by Pirateaba
“Look, Mistress Krshia, I’m just investigating—”
“I heard.”
Krisha sniffed and glanced down the street. Lism, the shopkeeper ducked back into his stall as she glared in his direction.
“Lism, the sheddings that he is talks too much and lies when he knows nothing. Someone broke into his stall, but he saw nothing, heard nothing. But he claims it was a girl who bested him out of spite. And you would bother her without evidence?”
“That’s not—I’m just doing my job.”
“Well then, if you have a reason, find Erin Solstice and ask her then. But until that time, you will leave an innocent human alone, yes?”
“I—”
The guardsman was torn between duty and not wanting to deal with anything remotely approaching the trouble written on Krshia’s face. He hesitated, and then decided as several Gnolls casually walked out of the crowd and joined Krshia. They stood behind her and Erin, not looming but certainly projecting an aura.
“I believe I’ll continue my investigations into the break-in separately. Ah, I will contact Miss Solstice if anything comes up.”
Krshia smiled coldly.
“Yes, that is wise.”
“Well then.”
The guardsman backed off fast. Erin blinked, still confused by what had just happened. The entire moment—well she was grateful for Krshia obviously—but it struck her as slightly wrong that the local law enforcement would back down to a bunch of civilians.
Then again, when the civilians in question were Gnolls, Erin could see why. Even at their best, they did give off a much more…bestial feel than the Drakes. It wasn’t that Erin expected them to lose their tempers, but she also wouldn’t be too surprised if they did. That kind of feeling.
Krshia smiled down at Erin as the other Gnolls around her muttered or barked to her. She growled something back to them and they walked back into the flow of the crowd.
“Erin Solstice. I have been looking for you. And it is good that I found you just now, yes?”
“Yes. Thanks for that, Krshia. I didn’t know what to do and that shopkeeper guy—”
Krshia narrowed her eyes and snorted.
“Lism. He causes trouble, yes? Even though you bested him fairly, and his nephew is most admiring of you. But enough—I will make sure he causes no trouble. I wish to speak with you.”
“Um, okay? About what? The thief?”
Krshia flicked her fingers.
“Pshaw. It is a cowardly thing that hides and steals from us on Market Street and elsewhere. No one knows if it is human or another. No, I do not worry about such a thief. I wish to speak with you privately. I invite you to my home for food and drink.”
Again, Erin hesitated. She was grateful but—
“Um, does it have to be now? I’m really beat Krshia. I could use a nap—”
“I have a bed in my home too. You may use of it and rest if you wish. Come.”
Gnolls were pushy. Or maybe it was just Krshia. But Erin found herself being dragged down the street before she quite knew what was happening.
“Look, I’m grateful, really, but this isn’t a good time. I just had to deal with some evil spiders and—”
“Erin!”
Krshia ignored Erin and the person calling her name. She marched through the crowd at speed.
“If we wait for a good time, we will never have time. Come, my home is not far.”
“Erin! Erin Solstice!”
Krshia visibly sighed and her ears twitched as the mysterious name-caller drew closer. She halted in the street and Erin finally managed to extract her hand from the Gnoll’s huge hand. She turned and saw another Drake heading her way.
“Olesm?”
The smaller, younger Drake stopped in front of Erin and Krshia, panting. He was clutching a piece of parchment in his hand and a quill and inkpot of all things. For a second Erin was struck by the sheer inconvenience of not having pens in this world, but then Olesm shoved the paper into her face.
“Take a look at this Erin! I just received this and it’s the most fascinating thing ever! A new way to play chess!”
Erin blinked, but then the paper disappeared as Krshia gently but firmly pulled Olesm away.
“Most interesting, but Erin Solstice is busy. I will talk with her, and you will find her later, yes?”
She wanted to pull Erin away, but to the Gnoll’s dismay Erin was already standing next to Olesm.
“What was that about a new way to play chess?”
