“She’ll come back, won’t she?”
“Not if they take her out of the immersion system. There are worse prisons than this. If they can find where she’s plugged in ...”
I realize at that moment that we’re surrounded by the queen’s soldiers and that our friends need our help. “Cat, we have to fight!” I shout and I lunge for the carpeteer. It’s his fault that Fidelius is dead, my fault for trusting him. Making him dead would go a long way toward making me feel better.
He dances back at my thrusting punch, and I go for my daggers. We engage in the dance and the rest of the room becomes just noise around me. I have a strong sense that we have to get out of here.
As I’m getting ready to unleash a finishing maneuver, the carpeteer backs away from me and starts running.
I have a bad feeling about this. “We have to move,” I say.
But it’s too late. We are not victorious in this battle. We’re surrounded. Outnumbered, outgunned.
The loyalists capture Catriona and me. They roughly bind our hands behind our backs and tell us they’re taking us to Queen Lunacaller. There’s a longish march through the city to the palace gates, and then the long promenade once we’re within the confines of the palace.
In spite of myself, I can’t help but notice how magnificent everything is. We walk down one corridor and another, and another. All are awe-inspiring. I walk with my mouth agape at the white columns that spiral into a ceiling so far away they appear to go to nothingness. Colored leaves made of glass line the halls like a forest, and capture the light from windows high above and play with it, casting strange-colored shadows on the floor beneath us.
The windows have crystal frames that act as prisms, scattering rainbows down the hallway as we walk. The place is a veritable cavalcade of light. It’s beautiful.
Catriona is glaring at me, probably seething with disgust for whatever part I played in all of this, leading the queen’s men to Fidelius. Or maybe she’s mad that we’ve been captured. I feel bad about Fidelius, but honestly, I’d just met her. It’s not like we were pals. I don’t feel that bad. I don’t even feel like it was entirely my fault. I was part of the spinning wheel of destiny on that one. I take comfort that it’s only her avatar that’s dead, not her body.
I ignore Catriona’s mood and find myself smiling again. I can’t help it. This place is fucking amazing. It seems like we walk for miles. I know it’s at least a few city blocks.
Finally, we arrive at the throne room, where the Elven Queen is waiting for us. The leader of the elven army speaks. “Main target is dead, milady,” she says.
“At last, Fidelius is dead. Congratulations, Leeroy Jenkinz, you’ve done it.” The queen lounges on her throne and looks exactly as happy as a cat who’s just licked an entire bowl of real cream. “The resistance is dead and you were the key to the whole thing. We helped you all along and now you’ve helped us to unlock the resistance.” She smiles at me like I’m her pet human. Her words are making me sick. “Now all we have to do is restore your true memories.”
I watch as Catriona’s face darkens. “I knew it!” She spits at me.
“No, no, no. It’s not true,” I say.
The Elven Queen says, “It’s true. You volunteered to go undercover. We helped you to get here, set you up with the right connections. But don’t take my word for it, take yours ...”
She waves her hand and across my field of vision another in-game cinematic appears. I’m the star of this video, and I seem rather smug in it.
“Hey, Leeroy,” I say to myself. “Thanks for helping Queen Lunacaller take out the resistance. You did your job. Now you can reclaim your life as a reward.”
“What are you talking about?” I say. “None of this is true. I never wanted to help you.”
Queen Lunacaller says, “Then ask yourself why you helped us build the portal in the first place, Leeroy Jenkinz. Once you’re immersed you won’t want to fight us anymore. You’ll remember why you helped.”
She points to Catriona. “You wanted this one as your reward—and when we’re through with her, she’ll be all yours. You’ll be among the few who can make half-elf babies IRL as you say, and they’ll be beautiful.” In light of what I know, this doesn’t seem fair. She’s smiling, like she really believes this is salvation enough. Meanwhile, Catriona is struggling for all she’s worth against the hands that bind her. “Take them away,” Queen Lunacaller says to her henchmen.
