Chapter 21: Against the World

This time I knew I was dreaming from the start. When I opened my eyes to find myself in a shadow tower, I was a lot less confused. Squaring my shoulders, I walked down the halls towards the center tower. I felt the pull this time, but I resisted it long enough to take a few quick stops to check out exactly where some of the other paths led.

Several of them went off to the neighboring towers. One was a deep purple, and on the other side of my shadow tower was a brilliant yellow tower. Like the sun, it was so hard to look at.

I kept going inward toward the tower of white in the center, though I did not want to delay the meeting any more than I had to. I was a little uneasy, as this might be the highest potential I had of being exposed as not who I said I was. Anyone inside the court would probably be too scared to say anything, and I had my number to back me up. For the most part, here I was alone. I had very little information to work off of, only conjecture and simply hoping that I was the stoic type. It worked the first time, and since I had good news to report, hopefully, this wouldn't be an issue.

When I got to the office, the old man was sitting there, this time by himself.

"Come in, Coulomb," he said, and I sat in the chair opposite of him. He waited for a second, and I realized it was best if I gave my report now instead of making him wait.

"It's done."

"Well done. A day early, too." The old man said with a smile.

I inclined my head. "I didn't think that would be an issue. We traveled a little faster than I had feared, and if something went wrong, I would always be able to make sure I got down the next time."

He nodded in understanding. "Again, well done. I know you probably didn't relish this task."

I grimaced and nodded my agreement. "Yeah. That wasn't my favorite of targets, but I understand it was necessary."

"No," the man nodded. "Very necessary, yet totally unnecessary at the same time. That man's pride." the old man gently shook his head. "Sometimes, it's hard for me to reconcile the king he was five years ago with who he became."

We both bowed our heads for a moment in silence. Eventually, the old man broke it. "James owes you a favor now. What do you need?"

I panicked; my mind froze for a second, and I couldn't come up with anything. I had no idea who James was, what he could do for me, or what I even needed a favor for. Would I ask for something from the court? Would I ask for something for myself? Would I ask for something related to this organization?

It all jumbled up in my head, and I froze for a half second before realizing that I needed to know more. I needed to know more. Now, I only had a name and a face to go off of, but with a shadow organization at my side, hopefully, I could find something. How many important people could be named James and match that description? If One couldn't tell me, hopefully another could.

I spoke after the panic subsided. I only hoped that it didn't show on my face. "Can I hold this in reserve? I don’t have any immediate need."

The old man looked at me and shrugged. "That's not typically the way, but if you don't need anything at the moment, I suppose I can give you a month. But as you know, we don't let favors hang over each other. That creates too much uncertainty and resentment amongst our members."

I agreed. "It's a good policy. I'll make sure to have something for you by the end of the month."

"Good, good. I don't have any further tasks for you. Do you have anything for me?" He asked in a nearly clear dismissal.

I thought about it. "A couple pieces of information related to the king's replacement. The queen and heir both seem to be aware of what the king was doing wrong and understand that they can't continue it, at least not soon. So, I don't think we need to worry about them coming for revenge or continuing King Gerald's crusade."

The old man nodded. "Not unexpected, but welcome to hear nonetheless. Thank you, Coulomb. I must say, as always, I admire your professionalism."

I gave a seated bow and smiled my best imitation of gratitude. "I aim to please."

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"Good. Now, I imagine you want your attention back on the court with how things are going there. I wish you luck, and if you need help, don't hesitate to ask. A favor from you can mean a lot to many of our members."

I didn't let any surprise show on my face. Feelings of trepidation boiled up within me at the prospect of a bunch of uncertainty that I was supposed to be aware of but not the idea of having to ask for help from the members of the organization. One thing I needed to learn was how to come here on my own. Otherwise, how could I ask? Maybe there's some other method of doing that. Either way, it was all connected to magic, and I needed to learn more. I slowly faded back into dreams before waking up in the carriage.

