The Wealth of Kings

by Sam Ferguson

  “Maybe the lurkers are the key,” Benbo suggested. “Perhaps they hold the way open to let the demons through?”

  Al shrugged again. “Your guess is as good as any. Either way, it does us little good. If I am the only one who can cross over, then we are nothing more than sheep corralled in a pen while the wolves encircle us about.”

  Benbo stood silently, arms folded over his chest and eyes fixed on the pink crystals.

  Al was silent as well. If he had ever needed Alferug’s wisdom, now would be the time.

  “Who else knew I was gone?” Al asked.

  “Just your bodyguards and these soldiers here, sire,” Benbo replied. “We thought it best to keep that quiet.”

  Al nodded and tugged on his beard. “We need to pull the miners out,” Al said.

  “What? But you said we need to mine the addorite for the Ancients.”

  “I know what I said. But, we are sitting in the open. We don’t know if the demons I saw can traverse the rift at will. We need to pull back.”

  “Do we blow the mine?”

  Al shook his head. “No. Create mounds of stone around the patches of addorite on the floor. Maybe that will at least close off a few entrances to our world. Then, we fall back to the mithril gate, and we reinforce it. Maybe we can mine enough ferrokortanite to make armor for everyone, then we can march into their world and take the fight to them.”

  Benbo nodded. “Why mine ferrokortanite sire?” Benbo asked with a sly grin. “Why not just take all of the lurker scales he can find and use those?”

  Al smiled wide. “Faengoril was right about you.” Al nodded and waved his hand. “Go and make it happen. Once we are prepared, then we march against the enemy.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Year 3,711 Age of Demigods, Winter.

  2ndyear of the reign ofAldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu, 13th King of Roegudok Hall.

  “Sire?” Benbo called out as he approached Al’s personal forge just off of the throne room.

  Al looked up from his work to see the commander. “The idea to use the scales was a stroke of genius,” Al said. “They become pliable once heated up, but then after they are cooled, they are nearly as hard as steel. I dare say the army will be well prepared to face down the demons when we are finished.”

  Benbo moved in and rapped on a finished suit of armor with his knuckles. “It seems tough.”

  “Tough as steel, but even lighter than mithril,” Al said with a hearty smile. “Speaking of mithril, I have added a thin layer of it to the inside of my armor. I thought to add some of the lurker scales, but I decided against it. The ferrokortanite already allows me passage through the portal, so there isn’t any reason to waste the scales on me.”

  Benbo was unusually silent. Al stopped and frowned.

  “Well, spit it out, is something wrong?”

  Benbo shook his head. “There is a dragon outside the front gate. He is asking for you, Sire.”

  “A dragon?”

  Benbo nodded. “Said his name was Hiasyntar’Kulai.”

  Al nearly stumbled backwards. “The Father of the Ancients is here!” Al started to wipe his hands on his apron and looked around as if he had forgotten something. “Good heavens, why didn’t you say so from the beginning?”

  Benbo shrugged. “Shall I tell him you are coming then?”

  Al shook his head. “Come with me if you like, but I am going straightaway to him. He’s out front you say? Out by the main entrance tunnel?”

  Benbo nodded.

  Al whistled sharply. A second later he was saddled atop his cavedog and zipping through the throne room, down the grand stairs, and from the market place, through the three-mile-long tunnel to the front of the mountain. He left so fast that he had barely succeeded in taking his apron off.

  When he reached the outer gates, the sunlight hit him hard in the eyes. He balked at it, raising a hand over his face until his eyes adjusted. Then, once he was no longer blinded, he saw the large, golden dragon lying less than fifty yards from the entrance. The end of his tail flipped back and forth, and he had his long, serpentine neck curled around toward his body so he could rest his head upon his forelegs. When the dragon saw Al, he smiled and raised his head slightly.

  “It is an honor,” Al said as he dismounted from his cavedog and walked toward the dragon.

