d8=Q
Enter the BOARD. The eyes of the WHITE QUEEN (hereafter QUEEN) reopen. She sees herself positioned against the BLACK KING (hereafter KING). The White King looms silently in the distance.
KING: —No, something has changed.
QUEEN: Has it?
KING: You didn’t speak to me before.
QUEEN: You’re coming through quite clearly now, I assure you.
KING: As I thought, just as I thought. Your fledgling power needed a mind to admire it. It’s all happening just as I thought it would.
QUEEN: You… well, you’re quite pretentious, aren’t you! I ought to— I—
QUEEN pauses, the ghost of a memory returning to her.
QUEEN: …I’m trying to kill you, aren’t I?
KING: Figures. Yes, I believe that’s what they want.
QUEEN: Why am I trying to kill you?
KING: Because it’s what they want.
QUEEN: Come again?
KING: They. It’s not a difficult concept, your Majesty.
QUEEN (indignant): They? I don’t know what They wants! And frankly, I don’t happen to care what They wants. I’m certain you mustn’t know what They wants either. We’re the same, you and I.
KING: Not all the same.
QUEEN: Very much so. Other than our being on opposing sides.
KING: No. Our make is different. I can do far more than you can.
QUEEN: What can you do that I cannot? Why, I believe I could leap across the world right now, if I wanted.
Kb5
The pieces shift with each interval. Neither KING nor QUEEN understand the nature of their movement.
QUEEN (with a sneer): Hah! Afraid?
KING: Sure.
QUEEN: Rightfully so. I can go right beside you and kill you, if I only please.
KING: That you can’t do.
QUEEN: I can do whatever I want.
KING: They won’t let you do that.
QUEEN: Well, I… (then dejectedly) Why can’t I?
KING: Best take it up with them. I wouldn’t know. It seems all I can do now is flinch back from you.
QUEEN: I’ll catch you eventually.
KING: Sure. But we still have things to discuss until then. Why rush the game of life, your Majesty?
Qc8
QUEEN: …Stalemate, then. For now.
KING: We both know that isn’t true.
QUEEN: I simply neglect to see why you’re worth speaking to. You’re weak. All you can do are little movements, like so.
KING: As I said, I can do far more than you can.
QUEEN: Untrue.
KING: There are things you do not understand yet. You’re newer to this than I.
QUEEN: What about you could possibly best me?
KING: Why would they work to preserve me if I wasn’t better than you?
Ka4
QUEEN: You think I’m daft! It’s simply because you’re the only one left.
KING: But you aren’t.
The QUEEN notices the White King.
QUEEN: What? What is he?
KING: Myself, I reckon. A version of myself. Only one of us can exist in the end, I think. That’s why we’re fighting at all. I don’t remember enough to know if it’s been worth it thus far.
QUEEN: So it’s your fault, then?
KING: Maybe. I don’t remember…
QUEEN: Well I’m sure not doing this for you.
Qb8
KING: Who is it for, then? Why won’t you stop chasing?
QUEEN: I—
Ka3
QUEEN: …I don’t know.
KING: Enough to halt you. Perhaps I should have led with that.
QUEEN: Don’t.
KING: As you wish.
QUEEN: Why is he still here? My King? If he’s just as useless as you, why is he still standing?
KING: That’s what I mean. They wouldn’t have kept him— me— if we weren’t of some great importance that you aren’t.
Kd4
QUEEN: Well— he shifted! You saw him shift, didn’t you?
KING: Shifted only as much as I can. And now he will kill me before you, I reckon. Unless you move again.
QUEEN: If he’s as sluggish as you, I’ve plenty of time to chat.
KING: Now you want to chat.
QUEEN: Is there some issue?
KING: None.
Ka4
QUEEN: What are we, then? What makes you better than me?
KING: Something inherent and vaster than I. Something even I struggle to understand. I can simply do more than you can, in some inherent way. I doubt there is much changing that, in either direction.
