The Scared God [ManXManXMan]

Chapter Eight: Молодец - Maladets

As the first one to sink a boat, Hors is understandable pleased, but that does not mean I am happy about it. "Hit. A-three."

And so the game goes. I sink his four-hit boat one turn later, and then he sinks my largest boat in retaliation seven turns later while I am still searching for any of his other boats. We continue to trade off boat kills until it comes down to us both having only a single three-hit boat left, and I happen to have already found where his is two turns ago.

"C-"

Hors narrows his eyes down at his board. "Don't you dare sink my boat."

"-three."

The sun god glares at me as he sticks the final red pin in his remaining boat. I merely smirk at him, pleased by my win. He eyes me for a moment, looking worryingly thoughtful despite the frustration he had been sporting a moment ago. Was that an act?

After a moment, he asks, "Best two out of three?"

- - - - - - -

It seems I was correct in guessing that it was all an act. The moment the second game started, it became painfully obvious that every hesitation or pause during the first game was nothing more than a ruse to lull me in. Where he randomly found my boats before, he entered the game with a plan the second time. By the time I finished off his first boat, he had already weeded out and destroyed all of mine.

The third game went much the same way, though I certainly tried harder and even employed a strategy of my own, leading to me making it to his fourth boat by the time he finished off my final one. Had he used different methods, I might have actually been angry about it. However, Hors seems to be fonder of trickery than the legends about my pantheon led me to believe. I can respect him for that, as I am the god of trickery.

That does not mean I am happy about it, though.

Since lunch will not be for another hour, we end up moving on to a game of chess instead of ending the games with his win. I am not quite sure why I agreed to continue playing games with him – though boredom might play a large part in my decision – but it is still an amusing way to pass the time, even if Hors frustrates me a great deal with his apparent inability to lose unless he actually wants to. Unfortunately, though, it is because I am so set on beating Hors without his infernal occasional fake loss that I fail to pay attention to our surroundings.

"Have you beat Hors yet?"

The question does not come from my opponent, who does not even look up when the voice speaks up from behind him. Unlike me, Hors likely heard Perun return home – or felt him come through the wards, at least – and knew he would seek one of us out. I, like a fool, though, allowed my guard to drop and I nearly end up upending the chessboard with my knee when I flinch in surprise.

Looking up from the board, I glare at the unwelcome visitor. "Fuck off," I snap, unable to come up with a better comeback, because, while my heart is racing, my thoughts are not.

Hors glances at me with raised eyebrows before looking over his shoulder at Perun. From where I am sitting, I cannot read his face, but, since Perun is offering him a small smile, I doubt it was anything I would care to see. "You are back early," the sun god comments, returning his attention to the board to make his move, which unfortunately puts him only one square away from putting me in check with his pawn.

I quickly counter with a plan I had already thought out in the event that he did move there, but my brain stalls afterwards, not allowing me to plan ahead while Perun is still standing in the doorway, quietly watching. While he makes no attempt to actually enter the room, which suggests he is probably waiting for an invitation – one that will never come – like he has been for the last week, it still puts me on edge to have him there. It is tempting to tell him to leave again, but I doubt it would actually work, and my anger over his refusal to go would just make me too distracted to win.