Slungandi delivers Dreygan from the Fellgiants : chapter 9 of The Talyoran

 

But now the tides of war swept into the Northlands. The Fellgiants were led by the mighty Gyúga, Fundrubâl. She was the largest and most powerful of the Fellgiants. With her she brought her three daughters, Fandrumin, Fulgimur, and Furgumal, but her spouse Fúdrofûr remained at home on Mount Zôyeglummi, for he would have nothing to do with the war. With her came a hundred Gyúgri and Gangri, bearing torches lit from the fire of the deep, with which Melyúnas had equipped them. The Frostgiants were, like Dreygan, solitary. They had no notion of forming an army. And so the Fellgiants destroyed them, one by one.

One day the army of Fellgiants reached the banks of the great river of the North, Throndir, and there they encamped. Before them stretched a wide expanse of clear water, and beyond that lay Firungráda.

‘Tomorrow, O Dagangangri,’ said Fundrubâl, ‘once we have found a way across the great river, we shall capture Firungráda, destroy Dreygan, and bring back in chains his miserable sorceror.’

In the night, Slungandi awoke and beheld the torches of the Fellgiants clustered on the further side of the river Throndir. While the Fellgiants slept, he came to the hither bank of the Throndir bearing the Talyoran. He turned it down under the starshine, and the whole river mouth began to freeze.

On the morrow the Fellgiants awoke and beheld a great expanse of ice stretching from one side of the river to the other. Then they were exultant, and, seizing their torches, prepared to go across the river. But Fundrubâl held them back, saying:

‘Let it be my lot to challenge Dreygan hand to hand. I shall easily slay that boastful Giant, but if I fall, you are more than he!’

And so she began to cross the ice alone, bearing her huge torch of the fire of the deep.

Meanwhile Slungandi began to beat Brandubur. Dreygan and all the Falakkazri arose and saw afar off the army of Fellgiants. And as he looked, Dreygan saw Fundrubâl advancing across the ice, bearing her flaming torch. He seized Gantâr and would have run to meet her, but Slungandi said:

‘My Lord Dreygan, Gantâr is mighty, but the flames of Ombros are mightier. And the crystal of the stars is mightier still. Stand and watch.’

Slungandi went to the riverbank with the Talyoran, and turned its peak towards the heavens, chanting the greater rune. There came a sound of cracking and the ice bridge began rapidly to thaw. For one moment Fundrubâl was standing unsteadily on a large floe of ice; the next she slid beneath the waters of the Throndir, and her torch fell with a mighty hissing sound. Far under the waters the fire of the deep continued to flame until the river mouth was boiling and steaming. A cry of dismay arose from the Fellgiants drawn up on the far side of the great river. But on the hither side, the Falakkazri jeered at them.