"Anthony, Piers - Adept - 06 - Unicorn Point" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

correspondence games since getting started when the demon
agreed to train Mach in chess; the demon had wanted to play
Stile to determine who was the ultimate chess master of
Phaze. Since Stile preferred a fair game, even though Mach
was on the other side, he agreed, and had played the demon,
and it had been an excellent game. But it had concluded in a
draw, and so had the following ones. Finally the demon had
suggested that they play a "live" game, with time limits, and

12 | Piers Anthony

another, and another, until they had one that did not draw,
and that would determine who was champion. Of course there
were variants of chess that prohibited draws, but both of them
were conservatives in this respect: for the championship they
preferred the classic game. So Stile was on his way to play,
though Icebeard was of the enemy camp; this was another
advantage of the truce. But there was more to it than chess,

as Neysa knew.

For Stile had spoken accurately when he said that his
grandson (and Neysa's) was advanced rather than retarded,
and would surprise his father. Mach had dismissed that as
optimism or encouragement, but it was neither. Stile had been
training the lad, and soon the extent of Flach's progress would
become known. But that revelation had to be coordinated
with action in the frame of Proton relating to Nepe, the child
of Bane and Agape, because the moment one child's abilities
were revealed, the other would be suspect.

Flach was only four years old, and indeed he could change
freely between his human and unicorn forms. But he could
also assume other forms, unknown to his parents. Stile had
cautioned the lad as soon as he learned to speak, and Flach
had responded beautifully. His seeming slowness was a two-
year act, masking his true progress. But Stile had known that
this could not be concealed indefinitely; eventually the Ad-
verse Adepts would catch on, and then they would act to
eliminate the threat. The boy's great progress had been pos-
sible without attracting the notice of the Adepts because they
were not watching him; they assumed he was too young to
practice great magic. That was their colossal error.

The key was this: Flach could communicate with Nepe
across the frames. Just as Mach and Bane could. That meant
that Stile and Citizen Blue could develop similar information
to that which the enemy had from Mach and Bane. Had both
been male, they might even have had the potential to ex-
change, for they were parallels, perhaps alternate selves. This