Chapter 274: Intercept course
Varidia shivered as her mind kept wandering back to the moment the raider had reached her house. She tried to push the memory away, but it wouldn't let her, and she saw how the carded sword slashed through her dau-
A wave of soulforce rammed into her mind, the music sad, deep, and melancholic. It forced all thoughts from her as she bolted upright in the bed, staring at the ship's wall before her. She heard the others exclaim and mutter things, but she couldn't catch anything they said. All she could do was listen and feel as the soulforce in the small room flowed in tandem with the beautiful sound that was starting to become clear to her ears.
What… who….
Her mind kept trying to conjure haunting images, but the song's haunting sound seemed to wash them away before they could take hold, and for the first time since they were saved, she got out of bed. Swaying on her feet, she felt the bark on her back taut from where the wounds were still healing, but she ignored it as she stumbled to the door.
There was a cry from one of the others, but she ignored it as she opened the door- the soulforce all around, normally faint and softy humming, was surging like the sea during a storm.
Who can do this? she thought as she stumbled through the ship's hallway, barely noticing the doors that opened as the other smiths came out.
The sound of an instrument began joining the voices; two, deep and rumbling as they intertwined in a wordless song, and a half dozen others creating higher notes. A part of her recognized those- Ganvil voices, the metallic twang in them something she had heard before, but the other two she couldn't pinpoint. One could be a Ganvil, but if it was, there was something different to his voice.
She barely noticed as she reached the top of the stairs, and as she opened the door, her mouth fell open as the concentration of soulforce seemed to skyrocket to an amount she'd never heard of before. She could sense it all around her and hear it as it seemed to boost the song's haunting melody. How long she stood there, gaping and seeing nothing as she felt the soulforce ripple and hum.
Then, the song gained a hopeful, empowering quality, and the two singing voices increased in power. The ship deck below her bare feet trembled, and she looked around as she felt someone gently push her out onto the deck.
Four Ganvils stood in the center of the deck, smiths behind them. Waves of soulforce rippled from all of them, and the density of soulforce in their immediate area was so dense that she couldn't sense their presence. It took her a moment to move her attention away from the soulforce and to the smiths.
She recognized three Granitians, tall and powerfully built, and one… Loydin? No, that wasn't right.
A Fiz'rin, she thought, recognizing the rare species.