Kings Game

Chapter 7 - Karyn (3)

"You slept with Kell?" asked Roran, his jaw dropping.

"A few times."

"Are you two...close?"

Karyn laughed and shook her head. "No, I was just entertainment for her. After a stressful bout or game, gladiators like to blow off steam. Entertaining them for an evening is good money for people like me. Kell, being a champion, usually has money to spare and throws a party after a particularly stressful game. I've taken her coin on a few occasions."

"I didn't know Kell was that type of person," said Roran, recalling how much she disliked being surrounded by people.

"She's certainly strange. We all have to bathe first, and she always parties in the largest taverns or dining halls so it feels half empty no matter how many of us there are."

"That sounds more like Kell."

Karyn laughed. "I take it you haven't been with her for long?"

"No, she's only recently started training me."

"She's very skilled and shows a lot of promise, you could make good coin working for her."

Roran bit down on his tongue. Kell wasn't interested in coin, and neither was he, but he didn't feel like sharing that information yet. He still wasn't sure what it was that he wanted for himself, aside from the chance to see the sun and breathe fresh air.

"Do you have any hobbies or skills?" asked Roran, changing the subject.

"I can tell fortunes," said Karyn.

"How?"

"Give me your hand."

They stopped walking and Roran offered Karyn his hand. She turned it palm upward, examining it.

"All people are guided by the string of fate," said Karyn. "Some cling to it tightly while others ignore it. A few try to fight it and end up being dragged along against their will."

"My mother always said fate was like a river-"

"Hush now, I'm lecturing you." Roran fell silent and let Karyn go on. "At some point though, everyone grabs the string pulling them forward and marks them, leaving lines and calluses on their hands and palms. If you look carefully, you can read the marks, seeing which way the string of fate is leading someone and how hard it's pulling."

Karyn ran her fingers over Roran's palm, her feather light touch tickling him. She traced the large lines running through the middle and danced her fingertips around the calluses forming on the insides of his knuckles.

"Where did you learn to tell fortunes?" asked Roran.

"From my mother before she passed away."

"Was she a fortune teller?"

Karyn shook her head. "Not really. Everyone in our town was taught to read fortunes and learn basic divination."

"That must have been interesting."

"It was a nightmare," said Karyn. "Can you imagine? A hundred people all trying to tell the future and all of them saying something different. There were feuds over whose fortunes came true and whose didn't. Every moon there was a town meeting on whether or not the world was going to end. It was ridiculous."

"So, what's my fortune?"

"I'll tell you when you stop distracting me."

Roran smiled. She reminded him of Kell in. Fierce in her own way and not afraid to speak up to people. Roran was jealous of that trait.

Karyn continued tracing her fingers over Roran's knuckles, fingers, and palm. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

"You don't keep secrets but you don't tell people the truth. People assume they know everything there is to know about you, but they're wrong, and you don't bother correcting them."

Roran gulped. His hand was starting to feel sweaty in Karyn's.

"You live by your own ideals," Karyn went on, "but you're willing to abandon them if it means advancing your own goals. You're the type of person who would raise a goat tenderly, lovingly, but you would slaughter it without hesitation if it meant feeding your friends and family."

Karyn glanced up at Roran who quickly glanced away, afraid to meet her eye.

"You were raised by your mother, and are guided by her memory, but there is a lot of your father in you, whether you want to acknowledge it or not."

Roran flinched and tried to pull his hand away. He hadn't been expecting such a deep examination of his personality. The comments about his father had stung him like a bee. As he pulled back from Karyn, she latched on tight, her eyes going wide, then softening.

"And you have two skulls."

"I have what?" asked Roran, ready for this little exercise to be over. Karyn was nice enough but this conversation was beginning to settle in his stomach like a pile of rocks.

"Two skulls," she said again, and pointed to a small mark on his palm. "I keep looking at it in different ways but I can't unsee it." She looked up at Roran, her expression soft and sad. "Two skulls. One large and in front, your skull, and one darker and smaller, trailing you. Death walks in your shadow Roran."

Finally, Karyn let go of Roran's hand and he pulled away.

"What does it mean?" asked Roran.

"That people around you will die." Roran flinched. "You probably already noticed it," Karyn went on. "Your friends and family, your acquaintances, your enemies. Death is by your side and those that come close to you will fall into her embrace."

"So it's my fault the people around me die?" Roran snapped, "I should just crawl back into the dungeon so I can't hurt anyone else?"

He looked at Karyn but he saw Gress's face, slack jawed and wide-eyed, blood spilling from his neck. Roran could feel it on his skin again, warm and wet and sticky.

"No!" Karyn shook her head and grabbed Roran's arm, shaking him. "It's not your fault, and it won't be your fault when people around you die. I mean, I'm sure you'll be responsible for some deaths, you are a gladiator, but things will happen that are out of your control. Fate has simply pulled you onto a path where you will witness the deaths of many. Even if you crawled into a hole and never came out, those people would still die."

Roran didn't respond. He heard her words but he was still far away, watching Gress bleed out in the arena. Karyn shook him again and he startled back to his senses. She was crying.

"Sorry," said Roran, "I didn't mean to snap like that. I just had a bad experience yesterday."

"You killed someone."

"How did you know?"

Karyn sighed. "Because the mark is bright and fresh."

Roran looked down at his hand. He could see the mark but it was small and indistinguishable from any other scar or callous. If Karyn hadn't pointed it out, he never would have known.

"What do I do about it?" asked Roran.

"Nothing, except take care of yourself. People die Roran, you won't be able to save them. Just focus on being happy, spend time with people that make you smile and get away from those who don't. That way, when people do die, you don't have any regrets."