An Airthai Fairy Tale

When the name "River of Gold" presented itself in the Midlands of Airthai (when the world was just coming together), I had to know why it was called that and why, if there are gold for anyone to take, no one would take it. The gold as the dragon's bed was formed early and from there the knight and his lady followed. Aune has become a dear, bittersweet character to me. And yes, that song does sound a bit like "Rose of Allendale"...

Aune & Everard : Or, How The River of Gold Got Its Name


Once upon a time the river that is now known as the River of Gold, in the Kingdom of Ellanda, was known as Brightwater because its water was so clear and pure. It sprung from a fountain in the Cloudstep Mountains and flowed west, through Ellanda and the Ringwood that stood at the roots of the mountains. On the banks of this river, in the small village of Greenhill, lived a fair maiden called Aune. Her hair was as dark as the night sky and her eyes shone like the morning star. She had a heart as pure as virgin snow and a voice like an angel. All the town loved her dearly for she was also a healer and could cure any ailment and fever, so that people came from many miles away to be healed.

The king of Ellanda at that time was Godfrey the Bold. He was a good king and kind to his people and many a young man went to the castle hoping to serve as one of his knights. But he would only choose the very best to defend his kingdom, for he knew of a dark menace that lay south - a dragon had been spotted making a lair in the Dragonberg. He knew that soon the dragon would sense the riches of Ellanda and come to steal it to build his bed. Two years passed before he got word from the southern mountains that a dragon was stirring from its lair in the Dragonberg.

Now Godfrey knew that there was a lot of treasure to be had in Ellanda, and he also knew that in the village called Greenhill, not a day’s ride from the castle, was an old grave of one of his forefathers and that the grave was filled with enough gold and jewels to tempt even the smallest dragon. No doubt it would not be long until the dragon ventured north and smelled the buried gold. And after it had laid waste to the village, the castle with its great treasury would be next.

So Godfrey called together his seven most trusted knights, the finest of who were the young Everard. For though he was barely twenty four, he had more skill with his blade than the sword master and could hit a running mouse in the night with his longbow.

Godfrey sent his knights to the village of Greenhill where they were to keep the people safe and guard them from the dragon if it should come. Everard was charged to slay the dragon with his bow and the king gave to him arrows tipped with white gold and dipped in the poisonous juice from the Blackroot.

Now, when the knights reached the town, they went first to the inn, but Everard walked to the green hill that gave the town its name. There, at the foot of the hill, he heard the voice of an angel singing and looked up. He recognized the song as a lay about the star-crossed lovers Sildu and Ameragh and the part he heard went like this:

The sun was fair, the sky was clear, no breath came from the west,
When Elven knight, and maiden fair wandered o’er the earth.
The mist it decked the mountain side, and laughter filled the land,
By far the dearest love of all, t’was for the maiden of the stars.
Sing maiden of the stars, sing maiden of the stars,
By far the dearest love of all, t’was for the maiden of the stars.

With all haste Everard climbed the hill, hoping to see the angel singing. As he reached the top of the hill he saw that it was a mortal maiden that was singing the beautiful song – it was, of course, Aune, and he fell in love with her the first time he saw her. He went to her and wooed her and she too, loved him in turn and it seemed as if the summer would last forever and that the dragon would never come from the south to harm the kingdom.

But when Autumn fell upon the land the dragon came to the kingdom of Ellanda and burned great swathes of land with its fiery breath as it followed the scent of gold. Everard soon learned that the red-scaled dragon was called Blauthan and that it was one of the oldest dragons in all the lands, one that the old king Marcus had used in his wars. On the sixth day after the Blauthan had reached Ellanda, the dragon reached the town of Greenhill and burned half of the houses to the ground. Then it alighted on the green hill and tore at the ground with its great claws. Chunks of dark earth and grass was thrown amidst the smouldering ashes of the town while the people hid in the Amber Wood outside the village, or farther abroad if they owned a horse or donkey.

Now the knights readied themselves to battle with the dragon and to slay it before the dragon could make more destruction. All seven armed themselves with hauberks of the finest chainmail and swords of the strongest steel. Everard hung his arrow-filled quiver at his side and strung his great longbow. They waited until twilight fell and then they marched on the dragon, for their horses were too skittish at the smell of the dragon to venture near to it.

When they came upon the dragon he had already broken through the hill into the tomb and lay on the gold and jewels that had been entombed with the old king many generations ago. It mocked the knights and with the first swipe of its great claw sent one of the knights to his death. The wyrm spewed fire into the air and scorched the very air, but Everard’s heart did not quail. He knocked an arrow and pulled it to his cheek. He waited for the dragon to rear and loosed the fateful shaft. The arrow flew from the great bow and hit the dragon in its soft underbelly, boring through the scales there. The dragon roared and set the grass about the hill aflame. Then he lunged at the young knight. With one blow of its massive claws sent the knight’s soul to the afterlife as the dragon’s lifeblood ebbed away and the Dragon's Bane poison consumed him and the great beast died upon its bed of stolen gold.

Deeply bereaved, the remaining knights loaded their fallen leader onto a makeshift bier and carried him through the scorched grass of the hill towards the town, leaving the dragon upon the pile of gold and jewels and not one of the knights wanted a single coin of the hoard.

The villagers, meanwhile, watched the fight from a distance and when they saw the dragon die and its fire go out, most rushed to the hill to see what gold or jewels they could claim for themselves. Aune went to look for Everard, with an awful knot in her stomach and tears in her eyes. She came upon the knights and the bier and cried and wailed when she saw the lifeless body of her love Everard. As the villagers rushed past her, she grew angry and when they started press her to gather some of the gold for herself, she gathered golden coins and jewels in the large pocket of her apron. Then, when she could barely walk from the gold’s weight, she kissed Everard on his brow and stumbled to the river. There she stepped into the dark water, but instead the water claimed her in the darkness.

When the rest of the village realized what she had done they went to the river bank, but saw only gold glittering on the river bed. Most of them then realized that they had fallen prey to the bane of the dragon that made them want gold and riches more than anything in the world. They did not even think of all those that lost their lives at his claws and fire. One by one the villagers also threw the gold into the river to be buried there or to wash downstream with the strong current to find new masters. But though gold is still seen on the river bed of the river now called the River of Gold, no one will touch it, or claim it for their own, lest the dragon’s bane come upon them.

As for Aune and Everard, most agree that they are now living the life together that they did not have a chance to live upon the earth, and that where they are now living; there are neither dragons, nor pain, nor death. Only love.