Demonkin (38 page)

Morro went on to describe the Council of War that Garth had set up, but he did not name the resistance leaders, although the king had assured him that everyone in the room was to be trusted. His natural tendency for secrecy demanded that he be vague where the details were of no importance to the audience. He ended the presentation by detailing the scope of duties for each of the Alceans sent to Zara.

“I know much of this information is already known thanks to the fairies,” King Arik stated when Morro was done, “but I think the refresher was needed for our discussion today. As you all know, the ships to and from Zara have stopped sailing. That means that our fairies can no longer hitch rides aboard the ships.”

“How then did Morro get here?” interrupted General Gregor.

“A good question,” grinned the king. “Morro came through one of the Doors set up by the Federation. He also brought us a present. Advisors, we now have our own Door to Zara. Thanks to Morro, we now have a link between Tagaret and Tarashin, the land of the Zaran dwarves.”

The room filled with gasps as people understood the impact of what the king was saying.

“Knowledge of that Door will remain with those in this room,” reminded the king. “We have not yet used the Door, and we will not until tomorrow, but it means we have a new avenue to pursue. With the ability to move forces between the two continents, we might need to rethink our strategies.”

“Do we know where the Zaran Doors are now?” asked Prince Oscar.

“We do.” The king nodded to Morro.

The elf took another map from his pack. It was a crude map of the mystery valley that he had recreated from memory, but he felt that it would be sufficient for this meeting.

“There is a hidden valley in the Barrier,” Morro explained as he unrolled the map on the table. “There is an entrance tunnel off the Blood Highway that is guarded by Federation troops. They also maintain an illusion covering the entrance as well as one over the peaks of the mountains. Both approaches are warded by magical spells, but the dwarves have cut a secret door into their valley. That is how I gained entrance to it. The numbers on this map indicate the numbers of the Doors. As you can see by Door number twenty-four, the spare Doors are stacked there. There are thirty pairs of Doors altogether.”

“How large is the army presence in the valley?” asked General Gregor.

“It is a full army,” answered Morro. “Ten-thousand men and a company of black-cloaks.”

“A brute force entry through the Federation tunnel would accomplish little,” the general mused out loud.

“A covert entry through the dwarven mine would work,” stated Zack Nolan, “but only for the bottom half of the valley. Once we reached the halfway point, we would be in a full scale war.”

“Wouldn’t a full-scale war be worth it in the valley?” asked Wylan. “If we can destroy all of their Doors, they have no way to attack Alcea.”

“For now,” frowned Queen Tanya. “They obviously have the ability to make more Doors, and we do not. All we would accomplish by destroying their Doors would be to forestall the invasion.”

“And we would lose the advantage of knowing where their Doors are in Alcea,” added the king. “They would be more clever in concealing them the next time.”

“We could take the valley for ourselves,” suggested Konic Clava. “We know the location of all twenty-four Doors here in Alcea. We could send soldiers through every one of them and overwhelm the Federation army in the valley. Wouldn’t the Federation then have to worry about Alcea invading them? Perhaps they would not be so eager to come here.”

“No.” General Gregor shook his head. “I think Garth is right about this. We need to let the Federation attack us and then destroy it completely. That is the only way we will have peace. They have the ability to make more Doors, and they have supremacy of the seas. We cannot stop them from reaching our shores, and delaying them does not help us much. We need to figure out how to crush a superior force so badly that they are no longer capable of waging war.”

“I agree,” King Arik said with a nod.

“They also keep the Doors locked on their side,” interjected Morro. “I had to unlock Door twenty-four to come here.”

“Interesting,” Queen Tanya said. “I watched K’san lock Door nine on this side sometime ago. I still have the key for it. Will they even be able to use it now?”

“I am sure that the Doors will be checked before the invasion,” answered Zack Nolan. “As there are two Doors in each city, it would be rather simple for them to come through one Door to unlock the other. I do not think that is a viable method of shutting Doors down. We need to disable the Doors on the Zaran side.”

