12 | Gambling Drunk
The Dancer, despite its name, was a ramshackle taste repellent. No matter the reason for coming to the tavern, Kole always made a conscious decision to arrive drunker than he left. This insured two things: First, that he'd less likely notice the riffraff that gathered within its old walls, and secondly that he had a far better time than he'd admit to.
The sweet and sour smells of body odour, ale and fire bombarded him upon entering the tavern, a large room filled with dark wood tables lit by candlelight. From the rafters hung ropes and iron candelabras missing spokes from previous bar brawls. The pealing walls basked in a warm glow from the candles and massive fireplace set far back where quieter dealings took place. A large bar took up most of the room and as usual, there was barely a space available to order a drink.
Kole sneered, feeling Chase stop next to him.
"They start early," Chase sighed. He meant the crowd and the vivacious band banging away at their instruments on a stage overlooking a mostly empty dance floor. "Mate, I think we should offer our services to this sorry lot. I expect we'd do a far finer job in ruining their hearing."
Kole peered at his friend. "I can hold a tune."
"I wasn't talking about you. You can hold a tune, but you can play no instrument just as I can hold my own on a lyre, but can't sing for my bloody life. I expect if we do what the other can, we are likely to frighten most of this lot into retirement."
"On any other night..." Kole sighed. "Come on. I need a drink."
Two hours later Kole judged them drunk enough to wander over to the dark corners near the fireplace where the shadier characters dwelt. Thieves rarely made a scene in public if they could. Attention was the last thing a criminal wanted to attract on a personal night.
As discussed, Chase left his side, approaching one table of gamblers while Kole approached another. The group eyed Kole's approach.
"Evenin, mate. Ye lost?" one asked before Kole had even reached a chair.
Kole paused, tapping his lips with a finger. "I think...Can I be finding a little...ye know..."
"I don't mate. What ye lookin' fer?"
"Well, ye see I got this coin," he produced a brown pouch and shook it to prove its contents.
All the men sat straighter, murmuring softly. One stood and made a grab for the coin. Kole's hand retreated and the man fumbled for balance.
"It still be my coin, mate," he clucked his tongue. "I be looking fer a few games to spend it, ye catch me meaning?"
"Oh aye, we catch yer meaning. Don't mean we accept yer presence. But yer coin. Well, we'll be glad to take it off yer person."
Another snorted. "Breathing or no."
"We don't take kindly to strangers, ye see. We can't trust men we don't know."
Kole snorted. "Trust with a thief ye do know or trust with a thief you don't, I be playin' me coin here."
All stood, their chairs scraping back.
Kole rolled his eyes. A coin dropped to his palm in a single shake of his arm and he flicked it in the air. It's black faces reflected no light as it turned in the air and landed on the table with a clink. All the men turned to look at it.
"Now," Kole said. "I be here on business fer someone we both fear. Ye got room fer me or no?"
Chase had been welcomed to the table with wary glances at first, but after an initial losing streak, his new acquaintances had taken quite a liking to him. Drinks were ordered, jokes exchanged, and an hour later he was cackling with them as if he had known them for years. Trick to gambling was to make your opponents underestimate you. He had to lose most of his coin before he won it back and earned their respect.
As the ale passed his lips and his brain became fuzzier, he asked more suggestive questions, earning answers far more useful than his opponents could ever realise.
"Aye, but ye hear about em Northside boys?" one exclaimed after Chase had shared a lie about being held at knife point when he stepped over into the northern territory."
All nodded at the table except Chase. He frowned.
"Ye hadn't?" the man asked. "Tis' a shame. Happened just two or three moons back. Half them boys found dead."
"Nay, that aint it. They be dead, but it be the message that their heads be carrying that be the worst of it."
"How were they found?"
"Beheaded. Each head placed in a box on a thief lord's doorstep in them northern territories. Smaller crews as they are, they be easier to reach."
"Beheaded," Chase shuddered. "They anger someone?"
The thief telling the story shrugged. "Suppose we never know. Next thing we know, all 'em crews be one united one under a new name. Still to announce themselves and all. Sure to hear about it in the next few moons."
Chase smiled, flipping a card and smiling at the chorus of moans. "Gents, me luck is turning." He gathered his winnings into a pile before him while the others restocked and reset the game. "The northern territories..." He hummed under his breath a long, single note. "That be a large area."
"Oh aye. Aint much there besides them mining folk. Shortest walk to them mines but it be bloody dirty. And that be saying something, ye know. Folk be mighty sorrowful in them streets, coughing like they got volcanos in their chest and having naught but cob look forward to in the eves."
Chase joined their chorus of nods and murmurs and stole a glance over his shoulder. Kole was leaning forward, both hands on the table, sleeves rolled up. Despite having the appearance of a man trying to prove he was trustworthy in a gambling match, he was smiling and the men around him were laughing and shaking their heads. Chase returned his attention to his new hand.
He won back most of his losses slowly, while listening to the word and gossip of the thieves. It sounded like a few of the men were from different crews, so some stories were verified and others corrected. Most of the news Chase knew. The cob trade was on the rise as much as the taxes, thinking it the most profitable industry to control, thieves were flocking to the cheapest pirate ship for hire. The docks, controlled by a thief known as Scythe, had been relatively quiet and complacent during its rise in popularity, despite having a solid grip on the territory, the thief had so far seen no need to raise the fares and shares he demanded.
Death dealers were a high commodity, if not impossible to find. Once overrun with the deadly assassins, Lethilian now found itself in a situation where anyone who wanted to pay for the services would pay dearly. Shogan still being one of the only known men in the business—and he did not come cheap.
