Today was a new day. The past was further behind Danny and the future demanded all his mind focused forward. He had already spent most of the dawn and the early morning trek lost among the pages of his journal. Well, pages seemed too generous a term for the even slimmer margins and spaces between lines. Danny had even resorted to writing on the inside of the leather cover. It was past time to just cough up the moon it would take to buy a new one, but that was a concern for another time.
Danny’s mind was consumed by his drive to understand the queer melodies that haunted him, that he’d taken to describing as a ghostly song. He had been hearing it ever since he awoke, a trailing song just barely within his range of hearing, playing all manner of tunes. The Songs themselves were… perplexing to say the least. At moments it laid out a heartrending opera of tragedy that would suddenly break into some cheerful flute melody, two forces standing in an odd counterbalance. It was disturbing to be hearing such wilting tones the moment he joined the land of the living once more.
That whole morning was spent in deep contemplation on whether he was truly losing his mind after one measly brush with death. That wasn’t to say Danny wasn’t burdened by the sudden reminder of his mortality, he had found his hand strumming softly the chords to a half-remembered funeral dirge his drunken arse of a teacher had seen fit to relay it to him after several pitchers of ale. It was mostly idle improvisation on his part, but that's when the mystery got all the stranger. The Song began imitating him.
Although it was Alric that came to that revelation. Danny had merely begun echoing the Song he heard as it was so different in pitch from his own it sounded achingly familiar but held the intrigue of the unknown. Leave it to that gigantic oaf to somehow have a natural ear for music.
Danny was frankly surprised he could still even hear after all those years spent in the forge. It was also worrying how Alric couldn’t hear the music even when straining his ears, but Danny put the pieces together easily enough. Wind elevated are granted quicker bodies, so their senses were heightened to compensate so he simply could hear better than Alric.
Though Alric didn’t manage to tie together the most obvious of conclusions with the evidence presented. Opting instead to be worried like a mother on the first day of school for Danny. It was infuriating at times to be held in constant regard as a child, with Danny having to remind himself that his brother was just acting out of concern. A worry for his well being, one which Danny shared for Alric as well. A worry growing by the day.
Alric no longer smiled. His face had been morphed into a mask of severity that was previously foreign to him. Respite had changed Alric, he no longer laughed as easily or brushed off his concerns as obstacles to be overcome. He had become disconcertingly obsessed with training, never stopping when they were not on the move, pushing his body through a maelstrom of abuse only to collapse and start again the next morning. Even by the grueling standards of his family’s house, this was a measure too far.
However, Danny only had limited abilities when dealing with this kind of sensitive topic, but rather than charge straight ahead like Alric did yesterday, he chose to wait until there was plenty of ale nearby to assist him. So, Danny focused all his energy on the siren Song. More specifically, he was trying to devise some sort of trap for it.
Unlike Alric, Danny was sensible enough to realize that they weren’t being chased by anyone seeking justice for the mayor and his cronies, not with the measly pace they were setting. Otherwise, they would have already been found. So that ruled out any guardsmen or sect spy, which left only two sensible options remaining. Either it was the vengeful ghost of the man he killed or a shape-shifting shade beast.
Danny had thought over the evidence at hand numerous times during the morning and it was the only two viable scenarios. The voice appeared at the exact edge of Danny’s hearing, excluding Alric as a potential victim. Then it played a mesmerizing song to lure Danny away from the group resorting to imitating Danny in an effort to draw his attention. The fact that it kept at that distance exactly even when they continued to march showed that it was following them with a purpose in mind. What exactly the being wanted Danny hadn’t a clue, but Danny needed to make sure it was in a better mood for when he laid his trap.
To that end, Danny closed the book and stuffed it within his case as he paused to retrieve his lute. The rugged groed contraption was growing on him now that he tuned out most of its peculiar sound qualities. He gave a few test notes to make sure it was still in tune before launching into ‘Faiwer Fellian,’ one of the happiest songs he knew. At least it always turned the drunks at the Squeaky Hinge into jolly messes. Sure enough, after he played out the first verse the Song kicked in, trailing behind him somewhat confusedly. A sentiment it shared with Alric; whose glower had gotten so deep it threatened to extend past his face.
