He disappeared, but not before he waved a hand in a deft gesture. It ignited magical lanterns that hung overhead and down the walls and the friends were immediately bathed in a soft glow. She gasped and the innkeeper gave him a meaningful look before he left.
Justin cleared his throat. He suddenly felt deeply self-conscious. Between the twilight sky, the gorgeous city, the wine, and the magical lights, this was a more romantic night than he had bargained on. He took a gulp of wine to steady himself and realized too late that he might have made a mistake.
Thankfully, he and Tina were both hungry enough that he could occupy himself for a moment with the bread. He dipped hunks of it in the oil that had been provided and savored the hint of salt and the warm, fluffy texture.
She licked her fingers with a happy sigh. “Do you think they have twenty more loaves?”
He laughed. “God, I hope so. You take the last piece. I’m sure they’ll have more soon and I had an ale while talking to Lyle.”
Tina gave him a sober look at that. “So, he’s really going home, then?”
“He is.” He focused on his glass of wine. “I never thought I’d see the day, to be honest. He doesn’t strike me as someone who would do well with a staid life…but then again, he wasn’t fighting for much of a purpose here. He merely wandered and drank himself silly most of the time. When I first met him, he was in jail for brawling and not paying his bar tab.”
“He’s a good man.” She ran one finger contemplatively around the rim of her goblet. “Er…dwarf?”
“I have no idea what the right term is.” Justin shrugged. “And, yes, he is.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if all your good deeds have made him want to go home and help his family,” Tina pointed out. “You’ve defeated evil wizards and demons and so on, right? Maybe he wants to do more of that. The dwarves must have some enemies.”
“I don’t know.” He looked at her in surprise. “I suppose I never knew much about the wider world. In a video game—a normal one—there’s always a pressing crisis like a huge war. I never heard about anything like that. It was only things like Sephith—little villains terrorizing one village at a time.”
She nodded. “Well, we can ask him. He’s not leaving tonight, is he?”
“No. He said he’ll take a few days and he’ll go with a caravan. I think I managed to persuade him not to go as a guard.” He shook his head. “I had to tell him he deserved to be carried home like a prince instead of letting him think I was coddling him.”
“But you were,” she guessed and took a sip of wine.
Justin nodded somberly. “The healer said it will take time before he’s back to full strength. She healed the wound but apparently, only the body can do some of it. I hadn’t realized someone could get injured so badly in the tournament.”
Tina fixed him with a curious look. “We keep rising through the ranks. Will we continue to compete?”
“I think we have to.” He shook his head. “That’s how we get the key.” He sank into silence.
“Justin?” Her voice was low. “You’ll be able to come back, you know.”
He looked quickly at her.
“You have to be here right now because you’re healing,” she said, “but I’m here and I’m healthy. They can put you in the game. You can see Lyle again.”
“I know it’s ridiculous to care.” He gave her an embarrassed look.
“I read my favorite books over and over again,” she responded with a shrug. “And if I could actually talk to the characters? I’d never stop reading.”
Justin smiled at her. “Thank you for coming here—and for understanding.”
“I’m glad your mother forgave me enough to let me try,” she said.
“Wait, what?” He looked sharply at her. Now he remembered the way his mother had looked when he asked about Tina. She had been angry. “Oh, no—my mother blames you, doesn’t she? You know, if our parents hadn’t insisted we go on that date—”
“It was my fault.” She took his hand and looked seriously at him. “And I’m glad I can come here. I wanted to help, even though I didn’t know it would be this much fun.” She squeezed his fingers.
He returned the smile easily until he realized how perfect this moment felt, with their fingers touching and the wine making his head buzz, and the lights the perfect muted glow.
When the door opened, they both drew back as if they’d been burned. Justin could see her blush as the innkeeper and his wife entered with heavy trays of food. They were careful not to look at the young couple, but he could sense them trying to decide if they had interrupted anything.
The amount of food they provided was truly staggering. There was a shank of something that looked like lamb but must have come from something the size of an up-armored Humvee. It was coated in spices and salt, its skin crackly, and it smelled divine. Roasted vegetables lay around it. Platters of salad were provided as well, and rice with herbs, and more bread. Dumplings sizzled in a hot dish, covered with bubbling cheese, and another bowl contained something that might be pasta.
And there was so much more wine. The innkeeper and his wife topped off the goblets and withdrew like ghosts.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll fight in the tournament again,” Tina said. “Unless there’s a way we can win by lying on the ground and crying about how full our stomachs are.”
“Are you suggesting…” He felt truly sad. “That we should try to moderate ourselves?”
“Fuck no,” she retorted. “This is a made-up world. They’ll find another way to get you that key. Eat up.” She picked a potato up with her bare hands and popped it into her mouth, only to spit it out a moment later. “Fuck! Hot. This game is too realistic.”
He laughed hysterically as he served himself from the platters. While he wanted to take some of everything, it wouldn’t fit on his plate. With a silent prayer that he wouldn’t be full before he had tried them all, he began to eat.
Every bite was delicious but it was probably because he was literally living in a dream.
