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22. Basil - Soiree Preparations
Chapter 22Soiree Preparations“I can’t believe he won,” I said to my reflection, “and with a Mythic up for ante. A Mythic.” The mirror I was looking into was gilded in gold – part of the Colosseum’s furnished rooms for competitors – and the cravat around my neck hung in two forgotten halves. I was suppos...
21. Hull - Fortune's Little Tricks
Chapter 21Fortune’s Little Tricks“Thank the Twins,” Basil huffed as we arrived at platform 4. “You haven’t missed it. Get up there.”I wiped the sweat from my brow, tried to slow my breath, and went for the stairs. My courage failed and I turned back to the boy. He’d pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve t...
20. Basil - Time to Trade
Chapter 20Time to TradeHelp this ill-mannered urchin? Ridiculous. Preposterous. I couldn’t believe he had the gall to ask after how callously he had treated me during our previous interaction.“I don’t make the same mistake twice,” I told him coldly. I lacked experience when it came to being mean or forceful in ...
19. Basil - Defensive Positions
Chapter 19Defensive PositionsWhen I reached Esmi and Warrick, I gave my fiancee a nod of greeting, a full inch deeper than was necessary between us. “It is surely through the kindness of Fortune that I’m blessed to see you again so soon, Esmi. How did you fare in your recent match?” I didn’t know what I had don...
18. Hull - The Refiner's Fire
Chapter 18The Refiner’s FireI followed the black-robed Tender, an unfamiliar feeling bubbling inside of me. It was part anxiety, part fear, and part suspicion… but it was mostly hope. He’d said something about elevating me, and I was pretty sure he meant upgrading my Hammer card. I’d heard people talking about ...
17. Hull - Tender
Chapter 17TenderI was on my third plate of food when someone sat down next to me. I tensed and put one arm down wide around my plate while the other hand kept shoveling the well-sauced chunks of pork and rice into my face. If some asshole tried to take my food they were going to get a fork in the forearm. Some small, s...
16. Basil - Winning Isn't Everything
Chapter 16Winning Isn’t EverythingI almost cried out in physical pain to see one of my Headsman cards destroyed, barely registering the other two I lost as they vanished alongside the first, a Carrion Condor and my other Protection Spell.“Three damage to Basil of Hintal. This leaves him with only twelve remaining....
15. Hull - The Losers' Bracket
Chapter 15The Losers’ BracketLily Whoever-She-Was waited for me on platform 9, perfectly poised and stern as a shopkeep. She wasn’t as richly dressed as that earnest weirdo Basil, but her people obviously had some money. Her dress was a deep green wool that cinched up under the bodice, and a collared shirt of prist...
14. Basil - The Trouble With Winning
PRE-CHAPTER NOTE: Chapters 11 and 12 have been slightly changed to reflect a minor retcon. The Dueling Dome now also allows duelists to focus in to see a card aura that can tell them how many cards their opponent has remaining in their Mind Home.Chapter 14The Trouble with WinningOther duels around me finished soon afte...
13. Hull - In or Out
Chapter 13In or OutI hurried through the tunnel leading under the Coliseum stands, my eyes fixed on the light ahead like it would save me. My right hand kept reaching up to clutch my heart without me meaning to. It didn’t make sense; my spell lived in my Mind Home, not my heart, and covering my chest wouldn’t prote...
12. Basil - Dreams
Chapter 12DreamsAs it often did, having my Condor in play let me breathe a touch easier. Not just because my Assassin dying would now serve a larger purpose but because the Condor had a wonderful healthpool for defense. I cared about that fact deeply at the moment, because I still couldn’t attack the filthy duelist I...
11. Hull- No Such Thing as Fair
Chapter 11No Such Thing as FairI frantically scanned the long page that the bored functionary had pressed into my hand and tried to ignore the odd flapping of the page he’d pinned to the back of my shirt. It had an oversized “27” painted on it, which I could only assume was my competition number. The list of rule...
10. Basil - Today's the Day
Chapter 10Today’s the DayBy the time I joined my family for an early breakfast I had slept perhaps an hour in total, a few snatches here and there when my eyes could no longer focus on the crabbed script of the Fire card textbook, and none of it by choice.As usual, my parents and brothers were preoccupied with their ...
9. Hull - Rock and a Card Place
Chapter 9Rock and a Card PlaceMy running feet took me back toward the Merchant District, where I could see a smear of greasy smoke rising over the rooftops. Not there. They’ll have the fire brigade and the city watch crawling all over. I darted left on Pasero, a narrow lane hardly wider than a back alley, and toppled...
8. Hull - Jokes Should Be Funny
Chapter 8Jokes Should Be FunnyMy feet started burning the second I crossed the threshold. I bit down on my tongue and threw myself forward. I knew right where the card was supposed to be. Every step forward felt like holes being burned straight up through to my foot bones, and it was getting harder and harder to hold m...
7. Hull - A Bad Idea
Chapter 7A Bad IdeaLife on the streets had not made me good at complex planning. My usual way of solving things was to hit them and take their money, but barging back into the tailor’s card shop would just get me beaten and thrown in jail. I’d heard bad stories about street boys going into the cells under the palac...
6. Basil - Cards by Candlelight
Chapter 6Cards by CandlelightAfter collecting my wayward Headsman – who had ended up in the pantry of all places – I spent the rest of the evening pondering the Water cards my family had and whether or not I should reconfigure my deck list. The grimoire was part of my mother’s dowry, but she rarely summoned anymo...
5. Hull - Precious
Chapter 5PreciousSkop kept a tight hand on my elbow all the way to Hook Street. His grip was hard and he wasn’t shy about using it. My fingers were tingling, but any time I tried to jerk away, he pinched even tighter and yanked me back like a rich man’s pet wyvern on a leash. He kept up a steady mutter of threats a...
4. Basil - To Be Entertained
Chapter 4To Be EntertainedTrue to form Randel decided to race me, and it was a boon from Fortune that he chose to; I wished to reach Esmi with all possible haste and I didn’t have a clue which drawing room or courtyard my other brother Gale had chosen to receive her in. It turned out to be the Blue Flower Room in the...
3. Basil - Fighting the Future
Chapter 3Fighting the Future“If you can’t beat me, you have no hope in the Rising Stars Tournament, Basil. It’s a fact, my boy, simple as sunshine.”I had expected Tipfin to say as much in our final day of practice duels, but still, the words stung. If the old duelist had thought me capable, he wouldn’t have b...
2. Hull - Big Man
Chapter 2Big ManIt wasn’t until I had already started sprinting toward them that I caught a good glimpse of their faces, and that was almost enough to stop me in my tracks. The fat fellow on the right was Skop, and the taller, stronger one was actually a massive freak of a woman named Harker. They were two of Ticosi...
1. Hull - An Empty Heart
Chapter 1An Empty HeartThe old man was dying, and I wasn’t going to budge until he kicked it. Seeing folks crawl off to hack out their last was common enough here in the Lows, but I’d never spied one that had a pint-sized Earth troll to carry them like this fellow did. It was positioned squarely under one of his ar...
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