Chapter 277 The Fall Of Amydon (1/2)
”Aan ”It began as nothing otten war And for hundreds of years, it remained that way — little e of the borderlands”
For ahis stubbly chin as his eyes turned drea in that so
After a ured the man was lost in dreaht the old hed softly, then continued, ”That all caers found iron in the foothills nearby In atown, visited by miners and merchants from all over the borderlands”
”Iron?” Arran looked at Kimon with a raised eyebrow The man had spoken of an illustrious past to rival the Erowth of a inning!” the gray-haired lint of excitement in his eyes ”Barely half a century later, the miners discovered a silver vein, as rich as any ever seen in this world And in the years that followed, gold deposits were discovered, along with nu before Arew into a city whose reputation spread to the farthest reaches of the world”
”So the city became wealthy,” Arran said, still not exactly impressed by the tale
”Wealthy?!” The old ht as well call a in to describe the vast riches Amydon held Even now, after thousands of years, estured at Arran ”Go on, see for yourself”
Arran frowned, but he did as the old and silver from his coin purse That was only a small portion of the wealth he carried, of course —
He quickly inspected his coins, and was surprised to find that Kierated Several of the coins carried a seal shaped like a crown, and although the seal itself was unfamiliar to him, a close look showed that the word 'AMYDON' ritten beneath it, in letters so tiny he could only barely read them
At this, Arran finally realized just hoealthy Amydon had been The coins he carried were all taken from fallen enemies, most of whom he had defeated thousands of miles away And that Ae an area, even after thousands of years, meant that the numbers of coins minted would have been vast beyond compare
”Then the Shadowflah even as he spoke, he realized the explanation eone”
Arran nodded, trying his best to appear patient He had said he had as much time as the man could spare, after all ”What happened then?”
”For over a thousand years, Areealthy beyond belief” The old old and silver mines were vast, but eventually they were depleted, and the river of riches slowed to a trickle The wealth that had been built over a thousand years took another thousand to run out, but when it did, the city fell into disrepair, its past splendor eventually forgotten by the rest of the world”
Arran said nothing as he waited for Kirow interested in the story He kne the story ended, of course, but he wondered what path had led Adymon to its eventual fall
”For centuries,” Kimon continued, ”the people of Adymon scoured both the foothills and the old and silver, but none were successful”
He paused briefly, and a glint of anticipation could be seen in his eyes when he spoke again ”Yet after centuries of failure, when all others had long since given up hope, one youngfar old or silver — what he found was starmetal”
Arran's eyes ith surprise, and suddenly, he began to understand why the Shadowflame Society had attacked
Yet the oldof Amydon And he was no fool He did not reveal the location of the deposit to anyone but his closest allies Rather than let the star weaponsain, Kimon paused, a look of awe in his eyes When he continued speaking a ht treenius Starht Amydon its reputation, but its craftsmen transformed the iron from our mines into steel that was nearly as formidable For each starmetal sword that was sold, thousands of enchanted steel ones were bought by those drawn to Amydon's reputation Once more, the city thrived, the weapons and armor it sold unrivaled anywhere in the world”
”And that's why the Shadowflaain these treasures?”
”Patience,” Kimon said curtly, then continued, ”Karanos used his wealth to have hiic, and under their protection, Amydon flourished for many centuries It fairly traded with anyone ould coes and commoners alike And when the Hunters appeared in the borderlands, it sold to the theine the Shadowflame Society took kindly to that,” Arran said