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

by P D Ceanneir

  Not only was Tallyus the greatest warrior in the kingdom, but he was also the owner of Caphil, the famous White Spear of Haplann and a Weapon of Power, which had not been seen since the time of the Dragor-rix. He also had a close bond with the dragon, Cloud. Even though his subjects affectionately knew Tallyus as the White Count, the combination of Tallyus Cromme, Cloud and Caphil gave them the title of the Rawn Trinity, and their many adventures together were chronicled throughout the civilised world.

  Havoc and Bleudwed’s love for one another was legendary. However, they fell into the doom of a mortal married to an immortal. Bleudwed aged while Havoc did not. Yet, Havoc’s control of the arts and his Pyromantic powers improved every year and he was able to make Bleudwed young every twenty years or so with the Blending of the Water and Earth Elements. Nevertheless, the process sapped Havoc of his strength for two days and put Bleudwed into a painful fever for a week, this was the price of their continuing love.

  After many years together in control of Assassi-al, Havoc stepped down as king in favour of his son Vanduke. Before he abdicated, he created a new royal title, that of the Duke and Duchess of Mulvend, and both he and Bleudwed lived for many years at Mulvend House, which Bleudwed had built while she was Countess of Haplann. It became a private joke between them that, because of their title, they could call each other Mulvend.

  It became apparent after one hundred years together that Bleudwed understood Havoc’s desire to reinstate the Ri Order and to become a Ri himself. One day, when she had aged somewhat, and Havoc was about to go through the process of making her young again, she stopped him.

  ‘You have given me many years of happiness, my love,’ she said to him. ‘I do not think I can go through the pain again. It is time for both of us to move on.’ Havoc knew she wished him to become a Ri and Ri were forbidden to have relationships or possessions. Therefore, his wife aged fast in the space of a year.

  One warm sunny day, on the anniversary of discovering the Mulvend in their youth, he took an ageing Bleudwed into his arms and carried her naked into the pool of the mountain spring that was enclosed by an ivy covered wall at the far end of the Mulvend House’s courtyard.

  They bathed in the warm waters for a while until Bleudwed died in his arms. Her last words to him were, ‘I will always love you, my beloved husband.’

  Havoc felt great sadness for the loss of his soul mate, but also realised that a corridor to his past had closed off forever and a new door into the future was opening. He buried Bleudwed near the mountain spring, which she always loved. He gave the now very old Princess Verna the title of Duchies of Mulvend and left to become a Ri.

  Strangely, on the day he disappeared, the Gredligg Orrinn and the Sword that Rules disappeared also. Witnesses observed him taking the Licessia out to sea and heading south. He carried a black Sword-staff and a round bundle in his arms.

  The Licessia bobbed on the waves, the sails flapped in the breeze as he sailed off into the sunset.

  The End

  Acknowledgements

  I cannot ask you, dear reader, to close this weighty tome without first acknowledging the hard work and dedication of those people that made my dream of becoming a published author possible.

  Since taking this journey, and believe me it has been a long trek spanning many years and miles of paper, I have had the pleasure of close friendships, old and new, who have journeyed with me.

  To my wife, Jacqueline, who has suffered my long silences as I typed relentlessly while I ignored the world around me and lived the fantasy of other worlds.

  To Helen Kaye Watts, whose wonderful review of Book One gave me the boost I needed to slog on through more reams of script.

  A big thanks goes to Cary Hughes for his work on Book Three, the Novella and this final chapter of the Chronicles. Without his help, it would have made the voyage much harder.

  To Alex Orr for his time and effort on the unabridged version of Book One.

  Thanks to Margaret and Eddie, my in-laws, for their support and feedback.

  To Matty Petrie, the only man in the world who has read ALL four of the Chronicle books and loved them, even though they were the original rough manuscripts.

  And finally, a big thank you to you, dear reader, for taking this journey with me.

  I will finish now by saying that there are still many more miles to traverse. There may be some unseen dangers in the way for my characters to face…

  …but that is all part of the adventure.

  P.D.Ceanneir.

  Coaltown of Wemyss

  Fife.

  08/08/2015

  Appendix One

  THE TIMELINE OF YEARS

  There are several references to Calendar Eras throughout the ancient past of Earth/Realmworld’s history. The Suin’Atan of the Coptic tribes used an ancient form of dating known as Sand Time before dating the past became a way of explaining the passage of time. Scholars, due to the many inaccuracies and overlapping events of historical epochs, eventually rejected this and used the more accurate Star Time system incorporated by the Assassi.

