The Canticle of Whispers (7 page)

But in Naru, they were everywhere. Some glittered beneath her feet, barely larger than a fingernail, others covered whole caverns with splendor. No two were the same; they were of every color and shape, but all shared a kind of shifting translucence. Stepping into a whole cavern lined with them was an unsettling experience, as though the solid rock around her was dissolving into smoke.

But that wasn't the oddest thing about the crystals. She hadn't discovered that until she had tried to sleep.

The crystals whispered.

They were very quiet, too faint to understand, like the distant babble of the Cacophony. But in the silence, she could hear them, the sound rising and falling like a million echoes a long way away.

“Can't we get moving again?” she asked, testily, trying to conceal her unease. Septima didn't bother to look at her.

“Not until we've examined this one,” she said, still gazing intensely at the egg-shaped crystal, which pulsed faintly in the light of her lamp.

Lily shifted. She was sure that she could hear more whispering coming from this amber gem, but her ears could just be playing tricks.

“What's so special about these crystals anyway?” she asked, trying to cover her unease.

Septima turned around, her expression smug.

“Shall we tell her?” she asked Tertius. He shrugged, sourly.

“I'll show her. This one is good to look at, but it's too garbled to be useful.”

Septima giggled in delight. She was clearly enjoying knowing more than Lily. Lily refused to rise to her bait.

“You wanted to know how we know so many facts about the world above, when we've never seen it?” Septima asked. “Come here, and put your ear to this crystal.”

Lily approached, tentatively. The smooth gemstone seemed to be glowing with its own light. Tertius noticed her hesitation, and smirked.

“It isn't hot. We shine our lanterns on these crystals, and they take in the light, but not the fire.”

Tentatively, Lily bent her head, and pressed her ear up against the crystal's smooth surface.

“What am I supposed to…?” she began, but Septima shushed her.

Tertius began to sing.

When speaking, his voice had been harsh. But now, it emerged in a sweet, high series of notes—no real words, just an oddly haunting melody. Lily was so surprised that she didn't move, keeping her ear against the crystal. For a moment or two, all she could hear was Tertius's voice, resonating inside the crystal, gaining overtones that hummed and sparkled.

Then, suddenly, she began to hear words. But these weren't coming from Tertius. This was a different voice altogether, swimming up from the depths of the crystal.

She recognized this new voice. It was her own.

What's so special about that crystal?

She pulled her head back in surprise. Tertius stopped singing and laughed, but Septima cleared her throat in an exaggerated way.

“These crystals rule our lives,” she said, as if reciting a lesson. “Something about them allows them to resonate for years, maybe even centuries. We think that every word spoken, every sound made in the world above is captured by seams of crystal in the stone beneath your lands.” She traced a path across the rock wall, revealing a line of glittering stone leading up to the crystal. “And the resonance builds, passing from crystal to crystal, until it reaches the caves of Naru. After that, it's only a question of sifting through the noise to find the secrets. Every crystal unlocks new treasures for us.”

As if to demonstrate, Septima sung a sudden top note, bright and clear, and the crystal rang in response, its light growing. At first, Lily heard only a burst of unintelligible echoes—like a crowd far away. Septima changed notes, singing up and down a scale. As she did, some of the voices faded away, and others rose to the surface.

Don't be offended by being called a rat, my friends,…

A man, making a speech.

You going to order a drink or what?

Another man, sour and ratty.

All my life I've been a prize, used by other people. Not anymore.

A woman. Lily craned forward; she was sure she recognized that voice. If she could just listen for a few seconds more …

Septima stopped singing. Almost instantly, the voice faded into nothingness, and the light within the crystal guttered and failed.

“Of course, sometimes all you get is nonsense,” Septima said, airily, apparently not noticing Lily's disappointment. “But find the right crystals, and you might hear anything ever spoken in the lands above.”

Lily marveled. Back in Agora, the Director would have longed for a tool as powerful as this. To be able to listen in on any conversation ever held, any word ever uttered. It was extraordinary, amazing.

