The Tale of the Swords of the Ancients
And Other Blades of Power

A Mythology
By
Kit Rae

Chapter 1
Of the Ancient Ones

In the beginning of things in ages past there were the Anath, masters of flesh, fire, and steel, who forged the elements of which the land of Ammon was made. It became the world in the First Age, the age of creation. The Anath desired to create beings like unto themselves to dwell upon Ammon, thus they created the Ancient Ones, and this was the Second Age of Ammon, the age of the immortals. They were made in likeness to the Anath, and each was granted a special power of creation so that they may rework Ammon in their own fashion. Being immortal the Ancient Ones would not die or age naturally, though they could be harmed or killed by misfortune or misdeed. Thus their number, which was only but fourteen in the beginning, would ever be thus unless fate would diminish them.

The ancient Ones were joyous and learned to harness the elements. They were experts in all crafts and the arts, but soon became saddened because they were alone in the world. The Anath beheld their sadness and thus resolved to give the Ancient Ones the power to create mortal beings and so charged them to rule over and protect those creations. Thereupon the Ancients filled Ammon with many strange creatures of different form, and this was the Third Age of Ammon, the age of mortals. The firstborn to Ammon were the higher beings, the elves, and later there were Uldurin, followed by men, and finally the lower beasts. The Ancient Ones purposed to have dominion over every creature and for many ages they kept order and balance in Ammon. They built the great Temple of the Anath, hidden in the frozen realm of Ulaine, and from its immense halls they watched over their creations.

Mortals multiplied and explored the lands of Ammon, discovering the many great places of beauty the Ancients had created for them. Though mortals were wise and with much strength, they were also unstable through the weakness of the flesh. Through greed, the lust for power, and jealousy, they were tempted to war amongst each other and there was much bloodshed in the beginning. Thus the Ancient Ones created the first enchanted talismans to temper mortals and restore order and balance. They took the form of steel bladed devices, for blades were among the first tools to be used by mortals in Ammon. Each was bestowed with powers of many forms, but the mortals misused them and were corrupted by the new power, and much blood was spilled with them and by reason of them. The Uldurin waged war upon men. The elves moved underground to escape the chaos above, and they became the Dark Elves of the Underworld, Barkonia. In this chaos the first Ancient One came to be slain by a mortal one of the Uldurin race. This was the first slaying of immortal by mortal and Ammon was forever changed. Thus Ammon entered the Fourth Age, the age of chaos. Thenceforward the talismans became known as the Blades of Chaos, for that is what they had created.

Evruc, one of the Ancients now known only as the Dark One, perceived how easily mortals were corrupted, and how vulnerable his own kind were to them. In his mind he had dark thoughts over how best to rule them, and he opposed the other Ancients, causing much turmoil. He forsook them and left to dwell in the Underworld, and there he became dark and twisted. He took many men as his slaves and many women as his concubines. The elves, who also dwelled in the vast Underworld, eschewed Evruc, and named him the Dark One, but some were corrupted by his power and joined him as subjects. They became the Black Elves. In this time the Orwenoch, mysterious dark beasts, appeared out of the depths of the Underworld, and it was said that they were a creation of the Dark One.

The twelve Ancient Ones, seeing the grave mistake they had made, set forth to create the Umethar , a talisman to restore order to the chaos. It was given the shape of many blades within blades, for it held powers within powers. The hilt was carved from bone of the Ancient One who was slain, known as Thorcan, and the pommel was fashioned in the image of the Anath. The blade was quenched with the blood of every immortal Ancient One, save Evruc, and within it was held their greatest power. The Ancients commanded mortals use the blade to heal the hurts they had caused, lest ere long they destroy themselves by their own hand; and they took the Umethar and by its power they brought life back to the dead mortals who had been slain in wrath over the Blades of Chaos.   Order and harmony were restored between mortals, for a time.

Chapter 2
Of the Avaquar Dagger

The Avaquar Dagger was a blade of power, a precursor to the great Swords of the Ancients, forged late in the Fourth Age of Ammon. Its lore has been kept secret for many ages and few mortals know the full tale of this sacred blade. After the creation by the Ancient Ones of the disastrous Blades of Chaos in the Fourth Age, the Ancients desired to create new and far superior blades of power for the mortals under their charge. These new blades would hold greater powers than the Blades of Chaos. Atnal, a chief among the Ancient Ones who was known to travel amongst his mortal subjects in the guise of an old man or elf, commissioned the famed weapon smith Mahgnim to forge a double bladed knife for him, the Avaquar Dagger.

Atnal gave the design of this unusual weapon to Mahgnim in a dream, and from that image Mahgnim began his work forging the two blades of the Avaquar from his own special steel, created from a blend of ores mined from the caverns of Barkonia and the Tellorien Mountains. The blades he engraved with Annundtal runes, a language of old Annundos, and the words written there came in a vision sent to him by Atnal. The runes told of the Avaquar's will over the waters of the world, with the power to create drought or flood by its command. Water creatures of many types were also held under its influence. Its hilt was fashioned with a clawed metal guard and a grip carved of red thorcan. When Mahgnim completed this knife, he proclaimed it his greatest work, and presented it to Atnal. Atnal and the other Ancient Ones thence embodied the blade with the powers spoken of in its runes, and they created a great blade of power.

As a test of a mortal's wisdom and endurance to use such a blade and not fall into corruption by the influence of its power, Atnal sought to give it to the wisest of the Dark Elves, the warrior Agnemmel. He was an Elf of the Evesfael family, a clan of wise warrior-rulers making their abode in the underground caverns of Barkonia. The elves had fought in many bloody wars against mortal men, but the Evesfael were instrumental in ending the wars and leading the Elves underground to create their own kingdom, away from the world of men. Agnemmel was the grandson of the elven king who led his people into Barkonia, and he was blessed with much of his forefather's wisdom and strength. Atnal presented the Avaquar to this one as a gift and instructed him in its use and of the dangers of its powers if misused.

For many years Agnemmel wielded the blade wisely, using it to make the waters of the underground lakes plentiful with fish for harvest, and emptying the deep flooded caverns of Barkonia of water to allow the elves to expand their kingdom deeper into the earth, but rarely was it used for violence. Then came a day when Evruc, one of the Ancient Ones who had become twisted and dark, snaked into the elven kingdom and spread his evil and malice amongst the Dark Elves. Most of the elves shunned Evruc, for they know him to be the king of lies and one who lusted for power, and they called him the Dark One. Some Dark Elves, however, succumbed to his lies, believing the Ancients had forsaken them to the bowels of the earth for they were not as favored as Men, or those of the Uldurin race that still live upon the surface of Ammon. Those elves that followed Evruc were the Black Elves, and they caused much turmoil in Barkonia, but they were a minority and held no real strength. There came a time when Agnemmel was called to lead a charge of Elves to repel a score of men that had invaded their caverns in the Tellorien Mountains of the West. That battle was a hard one, with many elves having perished including some of Agnemmel's own clan, and worst of all his beloved wife, who was a great warrior in her own right and always fought by his side. His great blade, the Avaquar, could not defeat the mortal men or save her life.

Evruc had heard tale of Agnemmel's enchanted blade and he perceived it was of the Ancient's design, and when he was told of the battle and Agnemmel's loss, he designed to take advantage of the elf's grief. When Agnemmel was at his weakest, Evruc approached him, feigning concern, and he made to sew deep seeds of hate for men in his mind; and Agnemmel did succumb to this willingly, for the Avaquar's enchantments allowed his mind to sway and focus more easily, and therefore he followed Evruc's lead down the dark path. Over time Agnemmel became more and more bitter and desired revenge against men, and he was now the blackest of the Black Elves. He abandoned his clan and left his young son and daughter, who were not yet old enough to fight by his side. He learned to use the Avaquar as a terrible weapon, and with it he would stab men and suck their bodies dry of fluid, leaving only dead husks. With the Avaquar's power he called forth a hoard of dark and vicious water creatures out of the deep underground seas of Barkonia to be his companions and guardians.

Agnemmel led a host of Evruc's Black Elves under his command and waged war upon men for many years. He was known as the Blood Sucker among mortals, and more than two thousand men had been killed by his hand with the Avaquar. Thence came a day when a great legion of mortals, both men and elves, united to destroy his forces and rid them from their lair in the North mines of Barkonia, but Agnemmel's Dark Elves and his sea beasts were of greater strength and turned back the invaders, slaughtering many. In the rage of battle Agnemmel sucked the blood from many men and elves with the Avaquar, and his beasts did feed on their corpses; but in the face of one elf Agnemmel brought down, he recognized someone familiar and once dear to him. As the Avaquar sucked her body dry, Agnemmel saw the face of his beloved wife dying. Now he saw this was not the face of his wife, but the grown face of his daughter who had come to be a warrior over the years since he had left his clan and joined the Black Elves. In seeing her dead body Agnemmel realized what his hatred had brought him; not revenge and justice for his slain wife, but death and misery for all, and he hated himself for what he had become, but most of all he hated the Dark One for leading him to this end. As his dark beasts began to feed on her body he went mad and slaughtered the creatures with the Avaquar.

Thence Agnemmel ran for many long days deep into the caverns and away from other mortals. Eventually he came upon the great underground sea of Tolesthia, a great endless cavern with deep waters and gigantic columns of stone in its midst, seen by precious few in Ammon. There he threw the Avaquar into its waters, and the enchanted blade was lost from the world, though some say it came back to the sword smith Mahgnim in a dream, and when he awoke from that dream the sword was once again in his possession. In that great cavern Agnemmel lived, becoming an insane and dangerous creature, living off blind fish and any elves that happened to stray too deep into the caverns below Barkonia. And there he remained for many years until the Dark One came to call upon him once again...

In the ensuing years came the Fifth Age of Ammon and the Ancient Ones called for the greatest of enchanted weapons to be created, the Ten Swords of the Ancients. The sword smith Mahgnim re-made Avaquar as one of the Ten Swords for Atnal, this time in greater stature as a sword, and blessed with greater powers by the Ancient Ones; and there are those who say the blade of the powerful Avaquar, sword of the deep, was actually forged from the same steel as the original dagger, though none can claim this to be true for the knowledge has since been lost.

Chapter 3
Of the Mithrodin Sword

Toukol was a young Elven farrier and blacksmith and who forged farming tools and horse shoes in the late years of the Fourth Age of Ammon, a the time when the Great Realms were still young, long before the time of Vaelen. Toukol lived in the North Kingdom of Deylindor in the city of Ammoria, abode of both Men and Elves. He was an exceptional blacksmith who was also schooled in the art of sword combat, for he had hopes to one day be the weapons master for the King's army like his father. Upon a day Toukol was laboring over his father's ancient anvil, working an iron bar into the shape of a scythe, an old man dressed in gray robes wandered into the shop. The man looked about the place at the various tools Toukol had forged and then smiled. He hobbled over to Toukol, reached into his robe and removed a chunk of molten ore, about the size of a fist, and set it upon Toukol's anvil. Without a word the man turned and walked from the shop. Bewildered, Toukol rushed out into the street after the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The ensuing years leading up to the end of the Fourth Age were filled with many wars and bitterness among the three mortal races, Men, Elves, and Uldurin. The Dark One, who stirred much malcontent amongst mortals, had caused great turmoil in these times. Toukol, now an adult Elf, had become one of the greatest of Elven smiths, forging stunning works of swords and amour, and he lived in the underground realm of Barkonia with the Dark Elves, experts in the mining of ores and their crafting. Toukol was also a very capable fighter who had fought and won in many sword tournaments using weapons of his own making. He could have served in the Elven army, but Toukol chose to study with the Dark Elven smiths. He had even adopted the Dark Elves practice of tattooing ones body upon completion of a special work that surpassed anything made before, as a sign of accomplishment. Much had he learned from the Dark Elves in the working of steels, and much in the ways of forging had he invented himself. The Ancient Ones walked freely these days in the caverns of Barkonia, sometimes in the guise of mortal Elves so that they would go unnoticed, and it was their wisdom that had taught the Elves much in the knowledge of steel. In this time the Ancient Ones devised a plan to bring peace and harmony back to the Great Realms and the mortals they had created to populate those lands, and thus they commanded the Dark Elves to forge for them ten great swords; and the Ancients would imbue these with special powers, and through the use of these swords would balance and order be brought to the land once again.

