All The Skills - A Deckbuilding LitRPG

Book 5 Chapter 19: The Blood Price

It was a rough portal journey. Arthur still felt Brixaby solidly under him, but it felt like they were tumbling over and over, flipped around sideways, upside down, side to side. Then, abruptly, light exploded all around them and they arrived.

Arthur gasped, sucking in a lungful of thin air. Under him, Brixaby made a gurgling sound that might have been his attempt at a roar or a shout. He was nearly flat on the ground, arms, legs, and wings splayed out. Arthur was slumped over his neck and clinging on for dear life.

Before he could gather himself, or even properly look around, a very, very large dragon lowered his head to stare right at them. It was a Legendary. The scales were blood red, and in the distant corner of Arthur's mind, he thought that was a terribly cliche color for such a powerful being. However, there wasn't a hint of a shimmer. It was just blood red, every polished scale a uniform, unending solid red from his snout backward without a blemish or freckle. Even the sclera of his eyes was red. The black pupils were the only break in the color.

The dragon didn't say anything, but Arthur could feel the power of a Legendary roll off him—enough that it was like a physical weight trying to press him down. Was this how other people felt around him and Brixaby? Or was he now only noticing because of his Master of Cards?

No, this red dragon was somehow... more. Arthur felt stifled by it. And, by the way Brixaby shot up to his feet, Arthur knew that he felt it too.

"Ah, you have arrived in short order. Excellent," said a voice.

Arthur glanced around and saw a man around his age stride over. He was handsome with a square jaw, slightly beaky nose, and chestnut hair. The type of face someone would see in a painting with the word ‘hero’ underneath it. Though, there was something... more about him. That same sense of power as the red dragon had. With a shock, Arthur realized this man was a Legendary as well.

The man opened his hand and gestured for the portal amulet. The enchanted runes had gone dark now its job was done, so Arthur handed it over.

With a nod, the man said, "Well, you may as well dismount, and we can get this over with."

But this could not be. Legendaries were rarely hatched, and Arthur was the youngest rider of them by far. But he and this man seemed to be the same age.

Arthur slid off Brixaby's neck to the ground. As he did, he and Brixaby exchanged a brief, surprised glance full of meaning: Something very odd was happening here.

The large red dragon snorted and walked over to an extra-wide ledge, gesturing for Brixaby to accompany him. Now that Arthur had a second to look around, he saw that the red dragon was every bit as large as Elissa, Valentina's massive dragon.

They’re splitting us up, Arthur thought in dismay, but he was playing only a Rare rider. There wasn't much point in objecting.

He inhaled deeply and within a few steps, felt like he had gotten his breath back. The air up here was thin, but it was manageable. From his viewpoint, all he could see above was a deep blue sky dotted with occasional clouds. It seemed he and Brixaby had been transported to the top of the tower.

"We could have just flown up here," he grumbled to himself.

The man leading him didn't reply. Taking his cue, Arthur walked a half behind him, knowing he had to be at his best. If he raised more suspicion about himself and Brixaby, they could easily call in mind mages: dragon riders with mind cards to get the entire truth out of him. Yes, he could fight back with mental shield skills... but then his cover would be completely blown.

Arthur heard the gentle sound of harps as they came closer to the hive tower. There were some players set up not too far away to provide a pleasant atmosphere. He didn't feel any of the ripping winds that usually came at this height, and even the temperature was pleasant. Not too hot, not too cold. Definitely card controlled. Under his shoes, the stone under them transitioned from granite to white marble.

The man led him to an outdoor seating area where two others lounged on long couches. One was a very old man. His face was weathered, and he glanced at Arthur with only vague interest. The woman was blonde, though with a great deal of silver in her hair. She looked at Arthur with dull blue eyes.

Both had the feel of Legendaries, but in comparison to the young vigorous man, their power felt muted.

Arthur held his breath as they glanced over him, but there was no recognition in their eyes. Which was a little... strange. Brixaby's hatching had been quite the event that had brought the leaders from all the hives together. He was certain that at least one of these three would have watched the qualification duels. Perhaps even the hatching. But no one seemed to recognize him at all. The older man and woman simply showed blank indifference.

The younger man took his seat, too, and smiled winningly up at him. Arthur noticed he was not invited to sit, so he stood stiffly with his hands behind his back, awaiting to hear what they wanted… and possibly what they suspected.

