Dragons Unremembered
Page 31
Ryckair means "faith". This is drawn from the root work “ry” for “faith”. “Kair” comes from the root word “Kar” which means “to carry” or “to hold”. “Kair” more specifically means “the vessel of” or “the container of”. This could be a jug that holds something or a person who holds or embodies an idea, so Ryckair’s name actually means “holder of the faith.”
The dragons’ name for humans is “enda”. “Maganda” combines “Maga”, meaning "one who teaches" and “enda” to form a word meaning “the human who teaches”. The name was original written “magaenda” and pronounced “mă-gă-ĕn`-dă”, but was corrupted over the years and the “a” of “enda” was dropped.
Appendix B
SONGS AND LAYS
The western lands are rich in stories told through music and poetry. Many early histories were written in varying bardic meters established for particular kinds of stories. Most of these meters have been lost as the ancient languages were translated into modern Carandirian.
The tonal scale used by the bards was very similar to our own. Modern notation has been used to recreate the music.
Here are songs from the story to include the unabridged versions with all the verses.
3. But from this trap
The prince escaped
And wandered long o’er field and flood
His heart was worn
No hope he saw
And thought to lay down dying there
And then by chance
A glade he found
And saw among the golden leaves
A sleeping sprite
Of female form
In raiment white, the Chyning fair
4. Of old he heard
The legends speak
Of spirits waiting in the wood
To spring awake
In time of need
And aid the true and rightful king
Before his eyes
A light shone pure
His worries fell upon the ground
Without a word
The Chyning rose
And spoke he then his purpose there
5. Her aid, she said
Could come but once
A single boon to grant had she
Before she lay
Once more in sleep
Until a new king called for her
His father’s death
consumed his heart
His only thought was vengeance cold
A boon he asked
On bended knee
Her help to gain his father’s crown
6. The claim then made
He steeled for war
But when he looked into her eyes
All thoughts of crowns
grew cold and pale
The Chyning’s love he now desired
And in that thought
Was seed of doom
For one thing ever was forbid
If she should love
a mortal man
The Chyning’s power would fade away
7. Then up she sprang
And through the air
He held her hand as high they flew
And so returned
To kingdom lands
Before the Chancellors could arrive
A battle long
There came to be
And many fell as blood was spilt
Yet to the king
Allegiance drew
And soon his army’s ranks did swell
8. Then Chancellors eight
Were driven out
Of them five dead in battle lay
The other three
Withdrew with few
Some men, a handful for to lead
The prince now King
Gave pardons then
But to the rebels he refused
So with new men
of council wise
The king held celebration great
9. He ruled most wise
both fair and just
And all did love him dearly so
Still in his heart
A fire burned
The longing for the Chyning fair
Through many years
He ruled in peace
Yet saw her face in dreams each night
Soon came a time
When thought of her
removed him from his diligence
10. Then evil foul
And murderess deeds
In secret crept into the land
And so one day
The king’s high seat
Was challenged by the chancellors three
With force of arms
The chancellors three
Made war upon their sovereign king
And drove him from
His palace walls
With catapult and battering ram
11. And fled he then
into the woods
Pursued by men of arms and hate
He looked in vain
To find his love
Yet nowhere could he see her now
Once more all hope
Was nearly lost
He heard the horsemen closing fast
Through brush he fell
Into a glade
To find his love, the Chyning fair
12. He laid his hand
Upon her cheek
And gently bent to kiss her lips
With open eyes
She stared at him
As smiling tears fell down her cheeks
For she now loved
This mortal man
And placed her arms around him tight
In such embrace
The Chancellors three
Soon came upon their king and prey
13. Then arrows flew
And flesh was pierced
No magic could the Chyning weave
For once in love
Her magic failed
And with the king she now faced death
They looked into
Each other’s eyes
And in that space of brevity
A lifetime played
Within their hearts
And all they knew was love and bliss
14. With arms entwined
Their bodies fell
Upon the ground with thud of death
Departed then
The chancellors three
Now having won their victory
But no foul beast
Consumed that pair
For Ilidel, who’s wisdom reigns
Looked down upon
Their faces fair
And called them up unto her hall
APENDIX C
THE FALL OF MAGADEL
In the beginning, there was the egg. Within, none knew of the others, and so did knew not themselves. The mind of two touched, Jorondel and Ilidel, dragons powerful and mighty. In this, they came to know each other, and themselves. They touched all minds therein and awakened them. Out of the egg, all there was, all there is and all there ever would be sprang forth in chaos and disorder. The dragons shaped the world. Chief among them were Jorondel and Ilidel, Father and Mother of Dragons.
A council was formed to guid the tribes of people in all manner of things that they might know the world and live in harmony. They taught them to build, to plow, to weave, to sing; all things under the sun and stars.”
Yet, Ilidel and Jorondel decreed that humans could never possess the doom of magic.
Among the dragons, Magadel became a great teacher. He showed humans wondrous things out of his love of Jorondel and Ilidel and their plan. From him the peoples of the world learned music and art, the forge and the wheel. They praised the dragon of knowledge, yet always he told them, “Praise not me, for I am but the servant of Ilidel and Jorondel. Praise their names alone.”
To hundreds of generations of humankind, Magadel taught. Then, a time came when he had no more to teach. The humans now spread the knowledge they had learned from Magade
l to their young. Magadel felt pride in the humans who now taught their children. At the same time he felt sad, for he loved teaching. He searched in his mind for new things to teach, but there was only one.
