“Old Henry.”
William started to laugh. Jason tried to keep his face neutral and avoid any expression, though it was difficult.
“Look at him. Does he look like the kind of person who would be working with Old Henry?”
Jason looked around at the others in the room. In the shadows, he could see them watching him, though he couldn’t tell anything from their expressions.
“Yes,” Gary said. “They’re dressed the same.”
William laughed again. “Old Henry has been coming to town the last few years. In all that time, he hasn’t brought anyone else with him. Why would he suddenly do so now?”
“To steal from me.”
Gary was becoming more hesitant, and Jason continued to focus on the man he couldn’t easily see with his dragon sight.
The only time someone hadn’t shown up to his dragon sight was when the other had been wearing dragonskin, and though he wasn’t sure this man was wearing dragonskin, the fact that the people in this town didn’t believe in dragons made him immediately worried this was someone from elsewhere. A Dragon Soul.
“Listen. We only came here to try our luck,” William said.
“You came here to cheat,” Gary snapped.
“Cheat?” William swept his gaze around the inside of the room. Everybody was looking at him and not so much at Gary. “When have I ever been known to cheat?”
“All the time,” Gary said.
William laughed, though it sounded a bit more forced than it had before. “I don’t cheat.”
“You just haven’t been caught,” Gary said.
“I’m lucky. And you’re jealous.” He grabbed Jason by the arm, dragging him through the room and toward one of the nearby tables.
Jason wanted to resist, wanting to be anywhere but here, but to go now would draw even more attention to himself.
He wasn’t sure if allowing that kind of attention was dangerous or not.
“Sit,” William whispered.
Jason looked around the table. There was an extra seat, but only one.
“Why don’t you sit?” he said.
“Because you’re the one with the coin.”
William flashed a smile as he looked around. “Are we going to play or not?”
The others turned their attention to Gary, who continued to glare at William and then Jason, but slowly he took a seat.
William let out a slow sigh, turning his attention to the table. “My friend here doesn’t have much experience playing shalan. I was hoping you might be able to show him.”
“This isn’t a beginner’s game,” one of the men said. He had a heavy beard and deep-set eyes. If he were wearing furs, he might look almost like Henry, and yet he was dressed almost formally.
“And I’m not a beginner,” William said.
Jason looked over at the man. What was he doing? They didn’t need to be here. All he wanted was to sit down and have something to eat, to escape Henry and the Dragon Souls, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something more taking place, and he didn’t like the idea that he was dependent upon this place for safety. They didn’t need the coin.
Was this what William had planned? Did he somehow think to use Jason for whatever it was that he was after?
And if that were the case, he needed to get up and head out of the tavern.
If he did, where would he go?
He didn’t know anything about this town, and if the Dragon Souls were still out there, wandering through it, he ran the risk of encountering them.
And then there was Henry. Jason couldn’t help but feel as if the old man was dangerous.
Playing a game like this, betting the coins he already had, ran the risk of him not having the necessary money to return to his village. Jason wasn’t sure he even wanted to risk that. He’d rather take the coin he had, buy the snowshoes and the rest of the supplies he might need, and head out. He could do that first thing in the morning, start on a full belly, and from there…
William smacked him on the shoulder. “It’s your draw.”
Jason blinked, staring at the table. A stack of wooden cards rested there, and William motioned to them. As he spun his gaze around the table, he found the man who was invisible to his dragon sight watching him.
Did he know that Jason found him invisible?
It wasn’t as if the dragon sight was something he could hide. His different eye made it all too easy for others to identify, and the only hope Jason had was that in the dim light of the back room, the stranger wasn’t able to see that one eye was silver and one was blue. From what he’d seen throughout the town, blue eyes weren’t uncommon, so in that case, he could cock his head to the side, trying to hide one of his eyes.
Doing so would be odd, but what choice did he have?
“How much should I wager?”
“A copper.”
A copper would buy him food for the morning.
Then again, none of this was really his money. Maybe he needed to be freer with it.
If things went well—if William was as lucky as he claimed—he could have enough money to pay Gary back and keep the other man from harassing him.
Jason glanced over the table at Gary. Every so often, Gary looked in his direction. Jason had a sinking suspicion that the other man was not going to let any of this go.
Jason took one of the cards and dragged it across the surface of the table, keeping it facedown. William reached for it and lifted it, bringing it to his face before setting it back down on the table.
When Jason went for it, William tapped him on the hand, shaking his head.
The others around the table continued to take cards, working their way around, and by the time they got back to Jason, he glanced up at William.
“A silver,” William said.
A silver would be enough money to buy a shelter to keep out the cold on the way up the mountainside. Snowshoes to avoid sinking with each step. And then some.
