With Kevinar on my right and Ike on my left, I approached the garish double doors to the throne room, giving it a once over for any indication of traps. Kevinar shook his head, and I proceeded to shove forward, expecting the doors to swing in easily.

My expectation was mistaken. Instead, I felt a small give before the unmistakable resistance of a wooden bar ended my attempt. Growling, eager for this to be over, I waved my companions away.

Hulk smash? Jeldorain asked, rising up from where he had retreated before.

I smirked. Yeah, something like that.

Rearing back one thick, frosty leg, I kicked out hard, hearing the wood splinter even as one of the door doors tore off its hinges and flipped into the throne room interior. Looking inside, all I could see was blackness.

“A darkness aura,” Kevinar said, returning to my side. “Not a rare magic, but an annoying one. We’ll have to keep our ears open and listen for movement.”

“Maybe Ryan and Jeldorain could just dispel it?” Ike asked, blinking.

“And lose our magical items? Again?” Kevinar shook his head. “No, this is doable. We just have to pay attention and be vigilant. There is no need to hit a nail with a warhammer, as they say.”

I stared into the darkness that greeted us, marveling at just how thick it was. I couldn’t see even a foot into the chamber, so powerful was the enchantment. It simply swallowed all light. Thinking quickly, I tried to switch to infravision, but saw that here too I simply couldn’t see anything.

Jeldorain, do you remember back when I first got here? That spell you cast that let me see everything perfectly despite the dark? Would that work here?

The infernal chuckled. This magic is of the deep earth, a clan who frost and ice infernals have often had grievances against. They like to hide, and to attack from behind or beneath. It is an opposed magic, but I believe I can pierce it.

“Jeldorain says that maybe I can see it, if the magic doesn’t make its save,” I translated. Jeldorain grunted, as usual, focusing on the mystic arts of his Clearsight spell.

I closed my eyes and looked over the chamber, noting with surprise that the two spells seemed to be actively battling one another as I viewed them. From an angle just above the double doors, I looked over the throne room, watching swirls of darkness twist through the air, hiding this section or that even as it was swallowed and dissolved in another. It was a chaotic scene, with dark tendrils reaching out like smoke wherever the darkness rose, only to be encircled and annihilated by twists of shimmering, golden threads of light.

And in the mess of it all, I spotted the king, his crown off-kilter as he hid in the corner of the room nearest to where we stood, evidently waiting for us to enter so that he could escape. Next to him crouched two burly warriors, their beards gray, their armor a black-enameled plate, and their weapons riddled with glowing runes.

“I can see you,” I announced, turning pointedly in his direction. A swirl of darkness arose before him, to be quenched by the sparkle of Jeldorain’s Clearsight.

“How?” Ike asked, bobbing his head to and fro to peek through the darkness. Kevinar glanced at me, his eyes meeting mine, and he nodded.

“The power of the infernals is great,” he explained, holding his empowered blades before him.

I stared at the king, watching his face blanch as he himself peered through the spell and caught my eyes directly on him.

“Leave my kingdom,” he screamed. “You’ve no place here, ye cursed hybrid. The goblins rule now. I’ve already told them about you. They’re coming even as we speak.”

I took a step forward. “No, you haven’t said a word. No one is coming. Most of your guards have fled. And the ones that didn’t, well, we took care of them. All but the two at your sides,” I said. The guards shifted their gazes wildly, attempting to find me in impenetrable murk.

I laughed.

“I see that in your cowardice you have taken away the ability of your most loyal to see who they fight.”

The dwarf king scowled, apparating a heavy battle-ax to his hands. It was massive, easily the size of the dwarf himself, and I marveled at his ability to hold it. His legs took on a wider stance, and his brow furrowed.

“You threaten my people by being here. I’m simply doing what’s best for them.”

Now inside the chamber, I took another step in his direction.

“You gave up on the welfare of your people long ago, signing away their freedom to the goblins, didn’t you? What did they give you? Why would you bow to them, when you have so many here so eager to fight.”

As I talked, I watched the faces of his guards, seeing the confusion that gripped them.

“We work for the goblins?” one of them asked.

The king snarled. “It’s none of your business, guard. Times are hard. Decisions had to be made.”

Kevinar stepped forward, his voice powerful and proud. “King Thorano,” he began, staring blindly into the room, “I've seen leaders make pacts with great evil in the name of salvation. More often, I’ve seen them make pacts for greed and power. You are not fit to wear the crown that is on your head. Those beside you . . . if you could, you would have them die at our hands while you ran to the surface to tell the goblins about us, to give away the only chance your people have to be free and to make their own way. Even before I made my way to the surface world, I saw all kinds of kings and lords throw away those they vowed to protect in exchance for a fleeting moment of peace, prosperity, or power.”

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He paused, a brief flicker of emotion rolling over his face. “In my homeland, I watched as dark pacts swallowed whole people whole; as they turned my family into monsters, and enslaved whole villages of peaceful beings.”

The king shook his head. “Is there a point to all of this? Do you think I care?”

Kevinar smiled. “There is a point. To you who guard the king; leave these chambers. There is no reason for you to obey any vows you have made. He doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”

“They serve me because it is their duty to do so. I warn you, if you don’t leave my kingdom now, you will regret it. And I will savor every scream that comes from your body, dark elf, as the goblins peel your skin from your still-living body.”

One of the guards turned to the king, though he couldn’t see him. “The blessed infernal won the challenge. All of them won the right to parley, to negotiation. My liege, what are we doing?” he asked.

King Thorano growled before, in a flurry of action, turning and driving the butt of his ax into the dwarven guard’s face. “Traitors! Everyone traitors! You will obey me!” he ranted. In unison, the guards reached out, grabbing the king and wrestling him to the ground.

