— CHAPTER FOURTY-THREE —

  The White Wing Order

  {Lucy}

  Eschewing the bow, I took up the quintessential rebuff of authority - the pistol and rapier! I forsook my former title of Lady. Now, I was Lucky Lucia - swashbuckling mistress! A fallen noble taken to a truer justice! From this day on, I would live for myself - and my crew, the Merchants of Luck! Diligent and conniving quartermaster Percival and bumbling chef's hand Fritz Carlton. From aboard our landship, I spied the horizon for our next plunder.

  "Captain! Water ho!" Fritz hollered, pointing ahead.

  We were traveling through the Reifwald Taiga, on a country road surrounded by dense pines. Up ahead, the forest opened around a clear mountain lake.

  "Very good, Mr. Carlton. Take us in!"

  Sitting in the back of the wagon - I mean landship - and reading, Percy said, "Don't encourage this kind of behavior, Fritz."

  I waggled my spyglass at the impertinent quartermaster. "Ye'll not be impugning me helmsman, Mr. Percival, elsewise it be the plank for ye!"

  Fritz laughed. "I wouldn't want to get keelhauled if I were you, Perce!"

  We rolled down to the lakeside and stopped. I surveyed the area, first checking the far shores, then above the treeline for circling birds. "Nothing jumps out at me. Mayhaps our prize remains elusive."

  Percy said, "If it was a common spawn, it would be more well known. I say we stick around for the rest of the day, then expand the search radius tomorrow."

  With a snap of the reins, Fritz angled us along the shoreline. "I'll take us in an easy loop around the lake - see what's what."

  No sooner had the words left his lips than a lone wolf's haunting howl pierced the tranquil air. Before the helmsman could so much as draw us to a halt, Percy vaulted from the wagon and vanished into the shadowed timbers after the sound. I leapt from the carriage and a dashed after him.

  Through the sea of evergreens we ran, until the foliage parted to reveal a wounded pegasus sprawled in a glade, set upon by a pack of snarling wolves. The beasts circled their prey, snapping at the equine's flanks as it lashed out with flailing hooves and its one good wing.

  A surge of righteous fury filled my breast at the wretched sight. "Thar she blows, Mr. Percival!" I cried, drawing my flintlock. "Have at them, sir!"

  Percy loosed a barrage of frosty missiles, skewering the nearest wolf with icicles. With a flick of his wrist he froze another's paws to the ground and finished it with a swift cut to the back of the neck. I took aim at a third and squeezed the trigger, but the lead ball barely fazed the beast. Blast these infernal mobs and their absurd hit points!

  The wolf turned on me with a growl. I tossed aside the spent pistol and unsheathed my blade, preparing to go toe-to-toe. But a well-placed javelin flew from the trees and struck the fiend in the haunch, slowing it with some manner of crippling hex.

  "Geez, group up, will you?!" Fritz shouted as he burst into the clearing. "This place is dangerous!"

  "Oh tosh, they're naught but common rabble!" I scoffed.

  The sluggish wolf lunged at me with snapping jaws, but I sidestepped its clumsy assault and opened its throat with a flourish. Percy dispatched the last cur, and the remaining pack scattered with bitter snarls of defeat.

  As the pegasus struggled to rise, he cast Medi on it. The beast clambered to its hooves and tested its mended wing.

  I frowned. "You know, the ubiquity of that Medi spell really cheapens these healing bonus reward situations. Meeting the conditions for this type of objective should be a reward for proper preparation or investing into a specific niche, not something given to anyone with the basic Medic class."

  Percy shrugged. "Don't question it; just enjoy the rewards."

  Typical quartermaster! But I supposed he had a point. Why look an equine gift in the mouth? After all, we'd found our prize - now the real adventure could begin!

  "Woah, nelly!" A voice called out from above. I looked up to see another pegasus, larger and darker than the foal, descending into the clearing with a uniformed rider on its back. "Everyone alright here?"

  "We are now, sir!" Fritz replied with a jaunty salute.

  The man - Flightcaptain Heydrich - dismounted and examined our rescued charge. "Thanks for keeping her safe; I hope she wasn't too much trouble. I was training the foals to fly in formation when this one got blown off course by the mountain squalls. Doesn't look like the damage is too bad - should be fine to make the trip back up."

