The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (13 page)

Motioning for my other warrior to get off him and let him up, I stood up along with the rest of the unit as we began to pick up our belongings. With only a minute to spare, we needed to vacate the area before an entire guild came bursting through the bush.

Slinging the remains of the wolf over my shoulder, I nodded at Mr. Robes and started walking in the opposite direction of our boat. Only to be interrupted by the caster before I could even take two steps.

“What about the wolf? That’s mine,” he questioned.

With a grin appearing on my face and the faces of my troops, I turned back slightly and gave my reply, “Don’t push your luck kid, you can have the steak on the fire.” A wink following soon after, my parting words were simple, “The wolf’s mine.”

Chapter 86: Regather

(Wednesday, December 22nd Game Day / Friday, April 30th Real Day)

After five real-time days spent harassing the FWB players in their own forests, the time to relax was finally at hand. A day off sorely needed, mainly so I could go over all of the details that I had gathered. The interrogations were generally successful and the running theme as far as those details were concerned all seemed to corroborate Mr. Robes’ testimony. There were other details of course but for the most part the stories all added up to roughly, one slightly hazy yet large picture.

Emily provided all of the information that they needed and somewhere down the line, someone believed that I was in the way and was planning to forcefully remove outsiders from the North. The rumors had floated around the meetings for quite some time and that eventually led to discussions of who would carry out a preemptive strike before I became too powerful. Someone had to do it for the greater good.

A curious thing, really.

I was certainly amassing an army but it was for my own protection. My village was growing as I prepared and developed an industry to establish my own kingdom… so in a way, their thinking wasn’t necessarily wrong. To think that I would care about what some small guild was doing almost three hundred miles away from me was quite a stretch.

This was all speculation on my part though.

Piecing together the larger picture from the hints and clues of the guild members while pulling additional information from the forums, blogs, and streams to supplement my theories, everything was a best guess, an educated assumption. Despite all of my theories though, the more interesting aspect to the information was the fact that I was being portrayed as a villain with some diabolical scheme. Someone or something had moved FWB’s guild leader to action.

Once he had made his decision to move, he convinced guild members to infiltrate and scout the place out in an attempt to get the upper hand. It turned out Milly wasn’t the only one sent out into the North after all. Multiple players were sent throughout the North and reported back in every so often as the main army moved north.

When Milly found me in the forest she didn’t know if I was the man in question or not but went along with it. Following me for an entire week while building up a small level of trust with me, until I relented and put a small amount of hope in her that she might be telling me the truth… ignoring the gut feeling that she wasn’t.

I wasn’t expecting anyone to attack me for a few more months at the least anyhow, even with the knowledge that guilds were mobilizing further away. My territory was so far removed that it seemed silly to consider an attack within three months of the game’s launch. We weren’t even past the beginner zones and stages yet.

At worst, in the back of my mind I figured she would scout the place and spill out details like a curious traveler might. That would be about as harmful as Emily’s sharing of information in the meetings.

Hah, was I wrong there.

By the end of all those interrogations, Milly seemed more the victim of circumstance than a willing participant. Pressured by guild members into a role she didn’t want then forced to witness and experience the results of her actions.

She even quit the game due to it.

That brought me back to my thoughts on how the game was far too realistic at times and some people didn’t have the mental fortitude to realize that it was only a game. This reality was hard to separate, I knew that first hand. Some experiences in this game were hard to shake. I was still having nightmares about drowning in that cave.

At the end of the day, I was glad I didn’t do anything to her the second time around. She was as guilty as the rest but if the trauma was so great as to force her to quit, then the damage was done and there was no need to go any further.

Yeah, she was still guilty in my mind.

Maybe she was coerced into the act, that was a definite possibility but at the end of the day carrying out the actions remained up to the individual. If she refused to do so, then she wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with.

My conscience was clean there.

There’s a reason people tell you not to play with fire, in the case that you might get burned. Those life lessons would have done FWB a service if they paid heed to them. Especially when considering the fact that their guild members were refusing to hunt in their own forests out of fear unless they roamed in a large pack but even then, killing ten players when you had the drop on them wasn’t exactly the most difficult thing in the world. Especially with five highly trained NPCs working in unison with me.

The lingering threat of player killings, alive and well.

Five full days of roaming their forests, camping corpses as if it were a day job. Pitching my tent, stoking a fire, and cooking a good ole nutritious meal right in front of them. Word on the blogosphere was that they weren’t coming online as often while others had gone to a different area altogether. Abandoning their guild territory temporarily until the situation calmed down.

They were waiting for it to wash over.

Well they would have one week of freedom before I returned with my full force in the dead of night. They had one week to regather themselves and prepare. To calm down and believe the worst was over. The only things that were going to be washed over after all, were their soon to be burned out buildings.

Grinning like a fool as I had been silently thinking to myself at the table for more than an hour, the quiet female in front of me had actually averted her eyes from the wall and was watching my every comical move. I had finally broken the barrier and held her attention. It only took some patience, good will, and a little crazy behavior to do it, too.

“How was the mutton the other day?” I asked while meeting her cold gaze.

“What is it that you want from me?” she quickly questioned out of turn.

“Nothing really,” I replied sincerely. “I’m simply curious as to why someone would sit at an empty table for almost two months while running out of money.”

“My affairs are not for you to concern yourself over,” she said curtly.

“Judging by the size of your coin purse though,” I began to explain with a hushed voiced only she could hear. “You’ve less than a week’s room and board in there.”

“I do not need your handouts and my financial situation is also none of your concern,” she replied harshly and seriously, with her demeanor quickly changing. “At no point did I ask for your assistance or meddling, if you are to be so kind, then leave me be.”

