It was tiny compared to modern standards, but it gave him a chance to relax on a comfortable bed and play around with the new thieves guild HUD options he had as well as think of ways of getting into the royal palace.
He briefly considered going down to the bridge side. He’d learned the White Run River here was so deep that boats and even some ships that came up it with trade goods and passengers. It only took them a day or two to make the journey down to the capital.
Unfortunately, upon asking around, he found that the cheapest cost for a passenger was 500 gold per person. While Mordred could afford things like that, Jace couldn’t. They’d have to stick to the original plan and take the caravan tomorrow.
As his mind wandered with different ideas on how to get into the palace, Jace lost track of time. Before he knew it, morning had come. He and Luna went downstairs and ordered breakfast and was nearly done when Charlena appeared out of nothing and immediately yawned.
“Remind me again why I’m up at 5 a.m.,” she said irritably.
“So, we can catch the caravan,” he reminded her.
“Oh yeah,” she said with no enthusiasm. “I can auto-follow and then logout and go back to bed, right?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, you can go back to bed once we book passage and you auto-follow the caravan master.”
“Good,” she said sleepily. “Let’s go then.”
They found the caravan stationed outside the main gate, getting ready to depart. Apparently, it had arrived earlier, dropped off some goods and picked up other goods and was getting ready to leave.
After asking around, they were pointed to the caravan master who was a dusky skinned female gnome who wore expensive leather travel clothes. She was attractive but her small stature and youthful appearance made her look too child-like for Jace’s taste.
He walked over to the little gnome. “Caravan Master?”
The gnome stopped what she was doing and looked up at him, sizing him up with a critical eye and then looking over Charlena with the same professional appraisal. “Already have enough guards. Maybe next time.”
The gnome started to turn but Jace cleared his throat. “Actually, we’re looking to book passage.”
Turning around, she eyed them again. “You got money?”
“How much is passage?” he asked.
“100 if you want to walk behind,” she repeated in a practice, bored tone. “200 if you want to walk in the middle - more protection - or 300 if you want to ride in one of the carts. And that’s each!”
Jace looked at Charlena, who was stifling a yawn. She gave him a questioning look.
He’d done so much walking, he would have loved to ride but they needed to conserve their money. From his time spent in other capitals, he knew everything would be more expensive once they reached Whitecliff. “Let’s just walk behind.”
Charlena nodded and he squared up with the caravan leader, whose name he learned was Jinklodez Fizzlechart, or Jin for short.
“Alright,” she told them after she’d pocketed the money. “We pull out in fifteen minutes. Head to the back and follow the main caravan. Don’t lag behind or we’ll leave you, you’ll get lost or you’ll get killed. Got it?”
“Got it,” Jace said and then turned to Charlena. “Target her, and then auto-follow. You should automatically find your spot and walk along.”
She nodded tiredly and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “See you later after I wake up and have some coffee and get my school work done.” She yawned again. “And study for finals.”
Before he could respond her eyes went glassy and she turned and started to the back of the caravan very mechanically. It was one thing to see her following him but watching her walk like a zombie on her own was a bit weird for him.
The long line of wagons stretched out over nearly one hundred horse drawn carts. All were backed with goods or livestock. By time they reached the end of the procession, they only had to wait a few minutes before a command was shouted down the line and carts began to move.
When the cart in front of them moved, Charlena robotically followed and Jace kept pace with her. He smiled. Finally, after all the things they’d been through, they were on their way to the capital.
He wondered if he’d find any of the players he’d met when he got to Whitecliff. He thought about Duglas, Diana and Mika whether they were okay. None of them were very experienced players - Diana had admitted she’d never played the game. Starting off naked and alone was not an easy start as he well knew. It would be tough for them but he hoped they’d be able to make it.
Realizing he was falling behind, he turned his mind to the walk and keeping pace with the caravan. They had a long way to go.
***
The next week passed excruciatingly slow for Jace. The trip was boring and tedious. He was literally just walking behind a bunch of carts for eight hours a day, watching while they set up camp for two hours, then they ate and then they all went to bed except for a few guards who weren’t very talkative. In the morning, they ate and then took two hours to pack everything up before going again. He lost track of how many times he wished he could log out and come back in a week.
To make matters worse, it was finals week for Charlena. She had logged in a little bit over the weekend but once she realized how boring it was, had spent most of the weekend studying. When Monday came, she was barely on at all as she took finals and studied for finals. Friday, he hadn’t seen her at all as she’d gone out celebrating with some of her classmates.
Part of him was excited to get to Whitecliff, he couldn’t deny it. But the lack of time with Charlena was really weighing on him. With nothing to do but follow the caravan and think, he had quickly become bored. He also felt himself feeling a little anger and resentment towards Charlena, especially Friday night when she hadn’t logged in at all.
He knew he had no right to. After all, she was a living, breathing person. He might be too, but he couldn’t log out. He was stuck in the game. And maybe that was where the resentment focused. She could log out and he couldn’t. She had a life. He didn’t.
