Felgoth's Bane
Dwarves of Naugaridge, rich in gold
They carved their mountain halls
With wide staircases lined with gems
And misty waterfalls
From humble starts, the Dwarves began
To tunnel to the deeps
A careful hand upon their picks
The beauty still to keep
For as any true Dwarf would know
The rocks are living stone
They carve with care only their share -
These are not trees they hone.
Naug’ridge advanced in wealth and state -
Even the Elves looked hence
They saw the caverns lined with jewels
And knew the Dwarves had sense
For once, these tree folk left their woods
And came in pilgrimage
To see the starry crystal falls
Of mythic Naugaridge
The mountain king within his halls
Just looked at them and laughed
He sent them away with laughter fey
Despising their riffraff
Twas not the best path that he chose,
But they refused to leave.
He took up crossbow in his hands
And to his shoulder heaved.
As Elven men and maidens fled
He fired bolts through the air
Though none were killed, it left a mark
On the minds of those fair.
The Elves made oath that they’d return
And reclaim such beauty
From hands of Dwarves, unskilled in all
But insincerity
The Siege of Naugaridge was at hand
The Dwarven fighters made ready
As in the deeps e’en as they armed
The miners kept up steady
Tholsak picked up his ancient sword
The Treebane, it was called
His comrades thought it was well named
With Elves beyond the walls.
Tholsak donned his adamantine mail
And set off for the fray
But not before he stopped by Thatthil
His goodbyes for to say
Thatthil, the maidendwarf so fair
Who worked the metal forge
Gold and jeweled flowers in her hair
E’en in the darkened gorge
To see his maid Tholsak went down
The eternal staircase
Thatthil, longing for her love
Would not meet him at the base
And as they met in darkened place
They shared a warm embrace
Tholsak looked in her amber eyes
And wiped tears from her face
“Sweet maid,” said he, “I’ll come again,
Before turn of the tide
For neither elf nor Titan’s hand
Could keep me from your side.”
Thatthil spoke not - in place of words
She plucked out of her hair
Her finest flower set with jewels
And adamantine flair.
“Keep this,” she said, “Remember me,
And keep this treasure close
As if ‘twere me near by your side
Until you’ve left your post.”
Tholsak swore he would, and kissed her
Lightly on the cheek,
Placing the keepsake ‘neath his mail,
He turned towards mountain peak.
His heart is warm as he ascends
Towards battle, gore and fame
He knew his hate for Elves would last
‘Til he was old and lame
And e’en with this he would insist
On using wooden cane
To help him walk - a final stab
To those whom he was bane
Outside the walls, across the moat,
The Elven army flows
And picked off from on the mighty walls
Stray dwarves with Elven bows
Their worthless swords did them no good -
At them the Dwarves could laugh
Their worthless edges honed as dull
As wooden quarterstaff
Yet it was not that which they feared
When fighting ‘gainst the elves -
The Elven arrows eas’ly could make
Pincushions of themselves
The Dwarves made lines within their fort
Readying to fight
As even then, the well-timed battle
Was turning swift to night
The Elves would have a harder time
Without the use of light
While for Dwarfkind, it was a boon
As they hated it too bright
With cries of “Khazad” the gates lowered
Upon the dark’ning plains
And swarms of screaming Dwarves rushed forth
Each one his own elfbane
The battle turned e’en as they ran -
Elves leapt from ‘hind the trees
And sent forth arrows thick as dust
Upon the twilight breeze
‘Twas not one Dwarf alone who fell,
But half a score or more
Yet Tholsak held the front lines firm
As ‘cross the grass they tore
Towards lines of Elves, no longer bold
And laughing at the game
But rather taking hes’tant steps
Backwards towards whence they came
The Dwarven lines broke full upon them
A spear through Elven eye
The severed limbs danced in the air
The blood ‘gan to spray high
To dwarves this was good as beer
And all for righteous reason,
The Elves wanted their mountainhome.
They thought it worse than treason.
The Elven swordsmen did their job,
Though they never got a kill -
They kept the axdwarves from the archers
As they fired still
More dwarves fell to arrow flight
As they cut through the horde
Several wanted a retreat
But Tholsak raised his sword.
