Dokeshi March: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Chapter 24

After they both had some rest, Suki and Grant got serious about practicing a few select card games.  Grant was particularly fond of twenty-one.  It was simple, and he didn’t have to worry about if the other player was being honest or not.

Poker, on the other hand, was probably his least favorite.  A player could outright lie about what cards they had.  If someone felt like betting ridiculously high, Grant couldn’t tell if they were telling the truth or not.  Suki, on the other hand, had no problems.  She wiped the floor with him every time they practiced.

“It’s not hard.”  Suki gathered up the large pile of wood chips in the center of the table they were using to bet with.  “I have been trained since birth to read the intentions of others, no matter how hard they try to hide them.”  Grant looked at her askance, and she shrugged.  “What?  It’s common training that all nobles receive from the cradle.  Any person meant to lead should have it.”

“Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.”  It was Grant’s turn to shrug his shoulders.  “I just don’t see how practicing politics means you know how to gamble.”

“They are practically the same thing.”  Suki pointed at the pile of cards on the worktable between them.  “There is something we both want.  One of us is in the better position to obtain it, but neither of us knows who it is.  So, you posture and bluff your way into winning.”

“But, it is basically lying your way into the winner’s spot.”  Grant squirmed a little in his seat.  “I don’t particularly like not telling the truth.  It makes me feel bad.”

“Don’t think of it like that.”  Suki stood up and stretched her lower back.  “It’s… imagine two fighters in a duel.”  She paused to make sure Grant was following.  “When you make a feint, the person you are fighting reacts to that action, and you use the opening to strike.”  Grant nodded, agreeing with her so far.  “If they try a feint, and you see through it, often it allows the defender an opening they can take advantage of.  That’s what it’s like when you know you have the better hand.  You can crush them by playing along properly.”

“Okay, but how do you know you have the better hand?”  Grant pointed at the cards she had just picked up.  “There are all kinds of combinations that can trump one another.”

“Well, there is one way for certain.”  Suki paused in her shuffling to flick a card out of her sleeve.  “You cheat.”

“Hey!”  Grant stood up, pointing his finger at the evidence of her double-dealing.  “Have you been cheating this whole time?  We’re supposed to be practicing, and you just ruined it by tricking me instead of training me how to play correctly!”

“Do you really think the people you are going to have to play against won’t do exactly the same thing?”  Suki made the card disappear again with the flick of her wrist.  “Part of your training should include learning how to spot a person cheating.  They take that seriously here.”  Grant could only stare at her in anger.  “The trick is, you have to make sure you only call out them cheating when the timing is right.  Don’t do it too soon.  Try to let the best cheaters clear out some of the other players first, then you pounce!”  The cards scattered as she punched down on the table for emphasis.

“I think I’m done practicing with you right now.”  Grant stood, scooting the cards back toward her half of the table.  “We need to go, anyway.  The sun is already starting to rise.”

The two of them were quickly on their way, weaving in and out of the sprawling streets and narrow alleys to throw off any possible pursuit.  Once again, the obvious devastation of seeing an economy based on a single product was hard to witness.  There were starving people around almost every corner, and nearly every business was either abandoned or appeared to be on its last legs.

“I don’t know if these people can make it much longer.”  Grant had stopped to hand out some of the produce from the crate in his pack to a group of children that had sunken cheeks and cracked lips.  “They look close to death.”

<This place reminds me of a war zone.>  Sarge sounded as angry as Grant felt.  <If you don’t end the reign of this mad jester, none of these people will see the end of next month.  They will riot before then, and be wiped out by the clown Vassals.>

“Don’t worry, I won’t fail.”  Grant squeezed the hilt of his sword until his knuckles were white.  “I won’t let anything stop me.”

“What was that?”  Suki was passing out some of her gross health food bars.  Even the starving children seemed to look at them like they were unsure if they should eat them or not.  Grant felt rather vindicated.  “Did you say something?”

“It was nothing.”  Grant passed out a few more vegetables that looked like they were close to going bad.  He was down to less than half of the food he had won.  Mostly, now it was just root vegetables and a few pieces of some spiny fruit Suki had told him would last for a long time.  “We need to get going.  The market might be closed before we get there.”

Back on the road, the two silently agreed to pick up the pace.  Instead of weaving in and around the abandoned buildings, they stayed on the main road and kept up a steady jog.  Handing out the food to the kids had noticeably lightened Grant’s pack, so the faster pace was more manageable.

They made it to the market on their map with about an hour to spare.  The hints of its former glory could be seen under the dirt and grime that seemed to cover everything in the District.  Instead of stalls and carts, there were permanent pagoda-like structures spread in concentric circles around the large fountain spewing dirty water in the center of the square.

“What do you think that is?”  Grant was pointing to the lumpy shape in the center of the fountain.  It was too coated in some kind of scum to see what it really was.  “Some kind of cherub?”

“No, I think it used to be a statue of the Dokeshi’s father.”  Suki tried to read the plaque at the base as they approached, but it was pitted and unreadable.  “Maybe his grandfather?”  She was clearly unwilling to wipe away the dirt to be able to find out.  “I can’t even imagine letting an image of my father deteriorate so far.”  A quick glance around left the corners of her mouth downturned sharply.  “Although, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Let’s split up, but keep each other in sight.  After we practice some games, we meet back up right here when they start to close down.”  Grant placed his hand on the small pouch of Time hanging from his belt.  “Hopefully, we can add to what we already have, and make it to the gate opening with plenty of time to spare.”  Suki gave a sharp nod of agreement, and they went in opposite directions.

