So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of the water.  Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and took him on board.  And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of the eric of Kian.

After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the land of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen.  When they had arrived at the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons, Corc and Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band of grimmer and mightier warriors than those four.

“What seek ye here?” asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.

“It hath been laid upon me,” said Mochaen, “to prevent this thing.”

Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other, and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild bulls, until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen, and he died.

With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely upon each other.  Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought.  Not one of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times.  But in the end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over them in a swoon like death.

After a while Brian’s senses came back to him, and he said, “Do ye live, dear brothers, or how is it with you?” “We are as good as dead,” said they; “let us be.”

“Arise,” then said Brian, “for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill.”

“We cannot stir,” said Iuchar and Iucharba.  Then Brian rose to his knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill of Mochaen.  And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.

Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the boat, and put out to sea for Ireland.  And as they lay in the stupor of faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, “I see the Cape of Ben Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings.”  Then Iuchar and Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast.  “Let us but see the land of Erinn again,” said they, “the hills around Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the Boyne and our father’s Dun thereby, and healing will come to us; or if death come we can endure it after that.”  Then Brian raised them up; and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the Strand of the Bull[18] they took land.  They were then conveyed to the Dun of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their father’s hall.