There came a day when the Ancient One known as Atnal walked into Toukol's shop and examined his work. Toukol bowed and a smile strangely familiar to him crossed Atnal's face. Atnal then turned to Toukol and commanded that he forge for the Ancients a great sword, one which would be the grandest and most powerful of the Ten Swords, and it was to be called Anathar. Only the finest blacksmiths in Ammon were asked to forge these ten special swords and Toukol was honored by this request. At once he ran to the back of his shop and brought out the fist of special ore that had been given to him by the strange old man when he was but a boy in Ammoria. He showed the special ore to Atnal, for he had plans to forge Anathar's blade from this steel. He had stored it away since childhood for a special purpose, for he knew in his heart that it was enchanted; but Atnal told him to save the steel and use the Elvish ores of Barkonia to craft Anathar's blade. Atnal then reached into his robe and brought forth a reddish bone-like stone, which he called Thorcan, and he said it must be used in the hilts of the sword. Thus Toukol began his work, forging Anathar for nine moons. When complete it was indeed the finest of the Swords of the Ancients; and when it came into the world it brought with it the dawn of the Fifth Age of Ammon, the Age of Order.

In the one hundred and twenty-eighth year of the Fifth Age, the Battle of the Ancients had been fought against the Dark One. Six of the Ancient Ones had perished in that war, but the Dark One's body had been destroyed and his spirit now stayed imprisoned in the Neverworld. His malicious deeds could no longer be wrought upon the land. The newly forged Swords of the Ancients were in use throughout the Great Realms, and the Ancient Ones gave the most powerful, Anathar, to King Aghelm of Ammoria; but order had yet to come to the land. In this time the Uldurin made frequent attacks upon the Northlands of Deylindor, coming down from the frozen Isle of Ulioc. They were jealous and desired those swords that the Ancients had bestowed with special powers, a desire fueled by the malcontent stirred by the Dark One prior to the war, and it infected their entire race.

Toukol had since returned to Ammoria a master smith and was made the King's armorer, and he forged many great swords for the King, his sons, and the military captains and generals. A day came when word was sent of an Uldurin attack upon the Eastern Kingdom of Volcemis. The Volcemites called for aid from Ammoria, and King Aghelm did respond, sending the better part of his army East; for he feared that if Volcemis fell, his kingdom would be assaulted next. This decision would prove to be a fateful one for Ammoria. On the day the King's army marched East, a familiar old man in gray robes hobbled into Toukol's smithy, admiring the great swords, spears, and armor that lined the walls. He smiled at Toukol, a familiar smile, and spoke that Toukol had grown to be a fine weapon smith, the finest in all of Ammon. Thus he told that now was the time for Toukol to forge his greatest sword, one of perfect design and balance, one to befit each of the numerous styles of sword combat, for the day would soon come when this new sword style would be in need. Toukol was puzzled and asked who would need such a sword, and the old man replied "Mithrodin", which means sword-mother in the Ancient's language of Aerlundtal, or literally, "sword protector". He told that Toukol must forge this sword in twenty-nine days, and that Toukol himself would be the first to spill blood on its blade, but that the weapon was meant for one other than him, this Mithrodin. He asked if Toukol possessed a good ore with which to forge the blade, and smiled again. At this Toukol rushed to the back of his smithy and retrieved the fist of ore from his old storage chest.

When he returned he discovered the old man was again nowhere to be found, but on his anvil lay a new iron hammer of the blackest steel. Toukol hefted it and found it had good weight and balance, but was amazed that it required little effort to wield. Thus he began to think on the shape this sword would take, and that required long thought. Finally Toukol decided on a curved form and thence he heated the fist of steel until it glowed the yellow of a late day sun, and began to hammer and shape it; and he folded it over upon itself for strength many, many times, until after twenty days he had folded it over one hundred and fifty times. On its blade he engraved his maker mark and "Honor ruled by steel" in the Anglecal runes, and "By blood I am the protector of the sacred steel" in Annundtal, the language of old Annundos. He stayed from tempering the blade until he had completed the hilts, which would require much work. He labored over these many long hours, for they were crafted with wood scaled in black whale hide, hardened in resin, and bound in leather, with cast and chiseled metal fittings. Now twenty-eight days had passed, but neither the old man nor the "Mithrodin" had come to check on his progress. Toukol was work worn and questioned to himself why he labored so hard on this sword when he had not settled on a fee, and he did not even know for whom he was working. He decided to rest for one day before tempering the blade and attaching the hilts and fittings, and he hid the unfinished sword in his basement. He thought that since he had neither seen nor heard from the old man that a few extra days to complete the sword would be of little matter.

In the night Toukol dreamed of a warrior fighting in a massive battle with his sword, but when the warrior turned to him he saw the face of a woman. He was stirred from this hard slumber by the sound of bells and when he rose to investigate he found the people were running through the streets in a panic, the call to arms bells were ringing throughout the city, and the glow of fire was in the sky. Ammoria was under attack from the North by the Uldurin, but most of the King's army was far away in the East. The gates had been broken and the enemy now ravaged the city, and some rode in on terrible Snow Drakes from the North. Those white lizards were reaping great destruction and death, for they exhaled a deadly gas that could be ignited. Most of the men captured by the Uldurin had been killed and the women, unless elderly, were taken captive. Toukol knew there was no hope to resist this horde without an army and that by morning the city would be lost. He determined that he must flee Ammoria while he was able, and thus quickly packed his enchanted hammer, forging tongs, and a few other precious tools into a sack, unsheathed a light thrusting sword and ventured into the streets. He made his way toward the South gates, near to the King's palace. After a frightful encounter with a group of Uldurin foot soldiers, whom Toukol slew, he made his way into the courtyard of the King's palace; but the way was crowded with a terrible host of Uldurin massing toward it, and one rode a Snow Drake across the yard, spewing blue flame at the elf guards who protected the palace. There air was filled with smoke and the screams of the unfortunate ones unable to escape the slaughter. Toukol was shaken and retreated back into the narrow city streets in search of a clearer way to the gates, and thence he spied a young girl and two old men with swords, of royalty by their attire, and the girl beckoned him to follow. She led them hastily through narrow, winding passages to the South gate wall, but once there they were surprised by a band of Uldurin blocking the way, corralling prisoners into a cart. The young girl was captured, and when Toukol and the old men tried to intervene they were overwhelmed and Toukol was beaten into unconsciousness...

When Toukol awoke he found himself jailed in a cell with a group of men, mostly young city workers, but the girl and the old men were gone. The Uldurin had discovered that he was the famed blacksmith of Ammoria by the tools in his pack and had let him live, for they would need his services. Thus he was later jailed in his own smithy, always with a guard, and iron doors of his own making were set to bar the exits. Toukol was at his spirits end in seeing what had become of this great city, now overrun, blackened, and crumbling. The glory of Ammoria was now gone and it was home to him no more, only but a prison. Over time he discovered that the King and every one of his guard and family had been slain, and the great sword Anathar had been found and taken by the filthy Uldurin lords.

Toukol was forced to forge weapons for an Uldurin war master, and this he did, but he only forged inferior blades that either bent or chipped and shattered upon hard use. For many months Toukol slaved for the Uldurin, until one day he told his captors he could do no more unless he was brought ore to work with, for his stores were now empty. Now the Uldurin were no masters of steel, and few of their kind were miners, so his master let Toukol leave the city with ten guards and travel to the Ammorian mines in the mountains, where he would fill his cart once a month with the precious ores needed to forge steel. Now four long years had passed with Toukol slaving for his captors in this way. He had hopes that the Elves of the East would one day come to reclaim Ammoria, but that day never came, and Toukol feared that they too had been slain. He often thought of the young girl who had helped him that night and wondered what had become of her, and in his mind he imagined that she had escaped her captors and fled the city, and this helped to pass the days.

Over time Toukol devised a plan of escaping Ammoria by eluding his guards on one of his trips to the ore mines, and thus he prepared his escape for weeks in advance. On the night before the mining trip Toukol was brought his evening meal by an Elven slave girl. The Uldurin had kept many young women alive to work in the kitchens, and he found this night there was a new girl that he had not seen before in all of his time as a captive. To his astonishment he recognized her as the same one who had tried to help him leave the city that fateful night, though she was now no longer a girl but a beautiful young woman, and Toukol was instantly smitten with her. She was joyous to see him again, for she thought he had been slain. Her name was Estea, and Toukol decided that he could not leave the city without her, for he had already fallen in love. Thus he whispered his plan to her, and Estea told thence that she was once a member of the King's royal house, a caretaker of the King's possessions, and doorkeeper of the sword chamber where Anathar was kept. She had tried to protect the sword when the King Aghelm was slain, but she was no fighter and had to flee the palace. The Uldurin lords had captured the sword, and Estea had since learned from palace slaves that it was still kept there in the basement catacombs, though now guarded by many Uldurin. She told Toukol that she would never leave the city without the sword, for she took an oath to the King to protect it, and Toukol revealed to her that he was one who forged Anathar for the Ancients. Astonished at this, Estea thence begged Toukol to help her, and told that before the Uldurin had taken the city King Aghelm had made a secret underground passage which connected the sewer ducts under his palace to a winding cave that lead outside the city walls to the West, where it opened to the mountain side, near to the ore mines. It was to be used as a way of escape in case of attack, but the King fought to the bitter end when the Uldurin attacked, as was the Elven way, and the passage was never used. Toukol knew of many ways into the sewer duct system and he formulated a new plan with Estea. He pledged that he would train her in the ways of sword combat, for he was a very capable swordsman himself, and when she was prepared they would recover Anathar from the Uldurin together.

In the night after his return from the mines, Toukol climbed to the top of his smithy, and using a rope and hook he had forged, made his way by rooftop to the slave quarters where Estea awaited him as planned, and Toukol smuggled her out of an upper window and down into a nearby sewer duct, undetected. They made their way through those dark and dank tunnels by torchlight until they came to a main intersection chamber near the palace where fresh water flowed through, then Estea lead the way to the cave passage. Whence they reached the caves exit in the mountain side Toukol left Estea with his store of food and a sturdy knife. He promised to return, then swiftly made his way back to the smithy before the morning guard changed. For two weeks Toukol worked by night digging a tunnel from his smithy basement into the main sewer duct that ran in the street beside his shop. Twice a week he would travel at night to Estea and bring her provisions, and he trained her with wood swords by firelight, as he had been trained as a young elf. When he was able, Toukol smuggled other female slaves out of the city into the caverns, and he trained and armed those women as well. Over time Estea became very proficient in sword combat and within a year she could best Toukol himself in practice, thus Toukol taught her other forms of combat, and he forged for her a great bladed spear, and it was called Allaxdrow. After mastering each level of combat, Estea would tattoo herself as the smiths of Toukol's trade would, and soon she had many tattoos displaying her great skills.

When two years had passed Toukol's host of warriors living in the caves then numbered twenty-three and Estea was confident they were now ready for real combat, thus she told Toukol of her plan to enter the palace from the sewer tunnels and steal Anathar back from the Uldurin. Though it was difficult to hide it from his captors, Toukol had resumed working on the special sword he had begun to craft so many years before at the urging of the mysterious old man. Now its blade was tempered and quenched and its hilts complete. He greatly desired to wield it against the Uldurin, who so deserved to be slain by its blade, thus Toukol agreed to the plan. One week following he lead his host into the winding tunnels until they came upon four iron gates blocking the passage into the catacombs beneath the palace, and Toukol broke each with his enchanted hammer. Thereupon the women entered the catacombs swiftly and silently killed the host of Uldurin that made their abode in the lower levels of the palace, as Toukol and Estea hunted for the sword chamber wherein the Uldurin masters kept Anathar. After a time they ascended many floors and came to a passage with heavy guard. The door wardens fought fiercely but were no match for Toukol's deadly new sword and Estea's bladed spear; and breaking the iron door they found Anathar on a bloody sacrificial throne. Unspeakable horrors must have occurred at the hands of the Uldurin for there were bones of Elves and rotting bits of flesh littering the chamber, and the place stank of death. The alert bells now rang through the palace and Toukol knew they could not linger. The warrior women had escaped fast to the cave passage upon hearing the alert but as luck would have it, Toukol and Estea were late and found the sewer intersection discovered and blocked by the Uldurin. Thus they were forced to go by another way and return to his smithy with Anathar.