Pausing only to think over my next response, any discourse at this point was good discourse. The silence had finally been broken and now was the time to push.

“If I’ve insulted your honor then let me at least apologize,” I quickly replied while nodding at the barkeep to bring two orders of food and drink. “I do admit to being a bit of a meddler but it’s mostly out of good intention.”

“Mostly you say, so then you do want something from me,” she said with her eyes locked with mine. A cold stare that attempted to burn a hole through me, I met and returned a cool, unfazed gaze right back.

“Helping you helps me figure out one of the mysteries of this world,” I said with a soft smile. “There are a lot of questions and you happen to be one of them, it’s nothing nefarious but if you can be helped it’s a worthy endeavor for me.”

“Bold words with little substance,” said the angered female as she spat on the ground. “Do not toy with me with your circular logic, out with what you want or leave.”

The situation had deteriorated fairly quickly but I wasn’t too bothered by it, as every other player that had attempted to converse with her met the same fate. So far I was charting new territory with the simple amount of replies received.

Everything after this was a plus.

“I want to know why you’re sitting there,” I said with a straight face and a hard delivery. “Why would someone sit there, only to stare at a wall for a month and change? What drives a person to do something so damaging, who commits self-sabotage?”

“It’s none of your business what I do!” she practically shouted.

“It is my business,” I said while kicking my chair back and folding my arms. “Because I’m told that there are krakens roaming the area, preying on fishing vessels and there is no one out there willing to stop them.”

“Humph, and what do you know of the krakens?”

“I know they can be killed,” I answered with a steadfast gaze.

“You? Kill them? HAH!” she shouted as she banged on the table with her fists. “YOU can kill a kraken? HAH! And who are you that is so mighty that he speaks of slaying monsters that only the Gods dare to involve themselves with?”

Not bothering to pause and wait for my reply, she continued on as she had finally showed an emotional range after all the weeks of empty silence. Standing up and knocking her chair over as she placed both hands on the table, the imposing six-foot-four woman with broad muscular shoulders eyed me up and down as she shook her head in anger.

“Do you take me for a fool? Approaching me with a fool’s errand as some braggart hoping to lead the overzealous to their watery graves? As if I would be convinced to join?”

Leaning back in my chair with my legs crossed at the ankles and my arms folded across my chest, I tilted my head slightly as a look of sadness appeared on my face. Disappointed with her reaction, there wasn’t much left for me to do except to solidify my positon and then leave it at that.

“If I am a fool then so be it,” I replied casually. “But when I lost a family member to raiders, I swore my revenge and enacted it when the time was ripe as any good Viking would. A Northerners’ Honor is built upon proper revenge. I believed you to be an honorable skjoldmø, an honorable shield girl. I only thought it right to extend the opportunity but I see it was foolish of me. I am certainly a fool.”

She was angry and wanted to lash out but the stares of the crowd had made her wary as she reconsidered her position. The entire bar had gone quiet as the dozens of inhabitants watched and waited, eager with anticipation for what may or may not happen. A few had even nodded to themselves and whispered to each other,
it is true
, they said. These NPCs were the embodiment of the ancient customs after all.

“You speak as a man who has practiced his tongue,” she said, tempering her anger with caution while returning to a state of normalcy. “I find it hard to believe otherwise but if others know of your deeds then let them speak now or call your bluff.”

“It seems even my reputation is not enough to reach your ears,” I stated calmly. “If you do not believe in my words then you can believe in my past deeds, verifiable by any man in this town. I am not unknown to this world, perhaps, only unknown to you.”

Having set the stage and with the audience fully engaged, all that was left was to sit back and let it unfold. The ball had been dropped and where it bounced was anybody’s guess but the chances were good that someone would speak up. I only needed one strong voice to sway her opinion and there were plenty to choose from here.

And then as if on cue, one voice broke the silence.

“Annalie,” said the old barkeep as he set our food down on the counter. The same old man that once referred to her as a lost soul, the very same one that told me not to bother. Taking his time as everyone looked his way, he relaxed his shoulders and began to explain the situation to the isolated young woman.

“Annalie you have spent far too much time living in that wall rather than living in the present,” he said while shaking his head in pity. “He is a man of his word and is well known in the North. Sigurd is an Earl with his own territory, one of the largest we’ve been told. He is a warrior that fights on the front lines, a man that eats and drinks with the lowest of us all, one that has liberated a town from the clutches of a tyrant, and a savior to those facing starvation in the far North. And though he shows us all the respect we deserve as Freemen, not once has he asked any of us to bow to his title.”

Pausing for what could only be seen as dramatic effect, the master of persuasion himself sighed and shook his head slightly once more before resuming his speech.

“I had my suspicions as well but the stories are the same no matter the traveler, if one has spent time in the North then one is familiar. The lad’s reputation precedes him.”

Bravo, bravo Mr. Barkeep!
I thought to myself.

Wanting to clap and hug the man for his speech, I could barely restrain myself as my straight face belied my internal excitement. It almost brought a tear to my eye as my chest swelled with a pride that I couldn’t contain. He had described me as if I were some hero, some living legend. I was neither but to hear praise always made one feel good. Cheering only in my mind, I waited patiently for her reply as thoughts on how this would continue swarmed about my head.

“So it seems you are not all hot air and alcohol, I will apologize for my behavior,” she said rather quietly after a few seconds had passed. Taking a turn that I didn’t quite expect but was glad to have. With a calm returning to her face she waited again before speaking up, wanting to pick her words more carefully this time around.

“But… I ask you again, do you believe… do you truly intend to kill the kraken?”