Theft of Decks 4, CH 36

“I rejoiced too fast. I thought, with the Wellspring created, ensuring both the strength of my people, and for my own strength to grow, our world would be safe. Yet, the other nations are ever clamoring to affect our decisions, or to outright take over should we show an inkling of weakness. Perhaps it is time to leave them behind. Not for good – merely until our society has had a chance to find itself and settle.” He actually meant it to be temporary? The more I read, the sadder and angrier I get. (Book 1, Page 28.)

“Whoo boy. She did not take that well.” Kith leaned against the door he’d just shut after Lucille.

“Can’t blame her.” Liam mumbled. He’d seated himself on the floor with his head in his hands. “This is probably the worst mess we’ve ever caused.”

Sera, pacing back and forth, slowed down. She started laughing softly, with a tinge of hysteria. “We have removed the defenses of an entire nation at the same time that a large, hostile army is waiting right outside, and you say ‘probably’?”

“Well. We’ve had a bit of experience causing messes lately.” He shrugged.

Cilia had remained silent at the back of the room. “What do we want to do?” She asked earnestly. “Not what can we do. We’ll figure that out. This is quite simple. What do we want to do? We have what we need to build our Wellspring and construct a permanent home somewhere. We have the Elementals and Furyborn waiting to aid us. But if we leave now, Liberty will be in a bad place.”

Kith grimaced. “Let’s not forget that the Lightborn lurking out there are after us in the first place. If we leave, can we make them chase after us, give the poor bastards here a reprieve and a chance to build up new defenses?”

A bronze statue to the Savior sat at the back of the room, in a cross-legged position of meditation. Chase, curled up in the lap of the statue, huffed. “That’s like asking if you could keep a Waves cutpurse from robbing a fat merchant by parading another purse in front of him. Sure, they might get distracted for a while, but think about it. Liberty’s an enigma, an unknown, and now, suddenly it’s open to the Lightborn, ripe for the picking? There’s no way they won’t use this chance to invade.”

With a grunt, Kith ceded the point. “So, we’re back to that, are we? Flee or fight? Do we sacrifice ourselves for the good of people who’ve done nothing for us, or do we think of ourselves?”

“Feels like that is the real choice, here.” Liam admitted. “Also, we’ve faced off against Lightborn before. These won’t be second-rate soldiers. These will be high-Tier crack troops – and they won’t be crippled like the Liberty soldiers, who have crap first-Tier cards.”

Kith groaned. “Yeah. Even if we wanted to help the poor Liberty sods, they’ll always be handicapped by that. Sure, new wielders won’t have to choose a useless card, but all veterans will be worth less than Lightborn at similar Tiers, because their first-Tier card is broken. Somebody should have a stern talk with the bastards, who did that.” He chuckled wryly. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“Wait.” Chase slowly got to his feet, throwing an arm around the neck of the overdimensioned statue. “Cil. You’ve been reading the diaries of this madman. Would you be a dear and confirm again what we know about Wellsprings?”

She blinked; finger raised pensively to her lips. “Let’s see. We’ve long known, and his writings confirm, that you get to make some general choices when you create your Wellspring. Arnault wrote some things in his unhinged annals, and both the Elementals and the Furyborn Elders confirmed as much. We do not know what Arnault chose, though the wave of darkness rushing from his camp likely had something to do with it. As for the Lightborn, they have apparently focused on their city-building creations, such as the healing springs in the Waves, and the cards that the Church offers to their Inquisitors. The Furyborn, meanwhile have their relationships with the Guardians, letting them co-exist alongside their population. Possibly, the Heart Halls have something to do with the Wellsprings as well, but that’s speculation. The Elementals, we do not know. Yet, I would wager good money that it has to do with the Towers.” She waved in the direction of the Savior’s tower. “As for Liberty, we all know what that was. That bloody Devotion to Liberty card.”

“You don’t think erecting the Prism was part of the Wellspring?” Chase looked downcast.

“No. I just got past that part of his diaries. The timeline doesn’t match up. He created the Wellspring. Then, later on, he crafted the Prism. I believe, at least in part, that was actually one place where he did not dissemble. Either he somehow used some of the Ænima he received, or they were otherwise tied to his own self, or a card of his. I can’t see how he could otherwise craft something that would work over such a long distance, in perpetuity.”

