Polynya

“Sounds like a good name for a nancy boy club. Necklace or no game, Liz.”

“Fine,” Zaena says, suddenly growing combative.

She whips off the necklace given to her by FeeTwix, which was a hand-me-down from Hiccup. As she dangles it in the air above the goblin’s head, Ryuk recalls the two gnomes in Kayi who gave it to them..

“What do you wager, goblin?” asks Zaena.

“Are they always this tense?” Enway rocks the baby dragon in her arms, tickling its belly.

“Yes, but I can never tell if they’re playing or not.”

A jewelry box appears on the table. “How’s that?”

The jewelry box floats off the table as Zaena examines it with her konoshlo. “This … is ancient.”

“Fick yes it is, and some poor sap is going to be missing it once they respawn in Kayi, but that’s beside the point.”

The thought strikes Ryuk. If Hiccup stole both items during the zombie outbreak in Kayi, that means … Ryuk chuckles to himself. The damn goblin.

“What about you, Twixy, whatchoo got?”

“Fine, fine. I have something that I think you especially will find valuable.”

“Better be shiny.”

FeeTwix turns his palm around and a small, wooden horse pixilates into shape.

“A horse toy?” Hiccup glances at the toe knife. “Do we need to go over this again?”

“Not any horse. Remember this one, from when we faced off against the ink shadow?”

“Nope, and fick ink shadows. You know how I feel about those fickers.” The goblin plays his best poker face. “You got me, Twixy. What’s with the horse toy?”

“If there is magic at play, the horse’s mane will melt away.”

Hiccup’s eyes go wide. “You mean like … like it is now?”

The three of them turn to Enway. Zaena is the first to have her swords up.

“I just wanted you guys to get along better,” Enway says, her eyes completely white. She still holds Yangu, who is oblivious to the fact that Zaena has pulled her weapons.

“No mystic shit, Elfy,” Hiccup says, Frank’s toe knife in his hand.

“So this is mystic magic,” FeeTwix mumbles. His eyes flash as he reads messages from his closest fans. “It’s similar to mind magic but more … spiritual.”

Enway’s eyes return to their natural blue color. “Sorry. It was just a little spell I’ve been playing with that makes people feel lighthearted.”

Zaena nods and returns her focus to the game. FeeTwix does the same after holding Enway’s gaze a moment longer.

“Whoopty-fickin’-doo. Let’s get this party started.” Hiccup stabs his toe knife back into the table. “You should be sorry, damn near ruined a game of Three Cards. Also, I need you two to get out some knives.”

Zaena produces a throwing knife and FeeTwix produces his mutant hack Bowie knife.

“How’s this, Hiccup?”

“Fine, Twixy, let’s just get started.” Hiccup flutters his finger along his neckline. “I really, really am hoping for a new necklace.”

(x)__(x)

 

The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten – breath. Ryuk remembers Hajime’s oblique quote as he thinks about the mystic class. Tamana was a White Mystic in her previous incarnation, but like FeeTwix, she ended up focusing on her main class more. It appears that Enway may be different.

“I’m checking the deck again,” FeeTwix says.

“You’ve already fickin’ checked it twice!”

“You’ve also won twice.”

“Yeah, but we’re not playing for keepsies yet! Lighten up, Twixy.”

Zaena throws her head back and laughs.

“Sheesh, Liz, keep your cackle below two hundred decibels.”

The game of Three Cards is goblin logic in a nutshell. First, you take all the even cards and Queens out of the deck. Jacks count as eleven and Kings as thirteen. The two Jokers in a deck clear out all the cards currently in play.

The players take turns placing cards side by side. As soon as the combined total of cards in play adds up to a number divisible by three, the first player to stab their knife on the last card in play gets all the cards. If the first card is a three, it doesn’t count. If you run out of cards, you lose. If you win all the cards, you win. If you lose a hand, you lose.

The game, while incredibly dangerous, is also incredibly loud. It’s also known to ruin a new table relatively quickly.

“Another thing,” Hiccup says. “If I win bigly, we are reopening the discussion about our guild’s logo.”

“Oh?” Ryuk asks.

“I’m thinking of a tattoo on my arm, hell, maybe my forearm. Now that I’m no longer a security guard and don’t need to keep to a formal attire, I can get all the tats I want.”

FeeTwix grins. “Which arm?”

“What the fick kind of question is that, Twixy? The only arm I have, not the steamed up mechanical monstrosity you handed down to me. And another thing – this mechanical arm warms up the side of my body if I keep it at my side. I think it’s fickin’ with my digestion.” He releases a cloud of evidence and sighs. “See what I mean?”

“Did he just fart?” Enway is still next to Ryuk, but she has since returned the sleeping baby dragon to Ryuk’s backpack.