I turned to meet them each in the eye. For some, the answer was yes. For others, they sat firmly on the fence.
“It’s an honest question,” I said. “Have you had enough? Are you ready to surrender? If you are, then go ahead and pack up your things and return to your loved ones. Assuming the Changelings haven’t killed them already. Give up your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Give up the honor and let the Changelings have it. Let me tell you this. If you quit now, if you give up before the greatest fight of your lives, they will sing songs and ballads, but not about you. They’ll sing about how the Changelings defeated the mighty Titans in just a few short battles.
“But those stories won’t be the ones that get told. That’s because I know Titans. This loss we suffered today will be nothing but a footnote in the history books. It will be remembered as the moment when we stood up and spoke in a single voice, screamed into the night, and performed the greatest Dance of Death in the history of our great empire. This is the day when we claim back what is rightfully ours. This is the day when we push back and force them to realize they picked on the wrong species.”
The Titan fighters roared. They sat a little taller and their chests broadened a little further, and their lips turned into smiles that sparked in their eyes.
The warriors were young. Most of them probably hadn’t taken their first life yet. But they were Titans. They were of the same blood as me and my ancestors. That made us family.
“Every hero in every song and story you’ve ever heard felt the way you do now,” I said. “Every Titan throughout history has one great fight in them. Make this yours.”
They began to stand but stopped on their knees. Then I heard a low thrumming sound, a deep bass, that they hummed at the back of their throats.
They were singing. A song of victory and vengeance.
The most famous Titan song of all.
It was a duet and required a lead.
Me.
That’s when I sang. My voice sailed high and twirled in the air high above us, I sang of victory and salvation.
The Titans formed a fist with their hands and thumped their chests, adding to the racing tempo. I thumped mine in return, so hard I threatened to break my ribs.
It was the song we sang when we headed into battle, when we knew death was the most likely outcome.
We sang it when there was nothing but despair to feed on, so we ate until it was all gone, and we were left with a tiny kernel of hope.
We sang because we had nothing left to lose. Our homes, our families, and our loved ones had all been stripped from us.
But they would not take our future.
Not without a fight.
I had never experienced such a bond with my people before. I’ve never known the love they shared for me as I did right here and now. And as we sang, and the night drew to a close, we sang for the warriors who’d lost their lives and could only join us in spirit. They would watch as we slew our enemies without mercy and bathed in their blood.
We sang and prepared ourselves for death.
Hazel
I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my face. The Titans’ singing, with his people crooning at him and Fiath responding in turn, was one of the most touching and beautiful things I’d ever seen.
If I wasn’t in love with him already, I certainly would be now.
These people had been attacked, their homes burned down and taken from them. And when everything had been taken from you, what else did you have to lose?
The song reached a crescendo. The Titans hummed a deep bass note at the back of their throats while Fiath weaved high above them in a pitch I would never have thought he was capable of.
Then the crescendo slowed until there was silence. Every Titan grew silent, punctuated only by whispering wind and the rustling of leaves.
It was powerful stuff.
A sense of relief and satisfaction came over each of their faces as if they’d been waiting for this moment of catharsis since the attack had happened. Now I understood what they meant when they said Fiath was the Titan’s heart and soul. He was their guiding light and had been for their entire history.
Not Fiath himself but his ancestors. They had done their duty and brought the Titans together during the most difficult and challenging periods of their history.
Then the Titans got to their feet. The celebration wasn’t quite over yet. They stood with their fists thumping their chests, heads solemnly bowed towards Fiath, who did the same back to them.
The emotion on Fiath’s face was palpable. I wondered if he’d ever been so close to his people before. He’d lived in palaces and enjoyed a lifestyle few could imagine, never mind enjoy. He wouldn’t have come in contact with regular Titans often.
The Titans broke away and approached each of their chieftains, who were on hand to explain their mission ahead.
I approached Fiath. His honor guard nodded at me respectfully and let me pass to meet him.
“That was beautiful,” I said.
“It’s traditional to sing before a battle,” Fiath said.
“When you sing like that, does it mean anything? Or is it just for emotions?”
“It’s raw emotion. But everyone understands what it means. The same way everyone understands when someone screams in pain or moans with ecstasy.”
He gave me a wink.
Why hadn’t more cultures on Earth evolved along the same lines? We had songs and singing but we didn’t express ourselves with noises the same way.
I bit my bottom lip. I’d thought about what he suggested earlier about me joining the field hospital and not him when he went on his mission.
“Let me go with you,” I
