Starsong

Scene 6

{--} Tok {--}

          The previous night...

          "Piya?" Tok rolled over, waking up with a strange, electric feeling in his chest. There was a light, soft music drifting in from the hallway... a flute? But something was different about this, the way it swirled in and around him, so powerful and close he felt he could almost reach out and touch it. The pearl beneath his skin pulsed harder as he listened, as though it were absorbing the power, tasting it. He frowned as he watched Piya's silouette in the darkness, swinging her legs off her bed and starting to walk towards the door, softly purring. "Piya! Where are you going?" 

          Piya didn't turn back to look at him, answer him. She drifted over to the door and opened it, absentmindedly grabbing her lute with one hand and carrying it, letting it drag along behind her on the floor. Her only sound was her deep, content purring as she left the room, walking aimlessly down the hallway, her loose hair hiding her eyes. Tok quickly got up to chase after her-- this felt familiar, too familiar. He had to stop her, do something--

          Tok cried out in pain as soon as his feet hit the ground, pain exploding in his ankles, running up and down his legs. He fell to the ground, hitting his wrists too, tears stinging his eyes. His ankles. They had been cleaned, and they were still bandaged now, but they weren't close to healed. He couldn't stand-- what hope did he have of chasing? He sobbed softly in pain and despair as Piya disappeared from his sight down the hallway. His limbs shaking and weak from the pain, he tried to stand again, hang off of the bedframe at least. He managed to get halfway up, but putting any weight on his ankles was unbearable. He got all the way down, trying to crawl as quickly as he could without using his hands-- he didn't want to damage anything any further. It was clumsy, and desperate, and too slow. Piya was far ahead by the time he managed to haul himself out the door, and she was only getting further. His arms were already exhausted-- who did he think he was? His father didn't train him like a soldier. He'd barely had to do anything at all before... that day. Tok had been grateful for that, once-- even if his gratefulness was born of fear-- but he sure wasn't now.

          "Piya!" He cried out again, trying to get her attention, but she only kept walking. He couldn't catch up with her like this. The music-- louder now, more tangible, as though trying to reach inside and warm him and tell him to rest now, give in-- he couldn't just let her follow it. But there was nothing he could do. 

          Well... The idea slipped through, sly and tempting, not exactly nothing.

          After all, what better to break an enchantment with than a stronger enchantment?

          He frowned-- he didn't want to. It was the one thing he could never quite bring himself to do fully, the one thing his father was... most obsessed with teaching him. He knew he could, of course. Especially with the pearl.

          Hardly any of them were like that anymore. Bloodthirsty, predatory, sensing fresh minds as prey.

          But the siren reputation hadn't come from nowhere.

          He opened his mouth, but his voice got stuck in his throat. He-- he had to do it. He couldn't afford to be like this now--

          "What a good girl." A soft, nurturing voice came from down the hallway, "And what a desperate boy."

          Tok felt all his breath leave him as the woman turned the corner, taking a slender golden flute from her lips and reaching out to ruffle Piya's hair gently. Piya leaned slowly, dreamily into the touch. But she wasn't the same-- where there had been a soft, kind host, there was now a too-large, imposing, powerful being, her hair glowing an overwhelming golden and filling the hallway with light.

          "I knew my flute wouldn't work as well on you, of course. You're a siren. But I wasn't worried-- you're weakened, and there's so much more I can control here than your mind... Like, say, hers. What a good little musician. And she can do so much to you that I can't do myself."

          Tok stared in silent horror, unable to escape, as the woman lifted the flute to her lips again and began to play. As though obeying the woman's very thoughts, Piya turned around to face Tok, her face strange and slack, and he watched the horrible moment they were overtaken by a golden glow. Piya took her lute in both hands, beginning to advance on him. He tried to scramble back, but as soon as his hands hit the ground he screamed in pain, falling onto his back. He could only stare up, breathing fast and scared. Piya's fingers moved sharply, exactly, and two high, earsplitting notes wove through the air. Tok felt his body lock up, unable to talk or move, barely able to think. He couldn't even scream as Piya's small fingers came to his neck and she ripped one of his scales out.

          "I'm sorry, darling, I need it to properly play with your guardian." The woman hummed, clearly very pleased with herself as she took the scale from Piya, as she walked over and saw Tok's terrified eyes, "And don't you worry. You're not going to go back to the pain you escaped-- the hunters. In fact, you'll be quite comfortable once you're mine. I won't give up on you, darling. Come, we'll go somewhere where it's much easier to focus on my music. You'll come around by dawn."

          The woman snapped, and Piya took to her lute again, now a steady song that dragged his paralyzed body along to his fate.