Furious Scribe
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51. Basil - Retreat
🕑 Added 2024-11-06 02:05:04 +0000 UTC
Chapter 51
Retreat
Walking the streets of Treledyne again I had thought would give me immeasurable relief, but it turned out that a wall, no matter how high, couldn’t protect me from my thoughts. Over and over I played the image of Qi’shen being swarmed by that foul demon. I had been in the air at the time, too far away to do anything but watch, and yet I still felt a measure of responsibility for his death. Wenden I hadn’t even seen perish, nor had any of us gone back for his body, such a journey deemed too dangerous after our losses. Instead, we had fled: the remaining elves heading northeast and the eight of us that remained going south.
Parting with E’lal and A’cia had been a challenge for me. With their leader dead, we all understood why they must go, and the two elves were adamant about seeing the bodies and cards of their kin returned home. The pair had embraced me in a tight, three-way hug, like after the funeral, and when we separated, A’cia was holding a pair of cards out me.
“With the deck you’re making, this should serve you well.”
I accepted the gift woodenly, not knowing what to say. This had been the last thing I had expected, and I wasn’t prepared in the slightest.
“This as well,”E’lal said. “You’ve spoken to me about how you wished to have one.”
I nearly choked from seeing the Werepanther. When Qi’shen had offered me my choice of cards the other evening, I had hoped that this Epic would be among them. It had not been, and at the time, I hadn’t asked after it, not wanting to be insensitive to Ky’reen’s recent death.
Yet here it was, waiting for me to take.
“It is too much,” I told him, barely managing to resist my deep desire for the card. “Surely one of you two can use it on your journey home?”
E’lal shook his head emphatically. “You helped us protect Qi’shen’s body. We cannot stay with you for this fight, but a part of us can through these cards. Use them wisely.”
Put that way I could hardly refuse, but before accepting, I forced one of my Master Shieldbearers onto E’lal and would have given another to A’cia if she cultivated any Order. I also offered to send Atrea with them, since the Epic could be away from my person for a stretch, but they declined, saying they’d be keeping to the thickest parts of the forest on their way home. Our exchanges complete, the two elves pulled me back in for another embrace, the new cards pressed awkwardly against my chest.
“Remember to remain open to all that lives around you,” A’cia whispered into my ear. “When you are lost within, look without.”
“You humans may be young but you are strong, and fierce, and good-hearted. Win this war, my friend,” E’lal said in the other.
With their cards, I certainly felt more confident in my chances of doing so. Feeling them now in my Mind Home, I couldn’t wait to try the new combinations that they would offer. The Spell would work wonders with my Air Source Power, and the Werepanther would do the same while also giving me deck the much needed push it required to directly strike and finish off opposing Summoners.
And yet, with that eagerness came a tinge of guilt. The only reason I now had these fine tools was because others had perished. What if the same fate befell E’lal and A’cia, and despite their assurances to the contrary, having these cards would have allowed them to survive?
“They will reach home safely,” Esmi assured me. She was walking arm-in-arm with me up the street and spoke with confidence. “With A’cia refreshing him, E’lal will be able to stay in his enhanced form all the way to A’dinn’uon.”
I wasn’t even surprised anymore at how easily she could read my thoughts. In fact, I deeply cherished that about her. “We should be married,” I blurted.
She stopped, looking at me wide-eyed. “What?”
“Today, this very night,” I said, turning so I could take her hands in mine. “Life can end much too abruptly for my taste. If I am to die, I wish to do it as your husband.” A thought came to me as if guided by Fate’s own hand. “Hull said that the priest he’s been seeing, Penkmun, was going to set up a church in the Lows. We could do it there, after delivering the Potions we purchased.”
She hesitated, and just as she could tell what I was thinking, I immediately knew I had done something wrong. Had the request been too sudden? Too forceful? Should I have let her pick the location?
“But my father…” she said. “I do not think a church in the Lows would suit him. And the same for your own family.”
“Gale won’t care,” I said, “and I don’t care about the rest. For your father though, of course. We can choose another place. With an army on our doorstep, I doubt many people are seeking to be wed,” I said the last with a smile, trying to make a jest of it.
