Dreamland

I cleaned the sweat and blood mixture from my forehead as good as I could with the back of my arm.

I looked again around to make sure that the fight was over and there would be no follow-up. Only the other trapped mastodont was still struggling to come free. The once idyllic field was covered now with arrows, broken weapons, shredded armour, dismembered corpses, blood, piss, shit and guts, all around me. A couple of badly wounded mercs were groaning between the dead, breathing hard.

That's a damned instinct, deep rooted into our beings, to empty ones bowels when catastrophe comes, probably to avoid infection. That smell combined with the smell of blood and opened guts was overwhelming.

Despite the pungent smell, I took in a deep breath. I raised slowly back to my feet and was welcomed by the view of absolute carnage. I did not realize there were so many!

I closed my eyes trying to unsee it.

And yet, I've seen such fields aplenty! For fucks sake I did see worse, I was a damned, feared warlord! I've leaded armies and raided cities! I've seen burning cities and armies of crows feasting on the fallen! Why did it trouble me to hear some moaning and whining? Why did it upset me to see the carnage? Besides, this was only some pixelated made-up carnage! Players who attacked me with their NPCs!

I know I've seen worse, and yet, something was different this time… I shook my head.

A crow feasting on a severed head turned its black head to look at me then turned back to its work. Yeah, crows, they were coming.

Inhale, exhale.

We won! I felt how Cala's resolution and cold blood took over deep inside me. I looked at them now as defeated foes and found my balance back.

Inhale, exhale.

This is how it looks like after you attack Cala. I grinned.

Inhale, exhale.

At a distance, the Lynx was growling, a terrifying growl, asserting his dominance over the bodies of the second raid's healers group. A deep, low rumble that could be heard for miles. A beast remains a beast, even if it's a talking beast?

At least it looked like he got my message about the healers, even if, judging by the way he blasted his way through the attackers, it might not have been needed. A long trail of blood and dismembered corpses behind him. Damn, judging by that trail, he must be at least as fast as I am and twice as deadly. Many fighters have been killed too quickly for the healers to start healing. I've underestimated him.

I watched for another moment the surreal scene, then looked around to check if there was any danger from the surviving groups, as my instincts wanted me to do, but I could not spot anything that could look dangerous for us. Further away, some small groups of people were running away, trying to put as much distance as possible between them and us. I don't think any of those would think to try to attack us again.

I ran in an easy trot to the Lynx to heal him, but he sustained surprisingly minor damage during this part of the fight. I did not have to say any words of command as my tattoo healed him when I touched him.

I turned to look for Alice. Ah, there she is! She waved. She was dragging one foot with an arrow stuck in her bone, more arrows stuck in her armour, and she sported several superficial wounds.

Well, true, she had no healing at all during the fight and had fought with a longsword as there had been no visibility for most of the battle. Plus she was still ten levels lower the me.

I smiled looking at her: a rare sight, Alice with a longsword. She grinned happily at me despite the wounds, looking like a happy hedgehog with those arrows balancing on her back.

I hurried over to her and assisted in pulling out the arrows. Most of them didn't penetrate too deeply. There was one exception—an arrow lodged in her back, beneath her jacket, around her right kidney. A fortunate critical shot. Or unfortunate, depending on your perspective. With that one, I had to be careful not to worsen the situation (it was already snapped in half) and to ensure the arrowhead didn't remain embedded in the flesh, potentially within her kidney. Removing it intact spared her from any cutting procedures.

As anticipated, no bullets managed to pierce our flesh, resulting in only superficial wounds. She endured my 'operation' without uttering a single moan and beamed happily after the healing.

Suddenly, the trap still holding the mastodont captive fizzled out with a puff. With no raid orders, the wounded war animal stepped away, trumpeting its disdain and sorrow.

I scanned the area, realizing someone was missing.

"Spartacius? Spartacius?" No response.

Searching for him, I eventually located him lying on the ground near those stones beside our bonfire spot, a small pool of blood forming beneath his head. Knocked out or worse? My heart raced.

"Oh, fuck, I hope he is not dead!" - I told to myself.

I leaped forward, placing my hand on his shoulder. "I want to heal you!" I yelled, fearing it might be too late.

As soon as the spell illuminated my hand and passed over him, he opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

"What happened?" he muttered, massaging his forehead with his left hand.

He looked around, confusion evident in his eyes.

"What the hell happened? Who screamed? Have we been attacked?"

Getting up slowly, still a bit unsteady on his feet, I supported him carefully to prevent him from falling. His eyes widened in shock as he took in the carnage surrounding him.

