The Echolone Mine (29 page)

“Yes?”

“Three
questions, please.” He bowed.

A moment, and
then, “Three we grant.”

“Thank you.”
He retreated to his position. “Would you agree Torrullin and
Elianas are locked in an ancient battle for control of each
other?”

“Yes,” the
central trunk said.

“In what
manner would eternal control take place?”

All the
Syllvan moved to look at the central figure, which was quiet so
long Tristan feared he would not receive even a semblance of an
answer. He exercised patience, knowing it was his only weapon.

“They were
equal once, and yet walked away from ultimate control. We assumed
they had not again achieved complete equality, engaged still in a
battle of wills from an ancient time. Now it is revealed Elianas
has added power and it places them level once more. We must assume
both are aware of this, if not the form of it. Awareness must lead
to the desire for control as it has before. They walked away then,
and may do so again.”

The Syllvan
paused. “I have not answered your question, for I am not certain it
is an answer you have the right to. Yet I shall say this in the
hope it satisfies; there is a line between sorcerers of equal power
that must be crossed by one for ultimate control to be assumed. It
means one dominates, the other submits. How they cross the line may
not be revealed, and we may not tell exactly what that line is.
That is all.”

Tristan swore
inwardly.

“Final
question,” another prompted.

“Beyond
speaking to Tymall, is there anything we might do to aid our
friends on the Path?”

He was shocked
by the answer he was given.

“Not directly,
no, but in the aftermath Torrullin will require your support to
overcome his grief,” the central trunk replied.

Tristan burst
out, “Grief? Who dies, damn it?”

No answer came
forth.

“Please tell
me!”

The Syllvan as
a team watched him sadly and then the grotto was gone, and he
stumbled on the cobbles of the Keep’s courtyard, without an answer
he now desperately sought.

He swore, this
time uncaring of who heard or what anyone thought.

Valaris

Near the
Eastern Range

Tight-lipped,
Tristan waited with Tianoman at the designated site of portal in
the hilly farmland of north-eastern Valaris.

He stomped
about for warmth, wearing his anger like armour. It was a few
minutes to the ten bells hour.

“Gods, Tris,
what’s gotten into you?”

“Cryptic
fucking answers, that’s what.”

“Not Caballa?”
Tianoman muttered.

“Leave her out
of this.”

“Cousin,
sometime you have to accept she slept with Torrullin and loved
him.”

“I do, damn
it. Shut up.”

“I know you
do, but it only goes as far as learning they shared something you
have not. You must accept Torrullin has power beyond our
imagination and Cab…”

“Shut up!”

Tianoman
shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“How would you
feel if Aislinn had a relationship with, say, me, and it is over,
was over before you married her …”

“Did you have
a relationship with her?” Tianoman snapped out.

Tristan gave a
wry grin. “See?”

Tianoman
glared at him.

“No, dumb ass,
I didn’t have anything with Aislinn,” Tristan sighed. “Gods, I am
at least twelve years older than her. Use your head, man.”

Tianoman
looked away, and then, “I get your point.”

“Fantastic,”
Tristan muttered.

The portal
opened. It was a rough doorway-sized opening, with grey-white mists
swirling beyond. In the dark of Valaris, it was unmistakable.

A shadowy form
moved there.

“Tian?”

“Father!”
Tianoman called out, forgetting everything. He rushed at the
opening, but was brought up short by an invisible barrier. “I
cannot pass through!”

From the mists
Tymall emerged. He stood a foot away. “This is as far as I may go
also.” He smiled. “It does my heart good to see you, son.”

“I miss you,”
Tianoman said. “Every day.”

“As I miss
you,” Tymall said, a catch in his voice. He cleared his throat and
looked beyond Tianoman. “Ah, Valaris, stars, night, winter,
beauty.” His eyes squeezed shut. When he reopened them, he found
Tristan. “You must be Samuel’s son.”

“I am Tristan.
My god, you look like my father.”

“And you look
like mine,” Tymall murmured.

“Father,”
Tianoman said, and then could say no more.

