The day had been uneventful after his visit to see Knight. A few more circuits of the walls before the Three of Staves was sent up by the King to relieve them – not that anyone took their place. An attack seemed unlikely here, the patrols were probably just routine by now.
As he and Four had been the only ones besides Three to remain at their castle for the day, they were the first ones back into the mess hall for the evening meal once the crossbows and quivers had been returned. It gave them first choice of the food prepared by their two Sword cards for the day, who he noted were also quietly having their own meal behind the counters. Even they had to eat sometime.
With just the three of them there it was quiet until Eight, Nine and Ten all returned, the three cards that had been sent to assist the Pentacles today. Nine had his arm in a sling as he came in, while Eight sported as number of bruises down one arm. Ten seemed to be the only one unharmed.
"What happened to you two?" Four asked as they headed for the food. Nine glared at him for a moment, then awkwardly picked out his dinner with his free hand, muttering to himself.
"Let me," Ten told Nine. "You go sit down, I'll sort this for you."
"Thanks," Nine murmured, taking his seat. He took in the curious looks from Three, Four and Riku, then sighed. "A tree fell on me," he answered flatly. "Her too," he added indicating Eight. "Except she just got battered by the branches, I caught the trunk full on. Good thing that Cup card was around."
"Didn't someone warn you?" Riku asked.
"You'd think they would have, but apparently the idiot card they had on duty 'forgot' we were there. Thanks again," he added as Ten set down his meal, returning to the counter for his own.
"You can't give him all the blame," Ten chided. "Their Page hadn't let all their cards know we were there at the time."
"Well how else did he think the tree came down then, huh?" Nine demanded. "Magic axes or something?"
"Oh, give it up," Eight sighed, taking her seat. "It was an accident, these things happen. Count yourself lucky it wasn't any worse. You've seen some of the injuries some Pentacles pick up when they're on lumber duty."
This did not seem to mollify Nine much, and the arrival of the remaining cards along with the inevitable repeat explanation he'd had to give did nothing to improve that.
Four prudently changed the subject before things got any worse, turning to Six and asking, "How were things at the Castle of Swords then?"
"Quiet, for a change," Six replied. "Most of us worked in the apple orchards. Five's the lucky one," she added, nodding to five who hiccuped with a vague smile at the mention of her name. "She got in to help out in the cider presses."
"Best not to let Page find out you've had too much to drink," Ten observed.
"Too late," Five replied happily, her words slightly slurred already. "Found out soon as we got back. Disqualified from the game for being drunk."
"She'll regret that once she's past her hangover in the morning," Two chuckled to himself.
"That reminds me," Four said. "What did Knight say about your theory, Ace?"
"He wants proof before he'll think about ignoring the rule," Riku replied after swallowing. "He considered talking to the other Knights, but figured even if I'm wrong they'd never admit it, even to him."
"But you're not in trouble for coming up with the idea, right?"
Riku shook his head, "Said it could be the reason, but without proof it's a no-show."
"What theory is this?" Eight asked curiously.
"Also, trouble for us?" Seven next to her wondered. More words than Riku had noticed him use at once so far.
"I shouldn't think so," Ten put in. "Not if Ace hasn't got into trouble for it. Yet," he added.
"Pessimist," Riku accused, then said, "It goes like this – aside from the most recent game, we've been losing out for ages, right?" A series of nods and murmurs of agreement. "And we hold with the traditional rule that we don't learn about the game except on the day of the game."
"That's what Knight always tells us," Two agreed. "Not that there's ever anyone there to teach you. Can't trust The Fool, and our Knight is always too busy with his gossip because it's the only day everyone gathers in one place."
"Well, think of this – what if the other suits are ignoring that rule? If they know how to play the game in advance, but we don't..." he left it hanging, watching the other cards. Most seemed to be thinking it through, others feigned a lack of interest, perhaps just in case later that had to plead innocence or get into trouble. Riku hoped he wouldn't get anyone in trouble with this, least of all himself.
"You say all you need is proof, right?" Nine asked eventually. Riku nodded. "I think I've got the solution."
"Careful Nine," Ten warned. "If Knight hears about this..."
"I know," he waved it aside. "But be honest, you'd love to get back out too, wouldn't you? What if Ace is right, and the reason we're always losing out is because none of us properly understand the game? I mean, we're only ever allowed to go to The Fool or Knight to learn..."
"He's got a point," Three agreed. "Even if one of us does get disqualified for it, it'll be worth it, don't you think? And if we can use it to prove to Knight that Ace's theory has that bit of truth to it, it'll put us back on level footing with the other suits."
"Alright," Ten relented. "But we go about this carefully, and not at all if Judgement shows up. Least amount of trouble as possible. What's your solution?"
