Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis (5 page)

As a skald, he had access to a
specialized type of magic that involved a combination of chanting, praying and the carving of runes into specially prepared stones. Once carved, the runes were stable and able to be used by anyone. Just speak the name of the rune, toss the stone and the spell would go off like the medieval version of a hand grenade. Seconds later Gamble found the rune-stone that he wanted, one imbued with the spell ‘
Bands of Gyve
.’ If it worked just like it did in the game, it would call forth multiple bands of energy that would wrap around any size opponent, totally immobilizing it.

Gamble
watched as Tariq easily dispatched the goblin which had been hacking on the corpse of Roland before the assassin moved back toward the fire. The dwarf wanted to puke when he saw the smirk of satisfaction on the Arabian assassin’s face. Moving as quietly as possible, Gamble slid up behind the assassin and tossed the rune-stone.

Tariq
heard the dwarf’s whispered command and turned to block the incoming attack. But he didn’t expect it to be a small stone and it slipped past his guard to strike his chest. A mere fraction of a second later, ten black ribbons of energy exploded out to quickly wrap around him. Tariq struggled with all his might for a moment before realizing that he was trapped. He was trussed up like a lamb being carried off to slaughter and completely at the dwarf’s mercy.

Chapter 5

As the last of the goblins fled into the night, Tao took a deep breath of the
cool night air. Even with the stench of burning flesh, the air tasted sweet. From the past near-death experiences he survived during Desert Storm, he realized of course that it was just the euphoria of being alive. Life is never sweeter than those few minutes after facing certain death.

Turning back to his companions,
Tao was confronted with the bittersweet fact of being inside the game. He could see two forms lying prone within the light of their campfire, the still form of Roland and a second one wrapped in black bands of magic which was still struggling against his bonds. The rest of his companions were gathered around them and an argument had already broken out between two party members.

Moira
said, “…but he hasn’t been convicted.”

Cozad folded his arm across his chest
. “His actions have condemned him.”

Moira
turned angrily on Tao as he entered the circle. Thrusting her finger into his chest she glared at him. “What do you have to say about this since you are our fearless leader?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Tao.

Moira pointed at the armored Dreadknight. “He wants to kill Tariq.”

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
,” replied Cozad.

Tao waved his hands back and forth. “It would help if someone explained what was going on?”

Gamble stepped forward. “It’s simple. While everyone was busy during the battle, I saw Tariq backstab Roland. It wasn’t a case of friendly fire or accidental injury, it was a deliberate assassination.”

Tao really didn’t dou
bt his friend but he had to ask. “Are you certain?”

In response,
the dwarf just knelt down and gently pulled off the dead paladin’s helmet. Nobody in the group was a forensic expert but most had seen enough crime drama shows on television to recognize that a swollen and distended tongue that was solid black wasn’t normal in death.

Bjǿrn spoke up
, the exhaustion from his berserker rage was evident as his voice was just a whisper. “Only poison could do that to a corpse.”

Arieal
raised an eyebrow in a silent question but Moira answered for him. “Earl was a detective before he became the police chief. He was on the job for over thirty years before he retired. He’s had his share of murders to investigate.”

Tao
stood over the bound form of Tariq and looked down on him. “You attacked one of our own? During a battle? Are you crazy?”

Cozad took a small step forward
. “His actions have condemned him.”

Tao h
eld his hand out and the large dreadknight paused. “Wait. Even with my military and law enforcement background, I’m not comfortable being the judge, jury and executioner. It goes against everything that I believe in.”

Cozad looked up. His eyes blazed a brilliant
red. “Then you suggest letting this piece of scum live?”

“Live? Yes. I can kill an enemy in combat without hesitation
but not this, not with him trussed up. It would be an execution and I am not alright with that. Not now, not ever.”

Cozad’s eyes had changed to a lighter shade of violet as his rage subsided. “What do you propose to do with him?”

Tao turned to the dwarf and asked, “How long will your spell last?”

“Not sure.
Back home, the spell would last two hours.” Gamble shrugged. “What that converts to on this side, I’m not really sure.”

Tao glanced
at the dark elf. “How long will your animation of the dead goblins last?”

Arieal
cocked her head to one side as she thought. Blowing a stray strand of white hair out of her face she replied, “Up to one full day of game time or until I dismiss them.”

