[Spoken Intro] Coins in the bowl, friends. Ale in the hand. Tonight I sing of Kael Vale, because following trouble pays better than honesty. [Verse 1] At Ninth Bell Chapel, the morning went wrong No fire in the kitchen, no breakfast song Orlan left a sword, a key, and a note Which is never how you want breakfast to go Candle-marked men came marching in With holy words and dangerous grins They wanted the ward, they wanted him tame So Kael took the back way through smoke and flame [Chorus] Raise your cup for the boy in the smoke With a borrowed blade and a half-made joke He ran from the bell, but he carried the flame And the chapel burned behind his name Sing hey, sing ho, let the dark road bend Bad luck makes the finest friends If the bell won’t ring when mercy starts We’ll beat the rhythm on tavern hearts [Verse 2] Young Tovin found him, scared half-dead Children below and boots overhead Kael could have run, could have saved his skin But kind-hearted fools go charging back in He held the dark while the little ones fled Mud on his boots, old steel overhead Then he ran east, drew the wolves off the trail And that, my friends, is extremely Kael [Chorus] Raise your cup for the boy in the smoke With a borrowed blade and a half-made joke He ran from the bell, but he carried the flame And the chapel burned behind his name Sing hey, sing ho, let the dark road bend Bad luck makes the finest friends If the bell won’t ring when mercy starts We’ll beat the rhythm on tavern hearts [Spoken Break] Did he then find peace? A bath? A nap? No, friends. The gods hate tidy stories. [Verse 3] By a roadside shrine where the gray light crawled Blackwood stood fast while the wagons stalled Darian shouted, Sella cursed death away And Kael stepped in like he had ruined plans all day No banner high, no shining claim Just ward-thread bright in the relic flame He broke the flank, kept the wounded alive And Blackwood learned why hunted boys survive [Final Chorus] Raise your cup for the boy in the smoke With a borrowed blade and a half-made joke He ran from the bell, but he carried the flame And the chapel burned behind his name Sing hey, sing ho, let the dark road bend Bad luck makes the finest friends If the bell won’t ring when mercy starts We’ll beat the rhythm on tavern hearts [Outro] So I follow Kael for coin and song For the road runs sharp and the tale runs long Not for safety, saints forbid But good stories walk where that boy did
