Chapter Forty-Seven: Songs for the Road
"Urrrrghhh..." Ella growled for the thirteenth time. "I hate being cold!"
"Yes, Ella, we know," Amelia called back, not bothering to look over her shoulder. "You've made it very clear. Once we get back, we won't have to worry about being cold anymore, so just grit your teeth and bear it!"
"I'm trying!" Ella groused, waddling through the slush she left in her wake. "But I hate being cold!!"
Amelia sighed, shoulders slumping in dismay.
It was at times like these that she wished Gus had relented and let them bring their horses.
"Just be glad we're going down this time instead of up," she scolded, looking over her shoulder as she walked. "We're moving faster than we were on our ascent, so if we keep this pace up, we might make it back by tonight and not have to sleep in the snow again."
Vrael, who had been quiet ever since departing from his home, instantly looked up.
"You slept out in the snow?" he scoffed, eyes wide with disbelief. "You couldn't have! You'd be frozen solid!"
"She's a pyromancer, so it wasn't bad," Ella muttered, making the elf stare in surprise. "Now that I think about it, what exactly is your name again? We haven't even been formally introduced yet, what with us barging in and then leaving in such a hurry."
"My name is Vrael," he instantly chriped, wiggling his long ears with a toothy grin. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Just make yourself useful and stay out of trouble," Ella snorted. "That's all I have to say."
Silence descended after that, punctuated only by their footsteps. Over the edge of the mountains, the rising sun was just beginning to peek at the world with the first touches of light.
Xaphile kept his eyes ahead of him, feeling a little irritated.
Ella was waddling behind Amelia, looking red-faced and very vexed indeed, and Vrael was following them closely, looking off at the distant mountains with faraway brown eyes.
Xaphile's tail flicked and dusted the snow as he watched them for a little while... but then, his nose itched a bit and his face wrinkled as the sensation intensified.
Before he could stifle it, he sneezed... then he sneezed again, and again, and again.
He rubbed his nose with a blink and sniffed, but when he heard a quiet giggle and looked up, Amelia was looking right at him with her blue eyes twinkling merrily behind her glasses.
The moment they made eye-contact, she smiled and turned back around, making him feel awkward.
"I'm cold!" Ella suddenly whined. "Amelia, help me take my mind off the cold! Please!"
"And how do you suggest I do that?" she pleasantly inquired. "It takes most of my focus just trying to generate enough heat to keep you warmer than you would be otherwise."
Ella flapped her arms, looking miserable.
"A story?!" she suggested, waddling after her. "Something?!"
"Why not just ask Phil to sing something?" Amelia proffered, making him wince. "I'm sure there are plenty of songs from wherever he's from that can help distract you."
Ella visibly bristled, even beneath the thick swaddle of clothes, but then, her posture changed and she shivered violently. Hunching her shoulders, she kept her eyes glued to the snow beneath her feet and took a deep breath.
"Phil?" she called, making him wince again. "Can you sing something from America?"
"Why?" he muttered.
"Because I'm COLD!" she wailed. "I need a distraction! Please, Phil!"
Xaphile furrowed his brows, then let out a sigh of defeat.
"Fine," he grumpily called. "I'll sing something."
Ella let out a cry of relief.
"You have my deepest gratitude!!"
He bitterly rolled his eyes, then let out another sigh while he thought about some songs he could sing. Eventually, he decided to go with some Katy Perry. He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with air... then...
"I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath, scared to rock the boat and make a mess," he smoothly belted out, making everyone jump. "So I sat quietly, agreed politely, I guess that I forgot I had a choice. I let you push me past the breaking point."
His powerful voice rang across the mountainside with a gorgeous vibrato, echoing off in the distance. Which was fitting considering he was singing Roar, by Katy Perry.
While they trekked through the snow, the upbeat song made it easier to move, and it even put a bit of a bounce in Vrael's steps, since the halfling seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
"I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire!" he sang, walking in time with the beat. "'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar! Louder, louder than a lion! 'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!"
The song was over far too soon.
"I liked that one!" Amelia happily called. "Sing another!"
He obliged.
"Where Is the Love?" sounded half like a prayer and half like a vicious demand when he sang it. Maybe his mood was too dark for the song thanks to his situation, but he didn't care. He didn't have the best voice, of course, but he felt more than a little pleased with himself as he belted out the lyrics that the original singers tended to coat with happiness and sunshine.
After all, the words were super cynical, speaking of war and hate and starvation...
He let himself get lost, for a time.
When he finished, Vrael turned around with a huge smile.
"Amazing! Sing another!"
"You guys want more?" Xaphile asked, giving him an exasperated look. "Well, whatever."
And so, he went through a whole playlist of songs using his memory.
Top 40 hits and obscure indie folk pieces, rap tracks and country blues, R&B crooners and hard rock ballads, all tweaked to fit into his vocal range. Vrael and Amelia got pretty excited during a few of them, swaying around as they walked and egging him on when things got intense.
As they descended the mountainside, the scenery began to change... going from open cliffs and snowy crags to pine forests.
