The end of the song arrived with a muddled applause, and the announcement of a small break. Andrew removed his guitar, set it down next to the chair, and made his way over to the bar.
He eased himself onto the stool, nodded his thanks to the bartender for the waiting drink, and took a sip.
“Seems like you’re doing well up there.”
Andrew smiled, and turned with his arms open. “Kate! I didn’t think you’d manage to make it tonight!”
She laughed, and leaned in. “Like I’d miss my big brother’s performance.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Not like this is anything special, you’ve been to a dozen before. Besides, you’ve already missed most of this one.”
She shrugged apologetically. “Sorry! Had a late study session for an exam tomorrow. Got here as quick as I could. Besides…”
She looked around quickly, checking to see if anyone was listening, then leaned in.
“I wanted to know how things were going in the game,” she whispered.
“Sure. I’ll be wrapped up in fifteen. Have a drink on me.”
---
“Are you serious?”
It was an hour later, and they had ended up at a park three blocks away. It was too hard to have a conversation in private at the bar itself.
He began to nod, then realized there was an easier way to show it. He pulled out the cheap pocket knife he kept around. With a flick of his wrist he had it open, and he eyed his surroundings. He gestured towards a flyer set on a tree twenty yards away. Then, with another flick, the knife lept from his hands.
His sister actually began clapping when it buried itself into the center of the flyer.
“Oh my god, that’s so cool!”
He shrugged, but didn’t quite manage to hide his pleased expression. “It’s not quite perfect - you should see the dartboard at my apartment. Well, that and the wall around it. I remember performing the motions, but none of the muscle memory is there. You have to work at it until it really ‘settles’ into your real body, but it works. More than that - the skill is ridiculously high. That knife is a piece of garbage. Someone who’s spent years would only be able to make that throw half the time, but I can do it nine times out of ten now.”
“That’s so cool,” she said, leaning back on the bench and staring at the sky. “Wish I could do that instead of studying.”
He grinned, patting her on the shoulder. “Sorry, don’t think I’ve seen a civic engineering skill yet. No dice.”
She sighed. Then she bolted upright, and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Wait, wait. You’re a bard in the game, right?”
“Well, it’s one of my classes, the system-”
“Blah blah nerd talk, whatever,” she cut in dismissively. “But you are a bard, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And the skills you learn are stupidly good?”
A small smile played out on his lips. “Yeah.”
“Then you should get super guitar playing skills!” she finished, looking supremely proud.
Which turned to a pout when he answered, simply, “Afraid not.”
“Ah, come on!”
“Listen…”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
---
They had spent most of the night reaching the clearing. The woods around them had been filled with a maze of thick webs. They had originally tried to cut their way through, but after they’d nearly lost their weapons to the thick, sticky ropes of web, they’d decided to just pass through the tunnels. Only when they had begun to get lost had Jo lost patience and just decided to burn a tunnel straight through.
After fighting off the dozens of spiders that had drawn to their location, she had still maintained it was better than being lost.
Willemse, still refusing to come out from his hiding spot behind Svengard, maintained that no amount of time save was worth seeing that many spiders.
So they had finally reached the clearing, and the sub boss of the area made her appearance.
The group was fighting furiously, trying to keep the situation under control. The problem wasn’t actually the giant spider. That was tough but manageable.
The actual problem was the hundreds of eggs surrounding the arena. The eggs which burst and spewed forth dozens of spiders if disturbed.
“Any ideas?” shouted Svara, hacking away at the wave of arachnids nearly overflowing their position at the back. Svengard and a few of the others were engaged with the giant spider itself, while the others were trying to figure out a way to stop the unending wave of additional creatures. The more they hurt the spider, the faster they broke free, so at the moment they were trying to do only enough damage to keep it distracted.
“I’m not sure, maybe I’d be able to think if Willemse stopped clutching on to me and blubbering!” shouted Greir from the backline, trying to pry the mage free from his side.
“We need something fast!” shouted Simonstar, using his newest axe to hack apart a cluster of minions.
“Like, right now fast!” shouted Chilkaa.
And on and on, one voice after another.
Until Vallory strummed her guitar.
The piece was calm but with a steady beat, a modified refrain from the piece that had played the night after they saved the Shard. She didn’t play much of it though before Norik jumped in with his drumbeat, rattling off in time to her strings.
Then Greir laughed.
“How lame is this?” he asked, turning to the others. “After everything we’ve face, we’re falling to pieces over some lame spiders?”
Willemse slowly pulled himself off of Greir, looking sheepish. “These aren’t even the worst game spiders I’ve seen, I admit. Just a lot more… personal than normal.”
“Hey, why doesn’t Jo just burn the eggs? That’s how it worked in that movie!” shouted Simonstar excitedly.
“You are much too young to have seen that,” scowled Svengard, but before he could continue Jo had already started throwing around the fire.
---
Andrew paused in his story as a couple walked by.
“And then what happened?” asked Kate excitedly.
“It worked like a charm. Jo started flaming the eggs, Greir started firing up everyone’s weapons, and everyone else got the idea. Had the spider handled pretty easy after that.”
“And so… what, you don’t want to learn guitars in that world because you already do drums?”
Andrew shook his hand. His eyes followed a distant jogger for a moment as he mulled it over in his head.
“Vallory just turned fourteen.”
“I didn’t know you had a kid on your team!”
“She’s not the only one. Simonstar is a year younger than her.” His face turned serious at the thought. “Youngest kid I’ve seen in the Realms, in fact.”
“You still haven’t discovered where the kids are?”
He turned his head down and sighed loudly. “We’ve had… assurances they’re safe. But no, we’re still not sure exactly where they are. Anyway.
“What I didn’t tell you is what it was like when she played.”
---
He watched her, as the others began to argue and panic. She was always reserved. Not just at moments like this, but just in general. She was definitely a part of the group, even a valued one, but she still wasn’t particularly happy with being in the spotlight. She always shied away from attention.
But she was always there, and she always watched so carefully and calmly.
And when the others began to scramble, she didn’t. She got an intense look on her face, of supreme concentration, as she slowly pulled her instrument off her back. She tuned it carefully, deliberately, making sure the sound was just so.
Then she hesitated. She realized, suddenly, what she was doing.
Then Noric gave her a thumbs up. He pulled out his own drums, not playing, just ready. Giving her the solid assurance that she wouldn’t be alone. Then she began to play.
---
“I don’t want to make her think it’s even possible for someone else to replace her. If she knew I could play, that’d be it. She’d instantly defer to me, be unwilling to make that move. But because I’m there ready to back her up, it gives her just a bit more courage. Just that last little push to convince her it’s alright to be that person. That she’s not in it alone.”
His sister was smiling when she finally said, “You’re an idiot, you know that?”
He shrugged. “Of course, there’s also a bit of pride involved. I’ve come this far with my own skills, and I’d like to do the rest by myself too.”
“Old fart.”
“Young whiner.”
And they both set out into the night.