The Valley of The Kings - 1. The Valley of The Kings

The door unlocked.

“Good evening Your Holiness.” The Black Queen inclined her head as the Bishop slowly entered the area. His tall staff casting a shadow over his white robes. His eyes narrowed in on the Queen and he paused before he spoke.

“Enough of that. Get to the point of all this! Why did you call me here?” The White Bishop spoke.

“I think you have an idea.” The Black Queen spoke.

**

The landscape was barren. No one was ever sure when the next war was going to happen. It was bound to happen. It had to happen. Or else this game would never be won and thatwas unacceptable.

The White King made a proposal to his people.

“My lords, ladies, holy patrons and peasants, I suggest a treaty with the Blacks. We have been fighting for years now and it is high time we stop this needless bickering and begin afresh – without fighting and without committing the crime of slaying other beings.”

This was not given a very good reception.

The peasants revolted, eliminated their own King and replaced him with one of the Castle Servants. He’d been waiting to become a King for a good 60 years.

Under the new king, they began another war. The New King of White appointed a new board of players in his half of the game. Although, he kept his Holiness, The Bishop; it would not be fair play to upset those from the Realm above.

His strategy had a particular focus on having a strong Peasant force.

A strong faithful gathering of Pawns would be exactly how he’d win the war.

**

The King of Black spoke to his people.

“We must not lose faith. They are fighting like children; fighting like animals among themselves. They have slain their own kind and replaced them with a foolish King and they kept the old fool, The Bishop of White. They will lose this war my friends. Are you with me?”

They united behind their king; a king from the old times. A King that had served for so long and so well. They had not lost a war in centuries…

He was beginning to crack. His obsidian features were marred by age and his robe fell in waves to the ground. If you looked quickly it appeared as if there was a crack in his robes. His face once so strong now was splintered with age. Not as young as he once was he still carried a sword as was his right, however he couldn’t swing it as he once was able to. Perhaps he had been King this long, because it was amusing to the Gods.

Although most were adept at using a sword, Kings never used them in war.

In every war there had been; if a king was surrounded he just naturally allowed himself to be slain.

No real fight. No fight back. Just dropped his sword and allowed the enemy to smash him to pieces. Until the next war began….

Again and again; the same old game.

The King would fall. A new one would be appointed.

Constantly.

Checkmate. The Gods would favour one.

Checkmate. The Gods would favour the other.

Constantly repeating. Constantly reoccurring. The same thing.

Although, It had been decades since the Blacks fell…

No one saw this.

Apart from The Queen of Black.

**

“You have seen it.” The Black Queen insisted.

“Seen what my dear?”

“You have served the Whites far too long not to have noticed,” began the Queen as her voice dropped. Her words came in a rush taking a slightly wavering tone. “Every time we fight and one of us falls we seem to be replaced by another of our forces. We are in the same places and use the same strategies over and over again.” She paused and stared deeply into the Bishop’s eyes. “Can’t you see it?”

“Not at all.”

“Look. Look up.”

The White Bishop looked into the sky. All he could see was darkness. Instead of a night sky full of stars or even one of clouds the sky was just dark. Worse than that was the idea that was a sheen to the sky you would only normally see if you looked through a castle window, like instead of a clear sky the world was covered by a giant sheet of glass.

“No….”

“Don’t you see? There is a glass orb surrounding the area. We are always in the same positions.” The Black Queen grabbed the arm of The White Bishop.

The Bishop pulled his ivory robes free from the Queen’s clutching hand while his eyes narrowed in disgust. “Don’t grasp at me like some filthy harlot!”

The Queen immediately withdrew her hand and straightened up. There was a momentary pause as both took measure of the other.

“That is no way to talk to a lady.” She took a moment to arrange her skirt before she addressed the Bishop again, subtly reminding him who was the one in power here. “Did you come unarmed, sir?” She placed her hand upon her purse while she waited for the Bishop to stop gawking and answer her.

“Of course.” He spoke with spite. “I am a gentleman and I always; always, keep to my honour.” The White Bishop took his mighty staff and pointed it at The Black Queen.

“What are you going to do, say a prayer for me?” The Queen of Black smiled, entertained by her own interjection.

“I’m going to more than that. I’m going to show you something.”