Toukol hid Estea and in his basement tunnel. The Mithrodin sword and Anathar he hid in the box of mining tools stored in the back of his horse cart, for if she were found with either she would surely be slain, and Toukol lover her more than anything and could not have this. When morning came the Uldurin soldiers searched every building in the city, but they discovered neither Estea nor the swords. Toukol knew he must take them from the city soon, thus he told his master that he needed travel to the mines once again for supply, and Toukol was granted permission without question for he was a long trusted servant. That night Toukol secretly packed his forging implements and great anvil into the box of mining tools in the back of his horse cart and Estea hid in the empty ore crates. Her spear Toukol fastened to the cart's underside. In the morning the guards came to escort Toukol, and he was surprised to find their number was not the usual ten, but twenty, but only two were on horseback. Perhaps he was not now as trusted as he thought. Though the guards rarely searched his cart, Toukol made to distract them by offering bread and mead, and to his relief they made no inspection before departing. Once they were far from the city and the guards had eaten all of the bread they began to drink. Soon they became sick, for Toukol had poisoned the mead with metal powder from his forge. With surprise Toukol and Estea leapt from the back of the cart. Toukol challenged the foot soldiers as Estea retrieved Allaxdrow from under the cart. Short work was made of four soldiers by Toukol, but he was hindered when his calf and chest were cut, and the others closed in. The two horsemen rode away fast but Estea made a skillful throw and speared both, for they rode single file. Thence she took up Toukol's Mithrodin sword and with amazing skill and speed that far surpassed his, she cut each Uldurin down to the last, and that one she beheaded with a quick stroke. Estea was amazed at the ease and fluidity with which she could wield this sword and marveled at how it felt in her hands. Thence she retrieved the horses and they rode fast with Anathar to the entrance of the secret cave in the mountain side. Estea's warriors were there in waiting and they tended to Toukol's wounds, but he found two of them missing, for they had been slain in the palace battle, and he mourned for them.

Before the morning light shone an approaching horseman discovered them and entered the cave entrance with such stealth that none heard until he was upon them. Estea prepared to spear the rider and Toukol drew the Mithrodin sword from its scabbard, thence he spied this was no Uldurin scout, but an old man who he recognized. When the man approached his form changed from that of a mortal to an Ancient One, tall and majestic, and Toukol recognized him as Atnal, the Ancient who commanded him to forge Anathar years before, and then later the Mithrodin sword in the guise of the old man. Toukol bowed and presented the sword to him, but Atnal refused. Instead, to Estea he handed the sword, and he spoke it was forged for her and her companions, for they were to be the "sword mothers", the Mithrodin protectors of the Ten Swords of the Ancients. An he also spoke that they were also to be protectors and servants of the remaining of his own kind, the Ancient Ones, for there were now only but three left in Ammon. Atnal told that the time of the Ancient Ones was soon coming to an end and mortals must take charge of the talismans if order was ever to come. They must protect Anathar and each of the other Ten from falling into the hands of the enemy, but they must also learn to harness the swords powers and use them wisely when in need; and that knowledge Atnal promised to teach them. This trust Estea accepted, and she bowed and kissed the hand of Atnal, thus he gave blessings to her and her sword. To Toukol he charged to make like blades to the Mithrodin sword, one for each of Estea's warriors, but Toukol refused, saying he could never make such a sword of its kind again without the special ore Atnal had provided. At this Atnal laughed and said the ore was but common, the same as any Toukol used in forging a blade. It was only special because Toukol had made it such with his great skill and craft. Toukol marveled at this, for he had always thought the steel enchanted, and he thus accepted his charge as sword smith for the Order of the Mithrodin.

Atnal once again took the form of the old man and remounted his horse. He turned to leave, but spoke one last time and told that the Elven host from Volcemis was even now planning an attack on two fronts to reclaim Ammoria from the Uldurin. The foot soldiers would arrive from the South, and the great ships of the Volcemite mariners from the North. He warned that Toukol had but twenty-nine days to prepare, for they would make their assault at first light on that day, and they would need the aid of the Mithrodin. At this he kicked his horse and rode away fast. Thus Toukol set himself to work, for he had many swords to forge with his enchanted hammer and time was passing quickly!

Chapter 4
Of the Swords of the Ancients and the Fifth Age of Ammon

The Ancient Ones were born to the world of Ammon with the enchanted powers of creation and destruction bestowed upon them by the Anath. Those powers prevented the world from decaying into desolation and ruin. Knowing that their time would eventually come to an end, the Ancient Ones did not trust their powers to be passed on to those of mortal flesh. Flesh could be tempted and corrupted and the great powers left by the Anath could be twisted and altered for ill use, destroying the delicate balance of the world. The Ancients trusted in steel, steel mined from the very earth forged by the creators, the Anath. The Ancients had instilled within mortals the knowledge to work steel into blades, and mortals learned to use those blades with great care, for havoc could be brought with but a quick stroke, or calm by staying a blade in its scabbard. A balance was learned, and the threat of unsheathing a blade was more often than not what kept the peace; but there were times when steel was drawn by greed or corruption.

The steel of the Ancients was stronger than flesh, stronger than the will, even stronger than time. Only in this steel could the powers of the Ancients be trusted, for steel could not be destroyed, only reshaped. Steel would not betray its power for good or ill. The wielder alone, moral or evil, held that choice; but the Ancient Ones knew that if steel were possessed of the perfect balance of powers, that under wise use, order and harmony would remain in Ammon for eternity. The fashioning of steel into weapons and tools became a high art among mortals, and there were many greatly skilled elven smiths in Ammon. Thus the Ancient Ones directed the creation of the Ten Swords of the Ancients and Ammon entered the Fifth Age, the age of order.

The Dark Elves, dwellers of the underworld, were the mortals so commanded to create those Ten Swords. They were the finest smiths in all of Ammon and were masters in the workings of steel, for they had uncovered its mystery of in their time under the earth. The blades of those great swords were forged of secret alloys mined from the depths of Ammon, and they were tempered in the methods taught by the Ancients. Each of the Ten Swords were bequeathed their own special powers by the Ancient Ones, and they granted those powers to the wielder, but the wielder alone decided if that power was to be used for good or evil. Each blade was given a name for its power, and those names were thus:

Kilgorin, the Sword of Darkness. It gave the wielder power to bring darkness and enchantment over ones enemies. It derived its strength from the Neverworld and was possessed of a great evil by many years of use by the Dark One.

Elexorien, the Sword of War. It gave the wielder strategic power and command to unify great multitudes for a single cause. Forged by Mahgnim, it was used in the Black War by Queen Vaelen.

Morthoseth, the Sword of the Shadows. It influenced mortals by its power over the shadow world of thoughts and dreams. It was wielded by Vardor and Borloth in the War of the Shadows.

Luciendar, the Sword of Light. It revealed to the user that which was hidden and showed the true nature of creatures, both natural and enchanted. It was wielded by Barlodir in the War of the Shadows.

Anathros, the Sword of the Earth. It gave the user power to reshape the earth and its elements and was wielded by the king of the Uldurin and later by Aluen in the Shadow War.

Valermos, the Sword of Fire. It gave the user the ability to command creatures in spirit form and created and controlled the flames of Ammon. It was wielded by Vardor in the Shadow War.

Cinthorc, the Sword of Justice. Cinthorc had the power to deal just punishment to wrongdoers, seen through the eyes of the wielder as being wrongful. It was wielded by the sorceress Morgolien in the extermination of the Mithrodin, and later by Vaelen.

Molotoch, the Slayer Sword. The user received boundless skill and speed from the sacred blade, as well as great focused rage to beat down an enemy. Mere mortals could not even lift this enchanted weapon. It was wielded by Naegolus in the slaying of the Mithrodin.

Avaquar, the Sword of the Deep. Avaquar held power over the waters and seas. It was forged by Mahgnim and was the mate of Anathar. Vaelen wielded it in the Last Battle.

Anathar, the Sword of Power. The last of the Ten Swords to be forged, Anathar held within it a part of each of the powers of the other nine. It was forged by the elf Toukol and wielded by Naegolus in the Last Battle.

Anathar was the strongest of the Ten Swords and held a link to each of the others. When together, the Ten Swords allowed the Ancients to have the power of dominion over the lands and all living things in Ammon, to create harmony and order in the world; and the Ancient Ones taught only the wisest of mortals in their use.

Thence there was a time of peace when mortals founded the Great Realms. Men created the North realm of Deylund, the East realm of Deylindor, and the South realm of Amunach, and the Dark Elves created the realm of Lokonia in the Underworld. The Uldurin, always prone to war, had been defeated by men and were driven across the sea to the Northlands where they founded the kingdom of Ulaine. Men built great sailing ships and explored all of the lands across the seas: Loringel in the South, Dagorlund in the East, and Ulioc of the frozen North. In this time the Blades of Chaos, bane to mortals, were gathered by the Ancient Ones and hidden in the Temple of the Anath to prevent their use; but some of those blades were lost to them and remained hidden until later days of the Fifth Age.

For many years the twelve immortal Ancient Ones reigned until their outcast, the Dark One, arose from the Underworld with the Orwenoch and stole Kilgorin, the sword of darkness, from the Temple of the Anath. With that enchanted sword he attempted to enslave men, but the Ancients intervened and a great conflict ensued, The Battle of the Ancients. Six of the remaining twelve Ancient Ones perished by the hand of Dark One and his Orwenoch beasts. Men and elves rallied to the Ancient's cause and helped to defeat the Orwenoch, but many of those horrid beasts escaped and hid themselves. The Ancients hunted for the Dark One many years thereafter, but he was cunning and eluded their gaze.

In the eighty-second year of the Fifth Age the Ancients came to discover the hiding place of the Dark One in the frozen Northern realm of Ulioc, where he had built a dark kingdom and commanded an army of Uldurin bent to his cause. There he was at last defeated with the sword of power, Anathar, and his army decimated, but his own sword of power, Kilgorin, was not recovered. To save himself, the Dark One betrayed the secret abode of the Orwenoch to the Ancients, but he would not tell of whence they came into the world or who had created them. To protect Ammon lest the Dark One gain influence yet again, the Ancients opened the Neverworld, a place half in and half out of the world, where one can be seen as if in a mist but never to be heard or touched; and there he was imprisoned. The Blade of Chaos, Umethar, was made the key to the door of the Neverworld, and it was hidden away in the frozen lands of the North.

The secret hiding place of the Orwenoch the Dark One had revealed was high in the Tellorien Mountains, East of Deylund, and it was there that the forces of the Ancient Ones, allied with men and elves, assailed them. The numbers of those beasts had increased greatly in the years that they had remained hidden, and they numbered near two thousand. Thus the forces of the Ancient Ones were not prepared for the battle and three of the six remaining Ancients were slain; and thousands of mortal lives were lost. The conflict was long and bloody, but in the end the Ancients were triumphant and succeeded in driving the Orwenoch that survived, but ten score, underground into the caverns of Lokonia.