“That would explain why they stopped working when he died. Urgh.” Chase slapped his cheek softly. “Think, damnit. Think!”

“We’re not inside your head, man.” Liam smiled and leaned his head back against the wall. “What’re you going on about?”

“Weighing the odds. Like Cil’s taught us to do. But it all keeps coming back to what Kith said: basically, our choice boils down to one of two options; either we jump ship and leave the bastards to fend for themselves; or we go all-in to aid them. We’ve got options for either of the two, but that’s the bottom line. Agreed?”

“Let us see.” Sera took a deep breath. “I shall try to keep my emotions out of this. If we leave, we will still be able to help. We could message the Elementals and the Furyborn, ask for their assistance against the Lightborn army-“

“We won’t be able to for days, though.” Kith interrupted. “Radine’s off already, and I can’t contact her from this far away. Also, it’ll be weeks after that, possibly months, before any backup can arrive from the Furyborn lands or the Elemental towers.”

“Yes.” Sera ceded the point with a frown. “We could also, as Kith suggested, try to lead them off, or try to attack them, stall them, lead them the wrong way.”

“I particularly like the one where we lead them the wrong way.” Cilia nodded. “Yet, even if we succeeded in either of these, it would only delay the inevitable. With Liberty open, there will be more and more Lightborn amassing every day.”

Sera nodded. “If, however, we throw in our lot with them, our options are… well, more or less the same. However, we will have a lot of people fighting along with us. The question is, to put it frankly, if it will be enough. This is a nation who is used to fighting dazed and confused enemies, who have been forced to pick useless and sub-par cards, and who, with the Savior dead, might refuse to fight, rebel, or flee instead.”

“Oof. Don’t sugarcoat it on our behalf, Princess.” Kith said.

“I was not done. We will, theoretically, have huge numbers of people on our side – more than enough to beat this first army, I would say. Yet, with the future of Liberty thrown into question, the quality, commitment and coherence of any troops to take our side will be a huge unknown. Meaning, we would be struggling to build a semblance of a governing figure at the same time as we would be, quite literally, fighting for our lives. On top of that, all borders will be pressed defending from Guardians, which will suddenly be much harder to kill than the hopefuls are used to.”

They shared glances. For once, even Kith had no quips. Chase pushed off of the statue and asked Sera. “What would your choice be?”

“Please. Ask the do-gooder princess what she wants-“

“Stow it, Kith. You’ve said it yourself. Among us, we always get to say our piece. You get to argue that she’s an idiot for whatever she chooses afterward.”

“I want to run.” Sera said.

“Wait. Really?” Kith’s scrounged up face made no secrets of his confusion.

“Really.” She nodded. Her eyes were wet, but she did not look away. “I want to help them as much as I can along the way. However, I also try to be realistic. Do we want to die trying to save a people that we might not be able to save? Or do we try to create a long-term solution to everything, finally create a defense that will finish the onslaught of the Lightborn?”

“I. Wow. I guess I didn’t see that coming.” Kith scratched his head. “But it’s hard to argue with that point. Looking at the larger picture, what’s more important? Liberty, or the bloody world?” He took a deep breath. “On top of that, we’ve done what we could to help these poor bastards. Everything’s not our responsibility. I say we leave, throw in an ambush, kick some Lightborn ass along the way, and then we find the Furyborn and start working on some serious long-term defenses. Who’s with me?”

Liam started nodding slowly. His shoulders were tensed up, and his face closed.

Cilia looked uncomfortable and refused to say anything.

“I think… maybe we could have it all?” Chase said.

“Greed? I’m listening.” Kith said eagerly.

“Not greed. Not this time.” He took a deep breath. “You all know where we come from. What we’ve had to suffer through, what we’ve had to risk, simply in order to not die, to be allowed to grow stronger. Consider this, though. What if, at any point along this route, somebody had actually chosen to aid us. To give us a chance. Can you picture that?” He waited for a second. “Of course you can’t. Because it would change everything. For all I know, if the bloody Church of the Circle had opened their doors to us, we could’ve been bloody inquisitors right this moment.”

