Pierrot's Song

By Rachel Nightingale

The travelling players of Litonya have destroyed many lives by manipulating the mystical realm of Tarya, and Mina has discovered her brother is one of their victims. Although she is determined to stop them, her hopes for help from the Council of Muses have been dashed. The only possibility for healing lies in a journey to the heart of Litonya, and into a past long lost to history.

When ancient stories give up their forgotten secrets, a path forward begins to appear. But love and talent are pushed to their limits as Mina and her companions come face to face with an enemy who has finally stepped out of the shadows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odyssey Books
• Release date: Nov 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781925652826

Book preview

Circle

Author’s Note

Although this is a work of fantasy fiction, it is based on the theatre of the Commedia dell’Arte, which thrived during the Italian Renaissance, and still survives today in fragments such as Punch and Judy shows, and companies dedicated to keeping the spirit of Commedia alive. To that end, I have used a few names of famous Commedia players. This is intended as a way of keeping their memory alive, but the characters with those names are in no way modelled on the personalities or behaviours of the true historical figures and should not be taken as such. The allusions to Shakespeare are deliberate and reflect the transition that occurred from improvised theatre in the Renaissance to scripted works in the Tudor and Elizabethan eras.

Prologue

In the Creator’s great book there are infinite stories, and on every page there is much to learn. Listen now to this tale, for it is important everyone remembers. More important than we ever understood, when this began. Then, we didn’t realise how much had been forgotten. As we journeyed on, we understood more, but there were secrets upon secrets. Our enemies were cloaked in shadow, the outcome less than clear.

This is not my tale. My part in all of this has been small. But important in its own way, I suppose. No doubt the Creator brought me to Mina for a reason. Weavers of tales know their craft. They do not place a character in a Tale if they have no part to play. And we are all part of a great Tale in the end, though we may not always see our purpose. As a storyteller I had caught glimpses of forgotten stories for many years. In truth, I had become obsessed with finding what had been lost. When I met Mina, I could not have said what drew me to her so powerfully, but I sensed a connection to what I was seeking.

Mina was the one who brought long-hidden secrets into the light. Gifts such as hers are rarely seen. Luka would say she shines like the moon. When she weaves a tale, it comes alive, and you are drawn into it. She can hold an audience in utter thrall. I never met another with such ability to transform the world.

But she did not act alone.

Mina’s beginnings did not hint at what she would achieve. Growing up in the small coastal town of Andon, she knew little of the world, but that didn’t stop her wanting to travel in search of her brother, missing ten years. He had gone away with a troupe of travelling players when she was a child and had never come home. So Mina decided she too would apprentice with a player troupe, in hopes of finding some clue to her brother’s whereabouts. But her mother Olivia had warned her the players might be dangerous, making her wary about asking them directly if they had any knowledge of her brother.

Mina found out much later the reason for Olivia’s fear was her suspicion the players had been involved somehow in causing Uncle Tonio’s madness, for it had come upon him after a confrontation with players years before. Those events that left him mad sent ripples across many lives. Olivia was burned and permanently injured in a fire that left Tonio’s player wife dead. The role of the players in so much destruction was unclear, but Mina took on her family’s mistrust and carried it with her as she began a new life.

As Mina travelled with the players, she learned their art and the secret behind it. They drew stories from stolen dreams to perform on stage, and donned characters like a cloak, from souls they harvested in a realm close to our own. In this place, Tarya, Mina found she could do what nobody else could. She travelled further than anyone ever had through its many places and even brought parts of Tarya into the real world. But with everything she learned she became increasingly uneasy. Finally, she understood why. What the players harvested in Tarya, dreams and souls, left people physically ill—or even worse, mad—in the real world. She was not able to leave such a discovery unanswered. She left the player troupe and was planning to ask for the help of the governing body of all artisans, the Council of Muses. But before she could, events overtook her, and she ended up fleeing for her life.

I joined Mina on her journey then, and as a practicing storyteller I was able to train her in the art of Tale Telling. Finally, she found her brother, who was as mad as his uncle had been. She was going to take him home, but her mentor from the players, Uberto, caught up with her. During their confrontation Uberto was drawn into the River, one of the places Mina had discovered in Tarya. The result was that the spirit of Harlequin, his player character, left him, and we all saw how he aged instantly, as though decades descended upon him in a heartbeat. Yet Uberto was happy after this, for he was free of the influence of another who had been controlling him whenever he donned the Harlequin character. He and his family returned to Aurea and disbanded his player troupe. Some of the troupe joined Mina, travelling the country of Litonya to right the wrongs done by players.

