1 State of Grace by John Phythyon

watch Silverleaf deal, but he was sure the ambassador had made sure to get the seven cards he wanted. For the moment, he was willing to play the deck as it was shuffled. Wolf suspected Silverleaf was still trying to get a feel for what he needed to do to win.
    After putting his draw in his hand, Silverleaf considered his options. He drummed his fingers lightly on the tabletop.
    “So tell me, Ambassador,” Wolf said. “I’ve never been to Alfar. What’s it like?”
    Silverleaf peered over the top of his hand and fixed Wolf with another withering gaze. Wolf smiled amiably.
    “I’m not surprised,” Silverleaf answered, a cruel tone entering his voice. “You Urlanders love to tell others what to do without ever having been anywhere beyond your own home.”
    He reached down to his chips and tossed ten gold into the pot. Then he laid a “swiftness” card on one of the elf units in the forest adjacent to Wolf’s mountain. The elves could now move at double their speed.
    “Oh, I didn’t say I’d never traveled,” Wolf said. “I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve been to Gallica, Bretelstein, Patria, Celia, even Phrygia.”
    “Those are all human kingdoms,” Silverleaf criticized. “The languages are different, but the behaviors are the same. You should visit some non-human countries if you really want to see something different.”
    “Well,” Wolf went on, pretending not to notice the ambassador’s nasty tone, “I’ve met dwarfs in Bretelstein, although you’re right, I’ve never been to Nidavellir. But I’d love to see Alfar. Is it as beautiful as they say?”
    “Yes,” Silverleaf said quickly. He looked over his cards again, then added, “At least it was.”
    “Before the civil war?” Wolf prodded.
    He was rewarded with a hateful glare. There was real fire in Silverleaf’s eyes. Wolf could sense himself making a serious enemy of the big elf. It made him uncomfortable, but he was pleased Silverleaf was angry. It would cloud his focus.
    “Yes,” Silverleaf said. “And the Urlish occupation.”
    Wolf was unable to resist baiting the ambassador further. He knew it was risky, but he needed Silverleaf thinking about something other than the game, and he had decided he didn’t like the Alfari ambassador. He was a cheat and a jerk. Wolf wanted to make him pay.
    “Occupation?” Wolf said. “That seems a little strong. Didn’t your government ask us to deploy troops there to help keep the peace and keep it in power?”
    “Yes!” Silverleaf said, his voice rising. After a moment, he got himself back under control. “Mr. Dasher, I have no wish to discuss politics here. In fact, I have no wish to discuss anything. I would prefer to play the game in peace.”
    “Sorry, Ambassador,” Wolf said. There was no sincerity in his tone. “Are you sure I can’t buy you a drink?”
    Silverleaf had to grip the edge of the table to keep from exploding. He closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed softly.
    “No, thank you,” he said. Before Wolf could say something else, he tossed twelve gold into the pot and played another card: “area effect.”
    “That spell causes the ‘swiftness’ spell to affect all the units in the area. All my elves and pixies now have a movement of two.”
    “Well, not quite all,” Wolf said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, the area affected is that forest territory you played the spell in. It doesn’t include more than one territory, so your elf that is in this territory over here,” Wolf said, pointing at the forest with a single unit in it, “isn’t covered by the spell. It still has a movement of one. You’d have had to move it into this territory with all your other units for it to have benefited from the ‘swiftness’ card.”
    Wolf watched as Silverleaf’s blood boiled. His face turned a strange color of purple, and the whites of his eyes became red. His hands shook with rage. There could be only one explanation. Wolf’s banter had broken his