“I don’t think I have words,” he said after he’d swallowed one of the dumplings. “That cheese. What kind is it?”
“I don’t know.” Tina dipped one of the pieces of bread in it. “All I know is that it had better exist or I’m gonna kick some ass when I get out of here.”
He nodded emphatically.
“You know, it’s weird,” she said.
“Hrm?” He looked up, his cheeks bulging with rice and meat.
“Well, I was going to say that we were finally having the romantic evening our parents had hoped for but then I saw you looking like a chipmunk.” She clearly tried not to laugh.
“Nice one, Casanova. You’re doing great.”
“I will find the server you are stored in,” he muttered to the AI, “and rip your heart out.” To Tina, he raised an eyebrow. “Is the woman who came to the date in a borrowed bathrobe really getting on my case?”
“Oh, unfair!” She threw a piece of bread at him. “I don’t have any other clothes.”
“You could have—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” she warned and laughed. “Although…who knows where we’ll be after all this wine?”
In the lab, Jacob looked around in a sudden moment of awkwardness. Mary was already at the door of the room. She looked at everyone, who stared at her.
“Uh…” She gave them a deer-in-the-headlights look. “Let me know when it’s safe to come back.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and tried not to laugh as she fairly sprinted out of the room.
The Master of Ceremonies had chambers in the Royal Palace, a fact Kural guessed correctly. This left, of course, the question of exactly where in the giant palace the chambers were. What followed his arrival was a truly boring series of excursions down similar-looking hallways until all the exquisite architecture blurred together in his head.
Thankfully, he had remembered to leave magical markers for himself so he knew whic
h corridors he had already explored. If he hadn’t done so, he would have been lost very quickly.
The palace was almost empty. The guards patrolled regularly—which wasn’t a problem for the wizard, who presently floated above their heads as a dust mote—but he saw not a single noble and only a few clerks.
His curiosity grew as he searched. He had known, of course, that the king of Insea had not been seen in years. Everyone knew that. The city continued to run like clockwork, however, and there were never any invasions, so Kural had decided that whatever was going on, it wasn’t a problem. He’d always had something else to occupy him, like his experiments.
Or his defeat and subsequent years spent trying not to get killed by Sephith.
Now, he wondered what was going on there. Even a sick king could be expected to be surrounded by fawning nobles and crowds of servants, but he didn’t see any general direction in which the guards or servants moved.
He resolved to ask the Master of Ceremonies whenever he finally found the man. Although he would have to be careful, he might even be able to work that into the persuasion portion of their discussion.
It had been over an hour by the time he managed to find the correct set of chambers. They were palatial, although it did not appear that this was due to greed. The rooms were far from the height of luxury. A desk stood at one side of the main room and a set of low couches near the fireplace, and a full wall of windows overlooked them. Beyond, he could see a bedchamber with an eastern-style mattress laid directly on the floor.
The Master of Ceremonies worked alone at his desk with a humble meal of flatbread and yogurt next to him as well as a cup of strong tea. Kural took the opportunity to change from a dust mote into his full self and walked into the room. This took vastly more strength than shadow-walking, but he needed to be there in person if he wanted to persuade the Master of Ceremonies to part with a priceless artifact.
He rapped on the open door and waited for the man to look up. “Jaco?”
“Yes?” It had been years since they had seen each other, so it took a good few minutes for the Master of Ceremonies to realize who he was looking at. “Kural?” He stood and came around the edge of the desk, disbelief and wariness on his face. “The last I heard, you had been killed by Sephith.”
“Defeated,” he corrected. “And then in hiding. Sephith was killed a few weeks back, though, and so I have my powers again.”
“I’d heard rumors of it, but…” The official gestured to his desk. “But I’ve been busy.”
“Yes, I can see that.” The wizard looked around the room. “I don’t suppose I could trouble you with a certain detail.”
“You might as well.” Jaco smiled wearily at him. “I’m getting nowhere. I don’t suppose you have any ideas on how to revive the tournament properly.”
“You seem to be doing a fine job of it so far,” he observed. He waited as the man rang a small bell and murmured something below his breath. A full tea set, complete with sweets, appeared on the table near the hearth and a fire sprang into being.
The two men sat and took refreshments for a moment.
“As it happens, however…” Kural rolled the glass of tea between his hands. “I do have a suggestion. But questions first, of course. It might inform the suggestion I make. I wasn’t sure it would be you I found.”
His host gave him a tired smile. Over a hundred years before, he and his visitor had been rivals, both competing for the favor of certain patrons. Kural had left to find his place as a wizard, and Jaco had taken a different route. Never a wizard himself, he possessed quite a talent for creating spectacles and entertainments. He’d always had the edge when it came to delighting rich nobles.
“I have it on good authority,” the wizard said, “that this tournament is not merely an entertainment for the city.” He watched the man closely and was rewarded by a flash of worry in his eyes. “Do you care to explain?” he asked silkily.
The official considered him narrowly. “And have you come steal my place?”
“Have you ever been to a party I’ve thrown?” he asked him archly.
