The third Ironbark Stag went down with an arrow through the neck, its legs folding beneath it before it even registered the hit.

  "That's twelve," Alysanna said, lowering her bow. "Twelve since we passed the river crossing."

  "Fourteen," Talion corrected from behind her, wiping sweat from his brow.

  His green cleric robes were dusted with pollen and flecked with monster blood. "You forgot the two I killed about an hour ago."

  "Those don't count. You stole the kills from another party."

  "Excuse me? They were dying to them!"

  "They weren't, Talion. They were just testing their damage and protection. With the new attributes, you know?"

  He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "They still count."

  Adaptive said nothing.

  He rarely did. The swordsman walked ahead of them on the dirt road, blade resting across his shoulders, scanning the treeline with the kind of passive vigilance that was always his signature.

  He was the quietest member of their group by a wide margin, but his caution had saved their lives at least three times since Cyrus and Scale took the boat to the city, so neither of them complained.

  The road from Carpa wound northeast through farmlands and patches of woods, cutting between fields of golden wheat and orchards heavy with fruit.

  They could already see the walls of Tidemark in the distance, a dark line against the northern coast. The city's famous lighthouse was just barely visible, a white needle catching the morning sun.

  An hour. Maybe less.

  They were eager to get there.

  Cyrus had messaged them yesterday through the system, telling them to meet him at the Knight's Tower before noon. Something about an opportunity, though he'd been annoyingly vague about the details. Typical Cyrus.

  "What do you think Cyrus found?" Talion asked, as if reading the ranger’s thoughts.

  "He's been talking to people," she said carefully. "Could be a party quest. Or a guild, maybe?"

  "After what happened in Knighthood…"

  "Yeah."

  Neither of them needed to finish that sentence.

  Their last guild had imploded spectacularly, torn apart from the inside by ego and poor management. Cyrus had sworn off guilds entirely after that. He probably isn’t even considering joining one.

  "I just hope it's not something with Crimson Court," Talion muttered.

  Adaptive made a sound that might have been a laugh.

  Coming from him, that was practically a standing ovation.

  After about half an hour, they crested a hill, and the road straightened, cutting through a stretch of woodland. Tidemark's walls were closer now, close enough to see the banners snapping in the coastal wind.

  That's when Adaptive stopped.

  He didn't say anything. He just stopped, his blade sliding off his shoulder and into a low guard.

  Alysanna instantly nocked an arrow before she even realized what she’d seen.

  "Talion," she said quietly.

  "I see them."

  They emerged from the treeline on both sides of the road.

  Not monsters.

  Players.

  Alysanna counted fast.

  Two from the left. Three from the right. Another four stepping out of the undergrowth ahead, blocking the road itself. And behind them, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and a grin that made her stomach turn…

  “Lorrando.”

  He looked different from the last time they’d seen him.

  He had better equipment. He wore a fitted leather coat over dark chainmail, and his bow was new, a sleek recurve that pulsed faintly with enchantment.

  "Well, well, well," he said, pushing off the tree. "Look who's wandering the countryside without their babysitter."

  There were nine of them. Most were level 14 or 15, as far as she could tell, with a few at 16.

  They had lancers, a berserker, two other rangers, and what looked like an arcanist in the back.

  An ambush.

  "Lorrando," Alysanna said, keeping her voice flat. "Still ganking people on the road? Crimson Court didn’t develop standards overnight, I reckon?"

  "Oh, I'm not ganking," he said, spreading his arms wide. "This is official Court business."

  He looked at each of the trio in turn, his eyes lingering on the girl with something cold and personal. "See, we've been having a little chat with some of the adventurers heading into Tidemark lately. Making sure they understand the political landscape, you know?"

  "Political landscape?" Talion repeated.

  "Certain guilds are forming," Lorrando continued, his casual tone not matching the murder in his eyes. "Guilds that don't have the strength to back up their ambitions. We're just… helping people avoid making bad decisions."

  Alysanna knew what he was talking about. She’d seen the forums yesterday.

  "You're threatening people to keep them from joining Athos," she said.

  "Threatening is such an ugly word." Lorrando tilted his head. "I prefer 'advising.' But since we're old friends, Alysanna, I'll be honest with you." His grin sharpened. "This one's going to be personal."

  She knew what he meant. It was payback time for when they saved Orion from a similar situation.

  "Kill them," Lorrando said.

