The Castle Оf Hape. Caves Оf Fire Аnd Ice. The Joining Оf Тhe Stone

Part Two: The Black Lake

From the journal of Tayba of Carriol, written seventeen years after the battle at the Castle of Hape.

The tale of NilokEm is evil and dark and leaves questions unanswered and actions unaccounted for. It is clear that that dark Seer alone escaped the slaughter at the Castle of Hape, escaped from Ramad and from the Seers of Carriol. It is said he hid from battle in the deep woods surrounding the castle, and then, the battle done and the castle burned, he rode at last into Farr. It is told that he remained hidden in Farr until talk of the victory at Hape died away, then came from seclusion to build himself a villa with riches gained from evil magic and cruel trading, an elegant villa in the north of Farr, near to where the river Owdneet comes down. And there, too, he constructed the city that later was named Dal. Folk say that NilokEm used dark magic indeed to find a woman that suited him; that he brought her by magic to Farr. Sure it is he bedded her, for she bore him a Seeing son. But no one knows what became of her, for she was not heard of again, once the son was born. Some whispered that NilokEm destroyed her in a fit of rage. Some said that the day his son was born NilokEm became the possessor of a shard of the runestone of Eresu. And there are tales of a battle in the dark wood to the south of Dal, a battle where warriors appeared from out the stuff of thin air to defeat NilokEm. Some say that one of those warriors bore a strong resemblance to NilokEm, though NilokEm had no kin, only his small son for whom the city Dal was built and named.

It is sworn by some that Ramad, himself, came out of nowhere to fight against the Seer of darkness, and that the great wolves fought beside him; and that Ramad killed the dark Seer. We of Carriol know not the truth of this, for Ram has not returned to us. We can only pray that his life, wherever he moves, has been as he would will it to be.