Chapter 8 - The Castle

The castle was at the end of the city, it was huge and on higher level than the city, seems like it was built to avoid siege at a plateau, leaving the only entrance by the front gates, that were as big as the one at the city entrance... The guards there were different than the ones from the First Army, they used halberds and used metal armor, they opened path as soon as they saw the Knight Captain inside the carriage.

The castle was well built and its masonry was remarkable, Riou could only think that magic was involved in the process of its creation, its stonewalls were white and very high, and at the roof and pillar there were a steel blue color detailing the ambient, with shiny golden details all over the place, truly remarkable, the windows were full of colorful stained glass

They walked by many well decorated corridors before arriving which seemed to be a study room, full of books... the guard announced the Knight Captain of the First as well as the Magus... inside Riou could see a dark haired man with with some gray hair starting to appear on the side of his head, he had a well trimmed dark beard and his eyes were the same color... he had a thin golden crown on top of his head, and in the chair laid a purple mantle, he was siting down and leaning towards what seemed to be some sort of board, there were a younger handsome man on the opposite side of it, he was blond long hair, it was a golden yellow in color, past his shoulders and into his back, his eyes were green, he was wearing a well put outfit, white with golden strips which strike the viewer as very expensive and custom made for him.

The dark haired man stood up when he heard the announcement

- "Bhalrom, Maximilian... come in, I've waited long enough to hear from you..."

Both the Knight and Max entered the room, when Riou tried to step forward but the guard blocked his way... and was about to close the door when Maximilian noticed and quickly came to his rescue... allowing him to join the discussion...

Bhalrom was already talking to the king when Riou entered the room, - "Yes your highness, strange events happened at the forest, but for our luck none had an ulterior motive, as the Magus will be able to explain afterwards..."

The blond man, seemed to be around 23 years old, and looked incisively towards Riou... and without noticed interrupted everyone piercing his words through the room - "What is this commoner doing in the kings presence, inside the Study hall" He said disdainfully, Riou clearly could feel the contempt in his tone and thought it would be better to let Bhalrom and Max handle it

- "Apologies my Prince" answered Bhalrom - "I thought the king would like to see with his own eyes the boy that was found almost inside the Endher Forest..."

The king Eyes lit with interest, while Maximilian just listened.

- "You think too much Bhalrom, you should pay more attention from now one before bringing his kind inside the inner chambers of the castle, you will..." Before the prince could continue a strong commanding voice resounded in the room

- "Enough! Kasius, you are dismissed... leave..." Said the king...

Kasius slightly bowed towards the king and before leaving glanced towards Bhalrom and Riou, Riou could feel that the prince was very angry... and completely ignored Maximilian presence.

The king gave Bhalrom the signal to begin the report, the knight proceeded to explain everything that he investigated and the conclusion that Maximilian reached of the events and the boys origins....

It took a while but once he finished the king sat down near the board again... thinking... - "Very well Bhalrom, you must be tired, please go to your family and rest, we will talk again tomorrow morning", Bhalrom respectfully bowed to the king and opened the door to leave, as he was leaving he almost bumped into someone, he then looked and he saw a young woman, near its 18 years old, dressed with training outfit, she had a long and shiny blond hair, almost white, gracefully tied up on the back of the head probably to avoid getting in the way of her movements, she had a slender body and ported herself with elegance, having very appealing feminine attributes... her face was truly beautiful and gracious, her eyes were of a crystal blue color... Surprised by the presence in front of him, he bowed immediately when recognized who it was - "My apologies Princess..."

She elegantly gave a small bow to the knight and was about to continue when something caught her attention inside the study room, and looking between the open door and the knight she recognized Maximilian, he was her magic tutor a long time ago when she wanted to learn the arcane, she held him in high esteem as one of the best Mages of the world, and beside him, curiously she saw a boy perhaps 15 years old, on commoner clothes and brown messy hair moving around inadvertently, which she found very odd...

Once Bhalrom started to move again to leave she also moved... she left thinking what Maximilian was doing with that boy in the presence of her father... but the thought quickly vanished as she had other pressing matters to preoccupy her mind with.

The king was talking to Maximilian about what was discovered, and regarding the war waging in the south... Maximilian did not lie, there were indeed a war going on and Argus was advancing in the territory. Which preoccupied the king since his relationship with the elves and the Beast man were not the best one...

