by Amy Sumida
“My family is in there, held under unknown conditions, and you two yahoos want to argue over Disney films?” I growled. “Get it together!”
“You started it,” Cer grumbled.
“I distinctly did not–” I began to argue, and then slashed my hand through the air. “Never mind. How should we do this? Just charge right in through the front . . . is that a gate?”
We all studied the behemoth blockade of ice and iron that spread across the passage through the outer wall. The wall curved around to the back, where it melded with the mountainside. The fortress itself seemed to be emerging from the rock, and I had a feeling that it was much larger than it appeared.
“I'm all for the direct approach,” Banning –who had been studying the structure as Cerberus, Torin, and I bickered– narrowed his eyes on the gate. “But there is that giant piece of iron to consider. Is the myth about iron and Shining Ones true?”
“About us being harmed by it?” Declan asked, and Banning nodded. “Not in the least. Pure propaganda created to give humans a false sense of security.”
“Good to know.” Banning looked to me. “Do you sense a ward on the gate?”
“It's warded,” Cerberus growled. “No witch worth his salt would leave a door unwarded–” Cer stopped when he realized what he'd said, and laughed. “Witch worth his salt; that's fucking hilarious.”
We all stared blankly at him.
“Because of that myth about salt repelling witches,” Cerberus huffed.
“Yeah, we get it, Cer.” I sighed. “We just didn't find it funny.”
“Wait”–Banning looked from Cerberus to me and then back again–“witches aren't affected by salt?”
“As much as Shining Ones are affected by iron,” Torin drawled.
“Do you know nothing about supe-races other than your own?” Cerberus shook his head at Banning.
“I know a few things,” Banning huffed. “It's not like the rest of you are very forthcoming with us blooders.”
Cerberus, Torin, Declan, and I all looked at each other with matching “yeah, valid” expressions. No one liked blooders; not even other blooders. It would be rare indeed for another race of the Beneath to share cultural information with one.
“So . . . the ward?” Banning directed our attention back to the massive ice-witch fortress before us.
“Well, I got through his last ward.” I stepped forward as I pulled my iPod from my pocket, and then started shuffling through my song lists. “With the right song, maybe I could– hell, yeah. Perfect!”
I hit Play and stuffed the earbuds in. “Cities in Dust” by Siouxsie & the Banshees, started its bell-ringing intro, tapping through my veins and calling forth my magic with teasing intensity. I closed my eyes and let the lyrics lift in my throat; let them echo out of me and claw their way up to their full potential. A mocking velocity of triumph thrown in the face of the conquered. In this case; the conquered who had once been a compatriot. I could feel the waves of my music and magic rolling out to hit the wall of Thomas's ward. The ward vibrated like a plucked guitar string, and power sparked like a live wire. I closed my eyes for a moment and saw it even clearer; my magic battling that of the ward.
I strode forward, my song a challenge to the witch my family had trusted. I'm here, you bastard, I've come for you, and I will bring the walls down around you, to get to those I hold dear. The music rose and fell, rolling with my fury and gathering strength inside me. With a tremendous burst of my voice and my magic, I sent my spell hurtling at the ward one last time, and watched in supreme satisfaction as it broke. Not only did the ward fail, the walls surrounding Thomas's fortress crumbled into dust.
The echoes of my song faded, shimmering out across the mountain range as I pressed Stop. I kept one earbud in and my iPod in my hand as I started across the ruins. Torin, Cerberus, Declan, and Banning flanked me silently, all of our eyes set on the main doors of the modern citadel. The outer walls had been stone with an iron gate, but Thomas's main fortifications were built of steel lodged firmly in mountain rock. It didn't matter though; it could have been built of kryptonite and we still would have powered through it. There was very little in this realm that could stop the combined force of a demi-god, a blooder gheara, two Shining One kings, and a spellsinger. We barely even paused when we reached the door, just blasted it down.
The three-inch thick, steel door fell onto the cement floor with the echoing clang of a gong. We stood in the entry a moment as the sound died out, listening for any movement. Nothing. The place was eerily quiet. I closed my eyes and listened in another way; feeling for my family on an instinctual level.
