The Story of the Elven Prince

In the realm of woods, it came to pass
An elvish lad of highest class
The heir to the throne of the East
Would turn into a horrid beast
For great tragedy he came to cause
One day his brother against all laws
For right to the throne called a duel
Which proved to be a deadly fuel
For the crown prince’s wrath
T' is to end in bloodbath

They fought in the deep of night
Blades crossing without a fright
The battle ventured on and on
Fiercely ‘till the edge of dawn
When Kishay with his mighty sword
A blade t’ was from cursed iron wrought
Dealt the battle’s final blow
His brother’s blood began to flow
In streams of deep dark red
From his severed head
T’ was then the fury fell from him
And filled with satisfaction grim
The prince his blade wiped clean
And fled from his crime’s scene
Into the woods he disappeared
His hands with his kin’s blood were smeared
But when the sun’s first beam
Broke through the leaves a scream
Was heard in the woods, a horrid sound
For the King now his dead son had found
He knew the wound from cursed blade
With heavy heart he asked for aid
From his hunters most skilled
To find prince who his brother had killed
They searched for Kishay far and wide
Until he had nowhere to hide
And brought him before King’s feet
Where his doom he was to meet
Ere sword his head from his neck could part
The King found compassion in his heart
To lose another son he could not stand
And thus, the elven prince was banned
From the lands of trees and of wind’s breath
Never to return until his death
So Kishay went away alone
And left behind his childhood home
Into the wilderness he strayed
With nothing but his cursed blade
Taking his course north-west
To find a home his quest

This tragedy from long ago
What came of it I do not know
But rumour has it around here
The elven prince is drawing near
His sword still sharp and keen
Have any of you seen
The prince with his dark hair
Who had once been so fair
But his heart has grown pitch black
So take my advice: watch your back!

---

This is the version of Kishay's story Auun tells in The Wailing Harp. It's a version he put together himself, especially the last stanza was added on for his research to get people talking. It does hold some factual errors and does not reflect what actually happened in the sense that Kishay didn't behead his brother and he didn't do it out of malice, like Auun suggests here. It also wasn't a fight about the right of the throne, it was a fight about Tilestras, which isn't a cursed blade but a sacred relic.
In a quite meta way this version of the story mimics my first iteration of it when Kishay was part of an entirely different story I had started writing in 7th grade.