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.

The Falakkazri enter Dreygan’s service: chapter 6 of The Talyoran

Meanwhile, in Firungráda, Dreygan the Frostgiant continued in his own ways, ignoring the rumours of war. When Spring came again, he set Slungandi to work. First, he gave him thirty ells of dragonhide, and from them Slungandi fashioned a mighty drum, Brandubur. From the Talyoran he drew the runes of the deep into the Drum. Thenceforth it was the Drum of the Deep, Tumbulë ta-Kumbren. So loud and persistent did his drumming become that he was called Fûbraváni ‘he who thunders’.

Then at Dreygan’s bidding, Slungandi went out into the wastes beneath the northern mountains, and beat on Brandubur. When he had beaten the Drum for many days, the Falakkazri began to gather, one dozen, two dozen, three dozen. And Dreygan came forth, and the Falakkazri came and did obeisance to him. And Dreygan said to them:

‘You have been a despised and rejected people without power or prince. Become my servants, and I will give you dignity and power.’

Now the Falakkazri were the lesser part of that people who had become the Ainë, Doitherúna in the form of great birds. At the beginning of the making of Thrâyeldim, they were a little people, small in stature among the Gangri and the Entellári, the Silúna and the Thendâ, and they were without a Guardianship, and had no task more exalted than to do the bidding of the greater Doitherúna. And so they petitioned Émarul Sápha that they be given the Guardianship of the Air; and she decreed that they receive the form of birds, greater than all but the greatest birds of the air. 

But even as the remaking of their soul-houses — their hignathanya — began, there were those of them who said nay to it, for they wished to remain earthbound and were unwilling to soar into the sky. A dissension arose among them, and the lesser party lost the debate; the greater party assumed their birdlike form and became the Ainë, and they built fâligna or higheries for themselves to dwell in. And their lords were known as the Melainë, and the chief of them all was Kerorkîn Melainen. But those who refused the transformation retained only a hawklike countenance to show what they might have become; they came to be called the Hawkheaded Ones, the Falakkazri, and they were shut out. They had no proper dwellings and wandered without purpose in the mountains of Zorthin, avoiding the Gangri and the Kabadri. But when they heard the drumming of Slungandi they were drawn to Firungráda, which hitherto they had shunned in fear of the Ice Giant.

Then Dreygan commanded Slungandi to prepare dwellings for them, for they were warm-blooded nyandri like him. So he went to the Kabdath of Hlund beyond the mountains, and entreated them to carve out dwellings for the Falakkazri. 

The Hlundika Kabadri came over the mountains and worked day and night to build chambers in the rock. And the Falakkazri dwelt in them and made fires and became warm; they went hunting and fishing and fed and clothed themselves; and they praised their new master Dreygan.

When the Hlundika Kabadri had finished their labours, they asked Dreygan, 

‘Where is the payment for our labour?’ 

But Dreygan threatened them with the hammer Gantâr. 

‘Just this,’ he said, ‘that I do not beat your bones to dust!’

But Slungandi went secretly to Dreygan’s storehouse and took his whole supply of icemetal from it, and gave it privily to the Hlundika Kabdath.

Then they said to Slungandi: 

‘We have forged an armoury for the Fellgiants, and they are on the way here, armed with the swords and spears that we made, to overthrow Dreygan, because they have heard a rumour that he has taken into his service a sorcerer of the Entellári by whose power he wants to rule all the lands of the Gangri.’

Then they went away. Slungandi went to Dreygan and told him that an army of Fellgiants were on their way to overthrow him. But he dismissed it as idle gossip.

Melyúnas stirs up strife among the Doitherúna: chapter 5 of The Talyoran

 

And now Melyúnas put into action his plans of vengeance. From his lair Ombros, beneath the northern mountains, he sent forth rumours. The Hyilavúna heard that the trusted servant of their Lord and Lady, Silûnakánti, had stolen a secret jewel of great power to use against his own people from under the protection of the Giants of the North. One of the tribes of the Gangri, the Fellgiants, heard that the greatest of another tribe, Dreygan the Frostgiant, had taken into his service a worker of dark spells with the purpose of gaining the mastery over the land of the Giants. And the third tribe of the Gangri, the Stonegiants, heard that the Entellári had sent a spy into the land of the Gangri to prepare the way for their warriors to conquer it.

