know about it, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Lady Alianne frowned. At that point, Lady Paleyne spoke up. ¡°Northcrag holds a hostage,¡± she said. ¡°Pally!¡± Lady Paleyne slowly heaved herself into a sitting position, and winced. ¡°Why, I beg of you, are my clothes damp?¡± Josh and Lady Alianne tried to speak at once, explaining the events of the past few hours. Lady Paleyne held up a hand. ¡°Yes, yes, so I had gathered. Oh, my poor head!¡± ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Thirsty?¡± He gathered up the portion of food they had left for her, along with the waterskin from his own pack. Lady Paleyne regarded the congealed lump of cheese, the sausages and the medlars with a dubious expression, then sighed. ¡°I am utterly ravenous. While I eat, perhaps you could satisfy my curiosity. Where on earth are we?¡± Josh explained, ignoring the wince Lady Paleyne gave at the intelligence that they were now in the winding caves of the Myriad. He followed that up with, ¡°But what do you mean, a hostage? Does Northcrag keep a huldra hostage?¡± Lady Paleyne shrugged. ¡°Very likely. He could not hold the Cathedral against them if he did not have some way to threaten them, and there is no easier way to achieve that than a hostage. Ideally from their ruling family.¡± ¡°That¡¯s assuming they have a hereditary leadership,¡± Josh said, trying to remember if there had been any information on stone elf social structure and governance in Spiralia. Lady Paleyne gave him an odd look, but before she could reply, another voice floated out of the darkness. ¡°He doess indeed hold a hostage.¡± The voice was lilting, and a little sibilant, in a way that made it sound Scandinavian. A figure materialised out of the darkness, and Josh groped for the magic staff. The newcomer was short, perhaps no more than five feet tall, with a slender build, pale skin, and huge eyes that were all dark iris and no whites. They had pointed ears, and a narrow face that was humanoid, but very much not human. They also had a tail that flicked restlessly at their ankles. Josh was looking at his first huldra. 1.33 - What happens when dungeons aren’t instanced The huldra was male, and his name was Katofen. He did not, it appeared, intend any immediate harm, and was now sitting cross legged opposite them. His eyes, previously all black, now showed a sliver of silver in the centre, and his tail was disposed tidily across his lap. Josh was trying to be calm and mature about this, but a small inner part of himself couldn¡¯t stop jumping up and down with glee and thinking it¡¯s an elf! I met an elf! A real, live elf! ¡°How did you come by your weapon?¡± Katofen asked, nodding at the staff. Josh¡¯s hidden glee was immediately doused by a rush of cold apprehension. Of course, the staff must belong to the stone elves, and had probably been crafted by them. The decorations had a stone elf look, now that he thought about it. The Northcrag commander had probably taken it as tribute, or the spoils or war or something. The huldra wouldn''t think Josh had any claim to it at all. He explained about coming across it while retrieving his own pack and weapons during the escape from the guard post. Katofen nodded, but to Josh¡¯s relief he didn¡¯t immediately demand for it to be handed over. ¡°You are enemies of the lord of Northcrag,¡± he said next. ¡°His guards took us captive,¡± Josh said, but then he looked at Lady Paleyne, who would have a better idea of the political situation. ¡°We paid for passage through the caverns in good faith,¡± Lady Paleyne said, ¡°but, alas, Northcrag betrayed us.¡± The huldra¡¯s lips peeled back to reveal teeth with sharp, white canines. ¡°It is not his right to offer such a thing!¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t know,¡± Josh put in anxiously. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone knows what the real situation is down here, or the war between you and Northcrag.¡± ¡°And perhaps there is not a single one who cares,¡± Kartofen said coldly. ¡°I am known at court,¡± Lady Paleyne offered. Her tone was very neutral. ¡°I can convey a message to the King, if you desire.¡± ¡°And will the King¡¯s heart bleed for my people?¡± Katofen didn¡¯t sound as if he thought this likely. ¡°It is not my place to speak for His Majesty.¡± Katofen turned back to Josh. ¡°I could not help hearing what you said.¡± His tone of voice was ultra polite. ¡°Your plan is to lead this party through the Myriad, to the city of Safirbai, and out again to the upper lands. Are you familiar with our caverns, then? Have you travelled through them many times before?¡± He had to know that this was Josh¡¯s first time. ¡°Not exactly¡­¡± Josh began, only to be interrupted by Lady Alianne. ¡°You said you knew the way!¡± ¡°I do,¡± Josh protested. He cast around for a way to explain how he could know the layout without ever having been here before. ¡°There was a map! When I was ¡­ uh, I used to play games, pretending to have adventures in the caverns.¡± He tried to make it sound as if this was a game of make-believe he had played when he was a child, and not something he¡¯d been doing last month. Katofen¡¯s eyebrows rose. ¡°A map?¡± Lady Paleyne¡¯s attention had also sharpened at the word. ¡°Yes.¡± Josh felt his ears getting hot under the stares directed his way. ¡°The city is held by Northcrag¡¯s men,¡± Kotofen stated, still in that same polite tone of voice. ¡°How do you plan to get into it?¡± ¡°Well, across the invisible ¡­ bridge ¡­¡± Josh¡¯s voice tailed off, as he thought through the implications. ¡°Er.¡± In Spiralia Online, the invisible bridge had been a puzzle. The layout changed regularly, but you could work out where the crossable sections were from clues on the walls. If you got it wrong, you plunged to your death in a pit far below. The problem was that the invisible bridge was a chokepoint. In Spiralia the Azure Cathedral was instanced, which meant each group had their own version of it, and multiple groups could do it concurrently without running into each other. That wasn¡¯t the case here. If the Earl of Northcrag¡¯s men controlled the huldra city, that meant they would be able to defend it the other side of the bridge. Even if you knew the solution to the puzzle, the invisible bridge still required time and care to complete. When Josh had done it with the guild group at least two people had fallen off and died. Mostly because they¡¯d been drunk and not following instructions, but still. Josh tried to imagine what it would be like painstakingly crossing an invisible bridge while under fire from an enemy. Could they do it with the Hide spells and the cloak of invisibility? No, because in Spiralia the rogue was one of the people who had fallen off. The enchantments on the bridge meant that if you tried to cross it while invisible, you fell through. No-one had been able to work out why that mechanic had been added to the game. But in Six Spires it made perfect sense. No wonder the huldra were stuck. Katofen waited for Josh to think through all the implications and inclined his head. ¡°Do you even know the key to the bridge?¡± He sounded faintly disdainful. ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said absently, still aghast at the scene his imagination had conjured. ¡°But even then, it would be impossible to get across it alive.¡± He chewed his lip. ¡°We¡¯ll have to go back, try to get out of the south entrance.¡± Through three sets of guard posts. His idea to head further into the Cathedral had been a stupid one. Lady Alianne had been right. Katofen appeared to come to a decision. ¡°We¡ªthe huldra¡ªoffer you our hospitality,¡± he said, rising to his feet. ¡°Follow me.¡± Josh stood, because it wasn¡¯t as if they had any choice. Lady Paleyne stayed where she was, but then Josh realised she wasn¡¯t refusing to move, she just wanted him to help her up. The tight way she held onto him suggested she wasn¡¯t fully recovered from the strenuous spell-casting earlier Josh stretched his hand out to Lady Alianne next, but she just glared at Lady Paleyne. ¡°Pally, are we truly going to trust these savages?¡± Katofen had a politely neutral expression on his face, as if he hadn¡¯t heard and understood every word Lady Alianne had just said. Lady Paleyne merely looked tired. ¡°We have little choice, my lady,¡± she said. ¡°And if they were going to offer us violence, they would have already done so.¡± Lady Alianne scowled, but accepted Josh¡¯s hand and pulled herself upright, all without looking at him. Travelling through the Myriad led you to three places¡ªthe invisible bridge, the Tangle, which was a cave system full of petrified tree roots, and the Undercaverns. During the Spiralia trip, Josh¡¯s group had ended up in the Tangle by accident. Since they were there, they had killed one of the optional side bosses, before finding their way to the invisible bridge. Josh had never seen the Undercaverns, however, which in Spiralia had been widely regarded as a superfluous addition stemming from poor level design. But if the Cathedral was a real place, then it wouldn¡¯t conform to an ideal dungeon layout. That might explain why the Undercaverns had been included. Josh had wanted to go and explore them in Spiralia, but the guild group had vetoed idea, because the bosses didn¡¯t drop anything valuable enough to be worth it. It was a shame, because in Josh''s opinion it was well worth exploring. It was the Undercaverns into which Katofen now led them. These were formed from the remains of two fossilised dragons locked in frozen combat, but so large that you could never see the whole of either one. It was like the man in a blindfold feeling out an elephant. At one point you would find yourself making your way down a series of massive platelets, and realise that these were scales, the next you would be climbing over a narrow ridge that turned out to be a talon. They saw evidence of other huldra, flashes of pale limbs from scouts watching their progress through the bones, their black eyes reflecting the light eerily. Josh thought the only reason they were visible was because they had allowed themselves to be seen. The huldra village was situated at the apex of a long, curving cavern which Josh eventually realised was the inside of a dragon rib. The walls were plastered with a web-like plant that grew occasional bulbs emitting golden illumination, quite different from the blue light of the azure caverns above. A river ran through the rib, curving around the village, and plunging through a splintered crack into a vast darkness below. The village itself looked like it had been grown out of fungi pods, with domed huts scattered across the floor and halfway up the walls. Katofen stopped them just outside the village. ¡°You have guest right among us for three sleeps.¡± He turned to Josh. ¡°The staff you carry belonged to Anatis, who has been lost to us these past three glow cycles, with no word of his whereabouts. His mother will want your tidings.¡± Josh swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He¡¯d been afraid that Katofen would take the staff from him, but at that moment he would have happily handed it over if it meant he wouldn¡¯t have to speak to the grieving mother of its prior owner. Katofen didn¡¯t give him that option. Instead, he led them through the village. There were many huldra about, mostly congregated in groups outside their huts. They cooked food on hot plates, or worked on craft projects, such as sewing together scraps of leather or carving small stone statues. A few exchanged glances as the group of humans went by, then conferred with each other in low voices. Some, Josh saw as they passed the entrances of the huts, were even curled up and sleeping, seemingly indifferent to the clang of pots and babble of voices. The mother of Anatis was sitting cross-legged outside her hut, threading tiny shells onto a cord. She didn¡¯t seem that old, but when she looked up Josh saw she had deep lines bracketed on either side of her mouth, and he could see the weary exhaustion of constant grief in the shadows of her face. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Katofen spoke in a burbling, musical language, before seating himself opposite the huldra women, and motioning to Josh to do the same. Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne elected to stand a little way away. Josh didn¡¯t blame them. Once Katofen had finished speaking, distress broke out in the huldra woman¡¯s eyes, and she looked at the staff in Josh¡¯s hands. She put her hands to her face and wailed, bowing over so that her head was nearly touching her ankles. She stayed this way for several moments, before reluctantly pulling herself upright again, her eyes flicking up to Josh. Weirdly, it seemed as if a great weight that had been pressing on her had now lifted, leaving not relief, but a bleak emptiness. ¡°This is Sanial,¡± Katofen said. ¡°The mother of Anatis.¡± Josh nodded his head cautiously at her. ¡°I¡¯m Josh,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss.¡± The words felt trite and inadequate, but he didn¡¯t know what else to say. Katofen spoke again in the huldra language, and Josh heard his own name mixed in, so presumably Katofen was translating. Sanial listened, and when Katofen had finished, she took in a great breath, as if girding herself. She held her hand out for the staff, and what else could Josh do but pass it over? She balanced it across her legs and fingered the carvings. Katofen turned to Josh. ¡°Please tell us again how you found it.¡± Josh nodded and repeated the story, starting from the time he had entered the captain¡¯s quarters. He continued with the escape, describing how the staff had helped him evade the arrows, and ending the tale just as he vanished into the Myriad the first time. Sanial listened to the story while staring at the staff in her lap. At the end, she said something in a hoarse voice. ¡°She thanks you for your words,¡± Katofen said to Josh. He turned back to Sanial and spoke again. At this Sanial¡¯s head came up sharply. She looked at Katofen, and then at Josh, and back at the staff. It looked like she was deciding something. She took a long time, but Katofen waited patiently. At last Sanial¡¯s mouth firmed with bitter purpose, and she thrust the staff at Josh. ¡°You take,¡± she said, in English. Josh took it back, slowly and warily. ¡°I ¡­¡± he said. ¡°This belonged to your son¡­¡± ¡°Is for fight,¡± Sanial insisted. She turned back to Katofen and released a burble of speech, which Katofen didn¡¯t translate. He nodded. Sanial got abruptly to her feet and walked away from the hut. ¡°She goes to the stones of remembrance,¡± Katofen said. ¡°To make her final farewell.¡± ¡°Why did she give me back the staff?¡± Surely it was a powerful magical artefact. Why would the huldra not want Josh to return it? Something was off. ¡°It is a training staff,¡± Katofen said. ¡°It is made to teach one the ways of the warrior. It was made by Saniel¡¯s husband, a powerful enchanter and one of those taken hostage by the lord of Northcrag¡¯s father, fifty years ago. He crafted it for his unborn infant child, whom he has never seen, and now never will.¡± The oceans of tragedy in that simple story struck Josh with the force of a tsunami. It reminded him too much of his own situation, and his own family¡ªhis parents, his grandmother, Ben¡ªall waiting for him to return, not knowing where he was or even if he was alive. It took several moments for Josh to recover his equilibrium. Katofen waited patiently. ¡°You want me to do something,¡± Josh said hoarsely. ¡°What is it?¡± Katofen gave a small nod of acknowledgement. He rose to his feet again. ¡°Follow me.¡± Lady Paleyne hurried to Josh¡¯s side as they made their way through the village. ¡°I mislike this,¡± she said in a low murmur to Josh. ¡°We must persuade them to help us sneak through the guard posts to the south.¡± There was no more time for conferring. Katofen brought them to another hut, which looked identical to all the rest, outside which sat three huldra¡ªtwo women and one man. There was nothing to distinguish them from any of the other huldra they had passed on their way, nor did Katofen offer them any special deference. Nevertheless, when Katofen turned to Josh and the others, he said, ¡°These are the village elders, and the leaders of our people.¡± Josh wasn¡¯t sure what to do, but he settled for a clumsy bow. Lady Paleyne offered a dainty curtesy, and Lady Alianne inclined her head. ¡°Be seated,¡± Katofen said. ¡°We will break our bread.¡± After that, he seemed content to sit there and say nothing. The three elders muttered to one another, darting glances at the three newcomers. After a short while, several young huldra appeared, each carrying wide, heavy clay dishes piled with food, which they set between the huldra and the humans. Katofen shared it out, offering it alternately to the elders and then to Josh and the others. The two women just picked at their portions, but Josh felt a second hunger coming on, and ate his fill. The food was odd, but perfectly palatable. There were fried dough things, although made with a soft, crumbly grain he didn¡¯t recognise, filled with sour green flecks. Another platter held what looked like little snails in oil and herbs, which Josh tasted cautiously. They turned out to be sweet and succulent, with a slightly fishy taste. There were small parcels of a crunchy grey material, similar to pastry but which tasted of seaweed, filled with mushrooms cooked in garlic. One bowl held two different types of fish which had been roasted whole and then flaked. The last item, at first glance, resembled noodles in a dark, sticky sauce, but when Josh inspected it more closely he could see the noodles had segments, and realised they were actually worms. It was the only dish he passed over. By the time he finished, he was comfortably full, and ready to fall asleep, except Lady Paleyne gave him a sharp pinch on his arm. ¡°Ow,¡± he hissed, rubbing at it. ¡°Pay attention,¡± she said in a low voice. He was paying attention! It wasn¡¯t his fault that his eyelids kept wanting to sink down over his eyes and cast him off into oblivion. One of the elders spoke. Katofen listened, then turned to Josh. ¡°The huldra greet you, and give you sanctuary. Sanial, mother of Anatis, has spoken¡ªthe staff gifted to her son, which you claimed from our enemies, has awoken to your touch. You are recognised by our people. We welcome you. We break our fast with you. We offer you our honour and respect.¡± This sounded like a litany of obligations to Josh. ¡°We ask nothing of you in return,¡± Katofen added. He might have continued, but Lady Paleyne inserted herself smoothly into the conversation. ¡°I am the Lady Liosa Paleyne, a daughter of the Barony of Shoal. I serve my lady Alianne, granddaughter and heiress of the Duchess of Kaldermere.¡± She paused, as the huldra elders muttered in recognition. ¡°My lady has seen the plight of the huldra. She has the right to petition the King. If you help us return to the surface world, she will swear to carry a petition on your behalf and lay it before him.¡± Katofen inclined his head. ¡°My lady is generous. And yet, I have an offer that might be more to your taste.¡± His eye fell on Josh. ¡°The surest way to the surface is across the Invisible Bridge that guards the entrance to Safirbai. You are brave to make the attempt, but without help you will surely perish. We offer that help.¡± Josh opened his mouth to reply, but Lady Paleyne gripped his arm warningly. ¡°You are kindness itself,¡± she said to Katofen. ¡°We must take counsel in private, if you would be so kind.¡± They were given a hut a little way away, which had been hastily cleared to make room for them. Lady Paleyne cast something which immediately muted the sounds of the village around them. A privacy spell! Was it related to her silence spell? ¡°The hostages must be in Safirbai,¡± Lady Paleyne said in a low voice. ¡°De Haven, the huldra are planning to use you to retake the bridge, and then the city itself from Northcrag¡¯s men.¡± ¡°Yes, I realised that,¡± Josh replied, annoyed. ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot.¡± ¡°You cannot agree to this plan of theirs.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Lady Paleyne gave an exasperated hiss. Lady Alianne piped up. ¡°We cannot help a tribe of savages against the citizens of Celespire,¡± she declared, ¡°No matter how misguided Northcrag may be by attempting to interfere with my grandmother¡¯s plans. It would be treason.¡± ¡°The huldra were promised the Azure Cathedral, my lady,¡± Josh pointed out. ¡°Northcrag hasn¡¯t kept to the bargain. It¡¯s not treason to force him to abide by it.¡± ¡°If you would permit me to explain, my lady,¡± Lady Paleyne said to Lady Alianne, who nodded graciously. ¡°First of all,¡± she said to Josh. ¡°None of us are conversant with the terms of the bargain. The huldra are, in fact, dwelling in the Cathedral, as promised, pitiful though their lives are. This may well indeed satisfy the arrangement that was made to them. Northcrag¡¯s sire was no fool, and likely had the Crown¡¯s blessing for this operation.¡± Josh opened his mouth and closed it again. ¡°Moreover,¡± Lady Paleyne went on. ¡°When the younger Northcrag inherited, he took a famously neutral stance in the politics of Dendral. He has never spoken for or against either faction.¡± Josh made a mental note to ask later about what the two factions represented. He had another question in the meantime, however. ¡°If Northcrag captured us,¡± Josh said, ¡°Or rather captured Lady Alianne, doesn¡¯t that suggest that he is leaning towards the other faction?¡± Lady Paleyne pursed her mouth. ¡°No, I think not. I suspect this is a purely financial transaction. Someone turned Jann, heard about our proposed route, and sent word to Northcrag to delay us. I was hoping our escape would inconvenience Northcrag sufficiently to give us leverage against him, and give us an opportunity outbid our rival.¡± She paused for effect. ¡°And this is precisely what we have achieved.¡± Josh opened his mouth to speak, and she held up a hand. ¡°Yes, I know, you feel for the huldra. I sympathise, believe me. But if we destabilise Northcrag¡¯s operation in the Cathedral, if we assist the huldra in taking back their city, then this would make Northcrag our enemy, and force him to align himself permanently with our opposition. We cannot afford that, at this juncture. We must see the bigger picture.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°I see only one way out of this. We must convince the huldra that a petition to the King is in their best interests. We must convince them to cause a distraction that will allow us to sneak onto one of the regular shipments that run through the Cathedral. North or south, it doesn¡¯t matter. South will be easier, I suspect, given the security surrounding the northern part of the Cathedral. Between de Haven¡¯s spells of invisibility, and my own illusions, I am convinced we can achieve this.¡± Josh thought of Sanial¡¯s husband, kept hostage by Northcrag, and fated never to know his son, who had lived and died in the shadows of the Undercavern. How many other families were split apart in that manner? The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Here was a genuinely oppressed minority, but instead of trying to right their wrongs, Lady Paleyne was advocating against helping them, and actively trying to keep the status quo. ¡°What would be the outcome of their petition?¡± Josh asked quietly. Lady Paleyne studied him carefully. ¡°If we have given our word, then we must carry it out. However, we need not fear that it will have any effect. The King values the courier route through the Cathedral, and will not wish to see that ruined simply to keep a small tribe of elves happy. However, I can see that their plight pains you deeply. Once we reach the capital, I can introduce you to an advocate who might be willing to champion their cause.¡± Josh was intensely aware that, if he disagreed, all it would take would be a single touch from Lady Paleyne, and he would be rendered unconscious, during which time she would free to convince the huldra of her own plan. He wanted to appear to capitulate, but if he did so too soon it would look suspicious. ¡°Are the huldra subjects of the King?¡± he asked. Lady Paleyne frowned thoughtfully. ¡°I am not certain of their exact status. Does it matter?¡± ¡°Yes. If they are, does the King not have a duty to them?¡± Lady Paleyne gave him a puzzled look. ¡°It is their duty to obey the commands of their King. Likely they are in this predicament in the first place due to their refusal to comply with his demands.¡± And just like that, the needs and wants of the huldra were swept to the side. Josh struggled to keep his face calm. ¡°Who is the advocate you mentioned?¡± he asked, as if he had given up. He saw the flash of relief in Lady Paleyne¡¯s eyes, but he barely listened to her explanation. Instead, he studied his quest menu. [QUESTS Escape from the Cathedral. Escape the Earth of Northcrag and find your way out of the Azure Cathedral alive. Total reward: 2,392 xp. Bonus: assist Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne to escape alongside you. Total reward: 1,578xp. -> Progress: you have escaped the Earl of Northcrag. Reward: 1,196 xp (apply) -> Progress: you have assisted Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne in escaping the Earl of Northcrag. Reward: 789 xp (apply).] Meanwhile, Lady Paleyne dismissed the silence bubble. When Katofen returned, she informed him that they were all exhausted, and might they be permitted to rest? Katofen graciously acceded to this request, and Josh saw his chance. ¡°Er ¡­ is there somewhere I can, uh ¡­ I drank a lot when we ate earlier ¡­¡± He let his voice trail off, trying to make his request obvious without offending the delicate sensibilities of Lady Alianne. Lady Paleyne just looked amused. ¡°Follow me,¡± Katofen said, and led him towards a series of huts that appeared to sit directly over the vast, cavernous space below them. ¡°About your offer earlier.¡± Josh said, ¡°Or, should I say, your request? I know why you are offering to help us across the bridge.¡± He paused. ¡°You don¡¯t know the key, do you?¡± Katofen stopped still. He glanced wryly at Josh. ¡°You have guessed correctly. During our exile the lore of the caverns was passed down from mother to child, but some lineages died out. We are much reduced from what we once were. The key to the bridge is part of our heritage that was lost. Perhaps you are wondering why we have not solved it in the fifty years we have been down here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how you could,¡± Josh said bluntly. ¡°Not with Northcrag defending it at the same time.¡± Katofen nodded, his eyes bleak. ¡°We have made the attempt several times, but each time we lose many. Too many.¡± Josh took a deep breath. ¡°If you agree to get all three of us safely out of the caverns via the north exit, I will help you get across the bridge,¡± he promised. 1.34 – The art of making vague promises Josh awoke to increases in Strength, Agility, Speed and Chi, the legacy of his escape the previous day. Before he could explore his character sheet too closely, however, he was interrupted both by the huldra delivering breakfast, and by Lady Paleyne¡¯s desire to hold another secret conference. One of these was more welcome than the other. ¡°We must be careful,¡± Lady Paleyne said, as she engaged the silence bubble. The huldra appeared to think that breakfast should consist of a giant mushroom, turned upside down to make a cup, and filled with fish broth. It wasn¡¯t what Josh would have chosen to start his day with, but looked filling, if only because he would be able eat the cup afterwards. His mouth was too full to reply to Lady Paleyne, but she didn¡¯t need any encouragement. ¡°The huldra are good at camouflage,¡± she went on. ¡°But if they have not retaken the bridge to Safirbai at this point, I can only assume that they don¡¯t have any true invisibility spells.¡± Did she not know that invisibility spells on the bridge made it too insubstantial to walk on? Maybe that wasn¡¯t common knowledge. Josh hastily chewed and swallowed so he could speak. ¡°What if the bridge has, uh, counters to that?¡± he asked. ¡°Are there any counters to invisibility?¡± Lady Paleyne gave him a surprised glance. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°There are a great many. Vapour or clouds of ash or sand, for example, which I assume is how the invisibility of the bridge itself can be countered.¡± She was very wrong about that. The bridge material allowed small particles to pass through it, meaning that the only way to tell it was there was to put your foot on it, or tap cautiously ahead of you with a stick or a weapon. Given that the pieces of the bridge could be at different heights, even tapping with a long staff made it difficult and time-consuming to find the way across. Josh wasn¡¯t going to tell Lady Paleyne that, however. ¡°What else counters invisibility?¡± Lady Paleyne continued. ¡°Hmm, yes, fey lanterns that illuminate what is not seen. Guard dogs to hear movement or scent intruders. Drakes which can detect the heat of a body.¡± The wormspider in the library at Brackstone hadn¡¯t been able to detect heat through the cloak, Josh thought, only movement. Although that had been bad enough. He supressed a shiver at the memory. ¡°There are so many counters to invisibility that it is rarely used as a tactic these days,¡± Lady Paleyne said, ¡°It is only effective against a purely human enemy, and thus has now fallen out of fashion. It does not help that such spells are extremely taxing. Even your cloak, powerful though it is, can only apply the effect if you are still or moving very slowly. And so, of course, as invisibility spells become less common, so do the counters. While I am surprised at Northcrag for not equipping his men against such a tactic, it does confirm my theory that the huldra have no such magic.¡± That made sense. ¡°They have no doubt seen your cloak in action, and you have, very foolishly, told them you know how to cross the bridge,¡± Lady Paleyne went on. ¡°This makes you a valuable lieutenant to recruit to their cause. They may even forcibly detain you, or threaten you, to force you to comply with their demands.¡± ¡°They gave us guest rights for three days,¡± Josh pointed out. ¡°We cannot trust that they will honour their word. I propose that we let them think you are a Chosen One, assigned to Lady Alianne.¡± She paused and studied his expression. ¡°You do not know what that is, do you?¡± ¡°Not ¡­ really?¡± Josh said. ¡°The cloak is a holy item, and it allows you to wear it. Most commonly, an honour of this magnitude is achieved by long periods of prayer and meditation to one¡¯s god, before one is permitted to take up the mantle, as it were. More rarely, this might be down to dire need¡ªsuch as the young child who rang the holy bell to banish the Lich of Nersima, if you are familiar with that story. Which method was it for you?¡± Dire need covered it pretty well. ¡°The second,¡± Josh said. Lady Paleyne paused again as she absorbed that. ¡°Interesting,¡± she murmured. ¡°The rarest blessing of all is that of the Chosen One, an individual selected to carry out the god¡¯s will. Anyone attempting to interfere with such an individual would be risking the wrath of his or her patron god.¡± Josh absolutely no desire to parade around pretending to be a Chosen One. There was no reason for a cover story, anyway, because he had already promised to help the huldra, but he couldn¡¯t tell Lady Paleyne that. He¡¯d finished all the fish soup, so he took an exploratory bite out of the mushroom while he tried to think of holes in her plan. ¡°Why wouldn''t Northcrag have been afraid of the Chosen One?¡± he said. Lady Paleyne gave a pleased smile. ¡°You can be sure I will be pointing out to the huldra that Northcrag may well have angered the gods, in which case he can shortly expect divine retribution to be visited upon him. I will suggest that if they do but wait, they may take advantage of this.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not a Chosen One, so they won¡¯t get that opportunity,¡± Josh said. Lady Paleyne shrugged as if this was no concern of hers. ¡°Won¡¯t the gods be angry at you?¡± Josh asked. ¡°For pretending.¡± Or at Josh, for going along with such a stupid scheme. Lady Paleyne¡¯s smile grew wider. ¡°Not if you make a vow before your god to protect Lady Alianne on her journey to Dendral. Even if you are not a Chosen One, you would still be under a holy oath.¡± She had such a twisty mind. She had multiple plates in the air, and had found a way to keep them all spinning at once. Appease the huldra, without offering them victory. Evade Northcrag¡¯s attempt to capture them, but without angering him enough to force him into the arms of her enemies. Keep the Azure Cathedral under Northcrag¡¯s control in order to appease King Rupern. And secure the Philosopher¡¯s Stone for Lady Alianne, which presumably gave her faction an advantage of some sort. And all this while sitting in a village of tribal stone elves with nothing but the clothes on her back. She wasn¡¯t even using any of her magic for it. Josh was desperately grateful Lady Paleyne didn¡¯t know enough about the invisible bridge to realise that most of these plans weren¡¯t going to work. She was operating from faulty intelligence, and it was the only thing that was going to save the huldra. Josh didn¡¯t want to make a holy vow for two reasons. First, he had no idea who the god of the cloak was, and the only thing he did know about it was that it accepted human sacrifice. Swearing a vow in its name seemed a very bad idea all round. Second, he resented being asked to make a vow to Lady Alianne for something he was already doing. He had gone to great lengths to save both ladies, not because he liked them, but because he couldn¡¯t have escaped with a clear conscience while leaving two women behind in captivity. He''d been silent for some time, he realised. He glanced across at Lady Alianne, who for some reason was looking hurt. What was wrong with her? He looked at Lady Paleyne to see if she knew, and saw she was doing the lip biting thing again that meant she was struggling to repress amusement. ¡°I don¡¯t want a vow made to me unwillingly!¡± Lady Alianne declared. Wait, was she hurt because he hadn¡¯t leaped at the chance to swear a vow in her honour? After he had risked his life to help her anyway? Besides, it wasn¡¯t as if she was some helpless maiden waiting to be rescued. She might be whiny, self-obsessed, and way too fixated on her stupid title, but she¡¯d kept a cool head through their escape, and she¡¯d managed to hide under a flower and drag Lady Paleyne through the water to get away from the guards, and had managed to bring the supplies, even if they had been water-logged. Both women were narrow-minded, and Josh hated the way they didn¡¯t seem to see the huldra as actual people with emotions, but neither of them were helpless idiots. Lady Paleyne was good at disguising it, but she was a powerful mage and shrewd negotiator, and Lady Alianne was resourceful and determined when she wasn¡¯t moaning or trying to criticise every plan Josh came up with. Would telling them that be a mistake? Josh thought about some of the women he knew. Rachel, for example, Timothy¡¯s teenage sister, who had interrupted his gaming session. It had been funny watching Timothy and Ben get everything so wrong when they¡¯d tried to shut her up and make her go away. Josh was usually better at relating to the female mindset than that, but Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne were products of a completely different culture and it kept throwing him. ¡°It¡¯s not because of you, my lady,¡± he said to Lady Alianne. ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­¡± he cast about for an excuse, and what came out of his mouth was, ¡°I need to meditate.¡± There, that sounded appropriately mystical, and it would give him time to think of a way out of making any stupid promises. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°My lady,¡± Lady Paleyne said deferentially to her charge. ¡°Let us take a walk about the village, and leave de Haven to his prayers.¡± Prayers? Josh opened his mouth to object, then closed it again. They didn¡¯t go very far away, and since they were still dawdling in plain sight, he closed his eyes and adopted an expression that he hoped radiated mindfulness or whatever. He wasn¡¯t going to make a vow to the god of the cloak, no matter what. But on the other hand, the gods in this world were real, and they sounded like the kind of angry, jealous gods who would get annoyed if Josh went around pretending to be under a holy vow when he wasn¡¯t. The god of the cloak was bound to be one of those sorts of gods. There was Mayad, the goddess who had saved him from Varian¡¯s gang the first time. Her ruined temple had seemed a calm, welcoming place. Shortly after that, Josh had found out about the Dreamer, and decided on his quest. He was making progress on it, albeit slowly. If Josh thought of this as a game, as a fantasy adventure, he wanted to be the kind of hero who helped people. And you didn¡¯t only help people who were going to be nice or grateful about it. You helped anyway if you had the power to do so, and you didn¡¯t expect anything back. That was the point. That didn¡¯t mean Josh had to make rash promises like an idiot. Lady Paleyne would walk all over him if he let her. He opened his eyes a slit to make sure she wasn¡¯t close enough to hear him speak. He wasn¡¯t in Mayad¡¯s temple, so the goddess probably couldn¡¯t hear him or his thoughts anyway, but he cleared his throat, and said quietly, ¡°I promise to do my best to help the huldra across the invisible bridge, and to help Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne get out of the Azure Cathedral.¡± He mentally reviewed his wording. ¡°Safely out of the Cathedral,¡± he amended. There. It didn¡¯t promise results, just that he would try his best. A perfectly reasonable oath, and something he had been intending to do anyway. When the women returned, he was ready. ¡°I vow to do my best to help you both get safely out of the Azure Cathedral,¡± he said firmly. Lady Paleyne opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. ¡°We don¡¯t know at this stage whether we can get out via the north or the south exit, so there¡¯s no point in me promising anything more than that.¡± Lady Paleyne inclined her head. ¡°In that case, let us meet with these elders,¡± she said. The next few hours were intense, but also excruciatingly dull, as Lady Paleyne and Katofen took over the negotiations. It was a full out battle, which both seemed to relish. It didn¡¯t help that Katofen had to stop every once in a while and consult with the huldra elders, or that both sides were masterfully prevaricating at any opportunity. Lady Paleyne expertly skirted around the subject of Josh¡¯s holy vow, delicately implying that it was much more serious that it was, while Katofen pretending to fall hook, line and sinker for the idea that Lady Alianne would petition King Rupern on behalf of the stone elves. They were interrupted by a huldra, a young one, Josh thought, who was sweating and breathing heavily, as if he had run far. He babbled in the huldra language. There was some discussion between Katofen and the elders, before the former turned to Lady Paleyne. ¡°There is a Northcrag shipment expected in two sleeps, travelling north,¡± he said. ¡°If we are quick, we can intercept it, and you can hide yourself within. We can simultaneously cause a distraction, by sending word to the commanders at both northern and the southern forts to say that we have captured the three of you, and are willing to ransom you for concessions. This will prevent them from expecting an attempt to smuggle yourselves through.¡± Lady Paleyne frowned thoughtfully, but nodded. ¡°That seems to be our best chance,¡± she agreed. There was another hour or so of discussion, but in the end, Katofen¡¯s suggestion carried the day, even though Josh knew it was just a cover for the real plan. Lady Paleyne took Josh aside as the huldra made their preparations. ¡°Prepare all the spells you can,¡± she said. ¡°There is a high chance we will be discovered, and captured by Northcrag¡¯s men once we reach Safirbai.¡± Josh blinked. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Because if it was a viable way to smuggle people out, the huldra would already have made use of it,¡± Lady Paleyne said, impatiently. ¡°We have an edge, with your cloak and¡­¡± she glanced around swiftly to make sure none of the huldra were in earshot, ¡°my own magic, but we must prepare for the worst. If we are near the northern exit, though, we are further out of reach of the ones who paid Northcrag to detain us, and that gives me time to negotiate with him. I need you to draw me a map of the caverns, however.¡± Josh spluttered. ¡°What¡­? I don¡¯t¡­¡± He might be able to navigate the Myriad, but there was no way he could draw a coherent map of it, even if he did have time to wander around it for several days, which he didn¡¯t. ¡°If Northcrag finds us,¡± she said in a low voice, ¡°we need to be in possession of a map of the Cathedral, because it gives us leverage over him, and we can use that to negotiate our freedom. Hush now, say nothing of this.¡± She broke off as Katofen approached, but gave Josh an expectant look, as if he should run off and draw a map immediately. Instead, he spent the rest of the day training with the staff. It cast illusions for him again, showing him how to stand and place his feet, and adjust his balance, and reminded him very much of the swordsmanship training he had attended the first morning in Brackstone. A magic training staff was possibly the best item Josh could have hoped to come across. Once he was out of the caverns and in a place where people weren¡¯t trying to kidnap him all the time, he would work on his staff training, and his archery, as well as learning more about spells. He would also, finally, be able to sit down and focus on his Plumassier class. At some point he would have to level up, and would learn more feather-related skills, so he needed to get his current skills as high as possible, albeit within the limitations of his level. Feathers might seem like useless decorative items, but look at what the Stone spell could do. What if Josh could make feather armour? Or, even better, wings? Wings would be so cool! Once he¡¯d finished the staff training, he occupied himself with some bow practice, and by that point the day was nearly over. Insofar as they had days down here. There was no sunlight, so the huldra didn¡¯t keep to a diurnal rhythm, and tended to work and rest in rotations, which they called sleeps. Despite this, the village was constantly bustling with activity, and was consequently a noisy place to get any rest, but Josh had exhausted himself with the weapons training. When it was time to sleep, he drifted off very quickly. He woke to something cold and astringent covering his mouth and nose, and struggled violently. He was being held down. He bucked, trying to throw his attacker off. Was someone trying to kidnap him again? He inadvertently breathed in and nearly choked at the harsh fumes that filled his lungs. ¡°Easy,¡± someone hissed above him. ¡°It is I, Katofen.¡± Katofen released him, and stood back. Josh looked around him. He was still in the huldra village, in the hut they had been given. Nearby were the still forms of Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne. Katofen followed his glance. ¡°Your companions are fine. They are merely sleeping, and will do so until the effects wear off.¡± ¡°Effects of what?¡± ¡°Deep in the caves is a predatory fungus which releases a powder that lulls its prey to sleep, whereupon it stretches out tendrils to infect it, and grows within the body of its prey until it can be killed and consumed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s gross!¡± Josh said thickly. Katofen nodded. ¡°But useful. This,¡± he held up the sponge he had been pressing to Josh¡¯s face. ¡°This is the counter agent.¡± That was why all the guards had used masks, Josh realised. So the huldra couldn¡¯t throw sleepy mushroom powder at them. ¡°Paleyne and Alianne won¡¯t get eaten by the fungus?¡± Josh asked, just to make sure. ¡°I swear to you, on the lives of my people, that they will not," Katofen said gravely. "Such a thing would not be permitted within the bounds of the village in any case, even if we had not promised you guest right.¡± He crouched down beside Josh. ¡°We will take the bridge now. Are you with us?¡± Josh rubbed his eyes and blinked them to clear the heavy-lidded feeling away. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. It turned out that Lady Paleyne had been right about the huldra not having invisibility. They were small and quiet, they could wriggle through the tiniest of gaps, and they knew how to camouflage themselves against the environment of the caverns, but they couldn¡¯t simply stand in plain sight the way Josh could with his cloak. Josh offered them as many Hide spells as he could reasonably draw in the time available, which Katofen accepted. The latter was aware that the bridge wouldn¡¯t allow an invisible person across it, but explained that he had a plan for that. Then he explained the plan. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Josh asked, trying not to sound nervous. He had been hoping for something sneaky and clever, since Katofen seemed like a sneaky, clever person. Katofen laid a hand on his shoulder. ¡°If this fails, you have given me the key,¡± he said. ¡°It has been recorded amongst the elders, and will be remembered. It may take another generation to rise and train as warriors before we can try again, but now we have hope.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Josh said, trying not to panic. No pressure, then. The first stage was to make their way through the Myriad to the first of the forts protecting the bridge. At the northern end of the great central cavern, the one with the shrine at its centre, were a series of waterfalls which fed the lake. The present Earl of Northcrag''s father had ordered miners to smash through the twisting caves of the Myriad to make a tunnel that followed the path of the river rapids directly up to the cavern before the invisible bridge. There, a spring gushed forth which was the source of the water that gave the Azure Cathedral its name. Beyond the cavern of the spring, were two passages. One led to the Tangle, but the other had one of Northcrag¡¯s miniature wooden forts built across it, which guarded the invisible bridge. The fort was the first hurdle. The huldra had to take it without the alarm being raised, but here, Josh¡¯s Hide spells came in handy. When combined with the huldra¡¯s natural camouflage ability, they were able to spend nearly a full hour getting into position right under the noses of the guards. Josh didn¡¯t see any of this happening. He was kept well to the back, beside Katofen. To distract himself, he studied his new quest. [QUESTS Helping the Huldra. Assist the huldra across the invisible bridge so that they can claim their birthright, the city of Safirbai. Reward: 2,543 xp. (Bonus: release the huldra hostages held by the Earl of Northcrag. Reward: 420 xp per hostage.)] It was wrong to hope that there were lots of hostages, and that Josh would be able to free them all. No matter who they were or whether he got experience for it or not, he was going to help them anyway. A messenger came running through the caves to where Josh stood with Katofen, and a handful of other huldra. He gasped out something, and Katofen nodded. He turned to Josh. ¡°The fort is taken.¡± ¡°Already?¡± Josh asked with surprise. He followed in Katofen¡¯s wake. ¡°We have overrun them before,¡± Katofen told him. ¡°And will do so again, if we must. It is the hostages, not these defences, which the Lord of Northcrag relies upon to control us. But the key to the Azure Cathedral is Safirbai, and we will not rest until it is ours once more.¡± The guards were all dead. Josh had known that would happen. They were men working for the Earl of Northcrag, and although they might not be evil themselves, they had helped perpetuate an injustice. But when he saw the bodies laid out in a row in the inner courtyard he faltered, and suddenly felt sick. He had to turn away and breath deeply. Katofen waited, offering neither disdain nor comfort, until Josh was ready to move on. Despite everything, Josh couldn¡¯t help feeling responsible for their deaths. A few twists of the cave later, they came to the small alcove before the bridge. The huldra of the vanguard were crouched there, donning their armour and equipment. They showed Josh where to step so that he wouldn¡¯t be visible from the bridge room itself. ¡°Are you ready?¡± Katofen murmured. Josh was carrying only his staff, his bow, and his quiver. According to Katofen¡¯s plan, he wouldn¡¯t need either weapon, but there was no point in going unarmed. ¡°Here.¡± Katofen handed him a small round shield. It had two buckles Josh could use to strap on his arm, and was slightly convex, with a spike on central boss. The shield itself was made of a hard, shiny material, not dissimilar to the lacquer he had seen on some of the stone elf decorations. ¡°You should not need this either,¡± Katofen said. He sounded calm and confident. ¡°But I would like you to have it.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Josh croaked. He cleared his throat and attempted a smile. Katofen gripped him briefly by the shoulder, and then the vanguard formed up around him. In addition to their plate armour, made of the same material as Josh¡¯s shield, they each bore tower shields, which they could lock into a turtle formation. This was Katofen¡¯s idea for crossing the bridge. ¡°May the Sleeping One be with you all,¡± he said. The vanguard thumped their fists to their chests, and then turned as one towards the entrance. Josh kept in the middle of the formation as they marched into the room where the invisible bridge lay. 1.35 – The price of victory The bridge room was a rectangular box fifty feet wide and a hundred feet long. The walls and ceiling were constructed from smooth, glassy tiles that resembled obsidian, fitted together so neatly that no cracks were visible. They formed a series of square panels which lit up with colour any time someone arrived at the entrance or the exit on the other side. Standing in front of Josh was the lead huldra of the phalanx, and directly beyond him was a great, yawning pit, so deep it vanished into darkness. Josh couldn¡¯t see it clearly because the tower shields the huldra carried blocked most of his view, which was probably just as well. The lead huldra¡ªhis name was Zogen¡ªlowered his spear so that it was pointing towards the ground, and then looked over his shoulder at Josh, ready for instructions. Josh had a sudden fierce wish that he hadn¡¯t offered to help the huldra across the bridge. He wanted to call out that this was a mistake, and could he just turn back and let Katofen lead the vanguard out into thin air? He had promised them. He had to do this. He studied the closest ceiling panels, which were five feet long by five feet wide, the same size as the panels that made up the invisible bridge. Each panel displayed several sigils which indicated the height, type and collision of the bridge panel directly below it. The type of the panel was important. Dura panels were fully solid, Tamis panels were only solid when in contact with material that wasn¡¯t gas, dust or liquid, Contra panels would only interact with material that was gas, dust or liquid, and Aer panels didn¡¯t interact with anything. Muta panels would switch between the other types of panels on a thirty second timer. The collision types were also important, because that changed which side of the panel had the effect. Double-sided panels meant that, for example, a Dura panel would be solid whether you tapped it from the bottom or the top. One-sided meant Dura panel would only be solid from the top, but act as if it wasn¡¯t there if touched from below. Flipped meant the panel was solid on the bottom but you would fall right through it if you stepped on it from above. This made everything slightly more complicated, because flipped Dura and Tamis panels had to be treated as if they were Aer panels, which was to say not there at all. To make things even worse, there were also the occasional vertical panels, indicated by a corresponding set of sigils on the left and right walls. These were usually one-way Dura panels, allowing enemies on the other side of the bridge to shoot arrows or spells, but partially blocking the line of fire from the entrance, where Josh now stood. The room was twenty panels deep, but the route usually snaked back and forth, so they would need to cross double that distance, if not more. The pattern changed every hour, but that would leave plenty of time to cross. If it took longer than that they would probably be dead long before the hour was up. In a few minutes this would all be over, one way or another. In Spiralia Online there had been a player-built web calculator that had the bridge key fully worked out, and because there were a limited range of patterns used, it was easy for players to input a selection of key tiles, and this would generate the correct path through. A month ago, when Josh had been planning to do the dungeon, he''d decided that a web-calculator took most of the fun out of the bridge puzzle. He¡¯d looked up an old guide on how to do it manually, which was what everyone had been using before someone with coding skills had come along and built the web calculator. In the end the guild group Josh had run the dungeon with had only wanted to use the bridge calculator, because they''d had no interest in solving puzzles. However, all Josh¡¯s preparation now meant that when he glanced up at the ceiling, he understood what he was looking at, and he could see that the first three panels on the left were Dura, and therefore safe to walk on. ¡°Left panel, three forward,¡± he said. The rocky ledge they stood on was three panels wide. Zogan took his spear and poked the air directly beyond the ledge on the left side. It made a solid, satisfying tink sound as it met the Dura panel. The phalanz stepped smartly into a row, with Zogan at the head, Josh directly behind him, and the other huldra following. They adjusted their shields so that Josh was fully covered, and Zogan strode out confidently onto the bridge. Josh wasn¡¯t sure that he could have made himself do the same if he¡¯d been in the lead, even after poking the bridge with a spear, and knowing that falling to the bottom of the pit probably wouldn¡¯t kill him. But did he know that? It occurred to him that maybe there was a maximum amount of damage you could take that prevented you from resurrecting. Previously he¡¯d comforted himself with the fact that if he did fall off the bridge, the drop would be long enough that he would have time to apply all his unapplied experience before he was instantly killed at the bottom. Then he would resurrect somewhere, and yes, that would be a huge hassle and the ruin of all his plans, but not the end of the world. But what if there were some kinds of deaths that it wasn¡¯t possible to resurrect from? Maybe that was why some players didn¡¯t come back after they died. Maybe the fall would destroy the player core, which he assumed was an implant inside him that linked him to the system. If the core got smashed flat, then the system wouldn¡¯t be able to bring him back. The more Josh thought about it, the more likely the scenario seemed. The fall was high enough that he would be little more than a smear across the rocks at the bottom of the pit. How would the player core survive that intact? It wasn¡¯t bravery that made Josh step out onto the bridge. It was fear and embarrassment. The fear of looking like a coward, the embarrassment of declaring he could help and then not being able to follow through¡ªthese were the emotions he clung to in order to force himself to take that first step. The bridge panel felt solid under his feet. It didn¡¯t even feel slippery. The leather soles of his boots gripped it comfortably. He tried not to look down, but instead orientated himself using the panels on the walls and the ceiling. The phalanx shuffled forward. On the opposite side of the bridge, the Northcrag guards were just realising that this was an invasion attempt, and not a regular crossing. An arrow thunked into Zogan¡¯s shield, but even as it did so, the second squad of huldra, who had stayed at the entrance, drew back their bows and released. There were vertical panels blocking the way precisely to prevent this sort of thing, so they had to aim in a curve. Since the panels only blocked one way, Northcrag guards suffered no such penalty, and were free to shoot at the huldra using whichever flight angle they thought most likely to hit. Still, enough of the huldra arrows got through that the guards were forced to retreat out of range. Zogan was looking questioningly over his shoulder at Josh again. They had reached the third panel, and now the direction changed. ¡°Turn left, six panels,¡± Josh said, double checking the sigils. He heard the tink tink tink as Zogan tested the way, and then they were moving left. There was nothing below Josh¡¯s feet but a yawning pit of darkness. Before he had even stepped onto the bridge he had resolved not to look down under any circumstances, but he couldn¡¯t help but be aware that the wall, which he could see out of the corners of his eyes, plunged down and down and down. The pit he was struggling not to look at asserted a strange and terrible gravity on his mind, constantly tugging at him, as if it wanted him to flick his eyes at it, just for a single moment, but if he did that he would see his feet standing on nothing but thin air, and underneath them¡­ He wrenched his mind away from the drop and double checked the next set of symbols. ¡°Turn right, down half a panel.¡± They descended two and a half feet down onto the next square, the huldra maintaining the shield wall. Thanks to the covering fire from the huldra at the entrance, only one or two arrows were coming their way, but already the shields had several shafts embedded in them, and they were still only at the beginning. The next few panels took them down half a panel each time, until they were standing ten feet below the original level. The Northcrag guards, seeing that their arrow fire was ineffective, had retreated briefly, but that only meant they were planning some other method of attack. Josh and his protective band of huldra needed to get as far across as possible while the opposition had temporarily died down. The next section required them to turn back on themselves, and then immediately rotate towards the right wall for six panels. However, those six panels were Muta, which switched between all the different panel types. Josh craned his neck and studied the ceiling panels for the changing sigils until it showed the first safe panel in the sequence, Dura. It would be Dura for thirty seconds, then Tamis for another thirty, which gave them one minute to get to the next set of panels before the floor disappeared. Even though crossing six panels would only take seconds, the moment they stepped onto them Josh felt panicky and anxious. The safe panels were only a few strides away, and Zogan had nearly reached them when there was movement at the far end. Two had guards appeared at the exit, flanking a man who gestured with his hands, and made a pushing motion. A mage. ¡°Down!¡± Zogan called, and they all dropped to the bridge. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. But these are the vanishing panels! Josh thought desperately. He was still counting in his head. It had only been five seconds. They had fifty-five seconds left. Even as he crouched, a powerful wind came howling towards them. If they had been standing they would have had to brace into it to stay upright. They were flat against the bridge panels, so although the wind at tore their hair and clothes, it passed harmlessly over their heads. What it did achieve, however, was to scatter the hail of arrows fired by the huldra at the entrance, leaving the guards flanking the mage to shoot at Josh and the vanguard on the bridge. The mage was using the Wind Surge spell. Josh recognised it from Spiralia Online. In the game it had never been considered particularly useful, because it took so long to cast, and drained so much energy from the caster. There were other crowd control options that were cheaper and faster, and therefore better. Right now, however, Wind Surge seemed to be working just fine for the Northcrag side. Josh ended up looking directly down without meaning to, and his stomach turned inside out. He could see the walls narrowing inwards towards the vanishing point, before the light grew too dim to see. It was a long way down. He realised he was hyperventilating, and tried to take deep, calm breaths. His lungs didn''t want to listen. Forty seconds left. The moment the wind let up, Zogan sprinted onto the next section, which consisted of Dura panels. Josh tried to follow, but had to duck as something went flying overhead. It was a small clay pot. Whatever the Northcrag guards were aiming at, they missed, because it went sailing down into the void. Thirty-five seconds. Josh lunged for the Dura panel, but before he made it, another blast of wind hit them. Everyone flattened themselves again. Twenty-five seconds. Josh threw himself onto the panel next to Zogan. He was safe, but the five huldra behind him were still running along the section of Muta panels. Twenty seconds now, before their floor disappeared. Another pot came sailing over. This one crashed on the panel in front of Zogan, a thick sticky black mixture splattering across the invisible surface. The acrid smell hit Josh¡¯s nose. Tar. Two more of the huldra crowded onto the Dura platform with them, but then a third blast of wind came hurtling down. By the time it let up, there were ten seconds left. Zogan leaped up, and jumped across the tar-smeared panel to the one beyond, beckoning Josh urgently. He obeyed, stumbling on the other side, but Zogan caught him with one hand, the other holding the shield out behind him to protect them from arrows. All but one huldra made it to the safe platform before the glyphs changed, and the Muta platforms switched from Tamis to Contra. Contra was the one that would only support gas, dust or liquids. The last huldra, not counting as any of these things, fell through. Josh shouted in alarm, but his two comrades were ready, and they caught him. They pulled him up beside them. This left five huldra squeezed onto a panel that was only five feet wide. One of them went to leap across the tarred panel to join Josh and Zogan, but as he did so a series of flaming arrows blazed all around them like falling stars. Most bounced off the hastily erected tower shields or missed entirely and fell away into the darkness, but one found the patch of tar, and the flames spread across it, slowly at first, then rising higher. The guards must have been trying to block them from moving off the Muta panels, but their aim hadn''t been good enough. A second hail of arrows, normal ones this time, arrived from the Northcrag guards, and everyone hunkered down underneath the shields. Zogan and Josh had only one of the tower shields between them. He angled his own small round shield as best he could to make it overlap with Zogan¡¯s and hoped the shots would miss. What if Josh got hit by an arrow but didn¡¯t die? Now that the wind was gone, the huldra at the entrance took up firing again. Meanwhile, the huldra who were huddled five together on a single square laid one of their tower shields down over the flames so they could cross. Josh looked ahead. They were still less than halfway. ¡°One square forward, turn left, then three squares,¡± he said. There was a scream of pain from one of the Northcrag guards as a huldra arrow found its mark. The unfortunate guard was dragged away by his fellows, and the rest stayed well back back as the huldra at the entrance maintained a steady barrage. Josh looked back, and saw the second huldra phalanx march onto the bridge. The last huldra in the vanguard had been signalling the path back to Katofen, who would now guide the second team across, followed closely by the remaining huldra forces. If the Northcrag guards managed to kill them all now, it would wipe out an entire generation of adult huldra, nearly everyone in the village who was capable of bearing arms. They had only one chance at this. ¡°Turn left, half a square up,¡± Josh said. They repeated that motion three more times, until they had climbed back onto the same level as the exit. The Northcrag guards hadn¡¯t re-appeared, but the next section included more Muta panels, and he was sure they would attempt something then. ¡°The next section alternates one safe square with one Muta square,¡± Josh told Zogan. ¡°The next one is Muta, then it goes Tamis, Muta, Tamis, Muta. On the last Muta panel we turn right, and that¡¯s a Dura. The only problem is, the Muta panels are staggered. So we need to go, then stop, then go again.¡± Zogan seemed unfazed. He simply nodded. ¡°We will cross four at once, then three after.¡± He glanced over Josh¡¯s shoulder at the huldra behind them, who acknowledged the order, then back at Josh again. ¡°Tell me when we go.¡± Josh was watching the sequence of glyphs on the ceiling. ¡°Go!¡± he said. Zogan walked rapidly along, tapping with his spear as he did so, Josh and the others following behind. One of the other huldra called out something, in an urgent tone of voice. Josh looked at the exit and saw the mage was back. Josh made for the Dura panel. He didn¡¯t want a repeat of the last time. But even as he reached the last Muta panel, a powerful blow slammed into him. He felt himself start to tip, and knew he wouldn''t be able to catch himself. He looked down with a terrible sense of inevitability, his arms windmilling frantically, but there was nothing to hold onto, and then he toppled over the edge. He jerked to a stop, dangling upside-down in mid-air over the terrifying, dizzying heights of the pit. Zagon and one of the other huldra had managed to get a grip on his ankles. Josh flailed helplessly, while the black hole below him swayed back and forth. His two saviours hauled him slowly back up, until he was lying across the platform, gasping for breath. His throat was sore and he realised he¡¯d been yelling loudly. They were still on the Muta square. How long had it been? Josh had lost count. At any moment now it could turn insubstantial beneath him and disappear. One of the huldra further behind shouted something, and Zogan looked around. ¡°Down!¡± he said. His hand flattened Josh to the bridge panel as a strong burst of air went rippling overhead. The mage must deliberately be trying to pin them down on the Muta squares, knowing the sequence could change at any minute. He was repeatedly throwing a smaller variant of the wind spell at them, one that was quicker and easier to cast than Wind Surge, and more suitable for a single target. In Spiralia Online it had been called Air Burst or something. They were still lying on a Muta panel. ¡°We have to get onto the next square!