A Piper's Song: The Pied Piper Tales

by C. K. Johnson

  “Where was your clan leader that night?” Malcolm spat out, choking on his own words, laced with profound sorrow.

  “He had left that night. His daughter was having her first child. He didn’t hear of all that happened until the morrow, and as it didn’t happen to his clan, he ultimately didn’t have a say,” Magnus sputtered out, this time more freely.

  “Last question, Magnus, and this is the important one. When you put the call on me, the one that made me come back here against my will, did you really do it for my own safety or because you wanted to take my power, too?” I whispered into his ear. He went pale and tried to fight. “Please, dear uncle, do not make me ask again,” I added as I slowly started to raise the pipe back to my lips.

  “It should not belong to you. You are not even a full piper. You will not be able to contain it and use it befittingly, half-scum that you are. I am of your clan, and it should come to me,” he hissed before his head dropped.

  “Very good. Now sit. Stay,” I ordered.

  I rose up and made a slicing motion with the pipe. The truth song dissipated and pulled back inside the instrument. Malcolm had been right. This pipe and I were going to be good friends. As I lifted it to my lips, all who watched me flinched with fear. I could see it in their eyes. No one was safe from me now.

  A delicate smile played across my lips and I let loose a tune I both feared and yet revered.

  The melody came to me the night before, when I truly became a full piper. It was a song that could both part and rebind our power. I was not strong enough to rid uncle of all his power, but I could remove a little something that did not belong to him.

  I released the song on him, ignoring his incessant moaning about something he had inferred earlier, something that he had ignored from Avalyn as she made a desperate plea for lawfulness.

  It felt good to think about the law coming full circle to he who upheld it most. As the last of her power grated off poor Magnus, I shifted the key from minor to major and let Avalyn’s song drift over to Malcolm. I could almost see her shape dance to her love and disappear into his frame.

  He fell to his knees and wept. I could not imagine how sweet their reunion was. It must be a bittersweet mix, knowing this caress would not come again. He stayed there, breathing raggedly long after the song drifted off, savoring it until reality started to set in on me.

  Malcolm had just trespassed on another clan’s land and allowed his apprentice to attack their Law.

  We were in so much trouble.

  Malcolm helped me into the car and paused before he got in himself. “You all witnessed his crimes against my apprentice, and I warned him thrice to withdraw. He chose. You also bear witness to what you heard in his crimes against my wife. Know this to be true: I take no offense from your clan, only him. I have no intentions to hurt anyone. I leave wishing peace, a long life, and a good song.”

  As we pulled away, I held my arms close to me, trying to still the shaking that coursed through my body. Whether it stemmed from exhaustion after becoming a full piper, tossing around ancient songs as if they were child’s play, or the reality my uncle meant to take away my newly minted power, I could not say. Throw into the mix the fact that I had just spent a lot of energy between the truth song and then ripping the power off that despicable man and transferring it to Malcolm. One act alone would have been enough to let me call it a day, but I had just performed a small miracle.

  I wanted to go home and apologize to my brothers, let Ben know I wasn’t a zombie anymore, and see if I could wheedle more information out of Malcolm now that I had a small inkling of what had gone down that night.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Running

  THE KINK IN MY NECK SCREAMED at me to roll over. My body did not respond. I wasn’t even sure if I could respond if I wanted to. My fuzzy memories told me that something big had happened but the details evaded me. I felt worse than I had after my little deer-calling incident. Was I ill? Yes, that sounded right. If I played my cards right and turned my puppy dog eyes on Malcolm without my brothers around I could probably get the day off. Maybe even two.

  “Ow,” I yelped as my head rolled and hit cold glass.

  “Welcome back,” Malcolm said as he glanced over.

  My brow furrowed. My sudden awakening brought everything back, but I didn’t understand why we were still driving. I expected to be home and in bed. I yawned and stretched as best I could in the front seat of a car. Malcolm reached back, pulled out a sack of fast food, and dropped it in my lap. I yawned again and reached in, hoping it wasn’t as hopeless as the greasy brown bag advertised. It was worse, lukewarm.

  “I’m sorry I was not there when you became a full piper. It can be confusing and overwhelming and it was made more so by your uncle’s call. Tell me, did your uncle take any of your power?” he asked, glancing over at me.

  “No,” I croaked. My voice sounded hollow and I swallowed, a new fear rising. Had I burnt out? Was it possible to burn out? I felt empty, like a roaring flame had rampaged through my veins and destroyed everything in its path, including the little bit of a spark I’d had when I first stirred. My awakening felt like little more than a bit of glowing kindling, ignited by emotional friction, compared to this.

  “We are at our strongest the first twenty-four hours. You will not be able to do what you did last night again, and you were only able to overpower the Law because of your uncle’s hubris. I am only grateful I arrived before he found an excuse to remove your power.”

  “Thank you,” I said. My voice came out clearer this time and I sighed.

  “You must be exhausted. Eat. Don’t confuse how you are feeling with sleepiness. You’re not immortal and it’s best to take it slow after something like that,” he said, nodding again toward the bag.

