Songreaver

by Andrew Hunter

  "Then we try it," Diggs said.

  The other ghouls shrugged and worked their way along the wall to where a large portion of the crystal floor remained, unbroken.

  Garrett followed, feeling a sudden wave of vertigo as he stepped out onto the transparent glass, looking down through it at the violet floor far below. The clear crystal squeaked beneath his boots as he walked, a high, piercing sound that set his teeth on edge. "I don't like this," he said.

  "I think we can make it," Diggs said, making his way further out along the wall where the remains of the old floor narrowed to only a few inches wide.

  "Be careful," Scupp said, following close behind her brother.

  "When am I ever not careful?" Diggs growled, reaching a shaggy claw out to grasp another handhold in the waxy stone of the wall.

  "Whenever you're awake, that's when," Scupp said.

  "You're just jealous o' my climbin' skills," Diggs said, lifting himself over a particularly narrow patch of crystal.

  "I'm jealous o' your bein' able to keep talkin' without havin' to stop to think," Scupp said.

  "It's cause I'm so ela-quint," Diggs said.

  "Is that what they call it?" Warren grumbled, taking his first steps out onto the narrow ledge with his face pressed against the wall.

  "You go first this time," Marla said.

  Garrett nodded, trying to look down as little as possible by feeling his way along the ledge with his toes. He pushed his body against the smooth stone of the wall and made his way, handhold by handhold, between Warren and Marla. The wind whistled through the holes in the wall, chilling his damp clothes until his limbs ached with every exertion.

  They were halfway across when the last shards of the crystal floor gave way beneath them.

  Garrett yelled in terror as he fell, sliding along the curved surface of the violet stone. He caught one glimpse of the ghouls, digging their iron-hard claws into the soft stone of the wall, before he disappeared into one of the many large holes in the violet chamber's floor.

  Darkness closed around him as he fell into a dizzying void of shadow. He had time only to inhale once before his vision exploded in a universe of stars and then blackness swallowed him completely.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Garrett's consciousness returned in a gray haze of hurt. He cried out, trying to feel for his head with his hands, but his knuckles didn't go where they were supposed to and scraped against rough stone. He felt as though he were lying back on a rapidly tilting table, and someone was twisting his head around on his neck like they were trying to unscrew it from his body.

  Stop it, he tried to say, but the words that came out of his mouth sounded more like, "Stahbdit." He blinked, trying to make sense of what he'd just said. His hands were still having trouble finding his head. Where were they?

  He tried lifting his head, but that only made it feel like it was spinning in the opposite direction now. He lay there and blinked again. That he could do. A very faint violet light filled his vision. A rough, stony texture swam before him, though it could have been inches away from his face, or yards.

  "Garrett!" someone's voice called.

  His thoughts focused, catching hold of a name, and holding onto it for dear life.

  "Marla?" he croaked.

  Then she was there, leaning over him, two of her at first, and then just the one as his eyes started working as partners once again. She looked very worried.

  "Garrett, can you hear me?" she cried.

  Garrett flinched at the volume of her voice. "Yeah," he gasped, "not so loud though."

  "He's here!" Marla shouted, and Garrett winced, trying to cover his ears. His hands still weren't working right though. His thumb went into Marla's ear.

  "Sorry," he said.

  "Where's here at?" Warren's voice echoed from somewhere far away.

  "I don't know," Marla shouted, and Garrett winced again, "We're somewhere beneath the floor of the cavern."

  "Yeah, I figured that much!" Warren shouted, "But how do we get to you?"

  "Just wait there," Marla shouted, "I'll see if we can make it back up to you."

  "Ow," Garrett said.

  "Where does it hurt?" Marla asked, leaning close.

  Garrett took a mental inventory. "My brain," he said.

  Marla gently felt at the sides of Garrett's head beneath his hood, working her fingers back behind his head.

  "Ah!" Garrett gasped, "Yeah, that's the spot."

  "Is Garrett all right?" Warren's voice called.

  "He's alive, but he's injured," Marla shouted.