All through the lands of the Gangri there were preparations for war. The Stonegiants gathered in force against the pretended threat of the Entellári in the east, while the Fellgiants prepared to march into the far North to overthrow Dreygan and the Frostgiants. The Kabdath of Hlund, the smiths of the Midworld, were constantly busy, forging swords, spears, helmets, and armour. At first they became wealthy beyond imagining, for they were paid in every commodity or foodstuff that they should ask in return for the weapons they made. But later, as the tides of war swept around the mountain outpost of Hlund, they were hard put to survive.

And more wondrously, a madness fomented by Melyúnas infected the noble hearts of the Entellári. For the Talyoran was in truth more than merely a fair jewel in the household of Tithiánë. It was the mightiest heirloom of the Hyilavúna, being a third part of the great star jewel that was shattered in the First Strife. King Olverúno’s lords had counselled that Melyúnas should be permitted to have it on loan. Queen Tithiánë was displeased that he had heeded their advice. But the King was displeased that the Queen had sent Silûnakánti, his favourite servant, to recover the Talyoran, for he perceived that he had fallen under its spell and turned away from the Entellári. But the Queen maintained that Silûnakánti had belonged to her household ever since the time when his fostering among the Silúna came to an end.

And so an estrangement arose between Queen Tithiánë and King Olverúno. The high ladies of the Queen’s court murmured against the lords of the King’s council. In support of them, the Entelláynë, the womenfolk of Féo Êlesti, turned their backs on the Entelláwnë. The Queen and the Entelláynë departed from Ailindâl, where it was the custom of all the Entellári to spend the spring and summer. They journeyed to Féo Êlesti, the western land where the Entellári liked to pass the autumn and winter. There Tithiánë kept her court.

And so it was that, for many lives of men, all the Entelláynë dwelt in Féo Êlesti with Queen Tithiánë, and all the Entelláwnë in Ailindâl with King Olverúno.

That is why in after days it was sung among the Hyûvandri:

Fálê Atánya, vityo-riglasom

Taneg gidhik faiwegarnadu

Ko-vitvâne paitna ravin te-vaidrá,

Ko-lonkutaphtu fáledo seydâ

Vadhrusu yithwamet ko-dáyeni

Nívai imma sidhikaileváne.

Im Dayeráwiê, ye ko-koryat-ailimul

Ku-gunn-te gwanna, tyaldâ rúni ravin

Te k’olve, yarve, hyûdûváne pened

Indulte dále dagna ravin, arla-kaiul.

High Queen, under the crown of stars

Where thou sittest in the halls of evening,

Beyond thy glittering paths that we behold

Hang your lamp of hope on high

Pledge of harbour to thy people

And to us who voyage asunder.

And thou, O King, who from thy eastern tower

Swayest wide regions, wield above the trees

Thy bright sceptre, pure, breath-giving,

Glimpsed even hence, beyond the grey mountains.

Next Melyúnas spread a rumour in Ailindâl that the Stonegiants had captured certain Entellári on their way across the Midworld, and angry voices were raised, urging King Olverúno to put forth his might against the Stonegiants.

And in the east of Berugwanna, the Green Region of the south where the Hyilavúna had been wont to wander, there dwelt a tribe of the Hyûvandri who had heeded the whispers of Melyúnas at their first entering the Midworld. They were not content to live tranquilly among the other Hyûvandri. They desired powers that others did not have, knowledge that was hidden, understanding of the secrets of the elements. They refused to settle down by the quiet waters of the mighty river Berusilwa or in the wooded hills on either side. They travelled on into the north until they came to the Grey River of the north-east, the Haldossilu, and followed its course upstream to the very eaves of the dark forest of Nanôr. And there they found a great yew tree, and by it they settled. They were called the Valkari, and the name of the Lady who ruled over them was Murnag ta-Valka.

