“Really?”
He chuckled and changed the subject. “So you ready to go hunting for a goblin penthouse or two?”
With a command and a few flicks of my wrist, I was fully geared. Bashing my spear against my shield set if off like a gong.
“Penthouses, really?”
“What, do you think they live in holes in the ground?”
“No, in trees like caffeinated squirrels.”
“Oh, look at that. Does your shield have more dents in it than before?”
I froze in place. I had been so worried about Peter finding out about my little outing last night that I hadn’t even considered Kline. He had been sleeping across from me. If he had opened his eyes for but a moment he would have seen that I was gone. Lucius, you’re an idiot.
***
There was no visual cue from Peter that he knew anything, even when Victoria joined us a few minutes later in the hall fully garbed.
When asked about breakfast she replied, “I’ve already eaten.”
Did she wake up before me?
With my spear and shield inventoried to save my arms, among other things, I followed at the rear of our growing procession, Kline by my side. Speaking of caffeinated squirrels, even without a caffeine-rich beverage my chest was nearly vibrating as it labored to contain my enthusiasm. No more defensive measures. It was time to bring the fight to the snot colored horde.
Harrison teased Victoria up front with comments such as, “You should have been there last night,” and “You don’t know what you missed!” He knew perfectly well we were there.
Our group grew once we hit the main road leading to the front gate. Wilson’s dozen men were waiting there for us. Wilson joined Peter, Harrison, and Victoria up front. His men filed in behind us. The rest of Harrison’s men met us just outside the front gate, north of the barricade.
Close to a thousand men still manned the gate. The defense had taken on a life of its own. Makeshift practice arenas had been created with crates and logs set up in a circle in three different locations: north, south and in the middle of the barricade. Men were sparring with weapons and bare fists. It was there I saw Vector and the gamers at the front of the crowd of the most popular sparring ring in the barricade.
“They’re going to hang out with Cornelius today,” Kline said as Treetop squared off against another scrappy guy barehanded.
We stopped out front of the defensive line, too far from the group to see well. Only the heads of the competitors made their appearance as they circled. My best guess was Treetop was throwing some awkward jabs, trying to fend the shorter guy off as he backpedaled. He was a mystery to me. A blundering drunk one minute, a fearless warrior the next, and now after he had literally been crushed he was out here sparring.
“Cornelius is running his own training camp then?” I asked.
“Looks like it. After last night, men are chomping at the bit to join him. The rest are just trying to get some free training.”
“So he made out well last night?”
“I heard his group, if you can call over one hundred men a group, were the only ones to hold their own in last night’s raid. The majority of the goblin deaths came from his men and yet there were thousands of players in the fight,” Kline said, gracious enough not to mention that I had been there. Peter and Oliver were too close and could overhear.
“I’m surprised we haven’t talked to him about joining forces.”
“Oh, they are already in talks. Peter sat down with him this morning over some coffee.”
“I guess I should have assumed as much.”
“Yeah, you should have.” He chuckled.
While the group leaders chatted about strategy, I opened up my menu and brought up my fan page. I felt I had been neglecting my followers. My pulse surged like a jackrabbit had suddenly started tap dancing from inside my chest. 62,711,029 followers! Ten million more… But why?!
I scanned through the comments that the security and cheating AI didn’t blur or block and found a debate going on. Some people wanted me to abandon my group and join Vector. More surprising still, the majority wanted me to stay with Victoria’s group, or more specifically sneak out with her again.
The reasoning was mixed. Suffice it to say, we were an interesting pair that was sure to get into trouble. On the other hand, people wanted us to hook up. I facepalmed.
There wasn’t a single mention of me running away from the hobgoblin like a coward. That was a relief.
I had gained over ten million followers, not because of my gaming skill, but because people were interested in seeing what Victoria and I would do together. The last thing I wanted was to turn into a Virtual Reality drama-king. Oh, I have to watch Lucius today! Have you seen his abs? If that girl doesn’t get her act together…
I shook my head to clear away the thought.
***
There were 41 players all together. Our group was the smallest with 5 players. Without ceremony or announcement we departed. Announcing our goal and failing would not help build our fame, which was important for a pro gamer obviously, but also for starting a guild. If we found what we were looking for it would give us even more credibility.
I was near the front of the pack behind the group leaders. Everyone loosely fell in behind whoever their leaders were.
Our march into the forest started out as a strangely quiet one. There were no goblins to be found. Other player groups had left Willingham to hunt as well, but most headed north or south. Now I knew why. Even though the goblins had come from this direction, they seemed to have abandoned the forest altogether.
Even with an empty sun-blanketed forest, our pace was little more than a walk. Peter led Victoria by the hand as she scanned far ahead of us with her Pet-enhanced sight. How far she could actually see I hadn’t asked. The forest was fairly sparse with little underbrush, but there was still plenty of room for face planting.
At first, I had activated enhanced hearing but talk about creepy. I was able to hear every crunch of leaf and snap of twig from our party and every creature in close proximity. Instead, I just kept an eye on Wink, who was stalking beside Lulu. They seemed more suspicious of the humans in our party than anything from the forest.
Over two-thirds of the players had their pets visible. The other third of the players weren’t level ten yet. There were mostly wolf pups and lion cubs, but I counted seven owls and falcons. Falcons were by far the rarest Pets with only one other player besides Victoria having one. Ironically enough we were all following their lead. The other falcon player walked out front as well.
***
Two hours later we were still heading east. There had yet to be a single mob attack. The pressure was building. The only talking came from those up front as they discussed our heading. Everyone else scanned the forest from side to side, not willing to believe the goblins were gone for good.
There was one person that didn’t seem tense at all and that was Kline, emphasized by a craning yawn.
A hand went up. Peter was listening closely to Victoria who it seemed had finally seen something.
“Someone is coming.” Peter turned, whispering to Kline and me.
I relayed Peter’s message to the people behind me.
We were joined by a sudden scream. “Help!”
A spear shot up in the air, Oliver holding it high as a signal. It snapped forward, directing us forward. We ran.
I deactivated Wink’s visibility and equipped my spear and shield. In a handful of seconds, we mobbed around a man who was sucking in air, leaning over with hands on his knees.
There was no effort to stay in any formation or order. The fastest players arrived first, which I was among. The stragglers had a chance to catch up before the newcomer caught his breath.