Five Kingdoms: Books 01, 02 & 03

by Toby Neighbors

  The rest of the soldiers pushed on and reached the ruins of Ornak shortly before twilight. The fields that had once been farmed by the religious community were now overgrown and the woods nearby had thickened into a dense forest. Sir Hausey had eighty men left. Thirty he ordered to make camp in the forest to serve as a reserve force. They would be ready to ride in and reinforce the men posing as members of the religious group that was rebuilding the community. Or, if worse came to worst, they could cover the other group’s retreat.

  Zollin had all the troops change into the robes that had been prepared for them in Felson. They were plain, uncolored garments consisting basically of a rectangle of material with a hole in the middle for a person’s head. The robe was cinched at the waist with a strip of matching material. The soldiers then set up a makeshift camp. Unlike their normal camps, this was spread out and unorganized. The cooks set up a kitchen area and Zollin’s tent was transformed into a shrine. The gold statue took center stage in the tent. It was easily worth a fortune in gold weight alone. While the image didn’t look great up close, it would easily pass for a religious relic.

  Zollin, Kelvich, and Hausey, along with a couple of the most experienced masons, inspected the ruins. The ancient buildings were little more than rubble now, but the narrow streets of the community had been paved with flagstones and most of the buildings had been constructed of native stone. There was still plenty of material to build with; all they needed was a plan of action.

  “I can move the larger stones into place,” Zollin said.

  “We need to lay out the field of battle,” Hausey said. “We want the area to look like it is being built to house a religious community, but we need to determine where Zollin will engage the dragon and where we can attack. We’ll build our defenses or housing, if you will, so that we can fight from areas of cover.”

  “The shrine would naturally be at the center of the community,” Kelvich said. “And it should be the biggest building. Can we make it a place where Zollin can challenge the dragon?”

  “That would be ideal,” Zollin said. “I need to be high enough that I can see over all the surrounding buildings, perhaps even the treetops.”

  “But the center of the field is the worse place strategically. It would be better if we could funnel the beast into a place where we can trap it between overlapping fields of fire. Having Zollin in the middle of the community will mean that we have to spread our forces too thin. Remember, we only have fifty troopers, and none of them are experienced in defensive warfare.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Zollin said.

  “Well, our reserve forces are stationed in the woods to the south. Why not put the main building on the northern end of the community, with one main street that leads to the temple or shrine or whatever we are calling that building? We’ll build our defensive structures along both sides of the main street and line our forces along each side.”

  “Won’t that leave us very little chance of actually wounding the beast?” Kelvich asked. “I mean, unless the dragon flies right down the main street, we’ll be ineffective.”

  “That’s not the case,” Hausey argued. “The main street will be our primary attack zone, but we can have other zones as well. The key is to surprise the beast. Zollin will lure it right into the field of fire, but we won’t reveal that we are more than frightened monks until the dragon is in the right place. After that, we can move our forces around as we see fit, even bring up the reserve troops if that is needed.”

  “If the soldiers know the different attack zones, it could be a good way to order the troops around the community,” Zollin said.

  “It’ll mean moving the flagstones,” Kelvich said.

  “I can do that,” Zollin said.

  “Alright then, our first order of duty is to knock down the ruins that are where the main street will go,” said Hausey. “We’ll also start on the shrine; that would naturally be the first building a religious community would build.”

  They made camp that night with plans to start working first thing in the morning. Zollin rested as much as he could that night; they all skipped keeping watch in favor of a good night’s sleep. The next day started early. Zollin began by knocking down the walls and buildings that were in the way of the road they planned on building.

  Brianna was in charge of making sure all the robes were functional. She also spent a large portion of her day setting up an archery field near the woods. The soldiers needed to practice, but of course they didn’t want to set the shooting range out in the open. The soldiers took turns spending an hour on archery practice every day.

  Jax was given the freedom the first day to simply explore the ruins. There were many old buildings, though none still had roofs or doors, that were otherwise intact. He found pottery and cooking utensils that were left behind centuries ago when this particular sect moved on for whatever reason.

  Kelvich busied himself where he could help. He wasn’t able to lift the fallen stones or haul the heavy push carts. He did, however, help relay information, give advice on planning, and keep Zollin well fed throughout the day.

  For his part, Zollin stayed busy. Knocking over the crumbling walls was easy. Moving the large flagstones used to pave the streets was much more difficult. First the soldiers had to remove the rubble and level the ground. Then flagstones that were intact had to be found. Zollin could lift the heavy stone, a task that would have drained the strength of a dozen strong men, but most of the stones had sat on the soil for so long that they had developed a kind of suction that was difficult to break, even for Zollin. Once he did manage to lift the stone, soldiers with brushes would then remove any clinging dirt or debris. It was a slow, painstaking process, but by the middle of the afternoon they had the process down so that everyone knew their tasks and there was no wasted effort.

