Thus he traced the telling back to the source, and there discovered Nemisin of the Valleur, the first Vallorin of the Ancients, the father of the Valla bloodline.
Every instinct revealed he was right and thus he warped time itself and went to the ancient rock to deal with Nemisin. The warping of time was something the Kallanon had learned from the Q’lin’la, but they altered the art to suit their needs.
Nemisin came as a surprise to the Dragon emissary. Not his appearance - he was by then accustomed to bipedal creatures without scaled armour - and it was not his strength; it was the man’s arrogance. That kind of arrogance bred treachery, and had to be watched … and could also be utterly useful.
Awareness of the future continued to intrigue him.
Dragons thought in terms of the next battle, but Nemisin, ruler of the golden Valleur, thought in aeons, delving into the distant future to reach for a glimpse of duty to the present. It was sobering, causing the emissary to realise how little the Kallanon really understood time, sentience and universal cycles. All were integrally linked.
And thus, ages back, a Dragon requested audience with the golden Vallorin Nemisin.
DARKKNESS
5
IN THAT OTHER REALM the wars of sorcery continued.
Dragons fought Dragonnes.
Dragonnes fought each other.
Dragons again warred upon each other also.
And there appeared to be no end.
Evil bred worse evil and the art leapt in depth and depravity.
Good bred greater good and the Light grew ever stronger.
The day came when Dragons and Dragonnes stood as one at last, choosing ideals rather than gender. Darkness versus Light.
And the wars continued and still there seemed to be no end.
Then a day came when they gazed around them with open eyes and noticed they had chased all life out of the universe, and what had not fled, they had annihilated. They were alone.
Finally they paused. A truce was declared.
It did not last long, but was lengthy enough for certain matters to come to pass.
Such as the lone emissary despatched through a doorway into an alternate reality, a thinning of the spaces discovered when the birdmen were belatedly tracked.
The emissary did not return.
Such as the telling by Queen Rianna, twenty-third of the title.
She foresaw the coming of a powerful leader, one who would lead the Light over all shadows, eventually to overcome the Dark eternally.
She foresaw also there would come a time when the Kallanon would exit their realm in search of this leader, and she foresaw that their enemies, the dark Dragons, would follow, bringing their ages-old wars into that other, perhaps undeserving reality.
Warnings and strategies availed them nothing, for the wars resumed, intensified, and continued without end.
How long the wait for this mighty leader?
The One?
DARKNESS
Afterword
I AM NOT GOING TO reveal the lone emissary’s name here - he is unmasked in The Kallanon Scales - but I will tell you he becomes integral to the Lore series.
You will also meet Queen Abdiah in the future time foresaw within the prophecy:
‘Redemption will come in a form unknown to us and it will be a living sentient thing. And in its maleness will reside a tempest; The One, who shall have power to lead light over dark to overcome it eternal. Beware the passion of such beauty. We shall leave our haven in search of this sentient to bask in the light. Shall we return with it or shall the Dark Dragons follow to annihilate its glow?’
Prophecy of Dragonne Queen Riana, 23rd of the title
Queen Abdiah leads her courtiers from her realm into the spaces where the One has recently discovered his destiny. She is not alone in this seeking - that lone and unnamed emissary? He is there …
Will the Light win?
Or is this merely another battle in a war older than sentience itself?
THE
BEYOND
for
V A N N I S
BEYOND
Foreword
IN ALL ITS INTRICACIES this part of Vannis Valla’s mighty tale formed part of The Dreamer Stones (Lore of Reaume 4), but it was removed due to space constraints.
I, as reader, will want to know what happens to Vannis after the massive explosion in the valley known as Torrke. We do, after all, find out where Torrullin Valla goes when he enters the ‘afterlife’; what, therefore, about Vannis? Have we not followed his incredible journey for book after book?
Here, then, is the insert regarding Vannis and his beloved Raken in their realm beyond death.
Enjoy!
BEYOND
1
Torrke
Two thousand years ago
THE DANCE OF DEATH commenced. Three dancers stood before the Valleur Throne. Margus. Torrullin. And Vannis.
Absolute silence.
Blue eyes. Yellow eyes. Yellow eyes.
The cloaking ritual commenced.
Three voices.
A strange irony, that.
TORRKE STILLED, and only a hawk looked down from on high to see the first flash of inexplicable light. It spread out to envelop the entire Keep, then grew to encompass the surrounds and lifted into the heavens. The hawk screeched, beat its wings in desperation. It did not escape.
All in an instant.
The blinding light bled into the mountains, rushing east, hurtling west, but the magic of the valley contained it within. That was its purpose, its reason for reawakening. It saved many lives that terrible morning, for the unholy force unleashed by the Throne was far worse than anybody envisioned. Torrke, after all, proved to be a saviour.
And with the light of a hundred suns came ferocious, annihilating super-winds, flattening and disintegrating stone, glass, trees, water, boulders, animals … everything. Nothing escaped.
Torrke died in an instant.
