The Once King Read online

  This time, though, Haruto was determined not to waste it.

  Chapter 8

  James

  James scrambled to keep up as the army poured back into camp. He couldn’t see SB or Tina through the protective ring of Roughnecks up ahead, but he decided that was a good thing. The rest of the army was on edge enough as it was. The last thing they needed was more chaos before they even knew what had happened.

  Thankfully, Tina’s head Ranger Zen was on the ball. Not two minutes after they entered camp, she’d commandeered Garrond’s command tent and set up a ring of Roughnecks to guard it. SB had already taken Tina inside, so James asked Ar’Bati to help keep watch and went in after him.

  Despite being the biggest they’d brought with them, the command tent was still no larger than a standard six-man camping tent from back home. There was enough room to stand up if you weren’t a stonekin and stayed toward the center, but it was still cramped, and the canvas sides did little to block the Deadlands’ biting wind. By the time James entered, SB had already kicked the wooden folding table covered in maps to the side and laid Tina down on the commander’s own wooden cot, the only bed in the entire camp that wasn’t a woolen bedroll on the ground. He was covering her in blankets as he knelt at her side, his eyes filled with love and wonder above his mask.

  James winced. A week ago, he would have found that touching. Now it just looked like trouble. Sure enough, when he took a step closer, SilentBlayde whirled around, hand falling to his sword. He stopped when he saw who it was, but James put his hands up anyway.

  “Easy,” he said. “It’s just me.”

  The elf nodded and looked embarrassed, but he didn’t move to let James in. He actually scooted even closer to Tina’s bedside, and James sighed. Definitely trouble.

  “Okay, I’m here,” Zen said, her brusque voice all business as she ducked through the tent flap. “How’s she look?”

  “Like she’s asleep,” SB reported, reaching up to brush the curling brown hair out of Tina’s face.

  “That’s better than dead,” Zen said, taking off her leather gloves. When her hands were bare, she walked over to the bucket in the corner and started washing them. It looked like hard, cold work with no towel and only a scrap of oil soap, but she kept at it until every nail was scrubbed. When her fingers were finally clean enough to meet her standards, Zen turned around to glare at SB.

  “Out.”

  SilentBlayde didn’t move.

  “That was not a suggestion,” Zen said sharply. “I’m a nurse, remember? I have to examine her.”

  “I’ll keep out of your way,” he promised. “But I’m not leaving her.”

  “That’s not your choice,” the Ranger snapped. “I know you two are in an ‘it’s complicated’ stage, but right now you’re not her boyfriend or her SO or anything else that qualifies you to have a say in her treatment.”

  “You’re not telling James to get out,” SB argued.

  “James is her brother and a healer!”

  “Zen,” James said quietly. “Just let him stay.”

  The Ranger turned her death stare on him. “He has no right to stay with the patient.”

  “I know,” James said quickly. “But this isn’t a hospital, and he’s not doing any harm. Besides.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I don’t think we’re getting him out of here without a fight. Blayde was the top-ranked Assassin back when this was just a game. He wouldn’t hurt us, but neither of us is good enough to move him if he doesn’t want to be moved. A loyal guard for Tina might be useful right now, anyway, so let’s just let him be.”

  Zen’s expression told James exactly how not cool she was with that decision, but James was Tina’s family, and SB clearly wasn’t budging.

  “He can stay for guard duty,” the nurse said grudgingly, glaring at SB. “But you don’t get a say in care, and you have to respect her privacy. Got it?”

  SilentBlayde nodded and spun around, putting his back to Tina. When Zen was sure he wasn’t peeking, she reached out and folded the covers down to reveal Tina’s body.

  James winced when he saw her. Not because she looked bad—she actually looked surprisingly good considering what she’d just been through—but he’d gotten so used to seeing her as the giant stone Roxxy. Compared to that, the scrawny girl in the bed looked as fragile as a porcelain doll. He noticed with a pang of guilt that she was even thinner than when he’d seen her at Christmas, a detail Zen didn’t miss, either.

  “She looks malnourished,” the nurse said disapprovingly, placing her finger in the deep hollow of Tina’s collarbone. “Is that new?”

