The City Of Kings

Chapter Three:

The City of Kings

The spirit of Medgag cried out to the Master of the Mountains for the nations of men. How dreadful have become the sins of this generation? Never has man fallen so far from The Way of God. Yet, men do not see the evil of their goings and their comings. They use their daughters to barter and trade. Their sons take what they desire in their hearts, doing harm to any who resist their will. Some give up their infants to false worship.

The God of Creation looked on the tears of his servant Medgag and had pity for the sons of Adam. He spoke to Medgag saying, “Fear not in your soul for your brothers for they shall be redeemed from their evil.”

There shall be a son of a king, the descendent of a family of kings whose blood will heal men’s souls. He will come from the tribe of the great king to lead the chosen against the dark evil.
Medgag: Prayers of Medgag

Simon lifted his eyes to The City of Kings. It was more beautiful than he had ever imagined, for a boy raised in far from the most powerful cities of Nod. Nestled in the heart of King’s Mountains, the city glistened in the mid-day sun. Young Simon had heard of the beauty of the home of the Seven Clans but was still amazed by how brightly the stones of the walls shown as they reflected the sun’s light off their smooth surfaces. It was as if the walls and towers were made of ice. Built on a small hill surrounded by larger mountains covered in snow, the rays emanating from the city seemed to touch the neighboring mountains like the fingers of God. From the middle of the city a large, tall tower stretched up into the sky higher than any of the other buildings or towers with the black and gold banner of the clan of the Torr. Seven lower towers representing and flying the banners of the Seven Clans encircled it. Four walls ringed the city, each taller than the other the further out the wall was from the center. It was the season of the frozen mists and the roofs and battlements were covered in snow and ice giving the buildings and city walls a mystical appearance.

The City of Kings was the most majestic of all the cities in the Land of Nod. And legend claimed it could never be taken from without. While some of the city’s outlined areas were rough and the people living in them lacking in the wealth displayed in the rest of the city, for the most part the clansmen living within the city’s walls were devoted to displays of their riches. The homes and estates ringing the palace were built with the same smooth stone that reflected so brilliantly the sun’s rays. Even the wood shingled roofs were coated with a sealer made from the sap of trees dried to a glossy finish.

Simon felt the coolness of the air invigorating him as it only could a child of the mountains and the crunch of the snow brought on by the season of the frozen mist under his boots. He inhaled a lung full of the crisp air and held it. The moment of rest was over. He lowered his eyes again to the highway. With a sigh he returned to the task of forcing his tired feet to move again. “One step before the next,” he reminded himself. He would be within the safety of the walls by last light.

His journey had taken a full three days travel from the Mount of Adoration to The City of Kings. He was told that it would take him five days but a determined Simon committed himself to a forced march along the Great Highway.

The thought of leaving the Sanctuary of the Order of Medgag had distressed him the night Master Keron had come to him with the mission. But he had committed himself to a life of service and obedience compelling a faithfully undertake of any task given him.

All his short life, Simon son of Dan had wanted to be a Gifted. Stories of the piety and devotion of the Brotherhood of the Order of Medgag had captured the imagination of the child from his earliest seasons. He had prepared hard and accomplished all that his tutors asked of him. Once he entered the Order as a member, he showed much promise to the Council of Gifted of the Order and was quick to earn the status of scribe. He was the youngest scribe ever to become one of the three chief scribes to the Council.

Simeon, the father of Simon’s father, the eighth son of his family, fell in love with Marti, a daughter of Cain. He took her away from the Stone Mountains but could not find land in King’s Mountains. No one would trade with him for land because his mate, a Stoner, wore the mark of Cain. So, he traveled north across the plains of Asshur and the Euphrates River into the Mountains of Asshur. It was in those mountains where he settled on a peak unclaimed by anyone. He found the mountain to be a perfect place for one who no longer desired extended contact with the rest of the Land of Nod.

He brought his mate and flocks to the mountain and named it Heaven’s Step for he believed it lifted him closer to God.

In the second season of their union, Marti conceived and bore her mate a daughter. Over the next twelve seasons she would give him seven daughters. Although she was a Stoner, none of the daughters of Marti were bronze of skin or hair. The daughters each grew to the age of decision and left Heaven’s Step to be with their mates.

While Simeon loved each of his daughters, his heart was heavy when each took a mate because he had no son to pass on his mountain and all that he and his family had built. Marti saw the sadness in his face and went to God in prayer. She asked God to give her a son for her beloved mate. In her seventy-seventh season of life God answered her prayers and she conceived and bore a son and they called him Dan.

