40°55'54.0"N 47°30'40.9"E – Somewhere in Oghuz, Azerbaijan

18.05.2024- 22.30 UTC +04.00

“…reports speak of further disturbances in the Oghuz District. State forces recommend remaining within protected wards,” a television with cracked audio played in the background.

I was far enough from whatever they thought was happening in Oghuz. Smoke of multiple cigarettes was occupying the small cabin, while I was trying to lay out a plan that could increase my chances of survival.

The night had fallen hours ago. If any of Adil’s men were to approach, I would be defenseless. But the bet was exactly that: none of them would ever think to head so far away from the action to look for lost whispers.

“And we are indeed in safety. Do not let this rainy night create fears. There are no so-called Əziyyət in Oghuz. The fights have reached Imishli and have already stopped there. Sleep tight.” A man said calmly on the television before the sound faded out.

Even though all windows were closed shut, I felt a breeze as whispers from far away, warnings of my coven from around Oghuz, reached me:

--Reach for the bow, Starling.

--Approaching from the west, Hökümə.

--Deflectors settled in the north domain.

Other whisperers were reaching out and communicating among the members of the coven. The last one had not signed off with their name, but it was claiming someone had set up deflectors in an area warded in the north – that was where I was. I spat some of the tobacco I was chewing. I closed my eyes, although it was almost unnecessary within the dark cabin.

--No shadows cast in the north ward, Nisÿ.

My eyes swelled and cried tears as I whispered. Whispering for so many days and nights took a toll – but I was confident my senses were intact. I had sensed nothing in the north.

I stood up from my chair. I repeated, sending my whisper out to whoever could hear me, signing off with my name:

--No shadows cast in the north ward, Nisÿ.

I whispered once again for good measure.

I waited patiently and then approached the curtains of the nearby window. The sand was carefully put around the edge of the window, completely undisturbed. Outside the barren fields were empty, and the night stars cast no shadow.

--The bow is in, Starling

--We delay in the west, Hökümə.

My allies were exchanging whispers, but no whisper came from the unknown messenger.

--Who spoke of deflectors, Nisÿ

I whispered again looking outside. Rain fell silently on the ground, but I was sure the whispers had reached me. Someone sent a warning to this ward and now was not coming back. Whispering between so many Cursed sometimes felt like talking through a broken radio: voices were not clear, nor direction or intention.

I got dizzy, as I spread the last whisper to the entire coven. No one responded.

--Is north safe, Starling

The head of the coven had picked up my worry. Another question I could not answer. I had spent days and nights whispering far away, but nothing had ever reached this ward. I grabbed my coat and a candle. I turned off the TV. I picked up some sand and blew it over the candle, which lit in a light red flame.

Stay lit only for me I said enchanting it.

I opened the door, carefully stepping over the sand circle. I looked outside into the field. Everything was empty. I gazed as far as I could, and I could see no shadows.

--I can see till the lights of Daymadere and hear the laughs and dance in Kərimli, but I feel no shadow, Nisÿ

I sang the last whisper. I found it easier to sing to the winds when I was not in the ward, and I felt no tears in my eyes this time.

--We maintain the bow, Starling

--Stay vigilant Nisÿ, Hökümə

I looked around the empty field. It was silent and the candle’s light helped me see till far ends not all Whispers could see. If there was a man of Adil, I would have heard, instead of this: absolute silence. I could listen to a butterfly trip over my ward.

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--Oghuz falls

--Oghuz falls

--Oghuz falls

Suddenly the winds whispered. And then nothing.

Starling, I hear nothing- I almost whispered, when I realized the verity of my sentence. As the lighting crackled far in the mountains, I could still see the rain around me falling, as it did, the whole night. But there was no sound, no music of the drops. The silence was supernatural: someone had exerted a silence Curse over this area.

“These are neither deflectors nor Cursed nor shadows,” I said to myself, to ground me. The candle’s light protected me from whatever hex was cast across the ward, and I still had my voice. But the night had gone silent.

In hexes like this, it was tricky. Whatever kind of Curse was used to freeze the sound of the ward, had covered everything like a sheet of calm. If I were to disturb it too much, it could easily overwhelm me, and I would never reach the other wards to warn them in time.

I had to reach the cabin, with slow steady steps.

