David Gemmell - Echoes of the Great Song

He sat staring into the chests, watching the light glitter on the gems. Much could happen in thirty-four years.

A crystal vase on his windowsill suddenly shattered. The sound made him jump. Pushing himself ponderously to his feet he waddled to the window, looking out to see who had thrown a stone. There was no-one in sight. A strange popping sound came from behind him. He swung, and saw green dust spraying out from the chests. He stumbled back and fell to his knees. The crystals within were writhing and splitting. 'No!' he shouted, digging his fat hands into the first chest, closing his fingers around the few remaining gems. But even inside his grip he felt them shatter and turn to dust. The red gems in the rings on his fingers exploded.

Caprishan began to weep piteously. One of his servants ran into the room.

'What is it, lord?' he asked.

'Leave me alone!' shouted Caprishan. The man backed away. Caprishan pushed himself to his feet and walked to the balcony.

He could wait for the six days to pass, and die slowly and horribly.

Or he could…

His fat body sailed through the air and smashed onto the stone path beside a fountain.

And the music of the pyramid swept out over the ocean.

Serpent Seven was close to the shore when all power vanished. For a little while the black ship struggled on, carried by her momentum and by the inrushing tide. But then she began to wallow in the waves, tipping and rolling.

On the journey back Methras had ordered the crew to strip the cabins and holds of everything that would float. Several rafts had been made, and makeshift oars. The men had thought the orders strange, but they had obeyed them.

The ship swung broadside to the land and tilted perilously. 'Over the side!' yelled Methras. The crew began to throw empty barrels into the sea, then the rafts were hurled after them. One by one the men jumped into the ocean. The strongest swimmers set out for the shore. Those unskilled in the water clung to the rafts or other floating debris. Methras saw a crewman go under. He dived and grabbed at the man's collar, hauling him up. The Vagar struggled and almost pulled them both down, but Methras spoke to him calmly, then helped him to a floating barrel. 'Hold on and kick out with your feet,' he advised the man. 'The tide will carry you in.'

Methras swam to a raft. Several men had clambered aboard and they pulled him up.

He sat down and turned to watch the Serpent. Like a sick whale it rolled and pitched. Then it tipped completely and sank beneath the waves.

'What happened?' asked a Vagar seaman.

'Ami's magic,' he said.

'I thought he was on our side.'

'He is,' said Methras. 'The golden ships will be sinking just as we did.'

'He could have waited another hour,' grumbled the man. 'We'd have been in port by then.'

As the dawn rose over the sea Ro felt a strange sensation rippling through him. Attuning his mind he focused on it. It was music, whispering on the wind. It was discordant and yet… it made him feel a part of everything, the earth, the sky, the rock beneath his feet.

A strangled cry came from Sofarita. He turned to her and saw her begin to tremble. Rising he threw his arms around her, holding her stiff body close. She fell into him, almost carrying them both from the ledge. Ro struggled to stay upright. Sofarita's arms were outstretched, still stiff, her joints locked. She was trying to speak, but her tongue could form no words. 'I am here,' he said. 'I am with you. Remember the rituals. Join with me.'

At first there was nothing, then a terrible pain swept over him. His body was shattering like glass. Ro fought down panic and instinctively concentrated on the reality of flesh, the softness of the wet tissue that bonded into strong muscle, the flowing of rich, warm blood.

The Music in his mind expanded, a magnificent symphony, a song as large as the universe. It flowed over them both.

Sofarita's head lowered to his shoulder, her arms dropping. Ro could feel her flesh beneath his hands, soft and warm. He laid her down on the ledge and knelt beside her. 'Speak to me,' he said. 'Show me you are alive.'

Her eyes opened. 'The power is gone from me,' she said. 'I am a woman again. How did you make the Music?'

'It was not mine.'

She sighed and struggled to sit. 'I am no longer a goddess, Ro. I am just a Vagar woman.'

'You are the woman I love,' he said, surprised as the words rushed out. He waited for her rejection, knowing it would be kind and burn him like fire.

'I love you too,' she said. 'I've known it since the night you saved me from Almeia, when you lay beside me and warmed me with your body.'

A fierce wind swept across the ledge. Ro clung to a rock. Sofarita was thrown against him.

A brilliant light blazed in the sky. Ro looked up, to see a second sun shining brightly through swirling clouds.

A terrible groan came from the wall across the world. Boulders began to rain down from it. Then, with an awesome wrench the wall, and the land beyond it, broke away and lifted into the sky, tipping as it rose. A huge earthquake rippled across the floating land mass and it split into two. Both parts continued to rise towards the second sun. Something glittered in the air like a golden bird. Ro saw that it was a ship, spinning through the air to crash into the airborne land. More ships appeared, as if being drawn up by an invisible whirlwind.

A ring of fire hundreds of miles in diameter flared in the sky. The broken land floated towards it, entering the circle of flames. As Ro watched, the land of the Almecs disappeared. The fire ring began to close, shrinking smaller and smaller.

Then it was gone.

There was no wall now, no dark and threatening land. A vast and ruined plain lay before their eyes.

'The grass and trees will grow again,' said Sofarita, 'and streams will flow. Life will flourish again.'

Ro stood and, holding Sofarita by the hand, walked back along the ledge.

Further down the trail they met the One-Eyed-Fox and Touchstone and Suryet. Four other Anajo tribesmen were still alive.

At the mouth of the trail Ro saw a mound of bodies. Just back from them Touchstone was kneeling beside the fallen Talaban. Ro ran forward, thinking the Avatar merely injured. But as he came close he saw the terrible wounds and the cold, still face. He sighed and felt deep shame at the surging joy he had experienced when Sofarita told him she loved him. Talaban had given his life so that he could hear those words.

Moving to the fallen Avatar he knelt by the body.

'He and the others killed more than twenty,' said Touchstone in Anajo. 'They did not give way. Talaban was the last to die. I tried to reach him, to help him. I wanted to save his life as he saved mine. He saw me running forward. They were all around him. He died just as the sun rose.' Drawing his dagger Touchstone cut a lock from Talaban's hair. 'I shall make a prayer song for him. It will reach all Anajo spirits. They will make him welcome.'

'I am glad you survived,' said Ro. 'That would have pleased him.'

'I thought I would die. But when the second sun rose the Almecs fled. What will you do now, Questor Ro?

Will you try to go back to your place of stone?'

'No. I will stay here if you will have me. I will teach and I will learn. I will find a way to make a history of these events.'

Touchstone laid his hand on Talaban's brow. 'He will live in my heart always. And my sons shall learn of him. And their sons. He is a part of the People now. We will not forget.' Sofarita came alongside and Ro took her hand. She gazed down at the dead Avatar, and Ro felt no jealousy at the sorrow in her eyes.