Halls of Power (Ancient Dreams Book 3) Read online

  Halls of Power

  Benjamin Medrano

  Halls of Power by Benjamin Medrano

  © 2017 Benjamin Medrano. All rights reserved.

  Contact the author at [email protected]

  Visit the author’s website at benjaminmedrano.com

  Sign up for the author’s mailing list at http://eepurl.com/cGPT-b

  Cover Art by Jackie Felix Wei

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental or with direct permission.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  The Story So Far

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Born a Queen

  Acknowledgments

  Jessica, I couldn’t do this without you.

  Joe, thanks for being my sounding board.

  Both of you had more confidence in me than I had.

  The Story So Far

  In the midst of a quiet war between the two elven kingdoms of Sifaren and Yisara and the slaver kingdom of Kelvanis, a dungeon was discovered. The heart and mind of the dungeon was Sistina, a tree with a dryad-like body. She rescued crown princess Phynis Constella of Sifaren from magically enforced slavery as well as a number of others, inadvertently leading to Phynis falling in love with her.

  Suspicious after a decade of war, Queen Calath Constella panicked over this revelation and ordered Phynis’ guards to bring her back to the capital of Sifaren. Due to this Phynis walked into an ambush, in which the princess was mortally wounded. Only Sistina’s aid managed to return Phynis to life within moments of her death, in which time Sistina fully healed even the change forcing Phynis to love her. The upset dungeon gave the guards and other agents of Sifaren an ultimatum, telling them that they were unwelcome in her domain unless they chose to submit to an order to not betray the dungeon or any others within it.

  Now aware of the princess’ presence within the dungeon, Kelvanis’ Adjudicator, Jared Falgrave, came to capture her using his Jewels, a group of seven magically modified, enslaved elven priestesses of the goddess Medaea, to break into the dungeon. Sistina ambushed his attack with traps and a war golem she had created, defeating the attack, capturing some of the soldiers, and freeing the Jewels in one fell swoop.

  Unfortunately, while the elves of Sifaren prepared to leave as Sistina demanded, they were not yet aware that Kelvanis had captured the goddess Medaea, and had set plans in motion to corrupt her to their bidding.

  After the removal of those elves who refused to follow her command, Sistina gave permission for the Jewels to attempt to rescue their captive fellow priestesses, to stop Kelvanis from raiding Yisara, and learn what happened to Medaea. They immediately set out, leaving Sistina and the others largely alone once more, during which time Sistina decided to give Phynis a throne of her own.

  When the Adventuring Guild arrived outside the dungeon, the guildmasters quickly decided that Sistina was not enough of a threat for them to destroy her. The inhabitants of the dungeon began to trade with outsiders, and Sistina set up a signboard with rules she’d made for the dungeon. Tension grew when Jared killed Farris, a healer who came to tend to his wounds, then committed suicide while under the magical command of Kelvanis’ Archon, Ulvian Sorvos.

  The Jewels very nearly managed to prevent the attack on Yisara, and managed to cut off half of Kelvanis’ attack force while rescuing their fellow priestesses. Disturbed by the absence of their goddess, they began retreating to Sistina’s dungeon.

  Kelvanis’ attack was devastating, capturing a large number of Yisara’s noble heirs, including the second princess, and demanding Queen Diane hand herself over in exchange for the heirs, except the princess, and a peace treaty. Under political pressure from her nobles, the queen had little choice but to agree, and did so.

  Excavating several temples and clearing an ancient mage academy of necromancy, Sistina found two survivors of ancient Everium in stasis, as well as a vampire whose power had sustained them. She also discovered a golem body into which she was able to infuse Farris’ soul and allow the elven healer to live once more.

  Through the winter each faction finalized their plans, even as Kelvanis founded a new faith, one to the Slave Goddess Tyria, and indoctrinated the captive former queen and princess of Yisara in the faith. The succubus Wenris was tasked with reshaping the two former royals to Kelvanis’ whims, but the demon’s loyalties seemed somehow unclear, despite serving Irethiel, the demon lord empowering the Archon.

  As winter neared its end, Sifaren sent a force led by the loyal knight Sir Reva Lucien to come to terms with Sistina and wreak havoc behind Kelvanis’ lines. At the same time Sistina finally unleashed her full strength and skill, closing the dungeon for a night as she unleashed high magic for the first time since the Godsrage. With the magic she transformed her mountain into a fortress-city named Beacon overnight, with the palace at the city’s peak crowned by a massive ruby light.

