Chapter 20: Layagat and the Elf-Dwarf War
As the great War of Chaos raged on Arrasia, so the elves were divided and made their own way in the world and so it was that some made great ships and went south and many were lost. And the journey was a long and dark one, for on all sides the seas touched with great deserts that offered no respite, until the ships came to a great river which flowed through the sands, around which grew an oasis of grasses and lush vegetation and they followed this river, which they called Agat Amood, and there created the greatest elven city of any age, Mathenna.
The Agat Amood was a great river that split the great desert and brought life to the banks that surrounded it. And all along the Agat Amood sprang up elven homes - Arindo, Yethet, Yannu and Urth being the most well known beside Mathenna - and these elven lands were called Layagat. And for a while none in Arrasia knew of Layagat and the elves there found peace and so it was that a great culture grew, which saw all manner of discoveries and speculations and which saw the written word and calculus and even the estimation of time itself came into the world, for the elves of Layagat left no stone unturned in the search for the discoveries of Arrasia and they thought it as of Damarkan on Arrasia and there was a great happiness.
So it was that Uther and those that followed him had cleared large swathes of the evil that had consumed the southern lands and peace had come to some places and homes and settlements were made and news came to them of Layagat and Uther went in search of this mythical land. And so it came to be that Layagat was discovered, after many great adventures, and the men of the southern lands and the elves of Layagat came to know one another and there passed between them knowledge and trade and the elves lent to Uther their assistance and they fought against the evil of their lands side by side. And they called to the dwarves who dwelt in the mountains to fight with them, but they would not, for they called the elves traitors, who had betrayed Graxber and made him leave Kiwani, and that revenge was still be to had. Uther, knowing for himself the beauty of Layagat, did return there and choose to dwell there for a time and there was a great friendship between the men of the south and the elves of Layagat.
And from the shores of Agat Amood came great treasures of gold and precious stones, which were crafted into things of beauty and which adorned the halls of the elven lords and they were mighty powerful indeed and of all the lands of Arrasia it was there in the southern lands and Layagat that there was peace and that the evil were pushed aside and made to run or hide itself in the darkness of the great mountains, where war yet raged between Grism and Dyonicos. And in this peace came the keradinn, who were servants of Olmus and were corrupted with spite and foul evil and whose appeal was bleak. Forged in Mulhata, Olmus was now bent on her revenge and the destruction of the elves, who were the children of Shylar. So she sent them to Arrasia where they were hid for long as they mustered their numbers and news of this threat came to the dwarves of the mountains, but they said naught, for their hate of the elves was great.
When the great keradinn army was ready, they marched against their enemy and appeared unexpected out of the desert storms that whipped up around them and hid them from prying eyes and towns were laid waste and the fertile land made barren. But elves made their stand and slowed the onslaught and Uther returned to his men to call them to arms in aid of their ally and they prepared a great army and set sail in an armada of great ships.
So it was in this time, as the elves fought to slow the march of the keradinn against Mathenna and the army of men yet sailed to their aid, that the dwarves now reaped their revenge for old wounds and led a great assault against Urth and sieged the beautiful city that was under the mountains and called it retribution. So war was declared between the elves and dwarves of Arrasia and the defenses of Mathenna were greatly weakened as a great number were sent north to oppose the dwarven attack. And it was now, thus weakened, that the might of the keradinn struck against their enemy and Mathenna was sacked and razed to the ground and the fires could be seen from afar, but the dwarves were not moved and fought with the elves when they came and beat them and continued their siege and many inside Urth perished of starvation and disease and Layagat was wide open to its enemies.
And the great army of the keradinn laid waste to Layagat and Yannu, Yethet and Arindo all burned and those that dwelt there were murdered and when Uther and his men came down the shores of Agat Amood, all was smoldering and broken and there was a great rage in his heart. So it was that he landed his army and they met with the keradinn and the great Battle of Gorgorth was fought and the keradinn armies routed and forced to flee. But so great was the rage of Uther that he chased them into the desert and slaughtered those he found and then chased others, until he had come to the mountains and the keradinn were scattered and now few in number, so he made for Urth, which had fallen to the dwarves and been sacked, but who fled upon hearing of the approach of Uther.
So all of Layagat was made barren and its beauty cast into the sand and the river made to run red with the blood of those that had once lived there. And the elves thanked Uther for his aid, but there was a great rage within them and they mustered what they could and turned to the dwarves and made war with them and Uther and his men were with them and there was a war between the elves and the dwarves. So a new chaos returned to the south and many were killed in this war, for it was full of hatred for the other, until both sides were exhausted and could fight no more and a peace came between the two sides, though not friendship, and the elves now turned away from Layagat and marched towards the lands where Uther was lord.
The dwarves looked to Uther now for peace, for he had agreed not to assuage his rage, and he said no and fought them still, until it came to the dwarves a tale of what Uther sought, a way to return to Damarkan, and they knew of such a place and called to him to end his war against them and in return they would show him the way to Damarkan. So the war was ended and Uther led to the gateway that would lead him to where he wished to go and his men all avowed their loyalty and said they would die for him, whether it be on Arrasia or Damarkan or Herophet. And so it was that Uther returned to Damarkan, long after his great escape from the hells of Herophet.