Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 20 - Retreat - I

  "I have found friends, and I have made foes. Never have I known a friend who was perfect in every way, nor foe in whom I could see no redemption. Let them come and define themselves for me, as I do them. In due course will each make clear their own alignment; I take judgment only upon their actions. And if you declare yourself my foe, be wary: I will shield myself with every power at my disposal. Magic is but one of these."

  ~Cinza, the Rallsburg Diaries

  Tyler glanced down over his cards, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed.

  Come on, come on. Attack it. Natalie could barely keep a straight face. She held up her own cards in front of her mouth to try and hide her excitement. She'd bet a lot on this one forest. Tyler could attack the larger stack at the village, where she'd dumped a bunch of pretty worthless cards... or he could hit the forest, where she'd set up the real trap.

  It's the shorter path to my castle, it has less stuff, and you already scouted it two turns ago. If you don't attack it, I get to make free elves there next turn. It's a no-brainer, Tyler.

  "Nebelf— Nebelt—"

  "Nebeltheim," supplied Steven, sitting next to Tyler and watching the game intently.

  "Nebeltheim casts winter chill," Tyler finished, pointing at her forest.

  Oh. I forgot he could do that. Nebeltheim Eisterben, the Frozen King. I gotta learn the rest of the generals. Natalie nodded. "So none of them can move for a turn, right?"

  "Yeah." Tyler moved the fur-coated, skull-masked Nebeltheim forward to his fort in the middle-front of his kingdom, and tossed two cards onto it from his hand, face-up. "Two berserkers and I end my turn," he added, spending a pile of resources to do it.

  Natalie frowned. Okay, so my turn's kinda wasted. Linnethea's stuck in the winter along with all my best cards. At least she's still hidden. All I can do is... oh, wait. I still have all those cheap cards on the village, and now they're in range. I can do this.

  She drew two cards using her rear territories, which meant her queendom deck was getting scary low, but she got one of the specialist cards she was looking for—the siege engineer she'd bought super cheap early in the game and dumped right into her deck. It'd make her attack that much more effective.

  "Siege engineer on my village and I bombard your fort," she said, tossing it out with a bit of a flourish. She showed off a little, making the card zoom forward in midair and land perfectly where she wanted it to. It was subtle enough that no one else in the cafeteria would notice, so Natalie didn't think much about doing it, but up close it was obviously unnatural.

  Steven grinned. "That's so cool."

  "What's so cool?" asked Mitch, sliding onto the bench next to him. Steven looked around with a shock, as did Natalie. Neither had noticed him walk up.

  "Where were you guys?" Tyler asked, annoyed.

  "Principal grabbed him and I went along with so he wouldn't do something stupid," said Kelsey, taking a seat near Natalie. Not next to her, but one away.

  Never next to her. Natalie sat against the wall, and the seat beside her stayed totally empty. Always.

  "What did she want with you?" she asked, curious.

  "Hey, you're not the only one who gets in trouble," Mitch shot back.

  "You say that like it's a good thing..." Steven muttered.