Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis (21 page)

Chapter 24

Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq watched the rising of the twin suns of Hyperborea with mixed emotions.

He was glad in the fact that his current shift was over and he could get some much needed rest. But saddened by the fact another day had passed without an opportunity to break Callistra out of jail. Which meant another day inside the Peacekeeper camp. The only bright side had been that he believed that he’d found a weakness in their perimeter. He hadn’t worked out all the particulars of the jail break but a plan was forming in the back of his mind.

Tariq
was heading to the mess hall to grab some breakfast when a horse and rider came galloping into camp and nearly ran him over. Without so much as a sorry, the rider leapt from the horse and rushed inside the Grand Marshal’s tent. There was nothing unusual about riders coming and going but this one was different. In the first place, the horse looked about to die from exhaustion. The messenger had obviously ridden it hard, long and unforgiving. Secondly, the clothes of this messenger were completely different. He wore the colors and tabard of the Peacekeepers but these were of the finest silk and not rough spun cotton.

Oddly enough, Tariq felt a weird pricking sensation in his fingers.

A long forgotten quote he last heard in Mrs. Rector’s English class in South Boston High School came to mind,
‘By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes,’
MacBeth, Act Four, Scene One.

How or why he suddenly remembered that, he had no idea. He also had no
notion what the sensation meant but for some reason he suspected it to be a bad omen. Especially since the pricking occurred with the arrival of the Peacekeeper messenger.

Not one to ignore a gut feeling, Tariq stepped behind the nearest tent and checked his surrounding
s to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing no one nearby, he called on one of the innate abilities of the assassin class and faded from sight. Moving silently, he crept up to the back of the Grand Marshall’s tent and knelt down. Pulling out his dagger, he cut a small hole in the fabric and peered inside.

*   *   *   *   *

Grand Marshal Jericho had been studying maps and planning troop movements when the royal page burst in. He hadn’t been expecting a summons from his master but then, the Overlord could do as he pleased.

The royal page walked in and handed him a glass orb. Without a single word, the messenger pulled out his dagger and plunged it deep into his heart. The page died without a word.

Jericho dropped what he was doing and moved to the center of his tent. Kneeling down onto one knee in what he hoped was a submissive pose, he crushed the orb in his right hand and dropped its contents on the dirt floor. Smoke and broken glass swirled throughout the room like a mini tornado, knocking things over and blowing loose paper all around. Jericho didn’t dare raise his face or try to shield it from the flying glass. Either action would be seen as disrespectful to the Overlord.

After several minutes the wind and smoke died down and coalesced into the image of a heavily hood
ed figure. When the Overlord finally spoke, his words seemed hollow and devoid of any emotion. “Report.”

“Master. The trap set against the bandits of Crooked Creek was a great success.
Casualties among the new recruits were approximately twenty-five percent. The rest of your troops will be in place to eliminate the remainder of the bandits in two days.”

The image of the Overlord cocked his head to one side. “I sense that you’re holding something back.”

Jericho swallowed hard. “Although the trap was a success, we encountered stiff resistance from a strange trio; a holy man in blue armor, an assassin and a dark haired witch.”

“And
?”

“A wyvern rider in red armor.”

The Overlord shook his head back and forth slowly. He gave the Grand Marshal the same disappointing look a parent would give its child when it’s done something it knows to be wrong. “I warned you about the wyvern riders.”

Jericho
glanced up. “It was unavoidable. The red warrior crashed his serpent into my men and proceeded to cut through them like a scythe through wheat.”

The smoky figure made a slight gesture with his left hand, a kind of choking motion and the Grand Marsha
l couldn’t breathe. “That sounded like an excuse to me. You know I don’t believe in excuses. Give me one good reason why I should let you live?”

Jericho
clawed at the unseen hand that was choking the life of him. He knew he didn’t have long before he was dead. He only had one chance. Between gasps for air, he croaked out. “I captured the witch. I captured the witch.”

T
he Overlord relaxed his crushing grip ever so slightly, not enough for his subordinate to move but enough where he could breathe. After all, Jericho had always been loyal and useful.

“And why is some witch worth sparing your life?”