  "I'm fine," Garrett tried to call out, but raising his voice hurt too much.

  "Warren," Marla called, "See if you can climb out and go back to the pit and cut off the rope that's hanging below the level of the ledge. Bring it back here when you have it."

  "Right!" Warren shouted.

  "Whata you want us to do?" Scupp's voice called.

  "Just stay up there," Marla shouted.

  "All right," Diggs shouted.

  Garrett tried to lift his head again and decided that he still wasn't ready for that yet.

  "Lie still," Marla said, "You could make it worse if you move."

  "Yeah," Garrett agreed. At least the rock wall behind Marla had stopped spinning. He could make out that he was lying in a relatively flat section of a long stone tube, nearly five feet wide. Various other tubes intersected with it further off in either direction.

  Suddenly Marla stiffened, and her eyes went wide, looking past Garrett into the shadows of a nearby tunnel mouth. "Who are you?" she demanded.

  "A friend!" a girl's voice answered, a familiar voice.

  Garrett turned his head to see the Girl in Brown, moving toward them on her hands and knees. He knew her only as the Girl in Brown, for that was the color of her clothing, and he had no other name for her. It seemed somehow odd to his impact-addled brain that he could not recall her real name, but he knew, somehow, that she was surely an old and dear friend.

  "Hi," he said, "What are you doing here?"

  The Girl in Brown's eyes widened, and she froze, her lips parted in astonishment.

  "You know her?" Marla asked.

  "Yeah, she's a friend of mine," Garrett said, looking at the Girl in Brown, "but I... can't remember your name right now. I think I hurt my head."

  The Girl in Brown held her hand to her mouth, trembling, her brown eyes wide and locked on Garrett's face.

  "Are you all right?" he asked.

  "Yes," she gasped, "Yes."

  "Who are you?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown ignored the question. "What are the extent of his injuries?" she asked, scooting forward to join Marla at Garrett's side.

  "He hit his head," Marla said, "His bleeding has stopped, but I'm concerned about internal injuries. We fell down from the chamber above."

  "I know," the Girl in Brown said, "I saw." She lifted Garrett's head slightly to feel at the base of his neck.

  "You were following us?" Garrett asked.

  The Girl in Brown frowned. "Annalien would be furious if she knew you were doing this, but I had to follow to make sure you were all right. You could have gotten yourself killed, Garrett!"

  "You know Annalien?" Garrett asked.

  The Girl in Brown nodded. She probed the same spot that Marla had felt before and was rewarded with an identical gasp of pain from Garrett.

  "Annalien is the ghost, isn't she?" Marla said.

  "Yeah," Garrett hissed.

  The Girl in Brown let Garrett's head back down gently.

  "Where do you know this girl from?" Marla asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  Garrett thought for a moment. "I... I don't know," he said.

  "But you are certain that she is a friend?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown eyed the vampire girl warily.

  "Yeah," he said, "I'm pretty sure... I just don't know how I know that."

  Marla pursed her lips and fell silent, not taking her eyes from the Girl in
Brown.

  "Please tell me your name," Garrett said, "I'm sorry I forgot it."

  The Girl in Brown ignored him and reached beneath her cloak, fumbling at the clasp of a pouch on her belt.

  "You didn't forget her name, Garrett," Marla said, "You never knew it."

  "What?" Garrett asked.

  "She won't tell you her name either," Marla said, "or, rather, she can't."

  The Girl in Brown stared at Marla, her face unreadable, as she pulled a roll of gauze from her kit and began to thread it under Garrett's neck.

  "What are you talking about?" Garrett asked.

  "I only just now put it all together," Marla said, "It had been bothering me for a long time that I couldn't remember the details of what happened that day we went to visit the ghost in the Old City."

  Garrett gritted his teeth against the pain as the Girl in Brown pushed back his hood and began to wrap his head in bandages, her flawless brown eyes wandering from Garrett to Marla and her lips tense with silence.

