Dawn of Dusk

Borrial would be married today by marrying the queen of Fulsimter; he would be both king of Karrondor and Consort ruler of Fulsimter. Just a few days before Lamercal abdicated the throne in favor of Borrial; he wanted his son, marrying a queen, to be a king. He also presided over the secession of Cryarlac from the kingdom and the coronation of its first king and queen. Thorak agreed to stay with Lamercal until his death; he would then move into his new home in Cryarlac and train a new wizard.

Mon Treel would offer the words of counsel and advice and the vows would be presided over by Pa Charal. Borrial had already moved into the Royal suite and Lamercal into the visitor’s suite. As with Vistyral’s wedding there would be two ceremonies one in the Temple in Karron another in the plaza in front of the palace.

Chertal had advocated a morning that returned the favors of Borrial on Vistyral’s wedding day; but, Vistyral insisted there would be no assignation attempts on Borrial or his bride-to-be, Lymar whom he viewed as a victim of his brother.

Vistyral and Mirtar had spent the night in the Cryarlac Suite and her parents in one of the family rooms. Since there were so many guests for the wedding, it had been determined that Marshak and Toverak would stay in another of the family rooms in the Cryarlac Suite and Veritak would stay with Thorak.

Kaymar had been staying close to her father but Vistyral had invited her to visit in Cryarlac after their father died. She had always been close to Vistyral; Borrial had often mistreated her when they were young. She had been quietly betrothed to Lemmal before his murder, allegedly at the hands of his brother Lymeel.

The work in Cryarlac on Stronghold was coming along well; it appeared more like a palace now than just a castle. Stonpiker’s jewels had been used to bring another two hundred-fifty seven additional workers, and their families of 242 spouses, and 473 children bringing the Dwarven population to 1815. The work that Vistyral had requested had been finished; the Dwarves had dug additional housing under the annex and had vacated the annex so Vistyral could add the soldiers, guards and horses that had caused the addition of the annex in first place.

Two additional escape tunnels had been dug and the Dwarves were now adding additional design work along the walls of Stronghold and its outbuildings. The merchants seeing the beautiful stonework that the Dwarves were able to do started hiring the Dwarves to adorn their homes and businesses helping to pay for the upkeep of so many Dwarves.

Overall, the town and castle of Stronghold had become as beautiful and orderly as any capital in the world. Many traders who had not bothered to trade in Cryarlac when it was only a duchy were now opening warehouses, and shops in the capital city.

Rather than let the city sprawl as many tended to do; Vistyral designated warehouse locations, areas for skilled workers such as blacksmiths, cobblers, tailors, armorers, etc. and marketplaces. Housing was increasing as the population was now almost double what it had been several years ago.

The growth had caused sanitation and water problems. The Dwarves had helped with sewers, and wells and additional roads in and out of the city and they had strengthened the walls and the gates of both the city and the castle.

Since Cryarlac was now an independent nation (It happened with Borrial’s blessing when Lamercal abdicated the throne; and a dual coronation was held). Vistyral and Mirtar were its king and queen. They were both dressed in Cryarlac navy, gold, and scarlet.

Vistyral wore a navy double breasted doublet that came to mid-thigh trimmed in scarlet with gold buttons. He had a scarlet belt over the doublet at the waist with a gold buckle and navy pants with scarlet piping down the leg. He wore knee high black boots and his ornamental dagger with sapphires and rubies in the handle and on the sheath was attached to the belt.

Mirtar was wearing a scarlet dress trimmed in gold with a navy blue ruffle at the bottom. Over that she wore a navy blue jacket that laced in the front with gold lacing. She too had black boots to the knee but they could barely be seen under the dress which came to the floor. She wore a navy blue hat with gold mesh over the eyes and scarlet piping. Both of them had the crest of Cryarlac; a stag standing on a mountain top emblazoned on their left breast.

Borrial was in his room alone getting ready for his wedding. He had just finished getting dressed; he hated people trying to help dress him so he always dressed alone. He was wearing one of several outfits for the day. These were his wedding clothes; what he would wear for the ceremonies.

