Chapter 5 – The Cursed King

It was a three day ride from the Temple of Suun to Balor, the capitol city Quaal. Carrath made the trip in a day and a half. The city was an impenetrable fortress, designed and built by the first king of Quaal, Morgan Sulis. It was built in the low lands of Quaal, on the banks of the Harfen river. Balor had three distinct sections separated by thick sandstone walls that spanned the circumference of the city. The first wall was its outermost fortification. There were only two gates in the outermost wall. One led to the harbor district on the east side of the city, and the other opened to the Kingdom Highway on the southern side of the city.

Between the outer wall and the secondary wall was a flat field that was a mile wide and spotted with stone guard towers. If an enemy army was able to breach the outer wall, they would have to reckon with archers that would be positioned on the guard towers, as well as the archers that would be stationed on the outer wall and the secondary wall. This section was knows as “the gauntlet”. It was designed to thin invading forces before they were able to breach the secondary wall, and it worked to perfection. Since the construction of the city, it had been under siege several times, but no invading army had ever advanced past the gauntlet.

The secondary wall surrounded the residential and market districts of the city. It had several gates that were spaced evenly. During times of peace, which was most of the time, citizens were allowed to spend time in the gauntlet. It was littered with parks, and other places designed to entertain the city's populace. The city of Balor was enormous, stretching for fifteen miles from the secondary wall to the palace wall. Including the eight miles of land that the palace rested on, it was thirty eight miles in diameter.

As Carrath passed through the secondary wall, he forced his horse to slow down. Out of concern for public safety, one of the kings of Quaal had enacted a law stating that horses could not run inside the city limits. It was tolerated in the gauntlet because of the open space, but the city was usually teaming with activity, and all it took was a momentary lapse of attention to cause a terrible accident.

Carrath had elected not to wear his priest's robes into the city. He was here on urgent matters, and could not spare the time to explain that to each and every citizen who would trouble him to read their futures. He wore a plain gray cloak, with the hood drawn over his face, as was customary of priests of Suun. Carrath did not think of the disguise as deception, for it was always the position of the Order of Suun that priests would only seek to reveal a person's destiny within the Temple of Suun. Still, when a person saw a Suun Priest, or even a monk for that matter they ran begging to have their destiny revealed. The disguise allowed Carrath to avoid all of that.

He passed through the busy streets of the city, making his way to the palace gate. The city was a bustling place, with bazaars on each corner and entertainers dancing and singing in the streets. Jugglers, fire blowers, acrobats, magicians and animal charmers practiced their craft in the city streets, each hoping to make a coin or two from the shoppers. The city was truly amazing. Carrath arrived at the palace gate and was met by a guard.

“Halt! The royal court is closed for the day. None can enter without permission from the king.” The guard said.

“Tell the king that Carrath of Suun is here to see him.” Carrath drew back his hood a bit so the guard could get a clear look at his face and smiled gently.

“Aye. Yes sir lord Carrath! Sorry to have troubled you. I'll see to your horse sir, the guard inside will escort you to the king.” The guard motioned towards the gate and allowed Carrath to pass.

The guard inside the gate escorted Carrath into the palace and took him to a large room that was ornately decorated. In the center of the room sat a marble table, surrounded by elaborately carved oak chairs with cushions made of red satin. Carrath had been here before. It was the room that the king used to entertain nobles from other countries, and other important folk. Carrath qualified as important folk, although he didn't see it that way. He believed that he was a humble servant of Suun, merely playing out his destiny as Suun dictated.

The king did not leave Carrath waiting for long. He arrived in the room mere seconds after Carrath. The guard that escorted Carrath, and the two guards stationed in the meeting room bowed before the king. Carrath did not. The king was a symbol of man's law. Perhaps the most powerful man within his own space, but certainly not in the world, and even less so in the universe. Carrath answered to Suun, and owed no allegiance, nor loyalty to a king of men. His destiny forced him to do the king's bidding for a time, but it was not the king's authority that compelled him to do so. He did his part in spite of the king, not because of him.

“Lord Enus Jovan Sulis, the king of Quaal has arrived!” One of the guards announced as the king took a seat at the table.

“Carrath, its good to see you've returned. What news of your journey? Has my son arrived safely?” The king asked.

“Jovan, your son arrived in San Rael safely. I left him with the priests of Uriel as directed. He was a bit upset at his exile, but I suppose that he'll come to understand the situation in time.”

“He sees it as exile? Doesn't he understand the opportunity that he has? He's been given the chance to train with the great dragon Uriel. Uriel will make him a strong leader. This kingdom needs a strong leader, there are dark times ahead. We can all feel it.” The king said.

“Dark times indeed. I fear that they have come, even sooner than we expected.” Carrath responded.

The king raised his brow and and looked across the table at Carrath. “How do you mean?”

Carrath told the king what he knew of the events at Stone's Crossing. He left out the details of Suun's clouded vision. He didn't need the king questioning Suun's abilities.

“What would a vampire have to gain by taking over Stone's Crossing? Werewolves have been appearing in the north, and there have been reports of pirate ships in the ocean to the east that are manned by ghastly crews. Now this? A vampire has organized an army of skeletons and solidified a position from which he can launch raids on our farmlands. Tell me Carrath, what future does Suun have for this country? What destiny belies us all?”

“You know I can't tell you that Jovan. Suun would not ally himself with any one nation, and certainly, information pertaining to the fortune, or demise of your country would be the equivalent of giving your kingdom an advantage that other kingdoms do not have. You are blessed to be a leader of men, but the price of that blessing is that you must live out your destiny, to whatever end it leads.” Carrath responded.

“To whatever end it leads.” The king repeated. “I wish Suun could be more like Fraath, but I understand his position. Thank you for informing me of the situation at Stone's Crossing, and thank you for your help transporting my son, although I don't know how that matter doesn't fall into the category of helping my nation.”

“That was a special request from Uriel herself. Even Suun must answer to someone.”

“I see. I'll dispatch a legion to search for survivors immediately, and send scouts to assess the situation at Stone's Crossing. I'll...” Carrath cut him off.

“I'm glad that you have the situation in hand. If you can tell me where to find Marik, I'll leave you to make your plans in peace.”

“Yes indeed. No need to bore you with this matter. You already know what I'm going to do anyway. Wait here, I'll send Marik to you. I need to meet with Thilesred about these matters anyway.” The king wished Carrath farewell and left the meeting room, leaving Carrath time to think while he waited for Marik.

Carrath did not know the future of Quaal. On matters of principal, he refused to seek that knowledge. In his heart, Carrath knew that he would be compelled to inform the king of any ill tidings that he knew about the future of Quaal. He had lived in the country his entire life, and although he felt no allegiance to Jovan Sulis, he did feel a connection to the land itself. For that reason, he knew that he should avoid looking into the future of Quaal, or Jovan Sulis. He also maintained the same attitude towards his own future. He would never reveal his own destiny to himself because doing so might tempt him to change his fate, and who was he to think that he could meddle in the grand scheme of a dragon?