The game was nearing an end. Matt had a knight, no bishop, two rooks, no pawn and, of course, the king and the queen. On the other hand, the Joker had no knight, no bishop, one rook, five pawns, no queen, and the king.
Matt knew this was a tricky situation. If the Joker killed even one of his rooks, Matt would be in trouble. And if the Joker killed his knight, then the game was over for Matt. Matt knew he had to kill the Joker’s rook, but he had to sacrifice something.
The Joker killed one of his rooks with his rook. But Matt trapped it and killed it with his knight.
Matt slowly eliminated all of the Joker’s soldiers, but he lost his other rook in the process. Now he only had his knight and the king and queen. The king was the only one left with the Joker.
Matt almost fainted with relief. He finally killed the Joker’s king. “I WIN!” Matt yelled, whooping in delight.
“Enjoy all you want,” the Joker murmured as he turned and started walking away.
“Wait!” the Scavenger said, halting him. “What about the second piece?”
“Sorry. I cannot give you that,” the Joker said.
“But you promised us!” The Scavenger protested.
“Yes, but I have to break it,” the Joker said, glancing at his nails absent-mindedly. “It is already pledged to someone else. He is on his way, I think, and is just about to reach here. The chess game was just to stall for time.”
“Who is he?” the Scavenger asked, looking around with fear. “Is it…?”
Suddenly he doubled over and slumped to the wall.
“Darkness. I feel great darkness. The Death Lord is coming.”
“That is right!” the Joker said, rubbing his hands gleefully. “And I will get the prize I want! HA-HA-HA!”
“We need to get out of here!” the Scavenger yelled, advancing towards the Joker.
“Quickly! The Joker has betrayed Lord Arcane. James, create a portal. Meanwhile, I will get the piece.”
The Scavenger slammed the Joker hard against the wall, searched his clothes and fished out a piece that glowed. He pocketed it and ran towards the waiting portal as fast as he could. The portal was shrinking fast. The children were already in.
Suddenly, the Scavenger cursed himself as he realized that he had forgotten the riddle. He ran back towards the unconscious Joker.
A dark glob of energy shot towards him. He rolled away, and the glob hit the wall. The wall began to crumble. The portal was shrinking fast. The children started shouting.
The Scavenger found a strip of paper, which he pulled out and stuffed in his pocket. He had barely moved a step when a shadow leapt in front of the portal.
You cannot escape. Your boy tricked me with the wrong riddle, but I came back. He will pay, don’t worry. I have a mind to crush his bones and torture him. As I did with Mars, as I will do with you, then with this fool of a Joker.
The Scavenger was filled with rage when he heard about Mars. He looked at the portal behind the shadow, which was continually expanding and contracting. The children were trying to sustain it, but for how long, no one knew. The chamber was collapsing too.
The Scavenger looked at the second piece of the Crown in his hand. He knew he had to take the risk. Yelling defiantly, he raised the second piece. Light exploded from the piece – like a ray of sunshine in darkness, and it charged towards the shadow – the power of good.
The shadow leapt aside to avoid the collision with the beam of light. The Scavenger leapt for the portal. Just as he entered, the chamber collapsed. The Scavenger could hear the shadow’s voice shrieking, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
***
Matt was scared. He had never felt so much darkness; it seemed to be sucking at his soul and feeding on his fear. He could tell that his friends were scared too. James was shivering. Though he had managed to make and sustain the portal, it had severely drained his energy.
They all tumbled out of the portal.
Matt asked the Scavenger, “Did the Death Lord get the piece?”
The Scavenger shook his head and pulled out the piece that radiated power. “No, we were lucky this time. We could get the piece and the riddle. But I feel sad about Mars.”
Everyone observed a minute of silence.
The Scavenger looked around and saw green grass and beautiful trees all around in the gleaming sunlight. “Where are we?” the Scavenger asked James pointedly.
James shrugged. “I don’t know where the portal took us. My brain was not working properly when I created it…”
“Don’t worry about the place. We will find a way. It was important to get out from that chamber. You did a good job, James,” the Scavenger said.
“Hey! Let’s decipher the riddle for the third piece,” Matt said.
The Scavenger, pulling out a piece of paper, read aloud:
“A boon or a curse, you decide,
Win the powerful Tiger’s Hide
The altar of Arcane lost,
Melt the statue’s frost.
That’s it,” the Scavenger finished.
“But I don’t understand!” James said. “It doesn’t make much sense.”
“I think I do,” the Scavenger said. He explained, “Lord Arcane, before dying, had created an altar for himself. He covered it with frost that could only be melted by the Tiger’s Hide. He must have put the third piece in it.”
“So we have to get hold of the Tiger’s Hide first,” James speculated. “And then find the altar. Where’s this Tiger’s Hide?”
“It’s in the Tree of Wisdom,” the Scavenger replied. Wasting no time, he summoned a chariot, and they began traveling. The children got the opportunity to catch up on their sleep.
It was an hour before the Scavenger stopped the chariot and they descended to where an ordinary looking tree stood.
The Scavenger stood in front of it. A voice came out of the tree:
Well, my friends, will you be interested
If I tell you something, you would be educated
I was just joking, but this is no silly joke
Cast away the distractions, and
