Page 76 of The Ashborn

“What for?”

“King Vaerin is a powerful fuck. The Elvish High Commander is set on protecting the realm. Fuck if I know why, but I’ve seen it. They aided in the desert and gave all they could to push the dead army out.”

For once, Ingrid’s jaw loosened. She looked at Lief, then back to Broan. “I’ll give it thought come morning.”

Broan didn’t press her further. He did all he could in that moment. The wind rose around them, biting sharply through the gaps of their furs. Somewhere in the valley, a bear groaned, deep and guttural. Its voice was quickly swallowed by the cold. Ingrid and Lief made no indication that they’d heard this creature. They stood together, looking outward toward the echoing of the wind. Their boots shifted against the frost. The sky stretched dark above them, clouds dragging slowly with the weight of their decisions pending between them.

Broan glanced at Lief. “You sing?”

Ingrid’s gaze lingered on Broan a moment longer before cutting to Lief. A smile burst on her face for the first time. “Go on then,” she said. “Let the mountain hear it.”

Lief cleared his pipes. “The Mountainborn began their song the night the ships burned. I worked with Skald to see it finished.”

He started in a low hum, one that took to the skies and reverberated all around them. Lief’s voice came from deep within his chest, like old smoke curling through forests. He had a growl to it, rough as stone, and a rasp that clung to every word like frost to fur. What he lacked in height and breadth, his voice made up for it tenfold. Broan folded his arms and listened, staring out into the darkness. There was nothing else but the brutish voice of his brother.

“I hear the sea still call his name

The boy who vanished into flame.

The ships burned black beneath a blood-red sky

No gods to speak, no voice to ask them why.

And the tide rolled in with ash and smoke alone

The sea still sings his name.

Beneath Eldyr’s betrayal.

They say the storm was swift and wild,

That fire came and claimed the child.

To a mad king, once the flames had cleared,

But we still carry what our kin once feared.

For the waves still ebb, and the mountains hold.

We still sing his name.

Beneath Eldyr’s betrayal.

No sword, no scream, no chance to fight,

Just sails that vanished in the night.

A cradle lost beneath a sky of fire

A brother shaped from grief and silent pyres.

And though we’ve never seen his face, we’ve sung his name.

The sea still sings.

Beneath Eldyr’s betrayal.

Sail away, O Viking King,