Chapter One: Warming Up
""""
Part two of my AE fic about a semi-OC, Teana, and her adventures playing cards. I recommend reading Part One first, which can be found on my account.
""""
The massive, towering wooden doors to the throne room crashed open. Pharaoh Aknamkanon jumped up and gave a panicked yell, then his mouth fell open. Across the marble floors, a towering elephant lumbered towards the throne. The elephant seemed to be made out of solid gold, and had a large square box on his back overflowing with gold and jewels.
Teana was seated on top of the Elephant's head, legs crossed, wearing a dress made entirely of gold. She smiled at the Pharaoh's shocked expression, revealing her teeth were made out of gold. As soon as the Elephant's entire body was in the room, the top of the box just a few feet short of touching the ceiling, a second golden elephant marched in bearing an even bigger bevy of valuables on his back.
The Pharaoh could do nothing but stare in shock as solid gold elephant after solid gold elephant marched right across his marble floors, occasionally one allowing a few gold coins or a small ruby to clatter to the floor.
Finally, twelve massive solid gold elephants were in the throne room, each carrying untold riches on his back, filling up almost the entire room. Teana looked down at the Pharaoh.
"Mighty Pharaoh of Egypt," Teana began. Every time she opened her mouth to say something, a stream of diamonds flew out of her mouth and rained down on top of the Pharaoh. "I come to make you an offer."
The Pharaoh nodded quickly.
"I come to purchase Egypt. To take your place on the throne and become the ruler of Egypt. I offer you my twelve golden elephants and all the treasures they carry in exchange." Teana spread her arms to her sides.
"Oh Ra, yes, yes!" Aknamkanon cried, jumping up and running up to the elephant, hugging it's massive leg. "You have a deal!"
Teana slid down the trunk of the elephant and landed on the throne, propping her elbow up on the armrest and putting her head in her hand.
Atem came around from behind the throne and sat down next to her on it, embracing her. "Now we can be married and rule Egypt as husband and wife!"
Teana reached over and grabbed Atem by the throat, then lifted him up with one arm and threw him down on the floor. "I have a better idea," she said maliciously.
In a flash, the two of them were in the royal bedchamber. Teana was seated at the foot of the massive bed, still in her gold dress, but Atem was stretched out on a table in the corner, wrists and ankles held down by golden chains. He struggled a bit, but couldn't budge an inch. He was also completely naked.
Teana slowly stood up and walked towards him. "Comfortable, slave?"
"Oh come on!" Atemu whined. "Let me go!"
"Sorry, but I'm just out of your league," Teana hissed, reaching behind her back. Diamonds kept pouring out of her mouth, clattering to the floor in front of her, bare feet stepping over them. Somehow, it didn't hurt at all. "But you'll make a fine harem slave."
"Teana!" Atemu yelped as she pulled out a large whip, made out of gold, the lash of which was searing hot and barbed.
"That's Queen Teana to you, slave! So from now on, you serve me and do what I want you to do." Teana rose the whip up. "And I want to hear you scream!"
Atemu closed his eyes and turned his head away as Teana brought the whip down.
""""
Teana's eyelids fluttered open, then slowly rolled over onto her back.
"Well that one was just ridiculous," she said to herself quietly. "Elephants can't be made out of gold."
She jumped to her feet and quickly pulled a blank piece of parchment and reed pen out from underneath her bed. She rapidly wrote the details of the bizarre dream down before she forgot them, careful to include everything she could recall.
My name is Teana, and you could say that I'm a bit of a dreamer. I wasn't always. In fact, until very recently I was whatever the exact opposite of a dreamer would be. I played it safe, I stayed in my lane, and I took the path of least resistance.
Carefully, she removed a loose stone from the wall next to her bed, revealing several dozen slips of parchment hidden there as well. She slid the new one in and closed it back up.
I'm a orphaned peasant, I've lived my whole life in a crummy hut in the poor part of town, and outside of special circumstances I'm not even allowed to make eye contact with nobles. So why do I have visions of solid gold elephants, purchasing Egypt, and enslaving Prince Atem dancing around in my head? Well, maybe it's because I need therapy. But it's more than that.
