Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “What if there is a tie of points at the end?” I asked.

  “Unlikely, but then they will go with whoever has the majority of council votes. If those votes are equal, then there will be another dice roll to determine if there is to be a final duel or game of Castle.”

  “Ahh, I see. Thank you for explaining it,” I said to the knight as I took another sip of brandy.

  “I am surprised that Lady Aitcha has not--”

  “How do they make the dungeons equal? Are there five different ones?” I asked Chrysa about the second challenge a few times, but she hadn’t known for sure.

  “It is the same dungeon. It is a special one under the palace, accessed through a portal, and filled with golems similar to those used for Castles. Each will be of equal difficulty. The challengers will run through the maze with their own party, and be timed by the council. Whoever returns with the token treasure the quickest will win. If the potential queen is injured or knocked unconscious, the team is disqualified,” Rodin explained.

  “It seems really dangerous to bring the girls. Some of them are young,” I said with a frown.

  “I agree, Sir Lennox. The council looks at this as a way to determine a potential ruler’s ability. This will be a stressful event for her party. Will she be able to direct them? Console them? Will she hamper them? Or will she let them do their work? Also, the golems are trained to use non-deadly attacks on the person wearing a specific amulet. Each of the contestants will wear one. It should keep them safe.”

  “Ahh. I guess that makes sense,” I said, even though I recalled one of the girls looked to be about eight years old. The Queen Yrisi’s daughter was not even a toddler. The idea seemed dangerous.

  But there had been plenty of danger for Chrysa so far.

  “What are you proposing then?” I asked him.

  “Simple, really. As soon as the match starts, we both attack and eliminate Lady Cesnie, or we let Moryana or Tia’tor do it. She is our primary objective. She will take four points from Castles, so we need to do what we can to make sure she loses the first challenge,” the knight explained.

  “After we take care of Lady Cesnie, who is next?” I asked as I leaned back in my chair.

  “I believe I can beat both Moryana and Tia’tor in Castles, but I think the minotaur will win the dungeon exploration. I believe we should take care of him next, but Moryana might have already eliminated him, so then we can attack her.”

  “Or Tia’Tor could have eliminated Moryana first. Or either of us first,” I said.

  “True. Our strategy must be flexible.” The knight smiled at me.

  “If it is just the two of us at the end, what then?” I asked.

  “We will battle.” The man shrugged.

  “I thought you said your family will support Lady Aitcha?”

  “We will, in the fifth round, she shall have our vote if you will have Lady Chrysa vote for us, but if I end up winning the second and third round, then that will be the way the contest worked out.” The man took another sip of his brandy.

  “Are there any rules to this melee? It seems like someone with offensive magic abilities would be able to--”

  “Magical items are not allowed. There will be no powerful weapons, armor, or other trinkets to worry about, but abilities can be used. If there were a mage, we would all attack them first. The closest person with those kind of magical abilities is Moryana, but sword dancers are said to harness their powers through the rhythm of their blades, and they grow stronger the longer the melee lasts. This is another risk we run by taking down Tia’tor first.”

  “Can we wear any type of non-magical armor?” I asked. “Will they give us weapons to use?”

  “Yes and yes. Did you not bring a suit, blade, or shield?” he asked with surprise.

  “Nope. I wasn’t prepared to champion for Lady Aitcha,” I said.

  “You should have her ask Sharles to prepare gear for you. I would recommend nothing too bulky. Our opponents are masters of their weapons, and most armor will be almost worthless against them, even if they are carrying non-magical weapons. Get some light chain with plates in the common spots, or even leather. It might save you from minor injury.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Your strategy makes sense to me.”

  “So, you will agree to ally?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  I thought through the man’s words again and considered my options. I would probably be able to get an alliance with Cesnie tomorrow, but Rodin was probably right about his strategy. The blonde woman needed me to help her in round one much more than I needed her to teach me Castles. If she didn’t score any points in challenge one, she would be at risk for challenge two. All her experience with Castles wasn’t going to matter if she couldn’t get to the third round of the game.

