Chapter Nine: A Guardian Alliance

Inside the game, a breeze rippled through the rust coloured leaves of the trees that surrounded the forest clearing. A thin layer of fallen vegetation lay on top of the trampled earth and the remains of a campfire surrounded by a circle of logs filled the air with the acrid smell of woodsmoke and burned meat. Thick cloud obscured the sun but the sky promised no rain, only an unrelenting mist that afforded a limited view further into the damp woodland.

'Looks like winter is coming.' Matrix remarked, unclipping Glitch from his belt as he checked the game stats. 'This is pretty straightforward – first one to sit on the Seat of Swords wins.'

'How can you read that?' Fred asked peering at the ruined screen.

'You get used to it. Your brain does the translating,' Matrix said, stashing Glitch. 'Alright, people, time to reboot!'

The group of four gave the command and stood still as they transformed into game characters. Matrix found himself wrapped in a heavy, fur-collared greatcoat and equipped with a reassuringly large sword. A white wolf with long shaggy fur stood next to him. 'You've got long hair this time too, huh?' he said, reaching out to scratch the animal's ears.

'That's not Frisket,' AndrAIa pointed out, having rebooted into a regal vision in white with a jewelled silver tiara adorning her head. 'That's Frisket.'

Matrix followed AndrAIa's outstretched finger and looked behind him to see a powerfully built red dragon with gold markings stretching his wings as if he has never used them before. 'Yeah, I think you're right,' he agreed. 'Where are...'

'Daddy!' Pixie called, running across the clearing and launching herself at her father, who caught her with one arm. 'Look! I've got a sword too!' She was dressed in a dark brown leather short jacket, fastened with a sturdy belt, from which hung the scabbard of her short, slim blade. Thickly woven trousers and small but robust boots completed her outfit.

Recoiling from the swinging blade, Matrix took hold of his daughter's hand and held it still. 'Watch what you're doing with that thing!' he scolded. 'Don't you have the sense you were deployed with?'

'You could have someone's eye out with that,' Fred remarked, making his satin-attired presence known. Matrix glared wordlessly at the doctor and put Pixie down, who sheathed her weapon and ran off to where her mother was investigating further into the woodland, having found a spot where the terrain rose up a little. 'I'm sorry, that was insensitive,' Fred apologised, then produced a folded sheet of parchment from a voluminous sleeve and handed it to Matrix. 'I found this pinned to a tree.'

The renegade unfolded the parchment, turned it the right way up and looked closely at the contents. It was a "Wanted" poster, depicting the four sprites and Frisket in his dragon form. 'Looks like we're famous,' he remarked, handing it back to Fred.

Fred took the poster back and looked at it again, feeling his own nose to make sure a prominent bump had not appeared when he rebooted into character. 'They didn't get my nose right.'

'We've got company!' AndrAIa called out, looking down at a wide road where a procession of characters travelled carrying richly embroidered banners depicting an elegant black swan on a pristine white field.

'Is that the User?' Pixie asked quietly, pointing to a female with a waist length mane of golden curly hair, swathed in red velvet and mounted on a chestnut brown horse. AndrAIa nodded.

'One of us has to sit on the Seat of Swords before she does,' the game sprite explained.

'Where is it?' the little sprite asked. 'Is it in a castle, or something?'

'It's over there,' Matrix said, pointing to a turreted carbuncle perched on top of a hill.

'Pardon me for asking a silly question,' Pixie began. 'But why can't we just fly there on the dragon?'

'Frisket can't fly yet,' Matrix explained. 'He will need to go to the limestone cliffs first, then he will catch us up, probably when we get to the last level.'

'What's the last level?'

'That's in the throne room in the centre of the castle.'

Pixie thought about this. 'Why don't we finish the game before the User gets that far?'

Matrix smiled approvingly. 'That is not a silly question.'

Fred appeared behind the renegade and clapped his hand on his shoulder, making him jump. 'I've got an idea,' he said quietly in his ear, and indicated towards a ramshackle farm. 'This way.'

