Falcon

“Trang?”

“Sixteen minutes.”

“Dragon riders coming in – there they are!”

Three specks flew in over the horizon.

“We got thirty-seven here now, more coming in, we’re looking at about a hundred men! Great job everybody. This motherfucker is going down.”

“Dragon rider here. You want us to hit that army to the south of you?”

“Negative. Stay on the objective. No need to start shit with them.”

“Trang,” Vaas said. “I don’t feel good about that army up there.”

“I’m on it.” Falcon leapt up on his horse. “I have unfinished business with Alec Braun anyway.”

“Falcon!”

“Go Falcon!”

“Falcon gonna handle shit!”

“We can use you here,” Trang told Falcon.

“No. This is the way it’s gotta be. I’ll kill Braun, and you’ll have one less problem to worry about. Either way, you’ll know what his intentions are in about ten minutes. Ya!”

Falcon kicked his horse into motion and galloped up the slope.

Falcon rode in, approaching the army’s camp at an easy trot.

He rode up to the sentries.

“I came to see Alec Braun! Tell him Falcon is here! He will want to see me.”

A group of armed soldiers escorted Falcon into the camp.

Alec stood outside his tent, watching with a bemused look on his face.

Falcon halted his horse and dismounted, keeping his movements slow and deliberate.

“I gotta say, you got balls,” Alec said.

“You’re on the wrong side on this one,” Falcon told him.

“How you figure?”

“We’ve got fifty mages going in to face Moroso. Nearly fifty warriors. The best hundred players in Friedor.”

“Yeah. I don’t care.”

“You plan to attack them.”

“Well…maybe. We’ll see, won’t we?”

“They’ve got dragon riders, circling above, right now.”

“And I’ve got two thousand men.”

“You’ll lose most of them, even if you win. And for what?”

“Mister Falcon,” Griffin Roane said, stepping out of Alec’s tent. “Congratulations. At last you found your quarry.”

“Fuck you, Roane.”

“As eloquent as ever, I see. Regrettably, I never had the opportunity to inform you that your services are no longer required. I rescind the contract on Alec Braun. We are friends now. Right, Alec?”

“Yeah. Whatever,” Alec said.

“He hired me to kill you and now you work for him?” Falcon asked Alec.

“I guess. Yeah, that’s pretty much the size of it. Griffin’s a cocksucker – you know that Griffin, don’t get pissed – but he’s a practical sort of guy. Just like me.”

“I don’t think you know yet how dangerous this prick is.”

“Yeah. I don’t think you’re in any kind of position to be giving me lectures at the moment. What the fuck did you come here for anyway?”

“I came to challenge you. One on one. See how good you really are now.”

Alec laughed. “Listen to this bullshit. You know, you aren’t the only one with a Permakill sword anymore.”

“I know. We will fight, and one of us will be gone from this game forever.”

“Or I have my men just kill you now. They all have permakill weapons.”

“Afraid to accept my challenge?”

“No. I’ve got a battle to get to in about five minutes.”

“I only need one minute to kill you.”

Alec laughed. “I’m a lot better than I was the last time we met. I was practically a noob then.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re capable of. Now are we going to fight or are we going to talk all day?”

“Fine, have it your way.” Alec unsheathed his sword. “Let’s go.”

Falcon came at Alec with lightning speed, his sword moving so fast the men watching could barely follow its movements. Alec blocked the blows and answered with his own furious attack. The fight was quick and lethal. Sheer unbridled aggression, blinding speed, brutal strength, unparalleled skill gained from the scores of battles each had fought. Fearlessness, confidence, arrogance, lust to draw blood and no concern for pain.

Suddenly, Falcon collapsed. He lay on the grass, still.

Alec wasted no time and put his sword through him. But then he looked down at the body, puzzled.

“I didn’t touch him,” Alec said. “What the hell happened?”

“I took care of him,” Roane said.

“What?”

“I warned him not to cross me.” Roane looked at Alec and laughed. “He looked like he had the upper hand. And my way is better anyway.”

“Just lost contact with Falcon,” Trang said. “The battle is on. Dragon riders, hit that camp with every fucking thing you’ve got.”

Above Alec, the dragons swooped in. Fire rained down from the mages riding the giant beasts. Fire and lightning. The ground around them began to erupt with deafening explosions that cratered the ground. The cheers of the men turned to pain and shock. Men burned.

