The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C Yee

Author:F.C Yee [Yee, F.C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19: LANDED

“Feast,” Iwashi said. “Four Gales. Twelve hundred points. No doublers this time, unfortunately.”

Yangchen’s jaw was sore from clenching her teeth. Acting was no longer a concern here. “How … do you keep … dealing into him!?”

“I don’t know!” Kavik wailed. He was on the verge of tears. “That many consecutive melds should happen only once in every fifty thousand games!”

“Ah, you see, there’s your issue.” Iwashi sipped the tea a servant had brought him. “You have an overreliance on numbers, Lio. You need to learn to read the flow. Luck is a fickle guest. Though plenty of ‘rational’ men and women may deny it, the tides of fortune are a very real force.” He gestured at Yangchen with his little finger; the rest held his cup. “Much like the spirits.”

Curse this game, Yangchen thought. Curse this game and its stupid names for countless winning combinations that found their ways into Iwashi’s hands over and over. The Zongdu of Taku had preyed upon Kavik especially, scoring hit after direct hit upon her so-called expert.

Both Yangchen’s and Kavik’s losses came at the expense of Bin-Er. They couldn’t continue like this or else the city would become a silent Tienhaishi, its residents sucked dry by the debts she’d signed on their behalf. Yangchen drew her hands over her face, using the motion to peer at Chaisee.

The Zongdu of Jonduri, who’d somehow managed to remain relatively breakeven throughout the carnage, caught her looking and shrugged. Leave me out of this, her frown seemed to say.

Pity from her worst enemy. Yangchen would rather be locked in a staring contest with Thapa.

“Can we—Can we take a short break?” Kavik pleaded. He mopped his brow. “Just for a few minutes.”

“But of course,” Iwashi said. Kavik got up and stumbled to the sliding door, not the window, the wrong way if he needed air. He nearly pulled the frame out of its slot, amusing Iwashi rather than angering him, and lurched down the hall.

“Excuse me.” Yangchen withdrew from the table—more chuckles from her host—and chased after her partner.

She caught up to Kavik around the bend of the art gallery where he leaned against the wall. Maybe he was sick. That would have explained his disaster of a performance. “What is going on?”

“Can they hear us?”

The hall was empty but just to be sure, Yangchen spun the air around them. The indoor version of the trick she’d used with Chief Oyaluk was less effective but would have to do; the window Iwashi had opened was her cover.

Kavik straightened and turned around. The sheen of panic on his face was nowhere to be found. Other than the sweat beading on his skin, he was as calm as could be. “Iwashi’s cheating,” he said.

Yangchen opened her mouth to shout, but nothing came forth. She was caught somewhere between complete surprise and disgust with herself for not considering the possibility. “He’s cheating,” Kavik repeated. “He’s elbow leeching, edge reading, wall gliding, every dirty trick in the book.”

“Sleight of hand?” That simple? “I would have seen him—”

Kavik gave her a quizzical look.

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