No, she realized. It was terrifying.

“
Anything
?” she said, aghast. Tertius scratched his chin, nonchalantly.

“Well, in a lot of the crystals, most of the echoes are too faint to hear, of course,” he said. “The best ones are back at the Hub. Out here you usually only get little pieces of worthwhile knowledge.”

“Speaking of worthwhile knowledge,” Septima said, turning her back on the crystal. “That was a lot of answers we just gave you, and I don't remember you answering many questions for a while. You'd better tell us something new soon, Wonder.” She frowned. “Anyway, there's nothing worth listening to here anymore. Let's go.”

And completely ignoring the crystal that had so fascinated her moments ago, Septima strode from the cave, leaving Lily even more confused.

After that, Tertius and Septima were unusually hostile for the rest of the day. Lily tried talking to them, but they had soon wrung her dry of trivial facts about Agora, and the more time she spent with them, the less keen she was to share anything more personal. And as soon as she stopped talking, their interest began to wane.

For three days after that, they were sullen and moody. But it wasn't until they awoke on the eleventh day that either of them would say what was wrong.

“I don't think much of this wonder anymore, Tertius,” Septima announced, suddenly, as they were eating. “She hasn't told us anything new for a while. Why do you want to keep feeding her?”

Lily swallowed in alarm, not sure whether to be frightened or insulted. Tertius smiled, enigmatically.

“You need patience. She'll reveal more if we give her time. She's one of the Orchestra, remember? They're not like us.”

“You've mentioned the Orchestra before,” Lily said, anxious to change the subject. “Who are they?”

Septima glared.

“Questions, questions, all the time, and never any knowledge to pay for it,” she said, darkly, and then rolled her eyes. “The Orchestra! You know … up there.” She waved her hand toward the stone ceilings. “The world above. The Orchestra provides the music, while the Choir,” she gestured to herself and Tertius, “sings the song. You can have that for nothing, that's common knowledge.” She sniggered. “You're right, you know; she's pretty tuneless.”

Tertius began to giggle. After that, Lily couldn't get any sense out of them for an age. Every time they looked at her, they dissolved into laughter.

On the twelfth day, she decided to put her foot down.

“Where are we going?” she asked, suddenly. Tertius looked back, an expectant look on his face. Lily sighed. “All right, you want some knowledge first?” She took a breath. “The village of Aecer is the nearest Gisethi village to Agora, and its leader, the Speaker Bethan, used to be the village's tale-spinner. Now can I ask a question?”

Tertius pulled a face.

“What's a tale-spinner?”

Lily felt her fists clenching in frustration.

“A tale-spinner is something between a teacher and a storyteller. And that's all you're getting until you tell me where we're going!”

Tertius exchanged glances with Septima, brushing his long white hair out of his eyes.

“We're running away,” he said, as if she were simple. “Away. Not toward anything. We'd hoped to find a wonder, but since that didn't turn out right,” he looked down his nose at her, “we'll just have to keep going until we find another one.”

“And what will you do if you find one?” Lily asked, used to ignoring the insults by now.

Septima looked at her nails, thoughtfully, pointedly refusing to answer. Lily leaned back against the wall. How could she make this work?

“Tell me, have you two ever heard of the Midnight Charter?”

Septima's head snapped up.

“What do you know about that?” she said suspiciously.

Lily smiled.

“Quite a lot, considering I'm mentioned in it. And I'm willing to share.”

Tertius frowned, and leaned closer to Septima. He whispered, but because he had to whisper loud enough for Septima to hear without getting too close, Lily also heard every word.

“That's top quality information. Only the Oracle knows about the Charter.”

“She could be lying,” Septima replied with a glare. “You can't trust the Orchestra—everyone knows that.” Tertius pulled on his hair in frustration.

“She needs us. Think! If we found out something the Oracle didn't know…”

“Who's the Oracle?” Lily asked.

