Into the Crypt of Clan Sealender
T he Weapons Travis and Erin ushered Karigan from the castle’s commoner chapel into an antechamber that served as a processional and family gathering area for transferring the deceased during interment, but also functioned as a warming room for the Weapons who guarded the dead.
Brass fittings, somber hangings, and heavy drapes of velvet and brocade filled the room.
A coffin rest sat at one end like an altar.
Seated within and taking tea was Zachary, guarded by the Weapons Fastion and Donal. Karigan glanced at all three of them and bowed to her king.
“Ah, Rider,” Zachary said, “I am pleased you could join us. Your meeting with the Eletians went well?”
“It was...interesting?”
“That’s a question?”
“Uh...”
Zachary chuckled and set his teacup aside with a clink. “Yes, the Eletians are enigmatic. Please sit and tell me about it.”
“I will,” she said hesitantly, “but first I should tell you about something odd that happened to me just now.” She described the incident with the glass game piece. “I am unharmed,” she reassured him.
“I’m glad of it,” he replied, “but this is very disturbing.”
“Do you remember when the gray entity broke the dome in the records room?” she asked.
“It is difficult to forget.”
“Before it vanished, the entity said the same thing to me: Your move, Green Rider. ”
“ So this entity likes to play games,” Zachary mused. “I don’t like how it is able to come and go at will. I will ask Rider Quick to ward your chamber when she returns from leave. In the meantime, I will assign Weapons to—”
“No! I mean, no thank you, Your Majesty,” she said. All she needed was Weapons hanging around her door, creating one more reason for her fellow Riders to think she was being treated special.
“I know how you feel about it, but I would feel better knowing you were guarded.”
She glanced at the Weapons present—Fastion and Donal, and Travis and Erin. Their expressions were remote and they appeared to have no interest in the conversation.
“I have a feeling guards would not be able to deter this entity,” she said. “Weapons guarding me would draw attention that would complicate my ability to carry out my duties.”
He brooded in silence for some time. “Very well, but there will be more patrols through the Rider wing. Do not worry, the Weapons will be discreet. You won’t even know they’ve been by.”
Karigan nodded. As much as she hated the idea of having any watchers at all, this was a reasonable compromise.
“Now,” he said, “tell me about the Eletians.”
Karigan obeyed, only lightly touching on the possibility that King Santanara had adopted her because he wished to possess access to her powers.
Zachary had surmised as much anyway. She’d never told him what had transpired between her and Enver when he became afflicted with the accendu’melos for she knew it would displease him not only because she’d almost been forced.
..raped . . . , but that it had all been set up as a scheme by the Eletians to bind her to Eletia.
She did not wish to provoke a riff between allies.
Her own anger was firing up even as she thought about it, but she quickly tamped it down.
Once the alliance was no longer imperative, she would give her Eletian “father” an earful, no matter his altruistic leanings.
Did she really want to be part of a people who manipulated her in this manner?
“Rider?” Zachary said softly.
She started. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?”
“You were lost in thought. Is there something more you wish to tell me, besides the fact you received no real answers and their history put you to sleep?”
She hadn’t told him about the gift and figured it was not relevant anyway. “That’s it, more or less.”
He gave her an assessing look as if he didn’t quite believe her. “I suppose what you did get out of them we had, on the most part, deduced. I am pleased King Santanara has recognized the part you have played in helping his people.”
“I guess so.”
“You guess so?” He laughed. “You are positively indefinite, but I suppose Eletians have that effect on people.”
She smiled and shrugged.
“I must admit I’m intrigued by the idea of hearing their history,” he said.
“Ancient to a depth beyond our perception.” He shook his head.
“And other realms of them once scattered across the lands.” Despite his interest in the topic, he did not press her further about her visit with the Eletians.
Instead, he changed the subject. “One of the reasons I asked you to join me is I am curious to know what you make of this.” From his coat pocket he produced a stone that radiated a gentle golden light, but it was no moonstone.
