It didn’t matter how far Tay got each and every day in his practice to summon the revenants of his deck. Because even if he could flawlessly bring forth the Warlock of Midnight Darkness without exacerbating his transformation and keep it under his control, neither he nor Cari had the coin to fund admittance into a local tournament, let alone a battle tournament.

Cari scratched at her head while Sally and Quincy were away finding them all. “I suppose we could always try and ask Quincy.”

It occurred to Tay that Quincy’s place was more a dump for Peace and Quiet’s trash than a home of any kind. Tay fumbled with a board that Quincy was trying to turn into a mailbox. The man seemed to be short a couple of nails, and no doubt he would try and get them by asking around Peace and Quiet.

Anything that everyone else deemed trash, Quincy saw the value in. Tay could relate to that, on some deeper level. Back when he’d been at the orphanage, he’d been stuck with the most uncomfortable bunk bed in the history of the world, and every time some family in Pyrewood disposed of their kid’s bed, he’d always wished Madam Principine would let him take it for himself.

But all that meant was Quincy’s love and eye for salvage was telling of his means of living.

“I think Quincy would have less means of getting us admittance into a battle tournament than we currently do,” Tay said. “How much did you say it was?”

Cari shrugged, and then started patting at the table. “If I had to guess, I’d say ten Aens would be a good start.”

“Ten Aens?” Tay felt his head go light.

Winning at the Keepers of the Vulpine’s tournament had only netted Tay three Aens, and at the time, he’d thought there could never be more money in all the world. Three Aens had been the equivalent of fifteen weeks of work in the candy shop. Just how many weeks would it take for them to scrounge together ten Aens.

More and more it seemed like Tay’s old life was calling back to him. He’d never liked being a thief, but what other options were they left with? Nothing could amount them coin as immediately as just taking what they needed and worrying about the consequences later.

“There’s more,” Cari said. “You don’t know this yet, but in order to compete in tournaments, you have to register with the Runic Council via a card shop. When you do, you’ll get a Ranking Card, and whatever one you buy will dictate what level of tournament you can compete in.”

Tay squirmed a bit, because Cari didn’t know he’d already gotten his hands on a Bronze Card. And it wasn’t like he could just pretend that he’d stolen it, or found it, or something, because it had a stamp from the local card shop. No, that would be too obvious.

There would be a time and place to tell Cari the truth about why the Polamunds had been able to track them down, but the fact of the matter was that they could worry about it once both sisters were safe. As it stood, Tay had already decided that he’d give himself until the end of the week to figure out what their living situation could look like. And if he couldn’t come up with anything, he’d start thinking about leaving them.

Because at the end of the day, they’d be safe with Quincy. It was wrong to leave them like this, but that was better than Quincy returning to finish what he’d already started.

“Problem is that we’d struggle enough buying you a Bronze Card,” Cari said. “But Bronze won’t be enough for you to compete in a battle tournament. For that, we’re going to need to get you’ll need Iron. And that’s going to be at least another five Aens.”

Now Tay did feel like swooning. He clutched at the back of Cari’s chair to keep himself on his feet. That was it then, wasn’t it—there was no hope in getting him into a battle tournament? They’d need to figure out another way of getting coin, and fast.

But how much coin would Tay had to alleviate from merchants to buy Sally and Cari their safety again? And how could he guarantee that doing so wouldn’t put them all in an even more dangerous situation? After all, it was his stealing that had gotten them all into this mess in the first place—a thought which made even more lightheaded.

“I think there could be a way of circumventing our problem of coin though,” Cari said.

Tay perked up. “For battle tournaments?”

Cari nodded. “If we were competing in battle tournaments bottomside, then you’d better believe we’d have to produce all that coin upfront ourselves. On top of that, it would be the most dangerous thing either of us has ever done. In Duskborough, folk don’t host battle tournaments anywhere where topside light shines. We’d have to go into the darker places bottomside, and I can’t say I’m itching to get down there.”

