Finder's Stone - Song Of The Saurials Part 28

"You can't bind Alias to Moander as long as Moander isn't in the Realms," Dragonbait protested.

"Moander will take possession of its new body before the moon sets tonight," Coral announced.

Dragonbait s.h.i.+vered. The minions must have recovered the seed somehow. He couldn't believe how badly things were going, nor could he believe he'd been fooled so easily. "I don't understand. Coral, you were so different on the mountain. Why were you weeping?"

Coral sneered. "To attract your attention, of course," she replied. "One of our fliers spotted you from the air. I teleported to a spot nearby and feigned tears until you came to me. You were incredibly easy to fool."

"I smelled your grief, your hope, your love. What I smelled was true," Dragonbait said.

"You have deceived yourself. I felt none of those things," Coral snapped. "The only truth I told was that I was glad you had returned to us. Now I can slay you in the name of the Darkbringer. Yours will be the first blood Moander tastes in its new body."

17.

Finder's Secret

As Olive approached the cave, she could hear Alias singing. Though she couldn't quite make out the swordswoman's words, the halfling recognized the melody. Alias was singing "The Tears of Selune," one of Finder's most haunting love songs. Something didn't sound quite right, however. Olive halted to listen more carefully. It took her a moment to realize what was wronga"Alias was singing the song in the wrong key.

Olive heard a shout, and the singing stopped suddenly in the middle of a verse. She could imagine what had happened. Finder had ordered Alias to stop. Why the swordswoman had sung the song in the wrong key, Olive couldn't imagine. Alias knew how Finder hated anyone altering his tunes, and it wasn't like her to goad the bard. Olive crept to the mouth of the cave and peered in.

Alias sat on the floor of the cave, her head hanging like an embarra.s.sed child. Finder sat nearby, glowering at the woman. Akabar and Grypht sat opposite the bard and swords-woman. Both spell-casters stared at Alias anxiously .

Olive could hear Alias whispering, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be a fool, Finder," Akabar said. "She was just expressing what the saurials are feeling by turning your song into a soul song."

"Why didn't you tell me you were changing my songs to sing these saurial things?" Finder demanded of Alias.

"I thought it might upset you," Alias said softly.

"If you'd let her finish," Akabar said, "we might learn something."

"She was singing gibberish," Finder protested.

Grypht must have begun speaking to the bard in saurial, for Finder turned his attention to the wizard for a moment. The bard answered Grypht in Realms common. "We've learned enough about Moander. We don't need to hear any more."

Finder turned and snapped at Alias, "How dare you change my songs?"

"I can't help it," Alias whispered. "It just happens."

"Nothing just happens," Finder said. "If I meant as much to you as the saurials do, you'd be able to control it. If you can't control it, don't bother to sing my songs anymore."

The swordswoman blanched, and Olive could detect the smell of violets in the cave. Alias was frightened and was communicating her fear through the saurial scent.

Grypht and Finder glared at each other, and now Olive could also smell baking bread, the scent of anger. Meanwhile, Akabar leaned toward Alias and tried to encourage her to ignore Finder and resume her singing.

After listening to Grypht for a short time, Finder had had enough. As the bard rose to his feet and turned away from the others, his blue eyes flashed red in the sunlight streaming into the cave. "Go ahead and sing their songs if you want," he said coldly to Alias. "It makes no difference to me what you do."

Alias swallowed, licked her lips, and took a deep breath. It was obvious she wanted to sing, but from the way the swords-woman trembled, Olive could see that she was too frightened to rise to her father's challenge.

"Careful, bard," Akabar taunted Finder. "She might just improve on your song. Then what would you do? Go ahead and sing, Alias."

Akabar's goading of the bard wasn't helping to encourage Alias any. Akabar didn't understand how desperately she wanted to please Finder. Olive understood it all too well.

Alias began rocking back and forth, clutching her knees to her chest and whimpering softly with a glazed look in her eyes. Grypht and Akabar hovered over her, trying unsuccessfully to comfort her. Finder stood stubbornly with his back to his daughter.

Olive entered the cave and padded over to the bard's side. "Finder, think about what you're saying for once," the halfling said softly. "Look what you've done to her," she insisted, pointing toward the swordswoman. "Have you forgotten? She's not even two years old. She needs your love even when you don't agree with her. You can't just slap her and make her do everything your way like you do with everyone else."

"I didn't touch her," Finder said, offended.

"You don't have to touch her. You're a master at using words as weapons," Olive accused him. "Whether you injure her body or her heart, you'll be making the same mistake you made with Flattery."

The bard looked down at Olive with confusiona"and fear. "What are you talking about?" he whispered.

"You know what I mean," Olive said impatiently. "The way you bullied him."

"How do you know about that?" the bard demanded.

"He left a long message in your workshop," Olive said.

"So why didn't you say anything?" the bard asked coldly. "Did you intend to sneak back to Elminster and tell him?"

