Blood on the Ice¶

A Vaeryn war chant, transcribed by Imperial Ethnographer Cassiel Varen during a “diplomatic observation mission” to Caldrith in 5A 847. Varen’s field notes describe the chant as “performed by approximately two hundred warriors in unison, stamping spears against frozen ground in a rhythm that I can still feel in my chest three days later. I have studied seventeen cultures. This is the first time a song made me want to leave.”

The chant is traditionally performed before battle or at clan gatherings when a war-chief calls for a vote on whether to march. It is not a prayer. The Vaeryns do not pray. It is a promise.

We are the cold that does not thaw. We are the teeth inside the jaw. We did not kneel. We will not kneel. The Wolf remembers. The Wolf is real.

The south sent fire. We sent it back. The south sent chains. We made them crack. The south sent words. We sent them bone. The Wolf does not sit on a throne.

(Spears strike ground — three beats)

Blood on the ice. Blood on the ice. The mountain does not ask the price. Blood on the ice. Blood on the ice. We do not die. We die twice.

(The second “die” refers to the Vaeryn belief that warriors die first in battle and again when their name is forgotten. A warrior whose name is still chanted has only died once.)

They built their walls from stolen stone. They fed their Empire from our bone. They called us savage. Called us beast. They never marched this far northeast.

The Covenant is cracking thin. The golden age is caving in. When the Auriels fade and the Veil comes down, We will be waiting. We will be waiting. We will be waiting.

(Repeated until the war-chief raises a fist. Silence falls. The vote begins.)

Ethnographer’s note: I was permitted to observe on the condition that I “write it exactly as it was.” I have done so. I recommend the Senate understand that this is not a cultural artifact. It is a strategic forecast. The Vaeryns are not performing tradition. They are rehearsing.