  Star Time, commissioned by the early Bergelonian Monarchs of Assassi, in order to record their long linage, became the standard calendar throughout the known world. The Chart Players, a title for the collators of calendar information, spread their knowledge of history to other tribes. Yet, they had to implement a degree of guesswork for the ancient past due to the scant information of that particular time. For example, the First Era (FE) began an “unfathomable age ago,” as noted in their records. This era incorporated the forming of the world and the arrival of the Earth Shepherds. The Chart Players broke each era down into Epochs (e) for simplicity. The “Extinction Event,” from the meteor strike followed by the Great War with the Dark Force of the Earth, falls into the second and third epochs of the first era, (FE-2e, FE-3e).

  Some ancient scholar’s use the term “Age” to refer to an epoch as set out in the Annals of Alameral, which used a mixture of Sand and Star Time; later rectified and disused after the Assassi moved from Plysarus to Tattoium-Tarridun as the Years Before Assentation (YBA) and the Year Of Assentation (YOA) were instated in the Third Era (TE). They altered the YBA years to count down to zero so the YOA began a new Era in year 1.

  For the task of explaining the timeline of events in the Rawn Chronicles, I will be using the Bergelonian/Assassi Calendar. However, there are periods before the Fourth Era that I will need to highlight for clarity and reference.

  The Second Era

  The Second Era (SE) is shorter that the first and spans five thousand years. It begins with the Wandering Years of the Earth Shepherds (The My’thos) after the Great War in the First Epoch (SE-1e) this includes the coming of the Firstborn in the Second Epoch (SE-2e) and the forming of the human tribes in the Third Epoch (SE-3e), the most dominant civilisation were of course the Assassi. We begin in the late Fourth Epoch after the Tribal War of the Desert Princes secured the dynasty of the Ancient House of Berge and placed Farnell V on the throne as the high ruler of the Desert Realms in 1092 YBA (SE-4e).

  1092 YBA: Farnell takes the Throne of the Desert Realms (Desert Throne) to begin the second age of the Bergelonian Reign.

  1091 YBA: The Citadel of Assassi becomes the first capital of the civilised world.

  1086 YBA: Death of Farnell, his brother, Morsell takes the throne. Cornerstone of Summerland laid by Queen Jillian of Summerland. General Tommlin of Assassi marries Jillian.

  1053 YBA: Tallqueeth the Great abdicates in favour of Farnell VI, but Tommlin Lorne assassinates him six days later. Dispute of the Long Shadows begins. The military dictatorship of Amon declares war on the land of Dythril. Queen Milla dies in the battle of D’afer Oasis. Nalqueen I takes the Desert Throne.

  1052 YBA: Gulath Amon is born.

  1033 YBA: Death of Jobe I. His son Biland renounces his claim to the throne and ordains as a Mage Priest of the Assassi Ken. Milla II takes the throne. The Bergelonian line ends. House of Jorne established.

 
; 1029 YBA: All the Chosen Children are ordained into the Assassi Ken after adoption by The Supreme Mage Biland, a prophecy states that the adopted will become the Twelve Eldi. Amon conquers Summerland. Gulath Amon proclaimed king of Summerland Amon.

  1025 YBA: Arrival of Tree-nut and Arcun. The two My’thos takes the Eldi (Chosen Children) to the Silent Grove. There they learn of the “Days Past” and are instructed in the Rawn Arts for the next two decades.

  981 YBA: the Eldi develops the subconscious language of Skrol. Rogal Ken and Dharma Ken religions established in the grove.

  913 YBA: Summerland Amon disputes the Land Charter with the Assassi and strengthens her borders. Isla Pasha proclaims independence from the Assassi. The first of the Elementals are born in Isla Pasha. Milla II dies. Hamlinn I ascends to the Desert Throne, he is the first Rawn King.

  886 YBA: Summerland Amon declares war on the Assassi Citadel. The Hundred Days war begins. King Hamlinn I defeats the Amon army at the battle of Oicothin Field.

  818 YBA: The Eldi discover that the Assassi Oasis is drying up. The Elementals build the first Brethac Ziggurat on the outskirts of the Citadel. King Hector I ascends to the Desert Throne. The Eldi dispute the religious claims of the Elementals and cast them out as “Undesirables.”

  792-763 YBA: The Elemental War begins. (Little information remains about this disruptive period in Assassi history. Few facts are recorded). The first Oculus Towers are built at around this time.

