The Frosted Files:Open Eyes

//Chapter 18\\

    Karma looked a little upset about being interrupted, but insisted I play when I had prompted her to continue, so I shrugged, bought my chips, and sat at the table. There was a game already going on, but it looked close to ending, so I leaned back and watched.
    One guy in particular, a large man that looked like the shopkeeper from the magical store in the undercity, but with white hair and a scar over one eye, from above his brow down to his mouth, as well as a missing tusk where the scar ended, seemed to have extraordinary luck. He kept pulling sets he needed, hundred in one chances, and pulling all the chips to himself. On top of the chips, some folk played with straight up gold and silver coins, with a few smaller copper coins tossed on. Looking closer, they weren't pennies, so my best guess was that these coins were the supernatural common currency, like the shopkeeper had asked for.
    There was also a key among the guy's winnings, with a small tag reading 'Mythic Artifact'. I'll have Karma explain that to me later.
    The round ended, and the guy grinned triumphantly with his winnings. The folk that were out of betting money left the table, while others just bought more chips, insistent that they could still win.
    I set my chips on the table, and the entire table turned to stare at me. A man with light blue skin narrowed his eyes, and beckoned Alister over. They whispered back and forth a couple times, and Alister went back to his bar, leaving the blue man unsatisfied.
    "What's the human doing here, Al?" The large half-orc asked, making it a point to pull his winnings closer.
    "He's a guest, for one. For two, this is a supernatural bar." Alister said without looking up from the mug he was cleaning.
    "Oh, so he's a wizard? Gross." Most of the table muttered an agreement, throwing nasty looks my way.
    "I am not a wizard, actually. If I recall correctly, the Winter gates called me a 'halfblood', whatever that means."
    A couple of the people looked at eachother and chuckled.
    The blue man leaned forward. "A halfblood is one who is half one blood, half another. Your girlie there, she has fae blood and hellspawn blood. That makes her a halfblood. Whatever supernatural blood you have must either be weak, dormant, or diluted to uselessness."
    "Whatever you say, Blue's Clues. Table, deal us in."
    Everyone muttered something or another, and turned back to facing the dealer, and collected their cards. I got a pretty decent hand, definitely a useful one.
    A couple people went broke in the first round, most of the winnings going to mister Onetusk, the rest going to me. Onetusk eyed me down, but kept his mouth shut.
    The next round, more people went out, and more of the winnings went to me.
    Round three, I got roughly half the winnings, and Onetusk was fuming. That's when he slipped up.
    In the middle of the round, I saw a glint of metal from his sleeve, and in round four, I got a brief look at the metal mechanism in his sleeve; it was a card feeder.
    I recognized it, because I had used one to win a tournament a while back.
    In round five, with only two rounds left after this, the winnings started to tilt back more towards Onetusk. He made an extraordinary play, nearly perfect, ending the round.
    Between rounds, he ordered a drink for everyone still playing, paying with his prize pool cash. Most people got a basic alcohol, some got one of those blue potions I had earlier. Onetusk himself got some kind of swirly green potion, downing it in two gulps. I got a cup of water, because I could feel that Thief was thirsty, and let the plant cat walk out of the shadow within my coat, onto the table, to drink her water.
    Half the players, as well as most of the watchers, began to laugh.
    "No wonder he's no wizard - look at his pitiful familiar! A little bête de vigne, a cat!"
    "Who would pick one of Summer's beasts as a familiar?"
    "Isn't that a snowflake earring? Why a Summer partner?"
    "Little little bête de vigne, tiny cat."
    I ignored their antics, and when she was done, Thief walked back into my shadow.
    Round six started up, and a plan began to brew in my mind. I purposefully did poorly, barely scraping a proffit, and Onetusk looked very pleased.
    As round seven began, the final round, it came down to just me and Onetusk. He pushed forward half his winnings as his bet for the round. When it came my turn to bet, I pushed in half my coins and chips, but before the dealer could continue, I knocked on the table to get Onetusk's attention.
    "Why don't we make this a little more interesting, buddy?"
    He narrowed his eyes, but said, "And how would you propose we do that?"
    I reached up to my ear and took out the earring, setting it with my bets. "We both seem to have a rare, magical item of sorts. Toss that key in, and I'll go all in," I offered.
    He thought for a moment, then set the key into the bet pile in the center of the table. True to my word, I pushed the rest of my chips and coins in, and leaned back as the dealing began.
