The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) (30 page)

"Hold up," I stopped the girl. "Listen, is there any way you can use some of your old connections to buy and send me some Copper Ingots? Or even just the Ore. I really need them. ..."

"Gimme a sec," Anastaria opened her mailbox and started writing a letter. A couple of minutes went by and her eyebrows shot up – she probably got a reply. "So that's how it is ..." muttered the girl and started to write again. Two minutes later there was another reply, which again did not please the girl at all, since her reaction was one capacious word: “Hmm." "How much do you need?" She finally asked.

"About 10 stacks."

"I'll get them," the girl assured me. "You'll have the Copper in the morning." With these words Anastaria became transparent and a moment later melted into thin air.

After another twenty minutes Eric, Leite and Clutzer's Energy once again hit zero and Plinto and Barsina left us. As soon as Donotpunnik left, the lady Druid joined my running and jumping officers, wishing to do some leveling up in Agility and Stamina herself. She didn't seem to mind that Intellect was the main stat for her class: it was good to level up on all fronts. Good for her: she thinks like a true mercenary – never failing to take advantage of potential gain for her own dear self. If only everyone was like her.

"And now tell us what went down," as soon as the three former red-head-banders got their breath back, they crowded around me. "How did you manage to get Plinto and Anastaria into the clan and what was the real reason Elenium, Sushiho and Dooki left...?"

I would have never thought that a tale retold by yours truly could come out so colorful and rich in events and drama – with villains and heroes, betrayal and friendship, feelings and ice-cold logic. I didn't conceal the truth from my Fighters, honestly admitting that Anastaria was with us for only three months and Plinto for a year (and for a payment at that), but the way I relayed all this was really something! Mihail Demov, a skilled spinner of tails, would surely see a worthy colleague in me.

"Peace to you, brave storyteller and his listeners," said a heavy deep voice barely a moment after I finished. It was night in Barliona by this time and just a few meters away from the Guardian's glade two red dots were shining in the darkness. A hostile mob! A level-200 Vampire with red eyes, indicating that he presented a danger to us! "Permit me to enter the Guardian's circle!"

Eric and I looked at each other. He understood as well as I did what the Vampire's red eyes meant and what would be the result of his entering the glade: respawn for us and inglorious death for Slate.

"No thank you, we're kinda fond of staying alive," was my strained reply. "To what do we owe the honor?"

"I cannot harm those who have become objects of interest to the Patriarch," uttered our night guest, compelling me take a closer look in his properties. Level 203, a Vampire-scout, Hit Points ... and not a single word that the NPC standing before us was cursed. However, his red eyes indicated the opposite. "My Lord wishes to speak with one of you. He would like to know the aim of your visit to his forest."

"His forest?" I couldn't help myself at this point. "This forest has been flooded by the Fallen and their leader, while your Patriarch has barricaded himself up in his castle, or wherever it is. And yet he continues to call this Cursed Forest his own. We came to destroy the taint, a quest that was given to us by the Guardian. You can go and tell the Patriarch this." I was probably taking a risk in being openly rude to the messenger, but I’d run out of niceties for the day. I was too tired. I knew that NPCs had to be buttered up, but not today.

"My Lord has ordered that one of you be delivered to him and I will do this," said the Vampire, unperturbed. "The Guardian's glade is not out of bounds to me. Only respect for those who have managed to turn the eyes of the Fallen away from our castle and onto themselves – giving us the first respite in ten years – has stopped me from going any further." With these words the Vampire did something completely unexpected: he entered the glade and nothing happened to him. He didn't start writhing in agony, no pillar of fire appeared around him and even the Guardian continued to doze, as if nothing had happened. But the red eyes of a hostile mob ...

"I will meet the Patriarch." I finally found my bearings, realizing that if the Vampire didn't attack, despite being fully capable of entering the Guardian's glade, we had nothing to fear. At least for the moment: later we'll figure out who was indebted to whom and by how much. ... Except that Stacey, the moment she's back in the game, will kill me as sure as day. ...

