Cards
Summary: Egyptian men have become enamored by the latest way to gamble. But there's one peasant who refuses to respond to gender barriers.
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Well, I just recently wrapped up a three part, 150k word epic story that took five or six years to finish, so I decided I wanted to have some fun with something easier. So I'm going back to the well with ancient Egyptian stories.
This story is loosely inspired by the 1998 film Rounders. 'Cards' is an adaptation of the modern day Texas Hold 'Em poker game. And Teana was a minor character in a YuGiOh video game that basically serves as an AE carnation of Anzu, who I like to use in my stories.
I've rated this story T for some adult situations, language, and themes.
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Chapter One: A Man's Game
One day, the men of the world will learn to take women seriously. One day, they'll respect us.
But until then, I'll gladly keep taking advantage of them.
"Aw, you gotta be kidding," Seth spat, throwing his two slips of parchment back across the circular wooden table and looking away. "You know you got lucky there, right?"
"Lucky gold is the same as any other gold," Horus replied, reaching forward and grabbing two short stacks of tiny golden coins. He placed them in front of him on the table.
"Yes, but you lose lucky gold very quickly after obtaining it," Seth said. "If I were you, I'd go home and place your lucky gold in a secret place, so it can't run off."
"I think my lucky gold will stay here, and perhaps impart some of it's luck onto me for the rest of the game," Horus said, grabbing his wooden cup and taking a swig out of it.
Bes waved his hand toward the table and everyone immediately threw their own pair of parchment slips into the pile in front of him. He scooped them up into a neat, uniform stack and started to shuffle them around.
Horus turned around and looked at the restaurant behind them. About a dozen wooden tables, like theirs, scattered around the main portion of the room, with a countertop along the far wall, which protected a rack of small barrels and containers. Finally, the place was starting to empty out, people finishing their lunches.
"Alright, deal it," Seth said. Everyone grabbed a single gold fleck from their piles in front of them and tossed them into the middle. "Ptah, you've got the double."
"Course I do," Ptah replied, reaching down to grab another piece of gold and throwing it into the middle.
A young girl made her way into the restaurant. Short brown hair that didn't quite reach her shoulders and an impressively large chest. Her simple cloth gown was unevenly cut around the bottom and frayed, worn, and ripped in several places. She looked exhausted, dirty, and beat down, a dismayed frown on her face. She shuffled over to a table near the men and sat down silently, making no motion towards the employees behind the bar.
"Alright, here we go," Bes said, flicking a parchment slip from the top of the stack to each person around the table in turn, including himself, then going back around to give each person a second. Everyone peaked at their slips without showing them to the others.
"Alright. Pass," Amun said, pointing to his left.
"Pass it along," Seth said.
"Pass," Horus chimed in.
"Yeah I'll pass," Ptah agreed.
"Well this is just boring," Bes grunted. "Pass." With that, he took one slip off the top of the pack, set it aside, then took the next three and set them face up on the middle of the table.
Everyone immediately looked the three over. Each card contained a crude drawing of a human figure in the middle, and small text on both the top and bottom. The first read 'Pyramid General', the second 'Ankh Artist' and the final 'Pyramid Pharaoh'.
Pass." Amun scratched his forehead a few times.
"I'll put in five," Seth said, picking up five of the tiny golden pieces and putting them in the center.
"Out," Horus said immediately, tossing his two parchment slips back to Bes.
"So long." Ptah threw his two back to Bes as well.
"Count me out," Bes said, putting his two slips back onto the deck.
"Enjoy your free win," Amun said, flicking his slips over to Bes. Seth reached forward and grabbed all the coins in the middle of the table, pulling them over to his table.
"I will, thank you," Seth replied. "On a day like this, every win is a big win."
"Excuse me, sirs."
The table of men turned around to look at the girl who had just taken a seat next to them. She was looking at the five, hands folded in front of her on the table.
"Can we help you?" Bes asked, shuffling the deck of slips around in his hands.
"Uh...well, this is going to sound weird," the girl said, eyes downcast. "Can I...join your game?"
Everyone at the table was silent for a few moments, then Horus sniggered.
