Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis (16 page)

As they came up to a stream, Tao reined in his horse and patted its neck. “We should dismount and let them drink a little.” Putting action to his words,
he slid off and led his steed to the stream.

Kastle followed suit and
studied his new companion. To all appearances, Tao seemed calm while he felt anxious. Shaking his head he asked, “How can you be so calm?”

Tao looked up.
“About what?”

“Calli.”

“Four months ago I thought my wife died in a house fire. I had a funeral. I grieved and I drank. I lived for the game. Suddenly, I find myself brought over into the game and I’ve become my avatar. In some ways it’s a dream come true but I’ve already lost one friend to this adventure. How many more will I lose before it’s over? But now I find out that Cassie is still alive? How should I act?”

Kastle cocked his head to the side. “
Four months? That’s all the time that has passed back home?”

Tao nodded as he pulled his horse’s head up from the water. It was bad to let them drink too much too quickly. Kastle followed his example. As Tao climbed back onto his horse he asked, “How long did you think?”

Kastle remounted his horse. “It has been almost four years since we crossed over. We’ve lost many friends during that time. As far as I know, there are only four of us left, Calli and me and the two who we hope to find, Jagoda and Aaliyah.”

Tao didn’t speak but began leading his horse across the stream and up the adjoining hill.

Kastle continued. “Jagoda and I had a falling out after we had a run in with an Atlantean.”

Tao raised an eyebrow. “What do you know about the Atlanteans?”

“Plenty and nothing.”

“That’s
rather cryptic.”

Kastle chuckled. “Well, I
’ve only met one Atlantean since we’ve been here. Although, he was charming and helpful at first, he turned into a real Mister Hyde in the end. He killed five members of my party before we escaped. On that day, Jagoda swore an oath of vengeance against Sartael and all Atlanteans.”

“I’m sure there is more to that story.”

“Yes, there is but another time and place perhaps.”

Tao nodded. “Gotcha.
Maybe you can answer why since our crossing I’ve been accused twice of being an Atlantean?”

“You bear the mark.”

“What mark?”

Kastle pointed at his left cheek. “The dragon tattoo
. Only an Atlantean would have such a mark.”

“That’s why the villagers
and the young wyvern rider were afraid of Bjǿrn and myself. We both have visible tats.”

Kastle nudged his horse forward a bit
until he was beside Tao. “Which brings up a question of my own, how is it you had a wyvern?”

Tao chuckled. “That is a long story. After we crossed over, we made our way along the coast…”

The rest of his story disappeared into the wind as an explosion shattered the silence of the forest and a huge fireball could be seen in the distance above the trees. Without waiting to see if the priest followed or not, Tao spurred his horse forward. In his heart of hearts, he knew he had just lost a friend.

The distance was greater than Tao thought and it
took him nearly a half hour to reach an area within bow shot of the camp. Reining in his horse, he vaulted from the saddle and rushed to the edge of the tree line.

N
othing in sight moved.

Turning back to his horse,
Tao noted its heavy breathing and that his coat was covered in sweat. He had not been easy on the beast during the ride. Loosening the straps, he removed the saddle and bridle just as Kastle rode up. Even though it was obvious he wasn’t an expert rider, the priest had done his best to keep up and hadn’t fallen off in their hasty ride.

Kastle climbed down slowly. His thighs ached like no other time in his life, so much so that it hurt to walk. Hating to waste a spell but unsure what they were about to face, the cleric
muttered the words of a simple spell of Endure Pain. It wouldn’t take the pain and discomfort away but it did dull it to a manageable level, like taking a super-strength fast-acting pain-killer.

Kastle t
urned back to find the samurai removing the saddle and bridle of his horse. “What…”

Tao whispered
, “Simple. If we don’t come back, these magnificent animals would be at a disadvantage and die in the wilderness if we left them with everything on. If we need them again, they will be nearby and we can catch them. If not, I won’t feel guilty about leaving them behind.”

“I
had never thought about it that way but it makes sense.” Kastle nodded. Grabbing his and Calli’s saddle bags, the priest slung them over his shoulder. “Lead on.”

