Prelude

Before we jump right into where our story begins, perhaps it would help if a bit of the background was known. As you may have already read the legend of the Elennar swords, you might wonder how they came into the lives of Balar and company.

As is rumored, the elven Elennar sword was in the hands of Caesar and served to unite the Romans to grow into a dominant empire. Common history has it that internal political disputes led to the fall of the Roman empire. What is not generally known is that the power of the sword to unite a people had been lost.

The Judian cabalists had sought for the key to bring Kazimain from her magical slumber for over a thousand years. As Rome became more and more involved in Egyptian affairs, the cabalists concluded that this ancient magic might be somehow entangled with Rome. They sent saracen infiltrators to Rome and abducted the sword. Once again however they were not successful in reaching their homeland and the sword was lost again. The knowledge of it's origin lost, it was sold and traded as simply a valuable, beautiful sword all the way from Constantinople to China and back.

And here it begins to enter our story. A merchant family, the family of Rhys, while journeying east in the land now known as Turkey were negotiating with a local bandit lord. Seeing the sword, it struck Sir Rhys as having come from western origin not the far east. Sir Rhys traded a few gems from the Inn valley for the sword.

Journeying west again, Sir Rhys' pregnant wife fell ill. They hastened to the nearby castle of Schloss Matzen where the clerics tended to Sir Rhys' wife. The baby, Rhydoc, was born prematurely and the clerics worked night and day to tend the weak mother and the tiny baby. Sir Rhys was so grateful that he presented the lord of the castle with the fine sword he'd obtained in the east. The lord invited Sir Rhys and his family to join his household and from that day forward the merchants were based from Schloss Matzen, they still journeyed but they always returned to Schloss Matzen.

The babe, Rhydoc was raised by the castle clergy when the Rhys family were away traveling. Just a few years later, the lady of Schloss Matzen gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The two children grew up together. The older Rhydoc, always protective of the younger boy, developed a lifelong friendship and devotion to Balar who would one day become the lord of Schloss Matzen.