Teana strolled into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of apples from a bowl on the counter, then turning right around and heading for the front door.
I have a skill. A lucrative skill, and I'm one of the best in the world at it. Cards. I run circles around casual players and amateurs and have taken down experts when the opportunity is there. So ordinarily, I'd be living in a small palace by the Nile, closet full of hundreds of silk dresses and dozens of servants meekly bowing everytime they see me. Unfortunately, I'm a woman. So I got to carve out a decent living at small games in seedy bars, against players who were willing to play against a woman. I did well enough to take care of myself, as well as the hundred or so neighbors I have in my slum section. And that's all I was ever going to be.
Casually, she pushed her way out of the hut and out to a small post in the sands a few feet away from the door. There was a leather strap tied to the post, the other end attached to the harness of a small horse. She stuck her feet into the pair of straw sandals right by the door, then walked over to the horse.
"That's right girl," she muttered as she approached the steed. She put one of her apples up to it's snout, and in short order the horse practically inhaled it. "That's a girl." She untied the leather strap from the post, then in one smooth motion pushed herself up into the side saddle on the horse's back, both legs dangling off the right side of the horse. "Big day today." With a simple physical stimulus, the horse started to trot away from the hut.
And then, I decided to attend a party at the palace on a whim. I ended up catching the eye of Prince Atem, and as it turns out he's crazy about me. Unfortunately, I spun a rather large web of lies to get my way into that party, the largest one being that my father is a wealthy merchant, so now I have to backfill some of my lies into truths before he finds me. That decent living wasn't going to cut it. To sum it all up, I lost my entire life savings of fifteen thousand gold debens in a single hand, then won it back and doubled it less than half a moon cycle later. Suddenly, I didn't feel like staying in my lane anymore.
""""
"The shipment's going to be late!"
Teana rode up on her horse, stopping just short of a large expanse of empty sand in the middle of the city. There was a fence around the large section of sand, a couple dozen people within with an assortment of tools and supplies made of wood and bronze. She neatly dropped off the side of the horse and tied the strap to one of the fenceposts. One of the couple dozen within the fenced off area walked up towards her, holding a piece of parchment.
"What was that?" Teana asked, leaning up against the fence as the man came up closer to her. It was Akiiki, one of her closest friends and one of her partners.
"Sandstorm, apparently. The caravan didn't show up at one of the checkpoints, presumed to be lost somewhere in the desert, or destroyed." Akiiki looked around the construction site encased within the fence. "They're sending a rescue effort and a replacement caravan, but either way, they're at least five days behind schedule."
"Huh. Unbelievable," Teana said, scratching the back of her head. "It took nearly two moon cycles for something bad to finally happen."
"Well, what do I do?" Akiiki asked, holding his hands out to his sides.
"You don't do anything, we have other engagements today, remember?" Teana raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"What, you want me to abandon the ship just as it's sinking?!" Akiiki exclaimed.
"Oh, knock that off," Teana chided. "This operation isn't nearly that delicate. If we end up needing something we can go three blocks over and get it from Senbi and Seth."
"At a fifteen percent markup," Akiiki added distastefully. "How they're still in business I'll never understand."
"That's fine," Teana said, shrugging. "Geb Materials always comps their customers when the shipment is delayed. You said at least five days, we'll probably get comped...a quarter of the stuff. So hey, you just saved us ten percent, hell of a job." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "With how big that desert is it's a miracle that half the caravans don't get lost."
"Well, alright, if it's that easy..." Akiiki turned around to look at the construction. "Are we going now?"
"Waiting on you and Kafele," Teana replied, scanning the area. "Who is where, exactly?"
"Down the street, throwing a fit at the Geb representative," Akiiki replied, pointing to the south end of the street.
Teana scoffed. "Well, go get him and calm him down."
Akiiki turned around, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and gave a loud whistle. Everyone around turned to look at him, but only one responded by running up to him.