Riou was wandering through the room looking at the strange books and writing, while they talked, he reached the conclusion he was completely unable to read anything... and when he approached the board near the king was when he noticed that it was very similar to chess... curious he sat down and analyzed it with more care...

It was the same number of pieces, they looked differently but he could put their function together after a moment, and they looked like disposed the same way... he quickly assembled them to initial position to confirm...

How could chess exist in this world... sure it is a very old game... and he quickly devised 3 theories, one was that the game was brought here by someone of his world, which meant that could be someone from his world here as well... the second was that someone from here brought it to his world... which meant that a passage could be opened and someone already had crossed it... and lastly that the game could have been invented here as well, with the same rules... which would be a blunder... he needed to talk to Max about it later on...

The king was aware of the boys movement, and was intrigued when he saw him adjusting the pieces as he knew what he was doing... and got even more interested when he heard the question

- "Excuse me... this game here, how do you call it..."Said Riour without taking his eyes off the board...

- "Kings play, is the name of the game... do you know it by chance?" said the king looking directly to Maximilian with wide eyes and small smile. And before Max could intervene, Riou continued

- "Maybe... what are the rules you use for the pieces movements?"

The king was hooked, he showed Riou the rules they use to play, and he could clearly see the boy knew them all...

Riou recognized the movements and the rules, he had played a lot of games and Chess was certainly one of them...

The king noticed Maximilian was about to interrupt and signaled him to hold on...

- "Do you care for a game?" - Invited the king putting the pieces together...

- "Sure, its being a while since I played it, but I can give it a try..." Answered Riou...

Maximilian was apprehensive... but Riou was intrigued and lost in the thought of what meant the presence of Chess in this world...

Riou noticed after a few moves that the king have played a lot, but it lacked technique, he was able to estimate the kings ability to think 2 or 3 moves ahead only... while he could do much more than that... he then set a trap with a gambit "I will offer a sacrifice a piece to gain advantage, then in 2 moves it would result in a fork with the queen and the knight, which he would be forced to chose to save save the queen or the knight, he will go to save the queen thinking in continuing the attack to my left side... witch will expose his king, if he saves the queen he will loose in the next 3 moves... If he doesn't it will take about 6..." thought Riou while playing really fast against the King...

Putting his plan into action, the king danced in his palm, once he opted to save the queen Riou announced "Mate in 3 and played..." and looked to the kings reaction...

The king took a few minutes analyzing the board... Maximilian was silently watching... and after a while the king said...

- "I lost... well played young man..." said the king while looking surprised to Maximilian... - "You must be tired as well young man... we will continue tomorrow, you are invited to participate in the evening feast... Guard! Please escort this young man to the guest room , please provide him with food and new clothes, he is to attend the Feast tomorrow."

A guard went in and courteously asked Riou to follow him... When the boy left... the king signaled to Max to sit down in front of him...

- "Now old friend... do tell me, who did you said this boy was?" Spoke the inquisitive king clearly grasping that there were much more to the history... and his old friend was hiding something...

The problem lied with the fact, that "the kings play" was a game only the royalty could learn, it was said that the game improved intelligence and war tactics so the royalty everywhere played it since history could tell.. Kings even eventually played against each other when meeting with each other, and was a fun way to pass time as a good way to show tactical and mental superiority as well, it was considered a great shame to lose to a rival king if challenged to play.

Maximilian was silent for a while, thinking in how to defuse the situation...

- "Well Elrik... to be very honest I don't know much about the boy... but for the past few weeks I could observe and talk to him... he is a good kid, and wise beyond his years... perhaps he learned from someone in his past about the game, I truly was not aware he knew how to play..." Said the honest mage before leaning in and grinning at the King, then continuing

- "But once he sat down and arranged the pieces, right then I knew for sure he would win..." Laughed the Mage...

- "But where is he from? Whats his history?" - Asked the unbelieving king, Max was never to praise anyone who was not worthy, he knew the man, they were old friends and he trusted his friends intuition and actions... the boy must have truly amazed him for him to utter such words...

- "I'm afraid that I do not know yet, Riou seem to be from a far away land... he understand us and speaks through an elven necklace I gave him... he knows nothing of this land or its manners... but rest assured I intend to investigate and help the boy as much as I can" concluded the mage.

The king leaned back on his chair... pondering on the words of his old friend...

And as the night went on, Riou after eating, prepared to finally sleep on a real comfy bed... it was a long time since he felt that comfortable and intended to enjoy it as long as he could...