The Call of the Coven: A LitRPG novel (Shadow Kingdoms Book 2)

by J. F. Danskin

  “Lugg was a bit sleepy, but feeling all fine now.”

  “That’s good to know, my friend.”

  “We are still captured?”

  “Yes. But I am working on a solution. You can rest now, but please shout me if anyone comes into your cell for any reason. I don’t want them to move you without knowing about it.”

  “Yes, Daria.”

  I want to be away from home soon, for my family’s safety as much as my own, and so I hurry to get ready during the time that Uncle Roy is getting my brother ready for school. I pack up a compact backpack in my room, taking my laptop, a couple of changes of clothes, my toothbrush, and a few other basics.

  I then cast around for a moment. All those days in Shadow Kingdoms make it feel strange not to take something that I could use for self-defense. My gaze then lands upon a bike chain; rather than a specialist one it is a heavy old link chain with a separate padlock. I walk over and pick it up, weighing it in my hands. Somehow, again thanks to the Kjatari implant, I have a strong feeling that I would know how to defend myself with this in a pinch. I stuff it into the backpack – near the top – and close the straps.

  Before shouldering my pack, I pull a hoodie on – better to keep my face hidden when out and about – and grab a very light waterproof from the hall. After stuffing my pockets with some cookies, I head off.

  Soon, I am on a train into the city, a journey of under half an hour. When I get there, I know there will be plenty of places designed for gamers to log into VR in peace, but I feel these may be watched. Whoever sent those suited goons after me has resources to spare, and an apparent willingness to break laws.

  No.

  Instead, I hit on going to a library. It won’t do forever, that’s for sure, but I can slump over a book without anyone paying much attention to me, and unlike in a cafe, I can sit for quite a while without being disturbed or asked to buy anything.

  One of the main libraries in the city is a tall building, each of its multiple floors housing different collections of volumes, all in surprisingly grand surroundings. It’s a popular place with students and people with a passion for history. I find a particularly obscure topic area, sit down at a shadowy table with a small pile of books open in front of me, and then resume play in fully immersive mode.

  Chapter 22: The Lock

  During the time that I was looking for the safe spot in the library, Daria has been working away at pieces of wood from the bunk, and they are now almost ready to go – at least, so I hope. With Daria’s crafting abilities left to freewheel with very little oversight, my hands have somehow formed the ends of the two pieces into sections that interlock securely. They fit almost perfectly as they snap together.

  I can’t put too much pressure on the combined tool, I know, but it should be sturdy enough when pushed straight out between the bars to reach at and then pull my backpack. One of the pieces even now has a hook that I have carved into its other end.

  Placing down the stone – my makeshift carving tool – I walk to the door of the cell and again strain unsuccessfully to see Lugg.

  “Are you there?”

  “Lugg is still stuck here, yes, Daria.”

  I chuckle softly. “Hopefully not for too much longer. Listen – can you see the area where we came in? The people that captured us?”

  He pauses, and then replies. “I can see one of the rooms. I can’t see any of the people that captured us, though.”

  “Okay.”

  I begin to move my creation through the bars of the cell. It is easier to crouch and push it over the floor. Before long, the hooked tip has reached the backpack.

  “Anything yet, Lugg?” I ask, hoping he has taken the initiative in terms of continuing to act as lookout.

  “Mmm. Still no,” comes the reply.

  I shift to the side slightly, pull the contraption back, and then shove it forward again, past the side of the backpack and towards the shoulder straps. I pull, miss, and then push it again. And this time, when I pull at it, there is resistance. I have snagged one of the straps of the pack, and I am beginning to pull it towards me across the floor.

  Increase in skill level: Finesse level 18 (Dexterity +1)

  The easiest way is to pass the pole through my hands, one hand over another, and so I am still crouching near the bars when the backpack comes within arms’ reach. I drop the pole entirely then, and strain through with my arm, grabbing the top of it, and pulling it further towards me, right up to the bars. I can’t quite pull the whole bag through, but I can unfasten it and reach inside from here. And in a moment, I have pulled out my set of crafting tools, and am beginning to work on the lock.

