Demon Singer II (16 page)

        
Catch me!

        Hurriedly, Lyric sang again, this time a song to arrest her momentum.  It caught her five yards above the ship deck and slowed her descent enough for her to land on her feet.  As soon as she touched down she jerked the cable she was holding and ran toward Lyric.         

        "Pull!" She cried.

        Mystified, the Singer focused his song and his will on the cable and pulled.

        Cadence let go and shouted.

        "Pull
hard!"

        Digging deep, Lyric sang out and forced the cable as tight as possible.  The serpent's bellowing abruptly ceased. He felt resistance and poured more effort into the song.  Something gave way, namely, the Leviathan's neck. Its head tumbled into the sea, followed by its gargantuan body.

        In seconds all trace of the beast had vanished.

        Lyric noticed the crew was staring at him and his companions.

        Cadence patted Lyric's shoulder tiredly.

        "Thanks for the help, Lyric, I never liked that guy."

Chapter 11

        When the Composer sang in the Six, He created living creatures to oversee His Score. Some were given tremendous power.

        Oberon is such a creature. His watchful eye guards the fairies and pixies as they care for the earth's vegetation. The Fairy King is responsible for the greening of the earth.

        In the oceans, Calypso rules, to whom was entrusted the mermaids. Calypso and her daughters protect the oceans.

        Many other living creatures exist, all with important responsibilities. Sweet things, like moon fairies, who use the giggles of children to shine their moonbeams; to horrifying things, like trolls, who - before the fall of man - worked with the Tommyknockers and protected creation from threats below the ground.  

        Above them all, was placed the Composer's favorite.

        Mankind.

        Humanity alone was made in the Composer's image and given the “great gift”. Men have intelligence, imagination, emotion and will; all the necessary ingredients for creativity. These gifts working together are considered the echo of the Composer Himself.

        With that echo came authority and dominion over every living creature. Of everything that lived, man alone was able to create.

        Other creatures could build amazing things. But always within the constraints of their given purpose. What elf could carve a stone with the brilliance of a dwarf? What sprite could paint the sunset like a Phoenix? A dryad will always build a tree, because that's what dryads do. Only man can see what's not there in any given situation and do something about it.

        Sadly, man broke the Composer's trust, and because he did, he broke his relationship with the rest of creation. Everything was made to live forever. When man, the echo of the Composer, broke his Creator's law, the Composer enforced the penalty.

        Man's gift was too powerful to go unchecked if he couldn't be trusted. So the Composer wrote the first dirge, and death was born. Because of man's dominion over the rest of creation, death became the result of each life. Some lives were longer than others, but the final end would be the same. Death would sing for them all.

        Even in their anger and distress, some of creation has maintained a civil, if uneasy, relationship with man. Certain animals will allow themselves to be domesticated to a degree. The ground - albeit unwillingly - will produce fruit.

        But there are some who are still furious. Those who have never forgiven man. Of those, some hate humanity so completely that encountering them almost guarantees a death sentence.

        Mermaids, also referred to as Amazons,  fall into that category.

        Popular fiction has made them into simpering, romantic girls or creepy inhuman monsters.  Mermaids are stunning creatures, and number among the most beautiful of the Composer's creations. They are also aggressive, violent and deadly, both in sea and on land.

        Contrary to "common knowledge", Amazons do not live on a mysterious island. Tales of warrior princesses who wear star spangled underwear and bullet deflecting bracelets are greatly exaggerated. The truth is, "Amazons" live in the sea.

        They often travel in groups of twenty or so, which are referred to as clans or tribes. Each clan has a leader, typically the mermaid who possesses the greatest strength.  Occasionally though, a special mermaid will have such a strong influence that she can join several clans together to form a fathom.

        A tribe of mermaids can sink a ship or cause trouble for other ocean dwellers like the Blue Men. A fathom of mermaids are the architects of maelstroms and tsunamis.

        There are several tribes of mermaids.  A very few are kind and lovely. Lyric knew of a group of mermaids that lived in Clear Lake in Markhato. There were even rumors of a large group living somewhere in New England not far from the Soul Singer's Guild.  These were the exceptions.