“What? No! I don’t want this!” I shout, hoping Catriona will hear my words. This can’t be happening. The Elven Queen’s men take Catriona and me by the arms and drag us deep into the palace. There’s a crystal coffin for each of us, and it’s filled with a bubbling liquid. I don’t know what that is and I don’t want to find out.
I slippery fish myself from their grip and shadowslide across the room to take out one of the queen’s henchmen with a single blow. Some things you just can’t beat being a rogue for. I shadow cloak and sneak up and slash and backstab the elf that’s got Catriona in his hands, freeing her. She leaps to action, and starts by making sure I’m at full health. Bless that woman.
Then the fight is on. After the first few soldiers go down, I learn that nine strikes usually gets me a kill. I’m faster knowing that. I go to town. We fight our way through the elves, Cat healing me as I go toe to toe with these guys. Finally, they’re all down and we’re still standing. We break free of the immersion chamber and flee through the halls.
We meet company at our second turn. It’s the flying carpeteer. “You can’t get out,” he cries. “There are people here willing to fight you at every turn.” He flings a knife at Catriona and she deflects it. We gang up on him.
She distracts him with balls of detrimental holy fire and I get in close for the kill. This is one civilian I don’t mind taking the knife to. I feel the crunch of his ribs at the hilt of my blade as I jab inward and upward to take him down. He gasps in my grasp, and slumps to the floor. “You won’t get away,” he says before he vaporizes at my feet. His carpet wilts beside him.
“If they’re everywhere, how are we going to fight our way through the palace and back to the portal?” I ask. I’m up for the task if I have to be, but ...
Cat says, “We don’t have to. We can group up and use a homestone.”
“Right,” I say and extend her an invitation. Then I pull out my homestone and do an incantation over it. The words come unbidden and I run my hand over the top of the rock like it’s a Buddha’s belly that needs rubbing. Together, we’re teleported back to the Rogue’s Den. God bless this place. I love it here.
Not that it’s a pleasant feeling, being rent piece by piece on a molecular level and reassembled in a new location. No, not my favorite feeling, that one. But my whole life I’ve dreamed of having site to site transportation. It would just make things so much easier if I didn’t have to actually move my body to actually move my body. So, the weird feeling is totally worth it.
Chapter 25
We materialize at the inn. Prominently displayed on the walls are posters with both our faces and names on them. So, Queen Lunacaller is already up to speed on our escape, and her notice has gone out. She’s fast. At least I know no one here will turn me in. We’re thick as thieves here, literally.
“I see you’ve got good taste in artwork,” I say to the barkeep, shrugging my shoulder and jerking my head in the general direction of the picture. “You want us to sign those?”
He laughs when he recognizes us. “What’s your poison?” he asks. “First drink’s on me.” I smile and place my order. Catriona does too, and we talk again about what I learned in my time with Fidelius. “So what this means is that I can help you. All of you.” I tell her of what I remember about the portal and my role in building it.
“So you see,” I say at the end, “we have to get to the portal so I can destroy it.”
“You mean the real portal. Not just the in game portal.”
“No, that’s the beauty of it. They’re linked.
I can affect the out-of-game, real life portal from in here. It’s where everything intersects.”
“You’re kidding me,” Catriona says.
“It was built from here, after all,” I say. My memories have flooded my skull. I remember now, how they used me. “They built physical elements on earth and Arcadia proper, but they linked them through VR. We have to find a way to get into the portal. From what it looked like when I arrived, there’s quite a line to get in. And we won’t be going to the visitor’s section, if you know what I mean.”
“I understand. The risk is worth it to me.”
“Catriona, who are you, really? Who are you on the other side?”
“I’m an elf, just like you see. Everyone from the Arcadian side looks exactly like their avatar in real life, or so it holds for me and those I’ve known.”
“But where are you now? Where is your body?”
“It’s in Arcadia, in an immersion chamber, much as those we saw at the queen’s palace.”