“Okay, so if we’re not thinking about competing in Duskborough battle tournaments…”

“Topside tournaments,” Cari finished. “They run them differently up there. I—I used to watch them as a kid, back when Sally was really little. My dad used to take me, actually. Topside runekeepers don’t actually pay for their own admittance fees nor Ranking Cards.”

“They don’t?”

Cari shook her head and grinned. “No. When Runicka was first founded, a complaint from Stormwall’s self-proclaimed upper class was that it was a game too much liked by the city’s lowlifes. There were wealthy people who took to the game, like Ramseth, but most thought it was a way for bottomsiders to climb their way into the city’s more graceful areas.

“So, to keep bottomsiders where the upper class wanted them, they increased the costs of battle tournaments exponentially and made them into a proper sport. Now instead of paying for their own admittance into these massive tournaments, topside runekeepers typically find themselves a sponsor.”

“Like, someone else to pay for them?” Tay asked.

“Someone else with a lot of coin to spare,” Cari said, raising her finger. “If we could just convince someone topside to pay for us, then we wouldn’t have to worry about forking up the coin.”

“For us?” Tay asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cari shrugged. “I figured that if we’re going to do this, then we might as well both compete. Double our chances of bringing home some coin?”

Tay stood back and put his hands on his hips. “First you’re teaching me how to summon revenants and now you’re thinking about summoning them yourself in a tournament. I thought this game was played with monsters, Cari?”

“It is,” Cari said, “Played with monsters, mostly by monsters. But monsters are everywhere in our world, Tay. Not just in Runicka. But it’s not like I’m going to get a chance to play. If we could convince a someone with plenty of coin to sponsor us, then we might as well ask them to buy us a house, right?”

Tay crossed his arms. “I don’t know. I think I have an idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~

True to Em’s word, the Keepers of the Vulpine did have a new sign up just above the door. The sign itself depicted the head of a rather curious-looking fox that had its muzzle clamped down around some Runicka cards. All in all, it seemed rather cute.

It must’ve been a slow night for the card shop though, because Tay couldn’t recall entering the place and there not being a Runicka game happening. There were some folks lounging on the other side of the shop, but no one was playing at the tables. But one thing stayed the same: not even slow nights could keep Atro away.

“Tay!” Atro said, bouncing up to him.

His friend scratched at the scruff along his chin, which was beginning to grow out into a rather luxurious neckbeard. Atro had a crooked grin about his face and didn’t hesitate to hook an arm around him.

“What’s it been a month now? Where you been? Have you heard the news?”

“News?” Tay asked, as Atro walked him into the shop.

“Yeah. Well, I guess it’s a week old now, so it’s not really news per say, but if you haven’t heard of it yet, then it’ll be news to you, right?”

“Is it something big, because I really only need to speak with Em for a moment.”

“Oh, it’s huge news, Tay. Everyone’s been losing their minds and I—”

“Atro!” Em said, and she shot Atro a cold glare from behind the counter. “Maybe not tonight, okay?”

Em’s stare had Atro scratching at the back of his head. Atro looked over to Tay, who only shrugged.

Atro then said, “Uh, yeah. Maybe not tonight. Sorry, Tay. Another time.” And then he wandered over to the other side of the counter to make himself busy—or seem busy, at the very least.

Em came over to stand across the counter from Tay, clutching at her shoulder, which stuck out from the sleeveless tunic she had on. “We all heard about what happened to Mond,” Em said. “We’re sorry, Tay. I know Atro might not seem like it, but all of Peace and Quiet grieves with you.”

It was hard to imagine what he was going through as grief, as Tay clutched the long sleeve he had pulled down to to his glove, covering any signs of his transformation. Looking around the shop, he had memories of beating someone here—winning his tournament—but he couldn’t quite recall their face. That meant it was Mond. And to that realization, Tay felt a sinking pit in his chest, but was it grief for Mond or for his memories?

