Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel (11 page)

Jake had already known time in Xaloria was inconsistent with the real world. There was nothing unusual about that. But he had noticed something else as he and Des tracked the mysterious party that had taken Kari. Sometimes the digital readout showing real time would flash forward – or even backward – by hours at a time. Jake was left with no way of knowing how much time had actually passed. He finally decided to ignore it altogether as he and Des rode on.

Jake shifted again in his saddle, suppressing his groan this time. He had no idea riding a horse could be so uncomfortable. Stretching his aching back, he looked around. The rocky land had smoothed into rolling hills over which climbed fields of rich green grass and forests of ironwood, slender aspens, and sturdy elms. Flowing gently out of one such cluster of trees, a burbling river ran through a field and crossed the road ahead of them. There was no bridge, but the crossing looked shallow enough for the horses.

Jake started across first, scanning the far bank with his eyes as his mare’s legs disappeared into the slow-moving water. Staring ahead as he was, he almost missed it. Brightly colored, flashing in the sun, the tattered cloth was caught in the low branches of one of the thick twisted-finger-rooted trees perched along the banks of the stream.

“What’s that?” Even before Des spoke, Jake had reined his horse to the side and was hurrying toward the bank. The tattered cloth was a piece of some orange fabric, tangled in the thick, needle leaves of the tree. Jake slid from his saddle and picked his way up the sloping bank, careful not to trip over the wildly jutting roots of the tree.

“Watch your step,” said Des from behind him, picking his own way over the knotty, gnarled roots that jutted at all angles from the bank, some disappearing beneath the water while others plunged back into the earth. “You’re going to fall.”

Ignoring Des, Jake placed one foot atop one of the thicker roots and tested his balance. Reaching out for the nearest branch, he took hold and used it to lever himself up where he could stretch his other hand toward the fluttering cloth. The breeze was rising, causing the orange fabric to flap in the wind. Any second now, it would be plucked from the branch and carried away from his grasping hand.

Jake closed his fingers several times, missing on his first few tries. He clutched the cloth at last, nearly losing his perch on the root and falling backwards into the river. Shallow as the water was this close to the bank, Jake’s heavy armor would make it difficult for him to right himself before the river poured into his helmet and drowned him. He heard Des gasping, but caught his balance at the last second.

Taking a deep breath of relief and banishing the moment of panic from his face before he turned to face his friend, Jake climbed down from the roots with the cloth held tightly in both hands. He examined it carefully, then offered it to Des.

The water behind Des exploded without warning. Jake drew his sword instinctively. His gaze locked on the emerging creature, giant and mantis-shaped. It must live in the deeper center of the river, but swam closer to shore to investigate the stirring water caused by their crossing. Now it lunged hungrily from beneath the glassy water, stretching its bright green forelimbs skyward and shrieking from its insectile mouth as it loomed over the two boys.

Four scaled and hook-clawed feet scraped at the gnarled branches as the creature pulled itself out of the water. It climbed higher, head whipping back and forth while emitting a deafening shriek. Water poured from the monster’s shoulders, splashing over Jake and Des.

Des took a stumbling step back from the creature, and his leg tangled with one of the thick roots. He hadn’t seen it, with his eyes locked on the creature and most of the root submerged. Nevertheless, he tripped backwards and fell flat on his back in the muddy water. Spluttering and choking, Des struggled to pull himself up and get at his bow and quiver of arrows.

One of the monster’s razor-tipped forelimbs stabbed down in a green blur toward Jake, who dodged to one side. The hooked claw sheared through one of the thick roots with a loud, wet crack that sent damp splinters of fibrous root flying into the air. It broke off its terrifying shriek, turning its head to fix Jake with one of its side-facing, compound eyes. Foot-long mandibles clicked together over its beaked mouth.

“Crolorg!” Des shouted, recognizing the creature from one of their adventures in the southern swamplands. They had learned to avoid the things, especially in groups. There was no avoiding this one, and Kari wasn’t here to cast one of the spells that had saved their lives before.

The beast jerked its claw back from the splintered root, lunging again for Jake with both hooked claws slicing at the air. Dodging again, Jake threw up his left arm. The monster’s claws grated across his buckler, sending painful shudders running up his arm.

