Free Angel Fall by Coleman Luck

a yawn she was about to lie back down when the sound came again.
    Voices talking.
    As the youngest of her family, she assumed she was missing out on something. It was always that way. She went to bed while everybody else stayed up having fun. Amanda was probably downstairs right now, stuffing her face with ice cream. It wasn’t fair. And all because she couldn’t stay awake. Sliding from the bed, she tiptoed across the room and cracked open the door. The voices became clearer. There were two of them, and if her sister was there, she wasn’t doing any of the talking.
    Cautiously Tori crept out of the bedroom. Beyond was a circular landing with a spiral staircase, and around the landing were more doors probably leading into other bedrooms. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled to a place where she could look down.
    The voices were very clear now, but she still couldn’t see anybody. The talkers were in the living room just out of sight. One voice belonged to Bellwind, but the other was new. And Amanda wasn’t there. Tori was sure of it. The new voice was rough and gravelly as though it hurt to form words. With agonizing slowness it rumbled, “ You are…you are…to send them…on the morning light… ”
    When Bellwind answered, there was fear in her voice. “But Seeker…what, specifically and utterly, is to become of them? I, yes, I myself, have brought them here. They trust me. Are they to be endangered if there is no hope? The moment, the very moment they leave my island, they will be pursued.”
    “Ended…Ended. No more answers will be…no more answers can be…given.”
    There was a long pause. When the old woman spoke again, it was with great weariness. “Forgive me. It has been so long, so very long and ever, since you have been among us. But you know my ancient heart. These Earth ones…I love them. It is I, yes I, who have watched them grow and known their sorrows. Already they have carried a terrible burden. Can I not go with them? For such a joy I would give my life.”
    “The Law…Watcher…the Law…remains. Upon the land…no foot of yours must travel until Mountaincry.”
    A great shadow fell at the bottom of the stairs, and Tori could almost see the strange speaker. But he didn’t come quite close enough. She was sure they were talking about her and Amanda. And what was the word he had said? Mountaincry ? It made her shiver.
    “And what of the other one, the Alex one?” Bellwind seemed to be fighting back tears.
    Tori leaned forward. Most of all she wanted to know about her brother. But all that came were more strange words.
    “Walking in shadows…until the end.”
    There was a long pause. Desperately she wanted Bellwind to ask more questions about Alex. Instead, the old woman moved into a part of the room that Tori could see. Standing in front of the fireplace, she looked up at the seven frames. “And what, what of these? You have walked the land, Seeker. Why and why have they not answered for such an immeasurably longness of time?”
    “Lost in pain…lost in sorrow. Sing to them. Yes, sing.”
    “But I’ve sung and sung for years upon centuries. And no one ever answers.”
    The voice whispered so low that Tori could barely hear. “ Sing .”
    Drawing a deep breath, Bellwind bowed her head and nodded. Then she circled the room three times making peculiar reaching motions with her fingers. On the fourth circle she began to sing in a dreaming kind of language. Bellwind’s voice was beautiful. As she walked and sang, a thick vapor began to grow. Rising up out of the floor around her, it swirled and shimmered as though the song itself were taking form. Higher and higher it rose until the room was enveloped in silver radiance.
    Six times.
    Six circles.
    And at the end of the last one the sparkling mist gathered around the frames. Something was happening. In all but one the midnight blue was fading. Only in the seventh frame did the darkness remain. Bellwind had stopped and was