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  “Stop!” I yelled, waving my arms.

  The protective bubbles also prevented them from shooting out, but I couldn’t see a way to dislodge them from the island. Another volley of large energy bolts of various colors rained down from the sky, coming from the harbor. I ran for cover with the others as they slammed into buildings all around us. Several fires started while other buildings froze before shattering into a million tiny pieces.

  I took shelter behind a stone building, hoping it held up long enough for me to figure out what to do. Charlotte had obviously thought long and hard about her assault. The Honey Badger tribe helping her didn’t make things any easier, but it was the stolen technology that was helping her to win so easily. Michael popped in my head. I had almost killed the wrong man. Julian must have shared our secrets with Charlotte.

  While I felt terrible about my mistake, I pushed it out of my mind and concentrated on the battle at hand. She might gain a foothold, but she wouldn’t get far. Keith ran up, breathing heavy as he fought to catch his breath. I peered over his shoulder to make sure nothing had followed him to my hiding spot. Fires raged all around, but I didn’t see anyone coming.

  “Those shields are too much,” he said between labored breaths.

  “You’re right,” I said, hating to admit it.

  Attacking their position had been foolhardy. Even if Julian hadn’t defected, their superior technology was winning the day.

  “Order all our troops out of Cocoa City. We’ll regroup and form a defensive line in the no-man’s land. The older physical traps will work better against those defensive shields. I think they might only deflect energy bolts from the crossbows.”

  “You’re probably right,” Keith said. “See you outside the city.”

  He ran off to start spreading the word. Part of me wanted to go after Charlotte, take her out and end all the madness, but I knew it would likely be a suicide mission.

  You lose 25 citizens.

  You have 21,146 citizens.

  I sighed as I continued losing people. Whether deserting to the other side or dying a horrible death, my numbers were dwindling again, thanks to Charlotte. I hated her so much! Even with all the time we’d spent together on the first level, she fought against me. Why did she end up hating me? Had I done something to her unknowingly?

  As I reached the city gates, I stopped and waited as our troops poured through. Red and orange energy bolts continued slamming into the city, setting new fires. A few men had to be carried by their companions as they retreated to safer defenses in the no-man’s land. I kept my useless crossbow tied to my back but kept my spear in my hand.

  The strategic retreat and regrouping went well. Within an hour, we’d moved all our warriors and wizards to a line of defenses in the no-man’s land. The shield balls positioned themselves outside Cocoa City, but they didn’t move forward. I searched for Charlotte, but she wasn’t on the front line. Had she really retaken her city?

  Once again, I despised the Tower of Gates with a passion.

  Chapter 23

  All That Experience

  Sarah

  Later that evening, after everything settled into a stalemate, I returned to Kron and released Michael from prison. After apologizing, I promoted him to lead my newly founded War Technology Council. Their first job? Figure out how to replicate the shield technology Charlotte had come up with on her own somehow. He accepted without complaint.

  I’d tasted peace for a couple of years, and I wasn’t about to go back to a full-time war setting. Rather than rushing in right away and possibly failing, I let Charlotte have Cocoa City. She would eventually lose it, but I needed to prepare first. With Michael freed and sent back to work, I headed to the Shaman Society to talk with Jericho about an idea.

  The few older spellcasters not on the frontlines watched as I approached their tower near the coast. I gave them the special hand-signal only those in the society could use. None of them tried to stop me as I walked through the front door of their tower. I went straight to the stairs, heading up to the top floor where Jericho had his office and workshop.

  On the way, a few adolescent shamans ran down the stairs, laughing and talking back and forth in an unknown tongue. I stepped aside to let them pass as I reached the top floor. On the other side of the room, Jericho sat behind a desk piled high with papers. I approached, noticing him asleep behind one of the piles of parchments. He snored loudly.

  “Jericho, wake up,” I said, clapping my hands.

  He shot up in his seat, wiping the desktop in front of him. Papers went flying to the floor. He leaned over, finally noticing me standing.

  “Oh, it’s you,” he said. “I must’ve fallen asleep.”

  “You’ve been working too hard,” I said.

  “Like you’re one to talk,” he shot back.

  I walked around the desk to see him more clearly. He leaned back, staring up at me as I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head.

  “What’s wrong now?” he asked. “I heard everything’s stabilized.”

  “Yeah, but she’s on the island, and I don’t want her here.”

  “We can’t always get what we want,” the wise man said.

  “No, but we can work toward what we want and sometimes get it.”

  He smiled, also crossing his arms over his chest to mimic me.

  “You did the right thing with Michael,” he said.

  I sighed. “Do you think? I almost killed him.”

  “There’s a world of difference between almost killed him and killed him.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  I let my voice trail off.

  “But nothing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with him.”

  “That’s why I came to see you. I want you working on the shields with him, but I had another idea too.”

  “Oh?” He sat up. “What is it?”

