Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

“The force is three times as large as any the Orcs have ever brought against us, and it appears they are allied with the Undead and demonkind.” Edaine looked as haggard as we all felt as she debriefed us all in the fortification’s main instruction room. No one had slept, and she’d called us all in before first light. I sat next to Basil and Esmi with Paytr on my other side. The dwarves were nowhere to be seen, but the rest of us sat listening in growing horror as our general laid out what she’d learned since the Gala ended so explosively last night. I was trying very hard to pay attention. If my focus slipped for even an instant, all I could see was my own little-kid face looking down at me the night before.

“How did a force that large get so close to the city without being discovered?” Gerad demanded from where he stood alone in the back. “Is the entire army made up of lackwits?”

Edaine’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t rise to the bait. “Our patrols have been lighter than usual while the bulk of our forces are clearing land to the northeast for the King’s new city, and what scouts we do have patrolling report back to Grand Marshal Jorin, not to me. If any have gone missing – and I assume they have – word has never reached me.”

“What of the towns to the north?” Anya asked, stricken. “Burlon or any of the others?”

“We must assume they have been razed,” Edaine said heavily. “If any survivors had reached us, we would have been warned.”

“Could they have attacked the Great Forest?” E’lal broke in.

Edaine spread her hands. “Unknown. The Orcs have never ventured into elven territory in their wanderings, but then, they have never allied with any of the northern races before, either.”

A’cia laid her hand on the other elf’s neck. “We would have felt it if the Forest was burning, even here.” E’lal sat back, but he still looked troubled.

For my part, I stayed quiet, the hollow coldness growing in the pit of my belly. Words did not exist to describe how terribly I had screwed up. Every word Edaine said made it worse.

“There is more dire news,” the general sighed, passing a hand over her sandbagged eyes. “When we returned to the fortification last night, the Grand Marshal did not answer the door of his apartments on the top level of our tower no matter how we knocked and called. We broke down the door and found him bound and gagged within.

“It appears that the spy who attacked Captain Gale last night also overpowered the Grand Marshal, stole his soul card, and assumed his identity. Based on his level of starvation, she has been fooling us all for at least a week. We haven’t been able to determine what information she tortured out of him – Jorin is very weak and may not survive – but we must assume the enemy knows all of our defenses, our passwords, and our secrets. There is a reason I have not been getting reports about the approaching enemy, and this is it.”

My cold dread suddenly had a knife in the middle of it. Target of opportunity, my mother had said, a smirk on her lips. She hadn’t been hanging about to snatch Gale’s card, and she certainly hadn’t been here for me. She hadn’t been poisoning pastries, and she didn’t give a shit about Afi. This had been what her “treaty negotiations” were all about. She’d been worming her way through the tower until she could get to our highest general. I had no doubt she’d been an important asset for the demons, but not for peace; she’d been infiltrating us. And I helped her do it and never told a soul.

I’d betrayed my entire city, and now war was on our doorstep because of it. I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep from moaning in horror. Basil put a concerned hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t even look at him. He’d puzzle it out in a moment, and then he’d want to string me up just like everybody else would. From Esmi’s wide eyes as she looked at me, she’d already cottoned on. I’d ruined everything.

I only heard some of what Edaine said after that as I waffled between numbness and soul-deep horror. We’d be relocating the fortification later that day to stand right at the main gates of the city, strengthening a weak point. Levies were being called up from the citizenry within the walls. The city would have to hold until the bulk of the army arrived – ten days at best. Our band of lieutenants would be stationed under Gale in camps hidden in the forest; our mission was to make nighttime forays against the enemy horde to delay them however we could as they tried to set up a siege. Gale was being cared for by a group of Tenders who had succeeded in putting his soul card back into him before it died; he’d be back on his feet in a day. It was the one bright bit of news amid a shitstorm of doom.

Basil put a hand on my shoulder. “We have to tell her,” he whispered.

I scrubbed a hand across my face. “I know.” It had made so much sense to keep my mother’s presence to myself. Her story was plausible right from the get-go. None of that mattered now.

