Lethelin turned to find a wiry human of about twenty-five high suns with greasy, slicked-backed hair the color of stable yard mud and bloodshot watery blue eyes. He had a day's growth of whiskers in patches along his jaw and a scar across his right cheek. His lips were cracked, and he had the distinct smell of someone who’d taken a cloud trip in the last few hours. His pale eyes were glassy with the effects, and there was still spittle on his chin. Must have been poor quality stuff. His clothes were in little better condition, looking ill-fitting and soiled with things that Lethelin was sure she didn’t want to guess at.

  “I’m sorry, Master Erik!” Eraphys said in a panicked squeal. “She was gonna take me to get some food, and I was going to take her coin there! I promise I was!”

  Lethelin hardly knew the girl, but even she could tell she was lying.

  “You little gutter rat,” Erik snarled. “I told you not to leave that spot until yous collected at least three silver. How much have you got?”

  “F– four copper, Master Erik.”

  “Yous are about the most worthless piece of shit that ever fell off an offal cart, yous are. I can see that the lesson I taught yous the other day didn’t stick. I’ll see yous don’t ever forget the next one.”

  Eraphys whimpered, and that was when Lethelin decided she’d had enough.

  “Master Erik, is it?”

  The man looked at Lethelin, almost like he’d forgotten she was there.

  “That’s Edrokii Erik to yous, my lovely. Looking for works? I know a good brothel wheres a woman with hair such as that would fetch a fine price.”

  Lethelin snorted and couldn’t hide the scorn on her face.

  “Edrokii? You? You look like you’ve been dragged behind a jivi cart halfway to Kazig and back, and then dumped into a barracks latrine. If a real Edrokii hears you say that, they’ll gut you and use your innards for chum.”

  Erik squinted his eyes at her, no doubt trying to clear his cloud-addled thoughts.

  “Who are yous? I ain't seens yous around here before.”

  “Who I am is no one you want to toy with. The girl and I have business, and it does not include you. Now crawl back to whatever cloud den you were shat out of and don’t ever speak to me again.”

  “The girl is mines. She owes mes for the bed she sleeps on and the food I puts in her belly. She ain't earned back half what I spents on her yet, and she’s too young to works on her back. So yous gives me whatever yous was gonna pays her, or she ain't going nowhere. Yous understand me?”

  Lethelin felt a tug at her cape and looked down to see Eraphys’s glitter-bright eyes staring up at her.

  “Please, miss. Don’t make him angry. I’ll go with him, it’s okay.”

  “Yeah!” Erik seconded. “Yous best not be making mes angry. I gots ways of teaching lessons to women whos makes me angry. Don’t I, Eraphy?

  Eraphys nodded her head in a jerky sort of way and shied away from him. It took all Lethelin’s strength not to end the disgusting man right then and there. She thought about the mission, though, and figured it was better to be discreet. Bodies draw attention, even in a place like the Maka.

  With the girl trembling against her leg, Lethelin fished out five silver.

  “Here,” Lethelin said, offering them in her palm. “And by Stollar’s holy light, if you lay a finger on this girl again, I will slice open your belly and hang you with your own guts. Do you understand?”

  Erik’s eyes widened at the silver in Lethelin’s palm, no doubt already thinking of the powder he could buy with it. He reached for it, his face splitting into a grin, and Lethelin pulled her hand back out of reach.

  “I’ll have your word, Erik, and I’ll have it now.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Take her!”

  He was almost vibrating with his lust for the coin and Lethelin was glad she had her gloves on. The idea of even this man’s fingers brushing against her palm made her skin crawl like it was covered in sand fleas. She extended her palm once more and he snatched the coins and was off without another word. Lethelin resisted the urge to spit.

  “Now,” she said, turning back around to Eraphys. “About that food.”

  The girl was staring at her with a mix of disbelief and what looked like horror.

  “Close your mouth, Eraphys, or something’s likely to fly in there and build a nest.”

  She did so but looked no less shocked.

  “I… I can clean well, and I’m getting better at… at picking pockets. I just need practice, is all. But I’ll get better, I promise. And you don’t have to send me to work on my back when I’m older. I’ll make the coin back you paid him. Under Stollar’s light, I will. And you won’t need to teach me any lessons. I’m a good listener. Really, I am!”

  Lethelin stared at the shaking little girl, half starved, filthy, covered in rat bites, and desperate, and she almost cursed the gods. She let out a long sigh, instead.