As Friday night dragged into Saturday morning, Jace was left with nothing but his dark thoughts.
Chapter 56
Early Saturday afternoon, the caravan pulled into Whitecliff and Jace’s dark mood was momentarily brightened. Unlike the gothic cities of Visimar, where Mordred was from, which were dark and ancient, Whitecliff was a bright sprawling city larger than any he’d seen.
Thirty foot walls built from white stone surrounded the entire city and Jace could see siege engines mounted at various intervals along the wall. A moat thirty feet wide had been dug next to the walls to prevent any invaders from attacking the walls directly. The creators had definitely had defense in mind when they had built the city.
From his vantage point at the back of the caravan, he could see that part of the city was raised and surrounded by an inner wall. Jace guessed by the opulent houses he could see that it was the noble district. In the middle of the noble district, rising even higher, was a large fairy tale style castle with tall walls and towers. He sighed as he realized that the castle was his goal. It was the royal palace.
His ideas and plans all went up in smoke as he looked at the layout. The royal district was like a city within a city and then the pinnacle of that smaller city was a walled fortress. He needed to go back to the drawing board. He’d need to find out more information about the noble district and the castle itself.
He looked over at Charlena as she mechanically followed the caravan. Her auto-follow would automatically disengage when they reached the city and her body would stand there like a statue until she logged in. Jace had no idea when that would be.
They’d barely spoken on Thursday. She’d logged on really just long enough to tell him she wouldn’t be tomorrow because she was going out to celebrate the end of finals.
Jace felt the bitterness rising up again and pushed it down. He looked down at Luna, who had been his only compan
ion during the journey. “We’re here.”
“Here?” the cat asked and sniffed. “Food?”
Jace chuckled but also felt guilty. He had rations to eat but hadn’t thought to pack anything for Luna. He’d had to barter with some of the caravan merchants and managed to find someone with pickled herrings. She hadn’t been especially fond of those, but had eaten them once he’d explained that was all they had.
“Yes,” he told her. “Food. Good food hopefully.”
“Food!” she meowed happily.
He laughed again and looked around. There was no reason for him to stay with the caravan at this point. Breaking formation and going off to the side of the caravan, he broke into a jog and headed to the city gates.
Reaching them, he asked one of the guards at the gate where the graveyard was. The guard gave him directions and he ran along the wall to the north until he spotted it. To say it was large was an understatement. It was enormous. Based on the size of the graveyard, Whitecliff might be the largest city he’d ever been to.
As he reached the gates, he received the prompt he was expecting.
New spawn point: Whitecliff
Do you wish to set Whitecliff as your bind point? (Yes or No)
Jace set his bind point and then raced back to the gate with Luna trailing behind him. When he got to the gate, the guards stopped him.
“Business?” one of the guards demanded.
Jace thought for a moment before answering. He’d thought about trying to come up with some elaborate story but in the end, he was too impatient to explore the city. He fell back to the normal business of all players - adventuring. “Mercenary.”
The guard made a sour face. Obviously, he didn’t approve of mercenaries, and by extension, players. “Are you a member of the Fighter’s Guild?”
“No, I'm in the Thi…” Jace stopped himself just in time. He’d almost told the guard he was in thieves’ guild.
The guard raised a questioning eyebrow.
“I’m thinking about joining,” Jace told the man.
“All mercenaries must be registered with either the Adventurer’s Guild or the Fighter’s Guild,” the guard told him in a bored, official tone. “Acting in the capacity of a mercenary inside the walls of Whitecliff without being a part of a sanctioned guild is punished by a fine and/or imprisonment. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jace told him.
“You may enter,” the guard said and then added. “Stay out of trouble.” The man caught his arm as he started to pass and looked him in the eye. “You disrespect the law, you disrespect me. Got it?”
Jace nodded and the guard released him. Jace shook his head as he walked through the gate. That was one guard who took his job way too seriously.
Once inside, Jace gawked at the huge city that stretched out before him. From here, the noble district on his left was even taller than it looked from the outside. The rest of the city was built on a downgrade that sloped down to the ocean. Even from far away, he could see the docks and the dozens of ships in port.
Between him and the docks were hundreds of houses, shops, inns and who knew what else. It was a fantasy metropolis, larger than any of the cities he’d visited in VEIL before. He couldn’t wait to explore it.
The idea of exploring it made him think of Charlena and he realized how excited she could be to see it as well. That made him smile despite the fact that he hadn’t seen much of her the last week. She was still his only friend right now and he still had feelings for her - even if he wasn’t completely sure what those feelings were.
He waited near the gate for several hours, waiting for Charlena but she didn’t log in. At one point, he walked back to where she would have disengaged from the caravan. Her body was still there, glassy eyed.
He walked back and went inside the gates again and looked around. He found the first inn he came to, a three story building called the Dwarvish Fork Inn. He found a seat at one of the tables and waited to be served.
Someone came over to his table and he turned to give the barmaid his order and froze. Standing in front of him was a stunning raven haired woman with amber eyes who looked familiar.
