Theft of Decks 4, CH 35

“I have been stuck, searching for the proper path forward. Always, what I saw would lead me straight back to repeating former self-destructive patterns. Were I to take power, others would eventually tear me down. But now I see it. I see the path. It will require a lot of sacrifices, but it may be doable. I have learned that, according to history, when you establish the very first Wellspring, you get to create the rules for the Wellspring yourself. Rules, which you can tailor to your desired utopia. Now, it is but a matter of planning.” So, it was not only premeditated, he actively searched for a way to mold society into what he desired. With the best of intentions, of course. We should kill him all over again. (Book 1, Page 16.)

Not only was Nordon doing well, he was already hard at work dispersing drinks to the locals and making himself indispensable. It was rather easy to find him. They just had to return to where they’d left the locals in the palace , hard at work, attempting to build the future society of Liberty.

“I can’t believe you did it.” Nordon hissed under his breath. He looked wild-eyed, his usual calm demeanor far gone. “You know what I’m talking to them about right now? Opening trade with Earth’s Ward and the Elementals!”

Kith raised an eyebrow. “But you’re not in a position to talk on behalf of the Elementals.”

“I know! But they don’t know that! Isn’t it wonderful?” Nordon huffed at Sera. “Oh, come now. Don’t give me that look. You and I both know what’s going to happen when I go back to Earth’s Ward and tell them that I’ve got an exclusive trade agreement with Liberty, just ready for them to sign and a bunch of Liberators tagging along to prove I’m not hallucinating.”

Sera turned on him. “Nordon. We are staying here in Salvation for a while, entirely to ensure that the society that will emerge doesn’t fall back to the predations of the old Savior. That also includes anybody trying to abuse them trying to establish new trade channels!”

Nordon held a hand over his heart. “You hurt me! I would never-” Then he guffawed, interrupting himself. “Okay, I might. How about this: I promise that I won’t try to eke any percentages out for myself. The only thing I’ll try to attempt is to ingratiate myself with everybody and make myself entirely indispensable to all involved. That way, my contacts will increase, and I will have access to learning everything I could ever want.” His eyes blazed with an eagerness that was near-tangible.

Sera nodded. “That sounds decidedly fair. Try to help them as best you can.”

With a brilliant smile, Nordon turned back to the Liberators, calling the name of one of the minds among them.

Kith smirked at his back. “What a two-faced bastard.”

“What?” Sera asked. “Should we-?”

“Oh, I mean that in the very best way.”

“That… is not how language works, Kith!”

“Shows what you know.” He waved off her denial. “So. Anybody caught up with what’s happening?”

Chase returned with a mug in his hand. He took a deep drag, blinked, and took another. ”Nordon’s had fun. Cold and spicy. That is so weird. Anyway, yes. Cil’s been talking to them about those poor bastards upstairs.”

“The summoners?” Kith asked.

“Yup. Turns out, there was a method to it. There were a number of cards which the officials recommended people to take if they had the chance. Only, if you did take them, what they earned you was the possibility to access the Keepers and a one-way trip upstairs. Oh, and the poor things all had their tongues removed.” Chase grimaced. “Probably so they couldn’t cry out and attract attention, stuff like that.”

“But what about… everything. Food, waste, all that stuff?” Liam asked. “What if somebody died. I mean, you can’t just ignore all that.”

“He was a god to them.” Chase shrugged. “He could likely have done it right in the open, and nobody would’ve complained. But he was all about keeping up an image, that lying piece of garbage! Anyway, some of the fresh arrivals among the summoners are less, erm, taxed, mentally. And the Liberators are working to get communications up and running again.”

“What? No!” Sera burst out.

Chase laughed. “No. Don’t worry. Not like that. They’re saying that it’d be good to maintain the communication all through their lands, and remove all the surveillance. Just employ the summoners to communicate and coordinate. Make it a real job, honorable, not a prison sentence. Sounds like most of the old summoners like the idea of that. Being able to help.” His grin grew even wider. “The summoners are also not hating that the first message they’ll be sending everywhere is one where they explain what’s happening, outlining the Savior’s crimes.”

Kith whistled. “They’re doing that? Bold move.”

“Yeah. There’s bound to be a lot of chaos and kickback, once the message is sent out. But honestly, I think it’s the right choice. If they tried to somehow hide it, soften the blow, it would lead to trouble down the road.” Chase cracked up in a warm smile. “But what do I know? I’m just here to scare away anybody who tries to stab their new government.”

“Me too, brother. Me too. Leave politics to filthy nobles and whatnot.” Kith winked at Sera.

They looked at the myriad Liberators milling about. To their surprise, today, the crowd also contained hopefuls and others with rougher looks, clearly not the administrators the palace was used to. “They’re letting the mass and the hopefuls enter now?” Kith asked.

“Yes. I suggested it.” Sera admitted unabashedly. “Building a new society by ignoring eighty percent of the populace or more seemed like an untenable choice. There are still many decisions to be made, and a lot of questions on how to unite them and work for a fair society, but… I approve of what they have done so far.”

