18 – Fragile Friendships
“You know the guy? Leo?” Omar asked, dark eyebrows arching. Andy glanced at him, then at Kent, still trying to reconcile the human na against the monstrous emissary he’d seen.
Kent nodded, but he didn’t look at Omar; he was staring at Denise. “We do.”
Denise sighed and walked around Andy to sit down on the bleachers. Looking up at him, she said, “He and a few people like him joined us on day two of the apocalypse. Trolls, they called themselves. Despite their monstrous appearance, they spoke English, and they seed really reasonable. They were strong, and we needed strong people back then. I an, we still do, but we were in trouble. Monsters were everywhere back then, roving the streets and trying to raid us every damn night.”
Kent nodded, sitting down beside Denise. Andy felt awkward, being the only one still standing, but he leaned on his spear and tried not to loom. Kent cleared his throat and added, “Then they turned on us. We didn’t know it was them at first, but a few kids disappeared one night.” His voice grew quiet, his face wan. “They were eating them.”
“That’s enough, Kent.” Denise put her hand on his arm, and he nodded, looking up at Andy.
“If you want to know true evil, look no further. Those bastards…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
Andy looked at him for a minute, trying to absorb the horror of his tale, then he focused on Denise. “So, I take it they ran away when you figured it out?”
“We killed one of them, but yeah, Leo and two others escaped.”
Andy frowned, rubbing his chin. “Trolls, huh? And they’re smart. I an, the one I saw—Leo, I guess—was speaking to the goblins in their language. Does that an goblins and trolls have the sa language?”
Denise shook her head. “I don’t know. They were only with us a few days, and they never communicated with any of the monsters that attacked us.”
“You guys know where they went?” Omar asked, getting to the at of the matter.
Denise turned to regard him, thin lips pressed tight. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “Well, they went north.” She turned to Kent. “Any ideas?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kent shrugged. “ and so others tracked them up into the Catalinas, up through the foothills neighborhoods, but we lost the trail and, well, there were a lot of hungry monsters roaming the streets back then. Still are, of course, but it’s different now; the worst of them have established territories.”
“Think you could show us where you lost the trail?” Andy asked.
Kent glanced at Denise, and she nodded. “We need to put a stop to him. If he’s convincing other monsters to attack settlents like ours—” Her brow wrinkled as she stopped short and looked up at Andy. “I noticed you didn’t show us where your settlent was on the map.”
Andy tried to smile, but it probably looked a little forced. “Well, I don’t know you. You know how it is; we’ve got people we need to protect.”
Denise didn’t drop her gaze, and she didn’t relent. “Would be nice to know there are so friendly folks out there. If sothing were to happen…” She hesitated, looked at Kent, then back to Andy. “You know where we are! Think about that. If you had to run—if your settlent failed like so many have—you could co here. You’ve got a backup plan. That’s all we want—to know we’re not it, you know? We’re not the end.”
Andy knew all too well what she ant. Feeling like the whole world had gone crazy—everyone dead or gone mad with violence—like the last bit of humanity was hanging on by their fingernails, had been the topic of more than one late night conversation around the cookfires recently. He nodded. “To be honest, we half expected you folks to spring a trap. I think Omar might still expect it. It’s hard to believe there are more decent folk carrying on after everything we’ve seen.”
Omar chuckled, but it wasn’t lost on anyone that his shield was balanced on his steel-toed boots and he gripped the sides, ready to haul it up and spring into action. “We’ve seen our own version of your Leo, I think. Well…” He grimaced, shaking his head. “Maybe not as bad, but bad enough.”
Denise nodded, but she wasn’t smiling; this was a serious issue to her. She was looking up at Andy, eyes unblinking. “So? Will you tell us where you are? Can we be friends, Andy?”
Andy jamd his fingers into his hair, pushing it back as he inhaled. “Tell you what. Let’s handle this crisis and then you can put together a, um, delegation, and we’ll escort you for a visit.”
She stared at him for a few more seconds, then nodded. “Sounds fair. Kent? You good with taking these guys out there?”
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“Not only good, but eager. Leo Rukowski’s been on my to-do list for too damn long.” He leaned forward to look past Denise at Omar. “You two want to stay the night or head out now? Nightti can be a little…different these days.”
“Andy?” Omar asked.
Andy thought about it, about how he wanted to get the situation settled so he could focus on getting squite sa ready for the invasions he’d just ntioned to Denise. He thought about how he was eager to get back because shouldn’t Lucy be getting back any day now? Frowning, he shook his head. “Guess we better wait until the sun’s up. No sense in piling on extra risks. Besides, it gives a chance to look around your settlent—see what I can learn.”
“Not really fair,” Denise said, but she smiled. “Just so you return the favor soon.” She stood, then added, “Normally this is as far as non-citizens go, but I’ll show you around a little.” She looked at Omar. “That goes for both of you if—”
He waved a hand. “No, thanks. I’m going to do so ditation and think about how to spend a couple of Improvent Points.”
