The Academy Journals Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 3)

by Garrett Robinson

  During the rise of the Necromancer, there were two Konnels of particular note.

  The first, of course, was Kalem of the family Konnel, who became the best friend of Ebon of the family Drayden.

  Kalem and Ebon’s friendship was very unusual for their time. Both boys were quite oblivious of the growing schism between noble and merchant families across the nine kingdoms. The details of the divide are too numerous to expound here, but in summary, the merchant families had begun to grow hungry for greater power than they could acquire merely through bags of gold. Independently across the nine kingdoms, as if word had passed among all of them—and in several instances, this was indeed the case—the merchants began taking steps towards securing some of the hereditary power that the nobles had enjoyed since High King Roth himself.

  The noble families were aware of this, of course, but they could take little direct action. Taxes on the merchants were their greatest source of income. They did, however, stymie the merchants’ attempts to gain power whenever they could. The primary method of denial was the rejection of politically expedient marriages. Where once the nobles had been happy to arrange for their successors to marry wealthy merchants, now they were almost universally averse to the practice. And the nobles carefully crafted images of the merchants as grasping social climbers and fed these tales to their children.

  Thus, interestingly, it became far more usual for royal children to marry commonfolk than merchants, and several families with no erstwhile claim to nobility suddenly found themselves in positions of elevated power. This went poorly in some cases, though there were also many accounts of commoners raised to nobility who began to make their lands far more just than they had ever been before.

  But Ebon of the family Drayden had never been permitted to participate in the inner workings of the Drayden family, so he did not know that Kalem was not supposed to want to be his friend. And Kalem, of course, was young and impressionable, and immensely happy to find an older student at the Academy who knew far less than he did. If Ebon had carried himself with the haughtiness and self-assurance common to his kin, it is certain that Kalem would never have befriended him.

  The second Konnel of great importance during these times was named Hollen. She became Lord Chancellor of the Mystic Order shortly after the Battle of the Seat. By almost cosmic chance, the former Lord Chancellor was a Drayden named Qarad—a strange parallel of the Drayden and Konnel families being so closely entwined that would play itself out in Ebon and Kalem’s relationship.

  After Qarad’s death in battle defending High King Enalyn against the Shades—and, in particular, against Rogan, chief among the Shadeborn—Hollen of the family Konnel replaced him. She had formerly been a chancellor of the Mystics, but in the northern kingdom of Feldemar, not in her homeland of Hedgemond.

  Hollen’s deeds would have a great impact on the war with Dulmun—and, indeed, on the fate of the Mystic order. But that tale is best told elsewhere, and in connection with Ebon’s friend Theren, who would end up being far more concerned with such matters.

  XAIN FORREDAR

  There exist in all the events surrounding the Necromancer no person more varied in manner, deed, or intent, than Xain of the family Forredar.

  The tale of Xain’s youth has been told elsewhere, but some small mention of it must be made here. In his youth, Xain saved the life of the Lord Prince Eamin after Eamin had been kidnapped by bandits. The bandits had hoped to extract a ransom from High King Enalyn, but in the end, Xain and Eamin slew them all. In return for Xain’s heroism, Enalyn promised him that she would do her utmost to arrange his marriage to anyone in Underrealm he wished.

  Ultimately, Enalyn’s best efforts were not good enough.

  Xain’s heart belonged to Trill of the family Adair. Trill’s father, Damba, was a vengeful and spiteful man, but he doted on his daughter, and so she loved him. Before Enalyn could make a move, Damba convinced Trill to marry another—for the good of her family, or so he said. Though it broke her heart to sunder herself from Xain in this way, Trill obeyed her father, and so Xain’s deepest desire was torn from him forever.

  His one consolation was that Trill was already with child before she wed, and after the birth of the boy, Erin, Trill sent him to live with Xain. Damba was more than glad to be rid of the boy, a constant reminder of Xain, whom he loathed.

  Damba had less than noble intentions in marrying Trill off. He arranged for her to be wed to a daughter of the family Yerrin. This alone was highly unusual, since, as has already been said, the noble families of Underrealm are most reluctant to join the merchant families in marriage. But Damba needed a worthy suitor, one who he could convince Trill would be a great benefit to the family. The Yerrins’ seemingly limitless gold reserves fit this requirement very nicely. A suitor of nobility might have served just as well, but a noble would have been reluctant to arrange such a marriage, since it was well known that the High King desired to arrange Trill’s marriage to Xain. Thus the Yerrins provided the perfect answer in both respects.

  But Damba’s spite ran even deeper than that. The family Adair had long feuded with the family Forredar, who also hailed from Hedgemond. Their lands bordered each other for some leagues, and the exact borders had never been drawn to either family’s satisfaction. Thus the two families often came to blows over the contested lands, a microcosm of the border squabbles between Dorsea and the other northern kingdoms. The union of Xain and Trill might have done much to mend this rift, but it was not Damba’s wish to heal the wounds of generations of fighting.

  And Damba had another, much darker reason for binding himself to the family Yerrin. But that is a tale for another time.

