An excerpt from 'On the Legends and Lore of Adelais':

A Report on the Criminal Activity in Kaligar

For all its natural beauty, religious tolerance, and racial peace, Kaligar is often regarded as the most dangerous kingdom in Adelais. For those who have visited Kaligar, this should not come as a surprise. The rainforest is filled with many plants and animals that are not only deadly but also carry diseases. Most Adelian poisons, in fact, are derived from the seeds and petals of flowers located in the jungles of Kaligar. On top of that, small tribal wars have been known to break out every few years, and these cannot be squelched by any militia of sorts, as the thick jungles and swamps of the land make it difficult for the centurions to enforce any kind of laws outside the capital city of Masiela.

Perhaps the greatest threat Kaligar poses to the rest of the world, however, is the extent of criminal activity that takes place within its borders. Smuggling—particularly of the curious race of Man, who are captured from their native kingdom of Penee—is the most well-documented version of criminal activity in Kaligar, but it is certainly not the only one. Drugs, animal-fighting and other illegal sports, and the occasional assassination of persons of interest are also abnormally high.

Today, there is one well-known gathering point for all the various evils trafficking across the land. It is an outpost, known to those who use it as the Crossroads, in a valley in the jungle where the soil is as clean as a freshly-picked carcass. The history of the Crossroads is a fascinating one, if only because it represents humanity in its most basic form.

Many people, even those native to Kaligar, have never heard of the Crossroads. Indeed, on most modern maps of the Adelais, it cannot be found anymore. Long ago, however, the outpost was a bustling haven for merchants, traders, and the weary traveler. The inn became its most famous feature, as the burning red flames on its rooftop could be seen for many miles away.

When Masiela was founded and declared the economic capital of Kaligar, new roads were carved through the jungle and the old roads leading to the Crossroads were forgotten. Many of these old roads, without the shuffling of human feet and the careless razzing of wagon wheels to maintain them, became tangled in roots and leaves and were eventually overtaken by the underbrush of the jungle.

Eventually, the Crossroads became overrun by criminal vermin. The buildings, once stores and banks and homes, were pillaged for what little treasures remained and were burned to the ground. Perhaps nobody thought to burn down the inn, or perhaps the many kegs of ale and the dusty bottles of wine in the cellar was incentive enough to keep the old building intact. Over time, the basement of the inn was converted into a tavern, and the upstairs became a boarding house for passing evil. The criminals who lived here had learned to organize, to evolve, to become a society as corrupt as Masiela was decent, as sinister as Masiela was righteous.

We are not so different than the sirens and the mermaids, or the birds and the fish. Wherever there are two creatures that do not agree, one is destined to become a predator and the other its prey. We are at war with ourselves. In our quest to achieve greatness, we will destroy ourselves. It is the unfortunate and ironic fate that awaits us all.

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On this particular night in Kaligar, tropical gusts swooped in from the hillsides and washed across the barren landscape of the Crossroads, carrying with them a torrent of wind and rain. The lanterns that were draped over the gates of the outpost howled with the wind as their fires were reduced to smoldering red embers.

Inside the tavern, the outlaws of the kingdom took shelter from the rain, busying themselves with booze and cards. Conversation was loud, for there were no secrets in this place, no ordinary social graces to keep up.

"She must have a reason for coming forward now, don't you think?"

"Of course she has a reason," a blue-haired woman said, tossing a handful of chips into the pot. She was dressed in the blackened garbs of a ninja, with a bandana wrapped around her neck, and she carried a katana that extended from her hip like a third leg. "She's trying to draw us out into the open."

"I don't know about that. Kamilla has never had problems getting to you before."

The blue-haired ninja gave a smug grin. "Perhaps. But Kamilla is short on friends these days. Little by little, the weasel is running out of people to protect her and places to hide..." She stroked the hilt of her katana with a single finger. "You can thank me for that."

"Thank you? I'll thank you for nothing, Lynne." The merchant glared at the other faces around the table, even though they paid her no mind. "You and your gang of thugs have done nothing but kill off my customers. I'm losing all my business."

"You're going to lose a lot more than that if you stop paying us," Lynne said calmly. She picked up the cards that were dealt in front of her and began swapping them around.

"...Is that a threat?"

Lynne decided she didn't like what she had done and swapped the cards back.

