The Echolone Mine (86 page)

“Then you are
the enemy, Elianas, and will suffer with him.”

“Gladly.”

“What next?”
Torrullin demanded on Nemisin.

“We can do
this like adults,” Nemisin murmured. “Step down, disappear, and
swear never to return, and it ends now and without bloodshed. I
shall return the Throne to the young man who thinks he is a real
Vallorin, and take up the mantle of the One. I do not need a Throne
for that.”

“Ah. And
Elianas?”

“Elianas
stays.”

“Why?”

“He has power
the One can use to advantage.”

“Never,”
Elianas said.

“We shall see,
Danae.” Nemisin paused, listened and smiled. “Avaelyn absorbs a
word of power. How illuminating. I believe this lovely place and
this empty world will be my headquarters, then.”

“Never,”
Elianas repeated.

“Never,”
Torrullin echoed.

“I see we
shall do this the hard way.” Nemisin smiled.

Elianas
speared Cassy with an icy gaze. “What are you planning?”

“I plan to
increase the sacred network. Every world and inhabited moon missing
a sacred site will get one, and join the web. And one day it will
be strong and huge and the universe will have lasting peace.”

Elianas
murmured, “Noble of you.”

“It is about
control,” Torrullin said. “You want to force compliance.”

She glared at
him. “You may find war attractive, but I think it a waste of time
and resource.”

“Nothing is as
black and white as that.”

“What do you
think Torrullin did for years?” Elianas said. “The main goal has
been to establish peace.”

“He has not
succeeded, has he? In fact, I would go so far as to say wars follow
him. He creates them simply by being in a place too long. My father
can put a stop to that and I shall make it unassailable with the
network.”

“I must be
very powerful,” Torrullin murmured.

“You have a
dual nature. You need war to reveal peace, and vice versa.”

“And your
father does not?”

“He swore to
uphold the laws of a sacred network.”

Elianas
murmured, “You are in for a surprise.”

Nemisin
sighed. “I made mistakes, and I have learned from them. Dear
Sabian, my instructor, made it clear. I promise Cassy to mind her
laws, and she promises to wait until the way is cleared. Where is
the dear Sabian?”

Tristan
frowned. Yes, where was he?

“No doubt he
works a plan to finish with you,” Torrullin murmured.

“Not this
time.” Nemisin patted the arm of the Throne.

Torrullin
laughed. “Watch yourself.” He moved closer. “This is the kind of
day that does not allow for second chances. Many aspects end. I
have no patience for games. You have challenged, and I take up the
gauntlet. Shall we begin with who the Throne really listens
to?”

“Why not?”

Torrullin
lifted a brow. “You cannot hide behind it while we establish
that.”

Nemisin stared
at him, and pushed himself from the embrace of the seat. He stepped
away.

From the outer
doorway Sabian erupted to slam into the man. They tumbled in a
tangle to the hard floor of the atrium. Sabian rolled and rose with
an arm locked around Nemisin’s throat, dragging the man up.

Cassy
shouted.

Elianas
crossed his arms with a smile.

Nemisin
gargled, “Come, Torrullin, surely you want to complete the
challenge?”

“Not at the
expense of the Valleur.”

“Coward!”
Cassy hissed.

Nemisin
whispered, “One challenge to determine the way forward.”

As Sabian
tightened his hold Torrullin lifted a hand. “State your rules.”

Nemisin
struggled.

“Give him
enough room to talk,” Torrullin murmured.

“He is not
escaping me again,” Sabian said.

Elianas
stepped forward and clamped a hand on Sabian’s shoulder. “He will
not. Use this.” A crackle sounded, and a charge of electricity shot
down Sabian’s arm and through Nemisin. Elianas smiled and lifted
his hand away. “Now he is bound to you. You can find him anywhere
at any time and in any place.”

Sabian stared
at Elianas. “How did you do that?”

“Lord Sorcerer
employs the mind; I use the charge present in every atom. You can
let him go.”

Sabian did so,
and Nemisin straightened rubbing his neck. He sent a glare of venom
at Elianas. “You will pay for that, my boy.”

