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Silence sat heavy upon Whurest in the days following the siege of Aquor. While the forges still burned red, anvils rang, and the hearths provided their warmth, the stout-folk each bore Eriak's passing in few words. Many mourned, however, it was perhaps Fali, the Holdfast's Head Cleric and Keeper of Rites, who felt the weight of Eriak's passing most of all.
In the decades following the arrival of Haerinvureem, there had been few children of Clan Battlehammer and it was by Vergadain's good fortune that himself and Eriak had been so close in age. They shared together their lives. Their journey spanning Delzoun, from Mithril Hall and Kelvin's Cairn to The Hollow and back again. Together they had faced the the fiercest of foes and managed to carve out a life for their kin from the unforgiving peaks of The Spine. To his great sorrow, and with the utmost care, he now ushered Eriak into the Silent Keeper's realm.
He stood by as Berronar's healers washed and dried Eriak's broken body. He himself who carved the burial tokens and braided them properly into Eriak's beard. He oversaw as the Thane was returned to his armor and he who helped bear his brother into Whurest's depths, laying him to his eternal slumber within an ornate stone sarcophagus among relics of his defeated foes.
Large, flowing robes of electrum cord concealed a great tremor that shook Fali as Urias and Dalgal slid a heavy, stone lid and he beheld his brother for the last time. With chisel and hammer he inscribed the epic song of Thane Eriak Bristlebeard's life, never to be sung by those who yet draw breath.
From the crypts behind, Whurest watched. Their voices rising and falling in unison:
In the decades following the arrival of Haerinvureem, there had been few children of Clan Battlehammer and it was by Vergadain's good fortune that himself and Eriak had been so close in age. They shared together their lives. Their journey spanning Delzoun, from Mithril Hall and Kelvin's Cairn to The Hollow and back again. Together they had faced the the fiercest of foes and managed to carve out a life for their kin from the unforgiving peaks of The Spine. To his great sorrow, and with the utmost care, he now ushered Eriak into the Silent Keeper's realm.
He stood by as Berronar's healers washed and dried Eriak's broken body. He himself who carved the burial tokens and braided them properly into Eriak's beard. He oversaw as the Thane was returned to his armor and he who helped bear his brother into Whurest's depths, laying him to his eternal slumber within an ornate stone sarcophagus among relics of his defeated foes.
Large, flowing robes of electrum cord concealed a great tremor that shook Fali as Urias and Dalgal slid a heavy, stone lid and he beheld his brother for the last time. With chisel and hammer he inscribed the epic song of Thane Eriak Bristlebeard's life, never to be sung by those who yet draw breath.
From the crypts behind, Whurest watched. Their voices rising and falling in unison:
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.
There lay they long, and many a song,
Was sung unheard by men or elves.
Moradin sleeps, his Company keeps,
Watch o'er the king of old.
Brothers still in the face of ill,
Bless the Kings of our kith and kin.
Mountains deep and waters still,
The King goes now to be welcomed In.
To claim our long-forgotten gold.
There lay they long, and many a song,
Was sung unheard by men or elves.
Moradin sleeps, his Company keeps,
Watch o'er the king of old.
Brothers still in the face of ill,
Bless the Kings of our kith and kin.
Mountains deep and waters still,
The King goes now to be welcomed In.
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