Dawn of Dusk
Chapter 29: Stronghold

Vistyral walked to his council chamber and he met Chertal running in from the courtyard.

“You summoned me your grace?”

“Yes, I want to meet with Thorak and a few of his friends.” He walked to the chamber door and opened it. There waited Thorak, a young man, and a young woman. Thank you for coming, I have so looked forward to meeting the two of you.”

“Your Grace,” Thorak began, “Allow me to introduce you to Marshak and Toverak both recently promoted to Grand Wizard status in the magicians guild also incidentally husband and wife. As such protocol would allow them to serve together as court sorcerer or they could serve two different kingdoms. As members of the Guild they are under obligation to keep secret anything discussed here today. They are not interested in applying for an opening in the kingdom of Karrondor, by the way.

“Marshak, Toverak, allow me to introduce to Vistyral Duke of Cryarlac, soon to be King of Cryarlac also soon to be crown prince of Artermador by marriage to the Princess Mirtar also his friend Lord Chertal.”

“Thorak explained to me the somewhat unusual circumstances of your induction into the Guild. He has also assured me that both of you have significantly superior skills to his own of which I am very aware are notable.

I have already spoken to the Princess Mirtar about the two of you and we were prepared to offer the two of you a trial as Court sorcerers in Artermador. Things have changed however and I can tell you that will not be possible under the present circumstances. I have spoken to...”

“You’re Grace, if I may interrupt. We would not be interested in serving unless we served together. If I may speak plainly we both see war as a very strong possibility in the near future and we do not savor the responsibility of working on opposite sides of a conflict.”

Toverak nodded in agreement to her husband’s words.

Vistyral repressed a smile and looked thoughtful. Well, I see that you are current in world events as well as being superior magicians. If I may ask, who do you see fighting this war?”

Marshak looked uneasily to Thorak who said, “Go ahead and be totally honest with him, its okay if you become his sorcerer you will be expected to be honest.”

Marshak swallowed and looked back at Vistyral. “Well your Grace, you; we expect that you and your brother will fight for control of the world. The dominant one will control the whole world.”

Suddenly Vistyral was angry he wanted to slap Marshak for saying he wanted to control the world. He spoke angrily, “I see, is this your opinion, or did you look into the future to gather this information.”

He tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice but he could hear the patronizing tone as he spoke. The last thing he needed or wanted to hear was someone to tell him that it was his desire to control the world.

All he had really wanted was to make Cryarlac a better place to live for the people there. Now it had expanded into wanting more for the people of Artermador, more for them where they are not more area to control.

“No you misunderstand me; I hope I didn’t offend you. We are quite aware that your brother is the one bent on world domination. You are just the only one we feel is capable of stopping him.

“We feel that most of the civilized world will unite under one side or the other and we don’t feel that your brother would accept a stalemate where a stagnant battle front would partition right now we have been doing some magical eavesdropping that would not be ethical if we became a court sorcerer. Most of the rulers today are afraid of your brother. Many will ally themselves with him because they feel he will not be able to be defeated.

We are meeting with you today because Thorak has convinced us that you can defeat Borrial with the right help and we agree. This will require more from you than so far you have been committed to give. What I have seen you do so far with my magical spying is being reluctantly be drawn into something you really don’t want to do. You even had to be convinced to propose to Mirtar and she ended up beating you to the punch. As far as I can see, your Grace, you need more personal commitment before hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions place their lives in your hands.

I mean no disrespect because if we become obligated to you we will follow you without question and to the very ends of our lives if need be. We want to be sure that two or three years from now you won’t decide that the cost of liberty is too high and you would surrender to your brother leaving the rest of us leaderless and hunted for our opposition.”

Vistyral felt ashamed that he had allowed petty thing anger him. If he expected to stop Borrial’s plan he would need to become much more callous and hard not only to his own feelings but to those of others as well.

He bowed to Marshak, “my apologies, I have become a little too sensitive lately. Please come in and let me explain why I would like you both to consider a position.

