Liar King (Tower of Babel Book 2)

by Adam Elliott

  "I'm honestly not sure. " Cayden winced. "I really wish we'd tested this when we-"

  A sudden wave of heat flooded Cayden's chest, as though a fire had started next to his heart, cutting him off mid-sentence. And just like a fire, it spread, the heat expanding to his shoulders and abdomen, then to his arm and legs. It felt similar to the sensation that occured whenever he activated one of his combat skills, but worse, as if somehow stronger.

  I can't move my arm. He realized a moment before he understood that he couldn't move anything. Even his eyes were no longer under his control, his perspective fixed to whatever the tower wanted to show him, like a cutscene from a first-person shooter.

  His body moved under its own impetus, the once barely stable boy now upright and steady as his horse picked up the pace, rushing headlong towards Warden soldiers that had already turned to greet him. Armed primarily with single-handed edged weapons, the Warden formation could not brace in any meaningful way, their line fracturing into pieces as the cavalry struck them with a sound unlike anything Cayden had ever heard, like thunder colliding with an artillery shell.

  The whole of the combat was over in moments. So quickly that Cayden's body had scarcely begun to whirl it's horse for another pass when the last Warden soldier was pierced by a speartip.

  Goon Kavallerie (Blitz) attacks Warden Formation [18th] (Total Defense) - Attack Value: 4725 vs. Defense Value 825.

  The Pointy Third deals 100 damage to Beastman Formation.

  Warden Formation (Total Defense) attacks Goon Kavallerie (Blitz) - Attack Value: 412 vs. Defense Value 2677.

  Warden Formation deals 1 damage to The Pointy Third.

  Warden Formation has been destroyed!

  For just a moment, the fire dimmed. If that had been the end of the orders that he'd left in the War Frame, Cayden suspected control would have been returned to him there. Instead, came the next order, the second in a queue of five attacks each predicated on the success of the others. The War Frame allowed for a complicated series of If-Then commands, which Cayden had appreciated at the time, but despised now. He wanted off the ride, out of the unnatural sensation of being a prisoner within how own body. But that wouldn't be happening, not for another four formations.

  Still, the combat results were promising. It might be an unsettling violation of the very concept of free will, but at least they were winning while they did it.

  His own voice built up to a scream of unbridled fury as the men and women of his formation closed ranks and began another charge towards the second enemy formation. Behind him he could hear Celia chanting away at a healing spell he'd never heard of, while a few bolts of fire and thrown knives further announced their intentions to the unfortunate subject of their stampede.

  The second verse was same as the first, while the third made a fine capstone for their trilogy. Their combat losses barely registered, while the defeat of their enemies was total. No Warden soldiers took flight, or dropped to their knees in surrender. Each had to be run down, each fighting to the last, albeit with greatly reduced efficiency as their already small numbers were further reduced.

  Their only complications came as Goon Kavallerie began to advance on their fourth victim. Ahead, Cayden could see their intended target, but unlike the previous attacks, he could also see another enemy formation on the move.

  Warden soldiers, numbering perhaps twenty in total, were moving at a full run from their position in what must have been the adjacent hex, while Cayden's target simultaneously marched to meet them. The behaviour was curious, but Cayden was sure he had it figured out, even before an alert appeared on his display to spell out what he was seeing.

  Warden Formation [22nd] reinforces Warden Formation [24th].

  A defensive reinforcement tactic. Silver had actually theorized something of the sort might exist earlier in the week, she was going to be unbearably smug when all this was over.

  The reinforcement was a good strategy, Cayden knew. If Asch had tried to lowball the enemy by hitting them with the militia, the reinforcements would step in and make the fight just difficult enough to punish her for it. It would have the beneficial effect of making her have to attack with a similar force all throughout the rest of the line, even though none of the later units used the same reinforcement tactic. The Warden general was frighteningly good.

  Pity for him that he hadn't been able to account for Cayden's concealed forces.

