On The Edge of a Blade

Chapter 14.2

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    James spent the day secluded in his room, too tired to be awake but too troubled to fall asleep. The sound of betrayal mixed with desperate hope played in his memory like a broken record, turning him sour and conflicted. Moping about like a sullen child, he kept his door locked and his lips shut tight, only opened his door once around noon to retrieve a tray of food left by a servant. Even then, he said nothing and ate little before resigning himself back to his dismal musing.

Once the sun started to set and become less intense, James pushed his window all the way open and pushed his curtains back as far as they would go, allowing air to flow into the room. It immediately snuffed out the candle he had lit, but he didn’t bother to try and set light to it once more; the wind would just foil his attempts as soon as he nurtured the flame into existence.

As the light in the room receded into darkness, James pulled his chair out from under the desk and dragged it closer to the window. With the black king in his hand, he sat down and continued to brood, enjoying the feeling of the wind tousling his hair. Its warmth helped to make him drowsy, and his eyelids began to drop. After a long day and a long night of restlessness, he embraced the feeling of peace descending upon him.

He could easily have fallen asleep. The chair softened as his mind wandered, and his internal debate seemed to become less burdensome as sleep become more attainable. When dreams began to merge with reality, life can start to look like nothing more than a game. For James, that game always ended up being chess.

He didn’t know whether he was a king, a figure of great power that has a crippling weakness, or a pawn, an easily overlooked piece which nonetheless held the ability to turn the tide of a game. Did someone else decide which he was, or did he hold the power of choosing which he could be? While fully awake, it was clear to him that it was better to be a king, and yet he was stuck as a pawn; while approaching unconsciousness, however, the line between king and pawn seemed very thin and insubstantial.

It was all about ascendence. Even though a pawn was the most basic of all chess pieces, at least it had nowhere to go but up! Other people might perceive it to be unlikely, but James held on to the faith that, in time, a pawn could become a king.

With these thoughts racing through his mind, James came closer and closer to the blessed release of sleep. Unfortunately for him, it simply wasn’t to be. Just as his grip upon the chess piece was becoming slack, James heard the sound of voices drift in through the open window. He wrinkled his nose at the disturbance and opened his eyes once more, irritation flashing on his face like lightning. He wasn’t invested enough to investigate, but that didn’t stop curiosity from tickling at the back of his mind like an itch.

For better or for worse, he wasn’t left wondering for long. Right as he was starting to relax again, the heavy gasps of someone under exertion began to grow in volume and proximity, followed by a heavy thunk and a grunt. With bewildered astonishment, James watched as someone clambered in through his window and fell to the floor with as much grace as a sack of potatoes.

Stunned into silence, James could do nothing but stare. The body on the floor was gasping for breath and shaking, sprawled out face-down without bothering to stir from its landing position. They both stayed there for a seemingly endless period of time before either of them moved.

Finally, finally, the tension was broken by James’s unexpectedly loud exclamation. “What the hell?”

The intruder went from composed--if winded--to alarmed in a second flat, jumping up like a spring. As soon as she was on her feet, however, she had to sink back to her knees. Her legs were visibly wobbling, a mixture of strained muscles and shaking nerves weakening her. Upon looking at James, a bit of the shock melted away, leaving behind irritation and perhaps a drop of concern. “Bloody bones, of all the rooms . . . .”