Threes
Written by Mercedes Lackey and Leslie Fish
Vocals and Guitar by Leslie Fish
Keyboards by Ernie Mansfield
Midi Programming by Teri Lee
From Arrows appendix of songs: "A similar song from the same region as Kerowyn's Ride that migrated northward." This song is about one of Tarma and Kethry's, of the Vows and Honor trilogy adventures. This adventure is detailed in Oathbound, although the details are slightly off in the song.
Deep into the stony hills miles from town or hold
A troop of guards comes riding with a lady and her gold
She rides bemused among them shrouded in her cloak of fur
Companioned by a maiden and a toothless sated cur
Three things see no end; A flower blighted ere it blooms
A message that miscarries and a journey that is doomed
One among the guardsmen has a shifting restless eye
And as they ride he scans the hills that rise against the skies
He wears both sword and jewels worth more than he could afford
And hidden in his baggage is a heavy secret horde
Of three things be wary of; A feather on a cat
The shepherd eating mutton and the guardsman that is fat
Little does the lady care w hat all the guardsmen know
That bandits ambush caravans that on these trade roads go
In spite of tricks and clever traps and all that men can do
The brigands seem to always sense which trains are false or true
Three things are most perilous; The shape that walks behind
The ice that will not hold you and the spy you cannot find
From ambush bandits screaming charge the pack train and its
prize
And all but four within the train are taken by surprise
And all but four are cut down as a woodsman fells a log;
The guardsmen and the lady and the maiden and the dog
Three things hold a secret; Lady riding in a dream
The dog that sounds no warning and the maiden who does not scream
Then off the lady pulls her cloak, in armor she is clad
Her sword is out and ready and her eyes are fierce and glad
The maiden makes a gesture and the dog's a cur no more
A wolf sword made and sorceress now face the bandit horde
Three things never anger or you will not live for long;
A wolf with cubs, A man with power and a women's sense of wrong
The lady and her sister by a single trader lone
Were hired out to try to lay a trap all of their own
And no one knew their plan except the two who rode that day
For what you do not know you cannot ever give away
Three things is its better far that only two should know
Where treasure hides, who shares your bed, and how to catch your foe
The bandits growl a challenge and the lady only grins
The sorceress bows mockingly and them the fight begins
When it ends there's only four left standing from the horde;
The witch the wolf the trader and the women with the sword
Three things never trust in; the maiden sworn as pure,
The vows a kings has given and the ambush that is sure
They strip the trader naked and then whip him on his way
Into the barren hillsides like the folk he used to slay
And what of all the maidens that this bandit raped and slew
So as revenge the sorceress makes him a women too
Three things trust above all else; the horse on which you ride
The beast that guards your sleeping and your shield mate at your side