Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools by M. R. Mathias

Author:M. R. Mathias
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Epic, Fiction
ISBN: 9781452491714
Publisher: Michael Robb Mathias Jr.
Published: 2011-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

“Someone once said that a dragon could lay waste to all of Salaya with a single breath,” Prince Raspaar said with a chuckle. The island was small, but it boasted a sizable city at one of its two approachable ports. Being that it was nothing more than the tip of a mountain jutting up out of the sea, it was completely surrounded by rocky shoreline. There was no need for defensive walls or archer towers here. Only the lower portion of the island could support roads, and Salaya was surrounded by wicked coral reefs that would shred the hull of a ship unless navigated correctly.

King Raphaen’s immaculate, yet modest, two-story home was far from being a castle. It was built on the crown of a hill overlooking the city that shared the island’s name. Save for a somewhat famous garden at the top of the mountain, the terrain above couldn’t sustain effective farming. The rocky mountainsides barely held enough greenery to feed the goat herds. The few sections of the island that did allow for agriculture were devoted to growing a rare herb that was in high demand throughout the realm. There were jade mines here too, but the entrances were hidden.

A great counter-weighted tram that clanked up and down the mountainside on a set of iron tracks was powered by two huge oxen walking in a circle around a spool of chain. The contraption lumbered up and down, carrying people, goods, and small animals in cages. The whole time he had been in it, Mikahl half expected it to go sliding back down the mountain into the city below.

“It is a small island,” Lord Gregory agreed with the Prince.

“But it’s beautiful.” Lady Trella’s elation was palpable as she nestled against her husband.

“You’re too kind, my lady,” the young prince of the island kingdom said with a smooth regal bow that caused Lady Trella to giggle.

They exited the tram and stood at an ornate wooden rail that surrounded a well-tended garden. It seemed as if they were riding on the bow of some colossal ship. From their vantage they could see the ocean in every direction save for behind them. There was a monastery somewhere below, and the monks who resided there tended the place called the Fairy Garden. The board walkway they were on wound its way around the bowl-shaped mountaintop. Clouds of white and sea-blue flowers, and ornately trimmed shrubbery surrounded small copses of perfectly formed miniature trees that were barely chest high to the High King.

The only tree able to sink its roots here, the fairy tree, was like any other tree, save for the fact that, at its full height, it would be barely as tall as a man. Bright green leaves the size of fingernails covered the branches. Looking at them, Mikahl remembered the little man dressed in frog skin that had tricked him, Hyden, and Vaegon in the Evermore. He half expected to see a handful of the little people walking around the miniature forest.

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