    During the dealing, I focused on my nanotech, sending a small sliver of it out to snake below the table, carefully and slowly going over to Onetusk. Alister met my eyes and nodded, continuing his cleaning, and I used my tech to carefully remove the main spring in Onetusk's card loader. His loose sleeves made it a lot easier.
    My tech flowed back into it's hiding spots, and I picked up my cards, looking over at the half-orc. He didn't seem too pleased with his hand, but played anyway. After a couple more plays, I saw him subtly flick his wrist, expecting a card, only to be met with nothing. He tried again, and began to sweat, meeting my eyes. I smiled, and played my hand. He couldn't beat it, and I collected my winnings.
    He leapt up, his chair falling back and hitting some small red skinned girl, and pointed a finger at me. "CHEATER! CHEATER! AL, THIS MAN CHEATED AT THE GAME!"
    I calmly stood, putting my snowflake earring back in my ear, and faced the half-orc.
    "YOU CHEATED, FATE FROST! NO ONE HAS BEAT ME ALL NIGHT, NOR HAVE THEY FOR MONTHS! I AM THE SUPERIOR PLAYER, AND YOU CHEATED ME OUT OF MY WINNINGS!" He stepped closer to me, and everyone else held their breath.
    He raised a fist, and started to swing, and a loud bang sounded before I could so much as duck.
    Onetusk's swing stopped mid air, and he clutched his hand, crying out in pain. There was a smoking through his clenched hand, and I'm pretty sure I saw one of his fingers fly off.
    Alister stood behind the bar, a wicked looking older pistol in hand, smoke still rising from the barrel. He lowered it, and picked up his mug and rag again. "This is neutral territory, acclaimed by TOMCATS. That was your warning. Collect your winnings, Frost."
    I sat back down and did so, bringing the chips over to Alister to cash them in. All in all, I ended up with roughly twelve hundred in cash, six gold pieces, thirteen silver pieces, and a handful of coppers, which Alister gave me a small pouch for. I clipped it to my belt, going over the rough conversion rate between gold and cash, estimating roughly twenty-two thousand dollars, including the cash I won. Twenty-two thousand, won in a supernatural gambling game.
    And the key.
    The key was obviously old - It had the same tooth style as older keys, like you'd see in a cartoon. It looked like brass, a dull gold, covered in scratches and dings. The handheld part, which sticks out when inserted so that you may turn the key, was shaped like an eye, circular and slitted like a cat's. Looking closer, the art of it doubled as an 'I' inside an 'O', with a dark green backing.
    While Onetusk cried, I brought everything over to Karma, who had been watching. She looked troubled, and asked to see the key when I came over. I handed it over, and watched with curiosity as she turned it over and over, looking for something.
    She found what she was looking for, and got very excited, turning the key to show me a small 'KK' on the key's shaft, right next to the teeth.
    "Okay, and?" I asked. "I don't know what this key is."
    "You don't- Fate, this is a key, one of very very few, to the Outside Inn."
    "I don't know what that is either."
    "Right. I forgot you grew up human. Gross. Alister, another drink, please, I've got a story to tell."
    Alister slid over two more mugs of the blue potion, and Karma got herself comfortable.
    "So, the story of the Outside Inn goes like this.
    "The Outside Inn was once an Inn back in sixteen-forty-two.
    "The Outside Inn would welcome everyone, including folks like you.
    "The Outside Inn offered food and drink for travelers and locals alike.
    "The Outside Inn was far away but very well worth the hike.
    "The Outside Inn was happy and bright and full of love for all.
    "The Outside Inn disappeared one day in an early fall.
    "Some still say that the Outside Inn was stolen by a drunken mage.
    "Bound to a key, released from time, the Inn doesn't age.
    "The Outside Inn is everywhere and nowhere, both at the same time.
    "This is the story of the Outside Inn, told through this little rhyme.
    "Basically, the Outside Inn used to be a real place in England, back in the times of Merlin and Arthur. It had been standing for over fifty years, when one day, it was simply gone. Eventually, a drunk wizard was found dead in the road, with three keys in his pockets, each with two teeth and an 'I in an O' symbol as the head. Some theorize there are more than three keys, but only three have ever been documented - one was lost, one was stolen, and one was sold. Yours truly stole the one, and I don't know where the other two went - but this was my key, until I lost it through debt."
    That was a lot to take in, so I looked over the key as I thought. Destiny pinged me.
    So, the place was destroyed and turned into a key?
    Sounds like it.
