Cross stared at the fifth card in his hand, one of the mysterious ‘equip-type’ cards Hester kept using to empower her fighters.

  Some aspects were as normal as cards got, a name (Wind Lance), an image of what the card represented (a spear with some fabric attached, wielded by a mounted knight) and the effect.

  Which was where it all fell apart.

  “Equips to a wind fighter? What do you mean wind fighter? And lance wielder? What?”

  “Okay, first? Fighters have their category determined by their colour. Green for wind, red for fire, orange for earth and blue for water,” Hester explained. “Didn't you wonder why they had different background colours?"

  “What about black?”

  “Great, one of that sort,” she complained, rolling her eyes. “Why people insist that black backed fighters exist, always something the brother of a friends roommate saw once at a distance… There are the four types of fighter, okay? That's all. Now, second, the details on the second page of the cards. Just roll your fingers across the card to switch pages, instead of the stats and effects you'll see the so called ‘cosmetic info’ of the card. And for a fighter it also gives the list of weapon types they can wield.”

  Cross hesitantly followed her direction, willing to take the chance only because it wasn't his turn and he couldn't play them by accident.

  He was indeed able to access a second page, that gave a description of his cards from outside their mechanical functions.

  And also confirmed that none of his current wind fighters could wield a lance.

  Another swipe and the cards were back to normal.

  “And cards in play?”

  “That's one of the reasons to use a gauntlet, they maintain a physical form so you can check,” Hester shrugged. “I mean, aside from the whole fending off wildlife thing. But back to my turn. I stake these cards to assign my Contract to your Mascot, and activate my Meteor Greatsword to equip to my Officer of Arms, boosting her attack by 4 and granting her a piercing effect against fighters! Now, Officer of Arms, attack the Scart Mascot!”

  “My Mascots effect activates,” Cross countered as the fighter swung a black sword taller than herself at the Mascot. “I redirect the attack to my Harbinger of Discord!”

  The Mascot was facing the wrong way for him to tell just what it did, but the Officer of Arms flinched aside, bringing her sword down on the Harbinger instead, dropping to 9 Life.

  “But now that its effect has been spent, my Mounted Freelancer attacks your Mascot in turn!”

  Cross grinned.

  “I activate my face down, Effect Reload! It allows my Mascot to use its effect again, redirecting your attack to my Harbinger again!”

  “Oh you little-”

  Hester was cut off as the Freelancers lance impacted the Harbinger, taking damage equal to the difference between its Atk and the Harbingers Def.

  Which was enough to destroy it.

  Hester placed a hand over her brows, taking a deep breath.

  “I should have been ready for something like that. Never underestimate a Heaper, Hester, you never know… Right, I can…”

  She looked over the cards in play again.

  “No, that doesn't help. And… I end my turn,” she finally accepted.

  “Draw,” Cross declared, adding a sixth card to his hand and putting himself two above his opponent.

  It was a green backed, a wind, fighter, but checking the second page confirmed his borrowed equip-type card was useless for it, even before considering he couldn't play it yet.

  “First my Scary Mascot attacks your Officer of Arms,” he began, his fighter leaping forward to land a perfect strike upon her to destroy the fighter, “and now my Harbinger attacks directly.”

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  The distortion struck, dropping her to 86 Life, leaving him finally in the lead, if only by 2 points.

  “Whoa, now I'm really glad you don't have a gauntlet,” Hester commented, swaying slightly. “If that's what its attack feels like without one, I dread to think what it would be like if it was real.”

  Cross frowned.

  “Just what is so important about these gauntlets? You're the second person I've seen who uses them, what makes them so important to play with?”

  “Honestly, anyone who needs to play using one doesn't trust they know their own deck,” Hester started in a flat tone. “Beyond that, it can be a matter of habit or not wanting to take it off in a wild zone. That's why I'm using it here, I know exactly which of my fighters can take which equipment after all. But it is outside of matches the gauntlets become really important.”

  “How so?”

  “Really showing your inexperience here, huh? There are creatures, like fighter cards, in wild zones, most of which take exception to humans passing by. Now, you can try and fight them off yourself, but that is just asking for pain. But with a gauntlet, you can play your fighters into reality, use them to protect yourself. Better yet, they have a decent chance of winning and netting you that creature as a card. Makes escort jobs so much more worthwhile,” she added, a happy note in her voice.

