Chapter 4, A game of high stakes

(Interlude)

Ardivar's eyes snapped open. He gasped, frantically glanced around. He tried to move, but his body refused to respond. Ardivar couldn't see much. He was lying on a flat smooth floor that was too smooth to be stone. He glanced over at the markings in the darkness. The swirling patterns of red blood on the floor were a stark contrast to the smooth silvery metal box he was in. Shelves covered the walls, lined with boxes covered in runes. He ignored those, as the ritual on the ground was far more concerning. Ardivar couldn't comprehend much of the markings, aside from the fact that he shouldn't be awake. The closest markings in the ritual, a swirling hieroglyph that resembled a hellion viper's coiled tail, roughly translated to dormant, meaning that the victim would lie in sleep until the ritual was deactivated or broken.

Ardivar had learned some of that ritual script from his teacher in the abyss, but not enough to decipher most of the ritual binding him. He hissed. Ardivar should have payed more attention to his teacher. In his defence, Ardivar did not need to learn to read ancient demonic script at the time.

Ardivar's eyes drooped. Whatever had brought him back to consciousness was fading. Ardivar felt the familiar flow of demonic essence enter his body. It was faint, and he shuddered. Ardivar's veins burned as his body shiver in excitement. Ardivar smiled, his razor-sharp teeth glinting in darkness. His eyes rover over another of the markings, understanding dawning. The ritual held a being's power in limbo. Why he was smiling was the fact that he couldn't see anything restricting power from entering. That meant if any more power was added, then the ritual could only contain what was already there, not the excess power that was added to the prisoner.

Ardivar shudder as the pressure of the ritual tried to force him back into darkness. He struggled feebly, his slight increase in power not enough to fight off the ritual. His only hope now, was that his familiar devoured more demons. Ardivar grinned as his senses faded. After all, with that brief moment of conciousness he had hope of freedom.

(Trisha)

Trisha sitting rigidly in a plush chair eyed her opponent. Between the stern faced Bishop and Trisha was a smooth board and Cards, each emblazoned with various images. Trisha placed a card on the board gently, not wanting to bend the small but beautiful card. She raised her hand and chewed on her pinky finger nail uncertain of her last move. Five lacquered cards were placed in front of her, three out front and two behind, leaving a line to her elemental in the very back alone. The Bishop raised an eyebrow and from her own deck she placed a fifth card on the board.

Trisha read the card, necrotic worm. The worm had no direct damage, but it had one minor upside. The necrotic worm took all of Trisha pieces' mental defence down by two, while removing any mental attacks thrown towards it for one turn. That meant Trishas first and most important card. The wailing Zagrade couldn't block. Leaving Bishop's royal knight, that Trisha thought was useless in range of her queen. The Wailing Zagrade's physical might was good, but its two in mental defence meant that the necrotic worm completely countered the Wailing Zagrađe and now it couldn't even block the Knights line of attack.

Trisha scowled and placed her handful of lacquered cards onto the board. She could play one more card, but she had nothing in her hand that could counter the necrotic worm. The mental attack affected only one of her five cards and there weren't any slots on the board. Trisha couldn't place a card that could block the Bishop's attack. Her only move would be to play her Darvan Varsuth, but the attack rating of a knight was several ranks higher.

She let out a breath. The golden gilding on the edges of the cards glinted in the light of the rune lantern, lighting the image of the Darvan Varsuth. It's terrible hooked claws, deep black chest armour and short brown fur perfectly blending in with its preferred shadowy surroundings. The Bishop cracked a victorious smile. The cards lay on the table, the artwork stunning as they fanned out. Many of the monsters on the cards Trisha had never even heard of, much less seen before. Judging by the tiny paintings and the tingle of mana radiating from the cards, Trisha would probably faint if the Bishop told her the cost of such cards.

" Do you like the cards?" asked the Bishop.

" They are beautiful. How was the artist so detailed? This image of the Darvan mage is so lifelike." said Trisha admiring the images.

" There is a mage with the illusion affinity. He has extreme talent for art. Because of its popularity amongst the nobility, many illusionists try to replicate his work, but few have been successful. Lord Elrod Hale is one of the few to reach the rank of master as an illusionist. From what he told me, it takes a long time to make a set. It took him five years to make mine. He ventures into the world and finds the monsters or people he needs before making a card." said the Bishop, smiling proudly as she gently gathered the cards back up.

" Does he do cards for specific people?" asked Trisha, eying the light brown scrollwork around the word Hale on the back of the card.

