My spirits were high the following day. After finding a somewhat peaceful resolution to a situation that very well could have turned deadly, I found myself more hopeful. Killing humans was a big no-no for me now, but it wasn’t an unbreakable rule by any means. It simply meant I wouldn’t murder people for experience or manipulate them (too much) to my advantage. It would slow my level grind, but I had Val, and she could help point me in the direction of appropriate quests once we were safely on the other side of the continent.

  I was sitting in front with Tabby today, and the rest of the crew, including Val, were in the back. There was room for three people on the wagon bench, but it was a tight fit, and Val and I both preferred our space. Usually.

  With a thought, I procured a piece of jerky from my inventory, and it appeared in my hand like magic. “Hungry?” I asked Tabby.

  She looked at it and frowned. “I think the worst part of regaining my memories is remembering what real food was like. I used to eat the most delicious meals at some of the best restaurants, and here, well… I’ve eaten a squirrel and considered it a decent meal. A freaking squirrel, John.” She sighed. “God, I’d give up a limb for some modern cuisine. Hell, I’d even settle for a Big Mac.”

  I gave her a sympathetic smile. “I try not to think about it. Dwelling on the past, on what we lost…I wouldn’t recommend dwelling for too long.”

  “You’ve some experience, then?” she asked.

  “Until you, I was alone with my memories,” I said. “I was the only person in the entire world who knew what had been stolen from us. All I could do was dwell, and it made me hateful. I wanted to make the Triarchy hurt for what they did to us. I could have done it the smart way, which was to play a long game and find a way to strike them in their heart, but I was in a bad place mentally. I was disgusted with who I was becoming, but I had convinced myself that it was the only way. Revenge in any form was what I sought, and I didn’t want to wait. You’ve heard enough about what happened in Danver to know just how well that turned out for me.”

  I took a breath and pushed those difficult thoughts away. “The point is, the only way for us to stay sane is to keep our thoughts on the road ahead. We are on a mission to save the world, and we must be clear-minded if we want to succeed.”

  “I’ll try not to dwell too much,” Tabby said. “I can see how it would build resentment. I just remembered how much I loved Starbucks ’ Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and now I have an overwhelming desire to kill the next alien I see.”

  “Like you’d stand a chance,” Ersabet said from inside the tarp. She opened the slit so she could see out. “Look upon me, human. Is my life worth your pumpkin spice?”

  Tabby looked back and grinned. “Oh, babe, if you tried one, you would see that I’m justified.” Tabby perked up. “Hey, what sort of drinks do Dalari like? What’s your favorite?”

  “You wish to know my favorite drink?” Ersabet asked, perplexed.

  Tabby nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, please. On Earth, coffee was really popular. We filter water through crushed coffee beans. Coffee on its own isn’t that great, but when you add tons of sugar and cream, it tastes incredible.”

  I watched as Ersabet’s complexion changed, and I couldn’t help but get the sense that she was shy or embarrassed by this conversation.

  “If you must know,” she said. “There’s a drink that was recently invented on Edali Prime that I became somewhat obsessed with before leaving for the game. Drinking it was considered to be quite rebellious among my people, who prefer the purity of regular water. Well, someone discovered that you could infuse water with carbon dioxide if it were put under high pressure.” She smiled brightly. “It makes the water bubbly, and it tickles you when you drink it. For obvious reasons, it was looked down upon by the elite in Dalari society, but I was a rebel and couldn’t help myself.”

  That was a lot to unpack, but most surprisingly, Ersabet implied that carbonated water was a recent invention.

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  “How long ago did you say that bubbly water was invented?” I asked.

  She held out some fingers and ticked them off. “I’d say about fifteen years ago.”

  I looked at Tabby, and she looked just as surprised as I.

  Val, what am I missing here? Humans invented carbonated water a century ago!

  “Don’t ask me, I’m not a historian,” Val said to me. “Someone probably just never thought to try it. Or maybe they did infuse water with carbon but chose not to drink it. Don’t think you’re somehow technological equals because some idiot on Earth made water fizzy and bottled it up.”

  I held in my laugh and focused back on the conversation. Tabby had just informed Ersabet that we had the same drink on Earth, and Ersabet was now in shock.

