A Hero's throne

“The dragon? Big enough,” Alex said, lifting his eyebrows. “I was lucky it was only a hatchling. Ecgbryt said it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old. And it near finished me, even at that.”

“How do you know all this?” Daniel asked, leaning forward on the table.

“My family descends from a very small clan in the highlands-one of the secret clans. We own a distinct tartan, which we never wear. We’ve been called, through the ages, the ‘Nethergrund Cannies,’ that is, those that have knowledge of the lands beneath. But really we only use that to refer to ourselves, since we are a very secret clan, and few on this earth have knowledge of the knowledgeable people. It has always been such, and it is best as such.

“Our current appointment goes back through the Forty-Five and the Fifteen, to the fourteenth century. Our purpose was to defend the hidden land in three ways: to protect, to procure, and to uphaud. Protect the portals to the nethergrund, procure provisions for whatever was needful-be it metal or tools for smithing and carving-and to uphaud, to repair whatever tunnels have been felled by time and disuse. When I was a boy, I would be taken underground with my father and my grand-da to walk the tunnels, and I gained the ken. I learned them just as they learnt them, by sight and by memory. We had maps, but they are old and inaccurate. The best way is to walk them yourself. I many times walked the area where you popped up. And killed yfelgopes too.”

“Tell them about Ealdstan,” Ecgbryt said, placing another empty pint glass in front of him. That made three.

“I met him once, just the once. Grim and uncommon mean, he seemed, although, mind you, I was only eight.”

“Why? What’d he do?” Freya asked.

“He argued with my grand-da about something, while my father stood by. None would speak of it to me afterward, but I gathered he wanted me to perform some task-a journey and then a task-but my grand-da refused. Said I was too young and the thing was needless. Aye, I believe it was the same task he sent you both on that he was wishing for me.”

“Killing Gad?” Daniel asked.

“Aye, mebbe, mebbe. I don’t recall Gad being discussed, but as I said, I was young. My family had many conflicts with Ealdstan over the years.”

“Why?”

“They didn’t like the direction he was taking. And Ealdstan called them traitors to his cause, although my father attempted to be conciliatory. And for myself? Well, I don’t really know what we’ve found ourselves in the middle of at the moment. If it was just a crazy old wizard, that’d be one thing. But like I said, the dragon changed everything.”

“How?” Freya asked. “I mean, I understand that dragons might be a big deal, but how exactly does that change things?”

“Dragons cause all manner of mischief.”

“That’s a truth, and putting it mildly,” Ecgbryt said, signalling for another dark ale.

“Aye, putting it mildly,” Alex assented. “You see, it’s not just the trouble that they cause in themselves- stealing sheep and livestock, people, pets-it’s also the effect they have on the area around them, in what you might say a spiritual sense. They literally depress the entire region they inhabit.”

“Depress it?” Daniel repeated.

“Aye,” he said with a nod. “I’ve felt it many times; it’s a thick, heavy, dark emotion that sticks to you like tar. Makes you tired, makes you sluggish. Not everyone associates moods with places, and so it takes most off guard. You don’t wake up when you want to, you don’t go out as often, you retreat into your cave. And when you do go out, you’re peevish and fashed, as are the people you meet. Everyone is at one another’s throats, knives out- suicides, theft. . it brings out all that is worst in human nature.”

He shook his head. “It used to be that we were prepared-the whole country was prepared-against these sorts of attacks. I’m talking about the old days-the golden olden times. The old poems talk more about a knight’s virtues than his weapons; read Gawain and the Green Knight, see if I’m wrong. Read Pearl. Think about the knights of the round table; leaders with integrity. The common folk were neither here nor there, and there was an extremely high percentage of enchanters and evil princes per capita, it's true, but society was, on the whole, well-provisioned for means of correction against such mystical incursions. That is not true today. Most don’t even acknowledge any sort of spiritual threat-any sort of spirit, even-and those that do have been lulled into an opiate daze by cushy lives, quiet cars, easy jobs, fast food. . a hypnotic dance of colours and social interactions on your computer screen. People fight for their lives, but we’ve forgotten how to fight for our souls.”

“Okay, but what does the dragon mean?” Freya asked, trying to get him back to the topic at hand. “You think the mythical world came into our world?”

“The mystical worlds, yes. There are more than one of them, and with Ealdstan missing and Ni?ergeard destroyed, our world is vulnerable to invasion.”

“Ni?ergeard has fallen?” Daniel said.

Ecgbryt shifted in his seat. “Ni?ergeard has fallen,” he said. “It is overrun. I blundered in unwittingly and was lucky to escape with my skin when I found yfelgopes roaming the streets, pillaging the smiths and stores.”

“How did the yfelgopes organise and mobilise without Gad?” Daniel said. “Was it Kelm?”

“We believe so,” Ecgbryt said.

“Who is Kelm?” Freya asked.

“Kelm Kafhand,” said Ecgbryt. “Your paths have not crossed with his-even I would not know him to see him. He is the general of the yfelgop army and moves at Gad’s will as if he were his master’s own hand. Since Ecgbryt came to me, we’ve been going over the library top to tail and found no mention of anyone by that name. Not in our library, at least. There were other libraries kept by cannies all over the isles, but over the years they have diminished and lost touch with each other. There once were cannies in Wales, Ireland, and all over England-the West Country, Kent, Winchester-but relations between them wore down over the years, and Ealdstan did not keep them up.’’

“Okay, so he’s invaded Ni?ergeard,” Daniel said. “What are you going to do?”

“Do, young Daniel?” Ecgbryt answered. “What do you think we are going to do? We are going to take it back!” He pounded the table with his fist, making their glasses and cutlery jump.

“Yes!” Daniel shouted. He pounded the table too. “Yes, yes! That’s exactly what I wanted you to say!”

Freya, unsettled, looked to Alex. He was more subdued but smiling eagerly.

“What do we do? What do we do first?” Daniel asked, leaning in, his voice a harsh, excited whisper.

“It is no easy task planning to retake the underground realm with just a handful of faithfuls,” Ecgbryt said, raising his palms. “Even with the stout party that is gathered here. No, we will need to marshal our resources, build an army.”

“What about the sleeping knights?” Daniel asked. “Can we use them? Storm the city in force?”

“Patience, young Daniel, patience! First we would have to locate the knights and the tunnels used to access them. It is not a case of just wandering through the many thousands of tunnels-the old and inaccurate maps and texts would have to be studied and compared to modern ones. Then a route would have to be plotted-not as easy as it sounds-in order to pick up as many knights as quickly as possible.”

“That couldn’t take that long to do, surely?”

Ecgbryt stroked his trimmed beard and eyed him. “Such an undertaking may require years. Several years at least.”

“Years? Really?” Daniel asked, shrinking back in disappointment.

“Years, certainly. Which is why you are lucky”-Ecgbryt’s eyelids drooped teasingly-“that we have already done all that.”

“Really?” Daniel was as giddy as a child at Christmas. “Freya, that’s-” He became aware of the volume of his exclamations and lowered his voice. “This is what I’ve been waiting for ever since I left-the chance to go back and settle things once and for all. I’ve been seeing yfelgopes, you know, hunting and killing them. I knew this battle wasn’t finished, I knew it! When do we start? When do we invade?”

“Calm down, Daniel,” Alex said seriously. “It’s not as easy as all of that. We need to do more than just round up the knights. That’s just one aspect of the plan, and. . actually, maybe this is a good time to introduce the fifth member of our party.”