“I hear you
are Vallorin, my son. I am very proud of you; your mother would be
proud of you.”

Tianoman
nodded, unable to speak.

Tristan said,
“Tian will be a father soon.”

Tymall’s grey
eyes brightened. “That is wonderful news!”

Tianoman
laughed. “A boy!”

“Vallorin,
married and an expectant father? You are blessed indeed. Your
mother and I did something right,” Tymall said. “My father saw that
clearly. How is he?”

“He is well,”
Tristan said. “Presently, shall we say, challenged?”

Tymall stared
through the transparent barrier, his smile slipping away. Tianoman,
after a blink, remained neutral. Tymall glanced at his son, and
then, “What trouble is my father in?”

Tristan said,
“Nothing he cannot handle, uncle.”

“Then why was
this meeting requested?”

“For me,”
Tristan replied. “For understanding. I am now Kaval leader and
…”

“He abdicated?
Why?”

“He could not
do it anymore.”

Tymall nodded.
“I knew it would get to him. You seek to understand the enigma that
is Torrullin, do you? Why ask me?”

“I was told
you could help.”

“I do not see how.
I
don’t understand him.”

“I think it
has to do with the Path of Shades.”

“I put my life
in danger to speak of shadows?” Tymall frowned. “I stand here
eagerly, because I die every day to see my son’s face, but I cannot
believe the Syllvan orchestrated this meet for a mundane reason.
You want honesty from me, Skyler, you be honest with me. What
trouble is my father in?”

“I was warned
to say nothing.”

“Why?”

“You would
demand access.”

Tianoman drew
slow breath.

Tymall glanced
at him again and refocused on Tristan. “That bad? Tell me.”

“No.”

“Then we have
nothing further to talk about.”

Tristan
inclined his head. “Very well. I shall leave you two to it …” He
paused with a strange smile. “Ah, I see. You are as stubborn as he
is, except I could never have denied him the way I have you. I must
learn to say no.”

“He demands of
you?”

“I demand of
myself to emulate him.”

“That will
destroy you.”

“As it nearly
did you?”

“Tris!”
Tianoman gasped.

Tymall blinked. “They call you ‘Tris’? Gods, run into another
realm, and still my brother can haunt me. And,
Tris
, trying to emulate my father
did destroy me. It has been a long, hard journey back to a sense of
self, and the only reason I achieved it is the young man beside you
- his birth, his newness. You are immortal - yes, it can be felt -
and thus you will not know the salvation that comes with
fatherhood.” He shrugged. “Whoever told you to speak to me to gain
understanding, did well. Learn from that.”

Tristan bowed
his head. “I intend to.”

“Good. Now, as
regards the Path, it cannot be told, only shown.”

“And we have a
barrier between us.”

“Fortunately,”
Tymall said. “Tell me what is wrong with my father.”

“Tris, tell
him,” Tianoman said.

“Not without
guarantee,” Tristan said. “And that is already pushing it.”

“I gave my
father my word never to leave Digilan. My promise holds.”

“Tell him!”
Tianoman barked. “I command it.”

Tristan stared
at his cousin. “Don’t do that, not in this. The Warlock and Digilan
remains a threat, always, and no Vallorin should risk it.”

Tymall sighed.
“He is right, son.”

“He denies my
authority.”

“Tian, Tristan
is Kaval leader. He must deny your authority. The Kaval pays no
homage to any system or people, which is why they work.” Tymall
lifted his gaze to Tristan. “Go. I shall smooth this out. Tell my
father to come and see me once he finds himself again
unchallenged.”

“Go well,
uncle.” Tristan swiftly vanished into the dark, leaving Tianoman
alone with his father.

He went to
Menllik, aware the Syllvan watched the portal.

Chapter 23

Shadow and
shade, a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude

Titania
Dictionary

Path of
Shades

“
T
ell us,”
Torrullin said, staring at Elianas.

“I may tell
only you.”

Declan took
Saska’s arm to lead her back to the fire, leaving Torrullin and
Elianas pacing over the lines in the sand.

“Allow me to
tell you a story,” Elianas murmured, coming to a halt.

