Kevin J. Anderson - Gamearth 01 - Game Earth

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GameEarth

by Kevin J. Anderson

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Fictionwise

www.Fictionwise.com

Science Fiction

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NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original

purchaser. Duplication or distribution of this work by email, floppy disk,

network, paper print out, or any other method is a violation of international

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*Prologue*

Sunday night, like every Sunday night, they played the Game.

Melanie carried four glasses of soda to the table, hating the

real-world role of hostess. "We can make popcorn later, if you guys want." She

flipped a strand of brown hair behind her ear and stared at the master map on

the table. Gamearth, their beautiful fantasy world....

"Forget popcorn -- try my dip instead," Tyrone said. "Black bean and

shrimp this week. And I brought some sesame crackers, too."

David arrived, late as usual. He stuck the keys from his Mustang in the

pocket of his denim jacket. His dark hair looked soft, but his eyes were hard.

"We ready to play?" he asked, finding a seat at the table. He bent over to

frown at the map and did not say hello. Melanie made him get his own glass of

soda.

Her parents had found someplace else to go, as they always did when the

group met at Melanie's house. At first her mother and father had stood on the

sidelines to watch, curious and condescending. But the concept of a

role-playing game seemed beyond them -- where it was all pretend and no one

really won or lost. They (use another pronoun or names here?) played the parts

of characters through adventure after adventure in a world created from their

own imaginations.

The colorful map beckoned from the table. Flat, with precise hexagonal

sections of forest, grasslands, mountains, ocean. She touched the smooth paint

and thought of the characters they had played, generation after generation

after generation. In her father's study she had used the computer to generate

scores and to keep track of all their characters.

Scott cracked his knuckles. "Hey, Tyrone -- you know when geese fly

south for the winter, how they always fly in a vee formation, right? And one

side of the vee is always longer than the other, right? Why do you suppose

that is?"

Tyrone pondered and shrugged. "Why don't you tell us, Mister Science?"

"Because there's more geese on that side!"

Tyrone coughed on his own dip. Melanie found Tyrone's reaction more

amusing than the joke itself. Scott blinked behind his glasses, looking proud

of himself but baffled, as if he hadn't considered the joke very funny in the

first place.

Their group, the same group for two years, had started out playing with

hexagonal graph paper, scrawling haphazard terrain markings with colored

pencils. They were playing for fun, for something to do. But Melanie spent a

month painting and color-coding each hexagon of terrain with bright acrylics

to make a permanent master map on wood. She had looked at real maps to develop

geography that made sense, deserts where the weather patterns might leave the

air dry, forests where the climate should have been hospitable.

"Everybody's here. Can we start playing then?" David drummed his

fingers on the tabletop. "Where were we last week?"

Melanie talked as fast as she could, trying to outrun his impatience.

"My characters Delrael and Vailret were just about to go into the swamp

terrain to rescue Bryl, their half-Sorcerer friend." Melanie pointed to the

map. "He was captured by an ogre, remember?"

"Well, go ahead and play," David said.

Melanie looked at him, but he kept his expression neutral. His brown

eyes contained no emotion, his face showed no smile whatsoever. Something was

bothering him. She didn't know what it could be, but Melanie thought he might

try to take it out on the Game.

She gripped the dice in her hand. Twenty-sided. Eight sided. Six-sided.

Four-sided. They seemed to exude a kind of power, so much that she almost

dropped them in surprise.

Melanie marked on the graph paper where her characters would begin

their movement. She threw the dice.

Always remember this: every character on Gamearth was created by the

Outsiders. We exist solely for the amusement of those who Play our world. Our

ambitions, our concerns mean nothing -- everything is determined by the roll

of the dice."

-- _The Book of Rules_

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* * * *

Cesspools of Gairoth

"RULE #1: Always have fun."

-- _The Book of Rules_

As they crossed the thick black line that separated one hexagon of

terrain from the next, the forest suddenly became an oozing swamp. Even the

fresh woodland smell changed to the festering dampness of decay.

"Bryl is supposed to be lost somewhere in here?" Vailret promptly sank

up to the top of his boot in swamp muck.

His burly cousin Delrael strode over the sharp hexagon line into the

swamp, heedless of where he put his foot. He walked confidently, ready for

anything. "Good thing friendship runs deep -- Bryl wasn't that much of a

Sorcerer."

