“Regardless,” said Greystone, clearly eager to get off the topic, “the first thing I wish to bring up is the Runegard.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Darren was standing behind me. Seeing me turn, he gave me a nod and a smile. “What about them?” I asked.
“The Battle of the Circle, as it’s now being called, was a terrible loss for Athorn,” Greystone began. “I don’t know how much you remember before we all leapt through the portal.”
“How could we forget?” asked Miles. “And what’s Athorn?”
“Athorn is the kingdom where we are now,” explained Greystone. “The Runehold is located in the capital city of Morrowdust. Athorn is the greatest of the human kingdoms.”
“The greatest of all the Free Kingdoms,” said one of the Runegard. It was one of the girls, the one standing behind Miles right now. I remembered that her name was Melaine.
Greystone looked irritated. “Regardless, it is where we are. And the army I was able to muster in the battle came from Athorn, quite unwillingly, I might add. Many great men were lost, including High General Gaskill.”
Across the table I saw Cara stiffen and look away.
“Our entire force was wiped out,” said Greystone. “Except, that is, for the six Runegard in this room.”
“Yeah, props on not dying, by the way,” said Blade, turning to look at all of them. “Good on that.”
They all stared back at him stonily. Greystone glowered at him. “Realm Keeper or not,” he said with barely-contained fury, “I will not suffer you to make light of those who died to protect you.”
Blade stared back at him in an attempt at insolence, but he soon dropped his eyes in the face of Greystone’s anger. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Bad joke.”
Greystone held his gaze on Blade’s averted eyes a moment before moving on. “As I was saying, the Runegard in this room have gone through much,” he said. “Not only have they proven their prowess and fearlessness in battle beyond doubt, but also their willingness to lay down their lives to protect yours. And in recognition of their deeds, I have decided to create new stations for them. Cara is already head of the Runegard, but I have named her Captain of the Deathwatch, and the other five its members. The Deathwatch was an ancient cult, formed before the Runegard were even an idea. Its members were bound with terrible oaths, binding their life forces to the Realm Keepers. If the Keepers were slain, the Deathwatch would perish.”
“Um, isn’t that a little extreme?” said Miles nervously.
“Yes, it was. But do not worry — we have not brought those oaths back. They remain in ancient history where they belong. But from now on, each one of these knights shall be responsible for one of you. Not only will they guard your bodies as you sleep, as is a Runegard’s regular duty, but they will fight beside you in battle and travel beside you wherever you go. Each of them is responsible for one of your lives. I earnestly hope you will consider yourself responsible for theirs, as well.”
“Oh, dibs on Cara,” I said immediately. I remembered Cara’s fighting at the Battle of the Circle. She’d been like a whirling dervish of death. And she was kind of cute, too, even though she was older and she’d probably cut something off me if I tried to make a pass at her.
“I have already assigned the guard,” Greystone said, annoyed. “You will have to make do with Darren, Sir Calvin.”
I turned. So that’s why he’d been hanging around. I shot him a broad grin. “Oh, that’s totally cool. We’re already homeboys, am I right?”
Darren cocked his head for a moment, confused, but then he grinned and nodded. “Of course, Sir Calvin.”
“Cara shall watch over Lady Sarah,” Greystone continued. “Melaine over Sir Miles, Samuel over Sir Blade,” he smirked at Blade’s name. “Nora shall watch over Lady Tess, and Barius over Lady Raven.”
“What?” exclaimed Raven. “I get the old guy?”
“Um, actually,” said Miles uncomfortably, “I’m kind of with her on this. Mixing boys and girls might not be the best idea.” Melaine stirred behind him uncomfortably. I didn’t see what his problem was. Melaine might not have been as cute as Cara, but her long brown hair looked silky and beautiful in the light from the window, and she had pretty eyes. Though I guess it was possible Miles wasn’t judging his guard on how cute she was.
“Let’s trade,” Raven said to Miles, as though they were talking about baseball cards and not bodyguards.
