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—he 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.

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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—the swarm of book moths—enveloped 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—” 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—the one Raicheus had grabbed hold of—against 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—and utterly compromised—an 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—separately!—and 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—my 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.