I expected to become king of Artermador when my fiancée’ and I were married and the time passed for the succession to take place. Now however, it appears that I will actually be king of two kingdoms. The agreement has recently been reached to grant Cryarlac independence from Karrondor and I will be made king of that land before my marriage to Mirtar.

I will need a court sorcerer in Cryarlac and another in Artermador. I also expect that I will need to learn a spell of teleportation so I will be able to get back and forth in an instant. I expect that you could share sorcerers quarters in either castle or both, of course Artermador is much larger and more ornate. My future wife will spend most of her time there, I expect, that if things work out, that Toverak would spend more time there with my wife; who is learning magic by the way, and Marshak and I would shuttle back and forth to the Castle at Cryarlac when necessary.

Chertal who will be my regent when I am not here will also need to learn a teleportation spell. I checked with Thorak and he said there is no regulation on teaching a spell or two to a king so if we have the aptitude, we would want to learn a few spells.”

“This will not be easy for you. For a while at least we would have to take you back and forth. You can get lost in teleportation you know.”

“I understand, Thorak has briefed me. I also want you to know that Thorak has built a tower near the castle in Cryarlac. Officially he can do nothing except normal wizard responsibilities. He might be there to help with teaching or something like that.”

“I might teach you a thing or two your grace. I also think you should know that Borrial has selected his future court sorcerer. I know that both of you know her, she tested with you.”

“Vientak,” Toverak hissed, “She would go to someone like Borrial, she knows almost as much about magic as you do Marshak and I’d say her knowledge with mine is dead even.”

“My ability to do Elven magic really aggravates her. She spent three weeks trying to call fire. She has spirits that can do it all for her, a thousand times over but she won’t admit that I can do something she can’t.

Thorak while we are here, I have to tell you something. The night before the testing Vientak came to me and invited her into my room. I turned her down and she went into Ricaral’s room. In the morning she claimed to have spent the night alone in her room and Ricaral woke up burned out.

Since I gained a complete knowledge of magic, I learned that there is a type of remembering that allows restoration of all memories except the removal of magical abilities. I could allow you to take my magic. I would continue my normal life except that I could never again learn a magical spell. All the magical abilities would be removed from me.

It was invented centuries ago to punish those who used their magic for evil purposes. I think Viental used it to take Ricaral’s magic so she could use it herself. I have no proof, but I’m certain of it.”

“I believe you. Understand that right and wrong is important; but, if Ricaral does not complain to the guild, as he is privileged to do. There was no wrong committed.”

“I know, but I thought you would want to know, since you sit on the magical board”

“Thank-you for your concern; now forget it.”

“I can’t forget it.”

“You will have to. Let’s get back to work.”

“All right, well your grace one thing that you need to know is that magic grows in strength in proportion to the knowledge of the person welding the magic. If you were to learn a magical shield spell, you would be able to protect yourself from magical spells of a person of lesser or equal strength. A person with stronger magical abilities would be able to penetrate your protection but only by the strength of magic he or she had above you.

We measure magical ability in units called magicroms. Each spell that a magician masters allows the magician a certain number of magicroms. Some spells are worth three magicroms, some two, and some one. The ones, or mosoros as we call them, are easier to master. In teaching an apprentice, one would have them learn thirty or so mosoros before attempting to teach any thesauros or sheazers.

A teleportation spell is a sheazer and one of the more difficult ones at that. I’m not saying that you cannot learn one, but it isn’t as easy as just saying hocus-pocus and you’re somewhere else.”

“I believe I am beginning to understand.”

“Eventually we would want you to be able to bounce back and forth to Artermador whenever you want but for now we would have to do that for you.”

“Oh and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Each sorcerer or wizard casts a warding spell over his or her area of influence. A warding spell is the exception to the rule in magicroms. Its strength is not based on the magical knowledge of the caster, but rather, on the desire of protection wanted by the caster.

If you were going to have a meeting about military plans against another the sorcerer involved would desire the strongest ward possible so no one would break through. The ward would be impenetrable.

If the sorcerer was taking a bath, it would be just strong enough to guarantee privacy. Still there would be certain people that the ward would not affect, like a spouse because the sorcerer would not necessarily want to be private from their spouse.”

“OK.”

