The Arms of the Watcher by r. a. Ben Miller
Chapter 4; A Game of Bones
At the end of the meal, Bel Al, his son, Til, and Lar washed their hands and beards carefully. The meat and grains of the dinner had been delicious, but it would not do to get grease all over the priceless carvings of the game pieces. They walked out side into the cool evening. Torches had been carefully placed to create a well lit scene for the game. Sam Ah was getting ready to set Bel Al’s pieces.
Lar also looked at the setting. The carved wooden chairs seemed comfortable enough for the playing. He knew that these games have been known to go on for days. They might be paused for sleep and then resumed.
“Man, I love this board,” Walking around his grand father’s board, he ran his hand over the edge of the lower level. The two top layers were identical, separated by stands at all four corners. The lowest level had two sides the same size as the two upper ones. The lowest level of the three was at least five palms wider than the other two levels and had a raised edge at least one palm high to keep the dice on the table. This made an excellent throwing area for the 6 dice used in the game. Although the board was centuries old, it stood strong on its legs and the joints were glued as tight as if they had been welded. If one wished a fast game as many as 10 dice could be used, but purchase prices for taking a player or jumping levels were all doubled.
Lar looked at his uncle, “Six??? Or ten..? Host’s choice…”
“Six dice is more than enough for gentlemen…” Bel Al said and both men laughed at their joke. The people around them remained silent rather than face Sam Ah’s wrath.
Lar touched the torch to his right. As the owner of the wadi, he could make these rules. “In the unlikely event that I have not defeated you…”
“Or, I you…” Bel broke in. The crowd laughed and laughed again.
“As I was saying, before being rudely interrupted…” His uncle bowed his head in mock obeisance. The crowd laughed even harder. They knew they were in for an entertaining night. Quietly, women came and sat behind their men. Their children wrapped themselves in blankets and lay around their mothers. All moved silently lest the be sent away for annoying grown ups.
When the laughter died down, Lar continued, “We will take a sleep break when this torch burns out.
Ignoring the taunts, the older man nodded, “Agreed.”
Lar continued somberly. “Both you and I have work to do tomorrow…”
“And, day time is too hot here for much fun…” added his uncle.
“So…if you are still able to field an army after another of my aunt’s sumptuous suppers, we will resume play until dawn.”
“Or if that jewelled fortress has not already been taken by my clever forces…”
“Aiya, you old pirate! No resolution at morning blessing means a draw and you are still Champion… Of a minor tournament, but, still champion…” Now, the crowd howled with laughter.
Bel Al had taken the wrong moment to wet his tongue. His best wine was spat off to his left and he coughed a moment, trying to catch his breath. Gathering his last shreds of dignity, he waved his arms, “Just play nephew, so that I can show these infidels who is the champion here.”
First, Lar took at his fortress out of the box and handed it to Til. The shiny black onyx jewel was carved to look like the head of the Watcher. He watched his cousin place it on a red “home” square. In his mind, he reviewed strategy for that piece. The red home square is as big as four regular squares. On the middle board, there are two choices for each side. Til placed it and looked at Lar. Lar twirled his finger in the air, “I wish him to keep an eye on your pirate of a father.” The crowd, which had been watching in tense silence, roared with laughter.
Next, Lar took a large carved ruby out of the box. It was intricately fashioned as a fierce faced powerfully built man leaning on a curved scimitar. It was his sultan. He handed it to Til Al. He reminded himself that a sultan can move long distances using all of the dots showing to take lesser pieces in any direction as long as he maintains possession of at least one of his horses. However, he could be crippled in ability if he lost both horses. If captured, the sultan can only be ransomed once per game.
Next, Lar took a blue jewel from the box and handed it to Til. It was carved in the shape of a beautiful woman leaning on a delicate straight sword. This is the first sultana. “Upper right green three…up two…” he said.
The crowd craned their necks to see that green and black squares alternated across the thirteen squares of the upper board. Each row was the opposite in colored squares. At the mid point of the board, a completely black row separated both sides of the war zone. Til quickly counted three green squares from the right corner of the top board. Then, he counted two black squares forward. He placed the queen of the game carefully in the spot requested. He then place four soldiers around and in front of her in an arc for protection.
