According to Minarian folklore, the planet-rending catastrophe called the great Cataclysm was caused by a war between the divine tribes of heaven. After much of heaven and earth was destroyed, the Father of the gods demanded that his children cease their conflict. Of all the godly tribes, only two defied the Father's injunction--the Goligo Favre and the Ta-Botann.
The continuing struggle between these two groups caused the Father of the gods to lose patience. He deprived them of their most destructive weapons and released the four winds upon them. The disobedient tribes were swept out of heaven and plummeted to the mortal realm. The Ta-Botann fell the farthest, to the rocks and soil and subterranean darkness. The Goligo Favre, less weighted down by sin, were caught in the clouds, the vegetation, the rivers, the lakes and the seas.
The tribes learned nothing from their fall and continued their feud in Minaria. The mortal survivors of the Cataclysm beheld these fallen gods and identified them with the fairies of lore. The Goligo Favre were not always hostile to men and so were called the "Noble Folk." But the Ta-Botann despised their mortal neighbors and harried them spitefully. Men feared their haunts and named them the "Night Eyes."
While men, elves, trolls and other mortal races were few, the Goligo Favre and the Ta-Botann ruled fairy kingdoms of unearthly loveliness. But as Minaria's mortal population grew and the fairies felt themselves encroached and spied upon, they withdrew to secluded woods, lakes and islands and concealed their palaces behind magical illusions. Thereafter, men beheld only wasteland or empty water where, in fact, the spires and temples of immortal beings loomed majestically.
According to Tein of Tadafat's biography, Schardenzar the Wizard, there lived during the reign of Egalon of Muetar a certain Count Renen. One night, while returning from a stag hunt, the nobleman saw the lights of a very large house. He was intrigued, because he had believed this bank of the River Deep to be uninhabited, and the count turned his mount toward the mansion. Reining next to a window, Renen saw a large company of ladies dancing within. They were exceedingly beautiful.
At the sight of one maiden, who excelled all others in grace and charm, the nobleman was inflamed with love. Dismounting, he opened the door and rushed inside. He seized the maiden who was the object of his passion while the other dancers assailed him, using their teeth and fingernails. But Renen was strong and swift. Escaping from his assailants and winning free, he threw his lovely captive over his saddle and galloped away.
For five whole days after Renen and the maiden arrived at his manor house, no persuasion could draw a word out of the fairy maid. Finally, on the sixth, she broke her silence, saying: "My name is Sira. Happily will I wed you, dear Count, and may the Goligo Favre bless you with vigor, joy and plenty as long as you tell no one that I am a lady of the river."
Count Renen agreed to the condition and the couple spent many happy years together. Seven sons and daughters were born to the Count and Countess. The youngest child, a son, was named Schardenzar, which means "Dweller in the valley of the awe-inspiring ones."
According to Tein's book, there came a night, when carousing at the palace of the Duke of Plibba, that Renen commenced to argue about whose wife was the more beautiful."Your bride is fair indeed, noble Duke," said Renen, "but her beauty is mortal. My Sira is a lady of the Noble Folk, whose loveliness was born in heaven."
Even before Renen returned home, knew what had transpired. "Alas," she lamented, "I will soon be gone from your house. A great evil is coming and we cannot avoid it. Still, our family may yet be avenged if you pass on this gift to one of our children." She placed into his hands a small fly whisk made of silver wire.
Misfortune struck that very night. The blare of a hunting horn roused the family and servants from their beds. They rushed outside and surveyed the fields from the high bartizan. There they saw a pack of white wolves with glowing red ears, and behind the wolves a black-clad horseman from whose head branched a pair of antlers.
"It is Rhybyrn, a prince among the Ta-Botann!" exclaimed Sira. "When you gave away my identity, his Night Eye spies heard and informed him. He has come for me and our children!"
"To arms!" Renen exhorted his guards. "They shall not pass our strong walls!"