  The whole conversation made me crave a Dr. Pepper something fierce.

  ***

  When night fell, we found a safe place off the road and set up camp. Once everything was ready, I went out to the woods to practice knife throwing. I hit ten in a row but was still stuck at Tier 1 of my new competency. It was going to be a major grind unless I could find some valid targets to practice knife throwing. Perhaps I could track down a hare and kill it with a thrown blade for some extra experience.

  “Who’s taking first watch?” I asked when I returned to camp. “I did last night.”

  “I’ll do it,” Delen groaned.

  “Ersabet,” I said. “Will you take the second shift?”

  “If I must,” she said, twirling a twig between her fingers.

  “You must. We’re far from civilization, and there are a lot of things out here that are far more dangerous than those deserters.”

  “And how do you know this?” Ersabet asked.

  “John has the right of it,” Delen said. “Heard stories from travelers about the dangers of the long road to Nessa. There were plenty of tales of bribery and banditry, but I heard a fair share of stories about monsters snatching up a child in the night or shamblemen rising out of old brush piles when the stars were bright, and they’d wander the road like stringless puppets.”

  “There are many monsters in human stories, yet I have only seen two in this world so far. My former adventuring party fought a troll in the Bygone Mountains, and the only monster I’ve seen since I met you was a large frog,” Ersabet said. “I’m beginning to think most stories of monsters are just that – stories.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “First of all, that frog was scary as hell. Secondly, we were in the Hunter’s Guild. Their entire mission as to rid the world of monsters. They even had some monster heads adorning their walls, and they sent us out to hunt down draugr.”

  “Did we see a draugr?” she asked.

  “Well, no, but our mission was cut short if you recall.”

  “I recall very well, thank you.”

  “Monsters are real,” Tabby said. “I travel a lot due to my trade, and I’ve taken long, lonely roads like the one we’re on now. Once, I saw a man walking across the road in front of me. His skin was yellow and rotten, his clothes ragged and nearly falling off him, and I swear by the sun that he had a large dagger stuck into the back of his skull. He was dead. But he was still moving, somehow. I’d call that a monster.”

  “I’d say zombie,” I said. Except the knife to the head kind of hurts that theory.”

  She just shrugged. “Another time, I saw a wolf, but it was unlike any other I had seen before. It was three times the size, with abnormally long arms and legs. The wolf’s fur was pitch black, and its eyes glowed red in the dark, and not from any reflection. They actually glowed red.”

  “Werewolf,” Kitz said quietly. “They’re really mean. If you see one, you should run.”

  I was sure there was a story behind that comment, but I was too tired to dive into it.

  “I’m sure we’ll all have pleasant dreams now,” I said as I wrapped myself up in my travel blanket. “I’m calling it a night. Wake me up if we’re being attacked.”

  I closed my eyes, and the camp quieted down enough for me to slip away into sweet nothingness.

  An unknown amount of time passed before I was rudely awoken by Val buzzing inside my brain.

  “Wake up, you lazy fleshbag!”

  I blinked sleep from my eyes as my mind pulled itself together.

  What’s wrong? I thought to Val.

  “Delen, the fool, fell asleep, and I’m detecting multiple mobs heading this way.”

  How far away? I asked.

  “A little over two hundred yards. There are fourteen that I can count.”

  What are they? I asked.

  “They are red dots on the map!” Val said. “Hold on a moment….There, I have identified them as goblins.”

  That cleared my sleepy mind, but I didn’t move yet. What should we do?

  “Goblins aren’t like those deserters. You won’t be able to reason with them, and even with your talents, I don’t think you can take on all of them at once.”

  We’ll take them by surprise. Thin their ranks and make it a fair fight.

  “That’s a possibility,” Val said. “But you’re the only one with any stealth-based abilities.”

  I grinned. Not true. I think everyone here can do a fine job of pretending to be asleep.

  “Ahh, that just might work. Clever boy.”

  I didn’t mention that I had gotten the idea from Prajio, who had insisted the best course of action to take down Deek and his gang was to pretend to be asleep and let the goons steal us away. It worked out in the end. Why should this time be any different?