"Whoa! What a slaughter! What happened? Who did this? What?...."

He turned his gaze toward me, starting to comprehend. "You? You and the Lynx? You.... you... you?! You did knock me out, you … you... monster!!!"

His words puzzled me. Was he trying to make me feel guilty for the slaughter? The raids attacked us; it was only fair that we hit back! While checking him for any bullet entry wounds, as he wasn't as bulletproof as we were, I asked,

"Are you feeling OK? What happened to you? Your head is covered in blood!? Did anybody hit you?"

As I spoke, I began to realize what he was implying...

"Oh... You mean that it was from my push?... Err... You would have been trampled by that mastodon if I hadn't pushed you to a safe place... The wound is probably from a bullet..."

Fuck, low levels are just so fragile!

"Push? Push me to a safe place?! I think I would have preferred to be trampled by that beast or shot by a bullet! You threw me against that rock and broke my head! Look, look here, blood, do you see!? I am lucky that you didn't break my neck!"

The Lynx rolled his eyes.

"Calm down, boy; you are healed now! Everything is OK, and you survived two raids."

"Calm down? She almost killed me? I got no experience as I was knocked out!... Two raids! Fuck!" - he took a deep breath whilst his eyes focused on me - "Yeah, but wow, sexy outfit! Your undershirt is really cool!"

His sudden change in expression confused me. My undershirt? Oh, fuck! I suddenly became conscious that my blouse was in tatters, only rags hanging on my shoulders, and the 'undershirt' was my fairy-tattoo covering my upper body. I covered my breasts with my hand.

"That's not my undershirt!" - I yelled, making it only worse.

"No?" - he wondered, surprised.

I snorted. “You ruined my blouse!” - I yelled at the fairy, plunging Spartacius into even more confusion.

“Me?” - He asked.

I shook my head. “No, not you!”

Finally, the fairy answered. “Sorry, but anyhow you did fall into the fire; that did some of the damage.” That was all I got from her. No excuse, no promise that she will buy me a new blouse. That had been a pretty one with unique embroidery I had bought at an auction. I sighed and turned away from Spartacius.

“You are healed, now look the other way!”

“Me?” - he stupidly questioned

“Yes you!”

I discarded the rags and rummaged through my inventory. Drats, I have no other blouse with me! I do have some robes here, but those are cocktail dresses, not something to be worn outside. Besides, wearing one would mean I'd be without armor. Or should I put on a robe over trousers and top it all off with a jacket? No way! Shit, I must buy some cheap blouses somewhere; this fairy is ruining my collection! I only have some expensive pieces left in my guild's safe.

I picked up the jacket from the ground and put it on without a blouse. That should do it for the time being. I sighed.

"In the end, I think that it was worth it" - I heard Spartacius muttering to the Lynx behind me. The Lynx chuckled and answered something.

I tried to tune them out and turned my attention towards the wounded.

As I approached them, a survivor, a Chapter 3 merc sorcerer still lying on the ground, thought that now was the right time to blast a spell at my face. I just had the time to put a hand in front of my face. It felt as if I had slapped a burning brick.

"Idiot!" - I yelled as the blast ravaged my hair I had just put in order - “The fight is over, don't you see?”

He prepared a new spell.

“You will kill me anyhow! at least I will die fighting for my master!”

I snorted, this is such typical NPC nonsense!

“Calm down boy; nobody wants to kill you!” - I huffed.

“But you killed my master; I have to kill you!” - he protested.

Nevertheless, he discarded the spell. It was still a sign that the NPCs were not made completely stupid.

“Your master tried to kill us, and he paid for it; he is now a ghost. You fought valiantly and lost. Why die stupidly now? If you want, you can serve a new master that is not so stupid as your old master was? I will heal you now, but I will have to hit you if you continue with any craziness.”

He looked at me confused whilst I healed him. Rationing with NPCs. Surprisingly it seemed to work.

Meanwhile, the largest of the three moons rose slowly over the landscape, increasing visibility. I even had a shadow now. This moonlight had a tainted red note, making everything look even more spooky.

I continued checking for survivors. I found another archer merc that survived, then a soldier from town and a frightened citizen of the city. He looked strangely out of place, even alien with his dapper suit and his white gloves as he tried to clean the dirt from his trousers.

I was curious:

“Hello? Who are you?”

He had no wounds whatsoever if the dirty clothes did not count. A wonder such a frail person survived unharmed.

“I am magistrate Toller from Lilitown”

“Great that you are ok; any wounds, anything I need to heal?”

