Tales of the Wyrm, Volume 1

by D. Alexander Neill

Twenty-First Rune: Carrgealdor Malloch Ægðer Ísengrámalár

  (The War-Song of Malloch and the Iron Fury, aka “The Lay of the Bridge of Bones”)

  ♦

  (from the Æfenléoð Hargóinna, the “Evensongs of Hargóin”)

  Glycomon Magjithural by Vilyacarkin swore

  The children of Shpërngulje Vajzë would suffer wrong no more

  By Dashnorrej he swore it, and named a trysting day;

  And so his messengers went forth, to east and south, to west and north

  To summon his array.

  To east and south, to west and north, the message travels fast,

  And soon each cave and cavern has heard the deep-horn’s blast

  Shame to the son of Dashnorrej who lingers underground

  When Glycomon Magjithural to Gropëndën is bound.

  The swords of Zymtëkeqardhjes are rousing them from sleep;

  The bows of Shtrojpërgjakur are gathering in the deep

  The spears of Qetëvaditur have heard the trumpet’s sound;

  For Glycomon Magjithural to Gropëndën is bound.

  Thus shake the shimmering shadows as the Shadelf sallies forth;

  From caverns to the south and west, and caves to east and north;

  The denizens of thellerrët have armed and marched away;

  And bound for Gropëndën they are, gërmojeqen to slay.

  And Glycomon Magjithural is marching in the van

  Ahead of all his people, in command of every clan

  Mesnatëbrisku, Midnight Blade, shines cold in his right hand

  And in his left he bears with glee his distant grandsire’s legacy –

  Bardhëshkop; the Ichor Wand.

  The people of Dweorgaheim are labouring in peace

  The blacksmiths work their bellows, and the elders take their ease

  The teachers tend to lessons, and the children gladly play

  Not knowing battle is at hand, and Glycomon’s array.

  By craft and subtle magic the Dthéostornor advance;

  And they catch unwary sentries on the point of poisoned lance;

  And the weary dwarves returning to their caverns and their rest

  By spells, to yield are enticed; to Vilyacarkin sacrificed,

  At Glycomon’s behest.

  Now to the gates of dthrosmcíne, the cry “Invaders!” comes

  Pursued by clash of battle, and the heavy beat of drums

  Thus to the throne of the Ædeling there comes the dreadful call;

  “Dthéostornor have won the gates, and Drosmcíne must fall!”

  Hark to the tremoring footsteps as the folk of Thrymsheen flee;

  Through the streets of their battered city, littered with stone and scree;

  Hark to the clash of sword-strokes as the nihtscúara draw near;

  And the cries of the folk of Dweorgaheim a-trembling in their fear!

  The glorious halls of Dthrosmcíne soon fall to the fearsome foe;

  And the Ædeling is the last to flee, to follow his folk below.

  To the deepest delve of Dweorgaheim, the last redoubt of stone,

  Where the dwarf-folk speed in direst need, to make their stand alone.

  Across the bridge at Níestgrafet, the last of the dwarf-folk fly

  For close on their heels the Dthéostor come, and the Dthéostornéatr cry;

  The last bridge stands ‘fore Hálignanféalt, that the dwarves of the Deep call home;

  There stands their wall of blood and iron, above the roiling foam.

  Then a call from the caverns that lie behind: fell words that defeat portend;

  “Carrceasterhlíd, the Gate of Stone, stands fast, and will not descend!

  “The way to deeps lies open, and the Dthéostor’s hordes come on,

  “Let the Fury form on the great stone bridge, with all but the best withdrawn!”

  The Ísengrám are the last to stay, the mightiest host of all;

  With their champions Afton the Red-Beard, and Kléofric the Tall –

  And foremost among their number stands he of the greatest name,

  Fell Ulfred Malloch the Mighty, who unto the stone-bridge came.

  The Hereræswa spoke to his soldiers, and he bade them bank their fears

  But Afton laughed at his calming words, saying, “Gentlemen, please, no tears;

  “The host that stands before us is naught but a rabble of darkling elves –

  “Why, we three sluggards could send you home, and slaughter them all ourselves!”

  “He speaks for me,” Kléofric growled, “for my axe cries out for blood;

  “I could cleave a thousand with ease,” quoth he, “without moving from where I stood.

  “But in case a small one slipped me by, I’d best have a surety,

  “To keep him from causing mischief”; answered Malloch, “I guess that’s me.”

  So Ulfred Malloch the Mighty to his general spake, and said:

  “Take the rest of our brothers; repair the gate; we’ll stand ‘til our lives are sped.

  “ ‘Til the stone walls crack and the heavens fall; ‘til the sky-stars turn to sand;

  “ ‘Til the Veróldbrast takes us, one and all; and even beyond, we’ll stand.”

  “Let the hordes of Dthéostornor come on; let them come on, one and all!

  “We’ll see if their blood is red anon; like sheaves of wheat they’ll fall.

  “And the gangewifre that comes with them, and the wielders of blade and spell

  “We’ll treat as we would any Dthéostornéat, and send them all to Hell!”

  So the Hereræswa called to his soldiers, and withdrew them beyond the Gate;

  And the stone-wrights strove with Carrceasterhlíd, but their stonework came too late.

  For across the span of Níestgrafet, the glint of spears was seen

  The full, fearsome foe from the dark below, alight with an eerie sheen.

  Now nearer fast and nearer, the host of the deeps doth come;

  And loudly and more loudly still, the cries of the elves ring sharp and shrill,

  And clench their foes in a dreadful chill with the beat of the battle drum!

  Now plainly and more plainly, through the shadowed gloom appears

  The deadly gleam of their elven swords, held high in the hands of elven lords;

  The deadly gleam of their arcane wards, and the points of their poisoned spears.

  On the right stands Red-Beard Afton, with a broadsword in each hand;

  Tall Kléofric laughs as he hefts his axe; on the left he takes his stand.

  And before them, Ulfred Malloch plants his boots upon the stone,

  And he raises his hammer to cavern’s height, and he speaks this prayer alone:

  “O Lagu, sire of Dweorga! Hark thou to thy sons this day!

  “Grant them the courage and strength of arm to hold this foe at bay!

  “Thy children are few and fearsome, and the foemen vast and dire;

  “With thy sons, abide; and valour and pride, in their quaking hearts inspire!”

  “I humbly beseech thee, father, lend thy strength to Carrceasterhlíd –

  “For this enemy seeks to sunder it, as not even thy hammer did;

  “Protect the stone and the stone-folk from the fiends of shade and slime;

  “Stand firm on the side of thy children, and bless thou Dweorgaheim!”

  At these words, Afton Red-Beard nodded, and Kléofric the Tall said, “Aye;”

  And the ranks of Dthéostor gathered, and they uttered a fearful cry.

  The swords of the dark elves glimmered, and the helms of the dark elves gleamed,

  From the shadows they poured in a ravening horde,

  And onto the bridge they streamed.

  The first felt Kléofric’s axe-blade, and cleft in twain was he;

  The second met Afton’s flickering swords, and he was rent in three;

  The third chanced Malloch; the hammer swung, sundering flesh and bone;

  And
the Shadelf died, and was swept aside, and flung to the stainèd stone.

  Three more met the same swift ending, and the three after them the same,

  And so wist the battle for hours, as the Three played their deadly game.

  Their armour was proof ‘gainst every shaft that the Dark elves shot or threw;

  And they held the Great Gate all alone, standing side-by-side on that bridge of stone,

  For none could these Three subdue.

  (While deep in the works of Carrceasterhlíd, the stone-masons plied their trade,

  For even the mightiest Three could not stand for long ‘gainst that grim parade.

  But the Great Gate defied their efforts, and stayed firmly fixed in place

  And they knew if they could not budge it, their deaths they must needs embrace.)

  When ten-score elves had fallen – two hundred Dthéostornor –

  A shadow advanced to the great rift-edge, where the Three stood drenched in gore.

  A taller wight than his kin-folk, white staff in his left hand;

  And in his right, limned with flickering light, a grim-forged ebon brand.

  The Spellweaver raised his ichor staff, and in voice of the shadows cried,

  And from out of the nihtscúa crawled a thing from the unformed realms Outside;

  A horror of cold and darkness, a terror of bile and flame,

  That gibbered in shivering madness as onto the bridge it came.

  Kléofric the Tall said nothing, but his axe swung hard and true;

  Afton the Red Beard grimaced, but he clove it through and through;

  And the mighty warrior Malloch raised him up to his full height –

  And his hammer of stone came crashing down, and returned it to ebon night.

  “Slaves of the Minatorderr!” the fell Spellweaver cried,

  “Thy kin-folk have suffered enough anon, and many of them have died!

  “Thou see’st me as an enemy, who would be thy foremost friend;

  “Salute me as lord and master, and the bloodshed here will end!

  “Open thy gates to my army, and give me their iron key;

  “You may keep your caves and your caverns still,

  “If you cede to my will, my commands fulfil, and serve me on bended knee!”

  “Your offer is fair,” cried Afton back, and his red beard wagged accord;

  “I see no reason why I should not take an elf as my sovereign lord!”

  Then he paused for a moment; “However – my arms ache with pain acute,

  “From gutting ten-score of your elflings; I don’t think I could salute.”

  “And I have this twinge in my lower back,” cried Kléofric the Tall,

  “I strained it smashing your warriors’ heads into our granite wall.

  “And then my axe got stuck in the spine of your pointy-eared little friend;

  “And I wrenched my knee when I pulled it out – I’m afraid that it just won’t bend!”

  “And what sayeth Ulfred Malloch?” the elf-lord wrothly cried;

  “Wilt thou stand on this bridge forever, ‘til all of thy folk have died?

  “The dwarves prize courage and wisdom; show both, they will follow thee –

  “Save thy blood and thy breath; I will spare thee from death,

  “If thou serv’st me loyally!”

  Malloch silently leaned on his hammer, and betook him a glance around;

  The Shadelven corpses littered the bridge, and their red blood stained the ground;

  His breath came short and halting, and his armour was streaked with gore;

  And his shield was hacked and scarred by blows, and his limbs were bruised and sore;

  Yet his feet were firmly planted on the Deeprealm’s healing stones –

  And the strength of the mountains was in his heart, and their strength was in his bones.

  But he knew that before the Spellweaver’s might, even that great strength must fall;

  So he growled unto Afton and Kléofric, “Get you back to the city wall.”

  Their faith in Malloch was firm and fast, and back to the wall they strode;

  And Malloch spake thus to the Spellweaver: “Get ye hence from the dwarves’ abode!

  “Thou lover of death and darkness; thou bringer of hate and fear;

  “I give thee this oath, thou shalt have both death

  “And darkness, an’ come’st thou here!”

  At this, the Spellweaver cried his ire, and he bade his hosts come on;

  And Malloch turned to his comrades, to Carrceasterhlíd withdrawn,

  And he raised his voice: “Farewell, my friends – we shall meet in the halls unknown!”

  And he raised his hammer, and brought it down on that slender span of stone.

  With that blow, he cried out in glorious joy, and the Dwarf-Lords heard that cry:

  For it echoed throughout the Deepdark, and sundered the lowering sky.

  And deep in his Halls of Wonder, where Lagu reflects alone,

  He raised up his hand, and He broke that span of ageless, age-old stone.

  The stone bridge shattered at Malloch’s feet, and into the gap it fell;

  And Malloch the Mighty went with it, and ten-score elves as well;

  They fell to the depths of Níestgrafet, and its darkling waters deep;

  And there to this day doth Malloch the Brave and his fallen foemen sleep.

  The thundering fall of the sundered bridge shook the walls of Hálignanféalt,

  Where the folk of Dweorga had fled in fear, and the priests of the Dwarf-Lords dwelt;

  And that shock broke the chains of Carrceasterhlíd, and the Great Gate, thund’ring, fell;

  And the Deeprealm was sealed against the schemes

  Of the fiendish Spellweaver’s conquering dreams;

  And they laughed at his impotent, maddened screams, as they rang the victory bell.

  The tale of Malloch was ended, but the Spellweaver’s tale went on;

  He was barred from the depths of Hálignanféalt, but his fury was far from gone.

