A/N: Please note, this story is a SPOILER if you haven't read Abhorsen.
Please don't read it if you don't want to spoil the ending. Yrael and
Kibeth have always been my favorite characters and so little is known about
them. I thought I'd fill in a little for the Eighth. :)
Quite obviously I do not own these characters or the first half of the song. Yrael's addition (the last four lines) are of my own creation though in context of Garth Nix's wonderful vision.
In the beginning there were Nine. Seven of the Nine cherished life and order. And so, of course, One through Seven became life, death, and order. The Ninth, the Destroyer, opposed the Seven and was bound. Powerful but not powerful enough to single handedly conquer the Seven. Life conquered and moved on. But what of the Eighth? The Eighth stood alone and cared not for life nor death nor destruction. The Eighth stood alone in the dark until he was bound and even bound still he stood alone. The Eighth stood alone.
The flash of silver white ivory in the sun proclaimed death as well as beauty. A simple death, a small extinguished flame that went unnoticed by the majority of the world. But still a death. Such was the way of life. In this reality there was needed death to birth life and life to birth death. And the small white cat that sat by the river brooding over the small fish result of his efforts knew this.
"That's the Seven," He muttered under his breath in a strange sing-song voice. "But what of the Nine? What of the two who chose not to shine?"
On the word "not" he suddenly flicked his paw and a single talon, longer and sharper than any normal feline's should be sank into the fish and gutted it. The two green eyes glinted at the miniature carnage.
"The Eighth did hide, hide all away," The rhyme continued despite the tiny pink tongue that darted serpentine out across furred lips. "But the Seven caught him and made him pay."
Sharp needlepoint teeth and supernatural speed made short work of the scaly meal allowing the creature to once more turn to the river in search of better prey. More importantly, though, with mouth unhindered by food he could finish the once unfinished story.
"Bound by a collar like fire bound in a sphere," The song carried on as the water rushed by. Suddenly, though, the voice had lost the guttural purr of a cat and instead rose high and pure like the sound of bells tolling across a silent morning. "Freed at the moment of despair and of fear. The Eighth was freed and he made his choice. The Eighth joined the Seven and he too raised his voice."
And then the magic of the moment was lost and only a distant memory remained in the silent echoes of a time long gone by. The song was finished but the story would go on.
The Eighth bright shiner turned his attentions away from the river and began to drift away. His tiny white paws tracing a delicate path over the grass as the sound of life assailed him. As he went the blood remnant of his meal began to fade from his soft white fur until no trace of it lingered. He shone once again brighter than newly fallen snow. No more was the red collar that had once bound him.
To the casual observer he seemed only a small white cat trotting swiftly under the setting sun. But behind him he left the sound of something distant and faded. The sound of thunder and lightening and silver destruction. And over this sound, in soft overtones there still sang the song.
"I'll sing you a song of the long ago--
Seven shine the shiners, oh!
What did the Seven do way back when?
Why, they wove the Charter then!
Five for the warp, from beginning to end.
Two for the woof, to make and mend.
That's the Seven, but what of the Nine--
What of the two who chose not to shine?
The Eighth did hide, hide all away,
But the Seven caught him and made him pay.
The Ninth was strong and fought with might,
But lone Orannis was put out of the light,
Broken in two and buried under hill,
Forever to lie there, wishing us ill."
It was here that the song once stopped. It was here that the story was thought to end but did not for the Eighth bright shiner had been reconciled. For in the moment of greatest need in the moment of the rebirth of Orannis the Ninth known as the most powerful, the darkest, the Destroyer, the Eighth had come. Ages before when first the Ninth had risen the Eighth had not come and because of this the Seven bound him to a millennia upon millennia of servitude. But in the second rising he had answered.
Yrael, the Eighth of the Nine had answered when Life had seemed on the brink of destruction. When Life called for aid Yrael had come and he had been freed by those simple words: "I am Yrael," He had said to the Ninth, "I also stand against you." And so the song continued.
"And the Eighth bound by a collar like fire bound in a sphere,
Freed at the moment of despair and of fear.
