Читать книгу The Golden Anchor - Cameron Stelzer - Страница 9

— PROLOGUE —

The Fish ‘n Ships Inn.

Five days earlier.

The young rat crouched, unseen, on the balcony of the high rollers’ room. His tail twitched nervously behind him. He was alone, and he was searching for an answer. Over the soft splashes of a stone fountain in the centre of the courtyard, he heard muffled voices coming from an open window. Intrigued, he pricked up his ears and listened.

‘… business as usual then?’ asked a thin, raspy voice.

‘Aye,’ replied a younger, quivering voice, ‘but we’re running short on workers and production’s ramping up. You wouldn’t happen to –?’

‘No,’ snapped the first voice. ‘That was never part of the deal. If you can’t meet the deadline, then –’

‘We’ll meet the deadline,’ interrupted a third voice, deep and confident. ‘I can assure you that more workers are being recruited as we speak.’

‘Good,’ hissed the first voice. ‘At least you have things under control.’

‘Always,’ said the deep voice. ‘Now, if we’re done talking, I’d like to get this game underway.’

There was a shuffle of chairs, the tinkle of coins and the creak of a door. The rat seized his opportunity to venture closer. He lowered himself onto his stomach and slithered towards the base of the window. Using a black marble statue as his cover, he raised his head and peered inside.

In the light of a small candle chandelier, he saw four animals seated around a felt-covered card table.

Two of the animals were meerkats, both smartly dressed. The third was a fox, wearing a long, black coat. His penetrating amber eyes stared, unblinking, at the high stacks of Aladryan gold coins belonging to the fourth member of the gathering – a mysterious cloaked figure with his back to the window.

A young mink in waitress attire approached the table holding a small deck of playing cards.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said, ‘the rules of Four-Suited Showdown are as follows: each player must first nominate a different suit – hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades.’

She held up a card from each suit as she spoke, then went on to explain the rest of the rules.

The rat listened from the shadows of the balcony, barely daring to breathe.

When the mink had finished speaking, she looked up at the four card players and announced, ‘And now, gentlemen, please make your selections.’

‘Diamonds,’ the fox said without hesitation, his deep voice stern and determined. ‘My lucky suit.’

‘I’ll take spades,’ a meerkat chimed in, his eyes fixed on the glittering gold. ‘The quickest way to riches is with a good ol’ spade – and I don’t mean by digging.’

‘Clubs,’ said the second meerkat, raising his paw.

The cloaked figure, left with no choice but to accept hearts, simply tapped a long, ape-like finger on the table, signalling for the game to begin.

As the mink stepped closer to the table, her foot caught on something resting against the fox’s chair. Trying to regain her balance, she stumbled forward and a thin, black walking cane toppled towards the ground. With lightning-quick reflexes, the fox threw out an orange paw and grabbed the cane in mid-air.

‘Do watch yourself, my dear,’ he said in a restrained voice. ‘A new cane of this quality would be hard to replace on waitress’s wages.’ With a contemptuous smirk, he hoisted the cane into the candlelight, revealing an enormous pink stone set into its hilt.

The rat stifled a gasp.

A rare pink diamond, he thought in amazement, and it’s huge …

As he continued to marvel at the glittering jewel, he noticed that the knock had separated the wooden handle of the cane from its lower shaft, exposing a thin blade of steel at its core.

His eyes widened.

That’s no walking cane, he realised. It’s a sheathed sword.

The mink stammered her humble apologies and the fox hurriedly slid the cane out of sight under his long coat.

In moments, the first round of cards was being dealt.

The rat watched, enthralled, his eyes fixed on the cloaked stranger’s cards, unaware that the game taking place would change the rest of his life.