“Right now, I could no more teleport you to Artermador than into a magical practice room in the guild. Veritak would not allow our entrance without his consent. This one thing protects us all from the evil uses of magic by the strong. The weakest in magic can put up a ward that the strongest cannot break through.”

“It seems that this is a good thing. I would expect that I would want to learn a warding spell right away.” Vistyral said.

“You already have,” Thorak responded. “I taught one to you he night that you were on your way to meet with Mon Treel. It has a slightly different function, but it is a warding spell none the less.”

“Why would you infuse me with magical abilities from the day I was born?”

Thorak sat for a while thinking about his answer, then he said, “Well you might as well know the answer now as later. I never could see who succeeded, when I looked into the future you or your brother. I could see that you would wait until it was almost too late to move against him, but I could never see who would succeed.

In truth Vistyral, I hoped that you would help Mon Treel that night, but I really didn’t expect you to. In one way you have too much integrity for your own good. You have known for years that your brother was bent on world domination and that little could stop him in his quest.

In a way you have given him the window he needed to get into the position he is in today where he could actually succeed. If he does, then may the Gods of Karron help us all, for he will rule by tyranny and force for all his days. He will make his successor as ruthless as he is. The part that scares me the most is, for you to defeat him, you may have to be as vicious as he is, and I’m not sure that you can do it.

I don’t mean to say that you aren’t strong. To the contrary, I have watched him torment you over the years and I have seen you show great strength. I truly believe that if Borrial had seen it in his best interest to marry Mirtar that you would have said and done nothing; knowing full well that he didn’t love her and that she loved you rather than him. Am I right?”

Vistyral hung his head for a moment then looked up into Thorak’s eyes. “Yes, you are probably right. If Borrial had not acted, and Mirtar had not ransomed her dowry, I probably wouldn’t have said anything. I guess because I know that she could have chosen to get out if she wished.”

“That is just my point, maybe if you hadn’t shown what little interest you did, she might have thought that Borrial would be better than no one at all. In most things in this life; we won’t get, unless we ask. I always wondered what would have happened if you would have gone to your father and asked him to make you heir to save his people from your brother. I honestly believe he would have done it.”

“We’ll never know now will we.”

“All I’m saying, Vistyral, is that sometimes you look at the small picture rather than the large one. I love you as if you were my own son. I just want you to be all you can be. Not only will the lives of your wife, and the people of Cryarlac, and now Artermador depend on you, all humans of our known world will depend on you. Dwarves, Elves, Men, maybe even Goblins, Gnomes and Trolls.”

“I know all of that Thorak; I am up to the task. I am a better military leader than my brother because people choose to follow me. They will follow me when things are at their worst. People will follow those that they feel can give them what they want. They will put up with abuse, degradation, and humiliation from a leader if things are going well, but, when things look dismal, they will stick by a true leader and they will desert a dictator.”

“We had better hope so because your brother has them lined up to help him, or at least submit to him, and we are just getting started. Most of what you have to do cannot be done until open hostilities begin. This will make things more difficult for you and easier for him.”

Vistyral began to feel irritation rising within him. He turned to Thorak and said. “Okay, I am guilty of trying to keep my father happy. This way he didn’t have to see his own sons destroying everything he and my mother worked their whole lives to build.

I’m sorry that it has made destroying my brother more difficult. You have never had to make up your mind to whether or not you should destroy your brother. In this case he is almost part of me. We were created together. In a way, being my twin, he is almost part of me. I love him, he is my brother.

I know he is evil but that doesn’t change the fact that he is my brother. If I have been slow to act against my brother, I’m sorry. I hoped that becoming king of Karrondor would be enough for him. I can see now that it won’t and his takeover of Fulsimter is well under way. That too, is painful to me; but life is not always kind.”

“I’m sorry your Grace, I didn’t mean to hurt you anymore. I know this and the fact that your father is dying has not been easy for you. To know that you are first and foremost on your brother’s list of people to eliminate cannot be easy for you. I have been insensitive; I was trying to make sure that you realized the magnitude of the task ahead of you. I see now that you; do better than I could have imagined.”

