Oathbreaker v(vah-2

by Mercedes Lackey

  To teach them enough of my poor skill

  To help them stay alive.

  2CH: Cursed Oathbreakers, your honor's in pawn

  And worthless the vows you have made --

  Justice shall see you where others have gone,

  Delivered to those you betrayed!

  These are the signs of a mage that's forsworn --

  The True Gifts gone dead in his hand,

  Magic corrupted and discipline torn,

  Shifting heart like shifting sand;

  Swift to allow any passion to run,

  Given to hatred and rage.

  Give him wide berth and his company shun --

  For darkness devours the Dark Mage.

  These are the signs of a traitor in war --

  Wealth from no visible source,

  Shunning old comrades he welcomed before,

  Holding to no steady course.

  If you uncover the one who'd betray,

  Heed not his words nor his pen.

  Give him no second chance-drive him away --

  False once will prove false again.

  These are the signs of the treacherous priest --

  Pleasure in anyone's pain,

  Abuse or degrading of man or of beast,

  Duty as second to gain,

  Preaching belief but with none of his own,

  Twisting all that he controls.

  Fear him and never face him all alone,

  He corrupts innocent souls.

  These are the signs of the king honor-broke --

  Pride coming first over all,

  Treading the backs and the necks of his folk That he alone might stand tall.

  Giving himself to desires that are base,

  Tyrannous, cunning, and cruel.

  Bring him down-set someone else in his place.

  Such men are not fit to rule.

  ADVICE TO YOUNG MAGICIANS

  (Kethry)

  The firebird knows your anger

  And the firebird feels your fear,

  For your passions will attract her

  And your feelings draw her near.

  But the negative emotions

  Only make her flame and fly.

  You must rule your heart, magician,

  Or by her bright wings you die.

  Now the cold-drake lives in silence

  And he feeds on dark despair

  Where the shadows fall the bleakest

  You will find the cold-drake there.

  For he seeks to chill your spirit

  And to lure you down to death.

  Learn to rule your soul, magician,

  Ere you dare the cold-drake's breath.

  And the griffon is a proud beast

  He's the master of the sky.

  And no one forgets the sight

  Who has seen the griffon fly.

  But his will is formed in magic

  And not mortal flesh and bone

  And if you would rule the griffon

  You must first control your own.

  The kyree is a creature

  With a soul both old and wise

  You must never think to fool him

  For he sees through all disguise.

  If you seek to call a kyree

  All your secrets he shall plumb --

  So be certain you are worthy

  Or the kyree-will not come.

  For your own heart you must conquer

  If the firebird you would call

  You must know the dark within you

  Ere you seek the cold-drake's hall

  Here is better rede, magician

  Than those books upon your shelf --

  If you seek to master others

  You must master first yourself.

  OATHBOUND

  (The Oathbound, Tarma and Kethry)

  CH: Bonds of blood and bonds of steel

  Bonds of god-fire and of need,

  Bonds that only we two feel

  Bonds of word and bonds of deed,

  Bonds we took -- and knew the cost

  Bonds we swore without mistake

  Bonds that give more than we lost,

  Bonds that grant more than they take.

  Tarma:

  Kal'enedral, Sword-Sworn, I,

  To my Star-Eyed Goddess bound,

  With my pledge would vengeance buy

  But far more than vengeance found.

  Now with steel and iron will

  Serve my Lady and my Clan

  All my pleasure in my skill --

  Nevermore with any man.

  Kethry:

  Bound am I by my own will

  Never to misuse my power --

  Never to pervert my skill

  To the pleasures of an hour.

  With this blade that I now wear

  Came another bond indeed --

  While her arcane gifts I share

  I am bound to woman's Need.

  Tarma:

  And by blood-oath we are bound

  Held by more than mortal bands

  For the vow we swore was crowned

  By god-fires upon our hands.

  Kethry:

  You are more than shield-sib now

  We are bound, and yet are free

  So I make one final vow --

  That your Clan shall live through me.

  ADVICE TO WOULD-BE HEROES

  (Tarma)

  So you want to go earning your keep with your sword

  And you think it cannot be too hard --

  And you dream of becoming a hero or lord

  With your praises sung out by some bard.

  Well now, let me then venture to give you advice

  And when all of my lecture is done

  We will see if my words have not made you think twice

  About whether adventuring's "fun!"

  Now before you seek shelter or food for yourself

  Go seek first for those things for your beast

  For he is worth far more than praises or pelf

  Though a fool thinks to value him least.

