Dream Drive: Yuri Ch. 01

He walked back towards the square. He looked at the corner house as he was passing, but saw no sign of the girl. He strode into the square as if he belonged there. He didn't find it hard to fake, since this was just a video game. He looked around and saw that the square was larger than he had thought. What he had considered to be the south end of the square was really just a very large building in the middle of it. Some of the brutes seemed focused on it.

A heavy hand suddenly landed on Yuri's shoulder, making him flinch. It spun him around. He found himself face to face with a grizzled looking guy with graying hair. He stood a few inches taller than Yuri and wore chainmail over his leather vest. A buckler was strapped to his left forearm and a veritable arsenal of bladed weapons hung off his front and sides. Something about the way the man was staring into his eyes reminded Yuri of the sergeants that drilled him through basic. He almost raised his arm in salute. He would have started inching it towards a knife, instead, but he found himself somewhat unable to move, arrested by the warrior's hawkish gaze.

"Did you get him?"

Yuri's brow twitched. Did the man think him a part of his company? "Uh..."

"Did you get the knife-throwing bastard? Where's the rest of you?"

Yuri bit back a sigh of relief as he realized his disguise had fooled the seasoned warrior.The stuff about men joining this kidnapping expedition just the other day must be true. This guy doesn't know them all by face.

"Yes. We got him, the bastard. I took his knives, but not before he killed the rest of the men."

The silver-haired warrior turned around and whistled loudly. "Hold off on burning the barn! I want saddles removed from six more horses and I want those horses hitched to three more wagons!" His brow drew down when the men didn't immediately jump to obey. His growl was loud and scary. "Get to work, maggots! Fill up three more wagons!"

The men scurried to obey. Some were squabbling over which horses' tack should be taken off. The wagons were disassembled into piles of beds, sides, wheels and axles. The group putting them together seemed unpracticed at their work.

The leader shoved Yuri towards the big building. "You're rear guard. Go keep the leftover people in the barn. When I give the signal to move out, you're all to set it to the torch." He moved off and Yuri let go of a breath he hadn't been aware of holding.

Yuri watched the older man march away. There was a definite military precision to the man's gate. Yuri felt oddly grateful that he didn't have to fight him. He turned around and made his way through the chaos towards the big barn. He squeezed between wagons laden with scared people, mostly young women. They sobbed and wailed softly. He could hear softly murmured assurances coming from the lips of the older captives. He shivered. The simulated misery was almost enough to get to him. He kept his head down.

He made his way to the big barn, after twice having to jump away from prancing horses, and did a proper tactical survey. Most of the brutes were standing guard over the wagons they had already loaded. About a dozen brutes was standing guard at the front and rear doors to the barn. The rest were almost done with assembling the wagons and hitching the horses.

"You!" Again a hand landed on his shoulder. The brute that spun him around this time was not as fearsome as the silver-haired leader. This one had dark, patchy hair and awful teeth that he was exposing with a sneer. "Look at you, all decked out with weapons! You'd think you were someone to be feared. Here!" He pushed a bucket at Yuri. Yuri took it. "Go to the far side of the barn. When you hear two short blasts from the horn, pour this pitch on the side of the barn. When you hear the long blast, set a torch to the pitch and get on your horse. Got it, Knifemaster?" Yuri nodded once. "Good." The man waved Yuri off. "Get!"

As Yuri walked around the barn, he could see the brutes drag more people out of it. The people still in the barn cried out in anguish and pleaded earnestly with the brutes. The brutes replied with beatings and a few slashes of their blades and the pleas died out. Wailing replaced them, but the brutes ignored it. They wasted no time in tying the people together at the ankle and loading them up on the newly-assembled wagons.

By the time Yuri came to the corner of the big barn, he finally spotted what he was looking for. A narrow alleyway led between two big houses on the west end of the square. There were no parallel roads in the immediate vicinity. It would be the perfect choke point. He'd draw the brutes in and knife them in the throat as they came, one by one.

He set the bucket on the ground and put the crossbow to his shoulder. When the horn sounded, he'd shoot the brute closest to him and then draw the remaining brutes into the kill zone.