  “Not really,” James admitted. “Tina lives on Pop-Tarts, coffee, and cup ramen, so I don’t think this is a result of the Once King if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Zen rolled her eyes. “It’s a miracle she doesn’t have scurvy with a diet like that,” she said scornfully, reaching up to check Tina’s pulse. “Other than being all bones, though, she seems healthy enough. Heart rate’s good, breathing is normal.”

  “Magically, she looks fine as well,” James said, pointing at the lines of glowing blue and green life magic he could see weaving through her. “No trace of ghostfire whatsoever.”

  They all let out a relieved breath.

  “So what is she, then?” Zen asked, her voice uncertain. “I mean, she looks like a normal human to me, but how did she get here?”

  That was the million-dollar question. James leaned forward, running his hand—his large, suddenly incredibly alien-looking cat hand—down Tina’s cheek to feel the magic inside her. But while everything seemed normal and healthy—none of the dips or disruptions he typically felt in wounded people—she was also remarkably empty.

  “She has no mana,” he reported. “Or at least if she does, it’s so small that I can’t see it.”

  “What does that mean?” SB asked suddenly.

  “I don’t know,” James confessed. “But Roxxy didn’t have mana either. No stonekin does, which is why they can’t be casters. Humans have it, at least the humans from this world, but Tina’s not from this world.”

  “You think this is her actual body, then?” SilentBlayde said excitedly, looking over his shoulder with a clearly determined effort to keep his eyes only on James, not the girl on the cot beside him. “As in brought over from Earth?”

  “It has to be her real body,” Zen said, picking up Tina’s arm and turning it over to show James the small bruise on the inside of her elbow. “That’s an IV mark. Plus, she smells like a hospital.”

  “You’re sure?” James asked.

  “I’ve worked in hospitals for twenty years,” Zen replied scornfully. “I’d know that smell anywhere. Also, there’s no isopropyl alcohol in this world, so it’s not like she could have picked it up anywhere else.” She looked down at Tina with a worried expression. “However she arrived here, she was getting treatment in a modern medical facility no more than an hour ago. That means someone found her body, which is good. The real question, though, is what is she now?”

  James looked hard at his sister, staring at the lines of power he could see flowing inside her. Even without mana, there was clearly magic inside her, but from what Leylia had said about all worlds being part of the Infinite Sky, that could have been there from Earth. That wasn’t what Zen was asking, though. She wanted to know what everyone would want to know, which was, was Tina still level eighty?

  He was still figuring out how to answer that when a loud shout sounded from outside, and Cinco burst into the tent.

  He hadn’t made it one step before SB was in front of him, swords in hand. “Get out.”

  “Holy shit,” the huge Berserker said, ignoring the silver sword pressing into his stomach as he leaned over to get a better look at Tina before Zen frantically covered her back up. “It’s true.”

  “Get. Out.” Blayde said again, his voice deadly.

  “Stuff it, pretty boy,” the Berserker snarled, reaching for his own weapon. “This is my army, too. I ha
ve a right to know if the mission is fucked or not, and it’s looking pretty fucked.”

  “It’s not fucked,” SilentBlayde said, sneering at the profanity. “Roxxy’s still alive!”

  Now it was Cinco’s turn to sneer. “That’s not Roxxy,” he said, stabbing his finger at Tina. “That is a little girl. Does she even have a level?”

  “We don’t know,” James said, moving to stand between the raging Berserker and his sister. “I haven’t figured out how to tell levels yet by looking. We’ll just have to wait until she wakes up.”

  “What’s the point?” Cinco snarled. “We’re totally screwed! The Once King took the only tank in the world who actually knew how to handle him and turned her into a fucking middle-schooler!”

  “She’s twenty-one,” SB snapped.

  “Cinco, stop throwing a fit and think about what you just said,” James said at the same time, pointing at his sister. “This isn’t just some random female human body. This is Tina. The real Tina, as in from Earth. Do you get what that means?”

  Cinco nodded. “It means we’re fucked.”