  If you've ever a moment at leisure to spare

  Then devote it, as if to your god,

  To his grooming, and practice, and weapons-repair

  And to seeing you both are well-shod.

  Eat you lightly and sparingly-never full-fed --

  For a full belly founders your mind.

  Ah, but sleep when you can-it is better than bread --

  For on night-watch no rest will you find.

  Do not boast of your skill, for there's always one more

  Who would prove he is better than you.

  Treat swordladies like sisters, and not like a whore

  Or your wenching days, child, will be few.

  When you look for a captain, then look for the man

  Who thinks first of his men and their beasts,

  And who listens to scouts, and has more than

  one plan,

  And heeds not overmuch to the priests.

  And if you become captain, when choosing your men

  Do not look at the "heroes" at all.

  Forahero dies young-rather choose yourself ten

  Or a dozen whose pride's not so tall.

  Now your Swordmaster' s god-whosoever he be --

  When he stands there before you to teach

  And don't argue or whine, think to mock foolishly

  Or you'll soon be consulting a leech'

  Now most booty is taken by generals and kings

  And there's little that's left for the low

  So it's best that you learn skills, or work at odd things

  To keep food in your mouth as you go.

  And last, if you should chance to reach equal my years

  You must find you a new kind of trade

  For the plea that you're still spry will fall on deaf ears --

  There's no work for old swords, I'm afraid.

  Now if all that I've told you has not changed your mind<
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  Then I'll teach you as best as I can.

  For you're stubborn, like me, and like me of the kind

  Becomes one ./we swords-woman or -man!

  THE PRICE OF COMMAND

  (Captain Idra)

  This is the price of commanding --

  That you always stand alone,

  Letting no one near

  To see the fear

  That's behind the mask you've grown.

  This is the price of commanding.

  This is the price of commanding --

  That you watch your dearest die,

  Sending women and men

  To Bght again,

  And you never tell them why.

  This is the price of commanding.

  This is the price of commanding,

  That mistakes are signed in red --

  And that you won't pay

  But others may,

  And your best may wind up dead.

  This is the price of commanding.

  This is the price of commanding --

  All the deaths that haunt your sleep.

  And you hope they forgive

  And so you live

  With your memories buried deep.

  This is the price of commanding.

  This is the price of commanding --

  That if you won't, others will.

  So you take your post,

  Mindful of each ghost --

  You've a debt to them to fill.

  This is the price of commanding.

  THE ARCHIVIST

  (Jadrek)

  I sit amid the dusty books. The dust invades my very soul.

  It coats my heart with weariness and chokes it with despair.

  My life lies beached and withered on a lonely, bleak, uncharted shoal.

  There are no kindred spirits here to understand, or care.

  When I was young, how often I would feed my hungry mind with tales

  And sought the fellowship in books I did not find in kin.

  For one does not seek friends when every overture to others fails

  So all the company I craved I built from dreams within.

  Those dreams-from all my books of lore I plucked the wonders one by one

  And waited for the day that I was certain was to come

  When some new hero would appear whose quest had only now begun

  With desperate need of lore and wisdom I alone could plumb.

  And then, ah then, I'd ride away to join with legend and with song.

  The trusted friend of heroes, figured in their words and deeds.

  Until that day, among the books I'd dwell -- but I have dwelt too long

  And like the books I sit alone, a relic no one needs.

  I grow too old, I grow too old, my aching bones have made me lame

  And if my futile dream came true, I could not live it now.

  The time is past, long past, when I could ride the wings of fleeting fame

  The dream is dead beneath the dust, as 'neath the dust I bow.

  So, unregarded and alone I tend these fragments of the past

  Poor fool who bartered life and soul on dreams and useless lore.

  And as I watch despair and bitterness enclose my heart at last

  Within my soul's dark night I cry out, "Is there nothing more?"

  LIZARD DREAMS

  (Kethry: Oathbound)

  Most folk avoid the Pelagir Hills, where ancient

  wars and battles

  Were fought with magic, not with steel, for land

  and gold and chattels.

  Most folk avoid the forest dark for magics still

  surround it

  And change the creatures living there and all

  that dwell around it.

  Within a tree upon a hill that glowed at night

  with magic

  There lived a lizard named Gervase whose life

  was rather tragic.

  His heart was brave, his mind was wise. He

  longed to be a wizard.

  But who would ever think to teach their magic

  to a lizard?

  So poor Gervase would sit and dream, or sigh as

  sadly rueing

  That fate kept him forever barred from good he

  could be doing.

