“It is curious you do not know of levels, but perhaps your people do not level in the same way we do, yes? Rare classes, perhaps? I understand not all classes are earned equally. Especially in places like the Kingdom of Keys. Samal. Peaceful places.”
“Yes. The title is…as for the Kingdom of Keys, I would say the paranoia of its citizenry—not to mention the unique culture—interferes with its qualification as a utopia. Are you familiar with the Kingdom of Keys, Samal? Of course you aren’t.”
“Doors upon doors. Each part of the kingdom, a passageway into the next. The outer…layer of the kingdom itself is a gateway that must be entered. Yet entire fields and farmlands lay beyond. An enemy must first bypass the gateway by force of arms—or keys of their own. Thus, safeguarded, Samal creates inner gateways. And its citizenry has taken that to an extreme. They lock everything with the same keys, obsess over what is theirs. To be great in Samal is to have a key to every lock. To be poor is to have a key only to the fewest things.”
“Doors upon doors. Each part of the kingdom, a passageway into the next. The outer…layer of the kingdom itself is a gateway that must be entered. Yet entire fields and farmlands lay beyond. An enemy must first bypass the gateway by force of arms—or keys of their own. Thus, safeguarded, Samal creates inner gateways. And its citizenry has taken that to an extreme. They lock everything with the same keys, obsess over what is theirs. To be great in Samal is to have a key to every lock. To be poor is to have a key only to the fewest things.”
He drummed his fingers on the saddle. Of course. The most militantly undead-hating [Knights] were leading the charge. Pregaris came from further north than Ailendamus and the Dawn Concordat’s conflict; their nation was at peace. Samal, the Kingdom of Keys, had time to let its bored [Knights] fight.
Yet they fought with all of Samal’s strength! Doors and keys—one slashed the air with an heirloom, walked through the door, and appeared out the other side. It was just a dozen feet of space she covered, but it allowed her to bypass the first rank, begin carving back out!
This was how you humbled your foes, incidentally. The great strike to Khelt’s army, at such cost, to the [Keybearer] of Samal, all the blood lost to kill the King of Khelt…
Monsters and animals could attack it, unlike Khelt or Samal, where such things were just…stories. Paeth was, then, in that rarest of all middle-categories between paradise and ‘hole in the ground’.
The [Knight-Commander] was an eager [Knight] from Samal, not one of the highest-levelled [Knights], but someone appointed in the strategic role. It was a considered choice; she was a bit too eager for the fight and glory; even the loss of the Kingdom of Keys’ champion couldn’t quell her righteous anger.
She was so eager, in fact, that Queen Yisame’s carefully-planned statement, a clear insult to Samal and the Terandrians, went right over her head. Queen Yisame and her courtiers hesitated.
The Samalian [Knight] smiled at Yisame, who had not offered any messages of greeting to Samal itself, or acknowledged the Kingdom of Keys. She had not requested to speak with the [Knight-Commander] about the war. She’d deigned to speak to the [Knights] of Terandria, a deliberate omission of rank, and even insulted their crusade.
So when Erin landed, screaming, with Gerial and Cawe clinging to her, she fell into a strange gathering of ghosts who backed away, alarmed and perplexed as they saw her rise. A man wearing a crown and a remembered suit of armor festooned with keys and locks, an odd look, turned to Erin in alarm. He half-drew a sword shaped like a key that looked as real as Dionamella had been. Real. The [King of Keys], ruler of Samal, the Kingdom of Keys, regarded Erin warily, but relaxed when it was clear she was no dead god nor trick.
