Interlude
The tension in the playing room had risen. GrayWolf and Belnarath were technically both out of the game, their major playing tokens having been consumed, though they still moved minor characters. Hat'yet, in a surprising move after he'd lost one of his two main tokens, promoted a minor token into a major one with a successful dice roll.
"Hey!" GrayWolf interceded. "That was supposed to be for our side!" Minor tokens could be cross-sided, adding to the fun and complexity of the game, but major tokens stayed with one. Hat'yet turned his head with reptilian grace to look to Shoshuna for judgement.
Shoshuna smiled serenely. "Yes, GrayWolf… but as the token has turned into a major one, Hat'yet is free to choose one side for it – and he has chosen."
Hat'yet smirked, and made a gesture at a figurine of a human dressed in well-made, sky-blue leather armor and a cloak of forest-green. The eyes of the figurine were a strange shade of blue, nearly violet. Right now the figurine glowed briefly in an intense red light, then was shifted onto a new point on the board.
"It's your time to roll, Hat'yet… against N'avsh for the dominant save," Shoshuna said, and Hat'yet caught the dice as they materialized in front of him. With a fluid curl of his wrist, he sent the cubes dancing onto the board.
The others glanced at the score.
GrayWolf winked at N'avsh. "That wasn't a bad roll."
"Have faith, GrayWolf," N'avsh retorted, the dice in her hand, and with a flick, the white cubes rolled over the board and clattered to a halt. N'avsh shot GrayWolf a triumphant look.
"Good roll, sister," Hat'yet said grudgingly, as N'avsh moved a token of a carved disc of emerald underneath her playing token of a female human from whose shoulders sprouted the wings of a falcon. N'avsh smiled at him.
"Don't worry – I won't get your token killed," N'avsh said reassuringly. "I hope."
Morikan chuckled at her.
"Have a care, Morikan," N'avsh told him, "I was tempted to call a dominant save against your main token, but decided it wouldn't fit."
Morikan raised an eyebrow. "You would have failed it with my modifiers." He gestured smugly at his main token. Above the figurine of the smoking human in a trenchcoat hovered a bird-shaped flame.
"Thou art playing a strange gambit," Belnarath admonished him. "So many player-clairvoyant throws is not very sporting, is it? And the token… "
"The player – this token, at least, would find out eventually," Morikan winked. "The throws gain me some time."
"Dodging time," GrayWolf corrected.
"Whatever you would call it," Morikan said dryly. "I have all my major playing tokens intact, while you?"
"Ah… that was a low blow," GrayWolf conceded.
"Quite," Morikan agreed smugly.
"We continue with the game," Shoshuna interrupted. "The next throw is GrayWolf's."