Tao nodded
. “Okay. Here’s the plan. Everyone grab our belongings and prepare to move. We are not spending the night here, we’re too exposed.” The samurai changed the tone of his voice as he knelt down over top of the assassin. “Tariq, I don’t know what possessed you to kill Roland. Steve was flawed but he was a friend. He didn’t deserve this but I can’t kill you in good conscience. It might be what you truly deserve but I still think it would be wrong. And two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Tao paused to look around
. “But I also can’t let you stay with us. So, you’re being banished from the group. Whatever happens to you once we leave this campsite is entirely up to you. We are getting back home. How or if you ever make it back, I don’t care. However I will give you this one warning; don’t try to catch up with us. Don’t call, don’t write, if you see us on the street, pass us by without a word. If you do ever get close to one of us, I will not try to stop anyone from killing you. Hell, they may have to stop me.”

Tao
stood up and turned to Arieal. “Have your minions carry him until the spell releases him.”

Arieal
nodded at Tao’s logic and asked, “Which way?”

Knowing that they were going to head toward the
mountain by following the coastline, Tao pointed to the distant forest. “That works for me.”

Without another word, two of the animated goblins moved forward, lifted the struggling form of
Tariq and moved off into the night.

Tao said, “Gather the rest of the dead and mound them high.”

“Why?” asked Pixi.

Tao
nodded towards the fallen paladin. “His soul deserves the company of the dead on his way to the afterlife.”

Understanding what the samurai had planned, the rest of the companions began the tedious work of moving the dead bodies.
The magical powers of Arieal and Cozad proved immeasurable during this task. They were both able to animate the dead bodies, although it did eat up a great portion of their energy. Within an hour, the dead were piled high and Roland was laid to rest at their apex.

Everyone was
filthy, sore and tired but no one suggested camping for the night.

Hoisting his pack over one shoulder, Tao looked
at the still form of Roland then back to his friends. “I’m unsure of why we’re here. I don’t know if Steve’s death on this side sent him back home and he’s sitting at his computer sucking down a beer. That’s my hope but I fear that isn’t the truth. I truly believe that death on this side is permanent.”

Tao paused and looked off into the distance where a pale yellow moon was just rising over the water. “
I don’t know if we will stumble into Atlantis tomorrow or the next day or next year but I know that we’ll never stop searching for a way home. And if we stay true to our beliefs and our own personal honor, then we will survive this reality.” Turning back to the body of his friend, Tao’s eyes were full of tears. “Pixi…burn it.”

With a silent nod, she cast her wall of fire spell once more and the mound of bodies roared into flames.
Without looking back, Tao turned toward the lake and began walking. One by one the companions fell in behind leaving Roland Darkslayer’s pyre to burn deep into the night.

*   *   *   *   *

Grigoris grinned when he heard Taote Ching speak these words.

He
’d been saddened when Tariq al’Nasir al’Rafiq had succumbed to the temptations of Chaos and had felt his hopes shatter when the companions began to argue about executing him. However, when Moira and Taote stepped forward to defend the assassin, his hopes in humanity were once again restored. He didn’t want to get too overconfident or hopeful, the companions still had a long quest ahead of them and his sibling was tenacious.

Chapter 6

Even though the
rising of a second red moon was spectacularly beautiful, it was tempered with sadness and tears. The companions had reached the lake and turned toward the distant mountain with slow determination. Each member wrestled with the cold logic that one of their members was dead. After about an hour, Tao called a break. Finding some rocks to use as a windbreak, the companions settled down. The funeral pyre of their friend could still be seen burning in the distance.

F
inally, Cozad broke the silence. “Tao…what did Roland do back home?”

“
I’m not sure. He never really talked too much about his day-to-day job. I know he’d spent some time in prison for a DUI. When he was just a teenager, he got drunk one night and tried to drive home. He didn’t make it. He ran a stop sign, struck a cab and the passenger died. He always said that was his greatest regret.”

“He was a struggling artist
,” Pixi added quietly. Everyone looked up and waited for her to continue. “He was a painter, nothing major. He actually painted houses for a living but was working on his portfolio.”

“How do you know that?”
Moira asked.

Pixi shrugged and fluttered her wings. “One day I mentioned in
guild chat about an art project I had coming up for school. Steve gave me several pointers on how to make better use of shading and blending.” She smiled slightly as she added, “I got an A on that project thanks to him.”

Bjǿrn
said, “He will be missed.”

Cozad stared off to the distance, looking past the burning pyre still visible.
“Tariq better not take our mercy as weakness. I’ll kill him the next time I see him.” The glow of the Dreadknight’s eyes changed from the blue of calm to the red of anger as he looked back at the group. “And you will not be able to stop me Tao.”

“If he crosse
s paths with us again, it would be by design not by accident. I won’t try to stop you.” Tao grinned slightly as he added, “Of course…your blade will have to be quicker than mine on that day.”

Feeling uncomfortable with the subject,
Moira cleared her throat. “Where are we going?”