Tao moved slowly from tree to tree, pausing at varied intervals to see if anything moved in the camp. It didn’t. Once they got close enough to see the scorched earth, Tao stepped out from concealment.

Kastle lagged behind but didn’t approach the samurai. He seemed in deep concentration. The priest could hear the rustling of wings inside the grove of trees. He wasn’t exactly sure what that meant yet but he kept one hand on his hammer just in case.

Tao paused at the center of the charred ground and knelt down. There wasn’t much left but he lifted up the remnants of a sword and a staff. “I lost two friends this day.”

Kastle moved up behind him and gazed down at the shattered remains. Not knowing what else to say, he fell back on the simple phrase, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“C’est la guerre.”

“Huh? I have heard of C’est la vie, ‘
such is life’
but I’ve never heard that one before.”

When
Tao stood up, his face was blank of any emotion. “Such is war. It was a phrase the French uttered during the German occupation and has been commonly used among soldiers since World War two.”

“Ah,” was all Kastle could say. When he looked back into the grove of trees, he saw an armored warrior in battered plate armor carrying a huge single bladed axe step out from the shadows. Pulling out his
warhammer, Kastle dropped the two saddle bags on the ground and called, “Ware! Enemies!”

Hearing the warning, Tao reacted out of instinct. Dropping the weapon fragments, he rolled forward to create distance and drew both swords as he assumed the mountain stance.
Seconds later, he sheathed both blades and moved forward.

The Dreadknight planted the butt of his axe in the ground, took off his helmet and hung it on his weapon. “About time you showed up.”

Tao gripped forearms with the warrior. “I ran into some trouble on the way and had to travel the old fashion way, horseback.” He waved the cleric forward. “Cozad, meet my new friend Kastle. He’s from Dallas.”

The pale skin above his eyes moved and Kastle realized that he didn’t have eyebrows or any hair that he could see but it was the soft blue glowing eyes which captivated his attention. Realizing he was staring, Kastle held out his right hand. “Please
d to meet you.”

Cozad pulled off his gauntlet and shook hands. However, w
hen they touched hands there was a small jolt which startled them both. “I’m sorry. My affliction doesn’t seem to like your god. Whom do you serve?”

“Thor, the Thunder God.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

Tao asked, “Explains what?”

Cozad replaced his gauntlet. “During character creation Dreadknights have to pick a dark god to serve and I chose Thanatos, the ancient Greek god of death. It seemed a logical choice for my avatar. However, you also have to pick four adversarial gods. I selected Zeus, Mars, Odin and Thor.”

Kastle nodded. “You picked the four most common warrior gods. I can understand that.”

Tao focused his attention on the priest. “Does that mean you can’t heal him?”    

Kastle shrugged. “I’m not sure. In
the game, only my offensive magic would work on him, not defensive or beneficial spells. But here…” He let his voice trail off indicating that he was unsure.

Cozad stepped back. “One way to find out priest, cast something on me.”

Kastle hesitated. “But it might cause you pain instead.”

“Pain is life, priest.”

Seeing the logic behind the Dreadknight’s request, Kastle thought through the spells he had left for the day and selected a simple augmentation spell. If it worked correctly, it would increase his strength and hardiness for three hours. Pulling out his holy symbol, which for a warrior-priest of Thor was his warhammer, Kastle spoke the words of his spell and waited.

Cozad wa
ited patiently for the priest to cast his enchantment and felt the tingle of the magic at work on him. There was a split second where he was certain it would fail but then he felt the extra surge of energy flow through his body. “Strength spell?”

Kastl
e smiled. “Actually, Aide spell; strength and constitution buff. I take it that it worked?”

“Aye. I feel good.”

Tao slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Now that’s settled, we have work to do.”

Cozad nodded. “They only have about an hour head start on us.”

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

“The wyvern riders. They have
Arieal.”

Tao felt his heart fall into his stomach. This couldn’t be worse if he’d planned it
. Two of his friends dead, three on a scouting expedition, one captured by the wyvern raiders and his wife a prisoner of the Peacekeepers. Not seeing any other alternative, Tao just nodded. “Then we have to get her back first.”

