The Echolone Mine (78 page)

“And yet that
is the truth of it.”

“How do you
circumvent the agony?”

“One mind and
will power.”

Elianas’ gaze
shifted to Torrullin.

Torrullin felt
it, for he pinched his nose, and said, “That isn’t important now. I
am not saying more until we know we need to go there. Tristan, what
exactly did Ixion say?”

Tymall pursed
his lips. “Don’t brush this off …”

“Tymall, not
until I deem it necessary,” Torrullin said. “Tristan, go on.”

From his
seated position Tristan said, “Realms overlap all the time - you’ve
told me this yourself. Ixion explained more clearly to clarify this
difference,
this
situation. He may or may not be responsible
for this, and if he is, he also gave us the way out. If he isn’t,
he still gave us the way out. I don’t think he was lying.”

“How did he
tell you?”

“Fingers on
pulse.”

“That kind of
direct communication allows no untruth,” Elianas murmured. “Seems
our Ixion was not completely untrustworthy.”

Torrullin
agreed. “Explain the difference.”

“I am not
going into everything; we don’t need it. Simply this; realms
overlap, but planes do not. Realms, however, overlap in
every
plane, and for each it is different. There is a
singular point
always
the same, whether realms, reality,
planes, universes.” Tristan paused there, and then, “When the
Goddess of Souls is enabled a portal is created that transcends
all. It is
the
escape hatch.”

Elianas did
not move a muscle.

Torrullin
sighed.

Tymall
murmured, “Seems we need to go there.”

Torrullin
snapped to him. “Shut up.”

Elianas
climbed slowly and deliberately to his feet, and approached. “We
need to talk.”

Torrullin
nodded and started walking down the rise towards the stream. In
Torrke of their reality there was a bridge and a path; here there
was none of that.

Elianas
followed almost casually, as if he had not a care in the world.
Tymall watched them go and, to his credit, did not make a move.
Instead he eyeballed Tristan.

“You will tell
me.”

“I bloody
won’t,” Tristan snapped.

He closed in,
his manner threatening. “Tristan, know this one thing about me. I
love my father and I love Tian, and will do
anything
to
protect them. I have been through hell in my life, and those two
are my constants, my only reason for living. I shall use
information garnered here to my advantage, yes, for I am the
Warlock of Digilan and I do deal in advantage and information
without conscience, but if what I know can hurt either my father or
Tian, it goes to the grave with me. That I swear.”

He closed in
more when Tristan stared at him.

“I see you are
your own man, no longer a shadow to my father, and that is
excellent. It means your mind is your own and you do not need await
permission to tell me what I need to know. Gods, man, I
am
Warlock, I
am
able to help, and I swear nothing will harm
him.”

“I believe
you, but the telling is not for me to do. It breaks the laws,
Tymall. You father must do so.”

Tymall studied
him and then nodded. “Fine. Then tell me about Elianas. Laws don’t
apply there.”

“What do you
want to know?”

“How old is
he?”

“He is an
Ancient.”

“Therefore the
wings, and that explains that. Where has he been all this
time?”

“Recently? The
Throne.”

Tymall gaped.
“Pardon?”

“The sentience
in the Throne - that was Elianas.”

“How?”

“How, I can’t
answer, for I have no idea. But I do know the Throne is now close
to the seat Nemisin cast; it has the power of before, now without
the voice your father heard for years.”

Tymall harked
back to the time his father beat him to within an inch of his life
and then threw him onto the seat of power as punishment for
Taranis’ death. He wondered if Elianas, as sentient inhabitant, had
anything to do with that agony. If so, he deserved similar
pain.

“How did
Elianas emerge from there?” he asked.

“Again, the
actual method is beyond me, but your father used the Lumin
Sword.”

“The one he
called Elianas. Nemesis. Interesting. Is Elianas his nemesis,
Tristan?”

Tristan was
stoic. “That is their business.”

“Wrong, but
you don’t have to get involved. What is their relationship?”

“They are
brothers of time and experience.”

“That isn’t
what I heard.”