  Reinforcements or no, the Goon Kavellerie with Cayden at the head tore through the defending Warden forces as if they were not even there. Perhaps if the reinforcements had stacked their strength, they might have been strong enough to blunt the human's charge, but instead the tactic merely pulled a second enemy into the line of fire. More grist for the mill, as it were.

  In total they rampaged through a total of seven enemy formations before victory at last released them from the clutches of combat. Cayden shuddered in uncontrolled revulsion when he finally regained control of himself, his reaction comparatively mild when put up against the awkwardly funny metallic heaves that came from Michael or the far less comedic tears that streamed down Celia's cheeks.

  "Okay, I am not doing that again." Shifty said at last, his voice thick and hoarse from his involuntary battlecry.

  "Yeah, count me out." Silver agreed, making a snipping motion with her fingers as she caught Cayden's attention. "Could you?"

  "Not yet." He said apologetically. "I can't remove us from the unit until the start of next turn."

  "Not a moment too soon." Michael said queasily.

  "You know if you're going to throw up, you should probably take off the bucket." Cayden replied.

  Michael shot daggers at Cayden, the effect, ironically, somewhat lessened by said helmet. "Leave my bucket out of this."

  "Only because you asked nicely." Cayden smirked.

  "So what now?" Shifty asked, a fair question considering Cayden had been a bit light on the details beyond 'Charge the Wardens.'

  "Now comes the fun part." Cayden admitted. "We get to see if Asch opens the gate and lets us in, or if we all stand out here and probably die."

  Chapter Nineteen

  Day Nine – Midday Turn

  Resources – F – 620 +20, Z – 630 +30, M – 240 +5, I – 540 +20, P +40, R +10

  Completed – Upper Township V

  "It seems I owe you a debt," Dinah said, her voice carrying over the raucous noise of marching soldiers as Elan troops continued to file into the city in her wake. When neither of her two guests immediately replied, she pressed on. "You made quite an impression on my soldiers with your best impersonation of the Light Brigade."

  The young man smiled, a certain mischief in his eyes as he replied. “Didn't that end poorly for the Light Brigade?”

  The captain opened her mouth to reply, then scowled. “Hoisting me by my own petard, are you?”

  “He is only human.” Silver observed, annoyed that Cayden had gotten to the retort before she could.

  "My attaché, for example, thinks I misjudged you," Asch said after briefly holding his gaze. "Or, at the very least, was too hasty making any assessment so soon."

  “And you?” Cayden asked.

  The stern-faced woman's expression twitched for a moment as she fought against a crooked smile, one that eventually blossomed despite her best efforts. "Agnostic. But open to proof." She waved a hand in the direction of the Royal Quarter as she continued. "If you two will follow me? We have much to discuss." Asch turned without waiting for a reply, her brisk steps setting a steady pace for a few seconds before she realized neither player was following her.

  "We're still attached to our unit." Cayden explained, we can't go more than a mile from the gate."

  "Ah." Asch laughed. "Well that complicates things. This way then, there is a decent enough tavern nearby."

  The silence that accompanied their walk was just the wrong side of awkward. A grown, professional woman flanked on either side by teenagers who were, for the next few weeks at least, her peers. I
t wasn't hard for either of them to see why Dinah might dislike that particular arrangement.

  “Thank you, for opening the gates.” Silver said at last.

  “Not like you left me much of a choice.” Asch retorted with a tilt of her chin. “I'd have had a mutiny on my hands if I hadn't opened the gates to permit you.” As Cayden and Silver smiled, Asch continued. “Not that I suppose you imagine it'll do you much good now that you're trapped in here with us.”

  Cayden's eyes narrowed at that. “Excuse me?”

  “The walls?” When the confusion on the young man's expression only deepened, she clarified. “The Warden's summoned five walls in total. One behind our field army, and then four more on the gates furthest from their advance.” As horror replaced confusion, Asch allowed herself a bitter laugh “You didn't know.”

