Chapter the Seventh of Part the Sixth

In which the narrative recounts acts from the life of Mark Streeter in Merithwell.

As the darkness tightened its grip on Merithwell, Mark Streeter felt that he was pushing out each note with all his strength. With much more at stake than the satisfaction of singing well, Mark continued to press on. The song “The Western Wind” became his whole universe. If he lost the song, everything was lost. The raucous buzzing threatened to throw Mark off the melody at every turn. Mark remembered what Fresnik said about holding a part against a tense note and he doubled to his efforts to hold to the song. Mark looked anxiously for signs that Kyle or Dunsland had been rescued, but when his glances resulted in too many disappointments that sapped his strength, Mark forced himself to focus on the song and the hope that it could heal Danzigger, or at least keep him alive long enough for Kyle and Dunsland to heal them when they came. If they came. Perhaps Brendan and Luke and Pir Min and Dunsland and Kyle were never coming back. Mark tried not to think about that, just as he had to stop thinking about what Tormo might do once everything was lost. Everything is lost. Everything is lost. Those words kept pressing into Mark.’s head and tightened his throat. Everything is lost. Everything is lost. NO! The Venerable Nemor Gray had not rescued Mark from the streets just to lose everything to the Illustrious Vincent Metterling and a bunch of crazy sorcerers. Fresnik Singer had taught him how to sing and he was going to sing if it killed him. Timmon and Guerry and Peete were depending on him. Kyle and Danzigger and Dunsland were depending on him. And so Mark belted out the song with doubled force:

Western wynde, when wilt thou blow,
The small raine down can raine.
Christ, if the light would drive the dark,
And our lost friends were back again.

This time through, a melody soared above the melody Mark and the other boys were singing. Never had Mark heard anyone sing so high! He was tempted to stop and listen but he knew the strength of the second melody depended on his keeping his own going, as Fresnik Singer had impressed on him more than once. When the boys repeated the song the next time, the second melody rose up in an explosion of fireworks until it blinded Mark with its light.

The massive star shot off sparks of silver and gold, silencing Mark and everybody else except for the boy who was singing the high melody and a few boys who were still singing the song’s tune. The star lit up the walls, filling them with twice the brilliance they had before the sorcerers attacked. In that light, Mark and the other boys could see Dunsland, Pir Min, Raissa, Forsikt and Morrass stagger through the wall, all of them singing. The sound of the high melody grew louder until Brendan and Luke and Deanna and Miles and Tel Arman appeared with Kyle who was, not surprisingly, the one singing the high part, even though he appeared to be beyond the point of collapse.

The star above Merithwell flared and plunged straight down at the boys. Mark started to throw up his arms to protect himself but his reaction was too slow. The fire struck him and burned him but it did not hurt. A fiery warmth coursed through Mark’s body. Likewise, Mark could see the fire having much the same effect on the other boys. Last of all, the fire landed on Danzigger’s face and sank into him, quickly returning color to his face.

“Kyle, you are the Starsinger!” Deanna exclaimed.

“Kyle! You’re back!” Mark cried.

But Kyle’s attention was focused on Danzigger, whose eyes were still fluttering in an effort to open.

“Danzigger, how are you?” Polnar asked anxiously.

Danzigger waited until his eyes stayed open without effort and he could begin to take in the surroundings.

“I feel alive and I feel grateful that Kyle the Starsinger came to sing my soul back to me,” said Danzigger.

With the darkness gone, the stones of Merithwell sparkled wildly and Mark was sure he heard the singing in the stones. Even Passenell seemed to get his train started again. Kyle dropped to his knees, looking as if he had just lost all seven worlds. Deanna stooped down next to him and gripped the boy’s arm.

“Is that darkness and buzzing coming back?” asked Timmon.

“I don’t think so,” said Dunsland. “That darkness feels like it’s really gone.”

“Let’s take a look,” Raissa suggested.

Raissa, Morrass, and Gwendarin ran to the window, looked out, and laughed.

“Ha!” cried Morrass. “ All of the Master Magi are limping away, leaning on the student magi to keep them on their feet.”

“Good for them!” Peete quipped.

“I don’t think the students are that badly hurt,” said Raissa, “but I’m glad I’m not one of them.”

“Does this mean that we beat those Magi?” asked Mark.

“Looks like it,” said Morrass. “Merithwell looks a lot better than they do.”

“How did we do that?” asked Peete.

“By singing,” Danzigger replied.

“Really?” asked Polnar, incredulous in spite of the evidence.

“Yes, really,” said Danzigger. “Maranzigga said so.”

“She did?” asked Pir Min. “Where is she?”

Danzigger choked and held back his tears as best he could.

“She’s gone?” asked Polnar.

Danzigger nodded.

“When I got hit by the second stone,” said Danzigger, “I was sent into the Spirit World. I saw Maranzigga there. We saw the magi attack. Maranzigga stopped them for an instant before she went—went Beyond. The last order Maranzigga gave me before going Beyond was to keep singing, no matter what happens. And that’s what you all did.”

