The Song of Ceber
Argument: On the slopes of Mount Cran, Ceber encounters a human hunting party. Unable to fight all of the humans and their dogs, she tears through their encirclement and seeks refuge in a cave on the side of the mountain.
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Humans
Now humans are of this type:
They came from trees, the poets tell us,
And so worship monkey gods.
But they deny their heritage
And spend their days in foul caves.
They have no claws and a weak bite
But are not easy prey
For they are clever and vengeful
And know many tricks.
They make arrows and dip them in
Toxic tree sap for venom
They sharpen iron for claws
They don’t fly, they creep and climb
Weak in body, they must be strong in mind.
Into their caves no Kuroni will crawl.
Hearing the hunting call of the hounds
She awoke in painful thorns
With the winding howls waxing
The foul four-legged fiends led by smell
Enslaved to their evil human masters
Who followed a few steps behind
Ceber tried to fly, forgetting
Thrashing in thorns
Bringing pain
Creating new scars
Closer came the hunters
She knew they were there
Humans, hounds, her death
Quietly she chewed
The vines parted
But they had found her!
Dogs darted for her
She stung one and more came
Hurt they called for their masters
Blood-jeweled Ceber, shield maiden
Strikes true!
Through thorns or spear-hail
She came.
Man’s finest warrior wise in winning
Kabar by name killer by trade
Saw the black wasp
Whispering to himself, accolades
Here was one of those warriors
Whose early successes
Bred legends becoming to his bravado
He’d heard his heroic praise so long
He believed them himself.
He attacked Ceber first
braving death
And receiving it on her famous sting
His organs wilted his voice wailed
As she bit him in two.
His companions thus cautioned stayed away
Sending arrows from above
Some drove deep into her
No match for human tricks
She fled,
butchering those who blocked her.
She fled into the night.
Into the caves.
The Song of Ceber
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