Spirit Speaker

Salea was still asleep when I returned to my room. She glowed gently in the early morning sunlight, a rare mark of her elven heritage. 

It was still very early in the morning, and I was bone tired. I removed my boots but didn't undress. 

I slipped under the covers, careful not to disturb her. 

She reached out and pulled herself closer to me. 

I closed my eyes and slept. 

*

I didn't wake till much later in the morning, and only because Salea prodded me awake. 

"Good morning, Lukas." The bard was dressed in simple traveller garb, her dress from the evening before stowed safely away in her pack. She was leaning over me, her shoulder-length blonde hair framing her face. 

I reached out and pulled her into a kiss. 

"Good morning."

"Are you planning on staying in bed all day?"

"I'm considering it," I said and pulled her onto the bed.

She laughed. "No, no, I want to see the gardens, and I want to meet the princess." She pushed me away but didn't get up. 

"That can be arranged," I said with a smile. "What do I get in return?"

Salea grinned. "The pleasure of my company of course."

I rolled out of bed, and put on my boots. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" I walked to the door to my room, where Rowan was standing. 

"Lad, have you moved from this spot at all since I saw you this morning?"

"Sure did." My servant said. "I had to move for the cleaner."

"Take the day off," I said, tossing him a few coins. "There's no need to wait on me hand and foot. Go buy Ayenna something nice."

The servant deftly caught the coins and bowed with a flourish. "As you say, sir." And he turned on his heel and walked in the direction of the servant quarters. 

I turned back to the pretty half-elf. I extended my hand, which she took. 

"Where to first?"

*

The palace gardens weren't usually open to the public, which was a pity, as they were spectacular. 

"So, why a bard?" I asked as we walked past a fountain. 

"Why a teacher?"

"I was an academic first," I replied. "But the princess needed a tutor, and my name was the one put forward."

"And do you regret it?"

"Not even for a second."

"It's the same with me. I was the daughter of the Clawed Fist clan chieftess and a human trader." 

"You're a princess?" I asked, eyes wide. 

"No, no, I was disinherited. My mother wasn't exactly pleased to see me."

I waited, squeezing her hand as we walked. 

"But there was an old elven storyteller that had taken up residence in a tavern just outside of the clan territory. She was beautiful. She taught me the songs, the words, and ways to speak them. She showed me such wonders, Lukas. And for the first time ever, I felt like I belonged somewhere."

She let go of my hand, and dug in her pack, pulling out a small, well cared for lute. She adjusted the strings, plucked at them a few times, and then nodded, satisfied. 

And began to sing. 

And as she sang, I felt a gentle pull and watched as dozens of spirits began to appear in the air around us. 

They came to me, and settled on my hair, and shoulders, jostling each other for position. 

The song was in elvish, and spoke of distant summers in millenia passed. It spoke of stars taking mortal form, and dancing with elves in ancient moonlit rituals. 

The spirits glowed, swayed in time with the music, and began to sing as well. 

They knew the words. 

Salea sang, and the spirits were joined by more spirits, and they settled on her this time, as a crown of diamonds in her hair.

"Keep singing, Salea," I whispered and put my hand on her shoulder. 

"Now open your eyes."

She did so, and a soft smile crossed her face as she sang. She looked at me, and the crowds of spirits that had made me their seat. 

She listened to the spirits as they harmonised with her, and slowly, she began to dance, the spirits dancing with her. 

She slipped from my grasp, but the spirits remained visible to her. 

And then the song ended. 

And the spirits disappeared with it, their voices echoing on the breeze. 

She walked up to me and bowed. 

"You already knew?" I asked. 

She nodded. "The old elf gave me the sight."

"You're a soulsinger, Salea. I've never met a soulsinger before."

"We're that rare?" Her eyes glowed, the weave of her soul behind her pupils glowing a radiant white. 

"Yes! I don't think a single soulsinger has walked the halls of the Academy for at least five hundred years!"

"That's alright then." She began to pluck absently at her lute, and I could see spirits begin to pop into existence around her. They landed on her fingers and began to guide them to different strings.

The music changed to something otherworldly, simple, and beautiful. 

She saw my expression and laughed at me. "Chin up Master Mage, it's like you've seen a ghost!"

"I…I don't know what to say. I've read about soulsingers in books, but it's true, the spirits are just drawn to you."

I looked around. "You have to meet Anna, she needs to see this." I grabbed her hand and began to run to the pavilion. 

Salea's laughter rang behind as she pulled her wrist free and kept pace with me.

And there the princess sat, her head buried in her books, spirits floating around her head. They turned the pages for her and messed with her quills.

"Highness!" I called, and ran to the pavilion, Salea running close behind. 

She raised her head surprised. I could understand her confusion. I'd always been the picture of calm while I was with her. I'd never displayed an emotion above mild amusement. And now I was running to her, with a blonde half-elf woman in tow. 

"Lukas?"

