Rillanos
and Liliana were two great legends in High Elven lore. Rulers of
Kith'tarka, a high elven city in the Ath'Karan Forest of Akura, they had
ruled together for a little over a century. This reign had been started
many centuries ago with their great ancestors, Quintas Steeleaf and Kari
Featherlight. These two elves had journeyed far across the lands of Akura,
in search of the perfect place in which to start a home. Finally, they
had found this peaceful section of the forest that lay between two rivers.
It was enough removed from the paths of human cities for them to
be mostly secluded from humans for the Elves to feel secure from human
intervention, so they decided to make it their home. They had settled this
city in the name of the Steeleaf family, and had named it Kith’tarka.
This city
had been in existence since the great dragon wars, and since the settlement
by Quintas Steeleaf, the ruling family had not changed hands. Their reign
was good and just, the High Elves that shared the forest under their rule
were happy and prosperous. It was the perfect place to raise a child, and
on the 121st year of their marriage, Liliana gave birth to a daughter.
This Elf was christened Kariana Steeleaf, the heir to the throne,
she would keep the long chain of family rule unbroken.
Also at
an early age, Kariana was easily set apart from her fellows. As the Elves
believed very strongly in omens from the gods, they took this as a sign
of favor, as she had a surprising resemblance to Kari Featherlight.
Most Elves of the forest were hard to differentiate between, as the majority
of them had light tan to blond hair and blue eyes with a very pale complexion,
Kariana was darker skinned, with dark brown hair and green eyes.
The major resemblance to Kari Featherlight was, however, the fact that
the young Elf had silver strands entwined throughout her locks. This
was often cited as the explanation for her other exceptional traits.
The ranger
was the favored profession for a noble Elf of Kith'tarka. While a
few of them went on to be warriors of legend or Arcanes of renown, most
stayed to protector their forest home. Rillanos and Liliana had both served
as great protectors of this home in their time, and they hoped that their
young daughter would have the same fortune as they.
As
early as age 40, Kariana began her studies in the art of swordplay
and archery, which was the norm among the Elves of her age. By the age
of 80, she began to show promise in these arts and she had developed ambidexterity,
a rare trait among the Elves. Using two blades would come to the young
Elf easier.
Kariana was a
quick study in the ways of battling without great shows of sheer power.
A slight child, she often used her dexterity and her natural charisma to
keep her attackers off guard, making herself look beaten or innocent so
that they become overconfident. After the other Elf struck first, she would
do her best to either disable or hinder her opponent from attacking her,
as Kariana felt that killing all of her opponents was a waste. The young
Elf rarely “killed” anyone in mock battle, which earned her respect among
the village. Kariana soon became known as the “honorable fighter”, a grand
title for such a young Elf.
She also
learned the basics of tracking and animal empathy, in which she excelled
at. She had turned out to be a very quick study with the lore
and handling of the forests' inhabitants, and she had befriended
many of the wild creatures that lived with the Elves, a feat that not many
could claim. Kariana was said to be able befriend a wolf as easily as a
rabbit. She was soon called upon by friends of the family to soothe and
tame their horses and other wild animals that frequented their part of
Kith’tarka. Her parents began to see themselves mimicked in their
young daughter.
Unfortunately,
even though Kariana fought with honor, that did not impress upon her personal
agenda. Being the daughter of the Lord and Lady of Kith’tarka gave her
great opportunities to do things her own way, and she quickly learned how
to bend the rules to get what she wanted done. Although never one to break
a rule maliciously, she did this only when she felt that a greater good
would come out of her bending the rules a little than if she kept them.
This was shown in her break-ins to various shops when she had the sudden
insight of a way to make shop keeping easier, or her ignoring of council
policy when she wanted to get something done, such as bringing in tamed
wolves to serve as watchdogs for the outskirts of the forest city. Even
though she broke the rules a lot, most of the Elves had no quarrel with
her, as she was seen as only doing it for the benefit of someone else,
even to the point of taking the blame for others’ actions that had been
originally inspired by Kariana herself. Thus, Kariana did not get
along with the “strict law-abiding” types, such as Holy Crusaders and Mydaran-Rangers,
as she thought that they were too choosy about who they chose to help or
who they didn't, whereas in Kariana's personal agenda, she assisted any
who fought for a good cause.
She continued
her training as a ranger until the age of 126, when she began her studies
with her parents over the aspects of ruling Kith’tarka. Liliana and Rillanos
were entering their fourth century and began to hear the call of the Elven
gods. Thus, they felt that it was nearly time for another to take over
the pressures of ruling the village. Kariana, though, never got the chance
to ascend to the ruler ship, as soon after she began her training, a great
terror destroyed Kith’tarka and ruined the chances of her becoming the
next Lady of Kith’tarka.
Unbeknownst
to the Elves, a great red dragon had moved into the mountains that were
east of the forest. Since none of the Elves ever journeyed that far, they
had no knowledge of this, and knew not of the dragon. Therefore, most of
their spell casters had either left the city or faded away, never to be
replaced. Unknowing that they were extremely unprotected in case of dragon
attack, the Elves went about their business as usual on this day. That
was, until they heard the screams of terror that filled the mid afternoon
splendor.
