Card Fighter: A Deckbuilding Progression Fantasy, page 13
Finally, just when Dax was trying to figure out how he might make his way to the floor all by himself, Jynn reached into his sling with his free hand. He was moving casually, as if to scratch an itch, but from Dax’s new perspective, the sight was almost frightening.
If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that there was some sort of monster with five arms heading his way.
But when that “monster” paused, it became clear what Jynn was expecting.
The gambler hadn’t turned his hand into a platform for Dax to step onto. He left his fingers curled, and Dax understood.
He had to stay hidden.
Dax wanted to hesitate, to figure out how best to do this, but there wasn’t time to waste. So he gritted his teeth and lunged toward Jynn’s hand, hoping his friend knew what he was doing.
Chapter twenty
Immediately, those fingers closed around him, and it was all Dax could do to prevent himself from fighting back.
“Now, why don’t you tell me how I can help you?” the man’s voice said.
“I’d like to take out a loan,” Jynn said, even as he brought Dax, fully enclosed in his fist, back out. Dax could see lines of light between Jynn’s fingers, but not enough to make out what was happening, and his heart pounded loudly as he felt himself dropping down.
“How much are you looking to borrow? And for how long?”
When Jynn opened his hand, he made sure to keep his fingers bent so that Dax wouldn’t simply fall out. Even so, Dax found himself scrambling on his hands and knees, trying to get a grip on Jynn’s middle finger.
“I’m not looking for much,” Jynn said. “Just — well, business hasn’t been the best lately, and I’m looking for enough to get me through the next couple of days.”
Dax realized that Jynn was keeping his hand still, and for the first time, was able to look around. He was still maybe six inches off the floor. Jynn was sitting with his hand dangling down the side of his chair.
But even six inches seemed an impossible distance. It was three times Dax’s height at that stage, and he had no intention of finding out if he could survive such a fall without being hurt.
Fortunately, he had another option.
“And what business would you be in?” the moneylender asked, his voice possessing the kind of drawl that suggested he thought he was above everyone else.
“I am a gambler,” Jynn said.
At that point, Dax had to admit he was one as well. But instead of gambling with money, he was gambling with his life.
From his vantage point, Dax could see a large desk, but not the moneylender himself. Nor could he see anyone else who might be looking his way.
So he focused on the sliding scale in his mind. The Gift had said nothing about it being a single use, and the scale was still there. Surely it must be possible…
He moved the scale just a little. Not enough to return to his usual size, or anywhere close to that. He moved it just enough that he grew from two inches to six, and then quickly swung himself down to the floor.
Once there, he shrunk himself back down to his smallest size and watched as Jynn withdrew his hand in a relaxed, casual movement.
The moneylender was chuckling.
“A gambler, you say? You might be surprised to learn how many of those in your profession come through my doors.”
To give Jynn his due, he was playing his part well. “Is that a problem?” he asked, putting just enough worry in his voice to sound authentic.
But Dax couldn’t waste too much of his focus on what Jynn was doing. He had his own part to play.
He scurried across the wooden floorboards until he was up against the leg of the moneylender’s desk. Then he paused to look around for the first time.
“Not at all,” the moneylender drawled. “As long as you’re able to pay the loan back.”
The moneylender’s room was lined with items that suggested wealth. A matched pair of oversized urns sat on each side of a display case boasting a mixture of jewelry and sculptures.
The walls displayed small but intricate tapestries, and the moneylender himself, a slim man with a bitter mouth and gray hair in his beard, was dressed in clothing that would have passed even in some of the wealthier parts of the city.
But what drew Dax’s attention the most was the heavy door on one wall. By itself, its hinges and heavy metal bands – not to mention the prominent lock – would have made it seem formidable enough. But there was another guard there as well, armed like the two outside and standing next to the door.
Dax checked the time in his mind and saw that he had just over three minutes to go. He didn’t have time to waste, but he couldn’t just make a beeline for the door the guard was guarding. The guard wore a bored expression, gazing at a random spot somewhere in front of him.
There was a good chance Dax could scurry right up to him without being seen. But there was also a good chance that his movement might catch the guard’s attention, and that could go very badly.
So instead of heading directly to his target, Dax hurried to the other side of the moneylender’s desk, where nobody except maybe Jynn could see him, and from there, moved quickly to the wall.
He was aware that the moneylender was spelling out the terms should Jynn take out a loan, including interest and when repayments might be due, but for the time being, Dax’s focus had to be on his own goals.
The guard loomed large on Dax’s horizon, but now he was off to one side rather than directly in front of him.
With his back to the wall, Dax watched the guard and quickly approached.
He was beside and a little behind the moneylender, so the guard was the only one who could possibly see him, and with his bored, forward-facing gaze, there wasn’t much chance of that either.
Even so, a few precious seconds ticked by before Dax reached the heavy door.
At his normal size, Dax would never have been able to get through such a solidly built door. Not without the key. But now, it was easy.