"Seth, you're acting construction head until I return," he said, handing the parchment to him. "Use Senbi and Seth if you need to purchase something, though you shouldn't have to today."
Seth nodded as he took the parchment. Quickly, Akiiki vaulted the fence and ran off south. Teana sat down on the fence.
Nowadays, I make sure I have insurance for my card-playing. You never know when a string of bad cards is gonna hit. Me and my partners buy land, build on it with the help of my hundred plus friends in the slums, then sell it or rent it out for sizable profit. I've been doing it less than two moon cycles, and it's been better than I ever dreamed possible. Me and my friends just keep plugging away, and the gold keeps piling up. That's phase one of Operation Make-Enough-Gold-To-Make-Myself-Look-Wealthy-Befor e-Atem-Finds-Me-Finds-Out-I-Lied-And-Then-Kills-Me -And-Everyone-And-Everything-I-Love-In-A-Fit-Of-Ra ge. I need a better name for my operation, but phase one has been a wild success.
"He made the Geb Rep cry," Akiiki reported, pointing at Kafele as the two came up next to her.
"What is wrong with you people?" Teana exclaimed. "It's one late shipment,"
"Sorry, it's just...this is a big operation, and I really don't want things rocking the boat. It could ruin everything." Kafele shrugged.
"How?" Teana crossed her arms over her chest. "Kafele, I don't know if you've noticed, but our profit margins aren't thin. They're fat. Morbidly obese, actually. It'll take a lot more than one late shipment to ruin us. Now let's get going."
""""
Teana, Kafele and Akiiki slowed to a halt right in front of the large grey-stone building, dismounting from their horses and quickly tying them off in front of the water trough.
"Remember, if all goes according to plan, this is the last fast one we'll ever have to pull. So we may as well go big." Teana looked the establishment over.
"Do I need to remind you that, while your statement is true, your plan doesn't have a high success probability?" Kafele asked.
Teana smirked to herself. "If my plan doesn't work, then I have a high death probability. Now help me out."
She slipped into the alley between the establishment and the building right next to it. Kafele and Akiiki came in behind her, pulling large blankets out of their backsacks and unfurling them.
"Always wondered if I'd ever get a chance to wear this again," Teana said, removing the blue dress she had worn on the night of that palace party two moons ago. "Nobody look."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Akiiki said as Teana quickly pulled her plain clothes off and jumped into the dress, completing it with the gold slippers from that party as well.
This is phase two. Or phase one-b, with phase one actually being one-a...whatever. Me, Kafele, and Akiiki play cards with whoever will give us a game. We run a complicated con to convince the other players to let a woman play cards with them, then we take them for everything they have on the table. We may as well be fashioning gold out of thin air with how easy it is, so long as we can find a game. Usually, I play the part of the dirty, meek little peasant who gets to play because people take pity on me. But today, we're gonna try something a little different.
Teana pulled a tiny jar of a brown liquid out of her bag, then glanced around as Kafele and Akiiki folded up the towels. She opened the jar and took in a mouthful of the liquid, then held it in her mouth for several seconds and swished it around. She passed the jar over to Akiiki, then turned around and spat the liquid into the sand.
"Holy crap that's strong," she gasped, clutching her chest. "Oh Ra...it burns."
Akiiki did the same as Teana walked up to Kafele. She huffed a large breath at him and Kafele recoiled backwards. "Strong?"
"Oh, oh yeah, oh my god that's awful," Kafele said, taking the jar from Akiiki. "People actually drink this?"
Akiiki spit his mouthful out on the sand as well, shaking his head quickly. "My tongue is dissolving!"
"I had to sign a waiver before buying this stuff," Teana said as Kafele drained the last of the jar. "You have to ask for it, they don't even showcase it. This game better be good."
A moment later, Kafele had deposited his portion into the sands.
"Ah, ah crap, crapcrapcrap," Kafele hissed, shaking his head quickly. "Oh that's awful. And trust me, I've had my eye on this game for awhile now, it's the ultimate last job."
The three made their way towards the front door of the restaurant.
