The Uncrucified [ALPHA] - Ch.6 - Hidden Empress

RATING: PG
- Gambling

Varia, out of breath and red faced, fell into a seat next to her where the Serene Viper had just been sitting.  Kalara set aside the pitcher she had been clutching for protection and dared to lay her hand on his arm.  “Varia…I saw him…The Viper.”  She whispered, fear making her voice shake slightly.

At that, Varia let out a long sigh, pushing his thumbs to his temples to sober himself. “Yes I know.  It’s the deadline, the final one I will likely get for repayment.  I haven’t seen him, but I knew he’d be here…”  His gaze wandered to a far-off place as he sat quiet for a long moment, contemplating the outcome of the night.  If he won, his troubles would be over, if he lost, he most likely would never be seen again after this night.


“Don’t trouble yourself.” He finally said at length, placing a hand over hers.  “We’re here to win, aren’t we?”  He smiled that infectious grin of his, but Kalara could barely smile back this time.

“I trust you.”  Varia patted her hand, cooing in a way that he always did with Sana. “Now, come on. Let’s go win!”  At that, he pulled her up to her feet and turned back towards the festivities, the mask of a confident player fully in place once more.  The games had finally begun in the upper balcony.

Once they joined the assembled players, Terash made a grand production of the opening assembly for the tourney.  He stood at the center of tables, his wives ranked by seniority and draped in silks standing in formation behind him, with his senior wife at his side.  The game hall in the upper balcony had been decked in the colors of jade and gold.

“Thank you for gathering at my humble home, dear friends!”  As he spoke, his five wives raised their arms in unison in a gesture of welcome.  The anxious crowd murmured amongst themselves.  He was about to announce the featured game for the tourney.  Unlike most tournaments, Terash liked to keep things interesting by announcing the game to be played at the start of the event, which was chosen out of a pre-selected few games, rather than letting players prepare ahead of time, which meant only serious gamers were allowed in.

“The featured game for the tournament for tonight is…”  He held his breath for a moment longer, drawing out the suspense and no doubt getting a kick out of the crowd’s collective anxiety.  “…the Hidden Empress!”  At the reveal, half of the crowd groaned while the other half clapped.  Kalara looked to Varia to see which reaction he’d have.

Underneath his pleasant smile, he was sweating and Kalara knew why.  The larger portion of this game was to be lucky enough to draw the Empress card and bluffing your way to a win as you traded pairs and discarded cards each round.  It wasn’t a game played often in the Realm, due to its poor taste in theme, a homage, of sorts, to the Blessed Isle’s Scarlet Empress who was oftentimes depicted in very risqué fashion depending on the playing card set.  Leave it to Terash to choose something so controversial.  A low brow game at a high stakes tournament!

With a clap of Terash and his wives hands all at once, the games began!  A dealer led Varia to his first table, Kalara trailing behind him with her pitcher.  She set to work immediately observing his opponents and their tells. She was allowed to stand as close to Varia as she liked, but she had to be careful about moving around the players too far, lest she become suspicious.  She did this sometimes by cleverly needing to pick up a napkin meant for Varia that she’d purposefully dropped on the floor, allowing her to get a different angle.  The extra view of breasts this proffered the dealer during Varia’s turn also meant he might be mistakenly dealt too many cards so that Varia had just enough time to make the number of cards in his hand less apparent or quickly discard his pairs before anyone else noticed.

With Kalara’s hidden signals about the location of the Empress card at the table, Varia would won at the first table, then the next!  She had to suppress her excitement at each turn.  The fear of the Viper began to subside.  She was good at this and so was Varia.  The night wore on with more wins than losses, Varia betting cautiously so as not to gain too much attention.  By the time the night had worn on, several players had dropped out in frustration, the tables attended only by the cleverest players.

These staunch players regrouped at a single table, Varia among them as confident and suave as ever with the sure look of a hawk circling its prey.  Kalara hung back, puffing with just a bit of pride in her role in all of this.

