Midkemia Read online

  Armengar sat upon a naturally occurring source of naphthaline, which when combined with other materials formed a vicious oil known as “Quegan Fire,” a substance that once alight could not be put out with water—water only spread it faster. As a last-ditch defense, those pits were fired and the entire city of Armengar was lost in an explosion so fast and terrifying that no one there has provided me with a description that did that event justice, from what I can judge. The good result of that terrible battle and horrible retreat was Murmandamus lost a good third of his army.

  The citizens fled through the Inclindel Gap into Yabon, but Arutha and his party, along with Amos and Guy, were cut off after encountering a force of dwarves from Stone Mountain. Martin’s old friend Galain had come to lend aid. Cut off from the dwarves by a surge of goblins, Arutha and his remaining friends were forced to flee east.

  After Armengar fell, Arutha and his company reached the Edder Forest, where they encountered a race of elves unknown, the Glamredhel, or “Mad Ones,” in the elven tongue. An ancient foe of the Moredhel, the Glamredhel agreed to let Arutha and his party continue on their journey.

  Reaching Cutter’s Gap, the first major passage through the Teeth of the World, the Prince and his party were intercepted by the men of Lord Highcastle, the Border Baron responsible for defending that pass from the north.

  Baron Highcastle refused to accede to Arutha’s demand that he strip his garrison and flee south, having sworn his oath to the King alone. It was to the Baron’s credit that he defended his position with his life, but in the end, Arutha and the survivors of Highcastle were forced to flee south, through the Dimwood, to the city of Sethanon.

  Armengar

  At this point Tomas and I, along with Macros the Black, returned from our own difficult journey. We had gleaned the nature of the threat and knew the goal of the invading army was Sethanon.

  Beneath the city’s lowest basements and cellars, below the sewers of the city, far below even the deepest well, a cavern of vast size and ancient origin awaited. Here the Dragon Lords secreted an ancient artifact of power called the Lifestone. What that artifact may be is still beyond our knowledge. Perhaps someday we’ll fully understand it.

  But what challenged us for possession of the Lifestone was a combination of forces unimaginable to any mortal just months before. The Dragon Lords had created the Lifestone out of pieces of their essence, as a tether to return to Midkemia from their exile after the Chaos Wars. By means still not clear, enough of their might existed in another dimension that they could open a rift and project through the physical incarnation of another Valheru, Draken-Korin, a blood enemy of Tomas’s Valheru heritage as Ashen-Shugar. More, the architect of this madness, Murmandamus, came as well followed by a Dreadlord, the most powerful of the Children of the Void.

  THE LAST MAP drawn from James’s recounting, of the journey south from Armengar to Sethanon.

  Battle was joined. The military conflict in the city was fierce. Baron Humphry of Sethanon, while hardly battle-hardened, turned command of the city’s defense over to Guy du Bas-Tyra, aided by Squires James and Locklear, Amos Trask, and the surviving soldiers from Highcastle. The battle was close and only Guy’s brilliance as a commander and the bravery of the city’s defenders prevented Sethanon from being quickly overwhelmed.

  While the struggle in the city raged on, I waited in a vast and ancient cavern far below the deepest basement dug by man. With me were Prince Arutha, Tomas, Ryath the dragon, and magician allies Kulgan, Elgahar, and Hochopepa. This ancient hall had been excavated by the Dragon Lords, and was protected with a magic spell that shifted time slightly. For while the battle unfolded above, we knew that the true goal of the invading forces was this centuries-hidden chamber and the Lifestone left there by the Dragon Lords. The true nature of the Lifestone was unknown to us, for while Tomas possessed the memories of a Valheru, Ashen-Shugar alone among the Dragon Lords had nothing to do with its fashioning. He knew it to be a device of power, but beyond that was as ignorant as I.