A moment later, the magical darkness lifted. Kevinar, Ike, and the guards blinked at the sudden intrusion of glimmering light from the magical spheres that hung suspended above them, and King Thorano took that opportunity to slip the grasp of his guards and run past the column and grandeur of the room to take cover behind his throne.

“This is ridiculous,” Ike growled, shaking his head.

Take him out, Jeldorain said. Now. Just us. It’ll increase our claim to their throne.

I strode forward, Frostchain swaying dangerously with each measured step. I wasn’t going to charge headlong into what might be a trap. This was going to be slow and strategic. I would draw it out and show the guards my might, as well as my honorable defeat of their leader.

Kevinar and Ike started forward as well, but I waved them back. “This has to be me, alone,” I said. Ike muttered something, but Kevinar put a hand on his shoulder and nodded at me. I continued forward.

“My kingdom! My people!” the dwarven king screamed from behind his throne. “Go away!”

I sense a light stain of magic on his soul, Jeldorain observed as we moved. I believe that he has been cursed with a failed charm spell. It would explain his behavior.

Are you saying that I shouldn’t kill him? I asked.

Jeldorain laughed. These are the dark dwarves. Whether his actions were magically influenced or not doesn’t matter. You kill him now in a contest of might, they will bow to you. And then, just maybe, we can beat the goblins and get my body back.

And my family, I added.

Whatever, he responded with a sly grin.

I stopped at the foot of his throne and gave it a strong boot, toppling it backward and watching as the shrieking king dodged out of the way, letting it crash to the floor beside him.

“You are not fit to be leader. I, Jeldorain Ryan Thorack, challenge you to the rights of the throne, as observed by witnesses of the kingdom,” I announced, gesturing Frostchain at the two guards who’d before restrained him. “If you win, I will leave this kingdom and not return. But, be warned, I won’t lose.”

The dwarf king stood up, his heavy battle-ax clutched in stout hands, an amber aura now flaring from his ceremonial robes and his adamantine plate underneath.

“My kingdom,” he muttered. “Mine! I accept your challenge.”

Without warning, the air around the king shimmered, and from his hands sprang chains of dark energy, reaching out to ensnare me with their cursed touch. I thrust my shield into the path of them, surprised when the powerful impact of the spell tore it from my hand sending it careening into one mighty pillar. Undeterred, I thought Disarm and swung out at the pole of his mighty ax. The chains wrapped around it and I pulled but was again surprised at the fierce strength of the king, who counter-pulled and almost disarmed me instead.

Flicking my wrist, I unhooked Frostchain from the ax handle and paced sideways. The air again shimmered, and the king threw another mess of dark, sinister chains in my direction. I cast Glacial Shield and watched as icy sheets rose before me. The chains met the frosty barrier, their advance halted, sizzling as the cold consumed them.

“If you don’t run, infernal, I will kill you,” King Thorano spat. He began chanting again, and beneath my feet, the ground trembled. A spike shot out, stabbing through my foot and I bellowed in agony. More spikes stabbed upwards, and those that didn’t meet flesh burst out of the stone to zero in on my armored back and chest.

I snarled. “All you are doing is pissing me off,” I shouted back.

Grappling with the excruciating pain from the spikes, I tore my feet out and cast Minor Healing. The king again threw a mess of chains at me, and I reinforced the Glacial Shield, watching the spells annihilate each other and steam away into nothing.

Stepping over the melted mess, I invoked Winter Gale, arching my back forward and blasting the king with a sweeping, chilling frost that elicited a frightened gasp and cry. I noted that he was temporarily frozen, so I took a quick second to imbue Frostchain with Frostfire Infusion, watching an extra layer of sparkling hellish ice roll over my weapon, subdued sparks of lightning flashing underneath.

King Thorano shook off the ice encasing him and bellowed, then charged. I watched as he came, noticing a red cloudy aura that grew brighter and more definite with each stubby-legged step, and I instinctively knew this was some sort of charging buff. Most probably a massive multiplier. Possibly something that could take me down in one shot.

Glancing up, I thought Swing, and Frostchain slapped upwards, catching the jagged relief of an ancient arch and hopping me over my suddenly impotent foe. He skidded and turned, all hint of red magic gone as I flicked my wrist and unhooked my weapon from its perch.

Swinging, I caught the king in his shoulder, then the chest, then a bloody slap to the face. He tried to block the strikes, then tried to move close enough to return with his own, but my melee reach was far superior and soon he was a bloody and gasping mess, struggling to stay on his feet.

“My kingdom,” he moaned.

“Surrender now, and I’ll release you from the dungeons when it is all over. Not as king, but as a citizen of my kingdom,” I informed him, pausing in my onslaught.

He nodded and dropped his ax. I moved forward to take and bind him. As I approached, though, Thorano’s aura flared, a massive hand of earth punching out from the ground and knocking me into the ceiling.

Oh, I better be a good guy and give him a chance to live. Otherwise I’m as bad as he is, boohoo. Champion, if it wasn’t my body that was being knocked around right now, I’d say you deserve what just happened to you. Learn from it.

Slapping off the ceiling and falling back down towards the open embrace of the malignant hand, I again swung out Frostchain, catching a piece of column and using it to angle myself towards the dwarf. He raised his ax and chopped as I fell, and I took a staggering quarter of my hitpoints in damage as his ax head rent a hole in my armor and embedded itself in my chest.

I reached out, snarled, and grabbed a hold of his head.

Do it! Jeldorain cried. Show him no mercy! Become the king!

Shoving all of my might in my motions, I twisted hard in a circular motion, corkscrewing his head from his shoulders and tossing it to land at the feet of his former guards.

“Long live the king,” one of them said, bowing, as the other punted the head to a far corner. “May his reign be long and prosperous.”