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  Megyn relaxed her muscles, trying to slide free of the creature’s grip, but it continued its coil, tightening its own grasp, squeezing her between the thick ridges of its sleek body. Her breath blew out in a hard, desperate grasp as the constrictor squeezed even more tightly, pressing muscle and bone against each other, her arms screaming in pain. Immediately red lights flashed in her HUD, her HP meter starting to dwindle in the wrong direction with each aggressive squeeze of the serpent’s coiled body. Fireworks exploded within the darkness of her clouding vision, and she felt suddenly dizzy as her HP meter drained past half and began its swift race toward a quarter.

  Tensing her arms she pushed outward, trying to get some breathing room, but could not, only serving to stab more agony into her shoulders. The world swam around her, trees and sky shifting into a mottled, mixed whirlwind of color, a dark haze of pending unconsciousness interweaving the colors.

  She was on the precipice of blacking out, her head roiling, her chin tipping, and just as she prepared herself for the darkness to envelop her, a white shape burst through the trees, loping along the grass, snarling, growling and barking. Megyn snapped herself back into consciousness, seeing Tyson lunge forward, burying his fangs into the scaly hide of the giant constrictor, squeezing, spurting bright yellow-green blood into the air. Hit points sprinted downward, the creature rearing back, loosening its grip. Megyn caught a desperate breath, dropping down and pushing back, her muscles screaming as she scrambled away. Getting her eyes on the snake, she could see its health sitting at well under a half as Tyson thrashed his head back and forth, slamming the huge snake against a row of trees, then pounding it back into the ground. Its tail lashed out, catching the large wolf in the side of the head and knocking it back a bit, Tyson whining at the impact.

  Even as the wolf slammed to the ground, the snake uncoiled, rising up, pulling back, fangs bared, preparing to strike. A long, ragged hiss churned in the creature’s mouth, beneath its flicking tongue and it tensed to charge.

  Megyn sprang up into a one-legged kneel, bow again held high, finger plucking the taut string, launching a narrow shaft of carefully carved wood, which bolted forward and rammed hard into the back of the constrictor’s head, the wide, triangular tip of the arrow bursting from its open mouth, spraying blood. The snake gurgled as the last of its HP drained away, then it slumped left, striking the ground with a shattering wham.

  Dropping to a knee, holding herself up with the bow, she lowered her chin and tried to steady her breathing. Tyson crawled to his feet and walked toward her, bending his snout and nuzzling her.

  “Thanks, boy,” she whispered, smiling at him, and she stood, rubbing him behind his pointed ears. The two of them left the clearing, heading out toward where the foxes lay. It would be a little later than Megyn wanted to bring breakfast to the village, but better late than never, and hey, at least she was alive to still do it.

  Chapter 11 - Snakes in the Grass

  * * *

  Ella had heard the crashing and thrashing deep in the trees and took off from her group training with Locratia at a swift pace. As a Dark Elf and a Druid, her senses were somewhat more attuned than the others, and although she could feel them staring at her back as she ran, she knew there was some kind of danger afoot, something she needed to act on and quickly.

  By the time she reached the trees, Megyn was limping from them, walking gingerly, but upright, Tyson trudging just behind her. Her bow was strung over her chest, her sword at her hip, and four fox tails were bunched in her right hand, the animals dragging along on the ground.

  “Everything okay?” Ella asked, approaching her friend. “You look like you’re limping.”

  “It’s all good,” Megyn replied. “Just out hunting some breakfast.” She lifted her hand, the dead foxes raising with it. “But we did run into a little trouble.”

  Ella fell in beside her, walking over the grass, toward the common area in the center of the village.

  “What sort of trouble?”

  “Snake trouble.”

  Ella’s eyes widened. “Sharak-Ku?”

  Megyn shrugged. “Not directly, but there sure were a lot of snakes out there. Further west and south than I’ve seen them yet.”

  “Combine that with the attack at the river…”

  “Yeah, exactly. Not a good combination.”

  “What’s not a good combination?” Locratia asked, approaching the two girls. She shifted her attention to the elf. “Ella, I understand you were concerned for your friend, but leaving in the middle of training isn’t appropriate.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ella replied, lowering her head.

  “It’s all right, child,” Locratia replied, placing a hand on Ella’s arm. “Now, what were you saying about the snakes?”

  “I was out hunting foxes,” Megyn replied. “Ran into a den of poisonous snakes. No sooner got them taken care of when I was attacked by a thirty foot monster who nearly took me out. Tyson saved me as usual.”

  Locratia pinched her lips closed, looking out toward the village.

  “This is not good,” Locratia said quietly. “Typically even those smaller snakes are scouts for the Sharak-Ku. They are getting closer and closer to the village. This should make all of us very nervous.”

  “How large is our force?” Megyn asked.

  “Not large enough.”

  “I feel like that’s a given,” replied Ella. “So what do we do about it?”

  “Only thing we can do,” Locratia replied. She turned away from them, walking back toward her burgeoning group of magic users. “The best we can.”

