Through layers of granite laced with coal, and iron, gold, silver and quartz, a pale shaft of light filtered down to fall on the furrowed forehead of the king. He stared at the papers strewn on the oak table in front of him. The deep brown wax of his seal was hardening on the last of a small, neat stack to his right; however, his attention was not there, but on the requests and reports that lay in drifts across the table and onto the floor. As the thane chiefs looking at him attentively, one grabbed a piece of paper and brandished it over his head. "In this one, a family of seventeen - from grandparents on down - live in a house built for four in the old sector. Another reports five living in a storeroom behind a forge. Eleven in two rooms behind a general store, and on and on, but these are better than the reports from the T-sectors." In the T-sectors, homes had been made in the paid-out mining tunnels.

In the old sector, and the caverns that the second generation engineered for habitation, vents had been drilled up through the mountain, and pipes brought water in and took waste out. Only in the council chamber and the grand public places were the vents fitted with mirrors to cleverly reflect light down, but elsewhere they served as outlets for smoke from torches, forges, refineries, and hearths. When there were no more viable caverns for living, and the old ones were far overcrowded, people started building in abandoned mine shafts. The coal shafts had been lighted through reflection for fear of igniting the coal, but the others were darker than the night of a new moon.

Another thane spouted, "Children are dying of smoke inhalation! None of these mining tunnels were built to handle cook-fires! Filth runs in grooves in the middle of the street and collects in stinking pools in the deepest parts of the tunnels. Water sits stagnant for days! What parent has time or will to fetch it fresh everyday from the fountains near the palace? But there is nowhere else to go."

"I could almost take the deaths as a godsend to control the population, if only I could separate them from the names and faces," the king whispered. More loudly, he continued, "I can do naught but encourage people to become merchants, taking their goods and families to far off cities. I know your grievances are well founded, but what can I do? Ventilate the new tunnels and stop the mining?"

"No," grumbled the thanes, "what would our people do? Thay can't live without income."

"Should we clear out the growing caves and put houses there and in food storage?"

"No, what would we do in winter, when food caravans would be blocked out by snow?"

"There is simply no room left to build homes in Vath Vagor, and nowhere to displace families into while the necessary improvements are made."

"What about a colony?"

"We could not find another site nearby, in this range of western mountains to start a colony," the king grunted, "Even if I did, we would have the Efflamm Imperial army on our backs again."

At this, the assembled chiefs grumbled, remembering how the emperor had marched an army south on each side of the mountain range as soon as he heard that Milek had been raised to the long empty Amber Throne. Though the Railie people had duly elected Milek from among those proposed by the chiefs of the thanes, as tradition and constitution had demanded for more than seven centuries, the emperor did not recognize his authority. Though the Empire had done nothing to help the Railies in three hundred seven years, and Efflamm troops had seldom bothered to keep a guard in Vath Vagor since the second emperor was enthroned in 78E, he was seen as a usurping threat.

"Perhaps the Sword Mountains…" started one thane. "We could go home," said another. "Yes, home." "Home," they echoed. None of them had ever been to Cor Melén, but when they said "home," that was what they all meant. They knew the name of every cavern and every load. And they knew the name of every man and woman that had died in her defense. They had all made the promise to these thousands that the thane chiefs had made so long ago to the last king: first to protect, second to avenge. The prophecy to the thanes had come true, so they had made the proposals, and they now had a king again. Now that king spoke, "You see what I saw. I am glad that it was not simply a result of the news."

"News?" mutterings buzzed around the council chamber.

"That is why I truly called you together. You know that none of these problems are new. When Thichilék of thane Strior died, you all know that I was by his side. What you do not know is what he revealed to me. He told me that there was one that would help us in the Island town of Cuelom. He told me to ask in the name of Thichilék of the Fifth Order." In response to the thanes' sudden mutterings, he went on, "Yes, he had begun training as a wizard, though his talent was discovered too late in life for him to rise higher than the order of apprentices. This is how he became such a prominent sage on his return a decade ago. Upon this news, I sent to Cuelom to find the man Thichilék had spoken of. The one who replied is a wizard of the Second Order, as high as the old order has seen in a few hundred years. His name is Mihrol. His reply was that he could do nothing, but that he would send soon. Yesterday, nearly three years later, I received news from him saying that he had seen evidence of the weakening of the curse. He said that the time was ripe to go to Cor Melén, so he has arranged to come here. He should arrive in a few weeks. Today we will arrange to send him a band of warriors to regain what was lost!" Cheers rose from the assembled thanes as they stood to toast the venture.