  They were searching for another intact flagstone when they stumbled upon a secret chamber that had been built by the ancient inhabitants. Zollin began to lift a stone and instead of dirt, worms, roots, and rocks, they found a set of stone steps leading down into the earth. Zollin sent immediately for Kelvich and Commander Hausey. When they arrived, Zollin led the way down into the chamber.

  “Do you know what this is?” Kelvich said, his voice filled with wonder. “This is the treasury. It has to be.”

  “Wouldn’t treasure hunters have found it by now?” Zollin asked.

  “No,” Kelvich said. “It was buried beneath that heavy stone. Besides, this was a religious sect, their treasure wouldn’t interest treasure hunters.”

  “Why would they bury their treasure?” Hausey asked.

  “There are any number of reasons,” Kelvich explained. “If they valued poverty, it may have been part of the founding of their community, where they turned their backs on their worldly possessions. Or perhaps they had treasures that they were afraid of.”

  “What do you mean?” Zollin asked, holding his torch up high in the dark room.

  “Think about it. The people here valued knowledge. There could be things in this room that have been forgotten for centuries. Things they didn’t want taken from them or lost.”

  “Who would want to take knowledge?” Hausey asked.

  “The Torr,” said Kelvich and Zollin at the same time.

  The wizard and the sorcerer were looking at each other in the flashing torchlight. Zollin had never seen Kelvich so excited. The room they were in was a simple chamber made of stone. Directly in front of them was a door that looked like it was made of oak and bounded by steel. The wood was surprisingly sturdy for its age, but the lock was simple. Zollin let his magic flow into the mechanism until he could sense every detail. He flipped the tumblers and then pulled on the door. It swung open and the light from their torch fell into the room beyond.

  “Oh my,” Kelvich said.

  There were several racks visible. At first Zollin thought it was a wine cellar and his excitement diminished.

  “Wine?” Commander Hausey said.

  “No,
” Kelvich said. “It’s a library.”

  “It looks like a wine cellar,” Zollin agreed.

  “No, scrolls were often kept in sealed clay jars,” Kelvich explained. “Especially if the scrolls were old. It kept them from the elements which would destroy them. The monks who once lived here must have had a scriptorium, but something made them hide their treasured manuscripts. We’ll need to check and catalog each one. We’ll need a controlled environment to open the jars, and we’ll need to be sure they don’t get damaged if the dragon attacks.”

  “We don’t have time for a task like that,” said Hausey. “Our first priority must be readying the defenses and making sure we’re ready when the dragon arrives.”

  He turned on his heel and marched back up the stone steps into the bright sunlight. Kelvich turned to Zollin with a look of intense longing.

  “This could be what we’re looking for,” Kelvich said. “Imagine the wisdom from a time when magic was a regular part of the world.”

  “I know, but we have to focus on our mission,” Zollin said. “People are being pushed out of their homes, some are even being killed. We can’t let that continue while we dive into the treasures here.”

  “But it could hold the key to defeating the dragon,” Kelvich pleaded. “You have to let me try and find it.”

  “Make your plans,” Zollin said. “But don’t expect much help from the army.”

  “Alright, that’s okay. Jax can help me; I won’t need much and I won’t be a distraction.”

  Zollin thought Kelvich seemed like a child at festival time. His eyes were shining and he couldn’t stop smiling.

  They ascended the stairs back into the blinding sunlight. Zollin went back to work with the soldiers and Kelvich hurried to find a way to block off the staircase. He didn’t want curious soldiers going down and accidentally destroying any of the scrolls. He had known that there must be caches of lost knowledge just like this one. Most of the greatest treasuries of hidden wisdom had been kept by wealthy families in old libraries, built by their ancestors and mostly forgotten over the years. But the Torr had raided most of those libraries, either taking or destroying the books and scrolls kept there. Now the Torr had the most extensive library in the Five Kingdoms, but no one was allowed into the massive stone tower. The secrets hidden there were lost to the world, hoarded by the few interamnians willing to bend their will to Offendorl. Kelvich had always resented the Torr’s secrecy, even though he knew that ignorance was probably their greatest tool in subjecting the citizens of the Five Kingdoms to their magical domination.

  He began a mental list of what he would need. First, he needed a clean, dry place with plenty of light. He needed to see what condition the scrolls were in. Would they crumble at his touch or had the clay pots preserved them over the centuries? Next, he would need to move them to a more secure location. He wasn’t sure where that would be exactly. Felson was the closest large city, but it was overrun by refugees. He was sure that if he could get the scrolls to Orrock that he could find a suitable place to study them, but it was so far away. Ebbson Keep was probably the best choice, since it had a working library and the lord of Ebbson kept resident scholars who would be able to help Kelvich catalog and copy the information the scrolls contained. Of course, the scrolls might not be anything more than the tenets of this particular religious sect’s faith. It could be histories or genealogies or public records, Kelvich had no way of knowing until he opened the scrolls and read them.

