Chapter Text
Warm rain splashed along the bay of Kasitor as Garith crouched between his squires, watching the stormwall approach their location. They lurked a short ways off of the beach; Ronen would’ve complained about the sand otherwise. The wind was beginning to pick up as if in anticipation. Granted, they still needed to find their targets.
A group of Singers had been seen moving about the bay. With no idea how Singers managed to arrive otherwise unseen this deep into the heart of human territory, Melishi and the Bondsmith squires told Garith to deal with them discretely. No matter, Garith could dispatch an entire platoon of Singers without breaking much of a sweat, and the twins hadn’t left the Tower since they arrived. Of course it was up to Garith; it wasn’t like Melishi had any eye for battle or stealth or socializing or…storms he needed to focus or this list could go on for hours. The Bondsmiths were becoming more and more unwilling to leave the Tower for reasons he and his squires were also becoming more and more unwilling to share with his fellow knights. Storms knew if Garith tried to pull his weight and hid in the tower as often as Melishi did the Singers would’ve overrun the planet by now.
It isn’t fair to speak so ill of him, Roa chided him along their bond. He is-
“The sole Bondsmith of our generation bearing so heavy a burden he cannot be bothered to lift a finger?” Garith mused under his breath. Beside him, his squire Ronen tried and failed to suppress his laughter, earning an elbow to the ribs from his twin sister Rivka. Both were still in the awkward years of adolescence, and growing too quickly.
Quiet. Focus on the task at hand. Her hands flew quickly through the signs in her annoyance.
I wasn’t even being that loud! Tell her! Ronen looked to Garith, pleading with his brown eyes. Rivka’s identical set called for penance.
You were practically screaming. I’m surprised the Singers haven’t found us from your noise, Garith signed with a grin. A crack of thunder overhead drew both of their attention for a moment. Ronen signed an explanation to his sister before turning his attention back towards the bay.
He wasn’t that loud was he? Rivka signed, tilting her head to indicate it was a question.
I am aware of what the head tilt means!, Roa folded her arms across her chest. Melishi certainly lifted a finger to help you with her language. Would that I shared such knowledge.
“You could always ask an Inkspren for assistance,” Garith suggested, signing along as he spoke. Her expression was lethal, though she remained as a sprite instead of turning into a sword and stabbing him; Garith was almost certain that would be how he would die. He smiled at her and Roa flicked his nose before she zipped over to Rivka’s shoulder.
I will keep with her and alert her if anything sneaks upon her, Roa huffed down the bond as she sat. Rivka swept one of her black braids over her shoulder away from the spren the way one swept away food from a cremling.
“You know she doesn’t want a babysitter,” Garith sighed as he signed.
I hate it when she does this, Rivka signed. He’d never seen her flick her hand in such a dramatic fashion; ‘loathe’ might be the better translation. Roa made an indignant noise of acknowledgment at his clarification on the sign, mimicking the motion to herself.
Hey, Garith? Ronen signed, his right hand held the pointer finger extended as he slid it forward along his extended left palm. An alteration to the sign for “nice” where the letter G-
I know the letter G. I’m not this helpless! Why couldn’t she have made mine interesting like yours? Roa’s face squished up in annoyance. She was still mad Rivka named her with an alteration to the sign for ‘honor’ and not after Honor despite Garith’s repeated explanations that Roa couldn’t dictate what sign made up her name. Garith mirrored her expression back at her before turning to Ronen.
Are those the Singers we’re looking for? Ronen pointed towards a building along the far side of the bay. Garith could just make out a fishmonger at his stall, who by the looks of him had never seen a Singer. His back pressed against the wall clutching his catch against his chest as if it were a shield. It was hard to tell what forms the Singers wore from this distance; two were covered in spiked armor, probably Warform. Granted, most of the Singers he dealt with wore Warformor Workform, he was no expert on their forms. He had never seen the form the one in the center of them wore, hardly any armor-like carapace. They seemed to be making demands of the fishmonger. Mateform, maybe? He knew there was one, but had never actually seen it. Though he’d heard it made them uncharacteristically…frisky.