"Touch my hand," the Vampire appeared next to me in one imperceptible movement. He's so damn fast! "I am linked to the castle with a transfer portal. You will be taken there in the same manner."

The Vampire forced me to look at him from a different perspective! Well, I'll be! So it looks like mobs around here aren't as simple as they may seem at a first glance. Ordinary messengers are supplied with anchored portals, which usually cost crazy money. It's a convenient thing to be sure, but you'd have to dump so much gold on the anchor and the summoning scrolls ... yet here we have simple scouts running around with anchored portals like this was the norm. They are probably used as a security measure. If the Fallen were to catch such a Vampire, he'd just fly off in a flash. Nice fail-safe, for sure. Realizing that I didn't have much choice in this, I touched the Vamp's hand and the world around me blinked, indicating the transfer to a different location. When my vision was no longer blurry, I beheld a monumental structure in all its glory: the inner court of the Vampire Patriarch's castle.

What immediately struck me was the total absence of the mist, otherwise ubiquitous throughout the Dark Forest. There was a cobbled square, which contained a massive stone castle-palace, and several small buildings, which were probably there purely for decoration. In any case, no-one lived in them, because great piles of various weapons and armor blocked all the entrances.

"Our spoils of war," explained my guide after noticing my gaze. "First they filled up the entire armory, then the barracks, and then we just started to pile them up outside. We cannot leave the weapons on the battlefield, as they will return to the Fallen, nor can we use any of them ourselves since they're cursed. So that's why they're gathered here in these useless piles."

"Can I have a look?"

"That will depend on the result of your meeting with the Patriarch. Perhaps I won't even have to take you back. Free Citizens know how to return from the Grey Lands, so you could be returning to the Guardian's glade on your own. Whatever the Master commands. Follow me."

My guide headed inside the castle and I, trying to keep up, continued to take in my surroundings. High stone walls around the castle perimeter, reaching up to ... whatever their actual height, you couldn't see the trees beyond them. I might give them six or seven meters, but there's no way to be sure. There was nothing else. The castle covered about the same area as the Guardian's glade, but contained nothing except the four buildings. It looks like this was home to the wrong type of Vampires – a bit too ascetic, as it were. If you’d seen any antique films, you’d think these guys love luxury, since they lived a very long time. But here they were being downright Spartan. Vampires stood along the entire wall perimeter and kept sending arrows somewhere outside. Then the question occurred to me: where do the local Fighters get their weapons and food? There was no sign of a smithy or trees from which to make arrows, for starters. Did the developers depart from the game logic in this and permit the NPCs' weapons to renew themselves and for the arrows to just 'pop out' of the quivers? And the replenishing of the ranks of the original Vampires was also begging for an explanation. They should've all been killed off in the last ten years: where could they be born around here? So, all in all, I had many questions, which, in all probability would never get answered. It's a scenario, that's all there is to it. ...

"Greetings, traveler. What brings you to my forest?" The Patriarch of the Vampires had a surprisingly beautiful voice. It was so ... I don't even know how to describe it. Confident and kind, it made you feel that you could trust and rely on it, that all your problems had been long-solved, leaving you without a care in the world. The local boss, dressed in a bright red mantle that covered him from head to foot, was sitting on a throne made of skulls and watching me, like all other Vampires I encountered here, with red eyes. His throne was truly 'cosmopolitan': heads of humans, orcs, horned kobolds (if I wasn't mistaken) ... almost all the races of Barliona were represented in this frightening creation by the developers.

"We are on a quest from the Guardian of the Dark Forest to cleanse the forest of the taint," I replied to the elderly Lord of the castle. His snow-white hair and pale skin made such a strong contrast with the bright red eyes that surrounded the Patriarch that a few times I caught myself in the process of averting my eyes. Damn! There were no buffs or debuffs, but the NPC's influence could be felt very clearly. Was it Charisma? Or did he have something more interesting about him? I had to get to the bottom of this. "I would also like to find out what happened to the Great Priest Midial and his group" – I made sure I didn't forget the second quest too – "and who destroyed him."