  That he had wit and mind and will it cannot be

  debated

  He also had the kindest heart that ever gods

  created.

  One day as Gervase sighed and dreamed all in

  the forest sunning

  He heard a noise of horse and hound and sounds

  of two feet running.

  A human stumbled to his glade, a human worn

  and weary

  Dressed in a shredded wizard's robe, his eyes past hope and dreary.

  The magic of his birthplace gave Gervase the

  gift of speaking.

  He hesitated not at all-ran to the wizard,

  squeaking,

  "Hide human, hide! Hide in my tree!" he danced

  and pointed madly.

  The wizard stared, the wizard gasped, then hid

  himself right gladly.

  Gervase at once lay in the sun until the hunt

  came by him

  Then like a simple lizard now he fled as they

  came nigh him.

  And'glowered in the hollow tree and hissed when

  they came near him

  And bit a few dogs' noses so they'd yelp and leap

  and fear him.

  "Thrice damn that wizard!" snarled his foe. "He's

  slipped our hunters neatly.

  The hounds have surely been misled. They've

  lost the trail completely."

  He whipped the the dogs off of the tree and sent

  them homeward running

  And never once suspected it was all Gervase's

  cunning.

  The wizard out of hiding crept. "Thrice blessing

  I accord you!

  And is there somehow any way I can at all re-ward you?"

  "I want to be a man like you!" Gervase replied

  unthinking.

  "A wizard-or a man?" replied the mage who

  stared, unblinking.

  "For I can only grant you one, the form of man,

  or power.

  What will you choose? Choose wisely, I must

  leave within the hour."

  Gervase in silence sat and thought, his mind in

  turmoil churning.

  And first the one choice thinking on, then to the

  other turning.

  Yes, he could have the power he craved, the

  magic of a wizard

  But who'd believe that power lived inside a lowly

  lizard?

  Or he could have the form of man, but what

  could he do in it?

  And all the good he craved to do-how then

  could he begin it?

  Within the Councils of the Wise there sits a

  welcome stranger

  His word is sought by high and low if there is

  need or danger.

  He gives his aid to all who ask, who need one to

  defend them

  And every helpless creature knows he lives but

  to befriend them.

  And though his form is very strange compared

  to those beside him

  The mages care not for the form, but for the

  mind inside him.

  For though he's small, and brightly scaled, they

  do not see a lizard.

  He's called by all, both great and small, "Gervase,

  the Noble Wizard."

  He's known by all, both great and small, Gervase

  the Lizard Wizard!

  LOVERS UNTRUE

  (Tarma: "Swordsworn")

  "I shall love you till I die!"

  Talasar and Dera cry.

  He swears "On my life I vow

  Only death could part us now!"
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  She says "You are life and breath

  Nothing severs us but Death!"

  Lightly taken, lightly spoke,

  Easy vows are easy broke.

  "Come and ride awhile with me/'

  Talasar says to Varee,

  "Look, the moon is rising high,

  Countless stars bestrew the sky.

  Come, or all the hours are flown

  It's no night to lie alone."

  This the one who lately cried

  That he'd love until he died.

  "Kevin, do you think me fair?"

  Dera smiles, shakes back her hair.

  "I have long admired you --

  Come, the night is young and new

  And the wind is growing cold --

  I would see if you are bold -- "

  Is this she who vowed till death

  Talasar was life and breath?

  Conies the dawn-beneath a tree

  Talasar lies with Varee.

  But look-who should now draw near --

  Dera and her Kevin-dear

  He sees her -- and she sees him --

  Oh confusion! Silence grim!

  Till he sighs, and shakes his head-(pregnant pause)

  "Well, I guess we must be dead!"

  THE LESLAC VERSION

  (Leslac and Tarma)

  Leslac: The Warrior and the sorceress rode into

  Viden-town

  For they had heard of evil there and

  meant to bring it down

  An overlord with iron hand who ruled his

  folk with rear --

  Tarma: Bartender, shut that minstrel up and bring another beer.

  L: The Warrior and the sorceress went search --

  ing high and low

  T: That isn't true, I tell you, and I think that I

  should know!

  L: They meant to find the tyrant who'd betrayed

  his people's trust

  And bring the monster's power and pride to

  tumble in the dust.

  L: They searched through all the town to find and bring him to defeat.

  T: Like Hell! What we were looking for was wine and bread and meat!

  L: They found him in the tavern and they chal-lenged him to fight.

  T: We found him holding up the bar, drunk as a pig, that night.

  L: The tyrant laughed and mocked at them, with vile words and base.