Okay I thoguth this one was rather amusing
Deep into the stony hills, miles from town or hold
A troupe 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, aged cur
Three things see no end, a flower blighted ere it bloom, a messafe that micarries 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 sky
he wears a sord and bracelet worth more then he can afford
And in his baggage is a heavy, secret hoard
Three things be wary, of a feather on a cat, the shepard eating mutton and the guardsman that is fat
Little does the lady care what all the guardsmen know-
That bandits ambush caravans that on the traderoads go
In spite of tricks and clever traps and that men can do
The brigands seem to always know 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 ambusg bandits screaming charge the packtrain and it's prize
And all but four within the train are taken by surprise
And all but four are cut down as a woodsmen fells a log
The guardsman 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 maid that does not scream
Then off the lady pulls her, in armor she is clad
Her sword is out and ready-and her eyes fierce and glad
The maiden makes a gesture and the dog's a cur no more
A wolf, sword maid and sorceress now face the bandit hoard
Three things never anger, or you will not live for long, A wolf with cubs, a man with power, and a woman'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 it better, far, that only two should know, where treasure lies, who shares your bed, and how to catch your foe!
The bandits growled a challenge and the lady only grins
The sorceress bows mockingly, and then the fight begins
When it ends there are but four standing from the hoard
The witch, the wofl, the traitor and the woman with the sword
Three things never trust in; the maiden sworn as pure, the vows a king has given and the ambush that is "sure"
They strip the traitor naked and then whip hip on his way
Into the barren hillsides, like the folk he used to slay
And what of all the maidens that this filth despoiled and slew?
Why, as revenge, the sorceress makes him a woman too!
Three things trust above all else-the horse on which you ride, the beast that guards you sleeping and your sister at your side
~Mercedes Lackey