  His army plundered fair Dthrosmcíne, and ravaged the towns below,

  ‘Til the heroes at Infléde caught him, and Ironfist laid him low.

  Defeated, the Dthéostornor elf-horde fled, to their gloomy deep-dark homes,

  Where the wild gangewifre spins his thread, and the dread gedthancáetr roams;

  The dwarves rejoiced at their victory, and the Spellweaver’s staff they placed

  Upon Lagu’s altar of shining stone, that it’s evil might be erased.

  They raised up a statue of Malloch in Hálignanféalt’s great hall

  Where all could honour his courage, and his valorous, valiant fall;

  And o’er the deep Níestgrafet, built they a bridge of shining steel

  Forged from the elf-horde’s melted blades; watched o’er by fallen heroes’ shades

  At rest in the Deepdark’s crystal glades – and they marked it with Malloch’s seal.

  And in the caverns around the bridge, they laid each fallen friend

  Whose noble spirits Carrceasterhlíd forever doth defend;

  So there, at the gate of Hálignanféalt stands the shimmering Bridge of Bones

  Where Kléofric, Afton and Malloch stood – and defended the Deeprealm’s stones.

  ♦♦♦

  Gwen’s Notes

  You know, this one sounds awfully familiar to me. Somebody ought to check up on who wrote it.

 

  (Author’s Note: this poem is based on, and is an homage to, Thomas Babbington Macaulay’s famous epic, “Horatius at the Bridge”. Given that I was describing how Malloch had defended his home against the Spellweaver, it was impossible not to write something in the roughly the same style of heroic couplets. Horatius ended up better off than Malloch, though.)

  Twenty-Second Rune: In Eldarcanum

  ♦

  (from the Victoria Alferae, by Amalux Cantor, Versificator Regalis Elvorum)

  In El
darcanum, magic burns behind the walls of shining stone;

  Within the hearts of those who strive to work the cold, forbidding spells

  That draw upon the hidden wells, and feed the spirits fell that thrive

  and flock to feast of flesh and bone.

  In Eldarcanum, night-time calls; a blazon bright beneath the Dome

  Illuminating all who seek to learn the cold, forbidding lore;

  To open wide death’s yawning door – the bonds of light and life to break,

  and set those spirits free to roam.

  In Eldarcanum, beauty waits to snare the eye, and thrill the heart;

  To slake the pilgrim’s burning thirst, and sate the lust of all who haste

  Her subtle sweetnesses to taste. Of all who suckle there, the first

  to drink are like the first to part.

  In Eldarcanum, knowledge grows behind the windows, chill and bright

  Behind Priscossia’s rigid walls, where lies the wisdom of the years

  All steeped in Tîor’s darkest fears; the Fleshbound Tome the caster calls

  to seek its secrets in the night.

  In Eldarcanum, darkness hides the Ars Anecros mastered there;

  The deepest truths of magic fell; clasp hands, and chant the subtle spell

  And draw upon death’s hidden well the heart and hand to hell;

  Hold hard, ye elves of light and air – the Long Halls’ Lord your work abides,

  His matchless might and art to share!

  ♦♦♦

  Gwen’s Notes

  Elvish, and still short. Hunh.

  I’ve never been to Eldarcanum, and I don’t think I ever want to go. It’s full of revenants, and it’s been my personal experience that even when they have pockets, they rarely have anything valuable in them. I prefer to rob living people. They yell louder, they have better stuff, and they’re not so...icky.

  Twenty-Third Rune: The Ballad of Perky and Ella

  ♦

  (from the Victoria Alferae, by Amalux Cantor, Versificator Regalis Elvorum)

  Percorian of Duiveltine,

  a scion of a noble line,

  And Astrapratum’s highest lord,

  desired him a wife;

  But nary an elven maiden fair

  his storied temper wished to dare

  Or risk his ever-ready sword,

  all notched and stained with strife.

  Fair Ælyndark, the daughter of

  a house of kings bethought her of

  The lengthy line of suitors that

  her loveliness attracted;

  But not a one amid the throng

  that pled their suits with gifts and song

  Aroused in her the ardour that

  might lead to vows contracted.

  Percorian of Duiveltine,

  all decked and clad in raiment fine

  Stood at the throne of Callaýian,

  his sister fair to claim;

  And swore an oath in ringing tones

  upon the Starhall’s ancient stones

  That Ælyndark would join his clan,

  and bear his ancient name.

  Stern Callaýian, the elven king,

  was ill-disposed to such a thing

  And with the suitor’s brazen claim

  was deeply unimpressed;

  He turned unto his sister fair

  and asked the maiden then and there

  How stood her heart to bear the name

  of Callaýian’s brash guest.

  Fair Ælyndark, a clever girl,

  jeered at the foul-mouthed, cocksure churl

  And asked him if he had two knees,

  and whether they were sound;

  Her puzzled suitor answered “Aye”;

  Fair Ælyndark then asked him why

  they creaked and groaned like windshorn trees;

  “Pray, place them on the ground.”

  Percorian of Duiveltine,

  empurpled by a choler fine

  Spat on the Starhall’s ancient stones,

  and drew his blood-stained sword;

  And swore by the heights of the Duivelmark

  to take as his mate fair Ælyndark

  And by his Perfidelis bones,

  he pledged his solemn word.

  Stung by the threat of this warlord stark,

  then panicked fairest Ælyndark

  She feared her suitor’s ill-judged ire,

  and feared him as a spouse;

  She’d always longed to wed for love,

  and in her fear bethought her of

  A friend of her long-dead, lordly sire

  allied unto her house.

  Atavens of Silverstair, fair-haired, tall,

  answered fair Ælyndark’s heartfelt call

  And came at a run to assist the maid

  with spell and blade in hand.

  A swordsman-mage known far and wide;

  a hero to all who for justice cried

  He answered Ælyndark’s plea for aid,

  and swore at her side to stand.

  He was silver-eyed, stern, yet he laughed out loud;

  and wise and assured, but never proud

  And swift on his feet, like he walked on air,

  and all whom he met felt his argent stare

  A bowman of ages; a swordsman strong;

  a master of poesie, dance, and song –

  And the maid of the elves, Ælyndarka the fair,

  fell in love with Atavens of Silverstair.

  Percorian of Duiveltine,

  his courage bolstered by good red wine

  To the palace crept on a moonless night

  on an errand fell and dire;

  A suitor scorned with his blade in hand,

  a hank of rope, and a burning brand

  And his two fierce brothers of mickle might,

  twin sons of a savage sire.

  At the royal house up the wall they climbed

  and they reached her window as Vespers chimed

  As silent as shadow they entered in,

  but sought for the maid in vain;

  Silver they found there, and jewels and gold,

  but the hearth and the bedding were both stone-cold

  And they pondered how back to the walls to win,

  and hie them home again.

  Then out of the shadows a lantern flares,

  and catches the miscreants unawares;

  And a figure steps from the silent dark,

  and greets them in friendly tones:

  “Sons of the Duiveltine, drop thy blades,

  and forebear to bedevil reluctant maids;

  “Get thee hence from the house of fair Ælyndark,

  lest I feast on thy shattered bones.”

  Percorian cursed, and he raised his sword;

  “I am come to be Ælyndark’s love and lord,

  “And to take up my rightful place and all,

  upon Tîor’s ancestral throne;

  “Stay me not, lest you die; you are but one man,

  and we are the chiefs of a war-wise clan

  “Should you face us here, you are certes to fall,

  and seek the Long Halls alone.”

  “Thrice has thou erred, thou foolish lord,”

  quoth the voice from the shadow; “I bear no sword,

  “And nor do I face ye three alone,

  thou son of an ended clan;

  “If thine eyes were sharper, then they would mark

  that here with me standeth fair Ælyndark!

  “Nor ever shalt thou ascend the throne,

  for, wretch – I am no man!”

  Then the lamp-light died, and the screams began;

  fell sounds to hear from the mouth of man;

  And the red blood flowed, and it stained the floor

  of the elf-maid’s charnel room;

  And when the last of the cries were done,

  and the battle lost, and the battle won,

  The light of the lantern flared onc
e more,

  and the elf-maid learned her doom.

  Three corpses lay on the chamber floor,

  and one man stood by her bedroom door;

  Of the dead, but two were of Duiveltine –

  the third was from Silverstair!

  And Ælyndark wept at her love’s demise,

  ‘till she spied Duke Percorian’s silver eyes...

  ...and together they drank of love’s sweet wine,

  Did the silver-eyed Duke of the Duiveltine,

  And the princess descended of Tîor’s line,

  Hight Ælyndark the Fair.

  ♦♦♦

  Gwen’s Notes

  This one came as something of a surprise to me...but at the same time, it didn’t. I mean, I always knew that there was something a little odd about the elven royal family; I just thought it came from overexposure to magic, not dragons in the woodpile. This sure explains a lot, though. I’ll bet there’s more – a lot more – in the Filigree Throne trilogy, seeing as how that one’s about civil war in Elvehelm and all.

  Twenty-Fourth Rune: The Apotheosis of Miros

  ♦

  (from the Libram Regnum Tertius)

  A moment later – or an eternity; she could not tell – she awoke to cool breezes and soft birdsong, feeling the gentle caress of meadow grass against her bare flesh. She savoured the sensations, uncertain where she was, and uncaring. She had not felt the tickle of verdure since she had closeted herself, all willingly, within the basalt fastness of Sciarratekkan’s weyr.

  At length, she opened her eyes and sat up. A short distance away sat one of her kinsman, cross-legged on the sward: an elf clad in a simple grey tunic and kirtle, unarmed and unarmoured, with unruly white-blonde hair and odd, glimmering, silvery eyes.

  Glancing around, she saw that they were alone in the midst of a grassy dell surrounded by shivering pines. The stars shone brightly above, limning her surroundings with a shimmering argent radiance, but it seemed that they shed extra luminescence on the stranger sitting silently before her.

  She noticed that she was unclad; but seven years with a wyrm for a mate had made her disdainful of raiment. Making no effort to conceal her nakedness, she asked, curious, “Are these the Long Halls?”

  “No,” the stranger replied. His voice was light and melodious, even playful. “It is the forest of your homeland.

  “Why?” he grinned suddenly. “Are you dead?”

  Glancing down at her pristine flesh, Miros shrugged, puzzled. “I thought I was,” she said, “but now….” Wondering, she ran her hand over the smooth, unmarred expanse of her midriff. There were no marks, nothing at all; no evidence to indicate that she had ever even been…

  She glanced back at the stranger. “I should be dead,” she said gravely. “I meant to die. Who are you? Did you save me?”

  “On the contrary,” the stranger answered, his solemn tone and manner belying the sparkle in his eyes. “You saved me, mistress. Or more properly, through your courage and single-minded sacrifice, you saved our people.”

  She frowned. “ ‘Our’ people?”

  “My people, and yours. The elves.”

  “Are you a king, then?” she asked, confused. If he were, she had never met or even heard of him.

  “You might say that.”

  She pondered for a moment, and then said, “You are Hara Sophus, are you not?”

  He nodded.

  “You brought me back. From the Long Halls.”

  Another nod.

  “Why?”

  “Because I have a task for you,” he replied. “One for which I believe you might be suited. Would you consider making a pact with me?”

  “I do not know,” Miros said. “The last pact I struck did not turn out well.” Marvelling at her miraculous survival, she glanced down again at her miraculously unmarked flesh. “I have no skill at bargaining.”

  “I disagree,” the stranger replied, still solemn. “It seems to me that you made a wager with a deadly foe, and won it justly. Though the cost must have seemed high to you, the reward was beyond price. But in any case,” he added, grinning again, “you need not fear. I am not your foe. And I do not make unfair bargains.”

  Miros wondered whether she could trust him, and then decided that it didn’t matter. A calm acceptance had washed over her; and if she were indeed returned from eternal oblivion to walk once again the verdant earth that she so loved, what matter the cost? And so she shrugged, and asked, “What terms do you ask?”

  “Little enough,” the stranger answered with a smile. “You will serve me forever, without reward of any kind. You will use all of your power, knowledge and wisdom for the betterment of others, without expectation of recognition, remuneration or even thanks. You will struggle for an age, and another, and still another, and yet when the ages are done, and you are weary with toil, you will be further behind than when you began. And when the world breaks, and your people go to the Long Halls for eternity, you will not go with them, but will pass beyond the Void and into the oblivion of the Unmaking with me, and my brothers and sisters.”