A commotion sounded from one side of the barn. The people inside were trying to break down the door and escape. The brutes moved to prevent them, even as they kept working on loading the last three wagons with struggling captives.

"You stay there," a brute called out to Yuri. "Watch for them trying to tunnel out!" Yuri raised the crossbow to acknowledge the order. He moved away from the barn and towards the choke point he had chosen. He wanted to make sure it would serve him well. He stayed there after completing his inspection of the alley. He didn't like the screams of the captives. He wished the game would make them comply with the kidnappers, so he could proceed with saving them. He looked away from their desperate struggles.

He was surprised to see a lone rider galloping his way. The man was riding in from the south, but the street he was riding down entered the square at an angle and no one in the square could see him but Yuri. Yuri squinted and saw that the man was wearing brown and dark green. Yuri took a look around and then jogged towards the rider. They met two houses away from the square proper.

The rider slowed to a canter. "They're coming," he called out. "They're less than ten minutes behind me! We have to go!"

He spurred his horse as he was passing Yuri. Yuri raised his crossbow and willed the orange box to appear over the back of the man's neck. His arms adjusted his aim. Yuri twanged the lever and the bolt buried itself into the back of the rider's neck. The man slumped in the saddle and the horse ran on. A ball of essence rushed into Yuri.

He jogged to the corner and peeked out. No one noticed the horse running into the square. The rider's body fell out of the saddle and the horse ran on, pulling it through the dirt by the foot caught in the stirrup. The weight of the body turned the horse away from the barn and brutes. It vanished into a side street on the other side of the square and Yuri chuckled. No one had seen it.

He cranked the crossbow and loaded another bolt as he walked back to his assigned post. Two brutes joined him. Each stood halfway between him and a corner of the barn. Each had a bucket of pitch at the ready. Yuri willed the orange box to appear on the jugular of the one with the uglier smile. His arms felt locked into position as he waited for the signal.

When the horn sounded, Yuri loosed his bolt. The brute dropped his bucket and grabbed at his neck. Yuri spun around and drew a knife. He willed the box to appear on the other brute's neck. Yuri loosed his blade as the brute started to splash pitch on the wall of the barn. The bucket went flying out of the man's hands as he collapsed.

Yuri drew two more knives and ran towards the choke point. As he ran past the corner of the barn, he loosed his knives at the throats of the brutes standing there. Two brutes fell over and the rest roared as they ran at him. He ran into the alley. Two balls of essence dashed after him, catching up with ease.

He ran until the end of the alley and stopped just inside of it. He turned around and drew a pair of knives. The brutes rushed in with drawn blades and screamed oaths. He grinned and waited. When the first was just a few yards away, Yuri loosed his blade at the man's throat. The man collapsed and slid through the mud until he was almost directly at Yuri's feet. Yuri didn't pause as he loosed knife after knife. Five more brutes fell before they alley was choked off. Two white orbs of essence rushed past the last two brutes to join with Yuri.

Yuri was almost out of knives. He bent down to get more from the killed. One of the last two brutes turned around to run away. The other grabbed him. "You're not goin' anywhere 'till we kill this fucker!" They stopped fighting and watched in stunned awe as essence rose from every body and rushed into Yuri. Yuri tossed his last two knives at the throats of the brutes and they fell down dead. His essence counter read 103 and the blue bar was a little less than half full.

Yuri carefully clambered over the dead bodies on his way back towards the barn. One of the corpses loudly farted as he stepped on it.The level of detail in this game is truly amazing. He bent down to try and retrieve his knives when he heard a long note from a horn. A chorus of agonized shrieks immediately followed it. He ran, forgetting the knives.

When Yuri cleared the alley, he could see that a few brutes were pushing against the door of the barn. Smoke was rising over the far sides of the barn. Half the barn was lit on fire. The people inside were screaming for help and mercy. They were banging on the door which wasn't on fire, desperately trying to get out.

Yuri drew his sword and rushed forward. One of the brutes saw him and nodded him closer. "Here! Bring some pitch! No one set this door to the flaaargh!" Yuri shoved his sword as deep into the man's gut as he could. He drew the man's knife and stabbed the next closest brute in the back of the neck with it.