My eyes popped open, and I started moving with grim determination.
I can't describe the rooms we passed. I know now that they were mainly empty, only a few appointed with some sparse furnishings. But at the time, the only thing I could focus on was my family. I needed to get to them. I strode forward with that single-minded intent, and the men followed unquestioningly. We headed down a set of steel stairs, our footfalls clanging out another warning to Thomas. It didn't matter, he already knew we were there. As soon as his ward fell –the one he had used my family to fuel– he would have known I was headed his way.
So, I was surprised to find him calmly waiting for me –surrounded by sirens.
“Hello, Elaria,” Thomas purred.
He was sitting on a throne-like chair with my mother and the other missing sirens lounging around him on pillows like Princess Leia with Jabba the Hutt. The sirens all wore matching blank expressions, even my mother didn't give the slightest indication that she recognized me. They were also wearing outfits just as skimpy as Leia's had been. One of them –my Aunt Aoide– was draped across Thomas's lap.
The room was cavernous and cold. Icicles hung from the ceiling and frost coated the stone walls. Tom was really playing up this ice witch persona. Carpets were draped across the floor, so at least the sirens weren't in jeopardy of being frozen to the stone, but they were obviously suffering from the temperature. Their wings shivered around them, feathers fluffing for warmth. It wouldn't kill them, but it would make them very uncomfortable; sirens, like most birds, preferred warmer climates.
As if enslaving them wasn't bad enough.
“What the fuck?” Cerberus growled. “Who do you think you are; the Sultan of Sirens?”
“You bespelled them? Sirens?” Declan asked, sounding the slightest bit impressed.
“It's not so difficult to do when you have access to their homes.” Thomas shrugged. “A witch can steal anyone's will when they have personal items to work with. It's a direct link to the target.” Thomas stroked Aoide's pale-blonde hair absently. “A hairbrush, a piece of clothing, even an unwashed utensil can form a connection. Unfortunately, as you bind, so are you bound.” He sighed. “We are tied together now. I will not allow you to take them from me. Not a single siren. Even if one of them is a murdering bitch.”
“Remove your hand from my aunt,” I said in a deadly tone.
“Or what?” Thomas lifted a brow. “You'll remove it for me? They will all defend me, Elaria, even your sweet mother. She will die before she lets you harm a single hair on my head.”
“Release them or this will go far worse for you than I'd intended,” I snarled. “And let me tell you, what I had planned for you is pretty damn bad, to begin with.”
“You forget that you aren't the only songstress here.” Thomas smirked. “Go ahead and sing, Tanager. Sing your spells; your family will only sing louder. I have a symphony of sirens, while you have only one voice.”
“They won't sing for you,” I growled. “I'll see to that.”
I didn't even bother with an intro, just burst out with the chorus of “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkle, a cappella. The nearly phantom wail of that powerful lyric rolled over my family just as Thomas shouted for them to sing. The sirens opened their mouths . . . and nothing came out. I smiled viciously and started forward.
“Stop her!” Thom
as shouted.
The sirens may have been silenced, but they were not restrained. They all stood and rushed towards me with a united purpose. Torin, Banning, Declan, and Cerberus came forward to help me, but when you truly don't want to injure your opponent, and they don't give a fuck about you, the fight is clearly in their favor. We were being overpowered fast.
Thomas laughed like a damn maniac.
“Oh, you don't know how wonderful it is to see you here, suffering like this, Elaria,” Thomas waxed on. “With you out of the way, I'll be able to call the rest of the sirens to me, and complete my little harem of hens.”
“You fucking bastard!” I shouted as I tried to fend off my Aunt Lina. “You traitor!”
“You are the traitor!” Thomas shouted back. “All of your kind have betrayed my friendship– my loyalty! I don't know who killed my beloved Bettina, but I do know it was murder. A siren deliberately lured Bettina to her death.”
“You're full of shit, Frost,” Cerberus called out. “There's no way you could know that it was deliberate.”
“Oh, but there is, hellhound,” Thomas growled. “With her last moments of sanity, Bettina called me,” Thomas swallowed hard. “I begged her to tell me who was hurting her, but the song had already done its damage. All she was able to say was 'Avenge me'. I knew then that it was murder. Later, it was discovered that Bettina was killed by a siren, but the bitch left no trace on my beloved.”
