Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Trouble for Annalise

I sat awaiting my fate with a passed out cat in my lap as the game began. For whatever reason they didn’t deal me in the first game. This was fine by me as I still had no idea what was really going on. I noticed that besides having tiny pictures of animals, the cards all seemed to correspond to numbers. I didn’t have to do too much math in my head as I saw the cow put down a frog and a goat, the remainder of the table throw in chickens and horses, and one very frazzled bull yelp as they dropped two ducks. someone explained “20!” And they all excitedly began to giggle. So this was a variation of blackjack where one had to try to not break 19. There were 12 of each animal. And there were only so many of each animal.

I looked around at the group in front of me. Could they not see it too? This game was easily rigged, if you counted how many cards were already on the table you could easily figure out a rough probability of what had to be left in the deck.

With this many players it made the equation even easier. I was sitting there silently celebrating my initial realization when a loud creak behind me nearly made me jump out of my skin. I ducked down as I heard the door open and the boots that had been following us earlier start to trudge in. Robin looked up towards the door then stared blankly ahead.

“You need to win and run, my lady,” she said flatly.

“I know I know,” I mumbled as I tried to shoo her away.

It felt like a scene from a horror story. Even over the animal chatter and slapping of cards I could hear the door creak close and the boots slowly begin to approach me from

behind. I heard them stop moving as the sounds of heavy breathing began to emanate behind me. It didn’t matter if this was one of the dreaded Winklehaus’ or not, it was someone pursuing Annalise. And for whatever reason they had finally been able to find her.

I nearly screamed as I felt something clap down on my shoulder. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was. I could feel the breath on my shoulder as my pursuer bent down to whisper, “is this who I think it is?”

The squirrel came to my rescue before I could even react. “What are you doing?” she chirped.

I relaxed slightly as I heard them begin to squabble as he was herded towards a different table. I snuck a peak to see my chaser glaring at me as I felt new inspiration to get out of here faster. “Deal me in deal me in!” I whispered to the head of our table.

Robin, ever so helpful, chimed in with a “don’t lose my lady.”

What was I even supposed to say to that? I nodded as I desperately grasped for the cards. Oh I knew I couldn’t lose.

I watched as the first round went by, everyone passed a card if they so desired to someone else and then grabbed a new one from the deck. I closed my eyes as I did my best to count what I could see on the table. There were four twelves, three elevens, two tens, and a similar random array of cards going all the way down to the lower numbers. It seemed like there were only five suites of cards. This meant my job was both now a little bit easier as well as a little bit harder. A lot of the big cards were already on the table so it was going to be harder to break 19, but also harder to make it to 19.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I watched as everyone passed again and laid their first card down. I had a two. My new hand now had a five. I had a long way to go to hit 19. I pulled another two and through down my three cards total. I watched as everyone else continued their round. Some stopped as was acceptable at this point in the game. The last two players still doing a fourth round were me and a bull who sat there chuckling with a score of 8.

They needed an eleven to win, and there was only one twelve (that would have broken them) left in the deck. Given the other remaining cards on the table it seemed very unlikely they’d lose. In fact if anything it looked like they could keep going for multiple rounds. We had about ten cows here, thirty cards already on the table. So there was a 1/30 chance of a 12 left in the deck. I had a 3/30 chance of a 10. I needed a 10.

I took my card and looked up at them as they continued laughing. I saw my card and prepared myself as they passed on theirs and went to grab a wildcard from the deck. We all were on the edge of our seats, or in the cow’s case, their hooves.

I set down my card. It had happened. Although high unlikely, the bull had drawn the last 12. I had a 10. I would have celebrated had Robin not looked up at me, and responded in a very dark manner, “it’s time to go now my lady.”

I looked to see if anyone was going to stop us as I quickly stood from the table and scurried to the door. Robin seemed to be following in slow motion as I slipped out and left our boot crunching pursuer still angrily throwing down cards with the squirrel.

I wanted to run but had no idea where to go. “Robin can you get us back to Victor’s manor?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she replied. She indicated back towards what seemed to be the way we came. It was all I needed to start trotting back along.

“That seemed really easy didn’t it?” I asked her as I sprinted forwards, “I mean all I had to do was count some things and we were out of there.”

“What was easy my lady?” Robin replied.

“Escaping,” I answered.

“Escaping?” I heard Robin ask, “we were safe.” She sounded like she was falling behind me.

The comment made me nearly freeze in my tracks. I don’t know how I hadn’t even heard the boot scuffle behind me but the next thing I knew I felt a very familiar hand on my shoulder. I spun to see my pursuer standing right behind me. It didn’t help my case as I went to face him and realized something even more surprising. He wasn’t the man I’d seen earlier.

This man was beaming from ear to ear as he yelled, “finally got her!”

Robin was a bit farther behind me yelling, “you need to run my lady.”

I went to try a quick escape as he grabbed my arm, “Any last words?”

I started stuttering, “At least let her go.”

I don’t know why I assumed Robin would break out and help me. She nodded as the other man released her with a “fine by me.” Robin passed by me seemingly without a second thought. It was as if a switch had turned to “go home now” and she was on her set path back.

My cat friend had also chosen this moment to wake up. I felt something scratch at my arm as the man grabbed my furry friend by the scuff of the neck. “You won’t be needing this,” he laughed as he tossed the cat back into the night. It howled as any hope I had for help seemed to be dwindling further and further.

I stared bleakly as the man from the card game came pouring out next. I noticed now that even he wasn’t the strange man from outside Victor’s place. I thought maybe I’d seen him in the mob that had come to search Victor’s house so long ago. I sighed, Annalise wasn’t supposed to be captured by the Winklehaus’ right now. I had no plot protecting me. There was a decent chance I was about to die right now.

My sigh really seemed to rub them the wrong way too. The man still holding my arm growled at me, “what?”

“You’re just not the guy I saw outside earlier,” I mumbled, “I was expecting someone else.”

“A lover?” the other chuckled.

“No I mean, I thought he’d be chasing me too,” I mumbled.

“You wanted to be captured by someone else?” the first said incredulously.

“I guess,” I replied.

They both started laughing as they dragged me towards a larger group of people on the main road. I somehow hadn’t heard or seen them before. They had a massive wooden wagon looking prison with them too. I was thrown in the back like a rag doll. I heard them chatter and yell with glee as it started to move.

“So just like that I die,” I said to no one in particular as I was thrown against the cage wall.

I looked down at my hands as everything seemed hopeless. The woods felt like they had started to melt as we were sent down a fork in the road I’m quite sure book Annalise had never seen before. I had half expected Robin to come to my rescue, maybe even Bearon if he was feeling lucky. I was here too soon for Frederick. And who knew where Victor was. I had managed to mess everything up once again. My face felt hot as I let my head bang backwards against the cage wall. I was really in a pickle and I was spiraling. That was until I realized my face was actually getting hot. My saving grace had arrived after all. I looked down at my hands which had started to ignite.

I was on fire again. And fortunately for me they had chosen to use a wooden cage.