-- Lilith POV --

  Another boring day had passed, even that she had been working at the forge. It was near impossible to pick up any of the forging methods which Bernard used, and whenever she had a chance to watch and ask, he just gave superficial answers. Nothing which explained why it was done this way and not another, nothing to let her understand the forces at play any better.

  Now though, she watched a game board, and this time she knew the forces at play. A war, shrunk to the scale of a board game. Two huge armies impersonated by small game pieces. Twenty pieces on each side, pike men, archers, riders, siege engines even. Each piece carved in fine detail from wood, lacquered and polished to a high shine, the pieces of the one side kept in a sandy, light color, the other a dark, rich and warm brown like fresh chestnuts showed it. She appreciated the craftsmanship which had been applied, even if she had preferred marble pieces, or some other type of stone.

  She looked up from the board and over to Princess Lisa. Lisa was dressed as fashionable as a princess can be, even that it was evening and this was supposed to be a casual, relaxing event. Same could be said for herself, she wore one of the dresses the royal tailor had crafted just for her.

  The princess didn't notice her look, she was deeply focused on the game and she turned her eyes back to the board as well.

  A new idea of Princess Lisa after the daily royal pet and fashion show routine had lost it's novelty. Games evenings in the princess' private quarters. She had liked the idea when Lisa had proposed it. Certainly, the guards now and then played cards or dice games with her for entertainment, but either she lost by intention, or won by intention and everyone knew, whatever the outcome, luck was involved only in very small doses if at all. Just juggling with Sam was a real challenge, a rather fun one actually, but Sam was the only guard who could juggle. She smiled a bit at the thought of their juggling.

  Now this game though. This one game was terribly hard to cheat at.

  Princess Lisa was sitting across of her at the other side of the checkered board, watching her pieces intently, and even if she didn't like to admit it, she was losing the game. Losing at a game! A thought she had considered almost impossible recently.

  But they wrote down each move, the name of the piece, the new location of the piece, and even that she could change the color of a piece on the board, make it hers whenever no one was looking, or move it to a different square whenever Princess Lisa was distracted, the manipulation was too easy to notice with the records. And there was no way she could change what Princess Lisa had jotted down on the sheet of paper. She could see cards, she could hex dice, she could chose head or tail for a falling coin. She could even change the color of a game piece to make it change sides and play for her. But she could not change a line of writing on paper.

  A demon proof game. At least until she found a new trick. She smiled briefly at the thought. It certainly was only a matter of time.

  Laws and rules were usually things she liked, they kept the world in order, made things run with little friction. At least the good laws did so. But in a game? Games were not the real world, and the rules were guidelines rather than law.

  But however she tried to think about it, there was no denial. She was stuck. She could just chose which piece to lose first, but once it began, her army would unravel like knitted cloth once a thread ripped.

  "Hey Lilith", Princess Lisa's voice woke her from her thoughts, "It just occurred to me, you never complained about your room there in the prison."

  She looked at Lisa, a bit confused, but also took the chance to move one of her pike man pieces a square backwards on the board, to rescue it from the immediate line of attack. Maybe the topic provided enough distraction for the change to go unnoticed. "There was nothing to complain about? The room is dry, I've got a comfortable bed, a cabinet and wardrobe, a table, chairs and now I even have a stove. It's the best room I've had so far. I can certainly say I like it," she said in a friendly manner and smiled at Lisa.

  "The guards told me you have a forged something, a flower with petals, which are perpetually covered in hoarfrost. Like magic frost," Lisa continued and the board seemed to be forgotten for the moment.

  She nodded with a sad expression, when she remembered the time with John, but smiled again once the feeling of success won over the sadness, "It was an old idea, from when I worked with John. I had just learned the frost rune, tried it on a slate and found the growing hoarfrost quite intriguing. At the time I wanted to ask John if he could forge an iron flower to hold frost runes. I liked the idea, but we never got to try, always busy with other things. So, now I've tried it by myself. The leaves and petals are all a bit different from each other, but it turned out quite nicely."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  With a light huff she added, "It certainly would help if Bernard was willing to teach me proper forging."

  Lisa nodded a little, "I can understand, but mom won't agree to that. I can cover it though, that you can practice on your own in the forge after the daily work is done."

  Now she felt bad about having moved the pike man piece to a stronger position with her trickster skills and moved it back to where it had been.

  "A frost covered metal flower," Princess Lisa mused and gazed into the distance before looking back at her, "What other ornamental pieces do you like?"

  She thought about it for a while before she answered, "Gargoyles, or just anything nice made from stone. Carved columns, sculptures, reliefs. But gargoyles are the best."

