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

Calwyn was too impatient to see it. ‘Well then, if you can’t defeat him alone, there must be others who can help you. You could band together –’ ‘Band together!’ He roared with laughter. ‘A band of sorcerers, indeed! Have you never heard the saying, that shutting two sorcerers in a room is like locking up two wild roancats in a box? They would tear one another to pieces.’
    ‘No,’ said Calwyn crossly, ‘I’ve never heard that saying. But I know that here in Antaris the priestesses help one another with their chantments, and we make more powerful magic that way than one chanter ever could alone.’
    ‘The rest of the world is not like Antaris,’ he said flatly. ‘It’s a pretty idea. But it will never happen.’ He fell silent, and the sunlight dazzled through the leaves, dancing with every shift of the breeze. Calwyn put the carved apple gently on the grass.
    ‘Marna said that no one man’s voice could ever span all the forms of chantment. She said that no man could ever sing high enough for the spells of ice-call.’
    Darrow’s mouth twisted in a smile. The gash on his forehead had healed now into a silvery scar that dragged across one eyebrow, giving him a quizzical look that made it difficult to tell when he was serious. ‘Your Marna is wise, but she does not know everything. The chantments of seeming are higher than yours, yet Samis can sing them. We were – he has learned tricks to stretch his voice. Like this.’ He sang a note in falsetto. Calwyn began to laugh at the unnatural sound, but at Darrow’s sober look, her laughter died. He said, ‘It is true, mastery of the Nine Powers has never been achieved by any sorcerer, but Samis is no ordinary sorcerer.’
    ‘What is he then?’ She sounded more flippant than she’d intended.
    Darrow stared at her gravely. ‘He is a prince of the Merithuran Empire. Do you know anything about the royal court of Merithuros? No? I thought not. There is one Emperor, but there are many princes. Too many for them all to find favour. Samis is a minor prince. In spite of this, all his life he had thought that his gifts would earn him the title of heir to the Emperor.’
    ‘Do you mean his gifts as a chanter?’
    Darrow shook his head. ‘No. Those powers he kept secret. I have already told you, chantment is not prized in other places as it is here. No, he set store by his wits and his strength of purpose. But that was not enough to win him the prize he sought. The Emperor chose another of his sons. So now Samis has decided, in his greed and his pride, that to be Emperor of Merithuros is a paltry ambition, not worthy of his talents. He has decided to make himself emperor of all Tremaris.’
    ‘All Tremaris? All the lands?’
    ‘Why not?’ Darrow’s voice grated harshly; there was no hint of teasing now. ‘It will be a simple enough feat for the Singer of all Songs. Already he has learned two crafts; why not three, or five, or nine?’ He plucked up the apple and tossed it high into the air, so that it spun in the dappled sunlight. ‘AllTremaris will become his plaything, to torment or destroy or enslave at his whim. He will work on the world as a child works on a lump of clay. And no one will be able to stop him. No one.’ He bent back his arm, and threw the apple in a high arc, so that Calwyn lost sight of it against the dazzle of leaves and sun. She heard the faint splash as it landed in the river. She could picture it, a small green bobbing globe, seized by the force of the current, dragged helplessly away, on and on, toward the distant sea.
    Darrow saw her disappointment. ‘It would have rotted before long.’
    ‘And so might the realTremaris, if what you say is true.’ She sat up very straight, and stared at him. ‘Darrow, have you never thought, if this Samis is truly so powerful, then why would he bother to chase you?’
    ‘In Merithuros, he’s famed for his skill as a hunter. This time his quarry is a man, that’s all. It will amuse him