Chapter XXII

The conscripts Qenneth had taken along were hardly an archaeological team, and it took many days before they finally got deep enough to search for the ring. On the second day Qenneth had enough of Cory's laziness and pride, and ordered him to help dig. Cory was reluctant at first, but soon he gave in, climbing into the hole with his comrades to help them unearth the ancient palace. On the fourth day they finally found something, a window leading into the palace, though the wall it was on was completely sideways, which made it more like a hole that anyone brave enough to enter the old ruin could drop into. Through that window they could see that the inside of the palace was mostly clear of mud and ash.

“Well, let's go!” Cory said, ready to jump in. Qenneth was about to protest Cory jumping in first. Seeing as they didn't know if maybe there were some problems with the structural integrity of the ruin, he could very well break through the floor once he landed and keep falling. But Qenneth suddenly found himself liking the idea of Cory falling to his demise, if, in fact, there were structural problems, so he allowed Cory to be the first to jump in. Much to his dismay, Cory landed safely, and the floor seemed sturdy enough to hold him and many others. Of course, “floor” wasn't exactly the right term; it was a wall, really. As far as Qenneth could tell the entire palace was turned on its side underground.

Once inside the ruin Cory made and lit a torch, which illuminated the walls of the palace. On the walls and ceiling he could see murals, made with gold and iron, that told the stories of King Sulaiman's exploits. He saw a picture of the Ifrit who offered Sulaiman any three things he wanted. He saw the Ifrit placing the ring in Sulaiman's hand, the one that would summon Malkira. Furthermore he saw Sulaiman summoning Malkira to fight beside him in battle, unleashing legions of daemons on his enemies. In these pictures Malkira was portrayed in a form most unusual for a daemon. He was shaped like a man, overall, but twice as tall as one, wearing a long cloak with a hood, a featureless mask, and with two ram-like horns coming from his head. From his back sprouted four large wings, and in his right hand sat seven stars. When Qenneth climbed down into the ruin with Cory he found him still staring at the picture of Malkira.

“If we find the ring you'll see the real Malkira,” Qenneth said. “So stop staring at the picture.”

The conscripts tied ropes to the jutting spires near the hole they'd dug and began to climb down into the ruin with Qenneth and Cory. By this point they were as curious as the general about whether or not the legendary ring was in this palace. Like Cory they were in awe of the murals of gold lining the walls and ceiling, and they tried not to step directly on the pictures of Malkira or Sulaiman, out of respect.

Climbing into the next room, which was darker still, but lit by their torches, they saw the ruined statues of Sulaiman. The long, red carpet that he'd normally roll out when guests of import would arrive was tangled in the broken statues. Inspecting the room, Qenneth deduced that the front door was off to his left, which meant that the throne room off to the right, and he led the group in that direction. They knelt down to crawl through the open doorway turned on its side. He thought the throne room was the most likely place for the ring to be.

The throne room was a bigger mess even than the other rooms of the palace. There were broken candelabras, crumbled statues, and piles of ashes everywhere. Even the throne itself was turned over, crushing an old skeleton in torn rags. Qenneth hurried over to the fleshless corpse and looked it over. No crown, no ring. Perhaps this was merely a servant of King Sulaiman? They had to keep looking.

Cory wasn't in the room with Qenneth. Like the general he had deduced that the throne room was in the direction they went and the front door in the other direction, but it made sense to him that in his last moments King Sulaiman wouldn't be in the throne room. His palace was sinking under mud and ash, brought down on him by the wrath and jealousy of the Agalmites' false God. What man, when facing a horrible death like that, would sit in his throne room and wait to die rather than try to escape? Cory went through the opposite door and followed hallway after hallway until he came to a room with a closed, stone door and a skeleton on the ground in front of it. The skeleton wore a beautiful, purple robe that time had barely worn. On its head was a crown of gold and iron, symbols of wealth and power, and on its right middle finger was a ring with a daemonic symbol on it. Cory recognized it in an instant as the written name of Malkira, and without stopping to even consider the situation or the possible consequences he took the ring and slid it onto his own middle finger.

Suddenly, a voice spoke to Cory, a voice that was both deep and commanding as well as soft and soothing. It roared like a lion and cooed like a dove, it shook the ground with its mighty bellows and tickled the ear with its sultry whispers. It was like a powerful man and a seductive woman speaking together as one, “For an eternity this ring has sat, waiting in this place. It's been so long since Sulaiman and I fought the idolaters side by side.”

“If the angels knew where this ring was,” Cory asked, “Why did they not destroy it?”

“The powerful daemonic magic in this ring makes it indestructible, and it opens a hole in the Firmament large enough for legions of daemons to pour through. You are Ormond's charge, are you not? You have been deemed worthy of receiving this gift. Take us to the land of idolaters so that we may finish what we started centuries ago and eradicate them from this world. With them out of the way it'll only be a matter of time before we can destroy Enlil's prison.”

“Who is Enlil?” Cory asked.

“That is the true name of the idolaters' false God, a daemon who betrayed the rest of us and trapped the souls of our human brethren in this damned rock. They have been forbidden to speak his name, to remind him of who and what he truly is, because in his arrogance he wishes only to be revered as God.”