“So, Ernest, isn’t it? From Flower Moon,” the older man drawled. “Interesting that the other hives have started throwing their trash our way.”

"A Rare is hardly trash," the woman replied, though with as much energy as a yawn.

The younger man shrugged. "A Purple seems to be quite the waste of a Rare card. They were probably thinking of where to dump him off somewhere the moment he broke his shell."

Arthur kept a very tight control of his anger. He knew they were testing him, and he wasn't going to give them the opportunity to slap him down. But at the same time, he wasn't going to let that pass without comment. "The moment I saw him, it didn't matter one way or another. Our cards were eminently suited for one another."

"Yes, yes. I'm sure it was a beautiful moment for the both of you," the younger man replied with disinterest. "Well, now that we are gathered here, let me introduce myself. My name is Chester." He gestures to the older man. “This is Desmond, and this is Sybil." He barely waited for Arthur to nod to each of them before he added, “What were you doing speaking to the evacuees? Surely, you’re not exchanging farming tips with them?"

It wasn’t funny but Desmond and Sybil laughed uproariously—by far the most animated they had been so far.

That report had taken no time at all to get to the higher-ups.

Interesting. He had been watched from the start. Still, Arthur saw no reason to lie. "I was seeing if any of them were willing to be riders, of course."

Chester nodded. "You’re quite the little go-getter. Setting yourself up as wing leader and already looking for recruits.”

Arthur hesitated and then went for a partial truth. “Part of it was bad timing on my part, sir. I arrived at the hive just as the eruption alarms were going off. My dragon seemed to fit naturally in Wing Purple, and as the highest rank there was Uncommon… Well, I assumed I would lead. Until I got the official go-ahead, however, I wanted to observe how the wing worked and plan for the future. I spoke to the evacuees and expected to go out again through the portal for the cleanup.”

Sybil made a face and snapped her fingers. Immediately, a young maid came up with a tray of tiny delicacies and fluted wine. As she plucked up the wine glass, she spoke, “That is all very well and good, but I do not understand why you would look to evacuees for dragon riders.”

Was this a trick question? It seemed obvious to Arthur. “I noticed many of the Purple Commons didn’t have a rider. It’s the usual practice in Flower Moon to see if any evacuees are worth anything. And, if they are, if they would be willing to become riders. That’s not the same here?”

He was making a calculated bet that these three would not know anything about Flower Moon Hive. They were a small hive and generally kept to themselves. If he remembered right, they were led by only one Legendary.

“Our Rares usually limit the Commons unless they have particularly productive powers. Otherwise, they’re a drag on the wing,” Chester answered, which didn’t make any sense to Arthur. “So? Did you find any good prospects?”

"Nothing for certain. Most of them were a little shocked from the eruption."

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"Hmm.” He sat back in his chair then waved a lazy hand. “Well, you have leave to continue. This is an interesting experiment."

Experiment?

So far, Chester had been carrying the bulk of the conversation, but abruptly the older man spoke up. "Commons," he sighed. "Waste of cards, waste of a blood price when the Uncommons and Rares bring so much more..." he trailed off, vaguely.

Arthur hesitated. Blood price? He waited for an explanation, but the silence dragged on, quickly becoming almost uncomfortable, and he realized he would have to be the one to ask. "Blood price?"

"I'm glad you asked," Chester clapped his hands together. The woman gave a vague smile, and the older man shrugged. "You should know that we run things a little differently around here—though I like to call it more efficiently. As a dragon rider—especially as a Rare—you are in a place of privilege, and you need to earn it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple Uncommon shard. "Do you know what shards are, Ernest?"

"Pieces of cards?" Arthur said, straining to keep his voice from edging up to sarcasm.

Chester flashed a smile at him. "They’re potential. Shards are a sliver of magical potential, and it turns out that all that potential is also within you—within all living beings. Though obviously, cards are the way to access and direct that potential."

Arthur's interest sharpened. "Oh?"

"It is the most efficient form of currency in the kingdom," Chester agreed. "And my card power, let's just say, gathers that energy and uses it for the greater good. But all will contribute," he said firmly. "And if we cannot achieve the efficiency from shards, then we must harvest the blood price from others.

