The latest post of the #singingbooks flash mob
«I used to have a man fly to me, not often, but he would tell me the most beautiful fairy tales that I had never read about anywhere. And if I asked Teacher Azm about them, he would tell me not to look for them anymore. And I was allowed to sing with him. It’s forbidden, to sing without him. But he doesn’t come to see me anymore. I never saw him again after the coup. Maybe he was killed, and I even don’t know it,» Alham sighed.
«No one dies in the world of Katana,» Edos said, «so I guess you’ll see him again.
«What do you mean, no one dies? Why? Did Katana kick death out? Did he kill it?»
«You could say that,» Edos grinned, «what tales has this man told you?
«For example, about Truth and Atruth, about how they both serve good, but Atruth, without knowing it, serves good. And also about the evil monster who was evil on purpose so that the good prince would stop thinking about little things and come to defeat him.
Edos grinned again.
«And what was the man’s name?»
«Kan. Like the king,» Alham smiled, «and why I am not allowed to sing without him, I don’t know. I sing quietly sometimes… but only when no one is nearby.»
«Well, let’s sing,» laughed Edos.
» Don’t! We can’t! Azm says and Kan has said that then something terrible will happen and the world will turn upside down!» The youth was frightened.
«Don’t worry, we will sing so that nothing bad will happen,» Edos got up from the grass, stretched out his hand and a transparent hand appeared in the clearing, which squeezed the man’s palm. Following the hand, a stranger materialized.
«Hello, Shamal,» Edos smiled, «this is Alham.
The youth stood up as well, scrutinizing the silhouette. A ray of scarlet sunlight passed over the man, and the transparent silhouette poured flesh. The majestic and thin stranger smiled at the young man. He had no wings, nor was he golden.
«Hello, Alham.»
«Hello, Shamal,» said the boy seriously.
«He is the wind,» said Edos.
«You know how to talk to the wind! That’s great!» Alham stared at the man. «You must have seen so much, you can fly anywhere you want!»
«I’ve seen some things, of course,» Shamal smiled sharply, his long eyes narrowing as he smiled, a scarlet ray running across the white iris again.
There was something sharp about the whole man — sharp cheekbones, sharp cut of his eyes, sharp corners of his lips.
«Shamal, make a corridor like this so that the song goes to the village and nowhere else,» Edos asked.
The man nodded, a transparent ripple passed through the air, and everything went back to the way it was before. Shamal settled gracefully on a rock, crossing his arms and legs, staring at the pair.
Edos tapped his fingers on the wood, as if to set a rhythm, and sang softly, languid and intoxicating, unbearably inviting. Alham fitted in skillfully and seamlessly, echoing softly.
The song flew down the corridor of wind, settling with quiet sounds on the village. People smiled, they didn’t even realize they were hearing anything, as if a mere anticipation of happiness had descended on their hearts. Things began to come together, and the strife subsided. Not everyone liked the quiet joy of unity, some began to get angry and cry. But the song promised happiness to all. Both those who waited for it and those who didn’t believe in it.
Shamal smiled, bobbing his head lightly to the rhythm of the song.
XX
Katana lifted his head from the table, smiling.
«Maybe we can meet him already?» He asked his friends.
«They’ll come for him, and he’ll tell on us,» Kin said.
«Let’s erase this memory, if necessary, let’s go,» Katana disappeared from the hall, together with Rime and Kin.
Katana appeared on the plain and split into three, separating Rime and Kin.
Alham faltered when he saw the guests, but Edos picked up the part to keep the song going and smiled at the young man.
«These are friends,» he sang out.
Shamal nodded to the newcomers, and hug with his look Kin. He smiled answering the element.
Diamond darkness shone behind Edos, touching him. Alham reached out to touch it, but fearfully withdrew his palm. Edos pulled the shining cloth from behind his back, as if sheltering himself with it, and held out the edge of the darkness to Alham in the palm of his hand.
The youth touched the glow and cried out, but that became part of the song as well. Alham moved closer, shoving his hand deeper into the darkness, the young man’s delicate high and soft voice shook crisply, the song becoming unbearably shrill. Edos pulled the boy to him and wrapped himself in the diamond cloth with him. Alham’s voice had faded, and now only Edos sang. The young man sang too, only he could not be heard, his singing spreading out into the darkness. A transparent touch on the diamond cloth and Shamal too could hear the song inside the darkness. Edos gently pulled Alham out of this darkness from which he would never voluntarily emerge, and the song resounded with unconditional happiness.
When the song ended, Shamal clapped first.
Alham looked at the applauding guests with confusion. They were all wingless, so the boy assumed they came from the village. Which meant it was okay not to tell anyone about that either, not about the living wind or what Alham was singing.
«Hello,» Alham said politely.
«Hello,» Katana smiled, not his usual crooked smile, but a completely human smile.
«My name is Alham,» the young man said.
«My name is Katana,» the conqueror introduced himself.
Alham recoiled, staring at the tall, thin man, examining him.
He had already heard all sorts of scary stories about the conqueror. But he didn’t think he’d ever see him.
«Have you come to cut off my head for singing?» Alham asked, swallowing.
«No, I came to listen,» Katana took a seat in front of Alham, «I don’t chop off heads for people singing.
«Though sometimes you should,» Kin muttered.
«It’s from the book «I’m Here». We’re writing it now. It’s about the Great Revolution in one of the worlds. You can read it on my website when we finish the first part at least (a logical piece). The project is complicated and big, we rewrote it several times, we need to tell the truth about everyone, and not everyone wants to tell it))))) There’s over a thousand pages in the first part, so I think you’ll just finish it by the time we write the second part.
