Liar King

by Adam Elliott

  Setting his citizens to work on the plains outside the city would produce food while sending them to the nearby foothills or forests would increase production. He could also earn more Grand Zenni, albeit a relative pittance by setting them to work along the nearby river, but as of yet, he’d found no source for influence, magic or research.

  “If it were me, I’d recommend we start by working on food production,” Roberta replied. She surveyed his expression for a moment, then shook her head. “Which is what you’d already decided.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  She scowled at him. “You wanted a sounding board.”

  “In a manner of speaking,” Cayden replied. “Clearly, I don’t know everything, so I thought a decision like this merited a second opinion.”

  That seemed to mollify Roberta’s growing ire. “It is not as if it is a permanent decision in any case.”

  “No. But it would take a full turn to re-assign them, which feels like a waste.”

  “Well, I think you’ve got it right.” She admitted, somewhat grudgingly now. “The increased population has halved our food production. And even if it hadn’t, we have to plan for the future. Our food comes from Islo for the time being, but that won’t last if the city comes under siege.”

  “Do you think we should look into building a farm directly? The option came available on the War Frame when the city grew.” He pressed.

  “Not yet,” Roberta said. “Assuming you’ve decided in favor of our guests?”

  “I dispatched the Fifth this morning,” Cayden replied. “The Third will be back to garrison before the end of the turn, and Valserys is right. It will help us to be seen in a positive light by the locals.”

  “And we can devote men to work the farms, saving us from having to build them ourselves.” She added, finishing his unspoken thought.

  “That too.”

  “Sounds like you have your answer then.”

  “Fifteen Food from the citizens working the farm. That should fill our stockpile in the short-term, and give us enough food to feed our troops and a size three city in the medium.” He tapped his chin with a finger as he thought. “Which leaves us with the long term.”

  “You are still struggling to decide whether or not to continue on this course of action.” It was phrased as a question, but Roberta made it a statement as she indicated the half-finished building with one hand.

  Cayden sighed. “Assuming everything keeps going linear regarding cost and bonuses, the Lower Township will be fully repaired by day six. But the bonus it gives to production will take nearly twenty days to pay for itself.”

  “And the battle will be over in twenty-nine.”

  “Exactly.” Cayden began to pace slightly, only going a few feet in any direction before swinging around to go the other. “The housing bonus helps ameliorate things somewhat, but it could still be a lot of lost opportunity to focus elsewhere.”

  “It isn’t like you to second guess yourself quite this much,” Roberta observed.

  He winced. “That obvious?”

  “A little.” She leaned back on her heels to think. “Silver?”

  “Who else.”

  “She has a point.” Roberta talked over him as he began to complain. “But not an overwhelming one.”

  “You think we should focus on production first?”

  “Yes. But I also think you need to have more faith in your decisions.” Roberta scowled. “And I also think I had a similar conversation with her last night. Very persistent, that one.”

  “Yeah, tell me about i-” The sharp chime of his AR glasses cut Cayden short as a notification appeared on his display. “One second.” He said to Roberta, before manipulating the air in front of him to connect the call. “Hey, Celia. Can I get back to you in-”

  “Cayden. It is starting.”

  ***

  Fifteen minutes later Cayden stood opposite Celia in the strategy room, her AR glasses recording him while a player on the other end was making a similar transmission. The conversation was far from private, with upwards of twenty players linked in on the call. Best put his strong foot forward.

  “Rat,” Cayden said as a man came into view on the other end of the stream.

  “Cayden.” Came the man’s reply, his expression grim. It was not a look that Cayden welcomed seeing.

  In the hours and days after the announcement at the Ducal Palace, Cayden had left the task of communicating with the other player guilds largely in Celia’s hands. He’d thought that most players would be more amenable to a pretty face and an upbeat attitude than a sixteen-year-old try-hard gamer.

  And he’d been correct. Celia had shown a knack for diplomacy quite like her older sister, and within two days had gotten in touch with the leaders of five of the six active strongholds, including two others that had been commissioned in Sunè on the same evening. Only the Toy Soldiers had remained fully out of her reach, and even that resolve had weakened somewhat once Celia had begun contacting some of their rank and file players rather than their leader.

  Of the six guilds, the only one Cayden was in personal communication with on any regular basis was Goon Squad. Their holding, De’Arnise, was one of two that stood between the Tomb of the Liar King and Islo and was all but guaranteed to be the first to be attacked. That dubious honor had been enough to warrant Cayden’s personal interest in the keep and its commander.

  Vilerat was a bald; goateed man in his thirties, a former software engineer that Cayden probably would have still picked out as a software engineer, even if he’d not been told as much. He was always smiling, the sort that always seemed to be in on the joke that Cayden wasn’t. On a normal day, that smile irritated him, but he’d never suspected how concerned he’d be in its absence.

  “How bad is it,” Cayden asked at last.

  “On a scale of one to-” The teenager’s frown was enough to stop Vilerat from dancing around the subject any further. “High thousands.”