He didn’t know how much was in the coin purse, but there had to be enough to finish collecting his supplies. This was a mistake.
William tapped him on the arm. “A silver.”
“I don’t—”
William glared at him.
Jason reached into the coin pouch, pulled out a silver, and set it on the table in front of him. When he was done, he dragged over another card. William reached for it, pulling it up to his face and looking at it before setting it back down on the table.
Once again, Jason tried to reach for it, but William shook his head.
The play went around the table, and this time, several people began to drop out. They did so by pushing their coin toward the center of the table. When it came back around, William tapped him on the shoulder. “A silver.”
Someone across from him groaned.
Rather than arguing this time, Jason reached into the pouch, searching for a silver. There were quite a few coppers, but it wasn’t until he got to the bottom of the coin purse that he managed to find another silver.
Setting it on the table, he looked up at William, but the other man simply stared at the stack of cards in the center of the table. He said nothing, his expression unreadable.
Jason reached across the table, grabbing for one of the cards, and as before, William took it, glancing at it before setting it back down. Play continued, working around, everyone else dropping out by pushing their coins to the center until it was only the man invisible to his dragon sight and him.
The man studied William before turning his attention to Jason.
“Just the two of us. Why don’t you show your cards.”
“You haven’t paid for the right,” William said, flashing a flat smile.
The other man glanced up at William. “That’s how you want to play it?”
“That’s how it’s played,” William said.
The other man reached into his pocket, pulling out a gold coin and setting it on the table.
Jason’s heart sunk. He had fished through the co
in pouch and he didn’t remember seeing any gold, and he didn’t know how many coppers it would take to equal what he had. He glanced up at William, shaking his head.
“Go all in,” he said.
“William.”
“Trust me,” he said.
Jason breathed out a heavy sigh and looked down into the coin pouch, flipping through there, searching for another gold, perhaps a silver, or something that might be equivalent, but he didn’t come up with anything.
Having no idea what cards were out on the table, and having no idea how to even play the game, he wasn’t sure that he could even trust William.
Then again, this wasn’t his money.
He had enough supplies that he would be able to make it back to the village—at least, he thought he did. The only thing he needed was snowshoes, and perhaps more food, but he still had his bow and arrows, and he figured that the game around the lower part of the mountain would be easier to capture.
Taking a deep breath, he poured the coins on the table and pushed them into a pile. He took a card, dragging it across, and William took it, looking at it before setting it back down.
The other man grunted and started flipping his cards over. Jason had no idea what any of the cards meant, and though the shapes had meaning, he didn’t know what it was.
The man started reaching for the pile of coins.
“Not so fast,” William said.
He nodded to Jason. “Turn them.”
Jason sighed. He flipped over the first of the cards. Someone gasped. He flipped over another, and then another, and then the fourth. All of them were identical.
Everybody at the table sucked in a breath.
The man across from him froze and held his hands apart, releasing the pile of coins that he’d been pulling toward him.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“Gather the coins.”
“We won?”
“We won. Gather the coins.”
Jason stood, pulling the coins toward him, and as he did, he couldn’t help but feel the weight of the gazes from everyone around the table staring at him.
Not him. William.
As he gathered the coins, piling them into his pouch, he took a seat, but William tapped him on the back.
“It doesn’t seem like we are all that welcome here any longer,” William said.
“You’re going to leave after one hand?” one of the men said.
“You want to test your luck again?” William asked. He took the cards and slipped them back onto the stack. “I’m more than happy to continue to play.”
“You don’t get to play. He plays.”
“He doesn’t know how to play. I’m working with him, but he’s not at the point yet where he knows the intricacies of the game.”
“Only because you’re telling him how to play.”
“The only thing I did was look at the cards.”
Jason stared at the table. He had no idea how to play the game, but he recognized the four matching cards must have been an incredibly lucky hand. Not only that, but there was no way they could have accused William of cheating. With Jason picking the cards, there was nothing William could have done.
Had William used him again?
If so, he had enriched him.
The coin pouch was quite a bit heavier than before. He didn’t know how much gold coins were worth, but certainly it was much more than the pair of silver he almost lost.
“I think I’m with him. I’m going to eat, and then maybe we can play another day,” Jason said. He slipped the bag of coins into his pocket and backed away.
“What was that about?” he whispered.
“Not now,” William said.
As they reached the door, there came a steady murmuring from the men around the tables. Jason and William headed back out into the tavern. Jason breathed out heavily and leaned against the door, blocking it.
“I’ve never had anything quite like that,” William said.
“I thought you said you were lucky.”