  Everyone was a threat in this, and there was no telling who else was making an alliance behind the scenes. Rodin could go visit Moryana, or Tia’tor after speaking with me and make another deal with them. My only asset here was that I was an unknown. None of these warriors knew how good of a fighter I was, or how skilled I’d be at dungeon exploration. Then again, I didn’t really know how skilled they were either.

  This was going to be a complete clusterfuck.

  I loved it.

  “Yeah. I agree,” I said to the knight.

  “Thank you, Sir Lennox. Let us finish this brandy and speak about our previous adventures. I am eager to know more about you and your travels.”

  “I would love to, but can we speak tomorrow over dinner? I have a long day ahead of me, and I do want to get some sleep.”

  “Ahh. You are still planning on meeting with Lady Cesnie Kayleic over breakfast?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’d like the learn how to play Castles from her, but I will tell her I am unable to form an alliance--”

  “Sir Lennox, if I may. Perhaps you should accept her proposal, should she ask,” the knight said with a heavy sigh.

  “And then betray her right at the start?” I asked.

  “Aye. As much as I hate such tactics, she is extremely talented at Castles, and her patron, Queen Yrisi, might have most of the council under her sway. If Lady Cesnie is not defeated first in the initial round, there is a good chance that she will win the most points in the first three rounds of competition. Then Queen Yrisi will probably tie your Lady Aitcha in the final two rounds and win the Queenship for her daughter.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “Good. Can I change your mind about drinking?” the knight asked as he gestured to his bottle of brandy. “I really do feel terrible about my rudeness to you today, and I wish to get to know you better.”

  “I’d like that, but let us try for tomorrow,” I said.

  “Very well. I shall take my leave of you then, Sir Lennox. Have a splendid rest of your evening.” The man stood and gave me a bow that I returned. Then he spun around and exited the room.

  I returned to Chrysa and gave her the update on the conversation with the Feelans’ knight. The beautiful young woman nodded while I spoke and then sighed at the end.

  “He is correct, Leo. I’m glad you took his offer. He is probably the least threatening to you. I have heard of the man’s combat talents, and he is known to have an incredible mastery of Castles, but the real threat here is Lady Cesnie and her Queen.”

  “Yeah. I’ll sleep on it. I don’t know if I feel good about betraying someone, but I understand that is the name of this game. I’ll meet with her tomorrow morning for breakfast and then see what I can learn from her. I really do need her help to learn Castles.”

  “I can help.” The beautiful woman fluttered her eyelashes. “Or perhaps Sir Rodin Worred can. Either way, be careful with Lady Cesnie Kayleic. You might be concerned about betraying her or lying to her, but I can guarantee you she has no such qualms. I will imagine Queen Yrisi has promised her a reward many times the value of the treasure you have asked from me.”

  “Ha!” I laughed at the irony of Chrysa’s words. “I do need
your help with a few things. I need Sharles to get me access to an armory so that I can pick some non-magical weapons and armor for the first challenge. Can you ask him for me?”

  “Of course! I will speak with him in the morning. I’m sure the guards have plenty of equipment you can borrow.” She smiled at me, and her eyes searched my face. “Is there something else?”

  “Yeah.” I let out a long breath. “How much gold do you have on you?”

  “Gold?” she asked with some confusion.

  “Yep. I know you had some chests in your room, and Allurie brought some things for you. How much do you have?”

  “I, ahhh. I am prepared to pay you if that is what you are ask--”

  “No. I need more abilities. I only have three right now. One just makes my weapon glow. Ember, I’m sure you have heard of it. The others are Breath of Life and Guardian of Fortune.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yep, you are starting to understand. When I took Bolverk to the healer, he had a Minor Heal and a Spirit of Stone ability book. He also had a bunch of others I didn’t look at. Spirit of Stone will make me immune to non-magical weapons for a short time. Minor Heal would also really help me. If you have the funds to spare, this would be a good use of the coin.”