Mina worked hard to learn how to restore stolen dreams, healing many people. Another player, Lisette, and I helped her with the healings, though it taxed us all unbearably. Worse, Mina was pursued by all the player troupes in the land, who were angry that their playing no longer worked. For when Mina healed people, she robbed the players of the dreams that fuelled their performances. Roberto, once a member of Uberto’s troupe, and now apparently the leader of all troupes, caught her and stabbed her. Only Luka was with her when it happened. The wound was so bad he thought she would die, but she healed herself, and in the process learned how to heal others without becoming dangerously depleted of energy.

After Mina was healed, she travelled with Luka back to her hometown of Andon, where we had all planned to reunite, return her unfortunate brother to the care of his family, and plan our next steps. On the road Luka admitted to Mina that he had feelings for her. He knew, he told me later, that his timing could have been better since Dario, for whom she had complicated feelings because of first love and possible betrayal, had recently been rendered mad by the players. But love makes us fools. Mina gently rebuffed Luka’s declaration.

When Luka and Mina reached Andon, the next stage of our journey seemed clear—to travel back to the royal city of Aurea, to talk with the Council of Muses and seek their help in stopping the players’ destruction of peoples’ lives. But our plans were dashed when Jal, another player from Uberto’s troupe, arrived in Andon. He had just escaped from the Council after making a terrible discovery. Not only were the Council aware the players tore souls from people to create onstage characters, but they were doing the same thing themselves, for reasons no one understood. Souls’ Rest, a place that housed Aurea’s unfortunates, was filled with artisans whose mental hold on the world had slipped.

At this point I came up with a new plan. The origin stories of Litonya spoke of seven muses who helped the great Creator and inspired artisans to great heights of creativity. I had long been researching older versions of the stories of the Creator and the muses that hinted at a different past to the one spoken about in the official Tales of Tarya. I surmised that the true story of the muses might be different to the tales we were instructed to tell.

Something had been hidden from our collective memory, and I wanted to know what, and why. As I learned of the terrible misuse of Tarya that was occurring, instinct told me uncovering these lost secrets could be the key to defeating the Council of Muses and the players, before more were harmed. By sharing what I knew, I set a course that led us to finally uncover the shadow that lay over all our lives.

Our journey diverted away from the bright, golden royal city of Aurea. Instead, we went in search of the dark, hidden hollows of the Fureys, a terrible mountain range sheltering the unspeakable monsters of our childhood fears.

Now you will learn what we uncovered, and what we wrought. We acted from the noblest of intentions. No more disappearances or damage. No more grief. Healing for those who had lost so much. We did not foresee what the cost would be, or who it was that would pay.

Chapter 1

To the Fureys

High overhead the Fureys loomed, made shadowy by storm clouds. Mina, Sofia, and Luka picked their way over huge boulders, looking for cave entrances. After two days of searching, they had found nothing. On the lowest reaches of the mountains there were many rough openings that could almost pass for doorways, but none led very far into the darkness. Small, damp hollows were plentiful, but none offered more than the remains of small animals. Sofia, certain what they were searching for would be well hidden, felt they must keep climbing the mountain. She guessed any secret, significant caves would be hard to find. After two days of endless climbing, even her strength and optimism waned.

Mina found herself growing ever more tired as they continued upward. The path remained clear, because there was little chance of it being overgrown as the surroundings became bleaker. Lower down, small, hardy flowers and sedge grasses softened the rocks everywhere, but up here only a few spears of grass survived. Autumn had come, and with it, chill winds that crept into their bones, freezing them from within and whispering around the enormous rocks like invisible ghosts telling lost tales. As they walked ever higher, Mina feared an errant blast of wind would pull them from the mountainside.

There were few sounds, beyond the cries of distant eagles and the intermittent buzz of unseen insects. At times the steep path and the thin air left them breathless. It was a dismal ascent.

At the end of the second day they finally found a small cave just off the path, if it could even be called a cave. It was barely large enough for the three of them to squeeze into, let alone to contain the lost secret they sought. A fire was impossible since bare rocks made poor fuel, so they huddled together for warmth. Despite this, the mood in the cave was chilly, and not just for the absence of heat.

