Aeis was waiting for them outside the war room. He leaned on one of the walls and tossed a ball of twine into the air before catching it absentmindedly with a soft thud.
As the Lords and Ladies trickled out the narrow passage he stood to greet them.
"How was the Council?" He asked curiously. Mira stared at the ground nervously while Godric shrugged. "That bad, huh?"
Shrugging again, Godric asked, "Who is this Caeros character?"
Aeis's face darkened. "Caeros is an Elder Lord, one of the highest ranking members of the army. He despises Ennor, though, and is a snake when it comes to politics. He is the Ruler of Biren-Larath even though Ennor technically rules over him." The young watchman started to walk back toward the city-proper, gesturing that they should follow. "You see, there's no honor among thieves even when those thieves are called Lords and Ladies. Caeros is the worst of the bunch." The young man flinched as he caught a dark look from one of the nobles. "Perhaps we should wait for fairer conditions to discuss this further, however."
Godric and Mira nodded their understanding. Following Aeis through the city, they wearily walked down the staircase and across Rae-Oiron. Stopping in the center of the vast chamber, Aeis looked to them.
"Are you hungry? The cooks might still be awake or there may be leftovers from dinner."
The events of the day, combined in a harsh cauldron of guilt over his father, and the immense weariness that suddenly overtook him caused Godric to shake his head. Mira evidently felt the same.
"No, I've had enough excitement for one day," she said with a thoroughly unladylike yawn that made Godric smile ever so slightly.
Aeis nodded as if he had expected as much. "Good, I'll show you to your quarters then."
He led them across the fifth bridge that he had not named earlier, their footsteps echoing hollowly in the vast, damp cavern which left Godric feeling even emptier than before. The thick scent of moisture and a combination of many other less pleasant scents filled his nose as they walked over the bridge and into the branch of the city.
Unlike in Naevir, the tunnel to this branch was short and wide, ending abruptly in a rectangular room. The chamber was at least a hundred yards wide and roughly forty yards deep. On the right and left were archways that led into the stone walls, presumably into other chambers, while another narrower hall continued for some distance, forming an upside-down T shape. A single guard stood at each arch, the one on the right a short, gruff looking man in simple leather armor and the one on the right a tall woman with dark hair that was tied in a knot above her equally standard attire. An immense rune was carved over each side arch, but was absent over the back one. Both runes were distinguishably different, but similar in shape and size. Bright torches illuminated the room's dull gray rock walls that were stained with moisture, as they had in the previous corridors, but it appeared that extra caution had been taken to alight the area in front of each passageway. Simple wooden furniture adorned the space between the two archways. Coarse couches and several sets of tables and chairs sat arranged in the empty space.
"This is Librias, the Living Quarters. Men are housed in the right half, women in the left," Aeis explained.
"They are guarded?" Mira asked, surprised.
Aeis nodded emphatically. "Oh yes, guarded tightly. Too many problems with thievery and other...um....less savory issues. Only last month a woman was caught stealing from the men's chambers, though it's usually the men that are problems. The last sir to have snuck into the women's quarters was given fifty lashes." He smiled awkwardly. "Combined, of course, with the beating the women gave him after they found him in there.
"Couples are allowed several nights a month in private rooms, which are located at the end of the hall," he said, pointing to the final arch that marked the end of the T shaped hall. "I trust that won't be a concern but if it is, talk to Uhron, the head of the Guard."
Godric immediately felt his face grow hot and, judging by the strawberry-like color of Mira's that nearly succeeded in matching her hair, he was not alone. "You're correct," He answered more than a little awkwardly.
The young watchman smiled gratefully. "Good, well, now that that's over with, you may find your quarters. There is no specified manner, just find an open bed. There will be a lockbox for your things at the foot of it. Be sure not to forget where you are at, by the way. That will be your bed for some time, from the sound of it."
Godric nodded his thanks. Aeis smiled and turned to Mira, offering her a small bow, and headed out toward Rae-Oiron, his footsteps fading like the flickering torchlight.
Once his steps had become distant enough, Mira gently grabbed Godric's arm and pulled him to a corner of the room, away from the prying eyes of the bored guards that still stood at their posts.
Before he could say anything, she wrapped him in a fierce hug for a second. Pulling away gently, she looked up at him with wild eyes.
"What's going on?" She whispered.
He shook his head. "Too much. First Ennor and now this?" He said, waving his arm toward Rae-Orion and the rest of the city. "
"That's not all," she said quietly. "Did you hear Caeros? If we thought you were in danger before, where are we now? It sounded like half the men in that room were ready to stick you in your sleep!"
"Thanks for that," he said.
