by Rachel Angel
Tar huffed and they all looked to him. He cocked a brow at them and said. “I may dislike my kingdom because of its ruler, but the Dark Forests is by far the most magnificent of all the kingdoms.”
“Well, then,” Flint said. “I guess that makes it official; we’ll have to visit them all.” He turned to Ally. “You can be the judge.”
They rode on in lazy silence and arrived at Wyvern early that afternoon. On seeing them, Headmaster Jerrod headed them off.
“Gentlemen, so pleased to see you all return so early. And, of course, always lovely to see you, Miss Allotrope.”
Ally nodded.
“What’s up?” Razor shot out.
“My kind sirs, Wyvern Academy would like to host a small, intimate banquet. It would just be the five of you, myself and a few key instructors, all experts in their varied fields.”
“We’ll be there,” Razor said.
“Very well. We will be waiting for you at the banquet hall beyond the main offices.” He turned and walked away.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Tar said. “But I’m getting a little tired of all this. The gala, dinner with the queen and now a banquet. What’s next?”
Jasper set his hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. “Poor, poor Tar. What woes you must suffer.”
Tar rolled his eyes and laughed. He then kicked his horse into a gallop and headed off to his dorm room. “See you all later!” he called over his shoulder.
In true warrior style, they arrived at the banquet hall dressed in brown pants, black shirts and each with their sword at their hips. Their black boots sounded on the slate floor as they made their entry.
Headmaster Jerrod tilted his head to the side at the sight of Ally who had pulled her colorful hair back into a tight bun. “Quite stunning to see such a beautiful and fragile looking flower turn into something so hard and cold and efficient. You are a true warrior, Allotrope.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“Please,” Headmaster Jerrod said. “Join us.”
They followed him to a long narrow table headed by Headmaster Jerrod at one end and Professor Jenkins of the science department at the other. Ally sat in the center of her four princes, all on the same side of the long table. Across from them was Professor Thomas of the history department, Professor Portman from the strategic department, General Mansfield, Lieutenant Brighten and Corporal Davies from the Royal Army.
Ally quickly realized that this banquette was not celebratory. This was a serious meeting.
No wine was served, no toasts were made and dinner fare was tasteful and simple. There was no smorgasbord, no multitude of platters, no variants of flavor.
Roast duck, simple but flavorful, on a bed of white rice with steamed vegetables.
“I’ll admit,” General Mansfield said after quickly emptying his plate, pushing it away and sitting back to pat his generous belly. “I was a little concerned when I heard that a female would be heading out to The Borders. Highly unusual, and I seriously question the efficiency.”
“I assure you, General,” Jasper said, “that Ally is as worthy a warrior as any of us.”
The general puckered and nodded but seemed completely unconvinced.
“The reason for this banquet,” Headmaster Jerrod said, ignoring the general’s skepticism, “is to give you a better understanding of what you are in for.”
Professor Thomas cleared his throat. “Wyvern has been through many changes over the past decades. These beasts, these monsters have not always been after us. They first made their appearance barely twenty years ago. Back then, Queen Jade, having recently married Granite, Rodan, and Nero, ruled over the entire kingdom of Wyvern. Her marriage to these three kings gave her more power than anyone could have imagined. All the colors of the kingdoms came together to form one blinding force of white, the strongest color of all.
“How the queen survived the attack that ultimately took the lives of her three husbands is still a mystery. Many have theorized and guessed. Many have studied what little evidence that remained after the numerous battles, whether out in the mountains where the kings perished or out at The Borders where many humans lost their lives.
“Some have questioned whether, being a female, Queen Jade had not had some degree of immunity from the toxins. It appeared that she had several bites and scratches and had breathed in a considerable amount of their toxics breaths, and yet, she was completely unaffected by the encounters.
“When the queen herself was asked about it, she couldn’t give them an answer, and, in the end, simply stated that she was simply happy to have defeated them, regardless of what advantage she may or may not have had.”
Jasper was quiet and solemn, intently listening to what the man had to say about his mother. Ally could see the glimmer of pride in his eyes, but also the sadness for her loss.
“Few have had a victory so bitter, for the queen did not simply lose her loved ones to these monsters - once infected, once taken over by the beasts - she had to strike that final and fatal blow to her last surviving husband.”
“How come just the one?” Razor said, deeply interested in everything the historian said.
“As the story goes, one king beheaded himself. I believe that was King Granite. Another, King Nero, was reluctantly struck down by Rodan. That left only Rodan to help her battle the monsters as best as he could until he, too, was too far gone and became a menace to the kingdom.”
His elbows on the table and his fists clasped together, Jasper leaned his forehead to his fists and sighed.
“It was after the beasts had completely been eliminated from The Borders, and the Peace Pact was signed, that the Queen of Wyvern abdicated. She no longer wanted the responsibility of reigning over the entire kingdom and chose to simply rule over Emerald. While many were disappointed by her decision, many felt it was the right thing to do. That is when new kings were chosen from various noble families.”