He went before the Council of Dragons. “Praise be to Jorondel and Ilidel. Their plan is great. Yet, plans can change. The plan forbids the teaching of magic, but why do we not teach them small spells that could make their lives better. Surely this should be allowed into the plan.”
The council debated Magadel’s arguments, but rejected his desire.
Jorondel said, “There cannot be partial magic. It would corrupt people and give them only misery in the end.”
Ilidel said, “They are pure and innocent. They must remain so for harmony to continue.”
Magadel left in shame and anger, and other beings took note of this. He withdrew far from all others and brooded, feeling deep pain at the loss of Jorondel’s and Ilidel’s trust.
“They shall see the wisdom of this,” he told himself. “People will be served by magic, not destroyed.” In secret, he gathered together a band of men who desired power among their own kind and taught them the lesser art of sorcery with its chants and powders and simple spells. Thus, did the doom of magic come to the human tribes.
At first, the men used their new powers to move stones in the fields or repair boats. Soon, however, one man used magic to burn down a rival’s shop. Magadel brought the men together again and warned them not to use magic for evil. All was quiet until the chief of one tribe used magic to attack another. Magadel , himself, forced peace between them, but many had died and so flew to the Dragons’ Halls. Magadel remained convinced people could use magic if the rest of the council taught its use. He now cursed their names for abandoning him, especially the names of Jorondel and Ilidel. Pain came to him as he feared he had lost their love.
The breaking of the council’s will thundered through the fabric of the world. The dragons cried out in revulsion and called Magadel the betrayer, Baras, by which name he was ever after known.
The men he had taught praised Baras and his new name. Hoping to turn them from evil, he showed them more spells. The men quickly mastered each. They pleaded to learn more, but Baras had exhausted his knowledge of sorcery.
He sat outside the world for a time and contemplated what he had done. He asked himself if he had been wrong, if people should not have learned magic. He told himself, “It is the council’s fault. If they had joined me we could have guided the tribes together.”
He convinced himself that Ilidel and Jorondel had forbidden the teaching of magic because they were jealous of him and he wished that he had taken the praise of the people. He had loved Jorondel and Ilidel above all else and they now spurned him. “So be it. Others there are who will follow me. We will rule the council. Baras they have named me and Baras I shall be.”
So, he gathered the men he had taught magic to and revealed the secret of feeding living souls to demons such that these spirits might be bound for a short while and forced to perform true magic. At this, the men fell to the ground and worshipped him as their lord and master, declaring themselves the servants of Baras, the Barasha.
They donned crimson robes for the blood the demons demanded in payment and threw down villages, towns, entire cities in the name of Baras, laying slaughter to all within. The terror of their acts went before them. Lands sued for mercy. The vanquished paid tribute to Baras and in secret prayed to Ilidel and Jorondel for deliverance.
Other spirits, seeing these victories, followed Baras. Some few were dragons seeking greater glories, but the bulk of his host was comprised of the demons, those lesser beings hungry for power.
The council was called together. Ilidel. said, “Evil has come unbidden to the world, and has changed it.”
Jorondel said, “Baras now forces us to change our plan and bring true magic into the world.”
Jorondel raised an army of dragons and spirits and went to war against Baras and his hosts. To counter the Barasha, Ilidel gathered together three men and three women and instructed them in the art of true magic. Thus, the wizards came to be. Though mortal, their lives were measured not by the passing of years but by the grinding of millennia.
The wizards forged a simple war helm, a steel cap with four gold bands running from the lip to the apex. Jorondel took the helm and fashioned for it a silver crest in the shape of a leaping dragon. Ilidel breathed the will of creation into it so that even Baras would need bow before its power.
A hero came forth, Avar, heir to the lands of Amblar. He took the war helm and named it his crown.
Baras laughed when this mortal stood before him with challenges and demands. All laughter ended as the spell of the crown surrounded and imprisoned him. His bellow resounded throughout the land as he struggled against the constricting webs of magic, so that people thought the end of the world had come.
The web closed as Baras’ power ebbed. His last waking sight was that of the crown, the accursed crown, whose image hovered constantly in his mind along with that of the mortal who dared use it against him.
Baras was subdued and rendered impotent. The errant demons were captured by the wizards and imprisoned in great towers that existed in the physical and magical worlds. The Barasha, too, were hunted down and finally declared destroyed.
In his sleep, Baras dreamed of what might have been. The dreams filled him with a hatred of all things that walk alive beneath the sun, for he would never see such again. At the same time, he was consumed with rage for all things that died and so depart this world, for that escape is not his to have. Most of all, they filled him with a seething hunger for vengeance against Avar and all his generations.
Thus the Dragon Wars ended. Jorondel declared, “ Follow, now, the teachings of the council to bring about the plan.
Ilidel said, “Yet, know that Baras but sleeps and his hatred can rise again through us.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David A. Wimsett has written articles, columns and blogs for newspapers, magazines, corporations, and online platforms. He has appeared on radio and television talk shows and worked as a stage actor in musicals, comedies and plays. He has read and written fantasy and science fiction for decades.
He became a single parent in his twenties and both raised and guided his son, Ronald, into adulthood.
He is a member of the Writer’s Union of Canada, the Professional Writers Association of Canada and the Canadian Media Guild.
Beyond the Shallow Bank, his woman’s literature novel with elements of fantasy, is available from booksellers everywhere. His science fiction novelette, Something on My Mind, is available exclusively through Amazon.