Jericho sucked in the precious air and struggled to get enough breath so he could explain. “There is something special about her. I can’t explain it but I sensed it. The same could be said about the red warrior who decimated my men.”

The Overlord
had his
‘Hand of Force’
squeeze hard again and Jericho found himself lifted several inches off the ground and unable to breathe once more. “First off, they are my men…not yours. You live and die at my whim. Your only purpose is to serve me…understood?”

Jericho
couldn’t answer but managed a weak nod.

“Secondly, you better be right about this witch or I will be very angry. You wouldn’t like me
when I’m angry. Trust me on this.” The Overlord released Jericho and the warrior fell to the tent floor in a heap. “At dawn tomorrow, my courier will arrive. Have her ready for pickup.”

Jericho
shifted position enough to nod and whisper, “As you command Master.”

*   *   *   *   *

Even as the Overlord ended his spell, Tariq shifted the small segment of the tent back into place and quickly added a few whip stitches from his handy sewing kit to keep the fabric in place. Sliding away from the Grand Marshal’s tent, Tariq ducked behind a nearby wagon and dropped his invisibility spell.

Entering the mess hall,
the assassin ate his morning meal automatically as he digested everything he heard and saw. If he had any hope of freeing Callistra, it had to be before the courier arrived. The logical side of him also realized that he needed a least a few hours of sleep before attempting the jail break.

For good or ill, he was going to try his crazy plan. He didn’t have time to come up with anything else.

Chapter 2
5

Even as the twin suns
of Hyperborea began to creep higher in the morning sky, Tao and his friends waited in the courtyard for the rest of the bandits to make their decision known.

A small group of ten bandits lead by Jerrick had joined the Outlanders before dawn. They were mostly the young idealists that had been recruited by
Jagoda with the promise of throwing off the yoke of slavery; not that any of them had actually been slaves. They had always been told that they were serfs to the Atlantean Empire and they believed it. After some intense questioning, Tao had discovered that none of them had ever seen an Atlantean nor had they ever paid tribute to the Dragon Kings. It was just something they were raised to believe and so they did.

That left thirty-one bandits unaccounted for…Tao shook his head
. Actually the count would be twenty-nine. He’d forgotten to subtract the two idiots both he and Cozad had killed.

Tao
frowned when he realized that he’d so easily dismissed the killing of the young braggart. That was a slippery slope and he didn’t want to fall into apathy over killing someone. Even though part of his mind kept telling him that this was nothing more than a game and everyone was just part of the intense computer graphics. Of course, the rational side of him argued against that thought. Their blood looked and smelled real enough, as did the sounds of their death screams.

Hearing movement from the tavern, he buried his doubts. He was a soldier. It was his job to fight and die for his country. He didn’t have to like it but he did have to do it. That was one of the mantras he’d told himself over and over during his time in
the ‘Sandbox’. It might be harsh but then survival in a time of war was harsh. And like it or not, Tao knew that they were basically at war while they were stuck inside the game.

Even before the bandits stepped into the light, he knew what to expect. Greed had taken hold
of their hearts and they had found courage in the bottom of a bottle of strong spirits. So when they stepped into the courtyard with bared blades he wasn’t surprised.

Nevertheless,
Kastle was. The priest leaned his head toward him and asked, “Tao?”

The scarlet samurai ignored him and turned completely around to face Jerrick and the new recruits. “
No matter what happens or is said, you are not to draw your weapons. Period. I don’t care if they call you by name or insult your mother, do not draw your weapon. Even if they rush forward and attack one of us, do not draw your weapon. Only if they get past me or my friends and are threatening your life are you authorized to draw your weapons. Understood?”

Jerrick nodded. “Aye Captain.”

Tao cocked his head to one side. “I’m serious about this. If any of you cannot follow this simple command, then you will be dismissed from my service. No questions and no excuses.”

“Understood Captain.” Jerrick answered more forcefully and glared over his shoulders at his squad. “It will be as you command.”

“See to it.”

T
ao turned his attention back to the waiting mob and stepped out to meet them.

Kastle matched his stride.