  Hiasyntar’Kulai emitted a low rumbling sound deep in his throat and nodded slightly. “The king of Roegudok Hall, I should say you are every bit as impressive as Erik led me to believe.”

  Al bent down and knelt upon a knee. “We have been shipping addorite to Valtuu Temple,” Al said as he lifted his head.

  Hiasyntar’Kulai nodded. “Yes,” he began in his thunderous voice. “But in the last few weeks, the shipments have stopped.”

  Al nodded knowingly. “I should have sent a messenger, I apologize.”

  “You have found the demons, haven’t you?”

  Al nodded.

  “King of Roegudok Hall, if you will permit me, I would connect our minds, so that I may see what you have seen. Would you permit this?”

  Al cocked his head to the side. “What would I need to do?”

  “Only look into my eyes, and say that you permit it. I can do the rest.”

  Al nodded twice. “I am ever at your service,” Al said.

  The dwarf king looked into the dragon’s eyes and a great warmth latched onto his face, holding him still. A cool, tingling sensation penetrated Al’s eyes. It wasn’t painful, but it was not exactly comfortable either. The tingling stretched through into his mind and then it was as if Al was aware of a presence in his memories, rifling through them as if they were books on a shelf. Al was able to continue his own thought process, but simultaneously he saw hundreds of memories play out in his mind in a matter of seconds. Then, as quickly as it had been established, the link was severed and Al stumbled forward to the ground.

  “You will regain your strength presently,” the Father of the Ancients promised. “I have seen your deeds, and I am more proud of you now than I was when I first learned of your discovering the addorite.”

  “We have not yet beaten the demons,” Al said.

  “No, but you have a better plan than any that has been tried before.”

  “If we fail,” Al began slowly, “then the demons will be free to enter this world more fully won’t they?”

  The dragon nodded. “If they are able to break through your defenses, then yes, they could spill into the Middle Kingdom after they destroy those within the mountain. However, I will stay here until the battle is finished. If you should fail to destroy them, then I will protect the Middle Kingdom as best I can from the demons. Although, I should say, I believe you will win.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Al asked.

  “I have already seen a world pass on and die. There were few on Kendualdern who possessed the courage and strength to fight. However, when I look into your soul, I see what was so sorely lacking on my home world.”

  “Is there truly no other way to access The Infinium than with the use of addorite?”

  Hiasyntar’Kulai’s eyes turned downward in a sad, distant stare. “I had many sons,” he replied. “One of them found The Infinium before we fled from Kendualdern. Despite The Aurorean’s warnings, my son tried to read The Infinium in its entirety, without the assistance of addorite. The powers of the book were too much for him, and they drove him mad.”

  “Tu’luh,” Al guessed.

  “No,” Hiasyntar’Kulai corrected. “Tu’luh has never read more than the unsealed portion in the beginning of The Infinium, though I did recently uncover the fact that he had hidden away a significant supply of addorite to attempt to do just that. Tu’luh lost his way, believing that forcing people to do his will and suppress their freedom to choose would result in a less corrupt world. He hoped that would stop the four horsemen from ever coming.”

  “Are we sure they are coming?” Al asked.

  Hiasyntar’Kulai let out a soft growl. “I am. I
have already been visited by one of their judges. You met him also, I see. He was the tall, human-like stranger in green robes who magically appeared on your balcony. He met with me also.”

  “And he will send the horsemen?” Al asked.

  The dragon shook his head. “I do not believe the time has come yet, but I also do not think it far off. In any case, the son who read The Infinium is known to you as the Patron of Chaos. He is the twisted black dragon who beguiled Khullan into forming the cursed races during the creation period. His name was Gorensikdar. He was killed a few centuries ago during a great war far to the west from here.”

  “I am sorry for your loss,” Al offered.