And with the winds of doom came the heat of a star in supernova. In an instant every insignificant atom melted, racing into its neighbour, colliding with others, dying there until the valley floor was as horizontal and burnished as a mirror lake of glass. The mountains leaned backward at a forty-five degree angle, black glass, uniformly sheer. Only the very tips, where the magic halted the force, showed crags and peaks of rock, a noiseless symbol of what had been but an instant ago. Ramparts of transparent glass as hard as diamond, lumped like broken stone, blocked the eastern and western entrances, blistering, still melting, cooling.
In an instant.
Not one of the three men would have had the opportunity for a final stray thought. Of their bodies there would be no trace, ever.
It was done.
BEYOND
2
VANNIS OPENED ONE EYE. Gods, what a hangover …
Memory caught up.
In an instant.
The other eye snapped open and full awareness brought absolute wariness.
Not a hangover.
All that he was, was battered and bashed when Torrke imploded. It gifted him a mighty headache, but that was now the least of his worries. Where was he? Would what he hoped for in his future beyond death come to pass?
He stood and touched himself here, there. Solid. Real. Whether or not that was imagination mattered not, for he believed body, soul, mind and heart came through unscathed and thus it was real, if only to his patterns of thought and instinct.
Vannis looked around. This place was a world - if world it was - of hills and mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and cloud and mist. Cool. Refreshing. Akin to winter without the bite and the white of snow. Temperate winter. A place he could fit into. Climate he could relate to. It meant, by his way of thinking, he came to the right place.
And yet there was the burning question.
Would he find his beloved Raken, lady and wife of his heart and soul, here? She was the reason he opted for death with Torrullin and Margus. Life without her was no life. Death without her was hell.
He started walking, for that was the only way forward.
Action, eventually, brought reaction.
WATER WAS PLENTIFUL and fish swam to a hand dangled in a river. Add to that berries and nuts from bountiful trees and shrubs, and hunger was not an issue.
He walked for six days without direction, simply following his feet, and was in that time renewed. The ills of the war on Luvanor faded into memory and the tension of strife on Valaris greyed into images without feeling. Everything pertaining to that reality was now so far beyond his grasp it could no longer influence what he was. It shaped him, true, but that particular shaping was over. Life was new.
He rediscovered Vannis, the man, and on the sixth day he found Raken, his beloved.
BEYOND
3
VANNIS HEARD HUMMING around a bend in the river. Forest hugged the banks and beyond hills and mountains marched into distance and mists. His heart strummed along with the sound of humming and rushing waters - his heart knew before his eyes saw.
Rounding the bend, her fiery red hair was a beacon.
He stopped to simply stare.
Raken washed herbs and vegetables in the fresh water, humming as she did so. But it was not the Raken murdered by Murs Siric a year ago. That woman was in early middle age with fine lines fanning out from her eyes, still beautiful, but definitely aging. This Raken was the firebrand lady pirate who won his heart twenty-five years before. Young and glorious and the most beautiful woman in all his dreams.
Her hands stilled. And then she lifted her head. Emerald eyes speared him where he stood. And her brilliant smile erupted, and then she ran.
Moments later she was in his arms, and everything was as perfect as he hoped.
He was home.
This, this was a new life.
BEYOND
4
“IT’S A SHADOW LAND, Vannis,” Raken murmured as she stirred stew in the hearth. “Has it a name? Probably, but I haven’t heard it. People are scarce here.”
“Does that bother you? Lack of people?”
She smiled. “You know I always preferred being away from other personalities.”
“Except kids.”
Her smile slipped. “I sometimes miss my work at the orphanages, yes.”
“You miss having a child your own, too.”
She dropped the big ladle on the stones and turned. “This isn’t an Aaru-like realm, Vannis, so it can’t be perfection. Yes, I miss having a child. I would’ve liked that. You would’ve liked that.”
“Maybe here …”
“No. Just because we’re in another space doesn’t alter old problems. I can’t have children.”
“Raken …”
She sighed and sat on the stool near him. “I was raped, and it hurt something intrinsic inside me. I never told you, and today I wish I had, because it would’ve eased your mind as well. You always thought the blame was yours.”
“You told Taranis.” He had not realised how much that hurt until this moment, when it could no longer matter.
“Because Taranis knew how to listen.”
“I didn’t?”
“Not then, but I should’ve told you anyway.” She smiled again. “It is the past, my love; let it go.”
He nodded after a time. “Yes.” And then, “Did you ever think we had no children because of Torrullin?”
She stared at him. “A few times.”
He nodded again, this time decisively. “It would’ve changed the dynamics too much. Torrullin was meant to be the father of a new dynasty. A cousin in line for the Throne would put too much pressure on him.”
She gave him a thoughtful look. “You miss him.”
“Terribly.”
“I miss him, too.”
He sighed and asked a question he never dared to before. “Do you love him?”
Another smile came. “Vannis, you have my heart, always.”
He inhaled. “Answer the question, Raken.”