Vailret searched for a safer place to step, but it all looked the same

to him. His eyes were weak from too much reading in dim rooms, though he found

the reading much more interesting than questing from hexagon to hexagon.

"He hasn't had any training, Del. He's three times our age, but

nobody's ever taught him worthwhile magic." He scratched through his spiky

blond hair and thought of the manuscripts still waiting to be deciphered,

chronologies of legends to be worked out. "You of all people know how

important training is."

The thin mud slurped against Vailret's boot as he took another step.

Running from quest to quest, exploring catacombs, searching for monsters and

treasure -- it struck him as being juvenile. The world had changed since all

that. He wished the Outsiders could amuse themselves by playing more

sophisticated games, like hexagon-chess.

Delrael slogged ahead. His leather armor covered broad shoulders, but

he wore no helmet to protect his head. Vailret saw bits of forest debris

clinging to his cousin's brown hair from sleeping on the ground the night

before. Even on an adventure, Delrael wore his gold rings, badges, and

especially the silver belt his father had given him.

Delrael sighed. "About time we had another quest together -- it's been,

what, six years? The world is settling down too much. I spend all my time down

at the game tables or practicing with the trainees at the Stronghold, and you

waste away poring over manuscripts. We should find us a good cave to explore,

maybe even an ancient dungeon left over from the early days of the Game."

Vailret squinted into the hazy air, frowning. "Bryl was looking for the

Air Stone, not just wandering around for fun."

"Well, I wish he'd waited for us to give him some reinforcements --

whoever heard of going on a quest by yourself?" Delrael shouldered branches

and weeds aside, grumbling. "And now we have to rescue him."

Delrael had plenty of strength, charisma, and endurance for situations

like this. Vailret was by no means weak, but he had trouble doing anything

graceful with a broadsword or a battle-axe; and with his weak eyesight, he

made a poor archer. He could prove his worth if they needed some serious

thinking or planning. He had not been born with any Sorcerer blood, so he

could not use magic to defend them.

"Next time we'll have to teach him to leave a trail of breadcrumbs."

Vailret brushed aside a beard of Spanish moss and followed behind his cousin.

Delrael pushed ahead without slowing. "Come on, we should be able to

cross another hex or two before nightfall."

As the swamp thickened and began to drool with humidity, clouds of

starving mosquitoes feasted on the two men. The forest sank in on itself,

separated by scattered pools of stagnant water the color of tea. Dusty brown

butterflies flitted across the ground.

Wide-boled cypress trees dangled branches like fingers and thrust

knobby knees upward as if trying to keep their balance in the muck. Huge

pitcher plants, large enough to swallow a man, gaped with wide and colorful

mouths, exuding a sweet aroma that made Vailret feel dizzy. Curious, he peered

down the gullet of one plant and saw partially digested birds and a dead frog.

He stumbled away, breathing deeply to clear his head.

"When is this swamp terrain going to end?" Vailret heaved in a lungful

of the thick air. Sweat seemed to hang on him. He thought of his own dwelling

with the scented candles lit, with the manuscripts of scribbled folktales

stacked up, waiting to be read....

Around midmorning they encountered a stench so overpowering that it hit

them like a slap on the face. Vailret pushed his nose into the crook of his

elbow.

Delrael blinked his watering eyes. "We have to investigate."

"Don't you dare, Del!"

"Anything out of the ordinary. You know how to Play the Game. We can't

just ignore it. Besides, I'm a fighter, remember? We might find Bryl."

Vailret grumbled to himself. "I'd like to have a talk with whoever

wrote the damned Rules."

Thorns lined the rim of a wide cesspool. Decomposing matter and

stagnant water had condensed into one horrible battering ram of smell.

More mammoth pitcher plants clustered near the thornbushes, but the

cloying narcotic fragrance did little to abate the cesspool's miasma. The

slime-covered surface of the pool stirred, as if something actually lived

within it.

"So, now what do we do?" Vailret asked, covering his nostrils. He spoke

in a whisper as the sounds of the swamp hummed and faded into the background.

He focused his attention. "Wait, I hear something."

Delrael cocked his head. "What?"

A rhythmic crashing grew louder, nearing the cesspool. _Bom bom bom

BAM!_ Delrael stood up and stared into the forest across from the cesspool

until Vailret pulled him down to cover. They watched through the tangled

peepholes in the thorns.

