The Bonesong

The girl watches him intently as he kneels down, bonesong in hand, hovering just above her right forearm.

Lord Aegen feels sparks in the air. Static, sharp and tingling, buzzing in his ears. Instinctively, he knows before he writes the runes on her arm that Valis has claimed this one. That she will be the new Whispered Daughter and her brother, who glares down at the runes already etched into his left forearm, will be the new Whispered Son.

He wonders briefly if she feels it too. If this teenager - Catalyna - can sense the changes in the air as well as he can.

Come now, Aegen, you have a job to do, he thinks, shaking his head, and gets to work on inscribing the runes of the Goddess onto the girl’s skin.

A tool used by the Lords of Night during the Calling ever since the second generation of Whispered Twins were chosen. Ceremonial more than anything else.

It is used to inscribe the runes of the Goddess Valis onto the arms of all potential Whispered Daughters, and the runes of the God Sar onto the arms of all potential Whispered Sons. No ink is required for this. The bonesong is imbued with lifeblood magic and utilises the blood of its user (in most cases, an appointed Lord of Night).

What is the Bonesong?

At first glance, one might think the bonesong is just a stick. Upon further inspection they would quickly realise how wrong they are.

The bonesong is made out of two long slivers of bone tied together with twine and enhanced by arcane arts in order to stop it from rotting. It is about 5 inches long.

One sliver was taken from the right forearm of the very first Whispered Daughter. The other sliver was taken from the left forearm of the very first Whispered Son. Hence why, during the Calling, the runes are applied to the right arm for female candidates, and the left forearm for the male candidates.

Named so because of the bones used to construct it, and for the Nightsingers that created it.

Along the slivers of bone there are small, golden runes from the arcane magic infused into the very fibre of the bonesong. The runes themselves are a simple phrase, which reads “blessed are the champions of divinity”.

Item type

Tool

Rarity

One of a kind

Significance

Religious - used in a Nightsingers ceremony

When not in use, the bonesong is kept under lock and key by the Nightsingers. It is housed in Crezieda Hall (Crezieda Hall is one of five meeting halls across Valissa used by the Nightsingers).

In 1298 AL, a thief tried to steal the bonesong, only to be met with a complicated series of traps, both magical and non-magical in nature. Losing their life to those traps was a lesson to all - that Crezieda Hall was impenetrable and the bonesong was impossible to steal.

Rumour has it that the thief was hired by Yondar’s royalty. Though the Nightsingers were adamant that Yondar’s royalty was at fault, any potential proof of that claim was lost with the thief’s death.

Such an old and simple thing.

The Lords revere it. A writing tool - they believe it holds more power than my brother or I, just because it chose us.

But it did not choose us, the gods did. Valis chose me and I will not be subject to the whims of dead men. The bonesong is a tool and, magical as it may be, holds no power but that which is ceremonial.

When my work is done in this world, we will have no need for artifacts scrounged from dishonoured corpses. When my work is done, Valis and Sar will walk among us as they did in times before the Lightfall, free to sing of their champions as they so desire.

Writings of the Whispered Daughter XXVIII

The absolute arrogance of my sister! Making a mockery of us in front of the Lords, throwing the bonesong around as if it is a toy.

That tool has survived generations, is a valuable relic of our religion, and she belittles it. I truly don’t understand what has gotten into her.

The bonesong is… it is everything to us. It chose us, marked us as champions of Valis and Sar just as it did for the Whispered Twins that came before, just as it will do so again after the two of us are dead and gone. To disrespect it is to disrespect everything we stand for. Is Catalyna mad? Or is she lost? I fear whatever the truth may be just as deeply as I fear for her.

Writings of the Whispered Son XXVIII