Checkmate

Now:

“So now what?” asked Shastri.

“Well… finally I get to say this, Checkmate” replied Shakti.

Twenty Years Ago:

They were at it for sixteen hours now; the court was watching the best game of Chess ever played. Prince Shakti was already awarded the young genius award by the king. Shastri was the peasant’s son and was also called a young genius by the villagers. At age 10 they both had the game played for hours together.

‘Checkmate,’ said Shakti.

‘Look at him, as savage as he can get,’ thought Shakti, ‘No plan, no art, just brutal primitive savageness.’

‘Not yet’ Shastri simply glanced at the board and not seeing anywhere, finally he shouted, ‘Checkmate.’

The whole courtroom was silent, no one was able to defeat Shakti in the game till date. They had no idea what would happen next, was the title of young genius getting transferred to the peasant’s son? They silently watched the game. The king was waiting for the prince to say it.

‘Throw him in prison, sentenced for life,’ shouted the prince, ‘And throw his family out of the kingdom. Their farms are the royal farms from now.’

He kicked the game board and walked out of the room.

Guarded dragged away the ten year old boy to the prison, they heard his last muffled words, ‘The game begins.’

Ten years ago:

King Shakti was on the height of prosperity. The Kingdom had the latest advancement of technology present in the world.

To strengthen the defenses even further King Shakti ordered building a water gate on the great river Indus. The origin of the river was in his kingdom but flowed through the neighboring kingdoms. He knew the neighbors would not like it, but he wanted to win. This would be his last defense. Checkmate.

Ten days ago:

King Shakti received a bad news five days ago. Shastri had escaped prison, they say, for ten years he kept reading books from the royal library. He just learned things in the prison and finally he ran away to freedom.

Not only did he run he placed a challenge for the king himself. Now, the messenger had come with the message that Shastri had camped at the gate of the enemy and had challenged the king to fight.

So finally, the king set out to destroy the adversary with a show of strength. He took double the army out of the gates to the camp, but found it deserted.

The enemy had fled. The king decided to chase him to finally end the chapter of Shastri.

The chase continued for ten days where Shastri kept running

Now:

As the king chased Shastri, he came across a narrow path completely surrounded by bushes. Shastri stood there silently. He had no where to go.

The king got down from his horse and faced Shastri.

“So now what?” asked Shastri.

“Well… finally I get to say this, Checkmate” replied Shakti.

“Not yet. I have something to show you” said Shastri, pointing to the tree standing in the dark.

“What some final weapon hidden for me?” asked Shakti sarcastically.

The king lighted his torch to see the tree properly.

Fourteen days ago:

King Biswajit was in deep worries, the neighboring kingdom was building the water gates to obstruct the water flowing in the kingdom. If this would succeed, they would have to depend on King Shakti and his whims for water. He wanted to attack the kingdom but feared, the water gate would be released.

They brought the hooded stranger to the court.

‘I can get you king Shakti’ said the stranger.

‘You can?’

‘I will mark his place of death for you’ said the stranger.

‘What do you want for this task.’ asked the king.

The stranger smiled under his hood.

Shastri was about to play the biggest game he ever played. He saw the narrow path on the way and marked on the tree…

Now:

‘This is where King Shakti dies,’ Shakti read the mark on tree and jerked his head back.

Arrows shot from bushes and pierce the heart of the king. The remaining army was ambushed in the bush. King Biswajit’s army was waiting for the king in the darkness.

As King Shakti collapsed on the ground, Shastri smiled and said,

‘Checkmate.’