“First?” asked Cozad.

Tao nodded. “I have a lot to tell you but time is not our ally. We need to leave a note for the others and get after Arieal before the trail gets cold.”

Cozad began to walk back into the grove of trees. “Everything is packed
and two wyverns are already saddled. I can get a third ready for Kastle. I already left a note. It was troubling at first. It seems that this avatar doesn’t know how to write but when I let the Edward mindset come forward, I remembered how to write.”

Tao nodded. “
That’ll work and since it’s in English only those from back home would be able to read it. That could prove useful.”

Cozad nodded. “That was my thinking also.”

Tao offered him a small smile and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Then let’s get going.”

Chapter 1
7

Gamble
, Mathias and Pixi spent their first day in Antioch exploring the city. By modern standards, it wouldn’t really be much of a city. Gamble was from Chattanooga which had a population of about one-hundred seventy-five thousand. Mathias’s hometown of Denver boasted over two million residents. Pixi actually spent the school year in London with her mom and the summers in San Francisco with her dad. Both cities had populations of over seven and a half million. Even with those staggering figures in mind, Antioch was still impressive. They had no way of knowing the exact numbers but they estimated the population to be in the low to mid thousands. It was crowded but as long as they had gold, they were left alone by the ever present guards.

Pinon’s had been a treasure trove of information. Not only had they been able to purchase a map of
Antioch, they got one of Hyperborea with all major towns and trade routes. Pinon the Mapmaker had insisted that it was accurate. However, he balked at the authenticity of the only map of Atlantis. It was supposedly smuggled out by a former slave. Gamble doubted the story but since it was the only map available, they added it to their collection. With a little prodding and a few coins of silver, Pinon also explained the current state of affairs in Antioch.

The city didn’t have a
King or any type of royalty but was run by the five guilds; the Blades, Shields, Wands, Staves and Coins. These guilds represented the five professions of Rogues, Warriors, Wizards, Priests and Merchants. The Guild Council worked with their counterparts to keep the populace in balance and at peace with the Dragon Kings of Atlantis. Every five years, a new Overseer was chosen from the current Guild Council to watch over the city’s affairs. The current chief administrator was on his third term and the guards with the red turbans worked directly for him.

Pinon looked around before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. “Rumors say that
Sanguine Bolt is a refugee from Atlantis, even though he doesn’t bear the mark. Of course, he has an awful scar on the right side of his face which could be hiding the mark.” The mapmaker shrugged. “Either way, he was young, talented and very charismatic. Joining the Order, he soon rose to prominence in the Wands. I don’t know if the rumors concerning his origins are true or not but since he assumed the role of Overseer, we haven’t had a single problem with the Dragon Kings.” Pinon waved his hands back and forth. “Some think he’s been in charge too long. There are some that want him gone so we can go to war against the Atlanteans. Not me. War isn’t good for business.”

Gamble
and Mathias digested the information and bid the merchant farewell.

Their second stop was a local tavern
. They found that the ale was in fact very good, not quite a Guinness but extremely refreshing. Gamble and Mathias were careful not to drink too much or ask too many questions at any one location since they didn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves.

They failed.

The companions were in their third tavern enjoy
ing a pint when five guards with blood-red turbans walked in and surrounded their table. A quick glance over their shoulders showed that there were at least five other guards blocking the exits. Gamble finished off his ale and dropped one hand to his pouch to draw forth a runestone. He could tell by the feel that it was a flashbang. He would talk but if it came to a fight, he was going to be ready.

Mathias
noted the subtle way the dwarf had dropped his hand and started calculating the angles and the odds. Neither were good but they still had an ace in the hole by the name of Pixi. Since Gamble didn’t speak, Mathias didn’t either and the two companions waited.

The
Guard Sergeant stepped forward, placed both knuckles on the table and leaned forward. “Your presence has been requested.”