The three remaining brutes reacted to his "betrayal" and rushed to move away from him. He pulled his blade free. They immediately began to spread out to try and encircle him. They froze when the ball of essence rose from the knifed brute and entered Yuri's body. Yuri grinned and checked his grip on the hilt of his sword. He wished they had covered swordfighting in basic. The desperate screams of the captives pushed him into action.

He rushed at the closest brute, impaling himself on the man's blade, but slashing his throat open in turn. He jumped back, despite the strong pinching sensations coming from his belly, and evaded the second brute's swing. Yuri pulled the second sword out of his gut and held it aloft with his left.

Both the standing brutes gaped in shock at the lack of blood on his vest. A sharp pinch came from Yuri's ankle, nearly causing him to lose balance. The first brute he had run through was lying on the ground next to him, holding his guts in with one hand and slashing his knife across Yuri's ankle with the other.

With a growl of irritation, Yuri bent over and stabbed the brute through the face. A ball of essence immediately flew between them.

"Fuck this," exclaimed one of the brutes and turned to run.

The other just stood there, indecisive, until Yuri swung at him. He blocked awkwardly. Yuri let go of his other sword, embedded in a dead brute's skull, and reached up to grab the brute's locked blade. The brute's eyes grew comically large as Yuri held the blade with ease and no blood. His hit points were at eighty-three, but they were ticking down. Yuri stabbed the brute in the gut and then swung at his neck, nearly decapitating him.

Essence rushed out of the falling man and another ball came from the brute on whose sword Yuri had impaled himself. He leaned down and picked up a knife, but the fleeing brute was already around the corner of the barn. The people inside were screaming for help as they pressed themselves against the door.

Yuri sheathed his weapons and moved to lift the crossbeam keeping the door closed. The press of bodies against the door was too great. The beam was stuck in place. The edges of the doors were digging into it. "You have to stop pushing against the door! You have to stop, or I can't release you!"

Yuri's words were completely unheard over the screaming. He fought back the urge to cover his ears and calmly evaluated the situation. The beam couldn't simply be lifted out of the slots because the doors were pressing it into the slots themselves, keeping it pinned in place. Chopping the beam in half would require an axe and he didn't have one. Cutting it with his sword was out of the question. The beam seemed like an impassable obstacle. The hinges were thick and metal, he could see no way to undo them in a hurry.

He looked at the slots holding the beam in place. They looked firm and strong. He could see that each was attached to the door with five thick nails. He couldn't pry them loose before everyone inside burned to death. The smoke began wafting down towards him, reminding him that people in fires died of smoke inhalation, not burning. This game was realistic to a fault. Yuri didn't doubt that if he didn't get the people out this minute, they would choke to death.

He looked away from the door and spotted a tiny finger sticking out of the wall. He rushed over. A pair of vertical planks fit loosely together. Yuri drew his sword and stabbed the tip of it into the gap between the planks. He stepped to the side and pushed on the hilt with both hands, using the sword as a lever to pry the plank away from the wall. The sword slipped out of the gap after a few seconds. Yuri fell flat on his face.

That hurt him worse than deliberately impaling himself on a sword.

The screams coming from within prompted him right back into action. He kicked at the tiny finger and it vanished back inside. Yuri swung his sword overhead and wedged it deep into the very bottom of the gap. He again pushed on the hilt with all his might.

His blade snapped after a few moments. Yuri fell over, but caught himself on his hands this time. He picked up a fallen brute's sword and jumped back into action. He stabbed it as hard as he could and wedged it into the top of the gap. He pushed with all his might. Nothing happened for a few moments and then the sword started to move. The plank began to give way. Yuri adjusted the sword and pushed anew. The plank slowly started coming loose from the beam. A sudden kick from within launched it away from the wall.

Yuri lost his balance and fell flat on his ass this time.

Arms and legs shot out of the narrow gap, but no one could get through. Yuri jumped up and wedged the tip of his sword between the exposed beam and the next plank over. He tugged with all his might and it slowly gave way. An old man immediately fell out of the barn. A press of human flesh strove to follow him out. Yuri pried three more planks loose before his sword broke. The gap he created was bigger than a door and people were stumbling blindly out, coughing and gasping for air. Yuri pulled the old man out of the way, lest people trip on him and plug up the exit.

