by Winston Yong (Author)

Where faith is tested, every move matters.

Two worlds. Two battles. One deeper question: what does it mean to remain faithful when fear, conflict and uncertainty threaten to break the lines?

Where the Lines Hold brings together two companion novellas that explore faith, obedience, sacrifice and grace through the language of conflict and chess.

In Into His Hands, Lieutenant Michael Hale is sent into a world at war to confront an armed rebellion and the man who once taught him how to fight. Reuel was once Michael's mentor, shaping his discipline and understanding of combat. Now he stands on the opposite side of the battlefield.

At Michael's side is Helia-14, an advanced intelligence designed to support soldiers in moments of crisis. She can analyse tactics, monitor fear and offer guidance, but she cannot easily answer the deeper questions of guilt, mercy, sacrifice and grace. As the conflict intensifies, Michael must confront more than an enemy. He must face his own fear, the wounds of his past and the difficult difference between preserving himself and remaining obedient when certainty has disappeared.

In The Queen of Twelve Lines, the setting shifts from a battlefield of dust, steel and machine intelligence to the symbolic Field of Twelve Lines, a kingdom built upon order, purpose and obedience.

But when Lucifer, once the brightest of the Host, begins to question the goodness of the order that governs creation, pride becomes rebellion. The Hosts divide, the Lines begin to tremble and the kingdom is drawn into a conflict that will test loyalty, courage and faithfulness.

Two young knights, Gadriel and Muriel, must stand amid grief, sacrifice and the fall of those they love. Guided by the faithful and by the grace of the High King, they are drawn towards a final confrontation in which obedience and sacrifice become more powerful than pride.

Although the two stories differ in setting, they share the same hidden architecture: chess.

Its ranks, movements, pressure, sacrifices and consequences become a framework through which Winston Yong explores spiritual conflict and the choices made when every move carries a cost. These are not stories about chess alone, but about alignment, courage, obedience under pressure and the faithfulness of God when the next move cannot yet be seen.

Where the Lines Hold is a thoughtful work of Christian speculative fiction, military science fiction and allegorical fantasy, written for readers who enjoy stories where faith is tested through conflict and where courage does not require the absence of fear.

When certainty disappears, what remains?

Sometimes, faith begins with the next move.

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