  The slaves within the town of Granite Point, forewarned that something was coming, quickly escaped into the city where they would be freed, even as the Sifaren army closed in. The Kelvanis garrison was forced to surrender when Captain Desa led a force of golems from the city itself.

  Now Queen of Beacon, Phynis Constella received Sir Reva and informed him that she would stand with Sifaren against Kelvanis, but as an independent nation. If they truly wished to be allies, the queen of Sifaren would have to come apologize for her actions in person. But to demonstrate her own sincerity, Phynis dispatched sixty armored golems and some of her own loyal guards to aid in the coming battles.

  Prologue

  The shriek of metal striking metal split the air, and Reva cringed at how harsh the sound was. His ears didn’t appreciate it in the slightest, but what he was seeing completely outweighed his discomfort. Two dozen golems had just slammed into the front lines of one of Kelvanis’ orc legions like juggernauts. Reva had been impressed by the sight of the golems to begin with, but until now, he hadn’t understood just how dangerous the constructs were. The attacking force had completely shattered the front lines of the orc horde. Fearless and massive, each golem was stronger than an ox an
d incredibly tough, unflinchingly carving its way into the enemy army.

  No elven force could clash directly with orcs in melee like that. The porcine orcs tended to be between six and eight feet in height and enormously muscular and tough. By comparison, though dusk elves were about as tall as a human was, they were also thinner and smaller of frame, tending to be faster and frailer. The sheer difference in strength between an elf and orc was what made a direct clash so deadly. Elves couldn’t stand and fight orcs without fortifications, and even then, it was difficult. The shock value of an orc army was immense, and had contributed greatly to Kelvanis’ ability to drive Sifaren’s army back over the years.

  That was what made the impact of the golems so incredible. A small army had emerged from Kelvanis’ western-most fort to block their return to Sifaren, and the fort had been reinforced without Reva’s knowledge over the winter. Instead of about three companies of orcs and an equal number of human soldiers, the fort instead had five companies of orcs, which had been an unpleasant surprise when the large force had appeared in their path.

  Reva’s worries had been somewhat allayed when Alissa and Helia had volunteered to let their golems spearhead the assault. While he knew that one of their intentions was to test the golems against the enemy army, the risks had seemed a bit more reasonable with them in front. In the end, it seemed that his fears of their force getting savaged were entirely unfounded.

  The golems cut through the orcs like a maul-axe splitting wood, their halberds painted red as they inexorably advanced. Arrows rained from his archers into Kelvanis’ rear ranks, and Reva took a deep breath and held it, his eyes fixed on the enemy as several lightning bolts lanced into the orc lines. He could see the human soldiers behind the orcs wavering, and the knight willed them to break and run.

  Colonel Edwin Miller watched the gleaming giants cut through the orcs like a scythe through wheat, the blood draining from his face like the blood was draining from their bodies. The sight left him aghast, and he could see his troops wavering in shock.

  None of them had ever seen an orc company take so many casualties before. It was unheard of in their battles with Sifaren, and he instantly knew it was because of the constructs. What frustrated him was that, despite their obvious power, there were so damned few of the war machines! They could take on a few opponents at a time, but on their own, they wouldn’t be such a massive threat. The problem was that they were blocking a direct assault on the elves, which gave their opponents a chance to stand and fight, and to use their archery and magical prowess to their full potential. The resulting carnage was absolutely devastating to the morale of his soldiers.

  Nearly a quarter of the five hundred orcs were dead or injured, and the remainder were, to his shock, actually starting to fall back. So Colonel Edwin found himself facing a difficult decision. For a long, long moment he hesitated, watching what was happening.

  Finally he spat out the words he’d been mulling over for the past few minutes. “Sound the retreat.”

  The horns blared, and he winced as his soldiers began to move hastily, almost eagerly, at the command. He muttered under his breath, tugging at his mustache nervously. “Where in the hells did they get monsters like that?”

  Chapter 1

  As the silvery sound of the morning bells echoed throughout the city, Lirisel knelt before the altar of Medaea, praying fervently for both her goddess’ personal safety and for the success of Beacon. Her world had changed immensely in the last year, and yet the priestess found her personal faith had grown only stronger. Some of the other priestesses were having more difficulties with their faith, but by and large, the stress of being captured and enslaved had tempered their faith instead of destroying it. If the temple hadn’t been primarily staffed by priestesses who’d been in the faith for decades, Lirisel suspected that more of them would have turned away from Medaea. Regardless of what the others chose in the end, she would understand and support their final decisions.