‘Mina doesn’t look well,’ Luka murmured. ‘We can’t climb these rocks randomly, hoping to stumble on the right cave entrance. Don’t you know any stories that could have clues? We’ve come to the Fureys because their shape is carved on so many statues of the muses. You’re the one who thinks looking for the muses will help us. You say the old stories hint at secrets about their disappearance. Is there anything in those stories to help us now we’re here?’

Sofia stood and began pacing, her eyes distant. She could only take a few steps before having to turn, but she couldn’t seem to contain her energy. Seeing she wasn’t answering, Mina responded to Luka instead.

‘Not that I can think of. The tale of the minstrel and the seven princesses says very little about the cave itself. Only that the minstrel placed spirits and spells at its entrance to stop people reaching for it.’

Luka wiped his face with his hand. ‘That means we have to try to go into every cave, and the one we can’t get into is the right one. That’s no help at all.’

Apparently frustrated at the lack of room, Sofia stopped abruptly and leaned against the wall, her head down. In the silence, she looked at her hand, then her eyes scanned the close roof. She turned to the others, almost banging her head.

‘I’ve always thought the use of the word spells was odd there. It suggests Arcani, but the minstrel became the ruler of the land, banning Arcani. I wonder … what if spells could mean something else?’

‘Like what?’ Luka asked.

Sofia continued her thought. ‘What is a spell? In children’s tales, how do spells work?’

‘They’re a kind of spoken magic,’ Mina said. Then her thoughts clicked together. ‘Oh! Like stories.’

‘What if he created stories to stop the cave being found? Stories that would make people stay away?’

Mina’s eyes widened as she understood. ‘Stories of monsters—terrifying, hungry monsters.’

‘Living in a maze of caves,’ Luka added.

Mina went on, her voice unconsciously taking on the sing-song tones of a parent telling a tale to a small child. ‘But the largest, most terrifying shadow monster lived in the biggest cave of all.’

Sofia kneeled in front of them. ‘A children’s tale about the Fureys that has terrified every generation. That’s the story that has the clues we need. I’ve always believed stories have the answers to many questions. I didn’t realise that might be true so literally. What does it say? I know it so well, but I’m so cold, I can’t think.’

It was a little unnerving to see Sofia, usually so calm, now agitated and distressed.

Mina had not learned this particular fable during her apprenticeship. She knew it from her childhood. It had been one of the tales her Papa had told her, and she had demanded it over and over again, saying it with him. The words came to her easily now.

‘The biggest of the shadow monsters lived high, high up, in a cave beyond all growing things …’

Sofia nodded. ‘Good. Good. We’ve left behind any shrubs or trees.’

‘There are still a few blades of grass around,’ Luka said. ‘I guess we have to go higher. What else?’

‘It’s coming back to me,’ Sofia said, taking a deep breath. ‘A cave where no light can penetrate. That’s it.’

‘How does that help us?’ Luka demanded. ‘Light doesn’t get into caves much as a rule.’

‘It depends on the cave,’ Mina said. ‘Paolo and I explored the ones in the cliff near Andon a lot when we were children. If they’re open to the outside, they all get light to some extent, although how far in it comes depends on the season and where the cave’s located.’

‘Well, if they all get some light, how can we find one where no light penetrates?’

Mina grinned weakly at Luka. ‘If you’d let me finish … I was going to say, the only exception is when you get a cave going off another cave. If it’s at the back of another one, the light never reaches that far. Unless the first cave’s pretty small.’

Sofia rocked back to a sitting position and hugged herself for warmth. ‘And that’s a good thing? Doesn’t it make our search harder? Yes, we know we’ve got to go higher, but now we’re going to have to check every cave to see if it leads somewhere else.’

Mina stood up and walked around Sofia to their shelter’s entrance, looking out at the night sky. ‘There has to be something else. But I can’t think of anything in the monster story.’

‘Are you sure there’s nothing in the other story?’ Luka asked. ‘The one about the princesses?’

‘Do you know it?’ Mina asked.

He shook his head. ‘There wasn’t much time for stories when I was growing up.’ He looked away.

