Dokeshi March: Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 2

Grant and Suki stumbled out of the alley and into a medley and colorful lights that dazzled and amazed them.  What Grant had thought to be inns had signs declaring patrons wouldn’t be disappointed if they just tried their luck inside.  People all seemed happy, and their laughter echoed about the town square.  As Grant followed his nose and approached the nearest food stall, he saw a man wearing the white uniform of a cook standing behind a grill.

The smell of cooking beef made him dizzy, and he couldn’t hold in the drool that escaped the corner of his mouth.  As the two approached, Grant managed to get a better look at the man behind the counter.  He didn’t look like any cook Grant had seen before.  In January, any cook or chef under three hundred pounds would be laughed out of business, but this man was skinnier than the people of February!  The hems of his cook whites were slightly frayed, and more than one faded stain was still visible on the front of his thin jacket.

“Step right up, folks!  Come try the fancy fare at Fancy Frank’s Fantastic Foodstuffs!”  His sunken cheeks didn’t diminish the smile he cast at the sight of potential customers, and he waved his spatula about like a true showman.  “This sustenance station is certainly suitable for special souls such as yourselves!”

Grant had a few misgivings still, but he was already here, and the two steaks sizzling on the grill made his stomach growl like an angry puma.  “How much for the steaks… Frank?”

“Frank's my name, and frankly, frying’s my game!”  Grant stared in confusion at the grill.  There definitely wasn’t any kind of frying equipment or pans in sight.

“Okay Frank, so how much Time for the steaks?”  He dug out the coin pouch hidden in his waistband, and jingled it in front of the odd man to accentuate his point.

“Oh, such a silly side to show some server.”  The cook plopped down a wheel in front of Grant.  “Spend two Days to spin the wheel!  Let Lady Luck dictate the meal on your plate.”

“What?”  Grant just looked at the man, clearly confused by what was going on.  “I don’t want to spin a wheel.  I want to buy those steaks!”

<I guess your mental cultivation still isn’t high enough.>  An orange rock that only Grant could see came out of nowhere and smacked him in the head.  <The man is saying you need to pay to spin the wheel before you can buy the food.>

“How am I supposed to know that?”  He rubbed his forehead where the rock had struck him.  “And since when could you start throwing rocks at me?”

<Grant, if I can throw a spider the size of a horse at you, I can certainly pelt you with rocks.>

The cook was starting to lose his smile, and Suki elbowed him in the ribs.  “You’re making a scene.  Just pay the man, and let’s get out of here.”  Grant handed over two Days, and the cook’s smile returned to its former glory.

“Delectable decision my dangerous disputant.”  It was obvious Grant’s patience was nearing its end, so he scooted the wheel closer to him.  “Spin, sir, and see such succulent and savory -”

He was cut off by Grant spinning the wheel hard enough that it almost tipped off the counter and onto the flames of the grill.  It rocked back to safety, but the motion threw off the rotation of the wheel.  The circle was marked with four equal colors, red, yellow, green, and blue.  It slowly rotated until the pointer at the base landed on green.

“Ah, green.  Now that I have spun the wheel, can I get the steaks now?”  Grant held out his hands, ready to finally get the beef his body so strongly desired.  “You don’t even have to put mine on a plate.  I can probably finish it in three bites.”

“The color callus chance chose for cook’s customers means I can’t cook the choice cuts of cattle chosen by the client.”  He plopped down two plates of wilted-looking salad.  Grant was pretty sure he saw a bug in one of them.  “Better luck next time!”  Frank gave them a wink, and made a shooing motion, telling them to go.

“What just happened.”  Grant’s deadpan voice made it a statement instead of a question.  Suki saw the white-knuckled grip he had on his sword, and placed her hand on top of it before he could kill the food vendor.

“Just take the food and go.”  She nodded toward a pair of men wearing the colors of House Tuesday.  “We don’t want to make a scene in front of the peacekeepers.”

He grabbed the plates off the counter, secretly plotting the demise of the man that had just charged him a ridiculous sum for more rabbit food.

“I’m going to kill him.”  He was whispering it like a mantra as they walked over to a set of table and chairs on the opposite side of the square.  “I have never wanted to kill someone so much in my entire life.  Is getting a steak really too much to ask?”

<Just eat the salad with the bug in it.  Free protein!>

Grant seriously contemplated throwing his one-of-a-kind uchigatana into the trash.  He wasn’t going to eat a bug when surrounded by food!

<I know it’s hard for you to learn, but take a look around.  Really look this time, and tell me what you see.>  He sat down and glanced around the square, this time paying closer attention to the details.

The vendors standing behind the stalls all had shining smiles as people walked by, but those without potential customers seemed… scared.  Hungry.  Suddenly, the laughter of the patrons didn’t seem happy and joyous.  It had an edge to it, like they were all on the cusp of madness.  The hair on the back of Grant’s neck started standing on end, and it dawned on him that this wasn’t a happy place.  It was a desperate place.

A woman holding her child’s hand was rolling some dice in front of a baker, a huge loaf of bread on the counter.  As they tumbled to a stop, a tear fell from her cheek, and the man behind the counter handed over a moldy heel of bread.  She passed it to her daughter, who immediately scarfed it down like she hadn’t eaten in a week.  It finally clicked for him.  These people were starving!