  The young pegasus flexed its wings, then cantered over and playfully nuzzled Percy, nearly bowling him over. I couldn't help but giggle at the sight, and Heydrich let out a hearty laugh. "Looks like she's grateful, too!"

  I asked, "So where did you come from, good sir? Are there more of these magnificent beasts nearby?"

  "Of course!" He grinned broadly. "Our headquarters is just up in the mountains! You're more than welcome to visit - any friend of the pegasi is a friend to the Order!" The foal continued nuzzling Percy. "I'm sure she'd love to see you again, too. But I should get going - I need to show the trainee wing how to land!"

  With one final affectionate bump, the pegasus trotted after the rider as he remounted his steed. They took off over the treetops and vanished against the grey of the overcast sky. For a moment, we stood in silence, then all broke into cheers.

  "We're in the money now!" Fritz shouted.

  "That's a bullion haul for the Merchants of Luck!" I adjusted my pirate hat with a rakish tilt. "Shall we pay a visit to our new friends, gents?"

  (Percival)?I wrote it down on my map - rumor confirmed, standard healing condition.

  {Lucy}?The Mistral Mountains loomed before us, their snowy peaks jutting into the bleak skies. Our wagon's - landship's - wheels churned through the slushy paths as we ascended into the foothills, the air growing colder with each passing mile.

  Before long, the drifts became too deep. We took turns digging out the wheels, our shovels scraping against the icy ground. Fortune smiled upon us though - in a stroke of genius foresight, our captain had ensured we'd bought clothes for any possible occasion and were well prepared with winter gear. Bundled in furs and leathers, we pressed onward.

  Mr. Percival took up a position on the bow and channeled a flamethrower spell to melt the way ahead.

  (Percival)?We didn't have much to go on concerning flying mounts, but we did know the Fringe had accumulated quite a few. Therefore, our plan was to find a disillusioned Fringe member looking to get back into 'civilized' society and get the information from them. So we started traveling around the edges of civilization and hit up the bars, talking to people.

  {Lucy}?But as the slopes steepened and the paths narrowed, even my quartermaster's sorcery could not clear the way. With heavy hearts, we abandoned our trusty landship, burying her beneath the snow and marking the spot on our maps. Perhaps one day we would return to retrieve her.

  Now on foot, we climbed higher into the White Peaks. The wind howled like a wounded beast through the gorges, its icy fingers clawing at our exposed skin. I pulled my scarf tighter and trudged onwards, my boots crunching in the snow.

  (Percival)?It took us two weeks to track down someone willing to talk about their experience unlocking a pegasus. It's a triggered by a random encounter. Might respawn on a timer, might be locked to a specific area - even the Fringe didn't know. The best we could do was recreate the conditions as given to us.

  {Lucy}?Ahead, a rickety rope bridge spanned a yawning chasm between two peaks. The timbers groaned as the gale tore at the structure, making it sway and buck like an unbroken stallion. I swallowed hard.

  "Well, no way out but through!" Fritz declared with forced cheer.

  We roped ourselves together for safety, then began to inch across the bridge. The boards creaked under our feet and the wind threatened to tear us from our precarious perch. I gripped the ropes until my knuckles whitened, not daring to look down into the abyss below.

  (Percival)?The White Peaks were a very high leveled zone, 75 - 80, but reportedly the quest was synced to the Taiga where the pegasus spawn was, only level 50. It was still quite high for where we were, in the mid-late 30's, but it meant those flying mounts would be out of range for most players for a while yet.

  {Lucy}?Through the whirling snowflakes of a blinding blizzard, we pushed onward. Not long after, we rose above the storm clouds and we emerged into a calm, grey day.

  Ahead of us, the headquarters of the White Wing Order was visible on a shelf of rock beneath a towering peak. Old and weathered stone buildings covered in frost stood up against the wall of the summit. Pegasi wheeled through the clear air above while the tiny figures of knights went about their duties in the yard.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Ho there, travelers!" Flightcaptain Heydrich strode out from the gates to meet us as we approached. "Welcome to Whitewing Hold! You've arrived at an opportune time - allow me to give you the grand tour!"

