1 State of Grace (4 page)

“You there,” he said, signaling to the blonde server who confirmed his credit. “What’s your name?”

“Isabelle,” she replied, flushing.

“Isabelle, I’d like another cup of this extraordinary cabernet and a glass of whatever Ambassador Silverleaf would like.”

“I don’t drink while I play Conquest,” he said immediately, throwing Wolf a withering look as he did so.

“Why on Earth not?” Wolf asked.

“It clouds the mind,” Silverleaf replied.

“Really?” Wolf sounded as though he had never heard of such a thing. “I’ve found quite the opposite. A drink relaxes the mind, allows it to see more possibilities.”

“There is no limitation on the number of units that may start the game in a single territory,” William said. Wolf thought he could hear him wince. Silverleaf scowled in disgust.

“Can I bring you anything at all, Ambassador?” Isabelle said.

“No!” he snapped. “Bring the fool his wine so we can begin the game.”

Wolf was secretly pleased, though he did his best not to show it. He already had Silverleaf off his game. If he kept playing the annoyingly happy fool, he might just be able to cloud the elf’s thinking during the game. No matter how well Wolf had managed to set up the board, he still had to deal with Silverleaf’s ability to cheat. Any advantage he could gain was critical.

Over Silverleaf’s shoulder, he saw Simone smiling at him. Clearly, she was enjoying Silverleaf’s struggles as well.

“May we start, please,” Silverleaf said. It was a statement, not a question.

“The shuffle, Ambassador?” William prodded.

Silverleaf nearly spat his disgust at forgetting part of the pregame ritual. He was desperate to start giving Wolf the beating he felt he deserved. He tossed his cards to Wolf and then held out his hand.

The rules called for each player to shuffle the other’s deck and then offer him a cut. This way, a player couldn’t stack his own deck.

Wolf handed over his cards. He never took his eyes off them as Silverleaf shuffled. He detected no magic – the elf wasn’t going to mess with Wolf’s deck, only his own – but he wasn’t nearly as concerned about that. Wolf was watching for another reason. He shuffled Silverleaf’s cards absently as he watched.

Wolf once heard from a professional gambler that a deck of cards must be shuffled a minimum of seven times to achieve a truly random assortment. He suspected Silverleaf knew this little tidbit too, because the ambassador shuffled sixteen times before offering Wolf a cut. Wolf rapped his knuckles on the top of the deck, indicating he didn’t want one.

“You’re ‘knocking’?” Silverleaf said.

“Sure,” Wolf replied. “I trust you. Besides, you shuffled them enough times.”

Another groan went through the crowd. They thought Wolf had taken all leave of his senses. Silverleaf handed over Wolf’s cards suspiciously. Then he cut his own deck twice. Wolf smiled.

Presently, Isabelle returned with his wine. She leaned over him to place it to his right, making sure to give him a good view of her breasts and a whiff of her perfume. Wolf did his best to conceal his amusement. This girl was trying very hard. Perhaps she hoped to improve her social position by becoming his mistress. Too bad she was trying to seduce the wrong Dasher.

“Thank you,” he said, tossing a five-gold chip onto her tray as a gratuity. “Don’t go far.”

“Gentlemen, shall we bid for first move?” William said.

“No,” Silverleaf pronounced. “Mr. Dasher was kind enough to offer me first choice. I feel obligated to repay the debt. He may have the first move.”

A ripple of surprise went through the crowd. Wolf surmised no one had ever seen the ambassador offer any sort of quarter before. Wolf counted it as a victory. Silverleaf was pretending to be kind, but he was employing the same tactic Wolf had when he gave the elf first choice of deck. He wanted to see what Wolf would do. He wanted some hint of his strategy.

It made sense. Wolf had made a number of irregular choices already. Furthermore, he had set the board up so that Silverleaf could only attack his domain from one territory. While the siren in the sea could lure creatures down to their doom, the only one of Wolf’s units she could affect was the fungal infestation – which couldn’t move. The rest of them weren’t adjacent to her and therefore were outside her range. Thus, Wolf had already rendered that card inert. The only other way into Wolf’s domain was through the heavily defended mountain. Moving into a mountain territory required a movement rating of three. All of Silverleaf’s frontline troops had movements of one. Thus, unless Wolf came down to fight him, it would take Silverleaf three turns before he could attack.

