“So you were with my courier when he disappeared? Following the demise of the demon?” A severe looking man with gray hair at his temples asked for the fourth time in his office.

  “Yes, Dave took the demon’s heart after we killed it and put it in Master Edden’s furnace. They were arguing and Dave disappeared. I didn’t even blink and he was gone.” Steve sat in an uncomfortable chair. It reminded him of the one time he’d been reprimanded by a Major.

  “And that’s why you’re here now. You realize, those newcomers as you called them are Shareholder soldiers. And they’re demanding loot from the demon for their contributions to the fight.” The officer picked up some parchment from his desk and sighed.

  “Those numbnuts disobeyed a cordant, cut our rope, and got three horses killed. Aside from the mess from their wagons.” Steve blurted out angrily. He hadn’t yelled at the Major, but he had been in the man’s chain of command at the time.

  “No small loss now that the horses have stopped respawning. The mages have taken the tooth and the tail for their part, the horns have gone to the Black Rose division, and you gave my portion to Edden.”

  “No, Dave did that.”

  “Dave was mentoring you, gave you resources and a significant stab at a higher level. What he did, you did. But we shouldn’t get hung up on that, Dave saw potential in you. You’re a soldier, eh?”

  “Yes sir, assigned to Davtown with my little brother.”

  “Experienced?”

  “I’m a level six now sir.” Steve nodded.

  “That’s not what I meant. I can read between the lines on redacted records. You’ve fought real war. You survived some hot fighting. I know because I was on the other side.”

  “I’m sorry, I was told it wouldn’t matter anymore.” Steve began to sweat. This was supposed to be over when Exile took them in.

  “It doesn’t and at the same time it does. I discussed this with Dave and he would never say this to you, but I’m not a dude. You owe us and I would like some repayment.”

  “I don’t know what you think is in my file, but I don’t have any shares or connections with the replacement organ industry. I have no way to repay you.” Steve wiped his forehead and wished he hadn’t given up his weapons so easily.

  “I don’t want shares and I have no need for new organs anymore. I need Dave. I need to get Dave back and you’re going to get him back.”

  “I don’t have him.”

  “I know. It’s this guy, Fulton. Some programmer who is pissing all over my operation because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. The Prime Minister, my boss, wanted Dave to go with a team to get Fulton. She’s getting you because Fulton already took Dave. That’s what you have that I need.” The officer let the first taste of anger into his voice as he mentioned Fulton.

  “The team who just killed the demon?” Steve asked hopefully.

  “Not even remotely possible. There is a non-zero chance that you’ve worked with them before. These are the Prime Minister’s agents, they work for her directly. Some of them for years. You go with them, do what they say, and remove Fulton from among the breathing as many times as it takes. Is that clear?”

  “Very clear.”

  “Fantastic, I like you already. Welcome to the Silver Wing, you’re now one of my enhanced couriers. Congratulations or apologies depending on the day. Your armor and arms have been repaired, they’re waiting for you with the agents. I have a trainer who is going to watch over your brother until you get back. Now get out there, you’re not the only fire I got to put out today.”

  Steve had felt like he had been restrained until that last sentence. Then he couldn’t get out the door fast enough. This was one of three fortresses embedded in the capital’s walls and the heavy stone blocks were less imposing than that man. The stairs down led past more soldiers on soldiering business that couldn’t be bothered with the new guy.

  Steve lucked into the ready room with his equipment and three bored looking women after three wrong turns. He didn’t even say ‘hi’ before putting on his equipment.

  “Frog guy, is that you?”

  Steve recognized the voice a little. He turned with his chainmail halfway on and realized he actually did know one of the women.

  “Scout, is that you?”

  “I actually have a name. And I didn’t think I’d see you this far from your brother or that shabby little village.” Scout hit him on the shoulder in a friendly way. Which also made it hard to get the iron links settled.

  “It’s been a while and a friend needed a favor which has turned into another favor.” Steve explained.

  “Great friend you got there.” The woman with a large ax said.

  “He was supposed to be here, he’s a level nine by now I bet. He disappeared and now you get me.”

  “So, you’re not at level nine?” The other stranger asked.

  “Not even close.”

  “Not yet, we’ve got a boost. But it’s more if you can stay with us. We’ve got at least a week of traveling to get to Fulton. The road to Bent Spoon is not entirely safe and then we expect to go into the wilds east of Bent Spoon. You understand this?” The other stranger unrolled a map of the kingdom. The western section was not filled out well and it seemed like if there were human avatars living there, they might not have made contact with the capital yet.

