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they did not realise that my laughter was from sheer relief rather than any bravado. Some men grumbled though. I heard a man talk of how cripples cheat by their very nature. I ignored the comments. A lot of them had lost money.
    Harl stepped over and handed back my belongings. "Well done, sir."
    I grunted. The room then went silent again. It was an awkward silence for they now had an officer in their midst. Some of the men even stood to attention regardless of my comment about dropping rank. Others looked daggers of hatred and disgust.
    "Stand easy, men," I said. "I have a couple of hours before my watch, and all I want is an honest drink with honest men where I can lose some honest copper. No rank, no lord, just easy company."
    The men relaxed a little but were still silent. Harl stepped forwards and dragged a large flat topped chest out. He placed a few barrels round it, and then threw a pack of cards on top. He then looked at me, so I sat down, took the worn cards and began to shuffle them. When done, I placed them face down, reached for my purse and up ended a small pile of copper heads onto the chest. I organised them into neat little stacks and then turned to the men. "Anyone care to join me?"
    There was a pause which came to an abrupt end when one man stepped forwards. The others, realising they might lose their chance to get at the coppers rushed in too. All of a sudden, it was as though I were not there. Talking began. Men lifted jugs and goblets. A fiddler started up a merry tune and a grimy old-timer went back to witling a bit of wood. Pipes were lit and the place felt like an impromptu inn. There were six men round the chest including myself. Harl did not join us but went to check on Jodlin instead.
    "What are we playing?" I asked.
    "King, sir," said a tattooed man to my left. "You know it?"
    "I'm familiar with it. The king moves round the table. Highest hand takes the pot?"
    "That's the one. Highest card starts as King," said the man offering me a card. It was four sea serpents.
    "Name's Tabor, sir," said the sailor handing round the cards to each player and taking one himself which he then placed face up on the table. He had nine dragons, the highest card. Another player had nine sea serpents, but dragons beat serpents, so Tabor started as King.
    The sailor then reshuffled the deck and dealt five cards to each player who each had to place a coin in the pot. I got three bears, eight dragons, four trolls, three trolls and one sea serpent - not a good hand. Starting with the player to Tabor's left, each man then scrutinised their cards and either stuck with them or placed a coin in the pot and took a new card from the deck, discarding a card which went to the King. The King never replaces cards but simply rakes up any that other players want to replace. This went round the table twice and I swapped cards on both rounds and ended up with one of each of the five realms, having picked yet another troll on my first swap, ending up with two giants in place of the three trolls and so had a low scoring 'Hand of Realms' - one of each beast.
    Of course the King was the most popular position as the more coins that were in the pot, the greater his hand was probably going to be and when each player revealed their hands, Tabor smiled as he had won with a ladder of sea serpents from three to seven. It was a game of luck with little skill. At first, I did not try very hard. I saw to it to lose my second and third hand, and then lost another couple of hands. I then tried harder and found that I was still losing. The men beamed with joy as they began to eat away at my pile of coins.
    "Gimme the dragon, gimme the dragon," one of the men kept saying whenever the cards were being dealt.
    "Give me a fat swiving wench with big bubbas an' no manners," said another followed by grunts of laughter.
    This went on for a while and I took to cursing under my breath for the losses, small as they were. It had become a challenge. The men were