quick as the strange woman had spoken. He could not deny that. Perhaps it had been only an off-handed comment about a card in her deck, yet somehow the word was so perfectly timed as to be anything but coincidence. It was as though Nathaniel somehow knew the answer already and the words from the stranger only echoed his own deeply buried memory. Somehow, this stranger had reminded him of some detail, some element of his dream perhaps, which he had not recalled until that very moment. The response had just seemed right, remarkably and inarguably the absolute truth.
“ There are nine such swords in total,” spoke the woman as she flipped the top card from her deck, looking at it casually. “So the answer as to how many others there are is eight.”
“ Swords...?” Again, the woman's words struck a chord of familiarity deep within Nathaniel's breast. “A sword... Held by the feet...”
Bracken recovered himself enough to clear his throat, his eyes now diverted to the cards the woman flipped through. “An' how woul' ya be knowin' such a thing?” he asked through gritted teeth.
The woman sat somewhat in shadow, so her immediate features were not immediately visible. However, the smile that crossed her features could not be hidden. “You play, do you not?”
Bracken flinched. “Ya be meanin' what by that, madame?”
The woman looked up, her face still masked in shadow, though the brights of her eyes shown clearly enough to pierce Bracken through his core. “Why, the Game, of course.” In response, the woman flipped the card in her hand across the room with a precision that seemed to defy her slight hand. The card flew through the air with an accuracy that appeared unworldly and came to rest on the floor at Bracken's feet. “The Game, sir dwarf. You do play, do you not?”
Bracken swallowed uncomfortably. He did play, of course. And now that the card rested on the floor at his feet, he even recognized the stylized backing of the card.
This was not just a game; it was as the strange woman called it, simply “the Game”. Its origins were unknown, its rules intricate and impossible to some, easier to others. And yet, despite the idea that no one seemed to ever know from whence the Game had come, few there were that could avoid at least knowing of it.
The Game, according to lore, had originated some few hundred years ago. It was a human convention, something Bracken had never seen nor heard of before coming to reside upon the surface. Some attributed the first Game's printing to an anonymous printer somewhere on the coast. Others claimed it was a divine gift of the Gods, though which set of Gods was anyone's guess. Still others thought it an elaborate machination of politics, instituted by some now-deceased ruler designed to keep the minds of his subjects diverted. The only thing known for sure of the Game, in truth, was that no one really knew anything about where it came from, neither in the past nor the present.
The oddest element about the Game was that there were always new cards entering circulation. The cards would depict current rulers, elements in history, sites and communities from across the world. For many, the Game was the single source of knowledge that such places even existed, though none doubted that if they appeared on a card that they did in fact truly exist somewhere. Some cards were fairly easy to acquire, others rarer and consequently more valuable. Many a merchant was said to have lost a fortune upon seeking out and purchasing the more exotic cards of the Game, in time abandoning the profit-based source of their livelihood in favor of the compulsive need to track and collect the different cards that could be found.
Many were the errant who had tried to trace the origins of the Game, yet none had ever prevailed that Bracken knew of. Where one may have followed rumors to the coast, another would follow a path leading far
“ There are nine such swords in total,” spoke the woman as she flipped the top card from her deck, looking at it casually. “So the answer as to how many others there are is eight.”
“ Swords...?” Again, the woman's words struck a chord of familiarity deep within Nathaniel's breast. “A sword... Held by the feet...”
Bracken recovered himself enough to clear his throat, his eyes now diverted to the cards the woman flipped through. “An' how woul' ya be knowin' such a thing?” he asked through gritted teeth.
The woman sat somewhat in shadow, so her immediate features were not immediately visible. However, the smile that crossed her features could not be hidden. “You play, do you not?”
Bracken flinched. “Ya be meanin' what by that, madame?”
The woman looked up, her face still masked in shadow, though the brights of her eyes shown clearly enough to pierce Bracken through his core. “Why, the Game, of course.” In response, the woman flipped the card in her hand across the room with a precision that seemed to defy her slight hand. The card flew through the air with an accuracy that appeared unworldly and came to rest on the floor at Bracken's feet. “The Game, sir dwarf. You do play, do you not?”
Bracken swallowed uncomfortably. He did play, of course. And now that the card rested on the floor at his feet, he even recognized the stylized backing of the card.
This was not just a game; it was as the strange woman called it, simply “the Game”. Its origins were unknown, its rules intricate and impossible to some, easier to others. And yet, despite the idea that no one seemed to ever know from whence the Game had come, few there were that could avoid at least knowing of it.
The Game, according to lore, had originated some few hundred years ago. It was a human convention, something Bracken had never seen nor heard of before coming to reside upon the surface. Some attributed the first Game's printing to an anonymous printer somewhere on the coast. Others claimed it was a divine gift of the Gods, though which set of Gods was anyone's guess. Still others thought it an elaborate machination of politics, instituted by some now-deceased ruler designed to keep the minds of his subjects diverted. The only thing known for sure of the Game, in truth, was that no one really knew anything about where it came from, neither in the past nor the present.
The oddest element about the Game was that there were always new cards entering circulation. The cards would depict current rulers, elements in history, sites and communities from across the world. For many, the Game was the single source of knowledge that such places even existed, though none doubted that if they appeared on a card that they did in fact truly exist somewhere. Some cards were fairly easy to acquire, others rarer and consequently more valuable. Many a merchant was said to have lost a fortune upon seeking out and purchasing the more exotic cards of the Game, in time abandoning the profit-based source of their livelihood in favor of the compulsive need to track and collect the different cards that could be found.
Many were the errant who had tried to trace the origins of the Game, yet none had ever prevailed that Bracken knew of. Where one may have followed rumors to the coast, another would follow a path leading far
Similar Books