"Remember. Drunk, obnoxious, ditzy," Teana said quietly.
The three burst through the door, drawing the attention of everyone in the dining room. Teana stumbled towards the bar across the room, crashing into empty chairs along the way.
"Whooo!" Teana yelped as she practically fell into one of the seats near the bar. Akiiki and Kafele just started walking around the large main room, like they were looking for something. "Man, I hope your alcohol is a lot better than your interior decor, because Ra almighty this place looks like a dump."
The employee on the opposite side of the bar simply watched her silently, one eye on both of her friends, still stalking around the restaurant stiffly.
"Well? Impress me!" Teana demanded, pounding the bar with her fist.
"Not your first stop tonight, is it?" The server asked quietly, absentmindedly picking up a large cup and flipping it around in his hands.
"Not that it's any of your business...but there was one hell of a party a couple few blocks down. Absooooolutely howling!" Teana waved her hand across the sky. "Just completely nuts, let me tell you!"
"Sounds a lot better than this...erm, dump." The server shrugged. Kafele and Akiiki both spotted the card game taking place in the corner, and slowly started creeping towards it, almost like they were trying to sneak up on it.
"Oh, we got kicked out!" Teana explained loudly. "Buncha jagoffs, you throw one stupid chair and everyone loses their mind! So, c'mon, lay something on me!"
"I don't think we're going to do that," the server replied, setting the cup back down. "I can't serve you in your condition."
"My condition?!" Teana repeated, glowering at the server. "Oh, I get it. You don't know how to share, bee-yotch!"
"Right," he replied. "The answer is no. Sorry."
"Wuzzat?" Akiiki asked from the other side of the room. He and Kafele were peering over the shoulders of the seven players at the table. "Is that...is that cards?"
"Yes," one of the players replied curtly. "Cards."
"Can I...can we play?" Kafele asked, leaning in closer to the answerer. "Or is that weird?"
"Yes it's weird," he answered, turning his attention back to the deck, shuffling it.
"Is iiiittttt?" Kafele hissed quietly, slowly drawing his face closer and closer to his, until they were just half a foot apart.
"Yes."
"No it ain't!" Akiiki boomed. "Come on, we've got gold, all three of us! Let's get us a bigger table and have at it!" He started airboxing.
"Three of us?" One of the players muttered. "Don't tell me you're counting the woman." Teana had jumped out of her seat at the bar, picked it up, and started to dance with it.
"Oh, absolutely! She's my special woman!" Kafele said, pointing at Teana. "It's our special night out on the town."
"Well now I know you guys aren't right upstairs," another said. "Come on, go have your special night somewhere else. We're trying to be nice here."
At this, Akiiki stopped airboxing and lifted his backsack up into the air. "Five thousand gold debens worth, gentlemen!" he cried, pointing at the sack. "I'll put it all on the line!"
"Well, by all that's ironic, I've got five thousand gold debens myself!" Kafele held his own backsack up in the air. "Darling, how about you? What you holding?" He looked over at Teana.
"I'm holding a chair!" Teana yelled back. "A chair with two left feet!"
"I mean gold, darling! Gold!" Kafele said.
"Oh...five thousand!" she shouted, dropping the chair to the floor with a thud.
"So, combined, that's like...like...a million gold debens!" Akiiki said. "So come on, how about it?"
The seven players around the table all started glancing at each other, the inevitable decision quickly being reached.
Quickly, they're coming to the obvious choice. Three wealthy drunks with a whole lot of gold, it's a no brainer, woman or not. I can tell these guys do okay for themselves, better than average, but fifteen thousand is still more than what most of them probably make in three moons. A chance to strike it rich in a single night's work, and a chance to take some serious coin off of some drunk douchebags.
"Alright," one of them finally said. "Just don't drool on the cards, please." Quickly, all seven of them got up and started moving their gold over to a larger round table a couple spots away.
""""
Was Artist. Djed Queen.
"I'm out!" Teana exclaimed, tossing her cards back towards the dealer. She could see the tiny glimmer of thoughts passing through the seven other players. It was the sixth straight hand she had folded out of before third street. Teana leaned back and watched the hand play out.
