The sun is beginning to set, and Kato still hasn’t returned from his hunting trip. I’m strapping the shield Miyasha made me to my left arm and bundling up near the front gate.
“Human should not leave,” Bugbug complains. “Emissary is coming.”
“If Kato’s out there after dark, the giant might come,” I say, keeping my voice low. Some of the unmarked are nearby, though none are paying me much attention as they handle the mundane tasks of keeping the outpost running.
Miyasha’s at the forge, hammering something between glancing up at me.
With James and Halfdan stuck keeping an eye on Mary, that makes me the only marked with combat abilities we can spare to go looking for Kato. I check my core, making sure I can still feel the charges of gunshots I absorbed earlier with James’ help.
A couple days ago, I had him test shooting me in my shield, which was a lot less terrifying than testing it on my bare skin. My blocking ability extended to the shield, letting me absorb his bullets. Some testing confirmed I even absorbed the nature of the bullet he created, meaning his stone bullets let me fire stone bullets of my own from my fingertips.
But I could still only hold three shots at a time for now, so I’d made the habit of holding two bullets in my core and one charge of fire, just for versatility.
I notice the hammering has stopped, and Miyasha is behind me, waiting. She’s holding a small stone sphere and a small metal sphere of roughly the same size out to me.
“What are those?” I ask.
She presses them into my hand when I don’t reach to take them, closing my fingers around them. My whole body still aches from my run-in with the giant, but it’s not so bad I won’t be able to fight if I have to.
“If something got Kato,” she says. “It might get you.”
“No offense,” I say, looking at the two rounded spheres. One is metal and the other is wood. “But how are these going to help with that?”
“Drop the wood one if it’s a monster. Drop the metal one if it’s other people. If you don’t come back, someone will go after you, and it’s better if they know.”
I purse my lips. “Grim, but makes sense. Let’s hope I hold on to both my balls, then.”
She seems to be trying not to smile. She punches my shoulder softly. “Try not to die. You’re our only certified giant frightener.”
“Yeah,” I say, checking the straps on my shield. “Not sure what you all would do without me.”
With that, I head out the gates and quickly find the trail that must be Kato’s. The sun’s already fading and the cold of night is coming fast. But one benefit of the constant snow is how quickly it covers old tracks, making fresh ones easy to sort out from the rest.
“Why do humans take such risks?” Bugbug asks. “Is stupid.”
“Yeah,” I say softly, careful to keep my voice down as I alternate between watching the tracks and looking ahead for threats. “People from my time would agree with you there. But they were also assholes, and I’m pretty sure the world was never going to recover with them in charge.”
“So you take stupid risk to save this world?” Bugbug asks. “Stupid.”
“No,” I admit. “But I’m starting to get a sense of what all of this is, and I’m guessing all the most likely paths end with me carved open. So if I’m screwed, I’d rather spend my last days, months, or years seeing what it’s like to live with good people. Maybe even to become one myself.”
At first, I think Bugbug isn’t responding, but when I glance at him I see his mouth has been moving. Censored again. I’d kill to know what they’re keeping him from telling me and why.
I pause mid-stride when I realize Kato’s prints stop in the middle of a clearing, then the snow all around is disturbed and dotted with small, mist-like spots of red.
My stomach sinks. Blood.
I lift my eyes and see movement in every direction. At least a dozen men and women are emerging from behind trees and the cover of bushes, some pointing guns at me. I see what looks like a flintlock musket, a bow and arrow, and even a highly modified rifle that must be from a time after the tapes. Laser lights and metal grips and sights are attached all over the weapon and the woman holding it wears white and blue camouflage.
I’m not just a little outnumbered. I’m outgunned, outmanned, and fucking surrounded.
Slowly, I raise my hand and wave. Old instincts kick in, considering this situation isn’t so dissimilar from some I found myself in back in my world.
Time to improvise.
“Traveling trader, here.” I hook my thumb in a random direction back the way I came. “Of course, I keep the goodies somewhere safe. But I’d love to chat. Anything in particular you’re all looking for?”
None of them talk, but they all look toward a single man. He’s broad shouldered and holds two curved swords. His beard is dark and he’s balding, but he has a kind of swashbuckling, rugged look that makes me think of a pirate. He steps forward, head lolling back as he twirls his swords with obvious skill. “You followed these footprints… to trade?”
“That’s right,” I say. I find it surprisingly easy to sound calm, despite my pounding heart.
When I was fifteen, I once stumbled into a cave of cannibals after taking a few wrong turns. I managed to survive that by leading them “to the treasure” straight through a toxic marsh. Thankfully, I had a mask from the bunker that kept me on my feet while my escorts had passed out and probably died a few hours in. My skin was raw for weeks, though.
When they don’t answer, I clear my throat, doing my best to project confidence. “Saw the tracks and hoped they’d lead me to an outpost. But we can talk trade right here, if you all prefer. I’ve got medical supplies, weapons, armor…”
There’s another long silence before the bearded man sheathes his swords. “Alright, then. We’ll take you to see Merrick. He’ll decide if we want any of your goods.”
“You’ll take me to—” I start, then force myself to nod, smiling. “On to Merrick, then.”
A few of them split off, falling in behind me with guns or weapons pointed at my back. The rest lead the way ahead. As discreetly as I can, I let the metal ball Miyasha gave me slip from my fingers right where Kato’s prints stopped. If nothing else, that should let them know not to come looking for us.
