The Beauty
Evening of the River Serpent Attack, 77 Spring 218
It was late in the evening. The crew who weren’t on duty were already asleep. Ethan was alone in the galley, standing atop an uneven footstool, holding his breath as he stacked yet another layer atop the tower of cards before him.
This was a game he’d often played with Garbon when they were children; unoriginally named Card Tower, it was a game he always lost. The two boys (for they were just boys back then) couldn’t have been more different in their approach. Garbon was exacting, methodical. He used a line of string - an old tape line discarded by Rowen’s mother - to measure each card in relation to one another as well as the structure itself. Then he would carefully re-measure and readjust each section before and after placing a new layer.
Of the two, Ethan had the steadier hands but he’d never had the patience (or the brains) to take such an approach. He had always relied on simple intuition; he was only able to see major flaws or obvious weaknesses, whatever could be observed with the naked eye. His intuition had never been enough. Garbon alone was able to stack the entire deck, earning himself the undisputed title of King of Card Tower.
Until tonight.
Tonight Ethan’s intuition was perfect.
Each layer was placed without flaw and each new card he set down just felt right. The tower grew and grew until he’d finally reached the last stage. He had reached the level equal to Garbon’s… and now, he was going to surpass him.
Admittedly, when they were kids, Garbon had been handicapped because (in the most literal sense) the boys weren’t playing with a full deck of cards. They’d had to create their own games with their own rules whenever they played together because two cards had been missing from the set they owned. So while it may have been within his ability to continue, Garbon never made it beyond the fifth level - there just weren’t any cards left.
But I’ve got a full deck now, buddy, he thought, smiling to himself as he stared down at the top of the fifth layer, just waiting for the last three cards to be placed. One more and he would tie Garbon’s record. Two more and he’d have the sixth level completed. Just three more cards…
And he thought, I’m doing this on a ship! He felt the giddy sensation of petty competition burning within his chest as he readied the platform for the final layer…
The door to the galley burst open. Sav came rushing inside along with a gust of wind that imploded the tower, cards spilling unceremoniously across the table and floor.
“I need your help. I’ve figured out a way to keep the things from takin’ us over!” she said.
Ethan stood over the collapsed pile, a single card still held level between his fingers at the space above the sixth layer that would never be created. A single, short whimper escaped the back of his throat and slipped through his tightly pursed lips.
From some plain of existence, Ethan pictured Garbon - who had been sitting on the edge of his seat - to relax contentedly back into his chair, his title uncontested. Wherever he was, in whatever form he now took, he remained the King of Card Tower.
Episode navigation
Previous
Previous:
Staring Into the BlacknessNext
Back to:
Related Story
Staring Into the Blackness | 77 Spring
Sav upbraids herself, ruminating over her failures in the latest battle, before having a flash of inspiration. (Sav)