The situation was not impossible for the elf. He had his ability to magically cheat, and Wolf assumed he would at the first opportunity. But Silverleaf wanted to know his opponent’s strategy. Unless he had an idea of Wolf’s intentions, he wouldn’t know which cards to draw from his deck. For the moment, Wolf had stonewalled him; it bought him some time.

With the game at last set up, the two players dealt themselves seven cards from their own decks. Wolf scanned his own deal briefly. He had two zombies, a plague, a “staff of darkness,” a “pall of darkness” spell, a “blood ritual” spell, and an “insidious design.”

After he noted his cards, Wolf put his hand on his deck. He felt bad about what he was about to do, but since he was playing a cheater, cheating was a reasonable response. His Shadow powers gave him the ability to read the history of any object and see what had been done to it or with it and by whom. It was for this reason he had watched Silverleaf shuffle the cards closely and for this reason he didn’t cut the deck.

Closing his eyes, Wolf put himself back in the moment when the last shuffle occurred. He slowed the vision down. He watched each card flip through the deck and memorized its position. Unlike Silverleaf, he could not magically draw the card he needed or wanted, but, by using his postcognitive powers, he could know the exact position of every card in his deck.

“Mr. Dasher!”

Wolf opened his eyes with a start and saw Silverleaf glaring at him.

“Can we please begin the game?” the ambassador demanded.

“Sorry,” Wolf said. “Just saying a quick prayer to the gambling gods for good fortune.”

“There was nothing quick about it,” Silverleaf spat. “Please draw a card so we can begin.”

Wolf had a plan. It was not going to be easy, but, based on the cards in his hand and the order of what he would eventually get, he thought it might work. The trick would be forcing Silverleaf to cheat at the right times. Wolf had played green often and was familiar with its assets. He needed to draw out the cards that could undo his plans.

He took a sip of his wine and then drew his first card – another zombie. He pretended to think carefully about what to do. Then, he reached into his reserves, counted out thirty gold in chips, and tossed them into the pot. He placed the three zombies on the mountain with the six monsters already occupying it. Appreciative commentary made its way through the observers. It was going to be hell for Silverleaf to conquer. The zombies could be killed only with fire, and they could turn any units they killed into zombies themselves.

“Five hundred gold on the ambassador to clear the mountain within three turns,” a man said. He placed his money on the sideboard. Several others bet against him. A few joined his wager.

As a player, Wolf was under no obligation to respond to any of the side bets. He only had to match whatever Silverleaf wagered. However, whichever player “won” the side bet received one percent of its total. The house raked another two percent.

Wolf placed one gold on the fungal infestation, activating its special power. Every time he paid a gold to it, it multiplied. Each chip represented another fungal infestation card. It wasn’t a particularly strong unit, but, if allowed to spread, it could be difficult to destroy. Wolf was betting he could develop it into a nasty hurdle for Silverleaf’s troops.

Finally, he paid another thirty-five gold to the pot and placed the “staff of darkness” card on the cave wight. There was another flurry of betting as the odds on Silverleaf being able to make good on the side bet got longer.

“I think that’s all for now,” Wolf pronounced. “You may go, Ambassador.”

Wolf leaned back in his chair and sipped more of the cabernet. He lifted the flagon high to make it appear as if he was taking a large drink, but he only allowed a small amount of the pleasant wine into his mouth. He sat the flagon down, produced a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and then smiled at Silverleaf. The elf only stared at him.

Silverleaf drew a card from his deck. Wolf watched for the flash of magical energy, but it didn’t come. He was only half surprised by this. He didn’t have an opportunity to watch Silverleaf deal, but he was sure the ambassador had made sure to get the seven cards he wanted. For the moment, he was willing to play the deck as it was shuffled. Wolf suspected Silverleaf was still trying to get a feel for what he needed to do to win.