While Til was setting the sultana’s position and getting her guards in place, Lar went over his strategies for her in his mind. The sultana is the wife of the sultan and has all the powers that he has. She has one power that he does not. Her ability to move is not tied to horses, so, she can be treacherous from any direction through out the game. If the sultan can make it to any four of the twelve gold corner squares on the board, he places a territorial marker in that corner and the other sultan cannot use that corner to win another wife. Once he has four corner stones in place, he wins another wife and removes the stones.
Lar then took some measly dirt colored pebbles out of his box and placed then along the ridge of his throwing zone. “Recognize these, my uncle?”
Bel Al exclaimed, “Aiya, nephew, these appear to be some of the marked stones that we played with back in my father in law’s hunting camp when you were a mere pup of a boy.” Bel Al always acted as if he were far senior to his nephew even though he was only five gatherings older than Lar.
“Truly, uncle, your eyes still work despite your advanced age. As you can see, these are truly the same soldier stones that I used when I taught you this game.”
Bel Al jumped up, “An outrageous lie, nephew…For any who remembers know that I taught you this game when you were a mere slip of a shadow of the man that you now are!” The crowd roared with laughter. These exchanges were common among the best players.
Lar paid no attention to the outburst. He continued going over his strategies in his head. Once the sultan is ransomed, he can resume tagging corners to win more wives back up to a maximum of three. As long as there are horses remaining in his army, the sultan and one of his sultanas can split the number of dots showing and move together. A sultan can only make this daring move with one wife at a time and if four dice match in a double-double roll, If a wife gets taken, she stays off the board until she can be ransomed with the four corner gambit, as stated above. Two sultanas can be paid as ransom for a sultan. As before, once he has returned to the board, he can win more wives after being ransomed back to three wives again.
The next two stones are wrapped together. Lar took the two tall thin figures from the soft leather cover and handed both of them to Til Al. Til looked at the figures in each hand while he waited for Lar to give him placement instructions. Each stone is of a pure golden, yellow stone intricately carved as a tall, thin man with a wand. This piece is called the Vizir. Lar tells Til Al where he wants them placed, “Lower corners please.” While his cousin is placing the Vizir’s in place and putting three soldiers in strategic points around them, Lar reminds himself of strategy for these two pieces.
The Vizir is a helper . He doesn’t capture pieces. He can, how ever, be part of the team that surrounds and captures the fortress in a classic closing move. If a player throws double sixes, the Vizir’s job is to cast spells. His spells freeze a player in place if they are less than six squares away. The frozen player cannot move until they throw double sixes as well. However, if your vizir is within six squares, spells can be undone by your wizir with double three or more.
It came time to place Lar’s horses. He
Bel Al stood to admire the new additions to Lar’s side. “By the Master’s beard, nephew, what do you call these?”
“Uncle…they are my horses.”
“They do not look like horses to me.”
“Do you not recognize your own fabrications…”
“Fabrications? What are you implying?”
“Well… creations then…These, sir, are meant to be carved replicas of your infamous Jang Shi dragons…”
“Maybe they appear similar…”
“Uncle…in all those exciting stories that you scared my child hood dreams with… You described them so well that I felt a need to create these to honor your stories.”
“But dragons as horses???”
“Did you not teach me that they were the mighty dragon horses of the all powerful Chin Khan. The ones he used to conquer Chin Ah.”
“Maybe I have a vague memory of some trifling children’s tales”
“Well I took them as truth… Or so you said in the stories that you and your dad told me when I was a mere child.” Every one there had sat by campfires and listened to Bel Al’s stories. All who had listened to the telling and retelling of fireside stories of Bel Al and his father’s trips among the mighty Chin roared with laughter. Once the laughter died down, the crowd pounded their thighs in applause for the spectacularly beautiful new game pieces.
Gently, Bel Al picked up the carving and turned it in his hand, “Is this your work, nephew?”
“Yes, “ Lar said quietly.
“These fine sculptures prove that you are a worthy Watch Man. These are a fine addition to the exquisite pieces all your ancestors have made.” He placed the dragon gently back on his space.
“Thank you, uncle.” More quiet applause drifted over them.
Bel Al took a puff from his hookah and blew smoke rings at Lar, “It will be an honor stealing your newly carved dragon horses, my nephew.” The crowd roared its approval.
