Scherza DelCapo had never felt more alone in her life.

At least that’s what she told herself as she wandered through the Ath’Karan forest, searching for some sign of what was once the great city of Kith’tarka. There was no sound in the forest for some reason. None at all. Even Scherza, being a minstrel, knew that there should at least be birds in the forest.

She sighed, thinking about what she had been told about the destroyed Elven city. The minstrel knew that it was her calling to find out everything she could about the ancient city of Kith’tarka. Ever since she had been a child, she had grown up listening to stories told by her parents about the splendors of the city.

According to Liliana, the city had once been a glorious high Elven city, with beautifully crafted tree dwellings, all bound together with powerful Elven enchantments. The Lord and Lady of the city had dwelled in the tallest and oldest tree in the city, the Kith’tarkan Spire, which had been rumored to have been there as far back as the first rulers. The Elves of this city had been prosperous and happy, and other Elven cities were said to have been patterned after Kith’tarka.

That was until the dragon had come and destroyed the whole thing. A lifetime in the making, and a day to destroy. That was the way of life, and it had happened to the Elves of Kith’tarka. Scherza had been told of Liliana and Rillanos’ brilliant escape, the invocation of the magical portal that had whisked them both away to the outskirts of Shonika. They had somehow known that Kariana would make it out alive. Kariana was Scherza’s true sister, now presumed to be in hiding, as her whereabouts were unknown.

Scherza, of course, was not taking the name Steeleaf on purpose, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She had taken the name DelCapo, in honor of her acceptance into Killyra Dellane Capistranos’ tutorship in the arts of barding. She was now living up to her title as loremaster of her bardic group and going to seek out the ruins of Kith’tarka.

As she approached the center of the forest, where she had been told that the city had been built, she heard a strange noise, as if someone was running a massive sword along a grindstone. She paused and quickly climbed a near tree to get a better vantage point. Looking in the direction of the noise, the only thing she could immediately see was a small plume of gray-colored smoke rising from a copse of trees. Her first thought was a forest fire as she got down from the tree and crept towards the smoke. Her second thought, upon seeing the massive red tail that was curled around the trunk of a tree, however, was the better of the two.

A great red wyrm slept in the copse of trees. This dragon was a very old dragon, and had no quarrel with sleeping out in the open like he was. Relying on his senses to tell him when danger was near, he had decided to rest near the site of the once grand city of Kith’tarka. The wyrm slept as Scherza crept closer.

Scherza had never actually seen a dragon before. She had heard of them and had heard of the one who had destroyed Kith’tarka, and she was curious whether this was the same dragon. Relying on her stealth, she crept up to the dragon. Suddenly, she stepped on a branch, which snapped with a loud crack. The bard froze, watching the dragon as it’s eyes opened and glared directly at her. She thought about Killyra’s warnings about going deep into the Ath’Karan forest and wished that she would have listened.

The great wyrm had opened his eyes at the sound to see an elf standing before him. An elf, in the Ath’Karan forest. He hadn’t known that elves still lived here, but on second thought, this elf probably didn’t. She appeared to be dressed in the garb of one who enjoyed city living and she carried a harp on her belt and a lute on her back. She appeared to be either a scholar or a bard, neither of which had any business wandering about in the forest by themselves. Curious, he inquired into her motives.

“For what reason do you disturb my nap, elf?” he rumbled, swinging his massive head so that he was looking directly at the bard who stood before him. The elf blinked and her mouth opened and shut, like a fish gasping for air. He cocked his head and studied the elf. “Well? Speak up, then.” he prodded her.

“You’re. . .you’re not going to eat me?” Scherza squeaked, reaching for her pouch, hoping she could remember her invisibility spell. The great red wyrm laughed, the sound of a mountain crumbling into dust.

“Eat you? Why, I won’t eat you.” he said, the great tail knocking down a few trees with merriment. “I don’t know what you think of a red dragon, but not all of us eat anyone who happens to come by.” he told her, “Oh, and don’t worry about casting any spells, I’m immune to most of them.” he said offhandedly, watching as the elf quickly stopped trying to get to her spell components.

“Will you let me pass then?” Scherza asked quickly, hoping to avoid having to talk to the dragon.

“Oh, no. I don’t see many elves in this forest, and I’d like to know why I find you wandering around in it.” he told her, “This is a very dangerous forest, you know.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Scherza said, “I’m just here to investigate the wreckage of Kith’tarka. It was an Elven city in this forest. . .” The dragon cut her off with a wave of a great paw.

