In the Giant Mountains, they found it hard to leave the sheltered cavern. Especially Mikahl. Even after the day-long descent into the warmer, almost spring-like forested valley below, he found he missed the place.
He decided later, while they set up camp in a densely canopied area of the valley floor, that it was the moments of camaraderie and brotherly affection, more than the cavern itself that had marked it in his mind. If the death of his King, and Lord Gregory’s dismal fate hadn’t been lingering in the back of his mind, he would’ve considered the last few days good times.
After the fire was blazing, and a haunch of the meat Hyden had hunted had been roasted, they all bundled down and listened as Vaegon told them the tale of King Speran.
King Speran was the first of the great Kings of Men. Until he came along, many lesser Kings had ruled the divided lands, but Speran marched an army of magi across the lands south of the Giant Mountains and united all the humans under his banner. In his honor, they called the great unified kingdom, Speraland, but that was long ago.
The elves, until then, had kept themselves hidden in the Evermore Forest.
“Our magical cities were impossible for you humans to find,” Vaegon chuckled kindly, and added: “They still are.”
Illvan, an influential elf in those days, feared that the might of all of the humans put together could prove to be a threat to his people. He decided to send forth emissaries, bearing gifts in hope that the two races might co-exist in harmony. A magical bow was one of those gifts.
King Speran treated with the elves willingly, and a relationship began to form. Through the elves, the humans learned about the giants, the fair folk, and many other things as well. For an age, all was well. In that time, the human king slew a giant serpent, sailed the seas, and discovered the island that is now called Salazar, and the other smaller islands around it. The humans fought, but couldn’t kill, a mighty dragon, and later, with the help of the dwarves, found the Wardstone.
As Vaegon told of these deeds, Hyden found himself thinking of the betrayal King Speran’s great grandson had made against the world.
Berda had told of the sacrifice of the firstborn, and the “Awakening” of the dark ones, and all of the horrible times that followed.
For the first time in his life, Hyden began to understand why the elves loathed the humans so much. There was a reason why all of the other races kept a wary eye on human happenings. The merry race of dwarves had been all but killed off in the many wars that followed the Awakening. The fair folk, who once sang and danced around the monolith without a care in the world, had supposedly hidden themselves away from the rest of the world. It made Hyden feel a little ashamed of his race, especially those kingdom born men whose lives seemed to only revolve around status, wealth and power.
Hyden was glad Mikahl wasn’t like that. If it was true, what Lord Gregory had said, someday Mikahl might be the King of all those men. Hyden decided that it would be a grand thing if Mikahl could reunite the kingdoms, and bring about an age where even the fair folk would feel safe enough to come out and dance again. What a time that would be.
Hyden drifted off to sleep on those thoughts. He dreamt of a time, a distant world, where all was truly well. Then, he soared over a future just as wondrous, on the wings of his hawkling familiar.
Mikahl woke early. He was determined not to be the butt of another jest.
As frigid and chilly as the valley was this morning, he found he wasn’t freezing. His companions, his friends, he corrected himself, had meant well enough. They just didn’t understand the way a royal court worked. The idea that he might someday have to try to fill King Balton’s boots was daunting. The fact that he might have to face down King Glendar, and the creepy wizard Pael to earn that position, was unfathomable. He had no direction, no idea what to do, or where he should go to find allies. He was as lost as he could imagine a man could be. So what if the sword glowed when he used it. How did that make him a King? How was the strange symphony that filled his mind when he held Ironspike, supposed to help them?
He was hoping beyond hope, that King Aldar, the Giant King, might lend him aid. With an army of giants behind him, removing Glendar from the throne wouldn’t be so hard. He didn’t really think that would happen though. He had no idea what to expect from the giants. Out of respect, and his sense of duty, he hadn’t broken the seal on King Balton’s letters, but he held hope that they might explain some of this madness.