“I am not your
boy, and I have not listened to you in many an age. Watch yourself,
Nemisin, for behind Sabian and Torrullin there is me. I am not done
with you.”

Nemisin spread
his hands. “What have I ever done to you? I brought you to my
court, I gave you my daughter, I blessed your daughters, I allowed
you to study magic with Torrullin, and helped you when matters went
awry. I do not see how you can hold a vendetta against me and
explain it rationally.”

Elianas drew
the kind of breath that heralded a blast of hatred, and Torrullin
murmured in his ear, “Keep it in the wings. Our ace, so to
speak.”

Elianas
swallowed the bile. “He is not getting away.”

He will not,
Elianas. I swear it.

A small nod
indicated acceptance.

“State your
rules,” Torrullin said again.

Sabian
interrupted. “Let us end this now. Give Nemisin an hour more and he
will find a manipulation to alter the outcome.”

Torrullin
flicked the historian a glance. “You deserve a place in this
universe, Sabian. Let us see where this challenge takes us.”

Sabian blinked
and said no more.

Nemisin
clapped his hands. “I love it!”

“State you
rules,” Torrullin snarled.

“A neutral
place, three chances each. Winner takes all.”

Tristan’s head
moved from one to the other. “Tian is Vallorin.”

Nemisin
smiled. “Then your Tian should have equal opportunity.”

Torrullin
murmured. “Leave him out of this. He lost his father today. His
mind would not be on this.”

“Tymall is
dead?” Tristan whispered. “And you are calm?”

Torrullin
waved the question aside. “Let Tian be.”

“Then he will
not rule,” Nemisin said. “Do you prefer that?”

Torrullin
threaded a hand through his hair. The man was right. If they played
games with the Throne, no matter who ‘won’ the day, Tianoman would
be the real loser. A Vallorin who had no say over how the Throne
was employed, was not a Vallorin in Valleur eyes. He glanced at
Elianas for help.

“Unfortunately
Tianoman should have an equal opportunity,” Elianas murmured.

“There must be
another way.”

“A different
challenge, Torrullin. Leave the Throne out of it.”

Torrullin
swung around. “We are Enchanters. There is challenge that should
satisfy us.”

Nemisin
grinned. “Your loyalty to your family is commendable, but if you
want it done this day, I am afraid the challenge stands as is. With
or without the sensibilities of a young Vallorin and the Valleur
nation behind him.”

“And if he
wins?”

“We walk
away.”

“That I do not
trust.”

“Sabian takes
me and Cassy takes you.”

“No,” Elianas
said.

Cassy laughed.
“He must vanish, Elianas, if this is to be fair.”

“Gods, are you
all mad?” Tristan burst out.

“Quite
possibly,” Elianas murmured. He bored a hole through his wife of
the past. “Torrullin stays with me. He will not interfere with
daily life.”

She shook her
head. “Not good enough.”

Torrullin
stepped forward. “Certain events have brought on fractures in Lord
Sorcerer’s psyche. By morning, there will not be much of me left,
dear Cassy. If you desire to be the one to pick up the pieces
…”

Elianas’ head
turned to him.

“… then by all
means. But know this, what happened to you before, during and after
the Chamber of Biers is as nothing to what you will be forced to
deal with. You could allow me to remain shattered, but your sacred
network will sunder, and every noble thought you may possess will
be as naught.”

She slid her
gaze to Elianas to see there stark fear and knew Torrullin told the
truth. “If you win this challenge, by morning …”

“Tomorrow is
another day. Choose for this one.”

She returned
her attention to Elianas. “You would cope with a madman in the
aftermath?”

“It will not
be your concern.”

A moment later
she nodded. “Fine. He is yours to control. You will swear to keep
him away, however, or
I
activate the network and strangle
his pieces with it.”

“I swear.”

“For pity’s
sake,” Tristan growled. “Fracturing? Pieces?”

Torrullin
glanced at him. “I told you once it approached. What happened in
Digilan sealed that fate.”

“How can you
be so
calm
?”

“Calm? I would
not say that.”

Nemisin rubbed
hands together in glee. “Excellent. A boy suffering the loss of a
father, and a man about to be sundered by the fates of his deeds. A
fair fight is one thing, but I am not going to deny I like my odds.
Where and when, Torrullin?”

