“When was the last time you saw your familiar?” Avolin asked.
Jace thought about his answer. No one here looked like a truth priest, but just in case, he needed to make sure whatever he said was the truth. “I’m not sure exactly.”
That was true. He didn’t have his timepiece, so he wasn't exactly sure when he’d seen Luna last. Was it five minutes ago? Six minutes ago? Ten minutes ago?
“But I definitely remember seeing her when that dark elf was talking to me,” Jace continued. That was true as well. Luna was next to him when Damian had been talking to him.
“Dark elf?” Captain Avolin raised an eyebrow. “You were talking with a dark elf?”
“Yes,” Jace nodded. “I think he was an Ambassador or something. He was very unpleasant. He actually threatened me.”
“Threatened you?” The captain looked surprised. “How?”
Jace thought back to Damian’s words. “He said he had to do something and then afterwards he was going to come back and see what trouble he could get me into.”
“Why?” the captain demanded. “Why would he threaten you? Do you two know each other?”
Jace thought how he could answer that question truthfully and still stick with his narrative. Then it came to him. “I had never seen that dark elf before tonight. As to why he threatened me, I think he was afraid I would reveal his plans. I heard him say something about the princess’ bedchamber.”
The captain gave him a hard look. “You heard someone mentioned the princess’ bedchamber and you didn’t report this?”
Jace shook his head. “Captain, I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant or if he were even serious. For all I knew, they could be lovers and I wasn’t about to be the one to make a false accusation to the king about his daughter and a dark elf.”
Captain Avolin looked at him grimly but nodded. “Yes, I can see where you might not want to be embroiled with that sort of thing. But, in the future, you should bring it up with me. I can assure you I will conduct a discrete investigation.”
“Sorry,” Jace said. “What’s this all about anyway? I mean, I was a little far from the other guests, but I don’t think that warrants being interrogated. I mean, I was invited to the party.”
“Let’s just say that an orange tabby cat was spotted in the palace earlier,” he said. “And may have been used as a distraction.”
“A distraction?” Jace asked as innocently as he could. “For what?”
The captain pursed his lips. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that. But thank you for the information, Sir Burton. It was most helpful. Wyatt, return Sir Burton back to the party.”
“And Sir Burton,” the captain said. “Be careful not to stray too far from the party. And if you see the dark elf again, inform one of the guards.”
“I will,” Jace assured him.
The captain spun and went back into the palace. Once he was gone, Wyatt escorted him back to the gardens and then left him to resume his post.
No sooner was the guard out of sight when Diana and Mika came rushing over to him.
“We saw the guard take you away,” Mika said breathlessly. “We thought you were in trouble.”
Jace held up his hands to forestall any questions. “Right now, we need to leave. I’ll explain everything in the carriage. But we need to leave now.”
Whether it was his expression or his tone of voice, both girls nodded, and they quickly made their way back to the entrance. They found a woman in the king’s livery by the driveway where they had been dropped off.
“Ready to leave, milord and ladies?” the woman asked.
“Yes,” Jace told her. “We need to find our carriage.”
“I will summon it for you,” the woman said. “You’re name?”
“Sir Jace Burton,” he told her.
“Very good, Sir Burton,” she said and then gestured. A young man who looked barely eighteen came running over from some hidden spot between the shrubs. “Fetch Sir Burton’s coach straightaway.”
“Yes, Mum,” the boy said and then rushed off.
“It will be just a few moments,” the woman said.
His group stood in silence until the carriage appeared, though Jace could tell both Diana and Mika were anxious and obviously wanted to ask him questions. He appreciated their patience and once they were inside the coach and on their way home, he tapped on the outside of the carriage.
The driver stopped the carriage and leaned down. “Yes, Sir?”
“We’re not going to manor,” he told the man. “Take us to patents office, right now.”
“Yes sir,” the man replied, and in a moment, the carriage was on its way.
“Patents office?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We’re changing our names,” he told them. “Tonight.”
“Why?” Mika asked, her face a mask of confusion.
Jace took a deep breath and then related what had happened to him. He told them about the dwarves and the tour. And how he’d bribed Thedrir to be part of the tour. Then he mentioned how Damian had joined the tour as well.
“You ran into him?” Mika asked, wide-eyed. “Did he recognize you?”
Jace nodded solemnly. “He did.”
He quickly related the rest of the story. How he’d found the Help Desk and contacted support and then made his escape and hopefully implicated Damian in the theft of the pearl necklace.
“That was very good,” Mika beamed. “You are clever.”
Diana was more practical. “So, now what? You’ve contacted support. What do we do now? And do you think they bought your story about being Jace’s twin brother?”
Jace shrugged. “I don’t know whether they bought it. I assume they’ll take what I said at face value but they’ll no doubt do some research. Hopefully, they’ll focus on Damian first.”
“So, your name is Jynx now?” Diana said, giving him a disapproving look.
He shrugged again. “It’s the first thing that popped into my head. And I WAS a little preoccupied at the time. And under a time crunch.”
