Mark of the Fool
Chapter 579: The Real Winnings

Selina watched the firestorm drake, Terris, lick his master’s hand as master and familiar received the silver metal.

There was flame on the drake’s tongue, but Jasmine didn’t wince or pull away from its touch. She just smiled at Terris, scratching his ear, as though his fire was as gentle on her skin as a warm breeze.

A flame that didn't hurt.

Selina’s eyes never left the flame, drawn to the creature’s burning scales; even from the distance between her seat and the arena floor, she could feel its warm touch.

‘I must be imagining things,’ she thought. ‘Like I was a few nights back.’

As he’d promised on her birthday, Alex had started teaching her magic, and even though the lessons were new, she was loving every bit of them. So much of what she’d learned at school was now being put into practise by learning the spell array for forceball.

Though Alex didn’t let her cast the spell on her own, she’d begun to feel changes inside. As she studied the basics of mana manipulation, she’d started to sense mana in the air…as well as other things she wasn’t used to sensing.

The other evening when she was in her room, she’d suddenly felt warmth when Theresa lit the fireplace downstairs, though at the time, she’d told herself she’d only imagined it. Now, she seemed to be feeling the drake’s warm flame, and as she watched the familiar lick and nuzzle his master, she understood what she was really seeing.

The flickering fire was retreating from the drake’s tongue as he licked Jasmine; it wasn’t only that his fire wasn’t hurting her, he was suppressing the heat as he licked her skin.

Selina still felt some discomfort with her relationship with fire, but not guilt; she’d been learning to accept her fascination with flame. Shiani had told her all the wonderful things fire could do. Alex and her teachers had hinted at ways cold could come from fire.

And she’d seen fire spells stop demons and other monsters, and without them, friends and family would have died.

Fire was a part of Claygon, and she loved him with all her heart.

But there was a conflicted part, deep inside of her that still felt it was wrong, and sometimes she wished she could ask her parents what they thought. Maybe if she prayed to the Traveller hard enough, then the patron saint of Alric would ask them for her.

At least, Shiani was near, and she could talk to her soon.

As she thought about flame—and other spectators stood to leave the arena—she had the sensation that someone was watching her. She looked around, but didn’t see anyone focused on her.

‘I was so busy looking at the firestorm drake, I was a million miles away,’ she thought, standing as her eye caught the VIP box near them.

And that’s when she realised who was watching her.

Queen Ishtar was standing with her family, looking at Selina with a gentle smile. Something about her drew Selina’s eye to her, like there was an invisible thread connecting them.

But what that thread was, she had no idea.

And the queen had offered no answers.

Only a mysterious smile.

The same smile she was wearing now.

###

“We are ri—” Kybas began to scream.

“Down, down!” Alex glanced around. “Keep it down!”

“Oh, right, right. We’re rich! We’re rich!” the little goblin hissed, jumping up and down.

The wind picked up, blowing through the copse of trees that he and Alex crouched in, surrounded by Thundar, Khalik and Theresa. Outside, Selina was playing with Brutus and Najyah.

…and also keeping watch in case anyone came too near.

“We must hurry,” Khalik whispered. “So that we can teleport back to the grounds. I am not sure how long I am comfortable leaving Sinope alone with my parents; they are still getting used to each other. And we also do not wish to raise suspicion by disappearing as a group for too long.”

“We’ll be quick, we’ll be quick,” Kybas promised. “I don’t want to be late for my competition…but we should still celebrate. We’ve all won thousands! Thousands!”

Alex could almost see the coin scrolling through his eyes.

“The odds were one-to-two in Khalik’s favour,” he said. “So we each get one coin for every two we staked.”

Theresa and Thundar looked at each other sharply. “That’s…five thousand gold for each of us,” she murmured. “Minus Kybas’ fee.”

“And then ten thousand for Khalik and me, minus Kybas’ fee.” Alex muttered. “Holy hells!”

“Indeed,” the prince chuckled. “Though it makes me regret not betting on myself last year. As an unknown, the odds would have been against me, and my victory might have seen double or triple the return. Perhaps even ten times or more.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Alex felt a pang of regret. “You know, that’s probably how Lucia multiplied her gold. We were all newcomers, and the odds against us were likely even higher. Remember, there were events we lost last year, so the odds might still be against us for those.”

“Which means more coin,” Thundar grinned.

“If we win,” Khalik said.

“We will,” Theresa insisted.

The entire time, Kybas had a mysterious smile on his face. “Hm hm, well I have my eye on a nice bit of war-gear for Harmless. Hehe, it’ll be in reach soon!”

“Hmmmm.” Alex tapped his chin in thought. “Kybas, have you ever thought about investing? In a successful, growing business venture, I mean. Trust me, you’re about to have a lot of gold and you’ll make your hoard grow with the right investments.”

“I see, I see!” the goblin nodded vigorously. “I like the sound of growing things but uh…I don’t know what that has to do with vests. I guess if it’s a very nice vest, I’d be curious to see it!”

“Not vests, investmen—” Alex paused. “Never mind, I’ll explain later.”

Thundar laughed. “Alright, enough about vests and making coin multiply…let’s just talk about making coin multiply! I’m gonna bet every last one of my fifteen thousand gold on Kybas for the middleweight bout, which I’ll be doing as soon as we get back to the arena. If you want, I’ll take any coin you want placed on yourself, Kybas.”

The goblin stared at the minotaur. “What? Why?”

“Because I believe in you.”

“Wait…you believe in me?”

“I just said that, didn’t I?”

“I will be betting on you as well.” Khalik patted the goblin on the shoulder. “Harmless is at the very limit for the middle weight competition, I believe?”