  She stared at him. He smiled again, his grin infectious. “What do you say?”

  “That does not sound very attractive,” she replied, sceptical. “Is there no benefit in this pact for me?”

  The stranger smiled more broadly. “There are many. One of them,” he said, giving a nod, “is that you will wear a slightly different form.”

  Miros snorted derisively…and to her astonishment, flame jetted from her nostrils. Startled, she reeled backwards and nearly fell over, instinctively flapping her enormous wings to keep her balance. Her tail swept into place behind her, muscles tightening to brace her against the ground and keep her upright. She cried out in alarm…but the cry was a clarion of fury, like a peal of trumpets.

  She glanced down. Where smooth, pale flesh had been, a rippling carapace of intricately-detailed golden mail gleamed. She shot a terrified look at the stranger, and reeled again. He was gone, his place on the sward taken by a gigantic silver dragon. The towering creature sat back on its haunches, its head, like hers, higher than the treetops. It regarding her with a bemused glance – and its eyes were the same pools of liquid silver that the grey-clad elf had boasted.

  “What do you say?” the stranger repeated, this time in the dragons’ tongue, with a hint of a chuckle in his tone.

  The wyrm-speech startled her; for a moment, she heard a ghost of Sciarratekkan’s outraged, dying bellow in the stranger’s words, and was stunned to find that, in the inferno of power that was her wyrm’s heart, she felt a hot kernel of sorrow blossom for the ancient dragon, and a terrible stab of pain at his loss.

  And hers.

  “Lady?” the silver stranger asked, regarding her intently.

  Let the pain become your power, she told herself, hearing her father’s voice in the words.

  She looked into the silver dragon’s dancing argent eyes. “I accept!” she said. And her voice was a shattering bellow.

  “Excellent,” he nodded. “Then here is your first task.”

  There was a flash of light; she blinked, dazzled. On the grass at her feet, a tiny bundle appeared, bloody and broken.

  Her daughter.

  With her new eyes, her new heart, she saw what she had done: new life, a wealth of possibility, a future, a magnificent legacy…and all of them snuffed out, by her own hand.

  Dragons can feel sorrow, but they cannot weep. Instead, she roared her rage, her fury at her own deed, at the sky, pouring out her mourning and regret in fire.

  The silver dragon allowed her to grieve. When the storm had passed, she raised her eyes to his, and said, “Can you undo what I have done?”

  “I can,” the other dragon replied, “if you can tell me why I should.”

  She searched her conscience, came to a decision, and answered truthfully: “So that I may honour my lifemate. And so that…that I might one day see once mor
e his love for me. In her eyes.”

  A smile of approval spread over the god’s fanged visage. “Done!” he shouted. Bending down, he touched a platinum-hued claw to the tiny, pathetic bundle. Hot, argent light flashed, and Miros flinched. When she opened her eyes again, a scarlet dragonet squirmed on the sward before her. The tiny thing looked up at her, mewling feebly. The sight wrung her spirit.

  “She has her father’s hue,” Hara warned.

  “She has her mother’s heart,” Miros shrugged. “What does her hue matter?” And so saying, she bent down, and touched her own steely, gilt claw to the miniscule creature’s head.

  The dragonet stretched its neck, rubbing its scalp against her talon, cooing contentedly. As it did so, a bright, yellow light began at her claw-tip, running down the wyrmling’s dorsal ridge, spreading across its supple hide until the tiny reptile gleamed a brilliant gold.

  When the transformation was complete, Miros placed a massive palm on the grass so that the tiny, golden dragon could climb up onto it. She raised her hand to her face, and allowed the creature to rub its muzzle against hers. “You are Allyrysalkian,” she said softly. The little thing squeaked in reply. “And I am Miros. You may call me ‘mother’, Ally.”

  The tiny dragonet replied by opening its jaws and nipping at her nose. Its fangs were tiny, but sharp enough to draw blood. Miros winced at the sudden, stinging pain.

  The enormous silvery dragon barked a laugh. “I welcome you to my service, Miros, Mistress of Magic, and Mother of Dragons. I welcome you, with a full and grateful heart.

  “But I am afraid,” he added with a toothy grin, “that difficult daughters are destined to run in your family.”

  She ignored him. Crouching slightly, glancing down at the tiny dragon standing on her hand, clutching one of her massive talons. This child was her future, her life. There would be more; and she found, to her infinite surprise and delight, that she was looking forward to meeting them.

  “Hold tight, little Ally,” she whispered. Her child was new; not only new born, but a new being – the very first of a line that would in the fullness of time come to be known as the Daughters of Dragons. They would be her especial care, the more so because they were descended from her blood. So blessed, they would change the world. She was sure of it.

  She cupped the wyrmling to her armoured breast; and with a thrust of mighty legs and a sweeping downbeat of enormous wings, Miros – elf-princess, goddess of magic, and mother of the Kaunovalta – gathered her newfound strength…

  …and like a bolt of golden lightning, hurled herself at the sky.

  ♦♦♦

  Gwen’s Notes

  That sort of puts a cap on the story, doesn’t it? It’s nice to see that everything worked out well for Miros. Things didn’t work out so well for the folks who had to deal with her descendents, of course...but that, as they say, is another tale.

  Appendix – Historia Antiquitatis: The Ancient World

  ♦

  The following is an excerpt from the Historia Antiquitatis, one of the early masterworks of Ceorlinus Rectinarius, Sapienter Regalis of the Third House of Elvehelm in the reign of Allarýchian Æyllian, Rex Regis Elvii (b. 384 D, r. 687 D, m. 997 D, d. 1299 D); and his son and heir, Siarahalla Æyllian, Rex Regis Elvii (b. 1141 D, r. 1299 D, d. 212 N).

  As an aid to comprehension, the reader should note that historians generally order the history of the World Made into seven discrete Ages. The history of the Ancient World comprises the Beginning; the War of the Powers; the Age of Making; and the Age of Wisdom, that ended with the Fall of Ancient Harad, the Gloaming of the Wyrms, and the Closing of the Dome of the Firmament.

  The Modern World comprises the Eon of Darkness, that followed the fall of Ancient Harad at the end of the Age of Wisdom; the Age of Discovery, that began when the Argent Three brought the Tarinas Valtakirjas, the Book of the Powers, to the elf-king, ending the Darkness, and that lasted until the rise of the Shadow King, the War of the Shadow, the Sundering of the World, and the destruction of Yl of the Towers; and the Age of New Hope, that began with the defeat of the Shadow King, and that has endured thus far a thousand years and more.

  The history of the Modern World is elsewhere told. This discourse addresses the Ages of the Ancient World, and what transpired before the Darkness.

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  Primordium – The Beginning

  The universe began as an empty void, and long endured in this estate. At length, the void was broken by a light, and that light expanded and grew until it shone bright and clear; but the universe is endless and the light, great though it is, is not. And in the moment the universe knew light it knew also darkness. And in time the light came to know itself, and it was Ana; and in that same moment, the darkness became aware, and it was Uru. Where the light met the dark lay a place that was neither; and it knew both Ana and Uru, and forth from the union of the light and dark came the Powers. And the Powers were the Anari, the Bringers of the Light; and the Uruqua, the Keepers of the Dark.

  The Anari were seven; three elder daughters, and four younger sons. Eldest and first among them was Bræa, the Brightest, whose name in the elder tongue means “beautiful”. And she was the vessel of Ana, and wielded all of the powers of the Light. After Bræa came Tian the Just, she whose name means “order”; and her twin sister Vara the Compassionate, whose name means “mercy”. They were all three of them tall, and beautiful beyond the reach of mortal word. Tian was stern and wielded a sword forged of the Light of Ana called Vasatri, a fiery brand that none but she could wield; but Vara had a kind face and bore, in latter years after the forging of Anuru, a rod of the wood of the First Tree, which healed all living creatures, even unto calling the Children of the Powers, the Kindred, back from the halls of Tvalt.

  The Brothers of the Anari were four. Eldest was Hara the Wise, whose name, in the elder tongue, meant “wisdom”. He was tall and slender, with golden hair and eyes of silver, shimmering with the light of the stars that came after; and he bore a scroll given him by Bræa, upon which was written with all of the knowledge of the universe. Next came Esu the Brave, whose name means “courage”, who was tall and strong, with heavy fists a ready laugh, and who bore a hammer of adamant; and with it in hand he, and he alone, had the strength to sunder the foundations of the universe. After Esu came Nosa, short and dark, quick of hand and of humour, whose name means “wit”, and who bore a girdle woven of the light of Ana, that made him fleet of foot, able to outrun even Ana itself. And after Nosa came the youngest of the Anari, Lagu the Strong, whose name means “indomitable”. Lagu was short, broad and mighty; and though stern and quick of temper, he was steadfast of heart, and proof in body and in spirit against all of the terrors and blandishments of the dark.

  The Uruqua, the Keepers of the Dark, were likewise seven in number. Eldest among them, and in power a twin to Bræa, was Bardan the Slayer. Bardan moved in a cloud of shadow that none could penetrate, and that brought terror and despair to all he approached. The touch of Bardan was death, and his name, to the Elder Race, meant “the ending”. After Bardan came forth Zaman the Deceiver, Sister of Death and Mother of Lies. She was the fairest of the powers, white of face and of sable locks, surpassed only by Bræa in her dark beauty, and none could resist her voice or the power of her words. Her name meant “deceit” in the Elder tongue. After Zaman came Tvalt, Keeper of the Halls of the Dead and Lord of the Afterdark, whose name meant “the infinite”. Tvalt had no aspect, for he was without form, a force incorporeal and yet implacable; yet unlike his siblings he was not marked by evil, but was absolute and incarnate, the overseer and the judge of all; but still evil things loved to serve him, for he was set in lordship over death. And although he had no visage, his hands were skeletal, and cold.

  Kær the Thief was younger sister to Tvalt; she was lithe and comely, but cold of heart, quick of mind and of hand, and faster in stride than all of the Powers, save only Nosa. She wielded a whip woven of shadow that brought endless dreams
to any it touched, and her name meant “treachery”. After Kær came Morga the Destroyer, a giant of fire, hideous of visage, who wielded an immense sword forged of flame and darkness, and whose name meant "armageddon." After Morga came his sister Ekhalra, called the Witherer, whose aspect was tall, dark and shapely, in the morning a beauty second only to Bræa, in the evening a shadow fell and loathsome to behold. Her mere glance brought weakness, her breath rot and decay, and her touch destroyed all. And the last of the Uruqua was Dæsuqlu, the Pestilent One, whose aspect was as of a scabrous cripple, horrible to behold; but whose true form was unfixed, mutable and changing, but immensely powerful, deranging to the mortal mind, whose presence brought vermin, debility and disease, whose name meant “Plague.”

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  Bello Dominatii – The War of the Powers

  For eons the Anari and the Uruqua strove between light and dark, each to gain the ascendancy over the other, without ever taking physical form, for there was no firmament upon which to stand to do battle. After an age, Hara consulted with Bræa, and the Anari met and reached agreement with the Uruqua that a place to contain and circumscribe their battles should be made. So the Anari and the Uruqua together wielded the powers of Light and Dark, and from the void brought forth Anuru, the World of Light and Dark.

  At first, the Heavens were the province of the Light, and the Earth was the province of the Dark. From the Heavens came forth the Avatars of Light to serve the Anari; and from the Earth, the Avatars of Dark, to serve the Uruqua. And each of the Powers chose some from among Avatars to be their greatest assistants; and these became the Servants of the Powers. But Bræa and Bardan, the mightiest of the Powers, took no Servants, for in truth, they needed none. And after Anuru was formed and the Avatars come forth, Ana and Uru bespoke them, and they together wrought a place in the void to contain Anuru; and that place was the Ether, and all of Heaven and of Earth were contained therein. And Ana and Uru, and the Powers, and their Servants, and the Avatars of Light and Dark took shape and substance in the Void beyond the Ether, but travelled freely therein, throughout Heaven and Earth. And Anuru, woe betide that small and misbegotten mote of Evertime, became their battleground.

