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eBook Category: Fantasy
eBook Description: A pair of rogues discovers that sometimes the trick can have a sting in its tail as they enter into a game they hadn't bargained for.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Faerie Gold, 1999
Fictionwise Release Date: September 2002

16 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [63 KB], eReader (PDB) [27 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [13 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [13 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [64 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [83 KB], hiebook (KML) [62 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [38 KB], iSilo (PDB) [11 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [14 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [42 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [22 KB]
Words: 4300
Reading time: 12-17 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Adeuca sat well back into the corner watching the two men. Her patience had finally been rewarded. She reached out with her senses and touched the core of them. The larger of the two was an ox, with all the intelligence, but the smaller ... He was sharp, but there was something else there--a needless cruelty. It matched the reports she'd had of the way he played with his victims, drawing out their discomfort to the last. She narrowed her eyes as she observed. Power tingled in her fingertips, but she would not use it yet. Let them weave their own trap. There would be time enough for power later...

Kyle watched as Vallen spat into his palm and snatched up the two bone dice. He held his scarred, callused hand up to his ear, and shook furiously, blew into his fist, then tossed.

"Ha!" he said loudly as the bones rolled up two fours.

He snapped his counters down on the inlaid board, counting each move with a noisy click of stone on wood.

"There! Best that if you can." He leaned back in his chair, grinning, and folded ham-thick arms across his chest. The twin dragons tattooed on his forearms twined around each other and he flexed his fists to make them writhe. He did it out of habit now, without even thinking about it. The serving girl slid past and he turned his head to follow. He reached out a hand to fondle her, but she slapped it down and pulled out of reach. Vallen roared with laughter and blew noisy kisses after her.

Kyle lifted his gaze heavenward and sighed. He leaned across the table and retrieved the dice.

"One day you're going to do that, and it'll be the innkeeper's wife."

Vallen's laughter subsided to a chuckle deep within his barrel chest. His face became serious as he watched the next throw. Kyle threw without ceremony. The twin bone cubes spun on the board, then settled. One and one. Doubled throw. He moved his counters, reached up to pull a wayward strand of hair out of his eyes, and threw again. A four and a six. Ten doubled to twenty.

Vallen leaned forward and scowled at the board, saw the winning throw and grunted. "Never did like this game." He drained the last of his tankard and called to the bar. "More ale! Over here."

Kyle sat back and lifted his own tankard. He scanned the room over its rim--a couple of farmers, another who looked like a merchant across the room and a group of mercenaries. There was another, a shadowy figure in the corner, face concealed by a dark hood. It looked to be a woman, though he couldn't be sure. Though what a woman would be doing here ... Kyle watched her for a moment, unsure what to make of her presence.