Chapter 100 - Double or Nothing

  “Darcent, Darcent! We’ve got a doubles fight sponsored by the shrine!” said Annalisa.

  I tried not to let my exhaustion show. “When?” I asked, dreading the answer.

  “Tomorrow night. I’ve been training for it all day.”

  So had I, though I didn’t consider it as such at the time. Daggertongue’s ‘lesson’ had consisted of equal parts throwing my will against his bound demon, lambasting my lack of skill, and lecturing me on odd theories surrounding the deck of wills and the inverse suits.

  The temperature dropped as Annalisa’s hands became hard as ice, and she jabbed forward at the air. Her fist whistled like a winter wind. She made an uppercut, but opened a tunnel at the last second, so the punch came from the opposite side.

  “Oi! None of that!” scolded Miss Trundi. “I’ll not have you freezing out the customers, again. Off with ye,” she said, waving away the snowflakes that had formed.

  I doubt any amount of scolding had ever managed to deter Annalisa, so I tried an alternate plan.

  “We should go to the shrine and get a feel for the arena. Quin’s not going to be able to fix for us. This is a straight-up fight and we’ll have to win it. You can play some Hawks and Wheels while I talk to—”

  She was already out the door.

  Barrowdown was in a state of excitement. I must have been the last to learn of the fight, because ink-press posters were already up declaring odds for the bout against our mystery opponents. The thought of fighting by Annalisa’s side was familiar territory in this new world of gold flourishes and Daggertongue’s tutelage, so I embraced it. Despite my exhaustion, being back in the downs and out of the upper city put me in a good mood. Daggertongue thought I was wasting my time here, but I was able to walk freely down the street—a wanted man and outlaw mage. The guild had sent no further enforcers, and adventurers seemed unwilling to venture into the lower city in order to pursue me (though the more unsavory ones were keen on the coin we offered).

  Annalisa tried to explain the rules to some of the old table games left by the Golds, but I’m entirely sure she didn’t understand them herself. I let her speak freely about the strategies behind betting on the reverse straight on a ‘tight wheel’, but only if the egg was above the six.

  Fucking elves.

  I could immediately sense when we passed within the protection of the wards I’d placed around the shrine. Despite my wanting to be pissed, Daggertongue’s lesson had made me acutely aware of small changes in mental pressure—like that of seawater-sensing charms carved into the wooden beam above the baker’s that we passed. Perhaps there was some benefit to psychic sparring with his bound demon after all. Not that I would admit it.

  The shrine rose up above the surrounding rooftops, with Lucita’s bosom and sigil glowing in the evening sunlight. It wasn’t yet crowded with the night’s patrons, who would still be laboring on the docks and the lower city. The words above the entrance, Fortune favors thee, shimmered with a faint, magical glow.

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  The doorman waved me through, despite the seeker enforcer robes. Anna and I were known elements, now. We’d prevented an attack on High Priestess Problems, the drakkyn proprietor of the shrine. And we were poised to bring her into the Barrowdown family.

  One of the Lucitan paladins caught my attention and waved me up to the second floor.

  “Don’t go into debt,” I warned Annalisa, before heading up to speak with the high priestess.

  The shrine had made repairs to cover up the damage inflicted and the blood spilled in the second floor corridor, but I could still make out some of the deeper damage from the knives and spells that had been unleashed. A deep scratch on the wall here, a spot of white-wash that didn’t quite match the shade of the old one there.

  Priestess Problems greeted me with the familiar pungent smell of her tea. I glanced down at the steaming cup, and then raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Don’t worry, you don’t have to drink it,” she said, laughing lightly. “The ritual only requires that you accept it. Your companion is down below?”

  I sat down on one of her sedan chairs and pushed the tea slightly further away. “No doubt causing a scene.”

  “She is quite precocious.”

  I huffed. “Priestess, you don’t know the first measure of it.”

  “I suppose not. Are you prepared for the exhibition ritual?”

  “You mean the fight?”

  The priestess nodded, drifting by me to pick up her own tea. She sipped it, considering. “I had trouble finding opponents for you.”

  “No one wants to tousle with the Barrow Knave and the Lady Blue?”

  Problems giggled. “Oh, there are no shortage of would-be challengers in the city. Orcs, enforcers, delvers. Even a pair of seekers from the academy looked to try their luck. Imagine such a spectacle, three Soul Seekers dueling in a shrine of Lucita.”

  I winced, remembering the night I’d first headed to the shrine. “I’d rather not.”

  “My dilemma was too many options.”

  “How did you decide?” I asked.

  “I let our Lady of Odds pick a challenge suitable, of course. Two faces sure to give you pause and test you to your limits. And she has done so. Before Lucita, even I don’t yet know who they are. So, what did you want to see me about?”

  “I want you to join the Barrow Knave family. Permanently.”

  Problems set her cup down, expression chilling somewhat. “A business visit, then. Why don’t we table this until after the Mayazians are dealt with.”

  “After the Mayazians are dealt with, I lose my leverage,” I said.

  The high priestess hummed to herself. “I can’t fault your earnestness. Would you entertain a counter-offer?”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Let Lucita decide. I’ll place a substantial bet opposite you in the challenge to come. If you prevail, then Lucita has decided that I ought be in your debt, and I’ll join the Barrow Knaves. If I win, then I strike the debt we already have to you for providing additional security. And you’ll owe me, hmm, twenty flourishes.”

  I sputtered. “Twenty flourishes?”

  Problems’ eye twinkled. “Don’t play coy, I know you have it. I can spot a Kelier and Thorne signet that you certainly weren’t wearing when last we met.”

  I cursed to myself and thumbed the banking ring. She was right. I had it. But I also had plans. “It doesn’t help that your goddess is the only one who knows who we’re fighting.”

  “The house must retain some advantage,” said Problems, winking. “But, if you insist…” She set down her cup and made a dice rolling motion, the holy gesture of the Lucitan Church. “I swear before Lucita that the opponents she chose were as close to an equal fight as could be found and this wager is earnest in honor of My Lady of Fortune.”

  I could sense the geas wrap itself around the priestess. Lucita had just given her seal of approval. But still, I agonized. “Twenty flourishes,” I said, pinching my chin. “Very well,” I said. “I agree.”

  “Then in a short while, we shall see who Lucita favors,” said High Priestess Problems.