Book 6: Chapter 10: Pieces on a Board

Book 6: Chapter 10: Pieces on a Board

Victor hung the flag, or banner, he supposed, over his shoulder and looked around at the expectant faces of the soldiers gathered in the courtyard. “Well done, everyone! We’ve captured our first outpost and driven the enemy deeper into their conquered lands. Once again, the legion has the exploits of the Glorious Ninth to live up to!”

The soldiers cheered his words, pumping fists and weapons in the air, slapping each other on the back, and, generally, creating quite a din. Edeya stepped closer to Victor and gestured at the treasures arrayed on the flagstones. “What will we do with these?”

“Right.” Victor cleared his throat and held up a hand for quiet. As the raucous celebrations died down, he yelled, “We need to examine these items to find out their value, but they’ll all be going into the Campaign Token Exchange.” Some of the soldiers’ faces fell at that announcement, and Victor heard some grumbling, so he followed up with, “Cheer up! You all just fought a battle and won! You’ll gain a token for that, and Sarl has my permission to award another sixty tokens for exceptional skill and bravery displayed during the fight!” Victor turned to Kethelket. “You too, Captain—three extra tokens for your scouts to use at your discretion.”

“Thank you, Legate.” Kethelket saluted, and Victor saw something like approval in his eyes. Victor hadn’t called him a captain before, but it made sense; he had more than three hundred flying scouts and killers under his command.

“Edeya, you have the book. Take note of the awarded tokens, collect these treasures, and make sure the quartermaster hears of it.”

“You heard the Legate! Get back to work, soldiers!” Sarl barked, and then the moment was over, and the outpost was abuzz with activity again.

Edeya leaned closer and, in a voice pitched low, asked, “Victor, um, Legate, I know the token system is fair, and the soldiers appreciate it, but don’t you think some of these items might better serve the army if they were awarded personally by you? Or, I guess, used by you?”

“Well . . .”

Valla stepped in, where his words faltered, “She’s right, but we can work within the system you’ve created. You should be sure to award yourself tokens for your various victories. You’ve personally destroyed many of the most dangerous combatants and dozens or hundreds of lesser creatures. Not even Kethelket and his kin come close to your impact on the battlefield.”

“All right.” Victor shrugged. He wasn’t going to argue about what sorts of treasures he deserved, and if he claimed a prize, it didn’t mean he had to use it. He could always gift it to a captain or commander if he thought they deserved it more than he did. Edeya began to gather up the treasures and scribble notes in her Farscribe Book. “Should I tell the other commanders you’ll be returning?”

“Just a minute.” Victor grabbed the shoulder of a passing sergeant. “Hang this over the gates, will you?” After he’d handed off the new banner, he turned back to Edeya. “Tell them we’re staying here with the Ninth for the night to assess the keep and surroundings. We’ll check in tomorrow.” Victor turned to Kethelket. “When we depart tomorrow, will you leave some of your people here with Captain Sarl?”

“Of course. Will five suit the outpost’s needs?”

“Yeah. I just want some capable scouts with good mobility here. Sarl has his captain’s book, so he can keep the rest of the army updated on his situation here.”

“That’s right, sir.” Sarl nodded, but then his eyes narrowed, and Victor could see something was bothering him.

“What is it?”

“We won’t be stuck on garrison duty, will we? Just because we took the outpost?”

“No, Sarl. You’ll hold it until we settle on something more permanent. I’m sure Borrius will have some ideas.”

“Very good, sir.”

Victor looked around the courtyard, then at the new door the engineers were installing over the entrance to the tall, narrow interior keep. “I think I’ll have a look around in there.”

“Good idea.” Valla’s words said something different than her actions—her eyes were on Uvu, still licking his scarred-over wounds in the shadows near the gate.

“Talk to me. What’s the deal with your cat?”

“He’s . . . we aren’t the same, our connection, I mean. When I lost contact with him, it was the first time in nearly a decade. Now I can feel him, but,” Valla paused, taking a deep shuddering breath and slowly shaking her head, “it’s not the same.”

“Maybe it needs time. Maybe whatever that pinché jelly monster did to cut you off will continue to fade.”

Valla nodded, pressing her lips together firmly. “Yes. Yes, I’m sure that’s it. I need to be patient. Let’s have a look around in there.”

“Legate.” Kethelket, who’d been lingering, perhaps waiting for the right moment to interject, stepped up to Victor as he, flanked by Valla and Edeya, began to ascend the short flight of steps to the keep. “Would you mind if I sent some of my people out scouting? I think it would be wise to determine the extent of the lands we freed from the mist by claiming this keep. Perhaps they might set eyes on the next fortifications we need to target.”

“Yeah. Of course, that’s a good idea. Keep me posted, all right?”The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

“And here.” Edeya pointed to the eastern edge. “Mountains.”

