[Intro]
[Twelve-string guitar plays the broken-horn motif beneath a slow wingbeat rhythm.]

[Verse 1]
We cleared the ridge at dusk on Vaelgrim’s back,
His blood froze black along each silver crack.
Below, the farms of Hestdal burned in rows;
No dragon flame had melted through that snow.
Oil burned green around the winter grain,
A soldier’s method dressed in dragon blame.
The people pointed upward through the pyre,
And named the wounded creature for the fire.

[Chorus]
Ashes under the aurora, black beneath the blue,
Every colour in the heavens made the old lie look true.
Ashes under the aurora fell on roof and frozen shore;
The crown had lit the houses, then accused the one who soared.
How do you save a people who are taught to fear your face?
How do you carry truth when smoke has hidden every trace?

[Verse 2]
[Yrsa]
“We land, we help, though every bow is drawn.”
[Ivar]
“They’ll kill him long before they see the dawn.”
[Vaelgrim]
“I guarded those whose fathers broke my wing.
I will not weigh their terror like a king.”
[Ivar]
He folded low beside a shattered mill;
A child stood crying on the window sill.
He placed one claw beneath the falling beam,
Then bore her gently through the sparks and steam.

[Pre-Chorus]
Her mother raised a knife with shaking hands,
Then saw the royal oil across the lands.
No speech could mend the lesson taught for years—
But one saved child made doubt appear through tears.

[Chorus]
Ashes under the aurora, black beneath the blue,
Every colour in the heavens made the old lie look true.
Ashes under the aurora fell on roof and frozen shore;
The crown had lit the houses, then accused the one who soared.
How do you save a people who are taught to fear your face?
How do you carry truth when smoke has hidden every trace?

[Instrumental Break]
[Acoustic guitar, bowed strings and restrained twin leads follow a circling flight melody.]

[Bridge]
The rescued girl reached for the broken horn;
Her mitten touched the wound where pride was shorn.
[Child]
“Did the bad king break your horn?”
[Vaelgrim]
“Judge kingdoms by the hands that lift the fallen through the storm.”

[Final Chorus]
Ashes under the aurora, black beneath the blue,
Every colour in the heavens can be bent to hide the truth.
Ashes under the aurora marked the path that Haldren tore,
But one child saw a guardian where the court had drawn a war.
You may not save a people by demanding instant grace—
You bear them through the fire and let them judge your face.

[Outro]
We left before the archers crossed the hill;
The child called, “Broken Horn!”—with wonder, not with fear.
