Otherlife Dreams: The Selfless Hero Trilogy (31 page)

“Katarina, slap him for me? I’m unfortunately indisposed, otherwise his head would be spinning,” Thana called over. She was behind the wooden screen they’d put up as a dressing area previously. She was fastidious about changing regardless of the circumstances.

“Whoa there Kitten,” Runner pleaded, holding up his hands to Katarina. “Sorry. I admit, it sounds stupid but it still needed to be said,” admitted Runner. Despite being sincere, Nadine started to kick him repeatedly in the back.

“Alright, alright! For fucks sake already,” grumbling to himself Runner hurriedly got up and stood near the door. Motioning to an end table that held a collection of bottles. “Everyone be sure to take five of those flasks. I managed to instill a very low grade Stealth into them. It isn’t exactly master alchemy but it’ll work. Nor will it get anywhere close to Hannah’s level of ability with stealth, but it should get everyone out the door without being immediately spotted. I figure we might get twenty minutes out of each of them, more than enough to do most of the work when we need to Stealth. First things first of course, exit the Inn, get in the alley next to it.”

“Another alley. Too many alleys with you,” said Katarina. Connecting the breast plate into the gorget she let go to test the way it hung. Apparently it was sufficient as she started in on the greaves. Runner wasn’t sure why she didn’t just equip it through her character screen, but he supposed that maybe it felt more correct for a Natural to do it this way.

“I’ll get out there and take a look around. See if I can mark these whoresons for the rest of you.”

Hannah crossed the room and left them all there without waiting or a response. With a shake of his head he clapped his hands together and looked to the rest of his party.

“Right. I’d say let’s get everything ready to go then.”

11:09pm Sovereign Earth time

10/11/43

Katarina, Nadine, and Thana were lined up behind him. They’d halted at the top of the stairs, out of sight of the common room. Nearly all of the customers who were players had long gone to sleep. A bonus to experience for sleeping a majority of the night was hard to resist. The fact that it was a percentage boost to all experience gained, regardless of source, made it nearly a daily quest.

Runner activated Stealth and moved down to the first floor, the bar. Slipping between customers Runner did his best to give them enough space to not fully alert them. He paid the detection warning indicators no mind. Even if every patron in the place was suspicious of his presence they wouldn’t do anything unless he was fully revealed. Trusting in his group he didn’t look back, but instead pressed on, turning immediately to the right as he exited the building.

There at the corner of the street crouched Hannah. She waved him over to her position. If her name wasn’t floating above her head he wouldn’t have spotted her that easily.

Glory be to the Sovereign Seven for nameplates.

Sparing a glance down the roadway as he moved he couldn’t detect anyone. Reaching Hannah he passed her, not stopping until he’d entered the alley proper.

In short order Thana, Nadine and Katarina joined him, Hannah coming up last.

“Anything?” Runner inquired.

Hannah shook her head slowly. “Not a thing. I’ve been searching for two hours and I haven’t found anything. If they’re watching, they fell asleep on the job. Or maybe they’re all extremely well fucking hidden.”

“Fantastic. I’ll bet on sleeping and pray they’re not that proficient. Time to bug out.”

Turning deeper into the alley Runner started off at a slow trot. Using his left hand he called up the spell Night Sight and cast it upon himself. Runner was momentarily distracted when he realized he’d used his hand to cast something that only needed a mental command. With an imperceptible grunt he cast it again on Nadine, only using his mind to access her from the HUD and cast.

“Oh! T-that’s han-n-ndy. I can see.”

Behind him he heard a subdued clank. Flicking his eyes to the HUD he concluded with a smirk that Katarina had forgotten to drop her visor till now. The party flitted through the night time city streets like shadows. Luckily it was a new moon tonight. It provided the perfect ambiance for skulking about, no moonlight.

They stuck to the alleyways and short streets, avoiding the thoroughfares entirely, and keeping to the shadows when they had no choice. Crossing a boulevard they were separated by a series of wagons that turned a corner and cast a bright light across the road. Katarina, Nadine, and Hannah were all on the other side, Thana and Runner having been the first two to get to the other side when they noticed it coming.

