James slowly returned to awareness. He was bound, blindfolded, gagged, and had a massive headache. He was somehow tied in a rather uncomfortable way to the saddle of a horse. There was a chill to the air and no light bled through the blindfold so he assumed it was night still.

  “Are you sure?” said a gravelly male voice.

  “Yes, he’s the one we want, that want, and I’m paying” said a deeper voice which he recognised. .

  “Why can’t we card him?” said a different higher pitched also male voice.

  James started to panic, but stilled himself in the hope they wouldn’t notice.

  “I tried to card him. The card didn’t work,” came Tristan’s voice again, clearly annoyed.

  “Let’s just kill him then and get out of here” said the original gravelly voice.

  “I want him to suffer for what he did to me,” Tristan replied.

  James had heard enough. He dropped into Commander’s Space at normal time. Thankfully, it worked.

  In Commander’s Space he was still bound and blindfolded.

  He willed those off him and was relieved when they dropped to the ground. There was resistance though, as if his residual self felt that they should be there.

  He could try to put the bindings into his inventory and ride off. He wasn’t sure he could act fast enough though before someone killed him with a sword or dagger. Tristan had ranged skills. He could be dead in moments. He opened a party chat.

  James:

  There was no immediate response but he could see that Edward and Ken were in the chat. Hopefully that meant they were alive.

  James:

  Still no response. What was happening?

  James attempted to invite Janine to the party and couldn’t. He attempted to send her a direct message instead.

  What had happened to her? Was there a restriction on chat while in Commander’s Space? He should have tested it before now.

  He walked over to Squire’s Retreat and called out. Squire came running.

  Charlie wasn’t there. He quickly pulled up Charlie’s card and found it to be a Bond, not death-marked. He was still alive.

  He could summon him… but if he was tracking them right now, leading help to follow, summoning would ruin it. He just didn’t know enough. He did know he had to get out of here.

  James pulled up his cards and saw that Command Self

  Imprinting Metallic Hide on himself would save him from Tristan’s ranged attacks, hopefully.

  He couldn’t get to his cards in the real world though, and he didn’t know if casting it here would work. Damn. He should have tested that as well.

  No… that wouldn’t work either. He had no card for himself that he could add the on-proximity trigger to.

  He decided to use Quick Heal on himself to see if that worked in the real world.

  Play Card: Quick Heal -> Target James

  Effect: Cures target for a small amount of health. Cooldown: 10 minutes

  James felt his headache go away, healed… at least in this place.

  By now Squire had arrived. She was looking for a scratch but sensed his distress and climbed him to get to his hands. He held her and gave her a hug. She let him.

  He let her down again.

  “I’ll be back in a moment. Do not leave here yet. It’s not safe.”

  Squire made a motion and her card flew over.

  James saw her point though.

  He re-applied the buff. In fact he quickly re-did his deck.

  He summoned her by her card. She re-appeared next to him in the Commander’s Space. Stronger and faster.

  Drake Aspect Progress Increased – Squire: +10%

  James dropped out of Commander’s Space.

  “... say we kill him. The card didn’t work. He’s going to get his abilities back…”

  James didn’t wait any longer.

  He once again dropped into Commander’s Space. Again he willed the blindfold and gag off him. After a moment he dropped the bindings too.

  Play Card: Command Self

  Target:Self Effect:Apply one of your active card enhancements to yourself for one hour.

  Two options floated in front of him.

  Apply Enhancement Craft Card

  Above both: a ring of glowing enhancements.

   Focused Boost

  Augment

  Imprint

  Cleanse

  Undead Aspect

  Now was not the time to try Undead. It might save him, it might not.

  He selected Imprint.

   Pack Leader

  Silent Movement

  Momentum Surge

  Metallic Hide

  He chose Metallic Hide.

  His skin turned to flowing metal liquid in motion, solid on impact. As soon as it did James changed the flow of time to 1/20th.

