Lian's Peculiar Journey
Chapter 21
Gambler Maeve
Zhin silently stood next to the camel with the melon, whistling a small tune to himself as he looked at the crowds around him. It was obvious he was trying to ignore Yamina, who was discussing with one of her father's servants over some innocuous wooden chest.
"Hmm." He murmured and turned to see the woman walk towards him, only to turn back to the crowds.
"I think you can go with your friends." Yamina spoke as she stood to his right, "I can defend myself very well now."
"Hm?" Zhin turned to face her, but saw her face and darted his eyes to his upper left, "Oh really?"
"Uh huh. Take a look at this." The woman lowly spoke and turned to a point where the box in her hands was hidden from the crowds, then slowly opened it.
Zhin looked into the box and saw an old revolver with crystal bullets to its right by the wooden grip.
"Yamina? Is this?"
"I can take care of myself." Yamina said with intent, but was still rather innocent in her aura, "You can go with your friends, I know you miss them."
"No way! I mean! No!" Zhin shook his head and pointed at her.
"Why not?" Yamina tilted her head in confusion, "You showed much shock when you found out you were going to be away from them. Do you not wish to see them?"
"It's not that I-"
"HAHA!" a man suddenly bumped in to Yamina, snatching the box in her hand in one fell swoop.
Yamina fell to her ground on her bottom.
"AH!" she screamed.
"Yamina!" some of the servants ran to her side.
"Y-Yamina!" Zhin joined them, but all of them stopped when they saw the thief pull out the revolver from the gun.
The people around them started to scream and run away from the scene, and some vendors even hid behind their stands and stock.
"Alright, everyone, hand over the goods." The thief said and moved the gun, pointing at all of them in a fluid scanning motion, "All that's on that camel put it in this sack!" he threw a brown bag in front of them.
Zhin stood up straight and faced the thief.
"Try it." he crossed his arms and blocked the gun from Yamina.
"I said give me the stuff." The thief snarled and pointed the gun at him.
"No." Zhin defiantly responded, "Even if I did want to give it to you, it is not mine, it is Yamina's."
"I don't give a damn what who it belongs to because it's mine now!" the thief yelled and pulled the trigger and fired three rounds.
"Zhin!" Yamina jumped up and grabbed hold of the swordsman from the waist.
"Yamina!" Zhin yelped in shock but managed to call out Thousand Hands regardless and push her away with it.
However, with this interruption, one bullet still managed to escape the stand when it turned to cut the deadly projectiles to pieces.
"Hwak!" he groaned when the bullet penetrated his robes and stuck him in the lower abdomen, "I'll kill you for that!"
Thousand Hands charged and cut the thief's firing hand off, causing the weapon and the body part to tumble down into the sand and the man to scream in pain. The stand then stabbed the man in the heart and pulled away back into its user.
The thief fell to the ground dead, much to the shock of the few remaining people around, Yamina, and her father's servants.
"Ha… Ha…" Zhin panted as he felt the sting of the bullet buried deep inside him, then called out Thousand Hands again and stabbed himself in area where the wound was located.
"Zhin, are you ok-"
"Stand back!" he responded and pushed Yamina away as his stand pulled out the bullet with the tip of its sword, "Ha…" the swordsman breathed out as he made his stand throw the bullet away.
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Maeve grinned as she spun the gem that held Lex's soul on the table. Her delicate yet toiled fingers moved fluidly with each rotation, further increasing the item's speed.
"Hrrr…" Lian growled as she used all her control to hold back Power Khan from knocking the girl's teeth out, "What do you want to do, stupid girl?" she sat down and clenched her fists.
Maeve stopped spinning the gem and turned her attention to the new face.
"I said that you would need to wager something of equal or greater value for Lex's soul… or to put it simply for you idiot, a soul for a soul."
Lian snarled and crossed her arms.
"To think a stand having the ability to control souls…" Sarah murmured as she picked up Moji, "I thought that was only in the realm of the gods…"
"Well then, I must be a godly woman, then." Maeven giggled as she brought out her stand again, "Loki's Wager cannot be defeated by simple fists and kicks… It take a more perceptive mind to do so, it takes real skill!"
Lian looked at the stand with hatred, "If your stand is so invincible, why are you serving Seris then? You could have easily taken her soul with your cunning."
"Trying to charm me, are you?" Maeve chuckled, "I see you are trying to derail just in case we play another game."
"No, just stating the facts." Lian shrugged her shoulders and huffed, "If I had such an overwhelming stand I would not even fathom the thought of serving others."
