Page 323 of Of Empires and Dust

“That simple?”

Rikber let out a long sigh. He seemed to sigh a lot, though she supposed the older she got the more she sighed as well. “I already told you, I owe no loyalty to Hoffnar, nor anyone who sits on a throne and sends dwarves to carve each other apart. I have dedicated my entire life to the study and understanding of our people’s history. If I can be the first dwarf to lay eyes on the lost city of Vindakur and a Portal Heart in over three hundred years, then I am yours, my queen.”

“Hmm.” Kira walked around the table until she stood beside the old scholar, leaning on the table’s edge. “Tell me about the Portal Hearts.”

“What do you want to know?”

“How many there are, where they go, can you use them?”

Rikber laughed. “Decades of my life, summarised in a few breaths.”

“I don’t want decades of your life. Simple answers. The stories say there are five portals, yes?”

Rikber nodded. “From my studies, there is one located in Vindakur and one in Drifaien at Mount Helmund – or Frostbone Hill as it was once called.” He leaned forwards and tapped the map. “One buried deep in the Kolmir Mountains, lost with our brethren there. One in the dead city of Ulukar in Wolfpine Ridge and one in the Sea of Stone. Though the last time that was seen was millennia ago.”

“And if we put you in front of one, do you think you could activate it? Take us where we need to go?”

Rikber gave a half-shrug. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. I’ve never actually seen one with my own eyes, only drawings and paintings that have seen more centuries than my mother has, and that dwarf simply won’t die.”

“Well then, what use are you?” Alrick’s son, Lomak, asked, scratching at a cut on his face.

“More use than you, I’d wager.” He frowned at the young dwarf, turning back to Kira. “I believe I can activate one, and that I have a reasonable chance of being able to utilise it with a degree of accuracy.”

Kira stared down at the old dwarf for a moment, looking into his eyes. “I need you to be sure.”

“I am what I am, my queen. I could not?—”

“Thousands of lives depend on you telling me you are sure you can control a Portal Heart. This is no time for modesty. Are you the foremost living scholar of Hafaesir or not?”

Rikber’s stare grew sombre. “If you take me to the lost city of Vindakur and put me before a true Portal Heart, I will not fail you.”

“Good.” Kira gestured to Ahktar, who stood watching by the door. “Have Rikber brought to where he can bathe and find a warm meal. And send for Turim Arlan. Tell him we will need every Wind Runner we have.”

Ahktar nodded and gestured for Rikber to follow him.

Kira grasped Ahktar’s arm and whispered in his ear. “Don’t let him out of your sight. Understood?”

“My queen.”

When Ahktar and Rikber left, Kira looked back to her sister and the others. “You did well finding him. We will need the others here as quickly as their legs can carry them. No matter how large the mountain, six thousand souls moving through the tunnels will not go unnoticed. We will need to arrange attacks to scatter Hoffnar’s forces. How secure is the lost city?”

“We have no more than a hundred axes stationed there at this moment, but, sister…” Erani’s voice took on a serious tone. “There is more.”

“There is always more,” Kira whispered to herself. “Speak.”

“Our spies in Volkur bring news. We know why Hoffnar has been building the tunnels.”

“Well,” Kira said, impatient. “Out with it.”

“He plans to assault Berona.” Alrick stepped closer to the table, where the maps lay. “And Antiquar, and maybe more, by the sound of it. His tunnels are almost complete.”

“And when is this assault to go ahead?”

“A matter of days,” Alrick replied.

“Good.”

“Good?” Erani narrowed her eyes at Kira. “I don’t like the Lorians any more than I do the kerathlin, but Hoffnar is radicalising these dwarves. They don’t want victory. They want blood, they want slaughter. There are thousands of innocents in those cities… hundreds of thousands.”

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