by Pirateaba
Erin’s eyes narrowed and she tossed a glare over the room at Pisces. He was already trying to avoid Ceria’s gaze as the Half-elf occasionally stared at him, but he flinched away from Erin as well, although he couldn’t possibly have known what she and Olesm were talking about.
“Oh really?”
Olesm nodded. He tore into the food Toren brought for him, clearly famished.
“Their binding spells don’t last that long. Your average skeleton falls to pieces within a day or two of being animated, and even if the necromancer uses an indefinite binding, their spell fails the instant they take too much damage. And they’re surprisingly fragile!”
“Well, this one hasn’t fallen apart and it’s been knocked to pieces once already.”
Olesm frowned.
“Really? That’s not usual. Most mages don’t spend nearly that much mana on a lowly skeleton.”
“I think this one’s different. It’s smart enough to take orders and serve drinks, for one thing.”
The Drake followed Toren’s circuit around the room and nodded slowly.
“True. And that’s odd too. It’s very intelligent—can it play chess, by any chance?”
“What?”
Erin grinned at Olesm and laughed.
“Is that all you think about? You’re like me when I was a kid!”
The Drake blushed and ducked his head. Then he paused and looked around the room.
“I didn’t think you would be so busy—I was hoping to play a game, but I wouldn’t want to take you away from your work. Where is that small Goblin or the Worker called Pawn?”
Erin’s smiled faded. She’d nearly forgotten the events of yesterday as well.
“I haven’t seen Rags and her crowd today. They must be doing Goblin-y things. But—the Workers probably won’t be coming for a while. There was an—incident with Pawn.”
Olesm looked alarmed.
“What happened?”
Someone was calling Erin’s name. She glanced around, distracted, and made a face.
“Tell you later! Wait until everything slows down and then we can play a game of chess, okay?”
Reluctantly, Olesm nodded. He brightened as Erin brought him more food though, and began attacking that. Erin walked over to the waving adventurer, and her endless quest for customer satisfaction continued.
—-
Late. Later in the night. Erin was bone-tired, but she was still smiling, and still, surprisingly, having fun. The adventurers weren’t jerks and they liked her cooking. And they had money! It wasn’t bad to be working for once, and Erin wondered just how much money she’d make from tonight.
Not a bad haul. But she was tired. She paused, wiping at her forehead and accepted a drink from Toren.
“Hey, good job. You’re not doing so bad.”
The skeleton paused and nodded at her. She blinked in bemusement as it bustled out of the kitchen.
“Skeletons. They think they’re good as people.”
She laughed, and walked back out. At last the food requests had stopped coming in, and it was just filling glasses and doing the stacks of dirty dishes in the kitchen. Toren could do that. Erin would just fill up a bucket with water from the stream and boil it before she could sit down and play a game of chess with Olesm, and maybe Pisces.
She had bucket in hand and was heading to the door when it opened. Two Workers immediately stepped inside. Erin raised a hand to greet them—
And half of the adventurers in the room drew their weapons.
“Whoa! Hey! Swords down!”
Erin shouted as the adventurers began pushing their chairs back and the Workers wavered. She put herself between the adventurers and the doorway.
“These are my guests! Guests!”
“Antinium!”
“The Bugs!”
Some of the adventurers were shouting, but the adventuring captains were the first to get over their surprise. Gerald grabbed the shoulder of an adventurer that was rising and shoved him down in his seat.
“Don’t fight!”
This came from Cervial. He raised his voice and shouted at the adventurers.
“They’re part of Liscor! You hurt them, you make an enemy out of the city! They’re not here for a fight! These are the Worker-types.”
Erin ignored the shouting as the Captains began restoring order in the inn. She looked at the Workers, confused.
“Why are you here? I thought you couldn’t leave the city.”
Not without Pawn. But then Erin’s mind caught up with what she was saying.
“Pawn?”
“Yes Innkeeper Solstice. But there is an issue—”
The Worker opened the doorway. Erin saw two other Workers helping another of their kind through the doorway. He was like them, exactly like them but different.
Pawn.
He was okay. He was alive. Erin smiled as he stumbled into the inn. But then her smile froze.
The adventurers, who had been swearing and reacting to the presence of the Workers took one look at Pawn and fell silent. Several sheathed weapons were unsheathed again. In the dead silence someone swore loudly.
Pawn had to be helped by the two Workers into the inn. He swayed, unsteady. A trail of green blood followed him. Erin’s eyes were caught by the color. So green. So vibrant. A color she’d seen once on her hands before.
The Antinium named Pawn stared up at Erin. She stared back. Her thoughts had—stopped. She stared at him.
He was still Pawn. But he was missing one of his antennae, the one Ksm had severed. And he was missing arms as well. Three of them. And part of one leg.
The door closed and the cold rain began to fall.
1.38
“I am individual. I am Antinium.”
That was the first whisper Erin heard out of Pawn. He sat, no longer bleeding in the inn as she wrapped a bandage around his severed stumps.
The healing potions the adventurers had used had stopped the bleeding, but there was no way to restore lost limbs. And his severed wounds were still exposed to the air. The Antinium didn’t have skin but exoskeleton. Lacking that, the healed areas were still vulnerable.