"Don't you threaten me, Lynne. I've always paid my dues on time." Her eyes returned to the other ninjas, who were snickering and whispering to each other in a foreign tongue. "...You live by a code of honor, all of you. You can't just go around killing the people you work with."

"Yes," Lynne said. "But, like you said, these are tough times. Business hasn't been so great for me either. We have to find ways to cut corners when it suits us."

"Then find Kamilla. Her head must be worth at least five hundred gold by now."

"...I don't waste my time chasing cowards."

"Oh, you'd rather shake up honest merchants for their gold?"

"Honest?" Lynne looked up from her cards and spit on the floor at the merchant's feet. "You haven't been honest since the day you opened up shop, Nina. I've seen the kind of forgeries you try to pass off as the real thing."

Nina bit down on her tongue to keep from saying anything she might have regretted, but her eyes remained fixated on Lynne. If she had the guts, maybe she would have smashed that bottle of ale in front of her and treated Lynne's face to its jagged underside. She could probably get it through Lynne's skull before the rest of the ninjas came to her aid. Or maybe they would cheer her on, for Lynne was hated by just about everybody, even the people that worked for her.

But then, there was that katana... Many women, much stronger and with quicker reflexes than Nina, had fallen to that blade. After all, Lynne wasn't nicknamed the 'Hawkeye' for nothing. She could see an attack coming before it happened, and she had the speed to draw her blade at a moment's notice and strike victory with her glowing silver talon in a single swing.

There were those who said Lynne was just that good. There were others, though, who would in secret claim Lynne was only alive today because of two reasons: one, she never picked a fight she couldn't win, and, two, she never trusted anybody. The former was a well-known catch phrase of hers, and one that most of her victims became aware of only when she had drawn her blade on them. As proof of the latter, she never made deals with somebody she didn't feel she could outsmart and she never sat with her back to the door in any establishment. In fact, she never sat anywhere near the door. Her table was at the far end of the tavern, with her chair nestled tightly into the corner, so that she could always see who was coming and going. It allowed her to judge who she could take in a brawl and who she might have to flee from.

Lynne was a little more lax on checking the door of the tavern tonight, mostly because she was discussing important business matters with her associate, but she noticed when the old wooden door creaked open and a sudden gleam of light caught her eye. It was only a quick flash—something only a person with the instincts of a ninja would have caught—but, to a professional like Lynne, it was as bright as a ruby and as blinding as the sun, if only for a moment.

Suddenly intrigued, Lynne craned her neck to see over Nina's shoulder and spotted an unfamiliar face by the door. It was the face of a young woman, hidden almost completely by a hooded cloak, who stood awkwardly and stiff in the doorway in her wet clothes.

It wasn't until Lynne moved her chair that she noticed the woman was struggling to remove something from her finger.

And that's when Lynne saw it. The ring. It was a beautiful, crimson-colored jewel, which was the size of a small jewel at least. The woman's hands were kept mostly inside the sleeves of her cloak, working quickly but uneasily, as if she had forgotten she had left a priceless jewel on her finger when she walked into a room full of thieves.

A sinister sneer worked its way across Lynne's face. The woman had removed the ring and pocketed it inside her cloak in a matter of seconds, but time moved much slower for Lynne than the average person. She could catch a fly by its wings in midair and stomp on a man before he even knew she was there. By the time the ring was out of sight, Lynne had memorized exactly what it looked like, estimated what it was worth, and created an entire profile for the young woman in her head. From what she could see at this distance, the woman was a sickly-looking thing—thin, like a mouse, but tall, and with a blushed face that suggested she was suffering from a cold—and she stumbled across the room with such nervous, wandering eyes that it was almost certain she was lost.

This wasn't all that uncommon. Many women had lost their way in the rainforest. It was a thick, sweltering place up in the hilltops, after all, and the wise traveler would always think to head into the valley where the air was cooler. That would eventually lead them here, to this place, to the Crossroads—a rugged, crudely-built sort of roadstead for the vagrant and wayward.

Of course, this young woman, this pitiful wanderer with the jewel of red, must not have realized this was only a place for the poor or the crooked. Or perhaps she did, for she was clever enough to remove her ring without attracting any attention, but she was not quick enough to keep Lynne from seeing it. That mistake would cost her.