This time Krshia groaned, but Erin was already staring at the piece of paper Olesm was eagerly waving about. She tried one last attempt.
“There is time to play such games later, yes? Erin—”
But by that point Erin and Olesm were already engrossed. Krshia’s ears twitched again, but there was nothing she could do.
“Just look at this, Erin!”
“I will if you stop moving. What is it?”
Erin snatched the paper from Olesm’s claw and stared at it. Well, it was a piece of paper. And on that paper was an inked…illustration? Erin frowned, but then she got it. It was chess. Someone had drawn a chess board on the piece of paper.
She stared down at a picture – or rather, a drawing of a chess board. Someone had taken the time to draw out the grid, and then illustrate – in quite fine detail – each piece on the imaginary board. She stared down at a white king piece, a queen piece in the corner, a knight and a pawn a caught in the middle of a game against two black pawn pieces, two rooks, and naturally, a king piece hiding in behind the pawns in the upper left-hand corner.
Olesm hovered over Erin’s shoulder, chattering into her ear.
“I just received a long-distance delivery that went out to all the known [Tacticians] and chess players in the continent! It was this paper—and it’s a challenge, see? You have to—”
“Solve it in five moves?”
“How’d you know?”
Olesm stared at Erin. She pointed.
“It’s written right here. And white moves first.”
“Yes, isn’t it amazing? I would never have thought of that—but someone’s come up with a way to play chess across long distances without a spell! But this isn’t a game at all—”
“Oh, I know. It’s a chess puzzle.”
Olesm visibly deflated.
“You know what it is? But of course—how silly of me.”
Krshia walked over to stare at the chess boards. She squinted down at the paper and frowned at the pieces.
“I fail to understand this—puzzle. Why has someone sent it to you, Olesm?”
“It’s more like a challenge to anyone.”
Erin explained absently as she stared at the chess pieces.
“It’s a challenge or a problem for players. You have to find a way to win the game in a certain number of moves. It helps people learn to play chess, and this way you can write it down.”
Olesm nodded eagerly. He pointed to the paper.
“In this case the solution is to checkmate the black king, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. I imagine most of the players across the continent are trying to figure it out. It might take some time, but I hope to be one of the first to figure—”
Erin was still staring at the paper. She blinked, frowned, and then snapped her fingers. Both Krshia and Olesm jumped.
“Hm~! Got it!”
Erin smiled and flicked the chess puzzle with one hand.
“Done, and done!”
“What?”
Olesm froze and stared at Erin. She grinned at him.
“You—you finished it? Just like that?”
“Yep. It wasn’t too bad a problem. But I’ve seen several like it so…”
Krshia glanced sympathetically at Olesm. The poor Drake stared at Erin and then down at the chess puzzle.
“—I would deeply love to know how you solved it so quickly. But I should—yes, I should solve it on my own. Shouldn’t I?”
He looked longingly at th
e piece of parchment Erin was holding. She grinned and folded it up.
“You should. It will help you in the long run. Don’t feel bad—I just happened to know how that particular problem goes. But it was quite fun.”
“Fun.”
Olesm repeated the word. He looked down at the paper.
“I’ve been wrestling with this problem for an hour. But—of course with someone of your level I shouldn’t expect this to faze you. Of course.”
“Do you have any more?”
Olesm shook his head. He accepted the piece of parchment back from Erin.
“This was the first—I mean, I suppose we might expect more of the same in the future, wouldn’t we? This puzzle was sent to countless cities, so whoever designed it clearly wants to reach a large audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept it up.”
Erin nodded.
“Oh, you mean sort of like a magazine, right? Or a newspaper?”
“A what?”
Both Krshia and Olesm looked at Erin blankly. She tried to explain. Olesm nodded his head uncertainly.
“Yes—yes, that sounds about right.”
“I’m just surprised. I thought sending stuff was supposed to be costly.”
Olesm shook his head.
“It’s not that expensive, especially if you sent it with the slower deliveries.”
