Part Sixteen: Checkmate
Chapter Fifty-Five
LEVERIA
I awoke to an explosion. Metal screeched, then banged, and I was suddenly hurled from my bed, and smashed into a wall. My head smacked against the stones, my teeth clicked, and whatever sleepiness remained left in my brain was shot out with a concussive thud. My blurred vision made out a pair of orange eyes, each of them bulging and trembling with wrath.
"Good morning, Yavara." I groaned.
"What did you do?!" She snarled.
I blinked, trying to focus my vision. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"YOU KNOW WHAT I FUCKING MEAN!" She roared.
My eyelids fluttered, and my lenses finally focused to clarity. It was barely past darkness outside, five in the morning, if my estimation of the moon's positioning was correct. I glanced around the cell. There was Zander, of course, with Titus beside him, and an orc woman between them. All of them were pallid with shock. They looked right through the Dark Queen, and stared at me. For a moment, I was as confused as they were. Then, it dawned on me. It had happened. The knight had finally moved upon the proverbial chessboard, and had laid the final blow upon the trapped Dark Queen. Checkmate.
I smiled, then I giggled, then I burst into uproarious laughter. When I saw the realization of what I'd done dawning across each of their faces, I only laughed harder. I'd been betrayed, dethroned, raped, tortured, and subjected to the worst humiliations and perversions, but it had all been worth it. I would've done it all over again without hesitation just to see that look on their faces when they knew I had
WON.
I looked down at Yavara, and choked on my hysterical mirth when I saw the expression of utter disbelief upon her face. I wish I could've had it painted. I wanted it tattooed to my eyeballs so that I could see it for every waking moment of my life.
"Leveria?!" She snarled, trying to sound angry, but I could hear the terror in her voice. Oh, it was so sweet to finally hear it, and to hear it directed at me, but it was even sweeter to see it in her eyes, to know that she finally beheld me for what I truly was. It was the look I deserved, the look I was
owed from her!
Now she knew. Now she realized. All her power, and all her strength meant nothing to me. She never had a chance.
When I caught my breath, I managed to utter between spasmatic inhales, "I take it... the horde... didn't... arrive... tonight?!"
"
WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DO?!
" She screamed. The walls tremored with her voice, and her orange eyes blazed with power.
"Oh, Yavara." I croaked, "Do you see it now? How the pieces aligned so perfectly? Shall I recite my moves to you? They were as follows: Adrianna, Zander, Prince Matthew, King Arthur, and then the knight. My plan never changed; even when I knew my reign was over, I still moved my knight to checkmate you. When Ternias's watchmen were charging up the stairs, I gave my last official order to Cavalry Commander Krakis. I told him I only needed his loyalty for one more day, and he gave me one more day. For one day, he waited, and waited. He waited for the horde to cross the marshlands along those narrow land-bridges you set up—those twenty-mile boards that are barely wide enough to pull a cart through. He waited until the horde would be at the halfway mark, then he rode out of South Fort with
ten-thousand horsemen, and he skirted the old military path to catch up, and then he
smashed
into the rear of your precious horde, and it didn't matter that they outnumbered him ten to one because you exiled your cavalry like the stupid cunt you are, and
the rows of infantrymen that crossed the marshlands were BUT ROWS OF DOMINOES, AND HE KNOCKED DOWN EVERY, SINGLE, LAST, FUCKING ONE OF THEM!
" I was shrieking the last words, my voice rising higher and higher until it was throttling in my gullet, splitting my voice-box so that I tasted iron. I panted into Yavara's stunned face, and croaked, "Three days ago, Krakis told Field Marshal Shordian that he'd massacred the horde, and the entire Highland army turned around to amass at South Fort. They'll be here tomorrow, right around when the Lowland fleet arrives. You thought the war was over, dearest sister? You thought you had won? Do you remember what I told you so many months ago while you were on that pirate ship? I know you do, because you recited those words verbatim just four days ago. I would like you to recite them to me once more."
Her lower lip quivered. She mouthed something, but words wouldn't come out.
"Your Highness?" Zander said cautiously, "The Lowland fleet will be here tomorrow. What are your orders?"
"What orders can she give?" I giggled, "Evacuate the city? Make your people homeless tribesmen of the Great Forest once more while Arthur burns Alkandra to ash? Perhaps you should conscript your citizens to fight so that they can be massacred? Or maybe you should just pretend it's not happening, and torture me for one more day to get a few cheap laughs and an applause from the mob you love so much!" I spit into her blank face, and laughed uproariously when she blinked, the rivulets of spittle running down her eyes and cheeks.
"My queen?" Zander asked again.
Yavara's eyes suddenly focused, and flitted with panic. She looked this way and that, frantically searching the cell as if there would be an answer upon the walls. Finally, her eyes rested on me. I knew in that moment, that I had uttered my last words. Yavara cocked her fist back, and infernal energy burst from her flesh. She reared back her arm, and hurled her flaming fist into my face. It stopped an inch short. I could see nothing but the yellow fire, and feel nothing but the scorching heat. My nose began to blister with it, the pain began to crawl into my nerves, and my mouth opened to scream. Then, the fist was pulled back. My vision darkened with spots, but I barely made out the blurred image of Zander Fredeon struggling with all his might to hold Yavara's arm back. She seemed confused for a moment, unsure of why I wasn't a burnt splatter on the wall. Then she whirled on the man behind her, and with nothing but a backhanded slap, she hurled him against the bars. He crashed with a sickening thud, and landed in a heap on the floor. Titus and the orc woman rushed to his side, and turned him over. He coughed, and brushed them off him, his arcane shield fractured like glass from where her telekinetic swipe had struck him. He struggled to his feet, and faced Yavara.
"Why did you do that?" She hissed at him.
"Because you need her now." Zander said, "A confession from her lips is the only thing that will stop Arthur's fleet from raining hell on this city."
"He won't believe it; he'll think it's coerced." Yavara growled, "Our only chance is if I go out there and attack the fleet before it gets into the bay."
"You'll die." Zander said.
"But I might take enough of them with me for the city to survive."
"Ah, no." I interrupted, "Aren't you forgetting about the vengeful Highland army? Forty-thousand strong? Without you there, who will save your people?" I giggled at her dismayed face, "But you can go ahead and destroy Bentius if it'll make you feel better." I yawned, "I don't really give a shit. I never did. By all means, burn Ternias alive, and see if I shed a single fucking tear."
Yavara ran her hand through her hair, staring ahead, but seeing nothing but the thoughts that ran behind her eyes, every scenario that I'd already ruminated over meticulously a hundred times now playing out in brutal detail. And with every passing moment, it became clearer and clearer to her that there was no way out. She had already lost. Either Arthur would burn her city from the sea, or Ternias would do it from the land. It was inevitable. Finally, she looked up at me.
"What would you do if you were me, Leveria?" She asked softly.
