The Echolone Mine (17 page)

He peered
quizzically at Torrullin. “Looks like Cassy unsettled you.”

Torrullin
stared at him for a beat and managed a casual shrug. Yes, Cassy had
unsettled him, but these moments and minutes, this very place and
time, with this dark man - he had been waiting long.

Would Elianas
now speak the words that altered his future back then as Rayne? The
words that set his feet to a path he never stepped off?

“Why so sour,
my brother?”

Elianas had
not heard Cassy’s words. Elianas could never lie with a straight
face. He had no idea of the wild thundering of his heart, his
terrible expectation. “Just thinking.”

“About?”
Elianas prompted.

Torrullin sent
him a look.

Elianas
grinned. “Ah.”

“Bugger off. I
am trying to think up a speech for the Two Fork Tree meeting.”

Elianas
laughed. “Liar.” He moved closer until his knee was a breath away
from Torrullin’s thigh. “I did not come here to tease you.”

Torrullin
looked significantly down at that knee. “Really?”

Elianas
grinned again. “Really.” He drew back, threw one leg forward and
sat resting his forearms on his thighs. From that lowered position
he stared at the water. “Purpose, my Lord Elixir.”

Torrullin
frowned.

“Nemisin was
purpose, Orb was purpose, the Void was purpose, and even the
Chamber of Biers was purpose. Over the ages you had reincarnation,
Taranis, Margus, your sons and the Taliesman as purpose, and I had
Siric intervention, a lesser Darak Or by the name of Agustu, and
protected the Sagorin from the Valleur. Big events, little ones,
and each with a purpose. You and I, we do not do things for the
hell of it. Going after the history and legends of others, not yet
knowing about the network, had a sense of purpose. Saving Echolone
from exploiters has purpose, but what, in all the gods’ names, is
the purpose of that door? To read it? To go through? Yes … and
then? What, I ask, is the purpose of going beyond it when we do not
know what we will find?”

“Surely that
is purpose? To find out?”

“Never have I
known you to enter the unknown because the unknown is your purpose.
The unknown is part of the journey, not the end itself.”

Torrullin took
on an identical position, forearms on thighs. He calmed his inner
self.
Let it flow, allow him to speak naturally.

“After the
Void I thought we were freed of the past, and it explained why the
future was dark. All was new. Then Cassy’s sacred network denied it
and we realised we cannot sever the past, not ever. It is, because
we are.”

“Agreed.”

“Saska’s
synopsis that the future is dark because it is new holds water, and
that visions have ceased can be explained away by the fact that
known futures no longer have bearing. We make it as we go.”

“Simplistic,
but go on.”

“Elianas, I
saw the future in the first cycle, when everything was still new,
when I was making it as I went. If we follow the simplistic logic,
my visions should only have commenced in the second cycle.”

Their heads
were close together.

“I see that,”
Elianas whispered.

“It is not the
loss of visions that concerns me.”

“You want to
know why they were taken from you specifically.”

“Yes.”
Torrullin moved. “Look directly at me.”

They ended up
straddling the trunk, legs crossing over each other’s. Again
Torrullin’s heart thundered.

“You were in
the Throne, but were you aware as Throne or man?”

“It was
empathy, not awareness.”

Torrullin’s
hands clamped on either side of Elianas’ head. “I want you to know
what Elixir is, truly is. You know the man, not the ideal behind
the Animated Spirit.”

Elianas
managed to nod.

“Feel,
Elianas, feel.”

A cicada moved
in the intense heat … Elianas jerked, but Torrullin held him
fast.

The heat was
not Echolone’s, nor was the bug moving its whispering wings nearby.
It was Pilan, far away world. A child romped upon a branch, fell
screaming to earth, broke a leg, a mother called for help - Xen,
far from Echolone. A father slapped his daughter, a wife sat
darning a shroud, a boy drowned, a girl threw herself off the edge
of a cliff, an old woman drank sleeping tablets, a worm struggled
in a bird’s beak, on Ceta, Fortani, Lax, Beacon, anywhere but on
Echolone.