Fearing for the three remaining Ancient Ones, men and elves, at the urging of the Ancient One Atnal, thence created the order of the Mithrodin in the one hundred and thirty-third year of the Fifth Age. The Mithrodin were charged to watch over the Ancient Ones and care for the Ten Swords whence the time came that the Ancients would perish into the shadows, leaving the mortal world forever. The Mithrodin, or Mith as they were called in later days, were a highly secretive cadre of man and elf warriors, protectors in service to the Great Realms. They were made to guard the sacred swords and were given full knowledge by the Ancients of the swords' lore and how to harness the power with which each blade was bestowed; and thus they were granted complete understanding of the mystery of enchanted steel. It was the duty of the Mithrodin to keep order and balance in Ammon by directing their use. Each sword required counterbalance by it's opposite. When a sword of power was used to shift the balance in Ammon, the Mith, through careful counsel and deliberation, would release the opposing sword into the world to counter it. They alone were responsible for recovering and protecting any sword that would fall into misuse, but Kilgorin, the sword of Evruc the Dark One, they never found. The Mithrodin made their homeland in Deylindor, and it was there the nine known swords were kept, but they later created many other grand temples and halls throughout the Great Realm with which the swords were dispersed.

Over the two hundred years that followed, the Orwenoch beasts once again became a threat to mortals, for their numbers had grown in the Underworld and they had spread to the surface. The Southern ranges of Deylund were assailed by those horrid beasts and they devoured many men and destroyed many towns. Thus the Ancients decreed that the Orwenoch must be utterly destroyed and rid from Ammon completely or there would be no peace. Thence there was another great battle fought by men and elves, and the Mithrodin came wielding the Swords of Power and other sacred blades alongside the Ancient Ones, and they used all of their might to defeat the Orwenoch. As before, many thousands of mortals perished in that battle, and two of the three remaining Ancient Ones did die at the fangs of those dark beasts, but the last surviving Ancient One, Atnal, harnessed the power of Umethar to open the gates of the Neverworld in the depths of Lokonia. When the Orwenoch retreated once again into their deep caverns they unwittingly entered the Neverworld, for Atnal had made its opening at the entrance to those caves, and the bulk of that hoard became entrapped there. The Ancient One sealed the door, and thus those abominations were at last rid from Ammon.

Unbeknownst to the Ancient One, a dark spirit had escaped from the Neverworld when that gate was opened, and it was the diminished form of the Dark One. Soon that evil soul made himself whole again and he recovered his sword, Kilgorin, from its hiding place. Thence he hid himself West, across the sea in the dark lands of Dagorlund, fearing the wrath of the Ancients should he be discovered. There he recruited a new army of evil men to do his bidding.

In the deserts to the East the Dark One came upon the hidden city of Nasnandos, and living there were many immortals possessed of strange powers; and these were the first sorcerers known to Ammon. None knew of whence they came or how they became immortal, but it was rumored that these were the lost daughters and sons of the Dark One when he was known as Evruc, and they were spawned from his union with many mortal women in the early ages of Ammon. One of these sorcerers was Methuscia, once one of the most beautiful and wisest women in all of Ammon; and she was the first to discover she possessed strange oracular sight and powers likened to those of the Ancients. She had been thought to be an abomination by mortal men and was ousted from their lands, as were others of her kind. She appealed to the Ancients for help, but they spat on her and cast her out, for they knew who had spawned her brood. Thus she attempted to change her form to that of an acolyte of the Ancients, to live amongst them, but they soon saw through her guise and a curse was put upon her by the Ancients for using this sorcery and trickery. Thenceforward she was to bear a horrid form that was deathly for men to gaze upon. Over time her wisdom turned bitter and she learned to hate all mortals and Ancient Ones, for she blamed them for her plight. The Dark One befriended this one in later days and he conjured up tales of how the Ancient Ones had abandoned her kind, creating great kingdoms elsewhere in Ammon for the favored mortals. He corrupted the minds of the sorcerers with evil thoughts until all were under his influence; and from that time they harbored a great hatred for those of mortal kind and they worshipped the Dark One, though they never knew that the Dark One was indeed Evruc, their true father and creator.

Thence, in the four hundred and second year of the Fifth Age, the Dark One assailed the Temple of the Anath in Ulaine with the help of these sorcerers, and there he did slay with Kilgorin the last of the Ancient Ones, Atnal; and the Dark One found there were no more of his kind upon Ammon, except he. In the temple he found many sacred blades, including the Nasek and the nameless dagger, later known as the Sorcerer's Dagger. Now the Dark One had great courage and feared nothing, surmising that he had no equal to oppose him in all of Ammon. With a host of men and sorcerers he journeyed West across the sea to the Eastern shores of Deylindor and landed at the Bay of Volcemis. From there his forces made a sneak attack upon the city of Ammoria to the West and it was overtaken. It was in that place that he learned of the Mithrodin and their great temples that housed the Swords of Power, and he purposed to possess them. Thus all of his dark thought was bent to that goal, even to the end of his days.

Chapter 5
Of the Exotath

It was now the four hundred and fourth year of the Fifth Age of Ammon and Evruc, the last of the Ancient Ones, now only known to mortals as The Dark One, began to ponder on a plan to wrest control of the Great Kingdoms from those mortals. He designed to rule over them and have them worship him as a god now that he was the last of the Ancient Ones to walk upon Ammon. His warrior sorcerers were but few, and though they had overtaken the capital city of Ammoria easily, they had little hope of expanding that victory to include the remaining lands of the Realm of Deylindor, let alone the Realms of Deylund and Lumenia. The Dark One had hinged his designs on Ammoria as it was known for over one hundred years as a Mithrodin stronghold, but there he had found none of the sacred Swords of the Ancients he sought. His forces had ransacked the Mithrodin temples and searched the entire city, and the Dark One himself had used his own special powers to detect the enchantments imbued in those talisman by his brethren, but to no avail. He thence tortured the Mithrodin warriors and servants he had captured, and his sorcerers searched their minds for a sign. It was discovered that many of the swords had been taken to the Realm of Deylund, for the King of Ammoria had known of the Dark Ones coming in advance and had sent them away from the city.

Soon the armies of the Kingdoms of Deylund and Lumenia would come to the aid of Deylindor and would make an assault on Ammoria to reclaim it from the Dark One. Even now he had report that Eolyth, King of the Realm of Lumenia, was assembling his armies to cross the South Ennol Mountains into Deylindor to aid in the retaking of Ammoria. The Dark One was also certain that the armies of Velethia and Visia to the South would be at his gates before long. This thought caused the Dark One no worry for he had confidence in his sorcerer's hold on the city, and his fleet of ships anchored at the Bay of Volcemis would hold off any attack from the sea. It would be at least three moons before King Eolyth's forces reached Ammoria, but he surmised that he would rapidly need to build a real army of mortal soldiers, that the army would need captains, and that those captains would need enchanted talismans to defeat the mortals who held the Swords of the Ancients in their power.

The Elven weapon smiths of Ammoria were now enslaved under the rule of the Dark One and they were among the best arms and armor makers in the Great Kingdoms. The Dark One treated them well and paid good coin for their services, for they were most prized to him. He commanded them to make special weapons of great craftsmanship and strength - swords, axes, spears, and lances - to which the Dark One attempted to use the powers given to him by the Anath and imbue them with enchantments. To this the Dark One was not the most skilled however, for his powers were more for the creation of living beings of the earth and the sea and not for control of the forces of the earth and nature. Atnal, his brother, had been the one most skilled of all the Ancients at the art of enchanting talismans, but the Dark One had destroyed him in the Battle of the Ancients in Ulaine. Thus the talismans created by the Dark One did not equal those magnificent creations of the other Ancients before him, and in most of his efforts he failed. But in one talisman the Dark One did succeed.

The most skilled weapon smith in Ammoria was the elf Firaneth, and he forged two identical swords for the Dark One, each with a blade considered by Firaneth to be the finest ever crafted in his lifetime. Those blades were of deeply fullered dark Elven iron with leather-wrapped blade grips, each edged to cut plate steel armor. The hilts were made with hook taloned iron side guards, decorated with an expertly wrought iron skull of the Yievelloch, a beast of the underground seas. The grips were hand-and-a-half, leather-skinned, and ended in long, weighted pommels. The swords were lightweight and could be wielded with ease. When these were presented to the Dark One he was very pleased and he contemplated many long days as to the power he would affect upon these weapons until he at last chose one that would suit his needs well.

For fourteen days the Dark One labored with his most powerful sorcerers over the steel of these Elven blades, enchanting each with the power to open a passage a few moments forward in time so as to foresee how events would unfold. With this he would make decisions that would best favor his battle plans, for he would be able to see his enemies' strategies in advance, and by the sword's edge he would also have the power to change them. In hand-to-hand combat an opponent would be at extreme disadvantage to the one who could see his every move beforehand. To give these enchantments the Dark One had to bequeath to the swords a part of his own essence, a part that he could not recover. The sacrifice would allow him to control his own destiny, but the Dark One did not realize how much power he had truly given these swords. When the enchantments were complete he named the swords the Exotath in the ancient language of the Anath, Thant. The word “exo“ translated as oracle and “tath“ as steel, thus the oracle of steel was born. In the runes of Thant he engraved these words: “By the Anath that which is to come is revealed to me. By Evruc, master of the Ancients, I am empowered“. The Dark One envisioned that a fierce soldier would wield the Exotath and lead his army. Thus he called for his sorceress Methuscia to use her oracular sight to divine the one he must find for this task.

The beautiful and immortal Methuscia had been cast out by her own kind as an abomination, and cursed by the Ancient Ones to bear a horrible form, deathly for men to look upon, for the Ancients knew her to be one of the brood spawned by the union of mortal Elves with the Dark One, Evruc. The Dark One had corrupted her and taught her to hate mortals, and she had served him since his escape from the Neverworld over sixty years afore. Methuscia loved and worshipped the Dark One, for he was as a father to all sorcerers, though unknown to her in truth he was indeed her real father. Her oracular sight was gleaned for him and she saw the ruthless soldier who would wield the Exotath, one who had served the Dark One in the past - Agnemmel, the black Elf.

Agnemmel, once a great Elven warrior of the Third Age, had been corrupted by the Dark One and had fought numerous wars in his service using the enchanted Avaquar to slay thousands of mortals, including his own daughter. On the day he slew that one Agnemmel became mad, abandoning his service to the Dark One and shunning all other mortals. He retreated deep into the caverns of Barkonia where his sanity left him, and though he was but a mortal, he had lived on for almost nine hundred years. His ancestry was from the ancient Elven lines, and some of those lived to be near five hundred years old, though they retained their youthful health until very late in life, however Agnemmel gained his abnormally long life from a different source. For many years he wielded the Avaquar, an enchanted blade that allowed him to drain the life from mortals, thus infusing his own body with that essence he took.

The Dark One reached out with his mind and could sense Agnemmel's powerful essence and knew he still lived, but could not sense where he made his abode. Methuscia could see in her mind where he kept himself hidden, in his dark caverns among the Yievelloch monsters of the deep, and she felt pity for his tortured soul. Even though Methuscia held distain for most mortals, there was also a kindness and beauty in her heart that did not come from her father. She offered to find Agnemmel for the Dark One, but begged him for one favor in return. Her hideous form would be deathly for Agnemmel to look upon so she asked for the curse to be lifted. This the Dark One could not do, for the combined power of the Ancients had created that curse and it was too strong an enchantment for him alone to break. Instead he had a mask crafted for her of gold that was formed to the shape of her original face, one of the most beautiful faces in all of Ammon. Only her eyes of shimmering pearl light could be seen through its glimmer. To this mask the Dark One bequeathed a charm that would hide her horrid form completely as long as she wore it, but he warned that the moment she removed it the charm would end. He commanded Methuscia to use her allure to seduce Agnemmel and make him fall in love with her so that he might be persuaded to come back into the Dark One's service. She was given two gifts to deliver to him, the Exotath broadswords. Out of her love and obedience to the Dark One she did as he beckoned and thus Methuscia made her way East to the caves of Barkonia to seek him.

