Theft of Decks 4, CH 42

“At times, I would love to open the borders slightly. There are so many creations I miss from Earth’s Ward. Crafted items that would improve our lives. Not to speak of the food. Fire burn me, the food! Only, they would not be able to understand what I have wrought here. Their lack of vision would inevitably lead to conflict.” Yes. Lack of vision. That’s definitely it. At times, I actually think that he understood just how monstruous the society he built had become, but then he writes something like this. (Book 2, Page 51.)

“I figured we were dead meat.” Gelly was back on her summoned steed. She’d taken to the role of outriding scout with ease, looping back and forth to ensure their pursuit wasn’t catching up and that they didn’t have any unforeseen surprises waiting for them ahead. Right now, she was riding alongside the chariot delivering the summary of the army’s proceedings. “They tried catching up to us for a while, but when that didn’t work, they tried to save those they could from our fight.” She spat to the side. “Ugly sight, that. But it’s good news, for us. Barely any mounts made it.”

“That is logical.” An elderly summoner said. Gavin, an older mind, the lone Tier four to join them. Even though his body was frail and he looked like he could fall over at any moment, his mind was sharp and his reactions impeccable. He’d already stated that he would not mind giving his life to defend his brethren. “I have tested my card as often as possible in what little time we had – without targets, obviously. My fog hangs closer near the ground, hence, the mounts would have been the most exposed to the fumes.”

“Not the worst outcome.” Kith said, frowning as he made the chariot change directions to avoid an outcropping of rocks. “It was an ugly end, but it’s done.”

“I would do it again. Besides, left unchallenged, the horrors they would inflict on our people would be worse.”

“Nobody’s disagreeing with you there, Gavin.” Chase said, patting his back gently. “For now, though, it’s time to rest and apply any increases you’ve managed. It’s a sad thing that having the Wellspring back in Salvation means I won’t be able to grant anybody cards out here, but we can’t have it both ways.” He shrugged and grinned. “As for me, I’ve got increases waiting. One Step! I finally made it! The moment we make it back to Salvation, I’m joining Kith in the Tier five club!”

“Another clash like this, and I might join you both.” Gavin said. “Do you have any suggestions on where to apply my attributes? I will not spend them on Toughness, but I do not wish to fall behind in effectiveness.”

“No Toughness? Why?” Kith frowned.

“My life is forfeit. That, I have adjusted to. I will not waste any points that might have helped me slay further enemies on prolonging my own lifespan.” The gleam in his eyes was nothing short of fanatical.

“I-“ Chase started over. “Not sure I follow your logic, man. The tougher you are, the more likely you are to live to see another fight.”

He didn’t answer, merely shook his head.

Shrugging, Kith took over. “If that’s the way you want to do it, there’s two paths available to you. As long as we manage to keep the chariot with us, we’ll have the advantage of speed, and you won’t need Agility or Strength. Meaning, either you double down even further on Mental Power for efficiency and control, or you go with Potential, hoping to get even better cards when we’re back in Salvation.” He looked to the others, who were mostly paying attention, though a few looked about ready to keel over from exhaustion. “That goes for all of you, really. Toughness for staying power, Mental Power for efficiency, or Potential if you’re aiming for better cards at higher Tiers. Agility and Strength are wonderful, if you want to get up close and personal. But right now, we have our work cut out for us. We need to be ready for the next part.”

“What’s that, then? You’ve been mighty tight-lipped, so far.” Banes glowered.

Chase nodded, looking the gruff summoner in the eye. “We have. First, we needed to know what we were dealing with and how we’d do. Now, we’re in a different position. I’m sure they’ll have scouts and the like, rogues or summoners with cards that help them see or hear what’s going on. Kith?”

He shook his head. “Nothing airborne. Been looking for my bloody bird for ages, and there’s nothing up there.”

“All right. We’ll have to chance it. Without Cilia around, we’ll just have to hope that nobody’s listening in. The odds of somebody having cards that can let them listen in invisibly at this range are likely remote.” Chase scratched his neck. “We’ll have to time this. Kith’s kitty kart-“

“I hate you so much.” Kith snarled.

“has a nasty downtime, and if we’re caught with our pants down, we won’t have any way of making it away safely. Also, we did manage to end most of their faster fighters… but we had to reveal a good deal of our cards to manage. Meaning, they’ll be ready for us. At best, we get one shot to truly surprise them. We’re taking it tonight. One overwhelming ambush. We go in, throw everything at them, cause as much damage as we possibly can, then we run off. Best case scenario, they try to follow, and we can grind them down slowly from a distance.”

Banes’ mouth looked like he was chewing on hay. Eventually, though, his lips split in a grim smile. “Sounds like my kinda party. Best lie down for a while, then. I’m guessing we’re hitting them at night?”

“You’re guessing right. They’re likely expecting it, but… I think we can still get the drop on them.” Chase smiled.

