A Third Day With Olivia and Blood
The Military District in the Emaleid Citadel
“I wonder which side will win?”
“Come on, it has to be General Blood.”
“I dunno, I wouldn’t be so sure. They say Lieutenant General Olivia’s never lost to her tactician, Lieutenant Ashton.”
“You can be sure my money’s on General Blood. I put up five coppers.”
“I’ve got ten coppers on him too.”
“Then I’ll put five coppers on Lieutenant General Olivia. I never saw a woman so beautiful.”
“What’s beauty got to do with the match?”
Blood was somewhat exasperated to see the gaggle of onlookers working themselves into a state of excitement.
Ashton, who served as referee, pursed his lips. “The one time it looked like I might win, Olivia knocked it all over,” he said sulkily.
This had all begun when Olivia appeared at the command post with a board under one arm, saying she wanted to play military chess. Just then, Blood had been buried under a mountain of paperwork and, fed up with it, took Lise’s absence as a stroke of good luck and decided to blow it off. Military chess was a game of psychological warfare, played with flat counters marked only on one side that were then turned face down. The game only worked when a referee was present, so when Olivia and Blood happened to run into Ashton in the corridor on the way to the courtyard, they had abducted him.
At first, no one else had been around, allowing them to quietly enjoy the game. However, onlookers had begun to appear; first one, then another, and before he knew it, Blood and the others were enclosed in a great ring of people. As if that were not bad enough, Gile had started placing bets and gotten them all worked up.
“General Blood, it’s your turn.”
“I know,” he said at length. Despite his unflappable exterior, privately Blood was at a loss for what to do. He was in a state of genuine mental anguish. It should be noted that games such as military chess or cards were what Blood considered himself best at—he struggled to remember having lost even once. Because of this, now that he had Olivia defying his predictions at every turn, picking his next move was giving him trouble.
“Hey, General Blood? It’s your turn.”
“Don’t rush me.” Blood picked up one of his pieces and tapped it down on one of Olivia’s. It was the third time he’d attacked this piece. Ashton took both pieces and checked them, then removed Blood’s piece from the board while returning Olivia’s to its square. Blood didn’t let his smile show on his face.
You’ve given me the runaround, Liv, but now I know what that piece is, he thought. They played a few more moves; then Blood moved in on Olivia’s piece for a fourth time. Ashton checked the two pieces, this time returning Blood’s to the board. It was a lieutenant general, then. Unusual move, putting a general at the entrance. Just like Liv though, come to think about it.
No sooner had he thought this, however, than Olivia promptly brought up a piece directly below it to lay on top of his own.
What the?!
Ashton took the two pieces again, then held them out on his palms to show Blood and Olivia. Blood’s piece was a general, Olivia’s, the only piece in the game that could defeat a general—an assassin.
“The match goes to Olivia!”
There was a moment of silence. Then, the crowd around them erupted in an earth-shattering roar.
“General Olivia won!”
“Lieutenant General Olivia beat General Blood!”
“General Blood got taken out by an assassin!”
Word choice! This last comment had really gone too far. Blood was preparing a silent, angry retort when he felt an icy presence behind him that chilled his very soul.
“Why, General Blood! Don’t you look like you’re having a good time? And what might you be doing in a place like this?”
Trembling, Blood turned. There stood Lise, a mirthless smile frozen on her face and an uncanny gleam in her eyes—but Blood was surely imagining that part.
Clearing his throat loudly, he said, with dignity, “As you can see, I was playing military chess with Liv here. It’s not for our amusement, I’ll have you know. This is training, to hone one’s perceptive abilities. It is not, and I repeat not, amusement.”
Lise cocked her head to one side. It was a sweet gesture, and yet, to Blood’s private bafflement, there was something ghoulish about the sight of her then. All the soldiers around them had their eyes fixed down, and Blood himself would have liked to develop a more intimate personal relationship with the ground.
“Well, General Blood, it appears your training has concluded,” said Lise. “Shall we get back, then?”
“Yes, training’s over. I suppose it’s time we got back to the command post.” Blood turned to Olivia. “Lieutenant General Olivia. Today’s training was a highly valuable experience.”
“Um, right...” Olivia mumbled awkwardly. Blood turned back to Lise.
“Let’s be off then, Lieutenant Lise!”
“Very good, ser.”
Blood departed the courtyard shoulder to shoulder with Lise, who had a smile on her face. As he turned to go, Olivia muttered with a look of terror in her eyes, “A new species of Yaksha.” It wasn’t hot, but Blood felt sweat beading on his neck.
“None can stand before the might of our Valkyrie!” It hardly needs to be said that, as Gile’s lone cry of cheerful jubilation rang out, Blood felt a violent stab of annoyance.
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