Liar's Dice

"It's been an hour since we are here" James said.

"If you are getting bored, we all could play a game" Nathan said, "There are dice and tin boxes in the next room. I can bring them. Anyone wants to go with me?"

The other just looked each other faces but no one replied.

'If Nathan is the prisoner, then going with him alone would be terrible idea' thought Madhav.

'If Nathan is the prisoner, I could, maybe, confirm it by going with him or I could see if he is the detective Dusk' thought James, 'But he seemed like neither when I first talked to him'. "I'll come" he replied.

"Nice, follow me" Nathan said and began walking into the dark hallway. James followed him into the darkness. Madhav thought, 'These both were talking about the prisoner until I arrived but they immediately stopped on seeing me. Now, they both are into the darkness together. Something is fishy between them'

While Gustavus's thoughts were on Ashton. 'If Ashton was the prisoner, he couldn't have a car. Even if he stole someone else's car, he wouldn't have stopped for me in the first place. That would just increase his risk of getting caught as I might have been a detective'. But Ashton's thoughts were elsewhere.

"Why isn't the author narrating what is happening between James and Nathan? What is going on between them?" He kept looking at the dark hallway.

"If one of them is a prisoner, something might happen in that room. Gustavus and Madhav do not seem like the prisoners and they don't seem like they are detectives too. Or…' He paused.

"May be I have been thinking all wrong about this. May be the prisoner is another fourth wall breaker but is acting like he's not. He might have been reading all this and acting accordingly. And whatever he thinks as a prisoner, the author might not be writing them. The author might be aiding the prisoner. Why would the author aid the bad guy? Isn't this a 'good wins against bad' story?   What other stories did this author write? 'Tracks Go Mad'— just a happy-to-go story, doesn't relate to the current situation. 'The Avarez Theft'— the story where good people perform a bank heist for a good reason. Could that mean the prisoner here might be a good guy?' He closed his eyes and put his hands on his temple. 'I'm just overthinking this. The detective at Snowfields seemed pretty confident on catching the prisoner. But, I must say, the prisoner seems to be playing it really smart'.

Suddenly, there were footsteps heard, coming from the hallway. Madhav, Gustavus and Ashton were waiting with their eyes fixed into the darkness. Thunder rumbled outside. Soon, a man walked into the room. It was James.

 "Where's Nathan?" asked Ashton.

 "He is right behind" replied James and Nathan also emerged from the darkness.

"There are enough dice for all of us" said Nathan and put them on the table.

Looking at the twisted eyebrows of Madhav, James asked him, "Is everything all right Madhav?"

Madhav immediately turned his face and said, "Yeah, everything is good. It's just that… the… blizzard is getting worse"

"Yeah, but we at least have something to play" replied James. 'Madhav is really concerned about who the prisoner is. Could he be detective Dusk?' he thought, 'He fears too much. Maybe he is just an afraid, common man'.

Let's play 'Liar's dice' game", said Nathan.

Everyone was seated around the table. Madhav sat against the large window, while Gustavus sat against the dark hallway. James sat against Ashton. 'Nathan does know a whole lot about this coffee shop. Maybe what he said about him visiting this place every now and then is true' thought Gustavus.

"The rules are simple. You will have five dice in each of your cups. We roll the dice, keeping it concealed. One person bids, announcing any face value and the minimum number of dice that the player believes, are showing that value, under all of the cups in the game. The next player either increases the bid or challenges the previous bid by calling him 'liar'" explained Nathan.

'Nathan and James, both seem the same after coming out. If Nathan told James something secret, James would act somewhat weird and vice versa. But Nathan is still enthusiastic and talking too much and James is still… well, looking creepy and suspicious. Either they both already knew something and talked more about it or they talked no secret at all' thought Ashton.

"What are you thinking, Ashton?" asked James, "It's your turn"

"Oh! Yeah, didn't see that" he said, "What is your bid again, Gustavus?"

"Four fives"

"Well then, I bid four sixes"

8th December, 10:46 pm.

"I bid nine sixes" said James.

"Are you sure?" asked Madhav, "Just so you know, I might not have any sixes"

"No, I'm sure" replied James.

"Then, I call you liar" said Madhav. The cups were opened and there were nine sixes indeed.

"I had all of my dice fall six. That's like really rare, right?" exclaimed James.

"You have already won four rounds. You seem so good at this game, James" said Gustavus. James simply smiled.

"Where are you from, James?" Gustavus asked.

"I'm from… Northern Gates" said James. 'Ashton knows I'm lying because he knows that I am the detective. Shoot!' he thought. "I've come to see a dear friend of mine here, at Snowfields" he said, gazing right into the eyes of Ashton.

"Well then, how did you end up here?" asked Ashton.

"My friend was not there. So I asked his neighbor and he told me that he went to Ice Lake Basin but he didn't know why" he said, still looking at Ashton and rolling his dice. "I'm here to find him" he said, uttering every word specifically and with a little serious tone, "But now, I'm stuck in this blizzard" he came back to his usual accent, "My bid is four threes"   

'He is referring to the prisoner', Ashton thought. "So, when you were at Snowfields, did you hear of a prisoner escape?" asked Gustavus, slowly.

"What! Are you really believing that rumor?" laughed Nathan, "Four sixes"

"No, no. it's not a rumor", said James.

Gustavus and Madhav felt alert. "What?" asked Nathan.

"I've seen it. I've seen the police there, talking about a prisoner", replied James calmly.

Everyone went silent for a few moments.

'So it's real' Madhav thought.

Nathan's face suddenly turned blue. He gulped and he was sweating.

'If the prisoner is real then he must have reached here' thought Nathan, 'He must be one among us. There is no other way out from the Snowfields'. He rubbed the sweat from his forehead.

The snowstorm roared even louder and thunder struck once more.

'James could have told me that he has seen it when we first talked about the prisoner, but he didn't' Nathan thought. "Why didn't you tell me about this before, James?" he asked.

"Well, I didn't feel the need to tell it", replied James, "It's not like the prisoner is among us, right?" he laughed, 'I'd like to see how everyone reacts'

"Yes, probably not" replied Ashton, with no emotion in his face at all. 'Well, all of us know, that obviously, the prisoner is right among us', he thought.

Madhav kept his head down; Gustavus was looking at everyone; Nathan was the most shocked. He closed his eyes for two seconds and opened them in fear and was constantly rubbing his palms gently.

"Five fours" said Ashton after a long silence.

The others kept quiet, thinking. They were not willing to continue playing after the conversation that took place.

They frequently looked at each other— some were the looks of fear, while some were the looks of suspicion.

             'The author is not narrating their thoughts except Nathan's' thought James, 'That's a bit mysterious'.

"Come on, Nathan. Your turn now, five fours" Ashton said with a stable expression in his face.

Nathan thought for a moment or two and looked at Ashton, "four sixes" he said.

The game continued.