The Tale of Bargle’s Fall

Companions we awoke beneath
   The broken castle wall
That sheltered once our nemesis
   Before we came to call
Now he has fled, soon to be dead
   Or else become our thrall

O Bargle, Bargle wicked one
   You can’t escape this song
For it is loud and full of life
   And it goes on and on
What darkness grows on wings of crows
   Will scatter in the dawn

Such haste, you made your dragon cry
   To never see you more
It longed to die upon the blade
   Brave Cedric bathed in gore
The lair is burned, your plans are learned
   From journals on the floor

Despite our mission’s urgency
   We paused to hear the news
Stephàn gave to a sheepherder
   A treasure for his clues
For it is thus, we’re generous
   To all that life issues

Those wicked plans we must forestall
   Warn first the friendly gnome
Fond of the elderberry wine
   Thence from his hearth and home
Xan by our side, new friend and guide
   A dragon of our own

Come Dyffyd, Finch and Iorweth
   Come wolf the dark to stalk
Come find the mischief in the night
   If you would beat the clock
Across the vale of Delver’s Dale
   To free prince Caradoc

There in the clearing down below
   A tryst was underway
Bargle’s birds and the beasts of Nakt
   Before them something lay
The prince was bound with head face down
   And then began the fray

O treachery, O treacherous
   The snake had bit its tail
Greed on both sides no balance makes
   Temptation made trust pale
Now blood is drawn and before long
   Kenku and beast will wail

“D’Annunzio! For Honor!” and
   For the Finch’s father
For prisoners and innocents
   Caught like a breath in water
Companions we charged fearlessly
   Into the growing slaughter

Such feats and cunning were displayed
   That have not been seen since
Another tune had best be made
   Or else you’ll start to wince
So here’s the thing, we’ve now a king
   Who once had been our prince

A sword, an arrow in the air
   The price of death was weighed
The beasts fell down, the birds blew off
   No one your place would trade
For you we’re offed while stunned aloft
   By this, my serenade

O Bargle, Bargle wicked one
   You can’t escape this song
For it is loud and full of life
   And it goes on and on
What darkness grows on wings of crows
   Has scattered in the dawn

To right the wrongs the one who erred
   Knows better what to do
So as there is no end without
   Beginning something new
Your life is spared, Dyffyd has dared
   To give it back to you