“But this time, it’s different.” Steven held aloft the pouch. “Time to break the cycle.”
Grey laughed bitterly. “I saw you all across the way. Watched as you all took in my greatest failure.” He let out an anguished sigh. “Do you honestly believe any of them would follow me again after seeing that?”
“Any broken trust will take time to heal, of course, but that’s beside the point.” Steven rested a hand on Grey’s shoulder, grateful his mentor didn’t brush away the small gesture of kindness. “As you’ve told me a thousand times, like it or not, the Game is happening. When it does, we will either emerge victorious or be found wanting, but we don’t have the first hope of even beginning if we don’t have our King to lead us.”
Grey peered into Steven’s face with a sad smile. “Truer words were never spoken.”
Steven held the pouch between them. “Then, shall we?”
Below them, the board filled with Pieces, sixteen on each side: Zed and his dark forces on one side, this century’s Grey and the gathered White on the other. Those standing with the White King appeared hopeful and ready to fight, all unaware of the carnage about to occur. Grey looked down upon them all and allowed a single tear to roll down his cheek before turning to Steven.
“Now that you are here, I cannot bear to watch another moment.” He lowered his head. “Take us from this place.” His voice dropped to a whisper as Steven grasped his wrist. “Far away from this…tragedy.”
“One ticket out of here, coming up.” Steven held aloft the pouch, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Hvitr Kyll, take us to the others.”
Steven closed his eyes on the frozen wasteland of sixteenth-century Antarctica and opened them again upon a beautiful sunset, the last rays of sunlight disappearing behind the flat top of a mesa in the distance. The characteristic alternating white and red layers of rock meant they could only be in one place.
“The American Badlands.” Grey pulled away from Steven and took a single step forward. “But when?”
“Not sure.” Steven glanced skyward at a vapor trail that split the heavens, the plane that left the white scar across the otherwise clear blue firmament long gone. “But it’s a pretty safe bet we’re a little closer to home than 1537.”
“Steven?” The familiar voice, stronger than he’d heard it for some time, came accompanied by a rush of footsteps from behind. “Oh my God…Grey?”
Steven turned just in time to catch Audrey in his arms as she nearly tackled him with excitement.
“Whoa, whoa.” Steven chuckled. “I’m fine.” His gaze shot to Grey. “We’re both fine.”
He returned his attention to Audrey and renewed hope swelled in his heart. A far cry from the woman he’d parted with minutes before, her eyes held a renewed strength, her cheeks their usual ruddy complexion, her hair its ambient shine.
“And you?” Steven asked. “You’re…”
“Fine as well, apparently.” Audrey stepped back so Steven could take a look at her. “I’m guessing that we’re all finally back where we belong.” She ran her hands down her body. “I feel as good as new.”
“Are you sure?” Steven studied her eyes. “You’re…okay?”
“I’m better than okay.” She spun her index finger around, and, in answer, a tongue of mist danced at her fingertip like a snake charmer’s pet. “I’m back.”
“As are we all.”
Archie’s voice. Young and strong again.
A fact Steven found simultaneously comforting and disconcerting.
The priest he’d met in a hospital half a continent away at the beginning of all this had been an old man and not in the best of health. That had all changed, however, with the advent of the Game, and for the majority of their time together, the Archie he’d known had been the vibrant young man who strode toward him on a mesa at sunset. Flanked by Emilio and Lena on one side and Niklaus on the other, he and the others all appeared back at a hundred percent.
In any other circumstance, the moment would have been perfect, the homecoming for which they’d all been fighting for months and risked everything to attain.
But there, at the back of his mind, remained the same old fly in the ointment that had worried Steven for months.
Archie’s gaze, rejuvenated by the energies of the Game, retained the same cryptic gleam that had unnerved Steven since the moment they met.
Not a doubt remained in Steven’s mind.
A reckoning was coming.
But not this day.
