Chapter 11 — South of Skyldr III

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Liquin

Human Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

Melchagar Rauch

Elf Explorer

Healthy

Invigorated

Infused

Unbound

Larali Dahlquist

Human Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

Ketra Zutis

Elf Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

Phoenixia Fireheart

Elf Peasant

Healthy

Able

Cloudy

Unbound

Avalynn Sylvela

Sesylf Sylfara

Valensyl

Melyn

Dektola

Maladec sel nara Sylvec

Manifold

Human Artificer

Healthy

Able

Faded

Four Fjords Alliance

Susanoo Umehara

Elf Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

Requiant Volavus

Human Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

Shirogane Kei

Human Peasant

Healthy

Able

Pure

Unbound

  An army was a bit of an exaggeration, Lily realized, as she finally got a glimpse of the soldiers. There were just twelve of them, just like Ketra said. They had matching armor sets and huge emblems for Felnir emblazoned on their shields, but their attitude didn't exactly evoke the military Ketra had implied. Pretty disappointing, really…

  Avalynn took the lead, crawling through the rain-slicked grass and mud. The steady rain covered the rustling sounds of their movement well enough, and the grass was so tall that Lily couldn't see the fort anymore. Every few meters, Lily flinched at an errant sound, thinking they might have been spotted, but nothing ever came.

  "Ugh," said Ketra, crawling in front of Lily. She had slipped in a particularly bad patch of mud, staining her cloak brown.

  Lily grinned. "What's wrong with a little mud?"

  Ketra shook her head, grimacing. She turned back forward and kept crawling, while Lily smirked. They pressed on, a ragged line of ten, with Avalynn and Ketra in the lead, while Michael and Simon brought up the rear. Lily's blades clacked against her legs as she crawled, tied up high on her belt as best she could manage.

  At least weapons are basically waterproof here… Rust was just a gameplay gimmick, not a real concern. Michael assured her that she didn't need to worry about tetanus—and, while she might be freezing from the constant rain, it wasn't about to send her off to an early pneumonia-borne grave.

  Much more of a concern, though, were Lily's chattering teeth and shaking arms. She might not die or get sick, but she definitely felt diminished by the cold storm drenching her from above. Just a little bit further, she reminded herself. As soon as we get into the forest, we're good, and Nixie's gonna light us a nice fire, and I can curl up next to it.

  Wait, no, as soon as I think that—

  Lily's fears were instantly realized. A curious voice spoke up, only a few meters away. "Oi, who's that there?"

  Without hesitating, Lily reached forward and tapped the bow clutched in Ketra's hands. Ketra rose to her knees, just as the curious soldier took a step closer.

  "You didn't see anything," said Ketra, arrow already notched to the string and pulled back. She moved so smoothly, so gracefully—Lily was surprised she made a single sound as she revealed herself. Only a faint rustle of the grass reminder her that Ketra was still human… so to speak. I can't move like that. "Return to your patrol."

  "Who the hell are you people?" he asked. The guy's hand dropped onto the hilt of his sword, but he didn't draw it yet. They hadn't gotten into a real fight. Lily didn't want this fight, especially not from their disadvantageous position flat on the ground.

  "Just passing through," Ketra replied. Her hand was steady on the bowstring, in sharp contrast to Lily's shivering arms and legs. I hate being cold so much… ugh. "We're no concern of yours."

  "Huh. So what's with the stealth mission?"

  Okay, definitely a player then. Lily got to her knees, looking up at the guy. He'd obviously seen her, if he could see Ketra—and so far, he didn't seem inclined to call for backup. If they were going to get away without a fight, they needed to persuade this guy to let them go. Simple enough.

  "We weren't sure if the whole truce thing was still going," said Lily. "Wanted to play it safe."

  He frowned. "You aren't an elf."

  Lily shrugged. "I'm branching out."

  The guard didn't seem too suspicious. He looked bored, if anything—and thanks to the face-tracking built into the headsets normal players used, Lily could actually trust his expression. She relaxed, taking her hand off her sword and smiling at the guy. "All good?"

  He sighed. "Yeah, sure. Just one thing, though." Oh, come on! Just let us go! Lily fumed—just before her fear turned to dread as the guard looked up toward Avalynn. "I need those two to join my party for a sec."

  "...Why?" asked Lily. What's that gonna do?

  She didn't get an answer. Avalynn made a sudden movement with her arm, and a small dark object hit the mud between them.