He whispered to Erin as she sat next to him. The half-elf named Ceria and the other adventurers hovered around her or watched from their tables, silent spectators. But all of Erin’s attention was on the Antinium in front of her.
“What happened?”
He trembled.
“I was asked questions. I was tested. I passed.”
Erin looked at his broken body. Three arms had been cut away. And part of his foot—his carapace was cracked in multiple places and cut in others.
Torture.
“Is he coming after you? Ksmvr?”
The name made Pawn freeze like a—a cockroach caught in the light. He began shaking so uncontrollably the two Workers had to hold him so Erin could finish wrapping the bandage.
“He—the Prognugator let me go. He let me go. I am individual. Not Aberration. He let me go.”
Pawn repeated the words several times, rocking back and forth. Erin stared at him. She didn’t know what to do.
“Erin—”
She looked around. Ceria was staring at the Antinium.
“Who is this?”
“Pawn. This is Pawn. He’s a Worker.”
“No.”
All four Workers said the word as one. Erin looked at them. They spoke in unison.
“The individual known as Pawn is no longer a Worker.”
“Then what is he?”
“Individual. Antinium. Not Aberration.”
Ceria looked at Erin.
“This has something to do with the Antinium in the city, right? Did they have a—a fight? I’ve heard of Prognugators. If this Ksmvr is after your friend—”
“No. No!”
Pawn waved his one good arm wildly. Again, the other Workers had to retrain him.
“I am not Aberration. I am not. I am—”
He was incoherent, or as close to it as
Erin had ever seen one of the Antinium. She stared at him. He was still shaking. And if he had the means, Erin was sure he would have wept. Instead all he could do was tremble.
It was curious. Erin felt as though in this moment, she should be full of—something. Rage perhaps, or grief. But instead there was nothing. Just a few thoughts.
Pawn was still babbling. He kept repeating his innocence as the other adventurers watched helplessly. Some of them looked disgusted, others actually sympathetic. And some were simply silent because it wasn’t the time to speak.
Erin had no time for them. Instead, she walked slowly over to a table. Olesm was paralyzed in his seat. He stared up at her, eyes wide. But Erin didn’t speak to him. Instead, she picked up what was in front of the Drake.
A chessboard.
Ceria blinked as Erin carried it back. But Pawn’s eyes latched onto the simple wooden board as Erin put it on the table in front of him. Pawn looked up into her eyes and she felt the nothingness in her deepen.
Slowly, the two Workers propped Pawn up and he moved so he could access the board with his remaining arm. The Worker hesitated and then moved.
He shook like a leaf in the breeze. Pawn fumbled at the chess pieces with his single arm, clumsily trying to set them up and knocking them over. Trembling.
Erin stared at the Antinium and felt not a trace of fury in her. Not black fury, not burning rage nor wrath enough to power a thousand suns. Nothing.
Her hands were calm as she took Pawn’s pieces and set them up on the board. Carefully, she arranged his pieces and hers. He was white – she was black. He clumsily moved a pawn forwards and she replied.
Queen’s Gambit. Dutch Defense. Erin crushed Pawn in only a few moves. Ruthlessly. Without guilt or hesitation.
The Antinium wavered. She felt and saw him hesitate, and saw the other Workers around him staring. But then she reset the board and he moved again.
King’s Pawn Game. French Defense. Erin played exactly the opposite game Pawn expected to, staying defensive and picking off his pieces slowly. She won again, overwhelmingly.
Nothing. No feeling. Erin played in a void of calm, playing her best against a broken Pawn who could barely move his pieces. She reset the board and they played.
Again, and again. Glacial silence, forest silence. The silence of endless days on the open desert where the winds devoured all and the sand was the only thing that ever changed. The silence of the open ocean on a sunny day—vast and loud, engulfing all things and making the world a green-blue landscape.
The silence of eternity, played out in the soft clicking of chess pieces on the board.
Again, Pawn played and Erin won. She rotated the board and made the first move. She won again.
He was alone. Alone, and not half the player she was. But with every game something that had been cut away came back. Slowly, the Antinium’s trembling stopped.
He played. He lost. And Erin felt nothing. But each game was a small slice of eternity cut and drifting between the two, a moment of healing, a moment of concentration and silence. An immortal moment.
And when it was done, when the games had finished and the sun had fallen, and then night had turned back into day Erin stopped. She let Pawn gently push over his king. The Antinium no longer trembled, and she sat in a silent ring of Workers, Goblins, and even adventurers who sat watching the game. A single skeleton hovered with a platter of food in hand, watching with eyes that had seen forever in death and saw forever caught in a single game of chess.
And still, Erin felt nothing. Not a flicker of pain, anger, or sadness crossed her heart. The emotions were too big for her. But whatever was in her prompted her. Erin felt it move, like the way the tide changed. A vast, deep feeling.
She spoke as Pawn hung his head low, drowsy with sleep.
“Ksmvr.”
The single word brought the Antinium out of his half-sleep, shuddering. But he was strong enough to hear the name now, strong enough to listen and not weep. Erin met Pawn’s eyes and saw a person staring through insect’s multifaceted gaze.