The smell of
pollution, the taste of grief, the feeling of sentient evil. The
stench of death, the touch of suffering, so tangible nerves
screamed protest. A woman raped, an old man knifed, a boy beaten
…

… with a cry
of dismay Elianas wrenched himself free and sat hunched over, his
head resting on Torrullin’s chest.

“That is
Elixir,” Torrullin said in a chanting tone. “Sees everything, hears
everything, tastes, touches, smells and knows …
knows
. He
gathered his Kaval to delegate these ills to, for he cannot cope
with every evil. He would go insane and often came close.”

Elianas lifted
his head.

“I cut it
away, Elianas, little by little. Smell went first, because I was
often sick, physically sick, just from smell. Taste and touch went
next and I tried, really tried, to hold onto sight and sound. The
Kaval had been so clever, however, in installing sensors and alarms
and a network of spies, I could gradually remove myself from the
need to find the ill requiring attention. I did not need to
prioritise, for they could do it without me. I cannot save every
child, every woman, every old one, and yet failing to do so is a
personal affront. That failure to cope sent me into full retreat
and I continue to lock it away.”

“Dear god,”
Elianas whispered.

Torrullin
pulled a face. “Yet it is with me, this manic power. Not only can I
know everything at any time, but Elixir can mete out his justice
also.”

“You have
stayed your hand.”

“I have to or
I would rid myself of the whole lot of them to stay this terrible
talent.” A tired smile. “Sometimes I sat in silence somewhere and
chose my victims. The killer would inexplicably keel over, the
wife-beater would lose the use of his limbs, the rapist would find
himself castrated, and other, worse, punishments. Justice from
afar. I did not return to Saska for fear of justice to her and I
did not give Lowen due respect because she would have understood
the dark places I fell into. Eventually I was so numb nothing
mattered. Elixir still is, all of it. So, why have my visions been
removed? It should be impossible.”

“I cannot
answer.”

“I cannot
either. Perhaps an answer lays beyond that door - the opposite of
Void - where nothing is. Perhaps the unknown is the journey this
time. But this is my burden, Elianas, and I cannot force you to
share it with me.”

Elianas’ eyes
travelled over that fair face.

“Do you know
where the most sacred space of all is, Torrullin? It is not the
place where the Throne was conceived or where it is now. It is not
the spaces between worlds, it is not the realms of bliss or time,
and it isn’t the romance of history, the legends of better times.
It is not the house of a deity, the stones of a god or goddess, or
the whispers of the stones of antiquity. It isn’t the Lifesource or
any Valleur site, and it isn’t in the beauty of a new day. It is
here.”

He placed his
hand over his heart.

“And it is
there.”

He placed his
other hand over Torrullin’s wildly jerking heart.

“Deny this
sanctum, my brother, and you deny life.” He leaned forward, his
hands dropping slowly away. “I know what you want of me, and now
you must know that what I want of you has just increased a thousand
fold, and yet, despite that, I go where you go, because it is the
only heart’s desire that really matters. Sacred space, my brother,
or we are the walking dead.”

For once it
was Torrullin who rested his head on Elianas’ shoulder and it was
Elianas who imparted comfort, his gaze faraway.

And for
Torrullin?
Finally. Thank you, my brother, for finally saying
the words I have longed to hear above all others.

Then, from
that lowered position, because he had to ask this question, “Why
would you want it?”

Elianas
shivered. “Because I can take it.”

Torrullin
straightened and shifted so he again sat facing forward. He said
nothing.

Tick tock,
second hand on the clock.

“Have I found
your Achilles heel, Torrullin?”

The moment to
reveal how deeply Elianas’ words had affected
everything
…
passed.

Torrullin
chose the dance of the ages shared. A laugh, a glance. “I would
fight you.”

Elianas
smiled. “Do that.”

Torrullin gave
him a hooded look. “You hide your power from me, the one you
discovered during the ages apart.”

Elianas drew
breath and released. “My weak point, perhaps.” Then he smiled. “I
would fight you.”

Torrullin
gazed searchingly at him. “Do that.”

Lowen sought
Torrullin.

