Page 6 of Requiem of Silence

But she could keep him from dying—or at least staying dead.

Quieting her mind even further, she sank deeper into her Song, moving past her other sight until darkness once again filled her vision and the doorways appeared. She stood at the threshold of worlds, glowing arches of muted light before her. One led to the World Between and one to the World After.

In the water, Taron had been shining with Nether, a blinding brightness in a sea of dark. He was drowning and would soon pass to the World After, if he hadn’t already. If she could catch him there before he got near the Eternal Flame, she could bring him back. She chose the softly glowing archway and stepped through.

The World After was nothingness. No light, no sound, not at first anyway. But she set her mind to locating Taron and found him easily. A recently discovered quirk of her power over Nethersong enabled her to navigate the World After at will. The boy appeared before her, lit from within, peering into the darkness, confusion marring his face.

“Taron,” she called. He turned and stared at her uncomprehendingly. “I’m here to bring you back.”

His brows descended. “B-bring me back?”

“Yes. You want to live, don’t you?”

“Y-y-you… You’re.…” He raised a finger at her and took a step back. His voice a mix of wonder and fear, unable to even identify her by name. “But that’s impossible.”

“No, it isn’t. I’ve done it before. Did you hear about Queen Jasminda being poisoned?”

He nodded.

“She’d come here. To the World After. And I brought her back.”

He blinked and dropped his arm. “Y-you brought back Queen Jasminda from the dead?”

“I did.” Hundreds had witnessed the first time Kyara had stepped into the World After and returned with their queen—though virtually none had understood what they’d seen. She didn’t know exactly how she’d been able to do it, crossing from the Living World was nothing she’d heard of before. Then again, she’d never known another living Nethersinger. Though she’d only done it once, she felt confident that she could repeat the action with this child. Perhaps bring him back to the living as often as it took until his body could be pulled from the ocean.

“Come with me, Taron. I’ll help you go back. Do you have any family?”

He shook his head, and took another step away, looking around at the darkness that surrounded them. “Something’s wrong here,” he whispered.

Unease descended over her. “Yes. Something is. But we have to leave now. Take my hand.”

“What’s wrong with this place?” he asked, still peering around warily. She didn’t know what he saw or felt, it must be something different than she did—maybe something only the truly dead could discern. But right now, it didn’t matter. She didn’t have long before his doorway would go dark and the path back to the living would close to him.

“Take my hand, Taron. It’s time to go.”

He shivered and looked at her again, gaze full of questions, then gingerly placed his hand in hers. She slumped with relief, then led him back to the glowing arch, pulsing in the infinite blackness.

Pulling the dead back through the archway was like walkingthrough thick, knee-high mud. It took effort and strength. It was nothing like the normal manipulation of Nethersong, but she focused all her energy on the task and dragged the boy through a darkness that didn’t want to let him go.

Finally, they were through and shuttled back into their bodies. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she felt the sand on her palms—she’d fallen to her hands and knees at some point. Her lingering connection to Taron told her he was still unconscious. She sank into her other sight to find him still underwater, with every indication that he’d be back in the World After very soon.

But the light of his Nethersong was still dim. She began pulling the Nether from his body as he struggled and kicked in the water. If she could draw enough away, she could keep him from death for a time, and maybe he could break free of the waves and find air.

As she funneled death energy out of him, the Void took its place—neither life, like Earthsong, nor death, the Void was a mysterious energy that filled in the spaces between. Life, death, and the Void were the three forces at play in the world.

If the boy could get himself out of the water, one of the Earthsingers would be able to replace the Void with life energy and revive him. But that was a bigif.It was likely the only Singers on the beach were small children. Still, one of them should be able to eventually manipulate the water and drag Taron out.

As she contemplated how difficult it would be to drag Taron from death a second or even a third time, a figure with the Nethersong of a middle-aged adult charged into the water. Kyara forced her eyes open to watch an Elsiran construction worker swim with sure strokes to where Taron was flailing. He grabbed the boy and swam, one armed, back to the shore. Cradled in Taron’s arms, safe as a baby, was the waterlogged leather ball.

Other construction workers stood nearby, their concern evident, but Taron rolled over, spitting out the water in his lungs, aided by vigorous thumps to his back from the Elsiran man.

Two of the younger children ran up to him. The boy who’d created the cyclones closed his eyes, and within moments, Taron sat up, completely well.

His friend, the sensible girl, kneeled at his side as well. Her eyes were red-rimmed. “I couldn’t find you in the water. It was so fast and strong.” She shook her head, shivering with disappointment and shame.

Kyara felt bad for her. Darvyn had told her that manipulating water was difficult for an Earthsinger without a lot of practice. She hoped the girl wouldn’t beat herself up forever for something she had little control over.

While the attention was on the boy who’d just been saved, and the cluster of Elsirans now being thanked profusely by the Lagrimari women, Kyara rose, preparing to slip away, hopefully unnoticed. But Taron’s voice cut through the chatter.

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