Legends Of Atalmor: The Caryn Chronicles Volume III by Jeff Stanhope - HTML preview

Epilogue

The knights of Caryn, who had been riding alongside Omarus on that night that he tried to murder King Tystyl had all hidden in the only place they knew. The abandoned barracks they had all grown up in just outside Lightwood was old, but well built, and large enough for half an army. They had gotten word that King Tystyl was indeed alive, and decided to go back to the city of Caryn and face their fates, whatever they might be.

The road was easy enough, and to the south and west, they could see the smoke billowing from Fael's tower, which had been set aflame soon after his execution. Arriving at the open gates of Caryn in less than a day, the knights rode into the city and were almost immediately arrested. While being led in chains down the streets of the great city, the knights were pelted with rotten fruit, stones, and animal waste. That was the worst disgrace. Soon they came upon the castle, where King Tystyl was waiting for them, the fourteen nights dropped to their knees in a line in front of their king.

No anger was on the king's face, only disappointment. As Tystyl walked from man to man, looking each squarely in the eye, he asked each and every knight the same question: “Did you know Omarus was to kill me?” Each man, in turn, gave the same honest answer: “No, my king.”

That was all King Tystyl needed. He released the men of their bonds and dismissed them. The knights each lost his title that day, for though they were not involved with the assassination attempt, neither did they do anything to prevent it, or to help their fallen king.

*******

King Bareet decided to go on an expedition overseas to the mainland in search of an old prisoner he had held for a century. He had been granted passage on Songbird, the Reapers of Darkness' airship. The journey was an easy one, and much faster than conventional ship travel.

Having some information about the whereabouts of his former prisoner, Bareet trekked to a high mountain far to the east of Costil, along with Sunuva and a group of adventurers employed by the Reapers.  Having found the cave with a bit of difficulty, the group strolled into the mountain as if they belonged there.

Suvious was asleep when the dwarf and his group walked into his lair. Bareet gingerly approached the great dragon, hoping to wake him gently. As the dwarf neared the dragon, Suvious' eye snapped open, looking squarely in Bareet's eyes, noting the sudden dread that came across the dwarf's face. “And I believed we were done, dwarf!”

“W-we were, we were,” replied Bareet, stammering, “I came to talk business. I think we can be o' service to one another”

“Oh? And how might you, damned dwarf, be of service to me?” the dragon roared.

“I have gold for ye. We need more o' the ore smelted.”

The demand soon became so high for this 'green' steel, the vein of ore under the city of Caryn was emptied out within months. The dwarves were forced to begin mining in new directions. Always keeping away from Strungvali, the miners eventually went south from Jire, into Gumlor.

That's where the trouble began. The green ore was plentiful here, to be sure, but the dwarves were not prepared for the troubles they inadvertently brought upon themselves by opening up one of the mountains.

The digging was easy, for this mountain was formed almost entirely of soft limestone. Three days into their dig, several of the dwarves began to develop boils and lesions on their rugged faces. Several more began to change skin color from the normal pinkish red to a dark greyish blue. “Cursed Hill” was the name many of the short folk gave this dreadful place. Most of the dwarves refused to go into the mountain out of fear. The ones already affected by the ailments simply stayed there, figuring the worst was behind them.

They could not have been more wrong...