Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [128]
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 goddess of luck or the god 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 impassive, 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 goddess of the moon," Olive explained for Grypht's benefit. "Anyway,