surely you know that what you need is a pawn to confront the black king to advance to a white king or queen
“Lee!” I called. “Lee? Lee, where are you?”
“Shut it!” said a voice to my right. I turned, and there he stood. Lee was a brick of a man. His shoulders, his posture, even his head was faintly blocky and rectangular. His face was reddened, and his brown hair matted and strewn about his face. Lee seemed to tower over me, though he was only a few inches higher up.
“Shut up,” he repeated, “or they’ll getcha.”
“Who will ‘getcha’?”
He didn’t say anything. He just started shaking his head and took a step back.
“Lee, come home with me.”
Still nothing. More shaking. Another step.
“Lee, what’s my name?”
He stopped moving. “How should I know, man?”
“Lee, that’s not funny, now what’s my name?”
He started shaking his head again, took another step back.
“Lee, what’s my name? What’s your name? Get away from the ridge, Lee. What’s your name?”
He brightened at that. “Lee!”
“Lee what?”
“Lee…Lee.” He frowned.
“Lee, please, it’s not funny -”
I heard a scream of some kind. Not a scream of pain or fear; a battle cry, an unworldly yell. Lee whimpered and sank to the ground.
“Lee, what did he do to you?” I stepped towards him. He made no movement. I kept going until I could feel his panicked breath on my ankles. I leaned down and picked him up in a firefighter carry. As we got farther away from the cliff’s edge, I heard him mumbling. I asked him what he was saying.
“Who -” He stopped as if his tongue were tied.
“Yes?”
“Who am I?”
“Your name is L -”
“What am I?”
I stopped, and looked into his eyes. There was only blank fear there.
“You are a pawn,” I whispered, “but one day there will be an exchange.”
&
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