The Chess Masters : A Fantasy Novel by Robert Blaine

Author:Robert Blaine [Blaine, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Blue light clawed through Richard’s burning eyelids. The ceiling flickered with the marble-like reflection of water.

Huh? His head throbbed with pain as reality struck him. He could not move. He was bound to a chair by thick ropes. And, in the corner of his eyes, a monstrous black tiger was crouching towards him, a hypnotic maze of white stripes winding about its face.

“Dammit!” Richard nearly exploded from his seat, but the ropes were too strong.

Baring its sharp fangs, the smoky tiger took one more soundless step toward his chair.

“Leave him alone, Nero,” a woman’s husky voice ordered, and the wildcat retreated into the shadows.

Richard was inside a dark cave, only a ray of sunlight sneaking through the ceiling, where long stalactites dripped like melting wax. Beside him, a lake shimmered in the darkness, blue light reflecting off the walls. Behind him lurked a population of little clay monuments like swords jutting from the ground. Or like tombstones.

This must be . . .

Richard tensed.

Yes, Sandsword. His forehead broke out in sweat. This was the same notorious cave in which a pregnant Dark Pawn and her husband were slain some years ago—the same cave where tensions between Light and Dark all began.

Richard’s ears rang in the silence as a mesmerizing shape crept closer, shadows curving against the wall. The shaft of light from the ceiling illuminated a woman’s figure…

Richard’s stomach sank.

The Dark Queen’s face appeared beneath a sharp tiara. Her pale skin gleamed like a full moon, her red lips like blood. Her piercing, predatory eyes glinted beneath their lids.

“Perfect,” Richard snarled.

“Why, thank you,” the Queen said with a seductive blush. “I assure you, it’s the dim lighting.”

“Why am I here?” Richard demanded.

“Alive, you mean?”

“What do you want!”

“To begin with,” Ava’s voice sliced through the air, “I want you to lower your voice when addressing a Queen, or I’ll give you something to scream about.”

Richard gritted his teeth.

“Now,” she continued, “if you’re finished pretending to have the upper hand, I want to ask you a few questions—whether you object or not.”

Her dark cloak swept the ground as she turned her back. In another life, Richard would have admired her sensual poise and her graceful, feline walk. But certainly not now.

The Dark Queen knelt and picked up a longsword from the ground, then turned it in her hands, examining the blade. Was that his own sword?

“Why, Sir Valgan, did you not retreat with your comrades?” she began, her voice laced with an insulting, child-like curiosity. “Even your commander fled. Why did you remain to fight me?”

Richard’s mouth tightened. She knew his name but she’d get no words out of him.

“Did you hope to become a hero for killing a Queen, perhaps?”

Richard scowled. “What do you want?”

“I want you to become a Knight for the Dark Kingdom.”

Silence echoed in the cave. Richard almost laughed. But the Queen’s eyes were not jesting. Neither was her black tiger that stretched in a corner, its long scapula curving, its claws extending like daggers.

The longer Richard gazed at her, the more appalled he became.

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