Paragons 1.3.6

Now on to the sixth chapter of War Games! Savannah and her teammates undertake a Quest in the forests around the Castle (real world equivalent: East Killara).

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“What kind of messed up Quest is this?” I demanded. “They all get cool, important-sounding roles, and I get bait?”

Dutch snorted.

“Trust the system,” Eris said in a calm, soothing voice.

“Yeah, so I don’t have any faith in a system that believes the only impact I will ever have on this world is as bait,” I told her.

“Well, you do cause mayhem and attract trouble wherever you go,” Dutch said, as though he were being helpful.

Bronte nudged him away with her shoulder. “Don’t listen to him, Savannah. It’s just a game, you know.”

“No, it’s a statement.” I dug my toe into the pretty green grass. “The Knights think I’m not worth anything.”

“We did not create this scenario. And we did not select the roles,” Eris told me.

“Then who did?” I asked. “Wait, don’t tell me. I think I already know.”

It was the General. He’d had it out for me since the day he’d met me. He never wanted me to be a Knight, and now he was making sure I never would be. I knew his play. He was going to give me a bunch of worthless roles that didn’t earn me any Merit points. And then he’d kicked me out of the Program, claiming I never proved myself worthy of being a Knight.

Well, I’d show him. I was going to be someone, whether he liked it or not.

“You’re not just the bait,” Eris said. “You have another really important role: the courier for the treasure.” She handed me a leather messenger bag.

I peeked inside and found a small metal box, flat and rectangular.

“Try not to drop it, Winters,” Asher teased me.

“Indeed,” Dutch added, but he wasn’t teasing. He was dead-on serious.

I lifted the bag over my head, looping the strap across my chest.

“Ok, Apprentices,” Eris said cheerfully. “Now follow me to your starting point on the map.”

She led us out of the Hex, through one of the castles. The floors were covered in wood planks, like the deck of a ship. The hall curved around beds of flowers and trees that decorated the interior like pieces of furniture.

This castle had to belong to the Nymphs.

The walls of the castle were made entirely of glass, ostensibly to let in as much light as possible. I looked through the window-walls and saw green-armored Knights feeding and grooming horses. The doors to the horses’ stables were thrown wide open to let in the warm, magic breeze.

It was past the horses and the stables, deep inside a thick forest, that Eris left us with a quick goodbye and an encouraging smile.

“Ok, so we’re here in the North Woods,” Kylie said, pointing to a forest at the northern edge of the Castle map, “and we need to get here.” She tapped the trees at the southern tip. “To the South Woods.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Dutch commented.

Kylie frowned at him. “Uh, are you forgetting the part where there are five other teams out there whose only goal is to steal the treasure from us?”

“Treasure? I think you mean Object 2861,” Asher snickered.

“Yeah, what a great name,” Kylie said.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called. All that matters is that we succeed in our Quest,” said Bronte.

“Yeah, about that,” I told her. “If we want to win, I think we need to think outside the box.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean we need to toss these so-called roles in the bin.” I shot my role card a loathing look. “And come up with our own plan.”

“Why would we ever do a thing like that?” Bronte asked, horrified, like I’d just suggested we set the whole world on fire.

“Because these roles suck,” I said.

“You’re only saying that because you don’t like yours, Winters,” Asher chuckled.

“Ok, my role is particularly stupid,” I allowed. “But this isn’t about my role. It’s about doing something unexpected, something spontaneous.”

“Spontaneous?” A tiny crinkle formed between Bronte’s eyes. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that, Savannah. We have a plan.” She indicated the scenario card in her hands. “And we have our assigned roles. We won’t win if we don’t play by the rules.” She nodded along to her own words, like there was something especially comforting about the rules.

“And I’m saying we will win only if we don’t play by their rules,” I argued. “Think about it: all the teams know the plan. Everyone knows what everyone else is going to do. So that means this Quest will be five teams against one, and I don’t like those odds.”

“It won’t be five against one,” said Dutch. “The other teams are competing against one another too.”

“Yeah, they are, but only once they take the treasure from us,” I countered. “Up until that point, they’ll likely work together. And that means five against one.”