'Come on, Pansy,' AndrAIa said, turning to follow Matrix. 'Let's see what Fred has thought of that we haven't.'

Pixie did not move. 'Um… I'm not called that,' she said quietly. 'My name is Pixie. Pixie Matrix.'

AndrAIa looked confused. 'Oh… okay...'

'I decided to change it just after I was deployed,' the little sprite said, then noticing the disappointment on her mother's face, she quickly added: 'Pansy is a pretty name, though. Like the flower.'

'I suppose you are big enough to have some input into your own name,' AndrAIa conceded.

Pixie grinned at her mother. 'That's exactly what I said.'

A little further along the highway, the User and her entourage continued at a steady pace, hitherto unmolested by any characters in the game. As they rounded the next corner, one of the scouts gave a shout and pointed up the bracken-covered bank where a burning hay cart was rolling down the hill towards the head of the procession.

'Turn back!' the User commanded, but a second burning hay cart rolled into the road behind them, trapping them on the road, hemmed in by high banks on both sides.

'There goes the User!' Pixie called out from a vantage point near the top of a tree whose leaves had nearly all been shed. 'She's climbed up the opposite bank with about half a dozen of her group and one donkey to carry all their kit.'

'What about the rest of them?' Matrix called up.

'Toast.' Pixie grinned, 'Allons-y!' she cried, leaping out of the tree to where she knew her father would catch her.

'Your plan bought us some time, Fred,' Matrix called out to the guardian, who was standing with three horses, saddled and ready, and a unicorn that he had befrended much to Matrix's surprise. 'Let's head across country and make up some ground before they regroup.'

'We might do that the next time we play this game,' AndrAIa said as her shimmering unicorn drew alongside her partner's imposing black destrier. 'But I don't understand how Fred thought of it so quickly.'

'It doesn't seem like he's been in a game for a while,' Pixie suggested. 'He does seem out of shape.'

Matrix looked carefully at the small, dappled grey pony that Fred had prepared for Pixie. 'I hope your animal is up to the journey.'

'Of course she is,' Pixie smiled, leaning forward to pat her pony's neck and smooth her blonde mane. 'You'll be fine, won't you Muffins?'

'Muffins?' AndrAIa questioned.

'Yeah, cute huh?' Pixie replied, grinning. 'And if it turns out that she's not up to it, I'm sure Dad knows how to make lasagne.'1

Matrix and AndrAIa stared in stunned silence at their offspring, who urged her pony into a canter and took the lead on the poorly defined forest track.

'She worries me.' AndrAIa stated.

'Me too,' Matrix agreed. 'There's a reason Dot never let me into the Diner's kitchen.'

'Pixie! Not too far!' AndrAIa called out, suddenly aware that she could no longer see the little sprite. 'There are...'

A lone wolf howled, cutting off the rest of her sentence. The call was swiftly followed by the soft sound of several sets of large paws running through the woods ahead of the group and then the truncated scream of a terrified horse.

Matrix cursed under his breath and dug his heels into the flanks of his mount. His horse got the message and launched into a higher gear, charging through the undergrowth and bursting into another clearing, much larger than the first and containing the charred remains of a long since plundered woodcutter's dwelling. He rounded the corner and found Pixie standing on a crumbling windowsill, fending off three monstrously huge grey wolves with deft movements of her sword. She had already despatched one, but two others were terrorizing her pony, who had somehow managed to climb a tree.

'That doesn't normally happen,' Matrix remarked to himself, steadying his horse.

'Dad!' Pixie called out. 'I found a whole pile of axes in this shed but all the handles were burned so I decided not to collect them and go back to tell you what I had found but then these wolves turned up and attacked Muffins so I had to fight them off myself but this windowsill is cracking and I could really use some help right now!'