There was a stunned silence. Septima looked as though her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

“The Oracle is … the Oracle,” she said, stupefied. “She knows everything. They say, if you can tell her something she doesn't know, she'll reveal every secret in the world.”

Lily smiled. Finally, a plan had presented itself.

“All right, this is the deal,” she said, stepping closer to them to make them uneasy. “You take me to the Oracle, and before I tell her my secrets, I'll tell you. Then we share the truth. Deal?”

Tertius and Septima exchanged glances again.

“You could be lying,” Tertius stated, flatly.

“What have I got to lose?” Lily replied, keeping her voice level. She couldn't back down now. This Oracle sounded like a much better place to start finding answers than these two.

Septima breathed out.

“It had better be worth it,” she said. “We'll take the Rails. The Conductor won't expect us to come that way.”

Tertius nodded, wrapping up the last of the food.

“It's a few days' walk away. Come on, Wonder.”

Decisively, he set off.

“Can I ask just one more question?” Lily said as she followed. Septima glared.

“What?” she said, peevishly.

“What are the Rails?”

Septima's lips curled into a smug grin.

“Something you'll never forget,” she said.

*   *   *

Three days later, they reached the Rails.

At first, they didn't look too impressive—nothing more than two parallel metal tracks, running down the center of a flat tunnel.

“Is this it?” Lily asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Septima nodded distractedly.

“The rails run all through the tunnels out here,” she explained. “They even go as far as the edge of the Cacophony, near where we found you.”

“Well, I have to say,” Lily mumbled as they continued down the tunnel, “I wouldn't call these unforgettable…”

As they progressed, Lily noticed that the tunnels were growing wider and more regular. The air in the tunnel began to stir, blowing strands of her dark hair across her face. Then, she heard the noise. A whirring, clanking sound, quite unlike the eerie echoes of the Cacophony. Ahead, Lily began to make out a cold glow of light.

“Hush,” Tertius said, suddenly, looking down. His dark eyes were hard, and serious. “We're about to get to the Rail Nexus,” he said. “Follow us. Don't speak; don't draw any attention. Do exactly what we do. And remember, you owe us for this.”

Lily nodded, keeping her mouth shut.

Then, with alarming swiftness, Tertius and Septima bounded forward, into the light. Surprised, Lily raced forward, toward the mouth of the cavern—and stopped dead.

The cavern was huge, stretching so far up that it almost looked like a sky. Up in the roof, Lily could see huge lumps of crystal, glowing with their own inner light, casting a strange, bluish radiance over the entire cavern. All around the edges, Lily could see people, dressed in the same garish colors as Tertius and Septima. But the most striking thing about the cavern, the thing that took her breath away, was that it was filled from top to bottom with a vast array of spinning, whirring, and interlocking clockwork gears.

Ahead, behind a large cluster of machinery, Lily could see Septima beckoning to her. She darted a look around, but the other figures seemed to be distracted, tending to their enormous contraption. As she hurried across to her companions, Lily couldn't suppress a shudder. She had seen a mass of clockwork like this only once before, in the cellar of a secret house back in Agora. And there, her life had been threatened by a madman.

“What—?” Lily began, but Septima shushed her, and pointed deeper into the machinery. Lily squinted. In the depths of the clockwork, she could make out a series of shapes, like oddly shaped carts. Inside one of them, she spotted a flash of white. Tertius's hair, she was sure of it.

“After you,” Septima said, gesturing toward a ladder, propped up against the side of the machine. Grimly, Lily took hold, and began to climb.

Unsteadily, she reached the cart. It was larger than it had looked from the ground, and even contained a few seats. Tertius shrank away from her as she stepped in, and Septima gracefully hopped in behind her, one hand on a large lever at the back. Lily glanced up at the clockwork spinning around them, and then peered over the side. Sure enough, the cart's wheels were slotted into a pair of thick, metallic rails.

“You might want to sit down,” Septima said. Lily turned back to look at her, opening her mouth. But before she had a chance to ask, or even move, Septima shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said, and pulled the lever.