Bal-Sagoth – Naked Steel (the Warrior's Saga) lyrics

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:
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:
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...