This was no time to puzzle over it, and—no. Saeldian wasn’t worth being curious about.
He leaned against the wall and watched Jubilee squint at the doorknob. “Quickened barrel tumblers?”
“Yeah.”
“Cheer up,” Kell said. “We’re on strict instructions to not steal anything else.”
Jubilee shrugged and stood upright. Saeldian’s chant subsided.
“All right, I have one more charge. Let’s start.” They halted at the threshold and studied the floor. “Hells. Jubilee?”
What?Kell pushed forward before he glanced at the diagram in his hands. All the squares in this first area had pressure plates, according to Jubilee. He looked at the inlaid floor and—
“Red Knight help us.”
That drew a chuckle out of Saeldian. “So you see it.”
“I should have seen it when I saw the diagram.”
“I should have seen it when I was up here casing the pressure plates,” Jubilee said.
“Seen what?” Lorzok asked, peering over Jubilee’s shoulder. “Oh no, you couldn’t have, my friend—are you actually? My friend, that is.”
Jubilee paused to consider. “Not yet, but we are a team.”
“Yes.” Lorzok seemed satisfied. “You couldn’t have, my compeer. There were too many people to see the floor in detail.”
“I had the count in my head. That should have been enough to have a hint.”
“Never mind, Jubilee. We’re down two minutes. This is your field. What have we got?”
Why was Saeldian coddling Jubilee like this? The parquet floor was arranged between blond wood squares and walnut, but this section, eight squares wide on each side, was obviously a lanceboard. And inlaid on some of those pressure plate–loaded squares was a figure of a game in progress, and that meant that the way to disarm the trap was to engage the correct squares—
But Jubilee was mumbling. “King’s gambit accepted. Lathander’s priest takes Shar’s knight’s pawn? Has to be, nothing else makes sense…”
What was she talking about? Kell was about to ask when he saw the squares next to the board had pieces inlaid on them too. Pieces that had been taken out of play. Jubilee was reading the game like she had watched it.
“But then Lathander’s priest is taken—oh.”
She went silent, reaching out one hand as if to adjust this piece or that. “I’ve got it. Remind me to beat Lady Elezia in lanceboard if we make it out of here. I learned this game when I was eight.”
“Lanceboard?” Lorzok asked.
“Faith of Selûne,” Jubilee corrected. “That’s the name for thisparticulargame of lanceboard. It’s famous. Plenty of king’s gambit games are classics.”
Lorzok bent over to look at the black queen in the corner of white’s end of the board. “My family did a brisk trade in lanceboards, but I do not know the game.”
“How do you know that this is Faith of Selûne? I don’t doubt you,” Kell said as Saeldian’s expression darkened, “but you knew instantly.”
“Look at the captured pieces carved on the sides. Both of Selûne’s rooks sacrificed, one after the other, in the midgame. Compare that to the board now…Lady Elezia is a romantic.” Jubilee traced the progress of moves with a pointing finger, verifying every play. “This particular game was played against a devil, and the priestess of Selûne won the game by looking like she was losing.”
“This sounds like an interesting story.”
“I’ll show you the whole game when we have time and a board,” Jubilee promised.
Saeldian used to encourage him to use his talents when they were partners. It had always felt good to be treated like an expert. Saeldian knew the moves, but Jubilee Righthoof was a lanceboard master.
“I’ve got it.” They turned back to Jubilee. “Selûne isn’t on the board, and she’s not on the side with the captured pieces. Neither is her priest. Or…Shar’s knight-errant?”
