Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel (4 page)

“That’s actually what they call their inn?” asked Des as he and Kari fell into step beside Jake, who had taken off across the square. “Sorry Jake, that’s kind of weak.”

Inside the Watering Hole – Jake had been hoping for something like “Wellspring” or “Spring Hearth” but the plump innkeeper Albred lacked imagination, if not business sense – the trio settled around one of the round oak tables near the big stone fireplace with its perfect dusting of soot. The innkeeper’s daughter Mirabel soon stopped by their table, one hand clutching aloft a cluster of empty earthenware mugs.

“Your pleasure, Sir Xend?” she asked cheerfully. “Refreshments for yourself and your companions?”

“Ciders, please,” Jake said. Mirabel turned and headed for the bar, shooting Des a little smile and a wink over her shoulder as she went.

“She thinks you’re cute,” Kari told him, elbowing Des in the shoulder.

“No, she doesn’t,” Des retorted. “She’s just nice, that’s all. Right?”

Jake shrugged, smiling cryptically. When Des turned to look over his shoulder at the departed Maribel, Jake winked at Kari. “She never smiles at me like that,” he said.

“Oh, shut up.” Des turned back around, cheeks reddening, and spoke in a whisper. “She’s coming back.”

The young woman returned a moment later, setting their ciders on the table and turning to leave again. Jake stopped her. “Blacksmith Palon spoke of dread wolves making trouble in this area,” he said to the serving girl. “Have you heard anything?”

Mirabel nodded, peering at Kari and then for a notably longer moment at Des before returning her attention to Jake. The brightness had fled her smile, and her sky blue eyes were darkened now by clouds. “Yes,” she said. “Farmer Dean lost four of his cattle last night, and Farmer Lewin’s entire hen house was slaughtered the night before.”

“Did either of them see how many wolves there were?” asked Kari.

“Master Dean says he counted five,” Mirabel answered quietly, glancing over her shoulder as though nervous someone should hear. “Dad says he can’t figure what the dread wolves are doing so far south, away from the Fissure. They’ve never been seen‘round here, never in a thousand years!”

“I know,” said Jake, leaning toward the suddenly frightened young woman across the table. He had the same feeling as before, when the blacksmith had told them about the wolves in the first place. Jake still could not quite put his finger on what it was that seemed so out of place. He knew he would figure it out, eventually. “Don’t worry,” he told Mirabel. “We’ll get rid of them, anyway.”

“I hope so,” said the innkeeper’s daughter. She managed one more little smile for Des before returning to the bar, but worry still lined her brow and her eyes sparkled more from barely restrained tears than their own natural beauty.

“This keeps getting weirder,” Jake told his friends as soon as she was gone. “This is totally not the right climate for dread wolves. They like it way hotter than this, the cold nights in this part of Xaloria should kill them. And I’m sure I never put any this far south.”

“Maybe they migrated,” said Des, not sounding worried about it in the slightest. “You let the people do whatever they want, why wouldn’t the program allow these wolves to migrate?”

“No, no,” Jake said distractedly, shaking his head. “They could, I guess, but the AI should restrict them to environments where they would be normally. The habitats are all well defined in the coding.” Exasperation rose in Jake’s voice as he went on. That little feeling that something wasn’t right was growing steadily. “There must be something wrong with the AI for dread wolves to be in this area.”

“Well I’m glad they’re here, for one,” said Kari, still excited despite Jake’s obviously worried turn. “They’ll be
dead
wolves when I get to them.”

“Not if I get there first,” boasted Des, leaning forward over the table and clenching his leather-gloved fists.

Jake tried to push down his building anxiety and join in his friend’s banter. Maybe he
had
misplaced the dread wolves by accident. Maybe there was nothing wrong with the AI. He would still have to check later, but he could do that
after
they tracked the pack down and dealt with them. He didn’t want to bore his friends – especially Kari – messing around with the template controls on their first visit.

When the friends had finished their ciders, Jake handed over a few small, copper coins to Albred. “See you later, Innkeeper,” he said boldly. “My companions and I will surely be hungry later. The slaughtering of savage dread wolves works up an appetite!”