"Very well, to carry on to our game I will admit that Seris has a great and powerful stand. Something even I couldn't imagine upon hearing and seeing for myself!" Maeve exclaimed with a hint of childlike wonder, "Seris and her stand are such a marvel that even the power to remove souls pales to her."
"So you know the secret to Seris' Stand?" Sarah asked.
Maeve turned her attention to the woman, "Why yes I do, I have seen it with these eyes…" she showed off her nearly incandescent blue eyes.
"Though, for me to tell you, you would have to win a bet, as that secret is worth more than my life itself."
Lian turned to Sarah.
"Very well, Me-Vee." She mispronounced her name, "I'll bet my soul or whatever you want in exchange for Lex's soul and the secret to that Seris' stand."
"No way, kitten." Maeve shook her head, "Uneven. Bet something more."
"Like what?" Lian scoffed.
"How about the new face in your gang? Madame Seris has told me that she has felt the disturbance of a person in your cohort." Maeve put her chin on her hand, "That will be a purrfect trade."
Lian nodded.
"Very well. Now to the game." She pointed at her, "One that is very popular in Aico. Do you have a deck of cards?"
Maeve opened her trenchcoat and pulled out a deck of cards from the left flap. "Any game you want to play, kitten, I have it."
"Then let's play Aico's Court." Lian responded as Maeve nodded in agreement and started to shuffle the deck, "Best out of 3."
"Whatever you ask me to play, I can play it." Maeve answered as she set the deck down on the table.
"Just to make sure you aren't cheating me." Lian called out Power Khan and made it grab the deck. The stand quickly set all 52 cards face up on the table. Lian used Power Khan's sight to quickly scan all the cards.
"It seems the Emperor, the Empress, the Prophet, the Knight, and the Princess are all there, so is the fool. No games from anyone."
The cards had those given characters with a variety of symbols such as leafs, a stone, a flame, a drop of water, a star, and a dark mass."
Power Khan grabbed the deck again and reshuffled it, then showed its hands to Maeve when it was done.
"Just so you don't accuse me of cheating." Lian added and recalled Power Khan.
"Very well." Maeve nodded and reached for some cards.
Power Khan's head reappeared atop Lian's own, watching the girl's hand movements carefully.
"There we go, five cards." Maeve showed the back of her selection and set her five cards face down on table.
"How does this game work?" Moji finally piped up, looking at Sarah and then at Lian before averting her gaze from Maeve.
"You're supposed to get the most of the Court Cards." Lian responded as she got her 5 cards from the deck and set them down on the table, "The court cards are The Emperor, The Empress, The Prophet, The Knight, and The Princess. If you have the most of each by singles or by multiples according to their heirachy you win. An example is if you have three princesses and your opponent has three knights, or prophets, or Empresses, or Emperors, you lose. However, if they are tied, let's say if both have three knights, then the winner is decided by the second highest card. The fool can be any of the court cards if you need to make a streak. I used to play this game all the time with my nursemaid when I my parents were away."
"Enough stories." Maeve grumbled and set out two cards to her left, "I give up these two cards to draw two more." She said and grabbed two more from the deck, "Do you wish to do the same?"
Lian looked at her cards again and nodded.
"I'll remove one." She said and pulled out a Princess of Flames card and set it face down, then grabbed a card from the deck.
"Very well, let's see what we have." Maeve grinned and set down her hand.
It had two princesses, two kings, and a Knight.
Lian set her hand down at the same time and it was revealed that she had two kings, a queen, a princess, and Prophet.
"Looks like you lose." Maeve laughed and set the used cards aside, "Guess I have one for me."
Lian crossed her arms and shook her head, "Just a small misstep." She said and reached for her cards, then waited for Maeve to get her own.
"Are you confident about this, Lian?" Sarah asked Lian as she nervously looked Maeve, who was looking at her hand and smiling.
"Try looking into her soul." Lian responded as she took off two cards from her hand.
"The Pyre doesn't work that way, Lian." Sarah whispered, "I can only see the intentions or the emotions of a person, not what they're actually thinking.
"Excuse me." Maeve interrupted as she set aside three cards, "Are you lost already?" she smirked and grabbed three cards from the deck.
Lian grunted.
"Some help you are…" she set the two rejected cards away and grabbed two more, "Very well, Maeve, let's draw!"
The two revealed their hand.
Maeve had gotten a junk of all the court cards (minus the Fool) while Lian scraped by with Two Knights.