Tao began making a mental list of the little nervous nuances each bandit displayed. From the beads of sweat on their forehead or upper lip, to which ones nervously shifted their weight from side to side or fidgeted with their armor or constantly fiddled with their weapons. All these ‘tells’ foreshadowed what each bandit was planning on doing if it came down to battle. Tao didn’t do this consciously but unconsciously as part of the blending of the Samurai warrior spirit with his own military training. When they were about ten feet away, the two Outlanders stopped and stared hard at the waiting bandits but neither of them drew their weapons.

The mob stopped moving and slightly bowed itself around them in a slight semi-circle. No one talked or moved for several minutes. It seemed as if they were waiting for something.
Tao knew what it was even if they didn’t. The mob was waiting for a spark, a reason to attack and by not being threatening; neither Tao nor Kastle had given it to them…at least not yet.

After several long agonizing minutes, Tao finally spoke.
“You have two choices before you, live or die. It’s as simple as that. I gave everyone here a chance at greatness but no…you wanted to be greedy. So that offer is gone. I also gave you a chance at a life away from here with a small fortune but no, you wanted more. So that offer is gone also. You now have two options left, turn away and live or stay and die.”

Finally one of the bandits took one step forward
. “Do you really think that you’ll be able to stop us? All of us?”

“
Probably but it’s not me you need to worry about. It’s him.” Tao grinned and pointed to one side.

Even though the
bandits were suspecting a trick, they couldn’t help but look.

On cue, Cozad stepped out of the shadows
. However, the darkness seemed to cling to his frame and slowly drip off his armor like black raindrops off a hot tin roof. It was chilling to witness, even for those who had crossed over with him.

The bandits looked back at
the samurai and then back at the dreadknight. Fear was clearly written on their faces.

“Still can’t decide?”

Tao signaled again and the ladies stepped into view, one on each side of the bandits. Each spell caster was flanked by their minions. Aaliyah by two Earth Elementals, the easiest to summon considering their location, and Arieal by the animated corpses of the bandits Tao and Cozad had killed last night. It was a frightening sight especially since the bandit that Tao had decapitated was carrying its severed head in one hand while the other held a sword.

It was also at this point when the bandits realized that they were surrounded.

“Still like your odds?” Tao asked. When they didn’t answer the deadly samurai continued as if they had. “You still have a chance to leave here alive but the door of opportunity is closing fast. Those that wish to live should drop your weapons and move over to the Elementals.” When no one moved, he added more forcefully. “Now!”

Seven bandits hesitantly did as they were told and moved out of the mob. The rest gripped their weapons with sweaty palms and looked around with wide-eyed expressions.

Tao shook his head. “Maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough.” Turning his back to the mob, he faced his new recruits and singled out Jerrick. “Did you understand my proposal?”

Jerrick nodded. “Yes Captain.”

Tao turned back to face the hold outs and rested his hands on the pommels of his swords. “Well they understood and your comrades understood. Therefore, I can only guess it is one of two things; either you want to die or you’re too stupid to know how close to death you really are.”

Tao nodded subtly to Cozad
and he took his cue.

Calling upon the dark powers at his command
the dreadknight summoned his pet gargoyle. The sight of the winged demon crawling its way out of the flaming pit of darkness was enough for the rest of the bandits. Dropping their weapons, every single one of them rushed to the safety of the Earth Elementals.

Kastle moved up beside the samurai
and whispered, “Nice bluff.”

“It wasn’t a bluff. That was their last chance.”

After setting his pet to watch over the cowed bandits, Cozad joined them. “You should’ve just let me kill them. It would’ve been easier. After all, they’re nothing but NPCs.”

Tao knew the acronym stood for ‘non player characters’ – a generalized term that
referred to any character in a game that wasn’t an actual player. It was a holdover from the old pen and paper role playing games like
Dungeons and Dragons
. He also realized that Cozad was struggling with the same problem he was, accepting that everything around him was real. After all, they were inside a game. Why should they care what they did to non-players?

Kastle shook his head. “I can tell you after living among these people for the last
four years, they are not just computer generated images. They have lives, dreams, worries and problems just like any person back home.”

Tao nodded and said,
“If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?”

