Minstrel

Chapter #10 ~ Creak

Dispelling the voices in her head, Creak looked out at the pine forest. The needled trees glistened in the afternoon light. She had slept half the day away! Where was she now? And why had they stopped?

Creak sighed. She just wanted a break, but when you're a musician in a world without music, things like a vacation didn't exist.

Outside of her cage, she saw two bright blue song birds play tag. Fluttering around trees without so much as a single chirp. A bird's voice was like a song by itself and without music they had forgotten their own language. The sight and sound of silence brought tears to her eyes, but she pushed them back. She had made a promise to herself. No crying while she was away from her brother.

The birds fluttered closer to her cage and suddenly Creak had an idea. What if she could remind them of what it was like before their voices had been silenced?

Creak smiled. The slave traders were nowhere to be seen or heard. Vern was fast asleep. She was already wanted for treason and stuck in a cage on her way to be sold as a servant. What could a little singing do?
Looking out at the bluebirds who had lost their language, Creak sang to remind them.

Flotain lâst dôdgung; pinn pin tûsâwan sîd
Tôcnâwan to hordloca êower swêg nân n-ænnedîeglan hîwscipe
Hlêodrian, lîesan dôd fullgearwian âscîmian
Dærnian hit hêwid-bregdan Eden min

She wasn't even sure what the words she sang meant. All Creak knew was that her mother used to sing to her when she couldn't fall to sleep. Songs of a language she didn't understand... that was all she could remember from her early childhood.

Tears of frustration pushed against her eyes, but she blinked them back. 'No crying.' She told herself as the words continued to pour out of her. 'You're strong, fierce, and brave. It'll take more than remembering a messed up childhood to make you cry. You're better than this.'

Creak expected the voices in her head to respond, but all she got was silence. Not a sound in her head. Not a sound from the birds outside. 'Come on. You can do it.' She tried to send the birds her mental support.

Letting her voice grow strong for the last verse, Creak put everything she had into her voice. The grief and guilt of leaving her brother. The pain and fear of being trapped in a cage. Anticipation and horror at what her future might bring. All her emotions contributing to power behind the words she sang.

Wynasumnes sê fullwer of willa
Hêorehandfæstan orlege
Dugud reord wlite dugud trahtung
Forl–ætan ûs of pro ic singan wislic widerbreca æwicnes

She held the last word at a whisper until her voice faded out. Having finished the song, Creak couldn't help but think of Stans. If he had been with her he would have freaked out and yell at her in that concerned way of his. Warning her that it wasn't safe. Music was against the law. The king would kill her for such high treason.

"I should have listened." She mumbled spitefully. "Why didn't I listen?"

But she hadn't heeded her brother's warning and now here she was. Stuck in a cage in the middle of a pine forest freezing to death.
Clenching her teeth against oncoming tears, Creak pounded her forehead on the metal bars. She should have never thought it would be okay to break the king's law.

'I miss my brother.' She thought in misery as she slammed her head against the cage again and again.

'I even miss that disgusting, old barn!' Creak thought with another pound to the head.

'Why isn't this working?' She wondered in pain. 'I just want the darkness to embrace me.'

Another hit to the metal bars and Creak felt chilled, sticky blood drip down the side of her face. But she wouldn't stop now. She couldn't stop. The pain was a welcome distraction and knocking herself out was a pleasant idea that brought a bitter smile to her face.