At the end of the tour, Jorok took them up a winding staircase to a large room with one of the rectangular portholes cut into the side of the mountain. A dwarf-sized balcony had been carved from the stone, and it looked out over the austere beauty of the mountain ranges. In the corner sat a canopy bed fit for a king, or at least a visiting dignitary.
A short, squat table in the middle of the room was loaded with meat, roasted potatoes and vegetables, and flagons of dark beer. Jorok sat down at the only chair at the table – a very short chair – and motioned to sumptuous pillows arranged next to him on the floor. “I would suggest a feast in our great hall, but then I could not talk with you about the things you really want to know.”
Daniel sat on one pile of pillows. “Plus I’m not sure all of the other dwarves like having us here.”
“There is that, as well,” Jorok agreed mildly.
Siffis jumped down from Daniel’s shoulder, went over to one of the corners, and curled up lazily like a cat. Mira took her place on her own pile of pillows, and the meal began.
“I couldn’t help but notice all the looks I was getting earlier,” Mira said.
“My apologies for my fellow citizens,” Jorok said. “Their manners with other races are sometimes lacking.”
“Why do dwarves hate dark elves so much?”
“It is not just dwarves or dark elves, and the enmity does not go only one way.” Jorok turned to Daniel. “How many of the various races in the Shattered Lands have you encountered?”
“I don’t know – over a dozen, definitely. Maybe two dozen.”
“I do not mean how many you have met in human cities, or traveling on the road. How many have you met in their native countries, when they are overwhelmingly amongst their own kind?”
“Oh… just you, then. Dwarves, I mean.”
“I’ve met forest elves and dark elves,” Mira said.
“And what was your reception amongst the forest folk?” Jorok asked with a mischievous smile.
“Pretty bad,” Mira admitted.
“Worse than how we treated you?”
“Actually, way worse.”
“The forest elves are one of the proudest – and most arrogant – of the inhabitants of the Shattered Lands. Then again, we forgive in ourselves what we despise most in strangers.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the forest elves would probably say the same about dwarves.”
“So why do forest elves hate dark elves so much?”
“You would have to ask them. The reasons are buried deep in the past. My guess is that the dark elves were just close enough to cast a poor reflection on the forest folk’s own faults, so the best idea was to banish the mirror.”
“You said that it didn’t count if a race lived in a human city,” Daniel said. “Why?”
“Those who choose to live amongst strangers tend to be slightly more tolerant of other races’ idiosyncrasies. Those who live solely amongst their own kind tend to esteem their own people’s virtues highly, and regard those not like them as enemies.”
“So why does everybody hate everybody else in the Shattered Lands?”
“Because they always have. When the kingdoms were united under one realm, the hatred died down to dislike and distrust… but then, peace and prosperity have a way of quelling racial animosity.”
“Wait – before the Shattered Lands were the Shattered Lands, everybody was at peace?”
“More or less, for nearly 700 years. Oh, there were always incidents – the orcs are a notably belligerent race, and their inclusion in the realm was always tentative at best. As you perhaps heard from Simik, this sword – ”
Jorok motioned to the golden scabbard, which he had leaned against his chair.
“ – was a gift to the House of Naughton for siding with the dwarves of Vimylt against an orc offensive. However, things deteriorated with the Beraldian Wars.”
Daniel remembered Merridack mentioning something similar. “I’ve heard of the Beraldian Wars, but I don’t know anything about them.”
Jorok raised an eyebrow. “You truly aren’t from around here, are you?”
“No.”
“For thousands of years, the different races kept to their respective lands. They warred with each other, took each other’s land, sometimes came close to wiping each other out – and in some cases, they did. There have been no Rostoks for a thousand years. But all that changed roughly 700 years ago.
“King Vartan of Beraldia, the largest port in the world, decided he wanted to build an empire. But rather than doing it through conquering other lands, he went about it by persuasion and trade. First he went to other humans and built up alliances, saying that your kind had to band together to keep themselves safe from the other races. He even exacerbated certain conflicts, particularly with orcs and goblins, to convince the other kingdoms that they were in danger, and that an alliance was desirable for all. That was how Blackstone became aligned with Beraldia. It retained its sovereignty, as did all the other human kingdoms – but they were knit together by a non-aggression pact and an agreement to trade freely with one another, and protect each others’ interests. But that was only the start.
“Then Vartan enlisted the aid of the dwarves. We created the finest weapons in the realm, so he began a lucrative trade with us on terms we could not refuse. In exchange, he put in place a treaty that stated Beraldia would never use the weapons against dwarves, ever. He even went so far as to give dwarves free passage anywhere in Beraldia, and to appoint a trade council with dwarves as half the members.
“Then he began to court the forest elves. He did that by appealing to their vanity, and the fact that they had been in a longstanding war with the orcs. He also had a great many dwarven weapons to offer them, which the elves would have been loath to purchase from the dwarves themselves.
