The Song the Ogre Sang

by Peter Fane

  Captain Durn walked Dan across the room, and then Dan saw Master Falmon. The Master was talking to a man wearing a blue vest and silver spectacles. The man with the spectacles had to be Lord Garen, Dan figured. Dan had never seen Lord Garen before, but everyone said that he wore silver spectacles like this man did, so that’s who this had to be. When Dan saw Master Falmon, he smiled and waved, then put his hand down because that’s not how a proper soldier did it. But then Master Falmon waved back, so Dan ran to the Master, looked up, and saluted. “Ready to work, Master Falmon, sir! Don’t have my box, but I can do it! Tight corners, I be ready for ‘em, sir! Yes, I be!”

  Lord Michael, Lord Doldon, and Captain Colj looked up and came over. Then the rest of the people came over. All of them looked down at him, and Dan got nervous. But then he remembered that they had told him to come up there, so he saluted again. “Ready, Lords! Ladies! Yes, sir! I do a good job!” Then he bowed way down, because they were the High Lords and Ladies, and he remembered hearing something about bowing, so he did that.

  “This is the boy?” Lord Garen looked at Captain Colj.

  Both Captain Colj and Master Falmon nodded. Master Falmon gave Dan a serious look, as if to say, “Do it good, soldier.”

  Dan nodded back. He’d do it good, as good as he could. For truth.

  “Ready to work!” Dan saluted again.

  Lord Garen bent down and brushed Dan’s hair away from his eyes. Dan flinched at this touch, then looked at Lord Garen for a moment, blinked, and bowed again.

  “You’re Daniel Eadle?” Lord Garen asked.

  Dan started to say that nobody called him that name, but then he realized that that wouldn’t be right, so he stood tall, saluted twice—thump-thump little fist on his heart—and nodded. “Yes, sir! I’m Eadle, sir! Eadle is me! One, two, three! Ready to work, sir!”

  All the other folks in the room were looking at him now, but Lord Garen just smiled, took off his spectacles and polished them with the corner of his vest. “Glad to hear it, Daniel. There’s some special work we need done up here.” He paused, glanced at everyone else in the room, then looked at Lord Michael. “I think we’re done here.”

  Lord Michael nodded. “Gentlemen,” he said. All the talking in the room went quiet, and everyone turned to look at him. “I think we’ve accomplished what we can for today. We’ll reconvene three bells before dawn. Thank you for your wisdom and good council.”

  All the other soldiers and men and everyone nodded and started moving toward the door, talking and murmuring. Master Zar and his little dragon stayed. Lady Kyla, the other dark-haired lady, and Captain Dyer stayed, too. So did Captain Colj, Master Falmon, Lord Doldon, and the old man in the black robe with the crooked walking stick.

  When the last person left, Lord Garen looked down at Dan. “Captain Colj and Master Falmon say you’re a good worker, Daniel. Very trustworthy. They say you’re one of the most dedicated workers we have.”

  Dan knew what “good” meant, but he didn’t quite know about “dedicated.” But everyone said that Lord Garen had the big smarts, so if he said that Dan was “good,” then that other word must be a good word, too. So Dan nodded, bowed again, and kept his eyes on the ground.

  Lord Garen touched his shoulder. Dan looked up. “Colj tells me you sing to the big guns. Falmon told me about the armor earlier this morning.” Lord Garen lifted Dan’s chin so he could look him in the eye. “He says you sang to the armor, too. Is that true?”

  Dan frowned, squinted at Captain Colj and Master Falmon, then nodded quickly because it was true, then looked at the ground again. But it really wasn’t fair. Master Falmon had said not to say anything. “Not a word,” Master Falmon had said. And that meant it was a secret that you shouldn’t tell anybody. But the High Lord was asking, and you had to tell the truth. So Dan just nodded again, stood tall, looked Lord Garen in the eye like a good soldier would, and said, “Yes, my Lord, sir! I sing sometimes! I try to do it good!”

  “Dan?” Lord Michael knelt in front of him. “Can you tell us about your songs?” Lord Michael’s voice was tired and real soft, but it reached right inside Dan’s chest. Lord Michael took Dan’s hands in his own, looked into his eyes, and Dan went dizzy, like falling down a well—no noise, just falling into those dark eyes, like nothing you could do about it. Dan’s face got kind of hot, and his head was spinning, so he just blurted the first thing that came into his head. “I’m not a crazy, sir!”