“It glows!” she exclaimed.
“Yes. Back when the aureas slee held me prisoner in its caverns, I discovered they were naturally lit by these light stones. Upon my return home, I sent a party of miners and artificers to explore that region to see if mining the stone was feasible. It is not nearly as brilliant as the silver moonlight captured in your muna’riel, but I am told that exposure to sunlight brightens the stones a great deal.
If we can mine it in large quantities, it could provide for many practical uses. ”
Karigan could imagine those uses, from lighting one’s home and the city streets, to creating a portable light that would be safe to carry in the dark. It would reduce the realm’s reliance on flame, in turn reducing the chance of fire.
“I have been wondering,” he said, “what your merchant’s instincts would make of such a commodity.”
“It would be astonishing,” she said. “Our lives would change dramatically. People could work longer into the night. No more expensive whale oil or candles. Those industries would likely go extinct, or nearly so, making the whalers and chandlers very unhappy. However, whoever produced this stone and brought it to market would become extremely wealthy.”
“Yes, I quite agree. The benefits, I believe, outweigh the repercussions with the whalers and chandlers, and the smaller industries that support them. There would be new industries.”
“Do the stones give light forever?” she asked. “If so, their long-term marketability would wane if they didn’t have to be constantly replaced. After all, that’s what keeps the whalers and chandlers in business. Whale oil and candles burn away.”
He rolled the stone around on his palm. Its glow reflected golden in his brown eyes.
“I’ve natural philosophers studying the samples to determine the longevity issue, and the artificers here in the tombs will be experimenting with how to enhance the glow.
They’ll run a trial of their usefulness in certain parts of the tombs before we allow word to spread of our discovery. ”
That was wise, she thought. The security of the tombs was perfect for keeping the stones secret. And now she understood why he had requested her presence here.
“However,” he said, “this is not the sole reason I’ve asked you to join me in the royal tombs.”
On the other hand, she was apparently still in the dark.
He pocketed the stone. “Let us take a walk, you and I.”
Fastion and Donal opened the doors to the tombs proper.
Cool dry air rolled into the warming room.
She sighed. The tombs were not her favorite place to visit.
So many corpses. The Weapons, including Erin and Travis, followed them as they crossed the threshold into the Halls of Kings and Queens.
Karigan’s urge to run back out was very strong.
The statuary of long dead monarchs gazed coldly upon her, and the hard stone sarcophagi were but reminders of her own fate to one day be but a faded memory, her remains buried out of sight, fodder for worms.
“May I ask where we are going?”
“To the chamber of the shield you discovered,” he replied.
Ah, the dragonfly device. “You’ve examined it before, haven’t you?”
“I have, but I wish to take another look, and perhaps having you along will inspire new thoughts about it.”
She didn’t see how, but she did not object to being in his company even if it meant having to enter the tombs.
A pall of silence fell over them but for their footfalls.
No breeze rustled branches, no birds sang or chirped, no sounds of a busy market disturbed this sepulchral place or the quiescence of those who slumbered as silently as stone.
“I’ve a handful of reports,” he said, “of strange activity occurring around the archipelago off Arey where it is believed Beryl Spencer searched for my cousin. Reports of great sea monsters suddenly emerging from the waves, and one or two of immense flying creatures spouting flame. Some ships have gone missing, as well.”
She recalled the messenger from Arey who had brought such a report to Zachary during a public audience. “Do you believe it?” she asked. “About the dragons?”
“Dragons will come. That is what Lord Alton said, is it not? Dragons will come. I know that area in the Northern Sea is rife with superstition, but the reports are too consistent.”
“Mornhavon’s great weapon,” she murmured. The entire idea of dragons being real ignited a primal fear in her belly.
“It is impossible to know absolutely if these are really dragons, or how all this will play out, especially when one reflects on your experiences in the future time. Did your return from the future change how events will unfold? We will only know as they happen, or do not happen.”