Ceaseless rain falls on Thrycion's lush soil. Four figures approach a small fishing village. The muddy and thin road they follow runs through a collection of small, sturdy wooden houses. A dozen large fishing boats are secured at a sturdy wharf nearby.
"Everyone is in and dry," Azor the Golon rumbles. He gently places his massive hand on Bryong's shoulder. Bryong smiles at her friend. Azor is a hulking form, eight feet high and five feet wide. His body is slate black granite laced with veins of sapphire that glint in the light of Thrycion’s two moons, Wyn Forx and Litna. The wet sod sinks half a foot beneath his one-ton frame.
"We'll be inside and dry as well soon enough," Bryong kicks her horse and rides ahead to Kinewyn and Coveark. Kinewyn and Coveark are talking in low tones and fall silent as Bryong approaches.
The long, delicate lines of his face and willowy form show Kinewyn to be an Elf. His silver hair shows he is old even for his race. In fact hours in hard rain have done little to lessen Kinewyn’s natural elegance.
Coveark is a sharp contrast to the old Elf. His short cropped hair is dark. His bright blue eyes scan the fishing village. His wiry frame is wrapped in earth-tone leather armor. His deep green cloak is bone dry despite the rain.
Kinewyn holds out a fat leather pouch to Bryong.
"Thank you, Kinewyn," Bryong ties the pouch to her belt as she rides.
Kinewyn steps his horse around a puddle, "No thanks are necessary. You earned every gold piece. I am sure your village will appreciate your generosity. Judging from the decreased number of boats on the wharf it looks like they could use this gift."
Bryong nods and glances at Coveark. Kinewyn’s voice cuts through her mental fog and she draws her eyes down away from Coveark quickly. "We can only stay the night. No more. You know your parents will ask for a month."
Bryong nods.
The adventurers pass the second house of the village and a door swings open. Three children charge into the street, "Azor! Azor! Azor!" they call out.
The three children jump up to cling to Azor. Azor scoops them up as one and embraces them gingerly before lifting them to sit on his shoulders.
The noise brings other villagers to their windows and in moments Bryong, Coveark, Kinewyn and Azor are surrounded by over a hundred villagers.
Thelia, Bryong's mother, emerges from the crowd, "Sweet, sweet child..."
Thelia has the same fiery beauty as her daughter. She hugs Bryong close. Bryong's father, Frarn, stands smiling behind Thelia. Frarn pats Bryong's shoulder and says nothing. It is obvious he is hiding sorrowful joy at seeing his daughter.
Coveark glances at the rooftops suspiciously and quickly backs into the crowd that surrounds his band mates.
The excited crowd leads Bryong, Kinewyn and Azor into the village's fish house. None seem to notice Coveark's sudden absence. A roaring fire in the fish house’s center spreads warmth to occupying villagers. They usher the three adventurers to seats and bring food. Azor plays with the children, allowing them to swing from his arms and scurry up him like mountain climbers.
Bryong is surrounded by her mother, father and three sisters. A handsome young fisherman meets her eye from across the room. The look that passes between them is full of history and fire. They both look away quickly. Bryong picks unproductively at the food brought to her. She sets the plate aside." Thank you all. It is good to be home. We will have to leave you in the morning but while I am here I wish to give all of you a gift." Bryong holds the leather purse high, "Five hundred gold pieces for new boats, new homes or whatever you choose to use it for. I am not a part of your daily tasks but I remember the labor. I wish to do my part to help the village."
Boat Master Fation, a thin man wearing the clothes of a scholar rather than those of a fisherman, steps forward and receives the heavy pouch. His smile disappears as he takes the gold into his hand, " Thank you, Bryong. We all thank you. In the two seasons you have been with Kinewyn’s Band you have given over two thousand gold pieces to our humble village. But today we must return your gift -" Fation places the pouch back in Bryong's hands, cupping them around the gold. "And ask for another."
Bryong's confusion shows on her face as she looks around the fish house. The villagers are now hesitant to meet her gaze.