“Even if we remove all of the Doors in the southern half of the valley,” frowned Rut-ki, “we do not eliminate a single city from their attack. Look at how the Doors are arranged. One through six are duplicated by nineteen through twenty-four, and seven through twelve are duplicated by thirteen through eighteen. They are perfectly arranged so that any half of the valley still gives them their full capability.”

“Except for the number of soldiers they can feed through the Doors in an hour,” added General Gregor. “It would have been nice if we could have eliminated their access to one of our provinces. That would allow us to concentrate our men on the other provinces.”

“Are our people in Zara any closer to discovering the method of attack?” asked Bin-lu.

“Not that I am aware of,” answered Morro. “We do not know if they plan to use all the Doors at once, or attack one province at a time.”

“That is critical information,” stated General Gregor. “Our defense must be geared towards their plan of attack. If we use trickery to defeat one army, we cannot afford for word of that to spread back to others.”

Everyone nodded thoughtfully, but no one had any suggestions for gaining the information needed. Spurred on by the lull in the conversation, Prince Garong addressed the dark elf.

“What of the Dielderal?” asked the Elderal prince. “Are they united now?”

“They are,” replied Morro. “Prince Rigal of Glendor explained the errors in our histories. King Elengal and Prince Saratoma are joined in the effort to fight the Federation, as are all of the Dielderal in Elfwoods. There are still some Dielderal in the Federation cities working with the Federation, but their number is small and insignificant. When will the Elderal people learn that we are no longer enemies?”

“That is a closely guarded secret,” replied King Arik. “While I trust the Elderal, there are far too many ears in Alcea for such information to become commonplace. We do not want to alert the Federation until the Dielderal are safe.”

“That will be soon,” stated Morro. “The liberation of the reeducation centers will occur within the month. I am anxious for our elven brothers to know that our people are no longer split into factions.”

“I apologize for my people,” replied Prince Garong. “I heard about your arrival from my scouts. They were confused when you showed up with Valon, but they will not try to harm you again. I also would like to announce that the Dielderal have rejoined the fold, but I agree with Valon. Now is not the time.”

* * * *

Garth Shado was sleeping in the Great Chamber of Tarashin when the knocking sounded on the Door. He immediately leaped to his feet and drew his sword. Kalina rose next to him and erected shields around them. A dozen Tarashin warriors were also in the room, and they stiffened to attention. One of the dwarves raced out of the chamber to inform King Drakarik.

“Are you going to answer it?” Kalina asked as everyone remained frozen.

“Anyone could walk through that Door once we unlock it,” warned Garth. “Are we ready for such an event?”

He looked to the dwarven warriors, and they nodded in return. Garth held his sword with one hand and took the key out of his pouch. He carefully unlocked the Door and leaped backwards, both hands wrapping around the hilt of the two-handed sword. The Door slowly opened as everyone in the room tensed for a possible confrontation. Morro stepped into the room with a look of shock on his face. He had expected to walk into Karicon’s chamber, not the Great Chamber where the dwarves held their feasts.

“Close the Door,” Garth instructed the elf as King Drakarik arrived to witness the event.

“I must not,” Morro replied as he stuck his hand back through the Door and signaled the others. “There are others to come through, but I had to be sure that the way was safe.”

Garth watched in awe as King Arik and Queen Tanya stepped into the room. The dwarves looked on in confusion, but Garth dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

“Welcome to Zara, King Arik,” Garth said loudly.

The dwarves looked on in wonder. King Drakarik had heard about King Arik and the Sword of Heavens. Garth’s words suddenly struck home, and the dwarven king also knelt.

“Welcome to Tarashin, Garala,” King Drakarik said loudly. “I am honored to be in your presence.”

Upon hearing the king’s words, all of the dwarves present fell to one knee. They bowed their heads until the warrior king bade them to stand.

“I am pleased by my reception to Tarashin,” smiled King Arik. “I did not know if the dwarves of Tarashin followed the prophecy of Garala. I am pleased that you do, but I came prepared if you did not.” King Arik made a motion towards the Door, and four dwarves walked into the room through the Door. “King Drakarik, King of Tarashin, may I present Queen Lywen, Queen of Lanto; King Tring, King of Dorgun; King Caratakora, King of Cazra; and King Tugar, King of Talman.”