“What, in the high court, are you doing Danny?”
Not missing a note in his playing Danny chipped back, “What do you mean Alric? I’m playing the lute, just like I was doing yesterday and will most likely do in the future.”
“Yes, but why are you playing that blasted song!” Alric groaned, “You know even better than I do how obnoxiously catchy that song is, I’m going to be humming that the rest of the day. Not to mention a drunk sailor’s ditty is wholly inappropriate for stalking through the wilderness for our lives.”
Danny snorted, as if Alric had anything resembling tact, “Oh relax you gigantic oaf, that was days ago. Now we’re merely two brothers on an adventure into the great unknown! Where’s that sense of living like a hero in a story, or did your sister never cover the grueling treks through the woods?”
That managed to get the barest of genuine smiles out of Alric. “Yeah okay, but again why did you suddenly change your tune?”
“You believe in the occult, Alric?” oops, there goes the smiles.
Alric was suddenly alert, his mouth chewing on his next sentence, “Danny, look… those people are gone now. No cure or remedy exists for eternal servitude to the high court, and only foolish men dip their hands into the cycle of life.”
Lords above, Alric thought he was going to try and resurrect those bastards? “Lords no Alric, I was meaning the supernatural. You know, Kinnabari and ghouls and whatnot?” Danny’s clarification was met with yet another concerned stare.
High court help him, why did his brother have to be such a fool? Changing tact, Danny endured, “Well… since I’ve been hearing this ethereal tune since I woke up -don’t you dare say anything about me being unhinged,” Danny cut Alric off, waiting for him to swallow his response, “Just… just trust me on this. Give me a chance to prove myself and if it turns out to be false then you can take me to the healers.”
Alric paused for a beat before throwing his arms in the air in defeat, “Fine, fine! ‘A real man trusts his comrades with their lives,’” Alric quoted like that was a satisfying response. Which for him it was, going off and spouting the gospel of Sis like it was a Lord’s elevating wisdom.
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“Okay great! Then we’ll need to make sure to have a roaring fire tonight, oh and you’ll need to catch wild game. We’re going to set a trap.”
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Danny spent the rest of their travels that day switching between any type of composition he could remember, and even more he couldn't. After he ran out of drinking songs, then came the working chants, followed by the heroic ballads, before the three romantic songs he knew. Danny even played the lute part in his confession to Joan.
Then once he ran out of tunes to occupy the Song he just held onto the silence for a moment, it began its response back. A morning of a somewhat rushed musical education had done wonders for its compositional range. It now no longer sounded like a troupe member choking on their pan flute but was able to convey what Danny suspected to be emotions. Its melodies now were incredibly luxuriant ballads that shifted tone from as smoothly as natural dialogue, and from what he could gather it was… eager?
The thought of some ghoulish specter’s excitement directed towards Danny raised the hairs on the back of his neck. For how large Danny’s curiosity was, in that moment he was wondering if he was going to be dinner for a ghost. His fate forever confined to a cautionary tale that children told around a campfire late at night. Telling each other to not mess with forces best left unseen.
Sure, Alric would be distraught over him dying, no doubt after having slain the undead fiend while it chowed down on Danny’s corpse. But eventually, he would move on, finding some other poor sap to saddle with all his problems. Actually, when he put it like that, dying didn’t sound too blasted bad anymore.
The setup for the trap Danny had envisioned took hours. They had first found some sapling Alric could chop down with Danny’s sword that wouldn’t snap the blade. Once Alric got that taken care of they had to start the much harder task of chopping the wood into manageable pieces to burn, then actually hoping the wood was dry enough to burn and soldiering on when it turned on it wasn’t.
By the time Alric left to gather some small game with a pile of pebbles held in his shirt, Danny felt a headache growing. The curiosity the Song emanated bumped it up to a migraine. He really got ahead of himself this time. Just like he always did, but at least it kept him busy and away from it. Though now that he was alone and set to watching the fire, his body began to shake, his breathing hurried, and Danny was overwhelmed by the instinct to curl into a ball. For a moment he was just a boy alone in the woods fearing death, then it receded; Danny’s mind went back to the plan at hand and everything else was cast back to the recesses of his mind.