" Yes, that is how I could get him to make me a deck. I allowed him to paint me for his collection. Now let's talk about the game we just played," said the Bishop. Trisha felt a trickle of sweat slide down her chest as she held her expression calm and uninterested. Trisha nodded her head for the Bishop to continue.

" You didn't even make it past my opening moves."said the bishop leaning back into her chair. Trisha eyed the board, still wondering where she had gone wrong. There were ten card slots on each side of the board and Trisha handn't even survived the opening moves of the game. Each player could play on a card at a time until they had five cards, at which point the game truly began. That meant no one could win or lose until she placed the fifth card. The goal of the game was to kill the other person's elemental or queen without letting your own die.

" How do you keep doing that? I countered all of your opening cards." said Trisha, scrunching up her face in confusion. Her mouth water as she eyed the prize of this game. The famous vintners of royal red made the rare bottle of blue wine. Trisha swallowed. They infused the wine with mana until it was the closest approximation to the wine of the elementals that the kingdom of Pentir could make. Trisha had a bottle of Elemental wine, well in two weeks, she had drank the entire bottle.

" If you countered all of my cards, then how did you lose to my second move?" Said the Bishop, pulling the unopened bottle of royal blue away from Trisha's reach.

Trisha glanced over at the board. She rose from the chair, ignoring the grinding of the wooden chair on the polished floors.Trisha looked at her elemental, and then the defenders arrayed around the prised card. The Bishop's royal knight was placed perfectly holding the Trishas Elemental in a checkmate position. If Trisha left her Elemental where it was, it would die by the knight, but she couldn't move her Elemental past her Wailing Zagrade. Trishas earth Elemental was invulnerable to physical damage, but that meant the royal knight who was a master of magic could one shot Trishas Elemental along the diagonal line.

" Ahh, this is so frustrating. No matter what I do, you always win."said Trisha, pacing and staring at the board.

" You trapped your card. The Earthen Elemental is extremely powerful. It's immune to physical damage, so why not move it forwards against my Pack of Darvan warriors? If you gave your elemental spaces to move, then you could just move your Elemental out of the way, when my knight attacks." said the Bishop, pointing out the moves Trisha had completely missed.. Trisha palmed her face, biting her lip as the bishop explained the moves she could have taken.

" I need more time to practice. These different cards are hard to keep track of." said Trisha defensively.

" Well, you have several days. This time, I offered you a reward for winning. Perhaps next time I will make the stakes higher. I have found a particular demon on the second shelf of the vault. That will be the price of failure next game we play." Said the Bishop, packing the cards into a box with scrollwork on the top. Trisha stood hesitantly watching the Bishop as the woman calmly put away the board and the box of cards. Trisha swallowed hard at the Bishop's words, sweat rising on her forehead. The Bishop stood and with the tilt of her head, she gestured for Trisha to leave. Trisha turned and strode towards the door, wondering where she could practice the game with? She didn't even know anyone with a deck of cards besides the Bishop.

" Trisha, there is a court function that is coming up in one week. Her majesty the queen will be attending." said the Bishop.

" The queen? Do you want me to attend? She might sense my mana?" asked Trisha, keeping her back to the Bishop.

" No, I cannot sense the leak anymore. But you need to be careful. Your training has stopped you from channeling mind mana without noticing. But your power has been growing. Drinking all of that Elemental wine has widened your mana channels exponentially. And that is why when we play cards again in several days and you loose then I will place a mid-ranking demon on you for the night." Said the Bishop her voice cold and serious.

Trishas hand shook. A mid-ranking demon? She twisted the doorknob, her hand slipping for the first turn. She wiped her shaking hand dry on her silk blouse and twisted the door open. Trisha descended the stairs, her body shaking at the thought of another horrible night fighting a demon. Trisha couldn't even get excited about her mana veins widening from the powerful elemental wine. She shook her head. Maybe she should go to the tavern and find Greg. He probably knew how to play the game elemental. Trisha thought the name was odd, because elementals were so rare. She paused. How did the Bishop get an elemental card? Didn't she say the artist needed to meet the monster before he created the card? Trisha shook her head. Hopefully, she could gain some insight by talking with Greg.

Trisha strode through the cathedral and out onto the front steps. She closed the double doors behind her and breathed deeply of the afternoon air. Trisha shivered as her breath came out in a mist. The trees lining the courtyard had changed over the last couple of weeks, their leaves changing from green to yellow and orange. Trisha placed her hands in her silken pants and hurried along the path. With the frigid air, Trisha wasn't surprised that nearly none of the church initiates were outside. Judging by the lights shining through the glass panes of the barracks, all the initiates were doing their classes inside.

