The Aardish caves are an extensive network of caves in the Yamuna River valley as it exits the foothills of the Worldspine. The caves were discovered at the same time as the Moonlight Garden by dragon-riders in the service of the speaker Voranin looking for the Tomb of the Silver King. Investigation into the Moonlight Garden was brought to an abrupt end by the War of Thorns; subsequently under the rule of speaker Vishmir, attention turned to the caves themselves. It is said that Vishmir, when he visited the Moonlight Garden, personally observed that a dark reflection of the garden structures could clearly be seen in the waters of the Yamuna and in a moment of divine clarity, understood that this was the mythical Black Mausoleum. He remained fascinated with the caves and spent many days participating in their exploration during the early years after his victory.

In the seventh year of Vishmir’s reign, all exploration of the caves abruptly ceased following a disaster that claimed the lives of some two hundred souls working at the site. The cause of the disaster is not clear, as no witnesses survived. Those nearby on the bluffs overlooking the caves reported the ground shaking and that even the dragons stabled there seemed disturbed. The most likely cause of the disaster thus appears to be a cave-in. Upon hearing the news, Vishmir visited the site at once; on his return, he immediately issued a decree that the caves were a forbidden place under the guardianship of the King of Furymouth. For a decade no one returned, and then, without any warning, Vishmir summoned hundreds of architects and craftsmen to the Adamantine Palace and had them transported to the caves, there to build him a tomb. Construction took place in great secrecy over the following years, and on his death, Vishmir’s body was spirited away, presumably to be buried there. So secret were Vishmir’s plans that the presence of the tomb might have remained wholly unknown if it a number of mis-placed scrolls hadn’t been found by the Order of the Scales in the Palace of Alchemy during the reign of Isul Aieha. Even now, the exact location of the tomb remains a carefully guarded secret; fortunately, the Aardish caves are extremely remote and hard to reach without a dragon, and the caves remain under the watchful guardianship of King Tyan of Furymouth.

No evidence exists for later claims that describe, often in horrific detail, the deaths, dismemberments and mutilations which Vishmir supposedly inflicted on various architects and craftsmen associated with the tomb. Some stories claim that those involved in construction signed contracts committing themselves to have no part in any similar design. Some other stories claim that all those involved in building the tomb were sold to the Taiytakei as slaves, and yet others that they and their families were taken to a secret city across the sea by Vishmir’s sons and brothers. Such stories are almost certainly fanciful and have clear similarities to similar stories surrounding the construction of Vishmir’s other great project, the Veid Palace in Furymouth.

No evidence has ever been recorded to indicate there has ever truly has been any connection between the Aardish Caves and the Silver King.