Whale-road

Intro

(Drakkar! Drakkar!)

Dragon-prow splitting the black before morning...

(Hu-ha!) No bell, no watch, no warning —

Thirty blades oiled and the sail is full-forming —

(Drakkar!) The coast doesn't know what is coming...

Verse 1

Keel in the current at the turn of the tide,

Thirty shields hung on the strake either side.

Leiðarstjarna overhead as my only guide —

North Star don't lie, don't negotiate, don't hide.

Sólarsteinn in the fist cutting cloud into bearing,

The crew dead-silent — forty oars barely tearing.

Black wool sail furled tight, no silhouette for the fearing,

Wolf-grey horizon and the coastline is nearing.

Tagelharpa drone underneath the hull-groan and the brine-hiss,

Spray coming sideways — frostbite on the crisis.

Whale-road don't care about your bloodline or your highness —

Poseidon's a myth — this water's got no kindness.

Storm hit the second night — I'll spare you the counting:

Four men bailing, two oars snapped, waves mounting.

I lashed myself to the strake and kept shouting —

A captain going down means the whole crew is doubting.

Pre-Chorus

Wolf-grey dawn on the port side — there she rises (she rises)

Foreign coastline cutting into dark like a prize is.

Bell-tower silhouette — no one yet advises —

Thirty blades unsheathed in the mist before sunrise. (uh!)

Chorus

No horn, no cry — just the oars in the grey (oars in the grey!)

Dragon-prow hits sand at the break of the day (break of the day!)

Fire on the shore and we're already away (already away!)

The whale-road gave us everything — we made them pay! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

First boot in the shallows before the fog clears,

Cold salt in the lungs and the blood in the ears.

Sprint up the shingle — thirty years of this — no fears,

The monastery wall's just a gate that disappears.

Silver plate, manuscript gold, linen in stacks,

Iron candlestick weight balanced over my back.

In and out clean — that's the discipline intact —

A raid that turns to slaughter is a raid losing track.

Back to the brine-steed before the town bell is ringing,

Oars back in the water and the crew starts the singing.

Low throat-hum underneath — that old chant keeps the timing,

Every pull of the oar like a hammer keeps chiming.

Leiðarstjarna northeast — the home-coast is three nights,

Wind at the quarter — black sail catching the moonlight.

The dragon-prow rises on the wave-crest like a god-sight —

Thirty men, loaded ship, and not one lost the fight.

Pre-Chorus

Wolf-grey dawn on the port side — there she rises (she rises)

Foreign coastline cutting into dark like a prize is.

Bell-tower silhouette — no one yet advises —

Thirty blades unsheathed in the mist before sunrise. (uh!)

Chorus

No horn, no cry — just the oars in the grey (oars in the grey!)

Dragon-prow hits sand at the break of the day (break of the day!)

Fire on the shore and we're already away (already away!)

The whale-road gave us everything — we made them pay! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

You think it's the raid that a viking remembers?

(no...)

It's the second night out in the dead of November.

(second night...)

Ice on the rigging and the oarlock timber —

Every man asking if the fire still has an ember.

It's the moment the storm takes the mast at the root

(the mast...)

And you lash every plank with the rope of your boot.

It's the silence when the wind drops and the stars come back out —

(the stars...)

Thirty faces looking up without doubt.

(Skál to the whale-road! Skál — she gave us the way!)

(Skál to the crew that pulled the oar through the grey!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

No horn, no cry — just the oars in the grey (oars in the grey!)

Dragon-prow hits sand at the break of the day (break of the day!)

Fire on the shore and we're already away (already away!)

The whale-road gave us everything — we made them pay! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Drakkar! Drakkar!)

Home coast on the horizon...

(Hu-ha!)

Thirty men. Loaded ship.

The whale-road keeps its promises.

(Skál.)