Kat tailed the group which was following the little girl while Clarysage forged ahead, searching for the ambushers. As Kat followed the group, she cast a quick invisibility spell on herself. After a moment's hesitation, she cast a quick untraceable protection spell on the group of warriors. That way they couldn't get killed trying to be all heroic. As Kat inched closer, she could hear their conversations.

"I was so scared when I came back," the little girl said. "I didn't know if anyone would believe me, or help."

"There's no way we would let players die, not if there was anything we could do about it," the lead player said. "Where did you say you left your friends again?"

"They were trapped in a cave nearby, holding off a level sixty monster," the little girl explained.

"I didn't know there were any caves in this area," a different guy, a blond in shiny armor, said. Thank you! Kat screamed in her mind. Maybe some players weren't totally hopeless.

"Where's this cave?" the lead guy asked.

"It should be right around here," the girl said, sounding nervous. Now was as good a time as any. Kat stepped into view in front of them, removing her invisibility spell at the same moment.

"Yeah, about that . . ." she announced to the astonished group. "You might find it difficult to pull off your little trap with your whole squad disabled."

"CopyKat?" the lead player asked. Finally Kat realized why he seemed so familiar. It was Storm! Storm, who she had met the very first day.

"You can't have disabled them all, even if you are a stupid sorcerer," the little girl sneered.

"What's going on?" a redheaded guy asked.

"It's called a trap," Kat explained. "I've been tailing this girl for days. She lures players away from safe zones so that they can be ambushed."

"You don't know how powerful we are!" the little girl shouted, waving a hand and muttering a brief freezing spell. Kat's protection spell did its work, protecting the guild. When she realized it hadn't worked, the little girl looked panicked.

"Anything else you want to try in front of a level thirty sorcerer?" Kat asked.

"I surrender," the little girl spat.

"Can you trust her?" Storm asked as Kat approached the girl.

"No, but I can trust her not to try anything," Kat explained. "She's still a green player. If she did anything to attack or kill me, she'd become a purple player. And purple players are popular hunting targets for other purple players."

"My partners will show up, and when they do you'll be dead," the little girl snapped.

"Thanks to Clarysage, I don't have to worry about that," Kat told her.

"Who's Clarysage?" Storm asked.

"And who are you?" one of the members of his guild asked. "How do you and Storm know each other?"

"Clarysage is a player I work with sometimes in order to hunt the purple players," Kat explained. "Clarysage is a high level purple player, meaning she can attack other characters without damaging her own status further."

"Got them," Clarysage announced, stepping out of the trees. She tossed several bags of gold to Kat, who caught them in her hand. As soon as they touched her hand, they dissolved into blue light and added themselves to her inventory. Clarysage glanced at the little girl.

"Should we kill her?" she asked.

"I don't want to kill any players," Kat reminded her. "Only send them to prison. And since this little thing here is still a green player, she can't go to prison."

"My name is Karma!" the little girl screamed, drawing a knife and lunging forward in the same motion. Kat turned at the last moment so that the knife sank into her arm instead of her chest. A warning icon flashed across Kat's vision as her hitpoints dropped. Clarysage darted forward and cut Karma in half with her sword. The instant the sword touched her, Karma exploded into blue light. The knife fell to the floor, along with a small bag of money and a dull ring.

"Kat!" Storm shouted as all of his guild surged forward. Kat looked at her arm. It was oozing a blue light. No blood. That was the nice part about living in a virtual world. There was no blood.

"I'm fine," Kat told them, checking her hitpoints. The knife had drained nearly half of her health. That meant that it was a high level magical item. "Her pals must have given it to her in case of a worse-case scenario."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Storm asked. "You lost a lot of hitpoints."

"I'm sure," Kat told him. She cast a quick healing spell, bringing her hitpoints back up to normal. She realized with annoyance that her spell point level was low. There would be no more magic until it recharged.

"Looks like my work here is done," Clarysage announced, sheathing her sword.

"Let's get going," Kat agreed. Storm and his guild watched them leave.

"You did send them to prison, right?" Kat asked.

"Course I did," Clarysage replied. "You wouldn't let me hunt them with you otherwise."

"Are you going to be teleporting back to Hillton?" Kat asked.

"Yeah. I got a job from Headcase and his buddies. He was a friend of yours, right?"

"We knew each other."

"I heard he's hiring solo players to help capture the next kingdom. You in?"

"Maybe," Kat told her, unwilling to make any promised. "I'll see you around."

"Long as you don't get yourself killed," Clarysage added. "Honestly, you should think of finding yourself a guild to join."

"I work solo," Kat told her firmly. Clarysage shrugged and headed off into the woods on her own.