"This some kind of joke?" Horus asked. "Who put you up to this? Panhsj?"
"N-no one...I'm serious," the girl said meekly, shrinking away from the table. "F-forget it, sorry I asked."
"Wait," Ptah said suddenly, holding his hand toward Bes. "I'm curious now. What's your story?"
"Story?" The girl repeated, looking back over at the table and brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Girl," Ptah said condescendingly. "You wander in here, you're clearly on the low end of the peasant scale and look like you don't have a deben to your name, you go up to a table of men who you've never met before, and you ask to join our card game. You have to have a story. Spill it."
The girl sighed. "It's...it's my father. It's a long story, but I'll just...skip to the important part, if I don't come home tonight with a decent amount of gold, he's gonna beat the hell out of me."
"Then go run some errands for the merchants in the market," Amun suggested. "Come on, deal em."
"I-I've tried that." The girl clenched her fists until her knuckles had turned white. "I've...I've been from one end of Cairo to the other, doing everything I could...doing things I...I never thought I'd do, everything I could find and...and I'm not close."
"Go turn some tricks downtown, you'll be there in no time," Horus said dismissively. "Now who has the double?"
"Horus! Horus, that's awful," Bes chided. "Sorry, forgive our friend, he's socially inept."
"Don't tell me you're actually considering this," Amun said exasperatedly. "Come on, the deck is going cold."
"I didn't say I was considering it," Bes replied. "But you don't tell a girl you don't know she should go turn tricks."
"Unless you know she's a prostitute," Ptah said.
"Girl, you a prostitute?" Bes said, turning to her. She shook her head. "See? Come on, that's just rude."
"I've got until sundown to make good," she said, shaking her head. "If there was any other way for me to do it, I'd do it, but...this is the only way. I have to try."
Horus looked around at the table. "The other fishermen will never let me hear the end of it if they hear I played cards, for gold, with a woman."
"Then don't tell them," Ptah said, playing with his little pieces of gold in front of him. "You know what? Why not? Give her a chance."
"Girl, pull up a chair," Bes called out, pointing at her.
"Hold on now," Amun said, grabbing Bes's arm and pulling it down. "No, don't pull up a chair. I'm not playing cards with a female." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Besides, she looks like a section one, I'd feel bad if I took her money."
"Sounds like we're tied," Ptah said, looking at Seth. "Well?"
"Hey, since when is this majority rule?" Horus said. "I'm not playing with a woman and that's that."
"Horus, stop being a baby," Seth spat, turning to look at the girl. He took in a deep breath, looking her over. "How much do you have?"
She looked down at the floor. "Twenty five debens," she said quietly.
"Gold?" He asked. She nodded her head. "What do you need?"
"A lot more," she muttered. "I-I'm not going to ask you guys to just give me what I need. It's too much, it wouldn't be right. I just want a chance to play for it."
Seth looked around the restaurant for a moment. "Two things. First, don't tell anyone we let a girl play cards with us. It looks bad. Second, we're giving you a chance, but that's it. So if you lose everything, too bad. I don't wanna hear a sob story about how you're gonna get beaten tonight on your way out, just leave. We're giving you a chance, and that's all we're giving you."
"Of course," she said, getting up off her chair. She winced as her bare feet hit the floor, burns on her feet causing discomfort on contact with anything.
"You know how to play?" Ptah asked.
"My dad plays it sometimes, I watch," she replied.
"Oh, she watches her dad play it sometimes," Horus said sarcastically. Well it's another twenty-five gold debens for us. Fine, she can play, but this is a joke."
"Everyone puts in one deben at the start of each hand," Bes said to the girl as she sat down. "We have a double spot that rotates around every hand, that person has to put in two. Maximum of two raises per rotation, raises can be either five or ten debens."
She pulled the empty chair out and sat down in it, putting her elbows on the edge of the table. Slowly, she reached down to the pouch in front of her gown, and pulled out a small sack with a thin piece of rope tying the neck closed. She pulled the string off and dumped a small mound of gold in front of her.
"I think it's...commendable," Seth said, looking at her. "In your position, most people would turn to pickpocketing."