Looks like it, but I can’t figure out their forms from here, Garith signed. “The Skybreakers will court-martial me if I take two unsworn squires within striking distance of Singers. I’m afraid you three need to stay here. Roa, they’re both good with shortswords,” Garith signed and spoke as he rose to his feet. “Rivka, at least consider swearing the first if they kill me. Roa is an acquired taste.”
“Why can’t I?” Ronen protested aloud. Garith sighed and looked towards the oncoming highstorm, trying to find the right words.
Ronen was not going to become a Windrunner, it had taken Garith all of five minutes to figure that out. The twins were young and green; barely three months into their squireship and only fifteen years in the Cosmere. They’d refused to be separated upon their arrival. The Edgedancers wanted to take both siblings, but Rivka refused to join their order, refused to speak to them even. Garith had been called in by the Skybreakers as the only available captain capable of understanding Rivka.
Fortune had prepared him for that day and he took them on as his squires. Garith had taken a liking to Rivka almost immediately; she had the kind of temerity only Windrunners appreciated properly. Ronen might also have it in him with some coaxing, however, he had his heart set on swearing his Second within his first year of squireship. Honorspren did not bond children, nor did Highspren, Ashspren, or Peakspren. Cryptics did, but Ronen had accepted the truth about himself long before he’d arrived and none had expressed an interest. Rivka on the other hand was content to remain a squire all her days.
And just like that Garith said goodbye to his perfect record of squires becoming Radiant. He hardly minded; the alternative was turning the two back over to their parents who’d sent their children to war. Damnation would be too gentle a fate for them. Though perhaps he was being harsh. Both of his own parents had been Radiants; he’d been raised in the Tower and squired for his father. This was the only life he’d ever known, who was he to judge people he’d never met? That was the realm of Skybreakers.
“You can only bond one spren in your life,” Garith said, cautiously. “Are you certain an Honorspren will lead you on the path that’s best for you?” Ronen shrunk in on himself, and Garith patted his shoulder. He turned to find Rivka glaring at him, angerspren bubbling about her feet.
Somethings are best said privately, Rivka. You know I do not keep any information from you that you need to know. Garithsigned. He was met with a vulgar reply, and had to fight the urge to hug her.
You do always like a challenge. Roa remarked.
Challenges like me more. Garith took in a deep breath, feeling stormlight fill his lungs. Looks like it’s just us, babysitter’s busy. Garith felt his armorspren materialize around him, turning his plate the colors of the storm rolling across the sky, and he got the sense they were amused.
Do you still want me to speak to Mayalaran about the boy? Roa asked as Garith lashed himself towards the sky. The winds weren’t on his side and he debated dismissing his plate from the drag it was causing. The Singers weren’t expecting him, and hopefully their eyes would remain grounded until he sorted out a way to take out three …Weirdforms without his blade.
If she would at least consider him, I know it’s soon after her other knight passed. Garith dismissed his plate and immediately felt the sting of the wind against his face. He moved much faster as he closed the distance between him and the fishmonger.
I’ll see what I can do. I agree with your assessment that a Cultivationspren is his best option. If you make me befriend another Inkspren I’m severing the bond immediately. Why do you damage their Radiants and fly off and leave me to smooth things over with their spren?
We need to work on interorder fraternization-
Is that what we’re calling the sleeping around now? “Fraternization”? Did you not learn your lesson on that from the Skybreaker?
No, not like that. I meant that seeing as you’re going to outlive me by an eternity-
I hate when you say such things.
It’s better if you’re the one to build the bridges, alright? Radiants are castles in the sand, Spren are towers built out of stone.
Where is this Garith when the squires can hear? Roa tutted.
