[Spoken Intro] Friends, last time our lad lost a chapel. This time? He gains employment. Which is worse, depending on the captain. [Verse 1] Grey dawn, wet tents, Blackwood mud Bandages boiling out the blood Kael had no banner, no grand display Just work to do and no chance to run away Captain Holt said, “Shelter, not trust” Sella said, “Move, or gather dust” Darian shined like noble steel So Kael put him kneeling just to see how pride feels [Pre-Chorus] Church riders came with a candle sign All white cloth and crooked lines They asked for the boy with sacred breath But Holt read the warrant and bored them to death [Chorus] Step into the trees, my friends Step where the marked road ends If they ring the bell and wait for you Don’t dance where they want your shoes Hey now, hide the trail Raise a grin for Kael When the road says “choose,” beware the plea Turn your heel and step into the trees [Verse 2] Ashfen Ditch took a wagon wheel Mud below and warped things real One crawled low for the wounded line Kael missed twice, but he bought them time Sella cursed him back to breath Darian bled and argued with death The wagon moved, the children stayed And sometimes that’s how heroes get made [Pre-Chorus] Not by shining, not by fame Not by winning some courtly game But by holding mud with shaking knees While trouble tries to crawl underneath [Chorus] Step into the trees, my friends Step where the marked road ends If they ring the bell and wait for you Don’t dance where they want your shoes Hey now, hide the trail Raise a grin for Kael When the road says “choose,” beware the plea Turn your heel and step into the trees [Spoken Break] Then came Seren Hallow. Former Reliquary, she claimed. Former, of course, being a word people use when they want knives lowered slowly. [Verse 3] At Miller’s Ford where old stones slept A bell-anchor listened beneath the steps Kael felt the ward, but touched no snare So Blackwood crossed by the gravel there A sealed tube came with a map inside Camp, ford, watchpost, nowhere to hide “They’re not chasing only me,” Kael said And the whole road shifted underfoot ahead [Bridge] Left path marked, right path clean Both smelled wrong, if you know what I mean Kael looked west where no trail showed And taught them how to refuse a road [Final Chorus] Step into the trees, my friends Step where the marked road ends If they ring the bell and wait for you Don’t dance where they want your shoes Hey now, hide the trail Raise a grin for Kael When the road says “choose,” beware the plea Turn your heel and step into the trees [Outro] So I follow for coin, for song, for bread For the clever road no sane man treads Not for safety, saints preserve me please But good tales vanish into trees
