The Book of Songs

Zar was moving towards her objective, the tips of the white castle could be seen just over the upcoming hill. The castle was built atop a small mountain, down inside a large valley. Her hooded cloak was tattered, she was tired, thirsty and her morale was diminishing with each step.

Zar's family were in a dungeon somewhere in the King's land. Her mother, a great poet and songwriter was accused of "spreading false rumours" about the king, stating he had the capability of raising the dead to do his bidding. The rumours existed but they did not stem from her mother.

In this world, gold was everything. It could buy you food, bread and potions. It could buy you protection from the monsters that lingered in the forest and it could secure your freedom, even when your circumstances seemed most dark. Unfortunately, Zar's family were poor and the little coins she managed to muster did not stack high enough to secure the release of her family.

Zar took this time for one last moment of reflection. Kneeling down and reaching for the little black book she kept strung across her chest. Her mother had given it to her just before she was captured. This book was the only memento of her family she had.

Zar would read whenever she had a chance and was about halfway through. She would muse over every word, thinking of her family with each page. Her mother's songs were about nature, about family and about life. All who had heard her mother sing felt restored afterwards, filled with new life.

Zar reached the top of the hill and peered down into the valley below. She saw a small army of men standing in formation. Warriors wielding shields and swords stood thick at the front. Behind them, tactical archers holding great longbows of willow stood ready. Littered throughout were flag bearers, holding a cloud of black flags above the heads of the surrounding men. The army was preparing to march.

She was frozen dead in her tracks, instantly dropping to her stomach. There was no time to waste, she had to find a way around them. The man responsible for imprisoning her family was in that castle and she had come too far to stop now. She unsheathed her bronze dagger and cut her coin purse from her belt and placed it on the ground. She removed her breastplate and any other metal item she had on her person, minimising the risk of being heard.

Slowly manoeuvring down into the valley, darting in-between shrubbery and behind rocks just like her father taught her on their hunts. Zar got closer and closer to the army blocking her path. She made her way to a rock no farther than 6 feet away from a flag-bearer, so close she could smell them. They smelt off. She peered over the rock and came to a horrific realisation. The "men" standing in the valley in front of the castle were not men.

Underneath the bronze plate armour and behind the shields and weaponry stood skeletons wrapped in rotting flesh. Their eyes were glowing blue and their lifeless stare was fixated straight ahead. They stood perfectly still, their chest did not move nor did breath escape their mouths.

The rumours were true after all? There was no time for contemplation, she had to find a way up the cliff and through the castle doors.

Suddenly, a loud shriek swept through the valley. The soldiers reciprocated the shriek in unison and began to march as one perfect unit. Wherever their destination, the inhabitants stood no chance against an army that did not tire, that did not waver and that struck terror into the hearts of all who faced them.

Light-footed and with poise, Zar began to scale the massive cliff. Having lived in a wooden cabin built upon a giant redwood tree her entire life, she was no stranger to heights. With each passing meter, Zar came closer to her target. Silently, she moved up the white, rocky cliffside and then finally pulling herself over the ledge onto flat ground.

She stood in a grand courtyard. The courtyard was decorated with marvellous statues of stone soldiers and in the centre stood a small, delicate fountain. The fountain contained tiny, blue birds drinking and bathing in it's waters, oblivious to their surroundings.

Making her way through the statues and past the fountain, Zar reached two giant wooden doors. At about neck height, a large brass door knocker was fixed on one of the doors. She almost began knocking out of instinct but pulled her hand away at the last moment. "Silence", she reminded herself.

It took all her strength to open the door, slowly pulling it toward her and slipping in unnoticed. Inside, she was greeted again by giant stone statues, littered throughout the castle's entryway. Two staircases leading to the second floor, rolled out like red-carpets invited her upwards and she climbed one quietly without hesitation.

She entered what looked like a never-ending hallway. White rugs were strewn throughout in a hasty attempt to cover the red carpet underneath. On each side of the hallway, adjacent to one another, were red doors with gold-plated doorknobs, guarded by big iron locks. Every 10 paces there was a single wooden chair and next to it, a table. Upon each of these tables, withered petals had fallen from a dead rose in a vase.

Zar walked the hallway, attempting to open each and every door to no avail. She turned a corner, to see a stone archway, it's rugged pebbles looked quite out of place in such a magnificent castle hallway. The archway was shrouded by a white cloth and by a slight humming sound. The male voice in the next room was humming in tune to a song her mother would sing to her and her brother before bed. It's him she thought.

