AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 25
“Ready?” Dad glances at me from behind his new hand of cards.
I want to say no, but instead I sit up straighter. “Bring it on.”
So, I lay the first card down, then another. He flips down two in a row. It becomes another frenzy, where I’m reacting more than actually thinking. Barely have time to process the cards and slam them down in time.
Finally, I discard my last one. He has two more in his hand. I think that means I won.
He lets go of his remaining cards, and they float to the table. “We have a winner!”
The crowd erupts into applause, and the noise is deafening. I want to collapse, but before I’m allowed even the luxury of imagining it, my dad moves over to another board game. It looks similar to chess. He explains the game of strategy, and it sounds far more complicated than chess—which I could handle. I’ve been in tournaments before and even won some of them. But this game makes the land game look like child’s play.
He offers me the first move, but I decline. I need to get a feel for this first, and the complicated rules he just laid out are swimming through my mind. He grabs a gold piece shaped like a trident and moves it in a u-shape around some of his other pieces. He glances at me, like it’s clearly my turn.
I grab for a piece shaped like a sea star, but Dad clears his throat. The expression in his eyes tells me no. Hopefully none of the cameras capture that, as I’m pretty sure that could be construed as cheating, even from the king. I reach for a sea urchin, and Dad relaxes his expression. I move it in a zigzag shape, pretty sure that’s what he said to do with those. We continue on, with him clearing his throat or shooting glares at me if I’m about to make a bad move. And he gets away with all of it since the large screens only show the board itself and there are no microphones on us.
Before long, I capture his coral piece. He gives me a look like he’s proud of me. I hope that means he knows what a ridiculous position I’m in. Forced to not only play but win four games in a row that I’ve never even heard of before today—in front of our whole kingdom.
Seriously crazy. Yet here I am.
The game starts to make more sense as we move along. He takes some of my pieces and I get some of his. It’s a heated back and forth, but he continues to throw me subtle clues for which I’m grateful. Any other opponent, and I’d be stuck out of luck.
Does that mean I don’t deserve to win?
Of course not. Sirena was deeply familiar with these intellectual games.
I glance over at my trident, surprised at the answer but also appreciative. No time to react, I have a game to win, and Dad has two more of my pieces than I have of his. He may be willing to help me, but he isn’t making it easy. Not by a long shot.
We carry on, and after what feels like forever, we’re both down to one piece. His is a merman and mine a shark. We move the pieces around the board, attacking and avoiding, but neither capturing the game-winning piece. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he actually wanted to win. Maybe he’s just trying to give Valora’s people a good game to watch. He hasn't given me any clues in a while. Perhaps this last leg is truly about skill. Either way, I’m going to have to give this my all if I want the win. It’s clear I’m going to have to earn it, which is the point of the trials anyway.
The back and forth goes on until my eyelids start growing heavy. Until I’d rather sleep than keep going. I don’t care about Queen Sirena’s powers or these trials.
Yet here I am, and not even one-third of the way through. Almost, but it feels lightyears away at this point. Dad and I dart the pieces around the board for what has to be at least a hundred moves. Probably more. It won’t surprise me if he calls a draw and we have to start over again.
Do the zig-zag move on him now.
I give my weapon a double-take before turning my attention to the board. And it’s a brilliant move. It’ll block him from any of his power moves, then I can take him after that. I do the move, and Dad gasps.
“Didn’t even see that. Good work.”
If only I could take the credit, but there isn’t any rule against working with my trident. In fact, it’s expected, and I’m pretty sure that was how Queen Sirena did it—at least in part.
You’d better believe it.
Dad moves his piece diagonally one space. I swoop in with my shark and take his last piece.
The crowd erupts louder than before, and Dad pulls me into a hug, squeezing me tightly. When the noise subsides, he congratulates me for passing the first of the three trials. “Now it’s time for a break. I think we’re all ready to stretch our tails. We will return in thirty minutes for the second trial. One that will be even more intense than this first one.”
Dad escorts me to my dressing room. I hope I’m allowed to come back before the third trial. It’s the only way I’ll be able to pull off my plan not to kill him at the end of the third trial. But I don't have time to think about that yet.
I have the second trial to get through first. However, before that I want a nap. I rest my trident against the wall, collapse onto the couch, and give in to my heavy eyelids. Sleep quickly takes over, and I’m inundated with images of game pieces and playing cards dancing around a fire-breathing sea dragon. Even in my dreams I’m aware that a sea creature wouldn’t be able to produce flames, but that doesn’t make the image any less scary.
“Time for your next trial.” Dad’s voice breaks through the wild images.
I force my eyes open. “I thought I had a half an hour break.”
“You did.” He squeezes my shoulder.
