Did I just sacrifice my Knight to save my Queen?
“They’re out, papi,” Lena screamed to Emilio over the pulsing of the pouch and the din of the inferno. “Get out of there.” The girl’s frantic tone sent chills up Steven’s spine.
“Lena, we have to go.” Steven made his way toward the front of the house with Audrey clinging weakly to his neck. “You can’t imagine what she’s capable of.”
Audrey’s bay window opened onto a gently sloping hill, terraced and planted with shrubs. No doubt a beautiful work of landscaping, the half-light of an Oregon forest at sunset transformed the woodland yard into an obstacle course. Even without Audrey’s ninety pounds of dead weight, the going would have been difficult and slow. As he neared the front of the house, Steven turned his ankle on an exposed root and went to one knee, cursing as he fell.
“Steven?” Audrey whispered through a peal of hacking coughs. “That’s your name?”
“That’s it.” Steven grunted as he regained his footing. “Are you making it?”
“What is all this?” Another fit of coughing. “Why is this happening to me?”
“No time to explain. Right now we’ve got to get you far away from here.”
“But what about Mom? Grandpa? Are they okay?”
“We made sure they got out safe.” Steven prayed he was telling the truth. “Right, Lena?”
Steven chanced a look back. There, outside the shattered bay window, Lena stood defenseless, mace by her side, her panicked face illuminated by alternating flashes of light and darkness from within.
“Lena,” he shouted. “Come on.”
“I can’t.” She stepped closer to the gaping hole. “Emilio needs me.”
The hair on Steven’s neck stood on end as a stray bolt of dark energy flew from the shattered window, missing Lena’s head by inches. Unfazed, Lena wrapped her fingers around the splintered remains of an exposed wall stud and hauled herself up.
“Stay out of there,” Steven yelled. “If you give her the chance, she’ll kill you.”
Fear flashed across Lena’s features for less than a second, followed by the resolute stare Steven already knew all too well. “Go on without us,” she shouted as she climbed through the open hole and into the dark inferno. “Get her out of here. We’ll catch up when we can.” And with that, Lena disappeared into the fray, leaving Steven and Audrey alone in the shadowy twilight of the Oregon evening.
“Dammit.” Steven froze for a moment, unsure of what to do and cursing himself in the same breath for his indecision. “She’s going to kill them.”
Amaryllis fluttered at his neck.
“What now?” The frantic scraping above his collarbone brought a new sense of dread. Steven glanced down at the dragonfly on his chest. “What is it you’re trying to tell me?”
“Steven?” Audrey whispered.
“What?”
Audrey winced at Steven’s harsh tone. Though at the end of his patience, he hadn’t meant to yell at the poor girl.
“Sorry,” he said. “What is it?”
“Just a question.” Her gaze shot past Steven. “Is he with us?”
20
Flight
So, you brought your Knight as well. The Queen’s words echoed in Steven’s mind.
At the center of the cobblestone drive, astride an armored stallion the color of midnight, waited a figure ripped from the pages of James Clavell. Outfitted head to toe in the traditional garb of the samurai, the Black Knight sat calmly with his hands in his lap, his swords still within their sheaths. His features hidden behind the grimacing mask of a kabuto helmet, he hailed Steven with a simple nod.
“Greetings, Steven Bauer, Pawn of the White. Greetings, Audrey Richards of Sisters, Oregon.” Something in the way the Knight spoke fell strangely on Steven’s ears. Though his meaning was clear, the sound, structure, and syntax were all wrong.
“I think he’s speaking Japanese,” Audrey said, confirming Steven’s suspicions. “I heard him say our names, but that’s all I could catch. Do you understand what he’s saying?”
“I understand him all right.” Though the language was foreign and harsh, he somehow understood every word. Steven put Audrey down and moved between her and their mounted foe. “I understand him fine.”
“Surrender the girl, Bauer-Pawn.” The dark samurai’s impassive voice chilled Steven as much as the Queen’s venom. “The time for Black and White to face each other has yet to come, but understand we will not be balked in this. Give her to me or face the consequences.”
