The Echolone Mine (45 page)

“I know.”

“Not matter,
Torrullin, not soul - energy. He doubted his longevity in the Path,
and lost his energy. He was and is a true Immortal.”

A muscle
twitched in Torrullin’s face. “Go on.”

“He is not
dead. He is lost.”

A blink.

Quilla went
on. “He is not in a realm and has not been released out into
reality somewhere. Energy requires fuel to restart.”

“Fuel I have
now found. I see. I am his fuel.”

“Then you must
realise he will be back.”

Torrullin
stared at his desk for long, silent minutes. “I hoped so, but
hopelessness lay in how long I would wait. Hoping is not the same
as knowing, however.” He looked up. “Knowing he will come back,
returns hope to a long wait. I shall wait, however long it takes.”
He gave a strange smile. “Well, so Elianas is the barrier I cannot
pass through. Energy to energy. How poetic of him.”

“Torrullin
…”

“Let us move on,” came the brisk interruption. “Here,” and he
passed papers over, “is the trajectory I allow entering ships, and
the co-ordinates are there also. This place, my home, will be
shielded from every side and will give off no signature. I have
placed a beacon at the site I intend to do the healing; use that
for future magical transports. No one,
no
one
, comes near my home. You are sworn to
secrecy.”

Quilla nodded.
“What of your grandsons?”

“The beacon.
This place is for Elianas.”

“I have
intruded.”

“I have
allowed it, and it will not happen again.” He passed more papers.
“This is the design for the device to increase speed; have Tristan
put the Valleur onto it.” He passed another sheet over. “This
releases valuable goods and artefacts from the safe under the Keep
- give that to Yiddin - and I grant the right to sell the items.
Use the proceeds to buy as many ships as you can, as well as pay
for the required crew. If it isn’t enough, tell me. Crystal
propulsion, Quilla. That device will not work on anything
else.”

Quilla was
impressed. “You have been planning.”

“Dreams tend
to spur one. Now. I need strong men and machinery to prepare the
landing area, and I need builders to erect shelters. I need you to
choose them for me.”

“Valleur?”

“Preferably.”

“I shall see
to it.”

“Thank you.”
Torrullin rose and gestured for Quilla to follow him. “This whole
enterprise will take time, time folk no longer have. Spread the
word and if any can get here on their own, they will be
welcome.”

“We could
transport the worst in.”

“Fine, and
bring tents and food also.”

Quilla nodded
and followed the man into the cavern kitchen.

“You cannot
ferry everyone, thus I have prepared a potion to put people into a
kind of stasis.” He bent behind the counter and brought forth a
stoppered bottle. “A drop only. Anymore and you kill them. Those
close to death must receive this and when a ship is ready, bring
them first. I will wake and heal simultaneously.” He handed the
bottle over and Quilla accepted it gingerly. He added a number of
extra vials. “Again, if it is not enough, let me know.”

Quilla
nodded.

Torrullin
smiled at him. “Time heals wounds, my friend. Eventually I will be
fine again.”

Quilla
returned the smile.

“Make it known
nobody gets to stay on Avaelyn once healed. Every ship has a
turnaround period of twenty-four hours, and all who come, must
again leave.”

“You need
people to help you, Torrullin, if only in pushing wheelchairs and
trolleys.”

Torrullin bit
out an oath.

“Be
reasonable, my friend.”

“Will you
help?”

“I would be
honoured, yes.”

“Fine,
Q’li’qa’mz, you and five others - you choose - but keep them away
from me. I have not the time to be sociable, or the patience.
Agreed?”

Quilla
inclined his head.

“I expect the
first batch by morning. I guess that means you have much to do
before then.”

Quilla took
the hint. “Till morning.”

With bottle
and papers, he left.

The Dome

Tristan was
alone in the Gatherer’s Circle.

Quilla wasted
no time. “I found him and I have spoken to him.”

Tristan sighed
over the console, offering up a prayer of thanks to the
deities.

