Chapter 17
Everything was dark. Everything was quiet. Singing Laura floated gently through an endless black void.
She had been knocked unconscious in the game once before, but that was only for a moment. Time seemed to stand still, and she began to wonder if there was going to be any end to this state of simulated non-being. Finally, she heard it. Music. The sound of violins playing a merry dance tune. It was faint at first, but soon grew louder and louder.
There was a single light, and Singing Laura was roughly toward it. There was land all around her now, and she could see that the light and music were coming from a cluster of wooden houses far in the distance. Singing Laura stared in amazement at the sights all around her. Whatever unseen force was carrying her lowered her gently into a vast cornfield and set her down amidst the towering stalks. There were stars in the sky now. Singing Laura could see them through the gaps in the corn plants. The parts of the ground she could see at all were carpeted with an intricate pattern of shadows cast by the corn stalks from the light of the stars and town. Her virtual body was pale and translucent.
Singing Laura just stood where she was for a moment, admiring the starry sky. She had never seen night in
Happy Trails before. However, her reverie was broken by what she took to be a shooting star at first, but which she soon deduced was another player like her, descending to somewhere else in the vast fields surrounding the mysterious town.
Although Singing Laura couldn't see much of her surroundings, it was easy enough to follow the sound of music toward the town. But she had only gone a few steps when she heard a pair of voices.
"It's alright… really. I don't blame you for what happened," one of the voices said. As the source of the voices came closer, Singing Laura was faced with the apparitions of two girls. One, Singing Laura recognized as Bright Sally. The other, she had seen briefly in the town square. That girl's name was Daring Jenny Fennel.
"I still feel bad about it. I just didn't know what else to do…" Bright Sally responded. "I know you don't believe in…"
"Hey, look," interjected Daring Jenny, "I may have had my doubts, but seeing how mad the Summer Campers got about it… well, I don't know who or what she is, but…"
A pale, translucent hand suddenly thrust through the row of corn stalks. "Oh! There you are," announced Bright Sally. "This is her!" she informed her companion, "The one who tried to save me."
Daring Jenny gave a polite smile. "Guess that didn't work too well for you, huh?" she said, extending her hand. "Well, thanks for trying, anyway. I got here a little while before Bright Sally did, so I might have missed you."
"Y-you're welcome," Singing Laura answered uncertainly, "Sorry, I'm kind of new to this game. Where is 'here' exactly? Is this the afterlife dimension I heard about?"
"Yes!" answered Bright Sally enthusiastically, "The Ghostly Gala. If you're new, you won't be here very long."
"Ok… what do I have to do to get back?" Singing Laura asked.
"Come to the town with us," suggested Daring Jenny, "We'll tell you when we get there. Meanwhile, we have something we want to talk to you about."
Singing Laura nodded and followed them as they walked in the direction of the music. She was grateful for the company. It would have been pretty nerve-wracking to have to navigate this dark, shadowy field alone. The music was growing louder, and twangs of banjo could be heard among the violins.
"What you tried to do today was brave," said Bright Sally, "We need all the help we can get."
Singing Laura smiled slightly at the compliment. "I'll try to help you if I can, but I'm not very…" She suddenly let out a yelp of surprise and ducked as her words were drowned out by the pounding of hooves coming from somewhere overhead. It didn't take long for her to locate the source. An entire herd of cattle flooded across the night sky. They seemed to be running on thin air, and yet with each step, their hooves threw off sparks and made a deafening noise. Each one was adorned with a flaming inverted pentagram on its flank, briefly bathing the field with an infernal glow.
"What was…?!" Singing Laura asked incredulously. Daring Jenny held up her hand to signal to Singing Laura, *wait*.
The herd was soon followed by a pair of what Singing Laura now understood to be player ghosts. One was mounted on what seemed to be the living skeleton of a horse, while the other's horse was pitch black with literal fire in place of its mane and tail. Both of them gave a passionate but tired-sounding cry of determination as they pursued the stampeding cattle along the invisible turf in the sky.
"Why do they always scream?" wondered Daring Jenny aloud, "You'd think that…" she suddenly caught Singing Laura's eye. "That was… don't worry about it. It'll make sense once we get to the town."
"Right! The important thing is: we need your help to find the Forest Queen."
Singing Laura was silent for a moment as the trio continued to push their way through the stalks of corn. "Who's that?"
"What do you mean?" Bright Sally asked, with a hint of excitement in her voice, "She rules the Brightleaf Forest! She's the champion of the weak and…"
"She showed up yesterday out of nowhere and kicked out the Summer Campers all by herself," interrupted Daring Jenny, "It was kind of a big deal to those of us living in Brightleaf..."
By now, the girls could see the town more clearly. Lines hung with paper lanterns threaded from building to building. The streets were crowded with silhouettes dancing merrily to the music. They were ghosts, but different from the player ghosts. They were almost entirely transparent, aside from their clothes, giving the impression of living suits and dresses rather than people. Singing Laura had never seen a humanoid NPC in Happy Trails. The effect was slightly uncanny.
"You have no idea," added Bright Sally, "What you saw in Rosewater was just a taste of what we've been living with in the forest… There's only a few of us left. The people living in the forest because we like the forest, not because we want somewhere to hide after robbing and bullying others." She took a moment to compose herself. "When I saw what the Forest Queen did, well, for the first time in a long time I felt like things could be different."
"Long story short, we decided to help her," explained Daring Jenny, "And if you want revenge for what happened to you today, this is probably the best way."
"We're the Forest Guard! Or the Knights of… well, I'm still working on the name," continued Bright Sally, "But the important thing is: we have our first mission!"
