A Contract for Gold: The Cataclysm of Medhebah (A Dark Tale of Fantasy)

By Wayne C. Hannis

Medhebah is a city built on the wealth of Kishalown mountain. But now the gold has been depleted and those who facilitated its extraction are leaving. Medhebah will face its final days, as its Rulers are judged. Montiel and Caliste want nothing more than to be together. They will face circumstances beyond their control as the corruption of the city is revealed. Montiel and Caliste will be tested beyond their nightmares as the city falls into turmoil.
Dark Tales of Fantasy. In the end, when Evil Things happen to Good People, there is never a happy ending.
Tragic tales (novellas) of classic fantasy, with a touch of horror. A light can shine in the darkness when Evil Things happen to Good People, and it seems like there is never a Happy Ending.
Lives caught in circumstances beyond their control. Innocent lives seized by outside influences that will determine their fate. Lives unacquainted with Evil, will be changed forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne C. Hannis
• Release date: Jun 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005939670

Wayne C. Hannis

Wayne is a writer of Fantasy and Alternative History. He lives in the fantastic realm of the sunny Shuswap Lake in British Columbia, Canada and has called it home since he was a child. While growing up he played along creeks and in ravines, climbed ancient spruce trees and swam in clear fresh-water lakes. So it's no wonder his life is steeped with imaginative magic, and the world he's created has a lore as old as the mountains. Growing up, Wayne played Dungeons and Dragons, while reading authors like David Eddings, Terry Brooks and Piers Anthony, who instilled a love for fantasy in him at a young age. For awhile now Wayne has realized there's something wrong with our world, and has struggled to understand it. Wayne always had a passion for history and has come to think that the history we all have been taught is a lie (as well as most things we are taught) and a our real past has been hidden. Join Wayne as he ventures down those proverbial Rabbit Wholes in search of a lost kingdom.

Book preview

Part One

Chapter One

Thalia Hephekah stood on the precipice overlooking Athore, the capital city of the nine Nagas Yanah families. She saw the entire city from The Tesha, where The Nine Matron Mothers, the Council of Tesha, convened. It was the highest point in the city.

The polished, marbled streets, vast grand staircases, and wide bridges cascaded along the rising and falling slopes of the topography of Batsir, stretching farther than she could see. Carved from the living rock of Batsir tall spires, columned porticoes, and the large domed cathedrals that belonged to the six disciplines of the Nagas Yanah, glistened in the glorious, multicoloured auroras of electromagnetism.

Flashing across the bright, icy blue sky of Batsir's polar diameter, the auroras perpetually streaked around the only habitable zone on the planet. Eternally ignited from the intense forces of Arqa, they created a kaleidoscope of opalescence in the geomagnetic storms that danced across the horizons and made Athore sparkle like a gemstone. The hair on Thalia's arms prickled with the energy.

The diminished glow of Arqa was fading into night on the fire horizon, as the air cooled. Nahar, Batsir's only moon, was setting on the ice horizon of the small, tidally locked planet, making Athore slowly tilt away from the white dwarf star, as Batsir wobbled on its axis like a pendulum that created hot days and cool nights. Thalia watched the Aeonian geyser on Nahar violently erupt on its regular schedule. Hot vapour streamed high above the icy surface of Nahar from its geologically active centre at exactly the same time every dawn, apex of the day, and nightfall.

The strong, underground tidal currents within the many canals of Batsir that flooded throughout the heat of the day, began surging back to the ice. White, phosphorescent tendrils reached down from the green vegetation that clung precariously to the stone cliffs, as the water level quickly receded. Cool winds swept in to replace the humid breeze of the day. It would still be warmer than where she had just been, though.

Athore was a part of her. It was her family home. Since she was young Thalia knew every cleft in the rock and had studied in the magnificent rock-cut architectural buildings. She was glad to be back after being away for so long; she had dearly missed her people.

She saw a Nagas Yanah quickly gliding up a staircase far below. Thalia assumed they had magical boots on their feet by their stance as they raced along. High above she noticed two Nagas Yanah on a carpet, gently bobbing up and down on the soft air currents with tassels waving behind it. Far in the distance, the magnificent stone crafts of the Nagas Yanah floated on the currents of energy.

The distant stars of the galaxy appeared in the incandescent sky, one by one the Mazzaroth revealed themselves written across the heavens. They were the inheritance of the Nagas Yanah. Thalia had studied at the School of Astronomy, learning every astrological and astronomical pattern within the vast panorama of stars. The Nagas Yanah had crossed the paradoxically long distances for a thousand generations in search of gold, and within the myriad of stars, Thalia could distinctly see the one she had just returned from.

