Furoma Chapter 21

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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     Zugzwang spoke swiftly over each of his chess pieces. His words were like liquid as he spoke. Both his palms glowed when he touched the final piece, the knight. The whole process had taken hours, and Zugzwang's appearances had been frightening.  Each new incantation brought a darker shadow over his eyes. I could see how wizards were usually feared.
Suddenly the chanting stopped and Zugzwang sat clutching the tiny piece. When he let it go it floated between his glowing hands.
     "Plankrun," he said, causing me to jump, "I'm going to need a living shard. I have one in my
pocket." His voice seemed distant; it echoed causing an eerie feel around our hiding spot. I did as he asked and found the living shard right in his pocket like it knew we were going to be reaching for it. "Now crush it Plankrun, and blow the dust at the chess piece, careful not to get too close." Again I did as he asked. Crushing the shard between two stones, causing it to spark.
     I took the powder in my palm and knelt down next to him. Cautiously I blew the powder onto the floating piece. The air around it caught the tiny particles like a magnet then sucked them into the piece, sparks began to fly from Zugzwang's hands. Then suddenly Zugzwang clapped his hands together, enclosing the piece in his hands and extinguishing the light from his palms.
"Is that it?" I asked nervously. I watched life come back into his eyes, slowly my fear subsided. He nodded breathing deeply.
     "I'll just have to fuse the pieces together, force them to act together. One more small spell ought to do it." He pulled out his base and placed each chess piece on it. I noticed the faint glow of a checkered pattern, like a shadow, fall across the base. Weird, I thought to myself. One more incantation and he leaned back with a sigh.
"Finished." I had to admit they didn’t look like much. I trusted his work, but the pieces looked no different.
     As we sat in our hiding place, a ninja mouse dropped from the trees above us. I was quickly on my feet, but there was no need for my actions. Zugzwang's trap engaged immediately. The little chess pieces attacked the mouse, easily defeating their foe. My mouth dropped as the chess pieces went back into their waiting stance.
     "The last move, the mouse will ever make." said Zugzwang with a smile. I could see why he liked the Tactical mice, once we were properly armed.
     Under the cover of the moon, Zugzwang repeated his spells and enchantments one last time, attempting to make me a trap as well. When it was all said and done, Zugzwang slumped. We armed both traps with Brie and set them on the other side of the protective trees. Zugzwang slept while I took first watch.
     The next morning we stayed secure in the woods while occasionally sounding the hunter’s horn, and checking traps. Not yet sure of the area, we thought it best to just stay hidden. Every few hours we got up and moved several yards further down the tree row. When the sun was at its highest point in the sky Zugzwang finally started to truly speak again.
     "I've been thinking," He said quietly, "I have yet to arm you with the knowledge of magic."
"It's ok Z; I probably wouldn’t be a very good spell caster." I said smiling at him.
     "No, actually, anyone can do it. It's like cooking in a way; you just have to follow the recipe. Here," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large dusty looking book "take this; it’s a book of spells. It has many forgotten spells, as well as many of the common ones." he threw the book to me and it landed with a thud by my feet.
"Thanks." I said awkwardly. "Now, where am I going to put it?"
"Haha, can't believe I haven't done this yet. Come here." he said as I eyed him suspiciously.
"Why?"
     "Plank, I'm not going to curse you, I'm just going to make your pockets unnaturally deep. You can carry loads of things, and never feel the weight of it."
     "Oh," I said surprised, "Ok." he muttered briefly before touching my pockets with his hands. I felt no different, but as I started to empty the contents of my pack and put them into my pocket, I noticed that it seemed to never fill up.
"Awesome, Z, this is great!"
     For the next few hours I sat flipping through the dusty book of The Forgotten. It was startling how little the Kingdom knew. According to Z, mice had been around as long as magic. But I found a passage that made it look like mice maybe came first.
     Forgotten mice, the terrors of all breeds of mice, have lived on for centuries. Prophesies tell of a day when the first ever mouse hunter will come to eradicate these powerful kings. Three of these are more feared than all others, rumored to have brought intelligence to all breeds of mice. The Wight, Lich, and Acolyte mice. Do not be fooled by their frail appearance, they want nothing more than to end all life as we know it.
     I stared at the page and looked back up at Z. Something wasn't adding up, and the mention of the first ever mouse hunter left an eerie feeling in the pit of my stomach. I started flipping through the book again and found a small hand written passage at the bottom of a wrinkled old page.
     I have spent my life guarding the prophesies, but fear I may have failed. The Acolyte mice have left our lands and moved on in search of dark magic's. I will follow them as far as the map will carry. Lore tells of a peaceful place where mice have yet touched human existence. I have no doubt that the mice are headed there. The Acolyte will take over soon and I fear I will never find the one the prophesies tell of.
     My mind was buzzing with unanswered questions. The small scribbles on the page taunted me. I slammed the book shut, and looked up to find Zugzwang watching me.
     "Sorry." I said staring at him. I tucked the book back down into my pocket and went to check the traps. I felt the words of the book whirling around in my head. It couldn’t have been me it was talking about, it just couldn’t be.