“I could tell you that story.” he said, “I knew the one who destroyed the city.” the wyrm stated, giving her the dragon’s best attempt at a grin. Scherza looked intrigued, so he decided to explain himself further.

“You seem to be a bard, correct?” he asked. The elf nodded quickly. “ Well, don’t bards tell tales of great battles and such?” she nodded again and the dragon laughed again. “So, why don’t you sit here and record my tale of the great wizard who destroyed the city and the battle following?”

Scherza thought about the lore that she had heard of the battle of that time. She had always had a suspicion that the facts were all wrong, an elf battling an ancient dragon and a powerful wizard seemed a bit overmuch to her. Thinking of the worth of getting a first hand view of the tale, she quickly took out a magical stone that her mentor had given to her. This stone, when the magic word was said, would store in it tales upon tales, to be released later at the loremasters’ whim. She set it on the ground.

“Great wyrm, I am but a humble loremaster’s apprentice, but I would do my best to bring this tale to light with the right facts if you would but tell them to me.” Scherza said, looking up to the dragon with a newfound respect. “Shirrack.” she said to the stone, which began to glow with a bluish light. The dragon’s eyes sparkled at the display of magic.

“Of course, I would be much impressed if you could get the tale in completion to your master.” he said, settling into a comfortable position. “Now, let’s see, the dragon of which you speak, Crimsionarperadnicles Hai Draco, Crimson to you fair folk, got into trouble when he came back to his lair one night after hunting. . .”

****

The dragon had been tired after his hunt and wanted nothing more to go back to his cave and count his treasure hoard until he fell asleep. Unfortunately, he knew that was not going to happen when he saw the wizard sitting on top of one of his treasure chests. Severely angered by this trespassing, he landed in front of the wizard, ready to smite him if he did not have a good reason to be here.

“Wizard! What reason do you have for invading my cave?” Crimson bellowed, ready to bite his head off if he didn’t like the answer he got. The wizard calmly stared back at him and hefted a golden scepter that had been laying in the treasure piles.

“I wish to destroy an Elven city near here. You will help me do that.” the wizard told Crimson calmly, watching the dragon grow angered with him. The wyrm sniffed and glared at the wizard.

“I have a treaty with G’Dyra.” the dragon growled. G’Dyra was the alliance of good dragons that had formed after the Great Dragon War to form treaties with the dragons that would prevent a mass scale dragon war ever again. “I will not harm the fair folk of the Ath’Karan forest, such states my promise, in return, I do not have to retreat to the caverns under the land.” he said, glaring at the wizard. “Begone from here, wizard, before I decide to have a late snack.” he menaced, showing off his sharp teeth. The wizard calmly stared back.

“I had a feeling you’d say that, therefore, I have enchanted your entire treasure with a very powerful disintegration spell. One command from me, and the entire thing is gone.” the wizard explained, tossing the scepter up in the air and catching it again. Crimson looked at the wizard in disbelief.

“You are lying, foul wizard.” the great beast growled, although he was frightened that the wizard was telling the truth. “You do not have the power to do that.”

“Oh, I don’t?” the wizard said, pointing at a small pile of gold. “Kinthar qualck.” he said, looking at the pile. A thin green ray appeared, touching the pile. The pile vanished, leaving only a fine dust. Crimson was immediately cowed by the magic that had caused his gold to disappear, realizing that he had stumbled upon a very powerful wizard. The wizard smiled. “Now, you will assist me.” he commanded. Crimson nodded, glaring malevolently at the wizard.

“Now you may rest. I will have need of you tomorrow morning.” the wizard told Crimson.

The next morning, Crimson flew out from his lair towards the city of Kith’tarka. Almost hoping that a Gold Wyrm of the G’Dyra would appear to stop him, he lazily made a large circle about the pristine city. It would be a shame to destroy the fabled city of Kith’tarka, he knew that it was a place of great beauty and magic. With his treasure hoard hanging in the balance, however, he could not afford to delay. Swooping down, he used his powerful breath weapon to set the trees around the village on fire. He watched as elves ran in terror from his great might and instantly felt sorry for the pain he was causing them. He wanted to make this be over quick, thus, he aimed for the tallest tree in the village, knowing the destruction of that would cause the entire village to set afire. Soon, the village was a great funeral pyre, it’s flames reaching high up into the sky. Crimson turned around then and went back to his mountain peak where the wizard was waiting.