“Yep! Yep!” Kybas said proudly. “Right around a pound under. If he’d grown even a little bit more, he would have had to be a heavy-weight!”

“Good. That will be an advantage, then. And you quite nearly defeated me last year: I will admit this to you, I was relieved when I learned I would not be facing you this time.”

“Yes, because I would have won this time!” the goblin insisted. “And Harmless would agree…if he wasn’t sunning himself right now to get ready for the competition!”

“Hah! That is the spirit,” the prince said, the golden medallion gleaming on his neck. “In any case, you are experienced and Harmless is powerful. To me, that is where the smart coin lies.”

“Are you sure? Are you sure? The betting people don’t agree. The odds are against me.”

Now Khalik’s eyes lit up. “How much against you?”

“I didn’t place in the lightweight last year…so…five-to-one.”

“Five to one?” Theresa exclaimed. “If I…if I put fifteen thousand on you…oh…oh. Are we allowed to bet that much?”

“The maximum is twenty thousand.” Kybas shrugged. “You can bet that much.”

“By the ancestors…I’m definitely betting on you! Just so you know though, if you lose, then I’ll be poor.”

Alex shot the minotaur a look. “Thundar…you get paid a fortune, you’re not going to be poor.”

“Poorer.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m putting my coin on you too, Kybas. I believe in you.”

“You’re nearly as ferocious a hunter as Grimloch,” Theresa agreed. “So betting on you is where the smart coin is: Khalik and the others are right.”

Kybas beamed, then his look turned sly. “And that’s why you should have bet on Grimloch. The odds were three-to-one against him when he raced Hanuman in the footrace…but Grimloch beat him.”

“What?” Alex demanded. “He outran that slippery bastard?”

The goblin nodded excitedly. “He did! He’s been training a lot for the Games this year! Lots of fighting, lots of running and lots of that mystic meditating stuff that makes him crazy strong.”

“Huh…I knew he’d been training hard, but I thought he just wanted to beat Hart,” Theresa said. “Hanuman’s more experienced with life enforcement, but Grimloch has a much longer stride…so since our friend really focused on his training…”

“That’s why he took the win, and holy crap, three-to-one?” Alex looked at Kybas in shock. “So how much did you make?”

“A lot!” the goblin giggled. “But I’m not telling you how much. You should have believed in Grimloch and bet on him. That’s why I am the greatest of friends and you should learn from me!”

Alex made a face, one that was mirrored by Khalik.

Though strangely enough, Thundar and Theresa didn’t look upset about missing out.

If anything, they looked a bit smug—

“You two bet on him, didn’t you?” Alex asked suspiciously.

“I did.” Theresa smiled innocently. “I didn’t know about Thundar.”

“That’s because I didn’t talk about it.” The minotaur shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea to me, but Hanuman did beat him last year so I didn’t want to drag anyone down with me if it was a bad bet.”

“I…that’s logical, but I’m still mad.” Alex frowned.

“You should have bet yourself and put more faith in Grimloch! Learn from Kybas, the greatest of friends!” Kybas posed with his hands on his hips. “And greatest parent of crocodiles!”

“By the gods, I cannot let you meet my father.” Khalik winced. “He might adopt you and make you heir. In any case, let us get back to the tournament grounds.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Alex looked at Khalik sternly. “You can’t just cut us off like that. This is the first time we’ve seen you for more than five minutes since that day at the villa. How did things go with your parents and Sinope?”

“Yeah, yeah, tell us!” Thundar demanded.

Khalik went silent, looking up at the sky as the others stared at him expectantly. “It…I do not know.”

“What? What do you mean you don’t know?” Theresa asked.

Khalik sighed. “She met my parents and it was very polite; they were warm to her. But…when we told them of our engagement, they went silent for a moment. That moment spoke the same as a thousand chastising speeches…and yet said nothing at all. After that, they continued on as though nothing had happened.”

“You mean…what exactly do you mean by that?” Theresa said.

Khalik shrugged, the frustration clear in his expression and body language. “They simply said something along the lines of ‘I see, we are happy you feel so strongly and we will speak more on this later’. And then they moved on and said no more on the subject.”

“That…that sounds cruel,” Alex said.

“It is their way: not of cruelty, but caution,” the prince sighed. “They are not ones to make decisions as the kite would, flitting from one place to the other. They contemplate as an albatross on the wing would: slowly and with specific intention. I think they are taking time to assess and discuss.”

The memory of King Aksuma silently watching Sinope and the rest of his son’s friends returned. “Yeah, that seems to follow,” Alex said. “How does Sinope feel?”

“And that is the frustrating point!” Khalik raised his hands. “When my parents moved on, she moved on as well…she had assumed that it was their culture to simply accept the marriage without complaint and move on. Then I told her what was actually happening and she simply said ‘I see’, and acted as though nothing was happening! But I am not blind: something is happening, even if I can’t tell what it is yet.”

“And Sinope won’t talk with you?” Theresa asked.

“She said that ‘an oak’s patience is needed’ and told me she would speak to me during the Games,” Khalik said. “I thinkshe is assessing them as they are assessing her, but I don’t know what either she, or my parents are thinking.”

“Well…from their body language, your parents are very good at hiding their intentions: some of the best at it I’ve ever met,” Alex said. “Don’t blame yourself if you can’t figure them out.”

“I am not, but it is frustrating. I feel like I am waiting for an explosion,” the prince complained.

“It’s the actions of others,” Alex said. “Sometimes, we can’t do anything about that, whether that leads to good times…or bad.”