Gravesong – Pirateba

If he leveled up faster, Lantal might ask him to move to town. And if they had enough iron to make steel rather than having to buy it from two provinces over… But that was all later. Lord Lantal wanted to shake Idelt’s hand, and get back to town as quickly as possible to prevent Risel having to manage the children and entertain Lady Seraphel all by herself. He was just about to tell Idelt that the young man who’d ridden here would be sent back—with some fruits or something for his bravery—when he heard a sound from the fields.

The songmistress, Violetta, was starting her music. Lantal wanted to listen; each village had its own music. But instead of the cello music he expected, he heard something else. A young woman stood in the center of a cleared field. Her clothing was bright. Rich, even; she looked like a [Trader], or even a [Merchant], although her clothing wasn’t that formal. And she didn’t have the ghostly features of someone born of Afiele.

Lantal saw the other villagers watching her as they set to work. A group of children were sitting down, watching her eagerly. And someone was playing an instrument. Not a cello. Lantal frowned. Was that some kind of drum? And…what was that? He had never heard a piano before, either. OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com 1.29 Cara O’Sullivan stood in the field and sang. The song was faster than Violetta’s music. But it wasn’t mainstream pop, bombastically energetic. There was a place for it, just like there was a place for poetry.

But not here. She had forgotten that. Perhaps willfully. But this—this was a song for Landsmecht. Not carelessly upbeat or grand. Just…a song for a morning. For people who’d lived through a night with song and courage. The phone was running out of power. And that terrified her. But something mattered more than the power there.

And that was her audience. They listened. And listened to the words. A favorite song that spoke about… living. For the people of Landsmecht, it was good enough. Cara gently played a drum along with the beat. She didn’t know how to use a guitar, or play a piano, or horn. And she regretted that now. But she could sing. There was more emotion in this song than the others. The [Singer] from Ireland felt—exposed. More than her other performances.

Because this was genuine. When Cara finished this time, she heard silence. Then—applause. It came from Violetta, from the children, and the workers. The [Actress] smiled—and bowed. She nearly fell on her face. She hadn’t slept last night. She’d kept singing until her voice went out, to keep spirits up. She croaked as she coughed.

WARNING: This story contains strong language; depictions of horror, assault, mental health crises, self-harm, violence, murder, and disease; and alludes to a character’s past trauma. Reader discretion is advised. 1.00 “I didn’t fail the audition, go fuck yourself.” She snapped into her smartphone. Someone was laughing at her. A few heads turned as a young woman stormed out of the theater and onto the streets of Galway. “Listen—no, shut up and listen, Sam. First off, it’s not an ‘audition.’

They don’t do cattle calls anymore. I was at a callback. I sent in my tapes and I got a callback. I was one of three for the leading role, understand?” Her boots kicked onto the pavement as she strode through a blinking crosswalk. A huge scowl was set on her face, and her brown ponytail bounced with each stomp. “I. Didn’t. Fail. I walked out. What?” She listened to the voice on the other end. “No, I wasn’t intimidated.

I can sing better than both the other two. I left because—I hated the main character. I was going to fail. So I cut myself. I couldn’t see myself doing the part. She’s too idealistic. It’s not a realistic story.” One hand ran her fingers through her hair. Trimmed. She’d gotten dressed up for today. Audition clothing casual; t-shirt and jeans, nothing fancy. You were the star, not the clothing. But she had prepped and been memorizing her lines on the bus ride over.

All gone to waste. “It’s a sappy lead. She’s supposed to be this ingenue who has a dream, gets it crushed, and then her hero swoops in. Only, it’s not a guy so it’s progressively amazing. It’s…” She stared up at the sky as she came to a second crosswalk, seamlessly joining the other people waiting for the light to change.

They ignored her. The young woman’s lips moved. “Unrealistic. You’re not getting that hero. And she’s not the heroine. She’s some dumb kid who gets lucky the entire way through. That doesn’t happen in real life, and this is supposed to be a realistic musical. You know what I mean. You don’t get random heroes, Sam.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: f8ee791cba783ffc
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 8,449,218 bytes (8.058 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 719
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 790.2 minutes
• Total Words: 158,040
• Total Characters: 894,165
• Average Words per Page: 219.81
• Average Characters per Page: 1243.62

Most Frequent Words

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