She was dressed in a skimpy white outfit decorated with runes that Jace recognized as mage robes but they’d been cut to reveal her ample cleavage and her long, shapely legs.
“Are you just going to drool,” the woman said as she smiled seductively. “Or are you going to ask me to join you? I mean, you did ask me to join you here.”
The pieces fell in place and he recognized her. “Diana!”
He rose from his chair and gave her a big hug and realized how much chestier she was than Charlena as her breast pressed against him. He released her quickly, heat rising to his cheeks.
Diana let loose a melodic giggle and slipped into the chair across from him. “Oh darling, you are such an innocent little thing aren’t you.” She looked around. “Where is that tasty girlfriend of yours? The elf with the fiery mane?”
“She… ah…” Jace stuttered. The woman oozed sexuality and Jace had a hard time concentrating. Finally, he pulled himself together. “She hasn’t logged on yet.”
“Oh,” she said in a husky voice. “So, it’s just the two of us.”
Jace swallowed. “I… ah…”
“Jace Burton,” came a soft voice near him.
He turned to see the attractive Asian girl in a patchwork of different color chainmail armor and a torn, dirtied tabard with the symbol of Faeshai, the goddess of sun and healing. Jace knew instantly who it was. “Mika!”
He got up to give her a hug but she bowed instead. “I owe you thanks I cannot repay, Jace Burton.”
Jace stopped himself and did his best to emulate her bow. “You don’t owe me anything. I’m glad you’re human.”
“Yes,” she smiled. “Me too.” Mika looked at the raven haired vixen across from him and made a little bow. “I am sorry to have disturbed you.”
Jace looked between Mika and Diana, who was watching the exchange with amusement. He lowered his voice so the other patrons couldn’t hear. “No, no… join us… This is Diana. She’s like us.” He gave her a meaningful look.
Mika’s eyes opened wide. “You were a…” She lowered her voice. “You were a monster too?”
“Oh yes precious,” the older woman replied. “When this young stud found me, I had eight legs and eight eyes. Quite ghastly, I can assure you.”
Mika slid into the chair next to Diana. “I was a Yeti. Covered with fur.”
Jace was overwhelmed. He hadn’t expected to find Diana or Mika here so soon considering how long it had taken him to get here. It was good to see them and it was even better to see that they were human again.
“So, dear one,” Diana looked at him. Her voice turned very suggestive. “Now that we’re here, what do you intend to do with us? Because if you don’t have any ideas, I’m sure I can come up with some.”
Jace felt himself blush and saw a little color in Mika’s face as well. He cleared his throat. “I need to get into the royal palace. Inside there is a hidden room called the Help Desk. It’s an old method of contacting support, back when they tried to do everything in-game.”
“And then what?” asked Diana.
“And then we explain our situation and they fix whatever bug caused this,” he told her. “And we get to go back to our...lives. Or at least get your assets back.”
Diane nodded. “I have to admit. As easy as the men around here are to manipulate, I would like to have my money. Out of principle, if nothing else.”
Mika nodded. “I agree. The money from my grandmother’s estate, it is mine now. She would want me to have it.”
“Then all we have to do is figure out a way through the guarded and restricted noble district, get into the heavily guarded castle and then stay there long enough to find the secret room,” he told them.
“Piece of cake,” Diana told him and winked.
“Yes,” Mika said. “We will help you Jace Burton. We will fin
d this Help Desk.”
Jace couldn’t help but smile. They both seemed to have a lot of faith in him. It was more than he had. He’d thought this would be a formidable challenge, but from where he was now, it seemed impossible.
He looked across the table at the two beautiful women staring back at him and tried to look and sound confident. “Right, piece of cake.”
Epilogue
Charlena groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head pounded and her stomach felt like she was going to be sick. It wasn’t quite light out. Was it that early? Keeping eyes open made her feel like bombs were going off in her head. She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened last night.
She remembered going out to eat with her friends after finals. They’d gone to Johnny’s Bistro near campus that they loved. Her friends had wanted to hear the latest on her “virtual” boyfriend. She hadn’t told them everything going on with Jace, just that she’d met a guy from Philadelphia online and they’d been hanging out a lot.
After dinner, they’d gone out to their favorite dance club, Pure Energy. She remembered dancing and doing shots. And then doing some more shots. And then… well, actually that’s where things kind of ended. Had she passed out?
She forced herself to sit up and instantly regretted it as things swam and her stomach lurched. Charlena looked down and realized she was still in her clothes from last night. Obviously, she’d been too wasted to take her clothes off - assuming she’d been conscious at all.
Looking over at the bed on the other side of the dorm room, she saw that her roommate was still in her party clothes too. Good, the last thing she needed was Juliette ragging her about falling asleep in her clothes.
Charlena pushed herself up out of bed and instantly fell back as her head swam and the room seemed to move.
She didn’t drink often and got drunk even less. Now she remembered why. It was fun while you were doing it, but the next morning was totally not worth it.
Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series) Page 37