Lior Elinatan, the first of the Barasoma, ascended low on the ice horizon. Among the many stars that made up the sword of the hero, Thebel shined like a beacon to her within the cross guard.

Chosen when she was still young to extract the precious material from deep within Kishalown mountain on the planet Aurum, forty revolutions of Batsir around Arqa had elapsed since they had decreed her to do The Great Work, and fulfill her obligation as Nagas Yanah. She had gone willingly without ever knowing how long it would take for her to complete the task.

Eighty years of Aurum's time had passed, and for three of their generations, she had watched the city of Medhebah grow. It started with only a few individuals living in tents, and crudely built shelters, but in a brief time it grew into a city of thousands with a vast array of people that came from all around. It had always amazed her with the diversity of life on the planet. Dwarves, elves and humans were the most intelligent, with the goblinkind being the nastiest. There was one particular goblinkind in the city she detested.

She had first met Balenor Soline, desperately chipping away at a few rocks with his small hammer all those years ago, and tried to direct him in the proper path, but he never listened to her instruction. She never interfered, as was the Nagas Yanah way. As one mind, the Nagas Yanah strictly prohibited the intervention of the development of another culture. Even though there were many times she desperately wanted to. The Nagas Yanah were to remain hidden, only to those they would collaborate with could the Nagas Yanah reveal themselves. Thalia supposed she should have predicted the outcome. Balenor, never satisfied with anything, hoarded his wealth, and his son Coudry was even worse.

Batsir had just completed another full orbit around Arqa on its slow, eternal journey. Hidden from Batsir for half a revolution, as Batsir slowly travelled around the black side of Arqa, Lior Elinatan, The Traveller of Worlds was now coming back into the light for the start of a new revolution, and he would guide the Barasoma to their destiny.

The return of the constellation ushered in the celebration of Shachar Olethros, the dawning of punishment, when the Barasoma awoke to destroy their creators. They held rituals and reenactments of historical battles, representing what it meant to be Nagas Yanah, and it would be then Thalia would reveal her plans for Medhebah to her people.

It isolated Thalia from her family when Lior Elinatan was travelling in the dark, and Thebel was on the other side of Arqa. She had to endure five of Aurum's cold seasons alone. She had already been there longer than expected, and hadn't returned for a while, so she had wanted to finish her duty quickly. She was tired of dealing with certain humans in the city.

Her time in Medhebah was ending now, as they had exhausted the massive gold vein. All she had left to do was the final extraction, and Thalia knew exactly how she would bring it about. She would have preserved Medhebah for generations, making the Nagas Yanah benevolent gods among the stars, if it wasn't for the greed of a few.

Thalia took the last few steps of the grand staircase, and great obelisks of granite sprang up all around the promontory, like ancient sentinels guarding against any intrusion. Glyphs delicately carved onto their smooth surfaces had colourful depictions of the many bloody battles that occurred during the Barasoma rebellion. Thalia knew the stories well, and they had always enthralled her.

The smooth, concave wall of The Tesha, rising to twice her height, cut from the hard rock of Batsir, encompassed the cliffs far out of her sight in both directions. The swirling patterns within the white marble glistened in Batsir's auroras. It gave the illusion that the wall was in constant motion, breathing in and out. Large, round crystals that sat around the top circumference of the wall shined clear light upwards, that created an invisible, hemispherical dome of magic on the structure.

The thick, round columns of the triumphal arch to the Home of the Nine Matron Mothers towered above the height of the wall. Thalia read the Nagas Yanah axiom, carved deep into the stone around the arch, 'We who were oppressed, have become the oppressors'. Under the apothegm were the names of the nine Nagas Yanah families that rebelled against the Rabadown, Thalia's family, Hephekah, at the top of the list. One day she may follow her mother as Chavah, The Matriarch of Life, but that won't be for many revolutions, Thalia hoped.

A bright light flashed down the centre of the massive, marble doors that seemed to have been one piece, they effortlessly swung open in tandem gliding on air. As expected Thalia saw the familiar oval eyes of her old mentor, his roughened, bronzed skin on his high cheekbones, and furrowed brow, creased heavily when his thin lips smiled at her under a slim nose. Balathu was a member of the Krisome family and had been a Rattatan master. Now he served the Matron Mothers at the Tesha as Hierarch, a great honour where only the most respected could serve.