“You mean you’re in prison. You’re part of the rebel alliance on the other side, too. Why would she let you loose in this world?”
“She may not know about your ability to affect real change for us. It’s just a way for her to keep her exiles from rising up. Here, in this world”—she pauses to spread her hands—“we are occupied. Not a threat to her beloved Arcadia. Look at me. I’m running around with you.”
“But there’s a chance that it’s real ...”
“And that’s why I’m here.” Catriona moves in to embrace me. She smells good. Like lilacs. She feels light in my arms, like I could whirl her around in a field of flowers on a sunny afternoon and spread her out on a picnic ... Nope. Not gonna go there right now. I step back from her.
“We have to find a way to the portal from here, undetected.”
It occurs to me that Will Fast Fingers might have some insider knowledge for me, so I take Catriona with me and ask him if there’s any way he knows of to get to the portal. I find him in the same spot at the scarred table in the inn, wearing the same dark cloak.
“Take a bird,” he says. Then he stands and sheds his cloak, tossing it to me. “This will help you blend in once you arrive. But I recommend you both hunker into it together or else one of you will stand out. You’re both slight. It’ll do ya.” The cloak weighs heavy in my arms, and I drape it over my shoulder.
I take a closer look, examining it. Cloak of Shadows +20 to stealth ability. Holy crap. This is some serious, upper level shit.
“Thank you for your guidance,” I say. “And your gift.” I bow my head slightly to him. “And watch your back,” I say.
He grins, like I’m kidding. I’m not, though. The queen herself is after me. Those who help me could find themselves in jeopardy.
Chapter 26
We walk to the flight master where the griffins are gathered and ask for a ride to the portal site. The place smells like sour urine and moldy hay. I feel sorry for the beasts. By the same token, it’s so busy I can see why the guy never has time to clean up after his animals. I’m sure he gets to it at the end of the day ... or sometime.
The flight master selects a griffin for us and we clamber on its back after donning the cloak, knowing that we won’t be able to change it out mid-flight. The journey is uneventful, though lovely, and it’s not long before we slide off the lion bird unnoticed upon arrival at the portal.
We both stay tucked in the cloak as we make our way to the portal’s gateway. I don’t know if it actually makes us invisible, but it makes me feel invisible and maybe that’s just enough for today.
The portal towers above us, white and glimmering. In front of us there’s one gigantic double doorway that’s elaborately decorated, the one the huge line of people waiting to go earth-side ends at. It’s an arched oaken double door with intricate carvings on its borders, and next to it is a plain door. It’s this second one we slip into unnoticed—or so we hope.
I stand there a minute, in awe of the thing. If we’re going to bring it down, aren’t we obligated to warn all these people milling around waiting for their lottery ticket?
I can’t think about that now. We have to hurry. I have no doubt Queen Lunacaller is sending guards to intercept us.
The path we’re on leads down and down to a tunnel that stretches down for a bit. I walk along it, Catriona right behind me. Then the tunnel opens up to a gigantic chamber. Most of the portal’s inner workings are underground and gargantuan. The whole underground level is matrixed with huge white columns made of something like quartz. The place shines with crystalline but menacing light. It’s cold and eerie, filled with piping that channels some kind of magical energy. Our footsteps echo in the cavernous chambers.
“The Elven Queen knows she’s limiting population growth, and keeping the races from co-mingling, but she won’t let go of the control. She wants the elves to be the only ones that survive,” Catriona whispers.
I don’t know why she’s lecturing me. It’s not like she needs to win me to her side. “That makes no sense.”
“She thinks a free for all would pollute the bloodlines too quickly. If she can make her family more fertile ...”
“They’ll hold on to the power here longer.”
Of course, Queen Lunacaller would know what the rebels were about. She’d know what it was that was locked in my brain, and what my next move would be. She had to have sent a contingent of soldiers our way. She’s cruel, but she’s not stupid.
