The Rawn Chronicles Book Four: The Dragon and the Daemon (The Rawn Chronicles Series 4)

by P D Ceanneir

  The urn of Shanks rested in a niche above her sarcophagus with the inscription:

  Here lies Baron Telmar, the Pyromancer

  So beloved of those who saw

  The light of goodness in his eyes

  From that day forth the world knew the fate of Baron Telmar.

  Sir Jericho, the Baron of Sidon Maze.

  Jericho became Warden of the Eastern March and his Tattoium Militia grew in size. He built hundreds of watchtowers along the Vallkyte lands and along the eastern seaboard of Assassi-Al, some of these overlooked the expanded canal system that stretched from the destroyed Vallkyte capital to deep into the southlands.

  He garrisoned at Dulan, now no longer a capital so the “Tiss” was never used again. He built up a strong relationship with the Ternquin people and their Sernac, Carbaum, who received the rank of Governor of the ruined citadel. The Ternquin of Assassi rebuilt the citadel with the help of Jericho’s military masons. However, it never grew to the size of its former glory and became a rich whaling and shipping port for the isles of the Eastern Horn. Much of the old citadel lay in ruins and was left as a memorial to its past greatness. They never rebuilt the castle, but the four walls remained intact after the great fire went out and the gardens became the new orchard for a dozen Ternquin Trees, the locals rescued the seeds of the old tree from Carbaum’s homeland.

  Carbaum restored the Licessia and gave her to Havoc as a wedding present; he did not feel bad about the loss of such a fine vessel, after all, the king did give his people a home and it sealed the bonds of friendship. The Ternquin people integrated into the lives of the Vallkytes to rebuild parts of the town and become a prosperous community in the newly unified Assassi-al.

  Little Kith, the Champion of the Assassi

  Little Kith was given a role that he had been doing since he met Havoc, that of his bodyguard. The big man was feared and respected all over the continent and he became known as the Champion of the Assassi. He would dominate tournaments, tackling all that wished to try their luck against them, even in old age he was unbeatable. He never asked for any of the rich lands and lordships that the king dished out to his loyal Paladins, he mealy wished to protect the royal couple for the rest of his natural life.

  Sir Furran, the Lord of Laden Howe

  Sir Furran married Maleene of the Falesti and they had three sons, who each became Raiders when they were of age. The King gave Furran the lordship of Laden Howe, which once belonged to General Elkin, and he rose in rank to become the Marshall of the Raiders. The Raiders grew in size to such an extent that Furran had to split it into three divisions. The original veterans and their sons formed the Foygion Division, another was named the Cybeleion, and the third was the now massive force of Eternal Archers under the leadership of Commander Whyteman.

  Gunach perfected the design of the magical hand that had once belonged to Cornelius Pagan for Furran to wear, and it was a work of genius. Furran’s eye healed and even though he lost half of the vision in that eye, he still wore the tatty old eye patch that Velnour gave him, in honour of his friend.

  Magnus, the Red Duke

  Havoc awarded Baron Langstroum the role of Acting Warden of the Central March, where he had control over all of the other wardens; however, due to his continual illness from the wounds received in the Battle of Blood, he died a young man. Magnus took up the wardenship. His wife, the Duchess Eleana, spent her time looking after their children and flitting between Serene Lake, The Rouge, and the Pass where Magnus spent most of the year in military service to the king. His close friend, Sir Corby became his deputy and received complete command of the Princes Legion, a post he would retain until his death sixty years later. Under his command, the Legion grew and Corby had to split the expanding legionnaires between their main base of the Pander Pass and the Rouge. They had the honour of being the king’s and queen’s official escorts when the royal couple took their traditional five-year pilgrimage throughout their kingdom.

  Magnus’s eldest son, Havoc Valient, became a respected noble and a great Rawn Master, but suffered from dark bouts of depression that was to spell his doom when tragic events cursed the royal family, which led to the revelation of his true parentage, but that is another tale.

  Magnus and Eleana had a second son and the new duke kept an old promise to his uncle and named him Rett. Rett would later become the Red Duke after his father.

