Ancient Prophecy (11 page)

“May I see the Medallion of Prince Geltim?” asked the King.

Prince Rigal walked forward to the throne and presented the medallion. The King looked at it carefully and sighed. King Galever turned to his assistant and ordered tables and chairs to be brought to the courtyard along with food and drink for the visitors. The King rose from his throne and walked with Prince Rigal to greet the other visitors.

“We shall dine together this day and this night and as long as it takes to hear your stories,” declared King Galever. “I wish to know of this other Universe, the legends that were spawned concerning the extinction of civilizations, and our neighbors to the north. I welcome you, visitors, as friends of Elderal. Let us feast and talk.”

King Galever started the conversation with Shamta Kaz. He was astonished to hear that the unicorns were not willing allies to the Dielderal and saddened by Kaz’s tales of elves hunting, killing, and enslaving the unicorns. In the battles with the Dielderal, King Galever’s forces were often at a disadvantage because of the unicorns. The King suggested that they talk later to develop a plan that would ensure the safety of the unicorns.

Kaz suggested that there might be grounds for discussing an alliance between Elderal and Monoceros. The alliance, he suggested, might turn the tide against the Dielderal and stop their encroachment into both nations.

Jenneva delivered a long account of her studies and theories of the Universes, Junctions, and disappearances of travelers. The King wondered about the results these strange disappearances had bestowed upon his people. When Jenneva was done the King had elves show the visitors to guest quarters and everyone retired for the night.

The next morning everyone regrouped for another session with the King, except Kaz’s four fellow unicorns. They had wandered into the city and were giving rides to anyone who wanted one. The children, knowing no shyness, had been first, but soon even the warriors were waiting in line for a ride on the magnificent animals. The unicorns seemed to be having just as much fun as the elves and the City of Elderal was in a very festive atmosphere.

Prince Tergota started the morning session by telling the accepted history of the dwarves of Talman. He spoke about leaving Lanto and encountering the elves, the discovery of the loss of Lanto, and the foundation of hostilities against the elves because of the Suffering.

Prince Rigal finished up with the accepted history of Glendor. He spoke of Prince Geltim’s journey tracing the movements of the dwarves and the eventual discovery of humans and the Time of Desolation.

“I can see now, why you have taken the risk of this journey,” stated King Galever. “So many years of false beliefs and misunderstandings have accumulated. I wonder how these Universes may have had a hand in our own misunderstandings. There are dwarves in this Universe still, Prince Tergota. I should think that you need to talk with them.”

“Dwarves in this Universe?” exclaimed the dwarf Prince. “Where can they be found?”

“They live in the Piotarimer,” explained the King, “far south of here. They are the mountains that come before Sorelderal.”

“That must be the Southern Mountains,” deduced Alex, “but what is Sorelderal?”

“Well,” began King Galever, “you have been kind enough to share your stories with me, now I will share mine with you. You are correct about our thoughts regarding Prince Geltim’s disappearance. We figured that the dwarves destroyed his band. After that happened, another group of dwarves came from the South. By that time King Elisar had formed warrior groups under his second son, Prince Gordana. Prince Gordana chased the dwarves across the Sithiarimer and hunted them to extinction. I apologize to Prince Tergota for this, for it seems that the dwarves were not seeking conquest, but colonization.”

Prince Tergota nodded his acceptance of the apology and King Galever continued. “King Elisar ordered his son to return home and the Prince ignored him. In a rage at being ignored, King Elisar named his youngest son, Prince Alderon, heir to the throne. King Elisar died shortly afterward and when Prince Gordana learned what had happened, he tried to seize the throne by force. So many years of fighting the dwarves must have taught the Prince that he could take whatever he wanted. Surely, he did not believe that the elves, under Prince Alderon, would be able to hold off his warriors.”

King Galever shook his head and sipped some wine. When no one commented he continued his tale. “Prince Gordana was wrong. The elves rallied around their rightful ruler, King Alderon, and our mighty nation was split in two. The war lasted for many years and Prince Gordana named himself King of Dielderal. The war was no longer a dispute between two Princes, but became a conflict between two nations. That war continues to this day.”