Methuscia, in her mask of gold, took her personal guard of six sorcerers and two mortal rangers, who were expert guides and knew the mountains between Deylund and Lumenia well, into the Ennol Mountains of the West. The Dark One had many such mortals as these rangers in his service, for mortals were easily corrupted with coin to go against their own kind and the Dark One was rich with the treasures to pay them, reaped from his many conquests. The rangers led Methuscia swiftly through little known paths of the Ennol on horseback until they reached the foot of the mountains bordering Lumenia where the Abalard river sprung. From there they traveled by night, keeping well clear of King Eolyth's ranger companies who patrolled these borders. Once they had passed into the Tellorien Mountains her guides led her into one of the lesser-used gates that opened into the underground caverns of Barkonia, kingdom of the Dark Elves. They bypassed the great underground Elven city of Lokos and made their way deep under the mountains. From there Methuscia used her oracular sight to lead them through the winding caverns for many days, through a maze of stalactites and stalagmites until her party finally reached the entrance to the heated caverns that held the great underground sea of Tolesthia.

Tolesthia was alight with glowing moss thus no torchlight was needed, and the many hot springs warmed from the depths of Ammon made fire unnecessary. With her sight she knew Agnemmel lived on one of the many small islands that lay just off the shore, but she could not see how or when she would meet him, thus she sent two of her sorcerers across the water to spy him and tell of his state. When those two did not return she sent two more, but those also never returned. Methuscia vowed to go with her other two remaining sorcerers to meet the mad Elf herself but when she was harshly awakened from her party's rest that night to the sounds of battle she found her sorcerers had been brutally slain, their throats ripped open and bodies cast upon the points of stalagmites. Seeing this, her ranger guides fled into the caverns from whence they came, saying this was the work of the Yievelloch, horrid sea beasts of the deep. Indeed, the legends of the great warrior Agnemmel told that his guardians had been those horrid beasts from the deep. Perhaps the tales were true and those creatures still served him. Now Methuscia feared for her life, for if a mortal Elf had servants that could do this to her finest sorcerers, how could she survive to enchant him?

Her sight told her to seek him however, thus she left her gear and clothes and with only the Exotath strapped across her back she swam across the hot waters to Agnemmel's small island. Midway she felt the waters ripple as if some great being were swimming nearby. In the glow of the cavern on the water she could spy at least three of the Yievelloch nearby, but they kept well away from her as if in fear for she clouded their minds with her sorcery and thus made her way to the island unharmed. The place was a maze of rocky spires reaching high to join the towering roof of the cave, and on its sandy shore she saw rotted cloth, rusty armor, and the bones of many men and Elves - those the mad Elf had slain and eaten. With great fear she left the water and stood on the shore. There she called Agnemmel's name using an enchantment to her voice to soothe him and make him at ease.

Agnemmel was indeed mad, for his sanity had left him long ago when he had come to realize he had killed all that he once loved, thus he shunned others, for he knew he could not love or care for his own kind again. His Yievelloch servants would not leave him however, and they followed him into the depths those long years ago, though he hated and rejected them. Though old age did not seen to affect them, many had perished over the years, some by his own hand, some by disease or other more terrible predators of the depths, until but some thirty remained. Other than those serpent-like followers Agnemmel had lived these many long years in isolation brooding over his deeds, both good and evil, until his mind had once again confused the dark with the light and he lost all sense of morality. Feeding on other mortal Elves of his own kind was now no different to Agnemmel than eating a fish was to another fish, and he had honed his skills in hunting them to a fine art. Woe it was the lost explorer who happened to venture into his cavern unawares, for the report of him was now legendary among the Elven dwellers and few risked venturing into the depths past the underground Elven city of Barkonia.

Agnemmel expected the last of the company camped on the sea shore to flee after he had killed half their number, but he was mesmerized by the one whom had swam to his shore, and his cursed beasts were strangely repelled by her. He would have his way with her, feed on her flesh, and then hunt the rangers who had fled and have their blood as well. But this woman moved in such a way that distracted him from his instinctual thoughts, and she seemed to look right at him, though he was well hidden. Thence she spoke his name. Hearing her voice soothed him and brought back long dead feelings remembered from his past. He tried to resist those thoughts but they cut into him, wrenching something to the surface that he had buried deeply. When he saw the woman's naked body walk out of the water and her gold masked face he was entranced, and looking upon that fair face into her pearl eyes his long lost sense returned to him. He came out from his hiding place wielding a curved Elven blade and his muscular instinct told him to slay the woman, but he could not.

Methuscia beckoned him to come before her, which he did as if in a trance, and she told that she was his oracle, come to bring him out of the depths to the light of Ammon once again, for his life had purpose to those that remembered him and his great deeds of the Third Age. Agnemmel dropped his sword and fell down at her knees, for he could not look away from her eyes, nor could he bring himself to harm her. Methuscia took his head into her hands and wove her will into his mind, saying only those words that would go deep to his soul and unlock his conscience again, and with her charms she calmed his rage and seduced him. She made love to him on that shore, amongst the bones of his victims, and Agnemmel, great warrior Elf of Barkonia returned to the world of the sane.

Methuscia told Agnemmel that she was a great sorceress, the Oracle of Ammon, and that he was needed to lead a great army against mortal men, for they were corrupted by the Ancients and were not meant to rule or be masters of the lands, which Agnemmel well thought, for he hated mortals and had killed many thousands in his time, and he despised the Ancients for creating them. She spoke to him of the Ancient's treatment of her sorcerer brethren and how mortals also shunned them as witches and evildoers. In the midst of these talks she made love to Agnemmel over and over, in hopes to numb his will and sexually bind him to her as sorcerers were wont to do with mortals, but to an Elf of the old lines like Agnemmel this only sharpened the senses and made him more alive and aware than he had been for near five hundred years. He wanted more and more, and he took Methuscia at his will rather than hers, though she was resistant to becoming sexually bonded to him she found she wanted him more than her duty to the Dark One called her to. She could see the old soul within him, the one that had loved his long lost wife, the one that had fought for his Kingdom, the one that now felt great guilt welling up inside for the horrible deeds done in his lifetime; and Agnemmel cried in her arms, for the guilt was almost too much for him to suffer. And Methuscia suffered through it with him.

After many days with Agnemmel, Methuscia decided the time was right to pass the Exotath to him. After a long bout of lovemaking she went to the shore and retrieved the two swords in their shoulder scabbards. Telling Agnemmel that his destiny was to be intertwined with forged steel brought back dark memories to him of the evil blades of the Avaquar, his old weapon, but when Methuscia unsheathed the twin swords of the Exotath Agnemmel saw that these were blades of a different kind. He grasped the hilts of each sword, feeling the enchantments they held, and something was familiar about their essence as if they spoke to his soul within for they held a power. Power imbued by one of the Ancients, as the Avaquar had been. He hefted the swords and wielded them through long forgotten moves of his old sword fighting ways, and purpose returned to him. The feel of a strong sword in his hand was the final key to unlock the old Agnemmel. Methuscia knew that he was ready to leave Tolesthia and return with her to his new providence, thus she told they must go to the Great Realm of Deylindor, to the city of Ammoria, and there he would meet her master.

Agnemmel led Methuscia out of Barkonia to the surface of Ammon, East through the Ennol Mountains and into Deylindor. He practiced his old sword fighting ways on their journey, and with the aid of Methuscia's powers and enchantments over mortals he skillfully eliminated several ranger patrols encountered in Lumenia. During this time he began to swordfight with his left hand as well as his right and found he could wield both Exotath at once. Methuscia told him of the swords' great power over the temporal world but cautioned that Agnemmel would have to wait to master it. Though he tried many times to use the swords' enchantments, the most he could conjure was to see his opponent's moves a mere moment before they occurred.

As the journey progressed Methuscia became very close to Agnemmel and he became bound to her, hunting for their food and protecting her when danger approached. Though he often questioned her about the golden mask, Methuscia would say no more other than she had been unjustly cursed by the Ancients long ago with a malicious spell and that if the mask were ever to be removed she would be the bane of the ones she loved and cared for. She told that her master had saved her by crafting the mask to stay that evil spell. When questioned about her master, Methuscia would only say he was a foe to men, but advocate of the Elves and was once friend to Agnemmel, and needed his friendship and loyalty again.

One day out from Ammoria Agnemmel and Methuscia came upon a four-man scout party of King Eolyth's spies returning from a reconnaissance, a prelude to the King's attack. Agnemmel swiftly spilled the blood of the four men, but Methuscia, using her sight, knew there had been a fifth man nearby who had escaped. Rather than blindly search for the man, Agnemmel tried to harness the swords' powers yet again. Holding one sword in each hand he crossed the blades, letting them touch, spoke the runes and concentrated on the movements of time the talismans allowed to flow before him in his mind. He sensed the man but could not see far enough to know which way the man was fleeing. Beckoning Methuscia he made her to touch both blades in the middle and requested she look ahead with her oracular sight. Methuscia saw which path the man would take, and where he would stop to rest in the forest valley, but she also had a strange sensation that she was not only seeing this moment but that she was on the edge of touching it by the power within the Exotath. She pushed the blades apart, uncrossing the swords and found both her and Agnemmel were there, in the forest just steps away from the man. Startled, the ranger reached for his blade in its scabbard, but not before Agnemmel swung both blades of the Exotath wide and nearly beheaded the man when they came together at his neck.

Methuscia was befuddled by what had just transpired. She reasoned that the Dark One had imbued the Exotath with more power than he had known, or had not expected that her own powers could affect the swords' enchantments in such a way. Agnemmel immediately saw how powerful a weapon he had been given by Methuscia's master and he looked upon the swords with awe, asking Methuscia how far into the future she could divine. But Methuscia could not see the future, though she could prophesy paths that several futures may take to the same outcome, which is the gift of an oracle. She told Agnemmel she could foresee that he would win many battles, but she did not always see the exact paths to those battles, as they would change, but certain moments she could divine. She could see that the Dark One would have a son, but she had never told of this, and she saw the Dark One would one day have a massive army of man-like beasts, the Barumen, and he would breed the dreaded Baelin, his great war dogs. These were just moments in the winding threads of time to her, and she rarely gave up these secrets, as revealing too many oracles could change them and at times could cloud her sight.

When they reached the Firaneth River, Southwest of Ammoria, they spied an army encamped along its banks bearing the banners of the Kingdom's of Velethia and Visia. That host waited for King Eolyth's armies to arrive for a joint attack on the Dark One, and they also guarded the only way South in case the Dark One decided to move on their kingdoms. Upon reaching the city Methuscia took Agnemmel through the gates of its massive walls and into the upper levels to the palace, where the Dark One had his throne, and she reported what they had witnessed at the river. Though the Dark One's appearance had changed since the Third Age, when Agnemmel laid eyes upon Methuscia's master he recognized him at once. The face of the Dark One had become younger and more handsome in appearance, but the glow of the Ancients still radiated from him. Agnemmel became enraged, drawing his swords and saying he would never obey the commands of one as vile and soulless as the Dark One again, for the Dark One had driven him into his madness. Methuscia used her charms to calm him and the Dark One pleaded for him to listen, saying that he too, like Agnemmel, had become changed over the long years and had abandoned his quest for power and the bloodlust to kill all mortal life. He now only sought to prevent mortal Men from claiming the world of Ammon as their own, for they were stained by the Ancients to be arrogant and selfish creatures, too proud of their own kind with no respect for the other races. He feigned sympathy for Agnemmel, comparing the Elf's rebirth to his own, and the Dark One told that to prove the truth in this he had only but to feel his spirit in the swords he held in his own hands, for part of the Dark One's own essence was in them and he had been weakened in giving this gift to Agnemmel. In this way Agnemmel was made to see the Dark One's honesty, though in fact all of the Dark One's words and deeds were only made to serve himself. Though there was some doubt in Agnemmel's mind he saw that Methuscia loved this one and obeyed him, and he trusted her for he now loved her. In this way Agnemmel was drawn into the Dark One's service once again, and he accepted his post as general of the Dark One's army, a position he once held over nine hundred years afore.

