Page 99 of Beyond The Maples
"Wow! How long have you been in New Providence? How’d you get over here?" I know as soon as the words are out of my lips I’m appearing too eager. Mack’s body language changes completely, and Briggs seems to withdraw. Shit.
"How about we keep the questions that could get all of us in trouble to a minimum, yeah?" Briggs replies.
"Sorry ––just hoping to get to know you guys. It’s rare I meet someone from another country…" I tap the table with my fingers thoughtfully, looking around the room. "What if we played for truths?" I motion towards the table beside us playing cards.
Briggs grins, "Do you play?"
"I have before, yeah. My dad taught me to play when I was younger, before he disappeared," I answer honestly, and it has the desired effect. Both Briggs and Mack soften.
"Well, let’s do it!" Briggs says, jumping up and heading to the bar. He murmurs something to the bar keep and is handed a stack of cards, coin and dice.
Mack hesitates, scratching his jaw like he’s contemplating.
"Hey, it’s basically two against one, and I haven’t played in a long time," I lie… "Loser has to answer a question from the winner of the hand?" I raise my eyebrows in challenge, and Mack smiles.
"OK, fine."
"You have to answer each question honestly, or Ignius himself will come and light you on fire and you’ll have one hundred years of bad luck... Oh! and winner of each hand has to drink!" Briggs adds mischievously, smirking at both of us.
Son of a bitch.
One hour in, and I am having so much fun that I have to remind myself why I’m here. I’ve been trying to keep the winning even, mostly because I am getting too drunk to remember which questions that I need to ask, but also because when one twin wins, they usually ask each other such hilarious, obscure questions I end up laughing until I cry.
"Tell me right now Mack––it’s the rules! Did you or did you not use and lose my lucky hunting knife last year!" Briggs yells, taking a large gulp of his drink. He won this hand, and his brother looks around the room, as if he can escape this question somehow.
"Fine, FINE. Yes…I did, and I’m not really sorry honestly, because that knife was given to both of us it wasn’t really "yours" to begin with, so I had every right to…" He stops talking and scoots his chair back from the table as Briggs stands, knocking over his own cup in a fit of rage.
"I’m going to kill you.." Briggs breaths out, before moving towards his brother, red faced. I get up to stop them, but I’m beaten to it by the barkeep.
"Cut it out you two, or I cut youboth off––for two months!" He growls.
Briggs seems to shake himself out of it immediately, which is something I’ve noticed about him; he’s furious one minute, and fine the next. Mack puts both hands up in submission, apologizing and chuckling as he pulls his chair back in.
"Ok, let's keep going," I say. I’ve purposely stayed in the middle for most of the last hour, not wanting to drink too much, and wanting to ensure these two felt at ease. But it’s getting late, and I need to get some answers.
It’s my turn to deal. I give us each five cards, then separate the remaining stack into four piles. Each of us take turns flipping from our own stack until there’s six cards in a row. I dealt, so Mack ––to my right gets to roll first. He rolls the dice, and leans back in his chair, scratching his jaw.
He’s better at mastering his emotions than his brother, but he’s still got tells. He’s got a low hand, but he’s going to try and pretend it's high.
His brother, however, accidentally lets out a sigh and folds. Mack, competitive as he is, raises. We go back and forth for a minute until it’s time to flip, and Mack throws his cards down in frustration. I snicker.
"Sorry boys!" I chuckle, while taking a deep drink. "So, is Zaphira as desolate as New Providence? How come you left?"
"That’s technically two questions," Mack points out laughing, "but I’ll allow it. When we left, Zaphira was doing fine. Everything was still growing naturally. There’s no magic, but it’s functioning alright." he shrugs, "Why we left? That’s a little more complicated. Let’s call itfamily drama."
I can’t help my stunned reaction, "I am so confused… almost all our military conflict is with Zaphira. If they are better off than us, that makes no sense. Our troops have been going missing or dying in that conflict for years."
Briggs comes back to the table just then with new drinks for all of us, and nods his head at me as he leans in.
"You’re absolutely right. But it’s not for the reasons you think. Zaphirian troops have been trying to make it across Providence for years. They want access to the barrier. To try and figure out how to drop it."
"Why would they want that, if Zaphira still has agriculture?" I push, and thankfully neither of them seems to pull back.
"Yet.." Mack continues in a hushed, slightly slurred tone. "Before we left, the blight had just started to creep past the bogs and onto our land. It gets worse every year, and with no wielders, they won’t be able to fight it off indefinitely."
My mind reels, untangling years of misinformation the government has forced down our throats.
"Why would you two leave and come here?" I question.
