The Best of World SF by Lavie Tidhar (children's ebooks free online .txt) 📕

half of the mask, and tinted slits hid the Knight’s eyes.

He froze in the doorway, instinctively putting out a hand to keep his wife from going past him into the house. Eva halted against his outstretched arm, her body rigid as she dropped the bag of paw-paw they’d collected during their walk onto the swing-bench.

He glanced at her, but she was focused on the Knight, her brown eyes narrowed. Her soft, springy hair was an unbound halo around her face. He had been planning to help her wash and dry it by the fire. Heart thumping in his chest, he thought on all his plans for that day, and the next, and the next. Pointless now, like crystal smashed against the floor.

I’m sorry, he thought, willing her to look at him. She met his gaze as if she could sense his thoughts. I’m sorry I was right. I should have known they’d come when we least expected it.

In front of them, the Knight took a step forward, extended one leg and swept a bow over it. The voice that issued from the speaker was light, conversational – the voice of a friend coming upon another old friend after a long while.

The sound of it grated on his ears like a scream.

‘Grandmaster Didecus Avnette Valentino Lucochin, you are called to the Greatwood for the annual Opening of the Term at Valencia.’

She tapped his arm and, when she had his attention, made a few curt moves with her fingers. ‘Let me deal with it.’

He shook his head.

Her eyes widened as she signed again. ‘Turn around. Walk away.’

He took her hand in his instead, weaving their fingers together. Valencians had their own sign language, which most Septholds used to communicate silently and frustrate eavesdroppers. It was very similar to hers – a lucky thing on the day they’d met, but not so lucky now. The Knight could know what she was saying.

He faced the Knight. ‘How did you find me?’

‘Your implant.’

He frowned. ‘It was… removed more than a year ago.’ He had a new one Sister had printed for him, and only his wife could track.

‘It was designed to ping its final location at the moment of its destruction, so the Grandmaster’s death would be recorded in the Greatwood.’

Only one person would have cared to know the moment of his death – the same person who’d made sure the implant was reprogrammed from its original purpose as a weapon that would kill him if he ever crossed into his planet’s atmosphere.

‘I was exiled from Valencia and may not return,’ he said, pleased his voice was calm when he’d been caught so completely off-guard. Which was their intent, of course. He put aside the thought and the cold anger it brought with it. ‘I must decline the invitation.’

‘Not an invitation.’ The Knight’s hand rested lightly on the black cylinder clipped to the utility belt on its waist – a retractable energy spear. A full-colour reproduction of its Grandmaster’s geometric crest was tattooed on its bare shoulder. ‘A summons. Queenside.’

She flattened a palm against his cheek and turned his face to her. A frown creased her forehead and he saw the question in her eyes. The mask prevented her from reading the Knight’s lips and the pinhole speaker limited vibrations. She could only follow what he said. He had no doubt she sensed his inner turmoil; his fingers gripped hers tighter than they should. He released them.

‘I am no longer the Lucochin,’ he said, his voice harsher than he intended. ‘My King is dead. I have no Queen.’

‘A glorious miracle, Grandmaster. As happened with you, many tempi ago, there has been a promotion. A new Queen summons you.’

By the fucking Graces. Fuck them all to hell and back.

He forced out, ‘Who?’

‘I’ve been instructed only to bring you to Valencia with all haste. Questions must wait until we return to the Greatwood.’

‘When then? How many tempi ago did it happen?’

‘Forty, Grandmaster.’

So many tempi since he’d left Valencia. To go back now would be madness. A death warrant.

‘I no longer have a seedling. The Vineyard would reject me.’ The Knight plucked at its belt and held its hands out to reveal the jewelled speck of a Coretree’s seed in the centre of one palm.

He closed his eyes, expelling a heavy breath. Turning his back to the Knight so his wife could read his lips, he said, ‘I have to go, Eva.’

The determination in her eyes spoke to him before she shook her head.

‘If I don’t, they’ll send Pawns. Pawns that won’t care who they hurt, or what they must do to carry out their Grandmaster’s commands. At least I can reason with a Knight. If I allow it to complete its move, it won’t harm you or anyone else.’

Her eyes widened as she divined his intent. ‘No. We discussed this.’ She hit him in the chest with a closed fist. He grabbed it, held it against him.

‘That was before so much time passed. It’s been too long since I was last home. Everything will have changed. I will have no allies.’

He didn’t tell her what he feared most. That his only ally must be dead, or the Knight would not be there.

She pulled her hand away. ‘Try to leave without me. See how far you get.’

He gave her an exasperated sigh. She arched her eyebrows at him.

After a long hesitation, he said, ‘I need time to prepare,’ to the Knight without looking at it. He wanted her to see what he was saying. She nodded once, her lips a compressed line of triumph.

‘Those are not my instructions.’

‘I am Grandmaster Lucochin and I survived the Great Game more tempi than you’ve been in service. You will give me what I ask.’ He faced the Knight. ‘And you will prepare a seedling for my wife.’

The Knight took a step forward. ‘You wish to bring your wife?’

‘Yes. You came here by the Vineyards, did you not?’

‘Of course.’

‘So you can prepare a seedling.’

The Knight shifted its masked head ever so slightly