Chapter 11: Ghost Town

  “Thank the gods we’re leaving!”

  Shryke was practically out the door of Flophouse before the rest had even finished their morning breakfast of fish and fish water.

  “Hold on, Shryke,” Frelka interjected. “Beep’s still busy at the bar, ja. Let’s at least wait for him to return.”

  Shryke looked outside, then back at the table and sighed. “Whatever. It actually smells less like fish in here than it does out there.”

  She trudged back to the table and sat down, her head resting on her hand as she traced patterns in the wood.

  They had all finished their breakfasts by the time Beep walked back to them, beaming and holding a stack of papers.

  “What have you acquired, Beep?” Burn asked.

  Beep grinned. “Bounties!”

  “Bounties?” Frelka asked. “Why?”

  “Because some of them offer a lot of Cats!” Beep replied. “Plus, we’d be capturing criminals!”

  “Criminals like Moll?” Shryke asked.

  Beep’s enthusiasm wavered for a moment before recovering. “Of course not! We’ll be smart!”

  Frelka smiled. “Okay, Beep, let’s take a look at what you found.”

  Beep’s grin returned as he laid three contracts on the table in front of them. “This first one won’t be anytime soon, but it’s someone called the ‘Bugmaster.’”

  Frelka looked at the bounty laid out in front of him:

  WANTED: Bugmaster

  The notorious criminal “Bugmaster.” Wanted for banditry, raiding, mass-murder, cannibalism, and genocide.

  EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Attacks on sight, appears to have control of an army of spiders. Reasons for this ability are unknown. Motivation unknown.

  Known residence is in the crater of Arach, southwest of the Stenn Desert and Spider Plains.

  REWARD: c. 100,000

  UPDATE: Intelligence indicates that the “Bugmaster” is also in possession of a large amount of treasure. Any valuables or artifacts found in the apprehension or assassination of the target is free for you to take.

  “Well, that’s obviously fake,” Frelka said as he finished reading. “This poster reads almost exactly like Moll’s, ja? ‘Commands an army of spiders’? Please. Und the update about treasure afterward? Probably just to trick more people into pursuing him.”

  Shryke shook her head. “I don’t think so. The Stenn Desert and Spider Plains are far to the southwest of the Holy Nation. I mean, it’s possible he could have fled there, but there are much safer places to run to. I admit it sounds unbelievable, but it also doesn’t exactly feel like it’s fake either. Plus, did they add an extra zero on accident, or are they actually offering a hundred thousand Cats for this guy?!”

  Beep continued to grin widely. “Exactly! That much money could help us with a lot of things!”

  Frelka waved his hand in the air. “Well, there’s no point in talking about it right now. Even if we decided to go after this guy, he’s clear on the other side of the map.” He looked up at Beep. “It looks like you have quite a few there. Is there anything in there that sounded closer to us?”

  “And without an army of spiders?” Horse asked.

  Shryke laughed. “What’s wrong, Horse, scared of spiders?”

  Horse’s expression remained stern as he nodded and said, “Of course I am. You would be too if you knew what you were talking about. The little red ones are the worst. Their poison can paralyze you in a single bite. Then you have to sit there, fully awake and aware, as they eat you alive. Lost an entire team to those fuckers one time. Besides, it’s not exactly fun to fight them with only your fists.”

  Shryke’s mouth hung open. “Okay, that’s not something I needed to know. I second his vote–let’s avoid those fuckers for as long as possible…maybe even forever.”

  Beep, who had been shuffling through his stack, pulled out another paper. “Here!” He laid the bounty out on the table. “This should be exactly what we want.”

  WANTED: Cannibal Leaders

  ‘Cannibal Grand Wizard’

  Leader of the entire known cannibal population. Actual magical powers unknown. Location unknown

  REWARD: c. 40,000

  “Now this is more like it!” Frelka said. “You should have led with this one, Beep. It’s perfect! We’ll rid the Cannibal Plains of its inhabitants, capture its leaders, und get a treasure from a sand tower while we’re at it, ja?”

