Was she up to it? Ruena didn’t have much of a choice, especially given the eager glint in the Valen King’s gaze. “I have to be,” Ruena replied, “Did you have something specific in mind?”

  "Specific is a strong word," Xandus replied, so eerily calm that he almost seemed more crazy than when he had been pretending to be, "but, yes. I have a plan. Replacing the servants is unrealistic since the duchess still holds power. You've been playing nice and tugging at old memories to try to win them over, but this is Alodan. You are the founder and leader of the new Alodan Warriors. What you need to do is show that you are no figurehead."

  "But I am not the weaponsmaster yet," Ruena argued, "How can I prove my worth without-"

  "Without a title?" Xandus interrupted, "What are titles worth on the battlefield? You still have skill, experience, and wits. All you need is the opportunity to display them."

  "That is easier said than done," Ruena pointed out, "I spar in the training grounds from time to time but only the knights ever see that."

  Xandus shook his head in disappointment. "Not training," he sighed, "You need a game. An event. I know, how about a battle game based on chess!"

  Ruena grimaced. She should have known better than to expect a normal idea from the crazy Valen King. "Of course it is chess," she muttered, "How would that even work? In real battle, people don't wait their turn before attacking."

  "This isn't a real battle," Xandus pointed out, "And if it is chess, even if it fails you can blame everything on your chess obsessed visitor, me."

  Soral leaned over to whisper in Ruena's ear again. "It's not a bad idea. If we treat it like a fun game then it might help everyone relax, too."

  As always, it was difficult to argue with Soral. "Alright, let's say we play this game of yours. How exactly would it even work?" Ruena demanded.

  Xandus waited a few moments before he responded. "I have absolutely no idea!"

  It was so ridiculous, Ruena had to laugh. Once she calmed down and took more bites of dinner, she started to think of what the game could look like from her perspective. "I don't think turns or the grid pattern will work," she decided, "But we could give each participant roles of various chess pieces and rules that follow those roles." Not that she had any idea how to enforce the rules of a pawn or a king onto people. What would only being able to move one space translate to? And that was without even thinking about knights.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "If the grid is too hard to enforce, how about an obstacle course?" Soral suggested, "That way starting positions remains an important part of the game. Also, we could give the king a throne he has to drag with him whenever he moves."

  "Ooh, that sounds like fun," Xandus approved gleefully, "That leaves the main issue of how to capture an opponent. We can't kill anyone since it is just a game."

  Ruena did not like the fact that it sounded as if killing their opponents would be an option otherwise. "We need an undeniable method so no one tries to get out of being fairly captured, but it also needs to be something that can't be unfairly abused either."

  Here the discussion bounced all over the place. Soral suggested making it into some kind of water fight while Xandus believed a magical mark would be the easiest. The water fight made no sense once someone was already wet, and they couldn't count on any group of participants to be able to use the same, or even similar, magic. They thought of giving everyone some kind of object to mark their 'life' and that object would be taken when they are captured. This was the first idea that sounded like it might work, but that left another problem.

  What kind of object should they use? How could they prevent people from trying to use what the took from someone else to claim they weren't out yet? Sure, she could trust them to play by the rules, but it wasn't like they really trusted her either. That is when Xandus spoke up.

  "Why does it matter?" he asked, "Let them cheat. It could be fun. I let people cheat all the time, and I still beat them. Chess is a game of strategy, and most cheat because they have none. Besides, won’t it make all the more impressive feat if you beat them when they are cheating?”

  “Only if my own team does not cheat in turn,” Ruena pointed out, “Soral, can you handle the object? Whatever it is, make sure it has the proper enchantments to make this work.”

  “Only if I get to be on your team,” Soral pretended to leverage, earning himself a swat to the head, “Okay, but seriously, wouldn’t it put them all in their place if you refuse to put your trust in any of those backstabbing servants and choose only us?”

  By us, he undoubtedly meant the Warriors, but Ruena shook her head. “That will only serve to draw a line and alienate us farther.”

  Soral pouted a little, but quickly regained his smile. “In that case, I will make the most amazingly accurate enchantments so they won’t be able to wait to get rid of the object once they are captured!” he announced, leaping up from his seat at the table to get started on his plans right away.

  “Since you seem set on unity, why not invite the Warriors to play after all?” Xandus suggested, “But instead of choosing teams, each role and position is drawn at random by every participant. That way each team should be mixed, and no one will feel overly favored or ignored.”

  Ruena nodded. “That sounds good,” she agreed, “Honestly, for a game to entertain a crazy king, this has gotten awfully political.”

  “Even crazy kings engage in politics occasionally,” he told her with a grin.