The priest and his escort descended on Steven and Audrey in a rush of hugs and tears. Both Niklaus and Lena beamed with jubilant grins in the moment, and even Emilio had emerged from his usual funk into something resembling a good mood.
“I was so scared.” Audrey pulled close to Steven’s ear. “When you didn’t reappear with the rest of us…”
Steven gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze and slid into his most reassuring smile. “As you can see, I had some business to attend to.”
“Clearly.” Emilio waggled a thumb in Grey’s direction. “Where’d you dig him up?”
“He was there, in Antarctica.” Steven shot Grey a questioning glance and at his nod, continued. “Across the valley from us. Zed had left him stranded in a crack in the glacier.”
“He made you watch.” Lena’s eyes dropped. “How cruel.”
“Must have been rough.” Emilio’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Not exactly your finest moment, Mr. Immortal Wizard.”
“Emilio.” Lena grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into her. “Quiet.”
“Why?” Emilio shook off Lena’s grip and stalked in Grey’s direction. “We all just saw what he did. How he fixes problems when things aren’t going his way.” He put his finger in Grey’s chest. “Why would you think any of us would believe a word you say now? You’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’d sacrifice this whole group if it accomplished whatever agenda you have rolling around inside that centuries-old skull of yours.”
“Emilio!” Lena pulled up beside the boy, her mercurial features flitting between anger, embarrassment, and concern. “Show some respect.”
“Respect?” Emilio all but spat.
“Yes, Emilio.” Steven echoed Lena’s plea. “Please. Let him explain.”
Emilio sucked in a breath to continue his tirade, but one look into Lena’s determined eyes and he deflated.
“Fine.” He crossed his arms and set his jaw. “Tell us, Grey. Tell us the grand reason why you basically rage-quit your own Game the minute it wasn’t going your way.”
“You’ve answered your own question, Emilio.” Grey shook his head sadly. “Despite my every precaution, months of training each of the Pieces in the use of their various abilities, countless hours discussing strategy and tactics, Zed’s savagery remained the deciding factor. Where I taught the White how to win, he taught the Black how to kill. Even more so than at Stonehenge, what we designed to be a simple contest of wills descended into a massacre.”
“We saw.” Niklaus stood at the edge of the gathered White, his face pale. Steven had little doubt the image of the White Rooks’ fate from the Antarctic battle was replaying in his mind. “I still don’t understand why you quit on them, though. Why not let the Game merely play to its conclusion? What were you afraid of?”
“I do not wish to sound melodramatic, Mr. Zamek, but the fate of the world depended on that moment.” Grey paced the rocky mesa, his tattered sharkskin boots barely holding together. “I saw what happened after the second iteration, what Zed did with the energies he subsumed after the slaughter at Stonehenge.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Suffice to say that the period historians refer to as The Dark Ages were far darker than they might otherwise have been.”
“What happened after you wiped the board in Antarctica, then?” Steven’s brow furrowed with concern. “Where did those energies go?”
“With no clear victor, most of the residual forces left by the correction dissipated back into the ether from whence they ori
ginated. Both the Hvitr Kyll and its dark sister absorbed a fair amount of the power, some of which you and the others employ when using your various abilities. A fraction of the energies, however, remained for the intervening centuries, at times magnifying what should have been minor meteorological or geologic events to disastrous proportions.” Grey offered Steven a weak smile. “Much like the catastrophes you and the others responded to over the last several months. Most were inevitable, as the coming correction seems fated to be the strongest yet, but the leftover energies from Antarctica certainly made most if not all the events you railed against far worse than they would otherwise have been.”
“So,” Emilio bristled, “you started a Game you can’t control, had to wipe out friend and enemy alike last time to keep your former bestie from creating hell on earth for five centuries, and the result of that decision has put countless lives at risk, resulting in all of us running around like chickens with our heads cut off putting out fires that you started. And now, we’re supposed to line up with you as our commander-in-chief and simply hope things are going to be okay?”
“In short,” Grey lowered his head, “yes.”