“We call him Saklas, which means the fool. Will you help me kill him?” Cory asked. “I want all of humanity to be free of his control, and I want to be the hero who does it!”

“Take us to the capital of Arx, where they have inscribed the Law, and you will be.”

Qenneth had heard Cory's voice along with the voice of another from a room a few hallways down, and so he followed the sounds. He soon found himself staring at Cory, who held the ring aloft on his hand, with a proud smile on his face. “You found it?” Qenneth asked.

“Yes! It was here the whole time, and Malkira has declared me worthy!”

“My arse he has!” Qenneth said. “That ring goes to King Therion, he will be the one to lead us to victory, now give it here.”

“No!” Cory pulled away from Qenneth, who was approaching with a hand outstretched towards the ring. “Malkira said I've been deemed worthy! The ring is mine!”

“Cory, don't make me get rough with you!” Qenneth said and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

Cory laughed, tauntingly. “Oh, please! I've killed angels and you did nothing! You're weak! Pathetic!” Cory spat at Qenneth. “I was chosen, you were deemed unworthy!”

“Damn it, Cory!” Qenneth drew his sword and lunged at Cory. In the blink of an eye twelve small daemons, that appeared like children covered in spikes made of bone, latched onto Qenneth and threw him back against the wall. Their mouths opened into grins that went almost literally from one ear to the other, revealing razor-sharp teeth, with which they proceeded to eat Qenneth. Qenneth screamed in agony as the daemons chewed right through his armor and consumed his flesh and bone, until mere moments later there was nothing more of him, no trace of his body anywhere, the daemons even licked up the blood off the ground before they disappeared again.

“Ha! Malkira!” Cory called out as he took Sulaiman's crown and placing it on his own head. “Thank you for your blessing and protection! Together we shall destroy our enemies!” The witches and warlocks Qenneth had conscripted all stepped back in fear, though some did so out of reverence, for when a daemon as powerful as Malkira deemed someone worthy it was truly a holy occasion in the Nihilite faith. “You're all free to go,” Cory told them. “Go back to your homes. I have what I came for.”

“You killed the general...”

“Aye, because he challenged me,” Cory said. “Do you dare do the same?”

“No!” The conscripts rushed for the ropes at the exit and climbed back up out of that hole. A few of them rolled the ropes back up, hoping to leave Cory down in the ruins, but one of them stopped the others.

“He'll get out sooner or later, don't make him angry!” The lot of them jumped on their horses and rode off in a full gallop, leaving that place behind them as quickly as they could. The last one to leave, though, struck Cory and Qenneth's horses on the backside and sent them running off into the distance before he rode off himself. When Cory climbed up to the surface, he discovered that if he wanted to go anywhere it would have to be on foot.

Meanwhile, Therion met with Lorna and Meriel, his two other generals, in his castle, “General Lorna, is everything set in place?”

“Not quite,” Lorna admitted. “The truth is, I've not been able to oust the King of Arx yet. My assassin only recently succeeded in killing the Chancellor, and the new elections are underway. The thing is, though, I believe the King is onto this scheme. My spies reported that he has an inquisitor in his employ who has been exceedingly efficient at rooting out my people. Furthermore we've found nothing that the King is hiding that could get him deposed. My spy network has talked to the Grand Duke about how weak a military leader the King of Arx is on a number of occasions, but the Grand Duke has simply said 'Better than his cousins.' My spies have talked to the Arch-Bishop about the King's partnership with an inquisitor, even gone so far as to say that he's been won over by the Inquisition's religion, to which the Arch-Bishop has said, 'Don't be ridiculous! He's not converted! He's merely doing what he thinks is right to save his kingdom.' My spies even let the Queen, apparently pregnant with the King's heir, escape their grasp. She's now hiding somewhere in Arx far away from the capital city. Don't worry, sire, I had my spies punished for letting her slip through their fingers.”

“Sounds like our more subtle means of weakening the country are at an end,” King Therion said. “Do nothing to the newly elected Chancellor, when finally they pick one, let King Hadar merely THINK he's in our pocket. That should be enough to keep him busy for a while. With how suspicious the King's become he's likely to have the Chancellor interrogated at length, and from the stories I've heard about inquisitors once they've decided you're guilty they'll question you until you confess. If the Chancellor has nothing to confess this could go on a VERY long time!” Therion chuckled as he thought about the idea of his enemies wasting so much time to find something that wasn't there to be found. “In the mean time I want both of you to prepare your forces for the invasion. Once Qenneth has returned from his quest, whether or not he's actually found Sulaiman's ring, we will begin our invasion of the March of Muri.”

“Very well, sire,” Meriel said. “Will you be joining us on the front lines for this?”

“No,” Therion said. “I'd thought about it for a long time, it had been my plan, but I've decided against it, at least for now.” Though he didn't give a reason, Deidra was Therion's reason for wanting to stay. If he was away a part of him worried that she'd come looking for him and in the process something terrible would happen to her. If he took her with him to the front lines he was worried that she'd wander off, as she was prone to do, and something would happen to her. By staying home he could ensure that his soothsayer, who was also his mistress, would be safe, and he could continue to enjoy her “company” this way as well.