“We could, yes, I suppose,” she wavered, which brought a frown to my face to see.
“My love, I’m afraid I don’t understand. Did you not stand before all and declare me ‘yours’? Don’t you wish to make that official before the Twins?”
“I do, of course I do.”
That was what she said. However, the words lacked the surety I would have expected to hear in them. Second guessing oneself before marriage was a possibility I was familiar with from court gossip, but I would have never thought such a thing would apply to us. We had always been so in step, thus, I had assumed we were traveling in the same direction. The possibility that we were not was unmooring to say the least, and I felt a chasm that threatened to overwhelm me open between us.
Esmi caught my reaction, as I was too surprised to make any attempt to hide it, and her grip tightened on my hands. “Basil –”
“Ah, a lover’s disagreement,” a silky voice said, “how quaint.” Out of thin air, the masked form of Azure resolved in front of us. Before my recent foray, I might have jumped, but instead I was rather proud that I was drawing source and cards reflexively before I recognized who it was.
Esmi had been doing the same but then promptly dismissed them. “To what do we owe such a visit?” There was a bite to her question that made me flinch considering the position of the person she was addressing. Not that I didn’t agree; Azure’s timing was atrocious.
“I am merely checking on certain investments,” the Secret Keeper said, sounding unperturbed by her tone. I assumed the investment being referred to was Esmi’s soon to be Epic Soul, but for some reason Azure turned toward me. “Fortune favors us that you have returned safely. If I hadn’t been otherwise occupied by a series of threats to Treledyne’s safety, I would have made sure you never departed.” Esmi and I exchanged a glance while Azure kept talking. “Your brother made quite the show, flying you all over the eastern wall. Does he have any other spectacles planned I should be aware of?”
“Enemy troops were massed at the base of the wall, and we thought the archers stationed atop would recognize Halifax,” I answered in defense of my brother. It had taken two trips, but we had made it safely inside.
“I see,” Azure answered but then said no more. It was only then that I realized we were no longer hearing the sounds beyond us, almost like an inverted version of Qi’shen’s ability. The streets were quiet with it being late evening, the war imposed curfew only an hour or so off, but some cityfolk were still out, going through the motions of regular living but with a more hurried air. The rest of our lieutenant group and Gale were farther ahead, angling toward the palace to report and then rest, and none seemed concerned that Esmi and I had fallen behind. “I assume your fiancee is aware of what you can do,” Azure asked, with the sound of someone who had just come to a decision.
“Of course,” I replied, standing up a bit straighter. “We’ve shared Souls.”
Azure’s robbed shoulders shook slightly, but I didn’t hear a chuckle come from behind the mask. “Delightful,” they said. “Then you shall share in this responsibility. You see, one of my purviews is tracking people who can be an asset to the future of Treledyne, and you, Basil of House Hintal, are one such person.”
“I… am?” It was obvious that the Deepkin had valued my ability, and Azure had spoken positively about it to me at my family’s party. However… “When I met with the king, he didn’t seem to think so.”
“Ah, that,” Azure said. “The king’s vast experience has given him a unique view of the world, one that will surely benefit us all. However, to make that far off vision come to pass, I must look to the daily struggles in-between, and in that regard, I assure you that you are needed, especially now.”
“... I see,” I said. Even when using such general statements, I thought I understood the Secret Keepers meaning well enough: they wanted me to help elevate cards for our army. There was appeal to that prospect, undoubtedly, but before I could explore that possibility, I felt a twinge of something up above. There was no sound, not within Azure’s aura as we were, but still, my eyes were drawn up by the sensation. There, in the sky, I saw hundreds – no, thousands – of bird-shaped bodies pouring from the floating library, winging west in a flock larger than I had ever before seen.
“What is happening?” Esmi said, sounding aghast; she had apparently followed my gaze.
“The king refused to unchain Estrago from the palace,” Azure answered quietly. “They are fleeing.”
Even from such a distance, there were so many of them I could feel that frenetic energy of their flight, a shared desire to stay alive. A shift in movement from the Secret Keeper drew my attention, and I noticed they were closer to me now, nearly looming.