  Sir Whyteman, the Thane of Triel

  After Morden’s body lay in Caphun inside a white birch and glass lid coffin for all of the town to see him and pay their respects. Sir Whyteman and Bleudwed had a similar coffin made for Tia.

  A power vacuum opened in the Eternal Forest when the other Atyd’s learnt of Morden’s death. It was Barnum, the Guardian of the Forest until his daughter, Starwyn, was old enough to become queen of her people, who stepped in to settle any grab for the Triel Eldom by the other Atyd’s. By law the next brother, usually the Eldom’s senior Thane, would take up the running of the Atyd’s office until Morden’s oldest son, Triel, was old enough to rule. Sadly, Morden’s next two brothers had died in the defence of the Forest against Lord Nethroin and that left Deron as the next in line, but Deron’s business in the Tavern was booming and he declined the post in the belief that Whyteman would be the better choice. This suited Barnum who, for all his crass and arrogance, liked Morden and his family. He agreed that Whyteman would make a good Thane of Triel.

  Whyteman imposed many worthwhile laws on his Eldom; one such law stated that all should learn the use of the Falesti War Bow of the Forest folk, even the women. Havoc encouraged female soldiers, which was unheard of in those days, yet he knew of the benefits of the Falesti womenfolk as warriors and some of them could be just as formidable as the men. Eventually the other Eldoms incorporated this law and many became archers in the Assassi Army. However, only the elite joined the Eternals.

  Sir Linth the Tutor of Caphun

  Queen Bleudwed knew that Tia had no family left in her native Wyani and she agreed with Sir Linth request to have the former Havant buried in her own tomb on the White Castle grounds in honour to the woman who saved the queen’s life.

  Regarded as a High Priestess by those who came on pilgrimage to stand at the tomb of Havant’s Haven, the name the locals called it, Tia’s fame grew; such was the power of the stories that Linth had spread of her to the people of the continent.

  The mater of a new Regency of Caphun was one that vexed Bleudwed. It was a hereditary title and Morden had wished that his youngest son, Morden the younger, to have the honour. However, he was still a child and Bleudwed would have to appoint someone as acting Regent. Sir Linth accepted the post, mainly because of his fast developing diplomatic abilities and his organisational skills. It was Queen Bleudwed and Linth who helped make the king’s dream of a unified nation become possible. Bleudwed would use her considerable political clout and Linth, his charming diplomacy, on the far outlying tribal lords, bringing them into the Treaty of Unification on the last days of winter two years after the wars. Linth would also become young Morden and Triel’s teacher and so was titled The Tutor of Caphun, a name that would follow him for the rest of his life. In time, when Morden became Regent, Linth would still wander the land as the king and queen’s ambassador. People respected this endearing and likeable individual and eventually forgot he was once one of the king’s famous Paladin-knights.

  Mad-gellan, Chirn and the War of the Bastard Sons

  The Nithi story continued long after the Dragon Wars were over. Mad-gellan now took it upon himself to implement new laws and reformed many traditions of his people. He set about bringing the country folk together and moving them out of the old style of wood and mud homes and built them longer lasting stone houses. In time many towns sprung up over the top of the old villages. He tamed the inhospitable land around the Dracolinth-Sol. The ash ground was ideal for crop growth and soon hundreds of square miles of lush irrigated fields criss-crossed the land, providing the Nithi with their main staple and increa
sed income and export to the outer isles.

  The Assassi Parliament officially recognised Mad-gellan’s nobility as an Assassi Mormaerdom and Overlord of the Wildlands, an old title that meant he was the hereditary owner of the land. The king had pushed the peerage ranking through the courts and the Nithi title of “Mad” was now a recognised title out-with the Nithi lands. Balaan, now marshal of the Jertiani Army, asked the king if he could bring down the great wall that separated the Jertiani and Nithi lands, but Mad-gellan refused the marshal his wish and praised him for creating such a marvellous structure. Instead, he asked for the construction of several massive gateways at certain points along the wall for the passage of trade in and out of his land.

  Lady Bellthua, Mad-gellan’s wife, gave birth to two sons, Caleb, and a year later, Thalem. Sir Jericho accepted the honour of being their godfather. Chirn married a cousin of Bellthula’s called Lena, but she was barren and so he found solace in the arms of a Nithi serving wench called Greta who gave him two sons called, Morin and Herne.