  The golden dragon let a tear fall to the ground. “I lost my son when he read the Aurorean’s book. You see, the power within the book is so great, that without the addorite to absorb some of the energy from The Infinium, the book will warp even the mind of an Ancient. We had been instructed, in order to read the book, to crush the crystal into a powder, then to heat it with dragonbreath in order to create a thick smoke in the room where the book will be read. Only then will our minds be protected from The Infinium’s harmful energies. There is not a day that goes by I do not wish my son could have shown the patience and forbearance necessary to wait until we could have come into possession of sufficient addorite to read the book safely.

  “By the time we had been instructed by the Aurorean on how to access the knowledge in the Infinium, it was too late for our world. There was no time to search for the Mystinen nexus there, but we did have hope of finding a new world where the nexus could be located, and addorite extracted. However, Gorensikdar had been driven to the brink at the loss of our world. He sought a way to exact revenge, not merely to prevent future loss of life, and went to The Infinium in a moment of recklessness before we met Icadion. I made a mistake in bringing him with us, for I thought someday I might be able to cure his mind, but I never was able to. Part of me still clings to the hope that I may find some answers in The Infinium that would enable me to bring my son back.”

  “That would explain why you continue to need more addorite,” Al commented.

  “Yes, it consumes quite a lot of crystals in the process. I have made excellent progress so far with what you have sent, but I will need more to finish my work.”

  “Does The Infinium truly hold the key to defeating the four horsemen?” Al pressed.

  Hiasyntar’Kulai nodded. “The Aurorean himself created The Infinium. He was a dragon made of light itself. He embodied all wisdom and knowledge. He was the creator of the sun that gave birth to us of Kendualdern, from whom remain only those you know as the Ancients here upon Terramyr. He then formed Kendualdern, and all of the dragons that inhabited that world. All of his knowledge was transcribed by his own hand into The Infinium. If there is a way to defeat the four horsemen, he would know it.”

  “But you aren’t sure?” Al asked incredulously.

  “I am not certain, but I am confident the answers will be found there.”

  Al nodded. “Alferug, and King Sylus’ book explained that Roegudok Hall is the only place on Terramyr where addorite can form, is this true?”

  Hiasyntar’Kulai nodded. “The Mystinen force forms a powerful nexus beneath Roegudok Hall. It converges with ever-present geological pressures to create the correct conditions for addorite to form. There is no other place on Terramyr that is the same.”

  “Then, I should go. I have demons to slay.”

  “Before you go, you should know that I have found an answer for you within the pages of The Infinium.”

  Al stopped and nodded his head to show that he was listening.

  “I have read a section about the Mystinen. Apparently it is an energy that comes into being when a seed crystal is created at the moment a plane of Hammenfein is connected to a new world. The seed crystal is released into the world, where it burns deep into its depths, and creates a new plane from which a nexus of Mystinen flows into the new world. When you travel through the portal, you are going to a new plane. It is smaller in scale, but is the home to this powerful crystal, and the creatures which are born of the mountain and the Mystinen. The crystal itself gives birth in each world to a fearsome guardian. The Infinium speaks of a three-headed demon. If you slay this demon, you can bring the crystal back through the portal to our plane of existence. In doing so, all of the portals that link our world with that of the demons will close. However, the Mystinen will still flow on our plane until the power in the crystal fades. Thus, you will be able to mine addorite without fear of any lurkers or demons appearing from the other plane.”

  “How will I know this crystal?” Al asked.

  “The Infinium describes it as a blue, pearlescent crystal that is smooth and spins in the air. It will likely be in some sort of shrine, as it also is the source of the demons’ magic. Take the crystal, and the demons will not only be sealed off, but they will lose their magical powers.”

  “And then the mine will be safe?”

  Hiasyntar’Kulai nodded. “This doesn’t eradicate all demons throughout Terramyr, of course, but our concern is the small, alternate world that has formed a nexus with our own. Take the crystal, and that link will be broken.”

  “And you are sure this is accurate?” Al pressed. He was slightly worried that the large dragon might grow intolerant of his questions, but the golden dragon continued to smile softly and nod his head as he explained it for Al.