  "So, would you like more decorations for your room?" Princess Lisa asked.

  Now she was happy that the pike man piece was back in position, "A gargoyle would be nice. The classic one. A strong body, four legs, dog faced and with wings. Such one, sitting on a column would be perfect. I'm sure I can charm a spider or two as companions for the gargoyle."

  Princess Lisa looked surprised, "You can charm spiders?"

  She laughed, "A skill that comes handy if sitting in a cell becomes just too boring. Some can weave quite intricate webs. Others just make a big mess of strings. Funnily they are all good at catching prey, regardless if they are orderly or chaos born."

  "Interesting", Princess Lisa replied, "so far spiders were just an annoyance for me to get rid of. Even if I knew that some can make rather nice webs. The palace is no place for spiders and their webs."

  With some determination, Princess Lisa looked back to the board, moved a rider and took her pike man piece, "I'll ask the royal statuary to make a gargoyle for you. The column should not be an issue at all."

  She smiled and gave a nod, "Thank you Princess. It's very appreciated."

  Move by move she was losing pieces on the board, but it still felt like she had won. A gargoyle! Nevertheless she managed to set up a proper defense with her remaining army, and Princess Lisa was losing pieces almost as quickly as she did, but eventually her warlord fell.

  "Now what do you think about the game?" Princess Lisa asked.

  "It's quite the challenge. I haven't found a way yet to cheat at it", she had to admit and bowed her head for a moment. "But I'll keep working on it."

  Princess Lisa laughed, "So cheating is the actual challenge, not playing better? How could I have expected something else."

  She just replied with a friendly smile.

  Then the princess looked at the hour glass on the dresser, "It was nice to play, but it's getting late, Lilith. I'll send message once I can make time for another games evening. Or just let you know during our walks."

  "It was a pleasure to play", she bowed her head again.

  "Margareth!", despite the late hour, Princess Lisa's voice still had commanding energy.

  Just a little later the door opened, a handmaid came into the room and bowed, "You have called, princess?"

  Princess Lisa got up and nodded, "Yes. Margareth, please call the guards to escort Lilith safely back to her room."

  The handmaid bowed, "Very well," and vanished again, closing the door behind her.

  She got up as well, and once again quietly cursed the fact that she was so much taller than Princess Lisa, "I wish you a good night and pleasant sleep, princess."

  "Same to you, Lilith", Princess Lisa replied and attached the platinum-weave leash to her collar, disguised as jewelry, "Sorry for that, but mom insists on it."

  She shrugged lightly, "It doesn't hurt me, princess," but was interrupted when it knocked at the door.

  "Who's there?" Princess Lisa demanded with energy in her voice.

  "Guards," came the slightly muted answer from the door.

  They walked to the door and the princess opened it. Two guards whose names she didn't know were waiting, fully armed and armored and she made sure to stop a bit behind Lisa.

  "Keep her safe and bring her back to her cell. I don't want to hear any complaints," Princess Lisa ordered and handed the end of the leash to the higher ranking guard.

  "Of course, princess", the man bowed briefly.

  "Alright Lilith, I'll see you next morning for our walk," Princess Lisa smiled at her.

  "See you then," she bowed lightly once more.

  "Alright demon, come. Play time's over," the higher ranking guard ordered. She had to duck a little when she stepped through the door frame. It was always annoying to hit her horns against the top, even if that used to damage the frame more than her. Behind them, the door was closed and she was led through the meanwhile well known hallways of the palace towards one of the smaller gates, which opened out into the park.

  "So, did you win the princess' soul yet, demon?" the one guard asked.

  "No, she hasn't offered me to play for her soul so far," she replied with a soft smile.

  "You certainly have won her heart though", the other guard remarked and both laughed.

  They walked through the park and the nightly city, the air cold and crisp and her hooves hit the stone tiled sidewalks with the well known clip-clop sounds. Even at night, in this city it never became fully dark. Lanterns lined at least the major streets and their light obscured some of the stars in the sky. It was still pleasant, calm and quiet, to be out this late in the evening.

  "What did you win this time, demon? A new stove? You know, I'll never understand how you managed that," the higher ranking guard said.

  "I won a gargoyle," she replied with a smile as they walked on.

  "A gargoyle? Huh. What do you want with a gargoyle in your cell? I mean, I can understand the stove, a warm place in winter is nice. But a gargoyle?" the guard asked.

  "I'll name it Gregory and make it my pet", she let him know.

  "Right," the other guard declared and opened the front door to the prison, "That will be the first time someone in here has a pet. Even if it's just stone. But you are the first to receive food with meat and the first to have a heated cell. So I'm not surprised by anything anymore."