    And that makes the keys valuable, like a dead artist's paintings?
   That's my train of thought. I bet Karma knows something else, though.
    Well, ask and find out.
    I may as well, so I looked back up to Karma.
    "So, how much does this sell for?"
    "Roughly a hundred thousand gold, give or take. But I wouldn't sell that, if I were you."
    "Why not? Does it have some magical property you didn't tell me about?"
    "Well, yes, but I did say it in the nursery rhyme. Here, let me show you."
    I handed the key over, and Karma told Alister we were going to go up to her room. He nodded, and put our drinks into a small fridge behind him that had Karma's name on it black marker.
    She led me up the stairs, down the hall and to the last room on the left.
    She opened the door to reveal a somewhat messy room, but didn't go in.
    "Keep in mind what you see, okay? This may blow your mind."
    She shut the door, then took the key to the door, which had no lock hole.
    But as the key approached the door, the wood and metal shifted, and a lock hole was formed. She put the key in, turned it, and opened the door into a room very different from what I had seen before.
    It looked very similar to Alister's bar, but older, somehow. Smoother, more worn wood, maybe, with more signs of use. Candles and torches were used as lights, and every window was covered in some way or another.
    Karma stepped in and shut the door behind her. I opened it, and saw her messy room again, and shut the door. A moment later, the door opened, and Karma stepped out of the Inn.
    Subliminal space, maybe? Destiny suggested.
    Maybe. I'll have to go in before we determine that.

    Good luck, boss.
    Karma held the door open for me, smiling.
    I stepped into the inn, and was greeted by an older lady wearing plain black and brown clothes with frayed edges. She had a single streak of white in her otherwise warm brown hair, and her eyes, also warm and brown, were full of wholesomeness, and were scrunched from her large smile. It may have been the lighting, but I thought I saw a quick wisp of smoke rise from her nose. She had a small cake of some kind in her hand, and offered it to me.
    "Welcome to the Inn, my name is Eladrin, how may I help you?"
    I smiled and took the cake, and looked around. "Hi, Eladrin. Can I call you Drin?"
    "You certainly may, young man."
    "Okay, Drin. Can I ask a couple questions?"
    She nodded.
    "Why are the windows boarded?"
    "Protection."
    "From?"
    Her smile wavered. "Nothing we discuss."|
    "Fair enough. Are you fae?"
    "Not one bit."
    "Lovely, lovely. How does the Inn function?"
    "The owner of a key will be treated as guests, and any guests of them will be treated as guests as well. We provide food, drink, and rest for travelers in need." She said, and although she put emotion in her voice, I could tell this was a standard greeting she had used over and over.
    "So, as the owner of the key, I can come in here at any time and ask for food?"
    "Certainly."
    "Well, that's lovely. Where does it all come from?"
    "Oh, the magic that locked the Inn in here brings food from places, sometimes. It appears in the fridge and cupboards at midnight. Any more questions, mister Frost?"
    She knew my name. Unless Karma told her, she shouldn't know my name.
    "That's all for now, Drin. Thank you very much."
    She dipped her head and made her way behind the counter in the back. There were five tables, each with three chairs, all of it worn, solid wood. The counter in the back was some kind of stone-topped, with a wooden base, and had a stove next to it. Behind it was two fridges, another stove, and two large cupboards, all currently closed.
    I looked around a bit more, and decided to leave. Karma followed after, handing the key back to me.
    "Consider my mind blown. A subliminal space with near limitless food? Thats great."
    "The food isn't created - it is just teleported from other places to the Inn, depending on what the owners want."
    "Oh. Why can't the magic just create the food?"
    "With the exception of being inside Faern, matter cannot be created by magic. Quasi-matter, made of ectoplasm, which is basically a jelly made of magic, can, but it would turn back into jelly as soon as you stopped pouring your will into it. That's why wizards don't go riding around on homemade dragons - sure, to create the dragon would be expensive, but you need to keep pouring that energy into it, so it'd be very taxing."
    "Ah, that makes sense. With Faern, it works because that's where magic comes from, doesn't it?
    "In a sense. That's how Scarlett and I made our coats. We couldn't do that for long here."
    I nodded, and had my tech take the key to hold against my side. I didn't trust it to stay in my pocket, in a place like this.
    We had another drink, and I left to get home to my friend and family, looking forward to Apollo's home cooked meal, Vlad's jokes, Bar's excited rambling, even Zane's sarcastic remarks.
    I missed my people.
    So I went to them.