Songreaver

by Andrew Hunter

  Grahm smiled, putting his arm around his brother's shoulders. "It ain't bad at all Garrett," he said, "I mean, you just died. What did that feel like?"

  "I dunno," Garrett said, "I guess it hurt a little, but it doesn't hurt now."

  "Exactly," Grahm said, "The hard part's over."

  "So, where did you go?" Garrett asked.

  Grahm stepped back and opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to find the words. At last he laughed. "Garrett, it's just one of those kinda things you have to see to understand."

  "It's good though, right?" Garrett asked.

  "Yeah," Grahm chuckled, "It's good."

  Garrett looked down at the Girl in Brown. She was shaking his body and screaming, but he couldn't hear her voice.

  "Can I say goodbye to my friends?" Garrett asked.

  Grahm smirked. "If you choose to come with me, you've already said all the goodbyes you're gonna get to say."

  "Choose? What do you mean?" Garrett asked.

  Grahm sighed. "I mean you just did something you weren't supposed to do, Garrett. You just took a big chunk of the magic that made this world and agreed to carry it around for the rest of your life... then you got killed without passing it along to the next person."

  "What happens now?" Garrett said.

  "You can leave it lyin' on the floor there and come with me," Grahm said, "or you can pick it back up... and do what you promised to do."

  A wild hope sprang up in Garrett's heart. "You mean I can go back to life?"

  Grahm gave him a hesitant nod. "Sort of," he said.

  "What do you mean?" Garrett asked.

  "Well, the only thing holding you to that body would be the magic you're carrying around inside it. It's Old Magic, Garrett, the kind that trumps the rules of the game, so to speak. Someday, you'll give it up and pass it to the next guy. That's the day you'll see me again."

  The vision of Brahnek's cold blue eyes suddenly burned bright in Garrett's mind. "So, I'll be some kind of undead monster?" he said.

  Grahm laughed. "You'll still be Garrett," he said, "You'll just be a little bit... different."

  "What if I don't do it?" Garrett asked, "What if I go with you?"

  Grahm smiled sadly. "Then you and I would have some really great adventures... There's so much I want to show you... but, if you walk away now, that magic will be lost forever... forgotten... really forgotten. Your people will die in chains they will never be able to break."

  "My people?" Garrett said.

  Grahm grinned and said nothing.

  "What am I supposed to do?" Garrett asked.

  Grahm lifted his hands. "That's up to you Garrett," he said, "It's your life."

  Garrett stood silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "I want to go back," he said.

  Grahm hugged him again for a very long time. "I'll see you again, Garrett," he said, stepping away at last, "... a long time from now."

  "I missed you a lot," Garrett said.

  "I missed you too, little brother," Grahm said.

  Garrett looked down at his body again. "Well, how do I get back in," he asked.

  "You just have to make the decision," Grahm said.

  ****

  Garrett gasped for breath. His chest felt like a block of ice.

  "Garrett!" the Girl in Brown cried out. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as Garrett struggled to breathe, blinking as his vision slowly cleared.

  "Garrett! Are you in there?" Marla's voice called from the stairway beyond the door. The Guardian still stood on the threshold, looking down at him with its three void-black eyes.

  "I'm all right!" Garrett shouted, "Just stay back."

  "You were dead!" the Girl in Brown whispered, "How did you..."

  "It's all right," Garrett said, "I... I have something I have to do."

  Garrett slowly got to his feet. His legs shook beneath him, and he leaned on the Girl in Brown for a moment before he trusted himself not to fall.

  He faced the Guardian then and saw it for what it was.

  The words of an ancient song wrapped around the thing in the threshold like chains of sorrow and hate. Garrett heard the voice of fire and thunder in his mind, the voice of the dragon that had conjured the white goat into being from some fevered dream of loss. He heard the voice of infinite sorrow that formed every word, every fiber of the creature's body, and his heart ached for it.

  It looked at him with its midnight eyes and waited.

  "I set you free," Garrett said, and a strange tone filled his voice. He stretched out his hand toward the Guardian, and the white goat shrank back from the sound it heard in his words.

