Act III
#4 of The Chess Master
This is the Chess Master novel, a work in progress. I've been working on this since March 16th, 2003. Unlike all of my other stories, I only added my name on the prologue. I even worked up a cover for the novel back then.
Warning: The Jansen Tanner parts of the novel are written in "first-person."
Act III: Forget The Obvious; This Is Real
A few days later, Luke and I found ourselves in Chess' home headquarters in Athens, Greece. We both wore the training outfits of Pawns. Neither of us liked that reference, but at least we were getting along. Over the next few weeks, the training courses were grueling. Then there was the martial arts classes. It was all I could do to keep from smirking out loud. I finally revealed to the instructor that I had already earned my green belt and I told him about the Foo-Ching's private tutoring. I was surprised that he had heard of the Foo-Chings. After that, I was moved into the green belt classes. Now I realized why Kara had said that someone else would have to further my training. This was hard! Fortunately, the rewards were a hot shower, a good meal, and some time off in Athens. I got to learn the city during my training months.
The regional and political classes were surprisingly different. I hadn't expected these classes to be taught in the way they were presented. They taught us that for Chess agents, borders didn't exist, but the laws still applied. I took note of the subtle suggestions given here.
The classes covering mythical creatures and fantastic reports were also unexpected. It seemed like there was a class covering every species. When taking the werewolf class, I noted that their information seemed incomplete. Jael certainly was an exception to the rule. He didn't attempt to rip me to shreds. And Xim... Someday Xim... someday...
There were other classes too. Each one covered topics that you would not expect a detective to study. I took as many classes as I could. Luke was often in the same classes with me. I think he was impressed that I aced so many of the offered classes. The only one I had not aced was the green belt martial arts class. As I said before, that one was very hard. But I was trying.
Also as I said, Luke and I spent a lot of time sightseeing Athens. We eventually decided on a few places as being favorite dives. The Parthenon was one such place. I just felt at ease there. The marina was another such place where I felt at ease. The final place we both felt at ease was an establishment called Nicodemus' Tavern. The owner was built like a Greek god. He may have been one for all I knew. But he served good food and tasty drinks.
During one such outing into the city, Luke and I got separated for a period of about three hours. I eventually found myself in a small gift shop. I must have forgotten one of the Chess rules that day. I purchased a post card and filled it out with the following message,
"Dearest Leia. Having the time of my life on this extended vacation in the Mediterranean. I hope everything is well for you and the others. I should be back at work in a few weeks. I love you, Leia. Your loving brother, Jansen."
I purchased the appropriate air mail postage and dropped the card into a postal box. Then I promptly forgot about it. Another hour later, I re-teamed up with Luke. He had purchased a new shirt. It looked good on him. We returned to headquarters and got cleaned up and uniformed in our Pawn outfits once again. What was to happen next would prove to be a day I would not forget.
During the evening's dinner, I was approached by a White Knight named Jesse "the outlaw" Vanya. He sat at my table and chatted with me about witches. I had already taken the appropriate class and finished it among the top ten students. Finally, I turned to Jesse and asked why he was talking to a Pawn about witches. He replied that he was about to go on an important mission and needed a Pawn who knew the subject well enough to be a partner with. Jesse grinned at me. I blinked my eyes. It suddenly dawned on me what Jesse was implying. I was being given a chance to work on a mission with an upper class agent of Chess. I smiled back, asking when we were to go.
Luke wished me luck before I left, then I proceeded to the debriefing room where Jesse asked me to meet him. When I walked in, I saw Danath Gaul speaking to Jesse. Then Danath turned to look at me. He had a thoughtful look on his face.
"So, you're the Pawn Jesse chose... Let's get down to it. The mission should be a simple one. You both will be flown to Germany, then you will report to our Chess bunker there. You'll be assigned a jeep and given further instructions and directions. You're to be tracking down and capturing a bad witch named Thalia Saturnyne. Her clan contacted us to report her rogue nature. I am sure there are other problems there, but always remember your primary mission. Also... never abandon your partner. I don't know how many times I stress that statement only to have someone return without their partner. Aside from that, I know you'll both do your best. Have a safe flight."
Danath left the chamber, and Jesse looked to me with a grin.
"Ready to gain some spurs, Jansen?"
I glanced sideways at Jesse.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Jesse grinned again. After that, he and I proceeded to Chess's private motorpool, and we were given transport over to the Athens airport. We boarded a private jet and the flight began. During the flight, Jesse quizzed me on witch facts. A few times, I caught him in a mistake and corrected him. If Jesse objected, I would quote the page number from the text book, and together we'd look up the reference. He was pretty impressed. Then, Jesse closed the book and told me something that I'll never forget.
"Regardless of what is written in the Chess text books, never expect your subject to totally obey what you've been taught. They are people just like we are. They can think and they can react to any situation that changes their normal lifestyle."
