Story: With Hidden Cards
Title: With Hidden Cards
Words: ~1900
Warnings: mild violence
Written for brigits_flame , week 2, December 2009 (Topic: hustler)
A cool breeze was blowing from the sea and the sunset‘s last streaks of colour were rapidly fading to a dark blue as night fell. On the pier, a few commands to the men loading and unloading the ships could still be heard. Most of the dockworkers had already finished for the day and were heading towards the many taverns close to the harbour.
Dairus strolled along the quay, listening to the laughter coming from the taverns and taking in the atmosphere of the harbour. It had been too long since he had been able to come here and get this feeling of freedom.
Tonight, he had been able to complete the accounts early. His father happened to walk into his workroom just when he was getting up with a satisfied smile. Though his father usually believed that the children of the rich merchants should not receive too much money from their parents, he had been so pleased with the amount money they had earned this month that he had given Dairus a sack of gold Torgeers and silver Imelans.
Dairus had locked most of it into the large mahogany chest in his house but a certain amount had been put into the leather moneybag in Dairus‘ pocket to be spent during an enjoyable evening at the quay. He had been thinking about playing a couple of games of cards in one of the taverns, but perhaps he should just spend it on that busty brunette prostitute that was currently smiling at him….
“Hey, watch it!” an angry and slightly slurred voice interrupted his intense survey of the brunette. With a start, Dairus realised he had nearly bumped into a massive sailor that was now towering over his slight frame. The sailor’s blue greenish skin, indicating at least one mermish ancestor, was considerably darkened, a clear sign that he was in no mood for jokes.
“I apologise most sincerely, sir. May waves drown my life and my soul be lost in forests of seaweed should I ever repeat my mistake.”
“Hrmph, may Oirtea, Great Temptress of the Sea prevent this from becoming necessary,” the massive man replied gruffly but clearly appeased by the correct form of apology.
Dairus sighed with relief as the sailor staggered away. Looking around, he noticed that the brunette he had been eyeing had disappeared with another customer. So it was cards this evening.
Paying more attention to the crowds milling around him, Dairus resumed looking for a tavern to venture into. He considered entering an overfilled yard from which he could hear excited cheers but decided that he wasn’t in the mood for watching what was most likely a fight of sekalps, a small species of sea-demon.
Finally, Dairus entered a small tavern with a roughly painted seal above the door. Inside, there was a scratched and not particularly clean bar as well as a number of tables. There was practically no decoration, as this wasn’t one of the pubs rich merchants like him usually went to when they felt like getting a taste of the ‘authentic’ harbour. A mixture of dockworkers, sailors and travellers was sitting around the tables, often with dice or cards in the centre of the tables.
Dairus ordered a pint of ale and went over to one of the tables at which a game of Trarodo, a type of card game, had just finished.
“Good ev’nin’. D’you mind if I join you?”
“Nah, pull up a chair. We was jus’ startin’ a new roun’.”
One of the men handed out cards. After a quick look at them, Dairus placed two silver Imelans on the table as his bet. He always started with relatively small sums, getting to know the skills and tactics of the other players and letting them win a few times.
Concentrating briefly, Dairus checked the cards of the bearded man sitting to his right. A blue seal, two white pixies, a green dragon, a white phoenix and two red lions. Not a bad set of cards. Unaware of the fact that Dairus knew his cards, the man made his first move. The young merchant son made a mental note and concentrated on the next person.
In all his visits to the taverns by the wharves, nobody had ever become suspicious of Dairus, since he had always concealed his skills by only winning a few profitable games and losing ever so often. Nevertheless, he made a fair profit with his ‘mind reading’, as his sister Gerdith, the only person who knew about this talent, called it. This term was not quite correct, Dairus thought, he was neither reading nor did his skill really concern the mind. He was merely able to look through other people’s eyes if he concentrated on it.
After everybody had made their three moves, the game ended and the bearded man won. In the next game, Dairus raised his bet. Though he lost again, Dairus had gained enough knowledge about the others’ tactics to win a golden Torgeer, three Imelans and seven bronze Frumlans in the third game. From then on, he made sure to switch between winning and losing games in a random seeming way to avoid suspicions while still making a steady profit.
From time to time, the group of players changed, due to new people joining and others leaving to go home or join a different game at one of the other tables. Dairus never needed much time to get used to the tactics the newcomers were using.
Around midnight, a young man in sailor’s garb but with a pale, untanned face contrasting his dark hair joined the game. Dairus did not pay much attention to him at first but when he focused on the newcomer’s cards, he became curious. No matter how hard he concentrated, he was unable to see through the stranger’s eyes. Even closing his own for a moment changed nothing. The cards remained invisible.
