With my gaze turned toward the celestial body Aran called Magara the Blood Hungry, I stepped out into the clearing. Alone. The village singers kept singing, eyes reflecting the bonfire flames shifted my way.

  Urstana pointed her dagger at me from her place at the sacrificial altar. “What purpose have you here?”

  “A few,” I said, walking towards her. I pointed at the lamb. “I have a trade for you. Magara demands blood, and I will give it if you hand the lamb over to me.”

  “Magara demands life,” Urstana corrected, her dark eyes narrowing at me.

  “I have one,” I said, pulling the Sprite Slayer out of my inventory.

  Gasps of awe and fear rippled from the sprites in the crowd. I held the owl out by its feet, clutched in my hand. It shrieked indignantly, beak snapping at Urstana wings beating at the air. Her gaze slid from the owl to me. I smiled, all teeth.

  “This is an acceptable sacrifice,” she said. The dagger sliced down, freeing the lamb. Before it could bolt, I snapped it up, holding it against my chest. It bleated and kicked, clipping my thigh. That’d leave a nice bruise.

  Baby taught me an important lesson. Grab fast and deal with the pain. Unable to concentrate on moving the lamb to inventory while also holding the flapping owl, I bore the long, thrashing legs and slam of its head against my chest until it settled, breathing heavily in the clamp of my arm.

  I laid the bird of prey on the altar, keeping both its feet pinned in my fist. Urstana grabbed one of the squirming sacrifice's flailing wings. I took the dubious honor of helping her keep it still at face value, and tracked the path of Magara the Blood Hungry. Urstana’s dagger hovered over the throb of the owl's chest. She struck when the angry red dot found the blue moon’s center, the downward thrust sure and clean.

  The Sprite Slayer was no more. Urstana pulled the blade out, and a splash of hot blood spattered my hand. I let go of the corpse, finally looking down at it. A sick sense of guilt settled in my gut. I reminded myself that it would respawn and be back to terrorize the sprites soon enough. Just another NPC.

  Still. I felt worse about it than I ever had about the sprites it attacked. What did that say about me? Should I have argued with Archive and rolled a druid?

  Nah.

  The lamb kicked my thigh again, probably smelling the scent of blood. I grimaced and held it close. With Sprite Slayer gone, I held the lamb firmly with both arms.

  Urstana chanted some cultish thing about Magara having been appeased. She switched to some fae dialect at some point. I wasn’t paying attention. The squirming lamb kept me occupied.

  Once the crowd wrapped up their worshippy crap and started to disperse, I waved at the shadows where my friends were waiting. As they stepped into the bonfire’s glow, something about the sight of them made me crack a proud grin.

  Akilah led the way, staff equipped, the violet of her purple robe deepened by the dance of shadow and light. She moved with purpose, the kind of presence that demanded attention, without asking.

  Beside her, Jake towered, a terror with his bat wings and spare height. The bonfire turned his dark, ashen skin to polished onyx, pale hair ghosting around the spiky black crown of his horns.

  Elora followed, shadow and warmth entwined. The fire’s tones lived in her, ember and autumn leaves. The effortless warmth she embodied was wild, untamed. I knew then, when I saw her still with us, standing with them, I wanted her to stay with us.

  Her Druid skills were useful. We didn’t know what we’d find outside Convergent City, and she’d be a good addition to the group. If I could convince her.

  It was a practical decision.

  Jake tugged the rope, leading Aran into the light.

  A strangled gasp from Urstana snapped my attention from my friends to her shocked expression. “Aran!”

  I tipped my head at Urstana while speaking to Aran, keeping my tone even. “Tell her the truth.”

  He didn’t talk.

  Aran fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

  Urstana dropped the sacrificial knife to clatter on the altar and ran over to him. She cupped his face, smearing it with Sprite Slayer blood, and started sobbing with him. I exhaled, shifting Lambkin in my arms now that I had a free hand. My gaze slid to the fire.

  They were a match for each other, alright.

  “He wasn’t cheating. It was just a misunderstanding,” I said. Maybe. He could have lied to me. I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. They had a whole thing going on, and I wanted to be anywhere else.

  “Would you please get rid of his curse?” Akilah’s tone sounded more like frustration than a request.

  Urstana bobbed her head, whimpering and gasping. I tipped my chin at Jake. He read my mind, tugging the rope to get Aran’s hands free of the bind. Yeah. I saw why she sent me instead of delivering the terminal breakup note herself.

  The Sprite Slayer’s body despawned, leaving a single feather behind. I wasn’t superstitious, but I sure as hell wouldn’t pick it up. All I needed was to get some Curse of Magara from it. I had enough to worry about.

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  “We should go,” I stated abruptly, making a wide circuit around the lovers to get to my friends.

  The marker for the little faun girl was still in the pasture. No way was I carrying a squirming lamb the whole way, so I tried dropping it in my inventory. Like with the Sprite Slayer I felt the struggle, but this time it failed to go in.

  My inventory rejected it. CANNOT CARRY. I read the note attached to the job.

  I looked between them and scowled, reading the task notes out loud, “Escort the lamb back to Taylie.”

  “Sounds fun,” Elora replied, green eyes sparkling.

  Akilah rolled her eyes, leaning on her staff with a tired groan similar to mine.

  Jake just shrugged. “Let’s go. Only one more task after this, right? And you’ll be Respected by Heartland?”

  “Supposedly,” I admitted. Pulling up my aspect screen, I checked my REP. Almost to Respected. That would open up new options in the System—and more importantly, in the hidden code we’d found.

  While I was skimming my Stats, I noticed some changes.

