'...she reached for the first card. She flipped it almost haphazardly to her right. Eyes still closed, she felt herself smile. ‘An unaligned card: Orb. Judgement and true sight.’ The second card she tossed to the left side of the field. ‘Virgin, High House Death. Here scarred and blindfolded, with blood on her hands.’

Faintly, as if from a great distance away, came the sound of horses, thundering closer, now beneath her, as if the earth had swallowed them. Then the sound rose anew, behind her. She felt herself nod. The recruit. ‘The blood on her hands is not her own, the crime not its own. The cloth against her eyes is wet.’

She slapped the third card immediately in front of her. Behind her lids an image formed. It left her cold and frightened. ‘Assassin, High House Shadow. The Rope, a count of knots unending, the Patron of Assassins is in this game.’ For a moment she thought she heard the howling of Hounds. She laid a hand on the fourth card and felt a thrill of recognition ripple through her, followed by something like false modesty. ‘Oponn, Lady’s head high, Lord’s low.’ She picked it up and set it down opposite Tayschrenn.

There’s your block. ...

‘The Coin,’ she heard herself say, ‘spins on, High Mage. Its face looks upon many, a handful perhaps, and here is their card.’ She set the fifth card to Oponn’s right, edges touching. ‘Another unaligned card: Crown. Wisdom and justice, as it is upright. Around it a fair city’s walls, lit by flames of gas, blue and green.’ She pondered. ‘Yes, Darujhistan, the last Free City.’  

GotM, UK Trade, p.81-2, US HC, p.92-3

The Deck of Dragons