  Chapter 12 - Revelations

  * * *

  Solomon and Lionel stood in the grass, arms clasped behind their back, watching Esmelda go to work under the early morning sun. She ran through the basic tenets of combat with a small group of younger soldiers fanned around her, showing basic sword techniques for the thousandth time. Not a single one of her students complained or even showed the barest signs of boredom, all watching with rapt, devoted attention, as if they’d never seen what she was doing before.

  Stepping back, she swung the sword up and around, her two-handed grip firm on the hilt. Sun glistened from the metal blade as it twisted and turned in a graceful, yet functional pattern of blocks, parries, and strikes. At the end of her movement, she froze in her position, separating a second hand from the hilt and extended a finger toward one of her students.

  “You!” she barked. “Come at me!”

  The Amazon student shouted in aggression and charged, lifting her own blade.

  Amidst the cacophony of metal-on-metal, Solomon turned to Lionel.

  “So what’s your name IRL?” he asked.

  The man with the beard smiled thinly.

  “Believe it or not, Lionel. I’m not that creative, actually.”

  “Hey, coming from a real life ‘Solomon’, I hear you.”

  “So you really didn’t get to choose your class or your character up front?” Lionel asked.

  Solomon shook his head. “It’s a bit of a long story,” he replied. “But, no, we didn’t get to choose our class. Not even our race or appearance.”

  “That is so weird. What kind of closed beta was that?”

  “An unexpected one,” Solomon replied.

  “I don’t get it,” Lionel said.

  “Never mind, like I said, it’s a long story.”

  They stood in silence for a few minutes, unsure of how to continue the conversation.

  “So where are you from?” Solomon asked. “Where did they open the beta to?”

  “Not sure where else they opened it,” Lionel replied. “I’m Austrian. Me and my brothers signed up the minute we heard it was open. There were only like a thousand slots, we didn’t want to miss out.”

  “You have two brothers, right?” Sol asked. “The two that were on the boat?”

  Lionel nodded. “Yeah, and after this quest is done, I need to get back to Elderand. See if I can find them. I mean, I’ve gotta r
ub it in their face that I’ve got a quest under my belt. I’ll probably even be level four by then!”

  Solomon nodded. “We can probably help with that,” he said. “There are things in the city we’d like to explore, too. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since we arrived, just one crazy quest after another. Once the Sharak-Ku are gone, though, I think we’ll have a little freedom at least.”

  “So you guys just… spontaneously appeared here?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way,” Solomon replied. “A friend of ours knew some of the developers. We got some pretty early access, but you know, with all the changes they’re making, I’m feeling like we should have just waited.”

  “I dunno, you guys got a pretty good step up on the competition.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” Solomon replied.

  “You two!” Esmelda shouted, prying her attention away from the trainees to look at the two men. “Instead of standing there chit-chatting, grab your swords and come over here. Especially you, beard boy! I haven’t seen you shake your stuff yet, get your chainmail ass over here and show us what you got!”

  Solomon and Lionel glanced at each other nervously, then both shrugged and stepped forward, into the fray.

  Chapter 13 - Weaponsmiths

  * * *

  With Locratia heading back toward her group of recruits, Ella and Megyn continued on, dropping the dead foxes off to a smiling Amazon standing by the common area fire.

  “Breakfast?” she inquired, and Megyn nodded, resulting in a return smile from the cook. She turned away toward a squat wooden table where there were knives and pots and rested the dead foxes there, preparing to go to work. The rising chorus of metal clanging sounded further down the village, over by a round pond of shimmering, black water, and Megyn gestured that way, Ella falling in line behind her.

  “You checked this out yet?” Megyn asked, leading her around one of the small buildings toward the rear of the village. Stretching out alongside the edge of the large pond was another large structure, this one even bigger than the meeting house, and the metal clanging appeared to be coming from within the structure itself.

  “I’ve heard the noise, but haven’t actually investigated,” Ella said. “Always been too busy with Locratia.” She looked over her shoulder. “I’m not sure why she’s not hassling me right now, as a matter of fact.”

  “I guess the same reason Aldena is letting me off easy this morning,” Megyn replied. “I guess they figure we need a break once in a while.” They heard the thin clash of swords banging together and looked over in time to see Solomon sprawl backwards into the ground, his weapon spilling onto the grass next to him.

  “Guess not everyone deserves a break,” Ella quipped with a chuckle as the two of them walked up the short stairway, pushing open the large door into the rectangular building. As loud as the banging was outside, it was nearly deafening within the building, like being in the center of a cymbals-only orchestra, surrounded by the metal instruments banging at an insane volume.

  Ella appeared physically pained with the noise, turning toward Megyn.

  “What is this place?”