  At any other time that bark of laughter might have driven Cayden into a fury, yet suddenly all he could feel was a blurry numbness. Warden troops would besiege the remaining two gates before he got so much as a turn to react, while the newly magicked walls would keep them pinned for at least long enough for the Wardens to complete the encirclement. It was just as Asch had said.

  They were trapped.

  “Ignorance is often mistaken for heroism.” The officer murmured the aphorism with a certain sense of irony.

  “If you'd told us-” Cayden began.

  "But I couldn't." Dinah shot back. "Even if we'd agreed to share information beforehand, their trap cut off all my communications. By the time I could have told you, it would have been too late." She looked back over her shoulder to the ragged bands of Elan troops that were still following in their wake. "Besides, if I had told you, would you have abandoned us? Abandoned them?"

  As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point.

  “So what is our plan?” Silver asked, ever the pragmatist.

  “At the moment, I don't see that much has changed.” Asch shrugged. “If anything, it reinforces my original strategy. A breakout is out of the question, even if we smash one of the walls, we have to assume the enemy will use the same strategy to bog us down with chaff to keep an escape from getting any real distance.”

  “What about an alternate method of retreat?”

  “There is one possibility.” Asch acknowledged. “I had a few of my men investigating the sewers to be sure there was no danger of a surprise attack once we retreat to the Royal Quarter, and they discovered-”

  “A dungeon, I know. It won't work.” Cayden interrupted. “Elan can't pass through an instance gate into a dungeon.”

  The officer's face fell. “You're sure?”

  “It can't hurt to try, but yes. I'm sure.”

  "Then there is nothing," Dinah said. "When the time comes we can use the dungeon to evacuate all of the players. Hopefully, we will have bled them enough, and bought enough time to make it worthwhile." The woman smiled grimly. "If we are lucky they try and starve us out. That would buy you quite a bit of time for your plan, wouldn't it?"

  Cayden clenched his jaw, teeth grinding against one another as Asch spoke. Islo was home to thousands of Elan, thousands of men, women, even children whom she had already written off for dead, regardless of the outcome of the siege.

  "You're going to expand your militia."

  It wasn't a question, Asch could see that much plainly on his expression. "I am."

  "You're not even going to try and come up with an alternative?" Color flooded his cheeks as he pressed her.

  "Such as?"

  "I don't know!" Cayden shot back angrily, brushing away Silver's hand as she tried to hold back his fury. "See if they can dig an escape tunnel if you plan to be under siege that long. Knock a hole in the back wall, or hell, just lower them down on ropes if you're worried the Wardens are going to cross and leave the rear vulnerable."

  "Any mass exodus is going to be noticed. They'll be run down by Warden cavalry who have nothing better to do during the siege." Asch retorted.

  "If you'd sent them away a few days ago, like I told you to, they'd already be safe on the Bastion side of the damn river!" Cayden shot back, nearly as angry about her being right as he was about her failure to act when the time had been ripe.

  Any pretense of walking to a destination had long since vanished, the two squaring off with one another in the middle of the street, Asch's hand noticeably on the pommel of her dagger as she spat her own venom in reply. "A mistake, fine! What would you have me do now? Spend their lives for a purpose, or leave them unarmed and terrified as the Wardens take their city. I can't very well teleport them out now can I?"

  "Why not?" Silver cut in, before Cayden could throw either words or the punch that his balled fist suggested he would prefer.

  "Why not what?" Asch snarled.

  "Why can't you teleport them out?"

  The Israeli officer rolled her eyes. "Do I look like a spellcaster?"

  "No, not you." Silver said irritably. "We were teleported to Bastion by one of the Duke's mages. Victoria, I think her name was?"

  It was hard for Silver to keep a straight face as Asch and Cayden went through the same series of expressions. Irritation, confusion, realization followed finally by complete, red faced embarrassment.

  "The Ducal Palace has been closed since the event began." Asch replied sternly, though there was no mistaking the fact that she had forgotten the Elan sorceress just as readily as Cayden had.

  "Then we go knocking at the end of turn. Kick the door down if we have to." Silver replied, eyes turned to Cayden. "Unless you have a better plan."

