The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable Read Free Book Online Page A

Tremaris.’
    ‘It’s not that. But we’re taught not to use chantment for trivial matters. Tamen tells us that every breath of cold that we make may grow and grow until it’s a storm in the Bay of Sardi, and a hurricane by the time it reaches Doryus.’
    ‘Perhaps it is true. There was uncommon bad weather last time I sailed through the Great Sea.’ He stretched his leg in front of him. ‘Sing up a snowstorm now, I pray you, and it might hinder Samis from pursuing me.’
    Samis . He had never before spoken the name of the one who hunted him.
    She asked, ‘What is sailing?’
    He looked startled. ‘Sailing – in a boat – a craft that floats on the sea.’
    ‘We have no – no boats here.’ She pronounced the word carefully. ‘How do you dare? What would happen if you fell into the water? You would die.’
    ‘I can swim a little.’ Seeing her blank stare, he made motions with his arms. ‘Swimming. Moving through the water.’
    ‘Can sorcerers breathe in water?’ Her eyes widened. This was a wondrous gift indeed, beyond all imagining.
    ‘Indeed,’ he said solemnly. ‘Shall I show you how?’ But he could not keep his face straight, and they both laughed. ‘Even without breathing water, it’s possible to keep afloat,’ he said. ‘Have you never learned to swim?’
    She shook her head. The idea was incomprehensible. ‘Did you sail all the way from Merithuros?’
    ‘I have sailed all across the Great Sea, and back again, and north, too, as far as the Outer Isles.’
    The names meant little to Calwyn, but she was impressed all the same. As far as the Outer Isles. The words were as magical as any chantment.
    Darrow picked up a green apple from the grass, and frowned at it. ‘This is early fruit. In Kalysons, the trees bear apples only when the summer is nearly gone.’
    ‘Our summer is so short, perhaps our trees have to start the season sooner, or they wouldn’t have time to bear fruit at all before winter returns.’
    ‘Hm.’ Darrow unfolded Calwyn’s little knife, and began to carve patterns onto the small green globe, whistling between his teeth.
    ‘You’re very cheerful today.’
    ‘Travelling makes me cheerful always, even if it is only the journey from the infirmary to here.’
    Calwyn watched as the point of the busy knife dug into the apple. Darrow took great care with his patterns, but they made no sense to her; the lines were not even, they meandered around the unripe globe. At last he was satisfied; he held up the apple on the palm of his hand. ‘Behold Tremaris!’
    Calwyn dropped down eagerly beside him. ‘Show me!’
    ‘Where I had my schooling, they teach that Tremaris is a sphere, just as the moons are.’ He pointed at the lines he had carved into the apple’s green skin. ‘Here is the shoreline of Kalysons, and the Great Sea.’ He spun the fruit on its stalk. ‘Here is Merithuros –’
    ‘Where is Antaris?’
    ‘Here. At least, I believe so. And there are the Wildlands beyond, the forests and the untamed lands – all this half of the apple, blank and unnamed.’
    Calwyn reached out for the apple, but Darrow held it away from her, and made as if to devour it with one bite. ‘Stop!’ she cried, half laughing, half in earnest, and caught at his arm. Their eyes met, then Darrow smiled a wry smile.
    ‘At least there is one Daughter of Taris who is eager to save the world.’ He tossed the apple to Calwyn. Her face was flushed; embarrassed, she fixed her gaze on the globe, spinning it around and around, tracing the carved lines and notches with her fingertip.
    ‘I’ve never seen a model of Tremaris like this before.’ She looked up. ‘If it is a question of saving the whole world, and not just your own skin, you should be even more determined to defeat him. Samis, I mean.’ She spoke the name lightly, not looking at Darrow.
    ‘I have explained to you already, I cannot defeat him. He is ten times the sorcerer I am.’
    There was a flicker of pain in his eyes, but