“Question. Why does what he was playing matter?”
“Because I can’t see it.” And that, she had to admit, was a pisser. “I can’t make it work no matter how many ways I play it out. The injuries, the timing, the entry and exit by the killer. Every time I get one part of it solid, another part goes to goo in my fingers. Something’s missing. I could bring the three of them in,” she said as they stepped out again. “Pressure them some, try playing one against the other. Maybe I’d crack it. Or maybe I’d shore up whoever did it-because something’s missing and I don’t have it to use. Whoever did it would know that. Right now they think they’re clear, and maybe, just maybe, the killer relaxes and makes a mistake. If I push when I can’t see it, a mistake’s more likely.
“You play the first one, Bart’s character menu.”
“All right.”
“They could do it again.”
He paused, looked back at her. “Why? If it was specific toward Bart, why again?”
“Because it worked. Gaming can be a kind of addiction. It’s what they do-what the killer does-all day, one way or the other. It’s what feeds them, what excites them, what gives them purpose and pleasure. Higher stakes once you’ve killed. A new level. Some gamers start skipping the lower levels-like Bart did-once they nail them. It’s a little boring, right?”
“Yes. Yes, you’re right.”
“It’s hard to go back to the simple stuff once you’ve proven yourself. Not just the kill, like we were talking about before. But the challenge. More, if it is one of them-say just one of them-they’re close, they’re tight. Day in and day out. One little slip, something said or done that makes the others wonder. Good excuse to do it again. You’re just protecting yourself.”
“The murder of another partner would increase your focus on the two remaining,” Roarke pointed out.
“True gamers juice on the risk, the challenge. Right? They want the buzz. Maybe need that buzz.”
“You believe the killer’s playing against you now.”
“Yeah, at least on one level. And the ego’s saying hey, I’m better than she is.”
“The ego would be wrong,” Roarke commented.
She tucked her thumbs in her front pockets as he inserted the copy of the game into the holo-unit. “Since I feel like I’m spinning my wheels, I’ll take the confidence booster.”
“You’re not spinning anything. A day ago, I wouldn’t have believed one or more of his friends would plot his death. But you’ve picked it all apart and laid it back out so that there’s simply no other answer. To my mind, that puts you well ahead in this game.”
“I wish I was wrong.”
“For my sake, or Bart’s?”
“Both.”
“Don’t wish it,” he told her. “Just win.”
He programmed Quest-1, level four, and requested the last run by Bart on the copy.
“I’ll take the sword,” Eve said, and kept it by her side as the room shimmered into a forest glade where silver beams of sunlight streamed through tall trees in full leaf.
Roarke wore a brown tunic, rough trousers, knee boots. His sword was sheathed at his side, and on his back was a quiver of silver-tipped arrows and a golden bow.
She couldn’t have said why the costume suited him, but understood he looked both heroic and dangerous.
Out of the shadows and into the gilded stream of light came a white buck. “What’s the play?” she asked him. “This world is under the enchantment of a wicked sorceress who’s imprisoned the king and his beautiful and tempestuous daughter.” As he spoke, he sidestepped into the cover of trees, but didn’t approach the buck.
“I’m the apprentice of the wizard she killed to cast her evil spell. Before he died, he told me I must complete seven tasks of valor, collect seven treasures. Only then would I be ready to face the sorceress and free the king and his daughter.”
He glanced back where she stood in the observation circle. “The white hind is classic quest symbolism, and in this case how my master, the wizard is able to guide me.”
“Okay then.” The hind leaped, began to race through the trees. Roarke followed. She watched, and the sunlight died into dark and storm. The rain that pelted down was red as fire, and sizzled like flames on the ground.
And watched as the yellow eyes that peered out of the torrent became skulking black forms, and as the forms became a pack of huge wolves that circled him.
The sword hissed as he pulled it from its sheath, and whistled as he swung and struck. He battled fang and claw, spilled blood and shed it. And to her surprise, shot flames from his hand. “Fairly frosty,” she murmured, when the wolves lay smoking on the ground. “Every level you win awards you with a bit more magic,” he explained. An arrow whistled by his head. He said, “Bugger it,” and dove for cover. At the end of forty minutes, he’d completed the level and was well into the next where he was currently tasked with crossing a chasm to a cave guarded by a dragon.
“Okay, that’s time.”
“I’m just getting started.”
“You can slay the dragon next time. You’re past Bart’s game time.”
He gave the cave a glance of regret before ordering game end.
“No sword fights,” she commented.
“What do you call that bit with the wolves?”
“Man against dog. The fireballs were interesting. Fire burns. He had burns, but… I’ll take the second one. Usurper, right? What’s the story?”
“You’re the right-wise king-make that queen in your case-of Juno. When you were only a child your family was slaughtered by the machinations of your uncle, who desired the throne, and by the hand of his henchman, Lord Manx. Only you survived, and were secreted away by loyalists. You’ve been at war all your life, trained in that art. You fight to avenge your family, to regain your throne from the man who ordered their deaths and has for two decades raped the land, oppressed your people. At this level, you’ve taken back the castle, but the uncle, being a coward, of course, escaped. The castle is now under siege, and the man you love is defending it. To get to him, and bring your reinforcements, you must fight your way through, and at last meet Manx in battle.”
“I bet we’re outnumbered.”
“Naturally, you’d have already given your St. Crispin’s Day speech.”
“My what?”
“We’ll discuss Henry V later. You’d like it. Ready?”
“You bet.”
She wore light battle armor and sturdy boots. And God help her, she was on a horse.
“Shouldn’t I know how to ride this thing before I… ride this thing?”
Roarke grinned at her from the observation circle. “It’ll come to you.”
“Easy for you to say. Jesus, it’s big. Okay, avenging warrior queen.”
There were hills and valleys, forests and streams. She tried to see them as Bart would have. He’d think in character, she imagined, and noted the men she led were battle scarred and weary. Some carried fresh wounds. But she was the hero, the leader.
He liked playing the hero, liked being the leader. The good guy, always the good guy, fighting for a cause, searching for the answers.
The going was rough and rocky. She heard the creak of the saddle under her, the ring of the horse’s hooves on the hard ground. She saw storm clouds gathering in the west.
And heard the sounds of battle.
The castle bore scars of its own, and people stood on its parapets shooting arrows that flashed and flamed. Others fought viciously with sword and axe on the burned and barren ground around it.
He would probably think of home, and about his lover, Eve decided. About vengeance.
She thought: Shit, shit, I hope I don’t fall off this thing. And charged.
She drew the sword, instinctively squeezing her knees and thighs to keep her seat. Wind rushed through her hair, over her face, and the speed, the sheer power of motion lit a fire of excitement in her.