She made no promises, spoke no untrue words. Erin reached out and held the cold insect Worker, hugging him gently. Then she stood up and said two words.
“I’m sorry.”
The door closed softly behind Erin. For a moment all the adventurers stared, still caught in a fragment of forever. Then the silence was broken by shock and cursing as half the adventurers in the inn rushed out after her.
—-
“Erin!”
Ceria was the first out of the inn. She was no warrior, but her heritage gave her grace and speed. And she wasn’t weighed down by armor.
The Half-elf ran into the rainy night, and found the other girl was already gone. The door opened and Yvlon and Cervial were outside right behind Ceria.
“Where did she go?”
“Towards the city, obviously. But she must be moving fast. I can’t even see her from here.”
“Well let’s get after her! If she’s trying to pick a fight—”
“Humans.”
Ceria snapped the word, more as a general curse on the situation than an attack on Erin. She looked at Yvlon.
“I can go but that Antinium needs watching. And I’ve got no movement Skills. Can you—?”
“Of course. You stop Calruz.”
“Right. And if she gets there first, don’t fight the one called Ksmvr. Attacking him is the same as attacking the hive.”
Cervial nodded. He looked around, seeing through the dark night better than even Ceria could.
“Let’s go. I can’t see her. The girl must have some kind of running Skill.”
Without a word the two captains ran towards the city, moving like a blur. Ceria watched them go and then turned. She saw other adventurers standing just outside, caught in indecision.
“If you want to go, go. But only drag that innkeeper back. Fighting here would be a mistake. But it would be better if less people were out in the darkness. We don’t know what kind of monsters live here.”
At her words, most of the adventurers went back into the inn. Or tried to. They had to retreat as a large shape pushed his way through the crowd.
Calruz emerged from the inn, face dark with anger. None of the humans wanted to get in his way, but Ceria stood in front of the Minotaur’s path.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“After the innkeeper. Where else?”
“Yvlon and Cervial are already after her. You wouldn’t be able to catch her anyways.”
Calruz grunted.
“Who says I’m going to catch her? The child needs a second for a proper death duel.”
“You will not go. If we cause a disturbance—”
“Honor is at stake. You will not stop me.”
Ceria felt a massive hand move her aside. She thought about the few spells she could use, and then abandoned the idea when she saw the look on Calruz’s face. She stared helplessly as the Minotaur strode off in the direction of the city.
“The other two might be able to stop him. If they get to the innkeeper in time.”
Gerial said it loudly behind Ceria. She had to raise her voice above the pounding rain. She was already soaked, but at least her enchanted robes weren’t getting soggy with water.
“I just hope she doesn’t actually try to fight that Antinium – or whoever he is. She’s no warrior.”
“No.”
The two leading members of the Horns of Hammerad stared at each other. They both felt it. The hint of déjà-vu.
“If you want to go—”
“No. Calruz won’t listen to me anymore than you. And if he does pick a fight, better it’s only him. Besides—”
“Besides what?”
Gerial stared out into the rain, hand clenched.
“If I went out there I don’t think I could stop myself.”
Ceria followed his gaze. The night was dark and stormy. She spoke distantly.
“That’s not what I’m worried about.�
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“What?”
“It’s night. And—the timing of it.”
Ceria paused. Gerial stared at her. They trusted each other, and adventurers learned to listen to their feelings. Ceria hit on what her instincts were telling her and spoke.
“It feels like a trap.”
—-
Ksmvr stood on a hilltop, waiting. He was not within the boundaries of Liscor. It was important that he was not.
Boundaries. Rules. Ksmvr understood them. They were important. Rules and order made up the Hive, and by such things could everything be understood.
Pacts had been made. The soldiers of the Hive were not permitted above-ground save for times of emergency—or war. And while the definition of emergency could allow for numerous occasions, bringing the soldiers above ground would bring about questions regardless. And the Queen was not to be disturbed.
But no such pacts had been established outside of the city. Therefore, four of the Soldier Antinium stood silently next to Ksmvr, silent giants waiting for his order. They were elite—perhaps not as strong individually as he was, but close. Together, they were more than enough to subdue a single [Innkeeper].
It might have been overkill to a human, but the Antinium took no chances. And Erin Solstice had established her worth. Initially Ksmvr had only known what his Queen had told him, and from that he had thought of her as insignificant. Worthless.
But—and here was the difficult part—Erin Solstice was important. She was valuable. Perhaps unique. His Queen had been wrong in her appraisal of Erin and that bothered Ksmvr greatly.
But the duty of a Prognugator was to protect and serve the hive. And Ksmvr would do just that. He waited for Erin Solstice in the certainty that she would come.
Her actions were a matter of record. More than that, the established thought processes of humans were well known to Ksmvr. She would come in fury and vengeance to be caught and the individual known as Pawn would be easily retrieved. Minor obstacles like the Goblins, adventurers and skeleton were of no object.
Ksmvr shifted in his position on the hilltop that afforded him a view of the area surrounding the city. He was not bored. He was incapable of being bored. But the time he had spent waiting bothered him.