Glade sank heavily into a plush upholstered chair within the Patriarch’s personal study, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun streaming through the windows. After the battle, he, Kedryn, Bragden, and Crixus had been treated to hot baths, introduced to Holo’s personal barber, had a literal feast provided just for them, and had been reintroduced to the town’s only tailor. After that, they were given separate rooms with honest to god beds.
Glade couldn’t remember the last time he had slept so soundly. Not only that, there was a newly tailored set of clothes in his size ready and waiting for him that morning. They were simple, yet elegant. A white linen shirt with a set of matching dark trousers, vest, and boots, each article of clothing perfectly sized. He even had a matching dark cloak.
He had just returned from checking on Riya, who still refused to leave the horse lord’s side. Fortunately, she had been fed and was once again sleeping. He would check on her again later that afternoon once they figured out what they’re plans were.
Now they were relaxing in a large study enjoying the comforts of the patriarch’s generosity. The room wasn’t so much extravagant as it was comfortable with its plush rugs and open space. Floor to ceiling shelves lined the wall opposite the windows, each filled with well-worn books or trinkets that caught the eye.
Then there was the large table in the center of the room that drew everyone’s gaze like a moth to a flame. On the surface of the table was a map of the grasslands and the free cities beautifully decorated in fine lines of various metals, the surrounding oceans a deep blue mother of pearl inlay.
Next to the table was an open cabinet displaying dozens, if not hundreds, of intricate chess like pieces. There were meticulously carved pieces of heavy infantry, foot soldiers, archers, cavalry, featureless people in hoods, and knights with massive swords held point down in front of them. There were even various sized ships at the ready, all of which were laid in rows within the velvet lined drawers. A war map maybe?
“This looks just like Warhammer Fantasy,” whispered Kedryn in awe, picking up one of the larger knights to inspect.
“You make it sound like you’ve never seen a King Maker table before,” Crixus said with a laugh as he took his seat with a cup of tea in hand. “Though, I have to admit, this is probably the most elaborate board I’ve seen in a long time.”
Bragden gave Glade a meaningful look, tapping the side of his head inconspicuously. A moment later, Glade had linked Bragden and Kedryn telepathically.
“You’ll want to avoid the topic of the slagging table game if you can,” Bragden projected once the link was established. “Its all the rage amongst the houses, guilds, and merchants throughout the Free Cities. A bloody waste of time if’n you ask me. Give me a good game of Brands any day of the week.”
“It’s a game then?” Glade asked, intrigued.
“Aye,” the dwarf replied with a mental huff. “Based on the eternal wars between the three human kingdoms a few hundred years ago. Takes a bloody long time to set up, let alone play. I heard that one of these infernal games went for a whole span of days once. And ye want to know what the winner got from all that effort? A big fat nothin, that’s what. I’ll take Brands or a good game of dice any day of the week. At least you can walk away with more coin.”
“Awesome,” Kedryn breathed, his eyes lighting up as he examined more pieces. Glade was about to tell him to put the pieces back when the Patriarch walked in.
“Ha! Well said my bald friend!” Holo roared, showing off his gleaming white teeth with a broad smile as he fell into one of the seats around the table. “Are you familiar with our humble King Maker tables? Last I heard, the elves didn’t have a high regard for our barbaric games.”
Glade felt a headache coming on and fought the urge to rub his temples. Once again, they were showing how ill equipped they were to navigate such things.
Surprisingly, Kedryn didn’t miss a beat.
“I am somewhat of an enigma among my people,” Kedryn said almost as smoothly as Boon could have done. “While I’ve never played the game myself, the concept… fascinates me.”
“Ha! Well said! I was hoping I could interest some of you in a friendly game of Brand, but if you are interested, we can try a campaign or two of King Maker instead.”
“Choose Brand!” Bragden shouted in their minds.
“We don’t even know what Brand is,” Glade shot back.
“I’ll walk ye through it!” Bragden pleaded. “Its just a simple card game.”
From the look in the dwarf’s eyes, Glade very much doubted that. He didn’t want to play any games truth be told, even though the King Maker table had him intrigued. If it was a game based on tactics and strategy…
“I’ve never had the chance to play King Maker either,” Glade chimed in.
“Traitor!” Bragden cried.