Tao pointed down the coastline
toward the distant mountain. “If history back home is any sort of a teacher, we should find a village that way.”

Everyone
looked in the direction he pointed but it was Mathias who finally asked, “Why?”

“Historically speaking, cities and towns were built near waterways, the mouth of a river being the most common
since the soil nearest the mouth of a river is typically very fertile. In addition, the city could reap the reward of tariffs for traffic flowing up and down the river and create a port for larger ships which would navigate the lake..”

Pixi asked, “
Lake? How can you be sure that’s a lake and not a sea or ocean?”

Tao shrugged. “I can’t.
I don’t smell any salt in the breeze but in this realm that might not mean anything. Either way, my best suggestion is to follow the coastline until we find some sort of village. We need information about this land and we aren’t going to find it sitting out here in the wilderness.”

Mathias
asked, “And you think we will find help in the town?”

“Alright listen up.” Tao paused until everyone looked at him.
“I miss Roland and I will probably always replay the events which lead up to his death to see if I could’ve done something different to change the outcome. But I can’t change it, I can only learn from it. The fact remains that we’re here and we’re alive. Now we have to figure out how to stay alive and if possible, get back home.”

Bjǿrn
stood up. “Tao’s right. At this very moment I regret letting Tariq live but that’s because I’m still angry. I know it was the right thing to do and if we had let Cozad kill him, then that would’ve been murder and we wouldn’t have been any better than Tariq. Personally, I know I would feel guilty about that for the rest of my life.”

Cozad nodded. “No. Ta
o was right to stop me. As much as I wanted to kill him and still want to kill him, it would’ve been murder. Plain and simple. Besides, we don’t know if it was Brandon or Tariq who killed Roland.”

Pixi fluttered her wings and hovered for a second before asking
. “What do you mean by that?”

It was
Arieal who answered. “He means that there is a second persona lurking in each of our heads that threatens to take over.” Seeing the Dreadknight nod, she continued. “Each of us have the powers and abilities our avatars had in the game, right?”

“Correct.”

“Well, Brandon, Edward and I chose to play avatars of Chaos to explore the darker side of our nature. Back home, it was just a harmless fantasy, but now…”

Cozad nodded. “Aye. The cold fingers of death are now a part of me. I feel comforted by its embrace.”

Arieal glanced back at the burning pyre in the distance. “I too feel that. The stench of death smells as sweet as a rose to me now. It is very unnerving.”

“I can imagine. I feel my temper on the edge at all times. Just the simplest things threaten to set me off.
” Bjǿrn nodded toward the faerie. “Hell, the flapping of Pixi’s wings is nerve wracking.”

Pixi
settled to the ground and took a small step back from the huge Norseman.

Moira
giggled. “Don’t worry Pixi. Earl is a gentle giant, here and back home. His bark is worse than his bite.” When she smiled, her bright blue eyes seemed to light up the whole gathering. “Besides if he misbehaves, I’ll punish him.”

Everyone laughed. The thought of
Moira, a slender elf weighing less than eighty pounds, punishing the seven foot tall, three-hundred plus pound, bare-chested warrior was ludicrous. Of course, back in the real world they had been married for thirty plus years and Earl had learned the magic phrase long ago and used it now.

“Yes dear.”

Tao took the moment of levity to stand up. “Everyone should try to get some sleep. It’s been a long day and we can’t be sure of what tomorrow holds for us. I’ll take the first watch. Cozad, I’ll wake you in two hours.”

Seeing the logic of Tao’s plan, everyone did their best to find a place to lie down out of the wind. The samurai moved off a few steps to be alone with his thoughts and watch over his friends that were still alive. Unfortunately, the death of
Steve brought to surface the loss of his wife once more and soon afterwards the tears began to flow.

*   *   *   *   *

Callistra reigned in her Nightmare, a demonic horse with fiery eyes and hooves which she had summoned to be her steed. The smell of burning flesh had called to her. Mounting her steed, she had ridden from her cabin to the southeast to investigate the burning pyre. Now that she was here, other aromatic senses called to her soul.

Magic
, mighty magic had been cast on this spot.

Climbing down to investigate the area further,
Callistra closed her eyes and used her magic to read the remnants of whatever enchantments had been cast on this spot. The vampyre part of her thirsted for the blood that was spilled here. It had been weeks since she last fed and the hunger was becoming unbearable again. Calming herself, she fell into the trance needed to ‘see’ the battle. In her mind’s eye, she watched the ten companions arrive.