Kinewyn remains seated but his easy posture shifts almost unnoticeably to a ready position. Azor carefully lifts the children off his shoulders and steps forward.
Fation's eyes scan the crowd for a few seconds, searching for something, "In place of gold we ask you for a service. Not even one double black moon ago our humble village was visited by none other than Prince Ayson Trajon. He traveled fifteen leagues with no other purpose than to speak to Frarn and Thelia, parents to the land's best freecaster." Fation steps closer to Bryong, extending his smooth-skinned hand." King Trajon formally asked our village to persuade you to present yourselves at his court before the next double black moon. We ask you, Bryong, as a daughter of our community to honor your mother and father's request. We ask you, Kinewyn, to honor the peace between the Kingdoms of Man and the Bind of Elves. Present yourself to King Trajon."
Fation steps back again, waiting for Bryong's reply.
Bryong opens her mouth to speak, discomfort plain on her face. Kinewyn stands and raises a hand. In a smooth, quick gesture he snatches the gold from Bryong's hands and casts the pouch into the fire, "We have overstayed our welcome. Thank you each and every one of you for your hospitality. We must take our leave of you now."
Azor heads for the looming double doors of the fish house before Kinewyn has finished speaking. Bryong does not hesitate to follow.
Figures appear at the open doors of the fish house. As the figures come out of the hard rain and into the fish house the open fire casts red, dancing illumination on their armor.
Azor's hand goes to Klage, the mammoth sword hanging across his back. He draws the five-foot sword from the scabbard. The sword's matte-black face drinks the light that falls on it until the string of runes etched onto its surface begin to glow. The blue-radiance of the sword runes glint from the sapphire veins that run up Azor's forearms and close to his short neck.
Bryong's father runs in front of the stone giant and raises his hands, "I am sorry, Bryong. We could not warn you. The Prince, Bryong, the Prince charged us to persuade you to come to the King. These men... I had no part. Forgive me, daughter."
Azor stops short of trampling Frarn. Bryong moves her mouth but finds no words.
Kinewyn laughs and turns to look at the villagers, ending his scan on Fation, "Fifty of the King's knights?"
Armored knights now fill the fish house, surrounding the old elf and his band mates."
"Fifty troops to bring in Kinewyn’s band! Why not try to empty the sea with your hat, Fation? Azor alone could slay these men in a dressing's time."
Dozens of swords leap from their scabbards and King Trajon's knights swing back their white and blue cloaks for battle. Azor moves Frarn away effortlessly and grunts in anticipation.
Kinewyn shouts, "No!" The old elf raises a hand to Azor. "We will go with you."
Kinewyn gestures for Azor to sheath his great blade, which the Golon fighter does immediately.
"We will go with you not at the 'request' of this village or the King. We will go so the King may learn what it means to threaten Kinewyn’s Band."
Kinewyn walks into the rain and begins preparing his horse to ride with the King's knights.
Azor and Bryong follow Kinewyn with the villagers moving tentatively behind them. The villagers, save Fation, hang their heads in shame at the betrayal of their communal daughter.
One of the knights signals for the horses to be brought in and approaches Kinewyn, "I am Baron Grell. I have been tasked by King Trajon to return you and each of your accomplices to Taltherin. We will not leave this village until we have found the ranger who serves you, Elf."
Kinewyn grins and mounts his horse, "Then you should start learning to fish and build a house here, Baron Grell."
EARTH – GAMECON
IN MILWAUKEE
Stephen puts down the anime DVD. "Committed?"
Marcia brushes long strands of blue hair from her eyes." I know, I know. I couldn't believe it either."
Marcia pulls Stephen closer to her to get him out of the way of booth traffic. The Convention Center is packed and gamers pour past the two on all sides. It is evident from the dress, speech and movement of the convention goers that they are from every state in the US and a few are from various countries around the world. A large banner behind Stephen and Marcia reads "GameCon".
"It seems Korbach just snapped over the whole buyout thing. His daughter had him committed. He is in a loony bin down in Atlanta ."
Stephen backs up a step, jostling a plastic container filled with twelve-sided dice. It is obvious he is not comfortable being this close to her, "Where'd you hear this, Marcia?"