  That night, as they sat around the small fire in front of their tents, Zollin had trouble keeping his eyes open. Brianna was tired, too; only Jax and Kelvich carried on any sort of conversation. Jax was showing off the relics he had found and Kelvich was doing his best to help the boy identify each one. They all slept through the night again, although Kelvich was so excited over his find that he could hardly keep his eyes closed.

  The next day, Zollin and the soldiers completed the main street. Brianna spent her time helping Zollin design the shrine so that it gave him places to take cover from the dragon’s attacks and had an easily accessible route of escape if he needed it. The soldiers worked hard, building a shoulder-high stone wall that ran down either side of the main street. Zollin had learned enough from his father to be able to design the shrine, and although he could have constructed the building magically, he didn’t want to be so drained that he couldn’t fight the dragon if it arrived. So he left the building tasks to the soldiers.

  Kelvich used one of the old buildings among the ruins as his workshop. He stretched a canvas awning where the roof had been. It kept the sunlight from beating down on him and still gave him plenty of light to see by. He brought in a wooden table that Zollin had transmuted for him out of firewood. The table was simple with a smooth top. Kelvich sent Jax to a nearby river to find smooth stones that could be used to hold down the scrolls once Kelvich unrolled them.

  After a light lunch of bread, ale, and cheese, Kelvich returned to the hidden library and retrieved one of the clay pots. It was sealed with wax on one end, and his hands shook slightly as he carried his treasure back to the workroom he had set up. Jax was excited as well. He stood watching with great fascination as Kelvich gently cut the wax seal with a sharp knife. The wax was dry and crumbled away easily. The clay was brittle and part of the pot crumbled as Kelvich cut away the seal.

  “Why is it so crumbly?” Jax asked.

  “It’s very old,” Kelvich replied. “Let’s just hope the scrolls were written on vellum, not paper or leather.”

  “Why not?”

  “Leather dries out and gets brittle like the clay. If it got too dry, we might not even be able to unroll it without it breaking into pieces. If it is paper, there’s a good chance it will be stuck together and impossible to unroll.”

  “What’s vellum?” Jax asked.

  “Vellum is animal skin, too, but it’s made from very young animals and prepared differently than leather. It isn’t tanned, for one thing, not in the same way leather is. It’s a much softer and more durable writing material, but it is very expensive. Hopefully the people here valued their work and used good materials. They certainly seemed to care about preserving their knowledge since they sealed it all up in these clay pots.”

  Kelvich used a small, handheld mirror to look down into the container, reflecting the light into the darkened interior. He held his breath as he reached inside. The scroll was intact and bound with wax so that its diameter was smaller than the clay container.

  “That’s good,” Kelvich said. “They rolled the scrolls and sealed them so that they are smaller than the pot.”

  “Why is that good?” Jax asked curiously.

  “Well, if the scroll had just been stuck inside the pot, it would have uncurled until it was pressed against the clay, making it hard to pull out of the container. This way I can just reach in,” he said as he carefully inserted two fingers into the pot, “and gently remove the scroll.”

  He pulled the ancient document from its container and breathed a sigh of relief.

  “It’s intact and looks to be vellum,” he said happily.

  He sat both the scroll and the pot on his table, placing the clay container in a basket so he could focus on the scroll.

  “Look at this,” he told Jax. They both bent over the scroll.

  “What am I looking at?” the boy asked.

  “The seal,” Kelvich said. “It’s not one I recognize.”

  “Me, either,” said Jax, although the boy had probably seen less than five seals in his life.

  Kelvich smiled, he was fond of the boy. Jax had an insatiable curiosity and a quick mind. He had jumped at the chance to help Kelvich, and he always did exactly what he was told.

  Kelvich put his hand over the seal, as if he were hiding it.

  “What are you doing?” Jax asked.

  “The heat from my hand will soften the wax and make it easier for me to open.”

  Jax nodded as if this were the most natural thing in the world. Kelvich held
his hand on the scroll for several minutes, savoring the feeling of excitement he felt. While he didn’t have the magical ability that Zollin had, and he had vowed not to bring anyone else under his sorcerous control, he still loved learning.

  “Knowledge is power,” he told Jax. “So many people don’t understand that, but knowledge allows us to do things, incredible things, even if we don’t have magical power. You should always learn as much as you can. You never know when that knowledge might come in handy.”

  “Like knowing how to soften a seal,” Jax said seriously.

  “That’s right.”

  Kelvich then used a very thin and flexible blade to help him peel back the wax that sealed the scroll. The vellum was still in very good condition and, while not as soft and flexible as when it was new, the material was still strong, and Kelvich felt certain that he could open the document without damaging it. He was so excited he could hardly breathe as he unfurled the scroll. It was a long document with several pages of small handwriting filling the interior. But even as he looked at the ancient document, his heart dropped. The writing was a form he could not read.