She stared through the window at the leaden sky. “That was from Saska. There’s an emergency.”
Tristan said, “Look at me.” When she did, he added, “You had more reaction to Saska’s message, I think. What emergency?”
“The sun has not risen.”
Tristan frowned. Not what he expected. “I’m sorry?”
“Saska received a night visitation and the presence she encountered said the sun would not shine on Akhavar - Nemisin’s world - until a certain condition is met. It is dawn there now and the sun has not risen.”
He was dumbfounded.
“It wants Torrullin on Akhavar,” Caballa murmured. “Not in a few days, now, immediately.”
“Is it linked to the hasty coronation?”
“Maybe; I really don’t know.” A mighty frown marred her forehead. “But something bizarre is a-foot. Something extra, I think.”
Tristan stated, “You are going to Akhavar.”
“Yes, as soon as I have spoken to Vanar and Yiddin.”
“I want to go with you.”
“No.”
“Caballa, I look like him. I could help.”
If anything, she paled further. “No, I forbid it!” She gripped his arm. “You must promise me!”
A moment of quiet and then, “What did you see?”
She let him go. “Oh, damn it.” She glared. “Heed me this once and I promise I will tell you everything when I come back.”
They stared at each other and then Caballa was gone.
Akhavar
THE MOUNTAIN ENCLAVE WAS abuzz as the other residents realised something untoward came to pass.
While Prima calmed nerves, Saska paced impatiently waiting for Caballa. For once she even wished Lowen was around, Lowen with her extraordinary gift. While she waited, she examined every word and detail.
CABALLA ARRIVED AS SOON as she was able, having had a hard time with Vanar. Yiddin, bless him, was more fatalistic in his approach.
He would bring Vanar around to the swift coronation.
“Saska?”
“Oh, thank the Goddess.” Saska embraced her and then nearly dragged her to the Throne-room. As they went she related the detail.
“The Throne?” she whispered when Saska was silent. The two stood before the sacred space. The something extra, Caballa thought.
“Yes, in form without feature.”
“Torrullin long said the Throne is sentient.”
“Exactly, and that is why I don’t doubt what I heard and saw, and the dark outside proves it.”
Gods, what would this change? Why now? “How long can Akhavar hold without sun?” Caballa asked.
“Two, three weeks for plant life, longer for animals, but, Caballa, even a week is too long. It will do irreversible damage. This world is sensitive.”
“Does Torrullin know?”
A beat. “No.”
Caballa frowned. “Thus the two may not be connected. An instant after you called Torrullin informed me to bring the coronation closer. He wants a Vallorin on the Throne within six days.”
Saska went weak at the knees. “If he does not know of this, that knows of his plan for a new Vallorin.” She pointed at the empty space.
A cold shiver overcame Caballa. Indeed.
“Caballa, I don’t know how to approach this.”
That was why she was summoned first, Caballa understood. “Apparently Torrullin returned to the Dome and it’s on high alert - well, more so.” Caballa shrugged. “Once he has said his piece there, he must come here.”
“Is there no other way? Don’t you see anything?”
“You are nervous and it clouds your judgement. It does not matter what I see - and I don’t see anything - this is for Torrullin to resolve, especially this. It cannot go another way.”
Saska nodded. Her eyes squeezed briefly shut.
Caballa rested a hand on her shoulder. “Would you prefer I send the call?”
Saska clasped that hand. “You are a good friend.” She drew a breath and laughed. “No, I’ll do it.”
Caballa smiled. “Good.”
“I need a few minutes.”
“Of course.” Caballa retreated.
Sanctuary
IT HAD PASSED MIDDAY, but no heat was felt anywhere.
Sanctuary was in winter’s grip. Belun, with ogives open to the elements as he commenced repairs, shivered as he worked. Nearby Jonas and Erin muttered about slavery, and how could anyone abide this type of weather? Bloody Belun must be cold-blooded.
Into that grey, cold and open Dome, came Torrullin. Others able to absent from current tasks followed him. Belun’s tools were ignored as he watched them enter. No ogive chimed, for the sacred arches were dormant.
Torrullin veered his way. “How are the repairs coming?”
“Getting there. What is going on?”
“Emergency meeting. Join us.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You two also.”
Belun, Jonas and Erin followed him to the console.
As they headed for the slab, Torrullin said, “This will not take long. First, those who could not make it here now must be informed at the earliest opportunity. Erin, please see to that. Next, the Dome is on higher than ever alert. Next, I am about to undertake a journey with Quilla, Teighlar, Declan and Sabian. I am not at liberty to give out details, but length of absence could be anything from a day to a thousand years.”