“Do you feel okay, Danzigger?” Pir Min asked him, “or should we sing some more for you?”

“I think I am feeling not bad. I am thinking, though, that I can’t go back to the Baschi.”

“I don’t think anybody blames you for that,” said Dunsland. “For that matter—I don’t think I can go back to where I came from, either. My parents and the Master Magi would lock me into the biggest and toughest sorcerous shaft you ever saw.”

“You can come join our—“ Mark said and then he stopped and his face fell. It seemed that ages had passed since he and the other boys were driven out of the concert. “I wish you could. I wish we could. I guess we don’t have a place to go either.”

“I won’t let Kyle go back to his world,” said Brendan.

“But where can I go?” Kyle asked.

“Don’t you remember my telling you that you can come join our choir any time?” Luke asked him. “I can hardly wait to see the expression on Chet’s face when he sees you come back with us.”

“Really?” ask Kyle, looking as if he could hardly believe the offer.

“Of course, really,” Brendan replied.

“It seems that none of you can go back to your own worlds, at least right now,” said Luke.

The boys all looked at each other and nodded sadly. Mark badly wanted to go back to Nemor Meyer’s mansion and to Fresnik’s choir, but he doubted that was possible after what had happened. That was the only thing he would miss from his own world, but it was big. He was quite sure he would like to go to Luke’s world, but it seemed that there were already too many boys who had to take refuge there. Peete and Timmon and other boys near him hung their heads.

“I’ve been homeless before,” said Mark, “like most of my life. We’ll find a way to go on.”

Luke gave Mark a piercing look that almost knocked him over.

“Mark,” said Luke, “how could you possibly doubt our wanting to have you guys, too?”

Mark was speechless, but Luke understood and he smiled.

“It isn’t that our world is so hot,” said Luke. “All the horrible things I’ve heard about in your worlds happen in ours, too. Right now, there is an even an attempt to disband our choir.”

“Doesn’t anybody like us?” asked Kyle.

“There are some people who like us,” said Luke. “And most of you have met Chet and rehearsed with him here. I know he’ll save the choir or die trying, and if all you guys come back with us, ready to raise the church roof with singing, it’ll be a lot harder for them to disband the choir.”

“What about Deanna?” asked Kyle.

“Our choir is a boys choir, so the girls can’t sing in it,” said Luke, “but there are hundreds of choirs in our world that girls can sing and there are lots of other neat things any of you can do if you’d rather do something else besides sing in our choir. I know Chet and I know Martha. She’s Chet’s wife. I know that they’ll do whatever it takes to help every single one of you get something good going in our world. Another thing: have you noticed other towers springing up? Those are for other groups of musicians and I know there are some girls and women there.”

“You know,” said Brendan, “we could sneak back into these other worlds from time to time and see if we can’t reform them a bit. Of course, we’ll have to keep doing that in our world, too.”

“You can’t reform seven crummy worlds so forget that,” Tormo Redhand interjected. “We’ve got to look out for ourselves because nobody else is gong to. These entries into seven worlds will be great for sneaking into them, robbing everybody blind, and sneaking back where they can’t get us. Even if we get thrown into jail, we can still escape and get back here. Not only that, but we can get revenge on all the guys who drove us out of our worlds! Just think of what we can do to the Illustrious Vincent Metterling! Kyle, you could really make havoc of the lives of the guys who disinherited you. Dunsland, you could really get back at those magi. How about it?”

There was a long, stunned silence. Many of the boys from Hooglaan looked at Mark. Mark couldn’t read their faces clearly enough to know if they liked Tormo’s idea or not, but he was quite sure that many of them were not going to go along with it unless Mark did. Mark knew that many of the boys he knew and liked best in Merithwell would not accept the idea and he could hardly forsake his real friends for a boy like Tormo.

“When I lived on the streets,” said Mark, “there was an older boy who took from me every scrap of bread that I earned from stealing and singing that he could. His name is Tormo Redhand. I won’t trust him to do better than that by me this time.”

Tormo gave Mark his coolest smile.

“With this setup, we can steal so much that I can let you have a fortune to yourself and not even miss it.”

“I don’t think attack spells will work very well, here,” said Dunsland, “and I don’t think you can come and go from here if you give up singing for being a thief. Merithwell seems to have a mind of its own. It lets in boys who want to sing and it lets in other friends. It doesn’t seem to let in people who want to hurt us.”

“Like the guards that chased us,” said Mark.

“I think Merithwell would fall apart like it did before if we made it a den of thieves,” said Brendan. “And I know Chet wouldn’t like it if we could use this place as a den of thieves and we did it.”

“If I can’t get back here,” said Tormo, “I’ll know how to live in Hooglaan, and I won’t get caught a second time. Any takers?”

“I’ll go with you, Tormo,” said Malcoomb. “I can’t go back to the Academy. I can’t go back to my family who sent me there. You guys won’t trust me after what I’ve done to your darling friend.”

“I’ll bet Luke and Brendan will let you come with me if you promise not to cast any attack spells or turn people into salamanders,” said Dunsland.