  Lord Doldon chuckled. Dan’s face went hotter still. Lord Michael looked at Lord Doldon, and the chuckling stopped. Lord Michael didn’t let go of Dan’s hands, just squeezed them real nice. Lord Michael’s hands sure were warm. Master Zar and his little dragon, the ladies, all of them were looking at him. Captain Colj nodded his big ogre head at Dan, as if to say, “Stay strong, soldier.”

  “You’re not crazy, Dan,” Lord Michael said gently. “We know that. I know that. We want to hear about your songs, isn’t that right, Master Falmon?”

  “That it is, my Lord.” Master Falmon cleared his throat. “A good soldier tells the truth, Daniel. You’ve done no wrong. Your Lord asked you a question. You need to answer with your most honest words.”

  Dan looked at Master Falmon. Master Falmon nodded back at him, as if to say it was all good. So Dan lifted his chin. “I sing to keep warm, my Lord, sir.”

  “Keep warm?” Lord Michael asked. He looked up at Master Falmon. Master Falmon nodded. Lord Garen glanced at the old man in the black robes with the crooked stick. The old man turned and went to the side of the room, walking stick tick-ticking, bent at one of the shelves, and came back with a long box made of silvery wood. Everyone came closer.

  “Put him here.” Lord Garen patted the tabletop.

  Lord Michael picked Dan up and set him on the table. There were papers and drawings all over the table, and a huge painting that looked like a kind of map with little markers all over it.

  The old man gave the silvery box to the dark-haired lady that Dan didn’t know, then opened it. Inside the box, there was a small high silver hammer, like the one Master Falmon had used down with the armor, and five weird tools made of high silver, all resting on a blue cushion, like this:

  “Dan,” Master Falmon said, “this is Master Ness.” He nodded to the man in black robes with the stick. He looked at the dark-haired lady beside him, the one holding the box. “And this is Lady Katherine.”

  Dan bowed where he was sitting and saluted Master Ness and Lady Katherine. Master Ness looked real old. He had a scar on his forehead that started at the top of his nose and went up between his eyes. He was leaning hard on his walking stick, like he could barely stand without it. Lady Katherine looked at Dan curiously. Next to her, Lady Kyla was smiling at him. Dan smiled back.

  Master Ness took the silver hammer in one hand and took the first silver tool out of the case.

  “Can you hold this, lad?” Master Ness put the tool into Dan’s little hand.

  Dan took the tool and held it. It was very light and cool to the touch.

  “Hold it up in front of you, just like this.” He made a gesture like he was holding the tool in front of his heart.

  Dan did as he was told.

  Master Ness nodded. “Now, listen.”

  Dan got ready to listen. Everyone was staring at him. Master Zar and Lady Katherine and Lady Kyla were looking at him. Zar’s little dragon was looking at him, its tiny eyes like yellow jewels. The Masters, Captain Colj, Captain Dyer, and the High Lords looked at him, too. Dan felt his face go warm, but then he looked over at Master Falmon. Master Falmon nodded at him, one soldier to another. So Dan nodded back and got ready.

  And then Master Ness touched the hammer to the tool and everything around Dan went dead quiet, like his ears didn’t work anymore, and it was as if a door had opened inside Dan’s head, and he was staring at a silent night sky. But not at it. In it—silvery stars weaving together and dancing in the black, like he was looking into his own head, and his head was full of stars from the inside out.
Then a song came real soft, not like Stormy’s really, but the same sort of feeling, just sadder—so much sadder—and he couldn’t help but hum along. He closed his eyes, following the soft song through those stars, feeling the way, a quiet rush in his ears, but not really ringing, more like a vibration you could feel but not hear, the tool going warm in his hand.

  Then it stopped.

  Dan opened his eyes.

  Master Ness was staring at him, holding his hand over Dan’s little hand that held the tool. The tool was glowing silver-white, like the light of the moon. It wasn’t hot, just warm. Everyone looked at each other—then back at Dan.

