Page 9 of The Glass Unicorn: Part 1
He paid her and pocketed the stone. Then, bidding her farewell, we headed back outside to our companions.
“Here,” Reggie said, handing me four apples, some jerky, a loaf of bread, and a good-sized triangle of hard cheese. “Since you paid for last night, we bought enough for all of us.”
“Let me pay you?—”
“Nope. We were able to buy all of this,” he indicated the basket full of foodstuffs, “with what we got off the Trogger. We still have our coins from the ogres. And we bought some extra rope, a couple cartons of waxed matches, and tin cups.”
“Well, we reallydidmake out,” I said. “All right, now can we head for the forest?”
“Sure thing,” Brynn said. “I’m sick of the smell of this place.”
As we turned toward the exit of the village, there was a soft knell of a bell and I jumped. Over the heads of the others, a bright “Level 2” shimmered. I glanced up and hovering over me, was the same.
level two, a voice echoed.you have reached level two.
Feeling heartened, we hurried toward the village gates.
We headed out of Dusmaria,cautious to make certain we weren’t being followed. The place was jumping with thieves. If thevillageswere like that, I found myself hoping we wouldn’t be coming to any big cities.
The sun was bright overhead, but the day was pleasant and the hike toward the forest felt like a relaxing walk through the countryside. I relaxed as we left the village behind, though here and there we saw other players. It was getting easier to tell who was an actual player or employee, and who was one of the Syms. It was a subtle difference, but one that made itself known when you were around the inhabitants of Abarria long enough.
“Are you glad we came?” Reggie asked, arching his back as he stretched toward the open sky.
“I think so,” I said. “It’s nice to be away from work for awhile. And hey, we made it to level two!”
Back in the real world, we all held high-pressure jobs. I was an editor at Golden Laurels Publishing, a mid-sized press. Thornhold owned a gym. Reggie was a lawyer. Ray was principal at a prep school. And Brynn…Brynn was a systems analyst in the IT department at the company I worked for. None of us could afford to go crazy at work, and all of us had been feeling a lot of stresses lately. Hence, our decision to splurge on a trip into Abarria.
“I still feel like, at any moment, they’re going to call us back and say there was a mix-up and kick us out,” Brynn said.
“Well, so far, so good. What do you think we’ll be able to do in two weeks?”
“Ten days, technically—today’s our second day here,” Reggie said. He sounded worn out. He was a district attorney and was forced to defend too many people that he wished he could put in jail.
“I want to find a dungeon,” Thornhold said. “I’ve always wanted to go through one for real.”
As talk turned toward what we hoped to get out of the next couple of weeks, I glanced from side to side. Grassland, as far we could see, stretched out to either side. Ahead, the forest loomed, still about two hours away at the pace we were walking.
“A dungeon, huh?” I asked. I lifted my watch and spoke into it. “We’re looking for a dungeon.”
noted. request is approved. you will find a dungeon within the next twenty-four hours. please head toward the forest. you will find the dungeon before you reach the border. keep your eyes and ears open.
For the price we paid, we were allowed to ask for several specific adventures. There was no guarantee how long each one would last, but they would be geared toward our character levels. For the price we paid, our group got three requests.
Thornhold beamed at me. “Thank you, lassie.”
“Lassie? Since when did you turn Scottish? I thought you were one-hundred percent Scandinavian?” But I laughed as I prodded him.
He snorted. “I am, but somehow, out here, I keep flashing back to Lord of the Rings. Gimli had an odd Scottish accent.”
For all of our critiques, we noted the discrepancies of our favorite stories, but accepted them as quirks of the game…or the book…or the movie.
As we kept up a steady, even pace, the sky began to clear and by early afternoon, we were nearing the forest. Up ahead, scattered houses began to appear, small clusters outside the heavily wooded copse. Most of them looked quite a bit nicer than those in Dusmaria, though they were still rustic. But tidy gardens nestled next to each cottage, interspersed with apple trees, heavy with fruit ready for picking.
I took a deep breath. It was so peaceful, so calm, that I wanted to stop, move in and spend the next two weeks wandering in the forest, puttering in the garden, making pies, reading books for fun, and sipping tea.
“What are you thinking?” Thornhold said.
“I’m thinking I should have probably taken a vacation in the country. I look over there and see a life free of worry, free of deadlines…” I closed my eyes, letting out a long breath.
