Every Dog Has His Day (Tentative Solo)

[Lye]

"Uh... Who was that?" Hedge asked, dumbfounded by what he just witnessed.

"Isabelle," Lye replied with his focus fixed on the message in his hands. "You could say she's taken over as my personal secretary."

"Secretary? Didn't you kill the last one you had?" Hedge inquired.

"Believe so." The assassin flipped the pages.

"What is a little thing like that doing in a place like this?" Diggs asked from behind.

"Don't let that exterior fool you; she's a succubus. And it seems she's taken a liking to you, Diggs." Lye finished reading and folded the note into the pouch at his back. Diggs grew red in the cheeks. "You done playing bodyguard?"

"What?" A blank expression found Hedge's face.

"Thought so." Lye maneuvered around and into the den where the two had suspended their card game.

"Wait, what was that message?" Diggs inquired, jogging to catch up.

"Ah, yes. You were right, Diggs. Madison was burned at the stake."

"What?! She's dead?!" Hedge exclaimed.

"Well, not after the first attempt. So, they burned her at the stake a second time."

"What?!" Diggs chimed in.

"Seems that didn't work either." Lye clutched at his chest and he new felt the pain of the thorns in each beat. "I can only assume they weren't able to kill all of her."

Lye continued his stride for the door, moving with purpose. Diggs and Hedge joined him in the card room, eager to know more.

"She's still alive?" Hedge asked, shocked.

"Yes, and seemingly they've decided to move her to Terrinore." He placed his hand on the door.

"Terrinore?" Diggs racked his brain to recall hearing that name.

"Its where they send legends, dreams, and nightmares to disappear." Lye opened the door. "This is why no one else will go but me." Before he closed the door behind him, the assassin made a point to look directly at Hedge. He saw that the man understood what Lye's angle had been from the beginning. He saw that Hedge knew he had been played.

"One last thing," Lye paused with only a sliver of the door left open. "I wouldn't count Madison out. Not yet."

And the door shut.

[Lye]

"I fucking hate that man." Hedge rustled his hair in frustration almost as if he were trying to shake the memory right out of his head.

"You didn't get the journal, did you?" Diggs reminded.

"Fuck!" Hedge held out the two he had clutched to his chest. He set them among the neglected books on the closest shelf and reached for the door.

"Don't," Diggs warned. Hedge froze. "Let him have it. If it helps him get Madison home, who cares?"

"I do! That's Maddy's--!"

"Look at it this way. If that's his leverage, and she catches him with it, not only will he have sprung her free at that point, but she'll undoubtedly pry it out of his cold, dead hands." Diggs nudged his glasses again and visually, the tension melted out of Hedge's body.

He turned to his sly colleague with a grin. "Two birds one stone..."

"Precisely." Diggs pulled his chair from the table and took a seat. "So, should we finish this game? One thousand gold on the table..."

"Yeah, sure." Hedge joined his companion and made a questionable expression. "So they tried to burn her at the stake?"

"Twice," Diggs corrected as he reached out to the river card and flipped it.

Ace of spades. Hedge grinned.

"How does someone even survive that? Think she looks the same, or all burnt?"

"Let's see your cards." Diggs avoided the question. He didn't want to think of Maddy like that.

"Four Aces!" Hedge declared, triumphantly flipped his cards, and slammed them down. Diggs stared at his hand, jaw dropped.

"No, no way... It's statistically--"

"Hah Hah! Told you I had a good feeling about it!" Hedge roared. "Too bad for you! You could have used that money to take Isabelle out for a romp in Archen!"

"--the odds are what? One in four thousand?" Diggs muttered, his head clutched between his hands as he watched Hedge rake in all his savings.

"Guts beats brains every time! What'd you have anyway?" Hedge started to stack up the coins in piles of twenty five. Each metallic clink drove the loss home.

Diggs lifelessly flipped his cards, his eyes lost in the distance.

King of Spades & King of Clubs.

"Oh ho ho! I would've beaten you by a hair even if it wasn't the forth ace! What's wrong specs? Wanna go crying to your new girlfriend?" Hedge chuckled again. When he settled, his eyes fell on the two abandoned cards by Madison's seat. "Let's see what Maddy had."

Hedge reached over the table and flipped Madison's cards.

Two of Hearts and Ten of Hearts.

He flopped into his chair, awestruck.

"Are you fucking kidding me..." he sighed, arms limp at his sides. Diggs looked up and spotted her cards. His glasses nearly fell off his nose when the even greater statistical anomaly stared back at him.

"Wouldn't count her out..." Diggs muttered.

The revelation hit Hedge like a truck. He immediately shot a glare at the door.

"You son of a bitch!" he shouted as if Lye were to blame for his loss.

"Looks like we owe Maddy a grand when she gets back," Diggs smugly stated. "Better than watching you blow it cheap booze."

"Shut up specs!"

[Philomel]

Name of Thread: Every Dog Has His Day
Judgement Type: Workshop Submission

Rewards:
Lye receives:
1720 EXP
160 GP

Lady receives:
100 EXP
20 GP

Spoils are approved with no cost with description as follows: "One of Madison's Journals (Approved by Andy/BlackandBlueEyes)."

[Lye]

Exp & gp added!