by Imogen Elvis
The street they followed finally let out into the massive square Briar and Kade had visited only that morning. How different it appeared now. From a bustling place, filled with peaceful shade, the trees providing a touch of beauty amid the bare greyness of the city, it now appeared as a landscape of fear. Flickering torches had been set up among the trees, lighting up the portion of the square right in front of the Order House, sending shadows twisting across its grey walls. Rows of soldiers stood beneath the spreading canopies. They rested the bases of their shields on the ground in front of them, eyes on the central road, hands on their weapons, tensed and ready. Had word reached them of the fate of their friends, who had gone to face the children?
“There are the song councillors.” Briar pointed to a small cluster of people standing behind the lines of soldiers.
Kade slowed. “Sachio will be there.”
A shiver ran down Briar’s spine. Of course, he would be there, pressing people to follow his plan. Because they didn’t have any other options now. And he wanted everyone to know that he was the one who was strong enough to make this difficult decision. Stop the children, kill the only people who could name him as the man behind the attack, save the city, and be hailed as a hero. It was horrific, and fiendishly clever at the same time.
Briar and her friends crept closer to the Order house, skirting the edge of the soldiers. A couple of the closest guards did eye them up but quickly dismissed them, probably regarding them as just more city folk, searching for shelter. Which, in a way, they were. They were as helpless now as anyone. Briar and her friends kept to the edge of the circle of light thrown by the smoky torches, close enough to see what was happening, but still shadowed enough that no one would recognise who they were.
Master Sachio’s His brow was creased into a pensive frown, and his eyes were wide and innocent, shining in the light. Looking at him, and the way he earnestly consulted with the other song councillors, it would have been hard to imagine that he had ordered this whole attack in the first place if Briar hadn’t already known the truth. He spoke with the oldest member of the council, a woman with unbound silver hair swaying gently as if floating on a breeze no one else could feel. Clustered around them were Master Talor, two other men, and a younger woman Briar could only assume was Mistress Perla, the last female member of the council. They kept their voices lowered, and Briar couldn’t catch their words, but by the sheer amount of hand gesturing and hair tugging, they were arguing hard. Even now, they weren’t united on their strategy.
Behind the council, mirroring the straight rows of the soldiers, stood the magicians. There were fewer of them than Briar had first imagined, though none of them, as far as she could make out, were novices. They were all dressed in their grey habits, forewarned and prepared for the fight, rather than gathered in a panicked rush. The torch light reflected off the iron medallions hanging around their necks. They held no weapons other than their magic. Briar could feel the fear in the air, as thick as mud. But the lines held their ground. They were just… waiting.
“Why don’t they do something?” Lara asked.
“They’ve already sent out one squad,” Kade said quietly. “Now that those have failed, it’s better if they stay here and wait for the fight to come to them.”
“They could send the magicians,” Lara said. “They’d have a better chance.”
“Master Sachio won’t risk that,” Briar said. “He wants to use the song catcher.”
“I hate waiting.” Lara shifted from foot to foot. “I wish we could do something.”
“Me too,” Briar said, her voice soft. But what could they do other than wait? Her magic was nothing compared to that of the children. So here they stood, cowering behind the assembled might of the soldiers and magicians, praying that the Tree would lend them all the strength and wisdom to overcome the danger.
“I think they’re coming to a decision.” Kade nodded towards the song council.
One by one, the councillors fell silent, until only Master Sachio spoke. He was so earnest, so convincing in his concern. A chill ran over Briar’s skin as she watched his act. He had everyone fooled. The only person left shaking his head was Master Talor, who folded his arms and marched away, his jaw working in anger as if washing his hands of the whole affair. He took up a position under one of the trees near the edge of the light.
Master Sachio drew the silver-haired woman aside. Briar guessed that this was Mistress Brynn, oldest and wisest of all the song councillors. Master Sachio took her hand, pressing something into her palm. The mistress folded her fingers over it, nodding. The song catcher? It was impossible to tell from this distance.
“I’m going to speak to Master Talor,” Briar said.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lara asked. “What if Sachio sees you?”
“I’ll be careful.” Briar tried to give them both a reassuring smile. She needed to do something, anything to quell the twisting in her chest and the fear for Ava that beat against her ribs. She crept along the edge of the shadows before finally darting into the line of trees, keeping their thick trunks between her and Master Sachio’s gaze.
“Master.” Briar stepped into the shadow of the tree he stood beside.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Master Talor’s heavy frown deepened even further as he turned to her. “It’s dangerous.”
“We saw the children,” Briar said. “How are you going to stop them?”
“The council has agreed to follow Sachio’s plan.” Master Talor ground the words out as if they hurt. “We’re going to use a song catcher.”
Briar’s breath caught in her throat. “But they’re just children.”
“Children who have destroyed every building in their path. We sent good soldiers out against them, and not one has returned, but the children come closer and closer. If we asked our magicians to face them, they would go without hesitation, and maybe they’d win. But we’d lose many more good people. The children are coming, and they’ll march right to the gates of the castle if we don’t stop them soon.” Master Talor shook his head. “Sachio’s forced our hands. We sacrifice these children, or we sacrifice everyone in this city.”