She shook her head. "Wouldn't be right. I'd deserve a beating if I did that."
"See? She's noble!" Bes said, putting the parchment stack down in front of him. Everyone placed their initial wager into the middle. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Husn," she replied, smiling as Bes started to deal the cards out.
Husn. To these guys, I'm Husn. Of course, to the guys down by the dock on the river, I'm Hathor. To the blacksmiths at the bar three blocks south of here, I'm Bast. To the retired soldiers who like to meet at the arthouse across town, I'm Phoenix. But to my friends. To the people I care about. To the people who are worth knowing who I really am, I'm Teana.
That wasn't the first lie I told though. I have no problem stealing. I'm doing it right now, and these guys don't even know it yet. I'm stealing from these five guys. I may as well just walk over to this table and grab a handful of debens. But before you judge me, the only reason that this is considered stealing is that these guys aren't taking me seriously. Their loss.
My name is Teana, and I'm just an Egyptian peasant woman playing a man's game. We call it, quite simply, 'cards'.
After Bes sent the cards out, everyone reached forward to peek at their own. Teana pried the corner of her cards up to check what she had. Djed - Vizier and Djed - God.
"Alright, Seth, you're up," Bes said, pointing at Seth.
"I'll pass."
Cards started about ten years ago. A group of bandits from up north came up with it and played it amongst themselves. Then they all got busted and went to prison. They kept playing it, and the guards figured it out and started playing it themselves. The guards spread it around to blacksmiths, farmers, artists, teachers...it caught on like wildfire. Egyptians love gambling.
You play the game with a deck of fifty-two slips of parchment, they're the cards. There are thirteen different card values, based on the Egyptian pyramid of power. The higher the rank of the card, the more valuable it is. It goes Peasant, Farmer, Soldier, Artist, Teacher, Priest, General, Nobleman, Vizier, Prince, Queen, Pharaoh, God.
There are four of each card value in a deck, and each card has one of four types associated with it. You have Pyramid, Ankh, Djed, and Was. So each deck has exactly one Pyramid Priest, one Djed Prince, one Was General, and so on. Each card deck is made with thick parchment, and each card looks identical from the back. Homemade decks don't cut it here.
"Alright, full round of passes..." Bes said, putting one card to the side before placing three on the center of the table.
Was God, Djed Queen, Djed Farmer.
"Pass," Seth said quickly.
Horus looked around the table for a moment. "Well, fine, I guess it's up to me. Five." He picked up a stack of five piece of gold and put them in the middle."
Immediately, Ptah, Bes, and Amun conked out in turn, leaving action to Teana. She looked down at the table again, exhaled deeply, then pushed five of her own gold pieces into the middle. "I'll match it."
"I like it. Aggressive on the first hand," Seth said, smirking at Teana. "But I'll skip. I'm out." He threw his cards over to Bes.
Bes discarded another card to the side, then placed a fourth face up on the middle of the table. Djed Teacher.
"Just you and me, girl," Horus said roughly. "And you don't belong here. I'm putting in ten."
"Whooh!" Bes called out as Horus put his gold into the middle. "Pressuring the girl, for shame Horus!"
"Your wife would not be happy to see you making such wild wagers," Ptah joked.
"My wife isn't happy that I play cards for gold in the first place, that ship has sailed," Horus replied tartily.
"Match," Teana said quietly, pushing ten golden pieces to the table center, slowly and reluctantly, as everyone immediately fell silent.
"Well, damn," Seth said under his breath. "See, I knew it was a good idea to let her in the game! Look how exciting things have gotten."
Each person in the game gets two cards to start. These cards belong to that person alone. Then after a round of betting, three cards get put in the center of the table. These cards belong to everyone. Another round of betting, and a fourth card comes out. Another betting round, a fifth card, another betting round, and then we find out who came out on top.
The goal is for each person to make the best five card group possible, using their two cards and any three cards in the center of the table. Good hands include groups of values, like having two princes or two farmers. Even better is two groups of two, like having two princes and two farmers. There's also three of a group, a trio matched with a pair, and four of a group.