“Good show, now you must circle around high up in the air and notify me if you see any that have escaped the flames. Glaring at the wizard, he rose up into the air and began to circle the mountain top.

*****

“It amazes me how you know all of this about another dragon.” Scherza commented, listening attentively. This story was quite intriguing. “Tell me, were you two friends? I did not realize that red wyrms liked each other’s company.”

“There is much you do not know about dragons, fair elf.” the wyrm answered. “I know this like it had happened to me, such as I knew what Crimson went through.”

“Please, continue then.” Scherza prompted, “I wish to hear the end of this tale.”

“As you wish.” he answered. “Now Crimson ended up under the wizard’s spell for more than just that task as the evil wizard wanted to make sure that there were no survivors. . .”

*****

As he did every morning, Crimson left the peak to go hunt for food. He did not notice the travelers at the base of his mountain, but Ta’kar did.

“We have visitors coming.” Ta’kar told the dragon after he had returned. The wizard had not yet released the dragon from his spell, which angered the dragon immensely. He glared at the wizard and kept silent.

“I should have you dispose of them, but I shall wait until their intentions are made clearer to me.” Ta’kar commented. Crimson was silent. He was trying to devise a way to destroy the wizard without losing his treasure. Fortunately, Ta’kar did not know that. “You may rest now, dragon, when I have need of you I will call.” Crimson, growling deep in his throat at the wizard, crept back into his cave and started examining his treasure hoard for any signs of damage. The dragon, though, motivated by the destruction of his treasure, could not think of a way to dispose of the wizard. His only hope seemed to be if the adventurers of which the wizard spoke were coming to slay the wizard.

Within a week of this same thing, just as the dragon was starting to get annoyed enough with the wizard to attack him, regardless of what would happen to his treasure, the wizard visited Crimson in a great fit of anger, bellowing about the elf that was coming up the mountain. It seemed that this elf was the very same that the wizard had set the forest on fire to destroy. Crimson watched as the wizard glared into his scrying pool and then fell silent. At this point, Crimson knew that unless he could get rid of the wizard soon, he would end up once again killing more fair folk of Akura.

Crimson had been summoned later that night by the wizard, and he had been surprised to see that the wizard was being confronted by a small party of six, one of which was an elf. As he watched, the apparent leader of the party spoke to the wizard and suddenly Crimson saw the wizard throw down the golden scepter that he had been using to signal his commands to the dragon. This, he knew was the signal that the enchantment had been lifted. Knocking aside a warrior who had challenged the dragon, Crimson flew rapidly back towards his lair, seeking to gaze upon his treasure with the knowledge that it was no longer under an enchantment.

What he found though, was not his treasure, but an empty cave. The wizard had betrayed the great wyrm. Bellowing his rage, he turned to go back to the battle scene to wreak his vengeance on the wizard when he was met with the warrior. Crimson proceeded to take out his rage on the warrior, dealing him many powerful blows with his claws and his breath. Presently though, Crimson was distracted by a small figure waving a jeweled object. Attracted by the apparent treasure, the great wyrm, ignoring the warrior now, flew rapidly towards the treasure.

*****

“This is where it got confusing.” the great wyrm told Scherza. “Everything ended up happening so fast, thus the tale gets a little hasty, but it cannot be helped.” Scherza nodded.

“Replay it as best you can, great dragon.” she told him. “Tis the job of a true loremaster to make sense of a tale.”

“You are correct. I shall continue.” The wyrm agreed.

*****

Crimson did not know what to make of it when the figure stopped and suddenly threw the object directly at the wizard, but he did realize that it was time to wreak his vengeance on the wizard that had betrayed him. With a great roar of rage, the great wyrm bore down on the frail wizard.

Pausing momentarily to expel a gout of flame onto the persistent warrior who had followed him out of the cave, Crimson sank his great talons into the wizard just as the wizard cast a quick spell that jerked the mountain out from under the combatants. The dragon and the wizard tumbled over the side of the mountain.

Somehow, in the fall, Crimson lost his hold on the wizard and he disappeared from the view of the dragon. Battered and bruised from the fall, which had been stopped only by the ground below, Crimson gave up on trying to find the wizard, as he was tired and wanted nothing more to hide in his lair for a week to recuperate.