“Master Sachio would never allow them to get that far,” Briar said.
“Are you certain enough to gamble people’s lives on that belief?” Master Talor said. “We’ve run out of time. Master Sachio might have won this time, but he won’t take the city down with him.”
The only way to save lives was by sacrificing them. Briar pressed her lips together for a moment, trying to still the tremble that ran through her body. “What will they do?”
“Mistress Brynn has volunteered to use the catcher. Master Sachio didn’t even try to pretend he’d do it himself.” The master’s lip curled. “But the children will be stopped. They don’t stand a chance against a catcher.”
No, they didn’t. And it tore Briar to pieces. She had seen the destruction they wrought. They would ravage the whole city, destroying everything without a second thought if they weren’t stopped soon. And yet, all she could see were the faces she knew, the novices from Osman, and Ava. They were just children. It wasn’t their fault. It was Master Sachio’s for kidnapping them, twisting their minds so they thought this was what they must do. It was his fault, and he would walk away from this, while these children paid the price for his greed.
Master Talor nodded towards the group of councillors. “It’s about to start. I should be with them, for Brynn’s sake.” He strode off without a backward glance.
Briar hurried back to her friends, trying to breathe through the pain that crushed her chest. Never in her life had she felt quite so helpless as she did now, standing so close to everything, and yet unable to do anything to stop what was coming next.
“What’s happening? Briar?” Kade asked.
“They’re going to use the catcher,” Briar said.
“Sairth.” Lara’s hands curled into fists. “Sachio gets exactly what he wants then.”
Briar fixed her eyes on the song councillors, unable to find the words to reply to that. The song councillors gathered together, their heads bowed, each pressing a clenched fist against their chest in a gesture of honour and respect. Then, Mistress Brynn straightened and stepped away from them, heading out into the centre of the square. She was followed by Master Talor on her left and Mistress Perla, the water singer, on her right. They stayed a pace behind the wind singer, providing company and support, even though, in the end, the final sacrifice must be hers alone.
The mistress must know she would be giving up her magic forever, but her face was completely serene as if this were something she had been preparing for her entire life. Maybe she had. Maybe every councillor took their seat knowing that one day they might be asked to give everything for the sake of their people. Mistress Rhosmari hadn’t hesitated either, though she had given up her very life to protect Briar from the Nameless Ones.
The first sign that the children were approaching the square was a blast of wind that whipped the ancient oaks into a frenzy. Briar shielded her face with her arms, narrowing her eyes against the gale. At the far end of the square, where the central road joined the tree-lined avenue, the first signs of magic shattered the night. Roots rolled through the cobble streets, sending stones flying. Vines and brambles poured over the buildings in a wave. Fire rolled out ahead of the oncoming band of children, who weren’t even in sight yet. One by one, the trees went up in flames, burning like candles. The whole square was lit up as bright as day, burning in orange and gold.
Several voices barked orders at once, as everyone rushed to get away from the burning trees. The soldiers scattered, struggling to reform their neat rows at a safe distance, their wide eyes glittering. The magicians backed towards the safety of the Order house. Even the song council retreated, as the trees blazed and the air shimmered with heat. Only Mistress Brynn and her companions held their ground.
Out of the darkness, the band of children appeared. They didn’t run, but neither did they march like an army. Instead, they walked freely, spreading out in the wide expanse of the square. It was their chaos that was the most confronting thing, their unpredictability. They came in their own time, following their own beat, wielding a magic that was as wild and free as they were.
The three song councillors stopped beyond the far edge of the blazing trees, standing alone and proud between the assembly of magicians and soldiers, and the oncoming children. At first, it appeared that the children hadn’t even noticed the councillors, but then, the group slowed, finally coming to a halt. The rippling roots stilled, and the wind died along with their song. Only the trees still flamed brightly.
Briar searched the shadows for the Nameless Ones, but she couldn’t make out any shapes lurking in the darkness. It seemed they had melted away into the night as the final confrontation approached, leaving the children to face their fates alone. The edges of Briar’s medallion cut into her hand as she gripped it tighter. The silence pressed down until she couldn’t breathe. Surrender. Give up, now, before Mistress Brynn was forced to use the catcher. There was still time for the children to give in and save their own lives.
Mistress Brynn stepped towards the children again, her steps firm and measured. She didn’t look back. Master Talor and Mistress Perla held their ground, not following her now, but not returning to safety either. The mistress covered half the distance between her two companions and the children before finally coming to a halt again.
“Stand down.” The mistress’s voice filled the square, seemingly without effort. “Give yourselves up now, and this can end here.”
Nothing but silence came from the children. Briar’s fist closed even tighter around her medallion. This was their chance. Please, just take it. Surrender.
For a long moment, no one moved or made a sound. Then, the children began to hum, low at first but swelling quickly, until the song rang through the air like a battle cry. The air snapped with magic, breathed into life by those dozens of voices. The fires consuming the trees flared, and the roots seethed. They reached for the mistress, hundreds of grasping tendrils, hungry to drag her down into the earth. Even the ground shivered, as if ready to split in two and swallow her whole like it had the squad of soldiers before.