  The white noise thickened instantly, like it compressed with the change.

  James played some more cards.

  Play Card:Greyfang Alpha-Wolf -

  Play Card:Thorncat -

  Play Card:Iron-Hide Boar -

  He then shouted at Squire “Come, cut my bonds and free me”

  He was hit by a pounding headache.

  He dropped out of Commander’s Space to erupting chaos.

  James had not anticipated his horse's reaction to the sudden appearances.

  It bolted.

  James was jerked at impossible angles, still tied securely to the saddle.

  He heard the sounds of shock and surprise, then pain as his summons got the jump on the men. Four voices, not three. All male.

  He felt three objects ping hard against his back, but none broke through. James guessed that was Tristan.

  Suddenly his hands were free.

  He yanked off his blindfold and gag.

  Seeing actually hurt more than helped as his vision swam with the movement of the horse.

  Charlie was working on the ropes holding him to the horse. He tried to put them into his inventory but something about being attached to the horse prevented it. Her sharp claws managed to cut through the fibres in no time. Once enough were cut the rest loosened and fell away with the movement of the horse.

  James tried to stay on but the angles, movement and grip were all wrong. He tumbled to the ground. As he did three more daggers flew where he’d been.

  The horse now unprotected screamed in pain as they plunged into it instead.

  His metallic skin heated up from the friction with the ground, but there were no breaks or bleeds.

  James got to his feet and turned to the fight.

  The scene was lit by torches, most now on the ground.

  His Alpha roared and it appeared to affect his Iron-Hide and Thorncat both.

  All three summons were bleeding from stab wounds. The iron-hide boar, without his Metallic Hide trait, was the worst off.

  The enemies though.. Two were down with broken limbs. Dead or dying. The last was dodging rather than blocking and it was clear why. +15 to Might was just way too strong. His Alpha and Iron-Hide hit like a bull, on each swipe or charge.

  The Iron-Hide Boar charged at one of the men, who dodged, but the true target, Tristan, was too busy throwing daggers at James to notice the threat in time.

  The Iron-Hide bone Tusks hit Tristan in the spine. There was a crack and Tristan’s limp form was launched backward, crashing to the ground fifteen meters away like a training dummy.

  The last fighter dropped his sword and surrendered.

  James gave the mental command to stop.

  His summons just stopped. It was unnatural, but this was the reality of death-marked creatures.

  James walked over.

  He gave a verbal command. “Kill him if he moves more than a meter.”

  “Please good sir. I have kids to feed and didn’t know what I was signing up for.”

  James didn’t buy one word of it. This would be up to Guild justice. He moved over to the man's colleagues and put their weapons in his inventory. Then he checked for a pulse.

  One of them was still alive.

  James did a double take. He’d killed them but didn’t get a notification for loot, bind, and harvest. Why? Was that not an option for sentient beings?

  His logical, next step brain was protecting him from the other undead possibility.

  Regardless, the one that was still alive would not be for long.

  He looked around for a healing potion to save him and didn’t find one.

  He used some of the rope he had been tied up in and bound their hands then used his one remaining heal card.

  Play Card: Cure Wounds

  The system understood the target of the spell but didn’t give him the name. Curious.

  The man was mostly healed, but remained unconscious which was likely for the best.

  He looked at the shackle halves still on his wrists. Squire had either clawed or bitten through the metal. His creatures were far deadlier than he was now.

  Maybe it was time he got an enchanted weapon.

  He sent out another invite to Janine and found that this time the connection was established.

  Chat must not actually work from Commander’s Space. That was weird. So far the system seemed to just automatically bridge such gaps. Probably an unlock path he hadn’t gotten to yet.

  James:

  Janine:

  James looked around. He was still in the forest along the road. He didn’t recognise anything. Oh right —

  He brought up his map and responded in chat.

  James:

  Janine:

  James turned to the shaking man, now surrounded by summons.

  “It’s time you start talking.”