Gamble
sat down his empty mug and glared at the guard with an unblinking stare. The four guards behind the sergeant fidgeted nervously. It was obvious that they weren’t used to people not jumping to do their bidding. Finally the dwarf spoke. “I don’t remember asking you to join us at this table. Nor have we broken any laws, so you can’t be here to arrest us.” Gamble lifted his empty mug and waved it at the barkeep. “Now if you don’t mind, my friend and I were enjoying a pint and we prefer to drink alone.”

Turning away from the
guard, Gamble shifted his feet ever so slightly as he readied himself to spring into action.

The
Guard Sergeant was in a quandary. Never in the past five years had anyone refused the request to accompany them but he couldn’t return to his master empty-handed. And what made it worse, the dwarf was correct. They hadn’t broken any laws nor could they compel them by force of arms with all the witnesses in the bar.

Uncertain of what to do, the sergeant placed his right hand on the dwarf’s shoulders and tried again. “I said that your presence is requested. That was me being polite. You obviously misunderstood this to be an actual request.”

Gamble glanced down at the hand then back at the sergeant with a completely blank expression. “Youngster, first off I have boots older than you. Secondly, someone should’ve taught you proper manners. You don’t go around manhandling your elders especially if you aren’t arresting them. You’re not arresting me correct?”

Gamble
casually pulled his hand out from under the table.

The young sergeant grinned. “No sir. You’re not under arrest. I just need…”

Mathias could tell that Gamble had something palmed and flexed his fingers ever so slightly to loosen them up. Whatever the dwarf had planned, the half-elf expected him to act soon and he wanted to be ready.

Gamble
shrugged his shoulder to throw off the sergeant’s hand and slid out of the booth. “If we aren’t under arrest, then we choose not to accompany you.” Turning his attention to the other patrons in the tavern, the dwarf asked, “Unless it is common practice for guards to take law-abiding citizens away when they hadn’t done anything.”

From the way the patron
s murmured it was obvious that the dwarf had struck a nerve.

“Since when is it against the law to sit quietly in a tavern and enjoy a pint?” Pointing at
a well-dressed patron, Gamble changed his tone to mimic the sergeant. “You shouldn’t be drinking that, come with me.”

The patrons began to give the
red turban guards a hard look but Gamble didn’t stop there.

Moving over to another table, he leaned his four foot frame on the table in the same manner as the guard sergeant. Staring up at the two warriors sitting at the table, he kept
his tone in near perfect mimicry of the sergeant as he said, “Your presence has been requested.”

Of course, instead of giving the warriors a hard
stare, Gamble proceeded to make a mockery of the guard by his ever changing facial expressions.

The warriors and the patrons laughed.

The red turban guards looked around confused. When they had entered, the patrons were cowed and fearful. Now they were laughing at them. It was a hard pill to swallow. The sergeant’s face was flush with anger. He stepped forward and grabbed Gamble’s arm roughly.

The dwarf had been expecting this reaction and called out in English, “Flash!”

As soon as the sergeant spun him around, Gamble closed his eyes and threw the stone on the floor. Both Pixi and Mathias heard the skald’s warning in time to close their eyes. Since no one else in the tavern understood English, they quickly fell victim to the runestone’s magic.

As the stone hit the floor, two mighty spells went off in close secession. A blinding flash of light
followed by a loud boom echoed in the tavern room. Even the three companions who had been expecting the spells’ effects were slightly disoriented by the spell. It was so loud and forceful, that it rattled their teeth. The guards and patrons who hadn’t been prepared for the medieval flashbang were completely blind and disoriented for several minutes at least.

The companions didn’t waste a moment and fled the tavern. In her haste
, Pixi even dropped her invisibility for several seconds although no one in the tavern was in any sort of condition to notice. Focusing her attention on following the dwarf, she disappeared once again and sped to catch up to her companions.

Gamble
led them generally west, left down an alley, then right at the next street and then left again. After several minutes, he slipped in behind some crates that were covered by a large tarp and sat down. Mathias joined him seconds later followed by Pixi.

The
faerie landed on the crates and dropped her invisibility. “What was that all about?”