  I laughed at the suggestion that I would mistake the emptiness inside for fatigue. As for immortality, every breath I took since I awoke reminded me I was quite mortal. My stomach growled and I smiled as I pulled out something that resembled a biscuit. It was cut in half and unceremoniously stuffed with every imaginable breakfast food short of cereal. I took a tentative bite. The flavors burst in my mouth and I found that it wasn’t as bad as I had originally expected.

  Malcolm pointed to the glove box, which I gingerly opened with my pinky finger because the rest were dripping with grease. I grabbed a handful of napkins out and started wiping my hands and face. My stomach continued to growl after I had finished the first whatever it was and soon, the second one followed.

  He seemed satisfied for he didn’t bug me further and I tossed the empty bag in the backseat. We sat in silence for some time before I turned the radio on. The music blasted through the car, bringing me further into consciousness. I rolled down my window, sticking my head out to enjoy the breeze brushing against my face.

  There was a hint of a song on the breeze and I leaned out a little further to catch more of it. Whatever the tune said started to become more distinct. I could almost recognize it. The song floated in wind for any piper to catch. It was something akin to what I myself had put out on the winds so many months earlier. As I strained, I could make out a word or two. Just a little further and I would have it.

  Malcolm grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me back in a few seconds before a truck came roaring past us in another direction. “I could say something wise and master-like, but I believe you got the point,” he said as he shook his head and went back to watching the road. “Now, shall we make this time useful, or would you like to continue acting like a dog with its head out of the window? I’m okay either way.”

  “Useful.” I briefly thought about mentioning the song on the wind, but decided against bringing attention back to my stupidity.

  He hit the scan button on the radio and let it flip from song to song until it landed on an old country station, then started singing. I didn’t think listening to him sing country music would help, but he nodded to me when the chorus came on again and I picked up the tune, singing the parts I k
new the words to and humming otherwise.

  The power that I had so wildly let out last night became suppressed, layer by layer, song by song, until it heeled as it should. Not that there was much stirring right now to heel. It too seemed exhausted by last night’s events.

  I felt a little stupid, singing at the top of my lungs as we flipped from station to station, combining rock with classical and twisting it into a current top ten hit that repeated continually on at least two radio stations at any given time. But it worked.

  We cruised down the beautiful back roads, letting the music flow around us, parting here and there, and intertwining again in perfect harmony. Is this what it would feel like to be married to a piper? Had he sung this way with his wife until, well, until he couldn’t anymore?

  I clenched my hand tightly, wishing I had my pipe. How had I misplaced such a precious item? Had it been in my hand as I got in the car? My heart thumped faster as my eyes searched every inch of the car and I still didn’t see it. Malcolm seemed to know what I was doing. He pointed in the back seat, smiled, and went back to singing.

  My pipe rested in a fine leather holster with intricate stitching that matched my instrument perfectly. I picked the pipe and the odd-looking shoulder holster of a carrier up and fingered it in amazement. It narrowed a little where the gun would normally go. I glanced over at him and smiled.

  “They are part of a set. Made in the old world, where pipers still know what they’re doing. I had planned to give it to you for your birthday, but it looks like you’ll need it before that,” he said, staring straight ahead.

  My stomach dropped at the thought that something I wore would cause him daily pain and yet even the idea of me parting with it caused more anguish than I could explain. Our connection was strong. I couldn’t imagine my life without it.

  My feelings must have shown on my face, because Malcolm sighed and said, “It’s alright, little one. This is as it should be, and as I said before, it would make her happy.”

  I sat brooding for a time while he started singing again. I soon couldn’t help joining in, and even pulled out my pipe for a few of the songs.

  By evening, I started to drift off when a blaring police siren jolted me awake. “Aren’t you supposed to be the responsible one?” I asked.

  He shrugged and pulled over, waiting for the officer to tap on his window.

  “What can I do for you this fine evening, officer?” Malcolm asked in the same polite tone he had used with my uncle.

  “Do you realize how fast you were going back there?” the officer asked, glancing over in my direction. I smiled.

  “I believe it was around eighty, officer,” he replied quite openly. This revelation brought me fully awake because the last speed limit sign we had passed had read forty-five. We were in so much trouble.

  “License and registration,” he ordered. He waited for Malcolm to comply.

  As Malcolm leaned toward the glove box, he met my gaze, and gave a slight nod. I turned the radio up, careful to keep my eyes downcast so the officer wouldn’t see the rising glee. The cop didn’t say anything. I started first humming, and then singing along with the song, switching every third or fourth word out for my purposes.

  By the time the chorus came around the second time, the cop was driving away. We sat for a moment or two longer while Malcolm shoved the napkins he had been grabbing back in the glove box. He sat back up and started the engine.

  “So, do you think that earns me a clue as to where we’re going? I originally thought we were going home, but I gave up on that several hours ago,” I said, nervously tapping my fingers on my legs. Home would not be safe after what I had done to my uncle, but I didn’t know what our other options would be.