“Yes, actually. You served crackers. Only crackers. There was no music.”
“So you know I won’t steal your job.” He gestured at him. “I promise you, I have a goal that does not in any way conflict with yours.”
“Ah, but you don’t know what mine is.” Jaco sighed. He was still wary but clearly desperate to unburden himself of his worries. “Oh, what the hell. Maybe you’ll have some ideas.”
The story he proceeded to tell was beyond his guest’s wildest imaginings.
The King of Insea was not sick. Indeed, he had never existed in the way the people believed. He had never been elven at all but was a dragon, born millennia before even the elves walked the earth. It was his servants who had built Insea under his direction after he stumbled upon the beautiful deposit of rock that made the city. His power had allowed them to forge the finished product into one stone, which made it unbreakable.
The dragon had no interest in the wars of his people. He had escaped a battle between rival armies and had fled. Whether it was from another world or this one, Jaco did not know. He only knew that the dragon wanted to be left in peace—and that he was fascinated by the doings of lesser beasts. It was for this reason that he had convinced the elves to build Insea. The rock gave him strength and he lived within the city, endlessly intrigued by what went on, and kept it safe.
“Is he…in the palace?” Kural asked.
“I don’t know.” Jaco shook his head. “I’ve never seen him, not truly.”
“So it could all be a ruse.”
“It could.” The man leaned back on the couch and considered the idea. “I’ve had time to wonder if that was the case. I can think of no other explanation, however. He has used servants, over the years, for public appearances, but now fears someone might learn the truth.”
“If he’s told you, and you’ve told me…” The wizard took a sip of his tea as he frowned in thought. “I won’t spread the secret, but it won’t stay hidden forever.”
“I know that. So does he.” Jaco swirled the tea in his glass. “That’s why the tournament is in progress. Something is coming but we don’t know what. It might be dragons or it might be another kind of invasion. I was called here when I reached the city and he asked me if I could put together a tournament—”
“That would create and draw a populace of talented warriors?” Kural finished for him.
“Yes,” the man said softly. “And it was working until the Twins kept winning.”
“Well. I have a suggestion that will help you, then.” He smiled. “I happen to know that one of the teams includes a man who is searching for a very particular artifact—a dwarven key.”
His host leaned forward. “I know the key you speak of, I think. And it is priceless, yes, but not to any collectors. It is valuable only to historians. Are you truly telling me a scholar has entered the tournament?”
“He’s a member of the team that calls itself Sephith’s Bane,” he told him. “Ah, yes, now you see how I know him. I helped equip him to defeat Sephith, you see. As for why he needs the key…well, let me simply say he has the other two.”
“That answers none of my questions,” Jaco told him tartly. “Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“Mmm. Ask your dragon where the door is that those keys open.” Kural leaned forward. “I promise you—I promise you—if you give him the key when he wins, he will create a spectacle that will not soon be forgotten. It will revive interest in the tournament in a way you cannot imagine. And when that man travels between the worlds, he may well come back, bringing the healing that Insea needs.”
His companion’s jaw hung open and it was a few moments before he swallowed. “And if the Twins win?” he asked tartly.
“Then offer a different prize,” the wizard said wearily. “Although I’d recommend you make sure they don’t.”
“I refuse to interfere,” Jaco said stiffly.
“You’re trying to drum up opponents,” Kural pointed out.
“Strong opponents,” the man told him. “It helps nothing if weaklings triumph. And if a single whisper gets out that the contest is weighted, that will undo everything I have worked so hard to create.”
“Mmm.” He shrugged. “Well then, I leave that up to you. Justin is resourceful and I’m confident that he can do what must be done. If he wins, however, offer him the key. Trust me.”
“I’m not sure I do,” his companion said wryly. “But if the king agrees, I’ll do it. There’s something bad coming, and if this man can bring us resources…”
The wizard nodded. “Call on me if you need me. I happen to know of two others as well—a sorceress of surpassing power and her apprentice. I shall make sure the apprentice is trained with all haste in case an invading army does come.”
It wasn’t long after the banter started that Justin stopped and his eyes widened.
“Everyone in the lab can…hear us, can’t they?”
“Oh, my God.” Tina put her hand over her mouth. She wanted to disappear. “Oh, my God, oh, my God… Yes. Yes, they can.”
He tipped his head back and laughed. “We finally have a date and we have a whole army of chaperones.” He looked curiously at her. “What is the lab like?”
Letters appeared on her screen: TRY TO STEER THE CONVERSATION BACK TO THE GAME
Huh. She shrugged and hoped she could pull this off without being too obvious. Even with no pressure, she wasn’t a great liar. “It looks like a lab. You’ll see it soon, right?”
“I suppose.” He gave her a tight smile.
“Justin.” She leaned forward. “You’re close to the third key. What does that tell you?”
He stared at her.
“That you’re making progress,” she told him. “We you need to be careful. I know we’re not supposed to let you get harmed, but I also know what people look like when they’re really scared all the time and I know the doctors aren’t.”
The reassurance helped him to relax somewhat.
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