¡± Josh cried. ¡°Crawl,¡± Zogan said. It was more like an uncoordinated scramble, but they made it. ¡°Do we wait here for the next Muta panel to switch to a safe one, or should we hop over to the Dura panel?¡± Josh asked. They were now on a Tamis panel. The Dura they were aiming for was diagonally across from them. ¡°We go Dura.¡± Zogan checked the enemy mage, who was currently being shielded from huldra arrows by his companions. ¡°Now.¡± This required Josh to look down at his feet. Which were standing on nothing. But he had passed from terror into some kind of numb acceptance. The whirling nightmare of fear inside him was still present, and it was still making his hands shake, but it felt it had been going on for so long that he had become detached from it. When it was his turn, he stepped across, concentrating on the feel of the bridge beneath his feet, and pretending as hard as he could that he was standing on a sheet of glass. Zogan called instructions across to his team, and one by one they began to leap across the Muta panels on to the safer Tamis panels in between. They hopped like gazelles, keeping a wary eye on the mage, who sent a few Air Bursts their way, but they evaded him with an agility that put Josh¡¯s scrambling to shame. It was notable, however, that the person the mage really wanted to push off the bridge was Josh. Scythe after scythe of air blasted across him as he crouched down, with Zogan ahead of him and the remaining huldra filling up the panel behind. They were on the last stretch, with only one L-shaped section to go before they got to the other side, but the barrage of Air Bursts mean they had to stay low to the bridge. After the sixth or seventh gust of air across his back, Josh realised that force of the wind spells was growing weaker. The mage was tiring. Zogan must have felt it too, because he shifted, as if getting ready for the final push. The Northcrag guards had been using the time the wind mage bought them to prepare. They now had a phalanx of their own lined up along the ledge at the exit, with long pavises interlinked together, bristling with spears, which all pointed at the final stretch of the bridge. The remaining panels were all Tamis or Dura. Josh explained the layout to Zogan, who gave quick instructions to his men. They all nodded, their expressions serious and intense. Zogan handed his spear to Josh. This was the point at which Josh wished he had brought his magic training staff, but he¡¯d been afraid he might drop it during the crossing, so it had been left behind. Zogan and one of the others unwrapped chains from around their waists and stood, throwing their shields off the bridge. Josh couldn¡¯t help watching as the shields tumbled into the void, clattering off a wall as they went. It felt like a symbolic gesture. It was all or nothing now. There were multiple teams of huldra on the bridge, and the storm of arrows from the entrance continued, until the Northcrag pavises looked like pin cushions. One of the vanguard crouched by Josh, ready to defend him if necessary. Zogan and his remaining warriors stood, and then ran the rest of the way. As they approached, the chains lashed out, tangling with the spears. Only one huldra had kept his shield, and now he knelt, the shield tilted back at an angle. The last of the vanguard approached the shield at a run, leaped onto it, and was catapulted up high. He somersaulted, drawing two long, curved knives in mid-air, and came down behind the Northcrag line, most of whom had their spears tangled in chains. The Northcrag guard screamed as they died, and the huldra let out ululating war cries. Somewhere at the back a male voice was bellowing at the guards: ¡°Hold the line! Hold the line!¡± More huldra came running past Josh, and he realised that the second huldra phalanx, Katofen¡¯s team, had already caught up. Katofen dropped down beside Josh, while the rest of his huldra sprinted towards the one kneeling with the shield, so that they, too, could be thrown into the enemy backlines. One of the guards, realising the danger from behind, pushed forward onto the bridge, using his entangled spear to pull Zogan off-balance. They grappled, the guard¡¯s face flushed and snarling with battle rage, while the single flash Josh caught of Zogan¡¯s expression showed him as fiercely exultant. They jostled back and forth, neither quite managing to get the advantage. The voice that had been shouting at the Northcrag guards to hold the line cut out abruptly, and the melee on the ledge at the exit lessened as the last of the guards crumpled. The one who had pushed out on the bridge must have realised that he was the only one still alive. He yelled something wordless, staggered forward and grappled Zogan in a bear hug. Then he pitched them both backwards off the bridge. Josh reflexively lurched towards them, even though Zogan was more than twenty feet away and hopelessly out of reach. The huldra who had been guarding Josh grabbed hold of his arm to steady him, but he had been watching the fight just as avidly. He said something that sounded like a prayer. And then Zogan was gone. The last sight of him Josh had was that of a doll-sized figure tumbling into darkness. Huldra were streaming past Josh and Katofen now, pouring off the bridge and into the tunnel that led to the city of Safirbai. The Northcrag guards had either retreated, or were dead. The huldra had won the day. The bridge was theirs. 1.36 - How to break unwelcome news The city of Safirbai lay in the greatest cavern of them all. Instead of the twinkling, crystal studded rocks of the earlier caves, the walls were jet black, formed from octagonal basalt pillars. The city, built of crystal and glass, was luminous by comparison, glowing in jewel-like colours, all teal and turquoise and aquamarine. It rose up out of the floor in tiers, narrowing to a slender pillar that thrust towards the roof of the cavern, which widened at the tip into a tiered balcony. It was a hundred times more magnificent than the version in Spiralia Online, but to Josh¡¯s eyes the delicate glass spires were saturated in tragedy. Behind him, carefully laid out in rows, were the huldra who had lost their lives taking back the city. Of the group who had crossed the bridge with him, only three had survived. And that was before Josh counted the cost of the Northcrag guards who had been killed. Once the huldra had surged out of the bridge room, they had briefly rallied to fight along the road where it snaked up to the city gates, but once their line had broken, the remainder had surrendered. His character sheet had updated: ACHIEVEMENTS Bridge Master: You have crossed the invisible bridge and survived. Reward: 300xp. (apply) MESSAGES You have gained 2 points of Strength, 2 points of Agility, 1 points of Speed, and 1 point of Chi. You have 15,820 unapplied experience points. Go to the Quest and Achievements menu to apply these points now! You have enough experience points to reach level 13. Once applied, additional levels will take effect during your next long rest. Multiple levels may take more than one rest period to apply. QUESTS Helping the Huldra. Assist the huldra across the invisible bridge so that they can claim their birthright, the city of Safirbai. Reward: 2,543 xp. (Bonus: release the huldra hostages held by the Earl of Northcrag. Reward: 420 xp per hostage.) -> Progress: you have assisted the huldra across the bridge. Reward: 2,543 xp (apply). Fair Rescue. Help Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne escape from the Earl of Northcrag¡¯s clutches, and assist them in finding their way out of the Azure Cathedral. Reward: 2,297 xp -> Progress: You have helped the ladies escaped from the Earl of Northcrag. Reward: 2,297 xp (apply). Josh¡¯s projected level had gone up from 12 to 13, assuming he didn¡¯t die before he was able to apply the experience. It felt like a hollow victory. He couldn¡¯t help noticing there hadn¡¯t been an escort quest for the two ladies before he¡¯d entered the Cathedral. He guessed that was because the system wouldn¡¯t warn him if something was dangerous until he knew it was dangerous. He had an idea that the Fair Rescue quest had appeared the moment they¡¯d been detained by Northcrag¡¯s guards, but he¡¯d been too distracted to look at it properly until now. He closed the sheet before anyone wondered why he was staring blankly at the air in front of him. Although the taking of the city had been Katofen¡¯s plan, nobody seemed to be in charge, but everything got sorted with minimum fuss nonetheless. The huldra were a small group who had worked together for so long they all knew their roles without having to issue many orders. There were four surviving huldra lieutenants. One of them stood with Katofen and discussed the city defences, while the rest swept the city to search for the hostages, and to make sure that no Northcrag guards had been missed. Josh stood quietly to one side. A group of huldra were running back and forth across the bridge¡ªactually running, now that they knew the key¡ªand bringing across supplies. Once it was fully secured, they would bring up the rest of the village, but there was a lot of work to do yet. One of them pressed Josh¡¯s things into his hands¡ªhis pack, his bow and arrows, and his staff¡ªand had sprinted off before he even had time to say thank you. Another runner came dashing down the road from the city, calling out urgently. Katofen and the lieutenant immediately broke off their discussion, and exchanged glances. The lieutenant nodded and turned towards the bridge, while Katofen drew in a deep breath and followed the runner towards the city. As he passed Josh, he gave an inviting tilt of his head. ¡°Come,¡± he said. ¡°The hostages have been found.¡± Since one of those hostages would presumably be the father of Anatis, who had crafted the staff, Josh could only feel reluctance, but that was just cowardice. He broke into a jog to keep up with Katofen, glad that his improved fitness made this easy. Inside, the city was even more beautiful. The rock, glass and crystal it was constructed from had been cleverly blended with the basalt of the cavern, making it seem as if the city had extruded naturally out of the ground. More disturbing were the gaping holes in the external facing, where semi-precious stones and metal had been gouged out, presumably by the occupiers. Katofen eyed the damage coldly, but said nothing. They ignored the spiral road that wound around the city, instead cutting through alleyways and up steep, jagged steps to reach the centre. Eventually they reached a wide plaza which overlooked the city, and supported a palace built into a half-moon shape. This rose gradually from the pointed wings on either side, until it formed the pillar that soared upwards towards the roof of the cavern. A huldra came out and beckoned urgently to Katofen, babbling rapidly and gesticulating. Katofen nodded along, sweeping through a wide corridor, up a series of steps onto the first floor landing, and then into a side room where several of the huldra clustered. Josh seemed to have been forgotten, so he hung near the doorway, and stared curiously at the contents of the room. These consisted of five sarcophagi, carved from black and red marble, and inscribed on the surface with a cursive script in gold. They looked as if they had been forged in the heart of a volcano, then frozen mid-flame, and couldn¡¯t have been more out of place in a city of blue and green crystal. They also looked like the kind of thing that would hold vampires, but once Katofen recalled Josh¡¯s existence, he explained that this was where the hostages had been secured, bound in an eternal sleep. ¡°Our Queen,¡± he said. ¡°And the most powerful of our mages.¡± He traced a line of script with his finger, his mouth twisting. ¡°A great loss to us. Even if we had any born amongst us in the years since who were skilled in the ways of the arcane, there has been no-one to instruct them. This magery is beyond us.¡± He looked expectantly at Josh. ¡°Er¡­¡± Josh said. ¡°I¡¯m not ¡­ I don¡¯t really know much either¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t even read the language. ¡°Then you must ask your mistress.¡± ¡°My what?¡± Katofen gave him a questioning look. ¡°We know she is a mage. Are you not her apprentice?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Well,¡± Katofen said, ¡°We will go now and wake her, and ask for her aid.¡± Josh goggled at him. ¡°We?¡± he asked, pointing at himself. Katofen smiled mischievously. ¡°She likes you! She will listen to you! And if you are not even her apprentice, then you have not disobeyed any of her orders, so she will have no grounds to be angry with you!¡± ¡°Do you honestly think that¡¯s going to make the slightest bit of difference?¡± Josh asked, exasperated. An hour later he was back in the huldra village, sitting cross-legged in the hut where Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne were still sleeping off the effects of the mushroom powder. One of the huldra had left incense sticks burning which, Katofen said, would counteract the drug. Josh had nothing to do but wait, and think about all the ways this could possibly go wrong. Lady Paleyne woke first, and Josh handed her a mushroom bowl full of fish stew, because if he had been ambushed with a serious discussion the moment he woke up he would have preferred to do it on a full stomach. However, she gave the bowl a faintly nauseous look, and waved it away, accepting instead a cup of reviving but astringent huldra tea. ¡°Go on,¡± she said croakily, after a few minutes. ¡°You obviously have something to say. Why don¡¯t you get it off your chest?¡± Josh took a deep breath. ¡°I think we should do more to help the huldra,¡± he said. Lady Paleyne stared narrowly at him over the rim of her cup. ¡°Presumably you have a suggestion,¡± she said. Josh preferred to lead up to the actual suggesting part a little more slowly than that. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°The Earl of Northcrag took the Queen of the huldra hostage, as well as all their mages,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯ve been hostages for fifty years. During that time, the huldra weren¡¯t permitted to see, speak to, or exchange messages with them, or even get proof that they were still alive.¡± A tiny crease did appear in Lady Paleyne¡¯s forehead at that. ¡°That is unusual practice, certainly,¡± she conceded. ¡°The huldra built Safirbai, it¡¯s their ancestral home. What right does Northcrag have to take over their caverns and imprison their people for so long? They can¡¯t even petition for outside help because he¡¯s got forts barricading the exits.¡± Lady Paleyne set her cup down on the heating stone by the fire with an audible click. Was she angry or irritated? Josh couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°If we had had this conversation yesterday, I would have told you¡­¡± her voice trailed off and she compressed her lips. ¡°I know you think me heartless and unfeeling. It is not that I have no pity for the huldra, because indeed I do. I understand their situation very well, if only because my people have also been outcast from our homeland.¡± Josh didn¡¯t think it was the same thing at all, but Lady Paleyne obviously had more to say, so he waited. ¡°Those of us who wish to return to Celespire have campaigned tirelessly to take it back, but as the memories of the city fade, our faction grows weaker. I am just old enough to recall the capital before it was sacked by the scourge, but there are grown men and women at court now who have never seen it, and for whom it might as well be a fanciful tale. Meanwhile, the power of the Storm King grows with every passing year. One day it will be too late.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t King Rupern try to reclaim it?¡± Josh asked. He¡¯d assumed that it was because the Storm King was too strong, but it sounded as if it was more complicated than that. ¡°Because he is afraid,¡± Lady Paleyne said bleakly. ¡°The Celespiran royal line have always been the chosen of Ciandar, but many at court argue that the loss of Celespire can only mean that the blessing of Ciandar has been withdrawn.¡± Josh had been vaguely aware of Queen Halina¡¯s divine right to rule, which was tied to the land magic of Celespire itself. ¡°And also because¡­¡± Lady Paleyne hesitated. ¡°Let us say that the threat of the scourge is ¡­ convenient for the King. He has used it to consolidate his rule in exile. There are those who have grown in power by supporting his policies, and they are reluctant to deal with the problem of the scourge once and for all, because it would rob them of the basis of that power. ¡°The Duchess of Kaldermere,¡± she went on, ¡°is spearheading the movement to retake Celespire. This brings us to the purpose of Lady Alianne¡¯s mission. The King is the only one who can grant Philosopher¡¯s Stones, and he invariably bestows them upon his favourites. Previously the Stones have only been granted to those nobles who wish for the capital to remain at Dendral, and who have no interest in returning to Celespire. Lady Alianne is the Duchess¡¯s granddaughter and heir. For her to be so honoured may be a sign that the King is willing to re-consider his stance. However, it is crucial at this juncture that we tread more carefully than we ever have before.¡± By this point Lady Paleyne had risen to her feet and was pacing back and forth. Josh had never seen her so impassioned. ¡°You cannot have any idea how much work has been done, how much has been sacrificed, to get even this far,¡± she said fiercely. ¡°I have pledged my support to this cause, and to the Lady Alianne. You think I should jeopardise that for the huldra?¡± She gestured around her. ¡°For the sake of a single village? When the fate of an entire country hangs in the balance?¡± There was a clapping noise, which made Josh start. ¡°Well said, Pally!¡± Lady Alianne declared. Her hair was mussed up on one side where she had been lying on it. She must have woken up in the middle of Lady Paleyne¡¯s speech. Lady Paleyne, however, now fixed her gaze coldly on Josh. ¡°That,¡± she said, ¡°is what I would have told you yesterday, had we had this conversation then. However, I suspect it is already too late. I have detected traces of a sleeping drug in my system, and I¡¯ll wager if I were to examine Lady Alianne I would find it there too. What, exactly, have you helped the huldra to do whilst we were unconscious, de Haven? Do not tell me they were able to take the bridge!¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Josh said. ¡°Well, about that¡­¡± It turned out that Lady Paleyne was the kind of person who turned cold and imperious when she was angry, and the process of getting back over the invisible bridge, in which both ladies had to rely considerably on Josh¡¯s assistance, did nothing to improve her mood. Josh would have preferred it if she had shouted or wept or something. People with cold tempers only got angrier as time went on, and tended to nurse a grudge that would come back and bite you painfully and unexpectedly days, or even weeks later. They were now standing in the chamber with the black and red sarcophagi. Lady Paleyne, after a secretive discussion with Katofen from which Josh had been excluded, had reluctantly agreed to inspect them to see how they might be opened. She laid a hand on one of them, closed her eyes, and frowned in concentration, while everyone else watched. Eventually she dropped her hand and stepped away. ¡°The magic is complex, but it is also well obscured. I can tell that is designed to keep its occupants in stasis, and that there is a rite which can be performed to wake them, but the details elude me. The only thing I may be able to do is set up a sink to drain the enchantments, but it would take several days, and I cannot be sure what it will do to those inside.¡± She gestured at the script on the side. ¡°If the writing could be deciphered¡­¡± her voice trailed away. ¡°Oh,¡± said Lady Alianne, ¡°but that¡¯s easy! It¡¯s Fourth Caliphate mehalim.¡± Everyone turned to look at her, and she went pink with embarrassment. ¡°I had tutors,¡± she said. ¡°I was thoroughly trained in all the classics.¡± ¡°Our agreement stands,¡± Lady Paleyne said to Katofen. He inclined his head in reply. Josh stayed out of the way while the rite was being carried out, and tried to remember the half-elf NPC who had given out the Azure Cathedral quest in Spiralia Online. There had been a group of exiled huldra living in a small camp in the mountains, who had offered various quests leading up to the Cathedral, but there had been no mention of a queen. However, Josh had never got around to doing the quest that came after clearing the dungeon, so maybe it was something that had been revealed later in the questline. When he returned to the corridor outside the sarcophagus room, a group of huldra, including Katofen, were gathered in the corridor. Lady Paleyne, Lady Alianne and one of the female huldra were sequestered within, having insisted that the Queen would undoubtedly prefer not to awake from a fifty-year sleep while surrounded by a ring of gawkers. Eventually the door opened and Lady Paleyne emerged, followed by Lady Alianne, and last of all by the Queen herself, leaning on the arm of the female huldra. She was the NPC from Spiralia Online. It was the first time Josh had met one of the characters from the game, and he was struck by the weird sense of familiarity. She was tall for a huldra, with a relatively broad, plain face and white hair wound her head in braids. She wore a medieval-style gown of a deep russet brown that contrasted with her pure white skin, making it glow. It was gathered under her bust with green ribbons, and had long, impractical trailing sleeves, with a train that brushed the floor behind her. As an exile in the game she had worn plain, ragged clothing, but her face was immediately recognisable. Where had the game developers got their information from? How had they copied the face of a real person, who had been suspended in a sarcophagus for fifty years? Katofen and one of the lieutenants stepped forward and spoke as together. ¡°Whirkoma!¡± It sounded like a greeting. The Queen must have been speaking English with Lady Paleyne, because she answered in that language. ¡°Is that how you greet your Queen?¡± she asked, raising her eyebrows. ¡°My Queen,¡± Katofen said, switching to English himself. ¡°We have waited so long for this day! But we cannot delay. We must secure the city¡¯s defences immediately.¡± Looking at her, Josh thought the Queen was still adjusting to her new situation. Fifty years gone in an eye blink, it had to be disorienting. She was gripping tightly onto the arm of the huldra who supported her. ¡°I must take counsel¡­¡± she said, her voice trailing off, perhaps as she recalled that she had no advisors. Maybe she was thinking of the four huldra mages who were still in the sarcophagi, awaiting their own rites of awakening. Katofen hesitated, then stepped forward. ¡°You are disoriented, I know,¡± he said gently. ¡°The elders are gathering everyone in the village as we speak, and will be with us soon. They will guide you to the best of their ability. But we must ensure our young, our sick and our elderly can make it across the bridge before Northcrag¡¯s forces in the southern caves can rally against us. My Queen, you are the heart of the city, and array will respond only to you.¡± The Queen drew back, perhaps feeling pressured. Lady Paleyne¡¯s eyes were narrowed in speculation. Josh¡¯s head craned upwards as he thought about the artefact in the room at the top of the pillar. That must be the array that Katofen was referring to. That was the first time Josh had heard that only the Queen of the huldra could interact with it. Had Lady Paleyne known about that before? It didn¡¯t look like it. Had Northcrag? Josh was reminded of Celespire, which was supposed to be magically linked to Queen Halina. And the dwarves of the mountains to the north-east, whose King was selected by an anvil or something. There was a pattern here. Were magically elected leaders an inevitable consequence of a world with magic? Had some long-ago Kings and Queens decided to create magical artefacts that would forever favour their own bloodlines when selecting rulers? Katofen managed to coax the Queen towards the base of the tower that led to the array, while the lieutenant oversaw the rites that would wake the remaining mages. Josh found himself at a loose end, and so practiced with his staff in the plaza. Some hours later, the villagers arrived. It seemed that the Queen could change the bridge by turning all the panels solid, and setting them opaque, so that it resembled a paved room that could be easily walked across, and not a transparent bridge over a horrifying drop. Once everyone was in the city, Katofen persuaded the Queen to engage the defensive array, which would remove all horizontal panels completely, leaving only vertical ones to block the way. ¡°The one we walked across wasn¡¯t the defensive array?¡± Josh asked Katofen, much later. Katofen shook his head. ¡°What do you know of the history of the Cathedral?¡± he asked. It hadn¡¯t come up in the questline in Spiralia. Josh confessed his ignorance. Katofen smiled. ¡°The clue is in the name. Long ago, it was a place of pilgrimage. Many came here as part of a spiritual journey, travelling up through the caverns to the shrine, and then, if they truly needed guidance, across the bridge and into the city to speak with our sages.¡± And one of the first caverns all the pilgrims had travelled through had consisted of shops, Josh thought cynically. ¡°For the huldra,¡± Katofen explained. ¡°The bridge was a symbol of mystery and of faith. Our histories speak of how our young would cross it as a rite of passage, gaining their citizenship and earning their place amongst our people. Had the previous Earl of Northcrag waited but one day to enact his coup, he might have learned the secret of the array. But he sprung his trap at the ceremony held to welcome the Queen after the Cathedral had been saved by the Heroes. Only those huldra who had not yet crossed the bridge were spared the slaughter, and managed to flee deep into the caverns.¡± He gestured to the pair of double doors in front of them. ¡°The Queen would like to thank you personally for your aid.¡± While he waited for his audience, Josh dug around in his backpack for the least squashed and bedraggled feathers in his collection, and turned them into a selection of bracelets and rings, then created a belt, a necklace and a tiara. He had obtained some swan feathers at the market in High Howe, and they interweaved with the speckled pheasant feathers in a way that he thought looked pretty good. He ended up with nine items in total. Then he enchanted them to glow. When he was finally allowed in, he presented them to the Queen. He felt obscurely guilty when he gained not just one, but two achievements. ACHIEVEMENTS Royal Patronage II: You are favoured¡ªyou have crafted ten items for royalty. Reward: 2500xp. (apply) The Regard of the Huldra I: You have secured the gratitude of the Queen of the Huldra. Reward: 300xp (apply). It was nice to be thanked, but once she had got over politely admiring her feather items, it turned out to be one of those stiff, awkward interviews where neither participant quite knew what to say. ¡°If there is anything we can do for you?¡± the Queen asked eventually. ¡°In exchange for the great service you have provided us?¡± Josh hesitated. Her city had been stripped bare of valuables after its half a century of occupation, and, despite her grandiose manner of speaking, she ruled over no more than a few hundred people, all of whom had spent five decades managing their lives without her. Her experience of the world was fifty years out of date. That gave him an idea. ¡°Will you tell me of the Seven Heroes?¡± he asked. ¡°What do you know about them? Where did they come from?¡± ¡°Oh, there weren¡¯t seven,¡± the Queen replied, blinking in surprise. ¡°There were eight.¡± ¡°Eight?¡± Josh echoed. ¡°Who was the eighth?¡± The Queen shook her head. ¡°He wasn¡¯t the eighth. He was the first.¡± She smiled fondly. ¡°His name was Anthony Harrison.¡± 1.37 - Why pizza should be a priority The way out of Safirbai led out onto a cliff edge overlooking the Lionspine Mountains, except that Josh hadn¡¯t been able to admire the view because when they came out it was dark. Northcrag¡¯s men had built a massive scaffolding for hauling packages and supplies up the cliff, which the huldra were planning to tear it down, and leave a hoist and a pulley in place. This would be the only access to the northern exit, assuming they allowed any visitors at all in future. The last Northcrag outpost consisted of a house and a stable at the bottom of the scaffold. They hadn''t expected the huldra to come swarming down the cliff, and the Northcrag guards surrendered immediately. The stable held two horses and a cart. Josh had expected himself and the two women to take the cart and continue onto Dendral, but this plan was delayed when it turned out that no-one knew how to harness the horses to it, including the huldra, who had retreated to the cavern on the cliff top the moment the sun rose above the horizon, and refused to venture outside in daylight. Josh could understand that. Almost all of them had been born in the village in the Undercaverns, and lived their whole lives underground, which made the surface world a terrifying place for them. The grooms who normally worked in the stable had been escorted into Safirbai, to prevent them sending word of the takeover to Northcrag, and to give the huldra time to set up their own defences, at which point the huldra had declared they would be released. The huldra reluctantly agreed to let go of one stable boy early, on the understanding that he would remain with the party until Dendral, and not be given any chance to pass a message on to Northcrag. Meanwhile, Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne rifled through the possessions of the servants¡ªalso being held in Safirbai¡ªlooking for clothes they could wear to make them look less like noblewomen. ¡°We can¡¯t openly ride on a busy road for half a day and then right into the capital so that every court toady can report on our movements to the very faction we hope to avoid,¡± Lady Paleyne explained. ¡°Lady Alianne must be well guarded until the ceremony can take place, because they will be doing everything in their power to prevent it.¡± According to her, Josh already looked like a peasant, and therefore didn''t need a disguise, so all he had to do was supervise the hitching of the horses to the wagon, and make sure the stable boy didn¡¯t run away. The stable boy was ten, and his name was Lalf. Far from being scared of his circumstances, he scornfully rejected Josh¡¯s offers of assistance, and appeared to be under the impression that his release had promoted him to a full groom. His small head was swelled with importance, and since he genuinely appeared to know what he was doing, Josh just hung around and practiced his staff work some more. The staff¡¯s magic was very clever. Once it had finished going over forms and stances, it started projecting images of opponents that only Josh could see, and even clacked and jolted in his hands whenever he connected with the illusions. Josh had had one brief interview with Jofer, the father of Anatis and the maker of the staff. Jofur had turned the staff over in his hands, his face remote and sorrowful as Katofen relayed the life and eventual fate of his son. Once again Josh had offered the staff, but Jofer had shaken his head. ¡°I have no need nor want of this,¡± he had said. He spoke English with the same archaic inflection that the villagers of Haven had used. ¡°I made it for love of my son, and my heart be full of joy that he held my love for him every day of his life. It hath served its purpose. Now it must go to another warrior, one who will walk a path of honour.¡± His eyes had found Josh¡¯s, calm and serious and utterly compelling. ¡°I entrust you with the staff of my son. Swear that you will protect the weak, seek the rights the wronged, and offer mercy where it is due.¡± He wants me to be a hero, Josh had thought. ¡°I swear,¡± he had said. Because that¡¯s what he wanted, too. And the next time someone like Lady Paleyne tried to manipulate him into a morally wrong choice for the sake of political expediency he would have this vow, and the staff, to remind him of it. When Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne appeared Josh almost didn¡¯t recognise them. They wore coarse woollen dresses and white bonnets, and he thought that Lady Paleyne had subtly altered their features with her illusion magic. They didn¡¯t look like noble ladies, at any rate. Perhaps this was why there ensued a brief argument between Lalf and Lady Paleyne over who would take the reigns of the cart, from which the latter emerged victorious. And then they were on the road to Dendral. Josh spent his time going over everything the Queen had told him about Anthony Harrison, the supposed First Hero that no-one else had ever mentioned. He tried asking Lady Alianne and Lady Paleyne, and even Lalf, about him, but they all stared in puzzlement. According to the Queen, Anthony Harrison had first appeared at the court of Celespire fifty years ago, and she steadfastly maintained he was the first of the heroes to arrive. Did she know where he had come from? Another land she had said. How did he get here? It never came up. How did she meet him? She had gone to court with several of her people to petition Queen Halina for aid in re-taking the Azure Cathedral. Anthony Harrison was the only one who had listened to the plight of the huldra, and he had eventually secured her an audience with Queen Halina. Reading between the lines, it sounded like there had been some flirtation between Harrison and the huldra Queen. Had Harrison entered the Cathedral with the Seven Heroes? No, she said. It hadn¡¯t just been the other Seven Heroes¡ªhe had arranged for a large force to sweep through the Cathedral to clear it of the infestation of crystal constructs. There had been soldiers and porters and cooks, and an entire camp full of support staff. Harrison had stayed in the camp, and managed the campaign from there. The Queen sounded approving of this, as if he had been the general of a real army, whereby endangering himself on the frontline would have been beneath his dignity. Had he been at the Ceremony where Northcrag had betrayed the huldra? No, but he had been on another mission by then, and prior to the Ceremony had written to her with his congratulations, and promised to visit her once she was properly invested as the Queen of the Huldra. What did she think had happened to him? The Queen supposed, sadly, that he had been killed, for he would never have left her imprisoned by Northcrag for so long. All of which gave Josh a lot of food for thought. There would still be people alive who remembered Celespire from those times, even if they would be seventy or older now. Some of them would be in Dendral. Would the Seven Heroes be there? Come to think of it, everyone talked about their heroic deeds of the past, but what were the Heroes doing now that they were presumably old and retired? He asked his companions. Lady Paleyne wasn¡¯t speaking to him unless absolutely necessary, and Lady Alianne was abstracted with her own thoughts, so it was left to Lalf to give Josh the run down. He seemed as fascinated by the Seven Heroes as Josh himself. Partway through the conversation Josh caught Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne exchanging glances and rolling their eyes, as if an obsession with the Heroes was one of those male things that women found inexplicable. This was genuine research, not some kind of hero fixation, which Josh totally didn¡¯t have. Sir Owain was now the head of the Order of the Unyielding who, according to Lalf, were glorious knights dedicated to fighting the scourge. Josh remembered Sir Owain as the one who had purportedly had too much influence over King Rupern, leading a noblewoman to attempt to assassinate him. Josh had heard of the Unyielding too¡ªthey were the organisation Rob the Hedge Knight had told him to avoid at all costs. Lafl moved onto Lady Selene, the only surviving mage, who he claimed had turned into moonlight. Or something. Josh was briefly confused by this description, until Lady Alianne, who had been distracted from her own thoughts by Lalf¡¯s increasingly confusing explanations, lost patience. ¡°She is the founder of the Shining Light of the Moon, you ignorant child!" she exclaimed. "Just as Sir Owain is the founder of the Unyielding." To Josh, she explained, "The Shining Light is an all-female sect in the Dascene Mountains.¡± So, Lady Selene got religion and retreated from everyday life, Josh thought. Sir Wayland, heartbroken after Gwynifer¡¯s death, had gone to live with the dwarves. Lord Shadow¡¯s whereabouts were a mystery, but he was rumoured to materialise unexpectedly every so often and strike at enemies of the realm, before vanishing into the darkness for which he was named. He sounded like another idiot roleplaying an assassin to Josh. ¡°What about Sir Doug?¡± Josh asked. The moth haunt had referred to him as merry soul with a giant heart. Lalf had no information on him, and shrugged his thin shoulders. It sounded like the only Hero still living in Dendral would be Sir Owain, and Josh had no desire whatsoever to seek him out. Still, he was sure there would be someone he could ask questions of. Dendral was nestled at the base of the Lionspine Mountains, by a confluence of three rivers. South of the city the river meandered across a plateau of arable farmland, eventually arriving at the lake by Brackstone, before turning west and filtering into the eastern swamps by the sea. They were approaching the city from the northeast, which Lady Paleyne said she hoped would make them less likely to be detected, and it had the added benefit of allowing them to see the whole city laid out in the valley below them. Like Brackstone, it was situated by a lake, but sprawled out in a semi-circle around the shore. Slender bridges spanned the three rivers feeding the lake, and from this height Josh could see the concentric circles created by the remnants of old city walls, which the city had spilled over and outgrown. It glimmered with summer heat haze, and lured Josh onwards with the promise of soft mattresses, cotton sheets, and as much food as he could eat. ¡°We will go straight to Sir Ernil,¡± Lady Paleyne declared, as the cart made it slow, jolting way down the pass. The road was wide, and well-maintained, but it was full of slow-moving traffic, and Josh had been deputised to hang onto the brake lever in case they needed to stop in a hurry. He had been surprised that carts had brakes, but apparently they didn¡¯t stop moving just because the horse did. Lalf, who had child¡¯s unwavering conviction of the proper order of things, obviously felt he should have been deputised to this role, and watched Josh with stern distrust to make sure he did it right. ¡°Who is Sir Ernil?¡± Josh asked. ¡°He is the Duchess of Kaldermere¡¯s agent in Dendral. It is his influence which has secured a¡­¡± Lady Paleyne hesitated and glanced around to make sure no-one else on the road was in earshot, ¡°¡­you-know-what for my lady.¡± Josh had no wish to be dragged into more intrigue. He was planning to abandon the women and the cart as soon as he could, and find an inn for the night that would be entirely free of manipulative and self-entitled noblewomen. He had previously dismissed the huldra as lacking in material wealth, but while taking over the city they had discovered and plundered a chest full of a full month¡¯s pay for the entire Northcrag garrison. They had offered Josh a small purse filled with silver coins, and even a couple of gold ones. It was enough to keep him solvent for at least six months, he judged. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He had no need of Lady Paleyne or her patronage, but decided he wouldn''t announce that until after they had arrived at the city. ¡°We will stay anonymously with Sir Ernil, my lady,¡± Lady Paleyne told Lady Alianne. ¡°I hope that Bethca has been able to stay sequestered in Brackstone, and has been able to maintain the pretence of your illness all this time. We will arrange for a company of knights to escort her to Dendral, disguised as you. They will be primed and ready to expect interference, but in the meantime you will be able to complete your preparations for the transfer ceremony here in secret.¡± ¡°But what about Father Lomer?¡± Lady Alianne protested. ¡°He is supposed to instruct me.¡± Father Lomer, Josh recalled, was the self-important priest who had been travelling with Lady Alianne when he had encountered them at the inn in High Howe. ¡°Another priest must be found, my lady,¡± Lady Paleyne said briskly. ¡°Those of the Church who are sympathetic with our goals are thin on the ground, but I am confident there must be at least one in Dendral who can be bought.¡± ¡°Bribe a priest?¡± Lady Alianne exclaimed, scandalised. ¡°I would not want such a creature anywhere near me! I want Father Lomer!¡± Lady Paleyne supressed a grimace. ¡°Of course, my lady. My sincere apologies. Perhaps Sir Ernil will have a suggestion as to how that might be accomplished.¡± The Church of the Common Covenant was another organisation Josh was supposed to avoid, but along the road today he had noticed their churches and shrines were everywhere, replacing those of the Paragon, which had been more common in the south. Once inside the city, Josh asked his companions the sort of unobtrusive questions any first-time visitor might have, which gave him some idea of the general layout, and areas to avoid. He decided to leave the cart once they got closer to the city centre, which would put him near an area where a lot of craftworkers and tradesmen lived, people who would be inclined less towards crime and more towards frugality, which ideally would mean plenty of cheap, clean accommodation. Preferably without bed bugs. All that went straight out of Josh¡¯s head when he suddenly smelled pizza. He sat bolt upright and turned his head this way and that, searching for the source of the scent. There! A woman with a food cart on the side of the road doing things with flatbreads and cheese. ¡°I need to check something,¡± he said, and leaped out of the cart. Closer to, he saw that the woman wasn¡¯t exactly making pizza. It was a flatbread, soft and slightly puffy, just like a perfect pizza base should be, with a tomato sauce and melted cheese topping, but to serve it she rolled it up into a tube and handed it to him. Josh bit down, not caring that the hot tomato sauce burned the roof of his mouth. He moaned. It was delicious. The woman smiled to see him enjoying her wares, but then her eyes slide past him, and her smile morphed into a smirk. Josh turned around to see Lalf peering curiously at the pizza stand, and behind him was Lady Paleyne, who had her arms crossed and an incredulous expression on her face. Clearly not a woman who understood the importance of pizza. ¡°Would you like one too?¡± Josh asked Lalf, who nodded with the wide hopeless eyes of an underfed orphan. Josh knew perfectly well that he was neither¡ªon the journey Lalf had revealed the existence of seven siblings and a mam and dad somewhere back in the Lionspine Mountains, and he had eaten his way through six slices of bread and cheese on the journey down. Still, Josh could sympathise with a fellow pizza enthusiast, so he bought a second one for Lalf. ¡°Is this really the time to be stuffing your face?¡± Lady Paleyne demanded. Josh stopped midchew, and swallowed hastily. ¡°Er ¡­ yes?¡± There was always time for pizza. It was a meal that could be eaten any time of the day or night, hot or cold. It was also his first pizza in a month, and Lady Paleyne wanted to ruin it by having an argument. He might as well get it over and done with once and for all. ¡°After this, I¡¯m going to find an inn,¡± he said. ¡°Oh, are you now?¡± Josh brushed past her and went back to the cart. He pulled out all his things, swinging the pack onto his shoulder and the bow over the other shoulder, all the while juggling the pizza roll from hand to hand, which was now leaking oil and tomato sauce. Maybe while the citizens of Dendral were inventing pizza they should have invented cardboard takeaway boxes at the same time. Lady Paleyne went to say something, then noticed Lalf crowding next to her skirts, with a string of melted cheese dripping from his pizza roll. She exclaimed in annoyance, and stepped to the side. Lady Alianne had been left holding the reigns, and when she turned around and realised Josh had unloaded his things, she exclaimed, ¡°Pally, he can¡¯t leave! What if he tells everyone I¡¯m here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not planning to tell anyone anything,¡± Josh said firmly. ¡°I have no interest in your conspiracies. I only got dragged into this because of the library thing, and the rest of it has got nothing to do with me whatsoever.¡± ¡°Pally, stop him!¡± Lady Alianne cried. Lady Paleyne could prevent him leaving if she used her trick to render people unconscious. Josh eyed her warily, and she met his gaze with a faint, calculating smile, as if she knew what he was thinking, but then she shook her head. ¡°My lady, if you would be guided by me, we should let him go. He has as much to lose as we do by revealing the events of the past few days.¡± Her eye fell on the staff, and Josh took her meaning. He carried several powerful magical items, and if the officials and nobles here were anything like the sergeant at the border post, he might find them confiscated, or even stolen. On top of that, Lady Paleyne knew he had magic. Anyone could cast small spells from spell scrolls, but while in the huldra village, Lady Paleyne had informed him that the Hide spell he used was not some minor cantrip, as he had first thought. It required enough magical force that only someone with the true potential to become a mage would be capable of casting it. And Rob the Hedge Knight had told him that anyone discovered to have that sort of potential would immediately be press-ganged into working for the nobility, something else Josh wanted to avoid. ¡°Very well then,¡± Lady Alianne said. She nodded regally at Josh. ¡°You may go. And say nothing of my business, or else it will go ill for you!¡± Josh immediately had the overwhelming urge to stand up on the cart and shout out to everyone that here was Lady Alianne, coming to get her Philosopher¡¯s Stone, but he restrained himself. Once the cart was out of sight, he finished his pizza roll in peace, and then bought another for good measure. Where had the idea for pizza come from? It was a twentieth century invention and everything here, like most fantasy settings, was a blend of medieval and Renaissance culture. Had the locals invented pizza separately? The Heroes could have introduced the idea. Even if they hadn¡¯t, the rest of the outlanders would have. Maybe it had been re-invented at Celespire and then the idea got carried north with the Celespiran refugees. What other Earth things had been introduced to Six Spires? Josh, you colossal idiot, he thought. Guns! Where were the guns? Varian and Frenxy had had American accents, which suggested at least a proportion of the outlanders were from North America. And out of a thousand people, there was bound to be at least one American who knew enough about how guns worked to reproduce them in Six Spires. They¡¯d had twenty years to do so. So why were there no guns? Or was it a secret technology that only outlanders had access to? Maybe that was another reason a few hundred scourge could hold Celespire against the armies of King Rupern. Come to think of it, they ought to at least to have cannons, but Josh hadn¡¯t seen any cannon emplacements at Brackstone. Another mystery to investigate when he had the time. For the rest of today, though, he planned to have a rest, and the next few days would be devoted to researching his spells, improving his feather-making abilities, and finding ways to combine them that would give him more combat utility. The inn he found was comfortable, served good food, and was bed-bug free. He made a note to tour local inns and discreetly discover if they would be interested in pest control services, the only difficulty being that he could currently only do one bed at a time, otherwise he was in danger of magically exhausting himself. Over the next week, he kept himself busy. He found a lodging house to stay in. He checked on the book moths, then wrote out several copies of his Babel the Pig story, and used them to coax the moths into a demi-john that was more than twice the size of the bottle. At some point the swarm would get too big to carry around, so he would need to decide what to do with it sooner or later, but he put that off for another day. He made more tiny spell books for his own personal use, and ensured that he always had multiple copies of his spells secreted about his clothing, along with a paper utility set, rather like a Swiss army knife, with a Stone spell to harden it at need. He bought sacks stuffed with feathers from the market, and practiced crafting items with them¡ªnecklaces, headdresses, belts, plumes for hats, and even a waistcoat covered in hundreds of tiny feathers so that it resembled iridescent chainmail. If he could make feathers turn hard, using the Stone spell or something similar, he would be able to make himself feather armour. He managed to sell some of his creations, particularly the feathers, which had been enchanted to glow. He told the market vendors it was merely a cantrip, not something he could cast innately, and hoped that would be enough to disguise him as someone who was magically inclined. He gained a whole level of unapplied experience from all the crafting he was doing, and the achievements it gave, which brought him to a projected level of 14. He would continue to stay under level 10 for now, though, apply the experience when he was ready. He experimented with the five druid spells, finally learning how to change some of the parameters, so that he could enlarge or reduce the area of effect of the Heat spell, and make it more or less intense. Once he was able to do that with Heat, he was able to apply that to Chi Siphon and Alarm. He learned how to make all the spells last for shorter or longer time periods, although casting an Alarm that would stay up for a full night left him utterly drained. He resolved to cast it on a nightly basis to increase his Chi. The Stone spell was one that resisted modification the most, but he did manage to get it to work on objects that were connected to each other, instead of just the same object, which meant he could potentially use it on a suit of armour made from feathers. When he tested it on his feather waistcoat, he found that, like the Alarm spell, it exhausted him enough that he wouldn¡¯t be able to cast anything else for an hour, by which point the Stone effect would have run out. But when it was on, the feathers overlapped and acted like scales, and served to resist the point of his knife when he stabbed with full force, even if they didn¡¯t stop it completely. He thought it had required extra energy was because he was enchanting multiple items connected together, not one single item, so he resolved to experiment more with the spell in order to make it more efficient in terms of Chi. He experimented a little with the Water spell, and worked out that it condensed water out of the air, rather than creating it. It might have some utility in a desert if he was desperate for water, or in reducing the humidity of a room, but otherwise he couldn¡¯t see a combat use for it. It took several minutes for the water to form, which meant he couldn¡¯t just instantly cast it underfoot to make people slip, and he would risk making his own footing treacherous at the same time. Eventually he realised how to modify it so he could use it to pull the moisture out of wood, which would make it easier to build a campfire in damp conditions. His experiences in the druid woodland had proved just how useful that would be, and Water cost less to cast than a Heat spell that would do the same thing. He practiced daily with the staff and although he was still a novice, at least he now had some idea of how to defend himself against basic attacks. He attended the mandatory weapons training for locals and practiced his archery. He worked hard at fitting in, listening to the word choice and accents of the locals, and mimicking it as closely as he could. The lower someone¡¯s social class was, and the more countrified they were, the more likely they were to use older forms of English, like the Havenites, but city folk prided themselves on what they felt was a more modern way of speaking, and Josh did his best to imitate them. He watched the actions of nobles from afar¡ªthe way they bowed to each other, the gestures they used when they spoke, so that he could imitate them as well, if he had to, but he stayed well back from anyone with fancy clothing. He didn¡¯t want to get outed as a mage. All this kept him very busy. He had several vivid nightmares of falling from the bridge, or of watching Zogan fall from the bridge, and a few involving the Anatis¡¯s parents demanding he give back the staff, but these felt like the normal kind of coping nightmares, and they gradually faded as the week went on. Josh wouldn¡¯t have called himself happy, exactly, because the worry of what was happening on Earth, and how his parents and Ben would be feeling, was always niggling away at the back of his mind, a permanent ache he couldn¡¯t ease. But there were parts of his days that he enjoyed. He was getting better at everything he set his hand to, whether it was curling and glueing feathers into artistic patterns, or putting an arrow into a bullseye, or casting stronger versions of his five druid spells. He was getting regular doses of experience, achievements and attribute points, and much as he tried not to let it affect him, it was satisfying in a way that only progression in a game could be. He was also fitter and stronger than he had ever been in his life, even when he¡¯d been at school and playing lots of football. The only downside was that he was lonely. There was no-one who knew him, or any of the things he¡¯d been through, or with whom he had a common heritage. He had found a decent boarding house and exchanged daily conversations with the woman who ran it, and the other lodgers, and he was fitting in as best he could, but it wasn¡¯t the same. He asked for directions to Sir Ernil¡¯s house to check up on Lalf, and make sure he was being treated well. Josh was strongly of the opinion that Lalf ought to be in school, but child labour was a thing here, and it wasn¡¯t as if Josh could overset an entire social order simply to suit his own cultural beliefs. As far as he could see, Lalf was relishing his new employment, so he quietly retreated. He wrote a letter to the Abbot of High Howe Priory with such news as could be safely committed to paper, and enclosed one for Goodwife Benton, asking the Abbot to pass it on if he knew of anyone travelling south who might go near Haven. He would have written one to Katofen too, if he¡¯d had any way of getting it delivered, but he¡¯d not heard anyone on the street talking about the revolution that had taken place in the Azure Cathedral, or any mention of the huldra at all. At the end of the week, once he¡¯d finished his preparations, Josh was ready to start investigating the Dreamer. 1.38 - A party of pirates and politicians On Earth Ben had never been much of a gamer. A bit of GTA and Resident Evil at a friend¡¯s house as a teenager, a bit of Fantasy Football here and there, a brief stint at the chess club at school, mostly because he¡¯d fancied himself as the kind of person who played chess rather than having any particular liking for it, but these days the only game he consistently played was his daily Wordle. Now he was staring at his level sixteen mage in Spiralia Online. Why hadn¡¯t he just got down to it and acted as the bait himself the first time? Why had he been so stupid as to get Josh involved in ¡­ whatever the hell this was? He¡¯d succeeded in getting one thing he¡¯d wanted¡ªthere was currently a massive police investigation underway¡ªbut the price was far higher than he had ever imagined paying. After two weeks of repeatedly being interviewed, and even hauled in for questioning before the police had decided he was a well-meaning idiot and not a perpetrator, his offer to help with some of the investigative footwork had been firmly turned down. Of course it had, he knew it would, but he had to try. Josh¡¯s computer and Ben¡¯s laptop had been taken as evidence, along with all his research, but everything was backed up in his cloud storage, and he¡¯d had time to go through Josh¡¯s computer with a fine toothcomb prior to its seizure. However, the only lead he¡¯d found was the screen recording Josh had left running during his final hours in the game, which had told him nothing. The game was the common denominator in all this. The rest of the family were busy posting on Facebook and pinning up flyers in the local area, and talking to all Josh¡¯s friends. They hadn''t blamed him at all, which only made it worse. Ben had gone straight out and bought a new PC with the minimum specs required to play Spiralia. Rather than trying do quests or level his character, Ben had spent most of his game time chatting with other players, and doing exactly what he¡¯d had Josh doing¡ªletting everyone think he was the kind of insecure, neglected teenager the kidnappers had previously targeted. He¡¯d been frantically logging as many hours in the game as he could before the police managed to get the game servers shut down, or realised what he was doing and arrested him for suspicious behaviour. He noticed another stupid quest pop up. He was in the middle of trying to reply to someone in the world chat, and the wretched thing was in his way. Wait, there was something familiar about it. Was that the same quest Josh had had right before he disappeared? The one about being immortal? Ben hadn¡¯t thought there was anything significant about it, because it had seemed like the usual heroic fantasy nonsense the game liked to ram down its players throats. But it was burned into his brain because he¡¯d watched the screen recording so many times, desperately hunting for clues. It was definitely the same quest. That might not mean anything. Maybe all players got that quest. He moved the quest window to the side and asked about it in the world chat. Most people who responded had never heard of it, except for one who said they¡¯d got it but declined it because it had no rewards, and was probably just bugged, mate. Ben hadn¡¯t noticed the lack of rewards, or known enough about the game to find that significant. Maybe the quest wasn¡¯t a bug, or a mistake. Maybe it was related. And if it was, that meant it was someone at the game company itself who was involved. What would happen now? Would someone try to contact Ben to meet up with him, as they must have done with Josh? Ben sat and stared at the screen for several minutes. Oh. Maybe he should accept the quest. Wait, he should record it first, and then accept it. That done, he sat and fidgeted again. No-one messaged him. Nothing suspicious happened. After thirty minutes or so, he decided that it was probably a coincidence. He should make himself a cup of tea, do some more research on the game company, and call his boss to tell him he wasn¡¯t ready to come back to work yet. He stretched and stood up. His next conscious moment was of someone tackling him, a full body blow that sent him flying. He hit the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of him. He gasped to recover his breath as the person straddling him bent his arm behind his back. Was that the kidnapper? He struggled, but his attacker had him securely pinned. He smelled grass, he was lying on grass. There was a breeze fluttering across his face. What was he doing outside? The person on top of him was speaking, saying something in carefully level voice, a voice that he could tell was calm only with an effort. ¡°¡­I am going to let you go now, sir.¡± It was a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°I want you to sit up slowly and carefully.¡± That wasn¡¯t the kind of thing a kidnapper said. The weight left him, and Ben winced as his arm was released. He pushed himself into a sitting position. He was in the trees behind his house, sprawled on the grassy verge next to the path into the woods. How had he got from his room to here? The woman who had knocked him down was backing away, but her eyes weren¡¯t on him. Her face was illuminated as if by a bright streetlight, and she was staring at ¡­ Ben followed her gaze. There was column of white light flickering a few metres away. It looked like someone had poured white plasma into a cylinder of glass, where it churned restlessly, but nothing in the vicinity was burning. He smelled ozone, and heard a continual low buzzing sound. Despite Ben''s disorientation, and his bewilderment, there was only one possible response to this phenomenon. He scrabbled for his phone, held up the camera, and pressed record. He noticed the woman was already doing the same thing. Six Spires Josh¡¯s first idea on how to proceed with his quest to find the Dreamer was to check the libraries again. He still had the introductory letter from the Abbot, which would get him so far, but if all libraries were like the one in Brackstone, most of the information he wanted was likely to be in a restricted section. Josh seemed to be having terrible luck with libraries so far. They weren¡¯t supposed to be dangerous places, but he didn¡¯t want a repeat of what had happened in Brackstone. He needed to find some way to convince the librarians to let him see the secret stuff, and he couldn¡¯t see how he was going to accomplish that. His second idea was to pose as a history student, and interview people who had been around between fifty and twenty years ago, who would know about the arrival of the original Heroes, the summoning of the first outlanders, and what had happened when Tylas had been defeated. He had the beginnings of a plan. He would work on it more tomorrow. That night Josh cast the Alarm spell, as usual. His Chi had increased by fourteen points over the week, and it was getting easier to cast spells. He was determined to set it every single time he slept from now on, and he was glad he did, because he had only just got into bed and blown out the candle when it buzzed a warning. He lurched up, tangled in sheets, and saw a dark, shadowy figure crouched on his windowsill, outlined against twilight sky. The intruder was fiddling with the latch. Josh leaped out of bed and grabbed the staff, which was leaning against the bedpost. Even as he did so, the figure got the window open and rolled into the room in one agile motion. Josh found himself reacting automatically, bringing the staff round in a quick sweep. The figure evaded the blow, diving to one side. ¡°Oyoyoyoyoy!¡± it said, in a female voice. ¡°No need for that, I¡¯m a friend!¡± Josh hesitated, the staff gripped in his hands. A girl crouched in the gloom, but he couldn¡¯t see her face. He groped with one hand for the little scrap of Heat spell he had placed on the bedside table, and used it to light the candle there. He blinked as his eyes adjusted, and noticed the girl shading her face as she did the same. She straightened cautiously from her crouch. She was no-one he¡¯d seen before. She wore a pair of culottes, soft leather boots laced up to the knee, and an oversized man¡¯s shirt with a thick leather belt around her waist. Her skin was a light caramel colour, and she had long black hair in a messy bun, with a coloured scarf tied over it. She looked like a fantasy version of a female pirate, except with less cleavage on display than fantasy artists normally liked to depict. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± he asked. She grinned, and he noticed that she had, of all things, a gold tooth. ¡°Got an invite for ya,¡± she said. ¡°Invite from who?¡± he asked suspiciously. ¡°Gent who wants to meet ya.¡± By climbing into Josh''s bedroom in the middle of the night? What would she have done if he hadn¡¯t woken up? ¡°Invite declined,¡± he said firmly. He gestured to the window. ¡°Please see yourself out.¡± ¡°What, and have you miss out on a loocrative oppo-toonity?¡± She drew the words out suggestively. ¡°I don¡¯t need money,¡± Josh told her. ¡°Not interested. And you never answered my first question.¡± Her eyes danced mischievously. ¡°No, I dint, did I?¡± Josh pointed sternly at the window. She sighed. ¡°Okay, okay! I¡¯m Ramina.¡± Josh stiffened. He¡¯d never heard anyone from Six Spires use the word okay. That meant she was an outlander, but he couldn¡¯t see a class. Had she hidden it? Did that mean she was below level 10, like him? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Revealing his own outlander status was the worst possible thing he could do at this point. ¡°I¡¯m Josh,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d say it was lovely to meet you, but it¡¯s the middle of the night and you just broke into my room.¡± ¡°What, you don¡¯t want a lady in yer bedroom at this time o¡¯ the evenin¡¯?¡± She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Josh could tell she wasn¡¯t serious. ¡°Why you didn¡¯t knock on the door, like a normal person?¡± ¡°Cos this is a men¡¯s only lodgin¡¯ house, innit?¡± She had a point. When Josh had originally paid for the room he¡¯d been treated to a stern lecture from the landlady about how she wouldn¡¯t stand for goings on in her house. He hadn¡¯t imagined it would turn out to be a problem. ¡°Well, since you mention it, keep your voice down. Or, even better, how about you leave?¡± She smirked. ¡°How about I start singin¡¯ bawdy songs at the top of my voice until you agree to come with me?¡± Josh brought the staff up in a guard stance. ¡°Please do. I can start yelling ¡®Thief!¡¯ and call for the Watch. They can arrest you for illegal entry, and ¡­ and ...¡± He had no idea what was illegal and what wasn¡¯t. ¡°¡­disturbing the peace.¡± She held up her hands. ¡°Alright, alright, pax.¡± She eyed him thoughtfully. ¡°Jokin¡¯ aside, the old man really does wanna talk. And it¡¯s not that late. Plenty o¡¯ time for an evenin¡¯ call.¡± Who was the old man? Was Josh supposed to know? ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Her eyes flicked to the candle and then to the staff. Josh felt a chill¡ªthe former had been lit by magic, and the latter was magic. All his other magical items were bundled up in the muffling cloak, so even if she did have any kind of magic sense she wouldn¡¯t be able to detect them. But the staff was out, and visibly enchanted. And maybe he shouldn¡¯t have used a spell to light the candle, but he¡¯d wanted to get it lit as soon as possible, instead of fiddling around with a flint and steel. ¡°Okay, you don¡¯t want money,¡± Ramina said. ¡°But maybe he can offer you summat else. Like¡­¡± she drew the word out. ¡°¡­a mage permit.¡± ¡°A what?¡± ¡°A piece o¡¯ paper what says, this ¡®ere individual is a registered mage who can practice magic in the city.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a mage,¡± Josh said automatically. ¡°Well, you can have a piece o¡¯ paper what says, this individual ain¡¯t no mage and any nob who wants to mess with him gotta answer to the Marquis o¡¯ Silbery.¡± Josh looked her up and down. ¡°You don¡¯t seem like the sort of messenger that someone calling himself the Marquis of Silbery would send.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m the polite option!¡± Josh raised his eyebrows. ¡°Believe it or not,¡± she said, with a careless shrug. ¡°The old guy wants to talk, that¡¯s it. Inna proper drawin¡¯ room, all civil-like.¡± ¡°And if I disagree, there¡¯s a less polite option?¡± ¡°Well, less discreet anyway, an¡¯ I¡¯m guessin¡¯ that¡¯s important to you, Mr I¡¯m Not A Mage.¡± ¡°What does Silbery want?¡± Josh demanded. ¡°I tole ya. He wants to talk. He dint tell me what it was about.¡± She sounded slightly offended by that. ¡°Who the hell is he, anyway?¡± She stared at him for a moment, and then broke into loud cackles, while Josh made frantic shushing motions at her. ¡°I gotta tell him! That¡¯s priceless, that is!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only been in Dendral a week,¡± Josh said defensively. ¡°He¡¯s the Lord Chamberlain, you dummy. Head of the Privy Council.¡± Josh had the hazy idea that this was some kind of advisor to the King, and that it had evolved from the position of a servant who helped the king go to the toilet, because apparently they couldn¡¯t be trusted to do that by themselves. Probably talking to the servant who wiped your bum for you about affairs of the realm was the royal medieval equivalent of checking your phone while doing your business, and over the centuries the position had gained in influence. Basically, it meant that Silbery was important for more than just being a Marquis. What the hell did the foremost advisor to the King want with Josh? It was all tied with the stuff that had happened in Brackstone. And here was Josh thinking he¡¯d been well rid of it. ¡°Where is this drawing room he wants to have a chat in?¡± Josh asked. Ramina grinned. ¡°Follow me!¡± Going off into the night with a suspicious stranger was high on the list of things Josh didn¡¯t want to do. Instead, he ushered Ramina out of the window, got dressed up in his best suit of clothes, and left by the front door. There were no streetlights in Dendral, but instead there were people wandering around with lanterns, who would offer to light your way for a small fee. They also tended to know the street layout well, and the one Josh picked out said he could find the Marquis of Silbury¡¯s townhouse, no problem at all, young sir. Ramina came skipping up to him a few streets later. ¡°Boring!¡± she said. ¡°Imagine, we could be doin¡¯ a midnight flit over the rooftops right now.¡± That did sound much more appealing than a sedate stroll through the safest parts of the city. ¡°Maybe next time,¡± Josh said. ¡°On the way back.¡± ¡°If you make it back, yeah¡­¡± She caught sight of his expression and burst out into uproarious laughter again. ¡°Just jokin¡¯! Man, look at your face!¡± The townhouse was in a wide street not far from the shore. Instead of carts and people walking around in homespun and aprons, it had elegantly painted carriages pulled by gleaming, plumed horses, and well-dressed people strolling about in a leisurely sort of way. The lantern man, not deeming Josh to be smart enough for the main entrance, directed him to a side door used by tradespeople and servants. Ramina took the lead at that point, pushing past an offended servant who had come to get the door. Before following her, Josh paid off the lantern man with a copper penny, and gave a short bow to the servant while politely lifting his Robin Hood hat at the same time, just like a local would. He hadn¡¯t wasted his time watching people in the city for nothing. They went up a set of back stairs with well-trodden carpet, and then out onto a landing that was another world, full of polished wooden bannisters, waist-high, blue-patterned vases stuffed with dried flower arrangements, and a runner of soft, plush green carpet along the centre. It even smelled expensive, the air fragrant with the scent of pot pourri and the warm honey smell of beeswax candles. Ramina took him to a panelled door, but instead of knocking she threw it open and strode into the room as if she owned it. ¡°Got him for ya, grampa!¡± she called out. Was she Silbury''s granddaughter, or was she just calling him that because he was old? Josh was surer now than ever that she must be from Earth. No-one local would act like that. He had a brief impression of a room of wealth and elegance¡ªa marble fireplace, silver candlesticks, subdued oil paintings, thick, soft curtains pulled over a window embrasure, and finely carved wooden furniture upholstered in rich green and silver brocade. There were two men in the room. One was short and plump with a combover of wispy white hair that threatened to fly in all directions. He looked like he was in his sixties, and wore an amiable expression of amused tolerance. The other was a heavy-set man in his forties with a hooked nose and hard eyes. There was a tea-table in front of them, but instead of a tea set or refreshments, it held a familiar-looking birdcage that gave off a numbing, icy sensation of magic. It was the key fragment. ¡°Thank you, Ramina,¡± the plump man said. He looked at Josh. ¡°Welcome, my dear boy. De Haven, is it not? Do forgive Ramina her eccentricities. She isn¡¯t from these parts.¡± Josh had watched enough local interactions that he knew what to do here too. He put his left foot slightly in front of the right, with both turned outwards in V position, then removed his hat with his left hand and bowed, more deeply than he had to the servant downstairs. There. That was pretty good. No-one would suspect him of being an outlander now. Not with Ramina in the same room, anyway. ¡°I¡¯m Silbury, as you may have guessed,¡± the plump man continued. ¡°My guest here is Sir Ernil Thrace.¡± ¡°Josh de Haven, my lord,¡± Josh said. He glanced at Sir Ernil. ¡°Sir.¡± Sir Ernil¡¯s name was familiar. Where had Josh heard it before? After a moment he remembered¡ªthe man Lady Paleyne and Lady Alianne were staying with, who was also the Duchess of Kaldermere¡¯s agent in Dendral. What was his part in all this? And was this the same key fragment that had been stolen from the library in Brackstone, or a different one? Ramina plonked herself down on a spare sofa, which made Sir Ernil frown. Josh hadn¡¯t been invited to sit, so he remained standing. ¡°My lord,¡± Sir Ernil said to Silbury. ¡°With all due respect, is this woman permitted to sit in on your private councils?¡± ¡°I can throw her out if you wish, but she¡¯ll just listen at the door,¡± Silbury said placidly. Ramina grinned unrepentantly, and Sir Ernil¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know best, my lord.¡± He didn¡¯t sound convinced, but then his heavy gaze landed on Josh. ¡°So, this is the thief.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a thief!¡± Josh protested. Silbury waved a hand at him. ¡°Yes, yes, of course. No-one is seeking punitive action against you.¡± He still wasn¡¯t getting it. Josh tried again. ¡°I didn¡¯t steal the key fragment! I retrieved it from the people who actually stole it, and then handed to the relevant authorities!¡± He remembered how precious Lady Alianne had been about her title, and added, ¡°My lord.¡± ¡°The relevant authority would have been the Church, my boy.¡± Silbury made the same gesture, as if physically brushing the matter to the side. ¡°But no matter. If you hadn¡¯t brought it to the Lord of Brackstone I wager we would not have discovered ¡­ but I am getting ahead of myself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure there is anything useful he can tell us, my lord,¡± Sir Ernil said. ¡°Nor can we trust his word.¡± He glowered at Josh. Why? It must be because of the huldra. No doubt Lady Paleyne had relayed the entire tale to him, and it seemed churlish of him not to be grateful that Josh had helped both women get through the Azure Cathedral and safely to Dendral so that Lady Alianne could get her Philosopher¡¯s Stone. Okay, so Josh had helped an exploited minority overthrow an unjust oppressor along the way, but that wasn''t a situation that should have been allowed to develop in the first place. ¡°De Haven,¡± Silbury said, gesturing to the key fragment. ¡°Please inspect this and tell me if it¡¯s exactly the same it was as when you first encountered it.¡± Josh hadn¡¯t approached it that closely when he was in the library. He¡¯d taken it from the chest, but he¡¯d barely looked at it, even once he¡¯d got to the castle. Was this some kind of trap? ¡°I never saw it very close,¡± he said. ¡°It was muffled most of the time, and I had other things on my mind.¡± ¡°Nevertheless, my boy, indulge me, I beg.¡± Josh went over to the key fragment. The fragment, and the cage it was in, looked exactly the same. He said so. ¡°Did you ever remove it from the cage?¡± Silbury asked. Oho! What was going on here? ¡°No.¡± ¡°Did you observe¡ªremind me, Ernil, who it was¡ª¡± ¡°Orlad.¡± ¡°¡ªyes, Orlad or any of his co-conspirators opening the cage?¡± Orlad had been the big, handsome green-eyed man with the magic sword, who had held a grudge against Lady Paleyne. ¡°No, my lord. Although I was being held in the cellar and I didn¡¯t see everything they did.¡± From the questions Josh was getting, it sounded like the key fragment had been swapped out for a fake. But had that happened before it had been taken, or after? Josh thought back to the time he had hidden in the little upstairs room while the mage had removed the warding circle around the key fragment, and then loaded it into the chest. He relayed what he had witnessed, and ended with, ¡°Everything I saw suggested they thought they had the real fragment, not a fake one. And it feels exactly the same.¡± Silbury raised his eyebrows. ¡°I don¡¯t recall saying it had been exchanged for a fake.¡± ¡°Why else would you be asking all these questions?¡± Josh asked. He remembered to stay in character, and added, ¡°Er, my lord.¡± Sir Ernil grunted. ¡°She said he was sharp.¡± Silbury tapped his lip with a forefinger. ¡°So I see.¡± He appeared to come to a decision. ¡°The sensation you feel comes purely from the cage, which is intended to disguise the emanations of the key fragment itself. Ramina, if you will?¡± Ramina bounced up, went over to the cage, and opened it. The moment she did, the icy, numbing sensation disappeared. Josh tried to feel for the key itself, but there was nothing. It was just a slip of decorated metal. He reached out his hand, then hesitated. ¡°Can I touch it?¡± ¡°Be my guest,¡± Silbury said. Josh picked up the key fragment and turned it around in his hands. It was completely inert. He had expected something like Orlad¡¯s sword, or his own staff, with complex chains of magic disappearing into its depths. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything,¡± he said. There were three possibilities. One, the key had been stolen before Josh had come across it in the library; two, it had been taken by Orlad¡¯s gang; or three, it had been swapped out after Josh had given it to the Lord of Brackstone. The first or the third were the most likely. Orlad¡¯s gang wouldn¡¯t have relied on pinning the theft on Josh if it hadn¡¯t been the real key to begin with, so they had probably been unaware. Hadn¡¯t they opened the cage at all? ¡°Would Orlad and his crew have had any reason to open the cage?¡± he asked. ¡°We are the ones asking the questions here, young man!¡± Sir Ernil announced, but was interrupted by Silbury¡¯s upheld hand. ¡°Unlikely,¡± Silbury said. ¡°Each artefact that Wayland created emits a unique and powerful signature. The cage prevents scrying attempts. If they had opened it, they would have risked giving away their location.¡± ¡°They put the cage in a ward, and then in a magic chest to muffle the effect it gave out,¡± Josh said, thinking aloud. ¡°They could have just opened the cage to disengage it, like Ramina did now. Therefore, they didn¡¯t know the key fragment was fake¡ªunless one of them was aware and hiding it from the others. But that seems convoluted. It''s more likely to have been swapped out either before it was stolen from the library, or after I handed it in.¡± This was too much for Sir Ernil. ¡°Have a care what accusations you make! It has been in the care of people I trust since it was given to the Lord of Brackstone.¡± Josh refrained from rolling his eyes. ¡°Sorry, I didn''t meant to point fingers, I was just thinking aloud. But if you are sure of that, it means the library was protecting a fake key. How long ago was the real key taken? Who took it? Where is it now? And isn¡¯t it one of several fragments?¡± ¡°There are three key fragments, which combine to unlock the Chains of Wayland,¡± Silbury said, watching Josh thoughtfully. ¡°And yes, that is exactly what we fear¡ªthat all three may have been taken, and then used to free that which we thought securely imprisoned forever.¡± 1.39 – The useful properties of string It was clear that no-one was going to tell Josh exactly who or what was imprisoned by the Chains of Wayland, or who Silbury thought had taken the key fragments, or even if he had a suspect at all. However, Josh though he could guess what the Chains had held. Tylas the Undying had been the Dark Lord of Six Spires, and though the man himself had been killed, his power was transferrable. That meant there was always going to be something or someone to lock up. And what did the Chains of Wayland do, exactly? How did they imprison someone? They had to be more than just physical chains. Josh had visions of some kind of magic-supressing handcuffs. Also, and more importantly, if the key fragment was a fake, did that mean Tylas¡¯s power had been stolen recently? Was Josh too late with his quest to find the Dreamer? Had someone else got there before him? Once Silbury had thanked Josh for the information he provided, he and Ramina were dismissed. However, the moment they were back on the landing Josh wasn¡¯t at all surprised when Ramina grabbed hold of his wrist, put a finger to her lips and dragged him to an adjacent room where, she said, they could overhear the rest of the conversation. Her eavesdropping spot turned out to be a walk-in cupboard between the two rooms, and just as she was about to stride into it, Josh grabbed her by the arm. ¡°Wait!¡± he said, as she threw his arm off with offended impatience. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s trapped.¡± She frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡± On the wall on either side of the door were a total of four shelves, each holding a china musician figurine. They were playing Six Spires versions of instruments¡ªa lute, a lyre, a flute and a drum¡ªand they emanated a very faint, very subtle buzz of magic. Josh inched closer, and felt a haze of magic over the door. It felt like watching clouds blowing across the sky on a windy day¡ª you could tell they were moving, but they were so slow you could barely see it happening. Josh assumed the cloud was the active area of the alarm spell, which covered the entire cupboard door and several inches around it. They wouldn¡¯t be able to crawl under it or remove the ornaments without tripping it. The magic emanations of the ornaments was so subdued, it was almost as if they had been muffled, but when he strained his senses outwards, they reminded Josh of two things. The first was the set of ornaments Lady Paleyne had used at Brackstone Castle, which had created an alarm spell barrier. The second was the magical lock he¡¯d seen in the Brackstone library. He assumed what he was seeing was a more complicated version of the alarm spell. ¡°Is Silbury a mage?¡± he asked. Ramina frowned at him. ¡°No. What does the trap do? I¡¯ve been this way loads of times!¡± ¡°I think it just alerts him whenever you go into the cupboard.¡± Maybe Silbury had a linked item that glowed or something. Ramina¡¯s eyes widened admiringly. ¡°The sneaky old fart!¡± Josh could try to disrupt the very slight, delicate chains of magic he saw looping into the ornaments, but it would take him ages to study them and work out how they connected, if that was even possible. The magic-muffling effect on the ornaments themselves meant most of the spell working was hidden. Could he do what he¡¯d done with Lady Paleyne¡¯s alarm spell, and simply move the ornaments away from the door? But he would have to reach through the spell itself to do so. What did he have with him that might help? An enchanted quill, a tiny bottle of ink, and copies of the five druid spells. He looked around the room. It was another sitting room, this one smaller, with bookshelves and a roll-top writing desk in one corner. On investigation, he found it held several sheets of paper, a quill, an ink pot, a blotting pad, and a stick of sealing wax. It meant Josh had plenty of paper, but casting Stone on paper wasn¡¯t going to be any help to him this time around ¡­ unless ¡­ he furrowed his brow as he thought. He took a sheet of paper and slowly poked it into the cloud of magic by the cupboard door. No reaction. The ornaments hadn¡¯t been enchanted to react to paper, or the paper was too thin to register. He cast Stone on the paper, which was just long enough to reach the ornament without his hand entering the cloud of magic, then gently attempted to slide the sheet underneath one of the ornaments. The moment the ornament got nudged, however, Josh saw tiny silvery threads of magic suddenly ripple into existence within the cloud. It stretched from this ornament the others on the opposite side. He let out a frustrated breath. They were magically connected, and if you moved one any distance from the others it would trip the alarm. He scratched the back of his head while he stared at the problem. Could he move all of them at once? ¡°Do you have any string?¡± He asked Ramina. She looked intrigued. ¡°Wait here.¡± Several minutes later, everything was in position. Josh had looped nearly a whole ball of string around the ornaments, running it along the floor and up the other side, and then back again, before casting Stone on it. This left him with a stiffened frame of string that allowed him and Ramina to lift the ornaments away from the door in one piece. The cloud of magic moved with it, remaining inert. They propped the entire structure carefully against the wall, where Josh hoped it wouldn¡¯t fall over, and then they were free to walk into the cupboard. Ramina climbed onto a chest that had been set against the far wall, and beckoned to Josh. He climbed up beside her, and put his ear to the wall, through which he could hear the voices of Sir Ernil and Lord Silbury clearly. Surprisingly so, considering there was a wall between them. It was almost as if the cupboard had been set up as a place from which to eavesdrop. And then guarded by an alarm spell. It suggested Lord Silbury was sneakier than he looked. ¡°¡ªrun her ragged,¡± Silbury was saying, ¡°with all your manoeuvring around Northcrag. And while we are on the subject, I will counsel you against it. Turning him into an enemy will not advance your cause. What do you hope to gain there?¡± There was silence from Sir Ernil. ¡°Very well,¡± Silbury said equably. ¡°Keep your secrets. But you should step carefully. Northcrag does too many favours for the King for his star to be easily eclipsed. He has thus far been famously neutral, but set him against you, and your dreams of retaking Celespire will turn to ashes.¡± It sounded like Sir Ernil had managed to keep a lid on the news about the huldra, otherwise Silbury¡¯s warning would have been different. Josh wondered how the conspirators had achieved that, given all the courier packages that went through the Cathedral at regular intervals. How had Northcrag not yet noticed? ¡°Of course, my lord, I understand,¡± Sir Ernil replied. ¡°But let us return to matter at hand,¡± Silbury went on. ¡°It is a delicate time for court negotiations, and I need Sir Owain¡¯s support on a number of issues. If I accuse him of holding onto a fake key fragment, he will take that as a challenge by me over areas of operational security he considers to be solely his provenance.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Sir Owain again¡ªthe Hero who had founded the Order of the Unyielding. The Order must be the ones safeguarding the second key fragment. Josh wondered who would have the third. ¡°I know what he¡¯s like,¡± Sir Ernil said, grimly. ¡°You don¡¯t have to explain to me.¡± ¡°Precisely. I need this operation carried out swiftly and discreetly, and with a maximum of deniability.¡± A pause. ¡°I need a mage, but I cannot use my own.¡± ¡°You want Liosa to do it,¡± Sir Ernil said flatly. Josh wondered who Liosa was, before remembering that was Lady Paleyne¡¯s first name. ¡°Pull her off Northcrag¡¯s tail, get her to do this for me¡ªspeed and subtly are her specialities after all¡ªand I will speak to the King about an exploratory mission to the south, to test the defences of the scourge.¡± There was silence. Eventually Silbury filled it. ¡°I would have thought you would have jumped at the chance to have the King¡¯s ear in this,¡± he mused. ¡°What am I missing?¡± The Azure Cathedral, Josh thought. Silbury didn¡¯t know about it yet. Sir Ernil said, at last, ¡°If Liosa was discovered infiltrating the Order of the Unyielding, my lord, that would spell disaster for our cause. Convenient for you, no doubt.¡± ¡°Sir Ernil, you wound me!¡± ¡°Apologies, my lord. I must think of these things. But I have a suggestion. A thief who is already connected to a key fragment was here, in your house, not five minutes ago.¡± ¡°De Haven? If I were to use an agent of whom I know very little, I would do so via a middleman, to prevent myself from being identified. But it is too late for that, he knows of my involvement already. Also, suppose I do deputise him, and he turns out to be less capable than he was in Brackstone ¡­ if he was caught, he could sing like a canary.¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Sir Ernil said, with heavy satisfaction. ¡°I have leverage against him. I could persuade him to keep his mouth shut.¡± He paused, then added, ¡°That¡¯s if you wanted him to survive captivity.¡± ¡°My dear sir, I must deplore such ruthlessness!¡± Silbury sounded irritable. ¡°I don¡¯t make a habit of treating my agents as disposable!¡± ¡°Sorry, my lord, I spoke out of turn.¡± Silbury heaved a sigh. ¡°Last of all, as you pointed out earlier, I don¡¯t know if I can trust him. I don¡¯t know his angle yet.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you usually do, my lord?¡± Sir Ernil sounded sardonic. ¡°Give people enough rope to hang themselves with?¡± ¡°Yes, but not usually over such high stakes. This is not some internal political scuffle. This is the survival of the world as we know it.¡± ¡°You could set your girl to watch over him, my lord, make sure he does it properly.¡± ¡°Ramina? Subterfuge is not her strong point. But ¡­ that is a thought¡­¡± Silbury¡¯s voice trailed away. There was a short silence, followed by a surprised Hmm! ¡°My lord, what is wrong?¡± ¡°Ramina isn¡¯t listening in! How curious! She would normally have her ear glued to the wall by now.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± Sir Ernil sounded startled and put out. ¡°I have my little ways.¡± ¡°Forgive me, my lord, but why do you let her run around spying on all your conversations?¡± ¡°Oh, she doesn¡¯t spy on all of them. Only the ones I need her to.¡± Josh sneaked a glance at Ramina, whose brows were drawn down over her nose in a scowl. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you can trust a creature like that from¡ª¡± Sir Ernil began heatedly, before he stopped. ¡°I beg your pardon, my lord. It is not my place.¡± ¡°It is not,¡± Silbury said pleasantly. ¡°Never forget, I have reasons for everything I do.¡± He added, ¡°I will consider your proposal.¡± ¡°Of course, my lord.¡± Sir Ernil left shortly after that. Josh and Ramina glanced at each other, then left the cupboard and put the alarm system back. ¡°They really need to nail the ornaments down,¡± Josh said in a low voice to Ramina, as he carefully slid the stiffened sheets of paper out from underneath them. ¡°Or glue them or something. Then people couldn¡¯t move them.¡± ¡°Most people don¡¯t notice they¡¯re there,¡± Ramina said. ¡°And they can¡¯t tell they¡¯re magic. They don¡¯t feel like anythin¡¯ to me, and normally I can tell a little bit.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve got a magic muffling spell on them.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s go and wait on the landin¡¯.¡± ¡°I should go home,¡± Josh said. Ramina grinned at him. ¡°Wait five minutes. Trust me.¡± Josh wasn¡¯t inclined to trust Ramina at all. Only a few minutes later, however, she was proved right. A maid went bustling past into the sitting room where Lord Silbury sat, and then came hurrying out a moment later. She curtseyed to Ramina and Josh. ¡°Milord to see you and the young gentleman now, Miss.¡± Ramina flashed Josh a triumphant glance. Josh trailed after her reluctantly. He had an idea of exactly what was coming. Sure enough, Silbury had a proposition for him. It surprised Josh how honest Silbury was. He laid out everything, just as he had to Sir Ernil¡ªhis unwillingness to challenge Sir Owain, the need for discretion and speed, the potential consequences if Josh was caught. In that eventuality Silbury could not afford to be openly involved, but he would offer indirect help to the best of his ability. At last, he came to the reward. ¡°So, tell me,¡± Silbury said, his eyes twinkling. ¡°What would convince you to undertake this assignment for me?¡± ¡°Just to be clear,¡± Josh said, ¡°What you want me to do is get into the Order of the Unyielding¡¯s secret vault, or wherever it is they hold their key fragment, and check if it¡¯s real or not?¡± ¡°Merely open whatever safeguards it, and we will be able to scry its location immediately.¡± Josh stared at Silbury. ¡°It¡¯s not an easy task,¡± Silbury said, returning his gaze. ¡°But this is not just some political game I am playing for my own benefit. There must be something you want.¡± Josh couldn¡¯t help remembering Rob the Hedge Knight¡¯s warning about anyone who was discovered to be a mage. They get sucked up into the fooking system, mate, working for the fooking nobs. He wasn¡¯t even quite sure how he had got from being penniless and completely unknown traveller to working for someone who sounded like King Rupern¡¯s premier spymaster. Silbury had said he would try to help indirectly if Josh was caught, but that wasn¡¯t the main issue. The Order of the Unyielding, according to be Rob, was to be avoided at all costs, because they killed outlanders permanently. Josh might have been identified as a mage, but at least they didn¡¯t know he was an outlander. Even if they did catch him, they wouldn¡¯t be able to tell he had a player core. Not unless they killed him and his body disappeared, and then he¡¯d be in serious trouble, because he would be waking up in a shrine somewhere with nothing but the items he¡¯d been carrying when he died, still level 9, with no experience, and with the Order of the Unyielding after him. On the other hand, Silbury sounded like the kind of person who would have access to libraries. And information about the Dreamer. And mages who might be willing to give Josh lessons. And if power of the Dreamer had been stolen, Josh needed to find the person who had, and the way to do that was to insert himself into the investigation. He was going to find a way to contact Earth or die trying. ¡°Books?¡± Silbury said, a little blankly, when Josh made his requests known. ¡°And mage training?¡± Ramina snorted. ¡°What?¡± Josh asked defensively. He hadn¡¯t made any mention of the Dreamer. He wanted to keep that goal to himself for as long as possible. ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°Most people ask for money.¡± Oops. ¡°And money,¡± Josh said quickly. Silbury gave Ramina a severe look, but when he turned his gaze back to Josh his eyes were twinkling. ¡°It goes without saying that you will be well compensated,¡± he said. ¡°Two hundred florins for successful confirmation.¡± Florins were the silver coins. Josh could live very comfortably on a florin per day. Silbury was offering him more than half a year¡¯s salary. Silbury continued, ¡°You may also have free reign of my own library, which includes a number of rare and magical books, and I will arrange for training sessions with my own personal mage.¡± Yes! Now all Josh had to do was break into a vault belonging to an organisation that sounded like it was stuffed with fanatically righteous paladins. Which was weird, considering he¡¯d ended up playing a paladin in the game. Silbury specified that he wanted the information within a week, but if Josh felt it would take longer, he was to let Ramina know. Josh promised to be in touch, and then they were standing outside the servants¡¯ entrance. ¡°Now can we go over the rooftops?¡± Ramina demanded. She had followed him out for some reason. ¡°Now we can,¡± Josh replied solemnly. A little while later they were perched on top of a steeply pitched roof overlooking the bay, the water in front of them a shimmering glitter of reflected moonlight. A fresh breeze was coming off the lake, and it rifled through Josh¡¯s hair, as if blowing all his cares away. ¡°So where are you from?¡± he asked Ramina casually. ¡°I,¡± she said importantly, swinging round to face him, ¡°am a pirate.¡± Of course she wasn¡¯t going to tell him about Earth yet. ¡°The Seamount?¡± he guessed. ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it like?¡± It was one of the places he¡¯d never got round to visiting in the Spiralia Online. All he knew was that it was across the sea to the south-west, and that it was a haven for pirates. It was obvious that, wherever she had originally come from, the Seamount was now her home. Her eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she described the treacherous reefs that ships had to navigate to reach it, the sea kicking up against the rocks in a constant spray of plume, the tumbling vines on its steep slopes, and the great city inside it, where all privateers and freebooters came to sell their wares and spend their coin. It was a cavernous echoing space, with buildings constructed from the remains of ships, criss-crossed with walkways and stepladders in a chaotic jumble. Was that where she had arrived when she came from Earth? ¡°Have you always lived there?¡± he asked. ¡°Not always,¡± she said, and changed the subject. He didn¡¯t press. As soon as he got home, he checked his character sheet in the privacy of his bedroom, which was his first clue that he might have made a mistake by agreeing to help Silbury.
QUESTS The Stolen Fragment. Investigate the Order of the Unyielding, on behalf of the Marquis of Silbury, and find out if their fragment of the key is real or fake. Reward: 55,282 xp.
Josh choked. Fifty-five thousand experience? He did a rough calculation, and decided it would probably take him from level 13 to level 15. That was two whole levels for a week¡¯s work. Assuming he could pull it off at all. 1.40 - When scouting pays off in unexpected ways One of the weird things that Josh had noticed about Dendral was the way it glorified the young. He¡¯d expected it to be more old-fashioned, a society that placed more emphasis on respect for age and power, but instead it had what he thought was a very modern focus on youth and beauty. Lord Silbury was one of the few nobles Josh had seen who left his hair white, but the custom amongst the rest of his age group was to wear a coloured wig or to dye it. The richer folk also commonly painted their faces, even some of the men, and paraded about in clothing that was more suited to people with body parts less affected by gravity, with inevitable results. It wasn¡¯t just the nobles. The main avenue in the city park was lined with stone statues depicting fit and healthy young people in athletic poses, and the daily weapons training invariably started with fitness sessions that were oddly focused on muscle tone and slenderness, as much as physical endurance or strength. It was all weirdly familiar to someone with a twenty-first century Earth upbringing. In flagrant defiance of this philosophy, the statues flanking the gates of the Order of the Unyielding were fully dressed in plate armour, and although their visors were closed, they nevertheless gave the impression that, under their helmets, they were frowning grimly. The Order of the Unyielding occupied a square, blocky mansion, built by someone who must have wanted a castle, but had presumably been thwarted by city building codes, and had settled for something that looked as much like a fortress as possible. It had thick, solid walls around it that were twelve feet high, and the mansion itself had towers in all four corners. The top of each tower was screened, so Josh couldn¡¯t see if they held guards or not. He thought they probably did. For the entire time he had been sitting outside the tea shop no-one had gone in or out of the complex. The big front gates had remained firmly closed and bolted. Okay, granted, Josh hadn¡¯t been there that long. It had probably been less than an hour, but he hadn¡¯t realised just how boring it would be to sit drinking tea and watching a building out of the corner of his eye. He¡¯d walked all around it earlier and not seen a single trade entrance, which meant sneaking in by hiding in a vegetable cart was probably out. Maybe a lifetime of playing video games wasn¡¯t good preparation for an infiltration mission. He¡¯d done okay at the library in Brackstone, but it had been terrifying and he¡¯d been one step from disaster the whole time. He saw an elderly man arrive and take a nearby table. He must have been a regular customer, because he was greeted with familiarity by the waiter, and the words, ¡°Your usual, sir?¡± An old man who came here every day might know something useful about the Order. Josh wondered how to introduce himself, but that proved unnecessary. The old man must have seen his curious glance and hailed Josh before his drink was even served. He turned out to be one of those people who were constitutionally incapable of sharing a public space with someone and not striking up a conversation. Josh had met his sort before. You usually got at least one on every suburban street¡ªthey had some kind of preternatural sense for anything happening in their neighbourhood, to the point you could hardly get in and out of your car without them appearing for a chin wag, and they could talk the hind leg off a donkey. Josh set himself to finding out as much as he could. He didn¡¯t want to make it obvious he was after information about the Order of the Unyielding, so he let the old man ramble on, and tried to ask leading questions about some of the other things he was interested in, like Celespire, and the Seven¡ªor Eight¡ªHeroes. He was therefore inwardly disappointed to discover that the old man had been born, raised and lived all his life in Dendral, and as far as he was concerned the events in Celespire might as well have happened across the other side of the world. Instead, Josh was treated to a blow-by-blow account of the old man''s eldest granddaughter¡¯s recent wedding. Josh waited patiently, pretending interest, and then slipped in a question about the Seven Heroes, to which the old man sighed and shook his head. ¡°Heroes ain¡¯t what they used to be, that¡¯s for sure,¡± he said. ¡°Them immortal ones might of been good folks once upon a time, but the thatchgallows what used to follow them around, they was another matter. Used to hang out at Crosskeys, and a rowdy lot they was too.¡± Josh had no idea what Crosskeys was, but had no opportunity to ask¡ªthe old man didn¡¯t pause for breath as he swept on. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t of let my daughters anywhere near that place, no sir. Drinking and carousing at all hours of the day when they should of been hunting them demons down south.¡± ¡°Demons?¡± Josh asked. He was assuming the old man meant the scourge. ¡°Aye,¡± the old man said, pausing to take a shaky sip of his tea. Josh had ordered a second pot for him, since the story of the wedding had taken up the entire first pot. ¡°Or maybe I¡¯m getting muddled. No, it weren¡¯t demons, that were afore Celespire fell. Storm furies, that were it, raising hell all along the border, about ten years back.¡± Josh let himself be sidetracked into a story about storm furies. They sounded like elementals which, the old man said, had been sent by the Storm King to harass the southern forts. ¡°But that¡¯s how it is in them parts,¡± he said, disapprovingly, as if an infestation of storm furies lowered the respectability of an area. ¡°None o¡¯ that nonsense up here, o¡¯ course. We don¡¯t hold with those kinds of goings on.¡± Since Josh wasn¡¯t getting anything useful¡ªexcept maybe the bit about Crosskeys¡ªhe decided to focus on what he really needed right now. ¡°What¡¯s that big building over there?¡± he asked, nodded at the headquarters of the Order of the Unyielding. ¡°That?¡± said the old man. ¡°That? Hah! Defenders of the realm, so they say, but I don¡¯t see them doing a mite o¡¯ good stuck behind them walls seven days a week.¡± ¡°Here, now, grandfather, that¡¯s no way to talk,¡± the waiter said, coming to clear the empty pot of tea. He said to Josh, ¡°They look ever so fine when they ride out. They got them big white horses and their armour¡¯s shinier than silver, and there¡¯s coloured banners rippling out behind them. It¡¯s a grand sight to behold!¡± ¡°When they ride out, which ain¡¯t often,¡± the old man said. ¡°And never show their faces, do they? Suspicious I call that!¡± He leaned closer to Josh, and confided, ¡°They say they¡¯re vampires underneath that armour. That¡¯s they can¡¯t take off their helmets in daylight.¡± ¡°Grandfather,¡± the waiter scolded indulgently. ¡°Don¡¯t go spreading stories like that!¡± ¡°Ain¡¯t no story,¡± the old man said, with dignity. ¡°Ask anyone!¡± As far as Josh knew there weren¡¯t any vampires or vampire-equivalents in Six Spires, which was one thing to be thankful for, because much as he enjoyed vampire movies, he didn¡¯t want to encounter them in reality. It was interesting that there were legends of vampires, though. In any case, the more Josh looked at the job he¡¯d been given, the tougher it seemed. The Order was well fortified, and the knights themselves left only very rarely. Were they completely self-sufficient? If so, what did they eat? Surely there wasn¡¯t enough space for them to be able to grow all their own food. Supplies had to go in sometime. How long was Josh going to have to hang around in the plaza watching the gates and waiting for something to happen? The answer was, in fact, several days. He spent the time migrating from tea shop to tavern¡ªhappily the entire plaza was lined with them¡ªstopping to chat with locals, asking the sorts of questions a curious visitor might, but he learned little of use. Ramina was no help either. As soon as she caught up with him¡ªusually in the afternoons, because she wasn¡¯t an early riser¡ªheads started to turn in her direction, and people started to whisper in each other¡¯s ears. ¡°Can you please stop following me?¡± Josh said, in an undertone. ¡°You¡¯re far too noticeable!¡± She ignored this. ¡°Why you going round askin¡¯ so many questions? Gods, old people are boring! If I hear another story about some granny¡¯s aching hip, I swear...!¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing recon,¡± Josh muttered, making sure no-one was in earshot. ¡°Pfff! Just get some rope already, and hop over the wall at midnight. Easy peasy!¡± Josh rolled his eyes. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°What an amazingly well thought out plan. Why didn¡¯t that occur to me?¡± ¡°Good thing you got me then, innit?¡± ¡°How about I give you some rope, and tonight you can show me how it¡¯s done?¡± Josh raised his eyebrows at her. She glared at him. ¡°No really,¡± he pressed. ¡°I¡¯m clearly in the presence of a master. Please teach me, O Wise One.¡± She snatched a crust from his plate¡ªthey were sitting outside a tavern where he had just eaten lunch¡ªand flicked it at him. He was quite pleased to find he¡¯d automatically dodged it just by moving his head. All the combat training and practice with the staff was paying off. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll just go back and tell grandpa he¡¯s hired the wrong guy,¡± Ramina announced. ¡°Be my guest.¡± Josh folded his arms. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask to be dragged into this in the first place.¡± Joking aside, Ramina was right, at least in some respects. Josh was beginning to think the Marquis of Silbury had chosen the wrong guy for the job. His only idea so far was to don the cloak of invisibility and climbed the wall at a snail¡¯s pace, but there were so many things that could go wrong. What if they had dogs? Or other counters against invisibility? And once he did get in, he had no idea of the layout of the place, or even where the key fragment was held. By the time Ramina had got bored enough to leave Josh to it, it was later in the evening, and he was tired and frustrated enough that he was also ready to give in. Still, he had something else he wanted to follow up on. Instead of going home, he asked one of the lantern men for directions to Crosskeys. This turned out to be a tavern on the dock front. Not in the nice part to the west, which consisted of stately stone buildings fronting a wide promenade shaded by trees, but on the shabbier eastern side, which was a jumble of weathered wooden jetties, overloaded barges wallowing in the water, and uneven cobbles scattered with straw . During the day it was normally a bustling area, with workers shouting while loading and unloading bales and crates, but Josh found that it was just as loud now that the sun had gone down. Light and music spilled out of the taverns, along several groups of drinkers, busy with earnest discussions. It wasn¡¯t rowdy, though¡ªthe punters looked more like working men on a regular drinking night. Crosskeys was identifiable by its sign, which depicted a pair of keys crossed like swords. When Josh ducked into the doorway, he found himself in a low-ceilinged tavern with a bar at the far end. The air was stuffy and reeked of beer and sweat. A fiddler had set himself in a corner, and was playing sprightly folk tunes but ignoring his audience completely, all of whom were returning the favour. It looked like the patrons all knew each other. They sat in groups, but occasionally shouted cheerful insults at the other side of the room. Most of them looked as if they were on the wrong side of fifty, which was a hopeful sign. Josh made his way to the bar, and ordered an ale. He had just taken his first sip and started to scan the room for someone he could start a conversation with, when someone landed against the bar next to him, jostling his arm and causing him to slosh some of his ale over his sleeve. He edged back from the person, realising it was a very drunk middle-aged woman. She was grey-haired and dishevelled, wearing a shirt, britches and a waistcoat which had seen better days. She might have been pretty once, but hard-living and alcohol had worn that away, until all that was left were pouchy eyes and wrinkles. ¡°Hello lover,¡± she said, with a grin, which was accompanied by a gust of stale breath laden with alcohol fumes. It was all Josh could do not to recoil. He settled for edging away. ¡°Hi,¡± he said, completely forgetting to use the local form of greeting. It wasn¡¯t the first time a drunken, middle-aged woman had tried to flirt with him. The Josh effect was in operation once again. There were times when he found it useful. This was the inevitable downside. ¡°Buy me a drink, sugar-plum,¡± she said, swaying towards him. She was drunk enough to be slurring her words, and Josh knew that there wasn¡¯t much he could say that would dissuade her. In his experience, the only thing to do was to disengage and walk away. At that level of insobriety her attention span was short enough that it wouldn¡¯t take her long to forget about him. Except Josh was boxed in by a table full of drinkers to his left and the bar to his right. Behind him was the wall, and the drunk woman was blocking the way in front of him. ¡°You¡¯ve had enough already,¡± he said firmly, despite knowing that it wouldn¡¯t do any good. ¡°Oh¡­¡± she said, her finger coming out and poking at his chest. ¡°You think I can¡¯t handle my booze? Eh? I¡¯ll show you¡­¡± She blinked and lost her train of thought, then focused on him again, and tried a grin that was probably supposed to be sexy. ¡°Hey, lover. I¡¯ll show you a good time. Buy me a drink!¡± Some of the punters nearby had noticed what was going on and were laughing as if it was funny, but Josh wasn¡¯t seeing the humour. He abandoned his ale and stepped back rapidly as she tried to fall onto his chest. He glanced at the bar top next to him. Could he jump onto that, run around her, and make his escape? ¡°Grella, you drunken sot!¡± A large shape loomed up behind the woman. The newcomer was in his late thirties or early forties, with a thick brown beard and noticeable beer belly. Despite his bulk, Josh hadn¡¯t seen or heard him approach. He put a massive paw on Grella¡¯s head, peeled her away from Josh, and pushed her head down onto the bar, where he held her fast. She screeched, and clawed ineffectually at his hand. ¡°Let go of me you brainless bastard!¡± The bearded man ignored her. ¡°Locky, get your bloody woman out of here,¡± he roared. He had a deep, compelling voice full of a bear-like rumble. A thin man with a pockmarked face¡ªpresumably the unfortunate Locky¡ªswore and stumped up to the bar. The bearded man let Grella go, and Locky draped her arm over his shoulder, then towed her away while she shouted obscenities at the bearded man and then at Locky. Josh started as a huge hand clapped him on the shoulder. ¡°Sorry about that, man,¡± the bearded giant said. ¡°Er. It¡¯s no problem.¡± ¡°Let me buy you a drink anyway.¡± The man nodded at the barman. ¡°One for my buddy here.¡± Josh still had most of his first pint of ale left, but he appreciated the gesture. Although the encounter had been unpleasant, at least it was now giving him an opportunity to introduce himself to one of the locals. He studied the bearded man, and realised that he was one of the youngest people in the room, apart from Josh. He might not know any of the things Josh was interested in hearing about, but perhaps his friends would. ¡°And get one for me too while you¡¯re at it,¡± the bearded man added. He turned back to Josh. ¡°Not seen you here before, kid.¡± At that point Josh¡¯s brain caught up with his ears. This guy had an American accent. He was using American slang. He was an outlander. ¡°Josh de Haven,¡± he said, by way of introduction. ¡°Doug Cameron.¡± The bearded guy held out a beefy paw, and Josh shook it while all the pieces tumbled into place. Was this Sir Doug, one of the Seven Heroes? He couldn¡¯t be. He was too young. A few minutes later, Josh was sitting at Doug¡¯s table, surrounded by Doug¡¯s companions. He had his two ales in front of him, and resolved to drink them slowly. He couldn¡¯t afford to get drunk and start blabbing secrets, or singing songs that would out him as originating from Earth. This was particularly important, because the party he was with were all heavy drinkers and it would be easy to lose track. They were nowhere near as sloshed as Grella had been, but they were still packing it away. He tuned into what they were saying, but the conversation had nothing to do with heroic deeds or history. Instead, they started out by arguing over whether a type of dessert that Josh had never heard of counted as a cake or a pudding. After that, they moved on to an intense discussion about how long it was going to take the Office of Public Works to get the drain in Ditchmore Street unclogged for the third time. From there, they somehow meandered into a debate about whether spiders counted as insects or not. ¡°They¡¯re arachnids,¡± Josh said. Everyone stopped and stared at him. ¡°How do you know?¡± Doug boomed. It was the sort of thing Josh thought everyone knew. Mind you, at the age of ten he¡¯d gone through an intense and short-lived obsession with spiders, to the extent that he¡¯d demanded a pet tarantula for his birthday. Given that his interest had waned a month or two after that it had probably been just as well that his parents had put their foot down and refused to allow one in the house. ¡°I had a book about spiders when I was younger,¡± he said, in answer to Doug. ¡°What kind of nutcase writes a book about spiders?¡± a woman exclaimed in disgust. She had been introduced as Nyala. Josh was preoccupied by another thought, however. ¡°Would a wormspider count as a mammal or an arachnid?¡± he asked. ¡°Or something else completely? It doesn¡¯t have an exoskeleton, so¡­¡± He came to a stop. They were all goggling at him. Did they even have Linnean classifications here? Had he revealed himself as an outlander? ¡°Wormspiders!¡± One of the others exclaimed. Josh thought his name was Peak. ¡°They make me barf.¡± He shuddered theatrically. Nyala groaned. ¡°Gods, yes, do you remember that ruined desert temple? That place was crawling with them. I had nightmares for months afterwards.¡± That prompted a cascade of reminiscing. Josh sank back and let it wash over him. Doug¡¯s friends were all adventurers who had accompanied him wherever he went. Most of the events they mentioned¡ªthe ones Josh was familiar with at least¡ªhad all taken place in the last twenty to thirty years. On three separate occasions someone mentioned the name of an old friend or acquaintance who had died, and the group would all be sad for a minute or two before the conversation perked up and moved on. ¡°He was with me from the beginning,¡± Doug said morosely, of one of the deceased. ¡°Back before ¡­ everything. Christ, he must have been the third person I spoke to after I first arrived, y¡¯know?¡± Peak clapped Doug on the shoulder. ¡°I never knew him,¡± he said, ¡°Before my time. But I hear he was a good man in a fight, and I would have been proud to call him a brother-in-arms.¡± Everyone solemnly raised their tankards. Then someone asked a question, and they were off again. It was late into the night by the time Josh finished his second beer, refused repeated calls for him to stay and have a third, and walked home, full of thought. From the things the group had let drop, Doug was, in fact, Sir Doug of the Seven Heroes. It was interesting that there was no option for Josh to view Doug¡¯s character sheet. The Seven Heroes must have a power that allowed them to resurrect, and it had to be something tangible, because Tylas had stolen it from Gwynifer. But was it a player core, or a different mechanism? Did it not include characters sheets, or was it simply that Doug had the ability to hide his information? Doug had clearly been kicking around Six Spires for fifty years, even though he looked younger. Assuming he had arrived in Six Spires as an adult, he must be at least seventy years old, if not more. Josh thought of the quest he had received in Spiralia Online, right at the end. Do You Want to be Immortal? The immortality didn¡¯t just mean being able to resurrect. It meant staying youthful forever. Which sounded great until someone came along and cut it out of you so they could take it for themselves. Josh shivered. He had to find a way to contact Earth. In the meantime, he was determined to go back and listen to more of Doug¡¯s stories. For the first time he would be able to talk face to face with someone who had been there for all the pivotal events of the last fifty years. And maybe Josh could direct the conversation towars all the things he had been wondering about, without revealing himself. Josh climbed the stairs to his room at the lodging house feeling that he was a big step forward. In fact, he thought, as he opened the door to his room, meeting Doug had given him some ideas ¡­ his musings were interrupted by the dark flutter of hundreds of wings swirling around his room. He leaped back in alarm and slammed the door shut. The book moths had escaped. 1.41 – When two former best friends re-unite Josh was staring at a small pig. The pig was made up of hundreds, possibly thousands, of tiny magical moths. He closed the door abruptly, so that none of the other lodgers would be able to see it if they happened to be passing by in the corridor. He didn¡¯t think his landlady would approve if she found out he was keeping predatory magical moths in his room. ¡°Hello?¡± he said, experimentally. The pig¡¯s eyes were glowing. It looked like a nightmare shadow of a pig. ¡°Babel,¡± it said. It had the eerie, multi-tonal voice of the moth haunt from the druid library, except smaller and more whispery. This was not an improvement. It looked like Josh¡¯s idea to train the book moths on charmingly pleasant children¡¯s stories was working out. Kind of. Apart from the fact that the moth pig was creepy enough to send little kids screaming. ¡°Babel,¡± Josh said, in a calm, soothing tone of voice. The pig moved towards him and he flinched. It cocked its head. ¡°Babel?¡± it asked. What did it want? Josh put a hand on his chest. ¡°Josh,¡± he told it. The pig stared at him unblinkingly. ¡°Josh,¡± he said again. ¡°Josh,¡± the pig repeated. ¡°Babel. Josh.¡± This seemed like progress. ¡°Babel and Josh are friends,¡± Josh said, slowly. He made himself crouch down and restrained the impulse to back away when the pig came even closer. He held out his hand, and the pig sniffed at it, just like a real animal would. ¡°Babel, Josh,¡± the pig said. Its eerie little voice sounded ¡­ slightly happier? It paused again, and then finally said, ¡°Friends.¡± Josh fell back against the door with an audible thud, then hoped no-one came to investigate. ¡°Friends,¡± he agreed, relieved. It occurred to him that he had just acquired an animal sidekick. That night Josh slept badly. Babel the moth pig had disassembled and then flowed up onto the foot of his bed, before resuming its pig shape. There, it curled up into a ball and appeared to go to sleep, as if it really was a pet. Weren¡¯t book moths meant to be nocturnal? Josh had explained to it that it shouldn¡¯t go outside the room, and it mustn¡¯t eat any paper or books it found. It listened to this, but didn¡¯t reply, which gave him no confidence it had understood anything he said. He kept jolting awake in the night, heavy with dread that he had forgotten something, or that there was something he needed to do, before remembering about the moth pig. He checked on it regularly, but to his relief it stayed sprawled at the bottom of the bed the whole time. When he woke up the next day, the pig was gone, but when he checked the demi john, all the moths had crawled back inside. He hoped it was all of them. One edge of the cork had been nibbled all the way through, which must have been how they had escaped in the first place. He should have found something else to stop the demi john with, but it was too late now. He sat down and wrote out another story. This one was about a little pig called Babel who lived in a room with a human called Josh. Babel was a good pig who didn¡¯t eat paper or books except the ones that Josh gave him¡­ Josh stopped, his pen poised above the page. How often did book moths need to eat? Maybe the Marquis of Silbury¡¯s library would have a bestiary of magical monsters or something that might give him some indication. He continued with the story, which featured someone sneaking into Josh¡¯s room to go through his things. Babel the pig hid as soon as the stranger came in, and watched what they were doing, then reported back to Josh later on. Josh was very pleased with Babel and told him what a good, clever pig he was. It was a rubbish story but it was the best he was able to do at short notice, and if someone did accidentally come into his room, hopefully Babel would hide instead of attempting to smother them. On one hand it would serve an intruder right if they got smothered trying to steal his things, but he didn¡¯t want Babel killing anyone. Or, more likely, smothering the landlady if she was just coming in to change Josh''s sheets or clean. It wasn¡¯t her day for doing that, but he might as well start setting expectations now now. He posted the pages into the demi john and hoped for the best. By the time Josh had finished his staff training and his daily weapons practice, it was lunchtime, and he was back at Crosskeys. ¡°I have a message for Doug,¡± he told the barman. He was hoping Doug was enough of a regular that the man not only knew where he lived, but was willing to tell him. To his surprise the barman pointed directly upwards. Sir Doug, one of the lauded Seven Heroes of the realm, lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the first floor, right over the bar. Josh rapped on the door, and waited, but there was no reply. Was Doug out? He knocked again, and heard a bleary voice yelling about being right down, followed by the sound of crockery falling. That was not encouraging, but Josh obediently went back to the bar, and perched on a stool. ¡°Do you serve food?¡± he asked the barman. By the time Doug came clattering heavily down the stairs, Josh was making his way through a pie that someone had seen fit to stuff with ham, potato, cheese sauce and peas, and was enjoying every bite. A woman had arrived while he was eating, also to see Doug, and was standing there with her arms folded. The moment Doug came into view, she immediately broke into an impatient speech, in the form of a litany of complaints about her son. It sounded to Josh as if she was one of those mothers who smothered their children by doing everything for them, and then complained when they failed to hold down jobs, move out of the house or achieve anything of note. Doug rubbed a hand over his eyes, and made a visible effort to focus on what she was saying. It took her some time to wind down, and as soon as he could get a word in edgeways he promised to come and have a word with the lad. The woman took herself off. The barman silently poured a pint of ale and pushed a plate holding a pie towards Doug, without even being asked. ¡°Anyone else drop by?¡± Doug asked him hopefully, after taking a long, thirsty gulp. The barman pointed at Josh. Doug swivelled towards him with surprise. A short while later they were seated at one of the tables. ¡°De Haven, right? What can I help you with?¡± Doug asked. Josh thought back to the idea he¡¯d had last night, right before Babel the moth pig had frightened the life out of him. ¡°Do you know Sir Owain?¡± Doug snorted. ¡°I¡¯ll say so. What¡¯s he done now?¡± ¡°Er¡­ it¡¯s a long story¡­¡± Doug looked around the empty tavern, a little sadly. ¡°I¡¯ve got time.¡± Josh started with the library, carefully painting himself as a completely innocent bystander who had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but who had witnessed a theft from the library at Brackstone, and been instrumental in helping recover the stolen item. This, Josh explained, had turned out to be one of the key fragments. Doug stared at him. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me they kept it there, of all places!¡± Next Josh skipped to his arrival in Dendral, and his summons to meet the Marquis of Silbury. ¡°Silbury,¡± Doug said, wrinkling his brow. ¡°I remember his dad well enough. Must be the son who has the title now. Or grandson, maybe. Easy to lose track. Was he the fat kid who got picked on? The one who was always creeping around and listening at doors?¡± Josh paused, and tried to reconcile the gentle-mannered but manipulative elderly gentleman he had met with Doug¡¯s description. ¡°Well, never mind.¡± Doug waved a piece of his pie. ¡°You were saying?¡± Josh described how the fragment had turned out to be missing, and how Silbury had asked him to verify that Sir Owain¡¯s fragment was still secure, but feared the latter would react poorly to his interference. Doug gave a great belly laugh when he heard. ¡°I¡¯ll bet he would! Ozzie always was a moody shit,¡± he said. ¡°I could never stand politics, but Oz, he lives and breathes that stuff. What do you want me to do?¡± When Doug heard Josh¡¯s plan, he paused with his tankard halfway to his mouth and stared. Then he began to laugh again, with great body-shaking chuckles. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Is that all? Oh god, can you imagine the look on his face? I like your style, kid. Sure, let¡¯s do it!¡± Just like that? ¡°Don¡¯t you want to check with Silbury just in case?¡± Josh asked, taken aback. Doug drained his tankard and slammed it down on the table. ¡°Finish up, kid, and let¡¯s hit the road.¡± "What, now?" Josh asked in surprise. For all his bulk, and for someone who seemed to spend a great deal of his time sitting in a tavern and drinking, Doug could fairly move when he wanted to. There was hard muscle under the fat, and the extra flab didn¡¯t seem to impede him at all. Maybe that was the power of the Seven Heroes at work. ¡°How long have you known Sir Owain?¡± Josh asked, as they left the docks and made their way further into the city. ¡°Too damn long, kid, too damn long!¡± ¡°How did you meet?¡± Doug gave him a surprised glance. ¡°Ozzie and I met at Woodstock¡ªright, sorry, you wouldn¡¯t know what that is¡ªwe got to know each other at a music festival. He was there with Tony. We all became good friends. Paul and Siggy came along later.¡± Woodstock? Josh tried to remember exactly when that had been. The sixties? The seventies? Where was Google when you needed it most? The Heroes had been in Six Spires for fifty years. On Earth fifty years ago it would have been the mid-seventies. Josh was fairly sure Woodstock had taken place before then. It meant that Doug was had come to Six Spires in the seventies. And that meant time in Six Spires and time on Earth was concurrent. Josh had been missing from home for five weeks now. He tried not to think about that. ¡°Who is Tony?¡± He asked instead, trying to remember all the names Doug had just mentioned. ¡°And Paul and Siggy?¡± ¡°Tony is¡­¡± Doug stopped and glanced around, ¡°¡­hard to explain. Paul is the sneaky little bastard who went off with my Penny to start a cult, and Siggy is the one who made the damn key we¡¯re about to check on.¡± Siggy must be Wayland. Tony could only be Anthony Harrison. Penny had to be Lady Selene of the Shining Light. Did that make Paul the missing Lord Shadow? Some of the Heroes hadn¡¯t been mentioned though. ¡°What about Gwynifer? And Tigerlily?¡± ¡°Jen? She was Tony¡¯s wife, poor little thing. And Lily was her sister.¡± They were close to the plaza now. As Doug barrelled straight towards the massive gates of the Order of the Unyielding, Josh caught sight of Ramina loitering at a nearby tea shop, as if waiting for him to arrive. Her gaze took him in, travelled to Doug, and returned to Josh with a questioning look. Josh fell a couple of steps behind, where Doug wouldn¡¯t see, and made an S shape in the air, then pointed down the street in the general direction of Lord Silbury¡¯s mansion. Ramina stared at him. She lifted her hands in the air and shrugged her shoulders, mouthing the words ¡°What the fuck?¡± Josh jabbed again in the direction of Silbury¡¯s mansion, this time with more emphasis. He turned back to Doug just as they arrived at the gates. There was a small cut-out door set into one of them, and Doug started banging loudly on it. There was no answer, but Doug wasn¡¯t discouraged. He simply kept banging. Josh stood awkwardly behind him. This wasn¡¯t quite what he¡¯d had in mind when he¡¯d told Doug the plan. They were already attracted a crowd of curious onlookers. Doug bellowed something and banged away some more. Eventually, the cut-out door creaked open an inch, and a curious, disapproving face glared at them narrowly through the gap. Doug availed himself of this invitation by throwing open the door with a clang, sending the door guardian staggering backwards with a yelp. Josh followed Doug through the door into a narrow courtyard. High walls bordered it on all sides, with an iron gate on the right wall that led to a practice yard, where Josh could see a glimpse of training dummies lined up in a row. He could hear the clang of weapons coming from it, but any people were out of his line of sight. To the left was a second iron gate barring access to a stable yard. Directly ahead was a thick heavy, wooden door that must lead into the mansion. The door guardian was an older man dressed in servant¡¯s garb, who was expostulating futilely at Doug while repeatedly pulling a bell beside the gate, which jangled loudly. In a very short time, the bell had summoned two young lads dressed in chainmail with swords belted at their waists. They strode forward with grim purpose, their hands on their sword hilts. Doug planted himself directly in their path with his hands on his hips. ¡°What kind of welcome is this?¡± he bellowed. ¡°Here am I to see my old friend and what do I get? A stammering servant and two half-pint bruisers wanting to throw me out? Ozzie, your hospitality leaves much to be desired!¡± Josh hung back, watching curiously. ¡°Sir, you have to leave,¡± the guard on the right said. His voice cracked slightly, not due to nerves, but because he was that young. He looked about fifteen, but he could well be younger if his voice hadn¡¯t settled yet. Like Doug, he had an American accent. ¡°Christ,¡± Doug said explosively. ¡°You¡¯re just a kid. What the hell is Ozzie up to? Run along and tell him Doug¡¯s here, there¡¯s a good lad.¡± ¡°Um, sir¡­¡± the boy said. Josh cleared his throat. ¡°This is Sir Doug, one of the Seven Heroes, and Sir Owain¡¯s brother-in-arms,¡± he interrupted severely. ¡°Sir Owain might be unhappy if you try to throw him out.¡± The guard flicked him a glance and bit his lip. A lot of the locals had poor teeth¡ªoften crooked, yellowed and even blackened or missing in places¡ªbut the guard¡¯s teeth were pearly white and even, as befit someone hailing from a land obsessed with perfect dentistry. Not that Josh could talk. Back on Earth he¡¯d made regular hygienist appointments and had his teeth whitened, and they were naturally fairly straight, if not quite movie star quality, and oh shit. His teeth. The moment he opened his mouth he risked giving himself away as an outlander. He was surprised that Doug hadn¡¯t nailed him already. Josh focused on the teenage guard and sure enough, a character sheet popped up.