“Yeah? There’s luck and then there’s luck. Most of the time I’m lucky, but I’ve never had that many coins to gamble with. I’m lucky, but that doesn’t mean I’m smart with my money.”
“Where does it go?”
“Can we not do that here?”
Jason swallowed and looked behind him. “What are you worried about?”
“I wasn’t expecting him to commit to that much,” he said.
“You’re the one who challenged him, though.”
“I challenged him, but I didn’t think he would commit to quite that much. We really should get out of here.”
“What would’ve happened had we lost?”
“Then we would’ve lost,” William said.
He grabbed Jason’s arm, sweeping his gaze around the inside of the tavern, shaking his head. “That happened a little faster than I was hoping.”
“What were you hoping for?”
“I was hoping for—”
The door to the back room slammed open and Gary emerged with several others behind him. One of them was the man who was invisible to Jason’s dragon sight, and they raced through the tavern.
William swore and grabbed for Jason, leading him out, and said, “Well, this is going to be fun.”
They raced along the streets, once more running, and yet, this time at least, Jason felt as if they weren’t running from people with unthinkable power. It was possible the man invisible to his dragon sight had some sort of power, but more likely he was only wearing dragonskin and didn’t know what he had.
They turned a corner and then another, heading toward the outer edge of town.
“This isn’t going to be good for you in town, is it?”
William shot him a look. “Probably not, but I’ve been through worse.”
“You have?”
“Well, not a whole lot worse. Besides, eventually you’re going to go, and seeing as how you have all the money…”
They turned a corner. Jason was looking at William and crashed into a solid figure.
He bounced off, and William went staggering in the opposite direction. His backside struck the cobblestones and he looked up.
He was greeted by a dark-haired man wearing dragonskin.
A Dragon Soul.
Heat radiated from the man and Jason scooted back, trying to get away from him, but there was only so far he was able to go. He continued to try to get away, and as he did, he could feel the other man’s gaze holding him, glaring at him, and heat continued to build.
“Sorry about that,” William said, getting to his feet. “My friend and I are—”
The Dragon Soul turned toward William, holding his hand out, and a blast of power burst from him, striking William and sending him across the street.
Jason tried to get to his feet, but he wasn’t able to.
It was almost as if the man was using some sort of power to hold him in place. He didn’t know enough about the power of the Dragon Souls or of the dragon pearls, but it seemed as if he were being held down.
Jason fought against it, but the Dragon Soul pressed back.
“You have been particularly difficult to find.” The Dragon Soul’s voice was dark and thick and almost sounded as if it were burned.
“What do you want with me?”
“It’s not what I want with you.”
He tried to get up, and yet couldn’t.
The Dragon Soul took a step toward him and then staggered.
Something had struck him, though Jason didn’t see anything—or anyone.
The Dragon Soul dropped to the ground, motionless as soon as he fell.
What had struck him?
It didn’t matter. Jason was freed.
William rubbed his chest. He stood where the Dragon Soul had been, motioning toward Jason.
Jason got to his feet, running as he followed William, and they raced along the street. Behind him, power built from the Dragon Soul, shooting along the street. It struck, con
necting with Jason’s back, and sent him staggering forward.
William caught him, grabbing his arm, and dragged him forward.
Together, they continued onward, moving as quickly as they could.
“What was that?” William asked.
“That was one of the Dragon Souls.”
“The people Old Henry warned you about?”
“Seems like it,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure if we could believe him.”
“The Dragon Souls are real. I was captured by them before, and…”
Heat built from behind him and Jason grabbed William, pulling on his arm, and they turned a corner before either of them could get struck again.
He could feel the heat as it slammed into the space where they’d been.
He should’ve stayed with Henry, regardless of whether or not he could trust the old man. At least Henry had some way of combating the Dragon Souls.
“Any ideas where we should go?” he asked William.
“Well, the inside of the town doesn’t seem to be all that safe. What if we go outside of town?”
“We won’t be safe there, either.”
“It’s possible, but…”
Another burst of heat began to build and Jason grabbed William, throwing him forward. He was just in time, as a burst of fire streaked along the street where they had been.
“Come on,” William said.
They turned a corner, and Jason followed at a run. With each step, the coin purse jingled loudly. Jason clamped a hand over his pocket, trying to quiet it.
They weaved, turning corner after corner, reminding him of when they had run with Henry, but this time there was no sense of intention, nothing like they’d had with Henry guiding them. The other man had far more control, and Jason had been far more confident when Henry had been leading them. With William guiding, he didn’t know if the other man knew what he was doing and where they were going.
Every so often, the sense of heat would continue to build behind him. Jason was convinced they needed to continue to hurry forward. If they didn’t, he worried they would get struck by the heat, and he had no idea what would happen if he were hit.
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