The price of the line.

(Verse 1)
The cavern groaned with a hungry heat
Ten thousand boots, a rhythmic beat
The Matron spoke with a poisoned tongue:
"Give me their blood 'ere the day is done."
She drew a line on a map of silk
With hands as white as winter’s milk
"Discard the weak, let the vanguard fall,
A sacrifice to break the wall."
(Chorus)
But Mordan watched the shadows grow
He saw the trap they did not know.
A commander’s pride is a shallow grave
For the loyal souls he refused to save.
The whispers move where the light is dim
The Duskwhisper’s debt... belongs to him.
(Verse 2)
I broke the oath, I broke the chain
I marched them through the hidden vein.
Without a scream, without a loss
I took the fort... I paid the cost.
I brought them home to the citadel gates
To find the greed of the ruling states.
They didn't cheer for the lives I kept
They mourned the blood that was never wept.
(Bridge)
(The violin turns sharp and jagged here)
A victory won is a sin, they say,
If you don't do it the Masters' way.
Better a thousand corpses piled
Than a ruling house with a pride defiled.
They stripped my rank, they burned my name
But I kept my men... and they kept their shame.
(Outro)
Now I walk the sun-scorched dirt
With a mind of steel and a veteran's hurt.
The board is set, the pieces move
I have no more "glory" left to prove.
(Fade out with a single drum beat)
Checkmate.

Tempo: Slow, rhythmic, and somber. Male gravelly, resonant bass-baritone, single war drum, dark cinematic folk, cello