After putting his draw in his hand, Silverleaf considered his options. He drummed his fingers lightly on the tabletop.

“So tell me, Ambassador,” Wolf said. “I’ve never been to Alfar. What’s it like?”

Silverleaf peered over the top of his hand and fixed Wolf with another withering gaze. Wolf smiled amiably.

“I’m not surprised,” Silverleaf answered, a cruel tone entering his voice. “You Urlanders love to tell others what to do without ever having been anywhere beyond your own home.”

He reached down to his chips and tossed ten gold into the pot. Then he laid a “swiftness” card on one of the elf units in the forest adjacent to Wolf’s mountain. The elves could now move at double their speed.

“Oh, I didn’t say I’d never traveled,” Wolf said. “I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve been to Gallica, Bretelstein, Patria, Celia, even Phrygia.”

“Those are all human kingdoms,” Silverleaf criticized. “The languages are different, but the behaviors are the same. You should visit some non-human countries if you really want to see something different.”

“Well,” Wolf went on, pretending not to notice the ambassador’s nasty tone, “I’ve met dwarfs in Bretelstein, although you’re right, I’ve never been to Nidavellir. But I’d love to see Alfar. Is it as beautiful as they say?”

“Yes,” Silverleaf said quickly. He looked over his cards again, then added, “At least it was.”

“Before the civil war?” Wolf prodded.

He was rewarded with a hateful glare. There was real fire in Silverleaf’s eyes. Wolf could sense himself making a serious enemy of the big elf. It made him uncomfortable, but he was pleased Silverleaf was angry. It would cloud his focus.

“Yes,” Silverleaf said. “And the Urlish occupation.”

Wolf was unable to resist baiting the ambassador further. He knew it was risky, but he needed Silverleaf thinking about something other than the game, and he had decided he didn’t like the Alfari ambassador. He was a cheat and a jerk. Wolf wanted to make him pay.

“Occupation?” Wolf said. “That seems a little strong. Didn’t your government ask us to deploy troops there to help keep the peace and keep it in power?”

“Yes!” Silverleaf said, his voice rising. After a moment, he got himself back under control. “Mr. Dasher, I have no wish to discuss politics here. In fact, I have no wish to discuss anything. I would prefer to play the game in peace.”

“Sorry, Ambassador,” Wolf said. There was no sincerity in his tone. “Are you sure I can’t buy you a drink?”

Silverleaf had to grip the edge of the table to keep from exploding. He closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed softly.

“No, thank you,” he said. Before Wolf could say something else, he tossed twelve gold into the pot and played another card: “area effect.”

“That spell causes the ‘swiftness’ spell to affect all the units in the area. All my elves and pixies now have a movement of two.”

“Well, not quite all,” Wolf said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the area affected is that forest territory you played the spell in. It doesn’t include more than one territory, so your elf that is in this territory over here,” Wolf said, pointing at the forest with a single unit in it, “isn’t covered by the spell. It still has a movement of one. You’d have had to move it into this territory with all your other units for it to have benefited from the ‘swiftness’ card.”

Wolf watched as Silverleaf’s blood boiled. His face turned a strange color of purple, and the whites of his eyes became red. His hands shook with rage. There could be only one explanation. Wolf’s banter had broken his concentration; he’d forgotten to move the elf unit.

Without a word, Silverleaf threw fifty gold into the pot and dropped a dragon – the same one he defeated Sir Leslie with – onto the territory with the two elves and two pixies. He didn’t smile smugly like he had when playing Sir Leslie. He scowled, and looked as if he would like to tear Wolf’s throat out.

“Oh, wow,” Wolf said, “You dealt yourself that? That’s a stroke of luck.”

Wolf knew luck had nothing to do with it, but he continued to play the affable fool. The card presented him with a problem, though. The dragon had a movement of three. It could reach his mountain lair when it was able to move next turn. It had an attack rating of ten – the highest of any monster. Moreover, it could breathe fire, which rendered his fungal infestation and his zombies vulnerable to its attacks. Silverleaf was planning to rout Wolf in the second turn. With Wolf’s units cleared, he’d be able to march across the remaining territories unhindered.