“Enough!” snapped Greystone. “I have assigned your guards as I have seen fit, and for reasons of my own. You would do well not to ignore them.”
“You can’t command us,” Raven said rudely. “Don’t you have to do what we say?”
Greystone glared at her and turned to Sarah. “Lady Sarah, I cannot command, as Raven has said. But heed me: no choice in this assignment was made without care and a thought for the future.”
Sarah hesitated for a moment, but she nodded. She turned to Raven. “Raven, I trust him on this,” she said gently. “If you insist, we can change things. But let’s give this a chance. If we don’t like it, we can always make new arrangements later.”
Raven looked uneasy.
“I promise I won’t bite, girl,” said Barius unexpectedly from behind her. He chuckled. “It’s not like I’m going to follow you to the latrines.”
Raven glared at him. “You even try, and I’ll zap your beard off.”
Barius guffawed. “Oh, this will be fun.”
Raven turned back to us in a huff. “Fine,” she said sullenly.
“Thank you,” said Sarah. She turned back to Greystone. “All right. What else?”
“Normally, there would be a ceremony to celebrate your arrival,” said Greystone. “A sort of combination of a coronation and a parade. But unfortunately, Athorn is preparing for war. We simply haven’t the time. And besides, we might not get support from the King and Queen for such an event.” He practically spat the last words. Clearly there was some sort of animosity there.
“Shouldn’t we be planning a strategy?” Sarah said skeptically. “If the kingdom is preparing for war, I think we should do the same. After all, I think all of us want to sort out this war and get back to our normal lives as quickly as possible.”
Greystone chuckled. “How ambitious of you. First things first, a tour in place of your parade.”
“All right,” said Sarah. “When?”
“Why not now?” said Greystone, standing so quickly that his chair skidded back across the stone. He strode briskly for the passage that led away from the great hall and into Runehold.
Sarah looked at us and shrugged. “Okay then,” she said. “Let’s take a tour.”
We followed Greystone down a hallway leading the opposite direction from the training rooms, which I was already starting to think of as the Danger Rooms. He led us into a long hallway that ended in a short staircase to a wooden hatch. The hatch flew open with a wave of Greystone’s staff, and he led us into the sunlight.
We were high on a parapet overlooking the Runehold ward. The ward reached to an inner wall that wrapped all around the keep where we were standing. A bailey extended out beyond the inner wall, stretching perhaps a hundred feet before reaching the outer walls. Tall, solid-looking towers dotted both walls at regular intervals. The towers of the outer wall had open backs, giving them full visibility to the towers of the inner wall.
“Oh, brilliant,” I said. “You leave the outer towers open, so that if they’re taken by an enemy they can’t be held against arrow fire from the inner towers?”
Barius looked down at me, impressed. “You know something of siege warfare, little master?”
I smiled up at him and waved a hand airily. “I was only the tournament champion of the Siege Master’s table top exhibition, like, two years in a row. They couldn’t topple me. They put me up against two opponents, both with boosted point values, and I trashed them.”
Barius’ smile turned to a look of confusion.
“Calvin, can you not be such a geek for tw
o seconds?” Sarah said.
“So that’s Morrowdust?” asked Blade.
I looked out over the outer wall of the Runehold. A city stretched out before us. Hundreds of buildings flowed along streets that looked like little streams, running up and down the curves of the land. Running through the middle was a big gap. It was either a main road or a river. I was betting a river; the better to fortify the city against any outside invasion. The gap ran straight through the center of Morrowdust until it ended at another castle.
“Now that’s a castle,” said Miles.
The thing was huge. It made the Runehold look like a toy for children. Its tall, gleaming metal spires rose over a hundred feet in the air. They were sharp and shiny and looked like the prongs of a crown. The front of the outer wall was dominated by a huge, metal gate. The intricate gold worked into every inch of the gate was visible even from where we stood, miles away.
“Who lives there?” asked Tess.