Steven glared up into the Knight’s face, the dark menpó mask leering back beneath the tripartite crest of his helmet, a pair of hawks facing each other over a familiar horse icon. “You don’t seriously believe I’m going to hand her over, do you?”
“Actually, no, but I was required to give you the option.” The samurai shifted in his saddle and placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. “Shall we?”
Steven locked eyes with Audrey, his questioning gaze answered with a firm nod. “I don’t know what you’re seeing, but this is no ordinary man we’re facing. He’s—”
“I wear no cloak, Bauer-Pawn. She sees me as I am.”
“The girl is already dying.” Steven’s eyes narrowed. “What more do you want?”
“A duel, then.” The samurai evinced a slight bow. “Knight versus Pawn for the girl.”
Steven pulled Audrey’s ear to his lips. “I’ll do everything I can to get you out of this.”
“I know,” she croaked. Somehow through her fear and pain Audrey managed a smile, and despite her withered features, the expression was beautiful. “Now, kick his ass.”
Steven turned and faced his opponent. At his subvocal command, one became eight. Audrey gasped as seven armored warriors appeared in a flash of silver and again as Steven’s clothing shifted to match the newcomers’ anachronistic garb. The seven formed a tight circle around her and Steven’s position while the samurai sat motionless atop his steed and studied the circle of Pawns, their helms, pikes and shields gleaming in the twilight.
“You four,” Steven commanded, “go check on Lena and Emilio. The rest of you are with me.” The quartet to Steven’s rear moved out as the remaining triad stepped up to form a defensive line, the glimmering heads of their pikes all converging on their foe’s dark mount.
“Your move,” Steven said, all emotion stripped from his voice.
The Knight responded with a brisk salute, and disappeared from sight only to reappear to their rear. Before Steven could react, the samurai jerked Audrey from his arms and draped the girl’s frail form unceremoniously across his steed’s broad withers.
“A novice mistake, Bauer-Pawn.” The samurai and his mount retreated into the forest. “In this Game, the battlefield is rarely linear. You must learn every aspect of both your Pieces and those of your opponent, or your cause is lost before you even begin.”
Steven and the trio of Pawns spun around to charge their enemy, but before any or them could take a step, the Knight drew the shortest of his three blades and rested its edge under Audrey’s chin.
“Your attack is ill-advised,” the dark samurai continued in his bizarre monotone. “Regardless of the overzealous actions of my esteemed colleague, our only goal is to keep this young lady out of the Game. Rash action on your part, however, could force my hand.” He drew the tanto’s gleaming blade closer to Audrey’s throat. The quartet of Pawns held their position.
“She won’t be harmed,” Steven said. “Your word.”
The horse continued to back into the forest, the calm in its master’s gaze in stark contrast to the wide-eye panic in Audrey’s.
“I cannot speak for the King, but trust that unnecessary bloodshed is not on my agenda today.” The Knight brought his horse about to depart. “Farewell, Bauer-Pawn. We will meet—”
The Knight’s parting remark was cut off mid-sentence by the blunt poplar of a polearm thrust from the darkness. Nearly unseated from his perch, the winded samurai brou
ght his horse around to confront his attacker, only to find the unaccounted for Pawn in mid-leap and coming fast, the spear-axe tip of a pike whistling toward his neck.
The Knight raised the tanto in defense and a moment later howled in pain as the gently curved dagger flew from his hand. Crimson blood spurted rhythmically from the stumps of his severed second and third digits. The horse reared, its flailing front hooves knocking the offending Pawn to the ground, but it was too little, too late. Though the only head lost belonged to one of the hawks of the samurai’s helmet crest, Steven’s mad gambit had worked.
Thank you, Lena Cervantes.
Inspired by the girl’s surprise attack on the Black Queen in Baltimore, Steven’s thoughts went to her and Emilio. Kaleidoscope images of the other fight flashed across his mind’s eye via the perception of the remaining three Pawns. Emilio was holding his own against the Black Queen, but only by the narrowest of margins. The flashing blade of his axe kept her physically out of range while the shield on his arm blocked the innumerable fiery tendrils that threatened from all sides.