“Will news about Prince Geltim’s fate do anything to ease the conflict between the Dielderal and yourself?” asked Prince Rigal.

“I do not know,” replied the King. “There is more and then we will return to this question. There was a segment of our population that wanted an end to the war even if it meant breaking the line of succession. The discussion was interrupted by the appearance of more dwarves coming up from the South. Prince Sorel, a grandson of King Alderon, led the group of dissenters to intercept the dwarves. The elves this time, however, did not go to battle the dwarves. They went to turn the dwarves back peacefully so that the Dielderal would not have a new reason to continue the war.”

“Sounds like there is a Junction in the Southern Mountains that is on a well-used path,” commented Alex.

“Yes,” continued the King, “It would appear so. Prince Sorel met the dwarves on friendly terms and convinced them that none of their brothers remained alive up north. The dwarves and the elves spent many weeks together and the dwarves told Prince Sorel of a rich land south of the Piotarimer and invited the elves to settle in it. Prince Sorel returned here and announced that the dissenters were going to populate the new land. Most of the warriors shunned the opportunity, but most of the intellectuals accepted. The smartest of the elves relocated and created a new nation, the nation of Sorelderal.”

“There is a third nation of elves?” puzzled Prince Rigal.

“Yes,” declared King Galever, “And you must travel there for I believe that they will possess the knowledge of what to do about these Universes. They are also the best suited for determining what effect the news about Prince Geltim will have on the Dielderal. I can supply you with a guide to take you most of the way, but my people have not traveled as far south as Sorelderal in many years.”

“I have been over those mountains recently,” stated Alex. “I don’t think that we will need a guide, but anything that you could do in terms of safe passage so that we do not get shot at by your people would be very helpful.”

“I will supply you with a banner of my house,” stated King Galever. “No citizen of Elderal or Sorelderal will harm you under my banner. You will, of course, stop in Dorgun, Land of the Dwarves, on the way. They also will heed my banner. Kaz, will you stay and discuss your problems with me?”

If it will not offend you, King Galever, I will leave one of my father’s subjects with you for the talks. I wish to travel with these strange beings a while longer. A visit to see the dwarves and Sorelderal sounds intriguing and I wish to witness the conclusion of this strange journey.

I understand, Kaz. You have been bitten by an adventurous bug. Go in peace and visit us again.

It would give me great pleasure to visit again, King Galever.

“Well then,” offered the King, “you will stay and refresh yourselves for several days at least. I like to think that there is no place as fine as Elderal and Elderal is yours for the duration of your stay. Whatever you require for the rest of your journey will be supplied. You have honored me with your visit and I wish to be honored again when you have the chance. I will send runners ahead to tell of your coming.”

The visitors spent most of the week in the City of Elderal. A strong, friendly bond was built between the unicorns and the fair elves. Alex and Jenneva spent many hours wandering the paths and studying old scrolls. Prince Rigal and Prince Tergota were inseparable and the elves were fascinated with stories and tales from a dwarf’s point of view. Being among the elves as a friend also brought a new appreciation to Prince Tergota and he vowed to help bring closer ties between Talman and Glendor when they returned home.

In one of the old scrolls, Jenneva found a reference to the demon, Alutar, but her questions on this matter were met with a lack of knowledge on the subject. Jenneva grew restless and worried about Egam and soon Alex ordered the continuance of their journey.

The fifth unicorn remained behind to talk with King Galever and the party set off southward. All along the route, elves came out to greet the strange visitors and wonder at the sight of unicorns, humans, a dwarf and a lost Prince. The villagers brought supplies along with their curiosity and the party was always offered a village to spend the night in.

The journey took several weeks and, finally, they watched the Piotarimer rise from the horizon. Every day they got closer until the mountains towered over them. Alex followed the directions he had been given and they arrived at a large cave entrance. Two dwarves were sitting to one side of the entrance talking, undaunted by the approach of visitors until they looked up and noticed the humans. They leapt to their feet and Prince Tergota strode forward to greet them.

