The northern road had been quiet for years.
That was why the missing caravan bothered Adrian.
If bandits had attacked it, there would have been tracks.
If monsters had attacked it, there would have been bodies.
If the caravan had simply turned around, someone would have reported it.
Instead, there was nothing.
Six wagons had left Valoria.
None had arrived at their destination.
The merchants were gone.
The guards were gone.
And the horses had been found wandering several miles from the road.
Adrian stared at the report.
“How long?”
“Nine days,” Chancellor Edmund replied.
“Nine days?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And we’re only hearing about it now?”
Edmund looked uncomfortable.
“The northern road is poorly monitored.”
Adrian rubbed his forehead.
Of course it was.
Another problem.
Another weakness that had existed for years because nobody had bothered to fix it.
“Who owns the caravan?”
“Three merchants from Valoria.
One is a member of the Merchants’ Guild.”
“Cargo?”
“Mostly iron tools, cloth, grain, salt, and several sealed crates.”
Adrian looked up.
“Sealed crates?”
“According to the manifest.”
“What’s inside?”
“We don’t know.”
Adrian frowned.
That was unusual.
Merchants generally wanted officials to know what they were transporting.
At least officially.
“Send Elias.”
Edmund nodded.
“With soldiers?”
“Twenty.”
“Twenty?”
“If there are bandits, that’s enough to investigate without looking like we’re sending an army.”
“And if there are monsters?”
Adrian looked at the report again.
“Then twenty won’t matter much.”
Major Elias Varen left the next morning.
He took twenty soldiers, a healer, two scouts and a representative from the merchants’ guild.
Adrian didn’t go with them.
He wanted to.
The old engineer in him was curious.
The king in him knew better.
A missing caravan was not worth abandoning the capital when the kingdom was still fragile.
Instead, he waited.
And waited.
Four days passed.
Then seven.
On the eighth morning, Elias returned.
He didn’t look injured.
That was the first thing Adrian noticed.
The second was that he looked confused.
“What happened?”
Elias placed a small object on Adrian’s desk.
A piece of black stone.
It was about the size of a fist.
Adrian picked it up.
It was surprisingly heavy.
“What is this?”
“We found it near the caravan.”
“Near?”
“About three miles off the northern road.”
Elias pulled out a map.
“The caravan didn’t disappear on the road.”
He marked a location.
“They left it voluntarily.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did you find the merchants?”
“No.”
“The wagons?”
“Three.”
“Three?”
“The other three are missing.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What happened to the remaining wagons?”
“We found them abandoned.”
“Cargo?”
“Mostly untouched.”
“Mostly?”
Elias nodded.
“The sealed crates were gone.”
Adrian put down the stone.
“What was inside?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did you find any tracks?”
“Yes.”
“Bandits?”
“No.”
“Monsters?”
Elias hesitated.
“No.”
“Then what?”
Elias looked at him.
“People.”
Adrian waited.
“There were footprints leading away from the road.”
“How many?”
“At least thirty.”
“Human?”
“Most likely.”
“Armed?”
“We found several broken spear shafts.”
Adrian leaned back.
“So someone took them.”
“Possibly.”
“Why leave the other cargo?”
“I don’t know.”
“And why were the horses abandoned?”
“That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.”
Elias reached into his bag and removed another object.
A metal fragment.
Adrian picked it up.
It was dark gray and covered in strange markings.
“Where did you find this?”
“Inside one of the abandoned wagons.”
Adrian examined it.
The markings weren’t letters.
They looked almost like geometric patterns.
“Magic?”
“Possibly.”
“Did Liora examine it?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Not yet.”
Adrian immediately stood.
“Take it to her.”
Liora spent three hours examining the fragment.
She eventually called Adrian to the laboratory.
“Well?”
Liora pointed toward the table.
“I don’t know what it is.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am.”
She tapped the fragment.
“It’s definitely magical.”
“How strong?”
“That’s difficult to measure.”
She adjusted her mana instrument.
“It isn’t storing mana the way a crystal does.”
“Then what is it doing?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stared at the object.
“Can you safely experiment on it?”
Liora hesitated.
“Probably.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
She sighed.
“I don’t think it’s dangerous.”
“You don’t think?”
“I can’t guarantee it.”
Adrian crossed his arms.
“Then don’t touch it.”
Liora blinked.
“But—”
“We’re not going to sacrifice people because we’re curious.”
She looked at him for a moment.
Then smiled.
“You’re becoming a good king.”
Adrian frowned.
“What does that have to do with this?”
“You actually told a researcher not to blow herself up.”
“That should be a minimum requirement.”
Liora laughed.
“Fine.”
The investigation continued.
Clara took over the merchant records.
Within two days, she discovered something strange.
The caravan’s official manifest listed eight crates of ordinary goods.
But the merchant guild’s private records listed eleven.
Adrian read the report.
“Three missing crates.”
“Yes,” Clara said.
“And nobody reported them.”
“No.”
“Who owned them?”
“That’s the problem.”
Clara placed another document on the desk.
“The three crates belonged to a company registered six months ago.”
“Name?”
“Northstar Trading.”
Adrian frowned.
“Who owns it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
“Keep going.”
Clara nodded.
She hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The company has purchased land near the northern road.”
“How much?”
“About two hundred acres.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
That answer was becoming frustratingly familiar.
He looked at the map.
