King Urstone sat in his dinner chair, shoulders slumped as if in defeat, elbows resting on the table. A feast was spread before him-a shank of roast boar, calf ’s tongue, boiled baby carrots with onions, and bowls and baskets filled with breads and other things-some of which Fallion could not name. But King Urstone had not touched them.
The king’s long white hair hung down over his shoulders, and his face was lined with creases of worry. Yet there was still strength there, and Fallion could see the handsome man that he had once been.
As Fallion entered the room, Urstone’s blue eyes shone with an inner fire.
No, he is not defeated yet, Fallion realized. Jaz had come to the dinner, along with Rhianna and Talon. Daylan Hammer and the Wizard Sisel had also come.
There were various warlords at the king’s table. Like the king, they wore armor carved from bone, capes of forest green or burgundy, and cape pins with intricate designs. Fallion suspected that the pins denoted rank, but he could only guess which of the warriors were most senior.
At the table sat another man, smaller than the warriors, with a narrow face, finely groomed beard, and chains of gold. He looked like a wealthy merchant. He smiled like a fox as Fallion entered, his dark eyes tracking him across the room. Fallion studied his face, long and oval, the smile predatory. He felt sure that he knew the man from somewhere, but could not place him.
Fallion felt most surprised to see Siyaddah sitting at the king’s table, a pace to the king’s right. She had changed into a fresh dress of white silk, but painted with bright flowers this time, with a dark purple border.
She looked at him, and Fallion glanced away, not wanting to catch her eye.
The king’s voice was weary as he began to speak, as if he could not muster the energy for passion. He spoke in a deep monotone. Sisel translated, “Master Thull-turock, do you recognize these young men?”
The merchant pointed a finger adorned with three rings at Fallion, and began to speak. “This one is the son of the Earth King Gaborn Val Orden, Fallion Sylvarresta Orden by name. I knew him when he was but a child, living at Castle Coorm. He had all the makings of a great warrior, even in his youth. He was strong and tenacious in battle, fair to those who served him, honest and humble. The young man next to him is his younger brother, Jaz. He too was a child of sound character, but he was always more interested in bugs and mice than in preparing to become a prince.”
King Urstone smiled at that, and nodded. “As a child, I was much fascinated by fish. I used to go out to the brook and stand in the shadows of the willows for hours, spearing trout. All of that practice greatly improved my aim with the spear. Do you also like to fish, Jaz?”
Fallion grinned. For Jaz, it bordered on an obsession.
“I do indeed, Your Highness,” Jaz said, “but I prefer to use a hook and line.”
King Urstone looked around his table, baffled. Sisel explained something to him. “Then,” King Urstone said with a smile, “perhaps when this is over, you could teach me how to fish with a hook and line.”
“Gladly, Your Highness,” Jaz said.
King Urstone sighed, and said wearily, “In the blink of an eye, the world changes. My scouts have been pouring in for two days, bringing reports. To the west, upon the plains of the hoary elephants, mountains have burst up out of the ground. Rivers had to turn their course and flow east. To the north, a great rift has appeared, a canyon so deep that the eye cannot see to the bottom. To the east, castles seemed to rise from the dust, and perhaps a million people now live among the ruins where none could have lived before.
“They are small folk, humble folk, living in houses made of mud and sticks, covered with roofs of grass. Having seen them, I fear for them. We cannot protect them from what will surely come.
“There are urgent reports from Cantular. A large host is rushing down from the north. Warlord Madoc will try to hold the bridge, but there are things he must battle, creatures that no one has seen before. Some are like the great graak that we saw, others he says look like hills that move upon many legs…
“Another such horde is marching upon this city from the northeast.”
King Urstone peered down at his hands. His brow furrowed in consternation.
“We tried to exchange hostages with the wyrmlings, and in doing so, I may have called doom down upon my people. Already there are those who whisper that I sold my kingdom for a foolish dream, and if we live out this night, they will revolt-as they should.
“Some say we need a miracle to save us.
“Fallion Sylvarresta Orden,” the king said. “Is this the miracle that we need?”
He nodded toward some guards in a corner, and they lugged an enormous wooden box out into the center of the dining hall, then spilled its contents out upon the floor.
Thousands of metal rods rolled onto the tile. Fallion knew what they were by sound alone. There was a soft clanking, almost as if the rods were made of bamboo instead of some metal.
Fallion rose to his feet, electrified. They were not forcibles, not yet anyway, for there were no runes cast upon their heads. But they could be turned into forcibles in short order.
“Your Highness,” Fallion said warily, “those could be the miracle that you are seeking. Where did you find so much blood metal?”
The king smiled. “We call it corpuscite. There is a hill of it, not two miles from here.”
Fallion left his seat, went to inspect the metal. He tasted it, found that it tasted salty sweet and of copper, much like blood. Pure blood metal.
“A hill?” Fallion asked.
“A large hill,” the king corrected. “Large enough to make…millions of these.”
Fallion saw what he was proposing immediately. There were only thirty-eight thousand of Urstone’s people left in the world, but there were millions of Fallion’s. They needed to become allies.
“If you called upon your people,” King Urstone asked, “would they unite with us?”
“I…don’t know,” Fallion admitted. He hesitated to even think about it. His enemies had hunted him to the ends of the earth, yet his foster father, Sir Borenson, had longed for the day when Fallion seized control of the world, allowing poor nations to throw off the tyrants’ yokes.
“Some would,” Fallion admitted. “But there are many lords who fear that they will lose their place if we were to unite under one banner. These lords have long sought to take my life.”
“And failed,” the king pointed out.
The merchant Thull-turock spoke up. “Fallion, my lad, you can buy a lot of friends with this much blood metal.”
It was then that Fallion recognized him. He had changed. He had merged with his shadow self, but Fallion recognized him by mannerisms. No one had ever called Fallion “my lad” but one man-his mother’s facilitator, Sir Greaves. He was the one making the forcibles, and there would be no one better.
But Fallion worried. An army was coming, a vast army. How would King Urstone’s people mine the blood metal if they were put under siege? Even worse, what if the enemy simply overwhelmed them, slaughtered them all?
“Sir Greaves,” Fallion begged, “how soon will we have working forcibles?”
“I have a dozen smiths pouring them into molds now. We’ll have brawn, metabolism, stamina, and grace blanked out within the hour. After that, it will be down to file work. I won’t have many, perhaps two dozen forcibles before dawn. But we should be able to make fifty a day this week, once we get into full production. And once I train my jewelers properly, in a month or two, we can get a thousand a day.”
“I have seventy-five good forcibles in my pack,” Fallion said. “They should be of some help in protecting the city. Do you have champions that we can give them to?”
The king nodded toward the two guards who stood at his back. “The Cormar twins. There are none better in battle, and they are used to fighting as a pair, anticipating each other’s moves.”
Fallion bit his lip, considered.
I came to save my people, he thought, not put them to the forcible.
And what will happen if I do? What kind of masters would King Urstone’s people be?
Certainly, they would make better masters than the wyrmlings.
He wondered. Would the warrior clans even try to subjugate his people? He doubted it. There were too many
