The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  And then he heard Pete gasp as he glanced past Jess and into the crowd, followed by a sudden “no way!” of surprise. Scott followed his gaze and smiled. This should make things interesting. Pete immediately clamped his hand over his mouth and tried to make himself as small and invisible as possible, as if he regretted speaking. Scott would have found it funny had he not been too busy focusing in on the woman Pete had seen. She didn’t turn her head, hadn’t seen them yet.

  “Hey,” Scott said. “Isn’t that…”

  “Don’t,” Pete muttered. “Don’t grab her attention.”

  “Aww, old girlfriend?” Jess teased, nudging Pete in the ribs. She’d gotten the bit between her teeth now and she wasn’t about to let it go. She’d smelled something in the air and was determined to make him pay for it dearly. “Someone you want to avoid. Shall we call her over? You can see if she got fat without you.”

  “Jess…”

  Her smirk grew. “Oi! Blondie!”

  “That’s not an old girlfriend,” Scott said as the woman turned her head. She saw the three of them and her face lit up. She wasn’t a super attractive woman. But there was something about her that drew the eye. She did have a nice smile he had to admit. But it was her eyes that were the most striking. They were a pair of deep sapphire pools that sparkled with intelligence behind her glasses. She wore a big floppy cream coloured hat with a pink and white spotted dress with sandals. Twin bracelets adorned each wrist; she had a metallic looking chain around her ankle which sparkled as it caught the sunlight. Around her neck, she wore her summoner.

  Scott knew who she was. More than that, he knew why Pete hadn’t wanted to talk to her.

  “That’s his sister,” he muttered in Jess’ ear. “Well, half-sister.”

  If anything, the look on Jesseka’s face as it had been explained to her had been worth it. She’d gone the same colour as her hair, which was just fantastic where Scott was concerned. He was going to live off this moment for a while. No point letting it go to waste. Every chance he got, he was going to bring this back up and watch her squirm. She’d given Pete an apologetic look, quickly explained herself to Sharon as to what she’d thought and done. Of course, there was little doubt now as to her identity. Sharon Arventino, THE reigning champion in all Serran. Of all the callers from that kingdom, she was regarded as the strongest. Undisputed.

  “Nice to see you” Pete said. “How you been, sis?”

  She grinned at him, a warm smile. “Fine. I see you made it. That’s good. Really good.” She took his hand and gave him a hug, something he didn’t look entirely at ease with. Right then, Scott found himself torn between being glad that he didn’t have a sibling to pull this crap on him and being kinda sad that he didn’t. It was bad enough what had happened to his mom. And when your dad runs off shortly after you’re born, it makes it hard to end up with a brother.

  No hug for me… He was tempted to bring it up, quickly realised that it’d cause more trouble than the joke would be worth. Not just with Jess, but he didn’t know how Sharon’d take it either. Last thing he wanted was them both pissed at him.

  “I could say the same about you,” Pete said. “Thought you were semi-retired these days?”

  “Nobody ever truly retires from spirit calling, darling.” He blanched at that. They’d shared the same mother, had different fathers if Scott remembered right. There was something in the way of family resemblance between them. Perhaps the way they held themselves. That air of natural confidence and superiority that Jess found so annoying in Pete. He hid a grin. If Sharon was as argumentative, Jess was going to enjoy this even less than she’d enjoyed giving that apology.

  “Don’t call me that, it reminds me of mom,” Pete said. “And that’s just creepy.”

  She grinned at him. “Grow up, Petey.” Scott got the impression she was doing it deliberately now just to annoy her little brother. “Anyway, spirit calling’s like riding a hover bike. You’ll always know how to do it and it doesn’t take long to get back in the saddle.”

  “Aww, well I’m glad you’re here,” Pete said. “I thought I’d just have to walk over the defeated spirits of my friends and complete strangers to rise to the top. Never expected I’d have to do it with family as well.” He shot her a grin. Sharon rolled her eyes in a gesture very similar to one Scott had seen Pete do many times.

  “In your dreams, Pee. You wouldn’t last ten seconds.”

