[Book] The Hsaarik Elegy [Merged]

Post Reply
User avatar
Tristior
Project Administrator
Posts: 798
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 2:12 pm

[Book] The Hsaarik Elegy [Merged]

Post by Tristior »

An accounting of every death suffered by the Companions during the Return.

Book I

First of the Companions to die was OYVIND
As the Harakk danced in tortured throes upon the shore
Cast from the deck in that calamitous moment
A simple rock spilled all that he was into the waves
His knowing had been
JORN
The skalds would call his name a curse
Unwitting bearer of death

Orkey did not hesitate to snatch away GEIR
Who had seen the reef from atop the mast
But the wind had stolen his alarum
And smashed him onto Harakk’s unyielding boards
His was the knowing
OLOGIR
He would never reclaim his honor
Only the sea now knew his worth

[...]

Eleventh death that groaning day was VIGDIS
Her two children had starved in the last winter
Though she fought at first the water’s intrusion
At last she chose to breathe it, and died at peace
Her knowing had been
SNAED
Though it meant little now
Pulled down by weight of mail

None could be spared for next was YNGOL
Greatest smith, whose father had wept a god’s blood
Wept himself, with black metal hauling his face below
Its sharp rivulets tearing at his eyes
His father had bestowed the knowing
JOFNLAV
But now his name brought only pain
His memory haunted every joy

[...]

Book II

[...]

The last death without violence belonged to AASVEIG
Age at last enacted its threat upon the veteran
She slipped gently away against the stones that still smouldered
Gazing upon a land she had never known
Her knowing was thought to be
DIS
The hands of those who loved her were many
And they piled stones to an awesome height

The earliest death on the frosted slopes about Saarthal was ORVAR
He had hastened ahead of Ysgramor’s host
Hoping to find the snowy elves, and instead
He had found their cruel spears and ragged cries
His knowing was to be
ARG
Though his lustiness sputtered and cooled
Buried in the falling snows evermore

The next to die was UNNR
In her eagerness she nearly overtook Orvar
Rushing to her demise, though she was not swift enough
Her hearth-husband soon found another, but never forgot
Her knowing then was
GRA
And her long black braids never turned
Though countless seasons did around them

[...]

The ninth death in true battle belonged to BJARNE
A sword-point pressed through his throat as he tried to stand
He had saved three Men on the crossing from Atmora
His body ravaged by the cold sea he had dragged them from
His knowing was thus
HEEDIG
And at last he could rest
Immersed forever in the cold

[...]

Book III

Fifty-first to fall amidst the sword-din was IDUNN
The endless clangour breaking down her resolve
Until it was bloody kindness to crush her throat
Granting peace to her wracked and sobbing form
Her knowing ought to be
HAAFIN
Her name true not even once
Forgotten where she fell

[...]

Fifty-fourth, one-hundredth since Atmora, was KYNMUD
She spoke with the tongue of the goddess herself
She screamed her foe to pieces until, in a single moment
She finally came apart, tendon by tendon
Her knowing is still spoken as
OTTRA
First of her kind upon Mereth
Five hundred summers undone

[...]

Last death upon the first day of battle was TRYGVE
Though fighting had ceased none heard his cries
He nursed the spilling wound that opened up his gut
As though it were the babe he left behind at Jylkurfyk
His knowing she would learn as
URDLAV
And truly none had seen this
All had thought him blessed

[...]

User avatar
roerich
Cruel Warlord
Posts: 2166
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:10 pm
Location: Denmark

Post by roerich »

As I wrote on Discord, this is badass and a great text idea. Perhaps this one could be reserved for runic stone tablets, perhaps part of the Ysmir Collective?
"I don't know if you are kidding but I 100% support a Big Mouth Billy Bass in PC"
- Taniquetil

Post Reply

Return to “SHotN Literature”