*****

Chertal settled into his new room in Stronghold Castle. His room was the nicest except for the Duke’s suite. He hoped to be able to make a contribution to Vistyral’s destiny. Few people affected those around them like Borrial and Vistyral.

Borrial had a way of bullying people until they gave him what he wanted. While that worked fine within your own castle or even within your own country, it had a way of alienating other leaders who were also used to having their own way. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Borrial was excellent at this method and had been able to exert substantial influence in the Kings’ Council.

Much of what he had done there had been short sighted in Chertal’s mind. Chertal admitted to himself that he never really expected to grasp the “big picture” in planning that Borrial and Vistyral seemed able to do without even trying. They were able to plan ahead months, sometimes years at a time. Vistyral said that the big picture was strategic planning, immediate actions were tactical plans and the fine details of a goal or mission was operational planning.

Last year, when Vistyral’s mission in the war maneuvers was to take a city, Chertal began figuring how he could get the guards to let them in or to replace another way into a city. Vistyral would begin by counting his men and assessing resources.

At the beginning of the exercise, Vistyral had spent almost three hours before deploying his troops talking to each of his captains. At last he sat down and began using a small strike team if twelve men who were born and had been raised in Landsdown. These men dressed up like people from Landsdown who always wear bright, flashy colors like red shirts with an orange belt and purple trousers.

Chertal had been given his assignment to bring the main body of troops within twenty paces of cannon range and prepare for an attack. Just as he was about to assault the castle, a squad of soldiers arrived off to his right flank. He sent a group of men over to cut them off and capture them but they managed to get past him and made it to the city. The gates opened and the castle cannons roared sending smoke, smell, and explosions all over the area immediately in front of Chertal’s main force. Chertal had been angry at himself for letting the small group of men arrive safely at the castle.

His attack was to begin sharply at the ninth hour of the day and was to last NO LONGER than 30 minutes. This initial attack was to divert the majority if the defenders to the front of the castle to allow Vistyral with the smaller force to circle around to the back of the castle.

The cannons were shooting animal skins full of red dye. If a soldier was splattered by red dye, a referee determined the extent of injury. If the wound was minimal enough for the soldier to continue fighting, the soldier would get a green cloth band, if he was sufficiently wounded that he had to be removed from the field for treatment he got an orange cloth band, if he was dead he would get a blue cloth band, and red was for being taken prisoner.

In Chertal’s mental estimation, his losses were within expected tolerances and most of those losses were injuries requiring treatment (the Orange cloth bands) which was certainly better than the blue ones. He checked his time and signaled the retreat. His men obeyed without a moment’s delay. As they pulled back he heard a huge commotion from within the castle. In a matter of seconds the gates to the castle opened. It didn’t take Chertal long to accept the invitation since he could see Vistyral’s men fighting within the castle. The fortress had fallen within an hour and Vistyral’s army had suffered 278 losses of which 234 were wounded. Landsdown had lost 1,246 and 367 were wounded.

As it turned out, the defeat was more embarrassing to Duke Veremel than losing his castle. The group of men that Vistyral had tried to apprehend returning to the castle had been the twelve men Vistyral had chosen for the special mission. Vistyral had told them that their mission could save hundreds of Cryarlacian lives. Vistyral told them that not only would Landsdown soldiers try and kill and capture them, but if all worked out well, some of the Cryarlacian soldiers would definitely try and get them. Vistyral told them that it was a volunteer only mission and that their losses could be high.

Every man volunteered. Not one of them was lost. Chertal was angry with Vistyral for not letting him in on the plan prior to the mission. He never forgot Vistyral’s answer.

“My good friend, please take no offense. I needed you to do everything possible to get those men to convince the Landsdowners that these men were on their side. If you had held back in the least, their claim that their officer and sergeant were killed which gave them an acceptable excuse to be admitted without the password. If the sentry had not been expecting you to attack any minute, he might have checked further on their story, but as it was he was glad to have a few more men. He had the presence of mind to send them to the back of the castle where we had men waiting with ladders and ropes.

