Of Allaxdrow

The skills of the weaponsmith Toukol were legendary, as he was instrumental in forming the order of the Mithrodin under the direction of the Ancient One, Atnal. He became thier chief designer and weaponsmith. He was also instructor of the great warrior Kethol Av Torketal in later days, and forged for him the legendary bladed staff Ellexdrow, which Kethol wielded in the Red War. However there was a time in earlier days when Toukol forged another spear, before the Mithrodin. It was called Allaxdrow, and Ellexdrow was its mate. It was the first spear forged by Toukol, and the first spear to be wielded by the woman who would become the first Mithrodin warrior.

In the one hundred and twenty-eighth year of the Fifth Age, the Battle of the Ancients had been fought against Evruc, The Dark One. Six of the Ancient Ones had perished in that war, but the Dark One’s body had been destroyed and his spirit now stayed imprisoned in the Neverworld of Avallos. His malicious deeds could no longer be wrought upon the land. The newly forged Swords of the Ancients were in use throughout the Great Realms. The Ancient Ones gave the most powerful of these swords, Anathar, to King Aghelm of Ammoria, but order had yet to come to the land. In this time the Uldurin made frequent attacks upon the Northlands of Deylindor, coming down from the frozen Isle of Ulioc. They were jealous and desired those swords that the Ancients had bestowed with special powers. This desire was fueled by the malcontent stirred by the Dark One prior to the war, infecting their entire race.

Toukol, a master blacksmith, made his abode in Ammoria where he was made the King’s armorer. He forged many great swords for the King, his sons, and the military captains and generals. A day came when word was sent to the King of an Uldurin attack upon the Eastern Kingdom of Volcemis. The Volcemites called for aid from Ammoria, and King Aghelm did respond, sending the better part of his army East; for he feared that if Volcemis fell, his kingdom would be assaulted next. This decision would prove to be a fateful one. Ammoria was soon attacked by a second army of Uldurin from the North, but most of the King’s army was still far away in the East. The city gates were broken and the enemy completely took the city and made it their own. Those Ammorians that survived became enslaved within their own city walls.

Toukol was forced to forge weapons for the Uldurin war masters, and this he did for four years, but he only forged inferior blades that either bent or chipped and often shattered upon hard use. Over time Toukol devised a plan to form a resistance force to hep free Ammoria. He knew of secret ways into the sewer duct system where there were underground tunnels and caves that the Uldurin were unaware of. Toukol smuggeld the slave Estea into these tunnels where she thence hid and lived. At night he trained her with wood swords by firelight, as he himself had been trained as a young Elf. She became very proficient in sword combat and within a year she could best Toukol himself in practice. Thus he taught her other forms of combat with the axe, spear, and steel tipped staff. When they were able, Toukol and Estea smuggled other slaves from the city above into the caverns below, and Toukol trained and armed those as well.

The Forging of Allaxdrow

Over time Estea had reached a high level of mastery and the time came to chose for her a primary weapon, which Toukol would forge for her. She was most proficient with the spear and staff, so he decided to craft a great bladed spear for her, suited to her stature and fighting style. In length it was the same as Estea in height. The shaft was crafted of the hardest blackwood, with two side blades mounted to steel fittings. On one end it was tipped with a steel spike and the other was a double edged spear blade, three hands long. Even though it could mean death for him if discovered, Toukol engraved his maker mark in the curved blade fittings, for he thought it the finest spear he had ever made. Since it was Estea’s first weapon of her own, he named it Allaxdrow. Allax meaning ‘one’ or ‘first,’ and drow meaning ‘spear.’

When two years had passed Toukol’s host of resistance warriors living in the caves then numbered twenty-three and Estea had become their leader. With confidence that they were ready for real combat, she told Toukol of her plan to reclaim Anathar...

The Tale of the Swords of the Ancients and Other Blades of Power and its previous versions, The Swords of the Ancients and its abridged excerpts, and other forms, are ©1997 and ©2005 by Kit Rae. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any other form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, computer networking, or otherwise without prior permission in writing by the copyright holder(s).