  Once the Avatars had come forth from Heaven and from Earth, and the Servants had been selected to lead them, the Anari and the Uruqua recommenced their battling for the supremacy of all; and mighty were their struggles. The earth was torn and rent with their lightnings, and the heavens burnt by their fires. Waters were cast up, and mountains hurled down in ruin. At length, the treachery of Bardan was made manifest, for at the height of the battle, he tore the foundations of the Earth, and from the gash in Evertime he wrought, poured forth as a mighty torrent the Minions of the Dark, the spirits of which had been sown in the earth by the Uruqua, and that had lain in slumber, and in ambuscade, for the Anari and the Avatars of the Light. And the Minions of the Dark were legion, and the Anari and their Avatars were pressed backwards in battle, near unto defeat. But as the end approached, the wisdom of Hara told, for he had conspired with Bræa to sow the spirits of the Minions of the Light in the heavens; and they fell upon the Minions of the dark, as bolts from the skies; and though the Minions of the Light were fewer in number, their power was far the greater; and they slew, and were slain, in great number. And the slain Minions of the Dark became the rocks of the mountains, the stones of the hills, and the grains of sand of the beaches of Anuru; but the Minions of the Light slain in battle became the stars of the sky.

  And it is said that one of these slayings wrought the greatest evil in Anuru. For Balcocheth, an Avatar of the Dark, one of the Servants of Zaman the Deceiver, met in battle with Tian the Just; and although he was supported by hordes of his Minions, and Tian stood alone, yet she remained one of the Anari and a mighty Power of the Universe, and strove against him with her sword Vasatri, forged of the Light of Ana. In the battle, she sore wounded Balcocheth, and he fell to his knees and begged for mercy; and Tian stayed her hand, and called for her sister Vara to aid the stricken Servant of Zaman.

  But his pleadings were treachery, for Balcocheth was not mortally wounded. As Tian stooped to his aid, Balcocheth seized Vasatri and cast the mighty sword to his mistress Zaman, who lay hidden among the stones; and Zaman seized the sword, and smote Tian through the back; and the great Sword of Light passed through Tian and pierced Balcocheth, and slew him as he stood. And so, in the way of his kind, he became in an instant one of the great mountains of Anuru.

  Although Tian lived (for even the power of Vasatri was not great enough to slay its own mistress, one of the Powers of Light), she lay in agony, pinned to the evil heart of the stone; and because she could not reach the hilts of the great sword, and because none else had the strength to withdraw it, she could not be freed. And so, it is said, she remains unto this day, the Justice and Order of the world laid low, unmoving and ineffectual, betrayed and brought to naught by Treachery.

  But Zaman, wielding Vasatri, had awoken the Light of Ana to her foulness; and the might of the sword struck her even as she flourished it, burning off the hand that wielded the eternal glaive, searing her visage fair, consuming her left eye, and deforming and disfiguring her; and from the loveliest of all beings after Bræa, she became the foulest and most hideous of hags. And so, ever after, walked she the varied paths of Anuru.

  Even before the battle between Tian, and Balcocheth, and Zaman had ended, still another treachery of Bardan was revealed; for he had broken his oath to Bræa, taking seven of the greatest of the Avatars of the Dark as his Servants. And into them he poured the Power and Might of Uru; and such was their hideous strength that they equalled, and nigh surpassed, the Uruqua in their wrath. And so the Anari, with the defeat and imprisonment of Tian, found themselves at a great disadvantage; and for them, the War of the Powers turned to ill.

  ♦

  Sæculum Factionis – The Age of Making

  Fearing defeat in the War, Bræa pleaded with Ana for counsel; and both the Anari and the Uruqua were permitted to create new beings, of great but lesser stature, to serve in their wars. These new lives were to be weak in power but unlimited in number; and the skill of their creators would determine success or failure. But because this meant shattering the accord between Ana and Uru (which in truth had already been breached by Bardan), the creation of the new beings, although undertaken by Bræa alone, was perforce accompanied by the Ban, which forbade the creation of any more beings of speech, and free will, and immortal spirit within Anuru.

  And so Bræa laboured and brought forth the Eldest, the Brahiri, which name means “Children of Bræa”; and they were fair of face and unlike any beings yet seen within the confines of Anuru. Four peoples of the Brahiri were created. The First People were tall and very fair, with pale skin and dark hair and eyes; and they were patient and gentle, and on their brow was writ Wisdom. The Second People were short, broad and dark of hair and skin; and they were strong and enduring as the stones of world upon which they trod. The Third People were tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed, and these were fleet of foot and eager to know the secrets of Anuru; and the Fourth People were small, nimble and dark of skin and hair, and quick and clever. These were the People of the Spoken Word, created by Bræa, ever after called The Kindred; and in the instant of their waking, Ana closed the door of creation, and no more speaking creatures of free will and immortal spirit could ever after be called into being by the Powers upon Anuru, for good or for ill. And this sealing for all time of the door of creation was called the Ban of Ana.

  But Uru, learning of the Ban of Ana, was incensed, for he perceived that the Peoples forged by Bræa, though yet young and but in the dawning of their powers, would fight for the Bringers of the Light; and though they were frail in comparison to the Powers, Avatars and Minions of the Dark, yet they were fecund, and soon would people Anuru in great numbers. So he strove mightily against the Ban, but it fell upon Anuru before he could undertake to oppose it. Thus, although he brought forth creatures and monsters innumerable, none could s
hare the gifts of the Kindred of the Spoken Word, of Free Will, and of the Immortal Spirit; and were but beasts. And Uru was wroth, and he seized instead upon many of his Minions of the Dark, and warped them into terrible and fell monsters, and set them in eternal enmity against the Children of Bræa; and so were created the fell serpents, the great spiders, the wolves of terror, the dragons, the giants, and all of the other horrors of Anuru. Some were lesser in strength and short-lived; but others were wise, mighty and long in years. And in time, some – especially the dragons – grew fell and terrible, exceeding the Minions in their power, to rival even the Avatars as the mightiest of the servants of the Dark.

  While Uru was withdrawn into the darkness and engaged in his hideous creations, abetted by Bardan, Zaman, and Tvalt, Bræa gathered her new-born Children in one place upon the earth and instructed them in the Spoken Word. And there was no time in that place, for the Lantern had not yet risen, nor had the Lamps that were to come in latter days; and the Children lived in peace and ease by the light and strength that lay in the Anari alone. They learned quickly; and as they learned, they grew in wisdom and power and independence; and Bræa, after a time, understood the terrible price that came with the Ban of Ana. For the Children of Bræa were not slaves; they knew no subservience to either Light or Dark, but were free of will, and so, unlike the Servants, the Avatars, and the Minions, free to disobey; even to oppose the Light, and to bend to the will and whim of evil. And this perplexed Bræa, for the Servants, the Avatars and the Minions of the Powers had been brought forth in servitude and obedience; and they could struggle, and argue, and twist; but in the end they could not rebel against their masters.

  But the Children of Bræa were wilful; and although, compared to the greater beings, they were ephemeral, and fragile, and could be killed, yet they could not be cowed. And this freedom woke a kernel of fear in the bosom of Bræa; for she foresaw that this independence of spirit could lead them to follow and serve the Dark as easily as the Light. And moreover, for the Kindred, this independence of spirit, it seemed, endured even after death, for unlike the Avatars, the Minions, and even the Monsters of Bardan, the Kindred, when their bodies were slain, did not disappear forever from Anuru, but rather passed into the Long Halls of the Dead, under the eyes of Tvalt; whence the powerful might someday return.

  Liberi Bræa – the Betrayal of Bræa

  And when she perceived this, Bræa railed against the light; and such was her despair at having unleashed Free Will upon Anuru that she sought to unmake her children, and return them to the stuff of Heaven and Earth whence they had come, lest they fall prey to the blandishments of Uru, and so tip the balance even further against the Light. But Ana stayed Bræa’s hand, saying, “That which I have permitted thee to create, thou mayest not uncreate. Wouldst thou then slay thy sons and thy daughters for being not slaves? Thine dismay and distrust are unbecoming of the Light, and therefore do I say that these are now no longer thy children. While thou mayest instruct and even walk among them, never again will they hew unto you. No more are they in thy charge.”

  And so saying, Ana summoned the Brothers of Bræa: Hara, Esu, Nosa and Lagu, and gave unto each of them the care and instruction of one of the Peoples. To Hara she bequeathed the care of the First People, those who were tall, dark-haired and wise, and they became the Haradi. To Lagu was given care of the Second People, those who were short, strong and of indomitable will, and they became the Lagudi. Esu received the care of the Third People, the Fair-haired Wanderers, to be known ever after as the Esudi; and Nosa was granted care over the small, nimble folk of the Fourth People, and they became the Nosadi. And the four brothers separated, taking their new charges to different parts of Anuru to instruct them as each saw fit. And Bræa did weep at this parting, and repented of her attempt to slay her children; and she vowed that ever after she would strive to protect and nurture them. But Ana forbade even this, warning Bræa that while she might still impart knowledge to her former Children, and even allow her Servants and Avatars to assist them, yet she could never raise her hand again, either in their defence of, or against them. And Bræa bowed her head in submission to Ana, and in grief at her loss. But in time, she found a means to subvert even the will of Ana, and give unto her children a gift that would strengthen them against their foes.

  But for the nonce, her grief was all-consuming; and in that grief, the Light that was in Bræa left her, and she became a lowly and silent spirit, incomparably mighty, and of beauty unsurpassed; but quiet and humble. And rather than see it vanish from Anuru, Ana took the light of Bræa, and fashioned it into an orb of exceeding puissance and beauty, and placed it in the Heavens near unto Anuru, so that the light of Bræa could yet be seen by her Children, and they might feel her warmth upon their faces. And the orb was ever after called Bræadan, which in the language of the Anari, meant “Lantern of Bræa”.

  But the will of Uru was not to be denied; and he was wroth that the light of Bræa should fall without hindrance across all of Anuru, and lay bare the schemes of the Uruqua, and expose the fell pits in which his monsters were bred, and the dark vales in which they prospered. And so with a word, he set the Earth into motion, and spun it like a ball, so that all of the lands would know darkness as well as light, with each defeating the other in turn, allowing the Master of Shadow sufficient darkness for his fell deeds.

  Thus were created the days. And as the march of days began, so began the count of time; and with the count of time, the Age of Making ended, and the Age of Wisdom began.

  ♦

  Aetatis Sapientiae – The Age of Wisdom

  When he had finished with each of his vile creations, Uru sent them into the world, and they gave their service and their loyalty to the Powers of the Dark. But while they had not free will, the fell beasts of the Dark were unruly, even disobedient; and so Bardan took them under his careful overlordship, for he feared that if his siblings, who were ever untrustworthy and jealous of his rule, were to gain their allegiance, with so mighty a following, they might one day challenge him for mastery of the Uruqu.

  Thus, aided by his Seven Servants, Bardan undertook to instruct the new beasts in the knowledge and wisdom of Uru. The mightiest of his servants, Gargarik, undertook the instruction of the Giants, while Penchriss, called The Wily, was given dominion over serpents. Mordakris, greatest of hunters, gained lordship over wolves and other seeking beasts, and Xanthanis, the Venomous One, was made king of spiders. Korkrynn, the Far-Seeing, blood enemy of Gemmo, Lady of Winds, became Mistress of Raptors, and was as queen to all fell creatures of the skies; and Borduru, the swiftest and most despised of Bardan’s servants, was given dominion over the vermin of Anuru.

  Last came Achamkris, eldest and wisest of Bardan’s followers; and she was given lordship over the dragons; for of all Bardan's creations, these were the wisest and most wilful of creatures. And Achamkriss was pleased with her overlordship; and she hoped that her charges might become even more powerful in time. And to this end, she struck a bargain with Gargarik, so that each aided the other; and so the dragons grew in strength and power, becoming mighty beyond all belief; and the giants grew in wisdom and lore, and those who could, learned the Art Magic from the dragons.