  Stone’s face paled. “The cannibal leader?”

  “But where do we take these bounties once we’ve captured them?” Burn asked, ignoring Stone’s comment. “It says how much they’re worth, but not to whom.”

  “Oh, they put that information in the corner here.” Beep pointed to a series of stamps in the corner of the poster. “Looks like we could turn this guy in to the United Cities, the Holy Nation, or the Shek Kingdom.”

  “Well, I’d vote Shek Kingdom, personally,” Stone said, his thoughts anxious to escape the thought of a cannibal leader. “The Holy Nation would kill or enslave us on sight. The United Cities could be an option, but we’re just as likely to be enslaved there as we are to be eaten by a giant Skimmer.” His eyes suddenly began to glow with admiration. “The Shek Kingdom, on the other hand, is a mighty and just kingdom led by the strongest–and most beautiful–Shek alive: Esata the Stone Golem!”

  “Well, she sounds impressive,” Shryke said without any apparent sarcasm, “but I’m not sure I’d want to get in bed with the battle-hungry Shek Kingdom.”

  “That’s the beauty of it,” Stone said. “Esata’s not battle-hungry! She’s the reason we even have a Shek Kingdom still. When our last leader, Shager, wanted to lead a final, ditch-effort attack on the Holy Nation, it was Esata who stepped up and put him down for good. She then took his place and has been teaching us the value of long-term victories over short-term skirmishes ever since.”

  Shryke raised her eyebrows. “Well, I have to admit that does sound like someone who could be helpful for us.” She looked at Frelka. “The Shek hate the Holy Nation. If we could ally with them, we’d have a much stronger backing…a lot stronger than a handful of traumatized moss ninjas who struggle against naked cannibals.”

  The table sat in silence waiting for Frelka to respond. After a few minutes, he seemed to come to a conclusion and nodded. “Well, I think it’s worth hearing them out, ja? Perhaps once we finish with the cannibals, we can make contact with the Shek. Where are they?”

  Horse pointed to a location south of the Foglands. “Here. In the Stenn Desert.”

  Frelka’s smile wavered. “Perhaps once we capture this Grand Wizard, we may be able to just send our fastest runner to make contact. Travelling as a group back through the Foglands may not be such a good decision.”

  Shryke nodded. “I’d have to agree, personally. I’d really prefer to never even see fog again, let alone travel through it.”

  “Beep.”

  They all looked up. “What is it?” Frelka asked.

  “…Beep is the fastest runner here…”

  ~~

  Baaaaahhhhhh.

  The group jumped as a goat screamed at them from a nearby rock.

  “Bah,” Beep echoed.

  “Idiot,” Shryke said, doing her best to suppress a smile.

  At this, they heard the sound of multiple goats from over the hill they were climbing. They had left the fishing village a few hours prior and had spent most of that time walking in relative silence. As they crested the hill, they laid their eyes on an entire herd of goats wandering around a small, makeshift camp. Two tents and a small fire marked the site of the Greenlander who sat on a nearby log.

  He looked up at the party as they approached. “Howdy.”

  “Hello,” Beep responded. “Are these goats yours?”

  “Yessir they are. Name’s Nick, but my friends call me Bleat on account ‘a–”

  “The goats?” Shryke finished.

  “Right you are,” Bleat responded. “You lot interested in buyin’ any?”

  Beep looked at Frelka, excitement building in his eyes. “Can we? Please?”

  Frelka looked at Beep hesitantly. “We don’t need a goat, Beep. It’d only get itself killed.”

  “I mean,” Shryke began, “maybe. These little assholes can give others pause…plus, better one of them die than one of us.” She looked back at Frelka and shrugged. “Plus, free meat.”

  “On second thought,” Bleat said, “they aren’t for sale.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Beep’s joy disappeared. “Can Beep pet them?”