I nodded my head, taking in this in the field lesson. How true this would prove to be! The rest of our flight was uneventful. Jesse told me about his family, his life, and a few of his past missions. The way he was talking led me to believe that he thought he was going to die soon. That sort of spooked me, but I tried hard to remain optimistic.
Our jet finally landed in Besel, Switzerland. Then, we boarded a transport and were driven to the Chess bunker located on the southern edge of the Black Forest in Baden-Wurttenberg. Upon arriving, Jesse and I reported to the bunker's commander to receive the rest of our instructions. We were assigned a jeep and given directions to a place deep in the Black Forest.
Soon, we were on our way. Jesse was driving the jeep while I took careful note of the route and landmarks. I kept having this ominous feeling that something bad was going to happen. Plus, I got the distinct feeling that we were being watched from the very second we drove into the Black Forest. And it was not a good feeling. It was more a "you're not welcome here" feeling. I kept my mouth shut about it.
During one of our scheduled stops at a gas station, I overheard two local woodsmen talking about missing children. This must have been what Danath Gaul had suggested back in Athens. We would learn of other problems. Once on the road again, I mentioned the missing children to Jesse. He remarked that it was probably the work of a child labor smuggling ring. He said we'd tackle it if we were to encounter it. That sort of perked me up a little. But I was still on edge as the "you're not welcome here" feeling returned. The further into the forest we went, the more defined the feeling became. At one point, it felt more like "Jesse isn't welcome here but you are". I looked around casually, then noted that Jesse had a clip in the glove compartment filled with silver bullets. I asked what the silver was for and he said that we might have to shoot Thalia. That bothered me a lot. I didn't like having to shoot anyone unless no other way were available to solve the problem. We continued driving.
It was getting late in the day when we both heard thunder. Just then, a bolt of lightning barely missed the jeep. Jesse took evasive action. I started looking around to see where it had come from. Then I saw her. Thalia Saturnyne. And she was riding a flying broom stick. I took some notes about her. Thalia appeared to be about 70 years old, overweight, easily being about close to 380 pounds. It was a guess, not the facts. She was probably about five foot eleven, had long messy black hair, with a ruddy complexion. She wore a sickly chartreuse green dress, which barely covered her plump sagging breasts. She firmly held the broom with one hand, and had a glowing wand in the other hand, taking another aim at our jeep. I yelled for Jesse to swerve again. He did so, and another lightning bolt just barely missed the jeep.
I could see that Thalia was becoming impatient with her shots. She fired again and we were lucky to avoid the lightning blast, yet again. That must have pissed her off royally. She changed tactics and started chanting a huge spell. Jesse tried driving out of range, his foot smashed heavily on the gas pedal. Then it happened. Just ahead of us, a huge cube of liquid fire appeared. Jesse shoved the gun and ammo into my hands and had me shoved out of the jeep, where I landed, rolling in the forest pine needles and moss. I was lucky I wasn't killed. But Jesse was not to be so lucky. He drove the jeep straight into the cube of fire! There was a terrific explosion! I knew Jesse had been killed instantly. But I had no time to grieve.
Thalia was making an arc to check on her handiwork. When she was within range, I fired the silver ammo straight through the bristles on the back of her broom. That surprised her so much that she almost crashed. But somehow, she was able to keep her elevation. Then she glared my way. She obviously hated loose ends. And I was fast becoming one of those loose ends.
She leveled her wand at me now. I was starting to think that I should've became an olympic athlete instead of a detective. I was on the run once again. She gave chase, of course. Just as she got a clear view of me, I heard her shout.
"Horse!"
She fired the wand just as I dived behind a boulder. The boulder changed it's shape, becoming a perfect statue of a horse. I yelped, then tore off running again. Her aim sucked and I know that I shouldn't have taunted her. But it was too tempting.
"Lose weight, you ugly traitor!"
She aimed at me again and fired the wand, yelling aloud once again.
"Rabbit!"
The blast just barely missed me as a thick bush transformed into a bush-shaped rabbit. I was getting pretty cocky. She was obviously the worst shot I had ever seen. Even my own sisters had better aim that that old crone.
"Your aim stinks, you smelly old harlot!"
She audibly growled and did not bother aiming with the next shot. She fired the wand with a shout.
"Skunk!"
She had caught me off guard as I had tried jumping out of the way of the incoming wand blast, but I had let her catch me unaware. As I hit the ground, my clothes fell to the ground and I was on all fours. I had become a skunk. Thalia cackled and began flying my way rapidly on her broomstick. I quickly dashed off through the brush, Thalia hot on my tail.
As I emerged from the other side of the bushes, I immediately went over a sudden drop and saw the pool of water beneath me approaching fast. I curled up in a ball, and "cannon-balled" into the water. As I splashed into the cold pool, the water from my splash rose straight up and caught Thalia as she cleared the bushes.