  "I remember fighting with the huge spiders in the old tunnels," Marla said, "but I don't remember how the fight ended. Honestly, I don't remember anything else after that until we reached the ghost's lair. It's as though a portion of my memory had been blotted out. Do you remember anything about that time, Garrett?"

  Garrett thought for a moment. "I don't know. It was so long ago."

  "And I'm fairly certain that, if we asked Warren, he wouldn't be able to recall anything during that time either," Marla said.

  "What do you mean?" Garrett asked.

  "I mean that, whenever this girl is around, it is impossible for any of us to make new memories," Marla said, "That is her power... to remain forever forgotten."

  The Girl in Brown gave a bitter laugh, but said nothing.

  "Or is it a curse?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown looked at Marla for a moment, and then her eyes fell.

  "That doesn't make any sense," Garrett said, "I mean I remember her... it's a little hazy, but I remember her."

  The Girl in Brown looked down at him with a small, sad smile. She brushed the tips of her fingers across his forehead.

  "The moment she leaves, you will forget she ever existed," Marla said.

  "Wait," Garrett said, "She said that she knows Annalien. Maybe ghosts can remember her."

  Marla shook her head. "The only way you can ever remember having met a Banal is to know its true name."

  The Girl in Brown flinched.

  "A what?" Garrett asked.

  "And a Banal can never tell anyone its name," Marla said, "so the ghost must know her from long ago... when she was sent to..."

  "To what?" Garrett said.

  "To spy on the humans of Wythr," Marla said, "This creature was created to be a spy in a war that ended long before you or I were ever born."

  The Girl in Brown glared at Marla, her lips twitching and her fingers flexing into a fist around the throat of Garrett's hood.

  Garrett lifted his hand to touch the girl's sleeve. "She's just a girl," Garrett said, "and she's my friend. That much I remember."

  The Girl in Brown looked down at him with a trembling smile and tears in her perfect eyes. She relaxed her grip on Garrett's collar and exhaled slowly.

  "Hey," Garrett said, "do you know the way to the Chamber of Kings?"

  The Girl in Brown looked at him for a long moment and then nodded. "I can take you there," she said.

  ****

  "Why can't the ghouls come with us?" Garrett asked as he walked, partially supported between Marla and the Girl in Brown with his arms draped over their shoulders. His legs had the strength to walk again, but his sense of balance had yet to return.

  "They could come, but they would surely die," the Girl in Brown said.

  "How do you know?" Garrett asked.

  "Because their instinct would be to fight the Guardian, and it can't be fought," she said.

  Garrett frowned, hating to leave his best friend behind. Warren would want to fight, that was certain. He hoped that Diggs and Scupp would be able to convince him not to follow when he got back with the rope. Only Marla's most plaintive assurances had convinced them wait while Garrett and Marla went on ahead to scout out a potential lead.

  They emerged from the tunnels of stone into a wide chasm, over which a natural stone bridge stretched to the other side. Fine veins of glittering gold light twisted through the black stone walls of the chasm, casting a pale glow over the trio as they walked.

  "How do you know the way?" Garrett asked.

  The Girl in Brown chuckled. "I know everything about this city," she said, "I've been around long enough."

  "How old are you?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown hesitated a moment before responding, "I came to the city shortly after the arrival of the Songreaver, when the last elves were still alive."

  "They did not all die in the defense of the city?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown laughed. "I suppose they left that part out of the history books," she said, "The elves let him in."

  "They surrendered?" Garrett asked.

  "In a way," the Girl in Brown said, "The Queen agreed to marry Brahnek, if he spared her people and her city."

  "Marry him?" Marla said.

  The Girl in Brown nodded. "They say he besieged the city for a year before she rode out to meet him in one last, desperate battle. She realized that none of her allies would come to her aide, and so she decided to die in battle with the hated enemy of her people. Brahnek met her on the field, personally, with the intent of slaying her himself, but, when he saw her... something changed in him."

  "Huh?" Garrett said.

  They reached the far end of the stone arch and entered the shadows of another subterranean vault, passing between tall pillars of shimmering crystal that glowed faintly with a pulsing golden light.

