Guardian of the Night

11

No sooner had the woman sat back than the Barathan struck the table with the cup, trapping the dice beneath it, before slowly, ever so slowly, he began to raise it to reveal the faces of the dice below. Four Crowns, One Skull and one Dagger. As soon as the other players saw the result they, to a one, almost collapsed. It appeared the Barathan man had won and without even a commiseration to his opponents, leaned across the table and pulled his winnings toward himself.

"Anyone else?" The Barathan began to stack the winnings, his eyes taking in the crowd as he did so. "Anyone willing to put their money against the King of the Cup? Anybody? You? How about you? No?"

"How about me?" Bilain glared at the man in the seat opposite the big Barathan man until he moved. She dropped her coin purse onto the table and sat. "Though we'll use another set of dice. Not yours, 'King'."

"You think me a cheat, woman?" He stood, rising to his full height and he almost blocked out all the light in the room. His roar could have shook the building.

"I know you're a cheat." Bilain picked up and dropped her coin purse several times, allowing the chink, chink, chink to fill the silence. "New dice, or you won't see a Bone of my coin. Unless you don't think you can win without cheating?"

The Barathan man glared at Bilain and even his glare felt overweight and looming. The bones in the man's beard clicked against one another as the man shook with a barely held rage. Until he bellowed a laugh, large, white teeth showing through the thick, black whiskers of his face. Bilain had got her wish.

-+-

Water hit Bilain's face as though an entire cloud had burst down upon her and she coughed several times, spitting to the side and attempting to focus her eyes as the water dripped from her face, beading on her lashes. She tried to move, but something bound her and she could only struggle, ineffectually. Only now did she consider she had made a terrible mistake. She had thought herself untouchable.

And in that she showed how far recent events had dragged her down. Having the investigation into the Senator's death thrust upon her, added to the appearance of the shadow vigilante and ending most recently in the death of her most trusted ally, Bilain had, perhaps, become reckless in search of her answers. For certain, she would never have assaulted the Senate Secretary before. Not for any reason. She had come here, alone, under that same recklessness.

"Open your eyes Captain Bilain Grasall." Her eyes still blurred, Bilain could not mistake the large, bearded man before her. If not from the sight of him, then through his booming voice and the rattle of bones tied into his whiskers. "You would dare enter my game and accuse me of cheating?"

"I would." She spat again to the side, looking about her even as the Barathan loomed above her. "If I see a cheat, I feel obligated to let everyone know. It's only fair."

"Fair, is it? Fair! Is it fair that you come to my game and insult me in front of my friends? Well, perhaps not friends. More acquaintances. Customers. Marks." With a sigh that almost made the floor rumble, the Barathan man moved behind the chair and Bilain felt the ropes loosen. "Did you have to malign my trustworthiness in front of everyone? Lotjur Ceure has a reputation, you know!"

Once released, the Barathan, Lotjur, moved back before Bilain and lifted her, bodily, from the chair, giving her a crushing embrace. He smelled of cheap alcohol, even more cheap scent and spiced lamb cutlets. After continuing the embrace for far longer than Bilain would prefer, Lotjur dropped her back to the ground.

Bilain rubbed life back into her wrists as she tried to remember what had happened. Flashes came to her, of playing dice and seeing Lotjur's face darken with each lost roll, tears almost appearing in his eyes as his pot dwindled and then, that final moment. The moment when he had swept the dice into the cup and Bilain had seen the tiniest glimpse of a die falling into Lotjur's voluminous sleeve. She had caught his arm, holding it until she had removed a near dozen extra dice, laden to land upon Lotjur's favoured Crown side. The blow from behind had shocked Lotjur almost as much as Bilain. Almost.