The couple took the boy, as they had each of their daughters, to the Mount of Adoration when they offered their tithe for the season. They presented him to Master Keron of the Order of Medgag that he might bless the child. Keron took the infant into his arms and lifted him up to God.

When he had finished blessing the child, he kept him in his arms. Looking Marti in the eyes he said to Simeon, “Son of Adam, this child is a gift of God but has been given providentially. In his future the Master, who gave him to you, will take a portion of him back as a tithe offering.” With that said, he returned the child to Simeon’s arms.

Each season, when they journeyed to the Mount of Adoration to give their tithe, Marti feared that Master Keron would keep her son. Each season they returned home their son still with them.

As the seasons passed, Dan became of age. He asked of his father permission to go in search of a mate. Reluctantly, Simeon blessed his son and sent him on his way weighted down with gifts for the family of any perspective mate. Dan returned to Heaven’s Step after three passing moons with a mate, Annia. To Simeon’s joy, his new daughter loved his mountain as much, if not more, than he did himself.

It was not long after that Annia gave to Dan a son. The couple took their son with the family on the seasonal trip to the Mount of Adoration. Simeon and Marti watched with great concern as Dan and Annia presented their son to be blessed. They had not forgotten the words of Master Keron on the day he blessed Dan. After blessing the boy, Keron returned him to his parents without further comment.

Eight more occasions Annia added a son to their family and on three occasions she gave her mate daughters. Each child was presented to Master Keron to be blessed during the giving of their tithe. Each occasion the Gifted returned the child after the blessing.

Then, for the tenth counting of children, Annia gave her mate a son. They named him Simon. As they had always done with their children, they presented Simon to Master Keron for a blessing. Master Keron took the child into his arms. For a moment he looked at the boy’s face. But, he did not bless Simon as he had done his brothers and sisters. Instead, while holding the child in his shield arm, he touched Annia on the head with his sword hand, “You are blessed above all women. For God has seen fit to use your womb, that a messenger might be brought into the world. He shall announce the Savior of man and through his words a champion shall be given.”

Keron then touched Simon on the head saying, “You are a gift of God that the Master might give a greater gift to all mankind.”

He held the child out to Dan, who reached up to take his son. But the Gifted did not immediately release the baby into his father’s arms. “This boy will follow the Way of God and when he has attained his seasons, he will desire to enter into the service of the Master on the Mount of Adoration. To you is the responsibility of preparing the boy to be a man of God of the Order of Medgag.”

Master Keron still had his hold on Simon. Dan sensed that he was to respond to the challenge. He tried to speak but all he could get out was a hoarse, “It will be done.”

With that, Keron lowered Simon into the arms of Dan.

The family of Simeon returned to their mountain. When Simon son of Dan was approaching the sixteenth season of his life, he asked his father for permission to enter the Order of Medgag. That season, at the giving of tithe offerings, the house of Dan gave double their tithe and then offered their son to the Order of Medgag of the Mount of Adoration for the service of God.

Simon was in his seventeenth season and had settled into the routine of his new position as one of the chief scribes when everything suddenly changed. A visit by elves sent the Sanctuary into a flurry of activity. After the visit, Master Keron, Head Master of the Council of Gifted, sent the three scribes into the libraries researching parchments and documents for any references to the fall of the Morning Star and the King of Kings. The scribes brought the materials to the Council who then spent endless watches in discussion of the information. All three of the young men were required to take notes of the Council meetings and would compare them after to compile an official record of each meeting. The task consumed every waking moment of the day giving them little sleep and, to their discomfort, no opportunities for worship with their brothers.

When, finally, the last meeting of the Council of Gifted was concluded and, after finishing their collaboration on the final transcript, the youthful scribes were able to attend the last light celebration in the Hall of Light.

That night, following worship, Master Keron came to Simon’s quarters. The young scribe was initially shaken by the visit. The Master was in the habit of summoning those to whom he wished to speak to his rooms in the High Tower. This night he huddled with his scribe in the corner of the small room as if he feared someone would listen in on their conversation. In almost whispered tones, he instructed Simon to leave with the next day’s first light for The City of Kings. He would be entrusted with a letter for King Crom the Younger that must be delivered orally before he was to hand the written copy into the hands of the king. Master Keron made Simon memorize the letter and required that he recite it repeatedly until he was certain the youth had the exact wording imprinted on his memory. The letter itself was concealed in a belt Simon would wear under his clothing.