--Zephyr, Zaman, Kaz fear the silence, Nisÿ

I tried to whisper as quietly as possible. The candle flickered as my words flew in the wind around it.

--Zephyr, Zaman, Kaz fear the silence, Nisÿ

I kept repeating as I took small steps, hearing nothing but my whispers. I reached the circle around my cabin. It was undisturbed. I jumped over it, and the moment I did, the sound of the rain smoothly fell into the backdrop as it should. Whatever Cursed, they could not break my wards.

--Zephyr, Zaman, Kaz fear the silence, Nisÿ

I had just entered the cabin, the one place the silence hex would not reach. I put my coat on the side and left the candle on the window. I headed to the table again. Grabbed some tobacco and started chewing.

I had failed – whatever happened, I was deceived in my ward. For my own sake, I could now only hope any threat that cast that hex had passed and left without a trace and without finding my cabin, mutually undetected.

I could only hope the silence was the aftermath and not the introduction. I bit my lip.

--Something is approaching Oghuz, I failed, Nisÿ

I whispered finally. This was my failure, mistaking silence for the absence of a threat, and I had to warn the others. I could only hope at least nobody would –

My breath stopped. I started gasping for air. Somebody had caught my whisper, keeping it captive, creating a unique feeling of being deprived of a voice and oxygen while technically breathing.

“Re- lease me,” I commanded angrily to whoever was attacking me, striving for air. There was no one in the cabin besides me, but I was not alone anymore.

The TV turned on, with distorted sound.

“Definitely! No reason to worry everyone! In fact, reports just dropped in: Caspians have vowed to stand by us. This is wonderful news! The Government will crack down on these unholy gangs.”

I started scratching the table. I needed the pain in my fingers to wake up my nerves and unplug my lungs. I scratched until my fingers and palms bled.

“You cannot bend my,” wind I strived to say, but I, the TV, and the rain went silent. I fell from the chair, still grasping for the shortest of breaths.

I crawled towards the window and my candle. I needed its light to use my warding powers.

“Please… Light up…” I tried to command the candle from afar. A whisper interrupted me.

--The bow was lost. Abandon wards, Starling.

--I repeat, abandon wards, Starling.

This was meant to be a warning from my coven’s leader but now acted as a mockery. Whoever was catching whispers in my ward, let this one pass on purpose, to reach me and break my spirit. Whoever let this whisper reach me, wanted me to know despair.

--I repeat, abandon wards, Starling.

I climbed holding myself from the wooden wall, unable to breathe except with short spikes of pain. I stood up from the floor and blew on the candle, which ignited in a green weak flame. I could breathe again, but only for a moment.

The window was open. The rain fell silently on the field outside. And there I saw a man standing. On his left hand, he held a big platan leaf, shining green under the stars' light.

He started walking towards me.

Stay lit only for me I whispered to the candle, again and again, Stay lit only for me.

The man was stepping decisively towards the cabin. But as it approached the line of sand he faltered. He stood there, holding the platan leaf. Whoever he was he could not simply pass over the invisible divide of my ward.

He raised his hand and released the leaf, which seemingly followed a whimsical gust of wind. My eyes followed it.

Stay lit only for me and keep me in your ward, I prayed to my candle.

My eyes were in tears again. Suddenly, I realized that if this was to be my final night, I could not even hear the rain due to this damned hex.

Stay lit only for me and keep me in your ward, and stars light the sands and keep it lit for me I kept praying.

The platan leaf flew right through the window, dispersing the sand warding it. I stood still in fear, and as it landed and touched me, I heard my very own whisper, the one I had sent minutes ago:

--Something is approaching Oghuz, I failed, Nisÿ

It echoed my voice. The man was gone outside the house, but the sand line on the window was broken.

“Look what the wind brought to me,” said a voice behind me, and cold hands grabbed my neck, “now, time to send a whisper for me.”

“Whe-re,” I gasped as the candle fell from my hands. His hand stayed locked on my throat while his other one poured sand on my hands and around my feet.

“These sands are from way too far. I cannot,” I begged “Please do not make me.”

“I heard the Azeri Whispers are the strongest. Do not disappoint me,” he said and started squeezing my throat.

“Please, please.”

He said a phrase in a roman language, Spanish perhaps, something I could not comprehend but a short enough message for me to be able to repeat.