No, she was most likely a fool. She wouldn't make it out of this tavern alive if anybody else had seen that ring. But they didn't. They didn't have the view of the door like Lynne did, they didn't have the eyes of a hawk like Lynne did, and they weren't going to be one thousand gold coins richer at the end of the night like Lynne was.

She smiled to herself, mindlessly throwing a couple of chips into the pot, and waited.

Nina stared at her. "What were you looking at?"

"...Today just might be your lucky day," Lynne said. "I think I'm about to come into a lot of gold."

"Not the way you play poker," Nina remarked, watching as Lynne dropped a pair of deuces and lost to a full house. One of the ninjas scooped up the pot and started snickering.

"Forget the game," Lynne said, scooting her chair around. "See that drifter by the bar?"

Nina turned around. "...Um, I see a lot of drifters by the bar."

"The one who looks like she'd fall over if you dropped a leaf on her."

Nina spotted the young woman stooped over one of the bar stools with her arms across her chest. The woman shivered and sneezed and nearly fell off the stool.

"...Yeah, I see her," Nina said. "What's wrong with her? It looks like she's dying."

"No... No, I don't suppose she'll die. Not if she cooperates."

"You lost me."

Lynne motioned for her ninjas to deal her out for the next hand and stood up.

"Just wait here," she said, grabbing the hilt of her katana. "I need to go introduce myself to our new friend..."

Meanwhile, the drifter was making friends of her own.

"You sneeze on my Manwich!" a husky barbarian woman roared, throwing down her half-eaten burger.

The woman looked up apologetically.

"I'm terribly sorry," she said, rubbing her nose. At the same time, she unfolded her arms and hastily reached into the contents of her cloak. "Please, allow me to buy you another..."

The barbarian caught her by the wrist and pinned her arm against the counter. "You think I dumb? I not let you pull knife on me!"

"A knife? I...I'd never keep such a thing on my person. I only—"

"You sneeze on my Manwich and now I make sandwich outta you!"

The barbarian threw a punch, but her gargantuan fist was stopped in mid-swing by Lynne. Before the barbarian could retaliate, the tip of Lynne's katana was at her throat.

"Do you want to live?" Lynne asked.

The barbarian woman grunted and nodded.

"Are you going to hurt this poor girl?"

The barbarian continued nodding and then quickly changed her mind when Lynne pushed the blade into her skin.

"N-no..." the barbarian said. "No. I not hurt poor girl."

"Good." Lynne released some of the pressure on her katana. "Now, get your face out of here before I cut it off."

The barbarian went back to nodding, took a few steps towards the door, and then ran away crying. The whole room boomed like thunder as she did so.

After the earthquake stopped, Lynne helped the young woman to her feet.

"You're shaking," Lynne said.

"It's not out of fear, I assure you," the woman said weakly. She caught herself on the edge of the counter and put a hand on her chest.

Lynne laughed as she slid her katana back into its sheath. "I like you. You must have metal in your veins to pick a fight with an ogre like that."

"I'm just glad she didn't spill my guts all over the floor."

"Yeah, it's a good thing I was here." Lynne held out her hand. "Lynne 'Hawkeye' Tsuruko, leader of the Kaligar Blades."

The woman seemed surprise at first, and then smiled and shook her hand. Lynne smiled too, but it was only because she was looking at the tan line on the woman's finger where that ring had been not too long ago.

"The Kaligar Blades?" the woman echoed, breaking her trance.

"Yes," Lynne said. "We are the proud servants of Princess Erika. We defend this kingdom against troublemakers like that ugly brute you had the displeasure of meeting."

"Oh... Well, thank you. I should reward you for your kindness."

"Reward me?" Lynne chuckled and put an arm around her. "I could never take something from a friend of mine. Come. Join us at my table for cards and all the beef and ale you can eat." Then she looked at the girl's meek face. "...Or perhaps all the biscuits and ginger tea you can eat." The woman seemed more satisfied with this, so Lynne snapped her fingers at the barkeeper. "Hey, you. Bring us over some biscuits and ginger tea or I'll cut out your tongue."

"...Um, thank you," the woman said again. "I am quite hungry. I haven't eaten in many days."

"She looks like she hasn't ever eaten," Nina whispered to the other ninjas, who snickered, even though they couldn't understand a word Nina was saying.

"Let me get you a chair," Lynne said. She walked over to another table, yanked a chair out from under someone who was clearly using it at the time, and carried it over. She placed the chair between Nina and one of the ninjas.