Then Melyúnas perceived that the hearts of the Valkari were ready for him, and he came to them and taught their great ones the deep secret runes and rimes. There were five over the Valkari: Murungyaldi the terrible, Masláryë ta-Valka, Nabbolô, Vombarth, and chief of all, Murnag ta-Valka. On these Melyúnas bestowed the gift of an agelong life, like to his own, yet it would be fading and withering at the end. And he exhorted them to labour until they could exercise the faculty of darksight, of which he himself was a master. 

Murnag looked on the beauty of Melyúnas, and besought him to tarry with them, and he embraced her. And after he had departed to Ombros again, she bore twin sons and named them Prámiz and Groiznath. And they were very fair to behold, like their father. And when they had grown to manhood, and had been instructed by their mother, Groiznath looked to the earth and sought out what was beneath the earth and in the waters beneath the ground; while Prámiz looked to the heavens, and beheld the stars with envy, and he sought some way to obtain the fire of the stars. And they became known as the Thrâkúna, the half ones; for they were partly Doitherán and partly Hyûvanka.

Silûnakánti finds a new master: chapter 4 of the Talyoran

 

Silûnakánti continued on his way far down the Throndir river. He paused only at the outlet of Lake Nassolin to bring from the shore a great log, on which he could more comfortably float downstream. That served him very well for many hundreds of miles, until he came into the frozen regions of the far north, where winter still held sway: snow lay on all the land around and ice covered the river. Then it became unbearably cold. He waded ashore through the floes of ice choking the river, which was now many miles wide as it approached the northern sea. He was no longer concerned that Melyúnas should detect where he was, for he knew that he would not easily reach him there. His clothes were frozen on his body but yet, to his surprise, he was not inwardly cold. He trudged through the snow towards the shelter of some nearby pine trees, for the wind was bitter, and there he sat, wondering when the cold would overcome him. And then he remembered the Talyoran, for whose sake he had taken this wild journey, still in a wallet next to his breast, and the thought came to him that it was that which defended him from the cold.

Suddenly there came the beating of great wings, and Silûnakánti heard a throaty cry in the air above him. The mighty Kerorkîn Melainen, greatest of the Doitherúna in bird form, came circling down to him.

‘Ho, Silûnakánti, so it is you here in the northern waste! What brings you here? And I marvel what brought me, too, for I felt a force that drew me far out of my path in the air, as I was going home to Zorthin.’

‘O Kerorkîn, question me not, for I am likely to perish from the frost. Tell me quickly, is there any lord that lives near, in whose house I can find shelter?’

‘You have had good fortune in your wanderings, O Silûnakánti, for only a few steps from here, as a Ganga goes, is the dwelling of Dreygan the Icesmith, greatest of Frostgiants. He is not a great friend of the Entellári, but I doubt not that he will take you in and shelter you. But you will not find fire or food to suit you there, for they say that ice is his only meat!’

‘I care not, if only I can find a warmer lodging than here. I pray you, show me the way!’

So Kerorkîn flew slowly before him across the snow-covered lands. Beyond the woods, Silûnakánti saw what seemed to be an ice-covered hill rising from the snowy landscape. Kerorkîn said:

‘Behold Firungráda, the abode of Dreygan the Frostgiant, O Silûnakánti. And here is where I shall strive to sever myself from the strange force that draws me to you, and return to Zorthin.’

With that, Kerorkîn Melainen turned in his flight and sped away to the south. Silûnakánti drew near to the hill and saw that it was in truth a castle, whether covered in ice or fashioned from ice, he could not tell. There was a great white gateway, hung with icicles, but without gates, so he entered in and found himself in a white courtyard. Plucking up courage, he called out:

‘Ho there, my lord Dreygan, greatest of the Frostgiants! I, Silûnakánti of the Entellári, am come.’

