The Dragon King

Chapter 23

King Elyas Andry of Sarkin

IRON CITY, SARKIN

"Come with me." With as much mystery as he can sarcastically muster, Elyas takes Marnie by the hand and leads her out of the entryway as the last guest leaves. Several guests are upstairs, retiring to their quarters, but a few had chosen to travel back. He supposes it is due to not wanting to be in the city if Vrinian starts to attack.

Aquamarine does her best to pretend to be uninterested but tags along anyway. The ghost of a grin on her lips. The day has clearly tired her out, but he knows that she will follow him anywhere now.

"I want to show you something." He leads her towards a hidden door. "Very few people know about this. You being the queen, I figured you should be one of them."

"A secret passageway?" There is glee in her tone, and the way the flickering torch in the corridor lights up her eyes Elyas knows it is sincere. "How have I not discovered this earlier? I thought I explored every inch of this castle."

"You very nearly did, but Ivory distracted you into moving on." Elyas smiles and pulls a latch. The stone door creaks on its hidden hinges and scrapes open, leaving a quarter circle of moved dust on the ground. "I must get that fixed." He mumbles with an internal curse.

Marnie can't help but laugh, and he loves that he can bring her joy in small moments like this, where it is just the two of them. "To be fair, I didn't know about it either until I became king. That is how secretive it is." Even though Elyas is trying to be fun, he can hear the severe edge in his tone. Marnie gives the nod. He takes her hand and leads her into the darkness. A torch from the corridor is grasped in his free hand. As they walk the hidden passageway, he lights the torches, and it illuminates a hallway without any doors or windows. It is empty and gives the effect that nothing is there. He knows otherwise, however.

"Is it me, or is the temperature rising?" Marnie mumbles while gripping Elyas' hand tighter. "Please tell me you aren't going to murder me down here on our wedding night?" She is sarcastic and funny, but he can tell she is still nervous about what could be down here that is so secretive.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and he knows it is the end of the corridor. As they reach it, it opens up into an ornate circular pit illuminated by the fire below. "Welcome to the Cavern." The Cavern is an underground hollow, glorified storage facility with an equal mix of stone and iron. "There are twenty levels, with this being the top. This is where everything that needs to be protected is kept safe. Anything from historical documents to personal items, ancestors, and everything in-between."

All is quiet down here now due to the celebration from the day's events above ground. But tomorrow, workers will be buzzing about in some of the doorways on each level. "Again, why is it so hot down here? I thought it was supposed to get cooler underground." Marnie questions, unable to take her eyes off the vast space ahead of them, taking in every detail and every doorway.

"This is the Iron City, Marnie. Where do you think the iron comes from?" When he starts to explain, she makes the face of understanding at long last and marvels over the new curiosities. "A few of these tunnels lead to the iron mines. If they were working today, you would hear it, but they got the day off. We have to keep it hot down here to keep the dragons happy." Together they start walking around the upper-level circle, passing a few staircases down. Several doorways are not closed off, and some are gated, while others are barred shut with heavy iron doors. "This door..." He points out an open and unguarded doorway with stairs leading down. "Leads to the Pit, which is where Ebonash and Hailvory rest." They take the stairway down three levels and halfway around the circle. "This is the armory. There is one in the castle, but this holds more of the royal armor." She nods in understanding while her eyes glitter over the gold and silver armor and purple tunics. They move to the next door that is gated. "This is the armory forge. Just follow this down to the blacksmiths, and they are always eager to make specialty weapons. Most of the weapons in the realm are forged in the Iron City." He leaves the thought hanging in the air, and he can see that she knows her brother's own sword had been forged here. If Zircon had known, he never would have used it. He would have refused.