The Fire and the Sword

Intro

(Fáfnir's gold! Fáfnir's gold!)

The curse was in the metal before we touched it...

(Hu-ha!) Fire-wall broken — oath already clutched it —

Two warriors — one fate — nothing could obstruct it —

(Cursed gold!) The greatest love the nine worlds self-destructed...

Verse 1 — Sigurðr

Gram in my fist — the reforged blade of my father —

Fáfnir on the heath — the serpent — I went harder.

Heart-blood on my tongue — the birds spoke after —

Warned me of Reginn's plot — I moved faster.

Rode Grani up the mountain — fire-wall burning —

No other horse would go — no other man returning

From that flame — I felt the heat — kept turning

Into it — because the Norns had already confirmed the earning.

She lay inside the fire in full armor sleeping —

The greatest Valkyrie Odin set to keeping

Until the one man found her — I went in — not weeping —

Cut the corselet free — she woke — I felt the meaning.

We swore the oaths before the frost came in the morning —

Swore them in the fire-light — no warning —

Two people built for each other — no adorning —

Then I rode south — and met my own undoing.

Pre-Chorus — both

The drink was in the mead-horn — (golden, cold)

Gríðr's herb made everything I knew fold —

(your name was the first thing to go)

Every oath we swore on the mountain — sold —

The curse of Andvari running hot through the gold. (uh!)

Chorus — both

We were the fire and the sword that broke it (broke it!)

The oath was real — the cursed gold revoked it (revoked it!)

One drink — one forgetting — and we both got lost (both got lost!)

Sigurðr and Brynhildr — paid Andvari's cost! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2 — Brynhildr

I waited in the fire — armored — not afraid —

Odin's punishment for choosing the wrong blade.

I gave the victory to the man the Norns had weighed

Against Odin's will — I paid in the flame I'd made.

Then he came — Sigurðr — Fáfnir's blood still on him —

The birds' language in his ear — the gold upon him —

Gram at his side — every prophecy confirmed him —

I woke and saw the only man the mountain summoned.

We swore on Andvari's ring — I felt the curse-heat —

Neither of us reading what was underneath the heartbeat.

He rode south — I waited — thought the oath complete —

Gunnarr came with a proxy face and swept me off my feet.

I sat in Gunnarr's hall and felt the wrongness —

A man who couldn't breach the fire — this is my congress?

Then the queens quarreled at the river — Guðrún's boldness —

She showed me Andvari's ring — and I felt the coldness.

Pre-Chorus — both

The drink was in the mead-horn — (golden, cold)

Gríðr's herb made everything I knew fold —

(your name was the first thing to go)

Every oath we swore on the mountain — sold —

The curse of Andvari running hot through the gold. (uh!)

Chorus — both

We were the fire and the sword that broke it (broke it!)

The oath was real — the cursed gold revoked it (revoked it!)

One drink — one forgetting — and we both got lost (both got lost!)

Sigurðr and Brynhildr — paid Andvari's cost! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge — both, trading lines

You want to know what the curse of Andvari does?

(what does it do?)

It doesn't kill outright — that's not the cause —

(not the blade...)

It makes you forget the one thing you were for —

(forget the oath...)

Then shows it to you after — that's the war.

Sigurðr: I saw her face when the drink wore thin —

(when it cleared...)

Remembered everything — too late — already in —

(already married...)

Guðrún's hand — Gunnarr's hall — the gold-curse grin —

(the curse grinned...)

I died knowing what the forgetting had been.

Brynhildr: I sent the word to Guttormr — yes I did —

(I sent it...)

Not from hatred — from the oath the drink had hid —

(the hidden oath...)

The man who woke me died because a cup amid

A feast erased the mountain where we'd lived.

We burned together on the pyre — that was mine —

(the pyre...)

I laid beside him in the fire-line —

(in the flame...)

The same flame he walked through — returned — a sign —

(Skál to the cursed! Skál — the gold's design!)

(Two warriors — one fate — Andvari's last line!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus — both

We were the fire and the sword that broke it (broke it!)

The oath was real — the cursed gold revoked it (revoked it!)

One drink — one forgetting — and we both got lost (both got lost!)

Sigurðr and Brynhildr — paid Andvari's cost! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Fáfnir's gold! Fáfnir's gold!)

The pyre on the mountain...

(Hu-ha!)

The oath was real.

The gold was cursed.

The fire took us both.

We were always

the same ending.

(Skál.)