" Good day, Trisha." said Harry, grinning at her with a fatherly smile.

" Oh hey Harry, Are Eliya and Greg out of the cathedral?" asked Trisha, shivering as the biting wind easily passed through her light silken clothing.

" No, they are in the large barrack, attending lectures for another two hours." said Harry, gesturing towards the barracks with light shining from the windows.

" I thought they were already members like me?" said Trisha, glancing over the other four guards behind Harry.

" No, they are copper ranked members of the church." said Harry, pointing to the silvery medallion on his chest. Harry pointed to the two guards at the doors of the cathedral.

" Those guards are gold ranked, and so have some of the most trust power and authority in the church." said Harry. Trisha pulled out her bright blue medallion, the light outshining the glint of silver underneath.

" A copper ranked member of the church is like a common city guard as far as the laws of the kingdom are concerned. Copper rankers are just common soldiers in the church until they reach silver. You gain little legal authority until you reach the rank of silver in the church." said Harry.

" Soo, in order for my friends to get their silver church amulets they need to pass some sort of test?" asked Trisha

" Yes, and that isn't easy. It's all about learning the laws of the kingdom, passing the tests and deciding which branch of the church military that you want to join." said Harry.

" Why haven't I learned about this?" asked Trisha, wondering why no one had told her.

"You have been the personal apprentice of the Bishop. Many of the regular rules for initiates don't apply to you. Thats is why the others dislike you so much. From their perspective, you skipped all the arduous training and hard work usually needed to gain the rank of silver." said Harry waving to her amulet.

" Can I go to the lectures?" Asked Trisha curiously.

" Of course. No one is going to stop you. But I'm not sure what the teachers will think. You are the apprentice of the Bishop. She is your teacher." said Harry jovially. Trisha paused. Had she been missing out on knowledge that could help her? Most likely, but she was over a month behind in classes. All of her lessens had been bad, yes, and Trisha needed to win the game of Elementals with the Bishop.

"" But I got a silver amulet already. Don't i need to learn about the laws of the church?" said Trisha, eying the silver amulet in question.

"Did the Bishop tell you to?" asked Harry.

"Well no, she has never even mentioned it."said Trisha, breathing into her hands and bouncing in place. Unlike harry who was wearing a thick cloak, Trisha hadn't come outside prepared..

" Let me explain to you something. Look at my silver medallion with three stripes. That means I am a silver ranking captain of the guard. One more rank and I can apply to join the Bishop's personal guard."said Harry grinning proudly.

" What about the other guards? They are all have copper badges."said Trisha eying the badges of each of the other guards waiting by the gate behind Harry. On the cloak of each, a copper badge was gleaming on their breasts.

" They are three star copper. This is an excellent post. If they get promoted to silver with one stripe, then they will get posted somewhere else and be put in charge of their own squads." said Harry.

" Won't they get paid more?" asked Trisha cocking her head in confusion.

"Yeah, but there is a war going on. Promotion doesn't mean going and watching over some gate somewhere peacefully. Promotion, or demotion, means going to the war front and fighting the enemy."said Harry. Trisha hadn't thought of that. They devoted this cathedral to the goddess of war, Lytheria. They would send all the mages trained here to the front after training them to fight the war.

" Why don't they sign up for the city guard? They will get to do patrolling and stuff?" asked Trisha.

" Many who go through the church's program do. Church initiates who show potential are accepted by the guard. It's hard to get a post here at the gate of the Cathedral. An undemanding job like this has a lot of applicants, so we are all good. We are church guards, you know what they train us to do."said Harry puffing out his chest proudly.

Trisha turned towards the barracks, wondering what she should do? She shivered again, glancing from the cathedral to the barracks. Trisha shudder, not from the cold, but in remembrance of her conversation with the Bishop. The Bishop was inside, most likely planning another horrific training plan for Trisha. Barracks, it was, thought Trisha as she strode towards the building.

Trishas feet thudded softly on cobblestone as she opened the outer door to the barracks. Trisha swung the door open. Her face stung with the heat as warm air washed over her. She stepped inside, shutting the door behind herself. Trisha glanced around and swallowed nervously. Arrayed in tiers were the students and standing down on a stage was the highest ranking member in the room. The gold ranked badge of the teacher glinted in the rune lantern light. The room was deathly quiet, every single copper ranked initiate staring at her.