. . . So it was that on the fourth moon of the turn of 3477 that the high council of Thorn, at the advice of Elder Tobias Windhammer, sent the young and inexperienced Guard of Thorn on a quest for the Ogre Drums (pf. nymph-mother, Phenelope; see chapter notes). Later scholars have suggested that it was the Sorcerer Dach who, in fact, persuaded the Thorn Elder and the high-council to send someone as inexperienced and untested in mettle as the young Guard of Thorn. Though there is no direct historical evidence of this, given what we do know now of the relationship between Sorcerer Dach, Guard of Thorn, and Tobias Windhammer, and the unfortunate conditions the Sorcerer Dach labored under during those evil times, it would seem the most likely scenario. From all available records, the Sorcerer Dach, in secrecy, lobbied the case of both Guard’s power, and his destiny, from nearly the time of his birth (pf. Parudah, the stone thrower, see chapter 10).
Guard of Thorn proved to be more than up to the task, defeating a pack of ravenous rotteral without assist, enlisting the help of the forest nymph, Phesophosophenalia (pf. Phesophosophenalia, “Phizzy”, wood nymph, see chapter notes), penetrating the defenses of the trolls of Titan Woods, and retrieving the Ogre Drums, precisely as he was charged. If this were not enough, he was also the first to uncover the treachery of the Tarm Elves, and their betrayal of Thorn village. This was no small thing, as it led to much that followed, and indeed some have said (though not your author, as I still reserve judgment) that it was this early event on which the final outcome of the ascension of Guard of Thorn, and the final War of the Dominions, turned.
Guard returned to Thorn village and enlisted the aid of Stephen Mahallian, whose stone-magic of music was used in concert with the powerful Ogre Drums to restore the deceased Leasia Prillian to life. Young Guard of Thorn had returned to his home triumphant, and had snatched the life of the woman he loved from the very jaws of death.
Yet all was not well. Though Leasia Prillian was healed and restored, she still carried the virus for the Two-Day Fever, now changed, unbeknownst to the denizens of Thorn at that time, into something more peculiar, and much more deadly. Because of her stone-magical resistance to spells and potions, she had been untreatable, and the Two-Day Virus had consumed her. Only the incredible power of the Ogre Drums had made her recovery possible. Yet it would later become clear to all that the same great magic that had saved Leasia had transformed the dis-ease, and in village after village, new infections would show up as the contagion spread, until the sickness became a plague.
There is general consensus among historians that it was the magic of the Ogre Drums being played that led to the transmutation of the virus, and that the ensuing plague was, indeed, the Fouling Plague as revealed in the Final Prophecy of the Scriptures. On the issue of whether or not it was the Ogre Drums that awoke the wyverns of Hoan Jolot Mountain and the great dragon Shi’kala’ta’ish, there is still some debate.
While the argument that it was, in fact, the trolls of Titan Woods tunneling too deep and far into and under Hoan Jolot is certainly credible, it is your author’s opinion that it was indeed the playing of the Ogre Drums, as both Leasia Prillian (pf. Clan Prillian, prosecution of, chapter 20) and Tobias Windhammer would record separate journal entries indicating the appearance of the first wyverns but the day after, and the first attack of Shi’kala’ta’ish.
Your author is aware that other esteemed and reputable scholars subscribe to the more conspiratorial view that it was the Wizard Warwick’s machinations that, from the outset, awoke Shi’kala’ta’ish, seduced the Tarm Elves into their misbegotten war with Thorn and the surrounding demesnes, fueled the dark plotting of the trolls of Titan Woods, enchanted the rotteral, etcetera. It is, however, the considered opinion of your author, having thoroughly reviewed all material relating to those dark days, that such views give the Wizard Warwick too much credit, even for one of his prodigious powers.
What is known for certain, and agreed upon by all serious scholars of Ashealean history, is this: as with so many others in those evil days, Shi’kala’ta’ish was possessed of darkness, and would have scorched all the towns, forests and fields of Kloston to ash, had not the courageous and venerable Guard of Thorn not taken up sword against Shi’kala’ta’ish and, under pain of his death, slain the mighty dragon.
Though Guard was restored to life through the direct intercession of the Gods (some dispute this, but most scholars agree and this author takes the same position), his battle with those under the black veil of evil had just begun. Indeed, most historical texts clearly indicate that it was after his death in the jaws of Shi’kala’ta’ish and his subsequent restoration to life that the sheer magnitude of his stone-magic was revealed (pf. Joskin Nodd, staffcrafter, chapter 23; pf. Parudah the Stonecaster, chapter 10). As was always the case with Guard of Thorn, even as events epic in the history of Ashealla unfolded around him, he was reluctant to accept the truth of his own power, and his favor in the eyes of the Gods.
It was only after unprecedented conflict arose between the village of Thorn and the elves of Tarm Fen, that Guard of Thorn, the Sorcerer Dach, and Elder Tobias Windhammer set out on a mission to confront Susan of Blackwood, the Child Queen of Jarris, that Guard of Thorn could no longer deny the truth of his destiny.
It is telling that shortly before Guard’s ill-fated trip to the Jade City, Leasia Prillian was given a vision by the Gods, and an obligation to sacrifice her own life for the preservation of Guard’s and, by doing so, willingly abandon her own soul to the black fires of Hell . . .
Next: Chapter 1, The Elder.