SirKorey Oathbound Squire Level 16 Player rank: 694 Gladiator rank: 418 Kills: 6 | Deaths 3 Karma: -120
The one for the other guard was similar, except he was a level 15 soldier, and his name was TheAxeMan. Korey¡¯s dilemma was resolved by the appearance of a young man, this time wearing a breastplate along with the sword at his hip. The newcomer pursed his mouth at the sight of Doug, listened closely to Korey¡¯s urgent whispers, then straightened. ¡°I will see if Sir Owain is available, sir¡± he said to Doug. He was another American, so Josh focused on him next.
Raicheus Oathbound Knight Level 31 Player rank: 295 Gladiator rank: 276 Kills: 25 | Deaths 7 Karma: -480
Josh had assumed that the reason Rob had told him to avoid the Order of the Unyielding was because they would kill him and take his player core if they found out about it. If that was the case, why did the Order¡¯s ranks appear to be full of people from Earth, all with their player cores intact? Had Rob been wrong? Raicheus returned shortly with the news that Sir Owain would see Doug now. The door admitted them into a spacious great hall, which must have taken up at least a third of the footprint of the mansion. A wide staircase swept grandly up onto the first floor, where there were two girls leaning curiously over the bannisters. They also looked like teenagers. They wore long dresses and tabards, rather than chainmail, and they had no swords. ¡°Girls, I assume you have duties to attend to,¡± Raicheus said sharply. They immediately withdrew, although they sent several curious backward looks towarsd Doug. Josh had only had time to focus on one of them before they were out of sight, and found she was a level 19 lamplighter. Which meant he wasn¡¯t the only one with a weird class. They passed an open doorway on the left, and inside Josh saw a room with nothing but bare, whitewashed walls, three carved wooden panels, and a person in a tunic lying in supplication before them, who was a level 22 soldier. Josh was getting oppressive vibes from this place. Sir Owain¡¯s office was large, with wood panelled walls bare of anything except weapons. It was cold, but the fireplace was unlit and scraped bare of ashes. Sir Owain¡¯s desk dominated the room, and behind it sat Sir Owain. He was a big man, with wide shoulders, but slim and fit compared to Doug. He wore a doublet of rich velvet, masquerading as a plain garment, and had the same kind of dorky hairstyle the barber had given Josh in High Howe, except Sir Owain had grown himself a pair of long sideburns. He looked as if he had walked straight out of the nineteen seventies. He was handsome, in a clean-cut, chiselled sort of way, with blond hair and cold blue eyes. Josh would have put him in his late twenties. Like Doug, he had no character sheet. ¡°It¡¯s been a while,¡± he said to Doug, with poorly concealed disfavour. Doug looked around for a chair, spotted one in the corner, and dragged it over in front of the desk with loud scraping noises. Sir Owain visibly winced. His eyes flicked to Raicheus and dismissed him with a sharp little lift of his chin. Josh had stayed near the door, and just before it closed, he heard Raicheus say in a low voice to Korey, ¡°Tell Ricky to report to me when he¡¯s finished with his penance.¡± Maybe Rob had been right to warn Josh about the Order. Meanwhile, Doug landed heavily in the chair, which creaked but held. ¡°What the hell¡¯s with all these kids, man?¡± he said to Sir Owain. ¡°Are you running a cult now?¡± Sir Owain gave Doug an offended stare. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯ll get to that,¡± Doug said, leaning back and crossing one leg over his knee. ¡°But first of all, please tell me you haven¡¯t been sticking your pork in those girls.¡± Sir Owain turned a deep shade of puce and bolted to his feet. ¡°You take that back,¡± he said dangerously. ¡°Or I¡¯ll ram your words down your throat. How dare you?¡± ¡°Alright, take it easy,¡± Doug said easily. ¡°Granted, that was more Tony¡¯s schtick. Can¡¯t blame me for wondering, though, with your screwy set up here.¡± ¡°I fucking well can,¡± Sir Owain snapped. ¡°I keep high moral standards in this house! Why don¡¯t you get the fuck out of here and go back to your broken-down bar and keep drowning yourself in beer with your broken-down friends?¡± Josh was beginning to get the impression that the purpose was Doug¡¯s visit was to rile Sir Owain up as much as he could, and inspecting the key fragment was only an incidental benefit. ¡°I won¡¯t be long,¡± Doug said. ¡°Got a question for you though.¡± Sir Owain ignored that. Instead his gaze flicked to Josh. ¡°Who the hell is this?¡± ¡°My squire,¡± Doug said comfortably. Sir Owain¡¯s gaze on him sharpened¡ªwhich was the last thing Josh wanted¡ªthen stared at Doug incredulously. ¡°You¡¯ve taken a squire?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Sir Owain surveyed Josh grimly. ¡°What¡¯s your name, boy?¡± Josh didn¡¯t want to open his mouth and show his teeth, so he ducked his head when he introduced himself, and turned the gesture into the most perfectly correct bow he could, with his feet set into the T position, and his arms dangling loosely. Sir Owain appeared to lose interest in him, finally lowering himself back into his seat. Josh let out a quiet, relieved breath. ¡°What the hell you do you want?¡± Sir Owain asked. ¡°Well,¡± Doug said. ¡°Turns out some bastard is after the key again.¡± ¡°Really.¡± ¡°Yes, really. They already got the Church¡¯s fragment.¡± Doug paused. ¡°Didn¡¯t know that, did you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s nonsense.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve still got yours, right?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°Prove it!¡± Sir Owain gritted his teeth. ¡°If this is some trick¡ª¡± ¡°Would I joke about this shit? After everything that¡¯s happened?¡± They stared at each other while Josh slowly played the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme tune in his head. He was very careful not to sing it out loud. Had that movie been released before the seventies? ¡°Bet you fifty florins your fragment¡¯s been taken,¡± Doug said eventually. ¡°Done,¡± Sir Owain replied instantly. They glared at each other again, before Sir Owain got to his feet and strode to the door. ¡°Follow me,¡± he said. Josh wasn¡¯t sure if he had been invited, but he scurried after them anyway. The vault was, predictably, in the cellars, protected by a massive steel door with a wheel. It looked like a modern safe¡ªthere was no iron-bound oak door nonsense here. Sir Owain did something to unlock it, hiding the exact mechanism with his body, then wheeled the door open with brisk irritation while Doug stood rocking back and forth on his feet and humming tunelessly. Disappointingly, the vault didn¡¯t have a treasure chests or bags of gold spilling coins, or heaped piles of magical items. Instead, it had shelves with crates and boxes. The key fragment was in a small steel box with lead lining. Sir Owain took a key from around his neck, unlocked it, and flung the box open. Josh couldn¡¯t see inside, but he watched Sir Owain¡¯s face, which was tight-lipped. ¡°Where did you hear of this?¡± he flung out. ¡°It¡¯s really missing?¡± Doug started forward. Josh crowded behind him and looked inside the box at the same time. There was a slender piece of metal there, shaped like the one from the Brackstone library, but there was no sense of magic from it. The Order¡¯s key fragment had been stolen too. 1.42 – Magic lessons which don’t include invisibility, dragons, or flying ¡°Tell me how you knew,¡± Sir Owain growled, gesturing to the box which had held the key fragment. ¡°Thieves broke into Brackstone library,¡± Doug explained, ¡°and went for the Church¡¯s fragment, but they were caught. Turns out, though, the fragment they took was fake.¡± ¡°Brackstone¡­¡± Sir Owain echoed. ¡°What hell were the Church thinking? Why not keep it at their headquarters here?¡± Both men were getting distracted from the important question, Josh thought. ¡°When was the last time anyone here checked this fragment?¡± he asked quickly. Owain swung round to glare at him and he ducked his head. ¡°Sir,¡± he added. ¡°Good question,¡± Doug put in. ¡°Oz?¡± Owain took a deep breath, and then released it. ¡°Eight months.¡± ¡°That¡¯s our timeline.¡± Doug nodded with satisfaction. ¡°Our? Our? This is nothing to do with you, you great fat lump!¡± Sir Owain pushed past him and strode out of the vault, motioning them to follow him, and spinning the wheel to close it once they were out. Raicheus, who had followed them down to the cellar but been ordered to stay back while they inspected the vault, now approached, his eyes sharp with interest. He gave Josh a filthy look. Jealous because Josh had been allowed in to inspect the fragment? Doug, meanwhile, held his hand out to Sir Owain. ¡°Pay up!¡± Sir Owain¡¯s eyes flicked to Raicheus so quickly Josh nearly missed it, then stared down at Doug¡¯s palm in disdain. ¡°You are mistaken,¡± he said icily. ¡°I do not gamble.¡± Doug rolled his eyes. ¡°Raicheus!¡± Sir Owain barked. ¡°Send a message to the Patriarch informing him that he has an appointment with me immediately. And these gentlemen are leaving.¡± A few minutes later they were standing outside the Order¡¯s gates. Some of Doug¡¯s levity seemed to drain away. ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t good,¡± he said to Josh. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen?¡± Josh asked. It was the closest he dared get to asking exactly what the Chains of Wayland held. Or had held. He was wary of asking the question outright, because it would betray his own individual stake in the matter. He''d been hoping someone would let the information drop, but no luck so far. Doug, however, shook his head. ¡°We need to check on the third fragment.¡± He stared over Josh¡¯s shoulder and his eyebrows rose. ¡°Friend of yours?¡± Josh turned and saw Ramina. She was standing a few feet away with her arms folded, tapping her foot. ¡°Er,¡± he said. Local etiquette stipulated that you were supposed to introduce people in a definite order, based on their respective social status, except Josh hadn¡¯t worked out what that order was supposed to be. But then, he reflected, neither Doug nor Ramina would care a button for that. ¡°Doug,¡± he said. ¡°Meet Ramina the Pirate. Ramina, Sir Doug Cameron.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Doug said. ¡°And how are you involved in this?¡± Ramina opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the cut-out door in the gate slamming open. Sir Owain stepped out. He looked at Ramina and, unlike Doug, clearly recognised her. His face darkened. ¡°So Silbury¡¯s got a finger in this pie,¡± he said to Doug. ¡°I thought you swore off politics?¡± SirKorey and TheAxeMan filtered out behind Sir Owain. They flanked him like a pair of bodyguards, standing stiffly with their hands on their sword hilts. Doug just shrugged. Sir Owain rummaged in his pocket, brought out a small purse, and thrust it at Doug¡¯s chest. Presumably it held the fifty florins he had lost in the bet. ¡°I¡¯d rather not see you again any time soon,¡± he said, and stalked off, his honour guard trotting after him like two obedient ducklings. Ramina raised her hands to her mouth in a trumpet shape and bugled the Darth Vadar''s theme tune¡ªthe Imperial March from Star Wars¡ªat Sir Owain¡¯s back. Josh wanted to laugh, but managed to choke it down, because he probably wasn¡¯t supposed to know it. Neither, he realised, would Doug or Sir Owain. They would have vanished from Earth before Star Wars had first been released. Josh was actually in the presence of someone who didn¡¯t know what Star Wars was, he thought in awe, looking sideways at Doug. Not just one of those people who hadn¡¯t seen it, or even one of those clueless types who unaccountably got Star Wars and Star Trek mixed up, but someone who had genuinely never heard of it. ¡°What¡¯s that tune?¡± he asked Ramina, mostly to see what she would say. ¡°It¡¯s evil bad guy music,¡± Ramina said, lowering her hands. ¡°My mum used to sing it every time my Uncle Harvey came into the room. It used to drive him nuts.¡± She sounded disappointed that it hadn¡¯t had the same effect on Sir Owain. ¡°Silbury, right?¡± Doug said to Ramina. ¡°Maybe me and him should have a word.¡± Josh was able to drop back behind them while they walked, and quickly inspect his character sheet.
QUESTS The Stolen Fragment (COMPLETE). Investigate the Order of the Unyielding, on behalf of the Marquis of Silbury, and find out if their fragment of the key is real or fake. Reward: 55,282 xp (shared). > Progress: you have revealed the theft of the key fragment. Reward: 27,641 xp (apply)
He checked the messages section:
You have 65,364 unapplied experience points. Go to the Quest and Achievements menus to apply these points now! You have enough experience points to reach level 15! Once applied, additional levels will take effect during your next long rest. Multiple levels may take more than one rest period to apply.
Bringing Doug in to do the job for him had split Josh¡¯s experience reward exactly in two. Given that he had just followed Doug around for most of it, it seemed worth it. And the goggle-eyed look the Marquis of Silbury produced when Doug was shown into his sitting room was definitely worth it. Both Josh and Ramina were dismissed while Doug settled in to have a conversation with Silbury. Once out of the room they immediately headed for the eavesdropping cupboard, but were forestalled by a servant, who informed Josh that Lord Silbury¡¯s mage would see him now. Josh trailed after the servant, leaving Ramina behind him, fuming with thwarted rage like a small, angry thundercloud. Josh didn¡¯t care. He was going to get a magic lesson! Lord Silbury¡¯s mage introduced himself as Arcanist Gryce. He was an unassuming man, neither tall nor short, with brown hair, a subdued grey suit of clothes, and a neutral expression. The lesson was taking place in Silbury¡¯s library. Josh sat on one side of a leather-topped table, and Arcanist Gryce sat on the other, with his hands clasped on a thin booklet in front of him. The booklet consisted of multiple sheets of different sized paper bound together, crinkled and dog-eared with use. Josh tried not to stare curiously at it. ¡°Please describe your current powers and experience,¡± Gryce said. Josh didn¡¯t reveal everything, of course. He pretended he had been an apprentice plumassier, but had one day discovered that he was able to infuse feathers with magic, and had worked out he might be able to use said feathers to write spells with. Seeking a better career than that of a plumassier, he had travelled north, stopping off at the druid grove on the way to see if there was anything left in their library. He described the rune-carved stones he had found in the cave beneath the grove, and recounted how those had given him his five spells. He didn¡¯t mention any of the magical objects he had acquired, and he left out any references to the book moth swarm or the Azure Cathedral. Gryce listened politely all the way through. ¡°When a magical ability does manifest,¡± he said. ¡°it invariably does so in the form of an enchantment, often in relation to a small, everyday object with which you are intimately familiar. A baker kneading bread, for example, might one day accidentally end up with magical dough.¡± What Gryce said made sense. Josh¡¯s Feather Folklore gave him an innate knowledge of feathers, and that in turn allowed him to use the Infuse magic ability. Infuse was probably a general enchanting skill, and it only worked on feathers in Josh¡¯s case because he had Feather Folklore to go along with it. It was a relief to hear that the story Josh had told aligned to Gryce¡¯s expectations, and that he hadn¡¯t accidentally revealed himself as an outlander. ¡°Happily for our digestion, spontaneous development of magical powers is rare,¡± Gryce added. Josh checked Gryce¡¯s expression to see if that was meant to be a joke. He couldn¡¯t tell. What would happen if you ate magically infused bread? It might be like using the spell Chi Siphon, and if you didn¡¯t have a lot of Chi to begin with, it would probably overload your Chi energy. Josh remembered that happened at the library in Brackstone. ¡°Enchantment is Chi-based magic¡±. Gryce said. ¡°There are, however, two methods of fuelling magic. Do you know what the other one is?¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Power.¡± Josh had been concentrating almost exclusively on raising his Chi. ¡°If only most apprentices were so knowledgeable when they first came to me,¡± Gryce said dryly. ¡°But do you know the difference?¡± Power and Chi had been the two different types of mage stats in Spiralia Online, and different magic classes had used different proportions of both. Power was the one you used for big, splashy, damage spells like fireballs, and Chi was the one you used for enhancements, debuffs or utility spells. Josh wasn¡¯t sure how that translated into Six Spires. ¡°Power is for exploding things, and Chi is for everything else,¡± he hazarded. ¡°How interesting the world must be when seen through the eyes of an apprentice mage,¡± Gryce observed, raising his eyebrows. ¡°The traditional explanation is more like this: Chi comes from the spirit. It uses the energy taken from one¡¯s own body to fuel spells, which is why one feels dizzy and exhausted after overcasting. Power, on the other hand, pulls magical energy from another dimension. The mage breaks through into ¡­ well, experts argue over the exact nature of it, but let us call it the sphere of raw magic. They draw that raw, unbridled energy into this world and use it for casting. Such spells are massively more powerful, but also much harder to control.¡± Josh nodded. ¡°Chi is a delicate but finely tuned magic, able to create subtle effects,¡± Gryce continued. ¡°Power is more like a hammer¡ªheavy and unwieldy, but capable of smashing anything in its path.¡± The Storm King was probably pulling on oodles of Power for his weather-based magic. ¡°Like the Storm King,¡± Josh suggested. Gryce inclined his head. ¡°A perfect example. Most mages are Chi-based mages, however, and it is Chi-based magic I will teach you. Let us now move on to the mechanism we use to cast spells. They can be cast purely with thought, or, more commonly, they can be pre-written onto physical objects. The mage simply infuses the spell with Chi, and it takes effect. ¡°Almost all Chi-based magic these days is cast from written spells. Paper is not, in fact, an ideal medium for this, as it disintegrates after the first cast. Instead, a mage will, as part of his apprenticeship, craft an amulet or wand which has pre-prepared spell scripts carved into it. More robust materials, such as wood, stone, metal or glass, allow for repeated casts, and are therefore preferred.¡± Like the training staff, Josh thought. Or like Lady Paleyne¡¯s amulet. But wait¡ªshe had been able to cast Sleep without it, when they had been escaping from Northcrag¡¯s prison. Did outlander mages¡ªproper ones with an actual mage class¡ªalso use amulets and wands, or was their spell-casting all innate? ¡°Do mages ever cast without amulets?¡± Josh asked, mostly to see what Gryce would say. ¡°Only,¡± Gryce said, with a severe look, ¡°if one is extremely proficient. It requires years of practice and refinement to be able to reach that stage.¡± Unless you had access to a player core, in which case the system would probably do it for you. ¡°I will explain why shortly. When writing down a spell, we scribe it in the secret language of the universe¡ª¡± More like the secret language of the system, Josh thought. ¡°¡ªusing enchanted objects. That initial enchantment is the prepping stage. Once it becomes fully infused with magic, however, the spell then changes reality in accordance with the wishes of the mage.¡± The system reads the spell and follows the instructions, Josh translated. ¡°The first thing a mage needs to learn when writing spells the Concepts they are based on. For example, if I was to write a spell to levitate an apple, I could simply combine the Concept of an apple combined with the Concept of a fixed point in space. If I set that fixed point in space here,¡± Gryce held his hand a foot above the surface of the table, ¡°the targeted apple would then float above the table. However, if I wanted to make the apple float around the room, I would have more success using the Concept of flight, which has longer and more complicated written structure, but is also more flexible.¡± He paused then added, ¡°As an apprentice, I strongly recommend that you do not play around with the Concept of flight. It is highly dangerous.¡± ¡°Because I might fall unexpectedly?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Because the sky belongs to the dragons, and they take exception to any of the mortal races making use of it.¡± Dragons! Josh was instantly distracted, but Gryce, noticing the change in his expression, coughed, and said, ¡°This lesson will not cover dragons.¡± ¡°Awww!¡± Gryce gave him a stern look, but Josh was sure there was a hidden gleam in his eye. ¡°This lesson is about Concepts,¡± Gryce said firmly. ¡°Where was I? Ah yes. Great strides have been made on magical theory in the past few decades. Previously, a mage casting a written spell had to use their own imagination to envision the Concept they wanted, often with mixed results. The slightest moment of inattention, and the apple might explode, or shoot up into the sky, or the initial spell might target a different fruit entirely. Apprentices this day and age are very lucky that so many hard-working mages have spent large parts of their lives researching the best use of Concepts.¡± Gryce held up the scrappy booklet that had been sitting in front of him. ¡°This contains all the Concepts an apprentice mage could possibly need. We will go over as many of them as we can fit into your head in the time available, hopefully without anything essential leaking out. Now, so that I can get an idea of what you are able to cast, would you be so kind as to show me the spells you obtained from the druid grove?¡± Josh didn¡¯t think any of the spells he had found there were especially rare or valuable, so he didn¡¯t see any harm in doing that. He took out a miniature spell book, this one without any pages of poetry glued over the spells to disguise them, and handed it over to Gryce, who inspected it with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Were you making spell books for fairies?¡± He thumbed through it. ¡°An ingenious method of storage. Yes, I see.¡± He added, in his dry, expressionless voice, ¡°Fascinating.¡± He handed the spell book back to Josh. ¡°The five standing stones you found at the druid grove are likely the master stones. Within them they will contain the full spell which creates the effects such as Hide, Stone, or Chi Siphon. Whenever you draw the pattern for, to take a random example, Hide, it automatically links to the version of the spell in the corresponding stone and casts it.¡± ¡°I can do that from anywhere?¡± Josh asked. ¡°There¡¯s no range?¡± Gryce paused. ¡°I''m not certain,¡± he admitted. ¡°The druids did not speak of their methods to outsiders, and now they are gone, so we cannot ask. You will undoubtedly discover this the hard way. Their approach is enormously advantageous in many ways¡ªthe short form of the spells can be written quickly and cast more easily, presumably because some of the heavy lifting is being carried out by the standing stones themselves. However, the flexibility of the spell is limited. I would imagine that the Hide spell, for example, can be used to Hide a person-sized object, but if you tried to use it on a building it would either only hide a small patch, or fail completely.¡± ¡°Is it possible to hide a whole building?¡± ¡°When you have time,¡± Gryce said, in his flattest, driest manner yet, ¡°you should certainly read up on the Invisible Flying Tower of Wizard Hawthorne.¡± Josh immediately wanted to read up on the Invisible Flying Tower of Wizard Hawthorne. ¡°The dragons didn¡¯t object to a flying tower?¡± ¡°Apparently not. And since Wizard Hawthorne was killed oh, thirty or forty years ago, no-one has ever been able to ask him why.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s his tower now?¡± ¡°You cut incisively to the heart of the matter! Alas, nobody knows. This is what happens when an absent-minded wizard crafts an invisible object and then loses track of it.¡± How did you lose track of a whole tower? ¡°But let us return to the subject at hand. The primary task of an apprentice mage is to craft an artefact, such as an amulet, which contains all the spells they have learned. In craftsman¡¯s terms, they are considered a masterwork, and the successful completion of one would mark the start of your career as a full mage.¡± He considered Josh thoughtfully. ¡°My mandate is to provide you with six magic lessons. This will be sufficient to teach you some simple spells and Concepts, and to start you off with the crafting of an amulet of your own.¡± After the lesson, Josh was allowed to remain in the library, albeit under the supervision of a servant, which presumably meant Silbury didn¡¯t trust him not to make off with his precious books. The first thing he looked up was the Invisible Flying Tower of Wizard Hawthorne. Wizard Hawthorne had been a Court Wizard, back when Queen Halina was on the throne, and had spent over a year buried in his rooms in Celespire, working on a Great Project, eventually emerging to announce he had crafted a wondrous Invisible Flying Tower. At the unveiling ceremony, his apprentice had demonstrated opening an invisible door, disappearing, and then reappearing through the same invisible door, all while apparently hovering in midair. No-one else had been given the opportunity to interact with the tower, and over the next few days Wizard Hawthorne¡¯s rivals had accused him of fabricating the whole thing. Queen Halina must have agreed with them, because she had eventually lost patience and demanded that he produce it immediately. Wizard Hawthorne had rushed to his rooms to retrieve the summoning wand, then returned, ashen-faced, with the intelligence that the Invisible Flying Tower had been stolen. By that point, no-one had believed him. It was a crushing disappointment to Josh to discover that the Invisible Flying Tower was, like the Emperor¡¯s New Clothes, probably just a trick. He thought it was mean of Gryce to get his hopes up. He put the book back, and browsed through the history section. Gryce had left him with homework, in the form of a pile of books about magic, which was sitting on the central table, but the lesson had been intense, and he wanted a break before he dived back in. Silbury didn¡¯t just have books, he had bundles of handwritten letters from people who had lived through the events of the last fifty years. It would be a headache to go through them all and attempt to decipher the spidery handwriting, but they might have useful information in about Tylas the Undying, or the power of the Dreamer. He would work on that another day, Josh decided. A small pamphlet on the bottom shelf caught his eye, mostly because it looked like the lettering had been picked out in real gold leaf. The writing said The Queen of the Fey, by Anthony Harrison. Anthony Harrison again! Who was also Doug¡¯s friend Tony, the one he said he had met at Woodstock. Doug said Harrison had been married to Gwynifer the Dreamer. What had happened to him? Josh hadn¡¯t had time to ask. Inside, the pamphlet was handwritten, not printed, even though it had been bound in red leather, and decorated in gold leaf. It was also, Josh realised as he flipped through it, an attempt at fiction. Or maybe taking something that had really happened, and writing it in the style of fiction. The hero was a man from another world¡ªcultured, attractive and erudite¡ªwho had awoken to find himself in Six Spires. After performing a number of heroic deeds, he had been hailed as a hero by the locals, and his fame grew quickly, until it came to the ears of the Queen of the Fey. Curious, she had summoned the hero to her Faerie Court. She was depicted as a noble, soft-spoken creature, beset by scheming courtiers, and desperately grateful to the hero for the support and advice he offered her. The maidenly confusion she displayed when interacting with him boggled Josh¡¯s mind, given what he remembered of his own meeting with the real Queen of the Fey. Definitely on the fiction end of the spectrum. Josh read onwards, skimming through the pages with increasing distaste. The book culminated in the hero adroitly foiling a treasonous plot, thus saving the Fey Queen¡¯s life, during which time she had fallen deeply in love with him, and begged him to stay by her side forever more. It was blatantly obvious that the ¡®hero¡¯ was a thinly disguised stand in for Harrison himself, and the book nothing more than a wish fulfilment fantasy. Josh wondered what the Queen of the Fey would have to say about it. ¡°I hope your magic lesson was to your satisfaction,¡± Silbury said, behind him. Josh jumped, realising he had been standing there while staring blankly at the bookshelves. He slid Harrison¡¯s slimy little novel back into its place and turned. ¡°Yes, my lord. Thank you.¡± Silbury waved the thanks away. ¡°It would never have occurred to me to involve Sir Doug. I confess, that must be the first time in fifteen years I¡¯ve seen the man sober. Although from the way he downed my best Saint-Cris burgundy in one gulp,¡± Silbury sounded scandalised at this cavalier treatment, ¡°I¡¯ll wager he won¡¯t remain in that state for long.¡± ¡°Sir Owain and Sir Doug don¡¯t like each other,¡± Josh observed hopefully, but Silbury showed no sign of wanting to discuss the feud between the two men. ¡°If you are free in two days, I may have a small task for you,¡± he said instead. Josh already had four goals to work on. One, he needed to keep an eye on Silbury¡¯s investigation into who had stolen the key fragments, and where that person was now. Two, he needed to find out more about the Dreamer and how Tylas the Undying had summoned the outlanders. Three, he needed to improve his magic and fighting skills. And four, he needed experience to level. With the last one, he had discovered that Mistrz had been right¡ªyou could progress quickly via crafting at low levels, and he¡¯d expected that to be his main source of experience whilst in Dendral. But he was at the stage where he couldn¡¯t just throw together fifty feather bracelets in an afternoon and get a bucket-load of experience for it. The crafted items now had to be of a certain quality to count. He had hoped to be able to spend the next few days focusing on that. On the other hand, the windfall from the Stolen Fragment quest had been as welcome as it was unexpected. Plus, any work he did for Silbury made it more likely he might be asked to help with key-related matters in future. ¡°What sort of task?¡± Josh asked cautiously. Silbury smiled. ¡°No need to sound so wary. I need to send Ramina to a function, and I would like an escort for her.¡± That absolutely sounded like something Josh ought to be wary of, particularly if Ramina was going to be involved. ¡°What, like a ¡­ polite function? With, uh, nobles? And ¡­ etiquette?¡± It didn¡¯t sound like Ramina¡¯s cup of tea at all. Or Josh''s for that matter. ¡°Something like that, yes.¡± Silbury¡¯s eyes twinkled at Josh¡¯s description, before he grew more serious. ¡°The King will shortly be holding a ceremony to bestow upon Lady Alianne her Philosopher¡¯s Stone.¡± 1.43 - Conspiracies and Kings The ceremony for Lady Alianne was held at the Palace. This had obviously started out as a medieval motte and bailey, but had sprawled beyond that long ago¡ªthe original keep had expanded into two stately wings, and was surrounded by a vast complex of grand houses and stately gardens. Josh had new clothes for the occasion, paid for by Silbury, which consisted of a blue doublet with silver embroidery, blue satin britches, white stockings, and black shoes with buckles. He had a matching hat, with a long feather that he had enchanted to glow, but since everyone took their hats off at the door and passed them on to a waiting footman, there hadn¡¯t been much point. The suit of clothes was tight in the wrong places and slightly itchy, and he felt ridiculous. On the other hand, he was confident that no-one was going to be looking at him, partly because the stupid clothes helped him fit in, but mostly because of Ramina. Ramina most certainly did not fit in. She wore a satin dress in deep crimson with a black overskirt and ruffles. It had a tight, low-cut bodice, with a long skirt and a bustle. On her arms were long, black, lacy gloves, and there was some kind of black and crimson feathery confection pinned to her hair. Josh wasn¡¯t an expert on female fashion by any means, but even he could tell it was out of place. It was like she was wearing fantasy clothing, but it was the wrong kind of fantasy. She looked as if she¡¯d walked straight off the set of a vampire movie, or popped right out of the pages of a steampunk comic, rather than a medieval swords and sorcery epic. He offered his arm, exactly like the gentleman out of a period drama, and she took it. Together they swept into the hall where the ceremony would take place. It was gilded and ornate, with a parquet floor that had been polished to within an inch of its life, and gleamed like a mirror. There were panels separating antechambers along one side, and large windows overlooking a pleasant courtyard on the other. At the far end was a dais where the ceremony would be held, with rows of benches lined up before it, and you would think you would be able to sit anywhere, but no, the seating was highly regimented, and depended on your social status. Josh knew this because he¡¯d suffered a whole afternoon of instruction on court etiquette, so that he could follow Ramina around and guide her away from glaring social solecisms. From the things she had said, he didn¡¯t think she had been subjected to hours of explanations involving which fork to use, or the difference between greeting a baron and a duke. It galled Josh that he was doing his best to fit in with all their complicated social rules, while another outlander could flagrantly disregard them. Silbury had to know Ramina was from Earth, but presumably it was his protection that allowed her to carry on as she did. Which meant Ramina had something valuable to offer Silbury. What did Silbury want with pirates? Josh realised he had been distracted, because a servant had come up to Ramina, spoken to her in a low voice, and now Ramina was tugging on his arm. They followed the servant to one of the side rooms, where several nobles were clustered. As Ramina and Josh reached them, there was a little burst of applause, and one lady said to her neighbour, ¡°So pretty!¡± The pretty thing was apparently an illusion cast by, of all people, Lady Paleyne, which was just fading as the servant pushed through the crowd. It looked like it had involved colourful, dancing butterflies. Standing at one end of the room was a young, handsome man of Josh¡¯s age with dark blond curly hair. On his left stood Lady Paleyne, and on his right was an older man who sported bushy eyebrows and a grim, turned down mouth. The young man turned to Lady Paleyne, taking her hand and saying, ¡°Marvellous as usual, my dear lady.¡± She curtseyed and inclined her head, her expression serene, although Josh noticed she had that pale, pinched look that suggested she had been overusing her magic. ¡°Do you not agree, Northcrag?¡± the young man added, turning to the older man on his right, with a light teasing note in his voice. That must be the Earl of Northcrag, Josh thought, staring at him with interest. The one whose father had killed the huldra, locked the survivors out of their city and imprisoned their Queen for all those years. He didn''t look evil, just grouchy. ¡°I am a simple man of simple tastes¡ª¡± Northcrag began, but immediately closed his mouth when the young man laughed. ¡°Yes, yes, you have no time for our court fripperies! Ah,¡± the young man¡¯s eye fell on Ramina. ¡°And here she is.¡± The servant announced, in a clear voice, ¡°Miss Ramina Brown of the Seamount, and Mr Josh de Haven.¡± Everyone ignored Josh and stared curiously at Ramina, including the young man. Josh assumed he must be royalty of some kind¡ªa prince? Did King Rupern have a son? Ramina bowed instead of curtseying, in a flamboyant way that sent a rustled whisper around the assembled courtiers, and included a few titters at the back. Ramina ignored this. ¡°My mum sends her greetins,¡± she said, in a straightforward, strident sort of way. She¡¯d forgotten to add my lord, or your highness, or however you were supposed to address the Prince, if that was who he was. Knowing Ramina, she might have left it out deliberately. Josh nudged her and coughed discreetly, since he thought that was what Silbury was paying him for, but Ramina gave him a blank look. He wished he¡¯d paid more attention to what the servant had said. He thought he saw Lady Paleyne¡¯s eyes roll. Meanwhile, the Prince¡¯s brows rose. ¡°So kind of her,¡± he said, smiling. His voice was indulgent, as if to a child. ¡°We must have a little chat one of these days. It¡¯s so long since I¡¯ve last seen her. And how are you finding Dendral, Miss Brown?¡± If Ramina was an outlander, how come she had a mother? ¡°Nice roofs for runnin¡¯ on,¡± Ramina said buoyantly. ¡°But the lake is borin¡¯, not a wave in sight.¡± The Prince blinked. Northcrag frowned disapprovingly. ¡°An unusual perspective,¡± the Prince said. Something in his tone prompted the assembled courtiers to laugh, and not in a kind way. "Do your people commonly run around on roofs?" From the way Ramina had described the inside of the Seamount, the buildings were all tiered in a way that the roofs of one level functioned as the street of the next level up. "All the time," Ramina said. "You should try it, yer high-up-ness!" Josh secretly enjoyed the aghast looks on the courtiers'' faces. Northcrag''s disapproval had gathered up into a thunderous frown. Lady Paleyne was trying very hard not to laugh. "I shall take that under advisement," the Prince said to Ramina. ¡°Do enjoy the ceremony, Miss Brown.¡± It was a clear dismissal, but Josh had to tug discreetly at Ramina¡¯s sleeve before she realised. The servant was already bringing in another person to be introduced. When they got back into the main hall, people were beginning to take their seats, so Ramina and Josh drifted towards the benches at the back. ¡°Who is your mum?¡± Josh asked Ramina. ¡°Queen o¡¯ the pirates, o¡¯ course!¡± How did that work? He wasn''t sure how to ask if the Queen of the Pirates was really her mother, or whether she''d been adopted. ¡°Does that make you like an Ambassador or something?¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Anyone less suited to diplomacy it was hard to imagine. Ramina grinned, her gold tooth glinting. ¡°Treasure and treachery, that¡¯s the pirate motto! The difference between us pirates and all these fatsos what think they¡¯re dangerous,¡± she pointed at the rest of the room, ¡°is that we openly admit it.¡± ¡°What, you openly stab people in the back?¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re thinkin¡¯ like a pirate!¡± Josh caught sight of someone who looked awfully like Orlad, the green-eyed man from Brackstone. He took a step forward, trying to get a better look to see if he was right, but was interrupted by a voice hailing him from nearby. He turned, and saw Sir Owain. Josh¡¯s pulse immediately sped up, but he tried to look calm. Beside Sir Owain was a young man in his twenties. Josh focused on him, and wasn''t surprised to discover he was an outlander. He looked the same age as Raicheous, but his level was 32, his name was Deathless, and he was an Oathbound Knight. ¡°So Doug sent you, but didn¡¯t have the guts show up himself?¡± Sir Owain asked Josh, disdainfully. Behind him, Deathless gave the satisfied smirk of an underling watching his overbearing boss bully someone else. It was before noon, so Josh thought it was more likely that Doug wasn¡¯t up yet. ¡°I¡¯m escorting Miss Brown, sir,¡± Josh said. He ducked his head and spoke in a slight mumble, mostly so neither Sir Owain nor Deathless would be able to catch sight of his teeth. He was aware it made him look timid, but that couldn¡¯t be helped. Be a bard, he told himself. This is what bards do. Happily, the sound of a gong interrupted the conversation, and everyone started to take their places. Josh and Ramina ended up behind several tall, inconvenient hairstyles, and therefore had a poor view of the proceedings. Josh didn¡¯t think they were missing much. The ceremony started with a priest, who immediately launched into a long, rambling sermon, and since there were no microphones, Josh could barely hear a word he said. He thought wistfully of all his crafting projects back at his lodging house. He had decided to make a second feather breastplate, but this time he had an idea on how to make the feathers infusible with magic as a group, instead of individually, and he couldn¡¯t wait to try it. Eventually the priest bowed, and gave way to someone else, who announced, in loud voice that projected beautifully, ¡°All rise for the King!¡± Everyone stood, and this gave Josh a slightly better view of the proceedings. He saw the Prince¡ªthe man he had thought must be Rupern¡¯s son¡ªmount the dais and approach the centre. That was the King? Everyone in the audience bowed or curtseyed¡ªJosh and Ramina, caught unawares, hastily followed them¡ªand then the King gestured them all to stand straight, and then sit down, rather like the conductor of an orchestra. That was Rupern himself, Josh though, in shock. He was fifty years old, but he looked twenty. Was he a Hero, like Sir Owain and Doug? Did he have the power of the Dreamer? Was this something Josh was supposed to know about? No-one had mentioned it. The King was speaking, something about a great legacy, and a burden. Josh decided to risk admitting his ignorance. ¡°Why is he so young?¡± he whispered to Ramina. ¡°Yeah, creepy weird, innit?¡± Ramina said back. ¡°He got Tigerlily¡¯s mantle.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ramina screwed up her face, trying to remember. ¡°Like, as she lay dying, after Tylas did for her, she gifted her powers to Rupey-boy so he could save his mum. Only he failed and she died anyway. Or something like that.¡± She shrugged, as if the details weren¡¯t important. It had never occurred to Josh to ask what had happened to Tigerlily¡¯s power. He couldn¡¯t even remember much about the circumstances around her death. His brow furrowed as he tried to recall the sequence of events. Tylas the Undying had stolen Gwynifer the Dreamer¡¯s power around thirty-five years ago. Tylas had infiltrated Celespire five years later, killing Tigerlily and Queen Halina. Prince Rupern would have been twenty then, and so when Tigerlily had given him her power, he had become effectively immortal. Until someone came along and cut his immortality out of him, but that clearly hadn¡¯t happened. A door at the far end of the hall opened, and two knights in white capes and armour ducked into the hall and came out onto the dais. Behind them was Lady Alianne, also dressed in a simple white gown, with her hair down and a crown of white flowers around her head, like some maidenly sacrifice. Rupern spoke some more, presenting her to the court, and talking about her virtue, her purity, her dedication to her King and to the Church, in a way that made Josh feel faintly nauseous. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ramina miming sticking her finger down her throat then gagging, and gave a choke of laughter. Josh turned his attention back to Lady Alianne, standing there on the stage as if she was ready to be sacrificed to a dragon, and ¡­ oh shit. She had a character sheet now.