Kylie and Asher exchanged worried looks.

“And how do you suggest we shift those odds in our favor?” Bronte asked me. “None of the other teams will work with us as long as we’re in possession of the prize. They’ll come after us no matter what we do.”

“Yes, they will try to take the prize from us if they can,” I agreed. “But if we do something unexpected, like, say, not head to the extraction point like everyone else, then we can avoid the other teams completely.”

Bronte shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. We can’t win if we don’t bring the prize to the extraction point.”

“Sure we can. We just need to bypass the bloodbath and bring the prize directly to the General ourselves.”

“That is not what our scenario card told us to do,” Bronte scolded me. “We need to follow the card to the letter. That’s how you win. That’s how you do well on the Scoreboard.”

It was hard to argue with the person at the top of the Scoreboard—she obviously knew how to win—but that didn’t stop me from arguing anyway. I was pretty desperate. If our team didn’t win today’s challenge, I’d never earn enough Merit points to make the cut.

“The moment the other teams spot us heading for the extraction point, they’re all going to pounce,” I warned Bronte.

“Then we’ll just have get there before they do,” she said. “Which won’t happen if we don’t run there now. We’ve wasted too much time already. As team leader, I say we stick to the plan. Now let’s get going. And hurry.”

Our teammates nodded, even Kylie. Though she looked like she at least felt bad about voting against my plan. Unlike Dutch, who shot me a smirk before he took off running with Bronte and Kylie.

“Come on, Winters, time to go,” Asher said, nudging me. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”

“Are you looking out for me or the treasure?” I asked.

“Both,” he replied, grinning. “You’re a package deal.”

“I do love being the mule,” I sighed, but ran to catch up to the rest of the team anyway.

And, as promised, Asher stayed right behind me the whole time.

We ran so fast that my lungs felt like I’d inhaled a solar flare—but at least we beat the other teams to the South Woods.

Or so we thought.

“There’s the trail!” Kylie pointed to a hiking trail that led into the forest.

“And there are our adversaries.” Dutch grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Something smashed against the tree trunk behind us, spraying the bark with bright red paint.

“Uh, thanks,” I told him. That paint could have been all over me instead.

“I was protecting the treasure,” Dutch replied, looking over my head. “The red team is the only other team that’s made it here. We need to move before that changes.”

“This way!” Kylie called out, running down the trail, into the woods.

“How far to the extraction point?” Bronte asked her as we all followed.

Kylie hopped to a halt so fast, we all nearly toppled over her. The yellow team was standing in the middle of the trail, blocking our way. All five of them were holding paintball guns.

“Hey, that’s not fair! They’ve got five guns, and we’ve only got one!” Asher protested.

“I doubt the General cares about what’s fair,” I told him.

Dante stood at the front of the yellow team. He winked at me, then shot two paintball pellets our way.

“Through the trees!” Asher said, pushing Kylie off the path before she got painted yellow—and removed from the game.

The rest of us ducked between the trees, following them. We pushed our way through spindly tree branches and scraggly bushes. There were probably spiders hiding here. I hated spiders. Especially the highly-poisonous ones.

“We need a plan,” Bronte said.

I could hear footsteps on the trail, not far away.

“I have an idea,” said Asher. He swung his backpack in front of his chest, retrieved a bundle of rope, and put his backpack back on again—all without slowing his pace.

“This is the perfect spot,” Asher said a bit later, and we all stopped running.

“The perfect spot for what?” Kylie asked.

“For setting up our tripwire.” Asher handed her one end of the rope. “Go over there, to that ugly tree that looks like the General’s face. Tie the rope around the trunk, just above ankle level.”

As Kylie rushed off to do that, Bronte watched Asher tie his end to another tree. “The other teams are never going to fall for this,” she told him.

“Sure they are.” Asher secured the rope with a knot, then rose out of his crouch. He looked at Dutch. “How many paintballs do you have in that pack?”

“Not enough for every enemy on the field,” Dutch replied.

“Not if you shoot them one-by-one, of course.” Asher’s gaze slowly panned up a nearby eucalyptus tree, then snapped back to Dutch. “How are you at climbing trees?”