I was rereading Prince Caspian after watching the movie (asking myself yet again where the fanfiction of a middle and ending came from) and when Susan picked up the chess piece I felt that there was a story behind it. After all how did Narnians learn to play chess to begin with? Probably not from Frank, the ex-cabbie...

Chessmen

It was a bright, airy room full of cheerful tapestries and curiously carved chairs and cabinets made of cedar and ivory and other lovely things.

Lucy called it the "Breathing Room".

Edmund had pointed out that most of Narnia had breathable air, actually air that was far more breathable than that of London.

But all three of her older siblings had known what she meant. It was a quiet, peaceful kind of place with West-facing windows that flooded it with long, golden shafts of afternoon sun.

Currently, all four of Narnia's Kings and Queens were absorbing the warm sunshine of the breathing room. The High King had his face in an old treatise called Laws and Customs of Pre-Galean Narnia which he was attempting to use as proof in his debate with King Edmund. Said monarch was leaning carelessly against a chair leg polishing his sword and picking precise and deadly holes in his brother's argument.

Queen Susan was deftly fitting a new sleeve to her younger brother's favorite tunic since a certain Sir Troyfen had been rude enough to run his sword through the original fabric. Queen Lucy was perched on arm of her brother's chair knitting a scarf for Mr. Tumnus and humming a new tune that she had just learnt from Amlai, her Dryad friend. In all it was a very nice family gathering.

Until Edmund started bemoaning the deplorable lack of chess in Narnia.

"It is rather ridiculous" he said sadly, "We live in a world full of knights and queens and castles and no one here plays chess."

"I doubt they know what chess is" pointed out Peter giving up on the Laws and Customs of Pre-Galean Narnia.

"But chess is so boring" declared Lucy.

"It teaches strategy and exercises one's mind"

"Strategy?" asked Susan, "It does nothing of the sort, your battles are patterned on the exact opposite of chess with you two" she pointed at her brothers, "right at the front in the thick of the battle. The king in chess just sits around guarded by everyone else."

"True, but it teaches one about an opponent and his strengths and weaknesses" clarified Edmund, "I believe we could use it on ambassadors and princes."

"By Jove, we could!" exclaimed Peter, "We could have the dwarves craft the board, gold and silver figures and all. It's much better than plying them with wine the way they used to do in Archenland."

"The pawns could be different Narnian races, fauns, centaurs, stags and bears." called Lucy.

"Dryads instead of bishops" suggested Susan becoming interested in spite of herself.

"Right, then" said Edmund, "I'll go see Thornthump about it now."

"Poor Narnia" whispered Susan as he dashed away, "Edmund is setting off to teach chess…"

Prince Bogota of Muil let his eyes wander about the spacious antechamber of Cair Paravel. While the white stone walls and beautiful decorations were a feast for the eyes he could see that they were also meant for use. Those deceptively white, unblemished walls would remain firm even in a siege while the ornaments were tasteful and meant to be used, not merely looked at.

He was quite frankly impressed at this Narnian ability to marry functionality with beauty. He had yet to actually meet the human inhabitants of the land but he had seen two girls working in the garden, even the serving girls' dresses were bright-colored and fine albeit simple.

The Centaur was back, no doubt to tell him that his multiplicity of monarchs were ready to receive him.

He followed the Centaur carefully, he was not one for overdressing but he double-checked for wrinkles as the centaur lead him towards the throne room. The great carved doors swung open and he heard someone announcing him, but all he saw were the renowned Kings and Queens.

Four thrones of some dark and shining wood, inlayed with gold. The Four were young, the king that dominated the center with his bright presence could not have lived for more than eighteen or so years, and the rest were younger still. But they were not children, Bogota recognized that at once, not even the fair-haired maiden that was Queen Lucy.

At the High King's right sat King Edmund, fair-haired like his brother and younger sister, grey eyes alert and heavy with wisdom.

The Elder Queen was dark-haired and dark eyed, wise also and gracious. Bogota could feel the warm welcome in in her glance.

And then he realized that he had mistaken the queens for servant girls that morning and his respect increased for them tenfold. These were kings and queens that he could see working with their people, living with them, dying for them if need be.

He felt uncharacteristically pleased when they invited him to dine with that afternoon. It was a merry meal, full of good cheer and fair speech. The Four were powerful monarchs in the throne room and on the battlefield but here in private they were light-hearted and young, still he could not put away the thought that even this meal was a test. Of what he was not quite sure.

He was also unsure of how he ended up playing a strange game with the younger king but he discovered that he rather liked it. There was a checkered board made of lacquered wood and gold with delicate figurines, the point of the game being to "checkmate" the other side's king.

The figurines themselves were works of art. They were gold and silver, bejeweled and perfectly crafted, ruby-eyed horses and gold-cloaked knights, silver-coated stags and golden-horned fauns.

The Silver King was tall and slender, his golden hair encircled by a light crown and a sheathed sword in his hands. The Queen was smiling and bright-eyed, golden tresses falling unbound about her shoulders, a dagger by her side and an oblong diamond in her hand.

The Gold King was broad-chested and mighty, a naked blade in his hand and a great crown upon his brow. Beside him the Queen stood tall and willowy, ebony hair reaching to her ankles and a bow and quiver upon her back.

Bogota knew their faces.

King Edmund laughed lightly when he noticed his companion's preoccupation with the chessmen.

"Who will you play as?" he asked, "Gold or Silver?"

Bogota bowed.

"Who do you play as King Edmund? Your brother, the High King or yourself?"

King Edmund smiled, "Always I will play for my brother as myself, on the battlefield and in counsel but here in chess I would play as Silver."

And Prince Bogota played the Gold and lost and was not ashamed.

Oh, and Prince Bogota is nice, people seem to assume that every last prince, count, lord, duke, king etc was out to steal Susan or Lucy and are general rogues. I am sure that there were plenty of those, but I think Narnia is more likely to have nice princes, kings, lords etc than Earth. Not everyone is a Miraz, Gumpus or Rabadash.

Shire Rose