An Iron Pawn

by Eathlome

Wooden Claws

An Iron Pawn

Wooden Claws

---

While I was chasing after the last Timber Wolf, Cora had clambered from my arms back to 'her place' on my shoulder. I was keeping pace with my quarry, while it had the home field advantage, and greater agility than I did, I was content to go through obstacles, rather than around them.

'Huh? Where did it go?'

I glanced around, the timber wolf I had been following had just made a dive to the ground, than disappeared. I leaped up onto a pile of dirt and fallen branches, to get a higher vantage point. Gravity disagreed with me, and I soon found myself crashing through the mound, and falling into a rather deep pit.

My landing was... unique. The only thing that I could compare it to would be jumping off a ladder and landing on a balloon filled with jam.

As I hit the bottom I heard a combination of a pop and a squelch. I glanced down at my legs, which were now covered in the innards of what looked like it was once a very large spider.

'See, this is why I rarely bother to clean up.'

Cora giggled at my plight. Then she pointed to the side of the pit, where the timber wolf I had been chasing was stuck.

"That's where it went."

'What, did you expand your domain to encompass all things obvious now?'

Cora glared at me, then huffed. I chuckled to myself, before reeling back my fist.

'Well, this is the last one.'

My fist sped forward, and was about to smash through the remaining timber wolf's chest, when Cora shouted out.

"WAIT!"

My fist halted, barely half an inch from the wolf. I turned to Cora.

'What?'

Cora looked at the wolf for a while.

"You serve Terra. Why did you shout out 'Celestia save me'?"

After listening for a moment Cora continued her unheard conversation.

"How is it a force of habit? That wouldn't make sense, unless you aren't a timber wolf, but clearly you are."

More silence.

"A not-timber wolf? That doesn't make sense. If you're not a timber wolf than what are you?"

...

Cora crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm an ancient goddess who controls the very core of this planet. He," Cora patted my head, "Is probably the most fearsome warrior of all time. Try me."

Silence again.

Cora clapped her hands and gave a small giggle.

"Did you hear that?" Cora asked, turning to me.

I looked at her for a moment before responding.

'No, I did not. I can't hear half of this conversation.'

Cora raised a finger to her lips.

"Oops? I'll fix that right now."

Cora quickly dug her hands into my head, phasing through the iron. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I've had worse.

When she withdrew them I looked at the timber wolf, still stuck to the side of the pit.

'Now, what did you tell her?'

The timber wolf's reply was almost a question.

'Umm... I'm a human?'

I looked at the timb- no, the other player. They had ran, so they clearly weren't completely inept, but I could tell that this guy wasn't much of a fighter. Cora tapped the side of my head.

"So? What do you think?"

'Probably a mid-level pawn, at best. Maybe if he healed up a bit he could do better, but the way he is now?' I paused and thought about what I should say next, 'He might be of use, but probably not.'

"Well if he might be of use, then we should take him." Cora chirped.

I shrugged and grabbed the other player, before ripping him off the wall.

'Try not to land funny.'

'Wait, wha-' the player yelped.

I then wound up, and chucked him out of the pit. Then began to climb of after him, Cora laughing from her place on my shoulder.

Once I pulled myself out, the other player looked at me.

'Not cool,' He said, 'but... thanks anyways.'

He looked at us for a moment longer.

'Just why do you want to see Terra anyways?'

I looked at Cora, she gave me a grin.

"A family reunion!"

The player stood there for a moment, dumbstruck.

'Wait... YOU are her sister?! I thought you would be more.... pony-ish...'

Cora raised an eyebrow,

"Well you're a human, shouldn't you look more human-ish?"

If I had still been made of flesh and blood, I would have been trying very hard not to laugh.

The other player clearly didn't enjoy Cora's sense of humor, as he glared at her.

'Whatever,' he muttered, 'I guess I should take you to Terra now... '

"ALL RIGHT!" Cora shouted gleefully, "THAT WAY!" Cora pointed off towards the distance.

