The Songbird

Chapter 4: Hidden Whispers

Nighttime cloaked the kingdom of Enid in heavy silence, finding next to no one outside of their homes.

After the chaos in The Joiner's Square, people retired for the day to treat injuries and take stock of what they managed to hold onto in the chaos of it all. No one had died, but the display was frightening enough. Those who weren't in the vicinity of the damage heard about it quickly, so any outdoor trading was suspended for the remainder of the day. Cottages and shacks alike had their shutters pulled tight, many wary of being caught unaware should something like it happen again.

But while the majority of the kingdom uneasily slept, King Abbott's castle loomed darkly from a distance, its most important inhabitants far removed from any realm of dreaming.

A girl had just woken from inside the walls, the female knight who'd been bedridden following her outburst in the square. Her male counterparts stood by her side, responding with favor at her recovery and wishing her well in this latest attack from her magic.

Attack perhaps wasn't the right word, but there was nothing else to call it. Her magic wasn't inherently malicious, but it always caused her great pain when it decided to come alive. And alive it very much had been earlier that morning.

So while she could enjoy the company of the other knights and offer them smiles, the conversation quickly turned serious with the topic of what happened, of what they needed to know, of what the King needed to know.

"The last thing we want is to bring up painful memories, but Abbott waits. What did you see, Jess?" Asked the knight to her right, a blond boy named Samuel.

The other two implored her with their eyes, and Jesmyn steeled herself against the premonition so painfully wrought.

"I was knocked off my horse in the explosion. When I came to, I saw a Red Alley dweller next to me. We barely had time to regard one another before my vision changed, and with it came a strange sound. I saw birds, hundreds in a flock, all screeching and swiping down as if to attack me. But their screeching quickly became a voice, one that began to sing strange songs..."

Jesmyn was locked in the memory, flashes of black and white feathers intermingled with a human tonality. She didn't realize she had stopped speaking until Izan, the knight to her left, gently nudged her shoulder, encouraging her on.

"The voice morphed from songs to screams, and it was as if my mind wasn't my own anymore. It's why I couldn't stop mumbling or crying for the longest time. I had no control over anything until you all brought me back here and the healers gave me something to put me to sleep."

Jesmyn lifted her eyes to the third and last of the boy knights who stood at the foot of her bed, arms crossed over his chest, pale eyes set hard as he pondered her words. She felt sympathy for him, knowing that he would have to tell the King despite the images not making any sense.

"I'm sorry, Dante," Jesmyn said to him. "I wish I could tell you more, but it's all I've got."

He looked at her then, offering a smile of reassurance as he took a breath.

"Don't trouble yourself, Jess. You two keep her company. I must tell Abbott."

She watched as he strode from the room, sending her pity with him before Samuel and Izan sought to turn the conversation to cheerier things. They told jokes and stories, keeping her mind off of what she had seen and felt, ensuring that she was back on normal footing before they dared leave her for the night. For this she would always be grateful, these boys who were more like brothers, always there so she wouldn't walk alone, so that her being a Favor-Born could bring with it a sense of purpose.