“Yeah, well,” Tay said, “maybe that grief could go someway into lending me some coin?”

Em tensed up and then gave a weak smile. “I would, Tay. I really would. But if I help you, and if the Polamunds were to find out that I was doing so…”

“I get it,” Tay said.

“Plus, Amellia wouldn’t want me mixing up the shop into—”

“I get it,” Tay said. “Actually, you’ve just brought up the reason to why I’m here. I need to speak with Amellia.”

Em’s wide eyes went a little wider. “Speak with Amellia? Well, I mean, I’m sure you could when she comes around to the shop again. She doesn’t get down here often though, Tay. She might come to our next locals, but that won’t be for another three weeks.”

“Not in three weeks,” Tay said, putting his both his bare and gloved palm on the glass counter. “I need to speak with her this week. Today, even. Or tomorrow. Just soon. I need to speak with her soon.”

Em raised an eyebrow at him, but then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Tay. I don’t have a way of communicating with her though. She’s the one that comes down here to me whenever she’s wanting to collect her earnings. Outside of that, she comes for tournaments and that’s about it.”

“You don’t know where she lives?” Tay asked.

Em shrugged. “Topside, maybe? Or the Drip. Either way, I’ve no idea where.”

“I see,” Tay said, taking his hands off of the counter. “What about the other shops she owns? Surely, they have tournaments going that she’s visiting, right?”

“They might. That is, if she’s planning on visiting them. She usually comes on the days of tournaments, but even then she might not show up until a couple days later. She owns too many shops to visit each whenever they hold a tournament.”

“Do you know which one she’s visiting next?”

Em narrowed her eyes. “Why do you want to know so badly?”

“I just need to talk to her, Em. It’s important. Please.”

Em sighed, and then turned around to start sliding some cards from a pile into a deck box. “As far as I know, the next tournament she’ll be going to will be happening at the Broken Cardback in Candlecorner next week. I can’t remember what day that it’s happening on though, Tay. She only mentioned it last week when she was here to collect after our tournament. Sorry, Tay.”

Tay winced but then said, “No, it’s fine, Em.”

Next week was too far out. He’d have to come up with a contingency plan to get Cari and Sally some coin before he ditched them. He hated even considering leaving them behind, but Tay had to believe that this time, he was leaving people for all the right reasons instead of all the wrong ones. He was doing it to keep them safe, wasn’t he?

“She won’t be at the Prerelease?” Atro said from across the shop.

Em perked up. “Oh! She will! I didn’t even think about that. Just, with all that’s happened, but I know she’ll be there for sure because she was all uppity about getting her booth set up. She asked me to man it, but I don’t have the time nor willpower to make it all the way over to the Jar.”

“Prerelease?” Tay asked.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you about, Tay,” Atro said, coming over with the largest smile on his face.

He slapped down a flyer onto the glass counter, which had a large scaled serpent coiled in the middle of it. There were large characters in front that read Wrath of the Wyrms in bold letters.

“There’s a new expansion coming out!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Tay had thought the Jar was unlike anything else in Duskborough before, but over the past three days, he’d watched as workers had completely transformed it.

The whole bottom level of the Jar had been made into a labyrinth of humongous tents and rickety carts. Ladders stretched up from these to connect to the platforms that hung overhead, all the way up to topside itself. There wasn’t a festival so grand in all the world, nor something worth celebrating that could bring bottomside and topside together quite like this.

It was a good thing Atro had come with Tay as a guide, because without his friend, Tay would’ve just stood there gawking at all the topsiders and bottomsiders trading cards, sharing deck ideas, and just getting excited for the newest set of cards to be released.

Atro was like the bow of a ship that cuts through stormy waters, and he seemed to know exactly where they were heading. It made Tay wonder how familiar Atro was with an event like this. Tay couldn’t imagine Stormwall throwing such festivities more than once in a decade, let alone whenever a new expansion came out for Runicka.

