1. Notes

Revenge of the Rose

What follows is an old elvish song about a terrible time where elves laid down their lives in defense of Grellen's Grove. It is rarely sung now and all but forgotten:


Near the tower of Bannon Brae,

Where flowers once did brightly sway,

There came a cruel and wicked foe,

With fiery sword and heart of woe.


Count Kas was his loathsome name,

And terror was his only aim,

He sought the Flowers of Bannon Brae,

To crush them all without delay.


With burning rage and poisoned breath,

He vowed to bring them pain and death,

And every brand he burned that day,

Was a soul in cruel torment's sway.


But one flower, so fair and bright,

Survived the horrors of that night,

And though she sang a mournful tune,

Her spirit shone like a silver moon.


Came cruel Kas into that land,    

With fire and steel in either hand, 

And a curse which fouled his breath;

I seek the Flowers of Bannon Brae;

I bring them pain and death.


Each brand that burn'd in Bannon Brae, 

Was a soul in cruel torment.

Count Kas who cut the bright flowers down,

Left but one to sing Lament.


The lone survivor of Bannon Brae,

A flower fair with petals gay,

Sang mournful tunes of loss and woe,

For all the friends now laid so low.


She wept and wailed with sweetest sound,

For all the beauty on the ground,

That once had bloomed in colors bright,

But now lay crushed in endless night.


The cruel Count, with a heart of stone,

Had left her there, bereft, alone,

To mourn the fate of all her kin,

And keep their memory safe within.


And so she sings her mournful song,

Of love and loss, and right and wrong,

For all the flowers of Bannon Brae,

That perished in that fateful day.