Apprentice

Chapter 8: The chess game (Part 1)

Note: Sorry, couldn’t think of another good title for the chapter. Also, I should have mentioned earlier this fan fiction contains: Sjips (Sips x Sjin), Xephmadia (Xephos x Lomadia), hints of LikeTotallyLittlewood (Toby x Martyn) and, of course, Zoethian (Zoey x Rythian). Maybe even a little bit of Zoey x Duncan? You never know :D Also this scene contains a bit of blood so...yeah :D You have been warned!

 Flying back towards the forests, eyeing Ridgedog warily, I can’t help but blurt the question out that has been niggling in my head for a while. “What happened with them?” He turns towards me, not stopping.

“It will take too long to explain. I’ll tell you after the game.” He clicks his fingers and the world around me turns white.

 When the flash has cleared, I’m hovering in the waiting room with the rest of the Yogscast. All of them look confused. They know this is not any ordinary survival game. “Ladies and Gentlemen!” Ridge declares, turning off our invisibility. All eyes swivel to us. I’m too ashamed to meet any of their eyes, so I simply snap my gaze to Simon and Duncan, who are both watching me. Lewis is looking at me with understanding eyes, and I realize Simon or Duncan must have told him. But there is a flicker of mistrust in the man’s brown eyes, and who would trust me? I can’t blame him for not, because I don’t even trust myself.

 “As you have all realized, this will not be an ordinary survival game, oh no! Who lives and who dies will not be a fate that lies in your hands. It lies in mine and my apprentice whom most of you recognize” he grins, gesturing to me as if all the eyes weren’t already glaring at me.

“This game is very different in fact, thought up by Tia herself.” I swallow, looking down at the ground now. He snaps his fingers in front of my face, making me look up, and he points to the window which has curtains from the outside drawn over it. “If you may open the curtains, you can look upon the field in which you will be standing on, and maybe then the rules of the game will be clear.”

 I disappear through the wall, before throwing open the curtains and backing back into the room.

 Ridgedog had built the giant chess board out of Quartz for the white squares and Obsidian for the black squares. I can hear groans and gasps from behind me, and I sigh again.

“Tia and I shall be playing a little game of chess with you all. There will only be one game-“ I frown at him, but he waves my question away. “-and I’m sure most of you know what will happen when one piece is supposed to knock the other piece off, hm? They kill them. We have supplied the weapons. We don’t care if it is your partner, or even your boyfriend you’re killing…” Ridgedog looks rather pointedly at Sips and Sjin, who are holding hands and cowering away from him, Sips still managing to look furious. “You will be forced to kill them. You have an hour to prepare. Good luck” he laughs, before we become invisible once again and we float to the giant chess board.

 “I thought-“ I begin, but he silences me again.

“We don’t want to break the toys, do we?” he smirks and I sigh.

“No,” I grumble, “Any other things you forgot to mention?”

“Yes. We will not be playing on a separate board, we will be moving people ourselves. It makes it more…practical.”

I swallow before nodding. “Anything else?” I almost dread to ask.

“Nope, not that I know of. Now we wait.” Nodding, I glance over to the window. Some people are looking out of it, dread contorting their features. Ridgedog sighs, seemingly happy. “This is going to be a good game. I can only hope your mortal side doesn’t cause you to be a bad opponent…” he trails off, watching me warily.