Page 65 of Skysong

Leilyn shook her head, spread her hands as though the answer might fall into her open palms. ‘Even though they clearly continued to exist, as the sun kept rising as it always had, the people’s belief in them grew weak, and then was forgotten. Before too long they had become abstract figures – creatures of legend, only spoken about in stories. And the faith that had been built around the Messenger of Day slowly faded, until—’231

‘Until King Tomas,’ Andala finished. ‘Until now.’

Leilyn nodded.

‘And that’s all you know?’ Andala pressed. ‘You haven’t heard anything else – about whether something like this has ever happened before?’ She gestured to the window, and the endless black beyond.

Her mother shook her head. ‘Not that I have heard. There have been whispers, throughout the intervening years, that both of them – the lark and the nightingale – still existed, still sang their songs. But such rumours were either spread by the fanatically faithful, those who clung to the ancient beliefs … or those who would seek to cause the skysingers harm.’

‘Harm?’ Girard sat forward, speaking for the first time.

Leilyn nodded. ‘There have been … certain tales, passed down as warnings through our line. Some tell of folk who seem to think they’d be doing the Merideans a blessed favour by removing the skylark from the picture once and for all, so that their power can never be threatened by the faith that once loomed larger than their rule. It’s part of the reason the skylarks have stayed hidden all these years. We nightingales have done the same, just to be sure. Even if it isn’t us they’re after, concealing ourselves has always been safer than drawing the attention of any such dangerous folk.’

‘But that’s ridiculous,’ Girard said. ‘If they killed the skylark, the power would be gone too. We’d be stuck like this, in endless night, and we’d all …’ He swallowed, not finishing the thought. ‘And why would anyone want to kill thenightingale?’

But words were coming back to Andala, words she’d overheard at the tavern on her way here.

…heardthekingisgoingtokillit.

…nottheskylark…Theotherone.

If he killsit like he says he will, the spell willbebroken.232

Right now, she could think of averygood reason why people might think killing the nightingale a viable plan.

‘If all this is true, though,’ she pressed on, ‘why would Tomas have sought m— sought Oriane out in the first place? If all she represents is a threat to his family’s rule, why would he go out of his way to find her and show her to the world?’

Leilyn slowly shook her head. ‘That I cannot say.’

Andala fought back the shout of frustration that threatened to burst from her. She dropped her head into her hands, despair clawing its way up through her body. None of this had helped. It was all just myth and folklore, and even if any of it were true, it offered no solution to their problem.

The three of them sat in silence. The wind brushed its fingers through the trees outside.

‘Andala, I know … what Oriane’s been through,’ Girard said after a while, with the awkward air of someone broaching an unpleasant topic. ‘What you told me … I can only imagine how she’s suffered, and I understand why she’s refusing to sing. But surely … surely she realises what is at stake? Surely she knows that by staying silent she dooms us all.’

Andala raised her head and opened her mouth – to say what, she did not know, though the urge to defend Oriane was immediate and strong – but Leilyn spoke first, her expression grave.

‘I don’t think it’s quite that simple anymore, Girard. It is not easy, to do what she has done. Nor is it – for want of a better word – right. It denies her very nature. She must have exceptional strength of will, to have achieved it … But that might also be her downfall. Her will to suppress her song might betoostrong.’ Leilyn paused. ‘Such that she may never get it back.’233

‘What?’ Andala demanded, at the same time as Girard breathed, ‘Skies …’

‘Consider how the original goddesses’ power waned as they changed. Who knows what happens to that power in a case like this? And I speak from experience, too,’ she added, glancing to Andala. ‘I know that when I was the nightingale, I could no more have held back my song than I could have felled a tree with a touch.’

Girard looked to Andala, the question plain on his face.

Andala shook her head miserably. ‘I’ve never been able to control it. Any of it. The transformation, the song … It’s all so much bigger than me. It feels … powerful. Like a living thing of its own.’

‘A living thing … A thing that Oriane might have killed for good?’ Girard asked, horror lining his words.

Leilyn sighed before she answered. ‘Perhaps not for good – but from what Andala has said, it will take something serious, something strong, for Oriane to bring it back to life.’

The three of them fell quiet again, none looking at the other.

Time dragged itself by. A sense of defeat hung in the air, thick, almost palpable – but after a while, it only emanated from the other two. Not Andala. For while they had been discussing, going back and forth and around in circles, Andala’s mind had been working. And she had come to a conclusion.

‘Have you ever played chess, Girard?’ she asked, turning in her seat to face him.

Leilyn looked at her sharply – thinking, no doubt, of Andala’s father, as Andala was herself. After he had taught Andala to play when she was ten, the two of them had spent countless evenings across the board from one another. Andala had loved nothing more than to sit there in easy quiet with him, the only sound the soft click of pieces moving about the board.234

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