The dwarf shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“Then why didn’t we just go with them? They asked politely.”

“First off, if they had sent two or three guards to ask us, I would’ve gone without hesitation. That would’ve been a real invitation. Sending ten guards with all exits blocked, that wasn’t a request. It was a summons.”

Mathias nodded. “Aye. It didn’t feel right to me either. The question remains, why and who wanted us?”

Gamble
shook his head. “Well, if Pinon’s information was right, they were sent by the city’s chief administrator, Sanguine Bolt. But personally, I don’t care. We are leaving Antioch tonight.”

Pixi said, “But we still have two days until we are supposed to meet up with Tao.”

“Doesn’t matter. If this Bolt character really wants us, he will try again. The guards couldn’t rush us since we were in a public place and they underestimated us. We can’t count on that happening again.”

Mathias
asked, “What’s the plan?”

Gamble
said, “Simple. We hold up here until nightfall and slip out. Either over the walls, through a gate or by boat. It doesn’t matter but come sunrise, we need to be out of Antioch.”

*   *   *   *   *

The young sergeant and his fellow guards knelt before a heavily cloaked figure with a blood-red cheche; which was a type of turban and veil which concealed everything but the eyes. They had failed to complete their assigned task and they were unsure what punishment the volatile guildmaster would inflict.

Caressing the
bone handle of his wand, Sanguine Bolt asked once more. “Are you sure they didn’t say anything else?”

The young sergeant racked his brain for anything that might save his head. Suddenly, he recalled something. “The dwarf
, he said something right before the explosion.”

Sanguine Bolt
leaned forward. “What was it?”

The sergeant shook his head. “I don’t know. It was in a language I
’ve never heard before. It wasn’t dwarvish or elven of that I am sure.”

“What did it sound like?”

“Fla….Fla…sssshhh.”

“Flash?”

The sergeant dared to look up in his excitement. “Yes master! That was it!”

Sanguine Bolt
leaned back in his chair. Flash. An English word. He hadn’t heard English uttered in Hyperborea in over a decade. Waving his hand to dismiss his guards, the chief administrator took the time to contemplate the implications. A dwarf that knew English and had access to rune magic could only mean that Al Shaytan had brought another group across. Ringing the brass gong next to his throne, two servants sprinted in to do his bidding.

“Draw up and post a reward for the capture of this dwarf and his
half-elf companion; five hundred gold pieces if captured alive…fifteen if dead.”

The scribe cleared his throat. “Pardon me master but did you mean fifteen hundred?”

Sanguine Bolt shook his head. “No. On second thought, make it fifteen silver pieces. I want these two ruffians alive and if the reward for dead was higher, it would be easier just to kill them for the bounty. I want the hunters to realize how much gold they’ll lose if they disappoint me.”

The scribe nodded his head. “Yes m’lord. They shall be posted around town within the hour.”

Sanguine Bolt leaned back in his throne, deep in thought about home and not for the first time.

*   *   *   *   *

Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq wondered, and not for the first time, what possessed him to leap onto the underside of the black knight’s squire’s horse? Internally he knew it was a desperate act of penance for his assassination of Roland. He was truly committed to trying to rescue Calli. He just didn’t know why in the world he was still hanging onto the front breast collar of a galloping horse. Of course, if he let go now, he would be trampled underfoot and that would tend to ruin his day. His wounds throbbed and ached but he forced those thoughts aside. At this current time, it took all of his concentration to do two things; keep up the spell that kept him invisible and hold on for dear life.

Just when he thought that he wouldn’t be able to hold on for any longer, the horses slowed down to a walk.

Tariq opened his eyes to find that they had entered what looked to be a large military camp with white tents and plenty of soldiers.

The horses came to a stop near the center of the camp and the black knight dismounted. Moving up to the squire’s
other horse, he casually lifted off the bound form of Calli and entered a large tent without a word to anyone. The well-armed and armored guards on both sides of the entrance had come to attention and saluted with their pikes. Once the knight commander was inside, the guards shifted back into their more relaxed but still very attentive position.