  HIGH KING ENALYN’S DECLARATION OF WAR

  The Year of Underrealm 1313, in Arilis, upon the Ninth Day

  By the Authority Of and Recorded From the High King Enalyn, who is The Just

  It is in darker times the dutiful burden of the High King, who, though they desire always the health and safety of all their people, and that none of them should perish in the flames of war, yet recognize that some number of their subjects threaten the greater population through base treachery, to declare those subjects Enemies of the land, thanks to no actions but their own, and to order their immediate subjugation and purging from history’s great and storied annals. No one with any wisdom granted to them by the sky above can find it in them, even if their deceit is boundless, to deny that we now find ourselves unwillingly cast into just such times.

  Among the mighty and wise who dwell today in Underrealm, where are gathered the mightiest lords humankind has yet put forth and the wisest scholars to ever become learned in matters of power and of history, there is no trace to be found by even the most stringent and adamant search of any known tome of lore, not even if the searcher plumbed the depths of every library from the Academy for Wizards to the Tomb-Keeps of Idris, of any betrayal more unjust or more vicious than that which has been visited upon their rightful liege-lord, unless they endeavored to cast their thought into a time so deep and so dark that any righteous mind would shy away from it in terror and disgust, and witness in the bloodiest pages of the past the betrayal of Roth, the first and righteous High King, whose rule has passed to me in line unending since almost the Time before Time, by his daughter Renna, who is the Blackheart. Only by such correlation and in experiencing the bone-deep revulsion it entails, which springs from all that is righteous and honorable in the deepest part of the natural human spirit, may the intrepid mind assume the proper attitude with which to view those evil affairs which have cast upon Underrealm its current pall of enmity, distrust, and war.

  To the meanest and the simplest folk of the nine kingdoms, wherever they may dwell and howsoever often they may encounter or fail to encounter some knowledge of the wider world, it is even to them now known that a vicious and foul attack by boat and by sword and bow, and by magic, and which was unwarranted, unlooked for, and unprovoked in every measure, was, during the Year of Underrealm 1312, in Yanis of that y
ear, upon that month’s ninth day, carried out with the utmost malevolence upon the High King’s Seat, where have sat the preceding High Kings in a line unending to the High King Andara, mother of the High King Andriana, who is exalted as the Fearless, and who before dwelt, as did the High Kings before her, in Rothton upon the great island Landfall in the kingdom of Dulmun, and that this duplicitous and cowardly attack was carried out by two separate forces of great size and fell nature, from two directions, so that by their treasonous deceit they hoped to envelop and entrap the righteous and loyal forces who serve me, as is their duty and their privilege.

  It is further known even to them, as was made clear by their ruthless and malignant actions, that the ultimate aim of these traitors was my own death, for they drove forwards towards my palace and besieged it, and there were my forces brought to bay, and many heroic and loyal soldiers perished in the fighting there, which was both tragic and needless. And it is further known even to them that one of these fell armies sailed across the Great Bay from the east, and that they set sail originally from the kingdom of Dulmun, where declared Roth his dominance over Underrealm at the very start of this nation, and thus he brought an end to the time before time, though his mighty gift to all of us has now been squandered.

  Therefore I now declare, as is the right that has been handed down to me through ages beyond counting and in unending line of succession:

  That the kingship of Dulmun, which is a great honor and one that many nobles in Underrealm would seek most avidly, and would not squander or spurn as she has, is removed from Bodil of the family Geyun, who took the crown with false and evil intent, and who is a traitor so vile that no good-hearted person in the nine kingdoms will speak her name without hatred and contempt;

  That the nation of Underrealm, which is as eternal as the sky above, and as merciless towards its betrayers as the darkness below, is now engaged in a just and unending war against Bodil of the family Geyun, and that this war, the righteousness of which none can contest, shall not cease until she is destroyed, and her name and her likeness cast from any record of honor or place of power that may exist in her kingdom;

  That because they, too, have acted in betrayal of me, who is their rightful liege lord, any of the generals, soldiers, servants, retainers, or any citizens of Bodil of the family Geyun who, knowing her evil and treacherous nature, yet elect of their own volition stand or fight by her side, are likewise traitors to the nine kingdoms, and their names shall be counted as dishonorable as her own, and they shall be put to death by any servant of the High King;

  That every rightful king of Underrealm, who have taken their kingships with honor and with loyalty, and who have not failed for generations beyond count to stand beside their rightful ruler, and who shall now lend aid in the destruction of Bodil of the family Geyun shall, after her death and erasure from any claim to nobility or righteousness, receive from me and from the bounty gained in such war, gifts commensurate with the quality, the plenteousness, and the expediency of the aid they have lent.

  I, Enalyn, who am the High King, do therefore now command with all the authority of my crown, which holds dominance over all the nine crowns, and my throne, which sits higher than all the nine thrones, the rightful kings of Underrealm, who are in their subservience and their loyalty, lesser in authority than I, and yet no lesser in honor and righteousness, to send by land and by sea, and by all means at their disposal and whatever the cost to their own treasuries might be, such strength of arms, be it in wizards, soldiers, weapons, beasts of burden or of war, or supplies as they can afford, while not endangering or starving their own people, to aid in Bodil’s justified destruction, in accordance with and obedience to the oaths they have sworn and continue to uphold, binding their nine thrones to the service of mine.