Alric returned with a pair of grey, plump birds he described as grouse, and a squirrel. They had already been bled as a side effect of how Alric hunted. The blasted brute just nicked them out with a rock then slit their necks with his knife. Alric got to work skinning and plucking the birds and Danny set offsetting the right ambiance.
They were preparing a feast, so they needed a banquet hall. The best Danny could do was some left-over logs as seats, but the ghostly apparition would just have to learn how to do without the finer things in life now that it was, well an apparition.
It seemed fitting all put together, though Danny had to brush aside the thought that they were about to dip their hands into some ancient Lix ritual with everything being so wooden and … tribal for lack of a better word. With the right ambiance set, Danny settled in a night of uproarious singing and making sure Alric feasted enough for the both of them.
However, even the succulent bait they provided was unable to assuage the Song from its mission of tearing Danny limb from limb. In fact, the Song was conspicuously absent through the revelry with Danny’s lute being the sole sound carrying through the trees that surrounded them. It was strangely lonely to him to be without his sonic companion as sanity-questioning that feeling was.
Deciding the plan was a bust if a rather comforting night to shed part of the heavy burden they carried since Respite. Alric scattered the ashes of the fire around the clearing and they settled in for the night. Danny would be lying if he said he wasn’t still worried about the Song, but the absence of it since they began the merriment did paint a fairly strong sign of Danny just being a few marbles shy of the whole. Danny couldn’t decide if that was better or worse than the revelation that the afterlife existed.
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Danny was awoken with a start. Alric stood over his bleary eyes in the early dawn of light, and it took Danny a moment to collect his wits. It took another to realize Alric looked shaken. Danny went to ask his brother what the matter was but was silenced by a single finger held against Alric’s mouth. Then Alric gestured toward the ashes and the air caught in Danny’s throat.
White talon marks were going from the ashes, seemingly rending the earth beneath it, as it clawed through the clearing and towards where Danny had laid for the night. It was actively hunting him!
Wide-eyed, Danny dragged his eyes back to Alric who pointed at Danny. Looking at his person with sinking dread, Danny’s mind detached as he gazed upon the soot stain on his chest. The investigative part of his mind commanded his shaking arms to push aside the doublet to show even more ash on his linen undershirt. Whatever it was had attempted to burrow into him but failed.
That, however, was drowned out by the whirlwind of obscenities that the panicked part of Danny’s mind crafted. A voice leaked out of Danny’s mouth that sounded foreign for how much it resembles Jov. The investigative mind took control once more as Danny scanned his surroundings for something, anything. Barely he managed to see a set of grey marks on a low hanging branch at the edge of their clearing.
Before Danny could fully comprehend his actions, his feet took off towards the ash marks. He would no longer be the hunted living in fear, he’d take whatever fight he could muster to the blasted specter. Vaguely his mind recognized the sound of Alric shouting after him, but he was already too focused on his prey. Danny could feel how his body almost seemed to glide over the roots as he chased the ashen marks before spotting a small figure leaping from its perch just before him.
All of his paranoia and fears over his sanity over the last few days boiled to the surface as Danny leapt and grabbed the figure just as it meant to take flight. This proved it!
“Danny, what in the high court has gotten into you lately?” Alric said.
“Look Alric don’t you see?” Danny cried as he held the Song aloft. It was simply a small, ash stained songbird. A songbird that seemed to chirp at him in a song of confusion and surprise.
“uh… Danny?”
“No Alric, this is it!” Danny was positively ecstatic and shouting to the high court above, “This is proof that I’m not mad! That I really was hea- “
“Danny!”
“What?” Danny asked, annoyed at having been thrown out of his tirade. Turning around to question his brother further he was met with several gleaming metal spear tips.
“Oh…blast it!” was all Danny could think to say as he held his hands in the air and released the bird to flit away into the sparse forest canopy.