Like Des, Jake wished Kari was with them. Without her magic, Jake would have to bring the crolorg down to his level somehow. Otherwise, the creature’s only vital organs were out of reach, ten feet over Jake’s head in its upraised thorax.

Swinging his sword with all his VR enhanced might, Jake hacked at the nearest leg of the beast. He hoped to cripple it. His blade cut into the tough skin over one knee, but the crolorg only reared higher and shrieked again. The twang of a bowstring sounded behind Jake’s back, but the creature had reared at just the wrong moment. Des’s arrow embedded itself in the slime-covered shoulder; not a critical hit.

The crolorg was getting angry, however. These puny creatures had injured it twice now, and though the pain barely registered in the beast’s tiny brain it was still enraged. Jerking its head down, it spread its deadly mandibles, opening its mouth wide. Poison vapors burst from its gaping maw, a thick, smoky cloud of purple gas. Jake choked and staggered backwards, nearly tripping over a root as he rubbed at his burning eyes. Belatedly, he held his breath as he scrambled to escape the deadly cloud.

Another arrow thunked into the river monster’s carapaced shoulder, diverting its attention momentarily. Believing the shiny creature would be immobilized by its poison breath, the crolorg turned toward the water-drenched brown creature that could throw its teeth. It roared its blood-chilling hunting cry again and started toward Des.

Jake took advantage of the crolorg’s distraction, crouching low to the water and crawling away from the hanging smoke of its foul breath.

The monster took another cumbersome step toward Des, forelimbs swiping at the low-hanging branches that slapped against its serpentine head. Its blows rocked the trees, shaking the trunks and causing the roots to vibrate. One root shook hard enough to catch Des below the knee, throwing him off balance yet again. He caught himself, hooking his bow around a felled trunk that hung broken over the edge of the riverbank. Pulling with all his strength, he leaped out of the water and used his bow to hook himself around and on top of the rotten log. Before the crolorg could strike, he drew an arrow and fired as quickly as he could.

“Jake!” he shouted, frantically grabbing for another arrow. “It can reach me! Keep it back, get it away!”

Shaking his head to clear the dizziness, Jake rose and sucked in deep mouthfuls of clean air before setting himself to charge. He saw Des fire another arrow, his last. The shaft sank all the way to the feathers in one of the crolorg’s eyes, enraging the beast even further. The river monster staggered back several steps, swiping blindly ahead of it with both hooked forelimbs.

Jake took his chance and rushed the crolorg. Driving his sword deep into the monster’s belly, he was rewarded by a gush of thick, yellow fluid as he felt his blade rupture the beast’s guts. The monster hissed, mandibles snapping and chattering together as it fled from Jake and his sword. Jake circled around in front of the creature, searching for another opening.

The monster swiveled its green-scaled head, searching for Jake with its one remaining compound eye. Finding him at last, the monster hissed angrily and released another cloud of poison. Jake was ready this time, locking his breath in his lungs. The monster lunged forward as soon as it expelled the poison, slashing at the knight. Jake parried the left forelimb with his sword, but its right arm dug deep into the chainmail sleeve above the buckler on his other arm.

The crolorg reared back, dragging Jake into the air by his speared arm. Jake howled in unexpected pain – real pain – but stared defiantly into the monster’s murderous eye. He swung wildly with his sword, but the creature’s chest was just out reach. Each movement sent shockwaves of agony from the wound in his arm where the monster’s claw still hooked him.

Des scrambled about, retrieving as many of his arrows as he could find. He launched a volley, one after another, scoring hit after hit. The monster’s thick skin prevented the arrows from penetrating too deeply, but the stinging pain distracted the simple-minded creature. It shifted its bulk awkwardly around and fumbled over the river stones trying to reach Des.

“It’s no good!” shouted Des. “I can’t hurt it!”

Jake still hung from one claw, forgotten for the moment. He had to get loose somehow, and within reach of the crolorg’s vulnerable chest. As the creature thrashed toward Des, Jake saw his opening. As the monster continued its cumbersome crawl toward Des, Jake grabbed at the creature’s arm. He wrapped his sword arm around the clawed limb to keep from being thrown free, and started hacking at the hooked claw where it stabbed through his own arm.

