Northumbria Gold (Version 2)

Verse

The jarl said keep the oath, keep the treasure sealed

I said keep your promise empty, I don't need a yield

Gave up the iron ring like a snake sheds its own skin

Sailing out of Kattegat where the frostbite begins

Sold my sword for silence and a ticket home

No more blood for Odin's raven — I'm owed my own

Northumbria gold can burn, I'll take the northern sea

I don't need the legend to live in legacy

Pre-Chorus

They say the ring gives power over every name

I say it just gives you a debt, and a debt still bears the flame

I'd trade a hundred crowns for my own name on stone

Not a king's ransom — I'm already home

Chorus

Northumbria gold can't buy back what's mine to keep

I was never bound by what the gods would reap

I traded the iron ring for the right to sleep

Northumbria gold, but I don't need it deep

Verse 2

Björn Ironarm says I broke my own luck

Áslaug reads the runes and finds a different track

The jarl's men call me mad for leaving what's mine

I call them blind if they think treasure's still divine

I walked out of Spangereid with nothing but wind in my hair

Nothing to claim, nothing to prove — just air

Sigurðr Snake-in-the-Eye said the ring would make me great

I told him greatness tastes like blood, not weight

Pre-Chorus

They say I'm cursed for breaking the oath of old

I say it's just a legend trying to hold onto gold

Chorus

Northumbria gold can't buy back what's mine to keep

I was never bound by what the gods would reap

I traded the iron ring for the right to sleep

Northumbria gold, but I don't need it deep

Bridge

Maybe a man who holds too much wealth for himself is blind

Maybe a god who only asks you give what he can't find

The wind off the fjord knows my name already — no plaque needed

I'd rather leave a legend written in winter instead of greed

Outro

So let the ring burn — let it sink to the deep

I'll take the north wind, I'll keep what's left of me