Encircled on the greenest sward, Were high and lowborn, Sir and Lord - With cape and hair in frenzied wind That keened with whispers of the sinned - Outside the ramparts looking on Around two men with steel blade drawn. The first man's name was Sain Crowhèst. Their heads all brushed against his chest, So short made he all other men, Stood tall as an equestrian. The small folk bayed and balked to see He glowered under greasily Untidy hair askew his head Then growled throughout the crowd and said, “Allay my doubts if well you’re sure, Did not your manhood die with her?” The watchers knew his heinous sin Writ large upon his beastly grin. For long he watched her from afar, Against her suitors he would spar, When finally he asked her hand She graciously declined his band. Throughout the castle spread the word: She’d found a man that she preferred. No more distinction could one find Than in this man, both strong and kind. As Duïn Treeheart raised his sword He thundered over their discord, "This 'love' was such he bore my wife Were not she his, he'd take her life!" To all of those who saw his shape, The crimson deep of Duïn's cape, In grandly waving wind it flew, They knew a noble hero true. His stance was sure, grey eyes awake. And when he spoke the ground would quake. “Hear me ere the Nureän gods: I’ll end the days that he marauds As shadow gripping moor and dales, Will crack at him 'til body fails To black this day with flecks of red And rend Sain’s body from his head." A quiver marked the waiting crowd Stricken by awe; none spoke aloud. All there could sense the mounting chills, Though sun embraced surrounding hills. They rang with echoes of her name Off rock and earth, all heard the same Phantasmic voices through there spread As fury from the newly dead. As Sain threw back his head to laugh It seemed a final, prideful gaff For Duïn noticed there a speck Of vulnerable skin of neck. Out Duïn leapt with swinging blade, To ever quell the mirth he made, And with a mighty strength fiercest Sain's long sword sang across his breast. It took a while to hear the sound Of Duïn falling to the ground. So still was he in pallid hue Until he fell apart in two. Though truth and right were his this day They died with Duïn where he lay. And if the gods were there to hear, They neither blinked nor shed a tear.
My favorite of yours so far. Love the cadence and imagery. Unfortunately, as it clearly shows, life isn’t always fair.