A Dragon's Ascension - Ed Greenwood [0]
Band of Four 03 - A
Dragon's Ascension
by
The Foe of the Serpent
Is the Dragon.
No true Crawling viper
But a Black-Robed mage
Heart darker than garb of night
Hands adrip with blood
His spells so deep
Crawl and creep
Beyond death and passing years
Kings falling, towers crumbling
Always watching,
Lurking in shadows
Slithering in dark dreams
The Serpent Who Shall Rise Again.
Whispers he to princes
Steals he into minds by night
Men of malice chant his name
Gasping Fools Fill his Fane
Crowns tumble before his fangs
Men mutter of him, and cower
True Crawling viper, after all
Yer stand against him not in vain
Keep sword sharp to be his bane
Stray not to peaks snow-cloaked deep
Ruins Forgot, nor echoing grot
Hunt no wyrms, gold aseeking
For the Foe of the Serpent
Is the Dragon.
from The Way of Valor
by the Bard Haelithe of Ranshree Penned in the days of King Gaur (too long ago)
From the Chronicles of Aglirta: A
History
Now in the Time of Many Wizards, when all Darsar sought the Dwaerindim and realms rose and fell with each passing season, there arose in Aglirta four heroes, who were destined to give the Kingless Land a king once more-though to many it seemed not the salvation and peace for all Asmarand that had been foretold.
This Band of Four arose in desperation, in the time after Baron Blackgult sought to gain an edge in his long feud with the rival house of Silvertree, and made war upon the rich Isles of Ieirembor, seeking to make their tall timber and trade-metals his own, but was vanquished, and hurled back with great loss of armsmen and armaragors, Blackgult himself being thought lost in the fray.
Then did the cruel Faerod Silvertree, the fell magic of his Dark Three wizards his main weapon, seize the barony of Blackgult, and he made war on the other baronies nigh his own holdings, and flourished. So great was the rise of his power that it seemed that he would soon be King in Aglirta, whose king had slept for years beyond the memories of living men.
Then did two desperate warriors of Aglirta-the great armaragor Hawkril Anharu, most trusted of Blackgult's blades, though he refused all rank; and his closest friend, the barb-tongued and nimble procurer Craer Delnbone-return as outlaws to Aglirta, and made so bold as to try to steal gowns from the Lady of Jewels-Faerod Silvertree's own daughter-from her very palace bedchamber. She being skilled in sorcery, her father's Dark Three had trained but also enslaved her, making Silvertree Castle her prison, and planning someday that she'd be bound into its very stones, to serve them as a living fortress. Thus Embra Silvertree, who could have slain the two thieves, instead made pact with them to carry her away.
Pursued by her father's forces, the three fled to the Silent House, the cursed and long-abandoned mansion of House Silvertree, and there did meet with an aging healer, Sarasper Codelmer, who could take the shape of a longfangs-called by some a "wolf-spider"-among other forms. Sarasper was friend unto Craer from long before, but was in hiding from all men to escape being enslaved, as barons chained all healers for their usefulness.
So the Band of Four were born, as merry a band of rogues as ever enlivened bards' ballads, and in their strivings Faerod Silvertree and his Dark Three were thrown down, and the Sleeping King awakened, to rule from Flowfoam once more.
King Kelgrael Snowsar rewarded them for their deeds with the titles of Overdukes of Aglirta, in the same wise as he made the returned Baron Blackgult Regent of Aglirta, ere returning to his spellbound Slumber-for only when Kelgrael slept could his age-old foe, the fell and most mighty archwizard remembered by men only as the Serpent, be held also asleep, and away from the world he so desired to rule.
Yet in all this strife of ambitious barons and wizards, of folk everywhere seeking the four powerful Dwaer-Stones, the folk of Aglirta were grown tired indeed of misrule. And they turned to the worship of the Serpent, whose scaled priests-who were not priests at