“Was my mother respected?” Jasper said, raising his tired eyes to the historian. “I mean, as a woman.”
“To a degree. Many still felt that a woman could not hold such responsibility, but the vast majority of the kingdom knew her to be strong and capable and they willingly and eagerly bowed to her position.”
Jasper turned to eye Ally.
She read in his eyes an apology, his regret and remorse for what he’d put her through those first weeks at the Academy. She could also see his desire to right the wrongs, to make up for having given her such a hard time…
Just because she was a girl.
Chapter 9
“How far is the Kingdom of Metal anyway?” Ally said. It seemed like they’d been riding for hours, and while the landscape was beautiful, despite it rough and dry terrain, she was eager to get off her horse.
“Beyond this stretch of desert is a canyon. The only way across it is to ride down and then back up on the other side. After that we follow an old, dried up riverbed which leads to my kingdom.”
The sun beat down on them, and when they finally reached the canyon and descended to the canyon floor, the deep cool shade was a welcomed treat. They stopped only momentarily to fill up on fresh water from the narrow river that ran through the canyon.
The climb back out of the canyon was slow and the heat of the sun soon beat down on them again. The sun was casting its last shadows by the time they reached the Kingdom of Metal.
The sun, in all its glory, set its last glowing rays on the shimmering wall of gold that was the backdrop to Flint’s castle.
“Oh, my goodness,” Ally said as she took in the incredible sight. While the castle itself was made of dark, rough hewn stones, the effect of the golden wall behind it was spectacular.
“Wait until you see it if full light. But for tonight,” Flint said, “let us meet with my family, eat and rest.”
They left their horses to the stable boys and headed to the castle where they were met by the King of Metal, and Flints’ brothers, Frederic and Frank.
“W
hat an unexpected surprise,” the king said. “Always good to see you, my boy.”
The tall, massive man took his son into his arms and gave him a crushing hug.
“Flint! Flint!” a little boy shouted as he ran up to greet his big brother. He jumped into Flints arms and squeezed him tight.
“Hey, little buddy.”
“Who’s the girl?” the little boy said without hesitation.
“That’s Ally. She’s a very special girl. She’s a warrior.”
The boy made a face and ran off.
“So much for impressing him,” Ally said with a shrug.
After a sumptuous, but rather noisy dinner, thanks to Frank and Frederick’s quarrelling over just about everything, Flint invited Ally for a quiet stroll around the grounds.
“Tomorrow I’ll bring you to the open mines where we extract the ore from which we get all our silver and most of our gold.”
“I look forward to it.”
“But for now,” he said with a sweeping gesture at the wall behind the castle, “we can admire that.”
Moonlight now shone on the golden wall, bringing an almost mystical feel to the air around them. How wonderful to see such splendors of nature.
And, as promised, the following morning they headed off to the mines. Huge machinery worked to dig into the hard earth, breaking apart the rocks and ore.
“Over there,” Flint said, pointing to a huge rolling stone wheel, “is where the gold is separated from the quartz, which is the principle mineral here.”
He led her to the stone that was fashioned into a large wheel and they watched it turn over another flat stone, efficiently crushing the ore.
“But then what do you do with all that dust?”
“It’s all shoveled onto that conveyor where it will be sprayed with water and shaken up just enough to settle the gold to the bottom, all while forcing the worthless rocks to jump off and fall at the end of the conveyor. Every hour, the machine is stopped, and we clean out the gold that has settled at the bottom and store that in those big barrels over there.”
Ally stared in awe at the hundreds of barrels lined up behind the large machine. “All of that is gold.”
“Pure gold.”
“Would you like to try your hand at finding gold yourself?”
Smiling and intrigued, she looked up at him. “Yeah. How?”
He brought her to a long table where a number of older men were working. Flint went up to one of them. “Mind if I take over for a few moments.”
The old man looked at Flint and smiled.
Flint picked up the large round copper pan the man had been working with and picked up a scoop full of dirt from a bucket on the ground and dropped it in the pan. He then dipped the pan in the large tub of water and shook the pan around vigorously.
“What are you doing?”
“This is called stratifying. I’m shaking everything up so that the gold will settle at the bottom, like it does in that big machine.”
He then rocked the pan more gently in the water, letting much of the lighter soil fall out of the pan and into the tub. Over and over again he shook the pan and emptied some of the light dirt. Finally he stopped and showed her what remained in the pan.
“Oh, my. That’s incredible.”
The bottom of the pan was covered with dozens of grape sized nuggets.
“Why, that’s almost magical. How did you do that?”
“Gold is about nineteen times heavier than water, and much heavier than any other minerals and rocks in the pan, so it will always go to the bottom.” He handed her the pan. “You try it. Just shake it enough to force the gold down to the bottom, then rinse the light dirt off and, voila, you’ll find gold.”
Skeptical, she did as she was told and was amazed by what she found in the pan. A handful of pea sized nuggets with one larger grape sized nugget.
“But why bother with all this when you have the machine to do it all?”
