“Not so tight, Abraham. You’re not trying to strangle it.” Alf swung his sword in tight circles, exaggerating the looseness of his wrist. “That’s right, Marie. Much better. Could you work with Abraham and Winston for a bit? I need to take a break.”

Alf headed for the edge of the clearing and collapsed onto a blanket of dry leaves. He had been up all night, leading the king’s trackers on a merry cat-and-mouse chase through the forest. They had used the tree ambush trick to catch three more parties of trackers, and Alf had managed to do it without killing anyone. Blix wouldn’t admit it, but he could tell she was frustrated with him. She had barely talked to him all morning, choosing instead to focus all her attention and energy into cooking and training the aliens.

Aliens, it turned out, were completely clueless when it came to using primitive weapons. They didn’t seem that uncoordinated when they were walking or sitting, but put a weapon in their hands, and they were hopeless. Apparently, aliens’ real bodies didn’t have fingers and toes. The way Abraham described it, they looked something like extremely beautiful octopi with twenty filamentous arms and four, more muscular, octopus-tentacle legs.

“No wet wood!” Blix shouted from across the clearing. “It makes too much smoke!”

Hannah had managed to start a fire earlier that morning using a flint striker one of the trackers had been carrying. Which meant Alf had spent most of the morning hunting for breakfast. Now that they had a bow and arrows, he was able to bring back a deer and four giant rabbit-looking omnivores. Thankfully, Blix and Hannah did all the cleaning and cooking. Killing the animals had been bad enough. He didn’t think he could have handled gutting them. Eating them, however, was a different story. The meat had been tough and more than a little charred, but he couldn’t remember enjoying a meal more. Starvation, it turns out, is the best spice.

“Hey…” Noah walked over and sank onto the ground with a sigh. “Your friend is intense.”

“It’s been an intense week.”

“Tell me about it. Your aliens aren’t so bad, but the rest are…” His eyes lost focus as a tremor ran through his body. “It’s like we’re bugs to them. So far beneath their notice… If they step on a few hundred thousand of us, oh well… We’re just toys. We exist to serve and entertain. Our entire planet is nothing more than a video game, and they’re spoiled rich kids, incapable of ever being satisfied.”

Alf nodded, ashamed at how insensitive he’d been. He should have been more horrified, more outraged, but something about the game interface in his head made everything feel so unreal. “Have you seen any other humans—native NPCs?”

Noah stared at him, his face twisted into a undecipherable expression. “Thousands. Tens of thousands…”

“Seriously?” Alf leaped to his feet. “That’s great! Where are they?”

“How is that great?” Noah demanded. “We’re their slaves. They force us to cook, entertain, carry heavy loads, work in their shops and on their farms. If we say something wrong or refuse to demonstrate mating rituals or collapse because they forgot to feed up, they kill us without blinking an eye. Sometimes they don’t even need a reason. They used my roommate for target practice yesterday morning. How is that great?”

“I didn’t…” Alf’s throat constricted. His chest was on fire. He couldn’t breath. “Where?” He managed a hoarse whisper.

Noah’s face filled his vision. “Dude, take it easy. I wasn’t blaming you. I was just saying…”

“Where?” Alf said more forcefully.

“All over. They’re keeping a lot of us in around the castle—what used to be the campus.”

Alf jogged over to where Blix was tending the fire.

“What’s wrong?” She already had that gawking-at-the-car-wreck look on her face.

“Noah says there are thousands of native NPCs on the Cal campus.” Alf took a deep breath to calm himself. “They’re being abused. Killed. The king, he’s… They’re treating them like slaves!”

“Shhh… It’s okay.” She was using her little kid voice now. “You’re going to be—”

“I’m going back to the campus,” he said. “I can’t just sit here eating barbecue now that I know what’s happening.”

“Absolutely not! You wouldn’t make it halfway there. Remember? Thousands of soldiers blocking the way?”

“I’ll take a route they won’t be expecting. Grizzly Peak to that road that comes out at the Claremont Hotel.”

“That’s not going to help. Thanks to Abraham’s videos, everyone knows what you look like.”

He gave a grudging nod. She wasn’t wrong. He knew he was being stupid, but he had to at least try. He took a step back, pleading with his eyes for her to understand. “I’m sorry.” He turned to walk away.

“Wait!” she called after him. “If you’re going, I’m going too.”

A weight lifted from his chest. “Thanks. It’s nice of you to offer, but the guild needs you here.”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” The teasing was back in her voice again. “We were a party before I went and made things so complicated. Which I’m sorry about, by the way. I should have run the guild thing by you. We’re partners first. That hasn’t changed.”

“I’m sorry I’m so…”

“Don’t.” Her voice was hard as steel. “You’re a good person. Never apologize for that. You genuinely care about people—even the broken, screwed up people everybody else runs away from—” the steel in her voice was starting to melt “—even the people who wish they could run away from themselves.”

A lump formed in his throat. He couldn’t have said anything even if he knew what to say. He squatted down and helped her onto his back, sighing as her cheek snuggled into his neck. “How do we keep the soldiers from finding everyone while we’re gone?” he said when his voice finally started cooperating.

“Do you think you could find the place where you first encountered that high orc?” Her tone was so sweet and innocent it was terrifying.

“Sure, but why?”

“Because I’m not nearly as nice as you.”

* * *

Name: Jane

Level: 5

Class: Paladin

Health: 225/225

Stamina: 195/195

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 955/2800

Attr Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

ST: 13

DX: 14

CN: 15

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 7: (Effective Skill: 9.45, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 28.4%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1.33, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 4%)

Swordsmanship 1: (Effective Skill: 1.37, Basis: 2DX+ST, Enhancement: 4.1%)

Archery 1: (Effective Skill: 1.37, Basis: 2DX+ST, Enhancement: 4.1%)

Non-Combat Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 2.1, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 6.3%)

Lock Picking 1: (Effective Level: 1.3, Basis: DX, Enhancement: 3.9%)

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 5: (EL: 14, Cost: 25, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 42 points)

Major Healing 2: (EL: 5.6, Cost: 35, Freq: 1/hr, Effect: 200cc tissue regen)

Taunt 1: (EL: 1.6, Cost: 25, Freq: 1/120sec, Effect: 4.8%)