As he turned to get his dagger, the room went dark as night. He smelled a musty, damp, under the earth kind of smell. It was so dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. When his own hand touched his nose he still could not see it.

His first thought was that Vistyral had done something to him with magic. He had tried to kill Vistyral on his wedding day, so he was getting payback. He stood quietly not wanting to give anyone around the satisfaction that he was afraid when he heard, or maybe more accurately felt the voice.

“Your brother did not bring you here, he has not the power. Only I have the power to bring you here. Whether you leave or not is up to you; but I think you will get back to your petty kingdom. Kneel before me human!”

Light began to appear not from any apparent source. It was as if the walls of the room he was in were giving light but nothing was glowing as an obvious source. Borrial looked around for the source of the light and for the source of the voice that had spoken to him.

“I said kneel before me.”

“I kneel to no man, I am King of Karron. Show yourself!”

He felt his knees wanting to bend but he fought it. Sweat began to break out on his forehead from the effort of keeping his knees unbent. At last his knees gave way and he collapsed to his knees to the sound of laughter.

“You have a strong will human, I like that in you,” the laughter continued.

“Who are you? What do you want from me? I am a powerful man.”

“Yes, yes you are, for a human; especially for a man.”

“Why do you keep referring to me as a human? Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“I brought you here, human to determine three things. First if you are worthy to continue living. Second if I feel you can succeed in your plans for your world. Third if you are worthy of my help.”

Irritated now, Borrial tried to stand and felt an overpowering force holding him in place. “Who are you?”

“I am known by many names by many. You know me as Gru.”

Borrial felt a shock radiate through his body. “Gru? Gru is dead and has been for eons.”

Laughter rang through the room again, “Rumors of my death have been exaggerated by the Priests of Karron. The other Gods took away my immortality, but I fooled them. I placed a charm upon myself. They made me mortal, but I do not age. I can be killed, but I will not simply die. I have many followers, some of whom you have recently had contact with.”

“Maruusaal?”

“Yes the goblins worship me exclusively; a requirement I am afraid. I can’t let my dear brothers and sisters know I still live.”

“But they are Gods, don’t Gods know everything?”

“Technically yes; they can know anything they desire to know but they have to want the knowledge; it doesn’t just come to them like the rays of the sun in the morning. For over two thousands of your years I have given them no reason to look for me. I hide deep in the earth; far below anywhere they would think to look for me. Knowing me mortal, they expected me to not live beyond a hundred years or so among humans. After all, my sister was killed by them because she was looking for me.”

“I always thought that was just a story made up by the priests to control us.”

“Oh the priests tell the truth, at least most of them do. The current high priest worships mostly himself so the Gods do not talk to him much.”

“The previous high priest made prophesy about you and your brother.”

He said brother like he might have spit it out. “I assume then you do not think much of my brother?”

“You are wrong human, I fear your brother; as should you.”

“I fear no man.”

“Then you are a fool; one possibly not worthy of my help.”

“Why am I a fool?”

“A fool is one who does not fear that which can harm him.”

“Your brother and his wife have the power to destroy you. Even my siblings and I cannot see the outcome of your struggle. They want him to succeed; I may want you to.”

“May want?”

“Yes, may want. You see this is only one of numerous worlds of humans my siblings and I created. We experimented with this one to determine what men would do with the three eternal powers.”

“Three eternal powers?”

“Yes, three magic, technology, religion; most worlds focus on only one of the three. This world has had an interesting history. First it concentrated its power in religion, and then the religions became man centered instead of God centered. Man began to believe they were as powerful as the Gods themselves. Then they began to blame the Gods for all of their self-inflicted maladies. Next came the viziers, druids, wizards, witches, and sorcerers. Their power was real and people left their now man obsessed and powerless religions.

“The people loved and feared the wizards. They created dragons and other mythical creatures that they often loosed on the populace at large. Then we introduced a monotheistic God and put Kar as the only God that would interact with mankind. He chose priests gave them many miracles and foretold of the coming of his son to live on the world as a mortal. He finally sent his son down to teach mankind how to treat their fellowman; he taught to love your enemies, to forgive, to be a peacemaker, to be kind and meek. Do you know what happened Borrial?”