  Fate, the gods, or some other unknown agency conspired to have the proper defenders in place, for as Arutha and I anticipated, Murmandamus appeared within the chamber, using arcane arts alien to me. Arutha and he instantly took arms against each other and the contest was close, for while Arutha was the better swordsman, Murandamus was physically more powerful and possessed magic. Only a talisman given the Prince by the Ishapians at Sarth protected Arutha from the moredhel leader’s magic.

  Arutha Battles Murmandamus

  THE CITY OF SETHANON, before it was destroyed in the Great Uprising. The map was found in the library at Krondor.

  A rift formed and the combined essence of the long-vanished Dragon Lords attempted to manifest within the chamber, and only my arts, with the help of the other magicians there, kept the rift from fully forming. But two entities did achieve entrance to the cavern: a likeness of a Valheru named Draken-Korin and a Dreadlord. Ryath the dragon engaged the Dreadlord, while Tomas in the guise of Ashen-Shugar confronted his ancient foe.

  The battle ended with the utter destruction of the city, and the death of the Baron of Sethanon, but the forces arrayed against us were vanquished. Ryath the dragon suffered grave injury and it was only through magic means she was saved.

  After informing the King of the events at Sethanon, Arutha convinced him it was wise to propagate the myth that the city was cursed and relocate the survivors. As Baron Volney had no heir, there was no nobility in Sethanon to object, and the King’s wishes were obeyed.

  More on this I will not say here, but to note that this was but the first major struggle with very dark forces. Should we be fortunate, we shall not see them again for ages.

  It is difficult for me to read the above entry, for as I write this we have endured numerous subsequent struggles with those forces he describes. I will let this story unfold as my father intended, but I have the luxury of seeing the entirety of the Riftwars and my father’s chronicle from hindsight. My father writes in a matter-of-fact fashion, about events that would terrify most men to helplessness, and it is my wish here that anyone reading these passages not be lulled into discounting the horrors and destruction he faced without hesitation.

  Entry, the Tenth

  AT THIS MOMENT, ENOUGH TIME HAS PASSED since the battle at Sethanon to reveal a few more secrets about the battle, and to further comment on other matters, especially the evolution of our community at Stardock.

  First, on the matter of the Oracle. The Aal are the oldest beings known in the universe, a sentient race that became aware almost immediately after the creation of all things. It may be that their origin so close to creation gave them a different perspective on time than other races, but they have among them those who can judge the probability of outcomes so accurately they are said to see the future.

  My bargain with the Aal was to find a safe haven for their Oracle, the last living female presence, and her attendants, a dozen males, away from their home world, which verged on destruction. After besting the Dreadlord, the dragon Ryath lay dying, beyond human or elven means to cure. The Oracle was brought to her and possessed her body, for that is the secret of the Aal; they are beings of energy who need hosts.

  As Ryath was mindless and near death, I saw no harm in allowing the Oracle to heal her and possess her. One consequence of that act was the use of treasure from the Valheru hoard to repair the dragon’s damaged scales. So beyond the normal beauty of a golden dragon’s visage, Ryath possessed a patina of gems, diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and other precious stones that caused her to be bathed in a breathtaking glow of brilliant colors when struck by light.

  She resides there now, and if the means are known, one may avail oneself of her skills as an oracle.

  Since the fall of Murmandamus and the rejection of the spirit of the Valheru entering our realm, I have focused my energies on building the Academy at Stardock.

  After I had returned from my captivity on Kelewan, I learned that Lord Borric had bequeath
ed to me a deserted island in the middle of the Great Star Lake. Legend holds that it was formed by the impact of a falling star, hence its name. Whatever its origin, it is an ideal location for my Academy of Magic.

  The Great Star Lake sits on the border between the Kingdom and the Empire of Great Kesh, with the Kingdom town of Landreth to the north, and the Keshian town of Shamata on the southern bank of the lake. As a result it was used at times for smuggling, but since I acquired it and began construction, a population of lively young magicians has ended the smuggler’s trade.

