Dark Queen: The Cybelline Prophecies

Chapter 55

"Each player gets a cup with three dice. The House will either say High or Low. The player rolls, and whoever rolls the closest to the House's call wins."

The dealer walked over, after having picked his jaw up from the ground, "I'll be your dealer today."

Cybellined nodded. She picked up the cup of dice. Unbeknownst to the prince of thieves, Cybelline had spent a year at a casino undercover. This game wasn't just chance, but skill with dice. It was a game that was easy to learn but hard to master. Luckily for Cybelline, she was a master. 

"Best out of three?" Cybelline said with a smile. Phillip bowed obligingly.

" For this round, highest number wins." The Dealer called.

Phillip  shook the cup, the dice rattled. After a while of listening carefully, he set the cup on the table, in it were dice that showed three sixes, in total it added up to eighteen. Phillip had been playing this game since he was young.

Cybelline smiled, gave the cup a gentle rattle and set the cup down as well. Two of the dice were settled, but the final one spun. Phillip frowned, he had never seen dice spin like that. 

He looked at Cybelline who gave him an innocent smile. 

Six, Six...the final dice was wobbled towards a one.

Phillip smiled. He was about to say something but then was hit with a sneeze.

"ACHOO" He sneezed. 

The dice paused, and  fell. To everyone's shock, it split apart. Phillip and the Dealer watched it split in half, the sides of four and three, laying neatly on the table. In total Cybelline's dice showed six, six, seven. In total, it was nineteen. Cybelline had beaten the Prince by one.

Cybelline smiled, "Beginner's luck."

What?

Phillip wanted to curse the heavens. How did the dice split. If he hadn't know Cybelline had just arrived in the city, then he would have sworn the lass had bribed the dealer.

The dealer wanted to curse the heavens as well, when he saw the Prince of Thieves looked at him with suspicion. He regretted getting out of bed today.

The crowd that had watched the two looked as if they'd seen a ghost. The Prince of Thieves rarely came to his own house to gamble. But they knew that he was one of the best gamblers of the realm. Even he would not have been able to do what this youth had done. 

The dealer swallowed hard, "Next round, Smallest number wins."

Phillip grabbed his dice and shook hard, he placed it on the table with a smile. He had been playing all his life, he was willing to bet his left foot that he would win this round. He opened the cup, three dice lay on the table. Each had  "one" facing up. Three was the lowest number.

Cybelline took the dice and frowned, it was so long ago since she did this trick, how did it go again? Phillip drawled he sat back on his chair, he  grinned "It's alright, if you give up now, we can go dress shopping."

Cybelline's hand seemed to falter. Out dropped the dice. Two, one, one. She lost by one. 

The crowd laughed. It must have been beginner's luck. No one would be able to beat the Prince of Thieves they had been paranoid. 

Cybelline looked worried. Phillip was about to open his mouth and comfort her. He wasn't really going to take her money when she spoke up. 

"You know, I think the stakes aren't high enough. That's why I'm not doing well." She sighed, "How about this, if i win, I get this tavern." She looked up, "Or are you afraid?" 

Some people scoffed at the youth's arrogance. He had just lost and now he wanted to raise the stakes. "Is this laddy right in the head?" Someone in the crowd shouted, the men laughed.   

Phillip's eyes lit up, it had been a long time since someone had challenged him like this. 

"And if I win?" Phillip murmured, "What do I get? It's a lopsided wager now." 

"You won't" Cybelline said simply.

Phillip grinned wickedly, "If I win or even tie, then I get Ithos for a year. I've wanted to learn his sword fighting style for a long time" 

"Done." Cybelline agreed. If Ithos knew that his daughter sold him out so fast, he...would cry a little. 

"Smallest number wins." The Dealer called. Now the crowd swelled to an unmanageable size. Even the people upstairs had heard about the outrageous wager. They strode out and watched from above at the two gamblers. 

Phillip shook the dice cup again, confidently. When he opened it, three dice with "One" faced up again. The crowd applauded and cheered, this was their king. He was undefeatable. Some eagerly waited for the youth to give up. Phillip had said that if he won or tied, then he would win. Phillip had roped the lowest number, how could the youth win now?  

"Give up!" someone cried. The crowd roared and jeered. Phillip frowned. 

Cybelline smiled, and Phillip instinctively felt something bad was going to happen. He had been prince of thieves for long enough to know that he should trust his instinct. It was a smile he would always remember, and a smile that would haunt his nightmares. 

Cybelline shook the dice cup three times and opened it.

The three dice were stacked on top of each other, and only one dice showed on top, "one" was clearly marked on it. Cybelline smiled, the lowest number was not three. She'd learned this trip a long time ago, with the dice stacked neatly in a column, there would only be one number. 

She'd won.

THUD. Phillip had leaned too far back on the chair and fell on the ground. Silence ensued as the entire tavern looked onto the scene with their mouths opened. All their jaws were on the floor. 

It turned out that after all this time they spent laughing at the youth, it was their stupidity that kicked them in the face. Some people quietly slipped away, too ashamed to watch. 

Suddenly a few claps sounded in the empty hall. A man walked towards them, his gaze cool as he looked at the Cybelline. He was a tall imposing figure, a cut above the cloth, a man whose name was feared through the realm.

"Care to play with me?" The man said as he gazed at youth, his eyes seemed to bore holes into the youth's face. No one knew how he felt right now. After all these years, all the endless wars and searching, he had finally found someone with her eyes. His heart thudded in his chest as he tried to gaze back through the years to find the shadow of the girl who pulled him out of the darkness.

But why was the owner of the green eyes a boy? He didn't know, didn't care. Right now, this moment, he had seen a flicker of hope. He rushed toward it like a drowning man who had finally seen the surface of the ocean. 

Cybelline looked up and almost cursed. She had hoped that she would never see this man again. 

Phillip stood up and stood in front of Cybelline. He grinned, "My good Lord Killian. My friend here isn't used to the likes of you."

He turned to Cybelline and smiled, "Come I know another great place that has arguably a much smaller population of power hungry warlords. The food there is great too."

"He's coming with me." Killian said. He not a man of many words, especially to those whom he didn't care about. 

Phillip's smile faded as well, "No, I saw him first."