So caught up in the moment was she that she didn’t see the other servant rushing by!  The fool knocked the pitcher out of her hands, splashing up liquid and glass shards in a tumult of wine and debris.  The act of instinctively raising her hand to block the debris meant two small shards lodged in her palm.  Shaken, she stared at them before one of Terash’s attentive wives swooped in and led her off by her other hand.

“Come, come, we’ll see to this immediately, my dear!”  The sweet, insistent woman would accept none of Kalara’s protestations that she was fine and didn’t want to leave.  She stared back at Varia, who did all he could to laugh off the small commotion with his servant and stare forwards without seeming too concerned at her absence.

Every moment she was away from Varia made Kalara’s heart beat faster and faster until she was on the verge of a panic attack.  If he lost, what would become of her then?  What would happen to him, the one kind master she had ever had?  The look in the Serene Viper’s one horrid blue eye when he smiled at her was still fresh in her mind.

The kind wife took her near-panic as Kalara being unsettled about the glass shards in her hand and did her best to comfort and shush her while she removed the thin shards.  Kalara twitched as she sanitized the wound, hurrying her along with insistent nodding. “Yes, yes, I’m fine to return, lady!”  Kalara nearly imploded when she was first led to get a new pitcher of wine before she was finally allowed to return to the table.
When she arrived and took her place at Varia’s side, she was out of breath and red in the face.  She didn’t know what to expect as she surveyed the players and caught up on Varia’s hand.

Thankfully, amazingly, Varia’s luck had held out!  In his hand was the Empress card in all her bawdy glory.  He had somehow did it on his own!

Kalara nearly cried with joy, but suppressed the tears.  The last round played out with the biggest pot she had seen all night, Varia having bet all of his winnings on one last chance effort.  When it came for the player on the left to pick a card from his hand, Varia was as cool as stone.  He gave nothing away as to which card was the Empress, not even when his opponent’s finger briefly braised the top of the winning card. Kalara thought she might die, but she somehow made it through, the cold glass of the pitcher keeping her sane and grounded.
Instead, the player chose the card just to the right of the Empress.  Varia smiled and laid down his hand for all to see.  The Empress, and the pot, was his!  He stood up, raising his arms in a whoop, the other players tossing their cards down in frustration or clapping in celebration of his win.  Even then, Kalara knew better to contain herself.

She waited patiently as they bowed and said their goodbyes to friends and guests and finally to Terash, who had, in fact, gotten his previous wish for a duel while the final games had been going on.  The horse lord had drawn first blood in a match with a famous duelist from Gem and was in a fine mood as he congratulated Varia.

“Aaah blessed you are for such luck, my friend!”  Terash nodded, embracing Varia tightly and assured him that his winnings would be converted and exchanged properly.  “You missed one glorious duel.  Next time, perhaps!  You must play again!”

Varia, all smiles and bows, thanked him kindly and took his leave as soon as it was appropriate for him to do so.  When they were finally far away enough from the crowd and down the path to be out of the eyes and ears of the estate, Varia let out a huge sigh.

“My dear, you did so…oh!”  Before he could finish, Kalara had hopped to embrace him, crying and shaking as she did so.

“I was so afraid!  W-when I left!”  She sobbed into his chest, too shaken to realize how inappropriate her actions were.  “I’m so sorry!”

Perhaps it was the wine or some common sense of decency in him, but he paused for only a moment before embracing her.

“Shh...come now. It’s over!”  He held her a little longer than was appropriate for their stations until a smooth voice interrupted them.

“My lord.  My most humble congratulations on your good fortune!”  The Serene Viper had somehow slipped behind them as they embraced.  Who knows how long he’d been watching?

“Or…should I say congratulations for owning such a clever slave?”  That cold blue eye was on Kalara again.
Varia turned to him, moving Kalara behind himself, not in a protective motion, but more in a motion that put her back in the place that she was meant to be – the slave behind him who had no more apparent worth than usual while he negotiated.

