Chapter 403:

Enter the Fairy gauntlet

En Passant Grandmaster

Going back in time to just before round 7 began, Daria peeked out of the private room she had been hiding in and began making her way to a certain hotel room.

"I think I know where Ina might be. But if my hunch is right, we'll need to fool the fairies. To do that, you'll need to impersonate me," were the words Daria had told Miga last night.

The idea was that the fairies guard would be down if they thought Daria was present at the playing hall, however, what Daria and the WWCF had failed to take into account was the true geopolitical power the league, or rather Heather herself, wielded.

Daria reached her destination with ease, and after making use of the master key Miga had procured for her, she entered the room. There, she found Ina on the floor pressed up against the far wall, bound and gagged. However, Sorcha was also present and was seated at a circular ring-like table in the center of the room.

"Ara, so nice to join us. So I assume you're the one that will be going through a gauntlet of chess to try and save the hostage?"

The door abruptly slammed shut, causing Daria to turn and find herself face-to-face with Medeucesa.

"So there's more than one guard."

"Correct. Now for this challenge, please seat yourself at the chair in the middle of the table.

Daria begrudgingly did as she was asked to, and once seated, Sorcha summoned a chessboard with her WWCF card.

"Now for the rules. In order for any and all hostages to walk free, you'll have to beat all challengers who come your way. For example, if I challenge you, and then Medeucesa challenges you right before you win, you have to beat her before you're declared the winner. And so long as no one else shows up, you can walk free with the hostages. Naturally, this means you must win all your games, with losing just one resulting in you becoming our hostage as well. And in the case of a draw, you'll have to replay that opponent."

"So are you saying that if I checkmate both of you, but just as I'm about to leave, someone else comes and I'm forced back to the board?"

"No. They'll need to challenge you before your final game ends. So if someone new arrives, but they fail to make it to the table to challenge you in time before you mate your last opponent, they can't challenge you, and you win."

"Second question; what's the time control?"

Sorcha smirked before stating it was 10 minutes with no increments.

"Fine. I agree. Now let's get on with this."

"Oh, and just so you know, you lose and as part of the hostage care package, I'll be shaving that chic blonde cut of yours bald along with your eyebrows and eyelashes of course."

"Oh? Are you trying to unnerve me? Sorry to disappoint, but once I'm seated at the chessboard, my mind becomes laser focused on winning the game."

Sorcha shrugged and the timer began. Daria opened the game by moving her pawn to d4, to which Sorcha responded to by moving her pawn to d5.

"If she plays like she normally does, c5 is sure to follow, and from there, I eat her alive," Daria thought as she moved her knight to c3.

Just as anticipated, Sorcha moved her pawn to c5, unable to resist the chance to play the Queen's Pawn Opening: Chigorin, Irish Gambit. Bishop f4 was on the board. Sorcha promptly captured the pawn at d4 with her c-pawn, but Daria seized on the chance immediately, and captured said pawn with her queen.

"Ara, you don't need to play so aggressively," Sorcha nervously chuckled as she moved her queen to a5.

"Sorry, but this is a 10 minute game, and I do want to wrap it up quickly," Daria glared as she moved her pawn to e4.

"Why? Medeucesa isn't going anywhere," Sorcha giggled as she moved her pawn to e5.

Daria glanced over at Medeucesa, who was happily biding her time until jumping in to challenge her herself. "No need to wait, I said it before that I can simul you both. Check," she snarled as she captured the pawn at e5 with her queen.

Sorcha pouted and moved her bishop to e6, but Daria wasn't going to give her sobby act the time of day as she captured the pawn at d5 with her e-pawn. Sorcha moved her knight out to c6, but all that did was lead to Daria capturing said knight with her d-pawn.

"Check. You ignore me I'll stall," Sorcha pouted as she captured the queen at e5 with her queen.

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm taking you seriously," Daria growled as she captured the queen at e5 with her bishop.

Sorcha only pouted more ferociously as she moved her knight to h6, but as soon as Daria captured the pawn at b7 with her c-pawn, that pout began to turn into a frown. "Ara... I'm not looking good. Hmm, maybe the rook?" she thought as she moved her rook to b8.

"Check," Daria snarled as she moved her bishop to b5.

"Wrong move then," Sorcha nervously laughed as she moved her king to e7.

"'Wrong move'? Well no shit, you're about to lose," Medeucesa thought as she cowled and watched as Daria captured the rook at b8 with her bishop.

Sorcha began to sweat as she moved her knight to f5, while Daria began to relax her face a bit as she moved her bishop to e5. Then, Sorcha just sat there. Sat there and waited until her clock ticked down to just under a minute before moving her pawn to h5.

And with that, Daria moved her pawn to b8 and promoted it to a queen, signifying Sorcha's imminent demise. As Sorcha moved her bishop to d7, Medeucesa moved in and formally issued a challenge to Daria, which led to her getting to make the first move of pawn to c4 as White.

In the time it had took for Medeucesa to set all that up, Daria had long since moved her queen to c7 in her game against Sorcha, with Sorcha waiting until the clock ticked down to 10 seconds before finally moving her king to e6. Noticing that Medeucesa was now an official opponent, Daria let out a sigh as she prepared to finish things up with Sorcha by capturing the bishop at d7 with her bishop.

"Check."

Sorcha's only legal move was king to e7, which she made only after her clock ticked down to it's final second.

"And that is checkmate. Now onto the next one," Daria sighed as she moved her knight to d5, winning the game.

But no sooner did Daria attempt to shift her focus over to Medeucesa, the door opened, and three women proudly strutted in. One was a woman with yellow and green hair clad in yellow and green attire, while another one was a red-haired woman clad in a brown business suit and platform sneakers. The third woman was completely bald and browless and rocking a sleeveless turquoise shirt along with a dress and platform sneakers. But what caused a bead of sweat to run down Daria's face was the fact that she not only recognized all three, but they were all sitting down at the table to challenge her.

"Why? Why are-"

"Isn't it simple? We be servin' our queen," the bald woman grinned.

This woman was Buffy Darrow, the head coach of the Scottish team. Daria had seen her often around WWCF HQ, and while she had now shaved off her prized curly red locks and thick red brows, Daria had recognized her long before she opened her mouth.

The red-haired woman was Myfanwy Fychan, Wales' sole DSPCM. But what really caused Daria to sweat was the fact that the final woman was the Australian coach, Azalea Billabong. While Scotland and Wales were part of the UK, Australia was not, however, it was then that Daria remembered that the monarch of England, in this case, Heather, was head of state for British commonwealth nations.

"Don't tell me, does this mean I have to fight against all the British commonwealth teams!?" Daria nervously thought.

The full game:

White: Maestro Himitsu (Daria Inoue) (3200) Black: Sorcha Glas (777)

1. d4 d5

2. Nc3 c5

3. Bf4 cxd4

4. Qxd4 Qa5

5. e4 e5

6. Qxe5+ Be6

7. exd5 Nc6

8. dxc6 Qxe5+

9. Bxe5 Nh6