Pawns and Rulers      

Karl visited the canteen with Lynda. She bought him a cup of coffee and dried biscuits. She didn’t eat much. She just took a sip of her coffee while occasionally throwing at him a glance.

“Forty krons, for this?”

“Well, they do say that there is a lack of supply. I heard the Mosviks are still thriving.”

She took a sip of her coffee. This was her second coffee since coming. It was going to be two hours until sunrise. A soothing jazz music was playing on the phonograph while the cook behind the canteen counter was reading colorful magazines. There was a lady in her forties washing the dishes. Only a few souls were left in the canteen's tables. Ferries like this are not suited for long distance travels and could only travel small oceans.

It wasn’t unusual for the economy class to have such a cheap and open place. Karl had rented a cabin for himself because he needed the quiet and the rest. But  that didn’t stop others from taking advantage of the free fare. It was because they were soldiers who fought in the war that they were getting tickets for free. Of course, there was also an option to use one of the military vessels to transport them. But at this point everyone simply wanted to get out of the army before another war came.

“The Mosviks are transitioning to becoming a Constitutional Monarchy after this,” Karl said.

“Well, they saw what happened,” Lynda said. She took a sip of her steaming coffee. “There is a need for a change in the old system. Ghan would remain the same. They aren’t intimidated and their merit-based Empire and their forms of worship caters to for now. But who knows how long that will last considering that we aren’t exactly fond of Empires now, no?”

“Damages. Debts. The mourning and the celebrations. A mix of sorrow and happiness for the continent. I heard that the East had their war as well. The Center Peninsula and the Eastern high islands had their wars over by the sixth year. While we lasted for more.”

“All just went to war,” Lynda said. “For reasons that are unknown to us. I wonder if there is more to this. To all of this suffering.”

“No. There is no justification for sending soldiers to die for purposes. The biggest mistake that they all didn’t make is that they never had the courage to sit down and talk it all out. Of course, it isn’t so easy to just sit down and accept all that others want.”

Lynda silently agreed. She took another sip of coffee. The biscuit’s crumb fell on the table. She took out something from her bag. It was a folded card board with black and white tiles. She took another casing and then spilled out the chest pieces.

“You carry it on you all the time?”

“What’s there to do. Come on, you know how to play, right?”

“I can try. I’m not that good with chess.”

She smiled. She arranged the pieces. She played black while Karl played white. Lynda allowed Karl to play first.

Karl moved his pawn to E4. Seeing this, Lynda moved hers to E5. Karl took a long look at the board before moving his Queen to the H5 square. Karl glanced at Lynda’s expression. Her lips slightly curved up. Karl tapped his finger as Lynda played an NC6. Karl looked at her for a moment before moving his white bishop to the C4 square. Lynda played NF6 immediately only to be surprised when Karl moved his white queen and captured the black pawn on F7.

Karl raised his chin. She looked at him then held her chin.

“What the hell.”

“You actually fell for this?”

There was a mixture of emotions that were appearing on her face. Shame, because she was the one who brought it out. And then another round of embarrassment after realizing that she just got checkmated by one of the oldest moves in the book.

“So...uh you want to continue?”

“Fine. Let’s continue!”

This time they switched pieces. Karl played the black pieces while Lynda played the white. Her opening was moving her white pawn to E4 square. Karl kindly replied by moving his pawn on E5 to meet hers. Lynda took her white horse and moved it on F3 square. Karl moved his black horse to C6.

“Now you’re just copying me.”

Karl didn’t reply. She moved her bishop to C4 while Karl moved his bishop as well to C5. Lynda raised her lips.

“Hey, don’t just meet mine.”

Karl smiled. This made her raise a brow. She then made a castling move, switching her rook to the square. Karl took the top of the horse pick and placed it on F6. This time she was faster. She moved her white horse to C3.

Karl took a sip of his dwindling coffee. He moved his next black horse to H5. Then her pawn to D3. Karl then made his move by taking his black horse from H5 to F4. Seeing this, Lynda moved her white horse to G5.

With a smile Karl kindly captured her horse with his queen, moving it to G5. This time Lynda started to frown. She placed her horse to D5 which somewhat made Karl raise his head. He moved his queen, captured the pawn on G2.

“Checkmate.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am. What’s your move?”

“Can I redo?”

“No.”

“Fine, you win.”

She flicked her king dead. Lynda took another taste of coffee. She placed the cup. Then leaned her elbow on the table.

“This is bullshit.”

“You move your horse here,” he pointed at the G5 square. “I was sure if you were not playing seriously, but it was quite a blunder for you to do that. Also I was clearly aiming for the king. I was actually surprised you didn’t see how frail your defense was in that square,” he tapped the G2 square. “Then again, you are probably sleepy.”

Lynda looked at her steaming hot coffee and then to the chess board.

“Don’t patronize me. First it was four moves and now you did me in eight? Should have been honest.”

“No. I am far lacking in the game of chess. So you want another round?”

“No. Why would I want to be defeated again?”

