A Collection of Short Stories

The Power Game

The King stood tall and mighty among his subjects, head held proudly as he faced the opposing king defiantly. He felt all powerful, his faithful queen by his side and all of his men prepared to die for him. He knew they would win this fight. He just knew it.

"Attack!" He cried, and a wave of cheers arose from his men as they waved their weapons over their heads.

One by one his men surged forward to clash with the enemy, some leaping easily through the enemies lines and others coming to a standstill as they met heavy opposition. First his foot soldiers were engaged, shoving and heaving as they used brute strength to push their way through. Then followed his courageous knights upon their horses, darting around in untraceable routes. Soon the king himself was engaged, moving constantly to avoid enemy soldiers. He knew he couldn't risk being attacked. The battle would be lost without it's leader.

He could see the enemy king doing the same, darting around to avoid being attacked, hiding behind his own men. The King knew they had to get to the other king to win, but he was defending himself too well, cutting down his men or successfully defending himself. Besides, the King had to concentrate on keeping himself alive. They couldn't win unless they secured the other king, but they could lose if he died.

He could see his men fighting furiously around him, cutting down the enemy before they were cut down themselves. His queen was zipping across the field, moving too fast to be caught. The bodies of the dead were quickly pushed to the side as the soldiers kept moving around, never staying in one spot too long. There were pitifully few men now, so many having already been killed. The King felt remorse at their sacrifice, but he didn't let it show. The leader must remain strong at all times so his men could take heart from his example.

Suddenly, he saw a knight moving towards him, about to land right upon him. He deftly stepped to the side, avoiding the threat, but finding himself right in the way of another, a bishop lining him up. He prepared himself to step away again when his queen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and cut down the bishop, taking his place as his body was carried away.

She smiled at him as a hidden foot soldier suddenly loomed up behind her, aimed to strike.

"NO!" He screamed, but he was too frozen to move as the blade sunk into her back and she fell, instantly replaced by the enemy soldier.

The King felt rage overcome him and he surveyed the battlefield, searching for an enemy to attack. But all he saw was the last of his men being felled until only enemies remained. Knowing it was all up to him, he desperately tried to charge at a nearby knight, knowing that he had the advantages at close quarters. He was within 2 steps of the enemy when he felt a presence loom up behind him. He turned in time to see a sword flash towards him, it's silver-

"I won! I won!" Yelled Ben, jumping out of his seat in ecstasy. "I beat you! Ha! I knew I was the best! I am the MASTER!"

Jared sat glumly and glared at the chess set in front of him, all of his players lined up on the outside with his king lying on it's side in the middle.

"I hate chess," he mumbled, ignoring his friend's crowing.

~~~~~~~~~~~

This was a mini assignment for the topic of authority and I didn't get many marks because I didn't "fulfill the requirements of the theme". I don't mind though as I only wrote this one rather than a better one to prove my teacher wrong. She was holding up pictures on authority then we had to hand her as part of another mini assignment and she was saying that we had to write a story that had something about authority and we could use the pictures as inspiration. One of the pictures she held up was a chessboard and when she saw it she said "well you can't write something engaging about chess" then threw it out.

So I proved her wrong 😊