I started to walk in the direction she had indicated, before turning towards the player.

'So, do you have a name?'

'Well... I call myself Twigleaf here. I kinda made it up on the spot.'

Wow, just wow. Really? Twigleaf? Now I'm not going to judge the guy, but I'm going to guess that he wasn't the most creative thing alive.

'Adam. So Kindlingfern, how much do you know?'

Twigleaf gave me an agitated look. Ha, too easy.

'Not much... I thought it was all conjecture when I got sent here. I don't even know who my 'Chess Master' is. Or whatever Terra called them.'

I gave a little thought to this. So Twig was a complete newbie. Well I guess it's time for a lesson. No one can say I'm not helpful. Well, unless I'm killing them.

'Alright. You are in a game. Gods from all the different pantheons participate. The games can be for fun or, more commonly, for power. Since the gods and goddesses can't directly interfere in the game, they use pieces, like you and me, to do their work for them. Based on your current strength you're a low-to-mid level pawn.'

'A-a pawn?' Twig seemed to be slightly insulted. 'Well... I can't argue there... I did almost die a few days ago.' I thought for a moment. 'wait. You talk like you have done this before. How?'

'Well I've been in games before this one.'

Twig seemed to be interested.

'What was it like?'

I thought for a moment. It was a tricky question.

'Well, my first game started off a bit confusing. I was in a raid on a small coastal settlement, when Siegfried decided that we should have a brawl. That cheater bathed in dragon blood, so he was invincible. Oh, and that doesn't work with the types of dragons you find here. Well Siggy gut me like a boar, and then I was visited by a goddess, Skadi. She told me that there was a great battle, and that she would require my help. I accepted, and the next thing I know, I'm on some mountain and I'm a Yeti. After I found out what was going on I had a pretty good time. I didn't win, but I lasted to the end.'

Twig was silent for a while.

'So, this kind of thing happens often? What usually happens after it is all done?'

If I could laugh, I would've.

'Games happen all the time. I've been in 5 officially, this one being my 6th. And as for what happens after? Well it depends. Pieces who want to go home normally go home. Most pieces prefer to stay and live out their life, some start religions for their sponsor.' I paused seeing the confused look of his face, 'Your sponsor is your patron, player, chess master. The deity you serve. That's pretty much it. What happens after depends on you. Unless you die, then you're dead.'

'Wow... I don't think I would want to stay. Nice as it is here, I miss my family. Heck, all I know about my 'Sponsor' is that he is a jerk.'

Damn. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

'Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your sponsor doesn't send you home, then you're probably going to be stuck here. Unless you get another sponsor.'

Twig seemed rather confused about this.

'I can get another Sponsor? How would I do that?'

'Well basically there are two types of sponsors. The first type selects a piece form their world and brings them to the board. The piece then acts in the interests of their sponsor. The second type of sponsor is when a deity brings a bunch of random pieces, and then ignores them. Other deities, who may not be strong enough to find a piece of their own, rely on these pieces. They'll normally offer a contract, or just start looking after the piece that they want.'

'Huh...' Twig replied, as we approached a large wall of thorns, sitting in a clearing. On the other side I could see an enormous tree. 'By the way, you might want to stand back a bit. I don't think the other wolves are going to like you.'

I looked at Twig.

'You worry too much, what's the worst that could happen?'

It seems that Fate has a sense of humor, because as soon as I said that a skeleton burst out of the ground right in front of us.

'Whargarble! What the Fuck!' Twig shouted as he leaped back from the undead creature.

Well Jack, your timing is terrible as usual. The skeleton held out a familiar piece of cloth. I took it and read what was written.

Adam,

What's up, buddy? Do you like bananas?

Jack

Well that's a surprise. I dropped the cloth to the ground, and touched the skeleton's skull.

