Drengur, a goodly lad, tall and strong, untested
Sought a king’s gift in the earth.
A chest of silver and its twin
Cast into a pit with dead thralls following,
By his elder kin – hoary, bent and blind,
Egil Skallagrimsson.
Dragvandil, birthed from the sky, glowing iron,
Battle beaten, strong made, a well-tested blade.
A gift from Thordis, to serve at need,
To cleave limbs, bash skulls, break shields,
In time past serving Egil’s massive arm
Laying men low on field of war.
Drengur into the earth descended, by a cliff door,
Into a bat home, black and cold and silent.
Lightless he sought his way, a blind man,
As his ancestor, hands and ears reaching.
Bones he found, broken frames of men,
Splintered as kindling, dry as leaves.
Ogmundr, crouching in cave bowels, smelled man.
Hairy hands clenching, slavering jowls wagging,
Dread beast, fell demon, Grendel-kin.
Bound by blood, Egil’s doing, thralls given,
To keep silver, to guard treasure, to await finder.
Season upon season in darkness watching.
Drengur, feeling foulness lurking, halted.
A reckoning, with evil contending, costly silver.
A ship, a crew, a name, a weighing in his mind.
Face set, eyes hard, blade drawn, heart stone
Speaking into the earth, calling to the darkness.
Fiend of hell, shape thyself. Speak thy name.
Ogmundr am I. Hell’s flame cloaks me.
Desert places I haunt, dwelling in darkness.
Man flesh I eat, man blood I drink, well full.
Night roamer, bone breaker, life taker
Skull crusher, throat biter, soul stealer.
Disturb me to thine hurt, youngling.
Ogmundr shambled forth, dividing from midnight.
Unclean spirit bound to form by Egil’s word.
Thrall blood dranken, thrall flesh devoured,
Made thrall in the pit, to silver enslaved.
Keep till kinsman descends, none else. Curse!
Curse the curse! The long darkness, curse!
Ogmundr to Egil bound, Egil dead long years
Curse long held, curser long dust. Curse!
Thy kinsman, thy kinsman, I knowest not!
Thy blood upon mine tongue, a drop will tell.
Pricked finger, red swelling, tongue wagging
The taste of Egil long held, kinsman to tell.
Drengur held Dragvandil, sharp, held to strike
The fiend, the demon, the Grendel-kin beast.
I seeketh a king’s gift, long hidden, my kinsman’s hoard.
A silver hoard, iron bound chests, stone heavy.
Knowest thou? Conceal to thine hurt, devil.
Iron words, iron will, iron heart, iron bared.
Ogmundr, sly fiend, slithering mind. Curse!
Curse the kinsman of dead Egil, by blood
Keeper of silver, guarder of treasure, curser of finder.
Egil’s vow, O Man, silver to kinsman alone I giveth.
Thy blood upon my tongue, a drop will tell!
Mine, thou to taste, to let loose the vow.
Drengur, pricked finger, red swelling, tongue wagging
The taste of Egil long held, kinsman true.
Silver hoard from lair uncovered, iron bound chests
A king’s gift from the earth, long hidden
A ship, a crew, a name, a weighing in his mind,
Found in the earth, a long sought fortune.
Ogmundr, claw scratching, ichor oozing, foul drop.
Taste! Taste! O Man, fulfill thy portion, Egil hath vowed.
Dread draught, blood draught, hellish draught,
Pit drawn poison, binding man to fiendish fate.
Shadowed life, a fell darkness, living pain.
Vile mirth, cold revenge on Egil’s kin.
Drengur, lips burning, bowels burning,
Limbs wracking, wrenching, writhing,
Grendel-kin blood binding his fate.
Ever living, ever dying, ever burning.
Silver sought in darkness, dearly bought.
Soul and body by foulness brought to pain.
Ogmundr laughing, form dissolving, free of curse,
Freed from form bondage, again desert wanderer,
In shadow living, in darkness dwelling, free!
Night roamer, bone breaker, life taker
Skull crusher, throat biter, soul fouler.
Egil’s vow turned, Egil’s kinsman felled.
Drengur, heart darkened, soul darkened, living!
In twilight now dwelling, alloyed with fiend.
Grendel-kin cursed, half-form bondage.
Whole in darkness, shadowed in light.
Silver sought, silver bought, silver brought
From the earth, a kinsman’s hoard, with pain.