Enjoy this reading of The Fall of Ice-Reach Castle, an Ice Folk Song by Lester Smith. It was first published in Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It was published by Wizards of the Coast on January 8th, 2008. You can pick up a copy here: https://amzn.to/3xdtmif
The Fall of Ice-Reach Castle
An Ice Folk Song
By Lester Smith
Attend now, Ice Folk, to my tale,
Of the day that Ice Wall Castle fell,
And heed the lessons it reveals.
The tower had stood for ages long,
With walls of ice on walls of stone;
And wizard Feal-Thas called it home.
This dark elf magus held in thrall
A thousand thanoi to man its walls—
Fierce walrus-men. Nor was this all:
For ice-bears these fiends had enslaved,
Taunted, and tortured, till they raved
For blood and flesh to sate their rage.
Draconians, too, in their hundreds
Upon the Ice Tower’s walls abounded,
To do whate’er Feal-Thas commanded.
And more than this, a great white dragon
Served the wizard’s will! Its might again
Affirming Feal-Thas’ right to reign.
For the dark elf had resolved to rule
With iron fist, and intent cruel,
Where long our people had endured.
The Ice Folk seemed to face their doom.
Against this threat, we had no boon.
Our hope upon the wind was strewn .
Listen, Ice Folk, to my tale!
Then Habakkuk, our old god, came
To Agéd Raggart, in a dream,
And promised victory in his name.
And strangers, too, were come to join
The Ice Folk’s cause, for which they gained—
Knights, elves, and dwarves—welcome as kin.
Chief Harald, frostreaver in hand
Called all true souls to take a stand
And cleanse the ice of Feal-Thas’ stain!
The day that Ice Wall Castle Fell!
Our ice boats launched as day dawned fair.
And though our hearts had long held fear,
A breath of hope was in the air.
Then we a miracle beheld!
Even as Habakkuk had vowed:
When we set forth, the dragon fled!
Heed the lessons here revealed!
Cheered by this sign, our sailors sailed
With joyful hearts; while alongside
The ice boats, camp dogs raced and bayed!
But tower’s shadow dimmed our mood,
For high and mighty still it stood,
With thanoi taunting—the ugly brood.
Then Agéd Raggart, with Elistan—
A priest of foreign Paladine—
Debarked their boats with this command:
“Watch now, and learn how gods of light,
Prepare a path for those who wait
And trust, so men may do what’s right!”
Harken, Ice Folk, to my tale!
Then these two graybeards walked alone
Toward the evil wizard’s home
Through hail of arrows, and boulders thrown.
Untouched, they stopped below the tower,
And, catching sunbeams from the air,
Brought them upon the walls to bear.
Beneath those beams, the ice walls steamed,
Then cracked in giant rifts and seams,
And fell—while thanoi plunged and screamed.
And now from every ice boat’s deck
Our warriors rushed into the wreck,
To Feal-Thas’ fiends delivering death!
And as for Feal-Thas and his magics:
The dark elf fell to an elf maid’s axe
And bled his life out on the ice.
The day his mighty castle Fell!
Where once a mighty fortress stood,
Now Ice Folk warriors freely strode,
The threat of Feal-Thas done for good.
Think on this tale, when hope seems far,
And let its lessons guide your heart,
For we, my brethren, Ice Folk are.
We, O brethren, Ice Folk are!
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