The best armorers in Ammoria slaved to make Agnemmel's personal armor, forged of polished bright Elven iron plate and gold, and the lightest Elven mail hood, shirt, and leggings were fit to him. The Dark One held an enchantment over his forces so that they would hear and obey his commands by thought rather than by messenger, and he gave this power to Agnemmel as well so that he would have full authority. The Dark One's spies had reported that King Eolyth's army, near twelve thousand strong, was now traversing the Ennol Mountains, only three weeks away, and that King Elliasthol of Deylund had a fleet of thirty ships sailing the Tollard river out to sea and they would strike the Bay of Volcemis to the East of Ammoria only a week after King Eolyth's forces would strike. The war was fast approaching and Agnemmel felt his bloodlust for battle returning. He was given a hoard of gold and coin to buy men for war, but he needed skilled soldiers and there was little time to train. The Dark One had over two hundred sorcerers and over six thousand Elves in his battalions, as well as five hundred men under his command, soldiers of the former army of Ammoria. Agnemmel sent soldiers with coin to the south forests of Ammunach to buy as many able bodied men and boys as could be found to fight for him, and then he hand picked his own captains from best of the Dark Ones forces at Ammoria and began to train them in his own combat strategies, and they were made to pass these skills on to their own men.  He knew the best way to win a battle when outnumbered was to outmaneuver the opponent and to have the stronger front line, and he had always led a fierce front line that decimated and broke the opposing armies rapidly.

Agnemmel learned of the many skills the Dark One's Sorcerers possessed; some that simply influenced and swayed the weak minded to do their bidding, some that could harness the elements and make the winds blow or the skies to rain, and some more powerful that could create great heat to roast a man alive or that could move objects by thought and send killing blows to a man from great distance. He assigned one sorcerer to each unit of thirty men, but the strongest fifty of the witches he put within his front line battalions to work in combination on a special enchantment. King Eolyth's army was now out of the mountains and crossing the Torkol Plains of Deylindor, only eight days away. Agnemmel had surmised his chances of defending the city were good, but King Eolyth would be able to cut off supply lines into the city, and they would send fire over Ammoria's walls if they could not be breached. The Dark One would command his imperial battalion of four companies behind its walls, but Agnemmel would take the bulk of his forces, ten battalions of near six thousand Elves, men, and sorcerers, and attack King Eolyth before he reached the city. He sent two battalions South along the Viranef River to distract the armies of Velethia and Visia encamped there, and the bulk of his forces he led West to meet the Army of Deylund two days later in the dark of night on the Torkol Plains.

King Eolyth's army was encamped across many miles of the plains in a long line when a thick fog rolled in from the East at dusk, obscuring the moonlight. The King's advance scouts reported nothing into the night, for nothing could be seen for many miles, but Eolyth's intuition told him that this was the work of the Dark One and attack was imminent. He placed his plate mail armored heavy infantry on alert and formed a line in front of the fog to the East. In the midst of instructing his other battalions of archers and cavalry to form up behind the front line, two scouts arrived and reported companies of enemy infantry were charging from the South into the middle of his encampment, and they carried the banner of the Dark One. At once he sent command for his front lines to move South and ordered his archers to release fire tipped arrows into the approaching host of men. The battle had at last begun and King Eolyth thought this a fine trick by the Dark One, but he wielded Luciendar, the Sword of Light which reveals that which is hidden, one of the Ten Swords of the Ancients. He held it aloft and by its power and light his soldiers were made to see the enemy in the dense fog. These enemy soldiers were not skilled and were easily cut down and his reports told that none of the dreaded sorcerers were among them. The King concluded that these were men of the South, bought easily with coin by the Dark One, and that the real army would come at him from another direction. Even as this thought came to him he had report that both his Eastern and Northern flanks had come under attack.

Enemy archers and stone launchers had loosed their ammunitions from the North and a rain of thousands upon thousands of darts and stones struck the King's men in the dark before they knew to raise shields, and thus many of his own archers and infantry who were facing the other direction were gravely injured or killed. Heavy infantry, at least five battalions, came through the fog suddenly from the East while his army was regrouping, and reports of more battalions were attacking from the North. He ordered his cavalry to the East lines, for the cavalry were the strongest and fastest of his forces, but the horses had become angst-ridden and would not obey their masters. Many threw their riders and trampled them in frenzy, as if some madness had overtaken them. Even the king's own horses that drew his chariots became mad and had to be cut loose. The King's entire cavalry was lost for the Dark One's forces were fierce, spilling the blood of his infantry as they pressed their way into the plains from two fronts, crushing the army of Lumenia. Thence a great and unnatural torrent of rain stormed down on the Torkol Plains, and King Eolyth presumed this new misfortune also to be the work of sorcery.

The King knew the battle was lost, for his men could no longer see because the Dark One's sorcerers had somehow extinguished the power of Luciendar's light. The enemy knew where to move and where to strike in the dense fog and rain, but his own host was lost and blind. He sent word to all his captains calling for his army to retreat, though all that remained were three light battalions, the battalion guard that surrounded him, and fragments of the others. Even as he shouted orders he could see a forest of long spears, several companies wide, appearing out of the fog, many tipped with the heads of his own men. Behind these spearmen were a horde of bronze armored soldiers charging into his ranks, swords swinging madly, and they cut his infantry down. One Elf in silver armor seemed to lead these barbarians, cutting and hacking his way through the King's personal guard, wielding two swords, expertly placing each cut and thrust for precise kills as if he sensed his opponents exact moves before they did. Fast approaching, this mad Elf was heading straight toward King Eolyth and so the King prepared for combat with Luciendar. He could hear the enemy horde chanting ?Agnemmel, Agnemmel?, over and over as the Elf came upon his chariot, cut down his guards, and lunged at him. Though the King was an expert swordsman, this one easily dodged his blows and hewed his left leg off at the knee with one sword while punching through his chest mail with the other, and thus King Eolyth ended, for his heart had been pierced.

Agnemmel thence disemboweled and beheaded the King and he mounted his opponent's head on a pike and held it high as a trophy for his Elves to see. Blood and rain washed down all across the plains as the Elves chanted his name in victory. When the battle was over he called for his sorcerers to end the torrent and cause the fog to clear. Only some two thousand of King Eolyth's men had survived to escape in retreat, but Agnemmel had only lost close to eight hundred of his own soldiers. He sent two battalions after the retreating army. There was more than enough time to move his primary battalions back East to the Bay of Volcemis to aid the Dark One's fleet of mariners anchored there against King Elliasthol's oncoming navy. The enemy would arrive in a week's time with their thirty ships, each sure to be holding a full company of men. His two battalions sent to attack the forces of Velethia and Visia had taken heavy losses but they had driven those armies back South some way, far enough to allow Agnemmel's forces to return to Ammoria without encounter.

With the Exotath Agnemmel endeavored to see his enemies' plans in advance, once he reached Ammoria. But too late he found that King Elliasthol's mariners were not striking by sea in the Bay of Volcemis, but had taken their host from the sea into the North end of the Ammant River which flowed against the ships partway, but then branched and flowed with them South into the Volcemis. It was there they had anchored, only a few miles North of Ammoria and were now marching to the walled city for a surprise attack. The small army from the Kingdom of Nokomis, Northwest of Ammoria, had joined them. Agnemmel had planned to send the Dark One's ships far out to sea before the enemy ships arrived at Volcemis, thence command his sorcerers to combine forces and create a fierce storm on the water, thus spilling King Elliasthol's landing vessels as they brought infantry to the shore while the Dark One's ships attacked from the rear. With the new position of the enemy, these plans were now foiled and Agnemmel had to devise an alternative action immediately.

Agnemmel thus drove his forces North and rammed the Dark One's battalions at his enemy hard, but that host was well rested on their sea journey, whereas his Elves were weary and drained from battle and travel. His sorcerers created a bank of fog from the sea, but fierce winds and the light of day allowed the King's host to see their enemy clearly. The battle lasted but a day, and Agnemmel's battalions did utterly destroy the army from Nokomis and spilled the blood of over half of the King Elliasthol's infantry and cavalry, but the King fared better and he took down three of the Dark One's battalions before he removed his host back to the river for rest and reinforcement from his ships. Agnemmel thence retreated his battered battalions back behind the high walls of Ammoria.

Methuscia was there to greet him, relieved that he had returned safely, and she took him to make his report to the Dark One. The army of Deylund would return at dawn with siege engines to breach the wall, and the Dark One was not pleased, but he did not offer abandoning the city as an option. Agnemmel needed a plan quickly to destroy King Elliasthol's forces in the night, but he could find no charm in the Sorcerer's vast arsenal strong enough to aid him. At his wits end he called for Methuscia to tell him and oracle of the future of this battle, so he may get a glimpse of how to proceed if he were to be victorious. This Methuscia did, but the oracle was not a good one. She told that Ammoria would fall and the King's host would capture the Dark One, and she also told that Agnemmel would live to escape. This angered Agnemmel, for he would never retreat from defending the city or his army, even though the cause may be futile, he would fight to the death with them. He could not surmise any circumstance under which he would flee the city - other than if Methuscia had asked this of him. He begged Methuscia for another path, and there was indeed one other she had glimpsed in her mind, but it was too costly and would result in her losing Agnemmel. She would not tell this to him and would only say there were no other paths for victory, but Agnemmel did not believe this. Thence he told of his love for her and concern for her safety if the city was invaded. Agnemmel begged that she lay her hands on the Exotath and use its power to predict the strategy he needed. This she did, for she also loved him, though the path she told him of would result in doom for them both.

Methuscia gripped the crossed blades Agnemmel held before her tightly until they drew her blood. Speaking the blades runes, she used all of her power to cause time's many flows to appear before her. One of these paths she recognized and followed forward many years in the future. Farther and farther it flowed, near ten thousand years, until she at last spied the Dark One commanding an army of beasts, the Barumen she had envisioned in oracle before, and there were great beasts called Baelin there as well. All of these were stationed in Barkonia, where she had found Agnemmel, though in this future time it was now called Lokonia. The Dark One was their creator and commander, and he was very great and powerful in this time with many legions of these beasts. This was the height of his power, the absolute greatest he would ever become. Overwhelmed, Methuscia thence broke the flow of this vision and collapsed into unconsciousness.

Whence she was awakened she found Agnemmel, the fierce warrior, in tears at her side, and he asked forgiveness for demanding that she seek such a powerful oracle for him. He could not bear to see Methuscia harmed and felt guilt, but Methuscia soothed him. She told of her vision, saying that she had only to open the door to this future time and Agnemmel could command these beasts to follow and fight for him. He was a general of the Dark One and had been enchanted by him in such a way that all mortals and beasts under the Dark One's command would obey him by instinct, even ten thousand years henceforward. All Methuscia had to do was but uncross the blades of the Exotath after opening the door, and by leaving one blade in that future time and one in this, the door would remain open, thus allowing several legions of Barumen to pass through and hearken under Agnemmel's command. If they did this, she warned, it could never be revealed to the Dark One, for this action done now may spell his doom in ten thousand years time. Her oracle did not show this to be fact, but it was one of the many possible consequences she foresaw resulting from this act. She told that this must be done on this night for tomorrow there would be no time to bring the Barumen through the door before the army of Deylund would attack. Though time was short, she made love to Agnemmel, for tonight he would go into battle again, and her oracle told that their time together would be short.

Thence Agnemmel and Methuscia cloaked themselves as commoners and left Ammoria through one of its smaller gates, and they made their way to the hills North of the Bay of Volcemis where they would be hidden from view of the King's ships. Though two scouts spotted them as they crossed the lowland before the hills, Agnemmel had seen them in advance by the Exotath's foresight, and he dispatched them before they could flee to sound the alarm. Once in the hills Agnemmel again summoned the Exotath's power and Methuscia envisioned the oracle and parting the blades the doorway was opened for Agnemmel. He saw the future through this portal, it's edges shimmering in the moonlight, and glimpsed the familiar caverns of Barkonia. He kissed Methuscia, took one of the Exotath, and stepped through into his ancient home, though it was very different now. He passed numerous guard posts into vast caverns that held many thousands of these beasts, bred of men, wolf, and ape by the Dark One. They were fierce creatures, larger and stronger than men, and they could see in the dark. He also saw the great corrals of the Baelin, great dragon-like beasts unlike any animal he had seen in Ammon, even greater than his own Yievelloch.  These were fanged creatures with black fur, bony armor and spines like a reptile. Some of these were being fixed with plate mail armor to protect their front sections and some were being mounted with saddle and harness for riding, apparently in preparation for war.