'Let her know I'll see her soon. Also give her my congratulations on taking over Tartarus.'

The skeleton gave a quick nod, before sinking back into the soil. I turned to Twig who was staring at the spot that the skeleton had been a moment before.

'Where were we?'

'What the fuck was that...' clearly Twig was stunned. After a few moments he replied. 'Oh! we were going to see Terra. She is behind the wall there.' He pointed to the large thorned wall in front of us.

'Give me a minute.' He went into some sort of staring match with the thorns, and after a while the slowly began to move. While waiting I felt a familiar presence. I looked around and saw two figures fade into the shadows.
'Jack?'

'There... we... go...' Twig panted, it probably took all he had to move the thorns. He looked so proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to tell him I could have just torn through using a fraction of the energy and time he spent. Cora, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

"Hey Adam, couldn't you have just smashed your way through? It probably would've been faster."

Twig continued to gasp for breath as he entered the clearing.

'Well,' he said after catching his breath, ' They would just regrow if you tried to force your way in.'

Twig walked further in, up to the giant tree.

'Hey! Terra, you have a visitor!'

I felt a distinct and familiar hum in the air.

'Cora,' I thought so only she could hear, 'Could you let me have a bit of fun?'

Cora gave me a large grin.

"Sure!"

We turned out attention back to Twig, as Terra stepped out of the tree.

"Welcome back Child of Man. I see that the creature is not whom the trees told me it was."

Twig turned back to us, before continuing his conversation.

'And I think you may recognize one of them.'

"One?" Terra asked.

'TWO!' I shouted with my thoughts, 'THREE!'

I started walking forward, and threw my arms wide.

'Terra! It's wonderful to see you again! It seems like only yesterday that you rallied 29 of the most powerful deities against me, attempting to stop any further involvement I have in the Games. Ah, where does the time go?'

Twig looked like he had just ran into a wall.

'Wait. YOU TWO KNOW EACHOTHER?! I thought... Abuh..buh'

"Ah, Adam." Terra sounded as if she had just stepped in something nasty "I was hoping that it wasn't you... Might I ask what you are doing with Cora?"

I looked at Cora, still sitting on my shoulder.

'Isn't it obvious?'

"Hi sis! He's carrying me!" Cora shouted out.

"I can see that. But I can only hope that you did not enter a contract with him..." Terra seemed to be rather apprehensive, so I decided to assuage her fears.

'She did!'

At the same moment Cora said, "I did!"

Terra facehoofed and sighed. "Cora... You do realize that he is possibly the most destructive Piece out there."

"Yep." Cora replied with a smile.

'I don't know about that. I haven't done much... yet.'

Terra sighed again. "Just as long as you know what you are getting yourself into..." She turned to face Twig, then looked at me.

"I have a proposition for you Adam..."

'Is this going to be like last time? Where you try to kill me, to stop me from completing my side of the bargain?'

"Are you still mad about that?" Terra's voice was dripping with false sincerity "But no, I need your help."

'Just checking,' I looked to Cora, 'Do you want me to help her?'

Cora put a finger to her lips, pretending to think for a moment.

"Sure!"

Terra smiled at her sister.

"I need you to help Twig retrieve the Seed of Gaea."

Twig blanched at the request.

'I-I don't t-think we should..."

'Alright, just one condition.'

"And what would that be?" Terra sounded slightly suspicious.

''Nothing to big, just a power transfer. You may not have noticed, but Cora isn't exactly at her strongest right now. If you gave her about, let's say a third of your strength, it would vastly improve her recovery time.'

After a moment of thought Terra replied, "Of course. Anything for Cora. Now, I need you and Twigleaf to retrieve the Seed of Gaea from Amalorg. I fear that she is using it's power to keep herself alive. I need you two to either take back the Seed and let her die normally or... Slay her..."

'Huh. Sounds good to me. Cora, why don't you stay here and catch up with your sister.'