Even as he spoke, the wolves moved like ghosts over the ramparts and scattered the guards with their ferocious attacks. On the heels of the wolves came the huntsman Rhybyrn--right up the walls of the lofty bartizan. He charged for the lady Sira and cast a net made of deep-growing roots over her, while the wolves rended the children in their slavering jaws. With great difficulty, Renen swept Schardenzar up into his arms and held the wolves at bay until the blast of Rhybyrn's hunting horn announced his return to the darkness. All of the Count and Countess's children except for Schardenzar had fallen prey to the wolves, and the last time Renen saw Sira, she was imprisoned in the tangled, evil net and firmly in Rhybyrn's cruel grasp.
The manor never prospered thereafter. The water sprites took vengeance on the indiscreet Count by inflicting interminable droughts on his lands. Meanwhile, grief and heavy drink ruined Count Renen. When the nobleman died, he had nothing to pass on to Schardenzar except the strange little fly whisk Sira had given him soon before Rhybyrn had carried her off.
Upon the death of the Count, creditors quickly arrived to take possession of his castle and parched lands. They also bore a writ authorizing the sale of the Count's son upon the block, to further satisfy Renen's creditors.
Forewarned of the writ, Schardenzar fled the castle in the company of a faithful old groom. They traveled south, to a land for the homeless and the fugitives, the dreary, dry plains of the Banished Lands.
No man could survive in the Banished Lands without the skill of the sword, or the collective strength of the group. No kingdom claimed this haunt of riff-raff, robbers and impoverished nomads. The sight of two lonely riders, an old man and a stripling. incited the rapacity of the robber Yeeno. His ragged henchmen trapped the pair in a ravine.
The old groom was a victim of the villain's daggers, but young Schardenzar was taken captive. As he struggled with the henchmen, the silver fly whisk fell out of his cloak. "I can sell this," said Yeeno, picking it up. "The flies in this desert could eat a man alive!~'
The miserable Schardenzar was auctioned away at the marketplace of the main town of the Banished Lands, the City of the Free Hearts, known to the outside worlds as the "Huts of the Scum." Kolahlo, a mercenary captain in need of a varlet, purchased him. For the next several weeks Kolahlo beat and bullied young Schardenzar pitilessly. Fortunately, a reprieve came to the youngster when strife broke out between Shucassam and Rombune over the possession of the city of Parros.
Kolahlo raised a band of fifty thieves and beggars, including his bondsman Schardenzar. Then, along with other similar bands, the mercenaries set out to offer their services to the Parrosians. The levies of the Banished Lands called themselves the "Golden Heroes of the Desert," but the kingdoms to which they attached themselves esteemed them so lowly that they were derided as the "Scum."
In his eighteenth year, Schardenzar began to come into his own. In his father's castle he had learned to handle a blade, a skill he had not forgotten. His courage stood out amid the cowardly greed of his companions. Before long, the better men of Kolahlo's company were looking to Schardenzar for leadership, instead of their drunken, brawling captain. When Kolahlo discovered this was so, he called his young bondsman out and set upon him with a truncheon.
But Schardenzar would no longer tamely submit to blows. He fought and disarmed Kolahlo, punishing the man until he fled howling to the picket lines of the Parrosians. According to the rough customs of the Scum, Schardenzar had won his freedom--and the captaincy of Kolahlo's company.
Schardenzar reorganized the band and sent the poorest members packing. As his subsequent leadership netted his band rich plunder, he had no problem recruiting courageous fighters. The Parrosians quickly recognized Schardenzar's worth and, unlike the rest of the Scum mercenaries, his company soon found itself on the Parrosian paymaster's list.
But even Schardenzar did not fully understand those talents which made him a successful strategist. He had an uncanny ability for guessing what an enemy planned, and had prophetic dreams and regular clairvoyant visions.
One night, as his band patrolled the banks of a woodland stream by moonlight, Schardenzar noticed a sleek black mare wandering riderless. Resolved to take it for his own, he approached the horse and mounted it. No sooner he had done so than the stirrups imprisoned his feet and the mare galloped away, more swiftly than the soul flies to perdition.