“No, this predates any history we have.”

“Indeed it does; the very priests that Kar had chosen to prophesy of the birth of his son and who had gained not insignificant power and control over the populace, incited them against the son of Kar and killed him in a most brutal manner.

“A few hundred years later Kar called another prophet. He was taught the same doctrine of love, but it was taught with the edge of a sword; believe or die. Eventually much of the world began to believe in the Son of Kar and these two religions of Kar; both believing in him began to slaughter each other. Rather than finding the commonality of their beliefs, they waged bloody war over the insignificant differences.

“I was leading a group of wizards and Druids in the northlands; they too were doing evil things to their fellowmen. Things like Human sacrifice, fertility orgies, using their creatures of myth to intimidate, kill, and control.

“It was at this time that I determined that mankind was mistake. My sister, who was probably right, said that we had caused this by not centering power in one area not allowing it to flourish in two of them. She said this caused men to compete for power, and she was right to a point but I knew the secret of men.

“I allowed the religions from the south to come up and destroy the wizards, druids, and all of their creatures. I broke a law among the other Gods and started interacting with them as the God of Darkness. I encouraged men to look for discrepancies in their doctrine and to fight over it.

“It took almost a millennium but I finally destroyed all of the humans with magical ability; because then like now, magic is born into a human not chosen.

“For five hundred years most of the world languished under the rule of the same monotheistic God. I decided that maybe this should have been a technological world. Power would not be confined to a few. All could benefit from the improvements that mankind could develop.

“As Gods we don’t particularly like technology worlds because they seldom look back to their creators; only ahead to what they can create. Because of the hubris of mankind; this appeared a world that should have been technological.

“I influenced the greatest thinkers, many of whom were imprisoned or killed by the religious theocracies. Eventually though, through mostly improvements in their standard of living, the populace began to accept technology.

“The theocracies seeing that the populace could be still controlled by accepting technology; embraced it and even opened the first centers of learning; colleges and universities. After eeking out a living for centuries living only slightly better than their domesticated animals; mankind began to live better than their former kings and queens.

“Technology became the largest religion, and since the other religions had accepted technology the people were allowed to worship other Gods as long as technology was the main religion. Commerce, transportation, communication, government, and the standard of living were all improved. More and more men began to believe that education and technology were their religion; there were no Gods.

“Other types of governments, parliamentary and republic began and flourished; followed by the religions of men worshiping men. Socialism, Communism and other Utopian idealisms began to grow. Mankind not knowing its own nature believed it could set up a society that most of our other created worlds had achieved from the outset.

“Of course this meant more war, and technology made it more and more deadly. I decided that other races of humans might do better. I helped one of the most peace-loving societies develop some of the most destructive types of weapons. I knew of course that once these types of weapons were available; it was only a matter of time before they fell into the hands of evil ones, ones who worshiped me. I had been able to convert many of the religions of Kar to follow my beliefs. You see, I do not have to worry about the name that men worship as long as they preach and teach my principles. Those principles are, to dominate, subjugate, exterminate all heresy, and make other men dependent upon those who lead.

“Using the centers of learning, I began to indoctrinate with Utopian idealism which were wonderful ideals; but not in keeping with the personality of mankind. Eventually secrets of mass destruction were shared with even the most extreme of my followers.

“War, terrible war destroyed all civilization; and within a generation all technology. I used the ravages of war, radiation, genetic weapons, biological weapons, to cause mutation into Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Giants, Trolls, Goblins, and of course some stayed as Men.

“It took another millennium to make mankind forget all religions, and then we began again by introducing ourselves to mankind. I was supposed to teach mankind trade, commerce, and barter; but I taught instead war, cruelty, and slavery because I knew the secret of men.”

“So what is the secret of men?”

“Men are happiest when they are well fed; when they do not have to worry where their next meal will come from. They will endure any other hardship, any other oppression if they are fed and have hope. Hope for a better world for their children; not necessarily for themselves.”