Thana turned away and pressed herself into the steps leading up to a large tenement building. Deciding it as the best option available, Runner did likewise. Taking the front position he then backed up, forcing Thana into the corner. Hunching into himself as much as possible he could only curse whoever decided to lead an entire convoy of wagons through town at this hour. Probably some idiot who over estimated his speed and under estimated the distance.

Looking around with a wary eye he found no one close enough to see through their stealth. Other than the wagons and the residential buildings there was a lone closed confectioners shop with two customers who’d yet to clear out of the darkened patio.

His eyes settled on those sitting at the table and felt his heart lurch in his chest. There was his dinner companion. The woman who apparently he’d been in some type of relationship with. Sitting across from her was Mr. Personality himself. Bullard didn’t even have the demeanor of a quest NPC anymore, and seemed far more akin to one of Runner’s Awakened. It was clear he was interested in Miss Mystery from his body posture. Leaning forward, his shoulders and hips turned directly towards her, his hands spread apart and on the table between them.

Runner could only watch, his tongue too large for his mouth, his hands, feet, and heart were made of ice. It wasn’t that he was suffering the Chilled debuff from the cool night air either. The most sickening fact of all was they were too distant for the nameplates to reveal her name or be selected.

Damn the designers! DAMN THEM!

Forcing a breath through his teeth it came out in a shudder. For better or worse Miss Mystery had a hold over him. One he couldn’t even explain to himself yet.

It’d only been ten seconds since they’d crammed themselves into this spot, but now it felt like years. The wagons were just now reaching their position and trundling by. It’d be another minute or two before the last one at the end cleared them

“While difficult, and with regret, I must inquire. Do you know the young lady who seems to have our
friend
so infatuated?” Thana whispered, a concerned note in her voice. She’d noticed the pair as well.

It wasn’t something he felt he could explain correctly. It’d surely come out wrong. Thana had never balked at anything he’d asked of her though and it was his turn to share of himself. His turn to give her the trust she’d given him.

“I do, I think. She’s a player, like me. A soldier on the starship with me. I’m pretty sure she’s an ex. Pretty sure. It’s all jumbled up. I’m missing things, but there’s a lot of bitter bubbling boiling things inside me. Acrid and sharp. But it feels like a sham. Old I guess. Stale. I don’t even know her name.”

Thana’s lack of a response wasn’t very surprising. It wasn’t every day Runner offered up that much personal information in a tidy carry on of emotional baggage. What was surprising was when her cool hand rested on his elbow.

“I’ll be the first to admit I don’t truly understand. My life was written for me and was not my own. My experiences do not exist beyond more than the month of time spent with you. I can tell you this much though, whatever the root of the split may be, it’s incontrovertibly not of your doing. It’d be strange to have that intense of a negative reaction and be at fault for it.”

Runner found he wasn’t able to respond. Miss Mystery said something that made Bullard lean his head back and laugh. If Runner could throw up, he was sure his dinner would be decorating the sidewalk.

“Come, let us be away from here. Hannah will keep them safe and they’ll meet up with us further along.”

Gripping his elbow she began coaxing him from the stairwell, heedless of the wagons. Down a different street they went and into the hollow night.

An hour had passed since their close encounter and near exposure. The slow advance through the city and determination to remain unseen by all cost them in time but hopefully would pay off tenfold when they were no longer pursued. Runner and Nadine left the others behind the building they were hiding behind, moving to a spot beside the stables inside the city.

“This isn-n-n’t the person we sold it-t-t to!” whispered Nadine in an urgent voice. She still followed him, hunched over and attempted to be quiet. Her attempt at stealth was a a poor imitation of his own, though he was appreciative of her dedication to his desires.