“Tristan, we
have work to do, tons of it, and we have …” Quilla quickly
calculated, having to allow for various time zones, “… eighteen
hours to do it in. First,” and he handed over the papers, “look at
these. Torrullin has cleared items for sale to buy spaceships, and
then he has designed a device to speed those ships. There is
trajectory in there and co-ordinates, and a beacon is established
to call to us who can transport.”

Tristan paged
through it and then looked up. “What are you saying?”

“Mercy Ships,
and until they are ready to fly, we ferry the sick to him. This,”
and he lifted the bottle, “will place the near death into stasis
until he can heal them, a drop only.”

“He aims to do
the healing?”

“Yes, freely
offered. He already knew.”

“Why doesn’t
he come here?”

“Because he is
as stuck as we thought, and we should also remove the ill from the
healthy. That is the fastest way to halt the spread of the
disease.”

“Where is
he?”

“Avaelyn.”

“Avaelyn?
Isn’t that way out?”

“Yes,
therefore the device.”

Tristan stared
down. “I must get this to the Valleur.”

“The power of
attorney is to go to Yiddin.”

“This will
take time.”

“Delegate
Shenendo to buy ships and find crews; he can liaise with Yiddin as
to funds. Put Erin and Jimini on collecting wheelchairs and the
like. You and I, we need speak to Teroux about desperate cases, and
with Tian about strong men to level a landing site, and builders
for shelters. We need tents and food until the facility is running,
and I need five others to help me help Torrullin as of said
eighteen hours. And someone needs to dispense those drops. We have
work to do.”

“Gods, he
figured all this out?”

“Let us just
say this is the fire that will return Elianas to him, and once that
happens he will be better.”

“How is
he?”

“Different. Do
not try to be a grandson this time; be Kaval leader with him.”

“Has he a home
on Avaelyn?”

“He must have,
but I did not see it,” Quilla said, lying with a straight face and
heavy heart.

“The
deed?”

“He has it.
Tristan, he is owner of Avaelyn the world, not just the land.”

“Good
god.”

“Therefore the
trajectory. No one is to fly outside of it and no one may remain
for longer than twenty-four hours. Except myself and the five who
will be helping.”

“Count me as
one.”

“I thought you
might, and I am glad.” A pause. “Caballa should come. She knows how
to get through to him.”

“Fine. Not
that I can stop her.”

“And
Belun.”

Tristan
squinted at the birdman. “It sounds like you are gathering a team
to tackle him.”

“Yes, but it
will not be easy.”

“Then Fuma
also. That man’s wisdom will be helpful.”

“That is four.
One more. Teroux is needed here and Tianoman is Vallorin, and maybe
it is better they do not see him as he is now. I would suggest
Lowen, but she has duties, and the sight of her may spur him to do
something stupid. She will remind him of Saska. Who do you
suggest?”

“Someone with
a fresh perspective, someone not linked to him. I don’t know
yet.”

“Fine. You go
to Tian; I will go to Teroux. Bring the builders and men back to
the villa. They can help with transporting sick over … what?”

“You should be
leader, Quilla.”

Quilla stared
at him, realising he had taken over the decision process. He
apologised, and then, “… and, no, leader suits me not. I am too
soft. You, like Torrullin, are able to set your emotions aside when
cold calculation is required most. I cannot always do that.”

Tristan
inclined his head. “If you say so. We meet in twelve hours.”

Both headed to
the ogives, and were gone.

Valaris

Tianoman
wanted to go to Avaelyn, but in the end agreed to co-ordinate the
funding for ships.

Shenendo,
Galarth, Jimini and Erin were seconded to him and Yiddin to
facilitate the enterprise. It was soon apparent it would take
weeks, maybe months, of normal effort to have everything ready.
They would work hard at it, however, and the first ship would take
to the skies within two standard weeks, with the other three weeks
later.

Tianoman
called for volunteers to go to Avaelyn … and had four hundred
answer the first summons. It took four hours to choose twenty
strong men to labour at the landing site, and twenty for the
building work. All were sent to gather materials, equipment,
machinery and food to haul with them to the villa.