  “I wasn’t buying you, silly girl.”

  Eraphys stared at her, her brow creasing as she tried to understand.

  “But you gave Master Erik five silver. It’s so much!”

  “It was easier to give him the money than to kill him. I’ve got more important things to do today than hide a body. And there’s still coin for you if you can help me get my work done. Now, food or not?”

  Eraphys nodded and then gave her rescuer a cautious smile. For just a moment, Lethelin thought she could see the beautiful girl that was buried beneath all the grime and filth. What she might have looked like if her parents hadn’t been killed, but were instead still making the best paper in Awenor and reading her stories in her bed at night.

  “Come on, then.”

  Lethelin held out her hand, and Eraphys stared at it dubiously.

  “You’re not going to cut my hand off and feed it to me, right?

  The girl was almost grinning.

  “Not today,” Lethelin told her, and smiled back. “Can’t promise about tomorrow, though. Might need something to feed my pet shadow cat.”

  Eraphys giggled, but placed her hand in Lethelin’s, and they continued on to find food.

  “Everyone knows you can’t have shadow cats as pets!” Eraphys proclaimed.

  “Is that so?”

  ***

  As much as Lethelin wanted to indulge the girl, she was on a schedule. She allowed her one medium athi pie, and ate a green drake pepper raw, just to show the girl that people from Varset could indeed eat spicy food, thank you very much. Once she’d had her fill, which honestly wasn’t even half of the pie they’d ordered, Lethelin let the food settle before getting down to business.

  “Eraphys, do you know the game people play on the streets called Three-Toed Troll?”

  She scrunched up her nose at the image but wobbled her head.

  “I’ve never heard of that. What is it?”

  “It’s a game with three cups that are moved around and underneath one is usually a round stone, like an Iva stone, or something similar. The person moves the cups quickly, and the person watching has to try and find the ball when he stops.”

  Eraphys’s eyes went wide and she suddenly nodded.

  “I know that game. But they don’t call it Three-Toed Troll.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “The Knight’s Gambit,” she replied. “I’ve seen it a few times. Erik likes to play it sometimes, but he never wins.”

  Lethelin wasn’t surprised, and said so.

  Eraphys nodded, but then Lethelin saw a shadow pass over her face.

  “He gets mad when he loses, though.”

  “Well, don’t worry about him. Do you know where I can find a game? Not just any game, though. Do you know where I can find the best Knight’s Gambit player around here?”

  Eraphys frowned in thought.

  “Not many people play it in the Maka.”

  Lethelin waved the idea aside.

  “I’m thinking more near the Obsidian or Blood Stone Gates. Preferably the Obsidian.”

  It had been clear to her in her short wanderings through the Maka that the quality of the lowlife she wanted wasn’t going to be found there. She’d not spotted anyone displaying a proper guild affiliation and had been close to giving up and moving on when Eraphys had taken her chance and tried to lift some coin.

  “Erik never left the Maka, but I used to run messages for some of the shops,” Eraphys mused. “Sometimes near the Blood Stone and to the Obsidian.”

  Lethelin waited, idly picking at some of the pastry of the leftover pie crust, while the girl searched her memory.

  “I didn’t see a Knight’s Gambit player, but once near the Obsidian gate I saw someone playing a different game. It was with cards. I think I’ve seen more card games than Gambit games.”

  Lethelin wondered if the people in Lorivin just didn’t care for the game. Three-Toed Troll was the street hustle of choice for those back home. She was familiar with the card games, usually called The Sea Fairies in Varset. It had been a little while since she’d run it herself, though.

  “That could be what I need. Do you remember where it was?”

  Eraphys creased her brow a moment, then her face lit up.

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  “I do! I remember because I was bringing a message from a stable master to a buyer at an inn on that street. The card game was in a little park. There were some people standing around in really nice clothes.”

  Lethelin smiled.

  “That’s what I want. What was the name of the inn?

  Eraphys pursed her lips in thought for a moment.

  “The Silverblood!” she said triumphantly, pleased to be useful.

  “That’s my girl,” Lethelin told her, then set down three silver on the table in front of the clumsy pickpocket.

  Eraphys’s eyes bulged.

  “And there will be more of that if you do something else for me.”

  “Wh– What?”

