Kre swallowed the next words he had been ready to say and thought for a moment. A long moment. “The other night, I thought I saw someone walking around the house. Not close, about a stone’s throw away, but he… or she must have circled a few times. I was nearing the crossroads and it just struck me as odd, so I knelt down and waited.”
Cooter’s face was as impassive as ever, but Kre felt that he wanted the younger man to continue. “I remember that I lost track of him as he went around the back of the house the last time. Still, I waited a bit before I headed home.” Kre shrugged, “I thought about… well, I should have come to see you right away, but it was late and I was tired, plus you weren’t expecting me. That’s not really a good excuse, is it?”
With a sigh, the older man reached across the board and ruffled Kre’s hair. “You’re being honest now, and no one can fault you for that. It’s my own damn rules about unwanted visitors that’s to blame here.” He sat back in his chair again, but his eyes were no longer on Kre or the game of Tehynji, they were focused on the window behind Kre’s head. He sat staring for a while until Kre started to wonder if the old man even recalled his presence.
Finally, after a few long moments, Cooter shook his head and sighed. “Sorry lad,” he muttered quickly. He glanced down at the board and tapped on the piece that Kre had masterfully moved into position. “You realize, of course, that this move has won you the match?”
Kre had not, in fact, realized that particular detail. He looked the board over and shook his head. “No sir, I don’t see it.”
The boy expected a note of disappointment in Cooter’s voice, but instead heard only light-hearted whimsy. “It’s several moves away, but your breach of my line with such a powerful piece. I have no pieces in the near vicinity that can take yours before it takes half my army away.”
Gesturing to a piece near the back of Cooter’s side, Kre asked, “What about your Shadow Knight?” The Shadow piece was always a tough one to use effectively. It could take the place of any of a player’s other pieces, effectively removing the other piece from the board, but when coupled with a powerful card like the Knight, there weren’t many other pieces on the board that could take it out.
Cooter shook his head, “You forget that the Shadow piece is a defensive tile only. It can move only to take the place of another, not to attack.” He tapped his Shadow piece and gave Kre a hard look, “Listen well, if you learn nothing else here today, learn this. The Knight is truly a powerful card, but it is more powerful as a defensive tool. Combined with a Shadow, you can effectively deploy an impenetrable force.”
Kre nodded. He still couldn’t see the endgame as clearly as Cooter could, but what he said made sense with all of the other rules and techniques that the old man had stuffed into the young man’s head.
“That ends today’s game. Congratulations boy, you won your first match.” Cooter stood and extended his hand.
Still not quite understanding the how of it, Kre stood and automatically shook the older man’s hand. He looked up but Cooter was back to staring out the window again.
“Best be off with you lad,” Cooter said quickly. “You’ll be needing your rest if we want to get an early start moving the feed to the shed.”
Kre was pretty much out the door and halfway to the crossroads before he realized that he had been dismissed so quickly and easily. Still, the boy drew it up to another quirk of the old man and continued on his way.
Just at the crossroads, however, Kre took a look back and noticed that the old man had two lights shining in a single window. More oddity, but strangely normal for Terry Cootsman.