To fight and fall—if fall they must
—to die, but never yield!
6.
And Khorbane fell, and proud Konnar,
and gallant Yggrim too;
Yet still we strove with the Dragon Kings
and the great war trumpets blew.
And for every hero of Phondath’s breed
who upon that black shore fell
We sent a dozen Dragons down
the scarlet throat of hell!
7.
From wild red dawn to wild red dawn
we held our iron line
And fought till the blades broke in our hands
and the sea ran red as wine.
With arrow, spear and mighty mace,
we broke the Dragon’s pride,
Thigh-deep in the roaring sea we fought,
and crimson ran the tide.
8.
But we were armed with simple steel,
and they with sorcery;
And step by step they thrust us back
into the hungry sea.
And Thungarth saw that he must use
that Sword the Gods had made
Although he knew it meant his doom
to lift that dreadful blade.
9.
As one by one his brothers fell,
he raised the Star Sword high!
He sang the runes to the Lords of Light
—and thunder broke the sky!
Red lightning flashed—drums of thunder crashed—
a rain of fire fell
To sweep the last of the Dragon Kings down
to the smoking pits of hell!
10.
But the Lord of the Dragons was old and wise
and a mighty mage was he.
He loosed a bolt of flaming death—
his warriors laughed to see
The Star Sword broke in Thungarth’s hand!
and now what hope for Men?
The scaly might of the hissing horde,
they were upon him then…
11.
But he beat them back with the broken blade,
there, caught in the roaring tide.
And one by one they fell before
young Thungarth in his pride.
But the Dragon Lord, with a great black spear,
he drove them forth once more,
They closed again with Thungarth there
while the wild waves ran with gore.
12.
Yet once again he beat them back
with a fragment of the Sword;
They broke and fell before him then,
and he faced their mighty Lord.
The great black spear was sharp and long,
his Sword but a shard of steel;
The Dragon Lord was fresh and strong,
but Thungarth would not yield.
13.
He battled there with the broken blade,
half-drowned in the roaring tide;
The great black spear drank deep as it sank
in Thungarth’s naked side.
But ere the Son of Jaidor fell,
or ere his strength could wane,
The Broken Sword of Nemedis
had clove the Dragon’s brain.
14.
Thunder rolled in the crimson sky.
the War Maids rode the storm
To bear the soul of Thungarth home
to the Halls of Father Gorm.
The Age of the Dragon ended there
where the seas with scarlet ran:
Though the cost was high, the prize was great,
and the Age of Men began.
INTRO TO BLACK HAWK
OF VALKARTH
It is almost five thousand years since the Thousand-Year War was fought between Man and Dragon Kings, when the reptiles, long time rulers of Lemuria, were vanquished at the culminating battle at Grimstrand Firth. It is a new age, a time of growth, of savage kingdoms, yet beset by turmoil, a world ripe for adventure, conquest and the winning of fabulous fortunes. A hard world for a boy scarce turned fifteen.
It is the year 6997 of the Kingdoms of Man…
BLACK HAWK
OF VALKARTH
1
Blood on the Snow
The flames of sunset died to glowing coals in the crimson west. Slowly, the brooding skies darkened overhead, and the first few stars glared down upon a scene of terrible carnage.
It was a great valley in the land of Valkarth in the Northlands, beyond the Mountains of Mommur, where the cold black waves