“Mages,” Alec ordered, calm as ever, “Take out those fucking dragons. Richter – send the first wave of troops in. Jade – assemble the archers. I want arrows raining down on that valley in two minutes.” Ten feet from Alec the ground erupted, knocking over a horse.

In the valley, Trang said, “Ok. It’s go time. Open the cave.”

Ruby

“It’s on!” Pontius exclaimed. “They’re in the cave.”

More music played, quite loud.

“What is that?” Moroso demanded.

“Welcome to the Jungle, baby!”

The window to the world changed. We could now see the inside of the lair, outlanders rushing in. Skeletons and beast men attacked and were immediately cut down. The outlanders sprinted along at great speed, destroying every creature in their path.

“At this rate, they may reach the end of the dungeon in mere minutes,” Moroso remarked, bemused.

“Can’t wait to see their faces when they realize you’re not even there,” said Pontius.

“Yes,” said Moroso. “I think I would like a glass of wine. Ruby, darling, there is a bottle over there. Pour me a glass with no poison this time, if you would be so kind.”

I did as he asked, my mind reeling to come up with a plan of any sort.

Pontius was singing along to the outlander music.

“Welcome to the Jungle, Baby! You’re gonna die!”

The window changed again. The army above the valley was scrambling to assemble while fiery explosions rocked them. Mages among them fired their own balls of flame up at the sky.

“My my my my serpentine! I’m gonna watch you bleed! Yeah! Welcome to the Jungle…”

In the valley, nearly fifty outlanders remained, standing outside the cave, awaiting the attack from the army above.

The window changed again. An outlander atop a dragon fell off, tumbling a long way to the ground, in flames. The dragon seemed to lose interest in the battle and flew off into the distance, roaring.

Handice

The army came and it came fast. The sound of them was like thunder, shaking the ground.

I steeled myself, crossbow out, supported by my wooden right hand, left hand forefinger on the trigger.

Rany lay on the tree needles at my feet, still unconscious.

“Sorry I had to shoot you,” I said quietly.

I tried to tell myself that perhaps I had saved his life.

The arrows came first.

Hundreds of them, blackening the sky.

One of our outlanders went down. Then another. Others were hit but not down, shrugging off their wounds and downing healing vials.

The enemy cavalry came next.

They rode in through the treeless path, and many died right there. Explosions from the traps enveloped horses and riders. Flaming arrows set the ground on fire.

The slope was ablaze.

Many still made it through, some missing the fire, some partly ablaze but still moving forward.

Our outlander mages in the valley began shooting fire at them.

I began taking shots with my crossbow. Arrows flew past from behind me. The others on my team were doing the same.

Ruby

“Look at this shit,” Pontius exclaimed. “It’s beautiful!”

In the window, men fought and men died. Horses screamed in agony.

“What is this sound I hear?” Moroso inquired. “Please tell me it is not more outlander ‘music.’”

“’Fight For Your Right,’” Pontius said. “By the Beastie Boys.”

“I am beginning to think I need to take over your world,” Moroso said. “If only to teach your people some culture.”

The window now showed the outlanders inside the cave, facing a horde of creatures. They seemed to have little problem.

They reached the end.

“Trang?” one of them said. “Where the fuck is this Moroso?”

“I am right here,” Moroso’s voice boomed from the window. Just near me, he was speaking in a normal tone. “Not where you expected me, of course, but I am close by.”

“Come out and show yourself, dickwad!”

Moroso laughed. “You outlanders amuse me. Even now, you seem to believe I will abide by some sort of rules imposed by….past experiences you have had with these games. I am ready to play a game with you.”

In the cave, the ground rumbled, and lava began to fall.

“I like to play a game that I call ‘Moroso can’t lose.’”

“Trang, what the fuck!”

The ground around them began to fall away.

“Look at you,” Moroso said. “The best outlander mages in this world. Such a fine group assembled. I must congratulate you, Trang. Your organizational skills are indeed as excellent as I had heard. I am glad that I was able to rely upon them. The top one hundred outlanders in Friedor, led to their permanent deaths, by you. I commend you.”

Trang held up his sword. “Come on out, Moroso.”

