Forest of Desire (The Alchemist Book #2): LitRPG Series Read online

  “Yes,” the black said. “Tailyn Vlashich is the personal enemy of Halas, lord of the lixes. Whoever brings the boy alive or dead will be showered with gifts!”

  “Shaman,” Berad asked, barely concealing his excitement, “have your warriors returned, yet?”

  “No,” the latter replied after quickly checking for his apprentice’s insignia on the attendance wall. “But they should be here shortly.”

  Suddenly, the piercing cry of a bird shattered the silence reigning over the red lix den. The six-limbed creatures clutched their heads and threw themselves onto the ground — the cry was unpleasant and terrifying. Still, the stronger among them looked up in an effort to pick the creature out in the sky, as there hadn’t been any flying creatures in the area for the previous two hundred years. They’d all been eaten. But the lixes were wrong, as the winged monster hadn’t appeared in the sky. It was right there on the ground. Looking like an enormous bat, it somehow spoke the eagle tongue. Its black, webbed wings and elongated face edged with teeth weren’t just for observing; the level thirty epic pet could take out a small town on its own. Even though he hated to do it, Berad had burned his second-to-last fruit bat charge. In that moment, he needed eyes in the sky, checking to make sure he knew where the shaman’s apprentice was even if he was wrong and the character was just stepping into the camp. There was too much at stake. And Berad knew the black lix was telling the truth — Halas was harsh with anyone who went rogue.

  The fruit bat flew up into the sky, let out its unpleasant screech, and hurtled off in the direction its master sent it. Another window popped up in front of Berad to show him everything his pet could see. Not only that, but the picture overlaid on top of the local map he already had, making the whole thing easier than pie.

  The shaman’s apprentice was nowhere to be seen. Not a minute later, not two minutes later. Berad knew which road they were supposed to be taking, so he flew on in search of the smallest hint that would tell him where the lixes had disappeared to. And he found one. Half an hour later, the fruit bat was hovering above the charred remains of the camp. Nothing remained of the bodies, with just the horses and wagons showing up for the ranger’s perception. That was all that remained of Mu-Ro-Div’s promising apprentice.

  The pet dropped lower and began circling the camp. All Berad cared about was finding the boy, the numericals’ shimmering boxes not interesting him in the least. But there was nothing to see. The fruit bat couldn’t send the whole picture back to its master, and the ranger’s perception didn’t pick up little details. He needed to be there in person to figure out what had happened. And so, after taking a wider circle and failing to pick up tracks, the pet crumbled to the earth as fine black dust when its master blew on his card.

  “Everyone up; we’re moving out!” Berad grabbed the crystals that were owed him and leaped onto his horse. The mercenaries were already there — they’d heard the bird call and realized they were in for a hard ride. Rage swept over the detachment leader. The red lix had assured him everything would go off without a hitch, that the group would be delivered to the lix hideout on time. But disaster had struck? His easy old age was running around somewhere in the steppe. No, the shaman needed to be punished, and Berad yelled over when he saw the black lix nearby.

  “Your apprentice let you down, Mu-Ro-Div! He couldn’t hang on to Tailyn Vlashich, and now he’s dead. You can explain to Halas why his enemy is still roaming free, not to mention why you don’t keep your promises. And in the meantime, I’ll be out in the step trying to fix your mistake. We’ll be back soon!”

  The black lix whirled around to face the shaman, looking for an explanation, but the fifteen mercenaries didn’t see the end of that story. They were already galloping away.

  At that moment, a gloomy-faced Valanil was looking up into the sky and listening. She’d noticed the flying scout ahead of time and found them a place to hide, and while the fruit bat was a long distance away, it was obvious what it was looking for. And that changed everything. Suddenly, the woman knew they didn’t have two days, and so she turned to Tailyn when the creature disintegrated.

  “Berad is going to push his horses and show up at the camp in four hours. They’ll pick up our tracks from there, so we have to get to the mountains. We’ll try to hide there.”

  Valanil pointed to the right of the course they’d been pursuing for the previous few hours. Tailyn looked over in that direction to see some mountains, and he realized the hills and gullies had kept them hidden before. Still, the herbalist’s plan struck him as odd.

  “But that’s not on the way. It’s — ”

  “It’s even deeper into lix territory. I know. But we don’t have a choice — they’ll catch us out here in the steppe like it’s nothing. Our only shot is the mountains, so let’s go. We can’t waste a minute! Okay, we’re going to run a little differently now. Listen to me carefully…”

  Again, they took off. That time, when Tailyn realized he was getting tired, he slowed to a walk. Valanil didn’t let him stand still. But the boy dug deep and found the strength to go on, getting started without warning. The herbalist caught up and stayed next to him. When they got to the hills, she pushed him from behind, and that turned out to save time even if Valanil started running out of breath, too. Pushing a kid up a mountain wasn’t easy…

  “They headed toward Salin!” Sloan yelled. “Two of them, the boy and the woman. On foot.”

  “Both mages survived… The lixes underestimated them. What about the loot?”