The old Nagas Yanah's coarse hair tied into a topknot on his elongated skull in Nagas Yanah fashion, and his long wispy, braided moustache falling past his angular cleft made him look wise. Six gold rings, pierced into each of the characteristic serrated notches of the Nagas Yanah on his right ear, had a thinly woven gold chain dangling from the tapered point connecting each ring. He displayed his missing right ear proudly.

Thalia remembered fondly the old Nagas Yanah narrating the story of how he lost the ear in a battle long before she was born. She recalled the tale changing with every telling. Now that she was home, she would have to get the truth from her erstwhile teacher.

Stooped with age, Balathu Krisome limped over to Thalia. He seemed older than the last time she had seen him. The Wise One was almost one hundred and eighty revolutions of Batsir now, one of the oldest Nagas Yanah still living, and very few ever achieved his age. He only had a brief time left in this realm until he passed through the veil.

Seeing her old mentor dressed in his formal Nagas Yanah raiment made Thalia a little apprehensive. Although Thalia was wearing her best pants and shirt woven from the soft fibres of the Chayatseh plant in Medhebah, they didn’t compare to his fine, silken robe of royal blue, with swirls of delicate gold thread embroidered into the soft material.

It was customary to come into the presence of The Matron Mothers in the dress of the extrinsic worlds, but she wished she had changed. Her clothes were comfortable, but not as regal as the delicate fibres weaved from the silk of the Bombyx Mori caterpillar that the Nagas Yanah cultivated. Thalia was looking forward to getting home and slipping on her most comfortable robes.

Thalia Hephekah, the old Nagas Yanah said. It's good to see you home after being away for such a long time.

He took Thalia's shoulder's, and she took his, touching foreheads. They embraced in the Nagas Yanah way. He felt gaunt under his fine robes, but his spirit was still strong.

Thank you, Wise One, she replied. It is good to be home.

Come, he said enthusiastically. The Mothers are ready to see you.

The Wise One guided Thalia into the Home of the Tesha, and the heavy doors silently closed behind her. He left her to make the journey to The Matron Mothers on her own. The polished granite walls rose high above and stretched around the crescent shape of the inner entresol. The striations in the stone glistened with the light globes that shined around the top circumference.

The Mazzaroth twinkled through the imperceptible ceiling above the flashes of Batsir's constant aurora, but she didn't look up, she kept her eyes on the path, as she descended the broad, crescent-shaped steps that represented the six disciplines of the Nagas Yanah.

The first step was her school, the discipline of astronomy and astrology. It was the study of all the heavenly bodies, and the music they brought forth, the inheritance of the Nagas Yanah. She needed to know the movements of the celestial bodies, and the tones they produced if she was to eventually succeed her mother.

The second step was the discipline of magic. It was the fundamental force of the universe, the energy that flows through all things. It is the force that binds them together and is the spark of life at the moment of creation. It forms the hyaloid veil that separates everything. Magic makes the heart in every living creature beat and the Nagas Yanah believe it created them.

The third step represented the glorious architecture of the Nagas Yanah, and the belief the Rabadown formed the Barasoma from crystals in their creation, now the Nagas Yanah shape stone to their desire.

Step four was the discipline of alchemy, because the Nagas Yanah need gold flowing in their veins for their very sustenance. They need to maintain the Athanor of the spirit, the fire that burns within.

The fifth step represented the discipline of art and with all the other disciplines combined, the Nagas Yanah create prodigious artifacts of astonishment and wonder, crafted to perfection.

The last step which was perhaps the most important to some Nagas Yanah, was the discipline of the military. The Nagas Yanah will never again be Barasoma, and will defend their way. All Nagas Yanah, male and female, learn the ways of conflict both physical and mental at a young age.

At the bottom of the descending steps was the wide, elliptical Pool of Atheteo. The deep reservoir of dark water, concealed beneath a thin sheet of clear crystal, reflected the distant points of light of the Mazzaroth. It always seemed to Thalia that if she gazed too long into the unfathomable waters of the Disesteemed and Rejected Ones, the abyss would reveal itself.

Two ominous points of red light beamed from the depth of the pool, and long tentacles writhed up to smack soundlessly against the crystal. It was the very last of the Rabadown, not alive, but forever imprisoned alone for its terrible crimes.

A pair of obsidian wyverns, Chungraa and his mate Thriananzun reared up on their hind legs. They were silent sentries guarding the entrance to the bridge of Atheteo. Their smooth wings stretched above her, as if they were about to take flight, but they were as hard as the surrounding granite. Their emerald eyes glowed dimly behind their reptilian muzzle and seemed to watch her closely. Their long tails curled around their sleek