Lady Alianne Spinner Level 1 Player rank: 865 Gladiator rank: 496 Kills: 0 | Deaths 0 Karma: 0
She had exactly the same stats as Josh had had, a month and a half ago, when he had first arrived. At that point everything cascaded in his brain in a rush, clicking into place as he realised what Rupern was doing. A philosopher¡¯s stone was a player core. Rupern was taking player cores from outlanders and giving them to his nobles. He was offering them immortality. Josh swept his eyes along the benches of nobles all patiently watching the ceremony, taking care this time to focus on each one, and sure enough several more character sheets popped up, ones he had missed because he hadn¡¯t looked at them hard enough or long enough for the option to display. There were about twelve or so scattered throughout the crowd, mostly on the front benches, where the people with the highest status sat. They were all the Earls and Dukes who supported King Rupern. This was how Rupern controlled the nobles and got them to support him, despite being exiled from Celespire, his historical seat of power. The faction which supported him was the one that wanted immortality. But if that was the case, why hadn¡¯t every single outlander been killed and stripped of their cores? Because, Josh realised, many of the outlanders were powerful, and they banded together for protection. You would need a group of tame outlanders to catch them, people who didn¡¯t mind risking their lives and wouldn¡¯t¡ªor couldn¡¯t¡ªsteal the cores for themselves. Josh¡¯s found his gaze being dragged to where Sir Owain and Deathless sat on their benches. That¡¯s what the Order of the Unyielding did. They hunted down outlanders, killed them for their cores, and brought them back to King Rupern to give out to his nobles as Philosopher¡¯s Stones. It was all one big, horrible conspiracy. Did Doug know? Of course he did. Josh remembered Sir Owain sneering about how Doug couldn¡¯t show up himself to the ceremony. Doug knew, and his only form of protest was to boycott it. But then Doug had given up on life in general, and spent most of his time sitting around in a tavern getting drunk, feeling sorry for himself, and reliving his glory days with a bunch of aging adventurers. Josh rubbed his hands over his face. That was why Rob had advised Josh to avoid the Order of the Unyielding. He was glad he had gone to such efforts to disguise his Earthly origins to Sir Owain. And to Doug. If Doug did indeed condone what was going on. Someone had died, permanently died, to give Lady Alianne that core. Someone who had probably been snatched from Earth as a teenager, been dumped into a world that encouraged them to become murder hobos, and then ate them. Josh felt sick. ¡°You okay?¡± Ramina asked, darting a frown at him. Did she know? Was she in danger? ¡°Do you know where Philosopher¡¯s Stones come from?¡± he whispered. ¡°Yeah,¡± she whispered back. ¡°Gross, innit?¡± She wrinkled her nose. It sounded like everyone had known, except for Josh. Towards the end of the ceremony, Lady Alianne knelt before the King on a cushion. He took a goblet of wine, which was blessed by the priest. A servant arrived, with a golden casket on a red pillow. The King opened it, took something from it and dropped it in the wine. There were more speeches. Lady Alianne made some kind of vow to be guided by the Church, and to live her life in service to the Crown, then she was given the goblet to drink from. An expectant hush fell over the crowd, and Josh realised everyone thought the thing in the casket was the Philosopher¡¯s Stone. Except it was a fake ceremony. Lady Alianne had probably got her player core earlier, maybe even days earlier. She would get the same class as the person the core had been stolen from, except with the levels reset. Lady Alianne passed the empty goblet back, and pressed a hand to her chest. The King knelt by her solicitously, and then two of the knights on either side helped her to rise. She faced the crowd, raised up her hands while sudden music swelled, and then everyone was on their feet applauding. Ramina didn¡¯t applaud, and neither did Josh. He knew he ought to, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to make the motions. ¡°When can we leave?¡± Josh asked, as servants came to carry away the benches and the crowd started to mill around in the cleared space. ¡°Give it an hour,¡± Ramina said. She was looking more bored than upset, maybe because she hadn¡¯t had a shattering revelation only moments ago. Waiters started circling with trays full of glasses of wine and canapes. Ramina and Josh shared the awkward silence of two people stuck at a large event where they didn¡¯t know anyone else. They sipped their drinks and stared at the crowd around them. It couldn¡¯t have been more than a few minutes later that there was a thump and an outcry from a knot of nobles. Ramina immediately went to investigate. Josh followed more slowly, still discreetly checking the nobles who had character sheets. Their levels ranged from the low teens to the high thirties. Two of them were soldiers, but most of them were various crafting classes, including, bizarrely, an ice sculptor. They were a mix of young and old, but they were all the focal point of their individual gatherings. Ramina backed out of the knot of onlookers a little while later. ¡°Earl o¡¯ Northcrag,¡± she reported. ¡°Old coot just keeled over.¡± ¡°Is he dead?¡± ¡°Nah.¡± A bevy of servants had lifted him and were carrying him out, followed by a concerned entourage. ¡°Was he ¡­ uh, poisoned?¡± Josh asked in a low voice. Ramina gave him a strange look. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Josh protested. ¡°All these people seem to be scheming and backstabbing each other all the time!¡± ¡°Fair point. But nah, he dint have nothin¡¯ to eat or drink. They think it was his heart.¡± Or, Josh thought, it was the work of Lady Paleyne. He looked around for her, and saw her vanishing into one of the side rooms with a hand to her brow that suggested a headache. That was highly suspicious. He would have left it, because he didn¡¯t want to get involved, except he saw the man he thought was Orlad go in right after her. That was odd. Were they conspiring together? 1.44 – Three assignations for the price of one When Josh had been abducted by Orlad, the latter had made it perfectly clear that he had hated Lady Paleyne. So what were they doing in a room together? Josh didn¡¯t even know which faction Orlad represented. He made an excuse to Ramina about going to the bathroom and worked his way through the crowd to the side room. He took a quick glance around to make sure no-one was looking at him, and put his ear to it. There was no sound, but he did feel the telltale buzz of magic. He was getting better at detecting magic. It felt similar to the Silence spell that Lady Paleyne had cast. It was a very small spell that was easily breakable with Chi Siphon. Of course, if he did that, Lady Paleyne would immediately realise he was listening in. He put his hand on the door and, very gently, tried to prise it open a crack. The door shifted a centimetre and then stopped, leaving a tiny gap. There was something blocking it. Josh squinted. There was a latch, fastened from the inside. He looked around, but no-one in the crowd was paying him any attention. He put his eye to the crack, but all he could see was a narrow strip of the room. And a vase lying on the floor. It wasn¡¯t broken, but it looked like it had been knocked off a table. So, not a secret assignation then. More like a secret ambush. Lady Paleyne was immensely annoying, but she was technically a co-conspirator, albeit a reluctant one, whereas Orlad was definitely up to no good. This called for the Paper Swiss Army Knife. Josh pulled it out, and looked around again to make sure there was no-one with a player core nearby, since they were the most likely people to have a magic sense. He cast Stone, opened out the knife tool, and then slid it between the door and the jamb. The latch flicked up. He pushed open the door and slipped into the room. Lady Paleyne was backed up against a wall, her expression white and pinched, while Orlad was standing over her, one hand flat against the wall by her head. At first glance they might have been taken for a couple flirting, but Lady Paleyne¡¯s body language was defensive, and Orlad¡¯s was threatening. Josh was standing right inside the silence spell, so he couldn¡¯t hear anything, not even the crowd. He took a couple of steps away from the door, and his hearing returned. ¡°You¡¯ll tell me where it is,¡± Orlad was saying. ¡°If you know what¡¯s good for you.¡± He must have caught sight of Josh in his peripheral vision, because he turned and said menacingly, ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you¡ª¡± and then his face changed, flushing brick red with anger. ¡°You!¡± he snarled. He strode towards Josh, clenching his fists. The last time they had met, Josh had been tied to a chair, and probably hadn¡¯t seem like much of a threat. However, since then he¡¯d been practicing hard with the staff and going to the weapons training for hours every day. Orlad swung a punch at his head, and Josh evaded it easily. He felt confidence rushing through him. He could do this! He circled around, dodging another punch, and ended up near the wall opposite the door. He needed to stop being on the defensive, but he had no experience of boxing, and had a lighter, leaner build than Orlad. Josh was unlikely to win a fist fight, but neither would he be able to dodge for ever. There was a pole leaning beside the window, with a metal attachment on the end of it for snuffing out the candles on a chandelier. Josh grabbed it, and held it out with the blunt end facing towards Orlad. Orlad sneered and rushed him. Josh slapped Orlad¡¯s raised fists down and away, and danced to the side. The second time Orlad came at him, Josh repeated the move, but followed up with a jab to Orlad¡¯s head, which landed on his cheekbone and mostly served to send him to greater heights of fury. The third time, Orlad managed to get hold of the pole. Josh had been waiting for this. He used the leverage that gave him to kick Orlad¡¯s knee, then twisted the staff out of his hands. It was a new move he¡¯d learned a few days ago, and he was delighted to find that it worked. Orlad was limping now. ¡°Coward!¡± he yelled. In the next exchange, Josh landed a solid blow on Orlad¡¯s temple, which didn¡¯t knock him out, but it did make him stagger and fall. Josh strode immediately to the door. He shook a Chi Siphon out of his sleeve and pressed it against the densest concentration of magic, which was on the latch, and cast it. The noise of the crowd filtered back in as the silence spell dispersed. Josh wondered how it was shaped. It hadn¡¯t been a bubble, more like a wall. But now wasn¡¯t a good time to think about spell mechanics, because Orlad had lumbered to his feet and was shaking his head. ¡°Damn you for a poltroon,¡± he cursed. He grabbed the table that had held the fallen vase and charged straight at Josh, who dodged and rolled out of the way at the last moment. Orlad ran straight into the door. The wall separating this room from the main hall was little more than a wooden screen. So when Orlad went crashing into it, the entire thing shook and rattled in a way that would be impossible for anyone in the main hall to miss. ¡°Well done,¡± Lady Paleyne said faintly. Josh looked over and saw that she had dark circles under her eyes again, and she was using the wall to prop herself up. She must have come in here to recover after using up the rest of her magic on Northcrag, but that was a conversation that could be put off for later. Right now, Josh had an influx of concerned party goers to deal with. ¡°What the hell is going on here?¡± There were now three men clustered in the doorway, all nobles of one sort or another. Orlad had managed to regain his balance, but he was looking somewhat the worse for wear, with a bright red mark on his face where Josh had jabbed him with the pole, and reddened knuckles where Josh had hit the back of his hands. ¡°That coward fought me¡ªan unarmed man¡ªwith that stick!¡± he cried pointing at Josh. ¡°Oh, I say!¡± The lead man in the doorway looked disapprovingly at Josh. Josh opened his mouth to defend himself, but was beaten to it by Lady Paleyne. ¡°Only because you came at him with a table!¡± she said to Orlad, in a fainting sort of voice that nevertheless managed to project itself clearly. She came away from the wall as she spoke, and swayed, as if unable to keep her balance. She looked like she was going to fall. Josh hastily put the candle snuffing pole back and hurried over to her, just in case. As soon as he reached her, she clutched his arm and leaned heavily against him. She really was as tired as she looked. The three men looked down at the fallen vase, and the overturned table, which was now lying next to Orlad, corroborating Lady Paleyne''s story. ¡°You lying little¡ª¡± Orlad began, with gritted teeth. By this point Josh had cottoned on to the part Lady Paleyne wanted him to play. ¡°How dare you speak to Lady Paleyne that way!¡± He made himself sound outraged, which wasn''t hard. Lady Paleyne gave a little sob that sounded so realistic Josh genuinely thought for a moment that she was about to cry. ¡°This is all my fault,¡± she said, in piteous tones. ¡°I only slipped in here for a minute or so to recover. I was exhausted demonstrating my poor talent for the King.¡± She pointed at Orlad. ¡°That man followed me, and¡ª¡± She turned her head away, as if she couldn¡¯t bear to complete the sentence. ¡°Oh, I say, the rotter!¡± one of the men in the doorway exclaimed. ¡°Your intervention was most timely, my dear sir,¡± Lady Paleyne said to Josh, in a voice that sounded low, but must have been audible to everyone in the room. ¡°It was my pleasure to assist.¡± Josh was, in fact, pleased that he had kept his head, and successfully defended himself against a bigger, more experienced opponent. Having to put up with Lady Paleyne''s theatrics was minor by comparison, particularly because it was now her turn to defend him. ¡°How can you brazenly stand there and¡ªI demand satisfaction!¡± Orlad said furiously. Josh didn¡¯t immediately understand what he meant, but Lady Paleyne gave a heartrending cry. ¡°Oh no! Do not, I beg you!¡± She was appealing to Josh now, who was thoroughly confused. ¡°I could not bear it if you were hurt or killed on my account!¡± Oh. Orlad had been calling Josh out in a duel. ¡°Not in front of the lady,¡± one of the men in the doorway said testily to Orlad. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take yourself off, man, and stop causing trouble? Call on the fellow in the morning, eh? Sort it out then.¡± Orlad drew in a breath, perhaps to expostulate, but Lady Paleyne chose that moment to fall into a graceful faint in Josh¡¯s arms. Perhaps realising that he had been outmanoeuvred by a master manipulator, Orlad set his jaw and pushed roughly through the knot of men at the door. ¡°Er,¡± Josh said helplessly. There was a couch against the far wall, a spindly thing with gold brocade upholstery. He clasped Lady Paleyne to him with one hand, and managed to get his other hand under her knees, lifting her up in his arms as if she was a fainting heroine in a melodrama. He carried her over to the couch, and laid her on it carefully, at which point she came awake, fluttering her eyes dramatically, and clasping a hand to her breast. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. A great deal of fuss followed. Some ladies turned up¡ªJosh had no idea who they were, but one of them immediately sat beside Lady Paleyne and began patting her hands in a comforting manner, while another impatiently shooed all the men out of the room. Josh let himself be shooed. He decided his side quest had taken long enough, and he should find Ramina again. Despite her eye-catching attire, however, he couldn¡¯t see her anywhere. Instead, making her way through the crowd, looking quite at home, was the Queen of the Fey She wore a dress of shimmering blues and greens, embroidered in silver thread, with her golden hair piled up high on her head, revealing delicate pointed ears, and ringlets cascading onto one white shoulder. She had no veil across her face this time, but Josh immediately knew it was her. He eyebrows rose when she saw him. ¡°Josh Armstrong!¡± she said. He bowed in the local manner, and she curtseyed politely in response. What was she doing here? Had she come to unmask him as an outlander? The last time he had seen her was when he had been kneeling near the standing stones, less than an hour after he had arrived in Six Spires, while one of her huntsmen had held his hair, and the one called Charral had acted very much as if she wanted to cut his throat. ¡°It¡¯s Josh de Haven, actually, Your Majesty.¡± His etiquette tutor hadn¡¯t covered this encounter. All the stupid local customs were still swirling around in his brain, and perhaps he hadn¡¯t quite fallen out of character after participating in Lady Paleyne¡¯s little play, because he held his arm out to her as if offering her an escort. ¡°De Haven?¡± She said musingly. ¡°Very well. I am also incognito.¡± To his surprise, she took his arm. She still had the feather bracelet he had made her around her wrist. Or had she put it on specially before coming here? ¡°You¡¯re wearing the bracelet,¡± Josh said stupidly, and immediately felt his ears and neck start to flush. He didn¡¯t know why he was so embarrassed. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. Josh cast another glance down at it. He was much better at making things with feathers now. He noticed several things about it he would do differently if he had the chance. ¡°I can make a better one if you want,¡± he offered. She gave him a thoughtful glance. ¡°This one is fine.¡± ¡°Would you like me to make it glow?¡± She looked amused. ¡°Very well.¡± He covered her arm with his hand, gave a quick look around to make sure no-one was looking, and quietly cast the Glow spell. When he removed his hand, the bracelet was covered with tiny blue-green sparkles. ¡°Pretty,¡± she commented. By mutual consent they moved towards a table that had been set up with glasses of wine and canap¨¦s. Last time she had seemed to know about Earth, and she had asked Josh if he knew who she was, despite the fact that he was a newly arrived outlander. Did she know about Spiralia Online? "So..." he said. "You know about the game." He was careful to phrase it as a statement, because you didn''t just go asking questions of the fey. "I know lots of games." "The game," he said. "The one that brought me here." She slid a glance up at him, and the weight of her presence increased. Even the crowd around them felt it, because several people shifted further away, without quite realising why. That was a really cool trick. Could she do that because she was the Queen of the Fey? "Yes, I have heard of the game. Before that it was books. And before that..." Her voice trailed away, then resumed with a warning note. "You may not presume on your apparent feelings of familiarity with me." Did that mean players had tried to flirt with her after completing the questline in Spiralia Online, or reading books set in the world in which she featured? Was that how she knew about it? ¡°That wasn''t my intention," Josh said quickly. He cleared his throat. "It seems like the game is based on this world, not the other way around." "If that is what you see, that it must be so." Her answer implied it was more complicated than that. "But..." Josh said slowly, "Also many of the people, the local people, seem as if they came from my world. At some point." He selected a glass of wine and presented it to her while she considered his words. "I wanted to be an actress," she said unexpectedly. "My mother died when I was young, my father was strongly religious, and strict with it. I ran away from home after I saw a play for the first time in my life, and thought it the most beautiful and thrilling thing I had ever encountered. Suffice it to say, life in the big city did not match my expectations." That wasn''t the origin story for the Queen of the Fey at all. She was supposed to be centuries old, and part of a hereditary bloodline, descended from the first dryad of a special tree or something. Spiralia Online liked hereditary nobility with unique magic that allowed them to prove it¡ªlike Queen Halina''s connection to Celespire, or the little huldra Queen and her crystal array. "How did you ... get to where you are now?" Josh asked, before he remembered it was a bad idea to ask questions. "I was offered a part in a play, in which many performers had mysteriously dropped out. I didn''t stop to consider what might have befallen them, and found myself sharing their fate." The Queen paused, then smiled. "I found myself in fairyland. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but she held up her hand to stop him. "But those times are past. It is the future which concerns me now. I came to pass on a warning that a great threat is now loose once again, but I find that my words are not needed, and that Mayad¡¯s Chosen is the fulcrum upon which the fate of the world turns.¡± She paused, and added in an undertone, ¡°Interfering old besom.¡± Mayad again, the goddess of the ruins of Aileth-Mair, to whom Josh had prayed for guidance. It was shortly after that he decided to seek out the Dreamer. The change in the Queen¡¯s tone gave Josh the courage to ask another question. ¡°What is the world-shattering threat everyone keeps talking about? Is it the power of the Dreamer?¡± The Queen looked at him thoughtfully over the rim of her wine glass. Her eyes were like deep, dark forest pools. ¡°They didn¡¯t tell you, did they? Well, no reason that they would. You should read Tomas Welverly¡¯s account of it.¡± More riddles and obfuscation, Josh thought irritably. She tipped back her head and drained her wine glass, her throat swelling as she swallowed. She cast the glass aside onto the table, and delicately touched the tip of a finger to her mouth to catch a bead of wine, then licked it with her tongue. ¡°That¡¯s two of your three questions,¡± she said. What? ¡°I didn¡¯t know we were playing the three questions game!¡± She laughed. ¡°That¡¯s what makes it so fun. Choose your last question wisely.¡± He returned to the subject of his first question, the thing he most wanted to know. ¡°Who, or what, brought me here?¡± Some of the humour drained from her face. ¡°So many of your kind simply don¡¯t want to know. They want to believe it¡¯s fate, that they are the hero of their own story. So many stories. And yet so few heroes.¡± She paused. ¡°Alas, you ask one of the few questions I am bound not to answer. You may ask another.¡± ¡°How can I find out who, or what, brought me here?¡± She smiled approvingly. ¡°Speak to the first one. There¡¯s always a first. The seed of the world, as it were.¡± What did she mean by the first? The first person taken from Earth? The first outlander? One of the Seven Heroes, Josh thought. Sir Owain. Gwynifer the Dreamer. Gwynifer¡¯s sister, Tigerlily. Doug and Lady Selene. Wayland. Lord Shadow. And then the eighth one, the one no-one ever mentioned. ¡°Anthony Harrison.¡± It was pure guesswork, but he saw the answer in her eyes. ¡°An insolent toad!¡± she said. ¡°Let us not speak of him any further.¡± A voice behind him said, ¡°Hey!¡± and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to find Ramina standing behind him. ¡°Bin lookin¡¯ all over for ya,¡± she said. ¡°Come on. Need your expertise.¡± ¡°Oh¡ª¡± he glanced back at the Queen of the Fey, but found to his shock that she was no longer by his side. He looked round. There was no sign of her, only the empty glass abandoned on the table. The hair on the back of his neck lifted. ¡°Come on,¡± Ramina repeated impatiently. What did she want? Josh set down his own glass, half-drunk, trying to shake off the shivery feeling, and followed her. ¡°If," he said over her shoulder, "you¡¯ve found somewhere you can eavesdrop and you want me to remove some kind of magical barrier that¡¯s in your way, I¡¯m not interested.¡± ¡°What? But you¡¯re me partner in crime!¡± ¡°It¡¯s one thing to listen in on Silbury who knows what you¡¯re up to,¡± Josh hissed, checking around them to make sure no-one was close enough to overhear. ¡°This is the Palace! It¡¯s got a King! And guards!¡± ¡°My Uncle Harvey,¡± she announced, ¡°always gave me a sweetie when he found me listenin¡¯ in.¡± ¡°He should have given you a smack.¡± ¡°He did that too,¡± Ramina disclosed. ¡°But that was only on account of me being caught.¡± ¡°You get caught because you¡¯re really bad at it!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t matter!¡± she said confidently. ¡°If ya do it enough times people just give up tryin¡¯ to stop ya.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how espionage is supposed to work!¡± Ramina ignored this. ¡°Some drunken floozie at Crosskeys sold me these,¡± she said, fishing a couple of small seashells out of a small black velvet purse that dangled from her wrist. ¡°You¡¯ve been hanging out with Doug?¡± ¡°Mighta¡¯ visited the place a coupla¡¯ times.¡± She tipped one of the shells into Josh¡¯s palm. It gave off a very, very faint sense of magic. He stared at it curiously. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this is some kind of listening device.¡± ¡°You catch on quick.¡± ¡°And where are you planning to plant this?¡± ¡°Me? I¡¯m not going to plant it anywhere.¡± She looked at him expectantly. Josh closed his hand over the shell and hid it behind his back. ¡°Great, because neither am I.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± She reached for it, but he twisted away. ¡°Give that back!¡± ¡°Too late.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re missin¡¯ out on!¡± Ramina cast hasty glances to either side, then stepped closer, dropping her voice. ¡°Word is, the King''s going to give Sir Owain a Quest.¡± She seemed to expect him to know what that meant. Josh could guess. The King wanted something done and was going to send Sir Owain to sort it out, but would dress it up in fancy language. It was a Quest with a capital Q. ¡°You want to plant this on Sir Owain?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Josh wanted to find a wooden panel just so he could thunk his head against it. ¡°Let me get this straight¡ªyou want to plant a dodgy magic device which you bought of a drunk person in a pub, and plant it on an immortal knight, who probably has an extremely well-developed magic sense, right before he has a secret conference with the King?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­?¡± Ramina said. ¡°How have you survived this long?¡± Ramina grinned. ¡°Treasure and treachery!¡± Josh sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t plant it on Sir Owain. Put it on the underling he brought with him.¡± Deathless¡¯s character sheet had said Oathbound Knight. If he was a Knight class, he might not have a very high magic sense. Ramina scowled. ¡°You do it.¡± He took her hand and pressed the shell into it. ¡°Trust me, it will go much better if you do it. He¡¯s more likely to want to talk to you than to me.¡± In fact, in the end, it was very easy, once Josh had coached her through it, and was helped considerably by the fact that Deathless had barely lifted his gaze from Ramina¡¯s cleavage the entire time she spoke to him. ¡°What¡¯s the range on it?¡± Josh asked, once Ramina had woven her way back through the crowd. ¡°Not far. I reckon we¡¯ll have to stay inside the Palace.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go and see if one of the side rooms is free.¡± Josh wondered how much espionage had already been carried out in those rooms tonight. Probably a great deal. They found one that was empty. Josh flicked the latch, then Ramina held the companion shell in her cupped hands. They both bent their heads to listen. Disappointingly, Deathless wasn¡¯t invited into Sir Owain¡¯s audience with the King. They were treated to about fifteen minutes of him standing in a corridor, and occasionally walking up and down it while he waited. Sir Owain came out again, luckily before Ramina exploded with impatience. ¡°Shoulda¡¯ put it on Sir Owain,¡± she said, for what felt like the fiftieth time. ¡°Shush!¡± They heard Deathless¡¯s voice, small and tinny, but noticeably eager. ¡°Did we get it, sir?¡± A pause. ¡°I,¡± Sir Owain said, stressing the pronoun pointedly, ¡°got a Quest from the King to find the missing fragments. Which means the fates will align to light the way for me, and make my job a whole lot easier.¡± What did that mean? If you got a quest did it make the odds of you succeeding slightly better? Did that happen only if the King offered the quest, or would it work with system quests too? Or was it just when Heroes got them? ¡°Your role will be quite different,¡± Sir Owain said. ¡°Yes, sir?¡± ¡°You recall the message I received this afternoon.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°It was from ¡­ an old acquaintance.¡± Another pause, then a sigh. ¡°The timing is inconvenient. But I am told there is a member of the scourge recently arrived in the city. It will be your job to hunt them down.¡± Josh stopped breathing. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Deathless sounded fervent. There was little of interest after that, and they were interrupted when someone knocked on the door of their side room. Ramina hastily hid the seashell, and smiled brightly at the people on the other side of the door when she opened it. Josh realised his hands were shaking. He clenched them to his sides, and tried to breath normally. Who had the letter referred to? Was it Ramina? Or had someone been warning Sir Owain about Josh? 1.45 – A culture shock and a clue Josh awoke the next day to find his fellow lodgers discussing over breakfast the news that the stone elves had taken the Azure Cathedral. Upon receiving this intelligence, Lord Northcrag had apparently suffered a collapse and taken to his bed, and his son had been summoned to the Palace to explain himself to the King. Josh wasn¡¯t sure what to think of that. It sounded like Lady Paleyne¡¯s faction had neatly entrapped Lord Northcrag and reduced his family¡¯s influence with the King in one fell swoop, all without revealing their hand. To the other lodgers, Josh ventured the opinion that since the Earls of Northcrag had betrayed and slaughtered a generation of huldra fifty years ago, proceeded to take their Queen hostage, and then occupied the Cathedral as a hostile force, that the huldra rebellion had righted a great injustice. However, the consensus at the breakfast table was that the huldra were a shifty lot who couldn¡¯t be trusted, and since it was Celespire¡¯s Heroes who had cleared the Cathedral of monsters in the first place, so why shouldn¡¯t have Celespire taken it over and reaped the benefits? The narrow-mindedness of it depressed him. After weapons practice, he dropped in to see Doug at Crosskeys, hoping to find out what he thought of the matter. Doug was out on an errand, but Doug¡¯s friends were more inclined to be angry on behalf of the huldra, if only because they felt that the huldra ought to have stayed saved after Doug went to all the trouble of saving them. When Doug arrived shortly after, though, he was pre-occupied with his own news and the matter of the huldra was set aside for now. ¡°Penny sent a reply,¡± he said. He nodded to Josh. ¡°If you are wondering how it was done so quickly, it¡¯s because there are linked scrying devices that can be used to send messages across long distances.¡± Penny was Lady Selene, head of the Shining Light of the Moon, and, it turned out, keeper of the third fragment. Josh hadn¡¯t been wondering about the speed of the response at all, since he had no idea where Lady Selene or her religious order were located. Doug took a deep breath. ¡°She confirmed that her fragment is safe. Whoever is after them hasn¡¯t tried for hers yet.¡± There were relieved sighs all round. ¡°But you know what this means.¡± ¡°Doug wants to get some nookie!¡± Someone yelled out, and everyone laughed. Doug flushed and looked sheepish, but then turned serious again. ¡°It means whoever stole the first two fragments will go for Penny next.¡± Doug smacked one fist into his other hand. ¡°And I plan to be there when they do. Who is with me?¡± He raised a hand, and the entire tavern erupted with cheers and raised fists. Some time later, when everyone had broken up into separate discussions, Doug came and sat beside Josh. ¡°I was hoping you would ride out with us,¡± he said. He held up a hand. ¡°You don¡¯t have to decide now. It would be a big commitment. But think on it, eh, lad?¡± It would be good to get away from Dendral and all its intrigue and politics. And it would bring Josh one step closer to finding a way to unlock the power of the Dreamer and return to Earth. He promised to think about it, and went away to his daily magic lesson, where Arcanist Gryce was helping him build his own amulet. The spells that would go in were all very simple.
Breath ¨C makes a tiny gust of wind, enough to blow out a candle Tone ¨C sings a single note Spark ¨C generates a spark on flammable material Shock ¨C creates an imbalance that causes a small electric shock Cool ¨C creates a spot of cold Firefly ¨C creates a small floating light Infusion ¨C gently infuses Chi into an area Inspect ¨C allows you to sense Chi pathways more easily Force ¨C creates a weak kinetic force which can be applied to nearby objects
Josh had been thinking of his five Druid spells as simple low-level enchantments, but in fact they were more powerful than he had originally realised. Even though they were utility spells, he had been able to do a lot with them. The spells Arcanist Gryce gave him were much weaker, most lasting only seconds, and producing the most minor of effects. However, while the lack of a fireball or anything remotely explosive was disappointing, there was a lot of versatility in there. Moreover, these were the foundation spells that would combine to produce new spells, and ultimately lead to more powerful versions. For example, mages focusing on Infusion and Inspect would go on to learn healing spells. Force would lead to telekinesis and physical combat spells. Spark and Shock would eventually lead to big area of effect spells with fire and lightning. After the magic lesson Josh went to look for the author the Queen of the Fey had recommended, which would tell him about the power the Chains of Wayland guarded, but he was interrupted by Ramina in a visible state of excitement. ¡°Guess what I heard!¡± she said. Josh noticed she was holding the shell listening device. ¡°I thought I told you to get rid of that!¡± She clutched it protectively. ¡°As if!¡± ¡°If it¡¯s some kind of linked magic system, and they find the one you planted on D¡­¡± Just as Josh was about to say Deathless''s name, he realised that he had only seen it written on the guy¡¯s character sheet, and that might not be the one everyone knew him by. ¡°¡­the one you planted on ¡­ uh ¡­ that guy, they might be able to scry where the second one is.¡± Josh wasn¡¯t sure if any of that was likely, but give the magic he had encountered so far, he thought it was at least possible. ¡°Well, they ain¡¯t found it yet. I heard him talking. There¡¯s more about the scourge what¡¯s loose in the city.¡± Josh felt his stomach turn upside-down. ¡°There is?¡± He was amazed at how calm his voice sounded. ¡°Yeah.¡± Ramina paused dramatically. ¡°They said the scourge was sent here to kill Wainy-boy!¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Owain!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Crazy, innit?¡± Unless Ramina was a particularly good actress, it didn¡¯t sound like she was the scourge in question. Josh didn¡¯t see how it could apply to himself either. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Did that mean there was a third outlander in Dendral? ¡°Why would they want to kill Owain?¡± he asked. ¡°And how does the Order of Unyielding know about it?¡± Yesterday, at the ceremony, Sir Owain said he had received the information in a message. Who from? What has the message said? Ramina rolled her eyes, as if neither question was important. ¡°Don¡¯t you get it? If we can turn them in before the Order does there¡¯ll be a reward!¡± Josh was so shocked that he didn¡¯t know what to say. Ramina regarded him brightly, with her head cocked to one side. ¡°What? You don¡¯t want gold?¡± Her tone implied the no-one could ever possibly not want gold. ¡°Yeah but¡­¡± How could he put this without giving himself away? ¡°You said you know what the Order will do to them.¡± ¡°Yeah, so?¡± They stared at each other, and her expression changed. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re squeamish!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°Well ¡­ I was just surprised that you ¡­¡± She scowled. ¡°This is about my mum, innit?¡± Josh hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know much about your mum. Can you tell me about her?¡± ¡°She¡¯s an outlander, not a scourge.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a difference?¡± Josh asked cautiously. ¡°O¡¯ course. They¡¯re scourge if they ain¡¯t with the Storm King or the Pirates.¡± Josh didn¡¯t think the locals made the same distinction. As far as the Celespirans were concerned scourge equalled outlander. ¡°So you¡¯re not¡­uh¡­?¡± he asked, inarticulately. She looked at him blankly, and then incredulously. ¡°What, did you think I was an outlander?¡± ¡°No,¡± Josh said hastily. ¡°You did, dint you?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Yes, you did!¡± ¡°Look, of course I knew you hadn¡¯t come from another world,¡± he said. ¡°Er. Have you always lived at the Seamount?¡± ¡°Nah. Was born in Celespire. Came into the world in a middle of a siege,¡± she said, with obvious pride. ¡°But you didn¡¯t stay in Celespire?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Mum and Uncle Harvey had a fallout after the Demon War, and mum took a ship and started raidin¡¯. Eventually she challenged Captain Redhook, and took over the Seamount.¡± For some reason it had never occurred to Josh that the outlanders might have children. He didn¡¯t know why. It was, of course, a natural consequence of hundreds if not thousands of people being abducted from another world and living here for decades. It was why Ramina knew the Star Wars Imperial March theme tune, but she would never have seen any of the movies. It was why she had a gold tooth, like a real pirate¡ªso obviously not the product of twenty-first century dentistry. ¡°You¡¯re thinkin¡¯ all outlanders should feel loyalty to each other ¡®cos they¡¯re outlanders,¡± Ramina said accusingly. ¡°The scourge are as much our enemies as Rupey¡¯s lot.¡± Rupey? Oh, she meant Rupern. ¡°If they had a chance, they¡¯d cut open me mum¡¯s chest without a second thought. Why let scum like them live? So, last chance, in or out?¡± Josh was still trying to get over the revelation he¡¯d just had, but he forced himself to think quickly. If he refused to help Ramina hunt down the outlander in Dendral, she would just do it on her own, and someone from Earth would die permanently as a result. Even if they were horrible murdering scum, that didn¡¯t mean they should be killed and harvested for their immortality. On the other hand, if he agreed to help Ramina, he would be in a better position to judge for himself what kind of person this scourge was. If they turned out not to be a complete psychopath, which was hopefully the case, he could warn them. Now he needed to convince Ramina that he was fully in. ¡°How much gold are we talking about here?¡± he asked, after the appropriate hesitation. She grinned hugely. ¡°Ten gold!¡± There were twelve pennies on one silver, and two hundred and forty silvers in one gold. You could buy a loaf of bread for one penny, so if you calculated one penny as being roughly equivalent to two British pounds, then the reward being offered was nearly thirty thousand pounds. Or, to look at another way, Josh could live comfortably, if not extravagantly, on one silver per day, so two thousand and four hundred silver would provide living expenses for six and a half years. If you evaluated the reward amount in terms of average annual salary rather than using the Josh Unofficial Bread Price Index, it was over a hundred thousand pounds. He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m in. What do we do?¡± ¡°Gonna listen in for more info. When I get something, we can make our move.¡± ¡°Be careful. He could find the shell at any time.¡± ¡°Careful as a catfish!¡± ¡°Are catfishes careful?¡± ¡°How the hell do I know?¡± Josh gave up. Ramina left him alone in the library, and he could finally look for the book. He found it without difficulty, but it wasn¡¯t a volume he would have chosen to read. It was a thin booklet, handwritten and amateurishly bound, and the author¡¯s style was, at times, incoherent and rambling. There were several other, much fatter books that covered that period of Celespire¡¯s recent history, all much better written and nicely set out in easy-to-read print. Still, the Queen of the Fey must have had a reason to recommend this book instead of another, so Josh settled down to read it. Several hours later, he put it down, and slumped over the table with his hands in his head. He had already known that Tylas the Undying had been the Dark Lord of Six Spires, and had waged a campaign thirty-five years ago to conquer the world. He had been defeated and imprisoned five years later, but had broken free twenty years ago, and summoned a thousand outlanders from Earth, before finally being defeated once and for all shortly after that. After the fall of Tylas, relations between the outlanders and Celespirans had deteriorated. Now that Josh knew that Sir Owain and King Rupern had been harvesting outlanders for their immortality, it made a lot more sense. This had led to the rise of the Storm King, and the Celespirans had lost their capital city only a couple of years later. The Demon War had taken place four years after that. It had mostly affected just outlanders, and therefore didn¡¯t figure as prominently in accounts written by Celespiran historians. It wasn¡¯t even a war, as such. There had been no massed forces, no pitched battles. Instead, outlanders had begun mysteriously disappearing. The Storm King had accused King Rupern of assassinating his outlander subjects, and had threatened to mount an offensive campaign against Dendral. Sir Doug and Lady Selene had gone to Celespire to lobby for a diplomatic solution, and had discovered the true culprit when Lady Selene had been attacked and nearly suffered a permanent death. One of the outlanders had been revealed as a Demon, whose power was eating the souls of other outlanders. Or rather, the soul of anyone who was in possession of a Philosopher¡¯s Stone, and that, according to the author of the book Josh had just read, included the five remaining Heroes. If the Demon had just preyed on outlanders, no-one in Dendral would have cared, but not only were the Heroes themselves in danger, it was also a threat to the nobles upon whom Rupern had bestowed immortality. Not it, Josh thought. He or she. The book he had read had referred to the Demon dispassionately as ''it'' the whole way through, as if it wasn''t fully human. Following the incident with Lady Selent, the Demon had escaped from Celespire, but had eventually been tracked down and defeated. The player core had been extracted, and locked behind the Chains of Wayland. The three key fragments had then been separated, with Lady Selene taking one, Sir Owain taking another, and the Church the third. The Demon was the ultimate threat to anyone with a player or Hero core, and by controlling it, the Celespirans had finally put an end to the Storm King¡¯s threats of expansion. If the Storm King attempted to conquer new territory, the author of the booklet had recounted with satisfaction, the Demon would be unleashed. Which meant that Josh had been on a false trail ever since Brackstone. He was no closer to finding the power of the Dreamer than he had been when he had first heard of it. There wasn¡¯t anything he could do to change that, except start the search again. He would go through Silbury¡¯s library from top to bottom. There had to be a clue somewhere. In the meantime, though there were still some things about the Demon core which he didn¡¯t understand. Both Doug and the Queen of the Fey had referred to it as a world-ending threat. But what did that really mean? Why would something that ate only Heroes and outlanders result in the end of the world? More importantly, Lady Selene had confirmed that her key fragment was still in her care. Doug and everyone else now assumed that the thieves who had taken the other two fragments would still be seeking the third, and therefore that the Demon core itself was still bound. But Josh knew differently. When he had first been presented with his class choice by the Guardian there had been three options: Assassin, Demon and Plumassier. At the time Josh had assumed that he had been the only one abducted by the Guardian, so he had hesitated over the class choice, but he¡¯d been wrong. There had been two others taken alongside him. One of them had opted immediately for the Assassin, removing it from the pool of available classes. The second had taken Demon, leaving Josh with Plumassier. That meant the Demon was back, and had been running around Six Spires for nearly five weeks now. And Josh couldn¡¯t tell anyone about it without revealing himself as an outlander. Not a chapter - update Hey everyone Sorry I won''t have a chapter out today. I will be catching up at the weekend with all the writing. The reason for the delay is that in the MMORPG I play a large alliance threatened to siege my guild''s castle if we did not accede to their demands. We said no, not very politely. A siege was then declared against us by that alliance. Most of my spare time this week has been spent co-ordinating efforts to prepare siege equipment and acquire materials for rebuilding, hiring mercenaries, and contacting our allies for support. Meanwhile, the guild leader of our closest ally has been trying to de-escalate the situation, and correct all the propaganda and misinformation floating around. One of the guilds with whom we had a defensive pact turned against us because of some faked screenshots of DM conversations on Discord, and that took a while to set right. However, the de-escalation efforts with the large alliance have born fruit, without us having to concede anything. Honestly the amount of drama that goes on in MMORPGs is insane. You literally cannot make this stuff up. And everyone is so serious about it, while at the same time going around repeating, "It doesn''t matter, it''s just a game." But of course, it clearly does. That''s why we play these kinds of games. And it can be an emotional rollercoaster, but at the end of the day it is a game, and if it gets too much we can just log out and get on with real life. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As you can imagine, this gives me amazing material to put in my stories, but also gives me less time to write those stories. And I have so many ideas ¨C pages and pages of them. It''s a real challenge trying to chose which one to start next. We are getting close to the last arc of Book 1 of The Seventh Spire. After that I haven''t decided whether move completely to the new story, or write both The Seventh Spire and the new story at the same time, but do one chapter per week for each. This is the first time I have been writing as I go, instead of completing something and then posting it. I think it''s helped my writing enormously, and having people follow it, and expect regular weekly chapters means that even when it gets difficult, I can still power through until the words start to flow more easily again. So, in summary, thank you very much for following Josh''s story, and posting your feedback. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments if you are not sure about something, or if you think someone is acting out of character. Constructive feedback is always appreciated! === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === === 1.46 – They don’t make heroes like they used to Josh was still in the library, staring blankly into space, when a servant arrived with a folded note on a silver salver. He had no idea why they didn¡¯t just give him the note like a normal person, instead of serving it up as if it was food, but he took it anyway. His mind was still churning through the revelations he¡¯d just had, so it took him a couple of attempts to decipher the loopy writing. It was from Lady Paleyne, and she begged for the honour of his company as soon as he was able to present himself at Sir Ernil¡¯s house. She wasn¡¯t really begging, it was just part of the courtly language all the nobles liked to use towards each other. But yesterday¡¯s encounter with Orlad had now been superseded by today¡¯s crisis, namely that there was some kind of world-ending threat running around free. On top of that, Josh¡¯s quest for the Dreamer had petered out and he didn¡¯t know where to go next. He went to see Lady Paleyne anyway, if only to reassure himself that she hadn¡¯t murdered Lord Northcrag. He was wary of asking her outright, but he didn¡¯t immediately get the chance. As the footman escorted him to Sir Ernil¡¯s sitting room, Josh heard voices issuing from it. ¡°¡­your behaviour giving rise to this kind of gossip, one would think you have not a single care for your own reputation¡­¡± a man was saying. He had a booming sort of voice that projected his words helpfully through the door for the benefit of any eavesdroppers in the vicinity. The footman acted as if he had heard none of this, and simply opened the door. Lady Paleyne¡¯s visitor was a tall, heavily built man whom Josh hadn¡¯t seen before, who stood over her with a pugnacious expression and a hectic flush in his cheeks. Lady Paleyne was seated on a sofa, looking downcast and subdued, of all things. The man gave Josh an indignant glanced as the servant announced him, clearly wishing him elsewhere. ¡°Father, this is a young man who has recently been of service to Sir Ernil,¡± Lady Paleyne said, her eyes lowered. ¡°De Haven, this is my father, Lord Shoal.¡± Josh gave his bow, but he felt awkward, clumsy, and out of place, on top of the natural discomfort of a middle-class British person intruding on someone else¡¯s family drama. ¡°Sir,¡± Lady Paleyne said, addressing her father. The formality of it made Josh feel even weirder, reminding him that he was in a foreign culture with strange customs. ¡°Mr de Haven could surely benefit from your wisdom over a matter of etiquette.¡± What? Why did Josh need etiquette advice? Had he bowed the wrong way or something? ¡°Everyone knows,¡± Lady Paleyne added, ¡°that you have such a wealth of experience in such matters.¡± The change on Lord Shoal was immediate¡ªhe straightened and cast his eye over Josh again, frowning a little, and saying importantly, ¡°Oh? Well, I am always happy to offer my advice.¡± Lady Paleyne must have summoned Josh to be a distraction for her extremely overbearing parent. Why did Josh keep falling for her tricks? It would have served her right if he¡¯d ignored the invitation until the next day. ¡°Would you relate the story about your young friend who had an altercation yesterday?¡± Lady Paleyne asked. What was she talking about? Josh looked at her helplessly. ¡°He tried to intervene in a fight, I believe you said?¡± Lady Paleyne continued. ¡°He grabbed a pole of some sort to defend himself, and then his opponent took up a small table and tried to hit him with it.¡± She was describing the fight with Orlad, as if her father was not aware of the full details, and pretending it was a separate incident. Josh was confused. Lord Shoal had just been telling her off for her behaviour¡ªbut maybe it hadn¡¯t had anything to do with scene at the ceremony the other day. ¡°This sounds like a lowborn brawl to me,¡± Lord Shoal said with distaste. ¡°And not a subject fit for a lady¡¯s ears. I don¡¯t see that I can be of any use.¡± ¡°Perhaps you should tell the story,¡± Lady Paleyne said to Josh, a slight warning in her eyes. ¡°Naturally, as a woman, I don¡¯t understand these things,¡± she made a delicate, dismissive fluttering motion with her fingers, ¡°but perhaps my father could help your friend avoid being embroiled in a duel.¡± Josh had forgotten about Orlad¡¯s abortive challenge in the wake of all the other revelations he had experienced today. Lady Paleyne was right. The prospect of coming across Orlad again was a headache he didn¡¯t need. He recounted the story of the fight as if it had happened to a friend of his, arising after Orlad had threatened a mutual acquaintance. ¡°Hmm!¡± Lord Shoal said, as he finished. ¡°I am afraid to say your friend did not act with honour.¡± For the third time during this conversation, Josh thought, what? He didn¡¯t need to say anything out loud, however, because Lord Shoal had been accurate when he''d stated that he was always happy to offer his advice. He moved immediately into a long-winded explanation, the gist of which was that, even if you were attacked by a bigger, more experienced opponent, so long as he was using only his fists, taking up a weapon against him was dishonourable. The question, according to Lord Shoal, was not whether such ungentlemanly conduct should result in a duel, but whether Josh¡¯s ¡®friend¡¯ should be considered enough of a gentleman to be issued a challenge. Attacking an unarmed man with a window pole was an ignoble act, and apparently duels were reserved only for the nobility. All at once Josh felt himself losing patience. Despite what Lord Shoal had said, Josh and Orlad had not been evenly matched until Josh had taken up the pole to defend himself with. He resolved to do so in future the moment he was faced with another aggressive noble, and very nearly said so. While Josh was still busy holding onto his temper, Lord Shoal passed from his condemnation of Josh¡¯s ¡®friend¡¯ to a patronising homily towards Josh himself, advising him to stay out of low taverns and not mix with the common riff raff, for fear of their low-class habits rubbing off on him. I have more important things to worry about, Josh thought. He probably would have said that if it wasn¡¯t for Lady Paleyne. Every time Lord Shoal said something particularly thoughtless or offensive, Lady Paleyne stepped in with a soothing comment of her own, distracting him while flattering his knowledge and experience. Josh had just decided that he would give up on asking her anything about Northcrag and leave, when she got rid of Lord Shoal using the exact same tactic as yesterday, puttting a gentle hand to her brow and declared that she felt exhausted, and simply must take a rest. Josh stifled his impatience while Lord Shoal criticised his daughter for taking on too many duties and attending too many parties, while simultaneously excusing her weakness as only natural for a woman, but eventually he wound down and bid her good-bye. He evidently expected Josh to accompany him out¡ªgod forbid he would leave his daughter alone with an unattached man¡ªbut Lady Paleyne said quickly, ¡°Oh, Mr de Haven, Sir Ernil left the book you wanted in the library. Perhaps you should go and look at it. Forgive me, I forgot until just now!¡± There was no book, but presumably she wished to speak to him after she had evicted her father, so he obediently followed her directions to the library, thinking that Lord Shoal was lucky he had never suffered the same fate as Lord Northcrag. Sir Ernil''s library was smaller than the one owned by the Marquis of Silbury, but Josh started checking it for volumes of interest nevertheless. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Lady Palayne came in a few minutes later, her demeanour completely changed. The Dutiful Submissive Daughter had been replaced by the Languid Playful Courtier. By this point Josh was fed up with all the obscuration and misdirection he seemed to get embroiled in whenever Lady Paleyne was around. Couldn¡¯t she just be herself, instead of playing all these roles? ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to Lord Northcrag?¡± he asked bluntly. She raised her eyebrows and looked him over thoughtfully. A little of her languid manner fell away. ¡°A dastardly plot,¡± she said, with immense satisfaction. ¡°I hear that, following his collapse at the ceremony¡ªnot fatal, I assure you!¡ªstrange creatures secretly raided his home and carried him away.¡± Did she mean the huldra? ¡°I also hear that he will henceforth be held hostage, and his son has been ordered to cover up his father''s absence by pretending he is now an invalid, and confined to his bed, too sick to be seen by anyone but his closest family.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t actually answer my question about what will happen to him,¡± Josh pointed out. She gave a frustrated sigh. ¡°They have a method of keeping someone in a state of incapacitation indefinitely. Naturally they will put it to good use.¡± She was referring to the fact that the huldra were now in possession of the sarcophagi. Josh couldn¡¯t argue with that, since it seemed a fitting reversal of fortune for someone like Northcrag. ¡°But that¡¯s not what I asked you to come here for,¡± she went on. ¡°Orlad is a problem.¡± She seemed to think that Orlad was their mutual problem. She wasn¡¯t, Josh reflected, completely wrong on that, if Orlad was about to hunt him down and challenge him to a duel. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t he like you?¡± She paused, and said reluctantly, ¡°We were engaged, once. Or rather, I had thought we might deal well together, but I subsequently discovered myself to be mistaken.¡± Orlad resented her because she¡¯d dumped him. ¡°What is he actually trying to do?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Why did he want to steal the key fragments?¡± Lady Paleyne bit her lip thoughtfully. ¡°Most of this is conjecture, you understand,¡± she warned him. ¡°I haven¡¯t spoken to him for many years.¡± Josh nodded. ¡°I believe he is one of the Eradicators.¡± Josh raised his eyebrows inquiringly. ¡°A group which believes it is their holy purpose to destroy every single scourge in the world,¡± Lady Paleyne clarified. Ah. Orlad had been after the key fragments because he wanted to free the Demon, presumably so that it would consume the scourge. Josh wanted to tell her that it was too late, the Demon had been released anyway, but there was no way he could do so without revealing his own outworlder status. That was something he would have to think about. ¡°Isn¡¯t the destruction of the scourge something you and Sir Ernil want too?¡± he asked instead. ¡°We want to retake Celespire,¡± she said. ¡°How that is accomplished is a matter of debate. While we have no love of the scourge, a diplomatic solution would suit us just as well.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I will not be leaving the house without protection over the next few days. I would suggest that you stay away from both here and Silbury¡¯s residence. To the best of my knowledge, no-one who saw Orlad¡¯s fight with you at the ceremony knows where you live. Even I don''t know your direction, which is why I sent the note to Silbury''s house. But if Orlad does track you down, he will attempt either to force you into a duel, or use you against me in some other way, to make me to reveal the location of the key fragment you took. So be on your guard.¡± That was all Josh needed. ¡°I¡¯ll be cautious,¡± he said. She raised an eyebrow. ¡°I haven¡¯t hitherto noticed any particular tendency towards caution in you,¡± she said. ¡°But that will have to do.¡± Which Josh thought was unfair, but he followed her suggestion that he leave via the back door, rather than the front entrance, in case anyone had been watching Silbury¡¯s house or this one, ready to follow him home. Instead of returning to his lodgings, however, Josh went back to Crosskeys. He still felt weirdly off balance after the Ramina''s bloodthirsty confession yesterday, and now being told that he had defended a woman the wrong way was making it worse. All his encounters recently had served to stress just how alien this world really was, and how disconnected he was from it. Doug might be from the seventies, but at least he was from Earth. Doug was still there, surrounded by his adventuring group, and it was clear that Josh had interrupted a planning session, because they were pouring over a map and discussing possible routes to the temple of the Shining Light of the Moon, were the third key fragment was supposed to be held. Doug greeted Josh cheerfully, and asked if he had thought about joining the expedition since their talk earlier that morning. If it hadn¡¯t been for the revelations over the previous few hours, Josh would have said yes. Now, however, he knew that their quest was doomed, and he couldn¡¯t even tell them that. He would have to find a way. He shook his head regretfully in answer to Doug¡¯s question. ¡°I received word that a relative of mine will be arriving in Dendral soon,¡± he said. ¡°I need to look after them during their stay.¡± To his relief, Doug accepted this explanation. Shortly after that, the planning session broke up, and Josh was able to get a private word with Doug. ¡°What do you think of the scourge?¡± he asked. Doug blinked at the question. ¡°It was so much easier when it was just the seven of us,¡± he said sadly. ¡°Everything was so much simpler back then. There were bad guys, and we fought the bad guys and we rescued people. We were doing good! But then Jenny was killed, and Lily a few years later.¡± He paused. ¡°We let our personal grievances get in the way of saving the world. We split up, when we should have been together. We lost our way. And when the outlanders came along, it just¡­¡± his voice trailed away. ¡°They didn¡¯t have the same values. They weren¡¯t heroes in the same way.¡± Josh hadn¡¯t been looking for an adventurers ain¡¯t what they used to be back in my day type of conversation. ¡°This isn¡¯t how I thought it would be, when we started out,¡± Doug said morosely. He took a deep pull of his beer. ¡°Why has no-one tried to send the scourge back where they came from?¡± Josh asked. Doug set down his beer and pulled thoughtfully at his beard. ¡°Easier said than done, kid,¡± he mused. ¡°We aren¡¯t even sure how they were summoned in the first place. Tylas never said.¡± ¡°But if the power of the Dreamer brought them here, presumably it could be used to send them back,¡± Josh suggested. Doug nodded slowly. ¡°But god knows where the little idiot is now,¡± he said. ¡°Who?¡± Josh asked, startled. ¡°Jenny and Siggy¡¯s son.¡± Jenny had been Guinevere the Dreamer, and Siggy had been¡ªpresumably still was¡ªWayland the Smith. Josh hadn¡¯t known they¡¯d had a son together. ¡°Boy never got over losing his mother,¡± Doug added, staring ruminatively back into the past. ¡°We were all so pre-occupied with saving the realm, and Siggy, well, he was a harsh parent. He never got over losing Jenny either, too busy with his own grief to think about the kid.¡± ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Karl.¡± Josh put all the pieces together. ¡°This Karl is the Dreamer?¡± he asked. Doug shrugged. ¡°Presumably. He took the power for himself.¡± ¡°And no-one knows where he is?¡± ¡°Yeah. Siggy was going to create a shrine for Jenny, and secure her power in it so that no-one else could have it. He spent half a year working on it. But Karl thought he was owed it, that it was his birthright, as Jenny¡¯s son. So he took it one night.¡± Doug shook his head. ¡°Never been seen since.¡± Josh felt a spark of excitement, although he was careful not to show it. ¡°No-one ever looked for him?¡± ¡°Oh, Ozzie did, but he never found any trace of him.¡± After that, Josh let the conversation drift to other matters, then excused himself and went home. He was careful to check behind him to make sure no-one was following him, but he saw nothing suspicious. In his room, he found Babel the pig sleeping at the foot of his bed. Despite his general creepiness, Babel was turning out to be a quiet, low maintenance sort of pet, and seemed to subsist mostly on stories. Josh had established that he didn¡¯t even need to write them down¡ªsimply telling them out loud was enough. He¡¯d gone through whole bunch of fairy stories, told tales of Robin Hood, and recounted episodes of Star Wars and Doctor Who. Babel never seemed to get bigger¡ªfor which Josh was thankful¡ªbut seemed to become firmer and more real at the end of each story. Josh was running out of ones he could tell off the top of his head, and was considering buying a book to read out loud. Lady Paleyne had warned him to stay away from Silbury¡¯s house, but Josh had to go back to find out more about Karl. Plus he still had a couple more magic lessons, and he needed to check in with Ramina to see what she had found out about the scourge that was lose in the city. Taking Lady Paleyne¡¯s advice, however, he spent most of the next couple of days in his room, and when he did go to attend his magic lesson, he made sure he took a roundabout route there and back, and checked for people following him. He used his time in Silbury¡¯s library to look for information on Karl the Dreamer, although on the rare occasions he was mentioned, he was nothing more than a footnote. He would have been about Josh¡¯s age when Tylas the Undying summoned the outlanders. It was three days after the ceremony that he woke to Ramina tapping at his window again. When he opened it he saw she was dressed in what he could only describe as a ninja outfit, with a black mask across her face. ¡°It¡¯s tonight,¡± she told him, the mask stretching in a grin. ¡°The scourge is going after Sir Owain tonight.¡± 1.47 – Cathedrals and killers Josh was standing outside another cathedral. This one was built by human hands with stone blocks, and consisted of an inner dome surrounded by an outer ring that functioned as a corridor leading into the centre. He had sworn to himself that he would avoid the Church of the Common Covenant, but here he was, about to invade its inner sanctums, and all to save an outlander he didn¡¯t even know. Happily, he was doing so as an anonymous member of a large congregation. Sir Owain had set his trap for the outlander by declaring a memorial service for the lives of the Northcrag soldiers which had been lost when the huldra had retaken the Azure Cathedral. To the best of Josh¡¯s knowledge, only a handful of soldiers had died on the fight for the bridge. The huldra had agreed with Lady Paleyne that they would take all the other outposts using subterfuge, and the guards would be captured rather than killed, assuming they could be persuaded to surrender. The huldra had planned to hold them as hostages for the time being, before releasing them. However, the Church were carrying on as if the entire garrison had been slaughtered to a man. Josh suspected¡ªand devoutly hoped¡ªthat their claims were pure propaganda. A voice spoke from Josh¡¯s left. ¡°Oh, I say, could I have the name of your tailor, my good sir?¡± Josh turned to find a portly gentleman beside him, who sported a lurid embroidered waistcoat in scarlet and turquoise. Josh looked down at his own outfit. He was wearing his second attempt at making his own armour, which consisted of a light, supple leather jacket he¡¯d commissioned from a tailor, onto which he had fastened an overcoat of overlapping feathers. He¡¯d used a mix of feathers from a white goose and a species of pheasant with striking orange and brown colouring, creating a bold pattern that had garnered several admiring glances. When he activated the Stone spell embedded in the cuffs, the feathers turned into something almost like scale armour. It wouldn¡¯t stop a serious sword thrust, but it would provide some protection from cuts. He had also brought the staff, and was leaning on it slightly, as if he needed it for support. To the man with the lurid waistcoat, Josh gave the name of the tailor who had made the underjacket. The tailor knew his address and would be able to contact him¡ªmaybe he would get a commission out of it. His class had upgraded itself to Journeyman Plumassier, along with a small amount of experience, and he would get his next lot of experience once he¡¯d made a hundred journeyman-level items. Ramina, standing on Josh¡¯s other side, was fuming. He had eventually persuaded her to abandon her ninja mask, and wear ordinary clothing. Instead of secretly entering the Cathedral in front of them by scaling the outside and climbing in through the upper windows, they were queuing at the entrance along with the rest of the crowd. ¡°They would never of seen us,¡± Ramina said, eyeing the decorative stonework adorning the columns. ¡°It¡¯s nearly dark, look!¡± Josh glanced around to make sure no-one was overhearing them. For someone who constantly listened into conversations, Ramina didn¡¯t seem to have much concept of discretion. ¡°We want to attend the memorial service,¡± he said. He was scanning the crowd constantly, looking for that elusive something that might betray outlander status. Perfect dentistry, for example, or the wrong kind of haircut, or an Earth accent. Sir Owain¡¯s plan was to hold a private ceremony within the inner sanctum of the Cathedral, which would be conveniently free of common people, but guarded by his knights, who would intercept any suspicious strangers attempting to gain entry. Josh wished that Ramina had been able to glean more details, but her ability to listen in was dependent upon Deathless wearing the same item of clothing as he had at the ceremony a few days ago, and she had only been able to discover the broad outlines. Ramina¡¯s plan was to spot the intruder before they sprung the trap, identify them, frighten them off, and then follow them to find out where they lived. Even if Josh had truly wanted to turn the outlander in, he wouldn¡¯t have gone along with it. He was planning to go as far as the frightening them off stage, and conveniently lose them once they scarpered. However, he hadn¡¯t realised just how thick the crowd would be, nor how the congregation would be discouraged from remaining in the Cathedral for any length of time. Each worshipper filtered into the central dome, where they would say a prayer and light a candle before departing, so Josh¡¯s window of opportunity to intercept the unknown outlander would be short unless he could find somewhere to hide and watch the proceedings. He was increasingly convinced that their mission was in vain, but every time he imagined the outlander in the clutches of Sir Owain¡¯s Order he felt his stomach turn over. Maybe once he got inside and had a better idea of the layout, he would be able to think of something. He was also disturbed that he had been given a quest. QUESTS
Killers in the Cathedral. - Assist the unknown outlander in killing Sir Owain, or - Capture the unknown outlander sent to kill Sir Owain. Reward: 65,684 xp (shared).
