Mantle: The Return of the Sha by Gary Bregar Read Free Book Online Page B

on his eighteenth birthday.
    For centuries, the inflock had slept quietly, never producing its influence, until Balki arrived. None of its former possessors had been so hungry for power, so indifferent to the lives of those who might oppose him, so the inflock had not the strength to do its advising or set the owner’s mind on a path of evil. The previous owners had all been kindhearted and simply too good by nature.
    It was when Balki had been born, finally bearing the unfortunate curse of the Skites, that the inflock began to awaken. Its awakening would be a slow one, though. The inflock had been weakened by time, but even more so by the purity of its previous owners.
    So it woke slowly, feeding off the negative and evil nature of Balki and gaining strength little by little. Now, with Balki about to carry out his plans, the inflock had silently begun to stir.
     
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    When King Zander arrived in Maske, he had a feeling of optimism. After all, there was only one other village to visit after Maske and the oracle had told him that all hope to regain his smile was not lost.
    The village of Maske was on the outer edges of Forris, nearly four days’ journey from the nearest neighboring village. It had been many years since the king had visited Maske, and even then it had only been for a short visit and he had been young. At the time, his father, King Alexo, had put in place a plan to re-establish the Forris armory, and Maske was known for its creation of the finest metals in all of Forris. The village was established just outside of the Forie Mines, where every conceivable metal and precious gem could be found.
    It was the Spiers who did metal conjuring for the Maskes. They were the small folk who lived in the caves of the mountains overlooking the village. Not more than four feet in height, the Spiers would cast their spells over the mines so that precious materials would simply rise up from the rocks and dirt.
    This was not a gesture made by the Spiers to simply please the neighboring Maskes. Their services were sold to the Maskes for such items as food, tools, and other necessities. And often they would also require such luxury items as rugs, tapestries, and jewelry.
    While the Spiers were very skilled at managing the mountain and the mines, they possessed absolutely no skills in crafting tools, or creating objects with any artistic value. Their world was a world of caves and rocks, and so being surrounded by the color of gray they claimed no sense of creativity whatsoever.
    In return for these items, though, the Maskes could simply walk into the mines, collecting iron ore, gold, silver, sapphires, and diamonds at their leisure. It was a good agreement between the two communities, since each one had something of value that the other wanted. Since the Spiers had access to precious metals and gems at all times, without the skills to properly use them, they considered the treasure worthless and gave no thought to its actual value. And since the Maskes (thanks to the Spiers) had unlimited access to the materials for making such items for the Spiers, they too, thought that they were getting the better end of the bargain.
     
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    When Zander arrived in the village, he stepped off his coach and was immediately greeted by the mayorgovern of Maske. He was yet another short and heavy man, and King Zander began to wonder if it was only a trend that the mayorgoverns of nearly all of the villages he had visited had been of short and plump stature. As he thought to himself jokingly about the possibility of a requirement among mayorgoverns to be short, heavyset men, he began to chuckle. Of course, you would not see the expression of laughter on the king’s face because a smile would be required, and so you could only hear him laugh. It was a strange sight for the people of Maske to see: a man laughing out loud, yet holding a bitter expression on his face. It looked unnatural.
    “Welcome, Majesty! It is such a pleasure to see