Alchemisland

On the barbican and battlements of that settlement, black feathered adirondacks settle

From the mettle-testing battle men are still unsettled

The matter of their investigation is put to vote, each casts ballot; peon, priest, prelate, helot

We cannot have a repeat of last year

Of out house and home they will eat us, we see omen

They will leave dust and name it peace, crows Roman

Pomes they will eat fresh, ripe ripped from trees before harvesting can commence

We will bleed unless some doer of deeds teases them free of our fastness and fatness

I take this chalice, I who grasped it drank it, of this task I commit gladly, and thank ye

For chance, making my way through town gripping blade in mailed hand, to the barbican

Where two tall towers stand, housing talented archers and a owl-view round

I shout for them to let the drawbridge down, anyone interested in a crow-down cloak

They thrown down laughter at my joke, I choke back my better lines for after

When I return the village master, a tale told foreverafter, deeds of that class.