The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (28 page)

Simon took a moment to look at the
king's escort. There were at least a dozen warriors, several armed
with bows, and all wearing the black enameled armor of the royal
guard. He noted that they were all still scanning the area alertly,
just in case there were other threats to the king.

“
Now come
along, Simon. You look like you could use a rest, and I need some
ale. It's been a bad few days.”

Shandon led the way toward the royal
palace with the wizard by his side. They walked around the bodies of
the fallen traitors as they went.

“
Braiden,
get someone to clean that up, would you?” the king asked as
they walked by.

“
Yes, my
lord. At once,” the captain replied.

“
My people
are nervous enough right now with the threat of the Chaos lords, “
Shandon said to Simon quietly. “Finding a mound of corpses
clogging up the street when they wake up would not help in the
least.”

“
Yeah, I can
see that. Um, Shandon, that guy back there said that the other humans
living here were 'being dealt with'. Do you know if they're okay?”

The king gently reached up and
clapped a hand on the wizard's shoulder.

“
Rest easy,
my friend. Your people are safe. The traitors never even made it to
the human section of the city. One of their compatriots that we
captured on the raid to save you sang us a sweet song. He told us all
about their plans, including your ambush this evening. It was easy
enough to round up the others before they became a threat. They're
rotting in the dungeon now, awaiting the king's justice.”

Simon glanced down at him and Shandon
winked.

“
Oh, don't
look so glum. I'm aware of your sensibilities and I have no intention
of making martyrs out of the lot of them by having them executed. No
matter how tempting that thought is. But they can rot in the bowels
of the palace until the end of time for all I care, you can be sure
of that. It's no better than they deserve.”

The wizard breathed a sigh of relief.
The thought of a wholesale slaughter of the traitors, no matter their
crimes, was horrible to him and he was pleased that the king was
going to let them live.

You'd feel differently if they had
killed Tamara and the others, the insidious little voice inside of
him said.

True enough. But they didn't, so
hush, he told it.

Shandon led the way into the palace.
The massive gates opened with barely a sound and the king, Simon and
their escort finally entered the ancient edifice.

They were met by the seneschal, Ragar
Blackrock, and a dozen plainly-dressed servants just inside the main
hallway.

“
I am
relieved to see you alive and well, sir wizard,” he said with a
slight bow.

“
Thanks.
It's good to see you as well.”

“
Ragar, my
guest is tired and could use some refreshment,” Shandon told
the seneschal. “See to it, would you? We'll be in my library.”

This time, the seneschal bowed deeply
to the king.

“
Of course,
my lord. I will take care of it personally.”

“
Good. This
way, Simon.”

The king walked down the wide hallway
lined with dozens of martial paintings and lit by large lanterns
hanging from the ceiling. The floor was plain gray stone and
Shandon's boots rang off of the hard surface.

“
You don't
use the electrical lighting?” Simon asked as they walked.

“
No, never
liked it myself. We've only gone back to the old inventions since the
dark gods returned to plague the world.”

The king looked up at the yellow
light glowing from the heavy lamps overhead.

“
Besides, I
like the color. Those blasted arc lights are too harsh, in my
opinion. And if the gods of Justice manage to defeat the Chaos lords,
perhaps the magic available to power them will be lessened. It
doesn't pay to rely too heavily on such things.”

Simon nodded thoughtfully.

“
That's a
good point. We don't know how much magic will be available if the
Light defeats the Darkness.”

“
Exactly.
Ah, here we are.”

A thick oaken door led off of the
main hallway and Shandon opened it and waved Simon through.

“
You lot can
wait out here,” the king said to his guards. “I'll be
sure to scream loudly if the wizard attempts to overpower me.”

Several of the warriors snorted with
laughter as Shandon closed the door behind him.

“
Grab a
chair anywhere. You look like I could knock you over with a feather.”

They had entered a small room with
bookshelves lining all four walls. There was a narrow window covered
by thick purple curtains across from the door and a fireplace lined
with veined marble to the right of the entrance.

Simon sat down on the nearest seat, a
heavy overstuffed chair covered in black leather. It was such a
relief to finally sit down and rest in safety that he closed his eyes
and smiled with pleasure.

“
I was
right; you're exhausted.”

He opened his eyes reluctantly and
watched as Shandon threw a few logs on to the embers in the fireplace
and moved them around with a poker until they ignited. The wood
smelled spicy and Simon found the scent delightful.

“
Not
exhausted, really,” he disagreed. “More...stretched a bit
thin, I guess. The last few days have been a little crazy.”

The king's gravelly chuckle was his
only answer as he took a seat across from Simon.

“
So what
now?” the wizard asked quietly. “Orrina at the Diamond
Inn said that you wanted to see me in the flesh. It's taken a while
but here I am.”

“
Aye, so you
are, with all flesh intact.”

Shandon laughed again and then his
face changed as his voice took on a more somber tone.

“
These
human-hating traitors were a surprise to me. The dwarves have always
been an insular people, mind you, but to see the desperate hatred
this group holds for you and yours? It's been a shock.”

