Читать книгу Young Thongor - Lin Carter - Страница 9
ОглавлениеDIOMBAR’S SONG OF THE LAST BATTLE
1.
With dawn we rode from Nemedis
in all her pomp and pride.
The white road thundered beneath our tread
and the white sea at our side.
The wild waves broke on the naked rocks
and returned to break once more
Where the grim black walls of the Dragon Keep
loomed on the grim black shore.
2.
The foam-maned lions of the sea
drove madly against the strand.
On a desolate stretch of wet black rock,
the heroes took their stand.
Above, against a storm-torn sky
of whirling crimson smoke,
The jagged walls of the Keep rose sheer
from the rocks where white waves broke.
3
And Thungarth, son of Jaidor, urged
his mount to the grim black gate
That rose above him like a cliff,
death-cold and dark as fate.
Ah, he was young as morning,
a hero to behold;
His mighty thews like ruddy bronze,
his mane like ruddy gold.
4
The challenge was his alone to claim,
by clan-law and blood-right,
For the Dragon Kings had slain his sire
in treachery by night.
He set his war horn to his lips—
the thunder of its cry
Aroused the Dragon warriors forth
to conquer or to die.
5.
And from the ebon citadel
the Dragon Warriors came,
And they were mailed in adamant,
and armed with evil flame.
The heroes rode against them
and strove with sword and shield
To fight and fall—if fall they must
—to die, but never yield!
6.
And Khorbane fell, and proud Konnar,
and gallant Yggrim too;
Yet still we strove with the Dragon Kings
and the great war trumpets blew.
And for every hero of Phondath’s breed
who upon that black shore fell
We sent a dozen Dragons down
the scarlet throat of hell!
7.
From wild red dawn to wild red dawn
we held our iron line
And fought till the blades broke in our hands
and the sea ran red as wine.
With arrow, spear and mighty mace,
we broke the Dragon’s pride,
Thigh-deep in the roaring sea we fought,
and crimson ran the tide.
8.
But we were armed with simple steel,
and they with sorcery;
And step by step they thrust us back
into the hungry sea.
And Thungarth saw that he must use
that Sword the Gods had made
Although he knew it meant his doom
to lift that dreadful blade.
9.
As one by one his brothers fell,
he raised the Star Sword high!
He sang the runes to the Lords of Light
—and thunder broke the sky!
Red lightning flashed—drums of thunder crashed—
a rain of fire fell
To sweep the last of the Dragon Kings down
to the smoking pits of hell!
10.
But the Lord of the Dragons was old and wise
and a mighty mage was he.
He loosed a bolt of flaming death—
his warriors laughed to see
The Star Sword broke in Thungarth’s hand!
and now what hope for Men?
The scaly might of the hissing horde,
they were upon him then…
11.
But he beat them back with the broken blade,
there, caught in the roaring tide.
And one by one they fell before
young Thungarth in his pride.
But the Dragon Lord, with a great black spear,
he drove them forth once more,
They closed again with Thungarth there
while the wild waves ran with gore.
12.
Yet once again he beat them back
with a fragment of the Sword;
They broke and fell before him then,
and he faced their mighty Lord.
The great black spear was sharp and long,
his Sword but a shard of steel;
The Dragon Lord was fresh and strong,
but Thungarth would not yield.
13.
He battled there with the broken blade,
half-drowned in the roaring tide;
The great black spear drank deep as it sank
in Thungarth’s naked side.
But ere the Son of Jaidor fell,
or ere his strength could wane,
The Broken Sword of Nemedis
had clove the Dragon’s brain.
14.
Thunder rolled in the crimson sky.
the War Maids rode the storm
To bear the soul of Thungarth home
to the Halls of Father Gorm.
The Age of the Dragon ended there
where the seas with scarlet ran:
Though the cost was high, the prize was great,
and the Age of Men began.