Something massive stomped toward the pool, rattled a chain, and

grumbled, accompanied by splashing sounds. Vailret blinked his eyes, trying to

see more details, squinting until he had a headache.

A burly ogre emerged from the trees, wiping gobs of mud from his dirty

fur garments. As he strode forward, the ogre knocked his spiked club against

the cypress trunks, keeping his beat and smashing against every fourth trunk.

_Bom bom bom BAM!_ The wobbly cypress trees shivered with the impact.

The ogre stood nine feet tall, with muscles big enough for him to break

rocks. A nose the size of a potato peeped out from between strands of long

black hair like hand-drawn wire. One of the ogre's eye-sockets was empty, and

his pockmarked face sported a drooping overhung lip. Garments of brown furs

held themselves together with crude stitches that were popping in many places.

His big feet squished swamp mud between his toes.

In his free hand the ogre clasped a rusty iron chain that led to a

small dragon like a dog on a leash. A bulky iron collar throttled the dragon's

neck, apparently put on years before and never replaced as the creature grew.

The dragon panted and wheezed, lolling a purple forked tongue and looking more

like an overgrown crocodile than a fearsome fire-breathing reptile. Two stubby

wings stuck upward from its body like arthritic elbows. Many of the dragon's

scales had fallen off, and its pointed teeth were brown and cracked.

"Doesn't look like much of a dragon," Delrael said. "Nothing we can't

handle. It'll be fun."

Vailret squeezed his eyes shut. He felt his heart leap, then grow cold.

"The ogres were supposed to have been wiped out in the Scouring." Vailret

breathed in deeply. His stomach churned, and sweat popped out from his pores.

"Your father said he killed them all."

Vailret felt a bitterness in his voice that surprised even him. He kept

seeing visions, ghosts from his childhood. He had only been eight years old,

but the sight of the ogre brought all of his memories into razor-sharp focus

He stood just inside the gate of the Stronghold, a little boy with his

mother and his Aunt Fielle. His father Cayon had gone hunting with Uncle

Drodanis, Delrael's father. By the first weeks of spring, everyone in the

Stronghold got tired of the old stores buried in the cellars, and fresh meat

would make a good feast down at Jorte's gaming hall. They might even dig up an

early barrel of spring cider.

Cayon and Drodanis were always competing with each other, in the true

Game spirit -- dicing, hunting, weaponry contests. They had adventures that

were legendary in the Game lore. But this time Drodanis came back alone. Young

Vailret watched his uncle plodding up the path of Steep Hill to reach the

Stronghold on top. Drodanis had marched in silent grief through the village,

bearing Cayon's body in his arms, letting the villagers' questions bounce off

him unheard. Young Vailret was afraid, but he kept himself quiet. He didn't

understand.

Aunt Fielle shuddered. Vailret's mother, Siya, watched in horror.

Drodanis did not speak until he had met them at the gates, gently placing

Cayon's body on the ground in front of the already-weeping Siya. Drodanis

untied a sack from his waist and tossed the bloated head of an ogre to the

dirt.

"I'm going to wipe out all of the ogres," he said.

Drodanis gathered a small party of the Stronghold's best trainees,

including his wife Fielle, and set off eastward. Two months later another slow

procession returned with the heads of five ogres Drodanis and his fighters had

slain, along with the bodies of two trainees....

Now, though, the one-eyed ogre stopped in front of the cesspool and

looked around, unaware of the two men. The dragon strained against its chain,

tongue lolling as it tried to reach the cesspool.

Vailret made fists, as if he were trying to strangle his knuckles. He

had only a dagger with him. He wished he could cast a spell that would make

the ground open up beneath the ogre's feet, but he was only human.

Delrael reached forward to clasp his cousin's shoulder. He squeezed,

making it more than just an empty gesture. "What if he's got Bryl?"

Two weeks before, Vailret had been studying in his rooms at the

Stronghold. Several candles burned on his table, and he had all the windows

open to let in as much light as possible. Otherwise, Siya would nag him about

reading in the dimness and ruining his eyesight further. Vailret disliked the

candles because the crumbling old manuscripts were highly flammable.

Old Bryl, the half-breed Sorcerer who lived at the Stronghold, came in

to bother Vailret, bored from watching Delrael train his students at the

chopping posts or the archery targets. "Nobody's ever going to read a history

of Gamearth, Vailret. Why bother with all this work?"

"It's important to me." Vailret looked up at him over the candle.

