Whispered Spells and Elvish Steel - an Anthology of Fantasy SD Shorts

Part 2 - A Whispered Melody

"I have??"  It was Kessa's turn to be incredulous.

"All your people do," the ambassador confirmed with a smile.  "Do you know why your father is called the River King?  No?  It is because as the mortals left the seas to begin a new life on the land, the sea elves thought they had been betrayed.  So they sent their most powerful and skilled warriors to defend the borders that had suddenly been born out of the exodus."

He paused to gesture at the window, and the view of the sea beyond it.

"While most of your people gain their magic and strength from the sea, and lose it when they stray from it, your father's line had the ability to keep their strength even in the fresh water of the great rivers flowing over the face of the land.  And so he was tasked with securing the great rivers in the name of the sea elves, a duty he has carried out over thousands of years."

The ambassador returned his attention to Kessa.

"Doing this has brought your father into conflict with mortals a number of times over the long centuries and never has he relented.  Always has he done his duty and warred against the mortals to keep the rivers firmly in the grip of the sea elves.  And out of this has grown his mistrust of the mortal peoples, like the humans.  From that mistrust has come his laws."

Kessa frowned.

"A fascinating history lesson, ambassador.  But I don't see where ..."

"His power came from?"  The ambassador interjected with a smile.  "My apologies, princess.  I failed to remember how much more my people enjoy the histories than yours.  Why, it was from his song."

"Song??"

"Yes.  The sea elves of his line, the River Folk, have powerful magic in their songs."  He squeezed her shoulder.  "Magic that you have within you."

Kessa turned to look at her faint reflection in the window.  Sea green eyes, flowing black locks, the almond-shaped eyes, slanted brows and pointed ears characteristic of the elvish peoples; yet nowhere did she see how she could have magic.  Especially magic from a song.  The rough barking of sea lions on the rocks had more harmony than her singing voice.

That thought sent another ripple of misery and helplessness washing through her.

"But I ... cannot sing, ambassador," she admitted, her voice froggy from the tidal wave of emotion that threatened to overcome her.

"Oh, this isn't a song that comes from wanting to make melody, your Highness," the ambassador hastened to reassure her even as more tears began to fall from her eyes.  "This is a song that comes from your deepest need.  One that commands the very fabric of reality to bend to your will to address that need."

"H-how?"

An expression of sorrow appeared on the naga's reptilian face.

"That, I do not know, princess," he admitted.  "The histories are vague on that.  All I know is that you have the ability inside you, as a daughter of the River King and part of the River Folk line of sea elves."

'I have the ability inside of me,' Kessa silently echoed as she turned away from nak-Isising to stare out the window at the Grotto, the view blurred by the tears in her eyes.  'Something I've never heard of or understand.  And this is what I'm going to use to save the man I love??'

This time the misery was palpable, storming over her like a late winter tempest and pushing everything else aside.  And, as the tears flooded down her face, she heard it for the first time.  A strange tune that whispered through her sobs, slipping in between her gasps for breath, and somehow audible over her wracked torment.  Kessa wasn't sure where it came from, or how it managed to reach her ears even through her sadness.  All she knew was that she could hear it.

Was this the song nak-Isising was talking about?  An instinctive weaving of sound that called to the elements and the fabric of reality, commanding it to bend to her will?  It seemed to feed on her surging emotions.  Would it grow stronger if she poured all of her need and emotion into it?

Kessa snuffled, uncaring how unsophisticated it made her sound.  There was only one way to find out.  Focusing on the thin thread of sound, she pushed the entirety of her agony and need onto it.

Strengthened a hundred fold, the song was still soft as it slipped between her lips without will or direction.  Organic and free-flowing, it was complex to the point Kessa wondered how her voice was creating it.

And yet, she couldn't deny the swelling of power she felt as the song wove its way through her senses.  Would it be enough?

"Your need is indeed powerful, princess," nak-Isising abruptly said, drawing Kessa out of her introspection.  Turning away from the window and towards the naga, the elven princess's eyes flew wide at seeing a portal had formed in the hallway's heart.  Peering more closely at it, she saw that it opened into a dark place, one filled with dankness and pain.

"You have opened a gateway into the dungeon where your beloved is being held.  But he is being guarded by soldiers.  How will you free him?"

The song stopped as Kessa's mind turned to nak'Isising's question.  How indeed would she free him?  Would this new-found magic grant her the strength to win through to his side?

Again there was only one way to find out.  With a quick look at the naga, Kessa flung herself into the portal and disappeared.

"Wait!" nak-Isising cried, rushing forward in an attempt to stop the sea elf's impetuous move.  But he was already too late.  She was gone.

"Barnacles and brine," he growled.  Then he was waving at his personal guard.

"Follow her and protect her as well as you can, my friends."

"Yes, your lordship," the guard captain said.  Then the guards were drawing their weapons and slithering viper-quick into the portal only heart beats before it closed.

And then it was gone, leaving nak-Isising staring at empty space.

"Good luck, princess," he whispered.

"May the elements protect you!"