“That is the palace of the King, Nestor, and his Queen,” said Greystone huffily. “It is the great palace of Morrowdust, the prize of Athorn. We are most unfortunate that sheer stupidity currently stalks its mighty halls.”
“Stupidity? What?” I asked.
“A tale for another time. I do not wish to agitate myself further.”
“Why is their castle so much bigger than ours?” Blade asked.
“Blade,” Sarah said sternly. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Does to me,” he grumbled.
Greystone answered despite Sarah’s scolding. “The Runegard were formed by the Realm Keeper Angelique, the greatest of her age, many hundreds of years ago,” he began. “Before the Runegard, the King and Queen were responsible for guarding the Realm Keepers. One day they failed, due to the King’s own greed and arrogance. Angelique hand-selected the first Runegard from the King’s own army as punishment for breaking his oath.
“That same year, she ordered the construction of Runehold. But she commanded it be built as a smaller cousin to the royal palace, not its rival. The Realm Keepers are servants of Midrealm, not its rulers. You command no lands and own nothing but your robes of office. All that Realm Keepers need is provided by the Free Kingdoms, and in return the Realm Keepers defend them from Chaos — or they are supposed to. Angelique built the Runehold modestly to remind the Realm Keepers of this for all time. A pity that it does not always work.”
“That’s dumb,” said Blade, smiling. “I mean, we could burn their palace down if we wanted to. Or at least I could.”
“Oh, yes, you’re so very powerful, Sir Blade,” said Greystone sarcastically. He whirled back to the hatch leading below, and a gust of air flew from his motion to knock Blade over. He fell to his butt with a grunt. “Come. Let me take you to the barrier gate.”
Blade got up, grumbling. We followed Greystone down the hatch and through the Runehold once more.
“What’s the barrier gate?” asked Miles.
“It’s a gate,” said Cara helpfully. “In the barrier.”
“The barrier we erected last time we were here?” asked Sarah.
“Precisely,” said Cara.
Greystone led us out the great front doors of the keep and out through the courtyard to the first wall, then through the bailey to the second wall.
Suddenly we found ourselves in the city, in the winding streets we’d just been observing. The buildings were widely spaced, drawing closer and closer together the farther they got from the Runehold. Sparse traffic littered the streets; some men, probably city guard, were passing in armor with weapons clanking at their sides. People who looked like farmers were there, drawing or riding carts filled with produce and foodstuffs. Wealthier-looking citizens, dressed in varying degrees of finery, rode on horses.
And all of them stopped in their tracks to stare at us.
We stood there, six kids surrounded by Runegard, with Greystone at our head, and stared back at them.
It didn’t matter who they were or how fine their clothes were. All of them looked at us with wide eyes and mouths agape. More people emerged from side streets and behind buildings, all of them stopping as soon as they saw us. Soon a small crowd had formed in the space, looking at us like animals in a zoo.
“So, this is awkward,” said Miles quietly.
“Hail the Realm Keepers!” cried a voice.
“Hail!” cried several more in response.
Like a dam had burst before a river, the air was flooded with cries.
Hail!
The Realm Keepers have returned!
Hail!
Fists flew into the air. Cheers erupted. The peasants and the city guard were the most enthusiastic. The affluent-looking members of the crowd were more reserved, but they called out along with the rest.
“Sweet,” I said, looking around at everyone with a smile. “Guys, we’re like rock stars.”
Hail the Realm Keepers!
Sarah looked uncomfortable, but she raised a hand to wave in greeting. Fresh cheers greeted the gesture.
“Come,” said Greystone gruffly. “We have much to do. We mustn’t tarry.”
He set off, aiming to skirt around the crowd, but as soon as we approached they swarmed forward. The Runegard stepped forward, placing their bulky and armored forms between us and the crowd, but the people simply reached around them. They clutched our hands to shake them. They clapped us on the shoulder, smiling.
“Thank you! Thank you, Lords!” cried a woman in the crowd.
“No problem,” I said, grinning. I didn’t know what she was thanking me for, but I was willing to take credit.
