The Echolone Mine (5 page)

“Let us be
gone. To the cottage to think this through.”

Elianas
inclined his head, gave Lowen his arm and they were gone.

An insane
cackle filled the forest.

“
Does the
physical universe actually exist; do tangible objects speak of
touch or imagination? Would it not be more accurate to suggest what
we feel and how we act and perceive is the creation of everything
around us?”

In a letter to
Nemisin from Lord Sorcerer

Mariner
Island

Sanctuary

“I
t did not say ‘shadows’,” Elianas said, pacing the
small space.

The cottage
was made smaller by stacks of books and boxes from the Keep on
Valaris, as well as other personal items from the villa on
Sanctuary. Tianoman and Teroux clearly followed Torrullin’s
direction, and made the Keep and villa theirs, dispatching personal
items to this small space. In the bedroom, clothes obliterated the
bed.

“The angel had
a black heart,” Torrullin said.

“Yes, but it
linked us to it.”

“The future is
dark at present.”

Elianas
frowned. “Heart is not future. There is a message in there; we are
overlooking something.”

“We should go
to Akhavar,” Lowen suggested.

“No.”
Torrullin was irritated. Where Saska was. Gods.

“Yes. The
Chamber of Biers.”

He stared at
her. “You have seen it?”

“In a vision.
We should go there.”

“Why?” Elianas
snapped.

“Because the
dead speak,” Lowen responded.

“They bloody
do not.”

Torrullin
sighed. “There they do, Elianas. Unfortunately. One message
each.”

Lowen cleared
her throat. “Cassiopin is interred there.”

Elianas swore
and sank down as if nerveless. “I do not want to hear anything she
has to say. No, I say. Let them lie.”

“If it’s a
message you seek …” Lowen said.

“We will not
hear just one there. It is not merely Cassiopin we need fear,”
Torrullin said. “A host of them wait. Including Nemisin.”

“Torrullin,
dare you walk away from this? Something huge waits out there,
controlled by an ancient network. Tell me, why is it you felt free
of the past, only to go off to find other history, to discover the
two are indivisible? Why did you know the various forms of the
future and now see darkness? Why not shadows, as Elianas suggested?
Did we, in restoring the known present via the Void, in fact tweak
so profoundly, there is no future? Is this tangible or do we
imagine all of it?”

He glared at
her. “I hate it when you are clever.”

She smiled.
“No, you don’t.”

“We may be
clutching ether here. What if the two are not connected? We would
place unnecessary burden on us, and the dead.”

“Heart of
Darkness. Certain personalities wait in darkness. There is a
parallel.” Lowen shrugged as if to say it was obvious, to her
anyway. “I’ve never known you to step away from a challenge.”

“This is more
than a challenge,” Torrullin snapped.

“I do not want
to hear the dead,” Elianas added.

“Well, I am
not doing it without you,” Torrullin said to him. “We know those
people; we listen together.”

“You want to
do this?”

“Damn it, I do
not, but Lowen makes a point we cannot ignore.”

Elianas leaned
against a stack of books. “Fine, but I am beat. Ten days in
paradise stressed the hell out of me; yesterday was wearying and
today … was today. Sleeping on pine needles to a rude awakening did
not help.” He closed his eyes.

Stubborn. And,
yes, exhausted.

Torrullin
studied him and stood. Ignoring Lowen, he went to the bedroom and
tossed clothes into every available space, and then stood in the
doorway.

“Bed’s clear.”
He headed for the front door. “I am going to the villa for food.”
He left, his footsteps crunching in the snow outside.

Elianas rose
and made the bed in time, falling face down into a deep sleep.

Lowen drew a
shaking breath. Goddess, the by-play was intense. She crossed over
to remove his boots. She tried to get his sword belt off, but found
it impossible. Shrugging, she left him there.

Torrullin
returned a few minutes later with supplies and dumped them in the
kitchen. He headed to the bedroom.

“He could have
taken his sword off first,” he muttered and manhandled the sleeping
man until he could get it clear. He left the room swiftly.

