[Intro]
[Mandolin counts seven clipped notes; two bone clicks answer.]
One for the road that the armies burned,
Two for the bridge where no horse returned.
Three for the lock with no mortal key,
Four for the price no eye could see.

[Verse 1]
At Hollow Mile stood a gate of slate,
Seven iron mouths on a wheel of fate.
No hinge, no handle, no mason’s seam,
Only dried red wax and a royal seal’s gleam.
Mara struck stone with her pommel twice,
[Choir]
The arch replied, “Name the lawful price.”
[Narrator]
Lark tried a riddle; the lintel bled,
Then silver numerals burned overhead.

[Pre-Chorus]
[Veyr]
“We turn back while choice is ours.”
[Narrator]
Behind them rose the king’s black towers.
Tomas heard screaming beyond the wall—
A village still living, fated to fall.

[Chorus]
Red bones, silver numbers, turning in the hand,
Measure out a doorway, measure out the land.
Six may split the mountain; one may take your name,
Every perfect answer feeds a hidden claim.
Red bones, silver numbers—count what courage costs;
The road appears beneath you, but something else is lost.

[Verse 2]
Mara laid the dice in her gauntlet’s dent,
Where the crest of her dead order once had meant
Mercy before triumph, truth before command—
Now crimson corners trembled in her hand.
[Mara]
“Only one throw. No second plea.”
[Narrator]
The first die struck a four; the next showed three.
Seven mouths opened with a grinding groan,
And seven fresh cracks ran through Mara’s oath-stone.

[Pre-Chorus]
No blood was spilled and no comrade fell,
Yet a chapel bell tolled under the dell.
Mara touched the emblem beneath her mail;
One sacred word had vanished from the tale.

[Chorus]
Red bones, silver numbers, turning in the hand,
Measure out a doorway, measure out the land.
Six may split the mountain; one may take your name,
Every perfect answer feeds a hidden claim.
Red bones, silver numbers—count what courage costs;
The road appears beneath you, but something else is lost.

[Instrumental]
[Mandolin repeats the seven-note count while guitars force it into a straight marching pulse.]

[Verse 3]
They crossed as the arch sank into clay,
While the rescued villagers fled the other way.
A child gave Mara a ribbon of blue;
She knew it meant something—but not what she knew.
The first small payment had passed unseen,
Not flesh, not coin, but the space between
A vow once spoken and the reason why;
The dice had taken “mercy” and left the lie.

[Bridge]
[Tomas]
“Can a missing word return?”
[Narrator]
Veyr watched the silver numerals burn.
[Lark]
“A song can mend
What memory drops—but not its end.”
[Brunna]
“We break the damned things at klohs of day.”

[Final Chorus]
Red bones, silver numbers, cold within the hand,
Opened up the mountain, marked the oathless land.
Seven gave them passage; seven took a thread,
Not enough to mourn yet, not enough to dread.
Red bones, silver numbers—first account begun;
The cost does not announce itself when victory is won.
They marched beneath the hillside where the buried road descended,
While Mara sought a sacred word and found the sentence ended.

[Outro]
Seven steps down, then seven more,
Silver scratched on the tunnel floor.
Behind their backs, the gate sealed tight;
Ahead, the numbers breathed in white.
