ARC II
CHAPTER THREE
Disclaimer: Not Mine.
BRENT:
He hadn't even really wondered where Adent had gone – he'd been enjoying himself gaming too much. But retrospectively, on seeing Adant in his room, on his computer, he did realise Adant hadn't really been around much in the last half hour. And...
Then his eyes took in what game Adant was playing, and his thought process crashed.
This wasn't a tactical shooter. Adant was controlling a tank. Well not really controlling it. He'd just shot something, from the looks of it. Something... huge.
Adant just sat there motionless. Even more motionless than a normal gamer. Not even a mouse-click. No keyboard presses. Just looking at the people surrounding the tank. The mound of falled dirt. And the battered hole in the wall, splattered in blood.
... Splattered in blood. But... this was a real game. Setting. Whatever. And Adant didn't know...
With a growing sense of dread, Brent ripped Adant's headphones off.
'What did you do?'
Adant looked up at him. 'Dude – I got no fucking idea. I mean, what the Fuck, man. I'm out. Just...'
He shook his head, then stood up and headed for the door.
'I don't know what's up with your computer. Don't want to know. This is a bit fat Nope from me. Just keep that fucker away from me.'
Brent sighed, then sat down and putting on the headphones. Time to find out what the damage was...
LOUISE:
Louise stood shakely, wiping off some of the vile liquid from her chin. Looking around, she absently noticed she hadn't been alone in vomiting. Violence wasn't uncommon in their society, and if Fouquet had been caught, she would have been hung anyway – but such events were usually much less public. And certainly, the children of the elete were somewhat sheltered from such things.
She was bought out of her horrified facination with the red gibblets decorating the academy walls by the red-haired harlot nudging her shoulder. When Louise looked at her, Kirche was pointing at the metal beast. Or rather, by the text floating above it.
[Ub3rL33t1: Sorry. Wasn't me. Housemate used my computer. Is Louise there?]
For the shortest of moments, Louise considered sneaking away, before anyone could notice. But there was already a lot of people who had seen it. Who were, once more, looking right at her. Louise sighed, a familiar leaden weight settling in her stomach, and walked through the crowd, up to the beast. Somewhat reassuringly, the beast wasn't moving at all now. It's low growl was still going on, and the smoke still belched from it's rear, but otherwise – nothing.
[Ub3rL33t1: So – what happened?]
Louise frowned. 'I should be asking you that. What did you do? Why didn't my commands not work...' She hesitated, looking at the immobile creature.
'At least – why did they not work earlier? They appear to work now.'
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the crowd pulling back a little – letting her talk with her familiar. Well, at least they wern't outright blaming her. They were actually giving her a chance to prove herself, if you wanted to look at it that way...
And one of the crowd was the princess. Looking at her with such faith...
What should she even say?
She hesitated, and the metal thing continued to sit there.
'The creature you destroyed, and the mage you killed...' her eyes started sliding to the splattered wall, but she swallowed, and kept them firmly on the creature.
'They were attempting to damage the academy. You were right to defend us...'
She noticed some of the crowd nodding, and internally sighed in relief. The words were as much for the crowd as for her familiar.
'... but you should have asked my permission first – and you definately should have obeyed my commands. As my familiar, I am held responsible for your actions. Should you injure...'
A line of text appeared above the thing, and she stopped.
[Ub3rL33t1: Sorry, can't hear a damn thing over the engine. One sec, I'll plug in the mike and headphone.]
There was a muffled tittering from the crowd, and Louise reddened. To have her familiar interupt her in front of everyone... But there was nothing she could do about that now. She had no real way of punishing her familiar...
'HELLO?'
Louise jumped, and whirled around, but no one was there.
The word had been spoken loudly, right into her ear.
'OH GOOD. I WASN'T SURE IF THIS WOULD WORK'.
Louise was grimacing and had her hands over her ears by the end of the sentence.
'sorry about that guess i had it a little loud. uh, can you say something?'
'Uh... Hello?'
