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Not all of Urszula’s appointments pass as swiftly as the first. Some people are with her for ages, and on occasion things get heated and voices are raised angrily, though Urszula never loses her temper or shouts, even when she’s being roared at.
We’re waiting a few hours for everyone with a red or orange ball to be seen, and members of the crowd are growing restless, jeering those who spend a long time with the empress. The assistants let them jeer, and I get the sense that this is nothing new, all part of the sport.
The diplomatic meetings finally draw to an end and there’s a change in the atmosphere. Urszula draws aside to wash her hands, and her assistants run checks on the machine at the end of the room. Other helpers remove the glass throne, then their empress strolls forward and beams at the crowd.
“Here we are again,” she chuckles, and her warm, rich voice matches her sweet, grandmotherly appearance. “I thought everyone would have tired of my little Spinner by now.”
People laugh politely as I raise a questioning eyebrow at the masked Inez.
“That’s the name of the machine,” she says.
“Who’s first?” Urszula asks, and a woman walks down the steps, hands a yellow ball to one of the assistants, then nervously makes her way to the smiling empress.
Urszula makes the greet, then asks the woman’s name.
“Mandy,” the woman says quietly, then blushes as people applaud.
“Why do you want to challenge me, Mandy?” Urszula asks.
Mandy coughs and shakes her head.
“It’s alright if you want to keep your reasons to yourself,” Urszula says.
“It’s not that,” Mandy mutters. “It’s just... I’m not sure. I’ve been in the Merge a long time, and I’m ready to move on, and I figured I might as well chance my hand before I do, given all the times I’ve enjoyed watching you play.”
Urszula laughs pleasantly and hugs the blushing Mandy. “Bless you, dear. That’s fine, we don’t have to play for any real reason. But there has to be a stake of some sort to make it interesting. What have you in mind?”
“I was thinking I could stake a few years of household service,” Mandy says. “I could clean, wash floors, cook...” She trails off, and it’s clear she hasn’t given this much thought.
“Was this a spur of the moment decision?” Urszula asks kindly.
“Yes,” Mandy says. “I woke up this morning and decided to give it a go. I hurried here before I could change my mind.”
“A true gambler,” Urszula exclaims, and Mandy grins sheepishly. “I don’t think it would be fair to ask too much of you. How about a year of service if you lose, the bulk of your duties to include helping clean the Spin Zone — that way you can enjoy watching more games.”
“That sounds good to me,” Mandy smiles. “And if I win?”
“What would you like?” Urszula asks.
Mandy frowns. “As I said, I’m planning to move on. There isn’t really anything that I crave.”
Urszula mulls it over, then twitches her right index finger. “Niffelheim’s fires of release. I can arrange for an escort to Topaz. You can see some sights, maybe meet one or two royals, then head for the fires to check out of the Merge in style. How does that sound?”
Mandy’s face lights up. “Wonderful.”
The women move towards the hulking Spinner. Urszula lays her hand on one side of the machine and closes her eyes. I thought the Spinner had a steel front, but that was an optical illusion, because it fades away to reveal its open interior.
It’s a basic-looking abacus. There are nine bars running across horizontally, with two large, slowly revolving beads per bar. Numbers are printed on the beads, and as they casually spin, I see that they run from 1 to 9.
There are two wooden handles beneath the rows of beads, set around the height of Urszula’s midriff.
Urszula lets go of the Spinner and the beads gradually come to rest. Random numbers are face out.
“I’m sure everyone knows how this works,” Urszula says, glancing over her shoulder to smile at the crowd, “and if you don’t, you’ll figure it out quickly enough. Best of nine as always, Mandy. Would you prefer the left or right handle?”
“Left,” Mandy says, taking hold of that handle with her right hand.
Urszula moves around to grab the other handle with her left hand, so they’re standing shoulder to shoulder. “I’m willing to go first, to give you the advantage, unless you’d rather lead?”
“I’m happy to let you have the first move,” Mandy says.
Urszula holds her position for several seconds. The chamber falls silent, except for a soft sucking sound.
“What’s that noise?” I whisper to Inez.
“Urszula,” she says. “It’s a habit of hers. She always sucks and whistles when she plays.”
“She doesn’t do it to cause a distraction,” Oleg says. “If it puts her opponents off, she lets them plug their ears to block out the noise.”
I have a view of the side of the empress’ face, and now that Inez has drawn my attention to it, I see that her lips are twitching as she stares at the bead in the top right of the Spinner. Dave was like this whenever he sat an exam, always making little nervous sounds. He couldn’t help himself – he didn’t even know that he was making the noises – and it seems Urszula can’t either.