“Oho!” Holo rubbed his hands in excitement, his eyes giving off a wicked gleam. “I haven’t been able to talk anyone into a game of King Maker in years! We’ll have to do this proper then. I’ll notify the kitchens that we’ll be taking lunch and dinner in the study then we’ll go over the rules…”
Four hours later, Glade understood why Bragden disliked King Maker. The game was simple enough to understand, but incredibly complex to play. Not to mention it took forever to play. The map was divided into three territories, each controlled by either a single player or a group of players, or warlords as Holo excitedly explained. Only when the other two groups of players were defeated was a victor named. Each started with the same sized army and navy which could move about the board based on what types of units they were.
That was the simple part. The hard part was the game took into account everything from transportation and logistics to effective employment of forces. Every twelve turns, a warlord could add to their forces, but any new forces generated could only do so at designated points like their capitols, forcing the player to plan ahead and defend critical terrain while trying to take over other warlords’ lands. And Holo was a ruthless opponent.
Both he and Kedryn were being aggressively pushed back and forced to collaborate together against the perpetually smiling patriarch. Glade had just helped Kedryn in arranging both their forces in a united front where he planned to employ similar tactics Duke Wellington had used against Napolean at Waterloo when Holo spoke up.
“I must admit, you two are some of the more curious players I have come across in some time,” the jolly man said with a grin. “People from two nations rarely ally themselves this early in the game.”
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“It seemed prudent,” Glade replied, looking as if he were searching the board for potential surprises. In reality, he was wondering exactly what the patriarch’s true question. Was he asking why he, a dwarf, and a couple of elves were traveling together? Or was he insinuating something more? “When facing a greater threat, it is often best to find allies.”
“Too true, too true,” Holo chuckled, maneuvering his calvary into a reserve position. An odd choice seeing as the entire game the man had been pressing the attack. It was odd seeing him settle into a defensive posture. If Glade didn’t know any better, he would say the patriarch was setting up a delaying action, but that didn’t make any sense. Not for a game anyway. Both his and Kedryn’s combined forces would grind his down to dust eventually if the man played defensively. He had to see that. “But something so brash should only be used in the direst of circumstances. Allying yourself with others for short term gains always comes with long term repercussions. Take the bandits who tried to steal my crown jewel. Do you believe they were operating on their own?”
Glade didn’t miss the fact that Holo had placed the slightest emphasis on the horse lord being his.
“Likely not,” Crixus interjected as he intently studied Glade’s and Kedryn’s combined formation. “A bandit crew that size would never be able to survive in the grasslands without someone covering for them.”
“We had the same thoughts,” Holo said, adjusting his mage unit so they covered his foot soldiers. “We took several of the higher ranking members and questioned them last night.”
“Did you find out anything useful?” Glade asked, not caring to know what kinds of questioning techniques the patriarch had used. He didn’t think the Geneva Conventions applied here. Reorienting his focus back on the game, he repositioned his own cavalry before mentally nudging Kedryn to begin the attack.
“A few interesting tidbits,” Holo said, watching Kedryn move his heavy infantry forward. “They were hired by one of the larger houses from Asylum.”
Glade watched as the patriarch moved his own heavy infantry to counter Kedryn’s while positioning his archers so they would be in firing range before the two units engaged. Glade had anticipated that and used his own cavalry to take advantage of the gap in Holo’s defense. He also moved his mages so they could provide ranged support.
Crixus gave a low whistle. “That’ll come back and bite them then. Can you share which house it was?”
“Now, now,” Holo said, his eyes twinkling. “You don’t want me to give up all my secrets, do you?”
“That’s the trouble with secrets,” Glade said, again telepathically helping Kedryn on his next move. “They can both help or harm. One needs a complete picture to truly understand how best to use said secrets.”
Hopefully, Holo would take that last statement as an invitation that they were happy to talk with them. They’d use the same story as before and, with any luck, be out of his hair in a day or two.
Kedryn used his heavy infantry to attack Holo’s forces then brought up his own cavalry in a flanking maneuver. As expected, Holo moved his archers back, leaving his own infantry without cover. He then put his own cavalry into play, maneuvering them to block Kedryn’s advancing cavalry.
Glade shifted his cavalry’s advance. Instead of hitting the heavy infantry, he took his turn to wreak havoc amongst Holo’s foot soldiers, then he positioned his mages to assist Kedryn’s forces against the heavy infantry.
“I didn’t see that one coming,” Crixus said with a smile. Glade let himself smile as well. He would be able to cut through the foot soldiers in another turn and be free to destroy Holo’s supporting ranks later. Kedryn continued to press his attack, Holo’s heavy infantry the biggest problem for them. But with both archer and mage support, the unit would eventually fall.
