Without the accessories, the king looked like any other Dwarf.

The king was an older Dwarf, his short hair and long beard were completely gray. He was wearing a purple silk robe with golden accents. His green eyes had a fire in them, though it was clear that they had dimmed from the height of their zeal. His skin was scarred and calloused, declaring that he wasn’t one who sat idly on his throne, but that he got his hands dirty with physical labor and had seen countless battles.

“Prince Sectum…” The king stroked his beard. “I knew King Gravis. He helped me with a cursed arrow once.” The king pulled on his collar to show a circular scar in his neck just above his collarbone. “It’s a shame what happened to King Keller, but I’m glad my friend wasn’t around to have to see that.” He released his collar. “I hear you were the one who put that madman down?”

I nodded. “It was a very unfortunate day for our kingdom.” I cleared my throat and tugged on Starna’s arm for her to stand up. I was reaching the end of what I knew about conversing with another king.

“Your majesty.” Starna’s voice was just as smooth as it had been earlier. “While I’m sure that Sectum would love to continue to talk about his family, we do have a more pressing issue to discuss.”

The king stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “You are correct.” The old man leaned forward. “I cannot have the Cult congregating within my city.”

I thought about pointing out that the cultists were technically congregating in an Exindo city, but kept my mouth shut. This was Starna’s conversation.

“I understand, and that’s not something that Queen Alessa wants either. We would like to offer our aid in moving the container away from here to a less…” She paused. “Dangerous place for civilians.”

“We’ve tried moving it ourselves.” The king waved his hand. “It won’t move.”

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“You’ve tried the physical ways. I’d like to try to use more magic. I think that if we can disrupt the elemental powers, then it might be possible to move it.” She glanced at me, but I just shrugged. I had no experience on the topic of magic at the moment, so I wasn’t going to be able to add anything factual.

Starna turned back to the king. “Once it’s moved, there’s a good chance that it won’t try to anchor itself again.”

“How do you propose we do this?” King Arcus settled back into his throne. “I didn’t think Hepool had many mages.”

“I’d like to ask Master Ammabus to help.”

That drew a lot of whispers from the other Dwarves that were standing around the walls listening in on our conversation.

“Master Krav would be willing to help as well.” Starna swallowed. “Queen Alessa would also like to try to contact the Remnant and have them guard it until it can be moved.”

“Do you think that we are so weak that we can’t protect what’s ours?” The king’s voice rose as he stood up. “Nothing gets in these tunnels that we don’t know about.!”

I thought about pointing out that the Cult had already snuck in at least once, but that seemed like it would only start a fight. I glanced around the room as I began to take in the Dwarves around the room. There were a dozen guards armed with axes that were in their hands. One was on either side of the king, while the other five were in front of the about twenty fancy-dressed Dwarves that were on either side of us. If things went downhill, I had my doubts about our ability to get out of the throne room.

“No one is questioning the strength of the Dwarves.” Starna held up her hand, then motioned at the room. “But why would you want to risk the lives of your people when there is an ally that believes it is their duty to shoulder the burden?”

The king huffed as he twirled part of his beard around his finger. “Bah. Fine.” He sat back down on his throne. “Where are you proposing that it be stored?”

“I’ll have to talk to my master, but the Tower should have a place where it could be sealed away.”

The king chewed on the tip of his thumb while he thought about the proposal. “Come back with the masters and we’ll hammer out the rest of the details. In the meantime, I’ll let my ministers know to expect some Fairies.” He waved at us. “You can go.”

Starna hooked her arm around mine and pulled me towards the exit.

It was time to go get Vin and get out of here.