  “Nothing — they took it all. The horses are goners; leave them for the night creatures. It looks like they didn’t know how to take apart the security system since it’s still here. Nothing that nice, but it’ll pick up a hundred gold.”

  “Grab the system, cut the horses loose. If the god wishes it, they’ll survive. Move it! They have half a day’s head start, but we’re on horseback. If we don’t catch them by nightfall, they’ll be eaten, and then we won’t have anything to show for all this.”

  Berad had no way of knowing that the exhausted, staggering pair had just reached the foot of the mountains. It was an entire range that led deep into red lix territory. Yet again, Valanil berated herself for never getting the maps for the area, as she’d come to terms with the green lixes on the Culmart attack, planning on skipping into another empire through their territory. That would have seen her avoid the reds, the blacks, and even the mythical whites if they actually existed. And while the greens had given her maps of their territory, she was a few hundred meters farther south, in the depths of the Gray Lands, somewhere sensible people just didn’t go. At least, not law-abiding people. Crystal fences were fine there, and many of them, unfortunately enough, had excellent heads on their shoulders.

  “That way!” Valanil pointed at a small crevice. They were going to have to climb up to it, but that was perfect — it meant horses couldn’t get up. Tailyn just nodded and started ahead without even thinking. His strength long gone, he was running on bare obstinacy, and the pair of runaways helped each other up the mountain. Happily, it wasn’t as steep as other inclines Tailyn had seen, and with plenty of gnarled trees to grab hold of, so it wasn’t too hard of a climb.

  When the pair reached the crevice, Valanil looked back out over the steppe and cursed. Their pursuers were on the horizon. And while they looked like little black ants right then, they were only an hour’s ride from the mountains.

  “Hurry up!” Valanil said, panic creeping into her voice. “We have to find somewhere to hide!”

  Leaving Tailyn to potter up on his own, the herbalist ran off. She had to save herself. There was too much she had planned for her life…

  “Dismount!” Berad ordered, leaping off his horse first and angrily kicking an upturned stone. They were too late. Just barely, but still. The runaways had chosen the only option that would extend their worthless lives another couple hours, at least until night fell and the creatures that inhabited them came out to play. “Set up camp. We’ll find whate
ver’s left of them tomorrow and head back.”

  “How did they think of heading for the mountains?” Sloan asked in annoyance as he stopped his horse. The poor animal was barely standing upright. Leaping down lightly, the ranger began setting up the security system. Even he was afraid of the night creatures.

  “The chick turned out to be unusually smart,” laughed Fano, a squad leader. After making sure that Berad was looking in his direction, he continued. “Commander, permission for me and my boys to head into the mountains? A donkey could tell you they headed for that crevice less than an hour ago. A kid and a girl, both mages, neither strength nor agility between them. They’re probably crouched behind a tree shaking in terror.”

  “You should — ” Sloan started, though Berad gestured for his second in command to be quiet. Fano had been in his detachment for several years, and he’d managed to both put together a group loyal to him and make a couple runs at a leadership role. Sloan’s, at least.

  “You have an hour,” Berad said, looking up at the sun. “Once night falls, nobody’s getting back into the dome. Move out.”

  “Follow me,” Fano said with a whistle. A trio of fighters started up.

  Sloan watched them go. After they’d gotten far enough away, he looked over at the commander.

  “The kid is tougher than he looks. And the chick… Something tells me she’s from the academy or Crobar. Probably, Crobar, judging by the way she was teaching the kid how to dodge flasks and use a sword.”

  “It’s his choice,” Berad said with a shrug. “If he pulls it off, he’ll have earned a bonus. If not… I’ll have to worry about where to find three more fighters, but I’ll be rid of another headache. Just take care of the shield. By nightfall, we need to be under cover — I don’t like these mountains. The lixes always look too nervous when they’re talking about them.”

  Chapter 4

  THE CAVE Valanil had found was big, the size of the Culmart square. But regardless, it was still empty, as the herbalist asked Tailyn to scan every nook and cranny. There was nothing. Just bare walls and the odd stone. No tunnels, no hidden niches, nothing that triggered the boy’s perception.

  “We can’t cover the opening,” Valanil said, look back sadly at the yawning entrance. Two wagons would have fit through side by side without even touching each other. And there would even have been room for a third at the top so long as it could fly. “We’ll take turns guarding — you sleep first.”

  “Sleep?! How?!” Tailyn asked in horror. “They’re hunting us!”

  “Nobody will be coming up right now. The night monsters in the Gray Lands are worse than people, so you sleep. You’re our only weapon. When everything starts going down, I’ll wake you up.”

  Valanil didn’t even think about taking Tailyn’s cards. Much as it pained her, the boy’s parameters already surpassed hers, and even if she did get his cards, that would take them out of his active deck. If anything happened, they would have been useless to him. Although… There was one thing they needed to do right then.

  “Neither of us have much of a shield left,” Valanil said.

  “Nope,” Tailyn replied, pulling up his status table glumly. In the time they’d been running, his had only picked up 204. Any good hit was going to be lethal.