"Viola." Lian smiled and set aside the used cards. "It seems the game is matched." She looked at Lex's lifeless body that was laying to her left-hand side.
"This is for you, Lex." She said and grabbed a new hand.
Maeve did the same.
However, her stand appeared and started to talk to her.
Lian, Sarah, and Moji looked at her in curiosity.
Maeve snickered as her stand made it's way above the table. "It seems my stand has noticed and uncertainty in your previous victory." She informed.
"Hmm?" Lian looked at her incredulously.
"In the spirit of a fare wager, no cheating will be allowed." Maeve stood up from her seat and pointed at Sarah, "That being, you cannot ask your friend there for help in this game! My Stand will make the appropriate actions be taken!"
Loki's Sleight pointed at its owner and raised the two fingers on its right hand.
"It seems I am winning now." Maeve crossed her arms as her stand retracted back into her, "2 to 0…"
"WHAT!?" Sarah yelled, "How- You can't be serious!?"
"As serious as a heart attack, kitten." Maeve chuckled, "In the eyes of my stand, I am the victor of the last round because Lian asked for outside influence in order to win!"
Lian snarled and raised her hand at Sarah, who was about to mouth off the girl.
"Very well, it seems I underestimated your stand's abilities. I will not make the same mistake, nor will I lose!" she said and looked at her cards.
Maeve released four of her cards and grabbed four in turn.
Lian kept her hand just as it was.
"Hmm? Are you not going to change cards?" Maeve asked as Lian kept her cards firm in her hand.
Lian kept her gaze fixated on her.
"Really? Well it's your loss." Maeve smiled and set down her hand.
Three Knights and Two Queens.
"What of your hand-"
Lian sprung up from her seat and called out Power Khan.
"YOU DISHONEST WENCH!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
Maeve stood back up and faced Power Khan defiantly as she took out Loki's Sleight.
"I'll destroy your stand!" Lian gnashed her teeth and directed her stand to attack.
"RAH!" Power Khan raised its fist and punched Loki's Wager, but the most surprising thing happened.
The fist went through the enemy stand like a stone through water.
Maeve chuckled and made her stand phase through Power Khan.
"You fool! Once defeat has been ensured there is nothing that can stop the wager from being collected!"
Loki's Sleight giggled as it hovered over Lian and swiped its right hand across her forehead.
"First order of business." Maeve saw as he stand raised what appeared to be a white orb on its hand, "The information on the new member of your clique." She laughed as the orb expanded until it showed a view from Lian's point of view of when they encountered Yamina in the market.
Maeve looked at Yamina as she interacted with members of the Paladins, especially Zhin. She saw her movements and her mannerism.
Most importantly, however, she was looking for the existence of a stand.
Sarah and Moji stood there silently as the seemingly unconscious Lian slumped over on the table and Power Khan disappeared.
"Lian!" Moji squeaked as she jumped from Sarah's arms unto the table, where she then shook her the woman's head.
"Lian, are you ok! Please, say something." She murmured.
Lian still had some color in her, unlike Lex, showing that she was very much alive.
"Oh…" Moji murmured, then felt a strange sensation under her feet.
It was Lian's cards.
Three Princesses and Two Kings.
"She lost against the knights." Sarah murmured as she grabbed hold of the cards and solemnly placed them on her chest.
"Lian…" she started to cry.
Maeve sighed and shook her head when the memory faded from her stand's hand.
"It seems this newcomer will not be a threat to me or Seris." She chuckled, "Now, for the other end of the bargain!"
Loki's Sleight went through Lian and came out from behind holding her Soul and laughing manically.
Maeve smirked and pulled out another gem, which her stand instinctively cast the soul into.
There stood Sarah, looking at the motionless and lifeless body of Lian slumped over the table. A burning fire raged within her bosom as she tried to hold back mixed emotions of rage, hatred, despair, loss, and sadness.
She felt the Pyre energy within her surge erratically through her blood and caused her to space out from this current situation.
Her mind moved to that dreaded scene.
It was her sister, cloaked in shadows, standing at the top of a stone staircase inside an abandoned fortress shrouded in darkness. The woman was covered by a cowl but had her chest and abdomen scantily exposed, having only a brown corset-like clothing over it. Her left leg was exposed all the way to the waist, but the rest was covered by a long dark gown. She had her back to Sarah, covering the little face that was exposed by the faint candlelight of the nearby walls with her pale white hand.
"Welcome Back, Sister…." Seris' lowly voice spoke, echoing through the lifeless halls of the fortress.