“Gods.”
Torrullin headed to the water.

Once there, he
bent to drink with cupped hands and sat to remove his boots. It was
clearly a delaying tactic. As Elianas came upon him, he rose to
walk in the water.

“You cannot
walk away from this,” Elianas called out.

Torrullin
spread his hands. “An island, eternal light, calm water; can a man
not walk?”

Elianas bent
to take his boots off. Leaving them alongside Torrullin’s, he
wandered nearer, kicking at the surf, such as it was. Torrullin
waited for him and together they ambled on.

The silence
was long.

“I thought you
had a tale to share,” Torrullin muttered.

“Tell me about
the Becoming, Torrullin. There are parallels, I think.”

They walked on
a number of paces before Torrullin spoke.

“It was on a
dark cold night outside Farinwood where it began. I sat there with
Lowen, fighting attraction to her, when I realised I could hear
birds and crickets and a host of other night sounds. It had not
happened like that before. I thought it was due to the wine I
swallowed and then thought I was ill, in delirium. When I heard
people far away, I thought I was mad. I passed out and they tell me
Quilla fetched me from there and took me to the Dome where the
Kaval, newly formed, waited. I remember none of it, and it was a
long month in coma before I returned. What I do recall are the
journeys beyond reality, and they are clearly etched.”

“Did it
hurt?”

“It hurt,
yes.”

“Physically?”

“No.”

“No,” Elianas
echoed. “That kind of hurt is far worse.”

“It strips you
bare.”

“The Throne
went into hibernation with Vannis,” Elianas said, “and I went in as
well …”

He paused to
give Torrullin a chance to realise the first parallel was due.
Torrullin gave the briefest nod.

“Nine thousand
years of apathy? I could not do it, and thus I travelled. At first
it was a short hop to the surface, then that success led to a
greater distance, and to ever greater. I learned how to separate
for longer periods from the grounded seat, and journeyed - travels
I may never forget. I saw things … which hurt. Often I thought I
would lose my mind.”

“Journeys into
the known, the unknown, the present, the future, the past, realms
far and wide. There was no time to measure, and no anchorage. And
there was knowledge, so much of it, it seeped into pore and marrow
of the mind, as if the mind was physical,” Torrullin said.

“And a
spectrum of emotion, where emotion was shattered into a million
tiny shards of glass tears, and you knew, just knew, it was the
mind that was the seat of all feeling,” Elianas added.

“The undoing
commenced.”

“Atom by
atom,” Elianas agreed.

“Until
sentience was suffering.”

“Consciousness
meant only pain, eons of pain.”

Both ceased
walking at the same time.

Torrullin
sighed. “I wish I could have spared you that.”

Elianas
grimaced. “I saw you when you did not know me and often hated you
for your unawareness, and then I was relieved you could not see my
suffering. The polarity drove me close to insanity.”

“Are you whole
now, Elianas?”

“About as
whole as you are.”

Torrullin gave
a wry smile. “That’s not saying much, is it?”

“I would not
have it any other way.” Elianas shrugged, and started walking
again.

“Tell me,”
Torrullin prompted, falling in beside him.

“I was a boy
who stumbled upon eternity when I met you. My blood flowed strong
and sure, and every confusion told me how alive I was at last, how
different my future would be. Every emotion, every hurt, every
rejection and every joy reinforced life. How could I turn my back
on it? And when it got dark and suffering commenced … alive, life,
passion! Why would I regret it? Apathy and death, those are the
alternatives, and thus I would rather fight with you every day,
every moment, than fade into obscurity.”

“To be alive
comes at an unholy price,” Torrullin murmured.

“I stand by
it.”

A step, two,
and then, “I have a confession to make before we speak of
power.”

Elianas walked
on in silence, the stiffening of his shoulders betraying new
tension.

“I knew you
would betray me, Elianas.”

Elianas jerked
to a stop. Dark eyes flashed.

Torrullin
stared at him. “I knew and I allowed it to happen.”

“Why?”

“You were
unaware of me. You saw me through your feelings, not me in mine. I
needed you to feel as I felt.”