Shadowkill

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The play went on, Pass round, Claiming round, Pass and Claim for the four doubles of each Chapter. She played carefully, winning more than she lost, deliberately letting chances go by when Uj looked like winning. She wanted him to go away happy. Yes, and without too much interest in her. Again and again as the hours wore on, she felt his eyes on her, read speculation that was an uneasy combination of sexual and professional. By the time they reached the twelfth and traditionally last Chapter in a game like this, though she didn’t let it show, she was beginning to be very worried about how she was going to shuck Uj when it came time to leave. Might have to try outsitting him. Call on Hadluk’s tenuous goodwill or something.

As they moved into the last Chapter, Barangkaly dealing, the air was stale, the lubrinjah oil was low in the lamps and her eyes were stinging with the effluvium coming through the chimneys and the strain of trying to see by the dim flickering light. She inspected her first set, sighed. The cards were too good, a Vagnateka triad; it’d take a really foul chance at the dice to negate this, the highest combine available. It hurt her to think of breaking up a V-Tek, but there was no way she was going to win this Chapter.

Barangkaly threw and went bust. Koetta. He spread his hands. Out.

Shayss, she thought, that narrows the focus. And I’m last up this time. If Uj busts, out…

Tayteknas tossed the ante pera into the Holse, threw a one three six, Siettran. He dropped a ten heart into the Pen, set a pera beside it for the table, but stayed out of the Holse and off the Grid, passed the dice on.

Kahtik threw Siettran, inspected his cards, shook his head. “Out,” he said. He collected his cards, blended them into a single pile and set them on the ledge in front of him. Then he took out a square white cloth, wiped each of the coins in the piles beside the cards, tucked them neatly away into an inside pocket or perhaps a money safe sewn into his vest.

Uj scooped up the dice, sat holding them loosely in his hand, his eyes closed.

Autumn Rose tensed. If he busted…

He tossed the dice, smiled. Three fours. Triple Telvi. He examined his set, lay them down, and squared them. “Option,” he said, took up each of the three other sets and examined them, shifted several cards about, placed the sets face down on the felt. “Done,” he said.

Rose started breathing again. She looked around, saw Pulleet watching her. His mouth hitched up in a brief smile, matching his relief with hers. He touched the left top corner of his set, moved a pile of coins onto the left bottom corner, scratched at his chin.

She tapped her chin, lifted one coin, set it back without letting it clink. Well, well. Not a freetrader after all. Like me, a ringer. Good old Hadluk, hasn’t lost it as much as I thought, finessing himself a double cut. Pulleet had been playing the Table more than the Holse and had done comfortably well so far, though she thought none of the others realized just how well since he had a habit of stowing his wins away after each Chapter. He’d done better than her despite her Holse wins, done it on tiptoe as it were. Clever little man. She bubbled inside with laughter and relief, though she was careful not to let it show. They could be better slotted. Being 1-2 like they were they lost leverage. Still, the Claiming round was coming up, and with a little bit of luck they could make Uj think he was Fingers Harry himself. If he didn’t do something terminally stupid. Which he was quite capable of, he’d already done several moronic plays. Like this wasting a play just looking at his cards.

Nikeldy threw another Siettram, looked at his cards and the single pera remaining in front of him. He squared the set, dropped it on the felt. “Out.”

Pulleet threw seven six two. Marstori. A middle level pass. He dropped two cards in the Pen, a Dancer-Lancer combine. She smiled when she saw them. Good. With the clown and a hanged man she held, that was almost Vagnag. If somewhere in his sets Uj had a seer, a witch or a magician-or a wilder of necessary degree to depute for them, he could do a Major Claim, with the possibility of making a small, large, or double Vag.