The Sports Captain's Tale полностью

“Yes,” I said. There was no point in trying to pretend otherwise. “But we would have done better if they hadn’t ganged up on us.”

Jerry scowled. “How the fuck is that not cheating?”

“It’s technically legal,” I told him. “But it won’t happen again.”

Mildred raised her head and looked at me. “How can you be sure?”

I took a moment to consider my answer carefully. Mildred wasn’t a natural sportswoman. I was surprised she hadn’t already thrown in the towel and quit, after Blair – I was sure it had been Blair – had threatened to strip her on the field. He wouldn’t have taken it all the way – he’d be lucky if he was merely expelled, when the Grandmaster found out – but she had to have found it terrifying. The people who spoke in awe of Jane streaking across the field would be laughing at her, damn them.

“Blair talked the other two captains into it, somehow, but he also positioned himself to take advantage of our defeat,” I said. It reminded me of Conquest, where a skilful player could work with his allies one moment, all the while preparing to turn on them when his enemies were wiped out. Blair might have played it too. “He used us to weaken them as much as he used them to wipe us out.”

“So what?” Jerry glared at the blank wall. “We got fucked. We can’t win!”

“Next time, we go after Blair and kick his ass first,” Mark said. “Why don’t we try to ally with the others?”

“Because no one wants to ally with a loser,” Mildred said. Her voice dripped bitterness and regret. I understood, suddenly, why she’d stuck with us. We were probably the first people who’d willingly spent any time with her. “We lost, badly. They won’t work with us when they think we’ll drag them down.”

“So we forget victory and concentrate on making sure Blair loses,” Mark said. “Fuck him.”

“That’ll earn us a bad reputation,” I said. “I have one year left at school – Karen and Bill have three. We don’t want to go down in history as spiteful bastards.”

“And he’ll go down in history as a cheating son of a bitch,” Jerry muttered.

“It’s only cheating if you lose,” I pointed out. “And really, no rules were broken. He just … came up with a clever interpretation and put it into action.”

Mildred looked cross. “Can we win? I mean, can we earn enough points to get into the third match?”

“Yes,” I said.

“In theory,” Mark added. Bastard. “In practice … I don’t know.”

I rubbed my nose. Each team played two matches. The four teams with the highest points went on to play the third match, with a slightly different set of rules. The winner of that match would be on their way to the big leagues, giving the team captain all the influence he needed to recruit players from the beaten teams. I’d hoped to reach that spot myself, but … I ran through the calculations, mentally checking and rechecking the figures. Our only hope was to win so decisively we got almost all the points.

Which isn’t going to happen, unless the other teams just roll over for us, I thought. Blair had the money and contacts to bribe the enemy teams. There’d been a lot of horse trading before the match or I was a monkey’s uncle. Who knew what Blair had offered them? It was certainly nothing I could match. What am I supposed to offer that they can’t get for themselves?

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Blair would be wise to tone down the bribery as much as possible – if he bribed his way to the big leagues, he’d lose his first international match – but he could still use what he had to give him an edge. I wanted to think he’d weaken himself to the point he’d lose as badly as I had, yet … it wouldn’t happen in time to save me. It would be great to point and laugh from the sidelines, but it wouldn’t be anything more than petty spite. It wouldn’t make me a sporting champ.

“I’ll give it some thought,” I said, clearing my throat. “The rest of you, go get some dinner and rest. We’ll practice more tomorrow afternoon.”

“Evening,” Karen said. “Some of us need to keep up our grades.”

I pretended to be shocked. “Are you … are you saying there’s something more important than sports?”

Karen met my eyes. “What are the odds of any of us – anyone at this school – going on to a sporting career?”

“Never tell me the odds,” I said, firmly. “And I’ll see you all tomorrow evening.”

Mildred stayed, as the rest of the team filed out. I wondered if she wanted to give me her resignation now that we were alone, rather than doing it in front of the entire team. She might enjoy having friends, or at least people who hung out with her, but she’d been publicly humiliated in front of the entire school. Again. I knew people who couldn’t possibly match her at theoretical magic, yet constantly tormented her with childish hexes and jinxes. I didn’t understand it. She was capable enough to protect herself, surely? And yet she was the only older student who was regularly harassed by younger students.