Naked Steel

Legends etched into the ancient stone dolmens on the Dark Moors...

THE ORACLE OF WAR: The crows will pick your bones clean...

Never sweet the kiss of cold steel.

THE EXULTATION OF BATTLE...

THE WARRIOR:

Blades aflame with witch-fire burning,

Bright swords blessed by nine king's blood,

The elf-witch weaves war-spells upon us,

Neath the wolf-moon's gaze we shall slake our steel!

THE WARRIOR: Battle Magic empowers my thews!

THE ORACLE OF WAR: The crows will pick your bones clean...

THE WARRIOR: Red-Tooth thirsts to smite and slaughter!

THE ORACLE OF WAR: Never sweet the kiss of cold steel...

THE SHAMAN'S DECREE:

Born beneath the thrice-cursed cromlech (destined for deeds of greatness),

Three stars aligned to assauge thine newborn cries,

Foretold, the hilt of Red-Tooth awaits thine hand (kingdoms shall fall before thee!),

And in the Nine Scrolls thine death prophesized.

THE WARRIOR:

The clarion of battle beckons me... Red-Tooth crackles with searing spectral energy. Aye, emperors and kings shall perish beneath my blade! The head of the Eastern Chieftan adorns my spear... I've a throne to usurp! INTO THE THICK OF THE FRAY!

THE SHAMAN'S DECREE:

This heart that pounds like a hammer,

This heart that pounds so strong,

This heart that pumps a great warrior's blood,

This heart will pound for half as long.

THE WARRIOR'S VOW:

By all the gods... I swear the ireful edge of dwarf-forged steel shall meet all who dare stand against me! My destiny awaits... I shall carve my path in carnage, and inscribe my saga upon the scrolls of legendry in the spilled blood of slaughtered kings!

THE ORACLE OF WAR: Carnage! And the crows shall feast upon the eyes of the slain!

The final dolmen of the Dark Moors is mysteriously missing, believed removed thousands of years ago by troll war-bands as a trophy of battle...

Lyrics: Byron

Music: Jonny Maudling