Chess City, Kalmykia
E very step in my journey to the end of the chessboard reminds me of my cowardice. How can I let Fabiola die? This logic of war and how it’s supposed to be dealt with confuses me again. I’ll be saying it again and again. War is just an ugly and blinding grey.
A couple of black army soldiers notice my escape and return to attack me, but I handle them with swift ease. The smell of blood on me is not only nauseating, but humiliating as well. I hate having killed all of them.
Behind me, I can still hear Fabiola yelling as she is killing them left and right. What a fabulous and admirable warrior. But I’m almost aware of hearing her scream in pain twice. She’s been stabbed, badly, but she will not give up until they steal her last breath.
And here I am, one step away from the last tile. There is no one to stop me but the short and stocky Queen, yelling at her guards. But none of them are here now. Fabiola has taken their attention.
I step on the last white tile at the end, and suddenly it all stops. All the soldiers turn and face me, though I can’t see Fabiola, who is probably lying dead on the floor behind them. The horror on the Queen’s face is worth a nomination for Instagram’s pic of the year.
It puzzles me how stupid the Queen is. I mean, reaching the end of the chessboard will show the Chessmaster the whereabouts of Carroll’s Knight, and he will not feel the need to kill the Queen of Hearts anymore.
But, being stubborn and war hungry, she can’t understand now. Once blood was spilling on the floor, she could see nothing but war in her mind. Maybe the Chessmaster is right about trying to kill the likes of her.
After a few moments of silence, as I’m catching my breath and calming down, we start hearing a rattling sound on the square assigned to the white knight on the life-size chessboard.
Another glass box rises out of it. This one opens from the top. It’s more like a podium with a prize upon it.
A chessboard with white and black chess pieces is stacked upon its surface. These are the pieces carved from Carroll’s bones. This is what the Chessmaster killed so many people for.
I wonder if it’s worth it.
The Chessmaster’s men arrive and signal for the white and black armies to leave. He doesn’t care about the Queen or Margaret anymore. In the distance, I see Fabiola silently sprawled on the ground.
“So this is what I’ve been waiting for.” The Chessmaster arrives finally, guarded by his men.
He approaches the podium with care and checks the chess pieces one by one. He even sniffs them with a euphoric feeling I’ve never seen before.
“I told you I will find your bones, Lewis,” he whispers to them, but it doesn’t take a genius to read his lips.
“So that’s what you wanted?” I ask.
“It certainly and most delightedly is,” he says. “You know all the pieces are on this chessboard? It means that the pieces you’ve collected were fakes. Fabiola certainly cooked up a brilliant plan to hide Carroll’s bones. I mean, all this hocus pocus about the chess pieces being scattered all over the world and hiring the likes of Father Williams was one big distraction to the location of the real pieces. And look where she’s hidden them? In the Chess City that once was thought to be a portal to Wonderland.” He snickers, eyes fixed on me. “You remember Wonderland, Alice, don’t you?”
“Hardly.”
“But you must remember it,” he says. “And if you don’t, trust me, I will remind you.”
“Let’s stop the talking. You got what you wanted. Release the world’s leaders and wake the cities that are sleeping. I have no intention of getting to know you better.”
“But you will know me better.” The Chessmaster places both hands behind his back and approaches me. “In fact, one day not so long ago, you knew me very well.”
“I don’t remember you.”
“But I will remind you of who I am, and what you have done to me.”
“So this is personal?” I shrug. “I hurt you when we were in Wonderland? Why would I regret hurting a monster like you?”
“You want to know why?” The Chessmaster’s breath is on my face. “Because I wasn’t a monster then. It was you who was a monster, Alice of Black Chess.”