"Dragon!
Dragon!" shouted frantic young Elves. These Elves had only heard of such
creatures from the Elven loremasters, as no dragons had been seen in this
region for many years. As chaos erupted around them, the defenders of the
city gathered around the Kith’tarka Spire.
As there
were not many magic users in this village, their only defense seemed to
be the keen archers High in the trees and the lone wizard, Gafara, who
was standing in front of the Kith'tarka Spire. This spire shaped tree was
the home of Rillanos and Liliana, Gafara was making his best attempt at
shielding the lord and lady of the city from harm as the dragon swooped
down for a pass.
As the dragon
had entered Kith'tarka, Kariana had already been gone for some time. She
had already wandered far from the area of the forest that she called home
and she did not hear the screams of terror and the sound of the destruction
that the dragon was wreaking on the peaceful Elves. She was following
a pony.
*****
As the dragon
had entered Kith'tarka, Kariana had already been gone for some time. She
had already wandered far from the area of the forest that she called home
and she did not hear the screams of terror and the sound of the destruction
that the dragon was wreaking on the peaceful Elves.
Kariana was leading
her mother's pet pony, Greygold, back to the city. He had escaped
as usual, and although it had taken her forever to catch the stubborn beast,
she had finally succeeded. As the Elf maiden and the pony started
the trek back to her city, Kariana noticed a plume of black smoke arising
in the direction of her home. Greygold noticed it too, and started to dance
away from Kariana, back in the direction of the clearing. Kariana held
him fast. Using the best of her training, she soothed the jumpy animal
into letting her climb on and the pair raced back towards Kith'tarka.
A short
time later, she arrived at the border of her city. As soon as she dismounted
from Greygold, the pony shied away from the gruesome sight. Kariana was
frozen in shock. The peaceful Elven city that she had left for only what
seemed a short time was in ruins. The elegant and sturdy tree houses that
they had lived in were hanging skeletons from the trees that were still
standing. Most of the trees had charred and fallen, pinning Elves beneath
them. There were bodies of her kin everywhere, most looking like they had
attempted to battle the evil that had killed them before finally succumbing
to the cold embrace of death. Still in shock, she began to search out her
parents.
"Kari."
she heard a weak voice call from beneath one of the many fallen trees that
lay in front of the charred Kith'tarka Spire. There, she saw Gafara, her
fathers' brother, covered in soot and ashes.
"Where are
my parents?" she asked, near tears as she knelt beside him. There was nothing
that Kariana could do. She was not strong enough to lift the tree, and
there was no one around to help her. "You have to tell me whether
they live." she pleaded with him. Sadly, the wizard told her.
"Rillanos
and Liliana. . .I tried to hold off the dragon, but he was too powerful.
Maybe a host of wizards, but for me alone, he was too powerful." he said,
coughing and pausing, as he looked around for a bit at the destruction
that was all around him. "They were in the Spire." he said, noticing her
anguished look. Gafara sighed and shook his head.
Kariana
looked towards Kith'tarka Spire. Her last sight of her parents had been
them sitting out on one of the walkways, looking out over the city as she
had went out after the pony. If she had stayed here. . .
Gafara saw
the look in her eyes and realized that she was blaming herself for this.
He knew that he could not allow her to do that. "Kariana, listen to me."
he said, his voice growing weaker. "You could have done nothing. A great
red Wyrm is difficult to kill, even for a wizard such as I. If you were
here, you would have also died." he explained, closing his eyes wearily.
Kariana looked back at Gafara,
thinking over his words. She knew that he was right, she would have accomplished
nothing by staying here, but this was her home. She had no place
to go. Confused, she looked back to her uncle.
Gafara Starfire,
once the High wizard of Kith'tarka, had lived for 250 years in relative
peace. After this one day of experiencing the destruction of war, the Elven
god Corellon Larethian took pity on the peaceful wizard and welcomed him
into his arms as he fell into a final rest. Realizing that her uncle was
gone from the mortal realm, Kariana slowly stood up and began to walk towards
the once majestic Kith'tarka Spire.
Fighting
back tears that were threatening to overtake her, she looked up at the
once eloquent set of bridges, walkways and rooms that had made up her home.
Gathering courage from the rage that was welling in her for the red dragon,
she began the slow, tremulous climb up the tree. As she stood on one of
the few sections of the walkway that was still solid, she looked around,
trying to spot the bodies of her parents.
Kariana
was greatly confused by what she found. It was not her parents, but the
jeweled sheath and longsword that had been her fathers' weapon and the
small, silver gilded dagger that her mother had always carried. The two
weapons lay side by side on a section of the bridge that had also not been
destroyed. As she puzzled over this finding, she heard a great thunderclap,
and suddenly noticed the dark sky overhead. Suddenly, a great bolt of lightning
hit the tree that she was in, splitting it and destroying the bridge, throwing
Kariana and the bridge to the ground. As the young Elf lay unconscious
on the ground, a light rain began to fall.
*****