Author's note: I changed the word "bishop" to "advisor" ( the Polish, archaic name for this chess piece) because there is no Catholicism in Middle Earth and I wanted a term that was more fitting and more appropriate for the Tolkien universe. Likewise, "rook" was changed to "tower", which is the medieval name of this chess piece.
Elaenar hadn't thought that Snaga would be capable of sewing, at least not to any acceptable standard of quality. In fact, he half expected Snaga to be sloppy with his work and maladroit on purpose as an exercise in subtle defiance against his elf master. Elaenar was inclined to believe that orcs are exceedingly crude in their craftsmanship. Although it is a known fact that orcs can be crafty, clever, and capable of industry (especially in the making of weapons, nefarious devices, and cruel instruments) it is an equally known fact that orcs aren't capable of beauty or refinery. Which is exactly why Elaenar wasn't sure if he trusted Snaga with this particular task.
The problem with supplies in the army was that the armed forces existed on a shoestring budget. Soldiers did not have the luxury of getting almost anything replaced; rather, anything broken or worn had to be fixed and mended before a request for new supplies could be submitted to the war department.
Bed sheets were a particular concern. Elaenar guessed that all of their military barracks' bedding was several years old, and despite being made of the hardiest materials and the best quality that elvish manufacturing could offer, the sheets ripped over time, especially after countless washings (a ritual that was unthinkable for elves to forgo, in accordance with their cultural cleanliness. It helped prevent bed lice.)
But Elaenar was running out of things for Snaga to do that day, so he instructed Snaga how to make stitches (the elvish method) and sternly told him to mind his work be careful about it. Elaenar was pleasantly surprised. Although Snaga's nimble fingers couldn't match the excellence of elvish handiwork, he had done a good-enough job and the elf kept him busy mending bed linens for several hours. When he was finished, Elaenar had him fold the sheets (and helped him as well) then pointed to the sewing box and said:
"Now put that away and come with me,"
"Why?"
"Because you're finished and I'm retiring you for the day."
"No."
Elaenar's had snapped and he turned to look at Snaga, "Excuse me?" Elaenar growled.
"I don't want to." He protested. "I don't like being in my cell."
"Well too bad, I don't have anything else for you to do today."
"Find something!" he demanded angrily.
Elaenar slammed the table and leaned towards Snaga.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that!"
Snaga's fiery attitude was extinguished instantly at being reprimanded. He curled in on himself and tucked his head low, looking dejected and sad. Elaenar actually felt sorry for him.
"Alright, fine. Sit tight, I'll be right back." He left Snaga alone for a moment while he went to the elves' recreation area. When he came back, he had a chess board in his hands; he took a seat across from Snaga.
"We're going to play a game."
"A game?" Snaga repeated skeptically.
"Yes, silly, a game. Don't you orcs have any games?"
Technically the answer was yes, but not the kind of games that Elaenar was thinking of.
"It's called chess." He continued. "It's a strategy game. Let's see how smart you are; shall we?"
Snaga perked up; he sat up straight in his chair and inched it closer to the table.
Elaenar smirked, but it wasn't a mean-spirited smirk; he just thought it was amusing how Snaga's ears could go up or down in tandem with excitement or fear (kind of like a dog).
"Do you want to be white or black?" He asked.
"…black."
Elaenar rolled his eyes, of course he would choose black. He set up all of the black piece's on Snaga's side of the board. Snaga watched him inquisitively as he arranged the chessboard.
"This is the king, it's the most important piece in the game." Elaenar said, picking up Snaga's king and placing it in the center of the board.
"It can move in any direction, left, right, diagonal, forward or backwards. But it can only move one square at a time." He said while drawing a circle around the king with his finger. He put the king back and picked up the queen.
"This is the queen, she can also move in any direction she wants, but unlike the king, she can move as far as she likes, all the way to the other side of the board if she wishes. See?" He said while transferring her from the center of the chessboard all the way to the far corner.
Snaga watched him very intently and nodded his head. Elaenar chuckled internally; he thought it rather endearing to see Snaga taking this so seriously. He put the queen back in her starting square and picked up the advisor.
"The advisor is similar to the queen in that it can move however far it likes, but the advisor is restricted in how it can move. It can only travel diagonally. The tower is just like the advisor; it can move as many squares as it wants, but it can only move left, right, up and down." He said while pointing to the board. Elaenar began to worry that all of this was too much information.