  Lirisel’s prayers took a good ten minutes, since she wasn’t rushing herself. The airy temple was calming and relaxing, especially once the sound of the bells had died away, and finally she opened her eyes and stood to leave. She smiled at several other priestesses as she exited the temple and paused, staring across the landscape with a smile, though she shivered in the cool breeze that was nearly constant at this time of year.

  The temple of Medaea was located a few hundred feet below the peak of Beacon, which meant that almost a full quarter of the city was laid out before her in all its majesty. Granite-walled houses and stores with slate roofs lined the streets that spiraled their way inward, while the city walls were thick and strong. Certainly, the city looked almost deserted with only about five hundred inhabitants, but it was there, solid and new, where a week before there had been nothing but a mountain with a small town at its foot.

  From the temple, they could clearly see the dawn every day, allowing the sunlight to illuminate the stained-glass windows and send rippling color throughout the chapel. It also gave a commanding view of the forests and hilly plains that lay to Beacon’s east, causing Lirisel’s smile to widen. There wasn’t the slightest sign of any of Kelvanis’ armies or scouts, which meant they still had time.

  With that in mind, Lirisel murmured another prayer, turning the elegant copper bracelet on her wrist so she could touch the ruby bead and send a thread of mana into it. With every drop of mana the priestesses gave Sistina, the dryad and dungeon could add a little more to Beacon’s security.

  Finally satisfied with her actions for the moment, Lirisel let out a sigh and headed toward the lower tiers of the city. It was her turn to help in one of the farming caverns that Sistina had built underneath the city’s surface.

  Pulling her attention from making final adjustments to the dungeon, Sistina was relieved when she noticed that several priestesses had given donations of mana. While she was no longer at the point where she couldn’t easily keep her body fully animated, her mana reservoir was more depleted than she would prefer. Still, at least the lowest water level wasn’t steaming anymore.

  Sistina had heavily revamped the dungeon as part of her construction of the city, mostly making it more compact. The dungeon was primarily near the eastern entrance of the city, and most of the first few floors were still plant-based, like they’d been before. However, she’d also seen no reason to keep everything the way it had been, either. She’d labeled her sign’s rewards for more than a hundred floors, so by all the gods, she was going to make more than a hundred floors.

  The first five were plant and animal based, just like most of the floors the adventurers were dealing with before her renovations. After that she changed to a water theme, which would most likely unnerve them, after which she was using fire, air, and earth in order. The fire levels were also where she’d placed most of the old dwarven foundry, since she didn’t want to only use fire on those floors. Part of the foundry had been relocated back to near her own cavern, which she was using to create the golems. Those were going to be the largest mana expenditure in the city for a while. Plus, there was the worry about a demon lord or goddess… all in all, Sistina had her hands rather full.

  Still, she slipped her awareness into her body and opened her eyes, considering how she’d arranged things. For the city itself, she’d retracted her domain from everything over the surface except the palace, extending upward to envelop the air node that floated there. That included the basements of the buildings, but after some thought, she’d chosen to keep the sewers as part of her domain for maintenance. The caverns she’d created for the people to grow food were also no longer part of her domain, which she felt was necessary to keep the eventual inhabitants from draining her dry of mana.

  Phynis and Desa were finishing up their plans for taxes at a table, the laws they’d worked on sitting in a neat pile next to them. As though she could feel Sistina’s presence, Phynis looked up and smiled. “Sistina! Did you finish what you were working on?”

  “Yes. Dunge
on fixed,” Sistina confirmed with a smile. Standing from her chair, she circled the conference room to give Phynis a gentle hug. Her beloved smiled broadly and hugged back for a minute. Finally Sistina asked, “Things going well?”

  “They are,” Desa confirmed. “The books in the library on Everium’s laws and taxes helped immensely. While both of us knew a lot about Sifaren’s laws, we’ve been away for a long time and having a reference helped. Are we essentially done, Phynis?”

  “I think we are. Just a few minor details left. But with all the slave brands running around, we had to make certain to keep anyone from trying to discriminate based on them. In either direction,” Phynis replied, the recently crowned queen not bothering to let go as she snuggled into Sistina. “I do think that my own status will help with that, though.”

  “It should,” Desa agreed. “It’ll take some time to get everything right, though. Since we desperately need more people in the city, having things nice and clear will help with immigration.”