  “I owe Dave. Not just in the game, I owe Dave for more than I’m willing to go into.” Steve settled his sheath on his belt. His pack was full and his shield had been repainted with a silver wing in one of its quadrants.

  “We’re getting a lot of people back, not just Dave. We have one more person to convince to join us and an army of gnolls to deal with. Do we even know how to get to Bent Spoon?” The woman with the ax spoke up.

  “I’ve been there. I’ve escorted a cartographer there once. It wasn’t so dangerous until they uncovered a cave. Trolls live in the cave, but we can avoid them if we’re careful.” The scout unrolled a map and spread it on the table.

  “I’m sorry, my name is Steve. I didn’t introduce myself.”

  “I’m Payton, she’s Sage.” Payton jerked a thumb at her sister.

  “Just call me Scout.” The scout said without a smile.

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  “You start the conversation with ‘I have a name’ and I still have to call you Scout?” Steve asked and got a nod in response.

  ***

  “So that’s the cave that has caused trouble for Bent Spoon?” Sage whispered to Scout. They began to crawl backward away from the fallen log. Scout didn’t speak before they had gotten fifty paces away from the log.

  “Yes, that is the infamous cave. And it makes complete sense why it’s such a problem.” Scout was still crouching and speaking in a low voice.

  “What were those things in the cave?” Sage was not crouching or speaking in a lower voice.

  “Trolls, rather big ones. Their cave must have been clogged with ice until recently. This could be better for us than we realize.” Scout was doing some math on her fingers while she spoke.

  “We go around the cave?” Steve asked when the two women returned to the road.

  “Very much yes.” Sage looked behind her again. There had been a diseased troll to deal with months ago and it had been hard enough to deal with, but these trolls were healthy and plentiful.

  “There’s at least ten trolls living in that cave, level nine to eleven from what I saw. We’ll go around, but I think this is an opportunity we shouldn’t forget. When we find out fifth in Bent Spoon, we should remember this cave.” Scout had finished her math.

  “What are you thinking?” Payton asked as they began walking again.

  “It’ll be better if we discuss it with that last recruit. We do need to get around the trolls and they tend to roam around a lot.” Scout shook her head and pointed off the road. The bend in the road would take them within ten meters of the cave which was far too close for comfort. Scout led them northeast off the road in a wide arc that brought them to Bent Spoon’s gates shortly after dark.

  “Excuse me sir! I’m looking for Ryan, he’s a student at this school I believe.” Sage asked a man with his head shaved outside a compound within the gates.

  “Yes, Disciple Ryan is a good student. I will tell his master you are here for him.” The bald man bowed at the waist, adjusted his blue robe, and went inside the compound without another word. The two guards at the entry stopped Sage from following and politely asked her to wait outside.

  They all wore loose, baby blue robes if that was the right word to describe them. She was unfamiliar with the clothes they wore, the weapons in their hands, or even their shoes. These athletic men were different from the rest of the NPC’s and the game wanted to make sure they stood out from the norm.

  “Disciple Korth said you wish to see Disciple Ryan. Can I ask why?” The same man who had recruited Ryan from Glossy came out of the compound and Ryan could be seen with his head bowed a few steps behind the master.

  “We hoped he would accompany us on a quest that may require some flexibility.” Sage felt like she was addressing a dignitary instead of a martial trainer.

  “Ryan’s flexibility is developing, but you perhaps meant a variety of skills. He does have a good grasp of our basic training and has shown versatility in their application. How long do you expect to need him?” The master asked.

  “A month, no more than two.” Sage seemed like she had thought through this question already.

  “Two months?” Ryan blurted out from where he was trying to be patient just inside the entry. The master shot him a blistering glare.

  “Without testing what you’ve learned you won’t be able to progress to your red tab. You should be gone for three months and not even come back then unless you were at level eleven. Pack your things, these women are going to babysit you for now.” The master growled and Ryan ran to get his things.

  “Wow, my trainer was nothing like that. Do you think he thinks I’m being babysat too?” Steve asked when the master went back inside.

  “You are being babysat. Get over it.” Payton responded.

  “Your ax could probably use an upgrade if we’re going back to fight those trolls.” Steve suggested. “In the capital they etched runes on my sword, maybe we can find someone to do that here.”

