Shadow at Bay

'''About twenty feet high, ten feet deep and twenty feet long, this sculpture of quarried white marble depicts a tall, broad-shouldered, bearded man wielding a sword and standing off against three sharp-fanged and clawed Wildlings. One of the Wildlings is perched atop an angled rock, flanked by the other two. All three Wildlings are crouched and drawing back somewhat from the weapon held by the warrior.' This statue depicts Ulfell Lomasa, the original Blademaster of the Emperor's Blades, during the First Wildling War as he engaged in a fateful battle against three Wildlings in an ambush along the Lightholder River near Caryas Hill - the future site of Fastheld Keep. The pitched battle ultimately ended with Lomasa's mortal wounding by the poisoned claws and fangs of the Shadow-Touched creatures, but legend holds that he gave a good accounting of himself before falling in that final fight. The sword he grips in this depiction is none other than the famous Wildfang, whose hilt featured a jewel clutched in several Wildling claws. This statue was the work of an artist named Hakke Wheatfield. He created the statue in the year 463 ATA (After the Aegis) as an homage to the first Blademaster, commissioned by Duke Galken Lomasa. He didn't get it quite right at first, as far as the Duke was concerned, however. The original design depicted Ulfell Lomasa in the process of being pounced by the Wildlings. The Duke took offense. Wheatfield explained that it was what happened and, besides, it was more of an artistic challenge to try to show the Wildlings leaping within the parameters imposed by marble. Also, Wheatfield said, he had quarried the rock himself and didn't feel terribly compelled to go back and do that again. After Galken Lomasa threatened to reclaim the retainer fee and to ruin Wheatfield's reputation throughout the realm, the artist relented, quarried more stone, and built a statue that offered a more flattering depiction of the brave Blademaster.''


 * Status: Owned by Arturo Lomasa