She was exhausted beyond measure, but Sam nodded grimly. She’d come this far. She wasn’t going to stop now. Harald jogged off, barking orders as he went. Men from the wall shoved off the last of the ladders and then fell behind him in ranks as they made their way down a flight of stairs into the courtyard. Sam gritted her teeth, took a firm grip on her spear and what was left of her shield, and followed.

  5

  Samantha had some of her wind back by the time she had reached the courtyard and caught up with Harald’s force. She thought about checking her status, and the display popped up on her vision again for a moment.

  Health 11/30, Stamina 33/100, Mana 0/0.

  Judging by the numbers, she wasn’t in that great shape. She’d toughed it out through some rough times in the past though. It wasn’t like she could just back down now. Or could she? This was just a game, after all. It wasn’t like real lives were at stake. She’d fought because there was an immediate threat, before. After Harald saved her, she’d stood beside him because he’d helped her out. It made sense to repay the favor.

  But the immediate danger was past. Men - and women, she noticed - patrolled all four walls now. The attack was over, at least for the time being. Whatever counterstrike Harald was organizing didn’t have anything to do with her.

  Sam had never backed down from a challenge in her life, though. Whether this place was real or not, it felt real. Deep down where it counted, the place felt as solid as her regular life. She took her place in the back rank of Harald’s war party. There were about twenty warriors with him in all. Mostly men, but a few unsmiling women stood there as well. Each fighter looked grim and ready to launch themselves into action.

  “Open the gate!” Harald called.

  “Leave it closed,” a second voice called from somewhere behind them. Sam turned to see a young, yellow haired warrior standing on the rampart near the back of the fort, where it met the inner keep. She had no idea who he was, but judging by the gilded armor he wore and the consternation his order caused in the ranks around her, he must be someone important.

  “Earl Thorsten. We have them on the run,” Harald called out to him. “We move on them now, we can crush them for the rest of the day.”

  “Or we can stand fast and defend my keep,” Thorsten replied. “You all leave and die in some ambush, then their warriors return and who holds this place?”

  “I’ll not be hemmed in here when the fight is out there,” Harald replied.

  There were a few murmurs of assent from the warriors around Sam. But others looked less certain, like they were unsure which person to follow. She had no qualms, though. She didn’t know who this Thorsten was, but she hadn’t seen him on the walls during the fight. Harald had helped her. The least she could do would be to repay the favor. While the two men argued, she slipped up the stairs beside the gates, taking the steps two at a time in her haste to reach the top.

  With all the attention on the arguing warlords, she was able to slip into the gatehouse without being noticed. One man was on duty there. His hands were on a big wheel which Sam assumed controlled the gate. But his face wore a deep frown. His sword was sheathed at his side, his shield resting up against a wall of the gatehouse.

  Sam tapped him on the shoulder with her spear. He turned, startled, and reached for his blade. She held the spear tip steady near his throat and shook her head.

  “I think you ought to just open the gate, friend,” Sam said.

  “Woman, Thorsten will make us both pay for this. I beg you, leave off,” he replied.

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “Open it. Now.”

  Still shaking his head, the man did as she bid. He started spinning the wheel, and there was a groaning noise below as the massive gates shuddered open. Sam tipped her head in a thank you, and dashed back out the door again.

  “Any of you who leave, don’t you dare come back to this place!” Thorsten was roaring. Harald had already slipped out, and it seemed like at least half his force was following him. Others had elected to stay behind. As Sam sprinted down the steps to rejoin Harald, Thorsten spotted her.

  “You on the stairs!” he called out. Sam froze for a moment and looked across at him. “I’ve marked you. You directly defied my orders, woman. You’ll pay for that.”

  “Maybe so,” Sam shouted back. “But not today!”

  “Close the damned gates!” Thorsten said. “I want her caught!”

  Sam had the distinct impression she did not want to be caught. She sprinted forward for all she was worth. Luckily the men in the courtyard had all been planning to go with Harald before Thorsten ordered them to stay. Two of them tried to converge on her, but one of the other men dropped his spear to the ground. It slid out directly in front of the two men chasing Sam, and both of them tripped, falling to their knees.

  The spearman tilted his head to the side, nodding toward the gate with a grin. The message was clear - get out while she could!

  The gates were already rumbling shut. She dashed toward them and slipped through the gap with only seconds to spare before the thing slammed shut once more.

  Harald waited just outside. He clapped her on the back. “Well done. Knew I saw something in you up there. Glad you’ve decided to come along.”

  “Not sure I had much choice. That guy was kinda pissed.”

  “Oh, Thorsten? He’s a piece of work,” Harald said. “Yes, you’re better off with us. Come on then. We want to move out before he gets the idea of ordering men to put arrows into us.”

  The area around the fort was only open for a hundred or so meters. Past that lay a dark wood. It was toward the forest that Harald starting moving, taking up a light jog that reminded Sam of an airborne shuffle. It was the sort of run that you could keep up all day if you had to. She realized that she was still barefoot. That was something she’d need to remedy as soon as possible, but although her feet were a little sore the ground didn’t seem to injure them the way it would have in the real world. One plus for the reduced pain scale of the virtual world, perhaps.

