Half of the Kingdom(ft. commentary)

~Nov 17

He nodded, "I've not had the pleasure of meeting you before,"

He held out his hand and Miryanna took it and shook it.

"Now come. Alarick will no doubt not wish to be awakened in the middle of the night, so you two can get some rest,"

so alarick does live in the base?

To Miryanna, rest sounded wonderful.

Stalles led them through the tunnels and caves, and Miryanna wondered if the Erglis had built all of them just for a secret base. Stalles wasn't nearly so formidable as Roric and didn't seem to mind talking, so she asked him about them.

"Well, you see, these tunnels used to an escape rout of sorts from way back when Terinnia and Fasik were at war." He explained.

"These tunnels have survived for all that time?" Miryanna asked in disbelief.

Stalles nodded, "Yes. They were made with help from the Mountain Peoples and so they stayed intact for much longer than if they'd been built by ordinary craftsmen."

Miryanna looked around again. "I thought the Mountain Peoples were just a myth,"

"Maybe they are now, but they weren't back then,"

Miryanna shook her head in disbelief. "The wars with Fasik really were a long time ago,"

They continued in silence for a bit more, until Miryanna remembered another thing that she'd wondered about on the way here. "Roric, those ruffians. They weren't serving just themselves were they?"

Roric looked a little startled by her question, for it had come pretty much out of the blue. He shrugged, "Let me think," He thought for a minute or two, "Uh, well, if they were for themselves, then... Maybe we'd better discuss this with Alarick," He said.

you can just say you don't know, y'know

Stalles laughed, "Oh, c'mon Roric, you're just delaying because you don't know the answer,"

see

Roric flushed maybe ever so slightly, but stayed silent.

Stalles laughed again and clapped Roric on the back.

By now, they'd come to a door in the cave wall. Stalles opened it to reveal the passageway that Miryanna had already come through a few times before.

"Wait, this is the passageway that's under the copse of trees?" She questioned.

Roric nodded, "Some of those other doors are tunnels too." He responded.

Miryanna had to reorient herself a bit.

Stalles knocked on one of the other doors and it opened to reveal Wis.

"Stalles, you've brought them," She said and embraced her husband.

"Yes indeed, sweetheart," He relied, returning his wife's embrace.

Wis beckoned to Miryanna and Roric, "Come on, come in. Welcome to our humble abode," She made a sweeping gesture to the small room behind her.

It was lit fairly brightly with several lamps and Stalles' torch. It was sparsely occupied with a small table and a few chairs, with several pallets on the floor.

"It's not much, but you're welcome to it," Wis was saying.

"Do you live in the base?" Miryanna asked.

Wis shook her head, "Not all the time, deary. We're just here for now because we heard that you were coming." Wis explained. "Every other time, we have a small little cottage in the outskirts of the city where Stalles can farm."