IV.3 The First Ikovian Hymn
From youngest days we've told the tale
Of god most just and man most bold,
So that their mem'ries might not fail,
And we might honor heroes old.
Tumeken sun-god bound the two
To carry out a wondrous quest:
To many haunted lands subdue,
And then to settle in the west.
Yet from its start their quest was fought,
As they were shown the tempting stone.
But spirits' power came to naught;
Instead each chose his friend alone.
The holy pair first freed the coast
Beseiged by trolls and low with guilt,
In battle pitched 'gainst murd'rous ghost
Restored that folk in bonds once built.
The two next healed contentious land,
With wide support, did justly oust
The vengeful, bitter, haughty band,
And brooding knight in strangest joust.
Then third they entered forest still
And searched until they found the way
To see those shrouded 'gainst their will;
Then marched the cities to assay.
Their hosts then stormed the walls raised high
And banished bloody tyrants three;
A shadow fled into the sky,
And there was peace from Lum to sea.
Some hundred went with Ikov north.
Their god had stayed for one more foe,
Though soon appeared in land the fourth,
Where neither did the haunting know.
They waited freezing in the fen,
A home for witches cruel and pale,
Until they knew just how and when
To best the wicked fog and hail.
Then crossed they Forinth's vast frontier;
By sea they slaughtered foes possessed,
And freed their settling friends from fear,
And drove the demon deacon west.
They watched and fought, all grim and keen,
the maddened monks on frozen coast,
Escaped the portals in ravine,
And sealed away infernal host.
Through hills and cave of wyrm and woe,
Then Ikov slew the twisted seer,
And freed the homeward pass of snow
For journey to the western mere.
A season passed for them to rest
And bid farewell their loyal friends;
The time had come to see the west.
Their southward journey hither tends.
