Mightier than the Sword - Part One

Jade sat at the bar with a virgin cuba libre looking bored. Once the Dwarfers had entered the casino they had scattered to the four winds with excited giggles and joyfull glee. Kenneth had attached himself to Cass excitedly pointing out that as an advanced AI he could help with the hacking and diagnosics. Cass had grumbled something offensive and stalked off into the crowds.

"I'm bored in Vegas." She mumbled, sipping some of the dark fizzy liquid in her glass. Somewhere in the distance there was an excited clamour, she could have sworn she heard Jay. Must have won big on one of the tables.

She was on her third virgin cuba libre when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. A shortish man with sandy hair smiled at her. He gestured to the ring on her hand and smiled again.

"You want my ring? It was a gift from..." She said, hesitent.

As a response, the man reached up, and pulled a quarter from behind Jade's ear. Now she was pretty sure that she hadn't left one there, which left only one reasonable answer.

"Oh! A Magician!" She smiled and worked the ring off her hand. The man nodded at her and took the ring. "Please be carefull with it."

He placed the ring in a paper bag, holding it up to the slowly gathering crowd to see. Jade began to feel a bit self conscious, mind you, it was attracting attention so it must have been good in a way. With a slow and deliberate care, he placed the bag onto the metal drip tray on the bar and lit the bag with a small lighter. Jade gasped and reached out for the ring, a small part of her not wanting it to be damaged. The man gently stopped her, smiling and making a calming gesture.

The bag burned up, and a small metalic clink indicated that the ring had fallen through. The little man gingerly took appart the drip tray.

It was empty.

"What!" Jade said, horrified that someone could have lost it. The small man shook his head looking confident and pointed behind her.

"Is this your ring?" A larger man, with a long black pony tail said, holding out the shiney object. Jade took it and inspected it, the inscription was there, the same.

"Yes.." She said, amazed, slipping it back on. "That's... Amazing..."

"Thank you." He beamed and then began to speak up addressing the rest of the room. "We have been Penn and Teller, our main show is on from eight. Pleae do come and join us." The shorter man smiled again and bowed low to Jade taking her hand and kissing her. She chuckled. Only when they had gone, and the corwds dispursed was it that she noticed the free ticket to the performance in her pocket.

<To Be Continued since I ran out of time when I was actually working for once>