  Mad-gellan died at the ripe old age of seventy-eight. The king and all of the Paladins came to his deathbed to say their farewells. Many of the doughty warriors, including King Havoc, shed a tear for their old friend. However, Mad-gellan had saved his last words for Jericho.

  ‘Remember the Fess Lake in the Vale when we both competed against one another?’ Mad-gellan asked his friend.

  Jericho laughed. ‘How could I forget. My balls have still not recovered!’

  ‘If you had not asked me to get out of that freezing water, a second later I would have. The best man won that day,’ he chuckled.

  ‘You have always been the better man, my friend,’ said Jericho as he watched Mad-gellan close his eyes for the last time. ‘I will see you again, my friend, in the Halls of the Heroes.’

  Chirn was Mad-gellan’s successor and he continued the modern reform improvements that his father had started. Yet, as he aged, many of his councillors and Élitas advisors constantly asked him the question of his replacement upon his death. He would give no answer to their queries. He loved his sons, but his father had wished his oldest, Caleb, to become the next Lord of the Nithi, but when Mad-chirn died at the young age of sixty-two, he did not identify his successor.

  The bastard sons of Mad-chirn, Morin, and Herne had grown up at Tyrandur Castle. It was there in their youth that they met the former Mad-borath still incarcerated in the castle dungeons. Borath twisted and poisoned their minds, making them believe that because they were born of a Nithi union, then they had more rights to the succession than Caleb, whose mother was Jertiani. When their father died, they gathered a loyal army of followers and took over the castle. Caleb and Thalem, with the support of their godfather, Baron Jericho, took back the castle. Caleb killed Morin in the battle and Herne escaped with Borath to the southern mountains, called the Duluth Row. It was three months of fighting and fleeing for Herne and his small army before the Kabala Mactan finally confronted him in a small valley called Felly Gulch. Sir Mactan destroyed Herne’s force and captured Borath for the second time in his life.

  Mactan brought Herne and Borath before Mad-caleb for judgement, the new Overlord announced Borath’s execution for treason, and subsequently beheaded him a week later, and so ended the last of the line of Mad-daimen.

  Herne awaited his fate as Mad-caleb left him imprisoned for several years. Thalem begged his elder brother to spare him due to his popularity amongst the people and killing him would only make him a martyr for his supporters. Secretly Thalem and Herne were close in friendship, sharing a love of literature, music and poem.

  Mad-caleb could not agree to his brother’s wishes and ordered Herne’s execution in a public gathering of his nobles. Unfortunately Caleb died, possibly through poison in his wine, the assassin was never discovered, but Herne’s mother, Greta, disappeared on the day of his death and was never seen again.

  Mad-thalem, upon his rise to the Mormaerdom Caput, ordered a stay of execution for his half-brother, yet Herne was to remain under open arrest for the rest of his natural life. Mad-thalem rewarded his good behaviour and gave him the post of Court Advisor after the death of Lord Kalyn.

  And so ended the war of succession, commonly called the War of the Bastard Sons.

  Kabala Mactan, the Lord of Dunshorre

  The Paladin-knight Sir Mactan, or Black Mactan Lord of the Dunshorre, as his people called him, ruled the Kubaldoms of the South Mountains as its sheriff. The Shorre was a two hundred mile long strip of rocky shoreline that sat at the foot of the mountains of Duluth Row. At its most, the Shorre was ten miles wide from mountain to sea, with many craggy peninsulas, it was also the most forested area of the, now tame, Wildlands of the Nithi. Mactan, under the orders of his feudal lord, Mad-gellan, built many towns along the Shorre and even built a black bricked castle on the largest peninsula calling it, and the large town that sprung up around its inner walls, Dunshorre Castle. The castle became a favourite place for Mad-gellan to stay in the spring and summer months when he would join Mactan and Chirn on many hunting trips in the surrounding forests along the coast.

  Mactan was also instrumental in creating the first Nithi Navy and building a harbour in an inlet not far from Dunshorre. The Nithi and Hoath navy jointly ferried men and dwarves to the far southern isles of the Horn and Erndall beyond. The returning shipments of gold and iron would make the people of the Shorre rich and the subsequent tax duty on all imports made the Royal House of Cromme richer.