  “As you have already guessed, taking you to your home would be a bad idea. It’s the first place they’ll look for you. I need to take you to a place they can’t go. My clan,” he said with his usual this is how it is nod.

  “But how will going to your clan help us?” I asked, confused. Being from a different clan hadn’t saved his wife, so I still didn’t understand why our going to them would stop anyone from touching me, either.

  “You are my apprentice. That means you belong to me. Therefore, any punishment while on my clan’s land should come from my Chieftain. If I can convince him your clan wronged me and that I am not only in the right but you were protecting your Master, then your clan cannot touch me, and thereby you.”

  “And what if they don’t agree that you were in the right? What if they say I belong to my clan and my clan gets to mete out justice? What then?” I asked, feeling fear creep into my voice.

  “We will address that if and when that happens,” he said. His tone warned me not to ask anything further. So we were going to Malcolm’s clan.

  As the silence stretched between us, I dared to speak again, just to fill in the awkwardness that had risen up out of nowhere and now threatened to tear a hole in our friendship. “So, why do our clans hate each other?” I asked even as a yawn escaped my lips. I shook my head and settled against the window, waiting.

  “It has been that way for as long as I can remember. It is said to come from the original clans, the ones in the old country. I don’t think anyone remembers who wronged whom first, or what the actual wrong that occurred was anymore. I remember my grandfather, a Chieftain of our expanding clan here, say it happened during his father’s time. I could never coax it out of him, and I believe his generation was the last to know why. I always found it funny to think that even starting fresh here, with our own leaders, it carried over.”

  “Father never talked about the clans in Europe. He barely talked about his own clan. I didn’t even know they still existed until you mentioned it earlier, but it makes sense. The things a person doesn’t think of until they are mentioned,” I said. I pushed the button allowing my seat to lean back and stared up at the sky through the open moon roof.

  “I think in a way, we like to think we are independent, and yet all our traditions come from them. They are still the force to be reckoned with. Even now, we are still tied to them, as our clan Chieftains are tied to the clan they descend from. To them, we are but unruly teenagers, trying to make a way in the world by ourselves. We have yet to best pipers coming from the original clans in The Fields. Maybe someday when you compete, you will prove them wrong.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Malcolm's Clam

  IT WAS STILL MISTY OUTSIDE, BUT the first rays of morning were cutting through, signaling the coming dawn. Malcolm pulled off the paved asphalt and parked in front of a large, rusty iron gate.

  The massive work of foreboding metal rose ominously from the ground, guarding a road that lead to nowhere. It reminded me of something right out of a horror movie. I could imagine yelling at the TV warning the heroes not to open the spooky-looking gate and go down the deserted road. Turn around now and run.

  Malcolm cleared his throat interrupting my dark thoughts. “After the encounter with your uncle, I fear I have neglected an important part of your training. I should have taught you how to shield yourself. We will have to trust your instincts now. The only thing stronger than our power’s desire to take control is its desire to protect us. I lean toward a song with a spider web pattern myself, but the power will let you know what to do should you need it. The important thing to remember is you are the one in control. Understand, once we go inside, you must be on your guard until the moment we leave.”

  “Yes,” I whispered as I held my pipe tighter and nodded.

  “Good, from this moment on, you must do exactly as I say. Speak only when spoken to, and act as I taught you a normal apprentice should. I cannot treat you as I have been. It will look wrong and undermine my position of authority. All must look right if they are to take us in and offer us protection. Do you understand me?” he said. His voice was the harshest I had ever heard it, save for his argument with my uncle.

  I nodded again, too nervous to speak.

  “Go open the gate
, Little Bird,” he ordered. He waved toward it and frowned. I headed over, stumbling a bit in my haste to get it open.

  My ankle twisted in a pothole and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. I hobbled back over to get in the car, but he drove past me, splashing thick, dark brown mud across my jeans and only stopped when he had fully cleared the gate. I glared in the direction of the car and barely managed to keep my frustration down as I hobbled back to the gate, shut it behind us, and then limped over to the car.

  As I went to open the passenger’s side door, he shook his head. “In the back, Little Bird,” he barked. I stepped back at his tone but made myself get in the back. I didn’t even have the door quite closed before he started driving forward.

  “Remember, you cannot do any songs unless bidden by me specifically. You only leave when given an errand by me, and I will not call you by your given name until you have earned it. Although I do not care for this method of training, I agree it has been effective for many, many years. It is believed to toughen one so they will not casually lose their cool or be baited into a fight against a weaker opponent. I guess the idea is once you know what misery truly is, you can appreciate happiness all the more. Take the pipe off. It’s too fine a thing for an apprentice of your level to have. Now Little Bird, are you ready to play your part?”

  He didn’t wait for me to answer as we pulled up to the outskirts of the village. Within a stone’s throw from us stood the first thatched-roof hut. I barely held back tears as I took my pipe and its holster off and placed it under his seat. I felt broken without it.

  “I would suggest you open my door, close it behind me, and keep your head bowed. The only ones you can look directly at now are other apprentices and children.” He waited for me to step out and follow his command.