"Don't be so defeatist all the time."

Bryl was short and frail-looking. Gray hair and a narrow gray beard

stuck out from his head and chin. He wore the scarlet hooded cloak his father

Qonnar had given him. At one time, Bryl had claimed the slick and shiny fabric

had been woven of the threads from caterpillar cocoons, but nobody in the

gaming hall believed him.

Vailret touched his fingertips together and explained to Bryl as if he

were lecturing to a child. "Someone should set down the events of the Game. To

the Outsiders, we're just an amusement, adventures to free them from their

ennui -- everything must be too perfect in their world. But to us, that's our

_history_. The Game is worth nothing if we don't learn from previous turns."

Bryl puttered around with the artifacts and manuscripts on Vailret's

table. The young man eyed him, exasperated. "What do you _want_, Bryl? Go play

a game or something."

The half-Sorcerer shrugged and picked up a worn scrap of sheepskin. On

the rough side, tiny letters had been painstakingly scratched into the

surface. "What's this?"

Vailret removed the scrap from Bryl's fingers. He brushed at smudges

the old man had left on the edges. "Please be careful -- do you know how much

we have to pay Scavengers for any one of these scraps?"

"I'm sorry." Bryl didn't seem to care. "Well, what does it say?"

Vailret sighed and put his elbow on the table. "If I tell you, will you

leave me in peace for awhile?"

"Of course," Brylmon looked away, uneasy. He mumbled, "I thought you'd

be glad I'm showing interest."

Vailret scowled, mostly at himself, and tried to cover up his

expression by studying the manuscript. "It tells how the four elemental Stones

were created as a parting gift from the old Sorcerers before they went on the

Transition. They made one Stone with special powers for each element -- Air,

Water, Fire, and Earth. The ones who stayed behind were supposed to use the

Stones as weapons to protect the humans and half-breeds left on Gamearth after

the rest of the Sorcerers had gone."

"Where are the Stones now?" Bryl asked. He reached for one of the other

scraps of writing, but Vailret deftly moved it out of his reach.

"Why don't you pay attention to things like that, Bryl? How many

full-blooded Sentinels are left in the world?" He held up three fingers,

flaunting them in front of the half-Sorcerer's face. "Enrod, who lives far to

the east in the rebuilt city of Taire -- he holds the Fire Stone. And Sardun

keeps the Water Stone in his Ice Palace to the north. He lives with his

daughter."

Bryl narrowed his eyes. "My parents never taught me anything like that

-- they killed themselves when I was a child. As you're so quick to point out,

there aren't very many Sentinels left. Who was going to teach me?" He waited

in silence for a moment, then pointed to the manuscript. "Well, what about the

other two Stones?"

"As near as I can tell," Vailret considered the scratches on the

leather, searching for details, "the Air Stone and the Earth Stone were both

lost during the battles. The magic in the Stones helped us wipe out a lot of

surviving monsters, but now those Stones are gone."

He waited for Bryl to remember his promise and leave, but the little

half-breed sat watching the dancing flame on the candle. He seemed hypnotized

by the trails of wax crawling down the candlestick. Then Bryl snapped his gaze

away from the flame and stared eastward with glassy eyes, as if looking

through the walls of Vailret's dwelling.

He said in a distracted voice, "I have to go now." Muttering something

about the Air Stone, he stumbled toward the door. Vailret watched him,

baffled, and turned back to his work.

Next morning, Bryl was gone from the Stronghold. He had left a clumsily

scrawled note behind. Vailret could imagine the length of time it had taken

him to remember how to write all the letters.

"Think I know where AIR STONE is. Vision yesterday while listening to

V. tell story. East, 10-12 hexes. Swamp terrain (?). Stone is in eye of skull,

on pile of bones. Adventure and treasure. Going to get it."

Bryl's father had been a full Sorcerer, and his mother was a half-breed

herself, but they had died when he was young, many, many years before, and no

other Sorcerer had given Bryl full instruction on how to use his magic. Not

that Bryl ever seemed concerned about it. And he had seen a glimpse of where

he could find the lost Air Stone. He could have the Sorcerous power

immediately, with no hard training. Maybe Bryl thought it would make up for

the magic he had never been able to use before. _Bryl_, a man who couldn't

care less where the Stone came from or what its history was --

Vailret resented the way the Rules excluded him from such revelations.

