“I didn’t,” Lord Loss says. “Cadaver took him.”
“But you told him to. You hired him. Why? Was it to get at me? Did you know about my gift?”
“What gift?” Lord Loss asks.
“Careful,” Beranabus warns. “Don’t tell him anything about yourself.”
“So it wasn’t because you wanted me?” I press.
“No,” Lord Loss says. “I remembered you from our previous encounter, but —”
“You’ve met before?” Beranabus barks, startled.
“Cornelius and I are old acquaintances,” Lord Loss says. He smiles at me. “I guessed you would come after your brother, but I expected you to perish along the way. You held no interest for me then — although you certainly do
now.”
“It wasn’t a trap?”
“Why go to all that effort to trap a boy I barely know?” Lord Loss laughs. “This gift of yours must be something very special if you think —”
“Kernel!” Beranabus barks.
I wave him quiet, letting him know I’m not stupid, that I’m being careful. “Why?” I ask again. “Why steal Art?”
Lord Loss smiles smugly. “That answer is tied in with the game I plan to let you play — assuming you’re agreeable. Ah, here’s Vein. We can begin.”
I look around and see the crocodile-dog making for her master with a chess board grasped in her mouth. It’s a few inches thick, made of glass or crystal. Beranabus’s eyes widen when he sees the board. He starts towards Vein, as though to take the board from her, then stops and squints at Lord Loss. “Is that...?”
“Yes. The Board. The original.”
“I thought it was lost forever, deep beneath the earth.”
“No. I rescued it.”
“I can’t play chess,” I tell Lord Loss. “I know some of the rules, but not all of them.”
“That’s all right,” Lord Loss says, floating down from his throne, taking the Board from Vein, wiping the surface clear of spit and slime. He looks at the black and white squares, smiling softly. “This is not a regular board. It is the very first chess board, given to humans by ancient beings who came to Earth from the stars. It was designed for greater things than chess, and since unlocking its secrets, I no longer play upon it. The Board is better suited to other games. To battle.”
“I don’t understand.” I frown.
Lord Loss sets the Board on the floor. “Size, like time, can be different here. In this universe, an object can be both immense and microscopic. The Board is tiny in form, but enormous within. It contains a variety of universes in which I can place the souls of you and your loyal friends. There is no physical exit. Only the truth can guide you
out.”
Lord Loss holds up three arms. “You came in search of a demon thief. Since there are three of you, I will give you three chances to find that thief inside the Board, to appre-hend and name him. If you do, your brother will be returned to you and you can take him home, if that is your wish. Otherwise you will remain trapped in the Board for the remainder of your life — and that will be a long, slow, horrible life, Cornelius. One of unimaginable darkness and misery.”
“No,” Beranabus hisses. “You can’t ask that of him. He’s just a boy.”
“Quiet!” Lord Loss bellows. “You had your chance to be a participant. Now be silent, like any other bystander.”
I stare at the demon master, confused. “I don’t get it. I know who the thief is. I already found him. Cadaver.”
Lord Loss shrugs. “If you and your companions agree to this, I will separate your souls from your bodies — a painless process — and secure them within the Board. You must search for the demon thief there, just as you searched for him here. I’ll give you three chances to find and name him. There is no time limit, but if you name the wrong thief on three occasions, your souls will remain captive in the Board. You’ll live out the rest of your lives there, and those lives will last hundreds, maybe thousands of years as you experience time.”
He stops and waits for my answer.
I’m still not entirely sure about the rules. Why would I name another demon as the thief, when I know it’s Cadaver? Unless there will be others disguised as Cadaver, and I have to separate the real thief from the fakes.