Published at 3rd of August 2024 7:48 am

Book 2 Chapter 11: Whip 'em out

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The Bitter Wife was not the finest establishment in Rendhold, far from it, but it certainly did its best to live up to its name. Gambling, whoring, drinking, even fighting if you were into that sort of thing, all of it was available to the Bitter Wife’s patrons. It was located southeast of the Academy towers, in one of the only ‘bad areas’ you could reach close to Uptown. Dantes hadn’t been familiar with this particular den of sin when he was thrown into the Pit, but he’d taken a bit of time the previous day to scope it out with his four and six legged allies.

He wore a dark gray coat he’d stolen, a black hat, rings on each his fingers, and a gold chain on his neck. The bouncer didn’t even glance at him as he walked in. He clearly had money to spend, and was clean enough that none of the girls would complain.

He went to the bar first, where a dwarven woman was busy pouring beer into mugs and swiftly handing them out to a group of ten patrons that seemed to have arrived before him. He moved onto a bar stool, mentally checking each of the gambling tables, and finding his mark.

The man was long and lean, with brown hair that had touches of gray, and purple eyes. His face was gaunt, as if he frequently forgot to eat, but there was a clear vigor to him. He wore casual clothes, but the stink of the Academy was all over him. Dantes had learned about him from Dario, when he was on the hunt for a less than scrupulous mages. Felix was a good target for a number of reasons. He was a tenured professor, he had little to no talent for combat magic, and he excelled at enchantments, binding, and breaking. Most importantly, he loved to gamble, which was always a beautiful thing to see in someone you want to have control of.

Felix was at a White Drake table, holding his five cards and smiling. No one else at the table shared his expression. He put his cards down to the groans of the rest of them. He pulled the small pile of coins, and one silver ring in front of himself, and began carefully organizing his winnings as another player began re-shuffling the deck and getting ready to deal out another hand. The table was full, but based on the piles in front of each of them, a seat would be opening soon.

“What’ll you ‘ave?” asked the dwarven bartender, a bit out of breath, but keeping impatience out of her voice somehow. She was a stocky woman, with a square jaw, but her eyes were a pretty shade of brown.

“Something strong and brown, preferably the same shade as your eyes.”

She blinked a few times. “We don’t have anything quite that shade.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Too unique. Just whatever’s closest to it then.”

She reddened slightly as she grabbed a bottle and poured him a glass from it.

He slid her a silver and threw the drink back, enjoying the burn as it went down. The Vixen had been great, but their focus on wine had left a bit to be desired. He’d been drinking prison hooch for years and preferred something stronger.

“Thank you.”

She nodded and went to serve another customer, before refilling his glass.

He nursed this one, keeping an eye on the table. The Bitter Wife was in good shape, but there were still rats here and there. He moved one to the spot in the wall behind Felix and had it take a loose nail and start to push it quietly through the wall, then removed it to peer through. Through its eyes he was able to see Felix’s hand, though only barely as rat eyesight wasn’t near as good as his own. Felix was one card short of a full flight, having a minotaur in his hand rather than a Blue Wyvern. The rat blinked, and the minotaur was suddenly a Blue Wyvern.

Dantes smiled to himself as he took another sip of his drink. A fellow degenerate.

He looked at the bartender.

“Nother drink?”

He nodded, and she poured again.

“The tables. Do they have any enchantments to keep mages from cheating? I know the academy isn’t far.”

She nodded. “Yes ser, they can’t prevent any magic, but there’s some type a enchantment that makes it more obvious when someone uses magic. Outside the bar when someone uses magic I hear a gentle tone if there’s magic about, but in here when a cocky student tries something it’s like an eagle screamin in my ear.”

He nodded. He hadn’t felt any tingling in his fingertips, so that meant however Felix was cheating it was getting around their detection. In Midtown a mage could probably cheat with impunity, but not too many students would walk the streets there too boldly. Even winning too much honestly can get you killed in Midtown.

He slid her another silver. “Thank you.”

She eyed the silver. “Ser, you haven’t even drank through the first silver yet.”

“That’s to keep serving me when I go to that table,” he pointed to the table Felix sat at, where a man was shaking with sobs as Felix and another man split the pile in the center of the table.

She nodded to him.

He slid her a third silver. “And this is just a tip.” He stood and walked over to the table, passing the crying man as he made his way to the door. He smiled at the men and women at the table and gestured to the empty seat.

“Seems you have an opening. Mind if I join?”

The table sized him up, eyeing his rings, the gold necklace, and the fine coat.

“I’d say yer welcome,” said a heavyset woman to his right. “Long as you don’t cry when you lose. Can’t stand to see a man cry.”

Dantes sat down. “Oh, I do cry when I lose. But I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

The woman laughed, as did a few of the others at the table.

Felix lifted the deck of cards and slid it across the table to him. “New guy deals first round.”

Dantes smiled and took the deck. He thumbed the edge of it, listening to the sound as the cards smacked into one another, then he cut it, merged them, cut it again, then brought them together again into a satisfyingly perfect pile, and started dealing out five cards to each person at the table. It had been a while since he’d played cards. Dice were much easier in the Pit. You could make them yourself, they were harder to break, and easier to steal. Still, as he deftly dealt out cards to each player, ensuring based on only a brief glance that he’d have a decent, but not perfect hand, that he hadn’t lost his touch.

After he was done he picked up his cards. He had a three dragon run, a solid first hand, but beatable. He watched everyone else pick up their own, paying particularly close attention to Felix’s hand through the hole in the wall. He had a mated pair, and a three color changeup, which would beat Dantes.