It wasn’t as clear a picture
as those she enjoyed in the past but it was still entertainment. As she watched the battle unfold something in the mannerisms and appearances of some of the companions tugged at her memories but were quickly forgotten when she witnessed the treachery of Tariq. As the companions began arguing, it was times like this when she really missed having sound. Callistra was shocked when the nine companions didn’t kill the assassin but let him live.

Weak fools.

However, the trussed up assassin would make for an easy meal. Letting the spell drop, Callistra remounted her steed and turned toward the distant forest. With luck, she would be able to overtake the bound assassin before sunrise, not that she couldn’t be out in the sunlight. It was just so damn bright that she preferred the darkness. Either way, she knew she would soon sate her thirst once more.

*   *   *   *   *

Chester called out to his older brother. “Sanford, wait up.”

As always,
Sanford slowed down but chided his younger brother. “Chester, why are you always lagging behind? You know we have to gather the mistletoe before the second moon sets.”

“I know. I know. Mother will be very displeased if we don’t bring back two
full baskets but why do you always rush? We’re out of the house and the weather is nice tonight.”

Sanford
stopped and turned to face his little brother. Closing the hood on the lantern, he plunged the surrounding woods into semi-darkness. “Because we need to be quick or else the Wood Witch will get us.”

Chester
’s face went pale and his eyes widened. “The Wood Witch? She’s real?”

“Of course.”
Sanford struggled to keep the smirk off his face as he added, “However, since this is Wotan’s Day, she should be far to the south.” Pausing to look around conspiratorially, he added. “But she still could be on the lookout for fresh meat.”

When a
n owl hooted nearby, Chester clutched the sickle he was carrying tighter to his chest and looked around wildly. The fear on his younger brother’s face was more than Sanford could stand. Bursting into laughter, he bent over holding his stomach. Realizing that his brother had played a trick on him again, Chester dropped the sickle and leapt on Sanford’s back. Momentarily stunned by his brother’s wild attack, the two fell to the ground and began wrestling.

Mere seconds into the fight
, the cracking and breaking of branches reached their ears.

Forgotten was their argument.
Rolling clear, both boys pulled out their daggers and prepared to defend themselves from whatever was plundering through the thick underbrush of the forest. It was only a few minutes before they saw two goblins in the bright moonlight carrying a struggling form wrapped up in some sort of black bands. Neither brother had to ask what to do. Goblins were to be killed on sight. Period. No questions asked and no exceptions. Having lived their whole life under the threat of goblin attacks, the brothers knew how to deal with them and moments later, the two goblin zombies were dead once again.

Sanford
moved over to the struggling form of Tariq and poked him with his dagger. “Chester. Get the lantern. I’m not sure what this is but we need more light.”

“Gotcha,” was all he said and ran off to gather their things.

Sanford knelt down to study the trussed up assassin as best he could in the pale moonlight while he waited. Minutes passed. “Dammit Chester! Where are you?”

A slight rustle of the leaves behind him heralded the soft voice. “He is dead youngling.”

Sanford spun around but was dumbfounded at the vision before him.

Dressed in a skin-tight black leather
outfit which left very little to the imagination was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his entire life. She had perfect alabaster skin, long silky ebony hair, crystal blue eyes and a body any man would kill to bed. Only the blood dripping from her fangs marred the beauty of the creature.

The dagger fell from
Sanford’s hand forgotten as he succumbed to her enchantment. He raised his chin and opened his arms to embrace the vision standing before him. He didn’t even struggle as he felt his life’s blood sucked from his body. His last thoughts were of all the carnal things he wanted to do to the creature which killed him.

Sated,
Callistra gazed down at the bound form of Tariq and asked, “And what do we have here?” Leaning down she sniffed the whole of his body. “A creature from the seas of sand by your smell and bound by dwarven magic, interesting.”

The vamp
yress ran her hands over the assassin’s body and could feel the different bulges where his weapons were secreted. When her hand grazed over the enchanted dagger he’d received from Al Shaytan there was a spark of magic and she drew her hand back quickly more in surprise than in pain. Carefully, she dug past the magical bands to get at the silver hilt of the dagger. Seeing the ruby pommel and the downward pointing pentagram, she withdrew her hand slowly and studied the bound Arabian once more. Her eyes flashed with anger.

“
Assassin, you and I must talk. But first, I must contact Kastle.”

Pulling out a crudely fashioned wand, she waved it once over the struggling
assassin and he began floating gently into the air. Callistra whistled once and the Nightmare moved closer. Muttering a few words in a language that Tariq didn’t understand, the assassin felt himself draped over the saddle and securely fastened.

With another wave of her wand, she transformed into a huge bat and flew off into the night.

As the demon horse began moving south, Tariq stared down at the passing ground and thought,
‘What else could go wrong today?’