Role

Chapter 3

The day had almost died out and the sun was painting its farewell on the
horizon in a deep maroon. I was grinning a fool's grin and she was giggling as
we entered the Two Snakes. We had been with each other and apart often the
past year. At that point it was the longest lasting relation I had ever had,
it was serious I thought. We caroused late into the night when a frail man
walked into the common room. He almost had to walk with a limp from the weight
of his coin pouch. A foreigner, with a heavy Arkham accent, here on business
and looking to blow off some steam. Does the rogue ever truly have a choice? I
slipped toward the thieves that were known to me and they embraced me with
their vulpine grins. Five minutes later I had a King's ransom of 10 gold
pieces in my purse and I was plying the foreigner with stories, drinks and
song as we started gambling. I could still hear the echo of the rattling dice
in my head even after they would settle. It is the drinking on an empty
stomach I told myself, as I kept my eyes fixed on the prize. Do you know what
happened next? Can you not already see his gaunt sickly face twist into a
sneer as he noticed me swapping the dice? Can you not imagine the squeal of
absolute surprise and rage he let pierce the night when my fist cracked his
jaw? Do you not see me running for the door, a fat gold purse in one hand and
a blushing comely girl with purple eyes in the other? Do you see the two
minotaur mountains at the entrance, one grabbing me by the throat and the
other grabbing her by the waist? Do you know how minotaur are made? I didn't.
They showed me. They made sure I kept my eyes open during all of it. And I saw
it, the hope retreating in front of the pain that was nestling deep. I saw in
those eyes of purple the breaking of her soul. And throughout the all of it,
those damned dice kept rolling in my head like thunderclouds over a dark blue
sea. They wouldn't stop until I got ship bound toward Mutazz, running from a
debt I could never repay and from those eyes, those silent searching eyes.