  "Brahnek Spellbreaker, the Songreaver himself fell instantly and hopelessly in love with Queen Elaraenu," the Girl in Brown laughed softly, "Of course he wasn't the Songreaver then, not yet. Elaraenu was no match for him in combat... she was no warrior, but he could not bring himself to slay her. He begged her to yield, but she was wyrdbound to defeat him. The Masters had done that... had commanded all the elves to fight until the very last against the hated humans... no offence, Garrett."

  "Yeah," he said.

  "She couldn't surrender to him, even when he promised to spare her and her people," the Girl in Brown said, "She was bound to his death, and could not resist the Masters' command."

  "Masters?" Garrett said.

  "The elder dragons," the Girl in Brown said, "the last of their kind who still stood against the human foe. They ordered the Faeborn to resist and defy the humans to their last breath. Elaraenu had to try to kill every human that she met. She had no choice. Brahnek's chief magician tried to explain this to him, and tried to convince him to put aside his folly and slay her, but Brahnek would hear nothing of it. He had Elaraenu chained and lifted his siege of her city while he went in search of the magic he needed to break her wyrdbondage and free her to love him as he loved her."

  They passed from the gallery of crystal pillars into a hall of bubbling pools of steaming mud. The rocks beneath their feet glowed a dull red, but felt cool beneath the soles of Garrett's boots.

  "Brahnek disappeared into the wilderness for an entire year," the Girl in Brown said, "When he returned, he was the Songreaver... the Spellbreaker. He used whatever power he had found to break Queen Elaraenu's wyrdbinding and free her to... surrender. It killed her as surely as his sword would have, but she submitted and gave her hand to the murderer of her kin to save what few of her people remained in this land. Her beloved city was spared, though much changed by the human occupation. She lingered on at his side, slowly fading, until, at last, only her promise to him kept her alive... and that only for a while."

  They passed beyond the mud room into a hall of slate-colored stone with shining silver orbs set like stars in the ceiling above.

  "
I arrived in the city shortly before she died," the Girl in Brown said, "and I've been here ever since."

  "Where are we?" Garrett asked, looking at the faces of elven men and women carven in the gray stone of the walls.

  "We're almost there," the Girl in Brown said, "If you want to go back... this is your last chance."

  Garrett shook his head.

  "Garrett, you're injured," Marla said, "We can come back later when you're better."

  The Girl in Brown watched his face intently. "She's right," she admitted, "The Guardian... we could all die here."

  Garrett pulled away from the two girls, stepping back from them on unsteady feet. He took a deep breath and tested his balance. "No," he said, "I'm ready."

  The Girl in Brown nodded and led them to the end of the long hall. A deep, booming wind whistled at the mouth of a tall, narrow stone archway, and, beyond that, a great circular shaft of stone, five hundred feet across, stretched upward to disappear into shadow high above, and descended into a thick, gray-green mist far below.

  A black column of glistening obsidian stood in the center of the shaft, itself over fifty feet in diameter. It reached up into the blackness above and down into the mist-shrouded depths. A great spiraling staircase of interconnected platforms ringed the column. Black spars of stone jutted out from the column, supporting the outer ring of the stairway and providing access to the many sealed doors in the column's walls with narrow walkways like the strands of some great black web. A single strand of this stone web bridged the gap between the strange staircase and the small platform where Garrett and his friends stood.

  The Girl in Brown shivered and drew closer to Garrett's side. "I've never dared go any further than this," she said.

  "Where is the Guardian?" Marla asked.

  "It's here... somewhere," the Girl in Brown said, "It is bound to the black stone of the stair. It can't touch us, as long as we aren't standing on the stairs, but, once we set foot on it, it will pursue us until we escape into one to the tombs... or it touches us. If it touches you, you die."

  "What do you mean?" Garrett asked.

  "The creature is an avatar of Death," the Girl in Brown said, "Sometimes it moves fast like a sword. Sometimes it creeps like a plague. Either way, the moment it touches you, you die."