“Huh. Sounds like we’ll be off before we know it, then.” Kith managed to flag down a harried waiter and secure a mug for himself. “I’ll have to admit, I look forward to it. All this talk! Liam’s the only one who’s made for that, I think!”

“What was that?” Liam smiled as he disentangled himself from a close discussion with a young woman and turned toward them.

“You like people, and talking, and it’s weird.” Kith rolled his eyes.

“Not that weird.” Liam said. He sent a coquettish wave and a wink at the woman. “It’s not my fault if the girls like the Real Saviors!”

Cilia gaped at him. “I could hear the capitalization! Please tell me that’s not a real thing.”

Liam shrugged. “I mean, if they choose to repeat it, is it really wrong? We did save them-“

“I swear, Liam, if you set us up to be worshipped for the sake of tail, I will geld you.” She hissed.

“Darkness hide me, Cil. Don’t be like that. I won’t do that-“

“Thank you, Liam.”

“In the future.” Liam finished awkwardly. “Maybe… I’d better go chat with a few girls again? Clear up a few misunderstandings?”

“Maybe.” Cilia replied frostily.

“You know, Cil. Don’t be so hard on him. If they really, really like what we’ve done, who are we to fend off their gratitude?” Kith asked. “I’d better talk with a few, see if they’re aware who really slew the Savior.”

“Before you run off and earn Cilia’s fury.” Chase stopped him, ignoring the hissing sound emerging from Cilia. “What about the Furyborn Elders? And the high Elementalist?”

“Oh, Cil helped me with a proper letter before we went to bed yesterday. Radine’s already on her way. In a few days, they should learn what’s going on. Then we can maybe even find a good spot to create our home.” He grinned. “It’ll be a number of days before we get a response, but I look forward to reading their reaction. He made a bad impression of Half-Swart’s voice. “You did what? Explain yourselves! We asked you to get hold of a deck, not kill any heads of state!”

Chase laughed. “I mean, does it even count if we didn’t originally set out trying to kill him?”

Sera was looking from one to the other with a horrified expression on her face when the shouting started.

Watching the effect of shouting on a crowd was always interesting. One detail to note was the marked difference between different societies. Lightborn were likely to grasp their purses first, then see if the shouts affected them or not. Furyborn were likely to run to aid first, think about consequences next. Yet, the reactions also depended a lot on people’s personalities. And Chase found it impressive how many people stepped up, eyes wide and alert, with the intention of helping.

It soon turned out that the half-panicked cries were caused by a message. A message, that might be the precursor of more blood than an actual attack on the palace would have.

Pillar Lucille was the one who repeatedly cried for order and jumped up on a plinth with a statue of the Savior to catch everybody’s attention. “Thank you. Now, let me repeat the news, so we can work up a response as soon as possible.” She looked down, took a deep breath and faced the crowd again. “It would appear that the Savior’s death had brought with it a number of unexpected consequences. As you all know, Devotion to Liberty is inactive, depriving us of the increased Title boost, but allowing us to retain all of our Ænima.”

“Get to the point,” Somebody in the crowd yelled.

“If you will let me?” She challenged. With a curt nod, she continued. “Most details of our society continuously function unimpeded. The same goes for crafted items in general. Only, a few of the more powerful crafted items in the palace have appeared to be made with certain… failsafes in place, and have ceased to function. Some may be restored in time. Others seem to have been keyed to the Savior himself. Now that we are, ever so slowly, restoring contact with our Keepers out there, we are learning that the same applies to the rest of our lands. Most things continue unchanged.” She shuddered, and spoke up. “Only, there is one notable outlier. The Prism is down.”

That brought with it exactly the level of chaos they’d expected. For decades, the Prism had hid Liberty away from the rest of Ordei, while defending them and ensuring that any invaders would have to be severely weakened and disoriented, being whittled down as they approached, easy targets to their hopefuls. Now, they were going to return to a world where that was no longer the case.

Several hours later, Lucille drew them aside in the small sitting room again. While the death of the Savior had initially reinfused her with energy and a deeply felt desire to change her home, the past few hours looked like they’d aged her a decade. “I am going to level with you. Everything – and I truly mean everything – is up in the air right now. This was too early. We were trying to build a sense of hope, but… I do not know if we can maintain it, knowing that our only defense might be gone and our hopefuls will be falling back, faced with Guardians and fighters too strong for them. I’m afraid that the first looters are going to start in the city within the next few days. Do you know anything that can help?”

Chase looked to the others. They didn’t look less tense. “How do you define ‘help?’”

“No.” Cilia said. Her gaze was murderous. “The answer is no. In fact, what we are going to tell you now is going to make things so much worse. Because, for the past month or more, right outside of your borders, you have had a large Lightborn army camped, waiting for an opening. And, inadvertently, we just gave them that opening.”