Lena on the other hand was nowhere to be seen, a fact that left Steven with a ball of ice in his chest. As his remaining triad of emissaries joined the fight in his mind, he forced the images away so he could focus on the issue at hand.
Hold on, Emilio. I’m coming.
Steven charged the rearing horse, leaping at its wounded rider. His grasping fingers found purchase around the front of the saddle as the horse bolted away at a full gallop. The Knight pummeled away at Steven’s grip with his bloody half-fist as his other hand, still intact, guided the panicked animal through the rushing forest. The merciless buffeting of his unguarded hands, along with the wrenching strain on his shoulder with each gallop soon proved more than he could bear. Steven prepared to let go his grip and face the racing forest floor when fate decided to throw a wild card.
Invisible in the wooded twilight, a low-hanging branch struck the samurai mid-chest, nearly unsaddling the dark rider for the second time that evening and giving Steven a desperately needed break. While the Knight recovered from the unexpected blow, Steven snaked first one hand and then the other across his opponent’s armored legs and wrapped his bruised fingers around the hilts of the two blades tucked into the samurai’s intricately woven belt.
No way the Game will let me draw these blades, but as long as I’m holding on, he can’t draw them either.
Steven’s improved grasp on the situation brought him face to face with Audrey. A clump of dark mane clutched in each of her white-knuckled fists, the emaciated girl held on with all the strength she could muster. Despite the terror and confusion, she maintained enough presence of mind to stay with the horse, regardless of the danger. Still, with each passing second, he imagined the moment when Audrey’s weakened fingers would finally give out.
A pained grunt left Steven’s lips as white-hot agony ran up his leg. So intent was he on Audrey’s faltering grasp, he had failed to notice a cluster of jagged rocks jutting like teeth from the ground. The first caught at the toe of his shoe, nearly dragging him from the horse, while a second and third tore at his right shin like a rabid animal. The pain made his eyes swim.
“Concede, Bauer-Pawn.” The Knight made a rapid course correction to the right. “Your cause is lost. Release my blades and live to fight another day. If you choose to continue with this fool’s errand, it will not go well for you.”
More and larger rocks blocked their path, the stony sentinels just visible in the dappled light of the rising crescent moon. Before Steven could pull himself up, a boulder struck him across the knees. His world red with pain, his throbbing fingers finally gave way, and a part of Steven welcomed the inevitable nothingness that was sure to follow.
Steven stood below a crimson sky and peered down into a vast chasm that smelled of death. Once the bed of a mighty river, only a brackish flow remained in the belly of the serpentine abyss. Thunder rolled like war drums in the distance and echoed through the gorge. A stone bridge of alternating squares of quartz and obsidian atop columns that stretched down into the dark oblivion spanned the cruel expanse, the bridge’s checkered surface ending on a dark edifice that filled Steven with dread.
The black castle, its foundations rising precipitously from the far edge of the chasm, rested at the epicenter of a rising storm. The walls of the octagonal fortress, hewn from darkest granite, stood supported by eight flying buttresses, their massive span reminiscent of the legs of a colossal spider. Six towers rose from the center of this monstrosity, a cruel misshapen hand that appeared ready to wrench the very clouds from the sky. The howling winds seemed to call his name as the dark maelstrom continued to coalesce above the castle’s highest spire.
Steven… Steven…
“Steven!”
First came searing pain coursing down both his legs. Then, a pounding headache like he’d gone one round too many in the ring. And finally, the rhythmic bounce of a rushing horse.
Where am I?
Steven’s eyes fluttered open to find Audrey’s panicked grimace set against a backdrop of rushing trees under a cobalt sky. One skeletal hand clutched the front of his shirt as the other clawed for his belt. Snared on the horse’s tack, the strip of leather at his waist was all that kept Steven from falling.
Inching her trembling hand down his body, Audrey managed to get her fingers around his belt. Pulling with whatever strength she had left, tears of determination streamed down her face, the fear in her eyes melting into steely resolve.