When the signal was given, each of my 12 men grabbed the top of a ladder and tied it to the castle wall that allowed us to get our men over the walls quickly. Once they had tied off the ladders, they began fighting the Landsdowners. They had thinned their forces at the back of the castle to bare minimum so our 12 men in their, with the element of surprise, they had killed half of the forces on the walls by the time our men got to the top.

The soldiers in the front of the castle were so busy fighting you, that they didn’t notice our entry, our twelve infiltrators then ran to the front of the castle and told the chief captain that the rear wall bad been breached. The chief captain did the expected move by committing all his reserve troops to the rear and half of his front troops as well. He then ran to the back of the castle to assess the danger, leaving my men to watch the gate. They promptly opened it to allow you access to the front with only half the number of men that normally would have been there so the three way kill zone was minimized.

The chief captain then found that his men were being attacked from both sides by a larger force, so he surrendered.

I trust you implicitly Chertal, I just couldn’t count on you attacking as diligently if you knew they were our men. If you hadn’t tried your best to kill them, they would have been under suspicion, maybe arrested, or killed at the gate.”

Chertal learned that day, the value of strategic planning and he was trying to understand it better. Still, he was no match for Borrial or Vistyral.

He took a few minutes out of his day to walk through the castle. Stronghold had been built five generations ago; it was by castle standards, modern. The walls had stones four feet thick at the base and eighteen inches wide at the top. The second story of the wall had cannons built into the walls. The openings to the outside were too small for a man to climb into. They were only large enough for the barrel to extend through. They were supplied Dragru pods, (the explosive agent) and balls, or flak from one floor under the cannon compartments by a platform that raised and lowered on a pulley.

A ledge that could be raised and lowered depending on the battle being fought was on the inside of the third story. This is where the defenders could stand. The height of the ledge could be adjusted to benefit the defenders to protect them from different types of attack.

If the battle was being fought from the ground and the main danger to the defenders was arrows. The ledge could be lowered so less of the defenders’ bodies would be exposed to the arrows. If the enemy was trying to climb the walls, the ledge could be raised to allow the defenders more leverage in repulsing ladders. As a last defense, if the attacking force overwhelmed the defenders, and gained access to the walls of the castle, the ledge could be lowered to the ground, blocking the gates so they could not be opened and allowing the invaders nowhere to go once they attained the walls. Since the walls were three stories high, jumping down into armed defenders would not be a pleasant thought. Since the guard turrets were accessed from the ledge and a fireplace with burning oil was beneath them, the invaders could not get down using the guard turrets. Access to the cannon compartments was through the basement so if the ledge was lowered to the ground, the invaders had no choice but to scale the walls and then jumped three stories down to the ground floor and deal with archers set up in alcoves of the castle itself.

Large rocks served as ballast for the ledge; they were raised and lowered by horses. Gears which were greased daily facilitated the movement up or down, when it was necessary. The ledge could be lowered without the horses by a ratchet in the gears. The ledge and all the men on it could be safely lowered in 30 seconds if necessary by one man at the lever.

The front courtyard held the smithy, the armory, and the emergency stables. Normally the stables and the smithy in the hold itself were not used. They were for use during siege. The armory on the other hand, was always in use as were the barracks down the right side of the compound where the professional soldiers of the army of the east lived.

The left side of the compound was for the servants and other workers. The center of course was the castle itself. The main floor had the kitchen and dining hall to the left. To the right side of the castle was the council chamber. Symmetrical staircases went up each side of the entrance-way and under them was the opening to the duke’s audience chamber. Large doors on the left side of the audience chamber allowed access to the dining area and the audience chamber could be used as additional dining area when needed.

The second floor was comprised of bedrooms, the chapel, and work areas for the chamberlain, stewards the sorcerer the priest and others in the service of the duke. It also had guest room for lesser nobles, but since Cryarlac was on the eastern edge of civilization, fewer official visits were made there.

The third floor had six bedrooms, three of which were suites. The duke’s chambers, and two guest chambers, one of which was now Chertal’s living quarters and another guest suite that was presently unoccupied. The other three bedrooms were down the hall from the duke’s suite and were for the family of the duke. There was also a nursery and nanny’s quarters down the same hallway. These rooms were now and had been for a full generation, unused. Since Duke Mastral never had children, the rooms had not been used in his lifetime either.