Matrix did not reply, but instead urged his mount forwards through the gap between his daughter and the wolves, scooping her off the windowsill and into the saddle in front of him as he passed and galloped deep into the forest, urging his horse to go faster and outrun the pursuing pack. Side shoots of branches whipped against his face and shoulders and he ducked around larger branches, while simultaneously keeping Pixie from slipping off the saddle and into the jaws of the wolves. A pale, mottled grey animal led the chase, drawing level with the renegade's right boot. Pixie drew breath to cry out a warning, but her father slipped his foot out of the stirrup and dealt the game artefact a devastatingly accurate kick, ending it's participation in the game and scattering the remnants of the pack. The little sprite noticed that her father had not even glanced down once, either at the wolves or her. Matrix slackened the pace to a canter and started looking around for a trail to follow. He had played this game many times before and rarely got lost. There was a clearing with a stream nearby and he headed straight for it, dismounting and leading his horse to the water.

Pixie knelt to refill her water bottle alongside Matrix. 'Thanks for saving me, back there.'

'You shouldn't put yourself in positions where you need saving,' he said. 'It takes up valuable time and puts everyone else in the game at risk too.'

Pixie looked shamefaced. 'Are you angry?'

'Yes.'

'With me?'

Matrix sat back on his heels and silently counted to ten. 'Are you trying to make me lose my temper?'

'I made one mistake!' Pixie snapped back. 'If you can't deal with that, I might as well stay in this system until they reopen the ports to the Super Computer and get back to Mainframe that way!' She jumped to her feet, slung her water bottle over her shoulder and stormed off towards the forest.

Enraged, Matrix leaped to his feet, caught up with his daughter and picked her up by the shoulders. 'Don't you dare even think about going off on your own!' he roared.

'I am not your possession!' The little sprite shouted back. 'I didn't ask to be deployed!'

'What did you just say?'

Pixie glared at her father. 'You heard me.'

The trees at the northern edge of the clearing parted and AndrAIa arrived on her shimmering unicorn, closely followed by Fred. She stopped suddenly, shocked at the sight that greeted her and Fred's horse crashed into the back of AndrAIa's mount.

'Enzo!' she scolded. 'What are you doing? We heard the shouting and thought something bad had happened to Pixie.'

Matrix sighed heavily and lowered Pixie to the ground. 'It nearly did.' he said grimly, watching the little sprite rotate each shoulder in turn and retreat to her mother's side.

'Dad saved me from the wolves,' Pixie admitted.

'Well done, Matrix,' Fred interjected.

'Don't you "well done" me,' Matrix growled at the doctor, then turned to AndrAIa looking up to her elevated position. 'This is why I didn't want to start a family until we got back to Mainframe,' he said, then pointed directly at Fred. 'This is all your fault for dragging us into your twisted plan.'

Fred blinked back, stunned. 'None of my patients have ever blamed me before.'

'First time for everything,' the renegade muttered. 'Now just stay out of trouble while I go and win this game.' He swung his massive frame astride his equally massive horse and set off in the direction of the castle as a brisk canter, his greatcoat billowing out behind him.

As soon as he was sure Matrix was out of earshot, Fred turned to AndrAIa and asked; 'Is he always like that?'

'He's fine,' the game sprite said dismissively. 'He's just got very little patience when it comes to playing around in games.'

Sheepishly, Pixie accepted her mother's outstretched hand and climbed onto the back of her unicorn, sitting pillion while holding on tightly around her slender waist.

The trio left the cover of the trees and continued at a smart pace while Fred scanned the sky for any sign of Frisket. Pixie was the first to speak.

'Mum?' she began, 'I want you do know that I don't blame you for not stopping them from kidnapping me,' she said. 'I'm sorry I had a go at you for giving away all your best moves, there were so many of them, you wouldn't have stood a chance.'

AndrAIa looked as far around as she dared without slipping from the sidesaddle posture her flowing dress necessitated. 'I don't remember any of that,' she admitted.

'You don't?' Pixie asked, startled. 'What's the last thing you do remember?'

'I remember using the portable storage device while your father and I were still in the flat, then nothing until I woke up in the delivery room.' she said quietly. 'It was just me and the doctor, but no baby. I knew I had given birth because everything hurt, so I couldn't understand where you were.'