“All of these buckets come from various parts of the kingdom. We go out and do tests here and there by filling a small bucket with dirt and then cleaning it out here to see if it’s worth going back to mine more seriously.” He held the pan up to her. “Like this, we will definitely go back to mine this area.” He turned the bucket of soil around to see what was written on it. “The north quadrant, just east of the Black Desert.”
He picked up the large nugget and handed the pan back to the old man. “Keep up the good work.”
“This is all quite fascinating. I never would have thought gold came out of the ground like that.”
“As a blacksmith, I thought you would have known more about these metals.”
“I have to admit, I’ve not worked with gold all the much. It certainly isn’t lying around like it is here. It’s just far too expensive.”
“Well, here’s your compensation for today’s work,” Flint said as he handed her the large nugget. “See how heavy that is?”
“Oh, wow.” The relatively small nugget was surprisingly heavy.
“And that, my lovely, is your lesson in gold mining. And I’m going to make sure you have the opportunity to work with gold as much as you like.”
They slowly rode back to the castle, leisurely looking around at the stark landscape that seemed so inhospitable. A few trees appeared in the distance, signaling their approach to the castle.
“Why is it that there are only a few trees around the castle, and none anywhere else?” Ally asked.
“My father had them brought in and planted a long time ago. He was determined to have some greenery in the otherwise austere land. They don’t manage to grow very tall or strong, but it’s a nice place to sit when the sun is too warm.”
As they neared the castle, Flint’s little brothers came out to greet him.
“You were gone a long time,” Frederick said. He shot a suspicious glare at Ally. “Where were you?”
“At the gold mine, squirt.” Flint shuffled the little boy’s hair. “Where are the guys?”
“At the armory,” Frank said.
Flint looked to Ally. “Come on. We’ll go check it out. We’re probably going to load up on weapons.”
“It’s about time you guys got back,” Razor said when they entered the armory.
“Wow,” Ally shot out as she looked around at the choice of weapons. “This is incredible.”
Swords of every length, weight and thickness were displayed on the walls while table upon table was covered with various daggers and knives, spears and axes, and even a few sickles. Another table held a large assortment of shields and a large box filled with darts and short throwing blades.
“If you can’t find it here,” Flint said. “You won’t find it anywhere. My father has the greatest team of blacksmiths that can work magic.”
“Can I take a few of these?” Ally said, grasping a handful of darts.
He shot her a curious glance. “Sure, but why. Those things are teeny, tiny.”
She nodded. “Yes. They may not look like much, but if you dip the tip in just the right solution, they could potentially be deadly.” She thought of the potions she’d been working on and wondered if the small, easy to shoot darts would do the trick of delivering the potion to the beasts.
Ally then examined a particularly interesting piece all alone on its own table. The gold blade of the very large sword was surprisingly hard. “I always thought gold was too soft to make a blade from.” She held it up and showed it to Flint. “Is this plated?”
“Nothing is gold plated here. If it’s gold, it’s gold through and through.”
“But how is this possible.” She held it, weighing it then tapped it against the side of the table. Just a light tap and the blade easily cut into the wood. “Oops. Wow. Now that is a sharp blade. However did they make this?”
“I told you,” Flint said. “Our blacksmiths can work magic.”
The king walked in, a touch of arrogance in his gait, but with a proud and loving gaze reserved for his eldest son. “Findin
g everything you need boys?”
The guys all nodded.
“And you, the lovely Miss Allotrope. I see you have a keen eye for the most treasured of weapons.”
“It certainly is a magnificent piece.”
“It’s yours if you want it.”
Ally looked to Flint and back to the king. “Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“I don’t know what to say. It is of such exquisite craftsmanship.”
“Ally is a blacksmith herself,” Flint told his father.
The king looked at her. “The forge is all yours if you’d like to try working with our exclusive metals. I’m sure you’d like it.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
He pointed to a door at the far end of the large storage room. “Just through there. You’ll find everything you need, and if you don’t, just let the help know. They’ll bring you whatever you ask for.”
Stunned by the offer, Ally made her way to the forge where she marveled at the tools and equipment at her disposal. With an immediate idea of what she wanted to produce, she got to work.
She melted and pounded and softened and pounded some more and by the end of the day, she was satisfied with what she’d accomplished.
With her arms heavy with her wares, she headed back to the armory to find the princes had all gone. How long had she been at the forge? She glanced outside to see it was already dark and headed to the main castle.
“There you all are,” she said when she found them relaxing in the salon.
“We’ve been ready to leave for over two hours now, but father insisted we not disturb you. An artist in progress, he said,” Flint said.
“Well,” Ally said, eager to show them what they’d waited for. “I think you’ll all be happy you did wait.” She handed them each the special armor plates she’d made.
“What the hell is this?” Tar said, holding the super light armor between his fingers. “Is this a joke? This stuff is as light as a feather.” He clasped a portion to his arm. “What good will this do us?”
Without warning, Ally pulled out her new gold sword and swung it against his arm. The thin, feather light armor resisted the blow.