A horse snort made him look to the side of the burning barn. Three mounted brutes were there, looking unhappy with the development. The turned their horses around and rode off.

Yuri yanked a strong-looking woman to the side. "Get everyone out!" She stared at his clothes with wide eyes. "Get everyone out of the barn before it burns down! Do you understand me?!" She nodded.

Yuri rushed around the corner of the barn and stopped. The square was empty.

He ran towards the tallest house in the square. He needed to get to the top of its roof and see which way the brutes had taken the prisoners. He ran up the walls of the house with the aim of grasping a second story windowsill. His feet glowed as he ran up the wall. He overshot the window and found himself grabbing the eaves. He pulled himself up on the roof and looked back down in wonder. The game had allowed him to do a vertical run of a good twenty-five feet.

He made to step towards the crest of the roof, but paused. He didn't want to fall through the roof, like earlier. He hadn't brought anything he could use to probe the roof with. He looked around. There was smoke rising from everywhere. Big flames licked out towards the sky. Yuri heard horse whinnies. He pricked his ears and cocked his head. They were coming from up ahead. Could the brutes still be here?

His mouth drew down. Even if they were still in town, he couldn't catch up to them. The streets were too muddy and the houses prevented racing in a straight line. The rooftops, on the other hand, provided him with exactly that. He probed with one foot and found that the roof had wooden beams at regular intervals. He could walk across it, if he was careful enough.

The whinnies were faint, but he thought he could tell they were moving around. He sighed and willed a hundred points of essence into his Agility stat. He set off running across the edge of the roof, his feet finding the beams with little effort. He picked up speed when he came to the far end of the roof and jumped towards the next house. It was far away, but it was also considerably lower.

He landed with both feet against the wooden wall of the house and both hands gripping the edge of its roof.

You have created a new skill: Cat Leap.

He pulled himself up and jogged across the roof. He stepped across the narrow gap to the next house. He jumped down to the roof of the next house and jogged to the end of its roof. He leaned over the edge and saw a column of riders passing on the street below. He looked down the street. Wagon-pulling horses were prancing there, whinnying nervously as they were faced with walls of flames. The brutes had been diverted by the firestorm that was consuming the town.

Hoist by their own petard, Yuri thought with a smile.

The brutes manning the wagons were struggling to turn them around and follow the riders. Yuri waited until the first of the wagons came close to the house. He crouched and then leapt over the edge of the roof. He landed with both feet against the driver of the wagon. Somehow, the driver took all the energy of Yuri's leap and went flying sideways out of the driver's seat. Suddenly devoid of momentum, Yuri nearly fell on his ass. His feet found the wagon seat with no trouble and he spread them slightly to keep from falling off.

You have created a new skill: Pounce.

Yuri bent down and grabbed the reigns. He pulled hard on them. "Whoa! Whoa, boy!" The horses slowed to a crawl, whinnying and shaking their heads. Another tug on the reigns made them stop. Yuri looked over his shoulder. He ignored the confused faces of the captives on the wagon and focused on the street behind them.

The rest of the wagons were coming to a stop. The street wasn't wide enough for them to go around him. Three riders could pass abreast, but wagons could not overtake. Yuri grinned. He had them trapped. He reached for his sword to cut the bonds of the captives. His scabbard was empty.Shit.

The driver of the second wagon stood on his seat and shook his fist. "What are you doing, you bloody fool?! This road's clear of fire! Go!"

Yuri's hand felt a knife in a hip sheath. He drew it and placed the orange box on the irate driver's jugular. A moment later, Yuri's knife was there, too. Yuri clambered onto the side of the wagon and strode down its length. The captives squealed. He jumped and his feet landed on the backs of the horses hitched to the second wagon.

You have created a new skill: Precision Leap

A ball of essence rose from the driver's body to enter Yuri's. Yuri clambered onto the driver's seat and retrieved the dead man's knife and sword. He bent over the back of the seat and raised his sword. The captives screamed in terror. He swung and severed the rope tying their ankles to the front of the wagon. He clambered up onto the side of the wagon and jogged to the rear.