“Echolone.”

Sabian smiled.
Where shamans spoke to ancestors, and thus there were thin spaces
to drag a recalcitrant ancient Vallorin into. Perfect. His smile
slid away. Where an Avior door led into the Path of Shades.

All you need
do is push him through, Sabian. You do not need to accompany
him.

Sabian
casually looked away. He had decisions to make.

“Echolone is
acceptable,” Cassy murmured. “Tonight?”

“Echolone’s
rising of the moon.”

“Acceptable.
We need prepare.”

Nemisin
snarled. “I am not leaving the Throne here for him to subvert.”

“You are not
staying with it either,” Elianas snapped back.

“I will take
it,” Tristan said. “Someone tell it to come with me, and I will
arrange a place where no one can be hurt in this madness.”

Cassy studied
him closely, and nodded at his father. “He will not do more than
that.”

Nemisin licked
his lips and agreed.

Tristan
inclined his head.
Wrong, Cassiopin. I intend to do a whole lot
more than set a seat in an empty space.

Torrullin
murmured, “You brought it here, Nemisin. Send it with him, and then
get out of here.”

Nemisin waved
a hand, the Throne lifted. “It will follow your signature. Go.”

Tristan
glanced once searchingly at Torrullin, and was gone. An instant
later the golden seat dematerialised as well.

Nemisin
sighed. “I love that chair.”

“Go,” Elianas
growled. “Till moonrise on Echolone.”

Sabian
grinned. “I shall be sticking like glue. Come, First Father.” The
three left as one, Cassy dubious, Sabian thoughtful and Nemisin
muttering under his breath.

Elianas waited
without words.

“I need
convince Tian,” Torrullin said.

A nod, again
without saying anything.

“He will not
take it well if you are there.”

Elianas
inclined his head.

“Do you want
to finish what we started earlier?”

Elianas
sighed. “I await the next day.”

Torrullin
clasped his shoulder, and was gone.

Elianas sprang
into action, and prepared for the day after.

Grief and
sorrow, penitent, changes nothing in the life you live daily. What
it does is remove, for a time, your ability to function in that
life. Often your inability leads to anger, frustration with self. A
step at a time, penitent. Take one step now.

Father Rees,
Valaris

The Dome

T
orrullin did not go directly to Torrke.

En route he
changed his mind and entered the Dome.

The Dragon
ogive chimed and the Kaval looked up, expecting Tristan, and
stiffened when Torrullin marched in.

No one said
anything when he came to a halt at the conference slab.

Quilla said,
“Enchanter?”

Torrullin
leaned on his hands. “Much went wrong, and for that I am sorry.” He
closed his eyes and straightened. “Quilla, do you remember the
chant for Elixir?”

“Of
course.”

“Good. You
might need it. Erin, can you create a pathway from an ordinary
place to an extraordinary one without it being marked by
others?”

She stared at
him. “I need a bit more than that.”

“A path from a
place on Echolone to the Avior door.”

“Jeez.
Why?”

“Can it be
done?”

“How long have
I got?”

“A few hours
and no one must see you or your results.”

“May I ask why
again?”

“Someone needs
a push through that door.”

Quilla
shuffled around the table. “One time entry; surely it cannot be
used again?”

“I cannot use
it again, but someone else might.”

“Nemisin?”

“Yes.”

Erin’s eyes
rounded. “I’ll do what I can.”

Quilla
murmured, “Nemisin could get out, as you did.”

“If he does,
which I doubt, he will not be the same man.”

“How do you
intend luring him to Echolone?”

Torrullin
perched on the slab, and filled them in.

He left them
stunned as he made his way back to the ogive and a confrontation
with Tianoman.

Valaris

While Valleur
restored order to Menllik after the invasion from Digilan, Tianoman
paced the courtyard like a madman.

He snarled
under his breath and no one dared approach, not even Aislinn, and
she kept Lunik away as well. She was on the balcony when Torrullin
alighted, and almost fainted in her relief. Now sense would be
made. She hastened down and then halted.

Tianoman
glared at his grandfather.