City of Lies - Lian Tanner [54]
Mouse’s eyes were nearly popping out of his skull. “Wh-what is it?” hissed Bonnie. “G-Goldie, wh-what’s happening?”
Goldie didn’t reply. She was waiting for the right question. And racking her brain for the right answer …
Guardian Hope splashed down into the water and pressed her face to the bars. “What are you doing?” she shouted again.
Cord’s face appeared beside her. “It’s that other snotty,” he said. “The one with the mask.”
“Here, you,” shouted Guardian Hope. “Why are you singing?”
The water lapped at Goldie’s collarbone. The air swirled around her, full of power and promise. “Ho oh oh-oh,” she sang. “Mm mm oh oh oh-oh oh.”
“Boy?” shouted Guardian Hope. “Why are you singing? What do you think you are doing?” Her voice cracked with frustration. “What’s all this got to do with you anyway? Who are you?”
At last! The right question! But what was the right answer? It had to be something that got them all out of danger. Not just Goldie.
She knew that the swirling feeling wouldn’t last for long. Already it was slightly weaker, as if it had given her a chance—and now it was moving on to someone else.
WHAT WAS THE RIGHT ANSWER?
In the back of her mind, the little voice whispered, At the last minute, a lady of high birth.
“What?” cried Goldie.
She could feel the whirlpool drawing away from her. She stared wildly around, searching for inspiration. Her eyes fell on Mouse, the cat, Toadspit, Bonnie—
Bonnie with her bow, wanting to be a champion archer! Bonnie on board the Piglet, giving Smudge the name of a long-dead warrior princess!
“Did you hear me, boy?” shouted Guardian Hope. “Who are you?”
As the whirlpool swirled one last time around her, Goldie drew herself up. “I am Princess Frisia of Merne,” she cried. “And everyone here is part of my court!”
And suddenly, the whole world changed.…
The slommerkin stopped its attack so abruptly that Sinew was taken by surprise. His fingers paused on the harp strings. Was this another illusion from Forgotten Dreams, or was it something else?
“Sinew,” growled Broo, backing slowly away from his opponent. “Do not STOP!”
“Sorry,” said Sinew, and he plucked at the strings again. The slommerkin shook its massive head, as if the notes of the First Song had at last wormed their way into its mind and it could not escape them.
Sinew’s hands and arms felt as if they were on fire, but he was in better shape than Broo. The brizzlehound was covered in blood and there was a deep gash down his shoulder and around his belly.
The slommerkin was wounded too. Its torn flesh trembled, and it hissed and roared as if it wanted to launch itself back into the attack. But it could not break away from the First Song.
Sinew took a deep breath and began to walk toward the creature. As he did so, he found himself thinking of the children again. Something had changed. He could tell. They were no longer where they had been a moment ago.…
He shook himself, and concentrated on the music. He made it sing with longing, with a desire for rolling plains and fat, slow cattle. For the sun, hot and glistening, and the huffing of newborn cubs. For slommerkin heaven, just beyond the Dirty Gate.
The slommerkin hissed again and lashed out with its tusks. Sinew jumped back a step, but his fingers did not miss a note.
“Come,” sang the music (twining in and out of the First Song). “Come to sun-on-the-skin and food-in-the-belly. Come to gobble-gobble-liver-and-hearts. Come to eat-all-you-want.”
The slommerkin’s tiny eyes blinked. It sank back on its torn haunches and scratched itself thoughtfully. Then, with a shudder, it heaved itself to its feet and began to make its way toward the Dirty Gate.
Sinew followed, with Broo limping beside him. His fingers never paused in their task. “Come! Come to roll-on-bones! Come to suck-at-marrow!”
The slommerkin moaned with hunger. The keeper and the brizzlehound drove it onward, through the Tench, through Lost Children and Dauntless, and across the perilous landscape of Knife Edge.