~Chapter Eight: Молодец – Maladets~
Shortly after returning to my room after helping Hors clean the dishes, there is a knock on my door. Since I know Perun has not returned yet – unless he teleported into the house, which I do not think is possible even for him – it must be Hors, though it is a bit early for his daily Bother-Veles time. However, instead of requesting access to my room, he asks, "Do you want to play a game?"
Were it anyone else, I would assume they were messing with me by asking that, but, after spending almost two weeks in his presence, it has become pretty clear that Hors does not understand many movie references, especially not from thrillers. Or, at least, he pretends he does not. With all the reading he does, it is hard to believe that Hors has not heard of at least half of the things he acts ignorant about.
Not that I have really mentioned all that many to him.
I consider turning Hors' offer down on principle, but I honestly have no good excuse for why...not that I need one. Still, I can think of more reasons for accepting than refusing. For one, outside reading books, there is nothing to do here. So far, the only exciting parts of my day involve me eavesdropping on semi-interesting conversations or eating meals. The books Hors gives me are either meant for children or mythology books that just talk about gods I already know personally. While the children's books are at least somewhat entertaining, there are only so many times I can read about a giant red dog before I start to feel pathetic.
Hors may seem like the neutral one, but he is worse than Perun when it comes to mind games.
"Fine," I accept, despite my better judgment. "What game?"
The sun god seems to take this as an invitation, since he opens my door with a flare of magic that makes the door momentarily glow and walks in, carrying a stack of board games under each arm. There are a couple games that are not worth playing with just two people – Clue and, to my surprise, Candy Land – but he also has a chess board, Battleship, Stratego, and Guess Who?. While one of the games looks semi-new, the others appear to be very old versions, which suggest Hors does not go game shopping frequently. However, they are still pretty new compared to what I was expecting, which would have been the original Tafl games or Senet.
I suppose appreciation of traditional foods does not translate to only playing old games.
He sets them on my bed before gesturing towards them while looking at me expectantly. Seeing as chess is a game I know quite well, I am tempted to choose that one, but I also have not played in years, so I may be behind on the rules. And neither of the games that should be played with more than two people are really options in my opinion, so I end up selecting Battleship.
Five minutes later, we are both seated on my bed, the plastic boards with their ships between us. "D-five," Hors says, sounding monotone despite the eager concentration on his face.
"Miss," I reply, taking enjoyment in the little minute frown that says he was clearly expecting to hit one that time. "D-nine."
Hors, either too into the game to notice or simply unconcerned about keeping up his indifferent mask at the moment, scowls. "Hit," he practically growls. "A-five."
I take great joy in saying, "Miss. E-nine."
The sun god glares at me. "Hit. I-one."
Now it is my turn to frown. "Hit," I grumble, annoyed now that it is his turn to be smug. At least it is only my small boat. "F-nine."
While Hors does not look very happy, since I am still probably close to sinking his boat, he smirks a little when he says, "Miss. J-one."
"Hit," I reply, grimacing. "You sunk the small boat. C-nine."
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.
Focus!
In the end, though, it hardly matters. Perhaps Hors would rather be spending time with his boyfriend or perhaps he was planning this all along and Perun's return was merely the distraction he needed, but I only make it two more turns before I end up in checkmate. And, even though I had known the entire time that I was slowly being backed into a literal corner, I had been unable to do anything about it.
That sums up my life almost too perfectly.
"Do you want to help me with lunch?" Hors asks as he puts his pieces back in the box. I glance at Perun, who is still lingering in the doorway and watching us with too much interest to make me comfortable with the idea, so I shake my head. Hors accepts this without a fight, as he has done every other time I have turned down his offer to help with the meals. If he was going to threaten to withhold food over it, he likely would have done it by now. "It should be ready in forty minutes."