“Don’t say that. Practice makes perfect. I wasn’t a good shot until I practiced hard.”

“Not a chance.”

She picked up the pieces and then stored the board and the pieces back to her bag. She folded her arms below her chest and then swung her eyes to the direction of the canteen’s counter. She met her eyes with the older woman. The old woman looked at her with a face saying if she wanted to order more. Lynda shook her head and sagged on her seat.

“Gosh, maybe I shouldn’t have made a new friend.”

“Don’t say that. Like I said, it's best to practice so you can be good at it.”

“You are mocking me aren’t you?”

“No. I am completely sincere about this. Actually, I don’t believe that you are that bad. Either you’re tired or couldn’t be bothered about playing right.”

“Oh please, Karl. You didn’t look like you were playing seriously either.”

“How could I? When you were playing nonchalantly as well. How about another game?”

Lynda hesitated for a moment before she took the pieces back and started playing again. This time she had placed her focus on the board. She didn’t make unnecessary comments. She devoted herself to avoiding making the same mistakes. Karl saw improvement on her moves. She took time to make her moves. After nineteen turns, the victory was concluded with Karl’s white bishop firmly placed on H6 square. With the queen on E6 square of the board, her king had no place to escape.

“You won again.”

“You did better this time. See. Told you that it was just a matter of focus.”

“Even with my focus I didn’t do well. I felt like I was just led on during the match. Anyway, I think I’ve used up all my energy on thinking. So are you going to skip the day? We might as well get breakfast while we’re still awake.”

“Going to buy me?”

“You should have made that as a wager. I would have bought you breakfast.”

“Kind of sad that I didn’t think about it. Oh well, I’ll join you for breakfast.”

“I wouldn’t mind at all if you decided to suddenly become a gentleman and buy me breakfast.”

“It’s fifty krons for a plate. I am not cheap, but I’d rather not spend a hundred krons to act like a gentleman.”

“Karl, you do know that money is meant to be spent on something, right?”

“Of course I do. It’s just that I would rather spend it on essentials.”

“Stingy man.”

She snorted and pressed her forehead on the table. She had already placed her fur coat on the side, letting it hang. It didn’t take long for sunrise to appear. Since they were here in the canteen all night, they were quickly served the first batch of fried eggs and bread. The sunny-side up eggs placed on top of the rye bread slices. Karl also ordered a glass of water while Lynda spent twenty krons on a glass of fresh milk. Karl was quite shocked to know that they were actually selling fresh cow milk.

“What?” Lynda questioned Karl. “Milk is lovely for the skin. It also helps in other matters as well.”

She pressed her chest forward. Karl took a bite out of his rye bread-stuffed egg. He leaned back. Soldiers that were staggering about entered the canteen. They lined up on the counter and started ordering their breakfast. They then dragged themselves to the table and slowly the canteen was populated with soldiers with hang-overs. Karl finished his breakfast and left the canteen with Lynda. She carried her fur coat with her and then leaned on the railing once more. The blue ocean coated with the light of the newly risen sun was quite a view. Below the ferry were corals and schools of fishes. There were also large creatures that were passing by just below the boat. One of the creatures that fascinated Karl was the fishes that were jumping up and down to the sea.

On the port of the ferry, Karl saw the outline of the land bridge. That’s where we fought so hard. How many had died in that place? Are the smokes there never going to go away? Will we even be able to gather and bury the dead properly? Or is the land bridge just going to be a land of the dead?

“The clean up will be hellish. The remains will stay there for years. Mass graves, ordinances that haven’t exploded, the barbed wires, and even some of our comrades are going to be buried without their names being known.”

“I heard the land bridge was quite beautiful before it became a battlefield. Fields of wheat as far as the eyes can see and bucolic towns. Do you think that they can regain that beauty again?”

“I don’t know. Time will tell. But I think that no one would want to live in the places of sacrifice. There are probably many of us who would go mad knowing that the place of sacrifice is desecrated. And honestly, who would want to live in a field that has been heavily polluted with bombs, wires, and poison?”

“Got a point there. Sigh, sometimes, I really do think that we are just pawns on a chess board.”

“Perhaps, but we aren’t unfeeling like chess pieces. Unlike in chess, the pawns could actually kill you if you make the wrong move and gather hatred of your pawns.”

Lynda stayed quiet then asked.

“Do you mind if I travel with you? We are going in the general direction anyway and having a bodyguard would be nice.”

“You want a discount?”

“Uh, yeah, do you mind?”

“I thought nurses had benefits too.”

“But we aren’t soldiers who participated in the field directly so it's less. But it would be quite efficient. Also having a travel companion is good, no?”

“Not really. I wanted to be alone.”

“Come on, please?”

“Hmm, fine then. Well, you can always buy me breakfast sometimes.”

“Deal?”

Karl wordlessly shook her small yet smooth hands. If she could get a benefit from this then he might as well do this.

“Oh yeah, Emil is probably coming along as well.”

“I don’t mind. The more the merrier.”