As the miles passed and the beast did not tire, Schardenzar realized that he was the captive of some supernatural created. Patiently and helplessly he awaited and, at long last, the ride ended with a plunge into the River Deep. Upon fully submerging itself in the waters, the demon mount was transformed Into a young woman of such tranquil aspect that Schardenzar's worries seemed to lose their meaning.
"I am your mother's sister, Herla of the Goligo Favre," the fairy said.."You have come of age, and it is time to deliver your mother from Rhybyrn's captivity."
"My mother is dead!" Schardenzar protested.
"Not so," insisted Herla. "She is a captive of the Night Eyes, as are many other Goligo Favre. Rhybyrn keeps them in vile darkness, forced to sweep and scour his benighted stronghold, whose filth and mud returns as swiftly as exhausting toll removes it."
"I would gladly give my life to deliver my mother and her people," said Schardenzar, "but how am I to prevail over Rhybyrn when my father's strong-guarded castle could not?"
"Your baptism in the River Deep has liberated the Goligo Favre in you," replied the fairy. "Their spells are yours but beware: Because half of you is mortal. you may use each enchantment only once. But it is your mortal courage that shall defeat Rhybyrn. Recover the whisk your father gave you, then mount a high crag and slaughter a stag with a iron sword Finally, call out Rhybyrn's name three times."
Having said this, the fairy changed Into a kartika fish and disappeared into the current.
The youth, eager to try his magic powers, exerted his will, commanding the return of the silver whisk. It promptly materialized in his hand.
Taking Herla's advice, he hunted and captured a stag, which he carried to the top of a nearby hill and sacrificed. At last waving his bloodied blade over his head he called out Rhybyrn's name three times.
A cloud hid the sun and a chill wind swept the hilltop as Rhybyrn's hunting horn moaned in the distance. The demon wolves of his pack suddenly appeared and ran effortlessly up the steep slope. Schardenzar braced himself, but instead of falling upon him, the wolves attacked the stag's carcass and paid the youth no attention. Then the blast of the horn once more heralded Rhybyrn's arrival.
The antler-bearing demon glared at the feasting wolves and then upon Schardenzar. "A paltry glamour such as this will not thwart me, mortal," said Rhybyrn. "Long have the Goligo Favre prophesied that such a half-blood as thee would bring liberty to their people. But I swear by all the powers of the earth and underworld that thou are not the one destined to conquer me!"
The Night Eye prince unfurled his net, but an Inspiration made Schardenzar take the fly whisk from his cloak. At the first sight of it, Rhybyrn fell into a mad debilitating laughter. Thereupon. the youth sprang forward and slapped the whisk across the demon's thigh. Immediately, the dark lord and his mount bobbed up into the air, like a wooden horse and rider floating in a rain barrel. Thrashing and kicking its legs futilely Rhybyrn 's stallion threw its master out of the saddle. He fell, but not quite all the way to earth. He stopped and stood in mid-air, several inches above the ground. Like his horse, he was unable to make contact with the hilltop under him.
The youth raised his iron broadsword and rushed at the demon, who wore a bewildered expression but was ready for battle. Rhybyrn met Schardenzar's blow with his own blade, of black fairy metal and the weapons clashed together like thunder. It was all the young warrior could do to match his opponent's speed and strength, but after a few moments Schardenzar sensed Rhybyrn's attack waning.
He guessed the truth. It was the deprivation of earthly contact that weakened the prince of the Night Eyes. Rhybyrn, a Ta-Botann, was tied to the soil in the same manner as the Goligo Favre depended on the waters and vegetation.
Schardenzar redoubled the ferocity of his attack, lunging through the demon's guard and driving his iron sword into the villain's immortal breast. Rhybyrn gave a howl of agony and vanished, taking his mount and ravenous wolfpack with him.
"Now,"said the weary swordsman, "if I have truly conquered, let all the prisoners of the fallen demon be freed!"