“I’m not judging,” Diana grinned, though it was clear by her expression that she was.
“I like it,” Mika smiled.
“So, we need to change our names so Damian can’t track us?” Diana asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “There are tools he has access to that can locate players. Mostly they’re used by support, but Damian has access to them too. They can search by character name and then it gives their exact coordinates in the game.”
“That is very bad,” Mika said. “He can find us anywhere!”
“Exactly,” Jace told her. “That’s why we need to change our names right now.”
The coach came to a halt and they all shuffled out. The patents office was still open and Jace guessed it was to allow players to buy titles at any time of the day. Considering how much money WorldCog made each transaction, he wasn’t surprised.
His group went inside and found a gnome who was working the graveyard shift. The gnome came over to them and smiled. “How may I help you, milord and ladies?”
“How much does it cost to change your name?” he asked.
“A name change, sir?” the gnome repeated. “Fifty thousand gold.”
“FIFTY THOUSAND GOLD?!” he repeated incredulously. They’d gotten a marriage certificate and a name change for 10,000 gold each. How did they remotely make sense? “Why is it so much? And how come I can change my name when I get married and it only costs 10,000 gold?”
The gnome seemed a little taken back by his outburst but smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, milord. I don’t understand the reasoning for all of the laws, I merely obey them.”
Jace turned to the girls who were looking equally incredulous. He’s thought it would only be a few thousand, maybe five thousand. Fifty thousand was an outrageous sum. Just another way for WorldCog to extract their thirty pieces of silver.
“I’ll be back,” he told the man and then left with the girls. It appeared h
e would need to make another stop first.
“To the bank,” he called to the driver once they were back inside the carriage.
Chapter 60
They went to the bank, retrieved the money and then returned to the patents office. On the journey from the bank back to the patents office, they discussed last names. The girls offered many suggestions, from the Japanese word for ghost to references to classical literature. None of them really stood out to Jace.
Just before they arrived back at the patent office, they decided on Knightly. After all, for the time being he was a Baronet, which was one step up from a knight.
“Jynx Knightly?” he asked, mulling over the sound of it.
“I like that one best so far,” Mika told him.
“I’m fine with it,” Diana said as the carriage came to a halt. “And it looks like we’re out of time anyway.”
They paid the patents office the 150,000 gold for all three of their name changes. Jace became Jynx Knightly, while the two girls kept their first names but changed their last names to Knightly. Once the name changes were complete, they returned to the manor.
It was after midnight when they walked in and none of the servants were up. They each returned to their rooms and gathered up all of their weapons and equipment. In addition to his regular equipment, Jace retrieved the second gnomish timepiece and strapped it to his wrist. In a world with few clocks, a wristwatch was very useful.
As he was putting items back into his inventory, he came across the log books he’d taken from Drakkar. He made a mental note to read them at some point to find out what he could about the man.
Once they had collected all of their belongings, they gathered back downstairs in the main living room to discuss their next plans.
“Now what do we do?” Mika asked.
“Yes,” Diana added. “How long before Damian comes looking for us? And can he really do anything to us in the game?”
“I’m not sure,” Jace told them. “Assuming he left the office right after he moved the Help Desk, he would be home now and logging back in. I’m hoping the situation at the palace will either get him kicked out of Whitecliff, or at the very least, have him questioned for some time.”
“How long?” Mika asked.
“I don’t know,” Jace admitted. “But we have a ship to catch tomorrow and I think we should be on it early.”
“You think the dragon will still attack the city?” Mika asked. “Won’t the Help Desk stop it?”
“No,” he shook his head. “The dragon will be here Monday. There’s no way they’ll be able to troubleshoot it that quickly.”
“That’s a pity. How early do you plan to go to the ship?” Diana asked.
“I think we should wake the servants up right now,” he told them. “And go down there now. It means spending the rest of the night on the ship, but I think it’s safer than staying here.”
“Can he really hurt us?” Mika asked.
“I don’t know Mika,” Jace replied. “But I wouldn’t put it past him. Look what he’s done so far. There should be safeties in the system to prevent him from actually doing permanent harm to us, but he may have put code into other routines that allow him to bypass it. A backdoor, so to speak.”
“I, for one, don’t feel like taking that chance,” Diana said.
“Then we go now?” Mika asked.
“As soon as everyone is ready,” he told them. “I’ll go wake them.”
Hours later, they were standing on the deck of the deck of the Sea Tyrant. Webley had been good to his word and the captain, a female raccoon-kin named Tehra Yehmee, had welcomed them aboard and shown them to their cabins.
Now Jace, Mika and Diana stood up on the upper deck as the sun peeked over the eastern ocean. The other passengers had boarded a few minutes ago and soon they’d be leaving for the gnomish capital of Nynymmost to the north.
Jace glanced back at the city of Whitecliff, wondering if it might be the last time, he saw it. It had been his home for the last week. He chuckled to himself. This past had been tumultuous and felt more like a month. But somehow, they’d managed to find a way into the palace and contact support.
