A few minutes later, a retinue of soldiers and players rode up on horses. In the center was a very tall woman, wearing the traditional blue and gold colors of the Kyrissian army.
“I hear that you are a seller of prisoners,” she said as her horse stopped by the cart. Several dozen other horses were surrounding them at this point, making it clear that, if Kenwar was up to anything clever, he’d be easily overpowered.
“That I am. These are worth a lot of coin to the right people. Information and hostage trades—you can’t beat what I’m offering!” Kenwar said.
The woman looked Van right in the eyes. Her name was Clara of Clane. “I see… well, we’ll pay you five thousand for him, and you can just kill the rest.”
“I don’t kill my slaves,” Kenwar said. “If you don’t want them, I’ll just ransom them back to the Melvanians.”
“What kind of players like to pretend like they are slaves instead of just logging out?” Clara asked.
“The kind that don’t like to lose their wartime bonus,” Kenwar replied. “Don’t forget that, if you log out during a war, you lose your entire bonus.”
Clara frowned. “You know, I haven’t lost a battle in such a long time, I barely even remember that’s a rule. Very well... we’ll pay you seven thousand for all of them.”
“Ten thousand gold,” Kenwar said.
“Eight.”
“Done,” Kenwar said, taking off his hat and bowing to the woman. “It was a pleasure, my lady.”
“Pay him,” Clara said as she reached down and grabbed Van by the arm. “And you are coming with me.”
“Ma’am,” said a man on horseback. He was coming from the direction where the massive battle was underway. “We’re at second signal!”
Clara nodded. “Perfect. Everything is going well then?”
“Exactly as planned for; no surprises,” the outsider replied.
“Great. Everyone else, let’s get moving. I don’t like being so exposed out here.”
“Ma’am, we’re in a valley,” said one of her aids.
“So? Only fools think they are safe in wide open spaces,” Clara replied.
The prisoners were loaded onto the backs of the horses and quickly transported to the camp where the rest of the reinforcements were waiting.
“Alright, here is the deal,” Clara said. “I’m in somewhat of an auspicious mood right now, so I’m going to give everyone a chance here to help me out. No doubt your wartime bonuses are very high and, goodness me, aren’t the penalties for death just so steep these days?”
Several guards had pulled each of Van’s team members off of the horses and forced them all onto their knees in front of her as she’d spoken.
Clara grabbed Van and pulled him over to her. “They told me that a bard had given some kind of speech that bolstered them all. It is rare to find a bard these days. Too many nerfs, if you ask me.”
“Well, you know how it goes,” Van said. “We’re not the easiest class to play.”
“No, no, you aren’t,” Clara replied as she forced him onto his knees again. “Now, I have some basic questions for you. Answer me right, and you all get to walk out of here after the battle. Answer me wrong, and… well.” She paused to count all of Van’s party members. “Let’s just say that you have six chances to answer me. After that, I’ll kill you.”
“Right, right,” Van said. “Look, we’re just players who wanted to fight in the war; we’re mercenaries, and we don’t know anything.”
“Mhmm,” Clara said as she looked Van directly in the eyes. She squinted a little. “You know, even though we are in a video game, I know that the eyes can tell me everything that I need to know. You’re definitely lying. What do you know?”
“Nothing!” Van said. “I don’t know a thing!”
“Very well,” Clara said as she turned to face the rest of the party. No one said anything. She glanced around and pointed at Capello. “Him.”
Van secretly sighed a breath of relief as two guards walked up and grabbed Capello. He was gagged, unlike the rest of the players, and he immediately began to grumble and shout, but his words were muffled. The guards cut his throat, killing him immediately. It sucked to see Capello die, but Van knew that, for this ruse to work, they had to pretend like they were fully at her mercy.
“Ah, crap! Why’d you do that?” Van asked. The rest of the players all began to shout, as well.
“Not cool!” Dolly gasped.
“I’ll kill you all!” Kylian said.
“Oh no!” said Sahara.
“Silence!” Clara bellowed, causing them all to stop talking immediately. “Now then, I’m going to ask you again, Semimodo. What do you know?”
“Alright, alright, please stop killing my team!” Van said. “I’ll talk if you let them go.”
“Of course, we will,” Clara said. “We aren’t savages like the Melvanians.”
“Fine, fine, what do you want to know specifically?” Van asked.
“What are his plans for this battle? Does he know about our detachment?” she asked. “Is he planning something special?”
Van shrugged. “I don’t think he would know about you guys hiding out here; you’re too far from the battle.”
Clara waved to her guards and they began to move towards Dolly.
“Wait, wait!” Van said. “Okay, okay, okay, I’ll talk!”
“That’s more like it,” Clara replied as she waved at the guard to stop their advance. “Now then, what is he planning?”
“Ahhh, okay. Fine,” Van stammered, trying his best to look like he really was flustered. “There is a large force moving in from southwest of here. They’re going to wait on your movement and, as soon as your forces get moving to reinforce the battle, they’re going to push hard into your rear flanks.”
Clara frowned. “Hmmm, it sounds like a reasonable tactic. My scouts haven’t seen anyone, though.”
“Yeah, well, you know how stealthy and careful Captain Edwardson is; he’ll have some kind of clever ambush figured out,” Van said.
“Hmmm,” Clara said as she looked around. The men were all watching her and a few of them seemed rather nervous. “I suppose it is possible that he’s somehow gotten a force around us. But, we are formidable. How big of a team are we talking about?”
“Twelve hundred players,” Van replied.
“That’s not nearly enough to take us down,” Clara said. She shook her head. “But if they strike when we’re moving… damn.”
“Ma’am, we have enough time; let’s go fight them and mess them up!” said one of the soldiers. The rest of them all cheered and shouted in agreement with the statement.
“No, that’s too much of a waste of time,” Clara said. “We would do best to stick to the current plan.”
“With all due respect, Clara,” said one of the players, who was named Thornton and was a wizard dressed in golden robes. “Your choice is crucial here. If we get derailed from behind while we’re trying to reinforce the flanks, we’ll be dead on arrival. It would be far better to take care of a strike force coming up behind us right now instead of dealing with them later.”
“Thornton, what did I tell you?” Clara asked. “You’re not in charge of this unit anymore. General Allus clearly stated that I was in command.”
“This isn’t about politics,” Thornton said. “This is about getting things done the right way. We need to pool our minds together.”
“Like you listened to my advice back at that river?” Clara asked. “I’m not interested in anything that you have to say about this matter any further. I will make my decision on my own.”
“Well, I’m taking my own team and we’re going to take care of that strike force,” Thornton said. “Regardless of whether you like it or not.” He started to walk away, but she reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, hard.
“Desertion is punishable by death!” she hissed. “I will not have you, of all people, undermining me.”