Mina turned back to face him. ‘Well, a minstrel comes to a kingdom and gradually steals all the talents of the king’s daughters, like music and singing and juggling and so on. Then he kidnaps all the daughters and hides them away and when the king dies, he takes over the kingdom. Only the storytelling princess is left, locked in a circular chamber. The minstrel lives forever, although I don’t think the story ever explains how he does that, and it’s implied the princess does too, but as all the years pass, no one remembers she was once a princess or that her stories …’

‘… might be telling everyone the truth,’ Sofia finished. She sighed. ‘I’ve gone over the wording of both stories. There’s absolutely nothing else that might help us find the right cave.’

‘We might not even be looking in the right place. Have you seen the size of these mountains?’ Luka asked, his face so mournful the other two both burst into laughter.

‘There aren’t many places you can find a way up the Fureys,’ Sofia said. ‘Mostly it’s too dangerous. Where we began is really the only path that goes any distance toward the summit.’ She joined Mina at the cave’s entrance and gazed out over the night-softened landscape.

‘The thing is,’ she continued, thinking it through as she spoke, ‘no one ever comes here because of the stories about the shadow monsters. So no one uses the paths. We forget where our stories come from, and we take them as truths, but sometimes they hide the truth in plain sight. What if the cave is just near the main path? It wouldn’t have to be hidden any more than that, because nobody uses the path anymore. Fear keeps everyone away.’

Wrapping her cloak tight around her, she turned back and took Mina’s elbow, gesturing toward the floor. ‘We should rest now, then begin our search in the morning. I think we’re on the right path.’

The three travellers huddled together against the back of the cave, watching the night creep into the cracks and crevices of the cave. They made a dismal meal from their travel provisions. With no knowledge of how long their search might take, everything had to be rationed carefully. Afterward, they whispered quietly of possibilities until the dark wore away their wakefulness. Sofia was the first to fall asleep. Mina leaned against Luka, her forehead against his cheek.

‘Tell me the story of the princesses, Mina,’ he asked, and she did. At one point she felt a dampness on her face, and thought he might be weeping, but it was too dark to tell.

~

Dawn arrived early at this height. They stumbled up the mountain for most of the day. When all trace of grass disappeared from the side of the path, they tried to rejoice that they were past all growing things, but the cold sat deep in their bones and the thinning air left them weary. There were fewer caves at this height, which made the search easier, but at the same time their absence eroded the travellers’ hope little by little. Though it seemed to take forever, eventually the craggy peaks of the mountain loomed close overhead, deadly looking shafts of rock they would have no hope of climbing. Soon they would not be able to go any further.

Progress was very slow, since the thinness of the atmosphere robbed them of all energy. They all began to feel there was no other state than tiredness, and no other emotion than despair. They tried to encourage each other to keep going, but their words passed fleetingly, because breath was scarce. After a while only their jagged gasps for air punctuated the silence.

From the dimming light, it seemed close to dusk when they came upon a sloping field of shale. At first glance it seemed easily managed after the steeper paths they’d walked earlier in the day. Sofia stepped onto it first, but after only a few paces she slid backward. Luka tried next. He was slender as a sapling, and light on his feet, yet he could only manage a few steps beyond Sofia. The shallowness of the slope was no indicator of its difficulty. Even had it been flat they would hardly have made better progress because it shifted endlessly and they could gain no traction.

Luka suggested they unburden themselves of their supplies to increase the chance of moving up the field of shale. Slowly, dragging their limbs, they built a cairn of rocks to protect their food stores from birds or whatever strange, desolate creatures might live in this barren landscape. Then they tried again to tackle the shifting carpet of rock.

For a good hour they all attempted different techniques. Stepping sideways, crawling, even lying on their bellies and wriggling upward. Some allowed better progress than others, but at the end of that time they were still at the bottom of the gentle slope that might as well have been an impossible cliff, and too exhausted to keep trying. Discouraged almost to the point of despair, they returned to the cairn of hidden food and prepared supper with their dwindling supplies. They talked little as the night crept in around them, only the necessities of communication to prepare a meal.

Their exhaustion was a good thing because after they had eaten they had barely huddled together when sleep overcame them all. It was a strange thing. Normally they were careful about finding at least a small cave to shelter in, after dousing their fire and cleaning their gear, but the need for sleep seemed too compelling to worry about such things. Even Luka, who often lay awake gazing at the moon for hours at night, was unconscious in a short time.

