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
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