She shook her head in irritation. “You realise, of course, here nothing is black or white, that we’ll ask questions and demand answers that really have no bearing on anything. It no longer matters what went before, and yet we’re still largely those people and can’t just turn away. Vannis, we’re going to argue a lot.”
He grinned. “Good.”
She laughed. “There’s the Vannis I know so well!”
He touched her cheek, and then murmured, “Answer the question.”
She rose to check on the stew and wandered to the kitchen nook to fetch more water. “We need to build a bigger place.” She glanced at him, and swore. “Fine, do I love Torrullin? Yes, yes, and yes. He is very dear to me.”
“That I know.”
She glared at him. “Then what’s the problem? Would I have fallen into bed with him some time in fantasy? Absolutely, but only if I never fell in love with you. Torrullin is extremely sexy in a way that completely befuddles the mind, but he never got my blood racing the way you do.”
“Never?”
She laughed. “Fine, once or twice I gave him serious consideration. I’m not going to lie. Had there been no you and no Saska, I’d have fallen into his arms without a second thought. But, my love, it takes two …”
An eyebrow hiked upward. “You’re saying he wasn’t interested?”
She licked her lips. “He was interested. He loved Saska too much.”
Vannis nodded. “Good.”
She laughed in exasperation. “What does that mean?”
“Honesty means everything to me. I have no gripe with underlying attraction - I just needed to hear you say it.”
She lifted the cauldron from the fire and set it on the hearthstones. She sat down again to stare at her husband. “Your turn to be honest. What really worries you?”
He grabbed the pipe and leaf behind him and commenced filling the bowl. He said not a word and neither did she. Only once he lit up and took in the first satisfying draw did he speak.
“Torrullin dreams, Raken. Not the kind that gifts him clips of the future, but disturbing dreams that affect him personally. He will not escape it wherever he went with Margus. And it will be with him when he returns to reality. I worry about that.”
She inclined her head. “I sympathise, but why did you question my feelings for him? Where do the two meet?”
“I thought maybe he told you something. Maybe attraction was strong enough for greater truths between you.”
“No.”
Vannis sighed and blew smoke out. “No. Then I am in quandary.”
“You need to go back.”
“Not back, as in permanent, but back as in to check on him. I am aware that my wish negates my afterlife, but this is something I must do or I will never truly settle into our life here.”
A slow nod answered that first, and then a wry smile. “You will ever feel responsible for your grandson, I understand. Fine, then go back for a visit, but you have time before you can do so. He’ll be in that other place for two thousand years, Valaris time, and Valaris time is like to here. Make your plans and hone them, but know you will have to wait.”
He smiled. “That is no hardship.”
She smiled into his eyes. No, it was no hardship, because love was deep between them. She would help him find a way to step back into that other reality for a time; she would do so knowing he would return to her. In the final analysis, now she meant more to him than Torrullin could.
He made that choice the morning he died.
BEYOND
5
MONTHS LATER THEY completed their home on the slopes of the hill. It was spacious and contained private spaces for both of them. Forest surrounded and the river gurgled ever onward at the foot of the slopes.
In that time they met other souls and even made friends. Between them love blossomed anew and life was good. They would be together forever and yet the weight of time was no burden. Both were complicated personalities and it would take a thousand lifetimes to get to know each other proper
ly. It was a challenge worth undertaking.
Vannis carefully constructed a magical chamber where the sun could shine for them in all its glory should they feel the need for that kind of heat, brightness and vitality.
Raken created a kitchen garden to rival any in all universes.
A DAY CAME WHEN nothing required doing urgently and they sat on the deck overlooking the forest slopes, Raken darning, Vannis smoking. He had discovered a liking for the pipe and leaf. She found homely chores restful.
Raken asked the question that had plagued her since Vannis came.
“Vannis, what does Torrullin dream of?”
He was quiet so long she wondered if he would reply, but he did eventually.
“There is a man equal to him in every way, and as Torrullin is Destroyer and Lifegiver, so this man has parallel duality. I worry he will be more foe than friend. He could undo Torrullin.”
“How?”
Vannis sighed. “Torrullin loves this man, Raken.”
She frowned. “He knows him?”
“In dreams.”
“Just speak plain, will you?”
“Time is a circle, my love, and thus it stands to reason Torrullin knows him already while never having met him. The knowledge of the curve is presented to him in dreams, although he doesn’t quite get it yet. Sometime I think Torrullin has deliberately placed blockages in the way of his knowing … and the man he dreams of tries to undo them, to get Torrullin to acknowledge him. Maybe. Maybe not. Whatever the situation, there is danger.”
Raken swirled her tongue in her mouth. “Vannis, this is Torrullin we talk about. He makes his own rules. You shouldn’t interfere.”
Silence and then, “You suggest I don’t go back?”
“No, go, if only to see him again. But, Vannis, if he loves this man, the problem of dealing with him is Torrullin’s alone.”
Rainbows and Portals Page 13