  Thick black smoke billowed forth, filling Lily's lungs in an instant. She coughed hard and fell back, stumbling out of the smoke. As she moved, she heard a rush of light footsteps sloshing through the mud… followed by a sickening slice and a dull thump on the grass.

  As the smoke blew away in the wind, Lily twisted around to see Avalynn standing on the guard's fresh corpse, her dagger slick with blood from his freshly-slit throat.

  "Why?" Lily hissed.

  Avalynn smirked and turned away, making to flee—only to be stopped short as an arrow thudded into the tall grass inches away. The elf froze.

  A roar rose into the air from the direction of the fort. Lily whipped around, springing to her feet and drawing her blades. As she feared, the rest of the soldiers had spotted them—and seen their comrade fall.

  "Plan B!" shouted Lily.

  "Yup!" Phoenixia replied.

  A second later, a bright purple arcane bolt stabbed out into the open field. It stabbed through the rain and struck one of the charging soldiers, causing him to stumble a bit and fall behind.

  The rest weren't slowed in the slightest, with a full eight soldiers barreling for Lily and her two companions. The other three raised bows and continued to loose arrows at a withering pace—though with gratifyingly poor accuracy.

  Phoenixia got right to work, firing a steady stream of purple bolts at anyone she could see. Lily ducked under one that slammed into the fastest soldier of the group—only a couple meters away from her. As he stumbled, a ragged gap sprouted open in his weak leather armor.

  Lily took the opening. She lunged forward, stabbing straight ahead with her sword.

  The blade slid in easily, opening a red hole in the man's stomach. He shrugged it off with a player's ambivalence to pain and took a wide swipe at Lily's shoulder. She had to pull out and triple-step backward to avoid getting sliced—nearly stumbling over Larali in the process, who'd just begun to stand up behind her.

  "Sorry!" Lily cried out, quickly moving out of the way.

  Larali just laughed as she stood up tall—taller than any of the group. She whipped her broadsword off her back, let out a huge roar, and charged. The guard Lily had already stabbed only had a split-second to react before Larali barreled through him, broadsword leading the way.

  From the way he fell, Lily doubted he'd draw another breath.

  An arrow whipping past her shoulder reminded her she wasn't out of the woods yet. Ketra had landed an arrow in one of the archers with a straight shot, but the guy wasn't down yet.

  "Give him another!" Lily shouted, ducking as an arrow came back in return. She tried to slap it out of the air with her dagger, but it was too fast for her. Lily glanced over her shoulder in a panic—only to see the arrow fly harmlessly off into the distance, missing everyone. In return, Ketra smiled at her, just as her fingers gently let slip her bowstring.

  Ketra's return arrow thudded home. One archer down.

  Lily didn't have time to celebrate though—two soldiers had decided she looked like an easy target and bore down on her. She couldn't blame them; compared to the laughing, crazed Larali and her gigantic blade, a lithe girl with a shortsword and a dagger would seem easy pickings.

  Lily let them close in, dancing out of each slice with a simple half-circle twirl. She slapped one blade aside, then another—but these weren't just simple A.I. bandits. They knew how to work in a pair, and every time she got an opening on one, the other was ready to step in. Lily needed a new advantage.

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  She scanned the area with her next half-twirl. Michael, Shirogane, and Manifold were battling another pair of soldiers. Avalynn and Susanoo had lured one away into a trap, with Avalynn acting as bait to pull him into Susanoo's waiting rapier. As soon as the soldier lost sight of Avalynn, Susanoo emerged with a quick stab, poking another hole before fading away again into the pillars of smoke. The hapless guy looked around, only to find Avalynn again, repeating the whole cycle.

  Phoenixia was still lobbing arcane bolts across the field at the two archers, but they were dodging them as fast as she threw them. The girl shouted increasingly colorful curses with each failed throw. Ketra was playing support to Larali's furious rampage through the other four soldiers, an arrow for each as soon as Larali caught them off guard with a surprisingly fast swing of her massive sword.

  Another slash at Lily's side, close enough to cut the fabric of her shirt. Holy crap, that's a sharp blade… She'd gotten lazy, dodging back from their slashes. They'd picked up on a pattern. Lily refocused on her opponents.

  Step back. The first soldier moved in, and Lily slapped his sword aside. The second was already moving forward, expecting Lily to twirl away again—only she moved forward.

  His eyes widened as her dagger cut across his arm, marking a bright red line where he'd opened his guard. Lily wanted to go for something more vital, but the first guy was too close. She had to back away again.