She sighed weakly. "I didn't mean it like that, it's just..."
"I know," he said, cutting her off. "Either way, we need to watch each other's backs. As long as Ennor is for us, we should be safe, at least for now." Inadvertently, his face contorted into a sharp glare.
"What's wrong?" Mira asked intently.
"It's just that I shouldn't have the sword in the first place," he answered. "My father never should have taken it. He was a coward when these people most needed courage."
Mira brushed a lock of red hair out of her face and placed a small hand on his shoulder. "Godric, your father may have been many things, but he was not a coward."
The boy sighed heavily. "What else am I to believe? It's the only thing that makes sense. He must have taken the sword and fled to Dunn, which makes him a coward, a murderer, and a thief."
"No," said Mira. "I can't help but believe there is more to it than that." Not likely, he thought
Eager to change the subject, a thought popped into his head. "Why did you ask Aeis about the Orshi when we were in Naevir?"
Mira glanced down at her feet. "Do you remember back at Threst? When the Dragon attacked?" Godric was hesitant to answer. It was only this morning, of course I remember.
"Yes," he answered hesitantly.
"When I summoned that light....." she shook her head, but looked up at him desperately. "I don't know. I just can't figure out what happened. It's not normal, Godric. It isn't a good thing."
"What are you talking about," he asked, confused. "You saved us. That's a very good thing."
She shook her head again. "No, you don't understand. In the Ancient Days the Orshi were some of the few who could defeat Dragons by themselves, other than Ecthion himself. They could manipulate light and darkness and fire and shadow... They were incredibly powerful, Godric!" She looked at her hands fearfully like they might suddenly clamp around his throat and choke him or burst into flames. "I've read about the Orshi," she said, hefting her book. "They were not good people, Godric. They tortured and tormented and murdered hundreds of innocent people and no one knew why. I could.... I might...." She dropped her book and covered her face in her hands.
"Shhhh, it's okay," he said calmly, finally understanding. He wrapped an arm around her while picking up the book with the other hand and pulled her close. "Mira, if there is one thing I know about you, it is that you are the most caring and wonderful person I know. I don't know if any of these legends are true and can't pretend to explain any of it, but if I can be sure of one thing it is that you will never do those things to anyone."
Slowly pulling her hands from her face, her eyes met his for a second. "Thank you..." she murmured. He pressed the thick book into her hands and gave her a small peck on the check. Her face blushed slightly, but she smiled weakly. He gave her a gentle nudge toward the Woman's Quarters. Walking that way, she gave him one last smile before the female guard waved her in.
Godric's mind raced. Thousands of questions whipped through his head like winds in a hurricane of thought, leaving him numb and cold on the inside. There was just too much. He remembered a long time ago when he had been trying to plow one of the fields and no matter how hard he pushed, he would just hit another root that seemed to get thicker and thicker the farther he went. In frustration, he had stormed off at last until his father met him on the road.
Giving up never solved anything, his father had said. But finding a new approach can fix everything.
That afternoon they had come back with an ax and cut through the roots.
I need to find my new approach, he thought. And I'm pretty certain sleeping isn't it.
He checked that both his knives were still in their places on his belt and that his cloak was well secured around his neck before turning back the way they had come. As he walked toward the city, one of the guards called out to him.
"It's nearly midnight, lad. Don't you think it is time to turn in for a wink?"
"No," he called over his shoulder. "Not yet."
The guard mumbled something about young people as he walked out the archway into Rae-Oiorn. Looking over the bridge, he mentally thought through where he might go for a walk. The bridges looked haunting in the diminished light of the dwindling torches, almost like legs of a spider. After several minutes of deliberation, Geccus, the Army District, sounded the most promising. An eerie feeling alighted on him as he walked over the bridge, his mind considering the many questions that plagued his conscience.
As with Librias, the passageway was short and wide, opening to an impressive hallway. The hall was again much like Librias in size, but it ended in stairways, opposed to walls. A thick conglomerate of odors consisting of leather, heat, oil, and smoke filled the narrow hall, wafting from one or more of the four staircases that led downward, located on either side of both ends of the hall. One wider staircase led upward in center of the passage, directly across from the route that led from Rae-Oiron. The steps appeared to consist of solid stone carved directly from the block of rock that had formerly taken up the space. Torches adorned either side of the banisters at regular intervals, casting their light on the different walkways.
The complete absence of guards or any other security measures surprised Godric, but he proceeded suspiciously up the center stairway. It followed its original course for many hundred feet before ended at an identical landing as the first. This time he found himself at the top of a stairway on the far left of the landing. He decided to go with his original gut intention and stepped cautiously up the center stairway that led upwards.