  “That’s what his last girlfriend said,” Jess muttered in Scott’s ear. He resisted the urge to laugh; privately he hoped Pete hadn’t just heard that. Last thing he wanted was another argument between them. It’d just embarrass everyone. The crowd had already just decided that the entertainment was over and it wasn’t worth sticking around. He didn’t want them showing up for the encore.

  Now he looked again, it did look like it was dying down a bit now. That was good. They might be able to get out of here soon.

  “But enough of the trash talk by the way,” Sharon said suddenly, reaching out and squeezing her brother’s elbow. “I need you to come with me later. There’s someone I want you to meet.” She raised a finger to bring into sight the golden band nestled against her skin, six brilliant diamonds set into the metal, equal distance from each other. Pete stopped suddenly, so did Jesseka. If he looked surprised, she looked amused at his reaction. Scott gulped. He hadn’t known Sharon was getting married. Good job he hadn’t asked for the hug. It would probably have gone down innocently enough, but if her fiancé was the jealous type…

  “Yeah…” Pete said, suddenly subdued. “That. I wondered about that. Mainly when was I going to meet the guy who wants to put up with you for the rest of his life? Because I know he’s a braver man than me. I didn’t have a choice when we were kids.”

  Both Scott and Jess laughed at that. Sharon flicked her brother on the forehead playfully. He protested and ducked away, rubbing at the reddening area. “No need for that. Besides, you think I enjoy it any more than you do?”

  “Congratulations,” Jess said. “That ring is gorgeous. Must have cost a fortune.”

  “Bet it did,” Pete offered. “I mean, you wouldn’t let anyone buy you shit, would you? Looks a good imitation, I’ll…” He saw the look Sharon was giving him and quickly shut up. “Yeah, it’s nice, sis. I’m happy for you. And your guy. Sure, I’ll come meet him with you later. I want to meet my future brother in law. Hope he’s a cool guy.”

  “What do you take me for?” Sharon smiled, mock indignant. “He’s absolutely a great guy. Although I’m a little surprised you’re taking it so well.”

  “Why?” Pete looked genuinely confused at her comment, shrugging his shoulders in bemusement.

  “Because when I marry him, you’ll be bumped down to third best caller in the family.” She winked at him. Pete rolled his eyes. “Fifth actually, if you include mom and John.”

  “Or…” he retorted. “The other way of looking at it is you’re going into his family. Meaning I go up to number one in this family. So yeah. I’m number one. Woo! Number one!”

  “Has he always been like this?” Jess asked, looking at Sharon with interest as Pete pumped his arm over-enthusiastically. “Or did he get a bang on the head or something and never been the same since?”

  “I can honestly say he hasn’t changed,” Sharon smiled. “Meh, I couldn’t ask for a different brother… Because this one drives me insane and two of them would be twice as irritating.”

  That brought a laugh out of Jesseka as she saw the look on Pete’s face at the comment. He folded his arms in a huff and picked up his bag, quickly strapping it on over his shoulder with one swift motion.

  “Well if there’s going to be nothing else but insults today,” he said. “Think I’m going to go find my hotel. Sharon, I’ll see you later. Want to get changed and showered first. Don’t want your fiancé to think he’s marrying into a family with a scruffy bastard in it. And her brother.” He walked off laughing loudly, forcing his way back into the dwindling crowd within moments.
He very quickly fell out of sight shortly after that.

  “He always had to have the last word,” Sharon said, shaking her head. “And he’s gotten a lot more foul-mouthed since I saw him last.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably my bad as much as his,” Scott said. “When you’re out on the road in the middle of nowhere and you trip over something or stub your toe or something, then sometimes it’s really easy to start swearing really loud.”

  She smiled a little sadly. “I remember those days. Just you and the open road. The endless possibilities for adventure and danger. Nothing quite like them. Those days are the building blocks for your future, I always thought. There are plenty of challenges be it wild animals, lack of food or finding the next town. If you can topple those, then you can conquer anything.”

  He had nothing to add to that. Neither it appeared, did Jess.