“Yes,” Holo said, his smile widening. “But a complete picture is truly hard to see when you are blind to how the game is really played. Take for instance, this little battle both of you are focused on. It is indeed surprising how well you have coordinated with your tactics without speaking aloud to one another. I’d say that I will be in full retreat in the next 4 or 5 turns. But, let’s not forget what else is going on across the board.”
With this, Holo took his two moves to blitz Glade’s coastal defenses and land a moderate number of troops just outside of his capitol.
Glade stared, wide eyed at the patriarch’s move. Holo would lose a majority of his forces from their current battle, but…
“You were too distracted. By focusing on your ally you left yourself open to attack where it counts,” Holo cackled. “A battle is just a battle after all. Nothing but short term gains. You lost the moment you shifted your attention away from the long game.”
Glade, sat back, stunned. He had left his capital woefully unprotected. What’s more, Kedryn’s forces were too far afield in the grasslands. They would win the battle, but Holo would use the game mechanics to build up a stronger navy and transport troops to invade Kedryn’s capital faster than he could reinforce his weakened lands.
Holo had won.
“Brillant move,” Glade laughed with a shake of his head.
“Oh?” the patriarch said with a smile, leaning back in his chair. “Wait till you see what I do next.”
At that moment, Cirea walked in with eight other guards, all of whom were fully armed.
Glade’s stomach dropped as fast as his smile. He leapt to his feet, drawing a knife and dropping his connection with both Kedryn and Bragden. His mana was nearly exhausted from using his telepathy to communicate off and on with them throughout the game, but he had enough for at least two psychic attacks.
Bragden cursed as he and the others stood, Kedryn looked anxiously between the guards and Holo.
“What’s the meaning of this,” Glade growled.
“Just a precaution,” Holo said, pouring himself some brandy. “There are just so many wonderful inconsistencies that surround each of you that I can’t help but wonder what is truly going on. You see, the bandits that attacked me were hired by none other than a branch of the Fellu family.”
Crixus’ face paled.
“Now, I can’t help but ask myself, why would the Fellu’s send two separate groups to both rob and save me? They are either more diabolical than I have ever given them credit for, or this is an unusual circumstance that I might just be able to take advantage of.”
“How’d ye figure that?” Bragden growled.
“Simply by paying attention, my bearded friend,” Holo laughed. “You and your other dwarf companion came in wearing slave’s clothing, but no collar. The Fellu’s aren’t known for their charitable acts towards slaves. Then there is the fact that some of my more discreet contacts found Gnoll blood, amongst other things, on board the Dragonling.”
Crixus gave the patriarch an astonished look.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised,” Holo laughed. “Of course we would check. We might have business dealings with the Fellu house, but that doesn’t mean we would blindly trust whoever sails into our port under their banner! Especially when you and your crew, Crixus, arrived as free men yourselves! We wouldn’t have said anything had you just gone on your way, but I smell an opportunity!”
“That’s just Bragden passing gas,” Glade growled. He could probably handle Holo, but he would need to take Cirea down first. If she was as high a ranking body mage as Crixus said, he might need to use both psychic attacks on the woman right from the start. Kedryn could use his air magic on the guards, but they were too spread out which meant Bragden and Crixus would have to take some on until Glade could get to them.
“Tut, tut. You’re going for those short term gains again,” Holo said, waggling his finger. “I can see it in your eyes. Given what my people say about you, I can say with a certainty that you will likely be able to handle two, maybe three of my guards at once. But Cirea?”
“Not a chance,” the Bailiff said with a grin. “I’ve been itching to spar with you ever since I heard what you did to the bandits.”
“Then there is your air mage,” Holo continued. “I can probably handle him myself,” he said with an enigmatic smile. “That leaves the rest of my guards in the room to handle the dwarf and Crixus. If those are insufficient, there are more in the hallway.”
Glade glanced at both Kedryn and Bragden. Ember was practically squawking with rage and was a hairs breadth away from unleashing his own magic. It would work, but that would mark him as a pyro and would likely draw bounty hunters like flies to honey.
“What do you want to know?” Glade growled, sliding his knife back into its sheath. The least they could do was find out what the patriarch wanted. If it was too much, well, he could still burn the place to the ground.
“Splendid! Cirea, please have the guards wait outside while you and I get to know our… friends.”
As soon as the guards were outside and Cirea returned to stand behind Glade, Holo leaned forward with an excited expression.
“I have been dying to know,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “How is that you are not only traveling with dwarves, but with a royal elf and a treeless?”