  “Umm, Miss Daria…” I hear Lugg begin, and I am in no doubt about what he is going to say next. However, I work quickly, and hear a click – my skill with the tools having paved the way for a successful lock-picking attempt.

  As the cell door swings open, I look to my weapons and Lugg’s, where they sit against the far wall of the outside area.

  But no sooner have I taken a single step outside, when Connor Champion, still in his knight apparel but minus the helmet, walks into the room. Zakira and one of the thugs are just behind him, standing at his shoulders.

  And he begins a slow, sarcastic clap. “I’m impressed,” he says. “They said you were good with a set of tools.”

  * * *

  I leap over to the far wall, skidding to my knees and making a grab for my morning star. I rise, clutching the handle in one fist and the midpoint of its chain in the other, furiously thinking about how I can turn this grim situation around.

  And then something unexpected happens. Just as Zakira tenses up and the thug steps forward with a mace in his hand, Champion, still with his own sword still in its sheath, puts a hand on each of their shoulders.

  “Let her pass, if she wishes,” says the knight. “She has earned it. Let her companion free as well. Zakira, see to it, please.” With a slight nod, a visibly relieved Zakira steps away from the black-armored knight, sheathing her knives again, and unlocks Lugg’s cell. My half-orc friend slopes over to stand beside me for a moment, and then fetches his backpack and daggers.

  “I don’t want to fight you,” says Connor, “even though, as a shadow knight, I am very well capable of doing so. As I told you before, it is my firm belief that we are on the same side.”

  “But somehow it still doesn’t feel like it,” I retort, still clutching my chain weapon.

  “You are struggling to trust me, I get that. I had to make a call, and I guess it was the wrong one, bringing you in off the streets without warning. But it was too risky to go to you openly myself. We here are all fugitives. I can’t go out and about in this town, or nearly any town or city in the Empire, without the most extreme precautions.”

  Zakira moves back over from the jail cell, looking at me appraisingly, her daggers now sheathed and her hands clasped. She steps over to pick up my backpack, secures its straps, and then hands it to me.

  I glance at Lugg, who is also glaring at the young knight, and then back at Connor. “We are genuinely free to go, then? No tricks?” I ask.

  He nods. “I have put it as plainly as I can. I want you to succeed with your mission. I would still love your help against the Empire and the Knights of Dawn. But if you don’t want to help us, so be it – if you want to go, you can, and I know that I have myself to blame.”

  He gestures towards the door. “I just hope that before you do, you will allow us to offer you a little help in reparations. We would like to offer some food, at the very least.”

  I begin to walk, entering the austere entrance room of the compound, the place where Lugg and I were first taken. I am thinking about how to respond to Connor’s sudden change of heart. “Look,” I say at last. “I admired you greatly, Connor. I’ve loved this game from the start. You’re a legend. The fact that you helped to design… all of this. In fact, my dream after college was to go to work for PreacherKorp. Early days PreacherKorp, that’s to say. I was s
aving up for it.”

  Lugg gives me a curious look, but I don’t attempt to explain.

  “Zakira here has warned me that I should look out for risks in the real world,” I add, “and she was dead right. But…” I pause. Do I want to give away my advantage – and perhaps the only reason they want to keep me on their good side?

  Screw it.

  “I’m not the weapon you think I am, Connor. There’s no way I can fight the Knights of Dawn. What happened on Dubasa was a matter of luck, together with a vast amount of help from a group of talented friends.”

  “Hmm…” he says. “It’s modest, but I think you’re wrong, Daria. You are special. I recognize that.”

  I shrug. “If so, it’s only true when I work with them. And they are in danger. I need to warn them.”

  He nods, gesturing to another doorway. “Very well. We will arrange to get a message to your companions straight away. I have servants who can do that. Now, come this way, please.”

