He’d made a mistake. King Ethelred IV admitted that now. His court had told him as much the week before when the discovery had been made. The whole mountain had gone missing. How was that even possible? The merchants with whom he had traded mining rights hadn’t seemed so numerous as to need to take the whole thing. But then the deal had been pretty good: magic transfer of supplies from the plains below to the mountain fastness, in exchange for one unremarkable peak within the boundaries of the kingdom. Now, of course, Mt Ethelred II was very remarkable, in that it was a rather large hole. He’d lost a great deal of honor in the past few days, enough that he might even have to concede to a parliament. He decided to remind them of how awful restocking the keep had been. Yes, tomorrow, the court would lead a train of wagons up to the keep. And no one would be allowed to use the magic artifact.
He sighed, and said to the hall full of nobles, “I agree, the artifact was certainly not a good exchange. As such, we will not be using it for this summer’s journey to the Summer Keep. Therefore, we must depart at the earliest date, in order to arrive on time for the summer festival.”
From the various knights, lords and ladies, and courtiers there was stunned silence. At last, after several tense moments of silence, the Chancellor, Sir Lenard asked, “And when is it that we shall depart?”
“Tomorrow, shortly after breaking our fast, and we shall all travel together.”
“Surely, m’Lord, the ladies should precede the royal party via magic to prepare the keep for your arrival?” the Chancellor continued.
“Nay, Chancellor, for if we are to no longer use this contrivance then why pray tell should we continue to use it?”
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