Grothunk Hexbreaker and
the Curse of the White Witch
By Suleiman Russel
In the day of days long ago
Before the blessings of
moon-bound madness
Before the falling of
elf-blighted bloodstone
Before the coming of Ceilagoton
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all elves!
Remember our blood! Accursed
by their touch!
Darnelle the White, Witch-Queen of Bloodstone
Darnelle Oath-Breaker,
betrayer of Flossi
Darnelle White-Hand, Mother of
Demons
Cursed us, and our sons, for
no crime at all
Cursed us, and our daughters,
for serving our masters
Cursed us for all time, to
serve her own ends
Cursed us with words and hated
elf-magic
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all elves!
Remember our blood! Accursed
by their touch!
So it was, for ages without measure
We fell, in great numbers, to
elf-wrought spell
We fell, in great numbers, by
elf-blighted curse
We fell, lamenting, for the
gods themselves cursed us
We fell, lamenting, from the
curse of that queen
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all elves!
Remember our blood! Accursed
by their touch!
Then came the dawning of the Hexbreaker clan
Born from the seed of fire and
wind
Born from the blood of Gruumsh
and Kashli
Born from the loins
of Kashlimican
Remember
our Oath! Revenge on all elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
Grothunk Kaslimi of Kashlimican clan
Born to a
warrior and a half-human slave
Born in
the wilds of Azthunk-Al'Graben
Warrior-born
with Orc blood in his veins
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
His family died in an elven war-raid
His body
was found in the wild woodland's eaves
Taken in
by a druid and human-blood kinfolk
Grothunk
was an Orc in the human ways raised
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
Grothunk grew strong, exposed to the
magic
Of human
and elf as he lived in those woods
Grothunk a
secret learned as there he was living
His curse
was two-sided in magical ways
For spells
he could sense as humans might feel
And
sorceries were his to command
The
sensitive spell that made him more vulnerable
Made him
enlightened to the ways of the land
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
Learned he the ways of magic
spell-weaving
From the
foster-clan whose hall he called home
And with
it the ways of magic undoing
To take to
his people, that they'd stronger grow
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
Hexbreaker they called him, who wove
the unweaving
Who taught
his brethren the undoing of spells
Who spoke
potent words and called upon demons
To in turn
curse their foe-men, the hated bright elves
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
The hall that he built, and the clan
grown around him
Are called
Hexbreaker to this very day
For their
power to turn dreaded curse into favor
Has made
us all stronger and prouder to be
Warrior-born,
and in numbers we fight
To avenge
our dead who fell in the past
To the
bows and the swords, and the sharp elvish spells
That curse
us no more with their dreaded god's words
Remember our Oath! Revenge on all
elves!
Remember
our blood! Accursed by their touch!
Remember the fallen whose blood
mixed with tears
Makes us a
gate to visit the dead
And offer
them solace in our time of peace making
Revenge
for their loss, and ours, and our sons.
|
