The Story of a Spade ~ Keep Story

[Spader]

I saw a bunch of them out, and decided I might as well try one. It's only a Prologue for now, but I'm working on Chapter 1.

Prologue

Four people sat on one side of a table, staring at the center. There were several eggs placed on the table in front of each person. On the other side, there was one singular woman.

”No more bets,” she said, shuffling the cards that she was holding in her hand. Suddenly, she stopped shuffling and put two cards in front of each person there. As she did, she looked at the people’s faces and their eggs.

The first one had bet two purple eggs with gems on them. His face was sly, and he was staring at her, making her feel weird. His eyes were bright green, and they were piercing her. His hair was slightly in his eyes, but even as she noticed, he wiped it out of the way.

The second had bet a small egg with wings poking out of it. There was nothing particularly special about it. The woman who was sitting behind it had a completely calm look on her face, closing her eyes in a slow blink. When they reopened, they were a bright blue color. Her hair was bright red, and fell in curls to her shoulders.

The third had donated a dark egg. It had just a couple patches of very dark spots on the bottom. His face was flushed with the excitement of the moment. He had brown eyes, and matching hair. His skin was darker than the others.

The fourth and final one was the strangest. The bet was an egg the woman dealing had never seen before. It looked like it was crafted of shadows, and the shadows seemed to ooze out of it. The man who had bet it had purple eyes, and the purple eyes were staring not at her, but at the egg, and he seemed to be muttering something to it.

Unsure of what to do, the girl just dealt out the cards. Two each. And two in front of her, but she flipped the second one of hers over. It was a Jack of Spades.

The first one looked at his cards, and knocked on the table. She slid him a card. The man frowned and flipped over his cards. A Ten of Hearts, a Five of Clubs, and a Ten of Spades. Bust.

The second just nodded. She was ready, and flipping her cards over, she revealed a Jack of Diamonds and a Queen of Clubs. Twenty. That was good.

The third one hit the table again, and hit it twice. Then flipping over his cards, he revealed a Five of Diamonds, an Ace of Hearts, a Two of Clubs, and a Two of Spades.

The last one smiled and just flipped over his cards. Ten of Clubs and Eight of Spades.

Finally, it was left to the woman. Silently, she flipped over her other card. It was an Ace of Spades. Grinning, she waved her arm expectantly. The first two glowered at her, then pushed their eggs gently over to her. The third just sighed and pushed the egg over, maybe a little roughly. The last stayed there until the other three were gone. He stared at her, his purple eyes keeping her gaze. She looked coolly back, her white eyes nearly unaffected.

“Watch this egg. Don’t let it out of your sight.”

With that, he was gone. He stood and walked away. Didn’t push the egg toward her, didn’t say anything else, the expression on his face didn’t change. He just walked away. She was used to getting a different reaction.

Shrugging, she gently placed all the eggs into the sack hanging by her side. Then she reached for the shadowy one.

When her fingers touched the egg, for a second, she felt her mind whisked away, like it was gone, but then it returned. That was strange. Eggs had never made her feel that way before. Shrugging, she tucked it gently in her bag, and turned around and walked away.