Cards. The great game, the most popular game in all of Egypt, maybe the world. It's pretty simple, and it's easy to gamble on, which is all a game needs to be to be wildly popular. You have a deck of 52 cards. There are thirteen card values, from weakest to strongest, Peasant, Farmer, Soldier, Artist, Teacher, Priest, General, Nobleman, Vizier, Prince, Queen, Pharaoh, God. There are also four card types, Pyramid, Ankh, Djed, and Was. You have four of each card value in a deck, each one being of a different type.
Each hand, every player has to put a pre-set amount of gold into the pot, with one person having to put double that amount, that double-spot rotating around the table with every hand. At this table that amount is twenty-five gold debens. Then, each player is dealt two cards that they don't show anyone else, and the first round of betting happens. Everyone at the table gets a turn to either pass the action over without doing anything, or wagering some gold. Every game sets a low wager and a high wager, this game has 100 and 200. If someone wagers, everyone else at the table gets a turn to either match the wager, increase the wager by matching it plus an additional low or high wager, or get out of the hand by discarding their cards. There are a maximum of two wagers per round of betting, and as soon as the round ends, we get third street.
Third street is setting three cards face up at the center of the table. Every player at the table takes their two private cards and tries to see how they can form a hand of five with the three public cards. There are all kinds of hands, each with a value. Most of the time, you've got nothing but garbage. As for the hands you want, well, the weakest is a simple group. Two princes or two farmers or something of the sort. Next up the ladder is two groups, which might be having two princes AND two farmers. A trio is three cards of the same value, like three princes.
After that, you have a run-of-five, which is five cards of ascending value, like having Soldier-Artist-Teacher-Priest-General. Next is a type-match, which is five cards of the same type, maybe five Ankh cards. There's the trio matched with a pair, which might be three noblemen with two gods. A quartet is four cards of the same value, like four artists. Finally, the best hand possible is a run-of-five combined with a type-match, which is five ascending value cards that all have the same type, like the Soldier-Artist-Teacher-Priest-General, and all five cards are Pyramids.
In any case, there's another round of betting, then fourth street, where a fourth public card is played, which gives all the players the opportunity to have a better hand than the initial one. Another round of betting, fifth street comes out as the final chance for players to make a good hand, and a final round of betting. Everyone shows, or surrenders if they know they've lost, and whoever has the best hand takes everything in the pot. Lather, rinse, repeat.
"Well. Don't that just beat it all?" One of the players said as Kafele flipped his cards over. Djed Pharoah and Pyramid Pharaoh, which made a trio with the Ankh Pharaoh on the table. "You're actually able to see straight enough to tell which cards are which."
"Very funny," Kafele said, scooping the contents of the pot towards him. "Of course I can tell which cards are which!"
Initial bets were made, and new cards were sent out in short order. Teana peeked down at hers, throwing a very subtle flirty-look at the guy across the table from her as she did so. Djed God, Djed Pharaoh.
The first three players passed the action, and the fourth wagered a hundred. Kafele and Akiiki both got out of the hand, turning the action to Teana.
"Match," she said, placing a hundred gold debens in the center of the table.
"Wow, she knows some card terminology, color me shocked," the player to her left said as he got out of the hand.
"Shut up," Teana growled. "And if I don't get a drink here real soon, a hangover's gonna kick in, and you do NOT want to see me hung over!"
"Answer is still no," the server responded tartily.
Teana glowered for a moment as the remaining players all matched her bet. The first three cards came out.
Djed Priest, Djed Farmer, Was Queen.
"Pass," Teana said immediately.
There was a long pause after this, as the player two spots to Teana's right considered the situation for several seconds. Finally, he grabbed two of his big gold pieces and put them in the center. "Wager two hundred," he said evenly.
The next player folded, the next matched, and the remaining players quickly got out of the hand until it was back on Teana. She shrugged and threw two hundred debens in the middle, pointing at the dealer after doing so. "That's a match. Next card!"