  I so decree, in sight of the sky above, which is eternal, and in fear of the darkness below, which is merciless.

  High King Enalyn

  —It was universally acknowledged by scholars of the time that for all Enalyn’s great strengths as a ruler, she was an abysmal writer. Though they often put it more politely in their letters to each other.

  MOMEN’S FINAL LETTERS

  The Year of Underrealm 1307

  12 Maius

  Dear Eboniya,

  Mother tells me you have been unhappy since I left. Try not to be. I miss you, too, but let us be honest with each other: my stories were growing stale. Do you not realize that when I return, I shall have a thousand and one incredible tales of my journeys to tell you? All of your favorite stories have come from past caravan trips just like this one. I must go out and have more adventures to tell you about.

  I wish you could see the lands the caravan has traveled through already. We rode into Wadeland and are following the Zanbibi river south. You have never seen a land so green. The mountains reach for the sky like spears. I have heard that centaurs live there, but we have not seen them.

  I do not want to be away any more than you want me to be. I hope you will not spend much time moping. Work hard at your lessons. Enjoy your reading when you can slip away from Tamen, and do not worry too much about what Father says. And please take good care of Albi. She is young yet, and she needs an older sibling to look after her—just as I have always looked after you.

  Until my return brings us both joy,

  Momen

  * * *

  14 Maius

  To Father,

  The caravan progresses quickly. We have faced no obstacles upon the road. There is no word of bandits in the area, but then, we did not think there would be.

  Mako left us yesterday. He claimed he had urgent business from Halab. I thought it was strange that this would not have been mentioned to me before we left, but then, Mako is Mako.

  I will send you another letter when we reach Selvan. That should be in a week or so.

  Your son,

  Momen

  * * *

  16 Maius

  Dearest Halab,

  I must thank you once again for placing upon me this highest of honors. You shushed me every time I said it back home, so I will tell you now, when you cannot forestall me: I vow to bring honor to you and to the family by seeing our goods safely to their destination. I swear I will make you proud.

  Speaking of which, I can hardly restrain my eagerness to see dear cousin Filip again. I am sending a letter ahead to him, but to see him in person will be a joy beyond description. As you have asked, I will give him your love.

  Kanlena is every bit as glorious as you hinted. It is nowhere near so grand as the meanest city in Idris, of course, but it is so … exotic would be the word, I think. Once again I find myself blessed by your belief in me.

  I am pushing our tradesmen to fetch only the best prices for the pepper, as it appears to be in high demand. The other goods will achieve a less lofty return, of course, but ours are of the highest quality, and I think we shall still do well here.

  If it is no trouble, I hoped to bring a small matter to your attention. Mako left the caravan yesterday, telling us you had given him some task to perform. Mayhap I misheard or forgot, but I did not remember such a detail being discussed when we planned this journey. I only mention it, of course, to inform you that Mako did as you no doubt asked him to do. If you require anything further from me in this matter, you know you have only to ask.

  I will write you again soon to inform you of our progress. All my gratitude for your faith in me.

  Your nephew,

  Momen

  * * *

  16 Maius

  Flip, you monkey,

  Two weeks! Two weeks until we see each other! I can hardly stand it!

  I snuck into my father’s cellar before we left Idris and stole the best bottle of wine I could find that was not locked down. The very first thing we must do when we see each other is retreat from all watchful eyes and get drunk as piss. I hope you will have something similarly fine to share, because just one bottle may not do the trick. And I hope you have been sampling
all the blue doors near you, because I will accept nothing but the best.

  And afterwards, I mean to speak with you about that matter we have only spoken lightly of before. I will admit it here, so that you may lord it over me when I arrive: you were right, and I was wrong. There is something strange going on back home. I can see it, now that I am looking for it after you mentioned it. It is just as you said—no one says anything, but it is the way they do not say anything that gives the game away.

  But I have no more idea what is happening than you did when last we spoke. I only know that—well, that a certain dark watcher, whom we have discussed before, seems to be involved. (He has vanished, by the way, but still I cannot shake the fear that he will read this. What a foolish thought.)

  But I can feel it, Flip. I can feel the weight off my shoulders now that I am no longer under my father’s roof. What a feeling this is. If only I could remain gone forever, roaming with this caravan—or better yet, free from it, riding with you from city to city and kingdom to kingdom. I never want to go back home, Flip. To Idris, yes, perhaps, but certainly not home.

  If you write me back before I see you, do not say a thing about the Seat. I do not want to know even the smallest detail. I want to see it all in person.

  Two weeks, cousin! Ready yourself!

  Until then,

  Momen

  * * *

  22 Maius

  Dear Eboniya,

  Well, this shall certainly make for a tale of adventure. You will not believe what has happened. The caravan’s navigator vanished in the night—and he took our maps with him!

  Now, I can imagine you staring at this letter in horror right now. But fear not. We are many, and we have much food and many coins. And we are in Selvan—all we must do is head north until we reach the Great Bay or west until we reach the Dragon’s Tail, and we shall know where we are again. Fear not for me, but be prepared for a thrilling tale of adventure when at last I return.