  And so we followed him across the grounds - into the administration building, the indoor stables for the sick and wounded pegasi, through the barracks and back out to the yard. Most of the cliff shelf was occupied by landing strips for various wind directions. Then, in the shadow of the peak, was an area for the knights to practice their ground combat.

  My favorite part was the foals' pen. The little ponies pushed each other around playfully, flapping their tiny little wings - they were barely chicken wings at that age! I could just eat them up! It was utterly adorable watching them stumble and hop about.

  As we watched them frolic, one of the larger pegasi, nearly full grown, trotted over and nuzzled Percy affectionately.

  "See? I told you she'd love for you to visit!" Heydrich chuckled.

  Percy patted the pegasus' muzzle. "Easy there, girl." he said, flinching away as her big tongue licked the side of his face.

  Just then, a cadet approached nervously from the training grounds. "Er, Flightcaptain, sir..." The young man fidgeted, looking ill at ease. "Lannick's patrol was supposed to have ended two hours ago and she still hasn't returned."

  Heydrich's smile vanished, replaced by a serious frown. "Lannick? She was assigned to the Langdon Gap today, wasn't she?" He rubbed his chin. "Hm. This isn't the first disappearance there... I will go check the location personally. Thank you for bringing this to me, cadet."

  The cadet saluted before scurrying off. Heydrich stared at the frosty flagstones. After a long moment, he spoke. "If this phenomena is capable of bringing down single riders, it would be wise to bring assistance." He looked up at Percy, assessing. "Would you like to come for a ride?"

  Percy pointed at Fritz and me. "Can they come too?"

  Heydrich shook his head. "Pegasi are only strong enough to carry two people at a time, I'm afraid."

  I could see the cogs turning in Percy's mind. "I wonder what happens if you decline - does the quest fail, or will Heydrich come back empty handed and ask again, only succeeding when the player offers to help?"

  Fritz said, "I don't think we want to risk failing this quest, considering how hard it was to find."

  "Do you think you can handle this alone?" I asked. "Even if this place is synced to the Taiga's level range, it's still quite high for you."

  Percy said, "Between Towering Inferno, my ice CC spells, and dualcasting, mobs aren't even an issue. I've got this."

  "Ok, but don't get cocky, kid." Fritz clapped him on the shoulder.

  "Squallbreaker!" Heydrich's shout snapped through the crisp mountain air.

  The large gray pegasus galloped across the training yard, its hooves throwing up clods of snow. It came to a halt before us, wings folding. Steam puffed from its nostrils. Heydrich vaulted into the saddle and extended a hand to Percy. The boy swung up behind the Flightcaptain, and they took off at a gallop down one of the runways. With a cry and a surge of feathered wings, they launched skyward, quickly dwindling to a speck against the steel gray clouds.

  I reached up to adjust my pirate hat. "What shall we do now, Mr. Carlton?"

  Fritz hugged himself, rubbing his arms vigorously. "Let's take a closer look at that cafeteria - it's cold as a witch's tit out here."

  "I'm sorry, a what?"

  "Isn't that an expression?"

  I shrugged - it wasn't one that I'd heard, but I didn't commonly associate with the ship's hands. Who knows what they picked up in those bars.

  As we turned toward the main keep, hurried footsteps crunched through the snow behind us. "Hey! Hey, wait!"

  A young man, cheeks flushed from running in the chill air, pointed a desperate finger at the receding figures of Percy and Heydrich. "Are they going on the pegasus quest?!"

  I read the floating nameplate above his head: Stellis. A player, not an NPC.

  Fritz nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, was there a line?"

  Stellis shook his head frantically, pale blond hair whipping about his face. "No! My friend went on that quest, and he's been gone for eight hours! I can't get a hold of him on messages either!"

  "Shiver me timbers-!" I cut myself off, taking my pirate hat off and clearing my throat. "I mean... a missing person? Oh my, that sounds serious."

  Fritz pulled up the group chat and said, "I'll let Percy know. Don't worry, the kid's a tough one; he'll manage."