They called in
Valleur designers and soon had a team pouring over Torrullin’s
device, with great awe over his foresight. The device would be
ready by the time ship and crew were.

As Tristan
took his leave to return to the Dome, Tianoman promised to have the
Elders spread the word about the Mercy Ships. Various pick-up
points would soon be in action, the largest of which would be
Sanctuary.

No illness had
yet reared on Valaris.

The Dome

Back in the
Dome, Tristan summoned the remaining Kaval and told them what was
a-foot.

He heard from
them scientists had taken to isolating neurological tissue for
experiments, but there were no results. Nor would there be, Tristan
thought. This disease was part sorcery also.

He sent the
Kaval out to orchestrate gathering centres and to further spread
the word.

Sanctuary

Meanwhile, on
Mariner Island, Rose gasped on a bed and Teroux was frantic.

Quilla managed
to calm him long enough to share the news, after which Teroux was a
madman in his organisation. He separated recently sick from more
advanced, and those from the dying, and soon had two doctors
carefully dispensing a drop of the precious potion to each. Special
rooms were cleared for those placed in stasis. They would await the
mercy mission. There were many, and Quilla’s heart broke at the
sight.

Mariner Island
possessed a huge stocks of tents. Those not in use were readied for
transport, and Teroux sent his staff to find bedding, beds and
utensils, and to gather food.

He then sat
with Quilla and between the two of them they calculated how much
load each transporter could safely manage, while also ferrying two
sick for healing.

They worked
out that on the first day the builders should not start the hard
labour, but should instead concentrate of ferrying goods and
people.

Torrullin
would not like it, but he would also hark to the wisdom.

Teroux, who
wanted to go to Avaelyn as well, but was persuaded he was needed
more on Sanctuary, he suggested Rose as the final member.

She would go
in the first wave of transports and could then remain once healed.
He would manage without her, for he would rather she be among those
who walked away healthy than have her remain among those who were
sick.

Quilla agreed.
Rose was not closely linked to Torrullin, and yet was known to him,
and she would also bring fresh perspective. He sent word to Tristan
and received confirmation.

Late that
night at the villa logistics were further streamlined.

Then there
were only three hours to the first session of transport and Caballa
suggested rest.

A healer needs
to hide emotion.

Awl

Avaelyn

T
orrullin was on the plateau before
dawn.

His home was
shielded, the beacon active, and he cleared an area under the
nearby trees to receive the first patients. During the night he
dragged logs in, setting them down in angular circles about the
cleared area. These would be used as seating. A stream was diverted
into a flowing fountain and bowl for drinking purposes. Further
out, on a defined path, he erected basic toilet facilities. That
would be the first project for the builders. Nothing spread disease
faster than bodily waste.

He also placed
marker stones to demarcate the landing area during the night, and
now paced them, checking he had the dimensions right.

Then there was
nothing to do until the invasion of Avaelyn commenced - he saw it
as an invasion - and thus he returned to the trees and beacon.
Entering a meditative pose to restore energy, he waited unmoving.
His mind, however, could not be stilled.

He thought
back to the lethargy that dogged him before Lowen went missing and,
briefly, bemoaned its loss. Feeling little was easier than feeling
too much. In that time he managed to live without being alive, and
now it had changed.

Revisiting
Nemisin from this time, rather than a slow, meandering backtrack
along a wide curve, shook everything. All norms went erratic due to
that journey. The Void, the Avior door, all part of shaking loose
from accepted status, until now nothing could revert.

Yet, looking
back, the journey through Time and the one inside the Path of
Shades had not been about righting wrongs. Both journeys were about
personalities, about knowing the inner being, about restoring lost
connections.

Tianoman found
the strength that made him Vallorin, and Teroux was on the road to
recovering from the deaths of his family. Tristan proved a
different strength in Immortality, and a long road now lay ahead
for him. Lowen - he now understood where she fit in. She belonged
to a strange past, the one where and when Elixir became who and
what he is now. Lowen, he hoped, had discovered where she fit in,
for it was not with him. Teighlar opened up to his own past, a
fellow Ancient, a journey they battled against for a long time.