Disconcerted, Dairus concentrated on one of the other players, afraid his gift might have disappeared somehow. To his great relief, he could still see his cards.
Dairus tried seeing the dark-haired man’s cards again, but nothing had changed. For a little while, he entertained the thought that the man might be blind, but he soon discarded this thought when, after curiously examining the room and the other players, the stranger’s intense blue eyes stared straight at him from across the table.
The game had already begun and Dairus found himself in the unusual situation of being completely unable to guess another player’s moves. Quickly, all the others faded into the background as Dairus put his main focus on that one man. After several rounds, it became apparent that the games were entirely dominated by two equally matched opponents and some other people began leaving, feeling they had no possibility of winning the game. This continued for some time until at last, the dark-haired man left the table to join a different game at another table.
Dairus returned to his usual strategy but continued to receive a few strange looks. After a few rounds, he noticed that his opponent had entirely left the pub. The night continued fairly normally but Dairus earned much less due the others’ suspicions. Being unable to concentrate properly after the disturbing encounter, Dairus soon decided to leave.
Outside, the breeze had died down and fog was now slowly creeping in from the sea. Pulling his coat closer around himself, Dairus walked though the cobbled streets. He occasionally passed drunks staggering towards where they were spending the night, but other than that, the streets were now fairly quiet.
He had almost reached the more respectable areas of the town when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into an alley. He could feel the cold, sharp edge of a knife against his neck.
“Who are you?” a voice beside his ear whispered.
“Uh, I’m called Dairus….”
“Dairus, huh? Well, Dairus, what’s your little secret?”
“Secret?” Dairus answered. “What secret?”
“Now, Dairus, don’t pretend to be stupid. We both know you cheat during Trarodo. I only want to know how.”
“How do you want to know I’m cheating?” Dairus asked, knowing only too well that he had raised suspicion that night. “Who are you anyway, one of the guards?”
“Oh, never mind who I am. Just tell me your secret and I’ll let you go unharmed. If you don’t….”
Having recovered from his initial shock, Dairus was slowly regaining his senses. Carefully, he concentrated on the person behind him, hoping he would be able to get some clues to his attacker’s identity from what he could see through his eyes.
Unable to see anything, Dairus exclaimed: “I know who you are! You were at the Seal Tavern earlier, you’re that odd man who dresses like a sailor but doesn’t look like one otherwise!”
Sensing the other’s surprise, Dairus used his chance and managed to escape the man’s grasp. Although he knew that running away might be the best strategy, Dairus’ curiosity took hold of him. Instead of fleeing, he pulled his own knife from his boot.
Cautiously, the two men circled each other.
“So why do you want to know my secret?” Dairus asked, breaking the silence. “You seemed quite proficient in cheating yourself.”
“Well, I can’t allow anyone to be better than I am, can I?”
“So why didn’t you just kill me when you had me at your mercy? Or were you afraid that others might use the same method of cheating as I do?”
“Why are you still here?” the other man countered. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
“You have a point. But why didn’t you cheat me during the game?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t have?”
“So you couldn’t.”
“I’m guessing neither could you.”
Dairus shrugged. “True again.”
“So…” the dark-haired man ventured carefully, “you couldn’t hear me?”
“Hear you? Why wouldn’t I be able to hear you? I’ve been talking with you all this time!”
The other man looked embarrassed. “Oh, nothing….”
“Wait… you couldn’t hear me? What do you mean by that?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you if you tell me your secret as well. Damn, why am I making promises to a stranger?”
Dairus let out a short laugh. “Curiosity killed the cat?”
“Too true. Though I’m not sure if cats can hear each others thoughts.”
“You can hear other people’s thoughts? So you know what move a card player will make next? That must be even easier than looking at the cards through their eyes….”
“Is that what you do?”
Dairus nodded.
“Looking at the cards probably has plenty of advantages over my method. No person ever thinks about all their cards at the quite the same time, so I have to focus on one player for a fairly long time to know all their cards. And the more players there are, the more difficult that is, as you can imagine.”
“You have a point there,” Dairus replied, looking thoughtful. If the other accepted his suggestion, Dairus would have to watch his back, but the prospect of profit and adventure got the best of him. “Maybe… we should try working together? We’d just need to work out signs to communicate.”
For a moment, the other looked doubtful but then he nodded hesitatingly. “Giving it a try won’t hurt….”
“Good. I only have two conditions. At the end of the night, we each get half of what we earned.”
Dairus smiled when the dark-haired man nodded.
“And the second condition is that you tell me your name,” Dairus continued. “After all, you already know mine.”
With a laugh, the stranger stretched out his hand. “Well, that’s a fair condition. I’m Caimonatro.”
