Hrothgar and Hryllingur, Part XX
Continuing Somhairle na Dagney's retelling of Beowulf.
If you're new to this serialization, here's the link to the introductory post, which now has the complete table of contents. Or you can read the completed (to date) verses here.
So simple to slay!
Flesh for feasting; hunger quenched.
One sleeper taken, blood and bone
Devoured: Bjarndýr next to bear
The creature’s deadly claw,
Raised for red murder,
Reached for Bjarndýr, blood-lust burning –
Hard the hand gripping high its arm!
Such strength! The fen-fiend, filled with fear,
Writhes and wrestles, wailing.
Bjarndýr rises,
An oath to honour. His fingers crush
Foul flesh, doorward drags the creature,
Held tight in terror: Heorot
No feasting-hall tonight
But a battleground.
Fierce the fight! Warriors cower
Timbers shake. Smith-strengthened beams
Withstand; wide benches crash, splinter,
Spilling shards of gold.
Heorot would hold.
Only flame could finish it. Bjarndýr
Binds the creature closer: its howls
A horror heard; loss its lament,
Its death divined.
More next Thursday!
Find my books at https://scarletferret.com/authors/marian-l-thorpe