She barked a quick, sharp laugh. “Imagine how people would have looked at you a month ago if you had said sothing like that.”
Omar chuckled. “Things have certainly changed.”
“Um,” Andy said, as a dark thought flashed through his mind. “I just realized sothing.”
Denise turned back to him, her eyes narrowing at his tone. “What’s that?”
“Well, the troll, Leo—my quest has been calling him an emissary.”
“Any emissary to what?” Kent asked imdiately.
Denise’s eyes widened as Andy nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”
“You think he might have been speaking to more than just that goblin horde?” Denise asked, her eyes drifting to the heavy tal doors of the gymnasium.
“Relax,” Kent said. “We’ve got guards watching every direction. We can handle so goblins—even a couple thousand.” He sighed and reached down to pick up his bow. “Still, I’ll feel better after I make so rounds. You good, Denise?”
“Yeah. I’ll give Andy the cheap tour.”
As Kent walked off, Denise gestured to the mostly empty gym floor. “You can set up a sleeping bag wherever you want, Omar.”
“Thank you.” He looked at Andy, arching an eyebrow, and Andy realized his mistake; all of their camping supplies were in his ring. He was saved from having to make an excuse, though, when Denise put a hand on his shoulder and pointed to the far side of the gym where so people were sitting at tables, apparently interviewing potential citizens.
“I’m going to have a word with so of my people. Just et over by those doors in about five minutes.”
“Sounds good.”
She stood and walked across the gym, and Andy led Omar to an open section of the floor between two bleacher stands. As nonchalantly as he could, he knelt down and then drew their sleeping bags and backpacks out of the magical ring. “I dunno,” he whispered, “just act like we always had them, I guess.”
Omar shrugged. “It’s magic, man. People need to accept weird things nowadays.”
“Yeah, but our friendship with these people is new and fragile, I guess, and this ring is a hell of a temptation. Let’s try to keep it between us.”
Omar frowned, but he didn’t argue as he spread out his sleeping bag and sat down on it. “I’ll be here.”
Andy nodded. “I won’t be gone long.”
###
Later that evening, after following Denise around for a pretty limited tour, Andy reflected on the many things they were doing differently than squite Hollow. Most noticeable was that Tanque Verde—as they had nad their settlent—did not have a council. Denise called all the shots because, like Andy, she’d done the most when it ca to driving hostiles away from the school. At least that was the case according to the System’s trics.
Denise downplayed what she’d done, but Andy could see the respect people held for her. She was a Mage class—the first with that title that Andy had t. She showed him one of her spells, one that she’d used to great effect liberating the school. Whispering a few words that slid in and out of Andy’s mind before he could grasp them, her eyes had glowed faintly blue with mana, and then she’d shimred and disappeared.
A mont later, she’d poked him in the shoulder and suddenly she was there, her invisibility shattered by the act of touching him. During the rest of the tour, Andy couldn’t stop speculating—wondering how much mana she had, what other spells she might know, and how he might be able to guide soone at squite sa into acquiring the class. He even thought about trying to do so himself; it seed it would be a potent secondary class that might eventually synergize with Brimstone Stalker.
She gave him a tour of their gardens, of the forge they’d created in the shop class, and of their defensive periter. He had a feeling she chose the latter part of the tour for more than one reason: to demonstrate their strength and also so she could check up on things. All seed quiet when she guided him back to the gym.
He wasn’t given a tour of the main school buildings. She said it was because that was where the families lived and she didn’t want to disturb people putting kids to sleep. Andy thought maybe she didn’t want him to know everything they had going on. He couldn’t bla her. The fact that he’d been given a tour at all was heartening, and it made him hopeful for their future relations. He hoped it was a positive sign of things to co.
As their tour ca to an end, he broached the subject of her class, and she’d promised to teach him how she’d acquired it—for a price. She wanted knowledge of equal value.
He sighed, and Omar chuckled from his sleeping bag.
“What’s got you tossing and turning?”
“Thinking about Denise’s class, wondering what I could offer her without violating the oath.”
“Well, that’s a problem for another day. Let’s cross one bridge at a ti. Tomorrow we hunt trolls.”
“And whatever they’re serving.”
Omar grunted, and Andy closed his eyes. When he pictured Leo the troll and imagined more creatures like him, he felt an uneasy sinking sensation in his gut. Those creatures were not goblins; they were sothing far cleverer and stronger. Whatever they were serving had to be a force to be reckoned with. The thoughts kept him awake for a long ti until he finally realized why; deep down, instinctively, he knew he shouldn’t be tracking those enemies down while he was in his Lancer class.
“Shouldn’t be sleeping in a strange settlent in it either,” he muttered. Omar’s steady breathing didn’t hitch; he was asleep. His mysterious unease figured out, Andy took a mont to open his status sheet and change his class. Ten minutes later, with eyes that glowed amber with the secret knowledge of fire and smoke, Andy allowed himself to fall asleep.
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