The dealer set the top card to the side, then placed a fourth card down. Djed Artist.
"Raise two hundred," the player two seats to Teana's left immediately announced, putting more gold in the center.
"Not my night," the player next to him said quietly as he discarded his cards over to the dealer.
Teana just stared at her one remaining opponent for the hand for some time. Finally, she opened her mouth. "What's your name?"
He flinched, face faltering. "I'm sorry?"
"Your name...what's your name?" Teana asked. "Waitwaitwait, don't tell me. I'll bet...your name is...Seth!"
"...no, actually, it's-"
"Well, you look like a Seth, so from now on your name is Seth, okay!" Teana said. "I'm gonna call you Seth!" She punctuated the final word by pounding the table.
"Hey, action's on you!" the dealer said, frowning at Teana.
"Oh, whatever," Teana mumbled, grabbing two of her hundred-deben pieces and putting them in the center.
Quickly, fifth street came out. Pyramid Peasant.
'Seth' couldn't have possibly wagered faster. "Two hundred," he said quickly.
"Oh yeah, tough guy?" Teana said, pointing at her gold stack. "Well, I'm going all-in!"
"We're not playing no-limit," the dealer deadpanned. "Come on, don't make me regret letting you jokers sit down."
"Oh, you guys wanna play limited wagering? And I'M the girl?" Teana grumble, throwing four hundred debens to the center. "Re-wager two hundred."
"I match," 'Seth' replied immediately, flipping his two private cards over. "Queen-Priest, two groups."
"Oh yeah, you wanna fight about it?!" Teana spat, flipping her cards over. "That's a type-match, God-Pharaoh-Queen high, do something about it!"
'Seth' blanched, glancing the cards over for a moment before frowning and leaning back in his chair. "Very well, then."
""""
"Artists full of Viziers!" Teana said loudly as she flipped her cards over, immediately reaching forward to scoop the large amount of gold towards her.
"Wait a minute," one of the players said, grabbing her wrist from her left. "Something's not right here."
"Hey," Kafele said, reaching over and grabbing his wrist, yanking it off. "The only one who gets to touch my special lady is me, got it?"
"What's your problem?" Teana spat, pulling the gold towards her.
"My problem is we've played forty hands since you three have sat down, and you've only played five," he growled.
"Oh, goodie for you, you can count!" Teana said, mock clapping.
"You're only playing your good hands," he continued.
"So maybe I just don't SUCK. Like YOU." Teana stacked her gold up in front of her.
He leaned in closer towards her face. "Are you even drunk, you little con artist?"
At this, Teana simply huffed a large breath out of her mouth right at him. He fell back, reeling from the strong stench, covering his face.
"Oh, Ra, what IS that?!" he cried. "That's the worst!"
"That answer your question, fatface?" Teana said. "Now let's play some cards!"
The other seven players all exchanged glances with each other.
"Horus is right," the dealer said. "Something ain't right here."
"Hey, deal the cards already," Akiiki demanded. "Or do you guys not want to win your gold back?"
Begrudgingly, the dealer dealt new cards out as everyone added gold to the pot.
Teana took a look at hers. Pyramid God and Was Queen.
"Wager a hundred," the first player announced, throwing gold to the center. Akiiki matched and Kafele got out.
"Out," Teana said, casually tossing her cards over to the dealer.
""""
"Re-wager two hundred," Teana said, haphazardly tossing coins to the middle of the table.
'Seth' looked down at the four public cards. Djed God, Was Teacher, Was Prince, Was Artist. He frowned, almost snarling.
"Hit your type-set, eh?" he grunted, tossing his cards over to the dealer.
The next three players folded out as well, leaving Teana to scoop the gold towards her.
"That's the eighth hand you've played, girl," Horus said from her left.
"Hurray, you can still count! Big props, dude! We get it, you can count, get over it," Teana said as she stacked her gold up.
"We've played seventy hands now, and you've won every hand you've played," he added. "I've about had enough of you and your two friends. Something's not right, something you're not telling us."
