Full of warm stew and thoroughly rested, we made the decision to force ourselves to have an amount of downtime every so often. We needed to maintain some softness so that our hearts didn’t harden too far and crack. And… I adored it. Mostly because I now felt as though I had a social life. Not the expected peers I’d perhaps have in the real world, but I had started to believe that what I had now was more real than anything my prior lives once knew.
We had been lucky with my ability to erase Trauma, allowing Tanya to detail us on the best place to make our assault. If we had needed to wait until the next day, it would have been a struggle to catch them up or head them off at certain points - not without putting ourselves in danger.
Being able to go this evening meant that a few groups would be waking up to no blood, while we’d be resting easy. At least, until we went to farm Quests to level up. The cottage retreat had been good for the group, and it was sad to see it go. Remaining in the same place for too long was asking for trouble, however. We could be tracked, or just happened upon. I’d already had enough ambushes to last me a lifetime. Two lifetimes.
“Don’t think too hard, trickster.”
Ren’s voice took me out of my thoughts as we continued walking. It was early evening now. Somehow, the day had melted away quicker than the grime we had washed away in that hot bath. I blinked away those thoughts as well.
“I’ll try not to. Something about the courier doesn’t sit right with me.” I gave a glance out at the woods around us, as if the darkened recesses beneath the canopy had any answers for me.
She nodded and furrowed her brow. At least more than it already was. “The wizard said that it was three people on a coach, right?”
That was it. “But the Lady requires all groups to be five. Yeah. Hey, Tanya?” I turned to the woman who was further back with Quinn. “Have you seen the couriers before?”
“Twice. Relatively small enclosed carriage. Two horses pulling it.”
I grimaced. “Riders?”
“Three that I saw.” She shrugged. “One up front, one inside, one clinging to the back.”
Ren jostled me with her elbow. “You know what that means?”
All I could do was give her a glare. What would be the chances of there being two more Player horses, and them both being utilized to draw the blood around? That said, if they were just normal horses, I didn’t feel comfortable just killing them or have them be collateral in the ensuing battle.
We had already discussed some tactics on the way over. There were one hundred and one ways in which we could stop or destroy the coach - the key was deciding on the most likely to succeed. They weren’t likely to try to engage us in a fair fight, so killing the horses had been brought up as a potential starting point. Wolf seemed to be the only one keen on that.
It wasn’t beyond us to find a way to sever the animals from the carriage. The issue there was Tanya was sure the main structure of the vehicle would be guarded with spells and auras. A direct assault was just as likely to flare off a shield and engage an emergency speed boost, rather than destroy it outright.
Still, with the five of us, there was no way they could truly evade our reach. I wasn’t even sure why I was so adamant that we didn’t harm the System-created horses. Part of it was wanting to avoid the cruelty often displayed by the Crimson Shadow… but we tore through dozens of Monsters with little thought. These were animal shaped, but no different, surely?
I was getting tired of morally gray scenarios. Gone were the simple days where there was a separation between things to keep safe and things to destroy. Then again, I didn’t think I had made any terrible calls so far. No, I’d stay the course with the original plan. The point wasn’t about morals. It was about ability. We weren’t a blunt instrument, but something finely crafted. We’d split apart what needs to be erased from whatever wasn’t important to us.
And look damn fine doing it.
I turned my head back to the weaver again. “Elephant in the room, Tanya, but do you know what happens when they don’t get their blood?”
She shook her head slowly. “As far as I know, it’s never been allowed to happen.”
“Interesting.” Or more accurately, I should have said intriguing. We’d be finding out in the new future, but I could see that Ren already had some ideas of her own.
“I think they lose their belief in her bull, and thus she loses power.”
That seemed a reasonable guess, and would be something the Lady would be keen to avoid. “But what of them after? Are they now deranged from the withdrawal, or do they revert to how they were before?”
Th elf wrinkled up her face as she considered this.
Another sea of gray that dampened our normally cutthroat way of life. Show-business was like that. If we were to find out that depriving the Crimson of the blood would have them slowly become whatever normal asshole they used to be… it put into question our methods. Well, that was unfair. As much as we tired of being ambushed, it gave us the out that we were only acting in self defense.
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“For what it’s worth,” Tanya spoke up, “most of them weren’t the best of people even before taking the Red. It’s not… brainwashing or anything. More like alcohol, maybe.” She bit her lip. “Brings out something that’s already there.”
The ‘good’ people refused and were killed, so it made sense that we had only met the dregs who remained. Not exactly a comforting thought that so many were so easily talked into wanton violence. There was something uncomfortable about the whole thing that I couldn’t quite process yet, my mind still reeling from our rest period and not wanting to grab hold of the stark reality we were about to face.
Wolf was the first to push through the next clump of bushes to reveal a dirt road running through this wooded part of the area. While I was getting somewhat tired of trees, it seemed to suit Ren and the bear just fine, so I wasn’t about to complain. Plus, any built-up areas had been an excuse for the bad guys to come and kick us in the knees.