"David White, that new editor for the Shadowblade RPG."
Stephen frowns, "I can guess why White told you this."
Stephen's eyes dart down Marcia's form. Marcia is pretty and she stands out in the male-majority throng of gamers passing them. Anger shows on Stephen's face.
"Stephen, it is not a big secret, it is all over the RPG net sites. You haven't heard about it because you had your nose buried in your books for mid-terms, I bet."
Stephen nods. "So you're saying that Christopher Korbach, the creator of the Blade & Bolt RPG, was committed to a mental institute because he said the RPG game he created was not a game, but his own guide to a real world that he visited back in the late 60's?"
"Yes... It happened. I know you've read all three thousand pages Korbach wrote for Blade & Bolt and the guy is a hero of yours, but that's exactly what happened."
Stephen puts his fingers to his temple and Marcia places a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and smiles suddenly, "So the buyout of Korbach's Company by Game Wizards is canceled?"
"No. Korbach's daughter Christa is handling all the details of the buyout. How could she have that much control of Korbach's company?"
Stephen looks frustrated. Trying to keep a personal space is making it difficult for him to hear her. "Since Christa was eighteen she's owned and controlled half the company. It's those stupid collectable card games..."
Marcia moves back closer to Stephen to get out of the way of a gamer trying to look at the new releases in the booth behind her.
Stephen grimaces and looks around at the convention floor. His eyes go to the Game Wizard's gigantic foam castle spanning four aisles and dozens of booths. Every booth displays the same neon banner, "Vortex Collectible Card Game!"
"I heard Korbach actually passed up the opportunity to buy and develop Vortex Cards for only $20,000 when Game Wizards was first trying to get it off the ground."
"That's true. It was in the early 90's. Game Wizard's launched an entirely new form of gaming with Vortex collectible cards. Korbach objected to the collectable aspect of collectible card games saying that players would be required to buy hundreds of packs in order to be competitive. He was absolutely right but he completely miss-judged gamers willingness to buy collectibles. Korbach passed up buying Vortex Collectible cards for fifteen thousand actually and now ten years later Game Wizards is doing a quarter billion annually and has crushed the fan base that Korbach's B&B relies on."
Stephen looks again at the foam castle and Vortex banner and hangs his head, "You know I met Korbach when I came to my first GameCon in '94. My dad left my mom when I was eight and it meant something to me when I would shake Korbach's hand each year and even though 365 days had passed he still remembered my name. You know I think that was my new year's day every year. I resolved to myself to be a great writer and great creator and a great man like Korbach."
Marcia smiles softly at Stephen, "Stephen, are you all right?"
Stephen forces a crooked smile.
Marcia pulls her pink backpack from the floor to her shoulder. " Listen, Stephen, I am sorry. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. I really got to get going though. I'm gamemastering one of the new Sixth Age campaign modules for RPG Alliance at one. I'm staying with the Purdue group over at the Remington. Why don't you come over tonight? Jason is running a midnight Ravendark session."
"Thanks, I appreciate the invite but I'm going to be busy." Stephen snaps his cell phone from his belt and starts to head away. He stops and moves back to her. "Marcia, do you think it could be true, that Thrycion, the world Korbach based B&B in, could be a real place?"
Marcia grins and steps closer. "Of course not, Stephen. Korbach's creation, tens of thousands of pages of imagination and gaming passion was being placed on the auction block like just another item on eBay. He poured his heart and soul into that game and so did many of the other writers and quite a few players I know." She pauses and holds Stephen's view. "It's understandable to snap under that kind of pressure. But you're a good enough GM to know that at some point you have to be able separate the real world from the game world. Bad things happen when you can't do that."
Stephen nods and unclips his mobile from his belt. "Thanks, Marcia. I have to go now, too." Stephen rushes out of the merchant's hall and into the surrounding hallway of the convention center. He text messages the email address that bounces to Derek's mobile. "Derek, meet me in Atlanta tomorrow night. I can't explain why. I need you to trust me. I'll forward the location soon."
Chapter 03