Aldred looked at him with obvious fear in his eyes. The plump innkeeper knew Sir Xend’s reputation, but these foul creatures from the blasted lands around the Fissure in the north were a threat he had never imagined his beloved village would face. He reached out and took Jake’s hands in both of his own large, flour-dusted hands. “Grace and luck be with you, young Knight,” he said.

“So it shall,” Jake assured the man. He and the others left the inn through the front door, turning left to look down the single, cobble-paved road leading north out of town. Beyond the gates of Everheart spread the forested wilderness of Xaloria, a vast realm Jake had only begun to explore. The familiar rush of excitement he had felt each time he had visited this VR world returned to him now, overcoming the worry he had nearly given in to inside.

“The farms all lie in this direction,” he told his companions, pointing north. “Just past the river, a mile or so from town.”

“What, no horses?” Kari pretended to be shocked. “Where’s your armored stallion, sir knight?”

“I haven’t bought one yet,” Jake admitted sheepishly, looking down at his steel-shod feet. “I’ve been too busy programming to save up much money in the game yet.”

“What good is being the creator if you have to save up for your horse?” asked Des.

“It’s more realistic. Besides, in the game I’m not the creator. I’m just a knight. Why else play the game, if you don’t have anything to work toward?”

Des gave Kari a knowing look. “It’s going to be one of
those
games,” he said in a groaning voice.

“Lessons and values,” agreed Kari, crossing her arms in their billowing, loudly-colored sleeves. She gave Jake a disapproving look, but a smile tugged at the corners of her lips and laughter twinkled in her eyes.

The smile that spread over his face make Jake feel goofy. “I like games where you can choose where you want to go, accomplish whatever goal you set out to do,” he said defensively. “Instead of simply completing the script, and letting yourself be taken somewhere. It’s way more fun this way.”

“He’s right,” Kari told Des, forcing him at last to relent. Des still shook his head dismissively, thinking how silly it would be to show up for a VR lacrosse game without having “bought” any equipment beforehand, but he let the matter drop.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Kari continued, turning to tell Jake what she thought. “Look at me. I’m an elemental sorceress who’s also a noble-born princess. It’s absolutely terrific to be able to make up your own story sometimes!”

The party of three set out along the north road, with Jake leading the way a half-step ahead of the others. They admired the scenery, watching in interest at the scamperings of virtual animals through the hedges and over the fields lining both sides of the broad, beaten earth road. All the details Jake had worked so hard to include really paid off; Des and Kari agreed that the background detail was mind-blowing, and made the rest of the game even better. It was as if the world of Xaloria truly were real, so rich and exact were the details. From the variety and unique diversity of the flora, to the faint scents carried on a gentle breeze that smelled of the woods not long after a rain, this world was utterly convincing. Kari especially found herself getting lost in the wonder of it, and for long periods of time she would entirely forget that she was not physically present in this make-believe world.

“Look,” Des said suddenly, when they had been walking along the firmly packed dirt road for several minutes. He lifted one leather-clad arm to point further along the road. Up ahead, a wagon lay on its side, surrounded by scattered piles of unusual objects which Jake and the others did not take in at once.

Jake reacted first, breaking into a trot and drawing his sword even as he moved. It was a very basic, one-handed sword he’d purchased from Blacksmith Palon on his first foray into Xaloria. Eager as he was to replace the blade, preferably with some enchanted sword from the depths of a forgotten sorcerer’s tomb, Jake did feel an affinity for the plain, unadorned weapon. He had spent most of his session yesterday practicing in preparation for his friends’first visit. He carried it confidently now as he approached the overturned wagon, calling out in a loud voice.

“Hello? Ho there, are there injured? Do you need assistance?”

Des had followed close behind, and taken the unusual sling-shot weapon from off his shoulder. Kari came up on Jake’s other side, crouched forward slightly and holding her onyx staff in front of her chest with both hands. Jake looked from one to the other of them, and they each nodded to him that they were ready for anything.

A keening moan sounded from the far side of the wagon, out of their sight. Jake licked his lips, thinking. It sounded like someone was hurt, but suppose this was some trap laid by bandits. Or worse, what if some other creature that should never be within a hundred leagues of Everheart had come to this region and prepared this scenario to snare the young knight of growing fame? The moan sounded again, and Kari started forward.