  I follow him and Zakira then leads us to a side room near the entrance that I hadn’t noticed on my way in. It has a huge ornate oak desk and benches along the side. Food has been set out. And it’s nothing like the fare at the inn – this is fancy. I see piles of rice mixed through with spices and slices of fine meat, pastries, little porcelain bowls of soup, roasted chicken wings… overall, it reminds me of an international buffet.

  Connor claps his hands and nods. “I have a chef here, as you can see,” he says. “A shadow cook, no less. Expensive, as are all my hirelings. But it will be worth it when the Emperor is defeated.”

  With this pronouncement, Connor rubs his hands together, perhaps musing over his own plans. Does he see himself as a future replacement for the Emperor, I wonder to myself?

  “Daria,” says Zakira, coming to my side, “please have something to eat, and ready yourself for the journey. You will want to depart soon, I know, but you have a difficult journey ahead, and should fill your stomachs first.” She looks at me pointedly, and adds, “It will slow down any penalty of fatigue.”

  I take a plate. I do feel hungry – no doubt about it.

  “But about this message,” adds Connor. “I can get the news to your friends that there has been a change of plan.”

  “Actually, Lugg can do that,” I say. “He’s very good at staying hidden.”

  I’m warming to the pair a little – but not enough to hand over the location where we intended to meet with Coruff and van Turk.

  “Very well,” says Zakira, glancing towards my companion, “though you haven’t told us where you are headed.”

  Again, pumping me for information? But something about Zakira’s manner has begun to win my trust. “We missed our original destination of Sefindarg City. But it’s only a few hours’ ride down the coast, as I understand it.”

  “You should go inland to Katresburg instead,” she says, her big dark eyes gazing at me intently.

  “Why?”

  This is a city that I have heard mentioned more than once, now, but it has never featured in my plans.

  “That place is close to the Great Swamp, Miss,” adds Lugg, looking thoughtful.

  Zakira nods. “He’s right. If you want to go to the Great Swamp and help your lizard friend, that’s the closest city. Also, you can travel to Katresburg direct from here, via the mountain path, then…” She trails off looking at the knight.

  “Yes” adds Connor. “Doing so will keep you away from the major roads. And that means away from the red knights, for they travel on horseback.”

  “They can surely follow us there a different way,” I respond, trying to picture the route in my head.

  “Not really,” says Zakira. “If they were in the capital, or in Dathmir, then yes – there is a good road to the town. But from here, the Great Swamp and the Ironrock Mountains are in the way. One of the reasons that this coast was so wild for so long. They’d have to ride inland from Sefindarg City to the south-east first, and that would take days.”

  I nod, looking at Lugg again. “Very well. Lugg will find our friends and convey that information to them.”

  “He should go soon, and have them all meet me by the Northern Watchtower,” says Zakira. “That’s a wooden tower on the town wall, and it’s where we need to leave from. Tell them to be there at noon, and tell them to keep a low profile, travelling through town alone. Do you think that is possible?”

  “They are warrior and a user of magic,” I say, “so they are capable of looking after themselves pretty well. Some of my other friends are witches, too. Like I say, they are powerful.”

  Connor comes closer, still chewing something. “Then I would point out,” he says, “that you have powerful and illegal friends, with the way things have moved in the Empire. But that is part of what I want to fight.”

  “What?” I stare at him.

  Zakira steps forward, putting a hand on my arm. “There has been a decree from the Emperor, Daria, distributed in every province – if you were in Dubasa, you might not have heard. He has banned all use of magic by any other than his personal servants. The sale of magical supplies has also been banned.”

  I hesitate, feeling a sense of shock as I process this news. We thought we had fled persecution, but now it looks like my friends will be hunted down more than ever. What’s more, the replacement supplies they planned to obtain for their protection spell are going to be a lot harder to get than Coruff was expecting.

