Albrek's Tomb

“And now, my friends, we feast!” Thorgood said in a loud voice. “A feast to honor these great adventurers. And after we have eaten, Thrang will tell us the story of their adventure, and how they found the tomb of Albrek.”

Thrang stood and bowed to the king before returning to his chair. As he walked across the hall, the dwarfs began to cheer loudly. Thrang stopped and bowed to all four sides of the room. When the cheering continued, Thrang motioned for the rest of the company to join him. The cheering grew so loud as Alex the others joined Thrang that it felt like the air was vibrating with the noise.

“The dwarfs of Thraxon honor you all,” Thorgood shouted above the cheering. “You have done a great service for us, and we will never forget you.”

The cheering ended only when Thorgood held up his hands to quiet his people.

The feast was a grand one, and it seemed to last for hours. The dwarfs who were serving made sure that Alex and his friends wanted for nothing, filling their goblets before they could empty them, and bringing fresh trays of food to the table whenever something ran low. Alex thought he would burst from eating so much, but the food was excellent.

As the feast was coming to an end, Thorgood motioned for Thrang to come forward once more. The lamps had been dimmed so that Thrang appeared to stand in a circle of light. Slowly at first, but with growing enthusiasm, Thrang began to tell the story of their adventure.

Alex listened as Thrang spoke, his eyes shifting from Thrang to King Thorgood and back again. He was surprised that Thrang did not change anything about their journey to the Isle of Bones, and he looked sad when he told the crowd about his confrontation with Alex. Alex noticed that Thorgood seemed to be watching him, but would look away whenever Alex looked directly at him.

Thrang was as good as his word, telling as much of their story as he could while leaving out some things that might bring too many questions. He hardly mentioned the dwarfs in Nethrom’s cave, and he was careful to make it sound like Alex had summoned a dragon to chase away the thunderbird. He said the same summoned dragon had taken Alex and his friends back to Darvish and delivered the Oracle of the Empty Tower to her home.

Alex was a little surprised that Thrang did not name Kat as the oracle; in fact, he did not mention their stay at the tower at all. The fact that Kat was not with them would make it easy for Thorgood to guess she was the oracle, but most of the dwarfs in the room would not even think to ask questions.

“A wonderful tale,” Thorgood said as Thrang finished. “I see now that we are more honored than I thought. It is not often that a king has a dragon lord as his guest.”

Alex bowed his head slightly to Thorgood, which made the king smile.

“Now, I think our adventurers need their rest, as they have gone through a great deal to return here. I will, however, ask one last thing of them: that they remain in Benorg for as long as they can. I feel that one night’s feast is not nearly enough to honor them properly.”

Once again Alex and his friends stood and bowed to the king, but Thrang made no promises about how long they would stay.

With the feast over and the story of their adventure told, Alex felt that nothing would be better than bed. As he and his friends stood to leave the hall with the king, the dwarfs in the hall began cheering again, but this time the adventurers simply waved to the crowd and followed Thorgood out of the hall and into a small chamber.

“I’m sorry for the ceremony, my friends,” Thorgood said with a smile. “I know how much Thrang hates such things, and I can tell that the rest of you are uncomfortable with so much praise. Still, you’ve done a great service for me and my kingdom, and the lords of the realm expect ceremony.”

“You are most kind, my lord,” said Thrang. “Though you have already named this adventure a success, we are still at your service.”

“Ah, then perhaps you will tell me the wholetale of your adventure,” Thorgood said. “You are a good storyteller, Thrang, but I spotted a few holes in the story you told tonight.”

“What was not said should not be said openly,” Thrang answered. “Some things are best for your ears alone, while others I ca

“No doubt, no doubt,” said Thorgood, glancing at Alex.

“King Thorgood, Master Taylor has requested an audience with you and the lords of the dwarf realm,” Thrang said. “There are parts of our adventure that will be of great interest to you, parts that have nothing to do with our quest for the ring.”

“So I see,” Thorgood said, stroking his beard. “I can guess part of this, at least. The seer who traveled with you has not returned, yet you make no mention of her being lost.”

“She was not lost,” said Thrang. “She led us to the ring, and without her aid we would have been much longer in our search.”

“Yet she did not return with you to accept the honors due her,” said Thorgood. “I am not so blind that I ca

“You see much,” Thrang said softly.

“And you think I will have some claim on her, as she would not have come to the tower but for this adventure,” Thorgood went on. “I must admit the thought crossed my mind.”

“To make such a claim would be unwise,” Thrang said quickly.

“You give good counsel, Thrang, and I believe you are correct in this as well,” Thorgood said after a moment. “Yet I’m not sure all of our people will see it as you and I do.”

“Perhaps I can help them see reason,” said Alex, stepping forward.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Thorgood said with a laugh. “Yet you will not always be here, and the memory of you may not be enough to keep all of the lords in line.”

“There are other ways,” Alex said in a low voice.

“Very well,” said Thorgood. “Tomorrow morning, I will call the meeting you ask for. We will discuss the new oracle and anything else you may wish, and I hope that you are able to show the lords of Thraxon wisdom. I would hate to make an enemy of the oracle.”

“You have our thanks, my lord,” said Thrang, bowing.

“And you have mine, my friends,” said Thorgood with a bow of his own.

Thrang led the company out of the main palace and back to their rooms. No one spoke until they were seated around the fireplace, and even then it took some time for Thrang to break the silence.

“I fear that some of the dwarf lords will see this as an opportunity to control the oracle,” Thrang said.

“Surely they don’t think they can control the oracle,” said Arco

“Perhaps they think to control access to the oracle. They could demand a high price of anyone seeking her wisdom,” Nellus said.

“Which would cause a great deal of anger in those who had to pay,” Barnabus added.

“They wouldn’t do that, would they?” said Thrain in a questioning voice, his eyes fixed on Thrang. “Oracles accept who they will. No one in Vargland would ever think of trying to control access to the White Tower.”

“Perhaps not, but the White Tower seems to move, so only those who the oracle wishes to see can find it,” said Arco

“No, it can’t,” said Alex. “But there is great power there, and anyone who tried to control access to the tower would be a fool.”

“You know this?” Thrang questioned.

“I felt the power that was there,” said Alex. “It will take Kat some time to learn how to use that power, and to learn how far beyond the city of Darvish it extends, but she will.”

“Then we must convince the dwarf lords not to try anything foolish,” said Thrang, sounding worried. “Yet I don’t see how we can.”