  Still Acahmkris was not done; and in the guise of one of the Kindred, she he espied upon the Haradi, and stole from them the secret of speech, and gave it unto the dragons; and thus the dragons alone retained the words and potency of the Elder tongue, in which the Art Magic was first born upon Anuru. And so too were the dragons the first of Bardan’s foul creations to gain the power of the spoken word.

  And this was a momentous decision, with far-reaching consequences. The dragons taught the Giants to speak, and so the word spread among the fell creatures, and those who had wit to learn it, did so, and Bardan's forces grew mighty, and built great empires of evil. But where the speech of the Haradi was soft and musical, and suited even to the tongues of dragons (for the dragons had perforce taken the form of the Haradi to learn it), none other of Ba
rdan's foul brood could mouth the Elven words; and so the speech of the evil creatures was harsh and foul. And each race of evil bent the word to its own uses; and so in time the foul races were estranged.

  Under the tutelage of Acahmkris, the dragons prospered and grew in lore and might, and they lived long years, and came thereafter to be the most powerful, and wisest, and longest-lived of all the mortal beings upon Anuru. Fell minions of the Dark quailed before them, and even the mightiest of the Avatars feared to contend with the lords and princes of dragonkind. But the seeds of the deed of Achamkris were their own punishment and reward; and certain of the dragons could not bear the corruption of the speech they had learned from the Haradi. And so they separated from their kin, who remained with their brothers, the Children of Bardan; and these exiles betook themselves to the distant places of Anuru, to find a new path. And in time, they found it among the Kindred; but that is a later tale.

  Still, despite all of their might, the dragons were outdone by the Children of Bræa, for they did not possess immortality of spirit; nor could they learn the Free Will that was the gift of Bræa; for that was hers and hers alone to give, a secret even the wily Acahmkris could not wrest from the Brahiri.

  The creation and instruction of the fell creatures took Bardan an Age of Anuru, and during this time the Children of Bræa flourished and spread across the earth. The Haradi were slow to grow in numbers, but wise in the ways of tree and forest, and so formed families that became great domains and even kingdoms; and the woods and the hills were their domain. They contemplated the stars and were taught the mysteries of Heaven and of Earth by Hara and by Bræa; and they became mighty in lore and power.

  The Esudi were the most fecund of beings, and courageous in exploration, and they spread rapidly across Anuru, founding cities and tilling the land, as they were taught by Esu and by Bræa; and while not nearly so long-lived as the Haradi, they were the most adventurous, and their empires grew and flourished; and ever the red sword shone among them.

  The Lagudi, less fecund, but strong and wise in the lore of working stone and metal, found the high hills and cold mountains to their liking, and learned the arts of mining and of the forge from Lagu and from Bræa; and they crafted wondrous things in their soaring halls beneath the stone; and they remained ever the most observant and careful in their devotions to the Powers.

  But the Nosadi, although secretive in person among themselves, were yet gregarious with others, and so sought out no lands of their own, but lived in harmony among their brethren; and they were taught, by Nosa and Bræa alike, to be quick of thought, eye and hand. And although, from time to time, they fell out with their brethren, yet they were hardy in time of trial, and feared no being, either in Heaven or upon the Earth.

  And in time, each race of Bræa's children was settled in peace and prosperity; and all were content to live under the light of Bræadan; and their mother watched them from afar. But far from the light, in the shadowed places of the Earth, who brother Bardan wrought in watchful silence, and strove towards the destruction of all that she, and the Anari, had worked to build.

  Prosapiae Haradi – the Houses of Harad

  Throughout the Age of Wisdom, the Powers of Light lived in close harmony with their subjects, walking and even living among them; and even so did Bræa, whose Children had been given over unto the care of her brothers. And because the light that was in her had left her, and had been sealed into the ever-burning lamp that lit Anuru, Bræa walked more easily among her children than her siblings could, wearing her manu of matchless beauty, and teaching quiet wisdom to all who would listen.

  At length, after many long years, she was at last overcome by her loneliness, and so she took a husband from among the men of Harad. His name was Ciarloth, foremost among all her pupils; and the people of Harad wondered at her choice, for though he was wise and tall, and of fair visage, he was but a common man, and not one of the many kings that had risen among the fair folk. In time Ciarloth and Bræa brought forth children, that were likewise tall, and all wondered at them; for they were pale of skin, and dark of hair like unto their sire, but wisdom and beauty beyond compare had they from their mother.

  Because they were born of the Children, they were beings of Heaven and Earth; but with the blood of Bræa mingled into their line, they were the fairest and wisest of all of the Children of the Mother. They were far-sighted, and had dominion over the Skies and the Seas; the birds of air and beasts of the earth answered to their call; and such a strength was in them that they feared no Power of Dark. And these children did not die within Anuru unless slain; and even then, their spirits were ever reborn beyond the Ether, in the fair homes of the Anari.

  The children of Bræa and Ciarloth were Niamlo, Brahad, Siallath and Xiardith; and these together were called the First House of Harad. And those of the First House were ever after mighty beyond all of the other Children; and in time they became living legends among the Haradi, seeking no kingship, but only to increase their knowledge, and use their powers to the betterment of the world. But of the line that held the kingship after Ciarloth, misfortune came hand-in-hand with might; and treason befell them, and horror, and death. And this dark fate pursued all of his heirs, even unto modern days.

  When he saw that his elder sister had come to live in peace and joy with the Children, Hara, her her eldest brother, took a wife from the women of Harad; one Oramna, she whose beauty was first among the Mortal Children, before the birth of Niamlo. Long had she been Hara's pupil in the wisdom of the stars, and she was wise beyond all save the Anari themselves; and even more wise in the ways of the mortal world. For she followed, as Hara had taught her, the stars in their courses, and knew the names of tree and rill and stone, and numbered well all the beasts, fair and foul, of Anuru. Their children were Elloamna, who carried her mother’s beauty, and Îardan, who bore his mother’s wisdom. And both came to life with their father Hara’s boundless knowledge of the universe, his unquenchable thirst to know more, and his undying love of all things upon Anuru. And they were the progenitors of the Second House of Harad, renowned for their knowledge, and wisdom, and guardianship and lore of Heaven and of Earth, and everything within them.

  The First and Second Houses grew slowly, and prospered, and were ever revered among the Haradi, latterly called the Elves. No misfortune befell their long descent - save only for those who mingled the two divine bloodlines. More will be told of them later. We turn first to the origins of those called the Hiarsk, to whom the unknowing and ignorant have given the appellation "Half-Elf".

  Originis Hiarskae, Benedictiae Bræaoni, et Fatum Humanitus – On the Origins of the Hiarsk, the Blessing of Bræa, and the Wyrd of Men

  Niamlo, eldest daughter of Bræa, and most beautiful of the Haradi, dark-eyed and dark-haired and tall, wandered long without taking a husband; for in truth she desired only the knowledge of the skies and the stars. Yet at the last she met and fell enamoured with Chuadwaith of Esud. And this astonished her kin among the Haradi, for he was not even of her own people, but one of the Esudi, a child of the people of Esu, arrogant, violent and inquisitive.

  Yet their union had been foretold, fated and written in the Book of the Heavens. For in her youth, Niamlo had been stolen away and hidden by the Uruqua Tvalt, concealed amongst the Dead who roamed his Long Halls; for he coveted her force of life and her beauty, the likes of which had never been seen except among the Anari. Indeed, so closely did she resemble Tvalt’s sister, Zaman (before her beauty had been blighted by her treachery), that Tvalt desired her; and he held Niamlo captive, against her wish, in order that the Powers of Dark might thereafter force Bræa, her mother, to do their bidding.

  Chuadwaith was the son of the son of a King of Esud, who had heeded the dark but compelling words of Bardan, and owed fealty to Tvalt; but when he saw Niamlo held captive, his heart changed within him, and he freed her and fled with her. Tvalt was wroth, and his fell and deathless minions pursued the fugitive pair across Anuru, and even unto the ends of t
he Earth. But Chuadwaith was wise in the ways of the world, and a mighty warrior besides, and he protected her against all foes.

  The pair took refuge in the deep places of Anuru, with the Children of Lagud, where their King, Gargarund, the mightiest and most skilled of smiths, foresaw the battles that lay ahead for Chuadwaith. And so he himself took hammer in hand, and thrice-forged a mighty sword of black iron from the heart of the mountain; and this he gave to Chuadwaith to aid him in preserving the daughter of Bræa. And he called the sword Bjergshjert, which means “Mountain’s Heart”. And while living among the Lagudi, in the dark of the earth, Niamlo bore three children to Chuadwaith: two sons, Ciarndim and Ciardak, and a daughter, Hiarhala. And for years, Chuadwaith battled the minions and monsters of the Dark, both above the earth and below; but never did the seekers sent by Tvalt find him or his family.

  At length, after all his machinations had failed to locate the daughter of Bræa, Bardan sent his servant Mordakris, Lord of Hunters and of Wolves, to find and retrieve her and her daughters; and Mordakris was the wisest of hunters, and could not be denied. He followed Chuadwaith to the kingdom of the Lagudi, and assailed them with the wolves and fell hunting beasts, and the most horrid of minions, that were his to command; but the Lagudi were steadfast, and were themselves mighty warriors, and were armed and armoured as no others upon Anuru. And Bardan sent even his sister Zaman, blighted in her visage, but wise in fell blandishments and promises; but the hearts of the Lagudi were loyal to the light and firm, and could not be swayed. And even did Bardan send his fell brother Dæsuqlu, Lord of Pestilence, to plague the Lagudi with fell humours and disease, and to call forth from the Underworld the most horrific of creatures to harry them; but the Lagudi withstood them, and defeated them all.

  In desperation, Mordakris himself agreed to single combat with Chuadwaith, and it was his undoing; for Chuadwaith, although by this time old and gray of hair, was yet mightiest among the men of Esud; and although sore wounded, he slew Mordakris with the black sword of Lagud; and the Earth and Heavens shook at the great wolf's fall, for never before had one of the Children slain one of the mightiest of the Servants of the Dark. It is said that at the death of Mordakris, even Bardan trembled in his shadowy fastness beyond the stars; for the death of Chuadwaith had shown him that men might be slain, but that the spirit of the Children of Esud could never be bought, blandished or cowed.

  Niamlo fled the scene of the battle with the body of her husband, and bore him back to the hidden halls of Lagud; and there she stayed with him, neither eating nor drinking, until at length she too passed into the shadows; and the greatest beauty that ever was or ever shall be fled the world with her. But though they had passed from Anuru, neither Chuadwaith, nor his wife Niamlo, came ever after unto the Halls of the Dead; for they had sworn eternal enmity to the ravisher Tvalt, and would not suffer his overlordship, either in life or in death. But Bræa deemed it unfit that, after so many travails, they should find no rest after death, and so she importuned Ana to find for them some place of peace. And so to preserve in the record of the heavens the story of their courage and their fidelity unto death, Ana took their spirits and forged of them two orbs, and set them in the Heavens near unto the Earth; and these were called Chuadan and Lodan, the lamps of Chuadwaith and Niamlo. Unlike the lamp of Bræa, they stood in the Heavens but a little apart from the Earth; and they followed differing paths, so that at times they lay together in the sky, and at times apart. And Chuadan was bold and bright, flashing the light of Bræadan from his face, and it seemed that he followed Lodan through the sky, as Chuadwaith had pursued Niamlo when she was held by Tvalt. But Lodan was silvery and dark, and lay chill and beautiful against the vault of the night, gracing it as Niamlo had once graced the Earth.

  The children who followed after Chuadwaith were the first People of Two Houses, of parentage deriving from Harad and Esud; and they were ever after called the Hiarsk, known in latter days (to those unwise in ancient lore) as the Half-Elven. Because of their parentage, they were fair, wise and long in years like unto the Haradi; but also were they strong, and fleet, and full of courage and wonder, like unto the Children of Esud. And though in latter years the Hiarsk were frowned upon by both Houses, and declined somewhat in might and wisdom, yet none could forget that their heritage was once the mightiest, the wisest and the bravest of all the Kindred; for all could look into the sky and see, in Chuadan and Lodan, the light upon the Earth of the mother and father of the first of the Hiarsk.

