“Wha-?” he said.
Then I landed on him.
My sword pierced his chest right above his heart and passed straight through him. As I crashed into my confused foe, we both tumbled to the ground.
I rolled away while wrenching my sword free then I stood and turned, ready for more.
Perriwinkle did not stand up. Instead, he lay prone on the cobblestone, and let out his last breath.
Vivian Valesh hits Perriwinkle KillUGood with a critical strike for 1,000 hit points of damage. Perriwinkle KillUGood is dead. Vivian Valesh earns double PvP battle points.
“Yeah, Vee!” shouted Mudhoof, who was still actively engaged with the viking.
About to run over and help him finish our last attacker, I paused and looked about. The crowd had grown much larger, forming a living arena around where we fought. Then I noticed several large groups of players push their way through the crowd, their hungry eyes staring at me.
“Uh oh,” I said. More of these potential bounty hunters were arriving by the second. Word was out. The largest bounty was here in Ingot’s Perch. Claim her if you can.
A cry behind me made me turn in alarm. Mudhoof?!
The viking fell backwards, his black sword clattering across the cobblestone.
Mudhoof Hornthruster has killed Knight WhoSaidNee.
“Piece of cake!” Mudhoof shouted in triumph.
I ran up to him, my eyes darting over the hostile crowd. “Nice work,” I said.
Mudhoof looked up at the roof. “You got those ranged bastards? They had it coming.” He saw my nervous expression. “What’s wrong?”
I nodded toward the large crowd and the players looking at us. Looking at me. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“Yikes,” Mudhoof said, taking in the situation. This wasn’t a small group to deal with, this was a mob. “We got to get you to the Healer’s Temple and fast. Once in there we’ll come up with a plan.”
I was about to say something when there was a commotion to our right. A new group of players had arrived and were walking toward me when another group intercepted them.
“She’s ours!” said the leader of the first group.
“No, she is ours!” said one of the other group.
Weapons were drawn and spells charged.
I pulled my gaze away from them. If they wanted to fight amongst themselves then I could afford to ignore them for the moment. What concerned me was the living wall of players who now blocked our way to the Temple steps.
“Going to have to fight our way through this,” I said. It did not look good. The odds were very much stacked against us. Two against dozens.
Mudhoof sized things up and nodded. “Yup,” he said with a snort. “But I got a plan,” he said and hefted his battle axe.
“Plan?” I asked. The crowd now was pushing forward. Their hesitation would not last long. Soon, someone would attack and bring the entire mob down on us.
Mudhoof leaned close. “Do you trust me?”
“Uh, yeah. But what does-,” I started to say when Mudhoof pressed something into my free hand.
“Get to Thorm,” he said.
I looked at what he gave me. A Teleport Token.
Before I could ask him anything else, Mudhoof roared and raised his axe over his head. Unperturbed, the other players pressed forward.
Mudhoof brought the axe down with a mighty downward blow. The blade shattered the cobblestone and huge cracks shot out in all directions from the point of impact. Nearly the entire crowd around us fell or was knocked back into each other. It was a tremendous show of power by Mudhoof. I knew he had been feeding all his skill points received each level into his Knock Back ability, but I hadn’t seen the end result until now.
I looked in surprise at what he had just done. But the players were only temporarily thrown off. They still blocked our way. What was the point of buying us only a few seconds of time?
Leaving his axe buried in the ground, Mudhoof turned and sprinted a few paces back.
“Muddie, what the heck-,” I said before Mudhoof spun around, lowered his head down and charged straight at me.
My eyes widened in shock.
The steel tips of his long horns scrapped the cobblestone, shooting out a shower of sparks. He was coming at me full speed.
“Jump!” the minotaur roared as the distance between us became mere feet.
I realized what he was about to do, but there was nothing I could do but jump as he commanded. There was no stopping this freight train.
At the last possible moment I hopped up a few feet and braced myself as best I could. The steel tips of his horns passed beneath me, and at that exact millisecond, Mudhoof tossed his head upwards.
The impact of his head knocked the breath out of me, and my view-screen went black for a second.
When I could see again, I was sailing over surprised players below me. As my body spun around, I caught a glance of Mudhoof surrounded by a mass of angry players who closed in on him.
Then I hit the top Temple step and bounced hard through the entrance, and across the threshold.
You have entered a PvP safezone.
I slammed against the inner foyer wall tearing down a large dove tapestry.
For a few moments my avatar was disoriented from the impact. Once I got my bearings, I looked out into the town square below.
Weapons were rising and falling where Mudhoof had been, but I couldn’t see him through the mass of players.
Then, someone raised a twin bladed battle axe up in the air. There was a cheer of triumph from the crowd.
My body went numb. No, I thought. It can’t be!
I barely registered the mass of players now surging up the steps of the temple. They didn’t matter now. Only one thought filled my mind.
Mudhoof was dead.
CHAPTER SIX
Stunned, I could do nothing but sit and stare at the upraised battle axe.
Mudhoof’s axe.
Then the tide of players crested the top Temple step, and the axe was lost from view.
He had died to save me. Again.
This was not the first time, nor did I believe it would be the last. Mudhoof was a true friend and a fellow player I could count on in a pinch. And I had just been in one heck of a pinch.
I shook my head, trying to get my senses back.
Players now pushed into the Temple, crowding the inner foyer where I sat slumped against the wall. They loomed over me, shouting and gesticulating wildly. The air filled with FILTERED this and FILTERED that.
With a hand against the wall, I stood. As if expecting I would be dumb enough to leave the safety of the Temple, some of the players parted so I could exit unimpeded. But I wasn’t going outside. Instead, I turned and pushed my way further into the Temple. If someone tried to block me, I simple shoved them aside, and they slid out of my way as if on ice.
Once in a safezone a player can’t be hurt in any manner nor physically blocked, unlike the rest of the gaming world. If that was the case, the griefing of players would be epidemic. I took some small solace that, although they had killed my friend, they could not stop me from where I wanted to go.
As I entered the main chamber, the others followed close behind, a cacophony of FILTERED obscenities and gestures. With minimal effort, and avoiding direct eye-contact with my would-be tormentors, I pushed my way to the same little bed I’d vacated only a short while ago.
As I sat down, the healer appeared.
“Oh, by the Blessed One herself, you have returned, and so soon,” he said. He examined my wounds and the various arrows that seemed to sprout from my avatar. “Tsk-tsk,” he said. “You need to be more careful. Allow me to heal your wounds.” He seemed unaffected by the horde of people that now jammed his beautiful temple.