  Bleat nodded. “Sure. They’ll even eat the grass from your hand if you hold it out for ‘em. Just don’t leave yer boots lyin’ ‘round at night.”

  Beep smiled and ran toward the nearest one. Just as he was getting one to eat from his hand, they heard a loud scream coming toward them.

  Frelka looked up to see a group of six naked humans, covered in red, black, and white paint, running up the hill in their direction.

  “Shit,” Bleat said. “Cannibals!”

  “Beep!” Beep squeaked as he straightened up and pulled out his sword.

  “Alright Burn,” Shryke said, “time to show me how you do in a fight. You too, newbies.” She looked back at the naked men running toward them. “Gods, why can’t they put on some damn clothes?”

  She fired and sank a bolt right into the groin of the nearest cannibal, who immediately dropped, grasping his wound and rolling down the hill, screaming in pain.

  Beep and Frelka approached their targets and lunged, but the cannibals spun quickly, avoiding the strikes. Frelka felt a searing pain in his side. He looked down to see three long, deep gashes where the cannibal had slashed at the opening in his armor.

  Stone, who had run to back up Beep, said, “Master, what do I do?”

  “Just swing at them for now,” Beep said. “You will get the feel for it with practice. Your katana is made for slashing though, not stabbing.”

  Stone looked at his blade, wavering in the midday light. He wanted to swing, but he couldn’t. He stood there, frozen, watching helplessly as Beep and the cannibal fought. Another scream caught his attention, and he turned to see another cannibal running at him. His fear skyrocketed. He could taste the adrenaline in his throat. I’m going to die here.

  As the cannibal raised his large Flesh Cleaver–a two-handed blade that looked like an elongated cleaver–Stone tried to will himself to move…but he couldn’t. All he could do is watch as his death closed in on him.

  Just as he was about to be struck, Horse tackled the cannibal to the ground, knocking the weapon from its hands. The two recovered from their tumble and began circling each other, sizing the other up. The cannibal hissed and lunged, striking out with sharpened nails, their teeth bared for an attack. Horse sidestepped the cannibal, placing one foot on the backside of the cannibal’s leg and his hand on its throat before slamming down as hard as he could. The cannibal’s head landed on a stone with a sickening cracking sound, and the cannibal was still.

  Shryke fired another bolt into one as Frelka pulled his sword from another he’d been fighting. She looked around just in time to see the last of the cannibals being bludgeoned to death by a group of angry goats.

  With the battle over, she called out, “Anyone hurt?”

  “I could use some help,” Bleat called out. “Som’bitch slashed the inside of my leg.”

  Shryke ran over and tended the man’s wounds.

  Beep turned to Stone. “Stone, what happened?”

  Frelka jumped at Beep’s tone. He had never heard the Hiver speak that way before.

  Stone stood, still frozen, as Beep descended on the Shek, who was still easily a foot taller and five or six inches wider on either side.

  “Our party was attacked, and you just stood there?! What if you had gotten killed? What if Frelka or Shryke had gotten hurt trying to save you?!”

  Shryke turned at the commotion. “Beep, hey, what’s going on?”

  Stone stood, terrified. “I-I-I’m s-s-s-sorry, Master Beep. I-I-I’ve never a-actually been in a fight like that before.”

  Beep puffed out his chest as wide as he could and stuck his hand out as though he were going to poke the man. Suddenly, the Hiver visibly deflated, and he sighed. “Beep doesn’t know how you do it, Shryke.”

  Shryke, who had quickly finished her bandaging and run over, stared at him, confused. “I’m sorry, what now? You don’t know how I do what?”

  “Be scary all the time,” Beep answered. “It’s very hard.” He turned to Stone. “Sorry, Stone. Beep was trying to think about what made him a better sword fighter.”

  Stone, whose adrenaline was finally beginning to subside, stared at the ground as his weapon fell to his side. “I’m sorry, Master Beep…Maybe my father was right; maybe I should stay away from fighting.”