“How often does an expansion like this come out?” Tay asked.

Atro replied, “The Runic Council used to release an expansion every year. But lately, they’ve only been coming out with new expansions once every couple years or so. The last one was two years ago almost—Winds of the West. That’s where Mond’s new cards came from.”

Tay tried to and successfully recalled seeing Neo Tamsian cards. He’d faced them in his final duel in the tournament that he’d won, but again, he couldn’t remember exactly who they’d belonged to. It was like remembering a piece of clothing, but not who’d been wearing it.

“Amellia’s booth should just up ahead,” Atro said. “She wanted to be closer to the center last time—I remember her saying that she particularly loves watching the melee duel.”

“Melee duel?”

But Tay had hardly asked that as the line of tents fell away and he and Atro stepped out into a wide makeshift road that stretched in a great big circle around a dug-out pit. There were bleachers running down into it, and wooden paths that connected the seats to the road and to the pit’s floor. Some people were shuffling on down to get themselves seats, but there was nobody down in the pit at the moment. Tay assumed taht whatever this melee duel was, it would take place down there.

“There!” Atro said. “I see her.”

And how could anybody miss her? Amellia had to be the tallest woman in all of Aenkora. She was nearly as tall as the booth herself, and her wide-brimmed scarlet hat made her seem something of a lamp post, like the colored ones that illuminated the Drip. Her dress was a matching color of scarlet, and as they pushed their way closer, Tay saw she had lipstick of a kind too.

Tay must’ve made an impression when they last met, because when Amelia laid eyes on them, she focused all of her attention on Tay. “Is that one of my champions?” Amellia said.

Tay and Atro made their way through the crowd. Amellia’s booth was popular, to say the least. There were rows of runekeepers, all laying their cards out on the counter. Amellia had some people behind the counter, taking these cards and counting them out. Then they’d slide coins back to the runekeepers, who were apparently selling their cards? Were they trying to come up with a bit more coin before the new expansion dropped then?

“You haven’t come to sell any of my cards back to me, have you?” Amellia asked.

Tay stiffened and placed his hand over his deckbox. Even thinking about replacing his Warlock cards felt wrong.

“I might have a couple of stacks of bulk that I need to get rid of,” Atro said. “Winds of the West wasn’t too kind to me. I don’t think I pulled anything worth more than five Gylls.”

Amellia tipped her hat. “Well, we’ll be happy to take it off your hands and give you something you can use to buy some new Wrath of the Wyrms packs when they drop tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe you’ll have more luck with these ones?”

Atro swelled his chest and said, “I know I will. The Runic Council has been touting this as a pack for every deck. These cards are supposed to complement any deck in the meta right now.”

Amellia smiled and then turned to Tay, “And what of my champion? You’re gripping your cards awfully tight there, aren’t you?”

Tay hadn’t realized, but his left hand’s knuckles were beginning to turn white. His cheeks felt warm as they flushed red in embarrassment. He removed his hand from the deck box and tried laughing it off.

“I just can’t imagine getting rid of my cards so soon,” he said.

“How else are you planning on staying in the meta?” Amellia asked. “A new expansion means new decks and a changing meta. You’ll need to adapt if you’re going to get to Iron.”

Tay chuckled and then cleared his throat. “Actually, it’s funny that you should mention that.”

Amellia gave her best silent “Oh?” and turned her head slightly.

Tay had decided already that he would just come out and say it. She would either say yes, or she would say no. Either way, he would have his answer and be able to adapt his plans to leave Cari and Sally accordingly. But now that the moment was at hand, he could feel his throat going dry.

A loud and echoing gong rang through the assembled crowd and festival, emanating from the center of the pit behind them. When Tay turned, all the crowds were now funneling into the bleachers as people started fighting over seats.

Amellia clapped her hands together and said, “Perfect! The melee is about to begin you two arrived just in time to help me find a good seat.”