        As long as they stayed in the ocean and didn't hassle humans, they were low on the Guild's priority list.  When riled up though, they were violent, formidable and extreme.

        What Lyric didn't know was there was one among them who was an absolute terror. Her name was Tovi Rafe and she had the distinction of being the first daughter of King Oberon himself.

        Tovi Rafe was brilliant and beautiful and bat crap crazy. She was Oberon's favorite but lived in her mother's home. When Oberon left Calypso, he would return to visit his daughter in secret. When Calypso discovered this, she cursed her daughter to roam the oceans.  Tovi would never have a safe place to live. If she ever tried to settle down, Calypso would destroy anything and anyone who mattered to her.

*   *   *   *   *

        "Ruby!"

        Ruby exited the cemetery at full tilt to see Joss and Anaya sprinting up the road toward her.  The Knockers looked worried.  That scared Ruby more than the horror behind her. Pouring on the speed she ran faster.

        As soon as she reached the Knockers Anaya collected her in his big arms and did an abrupt one eighty. She tried to look behind them but Anaya held her head to his chest.

        "Don't look, little girl, you shouldn't see him like that."

        His words confirmed what she didn't want to believe. Her grandfather had been turned into a zombie. This was unacceptable. Ruby knew Joss and Anaya wanted to protect her but she couldn't allow her grandfather to be used like this. Writhing in his arms Ruby yelled.

        "Let me go, Anaya!'

        The big Knocker slowed to a walk and reluctantly released her.

        "Don't, sweetheart, let us get you to safety."

        Ruby turned back toward the cemetery to see the torn and filthy forms of the fallen Milleytes Lux marching out of the cemetery. At their head walked four zombies in regal garb.

        "Something's wrong." Anaya said tensely.

        "Yes, my grandfather is one of the undead!" Ruby yelled angrily.

        "Besides that. Look at them. They're marching. Zombies don't march like that, their intelligence is limited to whatever animal was slaughtered to give them life." Anaya put a staying hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby, we should run. This is bad, Joss and I can't take them all."

        "I can't leave him like that," Ruby sobbed.

        "Ruby, that's not your grandfather!" Joss snapped.

        Ruby let them lead her back down the road to the city.  As they ran, Joss and Anaya hit the ground with their walking sticks. Each strike resulted in a series of loud echoing booms that radiated out from them. Ruby had never seen them do this before. They must be really worried about the zombies.

        Faces appeared in windows and doorways as the Knockers got everyone's attention.

        "Run!" Joss shouted.

        "Head into the city!" Anaya bellowed.

        Part of the magic of Tommyknockers is the sense of foreboding produced by their knocks. Where anyone else might be shrugged off as crazy people, Knockers have a pretty significant impact. Vehicles started as they ran by. People hurriedly evacuated their homes and soon a steady flow of not-quite hysteria passed them heading for the safety of the next walled section of the city.

        As Ruby and the Knockers neared the gates she looked back to see the zombies marching steadily toward the inner city. She suppressed a shiver at the eerie sight.  

        Zombies didn't move with precision and purpose. There was something sinister about the steadiness of their march.

        Ruby stopped at the gates, helping to calm the new arrivals. Many of them didn't know why they were running. They heard the Knockers and followed the crowd.  Ruby spoke hollow reassurances and tried to direct people through the gates, but everyone she spoke to became more agitated.

        A young guard with a crooked smile tossed her a shirt.

        "Put this on, it will help."

        Ruby looked doubtfully at the black, long sleeved shirt the guard gave her. It matched the shirts the rest of the guards wore and had the word "Markhato" emblazoned in silver across the chest.

        She slipped it over her head and immediately felt calm. She continued directing newcomers through the gate and watched in amazement as they meekly obeyed. It would seem the shirt had magic. She looked for the guard with the crooked smile but he was nowhere to be seen.

        Joss and Anaya stayed near her, lending their own calming influence in guiding the crowd.