“My family, Sir!” cried a man. “They are beyond the barrier! Please, you must rescue them!”
“We will,” I said. “We’ve got to, you know, formulate some strategies and stuff. But we’ll get to them. We’ll get to everyone.”
“Calvin, stop it,” said Sarah, too quietly for the crowd to hear.
“What?” I said. “We will. We’re the freaking Realm Keepers.”
Greystone was staring at me with the same smolder that I’d seen him give to Blade earlier, but I didn’t understand why.
We pushed on, slowly leaving the crowd behind. They dissolved into cheers as we moved away. I turned one last time before we rounded the corner of a building and gave them a wave. They waved back, cheering even louder.
“That was awesome,” I said as they passed from sight.
Miles looked troubled. “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I thought it was weird.”
“Super weird,” said Raven. “Like we’re celebrities or something. We haven’t even done anything yet.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “Yeah, but we will. People have won Nobel Prizes without doing anything.”
“You’d do well to stop talking,” said Greystone suddenly. I was surprised at how angry he sounded. “Before I set one of you on fire.”
The venom in his voice shut us all up for the moment. I didn’t know what his deal was, but it was hard to try having a heart-to-heart with the guy while he was leading us through the city at a breakneck walking pace. I settled instead for looking around. The buildings were small, hardly any of them more than a single story and few wider than fifty feet. We must have been in a modest section of town; there was no way the wealthy merchants I’d seen earlier lived in little buildings like these.
We still passed by people and got plenty of stares, but now that we were on the move we weren’t approached again. Instead, people simply stopped and watched us as we walked by. Clearly our robes were well-known, because no one wondered who we were. They all knew. You could see it in their eyes.
Soon we reached the city’s outer wall. The wall was unadorned, but still impressive. It looked solid. Nobody had wasted time on decoration; there were no fancy flags or banners. This wall had one purpose and one purpose only: keeping things out to protect the people within. The gate itself was less impressive than those at the Runehold. It was wood instead of metal, and just tall enough to
allow men on horseback with a few feet of headroom. What it lacked in height, however, it made up for in width. The space between its open doors was wide enough for more than twenty men to walk abreast, obviously designed to accommodate a large flow of traffic in or out of the city.
“Why is the gate so wide?” I asked.
“It used to be narrower,” Darren replied. “For ease of defense. However, Morrowdust has faced few threats in the last many centuries. Chaos has been dormant. Border wars have been minimal, and take place far from the capitol. When my father’s father was a boy, the King demolished the old gate and built this new, wider one to allow trade to flow more freely. It is one of five gates in the city wall, and all of them are now built this way.”
“I hope we do not come to regret that decision,” said Greystone ominously. “I urged the King against it, but he would not be swayed.”
“Maybe you should have set him on fire,” said Blade brightly. “Since, you know, that’s like your default response to people who annoy you.”
“If it is, then why are you not a pile of ash?” asked Greystone.
The gate lay open, but traffic coming in or out was minimal. We passed through easily, the guards on the gatehouse saluting us. Cara raised her mailed hand to wave in response as we passed beneath it.
That’s when we saw the real gate.
The barrier gate stood at the edge of the horizon, which looked to be about twenty miles away. It looked utterly bizarre, standing there with no stone wall on either side of it. But the thin blue haze in the air showed what we already knew: the gate did stand in the middle of a wall, one that might have been invisible but was actually far more powerful than any barrier of wood and stone.
Even though it stood alone, the gate was still an impressive beast. It consisted of two gigantic stone towers with a crosspiece above the gate itself. The stone was ancient and dark grey, well-worn with time. Contrary to the plain, rudimentary look of Morrowdust’s walls and gates, the barrier gate was adorned with finery.
Two banners hung from the towers, a sigil upon each one. The first was a simple fist holding a sword high on a red background. The sword was inscribed with ancient words that I couldn’t read. The look of the fist’s armor and the hilt of the sword, however, seemed familiar. Suddenly I realized it reminded me of the armor of the Runegard.
Midrealm Page 10
