Snowcastles & Icetowers by Duncan McGeary

Author:Duncan McGeary [McGeary, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Amazon: B078Z58PS4
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2018-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Greylock shaded his eyes, trying desperately to find his marker of the glacier’s progress, but the light was too bright to endure for more than a few seconds. Lofty towers of ice and graceful snowcastles dotted the snows, but today even these structures were all but washed from view by the intense light springing off the snows. The light could seem to find no escape, and turned everything but the largest of the dwellings to white. Only the gray rock of Godshome, so high that no man had ever climbed it, interrupted the glare.

Though the sun gave an illusion of warmth, Greylock knew this was misleading. The bitter chill of the High Plateau was locked forever within the crystals of ice. The cold would emerge with renewed sting the moment the sun left the sky.

A year had passed since his ascension to the throne of the High Plateau, but it seemed to him that he had done little to alleviate the poverty and hunger of his people. Within the magnificent structures of the snowcastles the common people of the High Plateau were still starving.

The Tyrant simply could not understand it. He had vigorously implemented the ideas and reforms he had garnered from his visit to the Underworld, ideas and reforms that should have made the High Plateau a paradise. Yet little had changed. There was always the snow to be reckoned with, the cold, unyielding snow. The snow never ceased to fall.

Greylock could barely see the flames created by the fire-wizardry of Moag through the glare. He could not help but wince at the vast stores of precious wood which were being consumed by the costly battle with Godshome. Hours of labor were being squandered, he thought, chopping away at the invading glacier, inch by inch. It was time and energy and material he had hoped to spend growing more food for his people. But this goal, like so many others he had once envisioned, would have to wait yet another year.

Only the reopening of the Gateway was proceeding as planned, he thought, and even the clearing of that mountain roadway was creating more problems than it was solving.

He heard Slimspear enter the guardroom behind him, and turned to find the steward standing at attention. Once again, Greylock wished he had chosen someone else as steward. The appointment of Slimspear, while filling his need for an ally, had changed their old easy relationship. The new steward took his position and duties very seriously.

“What is it, Slimspear?” he asked, tiredly.

“The wizard Moag wishes to see you again, my lord.” The steward seemed reluctant to say even this much.

Greylock smiled to himself. Slimspear obviously did not like the way the wizard was pestering them. The steward had no understanding of the bond that kept the wizard obedient to the Tyrant, but at the same time resentful of every order. He did not know that this bond had been bought by the precious metal glyden, which released the fire-wizardry of Moag only in the service of the Tyrant.

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