“That is it?”

“That’s it. Now you see why one government for all mankind will be better. Men will know no war, no famine and pestilence will be less likely. They really don’t want to be free anyway; they only want the illusion of freedom. Just tell them that they are free and make sure they are fed and they will follow you into hell. That of course, is exactly where I want you to bring them. Then I can get revenge against my five brothers and sisters.”

“You mean six brothers and sisters.”

“Not Nog, she died trying to find me; she knows that I am here and that I don’t age. She has kept my secret for eons now. The other Gods didn’t realize that since Nog and I were twins, that when they made me mortal, the made her mortal too. That is how men were able to kill her. She was brought back to life but until my mortality is ended, she is mortal too which means she has to return to be with me for one day every one thousand four hundred sixty days.”

“What do you want of me?”

“I want you to succeed. I know your plan, it is well thought out, but one thing you do not know is that Alistal escaped and has gone to Cryarlac. You should not have given him a letter commanding his death. He read it and re-wrote another telling Maruusaal to send guards to protect him in a trip to Cryarlac. He has arrived there today and there is no practical way to intercept him. Your brother will have flashpowder too. There is nothing that can be done about that now.

“One more thing, this is the only time I can help you. Anymore and it would mean my certain death. The Gods are watching you and your brother. They will not interfere directly because they feel that the ability to choose is man’s greatest gift and his greatest strength. If they see that you are being helped, they will look for the helper and I will be found. I have not lived within the earth for centuries only to be killed as my plans are coming to fruition.”

“I won’t fail. My brother will die; and his wife will suffer.”

“No! Kill her if you must, but you will not be pulled off task with your lust or sadistic desire to hurt. Do what is necessary, no more; she is more dangerous than you know. You exposed your hand too soon to your brother and her giving them extra time to prepare to oppose you. Verden will work with you it will be your entrance to the Southern Continent.

“Now I will send you back to your room. You will not hear from me again, but I will help you as I can. I will send one of my prophets to work with you. You must pretend to be faithful to the Gods of Karron but be faithful to me. I believe in you Borrial, don’t fail me.”

Borrial opened his eyes. Had he been sleeping? No, he had met and talked with Gru. Gru had agreed to help him and had told him two important things to prove his experience was real. Alistal and Verden were his proof that the visit into the earth was real.

He put on his dagger and checked himself one last time in the mirror and walked out the door to his wedding.

*****

Lymar sat on his left; his father on his right, then Vistyral, Kaymar, the king and queen of Artermador, the Queen of Cathermania, and then the Regent of Westonisia. To the left of his bride sat the king and queen of Verden (a last minute change giving them a special place of honor) Mon Treel, the king and queen of the Elves, Pa Charal, and then all the court sorcerers.

At her request Vientak was seated next to Marshak and Mershak’s wife Toverak was all the way at the end of the table. Vientak seemed to take great delight in flirting with Marshak and Toverak was putting on a pretty good show appearing that she didn’t care. The lower front table was the dukes and dames from all the countries. The lesser nobles sat by country in the first common table.

His time alone with Lymar had been pleasant enough, he would teach her to please him more as time went by. He looked over at her, she seemed somewhat distracted. He took her hand and kissed it, she looked very pleased that he would pay attention to her. He thought about her; she had lost her entire family in less than a year. It would not hurt him to be nice to her he supposed that she might even love him or at least could love him if he were kind.

The evening was coming to an end and the guests, well fed and drunk, were paring-off and heading off to be alone. Vistyral was noticing as well and stood.

“The king and queen of Karrondor look as though they would like to spend some more time alone together. Let us give them one last toast.

“May their reign be prosperous, long, and rife with peace.”

Borrial smiled lifted his cup to his brother and drank. He then rose, took his wife’s hand and strode from the table, as he did, Pa Charal stood, took his hand and said, “He who lives below wanted me to tell you that he believes in you.”

Borrial was shocked that a priest of Karron could also be the high priest of Gru. Then as he thought about it, he realized that it made perfect sense, he nodded and walked out of the room laughing.

End of Book One