The Iron Heart

[Verse 1]
Down in the valley where the wheat won’t rise
A black-roofed castle cuts the evening sky
The lord in the tower wears a crown of bone
And every frightened farmer serves him as their own

[Pre-Chorus]
They leave him bread, they lower their eyes
They swear their names beneath the blood-red sign

[Chorus]
But one iron heart came riding through the rain
With a battered shield and a weathered blade
He said, “This valley is not yours to keep
No king of the dead gets to rule the living sheep”
And the peasants heard courage beneath his cry
As the noble knight raised his sword to the night

[Verse 2]
The lord sent wolves from the chapel yard
Mad men with torches and a hunger gone hard
They rushed like thunder through the village square
But the knight held the line while the bells rang bare

[Pre-Chorus]
A widow brought water, a child brought a light
The silent began to stand beside the fight

[Chorus]
For one iron heart came riding through the rain
With a battered shield and a weathered blade
He said, “This valley is not yours to keep
No king of the dead gets to rule the living sheep”
And the peasants heard courage beneath his cry
As the noble knight raised his sword to the night

[Bridge]
At the castle gate, the old stones shook
The vampire lord smiled with a hunter’s look
But dawn was waiting past the eastern ridge
And the knight drove him back from the broken bridge

[Final Chorus]
That one iron heart stood bleeding in the rain
While the vampire lord fell beneath the blade
The valley was silent, then somebody sang
And the frightened old bells rang over the land
Now the fields run green where the dark once lay
And the noble knight rides at the edge of day

[Outro]
Down in the valley, the people are free
No crown of the dead rules the living anymore