  They entered the forest, and immediately the day felt more gloomy. The trees here were taller than any Sam had ever seen. They towered scores of feet above the ground, and were wide enough about that two people would have a hard time wrapping their arms around them. Ferns and other small scrub grew here and there on the forest floor, but there were also patches where the canopy overhead was simply too dense for anything to grow below the trees.

  “They went this way,” Harald said. He pointed off toward the west.

  “How can you tell?” Sam asked.

  “Broken ferns. Scuffed dirt. I have a good Tracking skill,” Harald said.

  “You seem to have all sorts of skills,” she said.

  “I’ve been here for a long time, girl.”

  Including Harald and Sam, their war band numbered fourteen in all. She wondered how many people they were chasing, and what sort of fight they were going to face when they found them. After an hour or so walking, Harald ordered everyone to stop, and held a finger to his lips for silence. He darted ahead, quickly blending into the shadows of the forest ahead.

  A few minutes later he returned. He beckoned all to gather close around him before whispering to them.

  “I’ve located what’s left of the force. They’re resting ahead. They had two lookouts,” he said.

  “Had?” one warrior asked.

  “Had,” Harald confirmed with a grin. “There are still twenty warriors in their band, though. It looks to me like they are waiting for reinforcements. If they get more troops, they could have enough to overrun Thorsten’s fort, or one of the others along the border.”

  “We’ll be outnumbered,” one of the men pointed out. “We could just return to the fort and warn Thorsten.”

  “We’ll have surprise on our side if their lookouts are dead,” Sam said. “Besides, Thorsten didn’t seem like the forgive and forget type.”

  There were a few chuckles and nods at that.

  “Agreed then?” Harald asked. “We hit them hard, take their heads and their loot, and then we march to Blendrake Faste. Let Thorsten fend for himself and sweat it out a little.”

  The course agreed upon, Harald set to going over a plan of battle. Sam felt herself growing excited despite herself. This was going to be fun.

  6

  Sam crept through the woods, following Harald. Behind her trailed a man and woman, two of the other warriors who’d followed Harald from the keep. The pair had stayed close together throughout the journey. Little bits of their body language, like a small touch or a silent smile to the other partner made Sam think they were likely a couple. She wondered if they were together in the real world as well, or if this relationship only existed virtually.

  The thought brought her back to wondering how the hell she was going to get out of this game. Sam fully admitted that she was having a lot more fun than she’d ever expected. She could see the appeal of this sort of virtual reality, even if she preferred the real to the surreal.

  But she pictured Jeff sitting there, watching her play, and her temper boiled at the idea. After this fight was over, she resolved to ask Harald how she could log off. Surely, someone who knew as much about the game as he did would be able to help.

  “When we get close, unleash Hel,” Harald whispered. He kept his voice barely audible. They must be very close to their enemy. “Geri and Alwyn - use your bows. Sam and I will keep them off you.”

  Sam swallowed hard. The bows the couple carried ought to do a lot of damage, but she hoped they were good enough with them. If twenty screaming warriors rushed them, she and Harald were going to last about ten seconds.

  The archers remained a little behind them as they continued their advance. Sam heard voices ahead. Their rumblings were still too distant to make out individual words, but they were not far ahead. She rounded a tree and saw a guard leaning against another tree not far ahead. She darted back, hoping that she hadn’t been seen. Peeking around the corner again, she realized that the guard wasn’t moving. Not even a little bit. Further inspection showed that he had blood leaking down from his neck, where a big gash had opened his veins.

  Harald had been thorough. To anyone back in the camp, it looked like the guard was still standing there at his post.

  She continued forward, creeping softly to stand beside the dead man. Sam avoided the blood pooled around his feet, shivering a little. In some ways this game was entirely too real.

  They must have gotten close enough to the camp. Sam heard an arrow whistle past her tree, and then a cry of pain as it struck home. Another yell sounded as a second arrow struck its mark. There was a hue and cry, everyone rising at once and looking about them for the attackers. Two more arrows slammed home before they realized where the shots were coming from, but once they did the warriors set up a wall of shields to defend themselves.

  Two of them were down. Two more were wounded but still held the line with the rest. Eighteen warriors formed their line in all, and as a unit they marched forward from the clearing where they’d been resting into the woods. Two more arrows darted in, but they slammed into shields instead of bodies. That wall of shields wasn’t letting much through.

  “Just a couple of archers,” one of the men shouted.

  “Watch for others. Stay close!” another replied.

  “Rush them!” shouted a third.

  The latter man followed his own advice as he yelled, leaving the line. He still had his shield up guarding his head and upper body. Four of his fellows followed close behind him, doing the same. With their heads ducked down behind shields, they couldn’t see where they were going very well.

  Sam stuck her spear out along the ground as the first passed by her hiding place. He tripped and fell face-first into the ground. Not a moment after he landed, two arrows sprouted from his back. He didn’t move again.

