Saorsha’s piercing gaze did not leave Lucy’s face. “Not this time. I want to invite Lucy.”
Challie managed a dry smile. “You may not want to play with her. She is very good with games.”
Saorsha turned at the door and gave Lucy another brilliant glance. “I’ll wager she is.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lucy would not have considered going to the common room that night if it hadn’t been for Saorsha’s odd invitation. She felt terrible, and in spite of Bridget’s cool compresses and poultices, her face had swollen like an overripe melon. Whatever attractive qualities she had were now lost in the bruised and puffy flesh that covered the right side of her face. Yet she could not forget the searching look in Saorsha’s eyes and the invitation to play a game downstairs. As far as she could tell, the inn had no downstairs.
Ulin was not enthused about her going. He was still shaken by their mishap and the extent of their injuries. He laughed at her description of the hot potato spell, but he could not help feeling helpless and angry when he thought of Lucy and Challie at the mercy of four brutal ruffians.
Both accepted the assumption that the invitation was not about a game of cards. The people involved were the same ones the kender mentioned as members of the underground Vigilance Committee. The question in both their minds was why Saorsha wanted Lucy to attend. They agreed to eat in their rooms, and if the Committee wanted Lucy, someone could tell her when and where, and they would attend together.
Ulin passed on their request to Pease. The kender soon returned with a tray of food and wine and a large hourglass.
In a blink or two the table was laid. There was hot soup, cold meats, half a ripe cheese, and biscuits-plain food, but tasty and nourishing. Pease set out more candles, lit lamps, and set the hourglass on a low table.
“Turn the glass twice,” he instructed them, “then, if you please, Madam Saorsha and Master Aylesworthy beg the courtesy of your presence for a game. I will come get you.” He bobbed his head and hurried away.
Ulin speared some meat onto his plate. “Did she give any reason why she wanted you?” he asked for the third or fourth time.
“No,” Lucy replied patiently. She poured a glass of wine and sipped it. “She just invited me to play Dragon’s Bluff.”
“That’s a high stakes game,” he mused. “It requires strategy, skill, and some deception to win. I wonder what they’re up to.”
The two hours that followed seemed long and dreadfully slow. Ulin and Lucy ate a leisurely meal and talked while the sand trickled down and the evening turned to full night. When at last the top of the hourglass was empty, Pease knocked quietly on their door. Lucy unbound her hair and let the heavy chestnut locks fall across her battered face. Taking Ulin’s arm, she walked with him to the door and down the corridor behind the kender.
Silently-for once-Pease led them through a small hallway and into the kitchen. His mother glanced up from her place by a low stove and nodded to them. They filed quickly through a door and descended down a wooden staircase into the cellar filled with barrels of ale, racks of wine, and a large cooler. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room were lined with stone, which helped to cool the underground room and provide some protection from fire above.
Of course this place would have a cellar, Lucy thought. Is this the downstairs Saorsha referred to? She rubbed her sore neck and looked around, but she saw no one else.
Pease came to a stop by a large barrel resting on a stand against the far wall. “Here. We go through here,” he said happily. He pried off the round lid and pointed into the interior.
“You first,” Ulin said.
The kender agreeably crawled in on hands and knees and disappeared into the darkness. Ulin and Lucy could hear the numerous pouches on his belt jingle and rattle as he moved, then they heard a thump and his voice called back, “Come on! It’s easy!”
“It’s easy for you to say,” Lucy grumbled as she worked her way into the barrel. She wondered if there wasn’t another, easier way to get where they were going, for while the barrel and the tunnel behind were barely large enough for the two humans, she could not imagine the stout Master Aylesworthy hauling his frame through there.
The round tunnel passed through the wall and went straight for several yards before it ended in another darkened chamber. As soon as Ulin and Lucy climbed out, Pease carefully closed the exit with another wooden cover.
“It’s shut,” he said aloud.
A lantern was uncovered, and a dim light filled the room. A table, four straight chairs, and three people were all that could be seen. The chamber was utilitarian and unadorned.
“Thank you for coming,” said Saorsha. She gestured to her companions, Lysandros and Geoff Aylesworthy. “You know my friends.”
Ulin studied each one in turn. “You are the Vigilance Committee.”
“All the ones you will meet tonight,” Lysandros replied. “Have a seat.” He sat down in the dealer’s position, spread out a game board, and began to shuffle a deck of cards.
Saorsha and the innkeeper took their places at the table, leaving only one seat. Ulin held it for Lucy then stood like a silent sentinel at her back, his golden eyes hooded in shadow and his face unreadable.
“You know how to play?” Captain Fox asked.
Lucy crossed her arms and studied the board. Dragon’s Bluff was a complicated game involving cards, a game board with marked spaces, dice, and markers. In the center of the board, she was interested to see a red dragon figure perched on the winner’s space marked LAIR. There were several variations of the game using either good or evil dragons. The object of the game was to steal the dragon’s treasure while either “killing” or outwitting your opponents without being eliminated yourself. The red dragon was the most difficult dragon to defeat.
“Seven cards to a player,” she replied at last. “High cards take the tricks and move the markers forward. Bets on all hands. Winner takes all.”
“Ah, her father’s own,” Lysandros joked.
“No, I am not,” she said, her voice cold and deliberate. “You brought me down here to play this game. Tell me why.”
The captain winked and dealt the seven cards to each player. “Kings are high and dragons wild. The stakes are set at ten silver coins apiece.” He flipped a card over from the dealer’s pile. “Ah, the suit of hearts is trump. Players, pick your markers and place your bets.”
Aylesworthy made the first play, and the game commenced. Unwillingly, Lucy joined in, hoping they would explain themselves sooner or later. She flubbed the first two hands out of sheer irritation, leaving her silver marker sitting in the start box, but soon she settled down and began to play with a vengeance. Her marker moved steadily toward the dragon’s lair. Her pile of coins gradually increased from a stack to an impressive pile, until one by one her opponents were forced to drop out of the game.
During the last few hands only Lysandros remained. He played his cards carefully and trumped her enough to move his marker and win back several coins. Lucy said little. She sat perched on the edge of her chair and watched him steadily with her one eye through the strands of her long hair.
While the game continued, Saorsha studied Lucy like a master studying a prospective apprentice. When Lucy finally slapped her cards down and took all of the Fox’s coins, a slow smile of satisfaction spread across her worn face.
“Now,” Lucy said forcefully. “I have played your game.” She knocked the little red dragon from its lair and placed her marker on the winner’s place. “Tell me what you want or we will leave this moment.” Using the hem of her tunic for a pouch, she scooped up the pile of coins and rose to her feet.
Sarosha folded her hands on the table in front of her and glanced at the two men. Both gave her a brief nod. “You must think this whole thing is rather silly,” she said to Lucy. “Actually, we use this game as a test.”