Words: ~1900
Warnings: mild violence
Written for brigits_flame , week 2, December 2009 (Topic: hustler)
A cool breeze was blowing from the sea and the sunset‘s last streaks of colour were rapidly fading to a dark blue as night fell. On the pier, a few commands to the men loading and unloading the ships could still be heard. Most of the dockworkers had already finished for the day and were heading towards the many taverns close to the harbour.
Dairus strolled along the quay, listening to the laughter coming from the taverns and taking in the atmosphere of the harbour. It had been too long since he had been able to come here and get this feeling of freedom.
Tonight, he had been able to complete the accounts early. His father happened to walk into his workroom just when he was getting up with a satisfied smile. Though his father usually believed that the children of the rich merchants should not receive too much money from their parents, he had been so pleased with the amount money they had earned this month that he had given Dairus a sack of gold Torgeers and silver Imelans.
Dairus had locked most of it into the large mahogany chest in his house but a certain amount had been put into the leather moneybag in Dairus‘ pocket to be spent during an enjoyable evening at the quay. He had been thinking about playing a couple of games of cards in one of the taverns, but perhaps he should just spend it on that busty brunette prostitute that was currently smiling at him….
“Hey, watch it!” an angry and slightly slurred voice interrupted his intense survey of the brunette. With a start, Dairus realised he had nearly bumped into a massive sailor that was now towering over his slight frame. The sailor’s blue greenish skin, indicating at least one mermish ancestor, was considerably darkened, a clear sign that he was in no mood for jokes.
“I apologise most sincerely, sir. May waves drown my life and my soul be lost in forests of seaweed should I ever repeat my mistake.”
“Hrmph, may Oirtea, Great Temptress of the Sea prevent this from becoming necessary,” the massive man replied gruffly but clearly appeased by the correct form of apology.
Dairus sighed with relief as the sailor staggered away. Looking around, he noticed that the brunette he had been eyeing had disappeared with another customer. So it was cards this evening.
Paying more attention to the crowds milling around him, Dairus resumed looking for a tavern to venture into. He considered entering an overfilled yard from which he could hear excited cheers but decided that he wasn’t in the mood for watching what was most likely a fight of sekalps, a small species of sea-demon.
Finally, Dairus entered a small tavern with a roughly painted seal above the door. Inside, there was a scratched and not particularly clean bar as well as a number of tables. There was practically no decoration, as this wasn’t one of the pubs rich merchants like him usually went to when they felt like getting a taste of the ‘authentic’ harbour. A mixture of dockworkers, sailors and travellers was sitting around the tables, often with dice or cards in the centre of the tables.
Dairus ordered a pint of ale and went over to one of the tables at which a game of Trarodo, a type of card game, had just finished.
“Good ev’nin’. D’you mind if I join you?”
“Nah, pull up a chair. We was jus’ startin’ a new roun’.”
One of the men handed out cards. After a quick look at them, Dairus placed two silver Imelans on the table as his bet. He always started with relatively small sums, getting to know the skills and tactics of the other players and letting them win a few times.
Concentrating briefly, Dairus checked the cards of the bearded man sitting to his right. A blue seal, two white pixies, a green dragon, a white phoenix and two red lions. Not a bad set of cards. Unaware of the fact that Dairus knew his cards, the man made his first move. The young merchant son made a mental note and concentrated on the next person.
In all his visits to the taverns by the wharves, nobody had ever become suspicious of Dairus, since he had always concealed his skills by only winning a few profitable games and losing ever so often. Nevertheless, he made a fair profit with his ‘mind reading’, as his sister Gerdith, the only person who knew about this talent, called it. This term was not quite correct, Dairus thought, he was neither reading nor did his skill really concern the mind. He was merely able to look through other people’s eyes if he concentrated on it.
After everybody had made their three moves, the game ended and the bearded man won. In the next game, Dairus raised his bet. Though he lost again, Dairus had gained enough knowledge about the others’ tactics to win a golden Torgeer, three Imelans and seven bronze Frumlans in the third game. From then on, he made sure to switch between winning and losing games in a random seeming way to avoid suspicions while still making a steady profit.
From time to time, the group of players changed, due to new people joining and others leaving to go home or join a different game at one of the other tables. Dairus never needed much time to get used to the tactics the newcomers were using.
Around midnight, a young man in sailor’s garb but with a pale, untanned face contrasting his dark hair joined the game. Dairus did not pay much attention to him at first but when he focused on the newcomer’s cards, he became curious. No matter how hard he concentrated, he was unable to see through the stranger’s eyes. Even closing his own for a moment changed nothing. The cards remained invisible.