  The berserker used Engage, leaping from the treeline directly at Adaptive, who caught the overhead swing on his blade and redirected it into the dirt.

  At the same time, both enemy rangers fired at Alysanna.

  She Quick Stepped left, dodging one arrow but taking the second in the shoulder.

  -58!

  She lost one-fifth of her HP in an instant. The enemy was well geared.

  Damage numbers weren’t as high as when players attacked monsters. The system treated the NPC’s defense differently, and they also had a much higher HP pool. Almost sixty damage in a player-versus-player encounter was huge.

  "Talion, shield!" Adaptive called.

  "On it!" A golden barrier wrapped around the swordsman as the berserker's second swing connected, the Sacred Shield absorbing most of the impact.

  Adaptive moved like water.

  His counter-cut sent the berserker stumbling, and his Blade Rush caught a lancer who'd tried to flank him in the ribcage. Good damage.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  But two more were already closing in.

  Alysanna fired back.

  Piercing Shot took one of the enemy rangers in the chest, dropping a third of his health. Her follow-up caught him in the leg before he could find cover.

  But the mage in the back was already casting, and a bolt of dark energy slammed into her side.

  -124!

  It was an Acolyte’s Dark Lance, one of the most devastating early game abilities. The damage was brutal.

  "Talion, I need a heal!" she shouted.

  He was already casting.

  Mend Wounds ticked across her health bar, pulling her back from the red.

  However, this meant Talion stopped focusing on keeping Adaptive safe, and the berserker capitalized on it instantly.

  The next thirty seconds were chaos.

  They fought well, against impossible odds.

  Adaptive held the center of the road like a wall, his blade intercepting strikes from multiple angles, while Talion juggled heals between Alysanna and him while dodging incoming fire.

  They even managed to kill two of them, since they didn’t bring a healer.

  But it wasn't enough.

  The lancer lunged at Adaptive from behind while the berserker held his attention. The spear punched through his back, and a Piercing Thrust dropped the rest of his health. He hit the ground without a sound, and his body dissolved into light.

  "No!" Talion threw Binding Chains at the berserker, rooting him in place. "Alysanna, we need to—"

  He didn't finish. Lorrando's arrow took him in the throat.

  “Black Arrow.”

  Talion's health bar evaporated, and something flew from his inventory as he died.

  A hood. Deep blue, trimmed with silver thread, radiating a faint glow.

  Lorrando whistled. "An epic drop. Today's my lucky day."

  Alysanna watched one of his lackeys pick it up.

  That was Talion's most prized piece of gear; an epic Cleric hood he'd gotten from a rare quest chain. He'd been wearing it ever since. He probably dreamed about it, too.

  And just like that, it was gone.

  Seven of them were still standing. And they hadn't even used their full arsenal yet.

  Alysanna pulled her bowstring back anyway.

  If I’m going down, I’m taking at least one of them with me.

  "Brave," Lorrando said, walking closer. He didn't even bother aiming at her. "Stupid, but brave. You know, if your babysitter were here, maybe you'd have had a chance. But he's not, is he? He's sitting pretty in Tidemark while you three walk through our territory like lost little—"

  "Your territory?"

  The voice came from behind the band of Crimson Court members.

  Lorrando spun.

  His remaining members scrambled to reform, but it was already too late.

  New players emerged from the treeline, just like Crimson Court did before them.

  There were at least twenty of them, maybe more, and the level of gear on display made Alysanna’s jaw drop.

  These weren't random players. They moved with coordination, spreading into a loose crescent that closed around Lorrando's group like the jaws of a wolf.

  At the center was a woman Alysanna recognized from the forums.

  Long, blue hair, crystalline staff, mage robes that shimmered like the surface of a lake. Oakenlight’s number one arcanist, Blue.

  Flanking her left was a figure in pitch black, twin daggers already drawn, moving with the liquid grace of someone who'd been killing monsters and players alike just as naturally as one would cut their steak.

  Alysanna knew him, too. She’d seen the VODs. Scale couldn’t shut up about him. Kaelith.

  And on her right, a swashbuckler with dark hair, deep red eyes, and a smile that could cut glass. Seraphina. The Blade Dancer of Shadowreach.

  "This is Tidemark," Blue said. Her voice carried across the road with crystalline clarity. "Last I checked, it was Count Vizgrad’s territory. And anyone who thinks they can bully players on these roads hasn't been paying attention."

  She then nodded to one of the members: a tall guardian in dark iron plate at the front of a formation, standing behind Blue's left flank.