  "Nothing off the top of my head." Cayden admitted. "But what makes you think she can help. Teleporting seven people from here to Bastion is a far cry from teleporting the population of an entire city."

  "She might not be up to it herself." Silver conceded. "But with help, she might be."

  "What sort of help?" Asch inquired.

  "Player help, along with a generous helping of the city's magical power. Which I doubt you'll mind spending since it'll all be lost anyways." Silver smiled wanly. "I've been talking over some of the basics with Roberta the Builder back at-"

  "Wait, Roberta th-"

  "Not important!" Silver cut in, desperate to keep the topic at hand. "One of the things we've discussed is the possibility of enhancing her abilities beyond the novice level by having other mages, human mages, linking up with her as part of a ritual spell. If that holds true for her, it should probably hold true for this one as well."

  "And if she's above a novice you think she can teleport larger groups?" Asch

  Silver considered the question for a moment, and then shrugged. "Without talking to her, I can't be sure. But I think so." The girl thought about her own answer for half a heartbeat before adding. "Actually, I think we'd be better off doing something more than that. Maybe a teleportation circle. It wouldn't go nearly as far as Bastion, but it doesn't have to if the goal is just to buy some distance to run away."

  "You were going to tell me about these conversations when exactly?" Cayden asked.

  "When I had something to report." Silver scowled. "I never got the chance to test it out before Vilerat summoned you."

  "Nobody summons-"

  "Yeah, yeah. Sure thing Megatron." Silver snorted with laughter.

  "How much would you need?" Asch asked.

  "Magic? No idea, but let's default to all of it and be pleasantly surprised when it is less."

  Asch seemed unimpressed by the reply. "And how many players?"

  "As many as we can spare, to be honest. Myself for sure, probably Celia as well, assuming her magic is compatible. If you have anyone else, we'll use them too." Silver shrugged. "Again, really hypothetical."

  "Even a 0.1% chance is better than the flat zero we had a few minutes ago." Cayden's voice barely contained his relief.

  "Doesn't some of your plan still hinge on us remaining?" Asch's eyes were on the young man as she spoke. "To hold the Wardens in place long enough, I mean. If we retreat too soon that would impact you
r delaying tactic."

  Cayden briefly scratched his chin as he considered her words. "Yes and no. They'll get done with the city faster, but if we set things up right, they'll be weaker for it."

  "Set things up right?" Asch repeated with some consternation.

  "An idea I had a few days ago on the march. At the time I didn't think you'd go for it, but if we're abandoning the city. Well, I think you might like this one."

  Chapter Twenty

  Day 10 - Midday

  Resources – F – 680 +20, Z – 720 +30, M – 255 +5, I – 600 +20, P +40, R +10

  Completed – Upper Township VI. (New Specialization Unlocked)

  "All right you raggedy sons of bitches, form up!" Aleph shouted, the pommel of his sword punctuating the end of his sentence with a clatter that, like his words, was almost entirely drowned out by the roar of a nearby formation. It didn't matter, the words themselves weren't really what was important, he'd begun to learn. In the din of battle, the men could barely hear him, but they looked to him all the same. In a lot of ways, it reminded him of raising his boy. The infant didn't have even half an idea what he was saying, but the fact that he said it was reassuring enough.

  "In front of you, at least ten thousand of those stone-faced bastards." He pointed with the tip of his blade to indicate the well-ordered horde just across the thin river that separated the Royal Quarter from the city proper. "Behind you, at least ten thousand of your fellow Elan. Your neighbors, your barbers, for some of you perhaps, even your wives and children!"

  "Between them, you." His words continued unabated as he paced back and forth up the line. Aleph never had much-liked heights, and given the option, would have much preferred to be giving this speech with firm ground beneath his feet, rather than on the allure of the tallest wall in the damn city. "But our new commander is generous! We don't have to stay here all day, or all week, with our arms getting tired from breaking open so many Stoneheads. No, as far as he is concerned, this is an afternoon outin-"