[Intro]
Ash on the birch, red moon above
One name carved deep where the old roots were
[Verse 1]
I came from a grove where the silver leaves sang
Now the branches are black and the wells taste strange
They came with torches, iron, and chain
Left my mother’s green cloak in the furnace flame
My father’s bow split beside the gate
My little sister’s ring in the hands of fate
I found one coal still warm in the rain
Pressed it to my palm and I swore their names
No crown, no priest, no witness needed
Blood for blood, let the vow be heeded
I move through the pines where the cold fog bends
A quiet blade for a house of fiends
[Hook]
By the ash, by the thorn, by the blood I bear
I will hunt every wolf to the end of their lair
You burned my home, now remember this face
An elf in the dark bringing ruin and grace
By the ash, by the thorn, hear the oath resound
When the last bell breaks, I’ll be standing ground
No sleep, no peace till the debt is paid
For the family lost and the home you razed
[Verse 2]
I crossed black ridges with a stolen map
Three guards at the bridge, none made it back
A coin in the captain’s coat, poison on the rim
He laughed at the stranger, then the lights went dim
I learned their banners, their routes, their creed
Counted every wagon, every mouth they feed
At the feast in the hall, beneath antler and gold
I slipped through the rafters like a winter crow
The warlord wore my village’s jade
A keepsake he took from the ruins he made
I drew one line where his collar lay
Then vanished before the candles swayed
Let the ravens carry what the guilty sow
Let the mountain remember the names I know
[Hook]
By the ash, by the thorn, by the blood I bear
I will hunt every wolf to the end of their lair
You burned my home, now remember this face
An elf in the dark bringing ruin and grace
By the ash, by the thorn, hear the oath resound
When the last bell breaks, I’ll be standing ground
No sleep, no peace till the debt is paid
For the family lost and the home you razed
[Bridge]
I hear their voices under frozen stone
Not calling me back, just telling me: go
The blade is a promise, the wound is a door
I am what survives when the hearth is no more
[Final Verse]
Now the black ships gather below the cliffside
Their king sends a thousand beneath a wolf sign
I stand in the pass with the storm at my back
One breath, one spark, then the valley goes black
Traps in the snow, oil beneath the pine
Runes on the arrows, a deadfall line
When dawn finds the army, it finds no command
Only broken steel and red in the sand
I walk to the throne with the jade in my hand
The last of the ashes from my ruined land
He asks what I want; I answer, “Your fear”
Then I place his crown where my father sleeps near
The oath did not heal me, the dead do not rise
But the grove has a seed beneath winter skies
I turn from the fortress, scarred but awake
And carry the home they could never erase
[Final Hook]
By the ash, by the thorn, by the blood I bear
I hunted every wolf to the end of their lair
You burned my home, now remember this face
An elf in the dark bringing ruin and grace
By the ash, by the thorn, hear the oath resound
From the roots below to the mountain crown
No sleep, no peace—now the debt is paid
For the family lost and the home you razed
[Outro]
Ash feeds the soil, and the green shoots rise
A blood oath ends beneath quiet skies
The blade goes dark, but the vow remains
Home grows back through the old black flames