“Anyone selling from the same faction, with the same type of equipment, will work. The trick here is this little stall was set up for people who needed to repair a wagon before or after coming off the boats. It doesn’t
sell
wagons per-se, but it does sell everything one would need. Go up there and access the vendor like I showed you. Should be right on the inside there. Pass me anything that’ll encumber you too much to move. Try to get the rear of the wagon as close as possible too.”

“I kn-n-n-now. You don’t have t-t-to tell me again, darn-n-nit.”

Harrumphing at him Nadine sidled up along the wall. Runner smiled and quirked a brow, that was probably the closest to cursing she’d ever get.

One Hannah is enough actually.

Without any indication or warning the wagon appeared atop of him. His boot happened to be pinned beneath the wheel. Startled, Runner flailed his arms and fell backwards. Kicking his foot free of the wagon wheel he looked up, trying to find Nadine so he could glare at her. There was no doubt in his mind that the placement had been intentional.

“If you’re don-n-ne playing aroun-n-n-nd back there, get everyon-n-n-ne up here,” Nadine crowed. Mirth hung in her words even if she wasn’t laughing. She stood near the base of the drivers box, smiling.

“Don’t get comfortable. The one person who can pass by with the least amount of notice is Hanners, even with the guild looking for her.”

Muttering to himself Runner grumped his way back to the others. Turning the corner he hooked a thumb in the direction he had just come from. “Right, we’re set, time to go. Nadine is loading the trade goods we’ll sell on our way.”

“Marvelous. And? What follows this juncture?” Thana asked, closing the distance between them.

Katarina stalked up behind Thana and nodded. “Mounted or on foot?”

“That’s the thing. If we just traipse out past the guards, this whole sortie was pointless and we’re back to the SP.”

“SP? The fuck are you talking about now? Actually, forget that. Hurry up with the explaining, asshole. It’s cold out,” swore Hannah. She wasn’t exactly wrong, it was below a comfortable temperature now. Hannah stomped her feet as if to warm them while waiting for him to continue.

“Sure. Katarina, Thana, Nadine, and myself get in the back. Hanners rides the driver position. She’s the least likely to be remembered even with the guild looking for her.”

“She’s a half breed. She’ll stand out.”

“Yes, you’re right Kitten. The other choices are Barbarian, full Sunless, disfigured, and player character. Any of those sounds less likely to stand out?”

Frowning Katarina turned her thoughts inward. Struggling with the problem she could only eventually shake her head at the same conclusion everyone else came to.

“Exactly. Let’s get a move on, I imagine we’ll need to move some things around and we’ll probably need to get friendly.”

“Lovely,” Thana murmured softly, rubbing her thumb and forefinger to her forehead, as if to ease a headache.

Deciding he had no reasonable response for that, Runner turned from the group with a shrug of his shoulders.

Coming to the front he gave Nadine the short version of the goal and then stepped up into the driver’s box to peer into the wagon. The wagon itself was a large conestoga wagon. Inside of it’s cargo area it was packed sideboard to sideboard with crates. They could stack them atop each other near the back where there would be a little room before it became a hazard. It wasn’t going to just get friendly in here though, it was going to be a cuddle puddle. Sighing he glanced at the team of horses at the front. They looked like a herd of gym rat horses that didn’t know the meaning of an off day. They’d be worthless for riding or running quickly, but pulling a load of goods at a trot for a long time would be child’s play.

Looking at Nadine he smiled tightly. “That’s quite a few crates Nadine.”

“I, uhh. I n-n-never had so much seed mon-n-ney or space. I bought a lot of great-t-t products I couldn-n-n-n’t normally. Bargain-n deals I promise!”

An unspoken lament crossed his mind and he just shook his head.

“Are you sure we’re not married? You spent my coin like it was yours.”

“If we were, I’d have spent what’s in-n-n your pocket t-t-too.”

Chortling at her comment Runner started in on rearranging the crates until there was some room for the four of them to crowd into. Utilizing the wagon’s interface to whip crates around inside the storage areas he was able to complete his task quickly. There really wasn’t much he could do, but he managed to get the most out of it and it even managed to face forward.