Tunnel Rat

Chapter 225: Of Wizards and Liches

Milo was playing a game of DeathRace2020 with Belinda, racing ramshackle, over-powered vehicles through a plague-zombie-infested city where the inhabitants huddled inside their homes. Milo ran over an open sewer hole in the middle of the road, and a large clawed hand reached up and ripped off one of his tires. His vehicle tumbled end over end before a horde of zombies tore him from his car and ate his brains. Belinda looked at him with annoyance and then went on to finish the mission for an easy win.

"What the hell is up with you? That's the lamest trap in the game! You can see them on the road!"

Milo stood up, slumped, and put his hands in his pockets. He reviewed the problem for the thousandth time and saw no winnable outcome. It all depended on someone else and meant he was taking a chance. "We need to talk." He turned and left the house. The rest of the family looked at each other, having no clue what was going on than Belinda had. This was odd behavior for Ghost. Leave? Sure, all the time. But to talk to someone? That was new. Belinda wasn't sure what to do. Yumi sat down and put an arm around her. "You'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure him out. But if he wants to talk, go talk." Nodding to her, Belinda grabbed her arm braces and hobbled to the door on her own power.

Outside, one of her bodyguards had her wheelchair ready for her. "The young man over by the tree said the two of you needed room to talk. We can go down the hall, but we have to keep you in sight." That was standard procedure. Belinda had gotten used to always having them around, trailing behind her. They backed off, and she moved over to where Milo sat with his back to a wall, near the tree but with clear lines of vision for anyone approaching him. She'd noticed how he was always skittish when outside of the house and always watching around him.

Looking at him, she noticed he was trembling slightly and in a state of high anxiety. Not good. "So, what do we need to talk about?"

Milo looked up. He was always Milo in her head, but she had made it a habit to call him Ghost when out of the game. He liked that better.

"I have a problem and several sub-optimal ways to solve it. Each has its own possibility of a disastrous outcome."

She considered that statement. Mama had spoken to her and all the other children about paying close attention to what Milo said, especially when he was troubled by something. She claimed it could give you clues about what was going on in his head. "Well, how can I help? Do you want to run the problem by me and talk about how to solve it?"

He shook his head. "That is the problem."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "The problem is you can't talk about the problem?"

"Yes."

"Well, can we talk about the reasons why we can't talk about the problem? Or can you talk about it abstractly?"

He considered that. "Let's postulate that several people are playing together in Genesis. Everyone gets some loot from a treasure chest. Pretend we killed a world boss. Big glowy chest. Everyone is happy, and everyone grabs some cool items. But there's a problem: One person might have a cursed item. The curse works on her because she has a really good heritage, and is descended from a major boss in the game. Let's say her ancestor is a lich." He paused, and Belinda indicated she was following along.

"The problem is, only one person knows this, a Wizard who has a cheat code that can find out the truth, showing him the friends character sheet. That isn't good because she made him promise never to look at her sheet. He can use his cheat code to let him look at her character sheet to find out if she is descended from the Lich and whether the curse will take effect. But it's more complicated than that. Let's say that if the curse takes effect, the friend will become more powerful but evil. If she rejects the curse, she keeps the item, and it works normally. And, of course, if she isn't related to the lich, she won't be affected at all."

Belinda screwed up her face, then her eyes got big. "Oh, the curse isn't the problem. It's using the cheat code. You're saying he's violating her trust?"

Milo nodded.

Belinda went on. "Ok, so, the first option is just to tell her he can do it. That way, she gets to decide to show him her sheet. Let's say she says no...Oh! I see. If she says no, now the wizard has a choice of letting it just happen, or he can use the cheat code against her wishes. Just knowing he has a cheat code might spoil their friendship. If she becomes evil, it probably spoils their friendship."

Taking a deep breath, Belinda went forward. "Ok, so trust, and choice can lead to no, but if it leads to yes? Then he's helping her. Maybe she isn't related? Damn, but if she is, it will give her the choice of power and evil or ditching the magic item."