“Let him fall.” The Knight brought his mangled fist down on Audrey’s flank, forcing the last bit of air out of the wasted girl’s lungs. Still, she held on.
“Don’t… let… go,” she whispered between pained grunts.
His black steed charging onward, the Knight passed the reigns to his maimed hand and in one fluid motion drew his wakizashi. His first pass with the shorter blade a narrow miss, the dark samurai connected with his second thrust, leaving a gash in Steven’s shoulder.
“Why will you not fall?” the Knight bellowed, his casual monotone at last showing signs of strain. “You must know you cannot win.”
“I guess you’re going to have to kill me then.”
As his opponent brought the short-sword around for a third strike, Steven seized his armored wrist. Though his bruised fingers were still too numb to feel the cold steel of the samurai’s gauntlet, Steven held on with a strength he didn’t know he possessed. They wrestled for the weapon as the horse continued its mad charge through the forest. Neither gave nor gained ground in their battle of wills. In the end though, neither Steven nor the Knight, nor even Audrey were the final arbiter of this struggle, but rather the splintered trunk of an ancient oak.
Knocked breathless to the forest floor, Steven watched helpless as horse, rider and girl faded into the darkening night. As they disappeared in the distance, Audrey screamed one last time, her voice cracking in terror. Even worse, the pouch was no longer at Steven’s hip. Like the staccato beat of the horse’s galloping hooves, the constant drone of the pouch soon faded into the gathering gloom.
“Dammit,” Steven muttered as he struggled to sit up. “She’s gone.” The torn belt loop and twisted buckle at his waist, just visible in the failing light, told the whole story. Pulling himself half upright, he knelt by the gnarled stump and worked to keep himself from vomiting.
They’ve got Audrey, God knows what’s happened to Lena, and there’s no way I’ll get to Emilio in time. What else can—
Steven? A terrified voice whispered into Steven’s mind.
He leaped to his feet, his injuries for the moment forgotten.
Audrey? Steven asked silently. Is that you?
Yes. A pause. I’m scared.
Are you all right? Where are you? Steven held his breath, seconds ticking by like hours as he awaited an answer.
Don’t know, the voice echoed after an interminable wait. Trees rushing past. Dark. Please help me…
As Audrey’s voice fad
ed into nothingness, Steven’s brain went into overdrive. A quick shift of consciousness revealed the battle between Emilio, his seven Pawn doppelgangers, and the Black Queen had for the moment reached an impasse. Knowing Emilio was holding his own brought Steven some measure of relief, though one thing was clear.
No help was coming from that direction.
His icon, which had brought time to a screeching halt and enabled Steven to save Emilio from the dark archer’s arrow, remained tied up in weapons resting a mile away inside a burning house. Even with the icon, Steven wasn’t sure he could duplicate the life-saving jump.
If only I still had—
“The pouch.”
Hope sprang anew in Steven’s heart.
Audrey? Can you hear me?
Silence.
Audrey?
His mental cry unanswered, Steven returned to his perch on the overturned oak.
“Why me?” he shouted to the surrounding forest. “Why’d you pick me?” Steven drove his already bruised fist into the soft rotting wood. “If I can’t even save one girl, how in the hell do you think I’m going to—”
So cold… Dark… Mom… Almost imperceptible, Audrey’s scattered thoughts whispered across Steven’s mind.
Audrey. Steven pictured himself shouting to the girl across a placid lake. If you can hear me, let me know.
Steven? I thought I’d lost you. Are you all right?
I’m fine. Now, listen to me. Look down where I was hanging on the side of the horse. Do you see a white pouch with silver strings at the top?
A pause. Yes. It’s hanging from one of the straps. Please, help me.
The panic in her tone only steeled Steven’s resolve.
Listen, Audrey. You’re going to be all right. I know you’re scared, but you’ve got to keep it together if you want to make it through this. Okay?
A pause. Okay.
Good. Now listen and do exactly what I say. Got it?
Got it.
Can you reach the pouch?
Pawn's Gambit Page 18