“Deal.” She reached out and tapped my hand with her own.
This was the best morning since I’d arrived in this human world. It might be the best morning of my life. Suddenly every dream was possible and the future could be whatever I wanted it to be.
But as wonderful as our breakfast and conversation had been, I also wanted a morning spent in her bed, with her naked under me. Or on top of me. Maybe both.
Pushing the stool back, I stood. Then I scooped the shrew up in my arms, tossed her over my shoulder, and walked the four steps to her bed.
19
ENG
Ihad time to swing by my apartment to shower and change, grabbing both the Hnefatafl board and pieces as well as a box of muffins from the bakery down the street before heading over to the park. Benny and Edna were already deep into a game of checkers while Dave and Frank played chess. I set up the Hnefatafl board, placing the pieces in their appropriate squares before asking if Piotr or Helen wanted to play first.
“I’ll go.” Helen sat down across from me. “That way Piotr can learn from my inevitable loss and put up a better fight when it’s his turn.”
Grunting in agreement, Piotr pulled a chair up to watch. “How is the girlfriend situation going, Enzo? Did she like the dinner and dancing spots?”
Benny, Frank, Dave, and Edna turned, their games on pause as they waited for my response.
“She did, and I appreciate the suggestions everyone made. We seem to have…” I hesitated, not sure how to voice this, not because I lacked the English words, but because I wasn’t used to describing these strange emotions. “I am attracted to more than her body. She is smart. She makes me laugh. I care about herlife, and I find myself sharing my thoughts and things I would not normally share with anyone. I want to be with her, to know what she will say and do next. Or just to be next to her whether we have clothes on or not.”
Piotr grinned. “Enzo is in love!”
Was I? I thought back on my life and the very few individuals I’d ever felt a truly deep affection for. My siblings, mostly. In some ways my parents, although how I felt about the shrew was a wild and unfettered thing compared to my emotions toward my family.
“Tell me how to play this game,” Helen said, saving me from having to either agree or disagree with Piotr’s statement.
“Hnefatafl is a strategy game where one player takes the role of defender, and the other takes the role of the attacker.”
The others abandoned the chess and checkers set to gather around, and I noticed a few other humans coming close, including Hassan and his nephew, Jerome, from Al-Sayyed Hardware.
“There was a time many centuries ago when this was a popular game among humans who also call it Hnefatafl or King’s Table,” I told my audience. “We orcs claim to have invented it, while other human cultures claim they were the ones who taught it to us.”
Helen picked up one of the flat, round pieces. “They look like checkers.”
“I would have preferred to carve them, but did not have the time. At home, they look more like the bishop pieces of your chess set,” I told her, setting the unstained pieces in the center of the board, and the walnut-stained ones along the outside edges.
“And that’s the king?” Ethel pointed to the tan column-shaped piece.
“It is.”
“So the game is a siege?” Dave asked. “The brown pieces are trying to get inside the circle to the tan ones? Or is it more like chess where both sides are trying to take the king?”
“It’s not exactly like chess. The attackers, the brown pieces, are trying to take the tan king,” I told him. “The tan pieces are trying to help their king escape to the safety of one of these corners.”
They all leaned closer, eyeing the pieces.
“Doesn’t seem quite fair,” Piotr muttered. “There are a whole lot more attackers than defenders.”
“Double the number.” I stated. “Because war is seldom fair, and attackers often have the advantage.”
“Do the pieces move differently?” Edna asked.
I shook my head. “They all move like your rook in the chess game. Straight lines but no diagonals, as many open spaces as you wish. You capture an opponent’s piece by trapping it between two of your pieces. Either side can capture pieces, but the king cannot be used to capture.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Benny commented.
“There are more rules. Only the king can occupy a corner square. To capture the king, the attackers must surround him on all sides.” I outlined the other rules for movements and capture, then asked if Helen wanted to be the attacker or the defender.