  Cayden felt as though he’d taken a body blow. “How high?”

  “Best guess from what we saw is eight or nine thousand.” A soft rumble emanated from Celia’s headset, as all of the participants that Cayden had muted cursed and gasped. “It is hard to get an accurate number right now because the column is moving through a wooded area. Once they are out, they’ll be on plains, and we should have a much better count.”

  “For all the good that will do us.”

  “Chin up. At worst, the enemy outnumber us a paltry six to one; good odds for any player.” Vilerat laughed weakly.

  “If we had an army of players, I’d probably agree with you,” Cayden replied. He drew a deep breath and reminded himself that Vilerat wasn’t the only one watching before he continued. “So what are you planning in the immediate future.”

  “Honestly? I’m planning on running.” The bald man chuckled again. “We’re going to do as much scouting as we can to try and get a grip on what is coming, but the majority of my troops are mounted. Better to save them for where they can be useful than lose them fighting a hundred to one on the fort walls.”

  The camera shifted at a gesture from Vilerat, turning to display a wooden table similar, but not identical to Cayden’s War Frame. “We’re going to leave a small detachment behind, twenty men, to hold the keep in the hopes that they can act as a speedbump. Even slowing them down a turn is better than having them walk right past the keep.”

  Cayden bit his tongue. The idea of calling twenty sacrificed Elan a ‘speedbump’ sat poorly with him, but it was hardly the time or the place to argue semantics. “And then you’ll retreat to Crossroads?”

  “That was the thought. Yeah.” Vilerat crossed his arms as the camera returned to him. “Feels a bit too much of a Three Little Pigs situation for my liking, but hopefully Islo turns out to be made
of some solid brick.”

  “Any chance you can harry them a little with that cavalry of yours?”

  Vilerat’s grin returned, white teeth positively glowing in the video. “Way ahead of you. The whole reason we found them in the first place is that we spotted one of their scouting parties. Gave them a bloody nose and took out a hundred of their soldiers before their mounted units chased us off. I’m hoping to have my guild make hit and run attacks on the army itself as it passes during our turns so that we can dodge in and out of the hex where they can’t follow us, but we’ll have to see.”

  That… was an excellent idea. How had he never even considered that?

  “I say something wrong?”

  “I-er… no. Just feeling a little dumb.” Cayden confessed. A slight blush rose to his cheeks as he heard another sound from Celia’s headset, laughter, but he pressed on to distance himself from the embarrassment. “Any word on how fast they’re moving?”

  “Slow.” The other man responded. “Their outriders ran us off as I said, but the column is only moving maybe four or five hexes a turn.”

  Cayden considered that for a moment. “Their cavalry is as fast as yours?”

  “Yeah,” Vilerat confirmed. “Stone horses too, so I don’t see why their infantry would be any slower. “

  “Then they’re moving at the speed of their slowest unit.”

  “Bingo.” He made a comically awful finger gun in the camera’s direction. “My guess is siege units. It’d pretty much have to be if they want to take any of the big cities.”

  “Assuming they keep to the same speed, and your troops manage to slow them down, that puts them at Islo in what, four days?”

  The reply came after a moment of calculation. “Maybe five depending on route and terrain. I think there is enough difficult stuff between here and there that it might slow them down.”

  “All my men will be back in the city by midday. We’ll leave immediately.” Cayden replied. “Should put us at Islo in time for the party.”

  “Assuming the Iron B-” Vilerat started to say, interrupted by a somewhat nauseating shake of his cameraman’s head as he was reminded that at least one of her men was on the call. “Assuming the Captain of the Islo Watch lets us into the city.”

  “We’ll contact her directly, but with numbers like these, she’s going to have to see reason.”

  “You’d think so…”

  “Now who is being a pessimist,” Cayden smirked.

  “Hey, pessimism is like paranoia. It’s only a vice if they aren’t out to get you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Day Seven – Evening Turn

  Resources – F – 540 +20, Z – 530 +25, M – 205 +5, I – 460 +20, P +40, R +10

  Completed – Lower Township Repair VI (New Specialization Unlocked), Upper Township Repair III

  Cayden heard the argument in the depths of the city garrison long before he saw any of its participants. An older building slightly offset from the Ducal Palace in the center of Islo, its stone corridors hadn’t been built with privacy in mind. Even normal conversations echoed through its walls. To say nothing of the one-sided shouting match taking place as the stern-faced thirty-something Toy Soldier ushered him into the waiting conference where Dinah Asch, their leader, was engage in a livid conversation with her ostensible allies.

  “Absolutely not,” Vilerat growled, his usually pale face blotched and ruddy with fury.

  “This is not a negotiation,” Dinah responded without emotion, her back to the doorway.

  “No, you’re right. What you are asking for is capitulation! Which is why I’m saying, absolutely not.” He continued, pounding his fist on the table before jerking the other one in Cayden’s direction. “Cayden, please tell me you’re not going along with this!”