Ren kneeled down and ran her finger through a groove in the dirt. “Wheel tracks, but not recent.”
Tanya nodded. “Good, that means we haven’t missed them. I estimate between twenty and thirty-five minutes until contact.”
“Right,” I said. “Gather around and let’s tighten up the plan.”
----------------------------------------
Part of me wished I had arranged things so that I would be waiting for the stagecoach beside Ren. Something rather selfish, but I understood that to perform some tricks, the right angle was everything. No reason for her to be at ground level - and I’d sooner fall out of the tree she was currently in and smash my head open.
I did need to arrange some one-on-one time with her, though. As our Party had grown, our attentions were now shared a couple of extra ways. Not that I could complain, with both Tanya and Quinn getting on well with both her and each other. Our alone time being spent bathing was pure bliss, but often conversation melted away into silent contentedness or unbuttoned passions.
So, as I lay amongst uncomfortable twigs and vegetative lumps, I penciled in a date night for the both of us. Tanya had earmarked a small town where we might find safe rest for this evening. Not the closest accommodation, but we didn’t want to be too obvious in case revenge was hot on the heels of the wagon we were about to upturn.
Being the team leader was a heavier weight than I had anticipated, even if I tried to delegate to democracy as much as possible. As a trio, it had been simple to prod one of my two companions and make sure they were doing fine. Extract their thoughts on how miserable life currently was. Now, with Tanya and Quinn, there didn’t seem to be enough time in the day to make sure all their personal demons were being quelled.
Ah. Was that the people pleasing side coming out again?
I smiled. Even as much as I wanted us to all grow as one, it was nice to have this space to myself. Really dig around in my thoughts and contextualize everything that had been wrought upon us lately without the soft love of Ren or the odd humor or violence that otherwise filled the space.
It wasn’t a lie that I wanted to make us all happy, but now it wasn’t at the cost of my own well-being. I required them to be in peak form, so that I could trust them when the true danger hit the fan. For the most part, I had been managing fine.
Certainly, with Tanya opening up so much to me, it showed that she trusted us and our purpose. It was like… hmm. In some ways, we were all driven by love. Her for her family left behind. Wolf for food and rest - living a good life. Quinn for anything that moved. Ren and I for each other, and a future without so much bloodshed. The Lady and her ilk were driven by a hatred for this System and its rules.
That sort of thinking at least allowed me to paint our actions as more heroic than us being cold-hearted mercenaries.
We had spent a quick ten minutes getting the stage ready for the show, and another five or so had passed as we waited in position. It wasn’t often we had the opportunity to prepare a performance in advance - and I was excited about the process. The couriers were in for a real treat. Assuming they didn’t immediately keel over in surprise.
It was hard to imagine that this would be such a pivotal fight in our war against the Lady. While we had a lot pinned on removing the necromancer from his position, starving them of the necessary blood was something they’d be foolish not to anticipate. Tanya had mentioned that she had been made kill on sight, and blocked by anyone associated with the Crimson Shadow.
I fidgeted on the uncomfortable ground. The green fabric covering most of me would at least obscure most of my garish suit and-
[Ren: Movement.]
[Tanya: Prepare for contact.]
[Wolf: oppp]
[Quinn: Ready^]
[Max: Nice and clean. Stay safe.]
The elf had better hearing than any of us, and even as I strained mine, I couldn’t quite hear anything past my heartbeat and the ambient noise of the woods. I knew better than to doubt her, however. In fact… yes, there it was. Faint but approaching quickly.
Soft thuds of horseshoes against dirt, which caused me to shiver involuntarily. Thundering of wheels trying to stay in the loose ruts of prior journeys. It was like an approaching storm, and I had tingles of anticipation running down my arms. Mostly my right arm, which was worrying - but then again, it was relatively newer to this sort of thing.
Despite nothing having happened, my Power meter was already at 10%
In my wand holster, the group had somehow cobbled together three fully charged Zap wands. Not very damaging, but that’s not what they were for. My spell holster had Dispel, Arcane Evasion, and Flame Shield scrolls. Mostly provided by Tanya, who had a modest stock of a variety of things. She had also given me a specific gray idol, engraved with a cloud symbol embossed with emerald.
Ren was in position in the trees. Wolf was down the road from me and further into the treeline. Quinn and Tanya were together on the opposite side of the road, low and amongst the bushes. I continued to lie amongst the cool leaves of my hiding place, the pre-show nerves making me antsy. I couldn’t wait.
But I did.
Closer and louder now, I narrowed my eyes as the stagecoach rocked past my position. The flash of two horses, deep brown in color, followed by the ivory of the coach itself, large wheels spinning past.
“Woah! A tree has fallen across the road,” the voice from the front shouted out.
I was grinning widely now. So close.
“Careful,” a second man grunted from the back. “Could be a trap.”
It was!
“We’ll circle and go back around,” the first again.
And that was the cue. Curtain was set to rise, the audience not knowing what they were about to get themselves into.
I took one last deep breath and stepped out on stage.