Then out from the dark recesses of the castle came the tall figure of Dreygan, his hair and beard stiff with white frost, and in his right hand the great hammer Gantâr. He drew his bristling brows together when he caught sight of Silûnakánti, but he also stopped short in mid stride as if something impeded him. Even as the giant appeared, Silûnakánti noticed a slight lessening of the cold in the air, and drops of water appearing on the icicles all around. Then said Dreygan:

‘Ai! Fôafáma! I espy an Entelláwa! And what brings you here, where the Entellári are not at home? And what power do you bear about you, that casts unwelcome warmth upon us? There is some plot afoot, and I must know the truth of it.’

And he raised Gantâr in a menacing way, though he seemed unable to take a step forward. A look of concern passed over his rugged countenance as there came the sound of a slow dripping of water. Silûnakánti replied:

‘My lord Dreygan, no net is laid at the feet of the Frostgiants, and no mist is cast over your eyes. I am a fugitive from my people, and I seek a new master. I would enter your service to do your bidding. And that which I bear about me is the child of the stars: it is warm by its own nature. It has many virtues, but I place them at your service. One thing I reserve to myself, and that is the possession of this treasure, that I may warm my flesh and blood, and not perish with the cold.’

‘Can you cast the greater runes? Can you chant the binding charms? Can you drum the rimes of the Deep? For I shall have dealings with the Hawk-headed Ones and with the great Coldworm, the ice dragon of the northlands.’

‘I can cast the runes and chant the charms. And I can drum the rimes of the Deep, but you must give me thirty ells of dragonhide to fashion the Drum of the Deep. And you must give me a chamber in the rocks where I may warm myself and do no harm to the icy walls of Firungráda.’

‘I will give you your chamber and your thirty ells of dragonhide. And you shall cast the runes, and chant the charms and drum the rimes, to make the Hawk-headed ones obey me and the great Coldworm tame. And no longer shall you be Silûnakánti. That is no name for a northdweller. I name you Slungandi, Drumster of the Deep.’

And so Slungandi, Drumster of the Deep, became the servant of Dreygan the Frostgiant.

Melyúnas is tricked by Silûnakánti: chapter 3 of The Talyoran

 

At this time the Lord and Lady of the Hyilavúna, Olverúno and Tithiánë, took thought for the Talyoran, for it was rightfully theirs; and they bent their thought upon it. They discerned that it was not in the keeping of Melyúnas, but on the Mountain of the Moon, under the guardianship of Astagant; and they wondered how that had happened. But they sent their skilful servant Silûnakánti to bring it back to Hyilavúna. 

Silûnakánti made haste to the mountain, and came there after Melyúnas’s departure. Now Silûnakánti was the most ingenious of the Entellári. He studied all things and was renowned for the astuteness of his insight. As soon as he reached the top of the mountain, he felt himself drawn to the place where the Talyoran had been bestowed by Ingos. He wondered greatly at this, for it seemed to him that the Talyoran itself had the power of being found. 

Then came forth Astagant the good Fellgiant and asked him why he had come to disturb his peace.

Then said Silûnakánti:

A jolly jewel   that the gentle Lord

And Lady lent,   and was lost for long

From the hallowed vaults   of Hyilavúna

In another’s keeping,   I come to find.

And Astagant said:

Thou saist the sooth.   The sought-for gem

Take, and do well.   But beware that thou

Be not overcome,   like the other keeper.

And  Silûnakánti picked up the Talyoran, and bore it away. But as he descended the mountain, he observed that the Talyoran was a jagged, many-sided crystal, with smooth surfaces, keen edges, and sharp points, yet not shaped by the hand of a jeweller; and that the light that passed through it seemed to emerge brighter and purer and stronger than it was as it went in. He said to himself (as Melyúnas had once said to himself, had Silûnakánti but known it), ‘Why should I not borrow this wondrous thing for a while, and use the time to study its properties? I shall go round about to bring it back to King Olverúno and Queen Tithiáne. They will not expect its return urgently, for they have many more important concerns.’

So Silûnakánti tarried in Thrâyeldim on his journey back to the courts of Olverúno and Tithiáne, and he studied the Talyoran, and he learnt some of its virtues, and he put it to use and found it altogether delightful. 