I reached the pavilion and doubled over, catching my breath. "Highness, this… this is Salea. She was singing at the feast last night."

"Yes, I know, I recognise her. What's going on?"

Salea curtsied flawlessly. "Highness, I believe the Master Mage is excited about something."

The princess looked at me for a moment and chuckled. "Come on Lukas." She said, taking me by the hand and leading me into the pavilion. 

"Water?" She asked.

I didn't see her expression. I didn't hear the too-innocent tone in her voice. 

"Please, highness," I said, catching my breath. 

The princess closed her eyes, and I was engulfed by a deluge of water. 

I coughed and spluttered, and wiped the water from my eyes, looking at the princess, amazement, and pride welling in my chest. 

And then I did the same back. 

The princess laughed and doused me with water again. 

And I returned the favour, the floor of the pavilion flooding, water running down the steps and into the garden. 

"Well done highness!" I said, laughing, wringing the water from my hair. 

"You're going to have to dry us both, Lukas, I haven't figured out how to do temperature just yet."

Salea stood outside the pavilion, her head cocked, her eyes shining with mirth. 

"I assume this is an inside joke between the two of you?"

The princess wrung the water from her hair. "Yes. You have no idea how much I've been wanting to do that."

I sat back on the wet wood and concentrated. The pavilion filled with steam, which dissipated as quickly as it had come. 

And there the princess and I sat, in a perfectly dry pavilion, with soaking wet hair and big, wide smiles on our faces. 

"Oh, right, highness, I know we agreed no lessons today, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I don't want you to miss it." 

I beckoned Salea over and made space on the bench for her to sit next to me. 

"Princess, we haven't really spoken much about the many different forms of magic, and we'll really get into it in the future, but Salea here, is an exceptionally rare mage."

"You're a mage?" The princess asked, surprised. 

"No, highness, I'm a singer. Your teacher here is making things more complicated than they have to be."

"Hush," I said, and put a finger on her lips. "You and I, princess, are spiritspeakers. We can hear spirits when they speak, and as we grow more powerful, we can learn to speak with them, and command them according to our wills."

"Salea is what we at the Academy call a soulsinger. She can summon hundreds if not thousands of spirits at any one time." 

"Thousands?" The princess looked at Salea with newfound respect. 

Salea bit my finger, and I pulled my hand away quickly away. "I don't know about thousands, highness." She said, licking her lips. "But I can call a lot of them."

"How?" 

"I don't know. I just play, and they appear around me."

The princess sighed, sat back in her chair, and blew a tuft of hair from her face. "Of course. I have to spend hours and hours studying and learning, just to get one spirit to hear me, and you can summon hundreds of them with a snap of your fingers."

"Don't be jealous, princess." I said. 

"I'm not jealous, just annoyed."

"Would you like a demonstration, highness?" Salea asked and drew her lute from her pack. "I could play something." 

Anna's eyes sparkled, "Really?"

"Yeah, of course. Anything you want."

Anna closed her eyes for a moment and wrapped her hand around her amulet. Her lips moved momentarily. 

"She's talking to her focus," I explained. "There's a spirit in there, and he's…well he's special."

"You guys can do that?"

I chuckled. "Oh yes, remind me to introduce you to Ilargia sometime. He's my staff."

The princess opened her eyes, and flecks of red glittered in her iris. I dropped my gaze to the amulet immediately.

- What are you doing, mage?

- Release your hold on her, spirit, or I will make you suffer.

- You misunderstand, Twisted Weave. That colour is merely a result of her conversing with me. I hold no sway on her soul. Examine her and see for yourself.

- I will. Once the soulsinger has gone.

I looked up to the princess, who was watching me curiously. 

"So, have you decided on what song you'd like me to sing ma'am?" Salea adjusted the strings on her instrument and ran her fingers along them. 

"My focus would like you to play a specific song, but I don't know how to say it."

"Do you know the words?"

She shook her head. "They're in another language. An old language."

"What do they sound like?"

The princess repeated them.

Salea mimicked them perfectly.

And all sound around the pavilion ceased. 

*

I looked around. Nothing was moving. I looked up and saw a bird frozen, midflight. 

Salea was in the act of listening intently, writing down the words. 

She glowed. 

But she was frozen. 

And the princess was frozen as well. The only one moving in the frozen world was me. 

And the glowing red spider on the princess's chest. 

"So it's true." The spirit said, his voice not echoing in my mind, but a physical thing that I could hear. "You are outside time."

"Where am I spirit?"

"The space between seconds. Only the most powerful spirits can visit here. The most powerful spirits, that is, and you."

The spider hopped off the chain and leapt onto my arm. It crawled up my arm, onto my shoulder, and settled on top of my head. 

"I didn't believe the goddess when she told me, but you really are from another time. A stranger to this timeline."

"Yes, spirit." 

"And yet you shake the weave with your every step. You pull the strands to you like a magnet, Not even the gods can do that."