Now, they just needed to stay off of Damian’s radar and survive long enough for support to do their work. Then the girls would be restored and hopefully, he’d still be around too.
He thought about Charlena then. She’d been such a help when he’d first arrived and now, she had abandoned them just when they could have used her help the most. Not that he really blamed her. Finding out the real him was in a coma had thrown him for a loop too.
He’d thought about leaving a note for her at the manor but couldn’t risk it falling into the hands of Damian. He knew it was only a matter of time before his old co-worker tracked him down to the manor and then he’d undoubtedly search it for clues to where they’d gone. No, she was on her own now and he wished her well.
“Let loose the moorings,” he heard the captain bellow. “And prepare to set sail.”
Jace took a last look at Whitecliff as the ship started to move. He hoped it wasn’t the last time he’d see it. Walking to the bow of the ship with Mika and Diana, they all stared towards the horizon and whatever adventure lay ahead of them.
Epilogue
Jace opened up his eyes. At least, that’s what he intended to do. The moment he cracked them, pain flooded into his brain like someone was pouring molten lead into his skull. He quickly closed his eyes and moaned.
He waited what seemed like a minute and then tried to open his eyes again, this time just a fraction. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light and then, just moving his eyes, looked around the room.
To his shock, he realized he wasn’t in his bedroom. In fact, nothing looked familiar. As things came more into focus, his addled brain started putting things together. It looked like he was in a hospital.
He tried to remember how he’d gotten here but his head hurt, and he felt foggy, like he’d been drinking the night before and this was just some really bad hangover. Only it felt worse than any hangover he’d ever had.
He glanced to the back of the room and saw a red-headed girl sprawled out in the chairs across from his head. From what he could see, she was cute in a girl-next-door sort of way, but he didn’t know who she was. She appeared to have fallen asleep on the chairs. Had she been waiting for him? Did she know him?
His mouth was dry and had a funny taste in it. When he tried to wet his lips, he found them dried and cracked. He tried to move his hand but found that he was too weak. His hand moved slightly but only came up an inch off the bed.
Frustrated, Jace tried to get the sleeping red-head’s attention. “Hello.”
He’d meant it to be a greeting, to get her attention, but it came out as a barely audible hiss. He tried wetting his mouth again, but he had no saliva. His mouth was dry.
He tried again. “Hello!”
This time, the girl stirred. She looked up with sleep filled eyes and blinked several times. The red-head looked around the room and then stopped when she came across Jace. Her eyes went wide, and she jumped out of the chair. “Nurse! Nurse! He’s awake.”
Moments later, several people in white jackets appeared and he was subjected to all sorts of poking, prodding and questions.
Someone shone a small flashlight in his eyes as someone was holding onto his wrist - probably taking his pulse. Another person was listening to his heart with a stethoscope. He seemed extremely popular at the moment.
“Do you know your name?” asked one of the people in the white jackets. It was a stocky woman with short blond hair. She was looking at him and when he didn’t answer, she repeated the question. “Do you know who you are?”
“Jace,” he croaked. “Jace Burton.”
The woman nodded, smiling. “Good Jace. Do you know where you are?”
He tried to shake his head, but the molten lava returned to his skull and he quickly stopped. “Hospital?”
“That’s right,” the n
urse said and smiled. “You’re in a hospital.”
“Vitals are normal. Reactions and reflexes are normal,” said another person in a white jacket, this one a middle aged man. “I’ll go get the doctor.”
“My name is Nurse Dakota,” the blond nurse said. “You’ve been in a coma for several months. You were in a car accident. Do you remember?”
Jace started to shake his head but then remembered the molten lava and changed his mind. The pain in his head wasn’t quite as bad now, but any movement brought back that feeling of molten metal poured into his skull. “No.”
He said no, but he vaguely remembered something. A bright light and then lots of pain. He closed his eyes as he remembered the pain.
“The doctor will be here soon,” she said. “I’ll leave you with your sister until the doctor gets here.”
“Sister?” Jace asked. He knew he was out of it, but his sister was dead. She’d died with his parents on the day he’d graduated high school. Luna. That had been her name.
The blond nurse disappeared from his field of view and he heard her footsteps leaving the room. Then, the pretty red-head face came into his view.
“Hi,” she said. “You...uh… don’t remember me, do you?”
Jace forgot and tried to shake his head and instantly regretted it. He stopped immediately and tried to reply. “No.”
“I didn’t think you would,” she frowned.
“I’m sorry,” Jace apologized. She was so pretty, he wanted to remember her. “Head hurts.”
“You’ve been through quite a bit,” the girl gave him a sympathetic expression. The girl moved her head down to his ear and he could feel her warm breath as she whispered the next words. “You and I need to talk alone after the doctor sees you. It’s really important. Until then, don’t tell them I’m not your sister.”
She raised her head and smiled at him, then turned towards someone entering the room. Jace didn’t know what to make of her words. His mind was still addled, and thinking was hard.
In a moment, another face appeared in his view. The man was Indian and smiled down at him. “Welcome back to the land of living Mr. Burton.”
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