***

We had ridden all day and through the evening, but the four of us had mostly slept the time away. So when we were eating dinner, none of us were quite ready to go to bed. Unfortunately, though, the horses couldn't keep going in the dark, and they needed rest, so we still had to make camp.

As we moved back into the carriage for the evening, no one moved to take the beds down. Even One seemed unable to sleep.

As the sun fell behind the horizon, we all sat back in our seats, Four taking the spot next to me. Then, One showed us a new feature of the wagon that I hadn't known about. She lowered a table from the ceiling, supported by thin chains and a few quick clips, and it was stable, connected to the floor.

"Cards, anyone?" She asked, and I shrugged. Four and Nine both nodded, sitting upright. She pulled out a pack of cards and said, "We'll play five-card draw."

The game didn't mean anything to me, and one read my quirked eyebrow and belatedly launched into a quick explanation of the game. "Uh, two rounds of betting. Raise doubles. Only four cards can be replaced. Um, standard poker rules. Two pair. Pair. Two pair. Three of a kind..."

As she started listing out the types of hands, I realized that they seemed familiar, and I nodded once she finished so she didn't have to explain what they were. Huh. Somehow, the rules of poker were instinctively in my mind, kind of like how I knew how to read, I suppose. But one thing I was uncertain about.

"Starting bid?" I asked. I wanted to ask what we were betting with, but that might have been too weird.

One looked around. "Hmm. Well, what do we want to play for?"

Okay, interesting; I guess I was too cautious. So there wasn't a standard game that used the Numbered, and I played while we were alone. Nine shrugged, and Four said, "Well, with master playing, we can't play for our normal currency."

I raised my eyebrows, and she shrugged. "Typically, we swapped chores and took on extra shifts or something like that."

All right. Well, I suppose maybe that was how One managed to get so many shifts with me. I'd have to make sure to never bet against her. One’s ability to read auras was especially great at this. In fact, I looked over at Nine and realized she wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about this as Four or One. And thinking about Four's social manipulation and One's aura reading, I figured she didn't actually win as much as she would have liked.

I felt in my pockets. "We could play for money, but it's kind of boring."

One got a devious smile on her face. "What about strip poker?"

Four groaned. I rolled my eyes.

"I honestly don't know how that would actually work," I said. I was going to elaborate, but One cut me off.

"Yeah, I suppose the rules don't really make sense, but it's okay. It's more about getting naked than anything actually playing the game."

I looked over at Four, who was looking decidedly less comfortable with this. Nine seemed, unsurprisingly, more happy with this than the idea of playing for favors.

"I have a feeling that game wouldn't last very long." I objected. "One. Why don't we just use some tokens for now? And if you think of a good idea, we can swap to that later."

I pulled out a handful of coins and divided them up equally. "There. You just give me back everything when we're done, and it's fine,"

One pouted. "That's no fun. I want to have some stakes."

"All right. Fine. How about whoever has the most at the end wins, and we'll think of some prize." I said, “there, we can have steaks without having to bet everything.”

"I think whoever wins should get a request from Master." Nine chimed in.

I thought about it for a second. "Okay, but what if I win? I can't request something for myself, now, can I?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but what are the odds of you actually winning?"

"I don't know. It should be 1 in 4, right?"

"I mean, come on, how many times have you actually won against One or Four?" Nine said, pushing me a little farther.

Interesting, I thought. I don't think she actually cares about the answer to that. She's more trying to figure out if I know.

I shrugged. "Yeah, a fair point."

My artful dodge may have bought me some time, but Nine gave me a look that said maybe not as much as I hoped. Four was too busy focusing on One to pay too much attention to our exchange.

The two women were exchanging glares, communicating in some fashion that neither I nor Nine seemed to be aware of. Ultimately, Four looked away and conceded.

"Okay," One said, "if you win, you get to ask one request of each of us."

"So it's really all of you against me?" I asked.

All three of them grinned at me, showing their teeth.

"Isn't it always?" They all said.