It was the first time he had seen a quest offering two separate outcomes. Neither of them were remotely palatable. Sir Owain was implicated in King Rupern¡¯s revolting scheme to make his favourites immortal, so it wasn¡¯t as if the quest was asking Josh to kill an innocent person. However, Sir Owain was a Hero, and therefore would subsequently be able to resurrect, which made the whole thing feel pointless. Also, killing Sir Owain would be next to impossible, given that he was likely to be the equivalent of a level 40, and had been kicking around the world of Six Spires for fifty years. The outander could be any level, but it was harder to capture someone instead of killing them, particularly if they weren¡¯t bound by the same restriction. It was all academic anyway. there was no way Josh would ever turn someone over to be harvested of their player core¡ªnot even Varian¡¯s gang. It was as if the system wanted Josh to become evil. He put aside his thoughts as he realised they were finally approaching the entrance, a grand arch leading to the outer circle. This consisted of a circular corridor lined with a series of columns, all whitewashed and glowing from the light of tall pillar candles. At various stages were shrines to the five Precepts of the Covenant, in their specific order of importance: Family, Community, Honour, Generosity, and Obedience. These underpinned all the teachings of the Covenant, and the crowd murmured a quiet prayer at each shrine as they passed. They had to walk around the entire outer circle before admitted to the inner dome, a huge, echoing space with a vaulted ceiling that reminded Josh of cathedrals from Earth, except without a nave. It was full of a subdued, hushed murmur, the product of a thousand people brimming with religious awe. Josh was mostly brimming with anxiety. ¡°Where you think the scourge is?¡± Ramina asked. She was surveying the crowd, and sounded frustrated. ¡°We need to scout for a place we can stay and watch for the rest of the night,¡± Josh replied in a low voice. The dome was supported by a circle of columns, but in the centre was the inner sanctum, a miniature cathedral within a cathedral. That was where Sir Owain would be. It could be accessed from the ground floor in the centre, but there were also walkways higher up, which radiated out from it like spokes on a wheel, leading to a gallery running around the inner curve of the dome. Josh could see the figures of guards patrolling the galleries. They would be difficult to sneak past. They didn¡¯t need to get into the inner sanctum though¡ªthey just had to just work out where the outlander was planning to do so and intercept them. Josh and Ramina circled around the dome. As they did so, Josh flicked his eyes over every single person they passed, looking for that odd detail, that one thing that was just out of place. He hadn¡¯t found it yet, but he would keep looking. The sanctum was set on a pedestal in the centre of the dome about forty feet in diameter, and surrounding that was a giant circular altar, making the whole set up look like a wedding cake. The altar was ablaze with candles, to the extent that he could feel a wall of heat radiating from it whenever he strayed too close, and there was a heat shimmer in the air above it. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. There was a small door set into one side of the altar, behind which was a staircase leading up to the platform. It was protected by two guards, however, both of whom looked alert enough that Josh didn¡¯t let his gaze linger too closely. It didn¡¯t seem a good way to get into where Sir Owain was, so he turned his attention to the galleries. How did you reach them? He directed Ramina to the outer wall, and found his answer there, in the form of doors evenly spaced around the wall, each one directly below one of the walkways leading to the sanctum. The doors were discreet, and set behind columns, so that they weren¡¯t immediately obvious unless you were standing next to one. They also weren¡¯t guarded. This was intended to be the trap. Josh turned around, distracted enough by this discovery that he almost missed it¡ªlurking against one of the columns was a face that he recognised. Here? He thought incredulously. How? That couldn¡¯t be right. It must be a ¡­ a doppelganger or something. Someone who just looked like .. no, it really was. He stood there, frozen, for several seconds. He needed to distract Ramina. ¡°Did you see that?¡± he asked her. She turned. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Across the other side ¡­ you see that column there? I saw someone try to hide behind it. They were studying the doors,¡± he lied. ¡°It looked suspicious¡ª¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go check it out!¡± she interrupted. ¡°If you circle around from the left,¡± he suggested, ¡°and I do the same from the right, then we¡¯ll trap them in the middle.¡± She immediately split away from him, and began pushing through the crowd towards the opposite wall. Josh let her get far enough that she was out of his line of sight, then went up behind the person who was still lurking against the pillar and studying the door that led to the gallery above. ¡°Admiral Ackbar says it¡¯s a trap,¡± he said. The person stiffened, but didn¡¯t turn. ¡°Hello, Rachel.¡± This did make her spin around. She was wearing a skirt and tunic of a course linen weave with a worn scarf over her head. It was peasant grab which, as a fourteen-year old girl on Earth, she wouldn¡¯t ordinarily have been seen dead in. He was unhappy to note that she had shadows under her eyes, and her face looked a little thinner than he remembered. When had he last seen her? She had interrupted the gaming session, and Timothy and Ben had tried to get rid of her in the most suspicious and clumsy way possible. It was Josh who had let her in on what was going on, who had allowed her to listen in to their conversation about the mysterious person or organisation abducting gamers of Spiralia Online. ¡°Josh, you numpty!¡± she said. She was trying to look tough, but her voice wobbled slightly. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I was going to ask the same of you! When did you get here?¡± ¡°Here, like, Dendral?" "No, here in Six Spires," he said irritably. "I don¡¯t know ¡­ several weeks ago?¡± ¡°How long after I did?¡± She glared at him. ¡°I came right after you, you absolute moron. Like, seconds after you!¡± Josh cast his mind back to the dream he¡¯d had of walking out of the house and through the woods into a light. ¡°What happened?¡± She scowled. He couldn¡¯t see a character sheet when he focused on her. She must still be under level 10. ¡°Wait," he said, "That''s not important right now. We need to get out of here.¡± She looked stubborn. ¡°You can. I¡¯ve got a quest.¡± No, no, no, no, no! How did you persuade a belligerent teenager that she was about to do something monumentally stupid? ¡°Sir Owain?¡± He asked. ¡°They already know about it. Someone warned them. This is a trap. You know what they do to outlanders here?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± But her eyes flicked away. ¡°They cut them open and pull out whatever it is that gives you a class. It''s called a player core. And then they put it in a noble so they can be immortal. And you die permanently.¡± He hadn¡¯t meant to say it so brutally, and felt guilty when her face whitened, leaving two spots of colour high on her cheeks. ¡°Look, if you have a quest you really need to do, I can get you in when he¡¯s not expecting it.¡± Mentally he crossed his fingers. There was no way he was helping Rachel target Sir Owain¡ªshe couldn¡¯t mean to kill him surely? But he had to get her out of here. ¡°I know one of the other Seven Heroes. I¡¯ve already been inside the Order¡¯s headquarters. It¡¯s just, you know, tonight is a really bad time.¡± She bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯ve got lodgings in Dendral,¡± he said encouragingly, and quickly gave her the street address and room number, just in case they got separated. ¡°We¡¯ll go there, and I¡¯ll tell them you¡¯re my sister or something¡ª¡± he intercepted another glare and held his hands up in protest, ¡°¡ªsorry, but just pretend, okay? And we can compare notes.¡± She chewed her lip some more. ¡°Okay,¡± she said ungraciously. He breathed out in relief. ¡°Great. I need to find the person I was with. Oh, and she can¡¯t know you¡¯re here, by the way.¡± Rachel looked at him suspiciously. ¡°What, is she, like, your girlfriend?¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s the daughter of someone from Earth, she was born here, but¡­¡± he hesitated, ¡°she¡¯ll probably turn you in. For the reward. I was trying to find you¡ªnot that I knew it was you, just that it was an outlander¡ªso I could warn them. Er. You. But she was the one who found out tonight was a set up.¡± Rachel was giving him a can you believe this guy? sort of look. ¡°Come on,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll think of an excuse, and then we¡¯ll head off. Er. But try not to let her realise that we know each other.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Rachel followed him through the crowd, just far enough back that it looked like she was by herself. He was the one who spoiled the effect by repeatedly checking behind him to make sure she was still there. He didn¡¯t see Ramina in the crowd near the column he had sent her to investigate. Instead, he saw her standing furtively outside the door, looking around her. Then she pulled the door open and went inside. He cursed under his breath. ¡°What is it?¡± Rachel asked. Calculations flickered rapidly through his mind. It was one thing for Ramina to be reckless. She wasn¡¯t an outlander. She was under the Marquis of Silbury¡¯s protection. She was the daughter of a Pirate Queen, who was presumably a powerful figure in world politics. She might get into trouble for crashing an operation of this nature, but not serious trouble. Wouldn¡¯t she? Josh, on the other hand, would definitely be in serious trouble if he was caught. He was an outlander, even if he was disguising it. On top of that, he now had Rachel to consider. ¡°She went through the door!¡± he answered, his frustration rising. ¡°She thought¡ªwell, never mind what she thought. Thinking isn¡¯t actually her strong point. She¡¯s going to trigger the trap.¡± ¡°Well, just leave her then,¡± Rachel said irritably, which struck Josh as callous, even if he had been thinking the same thing. Ramina had only just gone through the door¡ªmaybe he could call her back. He nudged it open. Beyond was a stairwell leading up, and he caught a glimpse of Ramina flitting up them, in the process of wrapping her ninja hood around her head. For fuck¡¯s sake. He took a couple of steps inside. ¡°Ramina!¡± he hissed, as she disappeared around the curve of the stairwell. He heard Rachel give a shout of protest, and then the door slammed shut behind him. He whirled around and tried to pull it open, but even as he did so he heard the snick of a key in the lock. Shit! Sir Owain¡¯s men had closed the trap, and Rachel had risked herself to warn him, which meant they would try to capture her. She was fourteen, and not even level 10! He had to get back and make sure she was okay. He hit his palms against the door in frustration, but it was solidly built and opened inwards, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to break it down. He could try to cast Heat on the two hinges, but he hadn¡¯t brought anything he could hit them with to make them deform¡ªeven supposing Heat was capable of such a feat. A distant ring of metal on metal alerted him to the fact that there was a fight going on upstairs. Ramina! Josh hesitated, but only for a moment. If he could help Ramina fight off whoever was attacking her ¡­ maybe he could save her first, and get her help in saving Rachel. Cursing her for her stupidity, he instantly cast Stone on his feather armour, and Hide on himself, then ran lightly up the stairs. Several turns above him was a landing, with four figures scuffling in a fight. One was Ramina, now disguised by her ninja hood. Two were squires of the Order¡ªSirKorey and TheAxeMan¡ªand the third was Raicheous. Ramina had a long knife and a buckler out¡ªwhere had she hidden them?¡ªand she was ducking and weaving as if she knew how to use them. But she was fighting one versus three, and she was only just holding them off. If she was good enough to take Raicheous one on one, maybe Josh could distract the others for her. He ducked back into the stairwell and hastily pulled his own hood out of his pocket. He¡¯d hoped not to need it, but the three Order members would almost certainly recognise him. He also regretted wearing such a noticeable outfit. Even as he shoved the hood over his head, he heard Ramina yell, and a clattering sound as something dropped and skidded across the stone flags. It sounded like Ramina¡¯s buckler. ¡°Get the binders on her,¡± Raicheous said fiercely, then with satisfaction, ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± It was too late. Josh couldn¡¯t hope to fight three members of the Order by himself, all higher level than him. He would have to stay hidden in the stairwell and try to escape when the coast was clear. Rachel was the priority now, not Ramina. Then it occurred to him that Ramina knew who he was, and where he lived. What if she was pressured to name her accomplices? She wouldn¡¯t do that to him. On the other hand, she often had stupid ideas, and she didn¡¯t know Josh was really an outlander. She might even not think she was putting him in any serious danger by giving his name or his address. There was nothing he could do about that. He¡¯d seen the fight between Varian and Mistrz. He didn¡¯t have a chance against two level 16s and a level 32. No, he should stay hidden, wait for an opportunity to rescue Ramina, free her, and together they could get Rachel. Or, no, he should go after Rachel first, then come back for Ramina, and hope he was in time. He was still trying to decide when TheAxeMan appeared in the stairwell, and started clattering down the stairs. Except Josh was standing directly in his path and the moment he moved out of the way, his would lose his Hide effect, and TheAxeMan would see him. 1.48 - The dubious benefits of magical weapons TheAxeMan was wearing a brigandine with gauntlets, shoulder pads, and a helmet. He had his sword out and readied, but he had the abstracted look of someone engaged in a necessary but routine task. Josh could see his expression clearly because his helmet had no faceguard. Maybe Josh could use his staff to knock TheAxeMan out, or perhaps unbalance him and push him down the stairs. He was moving before he even realised, his long hours of training and practice taking over. He lunged upwards, aiming for TheAxeMan¡¯s face. TheAxeMan flinched back, his mouth opening to shout, but the staff was already smashing into his nose. And then head of the staff sprouted a long, sharp, slender blade which plunged deep into TheAxeMan¡¯s head, killing him instantly. For a moment Josh froze in horror, even as the weight of TheAxeMan¡¯s body slowly sunk onto the spearhead. He hadn¡¯t meant to kill. It had happened so fast. It was only when the corpse started dragging the staff down that Josh jumped forward to catch it, so that it wouldn¡¯t betray his presence by falling noisily. Within seconds, the body began to fade. He¡¯s not really dead, Josh told himself, as TheAxeMan vanished, leaving him standing alone in the stairwell. He would resurrect in a couple of weeks. Probably. Unless he was one of the ones who didn¡¯t come back. The spearhead caught Josh¡¯s eye, and he looked away hastily from the red stains, his stomach churning in shock. Why had the spear suddenly appeared? He hadn¡¯t even known that was possible. In the meantime, he had to decide what to do next. He heard Raicheus speaking, in the chamber up ahead. ¡°Let¡¯s have a look at our little fish.¡± There was a short silence, broken only by muffled cursing from Ramina. ¡°Seen her before?¡± Raicheus asked. ¡°No, sir,¡± SirKorey replied. ¡°Well, there¡¯s no character sheet, so she must be an assassin. I¡¯d say low level twenties, tops.¡± Assassins could hide their character sheets? ¡°I thought they couldn¡¯t hide them while using their skills, sir.¡± There was a brief silence. ¡°You¡¯re not being paid to think, Korey.¡± Raicheus said irritably. ¡°Go and see what¡¯s keeping Axe.¡± ¡°Sir!¡± And then SirKorey was the one clattering down the stairs. He wore an identical outfit to TheAxeMan, with a helmet that protected his head, but not his face. Josh waited quietly, his spear at the ready, the Hide spell still rendering him invisible. As soon as SirKorey came into range he lunged. The spear slid in with frightening ease. Josh stepped up and caught the body, steeling himself against the weight slumping against him. They were just kids. But they were capable, sword-wielding kids, and had joined an organisation which was in the business of permanently killing people from Earth. They were a threat to Rachel. The body faded, which left just Raicheus in the room above with Ramina. The two Josh had killed had been level 16s, but Raicheus was level 31. It would be worse than trying to take on Varian. Could Josh kill him same way as he had the others? ¡°So,¡± Raicheus was saying to Ramina. ¡°Tell me about the old guy.¡± There was the sound of spitting, followed by a slap, and a short scream. ¡°None of that, now,¡± Raicheus said. ¡°You¡¯ll talk eventually one way or the other. But why not make it easy on yourself? You know your master sent you to die here, right? No point in staying loyal, now, is there?¡± Raicheus was assuming that Ramina was an outlander with an assassin class, sent to kill Sir Owain. Who was the old guy? Ramina, not being the assassin in question, couldn¡¯t provide an answer. She chose to say nothing, and eventually Raicheus sighed. Josh heard a thump followed by a pained grunt from Ramina. He tightened his grip on his spear. Raicheus was beating her up. Could Josh take Raicheus out if he caught him with his back turned? He trod up the stairs as quietly as he could. Luckily Raicheus had paused to question Ramina again. Very, very slowly, Josh peered around the curve of the staircase. He saw a roughly rectangular room with a slight curve, dimly lit by candles on holders set into the walls, and no furniture. There was a window on the outside wall, and an archway leading to a staircase going up on the opposite side. Ramina was lying roughly in the centre, and Raicheus was crouched over her. He was wearing full plate armour, with a visor that was currently flipped up, and there was a two-handed sword lying on the ground beside him. There was a bandolier across his chest holding a series of slender sticks. Throwing daggers? Unfortunately, he had positioned himself with his back to the blank wall, so that he would be able to swivel towards either stairwell the moment someone appeared. Even as Josh watched, Raicheus stiffened, and put his middle finger to his ear, in the classic pose of someone listening in to a communication earpiece. To Josh¡¯s horror, his body faded from sight as soon as he stopped moving. Raicheus had a Hide spell running. It looked like Raicheus had the same limitations as Josh, though, in that the invisibility effect would drop whenever he moved. Was Raicheus being alerted to the deaths of SirKorey and TheAxeMan? What would he do now? Follow them down the stairs? Josh¡¯s only hope was to surprise Raicheus as he had surprised the other two. He gripped his spear firmly. He had one shot at this, and against a better geared, higher-level outlander who had been alerted to the presence of an enemy. Would Josh¡¯s spear even be able to penetrate Raicheus¡¯s faceplate? Raicheus, meanwhile, had snatched his sword from the floor and was holding it out with one hand, using it to trace a pattern before him, as if he expected an opponent to materialise out of thin air at any moment. With his other hand, he took one of the brown sticks from the bandolier at his chest, and snapped it between his fingers. A blue glow swelled out from the stick. Wherever it met something solid, it highlighted that object in a brighter blue colour. Josh watched in horror was a bright blue line washed over first Raicheus, and then Ramona, outlining their forms clearly. It painted the walls as it expanded outwards, straight towards Josh. It must be an anti-invisibility spell. Josh ducked to the side until he was flattened against the wall of the stairwell, just out of Raicheus¡¯s line of sight. He felt a hollow shakiness inside. If Raicheus was able to detect Josh despite the Hide effect, then he had just lost all the advantages his current position gave him. Raicheus would be able to fight him with a height advantage, and the narrow walls of the stairwell would limit what Josh would be able to achieve with the spear. Josh had to move. He had to get into the room with Raicheus, where the more open space would allow him to fight from a distance. He burst up the steps, just as he heard a flurry of wings and a cloud of darkness enveloped him. For a moment he panicked, thinking Raicheus had cast another spell, but after a moment he realised he was covered in book moths. Babel? How had Babel got here? He burst into the room. Raicheus was nowhere to be seen¡ªhe must be standing still. Several handfuls of the moths lifted from Josh, and fluttered around wildly until they collided with a still, armoured figure, crouching a couple of paces behind Ramina, with his back to the wall. ¡°A moth haunt?¡± Raicheus said out loud, incredulously. He slapped at the moths that had pasted themselves on his armour, the motion causing him to become fully visible, then raised the two-handed sword in front of him, in a guard position. He approached Josh, sidling around Ramina. The spear chose that moment to suggest a course of action, via a glowing red wireframe in the air. Josh reacted instantly, lunging forward over Ramina, his spear slicing towards Raicheus. At the same time more of the book moths boiled into a cloud and dashed into Raicheus¡¯s eyes. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Raicheus cursed, but his sword parried Josh¡¯s spear effortlessly, and continued in a thrust, the tip scraping along Josh¡¯s feather armour. Josh leaped to the side, disengaging, and then darting in again for another attack. But Raicheus said a word which outlined his entire armour in white light and the book moths covering him evaporated into trails of black smoke, allowing him to see once more. For the next few seconds, it was all Josh could do to stay alive. He was forced onto the defensive, using his spear to parry Raicheus¡¯s lightning-quick thrusts, doing his best to keep his opponent at range. His heart was thundering in his chest, and his breath was coming in gasps. He was distantly aware that the book moths were constantly shifting and forming around him like black mist, disguising his stance and the pattern of his attacks. It wasn¡¯t enough. Josh was going to lose. If he died, no-one would be able to rescue Rachel before she was killed permanently, her player core harvested for a greedy noble. He saw the end as it came, a clever faint that turned aside his spear and thrust straight towards his heart. He twisted desperately, all the while knowing that he would be too slow. Two things happened. Ramina, lying forgotten in the centre, jack knifed her legs into the air, tangling them with those of Raicheus. The latter stumbled, and his sword missed its mark, scoring along Josh¡¯s ribs. Raicheus caught his balance, leaping sideways, putting his back to the stairwell leading down. Something small and fast burst into the room, striking Raicheus from behind with a clang and the scrape of a knife against metal. Raicheus bellowed, reaching behind him to grab the stranger. His groping fist managed to grab hold of a slender wrist. He turned and flung the figure at the wall. The new person hit the wall with a high-pitched shriek, tumbling down and rolling onto the floor. Rachel. It was Rachel. Josh felt light-headed, dizzy and sick. He was on his knees, he realised. He had to stand up, but he couldn¡¯t seem to make himself move. Raicheus strode forwards, leaned down and grabbed the figure by the neck, holding it up against the wall. ¡°What have we here?¡± he asked. He was breathing heavily from the fight, but not yet winded. His gauntlet tightened, and Rachel made a choking noise. She was scrabbling, trying to twist herself up to get a leg over Raicheus¡¯s arm, so tiny and so vulnerable beside Raicheus¡¯s armoured bulk. Raicheus would kill her. Josh tightened his grip on his spear, anchored the butt by his feet, took a deep breath, and tried to haul himself to his feet. A white-hot line of agony opened in his side, and he nearly screamed out loud. He heard himself give a grunt of pain, but Raicheus was too busy gloating and didn¡¯t notice. ¡°Two assassins for the price of one!¡± Raicheus said. ¡°A grown up one and a baby one. Cute!¡± He laughed as Rachel tried and failed to get a proper grip on his arm. Josh heaved himself onto his feet, one leg at a time. His vision went dark and fuzzy, and then he was standing, leaning on the spear. It obligingly displayed a red outline in the air showing him exactly where to step, and there was a targeting reticule on Raicheus¡¯s armour, in the join between his helmet and his neck guard. It would just be a couple of metres. He could make it. He had to make it. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Balance. Raise the spear. Breathe. And lunge. He nearly blacked out, but the spear struck true, crumpling through the joint in the armour as if it was made of aluminium foil. The force of the blow carried the spearhead into Raicheus¡¯s neck, killing him almost instantly. Josh released the spear and staggered back, swaying on his feet, but he managed to stay upright. He focused on breathing slowly and evenly. Raicheus¡¯s body faded and the spear clattered to the ground. Rachel was sitting against the wall, coughing and holding her throat. She looked up. ¡°Josh?¡± she said. Her voice was weak and uncertain, as if she wasn¡¯t quite sure who he was. Josh looked down at himself, expecting to see his feather armour, afraid that it would be soaked in blood. But all he saw was a billowing cloak of darkness around him. Babel¡ªthe swarm of book moths¡ªenveloped him completely. He could feel them now, in a mask across his face, and the shadow of a hood over his head. Rachel was wearing leggings and a hooded top of charcoal grey, with a scarf over her face, leaving only her eyes showing. There was a dagger on the floor near Josh¡¯s feet, with a darkened blade, which he assumed was hers. When he focused on her, he could see her character sheet.
Rache Assassin Level 16 Player rank: 863 Gladiator rank: 476 Kills: 1 | Deaths 0 Karma: 100
Level 16! How come she was higher level than he was? Distantly, he heard Ramina¡¯s voice. ¡°A little help here! And who the hell is that?¡± ¡°This is my sister,¡± he lied. It was easier than saying she was his cousin¡¯s best friend¡¯s sister. Might as well cut out the middlemen. Rachel glared at him. ¡°I am not¡ª¡± she began. ¡°Half-sister,¡± Josh amended. He was aware that he was slurring his words and felt himself begin to fold. ¡°Shit!¡± Rachel scrambled up. He realised he was slumped on the floor and she was kneeling beside him. ¡°Here.¡± She was pressing something into his hands, something cool and glassy. A small vial. He stared at it. ¡°Drink it, idiot!¡± He fumbled with the stopper, until she gave an impatient exclamation, and opened it for him. It reeked of magic, and tasted like weeds. He choked it down. Rachel retrieved her dagger. Josh noticed that her hand was shaking, and she was holding her other arm¡ªthe one Raicheus had grabbed hold of¡ªagainst her chest. She was hurt! He tried to pull himself together, and felt a sort of zing through his body. The world turned crystal clear, the pain in his side faded, and energy flooded through his system. He got to his feet. ¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°What was in that?¡± ¡°Magic juice,¡± Rachel said shortly. ¡°Uh, okay.¡± Josh looked at Ramina. ¡°We need to cut her free.¡± Rachel swiped the dagger that was lying on the floor, and started to cut through the bindings that were wrapped around Ramina. ¡°Then we need to find a way out of here before anyone realises what happened,¡± Josh concluded. ¡°I picked the lock downstairs,¡± Rachel said. ¡°The door to the main cathedral bit is open now.¡± ¡°Who shut it? Someone locked me in.¡± ¡°Some guy, I dunno. The moment you went through he came out of nowhere and did that.¡± ¡°And then he let you pick it open again just like that?¡± ¡°Nah, he fell over, and then everyone was crowding around calling to get him air and stuff.¡± By which Josh deduced that Rachel had had something to do with the falling over bit. ¡°We could go out the window,¡± Ramina said. The last of her bonds fell away and she stood up. ¡°You have had a lot of really terrible ideas recently,¡± Josh said firmly. Then he thought for a moment, and added, ¡°But this one, I agree with. Too risky to go downstairs. We should get out of here as soon as possible.¡± The window was just big enough to admit a person, and Rachel apparently had a small grappling hook. There were still crowds thronging on the other side of the cathedral, but here there was no-one to see them leave, and the darkness covered their escape. ¡°What made you bring your sister?¡± Ramina asked, once they were all on the ground. Her arms were crossed, and her tone was belligerent. ¡°Half-sister,¡± Josh corrected. ¡°I thought it would be helpful to have an extra person to scout. And it looks like we needed it, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t of done it without asking!¡± ¡°She saved your life, and mine,¡± Josh pointed out. ¡°And we can¡¯t stand here discussing this. We just interfered with¡ªand utterly compromised¡ªan operation run by the Order of the Unyielding. They saw your face, Ramina! They might work out who you are. We all need to head back home¡ªseparately!¡ªand keep our heads down.¡± Ramina scowled. ¡°I want the reward!¡± she insisted. ¡°There won¡¯t be any reward now. If there was a scourge here, we frightened them off. They¡¯re long gone. The Order will want to set another trap, and I¡¯m not doing this again. You were captured, and R¡ªmy half-sister and I nearly died! If they track us down, you might have a get out of jail free card, but we don¡¯t!¡± Ramina evidently knew what the expression meant. After a moment she sighed crossly. ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°This stays between us. Pax?¡± ¡°This never happened, and we were never here,¡± Josh agreed. They all bumped fists. ¡°You trust her?¡± Rachel asked, as they walked away. Josh grimaced. ¡°We don¡¯t have any choice. We¡¯ll go back to my lodgings, but we¡¯ll grab my stuff, and find an inn. Where are you staying?¡± Rachel scowled at him. ¡°You¡¯re not my dad.¡± ¡°What? That was an honest question! We need to get your stuff too, at some point. But not tonight.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Rachel said. ¡°You got about forty-five minutes left.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Before you crash.¡± ¡°That potion you gave me?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t a healing potion?¡± She gave him a look. ¡°Let¡¯s get a move on, then. And keep a look out in case Ramina tries to follow us. She¡¯s not very subtle. She likes running around on rooftops.¡± He looked around to make sure no-one nearby was close enough to eavesdrop. He also checked his pockets in case Ramina had put one of her little spying devices in them. ¡°And speaking of subtle, hide your class.¡± Rachel did so. ¡°Are you an assassin too?¡± She asked. ¡°What level are you?¡± She repeated the question when he didn¡¯t immediately reply. ¡°I haven¡¯t applied all my experience,¡± he said shortly. He checked his character sheet, and realised that his Killers in the Cathedral quest had been modified, that he now had a completed quest to save Ramina, and he had been awarded experience for the deaths of the three Order members. QUESTS
Killers in the Cathedral. - Assist the other outlander in killing Sir Owain, or - Capture the outlander sent to kill Sir Owain. - Assist the outlander from escaping the trap set by the Order of Unyielding Reward: 13,136 xp (apply) A Pirate Prisoner Rescue Ramina, daughter of the Queen of the Pirates, from the Order of Unyielding Reward: 23,549 xp (apply)
ACHIEVEMENTS
TheAxeMan (Lvl 16) Vanquished (1/5): He conveniently walked into your spear. If only all enemies would be so obliging! Reward: 5,317 xp (apply) SirKorey (Lvl 16) Vanquished (1/5): Unbelievable! He practically killed himself. Reward: 5,317 xp (apply) Raicheus (Lvl 31) Vanquished (1/5): This was a close one, but stubborn foolhardiness prevailed. And also teamwork. Reward: 21,149 xp (apply)
Josh read the chirpy little messages with a nauseous feeling in his stomach. There was an intelligence at work, studying his situation and adjusting the messages to fit, as if it was somehow okay to kill a couple of misguided teenagers. Even if it was temporary. He checked the first page, and saw that he now had 123,652 unapplied experience, which was enough to get him to level 17. At least he was higher level than Rachel now. In a manner of speaking. Update - not a chapter Hi everyone It''s been a while since I posted a chapter. I have been distracted by other things and haven''t had the mental faculty to focus on writing at the same time. I am planning to get the next chapter out next Sunday, and will continue posting regularly after that, at least on a weekly basis. We are about to enter the final arc of Book 1, so I''m keen to get started on that. The rest of this message is about the other things that have distracted me lately, namely MMOs and the Game of Thrones-style politics. And politics in general. I talked previously about the drama my guild was involved in when we got targeted by another alliance (henceforth referred to as Zerg Two. There is a Zerg One, who use Zerg Two as a proxy in their quest for server domination, but it''s primarily Zerg Two that we are concerned with). Since that event, there has been a lot of shifting of allegiances, propaganda, political manoevering, and backstabbing. Oh and actual fighting in the game itself. Sometimes everyone is so busy posturing and scheming on Discord they forget that the actual game exists. There are various different alignments which are driven by the game mechanics. One is RPK (random player killing, where guilds attack anyone they see who isn''t in their alliance) and opposite that is ARPK (anti-random player killing, where you only attack enemies). But there are lots of shades of grey in between. Other polarities include territory control guilds vs nomadic guilds, and of course there is inevitably "the zerg" vs "the anti-zerg." Zerging is a term that has become very watered down ¨C originally, in Starcraft, it referred to the faction that mass-produced cheap, fast combat units, and so was borrowed by other games to refer to any group of players who used numbers over quality to gain an advantage. Nowadays, any side that outnumbers the other is referred to as "the zerg" irrespective of whether it was an intentional strategy or not, or the quality of the gear/skill/level of the players involved. My guild is primarily a territory control guild and ARPK, in that we welcome new players and small guilds to our area so long as they obey our rules i.e. not killing each other, following the etiquette for sharing or taking turns with mob spawns, no griefing, no trash talking etc. Our corner of the map is not particularly rich in mob spawns (we keep hoping the game devs will fix it, but no joy so far), so our alliance and our area hasn''t been targeted, and until recently we maintained good relations and a "no siege" understanding with Zerg Two (this is a massive over-simplification but let it stand for now). However, we have always been very independent in our outlook, and various actions over the last few months have indicated to the Zerg One and Zerg Two that we won''t always follow their lead. We also stupidly invited a guild to the alliance (I will call them Renfield) who had very strong ties with Zerg Two. A few months ago that wasn''t a problem, because we thought niether of the Zergs had any interest in us and would leave us alone. But after there was some drama in which Zerg Two threatened to siege us, my guild no longer wish to be associated with them ... but it became increasingly obvious that Zerg Two had a very strong voice in our alliance, in the person of the leader of Renfield. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This created two factions within the alliance ¨C one which was willing to do anything to stay close Zerg Two and their vassals, and tried to persuade my guild to accept all sorts of unreasonable concessions to this end, and the other faction (led by my guild) which repeatedly chose options that would demonstrate or increase our independence. It''s been interesting (and mentally draining) participating in the power struggles that have slowly been driving our alliance apart. We''ve realised that people we trusted are not, in actual fact, our friends. The leader of Renfield is a consummate politician ¨C someone said of him that "he has two opinions about everything" ¨C and he was the ringleader of the "Appease the Zerg" faction. However, luckily my guild had a secret weapon, in the form of our diplomat, whom I will call Machiavelli. Watching the Renfield leader and Machiavelli manouevring to place the other at a disadvantage, and continually scoring "reasonable-ness" points against each other, made me realise something. The reason politicians are the way they are is because if they were genuinely well-meaning, open and honest they would never survive to be politicians in the first place. Anyone who is genuine and honest is vulnerable to people who know how to play power games, and who are also experts at appearing fair and reasonable. So, in conclusion, I would make a terrible politician. There is a big difference between Machiavelli and I in the way we see things. I''m fairly empathetic, and I understand and pick up on people''s emotions very easily. What Machiavelli reads, however, is people''s motivations. This means he can see the threads of power and influence connecting individuals, and can predict their behaviour, in a way that a more emotional-based model can''t. Anyway, the alliance has split in half, although we agreed to remain "friendly" because neither side really wants to go to war. But here is an example of the kind of political manoeuvering that goes on. The first thing the "Appease the Zerg" faction did, after we split, was reach out to a guild that we have been fighting (let''s call them Poisonous), and get them to promise not to kill us in Appease the Zerg''s territory, which is adjacent to our own. On the surface that seems helpful, right? But Poisonous are an enemy, and we kill them regularly. So in actual fact, this agreement benefits them more than us. It''s as if Appease The Zerg tried to force us into a non-aggression pact without consulting us first, but when we indicated we didn''t want it, they tried to make it look like we were being aggressive and unreasonable. This is the kind of thing that has been going on for several weeks now, and will probably continue for several weeks more. It''s made it hard to concentrate on Josh''s story. And yeah, we refused the non-aggression pact. 1.50 – Bedsheets and bandages ¡°You¡¯re what level?¡± Rachel asked incredulously. They had retrieved Josh¡¯s things from his lodging house, and were now booked into an inn. Josh had splashed out and got them a suite, which consisted of two bedchambers joined by a common sitting room area. They were currently standing in the sitting room. Babel had disappeared the moment Josh had climbed out of the window at the cathedral, and Josh hoped that he had followed them here and was lurking in a shadowy corner somewhere, rather than, for example, infiltrating other people¡¯s libraries in order to eat all their books. ¡°I would be level 17 if I applied all my experience,¡± Josh said, defensively. ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s not what you are now!¡± ¡°Technically¡­¡± Josh began. Rachel was laughing so hard she was bent over double. ¡°Level nine!¡± she repeated. ¡°You¡¯re level nine!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± ¡°Why not apply your experience?¡± ¡°Because you can¡¯t hide your character sheet once you¡¯re level 10 or above. If I can¡¯t do that, anyone with a player core would be able to tell I¡¯ve got one too¡ªwhich, for your information, includes many of the nobles in this town¡ª" ¡°Since when do you know any lords?¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your class, anyway? Some kind of dark mage?¡± ¡°I wish,¡± Josh said. ¡°No. You know that three of us got kidnapped at the same time, and were all choosing classes from the same list?¡± Rachel shook her head. ¡°Yeah, well I was staring at the class list, and there were only three choices. The assassin class disappeared right in front of me. I assume you got that.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So that left two choices. One of them was demon. Only I missed out on that one too.¡± ¡°You idiot.¡± Josh gave her a superior smile. ¡°Actually, now I know what the class does, I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t get it. I had a narrow escape from being the next Dark Lord.¡± Rachel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I could have been the Dark Lord. I missed out on being the Dark Lord! That would have been so cool!¡± Josh shivered. ¡°Rach, that class eats other players.¡± He didn¡¯t know if it was figuratively or spiritually, and was extremely glad he hadn¡¯t had to find out the hard way. ¡°Eww.¡± ¡°Exactly. So, yeah, after that, there was only one class left, which was plumassier.¡± ¡°What the hell is that supposed to be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s, er, well, it¡¯s ¡­ magic feathers.¡± Rachel gave him a look. ¡°Could you not have chosen something that sounded less like a My Little Pony?¡± ¡°That¡¯s all that was left, because someone took assassin.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have been so slow¡ªohmygodwhatthefuckisthat?¡± Josh turned around. ¡°Oh,¡± he said. ¡°Hey Babel.¡± Babel had somehow found his way into their chambers, and resumed his pig form. ¡°Babel, this is my cousin¡¯s best friend¡¯s sister. Rach, this is Babel the pig.¡± ¡°What kind of nutcase class did you choose?¡± Rachel asked, her eyes wide with horror. At that point, whatever potion Rachel had given Josh earlier suddenly ran out. The room receded to the end of a long tunnel, a fierce pain bloomed in his side, and something whacked his head hard enough to stun him. He blinked and realised he was looking at the ceiling. Distantly he could hear Rachel panicking, and Babel saying in his eerie little voice, ¡°Josh the Sage is sick.¡± The next time Josh opened his eyes it was daylight, and he was lying in a bed. The pain in his side was still there, but it was more of a dull, persistent ache. His mouth was dry and he felt light-headed. He turned his head and saw Rachel sitting in a chair by his bed. She had dark circles under her eyes, and white, pinched look. ¡°Hey,¡± he said. She started and leapt up. ¡°Oh my god, Josh, you¡¯re awake.¡± She sounded relieved for precisely three seconds, before she added in an angry tone of voice, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that guy sliced you to ribbons?¡± Josh frowned. ¡°What? Don¡¯t be silly.¡± He lifted the blanket, realising he had been dressed in one of his shirts, and that there were bandages wrapped around his middle. ¡°The only reason you¡¯re still alive is because your weird pig thing apparently stopped the bleeding right after it happened. The doctor gave you stitches.¡± ¡°Doctor?¡± ¡°I had to go down and ask the innkeeper,¡± Rachel said, her tone accusatory, as if it was his fault. ¡°He sent out, and this guy came, and¡­¡± Josh hadn¡¯t previously considered the state of medical care in Six Spires, but from Rachel¡¯s description it sounded like the doctor had known what he was doing. Josh was grateful not to have been exposed to the standard of medical treatment common to the medieval period on Earth. ¡°But we have to find another inn or lodging house, or something tonight,¡± he told Rachel. ¡°All the Order need to do is canvass the city looking for someone with an injury like mine. Inns will be the first places they¡¯ll check.¡± ¡°The doctor said you should stay in bed.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll find somewhere with a bed then.¡± Rachel rolled her eyes. ¡°Tell me what happened,¡± Josh said. ¡°How did you get here?¡± Rachel¡¯s story The first thing Rachel did, after she heard Ben explaining the trap they were setting for the kidnapper, was download Spiralia Online and create a trial account. It was one of those pretty, fluffy, colourful roleplaying games. She preferred her games gritter, like Dark and Darker, or DungeonBorne. This was like living in fairyland, exactly the kind of game you''d expect some pedo to haunt. She played for a few hours, with a brief interruption where she pretended she was going to bed, and waited for her parents to fall asleep before logging back in. By the time she finally got up from her PC, it was early in the morning, and her eyes were gritty with tiredness. She hadn¡¯t pulled the curtains across her window properly, and a slanted ray of early morning sunlight was bathing her pillow in pale light. She leaned across to twitch it fully across, and saw a flash of movement along the path behind the house. Was that Josh? She pulled the curtain back. He was shambling along like a sleepwalker and heading into the woods. Where was he going at this time of the morning? Had he got a lead on the kidnapper? But why was he going by himself? Rachel grabbed her phone, wished she had had the foresight to acquire some pepper spray, and quietly ran out of the house. Josh went into the woodland behind the house, aimlessly wandering along as if he didn¡¯t have a care in the world. She wondered if she should call out to him. But maybe he was just going for a walk, and it would be weird if he caught her following him. She got her phone out, just in case. When they arrived at the lane on the other side of the woods, the first thing Rachel noticed was the tall column of light. She squinted, trying to work out what it was while fumbling for the camera app on her phone, and then realised that Josh hadn¡¯t paused. He was heading straight towards it as if planning to walk right into it. Rachel sprinted towards him. ¡°Josh!¡± She called. ¡°Josh!¡± He stopped just before the column light. Rachel grabbed for the back of his t-shirt, but then he took a step forward, and the column of light swallowed him. She didn¡¯t even have time to react before the column of light expanded briefly, and sucked her in too. And that was that. She was in fantasyland. The Gatekeeper was an unhelpful git. Once she had established that¡ªwhich didn¡¯t take long¡ªRachel stopped trying to talk to it, and scanned the class list. The moment she spied her favourite class¡ªassassin¡ªshe took it, without bothering to look further. She opened her eyes to find she was lying in an old-fashioned summer house, decorated with faded paintings on the inner walls. The light was dim, as if it was late evening, and the air smelled of ozone. In the distance she heard thunderclaps. She tried slapping her hand to her left breast like they did in Jumanji, but there was no character sheet. She got to her feet and¡ªwhat the hell was she wearing? It wasn¡¯t cold, but she shivered in sudden fear. The first couple of days were awful. She worked out how to open her character sheet, and realised that she needed experience to level. Normally you got that from killing mosters, but there were no monsters except wolves who ran away if she approached, and they were too pretty and too close to dogs for her to want to attack them. The quest log said to go to Leybeck but neglected to explain where that was, and she got thoroughly lost trying to find it. There was no food except some tart berries, and she got increasingly cold, miserable and hungry. On the second day, she found a barn to sleep in, curling up despondantly in a pile of straw in the hayloft. That was when the other players turned up. She stayed where she was, and watched them. There was a man and a couple of boys, all older than her. They set up some kind of defensive ward at the door, made a fire, and cooked some bread in a pan. The smell of it nearly made her scramble down the ladder to join them, but she held back. After while, she realised she could concentrate and see their character sheets. They didn¡¯t have classes as good as assassin. The man was a level 30 woodcarver, and the two boys were a level 19 soldier and a level 15 lamplighter, of all things. The lamplighter could make objects glow, and he seemed to control the fire with only a snap of his fingers. All three wore wooden scale armour, made from hundreds of tiny wooden buttons linked together like chainmail, and they carried ordinary weapons¡ªcrossbows and swords. The woodcarver was obviously the one in charge, and the one with the most experience in the game. The other two were typical examples of teenage boys everywhere¡ªcontinually sparring with each other for dominance while boastfully covering up insecurities, and still under the impression that a ¡®your mom¡¯ joke was the gold standard of humour. The woodcarver kept playing them off against each other, one moment praising them and the next undermining them, setting them up compete for his attention. Rachel had no desire to join or interact with a group that had such an unhealthy dynamic, particularly one that was full of strange men, so despite her desperate hunger, she stayed hidden in the loft. She learned a lot while she was listening in¡ªthat previous players had killed all the monsters, that everyone was scrabbling for experience to level with, and busy killing each other for it. The wasteland around them was crawling with small groups banding together for protection, but they couldn¡¯t risk getting too big, because every time a sizeable gang formed up the Storm King¡¯s minions would sally out and break it up. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The trio both despised and were envious of the Storm King and his golden city, where there was enough food for everyone, but you had to suck up to the higher-level folks to keep your place there. And Rachel learned that if you died, you came back. She had been given two skills¡ªone called Fox Walk and the other called Stab. Fox Walk made her quieter while moving, and Stab did exactly what it said. It was easy to walk up to them while they were sleeping, but when it came to shoving the knife in, she sat beside the sleeping bodies for nearly half an hour, unable bring herself to do it. In the end, she merely took their packs, went back to the hayloft, and climbed out of the barn through a half-broken roof timber. By morning she was miles away, with a full belly for the first time in days. She levelled up a little by stealing from items groups of other players while they were sleeping. She didn¡¯t feel bad about it. It was nothing personal, just PvP, and she was kind of a thief class. Plus, from the things she overheard, everyone here was an arsehole anyway. She kept listening out for mention of Josh but didn¡¯t see him anywhere. Maybe he¡¯d been killed by a gang of arseholes already and would be resurrected in a week or so. All these people were hardened killers, and Josh was a nice guy¡ªa bit goofy, but funny and easy-going, kind of like a golden retriever. He probably would have jumped straight in to talk to the woodcarver, and got stabbed for his pains. Rachel''s days of running and hiding ended when the Old Man turned up. She had overheard people talking about him, and she¡¯d heard enough that she knew to avoid him, because he was some kind of slaver¡ªhe bought people, although for what purpose she never managed to find out. It was one of those subjects people were cagey about, even when they didn''t think anyone could overhear. And then Rachel woke up one day to find him crouched over her. He didn¡¯t kill her. Instead, he talked, and he was friendly and charming, but Rachel knew he was a creep. He was like the woodcarver, but better at hiding it. Everyone called him the Old Man, but he was in his late twenties or early thirties, pale-skinned with an old-fashioned haircut and a widow¡¯s peak, kind of like a vampire, and although he was young, he talked like an old guy. He didn¡¯t have a class, but he seemed to know all about players and Earth. He offered to help her level up. The first time she didn¡¯t trust him, and ran away from him. He found her twice after that, and realised that if she didn¡¯t go with him he would probably capture her anyway. There was an impatient glint in his eyes that deepened with every meeting. He had a secret subterranean hideout with multiple entrances, and while he was a creep he wasn¡¯t that kind of creep. He didn¡¯t touch her, but gave her a room of her own, with a bed and pillows and a soft, fluffy duvet, and there was a kitchen with a chef¡ªa player with an actual class¡ªwho could make phenomenal food. He asked her about the character creation screen, and the Gatekeeper, and the list of available classes. He seemed interested when she mentioned the demon class had still been available. His underground labyrinth had a monster breeding pit, with an arena, and this was how he helped her level up. It was grotesque work, but her skills improved by leaps and bounds. She felt sorry for the monsters, though. Even though he didn¡¯t have a class, he seemed to know a lot about how assassins worked, and gave her pointers on which skills to select, and how to build her class. When she got to level 15, he gave her a quest¡ªto assassinate the head of the Order of the Unyielding. The last thing she did before she left was open the doors to all the monster cages, and set them free. The journey there wasn¡¯t hard, although it was the first time she had come across people who had been born here, and who had never heard of Earth, and acted like extras in a period drama. She used her disguise skill to blend in, and the achievements she got from that pushed her up to level 16. The rest was history. ¡°But did you actually plan to kill Sir Owain?¡± Josh asked, as Rachel came to the end of her tale. She glared at him. ¡°No! I didn¡¯t trust the Creep. I was planning to talk to Owain and tell him the Creep wanted to kill him, and see if I could join the Order instead.¡± ¡°The Order kills outlanders permanently.¡± ¡°I know that now,¡± Rachel snapped. ¡°Alright.¡± Josh sank back on his pillows, relieved. He gave her a quick summary of his own adventures in Six Spires, and by the time he¡¯d done that she had directed her ire elsewhere. ¡°There was a message,¡± she asked, incredulously, ¡°telling Sir Owain that I was coming for him?¡± ¡°Yeah. Could it have been from the Old Man who sent you after him?¡± ¡°It couldn''t have been anyone else! The creep!¡± Rachel¡¯s story had given Josh the cold chills, and while parts of it were horrifying¡ªwhat would have happened if the victims of her various thefts had woken up and caught her in the act?¡ªhe was willing to admit it could have been worse. ¡°It seems to me as if the system is trying to make everyone become the worse iteration of themselves,¡± he said. ¡°The achievements, the levelling, it all feels malicious and directed.¡± ¡°What are we supposed to do though? It¡¯s not like we can just pretend all that stuff doesn¡¯t exist. We''ll die if we don''t level up and get stronger.¡± ¡°We get the hell out of here at the first opportunity, and go back to Earth.¡± ¡°Can we do that?¡± Rachel asked in a small voice. Josh paused. He had been thinking a lot about this over the past few weeks. If his body had been recreated in Six Spires, did that mean his old body was stored somewhere and he could get it back? Or had it been left behind? Or vaporised when he¡¯d been transferred here? Given the exploitative and manipulative methods of psychological control the system had so far demonstrated, he was very much afraid it wouldn¡¯t have kept anything it didn¡¯t think it needed. And it didn¡¯t need him or anyone else to return home. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, projecting confidence into his voice. ¡°Of course we can.¡± ¡°So we need to find this Dreamer guy, Karl,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ve got no idea where he is.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°We need to do a skip trace, then.¡± ¡°Is that part of your assassin expertise?¡± Josh asked curiously After Rachel had launched into a long description of what a skip tracer was supposed to do, based on all the tv documentaries she¡¯d seen, Josh held up a hand. ¡°Alright, alright ¡­ we¡¯ll get on that.¡± He winced, as something twinged in his side. ¡°Is Babel okay?¡± ¡°Your creepy Pig of Darkness? Yeah, it went into hiding when the doctor came. It¡¯s probably the only reason you didn¡¯t bleed out back at the cathedral. Apparently, it staunched the wound. The doctor found all this black smoke that evaporated when he went to clean it and stitch it up. Which freaked him out. I had to pay him extra to get him to shut up about it.¡± How had Babel known to stop the bleeding? He seemed to know and understand things Josh hadn¡¯t taught it. ¡°We need to keep a low profile,¡± he said. ¡°Sir Owain must be furious that his trap failed. He¡¯ll be looking for Ramina, and she could lead him to us. Or what if the doctor tells anyone about tending to a wound bleeding black smoke?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we stay here?¡± Rachel had obviously taken a liking to the luxury of their quarters. ¡°That prick who grabbed me by the neck was the only one who saw Ramina¡¯s face, right? And he''s dead. So that gives us a couple of weeks before they¡¯re back.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave that to chance. What if there¡¯s some kind of magic spell that can recreate what happened in that room?¡± Rachel heaved a huge sigh. ¡°Well, get your fancy woman on it then.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Josh was nonplussed. ¡°Lady P!¡± ¡°She¡¯s not my fancy woman!¡± ¡°She obviously fancies you, you stupid git. So get her to give us a safe house.¡± Josh wasn¡¯t willing to trust Lady Paleyne as far as he could throw her. ¡°We¡¯ll find another inn for now,¡± he temporised. ¡°And get out of Dendral as soon as we¡¯ve got the information we need. Also, we should swap character sheets with each other. Is there a way to do that beyond the basic information?¡± ¡°Yeah. You just say, ¡®I want to share my character sheet with Josh Armstrong.¡¯¡± Rachel¡¯s character sheet popped immediately into the air.
