Songbreaker

Chapter 8: Reunion

Following Thalleous' suspicions into the Barrier Mountains, the team find that their prime suspect is ruled out immediately, once again leaving them none the wiser as to who the Songbreaker is. As if that wasn't enough, Yvana runs into the last person she expected to see, and the person she has wanted nothing more than to never hear of again.

Author's note: Riorden Voltaris belongs to InfinGirl and her fic 'Anew' - be sure to give it a read and tell her how awesome it is! big thanks to her for allowing me to use her character

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After spending several days holed up in a cave on the border of Northwind, waiting out a horrendous blizzard, Yvana was glad to separate herself from the suspicious Nestoris grinding her gears. He rarely said a single word for the duration of the snowstorm, but just his golden eyes glowing in her direction was enough to send her anger bubbling over. It came to a point where she hated his guts, and she couldn't even justify why – he hadn't done anything to her since they first met. He did, however, frequently growl at her with a gaze as hard as stone and these days, that was enough to make Yvana want to kill him.

When they eventually began making their way into the Barrier Mountains, tensions were still high, but at least Yvana could put some distance between herself and the former Tidesinger to give Thalleous time to react and stop her, should she decide to take an axe to his back.

Thalleous knew that there was a camp nearby, hidden amongst the snow of these mountains, that a small troupe of Voltaris had found shelter in. He knew this because he had been out to try and eliminate them before, but he was caught off-guard for there was one Voltaris in particular who challenged him in a way that he had never come across before. He also knew that Yvana had stumbled across him, herself, and barely escaped with her life each time, yet she still went after him. Thalleous also knew that this would be where he would find Tygren Voltaris – the only other Ardoni as consistent with his schemes as the Deathsinger. Tygren didn't get angry. He got even and he would do so in some of the most methodical ways. While he considered song-breaking to be above board for someone like Tygren, he knew the Voltaris were getting desperate.

The only thing that didn't make sense was why the Voltaris were also suffering. Perhaps Tygren had truly gone off the rails. Thalleous wouldn't put anything past him, at this point. 154 years of humiliation since the Voltaris spectacularly lost the Great War, with thanks to the Tidesinger, would surely drive them mad.

That was, until the three of them stumbled on the camp, littered with Voltaris barely recognisable by their markings because every single one of them was scarred, charred and burnt, their skin solid and broken, their limbs frayed and their eyes hollow as though their soul had been ripped out with the Song. Not a single one of them had willingly surrendered their Songs and, even if they had not wielded one, the energy burst that would explode from the broken shell would have been enough to burn them from the inside out. If there was one thing that was certain, it was that the Songbreaker gave no mercy.

It only made Yvana more suspicious of Achillean, given the lack of remorse he had shown through his words of hate thus far. The only thing that stopped a full conviction was that he had been with them for weeks. He, himself, had not committed the act, but that still didn't rule him out.

What they could rule out, however, was Tygren's involvement as they stumbled across a corpse with barely visible markings that resembled the psychotic Voltaris. He had been got – and some time ago. The Songbreaker was long gone, yet again. Yvana thought back to the map in Achillean's cave. He had marked a point somewhere in Northwind that could resemble where they were, but she couldn't be sure. Either way, he wasn't completely off the hook until all was explained and she didn't very much care how long it took.