CLOVER

The White Knight

The silence was getting deeper and deeper with only the clattering sounds of the train rails trying to break it. Time was moving slowly inside the train but rapidly fast outside it. Scarlett looked at William dumbfounded and tried to connect what he just said with the mysterious chess board on the table next to them which surprisingly enough was standing perfectly still, though' everything else in the train was crashing down to pieces including Scarlett's thoughts.
"You can not be serious, right?"
"It seems to be some sort of a medieval puzzle." He started checking his pockets, pulling the white knight piece out. "And I think I know how we can solve it."
Both of them tried to reach carefully to the seats. The chess board appeared to be really normal. There was nothing specific about it at first until William placed the white knight on the missing spot. The mechanism inside the board started moving, and the knight was magnetically glued on the board.
"How do we start now?"
"I believe I should start the game since I got the white pieces."
"I know that, but isn't there perhaps a specific way to start this game? It is a puzzle in the end, it cannot be as easy as a normal chess game."
"We won't know if we do not try to move anything."
William tried to move a pawn at e5, and then just about the time Scarlett was making her movie, the mechanism started moving again, taking the pawn right back to its previous place.
-"Well you were right after all."
"Thank you, but we still don't have a clue on how to start, we can not just move each piece until the board doesn't take it back to the beginning. We will run out of time."
William looked at the board, trying to read it as if it was a written riddle. He wandered his eyes around the train, but everything was too normal to be a clue until he finally picked up the white knight, and then he noticed a tiny hole on the bottom of it. He shook the piece two times, enough for the hidden letter to fall from it. He took the little string off and opened the letter looking at Scarlett in realization.
"As a knight thy conflict shouldst beginneth and as one thee shouldst perish."
William placed the knight to e6, allowing himself to finally start the game. Scarlett waited just a few seconds before she made her move until she was sure that William made the right move. The game continued with her moving a pawn to h4. The train's speed increases each move, and it almost seems like playing the game is not making any difference. William moves his knight to d6, and right after the knight settles to its square, the square in front of Scarlett's rook turns upside down, leaving a crumpled letter for her to read. She opens it and reads what it says.
"Longeth liveth the queen."- she muffles the words. She then sees an open spot to William's queen and manages to take it with her rook by placing it on e8 and leaving the king on check.
"I can not understand who this board wants to win. If the first riddle was to start and end the game with the knight, why must the board tell you to take my strongest piece?"
"Maybe it's creating an illusion to your head. By having me do this, you will concentrate more on your loss, and I will concentrate on taking your actual strongest piece. The white knight."
"A wise person that wants to win a game should not give their opponent clues on how to win."
"I do not want to win, for now. I want for us to make it out of here alive. Go on, make your next move chevalier."
The pressure kept rising in each move that they made. Although William was the one who was supposed to win, Scarlet was giving him a hard time to do so.
"I believe that we will end up in the depths of a canyon if none of us wins any time sooner."
"After our 100th move, I think you can see who has the highest chance of winning."
"You counted them? I didn't know you were a mathematic maniac."
"Checkmate."
"What?"-Scarlett asked, her eyes widening as she looked at the chess board. William placed the white knight on c7, leaving the black king at b5 in a checkmate. The train slowed down until it finally stopped.
"Bloody hell, that was a ride to remember."
William got up from his seat with fury in his face. He reached the locomotive with Scarlett following him.
-"Trenor you need to calm down, I don't think there was a driver here."
"A train can't work on its own Scarlett." Scarlett, the name echoed in her ears. Just about the time when she was getting used to him calling her in silly nicknames.
"Stop it. This is enough. I know you are feeling all the possible negative emotions towards Clover, but we will find her, and when we do, you will be able to pour your anger on her. Stop acting like a child now, and let's continue our journey."
They continued their way until they found a hotel nearby so they could rest. Just about the time they were trying to approach and get inside it, Scarlett stopped William, pointing out someone from a distance.
"This is starting to look really easy."
"It seems that Luck is on our side after all."
William shrugged his shoulders, and just when it was clear that Jennifer left the lobby, they made their entrance. There wasn't anyone in sight.
"Excuse me? Is there anyone here who can help us?"-William shouted.
"Trenor, I think they put that bell here for a purpose."
Scarlett rang the bell three times in a row, but no one seemed to come. William started walking around the halls, trying to see if someone was near when he saw a door. As much as he went closer to it, he kept hearing ticking sound. He leaned his hand to the doorknob, twisting it slowly until it opened. He took slow and small steps, tilting his head in amazement. There were pocket watches hanging with golden threads down from the ceiling. The tick-tocks were all in the same rhythm, and the sound kept getting louder and more hypnotizing as much as he approached them. Who knew a hotel would have a room full of clocks. What was their purpose? On the other hand, Scarlett decided to go to the other side of the hotel to search for the register.
She noticed something shining from the stairway. From afar, it seemed like pieces of jewelry that fell from a rich lady who passed the stairs, but as she got closer, she started to notice that they were missing pieces of a specific mechanism. The mechanism of a clock. She saw that the little silvery gears were laying all the way up to the staircase, so she decided to follow the trail.
William started noticing something really strange about how the clocks were working. All of them were showing the current time aside from five clocks that were placed diagonally from one another. One of the clocks was at 15:00, two of them were at 13:20 with the seconds hand clock pointing in between of hour 14 and 15. Lastly, one of the clocks showed the time 19:25 and the other was at 11:05. William couldn't understand why the timing was different in these clocks and why they weren't changing. He noticed that each of the clocks could lead to a star shape if they had a chronically planned way. His eyes started writing up the clues on the ceiling as the clocks kept ticking louder and louder on his ears. Meanwhile, Scarlett was led in front of door 777. That was where the trail of gears finally ended. As soon as she tried to open the door, she heard a voice from the end of the hallway where she was standing.
"Ginger, wait!"