Rivka doesn’t like it when I only speak aloud, Garith said as he touched down a street over from the shop. While he was by no means a stranger to stealth, they were not friends. He had barely cleared the corner of the shop when he felt the air charge around him and three sets of glowing red eyes pivot towards him. Rain pattered along the roof above them, a steady beat keeping time with his own heart.
These were not Warforms nor Workforms. Garith had never seen Singers wearing forms like these, the carapace was far bumpier and thinner than he would have anticipated. There was also the lightning, that was absolutely new and not at all frightening. It crackled along their hands as the Singers stared at him. This form obscured their faces, they were always hard to read, but he thought it best to keep distance between himself and the lightning. Garith held his hands up, and looked towards the other Weirderform. Hers was completely unsuitable for battle, the carapace along her cheeks looked thin enough he could sweep it away with his hands. This was probably Mateform given that she looked closer to a human woman than any Singer he’d ever seen. Her white gown clung to her skin unlike the clothing the others wore, and it had already become translucent in the rain. He took note of the intricacies of the carapace along her stomach and the black swirls about her otherwise red sternum. No markings he recognized on any of them. He had not had the pleasure of meeting them before. The Weirdforms he could dispatch but he was not going to risk harming the Mateform; the Skybreakers were already looking for any reason to punish him. Storms, if he killed a pregnant Singer? They’d make a martyr of her and call for all out war.
“You are a long way from your lands,” Garith tilted his head to the side as he looked at each of them in turn. She considered his words for a moment and he imagined them floating in the air in his language to switch to her language before they found her ears. Melishi could explain it better, had in fact done so multiple times, but all the investiture in the Cosmere couldn’t make Melishi’s words interesting. Garith often left their meetings feeling like he’d just left a lecture.
“You are a world away from yours,” the Mateform sneered. Garith smiled and gestured to the fishmonger.
“I count two humans, plus the dozen or so Windrunners I have stationed across the bay,” Garith thumbed over his shoulder, the rain making it hard to see much in the distance. Roa assured him down the bond that the twins were bickering over if they should stay put or find a better spot to watch from. “And only three Singers. Perhaps you would like to reconsider your words? I know your kind don’t find any particular meaning in them, but we tend to choose ours very carefully.”
“Did you swear an oath to be pompous?” Her head tilted to the side, her voice humming in that rhythmic way he thought meant she was annoyed. “Or was your oath to be a whitespine wearing a chull’s shell?”
“Close, actually. I swore to be a handsome chull. And you are infiltrating human lands in a form made of glass,” Garithsmiled as the Fishmonger disappeared into the back of his shop and out of harms way.
“You will break faster than I will,” she smiled, and he got the sense that talking was over as the two Weirdforms lunged for him. Garith side stepped the one only for the other to wrap his spiked arms tightly around Garith’s waist. Barbs of carapace dug into the skin along his stomach, but failed to find purchase as his now transparent plate materialized around him. The Weirdform frowned, bashing into his armor again to no avail. Garith lashed himself skyward as the air distorted around them. A bolt of red lightning struck into his chest, the force of it knocking the wind out of him even with his plate. Storms. Garith reached a hand up to smooth his frazzled hair. These were going to be trickier than Warforms, their motions were more fluid, but hit just as hard. The other Weirdform widened his stance as he began to charge the air around them, the same distortion appeared again. Garith dove towards him, and the Weirdform abandoned his charge, swinging his fist towards Garith instead. Garith grabbed his attacker’s wrist as he dropped to the ground, applying a lashing as he flung the creature into an arc across the sky. A splash echoed upwards from the bay a few heartbeats later.