Of the Dwarves that’d left the fort
Only two thirds remained
The remaining ones were cut and weary
And some of them were maimed
“To me, my kinsmen! Onwards my brothers!”
Tholsak yelled above the fray,
“Tis not for life or death we fight,
but the mountainhome, I say!”
The many Dwarves of Naugaridge
Took up this heart’ning call
And as the swords and hammers flew
The Elves began to fall
Once more the battle turned and now
The Elves made a retreat
Into the woods they’d always loved
For now they felt the heat.
Now all stopped on the bloody fields,
All heads turned towards the skies
A shudder went through Dwarf and elf
Both taken by surprise…
While the Dwarves and Elves had fought,
Far beneath Naugaridge
The unwary miners struck a cave
And released from bondage
A mighty Dragon named Felgoth -
Bane of a thousand men
For five hundred years he’d lived forgotten
In his mountain den
Felgoth was starved for human flesh
But with none of those about
The gasping miners, terrified
Never made it out.
Up the halls, the terror flew
Smashing stairs and walls
The shining works of Dwarven hands
Crumbling in the halls
A blast of fire and smoke went forth
From the beast in eager fury
As Dwarven roast was far sweeter
Than any Dwarven slurry.
From her room fled sweet Thatthil
Screaming in shock and horr’r
At this winged nightmare, wreathed with fire
Who strove to make them poor’r
She fled past the walls, to cry the news
Far out across the plains
So that her love Tholsak would hear -
She prayed ‘twas not in vain.
“Tholsak!” she screamed, tears in her eyes,
“The bane of all has come!
He comes behind me even now
Please do not tarry - Run!”
She loved him dearer than her gems
A feat few Dwarves can claim
She sought naught else but for his safety
E’en though she would be slain.
Tholsak, with elf by the throat
Turned towards Naugaridge
And loosed the grip upon his quarry
As he looked towards the bridge
Felgoth the Great flew out the gate
And swooping near the ground
It picked up poor sweet Thatthil
Loosing a hideous sound.
With roar of rage, Tholsak turned
And threw the elf aside
Nigh weightless his armor seemed
As he took leaping strides.
Flying upwards towards the sky,
The beast dropped its screaming prey
While Tholsok stopped and stood stock still
Face turning ashen gray.
Thatthil’s last tumble was at hand
She knew it was the end
As ever closer came the land
That held her only kin.
As Thatthil fell, she caught his eye -
“Tholsak, my love!” she cried
To her brave lover as she struck
The ground near by his side
Behind him fled the Elven host
As Tholsak dropped to his knees
He took her palm, held it in his
Even as she wheezed
Thatthil’s eyes fluttered open, weak,
She looked back up at his
“Flee,” she whispered, “Save yourself”
“Nay,” he said, “Not for this.”
But with a sigh her eyes reclosed
And Thatthil breathed her last
A spirit’s wispy voice he heard
And wing-sounds rushing past
His army was in disarray
He cared not anymore
His only love had died and it
Had left his heart so sore
But Tholsak’s fate was not to end
Here by his lover’s hand
His eyes narrowed, his face grew grim
His steel will made him stand
“I will avenge you!!!” Tholsak cried
“The Elves will rue the day
They loosed this beast upon the least
And took my love away!”
With mighty cries, he took his sword
And ran back to his lines
“Onward!” he cried, “To the world’s end!
For all of Dwarvenkind!
The time is late, the foe is great -
Our axes greater still!
Now hear me, kinsmen, all to arms!
And let us this beast kill!”
His army rallied at the call
Of dwarf so legendary
As above them, the dragon twirl’d
Seeking out all who tarried
The Elven host stopped at the sound
And turned back to their foes
Seeing the disarray, some fitted
Arrows to their bows
“A truce!” one screamed, “The beast will burn
This forest to the ground!
Let us put aside our quarrels
Until we bring him down!”
But Tholsak, true Dwarf to his core
Would suffer no such allies
And let out a resounding “No!”
Thinking this course most wise.
