Ragnarok - XXIV
It grinned. It ripped a fist of mangling claws Down like a meteor. It gouged the stairs, Where Varr and the Old Man had stood away As could a spoon through cold whipped butter-cream, But they had ducked, had rolled under its palm As it passed just...
Haunted Ballade
Where is the home that once I knew, that stood Deep in the meadow drifts, encircled nigh With tender orchard groves, then emerald woods That slumbered as the summer clouds slipped by? Beneath the twisted briars those meadows lie. The fallow...
The Sun's Funeral
The iron of the road was grey And greyer was the sky. The sun showed not a single ray, So damned the way and damned the day That Gawain went to die. I was late to the wedding. Twas whose I barely knew; They had asked me out of kindness, as...
The Sisters of Vengeance
Oh the sisters of vengeance they have not forgotten or fled. I see them still watching the stormclouds that hang overhead. And they told me my fortune and someday I'll know what they said, Though I hope it won't matter until I've been many years...
Ragnarok - XVII
Said Varr, voice hollow like a man bereaved And echoing around the council hall, "Never before have I turned tail. What has Become of Last to Flee? If such as I, By death made undying, by corruption Made incorruptible in who we are, Already have...
Ragnarok - XXII
Shane found the Old Man waiting underneath A spreading and a skeletal ash tree. And he was not alone. Beside him stood The Lady, with her ineffable smile, The Old Woman, frowning upon her cane, The Witchfolk King, rolling brown oak leaf...
Ragnarok - Epilogue
So ends the tale of Shane the Champion. Of his blood-brother, Varr the Last-to-Flee. Of Klau the Berserker, called the Blacksword. Of the Old Man, who some hold was a god. Of the lost Witchfolk, and their young Lady Who solely of her people is not...
Ragnarok - XXV
Darkness, and the stench of rotten eggs To make his eyes water. If he had held His hand before his face, Shane could have seen No glove, no fist, no color or outline. He did not bother to. He blinked the sting Out of his eyes, and strained toward...
Ragnarok - XX
"Man's voices have been silent for too long. His songs are gone long unsung. Man has been Long disenchanted in this latter age. What songs are sung in triumph, and what hymn Is raised to god or gods above the stars? How often is there heard the...
Ragnarok - IX
Somewhere dusk was settling. The air Was stirring gently as one sleep deprived Whose body yearns so much to dream that it Rebels, and tries to slumber standing up Whenever and wherever mind and will Relax their vigilance. It moved the grass Upon...
Ragnarok - XXI
The man turned round and smiled. As when the blobs Of seeming random ink click suddenly Into an image unmistakable Of a familiar human face without The slightest alteration in themselves, But only in the one who stares, and stares, And stares,...
Ragnarok - XVI
"Mean you to slay this?" Varr said slowly, as The Sulfur Carrier stretched, its knees below The pit its impact had carved out, "Do you Yet say that this your sword shall cut down this Colossus, berserker?" Klau swallowed, and, With his eyes to...