Now, as Ingos had learnt, Melyúnas, by using his arts, could always ascertain where the Talyoran was. And so, by casting deep runes of searching, he perceived that its conveyance back to the Hyilavúna was delayed, and that it was still in the Midworld; and he guessed that only a single Entelláwa had been sent to take it, and that it was now working its attraction on him, just as it had on Melyúnas himself. So he set out to seek it.

And on a Spring day in the plains of Arkallumis, Silûnakánti was sitting in the sunshine, contemplating the beauty of the Talyoran that lay in his hand, and how the sun’s rays were dispersed powerfully hither and thither, when he looked up and beheld Melyúnas standing before him. He made to put the stone away, but Melyúnas said: ‘Nay, no need to hide it away, friend Silûnakánti; for I know what it is and how desirable it is; but I am no thief or deceiver. Enjoy your good fortune in having that wonderful stone in your keeping!’

‘In truth, Lord Melyúnas,’ replied Silûnakánti, ‘it is not mine; the Lord and Lady of the Hyilavúna have called for it, and I must render it up.’

‘But you are loth, my friend,’ said Melyúnas kindly, ‘I see it in your face. And I tell you this: the Talyoran is needed in the Midworld. In Ailindâl or in Féo Êlesti in the vaults of our great Lords and Ladies it would be but a jewel, doing no good and gathering dust. But here it can do great good, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Midworld. And the one who has it in his care will be the one who does that good — the one who receives praise and gratitude.’

Silûnakánti replied: ‘But the Lord and Lady can at any time bend their thought upon it, and discern where it lies; and they can send others or come themselves for it, and then I should have to render account for my tardy return of it.’

‘You are shrewd, and speak rightly, Silûnakánti, O wise one,’ said Melyúnas. ‘But let us suppose that you were detained by one stronger than yourself, and compelled to remain with him, and prevented by your master from rendering up the stone? Or rather, suppose that you sent a message to that effect to those whom you now serve, while perhaps the true state of affairs was a little different: namely, that you had entered the well rewarded service of a powerful one under whose protection you would have liberty to use the Talyoran for the benefit of Thrâyeldim and all its peoples — one with whom the Lord and Lady would not care to meddle.’

Then Silûnakánti perceived that the powerful one of whom Melyúnas spoke was of course no other than Melyúnas himself, and that in such a case he would soon wrest control of the Talyoran from Silûnakánti; and this thought was not to his liking. But he also saw that, as Melyúnas proposed, to place himself under the protection of some other mighty master would give him both the freedom and the excuse to retain the Talyoran, which was what he most wanted. So he resolved to seem to go along with Melyúnas but secretly planned to do otherwise.

Silûnakánti bowed in obeisance to Melyúnas, and Melyúnas was gratified, and the two set off together towards Ombros, the house of Melyúnas in the Northlands. As they journeyed, Silûnakánti listened respectfully, while Melyúnas told him many things: about his plans for Thrâyeldim, and about his secret arts, and even about the virtues of the Talyoran. They climbed up into the high passes of the northern mountains, and passed into the upper dales of the great river of the North, the Throndir, which flows by many falls and lakes until it reaches the icy seas far away. One day the weather was especially warm, and they came to the great lake Nassolin. From there it was but a short journey to Ombros, by way of the gorge Awérung. There they rested in the shade of some trees, and Silûnakánti, who was a great swimmer, said that he wanted to cool himself by bathing in the lake. To the surprise of Melyúnas, he dived in fully clothed, and began to swim strongly away from the shore; and as soon as he reached the middle, where the river’s current flowed most strongly northwards, he was borne away out of the sight of Melyúnas.

Melyúnas saw that Silûnakánti had tricked him, and had got away with the Talyoran; but he thought to himself: ‘While he and the Talyoran are together, I by my arts will know where he is.’ And he sat down and bent his thought, aided by runes of power, upon the Talyoran. But he saw nothing. For the stone’s virtue of being found was rendered void when it was placed in running water. And Melyúnas did not know this; but Silûnakánti, fosterling of the waterfolk, had found it out. And Melyúnas was mightily angry that the Talyoran had passed out of his ken.