Louise's voice was soft and hesitant, but the strange voice... her familiars? Seemed to hear her all the same.
'What did my housemate do? Did he kill someone?'
Louise could hear the suppressed horror in the voice, and didn't know what to make of it. Was this really her familiar? The inhuman monstrosity that had completely wiped out Guiche,come back from the dead, possessed this metal thing, and annihilated Fouquet with his first shot?
'Yes...' she replied, somewhat absently. 'She was using a giant earth Golem to attack the academy tower for some reason. You really weren't in control?'
There wasn't any reply.
'Anyway, from the looks of it, you did us all a favour.' She waved her hand over the crowd – who were looking at her somewhat oddly. 'We were doing our best to stop it, but... Well, you took it down in your first shot.'
'My housemate. Not me.'
Louise shrugged.
'Louise...'
This voice came from behind her, and didn't have the strange accent she'd noticed her familiar using. Mr Colbert.
'You can speak with your familiar, now?'
Louise nodded.
'What does he say?'
Louise frowned. 'You can't hear him?'
Mr Colbert shook his head. 'Ask him how he knew Fouquet would attack the tower. And – how many other forms can he take.'
Louise nodded, and turned to her familiar expectantly.
There was a moments silence, while Louise waited for Brent to reply.
Then another moment's silence...
Finally... 'Well?' Louise never was known for her patience. Least of all when being the center of attention in a huge crowd.
'Well what? I told you, I can't hear a thing over the engine. I can hear what you say – I guess, cause your my owner or something. But that teacher guy? Not at all. If he has a question, you'll have to ask it'.
Louise reddened. Her familiar was a lot less formal when speaking rather than writing. But at least she was the only one who could hear his disrespect... She was getting a lot of strange looks from the crowd surrounding her though... Talking to yourself is never a good sign, after all.
'Oh – it sounds like your talking right into my ear. How far away can I move before the communication spell stops working?'
There was the rustle of cloth, which was probabally Brent shrugging. 'Shouldn't matter how far you go. But this match only has another four minutes left... If you're gunna move somewhere, you better hurry.'
Louise nodded. Turned to Mr Colbert, and explained. He asked her the obvious question, and she passed it along.
'I don't know what my room-mate did before, but yes, once the match ends I can start it again. It'll likely take a minute before I can get back in, but I'll have another fifteen minutes to talk once I do. Three minutes, by the way. Oh, and can you let me move again?'
Louise looked at the creature dubiously. This thing had the ability to kill. It was unbelievably powerful. Did she really want to let it loose? Surrounded by nobles?
'Uh... you just killed someone. The nobles are deeply concerned. I don't think it prudent to release you at this time.'
There was silence, and Louise bit her lip nervously. She really, really didn't want to lose her familiar...
'Fine. I guess I can understand. Timers almost up. See you soon.'
And as Louise was framing her reply, the tank disappeared.
The match having timed-out into a draw, Brent signed out of Adant's account, and into his own, absently wondering what he'd need to do to pull a win in the 'game' – given that there wasn't any enemy tanks to destroy, or bases to capture. It was a little more than five minutes later that he respawned next to the stables. Not in the light french tank his friend favoured, but into one of his early artillary vehicles. Unlike the rest of his vehicles, the SPG had the gunner positions open to outside view – meaning the game developers had needed to model the seats and things they sat on. Judging from past experience, the player characters were presented as modelled, not as what they represented – meaning the hatches and doors on the tanks would be completely immobile, and there wouldn't be any interior to the tanks. The Russian-made SU-26 he had chosen was not the best of artillary pieces, but he wasn't intending to fight with it. He'd mostly chosen it in case they wanted a ride in the thing.
He spun his mouse around to check his location, and noticed the stables had a large portion of it that had been collapsed. Brent muttered a little curse in the direction of the departed Adant. The large crowd that had been surrounding him earlier was gone now. No, not gone, but held back. Way back, They were pressing against the guards at the gateway, and peering at him over the walls and through windows, but didn't seem to be allowed into the courtyard itself.