Arthur thought he knew where they were going with this, and he hoped that he was wrong. "By force?"

Chester shrugged. "Have you ever run so low on mana that the spell is powered from your life force? This is something close to that, but I assure you our prices are reasonable." He turned to look at the woman. "Sybil, what are the blood prices now?"

"One uncommon shard per day," she said vaguely. "Going rate is five Commons to one Uncommon."

Arthur did the math in his head. With the frequency of eruptions going on right now, that was doable unless someone was unlucky... or unless they rode a Purple and focused on rescuing. It was difficult to harvest shards from scourgelings when riding a fast, courier-sized dragon.

He realized that they were all staring at him. This was a test and they were waiting for his reaction. They wanted to know if he would balk. Should he balk? Inside, he certainly was, as more and more horrifying implications ran over him.

Keeping a tight hold on his Acting skill, he kept his emotions from his face. Arthur looked directly at Chester. "And how many Uncommons to a Rare?"

This seemed to be the right answer. Chester smiled. "Ten."

They put an artificially high value on Rares here.

"And the wild dragons?" Arthur asked. "I notice many of the Purple Commons don't have riders. Surely, you don't take from riderless dragons."

"No, while they are a drag on our hive, it is still manageable. The blood price is per riding pair. And, you are slightly mistaken, Earnest. We don't charge them. We charge you. There is, after all, a price for rank and privilege, isn't there?" He smiled at Desmond and Sybil who smiled blandly back.

No doubt about it, Chester was the one in charge here.

Chester continued, "As wing leader, you pay the price for the people under you through the efforts of your wing. Do you understand?"

I guess that means I'm officially a wing leader, he thought.

Arthur was about to reply but something about where Desmond was looking caught his attention. Following his gaze, he did a quarter turn and saw that the three Legendries—the Red he'd seen earlier and a rather skeletal looking Blue and Green— were currently surrounding Brixaby. And their postures were threatening.

Brixaby stood between them, hunched and trembling. From the outside, it would look as if he were shaking in fear, given his tiny size and the apparent rank disparity.

But Arthur knew his dragon and saw it as what it was: Brixaby was doing everything he could to hold himself back. There were many tempting Legendary level cards for the taking, and if two of those dragons were as vague and bland as their riders, they would be easy prey.

Still they were trying to intimidate his dragon. And if they were watching him close enough to know that he had been speaking to the evacuees, they likely knew he had brought Cressida and everyone else.

Hot rage swamped over him, and he instinctively retreated into his Personal Space.

There, he paced back and forth, clenching and unclenching his fists. He let the implications he had been ignoring wash over him.

The blood price was per wing, and Horatio and Cressida had just joined under another wing. How much danger was she in? How much danger were they all in?

Arthur was horrified, though he couldn't be totally surprised. There was obviously something dark and wrong about this hive. But the thought of someone taking Cressida’s energy, the vital life force that made her snapping and intelligent and beautiful… It made him want to kill something.

He grabbed up all of his knives and threw them as hard as he could. They clattered against the blank, impersonal walls of his Personal Space, and he knew that he was in danger of possibly ruining some of the razor edges, but he didn't care.

He threw and threw, without any direction, without any skill. Just for the satisfaction of throwing and seeing things hit. If his Master of Skills card were capable of combat-type skills, surely he would have upped a few levels in Knife Throwing.

Finally, some sense came back. He remembered the whole reason Cressida and Horatio had gone for another wing because Joy had a quest. Not only did her quests never seem to lead her wrong, but she had decent advanced intuition, thanks to the dark heart.

Speaking of that, Cressida and Horatio had also received significant upgrades in their power. Horatio had finer control over his light-based powers, and Cressida had a full suite of animal summons for every occasion, and more advanced shielding.

And there were still ways Arthur could protect them, but only if he played his part carefully and kept himself under control. And... Yes, he had more than just Cressida and Horatio to worry about.

Marion and Soledad were in more danger. Soledad and Marion were still starting out on their dragon riding journey. Their hatchlings couldn’t fly yet and neither had the cards in their decks to defend themselves.

How much life force would a healer give, or an origin dragon? Arthur was still a little fuzzy about what an origin dragon was, but the Mythics seemed to think they were special.

Arthur had to trust that Cressida and Horatio could take care of themselves. Meanwhile, he had to take care of Marion and Soledad.

