The Prince of Korin by Melody J. Bremen

Author:Melody J. Bremen
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: young adult fantasy
ISBN: 9781974331376
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2017-11-22T12:38:43.100200+00:00

Chapter 12

When my mind was tired and sagging with information, I decided it was time for a change of scenery. I took the chess set and went down to the king’s study. The torches on the walls were not lit. The fireplace lay cold. I put the chess box on the king’s desk and lit the torches with a light from the hallway.

The room had been cleaned up, but I still felt a chill when I looked at the sofa where the king died. I tore my gaze away.

I pulled up a chair next to the desk and set up the game, just as I had done for so many nights over the last few years. I could almost hear his voice. “I’ll be with you in just a moment, Endomer.”

I moved the pieces mindlessly, playing both sides of the game. All the facts I’d read tumbled and jangled in my head. All I had were questions and doubts, no answers. How was I going to win the war?

One needed strategy to win a war. Like chess.

I shoved the pieces off the board in a swift movement and they clattered and rolled on the desk. I scrubbed my face with my hands. How could someone be so good at chess but no good at strategizing a war? And how could Krollis – who hated chess and thought it best used as a form of torture – loved talking about battles and wars and how they were won and how brilliant that this general did this thing and that general did that?

The real question was, where was he? He must’ve heard about the war by now. He said he wanted to run the army, so why wasn’t he here, doing just that?

Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he was dead.

Well, of course he wasn’t. People like Krollis don’t know how to die.

I stood up. Slowly, I walked around the desk and sat down in the king’s chair. I leaned back and tried to see the room from his perspective. Nothing had changed since he died. The sofas by the fireplace, the neat bookshelves, the small portrait of the queen at the edge of the desk. It was like everything had frozen in time. I gazed across at the fireplace and the sofa, then at the window… the window where the vizzens had entered.

I fiddled with one of the pawns. Hoping Krollis would return accomplished nothing. I was the one in the palace. I had to fight this war my way, because it was the only way I knew. It was like a big riddle. I was good at riddles.

There was a light knock on the door.

“Enter.”

Hap poked his head around the door. “My lord, there’s a messenger here from the front lines.”

“Send him in.”

A knight marched in with his helmet tucked under his arm. His hair was slicked down with sweat. He bowed. “A message for His Highness.” He held out a limp, wrinkled slip of parchment.

I took it from him and unfolded it.

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