“That may be taking it a bit far.” Liam rumbled. “But are you saying what I think?”

“I am. We could half-ass this. Leave the rest of the Liberty decks to them all, let ‘em build a new Wellspring. Share enough Dark cards that we get another deck we could leave, for them to share. But none of us seriously thinks that would be enough to stop the Lightborn if they smell the chance for riches.” He took a deep breath and said. “I say we take the damn chance, build the Wellspring, support them as best we can and actually stand by them all the way. We want to build a new home where everybody’s welcome? How about we start it right here, where tens of thousands of poor suckers have been cheated of their chances to choose proper cards?”

The others looked unconvinced. “But Chase. We wanted a home where everybody is welcome. That’s… not exactly how they think about outsiders here.” Liam winced.

“Have they had the chance, Liam? They’ve never even met any outsiders, apart from on the battleground. Besides, saying we want everybody to join us and then leaving them all to fend for themselves… it requires a bit of mental gymnastics to accept, doesn’t it?”

“It would be a major risk.” Sera said. “We would be exposed as never before. Both to the Lightborn and any Liberators who would not agree with our approach.”

“I’m not disagreeing there. Yet, we can either start from absolutely nothing somewhere else, or we can start with thousands of people who’re bound to be on our side, because we give them access to a full gamut of cards. Also, here, we might be beset on all sides by friends and foes, but at the very least we know the situation. There’s no risk that the high Elementalist tries to take our decks for herself – or that the Elders change their minds, and decide that we should all be placed within the Furyborn lands, under house arrest. This would be our choice.”

Kith barked with laughter and pushed himself away from the door. “I hate it. Count me the Pits in!” Seeing the look on their faces, he grinned. “What? It’s risky, gutsy and is bound to end in horrible screaming. Of course, I’m on board.”

Cilia nodded and slammed her fist down on the table. Then she shook it, grimacing. “I’m in as well. I almost died, several times over, because nobody ever saw fit to give me a chance. Time to change it up.”

Liam shrugged. “I guess somebody will need to protect all of you during this. Also, I do like the Liberty girls.” The untensing of the muscles of his shoulders told a different story.

Sera looked from one to the next. Then she grasped her hair in frustration. “Have you no sense of self-preservation?”

Liam snorted. “With this face and these muscles? Please! They ran out of space for more wonders.”

Chase gave her a crooked smile. “Sorry. You’ve spent so much time preaching how we should care, and it seems like you did a better job than you expected. Are you hanging around to keep us from getting killed?”

She hung her head, curls bouncing loosely in front of her eyes. When she raised her head again, her eyes shot fire. “Do I ever insult you like that?”

“Erm. Yes? Constantly.”

“Huh. You must have earned it, then.” She huffed, coloring slightly at the roars of laughter from the others. She strode over and embraced Chase gently. “Thank you for calling me out. I was wrong.” Her eyes narrowed. “You best enjoy those words. I do not intend to ever repeat them.”

“Said every woman ever.” Chase waggled his eyebrows. Ducking from the inevitable slap, he raised his hand. “I have one request, though. One boon I would want granted before risking my life yet again.” He smoothly slid onto his knees, facing Sera. “If we live through this mess – will you marry me?”

Her eyes widened. Then she fell into his arms.

The others cheered raucously as they kissed, lost in each other.

“That was solid, Chase.” Liam nodded approvingly. “That mix of self-sacrifice and pressure. I think I’ll use it myself.”

“Not on me, you won’t.” Cilia snapped.

After a while, Chase and Sera disentangled. Wiping a bit of moisture from his eyes, Chase didn’t even try to obscure his blazing smile. “So. If we’re staying, we’d better agree to an over-all plan before we start talking to Lucille again. I build a Wellspring. Check. What else? Are we going to attack the Lightborn straight away? Who’s going to help build up a government here and make sure they’re not overrun by rebels and whatnot? Finally, Lucille did have a point about the Prism. They’re going to have trouble fending off Guardians for a while, until they actually have enough power to stand tall against them on their own – their borders will be hard pressed for a while. What do we do?”

Cilia stopped pacing. She emitted a soft sigh and rubbed her hands together. “We finally get to work on the real plans. Chase. Hit us with your thoughts, so I can tear it apart.”