  732 YBA: The Yeathanis tribe flee the war and populate the Hinterland. At this time, tribes in the far west of Plysarus sail to Fyrandia and establish the city of Irmakesh.

  719 YBA: the “People of the East,” populate west Fyrandia and build the great city of Xirm. The Eldi agree to begin writing their Grymwards and immerse the “Secret History” about the Elemental War inside its Skrol written pages.

  643 YBA: Princess Lorena jumps from her apartment window. Her Glammerstone ring goes missing. The Elders Sevaris and Ninnian become archenemies upon her death. Death of Hammlin. Hector II ascends to the Desert Throne.

  536 YBA: Killaire I takes the Desert Throne from his Uncle Hector II. House of Southspire established.

  426 YBA: The Ri Order is established. The Eldi are the first of the twelve to sit in royal council positions due to the minority reign of Hessan I.

  122 YBA: Kwi-aqua appears to the Eldi and takes them to the “New Land”.

  48 YBA to 2 YBA the Assassi Oasis is abandoned.

  The Third Era

  1st Epoch

  The first epoch of the Third Era (TE-1e) begins when the Eldi set foot on Tattoium and build Aln-Tiss. This era also includes the Dragor-rix War, but I will only highlight the important events in this epoch.

  1 YOA: the Assassi arrive in the New Land. Cornerstone of Aln-Tiss is laid.

  12 YOA: The Tower of Sooth is built. The religious schism of the Rogun and the Vallkytes intensifies.

  27 YOA: the Sundering of the Tribes. Cornerstone of Dulan-Tiss is laid. The Southspire twins Nestor and Nathan become the kings of the Roguns and the Vallkytes respectively.

  537 YOA: The Acanthi revolt is quashed. Solis Greymane is taken prisoner and learns the Rawn Arts.

  550 YOA: the Eldi Summon the Twelve Dragons from the Lanes. Solis Greymane becomes Mad-solis Overlord of the Acanthi.

  555 YOA: the Sept of Red is established. Greymane marches upon Aln-Tiss. The Battle of All-souls. The Elder Fourrin dies. The Dragons Marach and Malya die. Apraila’s egg goes missing.

  556 YOA: Sir Cromme takes back the Landrum Fort.

  558 YOA: The Nithi give the Battle Horn of Relin to Duke Torphilian. Torphilian wins the Battle of Scar Ridge.

  559 YOA: Greymane defeats the Vallkyte army at Storing Gully. The dragon Jenlyn dies while defending the people of Storing Village. Cromme is exiled for the alleged murder of the Earl Landis. He forms the Halcyons later that year.

  556 YOA: The Halcyon Missions: The Jut Conspiracy. Cromme and the Halcyons fight in the Battle of Jut for the Hinterland Argentium.

  568 YOA: Sevaris the Mage dies. Darus, Master Mingaan, Sin and Dex battle the Werewolf uprising. Both dragons kill the Elder Ninnian.

  569 YOA: The Drakken’s are created. Defeat of Torphilian’s Rogun army at the Battle of Bone Pass. Death of the Elders Tenn, Tselios, Tro-Altris in the Crystal Cave. Greymane hatches a plan to use the Bloodstone of Oplacus to control the dragon and kill the Elder Styx.

  570 YOA: The Halcyon Missions: Necromancer. The Halcyons confront the Morgani Witches of Westervale. Cromme defeats the Felwraith Cornelius Pagan in battle.

  578 YOA: The Battle of Dorit Lorne. Death of the Elder Styx. The Elder Eighthan is taken by the Dark Force of the Earth. Captain Hagan Cromme finds of the Ring of Lorena.

  579 YOA: The Halcyon Missions: Infestation. Cromme and the Halcyons halt the Shenlong Uprising. Hagan Cromme marries Willow, but the first signs of his Pyromantic Curse appear days later.

  581 YOA: The dragon Oplacus destroys the town of Ferrington. Nectan and Oplacus fight to the death over Lake Falryhana. The Halcyon Missions: Encounter at Irmakesh. Cromme and the Halcyons prevent the assassination of King Chopec at the Battle of the Mounts.

  582 YOA: Mysterious death of the Elders Fevill and Veltigen in the Eternal Forest.

  583: YOA: Cromme returns to Tattoium with the Halcyons.

  584 YOA: Cromme leads the Halcyons to the Crystal Cave to steel the Talisman of Mortkraxnoss from Jarrod the Red. Duke Torphilian defeats the Acanthi host at the Battle of Relin Plain, Valient I falls in the battle. Cromme kills Greymane.

