The cavalry commander glanced at the soldier by his side Frida’s smudged olive-green face showed internal and external scars from the misadventure they had just sur vived She was tough but she was also complex In fact it had been the wiry scout’s sixth sense for truth not her battle skill that had impressed Roberto from the beginning His respect for her had blossomed into a greater esteem that he’d only lately acknowledged They had become partners by accident Who could have guessed when they’d met two individuals from vastly different planes that they would hold the fate of the Overworld in their hands Whatever they did next would either resurrect a representative government and the free dom it promised or throw the reins of power to the dark forces Would they be forced to go it alone Their four friends had been delayed perhaps permanently A player could sustain only so much damage before respawning became impossible But the slim chance that rebirth could occur had pushed the other members of Battalion Zero to make the ultimate sacrifice Rob and Frida had been encour aged to run and not look back in the hopes of saving the union dealing out justice and maybe just maybe reuniting at their base camp Together the six cavalry mates had successfully defended biome borders and seen a capital city rise from the hills Now the time had arrived for Rob to define
his own boundaries Knowing where he’d come from and where he wanted to go wasn’t enough He needed to decide whether to devote himself to this place and these people or to keep searching for a way home Again he looked at Frida His mind and heart ached to remain with her his urge to leave this world was fad ing like an old pair of jeans Did it really matter where they were if they couldn’t be together in the moment If the captain had learned anything from recent events it was that time might be more important than space in this game Maybe the future depended on how he came to terms with his past
CHAPTER 1 Roberto scribbled a line crossed out a few words and sat back with a sigh This writing stuff was harder than roping riding and herd ing cattle put together One thing that writing and riding herd had in common though he noticed was the need for stick-to-it-iveness Slacking off wouldn’t get cattle to market or this advertisement written and posted for all to see And nobody’s gonna spur me on to finish the job the cowboy-turned-cavalry-commander muttered He returned his attention to the marked-up page Just then a hairy black spider crawled into view It scuttled toward him Trying to concentrate Rob drew his iron sword and let the arachnid impale itself on the blade Instinctively he reached for the string that 1