The older man gave his scribe three daggers of the best steel and three bars of pure iron to use to barter for room and board at lodges along the Great Highway. He also gave him a red cloak, worn only by the Gifted. It was his own personal cloak, the Master explained. “There may come a moment when the status afforded by the garment might be useful,” said Keron. Finally, he stood before a kneeling Simon, laid hands on him and blessed him and his mission.

The master left the confused and frightened scribe to his sleep. But, Simon would get little rest that night. The thought of leaving the Sanctuary weighed heavy on his heart. Like most of the Order, Simon loved his life in the Sanctuary. It brought symmetry, order and comfort to the brothers. There was great peace within the walls. Each man knew his role and function. Most of all there was the purpose found in the daily moments of corporate worship in the Hall of Light. The Order met as a community twice a day, once after first meal and again after last meal, for a total of four to six watches of worship as a group. Many of the scribes and the Gifted augmented this worship with one or two more watches of individual personal reflection.

It was not uncommon for scribes and Gifted to go for seasons without leaving the walls of the Sanctuary. Many of the older Gifted could not even remember their last journey outside of the comfort of the Order’s domain.

Simon was on the move long before the first light of morning. He dressed in the brown clothing of the Order and packed carefully. Before leaving the Sanctuary, he made a quick stop at the kitchen where he secured enough foodstuffs to last him three days including something for first meal. The sun was not yet on the horizon when he passed through the tunnel and out of the main doors of the Sanctuary. He acquired the Great Highway at the base of the Mount by first light setting a brisk pace for himself which he maintained most of the first day. However, as first dark fell, he did not spend the evening in the comfort of a lodge as Master Keron had instructed. Instead he slipped into a camp along the side of the highway made up of fellow travelers. He kept to the perimeter of the camp. By turning the cloak inside out exposing the brown lining, he concealed his identity with the Order to any who might be curious about him. Not surprisingly, no one took much notice of the plain young traveler among them.

Simon was gone from their midst before first light and at the end of his second day he was in an encampment composed of completely different travelers, having outdistanced any who might have been in the first encampment by virtue of his quick pace.

It was now the third day of his journey and The City of Kings was in sight. He would be within the city by first dark. And indeed as the last of the sun dropped below the mountains behind him, he entered the massive gates of the capital city of the Seven Clans, making his way to the quarter which housed the local Hall of Light.

The City of Kings was renowned as the greatest of all the cities in the Land of Nod. Everything about it was grander and bigger than anything Simon had ever seen before. The main gates of the outer walls were thirty lengths of a man high, hinged to two huge pillars ten lengths wide and thicker than a man’s body. The Way of the Kings, the main street traveling from the main gate through each of the other three walls to the palace of King Crom, was the widest of the city’s streets and lined by giant statues of the ancient line of kings and warriors atop horses, weapons and shields in their hands, and dressed in armor. Many of the streets were made of stone. The myriad of courtyards where the streets intersected had fountains of running water poured from stone jars and bowels held by granite figures of youthful men and women. The homes and other buildings were constructed of the same rock as made up the castle, towers and walls.

The Order of Medgag had long ago established Halls of Light in many of the major cities and some smaller villages in the Land of Nod. Publicly, the Halls existed to educate the people on deepening their worship of The Most High. In reality their main function was to provide haven for traveling members of the Order and serve as observation posts for watching and documenting the activities of the nations of men. A team of two scribes managed each Hall. The assignment was a test of their determination and will to prepare them for the opportunity to seek the level of service known as “the Gifted.”

The scribes of the Hall of Light of The City of Kings welcomed Simon and saw to his physical needs. Before turning in, they worshipped together. While the worship service was open to anyone, no one from the city joined them. It was not uncommon for the attending scribes to worship alone. The people of King’s Mountains confined their religious practices to the celebrations of the passing of the moon and the seasonal festivals of the tithe. There was no reason to become too enamored with the God of the ancients of the Seven Clans.

Sleep came quickly, deeply for Simon.

The morning was bright and full of light. The three scribes took their first meal and spent a watch in worship. Again, by themselves as none from the city came to participate. After which, Simon sent a message to the king requesting an audience.

