Halfur rubbed his hands together as he hurried through the halls of the citadel. He had chosen one of the servants passages, knowing it to be largely abandoned by this time of the day. Any work to be done back there would have been finished by the late morning and the workers would all be at other posts. He had his fill of people for the day, well, he had had his fill of most people. He sought the company of the one person that always helped him to sort through his thoughts.

Queen Halfi was standing over a table in the middle of her own private library. The mannarim sconces were empty of crystals. Tall rush torches lit the room instead.

"Forty years you've lived here," Halfur said as he entered, "and you still aren't accustomed to proper lighting."

"Crystal light is too bright," the Queen replied. "You miss things you can only see when the light is dim."

Her obsidian colored hair was bound in a bountiful braid that trailed down her entire back. Her buckskin apron was smudged with soot, as were her hands. The room smelled of sweat and coals.

"Forging in a library?" Halfur asked. "Is that a northern practice?"

"Come here," Halfi half laughed the words. "Look. And no, I didn’t forge it here, you dew-beater."

On the table was a stone tablet with a carving of a key, and next to it a metal key fresh from the forge.

"Is that the key to dad's heart?"

"You're chock full of japes today, aren't you? It's the key to your father's secrets, if you must know."

"His secrets keep secrets from him. Goes with being a king, I suppose."

Halfur leaned forward and examined the stone tablet, then the key. "You matched it perfectly. The teeth and notches are exact, and you even mimicked the arced etching where you folded the silver."

"It isn't silver."

Halfur touched the key and lowered his face close. The metal had a pure scent, and felt as if there was heat coming from within. "Hm, you used mannarim."

"Narvi used mannarim. That's why my replica is exact."

"Mother, Narvi died two thousand years ago. We hadn't even begun forging with iron then. Well, depending on which text you read."

"You know, when I was your age I didn't have the luxury of pondering over differences in historical records. I hope you appreciate the life you have in Thrond."

"With all my heart. Those discrepancies vex me all the same."

"As they did me when first I came here." Halfi let out a faint sigh. "Even in Thrond one can easily be swept up in the mundane woes of the world, as you will soon enough. That's why I value people like Audun. Somehow he is free of our trivial cares." She pounded a fist on the table. "The key was mannarim, this proves it, no matter which history you believe. But you don't have to believe me. The important thing is it will work. These minor impressions are as essential to opening the catacombs as the notches in the blade."

"I'll be impressed if it works. Have you shown Dad?"

Halfi held an eyeglass over the tablet and then the key, looking closely at the impressions on both metal and stone. "I will, if it works," she set the eyeglass down and stepped away from the table. "How has your day been? Was there word from the Owl Guard?"

"Neri came back with his squadron. Three of them were killed."

"So there were gnolls."

"They had some of their pets with them."

Halfi put her hand over her mouth. "Those poor men."

"Were there centaurs in the north?"

"Oh yes. Nirmo draws all sorts of ill made creatures. My former husband lost a brother and half a dozen soldiers to one of those... things. I'll never forget it. The way it skewered them with those freakish long fingers, and the way its jaws split open so it could suck them in. The worst was when it passed them. They came out mashed into jelly and covered in filth, but still whole, and wearing their skin. The looks on their faces..."

"So, this key."

"I'm sorry. Such a morbid thing to remember. I've been in a strange mood lately. I'm not sure why."

"Ever since that red candle was lit?"

"Red candle? Do you mean the star?"

"It almost looks like two of them, One red and one blue."

"Really? I haven't seen it. So much happening at once; your uncle's wedding, gnolls bringing centaurs from Noth, a new star in the sky..."

"And fourth a million soldiers marching from Goblin Town."

Halfi's eyes popped open. "When did you hear this? And from whom?"

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"Ror's mercenary friend, Ridzak Gurgu Driggz."

"Oh, him. I forgot your brother had dealings with those types. I suppose such beasts have their uses. One fourth of a million. That’s their whole army."

The queen undid the straps of her apron and set it on the table. She then opened a drawer in a cupboard against a nearby wall, took out some crystals and set them in their sconces. They glowed with a soft, pinkish light. She sat down in a chair near an open fire pit. Halfur lay down on a padded stone couch on the far side of the room. Halfi took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"I don’t believe in coincidences, Halfur. Some things do just happen, but when this many things are set in motion it’s rarely by happenstance."

“With so many stars in the sky, a few of them are bound to align now and then.”

“And when they do, we feel it on the ground. But there's fewer stars now than there were, even with this new one.”

Halfur gazed at the gemstone mosaic that covered the ceiling of his mother's library. Obrus was there, squares of ebony making up its wide and daunting foothills while its snowy brow and summit were laid with milky opals. Underneath the mountain, rubies and citrine formed a raging fire contained in a wall of quartz. All about the mountain was a blue sky of zircon with clouds of pearls. Hanging in the zircon sky were three stars; one of ruby, one of amber, one of sapphire. Around the three stars was a circular field of onyx ringed with amethyst beads.

