The Epic of Karnalax

Karnalax, Karnalax, Knight of the Rohneland,
Did walk across the plains,
To where the ogre lay.
He slew the ogre upon the plains,
Where the blood flows out to this very day,
And when the people pass by,
They remember Karnalax.

Karnalax of the Rohneland,
Did return the High King of all that land,
And demanded the hand of his daughter,
But yea he would not grant it to Karnalax,
For Karnalax was an uncouth lad.

Smitten Karnalax went to the graveyard,
To hang himself among the tombstones,
When a ghost rose up before his face,
And told him of Atlantis,
Which lay across the plains,
Across the mountains,
And across the sea.

Karnalax did let himself down from his tree,
And did walk out from the graveyard,
And did return home.
In the morn he gathered provisions and men,
With him was Doran of Nahornia,
Zarkov of Khyzrel,
Merlek of Tamrez-Arkan,
And Meldarn the Dwarf.

The five companions set out from the Rohneland,
They travelled across the great plains,
They passed the spot where the ogre was slew,
And they came there to the foot of the mountains high.

Yea the men were surly, but Karnalax pushed on,
The men crossed over the pass,
Barbarians were encountered and felled Merlek,
But lo! He was not dead!
So they decided to bring him down to Barlorn's Vale,
Deep within the mountain range.

Karnalax and his men strapped down Zarkov,
To a bed made of dezerek wood,
And did lead him down the mountainside,
To Barlorn's Vale.

In Barlorn's Vale they found a man,
A man who held the cure,
Which lay in the ether! The magical ether!
But alas he could not extract the ether without the incantation!
So the men set out to find the incantation.

The men travelled to the cave of the Sasquatch,
Oh the horrible Sasquatch!
They did stand their ground, no less,
And the Sasquatch fell to the ground,
And they severed his head,
And consumed his flesh in the night,
And claimed the ether!

But alas, in the camp below the cave trouble did stir,
When the men awoke one of their number was missing!
It was Meldarn the Dwarf!
He had been carried away by the hobgoblins,
So the men delayed and sought ought Meldarn.

They followed the scent of the hobgoblins to the rickety old fortress,
Which was known of old as Kar Bardun-Ra,
And in there they found the hobgoblins and slew them all,
And they also found the severed head of Meldarn!
And Karnalax did sing a song that is oft repeated in the land.

"Wo unto Meldarn, son of Bogo!
He hath fallen upon this plain!
The gods cross his soul across The River,
To the halls of his fathers.
Lo! We cut ourselves in the flesh,
We place ashes upon our brows,
For Meldarn is dead!
The soul of Meldarn is crossed!"

Which as it was spoken in his tongue was,
"Wo Meldarne don Bogo!
Id heth narn in argon!
Kora askar Flomarn wayn,
In Kar des Tarlna.
Lo! Kwe barg in forash,
Kwe sarken in gwelda,
Pro Meldarn karn!
Wayn Meldarna enaskar!"

And so they solemnly walked down the mountain,
After they partook in the funeral pyre of Meldarn,
And travelled into the village of Barlorn's Vale,
To gather up Merlek after giving him the ether,
Which they had claimed from the cave of the Sasquatch.

But hark! A man came forth with tears in his eyes,
And did inform the party of the death of Merlek,
And Karnalax did fall upon his knees and tore his clothes!
"WHY?" He cried out to the gods,
But the gods did not answer him,
For the destiny of the dead was decided prior to their birth,
And they crossed the River to the halls of their fathers,
Or so it was said in those days of old.

So in tears the three men set out,
Karnalax, Zarkov, and Doran,
For Merlex and Meldarn were dead.

The men crossed from the mountains in the Tarkzaz Desert,
A desert hot and vast,
So hot and vast that no man had crossed it in total.
Would they be the first?
Karnalax led the group into the first steps,
And they travelled many a mile without seeing a man,
Without seeing a beast,
Without seeing anything alive.

On the fifth day in the desert the men's provisions ran out and Doran fell ill,
Karnalax prayed to the gods for his recovery but it was no use,
For upon the sixth day Doran died in the desert.
Once again Karnalax tore his clothes,
He shook his fist at the heavens,
He was feeling despair that only he and Zarkov were left,
But he pressed on!

After one day the two men came to an oasis,
The oasis of the nomads!
They did parley with the nomads and took up room and board,
But the treacherous nomads had other plans,
For in the night they took Karnalax and Zarkov captive!
They awoke tied up and in a cage.
But Karnalax was clever and hatched a plan,
He had Zarkov strike him over and over until the guards came running,
And when the guards were in the cell he attacked the guards,
And as they swung with their scimitars he caught the rope on them and cut it!

The two men took off into the night and the camp was in an uproar,
Karnalax and Zarkov ran across the camp and jumped on a pair of camels,
They stole off into the night as the nomads chased after them, but it was no use.
Karnalax and Zarkov travelled off into the night and rode another day.

By the next day the two men had reached a coastal port,
They spent the night in the inn and rented a boat in the morn,
They set sail across the sea for Atlantis,
But, alas, the mission was doomed!
A storm blew up and rocked the boat back and forth,
And a great crash of lighting struck and splinters flew!
All went dark.

As the dawn broke threw the trees Karnalax was alone,
He sat on a jungle island with some wreckage,
And amid the wreckage he beheld a wretched sight!
It was Zarkov's dead body!
Karnalax fell down and wept, and tore his clothes,
He shook his fist, but he knew not what at anymore.
But hope crept into his eyes, for he beheld a great sight!
A city on a hill in the distance!
Was it Atlantis?

He walked up the hill to the top of the escarpment,
And he found ruins!
And amid the ruins were some huts,
And Karnalax asked one of the hutters a question,
"Might I inquire as to this? Is this Atlantis,"
And he answered, "Yea,"
And with this Karnalax was disappointed,
And he set out into the jungles,
And in the jungles he was driven into madness.

Some years later travelers came upon an old man on an island,
He was dirty and he was mad,
It was none other than Karnalax.
And when the reports came home of his current state people were shocked,
They asked questions and spread rumors.

When Karnalax died his body was returned to his homeland,
And buried in the graveyard near the tree,
The very tree from which Karnalax once tried to hang himself,
And to this very day the story is told in the land,
Of Karnalax and his band of men,
Men who failed and died,
And one who found what he was looking for but not what he was seeking.

Now, when the children ask why Karnalax did it,
Why he set out for Atlantis,
Their parents always have one reply for them,
"Because he felt like it."
And that is the tale of Karnalax, Hero of the Rohneland.