The Eighth was freed and he made his choice.
The Eighth joined the Seven and he too raised his voice."
Quite obviously I do not own these characters or the first half of the song. Yrael's addition (the last four lines) are of my own creation though in context of Garth Nix's wonderful vision.
In the beginning there were Nine. Seven of the Nine cherished life and order. And so, of course, One through Seven became life, death, and order. The Ninth, the Destroyer, opposed the Seven and was bound. Powerful but not powerful enough to single handedly conquer the Seven. Life conquered and moved on. But what of the Eighth? The Eighth stood alone and cared not for life nor death nor destruction. The Eighth stood alone in the dark until he was bound and even bound still he stood alone. The Eighth stood alone.
The flash of silver white ivory in the sun proclaimed death as well as beauty. A simple death, a small extinguished flame that went unnoticed by the majority of the world. But still a death. Such was the way of life. In this reality there was needed death to birth life and life to birth death. And the small white cat that sat by the river brooding over the small fish result of his efforts knew this.
"That's the Seven," He muttered under his breath in a strange sing-song voice. "But what of the Nine? What of the two who chose not to shine?"
On the word "not" he suddenly flicked his paw and a single talon, longer and sharper than any normal feline's should be sank into the fish and gutted it. The two green eyes glinted at the miniature carnage.
"The Eighth did hide, hide all away," The rhyme continued despite the tiny pink tongue that darted serpentine out across furred lips. "But the Seven caught him and made him pay."
Sharp needlepoint teeth and supernatural speed made short work of the scaly meal allowing the creature to once more turn to the river in search of better prey. More importantly, though, with mouth unhindered by food he could finish the once unfinished story.
"Bound by a collar like fire bound in a sphere," The song carried on as the water rushed by. Suddenly, though, the voice had lost the guttural purr of a cat and instead rose high and pure like the sound of bells tolling across a silent morning. "Freed at the moment of despair and of fear. The Eighth was freed and he made his choice. The Eighth joined the Seven and he too raised his voice."
And then the magic of the moment was lost and only a distant memory remained in the silent echoes of a time long gone by. The song was finished but the story would go on.
The Eighth bright shiner turned his attentions away from the river and began to drift away. His tiny white paws tracing a delicate path over the grass as the sound of life assailed him. As he went the blood remnant of his meal began to fade from his soft white fur until no trace of it lingered. He shone once again brighter than newly fallen snow. No more was the red collar that had once bound him.
To the casual observer he seemed only a small white cat trotting swiftly under the setting sun. But behind him he left the sound of something distant and faded. The sound of thunder and lightening and silver destruction. And over this sound, in soft overtones there still sang the song.
"I'll sing you a song of the long ago--
Seven shine the shiners, oh!
What did the Seven do way back when?
Why, they wove the Charter then!
Five for the warp, from beginning to end.
Two for the woof, to make and mend.
That's the Seven, but what of the Nine--
What of the two who chose not to shine?
The Eighth did hide, hide all away,
But the Seven caught him and made him pay.
The Ninth was strong and fought with might,
But lone Orannis was put out of the light,
Broken in two and buried under hill,
Forever to lie there, wishing us ill."
It was here that the song once stopped. It was here that the story was thought to end but did not for the Eighth bright shiner had been reconciled. For in the moment of greatest need in the moment of the rebirth of Orannis the Ninth known as the most powerful, the darkest, the Destroyer, the Eighth had come. Ages before when first the Ninth had risen the Eighth had not come and because of this the Seven bound him to a millennia upon millennia of servitude. But in the second rising he had answered.
Yrael, the Eighth of the Nine had answered when Life had seemed on the brink of destruction. When Life called for aid Yrael had come and he had been freed by those simple words: "I am Yrael," He had said to the Ninth, "I also stand against you." And so the song continued.
"And the Eighth bound by a collar like fire bound in a sphere,
Freed at the moment of despair and of fear.
The Eighth was freed and he made his choice.
The Eighth joined the Seven and he too raised his voice."