“One by one, Vartan enlisted the various races through whatever means worked. Annual battles for land with the orcs… brokering a truce between the forest elves and the dark elves… coming to the goblins’ defense against the Hurokians, and trading weapons with the Hurokians in exchange for their peace with the goblins. It was genius. He did not finish his great work by the time of his death, but his son Marvok completed it… and peace reigned in the Beraldian empire for nearly 600 years. Again, with minor revolts here and there, but largely it was a time of peace and trade.”
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“What happens in all cases. Someone decided power was more important than peace.”
31
“Six hundred years after King Marvok died, Beraldia was a relatively peaceful kingdom, but it was not harmonious. Relations amongst the 17 provinces were uneasy, and there were tensions between the races that inhabited them – humans, elves, dwarves, dark elves, goblins, and many more. However, there was no widespread warfare like in past centuries. That changed 60 years ago with a crisis of succession to Beraldia’s throne.
“King Urnos and Queen Elara ruled from the fortress at Beraldia, though every few years they would take a voyage to neighboring kingdoms to strengthen alliances. On a trip to the province of Kyland, the royal couple was assassinated – apparently by members of a separatist faction that wanted Kyland’s independence.
“Urnos and Elara had only one offspring – Princess Talara, who was still a child. The king’s brother, Storimer, declared that he was the lawful heir to the throne, and he took control by fiat. However, lords still loyal to Urnos believed his brother had arranged the assassination, and they spirited Talara away to an undisclosed city in another part of the realm.
“Overnight, Beraldia fractured along its ancient fault lines. Provinces declared their allegiance to either Storimer or Talara – and often did so based on which neighboring race’s lands they thought they could grab in the process.
“Storimer putatively wanted to keep the kingdom together, but he promised independence to three of the most powerful provinces if they would back him – including Kyl
and, where Urnos had been assassinated. A strange notion, indeed, that a king dedicated to the integrity of the realm would allow provinces to secede if they backed his claim. Stranger still that he would not seek to punish the people responsible for his brother’s death.
“All of Beraldia devolved into chaos, with Storimer backed by certain provinces, and others standing behind Talara – though not necessarily out of loyalty. Many who supported her thought that the child would be easily controlled, a puppet manipulated by conniving regents. Appearances seemed to bear that out: for years Talara was completely absent from the conflict, constantly moved in secret from fortress to fortress. Many thought her dead – until her triumphant reappearance at the head of a vast army ten years later, at the age of 21.
“The Warrior Queen, as she became known, ransacked the provinces backing Storimer. She laid waste to Kyland, reducing it to rubble and ashes.
“Storimer’s forces and various provinces fought the Warrior Queen for nearly fifty years – long past Storimer’s death, in fact. She battled two of his competing heirs up until her own death at age 70, just a couple of years ago. And with her died her quest to reunite the provinces, now known as the Shattered Lands. The provinces became their own kingdoms again, reverting to their ancient boundaries and equally ancient squabbles. Precarious alliances and treaties between adjoining lands and races became the only things preventing an all-out resurgence of war. And that is where things stand today.”
“You haven’t answered the biggest question, though,” Daniel said.
Jorok smiled. “Whether I will aid you in your fight against the Sorcerer.”
“Yes. Will you?”
Jorok sighed. “If I agree, there is an excellent chance I will be deposed by my own people, in which case you will not get the support you wish… and may lose future support when you need it most.”
“They won’t do what you tell them? I thought you were their leader!”
“We choose our leaders, but that does not mean dwarves follow leadership blindly. The others on the council would most likely try to have me voted off.”
“I don’t understand,” Mira said. “Basically everybody has the same answer – ‘nope, sorry, not my problem,’ even when it will be their problem.”
“You must understand, 60 years of warfare make a people uneasy about talking of fighting again – especially when the threat is not imminent. If we in Morrill had joined every messenger seeking our help, we would have died out long before the Beraldian Wars were over. We stayed alive mostly through refusing to take sides… as did most everyone else who survived. There are very few eager warmongers in the Shattered Lands. We have all had our fill of blood and death.”
“You hinted that if you got kicked out, we might lose future support,” Daniel said. “What did you mean?”
“When I can demonstrate to my people that an attack is imminent, I may well be able to sway them to your cause. As long as the attack remains hypothetical, though…”
Jorok shook his head as though to say, Let’s not go there.
Daniel sighed. “So… maybe. In the future.”
Jorok raised his flagon of beer. “To the future, my friends.”
Daniel and Mira raised their drinks and toasted half-heartedly: “To the future.”
32
The rest of the meal passed in pleasant conversation, and ended just as the sun began to go down. Jorok rang a small bell, and stewards entered the room and began to clear the table.
“I would be honored to have you as our guests as long as you wish to stay,” Jorok said.
Daniel glanced over at Mira. “What do you think? Get a good night’s sleep, then start early tomorrow?”
Mira went over to the window. “What about our rides?”