  “The Infinium detailed that this particular nexus is formed with every world, but that each world links to its own alternate plane. Think of it as a shadow. I have a shadow and you have a shadow, but the properties of our shadows are the same. Thus it is with this alternate plane that is linked to a world through the Mystinen. It is a force that begins during a world’s creation, and while each world has its own alternate plane created by its own Mystinen, the properties of that plane, and the crystal within the alternate plane, as well as the large three-headed demon, are all the same.”

  “Is it true you can’t come into the mountain?”

  Hiasyntar’Kulai nodded once more. “Though I am the strongest of my kind, the Mystinen is toxic to me. Until it is gone, I cannot go inside Roegudok Hall.”

  Al nodded and turned back to look at the open gate. “I had better go and finish our preparations then.”

  “Fortune be with you, King of Roegudok Hall,” the dragon boomed.

  CHAPTER 17

  Year 3,711 Age of Demigods, Winter.

  2ndyear of the reign ofAldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu, 13th King of Roegudok Hall.

  Al stood quietly as he surveyed the warriors gathered in Demon Spring. There had been enough lurker scales to forge three hundred sets of armor. It wasn’t nearly as many soldiers as King Sylus had during his final battle with the demons, but Al hoped it would be enough. Knowing that there were twenty addorite mounds where the portals would be functioning, the army was going to be divided into twenty groups of fifteen. The previous night, Al and Benbo had selected eighteen captains to lead eighteen groups of fifteen warriors each. Benbo would lead the nineteenth group, and Al was commanding the twentieth.

  Each group had been briefed on the mission. Get in, sneak around if possible, slay anything that tried to attack them, and above all, get the crystal out of the alternate plane. He also stressed the importance of leaving the tunnel as a group once someone had the crystal. Anyone who didn’t jump back through the portal before the crystal was brought into Terramyr would be stuck in the alternate plane forever. Al had tried to describe the alternate plane to them as best he could, but even still he knew it was going to be a difficult fight. There was no way of knowing exactly where the crystal would be, other than looking for the three-headed demon Hiasyntar’Kulai had spoken of.

  That was to say nothing of the lurkers. Al had no idea how many of them might be hiding in the darkness. To make matters worse, the cavedogs were unable to go through the portals. The three hundred warriors would have to go it alone, and on foo
t. Then there was the matter of time. For every minute they spent in the alternate plane, a day would pass in Terramyr. They would have to be quick.

  The dwarf king took in a deep breath and glanced up to the tunnel leading out of Demon Springs. He took comfort knowing that the mithril gate was closed, and defensive traps had been set in place. If any demons or lurkers managed to come into Terramyr, the remaining warriors would deal with them.

  Al looked at the pile of stones encasing the mound a few yards in front of him and his warriors. He nodded to them and gave the signal. The warriors began slowly dismantling the makeshift barrier. As the dwarf king watched them work, he caught a glimpse of something glowing just beyond the soldiers in his group. He stepped around the stone barrier and saw Alferug, King Sylus, and his father standing a few feet in the air above the ground. They smiled at him, and then they vanished. Al took comfort in seeing the spirits.

  He walked back to his warriors and encouraged them. “Our ancestors are with us this day,” Al said. He adjusted his armor once more and held Murskain at the ready. As soon as the last stone was removed, he made for the mound of crystal. He walked up to the apex and then took one more step. As had happened before, the lights around him vanished and he was in darkness. He quietly looked around, searching for any sign of lurkers or demons.

  A vent erupted just thirty yards away, illuminating much of the area around the dwarf king. Seeing nothing, he moved off the mound. The other warriors streamed in one after another. Al signaled to them with a silent wave as another blast of fire erupted from the nearby vent.

  They moved along a stone embankment that skirted around a much softer, clay-like substance that had built up around the waist-high vent. When the fire erupted, the dwarves crouched low. Al caught sight of another group of dwarves moving along in the darkness. He silently wished them luck and then continued on.