  “It means we’re right,” James said, his voice caught between anger and excitement. “This proves that the Once King really is the connection between our worlds! If he could bring Tina’s real body over here, then surely he can send us all back home!”

  The Berserker looked unconvinced. “If we can beat him, which was always a pretty big if. Without Roxxy, I’d say it’s damn near impossible. She was the most geared tank left on the planet and the only one who had experience fighting the Once King. How the fuck are we supposed to do this without her?”

  “You’re not,” SB said angrily. “She’s going to wake up!”

  “And then what, huh?” Cinco demanded, sneering at Tina. “She can’t tank shit like that. I knew she was small from her video channel, but she barely looks like she’s hit puberty. She’s not even tall enough to use as cover!”

  “There are plenty of female human tanks,” SB argued. “And she’s taller than a schtumple Knight, and they can tank just fine.”

  “But does she still have her Knight class abilities?” Zen asked nervously. “Is she even a player anymore, or is she just…human?”

  The tent fell silent as everyone looked at James.

  “I don’t know,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “We can’t know anything until she wakes up.”

  “So wake her up,” Cinco said, reaching out to grab Tina’s shoulder. He barely made it an inch before SB’s sword flashed, and the Berserker snatched his hand back with a yelp.

  “The hell is your problem?!” Cinco roared, gripping his bleeding hand.

  “I said ‘don’t touch her,’” SB replied with a scathing glare. “She’ll wake up when she wakes up. You’ll just have to wait.”

  “Fuck that,” the Berserker snapped. “I don’t have time for this Sleeping Beauty shit. You saw how the Once King left the fight. Dude is wrecked! We need to be out there kicking him while he’s down, not sitting around here.”

  “Kicking him with what?” Zen demanded. “Roxxy’s the only player in the world who’s learned the One For All ability. Without her, all it’ll take is one MDB and you’re dead.”

  “Secret abilities don’t mean shit if the girl using them is too small to fit into her armor,” Cinco growled, grabbing a cloth from Garrond’s personal effects to wrap around his bleeding hand. “Also, the Million Damage Blast takes a shit-ton of mana, and it doesn’t look like the Once King’s got any of that left. We need to move before that changes.”

  He paused, clearly expecting them to agree. When they didn’t, his face turned red. “Fine! You idiots can sit here playing mama hen all you want. I’m going to go see if I can scrape a win out of the dirt before we lose our chance.”

  With a final rude gesture at SB, the leader of the Red Sands turned and stomped out of the tent.

  “I’ll go keep an eye on him,” Zen grumbled, tucking the blanket firmly around Tina. “Nothing more I can do for her without modern equipment, anyway. Let me know when she wakes up, okay?”

  “I will,” James said, but the Ranger wasn’t looking at him. She was watching SB, who was staring at the tent flap with murder in his eyes.

  “I’ll protect her,” he promised, hands on his swords. “I’ve beaten Shankfest in duels before. If he tries anything, I’ll slit his throat.”

  “Glad to see we’re on the same wavelength,” Zen said, giving the Assassin one final pointed look before slipping out after Cinco.

  James slumped when she was gone. What a disaster this was turning out to be, and he had a bad feeling things were only going to get worse. He wasn’t worried about Tina herself—SB looked ready to take on a raid singlehandedly right now—but there was a lot more to being main tank than just the skills. When she got back on her feet, and he was certain she would, there was a lot she still needed to win, and James was going to make certain she had it.

  “I’m going out as well,” he announced, standing up. “Take care of her, Blayde.”

  “I’ll watch her better than I watch myself.”

  Considering how badly his friend had been taking care of himself recently, that statement didn’t have the weight SB had no doubt intended, but James let it slide. SilentBlayde might be coming off a low period, but if there was anything he could trust the elf with, it was this.

  With that, James waved farewell and slipped out of the tent. He’d barely made it past the circle of guarding Roughnecks when Fangs grabbed him.

  “Well?” his adopted brother asked.

  “She’s alive and healthy,” James reported. “Beyond that, though…” He shrugged. “We don’t know, and we can’t know until she wakes up.”