Lowen watched
him wander among stacks of books.

“I could help
to get order in here,” she offered.

“A waste of
time; I intend moving everything. This mess aids in a decision. I
have to do something about it soon.”

“Where
to?”

“Somewhere new
to call home.”

“You’re
different from the man I walked away from ten years ago. Not all of
it is due to Elianas.”

He nudged a
precarious box into a more secure place. “Lowen, I cannot talk
about us now.”

“Clearly.”

He swung
around to look at her. “Do you want an apology? Do you need me to
say something to explain what happened?”

“I am as much
to blame for that disaster as you are. Saska was between us then,
as Elianas is now.”

He swore under
his breath and neared. “I did not know it, but I have been
fragmenting for centuries - at least - and the rate is increasing.
At this point there is simply no safe way to divide myself for you,
him and Saska.”

“You have to
choose a single heart.”

He blinked. “I
dare not.”

“Why not?”

Torrullin
moved away. “That answer remains elusive.”

She changed
the subject. “Heart of Darkness, what does it mean?”

“No light. It
means we must walk away or we change everything.”

“For pity’s
sake, what does it
mean
?”

“I do not
know, Lowen. I hate not knowing.”

Akhavar

Saska was
listless.

She was
without purpose. She wandered among the Valleur taking up residence
in the mountain enclave and could not summon a smile for the
friendly faces passing her.

Everything
that needed doing to restore Akhavar to a functioning world was
done, and others would now take it further. There was no Dome for
her anymore and she did not have the will to reassume that life
anyway. The Lady of Life was no longer her responsibility and
neither was being a wife. No husband, no duty, no work - no
purpose.

A stir behind
her caused her to turn.

The husband
she recently released, because he asked her to, had returned? Her
heart fluttered, but no. Elianas also. And Lowen. The two points to
a new triangle.

No change of
heart, then.

They,
apparently, had purpose. They strode nearer, greeting Valleur as
they went, or Torrullin did. Lowen received side-glances and
Elianas was an unknown.

Torrullin came
to a halt before her. “Forgive me. I had not intended to return
soon.”

“You are
welcome here, you know that.” She transferred her smile to Elianas.
“As are you.”

Elianas
returned the smile. “Thank you, Saska.”

Saska shifted.
“Lowen.”

“Saska.”

The two women
appraised one another and then both looked away.

Elianas’ lips
quirked.

“Why are you
here?” Saska asked of Torrullin.

“The Chamber
of Biers.”

“After your
reaction a few days ago, I expected you to stay away from it.”

Elianas turned
his head, a question in his eyes.

Torrullin
ignored him. “Matters have changed.”

“Now you want
to hear the dead?” Saska frowned.

“Want is too
strong a word.”

Saska sighed.
“You know where it is.”

He gave a nod.
“Yes.” He walked on past with Lowen following.

Elianas hung
back.

“What is it?”
Saska asked.

“What was his
reaction?”

“Like someone
punched him in the gut. Why?”

“How long was
he in the presence of the dead?”

“A second,
two. Elianas …”

“How long can
you remain in their presence?”

“I hear mostly
echoes, which are disturbing, but I handle them.”

“How
long?”

Saska frowned.
“I have never stayed more than an hour. Why?”

“He cannot do
it, and I doubt I can. Lowen might, but she is unproven. We need
you to listen for us.”

She stared at
him. “What are you talking about?”

“The dead
speak and we must listen.”

“Are you mad?”
she whispered.

“I could be if
I go in there. Please help us.”

She thought
about it, but did not have to think long. Her curiosity was piqued.
She headed after Torrullin and Lowen, and Elianas fell in beside
her. “What are you hoping to hear?”

“Nothing,”
Elianas muttered.

“What’s going
on?” Saska prompted.

Elianas looked
down at her and shrugged. “We had an incident recently. Something
called all three of us ‘Heart of Darkness’, like it was a message -
what?”

Saska had
slowed and then stopped. “
Heart of Darkness
?”

Elianas
inhaled sharply. “You have heard this before?”

