Page 13 of The Song of the Void

“What, that's how long you can last having me out of your sight?” My voice dripped with disdain.

“Read the sign posted on the door, Blue. You have ten minutes before they close the shop for their lunch break.” He slid the Sirensteel pendant up and down its chain with a smirk that made me wonder if the Spirits created him to infuriate me personally. “Maybe they have something to remedy that barbed tongue of yours. Would be a smart investment.”

I didn't bother answering him, tossing my pouch of coins into the air as I headed inside. “Fucking Human,” I muttered.

A jingling bell heralded my entry, prompting the old woman at the counter to look up. She adjusted the glasses on the tip of her nose and gave me a once-over before returning to the dusty tome on her lap.

Shelves crammed with medicines and herbs created a thick, sickly-sweet cloud of scent that wafted throughout the entire store. I filled a wicker basket with some medical-grade needles and sutures for sewing up wounds and tapped my chin as I eyeballed the various ointments and drugs, searching for the medicine I had in mind for Ashkade’s motion sickness. My gaze landed on a vial of clear liquid marked for sale as a sleep aid, but I recognized its name, and an evil glimmer of an idea surfaced in my mind. I stuck it in my basket, along with a few particularly fragrant herbs that I could infuse with water to wash myself with, my favorite way to smell fresh even amid Human sweat. Ash’s medicine and an antibiotic ointment were the last things to go into my basket before I went to the counter and paid.

The bell rang when Reiven threw open the door. “What the hell is taking so⁠—”

He froze.

He literally stopped in place, halfway through the door, mouth still partly open as the words on his tongue died. A chill sliced down my spine at how unnatural it was, and I threw a glance at the shopkeeper to see what she thought, but she was frozen too. She had already returned to her book after ringing me up and was stuck in the midst of turning the page.

“If you and Ashkade are playing a trick on me, it isn’t funny,” I said.

His face remained set in that annoyed expression. It didn’t look like he breathed or registered what I said. He didn’t even blink.

Time had stopped.

“Pardon me,” a feminine voice floated out from behind Reiven.

A willowy figure slipped around him through the door and carefully removed her cloak’s hood, shaking out a long braid of dark green hair. She had pointy ears—long, pointy ears. A Druinn, but not a warrior like Shaddan. Her clothing was simple, all dark browns and greens that evoked the image of the bark and leaves of a forest.

“Good afternoon. You must be Zephra Yukaris.” Her words were proper, her voice gentle.

My muscles tightened. “And…who are you?” I asked carefully.

“My name is Calinia. Pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind. I stopped time here so I could chat with you without interruption.”

Did I hear her right?

At my wide-eyed stare, she smiled gently. “Yes, that boy is not the only one able to manipulate time. In fact, Humans would likely say I am the one who ‘stole’ their god from them, although the god of time merely decided that they were unworthy. Now their deity works through me.”

Well. It almost sounded like she was admitting that she was the reason behind the war between Terrakor and Arvensis.

“A shame that Ashkade got to you before I could. I know he appears kind and innocent, but that boy is a Human through and through, Zephra.” A spark of anger shone in her amber eyes. She wiped away a trickle of blood from her nose and continued. “Above all, Humans desire power. They cannot resist it, and with a method to dole it out, only disaster for the rest of the world will follow. If Ashkade Synnex were to possess the Voidtome, I truly fear for the fate of the rest of us.”

The Druinn stranger said the very things that had rung in the back of my mind like a ceaseless bell since Ash first said the word “Voidtome.” Let him claim a noble cause all he liked. The boy—or any Human, for that matter—would be dangerous with the Tome.

I’d certainly be dangerous when I got my hands on it.

I squared my shoulders. “Can you say for certain that the Druinns wouldn’t use the Tome for ill?”

“Of course not. But I’d rather it anywhere than in the hands of a Human, especially Ashkade.” The way she said his name so bitterly, it almost sounded like she knew him personally, and he had done her some wrong. “And I think you would agree, wouldn’t you? You should consider joining us rather than staying with Ashkade. We have hired a pirate and his crew to guide us across the ocean⁠—”

“I will not journey anywhere with a damn pirate,” I said, throwing an annoyed glance at the former pirate I was magically chained to. “I can’t go far, anyway.” I gestured to the golden choker around my neck, and she inspected it from the distance between us. “Besides…I have no intention of allowing the Voidtome to fall into anyone’s hands. Not Ashkade’s, not Shaddan’s, not yours.”

I had plenty of time to think during our journey across the desert. More than enough time to fantasize about using the very Voidtome these Humans sought to decimate their country. Since the Druinns tried to leash me like a pet, maybe their country should be next before I disappear into the waves.

To my surprise, she nodded in concession. “Going to take it back for the Sirens, are you? Well, as long as it doesn’t end up with the Humans, that would be alright.” She studied Reiven’s time-stuck body. “Now that I think about it, the Voidtome may be able to nullify the unfortunate binding between you and this man. I warned Shaddan not to use such volatile enchantments in public.”

My hand drifted to the foreign object around my neck. If it wasn’t for the binding forcing me to stay by Reiven’s side, I could just…go home. “Do you know how to remove it?”

Calinia shook her head. “Aside from utilizing the Voidtome, Druinnic relics like this can only be deactivated if the one you’re bound to speaks a particular phrase. Shaddan believes that interfering with his spell and chaining you was all a part of the Timebreaker’s plan. It would not surprise me, either.” She pulled her hood back up to shadow her tanned face and tucked her braid inside. “Well, if I were you, I’d focus on retrieving the Voidtome and avoid Shaddan at all costs. If he forces them to release you, he will only chain you to himself. Until we meet again, my Siren friend.” The strange Druinn girl gave me a wave and ducked around Reiven, disappearing from my sight.

Yet somehow, her voice echoed inside my head and nearly made me jump out of my skin. “Honestly, I think I’d prefer to see you command the Voidtome’s fate, not any of these selfish men. I won’t let General Akshar hurt you, but since the possibility remains that you may fail, please don’t dislike me for continuing my quest to retrieve the Tome as well. Good day.”