Emilio’s gazed dropped to the ground, his fists trembling at his sides. “Are you all listening to this?”
“Emilio.” Lena’s eyes grew wide as she focused on a point past his shoulder. “Wait.”
“Wait?” he continued, barely taking a breath. “Come on. What sane person would so much as consider following this man another second?”
“Papi.”
Lena’s intent gaze pulled Steven’s attention to the edge of the mesa.
Hope, it seemed, had sprung in the east.
“Emilio,” Steven whispered. “Look.”
“What?” Emilio shouted in exasperation.
Steven pointed. “There’s something you ought to see.”
Emilio spun on one heel, and every ounce of venom drained from his expression when he locked gazes with the last set of eyes he’d ever dreamed he’d see again.
“Rocinante!” He rushed to the horse’s side. “But how?”
Grey appeared at the boy’s side, a smile on his face for the first time since their pained reunion began. “Horses, surprisingly, are quite good swimmers.”
Lena came up alongside Rocinante’s other flank. “But how did he get here?”
Steven joined the circle. “I’m guessing he walked.”
“But how would he know to come here?” Emilio asked.
“Animals know many things that humans aren’t privy to.” Grey held out his hand, and Rocinante nuzzled his palm. “Even humans who have walked the earth for over a millennium.”
The tender moment between horse and wizard took the remainder of the wind out of Emilio’s sails.
“You know?” Emilio shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m still not happy about any of this, but for the moment, we’re truly all back together, and that deserves some kind of celebration.” He gave Grey’s emaciated form a quick up and down. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving.” His eyes dropped to the pouch at Steven’s side. “Think that thing can find us a pizza place with a table for seven?” At Rocinante’s whinny, he added, “Horse friendly, of course.”
“Dinner it is.” Steven held aloft the Hvitr Kyll and, without a moment’s hesitation, took Audrey’s hand. “Pouch, you know what to do.”
31
Black & White
“Let me get this straight.” Steven sat with Grey in a coffee shop a few blocks from Times Square. “All of us have been gone almost half a year. Six months of our life passed by.”
“You lived each of the days.” Grey sipped from his rich mocha, the swirling brown and white in the foam like the wings of some giant bird of prey. “Did you not?”
“But only a week has passed here in the present.” Steven did a quick calculation. “Are we all simply going to live the rest of our lives five months older than we’re supposed to be?”
“First, the Game is nigh.” Grey passed his hand through the air, indicating the here and now. “You and the others are precisely where and when you are supposed to be.”
“And second?” Steven asked.
“You have barely missed anything, and what you’ve gained…” Grey pulled in a breath. “All of you have visited other times and seen sights that no one else will ever see. Many would consider such an experience a blessing.”
Steven let out a bitter chuckle. “Didn’t feel like a blessing when we were fighting for our lives.”
“It never does.” Grey took another sip from his mug. “Remember with whom you are speaking, Steven. How many friends and family I’ve had to watch wither and die while I carried on for the supposed good of the world.”
“It’s just strange.” Steven gulped down his black coffee. “That’s all.”
“I would argue that the experience has left you all with a greater appreciation of what you do have.”
Steven raised a brow. “Is this the part where you tell me I’ve lived more in the last six months than most people do in their entire lives?”
Grey laughed. “I have had centuries to observe the human condition. If there is one commonality in souls the globe over, it is that people as a rule wish their life away on a daily basis.” His smile diminished. “And no more so than in the ‘developed’ world.” He mused for a moment, lost in his thoughts. “Television. Books. Sporting events. Even sleep. All nothing but momentary escapes from what can seem a life sentence of alternating pain and boredom.”
“Wow.” Steven shook his head. “Your future career as a motivational speaker is a lock.”
“I merely speak the truth, Steven.” Grey held up his mug as if toasting. “You and the others have had the experience of truly being removed from your own time. I doubt any of you will ever take another moment for granted.”
“That’s a safe bet.” Steven’s smile grew wide.
