Book III: Casino Royale (X): Betting On A Story

  --- Gregory Fischer ---

  He started up the stairs as slowly as possible, making a show of taking a slow backwards walk up them, his eyes first finding Maeve playing at a table that was half cleared out, before sweeping them across the window in search of where the sniper might’ve been watching him.

  While he doubted Fox was fast enough to get into position so soon after their little talk, he was pretty sure he could figure out where she’d end up perched.

  (Best bet is the third building to the left, one higher and lower, both close enough to move in either direction. Gives a decent overwatch of the tables below and the high table. That said, the windows are angled, and with the way the light is bending off the glass… Anyone trying to snipe the high table will find their bullets off by about five degrees. More since I’d bet money the glass is built with both chemical and magical resistances.)

  Whether or not the merc crew had figured that out and accounted for it was a line between professional and expert as far as he was concerned. As was whether or not their sniper could adjust for whatever weirdness the Royale had given the windows.

  “That’s far enough.” A security guard stopped him near the top, both him and his partner wearing the usual black suit and shades indoors that the rest were.

  “Ah, right.” He nodded, spinning back to face the guards who were deciding whether or not he was so laidback because he was harmless or dangerous. “I believe Ace was up for trading a few… stories, last I talked to him.”

  He saw the exact moment both guards nudged him into the ‘threat’ category, neither of them actually moving to go check with their boss. (Smoke Stepping past them would be easy, but it might also escalate things a little further than I want to right now.)

  There were a few ways he could work around that, but he wasn’t sure he could pull them off with the way the Book was restricting his abilities. (Especially since I still don’t know where the line falls for what the different Volumes seal and unlock.)

  Still given how he could see Ace sitting at a table a fair bit behind the guards, eyes locked onto a tablet likely monitoring the tournament, all he had to do was stand there until the man noticed him.

  Admittedly he could also yell to grab the younger man’s attention, but given the very obvious powerplays the guards were trying as they glared down at him -both actually being the same height as him, their extra height only due to the stairs- he was content to wait. To let them know he was unphased by their attempts to silently glare him into submission.

  Of course that plan only lasted until one of them attempted to physically make him turn away. A mistake that resulted in the guard’s wrist being caught and twisted to the point of nearly dislocating his shoulder, a condition that was further exasperated when one of his knees were kicked out, and the stairs left the poor man in a position where-

  “Let him go!” The other guard shouted quickly drawing his gun on Fischer.

  He glanced at the man he was holding, and then at the guard aiming an odd looking gun at him, “You sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure!” The guard glared, finger slowly tightening on the trigger.

  “Okay.” He shrugged, before releasing the other guard and promptly watching him tumble down half a flight of stairs before catching himself on the floor below.

  The gun guard pulled the trigger as Fischer reflexively used his smoke -(a different page flashed through his mind)- and caught the bullets with his prosthetic.

  Both of them stared at the bullets with wide eyes, at least until Fischer’s eyes narrowed at the fact that he was wondering, (That was… Parry Arts, not my Smoke Step- or Swift Dodge…)

  He was used to pulling off feats he thought impossible. (Hells, he’d caught bullets with his prosthetic before.)

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  He was less used to having his actions unconsciously overwritten, his body puppetted into doing those feats. (And would be having words with Briar about it.)

  Not letting his own discomfort show, Fischer casually tossed the bullets up and down in his hand before looking the guard in the eye and telling him that, “That was rude. I mean, I even asked you if you were sure you wanted me to let him go before I did. Not my fault you didn’t think it through.”

  “That’s true, he did ask.” A voice chimed from behind the guard, drawing both of their attention to Ace who was fiddling with a tablet in his hand. “That said, it is both of your fault that I had to change the music to a rap song filled with gunshots, rather than our usual chill beats.”

  “Should apologize for that.” He admitted, grimacing as he listened to the music for a moment. “Should apologize to everyone for that. People listen to this crap?”

  “I don’t.” Ace shrugged, before tilting his head in a motion to follow and making his way back to the high table.

  The guard glared at Fischer as he passed, but he saw no reason to consider the man an actual threat. (Unlike Ace.)

  Not waiting for an invitation he went ahead and took a seat across from the younger man who was eyeing him curiously as he sipped at something. (Same stuff he was drinking earlier… Looks like alcohol but… Either he’s got an absurd tolerance or he’s drinking something else.)

  “So what brings you to my little table when you’ve got that strawberry blonde of yours to look out for?” Ace asked, making it clear he knew Maeve was who Fischer had bet on.

  “Eh, you said you might be interested in trading a few stories.” He reminded the Royale Enforcer. “Figured you might be bored with watching people play a game they don’t understand.”

  “You never know, sometimes an amateur can make an… entertaining mistake.” Ace pointed out a smirk on his face as he added. “And you’d be surprised how many amateurs think themselves ‘professionals’.”

  Seeing the jab for what it was he gave an amused huff as he propped his head up with a hand. “I really wouldn’t.”

  He tapped four fingers against his cheek, four more on the table, and a quick series of synced blinks to match. The warning was technically for one less than were actually listening to them, but he hadn’t actually seen ‘wolf’ for himself so…

  Ace’s eyes narrowed, catching sight of the earring that Fischer hadn’t been wearing half an hour prior. “If you remember that was contingent on you not causing too much trouble for me around here.”

  “I’m not causing any trouble.” He admitted with a shrug. “Like I told you before, my job is collecting Stories, and this seems like a good enough spot to watch whatever Story this tournament ends up writing.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Ace nodded, eyes still narrowed as he took another sip of his drink. “You know it occurs to me that if you’re here of all places, with a blonde like that, and a prosthetic like that then you might be part of something a bit… bigger than you’re implying.”

  He briefly considered denying it before considering it pointless, given how he doubted the Library had enough of a reputation to bite him in the ass given how it was operated by a talking dog and whatever Briar was, so he simply nodded back himself. “I am. As are you if I recall.”

  “The difference is everyone here knows who the Royale is while I don’t think anyone knows who you’re working for.” Ace noted, swirling his glass in hand.

  “Well I can honestly say I had not heard of the Royale before today.” He confessed with complete and utter honesty.

  Ace stared at him for a moment before letting out an amused huff. “Yeah, that’s the funny thing. I actually believe you about that…”

  They both watched each other for a moment, before Fischer decided to make his offer. “So if you want to know about who I work for, then… how about a trade?”

  “And all it’ll cost me is a story?” Ace recalled with a skeptical look.

  He gave another nod. “A story about the Casino Royale for a story about the Black Briar Library.”

  “The Black Briar…” Ace repeated, that part of the name catching his attention.

  He doubted it was because of the Library itself but more likely because it probably shared a name with some other organization the Royale enforcer knew about. (Which hopefully won’t bite me in the ass.)

  “And what if I don’t actually care about whatever organization you’re a part of?” Ace asked after a moment. “What if I’m more curious about someone willing to work for The Black Briar… Library was it?”

  Fischer’s eyes narrowed now. (Yeah, ‘Black Briar’ definitely means something to him.)

  “Well the price of that story would be one about someone willing to work for the Casino Royale.” He explained, figuring (fair is fair.) Even if neither of their professions were facilitators of what could be considered ‘fair’.

  “Of course it is.” Ace huffed with an amused grin. “But tell me what’s stopping either of us from backing out after we’ve shared our story? Or that one story will be worth the other?”

  “Beyond professional courtesy?” He checked, both of them aware of both how little and how much that was worth depending on the day of the week. “Well that’ll be the gamble won’t it?”