  At that, all eyes turned to Cayden and his party, though only two of the room’s dozen occupants were faces he recognized. Judging by the expressions on the majority, he had more enemies than friends in the room, even with Celia, Michael, Silver, and Sarah in tow.

  “How about we start by telling me what I’m supposed to be opposed to,” Cayden said brusquely. It was a petty jab, but Asch had spent the last three days refusing his calls in favor of an in-person meeting, so he was in a somewhat petty mood.

  “Nice of you to join us at last, Field Marshall.” The Israeli soldier scowled, her tongue positively dripping with sarcasm at his title.

  Celia bit on that particular bait before Cayden could rise to the occasion; her voice strung through with annoyance. “We did try and inform you that we would be running late.”

  “I’d heard. Something about a sub-tomb?”

  “On your side of the river. Yes.” Celia said pointedly.

  It had been one of two such tombs that had added nearly an entire day to what should have been a three-day journey. Neither had posed anywhere near the threat that the first one they’d discovered had located, but each had required a halt to the march a deployment of the troops and a delve into the dungeon in search of a relic for Azazi. In total it had been worth a full two levels, putting Cayden and his companions on the very cusp of level twenty-five, with only five more levels to his next skill and mastery point, but it had been a frustrating delay all the same.

  “We’ve had to keep our eyes focused to the west. For rather obvious reasons.” Dinah said curtly.

  Silver raised an eyebrow at that. “Even so, wouldn’t you want to be sure your line of retreat is open?”

  “Oh, we haven’t even gotten to the nonsense that is her plan.” Vilerat scowled.

  “We’ll get to that, I’m sure.” Cayden’s voice was as cool and conciliatory as he could make it as he continued. “For now, how about we start at the top.”

  “Yes, of course.” Dinah waved to an empty spot around the War Frame that dominated the center of the small conference room. “We were just discussing the disposition of troops.”

  “You mean your usurpation of command.”

  “Rat,” Cayden said softly. He understood the man’s anger, days of zero communication had put his teeth on edge as far as this meeting went. But the soldier already saw him as a child. If he acted out or took this as anything less than serious, they’d get nowhere fast. “Dinah, if you could-”

  “Captain.” She corrected him, her steady gaze holding his as she spoke. “Captain Asch. If you would.”

  “Ah. Captain Asch, if you could bring us up to speed?” Cayden replied, doing everything in his power to keep from treating her official title with the same disdain she had treated his given one.

  It took only a few waves of the Captain’s hands for her War Frame to retreat from the close in view of Islo to a more general view of the whole surrounding area. She was good with the device, probably better than Cayden was, if he was honest, her hands working over it like a maestro directing an award-winning performance.

  “De’Arnise fell almost immediately after it was put under siege, as was expected.” As she spoke, Cayden couldn’t help but notice the discoloration of her right hand, a mass of white scar tissue tarnishing her olive skin at the joint between thumb and forefinger. “The keep did not survive more than a single turn, but it did tell us two things.”

  “The enemy has an abundance of siege equipment, and they are willing to hold their entire advance for a turn to employ it rather than take slightly higher losses throwing themselves at structured defenses.”

  Asch spat Michael with an annoyed stare, one the other man happily shot back, before she continued. “Shortly thereafter, Crossroads keep was taken. This time didn’t make the same mistake they made at De’Arnise. They encircled the entire keep, preventing the token forces left to hold it from retreating.”

  “Which is a tip-off of a different sort.” Cayden nodded.

  “How so?”
Dinah inquired.

  He had to bite back a scathing reply about how he’d sent her a message regarding this very topic, choosing instead to repeat himself. “It lets us know that they learn from their mistakes, but they have sort of inherent weaknesses. Makes me think of the Buggers, more than anything.”

  The captain’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she looked to a similarly confused aide for clarification. “The Buggers?”

  “You know, the…” Cayden started to say, before realizing that she did not know. “Ender’s Game. Orson Scott Card. The enemy was an insect race called the Buggers.” He explained. “In the latter third or so, they get a weapon called the Little Doctor, that can destroy the enemy as they cluster together. In early battles, the enemy was sloppy, with big weaknesses as a result, but they clean them up the more they are exposed to the weapon.”

  “You think it was an intentional weakness?”

  To that, he could only shrug. “This is all a game. If the Developer just wanted to kill everyone on the floor, he could have just had the event change the air to acid. Vilerat killed a scouting party with ease; then the enemy scouting parties started having mounted backup to counter him. They run troops away, and the next time the Wardens encircle them. Makes sense.”

  That much seemed to get through to her. “So what are you suggesting?”

  “I’m not even sure.” He confessed. “Other than that we shouldn’t necessarily jump at the first chance we get to exploit a weakness. If the Wardens clean up their strategy every time we find a weakness, then we need to absolutely abuse that weakness on the one chance we’ve got it.”

  “An interesting thought.” The grudging admission seemed to visibly pain her as she directed their attention back to the frame. “I have a small number of scouts out watching the Warden forces as they advance. And as you can see, the head of their column is barely a day’s march from the city.”