Book III: Casino Royale (Pt. III)- A Damsel Explains The Dangers

  --- Gregory Fischer ---

  Without waiting for his suggestion Maeve set off towards the woman in the dress and the man bothering her. (Right, should’ve seen that one coming…)

  Of course she’d want to help out someone with even superficially similar circumstances to her own after reliving her memories such a short time ago.

  Not that he had an issue with this, (I’d just like to plan things out before rushing into anything involving other people.)

  As they walked Maeve’s head twitched ever so slightly, listening to the pair laugh even as the woman in red was clearly faking it. In not even two steps the vampire’s entire demeanor shifted as she put on an excited smile and rushed towards the other woman. “Katarina is that you?!”

  Both the woman in red and the older man jumped at the sudden intrusion, neither of them having any idea who the strawberry blonde woman intruding upon them was.

  “Um, yes?” The woman in red smiled, this time as much in confusion as in discomfort.

  “It’s me, Maeve from the tournament last month!” His fellow librarian introduced, pulling the other woman into a hug.

  Katarina blinked before her green eyes briefly widened and she took on a more honest smile as his partner likely explained the evac. “Maeve Roisin! I wasn’t expecting to see you here!”

  “I just barely qualified to enter thanks to my new sponsor.” Maeve half-lied before wrapping an arm around Katarina’s waist and beginning to drag her off.

  The more than willing victim of kidnapping offered the older gentleman a regretful and silent apology that she absolutely did not mean from over her shoulder.

  He waited a moment, making sure that the man wasn’t going to raise a fuss over what just happened before following after when it was clear he was just going to grumble about people of lesser birth. (Irony being if she didn’t leave the court she might’ve outranked this asshole socially.)

  When he did catch up to them, he found Katarina in the middle of thanking Maeve. “-men can be so pushy.”

  “It was no trouble at all.” Maeve assured the other woman, before catching sight of him and offering a nod. “Fischer.”

  “Doesn’t look like the guy is going to cause any problems.” He told the pair.

  Katarina let out a scoffing sound. “I wouldn’t expect him to. He’s enough power that I can’t simply ignore him, but he can’t actually do anything to harm me. At most he can consume my evening with unwanted advances of both a financial and personal nature.”

  “Still not something you should put up with.” He pointed out, remembering the harassment Marie and Mae had gotten from men who’d spent far too long without shore leave. (Not that that’s an excuse for being an asshole.)

  “True.” The red head conceded, before giving them both a once over. “So I know my more feminine hero, but I haven’t been introduced to you.”

  “Gregory Fischer.” He nodded, before giving her a questioning look.

  “Katarina as our blonde friend overheard.” The redhead answered without offering her surname.

  (Which doesn’t matter since it would mean next to nothing to me. What does matter though is-) “Maybe you can help us, Ms. Katarina?”

  “Help you how?” The redhead frowned, her eyes narrowing even as Maeve gave him a mildly reproachful look.

  “In all honesty, we followed a bunch of signs to this casino and are now completely lost.” He confessed. “I don’t suppose you can tell us where to sign up for this tournament?”

  Katarina let out a laugh, losing most of her suspicion at his bluntness. “That shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. Though I’m curious if you know what you’re signing up for here?”

  “A card tournament.” Admittedly he wasn’t one hundred percent sure on what kind of card tournament, but given how he once memorized the entire military patrols of another base that was written in a different language he was confident in his ability to learn. (Might need to take a smoke break to process first though…)

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I don’t believe that’s what she means.” Maeve confessed, looking at the other woman before letting her eyes roam the room. “This isn’t a normal card tournament, is it?”

  Katarina shook her head. “No, given how you helped me I’ll inform you that this tournament is a bit… higher in stakes than any others you’ll find on this side of the Casino. In fact, I’m not entirely sure you’ll be able or willing to pay the more… esoteric buy in.”

  “How esoteric?” He couldn’t help but frown. “Gold, jewels… secrets?”

  “Secrets of a certain sort.” Katarina nodded.

  “The magical sort?” He sighed.

  “Then you’ve experience with magic?” The redhead blinked in surprise. “And here I was thinking you were a random stray off the street.”

