I slid my money over to the player bet side while the others at the table debated their choices. The dealer passed out the cards to the four other men sitting at the table with me, chuckling as he passed two cards to me. I checked them with a smile. 

“You sure you want to bet on yourself this round little man you’re almost out? I almost feel bad taking your money, little one.”

“I think I’ll be lucky this round,”I replied with a smile. 

Pedro had led me to a 24 hour gambling den called The Grove near the docks. The grove is a two story building painted a light green and outlined in white. The inside is built like a tavern except the tables were holding different gambling games. Notorious for cutthroats, thieves, and those seeking fortune, honest folk stayed away. I don’t have the same hesitation that they have. I need money and this is the fastest way to do it beside stealing like Pedro suggested. Pedro gave me about 3000 belli that he managed to snatch on the way, which I’m currently losing at the baccarat table.

“Oh a nine, looks like you win this time,” the banker said. The banker was a greasy man with a mischievous smile that made me certain he was cheating. The other men at the table were either in on it or being scammed like me. Luckily with that last win I’m back even at 3000 belli. The dealer discarded the cards and pulled out a new deck that he began to shuffle. 

Baccarat is an easy game to learn, all you need to do is get as close to nine as possible. Number cards are worth their value, while the ten, jack, queen, and king are worth zero. The Joker is discarded. If the sum of your numbers goes over nine then you have to remove the one or two in front of it. For example a six and seven equals thirteen, so your hand is only worth three. Before each round you can either bet on yourself to double the money, the banker to double the money minus five percent, or a tie which pays out the best odds due to it being unlikely. If you guess wrong on the three choices then you lose your money. 

Pedro leaned over my shoulder to whisper, “We’re back even. We should just quit while we’re ahead and try to turn this into the collectors.”

“Trust me, losing is part of the game. Plus I think I’m feeling luckier.” I gave him a wink and he settled down at that. 

I bet on myself once more before the dealer dealt. The dealer dealt the cards once more and I was lucky enough to have a total of eight.

“I'll stand.”

The other four men chose to stand after two of them hit once. Three of them had bet on the banker this time.

“Are you sure about that?”

He flipped his card over and it was a tie. The banker slid all the money toward himself and I grabbed my remaining 2,000 dollars and slid it to tie for my next bet. I have to risk everything here, or I’ll be stuck playing the bankers game till I’ve lost everything. 

“Mr. Banker, what's the payout for a tie here at The Grove?”

“It’s eight to one odds but your chances of hitting are slim to none, little man. Ties only happen every dozen rounds, but if you're confident who am I to stop you.”

He dealt the cards once more and stood once more. 

“Time for the big reveal,” the banker said smiling. We all flipped our cards and both of our hands added up to seven. The banker's smile vanished as he realized what had happened. My 2,000 belli had just turned into 18,000 with the eight to one odds. 

“That’s Impossible you must have cheated. There’s no way there would be ties on two turns in a row.”

“How could I have cheated you dealt the cards and there’s guards who patted us down before we came in.”

The banker was shocked and so were the other people at the table. Their eyes started to glimmer with hope after seeing the big win for me.

“The collectors will definitely be fine with this much,” Pedro whispers. 

“I think I’ll stay on one more bet since I’m hot right now.”

The banker looked relieved at another chance. I slid all 18,000 belli to the player's side this time. 

“James, are you sure,” Pedro asked?

“Just trust me.”

The dealer dealt the cards out to the five of us at the table. My hand adds up to four. 

“I’ll hit.”

He flipped the cards over and I had a nine while the dealer had an eight. He stared at me angrily, knowing he would be in trouble for letting me win so much at his table. My belli rose to 36,000 after the win which I was all too happy to grab off the table. 

“Let’s go Pedro. You said the collectors would be at our base soon right?”

“Yeah! Come on, I’ll lead the way.”

Pedro rushed out of The Grove and I followed close behind him. I kept turning around to make sure no one was following us, but after a couple minutes I relaxed. 

“How’d you manage to win so much? The Dealer said it was basically impossible to win the tie round.”

Here’s my first lesson on gambling to you Pedro. When you know the dealer is cheating then you have to make your own luck.” I pulled a couple cards out my sleeve to show him. 

“How’d you get those, they checked us before we got in.”

“Like you said, I have the fastest hands in the crew,” I replied. He gave a shocked look before a smile came over him. We made it back to the base, but the door was already thrown wide open. We heard a small voice shriek in fear and we rushed inside to see three pirates from Crow’s crew inside beating up the rest of the kids. 

 

“Get off of them,” I yelled. Pedro and I rushed the two closest pirates and caught them off guard. My punch connected right with the guard's ribs and he jumped back. I pressed him but he dodged my punch before kicking me right over. I jumped up quickly to dodge his kick but he was still able to grab ahold of my shirt. 

“What do you think you're doing you little bugger.” He punched me in the stomach and dropped me in a heap. I glanced over at Pedro and it looked like his fate was even worse than mine, after taking a punch to the face.

“Where’s the money? You little thieves know that collection is today. Captain Crow doesn’t mind killing little kids who don’t know their place.” The man who spoke up was the third man who didn’t fight. He held his hand on the pommel of his sword ready for us to put up another resistance. 

“We just went and got it. If you check my right pocket there’s 20,000 belli that we earned for collection,” I cried out. The man with the sword nodded to the man I tried to fight, and he walked over and grabbed two 10,000 belli bills. 

“It’s right here like he said it would be Wabul.” The man named wabul grabbed the bills and stuffed them in a pouch.

“See kids if you just hand over the money there’s no need to get hurt. Let’s go, we still have a couple places to stop,” Wabul said. The three men walked out leaving us on the ground nursing our wounds. I stood up and limped to the little girl Kira who was the voice we heard earlier.

“Are you hurt?”

“My arm hurts really bad,” she whimpered. I take a look at it and her right arm looks swollen. It could be broken but I can’t be sure, but a doctor should be able to help.

“Ok, don’t worry we’re going to get everyone to the doctor okay. Do you think you can get on my back? I’m going to carry you.”

“Yes.” She climbed on my back and I stood up. 

“Is anyone else hurt really bad?”

Most of the kids just shook their heads, but the two named Lily and Sigmond raised their hands. 

“I can’t carry everyone, do you think you can follow on foot?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison. 

“Pedro, is your eye ok?”

“Yeah I’ll just have a black eye for a bit. I’ll watch over everyone else till you get back.” He pulled out the 16,000 belli I told him to carry and handed it to me. 

“This should be enough for that quack doctor up the street.”

“Thanks. And Pedro, I promise Captain Crow will pay for this,” I said, trying my best to mask my anger. I turned and walked out with Kira on my back, with Sigmond and Lily right behind.