Grey turned in his chair to follow Steven’s gaze. There in the doorway stood Audrey wearing a sundress with a bright floral print and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her smile and knowing gaze banished any of the remaining cobwebs from Steven’s still waking mind.
“Sorry I’m late.” She pulled up a chair to the low table. “Had a couple of errands to run this morning.”
“Errands.” Steven chuckled. “Wow. We really are home.”
“Where is everyone else?” Audrey asked.
“Here.”
Niklaus strode into the shop with Emilio and Lena close behind. Archie, taking up the rear, hesitated just inside the doorway before heading to the counter to get his customary triple-shot espresso.
“Morning, Nik.” Steven raised his mug. “Emilio. Lena.”
He shot a quick wave to Archie, who had fallen in line behind a pair of women wearing tank tops and yoga pants, the de facto uniform for the establishment per Steven’s assessment from the preceding couple of days.
“Everyone okay?” Steven asked. “Anything out of the ordinary?”
“Everything’s fine with us.” Lena sat at the table and pushed out a chair for Emilio. “Nothing to report.”
“Same.” Niklaus pulled over a chair and rested an elbow on the table. “Other than the fact that I didn’t sleep last night.”
“Again?” Audrey rested a hand on his wrist. “The same nightmare?”
“Every time I close my eyes. I can’t unsee it.” Niklaus let out a mighty yawn, followed by a full body shudder. “The pair of White Rooks shattered to their core, their fractured bodies raining down on the rest of the board, killing friend and foe alike.” He stared at Steven with bleary eyes. “That can’t be how it ends for me.”
“It won’t be.” Steven clasped his friend’s shoulder. “Right, Grey?”
“The time of battle is coming,” Grey answered, “and on that day, all I can promise is that I will prepare you, teach you, stand with you, fight with you, and, if necessary, die with you.”
“So glad am I to hear that you are resig
ned to your fate, old friend.” Zed stepped from a swirling hole of darkness onto the well-worn wooden floor of the cafe. “Not that it matters. I may not have been prepared for your unique method of preventing my last victory, but rest assured that I will not be caught unawares again.”
Steven and the others all leapt up from the table, icons in hand, ready to fight.
“Now, now.” Zed steepled his fingers below his chin. “All of you may relax and continue to enjoy your morning repast. I have come alone and unarmed and bear you no ill will.” His lips spread in a vicious smile. “At least not this day.”
“Why are you here, then?” Steven asked as Archie rushed to the table. “What do you want?”
“Merely to let you know that your return has not gone unnoticed.” He motioned to the bustling coffee shop. “Your attempt at losing yourselves at the center of the busiest city on the continent is admirable, but my eyes are everywhere.” His gaze meandered over to Grey. “Did you truly believe I would not know that you, of all people, had returned?”
Grey rose from his seat and stood nose to nose with his opposite. “How dare you?”
“How dare I?” Zed crossed his arms. “This should be interesting.”
“How many months—no, years—did we spend crafting this Game, all in an effort to correct the mad hubris of our ancestors?” Grey seethed, the righteous anger pouring from him unlike anything Steven had ever seen. “How many of our friends sacrificed their very lives to bring our insane solution to fruition? How many?” He put his finger in Zed’s chest. “And now, not only have you perverted the very thing you helped create to the point that it is all but unrecognizable, but you have abandoned whatever honor remained in your soul.”
Zed’s perverse smile faded into an expression of barely veiled annoyance. “All those centuries ago, in your zeal to be the savior of an undeserving world, you forgot one simple fact.” He brushed Grey’s finger away. “That every contest has but one winner. All others are simply…well…” He cast his gaze around the room, his eyes lighting on each of the White in turn before meeting Steven’s gaze in the end. “You may curse my name, hate my methods, even raise my offenses to the highest of high, but in the end, I will prevail. The mighty Arbiters of Old, the spirits of old friends, both yours and mine, have not seen fit to sanction or even censure my actions thus far.”
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