The gap between the door and the floor was no more than half an inch. With one last glance at the guard to make sure he wasn’t being observed, Dax dropped down on his hands and knees, then rolled underneath.
On the other side, he stood up, dusted himself off, and did his best to stifle a laugh.
He’d done it. With just under three minutes to go, he’d made it into the moneylender’s strong room. And finally, he could see the reason for the number of guards the man employed.
Dax had always known that there was good coin in lending money to others at an extravagant markup. But he hadn’t anticipated just how much coin there could be.
Jasper the moneylender had to be among the wealthiest people in all of the Fringe. If he wanted, he probably could have bought his way to legitimacy in the wider city and left the Fringe behind.
Where Dax had expected maybe a single chest full of riches, he was instead looking at several of them piled on top of one another.
If that wasn’t enough, there was gold and jewelry displayed on a series of shelves, and even a selection of high-grade weapons, including swords and armor.
There were even a couple of random sculptures, works of art that were obviously precious. Among these was a replica of a scalewyrm, a six-foot-long reptile full of fangs and hidden strength, known to be quite capable of ripping a man to shreds.
For a moment, Dax just stood there, taking it all in. But the seconds were still ticking by, and he had much to do, including checking what was inside those chests and stuffing as much as he could of whatever he found into his pockets.
For him to do that, his current size just wasn’t sufficient. So he turned to the sliding scale in his mind and, within just a couple of heartbeats, had returned to his normal height.
The timer in his head kept counting down. Dax had only a couple of minutes to go before this Gift would run out, so he quickly reached for the first of the chests.
He knew he could just as easily take some of the gold and jewelry on display, but he’d spent most of his career as a thief dealing in coins and had a strong preference for keeping it that way.
And the very first chest he tried to open proved to be just what he was looking for. Marks, Veer, and even Eclats.
Without hesitation, Dax dove in. He grabbed a handful of Eclats and Veer and stuffed them into a spare coin pouch, quietly acknowledging to himself that this was already the greatest score of his career.
Dax had come prepared. He’d brought several spare coin pouches along with him. He fully intended to fill as many of them as he could before shrinking back down to escape.
But before he could turn his plans into actions, he heard something. A noise midway between a hiss and a growl.
Dax’s heart skipped a beat. He looked wildly around but saw nothing. Just the inside of the strong room, the same as before. He held his breath, wondering if he had imagined the noise – and the threat embedded within it – only for it to repeat.
A mixture between a hiss and a growl. No louder than a normal spoken voice, it sounded as if it was coming from within the strong room itself.
“What in the name of all the Gods?” Dax muttered, and then his eyes found the sculpture again, the intricately wrought scalewyrm.
Except that maybe its position had changed since he’d last looked at it. And now, instead of looking passive like a typical sculpture might, its eyes were open and staring straight back at him.
Dax let out a curse under his breath. It wasn’t a sculpture at all. This was a real scalewyrm, no doubt kept in Jasper’s strong room as a last line of defense.
This robbery was not going as planned.
Dax didn’t know much about these strange, unusual creatures, but he did know that they were territorial and responded to intrusion with aggression. And Dax had clearly entered its territory.
The scalewyrm shuffled its peculiar undersized feet in a way that could mean only one thing. It was getting ready to launch itself in an attack, and its target was Dax.
As fast as thought itself, Dax shrank back down to his two-inch height. Just in time too, for the snakelike scalewyrm hurled itself through the air, pouncing on the spot where Dax had just been.
If he’d still been standing there, the scalewyrm would have been able to wrap its elongated body around him and use its claws and teeth as it wished.
As it was, the creature passed right over him, landing among the pile of jewelry on the shelving behind him.
There was an awful crash, and Dax immediately forgot his plan of filling his other coin pouches. He still had the first one in his hand, and he tucked that away to the tune of shouting coming from outside the door. He heard Jynn’s voice in the mix, and knew that their plans were coming unstuck.
They’d wanted to get in and out without attracting any attention, but that wasn’t going to happen. Worse, Jynn was exposed. Before anything else, Dax had to get back out and see what was happening, to see how bad things were for his friend.
And he couldn’t spare any time in doing so.
As fast as he could, Dax charged back to the door and slid under. He didn’t even break stride as he regained his feet on the other side, and a quick glance around told him that things had changed.
The two guards from outside had both come charging in, their weapons lowered and threatening. The guard by the door had sprung away, turning his pike toward the door as if in response to a threat, and Jasper himself had risen from his seat with his keys in his hands.
Jynn was still seated, but his face had gone pale with fear, and for good reason. The guards from outside were both aiming their weapons at him.
Clearly, the sound of the scalewyrm clattering against the jewelry was more than enough to put everyone on high alert.
“Don’t let him move until I confirm what’s happening,” Jasper was saying, his words a vile snarl.
Behind Dax, in the strong room, he heard the scalewyrm scrabbling against the door where Dax had rolled through. Perhaps the creature had spotted Dax as he fled, or maybe it had picked up his scent. Either way, Dax could still hear its characteristic hissing growl from through the door.