“I don’t care
what you heard.”

“I hear
whispers of a sexual relationship.”

“The whispers
are wrong.”

Tymall changed
tack. “When did you last see Tian?”

“He was there
when we left for Lethe.”

“How is
he?”

Tristan
realised then how hungry Tymall was for information about his son.
At the portal to Digilan on Valaris proper he saw how much Tymall
loved his son also, and thus he was more forthcoming.

“Tian is fine,
although he misses you. Aislinn gave birth to a boy not long
ago.”

The man’s face
lit. “His name?”

“Lunik.”

“A child of
the moon,” Tymall sighed. “With a name like that, the future seen
for him must be smooth and kind, and I am glad. Perhaps at last the
curse of my name can be laid to rest.”

Tristan sighed
again. Now he liked bloody Tymall. “He wanted to come to
Digilan.”

“He must stay
away if he is to have a chance at normality.”

“He wanted to
tell you and he wanted to bring Lunik.”

Tymall
squeezed his eyes shut. “He mustn’t, tell him that. Digilan is no
place for an innocent. He must forge ahead on his path without my
influence. Tristan, no matter how this goes here, I think Digilan
will be sealed afterward. Tell him I love him and I love his son
and that will never change. Tell him to go on, be strong, and tell
him to raise his boy in the Light. The child has Tristamil’s blood
also and Tris was a good man.” His face twisted. “My brother was a
good man.”

He swung
away.

Tristan let
him go, realising for the first time even evil was not
complete.

He watched
Tymall wander off to the north, and Torrullin and Elianas deep in
conversation to the west.

“We are facing
the expediency issue again,” Elianas murmured as he caught up with
Torrullin.

“It will not
be expediency.”

“Of course it
is.”

“No, Elianas.
Whatever the reason prompting action now, it occurs to me
everything we do leads us to exactly the same point time after
time. We need to choose, brother, and then we need believe in that
choice.”

“And take
action?”

“Yes, whatever
it is.”

“Torrullin,
nothing will change my mind.”

They stopped
on the bank of the stream. Water rushed by musically at their feet
and in the heavens clouds raced in abandon. They saw none of
it.

“One of us
must give,” Torrullin murmured.

“To find
Nemisin at the other end of it? I think not. I am done with
him.”

“You are not
so done with him.”

“I want to
murder him, and thus I need to stay well away. I am not adding
shadows now.”

“Or your wings
will grow?”

Elianas
frowned. “Are we doing circles? Fine, brother. My wings will grow,
yes, if I confront that fuck. No more. I have been used
enough.”

A smile.

Elianas swore
under his breath. “I wonder what that smile means.”

“Only that you
are a step closer.”

Elianas stared
at him. “Know your goal is not necessarily mine.”

“I am well
aware. Know what you think my goal is could be wrong. Maybe mine is
close to yours.”

Elianas’ dark
eyes sparked. “Gods, Torrullin, then you would be inside my skin
already.”

Torrullin’s
glittered apace. “But how, Elianas? How would I be inside your
skin? Submissive? You blood …”

“You are not
stupid. You know exactly what I mean.”

“Yes, but I do
not think you mean what you say.”

Elianas went
on walking, muttering under his breath. Torrullin, feeling
contrary, did not follow. A few minutes later the dark man returned
and sat on the bank. He cupped his hands into the water and
drank.

“It might not
be a bad idea to stay here. Start fresh.”

“With Tymall?”
Torrullin snorted.

Elianas pulled
a face. “There is that.”

“There is also
the issue of abandoning our reality to voids in the future. I
cannot leave there now as I have in the past.”

Elianas
squinted up. “Elixir has bound you.”

“Unluckily.”

“Tell me,
brother, do you regard me as bound?”

“To
reality?”

“Amongst
others.”

“I do not know
enough of Alhazen to answer.”

“I wasn’t
asking about Alhazen.”

Torrullin sat.
“Do you want to leave?”

“There might
be a time, yes.”