The woman continued to smile as she settled into her seat. She innocently glanced around on either side of her, got irritated glares from both of them, and turned red. Carefully folding her hands in her lap, she rolled up her lips and looked down at her feet.

Lynne climbed back to her usual seat in the corner.

"Do you know how to play poker?" she asked, shuffling the cards.

"Yes." The woman nodded. "Faintly. My gramma taught me when I was very young."

"Ah, your grandmother..." Lynne grinned and began dealing the cards. "Well, that's good. Poker hasn't changed much over the years."

The woman waited until all the cards were passed out before picking up her hand, and she only did so after everybody else was already looking at their cards.

The ninja to the right of Lynne scratched her chin for a while and threw five coins into the pot. The next ninja did the same.

The woman watched them with an eyebrow of confusion and then looked up at Lynne, who feigned surprise.

"Oh, it's okay if you don't want to bet real money," Lynne said. "We use these chips here as fake currency."

Nina opened her mouth to speak. "No, we don—" But she was stopped by a swift kick from Lynne.

The woman blushed and reached into her cloak, pulling out a small coin purse. "No, it's okay. I have...twenty gold on me." One by one, she pulled out five coins and placed them in the center of the table in a neat little stack that she straightened after each new coin was added. "It's the least I can do for all your hospitality."

Nina shook her head, but shrugged and dropped some coins into the pot as well. The hand continued in this fashion until everybody had finished betting.

"Okay, time to show your hands," Lynne said, revealing the two of clubs, four of diamonds, six of clubs, seven of spades, and ten of hearts.

The woman put down a pair of threes.

"You win!" Lynne announced.

Nina stared down at her ace-high straight. "Uh... Lynne, I have a—"

"She wins, Nina," Lynne hissed.

Nina felt a metal blade brush against her thigh.

"Oh...uh, silly me," she said. "I forgot all the cards have to be the same suit in a straight to count."

Lynne leaned across the table and pushed the pile of coins towards the young woman.

"Your grandmother must have been a very good teacher," Lynne said.

"Yes, she was."

"Shall we play some more?"

The woman nodded and smiled and Lynne smiled and Nina smiled and all the other ninjas at the table smiled.

For the first few hands, the woman couldn't be beat. She would win with hands that would make even the best poker players fold. Once she was up about a hundred gold, though, the game began to change.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lynne said. "My ten-high straight beats your two-of-a-kind."

"But I thought they all have to be the same suit in a straight..." the woman argued.

"That's only on the first hand of the game," Nina said.

"Oh."

Lynne took the whole pot.

"Well...I won't be a sore loser," the woman said. "Let's play some more."

And so they played, and so she lost, over and over, until her coin purse was looking very light. With a flustered grimace, she held it upside down and shook it. A single gold coin fell to the table, wobbled around in circles, and at last landed on its side.

"Well, that's my last coin..." she said. "I suppose I should call it a night."

"That is most unfortunate," Lynne said casually as she shuffled the cards. "As it turns out, it costs two gold coins to rent a room here for the night. Isn't that right, Nina?"

"That's right," Nina said. "And it costs three gold coins for the suite."

The woman frowned.

"And where are you from again?" Lynne asked.

"Ellewyn..."

Lynne shook her head sadly as she began to square the deck with her fingertips. "Ellewyn. That's a long walk from here... I don't think you'll be able to make the trip on a single gold coin. How will you eat? Where will you sleep? I hate to think of all the dangers lurking out there for someone like you."

The woman wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"And you're so sick. How will you ever survive?"

"I do have...one more thing I can bet," the woman said. Her voice was cracking, and she sounded even weaker than before. "It's not gold, but it is worth a lot of money..."

The woman reached into her cloak and fumbled around for something. She paused when she was found what she was looking. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand on the table and laid down the most beautiful ruby ring anybody at the table had ever seen. The ninjas were frozen to their seats, Nina's jaw dropped to her chest, and the corners of Lynne's lips curled up towards her high cheekbones. That ring was worth more than she even imagined. The band was ornate jade and gold and resembled a cobra, whose head and tail connected at the top of the ruby, and its fangs draped over the sides of the ruby and locked it in place.