  "Stop setting red flags!" I hissed.

  "He's received the message and will keep a lookout." Fritz jerked his chin toward the keep. "C'mon, we can wait at the order base until he gets back with news."

  As we headed inside, Fritz asked, "So, tell me about your friend."

  "His name's Taxhi - we've been questing together for a few weeks now..."

  (Percival)

  The wind howled fierce and frigid as Squallbreaker bore us higher into the jagged, snow-capped peaks, her wings beating steady against the gale. I clung tight to Heydrich's waist, squinting against the stinging ice crystals.

  "This area's subject to intense winds," Heydrich called over his shoulder, "but they aren't strong enough to overpower a pegasus! Our mounts are raised to fly in the harshest conditions!"

  A sound suddenly carried on the wind then - something between a pained screech and angry roar distorted by the mountainside.

  Heydrich's back straightened. "That sounds promising. I see an opening over there - I'm taking us down!"

  We landed on a short ledge outside the mouth of a cave. Dismounting, we approached cautiously. It was a spacious cylindrical tube cutting quite cleanly through the mountain.

  "A lava tube!" Heydrich said. "You get them a lot in the mountains, though more so over in the Line of Fire. Something may have taken up residence inside; we should investigate." He unclipped a torch from Squallbreaker's saddlebags and lit it, leading the way inside.

  Over the past month, we'd traveled around the world a lot, usually in quite high-level zones, and we'd gotten in some grinding when we could. We still hadn't gotten Trace - all three of us had the classes set up for it, but we needed an opportunity to go back to Celestia Grand to unlock Hunter. For me, though, I'd made good progress with my magic classes. Arcanomancer and Cryomancer were well developed, and from putting some work into all of the tier-2 mage variants I'd unlocked a feature called dualcasting. It gave me a second cast bar, effectively doubling my cast speed and damage output - which could be another reason magic felt so weak early on.

  Arcanomancer in particular gave me quite a few utilities. The one relevant here being a self-buff called HoloEye. It overlaid a grid on the world with distance markers, nominally for sighting spell and projectile paths and gauging distances. In dark places, however, it had the side effect of mapping the contours of the surroundings. As a result, I could see the general shape of the cave around us even beyond the torchlight.

  At a bend up ahead, I saw a hole in the grid - a place where it was blocked by an entity. As we got closer, Heydrich's torchlight fell on the bloodied, mangled form of a pegasus. It turned its head at the light - still alive, but barely able to move.

  "By the winds!" Heydrich exclaimed, rushing forward. He conjured water around his hands to clean some of the blood away and assess the damage. "This is Lannick's pegasus alright. I can save him, but I'll need time. Percival, we must find Lannick - quickly! Go on ahead and look for her; I'll catch up as soon as this one's stable."

  "Alright. Lux!" I summoned a ball of light to float in front of me and kept walking.

  Not long after that, the air grew sharply colder, and the passage curved downward into a steep, icy slope. There was nothing for it, so I sat on the edge and pushed off, sliding down into a vast cavern. I tumbled to a stop in a snow drift.

  The cavern floor was blanketed in well-trod snow, and the walls and ceiling were coated in a thick layer of ice. Near the back, where the snow had been stained dark, a woman in a flight uniform was hanging upside down from the roof, legs embedded in the ice. She appeared to be unconscious.

  I stood under her and considered - how was I supposed to get her down? I tried poking at the ice binding her feet with a lance, but I couldn't reach that high; throwing earth spells instead, but they couldn't break the ice; looking around the room for some environmental clues, but it was empty. I settled on my flamethrower spell - I drew my wand and shot it straight up. A blazing jet of flame erupted from the fairy star and blasted against the ice. Now I just needed to wait for it to melt.

  As I held the spell, the woman stirred, waking up and looking down at me with a groggy, glazed expression of confusion and wonder.

  "Hey there." I called up. "Need a hand?"

  The woman blinked and shook herself fully awake, glancing around in bewilderment. "Aw man, not again!"

  "Do you... come here often then?"

  She huffed a strained laugh. "Feels like I'm getting myself in a situation like this every other week. It's embarrassing, really. Well, beats dying I suppose."

