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Dreygan forges Kâwrungdaga and Boyglir: chapter 7 of The Talyoran

 

Then Dreygan commanded Slungandi:


‘Bring the Drum of the Deep, and summon the Falakkazri, for I am about to forge the greatest fetters and chains that there will ever be in the northern world. And with these I shall take captive the great Coldworm Firungwáfi to be my household beast, for no other beast is great enough or cold enough to dwell with me.’


They gathered around the great anvil Nolgon, Slungandi before it, the Falakkazri on either side. Then Dreygan said to Slungandi:


‘Bring me my store of icemetal that I may forge with it.’


And Slungandi said:


‘I have paid the smiths of Hlund with it, and that is how I know that your enemies are on their way to destroy you.’


Dreygan became white with fury and his hair and beard stuck out like icicles. He raised the hammer Gantâr to strike Slungandi. But Slungandi said:


‘Strike me down, Lord Dreygan, and your good fortune ends. For I am the bearer of the secret crystal which I alone can use, and from it comes our power to achieve whatever we desire.’


‘Then by the eight staves of the immortals, use your crystal to find me a store of icemetal.’


‘Icemetal is not strong enough to hold back the might of Firungwáfi. The fetters and chains that do that must be forged from rock.’


‘I am a smith and a Ganga; rock is my element, and I know that no one can forge from rock.’


‘Nevertheless by the hottest fire, rocks can be melted and fused again. And so Dreygan the Frostgiant shall with his greatest enemy, fire, forge out of rock an unbreakable chain and collar. Slungandi will show him, with the power of the secret crystal.’


Despite the protests of Dreygan, Slungandi bade the Falakkazri bear the anvil Nolgon to the coldest place within reach of Firungráda. At some distance from the anvil, Slungandi built a kiln of rock with a cavity at the rear. Then he bade the Falakkazri fetch pieces of hrongil, a rock that is harder than any other, and pack the kiln with it. Then he privily placed the Talyoran within the cavity, its peak facing the stars. Meanwhile the Frostgiant stood before Nolgon at a great distance from the kiln with his feet in the freezing sea; and the Falakkazri piled ice around him. Then Slungandi beat on Brandubur and chanted the greater runes. A great smoke issued from the kiln. Both kiln and the rocks within became first red-hot, then white hot, and then molten. 


Slungandi took the tongs of Dreygan, whose name was Klignir, and with them carried pieces of the molten hrongil to the anvil Nolgon in haste. There Dreygan beat them, one by one, into interlocking links, and when they cooled they were stronger than the bones of the earth. And the chain he called Kâwrungdaga. And one great piece he forged into a collar, which he named Boyglir. And when all was done, Klignir had shrivelled to a bent wire, Nolgon was twisted out of shape, and the kiln had sunk through the snow and ice into the ground. And Dreygan himself was so greatly heated that he hastened to Firungráda and swallowed a barrelful of ice.

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