He decided to see a little of the city while he waited for the response from Crom. What he found outside of the Hall was a city bustling with activity. As with most of the major cities on the Great Highway, The City of Kings was a center of trade and commerce for the nations of men. Anything and everything imaginable was for trade in the stalls lining the large streets. Wheat, corn and grains from the plains, dried and salted sea creatures from the northern Blue Sea, and weapons and armor of all types produced by the clans of King’s Mountains filled the trading booths. There was even an occasional trader of gold. Disturbingly, he also discovered merchants with woodcarvings of humans and animals, decorated with jeweled stones and shiny metals.

Using small statues to enhance the atmosphere of worship had its beginnings in the regions near the Stone Mountains. The Order had studied the question of their use and determined the practice was unwarranted and dangerous. Apparently, many had not heeded the Order’s warning on the subject.

The young scribe gave these booths a wide berth. Unfortunately, the sight of the statues being bartered in King’s Mountains had taken the joy out of the morning. He decided it was best to return to the comfort of the Hall of Light.

Surprisingly, a messenger from King Crom was waiting for him in the Hall. The king, it seems, was giving a banquet, one of many, in honor of his new son, Christophe. Simon was invited to the event as a guest of the king. He thanked the messenger for the graciousness of the king’s welcome and invitation. He would indeed join the king at the celebration of his son.

With the messenger safely on his way, Simon slipped into the garden of the Hall. He passed several watches among the smell of snow flowers and meditation.

**

King Crom the Younger, king of the Seven Clans, the first son of Xavier the Pious, stood with his hands behind his back gazing down from the bank of windows in throne room of the Great Hall of the Seven Clans. Below him the courtyard was busy with his soldiers occupied with their drills and formation. Beyond, over the walls of the palace, he could see the tops of the homes in what was one of the wealthiest areas of the Land of Nod. His sigh drifted through the empty room like a cloud. There would be no court today so the nobility who usually attended could prepare for the continued banquets and other festivities to celebrate the birth of his seventh son. The morning had begun so well and now he was thrown into an uncertainty unfamiliar to the old king. Well, maybe not so old since he had shown he still had the ability to father children. So, the better word was mature king. Yes, that was it, he was a mature king. Yet that did not make his spirit any less appeased. Two events had clouded an otherwise perfect day.

The first was the spies Britt, his second son, seemed to have everywhere. The boy was far more subtle in his relationships with others among the nations of men than his father. He had developed contacts in the major cites of the land with common people such as merchants, traders and warriors. His gift for raising horses had led to a demand for his quality stock and, in return, Prince Britt had bartered in information with those who desperately sought his horses. These contacts told stories of Dark Ones moving beyond the Stone Mountains led by trolls. Those evil creatures, the long ago adversaries of humans, were again seeking to challenge men for the dominance of Creation. There was talk of a troll roaming the streets of The City of Kings, though none had actually seen him.

Trolls! How he shivered at the thought of these foul beings of Hades once again walking the land of men. Many in the Land of Nod refused to believe in these ancient foes but Crom did. He could not help it, he was destined to greatness. His father named his first son Crom after the king who had led the people of the Seven Clans into the mountains in search of God’s presence. King Xavier told his son the stories of when the trolls and the elves once fought for the throne of heaven and, following the great battle, they had been cast down onto the land of men where they continued their war by trying to align the humans with their evil rebellion. Some claimed, against evidence to the contrary, that elves and trolls were children’s stories. But Crom the Younger believed.

Master Keron of the Brotherhood of Medgag, and an old friend of the King Xavier, told a youthful Crom the stories foretelling of the rise of the trolls in the days before the water death of judgment. “Know that the battle for the souls of men was coming to a climax,” Keron was fond of saying. In his younger seasons Keron served as a scribe in the Hall of Light of The City of Kings and was a frequent visitor to the royal court. The former scribe had more than once scolded Crom because of his sparse attendance of the ceremonies of the brothers in the Hall of Light. Crom had always feared chiefly because he believed the man saw directly into his soul.

Which is why the second event of the day, the messenger coming in the name of Keron, struck such fear in the king’s heart. Did the old man know? How could he? Only a few carefully selected warriors, all of the clan of Torr, knew. And yet, he felt the old man once again looking into his very soul from high above in his mountain Sanctuary. He sent a rider inviting the Gifted sent by the Head Master to a last meal banquet to celebrate his son’s birth. He would impress the brother with his kingly piety and send him on his way to report back to Master Keron words of reassurance.

Still, he was troubled. Merran had been summoned so he could demand to know how a Gifted had managed to enter his city without word reaching the king’s ears.