A beat, two.
“The only binding I am aware of is what lies between us. Is it
binding? I don’t know. I hope so.”

“Why do you
hope so?”

“Did I not
tell you I am afraid to lose you?”

“You are
afraid you will not find me, Torrullin, and this isn’t about your
fear. Why do you hope I am bound by what is between us?”

“Do I need to
answer?”

“Not now.
Sometime. From your heart.”

“My heart can
answer easily,” Torrullin murmured.

“Ah. It is
your soul that holds back?”

“My soul knows
also.”

“Are they in
tandem?”

Torrullin
laughed. “No.”

“Problem for
you. And you dare suggest making a choice.”

“I will stand
by a choice.”

“No doubt, but
will the Goddess recognise a choice when heart and soul is not
one?”

“Gods, why do
you make everything complicated?”

Elianas smiled
and lay back on the grass. “Because you need to look at this issue
from all angles.”

“It may not
come to that.”

“It will. You
already know it. We are stuck here. We could start afresh, you, me,
Tristan and Tymall … and then? Tymall will soon be at my throat,
and I am itching for his, but even if we live in glorious harmony
on an untouched paradise world out of time and removed from every
issue, there will be no future. Three of us are immortal and Tymall
will live a long while yet. Can you see us in five thousand years?
You, me, Tristan and Tymall, on and on and on without change? We
will not last a week.”

Torrullin
flopped backward and crossed his arms under his head. “Sabian
apparently knows something.”

“And my point
is made.”

“Then so is
mine. Choose.”

“I am not
changing my mind, I told you.”

“Then I must
choose.”

Elianas’ eyes
were unreadable.

“I want out of
here. I want to go to home to Avaelyn. I need to know Tian is safe,
and all the others. Fine, Elianas, have it your way.”

Elianas lifted
up on an elbow. “How wonderful.”

“Well, god,
what did you expect? Fucking trumpets and shooting stars?”

“That would be
nice.”

Torrullin
started laughing; he laughed until tears streamed over his cheeks.
“Priceless!” Elianas sat and stared into the water when he finally
calmed down. Torrullin slapped him on the shoulder. In return he
received another unreadable stare. “Lighten up.”

“This is no
laughing matter.”

“What do you
want of me? A serious face? I, too, am sick of being used.”

“Torrullin,
shut up. This is how it stands. We pick Tristan’s brain for a
clearer answer. With a clearer answer we have more to proceed with
and only then do we choose.”

“You still
think it’s expediency.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I feel
nothing but anger right now. I could not even touch a woman.
Someone would have to force me at the point of a sword.”

“Ah, you do
want the trumpets and shooting stars.”

An expression
of absolute fury crossed the man features before he dipped his head
out of sight. “Go talk to Tristan.”

Wordless,
Torrullin walked away.

He was as
furious.

Oh, oh, oh,
here it comes, Master Rat! The ship will sink when that hits! Are
you ready?

Tattle’s Blunt
Adventures

Alternate
Valaris

“S
abian opened a pathway through the spaces when he
took Nemisin away. The line opens a link to that pathway.”

“The line, or
the line crossed?”

“The line,
Torrullin. You don’t have to cross it.”

“But we do
have to get pretty steamed first. To bring the line into the open,
we have to have the
intention
.”

“You know more
about it than I can guess at.”

Torrullin
chewed on the stalk of grass he absently picked earlier.

Ixion might
not be behind their dilemma. The sliver revealed to Tristan the
existence of planes, and realms, and the connections between them
despite real differences. He further shared the spectre of ultimate
change if a trap was not sprung within fourteen hours. The mention
of fourteen via pulse communication meant depth and honesty. No
sliver could lie about magic. No whole person would dare, and Ixion
desired only to move on; he would not jeopardise it.

Beyond that,
the Syllvan could not be manipulated, and therefore it was not
Ixion who tweaked their path to land them somewhere entirely new.
The Syllvan would have barred his journey. Tymall stepping out into
this place at the exact right time, and without knowledge of Ixion
or the journey into Lethe, could only mean an unknown.