Also mixed in there are runs of five, which is when you build a five card group of ascending values. Like, Artist-Teacher-Priest-General-Nobleman. Then you have a type-match, which is when you can get five cards all of the same type, like five pyramids. Then, of course, you have the running type-match, which combines the two. In the event of a tie, values decide the winner.
"Okay, fifth card," Bes announced, discarding another and placing a fifth on the table center. Pyramid Vizier.
Horus smirked. "Dear, please remember that I, by no means, want you to get beaten by your father tonight, but I have to do this." He picked up another ten gold pieces and threw them into the middle. "Nine, to push you all-in. You should have bailed on this hand as soon as I threw that five in. And now you're chasing the pot because you feel like you don't have a choice. A common mistake made by the young player, and perhaps proof that this game is meant to be played by men."
Teana sighed, folding her arms in front of her, looking at the remaining nine pieces in front of her. She let her hand prop her head up as she glumly looked down.
"You might yet make a comeback with nine pieces left. Toss them," Horus insisted, pointing at Bes. "Come on now, don't resign yourself to your fate because you feel committed to the pot. It's not too late to get out."
The game is particularly fascinating because, not only can each player see their own groups, they can see most of everyone else's groups because most of the cards are shown in the center of the table. I can look at the table cards and know what groups are possible. For instance, there's no pair on the table, so nobody has four of a group. There aren't three of the same type, so nobody has a type-match.
You can also watch reactions and betting strategies with each card that comes, and figure out what someone has. If the first three cards come out onto the table, and those three cards could make a run, and someone bets heavily, they might have a run of five. Or maybe they're trying to trick you into thinking they do. That's the beauty of the game.
It's a beautiful, wonderful game. Unless dice games, which are entirely luck, there's a massive amount of skill involved in cards. Hiding your emotions, disguising your bet strategies, reading group possibilities and probabilities...you have to be a genius to master this game. And that's just it. Luck has nothing to do with it. The skilled players are the ones who win.
Of course, in this instance, I don't even need skill, because this moron may as well be begging me to get out of the hand.
"Match," Teana said, shoving the remaining gold in front of her into the center of the table and flipping her cards over, placing them in the center of the table. "Two groups of two, Gods and Viziers."
Horus's face fell as he saw her two cards, then he indignantly looked around the room.
"Well?" Bes said, pointing at Horus's two cards.
Horus scowled, then pushed his two cards over to Bes without revealing them.
"Oh, Ra, you didn't have anything!" Ptah cried out as Teana reached forward to bring the pot towards her, scooping the stack of gold over to in front of her. "You had trash! Nothing!"
"I didn't say that!" Horus hissed. "Just...deal."
"Oh, you went twenty-four debens into a pot with nothing!" Ptah clapped his hand to his forehead. "That was great! You deserved that, you stupid oaf. Trying to bully this poor girl around when you're holding nothing."
"Shut up, I didn't say I had nothing!" Horus motioned to Bes.
"I think you had nothing," Bes said as he shuffled the cards.
They think he had nothing. I know he had nothing. A novice would have been scared into getting out of the hand and letting him take a free win, and he thinks I'm a novice, so I suppose it's no surprise. Meanwhile, I couldn't have asked for a better first hand. My gold stack is now respectable, and everyone at the table is so focused on Horus trying to bully me, that they didn't notice how well I played that hand.
And that's the skill of the game. My reactions, my emotions, my betting, it all convinced Horus I had nothing. And I suckered him in all the way. I'm playing the game in ways these guys can't even fathom. I'm so far ahead of them, they don't even realize I'm ahead of them.
So yes, I'm pretty much stealing. But there's a saying about a fool and his gold.
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"The definition of beginners' luck," Amun said smugly, looking at Teana. "Wins a big first hand, and now you've been sitting there for the last ten. Just sitting there, doing nothing except bleeding to death, one pre-card bet at a time."
"You guys, I mean...should I just not get married?" Ptah asked, holding his hand out towards the table. "It seems to me that, once you get married, you start hating women, that's what I'm getting from this. You guys are busting on this poor girl, and why? What's she doing that's so bad? Is this just a generic, I hate all females thing?"
"Just play," Amun said dryly. The first three table cards had been dealt. A teacher, priest, and vizier.