From the windows of the throne room Crom could see over the walls surrounding the palace to the roofs of the homes below and as far as the outer walls. Somewhere out there was a Gifted and, if Britt’s informants were correct, trolls. He began to rub his hands together under his chin in deep thought. Looking at them, flexing his fingers, he wondered out loud, “What have I done? What have I done?”

**

The Stoner sitting casually at the end of the street leading to the Hall of Light called himself Karr. His real name was long forgotten by anyone who knew the man when his seasons were new and his life had begun. Karr never knew his mother. His father claimed she had died giving him birth but children are the cruelest of creatures and too willing to speak the truth adults avoid. According to the children who ran wild in the streets of Stone City his mother was a prostitute who had dumped her newborn infant on the door of the man she claimed was the boy’s father. Then she disappeared never to be seen again.

Karr’s father kept the child with the hope of trading him away to a house in need of a slave when he was old enough to be of value. But Karr would have none of it. When he was almost seven seasons he over heard his father discussing his fate so he ran away and hid in the alleys and back streets of the city. By stealing what he required to survive, he learned to live the life of the orphaned and adopting the name Karr because he liked the sound of it.

The street imp grew faster than his peers becoming a strong, well built man by his thirteenth season. Few took him for the youth that he was which opened the society of the adults to him and ever-increasing possibilities for acquiring what he desired. Unlike most children from the street, Karr sought wealth and position as a means to freedom, freedom from the streets and freedom from a life of poverty. His great desire was to be the master of his own destiny. For the poor there were only two paths to riches, theft and military service. Having tried the one, the youth decided to give the later a chance. His size and build made him a perfect candidate for the army. He passed almost two seasons in the service of King Set, the Stoner King, as a member of his army but soon tired of the boredom of garrison life. The seasons with the Stoner army were not wasted. Karr became quite proficient with most weapons and he discovered his true skill, that of a spy.

It all started for the Stoner when the general of Karr’s division became suspicious of his mate’s involvement with another man. He selected the young Karr for the task of spying on her with orders to kill the man once he discovered who he was. Making the task a little easier, he placed the youth in with the soldiers he used to guard his estates. Karr soon discovered that the mate of the general was indeed having an affair. The trouble was that the affair was with King Set. Weighing his options first, he decided he would be better off if he reported his findings to Set instead of the general.

So, one night he slipped into the bedchambers in the palace of the king. Waking Set, he told the startled king the whole story. Karr, of course, had taken the precaution of preparing an escape route in the event the king did not recognized the wisdom of using the young Stoner for his own purposes and it would have been necessary to kill Set. The king rewarded him for his prudence and also gave him a generous retainer for future service to the Stoner throne. The general had not faired as well, falling from his bedroom window to his death one night after apparently drinking too much wine with the king.

The Stoner king had grown to believe that Karr was his most trusted informant. However, it was not duty to King Set which brought him to King’s Mountains and now had him trailing the little scribe around The City of Kings. Karr had been in Set’s service for almost two seasons when a shadowy old man dressed all in black came to him one night in a lodge he frequented often. Upon entering a private room expecting to find his favorite girls, he found instead the wrinkled old man. The man, it seemed, represented a group of associates, who wanted to remain anonymous, but wished to take advantage of his particular skills for a very liberal fee. They wanted Karr to go to King’s Mountains to penetrate the palace of King Crom of the Seven Clans in King’s Mountains and inform them of any and every activity of the king and his family.

The assignment was more difficult than it appeared. It was one thing for the Stoner to move about Stone City in relative obscurity but his bronze skin and hair would set him apart from the mountain people and make it tough to go unnoticed in a city of colored, as the Stoners referred to anyone who did not have their bronze skin. Still Karr relished the challenge and quickly discovered that, by dressing in the plaid clothing one of the Seven Clans, he attracted less attention, even a lesser amount when he wore a hooded cloak, common in the mountains, over his head. The pride of the clansmen pursued them that he was trying to integrate into their society. They accepted him, though not as an equal. The Stoner spy gained his access with favors for the guards and officials who learned to never question their benefactor for fear of loosing a source of extra income.

The discrete surveillance of the Hall of Light of the Order of Medgag today was the direct result of a messenger of the king. Karr made a point of following messengers from the palace on a regular basis. Knowing who the king was in communication with was a source of bits and pieces of information he could string together to get a better understanding of larger issues. That the king would send a rider to the local Hall of Light was unusual. The king had a reputation in King’s Mountains for practicing his faith in the one God but Karr found little piety and a lot of wind in the king’s spiritual practices. He would observe the Hall of Light for a while and see what fruit it might produce.