ruined my hair, we would have words when I woke up from this game. She lifted a metal-clad hand, palm up, and struck me with some sort of magical fire. It hit my shoulder, burning my dress, melting the Wingship bronze into my skin. I could smell my hair burning, hear the flames roaring.
But it didn’t hurt.
It should have. I remembered falls back in training that stole my breath, cut palms from when I learned how to catch my daggers. But no sting of pain had struck me since I drank my seer water and gained my game vision.
It made for an excellent acting exercise.
Stealth on.
There wasn’t time for fake wincing. I flew forward, but that water she’d thrown on me must have shown even through stealth mode, because her Devani firebolt followed wherever I flew. A large man with a face tattoo swung a sword at me and struck my Wingship.
I shot a dagger into his neck. “Do you have any idea how long I spent designing that?”
I disappeared and took out three more sailors. Twist, stab—five, six, seven, eight. Repeat. Until it was just me, the player, and the small girl.
“You won’t harm her,” Catherine said, standing in front of the girl.
Smoke rose from my scalded shoulders like fog from a fog machine. My legs barely kept me standing. I flicked my wrist. Palmed the blade. Aimed between the player’s eyes. “I won’t need to,” I said.
The dagger launcher fired. The look of pain that crossed Catherine’s eyes before the dagger dimmed them once and for all was a work of genius. Seriously. I was so glad to be working with professionals.
Her head shot backward. She fell in a crumpled hunch.
She was a true talent, not over-the-top at all. Subtle almost. She’ll be good for television.
After Catherine fell, the young NPC queen’s eyes lit white. She raged at me, her fist slamming into my chest, but I couldn’t feel it. I held her by her throat, and then lifted her until her feet dangled.
“Save your rage for the sequel, little queen.”
I tossed her to the ground. Her head slammed against a pole and she was still.
I gathered myself for three breaths and then turned stealth mode on so I could have a freak-out moment in the privacy of invisibility. I could not believe I’d just beaten Catherine. She’d won the national competition three years back, and while the new crop of players had overtaken her when she went to college, she was still serious competition.
I clicked a button and a warning whistle sounded above me. Two of my soldiers dropped from the clouds where they’d been circling. I pulled Catherine out of the room and onto the dock.
Wordlessly, the soldiers planted a stake into the boards at the front of the boat. It didn’t count as a victory until the players’ bodies were staked. And I was the one who had to do it.
They helped me lift Catherine’s body and slide the stake through her.
Her inventory fell out of her pockets into a perfect circle with her staked body at the center. The servant pulled out the plaque I’d made and hung it around her shoulders. I didn’t give it a second look.
Instead, I picked up a silver bracelet that linked to a ring, with a small jewel chained to hang in the center of the palm. This was what she must have used to make the fire. Devani magic wouldn’t work for me, but it was pretty, so I pocketed it anyway. I bent to retrieve her unused healing potions and drank. Just because her magic didn’t hurt me didn’t mean it didn’t damage my health. I was at 5 percent before the hibisi tea restored me.
She’d almost gotten me.
While I was looking at my stats, the skill set crafting highlighted. What? Why would there be unlocked crafting abilities?
The Devani bracelet. I couldn’t use the fire magic hidden inside it, but I could use each magic-infused link of chain to amp up my crafting and create a mechanical fire launcher. Not as powerful as Devani magic, but the possibilities it unlocked were phenomenal.
But each chain could make only one mechanical.
I glanced at the unconscious queen. I bet I could convince her to make some more, provided she was sufficiently motivated.
I bent next to her body and tested her heartbeat. Good, she was still alive. Then I sat in the middle of a ship full of bodies as I crafted enhancements into my costume wings.