Disconcerted, Dairus concentrated on one of the other players, afraid his gift might have disappeared somehow. To his great relief, he could still see his cards.
Dairus tried seeing the dark-haired man’s cards again, but nothing had changed. For a little while, he entertained the thought that the man might be blind, but he soon discarded this thought when, after curiously examining the room and the other players, the stranger’s intense blue eyes stared straight at him from across the table.
The game had already begun and Dairus found himself in the unusual situation of being completely unable to guess another player’s moves. Quickly, all the others faded into the background as Dairus put his main focus on that one man. After several rounds, it became apparent that the games were entirely dominated by two equally matched opponents and some other people began leaving, feeling they had no possibility of winning the game. This continued for some time until at last, the dark-haired man left the table to join a different game at another table.
Dairus returned to his usual strategy but continued to receive a few strange looks. After a few rounds, he noticed that his opponent had entirely left the pub. The night continued fairly normally but Dairus earned much less due the others’ suspicions. Being unable to concentrate properly after the disturbing encounter, Dairus soon decided to leave.
Outside, the breeze had died down and fog was now slowly creeping in from the sea. Pulling his coat closer around himself, Dairus walked though the cobbled streets. He occasionally passed drunks staggering towards where they were spending the night, but other than that, the streets were now fairly quiet.
He had almost reached the more respectable areas of the town when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into an alley. He could feel the cold, sharp edge of a knife against his neck.
“Who are you?” a voice beside his ear whispered.
“Uh, I’m called Dairus….”
“Dairus, huh? Well, Dairus, what’s your little secret?”
“Secret?” Dairus answered. “What secret?”
“Now, Dairus, don’t pretend to be stupid. We both know you cheat during Trarodo. I only want to know how.”
“How do you want to know I’m cheating?” Dairus asked, knowing only too well that he had raised suspicion that night. “Who are you anyway, one of the guards?”
“Oh, never mind who I am. Just tell me your secret and I’ll let you go unharmed. If you don’t….”
Having recovered from his initial shock, Dairus was slowly regaining his senses. Carefully, he concentrated on the person behind him, hoping he would be able to get some clues to his attacker’s identity from what he could see through his eyes.
Unable to see anything, Dairus exclaimed: “I know who you are! You were at the Seal Tavern earlier, you’re that odd man who dresses like a sailor but doesn’t look like one otherwise!”
Sensing the other’s surprise, Dairus used his chance and managed to escape the man’s grasp. Although he knew that running away might be the best strategy, Dairus’ curiosity took hold of him. Instead of fleeing, he pulled his own knife from his boot.
Cautiously, the two men circled each other.
“So why do you want to know my secret?” Dairus asked, breaking the silence. “You seemed quite proficient in cheating yourself.”
“Well, I can’t allow anyone to be better than I am, can I?”
“So why didn’t you just kill me when you had me at your mercy? Or were you afraid that others might use the same method of cheating as I do?”
“Why are you still here?” the other man countered. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
“You have a point. But why didn’t you cheat me during the game?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t have?”
“So you couldn’t.”
“I’m guessing neither could you.”
Dairus shrugged. “True again.”
“So…” the dark-haired man ventured carefully, “you couldn’t hear me?”
“Hear you? Why wouldn’t I be able to hear you? I’ve been talking with you all this time!”
The other man looked embarrassed. “Oh, nothing….”
“Wait… you couldn’t hear me? What do you mean by that?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you if you tell me your secret as well. Damn, why am I making promises to a stranger?”
Dairus let out a short laugh. “Curiosity killed the cat?”
“Too true. Though I’m not sure if cats can hear each others thoughts.”
“You can hear other people’s thoughts? So you know what move a card player will make next? That must be even easier than looking at the cards through their eyes….”
“Is that what you do?”
Dairus nodded.
“Looking at the cards probably has plenty of advantages over my method. No person ever thinks about all their cards at the quite the same time, so I have to focus on one player for a fairly long time to know all their cards. And the more players there are, the more difficult that is, as you can imagine.”
“You have a point there,” Dairus replied, looking thoughtful. If the other accepted his suggestion, Dairus would have to watch his back, but the prospect of profit and adventure got the best of him. “Maybe… we should try working together? We’d just need to work out signs to communicate.”
For a moment, the other looked doubtful but then he nodded hesitatingly. “Giving it a try won’t hurt….”
“Good. I only have two conditions. At the end of the night, we each get half of what we earned.”
Dairus smiled when the dark-haired man nodded.
“And the second condition is that you tell me your name,” Dairus continued. “After all, you already know mine.”
With a laugh, the stranger stretched out his hand. “Well, that’s a fair condition. I’m Caimonatro.”