The back of the castle held the gardens was a fountain of fresh water that bubbled unbidden from the ground. This was enough water that during a siege, would supply the entire compliment of the castle’s needs for water indefinitely. The water flowed into a pond and from there was diverted into the castle where it could be used in the kitchens without someone having to carry in the water. Used water was directed into a stream that left the castle grounds through three separate iron grates with one inch thick bars each fifteen feet further inside the castle.

The gardens were full of flowers and lush fruit trees. Vegetables were also grown but they were mixed in with the flowers and other vegetation and became part of the beauty. The gardens were designed to allow several areas of solitude. An enclosed circular staircase went from the duke’s suite to the garden allowing the family access to the garden without having to go through the castle itself.

There were two levels below the ground level; a second armory and food storage were the main uses of this part of the compound. There was also a concealed an escape route underground that could be collapsed behind the fleeing party part way to discourage pursuit. The tunnel emptied into some caves with a hidden opening.

Chertal knew that this castle was as fortified as any in Karrondor but he needed to make it better. Within two years, he expected to be under siege. Now was the time to prepare.

He gave orders to start using the ledge in a different height each week. Maneuvers were carried out daily so the soldiers would get used to fighting at each level. Orders were to bring the castle stores to 100% of capacity. Usually food and other necessities were acquired as needed to avoid spoilage. While Chertal knew some spoilage would happen he set up a rotation of stores so the oldest supplies would be used first. It would be better to have full supply rooms with some spoilage than to be caught unprepared and not have necessary supplies.

He sent some of the young boys and girls on hunting expeditions for rats and mice. He paid a bounty for each pest killed or captured. He knew that would reduce spoilage and disease.

Vistyral had gone with Marshak and Toverak to Artermador to meet with Mirtar and her parents. It was almost a foregone conclusion that they would serve in some royal capacity either as joint sorcerers for Artermador or one for Artermador and one for Cryarlac. Vistyral’s last instructions before he disappeared in a teleportation spell was to send some men into the Bermaldine wastes to map water sources and other useful landmarks he had sent three groups of five men out to map as much of the area as was possible. They were told about the Elves in the east and had been instructed to treat them with the best diplomacy if encountered.

Chertal expected them to be gone at least a year unless they could not replace adequate supplies and had to return to re-supply. Occasionally a pigeon would be sent back with the latest update on mapped territory. Chertal argued that a magician would help but Vistyral said that unless it was a court sorcerer, he didn’t want a magician knowing where the water in the wastelands was. As it stood, the wasteland was the one area that Cryarlac would only have to watch superficially.

He set a crew to dredge the moat. The earth removed was to be dumped 50 yards out from the moat to create a primary fortification outside the walls of the castle it wouldn’t look very nice now but eventually grass would grow there. As long as the mound of dirt wasn’t too high the sentries would still be able to see anyone approaching.

In battle, wooden spikes would be placed on top of the earth. That duty could be postponed until an army was approaching. It had the tendency to make a castle look somewhat unfriendly.

Putting the pikes in the dirt was at worst a two day job, and no army could get within a week of Cryarlac without being noticed and the alarm given. The pikes had been cut and sharpened; Chertal had done that when he removed all trees within 1/2 mile of the castle. He didn’t want a rabbit to be able to approach the castle without someone knowing.

Oil cauldrons were placed in the guard towers within large fireplaces beneath the guard turrets. Chimneys were being run up through the center of the guard turrets. This would allow the smoke to be disbursed above the guards, and would offer them some heat in the winter as well. The cauldrons were being put on counterbalanced hinges that would allow them to tip easily. Right below the cauldrons gutters of stone were being added to the exterior walls. Holes were left in the gutters every few inches so the oil when poured from the cauldrons, it would be disbursed along the entire wall burning any invaders trying to enter the castle.

Yes, the castle had been good, now it was going to be made nearly impenetrable. The lives of many would depend on it.