As his magical command was uttered the hill, its flanks and the river bank below became filled with thousands of tall, beautiful people. To his surprise and joy his own mother, Sira, materialized next to him.
For many days Schardenzar tarried with the Goligo Favre. Then, as mortals must, he returned to the mundane world of men.
The years brought Schardenzar increasing wisdom and skill. He vowed to use his Gollgo Favre powers sparingly lest he be left without a spell at a crucial time. The young wizard studied the sorcery of mortals and proved an able student. He also studied military science and took numerous commissions as a military advisor. General, admiral, soothsayer, sorcerer-- his talents were so many that he never lacked for gold or employment.
He also kept in close touch with his kin among the Goligo Favre. Once,
serving as a mercenary general for Mivior, Schardenzar cast a spell of
forgetfulness over the eleven sorcerers serving Boewenn's invasion army
at the ruins of Addat. The sorcerers were unable to remember how to use
the magical devices in their custody, and the Elves were consequently defeated.
But the Miviorian army was unable to keep up with the retreating elves
when they reached the forests of Neuth. Rather than see the opportunity
for decisive victory slip out of his hands, Schardenzar summoned the Goligo
Favre of the River Sullen.
After he had explained his problem, the Noble Folk instructed him to lead
his army into the water. Marching into the river, the men were stunned
when they discovered that their boots would not break the surface of the
water. Then the River Sullen commenced to flow backwards, carrying the
Miviorians northward faster than any elf could march. Schardenzar deployed
his troops in the deep woods for an ambush and made prisoners of the elves
as they blundered into it.
The viciousness with which Boewenn's War had been waged disturbed Schardenzar
and encouraged him to use his talents to combat tyranny and alleviate suffering.
His marvelous deeds are too numerous to list them all, but we may draw
some illustrative examples from Poujade's Lives of the Sorcerers.
Once, squat and ugly Sarnadaj a powerful Duchess of Pon, told Schardenzar
to make her the most beautiful woman in Minaria Because she was vain and
cruel, the sorcerer refused her. She thereupon swore that ten peasants
would be hanged every day until he yielded. Grim and indignant, he acquiesced:
"As you wish, so shall it be!"
Immediately Sarnada's spirit flew away and occupied the body of Tozama,
Minaria's most splendid beauty. In return, Tozama's soul came to be placed
in the ugly, vacant shell of the Duchess's body. Tozama soon accepted her
change cheerfully, for her former beauty had been no joy to her as the
wretched prisoner of Hab the Lame--slaver and vice lord of Khuzdul's criminal
underworld. Schardenzar coaxed Tozama into impersonating the Duchess, and
she subsequently ruled wisely and well, to the joy of her new subjects.
How happily Sarnada fared with Hab the Lame is not recorded .
Whenever he could, Schardenzar tried to settle quarrels between mortals
and fairies. During the reign of King Reglissar of Immer, the bride of
Baron Azaelos was abducted by a Ta-Botann lord, Balmach. The villain carried
the bride, Isola, to his underground palace and closed up its opening to
the surface. Determined to get his wife back, Baron Azaelos commanded his
yeomen to dig into the earth until they broke into the subsurface realm.
They did their best, but as fast as they could dig, the earth filled in
again.
At this point Schardenzar arrived and appraised the situation. He told
Azaelos to have the ground strewn with salt before each day's digging commenced.
This was done, and the Immerites discovered that the earth could now be
excavated without difficulty.
As the shaft went deeper, the Night Eyes realized their great peril. Should
the humans invade Balmach's realm and gaze upon his palace, the splendid
building would turn to dust. Therefore, the canny Ta-Botann returned Isola
to the surface under the cloak of darkness, leaving her sleeping peacefully
on a soft mound of soil.
Noble deeds have assured Schardenzar of immortal fame. Perhaps he has even
achieved physical immortality, for although the half-fairy sorcerer is
more than a century old, he does not look half that age. Neither does Minaria's
hero show any sign of diminished power or a lessened sense of justice.