About an hour before sunset, they were striding across the vibrant grasslands again, taking the chance to enjoy the sounds of the wildlife. Once the Lightborn army entrenched themselves for the evening, they’d erected their own camp to rest and get what sleep they could. Their rest had been tense, with Gelly skipping her own sleep in order to patrol in the direction of the Lightborn and hopefully catch any raiding parties aimed their way.

Fortunately, the only Lightborn to leave the defensive confines were a large mass of scouts, likely rogues, indebted, and Lightborn summons roaming the ground in front of the barricades. Behind them, the camp stood, well-erected and lit up, as a monument, shouting for the challengers to do their worst.

The summoned creatures were actually a help, or, rather, they answered a few important questions to their group. First, of course, was the number of summoners hidden within the ranks of the army. Judging from the number of different types of summons, and allowing for at least half of the summoners to be sleeping, that had their number quite low, maybe around fifty summoners total. The second, even more important question, centered around the kinds of cards that the army had access to. Based on visuals alone, there was a decent chance that the majority of the army, very characteristically for the Lightborn, had no cards except for Light cards. This would make their job a whole lot easier – especially with Kith’s Antithesis of Light summon being able to debuff Light effects specifically.

All told, the combined forces arrayed outside of the swiftly arrayed defensive embankments were not unimpressive. There were perhaps a full three hundred indebted standing around with bad armaments and little to no armor. These indebted were likely to have little training, and their lack of any sort of formation attested to their situation being just like when Chase and his friends had been indebted.

The Lightborn rogues and archers, meanwhile, were spread out among their numbers. Most likely, they were chosen for their attention, and meant to spot any potential issues before the unprofessional indebted.

The rest of the defenses were rather more indefinable. A wide trench had been dug, and the soil used to erect a rough embankment – little more than a steep two-foot incline, but enough that they wouldn’t simply be able to drive the chariot right into the camp.

At the moment, they were walking slowly at a snail’s pace a few miles off from the sides of the camp in near silence. Chase maintained his Circle of Darkness, keeping them all enfolded in a layer of shadows that allowed them to proceed, hopefully, unseen. Every ten minutes, they stopped, sharing a word or two with a summoner, before they found a place to hide.

Kith walked over to whisper to Chase. “You see that? Those formations are bloody tight! That’s not promising! Also, they’ve got firepits set up well behind the defenders, so the people manning the defenses won’t be night blinded, while any attackers will be looking into the light. Shows they’re thinkers! I don’t like it!”

Chase nodded. “I don’t disagree. But you see that? They’re also helping us along. Look at all those nicely arrayed formations.”

“That’s helping us?” Even in near complete darkness, there was no hiding the sarcasm in his voice. “Maybe they could launch a few arrow volleys at us, help even further.”

“Sometimes, I think Cilia has the right of it, when she yells at you for existing.” Chase said. “I mean, they’re sleeping the way they’re arranged on the battlefield. Companies along with their healers. Archers for themselves. Casters and summoners in separate camps. Easy to find your targets.”

“Oh. Well, why didn’t you just say that was your point?”

Chase decided not to engage, instead scowling at the contrary bastard, a gesture which was lost to the shadows. Shaking his head, he moved on to offer Gavin a pat on the back and a few whispered encouraging words as the surly caster searched for a proper hiding place. Then they left him behind as well.

Soon, Chase, Kith and Liam were the only ones still marching. They picked up the pace, eventually reaching the far side of the army and set down to wait, about a mile back. They located a slight dip in the lands that would hide their presence when the sun emerged over the horizon.

Gathering in a huddle, they held a short, whispered conversation.

“What do you think Cilia would think of all this?” Kith asked gleefully.

Liam snorted. “Oh, she’d hate it. We know nothing about their powers and just finished the plan an hour ago. In fact, I can almost hear her shouting from here.”

“I miss them.” Chase nodded.

“Sure. Cilia’s who you miss.” Kith snorted. “Let’s just get this over with, and you can return to your snooty noble. Speaking of which – are you sure going off by yourself is such a good idea?”

“Pits no. She’d use words like ‘convoluted,’ ‘harebrained’ and worse.” Chase shook his head. “In fact, I think it’s a horrible idea. But it’s the best I could come up with. If we want to surprise them after today, we need to be able to hit them entirely unawares and distract them from what’s happening. That also means taking out their eyes. And I should be able to outrun any of them – I hope.”

“Sounds pretty bloodthirsty. That Gavin guy would approve.” Liam shuddered.

“Yeah. That one’s damaged goods. But he’s still out here risking his life with us. So, we give him some leeway, right?” Chase asked.

“Yup. Even if he’s nuts.” Kith said. “Now git. You’ll want to be in position before sunup.”

“Good plan.” Liam added. “Also, I want to see if I can get an hour’s sleep.”

Chase shook his head in amazement, and took off, loping softly across the grounds, until he was at the opposite side of the camp to where they’d dropped off the first of the summoners. There, he found himself his own spot to hide in, before he finally let the Circle of Darkness fade and started picking out future targets. When this went off, he was not going to hold back.