Agnemmel sought out the captains of these legions and told them he was general to the Dark One, commanded to lead the attack, and what passage they would take to meet him. He asked that the strongest from the front lines go first into battle, and was told that his Legion of Barumen axe men would be at the ready by the Dark Elven captains. Thus Agnemmel took an entire Legion of these armored Barumen axe men and four more legions of four companies each of Barumen heavy infantry, with each company having a horrid Baelin to escort them into battle. He led them through the temporal doorway into his own time, where his golden masked oracle waited holding the second Exotath to keep the doorway open. This task took many hours, for only one unit at a time could pass through the opening. By the time his entire army of three thousand Barumen and twenty Baelin had passed through and were regrouped by the Elven captains, the enemy on the beach had already been alerted and were preparing for war.

King Elliasthol's troops were camped on the beaches of the Ammant River, stretching for over a mile. His great fleet was anchored well off shore, but likely within distance of Agnemmel's Barumen archers who carried much larger bows than man or Elf could wield. Agnemmel summoned a vision from the Exotath to observed the opening moments of the coming battle and thus ordered his Barumen captains into prime positions, sending his front line axe men and Baelin head-on into the middle of the camp while the bulk of his infantry would surround the beach on either side. His troops had the advantage of sight in the dark, though they did not have the advantage of surprise. Whence the King sent his cavalry charging up the beachhead, Agnemmel's front line was already well in position. The Baelin struck first, crashing into the King's cavalry and tearing his horses asunder. The Barumen axe men followed, hacking the riders down with their great strength. These beasts were such brutal warriors that scores of the enemy were disemboweled by but single blows from their great battle and war axes and many men had throats torn open by their fanged jaws. The sight of the Barumen caused numerous soldiers to flee in fear, abandoning their charge and hastily boarding
landing vessels for escape to their ships. Before long the beach force was crushed and Agnemmel's Barumen archers moved in to launch a flight of flaming bolts at the sea vessels, as most were within range. King Elliasthol's mariners hastily retreated his burning ships upriver, his army utterly destroyed and beaten. Agnemmel looked over this victory with great satisfaction and glee at watching his enemy flee while the Baelin feasted on the beach strewn with their torn corpses.

Whence the ships were gone Agnemmel remained on the beach in thought while the Barumen stripped the dead of weapons and possessions. Their Elven captains came to him requesting orders. Thence he sought out Methuscia, saying that if they returned this army of beasts back to their own time they may not ever be able to call on their aid again if the Dark One from the future forbade it, but an army this fierce if kept here would guarantee victory for them over the Realms of Deylund and Lumenia, for the Barumen were the most effective and ferocious fighting force he had ever seen. Methuscia disagreed and begged him to return them, for she saw this path in her oracle and it would lead to Agnemmel's doom. Though he loved Methuscia, Agnemmel was a warrior at heart and he would not concede to this, even though it brought him scorn. The need for victory was too great in him and thus he marched his new army to the gates of Ammoria.

The Dark One was perplexed at this strange army of beasts stationed at his gates, but when Agnemmel had explained how they had come to be he was intrigued that his own creation, the Exotath, had been so powerful. Agnemmel lied and told that he could open doors in time with the Exotath but could not control them or whence they would open, thus he could not return the Barumen and Baelin to the time whence they came, and when he explained the manner in which he opened the door he left out Methuscia's part in it. Bemused at this, the Dark One did not entirely believe Agnemmel, but a prize such as this army he would not return. The opportunity to crush his enemies was before him and he would now take it. He thus commanded Agnemmel to prepare the Barumen for war upon Deylund. He proposed to lead his fleet of twenty-six ships carrying six battalions North through the Frozen Seas and down the Bellard River to lay siege upon the city of Deylund itself, capital of the Realm of Deylund. Simultaneously he designed for Agnemmel to lead four battalions through the North Ennol Mountains into Deylund's East territories to take control of the smaller towns and villages. Together they would crush King Elliasthol's armies before he could rebuild them. Once the Deylund capital itself was taken they would lay siege to the smaller kingdoms of Fastel, Castel, and Elund that also resided in the Realm of Deylund. Agnemmel balked at this plan, for he knew he was the better military strategist and said so, and he requested to lead the primary attacking force on the capital himself, but the Dark One would not relent. Agnemmel fumed at this, but he obeyed his commander.

Thus Agnemmel organized his near three thousand Barumen and the eighteen hundred Elves and one hundred and eighty sorcerers of the Dark One's battalions into combined fighting units, eight battalions strong. He trained them for forty days, teaching and honing them into a fighting force that was far superior to any that had ever marched upon Ammon's soil. During this time no enemy army laid siege on Ammoria, for word of the battle at Volcemis had spread throughout Deylindor and the other kingdoms feared this new army of the Dark One. Methuscia lay with Agnemmel each night during this time for she would go with her master to march on Deylund and would be away from Agnemmel for near seven weeks. The Dark One had strangely secluded himself from her and she wondered if she had offended him in some way. One day before the armies were to depart the Dark One called for her.

Methuscia appeared before his throne and he straightway made it clear that he was displeased with her, for he said he knew whose power it was opened the portal and let the Barumen come through. Agnemmel did not have the means to conduct such an accomplishment - one that rivaled the enchantments of the Ancient Ones, the Dark One's own brothers - but a being spawned from the Ancients could accomplish such an act. In this way he let it be known to Methuscia that he was the Ancient One Evruc, creator of the immortal sorcerers of her kind, and that he was her own father. Methuscia was stunned and joyous of this extraordinary revelation. She vowed never to lie to the Dark One again and pledged her devotion as servant and obedient daughter to him. This the Dark One accepted, and he praised her service in recruiting Agnemmel, but he commanded that she never again open the time door with the Exotath unless he so commanded it, for disobedience in this would be punished by death, no matter that he loved his daughter. To do this was to undermine his plans. Methuscia agreed to heed his wishes and begged his forgiveness saying that she only did it out of love for Agnemmel, and this revelation explained much to the Dark One for it showed him that Methuscia had become weak, something that would need to be dealt with in time.

Agnemmel took his golden-masked Methuscia to Volcemis himself, riding on the back of his saddled Baelin steed. There he would see her and the ships depart. Before he said goodbye he kissed the cold lips of her mask and whispered for her to remove it just once for him to see her true face. Methuscia put her hands slowly to her face then recoiled from him and said this could never be done. Agnemmel was incensed by her reaction but she made him promise never to ask it of her again. To this Agnemmel agreed, and submitted that looking into her beautiful pearl eyes would be sufficient enough. He bade her farewell until they saw each other again in Deylund and watched the ships sail North. Thence Agnemmel joined his waiting forces at Ammoria and he began the long march West.

The Dark One's mariners sailed up along the coast of the Realm of Deylindor into the dread Frozen Sea, within the only three-moon stretch of the year when the trek was not hindered by ice flows. The trip was hard on the Elves and men, but the Barumen were not affected by the cold. When they neared the straight between Deylindor and Ulioc the Dark One was given word that three ships bearing the banners of King Elliasthol's navy were spotted anchored off the coast. Amused, the Dark One assailed them with his Barumen and they were overtaken easily. These were the remnants of the King Elliasthol's attack force that had retreated from Volcemis. Having run out of supplies and with fire damage to their ships they could not go on, but the King's own ship continued on to Deylund without them. The Dark One slaughtered them, burned their ships and continued his voyage.

At the mouth of the Bellard River the Dark One turned South into its wide channel. Though the current flowed against his ships, his sorcerers caused the wind to fill his sails and pushed them up river until they reached the end of the Bellard, East of the Deylund capitol city. This was an unexpected direction of attack, for no fleet of ships had ever sailed up the Bellard before, thus the Dark One presumed he had the advantage. He assembled his forces on the shore and sent his first two battalions West through the hills that met the cities rear wall while he led two battalions for an attack on the front gates of the city's West wall that was cosseted by the river Tollard. His other two battalions waited South in reserve. One mile from the river his scouts reported the King's forces were already assembling on the plain in front of the city wall for they now knew the enemy was approaching.

The Dark One withdrew his enchanted sword, Kilgorin, from the scabbard on his back and he held it to the sky, closed his eyes and summoned its baleful power. The sky grew dark then and a shadow veiled the King's army. In their minds they were made to doubt the enemy and fear overtook most, for this was the sword of darkness, the most evil of the Swords of the Ancients, and it could influence the weak-minded to the will of the Dark One. Its clawed hilt was carved with serpents, a three-pupiled eye was at its center, and the pommel was wrought in the likeness of a horrid face, said to be that of the Dark One himself in ancient times. Though it was made for good by the Ancient Ones in the beginning, many years of use by the Dark One now caused Kilgorin to be possessed of a great evil. His spell cast, the Dark One thence launched his attack straightway and the battle was horrendous. The Barumen axe men hacked and slashed and the sorcerers used their magic. Most of the King's forces were destroyed on the battle plain within the first hour and the Dark One captured both of the main bridges that spanned the Tollard to the city gates. He brought a gigantic battering ram driven by six Baelin over the bridge to the main gate and drove it through the great wood and iron doors, breaching the outer wall. His forces stormed into the city and soon the second wall gate was brought down, thence that grand city of men fell.

King Elliasthol had no choice but to surrender, for the Barumen axe men would have spilled the blood of every life in Deylund city had he not. He made a desperate plea to the Dark One to spare his people if they would surrender to him without resistance. This the Dark One agreed to, but on one condition: that the Swords of the Ancients the Mithrodin protectors kept within the city be turned over to him, for this was the real reason the Dark One had assailed Deylund. At this the king feigned ignorance thus enraging the Dark One. In his fury he put the king to death with his sword, Kilgorin, in front of his royal family and high-ranking dignitaries of the city. He informed them of his knowledge that these talismans were indeed within the city for his sorcerers had learned of them from Mithrodin clerics captured and tortured in Ammoria. He called for a special sorcerer from his ranks, Nerothos, one who had great skill in reading the minds of mortals. He commanded Nerothos to examine the thoughts of each member of the royal family. But this sorcery caused great damage to the minds of mortals, as such that they were made dumb with madness, and blood would flow from their eyes, nose, and ears. Many a mortal had perished under the examination of this sorcerer.

Nerothos had searched the minds of six members of the King's family to no avail, causing two to perish, when he came to the King's third daughter, Enethia. Seeing the bleeding faces of her kin she pleaded for him to stop and thence told where the Swords of the Ancients were held, within a false wall of one of the inner chambers of the royal keep. The Dark One sent his Barumen and captains there to retrieve the swords but they found the Mithrodin had already removed the blades from the city through an underground passage. Enraged, the Dark One tortured and killed the remaining royal family, but Enethia he saved for last saying that if she knew where the swords were being taken he would spare her life. She told the swords would be taken to the coastal Kingdom of Castel, for the Elven King Menolessar harbored many Mithrodin, protectors of the sacred Swords of Power, and they held a temple there. Thus the Dark One sent scouts and hunters to scour the lands around the capitol city to find these Mithrodin before they escaped to reach the Elven city with the swords. He kept his promise and did not slay Enethia, but he commanded that all of the surviving soldiers and men of the city be slain. Enethia was forced to watch this horror before she was set free. There were small factions of Dark Elves found living within the city whom the Dark One also had slain. All of the dead were hung on the outer city walls, as sign to all who would oppose the Dark One. The women and children he enslaved and told that he was the ruler of Ammon, come to take his kingdoms back from mortals; and he made them to worship him as their god.