  "Don't be afraid," Garrett said, "You've done what they asked of you, and now it's over... you're free now."

  The words of the ancient song began to unravel in Garrett's mind. He saw at once that he could unmake the Guardian altogether, if he so chose. Perhaps that is what Brahnek would have done, but he was not Brahnek Spellbreaker. He was just Garrett, and he felt nothing but pity for the animal that stood trembling before him.

  He pulled the darkest notes from the song, hearing them fade into silence, leaving only the simple melody of a creature, unbound and free. Garrett watched as the shadow lifted from the creature's eyes, and it stared back at him with crystal blue wonder.

  Garrett smiled.

  The Guardian bleated in terror and fled, clopping up the stairs past Marla with a flutter of its membranous wings.

  Marla ducked to the side to let it pass then ran to Garrett as he stepped from the tomb, bewilderment on her face.

  "Garrett! Are you all right?" she gasped, "What happened?"

  "I have it, Marla," he said. His tongue felt stiff and cold when he spoke. "I have the Word."

  Marla laughed with joy. Then she glanced over Garrett's shoulder and looked startled. "Who is that?" she asked.

  Garrett looked back at the Girl in Brown, standing in the doorway behind him, and he smiled. He extended his hand to her and guided her forward as Warren and Diggs and Scupp raced, panting, to the bottom of the stairs.

  "Everyone," he said, "This is my friend..." He looked at the Girl in Brown. "Alyss?" he guessed.

  "Not even close," she laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Every inch of Garrett's body ached with a chill tension by the time he dragged himself up over the rim of the pit. He lay, gasping for breath and listening to the trickle of water past him on the floor of the roundhouse room beside the bottomless pit. The ghouls sat beside him, catching their breath. Marla was already coiling up the last length of rope with a troubled look on her face.

  Garrett looked over to see the Girl in Brown edging toward the shadows.

  "Don't go," Garrett said, "... not yet."

  The Girl in Brown smiled and stood by the wall, looking at him. When he looked at her and let his eyes go out of focus, he could see the words of her Song in his mind's eye. Like a symphony of darkness, a spell of shadow and secrecy swirled about her body. He tried to read in it some clue, some hint of her name, but the threads were woven too tightly. If, in trying to free her, he pulled the wrong stitch, she would be torn and frayed apart into nothingness. He needed to know her name.

  "So, none of us are gonna remember her after she leaves?" Warren said.

  Garrett pushed himself up into a sitting position with his hands on the floor behind him. "Yeah," he said, "that's the way it works."

  "That's dumb," Warren said, "Why don't you just write yourself a note or somethin'?"

  Garrett saw the Girl in Brown tense, and he sensed the danger growing in her.

  "No!" he said, "It's for her own protection."

  Warren shook his head. "Whatever. I'm hungry." He got to his feet and helped Scupp and Diggs up as well.

  "You coming back to Marrowvyn with us?" Diggs asked.

  "No," Garrett said, "I have to go see Lampwicke."

  Diggs nodded, and he and Warren bid them goodbye and loped off into the shadows. Scupp gave Garrett a worried smile and then
glanced at the Girl in Brown once before following her brother.

  Garrett got to his feet, rubbing his chaffed hands together to try to warm them up. He looked down and peeled back the edge of the silk bandage on his palm. The red swelling where he had touched the hot door was gone.

  Marla tossed the last coil of rope down beside her duffle bag and turned to face the Girl in Brown.

  "So why is a Banal still in Wythr, so long after the war?" Marla asked.

  The Girl in Brown said nothing.

  "What war?" Garrett asked.

  "The war between dragons and humans," Marla said, "The Banal were created to infiltrate and sabotage the human side during the war. The war is long over. Why hasn't she gone home?"

  "Home?" the Girl in Brown laughed bitterly, "Where is that?"

  Marla tilted her head. "Are there any more of you left?" she asked.

  The Girl in Brown looked at the floor. "Garrett," she said, "I have to go."

  "No," Garrett said, "I don't want you to go. Come with us to Annalien's house, please."