Mistress Brynn bowed her head, her hand clasped around the song catcher. Amid the cacophony of voices, the roaring of the fires, and the howling of the wind, the mistress’s lone voice still cut through the chaos like a blade. Even the echoes seemed to sing back to her. The roar of the children’s voices grew louder and louder as they marched towards the mistress. But they couldn’t drown out her song.
The magic shifted and changed, taking on an edge. It cut like a knife, scoring lines of pain over Briar’s skin, so real she almost expected beads of blood to bubble out. She stifled a cry, gritting her teeth against the pain. Kade wrapped his fingers around her hand without tearing his gaze from the scene unfolding in front of them.
The mistress raised her hand and opened her fingers to reveal the song catcher. The fragment of crystal glowed from the inside with an unearthly white light that grew brighter and brighter until Briar had to shield her eyes. The light separated into slender tendrils, which reached out towards the children. They passed right through the hungry roots, which fell to the ground as the light enveloped them.
The children’s song faltered for the first time. They hesitated, some taking a step away from the beams of light that reached out to them. Someone turned and tried to flee. And then, the whole assembly of child magicians was running and scrambling, screaming as the fingers of light shot forward, piercing right through them, fixing them in place. The very air was shattering into a million shards with the force of Mistress Brynn’s song.
And then the screams began.
The children gripped their heads, tearing at their clothes over their chests. Their backs arched as they cried out. Some fell to their knees. Screams of agony split the night, torn from raw throats as, one by one, the children crumpled to the ground, shaking and writhing as the song catcher took everything from them, their magic, their songs, their very lives. Tears streamed down Briar’s face. This was no mercy. This was torture. She couldn’t watch and yet couldn’t tear her eyes away.
As the last of the children fell still, Mistress Brynn stopped singing. The catcher in her hand still burned brightly, like a captured star. An eerie silence hung in the air. Not a single person assembled in that square moved or even seemed to breathe. Maybe they, like Briar, waited to see if the children would rise again. And then the tendrils of white light streamed back into the crystal. The unearthly glow faded, and the song catcher went dark. Mistress Brynn swayed on her feet. She took a step towards the children, one hand reaching for them before her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. Master Talor and Mistress Perla rushed to her side. They tried to help her rise, but she shook her head and remained kneeling, her shoulders slumped, head bowed.
The assembly in front of the Order house broke ranks at last. Magicians swarmed towards the burning trees, songs already bubbling in their throats to quell the flames. The soldiers slowly advanced on the children, their shields still raised, as if they feared that those small, pitiful bodies might rise and fight back. But they wouldn’t. None of them would ever rise again. Briar stared at the fallen children, and her world crumbled around her.
“Ava.” Her sister was dead.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Dawn broke on a scene of tragedy. Briar sat beneath one of the ancient oaks, its branches still smoking, though the magicians had extinguished the fire a long time before. Her eyes tracked the movements of the soldiers picking their way between the fallen bodies of the children, checking each child for signs of life before rolling them onto their backs and dragging them away to be laid out in neat rows on the cobblestones like sacks of grain. So many children, and not a single survivor.
A thin line of black bruising cut across the palm of Briar’s hand from where she had gripped her medallion tig
htly as she watched the soldiers at their work. Every small body laid out with its arms crossed over its chest was another life lost in Master Sachio’s ruthless grab for the throne. And he didn’t even care to look on the lives he had sacrificed so willingly. Where was he now? Safe in the Order house probably, or back in the castle. These children had done terrible things. They hurt people and spread terror across the land. But the fault lay with Master Sachio and him alone.
Kade sat next to Briar, his arms around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her eyes dry and a lump in her throat. Kade’s arms held the pieces of her together, keeping her from flying apart in grief and anger. She couldn’t cry. Couldn’t think. She’d been so sure that she could save Ava, that they would stop Sachio before it ever got this far. But in the end, she couldn’t save anyone. She had failed Ava for the last time.
“What do we do now?” Lara asked, her voice small.
For the first time, it seemed that Kade had nothing to say. His eyes, like Briar’s, followed the soldiers as they laid out the dead. With an effort, he finally roused himself. “We finish this.”
That was easy to say, but stopping Master Sachio seemed impossible. After this attack, the ruling council would press him to take the throne, hailing him as a hero for saving the city when the king refused to take a stand and protect his people. The thought of Master Sachio smugly accepting the crown, wearing a mask that was humble and self-deprecating, and all the time laughing as the ruling council handed him precisely what he wanted, that sent a flare of anger stabbing through Briar. He shouldn’t get to walk away.
“Where do we start?” Briar asked.
“We should talk to Madella,” Lara said. “She’ll be able to tell us where the ruling council will go from here.”
“How likely is it that she’ll be home still?” Kade asked.
Lara shrugged. “At this time of morning? There’s a good chance. If we hurry, we might catch her before she goes to the castle.”