tessellate
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The floor was very odd. Every man stood on a large stone square, just big enough for himself. Each square was one of two colors, in an alternating pattern. The King knelt down and ran a hand along the smooth stone.
“How curious.” He said. “Who could create such fine stonework?”
“Does it matter dear?” The Queen asked. She stood next to the King. “We aren’t here to admire the floor. We’re here to do battle.”
“Quite right, darling, quite right.” The King replied, standing upright and surveilling the army.
There was something off though. Just a moment ago, he had overlooked a vast army of thousands. Now there were far fewer. So few he could count them all. A handful of common foot soldiers, the priests he and his wife had brought, and an unfortunately small number of mounted Knights. And for some reason there were two castle towers mounted on what looked like large wheels flanking them.
The King looked to the man next to him, a priest with a tall hat and holding a staff with a suspiciously heavy decoration on the end. He forgot the mans name for some reason.
“Bishop, what do you make of this?”
“I have no knowledge of this place, Sire. But if we are here, then God wishes us to be here.”
“I don’t know why we need priests here to begin with.” The Queen said. “Now, I wish divine aide as much as anyone, but couldn’t blessings be given before we left?” She huffed and placed a hand on her hip. A confused look crossed her face as she discovered a fine rapier there. “And why do I have a sword? I didn’t have a sword before. I don’t even know how to use it.”
The Knight closest to her shouted over the priest at her side. “It’s easy, Your Highness. The pointy end goes into the other man.”
The other Knight and a few soldiers chuckled. The King was too busy trying to figure out what was happening. He looked to the tower, and saw a few archers on it who looked just as confused as he felt.
“Lookout! What do you see?” He shouted.
“The enemy, Sire!” One of the archers replied. “It’s odd, they’re all dressed in black, just as we are white. And they’re in the same formation we are!”
“How strange.”
The King contemplated his next move. Perhaps he should have a parlay with the enemy. Maybe they would know something of importance. He tried to move forward, onto the square in front of him. But for some reason, the soldier in front of him always seemed to be right where the King wanted to be.
“You there, soldier, move and let me by.”
“Yes, Sire.” The soldier answered crisply.
He took enough steps that he crossed two of the tiles, and then stopped. It was as if he could not move any more. That hardly mattered. The King tried to move forward himself. But his feet refused to move. He grunted with effort, but nothing he did would allow him to take even a single step.
“Oh stop it.” The Queen said. “You look silly in front of the men. What is the problem anyway?”
“I’m stuck. I don’t know why, but I can’t move.”
“Well, stop trying then. At least try to look dignified.”
The lookout atop the tower called that the enemy army was moving. But only one of them. One of their soldiers had mimicked their own. The royal couple looked at each other. The Queen shrugged.
“It seems,” She said, “That each of our armies can only move one solider at a time. It is like some vast game.”
“Indeed.” The King said with a nod. “And I suppose there is little choice but to play.”
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It's been quite awhile since I last played chess. Pretty sure the last time was in high school. So yeah, it's been awhile. I was never very good at it anyway, so no big loss.
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