Agnemmel had traversed the North Ennol Mountains into the Realm of Deylund and had captured twelve towns in his trek West. His forces now controlled the territories from the North Ennol Mountains to the River Elard, and he had great anticipation to tell his master of their success. Whence his army reached the capitol city of Deylund, two days after the Dark One had captured it, he saw the many thousands of corpses hanging from its walls, a sight that rivaled some of the deeds Agnemmel himself had done in his dark past; but among these corpses of men Agnemmel also saw there were many Dark Elves and he was angered that the Dark One had slain those of his kith and kin. He sought for his master but found the Dark One was no longer within the city walls. The sorcerer captains of the forces that remained to hold the city told that he had marched North to lay siege on Castel, an Elven city. When Agnemmel asked why the Dark One would lay siege on a neutral Elven city he was told that the Dark One required the enchanted swords of power that were kept there, hidden by the Mithrodin. Agnemmel did not give a care for the Mithrodin or their enchanted swords, and growing more infuriated he asked why Dark Elves had been slain and hung from the walls of this city. The Dark One's captains, now fearing the wrath of Agnemmel had no answer other than the Dark One commanded it. This Agnemmel thought a lie, and he surmised the captains had done this of their own accord. Though those sorcerers tried in vain to use their enchantments on Agnemmel, he withstood, calling on his Barumen to aid for they had great resistance to magic. Amassing together and surrounding the enemy the Barumen quickly waylaid them, ripping their limbs off and spilling their bowels. Baffled and incensed that his master was now preparing to attack a city of his own kin, Agnemmel called for his forces to regroup and march North to Castel. He hoped to find his master and gain answer for these deeds, and he also longed to see his beloved Methuscia.

Castel was five days' march North and on the second day Agnemmel's Barumen scouts captured a young girl bearing a sword, also heading North on horseback, and she was brought before him in chains. Agnemmel asked why they troubled him with this waif, who could only have been but fifteen or sixteen years of age, and he was told she bore the tattoo of King Elliasthol's family, and that she had also slain three Barumen when they attempted to capture her. Intrigued, Agnemmel questioned the young girl and she told that she was King Elliasthol's daughter, Enethia. From her, Agnemmel learned of the Dark One's deeds in the capitol and the slaughter of the men and Dark Elves of that city by his command. She told of being granted freedom by the Dark One after revealing that the Swords of the Ancients had been in the city and thence being made to watch all of her people slain. This disturbed Agnemmel deeply. He examined her sword, which appeared to be of Mithrodin design, and asked how a king's daughter had learned to fight in such a manner. Enethia feigned ignorance so Agnemmel put her own sword to her throat and made as if to cut, whence she broke into tears and begged mercy. Thus she told that she was in fact a Mithrodin cleric and that she should have accepted death before breaking her oath to protect the Swords of the Ancients by giving aid to the Dark One, but she was weak and feared for her life. In shame she decided to follow the Dark One and attempt to right her wrongs, though she knew it would certainly mean her demise. Thus she asked Agnemmel to kill her and he moved to grant her that request, but his heart stayed him a moment and he removed the blade from her throat.

He asked if Enethia knew the Kingdom of Castel well, and she indeed knew the city for part of her training as a Mithrodin had been there in the temple. Agnemmel also knew the city, but he was certain much had changed in the nine hundred years since he had last seen it, for it was no kingdom then. Thus he told that if Enethia would be a guide for him and tell of the layout of the city, he would spare her, but if she betrayed him or tried trickery he would make her suffer greatly before he ended her life. Her sword he returned and she was given a steed to ride with his company, though two Barumen guards were always by her side to be sure she would not flee. For three more days they traveled to Castel on the main road until Agnemmel's scouts gave him word that the city, now only five miles away, had been conquered by the Dark One. He had taken many losses, but the Elven King Menolessar had been slain and his army crushed. Indeed, in the sky high above the trees Agnemmel could see smoke billowing in the distance.

Leaving his army, Agnemmel rode ahead to Castel with a unit of his Barumen. On the plains surrounding the city he beheld thousands of scattered corpses of Elves, men, Barumen. Even the carcasses of the great Baelin lay dead. At the torn gate there were sorcerer guards and the Dark One's Barumen. Agnemmel demanded of them to be taken to the Dark One. As he was escorted to his master he saw the black stone walls of the city had been breached and many of the wood buildings within were burning as the Dark One's Barumen and sorcerers attempted to quench the fires. The Dark One must have suffered heavy losses for the city was littered with dead Barumen. These Elves had fought fiercely and Agnemmel wished he had witnessed the battle, but he also grieved for he saw no sense in this. These Elves should have been made allies to the Dark One. He was brought to a large courtyard, a makeshift command center, and the Dark One came out of his tent to greet him. His two top sorcerers, Nerothos and Valegil, were at his side.

He asked for Agnemmel's report, and Agnemmel told of his conquests on the East plains of Deylund, all for the glory of his master, and the Dark One sensed the bitterness in his voice. He asked Agnemmel what troubled him, and Agnemmel thence looked into the gray and black eyes of the Dark One and asked, if his goal truly was to rid Ammon of men as he had claimed, and that if he no longer sought glory or treasures of the Ancients as he had done in the past, why then had he taken Castel and slaughtered Elves? Was all this done to possess the Swords of the Ancients? To this the Dark One was silent. He thence walked to his weapon chest, guarded by Barumen axe men, where he drew from its scabbard Valermos, the sword of fire, one of the rewards he found in Castel. In that chest lay three more of the Ten Swords of Power - Luciendar, Cinthorc, and Molotoch. He smiled at Agnemmel as he caressed the black blade, causing it to burst into flame. He told Agnemmel that he could not let the Swords of Power remain in the hands of any Elf or man, for they were too powerful for mere mortals to wield and could be used against him. This was his primary concern, above all else, and if either Elf or man stood in his way they would surely die. He told that Agnemmel himself should agree to this reasoning since he carried two swords of immense power himself, the Exotath.

Agnemmel balked and said he thought the swords would be of little concern if the Dark One would but take them by ship far onto the ocean and give them to the depths, but the Dark One did not agree and it was plain that he made to have them all. It became clear to Agnemmel now that the Dark One lusted after the Swords of the Ancients above all other concerns, these talismans made enchanted by the supreme powers of his thirteen brothers of whom he was jealous when they yet lived. The Dark One thence commanded Agnemmel to bring his army into Castel to relieve his own battered battalions. He designed for them to secure the surrounding lands of the kingdom while the wounded rested and healed, thence they would march South to assail the Kingdom of Elund. Agnemmel agreed to do as commanded, but he asked to see Methuscia first.

Agnemmel was taken to her tent and she was overjoyed to see him. They embraced long and hard, and she said she had good news to tell him, but Agnemmel spoke first of his meeting with the Dark One. Methuscia became saddened by his mood when he told of his displeasure at the Dark One's move on Castel. She sided with the Dark One with regards to the Swords of the Ancients, which angered Agnemmel, but she tried to soothe him saying he should try to sway the Dark One to a course that would not go against the Elves. But Agnemmel knew there was no changing the Dark One. Methuscia did not recognize this of her master. The Dark One had some hold on Methuscia and she was blinded by it, but Agnemmel knew she loved him more than her master, thus he whispered in her ear his designs. He would indeed bring his army to Castel, as commanded, but not to hand over to the Dark One. He would take the city and wrest control of it from the Dark One. Methuscia was shocked at this and begged him not to take this course, but Agnemmel said it must be done, though he vowed not harm the Dark One if it were possible. Methuscia made it plain that the sorcerers in Agnemmel's charge would not go up against the Dark One for he was their master. To Agnemmel it was no matter, for his own Barumen would obey. They were bonded to him and simple sorcery would have little effect on them even were his own sorcerers to turn on him. He asked Methuscia if she would side with him or against, for he needed to know if his love for her was in vain, and she told that she would go where he led. Thus, he informed her of a place below the Mithrodin temple in the center of the city where she may hide when the battle was begun, revealed to him by King Elliasthol's daughter, Enethia. He promised that would come for Methuscia after the battle was over.

Agnemmel's unit departed the city in haste, riding hard South to his meet his legions. He ordered his sorcerers to stay behind and guard the road, and they questioned this, but obeyed his wishes. He thence had his personal armor mounted to his body and commanded his Barumen to go to Castel as reinforcement for the Dark One's battered legions. Once underway he issued the real orders and battle plans to his captains and began the march on Castel. Two battalions would invade the main gate at his lead, one would strike through the South wall breach, and one would follow behind him to reinforce. Agnemmel summoned a vision from the Exotath of the coming battle, but strangely he could not see any glimpse of what was to come. He expected to attack with complete surprise, for his forces would not engage until they had entered the city, but when he was within sight of the black stone walls of Castel he spied the Dark One's forces, at least two battalions strong, were in formation on the battle plain before it. Had he been betrayed or had the Dark One known of Agnemmel's thoughts through sorcery? It mattered not now for the sword of battle had been drawn and could not be re-sheathed. Thus he issued his battle orders straightway and donned his horned war helm.

Agnemmel ordered his archers' darts loosed at the Dark One's army, and his master did the same in return. The flight of Agnemmel's darts, however, did not reach his enemy, but were blocked and diverted by some spell. The Dark One's darts rained down hard upon Agnemmel's forces. Agnemmel thence sent his sixteen Baelin forth and they broke a line through to the main bridge and across it into the city, whereupon Agnemmel followed with his cavalry. Once within the walls and into the main court, Agnemmel was shocked to see the dead Barumen corpses of the Dark One's army coming back to life by some foul magic. Indeed, this was the work of the sorcerer Othentoth, who could re-animate the dead while their corpses were still fresh. Agnemmel's forces cut them down easily, and realizing too late this was but a diversion, Agnemmel witnessed the Dark One's main guard of Barumen charge in from his left and right flanks. Barumen fought Barumen, and though Agnemmel knew he had superior strength in numbers, he recognized that the Dark One's soldiers were gaining the advantage, and Agnemmel knew this to be caused by Kilgorin's influence. He could feel the sense of doom the sword imbued over the Dark One's enemies, though it had little effect on Agnemmel. He spied the Dark One's sorcerers were among the Dark One's Barumen infantry, and one was sending cones of fire at his Baelin, burning them black to ash. At this, Agnemmel dismounted his horse, drew his Exotath in each hand, and charged into the foray.

By the swords' power, Agnemmel hacked and hewed his enemies down, matching and countering their moves with killing blows by his ability to see their actions before they made them. He cut his way to Othentoth just as the sorcerer was raising his palms to conjure a blast of fire and heat upon his axe men, and Agnemmel hewed off both of his hands with one sword and split the sorcerer's helm and head down the middle with the other. In the same instant the Exotath showed him another nearby sorcerer who would subdue him with an enchantment of fatigue. Agnemmel leapt at that one and thrust both swords into the face hole of his helm and ripped his skull in half. In the next instant he saw two enemy Barumen would come at his backside, so directly he crouched low and spun around, cutting through both their armor and legs with one sword and opening their bellies with the other. Still, he saw a third Barumen would swing an axe into his backside, but Agnemmel swung one Exotath to his rear, before looking back at his enemy, hacking the sword's tip through the mail and into the flesh below the beasts shoulder as it wound back to swing its great axe, and as he turned to face the beast the second sword he buried deep from neck into its torso.

The battle went on for some time like this for Agnemmel, with not a single enemy blow penetrating his armor, though he had slain over two hundred of the enemy and wounded many hundreds more. His speed and agility were increased well beyond his ability, and Agnemmel marveled at this, for he could not be touched in battle. He surmised the reason for this was the nearness of the Dark One, for the Exotath seemed to be drawing his master's power and bestowing it upon him. A part of the Dark One was given to these swords for their enchantments, and those enchantments were of many different kinds as Agnemmel was now learning.

One of Agnemmel's messengers made way to him on horseback and reported that the battle at the South wall had been lost, but the Barumen armies had destroyed each other. Only the Dark One's sorcerers remained there. He also reported that Agnemmel's reinforcements left on the battle plain outside the city had been assailed by sorcerers. These were Agnemmel's own sorcerers, whom he had left in the Deylund capitol, but they had disobeyed his orders and followed him to Castel. Agnemmel issued orders to the messenger to tell his captains to converge all forces to the main court where most of the Dark One's Barumen infantry were gat