  And the black sword Bjergshjert was passed down from father to son in the line of the Overlords of the Hiarsk, for many a long age; until in the fullness of time it was lost. But while it was still known upon the Earth, by this sword were the Lords of the Hiarsk acknowledged as first among the firstborn of all of the Kindred.

  But by far the greatest legacy of the intermingling of the two folk through Chuadwaith and Niamlo was the Choice that was given to the Hiarsk, alone of all the Kindred. They, and none other, had the right to choose between the fate of the Haradi – to live forever a life of wisdom and sadness, unless slain, within Anuru, and then to pass to the Halls of Tvalt for a time, before coming to a final rest beyond the Dome of the Firmament (that that eternal bliss which is called the Blessing of Bræa); or to live a short life, full of joy and glory, before passing through the Halls of the Dead and beyond, to an unknown fate outside of the Universe, beyond even the ken of Ana and Uru (that which is called the Wyrd of Men).

  Prosapiae Primus: The First House of the Elves

  Brahad, the eldest son of Bræa, took his wife from among the Haradi; and his heirs were of direct lineage from Bræa, and took their mates only within the Haradi, and enjoined their descendents to do likewise, and they became the First House of Harad, known as the Îar-anHaradi. And they were known in the latter days as the Wandering Elves, for they forebore to settle, and preferred ever to seek new lands under new skies. And they remained the tallest, and the wisest, and the longest-lived of the Houses of Harad, and they loved the mountains and the skies, and searched the stars for wisdom. In their search for wisdom, they built no empires, but wandered ever the Earth; and thus they were never numerous, though mighty. Like their father, they died not within Anuru; but if slain, they shared in the Blessing of Bræa, that is to go to the Long Halls after Death, beyond the Dome of the Firmament, there to await their Mistress-Mother’s call, at the Breaking of the World.

  Prosapiae Secundus: The Second House of the Elves

  Siallath, the younger daughter of Bræa, took as her husband Îardan, the younger son of Hara. And their children were a son, Îardath, and a daughter, Sialladan; and in this line flowed the beauty of Bræa and the wisdom of Hara. Like the First House, the scions of the Second took their mates only within the Haradi, and were called the Second House of Harad. Though not as long-lived or as tall as those of the First House, they were more beautiful, and were greater lovers of the forests and the trees. And in latter days, they were known as the Cho-anHaradi, which means the “Grey Elves”, and their kingdoms were mighty in Anuru, if brief; for their love lay in wisdom and knowledge and arcane skill, not in power or rulership. And like the First House, they shared in the Blessing of Bræa.

  Prosapiae Tertius: The Third House of the Elves

  Elloamna, the eldest daughter of Hara, whose name meant “Silver-White” for her shining, silvery hair (so unlike the ebon locks of most of the Haradi), took as her mate Erudiath, the First King of Harad. And they had one daughter, Haramna, in whom the light and beauty of Elloamna lived on. And Haramna was taken as wife by Xiardith, the youngest son of Bræa; and their children were golden-haired and blue, grey and silver-eyed; and they were strong and swift of foot, and three in number, and were famous among the Haradi.

  Eldest was Tior, whose name means “Tallest”, and he bore wisdom upon his brow, and the power of light in his hand, and his eyes were blue; and he bore the raven tresses of his common forebears. Yet he became the greatest worker of the powers of light and dark in the his
tory of Harad. Tior it was who breached the walls of heaven and created the Well of Stars, from whose endless depths flow all of the mighty powers of the Haradi, and all who wield the arcane flux; and he created the Rods of Majesty, once wielded by the mightiest kings of Harad, and of which none now survive. And Tior it was who, at the Well of Stars, forged for his brother Dior the great two-handed sword Alurenqua, which means “Blade of Light and Darkness”; and the blade became an heirloom of the Third House, the were-weapon of the war chieftains of Harad, that only those of the greatest strength and power could wield. And finally, Tior was the first of the magi to comprehend the mysteries and manipulation of the great river of time; and he recorded this knowledge in a series of scrolls known as the Miruklær, the “Wisdom of Time”, now, like many of his works, lost. And he served his subjects as High King of the Third House of the Haradi. But Tior’s thirst for knowledge and power knew no bounds, and he met a foul end; and thus his legacy is one of darkness and shadow, as well as light.

  Next in line was Dior, whose eyes were silver, and whose name meant “Strongest”; might was in his hand, the greatest warrior the Haradi ever knew. He it was who entered the lair of the Great Green Wyrm Chyardan and slew him; and who led the Haradi to battle against the Minions of the Dark; and who, wielding the great sword Alurenqua at the crisis of battle, strove against and cast down Baluchog, one of the greatest Minions of the Dark, a mighty servant of Morga the Destroyer. Dior took as his wife a common maiden of the Haradi; and after the ending of Tior’s line in the treachery of Biardath, those of the line of Dior were the High Kings of the Third House of the Haradi.

  And last came Diorwine, she of the grey eyes, with raven hair like her brothers, and matchless beauty, whose name meant "Gentle Strength"; she who in entering the world slew her mother Haramna, and was raised by the eagles of the air and the beasts of the forest; for her father Erudiath knew naught of her, but thought her dead along with her dam. It was only as a grown woman that she returned to her father’s courts; and when she did, she held in friendship the beasts of the land and the birds of the air; and even the foul monsters of Bardan did her bidding, save only the most ancient and powerful of the dragons; for it was in her spirit to love all that she saw, and be loved by all that saw her. Yet this power was in the end to prove her undoing; and hers was to be a sad fate, and foul.

  And in latter days the scions of the Third House lived and intermingled with those of the Second; but children who bore raven hair, like Tior, were ever after known as the Ello-anHaradi, which means “High Elves”. The Third House brought forth many of the mightiest warriors, wizards and kings of Harad. And like those of the First and Second Houses, they died not in Anuru unless slain, and when they passed, they shared in the Blessing of Bræa.

  Prosapiae Quartus: The Fourth House of the Elves

  After an age of practicing and perfecting his art, Tior, High King of the Third House of Harad, took to wife Hiarhala the Hiarsk, daughter of Niamlo and Chuadwaith. She was as tall and fair as one of the Haradi, but there was in her the strength and courage of her Esudi father, and well she bore the studious and distant nature of her husband; and the people marvelled at her, for she had hair red as flame, and green eyes. And in the course of their short time together (for the Hiarsk, though longer-lived than most men, were yet short in span of years compared to the elders among the Haradi; and Tior’s time was shorter still, though he knew it not), she bore two sons and two daughters. Eldest was Kiarask, a mighty warrior of the Hiarsk, who founded a kingdom that became an empire of Esud; and after him, for he had no children, his sisters Ciardana and Tiorhala ruled his empire, as did their children after them.

  But the youngest son, Xiardath, whose name meant "Last-Born", was his father’s child in sooth, for he resembled most closely the people of the Third House, fair-skinned and black-haired; and he learned his father’s lore and power, and became, after Tior, the most powerful mage in the history of Anuru. As his power waxed, so did his pride, and he became mighty in Harad, and also secretive, and resentful of his father’s mastery. Xiardath demanded of his father that he be taught the deepest of wisdom; but Tior, sensing the darkness in his son, refused. And so Xiardath sought the forbidden knowledge on his own. In his search for wisdom and mastery, he came at last upon Zaman, hooded, disguised as a mighty sorceress; and she instructed him at length. And though he gained great power from her tutelage, it was the power of the Dark, and it consumed his soul; and soon he had turned away from his people, seeking ever more fell and puissant magicks under the corrupting eye of Zaman the Deceiver.

  At last there came the day when, swollen with pride and the power of the Uruqua, Xiardath launched war against his father, and challenged him for control of all Harad. The son strove for mastery with the father; and because Tior would not slay his son, Xiardath emerged victorious; and wielding the forbidden powers of the Dark, he breached the walls of time and space, and cast his father Tior into the realms of the Void beyond the universe. And so noble Tior alone, of all the Haradi, was reft of the Blessing of Bræa; he came never unto the Long Halls, and his mighty spirit has departed beyond the knowledge of Ana and Uru.

  After the battle of father and son, the Kingdom of the Third House lay in ruins; most of the noble family were slain, and nigh all of their servants. Yet among the wrack of war and woe Xiardath found a maiden, seemingly of the Haradi, wild of visage, but of exceeding beauty, with the raven hair and silver eyes of his father’s house; but she spoke not, for she had been rudely treated by the warriors of Xiardath. Gazing upon her, Xiardath loved her instantly, for such was her particular power; and took her from the ruins of Tior’s household, and kept her as concubine, ad victorem spolias. And thus was the doom of the Third House sealed; for he did this not knowing that she was Diorwine, his own father’s younger sister, caught up in the fates of war.

  Thus were sown the seeds of an eon of hatred and destruction in Harad, for at length Diorwine bore a child; but the child of Xiardath, whose spirit had been corrupted by the dark magicks he wove, got upon his own kin, was born dark of skin, with bone-white hair, and eyes as black as his father’s heart. And the boy was called by his father Biardath, which means “Ill-Born”; for the birthing was difficult, and Diorwine, who had never recovered from the agonies of battle, did not survive it. And Xiardath, dismayed by the death of Diorwine, and disgusted by the deformity of his son, cast the infant boy out of his household, sending one of his apprentices to dispose of the infant in the forest.

  But the apprentice was found by Kankallanach, one of the Great Wyrms of Ice, a mighty dragon, and the father of mighty dragons. One of the eldest of Bardan’s fell monsters, Kankallanach recognized the power that lay within the infant; and the white wyrm consumed the apprentice, and took the infant Biardath under his wing, bearing him far into the north; and the dragon raised him, and taught him great magicks unknown to the Elves, and even the Powers of Dark, but only by the dragons. And in time the boy grew in power to rival his father, and hate him. When he came of age he returned with Kankallanach to Harad, accompanied by a vast host; and together they cast down Xiardath, and slew him and all his household, and razed his palace; and Biardath took the kingdom for his own, and thus founded the Fourth House of the Haradi. From his father’s bones, and the blood of his mentor, and other fell things, Biardath forged a mighty staff with which to wield his magicks; and this was called the Wand of Biardath.

  Biardath sired two lines; for he first wed Fanduiline, of the House of Dior, and her pure blood erased the taint from his house; her daughter, Gennara, survived in hiding to become the wife of Yarchian, called The Renewer. But this was in later years. When Fanduiline died, Biardath wed Shannyra, a fell sorceress, one of the Minions of Bardan, and his children by her bore his true features, and the taint of his heart, and were ever after dark of skin, white of hair, and mighty in magic. And both lines possessed the strength and courage of the Esudi mingled, from long before, with the blood of Bræa and Hara. The dark-haired line came e
ventually back to the light, and perpetuated the line of the Third House of Harad; but the children with white hair and black eyes, who were called in latter days the “Shadelven”, were the Fourth House of Harad; and they were called also Sobrinatrii, the “cousins of the Shadow”, the Shadelven of the Deepdark.

  The children of the Fourth House, like their forebears, were immortal in Anuru; and through their lineage, they were permitted to share in the Blessing of Bræa. But because of the taint cast upon the Fourth House by the crimes of Biardath, and his mingling of blood with the foul sorceress Shannyra, those of this line who passed beyond Anuru and into the Void were ever after banned from the Light; and it is said that instead, their spirits were offered refuge by Bardan, who was eager for their wisdom and power, and glad to number so many of the fallen Children of Bræa among his mighty followers.

  Prosapiae Quintus: The Fifth House of the Elves

  Ciarndim, eldest son of Niamlo, eldest daughter of Bræa and Chuadwaith of Esud, founded and perpetuated the Fifth House. And his children ever after were Hiarsk, for they married only within the peoples of Esud; but though shorter-lived than the pure Elves, they were strong and fair, and the wisdom and beauty of Bræa never wholly left their line; and they were known as the Ur-Vestelven, or the “Wandering Half-Elves”. And they were the Fifth House of Harad, also called the Second House of the Hiarsk. But although they were very long in years, like their Esudi fathers they shared not in the Blessing of Bræa; and when they died or were slain in Anuru, their spirits departed beyond the Void; and although they lingered for a time in the Halls of Tvalt, and could even be called by and compelled to serve the Powers, yet they could not be forever held, and eventually departed, and it is not known where they go. And the departure of the spirits of the Hiarsk, like those of the Esudi, was called in later days the Wyrd of Man. And this, the Fifth House of the Haradi, had no High King; for they settled not, and built no empires among the Haradi; but their descendents were known everywhere as wise and mighty among the peoples of Anuru.