“No, thank you, milady, I think I am OK. I fell to the ground and stayed there until that dreaded darkness disappeared.”

“Oh, that was wise! Pardon me, what were you doing here with the raid?”

He pointed to one corpse.

“I was asked by captain Blackhound to observe the definitive removal of the Lynx from our forest. He paid the honorary for me to come. He assured me that inside the raid group, I would be safe.”

Spartacius laughed:

“He is my quest giver. Hehe, they took him with them to be sure they were the first to hand over the quests. That must have cost them some money.”

The magistrate turned towards him.

“Oh, Mr Spartacius! Good evening Sir. I... I...”

“Magistrate?”

He was trying to find his words.

“I... I mean, it is your right to change your mind...”

I was curious:

“Why do you want to remove the Lynx from the forest?”

“Why? Because he... ahem...he is... ahem... is... not very kind... ahem...”

The soldier, who seemed to have a bit more mum, cut it short:

“He terrorizes the spawns and does not let anybody enter the forest. He is a curse to the city.”

I was surprised.

“Lynx, did you do that?”

“Grrrrr. Groar! Grrrrr!!”

I rolled my eyes. Yes, I told him not to talk with humans...

“Bad boy!”

“Grrrr!”

It was now the turn of the soldier to roll his eyes. The magistrate upped the ante, probably realizing the danger was over.

“He even dishonoured the sheriff.”

Now I was curious. What could this mean?

“Dishonoured the sheriff?”

“Harhar”

The Lynx's growl was close to a form of laughing.

The soldier laughed.

“Yes, I remember that day when the sheriff ran out of the forest with his elite team, all with shredded pants.”

The sheriff does not seem to be very loved. OK, whatever. I turned to the magistrate:

“Look, I will take care of the Lynx; he will no longer forbid the forest to the spawns; people are free to go there now.”

The magistrate wondered, mesmerized.

“Can you do that?”

“Sure. It is done; he is coming with me... a.... in another place… ah... because he is my mount.”

The magistrate turned to Spartacius

“Is it true?”

“Growl!”

That was a nasty growl; the magistrate jumped back, surprised and excused himself immediately:

“I… I… do not… doubt...what the fine ...Lady says… I, I only need to understand if it is only the fine Lady or Lord Spartacius too?”

“Oh!”

As if believing his excuse, I added:

“Of course, both of us.”

Spartacius also confirmed:

“Yes, of course.”

“Oh, but then I am entitled to give you the reward for freeing our forest.”

At this, the magistrate uncovered a small purse and added hesitatingly:

“But not the reward for restoring the sheriff's honour, if you allow me to keep that?”

“Yes, you can keep that.”

“And, and... may I leave?”

“Sure!”

“We all?”

“Sure.”

“Oh, thank you. May I know your valuable name? I know Master Spartacius, and you are Lady?”

Alice, who was used to making such announcements for me, answered:

“You speak to Lady Lara, known as Calamity Lara.”

The soldier mumbled something into his beard.

“Calamity Lara the assassin! Of all the demons we had to stumble upon and attack Calamity Lara! Well done, captain Blackhound...”

I grinned happily. It seems my good name has made the rounds with the spawn population.

“Oh, Lady Lara, certainly. This explains the happening. Oh, what a dreaded accident! This tragic mistake would not have happened if we knew that you had already captured the beast and removed it from the forest. What a tragedy! Why did so many good people have to die stupidly here!”

He sighed.

“We will need to organize the removal of the bodies and a proper funeral for all.”

He turned towards the soldier:

“Now, I think we need to return to the city.”

Then towards the 2 mercs:

“Do you want to accompany us to the city?”

They nodded.

He handed me the quest's reward in a leather purse, and I signed for receipt.

As soon as they left, I heard a happy Spartacius:

“Yes! My Lynx quest is solved, and I must be friendly with the fraction! Cool! I did not know that it could be solved without killing the Lynx.”

The Lynx answered with a grin:

“Even better, we can try a repeat of this at the next town or village... How big was the reward?”

“It was fifty gold for me and fifty for Cala. It was a full's raid reward for the two of us!”

The Lynx argued:

“Not bad, not bad! We need to agree on my part. At least fifty per cent.”

Spartacius was a bit taken aback by this.

“You want fifty gold? That leaves only twenty-five for me if we divide...”

“No, gold is of no value for me, fifty per cent of the captured food!”

Spartacius laughed, relieved:

“Oh, you can have one hundred per cent of that. All in all, good business! I am going to loot them now. Do you come, Lynx?”