Cedric at the Wall
From EastKingdomWiki
Written by Grim the Skald in the Old Norse meter of Fornyrthislag. This is an account of the events of the Castle battle at the 34rd Pennsic War (A.S. 40.)
Their fortress stood | with strong walls gaping | |
Battle engines had | breached the keep-shell[1] | |
East-realm fighters | faced an ocean[2] | |
A mighty force | four-fold larger[3] | |
Harsh cry rang out | came then the host | |
Mid-Realm boots made | booming thunder | |
Men of Snowberg | manned the first line | |
Well they knew their | weird[4] was coming | |
Angus waited, | his arms shining | |
Pole axe readied | to reap the foe | |
He knew the gap | must not be crossed | |
If keep should see | its sunset next | |
Backing the first rank | was brave Cedric | |
Weathered veteran | of wars uncounted | |
He grimly smiled, | gripped his iron,[5] | |
And lowered his glaive | to greet the foe | |
Waves of foe-men | foreword charged then | |
That pounding surf | of swords and spears | |
Break-wall met them | Dragon’s[6] rush stopped | |
A tide of foes | turned off the causeway | |
A fearsome price | paid men of Snowberg | |
Half of them fell | in that first spear-clash[7] | |
Those still living | struck back swiftly, | |
And pressed the foe, | with a fearless charge | |
Angus leapt then | lashing forward | |
His blade-keel cut[8] | across shield-sea | |
A crashing blow | beat him downward | |
Split asunder | spar[9] and breastplate | |
Gravely wounded | he watched the wave[10] crash | |
Time and again | Tygers[11] were pounded | |
Crashing shield-surf[12] | shook the East-Men | |
But yielded they | only inches | |
A mighty swell | swept then forward | |
Pushed the East’s line, | parted shield-wall | |
Driven harshly, | harried fighters | |
Braced against the | broken fort side | |
Gleaming halberd | hewed the foam’s[13] rush | |
Behind the line | held by the foe | |
Tall and looming | where turret met wall | |
Bold Cedric stood | with brandished steel | |
Nimble-footed Finn | fought beside him | |
And kept at bay | the clash of spears | |
Cedric’s hewer [14] | slashed o’er Finn’s shield | |
Sought the Dragons, | sundered brain-forts [15] | |
Wounded Angus | watched this tumult | |
Saw the foe-tide | surge against them | |
The hard battlers | blocked his vision | |
He feared Cedric | fell that moment | |
Steel-torrent[16] thinned | though strife raged on | |
A halberd still | was held aloft | |
Finn’s hall-binder[17] | blocked the draw-wands[18] | |
Where Cedric stood | staves could not reach | |
While the tygers | tore the shield-wall | |
Still the halberd | hacked behind it | |
Cedric’s war-flash[19] | fed the ravens[20] | |
Though his arms did | ache from each swing | |
Then twice stronger | struck the East’s foe | |
Battering clash | drove back the keep-men | |
Powerful charge | pushed the corner | |
Protector Finn | fell from edge storm[21] | |
Then close was pressed | pole-arm’s wielder | |
With bleeding hands | he beat back foes | |
He used the wall | to ward his flank | |
Though hard beset | his hewer ne’er slept | |
Horn resounded | round the fortress | |
Called to end | the crashing war-tide | |
Cedric’s foe men | fell back from him | |
Stalwart fighter | stood unbeaten | |
Wounded were gathered | given succor | |
Angus was found, | aided to stand | |
Here are the words | we heard him speak: | |
“Brave men have I seen | in many a fight | |
Never as steadfast | and strong as today | |
None with such courage | as Cedric showed here | |
Well-inspired husband[22]— | and warrior true | |
He fought till the end | with one hall-binder | |
Never let his deeds | today be forgot!” | |
So spoke Angus | so speaks the skald | |
Singing the word-fame | of Cedric to all |
©2005 Dan Marsh
Footnotes
- ↑ Norse poetry uses “Kennings,” phrase-based metaphors, to stand for words. Sometimes they will continue to use a Kenning along a certain theme throughout the poem – this is called “Allegory.” I used many ocean themes, in this case I am indicating the “shell” as the castle wall.
- ↑ An Allegory for a lot of men.
- ↑ The East Kingdom was badly outnumbered that year
- ↑ Fate
- ↑ A kenning for weapon. In this case, a halberd
- ↑ The Dragon is on the Mid-Realm’s arms, so I use it as a kenning for the Mid-realm soldiers.
- ↑ “Spear-clash” is a kenning for battle, I’m using it here to describe a part of one.
- ↑ This is an allegory, a ship’s keel “cuts” the waves.
- ↑ A staff, in this case a pole-axe
- ↑ An allegory for a charge.
- ↑ Just as I use Dragons for Mid-Realm soldiers, I also use Tygers for the East.
- ↑ Again, a “wave” of shields
- ↑ Allegory for the front line of the Mid-Realm charge, just as the “foam” appears on the top of the wave.
- ↑ A kenning for axe, in this case I mean his halberd
- ↑ A kenning for skulls
- ↑ A kenning for battle
- ↑ A kenning for shield, as they hung on the walls of long halls.
- ↑ A kenning for swords
- ↑ A kenning for a weapon
- ↑ A kenning for killing warriors in battle
- ↑ Yet another kenning for "battle," a subject dear to the Norse.
- ↑ I have been told that when Cedric announced his engagement, he stated that no woman was more inspiring than his intended, and he would stand at the Pennsic fort to fight anyone who thought otherwise