With that said, he picks up all the games easily and walks past Perun, who takes a couple of the games off his hands without prompting. However, instead of immediately trailing after Hors – I had originally thought he just liked to possessively hover around Hors, but now I have to wonder if he is more of an obedient dog than a watchful lover – Perun lingers in the doorway for a moment, something unfamiliar about his expression. I open my mouth to tell him how much I really do not want him here, though perhaps not in those words, but he just nods, either to me or his own thoughts, and shuts the door. In the silence following the sound of the door closing, I can hear him reaching the bottom of the steps.
Something starts to stir in my stomach, but, rather than dwelling on it to try to figure out what is causing it, I pick up the book on my bedside table – Timur I yevo komanda – and pretend like it was not meant for young children.
- - - - - - -
The next morning, though, I can no longer ignore the feeling because I know something is wrong. Or perhaps something has finally gone right.
At first, the feeling had been too faint for me to catch onto what it meant and I had merely brushed it off as an emotional response rather than a magical one. Now, though, I can feel it. While it is not a very prominent feeling, as I am still magically weak from the revival, my magic is slowly trickling back.
Unfortunately, though, at this rate, my magic will not have recovered enough for me to do anything with it for at least a few days. Right now, I would, at most, be able to assume my godly form, but that would be a waste of my magic and then I would be stuck in that form until enough of my magic comes back for me to switch back. And if I want to avoid Perun and Hors realizing my magic is returning, messing around because I can would be the opposite of a good idea.
Oddly enough, a quick glance at the pocket watch shows that my death date has only changed by a few seconds from what it was last time I checked. Either my magic is not going to return as fast as it normally does or I will successfully escape after I regain enough of it to leave the wards and teleport away...which might be a little while. A few days, at-
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Flinching in surprise at the knock on my door, I sit up just as it opens and Hors walks in. The sun god's eyes narrow when he sees that I am in my bed, though it only makes sense when I glance at the clock – a recent addition to my room –and realize that I should have already gathered my clothes by now. It is two minutes past my normal bathing time.
"Fuck," I hiss under my breath, hoping my unintentional show of laziness does not seem suspicious enough for Hors to ask questions. However, when I look back at the advancing god, I quickly realize that questions are not what he has in mind; he likely has just assumed that I have gone back to 'misbehaving'. "Wait, wait, wait!"
Hors stops within reach, arms crossed. However, he does not look anger, merely indifferent with a hint of curiosity. "Yes?"
"I didn't realize the time; let me get my stuff and I'll walk," I practically plead. I am not above begging when the only other option is being carried out of my room like a naughty child. Begging hurts my pride far less than that.
The sun god sighs, but his mouth is twitching a little at the ends, which means he is definitely not angry with me. "You are free to use the bath or shower any time before breakfast," he informs me, and then walks out of my room. I pause with the sheets half pulled away from my body.
Is that his way of saying I no longer need an escort?
Even after gathering my clothes, I wait a minute to make sure Hors is not going to reappear. However, when there are no footsteps on the stairs, I take that as the sign it probably is and head down to the downstairs bathroom. Perun is, unfortunately, lounging on the bed with a book when I pass through their bedroom, but he does not look confused by Hors' absence. Instead, he greets me with a nod and a smile that I do not return before focusing on his book once more.
Two minutes later, I am soaking in the bath – while I miss showers, baths are more relaxing – and trying to summon up what little magic I have to see how far it has come. It was hardly even noticeable yesterday, so that certainly means it is coming back and that I will soon be able to use it without trying so hard...not that I will, with Perun and Hors watching me so closely.
With a little concentration, I manage to bend the water flowing into the bathtub from the faucet, making it hover for the barest of seconds, before I let the magic go, the drain on my power already apparent. Sighing, I sink a bit further into the water, leaving only my nose just above the surface.
This is going to take longer than I thought.
[AN: Posting this a bit early because I can. Title meaning: Well played. Since there's been a lot of dark content lately, Veles needed some fluffy, happier times. The plot is only going to get heavier from here, though. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week!]
Translation: TimurI yevo komanda – Timur and His Squad. (It's an older Russian children's book written by Arkady Gaidar.)