Looking up, Skye caught sight of Caballa leaving Cat’s suite.
That was odd. What now?
Skye hopped up a tier, skipping up the stairs, and headed to Cat’s, intending to smooth matters over, just in case Caballa had been too abrasive in her honesty. Caballa did not attempt to still her tongue when something needed said.
“Cat? Are you there?”
“A day for visitors, I see,” Cat mumbled from within.
“I can come back …”
“Sorry, Skye, it’s not you. Come in; I’m in the kitchen.”
Skye found her pouring fresh coffee. She nodded when she was offered some and then, together with steaming mugs, they headed out onto the ledge, sitting down.
“I saw Caballa,” Skye ventured.
“Is that why you’re here?”
“Caballa can be too honest. Which is good, but it can upset one … you know?”
Cat’s lips quirked. “True.”
“Lowen has to stay here without family and I need her help to take care of Lowen, and if you and Caballa are at odds it will be harder on that young girl.”
“Relax, Skye. There are no hard feelings.”
“That’s good, then.” Skye sipped her coffee.
Next to her Cat spluttered into laughter. “You’re burning up with curiosity! You’re just too well-mannered to ask!”
Skye grinned, colouring. “Yes, I am. Sorry.”
“Don’t be … and maybe you can explain somewhat better. Um … Skye, sorry, first I need to know something … crap.”
“You can say anything.”
“Well, Caballa says women are attracted to Torrullin and, and, well, I wondered where you, er, stand as regards the, um, Vallorin?” She looked away, voice lowering with every word.
“Torrullin?” Skye was amazed. “Me and … lordy, no. Torrullin is my godfather. Goddess, never! I’m more interested in one of his sons!”
Cat breathed a sigh. “I just needed to know. Sorry.”
Skye sent a sidelong glance. “I’m flattered, of course.” She giggled. “Gods, that would be too strange.”
Cat laughed.
“So how can I help?”
TOWER
4
THE XENIAN CHEWED at her lip. Her coffee, for the second time, remained untasted. Sipping to distract was not tasting. “Well, you know him, and …”
“You and Torrullin? Caballa was right?”
“Afraid so.”
Skye was quiet a time and Cat had not the wherewithal to interrupt.
“You’re right in saying afraid. Torrullin has been faithful to Saska since that one time with the twins’ mother, my father told me so. He has not once looked at another woman, not even on the many occasions Saska went offworld. He loves her even now and nothing between you and him can actually mean much. Stay away from him, that’s my advice.”
Cat sighed. Skye now repeated Caballa’s warning.
Skye went on. “I overheard him tell Vannis it wasn’t over between them, that even in eternity it would never be finished. Theirs is no ordinary marriage; it’s an obsession and … I can’t explain it, but they thrive on it, even apart. Cat, I’m sorry, but you’ll not divert him.”
Cat nodded, saying not a word. She raised her gaze to the snow and lingered over the dark crevasses and small shadows. He was so intense; how could it mean nothing?
“Caballa says I remind him of her,” she murmured.
Skye pondered, exuding only sympathy for the Xenian. “Not in looks, but certainly in personality. Saska is stubborn, attracted to danger, impulsive …”
“Yes, yes, like me,” Cat muttered. “Is she beautiful?”
Skye’s reply was simple. “Yes.”
“Of course she is,” Cat swiped her mug from the ledge, gaining some satisfaction from the sound of breaking pottery. “So, in his loneliness, I’m the substitute. Great.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t warn you.”
“His exact words were: you have no idea what you’re getting into. I chose to ignore it - my own stupidity. Matt’s right, blast him.”
Matt was Cat’s brother and he had warned her too. Skye said nothing further, understanding that Cat would have to wrestle her own demons. No doubt she hoped Torrullin would see the wisdom in leaving matters at this point.
Men.
Cat had fallen harder than even she thought true right now, or chose to deny; clearly she would have to do serious retreating.
“If you need to talk, I’m here, okay?” Skye offered.
“Thanks.” Cat glanced at her. “I’ve never had a woman friend, you know. Xen isn’t the kind of place where true friendships are formed. It’s all about contacts; who can do you a favour, whom do you owe. I wish you were coming with us.”
“I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Ta, sweetheart. So. Which son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Which Valla son have you set your heart on?”
Skye could not answer.
“Moses, Skye, I’m sorry.”
“No need.”
“Can I help?”
“Nobody can help.”
Cat studied the pale, freckled face. Her eyes traced the unusual streak of grey hair; Skye was not beautiful, but she possessed an inner fire that was entrancing. That boy must be blind.
“Tell me,” she cajoled.
“There’s nothing to tell. No hope, no future, not even a past.”
Unrequited feelings, the worst kind. “He’s not interested?”
“No.” Skye determinedly shook her head.
“He knows you are?” Cat pressed.
“No, and he can never know.” Skye gripped the Xenian’s arm. “I said too much, Cat. If you ever find out, you can never tell him! Ever. You must promise me.”
“God Almighty! You really mean that.”