She immediately splash landed into the deepest part of the pool. She died immediately by melting the way a hot wax candle would. The instant Thalia had died, I immediately was transformed back to my normal unclothed human form.
I dove down and claimed the Saturnyne wand, then proceeded to pull myself out of the forested pool of water. I made my way back to where my clothing had fallen and put them all back on. Then, I sat there trying to catch my breath, reflecting on the whole encounter. I panted raggedly as I recalled every detail of the event. Then I remembered Jesse.
When I was rested enough, I got up and located Jesse's body. He was dead from the fire blast, of course. I wrapped up his body in the space age blankets that had been kept in the jeep. Then, I began the long hike back to the local Chess bunker. This was -not- a fun hike. All the while, I carried Jesse's charred and burnt human body. I no longer felt the unwelcome feeling from the forest. I sensed a form of pity. I still had no idea what was watching me, but it never attacked. That I was thankful for.
The hike took me several days. But I never once abandoned Jesse's body, regardless of how it smelled. I finally arrived back at the bunker, exhausted, and in a bad need of sleep. But I knew everyone would want to know what happened. As the others took Jesse's body to the Chess morgue, I sat down at a desk and began writing up the report. I made sure to mention that this was Jesse's mission at the top of the report. Then I filled in the rest of the information. I didn't leave anything out. Poor Jesse. If he hadn't pushed me out of the jeep, I'd likely have been killed too. I noted all points of information before handing in my report to the commander. He called it in to Athens and I lay myself down and fell instantly asleep.
The next morning, after a casual breakfast, I attended the official cremation ceremony for Jesse Vanya, White Knight of Chess. I actually mourned his passing. His ashes were sealed into an urn and given to me to transport back to Athens. The mission was at an end. One loss, one win. The price seemed to me to be far too high. I wasn't feeling all too hot myself.
Several hours later, via private jet, I was once again in Athens at the base Chess headquarters. I carried the urn as I reported in to Danath Gaul. I set the urn on his desk, then presented my report. Danath listened to me as I recited forth on what had happened. When I finally finished, Danath stood up and came around the desk. He folded his arms across his chest, then casually gazed down at me. I didn't bother to look up him. I was sure that I had failed.
Then he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You did all you could do, Jansen. Even more important... you didn't leave Jesse behind."
I sighed out a slow breath, still not looking up at Danath.
"She ambushed us. We didn't have a chance. If Jesse hadn't pushed me out of the jeep..."
Danath petted my shoulder.
"Dry your eyes, Jansen. You wouldn't want Luke to see a Black Rook crying, now would you?"
That made me glance up at Danath.
"Black Rook?"
Danath smiled a little.
"It was a successful mission regardless of the losses. You're not a Pawn anymore. You're a Black Rook. You're an official Chess agent now. You're dismissed, for now. Go spend some time with your friend."
Danath winked at me, then walked back around his desk to begin processing my promotion. I didn't question it, nor did I turn it down. A Black Rook. I was a Black Rook. That felt important to me. It was cheering me up. I stood and headed out of Danath's office. I then proceeded towards finding Luke.
Luke was pretty impressed by my promotion. We celebrated it by going out to Nicodemus' Tavern. By now, Nicodemus was getting used to seeing the two of us and gave us our own table. But this time seemed a little different. Nicodemus sat at our table with us. He looked at me directly and slid an envelope across the table to me.
"Don't expect me to play messenger like this again."
Nicodemus stood again and resumed serving the other customers. Luke and I opened the envelope, and pulled out the letter inside. The writing was very elegant; almost in the style of ye olde english script. This puzzled both of us, but I loved a good mystery.
"Jansen Tanner. I will not reveal myself to you yet, but I have been watching your efforts these past few days. I saw how you handled yourself in Germany. If you sensed that you were being watched... that was me. There were others watching as well, but for your benefit, I was the one who took the most interest in you. Let me say now: you've impressed me. It is not often that someone of your caliber catches my attention. To make a long story short... from now on, I will follow and watch you on all your missions. It is a shame that Jesse Vanya died. He was a great man. At one time, he too impressed me. He wasn't supposed to have died. His passing saddens me greatly. Now I watch you. May you become as great as Jesse. You are all I have."
The letter wasn't signed. But the feeling of the words had it's effect on me. I wasn't sure how to take this. Someone had been watching Jesse for years and now, this someone would be watching me. Luke too wasn't sure how to take it. He suggested that I report it in to Danath Gaul. I suppose I should have heeded Luke's suggestion. Why I didn't, only the Greek gods know.