"Do I have to breathe in your face again?" Teana asked.
"Every hand you've played has been strong," Horus menaced. "Something about that just doesn't seem right."
Teana shrugged, then flipped her two cards over. Pyramid Artist, Ankh Vizier.
"That's a...that's a strong hand?" Teana mumbled. "I dunno man, what kind of rules are you guys playing?"
Horus's nostrils flared, then he pounded the table. "Okay, that's it! I want you and your buddies out of here!"
"Well sorry, geez, I don't know all your house rules!" Teana said.
"You just bluffed the whole table after match-trapping us for the first two betting rounds!" Horus hissed. "Can you explain that to me?"
"Maybe you guys just suck real bad," Teana said. "Like, real bad."
"Okay," one of the players from across the table said, standing up. "How about you and your friends take your gold and get out of here, right now? Because I'm about ready to deck you two-" he pointed at Kafele and Akiiki, "-and I don't hit women, but I'm ready to make an exception."
"Nice moral fiber you got there, champ," Teana said, standing up. "Fine, I guess I'm just too much for you bums." Horus closed his eyes and rubbed his face as the three quickly dumped their gold into their sacks.
"If I ever see any of you three in here again, I...well, something bad will happen," one of the other players growled.
"You know what, I think I'm too good for this craphole anyway!" Teana said. "You guys, playing like idiots, and somehow it's my fault. It's this damn society we live in, everything is someone else's fault-"
"Just get out!" Horus yelled.
""""
"Of all that is holy, that was fun!" Kafele yelped in delight as the three of them prodded their horses to quickly trot themselves down the street, away from the restaurant. "Wish we could do that more often!"
"We'll get a reputation if we keep doing that," Teana said, glancing back at the restaurant to make sure they weren't being followed. "But hopefully, a quarter-moon from now, we'll have another reputation."
"My rough count is six thousand four hundred," Kafele said, looking over at Akiiki.
"Five thousand nine hundred," Akiiki answered.
"Eleven thousand even," Teana finished proudly. "My poor horse can barely handle all of it."
"Incredible. We just made almost nine thousand gold debens in less than a day." Akiiki nodded contently. "You cleaned up."
"Couldn't do it without you two," she said. "But it's just like I hoped. If they think you're wasted, every single time they just assume you've got nothing and you're bluffing. Over and over, they just keep pushing me and pushing me, it's comical."
"Alright then," Kafele said. "Just about perfect timing, if my understanding of the sun's position is right. We should be right on schedule."
"Next stop, the lockup," Teana said.
""""
"Biggest take of my life," Teana said immediately as she jumped off her horse. Ramses came up to her and quickly tied the front of the horse off to one of the posts by the large and tall stone building.
"Good for you, I'm proud," Ramses said. Kafele and Akiiki both dismounted behind her.
"Where is everyone?" Kafele asked. The lockup and the immediate area was usually packed with people, but today it was sparsely occupied.
"Probably already in line six streets down," Ramses said. "So how did it feel to play a big table?"
"I've played big tables before," Teana said. "And I'm playing a much bigger one in a few days."
Ramses is another old friend of mine. A card wizard himself, he usually runs solo, using his gender-based advantage to play much more often at much more lucrative tables. We have our differences, but he always proves to be a good guy at the end. Well, maybe not always, but he proves it often enough that I haven't strangled him yet.
"Alright, let's do this," Akiiki said, hitching his sack back up towards his shoulder and walking towards the large double front doors.
The four went into the almost-empty front lobby, quickly seeking out an employee stationed behind the counterspace who had no one else to assist.
"Good afternoon," the employee said, smiling wildly as the four came up. "You four are a group, I assume?"
"Correct," Ramses said. He shrugged his backsack off and dropped it on the counter. "Making a deposit, all of this going into the same account."
Immediately, the employee pulled a piece of parchment and reed pen out from behind the counter and placed them down in front of Ramses. "Very well, if you could just provide the number and sequence of your account."