Reentering his cave after the long, slow flight up, Crimson noticed that there was still a bit of treasure left. Stuck into the far wall of the cave was a gleaming dagger, he suspected what had been thrown at the wizard in the battle. Examining it, he found that it was of Elven make and he thought of the elf that he had seen in the battle. He knew that she had helped him in the battle, and he realized that he had a strong urge to apologize to the elf for the destruction of her city.

*****

The dragon stopped there and looked down at the elf curiously. Scherza, undaunted, looked back imploringly.

“Is that all?” she asked, dismayed that the tale was over so soon. “What ever happened to the elf? And what of the evil wizard?” she persisted, noticing the dragon’s piercing glare.

“ I know not of the evil wizard. He was not spotted again near the mountains.” the dragon answered. “I assume that the elf is fine where she is for the time being, although I have heard rumors of strange happenings going on in this land that appear to be centered upon her.” he mused, giving the elf another curious look.

“Say, are your parents survivors of Kith’tarka?” he asked. Scherza looked at him, confused.

“How would you guess to ask that?” she replied. “Yes, my parents did manage to escape the city before the fire ravaged it. They were the Lord and Lady of Kith’tarka, in fact. Why do you ask, great wyrm?”

“I am now curious to know why you do not know of this elf that I speak.” he told her. “She was Kariana Steeleaf, heir to the Kith’tarka throne, eldest of Liliana and Rillanos of Kith’tarka.” he told her. The elf looked stunned.

“Her whereabouts have been unknown to me and my parents for many years. I would give anything to know where she currently resides!” Scherza said, awed at this wealth of information. The dragon thought for a moment.

“You don’t perhaps have any gold that you have no need of?” he asked, “I do love gold, it accents my lair quite nicely.”

“I think I might have something that you would like then.” Scherza told him, looking in her bag that she carried. After a moment of search, she finally pulled out a golden scimitar, the hilt encrusted with rubies. “Here. I offer this to you in repayment for your tale and in hopes of finding my long lost sister.” she said grandly, tossing the weapon to the dragon. The dragons’ eyes gleamed covetously as he gazed upon the grand weapon.

“Kariana currently resides as the Queen of Nevu’Alon, on the border of the great dark Elven empire Demozolaza.” he told her, spreading his great wings and grasping the weapon with his great talons. “I still await the question of how I knew that you were related to this elf, though. I assumed that a scholar of your merit would have presumed already how I knew.” he told her.

Scherza thought for a moment on his words. He was right, it was quite mysterious how he had known to ask if she was related to Kariana. Unless he had met her, how would he know of a family resemblance? Some of the facts about the battle were odd too, if his tale was correct, he had most likely witnessed several of these events, as the story telling seemed to be first-hand. If he had been there, though, would he not have assisted Crimson? Suddenly, like a giant falling off of a mountain, she realized what this had meant.

“You are Crimson, aren’t you?” she asked. The dragon looked amused. “You met Kariana, which is how you saw the resemblance.” she said, her eyes widening at the thought that she was standing in front of a powerful red dragon that had destroyed Kith’tarka and fought a wizard.

“You are correct, young elf.” he said, rising into the air. “Now I beseech you to tell the tale, as it should be told, and to go find your sister in Nevu’Alon. I did, of course apologize to her, as I would to your parents also.” he said, his voice growing fainter as he rose. Scherza fought to stay standing in the powerful breeze that his great wings were making. One last thought floated down to her as the dragon became a smaller dot in the sky.

“Remember that not all things are as they seem on first glance, especially dragons!” was his last thought as the great wyrm flew off into the distance. He was headed to the secret entrance to Unmyr, where he could live beneath the surface with his kindred and keep his treaty with G’Dyra forever.

Scherza DelCapo, minstrel and loremaster of Shonika, picked up the magical tale-stone reverently and spoke the word to shut off it’s magic. Placing the stone back in her pouch, she looked up at the suns. It was nearing dusk, but she decided that she would try to make it back to Shonika as fast as she could to relay the news to her mother. She had found Kariana and learned the tale of the destruction of Kith’tarka and the battle which followed. She had also formulated a plan to scribe the entirety of the story of her elder sister. This would be an exciting tale, one that would spur great dreams among the children in generations to come.

With these pleasant thoughts in mind, she walked to the outskirts of the forest and whistled for her horse. Presently, she rode off, towards Shonika and her future as a loremaster of renown.

Do you have comments/critique on this? Well, then, write one of the most famed loremasters of Akura, Scherza DelCapo