The Bishop of White lifted his crosier and slammed it on the floor at his feet. White ripples of light flashed from the staff illuminating the ground and spread out so even when the Queen of Black looked out of the window she could clearly see the ground for miles. Everywhere she looked it was the same thing. There were squares no matter where her glance fell.

White.

Black.

White.

Black.

Neatly arranged collections of squares.

The Queen and Bishop stood looking out the window at the never ending pattern for a moment. The view took the Queen’s breath away, while the Bishop took a moment to enjoy the power he had evoked. Neither was aware of the pawn who had come to check on his Queen when the energy had pulsed outside the room. “Excuse me, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, boy. What is it?”

“Why are you speaking to the enemy?”

“I… I…,” she stuttered.

“Let me handle this.” The Bishop began to say adding almost dismissively, “Your Majesty.” He turned to the Pawn of Black and touched him lightly on the forehead. “You will remember nothing. You will go back and you will say you never saw Her Majesty and are just coming back from patrol. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I understand you,” the Pawn of Black said in an almost trance like tone.

“Good. Now Go.”

The Pawn of Black walked away, none the wiser.

The Queen watched in silence as the pawn exited the room before focusing her full attention on the Bishop. Her eyes widen as she watched him lower his staff again to his side. “How on earth did you do that?”

“I have a connection to the gods. They offer me the power of telepathy, mind control and my favourite, prayer.”

“The power of prayer?”

“Prayer is magical. It exists in all cultures. With one prayer, I can light up the city.”

He closed his eyes and threw his staff into the air. It illuminated the whole area, and the orb of glass became so much clearer.

“What on earth is this?” The Queen of Black exclaimed.

The Bishop of White lowered his head a moment. When he spoke, the Queen had to strain to hear what he said. “The truth of the matter is something very painful. That is why , through many years, I hve done my best to hide it from everyone.”

“This is impossible. I never thought it would get this far. Please let me go back. Let me forget.”

“Are you completely sure? You won’t remember what you have learned today, but I can’t promise you won’t rediscover it. If you do I might not be able to erase it from your memory again. Are you sure you want this to keep happening? Are you willing to keep having your memory erased?”

“Yes. Just let me forget.”

“Very well.” The Bishop of White touched the forehead of The Black Queen and she remembered nothing.

**

“Good evening Your Majesty,” the Knight of Black said to the Queen as she entered their chambers. “Where have you been this evening?”

“I… I don’t remember.” The Queen of Black was highly confused. She couldn’t remember what had happened that night. She began to move toward the window but felt uncomfortable looking out across the land. Her head hurt and she kept her eyes upon her purse and gown as she moved back to the bed.

A flush came over her body. She felt the need to see something.

She raced back to the window and looked out onto the lake. She could see something reflected in the water…

She looked down and she could see something else…

That was it…

Oh goodness.

She remembered!

She remembered it all!

Why?

Why did she have to remember…?

She looked beyond the glass and she could see them.

Beyond the glass were giants. They loomed above the glass larger than even the King himself. Here within the dome, the King was the most important person in society. While pawns, knights, and rooks seemed to grow they would never approach the magnitude of those outside the dome. Looking at the human child outside the glass, the Queen couldn’t help but notice the differences. Where she was black from the crown on her head to the shoes on her feet, the creature she could see was different. The creature had brown hair, blue eyes, and pink skin. His shirt was blue.

What were these creatures called…

In the cults she remembered…

She remembered who they were…

They were called Hu-man.

Human.

They were only legends! Simply legends!

Yet…

It looked so real…

The Human reached down towards their glass roof. It’s eyes were fascinating. That of youthful inquisition. It was obviously one of their young.

The Human Child grabbed the glass roof above their heads…

In The Valley, all creatures blacked out…

It was time for another war.

**

“I’ll go easy on you, little brother.”

“You won’t, you never do.”

“What colour?”

“White! They always go first. I want to go first.”

“No, I’m going first.”

“But big bro, let me go first!”

“Okay, okay you can go first.”

“Good. Let’s begin”

**

It was a time of destruction.

Queens slain. Castled destroyed. Innocent child like Pawns massacred by the many.

Pieces of bodies were spread across the valleys.

They were struck down and they lay where they fell.

It was a tale of complete destruction.

But, The Black King stood, victorious.

His people were few, just a Bishop, a Knight and himself.

But they won their war.

It was so nearly a Stalemate, but the House of White made a foolish move and it was over.