Ramses quickly wrote a series of numbers and symbols down on the parchment as Teana, Akiiki, and Kafele placed their bags down on the counter next to Ramses's. The lockup employee turned around and held three fingers up towards a young woman standing against the back wall. Quickly, she disappeared past a curtain behind her.
Ramses handed the parchment back to the employee, who looked at it as three large men emerged from behind the curtain and walked up towards the counter.
"Looks good, we'll double check when we go back to secure your valuables," he said, nodding as the men picked up the gold bags. "Will there be anything else?"
"We'd like a count after the deposit is made," Ramses further instructed. "And we'll be making a rather large withdrawal once we have that information."
The employee nodded. "The tournament, I assume?"
"Precisely," Ramses said, grinning. The lockup workers all piled through the curtained opening in the back wall, disappearing.
"Alright," Teana said as the four huddled up. "Alright, let's talk tournament."
Tournament. The tournament. The card tournament to make all other card tournaments look like a joke. It starts in a few days, and it's part C of my plan. Five day tournament. First three days are just non-stop free play. You can go from table to table, play as much as you want, sleep whenever, take breaks whenever, and as long as you don't run out of gold, the cards can keep on coming. The last two days are a hundred player tournament. Ten tables of ten players each, each player buys in with ten thousand gold debens. No limit, play doesn't stop until nine players are broke and one player has all hundred thousand. Fifth and final day, all ten winners post their entire hundred thousand winnings from the prior day at one final table, and play doesn't stop until one person has one million gold debens. It's a ticket to instant wealth, celebrity status as the best card player in the world, and my best shot at the prince.
"Okay, first day, the tables have a minimum buy-in of a thousand, maximum two thousand," Teana recalled. "And I believe they play raises of ten-twenty or twenty-forty, so the games are gonna play out pretty slowly."
"It's hardly ideal," Akiiki agreed. "But it'll definitely attract more amateurs since it seems safer."
"Okay, second day it was...small buy-ins are two, big ones are three and a half. Raises twenty-forty to forty-eighty. Again, slow games. Third day was four and six, with raises forty-eighty to fifty-hundred." She pointed at Kafele and Akiiki. "Ten thousand a piece?"
"I'd be fine with five," Kafele said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not playing the last two days, five is fine."
"Yeah, I'm sitting the big tournament out," Akiiki agreed. "Give me five and I'll turn it into...shoot, ten or twelve thousand by the end of the third day, and I'm happy with that."
"You guys sure you don't want to play in the tournament?" Ramses asked. "I mean, that's a million gold debens."
"Yeah, a million gold debens I'm not winning," Akiiki countered. "Even if I somehow got to the final day table, which is a long shot, then I'd have to play...have to play Mera, or Khu, or Azizi, or...heck, one of you two." He pointed at Teana and Ramses. "Which would not only be weird, but would end in me losing. Not worth it. It's ten thousand gold debens down the drain."
"Alright. Remember, you can't buy back into the tournament, you have to claim however much gold you're going to use when you register," Teana said. "Are you sure five is good?"
"Five is plenty good," Kafele insisted.
"I need twenty," Ramses said. "You have to have at least ten thousand left at the start of the fourth day to play in the tournament, so even if disaster strikes I'll be safe with twenty."
"Okay," Teana said. "I need to bowl them over. I need to give them a reason to let me play. I need fifty. Ramses, do we have that?"
"Yeah, yeah we have that," Ramses said.
"Do we have that plus security?" Teana asked.
"Oh yeah, I think it's...right now we've got at least a hundred twenty, right around there, maybe hundred twenty-five."
"That's nuts," Akiiki muttered. "I never thought I'd be a part of any joint account even a tenth that big. That's way more than you even projected."
"Well, Ramses has been more of a team player than I ever thought he was capable of," Teana said, punching him lightly in the forearm. "And this real estate thing, I had no idea how lucrative it was. So, everyone have everything they need?"
They all nodded. Teana turned back towards the counter, still vacated of any lockup employee.
"I've given some great performances in my lifetime," Teana said. "All those bluffs, those traps, baiting...but getting in the hundred player tournament might have to be my finest yet."