"This belonged to my gramma," the woman said sadly. "Before she passed away, she gave it to me and said it would give me good luck, but to only use it when I have to. I..." She opened her eyes. "I suppose this is as good of a time as any..."

"Aye," Lynne said, still mesmerized by the red stone. "Aye, this is a very good time."

"Then we have a bet?"

Lynne looked over at Nina, who gave a nod and a wink, and Lynne began gathering the cards at the edge of the table and stacking them.

"Yes, but we'll make this interesting," she said. "High card. Just between you and me."

The woman nodded, tightened the strings of her cloak, and sat up in her seat.

Lynne began shuffling once more. She spent a long time running the cards back and forth this time, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

Then, as if her prayers had been answered, the woman looked away and sneezed. She only had turned her head to the side for a second, but that was all the time Lynne needed to swap the deck in her hand with the one up her sleeve. Just as quickly, she slammed the deck down on the center of the table and leaned back in her chair.

"I'll go first," she said, sliding her fingers along the edge of the cards. She touched them each carefully, using her ninja instincts, and then squeezed down and pulled up the card tenth down in the deck.

"Ha," Lynne said. She almost forgot to look at the card. " The queen of diamonds."

The ninjas at the table cheered and began banging their palms against the table. Nina simply rolled her eyes.

Still grinning, Lynne slid the remainder of the deck over to the woman.

"Good luck," she said.

The woman put a hand on the deck. She stroked the cards carefully, tapping the top of the deck with her index finger. Then, taking a deep breath, she pinched her fingers around a certain amount of cards and picked them up and looked at the card she had received.

"...It's the king of clubs," she said, turning the card around.

There was silence at the table, followed by the roar of laughter.

"You lose!" Lynne said.

The woman sighed and dropped the cards. Everybody in Adelais knew kings were the lowest cards in the deck.

"I'll be taking that now," Lynne said, swiping the ring from the table. She stood up and gazed down at the young woman as she slipped the precious family heirloom onto her ring finger. "It looks better on me anyway, don't you think?"

The woman's eyes began to water, but she tried to hide it by wiping her nose and her eyes at the same time.

"Why don't you get out of here now, tramp? We have what we want from you."

The woman put her hand down.

"But..." she said. "I thought we were friends..."

Lynne laughed, Nina laughed, and even the ninjas who didn't understand a word of their language laughed.

"Friends?" Lynne said. "I saw the ring on your finger when you walked in the door. It's your fault for being careless. You're just lucky I didn't have to kill you to get it."

"You...would kill me for my ring?"

"I still will, if you don't get away from our table now."

The woman remained seated, trembling, and laid her hands on the table.

"What's wrong with you?"

"...Could I just have a few more coins for the road?" she asked. "It's such a long walk and—"

"She said 'get out of here!'" Nina said, planting a foot in the woman's side and knocking her out of the seat. They all laughed when she hit to the floor.

With a smug grin, Lynne scooped up a small handful of coins from the table and flung them at her.

"Take them," she said. "If you ever make it home, do yourself a favor and buy a spine."

The woman crawled across the floor and gathered up the scattered coins while the ninjas pointed and laughed at her. When she had collected them, she rose to her feet, adjusted the hood of her cloak and, with a face redder than the sun, took one last look at the ninjas before turning away.

"Tell your dead grandmother I'll take good care of her ring!" Lynne laughed.

The woman stopped. She stood there for a minute, still shaking, before turning around and marching straight towards the ninjas. She raised her hand as if she was going to strike them and then, perhaps thinking better of it, slammed her palm against the table. The gold coins rang like bells and she pulled her hand away.

"I want my ring back," she said.

Lynne shook her head and held out her hands.

"I gave you the chance to walk away with a little money and dignity," she said. "If you really want to lose the rest of your money to us, then have a seat."

The woman narrowed her eyebrows, but didn't say a word as she sat back down. Chuckling to herself, Lynne picked up the cards and began dealing them.

The betting began and all of the woman's coins soon ended up in the pot.

"I sure hope you have a good hand," Lynne said. "Or otherwise this won't be much of a dramatic comeback."

The woman bit down on her lip.

Lynne laid down her cards. "Three fours."

"Three sevens," the woman said quickly, tossing her cards on top of Lynne's cards and taking the entire pot.

The other ninjas started snickering.

"...Very impressive," Lynne said. She reached over, grabbed a bottle of ale, and took a long swig. When she put the bottle down, she began collecting the cards. "I'm surprised I didn't have to throw a hand for you to actually win one."