  They're too smart, and they cover each other too well. I need backup… but everybody's busy.

  Lily tried again. Another step back, another open guard, and another slice to the arm. It worked—but as she pulled away, the second guard's sword was suddenly there. Lily side-stepped straight into it, and the cold metal jabbed into her side.

  Sharp pain shot through her body as the blade opened up a wide cut in her torso. Lily stumbled, panting.

  Her guard was wide open. She pulled back, but they could have finished her off without any problem. She knew it—and from the satisfied look on the first guy's face, he knew it too. He stepped in, swinging without a moment's hesitation.

  His sword bashed right into Requiant's shield.

  The one party member she'd totally forgotten. Requiant dove in front of her, shield raised. He shoved it outward, and the surprised guard stumbled back. Requiaint didn't hesitate, stabbing forward to catch the guy in mid-fall. His own attack was ungainly and awkward, but it didn't matter—nobody could miss a stab on somebody that wide open.

  Requian't sword stuck straight through his torso, sticking out as the guy fell like a tree suddenly planted in the ground.

  "Thanks," Lily coughed, the warm metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. She rushed forward nonetheless, as the lone second guard wasn't any match for her one-on-one.

  Step, step-step, twirl left. Even with the slash to her side, Lily was still at the height of her abilities thanks to the sheer adrenaline pumping through her blood. She stepped in, stepped out again, and waited for her opening. The guy wasn't as willing to give up his guard without his partner, but Lily knew she'd find it. Requiant, to his credit, stayed back—he would have just gotten in the way of a tense duel like hers.

  Step left, step forward, wait for him to slash… gotcha.

  The soldier saw an opening—or rather, he thought he saw one. Lily smirked as he overcommitted. She had him. He lunged, but Lily wasn't there anymore. She stepped right past him in a full twirl, blades extended. Both sword and dagger sliced right through his chest, opening long twin cuts in his side.

  He stumbled and fell, the game forcing him down from the sheer breadth of damage. I've got that on normal players. The game can't force me down if I don't want to go down. Lily stepped back around, and plunged her dagger through the back of his neck, ending him.

  "Liquin!" called Ketra, with a note of panic.

  Lily whirled around, blood flying off her dagger and mixing with the rain. Larali was hurt, but that wasn't the real problem. The huge woman seemed just fine, despite the open wounds she sported on both arms. No, the real problem were the two who'd broken off from their melee to chase Ketra—who had found herself without a single arrow remaining.

  Lily didn't hesitate. She charged across the battlefield, ducking another barrage of arrows and arcane bolts arcing overhead, nearly slipping in the mud as she rushed forward.

  Ketra blocked a weak slash with her bow, but from the way it bent, it was obvious she couldn't take a full strike without the weapon snapping in half.

  Requiant was right behind her. Lily sped in, legs pumping. The first guy didn't have a clue she was there, she'd run so fast. She didn't bother with finesse when she had the drop on him that hard. Lily simply stabbed him straight in the back with her dagger, plunging it right in and wrenching upward.

  He struggled for a moment, then fell.

  Lily's companion didn't fare quite so well. Requiant saw her success and tried to emulate it—but between his slight delay and the other soldier's reaction to Lily's headlong rush of an attack, Requiant didn't pull it off. The soldier dove to the side, landing in a somersault and springing to his feet in a move Lily wished she could pull off so seamlessly in such a wet environment.

  The soldier stabbed back, catching Requiant off his own guard. He didn't get hit, but he backed away—courage apparently spent now that the crazed charge across the field was done. Lily ripped her dagger out and turned to the other soldier, right at the same time that Ketra did.

  "Sweep him!" said Lily, trusting Ketra would know what she meant. She lunged forward, praying that Ketra would move fast enough—or she'd be diving right into a waiting sword.

  Ketra didn't miss her cue. The soldier had to decide between a hard wooden bow slashing at his feet, or a shortsword lunging for his chest. He tried to step away, but the bow caught his foot just as he moved back—and he tripped. Lily grunted in triumph as her sword caught him straight on.

  He died just as fast as the other two. Lily sighed in relief, before the pain in her side finally caught up to her.

  "Ugh…" she muttered, clutching at the wound. Ketra hurried to her side, hands extended, but Lily shook her head. "We aren't done yet."

  Truth be told, though, they were pretty much done. The archers had been knocked down or fled from Phoenixia's unerring magical assault, and both Michael's group and Susanoo had taken out their respective soldiers. Only Larali still fought—but as soon as Lily took a step forward, Larali made an unexpected swing with her broadsword, straight down the middle.