Being only a human, he had to sweat over old manuscripts, sift through

folktales and remembrances, cramming his brain with details he hoped would

come together. Bryl had such power handed to him on a serving platter. If the

half-Sorcerer brought the precious Air Stone back to the Stronghold, Vailret

could never use its magic, not even to study it.

Since then, two weeks had passed, and still Bryl did not return.

Delrael decided to go find him, and Vailret followed.

At the cesspool the dragon bounded forward, jerking the ogre's arm and

nearly pulling him off his feet. The ogre grumbled and kicked the dragon,

catching one of its back ridges with his bare toe.

Unconcerned, the dragon stopped at the brink of the cesspool and waited

as the ogre scooped at the surface, exposing fresh bilge water.

"Aww, it shore be hot, Rognoth," he rumbled at the dragon, wiping his

brow with a muddy finger. The ogre bent to scoop up a handful of the thick

water, slurping it with satisfaction on his face. Green scum ran between his

fingers to plop back into the water.

Vailret winced.

Rognoth the dragon bent to lap up some of the water as the ogre

straightened and pointed a proud finger at himself. "Ahhhh! Gairoth knows how

to keep his cesspool!" The dragon's tail twitched like a convulsing python.

"Ogres aren't supposed to be able to talk!" Vailret whispered.

"Maybe he's part human," Delrael said. "A human breeding with an ogre?

That's disgusting."

Vailret scowled. "The Outsiders have a sick sense of humor sometimes."

The ogre rubbed his hands together, as if getting down to business. He

raised the club over his head, bringing it down with a crash on the edge of

the pool. A chain of shock-wave ripples marched across the coated surface of

the water. Gairoth slammed his club down again and again, sending thunderclaps

through the swamp.

"Wake up, you!" the ogre bellowed at the cesspool. The dragon bolted

for the forest, slinking close to the ground, but Gairoth jerked on his chain.

Rognoth whined miserably.

The ogre grinned as a translucent, spine-covered tentacle reached up

from below the surface. The tentacle coiled in the air, reaching for Gairoth,

but the ogre bent back out of the way. The pool stirred again, and more thin

tentacles whipped in the air. The body sack of a gigantic jellyfish,

hemispherical and milky translucent, broke through the scum. A lumpy ridge

crowned the creature, speckled with dots of color. Deep inside the thing's

skin, a splash of scarlet outlined a small human form.

Vailret stiffened, startled. Bryl! He tugged on his cousin's arm, and

Delrael nodded.

The jellyfish churned in the water, waving tentacles. "In you go,

Rognoth!" Gairoth caught the dragon as he made one last attempt to flee, then

hurled him into the cesspool with a grunt of effort. The dragon paddled

frantically back toward the shore.

The tentacled thing ejected the form of Bryl, apparently seeing more

interesting prey. Gairoth rubbed his hands together as the jellyfish drifted

toward the dragon, then he lumbered toward the other side of the pool where

the red-cloaked Bryl floated facedown in the bilge.

Rognoth whimpered as the first thin tentacles wrapped around his tail

and lower body, but his patchy scales provided temporary protection from the

paralyzing needles. Gairoth waded into the cesspool, fished out the

half-Sorcerer, and sloshed back to shore before the jellyfish could notice

him.

Finished with his work, Gairoth strode back to the dragon. The ogre

dropped the slime-covered burden of Bryl and picked up his club. "Come on,

Rognoth. We gots to go home."

Two more tentacles had coiled around the dragon's neck. Rognoth

floundered in the water. Gairoth gave a sigh of disgust and fished in the pool

for the end of the dragon's chain. He found it and pulled with enough force to

stretch Rognoth's neck out of joint. The dragon ripped free, tearing off three

of the jellyfish's tentacles in the process. Rognoth scrambled to the shore

and collapsed, panting and wheezing A laugh belched from Gairoth's lungs.

"Haw! Haw!"

He grabbed Bryl's pale foot and dragged the half-Sorcerer behind him

into the forest. A thin trail of slime trickled along the ground. Rognoth lay

on the ground shivering, then got shakily to his feet, following the ogre into

the trees.

Delrael sighed. "It's all part of the Game."

Vailret's anger bubbled up within him, but he brought it under control.

He had never seen an ogre up close before, and now he wished he could destroy

Gairoth and finish the job his uncle Drodanis had begun. Wheels turned in his

head as he considered the possibilities. They would have to think of a

sophisticated way to fight Gairoth. Vailret's father had pitted his luck and

battle skill against an ogre -- and he'd lost. This would take something more.

