The Barren Land
The Shepherd, Book I
A Novel by Jeffrey B. Linn
All Rights Reserved

Chapter XIII

The gatekeeper was clearly visible in the firelight, but beyond the void hung like a shroud. mentor appeared beside him, his familiar hoary crown and coarse weave robe faintly reassuring.

"I have asked Elias mentor," the gatekeeper announced, "to relate for us the history of the Three Crowns, for in meeting with the Truth I believe we will part with this illusion."

mentor stepped forward. "Perhaps you do not know that the waste was once carpeted with with foliage so thick that the dewy air was perfumed by it: wildflowers and shrubs, lush meadows, forests of birch and maple in the lowlands, and pine and fir in the mountains. The Maker King, who came from without, had made it so. It was He who built the Palace of Ice, a city of pure white marble on the plateau of Nabi, and bestowed King Archon with the Crown of Authority over the world. To Archon's heir, Archegos, he gave the Crown of Fellowship. The Maker also wrought the Crown of Knowledge and set it on a pedestal of lapis, never to be worn. All men looked to Archon and the Palace, and the land enjoyed a time of unparalleled peace and abundance."

"Seeing his opportunity, the dragon, ancient enemy of the Maker King, through sundry devices wormed his way into the position of advisor to King Archon. Yet his aim was the heir. Over time he cultivated an untimely yearning for the crown in the youth, such that the eventual confrontation with his father produced a wretched harvest. The child would not hear reason, and in the ensuing struggle slew the one who had raised and loved him. "Checkmate!" gloated the dragon, "A spell sealed in the king's blood!" He knew that such a curse could only be lifted by the shedding of a greater king's blood, and Archon had been supreme. The dragon possessed the Crown of Authority, to maintain appearances for the while, so he said, and in pledge bestowed the Crown of Knowledge on Archegos. The Crown of Fellowship was then of no use, for friendship with the Maker had been utterly dissolved; it was cast aside and lost."

"And not only for Archegos, but he being by law, if not in effect, the king, having shunned one crown, stolen another, and wearing a third in violation of the decree, had severed all the world from fellowship with the Maker King. Darkness settled over the land as the dragon consolidated his power, and death permeated the world, converting it into the waste that we now know."

[ next chapter | previous chapter ]