  “I want you to stay here until I get back. You are not to leave the tavern for any reason. I’ve already spoken to Tilly, and she’s agreed to let you sleep in the store room if I’m not back by nightfall. You’ll have as much food as you need, and she’s going to let you into her little house in the back to bathe. Don’t steal anything. Mind your manners, stay out of sight, get cleaned up, and wear whatever clean clothes she gives you. Do that and you’ll have more coin. Do we have a deal?”

  Eraphys sat frozen for a moment, seemingly too afraid to move lest the spell end. Finally, she nodded, and her hands reached slowly for the coins.

  Lethelin nodded back and stood to go.

  “Okay. Get to it. Don’t make any trouble, and I’ll be back when I’m done.”

  The girl suddenly stood and flung herself around Lethelin. She was sniffling, but only quietly.

  “Thank you, miss… miss…”

  “Call me Leth,” she told her as she patted the crying girl’s head.

  “Please come back, Miss Leth. I won’t make trouble. I promise I won’t!”

  Lethelin suddenly found herself fighting back her own tears.

  “Look at me, going all soft. Damn it, Mitchell!” she cursed him silently. “You’re turning me into bladder fish!”

  “I’ll be back before you can say glitter fish.”

  Eraphys allowed herself to be pulled away and wiped at her grimy nose.

  “Bath first, I think,” Lethelin told her.

  She nodded and gave an embarrassed smile.

  “Off with you.”

  ***

  It took Lethelin nearly an hour to get over to the Obsidian Gate from the Maka. The area, while still in the outer city, was nicer than most. It had a more established feel to it, with several of the older buildings having actual stonework and some streets that were cobbled. There were more guards present, which only confirmed her suspicions and was why she’d wanted the Obsidian Gate to begin with. If a street rat was running The Sea Fairies out in the open here, that meant money to bribe the guards to look the other way. Someone making that good a profit was almost certainly a guild member. Little gangs in the Maka might pay dues to the Guild, but none that she’d seen looked noteworthy enough to have earned a membership. That struck her as odd in and of itself. The Maka was plenty big enough to attract a lot of vice, and that she hadn’t been able to find a guild affiliation spoke to something having happened.

  She turned down the street where she had been told she would find The Silverblood Inn and took her time getting to the park area. She even stopped to purchase some bread from a cart so that she would look more like a casual traveler. She came to the little park in short order. And there was her fish.

  He looked human and young, certainly no older than Lethelin herself, but he had an easy smile and a confidence that spoke of long experience working crowds. He was smartly dressed in a violet tunic and tight black pants that showed off a shapely backside. He accentuated that with a silver belt with short silver tassels on it that glittered as he moved. It was a good effect, she thought. His Fairies table was just slightly slower and every time he swirled his hips the tassels flashed, helping to distract the eye. He also wore slim gold bracelets on each wrist that added to the effect. Lethelin walked up slowly, working her way to the front of the crowd, bakery bag in hand, acting as if she’d been brought in by his crowd work. He was chatting with a few of the audience and looked like he was finding his rhythm and just beginning his routine.

  “Step up my fair and gentle folk, and test your fate!” he called out enthusiastically. “Tis but a game of chance, you see, and victory comes to those who don’t hesitate!”

  His clever wordplay got him a few smiles, and Lethelin watched his hands move the cards around smoothly. They made a steady click-click-click as he placed each one down in a slightly circular hypnotic pattern.

  “Find the lady, with hair so fine, and win a silver, most divine!” He flipped over one of the cards to reveal a drawing of Vish, a silver moon in the background. “Or maybe it’s men your heart doth desire? Is it bulging muscles that set your loins afire?” At that, he flipped over another card to reveal a drawing of Ithstasy with the golden moon. “Then find the gentlemen, with eyes of gold, and win a crown, a risk for only the bold!” That earned him a few oohs and aahs.

  “But truly the greatest treasure has yet to be seen, and it can all be yours if her location you can but glean.” The man flipped over the third card and held it out to the audience, and Lethelin saw there her namesake.

  “You just had to do it, didn’t you, mother?” she groaned inwardly.

  The street rat continued.

  “Double your money, if you dare, but heed my words, I say ‘beware’. For the dancer is fast, and her lesson is clear: all will pass, especially love, most dear.”

  “Okay,” Lethelin admitted to herself. “He’s pretty good.”

  The rules of the game were simple enough, although this version was a little different from the ones usually played in Varset. The Three Fairies only had one winner. This one, it seemed, was designed to give some freebies to lure people in to go for the prize. Once she got that down, she looked for the man in the crowd. It took some patience but eventually she found the partner. It wasn’t a man, but a woman.

