The man dressed in loam brown leathers and raptorskin hesitated.
There was no guarantee that he'd walk away from this clean, no guarantee that he'd be able to reach the Falcon in time to find Siha, in time to help Erik. He'd stacked the deck as best he could on such short notice, and dealt the cards on his own terms... but now, looking back, he could see that there were players seated at the table that he hadn't invited. And they'd brought knives. And caltrops. A man on the ground is a dead man.
Risk naught, win squat.
But he wasn't looking to win. He was looking to survive.
Cheat, run, or die.
He'd already cheated, he wasn't going to run, and he wasn't planning on dying.
"You chose to endure."
He took a deep breath, then dropped Cenric's linkpearl into the pouch and came back up with the company pearl. He tucked it into his ear, whispered a quick and quiet prayer to Old Man Oschon to carry the signal on the winds so that he might be heard, and placed his last call.
"Kahn'a, Askier... if you're hearin' this, Erik's headed for the Shroud. He needs Siha to contact him. It's urgent."
He left the pearl in, but kept his mouth shut as he made his way to the corner behind Naldiq and Vymelli's where he'd first propositioned Raz.
Moment of truth, Kink. Which way'd y'fall?
There was no guarantee that he'd walk away from this clean, no guarantee that he'd be able to reach the Falcon in time to find Siha, in time to help Erik. He'd stacked the deck as best he could on such short notice, and dealt the cards on his own terms... but now, looking back, he could see that there were players seated at the table that he hadn't invited. And they'd brought knives. And caltrops. A man on the ground is a dead man.
Risk naught, win squat.
But he wasn't looking to win. He was looking to survive.
Cheat, run, or die.
He'd already cheated, he wasn't going to run, and he wasn't planning on dying.
"You chose to endure."
He took a deep breath, then dropped Cenric's linkpearl into the pouch and came back up with the company pearl. He tucked it into his ear, whispered a quick and quiet prayer to Old Man Oschon to carry the signal on the winds so that he might be heard, and placed his last call.
"Kahn'a, Askier... if you're hearin' this, Erik's headed for the Shroud. He needs Siha to contact him. It's urgent."
He left the pearl in, but kept his mouth shut as he made his way to the corner behind Naldiq and Vymelli's where he'd first propositioned Raz.
Moment of truth, Kink. Which way'd y'fall?
![[Image: 1qVSsTp.png]](http://i.imgur.com/1qVSsTp.png)