  "So, what normally happens when you get rescued?"

  "Honestly? It's all pretty hazy when I'm strung upside-down. The blood rushing to my noggin makes things go all fuzzy, you know?"

  "Fair enough. Any clue what captured you?"

  "Not a one, sadly. It struck so fast - just yanked me right out of the sky before I could even blink! One second I'm soaring on patrol, the next I'm dangling here."

  "What kind of creatures live in this area?" I asked.

  "Well, the only large predators around these parts are the yetis, but they sure as heck can't reach a flying pegasus. An ice elemental, maybe? But I don't know what one of those things would want with a living person..."

  Just then, the ice encasing her feet finally melted through. With a yelp of alarm, she plummeted from the ceiling and plopped into the snow drift below with a soft poof.

  Spitting snow, the woman pushed herself up to a sitting position and held her spinning head. "Thanks for the catch."

  "You're welcome." I cut the flamethrower.

  Right on schedule, a roar shook the cavern, making the ice coating the walls ring and wobble. From a dark tunnel on the far side, a massive, hairy white form emerged into the light - a yeti, nearly a dozen feet tall and just as wide. A pulsing glob of deep purple corruption had overtaken its right arm and was steadily worming across its broad torso. With another bellowing roar of rage, the corrupted yeti swung out its goopy arm. The appendage elongated and burst forth, ejecting a writhing nest of ropy tendrils that shot straight for me.

  I quickly pivoted my wand and blasted the monster with Towering Inferno. A blazing column of flames erupted on top of it, engulfing the charging yeti and filling the cavern with blinding light and searing heat. I held the spell as it consumed all of my fire mana, then chugged a full restore potion and kept going.

  Finally, it exploded into a burst of glowing dust. I then cut the spell, leaving nothing but a wide swath of steaming slush and charred stone where the creature once stood. Those high-level basic mobs weren't particularly dangerous, but the size of their health pools made them a pain to kill.

  The woman stared at the smoldering remains with wide, horrified eyes. "What in the name of the Goddess was that abomination?!"

  "Corruption." I replied. "I wonder if there's more around."

  Heydrich came sliding down the ice slope. Seeing us, he shouted, "Lannick!" He rushed over to the woman and looked her over. "Where are you hurt? What happened?"

  "I'm fine - just a little disoriented. Help me up, will you?"

  The Flightcaptain quickly moved to her side and supported her as she regained her balance. Lannick glanced around anxiously. "Charlie - is he...?"

  "Safe." Heydrich said. "I patched him up and left him waiting with Squallbreaker. The injuries looked grievous, but proved mostly superficial. He should be fit to fly you both home."

  I took another look around the frozen cavern. There were several tunnels leading deeper, including the one the yeti had come from. "Hey, while you were up there," I asked Lannick, "did you happen to see another player come through? A guy by the name of Taxhi?"

  She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I don't remember anything after I was caught. It's all a haze."

  I turned to the Flightcaptain. "What about you, Heydrich? Have you flown anyone else out to this area of the mountains recently?"

  "I have no memory of that, no." Heydrich said. "You're the only person I've given a ride to all week. And I certainly wouldn't bring untrained civilians out on dangerous missions like this, not unless the circumstances were truly dire!"

  I nodded. It was perfectly possible there were multiple host NPCs and instances of this event taking place across the mountain. The missing person could have been taken to another cave nearby.

  "How extensive is this cavern system?" I asked.

  Heydrich said, "It probably runs all over the surrounding peaks, maybe even connects to the main system in the Line of Fire."

  "Hm. I'm going to look a little deeper." I said. "You two can head back to base if you need to. I'll manage."

  "Nonsense!" Heydrich objected. "How will you get back without a pegasus to fly you? It's much too treacherous to scale these cliffs alone."

  Lannick said, "I'm ok! I can walk!" At Heydrick's glance, she said, "Really, I'm feeling loads better now! We'd be happy to accompany you and look around."

  Heydrich sighed and shook his head. "Very well then; lead the way."

  Picking one of the other tunnels, I refreshed my ball of faerie light and let it float in front of me as we continued deeper into the caves.