Havi sat comfortably in her chair listening to the pleasant sound of frying fish. Lupin had brought back a net full of them, and then Emilia had dragged in a second. Now Lupin was frying them after the fish skinned and boned themselves in the air in front of him. It was magical, in a very literal sense.
Vikkar placed a plateful of fish with various sides made of the rest of their rations. The fork Lupin had made was heavier than she was used to but she managed to wield it with at least a smattering of grace. She began to dig in and was so enthralled by the flavours of the first fresh food she’d had in weeks that she didn’t notice everyone settling in around her. “Thank you for the meal Lupin,” Vikkar said, “How long will you be able to stay with us? I’m afraid we’ve grown quite reliant on your kindness.” She could tell how much that question chafed at her brother, being in debt and still in need of a stranger who owed them nothing.
“I don’t intend to vanish on you quite so soon. And the circumstances that led me to this small island leave me with very little pressing concerns.” Lupin was practically inhaling his food, leaving Havi baffled as to how he got the words out at all. “So tell me, why are you three out here?”
Vikkar’s expression dropped. She’d seen this expression a lot since they’d been at sea, a mixture of guilt, worry, anger and no small measure of pain. He went silent for a few moments chewing over a response. “That’s not a long story.” He said simply, “But one that isn’t easy in the telling.”
“Well we can work our way there, I’m not here to interrogate you.” Lupin stretched as he stood, then began another round of fish frying. “Is it easier to tell me what your plans are from here on out?” came the deep bass of his voice accompanied by the sizzle of the fish. Emilia was already standing up to be the first in line for seconds.
“That is easier, though I’m afraid there really isn’t much to say. Before our boat ran aground on this island we were trying to travel east along the Cressian Flow to the Fanim. The people there hate the Riddari almost as much as the Mantis do, but they have a lot more to hate so we’d at least be able to make some sort of living there instead of just being turned around at the gate. I haven’t really planned beyond that. This is the first time any of us have left the Flotilla for longer than a single voyage. And to be honest I feel more than a little lost.” Vikkar was just pushing food around on his plate now, Havi took the opportunity to steal a chav from his plate. The small red root tasted all the sweeter for being stolen, and for Vikkar’s smile at her mischief.
“I see. I’ll say that’s a better plan than I had when I ran away from home, but not by much. Were you having troubles with your family? Or maybe just some good old wanderlust in your veins?.” Havi watched as Vikkar squirmed. Family troubles was pretty close on the mark. He started scratching at his burns again, he always did that when he thought about how they left home.
“It was only supposed to be me,” Vikkar’s voice came out soft, his eyes turned down to his plate; but Havi knew that wasn’t what he was looking at. “I broke a taboo, I betrayed everything that everyone I’d ever known had ever done for me. Even worse, I tried to hide it. But of course I couldn’t, sins don’t stay buried, even at sea. I was dragged in chains to the very center of the Flotilla, I was stripped of my name, my belongings, and the tattoos on my legs were burned off. My achievements were struck from all record, everything about me intentionally forgotten. I was given a small boat and 3 days worth of food, and told to sail as far as the wind would take me. So my body wouldn’t return to the flotilla until the sun had judged and cleansed me.” Emilia took Vikkar’s hand now, his scratching had drawn a thin stream of blood that ran down the scarred flesh of his leg. “The one who listed and carried out my sentence was my own father, and he was helped by my teacher who I thought of as a father. So family troubles seems the most accurate.” He looked up at Emilia and smiled, running his free hand through her messy hair. “Then these two hellions chased after me in a stolen windrunner. And until you came along Mr. O’Hara I was sure that I was going to have to watch them starve, because of my failings.”
Silence reigned for a few moments. Lupin put his hand on Vikkar’s shoulder, “That was a bit heavier than I expected. I’m sorry lad, I wish I had something worth saying.”
“I’m fine. It’s just, I’ve been trying not to think about it. Just shutting it out, so I could keep going, so I could try and make it somewhere safe. It all just came to me at once, everything replaying as if it had happened an hour ago rather than almost a month. Combine that with how relieved I am that Emilia and Havi are fed and happy, and honestly I’m surprised I’m not crying.” Vikkar smiled weakly as he tussled Emilia’s hair. Havi climbed into his lap and laid herself back against his chest. She felt his steady breaths and knew he wasn’t hiding anything just to be strong for her and her sister.
“You’re a tougher man than I, I’d be crying like a baby.” Lupin said his face serious, “I normally wouldn’t ask what crime you committed, but I have an offer that I would like you to consider. For you and your sisters.” Havi felt her eyes drawn to Lupin, something in his voice demanding her attention. She saw a man of blood and iron, a warrior whose presence stilled the very air around them. “But I need to know what you did before a word of it will leave my lips.” Vikkar looked at their saviour. Havi watched as he took his moment, considering as he always did when something was important. She saw him bury his pride, and accept the pain that would come from admission. Vikkar set her down on the table, still wrapped in her blanket. Then he leaned close to Lupin and whispered something too quiet for Havi to hear. After he did, Lupin laughed, dispelling the man of war he had been only moments before. He clapped Vikkar on the shoulders, “I would be more inclined to call you a pioneer than a criminal dear boy. My fears are allayed and now I feel free to ask, would you three like to be my apprentices? To learn the ways of magic and travel the world helping those in need? To defend the Tapestry, for all it’s falsehood, against those who would unravel it?”