“Slower deliveries…?”
The Drake nodded. He gestured to the parchment in his hand.
“This was sent along with a bundle of other letters in a caravan from the north. It probably came across the sea, but it wasn’t delivered by a Runner. You see, Runners deliver things quickly, but merchants and caravans and even ship captains will pass on long-distance deliveries for a very small fee.”
Erin frowned. She sort of got it. It was like snail mail by boat versus sending stuff by plane. But part of the process still confused her.
“How does that work if you trade the letter more than once? Do you pay the first guy a lot and have him give the money to the next person? That sounds risky.”
Olesm scratched at his scales as he tried to explain.
“It’s more like—well, I suppose you could call the letters a form of currency. Travelers will buy them for a few coins and complete the delivery in hopes of earning more when they sell them later or deliver them to their owner.”
“Oh. So it’s sort of a gamble.”
“Exactly, but it’s fairly certain that the letter will get to your destination in the end. Of course, sending something private is a bad idea, but you can send a message to another continent for only a copper coin or two. It might take a month or two but it will get there.”
Erin nodded. It all made sense. And it reminded her of—well, it reminded her of the post office in a way. Just without stamps. It was useful, it really was.
It was just that she was dreaming of email, the internet, and being able to call her family in two seconds at that moment. So she wasn’t that impressed, even though she was really trying to be.
“I wonder—do you think I could send the answer to the person who sent me the letter?”
“I don’t see why not. I know the merchant who delivered the letters—I could ask him to bring the letter back when he leaves.”
“I can write down the answer. Do you have any paper…?”
“Write it down here. I won’t look.”
Olesm handed Erin another piece parchment and averted his eyes as she scribbled on it. She handed it back to him folded up.
“Okay, so you send it to this person. And then this person will send me something harder?”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps they might wait until others have sent in their reply. It could take a few weeks or up to a month.”
“That’s a long time.”
“But it’s so fascinating to play games across such a long distance, isn’t it?”
Erin tried to find the enthusiasm Olesm was giving off, but the truth was this revolutionary idea was small potatoes in her world. She sighed, but then she had a thought.
“I’ve got a better idea. Here, give me the paper back.”
She took the pen and dipped it in the ink pot Olesm held out.
“They sent me a puzzle, so I can send one back. Let’s see how they like this.”
Erin drew out a chess board with every piece in the starting position. She wasn’t an artist, but she did the best she could. Then she wrote in the upper left hand corner:
‘Black side will mirror white side’s every move. Force checkmate in 4 moves.’
“It’s a bit elementary, but it should be a good challenge for a beginner.”
She showed it to Olesm and Krshia. Olesm frowned at the paper while Krshia shook her head in confusion, but then he smiled.
“Ah. I actually know this one.”
“Wait, what?”
“Several new players like to challenge me this way. So I grew quite adept at beating them. It is quite a simple solution as I’m sure you know. If you move the queen like so—”
Erin scowled and snatched the parchment back.
“Give me that.”
She flipped it over and began writing furiously on the backside. Olesm blinked and Krshia grinned in amusement. When Erin showed Olesm the new problem he blinked.
“That’s a—a lot of pieces.”
“Checkmate in four moves. Black moves first.”
Erin grinned evilly at Olesm.
“Four moves?”
He goggled at the paper. Erin had heard of goggling, but she’d never seen someone actually do it.
“No. That’s impossible. But—no, it shouldn’t be—”
He frowned, his tail lashing the ground.
“I can’t even begin to—how did you come up with this so quickly?”
“It was one of the puzzles that gave me a headache back when I was playing a lot. It took me nearly a week to figure it out.”
“I can’t—may I copy this? Please?”
“Go ahead. And if you’ll send this back to the person who sent the other puzzle—I’ll pay for delivery.”
“Oh, of course. Certainly. Um, you can give me a few copper coins and it will get there, but more money means a faster delivery.”
“I get it.”