        It wasn't long before everyone was inside and the gates could be shut. Ruby joined the guards atop the wall to watch the approaching threat. The sound of booted feet behind her caused her to turn to see a unit of the Milleytes Lux arrive in the square.

        An angry looking, red-faced man marched at the front and signaled a halt.

        "That's General Tagshout," Anaya whispered to Ruby  "I heard he strangled a dragon with his bare hands."

        Turning about, the general addressed his soldiers.

        "Men, I have no way to prepare you for what we are about to face. My reports say some asshole has desecrated the resting place of our fallen kings and brothers." Ruby marveled at the speed at which the general got his information. Then she remembered seeing  pixies disappear into flowers when she fled the cemetery. They often served as messengers. The general continued. "It's not right and it's not okay and as soon as we find who's responsible I'm going to make an example of him, you have my word."

        The men remained at stony faced attention.

        "They may look like our friends, they may wear their faces but they are not the Milleytes Lux. You know how to deal with zombies. Separate their heads from their necks.They outnumber our standing garrison two to one. I expect each of you to cut twice and go home.  Milleytes Lux! What are you?!"

        "WE ARE MEN OF WAR!" The soldiers thundered back.

        "What will you do today?!"

        "WE WILL FIGHT!"

        “What will our enemy do?!”

        “THEY WILL DIE!”

        "Open the gates!" Tagshout roared.

        The Gates swung open and the Milleytes Lux marched out to engage the waiting threat.

*   *   *   *   *

        "You're mermaid fishermen?"  Lyric stood at the railing beside Calder Glas watching the sun make its way to the western horizon.

        "Aye, lad. We catch and release the foul beasts. They are wretched, evil creatures and no language on earth has developed words to describe how much I hate them."

        Glas spat into the ocean. The Gaoithe Mhín was fairly flying along, her iridescent water sails full of wind and setting sunlight.  

        "Did Ervin know you hunt mermaids?"

        "Of course he did.  He taught us how to take them alive."  Glass turned a shrewd eye to Lyric's face.  "I see the distaste in your expression, Demon Singer. If you're a student of Young Ervin, then you know the truth of the mermaids."

        Lyric knew, and his feelings were decidedly mixed.

        Waves of nausea were emanating from Cadence. He cautiously probed his tie to the Verger. He couldn't tell if her nausea was due to the captain's diatribe against the evils of what he referred to as the herpes of the sea, or her hatred of the ocean and everything about it.

        I'll be fine. I'm just resisting the urge to punch him in the throat.
The Verger's thoughts came floating across the tie.

        "I used to be fascinated by those bedamned sea wenches like any other blue blooded Man. I even thought to give my heart to one when the time came."  The captain spat angrily again.  "Never trust a mermaid, Singer. Oh sure, she looks nice, smells like the ocean spray.  Sunrise may live in her eyes, but it's midnight in her soul. No good can come of loving a mermaid."

        "What did she do to you?" Acheron asked curiously.  

        The captain gave the demoness a measuring look.

        "You're a demon."

        "Demoness." Acheron corrected.

        "Tell me, demon," the captain took another swig of his bottle. Lyric wondered what was in it besides alcohol and maudlin ramblings. "Can you bear children?"

        "Nope. I'm completely risk free."  The demoness answered proudly.  "Even if I could though, I'd probably just eat them."

        The captain guffawed loudly.

        "She's an honest one, Singer, I'll give her that!" The bottle in the captain's hand came dangerously close to cracking Cadence in the temple as he drunkenly waved it around. Looking annoyed, the small Verger twisted it out of his grip. Lyric's eyebrows hit his hairline when the warrior took a deep pull from the bottle. Captain Glas peered at her through bleary, blue-shot eyes. "Easy lass, girls that drink too much of that swill tend to wake up in my quarters aching in their heads and tails."

        Cadence took another big swallow and slapped the bottle back in the captain's hand.  Then she slugged him in the jaw. Lyric decided not to intervene. He wanted to do it himself, anyway.