The Radiant War

Chapter 5a

     “I see your five berries,” said Princess Ardria, reaching into the bag by her side. She pulled out a handful of the small, red berries, collected from the side of the road that morning, counted out ten and dropped the rest back into the bag. Then she carefully placed the ten on the suitcase she and Teena, her handmaid, had laid across the seat between them. One rolled towards the edge as the carriage bounced over a particularly large pothole in the road. She scooped it up before it could disappear onto the floor, to join the dozens of others that had already gone there, and replaced it alongside its fellows. “And I raise you five more.”

     Teena examined her cards with all the intensity of a bomb disposal expert faced with a destructive device created by a mad genius. Her gaze flicked to the Princess's three cards that lay face up on the table, then darted back to her own cards. The Princess thought she could almost hear the buzzing of high speed machinery inside her head as she considered her options. “Card,” she said at last, taking one of the cards from her hand and placing it on the discard pile.

     Ardria dealt her another card, face down on the table, to replace it. Teena picked it up and added it to her hand. More careful deliberations took place, and then she reached into her own bag of berries and counted out twenty. “I see your ten, and I raise you ten more,” she said.

     Ardria scowled, discarded a card from her own hand and dealt herself another to replace it. She examined her cards, pretending to be engrossed in them, then looked up suddenly to catch a smile on her handmaid’s face that she hid immediately. The two women stared at each other, suspicion in Ardria's steely grey eyes, pure innocence in Teena’s soft brown irises. Then Ardria stared at Teena's berry bag, plump and full of berries, while hers was almost empty.

     “When I asked whether you’d ever played this game before, you said no,” she said. “Are you sure that was, in fact, the truth?”

     “Yes,” protested the handmaid innocently. “I've never played this game before today.”

     “Never?” insisted Ardria.

     A guilty looked crept across the handmaid's face. “Well, I've never played this game before, but there’s another game the servants sometimes play below stairs, when their duties allow.”

     “A game similar to this one?”

     “It has elements in common with this game,” The handmaid admitted, “but it’s a completely different game. I promise I would never lie to you, Your Highness.”

     “Hmmmm.” She glanced across at Tamwell, the Captain of her escort guard, sitting in the carriage’s other seat, facing them. He was trying to hide a faint smile. When he saw the Princess glaring at him he cleared his throat and turned to look out the window.

     “Very well,” said Ardria. “let’s see what you’ve got. I call.” She placed her cards face up on the table, beside the two that already lay there. “A crew,” she declared. “Sixes and eights.”

     “Family of Coins,” declared Teena triumphantly, laying down her own cards for inspection. She scooped up all the berries on the suitcase and dropped them into her bag. “Another hand?” she asked, smiling brightly.

     “Why not? Captain, would you like to join us this time? The game goes much better with three players, and I'm sure Teena will be delighted to divide her berries with you.”

     “I’m on duty, Your Highness,” the Captain replied. “I have to remain alert for any threat that might present itself.”

     “Yes, of course. Very well, Teena, just you and me again, but I'm on to your little tricks now. Don't think you'll be able to fool me quite so easily again.”