Double or Nothing

“Then, with the Triad as witnesses, I pledge myself as payment. Not my flesh, but my cybernetics, including the schematics I have in my room.”

This is the second award-winning work of Höbin Luckyfeller, and the second book in his Field Guide series. The script is hot and fresh and we also have a new cover for the book!

Enjoy.

When Höbin is contracted to research the popular game of chance, he quickly learns the truth surrounding its history is anything but. Circumstances unfold faster than he can anticipate, pulling Höbin from his assignment and thrusting him into the shadows of intrigue, magic…and murder.

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Chapter 14 — Double or Nothing

So here I am, back at the beginning. Or, in the middle, if you want to get technical about it, laying uncomfortably in the middle of the table, cold, sopping wet and without a drop of dragon’s urine on me.

I mean, on me….not on me. That would be gross.

“Well?” prods Iyl-Tandril, “Do you have an explanation, Höbin?”

“I want a rematch,” I cough, still trying to get my breath back.

“A rematch?”

I nod at Keeley, whose seething eyes dart around at all the damage I’ve just caused. “I want a rematch with Keeley…double or nothing.”

The gambler in me can’t help but up the odds. It’s more of an ego thing — but I have to make this real. Make it worthwhile and reel the dirtbag into a game. I have to locate that blasted vial.

Keeley scoffs, “You have nothing left I want, except my money, I presume?”

“No,” I admit out loud, “but I have something. Better, in fact. Something most humans try to get their hands on, but never do.”

“Oh?” Keeley smirks. “And what, pray tell, is that?”

I pause, letting his curiosity to build before I grin wide and answer.

“Gnome Technology.”

You could have heard a pin drop. All eyes are on me and I know everyone is wondering if I hit my head during my landing. Gnomes have certain laws. Vows our race makes at adulthood, by anyone wanting to leave our island homeland, which are non-negotiable. The greatest being that technology is for gnomes. Only gnomes. I’m not talking about grain wheels, indoor plumbing, and the simple mundane tools that make life a bit more comfortable.

I’m talking about computers, transistors, motor vehicles or…cybernetics.

Keeley waves a hand and his goons at the doorstep outside the curtain. 

Good, I have his full attention.

“You’re bluffing,” he whispers, half-sneering and completely ignoring the Triad.

I look at Iyl-Tandril, then at his brother and grandson. “The technology I used to sustain my life is worth more than the whole of this establishment,” then to Keeley directly, “or any debt I’ve already incurred. If I win, you forgive my debt, including all damages. That’s all I ask.”

Iyl-Tandril puts a hand on my shoulder, “And if you lose, my little friend?”