CA Chapter Nine (Patreon)

Ava peered around the corner of the building, saw nothing of interest, and sent a question to Silus. ::Do you see anyone?:: Instinctively, she kept her voice low, even though no one could overhear anything she said in party chat.

::Nobody,:: Silus answered, sounding like she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. The little bat clearly disapproved of any adventure that had so little excitement in it. Ava, on the other hand, was thrilled.

Just before midnight, Aspen had turned up at Ava’s door. They had crossed through to Amy’s bedroom, where Ava had woken the sleeping woman. In Veritas, an avatar couldn’t be moved when the player was logged out, so even though Amy’s avatar had already been lying in this bed when Ava played the first time, Ava couldn’t have moved her, even if she’d tried.

Once Ava explained what they were doing, though the explanation elicited no response from Amy, they had struggled to get Amy’s limp body onto Aspen’s back. They finally had to use a sheet to tie her on, like an enormous infant. Fortunately, Amy wasn’t tall, and Aspen stood a few inches above six feet, or Aspen would have had to carry the invalid in his arms instead, which would have left him helpless  in case of trouble.

Now, they stood deep in the halls of the castle, each of them watching and listening for any sign that someone besides them was awake. Aspen had been watching the town and the castle for the last few days, while Ava was gone, and had determined that while it would be difficult to get them all out through one of the closed and guarded gates, no one patrolled the castle itself.

::Are you sure there’s a secret passage in Veralt’s chambers?:: Ava asked, for the third time.

::Yes,:: Aspen assured her, with the patience of a parent with young children. ::The tunnel was there before Refuge became a city, and it remained there after the old house became the castle.:: He hesitated, but finally admitted, ::It’s possible raising the castle above ground broke it somehow, but everything else is eerily accurate, so it should still be there.::

Ava stopped in her tracks. ::So, we’re going to go to Veralt’s rooms, where Veralt is sleeping, and the tunnel might not even be there?::

Aspen hitched Amy higher on his back in some form of a shrug. ::You Travelers don’t really sleep, though, do you? You ‘log out’, and you can’t be wakened.::

::I’ve tried to wake up Rouge so many times,:: Silus said, sounding exasperated. ::I even bit her once, and accidentally used [Poison Bite], and the unicorns had to heal her before she died.::

Aspen chuckled almost inaudibly as he led them onward through the castle. He seemed very certain of where he was going, so Ava just trailed after him like a lost puppy. ::You used [Poison Bite] on purpose, little one, and don’t think we didn’t know it. You were mad because she hadn’t been on to play with you in almost a month. You’re fortunate she has [Poison Resistance] and the sparkles were nearby, or that could have ended badly.::

::She’d just respawn,:: Silus muttered, but after that she limited herself to reporting that the halls nearby were still empty.

Finally, Aspen stopped outside a door set squarely in the middle of a long hallway with no other doors. Shaking his head, he looked down the hall. ::There should be justat guarding this door. They’re all goblins, though, so Veralt’s bigotry in removing all the non-humans also got rid of the very people who would have protected him with their lives.::

Reaching out, he grasped the door handle, turning it slowly until a click broke the silence, and he winced, freezing in place. ::Silus?::

::Nothing, Aspen,:: Silus answered, sounding unusually serious. ::I can’t see or hear anyone coming.::

Slowly, Aspen pushed open the door, then paused as he looked inside for the first time. Silus’ nearly silent form flickered in through the space above his head, the little bat going ahead to look for anything that might cause an unexpected problem. After a moment, she signaled all clear, and Aspen slid into the room.

Ava followed, triggering [Sneak] as she did so. Even though she knew Aspen was right, and there was no way they could possibly wake Veralt, she couldn’t help but keep a wary eye on the bed, and the still figure lying there. ::Why couldn’t this be one of the times he decided to sleep in his throne?:: Ava muttered rhetorically.

Apparently, Veralt had a habit of leaving his avatar in the ostentatious throne that nearly filled the audience chamber. He liked to sit, staring blankly out over his ‘kingdom’, presumably so the citizens could properly admire him even when he was gone.