  “How much are the books?” she asked.

  “11,000 for the pair,” I said.

  “I don’t have much money in my possession.” She sighed. “I was going to pay you as soon as my parents arrived. I have a thousand, and some jewelry.”

  “Would you be willing to sell your jewelry?” I asked with a shrug.

  “Leo,” she cleared her throat and blinked a few times. “They were all my mother’s pieces. I don’t know if I can part with them. I don’t even know if I want to be queen.”

  “I understand. I will do the best I can with the abilities that I have,” I said as I smiled at the girl. “I wouldn’t want to give up my parents’ heirlooms either.”

  “Thank you for understanding.” The young woman reached to the pearls on her wrist and ran her fingers along the edges of the white globes.

  “Well, then I best be going,” I said as I stood from the couch.

  “Where?”

  “I’m going to head to bed. I’ll speak with you in the morning.”

  “Oh, so soon? It is only a bit after dinner. I was hoping we could spend some time together. I can ask the servants to bring us some more dessert.” The woman’s brown eyes stared into mine, and I guessed what she really wanted to do tonight.

  “I’d love to speak more, but I can’t tonight. How about tomorrow after dinner? We’ll have to strategize for the first challenge.”

  “Very well. Good night, Leo,” she said with obvious disappointment.

  “Good night, Chrysa.”

  “Leo, wait,” the young woman said, and I turned around to face her.

  “I will think more about the jewelry. I imagine my mother would have wanted me to be queen more than wear her jewelry.”

  “I didn’t know your mother, but that might be true.”

  “I can always buy it back when my grandparents arrive. Or if I become queen.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to do that,” I replied.

  “Good night, Leo,” the beautiful woman said as she looked down at her bracelet.

  “Good night, Chrysa.”

  Chapter 12

  “How did it go?” Ky asked when I got out of the VRIU.

  “Good! I’m really having a ton of fun in this section. A lot of cool political stuff I have to figure out. Are you watching me play?” I asked him as I put on my robe.

  He opened his mouth to answer, but Zarra’s voice came over the intercom of the room. “Hey Leo, do you have time for dinner?”

  “Of course, I wanted to talk to you about a few things as well. The bug is back with that Bolverk guy, he just appeared in my party UI without being invited.”

  “I thought you fixed that?” I heard Zarra whisper across the speakers. She did not sound happy.

  “Yes, Ms. Zerne. I asked the interface team to do it. They said it was fixed and then I checked the code. I was--” Jennifer began to say, but the speaker turned off, and I glanced over to Ky. The man gave me a smile, shrugged, and then began to stir the liquid in the tank.

  “Programmers. Sometimes I think they should just hire trained monkeys.” He laughed.

  “Aren’t you an engineer?” I asked him as I smirked.

  “Yeah, but look at me.” He shrugged his shoulders at his paddle. “I can get replaced by one of those KitchenAid mixers at any moment. It will probably be a pink one.” We both laughed, and I pressed the privacy button to un-dim the glass where Zarra and Jennifer spoke.

  The dark-haired woman stepped out of the glass room and gave me a dazzling smile. “Why don’t you take a shower, and we can head over to the cafeteria to--”

  “Or we could eat in my room.” I smiled at her and raised my eyebrow.

  The woman’s lavender eyes ran over my robe, and she bit the side of her bottom lip for half a second.

  “I can arrange that. What do you feel like eating?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I think you know what I want.” My smile turned into a smirk.

  Ky cleared his throat and started to whistle, and Zarra’s cheeks turned a bit red.

  “Okay. I’ll have it delivered. You take a shower.”

  “You got it,” I winked at her and then walked through the door to my room.

  Half a minute later, I was washing myself off in the bathroom and humming one of the songs a traveling bard had sung over dinner. The melody of the tune was really stuck in my head, and the words came to my mind as soon as I started to hum.