"Are you following along, Snaga?" He asked.
Snaga glanced up at him and nodded. He had his elbows on the table and his chin resting on his enclosed hands. Elaenar wasn't very confident in Snaga's level of intelligence; he had humble expectations for the orc. Nonetheless, he continued:
"This piece is a knight, it can move in an "L" shape," he said, while demonstrating. "See?"
"It's a horse." Snaga argued.
"Not that kind of a night, Snaga."
"It's a horse." He asserted. Elaenar rolled his eyes.
"You can call it whatever you like, Snaga. The horse is the only piece that can jump over another piece. Like this," he said while demonstrating with a pawn.
"What is that one?" Snaga asked, pointing to it.
"This," Elaenar said, holding it up. "Is a pawn…kind of like you." He snickered.
Snaga gave him a dirty look.
"Sorry." He followed up that inappropriate joke with a casual apology. "You have eight pawns. They can only move forward, and they can only move one square at a time…." Elaenar knew that he was over-simplifying, but this was Snaga's first time playing chess, and instead of telling him all the rules, he decided to keep it simple.
"But they can capture diagonally. See? Capturing your opponents' pieces is essential to winning the game." Elaenar captured the piece with his knight and set the pawn aside off the chessboard to demonstrate.
"You may think that pawns are the weakest of your pieces, but they can advance in rank when they reach the other side of the board. If you can get your pawn all the way to my side of the chessboard, you can elevate your pawn to whatever you like: a queen, an advisor, a tower, or a knight."
"But not a king?" He asked.
"Correct. A pawn can never become a king. Those are all of the chess pieces; any questions?"
"So how do you win?" Snaga asked.
"It's called checkmate. Your goal is to put my king under attack." He explained while grabbing his white king and one of Snaga's pawns and placing it on the board. "See here, my king is threatened by your pawn. You've put my king in check. My king has to move; now see what happens if my king is surrounded by your queen, your knight and your pawn…" he said, arranging the board as he spoke.
"My king is in check; and there's no possible move that will get my king out of check. When you've managed to do this to my king, you've won the game."
"Checkmate." Snaga whispered under his breath.
Elaenar went on to explain en passant and "castling". When he was all done explaining the rules of chess, he immediately felt unsure about this idea of his; he was quite certain that Snaga was going to be confused and wouldn't be able to keep up. Perhaps they should have just played checkers.
"Do you want me to repeat anything?"
Snaga shook his head no.
"Are you sure?" He asked skeptically. Again, Snaga shook his head "no" again.
"Very well then," he set up his own side of the board. Elaenar decided to go easy on Snaga.
"Do you want to go first, or me?" He asked. He didn't bother telling Snaga that white always goes first; it was, after all, his first game. Might as well let Snaga decide. His brows furrowed; he thought about it for a moment.
"You." He decided.
Elaenar moved his first pawn. Snaga mirrored his move with his own pawn directly across from Elaenar's.
"Copycat." Elaenar thought to himself. He moved another pawn forward. Snaga moved his knight (or "horse" as he liked to call it) to the third row, jumping over a pawn, demonstrating that he did, in fact, know how to move the knight.
Elaenar moved his pawn forward. Snaga, to Elaenar's surprise, moved his queen. Elaenar wondered what Snaga was thinking.
The elf moved his advisor; Snaga moved his advisor in response. Elaenar began to suspect that Snaga didn't actually have a strategy. Perhaps he was just copying Elaenar. After moving another pawn, Snaga took his tower and king and "castled". Impressive; Elaenar was surprised that he remembered and understood how castling worked.
The next few plays were a general shuffling of pawns, punctuated by the occasional movement of Elaenar's queen or Snaga's advisor. Snaga didn't hesitate to capture the elf's advisor, and he might have been proud of himself, except that he had played directly into Elaenar's trap. The white tower promptly captured the black advisor. Elaenar set the black advisor aside and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. Snaga stared intently at the board; he was concentrating hard. Perhaps he had learned his lesson about being too eager to capture Elaenar's pieces. The minute or so passed by slowly, and once or twice Snaga's eyes fluttered up to look at Elaenar who waited for him to make his next move.