Havi didn’t hear a single word after magic, but then that was enough for her to have her answer. She could tell by the grin on her sister’s face that it was the same for her as well. Vikkar was taking his moment, but she could already tell what his answer would be. There was a childish glint in his eyes now, one that she hadn’t seen since they were one happy family on the Flotilla. “When would we start?” Vikkar asked, as a grin worked its way across his face.
“I’m always inclined to start as early as possible, which would be now. The road of magic is long and quite often difficult and at times even the simplest of magics can be very dangerous. But fear not, for I will be here to guide you.” Lupin grinned as he looked over the three of them. Havi wondered what he saw, three young faces full of hope? Full of wonder? “Your first lesson will also be a kind of test.”
“When do we start?” Vikkar asked “And what do we need to do?” Havi felt something then, a shifting in the room, more pronounced than the breathing the living home had done so far. She turned to look towards the door, but it was gone. The entire building was gone in fact, and it had taken her family with it. Replacing it was a dune of pitch black sand that shifted in a wind she could not feel.
Havi felt strangely calm about the experience. She looked up to the sky, letting her blanket fall into the sand. The stars she knew were gone as well. Only a single star hung in the dark sky, letting off a pale light that barely illuminated the land below it. Havi walked towards the star, but stopped short in front of a silver line. It curved from in front of her and back in both directions, forming a circle that she could just barely make out now that she was looking for it. Havi knew, without knowing how, that crossing that line would bear terrible consequences.
Something called her, and she whipped around. There was an indistinct, shadowy figure beckoning to her. It was sitting at a table with figures lined up on either side like soldiers standing at attention. Havi walked intending to sit at the table, but the open seat was sitting just past the silver line. The figure gestured to the seat offering it to her. “I can’t.” Havi said, her voice booming across the silence of… wherever she was. “I can’t sit there, it’s past the line.”
The figure gestured again, this time with a slight flair of anger added to the motion. “I can’t.” Havi said again. The figure huffed inaudibly, then stood and moved the set so the table straddled the silver line in the sand, then it slid one of the chairs over to her. Havi took note of how the figure never crossed the line. She sat and looked over the pieces on the board. They sat in two rows, each eight across. The first row was eight uniform pieces carved of beautiful white stone. Sitting behind them were eight pieces with different designs. There were three pairs set mirroring each other across the meridian of the board. The pair farthest from the center were two longships set into a base of waves, that were carved so beautifully she could almost see them move. Just inside of them were a pair of windrunners and at their helm sat tiny carvings of Emilia. Another step closer to the center were statues of Vikkar in the traditional priest clothes he wore whenever he had led ceremonies on the Flotilla. Center right had a carving of a gorgeous woman wearing a tiny golden crown, a set of splendid robes and carrying a scepter of bone. Looking at her made Havi sad for no reason she could name. Center left had a carving of Lupin but he was constantly shifting. Features that looked decidedly animal appeared and disappeared between one moment and the next.
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The figure across from her motioned for her to play. “I don’t know how.” Havi said, getting a little annoyed at her impatient specter. It motioned for her to touch a piece, any piece. Havi placed her hand on one of the uniform pieces in the front row, the one in front of Lupin. It spoke to her, whispered its name and position in her mind ‘Pawn, d2’. It told her how it moved and she pushed it forward two spaces to d4. Her opponent mirrored her move. Havi moved the pawn at c2 to c4 thinking the one at e4 would be stronger with a friend. As her hand left the pawn it whispered to her how it attacks and she panicked, realising that her opponent would be able to take it for free. She breathed out a sigh of relief when her opponent chose to play e7 to e6 instead.
Havi puzzled over this, she knew she didn’t understand the game but she couldn’t see the reason her opponent hadn’t taken the pawn. She decided that if her opponent hadn’t taken there was probably a reason she shouldn’t either. So she placed her hand on one of the windrunners “Horse, b1”. Horse was a strange thing to call a windrunner, but Havi decided that the game must have been made in a different language. She placed the Horse at c3. Her opponent was getting visibly more impatient each time Havi stopped to think about a move and practically slammed their own horse from g8 to f6. Havi placed her hand on the Vikkar at c1 “Bishop, c1”, then she moved it to threaten her opponent’s knight, trying to make it so they were the one thinking for once.
When her hand crossed the middle of the board she felt it go numb. She’d forgotten about the line in the sand below her. Her hand had become little more than a mass of shadow, and she watched in horror as the right hand of her opponent became more physical as her’s disappeared. There was no pain, just a sense of loss, and then no feeling at all. Tears began welling in her eyes regardless as her opponent mocked her with a flourish of their new hand, moving the horse from b8 to d7. “I hope you rot,” Havi bit the words off with as much spite as she could manage.