  She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Garrett. I have to go," she said, "I'm glad... I'm glad you're all right."

  Garrett nodded. "I'll... I'll see you soon, right?"

  "Yeah," she said, looking at Marla, "Goodbye."

  Garrett and Marla watched her go. Garrett waited until she was out of sight, and then he rushed to Marla's side.

  "Marla," he whispered, "I need you to help me remember. I need you to help me remember to ask Annalien her name. If I know her name, then I can remember her. Annalien knows it."

  Marla looked at him with concern. "Garrett," she said, "I don't think that's a good idea. It's safer if you don't remember her. Garrett, she's not human. She's a very dangerous thing. She was created to spy on and destroy humans!"

  "Marla, please!" Garrett said, "I can already feel her memory slipping away... you have to help me hold this thought and ask Annalien what her name is."

  Marla nodded sharply. "All right," she said, "Let's go."

  They left Marla's gear lying beside the pit and descended into the tunnel network beneath the city, making their way toward Annalien's house.

  Garrett whispered to himself as he walked. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name.

  Marla walked beside him, and, despite his focus on remembering the girl, Garrett could sense Marla's tension. He knew she disapproved, but that didn't matter now. Only remembering mattered. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name.

  He almost lost track of his thought when he came to the juncture of tunnels where he had trouble remembering the way to Annalien's house, but he caught the memory back just as it slipped away and repeated it fiercely to himself again. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name.

  When they reached the underground dome that contained Annalien's house, and he saw at last the golden light of day spilling through its little round windows, he turned to look at Marla and smiled. "I'll be right back," he said. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name.

  Marla swooned against the wall of the dark tunnel, overcome with sun-sickness and unable to proceed any further toward the ghost's house. "Garrett," she said, "please just wait a minute... we need to talk about this."

  "I'll just be a minute," he said, desperate to hold onto the thought. Remember to ask the Girl in Brown's name.

  Marla gave him a thin smile and nodded.

  Garrett grinned and started toward the sunlit house.

  "Garrett!" Marla cried out, and he turned to look back at her.

  "Yeah?" he asked.

  A look of pain crossed her face, as though she were reluctant to speak. At last she said, "How did you find the Word of Breaking?"

  "I..." Garrett said, and then his thoughts swirled into a gray haze, "What?"

  Marla looked away, as if ashamed. "How did you find the Word of Breaking?" she asked again.

  There was something he was trying to remember. What was it? A name...

  "You found the Word of Breaking, to set Lampwicke free, Garrett. Do you remember?" she said.

  "The Word... yeah," he mused, "Yeah... I... know how to do it now... but how?"

  "Just go to her!" Marla shouted, "Go help Lampwicke!" She looked sick.

  Garrett ran back to her. "Marla! All you all right?" He touched her shoulder, and she turned her face away from him.

  "It's just the sunlight," she whispered, "I'll be all right in a moment. Just go help Lampwicke. I'll wait here for you."

  Garrett nodded, reluctant to leave her like this.

  "Go, Garrett," she said, forcing a smile, "I'll see you when you get back."

  Garrett hurried to Annalien's house. He ached with the warmth of the sunlight on his body as he stepped through her door.

  "Annalien!" he shouted, "I did it!"

  The ghost of Annalien looked up from where she knelt beside Lampwicke's cage. The smile drained from her face, and her lambent eyes went suddenly wide with horror. The stumps of her wrists went to her lips and she stared at him, shaking her head slowly.

  "Garrett, what have you done?" she sobbed.

  An icy chill ran through Garrett's body as Annalien's horrified expression filled him with fear.

  "I found the Word of Breaking," he said.

  "No!" Annalien gasped, shaking her head as she got to her feet and staggered away from him, "You are the Word of Breaking! You are the Songreaver!"

  "Annalien, it's all right," he said, "It's me, Garrett!"

  "No," she said backing away to put the sun-bright crystal shard between him and herself, "No... you used to be Garrett! Now you are something... monstrous! Get out!"

  "Annalien!" Garrett cried.

  "Get out of my house!" she screamed, "Get out and never come back!"