A slow smile grew on his face.

"You're thinking of something, aren't you?" Delrael cocked an eyebrow

and looked at him. "What are we going to do?"

"I always think of something." Vailret took a deep breath. "It's going

to be good. Even the Outsiders might enjoy it."

"That's what we're here for." Delrael shrugged, ready for anything.

Gairoth's feet had left deep impressions in the soft ground. Following,

Delrael bent low, taking one careful step at a time. Vailret tried to imitate

him.

Up ahead, Gairoth snapped branches and grumbled curses. After a brief

silence, Vailret and Delrael crept closer. Uneasy and afraid of what they

would see, they slipped behind a large lichen-encrusted boulder and looked

into Gairoth's encampment.

The ogre sat cross-legged in a small and cluttered clearing, munching

on a bone torn from the rotting carcass of what appeared to be a goat with

reptilian legs. The dragon drooled and fixed large yellow eyes on the oozing

meat, intent on his master's jaws as they churned up and down. The spiked club

lay close beside Gairoth's leg.

Behind the clearing stood the ogre's abode -- the hollowed-out rib cage

of some massive beast. Dried sinews and scattered furs covered the bones to

provide some shelter but left plenty of gaps for flies to get in (and out

again after they had smelled the stench). A small pile of treasure lay beside

the tumbledown dwelling: jewel-studded weapons, gold artifacts, and gaudy

ornaments.

Wedged into one of the monster ribs sat a small skull the size of a

child's ... and inside the skull's eye-socket shone a fist-sized diamond,

triangular-shaped, like a four sided die. It glinted in the hazy swamplight.

Though Vailret's weak eyesight blurred the details, he remembered Bryl's

vision of the diamond. "Stone is in eye of skull, on pile of bones."

Vailret's eyes reflected the splashes of sunlight shining through the

woven swamp foliage. The Air Stone -- he thought of holding something so old,

so powerful in his hands. The old Sorcerers had made it before they left

Gamearth.

He thought of all the stories he had heard about the Stone, its origin,

its history -- and the power of illusion it held. It was still the weakest of

the four Stones, but it could be used very effectively with a little

imagination.

But as far as Vailret was concerned, the Air Stone might as well be

just another diamond. Without Sorcerer blood, he could not use the magic.

Bryl never worked at his abilities, nor did he know much about the

background of his race. Vailret spent all his time staring at the legends,

trying to uncover the reasons, straining his mind to be worthy, all in vain.

He gritted his teeth.

Delrael tugged on Vailret's arm, pointing at a red cloaked and dripping

figure strung by his feet to a branch of an overhanging cypress. Vailret saw

no signs of life in the half-Sorcerer's wet and grayish skin.

Gairoth pulled another appendage from the carcass, making a sucking pop

as it separated from the rest of the meat. The ogre licked his lips and

slurped oozing flesh off the bone. "Ahhh, aged perfect!" Gairoth sucked the

last of the juices from the bone. Rognoth sat, entranced with his master's

meal.

"Time for us to split up," Delrael whispered.

Vailret nodded. "Luck."

"Luck. We'll get the job done." Delrael left his cousin where he was

and slipped off into the forest.

Delrael drew a deep breath, heady from the adventure. Vailret's plan

buzzed through his head -- everything seemed perfectly clear in his mind. Ah,

it made him feel alive again, not stagnating in the interminable training

classes that kept all the fighters in practice. The Outsiders had done little

in years to make life interesting.

In the clearing, the ogre tossed a thick bone to Rognoth. The dragon

snapped it up, cracking the bone open with a yellowed fang and spilling the

runny marrow down his throat.

Delrael took five deep breaths, closing his eyes and coiling his

muscles. _Ready, ready, ready_ -- wish me luck. This was what the Game was all

about. With a grin on his mud-spattered face, he stood up and strode into the

ogre's camp.

Rognoth let the bone fall from his mouth, snorting menacing clouds of

smoke. His chain clanked as he took one step forward. With the instincts of a

fighter, Delrael assessed how long it took for Gairoth's reflexes to react.

The ogre dropped his meat and scrabbled for the club.

The man paid them no heed as he swaggered into the clearing, whistling

to himself. He sat down and faced the astonished expressions of both the ogre

and the dragon. "Howdy, neighbors."