“I think perhaps you misheard me. I am not coming out. You will not kill me. All of you, I fear to say, are about to die. Permadeath. Who do you think created the spell? If you want to do the wise thing and delete your character…well, that time has passed.”

Lava flowed and the ground disintegrated beneath the feet of the outlanders. They fell into the lava, and they died, yelling and cursing.

“Goddammit!”

“Fuck!”

I felt the bond with Trang disappear.

“And just like that,” Moroso said. “The top fifty outlanders in my land are gone, never to return.”

Handice

I was in the thick of it, my sword sweeping. With nearly every slash my sword cut flesh. The remaining outlanders in the valley sent arrows and balls of fire and lightning at the soldiers above me.

I cut my way through to Cochran. He had taken an arrow to the heart and had fallen. By the time I reached him, his eyes held the glaze of death. I fought on. Arrows struck me in several places. Adrenaline flowed and I felt no pain. When blood flowed out of my mouth I took notice. I drank a healing potion and tossed the empty vial away. It was my last.

All around me the sounds of battle clamored. Steel on steel. Steel ripping through flesh. Grunts of effort, exhaustion and determination. Groans of the dying. The smell of blood, sweat, smoke and burning flesh.

A soldier came at me with his sword and I took his head.

Two more replaced him.

There were too many.

We would lose this battle. But I had known that all along.

I decided to make my last day in the world a good one.

Ruby

“Why do you do this?” I asked Pontius. “You fight for him. Surely you see what kind of man he is.”

Moroso stood before the window, engrossed in the scenes of battle.

“Money,” Pontius said. “And I don’t mean gold. I mean real money, in my world. I make six grand a week. I got to quit my shitty office job.”

“He is evil.”

“I don’t give a shit. And besides,” Pontius looked over at Moroso with complete adulation. “He’s badass.”

“Handice!” I said.

In the window, Handice was creeping up on the outlander general. I recognized the man. Alec Braun.

“Ah,” Moroso said, turning to glance at me. “You care about that one.”

Rany

I groaned, face in the dirt, thinking I was waking up to my worst hangover ever.

I got to my knees, hands in the leaves, and began to realize a battle was raging all around me. Quite a large one. Memory began to return.

I looked about me. So many men fighting and I could not tell who was who. How did they know who to strike? The battle seemed to be progressing well enough without my participation. I fell back to the ground and closed my eyes, wondering if they might ever open again.

No. Fuck that, I thought. I got back up.

There were no more men fighting about me.

Perhaps I had lost consciousness again.

Alec and the men stood in the valley, surveying the carnage. Victorious. I always had a knack for hitching myself to the right man.

Then I saw a man creeping toward Alec.

I realized it was Handice.

The men by Alec saw him and raised their swords.

“Handy!” Alec said.

Handice was bloody and covered in grime from head to foot. He staggered toward Alec, sword in hand.

“Come on Handy,” Alec said. “The battle is over. You can join us now, if you like. I would welcome you to my army. You’ve come a long way.”

“I think he means to kill you,” Griffin said, sitting atop his horse, unmarked by the battle. “I can not imagine why.” He chuckled.

Handice rushed at Alec, still three span away. He tried to raise his sword, but it seemed to heavy for him, and he collapsed in a heap at Alec’s feet.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Roane said. “I congratulate you, Alec. A battle well fought.”

There were no cheers from the men. They were exhausted, bloody and battered.

Roane said, “I must take leave of you now. I must say, I almost regret that we must part. I really have begun to like you.”

“Where the fuck are you going?” Alec asked.

“Well, I do not want to be here when the arrows begin to fall again. You and your men are trapped in this valley. Kemile’s men are preparing their attack as we speak. Emiline’s men are arriving from the west. Apparently the sisters have suddenly patched things up. And King Hemart has an army approaching from the north. Thirty thousand men total. Give or take. You have what, a few hundred left?”

“The fuck is this? You’re stabbing me in the back? Again?”

“You really thought I was going to forget about our first meeting? Your insolence? King of Konn, were you really stupid enough to believe that? No one ever fucks with the Empress. I don’t care who they are. This land is hers. It is not for your outlanders. Well, maybe one or two. Jade?”

Jade, on her black horse, rode up next to Roane, sword out to protect him.

“Jade, what the fuck? Seriously?”