  “He is.” Maeve nodded. “But he’s a bit more competent than most.”

  He wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment and so settled for a simple if extremely dry. “Thanks.”

  “I suppose that makes this a little easier to explain…” Katarina told them, despite looking a touch more guarded. “When you sign up for the tournament you bet something… esoteric, be it artifacts of power, magical secrets, or even pieces of yourself should you prove desperate enough.”

  “That sounds like a really stupid idea.” He couldn’t help but grimace.

  “Depends on what part of you you’re betting.” Maeve disagreed.

  “Given how I’m already missing pieces…” He raised his hand, the metal one. “I feel like my point is a little more valid.”

  “Unless she’s talking about pieces of one’s soul, in which case I have a firmer foundation than you.” The actress turned vampire pointed out.

  “Either way… not something to consider unless you’re extremely desperate.” Katarina intervened. “Still people place their wagers, and then depending on how far they go people will either receive their wager back or be granted a wish of proportional value to your initial bet.”

  “What kind of wish?” Maeve asked, earning a look from him. A look she rolled her eyes to upon noticing. “I’m not foolish enough to believe that a wish wouldn’t have unseen strings, but depending on the strings and limitations it could still prove valuable.”

  “Fair enough.” He sighed, hoping the vampire really did mean that. (After all, while we’d both like to change the past, we can’t. We can only accept it and move on.)

  Unaware of his thoughts, Katarina shrugged before explaining that. “As I said, the wish is proportional to what you bet. Meaning the more you bet, the more powerful the wish. Beyond that every pot is different for every gambler at the table.”

  “Yeah, I get it. It’s all ritual magic, sacrifice, luck, and change to fuel the madness.” He nodded, seeing the key points because even if he had no idea how they worked together he did know that breaking any one of those points would turn the whole ritual into a bomb. (Which is the best way to get rid of the guys developing military magicks.)

  There had been a lot of not so accidental military accidents back in his day.

  “If you two still wish to enter the tournament I won’t stop you, just so long as you remember that everyone you’re playing against has something to lose as well.” Katarina warned them, before glancing at the wall full of names. “Though it does look like there are a dwindling number of slots available.”

  He shared a look with Maeve, wondering if she thought this avenue was worth pursuing or not.

  “You did say it wouldn’t hurt to see the cost of admission.” She reminded him.

  “Right…” He was really craving a smoke now. “Lead the way then.”

  Katarina eyed them both before nodding and leading them through the hall, past gamblers, tables, and a number of waitstaff. Up some stairs to another section of the casino and finally to a tall lanky man in a black suit and top hat with a long face and large pale eyes. (Definitely something not right with this guy…)

  “These two wish to enter the tournament.” Katarina told the man for them.

  “Oh?” The attendant asked, looking them both over. “And do you two have your entry fees?”

  “We were hoping to learn what an appropriate fee would be.” He confessed, not intending on giving the man a damn thing.

  “That depends on what you desire and how far you think you can make it within the tournament.” The man answered, not offering any more details as he clasped his long pale fingers together.

  Fischer glanced towards Maeve who offered him a shrug, before turning back to the man and saying, “We want a Story worth keeping.”

  “An interesting request…” The attendant admitted, stroking his chin in thought before pausing as he caught sight of something. “Might I suggest that book you’re carrying?”

  “No.” He shot down point blank, because while he could retrieve the book from anywhere he was pretty sure that was only because the book was a physical manifestation of his own soul. (I think.)

  The attendant’s eyes narrowed. “What about a few pages from it instead?”

  He wasn’t in a hurry to offer that either, since he was pretty sure that still fell under the category of ‘offering a piece of yourself’. (Then again… If I offer one of my skill chapters… There’s no reason I can’t reclaim those from one of the books Briar tried to pay me with. I mean if I can get duplicates, then theoretically I can replace anything I lose here…)

  Of course, there was no actual reason for him to enter the tournament himself beyond the possibility of a prize he didn’t quite understand. Especially given how he could probably get a decent number of stories just by walking around and talking to the people who were actually willing to bet it all on this thing.

  (Which I guess means this all comes down to whether I feel like taking the gamble myself or not.)

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