“Oh, yes,” she
whispered and set a stiff pace to catch up to Torrullin and
Lowen.

Bemused,
Elianas went with her.

Torrullin was
about to enter the chamber and Elianas called out to stop him. He
understood what Saska had to share was of extreme importance.

She marched to
Torrullin. “Heart of Darkness is a term of condition in finding the
sterile and lifeless to breathe renewal into it. This is what a
Lady of Life does. It is recalling dead things. Torrullin, you go
in there to speak to the dead … and you bring them back to
life.”

Torrullin
blanched. So did Elianas.

“Gods,” Lowen
muttered.

Saska studied
their reactions. “As once Lady of Life I am able to banish
something recalled, if it is deemed unfit.”

Elianas’ gaze
was stark. “No.”

Torrullin
looked at him. “We must know.”

Elianas shook
his head, stepping backward. “No, please.”

“Torrullin,
not even you can banish someone returned,” Lowen said. “Don’t
expect it of him.”

Silence, long
and profound, and Torrullin said, “What do we do?”

Saska pulled a
face. “I have no current Heart of Darkness, therefore I can enter.
I could listen for you.”

Elianas
nodded, patently relieved.

“Saska, that
is stressful,” Torrullin murmured.

“Less so than
deciding who is unfit if
you
enter. How did you come by the
Heart?”

“Something in
a wood somewhere bestowed it upon us.”

“Highly
unlikely. It isn’t bestowed, not unless a dead person did so -
gods, someone dead?”

He nodded.

Saska
whispered, “Someone wants, maybe needs, you to listen.” She shared
her glance between them. “Is it safe?”

Elianas
threaded a hand through his hair and did not answer.

Lowen did not
have to say anything; her expression revealed uncertainty, and for
Lowen that was odd.

“Not safe,
then. Maybe you should leave it alone.”

“I think we
are now beyond that,” Torrullin said. He glanced at Elianas, who
eventually nodded. “Saska, you would go in there and listen? You
can say no; it
isn’t
safe.”

“Heart of
Darkness is a message, even the bestowing of it. If I don’t, you
must, or it won’t ever leave you alone.” She gave a grimace.
“Despite what I said, you cannot walk away.”

“How does it
work?”

Torrullin
stalled now, and shored up for what was coming. No, she thought
with a sudden flash of insight, he shored Elianas up. This had more
to do with the dark man than random purpose and challenge.

She allowed
it. She needed bolstering also.

“It’s akin to
the ability to recall something versus the ability to understand
when something is dead. With this condition you either bring it
back to life or hear what it was, feel what it was. In your case,
you would raise the long dead indiscriminately; in my case, I would
hear before choosing to raise, which I cannot, not anymore.”

Elianas
touched her shoulder. “You hear only echoes.”

“Until I
choose to hear properly.”

“Elianas, I do
not want to use her for this,” Torrullin said.

“You go in
there to raise Cassiopin from the dead and it will be betrayal,”
Elianas said. He stepped closer. “A betrayal I shall answer with
the same force you unleash. And if you raise her and then banish
her, I shall hound you to the end of all things … and we will be
enemies.”

Silence.

Saska broke
it. “Cassiopin was Nemisin’s daughter.”

“She was my
wife,” Elianas said, watching Torrullin.

That explained
something. She snapped her fingers between the two men at eye
level. “Hey, enough. The only one going in there is me.”

Both looked at
her.

“But I am not
doing it until I know more.”

“Saska’s
right,” Lowen said. “You want her help; you tell her what you do
know.”

“Agreed,”
Torrullin said.

“Over coffee,”
Lowen muttered. “Please?”

Saska smiled.
“I could use some myself. Come.”

Torrullin and
Elianas moved reluctantly from the Chamber of Biers. Despite
danger, despite horror, there was a pull from inside hard to
deny.

They lagged as
Saska led the way with Lowen beside her.

“Elianas,
bringing her back may …”

“No.”

“I would not
banish her.”

“I said
no.”

“Are you
afraid of her?”

“I am
petrified of the guilt. Leave it.”