  His shield was massive, etched with the image of the Count’s sigil, and the sleek, dark blade in his right hand looked like it could cut through walls.

  “Corral, you and your team take the left flank,” she said quietly. “Seraphina, you deal with the right. Kaelith,” she paused for a moment, “kill anyone who tries to escape.”

  They didn't say a word.

  Their presence alone shifted the formation of Lorrando's group, the three nearest to him instinctively stepping back.

  "Blue," Lorrando said, and for the first time, Alysanna could hear something other than arrogance in his voice. Calculation. Fear, maybe, buried under layers of bravado. "This doesn't concern you."

  "You're ambushing players on the road to the city to scare them away from our guild." Blue raised an eyebrow. "It concerns us. Greatly."

  "You think this changes anything? Skull will hear about this. Crimson Court doesn't forget."

  Blue smiled. Mana started rippling around her, and suddenly her presence alone reminded everyone why she was the one Athos trusted the most. "I'm counting on it."

  Kaelith moved first, despite the original plan of him dealing with escapees.

  His Shadowstep carried him into Lorrando's backline, and one of the enemy rangers dropped before anyone even registered the attack.

  Seraphina was half a step behind, her Blade Lunge carrying her across the gap like a fencer's thrust stretched into a full-body charge.

  Her rapier caught the acolyte mid-cast, and a Flourish combo sent him spinning into the dirt.

  The rest hit like a wave.

  Corral led the charge on the right flank. He used Shield Rush to close the distance and slammed into the berserker like a boulder. The impact launched the man off his feet, and Corral's sword came down in an overhead arc that cratered the road.

  A brawler hit the left side, screaming, his iron fists crushing through two of Lorrando's remaining lackeys with a Rising Uppercut that kicked up a storm of dust and blood.

  Lorrando tried to run. Coward.

  Blue's hand extended, and a Frost Lance caught him in the legs. Ice crawled up his boots, locking him in place. He spun, nocking an arrow, but Kaelith was already behind him.

  "Not this time," the rogue said.

  Lorrando's health bar drained to nothing.

  He crumpled, and two items clattered from his inventory onto the road. One was the epic Cleric hood he'd stolen from Talion moments ago, its blue fabric catching the sunlight once again.

  The other was his own weapon: a sleek recurve bow that hummed with runic energy.

  Just like that. Less than a minute from first strike to last, and every single Crimson Court member was sent to respawn at the Temple of Tidemark. Their bodies dissolved into light one by one, leaving only scattered loot and the echo of what they'd tried to do here.

  Alysanna lowered her bow. Her hands were shaking.

  Blue walked over to the ranger, her boots crunching on the gravel.

  She looks younger than I expected, Alysanna thought.

  The mage’s eyes were sharp, and the way she held herself reminded her of Cyrus.

  "Are you alright?" she asked.

  "I'll live." The ranger glanced at the scattered loot. "Talion and Adaptive… they'll respawn in Mudhelm."

  "We'll wait for them with you if you want."

  She shook my head. "They'll catch up. They always do."

  Blue knelt and picked up the two items Lorrando had dropped. She examined them both, then held the hood out to the ranger. "This belongs to your cleric?"

  "Talion. Yeah."

  "Hold onto it for him."

  Alysanna took it with a grateful expression. He's probably devastated because he dropped it.

  Then Blue looked at the recurve bow. She studied it for a moment, examining it in her inventory.

  Then she traded it to the her.

  "This is yours now."

  Alysanna blinked. "What? That's a level 15 rare. It's worth—"

  "It's worth more in the hands of someone who'll use it well," Blue said simply. "Consider it a welcome gift."

  The ranger stared at her.

  "Why did you help us?" she asked. "You didn't even know we were out here."

  "Actually," Blue said, a small smile forming. "We did."

  She let that hang in the air for a moment.

  "We've been tracking Crimson Court movements since yesterday. Lorrando wasn't subtle about his little hunting parties. When we saw three players matching your group's description heading up the road, we moved to intercept."

  "But how did you even know who we—"

  "Because Cyrus told us." Blue met her eyes, and there was no pretense in her gaze. "He reached out to me yesterday. We talked for a long time."

  Alysanna’s heart skipped a beat.

  "Alysanna," Blue said, and there was weight behind the words. The kind of weight that told her this wasn't just a casual rescue.

  "Cyrus has agreed to join Second Wind."

  ?