Afi was looking over at me from where she sat on the bench, her face unreadable. She might not know everything, but she’d seen Mother there in the room with Gale; that was enough to recognize that I was in deep shit. I wondered whether she’d spit and curse at me or simply walk away and never speak to me again. I’d find out soon enough.

“There is much to be done,” Edaine said briskly, clapping her hands. “Get your personal effects out of your quarters immediately; the fortification will be dismissed for relocation by midday. Anything left behind will not be there when it is resummoned. About your business, everyone. We will reconvene at the city gates for final instructions an hour past noon. Once the smiths are back up and running in our new location, you should spend any merits you have remaining. We’re going to war; as far as upgrades go, it’s now or never. Dismissed.”

There was a bustle of activity as everyone pulled themselves out of their dire thoughts and rushed to do what they’d been ordered. Only Basil, Esmi, and I stayed seated. Afi was standing in the corner watching us, her arms crossed. Edaine was speaking quietly to Gerad, who nodded curly before stalking away. He never even glanced in my direction.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said, slapping my thighs and standing abruptly. “Been nice knowing you guys.”

“We’re right here with you,” Esmi assured me. “We hold some responsibility in this too.”

I doubted Edaine would see it that way, but having their solid presences at my back as I walked up to the general certainly made me feel better.

“Your nightly excursions will have to end,” Edaine said before I could open my mouth. “You won’t have the protection of the fortification anymore, and trying to sneak back into the city will be much harder with wartime security in place.”

My mouth dropped open. “You knew?”

She barked a laugh. “Believe it or not, we keep an eye on our lieutenants. We’ve put far too much effort and expense into your training to let someone run off or cause problems elsewhere. Fact of the matter is, I quite approve of what you’ve done for the Lows so far. You’ll need to let the neighborhood take care of itself for the next little while, though, I’m afraid. Your presence will be needed full-time in the field.”

I’d assumed as much the night before – I’d made a final visit to Roshum’s place to hand him the last of the enforcers’ cards to hand out to trusted friends and beef up my squad of street urchins. Bryll said Naydarin had gotten his fifth Fire source, but she was concerned that a stranger had been poking around Ticosi’s old apartments. I’d told her to keep an eye on things and keep a lid on the Lows until she saw me again. It was the best I could do.

“How close a watch were you keeping?” I asked Edaine, steeling myself. “Did you know about the other person that was sneaking in and out?”

She arched an eyebrow and leaned back on her table, folding her arms. “I did not. You’d best tell me.”

And so I did, hardly daring to look her in the eye. I saw Afi edging closer to listen as I laid it all out: my demon mother abandoning me as a child after stealing my soul card, her catching me sneaking out of the fortification, the story she’d told about negotiating a peace treaty for the demons with the higher-ups of the army, how she’d sworn me to secrecy – all of it except Hestorus being my father. That had no part in the story, and I knew he wouldn’t approve of me noising it about, not even to his generals. Basil and Esmi broke in occasionally to add their bits here and there. Edaine had her chin in her hand and seemed deep in thought as she listened.

“Your mother,” Afi said softly, looking angry. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because she said she’d kill anyone I told,” I sighed. “I shouldn’t have even told these two, but it just came out. I thought I was protecting top-secret negotiations. But–”

“But instead, you colluded with an enemy to infiltrate our army at the very highest level, incapacitate the Grand Marshal, and steal every last damned secret we might have,” Edaine finished for me. She stood up straight and looked me in the eye. “Hull, this is treason. Men have hanged for less. Far less.”

I clamped my lips shut and nodded. What else could I have expected?

“He didn’t know,” Basil objected. “Please, General – you heard him tell it all. Who would betray their own mother?”

“In this situation? Any officer of the army,” Afi said softly.

Edaine motioned to her and nodded grimly.

“The circumstances are extenuating,” Basil persisted. “Certainly you can see that.”