But even his deep, well-used voice got rough after a while, and when Xaphile finally ended Matt and Kim's "Good Old Fashioned Nightmare" with a croak they let him have some peace.
By the time he stopped singing, it was well past lunch time.
"I've never heard any of those ballads before," Amelia called, glancing over her shoulder. "Did you write all those yourself?"
"No," Xaphile explained, shaking his head. "Other people from America did."
"Oh. Well, people from America have very good taste in music. I've never heard anything equal to it! Most songs around here tend to resemble poetry!"
"Is that so?"
"Aye," Vrael chirped, giving him a lopsided grin. "Wanna hear one? I know a few!"
"Sure," Xaphile sighed. "By all means."
And so, Vrael took his turn singing.
He chose a very unique ballad that was beautiful, but haunting.
"I am faith. I am virtue. I am the wind upon your face," he hummed, eyes trained on the beautifully clear blue sky. "I am Faerie. I am spirit. I am the dust beneath your feet. I am man. I am woman. I am the voice upon the wind. I am here. I am there. I am everywhere, for you."
Here, the lyrics shifted into a beautiful language that rolled off his tongue like water.
Xaphile's ears flicked and he listened in awe, since it was unlike anything he'd ever heard.
"I am Faerie... I am spirit... I am the wind upon your face," Vrael gently sang, coming to the end of the song. "Ya... ya naa lle? Who... who are you? Nae e elei... just a dream."
For a long while, everything was quiet.
"That was an elvish ballad," Ella noted, finally speaking up for the first time in a while. "Was that Sylvan tongue?"
"Yes, actually," Vrael confirmed, looking surprised. "How did you know?"
"A companion of mine, Gus," she explained, flapping her arms. "He speaks several languages very fluently, and I've heard him converse in Sylvan tongue."
"What's Sylvan tongue?" Xaphile asked, blinking.
"It's the elvish language," Ella haughtily told him. "All elves, regardless of species, speak a universal language. The same applies to the other races."
"Oh," Xaphile murmured, not lifting his eyes. "Well, the song was pretty, at least."
Vrael flushed with pride and beamed brightly.
"Thanks, Phil!" he laughed. "I'm heartened by the fact that you enjoyed it!"
"Er, not to interrupt, but I think I may have miscalculated where we're walking," Amelia said, pulling herself to a halt. "We should have reached the edge of this forest by now and hit the mountain trail, but it doesn't look like it's thinning at all."
"What?" Ella asked, alarmed. "Are you saying we're lost?"
"No," Amelia said, shaking her head; she looked at the thick trees around them. "I just can't seem to get my bearings since I can't see the sun through the canopies."
Xaphile followed her gaze and realized that the trees were as thick here as the ones in the forest he'd first landed in after teleporting.
"Well, I could try climbing one of those trees if you want," he quietly offered, ignoring how they all instantly gaped at him. "If I can make it to the top and see where the sun is, would it help?"
"Why, y-yes," Amelia stammered, blinking rapidly, "but Phil, how in the name of everything good could you possibly scale a tree that thick?"
He quirked an eyebrow, then lifted his hand and wriggled his fingers, but her eyes widened when they landed on his his long, sharp claws.
"I've abused the hell out of my nails lately," he admitted. "Even going as far as clawing at an actual wood floor, but they seem fine. They might just be tough enough to handle it."
"Well, if you think you can, by all means," Ella grumpily mumbled, sliding close to Amelia. "Just hurry."
Xaphile sighed again before heading over to the nearest trunk. First, however, he tested the idea: eyes cold, he smacked the wood with his nails, and much to his surprise, they were buried so deeply into the bark that he had to tug a bit in order to get them out again.
I guess this really will work, he silently noted. Welp, my body situation just got four times weirder.
After taking off his boots, he crouched low and sprung his legs out, leaping at the tree, and everyone watched with bated breath as he crashed into it. With no expression, he dug his fingernails into the wood before doing the same with his sharp toenails.
Once they were lodged in the wood, he bounced on them a bit to test whether or not they could actually handle his weight. It was obscenely bizarre to admit, but he honestly didn't even feel any discomfort. It was almost as if he had claws of steel.
Tail flicking around, he began to climb, heaving himself up with each dart of his fingers.
He had gone rock climbing at the mall a few times over the years with Ella, and this was basically the same principle, only on a flat surface, which meant he mostly had to use his own body strength to heave himself up. It wasn't easy, and he went fairly slow, but he did it.
Once he was up to the branches, he managed to grab a huge one and pulled himself up, and then he carefully began to climb, feet freezing from the cold bark beneath him.
"Be careful, Phil!" Amelia nervously called. "You're up really high!"
"Just be glad I'm not scared of heights," he called back. "Then we would have a problem!"
He eventually began to see the sun, sinking low towards the horizon.
He rolled his eyes and began to climb back down, taking the process just as slow as his ascent, but after he hit the bottom branch, he squatted on it and carefully peered down at the others. His tail flicked as he pondered something.
It wasn't necessarily a big drop, and he was feeling a bit lazy.
Shrugging, he slid his legs over the edge, then leapt off.