Through the uproar, Lar reminded himself of horse strategy and functions. Horses can be captured by the other army if they were unlucky enough to be landed on with an exact number by the sultan or the sultana or even another horse. Once the sultan has lost both his horses, he is limited to moving only one dice value per roll. Horses cannot be ransomed. The thief keeps any horses stolen.
The owner of a horse can cause his figure to escape intended capture by rolling doubles more than three which would allow it to jump a level up or down and escape as long as no one is blocking those spaces above or below. Twenty one smaller stones shaped as identically carved helmets represent Lar’s foot soldiers. They can be used as shields from magic spells and as horse thieves. At least three soldiers are required to trap a horse for 2 rolls. If the player who owns that horse cannot jump up or down to escape with in those two rolls, the horse is said to be stolen and is retired from the rest of that game. Four threes would allow the horse to reverse the capture of the three foot soldiers and remove them from the board
Both men circled the board. First Bel Al and then Lar would stop, and move closer then change the position of a piece. They were looking at each other’s placements, assessing how each opponent had set his army and judged how their own pieces would be matched. He noticed, as if for the first time, his intricately carved pieces of jeweled stone and the finely chiseled bone pieces on his uncles portion of the board, “I see before me a sultan’s true ransom, my uncle. These beautiful pieces are a far cry from those marked pebbles of our youthful matches.”
Continuing to look intently at the locations of his pieces, Bel Al mumbled “Aiya, my nephew, we are truly blessed. “
Taking another turn around the table, Lar now looked closely at the location of his fortress. It is a replica of the Old Man’s head cleverly carved from a black, shiny stone. It always sits on the middle level. He moved it from his red home square on one side to the opposite red home square on the other side. “Today, I think that I prefer this side…: he said absently.
Bel Al continued to move some of his pieces in response to Lar’s machinations. “Almost ready…” he said to himself.
Lar changed his mind about the placing both horses on the top level with his sultan. Lar took the pale green dragon and moved him to the lower level, trading it with the carved yellow jewel Vizir. He also moved his orange vizir to the lower left corner and the yellow one to the upper right corner. Satisfied, he sat back and watched as Bel Al made final adjustments.
When his father had also leaned back in his chair to indicate readiness to play, Til Al came forward with an intricately painted box of beautiful black wood. He said softly, “The bones…”
Lar, as the guest, picked first. Looking at the hundreds of choices in the box, he drew three die out one by one. He hefted each one in his hand. He tossed them on his side of the throwing area. He tried seven dice before he found three that he liked. Til Al took the box to his father, Bel Al repeated the procedure, trying more that ten dice before he found three to his liking.
They rolled their three dice for first move. Bel Al scored twelve. Lar rolled is three dice and scored a fifteen. Lar took his three bones and Bel Al’s three from the two throwing areas. The bones are six sided cubes of hard, shiny stones with dots on each side one through six. A player can accumulate a maximum of thirty six moves. A throw of double three’s or better entitles a player to jump up or down a level. Jumping costs you your two highest dice values. That player can use the remaining dot values to move around the new level if the way is not blocked.
Finally, they both sat and took a cup from the brass tray. Bel Al and Lar touched cups and took a drink. “Good Luck, uncle.”
“Skill has always been more valuable to me than luck, my favorite nephew.” Snickers were heard from the crowd. They were quickly silenced by a scowl from Sam Ah.
To light applause, the rolls began in earnest and they began to play. Lar’s first throw is five 5’s and a two. In a bold move, he moves both his Vizirs forward seven spaces and jumps two soldiers to the middle level. Because he had thrown five of a kind, he also had the next throw. Bel Al slumped in his chair at his bad luck. Lar’s next roll is six fours. Lar moved his sultan, his sultana, and both dragons to the middle level. His Sultana sidled up to Bel Al’s castle. In his next move,
As his uncle’s discomfort increases, Lar rolls a twenty seven with four sixes. The orange Vizir froze Bel Al’s Sultana and Lar’s Sultan captured her. With the remaining dots, Both dragons took up capturing positions on either side of Bel Al’s castle. On his next move, he rolled five fives and a three. He moved his Sultan into capturing position and set his soldiers around for protection. ‘’
“That has got to be the stupidest move I have ever seen you make, nephew.”
