Boat to Red Mountain (Morrowind Inspired)

Fill the cups and clear a place I’ll sing of one with a prison face No silk on back, no banner flown Yet half of Vvardenfell knows the name now They sent him east with iron grace From city cell to a swamp side place In Seyda Neen he came ashore With ciphered lines and little more To Caius in Balmora town He brought sealed words and laid them down No drum of rank, no noble air Just road dust clinging everywhere Boat to Red Mountain Boat to Red Mountain From prison rags to council hall Boat to Red Mountain He walked the waste where blight winds bite Bought bread with coin and slept rough nights He heard of dreamers, ash, and dread And Sixth House whispers spreading red He fetched old bones and trader’s lore Then crossed the cantons shore to shore Priests spoke plain and wise folk weighed Whether this outlander was made Some laughed hard and called him false Some stepped back and watched him close Still he kept that steady stride Like some old claim would not let slide Boat to Red Mountain Boat to Red Mountain From prison rags to council hall Boat to Red Mountain Then corprus took him, cruel and deep The kind that fells the strong in heaps Yet out he came with altered blood Still walking firm through ash and mud At Urshilaku fires he stood No lordly name, no claim of blood The wise ones searched the mark and scar And weighed his steps from near and far Then House by House the hard road ran Redoran first with flint eyed clan Hlaalu next through smiles and schemes Telvanni last through spiteful screens Then camp by camp the verdict spread Ahemmusa raised their heads Zainab tested gift and nerve Erabenimsun watched what he’d serve Then taverns hushed from coast to waste For now the tale had changed its shape No errand hand with sealed command But Nerevar walking on the land Vivec gave counsel, grim and spare The sort gods give when doom is near With Wraithguard bound upon his arm He climbed where Dagoth nursed the harm Keening bit and Sunder drove Through blackened vault and broken stone Dagoth roared of crown and claim Then lost them both in ash and shame Boat to Red Mountain Boat to Red Mountain From prison rags to council hall Boat to Red Mountain So raise the cups in every room For the jailbird sent to face the doom No one sang when he came ashore Now every hearth wants one verse more