During the next few weeks, Luke got a chance to go on his first mission. When he returned, he too was promoted to Black Rook. A few days later, Danath Gaul approached the both of us. He had another mission for us. Both of us. Luke and I were pretty excited that we were to go together this time. Danath Gaul spoke to us in our own room.
"Jansen. Luke. This time you both are being sent to Kentriki, Makedonia. You will be joined by someone in Thessaloniki. Then, the three of you will head northwest to Giannitsa. From there, you'll head due north for about two days walk. There have been reports of a centaur in that area. You're to find out the facts about the sighting. Above all, if the centaur is friendly, you are not to interrupt his lifestyle. If he attacks you, then you are to defend yourself. You have your orders. Good luck."
Danath Gaul departed our room. Luke grinned at me.
"Our first mission together! This is so exciting!"
I grinned back.
"Yes. Together... plus one. I wonder who is being shackled into baby sitting us?"
Luke hummed at that.
"Oh yeah. The contact we're supposed to meet. Whoever it is, I hope it is someone we can get along with. Otherwise, we might have to double team him."
I laughed at that. Whoever it was would have their hands full. Luke and I started packing up for a camping trip in Kentriki Makedonia. I kept wondering who was having to be our partner.
Luke and I took a private jet to Thessaloniki. Upon arriving, I almost choked on my breath. Standing near a black transport was Shane Wayne. And he was actually wearing civilian clothes for a change. And here I thought his only wardrobe consisted of Marine uniforms. Luke and I approached Shane, then I grinned at him and shook his hand.
"Shane! What are you doing here?"
Shane grinned.
"I am to be your escort, so I was told. If you don't mind, that is..."
I brightened up and patted his shoulder.
"Are you kidding? I've missed you more than I miss my sisters! By the way... Luke Masaki, this is Shane Wayne."
Luke grinned, and shook Shane's hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Shane. So you're the one who is easily bribed by beer."
Shane laughed out loud.
"Jansen told you that? He should know that I only like American brewed beer! I can tolerate the rest, as long as it's not mixed with cattle swill."
Luke and I both laughed. I turned to Luke.
"I told you Shane was cool!"
Luke grinned again.
"Shane is really like you said. At least now we know who our contact is."
Luke and I got into Shane's black transport vehicle, then the three of us drove northwest on E86 to Giannitsa. The transport was parked at a Chess-owned garage, then we started hiking north into the Kentriki wilderness. There was plenty of game and the weather seemed to cooperate with us as we traveled. On the second evening, we arrived at a sturdy lodge-like building in the hills. We entered and proceeded to make camp right there. We needed a good rest.
Shane soon had a nice fire going in the fireplace and started preparing the evening's meal. The food was soon ready to be served, when there came a knock on the door of the lodge. Shane grabbed his gun and cocked it, before replying.
"Who is there?"
The gentle male voice that replied sounded tired.
"I am the owner of the lodge you three have made camp in. I don't mind you staying here, but could you please unlock the door for me. My arms are full."
I glanced at Shane and he nodded back to me. I arose and approached the door slowly and unlatched it. Then I slowly pulled open the door. My eyes went wide. Standing there with his arms full of deer meat, was a male centaur. He was tall and stocky, having the head and torso of an elven man and the body of a draft horse. His horse's back had several cords of wood tied in place. He had shoulder-length sandy blonde hair, tied behind him in a pony tail, and his eyes seemed to sparkle with turquoise. His skin was a tone of pure cremey tan. The draft horse portion of his body was a dark chocolate brown, his fetlocks and tail were the same color as his head hair. His solid one-toed hooves were solid black. He slowly blinked his eyes at me and smiled. Then, he clip-clopped into the lodge slowly. Shane quickly uncocked his gun, and put it away, into his holster. The tall centaur continued into his kitchen where he put the deer meet into a freezer unit camoflaged to look like an old trunk. Then he returned to the main room where we were and proceeded towards stacking the wood he had brought in. We all helped him with that. Then we settled down, and shared our dinner with the centaur.
After dinner, the centaur, who introduced himself as Duffan "Duffy" Arlyn, entertained us with a choice selection on his sitar. Afterwards, the mood was mellow and Duffy spoke with us.
"So you're with Chess. I was hoping that I could avoid their notice."
I arched an eye at that statement.
"May I ask why? I mean, we were given orders to find out information about the sighting of a centaur and if you were friendly, to not interrupt your lifestyle."
Duffy seemed relieved over that admissive statement.
"Oh good. I was afraid you people were sent here to bring me in. You see, I've heard horror stories about Chess. But if what you tell me is true, then I really have nothing to fear from you or your organization."
His statement made me begin to wonder why Chess was so feared. I hoped to find out soon enough.
She blinked her eyes.
"Witches and centaurs are real? That cannot be true. This must be a misprint. But... what if it is true? An organization that searches out for the truth, then covers up their findings?"
She again resumed reading Jansen's agent history.