  Gunach, Lord of the Vale and the Wither Mountains

  Two places on the island continent of Assassi-Al became independent realms. The first was the Eternal Forest and the second was the Vale of the Wither Mountains. Yet, the leaders of these realms still gave their fealty to the Royal House of Cromme. Atyd Barnum accepted this with grace; however, his hatred for Havoc had deepened because he blamed the king for the death of his beloved Bronwyn. This would sow the seeds of estrangement to his son, Lorimar, whom he believed was the king’s offspring. Lorimar’s turbulent life with Barnum would cause a rift between the two and it would send him on an adventure just as legendary as his biological father’s, but that is a story for another time.

  The Kerf of the Vale died after serving his people for many hundreds of years. Gunach became the Lord of the Vale and the Mormaer of the Wither Mountains in his place, a title created by King Havoc in honour of the dwarves. Though the mountains themselves were not out of bounds, the Vale was. No one was to set foot in the green grassland without permission from the king or from the Lord of the Vale.

  Nevertheless, Gunach sent many of his people onto Erndall, where they set up their own township in that inhospitable land, calling it Dhuthem, meaning the White Haven. In later years, White Haven would become Erndall’s capital and one of the richest trading ports in the world.

  Baron Dolment of Ifor and Sir Hexor, Lord of Storridge

  Dolment married his childhood love, Lady Elli of Le Fern, a year after the war. He invited the king, queen, and all of his friends to a sumptuous wedding at the hamlet. Sir Hexor met Dolment’s cousin, Ashleen the Maid of Burgess Lee, at the wedding. The beautiful Ashleen brought Hexor out of a long period of mourning after the loss of his brother, Foxe. They married a year later and the king gave him Elkin’s old lordship of Storridge as a wedding present. He also made him the Warden of the South March and Commander of the Bellmen who respected him as a worthy leader and as one of the king’s Paladin-knights. Hexor and Ashleen were to have seven children and he built many extensions onto Storridge Hall just to make more room for his growing family.

  Dolment became baron after his father died in exile. He and Elli had four children, but only one survived. Sadly, little Harmon died at the age of three and Elli died of a broken heart because of it. Dolment never married again and left Hexor in charge of Ifor while he journeyed throughout the isles of the Horn and Erndall, opening up trade links in the most inhospitable places and giving his name to the pass he discovered that led through the Mountai
ns of My’thos of Erndall and into the White Wastes. He became more famous for his legendary wanderings than as a hero of the wars. Sadly, he contracted a wasting disease on his fifty-first year and died in White Haven six months later. A large host of dwarves and Hinterlanders returned his body to Ifor and placed it inside the family tomb beside his wife.

  Ashleen was the only direct heir to Dolment’s title and the barony passed from her to Hexor’s oldest son, Foxe. Foxe became a fine cavalry officer and was knighted by the king when he became baron. He was to become close friends with the king’s youngest son Prince Tallyus.

  III

  The Pride of Havoc

  H

  avoc and Bleudwed would have three children; Vanduke the De Proteus, Tallyus the White Count, and much later a daughter, Verna the Duchess of Mulvend.

  Vanduke was to become Vanduke the Second after his father stepped down from the throne after forty years, abdicating according to a new Rogun law when a Rawn Master becomes a monarch. Vanduke was to become a moderate Rawn Master; what he lacked in his control of the Rawn Arts he made up for in his political expertise. He was bookish, like his mother, and controlling of the nobles and Burgh Lords like his grandfather before him. The reign of Havoc, Vanduke the second and his grandson and great grandsons would later come to be called the Golden Age of Cromme.

  Upon his thirteenth birthday, Tallyus received the Lordship of Haplann from his mother to become the fourteenth Count Tallyus of Haplann (Tallyus being a Haplann name and all the male heirs of Haplann on Bleudwed’s line were called Tallyus). He also received the full rank of High Warden of the Central March, which the king had retained for himself since it’s creation after his victory at the Pass. Tallyus stationed himself at Caphun and became just as famous as his father, and a powerful Rawn Master.