"It's like this," Nine explained. "All we have to do is get the other cards to let slip while we're working with them. Slip in a comment like, I dunno... who d'ya think will get the most cards out next game, something like that, see if we can make them accidentally reveal that they know in advance."
"And even if we can't, if we all share what we know about the game between us, we can at least improve our chances," Riku added.
"Only if we can't find out any other way," Ten told him. "We're not even meant to discuss the game at all outside of The Tower, that alone is grounds for disqualification. To be entirely honest Ace, I'm amazed that didn't happen to you just from going to see Knight."
"So am I actually," Riku admitted. "But I figure that even if I do, what does it matter? I'll still be able to root about and find out what we need to know, surely?"
"I wouldn't," Two said. "Heard a rumour once. Someone was disqualified from that week's game, then did something else that got him into trouble. Ended up with an extra two weeks knocked outta the game for it. Unless ya wanna be stuck here for that long..."
Not if he could help it. But maybe losing out one week would be worth it to help the cards he was a part of now. Just getting out himself didn't seem to be enough without leaving something to benefit them.
Riku lay awake that night, trying to figure out what the weekly game would be like when seen from within. All he'd seen before the cards had claimed him was a bunch of cards mingling around The Fool, until one group had won. Had they won because they'd made a total of 21 between them or was that just coincidental?
It couldn't be that simple. If it was, it'd be easy – they just had to find the cards they needed to get the right rank, and the ranks were clearly obvious. Every card wore something that bore the design of their real card, identifying their suit and rank, and even then the staff, or the equivalent for the other suits, were marked to show ranks too.
What then was the aim of that game? What were its rules, and how was it played?
That gave him pause for a chilling thought – what if someone outside the game picked up their cards and started trying to play a different card game with them? What would happen to them inside the game if that happened?
More pressing was the question of who might do that, and whether they'd notice that the person on the Ace of Staves card was him. If Merlin noticed, would he be able to extract him, or would he still have to go through the weekly game?
Surely Merlin would know something, these being a magical deck of cards. If nothing else, he should know their origin, and who to turn to if he needed to know more?
He finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep, with one final, disturbing question: What if he never got out of here?
Riku was woken to the sound of the morning bell sounding its deep, echoing notes, seemingly only minutes after he'd gotten to sleep in the first place. Though this was only his second morning, he felt more at home here than he had the previous morning, as if he had been here longer.
The morning routine was done almost on auto-pilot this time, needing only the bare minimum attention while he saw to everything. There was less conversation this time, kept mostly to a few yawned morning greetings, or in the case of the slower to rise a vague zombie-like 'Uhh?'
A brief pause at the wardrobe to see to today's change, pants in a colour matching his hair this time, and he was among the first to head over for breakfast, not long followed by Four.
"Hungry much?" he yawned, falling into step beside Riku.
"Most important meal of the day," Riku replied quietly. "Can't miss it."
"Figures," he chuckled. "I must be the only one who doesn't mind missing it."
"Why, what do you find to do that's more interesting?"
Four gave him a speculative glance, then shook his head. "Nothing much of late. Not since your predecessor was around, anyway. The one before her though... well, he and I found... other entertainments, you might say. Not that anyone besides you or I know anything of that, so keep it to yourself."
This being early, Riku wasn't awake enough yet to pick up the implications of Four's answer so much as he noticed the more distracting smells of breakfast. Freshly baked bread, if he wasn't mistaken.
The Sword behind the counters handling breakfast was different this time, a chance glance telling him this was the Two of Swords rather than the Four that had been there yesterday. Today's breakfast selection seemed to have changed with the card, becoming somewhat more simple. Fresh bread, just as his nose had told him, ready sliced and with with a variety of spreads to be applied, porridge and a selection of flapjacks. Some toasters were nearby to accommodate those who wanted toast as opposed to sandwiches.
"Think maybe this is because the Swords here yesterday overheard what we said?" Riku murmured to Four so the Sword card wouldn't overhear.
"Possible," he replied in kind. "I've heard rumours the other suits sometimes show their feelings about others by what cards they get sent. We don't practice the same ourselves, of course," he hastily added. "Except where deserved though."
"Three isn't going to like the selection, you know."
"He needs to lose weight anyway," Four shrugged with a faint grin. "But this will be nothing compared to an exercise day if Page puts us on one again. Three really hates those."
"I wonder why?" Riku murmured with false innocence, causing Four to laugh to himself as Three came in.
He took in the scene, the choice of breakfast, Riku's innocent look and Four's barely suppressed mirth, then waddled around the table scowling. Four tried to conceal the broad grin he was sporting, without much success.
"You're not making fun of me over there are you?" Three demanded.
"Us?" Four said, trying not to laugh again. "Would we do a thing like that?"
"Be nice," Riku said, nudging him with one elbow. "We'd never do anything of the sort."
Three went back to scowling.