I’m led through the forest in relative silence. Some of the people occasionally speak, but it’s mostly simple logistics or comments on a track in the snow or basic questions. I’m able to catch glimpses of most of their marks, as well as the fact that some of my armed captors aren’t marked at all.
Of the marked ones, the highest level I see is twelve, with current power ranks ranging from “F-” like mine to the highest at “F+” on the neck of the level twelve pirate guy. The highest power potential I see is a “B-”.
My own markings are hidden beneath my scarf, which I’m fairly sure is a good thing, for now. Maybe they suspect I’m marked already, but if they know I’ve got a corestone in my chest, they may decide that’s worth more than anything I could possibly trade them.
Bugbug is quietly freaking out in his little ship, both hands slapped to his head as his mouth hangs open. I can see him in what seems to be constant communication with someone, but his ship isn’t translating a word of it for me.
Every step we take drives home the severity of my situation a little further. There’s a chance I can convince these people I’ve actually got something to trade. And with any luck, they might even be dumb enough to let me leave to “collect” it. But what are the odds of that?
Even if I’m nervous as hell, I keep my head held high, expression as calm as I can manage. Odds are, they're going to either try to capture or kill me. Considering I'm massively outnumbered, there's nothing I can do about that except try to take one or two of them down with me.But there's one small glimmer of hope. Bugbug says the emissary is coming to meet me today. He also says I'm "sponsored." Unless a better opportunity presents itself, that makes bluffing my way into living through the night my top priority for now.
I just have to hope this "emissary" can find a way to reach me wherever I'm being taken.
“What’s with the shield?” a nearby guy without any markings asks. He’s carrying a simple spear that looks like it was made here. “Not going to do shit against the things out here.”
“Why, want to trade for it?” I ask.
He frowns, shakes his head, and then keeps walking in silence.
I think we’ve walked nearly half an hour before we finally come to an outpost. The walls are made of stone with four raised towers at the corners—all manned with the occupants holding what look to be hand-made bows.
I swallow hard, bracing myself as they open the gate.
Inside, I see their camp has the same silver disc at its center, but theirs is already slotted with four stones on both sides, making eight total. I don’t particularly want to think about how they came by so many stones or whether mine is about to make it nine.
There are maybe twenty more people moving around inside the outpost. Everything here looks further along and more advanced than what we have. The buildings are better made and probably trap heat far better than our cabins. There’s a more robust cooking station with places to skin and dry meat, as well as a crafting area with forges and anvils a pair of large-shouldered men are using to make weapons. There’s even an area for livestock where they’ve got two pig-like creatures with huge, twisted horns chained to posts.
A man steps out from a building wearing plate armor and a cape. He has long, dark curling hair and a hooked nose.
“Merrick,” the pirate-like leader of the group calls to him.
“They still stage four?” Merrick asks, not even seeming to notice me at first.
“No…” the man says. “Whole outpost was burning when we found it. Unmarked were slaughtered and the marked were already harvested.”
Merrick doesn’t react for a beat, then he lets out a long breath, as if he’s not entirely surprised. “Alright. One less neighbor to worry about, at least. But we need to find where those fanatics are based.” He starts pointing and assigning people from the group that captured me to go out in various directions, searching for this “fanatic” outpost.
Then he pauses on me, brows creasing. “Who is this?”
“Found him following the Roman’s tracks.”
Merrick’s eyes shift to a building to my right, sending a chill down my body. If Kato’s here… I think he’s in that building. But what are they doing with him in there?
Merrick sizes me up, not seeming entirely impressed. “Is he marked?”
A nearby woman roughly pulls down my scarf. A moment later, she sucks in a sharp breath. “Level 5, power rank F-, power class… S+.”
The remaining men and women around me raise weapons, several of them backing away.
Power class. I guess that’s what these people are imagining the last letter means, but I guess it’s not too far from the way the aliens defined it to me.
“S+?” Someone asks. “I thought A was as high as it went?”
Merrick’s face twists with anger. On his neck, I see he’s level fifteen, power rank F+, but with an A- potential. The strongest I’ve seen out here by far.
“You brought him here without checking his fucking mark?” Merrick asks. He takes a step toward the pirate, who flinches back. Merrick turns his attention to me. “S+? What is your power? Who are you really?”
“A trader, like I said,” I offer. Even though I’m increasingly sure this is going to end badly, I’m doing an admirable job of sounding calm. I know the moment I let my fear show, they’ll see straight through me. “That’s actually my power.”
“Trading is your power…” Merrick repeats, voice dry. “S+ power class, but you… what, strike a mean fucking bargain?”
“My power helps me find things to trade,” I say, making it up as I go. “I can feel where supplies and items and valuables are. Can’t tell you why that got me such a high power class.”
Merrick doesn’t speak for an agonizingly long time. Finally, he makes a dismissive gesture. “Put him with the other one for now. I want four people guarding him at all times. C power classes or better. Go.” He turns, cloak flaring as he stomps off toward a building that’s larger than all the rest.
Four people from the group lead me to a building and push me through the door. They stay outside, standing guard.
Once I’m inside, the stench of blood is nearly overwhelming. I raise a hand to my mouth and have to suppress a shout of terror when I realize what I’m looking at.
Kato is on the floor. They’ve already carved him open and removed his sphere.
My vision blurs, chest going painfully tight.