  She was a young elfin girl of maybe fifteen high suns. Lethelin had spotted her as she waited through the rubes, who won just enough to keep the crowd interested, but not so much that the man was losing more than he was taking in. No one had wagered more than a crown so far, though. Then the girl made her move.

  “I want to double my money!” she said enthusiastically.

  This got some chuckles from the gathered audience to see someone so young being so brazen.

  “Hey there, girl. Don’t you think you’re a little young to be playing at games like this? Where’s your mother?”

  His eyes never left the pretty challenger, and his hands never stopped their rhythmic motion. Click-click-click-click.

  “I’ve got coin, that’s all that matters!” the girl shot back. “Are you afraid to lose to someone so young, and a girl no less?”

  The crowd made some mumbles of respect at her feisty nature and looked to see what the man would do.

  Click-click-click-click, his hands never stopping. He looked annoyed but then shrugged.

  “As you like it, young miss. But don’t be sending your father to me after he finds out I’ve taken all his hard-earned coin.”

  “You’d best not go crying to my father that I cheated when I walk away with your purse!”

  The man grinned and looked at the audience.

  “She’s got fire, this one. I like it. A fair bit braver than all you lot, it seems. She went right for the dancer.” He looked back to the girl. “Very well, young miss, step forward and place your wealth, perhaps the dancer will reward you with more coin, a long life, and health!”

  Click-click-click-click.

  The girl stepped up to the table, every inch the cocky young teenager, and placed five crowns down in the center. The crowd gasped. Even the hawker seemed to lose his rhythm at the sight of such a large amount. Then he “remembered” himself and cleared his throat.

  “Five crowns this child of fortune has placed at my feet. Can she best me, shall I win? I think we are all in for a treat.”

  The man pulled one card from the dancing trio and flipped it over to reveal a woman dancing with two moons at her back.

  “Here she is, the beloved of the gods, the picture of grace. Watch as she dances, from place to place.”

  He slid the card effortlessly back into the shuffle, and the speed picked up considerably.

  Clickclickclickclick.

  “She dances here–” he flipped up the card revealing its location, then flipped it almost immediately and moved it back into the shuffle, his fingers a near blur. “She dances there,” he flipped it up once more and, even though Lethelin knew what to look for, she found she’d been wrong. Like a flash, it was back into the shuffle. “Not bound by death, she dances anywhere!”

  Clickclickclickclick.

  His fingers flowed, never missing a slide, the silver at his waist and the gold at his wrists sparkled, and despite herself Lethelin found herself being lulled by his movements.

  Then, he stopped so suddenly that the crowd gasped. All three cards were laid in a perfect row.

  “We come to it at last, my young maiden, how quickly the time hath passed. Decisions to make, coin to take! Where does she rest, the dancer most fair, make your choice, if you dare…”

  With a flourish he spread his hands and stepped back from the table. Lethelin watched her face carefully. The girl was an excellent actress and if Lethelin didn’t know the game so well, she would have doubted her own instincts. Somehow, she’d actually managed to make herself sweat!

  “Umm…”

  “The hour grows late, Stollar makes his way across the sky,” the man taunted. “Delay too long, and thy coin shall in my pockets lie.”

  “You didn’t move that fast with the other people!” the girl complained.

  “This is the game as it is played, and warnings did I give before the bet was made.”

  He gave her a predatory grin.

  “Cry not foul at your lack of ability,” he continued. “Accept your defeat with a smile and some dignity.”

  “Oh, be quiet!” the girl snapped at him. “I can do this.”

  The man gave her a bow and closed his mouth.

  The girl began counting things off under her breath and pointing at different cards as she did so. This went on for several seconds, and then a smile came over her face.

  “Aha!” The man shouted. “The young miss has made her choice. Silence now as we await youth’s voice!”

  With deliberate slowness, the girl extended one manicured finger and touched the card to her right.

  “I believe I am owed a dance.”

  The hustler hesitated. The crowd was holding their collective breath.

  “Ah… Um… Are you sure, young miss? You only get one chance. Think carefully now. That is a lot of coin you have wagered.”

  “No clever rhymes, oh gentle master? Why, could it be that, while your hands were fast, my eyes were faster?”

  That drew a hearty chuckle from the crowd.

  “Come on, flip the card,” one man called out. “Let’s see if she’s won.”

