The Gambler

Hiro the Hero

"I've never gambled. How do you?" Hiro asks in the most innocent tone he can muster.
"Oh, it's easy. It's called Gleek." The man with the deck of cards responds. 

The game Gleek is a pretty complicated game. Gleek is a trick-taking game where players aim to win tricks and score points. The player with the 7 of Hearts leads the first trick. Players must follow suit if possible. If unable, they can play any card. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick unless a trump card is played. If a trump card is played, the highest trump card wins the trick. Aces are high, then Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, down to 2s. The player who wins the trick leads the next one. Players keep track of their scores by taking a counter for each trick won. The game continues until all tricks have been played. Players count the number of tricks they've won. The player who has won the most tricks scores points equal to the number of tricks they've won. Other players score nothing for that round. If two or more players tie for the most tricks won, they all score points equal to the number of tricks they've won. You win when you have 11 or 21 points, depending on the decided score.

Upon beginning the game, they decide on 11 points as the carriage ride is rather quick. All men have 17 cards, besides the man on the farthest left of the two, who is named Taj, has the seven of hearts. He sets it down and Hiro notices something, there's a faint purple light on the back of the two sets of cards that the men are holding. He can see the number and suit that they are holding.
"Hey, are these trick cards?" Hiro asks.
"What does that even mean?" Taj responds.
"Can you see my suit and number?"
"No. Of course not, we aren't trying to trick you, kid." The other man says, his name is Yie.
"Hmm, okay. I trust you." Hiro says, but all of this feels weird to him. Why can he see their cards? Why is he able to see through the cards, but not his own?

They play through the game, and with the ability to know when he was going to lose the trick and when he would win, Hiro very easily wins with 11 points to Taj's 5 and Yie's 2.
"Dang, you're a natural, kid!" Taj laughs.
"Thanks." Hiro chuckles, feeling weird about it all still, "What did I win?" He adds.
"Nothing. Gambling for money or property is illegal in the Elven Kingdom. They call it Gambling but it's just for fun." Jefald says, sternly.
"Oh." Hiro says, a little let down.
"You did great though!" Elara says, grabbing onto Hiro's arm.
"Please let go of the trainee, Princess." Jefald never even glances away from the window.
"Woahhh!" A man outside exclaims as the horses yell and the carriage comes to a sudden stop.
"What's wrong?" Taj yells to the man outside.
"Someone is in the road." The man responds. Taj, Yie, and Jefald all step outside of the carriage.
"Stay here with the Princess, recruit." Jefald says, looking Hiro dead in the eyes.
"Yes, sir." Hiro responds. Elara looks a little nervous, grabbing onto Hiro's arm with her left arm just slightly.
"It's okay, they'll figure it out." There's the sound of distant conversation, though inaudible. The minutes drag on and feel like hours. Hiro is continuing to glance around and happens to notice movement in the brush to their left. He leans a little closer to see nothing. He shrugs it off and leans back. Right as he does he sees an arrow flying right towards him. In a panic, he throws his arms in the air and yells, "Aghh!" Hiro's eyes are shut tight, after a second, he opens them slowly to see the cards that were on the small table in front of them hovering in front of him. An arrow stuck inside about 30 of them stacked up. There's a tiny purple glow enveloping them. The same glow Hiro would be able to see the suit and number with. The sound of fighting can be heard from outside the carriage. Screaming and yelling. Suddenly, "HIRO!" Elara yells. Hiro snaps back to see Elara being grabbed and pulled out of the carriage. Hiro is stunned. He can't move. His body won't let him. 

"You failed her." He hears the woman's voice again as he sees the image of his dead mom on the ground of his house.
"Fuck you." He hears from his mother's lips, even though she's dead. He can't move. Just like when he had to watch his mother die.
"Magic." He hears the woman's words echo through his head.
"No." Hiro says sternly. Both the man grabbing Elara and Elara just stop.
"Hiro?" Elara says, her voice shaky.
"I won't be a coward anymore." He says, his voice as monotone as when the woman first approached him. Every single one of the cards on the table, and the one's that had a hole in them, begin moving furiously. Their purple aura seems to be enveloping the carriage as well now. They begin moving faster and faster to the point of where they are hard to see. Hiro has no idea what they are doing, but they seem to be reacting to his emotions. He thrusts his hand towards where the arrow came from, in hopes that the cards would attack or something, but they don't.
"THERE'S A MAGE WITH THEM!" The man holding Elara says. 'A Mage' Hiro thinks. His smile widens and his heart begins to race.
"THAT'S RIGHT! I'M A FUCKING MAGE!" Hiro yells with a tiny chuckle at the end. He stands, and the cards begin wrapping around him. They are responding to his emotions. So, just like when he was gambling, he must be strategic. He controls all of his hatred towards himself for being a coward the past 20 years, and puts it all into his head.
"Failure."
"Coward."
"Loser."
"Useless."
"Waste of space."
"Addict." Hiro mutters all of these as he takes a step out of the carriage and is about arms length from the man holding Elara.
"H-Hiro..?" Elara's voice shaking like Hiro's whole body.
"I won't be a coward anymore." His monotone voice echoing through the woods that surround them. He glances back to see the three other Royal Guards fighting with swords. 'Where were they keeping those?' Hiro wonders. He tosses the thought aside and looks back to see the man holding Elara now has a short sword to her throat.
"Don't fucking move." He says, his voice shaking almost as much as Elara's. Hiro, doesn't move.
"Failure." Hiro begins repeating.
"Coward."
"Loser."
"SHUT UP!" The man yells, pushing the sword into Elara's throat, drawing a small amount of blood that runs down the blade.
"Useless." Hiro continues, as he walks towards the man.
"I SAID DON'T MOVE, DAMNIT!" The man yells, taking a step back. The cards are going berserk around Hiro.
"Waste of space." He continues, taking a step forward again.
"Addict." As he says that, all the cards stop, and just hold their positions in midair. 
"H-" Elara starts. Before she can finish what she was about to say, all 44 cards that Hiro had under his control, go straight into the man's forehead. His grip releases, and he falls to the ground. The short sword slicing to the side as he goes down. Elara feels this and begins to panic. Hiro grabs her, and she reaches from where she just felt the sword slice her neck. Upon her hand feeling around, she realizes, there's a card on her neck. It has a slash mark in it, but her neck was not cut.