This pattern continued for quite some time. Each set of steps would end in another hall with more steps off of it. Many times he thought perhaps to stop and turn back, but curiosity drove him onward along with the restlessness of deep thought. In time the stench he had smelled before fell away to a different smell he was unaccustomed to. It seemed moist, yet salty, and blew gently down the passages like a perpetual breeze.
After at least an hour, if not more, the steps unexpectedly ended in a final hall. Unlike the previous ones, no stairways led down on either side, save the one he had come up. Instead, one led upward to what he assumed was the destined objective of the route he taken.
Wearily, he pulled himself up the steps. His weariness was forgot, however, when he saw the scene that awaited him.
A long corridor balcony ran in a gentle curve along the stone face of the cliff.
Unknowingly, Godric had made it all the way to the rear side of the cliff fortress. His eyes adjusted to take in the majesty of the sight. The balcony had been carved with the utmost care and elegance, the majority of it formed by a carefully sculpted four-foot wall that had been painstakingly crafted to look in all respects, save color of course, like a massive wave that churned out of some invisible sea. The top surface was beautifully rendered like a frothy white crest that crowned the powerful wave. Every fifteen feet an immense column crafted in the likeness of armored warriors stood, but their appearance was foreign to him. Each column was a pair of these warriors standing back-to-back with one looking inward, toward the balcony and the cliff-face and the other looking outward toward the darkness beyond. They had broad, muscular shoulders that rippled with muscle over powerful arms. Each pair of warriors were fused at both elbows. In their right hand they carried tremendously carved stone tridents while their left held vast diamond-shaped shields. It was their lower body that intrigued him the most, however. At their waists the skin gave way to an armament of beautiful scales which tapered into a fish tale, where they met the stone floor of the hall. Elaborate beards that reminded him of Thain's were carved with all exactness to appear like they were blowing in some unfelt breeze across their bodies.
At every second of these columns a man or woman in full plate armor stood at rigid attention, their hands clasped in front of them holding a long, dangerous looking pikes.Polished breastplates, grieves, and bracers adorned their frames, complementing their serious countenances in the manner that they were there for an important reason.
Not a long way down a smaller figure sat perched on the precarious wall, leaning against one of the columns tossing a ball of string.
Godric glanced around nervously. He silently debated whether or not to continued, but finally decided that he had come so far it would be a shame not to look closer.
After his first step he regretted this decision.
The guard closest to him turned from his formal stance and barked angrily. "You there! What in dragonfire do you think you are doing? You were suppose to be here an hour ago, you snakeskin. And where the devil is your armor?!" The harsh voice had barely hit the stone before it started again. "Well, hop to! You're already an hour late, if you sit like that all night it will quickly be two!
Godric opened his mouth, flabbergasted. Closing it wordlessly, he attempted to answer, but no words came out. He could feel his face grow hot despite the arctic breeze that blew over the balcony. The guard started to speak again, no doubt to criticize his lack of an answer, when the small figure nimbly jumped off the wall, onto the balcony.
A familiar voice interrupted, "I think there has been a misunderstand here, Declan." The guard reeled around to look at the boyish figure of Aeis.
"Is that right, lad?" He said, a little less hostile. "Are you my relief, man?" He questioned to Godric. Godric shook his head, wordlessly. The guard grunted. "My apologizes." He lumbered back over to his post and grumbled something.
Aeis walked over to where Godric stood. "Why am I not surprised to see you here? Sorry about that, Declan can be a little bit much at times."
The guard grumbled from his post, "I heard that!"
The boy waved it off. "So you found Iris-Ithil, huh?"
"I'm not exactly sure what I've found, to be honest," replied Godric. "Where are we?"
Aeis led him over toward the balcony and tucked the ball of twine away. "The cliff that Biren-Larath is built on is a kind of triangle, you see," he said, making a rough triangle with his left index finger, thumb, and right hand. "We are standing here," he pointed to a spot on the tip of his left index finger. "The gate you came in is here," pointing to a spot on the tip of his left thumb.
"So I'm on the other side of the cliff?"
Aeis nodded. "Correct. This is Iris-Ithil, the Bright Eye. This corridor runs the perimeter of the cliff, looking out over the lands that surround it, save where it meets the other cliffs in this chain, of course."
"Like a guard wall in a city?"
Aeis tapped him on the chest. "Precisely!"
"This place is a giant stone fortress," Godric said incredulously. "What are you watching for?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a ear-shattering wail that seemed to shake even the stone. The guards turned from their positions and stood at the walls, their pikes raised pointedly out at the night while Aeis and Godric automatically covered their ears, flinching at the horrendous cry. Far out in the shadow of the night a column of fire blazed a path through the sky. The call was answered by another one or two that shook the ground like a giant drum. More fire filled the sky. After some time the cries went silent and the fire disappeared to the unsettlingly still peace of the night. The guards turned back from the walls and stood behind the columns as they had been.