  Fangs nodded sharply. “And how long will that be?”

  James shrugged again. “I’ve never seen someone dragged between worlds. It took the rest of us about an hour to wake up from the sensory overload when we first got here, so maybe this will be the same, but there’s no way to know for sure. But Tina’s okay for now. I’ve left her in SilentBlayde’s care. He’ll watch out for her.”

  The head warrior looked skeptical. “Are you sure you can trust that elf? He doesn’t seem…reliable.”

  “Oh yes,” James said, remembering the loving, almost worshipful way SB had stared at his sister. “When it comes to protecting Tina, I trust him with my life.”

  Ar’Bati gaped at him. “James, he stabbed you. He stabbed me.”

  “Bad choice of words,” James said quickly. “But at the time, he was stabbing us for Tina, so my point still stands.”

  “If you say so,” his brother grumbled. “So what will we be doing, then?”

  James leaned closer and lowered his voice. “We’re going to find her gear. I trust my sister to tank no matter what body she’s in, but a lot of her power and toughness comes from the stats provided by her end-game raiding armor. I know the Roughnecks collected it, but I don’t trust Cinco as far as I can throw him, so I’m going to go make sure it’s safe.”

  It was the least he could do. Despite all his assurances, James was more afraid for Tina than he’d ever been in his life. The car ride to the hospital after he’d broken her arm when they were kids was nothing compared to this terror. Tina was here, in this world, as herself. For all he knew, she was back to being a completely unmagical library sciences undergrad, which meant she could be killed by damage most players would consider a paper cut. That would have been terrifying enough back in Bastion or Windy Lake, but here—camped out on the Once King’s doorstep, the most dangerous place on the planet—it was enough to turn his body to jelly.

  “Your sister will be safe,” Ar’Bati assured him when he saw his brother trembling. “But may I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” James said, striding off. “If you can do it while we walk.”

  That was a tall request. The camp they’d made last night was just off the main road at the mouth of the valley that dead-ended at the Dead Mountain Fortress. The extra-st
eep cliffs turned the normally narrow pass into an echo chamber, and the player army had never been more agitated. James didn’t think word of Tina’s condition was out yet, but everyone had seen her go down in front of the Once King, which meant it was all anyone could talk about. Loudly. Most of it was legitimate worry for their leader, but James cringed every time he heard Roxxy’s name. Even if Tina did recover fully, would all those players and soldiers follow a general who wasn’t an eight-foot-tall stone killing machine? Would they listen at all?

  “James?”

  “Sorry,” he said, looking back at his brother. “You were saying?”

  Ar’Bati lashed his tail in annoyance. “I said that I saw your sister’s true form when the Assassin passed me. She was definitely not what I was expecting. How old is she?”

  “Not you too, Fangs,” James groaned. “Tina’s not a child! She’s just short and baby faced. It’s a family thing. My real face looks young, too. I’m twenty-eight, and I still get carded every time I go out.”

  Fangs scowled. “Carded?”

  “Never mind,” James said. “The point is, Tina’s a lot more than she appears. People always dismiss her because of how she looks, but she created one of the world’s top raiding guilds and one of the most popular FFO gamer video channels while she was still in high school. She’s not to be underestimated.”

  “I did not mean to question her honor,” Ar’Bati said defensively. “I only asked because you seemed so worried. She is your sister, but you are my brother. If your Tina has been robbed of her abilities as a warrior, then we must look after her the same as we would any of our family who was wounded in battle.”

  James stopped walking, stunned. “Really?”

  “Of course!” Fangs said, offended. “The Claw Born look after our own! Tina is your family as you are ours. Of course we will care for her. I only asked her age because I needed to know if it would be more appropriate for Father to adopt her as well or to find her a husband.”

  James had been touched by Fangs’s fore-thoughtfulness right up until the H-word. The idea of Rends trying to marry Tina off as a means of “saving” her sent his hackles straight up. He’d had more than enough of his foster father using marriage as a solution to everything. But that was a problem for him to take up with Rends. Fangs was just trying to be helpful, and backward as that help might be, he so did not deserve to have it thrown back in his face.