"Pass," Ptah said quickly.
"Pass it on," Bes followed up.
"Put in ten," Amun announced, pushing ten of his gold pieces into the middle.
"Oh boy, here we go." Horus stood up from the table. "I'm getting another beer, if it comes around to me before I get back just get me out of the hand."
"What Horus is trying to say, is that you suck at hiding your run of five," Seth mocked. "Alright, let's all just fold and-"
"Match and put in ten," Teana said quietly, placing twenty gold pieces into the middle quickly.
The table went dead silent at this, everyone staring at Teana. Quickly, everyone folded out of the hand until it got back to Amun. Amun just sat there, staring unblinkingly at Teana.
"Husn, are you sure-"
"Oh geez, was that not a legal move?" Teana gasped, reaching her hands towards the middle. "I'm so sorry, I'll-"
"Leave the gold," Bes instructed. "The move is legal. Amun."
"Well, of course, as soon as I say something you...get a straight." He threw his cards over towards Bes, who shuffled them back into the deck. "All yours."
Teana reached forward and pulled the small group of gold towards her, then immediately threw her cards over to Bes.
"So you had the run of five?" Amun asked as Bes shuffled the cards around.
"Huh?" Teana turned to look dimly at Amun.
"You had the run of five, right?" Amun glanced over at Bes shuffling the deck.
"Uh...um..." Teana looked around, eyes darting along the floor. "I don't remember."
"What?" Amun deadpanned. "It's a simple question, did you have the general and nobleman or not?"
"I'm really sorry, I forget!" Teana cried, a couple tears welling up in the inside corner of her eyes. "I'm..I'm under a-"
"You forget?" Amun roared, standing up from the table. "You were looking at the cards just a moment ago, and you forgot what you had?"
Teana cowered away from him, putting her hands over her head and shying away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Amun!" Ptah cried. "You need a break or something? What's wrong with you?"
Amun looked around, then took a deep breath and sat back down. "No, I'm sorry, Husn. I...I shouldn't have shouted. I'm sorry."
Teana nodded quickly, then slowly got back into a straight sitting position. "I...I can't remember what I had. I'm really sorry."
"No, it's fine. Not a big deal, don't worry about it." Amun waved his hand at her. "I just...I get caught up in the cards."
"I...I don't remember," Teana repeated as she placed two debens in the center of the table. "You know, I...I think I did, actually. General and nobleman, yeah."
I had a peasant and a prince. I had nothing. I had trash. But these guys don't need to know that. The less they know about how I play, the better.
.
"I'm starting to like this girl!" Ptah said enthusiastically.
"I never wanna see her again," Horus said sourly.
"She hides, and lays quietly in waiting for hand after hand after hand, and then she springs on us at the opportune moment!" Ptah reached over and patted her shoulder. "She knows how to play!"
Seth looked out one of the open doors, flattening his hair. "Dinner crowd will be here in a bit."
Bes dealt out new cards to everyone after the initial bets were placed.
"Alright," Seth said, reaching down towards his gold. "I'll bet five."
Teana peaked down at her cards. Pyramids. A Priest and a Nobleman.
"I'm out," Horus said, throwing his cards over to Bes.
"I'll match it," Ptah decided, putting five gold pieces in the middle.
"Not for me," Bes decided, sticking his own cards back into the deck.
Amun sighed. "Well, it's late." He stuck five gold pieces into the center. "Why not?"
"I'm in," Teana said, pushing her wager to the table middle.
"Alright! Four bets. Looks like we've got an interesting hand for once." Bes discarded a card, then pulled out three and set them on the table.
Two gods and a Vizier. Bes gave a low whistle. "Well, that's a pretty trio. Seth?"
Seth looked at the three cards. "Wager ten," he said, pushing a stack of golden flecks to the pot.
Ptah snorted. "You got a god, don't you?" He threw his cards back to Bes. "I'm out."
Amun bit his lower lip, then picked up ten coins and bet them. "I'm up for a raise anyway, why not?"
"Match and wager ten," Teana immediately announced, every eye at the table on her as she pushed her twenty debens to the center, just above the table cards.