Fred looked over knowingly. 'You got quite upset at that point.'

'I might have threatened him a bit with my trident,' AndrAIa admitted. 'But don't worry Pixie, I'm not like your father.'

Pixie looked puzzled. 'Why would that be a bad thing?' she asked. 'Dad's brilliant. I want to be just like him when I'm older.'

'You remind me of Zenna,' Fred remarked quietly.

AndrAIa looked puzzled. 'Who's Zenna?'

'She was my assistant,' Fred said bitterly. 'Until Matrix killed her.'

'Why would he do that?' the game sprite gasped. 'He's got a short temper, but he doesn't go around randomly deleting sprites.'

Pixie leaped to her father's defence. 'He deleted Zenna because she was a Class Five virus that attacked the and was planning to take over the system before moving on to the Super Computer.'

AndrAIa looked over sharply. 'Did you just compare my daughter to a virus?' she said. 'Do yourself a favour and never let Matrix hear you saying that.'

Fred looked concerned. 'Do you expect Pixie to be able to walk on eggshells around him as well as you do?'

'It's not about walking on eggshells,' AndrAIa replied defensively. 'It's about not deliberately upsetting the man I love by saying random things.'

Unconvinced, the doctor drew his horse alongside AndrAIa's unicorn. 'I'm just saying that Matrix might not yet have the emotional resilience to be a good father, yet. Maybe it would be better if you stayed in this system while you all get to know each other a bit better.'

'Mum and I already talked about this,' Pixie argued. 'We decided that we're all going to go back to Mainframe together.'

'Well done, Pixie,' AndrAIa said quietly, then added. 'I'm sorry I don't remember anything at all about your deployment, or spending any time with you at all.'

'Try not to worry about it too much,' the little sprite reminded her. 'We're together again now and we can make new memories, can't we?'

The game sprite smiled warmly. 'Let's make sure they're good ones.'

The moment was broken by Fred, who had noticed a red speck in the sky that got larger and closer. 'Hey, AndrAIa! Is that Frisket?'

AndrAIa stopped her unicorn and turned to look at the sky. 'Indeed it is.' She dismounted the animal and stood with arms outstretched as dragon-Frisket swooped closer. 'I'll see you at the castle!' she called out as she caught hold of Frisket's collar and swung herself onto his back.

Fred and Pixie watched them soar into the sky.

'When are you going to tell her that your surrogate mother was a virus?' Fred asked.

Pixie glared at him. 'Never.'

Alone, Matrix covered a significant amount of ground and the castle soon came into view again as the trees thinned out. From the east, a pall of smoke rose where the User and her entourage had taken the option of plundering a wealthy smallholder, taking the horses and burning the rest to the ground. He could usually tell what the User's next move would be according to their choice of action in games like this, so he was prepared for a brutal ambush when he finally broke through into clear ground.

He did not get that far.

With about two lengths to go on the forest track, a rope suddenly dropped from the tree canopy and pulled taut at the level of his chest. Unable to stop in time, Matrix crashed into it, cartwheeling backwards off his horse and landing on his shoulder on the muddy track, the leaf litter breaking his fall. Four game sprites immediately surrounded him, swords drawn and ready to attack.

One of them, dressed in a dark green jerkin with faded embroidery at the hem, indicated to the rest of the group to hold off their attack. 'You've been here before,' he said, examining the renegade's face as he got to his feet. 'You must really enjoy playing games.'

'Not any more,' he said. 'I just want to get them over with as quickly as possible.'

'Today is your lucky day,' the sprite grinned. 'At the speed the User is going, the game will be over in no time.' He stood aside, allowing Matrix a clear view of the meadow beyond the forest. The early mist had lifted and glorious sunshine lit up the scenery, picking out the jewel like colours of the late season wildflowers and the rich auburn tones of the User's flaxen hair as she galloped towards the castle on Matrix's huge black war horse leaving him hopelessly behind with no prospect of catching up.

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