The King's Bargain.

Lorcan

The moon shone gently overhead, casting a cold light over the ruins of Thol-Valun

Lorcan made his way through the fields of grass, dark as they were in the middle of the night. Despite the moon the field was pitch-black. He had come prepared, holding a glowing torch in his left hand. Once he had worn armour heavier than most men. Now all that hung from his form were tattered rags, stitched together messily. Rain had soaked into the garment. The wind was harsh, it bite at the few patches of skin that were exposed, his hand trembled despite the torch's warmth. Once the king had held in his hands one of the greatest swords to ever be forged by the hands of mortal men, now there was only a short, worn sword that sat inside the sheath that hung on his side. 

His neck and face felt numb. But he was coming closer now, the ruined hall stood half sunken into the wet earth, as it had stood since the last great battle. The king sighed through clenched teeth, the stinging pain in his side too persistent to ignore. He stopped walking for a moment, grabbing the outer end of his ripped robe and tearing off a piece of the fabric, pressed it tightly to his wound. Soon the cloth turned scarlet.  

"just a little further"  he thought, all care for his wound faded when he noticed a faint light glowing from inside the ruined hall. There hadn't been anyone except him there since he'd discovered it.  Immediately his pace quickened despite the pain in his side. Before Lorcan could open the old doors himself a woman who he could barely see through the darkness opened it. 

"come inside, quick!" she yelled out to him, soon the king reached her, making his way inside as the woman closed the doors behind them. Once inside he could clearly see what she was wearing: a priestess robe. 

"are you alright?" she asked, before he could even answer she was rushing around, grabbing a wooden bowl filled with water. The bloodied cloth was grasped out of his hand and tossed though one of the carved out windows of the hall and replaced with a fresh one. 

"this should help" the wet warm cloth was pressed gently against his injury, it felt soothing. 

"that robe, are you Myrna by any chance? The priestess of the lady of the forest?" she looked up at him, her dark green eyes shimmering in the light of his torch. 

"indeed i am, i used to serve the forest goddess before the fall of your realm. I always wondered what became of you" she washed the used cloth in the bowl and put it away, emptying the now dirty water through the window to the left of the entrance. 

"how do you know i was once king?" 

"your scar, we priestesses may never have left our temples during your reign, but all have heard of the lord of the green meadows. And of the mark left on him by the spirit beyond the sea" 

Myrna sat down one of the chairs in the middle of the hall as Lorcan hung his torch on one of the metal rings hanging from the walls. 

"you must be hungry having travelled so far with so little. I'm afraid i only have bread and some leftover meats" 

"that's alright, i'm less interested in food and more in how you found this place" 

She folded her arms and sighed. 

"this place, do you know of it's history?" 

"i'm afraid not, it's been in ruin since i first found it. I didn't even know it ever had a purpose" 

"It's very name hints at it's purpose: Thol-Valun. The language is ancient ofcourse, as many places here were built long before our people found it. It roughly translates as "place of knowledge" Or in better terms a collection of important information. What that information once pertained to however is unknown"