Aspen lifted a brow at her, the gesture barely visible in the light of the two moons shining in through the windows, and she shrugged, gesturing for him to get on with it. He returned the gesture and she grimaced, triggering [Trap Detection], followed by [Hidden Passages].

[Trap Detection] is now level 2.

A small box near Veralt’s bed began to glow a dim red, and Ava pointed at it, then shrugged again. Aspen looked conflicted, but said, ::Leave it. The passageway is over here, so hopefully he either doesn’t know about it, or didn’t bother putting any traps on it.:: He crossed the room, his stockinged feet making no sound as they sank into the thick carpet that covered the floor.

::Or I just didn’t find them,:: Ava muttered, well aware that a level two skill wasn’t going to catch anything more complicated than a cardboard box leaning against a stick. It was already amazing that she’d found whatever was on Veralt’s box, which meant there were either multiple traps, or… No, most likely there were just so many traps on the thing that even her pathetic skill was enough to notice at least one.

Fortunately, they knew where the secret passage was, at least in theory. Aspen used one hand to sweep aside the tapestry covering one wall, then tried to kneel before frowning and standing back up. He tapped a round stone with one toe as he readjusted Amy where she was slung across his back.

::Three stones up and two to the right from this one. Don’t push it. Get your fingers under the bottom edge and pull.::

Ava knelt on one knee and did as he instructed, feeling a ridge beneath the stone he’d indicated. She tugged, and the stone pulled out with a soft scraping sound, revealing three round, burnished stones.

::Press them. Right, left, right. Don’t touch the one in the middle.::

The right stone depressed beneath her fingers, settling into place with a snick. The left stone did the same, but when it did, the right one popped back out. Ava glanced back up at Aspen, and he nodded encouragingly. Cautiously, she pressed the right stone again, and this time it vanished inside the wall, and a whole section of the stonework slid out of the way, revealing that it was just a facade set over a crack that looked oddly natural, even though the wall itself couldn’t be more than a few feet thick, and certainly shouldn’t contain what looked like a cave wall.

Aspen snorted, the sound shockingly loud in the silence, and they both swung around to stare at the unmoving figure lying in the bed. Veralt didn’t so much as twitch, and Aspen shook his head. ::Sorry. I thought that it would look different, somehow, but this is exactly how it is in real life.:: Real life for Aspen, of course, was the normal game, and this crack would make complete sense there, since most of the castle was apparently below ground.

::Let’s hope it works just like the real one, too,:: Ava said grimly. ::I don’t like Plan B.:: Which was, of course, trying to sneak Amy out right under the noses of the guards, using the extremely brief version of [Invisibility] that Ava could [Enchant] an item with.

Not only was this much riskier, since it depended on perfect timing, but Ava would have to find yet another way to grind her skill so her enchantments lasted longer, and while getting to level ten in most skills was fairly easy, it became noticeably more difficult after that. The more time she had to spend raising the skill, the longer it would be before they could make the attempt, and none of them wanted to stay in Veralt’s dystopian dreamland any longer than they had to.

::Me neither!:: Silus said as she flew into the dark tunnel. As the only member of their group who could find her way in the dark, she would be in front from here on. ::I don’t even get to help you with that one.::

::Sorry, little one. We’d have to try during the day, since Ava has no reason to take Amy out at night, and a bat flying around when the sun is shining is far too noticeable.:: Aspen said, edging through the narrow opening and into the tunnel beyond. Ava tucked Amy’s limp arm deeper into the sheet holding her up, and followed close after.

::I’m really good at hiding,:: Silus said. ::I help you and Rouge during the day all the time.::

::And if the guards saw you, they might try shooting you down. This isn’t home, Silus, and those men are trained to attack anything that’s out of the ordinary. It’s not worth the risk.::

::I’m not a baby any more. I can take care of myself,:: Silus muttered, and Ava had the feeling this was an argument the two of them had had many times before, so she let herself bump into Aspen, silently urging him forward. With an amused huff, the farmer moved on down the impossible tunnel, Ava trailing after, carefully adjusting Amy so she didn’t scrape against the rock walls that closed in on either side, at least until the darkness became so absolute that Ava had to feel her own way along, and couldn’t worry about anyone else.