"Damn this girl," Seth grunted, tossing his cards up to Bes. "She's got gods. Or a god and a ten."
Amun looked at Teana, then down at his gold stack, then at his cards. He snarled, then roughly discarded the cards over to Bes, giving a frustrated grunt as he did so.
"Keep your cards," Amun insisted as Teana reached over towards the gold. She froze mid-grab, looking at Amun in fear.
Casually, Teana picked them up and flopped them into the center of the table face up, then scooped the gold towards her, revealing her ultimately useless hand.
Amun gaped at them for a second, then looked at Teana. "Y-you..."
"Oh, Ra, she had nothing!" Horus yelped, looking the five cards on the table over. "Nothing! Worse than nothing, these cards are as worthless as they come!"
"You bet on a priest and a nobleman? Twice?" Amun sputtered as Teana stood up.
"You know what, I changed my mind." Horus pointed at Amun. "His face when he saw those cards were worth it. You're great, Husn. That was fantastic."
"I've never seen you this mad," Ptah said, smiling. "That was a great play."
"Thanks," Teana replied quietly. "I have to go, it's getting late." She started to scoop her gold into her little sack.
"Yeah sure, kick me in the nuts and bolt," Amun said bitterly.
"Don't listen to him, he's a baby," Bes said, shuffling the deck. "Hey, don't listen to him, really. That was fun. You know what, if you ever find yourself in need of quick money, you're welcome back at this table. Just don't tell anyone."
"Yeah," Horus said reluctantly. "By then you'll run out of luck and I can get my gold back."
Teana gave a small smile after frantically getting all of the gold into her sack, then shoving it back into her front pouch. "I really do appreciate this opportunity." She bowed low. "I'm grateful for what you've done for me."
"Hey, you did it. Pat yourself on the back," Seth pointed at her. "Have a good evening Husn."
Teana turned and walked away. "I have to hurry home, or my father will beat me anyway."
In case you haven't figured it out yet, there's no father. My father died ten years ago. And if he was here, he certainly wouldn't beat me. But the story works more often than not.
There's no father. There's no mother, either, she's long gone too. I don't need gold to get out of a beating. This is my life. This is how I pay for life. And not just for myself. Some people fish. Some people make weapons. Some join the army. Some build. But me, I play cards.
.
Wincing, Teana skipped across the sands over the open plain, towards a long row of simple huts. She saw a boy, about her age, leaning against one of the huts and watching her run up. He had short black hair and a pair of white leggings on with some straw sandals.
This is section six, the only home I've ever known. It's a dump, but there are five sections that are even worse, so I'm not complaining. Besides, at least I'm in good company.
"Hey!" Teana cried out, running towards him.
"You worked solo today?" He said wryly as she came up next to him. "True dedication."
"Just because your partners abandon you doesn't mean you can take a day off," Teana replied, face contorting in a grimace of pain. "I'm never gonna get used to this."
"Here," he said, reaching underneath his robes and pulling out a smaller pair of straw sandals. "These are yours."
"Oh, thanks," she said as she grabbed them. "You break into my house now and steal my sandals?" She quickly slipped them onto her feet. "That's not creepy at all."
"No, it's considerate," he replied. "Aren't you feeling better now that I did?" He shook his head. "Just wear them next time, nobody is going to notice or care."
"Yes they will," Teana insisted, slowly walking past the hut the boy was leaning on and going behind it, the boy following right behind her. "Have you ever been to section one? They're all barefoot. Every single one. And that's my character. A section one peasant girl with an abusive father."
"Is it worth the pain?" he asked, raising his hands up behind his head.
Teana rolled her eyes. "You don't get it, Ramses. I don't have a choice, but you don't get that because you have testicles."
"Yes I do," Ramses replied, reaching down to cup his crotch area. "And they're splendid."
This dork is Ramses, my oldest friend. We sort of bonded over our mutual lack of parents and skill at cards. He's another career card player. Covers the cost of rent, food, taxes, and everything else with winnings. He's a bit of a wild card, but he's a good guy.
"So how'd you do?" Ramses asked, walking up next to her as she went around the back of the hut.