“Promise!”
“Of course I promise … but, why?” Cat carefully withdrew her arm.
“I can’t tell you.”
Cat breathed in deeply. Here were undercurrents she was completely ignorant of. Perhaps Matt was right and Valaris and its inhabitants were more profoundly dangerous than she at first thought. Her brother was often right, blast him. Skye was petrified; why should that be?
She would keep her promise, but she would be sure to find out the why of it.
Skye clambered to her feet. “Lowen is in the game’s room. I need to check on her. Join us?”
Slowly Cat nodded. Yes, why not? And while she built a bridge to her niece, she could listen to the conversations of the soldiers around them.
It was a truth that the commoners were often more informed than the highborn gave them credit for.
“Yes,” she smiled. “Let’s see if we can beat Lowen.”
Laughing, Skye followed her down.
The End (or maybe the beginning of massive trouble)
TOWER
Afterword
WITHOUT GIVING THE longer story away, for these dynamics feature hugely in the main tale, let’s just say that Cat listens to the advice given her … and then not.
She also discovers why Skye wishes to keep her feelings for a certain son under wraps. Tymall Valla, after all, is much like his father, but there is also more to it.
Relationships are integral to Lore of Reaume and I hope you enjoy reading further!
THE
GLITTERING
DARKNESS
DARKNES
Foreword
DUE TO THE SHEER VOLUME of The Kallanon Scales, much of the backstory and explanations were removed in order to present a sleeker tale.
The history of the Dragons (and Dragonnes), however, is pertinent to the greater story, and therefore I’m presenting it here as an added read.
A high percentage of Fantasy tales include dragons in the narrative, and I’ll admit I do love a good dragon story! But they are not the focus of the Lore tales; rather, they add to the narrative, I believe, as something extra, beings encapsulating the lesso
ns sentience should be aware of.
Of course, my version of where dragons come from may surprise you, too - kind of an alternative explanation for dragons in so many of our own Earth myths and legends.
Enter now the realms of glittering darkness …
DARKNESS
1
THEY WERE GLORIOUS and iridescent.
They were incredibly strong, with huge taloned hind legs upon which they reared in intimidation, and sharply clawed forelegs that killed with a single swipe. They possessed long powerful tails ending in lethal arrow-headed stings and breathed fire as told in fairy tales universes over.
Unlike earthly fire, if a dragon’s breath touched water it burned more fiercely. Yes, they were Dragons. Scaled, tough, clever and beautiful in their jewelled hues, and terrifying.
They mastered flight, evolving a pair of leathery, sharply pointed wings, before they mastered speech. As flying Dragons they were unstoppable, but as flying Dragons with speech and intellect they were conquering royalty, and this was borne out when each proclaimed himself king of his territory. They were highly territorial, but their realm was limitless.
At first.
Down the evolutionary passages, mates to the royal Dragons drew breath, and were graceful, colourful and able to fly and speak from the outset. The breeding instinct was overpowering, eggs fiercely guarded.
One of the great anomalies of that formidable race lay in what came forth from those marvellous orbs of new life, and led to the enslavement of the female of the species. It transpired a female could fly from birth, while a male was born wingless. This bred envy and distrust.
Eventually there was war. Territories once believed sufficiently large for co-existence and tolerance shrank with every male born. A Dragon was as nothing if not king of his domain. The females saw the stupidity in that reasoning, but their tireless efforts availed them only punishment.
Two brothers sparked the first skirmish. Others noticed one brother gained what the other lost in death. Skirmishes erupted everywhere and escalated into battles, and battles resulted in full-scale war.
Greed overcame reason.
The Dragonnes, female of the species, drafted a sensible plan advocating peace for all. It meant less than nothing. The Dragonnes went to war, fighting their mates. They outnumbered them and were fresh to the fight; idealistic. Idealism always fought harder than greed.
The Dragonnes assumed power. Idealism gave way to practicality and they engendered a sensible hierarchy. The Queen would have no territory; she would oversee the welfare of all. The males became the enslaved, although that was a state of mind, for the Dragonnes treated them with respect.
Peace returned, the land renewed and life settled.
Underneath, however, resentment simmered - the Dragons despised the new order - and war loomed anew and came to pass.
It was a bitter struggle.
The Dragonnes won, and a new policy was adopted. Only one male conceived was allowed life in every five female births. Ruthless, but successful.
Peace returned.
As time wore on the Dragons did not forget they were dispossessed and could not revere the Dragonnes. They were scornful of peace and prosperity, and hankered after the kingdoms of old.
DARKNESS
2
OPPORTUNITY FOR A REVERSAL of fortunes arose in the form of other races.
Through ages of war and civil strife these races and alien beings were ignored, and where Dragons claimed territories not theirs, those races erred on the side of life and fled to undisputed regions. Until the Dragonnes engendered lasting peace they preferred isolation. No one could trust a Dragon and trust for the Dragonnes arrived only with much time, slowly.
Those races held in their grasp the means Dragons sought to rule. Ultimate and undeniable advantage.