“You crazy, son of a bitch,” Declan snarled. “The woman was dying and confused. There's no way to be certain that she was deliberately murdered. You know that sirens must sing. Bettina may have asked you to avenge her when it was only an accident.”
“It doesn't matter,” Tom snapped. “A siren killed my Bettina, and now all of them will pay. The sirens will serve me forever; see to my every need. My spell has bound them more firmly than you can imagine; a cock with his hens.” Thomas cackled insanely. “All these sweet birds, singing only to my tune for all eternity!”
“Gods-damned frozen freak,” Cerberus growled. “I'm going to rip your dick off and shove it up your ass, you perv!”
“You're a little busy for buggering, puppy.” Thomas smirked as three sirens jumped on Cer's back.
“Elaria,” Torin whispered through the bodies weighing us down. It was getting to the point where we were all just defending ourselves. “Finish this!”
Torin's onyx magic swept out from him to push back the sirens, creating a protective bubble around Cerberus, Banning, Declan, and me. I climbed to my feet as Thomas gaped at us. He lifted a hand, preparing to throw some magic at us, most likely, but Declan cast his own power out. A giant blade appeared before Thomas and slashed downward. Tom went flying back, a long wound opening across his chest, and bled all over his pretty Persian rug.
“Damn it, Declan!” I growled. “I told you he was mine!”
“I know, love.” Declan smirked and waved a hand towards the witch. “I only wounded him.”
I looked over just in time to see Thomas wave a hand down his chest and staunch the flow of his blood by freezing it. I smiled and hit Play on my iPod. I had been waiting for this moment; my playlist was prepared, even though it was unnecessary. I could have sung the songs without their music, but it wouldn't have been as satisfying. And I definitely deserved some satisfaction.
The twanging, Western-esque intro of Bon Jovi's “Blaze of Glory” strummed in my ears as a smile spread across my face. What a perfect song for a showdown. The twang shifted into a harder rock beat, and then went briefly silent for my opening lyrics. Thomas's face filled with fury as my words foretold his death; the longing lament of a doomed gunslinger, heading towards his violent end with arms and eyes wide open. Surely, Thomas had known it would come to this; deep down he must have sensed that he was on the losing side of this fight.
Tom snarled out a spell, and a jagged stripe of frost came surging through the air towards me. Cerberus pummeled through it like a linebacker, shattering the ice into shards, moving to defend me without thinking it through. Thomas cried out an order, and Cerberus realized he'd stepped beyond Torin's protection –a ward which would have saved me from Tom's ice magic. Cerberus had opened himself up to attack for nothing. But Banning barreled out of our onyx protection in a blur, and knocked the sirens aside before they could reach Cerberus. Then the two men hurried back behind Torin's shield.
Thomas shouted in wordless rage.
I kept singing. The lyrics highlighted Tom's hubris and used it to hurt him; pride sending him towards an inferno of pain. Fire; my connection to my father, and a fitting tool to put an end to his betrayer. I had an edge with this element; it always responded better to my songs, burned hotter than it would have otherwise. Burning alive would have been a perfect death for Thomas. A tribute to the friend he had forsaken. But Thomas's innate witch magic stemmed from water. And when it comes to battling flames, ice is even better than water. The blaze which burned across Thomas's skin simply sizzled out.
I narrowed my eyes and sang on, undeterred.
“Kalliope!” Thomas cried as he pulled a knife from his belt.
I flinched as my mother walked woodenly to Thomas and took the knife he handed her. She turned and met my eyes. Within her gaze, I had the briefest glimpse of her. My mother was terrified, trapped within her own body and moved around like a puppet. But I wouldn't let that distract me. In order to save her, I couldn't. So, I sang on.
Then Mom started running, straight for me, and came crashing up against Torin's onyx protection. I saw a dark flash of the stone's magic as Kalliope shook off the impact.
“Kalliope,” Thomas's voice shook with regret, “if your daughter doesn't stop singing in thirty seconds, slice your own throat.”
