The Shady Adventures of Fabian

Chapter 4

Less than fifteen minutes later, Fabian was completely out of chips.

"Looks like you lose, stranger," said a tall, gangly man with long black hair and a pronounced overbite. "Why don't you skeedaddle on out of here and let the grown-ups play."

"Yeah?" Fabian said. "Well, it just so happens I've still got, um, ten shillings left on me." He threw the shillings down on the table. "Deal me in!"

"We only play with chips here, little man," said the muscular behemoth with all the scars and tattoos. "The minimum bet is fifty shillings per hand."  

The elf sitting across the table from Fabian nodded silently in assent.

"Don't worry, my good friend Arglebargle will cover me," Fabian said as he waved at the bartender. Arglebargle smiled and waved back.

"Okay, but if you welch on your debt, I'm going to skin his hide after I've cut off your head and taken a large, steamy shit down your neck."

"Nothing to worry about," Fabian said. "He's good for it."

The elf dealt the cards out and Fabian ventured to look at his hand. He had two chickens, a goblin, and one red knight. In other words, a worthless hand. Fortunately, he had a couple black knights tucked up his sleeve, which improved his hand immensely. He let out a loud cough and covered his mouth with his hand as he slid his hidden cards out from his sleeve. He tossed the two chicken cards under the table and glanced from side to side in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner.

The tall, gangly man looked at his own cards and let out an audible grumble. Nonetheless he threw a few chips into the center of the table.

The elf matched and raised the bet by fifty shillings. The muscular man raised the bet an additional hundred shillings. Fabian blew out a loud breath and pretended to wipe sweat off his brow. "Well, I'll tell you what. I'm going to have to go ahead and raise you a thousand shillings."

"A thousand shillings?" the gangly man said in shock. "You don't have that much money!"

"I told you Arglebargle over there's good for it." He flashed a smile at the bartender across the room and gave him a thumb's up sign. Arglebargle nodded agreeably and put both his thumbs up in return.

"Well, I'm out," the gangly man said as he tossed his cards on the table. "Too rich for my blood."

The elf studied Fabian's face closely before he, too, decided to fold. The muscular man stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "I'll see your thousand shillings." He threw a large stack of chips into the center of the table. "Let's see what you've got, little man."

"Two black knights, a red knight and a goblin," Fabian said as he threw his cards face up on the table. "Suck on that! I'll just be taking my winnings and be on my way." He reached for the pile of chips in the middle of the table.

"Hold on a second there," the muscular man said as he revealed his cards. "I've got three black knights and a turkey, which beats your hand. And since there's only four black knight cards in a deck, but there's five on the table, that means somebody is cheating."

"Well, that's certainly admirable of you to admit that, you big old cheater," Fabian said. "Since we all know cheaters never prosper, I figure that means you forfeit the game and the pot is mine." As he reached forward for the chips again a dragon card fell out of his sleeve and landed on the table.

"You dare try to cheat Balooga the Mighty?" the muscular man roared as he leaped from his chair, knocking over the card table in the process. Cards and chips were scattered everywhere across the floor. Fabian came to the sudden realization that the man was easily over seven feet tall and as wide around as a tree trunk.

"He's the one that dealt the cards," Fabian said as he pointed at the elf. "Get mad at him, not me. He probably put that dragon card up my sleeve when I wasn't looking, sneaky little elf. My mom always said, never trust an elf."

"You're dead, little man," Balooga the Mighty said with a snarl. "And your bartender friend over there dies with you."