  “I know something of the Emperor’s own personal magic users,” says Zakira. “They are called the Imperial Watch. People say they are followers of Fanatos, the one Sun God, and so their magic is divine, at least in the eyes of the Emperor and those loyal to him – which includes several Dubasan mercenary companies.

  Fanatos, I muse to myself. The same god that is revered by the Kapa-Vanes. It sounds more than a little like fanatics. Controlling people’s beliefs has never been part of Shadow Kingdoms, even in the Empire. It has always been notably diverse in terms of both beliefs and races. After all, players can choose and follow paths such as shadow sorcerer, shadow druid, shadow witch or shadow necromancer.

  But now the Emperor has other plans, it seems. This explains why the knights and their lackeys have recently targeting more than just the monitors, and setting the Kapa-Vane mercenaries to do the same back on Vel.

  “In that case,” I say, “it’s all the more reason why I need to get back to them soon. And I’ve just lost my appetite.”

  Chapter 23: Out of Town

  Before long, I am walking through the streets of Nimroth – alone, this time, and with my dagger and morning star back at my belt, and the bow that I obtained on the ship across my shoulder. I regained my equipment at Connor’s base including my more recent purchases, and also refilled my waterskins. I remind myself of what I have via the ‘inventory’ and ‘wealth’ commands:

  Backpack: bedroll, belt, copper wire (10 yards), daily trail rations (4), empty glass vials (2), fine-quality rope, flask of oil, iron pot, lantern, letters (4), light blankets (2), medical kit, quiver with arrows (13), set of high-quality crafting tools, seed cakes (3), set of spare light clothes, signet ring, waterskins (3). Other items: belt (enchanted), cloak, dagger, fine morning star, jeweled knife, money pouch, poor-quality bow.

  Copper: 11 Silver: 2384 Gold: 226

  After tucking several chicken legs into his pockets, Lugg has hurried off to find the Red Mirror Inn near the gate; with any luck, van Turk and Coruff will have waited there for us, and he will direct them to the Northern Tower. I am going there directly. Zakira has promised to join us there by noon, and show us the secret way out of town. As to Connor and his lackeys, I can’t say. They didn’t fill me in on their plans, and I saw no further sign of his sorcerer.

  It has been some time now since I saw the red knight in the street yesterday, and I’m aware that he may have moved on. But all the same, I feel more paranoid than ever that his servants and spies may be at large. I keep my hood up, stay on the dark sides of the streets and al
leys, and do my best to figure out which direction to go in. North. Well, the sea is to the west, so I can get my bearings reasonably well, helped by the fact that Nimroth is a small place. I get a bump to a new skill all the same:

  Increase in skill level: Navigation level 13 (Spirit +1)

  I soon reach the major market street, and then go past it, walking along a narrow and muddy residential street which runs parallel. As I look up, I see a furtive-looking figure twenty yards further down the street, tall and wearing a cloak with the hood up, and my senses are immediately on the alert. Although he doesn’t react, I have a strong feeling that he saw me.

  I draw back into the shadows, looking on as he walks away from me. He then half-turns and pulls off to the side, stepping into a doorway further up the street and closer to the town wall.

  I continue, tentatively, my hand on my dagger. The hooded figure looks like a spy, and I wonder if I perhaps have seen him before. He is looking the other direction, however, his face covered by his hood from my perspective.

  As I pass, however, he steps out of the doorway and looms towards me. I step back, alarmed, but at that moment the nagging familiarity crystallizes in my mind. Only his eyes are truly visible inside his hood, but then I see his face crinkle into a smile, and I am sure that my hunch was right.

  “Garner!” I say, keeping my voice low but not disguising my pleasure to see my former travelling companion so unexpectedly.

  He reaches out, taking my hand for a moment. “Daria! I have been searching for you.” He then looks furtively to one side or another. “We should move. There are enemies at large, gangs of Kapa-Vane mercenaries that have come to the mainland and are pursuing us still.”