The northern road connected Valoria to several mining settlements.
Beyond those settlements were mountains.
And beyond the mountains lay territory that Arvendale had never properly explored.
Adrian had always assumed that the northern region was simply undeveloped.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
“Clara.”
“Yes?”
“I want every land purchase in that region from the last five years.”
She nodded.
“And merchant records.”
“Yes.”
“Military reports.”
“Yes.”
“Old maps.”
Clara paused.
“Old maps?”
“Anything older than the current royal maps.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked toward the northern mountains.
“Because if something was found there, I want to know whether someone knew it existed before us.”
Three days later, Clara returned.
She brought a stack of documents.
“You’re going to hate this.”
Adrian sighed.
“That’s becoming a pattern.”
She placed the documents on his desk.
“The land was originally classified as crown territory.”
“Originally?”
“About seventy years ago.”
“Why was it sold?”
“Because the land was considered worthless.”
Adrian looked at the map.
“Why?”
“Poor soil.
Difficult terrain.
No major settlements.”
“And now?”
“Northstar Trading purchased the land at a very low price.”
Adrian leaned back.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
The same time the company was created.
“Who approved the sale?”
Clara hesitated.
“Provincial office.”
“Which official?”
She gave him the name.
Adrian recognized it.
One of the officials involved in the earlier grain investigation.
He stared at Clara.
“Are you telling me the same provincial administration connected to the grain contracts also approved this land purchase?”
“Yes.”
“Does that prove anything?”
“No.”
Adrian nodded.
“Good.” Get faster updates on g.com.
Clara looked surprised.
“Good?”
“I’d rather know that we don’t have proof than pretend we do.”
He looked at the documents.
“But it’s enough to investigate.”
The next week, Adrian summoned Duke Alaric Voss.
The duke arrived with an expression that suggested he already knew this wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“You’ve found something.”
“I found a problem.”
“Those are usually the same thing with you.”
Adrian almost smiled.
He handed him the map.
“Do you know anything about the northern mountains?”
Voss studied it.
“Not much.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody goes there.”
“Nobody?”
“Miners occasionally travel through the lower passes.”
“Any old ruins?”
Voss looked up.
“Ruins?”
“Ancient structures.
Temples.
Fortresses.
Anything.”
The duke thought.
“There are stories.”
“What kind?”
“Old stories.”
Adrian waited.
Voss sighed.
“Supposedly there was an ancient fortress somewhere beyond the northern pass.”
“Supposedly?”
“Nothing reliable.”
“Who built it?”
“No one knows.”
“When?”
“Before the current kingdom.”
Adrian looked toward the map.
“How old?”
“Possibly thousands of years.”
That caught his attention.
“Why wasn’t it investigated?”
Voss laughed quietly.
“Because the people who tried never came back.”
Adrian looked at him.
“That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
The room became quiet.
“How many?”
“Over the centuries?”
Voss shrugged.
“Who knows?”
Adrian slowly sat down.
There was a difference between an old story and a pattern of missing people.
He suddenly understood why the caravan had bothered him.
Maybe the merchants hadn’t been attacked.
Maybe they had gone looking for something.
Something they believed was valuable enough to risk their lives for.
That night, Adrian couldn’t sleep.
He stood at his window looking north.
He had spent months thinking about roads, agriculture, taxes, soldiers and machines.
He had focused on making Arvendale stronger from within.
But kingdoms did not exist in isolation.
Beyond his borders were other nations.
Other cultures.
Other resources.
Other dangers.
And perhaps other opportunities.
He picked up the map again.
The northern road suddenly looked different.
It wasn’t simply a bad road leading to a poor region.
It was a road leading somewhere.
Adrian smiled slightly.
“Maybe it’s time.”
He didn’t know exactly what he meant by that.
Not yet.
But he knew one thing.
Arvendale could not remain ignorant of its own territory forever.
The next morning, Adrian called Elias, Clara, Liora and Daniel together.
Elias looked at the others.
“Why are we all here?”
Adrian placed the map on the table.
“I want an expedition.”
Daniel’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Where?”
“The northern mountains.”
Elias frowned.
“Because of the caravan?”
“Partly.”
Clara studied the map.
“And the land purchases.”
“Yes.”
Liora looked interested.
“And the magical object.”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned over the table.
“So we’re going to investigate all three at once?”
Adrian nodded.
“Carefully.”
Elias crossed his arms.
“How many soldiers?”
“Enough to protect the expedition.”
“That’s not a number.”
“Forty.”
Elias considered it.
“Fifty.”
“Forty-five.”
“Fine.”
Daniel looked at Clara.
“Does he negotiate like this with everyone?”
“Apparently.”
Adrian ignored them.
“We are not going to conquer anything.
We’re not looking for a fight.”
He looked at each of them.
“We’re going to find out what’s there.”
Liora smiled.
“That sounds fun.”
Elias sighed.
“It sounds dangerous.”
Daniel grinned.
“Usually the fun things are.”
Adrian looked at the northern mountains once more.
For months, his world had been the kingdom of Arvendale.
Now, for the first time since becoming king, he was preparing to look beyond it.
And somewhere in those mountains, beneath stone that had not seen sunlight for centuries, something ancient was waiting.
Something that had been forgotten.
Something that had just been found.
And Adrian had no idea that opening that door would change more than his kingdom.
It would change the world around it.