Amongst all the boring news, the thieves awaited the coming traveling market with more anticipation than Chase would have guessed. And not for reasons one would think. To his surprise, the Cylindalean ale that came yearly was the most anticipated event of the year. The taverns had run out a few months back and to think their long awaited drought was soon at its culmination had them all bubbling with excitement.
Chase had just won his fourth round when a fight broke out behind him. He turned in time to see a chair swing across the table at the opposite end and only miss Kole's face due to its throwers short, stocky arms. Kole answered by upending the table—candle, coins, and cards flying—and kicking it into the swinger's abdomen.
Chase rose to his feet, chairs scraped around him as the others stood with him to watch. Two men caught Kole's arms, another connected a hefty fist with Kole's face. Chase winced.
"Lads," he sighed, "I better be leavin ye."
He did not see their reactions. He strutted towards Kole, reached, stopped another swing at the apex of its backwards curl, and redirected the fist into its owner's temple.
Kole grinned, yanked his arms free, and grabbed the closest man. Chase did the same. Chairs, legs, and arms swung, and Chase blocked them all. He feigned left, blocked right, thrust up, cut low, kicked back. His attackers roared their anger. He missed a few and each time the pain reignited a furnace within him.
Something hit him square across the jaw. He flew back, hit the ground hard, groaned.
"That's enough!" a deep voice bellowed.
A second moan came next to him. Kole lay, a hand to his one eye. "Balls!" he croaked.
Chase returned the sentiment and rocked to a sitting position. He groaned again when he saw Shogan and his men looming over them. Their battered assailants were being escorted out the tavern.
"Shogan," Chase sighed, his fingers pressing tentatively against his jaw. He would be bruised in the morning if he did not see to it soon. He had no time for bruises.
"Believe me, Golden, I am just as ecstatic to see you as you sound to see me. Kole, would you mind at least sitting when being addressed by your superior."
Kole rolled to a sitting position. "You know, you have that wrong."
Shogan waved his stubby fingers in the air. "Oh please, you may outrank me by title, but I outclass you with enough room spare to fit an entire race of men. Now, give me one good reason I why shouldn't hang the both of you by your toes outside one of these windows like frozen banners."
"We'd escape." —Kole rubbed the back of his neck— "Easily."
"Kole!" Shogan bellowed. "You tempt me, boy! Two!"
"Yeth both?"
"Ah!" Kole perked up, pushed himself to unsteady feet and smiled. "My old friend. How is the..." he gestured to Toothless' head and gritted his teeth. "Bet you felt that in the morning, yeah? She dealt you a mighty blow, and from behind too."
Two men surged forward, grabbed Kole by his lapels, and lifted him off the ground, slamming his back against the wall. Chase was pulled to his feet by another and pushed back next to the struggling Kole.
"Easy," Chase wheezed, pushing back with his feet. "Look, you roach, we didn't come to cause trouble. We didn't start this fight. We just came to play a hand or two."
"Shut your pretty mouth, Golden. You think me a fool? Do you forget who I am? What I own? If the two of you were gamblers, I'd have to deal with you far more often than would be considered healthy."
Shogan came closer, his short frame accentuated by the weight he carried across his middle and in his neck. Chase thought of him as a roach, but he resembled a toad more. His hair was trimmed and receding. The way Shogan combed it over or covered it with ridiculous hats made Chase think the man was in denial. Shogan's grey eyes examined both of them.
"You have something of mine," he growled. "I'd kill you if it did not lead to more trouble. Guess I'm left with torture."
Kole laughed. "Torture? More? Please, your face is more than enough thank you. I'm about ready to tell you what happened here as well as the other night. I think it will take one more glance at those ugly teeth of yours." Kole breathed through his teeth. "Yep, that sneer did it. I surrender."
"Kole." Chase rolled his eyes. "The man is about ready to cut your balls. At least pretend to respect him."
Kole widened his eyes. "You're giving Toothless over there ideas, mate."
"Oh silence, both of you." Shogan squeezed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "I tell you, how Rufus was done in by mere boys I will never know. Any other thief would be trembling in your position and here you are cracking jokes and—"
"Drunk," Kole spluttered. "Aye. We be deep in our cups. Like so." His hand dropped to his waist and seesawed there for a moment before reaching out for balance on one of his captors' shoulders. "Ye find us in a mighty good mood, mate. I may even tell you that I did start that fight. You see, but not for the reasons you think. See, I was...Well. I maaaay have cheated, but ye see, I really need to know something and that weird one" —Kole tried to look over the wall of men facing him, but gave up— "he's gone now. But I know he knows something."
Shogan rubbed the tips of his fingers together, regarding them with cynical eyes. "You were looking for information?"
"Aye," Kole nodded.
"In a tavern filled with drunk nobodies."
"Eh..." Kole cocked his head. "They were somebodies, just not mentionables. Balls, I don't even remember their names. Don't think they told me their names. Although, one said Jerry once. Just don't know which one of 'em was Jerry."
"Oh for the Gods sake," Shogan spluttered. "Two!"
Shogan's large second came forward and slapped Kole with an open palm.
Kole's head whiplashed and he spent a few moments opening and closing his jaw. "Balls!"
"Boy," Shogan sneered, lowering his voice to a menacing whisper. "I am giving you one chance here. Tell me what you wanted to know and I will tell you if I can help you."
"Help us?" Chase chortled. "Why would you help us?"
"Because, Golden, knowing what you want to know is in my best interest. And if knowing something you do not is in my best interest then you will owe me. There is nothing better than having the likes of the two of you owing someone like me. Agree?"
Kole sneered. "The day I owe you is the day I sell my soul."
Shogan smiled. "Oh, I couldn't agree more. As I see it, you owe me anyway. For not throwing you to the peekays, you see. I am so tempted. In fact, I think I may just do so."
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