Page 12 of Love Is A Draw
Victor came into the half-light, lips tightening as he met the baron’s eyes. “Is there something you wanted, sir?”
List smiled. Cold. Deliberate. “Oh yes. To remind you of your place. He was a bitter old man who became nothing but a sagging lump of disgruntled mumbling.”
“How dare you say that if you know nothing of his life?” Victor shouted.
“Nothing, you say?” List snorted with vicious emphasis. “I know all there is to know about an old Jew. He couldn’t remain in his place. Didn’t know when to stop playing. And he overreached his station.”
“What station?” Victor widened his eyes, wishing he could shoot burning arrows at List, but the man, made of ice, wasimmune to anything to do with feelings, honor, or earning one’s place.
“Jews belong on the roads within the Pale of Settlement. Peddlers and vermin share the same paths, you know.”
“Is that so?” Victor balled his fists at his sides. “And why do you believe that’s where we belong? What could possibly feed such a delusional conviction, hm?”
“Delusional?” List sputtered a laugh. “You’re the delusional one. No better than Dmitry. I remember when he invited players from Normandy, Lombardy, and Venetia, even Murcia.”
“Because he wasn’t allowed to leave and play against them, they came to him! It was an honor to face him!”
“Yes, the fantastic grandmaster Dmitry…” List’s fake smile resembled the grimace of a pirate about to kick a hostage into a circle of sharks.
“It was worth it for them to come and play against him. He wasthatgood!”
“And if only he could have left to play around the world, he would have been a legend, blah, blah, blah.” List took a wide stance and crossed his arms.
“He would have been famous and free, yes. But he was a legend even locked into a small geographic area.” Victor’s stance was wider, but it wasn’t built to win this argument.
“He used them all up! He just… just… see comments aboveer konnte nicht in seiner Bank bleiben und den Kopf unten halten, was?” He couldn’t just sit on his bench and keep his head low, could he?
“Why should he? He was the most talented and creative player of his time! And he shriveled up like a flower wilting because every time he tried to break out of this geographic prison, he felt as though he was knocking his head against walls. He was kept low like a stallion trying to break free. Why couldn’t people just let him spread his mind as wide and free as hispotential allowed? Didn’t the world see what they were doing to a brilliant mind? How could it not matter?”
“Because a Jewish mind doesn’t matter. It’s how the world is, boy. Accept it.”
Victor nearly stomped his foot. “I will never accept that. And even though I’ll never aspire to be even half as brilliant as Dmitry, I refuse to let noblemen like you stop me from trying to achieve everything life has in store for me.”
“Life, boy, has nothing in store for you. Take my word for it.”
“Nonsense, List. Your word means nothing—noble in title but rotten in deed. Skill, practice, and talent rule as soon as the slightest crack of open-mindedness reaches a regime. And it has with the Regent in England.”
“If talent matters so much and he’s that talented, where is he now? Hunched over a nice warm fire in his cottage, while you’re out fighting his battles, hm?”
“He’s over seventy-two years old! Where could he possibly go?” Victor’s heart constricted in his chest, cutting his next thought short. What if he wasn’t alive anymore?
“Wo soll’ne Ratte schon hin wollen?” Where would a rat want to go?
“London?” Victor growled.
“Ah, well, perhaps. If one buys into the myth that this is the greatest and largest city in Europe. But for all its size, it’s never been truly Catholic, has it? Not like Rome. Not like Vienna. A city without the proper faith lacks the fullness of greatness.”
“There are plenty of Catholics here, but also Jews and many others. Why can’t we all coexist in freedom? Not something you could understand.”
“And what would you think they’d do together? Play a game of chess?” List spoke as if he were telling a dirty joke. “Who’d win?”
“The best player would win. Chess is like math. It’s logical. And even though its board has only black and white squares, chess is universally blind to colors, religions, wealth, and even luck.”
“If you’re so sure of that, perhaps you ought to play me sometime? I’ll show you what it truly means to be above you. Put you in your place, boy.”
“P-put me in my… and what place would that be?”
“The loser.”