  Master Ness nodded. “Very good, very good,” he said. He took the tool from Dan. It stopped glowing right away. Master Ness put the tool back in its box.

  Everyone was still looking at Dan, so he saluted and tried to say something, but he suddenly found that he couldn’t really talk and that he was real tired.

  Master Ness gave him the other four tools in the same way, taking them from the case that Lady Katherine held, one after the other. Each time, there was a different song, and a different kind of feeling, and each time Dan kind of sang along and got more tired, like he could barely keep his eyes open. Each time, there was that bright light from the tool when the song stopped, and the tool would be warm in his hand. Everyone had gathered close around him. But he was so tired now, he could barely sit up straight.

  “You take it, soldier,” he mumbled at himself, trying to keep his eyes open. “You take it, boy.” But the words didn’t come out right; they sounded like he was trying to talk with his mouth full of pebbles, and he was just so darn tired. And then, before he knew what was happening, Dan pitched forward off the table, and Lord Michael caught him and held him close and said something that Dan didn’t understand, but the words sounded gentle and soft and kind.

  21

  KYLA DALLANAR BLINKED. She was standing in front of a miracle. Then she looked around and was grateful to see that she wasn’t the only one astonished by Dan’s display of power. Michael held Dan to his chest, whispering softly, “Good solider, good solider.” Garen’s and Kate’s eyes were glassy, as were those of Falmon and Ness. Even Zar, Anna, and Colj seemed to have been touched. Little Gregory gave a soft squeak from Zar’s shoulder, then nuzzled the purple dwarf with his blue snout.

  “It’s true,” Michael said softly, looking over Dan’s head at Garen and Ness. “He has it?”

  Ness nodded. “He both feels and knows the bases of the ancient songs—naturally, with no training.”

  “How is that possible?” Kate asked.

  Garen said, “Such savants are rare, but they’ve existed in the past.”

  “When?” Michael asked.

  Garen didn’t answer but instead looked to Ness. Ness leaned on his walking stick. “The most recent example we could find was recorded by Venara Godol during the reign of Julia the Third.”

  “‘The Siegebreaker,’” Zar murmured.

  “Indeed.” Ness nodded.

  “Fortuitous,” Doldon grinned. “We’re due for a bit of siege breaking ourselves.”

  Kyla looked from Ness to Garen. “Julia reigned over seventeen hundred years ago.” She looked at Dan, who now snored softly against Michael’s shoulder. “‘Rare’ seems likes an underestimation.”

  “Extremely rare, then.” Garen shrugged. “Remember, that case was documented. There could have been—there could be—many examples that are not known.”

  “What do we know from that earlier instance?” Michael asked.

  Ness nodded. “That early case was very much like this one, apparently. A young boy, ten years old, quite ‘simple’ as they say, like our young Daniel here—but in complete tune with the Realm’s ancient songs. He was discovered by chance on Dayáden, brought to Paráden by Julia, and used there to annihilate the forces then laying siege to the Káladar. Also, unlike our war adepts, who are nearly all women, a savant’s ability seems to manifest almost exclusively in men. It also appears to be linked to brain development—and to memory, somehow.”

  “That makes sense,” Kate said. “The High Gates, High Pendants, and High Cups are all tied to memory.”

  “What do you mean?” Anna asked her.

  Everyone looked to Garen. He adjusted his spectacles. “While the processes are poorly understood, when you travel the Realm by High Pendant, you first visualize a location where you’ve been—you recall the memory of a place—and then the Pendant moves you into that memory, through space-time. Likewise, High Cups allow an individual to ‘deposit’ memories within specially tuned vessels, thus preserving those memories for eternity. High Gates join key principles of both Pendants and Cups, allowing Gate adepts to conjure stable connections between known destinations that can be used by others. The High Gates’ songs, when properly tuned, provide ‘cues’ or ‘prompts’ back to the primal memories generated when the Gates were first created by Acasius and his Sisters. In all three cases—Pendant, Cup, and Gate—memory forms both the binding tissue, the primary element used to ‘activate’ the particular artifact.”

  Anna frowned and smoothed a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “So, in Dan’s case, he ‘remembers’ songs he’s never heard?”