Singing Laura did her best to keep her attention on the conversation as she drank in the sights and sounds around her. The other two took no mind as they walked through the ghostly dancers as if they weren't there. Singing Laura shuddered slightly as the hem of a woman's dress grazed her arm, causing a cold chill to run all the way up to her shoulder. Her eyes were drawn to a canopied booth at the side of the street, where its attendant, a skeleton in a straw boater and red-and-white striped shirt, beckoned menacingly. "So what do you need me to do?" asked Singing Laura, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"We need to find the Forest Queen before they do… warn her, or give her somewhere to hide," answered Bright Sally, "And that can't happen while we're stuck here."
At this point, the two girls had led Singing Laura around a corner, and she found herself looking at a dark-robed figure sitting hunched over on the driver's seat of a black stagecoach to which was hitched an albino horse. The figure turned to look as Bright Sally strode up confidently.
"Coachman, what is my fare back to the world of the living?" Bright Sally asked confidently.
There was a sound of scratching. The cloaked figure held up a small slate board in one skeletal hand, on which was written in white numerals:
613
Daring Jenny stepped up, and the figure turned to face her. "Coachman, what is MY fare?"
The figure withdrew the slate. A sound of hasty rubbing followed by more scratching. Once again, the bony hand extended to display the slate.
844.
Singing Laura could see the other two girls staring at her expectantly. Her heart pounding from the awkwardness of the situation, she stepped forward. "C-Coachman, what's my fare?"
The answer came in the same manner.
93
"Ninety three?" Daring Jenny read excitedly, "That's nothing!"
"If we work together, we can get her out well before the reset!" concurred Bright Sally.
Singing Laura listened patiently. "And what do these numbers mean?"
"That's how many spirit points you need to earn to get back into the living world," explained Bright Sally.
"Your fare is lower than ours because you're newer," added Daring Jenny.
"And if you agree to help us, we'll share our spirit points with you so you can get back as soon as possible," Bright Sally concluded, "I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know where she is, but I have some clues to get you started."
Singing Laura pondered this. It seemed like it could be an exciting adventure, and a way to do something useful for someone. On the other hand… "I don't know if I'll have time for that. I'm supposed to be helping out Clever Anne at her ranch…"
Daring Jenny put her hand on Singing Laura's shoulder. "You can tell her that we'll make up for the time you're gone once we're back."
That seemed to solve that problem. With that, the girls set off to wander the streets of the town, explaining the various ways to earn spirit points. "You can ride one of those flying horses and try to catch one of the stampeding cattle in the sky," explained Bright Sally as she gestured towards a pen where a horned man in a clean white suit stood with a herd of monstrous steeds, "But they're really hard to catch."
"Let's skip it," suggested Daring Jenny, "It takes way too long to catch them and we don't need that many spirit points anyways. We'll make better time with the shooting gallery or ring toss."
Time passed quickly as the three girls tried their hands at the various minigames set up around the lively ghost town. Along the way, they tried to tell Singing Laura anything that could help her in her quest. Although she was doubtful about being able to find the Forest Queen by herself, the other two seemed to have total faith in her.
"If she's who I think she is, we've seen her a couple of times in the forest… don't know exactly where she lives, but I might be able to describe the general area."
"I heard from the Summer Campers while they were torturing me that her pet wolves were sold to Fort Mallow, she might head there to get them back…"
The mention of Fort Mallow removed any doubt from Singing Laura's mind about taking the quest. Finally, the trio had earned enough points for her to leave. It had been a lot of fun, and Singing Laura was sorry to go, but she knew that she had a job to do now. She gave her new friends one final wave as she climbed into the coach. The horse began to pull, and the contraption creaked to life. The gloomy afterlife dissolved around her, and in another moment, she found herself standing among the familiar pastures of Clever Anne's ranch.
—
Singing Laura hurried up the trail to Clever Anne's ranch house, drawn by the sound of voices. Clever Anne was sitting there on a rocking chair, looking suspiciously at Pretty Polly, who was sitting uneasily on a padded wooden chair nearby. Two other girls, named Charming Olivia Lavender and Vibrant Lily Rose, were seated on a long bench, while another, named Graceful Sarah Tulip, was leaning on the porch rail. Singing Laura recognized these as the other hostages from the log mill.
As soon as Clever Anne saw Singing Laura, she stood up, walked over to Singing Laura, and gave her a big hug. Out of the corner of her eye, Singing Laura saw Pretty Polly give her a reluctant smirk. The other three looked at her with a mix of amusement and gratitude.
After some excited conversation, Singing Laura managed to somewhat piece together what happened after she was gone. After the Summer Campers had fled from the log mill, Pretty Polly managed to rescue the surviving hostages. Meanwhile, once word of the attack on Rosewater reached Gingersnap and other nearby ranches, Clever Anne and her ranchers rallied together with anyone they could find to form a militia to drive out the Summer Campers. At some point, Pretty Polly and the survivors asked around to find out where Singing Laura's home point might be, and they all decided to take shelter in the ranch. After some fierce fighting, the Summer Campers retreated back into the forest, and the town was liberated.
Singing Laura relayed her experiences at the Ghostly Gala and talked about the quest she agreed to undertake. Clever Anne didn't mind losing her as a ranch hand; after the chaos in Rosewater, many of the locals were looking to join bigger ranches for protection. She was, however, still concerned about Singing Laura's lack of experience despite the bravery she had shown that day. Pretty Polly offered to accompany her, which didn't quite ease Clever Anne's concerns, but Clever Anne saw that Singing Laura was determined and gave the trip her blessing.