Chapter Seven

Gallane had been travelling for a week now. It had taken him a few days of stumbling around the marshes before he left them. After that he ran all the way through the Central kingdom to its capital. There was no point in visiting the king. He didn’t have a relic; he didn’t even know the legend of the relics. In the capital, he joined a caravan that passed by the Lion kingdom. On the sixth day, he found the tunnel that led to the underground cities of the kingdom.

Because nothing remotely substantial grew on the sands above, the ancestors of the Lion kingdom had excavated large underground caverns. The inhabitants of the Lion kingdom had lived their lives underground from then on.

Gallane had walked over a hundred leagues by now. The soles of his feet were raw and bleeding, despite his boots being made of the finest quality leather. His clothes had been ripped and torn, by scrubs and bushes in the marshes. His face was covered in mud from the marshes, dust from the road and sunburn from the sun. But now he could rest.

He was in Underside keep. Underside was the capital of the Lion kingdom.

Gallane had walked straight up to the castle gates, bold as brass. When the sentries asked who he was, he merely uttered his name. Almost immediately, they escorted him to the guest wing. There, his wounds were treated and his clothes were replaced with clean ones.

After a brief slumber, catching up on missed rest, Gallane informed his servant (who the guards had appointed for him) that he wished to see Morrigan. Obediently, the servant led him to the Chieftain’s wing.

Morrigan sat on a simple wooden throne in a small room off the main corridor. Down here, things like food were more important than ceremony. He was a stern man, and he was not pleased.

“I live like a peasant in my own city in an underground cavern, and you just stroll in here and all of a sudden my own servants are tripping over themselves to see to your every whim.” Morrigan hissed acidly. “So what brings you to my court, Earl Gallane?”

“Chieftain Morrigan, we have to do something. Scouts from every corner of the Country have told me that two outlaws are trying to steal our sacred relics. These men will stop at nothing to get at them. First they assaulted the fair Lady Corran, and then they brought chaos to my beloved Heron kingdom. I barely escaped with my life! My spies tell me that they are heading for Underside next. Please, let me safeguard the Lion’s Paw until these men are stopped.” Gallane explained excitedly. This news seemed to unnerve Morrigan.

“Fine. I will give you the Paw of Lion,” Morrigan sighed cautiously. He snapped his fingers and a servant instantly appeared with a box. “Here it is.” Morrigan handed the box over to Gallane.

“Excellent. Oh, if these criminals come here…”Gallane began to tell Morrigan, looked around, then finished in a quiet whisper.

As Gallane whispered, a cruel grin spread across the Chieftain’s face.