All the World’s a Game and All the Lords and Captives Merely Players

cribbage

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

“Shall we play a game?” Her jailer placed the elements of Charlotte on the table between him and Ciara with notable mistakes. Ciara recognized what Isom had taken from her brother’s style but only a barbarian would have so clumsily arranged the dice on the left of the cards and the board.

“You bested my brother one game out of thousands and now you would play with me, Lord Governor?” It was difficult for her to keep disdain from her voice.

“One game between us, Princess. You win and your brother goes free. You lose, and I execute you both.”

It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 30 May 2025 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

When I found that Ted’s photo was of a case containing a cribbage game, I focused on the game portion of the theme (I have no idea how to play cribbage). The scene is an adaptation of something from a novel I wrote a few years back. The submission was “accepted” by the publisher but has since been stuck in “development hell.” I doubt it will be published by them, but it’s set in a universe they own, so I can’t easily peddle it elsewhere.

However, I did invent the fictional game “Charlotte” and thought it would be a good fit for today’s challenge.

haunted places

Promotional cover art for “Haunted Places” volume 2

Oh, the title is a take on the quote “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” from Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It” Act 2, Scene 7.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

My crime noir short story “Last Wish of a Dead Man” is now available in the Raconteur Press anthology Dames, Derringers and Detectives: Moggie Noir. The story requirements included a hard-boiled detective, a murder, and especially a cat. The third in my “Margie Potter: Haunted Detective” series made the cut.

Also, my horror short story “Haunting Chloe” is now available in the ghost story anthology Haunted Places (universal link) by Blackbird Publishing. Pick up a copy of each, give them a read, and don’t forget to leave honest reviews at Amazon and Goodreads.

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