Aeis carefully removed his hands from his ears and Godric followed suite. "I suppose I don't have to answer after that."
Godric ran to the balcony wall and peered out into the dark, his mouth hanging open in a clear expression of his shock. "The Dragons....."
"I'd wager there are at least three or four out there now," mention Aeis.
"Five," corrected Declan. "One was out before darkness even fell."
"Five? There are five Dragons out there?!" Godric exclaimed.
Declan laughed grimly. "Boy, some nights there are as many as eleven."
The horror of it seemed to wash out all the thoughts that had previously occupied his mind. Eleven Dragons.
"Word has it," commented Declan, "that one of th' Hatchlings is hurt, though. Lost a foot or something like that." He chuckled humorlessly. "Can't imagine how that might've happened."
Godric vividly remembered the scene that morning where he had dealt that wound. If that was a Hatchling, he did not want to see an adult.
Beside him Aeis seemed about to say something, but then thought better of it.
Even if he had spoken, it would have done little good as a fierce gale blew its frosty breath into the passage. Several of the guards shivered slightly. Godric drew his cloak closer to his chest but was distracted by the distinct smell of the air.
"What is that?" He asked. "It smells like salt or brine."
Now it was Aeis's turn to look incredulous. "It's Daruthen, obviously." The word meant nothing to Godric and his face showed it. "Good lord, man, haven't you ever seen the Sea?" Another blank expression. Rolling his eyes, the boy leaned over the edge of the wall. "See, look over there." He pointed far to the right.
Squinting, Godric fought to look through the dense shadow of night to see what it was he was looking at. He had heard of the ocean, of course, but to actually see it with his own eyes? No one in Dunn had ever done that, as far as he was aware. As he looked, the clouds narrowly split, letting a dagger of moonlight split the darkness and illuminate the edge of the horizon. It's stale white light reflected back and he could barely believe his eyes.
Water. So much water. Its rolling, blue waves were tiny in the distance, but they churned gently on the far off horizon as far as he could see. The moonlight spread slightly as the clouds parted, letting him take in only a fraction of the magnitude he saw, but it took his breath away.
Aeis grinned knowingly. "That's Daruthen, the Emerald Sea. Only an offshoot, though. The main ocean is many, many miles West of here."
As they looked on, another noise pierced the night. It was a horn of some kind, goat horn, if he had to make a guess. Declan and the other guards immediately jumped to action. Taking a horn from one of the columns, Declan answered with two trumpet calls.
Aeis sidestepped to get out of the guards' way and dragged Godric with him.
"What's going on?" Godric asked.
"Something's wrong," Aeis answered cryptically, his face suddenly clenched with worry.
Declan barked orders to the fellow guards. Some ran down the steps Godric had just come from, others manned positions at the wall, and one other grabbed a scroll of parchment from a cubby in the wall that Godric had previously looked over.
This one unrolled the small scroll and quickly read it before dropping it down a small hole in the walkway that was covered with crossed iron bars.
Declan muttered under his breath. "C'mon, c'mon..."
Suddenly everything seemed to stand still. The shout of the guards, the clamor of footsteps, the clanking of weapons, all were drowned out by an explosion of heat as the sky erupted into flames. Godric, Aeis, Declan, and all the rest that stood on the balcony dropped like ragdolls to the floor as the torrent of singeing heat blasted across the corridor. All went silent for a dead second before bursting once again into a chaos of fear.
Godric's vision swam and his ears rung, muffling much of the noise that thundered around him. He could vaguely see Declan standing with difficulty, yelling orders to the guards that remained. Many of the armored figures lay limply on the ground.
From somewhere nearby, he heard Aeis shouting and managed to pick up a strand of words.
"...You can't! The patrol is still out there!!"
Declan reeled as more fire filled the night sky, though it was significantly farther away. "Hellstorm, boy! I know that! Close the gate!!"
The world unfolded in slow motion as one of the remaining guards frantically snatched another scroll from a different pile and dropped it down the same hole as the last without even taking the time to read it. Despite his difficulty hearing, Godric thought he could hear a sudden boom immediately followed by what sounded like fists hammering on stone far away. A sight wrenched his thoughts away for a moment.
Twelve columns of fire blazed across the sky.
Distant screams and cries echoed across the night only to be silenced as soon as they had begun. All had unfolded in only a matter of minutes, leaving the shadows of darkness as untouched and quiet as ever before.