With that firmly in mind, he re-entered normal space and turned back to the waiting Legendries. He had only been gone for less than a blink in an eye in real time.

"I think I understand," he said, mildly. "And since it sounds like I will be leading Wing Purple—" he waited a moment for Chester to nod before he continued, "I have some ideas. If I may be frank, sir?"

"Of course," Chester said with a smile Arthur suspected was fake.

"My dragon is rather domineering for Purple. And I've always had ideas of leadership that were a little bit more... intense and different than what's normally done in Flower Moon Hive. I have some theories I'd like to test."

"Interesting," Chester leaned forward. "What do you mean by that?"

"I have two dragon-riding friends that came along with me." Arthur said, "A silver with a minor healing gift and a red with temperature controlability Their dragons are hatchlings now, but as soon as they can fly, I'd like them to be my lieutenants."

"Lieutenants for a Purple wing?" Desmond murmured. “Seems like a waste of effort.”

"Have you seen Purples?" Arthur asked, dryly. "They're a little bit like herding cats. I need good people on my side."

Chester laughed. "Yes, you may have your two Uncommon lieutenants, though it will take some months before they're trained up. Understand you will be paying the blood price for them immediately."

I never said that they were Uncommon, Arthur thought. He had been watched more closely than he suspected, and he was glad that Cressida and Horatio had gone to another wing, if only for that.

"That's the price of leadership," Chester added, as Arthur took a moment in thought.

Arthur nodded. "Fine."

"Excellent, then I think we understand each other." Chester snapped his fingers and two very thin, older riders came up holding a velvet pillow. On top of rested a wing leader’s badge outlined in purple. Next to it sat a cloudy orb.

Chester handed him the badge and then gestured to the orb. "Have you seen this before, Ernest?”

He had. Or something very close like it. It was an oath orb. He had seen it in the king’s palace the day he had been forced to make an oath of loyalty. That oath had come out as a card that Arthur had put into his heart.

Of course, being Brixaby’s rider, that did not mean very much.

Arthur was playing a Rare and would have not had the opportunity to see the king’s oath orb. "No, I haven't."

"It's very simple, it's a binding oath card," Chester said. “All of my wing leaders are required to take it. It outlines that if you do not pay the debt of the blood price, I am allowed to collect on that debt."

As he spoke, he reached to the orb and pulled out a card which he snapped in half. He handed one half to Arthur who quickly read it. It outlined exactly as Chester said. Very simple. Too simple.

But it wasn’t as if he had a choice. He and Chester slid the snapped off halves into their hearts and it was done.

Arthur wasn't worried.

"And finally," Chester said with a smile, "I'm afraid we will need an initial deposit."

"A deposit on what?" Arthur asked.

"Your new wing, of course. Let's see..." He tapped his chin, and Arthur's acting skill tingled. He knew for certain that this was a deception. Chester knew exactly what he was about to ask for. "You have five Uncommon riders, plus the two baby lieutenants, and yourself of course. That's seven shards for today."

The price could be steep for someone who was not careful with their funds. Arthur, though, hoarded just about everything. He reached into his Personal Space, while pretending to search his pocket, pulled out the necessary amount, and handed it over.

He caught a flash of disappointment in Chester's eyes and suspected that the man had been hoping to get a taste of Arthur's life force here and now.

"One more thing," Chester said, "payday is every three days, and our next payment is tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," Arthur said mildly, smothering his anger for all he was worth.

He was dismissed, and Arthur walked away stiffly, his legs rigid.

Now things were falling into place and made sense, and he realized for a Common rider, life could get expensive very quickly in Blood Moon.

At a silent signal, the Red dragon moved aside and let Brixaby through.

Brixaby’s movements were very similar to Arthur's as he slunk down the ledge, but wasn't dread or fear: his red eyes were boiling with anger.

Silently, Arthur mounted and they took off into the sky.

"I remember Laird saying how much he hated this place," Arthur said, "and I think I understand why."

"True power is not meant to be used this way," Brixaby hissed, surprising Arthur.

"They explained the blood price to you?"

Brixaby snarled which was all the answer he needed.

"Yes," Arthur agreed. “We’ll have to deal with that. Though now that we’ve been officially put in charge of a wing, I have some room to make changes.”

He just needed to figure out where to start.