BASIC INFORMATION Name: Rache Profession: Assassin Level 16 Player rank: 863 Gladiator rank: 476 Kills: 1 | Deaths 0 Karma: 100 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 20 | Strength 27 | Agility 52 | Speed 16 | Endurance 68 | Resilience 39 | Manual Dexterity 61 | Vocalisation 5 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 25 KNOWLEDGE Anatomy V: You understand the anatomy of creatures. SKILLS Fox Walk VI: You know how to move silently in grassland, wooded terrain, caves, and urban terrain. Blend In III: You know how to position yourself to hide your silhouette and break up your outline. You also know how to move and act to make yourself fit in with the people around you, becoming one with the crowd. Dagger Fighting VI: You know how to fight with a dagger. Learned moves: stab, thrust, parry, grapple, hold. MAGIC Magic Sense II: You can detect the presence of strong magic.
Josh felt a pulse of envy, but supressed it. If he had taken the assassin class first, he would have had useful fighting and hiding skills from the start ¡­ but then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to placate the Queen of the Fey with a feather bracelet. And his run in with Varian¡¯s gang might have gone much worse¡ªthey might have been much more desperate to rip out his player core from the start. And he wouldn¡¯t have Babel, who had now helped save his life twice. And most importantly of all, if he¡¯d taken assassin, Rachel would probably have been left with demon. For the first time Josh was glad he had chosen plumassier. And Rachel was right when she had asked if he was a mage¡ªhe was well on his way to becoming one. He needed to get to his final lesson with Arcanist Gryce, and pick up the spell-casting amulet as soon as possible. ¡°I want to share my character sheet with Rache,¡± he said. It appeared in the air besides Rachel¡¯s. Everything that she couldn¡¯t see was greyed out.
BASIC INFORMATION Name: Josh Armstrong Profession: Journeyman Plumassier Level: 9 (Experience available! Check your achievements to apply experience!) Total experience points: 6,406 Experience to next level: 1 Player rank: #865 Kills: 6 / Deaths: 0 Gladiator rank: #435 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Constitution 39 | Strength 69 | Agility 43 | Speed 28 | Endurance 38 | Resilience 39 | Manual Dexterity 80 | Vocalisation 44 MAGICAL ATTRIBUTES Power 1 | Chi 54 KNOWLEDGE Feather Folklore IV: You understand the structure of common feathers. You must find an uncommon feather to advance further. -> Progress to next level: 0/1. SKILLS Feather Fingers V: You know how to manipulate feathers into decorative objects. -> Progress to next level: 861/1000. MAGIC Infuse VI (feathers): You can imbue feathers with your magical essence. You can now vary the amount of magic infused, imbue parts of a single feather, and imbue multiple feathers together as one object. -> Progress: 674/1000. Feather Feel VI: You can sense feathers in the vicinity which have been imbued with magic, and can ¡®see¡¯ threads of magic connecting them. -> Progress: 986/1000. Glow III: Enchant a feather to glow for a short time. -> Progress: 102/1000. MESSAGES You have 123,652 unapplied experience points. Go to the Quest and Achievements menu to apply these points now! You have enough experience points to reach level 17. Once applied, additional levels will take effect during your next long rest. Multiple levels may take more than one rest period to apply. ACHIEVEMENTS Raicheus (Lvl 31) Vanquished (1/5): This was a close one, but you prevailed due to sheer foolhardiness. And also teamwork. Reward: 21,149 xp (apply) SirKorey (Lvl 16) Vanquished (1/5): Unbelievable! He practically killed himself. Reward: 5,317 xp (apply) TheAxeMan (Lvl 16) Vanquished (1/5): He conveniently walked into your spear. If only all enemies would be so obliging! Reward: 5,317 xp (apply) A Picturesque Plume (VI): Your industrious hard work is paying off. You have crafted multiple items of to a high standard, of which any journeyman would be justly proud. -> Progress to A Polished Plume (VII): 861/1000. Reward: 200,000 xp. A Pleasant Plume (V): 100/100. Reward: 2500 xp (apply). A Praiseworthy Plume (IV): 1/1. Reward 500 xp (apply). A Plain Plume (III): 1000/1000. Reward: 2500 xp (apply). A Painstaking Plume (II): 100/100. Reward: 500 xp (apply). A Paltry Plume (I): 1/1 Reward: 10 xp (applied). Mistrz (Lvl 26) Vanquished (1/5): You dealt the final blow, saving Mistrz from, well, death. Presumably he is grateful. Reward: 2,548 (shared) (applied). Like A Boss I: You like flying solo, huh? This one is for the adrenaline junkies out there. Congratulations for soloing a boss. Reward: 500 xp (apply). -> Progress to Like a Boss II: 1/10. Reward: 2000 xp. Fledgling Gladiator (I): You have defeated your first outlander! Don¡¯t feel too bad about it. He attacked first. Reward: 250 xp. (applied) -> Progress to Rookie Gladiator (II): 6/10. Reward: 1000 xp. Hand of Karma I: You¡¯re going to be one to watch out for¡ªdefeating a murderer at your level is no easy task! Reward: 250 xp. (applied) -> Progress to Hand of Karma II: 6/10. Reward: 1000 xp. Shuriken (Lvl 18) Vanquished (2/5): He just keeps picking on the wrong target, doesn¡¯t he? Nice thinking outside the box! Rewards: (1) As Shuriken was defeated as part of a quest, you may claim your reward from the Quest menu. (2) 867 xp (applied). Fey Favour: That was a lucky escape ¨C the Queen of the Fey spared your life! Reward: you get to live. For now. Royal Patronage I: You¡¯re moving up in the world! You have crafted your first item for royalty. Reward: 250xp. (applied) -> Progress to Royal Patronage II: 2/10. Reward: 1000 xp.
Since the Azure Cathedral, Josh¡¯s Constitution had gone up by 5 points, Strength by 11 points, Agility by 16 points, Speed by 9 points, Endurance by 6 points, Resilience by 7 points, Manual Dexterity by 13 points, and Vocalisation by 9 points. Once he applied the experience and got to level 17, he would get another 3 attribute points per level, which would give him 24 in total. He hadn¡¯t decided where to put them. It was a choice between boosting his three primary combat stats¡ªStrength, Agility and Chi¡ªas high as possible, or dumping the points in the stats that were the biggest pain to raise, like Resilience and Endurance. He was close to finishing Journeyman, which was Tier III to VI. Once he¡¯d crafted another three hundred and twenty-six journeyman-level items, that would put him at Tier VII, and the achievement for this would give him 200,000 experience, which would take him all the way to level 19. He would then be able to start on his Masterwork. After that it would be a hard slog, requiring uncommon or expensive materials to craft his way to higher levels. He had no idea how he was going to achieve that, particularly with the dearth of monsters in the world. The Quests so far had provided most of his experience, but with far greater risks than he was happy taking. He''d been lucky so far, but sooner or later his luck would run out. And he wasn¡¯t going to go around killing other outlanders purely for the experience they would provide. Meanwhile, Rachel was busy openly marvelling at the uselessness of his skills. To shut her up, he gave her one of his miniature spell books to look at. She immediately crowed with delight at how cute it was and started to look for things she could cast the spells on. While she did that, Josh fretted at his weakened state, and tried to think of where they could move to that would be safe and would keep them hidden. Next chapter Monday Hi everyone The next chapter will be posted within 20 hours or so of this post. I just need to tidy up and refine a few things, and then it''s ready to go. Since I need to write 500 words in order to post this, here is an update on the latest events in the game. Today I will talk about two small guilds in our territory ¨C let''s call them Gatekeepers and the Horde. Gatekeepers spend all their time gatekeeping the local dungeon. They stick alt characters in the dungeon with scripts which ping their discord whenever someone comes in. The dungeon itself has an invisible bridge which acts as a natural chokepoint, and can be held by 2 or 3 players against four times that number. Yes, if that sounds familiar, it was the model for the invisible bridge in the Azure Cathedral. Anyway, Gatekeepers are obsessive about that dungeon. They keep their characters logged in there permanently, and will come on at any time of the day or night to defend it. If they do happen to lose their hold on the bridge, they will keep running in to take it back, over and over again. As you can imagine, this makes doing this dungeon a massive pain for my guild. We need to take in a force of 20 or so, to complete a dungeon you could otherwise do with six people. We have sieged Gatekeepers to loosen their foothold in the area, but haven''t been able to eradicate it completely. My guild basically need to learn the invisible bridge properly so that we can fight at the chokepoint more effectively ... but there are better dungeons in the game that are more fun, so although the presence of Gatekeepers is annoying, dealing with them is more hassle than it''s worth. Then we come to the Horde. They randomly attack other players, and if there is a bug exploit they will take advantage of it (sometimes they get banned, but usually bans are temporary, or they just buy new accounts and make new characters). Anyway, this means no-one likes them. When the sieging mechanic was first implemented into the game, our first order of business was to remove them from the area. We sieged them seven times before they finally gave up and went to a different part of the map. However, once they left, we didn''t pursue them and decided to let them be. Then a couple of months later they came and tried to siege one of our allies in our territory. So we mounted a punitive expedition, and found that they had made such pests of themselves in their new area that there were several local guilds who were willing to help us siege them there. So, once again, they lost most of their village and had to re-locate. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Unfortunately they came back to our territory and built their new village near the Gatekeeper''s dungeon. It''s build on a cliff that''s very hard to get to, and extremely difficult to siege. At first we were worried that the Horde might collaborate with Gatekeepers, but no. They hate each other more than they hate us. Both of them have reached out to us to see if we would be willing to work with them to siege the other. Gatekeepers are really annoying, but they stay in the dungeon and we rarely see them outside it, whereas the Horde have been actively attacking people in our territory. So eventually we decided that we needed to siege the Horde again ... and Gatekeepers offered us material to do so, which we accepted. We are still in the process of scouting the area and finding the best approach, because there are only limited places to put siege equipment, and we need to be able to get the right angles to hit the Horde''s assets. In the meantime, a big guild from the neighbouring territory to ours came to siege Gatekeepers ... and the moment the Horde saw this going on, they jumped in to help. So now we have two siege campaigns going on, with two small guilds encouraging larger polities to come in and deal with their rival. But neither of the big guilds care a button for either Gatekeepers or the Horde ¨C we both have our own agendas and would be quite happy if both the smaller guilds annihilated each other, leaving us to claim the area. Real world politics in microcosm ... 1.50 - Dragons are the new dinosaurs Ben Ben was sitting in a coffee shop. He realised he was clutching his mug, and deliberately tried to relax his fingers, but they felt distant, as if reluctant to respond to his commands. Opposite was the woman who had tackled him just before he had reached the ¡­ pillar of light thing. Whatever it had been. If it hadn''t been for her, he would have walked right into it. Had she saved his life? ¡°Alright,¡± the woman said. Her voice was calm and dry, but carefully so, as if she was only hanging onto it by an edge. She had introduced herself as Sylvia. She was apparently a private investigator. Ben assumed she had been trailing him although she hadn¡¯t specifically said so. She put her phone down on the table between them, angled so they could both see it, and pressed play. They watched as the footage ran. There was Ben walking along, something he didn¡¯t remember doing. His expression was remote and abstracted, as if fixed on some inner vision. He passed from right to left across the frame, and then the camera re-oriented itself to follow along behind him. He walked along the street, took a turn into an alley between two houses, and emerged into small patch of wasteland between people¡¯s back gardens, which had a narrow path through it, choked with nettles. In the centre of the path was a tall column of light. The audio from the camera was disrupted by sounds of wind blowing across the microphone, but in the background they could both hear the low hum the pillar emitted. It shifted and rippled slightly, in a way that suggested it was a physical substance. The view from the camera tilted wildly as Sylvia presumably dropped it so she could tackle Ben. She had done so with a brisk competence that implied experience. Looking at her now, he saw she had the hard, toned physical fitness of someone with a sports or military background. ¡°What is that?¡± he asked Sylvia reran the camera back to the seconds of the clip that contained the pillar. ¡°You tell me,¡± she said, still in that same dry tone of voice. Ben felt an instinctive denial rise up in his throat, but supressed it. He wasn¡¯t going to let himself be put on a defensive back foot, as if this was somehow his fault. Still, it took several moments for him to centre himself enough to speak coherently. ¡°Three hypotheses,¡± he said, trying to match the same dry, dispassionate tone Sylvia had used, although with less success. Even he could hear the cracked nervousness in his voice. ¡°One, I faked this. Two, a third party faked it.¡± He didn¡¯t believe that. He felt he was on the cusp of a momentous discovery, something world-shattering. He forced himself to continue. ¡°Three, it¡¯s a real phenomenon, and it¡¯s responsible for the kidnappings.¡± She stared at him levelly, and he held himself still for several excruciating seconds until she suddenly exhaled and leaned back in her chair. ¡°Alright,¡± she agreed. ¡°Three possibilities. Why don¡¯t you take me through what happened?¡± Ben described his attempts to play the game, the Do You Want to be Immortal? quest, waiting for the kidnapper to contact him, sitting down with a cup of tea, and then nothing until he woke up outside, pinned to the ground with Sylvia¡¯s weight on top of him. ¡°You have nothing to connect the game quest with your sleep-walking episode,¡± she said sceptically, when he had finished. ¡°Josh got the same quest before he disappeared.¡± Her lips twisted into a dubious expression. ¡°Josh is still a suspect," she pointed out. "Missing twenty-year old man. Records of him engaging in chat and calls outside the game with not one, but two minors prior to his disappearance. Missing teenage girl. It¡¯s not hard to connect the dots.¡± Ben felt the familiar anger ignite deep in his chest, but forced himself to be calm. It was the same line the police had taken. And if you looked at it from the outside, it made a horrible kind of sense. Except it was a red herring, and every time the police concentrated on that was time wasted that could have been spent finding the true perpetrator. ¡°And you think Josh created the pillar thing too?¡± he asked, unable to keep a bite of sarcasm out of his voice. ¡°You could have done so, as his collaborator.¡± ¡°You overestimate my technical skills,¡± he said shortly. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have the first clue how to make a glowing column of plasma that apparently stays up by itself.¡± He stopped and gathered himself. ¡°Let''s assume it¡¯s either a real phenomenon, or faked by a third party. There are two lines of inquiry. One, the game company, because of the quest. Both Josh and I got the immortality quest right before ¡­ something weird happened to us. That can¡¯t be coincidence. And two, the pillar itself.¡± ¡°The police are already all over the game company. Are you suggesting I show them the footage of the pillar too?¡± Ben paused. ¡°There isn¡¯t enough for them to go on,¡± he said reluctantly. ¡°The police hotline will be getting hundreds of crank calls on a daily basis.¡± He didn¡¯t add that his own credibility with the police was at an all-time low. ¡°The footage you took ¡­ they¡¯ll think the same thing you did. It¡¯s too incredible to be real.¡± She met his eyes and then looked away. She had seen. She had to know it wasn¡¯t fake. It was something. Aliens, maybe. There was a yawning abyss in front of them, and they were both trying not to fall into it. ¡°We need to find more.¡± ¡°We?¡± she questioned. ¡°You were hired, weren¡¯t you? Was it to follow me?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t disclose that,¡± she said automatically. ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you follow me around while I investigate?¡± She didn¡¯t commit herself either way. ¡°Where are you planning to start?¡± Ben smiled, and leaned forward. ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do ¡­¡± he said. Josh All Josh¡¯s nervous fretting had made him tired. He had closed his eyes for a moment, and when he woke up, the angle of the sun through the window meant he must have dozed off for at least an hour or two. Rachel was gone. ¡°Rachel?¡± he called. There was no answer. Was she in her own room? She must be tired after all the stress of the night before. She probably hadn¡¯t slept much. He should get up and start preparing to move them to a different inn, but he had never felt less like moving. He peeled back the covers and slowly levered himself out of bed. It hurt, a lot, and he felt stabbing pains in his side. By the time he was upright he was already feeling faint. He swayed in place until the greyness receded a bit and took a few exploratory steps forward. He had to perch on the end of the bed to rest before he could muster up enough energy to make it to the sitting room. Rachel wasn¡¯t there either. He called her name, but there was no reply. When he tapped on her door, and then opened it, he found her room empty, and her bed unslept in. By that point he began to worry, but he was also still feeling shaky. There was sofa in the sitting room, so he lowered himself carefully into it. He spent the next couple of hours imaging all the things that could have happened to Rachel. She must have gone out, but what was she doing? Trying to find them a new place to stay? Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. When she finally did arrive, she was wearing her peasant outfit, and she had a scruffy looking kid in tow whom Josh identified, with some surprise, as Lalf the stable boy, last seen clinging to Lady Paleyne¡¯s skirts after Josh had first arrived in Dendral. ¡°This is Lalf,¡± Rachel announced. Josh looked him over. He was wearing shorts which displayed his scabby knees. One sock had descended into wrinkles around his ankle, his shirt was missing a button, he had a smudge of dirt on his nose, and his hair was sticking up in different directions. ¡°We¡¯ve met,¡± Josh said. Lalf gave an unimpressed sniff in return. Rachel, meanwhile, bounded over to Josh¡¯s side. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be in bed!¡± she scolded. By this point, Josh was regretting ever having left it, so he didn¡¯t argue when both children hauled him up and pushed him back towards the bedroom. ¡°How did you meet Lalf?¡± He asked, once he was ensconced beneath the covers again. ¡°Asked around until I found out where your Lady P was staying,¡± Rachel explained. ¡°Started asking questions in the stable, and Lalf was there.¡± They seemed to have made fast friends in the intervening hours. Lalf was hanging on Rachel¡¯s every word. How had that happened? ¡°We have an idea,¡± Rachel announced. ¡°Me and Lalf thought it up. It¡¯s a really good idea, isn¡¯t it, Lalf?¡± Lalf nodded vigorously. ¡°And what is that?¡± Josh asked warily. Rachel bounced up and down on her heels. ¡°You¡¯re going to die!¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to what?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Rachel said exuberantly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We arranged it already with Lady P.¡± That evening, Rachel repeatedly went to ask the innkeeper for bandages and hot water, adopting an increasingly grave expression each time. Eventually she sent a message via a scrubby, unkempt page boy, who just happened to turn up at the appropriate moment. The message summoned a stately matron dressed in a nun¡¯s wimple, accompanied two serious and subdued attendants. ¡°What have you done to yourself now?¡± the nun asked, in Lady Paleyne¡¯s voice. She dropped the illusion at the same time as she dropped the starched manners, and plumped herself down in the chair by Joshua¡¯s bed. ¡°You did something risky and stupid,¡± she guessed. Josh was relieved that Rachel, once she has been introduced to Lady Paleyne by Lalf, had been discreet enough not to repeat their nighttime adventure in the cathedral, but had merely said that Josh had been attacked and was laying low. ¡°I tried to stop someone else doing something risky and stupid,¡± Josh said firmly, before this could turn into one of those ¡®men are stupid¡¯ conversations. Lady Paleyne raised an inquiring eyebrow. ¡°Did you have a run in with Orlad?¡± Josh wished he could say yes, because then it would be something Lady Paleyne might feel responsible for. ¡°No,¡± he said shortly. ¡°Who is after you, then, that you are so afraid of?¡± Josh scowled and glanced at sitting room door, where the two attendants¡ªhe presumed they were Lady Paleyne¡¯s servants¡ªwere waiting for their part in the playacting that was shortly to follow. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them,¡± she said, following his gaze. ¡°They¡¯re loyal.¡± ¡°You thought the same about Jann.¡± Jann had been Lady Paleyne¡¯s manservant, the one who had betrayed her in the Azure Cathedral. Her lips compressed at the reminder, and her eyes glittered. ¡°I trusted Jann because he came into my service after I healed his wife when she was sick,¡± she said shortly. ¡°Unbeknownst to me, not only did she leave him soon after, he was then saddled with her debts, and the fool didn¡¯t think to ask me for help.¡± She added acidly. ¡°Male pride, no doubt. But it was child¡¯s play for a rival agent to acquire his outstanding debts and thus compromise him.¡± Josh didn¡¯t like the idea of being indebted to Lady Paleyne himself, but decided not to voice that opinion. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me who it is I¡¯m helping you hide from,¡± she continued. Josh hesitated, wondering what to say, and was extremely grateful when Lalf came trotting into the bedroom just then. ¡°He¡¯s still alive,¡± Lalf said in disappointment, looking Josh over critically. ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste my magic making him look dead before he needs to be seen that way,¡± Lady Paleyne pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m only going to be fake dead, not really dead,¡± Josh said, at the same time. ¡°After my great aunt died,¡± Lalf announced, ¡°My cousin May sat with the body overnight, and then she started screaming and woke everyone up, and it turned out,¡± he said with relish, ¡°that my great aunt did a great big fart after she was dead.¡± ¡°Will you stop talking, you wretched child!¡± Lady Paleyne exclaimed. ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to go that far for the sake of verisimilitude,¡± Josh added. ¡°What¡¯s verisi ¡­ versmil ¡­ versmil ¡­?¡± ¡°Making things seem realistic.¡± Josh hunted around for another topic of conversation. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the Seven Heroes,¡± he said quickly. To his relief, Lalf took the bait, and prattled happily on this subject for some time. Lady Paleyne, Josh was interested to see, didn¡¯t reiterate her command to Lalf that he should stop talking. Given that Lalf was her servant, she might have done so quite easily, or sent him out of the room when he got annoying. Instead, she let him babble. Once Lalf had finished with heroes, he moved onto the only subject which could rival heroes in his estimation¡ªdragons. There were six dragons in Six Spires, one for each of the spires themselves, and not only could Lalf name them all, but he could recite their territory, their colour, their disposition, and their powers. There were only ever six true dragons in the world, one for each spire¡ªcelestial, ice, fire, rock, verdant, and sea. Every so often, a dragon would lay a clutch of eggs, but the offspring that hatched would become either wyverns or wyrms. Once every few hundred years, one of the true dragons would die, and a wyvern would spontaneously metamorphose into a dragon to take its place. Josh was familiar with the nature of the six dragons from Spiralia Online, but he listened closely to Lalf nevertheless. If he¡¯d been born and raised in Six Spires, he had no doubt he would have been just as fascinated by dragons at Lalf¡¯s age. It was in the early hours of the morning when Josh finally lay down on the stretcher that the attendants had prepared, and Lady Paleyne cast an illusion on him to make him look like a corpse. ¡°You have to look more upset,¡± Lady Paleyne told Rachel, who was busy staring at Josh with ghoulish fascination. ¡°You¡¯re a young girl. Surely tears and an overly dramatic sensibility should come naturally.¡± Rachel disregarded this. ¡°You look like a zombie!¡± ¡°I¡¯m dead, remember?¡± Josh told her. ¡°You should feel at least a little bit sad.¡± Rachel made exaggerated sad puppy dog eyes. Josh sighed, and let his head fall back. He concentrated on staring at the ceiling. Lady Paleyne¡¯s illusion would make it look like he wasn¡¯t moving or blinking. She cast the illusion of the middle-aged nun on her face again, while the two attendants hoisted the stretcher, and the little procession filtered out. Rachel even managed a realistic sobbing sound along the way. There, Lady Paleyne had a carriage waiting. Josh was loaded into it, the window blinds were pulled down, and Josh could stop pretending to be a corpse. ¡°This ruse won¡¯t stand up to scrutiny,¡± Lady Paleyne warned him. ¡°Whoever is looking for you¡ªI note you are still avoiding telling me who it is¡ªwill inevitably check the nunneries and realise that no nun was dispatched to a death bed this night. But we can make sure the trail goes cold.¡± The house she took them to was a narrow tenement building close to the docks, one of the many owned by her father. This one, she said, just happened to be available to rent. It was a smaller and shabbier than the lodging house Josh had been staying in until now, but it would do. Babel materialised as soon as Lady Paleyne and her entourage left, although they could still hear Lalf¡¯s piping little voice upraised as he explained something to his mistress. Finally the front door closed, leaving Josh and Rachel alone in the house. ¡°She is totally into you,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you let her heal you?¡± ¡°One, running illusions takes a lot out of her, and two¡­¡± Josh paused. ¡°I was nervous she would find my player core. It¡¯s a physical thing." He patted his chest. "What if she could detect it?¡± Rachel looked sceptical. ¡°She hasn¡¯t so far.¡± ¡°Yes, but she¡¯s never really looked that hard. I don¡¯t want to risk it.¡± The next few days were an exercise in frustration for Josh. He had to sit at home and heal, so he spent his time working on his crafting skills, and preparing for his masterwork. Rachel, however, went out every day, despite Josh¡¯s protestations that she should keep a low profile. She borrowed money from him to buy a better quality dress than her peasant garb, and a pair of pince nez, which were little glasses that sat on her nose and made her look studious. Her plan was to go around the city with a notepad and pencil, pretending that she was a student doing a project on the Seven Heroes, and interviewing people. ¡°Do they even have schools here?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Maybe you should check that first!¡± She gave him a look, but returned later that day to confirm that yes, they did indeed have schools here, and her disguise had been phenomenally successful. Josh thought sourly about his own experience with librarians, but kept his mouth shut while she recounted the things she found out. Most of it was information he already knew, or rumour and speculation that might or might not be true. On the third day, she came back announcing that she had found an elderly grandma who had worked at the palace of Celespire as a chambermaid, and knew all the gossip. The former chambermaid had even known Karl, describing him as a sulky, resentful little boy, and full of self-importance once he was apprenticed to a wizard. Josh perked his ears up. ¡°Which wizard?¡± he asked. Rachel consulted her notes. ¡°Wizard Hawthorne.¡± Josh tried to place the name. ¡°The guy with the invisible tower,¡± he said, as it finally clicked. ¡°The invisible floating tower that ¡­ disappeared ¡­¡± Rachel frowned at him as he stared off into space. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh hell,¡± Josh said. ¡°I know where the Dreamer must be hiding. And why no-one has been able to find him.¡± On the fourth day, Josh decided he was healed enough to leave the house. He was still stiff and painful, but Lady Paleyne had been sending over a daily vial of medicine imbued with magic¡ªactual healing potions! They did help to speed up the recovery process, and he felt able to walk around normally. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Rachel demanded, when she came in and saw him dressed up to go out. Josh settled his Robin Hood hat on his head. ¡°Got to see a guy about a dragon,¡± he said. 1.51 – Ways to make an Elder Power angry The man Josh wanted to see about a dragon was Sir Doug, but when he arrived at Crosskeys, he found it boarded up. A neighbour told him that they¡¯d all gone, and good riddance to the lot of them. Sir Doug and his adventurers must have already set off on their expedition to the Cult of the Shining Light of the Moon, still under the impression that the key thief was after the third key. Josh felt obscurely guilty about that. Lacking Sir Doug¡¯s counsel, he was forced to fall back on his second option. The second option was currently sitting on a haybale and picking his nose. Josh sat on another haybale opposite him. ¡°I¡¯ve got work to do, you know,¡± Lalf said, inspecting his finger. In the background, an elderly groom who was mucking out a horse stall gave a little snort of laughter. Lalf scowled in response, and half turned around. ¡°I¡¯m a page, now,¡± he insisted. ¡°Page!¡± the old man said, hugely entertained. ¡°A scrubby little brat like you!¡± ¡°Am so!¡± ¡°I want to talk to you about dragons,¡± Josh interrupted quickly. ¡°I need a dragon expert.¡± Lalf immediately whipped back round. ¡°Oh? I know everything about dragons.¡± ¡°In that case,¡± Josh said, ¡°Why don¡¯t they let people fly?¡± This was something he had read in passing while at the Marquis of Silbury¡¯s library. He had marked it for further research, but never got round to investigating it, and now he didn¡¯t want to show his face at Silbury¡¯s house just in case the Order of the Unyielding were searching for him. Lalf stared at Josh in amazement. ¡°People can¡¯t fly,¡± he said scornfully. He sounded like he thought Josh ought to know this. ¡°They could with magic,¡± Josh pointed out. ¡°If they tried.¡± He didn¡¯t know any spells for flying himself, but was certain they ought to exist. Lalf screwed his face up as he tried to imagine it. ¡°Would they make wings?¡± He flapped his arms. Josh tried not to drop his head in his hands in frustration. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe? Or maybe they could just levitate with a flying spell or something.¡± ¡°The dragons forbade flight a long time ago,¡± the elderly groom said, leaning on his rake. ¡°They declared that the earth is for creatures of the earth, the sea is for creatures of the sea, and the air is for creatures of the air.¡± Josh wanted to say, ¡°But what about frogs? Or flying fish? Or sugar gliders?¡± He restrained himself, and merely asked, ¡°Did the dragons say why?¡± If Six Spires had been deliberately created as a fantasy world, then a draconic moratorium on flying was a handy way to explain the lack of floating ships and mages zipping around on broomsticks or magic carpets. But if Six Spires was its own world, which had developed organically, then maybe it was just because dragons were territorial, and had decided they didn¡¯t want to share airspace with a bunch of shaved apes. The elderly groom immediately launched into the tale of the Man and the Moon Maidens, in which a mortal man had crafted himself wings and attempted to fly to the largest of the six moons. However, according to Six Spires mythology, the moons were the six daughters of the Father Sun, and He grew angry at the temerity of a mortal man attempting to seduce one of His Moon Maidens. To prevent the Moon Maiden from succumbing to her seducer¡¯s wiles, He had created a guardian dragon for each moon. Ever since then, men have been forbidden to trespass in the skies, which are protected by the dragons. That didn¡¯t explain anything useful to Josh. During this tale, the elderly man had joined Lalf on the haybale. ¡°How do the dragons enforce their no-flying policy?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Ah!¡± the elderly groom exclaimed. Lalf sat up excitedly as he recognised a question he could answer. ¡°They have big webs around their heads,¡± he said, gesturing with his hands cupped around his hears. ¡°And the wind sings to them about ¡­ about ¡­¡± he looked at the elderly groom. ¡°¡­of all things in far off lands,¡± the groom supplied. ¡°Yeah!¡± Lalf said, wriggling on his haybale. ¡°And ¡­ and the wind tells the dragons about all the wyverns and birds and what each one is doing, and if there is anything that shouldn¡¯t be there, then ¡­¡± Lalf crooked his fingers in dragon claws and pantomimed a dragon roaring, along with sound effects. ¡°The air belongs to them,¡± the groom nodded. ¡°And woe betide any who keep not to their own sphere.¡± Josh began to appreciate exactly where Lalf had learned most of his dragon lore. ¡°Have you ever heard of the invisible floating tower of Wizard Hawthorne?¡± he asked. From the burgeoning expression of fascination on Lalf¡¯s face, the invisible floating tower of Wizard Hawthorne was rapidly taking third place in his esteem, right after Heroes and dragons. Josh could sympathise. ¡°Why would the dragons allow an invisible floating tower to be built in the first place?¡± he added. ¡°Or, once it was built, why would they let it float around?¡± The elderly groom ruminated, while Lalf excitedly pestered Josh with questions about the tower, such as how it floated, or where it was now. ¡°The seventh moon!¡± the groom exclaimed triumphantly, after several minutes. ¡°The what?¡± Josh sat up. ¡°I thought there were only six!¡± That was the whole theme of Six Spires¡ªsix spires, six moons, six primary deities, six dragons. Everything was in sixes. ¡°Ah,¡± the groom held up a finger. ¡°But it is rumoured that there were once seven. The dark moon, the invisible one, veiled where her sisters shine with radiance. She was bitter, so the story goes, that her sisters were so beautiful and so admired. In her grief she climbed to the top of the tallest tower in the sky, and cast herself from it in despair. Down she plummeted, and smote the earth with a thunderous crash. And shine brightly she did, with the light of a thousand stars. For one moment, she was the most beautiful of all, and all the heavens gasped in amazement. But the next moment she shattered, and pieces of her were cast all over the world.¡± It was the first time Josh had ever encountered a fallen moon myth in Six Spires. ¡°Some you find to this very day,¡± the groom went on. ¡°Dark moonstone, it¡¯s called. Always it seeks to return to the sky from whence it came. If a wizard found enough of it, why, they might build a tower that could float to the heavens. And since it is made of one of the very maidens the dragons were created to protect, then why, they might let it be.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. If there was a type of floating stone, and the dragons did indeed feel that it had a right to be in the sky, then maybe that was how Wizard Hawthorne had got away with his creation. Assuming that the floating tower had, indeed, existed, and wasn¡¯t a figment of his imagination. And that it hadn¡¯t, in fact, subsequently been destroyed by an angry dragon. ¡°So presumably the dragons would know where the tower is now,¡± Josh said. The groom nodded his head slowly. ¡°Aye,¡± he said. ¡°Aye. But if they know, why, they ain¡¯t telling!¡± He tapped the side of his nose. ¡°Do dragons ever talk to people?¡± The groom shook his head, slowly and sadly. ¡°Oh, oh!¡± Lalf bounced up and down excitedly. ¡°Tell the story of the dragon thieves!¡± The groom needed little urging. ¡°Not so long ago,¡± he said, ¡°There were some thieves¡­¡± They were poor, living in the wild forests to the north, where no-one with a lick of sense goes, and their only victims were poor travellers. So they had very little. All they could steal were crude pots and copper coins. In winter they shivered by their fires and drank cheap wine, and told each other how much better it would be when they could finally hold up a fat merchant with a chest of gold coins. They talked of that chest often, and how it would buy them riches beyond their wildest dreams. As they sat and passed around the cheap wine, this legendary chest grew bigger and bigger, and the heap of coins greater and greater, and their dreams grew ever more fantastic. But every morning, they would wake to snow and cold ashes, and the grim struggle of survival that was their lives. One day, however, one of them had an idea. They lived in a forest at the foot of a mountain, and on the peak of the mountain lived one of the six dragons. ¡°What if,¡± said the thief, ¡°What if we sneaked up to the top of the mountain, and took a dragon¡¯s egg? Think how much it must be worth?¡± And the others all laughed at him¡ªwho would be so stupid as to steal a dragon¡¯s egg? But as the days went on, and got colder, and they shivered by their fire at night, and drank thin gruel that was all they had to eat, the idea began to seem better and better. They told themselves all sorts of things¡ªthat dragon eggs had a shell made of gold, that dragons slept during the winter, and would not wake if they ventured near, that if they travelled fast enough, the dragon would have no idea where they had gone when it woke. And so, foolishly, they mounted an expedition to the peak of the mountain to find the dragon¡¯s nest. I won¡¯t tell you of all the trials they encountered on the way, but make it they did to the mountain peak. There they found a nest of dragon eggs, and they were lucky, for the mother dragon was away hunting. They took one of the eggs, which did indeed have a shell speckled with gold, and lashed it to a sled. As quicky and silently as they had come did they leave, making their way down the mountain and heading for the nearest town, where they hoped to sell the egg for a fortune. On the road, however, they met a knight. He was not a handsome knight, and his armour was scratched and dented, but he had a horse and a sword and shield. When he saw the thieves, he hailed them and asked them what they were hauling. The thieves were suspicious of him, and told him that they had naught but a cargo of cabbages destined for the market. The knight was immediately suspicious, for he knew it was the middle of winter, and who grows cabbages in winter? But he said nothing, and invited them to join him that night at his fire. And he shared with them a flask of good quality wine. The thieves liked the wine so much they drank heavily, and this loosened their tongues. Eventually they confessed that they carried a dragon¡¯s egg, and boasted that they would soon be rich. The knight acted impressed, but even as he did so, they all heard a bestial scream echoing around the valley. At once the thieves were afraid, for they knew the dragon had discovered the theft, and would be hunting for the missing egg. ¡°Do not fear!¡± the knight said. ¡°Although I am but a lowly knight, I have been taught the ways of the arcane. I know a ritual that will render you invisible to dragon sight. You must merely stay in the centre of it, and the dragon will pass you by.¡± The thieves begged him to teach them the ritual, which he did, telling them to fetch sticks and soak the heads in pine sap to create flaming torches. ¡°But will the dragon not see the flames?¡± the thieves asked, fearfully. ¡°Not at all,¡± the knight said, ¡°For I will build the greatest fire of all, upon yonder hill, and summon the dragon to me, where I will fight it.¡± The thieves were amazed at his daring and bravery, but also sniggered amongst themselves, for surely the knight would perish. Nevertheless, they agreed that if the knight were to die distracting the dragon it would be no bad thing, and the next day they would continue their journey with the stolen egg. They arranged the torches as dictated by the knight, driving them into the ground in a pattern all around them, chanting the spell words the knight had given them as they did so. Once the spell was complete, they retreated to the centre of the torches, waiting for the dragon to pass them by, while the knight sat upon a nearby hill next to his bonfire. But instead of ignoring the thieves, the dragon circled the valley, and then plunged directly towards them. With one exhalation of its breath it killed every thief in an instant, leaving its egg unharmed. For unbeknownst to the thieves, who could not read, the pattern of torches had spelled out the words ¡®WE STOLE YOUR EGG¡¯ and thus had summoned the dragon instantly. A little way away, on a hilltop, the dragon landed by a bonfire tended by a knight. It spoke with the knight, and learned the story of the torches. The dragon laughed uproariously at the tale, for dragons love a good joke, and told the knight that he was a true friend of dragonkind, and if he ever needed the favour of a dragon, he would receive it. ¡°And that,¡± said the groom, ¡°Is the tale of the Dragon¡¯s Friend Knight.¡± ¡°Was the Knight one of the Heroes?¡± Lalf asked breathlessly, his eyes shining. The groom shook his head. ¡°Ah, no, not at all. He was but a simple hedge knight. Sir Robyn the Foul-Mouthed I hear his name was.¡± Josh started. Robyn? Rob? As in, Fuck You Rob? The guy he had met on his way to the forest of the Druid¡¯s Grove, who had given him a purse, and who had hared off the moment he had heard Josh mention his encounter with the Fey Queen? That Rob? When Josh left, Lalf and the groom had apparently completely forgotten about the half-mucked out stall, and the groom was busy telling Lalf another dragon story. Back at the house, Josh paced aound, thinking furiously. He had all the clues he needed, and he knew what he had to do next. When Rachel returned from her day¡¯s gleaning, he sat down with her and went over his plan. ¡°So you think,¡± she said sceptically, ¡°that Wizard Hawthorne made an invisible tower and Karl, his apprentice, was the one who stole it?¡± ¡°Yes. After all, it must be very easy to lose track of an invisible floating tower,¡± Josh pointed out. She rolled her eyes, but continued. ¡°So Karl has the tower, and later on, after Tylas the Undying is killed and his power is taken, Karl steals it for himself, and becomes the Dreamer.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And the reason no-one has ever been able to find Karl the Dreamer is because he floated away in this magical invisible flying tower he just happened to have sitting around.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°And you think the dragons will know where the tower is.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And the only person in the world who is friendly with dragons is this Rob guy you met on the road a few weeks ago.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But you have no idea where he is and even if you did, why would he use up a favour, given to him by dragons, to help you?¡± Josh drew in a breath with his finger raised in the air, then hesitated. ¡°I¡¯ll think of something,¡± he said, deflating. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of assumptions.¡± ¡°I know. But it¡¯s what we have to go on. We have to try.¡± Unexpectedly tears filled Rachels eyes, and she blinked and looked away. ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. She hugged her knees to her chest, and Josh knew she was thinking of her family. Her mother, her brother Timothy, her friends. It was more important than ever that Josh find a way home for them. He didn¡¯t tell Rachel that he had already thought of a way to contact Rob. Later that night, after Rachel had gone to bed, he sat down on the edge of his own bed with his forearms resting on his knees. What he was about to do was risky. But, as he had said to Rachel earlier, he had to try. He took a deep breath, and summoned as much of his magic as he could. And then he spoke the Fey Queen¡¯s name, the one he had learned during the Fey questline in Spiralia Online. ¡°Elarieth,¡± he said, enunciating each syllable with care. ¡°Elarieth. Elarieth.¡± He said it three times, and then waited tensely. After a few minutes, when nothing happened, he got up and paced restlessly around the room. Babel watched him curiously from his place curled up at the foot of the bed. Eventually he admitted to himself that it had been a stupid idea. It hadn¡¯t worked, and he would just try again in the morning. Come to think of it, maybe his bedroom wasn¡¯t the best place to try summoning the Fey Queen. She might get the wrong idea about his intentions. Not that he expected her to physically pop into existence, but he had expected some response. And the summoning wasn¡¯t something he wanted to do in public. Or in front of Rachel. At last he undressed, climbed into bed and tried to sleep. His mind was churning too fast to make that easy, but he closed his eyes anyway, and tried to calm himself. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, he felt himself start to drift away. He woke up, panicked, in the middle of a nightmare of being smothered. There was a heavy weight on his chest, and he couldn¡¯t move. There was something around his throat, choking him. His eyes flew open, and for a moment he saw nothing except an ominous black shadow hovering over him. He would have screamed, but for the iron grip around his throat. A light grew from somewhere, and the visage of the Fey Queen materialised above him. She was crouched over him, her knees on his chest, and her hands tight on his neck. Her eyes were narrowed and glittered with malevolence. When she spoke, her voice was low with threat. ¡°You had better have a very good explanation for this,¡± she hissed. 1.52 - How to bargain with fey ¡°I want to trade information,¡± Josh managed to choke out. The Queen of the Fey stared down at him with narrowed eyes. Behind her, Josh could see Babel explode into a cloud of darkness ready to swoop down on her. Babel would have no chance against the Queen. He struggled in alarm, and tried to shout, but only managed a croak. Then the crushing grip around his neck eased and the Queen was suddenly standing several feet away. Babel hovered uncertainly. Josh was left gasping for breath, but he patted the bed urgently, and Babel descended, resuming his pig form. The Queen observed this with raised eyebrows. ¡°The problem with trading information,¡± she said thoughtfully, ¡°is that one cannot inspect the goods before one makes a payment. Nor can one return the package if one has been sold a pup.¡± Josh coughed, remembering to do so as quietly as possible in order not to wake Rachel, while the Queen waited for his fit to pass with mounting impatience. Once he was able to speak, he rasped, ¡°I want to know where Rob the Hedge Knight is.¡± The Queen was the only person Josh could think of who might know Rob¡¯s whereabouts, either now or in the future. Rob had been trying to find the Queen so he could challenge one of her followers, Charral, to a fight. Maybe he had done that already, or maybe he was still on her trail. The Queen raised an eyebrow. ¡°And I would know this?¡± ¡°He was seeking out your court,¡± Josh said. If Rob had already been and gone, at least Josh would have a fresh trail to follow. If Rob was still trying to find a way to get to Charral, then Josh knew a place that Rob would be in the future, which was even better. He coughed again, and took a sip of water from the glass beside his bed. The Queen stared thoughtfully over Josh¡¯s head at the opposite wall, her expression utterly blank. ¡°And what information do you have for me?¡± she asked ¡°Er, well. I can''t tell you without telling you.¡± Her cool, remote expression abruptly dissolved into exasperation. ¡°Sorry!¡± Josh said. He tried to think. ¡°It¡¯s to do with what you told me at the ceremony. About there being a great threat loose.¡± She continued to stare at him. ¡°I think you¡¯ll want to know?¡± he said hopefully. She raised her eyes to the ceiling, but then gestured to him. ¡°I agree to the bargain. Tell me what you have.¡± ¡°Okay, so at the ceremony you said there was a threat, and that you¡¯d come to warn people, but then you said they seemed to already know. And when I asked about it you directed me to a book about the Demon War. So I assume you wanted to warn people that the demon was back.¡± He checked her expression, and saw that she had defaulted to cold and neutral again. ¡°Go on.¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°Right. So. They don¡¯t know the demon is loose. They think the third key is still at the temple of the Shining Light of the Moon. A few days ago, Sir Doug set off there to protect it.¡± She considered this gravely. ¡°Why did you not tell Sir Doug yourself?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t! They¡¯ll ask me how I know!¡± He hesitated. She seemed to know about the game part of things, and about Earth, so he added, ¡°The person who arrived right before me took the demon class." Did she know what a class was? "They chose to be the demon," he clarified. "I saw the option disappear from the list the Guardian gave me.¡± The Queen responded by closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Then she heaved a sigh, and disposed herself gracefully on the end of the bed, beside Babel. She offered him her fingers to sniff, exactly as if he was a pet. Josh was interested to note that Babel responded to this by smelling them with interest. ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me from the beginning?¡± the Queen asked. Josh found himself describing his cousin Ben, the hunt for the kidnapper¡ª ¡°The what?¡± the Queen interrupted, a tiny frown appearing between her eyebrows. Before Josh could explain, the crease vanished. ¡°Ah!¡± she said. ¡°You mean abductor.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Josh said. ¡°I was on my PC, uh ¡­ I mean, I was playing the game. You know about the game right?¡± ¡°Pee cee?¡± she asked instead. ¡°It stands for personal computer,¡± Josh said. He tried to think how to explain a computer to someone who might not know about electricity. ¡°I know computers,¡± the Queen said. She caught his look. ¡°I know many things. I know about the wireless, cars, aeroplanes, suffragettes, the electric, computers, cell phones, and the internet.¡± Her expression cooled. ¡°I know about the games.¡± ¡°Games ¡­ as in plural?¡± Josh straightened with interest. ¡°Rob mentioned a mobile game with pirates. But the game I was playing on my PC¡ªon my computer¡ªwas only three years old. So there must have been other games before that, going all the way back to the seventies.¡± He paused and added, almost to himself, ¡°I wonder what the character screens for the Seven Heroes look like. Did the system here borrow computer game mechanics from Earth, or did Earth borrow them from the Six Spires system? If they originated on Earth, do the Seven Heroes have a character sheet that looks more like something out of a nineteen seventies game? Or has it been updated since? Can the system be patched or changed? Have you ever known that to happen?¡± The Queen was giving him that look again. It was a familiar look, one he generally received when he started overanalysing things, or babbling excitedly about a subject for too long. ¡°I can answer those questions, if you like,¡± she said. ¡°Instead of trying to find this person you wish to speak to.¡± ¡°Uh, no,¡± Josh said hastily. He saw that the Queen was now giving Babel ear scritches, which Babel appeared to be enjoying. ¡°No, I¡¯d like to know where Rob is, please.¡± The Queen smiled. ¡°I can do better than that.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I can take you to him.¡± Josh regarded her warily. ¡°You would do that?¡± ¡°I might,¡± she said, consideringly. This seemed too easy. Josh graduated to outright suspicion. ¡°What would you want in return?¡± Her smile widened. Babel was now lying on his back with his little trotters in the air while she rubbed his tummy. ¡°Oh, nothing much.¡± She tilted her head to the side. ¡°Have you been to Mayad¡¯s shrine in the city?¡± Josh was confused by the sudden change in subject. ¡°Uh ¡­ no?¡± Was he supposed to have gone? He had prayed to Mayad once, and his prayers had sort of been answered when she put him on the path of the Dreamer. Unless it had been co-incidence. But he¡¯d defaulted naturally back to his normal state of atheism ever since. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The Queen looked amused. ¡°Go to the shrine of Mayad,¡± she commanded. ¡°Pay your silver, and cast a token into the water to ask if I should find this Rob. If the token shows its face, then I will facilitate the meeting you desire.¡± Josh opened his mouth to ask for more details, but the Queen held her hand up to forestall him. She slid off the end of the bed, to a grumpy protest from Babel, and stalked towards the door, inclining her head as if listening to the other side. Had Rachel woken up? Before Josh could tell her not to, she went through the door, closing it behind her. Josh hurried after her, pulling the door open hastily himself, and jumped in shock when he saw a scowling Rachel on the other side, her hand upraised to knock. Beyond her the hallway was silent and empty, with no sign of the Queen. ¡°Have you been talking to someone?¡± Rachel demanded. ¡°I could hear voices.¡± ¡°No! I was ¡­ er ¡­ talking to Babel.¡± Rachel craned her neck past him to see Babel sprawled belly up on the bedcovers. ¡°Ugh, why are you so weird?¡± ¡°Just go back to bed,¡± Josh told her firmly, and closed the door in her face. The next day he went to find the shrine. This proved not as easy as he had first imagined. The lantern men, who knew everywhere and would light your way for a fee, only worked when it was dark, which meant Josh¡¯s had to fall back on asking various passers-by, none of whom claimed to know anything about it. In the end, a harrassed matron carrying a basket of laundry provided him with directions. By the time he arrived at the shrine, the day was well advanced, and he could feel the scar in his side beginning to ache. Lady Paleyne¡¯s potions had worked phenomenally well, helping him heal in days what would likely have taken weeks, but that didn¡¯t mean he was fully recovered yet. He had found himself too exhausted even to cast spells, which suggested that the healing process used up his own Chi energy. The shrine itself was a single domed building standing in the centre of a walled courtyard, and the weeds growing between the cracks of the paving slabs suggested it was not well tended. There was a single priestess, who sat on a stool by the entrance, and appeared to have fallen asleep in the early autumn sun. She snorted awake when Josh¡¯s shadow fell over her, and shaded her hand over her eyes to get a good look at him. Beyond her was the shrine itself, consisting of a shallow circular pool in the centre of the domed structure, and a statue of the goddess on the opposite wall, currently garlanded with wreaths of plaited straw. The pool, Josh discovered from the priestess, was one of divination. You pressed your question onto a small clay tablet, and then the priestess threw the tablet into the water. The side it landed on would provide the answer¡ªyes if it landed face up, and no if it landed face down. ¡°But there¡¯s a fifty percent chance of it turning face up or down,¡± Josh objected. ¡°How often does it get the answer right?¡± The priestess blinked myopically at him. Like Mother Gwyn in the ruins of Aileth-Mair, she was stooped and elderly, with a net of fine smile wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She didn¡¯t seem bothered by Josh¡¯s scepticism. ¡°If ye don¡¯t have faith the Goddess, lad, then no point in asking in the first place, is there?¡± she said comfortably. Josh didn¡¯t like to say that the Queen of the Fairies was making him do this. At least he now understood the instructions he had been given. ¡°Is it just one question?¡± he asked. ¡°One silver per question,¡± the priestess asked, settling back on her chair and closing her eyes. ¡°So, if I was willing to pay a thousand silver, I could ask a thousand questions?¡± Josh persisted. The priestess opened her eyes and considered this. ¡°Well, I need to be able to hold all the questions in my hands before I throw them,¡± she said eventually. ¡°You only get one throw per day.¡± That sounded suspiciously like a rule the priestess had made up on the spot just now to avoid having to throw thousands of tablets into the water. ¡°But,¡± she added ¡°if I could hold a thousand questions, I don¡¯t see why not. That¡¯s also assuming that the Goddess would decide to answer them,¡±. ¡°Wait, the Goddess decides whether to answer? How would I know if the Goddess was busy and didn¡¯t bother, and the answer I got was just random?¡± ¡°Everything is connected, lad,¡± the Priestess declared. ¡°That¡¯s an answer too.