Fae and Fare (The Wandering Inn, #2)

by Pirateaba

He turned towards the others, spreading his arms wide. “If I have no army, no coin, few weapons and fewer supplies to feed my people, how should I move?” It sounded dire, but the twins saw a smile on his face. His eyes were twinkling, and Trey realized that Flos was happy. The King looked at Gazi. “Is it not wonderful? To be faced with such adversity from the start?” She smiled a slight, enigmatic smile. “As you say, my King. It is a fitting challenge for a beginning.” “Would that life were thus.” Flos sighed, and looked at Orthenon. “We must exceed ourselves. For now, my Skills will help mobilize the people, but we must find a source of food to last us through this winter. It may never snow except in the desert, but we may still starve soon enough.”

They’d never heard Lord of the Rings either. Hah. The entire time they swooped around my head, shouting. “They live, they live!” “Rings! Forged in darkness to bind souls! Yes! How did the Human know?” “The small folk! They remember them!” “To Mordor! To Isengard! To the ends of the earth!” “Ye shall not pass!”

And so the king had leapt from the tower built of his conceit and tried to learn to fly. And he had felt, for the first time in decades, the sense of inferiority, of challenge, that he had lacked. It was wonderful. And as Niers had played he had known it in his bones. He was not good enough to match this mysterious player. Not good enough. But he was close enough that neither was alone any longer. A wonderful thing. The small man leapt from his map table over to the other table with the chess board, ignoring his students. He stood over the chess board, eying the pieces that still stood in the middle of a game. Two wins. And four losses. That was unimaginable to Niers’ students, but it was a source of delight to Niers himself. He couldn’t explain it to them—how could he? They were young and still grappling for any measure of success, fame, or fortune. But to lose a game and experience defeat after defeat— It nearly brought tears to his eyes just thinking of it. Niers shook his head. It would really not do to weep in front of his students.