Chapter 64 #3
Jenyfer stumbled back a step. The sword was heavy as lead in her hands. ‘I didn’t… I didn’t know…’
Andromache’s sobs were the only sound in the dark cavern. She lifted Melodias’ head and rested it in her lap, crooning to him sorrowfully.
Melodias’ eyes found Jenyfer’s. She dropped the sword. It clattered at her feet, the sound echoing around the cavern. ‘I… I didn’t know it would kill you. I wanted to… I just want to find Ordes.’
‘I really do hate the heartfire.’ Melodias’ smile was shaky. ‘I guess the time of gods is over, isn’t it?’
Jenyfer didn’t know what to say.
‘You were wrong, daughter. I loved your mother. You look like her,’ Melodias whispered, then, ‘Care for them.’
The cavern began to shudder, small stones and debris dripping from the roof.
The syhrens didn’t move, even as rubble rained down upon them.
The ground shook violently, forcing Jenyfer to her knees.
Andromache had not moved, but as Melodias’ eyes slid closed, she screamed, the anguish in her voice raising the hair on Jenyfer’s arms.
Heat washed through Jenyfer’s body, burning its way from her toes to the crown of her head.
Her scales erupted along her arms and the side of her face as that heat sank inside her to be replaced with the cool kiss of water.
It tingled and was filled with music, the sound low and deep, threading its way through every part of her.
Jenyfer gasped. Slowly, she stood, legs shaking.
The God of the Seas, the Master of Songs and Death, was dead. The Singing Stone around Jenyfer’s neck thrummed against her flesh.
‘I need to find Ordes,’ she mumbled numbly.
She turned away from her father’s body, her eyes shifting to the pool of black water.
Andromache stood and Jenyfer felt sick at the sight of her father’s inky blood coating the syhren’s silvery hands.
The syhrens gathered close to her. She could feel them through the Stone and was aware of every one of them.
Her muscles bunched, ready to fight as a violent spasm crossed Andromache’s beautiful face.
The syhren bit her lip then dropped to one knee, as if she couldn’t help it.
All the syhrens copied Andromache’s action.
The Singing Stone burnt and Jenyfer ripped it free of its pouch to cup it in her palm.
She could feel her father’s power flowing through her – the true power of a god – and it burnt and soothed and twisted its way into her veins, etching along the edges of her bones and filling her with the most beautiful music she had ever heard. It was his voice, weaving through her.
The Singing Stone cracked, then turned to dust in her palm.
The syhren’s around her were humming, a soft, mournful sound.
As she stared at their blank faces and expressionless eyes, she realised they did feel.
They were more than Melodias’ puppets on watery strings.
They felt and they thought and it was through their songs that they were able to express what was in their hearts.
‘Andromache,’ Jenyfer said. ‘I’m going to set you free.’
The syhren’s silvery head shot up, her song dropping away. ‘What?’
‘You were bound to him, and… you’re all bound to me now, I suppose. I don’t want that,’ Jenyfer said. ‘I don’t want it. I don’t want his power or Lyonesse either. I don’t think I have a choice in that, but I can do something for you – for all of you. The realms are closed.’
‘This is our home,’ Andromache whispered, distraught.
‘And it will continue to be,’ Jenyfer told her.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I’m gifting this realm to you,’ Jenyfer said. ‘I don’t want it. I don’t want to be a god or rule over anyone. I want my life back.’
‘I’ve never had a life,’ Andromache said slowly. ‘Not of my own, anyway.’
Jenyfer smiled. ‘Well, now you do. This realm is yours. The syhrens are yours to care for, Andromache. Not control. Not manipulate. They didn’t ask to be created, to be used as my father’s weapons.’ She paused. ‘Do you understand me?’
Andromache nodded.
‘You will not use your voices to harm another,’ Jenyfer said.
Andromache nodded again.
‘Promise me,’ Jenyfer said firmly.
‘I promise,’ the syhren replied. Andromache lifted her chin; the proud expression Jenyfer was familiar with sliding back into place.
‘Ordes has closed Avalon off from the rest of the world, but he has left a fragment of Lyonesse open. You will be able to leave, to swim in the ocean, to hunt and feed, and you will be able to return, so long as you keep your promise. If you don’t, I’ll destroy this place.
’ She had no idea if she could, but if her father had made it, she would find a way to unmake it.
Andromache narrowed her eyes but nodded, lips pursed.
‘Ophine!’ Jenyfer shouted, marching towards the pool. She stood at the edge, staring into the dark water. ‘What are you waiting for?’
Please come.
The surface of the pool shimmered and began to boil and slowly, the Bag Noz emerged from the water, Ophine at the helm, their dark cloak dripping with water. The wraith pulled back the hood and inclined their head. ‘My master will see you now.’