Havi pushed the pawn at e2 to e3 so that her pawns at d4 and c4 were protected, feeling a lot less adventurous now. Her opponent played the pawn at c7 to c6 which Havi followed by moving the horse at g1 to f3. Her opponent advanced the piece opposite Lupin that Havi didn’t know the name of yet from d8 to a5. That didn’t look good to Havi, not that she had any real idea whether it was or not, so she started moving her horse over to defend moving it from f3 to d2. The bishop on f8 moved to join the offensive, traveling to b4.
Havi decided that she needed to know what the piece behind the bishop did and put her hand on Lupin “Queen, d1”. Under different circumstances she would have laughed at Lupin being the Queen, but instead she moved him to c2 a bit of panic running through her. Her opponent baffled her by moving two pieces at once, placing the remaining center piece on g8 and moving the ship on h8 to f8. She was about to accuse it of cheating, but she stopped herself. Even if it was cheating she’d be able to do the same thing herself in a second. She moved the bishop at f1 to d3, thinking that it might be able to help defend her knight if it was that close.
A sense of laughter flowed from the other side of the table as her opponent took the pawn at c4 with the pawn at d5. Not knowing what was so funny Havi took back with the horse on d2. Then she felt her mouth go numb as the opposing queen took her bishop on g5. The laughter was real then, the horrible thing across from her laughing with her mouth, with her voice. “How foolish, have you tried thinking before you move your pieces? It tends to help.” The thing berated her before dissolving into laughter again.
Retorts rose in Havi’s throat, and died there. No sound could leave lips that weren’t yours anymore. She knew things were bad, but she still had two pieces she hadn’t moved yet. She placed her hand on the piece at e1. No name was whispered to her, instead a thousand thousand ghosts of memories came unbidden to her, flooding in all at once. Her anger and fear drained away, replaced by embarrassment.
How could she have played so poorly? She was better than that, far better than that. People had broken down in tears playing against her, people had thrown the board in frustration. No one had ever laughed and she’d make this specter regret ever sitting at the board. The game no longer confused her, every inch of it feeling more familiar than her own home now. She was king, and this was her kingdom.
“What’s the matter, do you not want to play anymore? I’d graciously accept your forfeit.” The specter cackled. An armada of scathing retorts died in Havi’s throat, which made her anger rise. The game state was bad for sure, but this could be fixed. And she would make her specter suffer, it would beg her to finish the game. A plan was already growing, from a drizzle to a storm. The next 15 moves proceeded lightning fast and as the dust settled the game was back to even. The specter had left itself open to a fork and thrown away the last of its advantage.
With her lips back in her possession Havi decided to be merciful, “I’ll give you this one chance to surrender. It will not be available later.” She saw the specter scoff dismissively. Havi smiled.
The specter’s army was hunted with extreme prejudice across the board. Its defenses were exploited and every time it tried to seize the initiative it would find the opportunity to be nothing but fog leading it deeper into dangerous waters.
With every piece that Havi took from her opponent she felt herself gaining a new sense. A surreal kind of knowledge, as if she was experiencing a new spectrum of color that had truly been there all along. Nothing was real, she knew now with absolute certainty. Everything about the world she came from, from the fact that things fell to the way water flowed. All of it was a lie, nothing but a thin layer of order over a seething bed of chaos.
Laughter seemed the only appropriate response to this revelation. Magic wasn’t some mystical reworking of the world. It didn’t work by replacing reality with the desire of the mage. It worked because nothing was real to begin with and it might as well be whatever you wanted, instead of what it was. Havi stopped laughing when her opponent played the winning move, or rather what would have been the winning move if it were legal. “You can’t do that, that’s not how it works.” Havi bristled, feeling personally insulted by this disregard for the game.
Who’s to say what is illegal, or even what is wrong or right, if everything is a lie? The specter asked, the previous arrogance nowhere to be seen.
“Chess is a beautiful game because of its rules. If you take the rules away the game is meaningless. And you don’t just kill the game, you kill all the beauty contained within, and I will not tolerate such flagrant barbarity.” The pieces moved back to where they should be, the game ready to be resumed. The specter was as formless as it had ever been, but Havi could feel the grin plastered on its face.
I surrender. As the words hung in the air the specter moved to lay down its king. The surprise Havi could feel from it as she grabbed its arm made the numbness running up her arm more than worth it.
“I seem to remember saying you would not have the chance to do so. I still have 4 pawns I can turn into horses, and I have absolutely no intention of letting you ruin my fun just because you’ve lost interest.” If this specter could feel fear, Havi was absolutely sure it would be feeling it now. Fifty tortuous moves later the specter was mated using only horses, and if it truly existed at all it would never forget this match.
And then the board and pieces were gone. Havi was back to the center of the circle. At her feet was a silver brick. She picked it up and brought it to the silver line. It fit easily and exactly, made for just this purpose. After she had placed it she saw another brick sitting right next to her feet. She placed it next to the first and repeated the cycle.
Time blurred as she finished ring after ring of silver bricks until she had built a dome. It would not be this shape forever, she knew, but for now this would be more than good enough. In the center rose a small obelisk formed from the black sand on which Havi stood. She walked towards it and carved a single word at the very top. The word was a name, her name. The name she had never known she had, until just this moment.