“I have outwitted you now,” cried he, “for if ye had killed a pig ye would have paid a pig’s eric,[16] but now ye shall pay the eric of a man.  Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me shall tell the tale to the avenger of blood.”

   [16] Blood-fine.

“Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all,” said Brian; and they picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon him till he was all one wound, and he died.  So they buried him as deep as the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of Lugh.

When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells not here.  But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if they had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him.  They said they had not seen him.  Then Lugh made search among the dead, and they found not Kian there.  “Were Kian alive he would be here,” said Lugh, “and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or drink till I know what has befallen him.”

On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to Lugh.  And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of Turenn.  Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he had found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was raised up, and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds.  And he cried out:  “O wicked and horrible deed!” and he kissed his father and said, “I am sick from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears are deaf from it, my heart stands still from it.  Ye gods that I adore, why was I not here when this crime was done? a man of the children of Dana slain by his fellows.”  And he lamented long and bitterly.  Then Kian was again laid in his grave, and a mound was heaped over it and a pillar-stone set thereon and his name written in Ogham, and a dirge was sung for him.

After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and he charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he himself had made it known.

When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan folk.  Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting among the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers.  Then Lugh asked of the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh.  And Lugh said: 

“O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your father?”