Cozad cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

“Shakespeare, the Merchant of
Venice.”

Kastle grinned. “I vaguely remember that play. Wasn’t the character Sherlock?”

“Shylock, a Jewish moneylender but that isn’t the point. I don’t remember the whole play but that line always stuck with me, especially while I was in Iraq. It was hard not to hate all Iraqis or Kurds or Sunnis or whoever was shooting at us on any given day. But whenever I felt my hatred threatening to overwhelm me and I wanted just to group everyone in the same pot and kill them all, that simple line came back to me time and time again.”

Cozad asked, “Why?”

“Everyone is an individual. Each person is responsible for his or her own actions. Those that took arms up against me or my brothers were the enemy. Everyone else was just trying to live with the cards that had been dealt to them. They just wanted to survive, day by day…just like us.”

The
dreadknight slowly nodded. “You’re trying to convince me that these peons are really people and not just sheep that need to be slaughtered.”

The deadly samurai just shrugged his shoulder
s but remained silent.

Kastle rubbed his chin with his right hand as he thought about how to best explain his position. “Look, try to accept the fact that your natural viewpoint on this side will be colored by the Chaos Spirit. It may not seem that way but it’s a fact. It is part of your burden for choosing an avatar of Chaos during character creation.” The priest shifted his attention to Tao. “But don’t discount the
Chaos Spirit just because we didn’t start our avatars that way. You saw what happened to Jagoda. There’s an old saying; power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Tao nodded. “Lord Acton.”

Kastle cocked his head to the side. “Who?”

“Lord
Brandon Dalberg-Acton, an English politician from the turn of the century.”

The priest shrugged. “Wow. I didn’t know that. I was quoting from the Superman
-Batman comic book.”

Cozad chuckled. “I th
ought that you were quoting from the Marvel X-Men comic books from the Phoenix storyline in the late Eighties.”

“Either way, the concept is the same. If you stay long enough on this side, you will learn that we are far more powerful than any of the general populace
and even most of the rulers.” Kastle gestured at his soul bound hammer. “And these weapons are like WMDs when compared to anything else in the land. Trust me on this.”

Tao chewed on his lower lip for a second. “Sounds like there’s a story behind that remark…”

“There is.”

“Later. Right now we need to get these guys sorted out before one
of them decides to act stupid.”

The two
spiritual warriors nodded and moved off to implement the next part of the samurai’s plan.

W
ith Jerrick’s help, Kastle began sorting out the subdued bandits into smaller groups. Cozad and five of the new recruits headed to the aerie to saddle up some wyverns. The plan was to disarm, blindfold and shuttle them to different locations, far away from Akrôtiri. No one group would have too many of the troublemakers in it nor would they be left in the middle of the desert to die. Each group would be dropped off safely, with their weapons, water, food and two pieces of gold per individual.

Tao knew that i
t was actually going to be a logistical pain in the ass to complete but it was the only way he could come up with to safeguard the civilians of the region. Even with the difficulties of the plan, Tao wished that finding and rescuing his wife would be so easy. He also wished, and not for the first time, that Marvin was back. He needed his oldest friend’s advice. He wondered if Aaliyah’s servant had been able to locate his missing friends but before he could ask, Jerrick signaled for him and he began the process of putting out fires. A leader’s job is never done.

*   *   *   *   *

Gamble took advantage of a brief lull in the assault to assess their situation and bandage his wounds. None of his injuries seemed critical but the gash on his forehead hurt like the dickens. However, it was still better than the alternative of decapitation.

The three of them had proved to be a formidable trio and had
repelled the hunters’ assaults twice. He wasn’t sure if they could or would be able to stop their next charge. Mathias was completely out of arrows, he was out of runestones and throwing knives and Pixi was low on power. To top that off, all three were wounded and tired.

The only two positives in the whole situation had been that they had killed or severely wounded over half of the attackers. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been enough to convince them to retreat. If anything, it had infuriated them even more. In the first
assault, not a single attacker had carried a bladed weapon. They’d all been using clubs, which had actually helped the trio in their defense. For some reason, the hunters were going for crippling attacks.