  “I want to train a squad of shamans to use psychological warfare to charm the opponents to our side. This will act as a force multiplier for us and also avoid bloodshed.”

  Jericho nodded, stroking his beard.

  “Interesting,” he muttered.

  “We’ll call them the Wololo Squad,” I said.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

  “Nevermind,” I said, smiling.

  As an NPC, he would never understand the dated reference to an ancient RTS game. The idea was still a sound one.

  “I’ll add that to the list,” he said.

  “Do it as quickly as possible, please. We need to act soon.”

  “Can you help?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Not right this moment. I’ve got other things to look into. This assault will kill Charlotte and keep her off our island for good.”

  “Okay,” he said, raising a hand in farewell.

  I waved then turned and left his office, trudging back down the seven flights of stairs. Back outside, I headed to the War Academy to check on the modifications to the magical repeating crossbows. Charlotte had gone with bigger versions, but I wanted to make all of ours double barreled. Shooting two energy bolts at once could lead to interesting results.

  When I reached the long, brick building where our war plans developed and found life, I walked right past the guards and went inside. Keith handled the day to day tasks of running the military, but the job of planning and long-term strategy fell to Harris—one of the original members of the small village I’d started with fourteen years earlier.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Harris said as I walked in his office.

  “Good,” I replied, taking a seat across from his desk.

  An odd sense of surreal deja vu washed over me as I realized I was getting closer to having spent more time in the game then in the real world. Would the Tower of Gates then become my primary reality?

  “Everything okay?” Harris asked, peering across his desk at me.

  I nodded, breaking out of my thoughts. “Sorry, lots going on.”

 
“You’re telling me,” he said. “I got your orders for the shield walls. What exactly are you talking about?”

  I leaned forward and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from his desk. After dipping it into a bottle of ink, I drew a rectangular Roman shield. I also sketched out—terribly—the formation to form a wall when placing the shields together.

  “That’s what I thought,” he said. “We already have something like this in use.”

  “I know, but we need to train to protect the Wololo Squad at all costs.”

  “The what?” he asked, scratching his long, thin nose.

  “A group of shamans I’m putting together to charm the enemy,” I said. “They’ll need protection as they cast their spells and turn enemies into friends.”

  Harris nodded. “That’s quite a force multiplier.”

  I grinned. “My thoughts exactly. Can you do it?”

  “We’re already working on it,” he said. “This will help me fine-tune the training. We’ll use some new recruitments to fill the parts of shamans while we train.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “All the pieces of the puzzle need to come together to make this work. You’re a very important part of this city, Harris.”

  He smiled slightly and nodded his head a bit. I stood and glanced at the painting of his hefty wife hanging on the wall behind him.

  “I hope Esmerelda is doing well,” I said.

  “She’s fine,” he said, shuffling papers on his desk.

  “Good. I’ll leave you to your work. Report to me when you have news.”

  He nodded, not looking up as I turned and left his office. I traveled to the Elemental Golem Workshop next door after leaving. Beyond the original war machines we’d built, our specialist shamans had continued to create all sorts of unfeeling, unthinking beings to do our bidding. They were always working on new designs.

  For the big battle to kill Charlotte, I had an idea for lots of small animated statues that could sneak past her defenses then assemble into something tougher and much more dangerous. The shamans all looked at me like I was crazy as I gave them the idea, but as I used props to explain it, they fell in love, taking it as their own.

  Once I dealt with them, I walked to the City Center across the street next. After much reflection, I’d decided to place as many of my administrative buildings together as possible. The decision made my life easier in so many ways. A few memories of high school in the real world flashed through my mind as I headed through the front doors of the building.

  Back in my office, I settled into my comfortable leather chair and propped my mud covered boots on the edge of my rough, wooden desk. I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes, just wanting to rest for a moment. Nobody had slept much since Charlotte had fought her way back onto the island. Morale had dropped too.

  I took a deep breath, going through everything in my mind. When I opened my eyes, I saw Henry, our emissary to Gecko Isle, standing in the doorway. I plopped my feet back on the floor then sat up, waving him in.

  “How long were you standing there?” I asked.

  “Not long,” he answered, walking over.

  He sat on a chair across from my desk.

  “What’s new?” I asked.

  “I have news,” he said. “King Eddie of Gecko Isle would like to speak with you about formally starting an alliance. He’s afraid of Charlotte’s renegades and the Honey Badger tribe working together, and he wants to group with you and a few other islands.”

  “That’s great,” I said, smiling. “The best news I’ve had in a few days, in fact.”

  Henry smiled. “When can you go see him?”

  “I can’t leave. Not now. He won’t come here?”

  “That’s not how he works,” Henry said, shaking his head.

  I sighed, unable to catch a break.

  “Okay,” I said. “Make the preparations. I’ll talk to Keith and tell him I’ll be gone for a while. Are the seas safe enough to travel?”