“I have your money.”  Varia ignored his accusations with a calm and controlled voice, tossing the snake a bag filled with jade.  “A down payment.  The rest will come once the winnings have been exchanged at the Guild bank.”

“Hmmmm…” The Viper tossed the bag in the air a couple of times, considering the worth inside from the weight of it.  “This is agreeable.”  He spirited the bag away somewhere into his robes and stepped closer, bowing to them in a gentlemanly fashion.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Varia of House Cynis.  My agents shall await you at the bank tomorrow.”  He flashed the same congenial smile at them.  “Feel free to call upon my person again.  I am but a humble servant to such a great House!”  With that, he took his leave, grinning all the way.  He knew he’d see Varia again.  Such was the fate of gambling men.

When it seemed like he was gone, the two of them finally let out a breath.

“Oh, I almost forgot, master!”  Kalara removed the chain with the jade coin of Luraname from around her neck and held it out to him, her head bowed in a supplicating gesture.  The touch of Varia’s hand closing her fingers around the pendant surprised her and she looked up.
He smiled warmly, “Keep it…and consider it my gift to you.”  He lifted her chin back up with his fingers till she returned to standing up straight. “I wouldn’t be here without you, my Lucky Charm!”  Again, that comforting, ever-confident smile that always seemed to dismiss any doubts.

Kalara was never happier to see the carriage that would take them home!  The excitement of the night weighed heavy and she relished the idea of getting into more comfortable clothes and sleeping away the stress of the evening.  They enjoyed a quiet ride home, Kalara, all the while, turning the cold jade stone and chain over in her fingers.  She had never received such an exorbitant gift before.  To be sure, Djali had done his best with hand-woven hemp and wood carved pendants, but this?  It meant that she was special, more than just another slave to Varia.  She was his Lucky Charm.

They arrived at their home without incident, though Kalara was so tired from their adventure that she nearly tripped over an uneven stone on her way down the path.  Varia reacted instinctively, catching her before she took a spill into the rocks and helping her back to her feet.
When he turned back around again towards home, Sana was waiting there on the stoop with a lantern in hand, the backlighting from the door setting her shadowed form ablaze with light.  She had gotten home early!

Varia immediately tore his hand from Kalara, hoping his wife hadn’t seen and misunderstood the gesture.  “Sana! You’re…”  He raised his arms to embrace her, but found himself quickly cut off.
“Home early? Yes…”  Sana snapped, her gaze trailing off as she took in the most curious scene of her husband and…was that her hand-servant dressed in such finery?

“Varia, what’s going on?”  An unreadable emotion crept into her voice, her tone caught somewhere between anger and hurt.
“Dearest, tis nothing!”  Varia approached her as if nothing was out of the ordinary and embraced her in his arms.  “I had a last minute engagement with my partners to discuss an investment and my favorite attendant was out sick today.  Kalara has shown such skill in her duties for you that I thought she would make a competent replacement!”

Sana’s eyes searched the ground, then Kalara.  Did she buy the lie?  Kalara clutched the coin necklace in her hand and hid it behind her back, praying to whatever gods might hear her that Sana didn’t investigate further.

“It was late. I was worried…” Sana’s voice trailed off.  The scent of rose oil on her husband’s neck haunted her nostrils, but she said nothing.

Kalara finally breathed again as the two turned and entered the house.  She eagerly returned to her own quarters, discarded the dress into a lazy pile on a chair, scrubbed her face to remove the makeup, and fell into bed with a massive puff of relief, for she was too tired to thoroughly bathe.  She regarded the jade coin one more time, holding it close to her heart before wrapping it in a cloth and depositing it underneath her pillow.

That night, she slept like the dead.  No dreams, just a sense of accomplishment.  She finally had a place in the world here with Varia.