1.Shackles Through Sand
They came over sea
Not far from our homes
Some claimed to have heard
Their voices in the night
I wait near the gate
One hand holds my sword
Beginning to regret
Leaving father's at home
Never fought for so much
Nor have I feared death
Fight or die with honor
The deity's request
Together we'll fight
Together we'll fall
My thoughts interrupted
By the sound of the call - a call to arms
Eerie silence 'mid the leafy shroud
Soaring high 'neath thick clouds
Vultures know, bloodshed to come
And wait
A distance away stands tall
The enemy
Bellows their savage call
We collide at running speed
My shield locks with another
Both refuse to give way
My blade unable to free
Until my foe attempts to ground me
I see my chance
So close I can see his breath
I look into his eyes
And lunge forward
My blade penetrates his ribs
And reappears at the neck
He slides off my blade
Face contorted in pain
Rush over the corpse
Stab a man at my left
I meet my next fight
In the form of an axe
My blade locks in
Then knocks me back
I'm pushed over the corpse
And I fall to my knees
I breathe deeply
While I raise my shield
To block his strikes
And regain a foothold
As I raise my body
Under continuous blows
The axe splits my shield
And I fall face down, onto the ground
Laid upon the Earth
I intend to fight
Or take him with me unto death
My vision blurred
Yet around I see
A sight that befalls me
My dead and dying brethren
Those alive, are tied at the wrists
I release my sword, speaks its final word
As it hits the ground, then I too, am bound
Aching in the afternoon sun
Waiting long arduous hours
For a sign of hope
Nothing comes
We are grouped like
Cattle, made to walk the coast
Dragging our shackles
Through the sand
As we walk
A forest of standing spears
Their roots deep
Within the corpses
I find - the ideal long lived amongst my people
Escapes me
Though I should not, still I live a prisoner
(Dragging my shackles through the sand)
Why I live, I do not know
(As I drag my shackles through the sand)
2.Frost Upon the Embers
Dim skies - potent fear in their harsh cries
The hilltops we climb
Disparagingly climb
Weak of agony
In dwellings below
Kin threatened, I know
A predator waiting in numbers
Watches its prey and hungers
For death - senses their helplessness
Bound, I can only watch as it lunges for the kill
Daylight wanes
The unprotected village hastily assailed
Flame soon erupts in chaos
Shining light over disappearing shadows
Rising - as do the ferns from the forests to the mountains
And grows my anguish and hatred
Dusk makes its conquest
And night drapes the skies
The ocean pushing inland
Fills the shallow bay
Lifting their vessels
Only death is found there
The fire dances, leaving indelible scars upon the earth
I cannot bear the sight, and drift into slumber
A resilient blue glow
Contrasts sharply with a figure
Bright and luminescent
Featureless face, only white and glowing eyes
Disembodied voices
Wind like the inhale of a dying beast
With cold breath
She speaks in lost tongues
Raising the hairs on my neck
Terrifying yet beautiful
A sharp chill runs through my body
I'm awakened by night's frigid breath
Bonds 'round me loosened
Severed
Almost entirely
Quietly
I slip into the dark
I walk for hours
My pains intensify
Until I turn
My direction implied
I shall trust this feeling as it guides
Into the untamed forest, I confide
3.The Vengeance Pact
Following a forgotten trail
Full sun's journey since I saw a meal
Encountered a lost hunting camp
Found arrows and an old, weathered bow
On the branch of an oak, decrepit and old
Sits a squirrel approached so slow
It descends to the remnants left cold
A mound beneath its roots
Clearing branches and vines
Between two large stones I find
The entrance to an old catacomb
Inside stands a statue
The woman from my dream
Under its dust, etched into the rock
The writings of a grave
The earth shakes
Suddenly enclosed with the blue glow
My burdened, aching body falls
As white fills my sight
A loud hum beings
And I am sick to my stomach
I wake within the crypt
Opened once more, as if nothing occurred
There rests my father's old sword
Into the sheath on my belt
I fasten the weapon
Knowing I will die soon
4.Farewell
As did my forefathers
And the heroes of my people
I'll return to the soil
As we all must do
Farewell to you
I draw my bow
For the chance at a meal
These cold, unsteady hands
Only wound the doe
Its red trail, I follow
And leads me out far
Out far and unknown
Far, to the oaken hold
In its wooden walls,
Nothing to hold
None but slain men I knew
And among them, my kin
My mourning is over
And down the only trail
Is where I will walk...
The encampment in sight
My only ally, stealth and might
Inside, my death is sure
Unsheathed father's sword
I enter, despite my certain end
Blood for blood, the message I send
The glow of my sword illuminates
The commander's blood as it runs down the fuller
And so mine, down the blade of another
Satisfied - I'm prepared to die
As I dwell upon the days I've lost
I smile, as I soon remember
This is no end
But another dawn
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