Erin thought about that and dug in her money pouch. She was feeling generous, so she handed Olesm two silver coins. From what Selys had told her, she’d be rolling in bits of shiny metal soon enough.
The Drake blinked down at the coins, but accepted them and promised to send the letter as soon as he copied down Erin’s puzzle. He hurried off, leaving Krshia and Erin behind.
She smiled, wondered a bit maliciously how long it would take the mysterious chess puzzler to solve her problem, and then completely forgot about it a minute later.
Krshia was still trying to get Erin to have a meal with her, but Erin was tired, still sore, and for that matter, hungry. And despite her best wishes towards Gnolls, their food was more than a little raw by human standards.
“Look, I’d really love to visit. And I will—how about tomorrow?”
“But today is quicker, yes?”
“Yes but—”
Erin wavered. Krshia enticed her with promises of baked food and cooked meat. And it would be nice, even if she had the feeling the Gnoll wanted to talk to her about something important. Maybe she could relax?
But just as she was about to leave with Krshia, someone else called out Erin’s name. This time Krshia’s ears laid flat on her head and she turned with a glare. But the Gnoll stopped.
Gazi Pathseeker stood behind Erin in a vortex of attention. She smiled up at Krshia and the Gnoll stared at her. Erin blinked and sighed as the half-Gazer greeted her.
“Erin. Is now a good time?”
“I guess. Did you meet all the important people you were supposed to?”
Gazi shrugged.
“I have met with various individuals. But I am sure others will introduce themselves when they realize I am in the city. However, wonder if I
might take you up on your offer.”
“Offer? What offer?”
Erin blinked at Gazi. The adventurer smiled and waved her hand.
“You mentioned you had an inn. If you wouldn’t mind I would very much like to see it and have am meal, if I may.”
“Oh. Of course.”
Erin glanced at Krshia.
“Sorry Krshia. It’s just that I promised Gazi—she helped me out earlier today. You don’t mind…?”
Krshia stood stock still and waved a hand silently at Erin. Gazi smiled in the Gnoll’s direction.
“Thank you, Shopkeeper Krshia. I apologize for my rudeness.”
The Gnoll murmured something, but Erin was already leading Gazi away. Krshia stared at the adventurers’ back, and then shook her head. She turned, grabbed the nearest Gnoll and began speaking quickly with him. She kept casting glances at Gazi’s back the entire time the adventurer was walking away. She hadn’t dared meet the Gazer’s eyes, and even now Krshia’s hair was puffed out.
She watched Gazi, but Krshia had no idea – or perhaps she did – that she was being watched right back.
—-
Erin stared in horrified fascination as one of Gazi’s eyeballs slowly rotated to face forwards in her head as the two walked down the street. Apparently Gazers had 360° vision, which was awesome and incredibly disturbing.
She talked to Gazi while the female adventuer’s eyes roamed. She kept her big eye focused on Erin as she walked—out of politeness Erin guessed, but her other four eyes were all moving in other directions. In fact, it was quite disturbing how Gazi’s big eye didn’t move away from Erin the entire time. Since she had other eyes, she could focus entirely on Erin even while avoiding other pedestrians.
Not that there were any to get in her or Erin’s way. The other people on the street either knew Gazi or didn’t want to walk in front of the adventurer. She was still dressed like a warrior, and even if her armor looked rusty, she looked like serious business.
All in all—no, Erin wasn’t going to think it. But she couldn’t help it. It really felt like she was talking to a female version of Mad Eye Moody, as wrong as that sounded. A lot less grumpy, and with more than one crazy eyeball, but the thought was in her head and she couldn’t shake it.
And like the Harry Potter characters, Gazi seemed to be a sinkhole for attention. So much so that Erin felt uncomfortable as the two walked down the street towards the gates. She was used to scrutiny, but this time the Drakes and Gnolls weren’t even bothering to hide their stares. And sure, most were staring at Gazi, but a lot of them were also staring at the weird human talking to her.