Sorcery.
Dragons massive and arrogant belched fire in glee and thereafter sobered to plan. They would learn this strange power, they swore, and then strike.
The Dragonnes unfortunately made it possible. Foolishly they invited sorcerers to court, entranced by the spectacle of magic. The court was a graceful centre of learning and culture and the last war had fled living memory; the sorcerers were wooed, among them the ever-curious Q’lin’la, the diminutive Feathered Magicians.
Then, mysteriously, they began to disappear. Without a trace, one by one, without a whiff of foul play - they simply did not return to court.
Dragonnes shrugged their gigantic shoulders and continued with the business of life. Still, when the court eventually emptied of all foreigners, they understood something was very wrong.
The Dragons spent generations building a stronghold deep in the mountains of the homeworld, where a tiny fort was the only evidence. The rest was an intricate network in the bowels of the earth and it was there the kidnapped and lured sorcerers were brought, one by one, and, with so much rock between them and freedom, were effectively bound. To see again the sworn light of suns, they agreed to train the Dragons.
And thus began the next phase in the turbulent history of the Dragon species.
DARKNESS
3
SORCERY WAS AND IS a double-edged sword; it could never be wholly held. Always there came a time for choice and the choice was simple.
After immersion in the base principles, the acolyte attained the point of choice. Good or evil. Lumin or darak.
The Dragons, greedy by nature, arrogant by design, and angered by their low status in a society of those they considered lesser, chose the darak road. All bound sorcerers then knew they would not again see the light of suns. The Dragons had proven astoundingly astute in the principles of magic, and their intelligent minds leapt ahead to overcome the natural obstacles set within their psyche … and thus they easily drew on the mantles of darkness.
Their teachers died badly, used as guinea pigs for a new and dreadful force, and their great cries of agony and suffering pierced the bindings of the stronghold to be heard in horror by their brethren elsewhere, before those cries were eternally silenced.
The Q’lin’la hastened to the court of Queen Abdiah, eighth of the title, and attempted to make her aware of the monstrous threat. She would not listen, but when two Dragons crawled into her presence one morning, severely beaten, and told the tale of an underground fortress, she had little choice but to hark.
Queen Abdiah instituted an intense programme of sorcerical training, hastening it along despite Q’lin’la warnings about severity of pace. She needed to counter the Dragon threat swiftly and would not listen to reason. In this she had the two voices of the Dragons to support her, and thus the Q’lin’la did their best.
THE MALES AMASSED at their stronghold, from there to swoop across the plains. Initial attacks brought victory to the Dragons and they moved world to world strengthening their hold, but soon discovered their numbers, controlled due to birth edict, were too few for total control.
The Q’lin’la fled to watch from a distance and witnessed the initial uselessness of the Dragonnes. As time passed, the Dragonnes, by circumstance and sheer will, caught up in knowledge and began to fight back with equal ferocity.
The war intensified and gradually the Dragonnes gained the upper hand … and then it went to every hell.
In the Dragonne ranks, the day of choice arrived and many set foot to the darak path, and war erupted between the females of the species at a crucial time; thus the way lay open for the Dragons.
From afar the Q’lin’la cursed themselves and those like them; they engendered this war of sorcery. Worlds folded and nothing was held sacred. It was only a matter of time before good achieved in the past would forever be obliterated, burned to cinders.
The Q’lin’la left that universe and consciously put aside knowledge of the doorway. They sealed the Dragon species in and left them to their fate, to remain warring in the dark, and chose life in a new realm.
They named the great reptiles, the Kallanon.
The Glittering Darkness.
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DARKNESS
4
HE WAS AN EMISSARY sent to discover where the sorcerers - the tiny feathered beings - fled to. Chosen for his intellect and daring, he was a singular choice to exit one reality for another, tracking the cold trail of the Q’lin’la. He was a creature of surpassing talent, but once he tore through the barrier, he discovered there was no manner of return.
If he desired to go back, he needed the Q’lin’la … or had to find another who knew the secrets of Rifts.
He came at a time when this universe was in turmoil and it was familiar to him, this endless strife. What was not familiar was the variety of species, each hounding him in their way, so many of them capable of sorcery … and he discovered that the power in the Light was a powerful weapon.
He had not expected a crowded realm and more often fled than fought. His appearances and disappearances during those years heralded the myths about dragons and their ferocity. He could not find the Q’lin’la, for they had already undergone the transformation from birdmen into Immortal birds, but he did find others with great skill. These he bled dry and yet none of it availed him the way home.
He roamed, learning, training and garnering more power, and in the process discovered the beast that was prophecy. These were living futures, he realised, glimpses of a time to come, and he gathered them - much as the Q’lin’la had before opting for transformation, although he knew not of that conditioning - and in those he found the thread that told of the coming of the One, a powerful being of powers both good and evil.
Now that was the road to his salvation, a salvation that would see him return triumphantly to his realm. Good and evil, in one being - the One would have power over Rifts.
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