Page 2 of The Glass Unicorn, Part 2 (Quest Wars #2)

“So, we’re stuck here. What do we do? According to Liesel, this house is abandoned. We can either put down stakes here and tough it out, or we can move on. What do we think?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure what I thought we should do.

On one hand, we were still close to the transporters.

When they fixed the game, we could get out quickly.

On the other hand…there were a number of other players out there, throughout Abarria.

Maybe we could band together and create a village until we were able to leave.

“Do we have any idea how long the game will be down? How long we’re stuck here?” Thornhold asked.

Liesel shrugged. “As I said, there’s no way to tell. We’re here for…as long as we’re here.”

Brynn looked back at the house. “What would it take to spruce up the place?”

“Some elbow work. But there’s something we need to take into consideration,” Liesel said. “There will be roving groups of thugs. Not only Syms. Remember, when humans are pushed beyond their comfort level, sometimes they throw away ethics and go feral.”

“That’s true,” I said. “And, if they do manage to fix the game, do we really want to leave without having experienced what we came for? I mean…I don’t really want to think that we’re here for the long term.

The thought freaks me out, so if we are, I’d rather find out later.

If we’re here in three weeks, we can always look for a place to settle down then. ”

“That’s true,” Brynn said. “Or, if Liesel doesn’t mind, we can use this as a primary base and venture out from here, returning when we need a break.”

“What do you think, Liesel?” Reggie asked.

She thought for a moment. “I’m going to stay here and fix up the house.

I’m an employee of the game, remember. I don’t have the freedom to chuck all my responsibilities and run off into the world of Abarria.

At least, not yet. I have to wait until they’ve made a good faith effort to fix things.

Trust me, I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life, either.

I have too many people I care about out in the real world.

I can’t imagine never seeing them again. ”

That set us all to thinking. Some of us had relationships, some of us didn’t.

None of us were married, but I knew that Ray had a girlfriend, and Brynn had a boyfriend.

Thank gods none of us had children. But Ray also had a dog.

What was going to happen to our friends and the pets who relied on us?

At least, thanks to Liesel, our families would know what was going on.

“I’m sorry,” Liesel said. “I’m just…” She shook her head. “You’re welcome to use this house as your primary base. I’ll be here and can keep an eye on it in the meanwhile.”

“Okay,” Ray said. “Let’s assume we’re going to make it out of here.

It may not be today, or next week, or this month, but let’s assume the game makers will be able to fix it.

So, let’s just continue with our adventure.

That we can return here makes it so much easier.

We’ll have to be cautious, but I want to explore this world that’s lived in my head for so long. ”

We let his comments sit for a moment, then slowly, we all agreed.

I turned to Liesel. “Do you need any more help before we head out to the dungeon?”

She nodded. “If you could spare half a day to help me move a few of the bigger pieces of furniture around, I’d truly appreciate it.”

So, we spent the next few hours lugging furniture around the house, cleaning, and bringing stacks of wood to the wood bin right outside the door.

Finally, she stood back, eying the house. “I can take it from here. I’m glad you’ll be coming back. I may work here, but I’m scared, too.”

“How long will the watches last us?” Thornhold asked.

“The battery life lasts for a few years, so they should be able to keep contact with us—at least a one-way contact,” she said.

Everyone stopped at that and looked at one another. One more reminder that this was way too real. Finally, Liesel smiled. “The fire at my old house should be out. Let’s go raid the pantry to see what’s still edible.”

Taking a small hand-drawn cart with us, we returned to the burnt out shell of a house. We began rummaging through, and managed to find more than we expected—blankets and clothes, food and even some books.

“Fill your packs before you head for the dungeon,” she said.

“Are you sure? We don’t want to leave you high and dry,” I said.

“There’s plenty for now. The fields still have a lot of produce in them, and I see my goats have returned—they ran off during the fire.

It’s an easy walk here from the new house, and the cart makes it that much easier.

Also, I can go trade in Dusmaria. I’ll be fine.

” She paused, then added, “So, you’re going to explore the dungeon? ”

“Yeah. After that, we’ll come back to your house and then figure out where to go next.

Maybe there will be some word from the game developers by then,” I said.

“And if we find anything that we don’t need, but that you might be able to use, we’ll bring it back for you.

If your house is going to be our base, we’ll take turns helping out. Right?” I asked, looking at the others.

“Sure, that’s fine with me,” Brynn said.

“I’m good with that,” Thornhold said, and Reggie and Ray chimed in, agreeing.

“Be careful, please,” Liesel said. “I don’t want to hear you took on a skeletal lord and ended up on the undead side of the headstone.” She looked genuinely worried.

It occurred to me just how quickly bonds could form during an emergency. And the game breaking was definitely an emergency.

“If you do manage to hear from our families through your contact, can you let us know?”

“I can try,” Liesel said. “And you’ll be back. At least your families will know what’s going on. I might get in trouble, but what can they do? Fire me? Right now, I’d love it if they could actually kick me out.”

We said goodbye and headed back toward the thicket with the dungeon while she began carting supplies to the new house. I wished she would come with us. The thought of her being on her own in a world out of control frightened me. But we’d see her soon, and maybe she’d have better news for us.

I tried to push thoughts of the game being broken out of my mind. Everything had been turned on end, and now that we’d decided to go on with our adventure, I tried to focus on the here-and-now.

“Are we having fun yet?” Thornhold asked, pausing for a drink of water after we’d been walking about an hour.

We were almost to the edge of the thicket, and this time, we were going to keep going.

Our water bottles were full, we had food and supplies in our packs, and our weapons were as ready as they could be.

“Oh shut up,” Ray mumbled, but he let out a snort. “We were going to be here two weeks, anyway, so let’s just focus on the next couple weeks and hope that things are worked out by the time we’re ready to leave.”

We let out a collective sigh, then started up again. There was no reason to turn back. I took a deep breath, looked back at the others, then headed into the woods, wondering what was waiting for us deep in the thicket’s dungeon.