It was then that Elaenar observed that the yellow was receding from Snaga's eyeballs. Curiously, he noticed that the condition of jaundice in Snaga's eyes was slowly fading, becoming more clear, whiter. Perhaps those yellow eyes weren't his natural state after all, and simply a condition of sickliness. Snaga's gaze met Elaenar's one more time before he bashfully looked down at the board again. Elaenar noticed that (contrary to what he had at first perceived) Snaga's eyes weren't black. Just very, very dark brown.
After a few moments' silence, the orc moved a pawn. For the next several moves he did little other than shuffle pawns around the board. Elaenar wondered if he wasn't clever enough to do anything else; perhaps playing the simple pawns was the best that Snaga could do.
The black "horse" captured a white pawn, followed by a white knight taking a black advisor. Elaenar used his next few moved to menace Snaga's pieces with his advisor. Snaga shifted his king out of harm's way; at least he knew better than to let his king be in check. Elaenar moved his king, and in response Snaga moved his pawn. Elaenar wasn't sure what Snaga's strategy was, or if he even had a strategy. After a few more mishaps on Snaga's part, the elf had taken both black advisors and one of his knights. It wasn't looking good for Snaga.
Snaga sat there in silence with his chin in his hands, contemplating his next move. Elaenar tried to be patient and let him think, but after too long he goaded him:
"Well?"
"I'm thinking." Snaga whispered. As Elaenar waited on Snaga to make up his mind, he observed the subtle changes that had occurred in the orc's appearance over the last few weeks. His hair was beginning to grow back, and he was getting fatter. Which wasn't to say that he was fat (no, not at all); he was still significantly underweight. But he was no longer the emaciated bag-of-skin-and-bones that Elaenar had captured a couple of months ago. It was a good sign to see him gaining some weight.
After a very long time of contemplating, Snaga moved his tower up the board. White queen moved; black pawn shuffled. White pawn captured black pawn. Black knight jumped over a piece and put the white king in check.
"Well done, Snaga." Elaenar thought to himself. He moved his king out of check. Snaga's queen moved all the way across the board; it was an aggressive move, but too obvious. Elaenar knew exactly what Snaga was doing, and he moved his king out of harm's way. The black queen followed and captured a white pawn in the process.
White king retreated again; black knight daringly moved up the board. Surprisingly, Snaga was now controlling the game; Elaenar couldn't move his queen without it getting captured by Snaga's knight. White king moved again; and the black knight captured the white tower that was still sitting in its square 1h, it never got a chance to play. Elaenar, in retaliation, took another pawn with his knight. Snaga's queen put the king in check (again). The white queen stepped in to protect the white king. The black queen retreated. White king moved and tried to coordinate with the white knight in between Snaga moving the black tower. The black queen put the white king in check yet again, and after Elaenar's next turn, the black tower moved to menace the white king.
Elaenar was quite surprised to discover that he was trapped. He moved his king into the safety of the top row, square 8g, but it was too late. Snaga's queen moved to 7g. The game was over
"Snaga," he said in awe. "How did you do that?"
"Did I win?" He asked excitedly.
"No,"
"No?" he repeated, disappointed.
"You haven't said checkmate yet."
"Checkmate!" he chirped.
"There, now you've won."
Snaga was absolutely delighted. A light came into his eyes that Elaenar had never seen before; Elaenar noticed that it was the first time he had ever seen Snaga smile. But the light in his eyes was diffused quickly as an incredulous look swept over his face.
"Did you let me win?" He asked disappointedly.
"No, Snaga. I didn't let you win." He answered truthfully. However, his arrogance and under-estimating Snaga's abilities had certainly caused him to lose.
"Can we play again?" He asked pleadingly. His big eyes gave added emphasis to that pouting, puppy-like stare.
"If you'd like." He acquiesced.
Elaenar won the next two games, but only narrowly. Snaga was actually quite clever, and he only got better with each game that they played. His interest in chess was indefatigable, he was obsessed. Elaenar guessed that Snaga could have kept playing at least ten more games but by their fifth round Elaenar was bored and tired of playing chess. Snaga begged him to play just one more, but this time Elaenar put his foot down.
"No, that's enough for today."
"Please." He whined.