Chertal was just about to go to lunch when the lookout on the northeast tower signaled someone was coming. He went to the entrance to wait. In a few minutes the visitor approached. It appeared to be a Dwarf but he wasn’t sure because he had never seen a Dwarf wearing a long fur coat and a hat.

As the Dwarf drew closer Chertal recognized him as Cadot Stonpiker. He hurried forward to welcome the Dwarven leader.

“Cadot Stonpiker, what a pleasant surprise, come in and let us make you comfortable.”

“Excuse me sir,” Stonpiker said, “I believe you have confused me with someone else my name is Vermountel, I am a midget from Landsdown. I have come to offer my services as a smith to the duke.”

Chertal was no fool, he was not going to keep the man standing out in the cold. He was certain that there was a good reason for the masquerade. He decided to play along.

“Well sir, the duke is not here right now, I’m certain that he will be back before nightfall. I am Chertal, the duke’s regent here in Cryarlac. Please come in and let us get you something to eat.”

Stonpiker had met Chertal on various occasions. He knew that Chertal was humoring him. For that small favor he was more grateful than he would have been if he had been given all the food and soft beds in the world.

“Thank you ser, I mean sir, I will gladly pay for my needs if you can exchange stones for gold.”

“No need sir. Until the duke has an opportunity to speak to you, you are a guest. If you accept a position for him, you will be provided with a location to live until you start to earn your keep.”

Chertal led the way to the kitchen where he asked a scullery maid to prepare food for Vermountel. He told a steward to watch over Vermountel and another to prepare a bath for him, then he went to replace the head seamstress to prepare him some clothes, at Vermountel’s insistence he ordered that they look like Men’s clothes. A guest room was prepared as Vermountel looked extremely tired.

He went to the sorcerer’s workshop and rubbed the brass door knob. It was Marshak’s sense of humor. Apparently he had read a children’s story about a magical lamp that held magic. If rubbed, a magical creature was released and he could grant wishes.

Marshak was there working on strengthening the wards around the room. He looked up and smiled, but his smile was soon replaced with a frown of concern.

“What is the matter?” He asked.

“A Dwarf just arrived. He calls himself Vermountel but it is Cadot Stonpiker. He claims that he is a midget from Landsdown, but I know him and he knows that I know him. I think that we need to get the Duke here as soon as possible. In fact you might want to get your wife and the princess as well. Whatever is going on it isn’t going to be good.”

Marshak put down the book he was looking at, his eyes went glassy for a few seconds and then he looked back at Chertal. “You’re right. Something is wrong in the Vermath Mountain, I just looked in there and preparations for war are underway.”

He walked over to the teleportation circle and disappeared. Chertal imagined that almost half a world away someone was watching him appear in a similar circle. The circles were locations with special wards. If someone wanted to teleport to a particular location and someone else was standing in the same place, unpleasant results might occur. Toverak and Marshak had drawn circles in the strongholds in Cryarlac and Artermador. They then created wards that caused people in one circle to move if someone was teleporting in from the other location. In the unlikely event that a teleportation spell was invoked in each location at exactly the same time, the wards would cancel both spells so neither would work.

Chertal sat down to wait; he knew it wouldn’t be long. He was right. In about twenty minutes, Vistyral, Mirtar, and Toverak appeared. They stepped out of the circle and Marshak, Montrosal, Virtimar and Veritak arrived right after them. He stood went over and greeted them and gave them all the information that he had on Stonpiker and what had transpired earlier that day. Marshak then told them of what he had seen in Vermath.

A meal was prepared and an invitation was sent to Vermountel’s room. In almost no time Vistyral’s friend, once known as Stonpiker, now going under the name of Vermountel, slowly walked down the stairs from the second floor to the dining area. He was cleaner; his beard was cut much shorter than any Dwarf would ever do. It was truly like a Man’s beard cut short and trimmed, not long and flowing like a Dwarf’s.

“Vermountel, welcome; you remind me of a good friend.”

Vistyral walked over to offer his hand in greeting. Welcome to Cryarlac. “I wish you had let me know you were coming, I would have prepared a more suitable welcome. Allow me to introduce you to My bride to be, Princess Mirtar of Artermador, her parents, King Montrosal, Queen Virtimar, their Royal Sorcerer Veritak, Marshak and Toverak, husband and wife who will be the court magician to the princess and me, you already know Chertal my regent here in Cryarlac. I assure you that you can speak freely here.”

