Chapter 14: The Game Plays On
Mist glowed gold in the morning sun, wrapping gnarled bonsai trees in wealth. Birds of paradise fluttered from the forested valley up steep cliffs to an ancient dojo. The two most brilliant criminal masterminds in the world sat across from each other on a balcony. The beauty of the scene below was lost on them for now; all that mattered was the board between them, and the game it represented.
"You'll never win, you know."
Ma Sun looked up at his opponent. "Nor shall you, Professor." He considered the board.
Rene Brefford, former professor of political science and esoteric mycology, waited patiently. "Our agents are numerous, our reach, long. Our power waxes with each passing day. Your time is over. The sun shall set upon your ancient empire, and when the creep of shadows finally covers your land, you shall be lost."
Sun nodded. "Many have made such claims over the years. Khan. Alexander. Mao. Their bones have crumbled, while ours stand tall. They mistook wisdom for weakness, age for incompetence, forgetting the first and most important rule of any game."
"Which is?"
He smiled. "'Respect your elders,' of course. For one who plays until they are old and grey must know a thing or two about winning."
"Rather hypocritical, coming from you," replied Brefford.
"Ah, but it is a lesson I hold dear, Professor. Take my esteemed colleague, Jintaou Hu. When he learned of his son's tragic fall in foreign lands, he vowed to fulfil his promise before the Elder: that he staked his life upon his son's success. I tried to dissuade him from his old ways, but he insisted, and took his life not three hours ago."
Brefford nodded. "Yes, I heard. Death by poison-tipped ballista, I believe?"
"And your subordinate, the man named Jarvis? He had defied you, shunned your advice, even tried to blackmail you with your own true name, and now he too is gone. He underestimated his opponent, and paid the price."
He conceded the point, and placed his pieces. "'Checkmate.'"
Sun blinked. "Oh, like blazes it is, Brefford! There's no 'Q' in 'Checkmate' and there's certainly no 'ü'!"
"Ah, but there is when you spell it in ancient Cyrillic as expressed using Romanized Japanese kanji." Sun conceded the point. (1) "We could return to the issue of 'Gorilla' spelled with three x's if you wish? Then I shall claim my triple-word-score box."
"We seem to have run out of board without a clear winner," said Sun.
"We could add another three?"
"No, I think that's enough for one day."
"Indeed; I have a nail appointment in a hour in Cairo." (2)
"But it was a good game," said Sun. "Though we did not take Altena's pawn as we had hoped, and our losses were great, we did remove some other troublesome pieces. Your Jarvis can no longer threaten your life —"
"He was more of an irritant, actually. Terrible fashion sense," he added, sotto voce.
"— and Hu can no longer oppose my rise in the Council."
"Yes, it all went exactly according to plan, didn't it?"
"Indeed."
There was a silence filled by the scrabble of wooden tiles.
"So," said Brefford, "you completely lucked out too, eh?"
"Yep."
"Tea and biscuits?" asked Mrs. Rufflepants, from the kitchen. (3)
"Yes, please!" they replied.
(Footnotes)
1. If you attempt to confirm this, you have too much time on your hands.
2. Less pedicure, more bamboo-shoots-into-the-cuticles.
3. I just don't know anymore…