  “So, what’s the problem? Why aren’t you doing anything about that?”

  “What can I do? My shield restores 17 every hour, and…” The boy stopped short when he saw the herbalist’s angry expression.

  “What do you think you have cards for, idiot? You have enough mana to charge them multiple times over! Spend one full card on me, charge it, and do the same for yourself. Then, wait for your mana to recharge. When are you going to start thinking with your head?”

  Tailyn’s face fell — Valanil’s words had struck home. There he was, thinking he was all grown-up and responsible, and he’d missed such an easy trick.

  You used Enhanced Shield-I 50 times.

  Valanil Revolt’s shield was enhanced by 22350.

  ***

  Enhanced Shield-I recharged. Charges remaining: 50 of 50.

  You spent 350 mana. Restoration speed: 20 mana per hour.

  ***

  You used Enhanced Shield-I 50 times.

  Your shield was enhanced by 22350 (22554).

  The excess shield will disappear in 12 hours. You received a Weakness debuff: for the next 24 hours, you will not be able to increase your shield beyond the maximum level (3231).

  ***

  Enhanced Shield-I recharged. Charges remaining: 50 of 50.

  Twenty-two thousand shield. Tailyn’s jaw dropped when he dumped the entirety of the card into Valanil. It was almost the same as the protective dome Ka-Do-Gir had taken, and even though everything was going to be back to normal twelve hours later, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t repeat the trick, the boy was elated. The pair’s enemies had nothing on them.

  “Fano, we need to head back. They’re gone!” came a shout, and Tailyn’s elation washed away. Fantasizing about the kind of heroic figure he cut was one thing; coming face to face with an actual enemy was something entirely different. Valanil muttered a curse, too. The crystal fences were even coming after them at night.

  “They couldn’t have gotten far!” replied the one whose name was apparently Fano. “Keep looking.”

  “It’s dark. We’re losing the tracks,” said a third. “The sun’s going down in just five minutes. We still have time to get back!”

  “No!” Fano yelled. “If we go back without the kid, we might as well leave the group. You want them laughing at us? Keep looking. They have to be hiding somewhere around here. Hey, look, a fire! Those idiots lit a fire. Follow me!”

  Everything inside Tailyn suddenly turned cold. It wasn’t because of what Fano had said, either — there was a flickering flame in the cave. Next to one of the far walls, a fire really had been lit, and there was every chance it would attract all the monsters in the vicinity.

  “You said it was empty in here!” Valanil hissed angrily as she grabbed Tailyn and pushed him against the wall by the entrance. They hid behind an outcropping rock. Not only that, but she also threw some kind of cloak over them that blended in with the stone. She had to assume it wouldn’t do much against actual rangers, but the habit of fighting to the end was drilled into her brain. If it hadn’t been for the unexpected fire, Valanil would have actually risked attacking the trio. Judging by their voices, it was the most inveterate of the fighters who were out thirsting for blood. And it would have been better to die in battle than lose her soul and body to the Forest of Desire.

  “It was empty,” Tailyn whispered back, not sure what was going on. His scanner still told him the cave was completely empty. It wasn’t even showing the fire.

  “Quiet!” Valanil placed a hand over the boy’s face, though all she felt was his cold armor as he turned on his hermetic seal. Soon, she fell silent, too, as four silhouettes showed up at the entrance. Valanil did her best not to breathe. The tough-looking men were just a few steps away, and they were all staring in the direction of the fire.

  “You’re caught! Nowhere to run!” Fano, the group leader, said angrily. Valanil recognized him — he’d been on the next wagon over during the fight with the red lixes. That told her Berad was still the one chasing them rather than a random crystal fence who’d happened across the demolished camp. But how had he figured out so quickly that something was wrong with the lix caravan?

  “I can’t see them. There’s nothing on the scanner.”

  “They’re hiding, but that’s fine. We’ll find them. Nalio,” Fano said, jabbing a finger into the chest of one of his sidekicks, “you cover the door. Nobody gets out, and stick something over it so we can spend the night here. Everyone else with me!”

  Pulling their weapons out just in case, three fighters stepped forward.

  “Stick something over it…” muttered Nalio, a level twenty-four swordsman. As he looked around at the width of the entrance, he just sighed.
“Where am I supposed to find that much fabric? And why did we even come here? Could have just picked up the remains in the morning… Now we’re going to have to spend the whole night awake.”

  Nalio went on whining like an old woman at the market complaining about the prices for potatoes and onions. Still, he did great work, pulling out an enormous roll of thick cloth and beginning to pin it down to one side of the entrance.

  “They’re not here,” exclaimed one of the fighters from the depths of the cave, and it was right then that the entrance closed down. Not completely, of course, as there was still enough room for both Valanil and Tailyn to crawl between the sharp rocks that had popped out of the floor and ceiling, but the herbalist just pushed the boy closer against the wall. She’d realized with horror where fate had cast them, and all she wanted was a way out. But there was none.