"You can play by yourself; the board turns on its axis, see?" He said, while demonstrating that the board could pivot one-hundred and eighty degrees, allowing the player to switch sides. This would keep him occupied for hours, Elaenar realized. He decided that this was a perfect opportunity to sneak out for a brief smoke break; he trusted Snaga enough to leave him by himself for a little while, so he took his leave from the barracks (since he couldn't smoke in his room anymore). When Elaenar came back, he judged that it was time for Snaga to retire for the evening, and this time Snaga didn't fuss about it. The prisoner accepted his dinner and let himself be interned in his cell without complaint.
Snaga may have been put to bed early, but Elaenar's evening was far from over. After dinner, he decided to spend some leisurely time in the common area. It was a Saturday evening; all the soldiers drank on Saturday, one of the few comforts that they enjoyed at the barracks. Elaenar sat at a table with Lúthian, Faenar and Aeründal, making small talk and sharing news from back home and talking about their families.
"Have you seen the chess board?" Faenar asked Elaenar at one point in their conversation. "Findor and Illian were looking for it."
"I had it with me all day."
"Who were you playing with? He asked.
"Who do you think?"
"Your orc pet?" Lúthian asked snidely.
"Fuck you, Lúthian." He shot back.
"Oh, so now you're talking like one, too." Lúthian said scornfully.
"I didn't know that orcs were smart enough to play chess." Faenar remarked (the disdain was quite obvious in his voice).
"If orcs were complete imbeciles, we wouldn't be fighting them halfway across the world miles away from our own country." Elaenar replied.
"He's right, orcs aren't stupid, just utterly evil." Lúthian interjected.
"Have you considered how it might be disturbing to your fellow soldiers to have an orc among us? Walking about freely?" Faenar said.
"Well, it wasn't my decision to parole Snaga; so, if you have an issue with it, you'll have to take it up with Captain Thrandar." Elaenar countered defensively. "Also, he's not walking about freely. I supervise him." (Which was mostly true, with the exception of a few instances, such as when he was sneaking out to smoke pot.)
"I trust your judgement, Elaenar." Aeründal said. "Don't you?" He asked Faenar and Lúthian. They answered the question with an uncomfortable silence.
"What's your opinion on the matter, Elaenar?" Aeründal asked.
Elaenar shrugged. "He's harmless."
"Being harmless isn't the same thing as being truly good; be careful not to confuse the two." Lúthian said. "Make no mistake, Elaenar, that little creature that you keep watch over is completely indifferent to the welfare of anyone except himself."
"What's your point?" He grunted in reply.
"My point is that you shouldn't be getting too friendly with your enemies."
"So, you're saying that I should start talking to you less?"
Lúthian glared at him. "You think you're funny, don't you Elaenar?" (Apparently, he was funny because Aeründal giggled.)
"Lúthian is right, Elaenar." Faenar chimed. "Be careful how much trust you invest in the prisoner."
"Is it such a bad thing that we let our prisoner wash the floor, or play a game of chess?" Aeründal commented. "I don't see the harm in that."
"Just don't let him polish any knives." Lúthian said sardonically as he took a drink from his mug.
"Is it so bad to extend such small mercies?" Aeründal asked. "After all, would Faenar and I be alive today if it weren't for what the prisoner did, finding us in the tower and providing us with the means to escape?"
"I confess I'm not terribly inclined to feel gratitude towards the prisoner." Faenar said. "After all, it's not as if Elaenar appealed to the orc's humanity."
"What do you mean, Faenar?" He asked.
"Elaenar made it very clear to me that he convinced the orc to play his part in rescuing us by threats alone. Isn't that right Elaenar?"
Elaenar's gut churned, he practically squirmed in his seat from discomfort.
"Do we have to talk about this?"
"What exactly did you do to make the orc cooperate? You never really told me." Faenar pressed.
"None of your damn business." He answered flatly.
Faenar shrugged. "Fair enough." He said while taking a drink.
"So, who won?" Aeründal asked.
"Won what?"
"The chess game."
"Believe it or not, I lost the first round."
"Hmm, you're dumber than we thought, Elaenar." Lúthian teased.
Elaenar splashed the rest of his drink onto the elf (which admittedly wasn't very much).
"Oh, for God's sake, Elaenar!" Lúthian exclaimed, wiping the beer out of his face. Elaenar cackled. Faenar gave him a disapproving look and Aeründal shook his head.