“That’s different. Look how the mountains are at the very edge of the map—I think they’re part of the boundary of this ‘conquest’ we’re all a part of. Not the forest, though.” He nodded to Valla. “Those look like contested lands.”

“Right.” Edeya nodded. “I see why—there’s a lot of map area beyond, a lot of mist. So, if you really think this is the extent of the contested lands, we’ve only conquered about . . .” she ran her hand above the visible part where the keep and the pass were represented, trying to calculate.

“About ten percent,” Valla helped.

“Shit,” Victor laughed, “I’m not complaining about conquering ten percent of the invaders’ lands in one day.”

“It’s strange, though, isn’t it?” Valla walked around the large, mostly foggy, magical map.

“What?”

“Why is the System showing us this? It’s like . . .”

“Like a game.” Though Valla nodded at his words, Victor knew she wasn’t thinking of the same kind of game he was. “I mean, we’re given a clear goal, and now we get to see the board. The System . . . it’s like we’re the pieces it plays with.”

“Well, we know the System loves conflict.” Edeya shrugged as though that was all there was to say.

“Right, because we release Energy when we kill each other.” Victor spoke sarcastically, a definite edge in his voice, so he wasn’t surprised by the puzzled glances the two women sent him. “Look, I’m not arguing against the idea that the System leeches some of the Energy away when we kill each other. Think about it, though; before the System came around, people used to cultivate, gather, and claim their own Energy from those they killed. Do you even know how to do that? I mean, if you killed a . . . bone juggernaut—Victor used his internal name for the undead monster out loud for the first time, but the two seemed to know what he meant—would you know how to claim its Energy if the System didn’t gather it up and send it your way?”

“No.” Valla shook her head, and Edeya shrugged.

“So, like, if the System just wants Energy, why doesn’t it just kill us all and take our Energy? Why do we need to fight each other so it can steal our Energy?”

“Could it?”

“Kill us? I mean, it’s pretty damn powerful, right?” Victor gestured to the map. “It’s everywhere.” He gestured around, indicating the world at large. “It knows a hell of a lot more about everything than any of us. Nah, I’m not buying it. I think there’s more to the System than it simply wanting to leech off us.”

Edeya surprised him by nodding. “I agree, Victor. There’s more to it. Why do we call it a ‘system,’ after all? We all accept the name, but . . . it must have had more meaning in the beginning, don’t you think? A ‘system’ for what? The very name implies complexity; it also implies impartiality. You don’t set up a system for things to be random or arbitrary. You don’t make a system for something you want to display sentimentality or favoritism. Whatever the reason, the System is in charge of many aspects of our usage of Energy, and . . . well, I don’t know where I was going with this, but I think I agree that it’s got to be a much more complicated than some of the detractors make out.”

“Yes. I’ve listened to many debates about it. We all have our jaded viewpoints, but I think, deep down, most of us know there’s more that we don’t know than we do.” Valla shrugged and gestured back at the map. “But back to the original topic. What’s the point of this?”

“I dunno.” Victor squatted down and pressed a thumb onto the keep that represented their current location. It was like pressing onto a stone—jagged and hard and not at all moveable. “Maybe to incentivize us, to keep our interest. We can see the progress we’re making, and, I’m guessing, so can the invaders, especially if you’re right, Edeya, about the System’s impartiality. When they see this area we’ve liberated, what do you think they’ll do?”

“Send another army. They likely have victory conditions just as we do,” Valla said, smacking her fist into her palm.

“Edeya,” Victor turned to the plucky lieutenant, still clutching her Farscribe Book, “tell Borrius I think we’re going to need reinforcements here. Tell him if he’s smart, he might be able to smash another undead army between his forces and the walls of this keep.”

“On it!” Edeya snapped the book open, and a magical pen appeared between her fingers. Victor watched her scribbling for a few seconds, and then he started back down the corridor.

“Where are you off to?” Valla followed close behind.

“I want to talk to Kethelket. I want him to send a scout into the forest we saw at the edge of this keep’s territory. I want to see if there’s another keep in that direction. If we can capture it, we’ll have the northern section of the ‘conquest territory’ locked up.” Victor noticed the corridor and the beautiful hall beyond were much dimmer than when he’d first come in. “Sun must’ve set.” He saw some of Sarl’s soldiers hoisting an Energy lamp up to one of the stone arches and followed the pulley line with his eye, wondering how they’d secured it to the stone, hoping they hadn’t bored a hole in it. He sighed with relief when he saw the ancient ceiling was carved with elegant hooks, almost like they’d been designed to hold just such a contraption. “And why not? They had holes for the door hinges.”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing. Just kind of wondering what this place looked like when it was new.”

“I imagine much like it will when we’re done fix . . .” Valla’s words were cut off by a sharp horn note blaring from the courtyard. She locked eyes with Victor. “They’re here already?”