The woman ignored her and went on to win the next hand.

And the next.

And the next.

Before long, she had over a hundred gold coins.

"This is getting ridiculous," Lynne said. "Nobody gets three sevens three hands in a row."

"I think you're just unlucky," the woman said. "Maybe I should deal."

"No."

The woman shrugged and pushed all her coins into the center of the table. "I'm all in."

"I haven't even dealt yet!"

"Oh, sorry." The woman waited patiently for the cards to be dealt. She looked them over and hummed a soft melody to herself.

Lynne glared at her. "How many cards do you want?"

"Zero," she answered.

Everybody else folded.

Lynne scowled. "...You are messing with the wrong person, kid. I'll raise you forty gold coins."

"Then I'll raise you sixty gold."

"One hundred gold!" Lynne shouted, kicking the table.

The woman nodded. "I'll call. What do you have?"

Nina peeked over at Lynne's cards and slapped her forehead.

"You bet that much with a queen-high?"

"That's not so bad," the woman said quietly, flipping over her cards. "All I had was an ace."

Grinding her teeth, Lynne began to crinkle the cards in her hand and flicked them across the table as she fell back into her chair.

"You cheating tramp..." she muttered, putting the bottle back to her lips.

"Pardon?"

"I know you're cheating."

"You're the one using the rigged deck. Not me."

Lynne mumbled something, but began passing out the cards again.

"You won't win this one..." she promised.

The woman nodded, glanced at her cards, and tossed ten coins into the pot.

"I raise you twenty," Lynne said without even looking at her cards.

"I'll call."

"Fine..." Lynne put down her bottle. "How many cards do you want?"

"None. In fact..." She put the tip of her finger on one of the cards and slid it across the table facedown. "I won't be needing this one at all."

Lynne was fuming as she drew two cards from the deck for herself. She looked at her hand and grinned. Three sevens.

"Ten gold," the woman said calmly.

"Call," Nina said.

All the ninjas folded.

When it was Lynne's turn, she counted out fifty gold coins and threw them into the pot.

The woman responded by raising her ten more coins.

Nina glanced around the table and then at her remaining money. With a frustrated sigh, she folded her hand.

"You two can fight it out," she said.

Lynne glared at the woman. "...I know you don't have your three sevens this time."

"Is that how you rigged the deck this time?"

"I don't have to answer that."

The woman flashed her a warm smile.

"...I'm going to end this here," Lynne stood up. "I am raising you three hundred gold coins."

She spent a couple of minutes counting out her chips while the woman laid her four cards on the table.

"I bet you've never seen that much money in your life," Lynne said.

"It is indeed a lot of gold," the woman agreed.

"It's a good hand."

"I'm sure it is."

Lynne pushed the money into the pot, but her hands were shaking. It really was a lot of gold.

The woman looked down at the colorful backs of her cards and appeared to be pondering her options very carefully.

"Getting a little too hot for you?" Lynne asked, sitting back down.

"No, I was just thinking..." The woman traced her fingers across the cards. Then she picked up one of her cards, seemingly at random, and cast it aside. "I don't really need this one either. And I raise you three hundred more."

"What!" Lynne screamed. "You are a filthy cheater!"

"I have two less cards than you. How is that cheating?"

"I don't know how you're doing it, but I know you're cheating!"

"She's not cheating, Lynne," Nina said. "I've been watching her the whole time."

Lynne drew her katana. "Shut UP, Nina!"

"Are you in or out?" the woman asked.

"I don't have three hundred left."

"You have my ring."

Lynne looked at her finger. The eyes of the snake glittered, even in the dimly-lit tavern, and seemed to mock her. Then she turned to the woman, who was suddenly looking a lot less flushed in the cheeks, and her eyebrows narrowed to a point.

"...Fold," Lynne said at last, tossing her cards away. "At least you won't get your ring back."

The woman shrugged and started gathering up the huge stack of coins in the pot, one coin at a time.

"What did you have anyway?" Nina asked, peeking at one of the cards. When she saw what it was, she turned it over and blinked. "...What the hell is a queen of circles?"

Lynne knocked her chair over. "What!?"

Nina turned over the other two cards. In addition to the queen of circles, there was a joker from another deck entirely and a coupon for a free turkey sandwich at Lanamdi's Lunch 'N' Lurch.