"Usual," she replied, grabbing her sack of gold and tossing it at Ramses. He caught it, then held it out in his palm, moving it up and down to feel the weight.
"Feels like...ninety?" He said slowly.
"Eight seven, you're getting good with that," she said, taking the bag back.
"That's kinda anti-climatic," he said indifferently.
"Well I really only won three significant hands," Teana said, shrugging, walking over to a hole in the ground with a wooden ladder leading downwards.
"Three? You played half the day and won three hands?" Ramses raised an eyebrow as he followed her. "Are you losing your edge?"
"No. It's strategy." She bent down, turned around, then put her feet through the hole and made her way downwards.
"Strategy? What are you talking about? In the old days you would have won fifteen hands and walked home with every deben those guys had." Ramses followed her down into the hole.
"This isn't the old days," Teana countered patiently, stepping off the ladder into a small underground chamber, containing only a single simple wooden door. "Things are different now. If I clean them out, they figure out that I'm an expert and I never play with them again."
"So what? There's games going on everywhere, and new ones start every day." Ramses stepped off next to her.
"Once again, you don't get it. And once again it's because you have testicles." Teana sighed, then pointed at her chest area. "I have these now. And they're massive!"
"Yeah, they...they are nice," Ramses admitted, nodding. "I mean, I didn't wanna say anything, but since you brought it up...they're spectacular."
"I can't disguise myself as a boy anymore." She smiled to herself, looking up at the ceiling of the underground chamber. "Those days are gone, and now games that will let me play are a precious commodity. I need to make the other players like me, and they won't if I clean them out."
Ramses looked her up and down. "Well, maybe with the right amount of padding-"
"I've tried, okay?" Teana said. "Nothing works. Nothing that would convince anyone." She turned towards the door and raised her fist in the air. She knocked it a few times, and a second later, it opened.
"Whoa," the boy at the door said, looking Teana over. "You're in the wrong part of town, section one is way over to the west."
"Meryhotep, I'm gonna send you to section one if you don't knock it off. It was funny the first ten times, now not so much." She stepped into the much larger room, looking at the two dozen or so similarly aged kids sitting around on stools and reading parchment scrolls.
"Teana!" One of them cried, standing up from his stool and beaming. "Just in time for dinner."
Everyone around the room looked up and waved at her, thrilled to have her back. She smiled back and made her way to one of the cushioned chairs in the middle of the well-lit room.
"Good day?" Another one piped up.
"Good enough," Teana said, sitting down heavily and leaning back in the slightly reclined seat.
"Here," another one said, pushing a wooden basin of water in front of the chair. "It's really cold, it's been kept underground for awhile now."
She slipped her feet out of the sandals and placed them into the basin. She moaned in pleasure. "Oh, that's so sweet of you, Aapep." She kissed the tip of her right hand's fingers, then pressed her fingers onto his forehead.
She then pulled out the sack of gold and looked around the room. "Alright, let's get this over with."
This is my family. These are the people I care about. The residents of section eight. All good kids, every last one of them. And every last one of them are from families who just barely make ends meet. Sometimes the ends don't meet. And that's where I come in.
"Alright, Alim, you need new clothes. And I don't wanna hear you telling me that you don't." She snapped her fingers and pointed at a young boy across the room. "Come over here."
Obediently, he walked forward through the crowd. "Seriously, get something a little big. You're growing so fast." She placed a small pile of coins into his outstretched hand. "And if you spend that on sweets, I'll know."
"Making rent last week kinda...stretched our food budget," one of the boys in the crowd said hesitantly.
"Nothing to be ashamed of, Sati," Teana insisted, motioning him to step forward. "Come here. There's a shop in the market that has deals on bulk. Go there, I'm serious." She poured some gold into his waiting hand.
"I could use like, twenty," another boy said, stepping forward slowly.
"Philitis, I could have sworn I just gave you twenty the other day. Did you lose it?" She asked, squinting at him.
"No, and that twenty was immensely helpful, but...I guess it's not a big deal, but...a twenty would help...get some people off my back." Philitis finished weakly.
"Like who, your father? Is he drinking again?" Teana pursed her lips.