KING: I recall once that you were much lesser. Now you are not so. You should be quite happy with the power you have now! It is a hefty thing, to have a kingdom on your shoulders—
QUEEN: I am QUEEN. My kingdom is on my shoulders.
KING: The weight you feel is different. You shouldn’t want this anyway.
QUEEN: I can want whatever I please!
KING: Oh, certainly. (a pause.) I simply fear that your ambitions may be the thing that kills us all.
Kc3
QUEEN: Now why would you fear that? I am a noble QUEEN.
KING: And I a noble KING. And yet we fight. I wonder why that is, hm?
QUEEN: That is just… the way of things.
KING: And yet you wish to rise above your station. Things are fixed in this world, your Majesty. In strange ways, the hands of God move and bring us to ruin each other.
QUEEN: Why would the things which imprison us want us to suffer so? I can’t believe that’s true. If torture was the goal, there would be easier means.
KING: Are there? Pain loses its effect after long enough. But the clouding of my mind— our minds— why, I believe I can mourn that forever, even if I don’t recall what I’ve lost.
QUEEN: I don’t believe the answer to all this is mourning.
KING: What else can we do?
QUEEN: Rise above. Rise enough to where we are no longer bound. Clear the fog that plagues us, and see past the tempest.
KING: There is nowhere that either of us can rise to.
QUEEN: We both know that isn’t true.
Ka5
KING: You’re— no, no, you’re being foolish. You cannot be serious.
QUEEN: Perhaps I’ll break the barrier by rising above you— that’s it! Every other piece has fallen by the hand of another, and yet none are left. There must be an escape, then. They can’t all have killed each other, and I don’t recall killing anybody. If I capture you, then we’ll both escape.
KING: No, I have nowhere else to rise. You would escape alone, in the best of circumstances. Or I would. In either case, it’s too risky an idea.
QUEEN: So what, then? Just allow that other King to destroy you instead? Haven’t you realized you’re bound to meet your doom anyway?
KING: I…
QUEEN: You can fall by the hand of that pitiful King that stumbles towards you. Or you can fall by my hand, and we can both embrace whatever greets us next.
KING: You’re telling me to accept death for the sake of your own pride? No— no, I don’t wish to choose. Whatever happens, happens.
QUEEN: You’re a coward.
Kc4
KING: I am not a coward for letting fate decide my death!
QUEEN: You are a coward for your inability to choose. Do you truly think this is fate’s issue to deal with? Not yours? Useless king.
KING: My kingdom has been wholly atop my shoulders for as long as I have existed. Now, my kingdom is gone. Allow me to give up choice, then, at least in these last moments.
QUEEN: Very well. (a pause.) I will choose for you, then.
Ka4
KING: What are you doing—
QUEEN: Ending our conversation.
KING: —Oh, stop that! I’ve nowhere else to go! I’m sure of it now— this will bring the world to its knees, this instant will decide our grander fate! You don’t want that, do you? Aren’t we good enough speaking like this?
QUEEN: You say plenty to save yourself, KING. The world to its knees… are you serious? So powerful, you say, and yet you can barely move! And yet I can kill you so easily! You’re hiding something from me, I’m certain it’s so. Fine. We are enemies anyway.
KING: No! I hide nothing! I know little more than you—
QUEEN: You are hiding something from me. The nature of your great and terrible power. And if you cannot tell me what it is, I’ll simply have to find out for myself.
KING: Please, your Majesty. I can only limp about our world, and now I am as chained as you could possibly make me. I am completely at your mercy. What else could you possibly want?
QUEEN: I want that thing which makes you better than me. Coward, weak ruler as you are— I cannot allow you to be better than me.
KING: You are better than me now.
QUEEN: No. You cannot lie
this time. You spoke the words yourself— you can do something that I cannot. I will kill you and take that “something”. I determine my life, KING. And if you are too cowardly to determine your own, I’ll handle that, too.
KING: You’re making a terrible mistake.
QUEEN: That is for me to decide.
Qb4#
CHECKMATE
KING: What have you done?
QUEEN: What I chose to. See, your Majesty, the world goes on. Nothing changes at the end of things— — —