Lynne's eyes turned to flames.

"I'm not a very good cheater," the woman admitted as she began stacking the coins into perfect little stacks. "But then, I don't really need to be."

"...You should've gotten out of here when you had the chance," Lynne said.

The woman ignored her and continued building a sculpture of coins.

With an angry shout, Lynne grabbed the table between both hands and flipped it over. Coins, bottles of ale, bits of food, and ninjas were thrown to the floor. The woman remained in her seat and put her now empty hands in her lap.

"I'll enjoy gutting you very much," Lynne said, coming at her.

The woman didn't resist as Lynne seized her by the cloak, threw her out of the seat, and pinned her against the wall.

"You seem upset," the woman said. "If it helps, you can keep all the money I won. I only want my ring back."

"Your ring?" Lynne made a fist and held her knuckle to the woman's face, pressing the ring into her eye socket. "You don't seem to understand where you are, kid. You don't go around cheating me at cards and then try to make deals with me."

"It's not a deal. It's a proposition."

"A proposition?" For a moment, Lynne's anger subsided and there was a hint of drunken humor in her voice. She peered over her shoulder at Nina and the other ninjas. "Did you hear that? The kid wants to make a 'proposition' with me." She punched the woman's face and dropped her arm. "What kind of proposition could you possibly have for me?"

The woman collapsed to one knee and put a hand over her eye.

And that's when Lynne first noticed it. The woman's hair. It had been hidden by that hood this entire time, but a single strand of red now dangled over her forehead, knocked loose by the blow she had just suffered. Standing back up, the woman casually blew it away.

"What the f—" Lynne started to say, and she pulled down the woman's hood and her hands went limp. She knew that face. Those eyes. That damn red hair.

"It's Rene Chandel!" Nina screamed, and she ran behind the counter and hid.

The other ninjas drew their weapons and made a circle around Lynne and the redheaded woman.

"How about a proposition for your life?" Rene asked.

"My life?" The strength in Lynne's arm seemed to return and she raised her katana to the woman's throat, although her hand was not nearly as steady as before. "Rene Chandel, you wrong me. You may be a legend outside these walls, but you will find no friends here. As you can see, you are quite outnumbered right now."

Rene took a moment to glance at all the weapons pointed at her.

"It would certainly seem that way," she said. "Fortunately, I will not take this personally. My proposition is still on the table. That is, unless you want to knock over that table as well."

Lynne punched her again.

"Don't speak to me like that!" she snapped. "I don't care who you are."

Back on her knees, Rene checked her lip and she was bleeding. She wiped away what she could with her tongue and used her finger for the rest.

"You didn't even hear me out," she said.

Lynne grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the corner of the room.

"I think I'll sleep just fine tonight without knowing why the legendary Rene Chandel surrendered her ring and her life to me in my own tavern," she said, kicking the redhead in the gut. "Yes." She kicked her again. "I think I'll rest very easily knowing you're dead."

Rene sat up, still bleeding, and leaned against the wall.

"...Search her," Lynne commanded. The ninjas rushed over and began ripping apart Rene's cloak.

"...I'm feeling like it's a little crowded in here," Rene said, coughing. "Why don't we go outside, Lynne? Just you and me. I'll tell you my proposition there."

Lynne walked over to nearby table and grabbed a bottle of ale.

Meanwhile, the ninjas stood up and said something to Lynne in their foreign language. The blue-haired ninja seemed surprised at first, and then ripped the cork off the bottle with her teeth and spit it to the side before taking a swig.

"Tell me," she said, setting a chair down in front of Rene and sitting backwards on it. "Is it common practice for a swashbuckler of your stature to go around unarmed?"

"I must have left my rapier in my other cloak," she said. "Perhaps you'll allow me to go retrieve it."

The drunks in the tavern laughed and Lynne took another sip of ale. Nina, who had been crouched down behind the counter in hiding until now, stood up and joined them.

"You truly are pathetic," Lynne said, looking down at battered redhead. "I didn't think all those legends about your overblown accomplishments were true."

"Well, I suppose you're in the minority then," Rene said. "Still, my proposition stands. I cannot disclose all the details with so many witnesses around, but I can say I am looking to do some hunting and I need a partner. I was hoping for someone else, but I suppose you'll do."

