[Edi]

As I have said on many occasions, the Dominions world's thematics fascinate me and sometimes things insist on being written. Such as the following piece, which I tied to the Iron kingdom pieces I wrote before. Kristoffer really does come up with all too evocative names for things...



The Chasm of Black Roses (version 2, September 12th, 2008)

Leading deep into the mountains
Treacherous the secret trail,
Known by few among the living,
A terror to make courage fail...

At its end a hidden place,
An old storm-lashed keep,
Where dark, forbidding walls
Guard black secrets buried deep...

Forgotten fortress of old,
Last redoubt of a final stand
Of those who stayed true
Even with the end at hand...

One among their number no friend,
A priest whose benediction
Masked underneath a false heart,
His words in truth a Malediction!

Guarded the walls in death,
As they once were in life,
By spectral warriors undying,
Slain by a traitor's knife...

The fort a graveyard of the damned,
Cursed by servants of the Dark Lord,
Yet unbroken still the ancient oaths,
Serve the True God with their swords!

Past the postern gate of the castle,
Grove of evergreens on the brink
Of the gorge where their bones lie,
Where blood flowed for soil to drink...

Fed the thorny stems by streams from above,
Blooming strong and heady as the day closes,
Dark petals weeping tears of dew in tribute
For the dead in the Chasm of Black Roses...