Checkmate (Insanity Book 6) (12 page)

“We’re on it, Duchess,” Carolus said. “But it’s really hard to find a plausible connection.”

“I don’t take no for answer,” Margaret said. “This is too mysterious. I need to know what the Chessmaster is up to.”

“I say he is up to end the world as we know it,” The Cheshire said. His voice was squeaky and he sniffed between words. His rabbit nose was running as if he had a flu, and his eyes were curiously funny. He stared at everything in such excitement as if it were a miracle, especially the carrot in front of him.

“I didn’t permit you to speak, Cheshire.” Margaret roared.

“As you wish Duchess. Carrots?” He offered. “Good for the temper – and ugly looking women.”

“I thought they were good for the eyes.” Carolus said.

“I can’t speak because the Duchess told me not to,” the Cheshire said.

“But you
are
speaking,” Carolus argued.

“I could stop speaking if you stop asking.” The Cheshire grinned with the rabbit’s mouth, which was incredulous and creepy.

“Stop it!” Margaret said, reading a message she’d just received on her mobile phone. “I’m told The Pillar and Alice are in China. They found a second piece, part of the puzzle.”

“China!” the Cheshire said. “Never had Chinese carrots.”

Margaret dismissed him. “The next piece is a rook.” She told Carolus.

“A rook?” Carols wondered. “And a White Queen. Hmmm, I have no idea what this means.”

“Neither do I.” Margaret began, but then she suddenly felt ill, clinging to her stomach.

“You pregnant?” The Cheshire chewed on his carrot.

“She looks ill.” Carolus said.

Margaret had lost her speech. The pain inside her was too strong and sudden. She reached out her hands, but the Cheshire gripped tighter to the carrot and refused to share. She reached out to Carolus and he stuck his head forward, wondering if this was some kind of dance.

Margaret dropped speechless on the floor, with a thud.

“Is she dead?” Carolus said.

“I think she was poisoned,” the Cheshire puffed the carrot like a pipe and speculated. “In fact, I think what happened to Fabiola just happened to her, too.”

“Are you saying Fabiola’s poisoning has something to do with them finding the White Queen?” the Cheshire shook his rabbit’s foot. “And Margaret’s poisoning has something to do with them finding the Rook?”

Chapter 37

Tibet’s Autonomous Region

Gliding all the way down to the bottom of the snow, all kinds of questions present themselves. What’s really going on? Why are we supposed to find Carroll’s Knight, and why does the Chessmaster need it? Most of all, who is the Chessmaster?

I end up hitting a bump in the snow and skewing to the right where I hit into The Pillar. Both of us hang onto each other, balling up like a huge snowball that is rolling deeper into the pit of the hill.

The way down reminds me of my journey with The Pillar. We’re both unusual persons with secrets only few people know about — me with what’s still locked in my memory, and The Pillar with whatever grand plan he has in store for me and himself.

But in any case, and even when he proves to be a mad person by the minute, I am stuck with him, just like we’re stuck now. Not because I can’t do it any other way, but because behind all of the masquerade of being a one in a million nutty professor, I am sure he always has my back.

Speaking of backs, I almost crushed mine when we stopped right now.

“Better than a Disney roller coaster,” The Pillar comments standing up.

The monks at the top of the hill stand in a circle from above, scared to follow us down. As much as we’ve escaped them, I don’t see how we’re going to get out of here.

“We’re trapped down here.” I say.

“Pretty much,” he looks around. “Too bad gravity doesn’t allow people to fall up. Why do we all have to fall down and never up? I never understood.”

“Why would anyone want to fall up?” I smack the snow off my clothes.

“Are you kidding me? Fall up to the stars, to the skies, I’d love to fall up in another life.”

“Whatever.” I put my hands on my waist. “So, since we might never get out of here, at least tell me what your theory is.”

“What theory?”

“You said you thought you understood what was going on with the Chessmaster when we were up there.”

“Ah, that. Look, it’s seems like we’re not just on a journey to find Carroll’s Knight.”

“Then what?”

“We’re collecting chess pieces, one by one, and the last will probably be Carroll’s Knight.”