"Is that what you suppose?" Lynne laughed and the others joined in. "And what is the target of this hunt? Is the 'legendary' Rene Chandel going to slay another dragon? Or is that just a story for the kiddies?"

"I feel it's okay for me to say the target of this hunt is neither an animal or a beast," Rene said.

"A human then?" Lynne's eyes widened and she started banging the bottle in her hand with the side of her katana. "Now, hear this, ladies! Rene Chandel needs my help tracking down another woman! Who would believe this if I told them?"

Lynne placed her foot on Rene's shoulder and took another swig of ale.

"And who exactly are we hunting?" she asked.

"I will reveal that information when you agree to meet me alone in a destination I decide at a time I will determine."

Lynne pondered it over for a moment.

"You do realize you leave me a difficult situation, Rene Chandel," she said, dangling the bottle in her hand by its neck. "I mean, I could let you walk out of here with only your word that we'll meet up later for this supposed 'hunt' that you refuse to tell me anything about... Or I could slit your throat right where you sit. That sounds a lot less messy to me. And afterward, they'll all call me 'Lynne Hawkeye Tsuroko the Dragon Slayer Slayer.'"

"...I'm fairly certain nobody would ever call you that," Rene said. "Particularity because you won't live to see tomorrow's sunrise without my help."

"Is that so?" Lynne finished her ale and rocked in the chair. "And just how do you figure that?"

Rene smiled and let her head dangle loosely on her shoulders. With a calm sigh, she looked down at her fingernails, which she was using to scrape away a splinter of wood from the floorboards beneath her.

"Because that ring you are wearing has been slowly injecting your blood stream with a very lethal amount of lifandoral since you threw that first punch at me," she said.

"...What?"

Lynne dropped the bottle and tugged at the ring on her finger, but it was stuck. The fangs of the cobra had punctured through her skin and were now pumping toxins through her body from a capsule within the cobra's head.

"It's a very small amount of lifandoral," Rene said softly. "I hope you don't mind. It's more than enough to stop your heart, I assure you, but I just couldn't bring myself to waste more than a few ounces on you."

"You ginger-haired tramp!" Lynne cried, yanking on her finger. "I'll kill you for this, Rene. I'll rip out your throat and feed your insides to the dogs!"

Rene watched her stumble off the chair.

"I didn't expect you to agree to my proposition," she said. She remained sitting even as Nina drew a dagger from a strap around her leg and pressed it down on the skin below Rene's eye. "I don't imagine there's a life you care about more than mine. Except your own."

"Should I kill her?" Nina asked. "I could kill her right now, Lynne. I could do you a big favor." Sweat dribbled from her face and splashed against Rene's forehead.

Rene sighed and wiped it away.

"The antidote," Lynne said, grabbing Rene's hair. "Where is the antidote!?"

"I can have it ready by morning, I think. I have to go make it."

"Make it!?"

"Let's cut her open and make her talk," Nina said.

Lynne started to breathe heavily.

"We can make her give up the antidote!"

"You don't have the time to torture me," Rene said. "Think, Nina."

"We could cut off her fingers one by one until she talks!" Nina said, panicking as Lynne clutched her chest and fell against the overturned table.

"Yes, because having less fingers will make it much easier to make the antidote."

"An eye! I could just take out one of her eyes!"

"You don't have the time, Nina," Rene repeated, never once raising her voice.

"She's not going to talk—dammit, Nina!" Lynne screamed. "She's fuckin' Rene Chandel, you stupid twit. Let... Let her go."

Nina released the dagger.

"How do we know you're going to give her the antidote?" she asked.

"...Please," Rene said. "...It's the least I could do for all the hospitality I've endured here tonight." She stood up with a firm brow, gathered the torn pieces of clothing on the floor, and threw them over her shoulder. "I think you'll find the terms of my offer most agreeable, Lynne, given the circumstances. If you'd like to hear more, meet me at the old farm outside of town at sunrise. The initial effects will wear off by then, so you'll be able to walk by your power. That means I'll be expecting you to come alone. I can't stress that enough. Large crowds make me...uncomfortable."
She smiled at the drunks in the tavern and started for the door as Nina helped a very unstable Lynne to her feet.

"Oh," the redhead said, stopping for a moment to glance back at all the stunned onlookers. "And, please, don't be late. Time is a factor for you."