The remaining Weirdform shrieked as it loosed a bolt of its lightning into his chest. Garith saw the distortion too late and stumbled backwards from the impact, smoothing his hair away from his eyes. Storms, should he summon Roa and end this? Warform Singers were never this much trouble. While he considered, the Singer tackled him to the ground, pounding his spiked fists over and over into Garith’s exposed face. Blood oozed and pooled around his mouth until Garith grabbed hold of the Weirdform’s wrist, shoving it away from his face. The windspren swarmed up to reform his helm. Red lightning crackled again along the creature’s hand distorting the air. Garith pulled his knees up to his chest, kicking into the Singer’s stomach. He applied a lashing that sent the Weirdform sliding along the ground away from him. The Singer landed with a crack, several bits of spiky carapace shattering along the rocky ground. Garith had barely gotten to his feet when the Weirdform lunged for him again. Another quick lashing on his shoulder, and the Weirdform soared towards the corner of the building. His head hit the wall hard. Bone snapped. He fell limply into a puddle along the ground.
“Moash!” The Mateform cried out as she rushed towards his body. As he watched, the distortion occurred again. Garithonly had a moment to react, and sent his armorspren racing forward, encasing her. He yanked her by her forearm towards him. They stumbled backwards together as she tried to shake free of his grip through teary eyes, but he pulled her to him. Lightning struck out from the Weirdform’s corpse catching along her plate, the force knocked her into him. The pair fell to the ground together, laying there for a moment with their limbs entangled. If she were a human woman, the way her hips pressed against his would have been a pleasant experience. His armorspren crawling down from her to encase him again as the smell of char and blood swirled in the air around them. The Mateform stared at him wide-eyed as Garithuntangled their limbs, all but shoving her off of him as he sat up. Something warm and wet spread across his chest and he looked downwards. A knife stuck out of his heart.
“Voidbringer,” she breathed and scrambled backwards on all fours trying to put as much distance as possible between them. Garith dislodged the knife, trying to recall when he’d stopped panicking over the sight of his own blood. His first battle? First knee scrape as a child? It never mattered, his skin had already knit the wound together and all he had to remember it by was the knife. Not even an echo of pain lingered as he looked towards the Singer, handing back her knife.
“Are you alright? No harm to the babe or anything?”
“You killed them!” Her eyes watered and Garith blinked.
“The one I flung into the bay should be alright, the other one was a mistake-” Garith felt her knife make contact with the armor along his inner thigh. They stared at each other for a moment before he snatched the knife back from her. Better she not get any other ideas about places to stab him, that one had been too close for comfort. Garith lashed the knife into the bay. She scampered further back as if he were a thing to be feared.
“Do you even feel remorse or has Honor stripped emotions from you entirely?” The Singer hissed as she rose to a crouch, her skirt bunched oddly about her waist. There was a curve to her hips, accentuated by her carapace. He could sort of understand how that might attract attention.
“They attacked me first,” Garith snapped himself back from wherever those thoughts had been leading. “Fish your mate from the bay and run along back to your lands.”
“I will not be ordered around by a human,” the Singer bristled.
“I mean you no harm, for Honor’s sake I saved you!” Garith gestured towards the lightning still spiking around the corpse. “Does that not count for anything?”
“I should thank you for not killing me? What an honorable Voidbringer you are. Your devotion to your god blinds you as much as it binds you. You are going to lose this desolation.”
“We’re going to lose a desolation?” Garith snorted a laugh. “Tell me exactly how you plan to win a desolation that doesn’t exist.” Garith folded his arms across his chest and waited. The Singer mimicked his posture.
“I will not tell you our plans, only that a Desolation is coming,” her voice changed pitch again and something in him broke at the sound of it; he’d hurt her in some profound way. “Do you have brothers? Sisters?”
“No, orphan and an only child,” Garith blinked again, surprised at himself for saying as much. The Mateform blinked back at him before she hummed to another, stiffer rhythm.
“I should like to fight you.”
“I don’t think you can do much fighting in this form. This is the childbearing one isn’t it?” Garith furrowed his brows and gestured towards her. The Singer stared at him with much the same expression Melishi favored while he was wondering how Garith had ever reached adulthood without hearing some obscure Iriali fable. He found he liked this look better on her than Melishi.
