"Van?" she whispered as she poked him. He was still alive.
"Ugh, Sang? Is that you?" Van whispered. "I got hit by some kind of poison. I can't move."
"Yeah, I can see that," Sang said. "Where's the rest of the team?"
"No idea," Van replied. "But we should probably get out of here. There are a lot of players around."
"Tell me about it. This place is becoming a melee," Sang said as she bent down to hoist Van up. He was extremely heavy, and strength was not one of her best stats. Still, she grunted and struggled, and managed to get him around her shoulders. All they needed to do now was find the rest of the team and regroup. How hard could that be?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Van took a step forward, feeling the numbness in his legs diminishing. "I am feeling so much better," he said as he walked around. Each step increased the amount of confidence he had in the fact that the poison had finally subsided.
"Great," Sang said as she examined the trees in the area. "My tracking skill isn't as high in this character, but I do believe I know that Sahara went this way."
"Anyone chase after her?" Van asked as he walked up to investigate the footprints. They seemed to be more definitive than the other footprints he had seen. Probably because Sahara was wearing armor, making each step of hers heavier.
"No, she's in the clear," Sang said. "Do you know where Kylian went off to?"
Van shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I saw him get hit by an arrow as he ran off; it probably took him down hard."
"This is not the kind of situation that I want to be in," Sang said. "We're down three people."
"I know, I know," Van said as he looked around some more. They had made it far enough to where the sounds of the fighting had died down considerably. Now there was nothing but the sound of the wind gently blowing against the trees. The peace was welcome, but Van's heart rate still hadn't gone down. Was Kylian dead? He shuddered to think about the potential fate of his friend, paralyzed and unable to move, only to be killed by some opportunist who was looking to win a contest. How cruel and terrible was that?
"I'm sure Kylian is fine," Sang said. It appeared that she'd read the expression that Van had exhibited on his face. "He's a tough guy, and he knows how to keep his head down."
"I doubt it," Van said. "Let's face it, Sang, there's no reason to fool ourselves here. We chose to walk into this deathtrap. No amount of hope is going to change the reality around us."
"I disagree," Sang replied as she smacked Van on the side of his arm. "Hope will change reality because it's what keeps us going in the hard times. If you don't have hope, you aren't going to win this thing."
"Easy for you to say," Van mumbled. "You've got things to look forward to out there."
"I don't think we have time to get into this discussion again," Sang said. "We've got three people to find and probably rescue. You said Kylian took off into the woods? Where do you think he would be?"
"No idea," Van said. "But you said there were three people in armor, right? If we are going to get to Kylian, we're going to have to go through them. I lost my warhammer back there, so we've got a dagger and a longsword. Definitely not the kind of situation that I'd like to fight in."
"True," Sang said as she looked around. "Well, let's just keep moving. The team is smart; they can survive on their own for a bit. Let's go find a weapon and keep moving."
They walked together in abject silence for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Van checked the player count to see that there were only 11 players left in the game. If his team was still alive, that meant they'd only be facing six more players. If his entire team was dead, outside of he and Sang, that would mean it would be Van and Sang against nine other people. He swallowed hard. That was a tough ratio to consider.
"Are you kidding me?" said a voice from behind Van. They both spun around to see Fredlin, hobbling towards them.
"Fredlin!" Van said as he felt a little bit of hope rise inside of him.
"I'm been looking everywhere for you guys. I've passed this area at least ten times!" Fredlin said. "And now I'm running from some thugs, and I just happen upon you two."
Van noticed that Fredlin's health bar was at 50, and there was blood running from his side.
"Are they still chasing you?" Van asked as he drew his longsword. He had taken it from Sang because, after all, he was the berserker.
"Nah, I used a blinding spell to get away," Fredlin said. "But my magic is running pretty low. I think I have the bleeding status, too, because I keep losing hit points every few minutes."
"We need water," Sang said. "That's the only way to heal him."
“I’m too turned around to remember where the water is,” Fredlin said, “or else I’d have gone for that.”
Van's mind flashed to the canteen that had been hanging off of the armored man they had killed earlier. If Sahara had looted his armor, she'd probably taken the canteen, too.
"If we find Sahara,' Van said, "we can find water. She has some, I'm willing to bet."
"I hope so," Fredlin said. "Because, man, would it suck to die."
"You seem rather calm about it," Sang said as she investigated his wounds.
"Eh, you get used to this kind of thing, I guess," Fredlin said. "Not much of a reason for me to stick around here anyway. I’m not saying I’m suicidal, but all of my grand plans involved Savorn. Or at least drunkenly confessing my love to Savorn and then getting rejected."
"Now that's romance," Sang replied as she tore off some fabric from her sleeve and wrapped it around Fredlin's wound. "Okay, since I have exactly 1 point in first aid, let's hope that works."
"Feels better already," Fredlin said as he clenched his teeth and held onto his wound for a moment. The words 1 bleed damage floated above his head.
"Crap, it didn't work," Van said. "We better move fast."
"On the bright side," Fredlin said, "I was taking 3 damage each time I got the status before, and now it's down to one. That's progress."
"How are we going to find her?" Sang asked. "She could be anywhere."
Van snapped his fingers. "Of course! The locate water spell! Fredlin, could you specify how much water to locate?"
Fredlin shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. The spell usually asks if I want to find a lake, ocean, or other."
"Pick other and try to specify a canteen's worth of water," Van instructed. "That would be perfect!"
Fredlin nodded and began to cast a spell. He waved his hands about and threw some dirt in the air. The dirt formed another arrow, pointing directly toward the north of them. Fortunately, that was in the opposite direction of where all of those other players had been.
"Let's get moving," Van said. "We don't have a lot of time."
The three set off at once, making their way through the woods in the hopes of finding Sahara. The number of active players ticked down to 10, though, and Van grimaced at the news. Who had died?
"There!" Sang said as she pointed toward a large fallen tree log. The log had been hollowed out and Sang could see someone inside of it.
"Sahara!" Van shouted. "Is that you?"
"You guys are all alive?" Sahara shouted back as she poked her head out of the log. "I can't believe it!"
"Sahara, please tell me you have some water left," Van said. "We know you have a canteen."
Sahara nodded with excitement. "Yeah, I didn't drink any because I figured you guys might need it later."
"Thank God!" Fredlin said as he staggered over to her. "Give it here!"
"I didn't hear a 'please' in that sentence," Sahara said as she held up the canteen. He reached for it, but she pulled it away.
"Sahara, just give him the water," Sang snapped. "He could die."
"Fine, but only because he could die," Sahara replied as she handed him the bottle. Fredlin greedily drank of the water and they all watched his health bar return to 100.
"How old are you again?" Sang asked.