The Forgotten War Read Online Free Page A

but another that does interest me greatly. The first of this is iron and steel. The Aelva do not mine – they are creatures of nature
– but this means they have very little iron weaponry that isn’t antique. Their weapons are often tipped with flint or obsidian, though I have heard that they make use of metal from
rocks that fall out of the sky. The Grand Duke feels that offering our ancient enemies iron weapons is more a symbolic gesture of trust than anything else. But he bade me make the offer to them.
The second thing, however, is much more intriguing.’ He drew himself forward, lowering his voice confidentially.
    ‘In the far west of the country, in a bleak uninhabited place close to the sea and blasted by the wind, are some ancient ruins, possibly thousands of years old. In my capacity as a
scholarly collector of antiquities and student of the ways of the Wych folk I have had occasion to visit there several times in my career and this spring I decided to go again, probably for the
last time. I took Willem and a couple of other sturdy fellows ... and Alys, a student with a gift for drawing, my past sketches of the ruins not really being up to scratch. So when we got there we
proceeded to slowly cover the place foot by foot, recording our findings in a scientifically acceptable manner. It is a most unusual place; I could recognise three different architectural styles
and five phases of building...’ He looked at Morgan, who was obviously drifting.
    ‘Sorry, my boy, I shall get to the point. This place being on the coast, I think it was once a port, you know. Well, the land is unstable and prone to slipping and this is exactly what had
happened since my last visit. A large portion of the cliff wall had collapsed into the sea. It was tragic to see the demise of something that had stood for many centuries but, as I walked through
the rubble, where the land had fallen I saw something new. Stairs ... a stairway leading down a shaft cut under the hill. I cannot tell you the level of excitement that I felt; scholars such as I
can go an entire lifetime without seeing such things. I was all for charging down there straight away until Willem pointed out the nauseous smell coming from the shaft and the dangerous broken
nature of the stairs. We left it until the following day when the smell had disappeared. Torches lit, we slowly climbed down the shaft. I counted 198 steps, six times thirty-three, both significant
in Wych folk mythology. The walls and ceilings of the shaft were all of vaulted stone, which had prevented its collapse, but the carvings on these walls! Some of the original colours remained
– vivid blues, reds and greens with pictures of rearing stags, fierce bears and wolves. There were hawks flying on the ceiling as well as gentler animals, goats and oxen, all of which are
spirits or deities in Wych mythology. But then, finally, I realised there was a beast whose long, thin body ran the entire length of the shaft, coiling over the ceiling, down to the walls and back
to the ceiling again, until at last we were confronted by a frowning stone door on which the beast’s fierce head was displayed. The head of a dragon!’
    ‘Dragons are myths,’ said Morgan unconcernedly as he finished off the food.
    ‘Maybe, my boy, but what we were looking at was a depiction of the Wych creation myth and I quote, “The great black dragon opened its maw and out streamed all the animals of the
Earth, but soon they sickened through cold and damp and so the dragon breathed again and thus gave the world fire.” That is part of the annals of the Aelven. Before our second war with them
the priest chronicler Adalferth travelled to their lands recording their histories and mythologies. After setting these things down in writing, he returned with other priests and tried to convert
them. They were all killed, one of the catalysts for the second war. Anyway, we had to get this door open.’
    ‘What caused the