  Megyn pointed, and Ella followed the direction of her finger. Along the far wall, she could see racks mounted on the wall as well as standing on the floor, each one filled with spears, staffs, and polearms. Halfway down the wall, the racks doubled and tripled, only now they were full of what appeared to be quivers of arrows, stacked end to end and side-to-side, the entire cavity of them filled with narrow shafted, feathered projectiles. Long tables sat a short distance ahead of the wall, swords, knives, and axes laid out in even, diagonal lines. At the opposite side of the building a few massive black cauldrons of water hung from the rafters and four large Amazons stood by them, slamming narrow pieces of shining metal into vaguely sword-shaped patterns.

  Sparks flew as they hammered, gripping the metal with long tongs, banging the shapes flat, turning them, banging them flat again, then dipping them in the water, resulting in a cloud of hissing steam.

  “This is where they take the Ankheg carapace and shape it into weapons and armor!” shouted Megyn above the endless noise. “They soften it with heat, shape it, form it, and cool it!”

  “Wow,” Ella said in amazement, her eyes drawing wide.

  One of the Amazon weapons makers looked over at them and nodded to Megyn.

  “Come here, young one!” the large woman shouted over the noise. Megyn smiled and strode that direction, Ella close behind. “You like what you see?” the armorer asked with a wide smile. Megyn nodded and took a step closer, leaning over to look at the table. “What kind of sword do you want, little girl?” the Amazon asked, a broad, tooth-filled smile on her face.

  Megyn pressed her fingers against the cool Ankheg steel of a partially formed sword.

  “Like this, only maybe thinner and lighter?” she asked, speaking in an elevated tone. “Something I can swing fast.”

  The Amazon smiled even more broadly and nodded, holding up a finger.

  “For you, I will make this. Just for you.”

  Megyn nodded toward Ella.

  “What about her?”

  The Amazon looked offended.

  “You think I have the time to make custom weapons for everyone? Come now!” At the end of her protest, she smiled crookedly. “What do you want, gray skin?” she asked.

  Ella returned the smile. “I have a staff already,” she replied, reaching back and sliding the long, smooth object from the narrow sheath on her back. The woman looked at her staff and nodded.

  “I will make you something,” she replied. “Something a little smaller. More manageable, just in case.”

  “Thank you,” Ella replied, bowing slightly.

  A voice, loud and shrill split the air, breaking through the din of the confined smith house.

  “Megyn! Ella! I would have words with you!”

  Both girls turned, somewhat surprised to see Queen Soracia at the door, beckoning them to come closer with a curl of her finger. Wasting no time, both of them vacated, following the queen from the weapon smith, back down the stairs, and out onto the grass where it was at least somewhat more quiet.

  “What can we do for you, my queen?” asked Megyn, somewhat alarmed by the tone of her voice.

  “Is it true what you told Locratia?” Soracia asked, almost demanding.

  Megyn nodded. “Indeed. My morning hunt was interrupted. Snakes. Several of them.”

  Soracia lowered her head, one fist closing so tight, her knuckles drew back and whitened slightly.

  “I wish you had told me,” she said quietly.

  “I… I’m sorry,” Megyn replied. “I didn’t realize it was—”

  “It was what? Important?” Soracia’s jerked her head up, her eyes narrow. “When it comes to this conflict with the Sharak-Ku, everything is of vital importance. Everything!”

  Megyn took a short step back.

  “I apologize, Queen Soracia. I never meant to hold anything back.”

  Soracia opened her mouth to bark a reply, but tensed and closed her eyes.

  “I am… sorry, Megyn,” she said. “Very sorry. I fear for the future of this land, and I take that fear out on you, which is unfair. You deserve better.”

  “My queen, please… I understand the pressure you’re under. Do not apologize. We are all just trying to do what’s best.”

  “Indeed,” Soracia replied. “What’s best for the Amazons… what’s best for Gallowind… what’s best for the entire world. We are at a critical crossroads in Shyft’s history, and I need to be certain we land on the right side of it.”

  The two girls nodded and Soracia’s expression turned at least slightly warmer.

  “If the Sharak-Ku are moving as far west as we believe, we will need to be prepared. Far more prepared than we are now. Woody keeps on telling us that he has more reinforcements on the way from the Grove, yet we have not seen them. He fears they have either been ambushed or otherwise lost along the way. Coul
d I ask a favor of the two of you? Could I ask you to venture north into Gallowind and find these missing Harefolk?

  Quest Alert Preparations for War

  Part 03 - Spy of Devil’s Mouth

  The Sharak-Ku reside in or near the nefarious Devil’s Mouth Caverns. A small team will voyage to those caverns in search of military intelligence that can be used by the Amazon Warriors to formulate an attack plan.

  Quest Class: Rare

  Quest Difficulty: Difficult

  Success:

  Gather critical intelligence against the Sharak-Ku

  Rewards:

  1500 XP

  Reputation with Soracia improved

  Charisma: +1

  Penalty:

  Reputation with Soracia Reduced

  Accept: YES/NO

  Megyn glanced at Ella for just a heartbeat, then quickly selected ‘YES’. Soracia nodded her appreciation.

  “Then go, my children. Go and find these Harefolk and bring them back to us. The time for war draws near and we need all of the help we can get.”

  Chapter 14 - In Search of the Harefolk