The empress pulls her handle and the bead starts spinning furiously. It moves so fast that the numbers are a blur. Urszula remains focused on the rapidly rotating bead, not blinking, continuing to make that annoying sucking sound. Ten or twelve seconds pass. Everybody in the Spin Zone is silent, staring at the spinning bead.
Urszula suddenly drives her handle forward and the bead comes to an abrupt halt. The number 6 is on display.
People start murmuring, discussing the number and Mandy’s response.
“Low,” Oleg mutters. “She’s got to go low.”
“I suppose it has to be low,” Mandy says, to a chorus of approving grunts and cries of encouragement.
“That’s all this is?” I ask, disappointed. “A high or low game?”
“You were expecting something more devious?” Oleg grins.
“Yes, after the big build-up and the size of the Spinner,” I admit.
“It does look more impressive than it is,” he says. “I guess the appeal lies in what gets staked, and Urszula’s mastery of the game.”
Oleg stops talking because Mandy has pulled her handle. The bead on her side spins wildly and Mandy stares at it, eyes wide, trying to get a fix on a low number. She waits even longer than Urszula did to make her play, and when she finally drives her handle forward, the number 4 is revealed.
Some people applaud, others scowl, and I see small beads being passed back and forth among various members of the crowd.
“What’s going on?” I ask Oleg.
“Side bets,” he says. “Gambling’s more fun when you’re part of the action.”
One of Urszula’s assistants comes forward with a blue disc on the end of a long pole and hooks it over a peg near the top left of the Spinner.
“A good start,” Urszula says to Mandy.
“Just lucky,” Mandy says. She’s shaking slightly. “I couldn’t see the numbers. My heart was beating so fast that it affected my vision.”
“Try to calm down,” Urszula says. Then she laughs. “Or try to stay lucky.”
Mandy laughs too, then yanks hard on her handle – they obviously take turns at going first – and the bead on the left-hand side of the second pole starts spinning. She draws a 3 and Urszula goes higher and spins an 8. She spins an 8 again on her next go, so Mandy goes lower and spins a 2.
“What happens if they spin the same number?” I ask Oleg.
“They try again,” he says. “There has to be a winner each time.”
Mandy goes three–one up. She’s grinning, but then Urszula wins the next two spins and they’re back on level terms, and the grin disappears.
“You played this before and won?” I whisper to Oleg.
“Twice,” he confirms.
“Is there any skill involved? It looks like a complete game of chance.”
Mandy wins the seventh spin and her supporters give a big cheer.
“Opinions vary,” Oleg says when the cheers have died down. “From back here I’d say it’s pure luck, but when I was in front of the Spinner, I was convinced that I could track the numbers. I was probably fooling myself, but...”
Urszula wins the eighth round, meaning it’s four points each, so everything rests on the final spin.
“But?” I prod as Urszula delays pulling her handle, chatting to Mandy, milking the moment for the frustration and pleasure of the crowd.
“Urszula almost never loses a key bet,” Oleg says. “When the stakes are high, she invariably wins, so either she can follow the numbers, or something’s rotten in the state of Suanpan.”
“You think it’s a fix?” I ask, but Oleg raises a finger for silence. Urszula has yanked her handle and is staring at the spinning bead.
Urszula’s lips purse as she makes an especially long sucking sound. The noise reminds me of the noise the gargoyle was making in King Lloyd’s chambers, and I shiver at the memory.
The empress draws a 5 and Mandy winces.
“Awkward,” Urszula sings. “Bang in the middle. No advantage in going either high or low. It’s all down to the sharpness of your eye now. Have you come to grips with the beads? Can you force it to stop on the number you need?”
“I doubt it,” Mandy laughs. “I’ve gone for a specific number every time, but I’ve only called it right once.”
“Well, if you’ve done it once, you can do it again,” Urszula says kindly.
Mandy thinks a moment, then mutters, “High.”
She draws her handle and watches the bead spinning. She waits longer than on any other turn, fifteen seconds... twenty... thirty...
Urszula is making a distracted whistling sound now, her eyes bright as she waits to see what will come up.
Finally Mandy sends her hand shooting forward and the bead comes to a halt.
The number 7 is showing.
Mandy whoops and punches the air. Urszula groans but graciously embraces the younger woman. Everyone is applauding, even those who bet against the challenger.
“My assistants will arrange the trip to Niffelheim,” Urszula promises as one of the ladies takes Mandy by the elbow. “Have fun in the fires.” Chuckling, the benign-looking empress faces the crowd. “See? It’s easy. A good eye or a few lucky spins and anything you desire can be yours. So, who’s next?”