  Ages past, before my love

  Hands of fate, white as doves

  Will we be, apart for long

  Until the sky, forgets our song

  Then the clouds, will cry their tears

  We’ll be gone, beyond their years

  They will sing, but not of us

  For we know, thus we trust

  The actual words sounded terribly sad, but the song had been upbeat. I couldn’t remember the words to the verse, but the song seemed familiar. It probably had similar key changes to another song I once heard. Jax would have been able to tell me. He had a brain that could keep track of the song lyrics and name of the actors in most movies. Neither of my friends looked like geniuses, but they were both incredibly smart dudes.

  The song made me miss them.

  I finished the shower and dried myself off. Then I reached for my toothbrush and looked in the mirror.

  My eyes glowed the strange purple color.

  “No fucking way,” I gasped and blinked a few times. The color remained though.

  I rubbed my eyes closed and then opened them again. They were like amethyst gems.

  They looked like Zarra’s.

  I ran out the door to my bathroom and looked for the woman. I didn’t see her, so I ran to the door leading to the lab. My hand twisted against the handle, but the door didn’t move. It didn’t even jiggle with the tiniest of movements. The thing must have been locked from the other side.

  “Hey! Open up!” I shouted as I pounded against the door. “Ky! Zarra! Jennifer! My eyes!” I slammed on the door to the lab room again, but no one answered.

  I ran to the front of my suite and reached for the door handle. I almost thought this one would be locked as well, but the lever turned in my hands, and I stepped out into the hallway. I was wearing just my bath towel around my waist, but I didn’t care.

  Dale was standing in the hallway.

  His white polo shirt was still covered with blood from when he’d been shot, and the red liquid poured from his wounds. My friend’s eyes were wide, and he opened his mouth to talk. No words came, but then he pointed down the hallway past me.

  I turned and saw that the hallway ended as if it had been sheared by a jagged blade. Where there should have been the path to the cafeteria, was instead the view
down to the surface of a distant planet. An orange colored band of dust bent around part of my view, and I realized it looked a lot like the ring around the purple world I saw in the sky above Ohlavar. It was as if I was staring down a hole from that purple planet toward Ohlavar, much like the view of Earth from the Moon.

  A long shape twisted around the distant world. It bent and shimmered under the surface of the distant planet as if it were a worm emerging from the dirt. It broke free of the surface, and I saw that it was a dragon. A massive serpent that was all shades of purple, black, and magenta. It rose from the surface of the planet, that I guessed was Ohlavar and its massive jaws opened impossibly wide. It began to swallow the orange rings, and then the world was darkness.

  “Leo?”

  I gasped awake, and heard the knock on my door.

  “One second!” I shouted as I rolled out of my bed. My heart was racing, and my back was soaked with cold perspiration. My brain struggled to make sense out of my sweatpants and tee shirt, but then I saw the towel over one of my chairs and breathed a sigh of relief. I remembered getting out of the shower, brushing my teeth, and putting on the pants and shirt. Zarra hadn’t been in my room, so I decided to lie on my bed and wait for her. I must have dozed off.

  What a crazy dream. I didn’t really have purple eyes.

  “Hey, sorry about that. I passed out for a few minutes,” I said as I opened the door leading from my suite to the hallway.

  “Oh, are you tired? Want to skip dinner? You did have a long session today,” she asked.

  “No. I’m hungry, and I want to see you. You weren’t here when I got out of the shower, so I grabbed a quick nap.” I smiled at the beautiful woman.

  “Sorry! I ran to my office quickly so I could send out a few emails and close out for the night. I caught the cafeteria staff in the hallway and joined their procession.” Zarra gestured to the three women behind her. They each pushed silver trays and wore dazzling smiles. The scent of the food they brought made my stomach growl, and I motioned for everyone to enter my room.

  The staff quickly set up my dining table with the food, and then they left my room. Zarra and I sat down in our usual chairs, and I started on the miso soup. The dinner was an assortment of sushi, Korean style barbecued meats, and salad. It all looked beyond delicious, and the long session of gaming had left me ravenous.