  Garrett felt like he had been kicked in the chest. A cold sense of dread washed through him, and he said no more.

  "Garrett!" Lampwicke wept as he snatched her cage up from the floor, "Garrett, what is happening?"

  Garrett said no more, but he ran. He fled Annalien's house without looking back, Lampwicke's cage clutched tightly to his chest. Cold tears ran down his cheeks as he left behind the only sunny place in all of Wythr.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Garrett opened the door to the balcony atop Uncle Tinjin's house and carried Lampwicke's cage out into the cool air of twilight. Marla followed close behind him, saying nothing.

  Whatever had happened in the pit beneath the city, it had cost him the friendship of Annalien the ghost. Garrett knew in his heart, somehow, that it had cost him much more than he could even realize. Marla, it seemed, sensed this as well, for she remained quiet and troubled, confessing to knowing only a little more than he did about what transpired in that black pit. In the end, it didn't matter. Garrett had found what he went seeking. He had found the Word.

  He smiled as he set Lampwicke's cage on the wide stone railing overlooking the street and houses below.

  "Garrett," Lampwicke said, "It's cold."

  "We can go inside in a minute... if you want," he said, feeling a little knot of sadness in his throat, "but I wanted to show you something first."

  He looked at Marla, and she twitched a little smile. She looked down at Lampwicke and then knelt to put herself at eye level with the little fairy.

  "Lampwicke," she said, "I'm sorry that we put you in that cage. I really wish that we hadn't... that I hadn't done that now."

  Lampwicke glared back at Marla, her color flushing from gold to an angry red, but she held her tongue out of respect for Garrett.

  Marla stood up again and stepped away, looking across the city toward the shadow of the mountain.

  "Lampwicke," Garrett said, "I'm going to do something now, and I don't want you to be afraid. All right?"

  Lampwicke's eyes narrowed. "Garrett, sena wa?" she asked.

  Garrett smiled and stepped back, lifting his hand over Lampwicke's cage. In his mind he heard a voice, singing. It was Marla's voice, but mingled with an older voic
e, something vast and powerful, a great and shining gem of which Marla's voice was but a single facet. This was somehow different from the song of the Guardian. Marla's song spell was woven together of a golden thread too strong to ever break, but Garrett knew he could unravel it.

  Garrett spoke a single word, and his voice droned with a power that felt as though it might vibrate his teeth loose from his jaw. He afterwards did not know what exactly he had said, but the meaning was clear... Open.

  There was a sharp pop like green wood in a fire, and Lampwicke's cage suddenly twisted in the grip of an unseen force. The little door of silver wire suddenly sprang open and swung, crookedly on its hinge, and Lampwicke stared at it in shock.

  Garrett looked down at the cage and felt its song fading into memory, its purpose served and needed no longer. "Come out, Lampwicke," he said.

  Lampwicke's eyes went from the broken door to Garrett's face and she looked suddenly afraid. Her wings buzzed once and then stopped again. She started to take a step toward the door and froze.

  "I cannot, Garrett!" she cried, "I am afraid."

  Marla stared down at the cage, her eyes full of wonder. "It worked!" she gasped, "You did it, Garrett! It worked!"

  Lampwicke shut her eyes and flew at full speed toward the door. She shot through it without hindrance, hitting Garrett in the stomach just above his navel. He caught her before she could fall, stunned to the floor.

  "Sorry," she said, looking up at him and blinking as she regained her senses.

  Garrett laughed and then laughed again. His mouth tasted like cold steel, and his shoulders ached with the night's chill, but he couldn't stop laughing. Lampwicke laughed too as she flew up out of his hands and darted around the balcony like a drunken honeybee.

  Marla smiled benevolently, until Lampwicke swooped in and yanked out a tiny handful of Marla's long black hair.

  "Ow!" Marla yelped.

  Garrett started to scold the fairy, but Lampwicke shot toward him and seized hold of Garrett's lower lip planting a tiny, fierce kiss on it.

  Garrett chuckled and blushed as she darted away again, chattering in Fae as she flew circles around Uncle's rooftop, lighting up the night with streaks of golden light.