  Henry nodded. “Charlotte has hers on the other side of the island, protecting her docks. She ruined most of the city when she attacked.”

  “I’m well aware,” I said. “I was there when it happened.”

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “Don’t worry about it. Just get things ready.”

  When he left the room, I took out a piece of paper and wrote down what King Eddie would likely ask for if we signed an alliance together. I listed my responses to his objections in a separate column. He could be a hard headed jerk, but I planned on convincing him to help. Fear of Charlotte would give me a bit of bargaining power. I needed to use it wisely.

  Chapter 24

  The Art of Diplomacy

  Sarah

  Over the thirteen plus years I’d been on the penalty level, I’d talked to very few of the other players. After realizing most of them were nuts and belonged locked up and separated from normal people, I’d stayed away from them. Part of me hoped I’d get let out early for good behavior, but it wasn’t happening. I needed to create my own destiny.

  King Eddie was one of the more level headed players trapped on the penalty level with me. His island wasn’t as far advanced as mine, but he’d created a comfortable life for himself. As the king of his island, his word was law. He didn’t work well with any of the various NPC citizens under his control. From what I heard, most of his subjects hated him.

  I kept all that information in mind as we walked down a long, stone-lined hallway deep in his magnificent castle. While most of his citizens lived in abject poverty, barely making it from day to day, he lived it up in the lap of luxury. His castle utilized all the best magic-technology from the various islands. I wondered if I would be able to work with him.

  “Be nice,” Henry said then added, “Respectfully.”

  “We’ll see how he treats us,” I said. “We’ve got good leverage.”

  At the end of the hall, we stopped in front of two heavily armored guards. They looked us over briefly then stepped aside, granting us passage to the most heavily guarded section of his castle. I saw King Eddie lounging on a chaise near a window, eating grapes. He set the bunch of fruit down and dipped his hands in a bowl of water as we approached.

  “Greetings, King Eddie,” I said, bowing slightly out of respect.

  “I’m glad you came,” he said, sitting up. “Excuse my mess.”

  “You’re fine, but we should talk. This is important.”

  “I agree,” he said. “Come with me, first. Alone.”

  Henry glanced at me. I nodded, assuring him it was okay. King Eddie strode across the room toward a wooden door. He opened the door then held it for me.

  “Right this way,” he said then winked.

  I wanted to roll my eyes, but I fought the urge as I stepped past him and into a smaller, more intimate room. A couch ran along all four walls. He took a seat and patted next to him. I walked over and sat down a couple feet away from him.

  “We got off on the wrong foot,” he said. “I’ve come to respect you.”

  Because you haven’t been able to beat me, I thought while smiling.

  “And I’ve come to respect you,” I said, trying to not make it sound like a lie.

  “We need to work together.”

  “I agree, King Eddie, but the terms need to be agreeable to us both.”

  He grinned. “My reputation precedes me. Or is it proceeds?

  “It’s preceded,” I said. “What are your terms?”

  “Right to business. I like it. My terms are fair. I’ll help you kill Charlotte if you share all your technology with me. We’ll be the two most powerful islands around.”

  “I can’t share everything.”

  He frowned. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

  “No doubt, but I can’t let you be on par with me. I don’t trust you.”

  His frown turned upside down. “You know me well.”

  “I do,” I continued. “We can help each other, but I’m not giving you everything.” />
  “Fair enough. To be honest, Charlotte scares me. She’s unlike any player I’ve seen before. Part of me thinks she’s Magi Inyontoo in disguise.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “What did you say?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah, you don’t talk with other players,” he said.

  “No, I don’t talk OOC a lot. That guy is bad news.”

  “I know,” King Eddie said. “He’s the reason I got such a harsh penalty.”

  “You don’t think he’s Charlotte, do you?”

  “Convince me she’s not. Everything lines up. She came out of nowhere.”

  “I played with her before. She was my familiar on level one-one.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Players can’t be familiars for other players.”

  “I figured as much, but she was my familiar. That’s why I can’t figure out why she hates me so much and wants to kill me.”

  King Eddie took a deep breath.

  “This is interesting news,” he said. “It’s even more important we kill her and get her off the penalty level. How many years do you have left?”

  “Too many,” I said. “You?”

  “Another thirty,” he said. “I’ve been having fun, but I miss the action of the other levels, you know? This mini-zone is a bit flat.”

  “You’re telling me,” I muttered. “We should all be working to get out of here.”

  “The penalty level? Yeah.”

  “No,” I said. “The Tower of Gates. I want to get out of here completely.”

  “Me too,” he said. “I don’t know how to pull that off, but I have heard there’s a way off the penalty level.”

  “The Quest Giver?” I asked, wondering if I was giving up too much information.

  “Yes!” he replied, his face lighting up. “He disappeared on me.”

  “Me too,” I said. “He found his way off the penalty level, I think.”