“
Any idea
what set them off?” Simon asked as he forced himself to sit up
and stay alert. “Was it me?”

The dwarf shook his heavy head and
gazed broodingly into the fire.

“
No,
although I have no doubt that your arrival may have exacerbated the
situation somewhat. What really started the whole mess escalating was
my willingness to accept your people as refugees. That's when we
started to hear rumbles. It was all 'dwarven lands for dwarves alone'
and other nonsense. Nothing overt, of course, but my spies heard many
whispers. And they continued to get louder and louder until you
arrived and were kidnapped.”

Shandon stood up and began to angrily
stomp around the library.

“
Imagine
that! Laying hands on someone named a dwarf friend. How dare they!
Breaking my offer of hospitality toward both you and your people? Oh,
that was the last straw.”

Simon kept quiet. The king was
obviously furious and he was afraid that the dwarf might start
smashing furniture. He was very strong.

Fortunately at that moment there was
a knock on the door. Shandon stopped his angry pacing and glared at
the unoffensive portal.

“
Come in!”
he barked.

The door opened and the seneschal
peered in, obviously wondering why the king was upset.

“
Ah Ragar,”
Shandon said.

He took a few deep breaths and forced
a smile.

“
Come in,
please.”

The dwarf bowed and waved at someone
outside in the hallway.

Several servants came in carrying
trays. There were some low tables scattered around the library and
these were pulled closer to the fireplace and used to set the trays
on.

Once they had unloaded the
refreshment, the workers bowed to the king and swept out of the room
quickly, perhaps sensing some tension in the air.

“
I've
brought you ale, tea, fresh biscuits with butter, a bowl of fruit
harvested just this morning and assorted cheeses,” Ragar said
as he pointed at each tray. “Is there anything else you need,
my lord?”

“
No, that
will be fine. Thank you, Ragar.”

The seneschal bowed, not quite as low
as the servants had, and left the room, closing the door behind him
with a firm click.

“
You're the
one in need,” Shandon said to Simon with a rather tired smile.
“I just need some ale to improve my mood.”

Simon got up and walked over to the
trays to load up a plate.

“
As long as
the ale improves your mood and doesn't make you cranky. It's had that
affect on me from time to time.”

There was a small cask on one of the
trays and the king filled up a tankard from it. He took several long
swallows and refilled it.

“
Has it? How
odd. It always makes me rather jolly.”

He sat down with a thump and nodded
at the door.

“
Too jolly
sometimes, according to Ragar. But then he was always a little stiff
and formal, even when we were children.”

Simon sat down with his plate on his
knees and began eating.

“
You've
known him since childhood?” he asked around a mouthful of
cheese.

“
Not known,
exactly. We met back then but I hadn't seen him in years, not until
his name came up when I was searching for a new seneschal. The
previous holder of that post passed away at a rather advanced age.
Delightful old gentleman, he was. Anyway, Ragar put his name in for
the position and I decided to take him on. He's been exemplary ever
since.”

He took another deep swallow of ale.

“
Still a
stick in the mud though,” he added with a thoughtful belch.

Simon snickered, silently agreeing
with the king's assessment.

When he'd finished eating, the wizard
opted for tea over ale; he knew that the alcohol would probably put
him to sleep and he still needed to speak with Shandon.

“
Thanks,”
he said as he sipped the hot tea. “I needed that.”

“
My
pleasure. Now let's get down to business.”

“
Please.”

The king got up, refilled his mug and
walked over to the fireplace. He rested his shoulder against the
marble facade and stared intently at Simon.

“
You know
that your people are welcome to stay here as long as they like;
traitors and malcontents be damned.”

The wizard nodded.

“
Good. Then
you should also know that most of them don't want to.”

Simon frowned at that statement.

“
What do you
mean they don't want to? Why not?”

Shandon shrugged and waved vaguely at
the room around them.

“
Living
underground does not suit everyone. In fact, I would dare say that
only my people are happy staying out of the open air of the surface
for long periods. Your people, many of them anyway, are becoming more
and more depressed the longer they stay with us.”

“
But what
about the threats above us? The necromancers and the undead, not to
mention the dracoliches? Those are the reasons that they are down
here in the first place.”

“
Ah, but you
see, that's their dilemma. If they stay with us, they will continue
to sink into apathy and sadness. It's a long, slow spiral but I am
informed that it is relentless and unavoidable for many of them.
However, if they leave and head back to the surface, they face many
dangers; some of which they simply are not ready to confront.”

Simon gave it some thought. It hadn't
actually occurred to him that the refugees would be wilting like
flowers in the dark by staying in Kingstone. It made sense though; he
remembered that by the time he had left after his last stay with the
dwarves, he couldn't exit the underground fast enough. Something
about uncounted tons of rock hanging over his head day in and day out
had begun to suck the life out of him. Or maybe he just needed to
feel the sun and look up at the open sky.

In any event, he could understand
people's anxiety. But to go above ground now?

“
It's
suicide,” he said bluntly. “They aren't ready to confront
the evil forces that are just waiting for us to show our faces up
there.”

Shandon drank some ale and belched
gently.