A Whisper of Night

8.3 || ZALYNE 🔥

This chapter is dedicated to @Wardu12 ! Thank you for all the support, and for sticking with this story since...day one? Yeah, I think it was day one. Thank you so much!

"No." Zalyne stood up, her eyes darting through the room. She felt lightheaded, no doubt from the smoke.

"What, you think a game will hurt you?"

Not a game, she thought. You. But then the man's hand tightened over her wrist, his fingers iron over her skin, and the words stuck in her throat.

"Come," he said, leading her over to the corner. "A boy should not be afraid of a game."

Briefly, she considered fighting and running. But where would she run? And what she caused so loud a commotion that somebody recognized her?

Numbly, she followed.

The board was circular, about six times bigger than her head. A pitted trench running around its edge. A square, spangled with hundreds of smaller squares, stood at the center of board, its corners touching the circumference of the circle.

One circular pit filled each square, connected by a network of trenches. Two sets of grimy black-and-white playing pieces stood on opposite sides of the board, oily with the fingerprints of previous players.

Each player had thirty small spheres, arranged in shallow spearhead, as well as several sculptures in the shapes of horses, ships, and bows. One sculpture of a man – presumably the king – stood behind the entire army, along with sixteen more spheres of each color.

"This looks complicated," she said.

"It's easy. Sit." The man took the seat opposite her, lowering himself with some difficulty. "It's called Pernasse - it came from Phaenos." He pointed to the spheres. "Each of these represents an infantryman. The bows are your archers, the horses your cavalry, the ships your navy, the man your king."

She nodded. "All right."

"The infantry and archers can only move over land - the yellow and green squares - and only in the trenches. Your cavalry can only move over plains - the yellow squares - but they can move over the infantrymen, protecting them. The navy can only travel over water - the blue squares. The goal is to surround your opponent's king with your men."

"The king cannot move?"

He laughed. "Do kings ever move in war? In the Age of Shadows, perhaps, but not now...not now, when all they do is eat and drink."

"So how do you take other pieces?"

"Like this."

He placed four of her black pieces on the green squares and five of his white pieces right before hers, so that they formed a line. He pushed the end of his line, and one of her pieces tumbled off the square into the trench. "You can only do this if you have more men than your opponent."

"I see," she said. "And the knights...protect the infantry?"

"You can move your knights over the infantry, to protect them from being pushed off. See here..."

He moved one of his knights over his pieces. Zalyne glimpsed a set of circular teeth below the knight, locking the infantryman into place.

"How do you take knights?"

"With a knight of your own." He took two knights from her side and placed one on either side of his. "Either that, or you surround it with infantrymen, although that is harder."

"What about the ships?"

"They move over water. If your navy is backing your soldiers, they cannot be pushed into the ocean. You can only take a ship with your own navy, or by surrounding it with your archers."

"So the archers...."

"Treat them the same as your soldiers. They're more valuable, though - they can take soldiers that are two squares away from them, except for cavalry."

She bit her lip. "What about the pieces in the trenches?"

He grinned. "They represent us," he said. "The men who do not fight. With every enemy soldier you push into the trenches, one will join your army wherever you want. For every archer you take, two join. For every cavalryman, three, and for every ship, four."

She was silent, still studying the board. The man's eyes flickered over her shoulder, but when she turned to look, nobody stood behind her.

"Do you understand the rules?" he said.

She nodded. "I think so." Again, she glanced through the room, but she couldn't find Luka. He has to have finished pissing by now.

The man rearranged her pieces. "No two games of Peransse are the same," he said. He leaned forwards and removed one of the colored squares from the board. "We could rearrange the entire board if we wanted to. We could render our navies or cavalries useless."

"Like a real war," she murmured. "No wonder it's so popular here."

He studied her, his eyes glinting like old coins. "Indeed. White goes first..."

He reached over and pushed a line of infantry across the green squares. Zalyne frowned and reciprocated his move.

The man slid another infantryman behind his line of attack. Zalyne copied him. He sailed a ship towards her bay. Zalyne added another soldier behind her line.

"You're a natural," the man said, grinning, she took one of his soldiers and added one of her own behind her line.

"Thanks," she said, unable to resist smiling as she pushed another one of his pieces off the board.

His cavalry moved down the board, but she managed to take one of them. His navy followed the coastline, but she saw no reason to worry....

His navy continued. She took a ship, then split her infantry to take the cavalry and navy.

The man's eyes darted behind her shoulder again. An uncomfortable sensation prickled at the back of her neck, but she didn't turn, moving her archer into position....

"I win."

Her mouth fell open as the man swept his line of infantry before her king. His navy blocked her right, his cavalry her left.

"I - how - "

"I have two pieces of advice for you. First of all, never defend." Casually, he nudged another piece forwards, sealing her king off entirely in a sea of white pieces. "Always attack."

She stared at the game, frozen.

"And secondly..."

He knocked over her king, sending the piece clattering into the trench. There it rolled back and forth, back and forth...

"...never separate your soldiers."

He raised his head and nodded, a grin plastered across his face. It took Zalyne a moment to realize that he was not looking at her.

The blow took her in the back of her head.

Zalyne barely had time to scream before she spiraled into darkness.

~~

Oof, she definitely shouldn't have trusted him.

So what do you think about Pernasse? I know that I dedicated a good part of this chapter to it, since it'll become important later on. Let me know if you have any questions! I know it's super confusing, haha.

And what do you think is going on happen to Zalyne? Do you think Luka or Elsking will find her?

As usual, please vote and comment!