“Thank you, your grace, your majesties, highness, and esteemed wizards. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Vermountel. I have much to tell you, I will tell all that I know but please, this is difficult for me, allow me to go at my own pace.”

“By all means my friend, come let us eat together, maybe after you have eaten we can discuss the circumstances that brought you here.”

Vermountel ate like a Dwarf which usually consisted of large quantities of food, and a half starved Dwarf at that. After he had satisfied his hunger, he put his utensils down, stared at his plate for a few minutes, and then looked up at Vistyral with tears in his eyes.

“I have been declared Umligath. I guess the best translation is that I am dead to all Dwarfdom, worse than dead, even the memory of me is to be forgotten. Stonpiker died in the city of Vermath two months ago.

It has taken me this long to get here. I ask for your protection and I offer my life in your service. If I ever return to the land of the Dwarves I will be executed.

The Dwarves have been tricked, I fear by Iroc, now Cadot Tunelmakre. They are preparing to attack Drathmire. This could be the beginning of the extinction of the Dwarven race. We cannot defeat Drathmire alone.

Our army will be utterly destroyed and then the hordes will invade Vermath and every remaining Dwarf will be killed or taken as slaves. Maybe a few will escape but the Gnomes, Goblins and Trolls are not stupid. They will send patrols almost as far as Cryarlac before they attack Vermath. Any survivors will have to get here just as I did; by hiding from every other living creature. Within a year Dwarves will be vanquished. I may be the only living creature born to the Dwarven Race.”

Tears streamed down Vermountel’s cheeks and dropped in to his empty plate. No one else said anything, there was nothing to say.

If the Dwarves decided to break the peace treaty formulated at the end of the last war of the races, they would do it alone. Worse, with them Gone, the Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls might feel justified in coming on into Cryarlac as well.

“I will go to Vermath and will try and reason with Cadot Tunelmakre and get him to send an emissary to Drathmire. Maybe he will listen to someone who is not his rival for power.”

“It will be a waste of time Vistyral. I know this man; he has been my affliction all these years. He would stop at nothing for personal power, and admitting he made a mistake is relinquishing his power. If you provoke him, he could declare war on you as well. He is not a military strategist, and because he doesn’t like to be questioned he will likely replace all the competent chief captains of the Dwarves with friends from within the middle officers, and his tactics will be implemented without question.

You could still save the Dwarven race though. If you asked Tunelmakre to send an Ambassador to you to validate the treaty that now exists since a change has taken place in the Dwarven leadership; and to dig a secret escape tunnel from the castle. Enough Dwarves would be sent here with their families to do the work that a handful would survive.”

“You would not be able to stay here if they came, would you, Vermountel?”

“No. I am sure however that you could replace use for me elsewhere. It would save the Dwarves, at least a few of them.”

Montrosal rose. “Vermountel, you look like a man who can work metal. I could use a man like you to work in privacy in my personal smelter and smithy. The pay is good and no secrets of your trade will have to be shared.”

For the first time in months, Vermountel smiled. “I’ll take the job.” Then he turned to Vistyral and said, “This should almost pay for the work the Dwarves will do. I expect your escape tunnel will be, five to six miles long. That will take about six months for a crew of twenty men and women, two elders to supervise, and two matrons to watch the children. You might also request the presence of an Iroc High Council Member as a Dwarven regulatory measure. They probably won’t send one, but if they do, copies of all Dwarven laws will have to be sent as well.”

“Keep the treasury of the future Dwarven race. I’ll pay for all work completed besides I owe you for a wedding bracelet and necklet that have not been paid for.”

“I hardly think that that which I am asking you to do is equal trade for a bracelet and necklet.”

“That is a matter of debate; my wife is beyond price, so should that be which signifies that she has agreed to be mine.”

Vermountel was emotionally moved, to the point that he couldn’t respond. He shook his head and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Vistyral patted him on the shoulder and left the room.