  One guard tried to manage a feeble block. Larali plowed right through it.

  One slash, two guards down. Larali threw back her head and roared with glee, halfway between a laugh and a shout. Lily raised an eyebrow, but she couldn't blame the woman—it was incredibly satisfying.

  "...Okay, then," said Lily, wincing. She nodded toward the treeline, far out in the field—their original goal. "Let's go."

  "You're hurt," said Ketra, way more concerned than Lily ever wanted to hear.

  Lily smiled. "No worse than you were. Come on, I can make it that far."

  Ketra sighed, but nodded her assent.

  Lily glanced back over her shoulder. "Everybody good?"

  A chorus of affirmatives replied—and stony silence from Avalynn, as usual. The group gathered back up, with no pretense of secrecy anymore.

  Michael grinned. "Not bad for your first run, lady general."

  "Lady general?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "The commander of the Waechaim Legion is called Lord General," said Phoenixia helpfully. "Or for a little bit, when it was a girl, they called her Lady General instead. She never lost a battle while she was in charge."

  "So why'd she stop?"

  Phoenixia grinned. "She got assassinated."

  Why is she smiling at that? Lily glanced around, and saw Ketra looking a little embarrassed. "...What?" asked Lily.

  Ketra shrugged. "Something for another time."

  "...You killed her?"

  "I was paid to, yes." Ketra sighed. "We should get moving."

  "Yeah," said Michael, "don't want to—"

  Thunk.

  Michael cut off in mid-sentence. His hand shot up to his neck… where an arrow sprouted out like a flower growing in fast-forward.

  Lily's heart stopped. Her eyes went wide. Even if she knew it wasn't real in some small part of the back of her mind, it was so vivid—and the expressions on her brother's face so familiar—that Lily couldn't help but feel like she was watching him die right in front of her.

  "Michael!"

  Lily dove forward, but Susanoo tackled her to the ground. Michael collapsed, as another hail of arrows shot overhead. Another stuck into his chest and stayed there, quivering like a flag in the wind. The archers were back, and they'd brought reinforcements.

  "Move!" Ketra shouted.

  Larali grabbed up a struggling Lily and pulled her away from her brother. The group sprinted for the trees, while more arrows thudded into the grass behind them. Lily took a deep breath, reminding herself that it wasn't real—that it was just a game, nothing to worry about.

  She tapped Larali on the back, and the huge woman let go so she could run on her own. Just in time, as an arrow slapped into the mud only a meter from them. If they'd continued at their pace, it would have caught Larali in the back of the leg.

  Lily rushed into the trees, Larali only a few steps behind. They faded in, and soon the fort was out of sight entirely, lost behind the thick wall of the southern edge of Atevusylvec.

  ***

  "Are we good?" asked Lily, leaning up against a tree. She was panting and slick with sweat mixed with rainwater, but the tree cover was thick and she didn't feel like they were being chased anymore. She glanced around at the rest of the group. Everybody seemed as exhausted as she did—though not nearly as fearful as she was. "They can't follow us, right?"

  Ketra nodded. "The truce should hold them from entering the forest."

  Lily nodded. "Okay. Okay. That's… that's good." She winced, as another spike of pain rolled through her side. "Oww…"

  "Come here, let me heal that," said Ketra.

  Lily shook her head. "Make sure everybody else is okay first."

  Ketra looked around pointedly. "I don't think anyone else got hurt."

  As Lily looked closer, she realized the girl was right. While the rest certainly looked winded and on edge, nobody seemed to be sporting a single cut or even a scrape. Larali was covered in mud, and both Manifold and Shirogane looked a little shaken up, but the rest seemed split between excitement and curiosity—the latter due to the forest now surrounding them.

  Unlike the oaks and pines in the Haalfwood surrounding Skyldr, Atevusylvec was a much thicker, deeper forest. As soon as they'd passed the outer layer, Lily found herself hopelessly turned around in an instant. The trees were so dense she couldn't see the sky at all, and the ground was covered in layers of moss and underbrush so thick she couldn't see a speck of brown dirt beneath. The world had become a kaleidoscope of green hues, more than Lily had ever seen, and plants more beautiful and varied than she'd ever imagined.

  "Whoah…" she murmured.

  Ketra smiled. "Come here," she said, taking Lily's hand and leading her away from the group a short way. "Sit down."