  Prosapiae Sixtus: The Sixth House of the Elves

  Of the children of Tior and Hiarhala, Kiarask, the eldest son, had no issue; and his empire, as has already been said, was ruled after him, first by his sister Ciardana, who never married; and later by his sister Tiorhala, who ruled the empire for many a long year. Tiorhala married a Prince of Harad, bringing the blood of the fair folk into her mighty line, and that line lasted an age and more, and was called the Sixth House of Harad; but the strength of Hiarhala’s blood could never thin, and the descendents of the Sixth House, though possessing all of the gifts and strengths of the Haradi, yet ever resembled closely the strongest and fairest of the peoples of Esud, with red hair and green eyes, even though they long ruled a kingdom of Harad. And because the blood of the Sixth House was refreshed from time to time both by Haradi and Esudi husbands and wives, the children of this house were known in latter days as the An-Vestelven, or the “Noble Half-Elves”. They were the Sixth House of Harad, or the First House of the Hiarsk, and also they shared in the Wyrd of Man. And those of the line of Tiorhala were ever after the High Kings of the Sixth House of the Haradi.

  Nobilitatio Adfinus: The Royal Lines of Esud, Lagud and Nosad

  The people of Lagud and Nosad had no Great Houses like the people of Harad, for they married and bred only within their own; and their nobility and royalty lay only within their own peoples. But the Esudi had many Great Houses, for they were legion in their fecundity, and forged empires across the Earth throughout the Age of Wisdom; and the Royal Houses of Esud, were from time to time enriched with the blood of the Ur-Vestelven of the Fifth House; or the An-Vestelven of the Sixth House. And thus were they longer-lived, and mighty in power and wisdom among the Esudi.

  And on rare occasion, new Vestelven came into Anuru, when people of Esud had children by those of Harad; and if these were not scions of the other Houses, they were called the “Tar-Hiarsk”, or the “Lost Half-Elven”; and also were they called “Half-Breeds”, “Half-Bloods”, and even “Half-Men”, and often they were despised by both of their peoples; for they belonged neither among the Esudi, nor among the Haradi; nor even were they of the ancient lines of the Vestelven; and so they were forsaken by all, and children of none. And theirs was a sad lot, for in sooth many of them were wise and fair, and strong both of hand and heart; and they wrought much good upon Anuru.

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  Aetatis Proeliari – The Age of Battles

  So it was that the Children of Bræa, throughout the Age of Wisdom, gained power and wisdom, and lordship and mastery over much of Anuru. Mighty were the empires of the Esudi, and wise the kingdoms of the Haradi; strong the realms of the peoples of Lagud, and everywhere, the Nosadi lived among their brethren. And though they diverged and grew apart, still fixed and unbreachable were the ties between the Children of Bræa; and they were known throughout Anuru as the Kindred.

  But the Age of Wisdom finally passed into ruin when Uru, after long labours in the dark places of Anuru, unleashed his foul monsters against the Kindred; and thus began the Age of Battles. The kingdoms and empires of the Kindred were strong, and they resisted long the onslaught of the creatures of Darkness. So Bardan, on the advice of Uru, and with the aid of his brothers and sisters of the Dark, came forth from his fastness under cover of shadow, and stole away many of the Kindred; and took them to the deep places of the earth; and with fell magicks, warped and bent their spirits and their forms. And over time, and in defiance of the Ban of Ana, Bardan and his siblings created new Speaking Peoples from the twisted and mutilated bodies of the stolen Kindred.

  From the children of Hara, Bardan bred the Orcs, the cleverest and most obedient of his monsters; from the children of Esu, the Ogres, not so wise, but massive and mighty, as hard as the stones of the hills, and second in strength only to the giants; from the stolen Lagudi, he bred the Goblins, who were iron-tough and cruel, and cunning in the ways of stone and earth; and from the children of Nosa, he made the Gnomes, as nimble and clever as their cousins. And these new races he bred each with the other as well; from Orcs and Ogres, Bardan made the Urks, who were both mighty and wise in warfare and evil, and who became the leaders of the new armies of darkness. From orcs and goblins, he made the Hobgoblins, cunning warriors of the under-earth, and strong in Bardan’s fell magicks; and from ogres and goblins he made the Bugbears, hardy and repellent creatures, with fell fangs and mighty claws. And all of these shared the powers of Speech, of Free Will, and of Immortal Spirit, for their parentage was from Bræa; and they hated their distant parents.

  But of all his creations, Bardan found the Gnomes least ready to his hand; for like the children of Nosad, they were hardy and feared no power or creature, and so were not so readily bent to evil; and they could not be made to breed with the others of Bardan’s speaking monsters. And so Bardan did not loose the Gnomes upon the world, but kept them in abject bondage as his slaves; and in their torment, they wrought hard armour and mighty weapons for his armies, and so they grew in wisdom and skill, and feared and hated their master.

  Then because his children were legion, Bardan sought among his brothers and sisters for any who would rule and govern over his new children. Morga, the Destroyer, adored the might and power of the Ogres and agreed to rule over them, while disfigured Zaman took the clever and deceitful Orcs as her charge. Kær the Thief became the god of the Gnomes, although their worship was fitful and grudging. The Goblins with their love of destruction and decay fell under the rulership of Dæsuglu, the Pestilent One, while the Hobgoblins (and the Trolls, whom Bardan bred by mating Ogres with fell monstrosities of his own making) came to worship Ekhalra the Witherer. But Bardan took the mightiest of the fell warriors, the Urks, for his own, and raised them above all others of his children; and they became first among the speaking monsters.

  Thus when the speaking monsters were launched against the empires and kingdoms of the Kindred, the war was renewed in earnest; and the Kindred feared for their survival. While th
e Powers of Light and Darkness struggled between Heaven and Earth, and their Servants, Avatars and Minions battled ceaselessly for the mastery, the Children of Bræa struggled against the foul creatures of Bardan and Uru. And because the minds of the Powers were turned away from their creations by battle and slaughter, the free will of their offspring arose. Certain of the Children of Bræa turned away from the Light and entered the service of Uru; and many of the disobedient beasts and speaking monsters of Uru left the lordship of the Dark and joined the ranks of the Children of Bræa. So it was that certain of the Haradi, the Esudi and the Lagudi fell into evil; while many dragons, giants, wolves and raptors of the skies aided the side of good; and their betrayal of Bardan was ever after called the Great Division. But of the children of dark, the serpents and the vermin, the Orcs and Urks, the Ogres and the Goblins, and the Hobgoblins and the Trolls, remained ever evil; and of the Nosadi, and their cousins the Gnomes, many escaped their bondage, and none ever after re-entered the service of the dark.

  And as the Battles of the Powers sundered Anuru, cleaving and burning the Earth and the Heavens alike, empires tottered, and kingdoms fell, and the Powers began to fear for their offspring, for the Battles took a fearful toll of the Minions, the Monsters and the Children. Mighty empires and kingdoms crumbled, and whole swaths of the children of the dark were slaughtered. For the Powers, the Servants and the Avatars possessed a life beyond Heaven and Earth; and so if their Manu were to be slain in battle on Anuru, each would arise again beyond the Dome of the Firmament, to return anew to war at the next rising of the Lamps. But those of the Minions, the Monsters, and the Children who were slain did not rise again; for the spirit that animated them was not of the Powers, but rather was the gift of Ana and Uru, and so when that spirit strayed in death to the Halls of Tvalt and beyond, it could not return.

  Votum Aeternus – The Vow of Eternity

  Fearing the eventual destruction of all that lay within the Ether, Bræa sought out Bardan, who was equally fearful; and between them, they swore the Vow of Eternity. Under the terms of the Vow, the Powers of Light and of Dark withdrew forever beyond the Ether, which was encircled by an impenetrable shield forged by the Powers, called the Dome of the Firmament; and nevermore could the Powers exercise their might directly within the Dome, either in the Ether, or upon the Heavens or the Earth. Under the Vow, each of the Powers could assume a mortal form (called a manu) like that previously worn when walking in Anuru; but in that form, they could not wield the indomitable might of Light and Dark, and so would be little greater in power than the manu of the Avatars. And even less so, for although the Vow allowed the Powers to teach and to counsel, it forbade the Anari and the Uruqua in mortal guise to lead or to dominate the lesser beings contained within the Dome. And the manae of the Powers, if slain within the Dome, would cease to be, and the Powers would be forced to return to their halls beyond the Dome, there to linger a long age, before they could once again take a mortal form within Anuru.

  While Bræa and Bardan, in their separate wisdom, saw the necessity of the Vow, their siblings were hard to convince; for the Brothers of Bræa wished to continue to instruct, protect and live as gods among the Kindred; and the siblings of Bardan sought the growth and dominance over Anuru of the creatures over whom each had dominion. And far worse it was, for to balance the Universe, all of the Powers must withdraw behind the Dome; but Tian lay still upon the highest peak of Anuru, mortally wounded and yet undying, imprisoned by the combined forces of light and of dark, not be released by any Power or combination of Powers. And thus Bræa and Bardan were forced by the balance of the Universe to agree that one of the Uruqua had to be left behind, to live eternally in self and form in the Heaven and Earth made by light and dark, imprisoned until the End within the Dome.

  At first Bardan wished to usurp this right, for he saw that, alone within the Dome, he could by his power quickly dominate all of Anuru; but then he feared that the Uruqua, without his leadership, could not withstand the assaults of the Anari in the Void beyond the Dome. And so he asked his sister Zaman to accept the task, but she refused, fearing to risk imprisonment in the mortal realm with Tian, whom she had betrayed. Tvalt refused to leave the Halls of the Dead, which were his charge until the End; and Kær, when the call came, was nowhere to be found. At length Morga the Destroyer agreed; but Bræa refused, for in his power and heedless madness, he might well obliterate the world, and all within it; and likewise she refused Dæsuglu, fearful that his filth and pestilence would destroy altogether that which had been wrought.

  At the end, the Anari and the Uruqua agreed that Ekhalra would remain behind to balance the sacrifice of Tian. And so each of the Uruqua bequeathed to her a portion of their wealth, and their might, and their followers and slaves, and built for her a mighty realm in a desolate place far from the Kindred lands, and peopled it with monsters and all manner of fell beasts; and there she agreed to abide, reigning in awful majesty until world’s end. And though her power was much reduced, yet once the Dome had closed, she was by far the mightiest being within it; and none dared assail her strongholds.

  So it was that Bræa and Bardan invoked their place as wielders of the power of Ana and Uru, who had no wish to see their creations destroyed; and the Light and the Dark agreed, and the Anari and the Uruqua withdrew forever beyond the Dome of the Firmament. And the Uruqua raged at being forced to relinquish for all eternity the chance of dominating the Heavens and the Earth; but the Anari wept at being forced to forever abandon their wounded sister Tian, who was condemned by the Vow to remain imprisoned within the Dome, pinioned forever to a mountain peak by the great sword Vasatri. But Ekhalra gloried in her new pre-eminence, and with the Anari and the Uruqua gone, she took the title Queen of the World, and gathered all evil and powerful beings unto her; and the rumour of her terrible might reached even unto the kingdoms and empires of the Kindred, and beyond. And thus began the slow decay and withering of all that had once been beautiful and eternal in Anuru.

  But the Vow had an unexpected effect upon the Servants of the Anari and the Uruqua, and upon the Avatars of the Light and the Dark as well; for although they were some of them nearly as mighty as the Powers, and were nonetheless of the void, yet they were bound to Heaven and Earth; and thus the Vow trapped them between worlds, across the great divide of the Dome; and although their power was weakened, yet they could exercise it both within the Dome and beyond it. Thus they were not left powerless to influence the affairs of their children upon Anuru. And to ease this, Bræa and Bardan forged the River of the Stars, a space that was not; a place that was no place, and yet was an easy road between the Void and the Ether, and those with both wisdom and power could find and cross the River at will. And so the Servants and the Avatars came to serve as the messengers of the Powers, carrying their word and working their will in Heaven and upon the Earth, where the Anari and the Uruqua no longer held sway. And in time, the Children came to worship the absent Powers as gods, forgetting that once they had lived among them, and sired their races, and taught them as parents.

