The Crows Next Mission - Wesper

Chapter Three

"Deal me in!" He was sure he was winning big tonight. The boy, who was much younger than the other five men sitting at the table, pushed his share of coins into the jackpot. The Dealer started with a good shuffle of the cards before dealing them out. The other men held their poker faces while looking at their hands but Jesper couldn't help but smile.

"Terrible poker face there, boy." One of the overweight wealthy men pointed out.

He ignored the man and put a few chips in the middle, "Bet," He said looking at the man with a smirk.

"Raise," The man said playing a pile of chips bigger than the boys, which the boy matched. At this point in the game, the other four men have folded their cards leaving only one man and the boy.

The dealer flipped the last burner card, meaning now it was time to place their final bets. The boy went and place his bet, he wasn't going to call it now, but so did the man. The final bets were called and the man placed his cards on the table to reveal he had three of a kind. He sat back proudly in his chair as the boy wasn't beating him unless he had a high-value hand.

"Reveal your hand, boy." The man said and he did, revealing his useless hand of cards. The man let out a guffawing laugh and leaned forward to scoop up the jackpot. "A terrible bluff," He said holding up the coin in a teasing manner before giving the coin a kiss.

 It was true though and he had a terrible hand and bluffed his way through the game, but he wasn't done yet. "Another game gentelmen?" The boy said placing a new bet of coins on the table with a grin. He was winning this game, he was sure of it. Plus the night was still young and he still had a high chance of winning big tonight.

He defiantly would have won this next game if a man with a cane hadn't interrupted. At this point in the night, he had lost count of how many games he had lost but it was quite easy to keep track of the number zero as that was the number of times he had won.

"Your pockets are empty Jesper," Kaz said standing behind the Zemeni boy.

"And I suppose you have a way to refill them?" Jesper said folding his cards showing he was pulling from the game. "How much?"

"500 Kruge."

"I could earn more than that in a night here," Jesper said turning his head to face the man standing behind him. Even though this 'man' was bearly older than him to refer to him as boy felt wrong.

"Don't lie to yourself," Kaz said handing Jesper a piece of folded paper, "This is the address of a man I need you to deliver a message to."

Jesper took the paper and took his time to read it, "The Inn, huh?" Kaz nodded, "Who is this man?"

"His name is not important." Kaz said, "Use force if you must." He said and turned to leave the table.

Jesper stood up, giving up his spot at the table which a man with too many coins to burn took in heartbeat, "What did he do?"

"What he did is not important."

"Would be nice to know."

"Go."

"And where are you going?" Jeaper asked when he noticed Kaz had an umbrella in the opposite hand of his cane.

"I have other important business."

Maybe Jesper should have demanded higher pay for this job if he had realized he would be ruining his good suit for it because his hat wasn't enough to keep it dry from the rain. At least the sunrise was there to keep him company while he walked. He was thankful when he reached the Inn and could finally get out of the rain that had turned to a light sprinkle.

A woman was sitting at the desk, she looked as if she had been sitting there all night. Her gaze was focused on something on the desk while she twirled her hair with a pen. She was too focused to hear the bell over the door ring and Jesper walk in. Jesper put on a charming smile and walked to the desk to give the woman a kind greeting. "What do you need?" She spoke not caring to greet the boy back.

"Straight to the point I see," He tried joking but there was no reaction from the woman, "Ok. I'm looking for this room." He said showing her the piece of paper Kaz had given him.

"Are you here to sleep with or murder?"

Jesper gave the woman a confusing look before hesitantly saying, "Neither. It's a business meeting."

"Third floor, don't get any blood on the sheets." She said and turned away from Jesper to return to her crossword game in the daily paper.

"Thank you," Jesper said as he tapped the desk with his hand and headed for the stairs.

He made his way to the third floor and followed the room numbers till he found the one he was looking for and put a knock on the door. He placed his hand on his gun, ready to use it if he must. He waited for a minute to no answer, so he knocked again. No answer. A third knock. He was about to make it four when the door flying open beat him to it. There he was met with the most innocent blue eyes he'd ever seen, 'Use force if you must'  the words of Kaz made no sense to him as he looked at the boy. There was no possible way this was the one Kaz needed to send a message to, the message being to leave the Barrel or else. What could this boy have done to cause so much trouble, unless...

"My apologies, wrong room," Jesper said after taking a second glance at the room number realizing it wasn't the number written on the paper. He turned and left the boy frozen in the doorway. He felt stupid for messing that up, which didn't happen often but when it did he'd rather not mess up in front of someone attractive. It made the feeling ten times worse.

He walked down the hall and for a moment he felt lost, but not direction lost, lost as if he had just lost something. He had no idea what he had just lost but his pockets felt empty. It was a confusing feeling but one he just couldn't shake. Maybe the feeling was caused by the prince from the wrong storybook he'd just run into, at least that's what Jesper thought because that boy sure as hell didn't belong here. Here as in the Barrel. A boy like that belongs in some big fancy house on the water with servants coming at the ring of a bell.

Jesper then let out a breath and knocked on the right door this time, he made sure to double-check the number this time and when the door was answered he knew he had the right man now. The man looked like any other man who had a gambling addiction but Jesper recognized him as the man who had caused chaos at the Crows Club a few days prior. But more importantly, the man who had robbed Jesper dry. Any game Jesper had played against this man he had lost, there was no way this man hadn't cheated. 

He wasn't sure what business this man had with Kaz, maybe he was really cheating on his games or had threatened Kaz in some way, but he didn't care because there was no way Jesper would lose to this man again. He made sure of that and the bullet hole in the middle of his forehead did too.

"Sorry," Jesper apologized to the woman at the desk on his way out, throwing her a few kruge he had taken from the wealthy man's pockets for the inconvenience. The incontinence being the blood on the sheets.

Chapter Three - April 25, 2023

Word Count - 1358 Words

I wanted to add a little note at the end of each chapter but idk what to write...

- Flyon