¡± Josh was not reassured, but the Queen had stipulated that he should do this. She had told him what to ask, but if he could ask more than one question, maybe he should take advantage of that. What other uncertainties coudl he address? In the end he decided on a list of twelve questions, including four he definitely knew the answers to, which would function as the control questions, and a fifth he was pretty sure of anyway. He limited himself to twelve mainly because that was the amount of silver he had on him, which was probably just as well¡ªhe didn¡¯t want to spend a fortune before finding out whether or not it worked. It was a fantasy world. Of course divination would work, but in fiction the answers were inevitably so vague or cryptic as to be totally useless until after the fact. Josh spent some time laboriously carving the questions into the little tablets the priestess gave him, using a stylus she had provided for the purpose. He was forced to keep them fairly short and simple. Maybe the tablets were deliberately made this small to prevent people asking long, overly specific and complicated questions. Could he write a question on a bigger tablet and pay more? In the end, he kept everything as simple as possible. Should I seek out the Dreamer? Is the Dreamer in the invisible tower? Will the dragons know where the invisible tower is? Should I ask Rob the Hedge Knight to help me speak to the dragons? Should I ask the Queen of the Fey to find Rob for me? Will I ever get back to Earth? Can you see events on Earth? He was fairly sure that ''Does the system have the best interests of the players in mind?'' should be a yes. And the remaining questions were the control ones that should certainly be a yes: Was Rachel one of the two people abducted with me? Is Ramona staying at the house of the Marquis of Silbury? Is Babel made from book moths? Can Lady Paleyne do illusion magic? Once he was finished the priestess slowly clambered to her feet and beckoned to him to follow her into the chamber with his armful of tablets. There she cupped her hands. He tipped the tablets into her palms, not sure whether to set them face up or not at this point, although the priestess said it didn¡¯t matter. In the end he turned half of them face upwards and the rest face down, alternating between the questions he knew the answers to and those he didn¡¯t. Once the priestess had them all in her hands, she made a curious twisting motion, and flung them into the air. Josh immediately saw that she had cleverly imparted a spin to each tablet, so that they tumbled head over the heels, and spread out as they splashed down. The priestess peered carefully into the pool, and gave an interested grunt at the results she saw. She turned and took a slender cane which was propped against the wall, and then used it to point out the ones that had fallen face up. Any that had fallen face down, she obligingly flipped face up with the cane so Josh could see which question it was. The ones about Rachel, Babel and Lady Paleyne had all fallen face up, which meant yes. The one about Ramona, however, was face down. Did that mean Ramona had left Silbury''s house in the last few days, or was there no pattern and the others had just turned face up at random? The one about the system having everyone¡¯s best interests at heart was quite firmly face down. The questions about the Dreamer being in the invisible tower, and the dragons knowing the location of the invisible tower, were face up. There were two that had fallen on top of others¡ªdespite the priestess throwing them so they would fall apart¡ªleaving them slanted, but still more face up than not. When Josh peered at them, he saw that they were the ones asking whether he should seek out the Dreamer, and whether Rob should help him speak to the dragons. ¡°Slanted means it won¡¯t do any harm, but it might not help as much as you think,¡± the priestess explained, rocking her palm back and forth to indicated ambivelance. The question about Mayad being able to see events on Earth was face down. There was another on that was half lying on top of another tablet, so it was more face down than face up. When the priestess flipped it, Josh saw it was the one asking if he would ever return to Earth. He felt a pulse of hollow fear at that. He didn''t need the priestss to explain that nearly all the way face down meant unlikely to happen. But unlikely wasn¡¯t the same as impossible. The last tablet hadn¡¯t even fallen in the pool, but was lying on the edge, face up, and the priestess gave a little snort of amusement when she saw it. ¡°That means it¡¯s a yes, but She don¡¯t like it,¡± the priestess explained. It was the one asking if the Queen should help Josh speak to Rob. ¡°Thank you,¡± Josh said to priestess. She nodded and wandered back to her seat by the door. Josh stared frowning at the pool for a moment longer. Assuming the answers weren¡¯t random, it meant Mayad had reluctantly agreed that he should speak to Rob. However, according to her, it wasn¡¯t as important that he get Rob to speak to the dragons, and the dragons to find the invisible tower, despite the fact that Mayad had confirmed it was the location of the Dreamer. From this¡ªassuming the pattern meant something and wasn''t random¡ªJosh deduced that Mayad didn¡¯t think he needed to find the Dreamer. But that was assuming Mayad was answering with Josh¡¯s own aims in mind. Josh¡¯s overwhelming goal was to return to Earth, and he did need the Dreamer for that. The answers Mayad had given presumably matched her own purpose, not Josh¡¯s, and Josh had no idea what what it was that Mayad really wanted. She didn¡¯t seem like a bad goddess¡ªshe apparently rewarded people for helping old women, small children and animals. But that didn¡¯t mean she had ultimately good intensions towards Josh. His heart hardened with resolve. He would speak to Rob. He would get Rob to speak to the dragons. He would get the dragons to find the invisible tower. He would find the Dreamer. And he would find a way for Rachel and him to return to Earth. He gave a short, decisive nod at the pool with its fading ripples, then turned and walked out of the shrine ¡­ straight into another place entirely. He was in a courtyard, just like before, but this one was far wilder and more overgrown than Mayad¡¯s shrine. The shrine itself had become a tall tower, somewhat higgledy-piggledy, with a pointy turret and a window at the top¡ªall the better for keeping captured princesses in, Josh assumed. The walls of the courtyard were so overgrown with brambles that he could only see glimpses of the stonework here and there. The gateway was barred by two wrought metal gates, cast in an ornate, spindly pattern. He realised the metal was silver in colour, rather than the black of iron. Steel? Or was it really silver? With a shock he realised there was a tall, slender figure standing silently on the gatepost, amidst a nest of brambles. It was unnaturally thin, and had a shock of hair sweeping stiffly up from its head, in a dandelion-like aureole, but since the figure was outlined against a bright sky he could see nothing of its features. It was so still that, after the first jolt of realisation, he wondered if it was a statue. Then it moved by tilting its head to regard him curiously. Chapter 1.53 - How NOT to bargain with the fey ¡°Boy,¡± the dandelion-headed figure said. Its voice was scratchy yet somehow compelling, and a shiver of dread flooded down Josh¡¯s spine, for reasons he couldn¡¯t understand. The figure had made no threatening moves, why was he so afraid of it? It stretched out its arms to either side. It was wearing ragged grey robes, with long, voluminous sleeves that were frayed like cobwebs. It leapt lightly from the gatepost onto the ground, landing without a sound. Now that it wasn¡¯t outlined against the sky, Josh could see it more clearly. It had a long, thin face with a long, thin nose, and bright grey eyes with tiny pin-prick pupils. When it smiled, he noticed that its teeth were pointed. Even though it was technically human-shaped, there was very little about it that felt human. He felt an urge bring his quarterstaff up into a defensive hold and back away, but repressed it. The creature put him in mind of a predator that would pounce the moment he showed fear or tried to retreat. ¡°Boy,¡± it said again. It tilted its head to the opposite side. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s in the tower, boy?¡± Despite himself, Josh glanced over his shoulder at the tower, and when he looked back the dandelion-headed thing was suddenly several feet closer, without him having seen it move. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to see, boy?¡± it pressed. Josh hadn¡¯t noticed its ears, which were long, slender and pointed, until it flicked one, and inclined its head as if listening to something. It let out a long sigh and looked at him with an expression that was both cunning but also oddly wry, the first human emotion it had displayed. After a moment, Josh heard it too¡ªthe sound of horse hooves, and carriage wheels crunching on gravel. Before long, a fat coach swept up outside the gates. It was shaped like a pumpkin, and drawn by six gleaming white horses bearing dark purple plumes on their heads. The coachman was a short, squad individual with a head so wide it looked as if it was growing directly out of his shoulders. His eyes, dark and toad-like, fixed on the dandelion-haired person without expression, then transferred to Josh. He had a large-lipped mouth that was nearly as wide as his jaw. He opened this now and said, in a deep, gravelly voice, ¡°The young lad for the Queen.¡± The dandelion-haired person hissed. Josh sidled uneasily past him to get to the gates, but when he reached his hand out to open them, he heard faint music that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Touching the gates suddenly seemed an inordinately dangerous thing to do. The coachman¡¯s eyes flicked up to the top of the tower, and then away quickly. Josh¡¯s head was drawn in that direction as if of its own accord. From this angle he couldn¡¯t see much except for a pale figure looking down at him. The dandelion-haired person¡ªcreature¡ªlet out a high-pitched giggle. ¡°Boy doesn¡¯t want to go.¡± It sidled closer. ¡°Boy wants to stay?¡± It asked, suggestively. Josh hastily brought up his quarterstaff, and before he could second-guess himself, used the end to flick open the latch. The silvery gate swung open silently, and he wriggled his way though, being careful not to touch it. When he looked up at the tower window again, the white figure was gone. The coachman looked down at him impassively, clearly waiting, so Josh climbed into the coach, sinking down into soft velvety cushions. His palms were sweating where he clutched the staff, and his mouth was dry. The coach lurched as the coachman set the horses in motion, and when Josh looked out of the window, he saw the dandelion-haired figure watched them go, but window of the tower was just a dark, gaping hole. Josh spent most of the journey trying to convince himself that he had been imagining the sheer level of creepiness, but the sudden changes in the landscape they travelled through kept jarring him back into paranoia. One moment they were travelling down an avenue bordered by giant, stately beech trees in full autumn glory, the horses¡¯ hooves muffled by soft drifts of flame-coloured leaves. Then they swept around a corner into a plain that stretched as far as the eye could see, covered in whispering green grass that rustled in the breeze. When Josh looked behind him there was no sign of any beech trees. The road¡ªwhich at this stage was little more than two beaten earth tracks¡ªdipped down into a gully and then suddenly they were travelling through a winter wilderness, with tall spires of dark rock encased in ice. Josh¡¯s breath plumed in the air in front of him, but before he could do more than shiver once, they had passed through an archway and were trotting rapidly along a causeway across a lake so still it resembled a mirror. At the far end of the causeway was an island with a jumbled castle growing out of it. The lower parts of it were wreathed in mist, but above that the sun shone on warm, golden sandstone. Once across the causeway, the horses swept smartly into a narrow passage that opened out into a large courtyard, drawing up in front of a grand staircase that led into the central keep of the castle, which was flanked by two statues of prancing unicorns. The courtyard was thronged with people, of all different shapes and sizes. The stone unicorn nearest to Josh had a row of tiny, winged people sitting on its back as if riding it. They were all quarrelling ferociously in high-pitched voices. One of them pushed one of the others off even as he watched, and it buzzed in annoyance, floating in midair while shaking its fist at its fellows. Beyond that was a vendor with a tray around his neck, selling thimble-sized paper cups brimming with honey liqueur. The vendor himself was short, about half Josh¡¯s height, and wearing a pixie cap, from which escaped tufts of white hair sticking in all directions. His nose was so long it curved down over his mouth towards his chin, and he had disproportionately large hands and feet. The vendor¡¯s customer, by contrast, was so tall that his head rose above the carriage roof. He had a pair of curved horns sweeping backwards over his head, and legs like a bull, with reversed knee joints and cloven hooves. His lower half was covered in glossy black fur. Instead of drinking the liqueur, he tossed the cup in his mouth and swallowed it as if it was a pill. Josh climbed out of the coach, and then up at the coachman. Where was he supposed to go now? Into the main keep? After a moment, the coachman noticed his stare and jerked his head towards the steps. Okay then. The doors swung open on their own as he mounted the last of the steps, revealing a great hall full of sunbeams slanting downwards from high windows. After the bustle of the courtyard there was an immediate sense of space and peace, with motes of dust dancing lazily in air that was redolent with the combined scents of lemon and beeswax. A tall, slender man crossed the hall towards him, dressed like an eighteenth-century butler, except he had eyebrows that extended outwards in a slender, feathery spine to either side of his head. He had compound eyes, like an insect, in a brilliant jewelled green. His bearing managed to imply courteous attention, but without a hint of servility. ¡°Welcome, visitor,¡± he said, in a smooth voice that held a hint of a buzz. ¡°The Queen will see you now.¡± He led the way to the floor above, and out onto a terrace that overlooked the lake, where a party of some sort seemed to be in progress, the upper-class sort with drinks and exotic nibbles on trays, borne by circulating waiters. The Queen of the Fey sat in a wicker chair backed by fanned peacock feathers. She wore some pale, diaphanous, gauzy thing, with a slender dagger belted at her hip, and a silver chain diadem draped over the crown of her head. ¡°The young mortal, your highness,¡± the butler said. Josh gave his bow, and was immediately the focus of multiple interested gazes from the assembled courtiers. He had a confusing sense of slender limbs, spiky multi-coloured hair, wings like stained glass, and shimmering silks, but kept his attention on the Queen. She gestured to a stool beside her, so Josh obediently sat down. ¡°Bring the mirror,¡± she commanded, and instantly two servants appeared carrying a full-length mirror between them, which was covered with a cloth. She turned to Josh. ¡°Are you committed this course?¡± Although her tone was neutral, she reminded Josh oddly of a Dungeon Master asking, ¡°Are you sure you want to take the Crimson Eye Jewel from the dead body of the High Priest and place it in the socket of the Elder God''s statue?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yes?¡± he tried. The corner of her mouth quivered, as if she was amused, but then the expression vanished and she was cold and serene again. ¡°Think of the one you wish to find,¡± she commanded, so Josh dutifully recalled his memory of meeting Rob the Hedge Knight. The Queen made a gesture with her hand, and one of the servants pulled the cloth from the mirror with a flourish. The mirror reflected a wavy, distorted view of Josh sitting next to the Queen, but even as he watched the colours bled into each other and swirled like paint caught in the rain. He blinked, and when he looked again, he saw a shadowy cavern with shards of rock thrusting from the ground like stalagmites, but jagged instead of rounded. Rob was there, in full armour, with shadowed eyes, and a dirt-smudged face. He had his sword out, and was holding it in front him while his gaze flicked around him. He didn¡¯t look as if he was in a safe place. ¡°Step through the mirror to join him,¡± the Queen said. ¡°I can¡¯t just talk to him instead? Or invite him through the mirror?¡± Josh asked. ¡°Uh, I mean, your highness.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t hear or see you unless you are on the other side.¡± Leaving both Rob and Josh abandoned in the middle of fairyland. ¡°How do we get home?¡± Josh asked. The courtiers all tittered, while the Queen stared at him with an expectant, raised eyebrow. ¡°What do I need to offer to find my way home?¡± he asked, with gritted teeth. ¡°For two people?¡± The Queen steepled her hands in front of her and regarded him thoughtfully. The courtiers started offering suggestions in clear, bell-like voices. ¡°A shaft of frozen moonlight,¡± one called. ¡°Dew from a thousand cobwebs!¡± called another. ¡°The laughter of seven beautiful maidens,¡± a third put in. The Queen ignored them all. ¡°A journey for a journey,¡± she said at last. ¡°Agreed?¡± ¡°You mean I undertake a journey for you at some point in the future?¡± Josh asked, suspiciously. The Queen inclined her head in agreement. ¡°A long journey?¡± ¡°Of equivalent length.¡± ¡°A dangerous one?¡± ¡°Of equivalent danger.¡± ¡°What if I¡¯m in the middle of something else?¡± ¡°At your convenience, within reason.¡± They stared at each other. ¡°Okay,¡± Josh said reluctantly. He didn¡¯t see that he had a choice, and could only hope that the cavern Rob was in wasn¡¯t in some far off realm that would ordinarily take months to travel to. The Queen produced a coin from her fingers, like a magician performing a magic trick. ¡°Tails,¡± she said, holding it up between her index and middle finger. ¡°You return to Dendral.¡± She flipped the coin in the air, and caught it showing the other side. ¡°Heads,¡± she smiled, ¡°You return here.¡± ¡°How do I make it work?¡± Josh asked. ¡°This coin is to be spent. Simply hold it in your palm, with the side you wish to use uppermost. As with all magic in these lands, it works from your intent.¡± She took his hand, her skin as smooth as silk against his, and pressed the coin into his palm. ¡°Spend wisely,¡± she murmured, and then gestured to the mirror. Josh took a deep breath, and stepped through the glass. Instantly, he was in a dark cave that reeked of sulphur. There was a semi-circle of jagged curved rocks around him, and a spongy mat of moss or algae beneath his feet. There was very little light, most of it cast by a torch jammed into the moss that was already flickering and dying, as if low on fuel. Rob¡¯s face materialised out of the darkness, his sword at the ready. ¡°It¡¯s me!¡± Josh said. ¡°Josh! Uh, we met? On the road? A few weeks back?¡± Rob¡¯s face was hard with suspicion, and Josh realised that after his time in fairyland, he might not trust everything he saw, given the fey penchant for trickery and illusion. ¡°You gave me some pheasants, and your purse,¡± Josh said rapidly. ¡°I need your help!¡± ¡°He speaks truth,¡± another voice said. Something lithe hopped lightly onto a nearby rock. Josh realised it was a fox, with russet fur and a white tipped tail. No, it had two tails. He looked around for the person who had spoken. ¡°Who else is here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me,¡± Rob said. He nodded to the fox. ¡°And her.¡± Josh stared at the fox. That could only mean¡­ ¡°You can talk?¡± ¡°He¡¯s quick,¡± the fox said dryly, then added, ¡°For a mortal.¡± ¡°Where are we?¡± Josh asked, looking around. He had a sense of a great, echoing space, but it was entirely dark except for the lonely pool of flickering light around the sputtering torch. They were standing on a semi-circular ledge, ringed by the jagged rocks he¡¯d seen earlier and mistaken for stalagmites. Behind them was cave mouth, about the height of a man, from which was gusting warm, foetid air. ¡°Fookin¡¯ fooked if I know, mate.¡± ¡°I believe this to be the Cave of Wyrms,¡± the fox observed. ¡°There¡¯s something out there,¡± Rob said. ¡°I keep hearing movement. It doesn¡¯t come into the torchlight, though.¡± ¡°Uh, do you have another torch?¡± ¡°Last one, mate,¡± Rob said, calmly, as if it wasn¡¯t a problem that he was out of illumination in the middle of a giant cave, while some unseen monster prowled just beyond the light¡¯s edge. There was the sound of cracking rock, and Josh felt a tremor beneath his feet. He hastily thumbed through his spell book, found the Heat spell, and tore it out. The spongy material they were standing on might be flammable. He scrabbled at the ground, tearing up several hanks of the stuff, and cast Heat on it to dry it out. He set it carefully on top of a rock and used a second Heat spell to light it. It smouldered, and he backed away from it, coughing, but after a minute it blazed up and burned cheerfully. It wouldn¡¯t last long, and it would take a lot of Heat spells to keep it going, but Josh only needed enough time to convince Rob to leave with him using the magic coin. He opened his mouth to suggest it, but then realised there was something odd about the breeze. The flame from the torch and his burning moss was now being pulled in the opposite direction, which meant the wind was now blowing into the cavern mouth behind them, instead of out. Even as he watched, it reversed direction again. He took another look at the semi-circular platform ringed by jagged rocks around him. ¡°Shit! Are we standing inside a mouth?¡± ¡°I wondered when you would notice,¡± the fox said, amused. The floor beneath them vibrated again. Rob swore and leapt out of the ring of rocks that Josh presumed must be teeth. Josh was hot on his heels. They lost their footing and tumbled into the darkness. Josh bashed his shoulder, and felt the wound in his abdomen flare with pain, while Rob cursed nearby in a string of profanities. The tiny island of light where the torch still burned sudden dimmed and receded, as the platform they had been standing on reared up high above them. The fox muttered something, and a pale, blueish light expanded around them, the source a blue flame that flickered and danced above its head. ¡°Is that fox fire?¡± Josh asked, fascinated. The fox¡¯s eyes snapped to him, and narrowed in displeasure. ¡°A fookin¡¯ mouth? We was standing on a fookin¡¯ monster tongue? You could have fookin¡¯ told us,¡± Rob yelled to the fox. ¡°And since when can you make light, you lying little gobshite?¡± There was a series of short, sharp echoes high above them, as if someone was trying to start a faulty motor, and a different light bloomed, harsh and white after the darkness. Both Rob and Josh flinched, blinded, their eyes watering. When Josh was finally able to lower his arm, the entire cavern was visible. It was about the size of two or three football fields, with a vast arching roof covered in stalactites, and a series of natural terraces spilling down into the centre, which held dome-shaped rocks, some of which were cracked open ¡­ oh hell, those were eggs. And the remains of hatched eggshells. Maybe the baby wyrms were the creatures Rob had heard skittering around in the darkness. More importantly, the mother wyrm was still tearing her vast bulk free of the rocky encrustations around her. Splintered stone cascaded off her flanks, crashing all around them, and the tremors resulting from her movement caused several of the stalactites to break free and fall to the cavern floor. In shape she was like a vast snake, or a long, slender, flexible crocodile, with a ridged double row of scales down her back, and small, vestigial limbs. When she finally looked down at them, Josh nearly wet himself with fear, because the light that filled the cavern was issuing from her eyes and mouth, burning as bright as phosphorous. She screamed, and suddenly there was only sound. It filled Josh¡¯s whole world and there was nothing he could do but clamp his hands over his ears in a completely useless gesture, because the scream was like a tsunami that swept over him, blanketing him so completely he was unable to sense anything else. When the sound finally died away his ears hurt, his head was ringing, and he was curled up in a foetal position on the cavern floor. There were rocks digging painfully into his side, but he hadn¡¯t been able to feel them until just now. The scream was probably something to make the mother wyrm¡¯s prey freeze so she could eat them. Josh needed to move right now. He staggered to his feet. Even as he stood, a large, solid weight slammed into him and he tumbled down another slope, sliding to a stop in a cloud of rock dust several feet away. He¡¯d skinned a knee and part of his arm, and his head rang from hitting it on something. Only his constant training with the staff had enabled him to hold onto it instinctively instead of dropping on it. The weight on top of him moved. It was Rob who had slammed into him and pushed him down the slope. Not far above them the mother wyrm¡¯s maw was scraping angrily at the area where they had been lying only moments ago, but she was curiously silent. Josh could only hear a ringing sound in his ears. It wasn¡¯t until Rob pulled him to his feet, his mouth moving in a soundless shout, that Josh realised they were both deaf. They ran. After several strides, Josh realised they were following something russet and blue that dodged gracefully through the clusters of eggs and bits of splintered eggshell. Every so often he saw movement in the shadows, revealing hint of a snapping jaw or a spiked tail, but the wyrmlings seemed wary of the light their mother emitted. The coin! He should activate it now. Did it need physical contact? The Queen said it worked from intent. He fumbled for it and gripped it tightly in his palm. It would be a disaster if he dropped it. He made sure that the tails side was uppermost, and firmly imagined himself, Rob and the fox back in Dendral, right outside Mayad¡¯s shrine. He could feel the magic rise to his will, but there was a strange, dragging sensation, as if some element of the spell was missing. Had the Queen betrayed him? Was the coin faulty? He risked a glance over his shoulder, and saw that the mother wyrm had abandoned her investigation of the area they had just run away from and was snaking her head over the rest of the cavern, searching for them. The shadow of her vast form slid over them, and Josh put all his energy into running as fast as he could after Rob and the fox. Hopefully the fox knew where she was going. 1.54 - How the Queen of the Fey gets her way Josh nearly skidded on a patch of moss lurking in the shadows, caught himself on a stone egg and plunged between a narrow gap after Rob. His ears were still muffled in silence, and he couldn¡¯t help glancing behind him every few seconds, looking for the mother wyrm. She was turning away to the other side of the cavern, so he put his full attention forwards, and scrambled up onto a ledge. They had run from roughly the centre of the cavern, and were now half-way towards the edge, but the route was getting steeper. There was no time to work out what was wrong with the get-out-of-jail-free coin, nor could he explain the problem to Rob, because neither of them could hear each other. Imagine if he got killed while holding a teleportation device, merely because he couldn¡¯t work out how to use it. Ahead, Rob boosted himself up onto the next level. Josh went to follow, then felt a shock vibrate through his body from behind. He slammed him into the cliff in front of him, while at the same time a dozen shards of rock pelted his back and shoulders. When he looked back, he saw, to his horror, that half the ledge was missing, and the giant maw of the mother wyrm was opening in front of him, displaying her vast, curved fangs and the white-hot glare from her throat. He scrambled to the side, ducking behind a curved overhang just in time. The light brightened painfully, and a wash of heat flowed over him, singing his skin. When he glanced at the place he had been standing, he saw a burning white substance splashed all over the rock, accompanied by a strong chemical stink and clouds of black smoke. The wyrm was spitting molten metal or something. The white flare cooled and died down, evaporating as it burned itself out, leaving scorched marks behind. On a ledge directly above him he saw Rob, crouched behind his on shard of rock, with a fragment of stone in his hand. Rob hefted the stone and threw it away to the right. The head of the wyrm whipped around¡ªbut only after the stone landed. Josh realised she must be following the sound, rather than the movement, even though he couldn¡¯t hear anything yet himself. He muffled his nose and mouth with his sleeve to keep out the smoke, scrambled out of his hiding place¡ªhe¡¯d been hiding in the remains of an egg, he realised¡ªand ran for the ledge that Rob was crouched on. The rock was hot enough to scald his palms when he pulled himself up, and then he was running again. Ahead he could see the russet coat of the fox, still streaming blue fox fire as she vanished into a tunnel. A way out? He checked quickly over his shoulder for the mother wyrm. She was snorting angrily and shaking her head, as if she had only now realised that the thrown stone had been a decoy. Josh tucked his staff underneath his arm and crawled rapidly into the tunnel after Rob, praying that the wyrm wouldn¡¯t decide to spit white hot molten stuff after them. He only realised he was scrambling forward in a panic when he crashed into Rob¡¯s boots. His breath was coming in short gasps, and he immediately tried to reign it back, but he could feel his chest heaving. The tunnel above them expanded out until it was higher than Josh¡¯s head, allowing them both to stagger upright. Josh grabbed Rob¡¯s arm and tried to show him the coin, but the fox was already vanishing into a tunnel on the other side of the cave, and Rob merely tossed a glance at the coin before following. It was a flicker out of the corner of Josh¡¯s eye that warned him, and he reacted without thinking, bringing the quarterstaff up into a thrust. As before, when he¡¯d killed TheAxeMan, the head of the staff turned into a spearhead, impaling the creature that had leapt at him. It was a crocodile-snake, about six feet long, with a long, toothy maw, a slender body and small front limbs. The back limbs were larger, and coiled with power, but scrabbled uselessly before falling limp. The creature was the size of a small pony, and the weight of it wrenched the staff out of Josh¡¯s hands, which was unfortunate, because there was a second one leaping from the ground towards him. He ran up the wall to avoid it, flipped into a somersault, and landed behind it, where the first one lay on the ground, with the spear still sticking out of it. He grabbed the weapon and wrenched it out, just as the second one coiled around in an eyeblink, and leapt at him again, hissing. This time the spearhead skittered off its scales, so he leaped backwards to avoid its snapping teeth, reversed the spear, and hit it with the blunt end. Josh had expected a glancing blow, but instead there was a crunch, and the creature¡¯s skull caved in. The butt of the spear had formed a small but heavy knob, like a mace, which had created enough force to dent the wyrmling¡¯s scaled skin. Josh looked around hastily for any other wyrmlings, then spared a bemused glance at the mace attachment, which was already melting back into a spear. It was just as well, as it made the weapon feel unwieldy and unbalanced. Rob had only just realised something was wrong. He turned, his sword at the ready, but both wyrmlings were dead. He prodded a wyrmling corpse distastefully with one foot, gave Josh a nod, and continued through the tunnel, his eye flicking carefully over the walls. The coin! Josh had dropped the coin. He looked around frantically, even as the light from the fox fire began to fade as the fox drew further ahead. He hastily dropped to his knees, running his hands over the ground, and then cursed himself for his stupidity. It was magic. He should be able to feel it. The room as nearly pitch black, and if another wyrmling attacked him now, he would be easy prey. He cast his senses out, and felt a tiny ping. He leapt for it, cracking his knee painfully on a ridge of uneven ground. The moment his fingers closed around it, he launched himself fast as he dared after Rob. The next tunnel led into a sharp slope leading down, covered in scree, leading into a maze of rock formations. Rob skidded down first, while the fox waited impatiently from atop a nearby boulder. Josh was only halfway down when the wyrmlings attacked again. The first he knew of it was when the fox vanished and Rob was throwing himself into a lunge, sword extended to impale the wyrmling leaping down towards him. There was a second one going for Rob¡¯s back, in a pincer attack. Josh shouted involuntarily, just as it landed on Rob¡¯s back, it¡¯s maw ready to envelop his head. But Rob had drawn a falchion, and reached behind him to thrust it at the monster. At that point, Josh arrived in a spray of gravel, and jammed his spear up into the wyrmling¡¯s belly. The thrust went awry, but it distracted the wyrmling, which flung itself away from Rob and vanished into the darkness. There was blood pouring down Rob¡¯s neck from a head wound. Josh¡¯s eyes widened and he pointed urgently, but all Rob did was swipe at the blood, grimace, and then ignore it. They had to get out of here. Josh held up the coin again, pointed at it and then pointed urgently at the ceiling. ¡°Way ¡­ out ¡­¡± he mouthed. He saw Rob¡¯s eyes widen with realisation. Rob looked around, calling out something that Josh couldn¡¯t hear. The fox appeared immediately, landing lightly on Rob¡¯s shoulder, and peering intently at the coin in Josh¡¯s palm. Her fox fire flared, lighting up the coin, which lay tails side up, ready to send them to Dendral if only Josh could get it to work. Josh started when the fox hopped across to his shoulder, and coiled around the back of his neck to poke her nose closer to the coin. One of her tails brushed his ear, the fur coarse and bushy, and suddenly he could hear her voice reverberating in his head, without first passing through his ears.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Where will it take us?¡± ¡°To Dendral,¡± Josh replied. ¡°And the other side?¡± Josh hesitated. ¡°To the Queen of the Fey,¡± he said reluctantly. The fox immediately tensed. ¡°Bugger,¡± she said, eloquently. She leaped back to Rob, presumably to pass on the information. Josh looked up and saw Rob¡¯s eyes narrow in calculation, just as the jumble of rock around them unfolded and heaved itself to its feet. Both Rob and Josh went flying. Josh kept hold of the coin, this time, but lost hold of his staff. He still couldn¡¯t hear, but there was a low rumble all around them, a vibration he could feel in his bones. His staff was lying a few feet away. He peeled himself off the ground and ran towards it just as a giant tail came slamming down in front of him, the shockwave catapulting him into the air. He landed on the ground again, with a jolt that winded him. The tail lifted again, and Josh rolled away from it. But his staff was now on the other side. He glanced over at Rob, who was ducking agilely around the legs of the monster, with the fox clinging desperately to his back. Josh didn¡¯t want to leave the staff behind, but he risked being flattened if he tried to retrieve it. All his spells were useless. He didn¡¯t have any feathers with him, and they wouldn¡¯t have done him any good anyway. The tail swung towards him and he jumped out of the way again, this time managing to stay on his feet. Instead of swinging back towards him, the tail continued sweeping around. The new monster was a wyrmling, but much bigger than the small ones that had attacked previously, about the size of a large elephant. It kept rotating, snapping its jaws at Rob as he ducked and weaved around its legs. Josh grabbed his spear. Could he go for its eyes? Even as he had that thought, the monster roared again, a sensation that was felt rather than heard through the soles of his feet. He danced to the side, hefting the spear like a javelin, but before he had an opportunity to throw it, the ceiling exploded. Giant claws stabbed down, pulling shards of rock away, and letting in a harsh white glow from above. The mother wyrm! Josh fumbled for the coin, and then sprinted for Rob. The white glare faded, leaving them in darkness. Josh blinked, trying to understand what he was seeing, outlined as it was by the blue light of the fox fire. The mother wyrm¡¯s head dipped down, grasped the back of the large wyrmling¡¯s neck, and gently lifted it out of the cavern, setting it to the side as it if weighed no more than a kitten. Then the white glare reignited. That meant she was going to spit molten rock or whatever it was at them. Josh reached Rob just as her maw came down again. He held out the coin, hoping it was still tails up. Rob seemed to know what to do, because he put his finger on the coin. The fox clambered up Rob¡¯s shoulder, ran delicately down his arm, and placed her paw on the coin too. The last thing Josh felt, before everything dissipated in a white glare, was Rob flipping the coin from heads to tails. The next thing he was aware of was falling over backwards onto a hard, marble floor. He was in a brightly lit room, looking up at a ceiling mural, depicting lords and ladies dancing. So, the Queen of the Fey¡¯s castle then. He raised his head and saw Rob sprawled opposite him, with the fox off to the side. Only one tail was in evidence, and she was clapped to the floor with flattened ears. Josh was full of aches and pains, and his skin stung in various places where he had scraped it while falling. He was also covered in rock dust. At least his hearing seemed to be back. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± he asked the fox. ¡°I do,¡± the fox said solemnly. Josh hesitated, but she didn¡¯t elaborate. ¡°She¡¯s Foxy,¡± Rob said, then rolled over and coughed. ¡°Your name is Foxy?¡± Josh couldn¡¯t help asking incredulously. ¡°No.¡± The fox sounded prim. ¡°Fey, right, mate?¡± Rob explained. ¡°They don¡¯t give their fookin¡¯ names. That¡¯s just what I call her.¡± Josh hadn¡¯t realised the fox counted as fey. Most of the otherworldly creatures in Six Spires were inspired by European mythology. ¡°Are you a kitsune?¡± he asked her. ¡°That¡¯s a Japanese legend.¡± Foxy¡¯s tail stiffened and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. But before she could respond her eyes darted to behind Josh. Her tail fluffed up in alarm and she darted away, running to hide behind Rob, who was now sitting up. She peeked cautiously out from under his arm. Josh was still lying down, so it was easier to tip his head back to see who was behind them. He saw a vision in a flowing dress of periwinkle blue, with golden hair tumbling over her shoulders, caught by a diadem winking with gems. ¡°You would be correct,¡± said the Queen of the Fey. ¡°She is a legacy fragment.¡± What was a legacy fragment? The Queen stopped directly above Josh and smiled down at him in a knowing way. He had to physically clench his jaw to stop himself from asking. He already owed her a journey, whatever that meant. ¡°Three journeys?¡± she asked, lifting one eyebrow as she surveyed the room¡¯s occupants. ¡°Three?¡± Josh sat up hurriedly, and winced at the extra aches and pains that announced themselves. ¡°One for each traveller.¡± The Queen¡¯s dark eyes moved onto Rob. ¡°You have come to challenge my Champion,¡± she stated. Rob set his jaw mulishly in reply. The Queen considered him thoughtfully. ¡°You shall do so at sundown,¡± she said at last, decisively. With that she walked away. The fox let out a relieved sigh, and shook herself all over. Several servants came in, dishing out hot, lemon-scented towels on silver trays, followed by the butler with long, white, eyebrow whiskers, the one Josh had met when he had first arrived. ¡°Healing baths have been arranged for you, gentle folk,¡± he said in his smooth yet scratchy voice. ¡°If you will follow me.¡± The healing baths were truly amazing. They consisted of a series of sunken pools filled with steamy, fragrant water, each with a pile of bright green leaves about the size of Josh¡¯s palm lying beside them. One of the servants showed them how to wipe the leaves across their wounds, instantly numbing the pain, then left them to peel off their clothing and step into the baths. Foxy daintily tested the water with one paw, rather like a cat, then shook the droplets off with distaste, and curled her tail primly around her feet. Josh hissed as he lowered himself in. The water was just on the uncomfortable side of hot, but he could feel his muscles loosening. All of a sudden, he felt a wave of tiredness overcome him. Rob had already tipped his head back and started to snore. Josh fought to keep his eyes open, even though his head was nodding. He realised he had nearly fallen asleep, and jerked himself up. To his alarm, the shadows coming from the long windows across from him had moved which meant he had been asleep. His head had been resting on a folded-up towel, which had been placed there after he got in. That meant the servants had been checking up on them. His clothes had been cleaned, dried, ironed and now sat in a folded pile just within reach. Josh looked over at Rob, who was blinking awake and rubbing his face with one hand. ¡°Sundown soon,¡± Josh observed. ¡°Finally,¡± Foxy said. She had made herself a nest of towels and was sprawled inside them. ¡°I was beginning to think we¡¯d be lost in fairyland forever.¡± ¡°Nobody invited you to come along,¡± Rob pointed out. ¡°You¡¯d be dead if it wasn¡¯t for me.¡± Despite being a fox, there was a recognisably smug look on her face. Josh noticed that Rob didn¡¯t correct her. Once they were dried and dressed, the servants reappeared. It wasn¡¯t until they were back in the corridor that Josh realised Rob was being led in the opposite direction from him. ¡°The Queen will see you now,¡± the servant told Josh, seeing his hesitation. Josh¡¯s wariness increased. ¡°You¡¯re alright, mate,¡± Rob said, unhelpfully, before striding off after his own guide. The servant conducted Josh to a tower room, octagonal in shape, with tall open windows leading to a balcony that overlooked a sea. Josh did a double take. Sea? The palace was no longer in the centre of a mirror-calm lake. He could hear waves crashing at the base of the tower, and the eerie cry of seagulls as they wheeled in a cloudy grey sky above. The Queen was reclining on a chaise longue, dressed in leggings, soft-leather boots, a wide leather belt, and a billowing white shirt. There was even a wide-brimmed hat with a feather in it sprawled on a nearby table. That was the third outfit he had seen her in so far. Did she change clothing as regularly as the palace location, or had he been here for three days now without realising? There was something familiar about the set up. ¡°This is the revelation scene from the game,¡± Josh said, suddenly realising. ¡°When the player finds out that the warrior handmaiden he¡¯s been having adventures with is the Queen herself.¡± ¡°Does it meet your expectations?¡± the Queen asked, tilting her head back to regard him. Josh found himself flushing at the memory of the romance options the quest had introduced at that point. ¡°It feels slightly weird. The game isn¡¯t meant to be real. Or have real people in it.¡± He avoided her gaze and looked around. ¡°Is this place real?¡± ¡°That depends on how one defines reality.¡± Josh thought about that. ¡°So, is reality a physical substrate that exists independently in itself, or is it subjective experience dependent on the observer?¡± he asked. There was a short silence. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, feeling his ears grow hotter than ever. ¡°You didn¡¯t mean ¡­ uh ¡­¡± He realised the Queen was laughing silently. ¡°That will teach me to make gnomic utterances.¡± She gestured to a couch beside her. ¡°Come, sit.¡± Josh perched cautiously on the edge of it. ¡°You can think of the fey realm¡ªthe part under my control, at least¡ªas a series of fragments, all linked together.¡± ¡°Like zones in a game.¡± Spiralia had been a seamless open world game, but each separate area had been controlled by its own server node. The Queen sat up, suddenly intent. ¡°Tell me!¡± she commanded, ¡°I want to hear everything about your life on Earth!¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± Josh said. Why Earth? ¡°What do you want to know?¡± 1.55 - How to claim a life It turned out that the Queen of the Fey was fascinated by the idea of Tinder. ¡°But the other person can¡¯t tell if you swiped left?¡± she asked. Josh was sitting on a low couch at right angles to the sofa where the Queen was currently sprawled. She was holding one slender hand palm up in front of her, above which floated the illusion of a smartphone. Josh hadn¡¯t described it to her. This was something she had already known. ¡°Not that easily,¡± he said, wrinkling his brow and trying to think how it worked. ¡°If they already swiped right, they just won¡¯t get a match with you, so I suppose they might realise if that doesn¡¯t happen within a week or so.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The Queen pursed her mouth thoughtfully. ¡°So one is free to seek romance without the threat of rejection. Tell me, is your world commensurately full of happy couples?¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± Josh adopted a comically thoughtful expression. The last few hours had been surprisingly pleasant and companionable. Josh had even been offered tea, which was served in tiny china bowls, along with milk and some delicate lacy biscuits that tasted of oranges and lemons. He had been initially hesitant to accept fey food and drink, but the Queen had laughed, and informed him that he would suffer no ill effects from it. After all, she could beguile him quite happily without it. Josh had immediately been distracted by the implications of that. ¡°There¡¯s mind control magic?¡± he had asked, feeling a chill down his spine, not at the implied threat, but that it existed at all. The Queen had shrugged one elegant shoulder. Everything gesture she made was graceful, all more so because it was completely unconscious. There was nothing studied about her. She simply was. ¡°There are no mental attributes in the character sheets,¡± Josh had pressed. ¡°A mage with healing powers might be able to trigger emotions, if they were skilled enough,¡± she had said. ¡°Otherwise, all mental manipulation is achieved by tried and tested methods¡ªsound, scent, gesture, words.¡± She had smiled. ¡°And, of course, sex.¡± Josh had felt himself flushing, but she had ignored that and continued. ¡°The most powerful of the arcane arts in that respect is illusion, since it can be used to deceive and mislead so effectively. The most powerful method of manipulation itself, however, is one¡¯s knowledge of the other person¡¯s motivations.¡± What were the Queen¡¯s motivations? Josh had wondered how many outlanders she had invited here in order to grill them about Earth. It felt like he was just a long line of many, given how much she already seemed to know. What did she want? And how many questions would she let him ask? They seemed to be trading questions and answers. He was doing his best to keep count, because he didn¡¯t want to owe any more favours. ¡°You don¡¯t seem much like a runner to me,¡± the Queen said, suddenly switching from the subject of Tinder. Josh blinked at her. ¡°I run a bit, because it increases my stats,¡± he said. The Queen made an impatient gesture. ¡°Not running,¡± she said. ¡°Runners. As in Bow Street. Or is this not an official investigation?¡± Josh blinked at her some more, completely. ¡°Bow Street?¡± ¡°You said you were sent to Six Spires to investigate the disappearances,¡± the Queen pointed out. That had been at their first meeting, near the stone circle, right after Josh had arrived. ¡°Yeah? But I don¡¯t get the Bow Street reference.¡± ¡°A Bow Street Runner. A thief taker. Maybe you call it something else?¡± ¡°Like a private investigator?¡± he asked doubtfully. The term she was using suddenly clicked. ¡°Weren¡¯t Bow Street Runners from the eighteenth century or something?¡± Josh had the hazy idea that they had been like the Pinkertons, except more official. ¡°A very long time ago indeed,¡± the Queen agreed, with an odd inflection in her voice. ¡°So how did you come to be involved in this, then?¡± ¡°My cousin was a journalist and noticed a trend in the game¡ª¡± Josh began, and then noticed that her brow had creased. ¡°Journalist? One who writes journals? A diarist?¡± ¡°He writes news stories,¡± Josh explained. ¡°For newspapers?¡± ¡°Ah. I understand.¡± ¡°So, he got me to play the game and pretend to be lonely and bored, with inattentive parents. You know, like the profile of the missing teenagers?¡± She had a curious, introspected look on her face. ¡°The dissatisfied,¡± she said. ¡°The ones looking for something.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°But neither you nor your cousin could have imagined the truth behind the disappearances.¡± Josh deflated. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Are you hoping merely to report back to your cousin by seeking the power of the Dreamer? Or do you imagine you will be able to return to Earth?¡± Josh hesitated, an unexpected lump in his throat. He swallowed. ¡°Both?¡± He studied her face, hoping for some sort of clue. Did she think either was feasible? Now her expression was entirely neutral, and gave him not the slightest inkling of what she was thinking or feeling. ¡°Even the most powerful of us¡ªthe elder beings, that is¡ªhave never been able to re¡ª¡± she stopped, as if her throat had closed up, and coughed. ¡°Excuse me. Has never been able to reach Earth.¡± She paused, and added, ¡°No-one did, until Tylas broke through the veil. But I have always believed that was intended.¡± ¡°Intended by who?¡± The Queen blithely disregarded this question. ¡°You might consider this,¡± she said, ¡°Why have none of the Elders sought the power of the Dreamer?¡± Josh opened his mouth and closed it again. ¡°Can I ask why you haven¡¯t?¡± he said, at last. ¡°You may,¡± she said, perfectly straight-faced. He drew in a breath to ask more directly, and then saw the twinkle in her eye. After a moment, her expression grew more serious and she said, ¡°Because the power of the Dreamer heralds the end of the world.¡± She left those words, and their import, hanging in the air. Meanwhile, a million questions tumbled through Josh¡¯s head, like multiple lines of collapsing dominoes. Where did he even start? At that point, a servant quietly opened the door, and when the Queen looked over, bowed and said, ¡°Your Highness, it is nearly sunset.¡± The Queen nodded and stood. Josh hastily got to his feet, aware that it was a point of Six Spires noble etiquette not to remain seated in the presence of a lady whilst she was standing. He glanced over at the setting sun, and his heart sank. Rob¡¯s duel would now take place. He became aware that the Queen was waiting for something, and belatedly offered her his arm, which she took. ¡°You¡¯re not looking forward to this,¡± she said. How could she tell? Probably because she was an elder being with oceans of experience in reading people. And also possessed, he thought, of oddly specific knowledge pertaining to eighteenth century England. How did she know about Bow Street Runners? Josh barely knew about them, and they were something from his own country, albeit from nearly three hundred years ago. She couldn¡¯t have heard about them from another outlander, could she? She¡¯d mentioned the litany of things she knew¡ªmostly women¡¯s rights and modern technology. She¡¯d been asking her outlander guests about modern culture and modern things.Stolen novel; please report. Which implied¡­ Just as he had the thought, they arrived in the great hall, which was thronged with fairy courtiers, all lined against the walls and whispering and giggling in ways that echoed from the distant ceiling, making it seem as if there were twice as many of them. As soon as the Queen appeared at the top of the steps, they all sank down into deep bows or curtseys. The Queen sailed down the stairs as if floating on air, while Josh did his best not to stumble and trip over his own feet. She subtly guided him to a dais, upon which sat throne out of a medieval fairy tale, and beside it a stool. It was a comfortable stool, as these things went, with a wide seat and a red velvet cushion. The Queen sank onto the throne and gestured Josh towards the stool. He sat, somewhat nervously, aware that he was getting curious glances from the assembled courtiers, some of which were not friendly. There were side doors in the hall, one to the left and one to the right. The set on the right opened now, and a herald called out, ¡°All welcome, the Champion of our dearest and most beloved Queen, the faithful Lady Charral of the Harvest!¡± Immediately everyone broke out into cheers as Charral, the armoured knight who had threatened to kill Josh when he had first arrived, paced out into the centre of the hall. There was no drama or flourishing that you would expect of the fey. She looked human-shaped, instead of slender and spiky, the only sign of her eldritch nature being a faint red glow around her. She went down on one knee to the Queen, who said, ¡°Rise, my Champion.¡± The herald then turned to the opposite set of doors just as they opened. ¡°And here, the challenger, Sir Rob the Foul-Tongued, Hedge Knight and Cockerel¡¯s Bane!¡± Rob strode out, dressed in his battered plate armour. The courtiers tittered. No-one cheered, so Josh stood up and clapped enthusiastically. ¡°Go, Rob!¡± he yelled. Not that Rob seemed to hear any of it. He was focused only on Charral. Josh became aware of the courtiers¡¯ titters gradually dying down, in a circle spreading out from the dais. He looked at the Queen, but she didn¡¯t appear to be doing anything. It was like watching frost creep outwards in a time-lapse video, except without any actual tangible ice. Was it disapproval of the courtiers¡¯ mockery? It was therefore into the middle of a hushed, anxious sort of silence that the herald cleared his throat. ¡°Who will stand as seconds to Lady Charral and her challenger?¡± Charral¡¯s second was one of the thickset fey with abnormally long arms, a bald head surrounded by tufts of grey hair and a mouth in an upturned moon shape. There didn¡¯t seem to be anyone acting as second for Rob, so Josh hesitantly volunteered. A second¡¯s first responsibility was, apparently, to attempt a reconciliation between the principals of the duel. That technicality dispensed with¡ªneither combatant bothered even to respond to the question¡ªthe swords were brought forth, borne on red satin pillows by servants. The duty of the seconds was to inspect them and ensure they were both identical. Josh had been expecting rapiers, but these were longswords, with plain hilts, and blades that were perfectly smooth and sharp and gleaming. Josh summoned every scrap of magical sense he had, but there was no magic on the blades, and both looked the same to him. The swords were offered to Charral and Rob. Charral merely took hers without comment, but Rob gave a few experimental swings, testing the weight, and it seemed to meet his approval, for he nodded sharply. The herald stood between them. ¡°What will satisfy the honour of the combatants?¡± ¡°Final death,¡± Rob said, loudly and firmly. Josh swung round to stare at him in consternation, but the herald acted as if this was perfectly normal, and looked at Charral inquiringly, who simply grunted agreement. Rob¡¯s face was hard and determined. Josh found his fellow second tugging his arm and pulling him back towards the edge of the hall. If Rob killed Charral she would die, but if Charral killed Rob he would just resurrect in a week or two. So that was ¡­ not fair on Charral, but at least Rob would survive. But Rob had said ''final'' death. Did that mean it was to a real death, with no resurrection option? Charral looked at the Queen. Josh couldn¡¯t see her expression below the helm, but the Queen raised her hand, as if in permission, and the red glow intensified, then vanished as if popped by a bubble. Josh couldn¡¯t help a quick intake of breath. Charral was a player. [Charral Paladin of the Fey Level 40 Player rank: 33 Gladiator rank: 302 Kills: 45 | Deaths 16 Karma: -900] Not just a player, but a paladin, no less. Rob¡¯s stats hadn¡¯t changed substantially, although his level had increased from 37 to 38, and his gladiator rank had dropped from 12 to 16. His gladiator rank was higher than Charral¡¯s, and so was his kill score, but he was still two levels lower. The change in his stats suggested that during his time in the fey realm, he had encountered a great deal of monsters that gave him experience, but few other players. The herald held up a handkerchief, and let it drop. The two combatants stood perfectly still, staring at each other, Charral in a high guard, while Rob settled into a lower stance. The seconds tipped by, and nothing happened. Josh¡¯s nerves felt like they were slowly being wound around a bobbin and tightened, inch by implacable inch. The start of the fight was so sudden he almost missed it, a quick scuffle and a scrape of blades, and then Rob and Charral were backing away from each other and circling. Charral struck again, just as suddenly, and Josh blinked, because there were fading after images following her. Rob parried and disengaged with frantic haste. Charral was casting illusions, Josh realised, to disguise her sword play. Rob narrowed his eyes, and muttered something that caused the courtiers nearest to him shuffle and whisper in response, by which Josh assumed it was some kind of magical skill. Whatever it was, it seemed to allow him to see through Charral¡¯s deceptions. Undeterred, Charral used one trick after another. She made the floor as slippery as ice beneath Rob¡¯s feet. She cast small dust devils at his eyes. She enveloped herself in a globe of pure darkness, and then created a flash of light so bright that even Josh was blinded. For her last trick, she summoned two transparent dragons, who surrounded Rob and struck him with ghostly fangs. Whatever they did, they seemed to sap energy from him, making him stumble. He had no counter to that, but merely clutched his blade forged on grimly. By that point, it was clear that Rob was on the defensive. He now backed away from Charral constantly, focusing on parrying rather than pressing the attack, and there was sweat dripping from his temple. When he evaded a strike, it seemed as if he did so by a closer margin every time. Charral kept up the pace relentlessly. Her discipline was good. She didn¡¯t allow overconfidence to betray her into extending too far, but kept up the attacks along with the icy floor slicks and the dust devils, choosing whichever one would offer her the greatest advantage at any particular moment. The globe of darkness and the flash of light didn¡¯t make a re-appearance, by which Josh assumed they were expensive to cast, but she didn¡¯t seem to need them. She saw an opening and went for it, almost quicker than the eye could follow. Josh found himself on his feet, his voice hoarse as if he had shouted in alarm. But Rob had parried, and then his blade passed on, unchecked. He didn¡¯t seem as if he was close enough to finish the thrust but he threw himself forward, one hand on the ground, his sword arm extended upwards as far as it would go. His blade blazed brightly¡ªpresumably illuminated by a skill of his own¡ªand his sword plunged into Charral¡¯s chest, straight through the plate of her armour. Beside Josh, the Queen stood and said a word that Josh couldn¡¯t hear. There was a ringing, a strange not-sound, and a ripple that seemed to pass outwards from the duelling circle, making the hall shake. Josh staggered and nearly fell over the stool behind him. When the sound died away, Charral was frozen in place, still mid-combat, with Rob¡¯s sword through her chest. Rob let go of his sword, which remained in place, and got warily to his feet, swinging around to face the Queen. She was already gliding towards the centre of the hall. Josh hurried after her. Once she arrived beside Charral¡¯s frozen form, she came to a stop. Josh peeked at her face, and saw that her expression was cool and remote. ¡°You may claim your prize,¡± she said to Rob. For the first time, Rob looked uncertain. Then he pressed his lips together, and swallowed. ¡°I need a ... I need a knife,¡± he said. The Queen didn¡¯t respond to this, so Rob looked at Josh expectantly. ¡°What?¡± Josh said, and then understanding dawned. That was what Rob had meant by final death. ¡°You want to ¡­ you want to take her player core? Why?¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s what she does!¡± Rob cried. He nodded his head at Charral. ¡°She fights anyone from Earth she comes across, and when she wins, she cuts them open and they die and don¡¯t come back. She¡¯s a fookin¡¯ serial killer.¡± Josh was still trying to process the idea that Rob was planning to cut Charral open. ¡°Uh ¡­ hang on a moment¡­¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve waited long enough.¡± Rob¡¯s face was dark with anger. The Queen spoke. ¡°You do not need a knife,¡± she said, her voice low and calm. ¡°Simply place your hand on her chest, and call it to you. It will come.¡± Rob jerked his head towards the Queen. He started to speak, then paused. He took a couple of deep breaths, and Josh could see that he was relieved at not having to cut into a woman¡¯s chest, even one he considered to be an evil serial killer, but determined not to admit it. ¡°That fey magic?¡± he asked. ¡°Only ask questions of the fey if you want to owe them for the answer,¡± Josh reminded him. Rob blinked. ¡°Right,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah.¡± Rob stretched his hand towards Charral, and Josh thought, I¡¯m about to watch a woman being murdered. He didn¡¯t know what to do. Was there anything that would persuade Rob not to follow through? Charral had agreed to the duel, and to a final death. If Charral truly was a horrible serial killer, as Rob claimed, did that make it right? Wasn¡¯t there an alternative, like, for example, the Queen ordering her not to kill any more outlanders, or imprisoning her instead? Rob¡¯s hand was already on her chest. ¡°Rob,¡± Josh began, but was interrupted when Rob recoiled with an oath. His face, previously flushed from the duel, was now sheet white, and he was breathing heavily. He stared at his hand in horror. ¡°What the fook¡­¡± he said, ¡°What the fook? That¡¯s fooking sick.¡± He turned to the Queen. ¡°Is this some fooking fairy trick?¡± The courtiers recoiled with a series of shocked gasps, running around the hall like a Mexican wave. The Queen merely shook her head. ¡°There is no trick. You demanded her life, and won it. It belongs to you. Why do you baulk at claiming what is rightfully yours?¡± Rob stared at her. ¡°That¡¯s her?¡± he asked. ¡°That kid ¡­ that¡¯s Charral?¡± The Queen inclined her head. ¡°I want her to fooking die!¡± Rob said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to live her fooking life in a fooking vision! I don¡¯t care what the fook happened to her. It¡¯s no fooking excuse for what she did!¡± Oh, Josh thought. He darted a glance at the Queen. That was clever. Josh had no idea what kind of traumatic events would produce someone like Charral, but presumably it wasn¡¯t pleasant. ¡°Every single core that Charral took,¡± the Queen said slowly, her words dropping weightily into the hall like stones into a pond. ¡°Every single core she took, she claimed in this way. She lived the sins of the ones she killed. Do you, having won hers, now refuse your prize?¡± ¡°I could just cut the fooking thing out instead.¡± The Queen tilted her head. ¡°Are you afraid?¡± she asked, in a mildly inquiring tone of voice. ¡°You are claiming not just her core, but her life. Do you fear that seeing her past will stay your hand? Are you so merciful towards your enemies? I assure you she committed every crime of which you accuse her.¡± Rob stared at her. ¡°Jesus fooking Christ,¡± he said and turned away, pacing up and down. The Queen waited patiently. After several moments, Rob seemed to come to a decision. ¡°Alright,¡± he snarled. ¡°I¡¯ll do it your fooking way. Happy now?¡± He visibly girded himself, and then placed his hand on Charral¡¯s chest once more.