  One advantage to Stardock being situated on an island is we gain far greater control over who is permitted to visit. We are not subject to infiltration of people who might for various reasons choose to do us harm or otherwise compromise the work we undertake. There are still many people, perhaps a majority, who look upon all magic outside of the temples as “evil,” and even among the practitioners of temple magic, a few who look upon magicians as somehow perverting the gift of the gods.

  And there are the political considerations as well. For all the good magicians did on behalf of the Kingdom during the Riftwar, there is still a distrust of any concentration of power that is controlled by someone else. Kesh’s interests are to be certain we are not a tool of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom’s interests are to see us continue as a strong ally, or even a subject.

  Which has created a touchy situation. Because of my adoption by the King’s late father, dubbing me Pug conDoin, and the King granting me a patent of nobility, so I am formally, “Pug, Duke of Stardock,” I am considered a subject of the Crown. This obviously is of great concern to the Empire of Great Kesh, irrespective of my attempts to reassure them that the Academy of Magicians will be an independent agency working for the good of everyone on Midkemia.

  King Lyam, Pug, Tomas, and Prince Arutha Meet the Oracle of Aal in Dragon Form

  To the other nations, Roldem, the Eastern Kingdoms, we are a faceless, nameless potential threat, so efforts must be forthcoming to ease their concerns. Roldem especially is reasserting its independence and becoming once again a factor in regional politics. It has a young, strong King who has spent liberally to rebuild its navy, moving it firmly out of Kesh’s shadow. Culturally, the Kingdom of Isles and the Kingdom of Roldem are closely related, with similar roots in the history of the Sea of Kingdoms, and there has been much concern since King Lyam wed a Princess of Roldem.

  My efforts to make the Academy welcoming to any magic user from any nation seem to have mitigated all these concerns only a little. I am also building the Academy as a structure that may be expanded. At present it’s a relatively tidy three-story edifice, but I have borrowed a design from the Assembly of Magicians on Kelewan, then refined it so that new structures can be added on with a limited amount of demolition for existing structures.

  Since my father’s writing, Stardock had a complete divorcement from the Kingdom, and we hold ourselves an independent agency. We number as many students and practitioners from outside the Kingdom as within. Roldem’s navy has ensured she returned to a position of independence not seen for a century, the Eastern Kingdom’s political stances have shifted violently, and all count Stardock as an independent force for good in the world.

  My father’s anticipation of the need for growth was well reasoned; since the Academy was begun we’ve expanded. It is now roughly five stories tall and we most likely will see the need to expand again in the future. One thing my father didn’t anticipate was the need for support staff; with the students and masters, in what is loosely now becoming something of a Guild of Magicians, devoting time to study and research, we needed to hire others to cook, clean, and take care of all the daily needs of the members. There is now a lively little town grown up around the Fishing Dock, and roads have been engineered from the Commercial Dock, where goods from Landreth and Shamata arrive to Stardock Town, near the fishing village and farmers’ fields, up to the Academy proper.

  THE ORIGINAL MAP OF STARDOCK, after the foundations for the Academy had been laid and the village had sprung up around the fishing dock. Drawn by a student.

  Stardock was my father’s dream and I work to ensure it stays what he envisioned.

  Entry, the Eleventh

  IT HAS BEEN SOME YEARS since I addressed this project, and there is still a great deal of material to be organized and annotated. In rereading what I’ve written so far, I realize I have tangentially mentioned both the Empire of Great Kesh and Novindus in passing, without attending to the organization of materials concerning those places and others.

  While Kesh has been a major player in the politics of this world, my first visit to the Imperial Court came years after events that did bear significant impact on my life and my family’s. It is an important story concerning Arutha’s twin sons, Borric and Erland, and how they came to change the future of two nations.

