Chapter 10: Death and patronage


    “ke!” Hank ducked under the make-shift shelter and grinned. “The boat’s ready.”


    “About time!” ke threw his feet off the bed of leaves and stepped out into the sun. The rest of the group was gathered on the beach already, all their tools and weapons readied as they joked andughed with excitement.


    “Wait,” ke frowned. “Where’s Mona?”


    Hank looked around with a shoulder shrug. “Thought she was with the others.”


    ke sighed. “Probably down at the other end of the ind. I’ll go get her.” He walked a few steps before he turned. “Do <em>not</em> let Mbopi convince them to get on that boat without us!”


    “We couldn’t leave without our chief,” Hank winked, then jabbed a finger. “But hurry the hell up.”


    ke took off with a sober salute, jogging across their tiny ind to Mona’s private little get-away spot. Hisment to Hank wasn’t entirely a joke. He’d gotten along with Mbopi well enough after the rocky beginning, but he wasn’t so naive to think the man liked him. The idea that he’d take charge and leave ke behind wasn’t at all impossible. He was also a dangerous, spear hurling ‘ss’ that could probably kill ke if things got heated, and probably the only person who would truly to help him was Mona.


    Hank and Doug wouldn’t even be able to intervene. They were civilians, which meant they’d chosen a kind of nonbatant role that put them outside the power games of the ‘yers’. ke had learned quite a lot about the great game in the past forty-eight hours. Firstly, yers couldn’t harm Civilians. Just threatening to do so resulted in a system message that promised restraint, ‘severe penalty’, and even death. In fact civilians were entirely removed from the yer system, with their own sses, powers, and objectives, which seemed almost entirely different to ke and the other yers.


    “I’m supposed to form a contract with a yer,” Hank had exined quietly around the campfire the night before.


    “Meaning what?” ke asked.


    “Meaning I sort of…work for them? I guess? For as long as we both agree.”


    “OK…but, why would you want to do that? What do you get?”


    Hank had shrugged. “Whatever the yer, or I guess employer, agrees to.” He’d leaned in closer. “yers can’t hurt me, you see. But everything else can. Creatures. Monsters. Whatever the hell you call them.”


    ke had nodded, finally understanding.


    “You get protection.”


    “Seems so.”


    “Wait.” ke had frowned. “What happens if you have a…disagreement, with a yer. You know…like, who gets thest piece of fish.” He’d held it up for emphasis.


    Hank had grinned, but looked a little dejected. “I lose. Another reason to have a patron. Then it ain’t a disagreement between him and me. But between them, if you follow.”


    “Hank.” ke had kept his face stone cold serious. “Would you do me the honor of epting me as your patron? I promise protection. Respect. And cake, eventually. Lots of cake.”


    Hank hadughed, then shrugged. “Hey, it finishes my objective. Anyway, you seem like a reasonable sort. I’ve got something like a stock contract here, but we can re-negotiate when we know what the hell we’re doing. Agreed?”


    ke smiled, not at all interested in the details for now. “Agreed.”


    And just like that, the system had obliged.


    [Contract acknowledged. Details stored.]


    Hank had shivered, then grinned.


    “Well shit, that gave me a nice little boost.”


    “Oh yeah?” ke teased. “A new fishing pole? The power to mince onions?”


    Hankughed without reserve. “Something like that, kid. Now stop bothering me. I’ve got to look through this damned endless list of choices.”


    ke had relented, and anyway, he had his own reward to examine.


    [You’ve gained your first civilian follower! Title earned: Patron.]


    [New Objective gained: Earn additional followers. Earn additional leadership titles for synergy boosts.]


    Patron? Hell yeah. And additional leadership titles? ke practically had to wipe up his saliva. But first things were first. He had to make everyone in the group—with the exception of Mbopi—an ally or a follower. And he had to get off this damn ind.


    “Mona?” He snapped back to reality as he reached the far end of the ind, scanning for several seconds before he found the former gymnast hanging from a nearby tree like a monkey. She curled up and leapt to the beach,nding with the grace of a sexy hunting cat. “Boat’s ready,” he grinned, unabashedly inspecting her from tussled hair to sandy toes. “Now let’s go back before Mbopi leaves us to rot forever on this ind.”


    Mona raised a brow. “I think you might enjoy that.”


    “You’re right,” keughed. “But I’ve too much to do. So get that pointy stick of yours and let’s go.”


    “Yes, chief,” Mona saluted, using ke’s official unofficial nickname, and flicked the weapon with her toe before catching and spinning it with a flourish.


    “God you’re a showoff,” ke grinned, expecting a witty retort.


    But the retort never came. Mona’s face had gone pale, and she stared off towards the other end of the beach as her mouth opened with a wordless stutter. ke turned towards the boat and the others. For a moment he didn’t understand, but then he realized—there were creatures emerging from the water. At least a dozen. And they were already overrunning the group.


    ke saw blood fly, then heard the screams.