  585 YOA: Nathan II ascends to the Rogun Throne, although Torphilian becomes his Regent due to the king’s minority reign. House of Cromme established. Wedding of Cromme and Karysi.

  605 YOA: Cromme and Karysi take the Talisman of Mortkraxnoss back to the Spirit Elementals and ascend to the Halls of the Heroes. Death of the Elder Owen, the last of the Eldi. The passing of Eder Owen marks the end of the first half of the Dragor-rix War and the close of the first epoch of the Third Era.

  2nd Epoch

  626 YOA: Death of Nathan II. Deron III ascends to the Rogun Throne. Hagan Cromme leaves Tattoium-Tarridun and becomes a wanderer in far off lands to seek a cure for the Rage.

  644 YOA: Death of Deron III.

  645 YOA: Death of Prince Torphilian, Duke of Carras. Count Sedgwick Cromme becomes joint Regent with Torphilian’s son, Prince Leo.

  647 YOA: Norin “Caphil” Cromme is born.

  656 YOA: Hagan Cromme returns home after thirty years, he brings with him a block of Glammerstone. He uses his “Rage Curse” to forge Caphil, the Dragon Lance, out of the God Metal and bequeaths it to his great-great-grandson, Norin. He also passes the Ring of Lorena to him. Hagan dies several days later of the Rawn Phage.

  793 YOA: Ness is ordained into the Academy of Rawn Arts by Master Darus, Lord of Tressel. Nathan II becomes king.

  800 YOA: Ness and Master Darus confront the Lycan Order of Werewolves in order to save the Sultan of the Tenk of Mubea.

  829 YOA: The Acanthi ambush and kill Count Sedgwick Cromme, the last of the Cromme sons, near Sidon Maze in the Wildlands.

  830 YOA: Count Norin, Barons Moxley and Ranall form the Triumvirate of Warlords on the summit of Ubhdomnall in opposition to Mad-caudal of the Acanthi. It is at this time that Master Ness oversees the alliance of the Lycan Order and the Warlords.

  831 YOA: Masters Darus and Yula form an alliance with the twin dragons, Sin and Dex. Ness Bonds with the dragon Apraila. The king gives the Isle of Nidral to the Lycans so they can live in peace.

  832 YOA: Apraila burns the Acanthi from the Lawburg Fortress. The Triumvirate defeat Mad-caudals Acanthi at the Battle of Greentree. Norin defeats Jarrod the Red with the Dragonlance. The Sept of Red flees the continent. The Sept of Darus is formed.

  836 YAO: the last of the Acanthi leave the Wildlands in exile, their Shaman relocate to the high mountains of Plysarus where they form the Shakro Brotherhood and begin writing the Shakro War Mantle Proph
ecies about the Demigod known as the Blacksword. The Nithi now become the dominant tribe in the Wildlands.

  883 YOA: The Sept of Darus fights the Sept of Red. Yula, Sin and Dex die in the confrontation. Jarrod the Red suffers from his wounds in the Crystal Cave, a bereaved Apraila stays by side until he dies. The Death of Jarrod the Red makes the end of the Dragor-rix War. Darus finds three dragon eggs and hides them; it is at this point the Earth Daemon enslaves him.

  932 YOA: Lord Sernac builds the Drift Circle on Dynaclious the Unmounted where he keeps the three dragon eggs safe and converses with the Earth Daemon. He plans to reinstate the Order of the Brethac Ziggurat.

  3rd Epoch

  The third epoch of this period do not concern us at this moment, although scholars still record them under the title of the Rawn Sagas and there are many tales of this time still to be told. I will highlight a few dates for reference.

  1012 YOA: Nathan III ascends to the Rogun Throne.

  1165 YOA: Master Ness and his apprentice Prince Nathan are summoned to the Lycan colony on Nidral to protect the inhabitants from a terrifying beast, they call Silvermane.

  1256 YOA: The Barony Charter is established in Royal Decree.

  1416 YOA: Nathan III dies of the Rawn Phage. Nathan IV ascends to the Rogun Throne.

  1419 YOA: Maude, daughter of Hagan Cromme, marries Tallyus, count of Haplann. The Ring of Lorena is passed down through the Haplann family and is lost to history.

  1547 YOA: Disappearance of Nathan IV last of the Southspire kings, it is believed he returns to Nidral to a secret family. The six-year Succession Crisis begins.

  1553 YOA: Hagan I, the first king of the House of Cromme, ascends to the Rogun Throne.