Cora nodded, and hopped down. She walked over to Terra, leaving slight scorch marks where her feet touched the ground.

I turned to Twig, who was still quivering slightly.

'Alright, Tumbleweed. Lead the way.'

---

A/N

Holy dialogue batman!
Well that was the next chapter of my crossover with Zombie_Lizard's story, Broken Howls and Tattered Leaves.
If you want Twigleaf's POV for this chapter, just head on over.

So, back to the chapter. How was it?
I know that there wasn't much action, but there should be some more coming up soon. I also gave a bit more of Adam's back-story.

And, as always, please comment, criticism, and correct.

Thanks for reading.

~Eathlome

Comments

[Forevermore]

I have now used hacks to become the first comment, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

[Mimicry]

Saw this in the feature box, How long has it been up there?

[PieisGood4U]

"found my self crushing" Myself
"I need you to help Twig retrieve the Seed of Gaea." Most people call it Gaia if I'm not wrong (It says so in the other fic)

Do you want the Evil Eyes run through?

[Eathlome]

906602
Well I published this chapter about 30 min. ago, and...
Dear Lord! My story has been featured!

906616
Thanks, I'll fix that.
Both spellings are correct, and my computer has auto-correct, so it automatically changes it to Gaea. I'm just too lazy to change it every time.
Oh, sure.

~Eathlome

[PieisGood4U]

906652
Grats on a feature.
In memory of that let me speak to the Evil Eyes
Hey EYES OF EVIL
Yes foolish mortal writer
The guy got featured so your title will temoporarily be remade into only Eyes of all seeing.
Fine: I can deal with that. As long as it won't stop my work
Ok you are free to start

"Well your a human, shouldn't you look more human-ish?" Same thing as other one. You're
"I cant argue there" Can't
****Note: We can credit all faults here to the other guy. I found them in his story too and I imagine you cooperated and said thing each then copy pasted it*****

Yeah actually with the exception of earlier typo of "My self" it was quite clear and the faults I found I blame on the other guy. (He had lot more text faults than this)
Here have a pie
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Pi_pie2.jpg

[Mimicry]

906652

Welcome to the Club! its not as fun as you would think.

[Eathlome]

902487
Eath: Quick Pinkie, counter-hack!
: Okie dokie lokie!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinkie used counter-hack.
It's super effective!
Forevermore is now last comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eath: Good job Pinkie.

~Eathlome

[Eathlome]

906707
Alright, fixed.
Also thanks for the pie.
And I have to admit, the 'your' was my mistake.
Let me know if you seen any more errors.

~Eathlome

[Eathlome]

906743 Thank you for your permission.

vglounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Facepalm-1.jpeg

Now that that's out of the way, the Chess Game of the Gods (or CGotG) is a group of stories that are set in the world created by Rust in the Ballad of Echo the Diamond Dog, and expanded upon in BlackWing's Griffin the Griffin. Both of which are freaking amazing, and you should read if you haven't.

You can find the group here.

906715
Funny story about the feature box. So Zombie_Lizard posted his chapter first, and it made it into the feature box. But then I posted mine, and it went over his. Whoops. Now his story is back in the feature box, and mine is out. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

~Eathlome

[Mimicry]

906783

You can totally have my spot. And besides now sweetie crush is up there. im getting the feeling that last slot skips around alot.

[Captain Literal]

Well I am enjoying the story. So keep up the good work by the way...

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1uybaJ3Ro1r1bmu6.gif

To Iron constructs every where

[Eathlome]

906789
Thanks, fixed it now.

[Eathlome]

906750
Would you care to expand on that?
Is it "meh" because of the characters?
Or because of the story?
Or the writing style?
Or the large amount of dialogue in the newest chapter?
Or is it a reason not mentioned above?

Let me know, and I'll try to improve in my next chapters.

~Eathlome

[Curious Thoughts]

So Hardman and Woodman team up for a quest. This will be funny.