Parlay in the Ash

[Verse 1]
The fires burned low on the broken wall,
We counted the living, we named the lost.
Smoke in our lungs, blood on the stone,
We held what was left—but not for long.
Then the sky went still, the horde pulled wide,
Like the storm itself stepped back to bide.
She came alone through ash and flame—
And every man there knew her name.

[Chorus]
One hour at Smallwater, one hour to choose,
Between certain death and the soul we’d lose.
She offered mercy dressed in chains—
And called it sense to spare our pain.
One hour to break, one hour to stand—
With ash in our mouths and steel in our hands.

[Verse 2]
She spoke to Donna like none of us heard,
Not a threat—not quite a word.
Said we were brave, said we had fought,
Said the end was already bought.
Then the air turned cold, the light bent thin,
And she showed us something from within—
Two small shadows, safe and near…
And one we lost now standing clear.
Mathew stood in armor blue,
Like something old—and something new.
Hands held tight, no chains to see—
But not the boy he used to be.

[Chorus]
One hour at Smallwater, one hour to yield,
To lay it down or die on the field.
She said the next wave wouldn’t be kind—
Leave the past and the dead behind.
One hour to break, one hour to stand—
While the dark made truth of her demand.

[Verse 3]
Donna stepped with a shaking breath,
Staring down more than simple death.
Tears cut clean through ash and war,
But her voice came stronger than before.
She didn’t kneel, she didn’t run,
Didn’t reach for the offered son.
She stood where the broken line held fast—
And chose her future from the past.
“I am Donna Smallwater,” clear and strong,
“Daughter of Strongcastle—I know what’s wrong.
We don’t go back, we don’t bow low—
Not to the fear we used to know.”

[Chorus]
One hour at Smallwater, one hour to choose,
We heard the cost—we saw the proof.
But chains in silk are chains the same,
No matter how soft they speak your name.
One hour to break, one hour to stand—
And she chose to die where she made her stand.

[Bridge (quiet, eerie)]
She said she cared… as much as she could,
In the way of fire, in the way of blood.
Said she’d rather we never see…
What her mercy spared us from being.

[Final Chorus]
One hour at Smallwater, the clock ran thin,
The storm drew breath to surge again.
We held that line with what remained—
With broken hearts and something gained.
One hour to break—none of us ran—
We became the cost… and we made our stand.

[Outro]
And when she left, the sky turned black—
The horde moved in…
And we did not step back.

Bluecoat dark outlaw chant, Smallwater parlay, Isolde offers surrender, illusion of Cara Joseph and Mathew