Taken aback, Gairoth rubbed his thumb on the wood of his club and took

one step forward. "What you be?"

"What you mean?" Delrael blinked his eyes innocently. He lowered his

voice, speaking with a gruff and thick-lipped accent.

"Be you _human_?" The ogre's face brightened for an instant, then he

frowned again. "You plenty bigger than him." He jerked his thumb over to

waterlogged Bryl hanging from the tree.

Delrael laughed. "Naw -- me not be human. Me be _ogre_, like you be."

He smiled broadly, knowing Gairoth could never have seen his own reflection in

the scum-covered cesspools. He held his impulses in check -- his arms wanted

to grab for the sword, lunge forward and hack at the ogre. But he knew his

uncle Cayon had failed, and if a fighter like Cayon had not been able to

defeat an ogre with his strength, then Delrael had little chance.

Gairoth looked down at his dirty furs, brushing off cakes of dried mud.

He scratched his scalp as he glared at the young man's own mud-stained

clothes, the leather armor. Gairoth's mouth hung open as if he were going to

say something but hadn't found the words yet. Delrael beat him to it.

"Gairoth's furs better than mine be. Me bonked another human, took his

clothes. But don't worry. Me ogre too."

The ogre blinked his eyes. "Uh..."

Delrael jabbed a finger at himself. "Me be in swamp all these years.

Never bothered to say Howdy! Watched you long time, though, Gairoth. Uh, I be

-- " (Gairoth, Rognoth ... what's in a name?) "Delroth."

The ogre hadn't moved or relaxed his grip on the club. "How come you

_talk_, Delroth?"

Delrael paused a moment. "Huh?"

"You be no ogre -- you talk!"

"Ha!" Delrael felt a cold sweat. "You talk, Gairoth. You be ogre. How

come you talk?" Judging from the monster's expression, Delrael saw he had

struck a point of pride.

"Gairoth be an _in-tell-ee-gent_ ogre. My Paw was Sorcerer, but he dead

now. Paw give Gairoth smarts -- Maw give Gairoth muscles!"

To emphasize his statement, he bashed his club against the dirt.

The stench from the rancid meat made Delrael feel queasy. Vailret had

told him once how, near the end of their centuries-long wars, the desperate

and dying Sorcerers had interbred with humans, whom they had created, to

restore the strength of their race -- but Delrael had no idea the Sorcerers

had been driven to breed with their other creations, especially something so

foul and ugly as a female ogre!

But the laws of probability allowed even the most unlikely dice rolls,

given enough turns.

Delrael forced a yawn, trying to appear at ease. He looked at the

grayish form of Bryl, hanging from the nearby tree. "What that be, Gairoth?

Dessert?"

The ogre spoke around a dripping mouthful of meat. "Naw -- he be

Sorcerer, too. He teach Gairoth how to use magic Stone." With his elbow, he

indicated the gleaming diamond in the tiny skull's eye. Delrael saw the

diamond and decided that it must be the Air Stone Vailret had gotten so

excited about. He looked back at the half-Sorcerer.

"He be dead?" Delrael brushed a fly away from his face.

"Naw. He be awake soon enough."

"You feeds him to the thing in the cesspool? What for?"

The ogre shrugged. "Keeps him from running away. And makes him skeered

of Gairoth."

"Thing don't hurt him? Just hold him there?"

Gairoth reached for his club again. "Questions! Talk!" He spat.

Delrael spread his hands. "Gairoth be in-tell-ee-gent ogre. You gots

answers."

That did the trick. "Aaahhh. I dips him into a pitcher plant afore I

feeds him to that thing. Jellyfish can't digest him then."

Delrael rubbed his hands together. "Real smart. Haw, haw!"

Vailret crouched in the underbrush as close to the half-Sorcerer as he

dared to go. The hanging form of Bryl stirred, but Vailret couldn't risk

making a move just yet. He wished Delrael would hurry up. He wanted to go

home.

"So, Gairoth," Delrael leaned forward and lowered his voice. "How you

keep treasure pile safe? I be scared someone steal mine. Humans, adventurers,

quests -- you know how the Game be. I works my fingers to the bone to get

jewels, then can't never leave my camp. Afraid treasure might get stole."

Hidden in the underbrush, Vailret squirmed and motioned for his cousin

to hurry. Delrael didn't notice him.