My mother's hand slowly lifted, her eyes widening in horror. The knife shook as she laid it against her skin.
My song stuttered, and Thomas smiled. I jerked the earbud out of my ear and did something I'd never done before –I started singing another song, mid-spellsing. I was acting on pure instinct and emotion. Pink's “Fucking Perfect” slammed out of me, the power of her beseeching chorus vibrating through me and into my mother. I held a hand out to her, just beyond Torin's protection, and sang the most important song of my life. Tears coursed down my cheeks, and the lyrics shook with my fear as I begged her through words and magic to be stronger than Tom's spell.
To lose her now, when I was so close –no, it wasn't an option. So, I twisted the spell slightly, and instead of asking for her strength, I gave her mine. As Vivian had foretold, it was just enough.
My mother's eyes flooded with relief, her whole body shuddering as she dropped the knife and backed away from it. I put the earbud back in and nodded to her. I wasn't about to let anything hurt her, not even herself. Kalliope took a deep, shuddering breath –all on her own– before Thomas's magic took over again, and her face went blank. I turned my stare back to Thomas, narrowed my eyes, and began to sing “Blaze of Glory” again.
Thomas started towards me, giving up on magic in favor of using brute strength; as many of my opponents often did. Hell, even I had resorted to such tactics when Osiris was winning our fight. Which told me clearly that Thomas thought he was losing.
Tom's fists clenched as he rushed me, but just as he neared, Torin decided he wanted in on this physical action too. The Onyx King could have simply used his magic to toss Thomas aside, but it seemed that he craved the satisfaction of knocking the traitor on his icy ass with his own two hands. Torin's right hand wrapped around Thomas's fist just as the witch launched it at me. As Thomas gawked up at the Shining One king, Torin pushed Tom's own fist back into his face, bloodying the witch's nose. Thomas fell back as Torin lowered his head like a bull and prepared to charge.
“Stand down!” Cerberus grabbed Torin's shoulder, and my lover tried to shake off my best friend's grip. “The kill is Elaria's! Would you deny her that?”
Torin's eyes cleared, and he turned his head toward me. I set my stare on him as I continued to sin
g about violence leading to more violence. Fight fire with fire and your entire world will burn. Yes, but I was ready to burn; I was anticipating it. I let Torin see that. He nodded and backed away. Torin knew all about vengeance; denying me mine was not something he would ever do.
The pound of a soldier's drum gave the song an honorable tempo as I settled my stare on Thomas. He squared his shoulders and faced me. My words became a prayer, the sinner begging –not for absolution or clemency, but for honor; a way to meet his end with some dignity. For the briefest moment, I had clarity; I saw pain within Tom's eyes and knew the heartache that fueled him. I felt the smallest sympathy for my foe and decided to grant him the death he didn't deserve.
The sound of gunshots rang out through the subterranean room, and Thomas jerked side to side as if he'd been hit by a firing squad. Blood spurted from wounds inflicted by invisible bullets and dripped from his gaping mouth. He fell to his knees as the horrified gasps of sirens filled the air. My family, freed from his magical enslavement at last. But as the spell was released, it back-lashed; first upon Thomas and then upon me: the source of its destruction. I fell to my knees as well, directly across from Thomas, as I felt the wave of energy pulse through, and then out of, me. Tom pulled in a deep breath, rattling his way to his glorious end, and smiled.
“As you bind, so are you bound,” he whispered. “And as you break, so are you broken, spellsinger. Magic cannot die.”
Thomas reached for me, and I saw the power pooling around his grasping hand. One last effort to take me down with him. I admired him for it, even as I knew it would be my end. So be it; my loved ones were free, and that was enough for me. I would watch their betrayer die first, and that too came with its own measure of satisfaction. But before Thomas could release his spell, my family came to my rescue.
The sirens began to sing.
Gods, what music they made –that symphony of sirens. It was heartbreakingly beautiful; melodies which even I had never heard before. A siren could hold back her song for many years, but eventually, she would need to free the magic, give the curse its voice. If she waited too long, she wouldn't be able to control who her music affected. That's how accidental siren-related deaths happened. But these sirens had full control of their song, and they directed it entirely at Thomas.