Milo sat up straighter. "Or he can betray her trust, use the code, get the info, and then have to deal with either telling her or hiding it and having her find out later. I don't like a lot of the scenarios."

Belinda's head snapped around suddenly. "Is this about the ring you gave me?! It better not be. I love that ring, and you aren't making me toss it into a volcano!"

Milo actually smiled at that. "No, that ring is fine. Glad you liked it."

She seemed relieved. "So, you have an abstract problem with lots of bad outcomes. How about we move on to the real problem now and try to solve it?"

He shook his head and wrapped his arms around his knees, looking straight ahead. "Nope."

"You can't talk about the problem? What's stopping you?"

"Suboptimal solutions."

"Ok, then let's go back to the Wizard and his friend. What's worse, losing her to the lich or losing her to breaking her trust?"

He shrugged. "One is bad. The other is bad. He promised. He also promised to help her."

Belinda got an idea. "What if he just stays friends with her? If she's good, he's good, but if she joins the lich, he does too?"

Milo thought about this one and then shook his head violently. "No, very bad. So many people suffer. Everyone would lose. And the last god would have to hunt down the evil wizard."

That part Belinda couldn't follow. "Ok, that's bad. Does the Wizard have a mother he can ask about things? Mothers are good listeners."

"They are, but the Wizard's mother doesn't know how powerful a wizard he is, and he can't reveal his friend's secrets or talk about the lich. But his mother is part of the problem. She made him promise not to betray his friend."

Belinda wished she had a spread sheet to keep track of things. "Ok, so we're back to the basic problem. Let me think a moment." Milo was frustrating to deal with. It was like he was trying to give her clues. At the same time, he was confusing her. She kept trying to think of something in the game that had him upset. She felt like she was involved with this somehow. And then it hit her.

"I made you promise to never lie to me."

"You did."

"Which would make me the friend."

"Nope, won't talk about it."

Ok, she thought she was getting somewhere. So he wanted to talk to her about something, but he didn't want to lie to her, and not talking about something was just as bad. He'd found out something about her. That made no sense; she played video games and sat in a wheelchair or did hours of physical training that never made her better, only not worse. She thought for a half hour while he sat quietly. When the revelation hit her, she wondered how she could not have seen it sooner. He was smart, he used a computer, and there were too many news stories he could stumble across. He'd found out about her Uncle Victor and was trying to warn her.

It was ironic because she'd known Uncle Victor was a bad man for a long time. When you're little, no one expects you to understand Russian or to listen to what your bored security guards talk about. Sometimes Uncle Victor would speak with his associates in front of her. He used the cover of taking her places as a way to meet with people. Everyone ignored the poor little girl in the wheelchair who could barely move her head. Too many people saw a broken body and assumed a fractured mind. She'd listened and learned a lot. But even knowing what he did, he was still her Uncle and one of the few people she had that talked to her and treated her like an adult. Milo was probably worried about how she would react. The analogy seemed clear now. If he warned her about Victor, would that ruin their friendship? This wasn't the place to talk to him about that. Her security guards certainly had a way to listen to their conversation, no matter what they said.

"I heard a story about a lich when I was little, but that wasn't his name. It's an old story from Russia about an evil creature called Koschei. My Uncle Victor told me about him. He was called the Deathless, and no matter what happened, no one could kill him. I was always scared because my uncle told me that Koschei could hear your secrets if a shadow were nearby, so you could only talk about him in bright sunlight or a dark cave with no shadows."

He smiled at that. "Did I tell you where I was exploring in Genesis? I'm nearly a mile down in the ground, exploring huge caves. I need a break, though. I could be in Shadowport in two days at noon, where we killed the World Boss together."

"Sounds great. I finally get to hang out with you in Genesis. It's a date." She started rolling back to the house. "Now, come play a game and pay attention. It was pathetic watching you before."

Milo got up, agreeing with her. Dying to a sewer trap? Pathetic. Then he froze. "A date?"

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