A Royal Adventure

18: Wizards Chess

Roman's POV

SONG: Take Me to Church
By: Hozier

"Now, how're we gonna do this?" Remus asks, turning to me. I continue to look at the board. I sigh roughly. I walk over to the knight and climb on top of the horse. Remus looks at me confused and so does Molly. Clearly, they haven't read any of the Harry Potter books. Which is weird, since Remus knew what the vines were in the other room. I'll have to ask how he knew that.

"Why can't we just walk up to the door?" Molly asks.

"The pawns on the other side won't let us. Trust me." I say.

"Molly, take the queen's side corner. Remus, you take the bishop's empty square." They nod and I hear them walk to their respective places and suddenly...the walking stops. They're in place.

"What happens now?" Remus asks me.

"Well, white moves first, and then," I sigh. "We play." The pawn that's on the left, but fourth closest to the right, moves forward two spaces.

"Roman," I hear Remus say. I look at him as I think hard about the next move. Where is Logan when you need him. Seriously. "You don't think this is going to be like the movie and book, do you? Real Wizard's Chess?" He asks, worried in his voice. I want to test that theory out, actually.

"You! D5!" I shout and point to it. It moved forward two places. The white pawn brings out it's swords and swipes at my black pawn. The dust and debris flows towards us and I see Molly and Remus jump back slightly, appalled at how dangerous this is. I take a sigh of frustration and slowly turn my head to face my twin.

"Yes, Remus," I say. "I think this is gonna be...exactly like Wizard's Chess." Remus' back straightened, turns to look at me saying with his face: You think? Molly looks up at me, flabbergasted, and scared.

As we play the game, I watch my pieces get demolished, but I have to remind myself that it's all part of the game. Loads of debris make it into our hair and clothes and I've used my last care. I just want to get to the other side. My parents never made it this far. As a matter of fact, I'm worried that we might be going to the wrong place, since our parents took a ship. But, all of the land is connected, including my palace to Remus'. Just a large bridge. Maybe they were looking for something different than we thought.

Of course, white pieces got destroyed too. That made me confident. I've played Chess against Logan so many times, I think it's finally paying off.

At last, it was the White Queen, me, Remus and Molly left standing. Scattered pieces were everywhere. Dust flew in the air, leaving it stuffy and smelling of old stone.

"Wait a minute!" Molly said, turning to me.

"You understand it, don't you, Molly?" I asked her. She looked at me saying with her face: Don't do this. You're gonna get yourself killed.

"Once I make my move," I continued. "The queen will take me. Then you're free to check the king." I say calmly, knowing the sacrifices I have to make in order to do this.

"No, Roman! NO!" Molly shouts. Remus wipes his face with one hand and sighs roughly. I can tell that he doesn't want me doing this. That makes me happy though. He cares about me. "You can't sacrifice yourself, Roman!"

"Do you guys wanna find out why our parents sacrificed their lives for us? Do you wanna know why we're so different? Do you, Remus?" I ask, sounding like Logan, stern and serious. Remus looks at me, his lips pressed in a firm line. He looks at me, then back at the queen, helpless for an answer.

"You two can go on if I'm not dead." I say. I chuckle softly, but it's clear they don't like that. I sigh and scorn myself for my own actions. I look forward and take a deep breath.

"You're never gonna know if it's killing you or making you stronger if you just give up, Roman. Fight till the end, and you will receive an answer." I hear my father say. A tear rolls down my dirty face, but I wipe it away and ignore it. All my emotions have to be gone for this to work.

"Knight to H3." I say. I feel the floor shake as I move to that spot on the large board. My adrenaline is through the roof, but I ignore it. "Check." I softly say as I look at the Queen. I make no sign of fear as the Queen rushes towards me on her own platform. She takes out her sword and jabs it into my horse. I fell to the ground and hit the floor. I cover my head as the piece of the horse shatters on top of me. When the horse is done falling apart, I look up at the Queen. She's set her sword back in hand, reading for the next move. No emotion, as I can't even see her face. Bold, straight back and firm, she's ready.

"ROMAN!" Remus shouts for me.

"NO! DON'T MOVE!" I hear Molly shout. I see her point to him and he stops moving. They look at each other, helpless and desperate to help me. I don't think they know I'm still alive. "Don't forget. We're still playing." She says. Remus steps back into the middle of his square. I look at Remus. He looks at her. Molly looks at the Queen, ready to dominate. Molly quietly moves to her spot. She sees me look at her and smiles. I wave lightly, smiling too, then point at the Queen. She stops in her square and nods.She turns to face the queen.

"Checkmate." She says. The queen's sword falls to the floor. We won! We actually won! I can't wait to tell Logan! He's gonna be so jealous!

"Can we move?" Molly asks me. I nod, getting up. She rushes over to me and helps me up. I thank her and look at Remus. Before I could do anything, he wraps his arms around me, and we fall backwards. I land on my back, him on top of me.

"Thank God! I thought I lost you." Remus says, softly. I take a minute, then wrap my arms around him. A warm sense of comfort falls over me like a blanket. I haven't hugged Remus since we were 14. It feels so nice to finally hug my brother again.

I figure he realizes what he's done, breaks away from our hug and shoves me to the floor, hitting my head slightly. I laugh though, as the damage is already done. I get up and hear Molly laugh slightly too. She covers her mouth and looks the other way when Remus glares at her. She doesn't stop chuckling and giggling though, which makes me laugh even more.