"Y-You killed him!" Sarah yelled, "How could you do this! You know how much he meant to me!"
Seris visibly recoiled at that sentence but kept her back to her sister.
"I know." She spoke without a hint of remorse or emotion as purple mist trickled down the stairs.
Sarah clenched her fists, then noticed that her hands were glowing.
"Is this…"
"This is not a memory." Seris interrupted her, "I was surprised too by your sudden appearance. I did not believe the retched Pyre hand the ability of prescience."
A dark figure stood by her side. A male of unknown appearance but was of strong stature, standing a head over Seris.
"Should I destroy her?" the man asked as another shadowy apparition formed behind him.
"Useless." Seris responded, her back still towards Sarah but now facing the man, "That is merely a projection made by that silly Pyre of hers. But I know it is a rare intrusion, one that was only possible due to proximity and relationship. Only the Abyss has the power of allsight beyond the realm of even this world."
"Yet here you are, hiding from the thing even the weakest of creatures enjoy!" Sarah pointed to a heavily covered up window, "In your search for strength, you became weak. For all that talk of the Abyss's power, I never once seen you face us."
Seris chuckled and sighed.
"We will soon see who is weak, sister…" she spoke as the vision started to fade away, "We will soon see."
Sarah returned to normal and saw Maeve staring at her with a bored look on her face.
"Hello, are you lost?" the girl said as she set down Lian's soul's gem on the table.
Sarah looked at her with deep scorn.
"Let us play a game." She said and took out a bar of chocolate to eat, "I'm sorry, these shenanigans make me a bit hungry."
Maeve smirked.
"At least save some for me. What are we playing?" she asked.
Sarah did not speak but instead filled a glass halfway with water and set it on the middle of the table.
"Let's play Spill-Out." She finally spoke and crossed her hands.
"What's that?" Maeve pondered.
"Oh, you're too young to know that." Sarah scoffed, "It's an old game."
"You don't look too old yourself." Maeve sighed, "But pray tell, what is this game about?"
"Do you have coins or poker chips? Something of equal weight?" Sarah asked.
Maeve pulled out a set of poker chips from her trench coat and had her stand hold them in its hand.
"My stand automatically follows the rules of the game. Rest assured that these all weigh the same. On my word."
Sarah used her Pyre energy to look into Maeve's soul and saw she was telling the truth.
"Very well, I would normally distrust the words of a thief, but I will make an exception for you. Seeing that that stand of yours is fair and will follow the rules, the rules of this game are simple, we both put in one of these chips turn after turn until the cup runneth over as they say." She explained the game, "Whoever makes the water spill out loses the game. Are you ready?"
Maeve shook her head and called out her stand.
Loki's Wager hovered over the glass of water and observed it, then swiped at it and removed a tiny orb of water, no wider than a fingertip, and cast it to the wall.
"Now it's truly half the glass." The girl said and looked at the poker chips, "Who goes first? Wait! The wager! What are you going to bet and for what? If it is your soul, Seris will be more than pleased."
Sarah shook her head.
"Very well. I bet my soul in for Lex's and Lian's since mine is so precious." She spoke, causing Maeve's ears to perk up, "I will take no less for it."
Maeve snarled, but remembered her mission.
"Okay! Then Open the Game!" she said and grabbed a poker chip.
Sarah grabbed her poker chip.
"I will go first." She said and dropped the poker chip into the water, causing it to rise up.
Maeve giggled and dropped in her own, causing the water to rise up even more.
Sarah continued her action, as did Maeve.
Moji gulped as the water kept rising and rising.
"Are you sure about this, Ms. Sarah?" she asked her and tugged on her sleeve.
"I played this game with… her…. All the time…" Sarah said as Maeve dropped in another chip, "You know all about her, don't you, Maeve?" she asked the girl.
"Yes, I do know some about her."
"You should know you are being used." Sarah commented as she dropped a chip, "Once she finds out you are no longer useful, she will get rid of you. She doesn't care about anyone but herself."
"Sound like a personal problem, kitten." Maeve chuckled and saw that Furious Flame was out and standing behind Sarah, "And your stand? Why is it out?"
"I want to ask you this, Maeve." Sarah leaned in and bit on her chocolate bar before putting it in her satchel, "Do you know the secret to Seris' stand?"
Maeve shook her head.
"I don't. It was never revealed to me, at least I think it wasn't." she chuckled and dropped in a chip."
Sarah used Furious Flame to look into her soul.