“Sounds plausible. Are you suggesting we’re collecting Carroll’s whole set, the one he had Fabiola make from his bones?”

“I assume so. And since Fabiola can’t tell us what it was for, we’ll have to struggle with finding out why.”

“Are you sure Fabiola doesn’t know the Chessmaster.”

“No, I am not, but how can I be sure?”

“Are you sure you don’t know who the Chessmaster is?”

“Other than the rumor that they say his name is
Vozchik Stolb
; no, nothing.”

“It’s a Russian name, right?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure what it means.”

“So you think we’re really going to look for all the chess pieces?”

“Not all or it will take us forever.” The Pillar tries to make out what the monks’ shouts mean. “I believe we’re collecting the major pieces. Queen, King, Rook, Bishop, Pawn and Knight. One of each.”

There is a thud somewhere nearby, and the monks’ voices pitch higher.

“What are they saying?” I ask The Pillar.

“Giant,” The Pillar says. “The giant is coming.”

And that’s when a door in the snowy mountain’s side slides open and a huge man appears.

Chapter 38

The giant man has thick hairy skin like an ape. He is about seven or eight feet tall. His eyebrows are as thick as the bushy hair on his chest. He only wears shorts and the diameter of his leg is the breadth of me and The Pillar combined. His hand is huge.

“Sorry we woke you up,” The Pillar said.

“You know him?” I clamp my back against the wall.

“No, and I don’t want to.”

It’s clear to me that the giant has his eyes on The Pillar. Each thud in the snow shakes the place all around us. Snowflakes sprinkle off the earth and into the air.

“So the monks had a plan B.” I say.

“Plan death, I’d say.” The Pillar apparently has no means to fight with the speechless giant. “I’d start climbing up if I were you, Alice.”

“And leave you here?”

“Climb up or die. One of us has to distract him. Go.”

It’s not like there is an easy way to climb up, but I get The Pillar’s concern. I don’t even have a chance to use my None Fu with the giant.

Then something out of this world happens.

“Hit me.” The Pillar says to giant.

“Are you crazy?” I say.

“Hit me, you big ugly cannon ball!”

The giant accepts the invitation and lashes the back of his arm into The Pillar, who flies midair and then thuds against the snow wall to the left.

“Stop it, Pillar. Don’t encourage him. I’m sure you can trick him with your smooth tongue.”

The Pillar doesn’t listen to me. “Is that all you’ve got?” He sneers at the big man.

Another lash, to the right this time. The way The Pillar slides down from the wall after this is almost like a cartoon.

Blood spatters on the snow and The Pillar pulls himself up, stretches his neck and says, “Try a better one.

I can’t believe my eyes as the giant punches The Pillar for the third time. This time he almost buries him an inch deeper into the snow.

The Pillar spits out the blood and grins. “Not so hard, you stupid,” he tells the giant. “You don’t want to kill me. You want to have fun with me.”

The silent giant grimaces, not sure why he shouldn’t want to kill The Pillar.

“Because let’s face it. You’re a giant schmuck living alone in this hole in the ground. You’re lonely and have no one to talk to. Your IQ is probably – 45 like the cold weather we’re in, so why kill me right away when you can have a good time doing it slower?”

The giant grins, liking the idea and begins a series of small hits at The Pillar.

I try to talk him out of it, but he insists I climb up. And right there, when I don’t know how to do it, a rope dangles down for me, and I cling to it.

“Typical of Hollywood movies,” I mumble. “To have deus ex machina save you in the last minute.

The Pillar is still being hit, for the seventh time I believe, and someone is pulling the rope up. I hope it’s not the monks, because why would they want to help me?

I feel guiltier as I am being lifted up, leaving The Pillar behind. Am I really going to let him die?

Then a terrible thought suddenly hits me. “Pillar!” I scream while being lifted up. “Who is it who is going to kill you in the future?”

The Pillar cranes his neck for a brief moment. Amidst all the punching he is suffering, his eyes speak the truth to me. I get it now. I understand why he visited the hospice, instead of facing his killer. “Don’t tell me it’s me who’s going to kill you.”