Daniel walked up beside her. Two hundred feet below stretched the grassy plains leading up to the city gates. Both griffins sat patiently on their haunches about a quarter mile away, small sandy specks against a sea of green.
Jorok joined them and looked down at the creatures. “I can have servants take your creatures some raw meat and water them with buckets. Other than that, though, your animals will have to spend the night outside the gates. Although they should be fine – there are not any predators in the mountains large enough to bother a griffin.”
“They wouldn’t cause any trouble,” Mira protested. “We could lead them inside ourselves, and you could put them in a pen or something.”
“I am sure you are correct,” Jorok said politely, “but I cannot take the chance that something unforeseen might happen.”
Daniel could tell Mira was on edge, so he gently deflected the conversation to another topic. “How much of the Shattered Lands can we see from up here?” he asked Jorok.
“A great deal,” the dwarf said, and pointed over the jagged mountain ranges. “In fact, my lady, the forest elves’ city of Aravall is roughly five days’ march from here. The dark elves’ kingdom of Alshurat is four days’ march north of that.”
“Five days?” Mira asked. “That’s not that far.”
“Especially not for a griffin flying through the air. It would be even quicker on foot, but the mountainous terrain makes the passage much slower.”
There was a bit more talk, and then Jorok excused himself. “I will have my servants knock tomorrow at sun-up. They will serve you breakfast, and I will see you before you leave. If you wish to walk around the city tonight, I can assign someone to accompany you – but I would ask that you not wander around by yourselves.”
“To avoid something ‘unforeseen’ happening?” Mira asked in annoyance.
“The unforeseen can be quite inconvenient,” Jorok said without any irony. “Sleep well, and if you need anything, there will be a servant posted outside this room throughout the night. Do not hesitate to ask him for anything you might require.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Daniel said.
“You are most welcome. As I said, please stay as long as you like.”
After Jorok left the room, Mira made a face. “I don’t trust him.”
“Why not? He seems pretty upfront to me.”
“I don’t know… there’s something ‘off’ about him.”
“Don’t let the elf-dwarf rivalry thing get to you,” Daniel teased her.
She looped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “How about the elf-human attraction thing, hm? What do we do about that?”
They kissed for almost a minute before Daniel broke it off and looked over in the corner of the room.
“You know… there’s only one bed.”
“I noticed.”
“…wanna try it out?” he said, as seductively as he could manage.
She grinned. “To sleep in, or for other things?”
“I, uh…” Daniel swallowed hard. “I was thinking ‘other things.’”
“I’ll bet you were.”
“Well, I mean, after all, the sun’s going down, and we’re not exactly welcome to walk around outside…”
“So might as well roll around in here, huh?” she purred.
“Mm-hmm,” he murmured as they kissed again.
“You remember that there’s no sex in the game for anyone under 21, right?” she whispered in his ear, then nibbled it.
“Maybe we could try to push the limits,” he suggested playfully.
“You do remember that everybody at Varidian can see exactly what we’re doing, right?”
Daniel’s eyes popped open like a bucket of cold water had doused him.
“Uh… no,” he said, and blushed as he glanced up at imaginary cameras that might be watching his every move. “I’d forgotten that part.”
Mira grinned. “Why don’t we log out and continue this elsewhere?”
“Yes, log out, absolutely.”
He couldn’t access the menu fast enough.
33
Alas, it was not meant to be.
They had just logged out and were starting to get hot and heavy when ther
e was a knock at the door.
Daniel froze. Mira stifled a giggle as they both stared at each other wide-eyed.
His mother’s voice called out, “Daniel, are you in there?”
Daniel groaned internally. Things had been going so well the last couple of minutes –
“Hey Mom,” Daniel answered.
“Oh good, I thought I heard something. I was just checking in – I haven’t seen you since before the whole thing with the police and you helping your dad at Varidian.” There was a pause. “Are you going to open the door?”
Daniel sighed and walked over as Mira hastily smoothed out her clothes.
When Daniel unlocked the door and swung it open, his mother initially looked at him – and then saw Mira standing beside one of the guest beds.
“Hey, I – oh.” Mom looked back at Daniel and raised one eyebrow as if to say, Exactly what’s going on here?
“Mom, this is Mira,” Daniel said. “She’s been helping me and Dad out at Varidian.”
“I see… hello,” Mom said to Mira.
“Hi, Mrs. Lauer,” Mira replied, blushing the tiniest bit.
“Helping out at Varidian doing what?” Mom asked Daniel.
Daniel’s mind raced, wondering what he could and couldn’t tell her. “Since Eric hacked Varidian, they were worried about things with the game, so Mira and I started testing things out for them.”
“Uh huh…” Mom said, and glanced at Mira before looking back at Daniel. “Don’t they have people at Varidian for that?”
“Since Mira and I both know Eric, they thought we might have some insights on what he could’ve done.”
“I see. So why aren’t you two at Varidian, then?”
He couldn’t tell her about the AI, or how basically they’d been banished from the facility. “They needed the units there for people in the company, so… we were just playing here.”
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