Unfortunately, so could Jasper. The lean, well-dressed man’s gaze dropped down to the bottom of the door and once again, Dax was reminded that small and invisible were two different things. Jasper let out a quick stream of curses as he saw Dax for the first time.
But if Dax thought that the surprise of seeing a two-inch-tall person outside the strong room door would cause Jasper to hesitate, he was mistaken.
“Thief!” he bellowed. “We have a Card-wielding thief!”
Then he did his absolute best to stomp Dax flat.
Dax dove to his left just as Jasper’s foot came down, then leapt back to his feet and started to run. Jasper jumped up and down like he was dancing, and Dax had to move quickly to avoid getting stomped. He knew that if he wasn’t careful, he could get flattened, and there was no way he wanted that kind of an end to his day.
So he did the only thing he could think of. He reached for that sliding scale in his mind, aware that he’d lost all but two minutes or so of this particular Gift, and jammed that scale up to the far end.
Immediately, Dax grew to twice his previous height. He was taller even than he’d been when he’d used the Enlargio Gift he’d had before, but this time, he wasn’t quite the same proportions. He seemed thinner than usual, and not as strong as he had been with that Gift.
There was one other disadvantage as well. The ceiling of Jasper’s office wasn’t tall enough to contain Dax’s full height.
Fortunately, Dax’s sudden, gigantic appearance had done what his small size had not. It caused the moneylender to hesitate, and his guard did the same.
Dax backhanded the moneylender hard across the side of his face, then adjusted his height down just a little, so that he was still relatively gigantic but could more easily move in the room.
He reached out and grabbed hold of the guard’s pike, wrenching it from the man’s hands and using it to beat the man quickly senseless.
The other two guards had switched their attention from Jynn to Dax, but they were clearly unprepared to face a literal giant, especially one that had already taken care of both the other guard and Jasper himself. Both of their pikes shook as they aimed them at Dax.
“Get out of here,” Dax said to Jynn. The gambler didn’t need to be told twice. With the guards no longer looking at him, he quickly stood and scampered away.
Dax would have very much liked to follow. But there was still more to be done if he wanted to get away.
Time was ticking. Dax moved one way, then the other, but the two pikes remained trained on him despite the guards’ fear. To make matters worse, Jasper himself was already struggling to rise.
“Don’t let him leave!” the moneylender called out.
Dax cursed under his breath. If not for Jynn’s admonition not to kill anyone, he might have lashed out until the danger was passed. Instead, he shrank himself back down to his smallest size and hurried beneath Jasper’s desk.
“Where did he go?” said one of the guards.
Once there, he grew as big as he could, and used the sudden increase in size to lift the desk off the floor. The desk was solid and reasonably heavy, but Dax had his legs beneath him. Bent over, carrying the desk above him, he launched himself toward the guards with their pikes.
They couldn’t touch him. One of them tried, but his pike barely made an impact on the desk before Dax crashed into him. He didn’t pause but kept going, driving himself forward, all the way to the entrance.
Both guards went down, one of them groaning in pain. Dax cursed again, then turned his attention to the only man who really mattered.
Jasper.
If the moneylender had been part of a Faction, he wouldn’t have had any choice. Regardless of what he’d agreed with Jynn, he would have had to kill the man to ensure their safety.
But Jasper, as far as Dax knew, was independent. He didn’t have the same resources a Faction could bring to bear.
Dax loomed over the man, pushing him back to the floor and pressing him down with an oversized hand.
“Give me a reason not to kill you,” he grated.
He saw the fear in Jasper’s eyes. The moneylender made a whimpering noise and turned his head so as not to look at his tormentor. “I don’t know who you are,” he managed.
It was a good start. Dax nodded. “After I leave here, what will you do?”
Jasper clearly didn’t want to answer. Dax leaned more of his weight on the man, enough that he started to squirm.
“Nothing!” he blurted. Then, “I won’t do anything.”
Dax nodded again. “See that you remember that. You don’t want me to come back.”
Dax was seriously running out of time. He still thought that killing Jasper would have been safer, and would have done so if not for Jynn. Instead, he gave the man on the floor a shake, then moved away.
The desk – and the guards – was blocking the door, so Dax shrank himself back down to just a few inches tall and ducked beneath it, finally making his way back outside.
He found Jynn hovering, stepping nervously from one foot to the other as he waited, perhaps twenty feet away from the store. As soon as the gambler saw Dax approaching, he seemed to relax.
Finally, with perhaps just a few seconds to go, Dax released his grip on his resizing Gift.
Back to his normal size, he grinned at his friend. “Come on. Let’s get out of here!”
With no need for anything further to be said, both Dax and Jynn began to run, putting as much distance between them and Jasper’s store as they could.
Chapter twenty-one
Dax and Jynn continued to run until it became clear that there was nobody after them. Dax’s use of the desk to block the door combined with his threat to Jasper seemed to have done the trick. That, and the fact that they were just two faces in among thousands in the Fringe, and Dax thought they were probably fairly safe.