“He put $20,000 in my bank account yesterday,” Jade said. “I’m sorry.”

“What the fuck,” Alec exclaimed.

Roane laughed. He turned and rode away.

I still had my crossbow. I decided, what the hell. I aimed at the middle of Roane’s back. I took the shot, not expecting it to hit.

The bolt took him in the back of the neck. His mouth foamed pink and he made a gurgling sound. He toppled off the horse.

Jade took one look at him and galloped away.

I looked over at Alec.

He was gone. His armor and sword lay on the ground.

Ruby

I watched Griffin Roane die from the crossbow bolt.

Handice lied still on the ground.

“He lives,” Moroso said. “Not for long. His lifeblood flows out of him. Perhaps I will expedite things.” He grinned at me and raised his hands.

“No!” I yelled. I raised my hands and light shot out from my fingers, a blinding light, lighting up the room and striking Moroso.

Moroso smiled. “Impressive,” he said. “I am paralyzed and cannot move. Should last thirty seconds or so. Where did that come from? Perhaps you are a bit more talented than I thought. Too bad. I cannot tolerate my pets attacking me. Creatures! Kill the girl.”

A skeleton came at me with his sword raised to strike.

I cringed. “No!”

The sword halted just inches away from my neck.

The skeleton placed the sword in my hand. Just as it had done earlier, when Moroso had ordered it to do so. Him.

“Thank you Daddy,” I whispered.

I lunged at Moroso and brought the sword down on him with all my strength.

His head came off with part of his left shoulder and toppled to the floor.

Every creature in the room was coming at me, but they all stopped when Moroso died. They appeared confused.

The skeleton creature who had once been my father looked about, as if he had no idea where he was or what had happened.

“You are a fucking cunt,” Pontius said. “You just killed my fucking meal ticket, you bitch!”

He started to come at me, sword raised.

“Creatures,” I said. “Kill him.”

They moved on Pontius, a swarm of skeletons, beast men and spiders.

“Christ,” Pontius said. “Fuck this.”

He disappeared.

The creatures all stood before me, dozens of them, awaiting my command.

I took the sword I held and returned it to my father.

“Creatures,” I said, pointing at the window. “Take me there.”

They led the way, and I followed.

Down corridors, through a door that led to the outside, where a new battle commenced thirty span below us.

“Creatures,” I commanded. “Kill all those men.” I pointed at the Empress’s armies descending down the slope.

The creatures moved off, more than a hundred of them, the spiders leading the way with terrifying speed.

When I reached Handice, Rany was kneeling by his side.

“I do not think he will make it,” Rany said.

All around us the battle clamored.

The creatures had just joined in and were wreaking havoc.

Handice was unconscious. His skin was gray.

I put my hand on his.

I did not know what I was doing.

My magic had been depleted when I attacked Moroso, and I had never been much good at Healing.

I must have willed it to happen, somehow.

His eyes opened, full of pain but alert.

“Ruby,” he said. “I must be dead.”

“You’re not dead, idiot. Not yet. We must get out of here. Get your ass up.”

Handice

We left the battle. It no longer mattered to me anyway. All my brothers were dead.

We walked, Rany and I staggering, and sounds of battle soon faded behind us.

“Where are we going?” I asked Ruby.

“Back to the Frontier. To Freejack. The battle’s lost, but our war is only beginning.”

“I want to go to Shirin Mills,” I said.

Ruby looked at me, surprised and disappointed.

“I want to get my mother and sister. Bring them to Freejack. Friedor is no longer safe.”

“And Alayna?”

“Her too, of course. If she wishes to join our cause. Perhaps she will find a good husband on the Frontier.”

“It is out of the way,” Ruby said. “But I suppose we have a bit of time.”

I felt her hand take mine.

Rany

“I will travel with you for a bit,” I said. “Just to keep you safe.”

“Well, thank you Rany,” Ruby said. “I was just about to ask you to come with us to the Frontier. Trang is dead, but the cause is not. Freejack is very much alive. We can use you. I almost suspect I could learn to like you.”

I considered, as we walked along. I looked at Handice. He was badly wounded, but stronger than I had ever seen him.

It made sense. But…

“Maybe I will meet you later,” I said. “First, I have some business of my own to take care of. There is a queen I need to find.”