<You see it now.  I don’t know why yet, since there is plenty of food on display, but everyone in this town is on the edge.  All it would take is one spark, and this place will go up like it was soaked in lamp oil.>

“We need to get out of here.”  Suki’s words brought Grant's focus back on what was in front of him.  “Hurry up and finish, so we can leave.”  The look on her face meant she had noticed it too.  There was something wrong here, and they didn’t know enough about what was going on in March to figure it out.

“Maybe we should ask someone what is going on.”  He pointed to a man sitting a few tables down from them.  “I’ll see if that guy knows anything.”

“Fine, but be careful.  We don’t want to stand out too much, and the wrong question could bring the kind of attention we don’t need right now.”  Grant gave her a sharp nod, and headed over to speak to the other diner.

“Seat’s taken.”  The name tag over the man said he was ‘Lucky Luca,’ and Grant took a seat anyway.  “Seein’ as how ya don’ know when a man wants to be left alone, why don’ ya just get to it.  Tell Lucky Luca what it is ya want.”

Grant gave the man a once-over, looking at his ragged clothing and unwashed features.  The obvious bulge in his coin pouch hinted that the man had plenty of Time, but he wasn’t using it to better himself very much.

“I was hoping I could ask you some questions.”  Grant leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially.  “I’m new here, and there are some things going on that I don’t understand.”

“Ah, it’s information ya want.”  He pulled out a deck of cards, and started shuffling them.  “If ya can pick out the high card, see, I’ll tell ya what ya wanna know.”  Three cards were quickly laid out on the table.  “If I win, ya pay me for my Time, an I tell ya what I wanna tell ya, see.”

“Umm… sure?”  Grant was having problems with the man’s accent.  It wasn’t anything like he had heard before.

“Well, ya gotta pick ya card then, see.”  Luca gestured to the three cards.  “I’ll let ya go first, ta make sure things is on the up and up, see.”

Grant reached forward, awkwardly choosing the middle card.  He flipped it over to see a ten with a large red diamond under it.  The other man flipped the card on Grant’s right, somehow making the third card disappear in the same motion.  His card had the figure of a scepter, with a ‘J’ in the corners.

“Looks like I won, see.”  Lucky Luca held out his hand.  “How’s about ya hand over an Hour, and I’ll tell ya some things?”  Grant still had no idea what was going on, but he passed over an Hour coin.  “First thing ya gotta know, is you gotta win everything, see.  Chance rules this place, so you betta find yaself a way to tilt things ya direction.”

“What?”  Grant was even more confused.  “How does that make any sense?  Is that why I couldn’t just buy a steak?”

“Nah, see.  Ya probably couldn’t buy a steak cause of the food shortage.”  He pointed to his own plate of food.  “Somethin’ messed up the food comin’ from the border, so now we all gotta go hungry, see.”

“But he was grilling the steaks right in front of me!”  If Grant hadn’t been wearing his helmet, he would have pulled out his hair in frustration.  “Why wouldn’t he just charge me for them?”

“Ya ever heard of advertisin’?”  Lucky Luka took a bite of his food.  “Look kid, ya seem like an alright sort, so I got a piece of advice for ya.”  He shuffled the deck of cards that seemed to appear in his hands, as if by magic.  “Go back ta wherever ya came from, cause I don’t think ya got what it takes ta make it in a place like this.  When ya gamble for everything, ya gotta be willin’ ta take chances, see.  I don’t think ya are the sort ta like that kinda thing.”

“You cheat!”  Before Grant could say anything else, they were interrupted by an angry shout from across the square.  “I saw you tilt the table!  Gimme my money back!”

“I’m no cheater!  You lost fair and square!”  The bread vendor’s face was livid with anger, and he quickly scooped up a small cudgel from behind his stall.  “Take it back!”

“Oh, that’s gonna be real bad, see.”  Lucky Luca quickly stood, knocking over his chair in the process.  “We gotta get outta here, before the coppers get here.”  He tipped his hat in Grant’s direction, and disappeared between two buildings before Grant could stop him.

<He might be right.  Grab your girlfriend, and let’s get out of here.  You should be training, not getting mixed up in that kind of trouble.>

Sarge was talking about the mob of people that had sprung up out of nowhere, surrounding the two men shouting at one another.  Grant took a closer look at the man who accused the breadmaker of cheating.  He was almost skeletally thin, his hollow cheeks and shrunken eyes feverish with the beginnings of starvation.  It was hard to tell, but it looked like the mob was more angry at the accusation of the food vendor being a cheat, than the man standing in front of them, close to death.

“He’s desperate.  The man just needs food.”  Grant weighed the options of leaving the man to the mercies of the mob, or stepping in to try and break it up.  The lack of any House Thursday peacekeepers certainly wasn’t helping matters.  Then, Grant looked over and saw Suki.  “What would she think if the new Lord February just watched a starving man get beaten, or killed?  I can’t just walk away.”

Grant got to his feet, ready to head over and stop the fight.  As he readied to draw his uchigatana, Sarge chuckled in his mind.

<I told you it would take less than an hour for you to find trouble.>