"Imanna the fire mother, dragon of the deep world," Halfur said idly.

"Those were my favorite Tides, back in Nirmo."

"Why?"

She looked up and thought for a moment. "Oh, I suppose I wanted a mother. I always imagined that if mine had lived she would have been strong and fiery like Imanna. Or maybe I just wished Imanna would come up from the deep and hurl her thunderbolt down on Mount Ennead, and get rid of Nirmo altogether. I hated it there, Halfur."

"Maybe that's where the goblins are going."

She sighed. "If only. The Red Mountains would be better for it. This goblin army troubles me, perhaps more than anything else happening now. Two hundred and fifty thousand is an unheard of force to be moving at once. Thirty or forty might scatter and harass a dozen holdfasts and strongholds, maybe even an elf glen, then break and retreat once they lose interest. But to send their entire army..., this is the largest mobilization since all six kins routed the gnolls. Where are they heading exactly?"

"North, through the Starwood. They’re keeping close to Moonveil.”

She looked over her shoulder in surprise. “Why Moonveil? They'd have a much easier time moving east to Farhome, or south to Sorrowhall, if they’re so angry with the elves. Moonveil is densely wooded and Meromis a deadly strategist. Even with such an absurd number of troops it will be an Arcadian victory. This bothers me. Tribeless orcs prowling the Nazrad, gnolls bringing centaurs from Noth, the entire armed force of Goblin Town invading the Starwood..."

"A new star in the sky..."

"And in the midst of it all, Salimod Gace has managed to latch himself onto the most powerful realm in all Konistra, as if he knew all along that these things were coming. And, thanks to your fool uncle, the one source of comfort we had in this storm is like to be exposed to all the world. I really hope that man hasn't noticed what the chain is made of."

"Is he like to? Mannarim looks a good deal like common silver in small pieces. I didn’t recognize it in your key at first."

"Salimod craves prestige, and lusts after anything of value that isn't his. A silver chain from a Prince of Thrond would catch his eye, and I'm sure that it's well within his scope of thought to suspect its true make."

Halfur’s hand went to the pouch at his belt. "Dad asked me to switch it with the fake."

"Good. You’re well fit for the task. So you met the Janissary?"

"Yes. Big fellow."

"And comely too. But don't tell your father I said so."

Halfur smirked. "More comely than Neri?"

"The Owl Guard Captain? He’s extremely handsome. But he's much too young for me."

Halfur sat forward, agitated.

“What is it?” his mother asked.

“I keep thinking about the star. It irks me.”

"Why does it bother you?"

"You remember what happened to Heth. The Field of Iron was shattered by the comet, and what is left is a wasteland of mud and grave sands. I remember when Dad took Klar and me there. The Sea of Clay has the feel of lich yard, even now."

"Well, son, if the red candle is a comet, what can we do to stop it?"

"We can evade it. We can dive deep beneath the mountain and be shielded from it. Maybe your key to the catacombs will work. Maybe you forged it just in the nick of time."

"And what of your uncle and Idana? No surface kin can survive in the deep lands. Would you turn her away on the eve of her wedding? Would you ask your uncle to abandon his betrothed?"

"Send him to High Alden with her. Maybe that's where we should go. Maybe we should go to Heth. Could one place be struck by comets twice?"

Halfur heard a muffled voice shouting outside the door to the library.

Halfi stood and ran to a large chest in a dark corner of the main room. "It's Audun. Would you open the door for him? He probably has his hands full of books and parchments. Oh, where is that book? Halfur, please open the door."

Halfur rolled his eyes and gave in to his mother's request. When he opened the door, a young boy engulfed in a pile of scrolls, codices and hidebound journals came charging into the room, straight into Halfur, and crashed on the ground. The pile of books and scrolls flew into the air and landed strewn across the floor. Halfur closed his eyes and balled his fists.

"Help him up, son. Oh Audun, you incognizant boob! Why would you come running into the room the instant someone opens the door?"

The Queen rushed to the doorway and helped the boy gather his books and papers. Halfur stood still as the eye of a storm, fists clenched white knuckle tight. When Audun was standing again, he pressed his back to the door and slid timidly past Halfur. Halfi lead him to an empty chest and directed him to deposit all the writings he brought into it. She then lifted a large tome with leather binding from the other chest. Halfur recognized the symbol on the cover, a circular emblem of a wave washing onto a shore. The binding was strange to him, however. Unlike every other copy of the Book of Tides he had seen, this one's cover was plain brown leather except for the sigil of the Tide.

Audun took the book eagerly, opened it and flipped to a particular page. He then tore the page from the book, rolled it up and tucked in a pocket of his black doublet. He smiled sheepishly and bowed before running from the room.

Halfur shook his head incredulously. "You and Ror have strange friends!"