And then, they all blacked out…

**

“Darn it! Why do you always have to win?” He crossed his arms and glared at his brother.

His brother shook his head and tried to explain his brother’s constant mistake to him again.

“You leave your pieces open for attack. How am I supposed to ignore that? It would be like you leaving your ice cream where the baby could get it.”

“Good point. I guess I have to watch what I’m doing better.”

“Yeah. Now help me put this all back before Mum comes looking for us.”

**

It was a very dark night. The Black Queen strode out onto the Valley, avoiding the guard.

The Bishop of White was waiting. She approached faster…

But…

No…

Impossible! It was him. From the darkness, she saw him appear.

The dreaded King of White.

He waited with his forces.

He spoke “I see you have decided to pay us a visit. Pawns restrain her.”

The eight Pawns of White surrounded her and arrested her, forcing her face into the ground.

She had sneaked out. There was no way she could escape. No one knew she was there.

She began to panic.

“You have come to The House of White with no invitation.”

The Queen of Black glanced over at the Bishop of White and saw him mouthing ‘I’m sorry.’

She thought to herself, ‘That traitor.’ The Queen’s gaze froze the Bishop where he stood. There was no denying that if the Queen of Black could reach him, he would be dead where he stood. She tried to raise her hand as if to strike out when the White King grabbed her arm.

“Less of that thank you. Restrain her.” The pawns surrounded her with rope.

“I might enjoy that,” she quipped, trying to put on a brave face. Trying to feign the face of a warrior, while in reality, her face was that of a feeble royal.

“Silence.” The King of White watched the tremor of the Queen’s arm and smiled. “As is my right, I sentence you to Death. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty. By default. Now let me go.”

“The jury.” He pointed to his forces. “Have deliberated and decided you are guilty of trespassing. Prepare for execution.”

The Queen of Black sat stone still, in fear of her impeding death.

The silence of the moment was broken as the Knights of Black, the Pawns of Black, and the King of Black himself filled the area. The King of Black had come to save his Queen.

“We have bigger things to worry about than who has trespassed.” He screamed at the opposing army. “My wife has told me the truth about our lives. How we are in endless battles where everything is decided, not by us, but by those who use us as proxies for their wars.” The King of Black paused seeing the disbelief on the faces of everyone around him, except for his wife. “I know you don’t believe me but all you need to do is look up. Look up and everything I have said to you will be proved. You too will realize how we have been used.”

The Blacks and the Whites stared up only to find one of the giant’s looking down at them. The giant was obviously one of their young, perhaps a baby itself, but it was still a giant to every one of them.

The Older Humans forgot to put the glass lid back after observing their kind. And so, they were all exposed to the Human Toddler’s wants.

Suddenly, there was an eruption of noise. Several pawns were scattered across the valley and the Bishop of Black was never the same again.

But the worst was yet to come.

The Human Toddler picked up The King of White and put it in his mouth. It began to chew...

The pain was simply unbearable for him. He couldn’t deal with it.

The Toddler wasn’t impressed by the taste of the King of White. Instead he dropped the drool covered figure to the floor, where the King cracked in half.

In half.

The King of White was no more….

Was this the war over forever?

Again, it all blacked out, like before.

Like always.

**

“What do you think you’re doing!?!?! Mum will be furious..”

The baby began to cry, as it sat next to the broken king.

“Okay. Okay. Don’t cry. Come here.” The Older Sibling picked up The Baby. “It’s okay, I can get a replacement, let me take you to Mum.”

“Hey bro, can we play a game?” The Child spoke.

“Of course. Just wait a minute. I need to take Jeremy to Mum and then I need to fix the White King. Tape will hold it for now but I can glue it later. One game. Then we have to hurry up and finish packing. Mum will be really upset if I’m playing with you instead of cleaning up in here.” the Older Sibling responded.

**

The war began.

The war was lost.

**

The pieces felt movement. They were lifted, but didn’t return to the Valley of the Kings. Instead each figure found itself neatly fitted into a spot in a simple wooden box.

That box was then stored inside a cardboard box.

The Queen of Black feared for her fallen comrades, not willing to know the hell they were going through. A tear fell down her face.

She peered out of the box, when the humans were not looking.

Within the box, she could peer over the edge.

On the side of the box it had a piece of white tape, with one word written on it.

“University.”