[Intro - Creeping 5/4 electric harpsichord ostinato: 1-2-3, 1-2, with a dissonant tritone bell chime] [Eerie bowed cello drone enters underneath] [Verse 1 - Haunting, unearthly female voice, locked to the 5/4 pulse, magical glitches] Seven threads, spun of silk, hung in the cavern deep, Seven laws, carved in stone, none of the houses keep. Guard your cup, guard your throat, sleep with an open eye, Every kiss, vel'oloth, hides an assassin's lie. Yet the bards, in the dark, sing when the pillar fades, Of an eighth, silver thread, uncut by any blades... [Pre-Chorus - Harpsichord shifts up a tritone, tense 5/4 pulse] Ssinssrigg burns, in the blood, sweet as a poisoned wine, Open up, drop your guard, whisper that you are mine! [Chorus - Hypnotic, soaring 5/4 melody with eerie vocal harmonies] Khaless, oh khaless! Word of the surface fool! Cruel is the Ilharess, cold is the Spider's rule! Hide what you love away, lock it behind the stone, Down in the Underdark, mercy will die alone! Bind up your lover's hands, cage them in silk and spite, Before the Matron's eyes drag them into the light! [Instrumental Interlude - Intricate 5/4 harpsichord solo trading dissonant tritone phrases with a weeping cello, and magical glitches] [Verse 2 - Hushed, cold, and intimate] Once a maid, of the blood, sheltered a captive stray, Poured her cup, shared her bread, kept all the whips away. No deceit, on her tongue, no venom on her lip, Just a hand, in the dark, she Could not bear to slip. Then her kin, saw her eyes, soften upon the stair— Come the dawn, only ash, lay in the chamber there. [Pre-Chorus - Rising tension, plucking strings and harpsichord] Do not weep, do not mourn, bow to the Spider's throne, What you love, in the dark, never can be your own! [Chorus - Full gothic baroque swell in 5/4] Khaless, oh khaless! Word of the surface fool! Cruel is the Ilharess, cold is the Spider's rule! Hide what you love away, lock it behind the stone, Down in the Underdark, mercy will die alone! Bind up your lover's hands, cage them in silk and spite, Before the Matron's eyes drag them into the light! [Bridge - Stripped to a bare 5/4 plucking harpsichord and whispered vocals] Ssussun above the rock... sky of unbroken blue, Where a heart, given free, stays with the one it knew. Fables for iblith fools, blind in the burning sun... Yet every spider's heart secretly wishes for one. [Outro - 5/4 ostinato slows down, echoing into the cavern] Drink the wine... Quar'valsharess... Swallow the bitter pain. Narak-Del cools to black... Only the webs remain. [Final unresolved tritone chord] [End]