Lar licked his dry lips. He had never tried such a wild attack plan before in his life, “Lets find out…” He rolled again and he had thrown nineteen with four fours. He used these dots to move his foot soldiers around, surrounding both of Bel Al’s horses. If Lar was unable to roll another double-double, Bel Al would be able to play. Once his uncle was freed to play, Lar was sure that a player of his skill would take advantage of the fact that all of Lar’s pieces are now grouped for easy picking.
“You’ll never pull it off, Watch Man.” Bel Al said in a low, growly voice as he sat forward tensely.
“Let’s find out…” and he quickly rolled again. The dot count was twenty one. It was a one and five fours. “Aiya…” was all that the older man said as he stalked off in the darkness. The people cheered for a while. Lar just sat there smiling. People gathered their belongings and children
Aficionados of the sweet game, as they call Bones, were discussing the boldness of Lars lightning fast strategy. Only a few were grumbling about the brevity of the match hardly being worth watching.
Til Al bowed low before his cousin. While the crowd was dispersing, he had rewrapped Lar’s pieces and returned them to their safe place carefully. Sam Ah had also been wrapping and stowing Bel Al game pieces at the same time. Til Al held Lar’s box of pieces in his arms. The same four men from before dinner were standing by the table. “We are ready to return your valuables to your home, most honored cousin.”
Lar stood, “All right…let’s go.”
He followed the men as they carried his belongings back into the safety of his lower cave. Once the men had returned the board set to its resting place, the men were dismissed. Til and Lar then covered it lovingly. That board was their family treasure both as family and as gamers. Once done, Til turned and bowed again, “I swear that I have never seen such a lightning fast game. It was the total undoing of my father. But it would have been the undoing of any champion.”
“All luck… The chance of throwing double doubles six times in a row is astronomically lucky.”
“No…well…yes that was pretty unbelievable.”
“They were my rolls and I cant really believe it.”
“It was a match that will be spoken of in hushed tones for years to come.”
“Luck is still luck.”
“No, my beloved cousin…the stories will tell of your skill before the match even began…”
“What skill?”
“Your mastery will be described to have been shown in the set up.”
Lar looked baffled, “What..?”
“All who watched saw how you moved your pieces so that my father would move some of his pieces in response…”
“I was just messing with his head.”
“Well you accomplished that. He will be a long time recovering from your ummm gamesmanship.” They both laughed.
“Good night, cousin.”
“Good night, Watch Man. See you at dinner tomorrow.”
“I would not miss any of Tanta’s meals…They are a treasure to me.” They grabbed forearms in the Bed Ou fashion and parted. Lar was tired. He headed for bed.
The next evening, Lar went to his uncle’s tent. He was treated as an honored guest. After a fine meal, Lar had let his uncle beat him at Rounders. Rounders is a dice driven chase game. They played until nearly dawn. They stopped when the torches guttered and failed. Lar got up to leave, “Another great evening, Uncle.”
Bel Al was a gracious winner, “My darling nephew, it is always great to spend time with Thee.”
“As she requested at dinner, I must say good night to my aunt.” He got up, leaving his uncle in the dark.
Looking back, He saw that his uncle was reclined, puffing his hookah and blowing smoke rings at the moon.
Bel Al called to Lar across the space between the two tents, “Aiya, nephew, you will have no peace if you ignore the royal summons.”
Lar laughed as he went to his aunt’s tent and knocked on her door pole. His aunt met him in the dark out side of her tent. She pulled him inside, “Lar, ma sweet nephew. I must talk with Thee. As your mother is not here, I feel compelled to speak for her.”
They sat in the tiny tent lit by only one small lamp.She held his hand in the near darkness “How many Gatherings since our darling Han died, ma a fi’..?”
“I don’t remember, Tanta“ he lied.
“Then I will remember for Thee. It is four Gatherings since her ashes blew off the top of the Watcher. It is time to bring more life into your house.”
A tear dripped down into his beard, “My house is nothing but cold, stone caves, Tanta.”
“They are now. Your mourning time should be ended. I implore you to seek a wife when the People come to worship the Watcher and gather his tears.”
“We will see, my darling Tanta…” He hugged her and left. Tears were pouring down his face as he made his way to his bed. Like so many nights, he cried himself to sleep.