  “The capital has a lot of things the outlying villages don’t, I wouldn’t count on runes here or else they would get rid of the trolls themselves.” Payton shook her head. “And who said we were going back to fight trolls?”

  “Yeah, who told you?” Scout asked in an irritated tone. She hadn’t told anyone so she could dramatically reveal her idea to everyone.

  “No one told me. There were lots of trolls and they were high level. If we used whatever experience boost we have and beat a bunch of trolls, we might hit level nine or ten.” Steve took a moment to appreciate Scout’s expression that confirmed he had guessed right.

  “That is really dangerous, just as dangerous as attacking the icelings at the manor. We’d have to be very careful.” Sage considered the idea and wasn’t sure she liked it.

  “With a monk, we should be able to lead away the trolls one at a time. We’re going to have to pull that off a lot if we’re going to fight level fifteen gnolls.” Scout pointed out.

  “Fight gnolls? Why would we do that?” Ryan asked. He had a small pack and a tall walking stick.

  “Wait, why wouldn’t we fight gnolls?” Steve asked. He had never played a video game with gnolls that didn’t want to fight.

  “They have the best fish and are our only source of mythril, not that they sell a lot of that.” Ryan answered. “They’re completely friendly.”

  “This I gotta see.” Payton had been looking forward to fighting something warmblooded for a change.

  The gnoll merchant’s booth had a long line. Three huge fish hung behind the counter and people were handing over a lot of money for cuts of meat. From the other food available, it seemed like there was very little variety.

  “It’s the only food in town that can give you a buff right now. They bring it in once a week on a wagon and sell out almost right away.” Ryan explained as the last fish meat sold out. The only thing left were tails and spines.

  “Where do they get it?” Scout asked.

  “No idea, no one can follow them west. The monsters are way too tough and there are no bell plazas on the way. No one has made it more than two days without coming back for respawn.” Ryan answered.

  “Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else. Somewhere the gnolls aren’t listening.” Payton suggested quietly.

  “What are we hunting this time?” Ryan followed them out of Bent Spoon and to their camp.

  “Trolls. For now just trolls.” Sage answered. “They’re in the cave just down there.”

  “Oh no, why can’t you two have a nice, simple quest. It was just supposed to be an hour at the manor and I’ve been at this madhouse for two months. And now we’re fighting trolls?” Ryan dropped his pack and started to shake.

  “It’ll be fine.” Steve was startled to see this other man start shaking.

  “When was the last time you were eaten by a troll? Because mine was last week. We had thirty soldiers down here with us and the only thing we accomplished was adding to the number of trolls.” Ryan shouted back.

  “Slow down, we have experience fighting tough monsters. We killed a lamia with some creative thinking.” Sage stood from her seat on a log and slowly approached Ryan.

  “I was with a group that killed a demon last week.” Steve set down his pack too, but kept his distance.

  “If you fought them, you must know something that works against them.” Scout asked and got a scowl from Payton.

  “Nothing works. We tried fire, we tried acid. We trapped one under a boulder and it split in two to get out from under it. These trolls are out of our league.” Ryan was nearing full on panic.

  “I thought fire was the answer to trolls. My sword does a heat thing, but if that doesn’t work.” Steve was starting to feel the panic too.

  “Wait, there’s no need to panic. My sister and I helped kill a troll. It was old and had boils, so we need to get these trolls sick. Does anyone know what illnesses are contagious to trolls?” Sage looked like she was trying to keep a predator from pouncing, crouched and one hand extended in pacifying motions.

  “I’ve never seen a sick troll.” Scout admitted.

  “There is something around here that might help with that.” Ryan suggested, wiped his eyes, and walked into the forest.

  “Where’s he going?” Scout asked no one in particular.

  Moments later he returned with a spiny flower with white and green petals.

  “We’ve started domesticating the aurochs, which is a painful process in case you were wondering, and they have a bad reaction to these flowers. They get swelling and something like hives. And they’re big, very big cows.” Ryan handled the flower carefully, but where he pricked his fingers with the thorns the swelling was already starting.

  “Maybe that’ll do it. Can we rub the flowers on the trolls or something?” Payton grimaced at the malicious flower.

  “Absolutely not. They are not customers walking past the perfume kiosk in the mall. They are not looking for an herbal exfoliant.” Ryan dropped the flower and stomped his foot in frustration.

  “But they’re stupid, really stupid. They will eat anything even if we hide this flower in it.” Scout suggested and everyone stopped talking for a moment while they thought about this.