“Which is why we must take every advantage we can,” they said “while denying the enemy of the same.” The metallic mask and its inlaid clouds reflected the setting sun, casting the silver in orangish pinks. “We finally received word from a survivor of Burlon. They were fortunate to live in the southern hills and have a looking glass, letting them see the atrocity that transpired. An entire settlement erased from the land.” Azure leaned closer, the purpose of this story unclear to me. “But they also saw a single person spared, a girl with a peculiar Soul Ability, one that let her reverse the age of plants. There is no obvious wartime use to such a power, nor is there an obvious reason why the undead would want to preserve such an Ability, but their General did, letting her live while all others fell dead to Spells or were eaten by orcs.”
Qi’shen and Gale had talked of the orcs doing such things, but to consume a whole populace? My stomach burbled, and I was glad I had nothing in there to sick up.
“This is not the first such report I have heard come out of the north,” Azure said, “and it points to a likely conclusion: the lich who leads the undead desires unique Souls.”
“You are worried she will want Basil?” Esmi said. We were still holding hands, and I felt her skin blaze momentarily. Despite the difficulty we were having before the Secret Keeper’s arrival, to see her care for me so I found heartwarming.
“Worse,” Azure said. “I believe she has found a way to transfer abilities to herself. She will collect him, drain him, and kill him. Should we manage to withstand this assault but such a thing transpire, the undead armies would only return immeasurably stronger. In short, she will use Basil’s Soul to destroy us.” A chill had broken over me at this revelation, and the Secret Keeper, perhaps sensing that they had frightened me enough, leaned back. “Knowing this, I hope you both will agree that Basil can no longer be risked outside of these walls. Instead of playing at war, he will help elevate our cards, and in so doing, perhaps turn the tide.”
I didn’t appreciate Azure characterizing the last week of horror I had been through as “playing.” We had defeated one of the enemy generals after all, even if neither Esmi nor I had delivered the killing blow.
Esmi, however, was looking at me, and when I met her gaze, she squeezed my hand. “Yes,” she said, turning to the Secret Keeper. “That makes sense. And me?” she asked, jutting her chin forward. I caught a slight tremor through the hand of hers I was holding but otherwise, she held herself strong.
This unexpected conversation hadn’t given me proper time to think through what my new role would mean in relation to hers, but when I did, my blood turned to ice. With her type of deck, there could only be one possibility.
“After a brief reprieve,” Azure said, their words holding none of the humanity they had only a moment ago, “you and the rest of your group will be going directly to the front lines.”
Comments
Zurulean
I realy hope nothing too bad happens to the couple, I want atleast *some* happiness in the story...
iridium248
Oh yeah, Esmi is a dead woman walking.
Knyko
I feel like thats exactly whats coming to him, his life is just «too good» at the moment. And maybe her death is exactly what he needs to face the realities of the world(and hopefully elevate again?)
Myrdin
Basil is really due for some misfortune to happen to him. He has had really nothing but good things happening to him since the very beginning of the story (other than that slight blunder with the chaos user whose name I forgot), and hasn’t really had any real struggles. Mutual love at first sight with ultra competent Mary Sue. 2 epics from Hull and now another epic for free. Defeated Hull when Hull had way better deck and shitty luck. Didn’t have to even shame himself in that flinch test against Gerad when it was him who actually should have participated in it. Won against way more experienced fighter in his brother. All his cards love him. Received fabricator for free from Esmi. Will receive shards from Hull that he didn’t want anything to do with (and he already had received Ticosi’s fabricator that was supposedly kingly gift). And he for some reason gained that ambition to become king out of the blue. I would love to have more Hull chapters. Basil is just so damn boring. Have to admit, I hope Esmi dies, so Basil has something drastic happen to him so he can actually feel more interesting.
Hailhound
NGL this makes a lot of sense in world, he’s much more useful in the backline than as just another fighter. And it’s adds narrative tension too. All the good things
Knyko
Ahhh now i got it, so you pay one on turn 1 and then next turn you get 2 back
iridium248
Uh-oh. Not good for Esmi - Well, at least Basil's out of danger. That's worth something, right...?