It was the moon that woke him. Full and huge, it lit the mountainside like strange white sunlight. Sofia had rolled away a little and was lying face down, her cheek pressed to the rock on which she slept. Mina lay on her back, one arm flung out, the other curled in against Luka. He rolled onto his side to look at her. Such glances were cautious, rationed, during the day, because he did not want to make her uncomfortable, but now he could drink his fill. Then Mina opened her eyes. Luka pulled back, startled, but she did not see him or speak to him. She lay there, her gaze directed upward.

‘Mina?’ he whispered, and she didn’t move at the sound of his voice. Luka sat up, hugging his knees to his chest. Despite the thick wool cloaks they all wore, night on the mountain was unbearable without shelter. Why had they fallen asleep without considering this? A low moaning filled the air as the wind began to increase. Luka thought he should wake the others. It was already bitingly cold. If the wind grew too fierce they would be in serious danger, especially if it heralded a storm. Before he could move or speak, he noticed a light shimmering on the path up to the shale field. Standing, he walked toward it, his legs stiff from the unwieldy rock bed. The light was as tall as a person, and soft as moonlight. When he approached, it withdrew, drawing him up the path. He followed, his pace picking up as his waking body became more responsive.

Rounding the corner, he found himself at the shale field again. The light hovered at the field’s edge, and as he watched, it coalesced and Mina was standing there.

‘How did you …?’ he began, looking over his shoulder, confused. Mina raised one finger to her lip to silence him. She wore only petticoats and a chemise, though a moment ago he had seen her fully dressed and wrapped in her cloak.

Mina lifted a hand and pulled the chemise from her shoulder, laying it bare in a clear motion of offer. ‘Isn’t this what you want?’ She smiled, her gaze lingering on his.

‘How are you doing this?’ Luka demanded. ‘You’re asleep.’

The moonlight Mina beckoned for him to come closer. He took one cautious step, then another, noting without surprise that he could see through her.

‘You can have all you want,’ she whispered to him, sliding the chemise from her other shoulder. Her hand continued to sweep across her chest. ‘Come to me, Luka.’ Her voice, low and deep, was a promise.

He moved closer, almost at the shale now. As soon as he did, the girl of light retreated up the slope, just a fraction. Luka became aware of a presence behind him, but it was becoming difficult to think straight. Mina held out a hand to him. He raised his in response, taking another step. There was a footstep behind him, then another.

‘You fear you will never have what you dream of, don’t you?’ Mina whispered. ‘Why should that be? Why do others get to take what they want while you are left with only the longing?’

Luka found himself nodding. His whole life it seemed unbearable longing had walked beside him, making him wish for the impossible, making him aware always of how his life fell short.

‘But now you can have what you desire …’ the ghost girl tempted.

He stepped onto the shale. It shifted a little but held steady in a way it had not during the day. After he had taken several steps up, the footsteps behind him crunched onto the shifting ground too. Luka didn’t question how he could walk up the slope now, step after step, when it had been impossible during the day. His thoughts were only of Mina and what she was offering.

‘I will be yours,’ she said, and he followed.

His steps felt sure, the ground solid. Although the footsteps behind him continued, he was no longer aware of them. Mina was before him, glowing and beautiful, her eyes fixed on his. He would follow her wherever she might lead, he knew.

‘Luka?’

The voice, soft and sweet, broke into his dream walk for only one reason. He turned and looked back. How could this be possible? Mina stood at the bottom of the slope. She looked puzzled.

‘Sofia?’

Luka blinked and looked to his left. Sofia also stood on the shale, a step or two below him. She too was startled by Mina’s voice. Luka turned to look back up the slope, searching for Mina’s moonlight self. She was gone, and his tiny movement caused the ground underneath him to shift so quickly; only years of acrobatics training and a profound ease with his physicality stopped him tumbling forward onto his face.

‘What are you two doing? How did you get halfway up the slope?’

Luka and Sofia looked at each other, then at their feet. Cautiously, Luka peered over his shoulder. Though the path ahead had seemed straight as he followed the lure of the moonlight Mina, he seemed to have been trekking across the shale on a diagonal.

‘I thought I saw …’ he began, but shame stopped him saying more. Fully awake now, he knew what he had seen had not been Mina.

‘I suddenly knew the way …’ Sofia began.

‘It was a moving light …’ they both said together.

‘You were in a trance,’ Mina told them.

Luka felt subtle shifts in the shale beneath his feet. He willed himself to be as still as possible as stones slid over each other and fell down the slope.

‘Whatever it was, we are here, further up than we came before.’

Sofia looked ahead. When she finally