“This is not Mateform. I have moved past such forms. We no longer kneel to Passion. I am an Envoy for our new goddess and herald of the desolation to come. We look forward to tearing your head from your shoulders.”
“Is that a promise?,” Garith smiled. “I will fight you anywhere, so long as you address me correctly as ‘the most honorable Voidbringer’. Your voice singing flattery will be my favorite.”
“‘The most irritating Voidbringer’,” the Envoyform rose to her feet, her voice speaking in an incredibly choppy tone. The highstorm swirled around them, rain pouring down from the sky. Garith stood.
“I look forward to fighting you when next we meet. I will be waiting on you until then,” Garith bowed his head to her. “Until we meet again, most odious Voidbringer.” Garith smirked and her posture stiffened.
“You are the Voidbringer.”
“Guess the victor gets the final say, we could settle this now if you like your odds against me in that form in a highstorm,” Garith smiled as he nodded towards the clouds above them, enjoying the feel of rain on his skin for a moment. “I didn’t mind your earlier attempt at grappling. I doubt I’ll mind this.”
“I am absolutely certain I could have bested you in childform,” she hummed in amusement.
“You wouldn’t have because I wouldn’t fight a child. Honorable,” Garith pressed both of his hands to his chest. “Odious.” Garith gestured to her to emphasize the word. She hummed for a moment, staring at him as if this was supposed to convey something to him. He got the sense she wanted to kill him, but given she’d stabbed him minutes ago that wasn’t exactly a hard guess. Garith rose up into the air. The Envoyform tilted her head to the side.
“Those who speak of what they do not know find too late that silence was the wiser choice,” the Envoyform said to another rhythm. Fury rolled off of her, and her eyes danced along his face as if she was memorizing his every feature. Garith found himself mesmerized by her eyes, pulsing red against a sea of black. He swallowed, trying to pull his gaze away from the intensity of hers, but couldn’t and they both stood there in the rain holding their breath, waiting for the other to speak. Her face was sharp, cheekbones layered with delicate red carapace. Silvery straight hair ran down and over the swell of her breasts, and along her brow red carapace spiked upwards in layers as if she wore a crown. Beautifully terrifying. Her red eyes remained fixed on him as he turned and lashed himself into the sky.
He touched down two streets over from where he left the twins and walked back to them trying to clear thoughts from his head.
Garith why did you kill the one and not the other? Rivka asked.
You don’t have to kill if you can incapacitate. Killing the one was an accident, Weirdforms explode when they die apparently. Garith signed as he nodded trying to get the image of the Envoyform out of his mind.
Why did you leave the tall one alone after she stabbed you? Ronen asked.
“She was in Mateform,” Garith spoke aloud as he signed.
It is unlike you to lie to the children about why you stayed you hand. Roa said down the bond, her nose scrunching in disapproval and Garith looked out over the bay.
“We should head back now. I’ll need to tell the Bondsmiths about…whatever that was,” Garith spoke to Roa as he signed. He pulled on his goggles, taking in a deep breath and letting stormlight fill his lungs again. Ronen and Rivka mimicked the motions, a faint blue glow swirled about them. Garith pointed upwards and signed instructions to the twins in regards to the height and angle of their lashings, and then they were off. Ronen and Rivka flew behind and beneath him, while Garith kept his eyes on navigation back to Rall Elorim.
About half an hour into their flight, Garith felt a tug from Ronen and turned towards him.
If I bond another sort of spren, would I still be able to fly? Ronen asked.
Honestly I am not sure. Every squire I have had has gone on to bond an Honorspren. I’m excited for you two to wreck my track record. Garith smiled.
I look forward to being you oldest squire. Rivka beamed.
In due time, Garith gestured for them to begin the their descent. He and Rivka landed on the oathgate. Ronen landed a few feet away and scurried over to them. Garith called Roa to him as a sword and transferred them to Urithiru, all the while trying to think about anything other than the Envoyform’s eyes.