“Cat, be on the lookout. Lunacaller will have sent someone or probably several someones after us. She knows we escaped her inquisition.”
“All right,” she says and nods. We keep walking. I don’t remember this place outright, but I have a sense that I’m going the right direction, so what the hell. Why not? Intuition seems to have gotten me through all right so far. It feels eerily quiet and I go on hyper alert. I blend with the shadows and slink along the columns themselves.
The ground is soft beneath my feet and I know they didn’t bother to cover the dirt. It’s simply been packed a bit. And the ceiling above me is irregular, blasted out of the dirt. We’re already one level down.
I know Catriona has nothing like shadow cloak that she can do for herself, but I do see her hands wiggle some magic out and a magic bubble of protection springs up around her. Unlike the KISA’s golden shield, this one forms a barrier around her like a cylinder. Good girl. We continue on. I see the flicker of a shadow ahead and point to it and Cat. She nods. I stop to get our bearings. We seem to be drawing nearer to the center.
One of the shadows materializes into an elvish archer who steps briefly out of the shadows to fire an arrow at Catriona. The arrow reaches a space a few feet in front of her and piffles in midair, losing all trajectory and forward motion and falling to the ground. Good. Shield works then.
Maybe they haven’t seen me yet. I trust Cat to her shields and duck even further back into the shadows and slip to the far side of the column from the row we’ve been walking. I see now that the danger is far greater and closer than I realized. I’ve already come upon the first man, though he doesn’t know it yet, and there are probably twenty others gathered, two at a column, down this entire row.
I shadowslide behind this first man and reach around to claw his throat before he can make a noise and alert others to my position. He slumps against me and I lower his heavy body to the ground. I get a notification, +1 gold and I wave it away. Is this for real? Are these guys worth money as a reward?
I wish I could be nearer to Cat, but stealth, isolation, and action are the better operatives while surprise is on my side. I slip alongside the column and wait in the shadows until the next soldier’s attention is directed elsewhere, then I shadowslide over to him and introduce him to my blade.
No gold that time. Must take cumulative kills then. Something to replace experience that only drops gold as you’ve earned it. Makes sense for how advanced my avatar is. It’s not like they’re going to let me level up and they don’t want to l
oad my pack with silvers and coppers. Whoever “they” is. I wonder if I had a hand in programming Arcadia’s MMORPG, if that’s why I’m so drawn to it?
I have little time to think, though. The time has come for my next strike. I shear off a bit and scrape against the column as I land, and my target is alerted as I shadowslide behind him for the backstab. I get to him before he can cry out, though not before his partner is aware of the commotion.
I’m not able to get the drop on the partner. We circle, quietly, and I notice Catriona from the side. She nails him with one of her flying light damage dealing spells and he doubles over. I rush in to slash and stick’em, attacking and needling him quickly, in and out, finishing him. I slit his throat with a claw for good measure. I don’t need him moaning behind us. I motion for Cat to stay on that side of the columns, but to advance toward our target, the center of the room.
I make it halfway through the gathered elves this way before they catch onto me and the fight is on in earnest. I become a whirling dervish of blades, and Catriona’s light spells are hissing from her hands non-stop. I fight like I’ve never fought before, slamming blades home and yanking them out, jumping and dancing to sidestep a blade and deliver another.
We fight well as a pair. The moment I’m down, Catriona is there with a healing spell to pick me back up. I get to stay engaged in melee, and my rage is blaring red on the bar in front of me. Somehow, we survive the fray.
Chapter 27
Standing together, our chests both heaving, Catriona asks, “Is that it? Is that all of them?”
“It’s the first wave at least,” I say. “Doubt it will be the last. They might give us a bit of a breather, they might not.” When I think of it like a dungeon raid, it gets easier. I’ll be the tank and damage dealer, and Cat will back me up with more damage and heals. We can do this. I’m just not sure for how long. “How’s your spell power?” I ask.
“Recharging. That took me down close to zero, that fight.”
Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1) Page 15