  “And how are you, Scott?” she asked. “You look like you’re keeping well. How’s Palawi doing? Still lively?”

  “I’m good,” he replied. “And Palawi is good. Everything’s good. I even got Sangare under control since I last saw you.”

  “Well you needed to.” Sharon’s friendly demeanour suddenly vanished. “That beast was out of control. I did wonder about the implications of your keeping hold of it, should you not be able to rein it in.”

  “Lot can change in a year or so,” Scott said. “I’m a lot stronger now.” He still had memories of the last time he and Pete had encountered Sharon. That had been in the days Pre-him-and-Jess. They’d been competing in a tournament in Wakely, Canterage, the kingdom champion had just happened by that day. And his guest, the champion from Serran. He’d knocked Pete out to claim what would have been the victory. And then she’d stepped in.

  He hadn’t known she was Pete’s sister then, they’d fought and he’d been absolutely demolished in record time. He’d unleashed his entire collection of spirits at her, one after another and all of them had fallen between the opening one she’d set against him. A watching Pete had gone hysterical with laughter and Scott hadn’t understood why until the end when it had been explained to him.

  He’d still gotten the trophy for winning the tournament but he’d never held it in pride of place at home. It always felt sullied for that one bout following the presentation.

  “I expect that you would be,” Sharon said. “You wouldn’t be here otherwise. Good luck, Scott.”

  “You too.” He didn’t really mean it, but you had to be polite to your best friend’s sister. It was like an unwritten

  “He doesn’t need luck,” Jess said loudly. “He’s got skill.”

  “I’m sure he has,” Sharon replied, a cool smile playing across her features. “Unfortunately, so does everyone else here.”

  “Well then he’s got me cheering for him. Nobody else here has that!”

  Not for the first time, Scott got the impression he was never going to understand Jess. Not that he didn’t want to. But there had to be a better way of describing her than a probably schizophrenic unpredictable chaotic bitch who just happened to give off the impression that she loved him. Maybe she really did. It hurt his head thinking too much about it. And if she ever heard that description of her, his head really would hurt for real. Or maybe she didn’t like Sharon and was doing her best to score points off her.

  Everyone was arriving through here and he was getting impatient. She had to be coming here, she had to be. He’d been reliably informed and he was going to be pissed if he had to go and take some revenge out on the soon to be defunct intelligence source. He leaned forward in his seat and peered through his designer sunglasses towards the crowds coming up from the docks. He’d seated himself well, right inside the Tuál café on the peak, out on the veranda with a large colourful drink in front of him that tasted more of fruit than alcohol. The tang of it was not unwelcome in the dry heat. Already he was covered in sweat, sticky and hot made an unwelcome combination.

  There were many ports on the island, rather than stake out one of them, he’d chosen to perch himself out here and remain until he glimpsed his target. The roads from four of the five docks intersected not too far from here so the chances were a lot better than average that he’d spot them.

  Still, always a chance that it’d fail. He tapped his foot impatiently, suddenly really hating the odds. They’d conspire against him, it was inevitable. With unsteady hands he reached into the case and brought out a smoke, tearing off the tab at the end to activate the chemical reaction that brought it alight. He was greeted with the brief scent of sulphur before the end glowed orange. He put it in his mouth and inhaled, letting the rough smoke brush through into his lungs.

  Nope, nope, nope, not her, is that… no it isn’t her?

  He let out an impatient sigh, leaned back in his chair and glanced up at the sky. Looking at that crowd of people was starting to make him feel seasick. Just too many people, despite their differences, they were starting to blend into one colourless, shapeless mass of flesh. Another inhalation. The smoke was calming, it soothed his vengeful heart. He wanted a little more but he knew he needed to be patient. So much of the world was about waiting. Oh, for a world where good things came to those who didn’t wait. He studied a fingernail, grimaced.

  Oh dear, oh dear.

  Come on, where was she?