“Are you going to trust these guys?” Tormo asked Malcoomb.

Malcoomb looked at the hesitant faces surrounding him and shook his head.

Mark was tempted to abandon Malcoomb to his fate. The uneasiness written on the faces of the other boys made it clear enough that Malcoomb would not have an easy time gaining trust with them, but Mark knew full well the life that awaited Malcoomb as a streeter in Hooglaan with Tormo Redhand and Malvert and he couldn’t wish that even with on Malcoomb.

“Trusting you won’t be easy,” said Mark, “but I’ll give it a try if you give us a try. After all, you did go after Dunsland and you did bring him back. You deserve credit for that.”

Malcoomb hid his face in his arms.

“If the guys from your world destroy your choir like the guys in our world just destroyed ours,” said Tormo, “what will you do then?”

“I say we stick together and keep singing,” said Mark.

“Chet will make sure we find a way to keep singing,” said Luke.

“Do you mean to say you really like singing?” Tormo asked him.

“Yea,” said Mark. “Anything wrong with that?”

Mark knew that most of the boys in his world, like Tormo, would have said “yes” to that, but he knew that most of the boys with him in Merithwell thought singing was okay. Tormo paced about the room restlessly.

“Look, you guys,” said Tormo. “All of us here have gotten a train rail wrapped around our necks from other guys in our worlds. The answer to Kyle’s question is that nobody wants us. And yet you guys just want to sing away as if nothing’s wrong. If all you do is sing when people kick you in the teeth, they’ll just keep on kicking you until you don’t have any teeth left. Do you guys really want to let everybody get away with what they’ve done to us?”

There was an anxious silence while Tormo continued to pace about, giving hard looks to everybody, especially Mark.

“The Illustrious Vincent Metterling doesn’t want me to sing,” said Mark, “because he wants me to be punished for stealing a watch I never stole—though I kind of wish I did take it—and if I can still sing in a choir in Brendan’s world, then I haven’t exactly made that piss puddle happy.”

“If I spend all my time going after everybody who has hurt me,” said Kyle, “I won’t have time to sing for the time I have my treble voice.”

Deanna squeezed Kyle’s hand in appreciation of those words.

“The last thing Maranzigga said to me before she went Beyond was that we should keep singing,” said Danzigger. “That’s why those magi couldn’t wreck this place. Like Kyle said, if I go after all the guys who threw stones at me, I won’t be singing.”

“ISN’T THERE ANYBODY HERE WHO IS READY TO STAND UP TO GUTTER RATS WHO PRESS OUR FACES IN THEIR PISS PUDDLES?” Tormo yelled. “WHAT A BUNCH OF WORM SPINES!”

“If you saw Dunsland stand up to the Master Magi and saw what they did to him for it,” said Raissa, “you wouldn’t call him a worm spine.”

“If you saw what those guys in Mastruum made Kyle go through before he made that star appear by singing,” said Brendan, “you wouldn’t call him a worm spine.”

“In the story that Dunsland found and read to us,” said Pir Min. “It said that Merithwell was destroyed because all the boys fought with each other. I guess they weren’t what you call ‘worm spines’ because they didn’t let anybody get away with throwing stones at them, but they destroyed Merithwell.”

Tormo shook his head in exasperation.

“I guess there’s one place for me to go. You talk about inviting everybody to your lovely world, Luke, but I’ll bet you don’t want a street thief!”

“It does make it awkward if all you want to do is pick pockets in Chicago,” said Luke. “I’m sure we can find better things for you to do.”

“See what I mean?” said Tormo as he moved close to the wall in the direction of his world. “Who’s coming with me?”

“NOT ME,” said Mark as emphatically as he could say it.

Mark and Tormo both looked from one boy in their choir to another. Malvert, of course, hopped up and joined Tormo right away. Then three other boys from Mark’s world joined him.

“Coming Peete?” Tormo asked.

“I’m sticking with Mark and Guerry and Edwin and Timmon and Kyle and Brendan and Luke and Dunsland and Pir Min and Tel Arman and Malcoomb and Polnar and Passenell. If you stick with us, we’ll stick with you.”

“I’ll bet Malcoomb is coming with me,” said Tormo.

Malcoomb raised his head and looked Peete in the eye. Then he turned his face to Tormo.

“Happy pocket picking,” said Malcoomb.

Tormo gave everybody an angry shake of the head and then he and his followers were gone. To his surprise, Mark missed Tormo already. He even missed Malvert. It seemed to him that everybody who had lived through the events in and around Merithwell should be together, but Mark could not choose for Tormo or anybody else. He couldn’t choose for Malcoomb, either, but Malcoomb had been persuaded to stay, and that was good.

In the ensuing silence, Luke began to sing the song “The Western Wind.” When the singing became a bit ragged, nobody minded because some of the boys were still learning. The singing did not stop until three more stars above Merithwell exploded and landed on the walls with cascades of sparkling light.

Proceed to Chapter the First and the Last of Part the Seventh

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