  Beep’s face sank and he looked back and forth desperately between Shryke and Frelka, silently pleading for help. The two remained silent, nodding toward Stone, an encouraging look on each of their faces.

  Beep took a deep breath and placed his hand on Stone’s shoulder. “Beep is sorry. Beep thought if he channeled Shryke’s scolding, it would work, but maybe it didn’t work because Beep is not Shryke. Beep is Beep.” He stood as straight as he could before saying, “So, Beep’s advice is to get your limb chopped off, and become a Skeleton like Beep.”

  “Okay,” Shryke interjected, patting Beep on the shoulder. “Good go there, Beep. Why don’t you let me take it from here, yeah?”

  Beep smiled, walked toward the bodies, and began collecting their weapons and whatever else he could find.

  “Listen, Stone,” Shryke said. “He means well, but please don’t go getting your limbs chopped off, okay? You look strong, and limb replacements are expensive; so how about this, every day, you, Beep, and Frelka can do some drills to get your basic sword skills up, yeah?”

  Stone looked up at Shryke and nodded.

  “Good,” Shryke answered. She looked up to Frelka. “You care to say anything? Or are you just going to stand there like a large rock?”

  Frelka shook his head. “I’ve got nothing to add.”

  Shryke rolled her eyes and looked back at Stone. “Listen to me. Don’t. Lose. A limb. Got it?”

  Stone nodded and Shryke looked back to the group. “Alright, my good deed’s done for the day. Can we get a move on now?”

  ~~

  The sun was beginning to set as they reached a set of buildings they had seen a few hours prior. As they walked into the small town, they were surprised to hear no sounds nor see any signs of life. Of the half dozen Storm Houses and handful of shacks, not a single one had light coming from their windows.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Horse asked.

  “Look,” Frelka said, pointing at one of the buildings. “That one is the bar. Maybe someone will be in there.”

  As they approached the building and opened the door, they realized that the village wasn’t completely empty, as a group of Tech Hunters sat at a nearby table. They had lit a handful of candles and were eating bread, whispering to themselves. They jumped and grabbed their weapons as the group entered.

  Frelka held up his hands. “Calm, friends. We mean no harm. We were just looking for a place to spend the night, ja.”

  The Tech Hunters looked at each other and slowly sat back down as their leader said, “Aye. Well, feel free to pick a house and sleep. There’s some bread that’s still good in the bin over there.” He gestured to one of the crates behind the bar. “But I wouldn’t stay here long if I was you.”

  “What do you mean?” Shryke asked. “And do we need to pay you for the bread? Is this your bar?”

  The man shook his head. “Gods no. Me and the boys are just here for the night, same as you lot. Not sure who the place belongs to, but it ain’t me. Whole place is deserted.”

  Frelka felt a chill run down his spine. He looked around at the bar. It was set up in much the same fashion as the other bars they had been in, but that was part of what made this so eerie: despite the deserted nature of the building, everything was set up as though its owner had just stepped out to relieve themselves and would be back at any time.

  “This does not bode well,” Burn added.

  Shryke nodded. “I agree. Wherever we end up sleeping tonight, I say we do it in the same room. This place is creepin’ me out.”

  The group nodded and silently moved toward one of the tables. Shryke grabbed a handful of loaves for them. It felt wrong, but if the place truly was deserted, it’d be even more wrong to waste good food. Plus, they weren’t exactly in a position to be turning food down.

  They ate their dinner in rushed silence, conversation hovering somewhere just out of reach. Shortly after they had all finished eating, Shryke, who had gone to look around the bar, came back with a book, and a concerned look on her face.

  “Hey guys,” she said as she placed the book down in front of them, “I think you should check this out. I’m not so sure this village was abandoned. Listen to this:

  “Day forty-three

  “Okay! The walls are up, the buildings have been fortified, the turrets calibrated, and we’re all settled nicely. We’ve picked a fantastic spot to rebuild! We got water ripe for fishing, we got hills sheltering us from the harsh winds, and, best of all, we got no Holy Nation, no Empire, no nothing to tell us what to do!

