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A.R.Yngve

DARC AGES Book Three
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Pop Shah & his electric guitar

Chapter 9 (continued)


Awonso failed to complete his radio receiver in time to tune in to Darc's first broadcast. All he managed to take in were atmospheric buzz, and a faint recurring beep. This did not discourage him. Educated as he was, he knew the electromagnetic field from his receiver could be traced -- yet he kept using it every following night, searching for the next broadcast.



"This is the voice of Darc. This is The Voice of Liberty..." Darc gestured to Pop Shah and his group of musicians, who were only too eager to start playing. When Darc continued, his accent changed into the essence of cocky, masculine energy. He shouted: "And the music of liberty is called ROCK'N ROLL!"

On his cue, the band started to play; the drummer struck up a beat; Pop Shah played a dark, rhytmic bass beat. Darc stood up from his seat, grabbed the microphone which hung down from the ceiling, and sang. He had chosen "King Creole", the one song he could recall perfectly. Dohan, Meijji, and the others attended the broadcast from outside the soundstage.

Dohan recognized the music instantly, if not the words, and whispered: "He's doing it again!"

Meijji hushed him down -- she was spellbound by the performance. A just-completed, crude electric guitar made its first star appearance in Darc's band, played by Pop Shah who had never handled anything electric in his life. The guitar crackled and growled in his wrinkled hands, making wonderful noise. The music had touches of calypso and Awrican work songs in it -- and just the right flavor of danger. Darc thought his performance insane, an enchanting madness that he could not help enjoying. The studio audience and the musicians thought they witnessed a strange transformation: Darc seemed to become the "king" of the song they barely understood. Dohan remembered Lord Azuch Fache's words again: Guard him with your life.

The musical number lasted only four minutes. When they had finished, the band members were exhausted; a servant wiped Pop Shah's perspiring face. In the speech that followed, Darc repeated most of the previous broadcast -- only with greater assurance. His friends heard him through, just to experience the power of his voice again. Shara noticed, to her joy, that Eye-Leg moved her misplaced head to the rhythm of Darc's music.



This time, Awonso had his radio receiver working and ready. Hidden in a closet with a set of heavy hand-made earphones on his head, he tuned in to the right frequency. And he got to hear Darc's every word, coming strong through waves of static. But it was the music of "King Creole" that would stay alive in Awonso's memory for the rest of his life. How feeble, how emasculated "Rokenrol" sounded in the hands of lowly musicians and church choirs. Awonso felt energized by the raw, electrically enhanced power of Darc's music. Without that energy, this mild-mannered bookworm would have shrunk before the challenges to come.