"Okay squirt. If you insist on playing with the big boys." The burly man smiled raising the bid considerably. He fingered his cards confidently.
Mikellen just smiled. He put the marks on the table and smiled. He nodded. To anyone else the nod would have been seen as a conformation of the bid. To Mikellen's bronze firelizard, Gamble, it was a sign. The little firelizard began chirping and pecked at the other man's cards.
"What the...?" The burly man swatted at Gamble. While he was distracted, Mikellen pulled a better hand of cards out from under the table. His bad cards disapeared just as quickly. "Your stupid firelizard's possessed." Burly, as Mikellen had dubbed him, swore.
"Gamble." Mikellen ordered the creature. It hung it's head with shame and flew to Mikellen's shoulder. Gamble sent Mikellen happy thoughts. When Mikellen returned them, the firelizard knew the plan had worked again. He chirped happily. Mikellen smiled.
"Gonna go any higher?" He asked playfully. Mikellen was a thin, wiry youth. He wore his dirty blond hair long. His bangs were constantly hiding his eyes, giving him a mysterious air. His eyes were bright green and, when his bangs weren't in the way, they shone and sparkled mischeviously. He looked to be 15 or so turns, but he was really 19. Most people who saw him thought he was a naive kid. Mikellen looked curiously at the man across from him. Burly was smiling smuggly. Mikellen smiled back. Those people mostly lost their money.
"I close bidding." Burly said. "I want to leave you with enough to get home."
Mikellen shrugged. "Okay. Show."
"Read 'em and weap." Burly laughed and started to grab the money.
Mikellen laughed. "I thought you actually had something good." He showed his own cards and Burly's mouth dropped. Gamble chirped.
"Wha...how?" Burly stammered.
Gamble had pilled the marks in a sack. Mikellen picked it up and shrugged. "Guess I'm lucky." He knew when to quit. He started to back away from the table, heading towards the door.
"No!! That's impossible!!!" Burly wasn't taking this well. He jumped to his feet over-turning the table. The spare cards Mikellen had stashed there were visable. Burly's face turned red. "You little cheater!!! When I catch you I'm gonna...."
Mikellen ran and therefore didn't hear the rest of Burly's sentance. He reached the door ahead of the bigger man and ran for it, Gamble flying close behind. Seeing the stables, he entered quickly and hid in the hay. He heard Burly crashing through and held his breath. Burly didn't notice him. He stomped through swearing. When the man was out of sight, Mikellen got up, covered in hay. Gamble chirped and landed on his knee. Mikellen smiled. "We win again."
Mikellen liked the outdoors. Less people, less questions, less threats. He gazed up at the stars. Suddenly the tiny lights were hidden. Mikellen gazed up in awe. A flight of dragons. There were a collection of colours shining under the moon-light. He saw blue, green and bronze for sure. Maybe even a gold and white, he couldn't tell. The dragons passed. Probably heading for Adanuk Weyr, he thought. I hope this doesn't mean Thread's coming. He yawned. He drifted off to sleep, flights of dragons in his dreams.
Mikellen was woken rather roughly. He was being shaken, he opened his eyes to bright light. He was forced to close them again. When his eyes adjusted he opened them again. He heard a distressed screech off to his right and got bad thoughts from Gamble. Uh oh. was his only thought.
"'Morning sweety." Burly said in a sarcastic voice. He'd managed to get himself some friends in the night. A small group of five, big men surrounded the youth.
He gave them a shy smile. "Good morning. Hope you slept well. Well now that the formalities are done with I think I'll just be leaving..."
He tried to back away and ran into another guy. "Gamble?" He called, hoping for a distraction. The small firelizard was hog-tied. He gulped. "Guess you want your money back, eh? Just a small joke. No harm done." Mikellen threw the sack of his winnings at Burly's feet.
Burly smiled a rather toothless grin and clenched his fists. Two of his buddies grabbed Mikellen's arms. Mikellen closed his eyes and tried not to bite his tongue. Gamble screeched and doubled his efforts to escape. By the time the firelizard got free, Mikellen was unconsious and the men were gone.
Mikellen floated on the edge of consiousness. Voices came to him, voices he didn't recognize.
"Will he be okay Celeste?" The voice sounded foggy in his mind.
"I think so. Whoever caught him sure messed him up good though." Mikellen laughed at her in his mind as the pain returned. Sweetheart, you got no idea...
Consiousness forced itself upon the reluctent youth. Mikellen moaned and opened his eyes. A woman was standing above him. She had long black hair which was pulled back into a bun and held in place with ferocious-looking sticks. She had a friendly smile, which softened the effect of the bun, and bright eyes, which examined him closely. "Feeling any better?" She asked.
He moaned.
She smiled. "I thought so." A scratching sound came from the door. The woman sighed. "Care for visitors?"
"Who?" Mikellen asked as the woman went to open the door.
"A bronze firelizard. Funny little thing. It could have just popped between to come see you, but instead it goes through the door.
The woman opened the door and Gamble flew to Mikellen, chirping loudly. Mikellen rubbed his pet's stomach. "He can't go between. I guess he just never learned."
"Really? That's odd." The woman stood in silent thought for a moment, then returned to her surroundings. "Oh, I've been horribly inpolite. My name's Celeste. I'm the Master Healer of Adanuk Weyr."
Mikellen smiled. "I'm Mikellen. This is Gamble." He looked down at the bandages wrapped around him. "Thanks for....whatever you did."
Celeste smiled. "It's my job. Besides, you owe a thank-you to Gamble as well. We would never have noticed you if he wasn't flying around, like a maniac."
"So I'm at Adanuk?" He searched his memory for anyone he'd swindled who may be at Adanuk now.
Celeste nodded. "That's right. Which reminds me. The Weyrwoman wants to talk with you."
Mikellen paled. He hadn't been around weyr's much, but so far, every talk with a Weyrwoman or Weyrleader had ended with him being thrown out.
Celeste smiled. "Don't worry. It'll be fine."
The Weyrwoman turned out to be a middle-aged, gold-rider named Magika. She was nice enough to Mikellen, Proving she hasn't heard of me. Mikellen thought. He watched her size him up, agian. But she's not stupid. He added to that thought.
"So, these bandits. They stole all your money and personal possessions then beat you up. Right?" She obviously wasn't buying his story.
"Close to that, yeah." He replied calmly. Gamble sitting on his shoulder.
Magika gave him a half-smile. "You're not lying, but you're not telling the truth either."
Mikellen returned the smirk. "Maybe."
Magika sighed and continued the conversation. "What's the firelizard's name?"
"Gamble."
"Odd name."
Mikellen gave in, and told the story of how he 'acquired' a firelizard egg.
At the end Magika smiled and shook her head. She studied him once more, passing a final judgement on him. "Okay." She decided. "You can stay here at Adanuk, but remember. I'm watching."
Mikellen smiled as he left the Weyrwoman's chambers. What she doesn't see, won't hurt me.
A turn later.... Background from Cosmati Web and Graphic Design.