 

  ♦

  Positura Universitas – The Ordering of the Universe

  Thus had four ages of the Universe passed: the Age of the Beginning, which saw the birth of the Universe from the Void, and of the Powers of Light and Dark, and of the Avatars, and the selection of the Servants of Light and Dark, and the War of the Powers; the Age of the Making, which saw the creation of Heaven and of Earth, and of the Minions of Light and Dark, and of the Children of Bræa; the Age of Wisdom, in which the Anari lived among and instructed the Children, and they waxed and spread across Anuru; and in which the Uruqua bred the Monsters; and the Age of Battles, in which the monsters were loosed upon the earth, and the War of the Powers was renewed. And the Age of Battles was brought to an end with the forging of the Dome of the Firmament, and the withdrawal of the Powers beyond its eternal walls; and with the springing forth from the Universe of the River of Stars to serve as a bridge across the Dome.


  Thus at the end of the Age of Battles, the Universe lay divided: upon the Earth dwelt the Kindred and the Monsters, including the Speaking Monsters that Uru had forged from the Kindred. Between Heaven and Earth dwelt the Minions of Light and of Dark, and Heaven and Earth, taken together, were Anuru. At the outermost edge of the Heavens began the Ether, a formless place touched by Creation, but largely empty; and yet ripe with the possibility that, someday, worlds could be built there, thus expanding that portion of the Universe called Anuru. For the Ether was the bedrock of Creation, and it permeated and penetrated the waters of the seas and the stones of the mountains; it is the real stuff lying at the secret heart of the world, and that which we perceive as solid and real is but illusion. And the Servants and the Avatars, and certain of the Minions, and some of the Monsters, and even the Kindred, if aided by powerful magics, could touch the Ether, and even travel through it, walking upon the bedrock of creation, and passing like ghosts through the less substantial matter of creation. For to those of wisdom and of sight, the Ether is the real world; and the real world is naught but a dream.

  And at the outermost edge of the Ether lay the unbreachable walls of the Dome of the Firmament. All mortals, with the Ether and all of Anuru, and all that which changes, lay within the Dome; and of all creatures, only the Servants and the Avatars of Light and of Dark could cross the boundary of the Dome and retain their true form, sailing the River of the Stars (known to magi as planum stellans), which was the only road to penetrate the Dome of the Firmament. Beyond the Dome lay that which is unchanging – the Universe and the Powers and their homes and servants. And beyond the Universe, the Void – the nothingness that was the Universe before it had been touched by the Hands of Ana and Uru.

  And the Powers, after their Exile, took the Vast, trackless reaches of the Universe as their new home; and they built realms, and lands and castles, forests and lairs for themselves and for those of their Servants, and Avatars, and Minions whom they took to dwell with them. Some of these realms grew powerful and mighty, and tremendous under the gaze of their rulers; yea, even gigantic. Thus were created the Inner Planes – the vast making of Anuru, and the lands of light and of darkness, and the plane of shadow; and the homes of the beings Elemental: Vandilori, the place of water; Inflammari, the realm afire; Epheminor, the endless sky; and Soldynor, the caverns of stone. And where these planes touched, other places sprang up, strange and wonderful in their infinite variety.

  Beyond the Dome, that variety only grew; in the vast reaches of the Universe, the realms of the Powers, their Servants and their Avatars stood in eternal magnificence. There mighty Esu sits on the granite throne of Asgard, the Realm of Heroes, drinking from an ever-full horn at the head of the table in Valræddi, the Endless Board. Asgard’s many hills, halls and dales are governed by his Servants and those he calls his allies and his friends: Albéorg, the Highest Mountain, is the realm of Karg; Barraj rules the stone magnificence of the Hall of the Mountain King; Larranel hunts the harts of heaven in Alfheim, the Glorious Wild; and Tchudash, bent beneath an eternity of mighty sorrows, keeps well the Harmsalr, which men call the Halls of Grief.

  Not far away stands Fulgoris, the realm of Hara, called the Endless Land of Light: a land of great forests, broad fields, peaceful pastures, song and pleasure. There Tioreth, the Father of Wolves, strides the bright wilderness of Aesculeti, the Oak Forest, which borders on Aeternaecis, the realm of Feynillor Freagan, also called the Eternal Battlefield. Annistara Akistan welcomes seekers after knowledge to the citadel of white magic called Viasileo, the Silent Streets. Nestled into verdant hills stands the Viridarium, the Palace of Pleasure, where Miyaga, at Hara’s wish, lives in happy exile from her brethren among the Uruqua. And finally in the highest of the mountains, not far from the libraries and classrooms of Annistara’s scholarly abode, Miros abides in a high weyr stuffed to overflowing with scrolls and tomes – this is Dracosedes, the Dragonhome, which (apart from the Sanctum Arcanum) is perhaps the greatest repository of magical knowledge outside the Dome.

  But what lay beyond the Universe, within the trackless and untraveled Void, was not known; for only Ana and Uru, the Light and the Dark, had come before, and thus only they knew what predated the beginning of the Universe; save for luckless Tior, and his grandson Biardath, whom vengeful kin had cast beyond the ken of Kindred or of Power; beyond the reaches of the Universe, and lost for all time.

  The Ordering of Beings

  All that is, or ever was, once was unified; but when the Forces came into being at the dawn of time, this Unity split into two disunities: the Universe, which contained the Forces; and the Void, which contained nothing, and was an infinitude of emptiness.

  All beings in the Universe fall into one of seven Orders. The Orders, from most to least powerful, are as follows:

  The Primordial Forces (vigorum primordiae)

  There are only two forces in the Universe: The Light (called Ana), and the Dark, called Uru. All beings in the Universe flow from one or the other, or from the union of the two.

  The Immortals

  The Powers. The Powers are the undiluted, unmingled offspring of the Forces. The powers sprung from thought Ana are called the Anari; they are Bræa, Tian, Vara, Hara, Esu, Nosa and Lagu. Those brought from the designs of Uru are called the Uruqua, and they are Bardan, Zaman, Tvalt, Kaer, Morga, Ekhalra and Daesuglu.

  The Servants. During the War of the Powers, the Anari and the Uruqua alike sought to bolster their numbers and their strength, and so they created many more beings, like unto themselves but of lesser power. These were called the Minions of Light and Dark. Each of the Powers took a number of the mightiest of their minions and raised them to the statue of Servants; and these answered directly to the Power to which each owed allegiance and obedience. Bræa and Bardan originally agreed to eschew Servants, for each was mighty; but Bardan betrayed this bargain, and took seven Servants, more than any of his siblings. The remainder of the Anari and the Uruqua took each of them three Servants.

  The Avatars. In time, the Anari and the Uruqua raised up others of their minions, to hold sway over lesser forces or realms that fell outside of the domains of their Servants, and that yet required supervision. The Avatars thus stood second to the Servants, yet still far mightier than the remainder of the minions.

  The Minions. These beings formed the armies of Light and Darkness during the War of the Powers. Like the Powers themselves, and like the Servants and Avatars drawn from among their numbers, the Minions were formed of pure Force, either Light or Dark. The Minions count among their numbers all of the myriad Celestials, Fiends, Elementals and Outsiders that populate the Universe.

  The Mortals

  The First-Born. In his bid to overwhelm the Anari and their servants, Bardan created the First-Born – the Dragons, represented by First Mother and First Father, of whose nine eggs only two survived (Nidhoggr, the Eater of the Slain, progenitrix of the dragons of darkness; and Oroprimus, progenitor of the dragons of light); and the Giants, mighty beings who gave birth to many differentiated offspring, that rapidly spread throughout the waking world.

  The Speaking Peoples. In the Age of Making, Bræa created her Children, giving them three gifts: freedom of will; a sielu, or immortality of spirit; and speech. It was the latter gift that distinguished them within Anuru, and enabled them in later years to build mighty kingdoms and empires. Because of these gifts, the Children of Bræa were not constrained by the intent or designs of the Forces, or even by the strictures of the Universe itself, and thus they posed a danger to its very foundations; for in time, they could learn to overcome the laws circumscribing the divisions between the Universe and the Void, and overturn time and being. For this reason, Ana forbade the creation of any more beings of free will, immortal spirit, and speech. Bardan strove against the Ban of Ana for eons; but while he succeeded in acquiring the secrets of speech, he could not overturn the Ban; and thus he was ever unable to create beings of immortal spirit, nor – because he did not himself understa
nd freedom, but demanded only unquestioning obedience from his slaves – could he ever discover the secret of creating beings of free will.

  Thus the first Speaking Peoples were the Children of Bræa; and after the Light that was in Bræa left her, and was formed into Bræadan, the Lantern of Bræa, her children were sundered, and taken for instruction by her younger brothers, and became known as the Haradi, the Esudi, the Nosadi and the Lagudi. And in latter years these selfsame peoples were called, in the corrupted Travelling Tongue, elvii, men, holbytlan and dwéorga.

  The Speaking Monsters. Before they earned these new names, however, Bardan, acting in treachery and under cover of dark, kidnapped many of these Children of Bræa, and spirited them away; and he tortured and warped them, creating new, fell beings to serve him. And because they came from the Children, these new creatures had speech, though it was foul; and they were of immortal spirit, though that spirit shrieked and wailed within each at the horrors visited upon it; and they had free will, though that will was ever bent to the wishes of Bardan. From elves, Bardan created the orcs; from men, the ogres; from halflings, the gnomes; and from dwarves, the goblins. These new creatures Bardan called the Speaking Monsters; and he thereafter mingled their blood with the blood of his fell beasts and minions, and thereby created innumerable monstrosities and horrors to plague Anuru.

  Alone of these fell creatures the gnomes refused to serve the Powers of Dark, and turned back to the light; and for this reason, the elves, men, halflings, dwarves and gnomes are together called the Kindred. For though the Gnomes are not Children of Bræa, because they turned as one away from the Darkness to serve the Light, the Children of Bræa count the Gnomes as brothers.

  The Beasts. Last of all come the creatures of Anuru that do not share the gifts bestowed upon her Children by Bræa, or wrested from them through foul craft by Bardan. Numbered among these are all of the animals of the fields, the birds of the skies, the fish that swim, and the dark things that dwell far underground.

  ♦♦♦

  Epilogue

  ♦

  Well, if you’ve made it this far, then you’ve no doubt noticed, as I mentioned in my introduction to this collection, the one glaring, crippling error in the text. Fortunately, there’s something I can do about it.

  There once was a Halfling named Gwen

  Who possessed an incendiary pen

  She wrote naughty rhymes

  While committing sly crimes

  And she did it again and again.

  There – now it has a limerick. You’re welcome.

  - Gwendolyne of Æryn

  ♦♦♦

  The End

  Other books by D. Alexander Neill

  The Chronicles of Anuru

  Tales of the Wyrm, Volume 1: A companion to the Chronicles of Anuru

  (available now!)

  Kaunovalta

  Book I: The Running Girl

  Book II: Dweorgaheim

  Book III: Daughter of Dragons

  (available now!)

  The Brotherhood of Wyrms

  Book I: The Road into Ruin

  Book II: The Lover in the Darkness

  Book III: The Tower by the Sea

  (coming in 2013)

  Bjornssaga

  Book I: The Sea Dragon (Available now!)

  Book II: The Azure Wind

  Book III: Shadow-of-Midnight

  (coming in 2015)

  The Filigree Throne

  Book I: The Last Warden

  Book II: Red Rose and White

  Book III: The Queen of Summer

  (coming sometime before the end of the century)

  The End in Fire

  Book I: Dragonhome

  Book II: Ebon Night

  Book III: The Breaking of the World

  (coming hopefully before the heat death of the universe)

  My Amazon Author Site

  ♦♦♦

  FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING BACKGROUND, LORE,

  AND WORD ON ONGOING PROJECTS,

  VISIT MY WEBSITE...

  https://www.alexanderneill.com/

  ...AND MY BLOG:

  https://chroniclesofanuru.blogspot.ca/

  ###