  With a yell Harald came out from behind his own tree and smashed another of the men in the face with his axe. He fell with a yell. Harald swung at another of the warriors, but he blocked the blow with his shield. The blow distracted him enough that Sam was able to stick the point of her spear into the back of his leg. The wounded limb buckled, dropping him to the ground. Harald’s axe descended a moment later.

  The remaining two men retreated back to their line. Sam yelled after the retreating warriors. She raised her shield and spear, ready to advance after them, but Harald grabbed her arm.

  “Now we pull back,” he said. “Too many there.”

  “I’m with you,” she replied.

  They began picking their path away from the enemy line. Seeing them retreating, the shield wall advanced again. If anything they were moving even more rapidly this time. The trap had been sprung, after all. There were only four fighters against their fifteen.

  The archers fired one more ineffective volley against the shield wall and then began their own retreat. Sam was just about ready to bolt for the woods. The shield wall was coming on at a light jog now. Any moment and they would turn that into a full sprint.

  “Wait,” Harald said, seeing her tense. “Almost time.”

  Then she heard shouts from back in the clearing where the green troops had been gathered. Their formation halted, the men peering back behind them. Another shield wall had formed, and the greens weren’t sure at first if they were friends or foes.

  The answer came with a pair of short, thrown spears which took down two of the green warriors. With a massive battle cry the other ten warriors of Harald’s band rushed forward at the greens’ line.

  They turned to face this new threat, only to be peppered by more arrows from behind. When two of the green warriors tried to get to the archers, they ran into Sam and Harald instead. Harald made short work of his opponent and then rushed in at the back of the enemy line.

  Sam found herself face to face with another woman fighter. She had an axe in one hand and shield in the other. Darting in close, the woman hammered in a blow at Sam, which she took on the shield. The vibration thrummed through her hand and forearm. Bits of wood flew from her shield where the axe had damaged it.

  Another blow, and a third, and Sam’s shield was coming apart. The top board broke away entirely. It wasn’t going to take many more strikes to shatter the thing entirely. Her own blows hadn’t been very effective at all. Her spear didn’t seem to be able to get through the woman’s own shield defense, and it wasn’t doing much damage to the shield itself either.

  It was time to try something different. Sam rushed in, bashing the woman with what was left of her shield. Wood splintered and cracked under the impact as her shield broke apart completely. But the blow was strong enough to knock the woman over backward. She tumbled to the forest floor.

  Sam stabbed downward, taking her under her ribs with the spear. The green woman’s eyes widened and she clenched her fingers around the spear shaft, but the wound was already mortal. She made a gurgling sound, and died.

  Panting for breath, Sam leaned into her spear for a moment. The battle up ahead was already coming to a close. Her side had won handily. The two-pronged attack plus the element of surprise had been more than enough to overwhelm the larger enemy force. She looked down at the body on the ground in front of her.

  She’d trained to kill for years. That’s what one did, in the military. But she’d never actually killed a person before. Sam wondered if this experience really counted or not. It felt real. She could smell the blood and for the rest of her life she’d remember the way the woman’s eyes widened with shock as she died. Feeling or seeming real wasn’t the same thing as being real, though.

  As fun a diversion as this place had turned out to be, it wasn’t real. Real people don’t respawn and come back to fight again. Real battles were over things that mattered, not pixel loot and bytes of data. It was time to get back to her world, where the things she did mattered.

  7

  Harald’s force had taken only two casualties in the battle. The opposing force was wrecked. Between the arrows and the attack from two sides, not a single green fighter had survived. As Sam watched, the blue warriors went through the bodies, picking them over for valuables. They stripped away bits of armor, weapons, and even a few pouches that had coins or some other valuables inside. Sam walked over to Harald, who was pulling loot from a body just like the others. She hoped to get a few questions answered.

  “Here, take these,” he said as she walked up. She caught the pair of leather boots he threw her way. “They look about the right size.”

  She slipped them on. They were a little snug, but they ought to fit after a little wear… Leather would stretch out after she’d put a few miles into them. But no - she wasn’t going to be putting miles into anything here. She was done. It was time to go home. She made a firm line of her mouth, setting her thoughts again to the task. Why was it so hard to think of leaving?

  “Harald, how does this work?” she asked, waving her hand at the bodies they were looting.

  “Valhalla is full drop, except for a few special items,” Harald said. He patted his axe. “My weapon here, for example, is bound. It won’t drop even if I die. Things like that are rare and exceptionally valuable though. Most of the time you lose everything if you’re killed. You’ll come back looking - well, like you did when you arrived today.”

  “So all of this stuff…?” she asked.

  “We’ll carry it back with us. Some of it folks will save away for a rainy day when they die and don’t have anything handy. You can drop some stuff in your Vault. The rest will get sold. With coin you can buy better gear.”

  “Makes sense,” she said. Sam had heard Jeff rattle on about his games enough that she had a general understanding of how this stuff worked. But she was letting herself get side-tracked again. “Listen, Harald. This has been fun. But I need to get home again. How do I log out?”

 

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