| |
The fourth and fifth games are nothing affairs, played for low stakes. Urszula wins one by a wide margin, loses the other by a similarly wide margin. I don’t hear the noises that I’m listening for in either game, and get the sense that the results truly have been random.
Her sixth opponent is a would-be governor. Maiko tells me that Suanpan is part of a sprawling kingdom, and a band of people in a collection of zones are keen to break away and form a federation of their own. They declared their independence decades ago, but it hasn’t been recognised by the empress.
Aarav, her opponent, says he wants to gamble for the right to be called governor of the disputed zones. Maiko explains that if he’s successful, it will make it harder for Urszula to deny the federation’s legitimacy.
Urszula listens to Aarav with a glowering expression.
“A bold move,” she sneers when he finishes. “I admire the thinking behind it, but what are you prepared to risk?”
“My freedom,” Aarav says. “One hundred years of servitude.”
“Not enough,” Urszula says. “I require two hundred.”
Aarav flinches, but nods.
“And not your servitude,” she continues, “but your people’s loyalty.”
Aarav frowns. “I don’t follow.”
“If you lose, those who follow you have to agree not to raise the issue of secession for the next two centuries.”
Aarav shakes his head. “I have no mandate to trade away their demands.”
Urszula shrugs. “Then go back and tell them you failed to negotiate terms.”
Aarav hesitates and looks over his shoulder to where a small group of his kinsmen are quickly discussing the situation. One of them makes a few hand signals. Aarav grimaces and faces Urszula again.
“Fifty years,” he says with disgust.
“One hundred and fifty,” she counters.
“A century,” he says firmly. “If I lose, we’ll park our demands for a full hundred years. That’s a massive concession, so ask no more of us.”
Urszula mulls it over, then accepts the terms, and the pair face off on the Spinner.
It’s a tight, tense contest. Urszula loses the first two spins, then wins the next three. Aarav wins the next two, before Urszula wins the penultimate spin, and then the final one, to triumph five points to four.
“That was a lot closer than I would have liked,” she laughs as a dejected Aarav trudges back to his crestfallen supporters.
Urszula’s seventh game is another minor match. I don’t pay any attention to it, because I’ve gathered all the information I need.
Urszula made little noises throughout the game with Aarav. She hummed, sucked and whistled during every spin, his as well as hers, subtly directing proceedings like an orchestra conductor, setting up the scores exactly the way she wanted.
The noises were very similar to those she makes the rest of the time when she’s playing, so I can understand why no one noticed the difference. I wouldn’t have either, if this hadn’t come so soon after my encounter with the gargoyle in King Lloyd’s palace.
I know what the Spinner is now, and how she tweaks it in her favour, but rather than share that knowledge with the others, I’m having a lengthy internal debate. The voice from the bridge is telling me what I must do. I reply, saying I’m scared and not experienced enough for something like this, but the voice tells me that if I truly want to help Inez, I have to stand up and fight for her.
The seventh match concludes – I don’t even know who won – and the holder of the eighth yellow ball is called. Oleg sighs. “Here I go,” he says and stands, his legs trembling.
“Wait,” I stop him, and I rise too.
“Archie?” a startled Inez asks from behind her scarf.
I ignore her. “Earlier, Inez and Maiko said any one of us could take the ball and go up there in your place, right?”
“Yes,” Oleg says with a puzzled frown, as the number 8 is called again by an impatient assistant.
I hold out a trembling hand.
“Archie!” Inez snaps, lurching to her feet. “What are you doing?”
Oleg is staring at my hand, the ball clamped tight in his left fist.
“Please,” I whisper as the assistant calls the number 8 again and adds that this will be the last time she’ll call it.
“Archie, no,” Inez says, starting to panic. She tries to grab me, but Cal lays a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sure Archibald knows what he’s doing,” the giant says with touching faith.
“He’s risking everything,” Inez pants. “We can’t let him fall into her clutches. I need him even more than I need Baba Jen.”
“I know,” I tell her, smiling thankfully at Cal, “but I’ve a better chance than Oleg of beating her.”
“What are you talking about?” Inez spits. “You’ve never played this. You’d never even heard of the Spinner before we came in.”
“That’s right,” I say again, reaching out to unfurl Oleg’s fingers and take the ball from them. He doesn’t protest.
“Very well,” the assistant shouts. “Since no one’s stepped up, we’ll put –”
“Hold it,” I yell. “I’m coming.” Then I whisper, “Trust me, Inez. I know what the Spinner is, and I think I can turn it against its mistress.”
“What do you mean?” she says, bewildered. “The Spinner’s a gambling machine. We all know that.”
“No,” I grin sickly. “It’s being used that way, but it’s really a lock.”
There isn’t time to explain any more, so as a shaking Inez slumps beside a beaming Cal, I trot down the steps, ball in hand, lump of fear lodged firmly in my throat, to risk everything in a showdown with the empress of Suanpan.