"What are you doing on my head, spirit?"

"Hold still. I need to see your weave, and this form is limiting." I felt the spirit shift position on my head. 

"Gurada." Another voice, from the direction of the palace. 

I saw a man walking towards the pavilion. "What is it, Arantha?" The spider leapt from my head. 

"Why have you revived the old tongue?"

The man was tall, regal. He looked like a combination of every king that had ever sat on the throne of Arantha. 

I heard a giggle from above me. "Leave him be, Arantha. It's been centuries since I heard that particular song."

I looked up and saw a girl, no more than sixteen, dressed in Academy robes far too big for her, kicking in the air on the roof of the pavilion. She hopped down and sat next to me. 

"I know you." She said, "You're one of mine."

"You're the Academy?"

"At your service." She said, bowing deeply. "And you are…Lukas! Your name echoes the halls even now. You were my best student." 

She snuggled up to me and wrapped her arms around one of mine. "You always threw your litter away."

"Kirakos," Arantha stepped forward, calling the Academy by her official name." come away from him. He's not stable." 

The Academy glared at the old king. "Stand back, palace." She hissed. "You will not touch him." 

 Gurada cleared his throat. "What do all of you want?" He asked, his voice tired.

"To hear the song, father." Another spirit arrived, and this one shook the earth with every step. 

The Academy squeezed onto me more tightly. "Shh…" She whispered. "I'll keep you safe."

I wasn't about to say anything. This spirit was strong. Stronger even than Gurada. 

"It's The Kingdom." the Academy whispered. "The song woke it."

"Ah, you've come. I was wondering where you've been these past centuries."

"Sleeping, father. The mortals are doing well enough without my guidance."

The palace bowed as The Kingdom passed. Even the Academy nodded in deference. I bowed deeply. 

"You are the Twisted Weave." The Kingdom turned its gaze on me. 

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I felt my soul shake under its scrutiny. 

Then I felt something resist. And I looked up. And met its stare. 

"I am." 

"You are brave, Twisted Weave. Braver than all other souls that reside within me." 

"Thank you."

"It was not praise. Merely fact."

It turned its attention from me, back to the ruby spider on the table. 

"Father, you knew what would happen when you gave a soulsinger those words. You did this intentionally."

"Have I become so predictable?" and the spider called The Kingdom by its name. The name that Gurada gave to The Kingdom was unutterable by mortal tongues. It could not be written. It could only be heard. 

It was a name that would require millennia to understand. 

And even a small understanding of that name would grant immense power. 

"You are right. I gave the half-elf those words to bring us together. There are things in motion that cannot be undone." 

Gurada turned to me. "Tell them what you found, Lukas. Tell them what is in the spirit stone box, even now railing against its prison."

"The Rending." I said. And I felt the Academy hug on to me tighter. The palace's face went white, and even The Kingdom paused. 

"Are you certain?" The Kingdom asked. 

I nodded. "It is darkness given shape. And it numbs and gags lesser spirits in its vicinity."

The Kingdom walked to the pavilion and sat down beside the princess. It reached out and caressed her face. 

"Is this the one you asked me to bless, Twisted Weave?"

"Yes."

"She is yours. But not yours."

"Yes."

"I will honour our agreement." The Kingdom placed its hand on the princess's head. A halo hung above her head. 

"The Rending is an ancient thing. Older even than the world." The Kingdom said, turning back to me. 

"It is the end of all things." The Academy whispered, though in the silence her voice carried. "And it is inevitable. It cannot be destroyed. Only delayed."

The Kingdom nodded. "The Rending requires a champion, or it will not be able to grow." It looked at me. "And in your timeline, it found one."

"Yes."

"The Rending devours." The Palace said and sat beside Salea. "It devours all things, and through its hunger it grows, until there is nothing left."

"Yes."

"You lost contact with the lesser spirits in your previous life. At the battle."

"Yes."

"The Rending had devoured them. All that was left was your feeble resistance."

"How do I stop it?"

The spirits were silent. 

"When the time comes, you will have our support, Twisted Weave." The Kingdom told me. 

"Protect me and I will give you my power." The Academy added. 

"And I shall do the same." The Palace said, reluctantly 

"You didn't answer my question."

"We don't know." 

*

And time went back to normal. 

The spider necklace gleamed at me, and one of the eyes winked. 

"And this is the tune."

The princess hummed, and Salea jotted down some notes on the page. 

"Alright. I think I have it." She said, giving the music a once over. She breathed deeply. "Here we go." 

And she played it. 

And I felt the spirits rush around us. And in my mind's eye, I saw the Academy, resting her head on my shoulder, hugging my arm. She sang the words in harmony with Salea.

And beside Salea, nodding along, a smile on his face, was the Palace. 

And beside the princess, was The Kingdom. And it looked at me, and nodded in acknowledgement. 

And thousands of lesser spirits danced around the pavilion,

Outshining the midday sun.