  To begin, let me contrast the Kingdom and Kesh as an introduction into Kesh’s diversity. The Kingdom, along with Roldem, is the result of very like people intermarrying, making war, and conquering one another until political entities emerged. Roldem has its navy as its bulwark, and the Kingdom has its army and navy. But at heart, both nations are populated in the main by people of common ancestry. The Kingdom’s first adsorption of unlike people into its borders was the westward conquests of Prince Richard. The tribes conquered in the mountains between Malac’s Cross and Krondor were small and their cultural identities were lost within a generation or two. The population along the shore of the Bitter Sea from Krondor to Ylith was space and mostly a few tiny Quegan enclaves and fishing villages, also quickly absorbed.

  It wasn’t until the conquest of Yabon that the Kingdom really encountered an alien culture. Much of that has blended over the years, and while the Yabonese are a distinctive culture with their own patois, music, and art, they also are Kingdom due to generations of being within the borders. The LaMutians are the notable exception to this due to the large influx of displaced Tsurani warriors after the Riftwar.

  Kesh on the other hand began as an aggressive tribe of hunters, the original tribe of Kesh, with a home on a plateau overlooking what is now the greater City of Kesh, on the northern shore of the Overn Deep. As one can see from this map, the immediate area around the great lake is labeled “Keshian Trueblood,” and that is a critical difference between the Kingdom and Kesh. For in the Kingdom, a man may rise as far as his talents can lift him, but in Kesh, there is a limit if one is not of “true” Keshian ancestry.

  The Trueblood Keshians’ advantages were a combination of things, including a wealth of raw materials in the Guardian Mountains, and the Dark Haven Forests, coupled with a supply of domesticated animals. While a hunting culture, they were not nomadic, like the Ashunta or raiders like the Brijaners, and they prized industry and innovation. They used a mix of military conquest and economic subjugation to create the Empire of Great Kesh, north of twin mountain ranges, the Girdle of Kesh, the western range known as the Belt, and the eastern known as the Clasp.

  To the south of the Girdle, loose tribal alliances and small city-states existed until Kesh’s invasion and subjugation. In the West, the Isalani region is the most pacified, but the balance of tribes and people, known collectively as the Keshian Confederacy, stage revolts and revolutions on a regular basis.

  I suspect the best place to begin speaking of Kesh would be to relate my experiences with the twin Princes, Borric and Erland, Prince Arutha’s sons, and Barons Locklear and James.

  As mentioned before, Baron James was the former boy thief Jimmy the Hand, taken in by the Prince for his service. He had repeatedly demonstrated the wisdom of that choice by serving Arutha as loyally and effectively as any member of the Krondorian Royal Household.

  Baron Locklear was the son of the Baron of Land’s End. It was a relatively new barony, or rather Locklear’s father was a new Baron, the previous Baron having died without legitimate heir—there was a bastard son, but the Crown denied his claim.

  Locklear was an interestin
g youngster, about the same age as James and my son, William. William and I are somewhat estranged as I write this, as he chose to abandon his studies for the life of a soldier.

  I feel the need to add this comment: my father and my half brother, whom I never had the honor of knowing, loved each other deeply, but my father’s idea that somehow William would follow in his footsteps and become leader of the community at Stardock was his idea, not William’s. William’s gift was the ability to speak with and understand a wide range of animals, and having met others with that gift, it’s marginal magic to say the least. Most of the time animals have very little to say of interest to humans. But Father mistakenly believed that William would somehow grow into a master magician.

  I think William and my father’s estrangement, and my natural ability, made it easy for Father to accept that my younger brother, Caleb, had no abilities with magic. It took decades, but Father finally realized that magic came to some and not to others, irrespective of heritage. With my parents it would be easy to expect all their children would become masters of the magic arts, but as William and Caleb proved, such was not the case.

  Locklear seemed an interesting contrast to James, for though they had very different childhoods, in some ways James appeared to be the more thoughtful, considerate young man. Locklear was charming, especially around the ladies on the island.

  AN ASSESSOR’S MAP FROM THE EMPIRE OF GREAT KESH, a few years after the end of the Riftwar. One of my students found it in the market in Krondor and purchased it for me. How it came to be there is a mystery. The illustration is of an Ashunta rider in winter garb, with a hunting falcon.