"Why do you lie to me, Maeve?" she asked.
Maeve felt a heat coming from Sarah, and thinking it was her burning nature, shrugged it off.
"Why do you say that?"
"The Pyre has the ability to scour the souls of men." Sarah dropped a chip, "I know your intentions, Maeve. You soul shows lies. Plus, you told Lian prior that you knew the stand's power."
"A simple fib to get her to play." Maeve chuckled, but the Pyre revealed a sickly green color to her soul, signifying dishonesty.
"Then that means you were cheating prior?" Sarah's voice rose.
Maeve looked up.
She started to sweat, her body started to get hot with shock.
She knew she had been found out, as if she had lied her stand would have caught the dishonest wager and punished her… but it didn't.
"Very well, I do know the secret to Seris' stand." She confessed, "But what is it to you? Do you really think that even with that knowledge you can defeat her?"
Sarah shook her head.
"Absolutely, and it's only fair that we know her powers since she knows ours." She shook her head and set down another chip.
The cup was now three fourths full.
"For that knowledge I'd like to place a wager." Sarah continued and turned her attention to Maeve, who was visibly upset.
"You already know that knowledge is worth more than my life." Maeve responded.
"In the eyes of Seris, anything is worth more than your life." Sarah commented, "But I will wager this for the secret to Seris' stand. I wager Moji's soul!" she pointed at the Leipori by her side.
"Ms. Sarah!" Moji screamed in horror, "No! You can't be doing that!"
"Yes! I am!" Sarah exclaimed and pointed at Maeve before dropping another chip, "And not only that, I bet Zhin's soul as well!"
Maeve gasped in shock at Sarah's boldness, but then looked at the glass.
It appeared that, by her calculations, the water would never spill on her turn. She was so confident in her abilities that the thought of defeat removed itself from her mind.
She had already defeated a lawman and a princess, why couldn't she defeat this simple woman?
"Very well, kitten. I will defeat your little brigade in one fell swoop! Even if I don't get the soul from that desert woman, she doesn't even have a stand!" she giggled.
Sarah smiled as Moji shook in fright.
"Ms. Sarah!" the leipori cried out, "No!"
"Trust me, Moji, I have this!" Sarah dropped in another chip.
The glass was precariously close to being full.
And it was Maeve's chip that further sealed the deal.
"Honhonhonhonhon!" Maeve laughed as the water was near set on spilling over.
Sarah ignored this and set her chip down.
Nearer the water came to the top.
Moji was nearly fainting.
Maeve dropped her chip.
Sara followed.
Water was on the brim.
Maeve dropped another.
"Ms. Sarah! The water!" Moji jumped in Sarah's arms, "It's almost out!"
"Hmmm…" Sarah used Furious Flame to look into Maeve's soul again and saw that it was glowing and radiant.
"Feeling confident?"
"Yes, because you will lose! Honhonhonhon!" Maeve giggled in joy.
Sarah smirked and put her chip over the water.
Moji panted.
"Ms. Sarah…" she looked at the bodies of Lex and Lian, ad then thought of Zhin.
"Trust me, Moji." Sarah nodded and dropped it.
The water did not spill out.
Maeve gasped.
"What?" she yelled.
"Your turn." Sarah chuckled and looked at her before looking into her soul.
It was now a raging mix of all flaming colors.
"Scared?"
"N-N-No!" Maeve stammered as she grabbed her chip and made it hover over the glass, "I-I-I…." she muttered.
She dropped it in.
Water flowed out.
Moji gasped.
Sarah smiled.
Maeve shrieked in horror as her stand came out of her and grabbed the two gems on the table.
"WAGER OKAY!" Loki's Sleight spoke and threw the two gems at their respective persons, causing the souls therein to come out and flow into their bodies.
"No! No! No!" Maeve cried out to her stand as it turned to her, "I cannot give her the secret to Seris!" she freaked out and looked around, then spotted two kitchen knives at the bar.
"Huh?" Sarah turned to see where she was facing.
"Moji! Stop her!"
Moji was too late, as Maeve had used her wily speed to jump over her own stand and the two and land on the bar in a pounce, then grabbed the knife and stabbed herself in the chest.
The bartender ran out in horror.
Sarah gasped.
Loki's Wager disappeared into nothing.
"Oh my Pyre!" Sarah ran to Maeve's side and looked at her soul.
Gone.
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"What happened?" Lian and Lex groaned as the four walked out of the bar.
Sarah and Moji did not respond.