Role

Chapter 10

Blonde: Chapter Five: When You See the King Coming, Wipe Your Nose
Added Wed Dec 21 18:43:20 2022 at level 46:

Wialor and Ree headed to Ayr'Trinil with a scheme in mind. Wialor knew Ra'kad's
game well. It was a deck of cards, dealt in turn to the player and the dealer,
the dealer always being Ra'kad himself. Should the player's cards come to a
total of 21 or less the player merely needed to have a better hand than the
dealer. Now Ree could not predict her own future, nor could she impact the
future of others, but she had demonstrated an ability to determine what was
going to happen to those around her. First her mother's sickness, then the
vineyard robbery, and now in a series of tests, she could accurately say what
small, predetermined thing was going to occur to someone else. She had the
sight, to whatever degree it benefited or brought misery to those around her.
It was perfect for cheating at cards.

On the way they discussed the manner of relaying the future, the various ways
to call out which number was dealt next. Wialor taught Ree a bit of rudimentary
thieves' cant along with a few other hand gestures and tells, some three or
four score so that she could vary the ways in which she could communicate the
upcoming card. This might be in a request for a snack or a drink, with an apple
meaning a six or a milk meaning an ace. This might be a specific phrasing in a
request to go to the restroom. This might be a request for a knock knock joke
or how Ayree'llewyn would finish a limerick that Wialor would begin.

The results were beyond expectation.

The bets went as Wialor wished, putting down a few gold and letting a few
rounds go as he lost and won evenly. They established Ree as a chatty child,
but she was charming to the dealer and his attendants. She relayed with perfect
accuracy every card and Wialor began to bet slightly more aggressively, losing
once or twice big before putting up ten and then twenty gold bets, showing a
tendency to bet bigger as the night went on. Wialor was served a heavy vodka
cocktail, not unsurprising in that he was now up quite a bit but was still
betting conservatively considering the amount of coin he had jingling from his
belt. Ree called out the next four cards, an ace and a king to Wialor, a pair
of nines to Ra'kad. This was when Wialor threw a few more coins down, a few
hundred more and said, in a slurred voice, 'I have to get back and put this one
to bed, sooooo let's make this last round interesssssting!' The last syllable
he said landed with a large bag of coins.

Ra'kad had accomplished what he wanted, the drunkard had bet it all on a last
hand. So the dealer dealt. But the house lost.

'Get him another drink, surely you want to play again after that last stroke of
luck.' Wialor smiled and shook his head, slurring his words even more as he
replied, 'No, no, no, no... she's got a bed time and I've got
responsssibiliitieeees.' He hiccup'd for good measure.

That heist lasted the two for six months. They would repeat it and successfully
so, for the next ten years.