Almost blocking her path was an inscription chest. This magical chest would only open to those whose name was inscribed on the front. This particular chest was blank, meaning it had not yet been claimed. Zar knelt down and opened the chest, to be greeted with piles of gold coins. Her quick calculations indicated 20,000 gold coins, enough to free her family if she grabbed the chest and left.

She couldn't, not knowing what she knew. She stampeded through the cloth, her previous attempts to remain silent stayed behind her in the hallway, she wanted to be heard. A once highly-decorated throne-room was now filled with statues. In the middle of the statues, a large, white throne with a small frail man sitting on it. "What an easy target" Zar whispered to herself.

Like a seasoned hunter finishing off an injured boar, Zar charged at the man. With each ferocious step she remembered her home, she remembered her old, happy life and she remembered her family. She got within six feet of the throne and leaped, her dagger above her head in the air. She thrusted the dagger down as hard as she could, her timing was excellent, the blow would surely end him. However, just before she pierced the old man's skull, she was stopped.

There were no hands on her but she could not move. She was suspended in the air, frozen in place. She was slammed onto the ground by the mystical force, her right leg now shattered.

"Zar, thank you for coming." rose a voice from the throne. "My statues informed me of your arrival. Perfect guards, aren't they?"

The invisible force that was preventing her from moving then shaped her into a seated position on the floor.

"Ah, the little black book. I have been dying to read from it" the man paused and laughed and then slowly pointed to the statues "I mean, they have".

The book swung from her chest-strap onto the floor. It became apparent now. The King was building an army of dead soldiers and he planned to use her mothers songs to help restore life to fallen men and then enslave them using his own black magic.

"Have you ever read any aloud? Of course not. The songs are beautiful but nobody would hear your sweet voice. So why would you?" the man taunted her. "Go ahead Zar, sing one for me".

His cold stare then turned to the book as it swung open by itself. "Pick any song you like" he ordered.

She turned to the last page, the final entry. This was a song her mother had written whilst evading The King's soldiers. Zar took a deep breath and with tears in her eyes, began to sing aloud. The first verse was of hatred and of hellfire. The chorus contained lines of death, famine and of destruction. She was hesitant to continue, this song was nothing like any other in her Mother's little black book.

The second verse was reminiscent of war, violence and conquered nations with a following chorus that differed from the first that spoke of ancient evil and the horrors of history. Zar refused to read any further and ceased her song.

"FINISH IT!" the man yelled, now standing almost on top of her.

Zar looked down to the final verse and noticed it was prefaced with the words "For Zar". A tiny smirk crept onto her face through the tears and she began to sing the final verse. The words that left her mouth were of rejuvenation and of sunlight. She sang lines of health and of prosperity, of happiness and of freedom and as she hit the final note and sung the last syllable it felt as if the earth began to shake.

A large fiery meteor, summoned from the words of song pierced the castle, landing on top of the old man, killing him instantly. A loud snap sound from Zar's leg and her injuries were reversed. The shaking became more violent as the statues that surrounded her began to fall one-by-one, narrowly missing her as she swept back through the white cloth into the hallway.

She picked up the chest that was now branded with "Zar" and bolted through the hallways as the iron locks shot off from the doors, whizzing passed her by inches. Zar made her way down the stairs, placed the chest onto the ground and pried open the heavy front doors. As she saw daylight creeping into the castle, the fountain in the courtyard exploded and a piece of rubble smacked her in the head, knocking her out instantly as the castle fell around her.

After some time, Zar awoke to see her family standing around her, smiling. Unknowingly, they had been kept in the castle's dungeon and were freed as the locks spontaneously shot off their cells.

Zar shot up, ecstatic to see her brother, father and mother again. Without a word, her younger brother quickly handed her the chest which Zar opened to find all 20,000 coins to be accounted for. Enough money to start a new life.

After long, teary reunions with her family, the memory of her mother's book shot back into her head and she questioned if anyone had seen it. Her mother smiled and handed the little black book to Zar. The book was empty, the pages blank and the songs lost to memory.

They looked at each other, Zar's face was filled with sadness and her mother's was filled with hope.

Her mother in her soft tone said "Zar, the book has served its purpose. When my father gifted me this book so many years ago, I was lost. I didn't know who I was meant to be. But as I filled those pages, I became the woman you see before you today. Each page, each song a chapter in my life. An empty book can become anything, it is up to you to decide what that is".