  “Just a couple of dumb cannibal tribals; nothing we can’t handle. I bet those backward animals are more scared of us than we are of them! I mean, they’re running around stark naked, Okran’s goodies flopping in the wind with minds of their own. And the best weapons they got are shit-covered sticks. Maybe I'll even take a few of them as slaves for free labor! We’ll have the next empire up in no time, and all the refugees will be begging to join us!”

  She turned the page and continued.

  “Day seventy-seven

  “A few of the villagers haven't been able to hack it here in recent weeks. Minid and Petal were the last to disappear. Those lovesick fools wouldn’t know a good setup if it hit them square in the nose; probably ran away together in some passionate elopement. They thought they were secretive, but with those pining eyes and red faces, everybody could see right through their affair.

  “Then we’ve got Rekon, Bones, and Wesley…Well, that flakey triplet wouldn’t remember how to put on their own boots, let alone remember their way around these mountains. My guess is they got lost in the hills scavenging for green fruits…twits. Survival of the fittest at its finest, I guess. Who needs horny pansies and braindead buffoons anyway? We’ll build our next empire to be stronger than ever without them.”

  After a moment of silence, Frelka spoke up. “Is that it?”

  Shryke nodded. “Yeah. And based on the condition of the book and the dust on everything here, I’m guessing that last entry was a while ago.”

  “Damn,” Horse said. “An entire village taken by cannibals. Are we sure it’s safe to sleep here?”

  “If we secure our dwelling before we go to sleep, we should be fine for one night,” Burn added. “Considering this village lasted long enough to build itself, I’m guessing these cannibals did not raid every night. Besides, I doubt any of them had someone standing watch every night, which I will be able to do for us.”

  Frelka felt a gnawing discomfort in his chest. The cannibals they had fought earlier were loud and stunk–unable to be stealthy if their lives depended on it–but based on the passages, whoever invaded these people was quiet enough that no one even knew they were being hunted. He stood up, unable to sit still any longer. “Okay, Stone, let’s go practice some, ja.”

  Stone nodded and stood up, looking to Beep, who grabbed his weapon and followed Frelka out the door.

  They spent the next three hours teaching Stone the basics of sword fighting. Frelka taught him how to block and put his strength behind every swing. Beep taught him how to properly swing his katana to improve the flow of his strikes and how to properly deflect and maneuver around the enemy.

  By the end of the lesson, all three were tired and sweating, chests heaving from exertion.

  “Okay, Stone,” Frelka said between breaths, “why don’t you find the others and head to bed?”

  Stone nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Thank you, Masters Beep and Frelka.” He bowed and left to find the others, who had decided to sleep in the home next to the bar.

  After a few more minutes of recovery, Frelka turned to Beep. “Real shame about the villagers, ja?”

  Beep nodded solemnly. “It is sad indeed.”

  Frelka stared at the ground and kicked absentmindedly at a rock. “It’s just a shame that all of their hard work is just going to waste…”

  “So much work, just to be wasted and forgotten…”

  “…You know…there is one way we could help keep that from happening…”

  “Time to loot the village!” Beep declared.

  The two grinned at each other and ran off. They spent the next few hours running through every house in the village. By the time they returned to the group, their packs were full of trinkets and baubles that they’d be able to sell when they got back to World’s End.

  Burn turned to them as they entered. “Do you think it is wise to carry so much before we go into the Cannibal Plains looking for a fight?”

  Frelka waved his hand before whispering, “It’ll be fine. We’ll just toss our bags down before the fight and pick them up afterward!”

  Burn stared, his processors whirring. “I see.”

  Frelka and Beep grinned at each other, placed their packs down, and found a bed to sleep in. Frelka listened for what felt like hours, waiting to hear the sound of cannibals sneaking up on them in the night, but nothing ever came.

  Eventually, his exhaustion overcame his fear, and he slept.