::There’s a step down ahead of you, Aspen,:: Silus said. ::And you’ll need to-::

A hollow clunk sounded, and Aspen started swearing.

::Duck. Sorry,:: Silus finished, but she didn’t really sound sorry at all, and after that, the little bat always warned Aspen well before he needed to avoid a hazard.

Somehow, moving through complete blackness made time seem to stretch into eternity, and Ava had to keep checking the clock on her interface to make sure they weren’t taking hours to travel through the narrow passage. But no, it was actually only seventeen minutes after Ava first checked when Silus said, ::We’re here.::

::The cave?:: Aspen asked, and they could hear Silus’ wingbeats echo as she flew forward.

::Looks like it. That big hole that drops down to the water is ahead of you, so you’ll have to figure out how to get around it while you’re carrying Amy.::

“No need,” said a familiar voice, and a flicker of gold and green light flared ahead of them, making both Ava and Aspen flinch back as their eyes tried to adjust.

Amythyst coughed, looking slightly embarrassed. She was in what Ava now knew was her ‘goddess gown’, and the layers of gauzy green fabric floated around her where she hovered above a gaping hole in the muddy floor of the tunnel. “Sorry. You’ve almost made it, though. Another five feet, and we can make the transfer.”

Aspen rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. “Five feet is right in the middle of that hole, your goddessliness. How is that going to work?”

Silus fluttered back to land on Aspen’s shoulder, leaning her body against his jaw. ::That’s Gina, Aspen,:: the bat practically hissed. ::Be polite!::

Aspen shrugged, making Amy’s limp form jerk on his back. “She’s used to it.Besides, she still needs me.”

Amythyst grinned at Aspen and the bat fondly. “True. And I get enough worshiping and falling at my feet as it is. Aspen helps keep my ego in check.”

Silus hesitated, then squeaked, ::You can hear me?::

Amythyst outright laughed this time. “Of course I can. I may not be very good at being a goddess, but I can still do some pretty neat tricks.”

Silus fell silent for a moment, then said, ::I want to go with Rouge when she leaves to find Matilda’s dad! Make Aspen let me go!::

Amythyst blinked, then raised an eyebrow and looked at Aspen.

“It’s too dangerous. If Rouge dies, Silus will be on her own,” the farmer said, stubbornly.

Amythyst sighed. “We’ll talk about this more later. Right now, Ava, come here.” She gestured, one bare, faintly glowing arm indicating that Ava should step forward.

Ava did so, and as she did, another figure moved into the golden luminescence. It was AlphaOmegadon, exactly as she’d been when Ava logged out for the last time in Amythyst’s house. Her crimson hair was gathered into several long braids and pulled back out of her face, and sharp white fangs pressed against her upper lip, protruding up like tiny orc tusks, which is what Ava was imagining when she decided to build the avatar this way.

“Damn it,” Ava muttered, as she drew close enough to realize she was looking up at Alpha’s mismatched reddish-purple eyes. “I knew Veralt made this avatar shorter.”

Amythyst snickered, and for a moment, the two of them stood, grinning at each other. Ava felt her jaw clench as she fought the urge to reach out and touch Amythyst, feel her soft skin beneath her fingers for the first time in far too long. She had no right to do so, though, so she took a step back instead, and AlphaOmegadon mirrored the action.

Amythyst’s brows drew together, and she looked from Ava to Alpha. “You need to touch her. Go ahead.”

Slowly, Ava lifted a hand, leaning forward over the pit to set her hand against Alpha’s, noting in the brief moment their skin touched that the vampire’s flesh was slightly cool, though not unpleasantly so, and that the other hand was slightly larger than her current one.

Then the world vanished into a brilliant blaze, and when it reformed, she looked out through Alpha’s eyes as ‘Lady Ava’ collapsed to the muddy ground like a puppet with her strings cut, and only Aspen’s quick actions kept her from slipping right over the edge of the chasm and falling into the distant water below.