That is, with the exception of a well-endowed girl in overly-ornate clothing and a tiara, and his... Brent grimaced. ... his mistress.
'So, who's the chick with the massive breasts?'
Louise flushed, thanking Sigmar the princess couldn't hear him.
'Princess Henrietta, may I introduce you to my familiar, uh...'
'Brent', he supplied.
'Brent. He... Well, Mr Colbert already sent you a report, so I guess you know most of it, but anything you don't know, I could tell you, I guess.'
Given how flustered Louise was, this princess had to be a big deal. Yet besides the finery, she didn't seem that stuck-up. Didn't seem to exude power the way those who led often did. So – probabally not born to rule, then? Born to be married off, while the son's ruled? Or perhaps 'Princess' didn't literally mean 'daughter of the ruler', but was more like a duchess or something...
But there wasn't enough information to go on, and the princess was speaking.
There was an awkward pause after she finished, before Louise apparently remembered he couldn't hear a word anyone said, and paraphrased.
'Princess Henrietta thanks you for your help with the mage-theif, and welcomes you to Tristain.'
Brent mutted a 'cheers', distracted. The proper thing to do would be to at least nod his head. But his entire tank was still locked up by Louises' command. And how would he 'nod his head', since he didn't have one at the moment? He could bob his barrel up and down perhaps...
Louise was still speaking. Paraphrasing his reply to the princess.
'... grateful for your personal welcome to Tristain, and the honour it bestows upon his humble self.'
Brent snorted, but Louise finished without any indicator she had heard. The princess replied, and Louise went a happy sort of pink, before translating.
'Princess Henrietta thanks you for choosing to become the familiar of her dear childhood friend'
Louse was actually beaming. Embarassed at the praise, but visibly thrilled. '... and uh... hopes you will serve the kingdom as well as you serve me.'
Brent sighed. 'Serving the kingdom'? He really didn't want to get involved here. It was obviously a real world, but he just didn't have the time. His marks at university were starting to slide, and he was having a hard time getting his weekly readings done as it was.
But – as annoying as Louise was, he couldn't really say 'no' to her when she was this happy. It'd be like kicking a puppy.
The princess had been talking while he thought, and Louise once more passed them on.
'The princess would like to meet with you again tomorrow. The damage done to the wall, your execution of the Crumbling Sands and your new apperance and abilities need to be reported to the palace, and she needs to talk to her advisors before she can say more.'
Brent had an assignment due tomorrow. It was mostly finished though. All written, just needed polishing. Still...
'I can't make it tomorrow – gotta study. Can make it the day after though.'
Louise make an intersting set of faces, before hissing
'It's The Princess! You don't turn down invitations from the princess!'
Brent shrugged. Not that Louise could see that. 'If I don't have time, I don't have time. Do you know how flat out I am tomorrow?'
Zoomed in as he was, he could see Louise almost start trembling.
'Please? She half-spat, half begged. 'You represent me. If you say know, I'm accountable! You have to do this. You really really have to...'
She was still whispering her words, but the princess and guards were watching her, puzzled expressions on their faces.
Brent sighed. Again.
'I should be finished by... five pm tomorrow. I can meet her after then. Uh... I don't know what the time is here, but it'd be about one hour closer to sunset.
Louise sagged with relief, and passed on his message. They quickly agreed upon a location, and Brent logged out.
To see Adant standing at his shoulder. 'So what's going on, then?'
AUTHORS NOTES:
I've decided to go back to University to do a masters in teaching. Oddly enough, the added purpose to my life has re-kindled my interest in writing.
I re-read the story up to this point before doing this chapter. I think once I finish the story, I'm going to have to do some serious editing.
Can't really say anything about the chapter itself. I'm not especially happy with it, but it does everything it needs to. The story's coming to a close (though there may or may not be a short sequel a long way down the track). Even if it has mostly been talking heads, I'm planning to have it end with a bang. Or a lot of bangs.