  “What?” Akilah demanded, instantly suspicious.

  She must have picked up on my rapid blinking in surprise.

  “My Deception has a special bonus on it.” I blurted.

  “What kind of bonus?” She squinted at me, hand tightening on her staff.

  “Sarcasm adds a bonus. So does Subtle Trickery.” I grinned. “Snark counts as a lie.”

  This told me something important. The System flexed with us, adapting as we revealed latent talents it hadn’t accounted for during the initial observation. Seemed one of mine was confusing people with sarcasm enough to be considered deceptive. Tricks like I pulled at the feast had also adjusted my overall Stats.

  “Let’s see where the night takes us, next,” Elora said, seeming not to notice the tension.

  I felt it, though. Akilah was driven by achievement, and I had been annoying her by accomplishing things she hadn’t. It didn’t matter that Heartland’s Rep system was more suitable for my boosted WILL.

  I fell in behind Elora. We walked the deepest shadows, the druid parting the way, with Jake and Akilah picking along the path together behind me. At least she still liked Jake, holding onto him when the ambient light got too dim for her to see.

  We’d been walking for a minute when a crunch caught my attention. Glancing to the left, I spotted a faint form. A hulking wolf stared right at me from a dozen paces off. Lambkin squirmed, and I squeezed it tighter, whispering, “We’re surrounded.”

  “What?” Jake said, looking around.

  Maybe they’d followed the scent of blood that clung to me, but it was more likely that the pack was programmed to be here, triggered by our passage with the stupid lamb for the quest. I picked out three others flanking us. There was no escape, and I couldn’t risk putting the lamb down. It would bolt, get mauled, and our chain would be ruined.

  “Get ready to fight,” I murmured, staring at the first wolf I spotted.

  The wolf wasn’t big enough to ride. Too bad; riding a wolf would have been badass. I dashed the distracting thought away. The HP bar on it was half the size of mine. Beatable.

  Their stealth discovered, they slowly closed in on us—cautious, crouched, and slinking forward. Drool slavered from the wolf’s mouth as it bared its gleaming teeth. A low growl rumbled from another, but I didn’t take my eyes off the one I stared down. The lamb trembled in my arms.

  “Back to back,” Akilah commanded, raising her staff.

  She couldn’t see what was going on, but it was good advice. I pivoted on my heel, coming into contact with Jake’s wing. The smooth silk of Akilah’s robe brushed my elbow.

  Elora’s hair tickled my other arm.

  Without the brute strength of my arms, I figured I’d have to kick the fucker. I’d taken all of a year of karate classes in my life, but there was no time for doubt. We’d never practiced on wolves, big or small, but I figured the choice to opt out of this fight had long gone.

  The forest lit up. Sparks flew from Akilah’s staff, spraying the ground around us. Leaves hissed and curled, smoldering. The wolf facing her scampered back. Bolstered by her moxie, I leaned toward the wolf in front of me, hunching over the lamb in my arms, and let out a snarl to rival their growls. My HUD flashed: INTIMIDATE.

  The wolf’s lips peeled back further, backing up. I stomped at it, getting my footing to lash a snap kick at its snout. Impact—the crack of bone and fangs—and a sharp yip pierced the night. I fell back to my original position, back to back with the others. The wolf I kicked scrambled off into the woods, leaving bright spatters of blood on the leaves.

  Behind me, I felt Jake move, an angry bark, and more sparks flew to flash the world from grays to color again.

  Something warm and wet trickled down my stomach. The lamb just pissed on me. Naturally. I was impressed that it hadn’t done it sooner.

  The low brush around us lit with the greenish tendrils of Elora’s plant magic. From the corner of my eye, I caught vines binding a wolf’s paws, winding upwards to hold it in place.

  “Go!” Jake yelled, long arms pushing at all of us.

  Elora took the lead, and we ran. I glanced over my shoulder, wanting to go back and finish the pack. Orcish instinct, maybe, programmed into my behavior by the System. But, like everything else, I pushed it down and ran with the others.

  We could have beaten them if it were just a fight, but Lambkin had to be protected.

  Just in front of me, Akilah tripped on an unseen root, staff flailing. I leapt to the side, barely missing her. Jake hauled her up, got his arms up and under her until she could gain footing. We burst from the trees, racing to where the faun waited.

  We found Taylie curled up in a pile of grass. She sat up, ears flicking as we charged at her. From the woods, a keening howl rose. I staggered to a stop in front of her, thrusting the lamb out at her.

  “Here, take it!” I said, a little harsher than I intended.

  Taylie cringed, shrinking away.

  “Be nice, ya big green brute,” Elora said, trotting up and slapping my arm.

  Right. The quest chain had to do with kindness. I bent down on a knee and offered her the lamb, its limbs thrashing.

  “P—put Lamby in the pen,” Tylie whispered, her gaze moving from me to the woods.

  I got up and leaned over the viney post to drop the lamb into the enclosure. The moment the little critter hit the grass, the howling stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, I grinned at Taylie.

  “There ya go, kid.”

  “Thank you, sir, for saving Lambkins,” she said, a wavering smile on her freckled face.

  I almost said thanks for the warning about the cult. I stopped myself from shooting attitude at a child. Instead, I simply replied, “You’re welcome.”

  The marker for Echo became prominent on my map. Just one more job to do, and we could get out of Heartland. Hopefully forever. I pointed in the direction I needed to go and started walking. A few minutes down the moonlit path, Jake sniffed the air.

  “Funny, we left the animal pen, but I can still smell pee.”

  My lips tightened around my tusks, and I said briskly, “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

  Seriously though, Heartland sucked.

  -ARCHIVE-