  Another ten minutes passed. The crowds coming up from the docks were starting to thin out. Fewer and fewer new faces were appearing. He sighed. Maybe he’d missed her when the crowds had been at their thickest. Maybe he was in the wrong place completely. Either way, it looked like this was a massive bust. He sucked at the straw in his drink petulantly, resisting the urge to hurl it to the ground and watch it shatter into a million tiny pieces. It wouldn’t do anyone any good. It wouldn’t make her magically appear. She had to be on the island. He’d heard her brother was here. He’d even heard her father was coming out. Their relationship was a bit strained, she’d mentioned that to him once upon a long time ago, but that was irrelevant.

  Probably explains the little bitch! Daddy issues. He didn’t love her enough and now she gets off on being a nasty little slut. Be doing the world a favour when I get hold of her.

  He sighed, exhaled out sharply, subconsciously cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Dwelling on thoughts like this didn’t do him any favours. It was hard to hide his mask of neutrality when he got too excited. And that thought was infinitely more exciting than most.

  Of course, he needed to find her before he could do anything. While it wasn’t a large island, the population had suddenly become that little bit denser than it had before. Meaning it’d be hard to gain an exact position for her. More than that, he needed to know everything about her. Everything to become the hunter and ensure of the kill.

  Yet, in addition to his other duties, it’d be difficult to do all that. He needed to try something else. Maybe get some help in. Yet who to trust with it. And how exactly did you find someone like that? Someone desperate but skilled. Someone with nothing to lose but everything to gain. Hmmm…

  He leaned forward in his seat and rested his chin on his palm, silently thinking.

  Chapter Ten. Partners.

  “Upon arrival in our resort, please contact with one of our ICCC representatives to find your hotel. We know you’re going to be satisfied with what has been built here for your entertainment and enjoyment. In the last year, over a thousand full time staff and twice as many volunteers have been selected and trained to ensure that your tournament runs as smoothly as possible. However please be aware that there may be some initial rough patches.”

  ICCC directive issued to competitors upon procurement of travel documents and competitor passes.

  The fourteenth day of Summerdawn.

  It wasn’t often that Nick Roper cursed his own actions but here and now he felt it was justified. Hurrying up the path from the docks, he silently berated himself for what had gone on back on the ship. In hindsight, he’d been reckless. In hindsight he’d acted like a complete idiot and
although nobody else would probably think twice about it, he couldn’t let himself forget it. Sure, the kid had been a snappy little shite who nobody would probably feel bad about other than himself. It might even do him a bit of good in the long term.

  Maybe. He’d learn from it and move on. Or he’d hold a grudge and redouble his own efforts. Either way, he’d put a target on his own back. And nobody wanted that, least of all him. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  All this time and the red mist still came up on occasions. It was more than stupid; it had the potential to be lethal. Don’t think, lose control, make bad mistakes. He’d thought he’d long since gotten it all out of his system. Still it had felt good. He’d needed to blow off some steam and it had been well and truly blown.

  He drew a deep breath, fought the urge to mop his forehead. He’d expected Carcaradis Island to be hot. He’d been in Vazara before this time of year. He couldn’t remember it ever being this humid. It was that sapping heat, one that tugged at his limbs and demanded his attention. Already the water in his hip flask was warming up, the rising temperature killing what little flavour it had already possessed. Still it was wet, he swirled it around his mouth, savoured it before replacing it in the pocket of his shorts. He noted the damp patch already spreading around the area where the rim of the lid met the material. It’d dry soon in this temperature. No point stressing out. No doubt there would be ample opportunities to worry soon; he wasn’t going to add to the list.

  Pessimism about what was yet to come had its upsides. If you were expecting the worse, you weren’t going to be upset now. Unless it wasn’t quite as bad as you hoped it was.

  The crowds were thinning out now; he’d lingered in leaving the boat, not entirely by choice. Some people had wanted words with him about the damage to the floor following that faithful bout with that annoying little shit who’d stormed off in a massive huff following his defeat. Although he’d managed to argue his way out of paying for it, he still had the strange feeling he might be flying home, because it sure felt like he wouldn’t be welcome on one of the Wave Crest boats ever again. It hurt knowing that you’d effectively been forbidden from doing something but he was sure he’d get over it. He did have other ways of travel.