Olive brushed angrily at the tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she held her head up proudly "The message was two centuries old, Finder," she said. "I didn't think it mattered anymore. I thought you'd changed."

Finder stepped back as though he'd been slapped.

Olive turned her attention to the swordswoman. "Come on, Alias," she said, patting the swordswoman's shoulder. "Sing for us. It doesn't matter if you change the song. Finder will understand. Won't you, Finder?" the halfling asked with feigned sweetness.

Finder shot an angry look at Olive, but the glare she gave him in return shocked him into submission. "Yes," he answered softly.

Olive signed sharply for the bard to sit down near Alias. He obeyed with a defiant look, but when Olive put his hand on Alias's and he felt the swordswoman's trembling, his expression changed to one of alarm. Not even a trapped bird trembled as fiercely as the woman before him did now. The bard saw, too, how pale she'd becomea"as white as the moment before she'd drawn her first breath. Her eyes stared blindly at him.

"I didn't do this to her," he said, refusing to admit his words could have so much power over anyone.

"Yes, you did," Olive hissed. "Now fix it."

"How?" the bard challenged.

"How do you think?" Olive whispered with frustration. "Apologize, you idiot."

Finder bristled at the insult, but the blind look in Alias's eyes softened his anger. "Alias . . . I'm sorry," he whispered, squeezing her hand gently, "I didn't... think about what I was saying. I want you you to sing. It doesn't matter about the soul songs."

Alias tilted her head and seemed to see the bard for the first time. She looked uncertain.

"Really. It's all right," Olive said encouragingly.

Alias looked at the halfling, confused. "Will you sing with me?" she asked Olive.

Olive started with surprise. Alias had taught her some of Finder's songs, but they had never sung together. Olive had always been too jealous of the swordswoman's voice to dare try to blend her own in with it.

"Please," Alias whispered.

Olive was suddenly reminded of Jade, the copy of Alias who had been a thief. Olive had loved Jade, but Flattery had killed the thief. If I wasn't jealous of Alias, would I love her, too? the halfling wondered. "Sure, I'll sing with you," she said. She sat down beside the swordswoman. "What should we sing?" she asked.

Alias seemed at a loss to suggest any songs, so Olive chose one Finder hadn't written, a lighthearted one. The song seemed to improve Alias's mood. When they had finished. Olive suggested a tune of Finder's, "The Hero of the Watch," a seemingly innocuous song about a cat that saved a regiment of soldiers from an attacking horde of goblins. The swords-woman s.h.i.+vered slightly but nodded in agreement.

The voices of the two women blended nicely, but Olive felt as if she were the carrying Finder's song alone. Alias was concentrating too hard on keeping control of the song instead of letting the music flow naturally. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground or Olive instead of directing them at her audience. She didn't change the lyrics or tune or key, but without her spirit behind them, the songs were like ghosts.

Sensing that the song wasn't going well, the swordswoman protested with a childlike cry, "I... I can't do it," and stopped singing in the middle of the last verse.

"Alias, just relax," Olive said. "Don't worry about changing the song. Finder said it was all right."

Alias looked toward the bard. Finder nodded, but something in his look made Alias flinch as if the bard had struck her.

"That's what he said," Alias answered, "but Finder won't love me if I change his songs."

The bard rubbed at his temples, confused at how stubbornly Alias clung to her desire to please him. Flattery, on the other hand, had grown to hate him readily. "Alias, love is something people are supposed to give freely. It's not a commodity to be earned or forfeited," he said.

"Yes," Alias said. "That's what you taught me, but it's not what you believe ... is it?"

"Of course it's what I believe," Finder protested. "It's what most of my songs are about."

"You hold it up as an ideal," Alias said, "but you don't act that way yourself."

Olive nodded, knowing Alias was right. Finder withheld his love when he was displeased and dispensed it lavishly only when Alias was behaving as he thought she should.

"Alias, I'm not perfect," Finder said. "I became angry and said some stupid things. It doesn't mean I won't love you if you change my songs."

"You say that, but it's not true," Alias insisted.

Finder sighed in frustration. "It is true. How can I prove it to you if you won't sing?"

Alias's eyes lit up suddenly. "Prove you believe it," she said. "Take the risk yourself."

"What?" Finder asked.

"You know I love you. Prove to me you're sure I love you no matter what you do ... or did," Alias demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Finder asked. He looked frightened.

"Morala said there was something you didn't tell the Harpers about the first singer you tried to create . . . something Maryje knew, something you were ashamed of," Alias said. "Tell me what it was."

Finder shuddered and shook his head. "I... I can't," he said.

"We need to hear Alias sing her soul song," Akabar said. "It may make all the difference in whether or not we can defeat Moander. Does your pride mean more than that, bard?"

Olive shot Akabar an angry look. The mage's life was so virtuous, he couldn't understand the shame the bard felt. Olive patted Finder's hand. "Tell her. Finder," the halfling said. "She's not going to love you any less for admitting your mistakes. I didn't."

