Queen's Gambit Novels & Stories

She was not going to answer Aislen’s questions, Aislen thought ruefully. “White moves. Qh5.” The woman reached out and as she moved her piece, Aislen thought that she saw Verina’s face appear on the King. The white queen briefly wore Meguitte’s face, Talen’s appeared on a black castle, and Rhett’s on the black knight. Aislen’s face was on the black Queen and then gone. The appearance of people she knew on the pieces seemed significant. “Is this a metaphor?” She asked the woman. “If it is, I don’t understand it.”

I clenched my fists tightly and met her eyes. She smirked at me. "I, Gardenia, she wolf of the North challenge you to a duel. Winner becomes queen" I couldn't possibly win against her. She was stronger, faster and trained. I had never fought anybody, I had no experience whatsoever. But rejecting it would make me look weak. She smirked at me. If I accepted, she had a high chance of winning and if I declined, I was admitting my weakness. I looked up and saw a familiar silhouette at a window in the castle.

If the magician was the leader, everything they faced was most likely a decoy. How dangerous! Falling into a pensive silence, Zen and Sir Rowan stared at the ridiculously crowded chessboard. Was there even a way to win this? The magician was represented by the Queen piece. Although there was only one Queen on the board, it was ridiculously powerful. They didn’t have many pieces at their disposal and only made it this far using cheap tricks and Zen’s resourcefulness. Even if the old knight managed to get back up from the capital, there was no telling how high the death toll would be.

I walked in and found him waiting—black coat, silver hair, a chessboard set up on the altar. “Alessia,” he said. “Or should I say… daughter of the blood war.” I didn’t say anything—not yet. He pointed to the board. Two pieces stood side by side. A Queen. A Bishop. “I’ll give you a choice,” Viktor said, grinning like the devil he was. “One piece walks out. One piece burns.” I narrowed my eyes. “What do they represent?” He shrugged. “That’s for you to decide. But if you choose wrong… the next piece off the board is Luca.”

Today, she shattered that idea of her. Takota is the first to break the silence, clapping as she walks towards Morrigan. Hesitantly, the other warriors start clapping as well, and they’re quickly spurred on by the Gamma family. Morrigan searches for yellow eyes in the crowd, but she can’t find any. Even as Takota declares her the winner, and therefore the best female warrior in the pack, she can’t help but notice a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. - - - - -

"I don't want to fight. Just let us leave." But Catherine wasn't finished. Her fingers, curved like talons, reached for me again. "Oh, you think you can just slink away after trying to steal my husband? You owe me an explanation!" I stumbled backward, trying to avoid her grasp. Suddenly, she threw herself to the ground with a dramatic cry, clutching her stomach. "Caleb! She pushed me! She's trying to kill our baby! She wants me to lose it!"

How stupid can this servants be? Dev lowered her head, her body shaking with fright. She then cupped her trembling hands and blurted out the truth. “My Lord, The Queen only took a bite on the bun and suddenly collapsed. She…she would be better after a while…” She said in a shaky voice. The sweat poured out like a stream of fear, trickling down her cheeks as the throat suddenly became sparse. Dev gulped down, trying to pull herself back to her original composure. “What?!”

ch Time: 14/02/1999 23:59 Status: Delayed delivery - 25 years “Impossible,” she whispered. But in this game, even the impossible is possible. Because as the old saying goes: In chess, the queen is the most powerful piece. But only a grandmaster knows when to sacrifice her.

“Like Graham.” My jaw tightened. He moved a white knight next. “Knights are trickier. They don’t move in straight lines, they leap. They’re unexpected and dangerous like me.” He smiled, I didn’t. He moved a black queen forward. “And this,” he said, “is you.” I looked at him then. “You don’t see it, do you?” he asked. “The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. She moves in any direction. It could be straight lines, or diagonals. She can sweep the board clean if she wants.”

Ruby mused moving her bishop inside her mother's territory which was easily decimated by the knight. "Thread carefully from here on my child. Your pieces are in a critical position." Althreya warned. A contemplative scowl decorated the maiden's usually gentle features. Her hands feel cold even though the sun is burning high while she can't stop perspiring due to the heat but more so on the critical position her pieces are in while her mother has a calm bearing but Ruby cannot help but notice the slight curve of her lips like she has already won. The young maiden gritted her teeth before moving her red knight to eat her mother's blue bishop which in turn was decimated by the blue queen.