“There’s someone there, alright,” she said. There was a trace of nervousness in her voice, but she approached the wagon cautiously nevertheless. “It sounds like he’s hurt.”

Jake hurried to catch up to Kari, not willing to let her circle around out of his sight until he knew what was waiting on the other side of the wagon. That mind-tickling idea that something had gone horribly wrong had returned, and he gripped his sword tightly. Coming around the corner of the wagon, he was hardly aware of Des at his side or even Kari – who herself had come to a jarring halt when she saw what lay behind the wagon.

“Bodies,” said Des in a gasping voice. “Jeez, there’s blood everywhere.”

“Help me,” said a voice, the same voice that had produced the mournful, keening moan that had drawn them closer. “Please help me…”

Jake pulled his eyes from the scattered carnage, focusing his eyes on the wagon. He stepped deftly over or around the corpses and bits of corpses strewn in the dirt, crouching down as he reached the side of the wagon. Pulling aside a broken-off shard of wooden planking, he revealed the injured man lying half underneath the overturned wagon. He had been hidden by the piece of wreckage, but now they saw him curled in on himself and clutching his side with one blood-slicked hand. Kari rushed forward, pushing Jake aside to kneel beside the hurt man on the ground.

“It’s very bad,” she said, tearing some cloth from the wagon’s covering and pressing it against the man’s injured side. “How long have you been lying here?”

“Not long,” the man whispered, and it was clear from the rasping weakness of his voice that he would not last long enough to tell them much. “A few minutes only, my Lady. My name is Ixus Rites, a merchant from nearby Rivertown.”

“I am the Lady Alista,” Kari told him, speaking very seriously and giving no indication that she was only playing a role. “These are my friends, Sir Xend and Des the Hand. We’re going to get you out of here, get you some help.”

“Thank you, kind lady,” Ixus Rites said sadly, wincing at a sudden sharpening of the pain in his side. “But I fear the wound is too deep, and too much of my blood on the wrong side of my skin. I know when I’m done for. Please, kind lady, bear a message to my loving wife in Rivertown. Tell her of my love, which shall have lasted to my end.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” Kari snapped at the merchant, shaking her onyx staff in his face. “Let’s see, elemental sorceress. Seems to me something simple like a healing spell shouldn’t be any kind of a problem.” She waved her staff over the bleeding wound in the merchant’s side, and willed the injury to heal.

Ixus Rites jerked, every muscle spasming at once. He gasped like a man who’d had cold water dumped over his head, and then he slumped back against the dusty ground. His hand fell away from the wound, carrying away the makeshift cloth bandage to reveal smooth, pink skin beneath – still smeared with blood, but unbroken. The merchant blinked his eyes and stared down at his healed stomach in plain amazement.

“My lady!” Tears shone in his eyes when he lifted them to look thankfully at Kari. “Thank you, thank you, my lady. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t come.” He broke off, frowning. “I’d have died. They’d have killed me, those terrible beasts.”

Ixus had climbed to his feet, pulling himself up the side of the wagon as he spoke. Suddenly he froze, and looked all around with madly darting eyes. “Why, they could return,” he cried. “At any moment, they could come back!”

“Fear not,” Jake said, stepping toward the man. “We’ll see you safely back to town.” He nodded to Des, and together the two boys broke the wagon seat away from its fastenings. It was quick work, thanks to the damage already done in the crash. Kari smirked at them, and stepped back a few paces before lifting her staff with a look of concentration on her face.

With an astonished cry, Ixus Rites found himself lifted off his feet and turned up on end. Guiding him with her magical staff, Kari lifted the man and held him in place as the two boys slid their makeshift stretcher beneath the merchant’s back.

“How do you keep doing that?” Des asked, sounding annoyed. “Jake, you didn’t sneak her in here before me did you?”

“What?” Jake shook his head. “No, of course not. But the way the program works, your character is who you are. Her character knows magic, so why shouldn’t she be able to use it?”

“So, what, how is my character awesome?” For the first time, Des looked down at the outfit he had chosen for himself. He hadn’t really taken Xaloria seriously, but now he found himself very much getting into the story. He also realized he looked a little clownish. He held up his lacrosse stick inspired sling, wondering if it would even work. “You think I’m just automatically some kind of wicked shot with this thing?”