She wandered
through the village and was impressed by the level of real
community. They worked according to their talents, with the old
sitting together darning, mending, and feeling useful, and the
younger sharing everything else. Children had chores and schooling,
and time to play. They were friendly and answered her questions
freely, most with wide smiles.

The beauty
awed her. Here nature and people lived in harmony. Homes were
situated as much for the effect on its surroundings, as it was for
practicality. Yet they were not backward. Echolone had struck a
balance between nature and technology, where technology was in the
form of running water, sewerage, waste disposal, household items,
building methods - much like Valaris, she thought, when she first
arrived there as a child.

They deserved
to decide their own fate, and not have it determined by seekers of
riches, the exploiters of the universe.

After asking a
young girl if she had seen Torrullin, she was pointed towards the
pond.

She found
Elianas with him and knew something profound had passed between
them. It was in the cautious stillness they exhibited, while
talking as if nothing was different. She sighed inwardly. It was
strange how she could now read Torrullin’s inner self only when he
was with Elianas.

Lowen crunched
deliberately on a twig, and watched them turn.

The same
studied curiosity, as if curiosity was expected of them. They did
not really care who came, or went. Caballa was right. He would end
what relationship they had.

Well, bugger
him; he would not get the chance.

She closed in.
“Elianas, I need to talk to Torrullin in private.”

The dark man,
gods, beautiful man, smiled knowingly. He rose fluidly, saying, “I
will check on the Cèlaver’s progress.”

He ambled away
without looking back.

“Lowen, I have
had enough of talk today,” Torrullin muttered, facing the pond.
“And my arse is sore from sitting.”

She looked
upon his fair head. “Then walk with me. You don’t need to talk.
I’ll be doing that.”

He must have
seen something in her, for he nodded, rose and stretched. He waited
for her to choose direction, which she did - away from the
village.

“Ten years ago
we decided to part …” she began.

“No, you
left.”

“Well, you
didn’t stop me. Inaction is agreement.”

“Sometimes.”

“Torrullin,
just listen, all right? We parted, yet let us be honest and say
there wasn’t really a future and we didn’t grant it the means to
develop. Back in the beginning, I could gift you the means to feel
after something particularly numbing, but even that vanished. You
retreated and retreated and I couldn’t change it.”

“It was
Elixir. I had to shut it away.”

“I know, and
understood, but you shut all else out also.”

He nodded.

“The Time
thing woke you, but, again, let us be honest, Elianas roused you.”
She sighed. “To make this short and without dramatics, let me say
this; I am walking away from anything we had, permanently.”

A step, two.
“Why?”

“Come, does
that matter?”

“Yes.”

“You surprise
me.”

“I surprise
myself.”

She smiled.
“Honesty like that deserves an answer. So, why? I was meant to
destroy your marriage … listen first, then judge. I was meant to
destroy your marriage, and did, and it was meant thus for Elixir to
Become. You had to be free of the influences of what are, in final
analysis, mortal ties. Elixir is beyond ties, has to be. Yet I had
to be the catalyst to restoring balance, for Elixir is also
self-destructive. You know that, and you know how I restored
feeling. Torrullin, these are the products of my visions and I
chose to follow those prompts, not because visions cannot be
denied, but because I loved you. I willingly put the wedge between
you and Saska, because I loved you, and I willingly tussled between
the sheets with you, because I loved you. It was selfishness I
wasn’t able to deny. I would now willingly come between you and
Elianas, because I still love you, and yet I know I cannot succeed.
The only way to drive you two apart is by sleeping with him.”

He came to a
stop and stared at her.

“Yes, by
sleeping with him. But that would destroy what we had for a brief
time and I find I would rather be your friend than your enemy. I
walk away, because I prefer keeping love intact.”

He was
wordless and then stared into the distance. Forested hills and lacy
waterfalls went unnoticed.

“Such honesty
deserves rebuttal,” he said eventually. “I knew what you were doing
and did not deny it. I knew I would lose Saska, but I also knew I
could not hold onto you. My nemesis, destroying my marriage and the
Torrullin I was before Elixir, and with the potential of destroying
the present, and certainly in the process of destroying peace of
mind.”