"Destroyed him?" smiled the Patriarch. "I would have given much to destroy the sentient you just called the Great Priest Midial. After all, the Lord of the Fallen and Midial are one and the same. ..."

* * *

"Faster!" Midial was increasingly impatient, as he tried to hurry his team ahead. "We have to get to Ishni before nightfall! Only she can tell us where to find the Tear of Eluna! Onwards, brothers!"

"Don't run your people into the ground, Priest." A blindingly bright light chased away the deepening shadows of the Dark Forest as the Unicorn stepped out of the trees. It was the heart of the Dark Forest – Ishni. The expedition sent by the High Priestess froze, gazing in wonder at the flawless white skin, the resplendent horn and huge eyes full of unearthly wisdom. "I will give you the Tear of Eluna, I have no more need of it. Take it and carry the Light with honor!"

The Unicorn lowered her head and the group saw that a small chain with a drop-shaped pendant was hanging from the tip of her horn, the lost amulet of the High Priestess. Everyone sighed in relief; the expedition had ended in success and a great reward awaited everyone upon their return. The group relaxed, many started to smile and Midial bent to his knees and said: "You have my thanks, o great Ishni, for helping us find the lost relic. We will be able to achieve much with its help ..."

"Much? Priest, it seems you do not know that the Tear of Eluna is incapable of bringing Light. How can the Goddess's grief, her pain and loss carry Light? For centuries the High Priestesses guarded the peoples of Barliona from the effect of this amulet and the time has now come for the new Priestess to take this burden upon herself. The Tear cannot be used, it can only be guarded."

"I beg your pardon, o great one, I misspoke. I will not use the Tear: it is beyond my power. My innermost desire is to deliver the relic to the right place."

Midial rose up, walked over to the Unicorn, and took the pendant from her. He looked at the amulet for a few moments and then a malicious smile spread across his face: "And isn't it just my luck that the right place is right here? Geranika!" The Priest suddenly shouted into empty air, "I obtained the prize that you sought! The Dark Forest is ready to fall at your feet!" After uttering these words Midial tore the Tear off the chain and stuck it into the ground.

"Stop, you madman!" Ishni managed to utter before the world came to a halt. The priests who sprang up to stop their leader, the Unicorn, who lowered her head to run at the enemy and even the wind, which previously had been hardly noticeable in the Dark Forest, froze in an elaborate swirl. Everything paused.

"You did it!" said a man, dressed in a tailored suit, who appeared next to Midial. "I have to admit, my apprentice, I started to doubt you, but you managed to live up to my hopes. From now on I name you the Lord of the Dark Forest. Very soon it will become Cursed and you will supply me with a ..."

"Who dares intrude into and desecrate the Dark Forest!" Although time had stopped, the projection of the Oak appeared not far from Geranika and Midial. The Guardian had come to defend its forest.

"You still haven't dealt with this problem?" Geranika looked at Midial in surprise. "Apprentice, you begin to disappoint me. How did you manage to do such a good job on the one hand and botch it on the other so spectacularly? Prepare to be punished."

"You will be destroyed," the Guardian continued with his denunciation, "nothing will save you and ..."

"Silence!" A tambourine appeared in Geranika's hand, the Shaman closed his eyes and the surrounding world was shaken by several resounding bangs.

"You dare tell me ... . What?! What is happening?" shouted the Guardian, as dark mist started to swirl around him. Its touch first wilted leaves, then branches began to fall off and just a few moments later the Oak vanished, having disintegrated into dust.

"Apprentice, this is your punishment: until you destroy the Patriarch of the Vampires who lives in this forest you shall have no place at my side. That is all." Geranika looked at the bowed head of the Priest, walked up to the Unicorn, broke off its horn and, after a pleased chuckle, vanished.

The surrounding world moved once more, but now Midial was its Master. He lifted up his hands and, as with Geranika earlier, dark smoke started to stream out of them. In a snake-like movement it twisted around all those still alive in the glade, including the Unicorn, and lifted them above the ground.