  “Where can we get gauntlets? If they're so important for travellers-”

  “Ah, about that… nobody really knows where they come from, how to make them, so you can't buy them. Mostly they get given to the assigned protector of a city zone, or gathered by an organisation. I mean, the Noble Order had loads, before…” She shook her head. “There have been a number of people who find one deep in a wild zone, using them to make a start as a bounty hunter, but that's not something you…”

  She trailed off briefly, consideringly.

  “Tell you what, there's an old building in the wilderness zone, Seafor if I recall correctly, that has some gauntlets left inside, doing nobody any good, plus some books on how to play. A bit out of date by now, but better than nothing, right?”

  “And why are you being so generous all of a sudden?”

  “You aren't that bad, kid,” she shrugged. “You've sort of grown on me. I mean, where I learned to play they said the best way to get to know the sort of person somebody was is to play a match against them, and you almost remind me of myself when I was younger. I mean, I still have a job to do here, but that's no reason to screw you over more than I have to.”

  “How thoughtful,” was his dry response. “Turn end.”

  Hester added a fifth card to her hand, and tapped against her gauntlet thoughtfully.

  “I doubt you have a second Effect Reload, so I just need to find a way to attack your Mascot twice, with the second attack enough to destroy it. Of course, I can take a few turns of attacks while I save up for multiple fighters, hopefully getting a Freelancer to land the finishing blow. And with that pair of fighters, I have no reason to waste any levels right now.”

  “Pair? You seem to be forgetting my face down.”

  “Yeah,” Hester shrugged, “but you've never been known to use a face down fighter.”

  “Mhm. Say, you know that Commander Shih Tzu has apparently come into fashion in the city?”

  She snorted a brief laugh.

  “Seriously? That's the latest fashionable card? I always knew it was about owning a card rather than playing it, but Commander Shih Tzu?”

  “Yeah, and the Game King store had a couple added to their stock recently.”

  “Yeah? Good to know some people care more about a cards playing value than fashion.”

  “Guess who sold them.”

  “Huh? How would I- no.”

  It was a sound of realisation.

  “Hmm,” Cross hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, everyone in the Heap found plenty, whether we wanted to or not.”

  Hester looked at his cards, judging how long he'd had the face down and what else he could play, how much damage he could do if it was a Commander Shih Tzu.

  “You're bluffing,” she stated. “I know you're bluffing. There's no way you suddenly put a Commander Shih Tzu in your deck.”

  “But..?”

  “But if I'm wrong, I would lose to a Commander Shih Tzu and I'd never live it down. Fine, I…”

  She hesitated.

  “I summon Squire of the Noble Order.”

  Squire of the Noble Order

  Atk: 6 Def: 8 Life: 8 Level: 2

  Passive effect: is always treated as a ‘Knight’ by effects

  On destruction: search your deck for and add a copy of ‘Masters Guidance’ to your hand

  The fighter didn't look like they wore any armour beyond a gauntlet, and bore a cloak over his shoulders.

  “Squire of the Noble Order, attack the face down,” she ordered in a defeated tone.

  He ran up and punched the card with his left, gauntleted, hand.

  The card shattered, revealing itself as a non-fighter without a counter effect.

  “Fuck,” Hester groaned. “I knew it. I knew it wasn't that card. Why did I let you talk me into it? Oh, turn end.”

  “No idea,” Cross allowed. “Draw.”

  Not a fighter, and not useful right now.

  Instead…

  “I tribute my Martial-arts Scary Mascot to summon my newest fighter, the Steampunk Flying Fortress!”

  Steampunk Flying Fortress

  Atk: 37 Def: 33 Life: 20 Level: 8

  “And there goes my stake,” Hester noted. “So much for the Contract…”

  The Flying Fortress floated high above the rest of the arena, a huge grey shape that vaguely reminded Cross of the cigars one of the cities visitors to the Heaps was always smoking.

  But beneath that was a solid metal shape, engines at the back and a range of guns and cannons along the length towards the front.

  “My Flying Fortress will start by attacking your Squire, before my Harbinger attacks directly!”

  A number of guns swiveled in place, aiming at the Squire before opening up, clouds of smoke soon replacing the Squires position, before the other fighter dropped Hester to 72 Life, widening his lead at 88 Life.

  A quick check of his six card hand confirmed he had no other moves left, so: “Turn end.”

  Hester answered by smiling as she drew her own sixth card.