Page 70 of A World Enough

“I will find her, Davor. I promise,” Cardo pleaded.

It wasn’t often a vampire had to plead to anyone. But he would plead to a god, Davor thought.

Davor left Cardo’s plea hanging, simply to make Cardo feel more uncomfortable. He sat in his command chair and slowly crossed his legs. He was exuding the power that could end Cardo’s life.

“People have always made promises to me, and to my fellow gods, Cardo. But promises mean nothing. If you don’t give us what we want—promises spell death.”

Cardo put his hands together. “I will put everything into finding this woman. I won’t promise, I will guarantee you.”

“Guarantee?” Davor said. “Big words. I hope they come to pass, for your sake. Your planet has lived happily with Abnobia. We enjoy excellent relations, we have common cause in keeping the weak under our boots or destroying them if we must. But a hand of friendship can very quickly disappear.”

Davor leaned forwards in his seat. “Let me say again, it can very easily disappear if you disappoint us, Cardo.”

Cardo looked like he hadn’t fed in weeks, shaky and pale. “The next time I see you, I will have the Map Keeper.”

“Excellent.”

Davor changed his menacing look to smiles in an instant. “If there’s anything you need after you apprehend her, let me know. Otherwise set a course directly for Danus. We are currently closing in on their space now. I need to have some words with Vorka. So I will leave you to your job, Cardo, and with the word you’ve given me, I will see you very soon. Goodbye.”

Davor signalled to end the communication.

One thing Davor knew for certain. Intelligence had Camber at Ziggy’s. Ziggy had always been accommodating to searches in property and person around the moon. He was sure that he would be able to send over his subordinates to turn over every inch of that moon, but he was willing to wait until tomorrow to see how Cardo did.

“You! You have to be cheating.”

“Excuse me,” Kartog said, “I’ve never cheated about anything in my life. I simply excel in many games.”

While waiting on Ziggy to be free, she decided to play a few rounds of cards, and she had equally frustrated each of her opponents, apart from one first-time player, a young woman called Jenice, who was struggling but smiling and enjoying the game.

The man who had lost his temper with her was called Balbo. He was of short legs and body, with scaly skin and two black eyes.

Balbo didn’t take well to being beaten. Before the game he proudly boasted about how good a player he was. He was apparently on the Kings Cycle circuit. Kings Cycle was a card game based on the ancient ones who built the portals, both good and evil characters. Baldo said he made a good living doing that.

Kartog found it amusing. She had skills and experience over a long, long lifetime. Other species would take many, many lifetimes to fill her one, so her experience meant a great deal.

One of Kartog’s interests throughout the years was cards and other casino games. It was never about the money—she would have played for nothing. It was about the techniques and mathematical problem solving. She’d always been good with numbers and liked to test her ability now and again.

Players said you needed luck, but Kartog made her own luck, assessing the probabilities of each card and each hand that was drawn.

“I will not have this,” Baldo shouted at the dealer.

“No need to shout at the boy,” Kartog said.

Baldo pointed at Kartog. “One more round.” Then he pointed at the dealer. “And I want a fresh set of cards.”

“If you insist, sir.”

The young man looked uncomfortable at Baldo’s anger. Now Kartog wanted more than ever to beat Baldo.

Baldo looked at the other players. “Does anyone else want to join in the game? We have to get our money back from this tall, pink—”

Before he said any more that would get him into trouble with her bow and arrow, she finished off his words for him.

“Tall, pink Galan warrior, I think you mean.”

Her glare was enough to stop him from calling her racist names.

The young woman, Jenice, said, “I’ve lost all my money, but I’d love to stay and watch, Kartog.”