“I do,” she replied. “But with stakes as high as these, it simply doesn’t matter. Jorin will almost certainly die before the week is out, and unless we can hold the city until the rest of the army arrives, we’ll all join him in short order. Whether he meant to or not, Hull aided the enemy in an immediate and material fashion, and the city might very well fall because of it.”

“The King will join in the defenses, certainly,” Esmi said.

Edaine waffled a hand. “The King will do what the King does. I have sent Gerad to ask him to meet with me to discuss the situation; hopefully he will see our need and respond. I would never say it in public, but our blessed monarch thinks differently than the rest of us, and he is not always… reliable.”

“He will come to our aid,” Basil said stoutly. “I spoke with him privately not all that long ago; he cares for the city. I am sure of it.”

“I will do my best to convince him that he is needed. Having a Legendary soul in the mix would go a long way toward balancing the scales.” She pinned me down with her eyes. “I’m going to have to tell him about this, Hull. He might demand your execution.”

“He can’t,” came a weak voice from the doorway. We all looked over, and Gale stood in the doorway, legs trembling, hands clutching at the door handle to hold him up.

“You shouldn’t be up,” Edaine said, hurrying over to support him.

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” he said with a shadow of a grin. “Enemy forces on our doorstep and people threatening to execute the man who just saved your best captain? That’s what keeping me in bed gets us.”

“At the moment, I would be hard pressed to call you our best captain,” Edaine said dryly.

He waved away her words and pointed at me. “I watched Hull throw himself at that damned woman when she could have squashed him like a bug just to get my card back. I’d be better than dead right now if it weren’t for him.”

“That damned woman is his mother,” Afi said.

Gale gaped at her. “His…?” He shook off his surprise. “All the more impressive, then. He sided with us against his own blood.”

“It’s a point in his favor,” Edaine allowed.

“And he sent me for help the second he saw what was happening,” Afi offered, sidling closer to me. “She might have played him like a fiddle, but once she made her move, he did everything he could to fix it.”

Edaine sucked air through her teeth. “I’m not sure how much that will matter to the King.”

“Then how about this?” Gale asked, letting go of Edaine to approach us with small, wobbling steps. “The biggest damned army anyone has ever seen is trying to set up shop on our doorstep, and if you want me to do anything to slow them down, I’m going to need every last lieutenant I can get my hands on. Hull’s aggressive deck is exactly the kind of thing we want to harry the frontrunners and slow them down. I need him.”

Edaine grunted, looking at me thoughtfully. “I could advocate for him.”

“Even if the King wants his head on a plate, convince him to hold off until after this war is fought,” Gale insisted, carefully levering himself into a vacant chair. “Any good he does in the meantime can help balance the scales once all is said and done. And you tell the King that I don’t think I’ll have the strength to fight unless my man Hull is in the field with me.” He reached out and took my hand, patting it.

“Thanks,” I said, not knowing what else to say. It felt so strange to have people gathering around to protect me, especially since I was so clearly in the wrong. I’d expected them all to turn their backs.

“Least I can do,” he sighed, leaning his head against the chair’s back. “Not sure I can explain how good it feels to have my card back, and that’s because of you.”

Edaine, for once, looked irresolute. “We do need every warrior, and Gale’s right – you’ll be good for what we need right now.” She sighed. “I’ll do my best with the King. If you’re smart you’ll make yourself scarce when he arrives, keep your head down during the fighting, and do everything you can to protect the city. I can’t promise anything, but if this whole war turns out well, you may just keep your head. Maybe.”

“I’ll kill who you tell me to kill,” I promised her. I wasn’t sure that fighting night actions against a huge army was much safer than going straight to the noose, but at least it kept me alive for a few more days. And, if worse came to worst, it gave me a chance to run before Hestorus decided his little experiment had run its course and it was time for me to die.

“Now get out of my face,” she told all of us. “I need to figure out how to present this to the King, and there’s a million things to be done. You should have had another month and a half of training, but War Camp is over. We’re playing for keeps now.”