"PHIL!" Amelia shrieked, covering her mouth. "ARE YOU MAD?!"
His long hair did a reversal, but he wasn't scared... in fact, he landed on the ground with ease, sinking into a catlike crouch. However, he gasped and leapt back into the air with a squawk: eyes wide, he tore back over to his boots and frantically pulled them on.
"Oh, fuck, that's cold!" he hissed, wriggling his toes to get heat back into them. "God damn!"
"Wait... you're not hurt?" Amelia asked, furrowing her brows. "How?"
"If you know how to land, a fall like that isn't particularly dangerous," he explained, giving her a small frown. "I've jumped longer distances than that and been fine."
"Enough!" Ella snapped. "Where is the sun?!"
"Setting in that direction," he muttered, pointing off towards the woods. "Satisfied?"
Amelia blinked, then pulled the map out of her cloak and examined it with furrowed brows. Two minutes passed by before she wordlessly rolled it up and began walking yet again.
Xaphile and the others followed her without speaking as well, and a thick silence descended over them as they trekked through the cold forests.
The further down they went, the warmer it seemed to become.
"It is fortunate that Phil chose to find the position of the sun," Amelia murmured. "I completely lost my bearings."
"Speaking of our fellow furball," Ella grumbled, flapping her arms and completely ignoring the glare he instantly sent her way, "would you be so kind as to tell us about the Sprites of the East? I remember Sinmir saying something about them."
"I don't know much. All I've heard are stories, really."
"Then tell the stories!"
Amelia winced at her insistent tone, but she did seem to think about it, Xaphile noticed.
"Well," she eventually allowed, "if the stories I was told were true, their society is completely run by women."
That seemed to shock Vrael.
"Really?" he asked, staring at her with wide-eyed wonder. "Is there really such a strange society?"
"Supposedly, yes," Amelia said, smiling back at him. "I've heard a lot of stories. My father used to tell me that the female Faeries of the eastlands value their men so much that they're kept sheltered and protected. The women of Calcoon are rumored to be very fierce warriors."
Ella, much to everyone's surprise, actually laughed.
"Sounds like my kind of land," she exclaimed, eyes twinkling with an odd gleam. "Then again, if what you say is true, who protects the women if they're in danger? Isn't that a man's job?"
"The men are just as deadly as the women, Ella," Amelia warned, giving her a look. "If what my father said is true, even though females run the society and are normally the ones in charge, if a male decides to do something of his own will, nobody can challenge him but another male."
Ella's face fell.
"That's a shame," she muttered. "I would have been more impressed had the women been in absolute control, no matter the circumstances."
Amelia rolled her eyes, then took note of a nearby break in the trees and beamed.
"We're not too far away now," she said. "If we keep up a steady pace, we'll make it back to the others within the hour!"
"That is the best news I've heard in a while," Ella groaned. "Praise the sky!"
Xaphile sighed.
The day had been mostly quiet, but he hadn't been bored since there had more than enough to think about to keep him occupied.
So much has happened recently, he silently muttered, a bit dazed. It's hard to process.
"So, about your... friends," Vrael said tentatively, looking at Amelia through a fog of concern. "What is this Gus of yours like?"
"Fairly quiet, but pleasant and fair," she murmured, looking at the towering trees with delight once she realized they were getting thinner and smaller. "He's a sweet, honest man. Luckily, our destination is only a few more miles down the mountain."
"That's a blessing," Ella muttered. "Oi, Xaphile!"
His ears flicked involuntarily and he raised his eyes to see her looking right at him.
"Hmm?" he intoned.
"I request that you sing some more songs!" she called. "Something pleasant."
He sighed, figuring she would pester him if he didn't.
"Fine. Whatever," he muttered, then silently added, Not like I have a choice.
Opening his mouth, he started singing another one of Katy Perry's songs, humming the intro to "ET" with a lilting voice that rang out into the cold mountain air.
Ella and Amelia slowed down to listen, but when he actually got into singing he lost focus on them, and because that, he didn't notice the way Ella turned around and stared at him when he got into the second half on the song. She looked half disgusted and half intrigued by the time he finished.
"I don't understand half of what I just heard," she said with a frown, "but what I did sounds rather unpleasant."
"In what way?" Xaphile inquired, raising an eyebrow. "That song is about passion and it was written by a woman who desired a man she knew wasn't good for her."
"Eh? Really?" Amelia asked, glancing over her shoulder. "What happened to them?"
"They never actually managed to get together, if that's what you're asking," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "Instead, she sang about her feelings, and it ended up becoming a famous song."
Ella was reserved after hearing that.
Silence descended on them again, but not for long, since all of them looked up when the sound of distant voices met their ears.
Firelight was breaking through the trees a long distance away, and Amelia gasped.
"WE MADE IT!" she squealed, clapping her hands. "Let's go! Food!"
She instantly tore through snow towards the distant campfire with Ella waddling as fast as she could not too far behind. Xaphile and Vrael were both slower, but the latter was obviously relieved about not having to walk anymore.
Not that anyone blamed him.