"Hey, you wants to see my treasure?" Delrael smiled, open and friendly.

"Promise not to steal it? I gots no guards. But I trust Gairoth. You be good

neighbor."

Even from his distant viewpoint, Vailret thought he could see the gleam

in the ogre's eye. Soon ... soon.

Gairoth stood up, ready to follow Delrael. Then, to Vailret's dismay,

the ogre turned around and plucked the skull with the Air Stone from his

dwelling. "Now we go."

_No! I wanted the Stone!_ Vailret shouted in his mind.

Delrael looked at the pyramid-shaped diamond swallowed up in the ogre's

hand and flicked a glance toward where Vailret hid. Vailret noticed his cousin

heave a sigh as he motioned Gairoth to follow him into the swamp. The dragon

bounded along, eager.

When the trees blocked them from sight, Vailret emerged from his hiding

place, holding a hand to his stiff back. Flies buzzed around his head.

He cautiously went to where the half-Sorcerer hung dripping.

Greenish-brown water puddled in the dirt below him. Bryl seemed to be

regaining his consciousness and vitality, but too slowly to help. According to

the Rules, he would take about a half-day to recover completely. Vailret

scowled, knowing he'd have to carry the half-Sorcerer on his back. Bryl's red

cloak and scraggly gray hair reeked like the loathsome cesspools, and the

smell would soak into Vailret's jerkin.

He grumbled at the invisible Outsiders, knowing they would never

listen. "Why don't you go play a game of hexagon-chess? Why don't you make me

a magic user? Why can't you entertain yourselves and leave us alone?"

Vailret withdrew his knife and cut the rope, catching Bryl as he fell.

He hiked the half-Sorcerer across his shoulder blades and stooped as he

scuttled forward. Delrael was the one who had the strength score for this type

of work, but he was preoccupied at the moment. Bryl stirred, and the smell of

spoiled-everything rose into the air.

Vailret sighed. It was nearly over -- all the Game adventures had

become tedious. Predictable. Vailret would rather be finishing his history of

Gamearth -- not stuck with these frivolous, familiar quests the Outsiders

played all the time.

Grunting with the effort, he shifted Bryl's bony body to a more

comfortable position, then moved away from Gairoth's encampment toward the

cesspool.

"It be gone!" Delrael wailed. "Stole!"

Rognoth nearly collapsed after the wild-goose chase the man had led

through the swamp, circling back and forth, getting even the ogre hopelessly

lost. But Delrael's tracker-sense would not let him get confused.

Delrael stared at the clearing they had stumbled upon, pointing an

accusatory finger. He gaped at the ogre, incredulous. "Gold, gems -- right

here! All be gone! Someone stole it!" He switched his own dismayed expression

for one of horror. "Oh, no! You be next, Gairoth! Hurry!"

The ogre looked as if he grasped what was going on. "Come on, Rognoth!"

Gairoth smacked the dragon with the end of his club. "We gots to get home!"

Delrael crossed his fingers, hoping Vailret had done his part.

Everything seemed to be going well, _too well_ for a Game adventure, and he

wondered how long the Outsiders would keep making dice rolls in his favor.

He sprinted after the alarmed ogre.

Vailret slogged through the swamp, stumbling with the added weight of

the unconscious half-Sorcerer. Bryl hung like a half-full sack of wet flour on

his shoulders, and Vailret's muscles felt as if they wanted to snap. Most of

all he ached for not being able to grab the Air Stone. Why had Gairoth taken

it? Damned monster! Why hadn't Bryl managed to get it somehow? And the worst

insult of all was that Gairoth -- _Gairoth!_ -- had Sorcerer blood in him and

could use the magic inside the diamond. It seemed ridiculously arbitrary.

The heavy stench made the air difficult to breathe near the cesspool.

Vailret's eyes stung. He found a weed-sheltered place where he could set the

half-Sorcerer down. The cesspool seemed quiet now, waiting.

Vailret peeled off Bryl's sopping scarlet cloak. He removed a blanket

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======================GameEarthbyKevinJ.Anderson======================Copyright(c)1989byKevinJ.AndersonFictionwisewww.Fictionwise.comScienceFiction---------------------------------NOTICE:Thisworkiscopyrighted.Itislicensedonlyforusebytheoriginalpurchaser.Duplicationordistributionofthisworkbyemail,flo...

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Kevin J. Anderson - Gamearth 01 - Game Earth

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