“Merciful Ax!” grinned King Drakarik. “Never in all my years did I ever expect to see my kin again. This is the most glorious day in all the history of the dwarven people. Let us have a dwarven summit. Come into Tarashin so that we might all feast together.”

King Drakarik ordered his men to prepare for a feast and then moved swiftly across the room. He greeted each of the dwarven monarchs with an embrace. While the dwarven monarchs greeted one another, King Arik and Queen Tanya motioned Garth and Kalina to the side of the room.

“Do not be angry with Morro,” King Arik said softly. “While his methods might seem haphazard, he succeeded beyond our wildest imaginations. This portal will allow us to have instant access to one another. It will aid the war on both continents.”

Garth glanced at the elf who was still standing by the Door, not knowing what to do. He turned back to the king and winked at him.

“I am sure to give him a hard time for failing to have faith in me,” Garth smiled, “but he is a good man. In fact, I have even more dangerous work in mind for him.”

“Do you know about the hourglass?” Queen Tanya asked in a whisper.

“I do.” Garth nodded. “It would seem that the Mage still smiles upon us.”

“How is he?” Tanya asked with concern.

“He is unlike his old self, but still much the same,” Garth replied. “Did you know that he was Smokey for a while?”

“You mentioned that in one of your messages,” Tanya nodded. “I wish I could meet him just one more time.”

“Only he can allow that,” replied Kalina. “While he still holds us dearly in his heart, his mind is on greater things. We are thankful for whatever help he offers. We all had dreams one night. It seems that the nature of demonkin is changing. No longer can we trust that they will all look like K’san. Many different faces took the place of K’san’s face. You must be wary at all times. The demonkin can be anyone.”

“That is not encouraging,” frowned the queen.

“It gets worse,” continued Kalina. “The stock used to create the new demonkin are elven healers with royal blood. Expect their powers to be greater than anything K’san was capable of.”

“Where is this Door in Alcea?” asked Garth.

“It is in the Royal Palace,” answered King Arik. “We have isolated it in a seldom-used wing of the palace, and it is guarded by Rangers. The entire wing is inhabited by Rangers, and safeguards have been put in place to make sure that no one gets very far if they enter uninvited.”

“Good,” replied Garth. “I am having King Drakarik make a chamber specifically for the Door. It will also be under constant guard. While these Doors offer great advantages, they also scare me a bit.”

“We certainly used the Federation’s Doors to our advantage,” replied Queen Tanya. “We would be foolish not to safeguard our own. We would like your advice on the coming war, Father. Yours, too, Mother.”

“We know that you have your hands full here in Zara,” stated the king, “but we value your advice. Will you have time to come and visit?”

“We will make time,” promised Garth. “I may also bring other people as time permits. It would do wonders to solidify the Council of War, if I can show some of the Zarans what we are fighting for.”

“I agree,” stated the king. “That is one reason I brought the dwarves with me. The people of Tarashin are not just fighting for themselves. They are helping their brethren to survive.”

Morro watched the dwarves hugging each other with mixed emotions. While he was happy for the dwarves, he wished he could see the same kinship for the elves. The reception from the elves of Elderal was still on his mind, and it stung bitterly. He tore his eyes away from the dwarves and watched curiously as King Arik drew Garth and Kalina to one side of the room. He saw Garth glance at him and knew that he was the topic of conversation. He could only imagine what was being said, and he dreaded meeting with Garth after the Alceans left for home. When no one was looking, Morro slipped out of the chamber.

The elf roamed the corridors aimlessly for a while, his mind pondering the trouble he had gotten himself into. Eventually, he found himself in the corridor that led to Karicon’s chamber. He wondered how much trouble he had gotten the dwarf into. He did not look forward to finding out, but he had to know if Sparky had returned. He headed toward his friend’s chamber and knocked on the door with his special knock. The door opened immediately and Karicon’s face broke into a smile.

“I was not sure that I would ever see you again,” greeted Karicon. “Do you know that you left Sparky in the valley?”

“I knew that I had lost him,” answered Morro, “but I was not sure where. Did he get back safely?”