Now you are the game's stake!

I do so much to bring the story in a good direction, and this idiot destroys the storyline that already was out of joint, just like that.

"You stupid idiot, I will kill you!" I shout out of rage and walk in his direction.

"Stop it." Lionel says and holds me back with his arm.

"Lionel..." Caspian says hopefully.

"I will kill him myself," Lionel says with an emotionless gaze on his face, while he already places his hand on his sword.

"What?... Lionel, let's talk about this!" Caspian says nervously with sweat on his face.

"Arguing doesn't help us! We should just get the orb back!" Knox says.

"My buddy is right," Sisli shouts confidently.

Wow, he is right. Interesting that the one person who loves fighting just for fun is the most rational at the moment. We should calm down first. Ok, let's think clearly.

"Where did you lose the orb?" I ask Caspian calmly, but still pissed off.

"I was on my way to you all, but then near the marketplace, there were so many people everywhere that I had to walk very near the stores. I tripped and fell into the gambling shop "Fortune." Caspian says.

"Caspian?!" Lionel says warily.

"Ok fine, I walked into the gambling store as I saw the flyers on the streets! The store was bigger than it looked and elegantly furnished. I sat down at a big round table. Next to me were two other players, and on the other side of the table sat a thin old smoking lady with gray hair," he says.

"Why is all that important?" Lionel asks irritated.

"Unfortunately that is important. The old lady doesn't seem like a big hindrance, but this woman completely ripped me off!"

"How?" Sisli asked curiously.

"In the game Liar's Dice! Don't interrupt me all the time. It's a dice game where you need both luck and the ability to bluff and lie. I don't know how she won, but she must have cheated."

"Are you sure you weren't just bad?" I ask somewhat condescendingly.

"Ouch... You're as direct as ever... But I'm sure no one can be that lucky. I won the first few rounds. But then the stakes kept getting higher. I was so lucky that I kept calling higher and higher stakes. But as soon as the stakes reached their highest, my luck ran out, and she completely ripped me off. At the beginning she was so bad in the game, but then... She must have cheated!"

Now I'm starting to get it. He's fallen for professional swindlers.

"Caspian, that's one of the oldest tricks in the world. At the beginning, your opponent let's you win so you gain confidence and become reckless. When the stakes are high enough, they'll cheat or use their skill and take the whole win."

"But what are we doing now?" Caspian asks.

"I will go to this lady and will convict her of fraud," Lionel says resolutely.

"No, that's useless! I will rip off that swindler and take everything back!" I say confidently.

"You can?" Caspain asks surprised.

The others also look at me doubting.

"I have experience with such people. But you have to come with me, Caspian. I need a stake!" I say to Caspian with a slightly dark grin.

"What?" Caspian asks and tries to get away.

But Lionel grabs him by the collar.

"We will make this together, Caspian," Lionel says.

"Show us the way!" Knox shouts, motivated as ever.

We follow Caspian through the marketplace.

"There is the shop!" Caspian shouts and points with his finger to an entrance that is slightly obscured by dark red curtains with gold decoration.

"Caspian, come to my side. You others stay behind me and let me sort this out," I say.

We enter the shop with the sign Mora's Gambling. That also must be the name of the owner. It's like Caspian described it. An elegant, big, dark room with dim light, filled with fancy furniture and other decoration. But here you can also lose also quite elegantly everything you own.

People are playing card or dice games on different tables while drinking alcohol from a bar in the corner of the room.

On a big round table I see a very thin, old smoking lady in an elegant red dress and with styled gray hair. Confidently I walk to the table.

"Are you the owner of this place, called Mora?" I ask while I look at her with a serious face.

"Depends on who's asking," she says with an arrogant look and blows the smoke of her cigar in my face. She looks next to me and sees Caspian.

I would have liked to vomit out of disgust, but you can't show any weakness in front of someone like that, no matter how weak it may be.

"Oh, you're with one of the unlucky guys from earlier. Is he sending a woman to correct his failure? Cute!"

"Listen! I want everything back!" I say determinant.

"Not so fast! What he lost is now mine. I won it in an honest game!" she says confidently.

"Honest game?..." Caspian asks outraged but Knox covers his mouth to make him silent.

Meanwhile, Sisli sits on Knox's shoulder and watches everything excitedly.

"One game. All or nothing If I win, I get everything back he lost!"

"You've got fire. I like that. What's your name?" Mora asks.

"My name is Aria!"

"Ok, Aria. But do you even have a stake that big?" she asks, smirking.

"Caspian will be the stake himself. A young man in good physical shape brings in a nice sum!" I say with a dark grin.

"What! No, forget it!" Caspian yells and tries to run away. But two muscular, emotionless men grab Caspian and position themselves on either side of him.

"We have a deal! I like your stake. I've always wanted to get myself a man!" she says, winking at Caspian.

Caspian's face is tinged with horror, while he gets goosebumps of disgust and fear.

"My men will guard the stake for safety during the game, if you don't mind."

"Of course," I say, while I am taking a seat opposite of her.

"We will play Liar's Dice!" Mora says with a grin.

"By what rules?" I ask with a serious look.

"Oh, clever girl. You know that there can be different rules. Seems like I have to get serious right away! Everyone gets 5 dice and a cup. After rolling the dice, each of us can check his own dice. Then one player gives a bid on how many dice of a certain number are at minimum on the table. But not only your dice, but the dice of all other players count. The next player has to make a higher bid or call the previous player a liar. When calling someone a liar, all players reveal their dice to check if they are at least that many dice of the bid face value on the table. If you sucessfully call a player a liar, the lying player loses. But if you call a player a liar, who said the truth you lose. Also to increase a previous bid you have to call a higher number of the same face value or a higher face number, but the amount of dice can be lower. This means you can increase a "five 2's" bid with a "two 3's" or "six 2's" bid for example. Easy right?" she says with a smile.

"What? I didn't understand a single thing..." Knox says confused.

"It's not that complicated, buddy. Everyone rolls 5 dice, then one player calls a face value and how many dice of that face value are at least under your and all other players cups. The next player has to increase that bid by calling a higher face value or a higher number of dice. Or they can also call the previous player a liar. If the player lied, they lose. If not, the other player loses," Sisli says.

"Ah! So the game goes on until someone calls the previous player a liar?" Knox says.

"Yeah, you got it,“ Sisli says.

We all look at Sisli in amazement. She understood the rules well. Now that everything is clear, we can begin.

"Then let's play!" I say confidently.

She pulls two cups and dice from under the table. Then she slides a cup and five dice over to me.

I pick them up and examine them. The weight distribution feels normal, and there are no abnormalities on the surface. So, my dice aren't loaded to my disadvantage.

"Let's begin! We play best of three," Mora says smirking.

We both roll the dice. Then I look under my cup.

Four dice with a four and one three. Not that bad. But what will my opponent do?

"You begin!" she says.

"Fine. Four dice with a four," I say confidently.

"Four dice with a five," Mora says without changing her expression.

"Five dice with a five," I bleat.

"Five dice with a six," she says smiling.

I am sure she is a very good liar. Every bid she gave doesn't seem to be a lie. That is really impossible. She also doesn't seem to lie now. But just one of her bids can be right.

"I will check!" I say with a serious expression.

"Fine," Mora says and shows her dice.

Five dice with a six!

"No!" Caspian shouts.

"I win the first round!" Mora says smiling.