“Jump, Des!” he shouted just as the crolorg reared back on its two hindmost legs, readying to strike. As Des jumped blindly out of the way, Jake slashed through the final ligaments of the monster’s claw and fell loose. Plummeting, Jake fell directly onto the creature’s up-reared shoulder. He slid down over the monster’s back, exactly what he hoped for.

The crolorg struck, but Des was safely out of the way and the remaining claw smashed through the riverside saplings, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction. Tightening his grip on his sword, Jake rose shakily to his feet and took two leaping steps up the monster’s back. His feet slid over the slime-coated, leathery carapace and Jake fell skidding to his knees. But he had made it, squatting atop the monster’s back just behind the rearing torso. He drew back his sword and thrust downward, skewering the crolorg’s lower throat. His blade tore all the way through, emerging from the beneath the crolorg’s mandibles covered with the thick, yellow ichor.

Jake knew the crolorg’s heart was at the base of its throat, and hoped he’d judged the stabbing blow correctly. The monster shuddered convulsively, howling its death roar. Jake knew he’d done it. As the crolorg’s legs collapsed, its chattering mandibles clicked faster and faster, the sounds blending together into one, prolonged insectoid scream. Jake tumbled free, splashing into the water seconds before the giant creature crumpled to the riverbed. Yellow blood leaked from its various wounds, staining the clear water as its clicking ceased.

Wounded and exhausted, Jake forced himself to his feet and ran to where Des had fallen amidst a thorny mess of vines clinging to the riverbank. He hacked weakly at the brush with his sword until Des was able to pull himself free. Dozens of nicks and cuts decorated the thief’s exposed face and arms, and he scowled at the thinly bleeding wounds.

“We are definitely not still playing on the normal difficulty,” panted Des, leaning forward with his hands braced on his knees. When he caught his breath, he straightened and lifted what he held in one hand triumphantly. “At least there’s this.”

Des had managed to hold onto the ragged scrap of orange cloth. Golden threads woven through the fabric formed an intricate pattern that caught and held the dying light.

“That’s Kari’s, alright,” Jake said softly, still panting for breath himself. The terrible wound in his arm was forgotten as he stared at the torn cloth. “Look at the pattern. Remember what she said last week, that a lady should always wear gold?”

“I remember. But how long do you think it’s been here?”

“In real time?” Jake shrugged. “Who knows. I doubt it’s been all that long in game-time, though. The wind nearly pulled it away from me.”

“That might not have been a natural wind,” mused Des, staring at the slowly fading carcass of the crolorg. “There’s no way
that thing
should have been here, so far from the swamps. Somebody’s still messing with us.”

Jake thought it over, and decided Des was right. The torn cloth might have hung from that branch for only a matter of hours. It could just have easily been there for months if both the crolorg and the rising wind had been sent by their mysterious enemy.

More than ever, he wished Ryden were available to help them. When it was torn from Kari’s robe – or scarf, or whatever garment it had been a part of – this scrap of cloth became a distinct and unique item within the game. Ryden’s unconscious access to the AI would let him identify it, and that included how
old
the item was. But it was no use wishing for Ryden’s help now; the wizard was certainly dead, likely destroyed along with his castle. Jake sighed sadly.

“So there’s no telling, really,” he said. Glancing down at his blood soaked arm, he shook his head. “I’m beat. Let’s find some place to rest and see what we can do about my arm.”

“Sounds good to me,” agreed Des. He studied the bloody gash where the crolorg had speared Jake, worry obvious in his widened eyes. “I think I’ve got some healing salves in one of my pouches. Let’s hope they didn’t get ruined in the mud and the water.”

They found a place to climb the bank, and set out for a small ring of trees not far from the river. The ground beneath the trees was covered in a thick bed of moss. Tethering their horses, the boys stretched out on the welcome, green cushion. As Des carefully applied a thick, pungent salve to his wound, Jake closed his eyes – just for a moment.

He awoke hours later to a view of leaves overhead and the smell of moist earth all around him. He lay staring at the sky above, seen through the interlacing tree branches, trying to wrap his mind around all that had happened. Beside him, Des’s deep, steady breathing told Jake his friend was soundly asleep.