  Several people voiced their agreement.

  The hustler glanced up nervously and cleared his throat.

  “But of course!” he called out, trying to keep his control of the crowd. “I only wanted to give the young miss one last chance.”

  Then, as if it pained him to do so, he flipped over the card that she had chosen. The dancer stared up at them from the table and the crowd cheered.

  Several people patted the girl as she calmly picked up the coins and extended her hand to await her five new crowns.

  The man shook his head, plucked them from some hidden pocket, and set them one at a time in her palm.

  “Good day!” she said lightly, and then skipped off with her newfound wealth.

  The effect was immediate. Several people stepped forward, much more confident now that, if a young girl could best the dealer, they could as well. The hustler, while he played at being annoyed at such a huge loss, seemed to take it in stride and was back to working the crowd once more. Even Lethelin took a turn to help herself fit in and “lost” three silver to the man.

  After that, she stayed near the periphery watching and, by her count, he was up twenty crowns over the next half hour as people kept trying to double their money. She noticed that no one was ever able to double their money if they bet more than two gold crowns. In this way, he was able to keep his losses minimal while he kept his profits high. People who won one crown would often try to double it again.

  Lethelin was beginning to lose patience when the man finally called that he was done for the day, but that he would be back again tomorrow. As the last handful of customers left the area, he began packing up and could no longer hide his smile.

  “Was it your Uncle Lapiet that taught you to handle cards that way?” Lethelin asked to the man’s back as he was bent over folding up his table.

  The man jerked at the question, but he recovered quickly, turning around as if nothing was amiss, giving her a more thorough once over.

  “It was,” he said at last, before setting about removing his flashy jewelry. “But he’s been dead these last two years. Died when Milandris and his soldiers came.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Lethelin said. “I had wished to see him now that I’ve finally been able to visit the city.”

  “And where is it that you’ve come in from. It must be far if you’d not heard of his passing.”

  “From the coast. Varset. Your uncle and my uncle were old friends.”

  “Eh, is that so?” he said with a cautious grin. “Well, more’s the pity.”

  “Who is it that teaches you the cards these days?”

  “Oh, Lapiet wasn’t my only uncle. I’ve others. The best at the cards is my Uncle Hamiren.”

  “This might work out well, then. I brought some gifts for Uncle Lapiet. Three gifts, in fact. Maybe, in honor of his unfortunate demise, I can offer them to your Uncle Hamiren, instead.”

  “Gifts from Varset?” he arched an eyebrow. “They must be valuable for you to have carried them such a distance.”

  Lethelin nodded.

  “Oh, they are indeed. I am confident that your uncle would want them. Precious things he wouldn’t find anywhere else in Awenor.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Do you have some place we might discuss it? They are somewhat delicate and I wouldn’t want unkind ears to overhear the details.”

  “That can be arranged. But your name, young miss, if you please.”

  “Nelitha. And you?

  “Call me Jonan,” he said and touched his fingers to his heart and head.

  Lethelin returned the greeting.

  “Follow me, Nelitha. I’ve a place where we can chat about your gifts.”

  He picked up his bag and started walking toward the street and Lethelin stepped up beside him.

  “Oh, and do invite your cousin. I’d love to chat with her as well.”

  Jonan grinned at her and chuckled.

  “Those pretty green eyes are sharp,” he said.

  “Not as sharp as my blade. And I’d hate to have to use it if your cousin got the wrong idea and tried to sneak up behind me.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He stopped, turned and looked at an alley just across from the park he’d been working in and gave a nod. A moment later, the girl emerged from the shadows who had won the five coins earlier. Only she looked completely different. Instead of long blond hair, she now had short brown hair, and her clothes were much shabbier. Her face had also been cleaned of the bit of color she’d applied for her performance. She approached and eyed Lethelin warily.

  “Lenna, this is Nelitha. She’s people. Nelitha, this is Lenna. She aspires to be people one day.”

  The girl’s expression went from guarded to curious.

  “Stollar’s blessings upon you, Mistress Nelitha,” she said and touched her heart and head.

  “And you as well. That was a fine performance earlier.”

  “Thank you!” the girl gushed. “I’ve been practicing every day.”

  “We can discuss that later,” Jonan said, for the first time sounding a little annoyed. “I’d like to get us off the street, if you don’t mind. I’ve heavy pockets.”

  Lethelin nodded, as did Lenna, and the three of them set off.