  Lily did as she was told, taking a seat on the (thankfully dry) log and letting Ketra take a look at the wound. As the warm glow from the spell filled her torso and tickled her skin, Lily managed to hold in her own laughter—much to Ketra's obvious frustration. The slice in her side closed back up, and the shirt above knit itself back together, and finally, Lily felt back to full strength again.

  In sharp contrast, Ketra seemed suddenly exhausted. As soon as the spell faded away, Ketra fell back against the trunk, breathing heavily. Lily frowned. "...You okay?" she asked.

  Ketra nodded. "The price… one pays for magic borne of oneself," she replied.

  Lily smiled. "Well… thanks."

  "For?"

  "Healing me, duh." With that thought, Lily glanced back to the group. Susanoo and Avalynn were off to one side, talking in subdued voices, while the rest of the group had gathered together. Lily frowned. "What do we do now?"

  "Keep going," said Ketra.

  "But… what about Michael?"

  "What about him?"

  Lily raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we, you know… go back for him? If he's starting over from the beginning."

  Ketra shook her head. "We can't go back now that we've alerted the garrison. They're probably calling more from Felnir as we speak, and they'll be ready for us this time. We had the element of surprise before."

  "But—"

  Ketra took Lily's hand and grasped it firmly. "He'll catch up. It's much easier for one person to sneak by than ten, and they'll weaken the garrison eventually."

  Lily nodded. "...Yeah, okay." She shrugged. "Avalynn knows who we have to call anyway. She can handle it." Lily got to her feet. "So… where to, exactly?"

  Ketra pulled herself up with Lily's assistance, leaning on her a little for support. "If we head…" she turned around a few times, before pointing a seemingly-random direction. "...that way, we should find a suunsyl before too long."

  "A what now?"

  "It's kind of like a village," she replied. "We don't name them though, and they don't have very strict boundaries on towns or anything. You'll know it when you see it."

  Lily glanced around at the homogenous mass of greenery in every direction, pointedly rolling her eyes. "And how do you know where to go in this?"

  Ketra smiled. "I can't tell you everything. That's no fun."

  "You forget that we're trapped here?" Lily frowned. "What if you get hurt?"

  "I trust you."

  Lily was caught between rolling her eyes and a sincere smile. She turned away, not sure which was going to come out, and not wanting to hurt Ketra's feelings. More importantly, the idea had brought back the memory of what had just happened—and a gnawing feeling of guilt hovering just underneath the surface of her mind.

  "...Didn't help my brother," she murmured.

  Ketra squeezed her hand. "It's not your fault."

  "Kinda is though," Lily sighed. "It was my idea to try and sneak by, and I'm pretty sure they saw me out there. I couldn't stop shivering."

  "Doubtful," said Ketra. "If anything, they saw me. My bow sticks up too high on my back." She glanced at it, sitting propped up against the tree. Her voice grew irritated. "I need a proper syldvala bow."

  "Why would that help?" asked Lily.

  "They can fold up."

  "Oh. Neat." Lily grinned. "Better for assassinating people?"

  Ketra sighed. "If you've got questions, just ask them."

  "...Like how you started doing that?"

  She shrugged. "I was good at it, and I got paid a lot to do it. I'm not sure there's much else to tell, really."

  "...Uh-huh," said Lily, very unconvinced. "...Hey, wait. That's why Avalynn attacked, wasn't it?"

  "What?"

  "Because they would've seen her guild," said Lily, certain she'd come to the right conclusion. She looked over at Avalynn, still talking to Susanoo far on the opposite side of the small clearing. Makes sense that my new least-favorite person is making nice with my old least-favorite person. This is gonna be great. "Do people around here hate you guys that much?"

  Ketra nodded. "With good reason."

  "...Well, okay then." Lily frowned. "So why stick to it?"

  "I wouldn't abandon them simply because a few bad actors ruined our reputation in recent years," said Ketra.

  Lily winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

  "No," said Ketra, smiling. "It was a fair question. I don't mind."

  "...Cool." Lily glanced back to the group. "So… should we get goin—"

  "Toldek onyl," hissed someone who sounded like they were right in Lily's ear.

  She made a move for her blades, but an arrow thwacked into the trunk between her and Ketra—perfectly notched right underneath the tip of Ketra's bow.

  Lily froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she finally spotted the elf behind the tree, and the others that were now surrounding the whole group. Hands went up as they surrendered, one by one—Avalynn and Susanoo included. Lily sighed, putting her own hands up into the air.

  Every single time…