Chapter Text
"—try, but I am not convinced this game is playable without employing our arts." Afshar reached out to the board and moved a piece forward. "Perhaps we should just play Regicide or Kuturanga?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Radjedef said. "It's a long way back to Prospero from Nikaea. You would be sick of either game within a week. Come on, play properly.”
"Have you forgotten what Master Ohrmuzd said? The purpose of the game is not—"
Radjedef smirked. "Of course. So, follow his instructions."
The two sat facing each other in a recreation room aboard the Photep. Dark panels of wood covered the walls. Embossed recesses were lit by inset light strips, illuminating carved figurines and painted game boxes. The board they played on was set in resin over a light panel. Each time a piece was placed, the board glowed beneath it with light that echoed the colour of the piece. A small panel on the wall showed the name of a piece of music, which played softly in the background. The environment was perfect for a comfortable afternoon spent gaming together.
Radjedef focused on the board for a moment. One of his Librarians moved forward without him touching it, and as it landed beside Afshar's Titan, the Titan turned a red shade, with the board's glow changing to match. He had won over Afshar's most prominent piece.
Afshar looked unbothered. Though he could still take one last turn with the Titan, he took his Librarian from his deployment zone, moving it into the trees he had placed near the centre of the map. "In case you have forgotten, we have been ordered not to use our powers."
"By a kangaroo court, not our Sire." Radjedef moved the titan towards the woods, a waste of a move that neither won nor lost him anything.
"That kangaroo court you speak of was headed by the Emperor Himself."
Radjedef didn't know what to say to that. He returned to the game. He focused intently for a moment. Then he smiled and sat back. "Your move."
"What did you do?" Afshar asked sharply.
"If you can't tell, I'm not going to tell you," Radjedef replied. "Why not use your powers to work it out? I've heard your favourite Magister uses his."
Afshar's eyes narrowed. He reached for his Librarian before changing his mind. "You didn't do anything last turn, did you?" he said. "Enough foolishness, Setka." He picked a new piece from his box. He placed it, declaring "The Arbiter."
Rolling his eyes, Radjedef transformed the unit for him. "You know that unit is as likely to hurt you as it is to hurt me?"
Afshar shrugged. "Today might be the day you win. Let's see."
Secretly, Radjedef was annoyed. He had quietly marked every human-sized unit of Afshar's as his spies. To show that he had spies in play, he had started with several fewer units. However, he had cheated by only starting with three fewer rather than a nearly empty deployment containing only two large units and a Commander. The Titan had been a lucky win for him, but Afshar's choice of an Arbiter made things difficult. The Arbiter was a non-aligned piece that anyone could activate, but the activator would have to spend a turn doing so. It would attack whoever had the stronger units until parity was reached. Now that Radjedef had taken the Titan, it seemed like they had achieved parity. However, the truth was that Radjedef's position was much stronger. Thankfully, the Arbiter was a weak unit. He moved his Librarian towards the Arbiter in Afshar's deployment zone, intent on killing it.
Afshar summoned another Arbiter.
"Seriously?" Radjedef said.
"If we are at parity, you have nothing to worry about. I have wasted two turns." Afshar began to smile. "But I know we are not. You started with spies. I believe I know where they are."
"Where?"
"All my human-sized units. As soon as I chose to deploy a Titan, I knew what you would do."
"So you have been using your powers," Radjedef said, triumphant. His Librarian took another step towards the Arbiters.
"No, I just know you very well." A third Arbiter.
Radjedef's smile fell. He moved the Titan to join the Librarian. It was heavy, and he was too agitated for fine control; he had to move it manually.
Afshar's smile increased to a grin. He placed another Arbiter on the board.
Radjedef wasn't sure what he was playing at. He moved his stolen Titan forward again so it stood near Afshar's woods.
Afshar shook his head. "You should have activated Arbitration."
"What good would that do? We are at parity."
"It would have given you two turns and a retaliation to respond to this." He tapped the Titan. "Final Order," he said. "The Titan shoots my Librarian."
"No!" Radjedef threw his arms into the air as the Librarian in the woods was shot, turning red as it revealed itself to be a spy.
"As a Raptor, this Librarian has a shield. It gets to retaliate before it dies. Roll for it."
Radjedef cast a six-sided die. High numbers allowed him to choose the target; low numbers meant the Librarian would retaliate against the unit that shot it. A tiny nudge set the die to a five."I shoot an Arbiter," he said.
Afshar removed an Arbiter from his deployment zone. His smile remained. "Now it is your turn."
"My Titan is spent for this round," Radjedef said. "But the Librarian in the woods shoots another Arbiter."
Afshar removed a second. "And now it's my turn," he said. "I activate Arbitration."
"Alright." Radjedef reached for the Librarian in the woods.
"The other one, Setka."
"What?"
"You showed it to be Pyrae earlier. It will explode when removed. The explosion will catch your Titan. The Titan's explosion will catch the woods, igniting the Librarian within and my other two units nearby. This will leave me with two units that I know are spies."
"And then?" Radjedef asked.
"On your turn, you will be forced to activate a spy, leaving me with one unit I know is also a spy. On my turn, I could give final orders to lead to a draw, but I will summon a final Librarian."
"Ah," said Radjedef. "But then I will activate Arbitration, which will destroy your Librarian."
"You mean your Librarian. I will mark it as your spy as I summon it. As it is destroyed, I will reveal it to be a Pyrae. Its explosion will take the other two units. You will then have none left."
Radjedef dragged his hands through his dark hair. "You'll win without a single unit! Ridiculous." He stared at the board, blinking and gritting his teeth. "Maybe there's something else…"
"I'm sorry, Setka," Afshar said gently. "You lost as soon as you agreed to play with spies and Arbiters."
Radjedef sighed, leaning back in his chair. "No, I lost as soon as I agreed to play with you."
"Surely you won because you enjoyed the game?"
Radjedef granted him a loss-worn smile. "As ever. And I did win at something else."
"What?"
"You must have used your powers at some point. When did you use them?"
Afshar acquiesced. "Fine. I used them right at the beginning to work out the best optional rule to add if I wanted to beat you without using them any more." Radjedef gestured at him, indicating that he should keep talking, and Afshar huffed. "And I used them to work out the best move after you spent a turn baiting me. You're right; I haven't fully stopped practising. I have cut out ritual work entirely, though. We wouldn’t want anyone interrupting our games to accuse us of sorcery, would we?”
Radjedef retorted, “Some of those at Nikaea would do so regardless of what we were actually doing. I may not have your gift of foresight, but I can’t see things going well for our Legion, whether we abide by the Edict or not.”
“I can’t see this going well either. Considering this and how you were right about our Sire ending the flesh change, perhaps you do have some talent for foresight.”
Radjedef reached across the table, lacing his fingers with Afshar’s. The physical contact seemed to relax Afshar. They were quiet for a moment before Radjedef spoke. “Whatever happens, let’s face it together.”
Afshar smiled. “With who else—”