A Knights Realm: Forsaken Rise

Chapter 9

                                       Chapter 9

When Ryan and the others had reached Orzarum’s tunnel entrances, the guards who were stationed there were extremely surprised when they saw a group of warriors emerge from the shadows, to say the least. They all armed themselves very quickly, but when the captain recognised Brim and Mord he instantly told the guards to lower their weapons. He jogged over to them and gave them each a smack on the shoulder in a way of welcoming them, before he poured them each two large tankards of dwarven brew. Michael and Ryan soon found out that the dwarf captain had grown up and joined the army with Brim and Mord, his name was Varce.

“What’s wrong with the lass there lads?” Varce asked his friends after finally noticing that one of the humans was carrying an unconscious girl.

“She used magic to save us from goblins in the tunnels but it must have taken a big toll on her. She’s been like that for hours.” Brim said looking over to Liliana lying on the floor where Ryan had placed her as they rested.

“Can you help her?” Ryan asked the captain.

Varce thought about it for a moment, usually outsiders need the approval of the king or a general to be given any kind of hospitality “She saved us Varce, the least you can do is approve her for treatment; we will inform the king when we see him.” Brim said to his friend; Brim and Mord knew the traditions and rules of their home city well but they did owe her.

Varce slowly started nodding as if he was making his decision “Ok but you must tell the king when you see him, ‘cause I’m not.” he said after he finished nodding.

Once the dwarves had finished their small reunion Varce told two of his soldiers to carry Liliana to the infirmary and then he, along with Brim and Mord, led Ryan and Michael into the heart of the dwarven capital.

When they emerged from the dark tunnels they found themselves in the merchant district of the city. It was a large and open space with the dwarven buildings built into the walls just like Dun’Kalad. Although, these buildings were larger than the ones in Dun’Kalad and some of them had stairs leading up to a porch or to the entrance. Some were two stories, others looked like they were only half a story; where the steps went down to the entrance instead of up and Ryan was sure that they were all much larger than they looked.  Every twenty feet or so there were large braziers that were lit up with fire, illuminating the moderately busy, underground, streets of Orzarum.

As the group walked along they passed a large building set in the centre of the street wall, it had two columns, one on either side of a big door that sat between them. Above the door was a large banner made out of red velvet cloth and on it, in gold, it had the picture of gold coins. This marked it as the city vaults. Through the doors of the bank Ryan and Michael were able to see a large cage and behind it mountains of wealth that contained rubies and emeralds, sapphires and amethysts and piles of gold coins, bars, goblets and other things; they could also see behind the piles of gems and gold a large vault that was sealed up. They could only imagine what they locked up in that safe if the dwarves kept more wealth than what the entire human kingdom had in total lying around on the floors of their city.

On the other side of the street they could see large stores that advertised what they sold on wooden signs hanging from their roofs and there was even a building which seemed to be having auctions going on, dwarves were yelling and shaking pouches of gold above their heads trying to win the items that they wished to purchase. That side of the street was separated from the inner side by a small river with crystal clear water, which was running in what Ryan presumed to be a small fissure created in the stone. The dwarves had built small bridges every thirty meters so people could walk across from side to side. Along the walls of the city ran huge stone columns that, as they reached the top of the cavern, curved until the opposite columns met each other. On the columns ran unique and brilliant patterns that were made from gold. The gold was perfectly smithed to fit onto the rock, which had been cut into the winding lace-like patterns which covered them. The patterns kind of reminded Michael of Brim’s and Mord’s beards, the laces and the plaits were in similar patterns. Ryan and Michael could see the work of the Orzarum smiths all over the streets, there were large and small circles on the floor which had golden patterns in them, there were objects and frames in the shops that were all made from gold, and even the edge of the clear river was trimmed in gold. They were beginning to understand why Orzarum was also known as the Golden Mountain.