Dantes tossed in two silver, subtly reaching back and accepting a drink from the bartender with a thank you. The other players called, and put in their bets. He kept his same hand, smiling, as everyone else changed theirs by one or two cards. Dantes raised by another silver, and the heavyset woman raised by an additional after that. The other two at the table folded, and everyone revealed their cards with Felix taking the pot.

“Are the tears coming?” asked the heavyset woman.

Dantes smiled at her and winked. “I haven’t lost until I’m out of money.”

The rest of the game was a lot of back and forth, and not just between Felix and Dantes. Dantes kept his wins minimal and his losses obvious, but was never down by much. Between his ability to see everyone’s hands, and his own delicate fingers he had a lot of advantages. He paid particularly close attention to Felix’s hand of course. Felix, like Dantes, didn’t cheat every time. He would hold on to good or decent hands, and only ever switch one card at a time. And it was switching the cards. He wasn’t creating duplicates, which would be easier to suss out. He also didn’t seem to be able to tell what cards everyone else had, just what was available in the deck. That meant that as the deck got towards its end, he had fewer options. That gave Dantes an in.

Slowly, but surely, everyone at the table was beaten except for Dantes and Felix, though the heavyset woman stayed to watch their bout, and deal. Dantes won with a Full Flight, then Felix had the next hand with a White Drake ascending. Finally, they were near the bottom of the deck. Dantes had stopped being measured with his wins, and now had a pile five times the size of Felix’s, but Felix kept betting more anyway. He was sweating, clearly wondering how in the hells Dantes was beating him, but he found no sympathy with those left at the table.

Dantes looked past his hand at the paltry pile in front of Felix.

“Looks like we’re almost at the end, eh? Maybe take what you have left and go? I’m starting to feel a bit guilty.”

Felix scowled. “No. I’m due for a win.” He had a Wyvern’s Wing, a near unbeatable hand unless someone else had the White Drake in their hand. The deck was nearly full, and the drake was still in it so the chance of his opponent pulling it was very low.

“I’ll tell you what…” Dantes held out his glass for the barmaid to fill once again, his delightful inebriation causing him to shoot her a wink as he thanked her. “How about I give you the chance to win it back, and everything I have as well.”

Felix squinted his eyes suspiciously. He sensed no magic from the man, and he’d been carefully watching him for signs of deception. At this point, with Britt dealing it should be nearly impossible for him to be cheating. He swallowed.

“I’ll agree to my half now, and see if we raise to your half after the discard and draw.”

Britt scoffed. “Coward.”

Dantes raised his hands. “Deal, and if you lose we’ll head straight to the nearest feybinder and work out a loan.”

He nodded, and they each chose their discards. Felix got rid of one card, and drew another that did nothing for or against him.

Dantes got rid of two and smiled as he looked at his hand.

Felix smiled back. He could sense the White Drake was still in the deck. The best his opponent could have was a Black Flight, a good hand, and one that warranted the man’s confidence, but could beaten by his own.

“So, do you accept the full terms now?” asked Dantes.

Felix nodded. “Yes.”

“That’s enough being modest ladies,” said Britt, “whip ‘em out.”

Felix laid down his hand, eliciting widened eyes from Britt.

Dantes let out a high whistle and shook his head with a dour expression. “Wow, a nearly impossible hand to beat.” He laid down his cards one at a time, revealing the hand that Felix had expected, then he hesitated at the last card and smiled. “Unless, I have this of course.” he placed down the White Drake card.

Felix’s eye bulged in their sockets and he looked again at the deck. “That’s impossible the white drake is still in the deck!?”

Dantes raised an eyebrow. “And how would you know that?” he was right of course. Dantes had bought a deck that matched the one they were playing with and hid a number of cards on his person. He hadn’t used any of them since he knew of Felix’s method, but for the win it made sense to put it all on the table.

“Yeah Felix,” said Britt leaning forward. “How would you know that?”

Felix looked at the two of them. “I… I guess I wouldn’t.”

Dantes smiled. “That’s good. I wouldn’t have wanted to have to talk to management about you.” He slid the equivalent to double what Britt had lost over to her. “Thank you for dealing and helping to keep things fair. I’m sure you won’t mention our friends slip of the tongue”

She smiled and nodded. “Happy to help.” She pocketed the money and walked toward the bar.

Dantes looked at Felix. “You are quite the player, but the game is over now. It’s time to talk payment.”

He went pale. “I… I don’t have enough to pay you right away. Even with a loan it’ll take a long time…”

“Listen, you seem like an alright sort. I’ll tell you what. I won’t make you worry about the money. I don’t even need money. You could just owe me a few favors.” Dantes made a gold coin dance between his fingers. “You’re a mage, right?”

Felix nodded.

“I have an enchantment I’d like to be able to break at will.”

Felix shook his head. “The academy would-”

Dantes raised a hand “Not a major one. I have a friend that runs a bakery. Only problem is that a different bakery just opened up the street and is selling everything cheaper than him. I figure, I’ll have some guys throw some rats in there to scare out customers.”

“Oh, the anti-vermin enchantment?”

“Yes, that’s it. I don’t need you to remove an enchantment protecting a nobleman from poisoning, or a whore from pregnancy. I just want to help out a friend. You make me something that can break it, something small and easy to carry, and we’ll hold off on you owing me anything. Does that sound so bad? Surely the Academy wouldn’t even be that harsh on you if you were caught.”

Felix thought about it. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he was expecting. Besides, it would take years to pay off what he owed depending on what kind of interest the thug in front of him made him agree to.

“I can do that.”

Dantes gave him a warm false smile. “Good! How about I buy you a drink? A whore? You seem to be low on funds.”

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