Grant went straight for a meat vendor that looked to be using twenty-one to determine what his customers won, and Suki sought out a dry goods vendor that already had three people sitting at a small table with piles of chips in front of them.

“That’s right, good sir!”  The man in front of Grant had a spotless white apron over surprisingly nice clothing.  He was one of the first people Grant had seen who didn’t look like he had missed a few meals.  “Mighty Mike’s Majestic Meats - we beat the meat of all our competition!  Step right up and let us dazzle you with the size and quality of our fine meats!”

Grant didn’t know what to say, so he just walked up and placed a Day coin on the counter.  He was eyeing a particular tasty-looking piece of sausage that looked fat and juicy as it sizzled on the hot grill.  He couldn’t even remember the last time he had seen such delicious-looking sausage.  It was making his mouth water.

“The game is twenty-one.  A Day coin is only one chip, and you need at least two to play.”  The vendor waved to the dealer standing behind a small round table covered in a white tablecloth.  “Every ten chips is worth one item of your choice.  That’s right, you choose your magnificent meat at Mighty Mike’s!”

“How many chips do you want to start with, sir?”  The dealer was a much younger, smaller version of the vendor.  Grant guessed it was his son.  “You need at least one more Day to play at all.”

“Here, take it.”  Grant was more than a little distracted by the display of wonderfully prepared flesh laid out before him.  He handed over a stack of nine more Day coins, drastically reducing the amount in his coin pouch.  “I really want that sausage.”

“I understand sir.  Here are your chips.”  The dealer scooted over five chips and made the money disappear with a flourish.  He then shuffled the deck of cards with a flourish, and laid out four cards, two in front of each of them.  “Please place your bets.”

Grant was still aware enough to play it safe.  He laid out a single chip, and the dealer flipped over one card in each pile.  Grant could see a ten on the top card, and carefully lifted the corner to see what the bottom card was.  Another ten.

“Hit or stay?”  The dealer was holding up the deck, ready to flick another card on the pile.  Grant waved his hand to signify he didn’t want another card.  The dealer was showing a five, and flipped his other card over to show a nine.  “Dealer hits.”  The next card was an eight.  “Dealer busts.  Congratulations, sir.”

The next four hands went in a similar fashion, and soon Grant had a pile of chips next to his elbow.  He was starting to feel good about his chances, and started betting taller stacks of the small clay disks.  A small crowd started to gather, and a gloved hand soon appeared on his shoulder.

“Grant, what are you doing?”  Suki was eyeing the group clustered around the pagoda.  “You do realize you are making a scene, right?”

“I’m just practicing, like we planned.”  Grant motioned toward the stack of over fifty chips precariously balanced on the edge of the small table.  “I think I’m doing pretty good!”

“Maybe you should cash in, and we should go somewhere else?”  Suki’s eyes flickered around the crowd of people.  “There are plenty of other places for you to practice.”

“Okay.  Just one more hand.”  The gleam in his eye was almost feverish.  Grant still wanted the meat, but winning so many chips gave him a thrill a good sausage couldn’t.  “I have a feeling about this next one.”

“Sir, please place your bet.”  The dealer interrupted their conversation, and Grant scooted over half of his pile to the center of the table.  “Very well, thank you sir.”  He flipped the cards over, and Grant had a ten on top.  The dealer had a six.  After checking his other card, it was also a ten.

“I want a split.”  Grant turned over his hidden ten, and slid the other half of his stack over to cover the additional hand.  “I’m feeling lucky!”

“As you wish.”  The dealer quickly dealt another two cards, one next to each of Grant’s tens.  One had a six, and the other a nine.  “Would you like another card?”

“One card on this hand, please.”  Grant indicated the hand with sixteen.  “I’ll stay with the other one.”

“Very well.”  The dealer placed down another card, this one a ten.  “Ah, a bust.  So sorry sir.”  The pile of chips was swept away, leaving Grant with the hand showing nineteen.  Grant swallowed as the dealer flipped over his second card, showing a ten.  “Dealer hits.”  The next card was a five, giving the dealer a perfect twenty-one.  “Dealer wins.”

And just like that, Grant went from top of the world to rock bottom.  He looked longingly at the meat sizzling only a few feet away from him.  The speed of the change in fortunes almost made him feel dizzy.

“Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”  Suki led him away, headed for the dry goods vendor she had approached earlier.  “I could have told you that was going to happen.  The dealer kept picking cards from the bottom of the deck.”

“What?”  Grant looked back at the pagoda where a sign with Mighty Mike’s Majestic Meats was hanging.  “He was cheating me?”

“Of course.  The dealer wanted you to get overconfident.”  Suki stopped a few feet away from the table where they were playing poker.  “That way, when you lost everything, you would blame yourself instead of taking a closer look at how he was dealing cards.”  She nodded toward the poker game.  “Now, just sit and watch for a minute.  I need to make up for the Time you lost, and we could really use the grand prize the winner gets.”

Grant finally noticed the railing of this pagoda was draped with signs displaying the various items players could win.  The first-place prize was a large bag of rice, an even larger bag of flour, and a small sack of salt.  He could barely contain the groan that wanted to escape.  Grant knew exactly who would be carrying around all that extra weight.