The Wolf Within

I serve a great kingdom, I serve a high lord.
He values my wits and he values my sword.
There are many men wiser, more skilled in the fray,
But the beast that I bear is more deadly than they.

I am sent on a mission, my master's right arm,
To bring back a prisoner and shield her from harm.
But something has wakened the spirit I keep
And I've walked to her door, sword in hand, in my sleep.

I have bound it in silence and chained it in fear,
Myself as its prison for half of my years.
But the shackles are shattered, it fights to be free,
And all day and all night I must guard against me!

          Or the wolf will rise, and the wolf will rend,
          And the wolf recks not of foe or friend.
          And the wolf will strike, and the wolf will kill,
          Not as I, but as it will.

My prisoner has taken the wolf by surprise:
It has seen in the darkness a cat's gleaming eyes.
And the spirit within her allows her to see
Something more than the wolf-spirit lurking in me.

The healer would search me as deep as she can
To learn of the monster besetting the man,
But her probe finds a horror unheard-of before,
Like vines in my veins, and engorged with my gore.

It seizes my body, it clutches my will,
Myself as its weapon, one stroke from the kill.
I cannot resist it, the thing is too strong,
And I call on the wolf I have fought for so long.

          And the wolf will rise, and the wolf will shield,
          And the wolf will snarl and the foe will yield,
          And the beasts will strike and the beasts will slay,
          And the beasts will win the day.

But now I'm constrained to another man's course.
He calls me to heel and I follow perforce.
I can only guess whither, not why I am led
To the heart of an army long centuries dead.

The lady has followed us, prisoner no more.
She's brought the five gods, and they wait at the door!
I would give her my life, she's the half of my heart.
If we both see the morning, we never shall part.

The wolf is my champion, we battle as one,
Myself as the wolf; but when battle is done
These thousands are pleading for something I owe:
My debt is to free them, but how, I don't know.