Finder smiled sadly at the halfling, wondering if she was speaking as an agent for the G.o.ddess of luck or the G.o.d of justice. He looked back at Alias. Would his confession bind her closer to him or drive her away? Cast the dice, he thought, and pray for better luck than you deserve. "Very well," he said.

In an impa.s.sive, distant tone, Finder began his tale. "I lied when I told the Harpers that I failed in my first attempt at making a singer like you. I created a man identical to me, with my thoughts and memories. My apprentice Kirkson named the man Flattery to tease me about my ego. The singer accepted the name and would take no other."

Finder looked down at the floor for a moment, then raised his head back up and looked directly into Alias's eyes as he made his confession. "I wasn't the good parent to Flattery that Dragonbait was to you when you were created. When Flattery came to life, I demanded immediately that he sing for me, much the same way I ordered the finder's stone to perform a task for me. Flattery attempted a tune. His voice was weak and immature. He was only a child, but I didn't understand that. After my success with the finder's stone, I expected instant success with Flattery. I grew frustrated when, after a mere three days of drilling, Flattery didn't produce the quality of music it had taken me over a hundred years to achieve. In a rage, I struck him."

"After that, Flattery wouldn't attempt to sing again. He even refused to speak. I apologized, I begged, I shouted, I ... beat him. Every day I went through the same cycle of contrition and violence, but he said nothing. Kirkson tried to convince me that what I was doing was wrong, but I wouldn't listen. My other apprentice, Maryje, was too loyal to speak out in any sort of protest, but I could see she was terrified over what I was doing. That didn't matter to me either. I refused to quit. On the thirteenth day of his life, Flattery escaped from his cage and stole a disintegration ring from my desk. He aimed it at me, but Kirkson threw himself in front of the ray and saved my life, forfeiting his own. Flattery slashed Maryje's throat and fled from the workshop.

"I teleported Maryje to Shadowdale to be healed, then rushed back to the workshop to hide the evidence of Flattery's existence. I knew what I had done to him was evil, but I was too ashamed to admit I'd done it. I concocted a story about the para-elemental ice exploding and asked Maryje to back up my lie. Maryje couldn't lie, but she couldn't betray me either. She simply stopped talking altogether. Her wound was healed, but she wouldn't speak, or sing, ever again.

"Imagine my surprise when the Harpers condemned me for recklessly endangering my apprentices. A lifetime of exile and my songs wiped out forever. What, I've often wondered, would they have done if they'd learned the full extent of my crimes?"

"What happened to Flattery?" Alias asked.

"He's dead. Olive can tell you more about that than I," the bard replied. He stroked Alias's hair with his hand. "So tell me, my daughter," he asked, "can you still love me knowing how evil I've been?"

"Flattery, Kirkson, and Maryje are the people you have wronged," Alias said. "Since they are dead, you can never make peace with them. You must try to make it with yourself. As for me, I'll always love you." She embraced the bard and kissed him on the cheek.

"And I you," Finder replied. "Now will you sing?" he asked softly. Alias nodded.

"Try 'The Tears of Selune' again," Akabar said. "It made you think of something that started you soul singing before."

"You know," the halfling said, "an old priestess of Selune told me something interesting about that song. Selune is the G.o.ddess of the moon," Olive explained for Grypht's benefit. "Anyway, this priestess said that the Shardsa"those are Selune's most powerful minions," she explained for Grypht again. "The Shards sing the song for Selune, but they sing it as a duet."

"It should be sung as a solo," Finder said automatically.

"I know," Olive said, "but a modest halfling like mea""

Akabar guffawed at Olive's description of herself.

"a"like me," Olive continued, "didn't have the nerve to correct so venerable a priestess. Perhaps, Master Wyvernspur, the next time you run into the G.o.ddess Selune, you should tell her to keep her minions under control. In the meantime, why don't you try singing it with Alias, just this once?"

"Just this once," Finder agreed with a chuckle. He took Alias's hand and they began the song.

The first two verses went without a hitch, but as they began the third. Alias's voice began to trail off, although her mouth still moved. Finder stopped singing and stared at the swordswoman. From the way Alias rocked back and forth and stared unblinkingly at the cave wall, Olive and Akabar could tell the swordswoman had gone into a soul-song trance. Finder and Grypht were listening to her intently. The cave became awash in the scents of violets and roses, and Olive realized that Alias was singing in sauriala"singing with terror and despair.

The swordswoman began to shout in Realms common, "Release me! Release me! Release me!" Then she gasped and swayed and snapped out of her trance. "Dragonbait!" she cried out. "They've captured Dragonbait!"

Finder looked quickly at Olive. "Where is Dragonbait?" he demanded.

"He said he wanted to scout the vale," the halfling replied, cursing herself for leaving the paladin alone.

Grypht put a hand on Alias's shoulder. Olive supposed he'd said something, for Alias calmed slightly.

"The soul song was mostly Dragonbait's song," the swordswoman explained. "He followed Coral into the saurial camp."