The Pillar smiles, and slightly nods, as if he doesn’t want to tell me but has to. “And now I know how.”

Above me, the monks’ voices are absent, and the thin beam of sunlight seems like a dagger of light killing me. I decide to let go of the rope and jump down and help The Pillar. “If you think I’d kill you by leaving you to die by the hands of the giant, you’re mistaken,” I spit snow from my mouth. “The future can be changed. I am never going to kill you.”

But right there when I’m about to jump back, a firm hand pulls me up. I resist, craning my head up. “Let go of me.” I crow.

But then I realize I can’t fight this grip, because it’s the kind of hand that’s too strong for me. It’s the Dude’s.

Chapter 39

“Leave me alone!” I shout at the Dude in the Red’s outfit, but his grip is like a chain of steel. “I have to save The Pillar.”

In his silence, as usual, the Dude passes me another note, and I am already fed up with those:
It’s his time. Leave him be.

“No, I won’t,” I say, still trying to find my way back down, but a swirl of winding snow has already covered the hole below and I can’t see anything.

Another note:
It’s the price you will have to pay for saving Jack.

I turn and glare at him. “How do you know about Jack?”

A note:
It doesn’t matter. What you need to know is that’s part of the laws of time travelling. Having cheated Time and saved Jack, Time will demand an equal sacrifice.

“What does that mean?”

Note:
Time will take The Pillar’s life for Jack’s, Alice, and there is nothing you can do about it.

“The hell with time!”

Note:
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Time is the one thing that lasts while we all die eventually.

I swallow a lump of snow for having my mouth open wide. “But why should I be the one to kill The Pillar?”

A note:
Because you’re the one who saved Jack. Cheat time and enjoy a dear person’s resurrection, but pay the price and live with another dear person’s loss.

“So time knows how much The Pillar really means to me.” I tell myself.

A note:
Now take a breath, and give it up. The Pillar is gone. I killed the monks by the way. We’re leaving soon.

It’s hard to really accept this, but the wind is stirring quite stronger, and my survival instincts take over. The Pillar’s death is shoved to the back of my head, though I can’t believe I am really doing this.

Next to me, I see monks spread dead on the ground. “Where did you come from?” I ask.

Note:
I’m British, from Kent.

“You know I didn’t mean it that way,” I say. “Did you follow me? Why are you helping me?”

No note this time, because The Pillar’s pain below is tearing me apart.

“Another hit, sweet big stupid thing.” I hear The Pillar roar at the giant from below – at least he is not dead yet.

I turn to the Dude. “Can I ask you a favor?”

Note:
Anything you want.

“Help him.” I point to The Pillar below.

Note:
No. The Pillar isn’t on your side, anyways.

“What do you care? Didn’t you say you’d do anything I want?”

Note:
Anything you want, that’s always in your best interest.

“This man cares for me,” I insist.

Note:
He surely may act so, but you don’t really know what his grand plan is.

“Look, others have warned me of him before. They’re all wrong.”

Again, my words are interrupted by The Pillar’s pain.

The Dude points at a balloon he has ready in the distance. It seems like this is his escape plan.

“I am not leaving The Pillar,” I say.

Note:
You have to stop the Chessmaster.

“Like I don’t know that? I need to save The Pillar first.”

Note:
He is a lunatic, asking the giant to keep hitting him.

“I know,” I sigh. “I wonder why he is doing this.”

The Dude churns out another note:
Alice, listen to me, you have to stop the Chessmaster. You have no idea who he is.

This gets my attention. “You know who the Chessmaster is?”

Note:
I do. He is the scariest man on earth. Only you can stop him.

“Enough with the puzzles. Who is the Chessmaster?”

The Dude points at the balloon and writes a note:
Get on the balloon and I will tell you all about him.

I turn and look at the poor Pillar, then back at the Dude. I am torn with what the right thing to do is. But I am so curious about the Chessmaster.

The Dude passes me another note. This one is prewritten. It’s the size of a letter.

“What is this?” I ask.

The story of who the Chessmaster is.

Chapter 40