  “Precisely.” Ness nodded. “His discovery provides an unprecedented opportunity for further study. In some ways, the great cannon are like the High Pendants, Cups, and Gates: alive and profoundly mysterious—living tools.” Ness looked at Daniel. “Much could be learned, if he is willing to teach us—.”

  “Can he fight?” Michael looked down at Daniel. “Can he engage the enemy?”

  Kyla’s hands went cold. She shouldn’t be surprised by Michael’s question. She knew that. But still, it chilled her to the bone.

  Nobody spoke for a moment.

  “Can he fight?” Michael repeated.

  Ness bowed. “I would think so, my Lord. But whatever action he does take, it will be wild, untrained.”

  Michael nodded. “Was Julia’s savant ‘wild’ and ‘untrained’ when he was discovered?”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  “But it worked, somehow,” Michael said. “Julia was able to harness her savant’s energy, to destroy her enemies?”

  “Yes, my Lord.” Ness bowed. “The records are clear: The destruction was catastrophic.”

  Michael’s eyes flashed, but he said nothing more.

  Kyla shook her head. She would not—could not—keep silent. “Can we, in proper conscience, unleash this boy when we don’t understand his abilities? When we don’t know what he can do? We don’t even know who he is, where his family is.”

  “With respect, we do know something, Lady Kyla,” Ness bowed. “Our assistants have looked into the records. The muster taken of children brought into the Tarn during the Pretender’s initial assault lists his name as ‘Daniel Eadle, an orphan.’ No living relatives. The surname is uncommon. There were only two Eadle families recorded during the census of Tarntown conducted ten years ago. Those two families belonged to two brothers, both laborers. Both lived in Port’s View. Daniel was the only child of the older brother, Bodun Eadle. The other brother, Bradun, had no children. Daniel’s mother, father, uncle, and aunt were all killed in the Pretender’s assault.”

  “He has no living relatives, then,” Kate said.

  Ness inclined his head. “No lineage, no family.”

  Kyla frowned. “That does not answer my first question. Can we use him when we don’t know what he can do?”

  “Of course, we can,” Michael said. “And we must. The majority of the Legion’s generals are with Dorómy, Ky. So too are most adepts of the Alean Order. Our own adepts and cannon are exhausted. Dorómy’s army grows daily. And by your own reckoning, we have no chance for relief; Hone has demonstrated this. For two years, we’ve been pressed into a corner.” He held Daniel to his chest. “This is the moment to break free.”

  “Whatever the cost?” Kyla raised an eyebrow.

  “What is ‘cost,’ when it bring
s victory? And this—.” Michael touched the top of Daniel’s head. “This is victory.”

  Kyla frowned. “He’s a little boy who sings in the cold to keep warm. And, with respect, Michael, tomorrow is not battle. Not yet. It’s parley. It’s a chance for peace. At least some kind of ceasefire, to help us come to an agreement.”

  She looked at Dan, then noticed that everyone was staring at her. She lifted her chin, cleared her throat, and gestured to Daniel. “I understand the tactical advantage he might provide. But we don’t know what we’re asking him to do, what he can do. We don’t know what will happen.”

  “That’s true,” Michael said. “But he will go out, nonetheless.” He looked at Ness and Garen. “What steps must we take to activate him?”

  “But—,” Kyla began.

  Michael’s gaze silenced her. “I appreciate your thoughts, Kyla.” He looked back at Garen and Ness. “What must we do to make use of his abilities?”

  Ness frowned. “The accounts are . . . unclear. It is a risk, as Lady Kyla notes.”

  Michael said nothing for a moment. When he did speak, his voice was quiet, but seemed to fill the room with unspeakable power. “What must we do to make use of his abilities, Master Ness?”

  Ness bowed. “I have marked and read all relevant passages. I have also marked the scholia. The accounts are consistent: Julia brought the boy forward in the heat of battle, the boy laid his hands upon a great cannon, and the result was devastation. In all versions, it seems that battle itself was the prompt that joined boy to living weapon.”

  “So, he just needs to be present?” Michael asked.

  “Unknown.” Ness inclined his head. “But that is what the sources seem to relate.”

  “Not much to go on.” Master Falmon frowned. Kate nodded. Kyla could tell that neither Falmon nor Kate were entirely pleased with the direction the conversation had taken.