Z-Tower Chapter 42

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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     The bishop waited for me to get on my feet, he would make no move unless I made one first. I stayed on my knees watching as my trap circled in for another go but it was blasted back once again. The bishop hadn’t even twitched. His eyes swiveled back to me, taunting me to come closer. My trap made no more attempts on the mouse. Its energy was draining and it had become clumsy.
      I called for my traps retreat, but it was blasted three more times before it made it safely to my end of the checkered room. The trap took its stand behind me as I scrambled to my feet. The Bishop still hadn’t moved. I took to the shadows with my trap as my defense and tried to make it along the wall as far as I could manage. The bishop was no fool though; he sent pawns in search for me in the dim
light. And each pawn my trap took down caused just a little more energy to drain from it. The mouse never had to do any dirty work. Twice we came upon knights and they damaged the front end of my trap. At that point I stepped out of the darkness to face the bishop myself.
     The moment the flickering light hit me the bishop turned in my direction. He gripped his scepter tighter in his paw as he waited for my move.  The next few seconds happened very quickly. I formed a ball of energy in my hands and pushed it towards the mouse, then quickly I charged him. This would have worked well had the mouse not stepped out of the way. As my magic passed by him not even grazing a whisker he blasted me off my feet. My whole body left the air and I spun sideways, slamming hard against the opposite wall.
      I couldn’t breathe properly when I sat back up. The mouse had definitely inflicted some damage. Mixed feelings rushed through me. Shame and defeat were the most prominent. I walked into the tower ready to easily claim it, and I realized how foolish I had been. It had taken weeks to modify myself to the garden, and would require the same amount of work in order for me to take the tower.
     Over the next several hours I whispered instructions to my trap allowing him to attack or retreat as needed. We took a few more knights and several pawns but we were being quickly pushed back towards the door. Any ground we had gained vanished as quickly as my trap’s power.
     In a last attempt I decided to make a diversion. I sent my trap after the mouse as I took to the shadows once again. My trap weaved in an L shape across the floor avoiding blasts the bishop sent its way. I stayed silent, darting between the shadows and hiding behind the pillars that outlined the room. When I felt I was in a good enough position I knelt down and watched my trap take on the bishop one last time.
     The bishop moved in a dance like motion with my trap. As my trap made its L shaped move the bishop would slice across in a diagonal to cut it off. Pawns soon joined in moving one step at a time towards the battle. And then a knight joined and another. I watched the ambush take place in perfect precision. I was awed so much that they were this coordinated, I forgot that it was my trap that was about to be brought down.
     The energy around it had faded drastically in the last hour. I watched helplessly as the bishop made its last move towards my trap. My knight upon his horse took his stance, and there wasn’t a chance that it would survive. The bishop mouse flicked its head up and grinned at my trap then one more time slammed down his scepter sending a bolt of energy through my trap. I watched as the magic around my trap was destroyed and the thing crumpled to the ground. I stared in shock as all the mice turned towards me, the bishop at the head of the group.
     “Check mate hunter.” boomed the voice from nowhere once more. And just as suddenly as I was thwarted the floor began to shake. The mice quickly scattered leaving me to grip the pillar I was standing next too. The mechanics of the mice amazed me as the floor split apart and my trap disappeared into the darkness. The gap widened even more and I knew there would be no avoiding it.
“I’ll be back” I whispered threateningly. There was a soft laughing in the distance before the floor swallowed my body.