Dream of a City of Ruin: Dreams of QaiMaj Book II

What Went Before

Previously in Dreams of QaiMaj--Feel free to skip this part if you've recently read Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern. If you haven't read it--spoilers, obviously!

Iskalon, a cavernous kingdom of ice, learns that the neighboring kingdom Chraun is marching to war. As the kingdom braces for attack, war is the farthest thing from the mind of the youngest princess of Iskalon, Stasia. All she wants to do is follow her prophetic Dreams and find the legendary land of V'lturhst, the vast blue cavern with a soft golden light.

Her Dreams take a back seat when Iskalon is destroyed, and her whole family is killed or captured. The last free princess, Stasia has to take the reigns of power and lead her torn and scattered people in exile.

However, Dynat, the half-mad King of Chraun, is goaded by the voice of the Fire Spirit to find the hiding remnants of Iskalon and capture Stasia. He orders his General, Medoc, to make a priority of rooting out the refugees from the tunnels between Iskalon and Chraun.

Medoc obeys with misgivings. The war has been costly to Chraun and he fears for his King's sanity. Nonetheless, he finds Iskalon in exile and attacks.

Stasia escapes the attack with the help of her guards, but her friend and confidant, Larc, is captured. Medoc convinces Larc to bring a message to Stasia: if Stasia surrenders herself, Dynat will let the rest of Iskalon return to their homes in peace.

Stasia agrees to surrender herself, but does not leave her people defenseless. She charges her uncle, Prince Casser, to take the non-fighters deep into the Outer Tunnels, looking for the legendary land of her Dreams. She appoints Larc as her regent and leaves her in charge of a rear guard that will draw any attack from Chraun away from the fleeing people of Iskalon.

In Chraun, Dynat tortures Stasia, trying to get information from her that the Fire Spirit wants. Stasia uses her unique magic power to enter Medoc's mind and beg him for help. Medoc frees Stasia and stuns Dynat. He takes control of Chraun and sends Stasia and the unconscious Dynat with his guards to return to Iskalon.

Before they leave Chraun, men loyal to Dynat attack them. Medoc's guards fight back, and Stasia takes advantage of the confusion to flee, bringing Dynat along with her. She is halfway back to Iskalon when she is trapped between two forces of Medoc's looking for her. Medoc is afraid she will betray him and send Dynat back to Chraun alive. He gives his guards orders to kill them both.

With Dynat's help, Stasia escapes up a burial shaft, a shaft of ice that goes endlessly up. After waiting for the guards to pass below, she is about to return to the cavern when she notices a trail of blood from one of the bodies in the shaft leading upward through the ice.

She follows it and ends up in the middle of an ice storm. Dynat wakes and the Fire Spirit forces him to enter her mind and plunder it for the information he wants. Stasia draws so much power from the storm that it drives her mad, and she nearly kills both Dynat and herself.

Dynat wakes weak and ill in a freezing cold, vast blue cavern with Stasia unconscious on top of him. He shouts for help. A large caravan of strange people riding strange beasts answers his cry and picks him and Stasia off the ice.

Meanwhile, in Sholaen, Larc's forces are separated from Casser's group by an extensive cave-in. Desperate, Larc goes to Chraun and negotiates a treaty with Medoc that allows her remaining people, and all the prisoners in Chraun, to return to Iskalon in peace.

A note about timelines: In this book, the timelines in Sholaen and the timeline in Stasia's tale are out of sync for most of the narrative. The Triton timelines are also out of sync in the interludes.

Thanks for continuing on to Book II, Dream of a City of Ruin! Please vote and comment if you are enjoying the story! Your comments make my day!