"No, he's dry. It's nothing to do with him. I...I borrowed some gold and...well, I need to start un-borrowing it." Philitis shrugged.
Teana sighed. "Who?"
"Somebody," Philitis replied shyly.
"Philitis, I'll give it to you. I just want to know where it's going. I think that's fair." Teana crossed her arms over her ample chest.
Philitis looked down at the ground. "I...I borrowed from Akhekh-"
Immediately, Teana scowled, then reached forward and pulled Philitis closer. "What have I told you?" She said, very seriously. "What have I told you about Akhekh?"
"I know, okay?" Philitis looked away, but Teana grabbed his chin and pulled his head back to look at her. "I'm sorry, I know."
"No, you don't know," Teana said in a low hiss. "Don't you get it? Akhekh makes his living by doing things like this. He tricks you into a loan that you never pay back, and then you're his to do as he pleases. You think he'd be doing loans if everyone just paid him back immediately with no extras? You never borrow from him. Ever."
"I'm sorry, okay. It won't happen again, I just...needed a big sum quickly and...I didn't want to ask you because it was too much-"
"You always ask me," Teana interrupted, gripping the front of his robe tightly. "Always. Say it. You'll always ask me first."
"I'll always ask you first," Philitis said. Teana finally let his chin go, then looked around the room, still scowling.
"What'd you borrow?" She finally asked gruffly.
"A hundred," Philitis responded slowly. Teana grimaced, then looked away in disgust. "It's a hundred and twenty now, I swear the plan was for me to pay it off way before it got to this. But if I could just pay off twenty, he'd get off my back for awhile, and then I could-"
Teana pressed her left index finger up to his lips, shutting him up immediately.
"Come by my hut later today," she said in a whisper. "I want to talk to you in private."
He nodded, then quickly scampered off.
"Alright," Teana said loudly. "Where's...where's Merit? She hasn't stuck her hand in the well for awhile. She could use some meat, poor girl's getting so skinny." She looked around. "Well?"
There was a long silence. Finally, someone near the back of the room spoke up. "Her house was empty earlier today."
"Oh," Teana replied, leaning back in the chair. "Must have gone to visit her aunt."
"No." The voice said. "The house is...empty. No food, furniture, nothing."
"What?" Teana gasped, quickly pulling her feet out of the water and sticking them back into her sandals, rocketing up out of her chair.
.
Teana burst through the front door of the hut and looked around frantically. To her dismay, the tiny tapestry that had been there for years, to the right of the front door, was gone. She ran down the short hall into the main room.
"No, no!" she cried, looking around in disbelief. Nothing. No small basket of fruit by the stools along the far wall, and no stools for that matter, no barrel of drinking water...nothing.
The rules to living in one of the ten sections are pretty simple. Basically, it's a step up from slavery. You get some level of choice in how you live your life, and in exchange, you have to prove you can handle your business without someone looking over your shoulder.
Every moon cycle, you have to make a payment for use of the hut, and you have to pay your taxes. Of course, you need enough left over for food, clothes, and whatever else, but don't tell the collectors that. As long as you make the payments in full and on time, they leave you alone. But if you're so much as a day late on a payment, or your payment is just a couple debens short, you can kiss it goodbye.
Men get forced into labor in the fields under the watchful eye of a sadist armed with a whip who doesn't need an excuse to use it, and women usually end up prostitutes. You don't have a say in what you do or how you do it. And that's your life. You mess up once, and the powers that be tie strings to your hands and feet, and boom, you're a puppet.
I've only seen it happen a few times. It's always the same. One night, everything is fine, and the next morning, it's like the family was never there. House is empty, vacated for the next group. And you never see them again.
Teana ran into the side room, looking at the spots on the floor where the beds had been. They were gone. She sighed, then grabbed a hold of the door frame and bent over slightly.
"Son of a bitch," she said under her breath. "W-why would you do that? Merit, I talk to you every day, this is what I do...why...why would you...you idiot!" She punched the door frame, then stormed back towards the front door. "Stupid idiot!"
She turned around and took one last look at the inside of the hut, then walked out, slamming her fist against the wall as she did.
"Idiot!"
