The Seven Songs by T. A. Barron

Author:T. A. Barron [Barron, T. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic
ISBN: 9781439522332
Google: EyUXRQAACAAJ
Amazon: B001K3IHWY
Publisher: Philomel
Published: 2007-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

18: LIGHT FLYER

The blue light had barely faded from my staff before my thoughts turned to the third Song, that of Protecting. I turned from the lake, its smooth surface gleaming darkly, to the forested valley surrounding us. Crossing the steep, thickly wooded ridge would be only the beginning. For the third Song would require yet another long voyage. The skill Protecting be the third, Like dwarves who tunnel deep.

To the land of the dwarves! Their realm, Rhia explained, was visited only rarely—and almost never by choice. For the dwarves, while peaceful to their neighbors, did not welcome any intruders. All that was known about their underground realm was that its entrances lay somewhere near the origins of the River Unceasing, on the high plains north of the Misted Hills. This time we had no choice in how to get to our destination. We would have to walk.

Even pushing ourselves each day until long past sunset, it took the better part of a week to work our way over the hills. Our meals consisted mainly of wild apples, crescent nuts, a sweet vine that Rhia discovered, and the occasional egg or two from an unwary grouse’s nest. While we avoided any more encounters with living stones, the trekking proved arduous. Vapors swirled constantly, wrapping us in misty shawls, inhibiting our views from even the higher ground. During one swamp crossing, Rhia lost one of her shoes in a pit of quicksand. We spent much of that afternoon searching for a rowan tree so that she could weave a replacement from its leathery bark. Two days later, we crossed a high pass, slick with ice and snow, but only after walking the entire night of the full moon.

Finally, bedraggled and exhausted, we came to the high plains of the river’s headwaters. Countless star-shaped yellow flowers blanketed the plains, filling the air with a tangy scent. In time we reached the rushing River Unceasing itself. There we encountered a pair of cream-colored unicorns, grazing along its banks. Heading north, we followed the river’s serpentine path up a series of wide, alpine meadows that ascended like bright green stairs.

As Rhia reached the edge of one of these meadows, she stopped, pointing at the line of snowy mountains in the distance. “Look. Merlin. Behind those peaks lies the city of the giants, Varigal. I’ve always wanted to see it, even now that it’s only a ruin. Arbassa says it’s the most ancient settlement on Fincayra.”

“Too bad dwarves, not giants, are our goal.” I bent down, pulling up a handful of fluffy-tipped grass. “Giants will have to wait for the fifth Song, the one that involves Varigal somehow. If we make it that far.”

As we continued trekking after sunset, a gleaming disk emerged from the layers of clouds. Clipped along one edge, the moon was now waning. I pushed harder, practically running along the grassy bank, knowing full well that more than half of my time had vanished, and I had unraveled only two of the mysterious Songs.

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