“Greetings!” Prince Tergota exclaimed. “We have come to speak with King Tring of the Land of Dorgun.”

Prince Tergota drew the Dagger of King Arak from its sheath and the Dorgun dwarves jumped back, their own hands going for their weapons. Prince Tergota looked up in surprise and held the dagger out with his two palms facing upward. “This is the Dagger of King Arak,” he explained. “It will inform the King of the purpose of our visit.”

The Dorgun dwarves seeing the relaxed attitude of the rest of the visitors slowly moved forward and inspected the dagger. One of them turned and ran into the cave while the other nodded to Prince Tergota.

“King Tring will be informed shortly,” the Dorgun dwarf said, “We will not have long to wait.”

The rest of the party dismounted and stretched. Alex and Prince Rigal were careful not to rest their hands near their weapons and risk exciting the stranded dwarf. Alex could hear a great deal of commotion emanating from within the cave and thirty minutes later the dwarf messenger reappeared.

“King Tring will see you,” the dwarf messenger stated. “Follow me.”

Prince Tergota took the lead, following the dwarf messenger into the cave. Alex saw with amazement that the cave was loaded with curious dwarves that had been watching them while they waited outside. The stranded dwarf had not been stranded at all. A veritable army awaited in the cave out of sight of the visitors.

Many of the dwarves fell into line at the end of the procession and the tunnels echoed with the sounds of dwarves singing. The songs were quite lyrical, but were heavy on cadence and Alex found himself marching to the dwarves’ rhythm. Amused, he noticed that the entire party was in step to the beat, except the unicorns. The ceilings on the tunnel were quite low and Alex saw that the unicorns had to walk with their heads held low to avoid contact with the stone.

The parade wound itself through the stone corridors, sinking lower and lower until Alex wondered if the tunnels had any bottom at all. The lead dwarf never turned around to see if everyone was keeping up with him. He could tell by the sounds of their feet and the volume of the singing at the rear of the column that his pace was adequate. The tunnels seemed to go on forever with corridors running off to either side or both sides every so often. Sometimes they turned off of what had felt like the main corridor into one of these side tunnels and soon it felt like it was the main tunnel, then they would turn again.

They passed through some circular chambers and Jenneva giggled, recalling her first visit to Egam’s hideaway. She realized the others probably had the feeling of hopelessness that she had felt back then.

Eventually, they came to a very large chamber and Jenneva likened it to King Tugar’s chamber. She was correct in that feeling, as they had just entered the chamber of King Tring, King of Dorgun.

The chamber was much larger than King Tugar’s chamber and certainly more elegant. The walls were covered with colorful paintings depicting dwarves at work in varying professions. There were paintings of excavators, miners, armorers, magicians, merchants, warriors, silversmiths, artists, and even farmers. There was also one section of the wall that was devoted to elves, with paintings of elves in a favorable light and some paintings with both dwarves and elves.

There were also many items hanging on the walls including suits of armor, shields, swords, axes, serving trays, helmets, daggers, and picks. Some of the items appeared to be solid gold and others looked like silver. There were also torches at regular intervals and several other tunnels leading out of the chamber.

In the center of the chamber was a large circular arrangement of tiered benches that went three quarters around and three tiers high. The fourth quarter was open and had a small platform with two gold thrones upon it. The whole arrangement gave the appearance of presenting the two thrones as if they were on a stage and the tiers of stone benches were the seats for the audience.

The thrones were empty and the dwarf messenger addressed the group.

“Please, make yourself comfortable. The King and Queen will be here shortly.” He indicated that the visitors should take a seat on the circular benches and dwarves came into the chamber carrying refreshments and pillows for those who felt that the stone benches provided too little comfort.

There were, of course, no seats to accommodate the unicorns, but Kaz and his followers did not seem to take any offense. In fact, Kaz was gazing at the wall paintings and seemed to be quite intrigued with the art form.

Alex heard a great commotion coming from one of the tunnels and the dwarf messenger indicated that the party should stand until the King and Queen were seated.