And from above old Felgoth swooped
His victims in open fields
His talons closed - ‘twas not his plan:
The firebreath he yields
And with this mythic weap’n of old
Unleashed a mighty cloud.
The very walls of Naug’ridge shook
The tumult was so loud
The Elves let their arrows fly
Beneath the spreading blaze
Which shriveled up to ashes quick
And got lost in the haze
“Now is the time!” Tholsak let out,
“Marksdwarves, release the hails!”
A score of needles in the air
Bounced off the dragon’s scales.
Felgoth turned, and wrath rekindled,
He set upon the dwarves
Who stood their ground until the last,
When crushed into the floor.
The dragon’s weight was all too much
For any Dwarf to stand
But of the Dwarves who had been crushed,
One’d managed to raise his hand
‘Twas Tholsak grim, tears in his eyes
As sword Treebane he raised
While down upon him Felgoth came
And on the shining blade.
Felgoth leapt up, his belly spewing
Felgoth the Dragon’s blood
The dirt around him soon was soaked
Turning to blackest mud
And with a final roar of pain
He collasped towards the side
The wound not mortal, yet too much
For the great beast to hide
And Tholsak lay there by the side
Of horr’bly mangled friends
Crushed ‘neath the beat of dragon’s feet
Until their lives must end.
But Tholsak too, crushed had he been
Beneath the dragon’s main
Not only inj’ries did he have -
His sword was broke in twain
He closed his eyes amidst the roars
Of fires all around
The “sacred” elf woods burning ever
Lower to the ground
Just as he faded, Tholsak heard
A loved and familiar voice -
‘Twas that of Thatthil, maiden sweet
Who brought to him a choice.
Her figured wavered, ghostly pale
Translucent as the mists;
Tholsak looked up and saw the sight,
Looked down, unclenched his fist:
There in his hand was Thatthil’s flower
As radiant as before
Looking back up, he saw her fade
And it was then he swore
He would not rest until avenged
His sweet Thatthil had been
For all of Naugaridge he’d stand,
This battle he would win
To his aching feet he climbed
To find his leg was broke
He reached for a charred Elvenbone
Still swirl’d about with smoke
And with this crude and makeshift crutch
He stumbled towards his foe
A fire smold’ring in his eye
To turn a demon cold
He struck! The bite of Treebane sharp,
Though broken in the blade,
Was not enough to pierce the scales
Of Felgoth for to slay.
He struck again, thrice more he hit
The beast across the chest
The dragon mocked, though curled in pain:
“A moment, I must rest.”
And Tholsak growled in dwarventongue
His hatred of the beast:
He would not stop til he’d performed
His last of mighty feats
A single tree stood by his side
A sycamore rising tall
Its boughs twisting in dragonblaze,
‘Twas leaned, but did not fall
Tholsak stumbled nearer to it
His crutch beneath his arm
And with the near to last of strength
He did the tree a harm
For his sword Treebane, with a stroke
Lived up to name and lore
As Tholsak upon the trunk smote
What remained of the sword
A mighty crack resounded, forth
Heard ‘cross the burning plains
The smoke curling black and thick
Driving him near insane
But Tholsak summoned his great strength
And smote the tree again
And closer ever more it leaned
Down towards the dragon’s end.
With a mighty leap with Elf’s legbone
The warrior climbed the trunk
And with a final, mighty crack
Onto the beast it sunk!
Earsplitting roar, tumultuous noise,
And Felgoth screamed his last
As afore the dying sycamore
Tholsak held on fast
The broken sword was driven deep
By strength of Dwarf and tree
Though as it fell, Tholsak was crushed
Nevermore could he flee
The dragon’s breath exploded forth
A curling, fiery blast
A clear message to all around:
“Felgoth the Dragon’s passed”
As Tholsak burned and breathed his last
Across his lips: a smile
He had avenged his sweet Thatthil
And he’d see her in a while
edit: fixed a multitude of name errors
editedit: I hate editing, but I fixed an extra line in the middle: Tholsak Ingaktukog, the dwarfreedit: obviously I don't hate editing as much as I thought.
Author
Topic: Felgoth's Bane (Read 6279 times)