Knight of Endrell Book One: The Red Empire

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16

On the other side of the mountains, the spies and the eight warriors were preparing to part ways with the king's company. Kinai stopped En and Hin just as they were leaving and asked, "Hin! En! Where are you going?"

"Where else but Endrell?" said Hin.

"Keep with the king's company. We will see you again soon enough," added En.

The king then ordered the rest of his soldiers and servants to go a different way, leaving only him and Kinai. Michamsai then led Kinai on the pathway that vanished into the mist, saying, "Come with me Kinai; we'll go this way." Kinai walked beside the king on his right. The path they took was a flat runway upon a slight uphill slope, heading into a mist cloud similar to the sort that rests in the Nine Peaks valley.

"This is the Mist Walk Pass," the king explained. "It is a very dangerous road to take, for those who are not physically adept. But you have experienced this already, yes?"

"Yes I have," said Kinai. "I nearly died at the top of the Nine Peaks. Were it not for Makat-Saku, I would have. But then, I should not have been able to climb that high without freezing to death. Chorus Manulel, gave me this fur cloak to help protect me from severe cold, but how did it sustain me against the cold of the mountain?"

"That cloak consists of more than wool. It is made with a layer of the crystal substance that has bound itself to your armor. Chorus found that it has the capability of keeping the cold out and the heat in. However the mist in the valley was too much for the warmth that your cloak could offer you."

"I see," Kinai replied. "...What of the armor itself?"

"That is much more than the crystal, my friend," said the king. "Let us reach our destination and as I teach you, you will learn of the armor. I do intend to tell of it, but not that alone."

“...and where are we going, my lord?” 

“To the other side of the mountains.”

“Is this 'other side' far away?”

“It is both far and near, and far again. Don’t worry, Endrell can wait for now.”

The walkway began to disappear as they passed into an ice trench clouded by mist. "I gather you can see through the mist as well as I can," Kinai proposed.

"Yes, I can," the king answered.

Decorating the path, were twenty ice sculptures of men and women in different positions; some seeming in pain, while others stood captured in mid stride.

"What are these, travelers, adventurers, warriors who attempted to pass through the mist and died?"

"Yes, exactly," the king started to explain:

 Most of them disregarded the warning of friends, family, and favorable company against traversing this road because they heard tales of great wealth and civilizations unknown to the world, and sought to discover them at the risk of their own lives. You will be the first to discover whether or not such tales are true." The king said as they passed beyond them. "But however far you go with me remember this; they tried to steal their way into untold knowledge and the unfamiliar places of the earth. You, are being welcomed by a host of such treasures, and a keeper of such realms; a keeper of the things that are hidden, and that must remain hidden.

They entered an ice tunnel at the end of the trench that stretched for half of a mile. Then after the tunnel they journeyed to the end of a large, dark cave of ice and rock crystal that lasted for two miles. At the entrance was a torch posted on the wall, cradling an egg shaped crystal shard about the size of an adult fist. The king took the torch with his left hand and blew into the other, causing a blue flame to draw into his palm, and held the crystal end of the torch over it so that the crystal was imbued with light. The king then blew out the fire in his hand and kept walking. The crystal glowed with a radius of thirty feet all around.