“Realm travel?” Belun burst out.
“Yes. The Dome and Kaval must remain visible in that absence. Each of you must go on as if nothing has changed. You can do this. I have been an absent leader and you coped - you can do this.”
Silence greeted his words.
“Forgive my haste; it is time to go.” Torrullin smiled and bowed. “Godspeed, my friends.” He rounded the console, walked through the astonished gathering and then froze. “Saska?” A moment later he drew a ragged breath and was gone.
Leaving those of the Kaval present feeling bereft and directionless.
Belun snorted his displeasure. “You heard the man. We can do this. Now get back to work!”
Akhavar
SASKA FELT TORRULLIN BEFORE she saw him.
His presence invaded every pore and nerve; she smelled him, felt him, knew him. She moved to face the direction he entered from.
Caballa, swallowing, retreated into the shadows.
Torrullin strode in and only Quilla would be aware of his inner turmoil. He felt her as she felt him, right into the marrow of his bones, and knew her as she knew him.
In the shadows of the Throne-room of Akhavar, Torrullin and Saska faced each other for the first time in twenty-five years.
Her eyes were emerald glow lamps in the darkness of a lightless day and they took his breath away.
His eyes were silver beacons and they paralysed her.
Then, “Caballa, leave us.”
Saska shook. His voice, dear gods, his voice.
A faint rustle told them Caballa had left.
They stared at each other and a faint glow surrounded them.
“Saska.” He tested her name on his tongue, and enjoyed the taste.
“Torrullin.” Her voice was strong and sure, and his name felt right.
He stepped closer and so did she. They stood with a breath separating them, and all the old magic was there, as well as all that was new between them.
Saska cleared her throat, and moved away. He was too magnetic; she had forgotten how much. “Thank you for coming, my Lord.”
That movement revealed everything. A wry, pained laugh. “You called, my lady wife.”
The moment had passed to put everything aside and simply be together, and she regretted her caution immediately. The moment could not now be recalled.
“You seem well.”
He swore. “Do not do that with me. Not with me.”
She paced away. Hide in movement. “Unfortunately I do not know how to act in your presence.”
“Don’t act, that is all.” His jaw
clenched in an effort to control emotion.
Saska laughed. “Be myself?”
“I would prefer it.”
She closed her eyes. “I don’t know myself.”
“That is a truth I understand. Saska, you knew I was coming; why did you call earlier?” His tone was devoid of expression.
“Down to business,” she muttered, striding towards the exit that led outside.
He followed. “You would prefer something else?”
“I guess the time for recrimination must wait, my husband.”
He had more courage. “Will it only be recrimination?”
She swung around and was beautiful in her anger. “I am not doing this!”
Torrullin closed in on her and her heart went crazy. She hoped he would reach out and touch, but he walked on past and she hated him for it.
And, damn it, what did she expect?
Outside, he frowned. “Surely it is day on Akhavar? I see no clouds.”
Saska sighed. A safer topic, dear Aaru. Who would have believed that only moments ago? She gestured eloquently. “This is why I called.”
“This started this morning? Why?”
“Your Throne.”
He was unmoving, but gooseflesh erupted on his skin. She noticed a flash of raised bumps in his neck.
“Last night a presence formed in the space where Nemisin set the seat, and it spoke to me. It was the Valla Throne, Torrullin, in form and voice, and it bade me call you. Until you answered the summons no sun will rise over Akhavar. I waited until dawn and the sun has not come.”
Let him think for himself what that meant, for she would not tell him of uncertainty, and the rest of it.
His eyes were piercing, as if he read her every synapsis. Clearly he heard her and she knew he trusted her, and clearly he did not want to believe it. He hoped she had it wrong. As she had hoped, now he did. She put a hand to her cheek, and her eyes told him everything he needed to know. There was no doubt.
Torrullin bent over, hyperventilating, hands to knees.
It scared her.
“Why now?” he whispered in a tortured tone. “I cannot afford to expend energy in appeasing … and a Vallorin due to be chosen. Why play … but it is no game, can never be.”
He straightened and his eyes took on a glazed look. A short, intense silence ensued. He made connections - she could almost hear the clicks in his mind. It scared her even more.
A moment later he said, “Gods. This is the time.”
She noticed his hand bloodless on his sword. “He said that. About this being the time to start anew, to make choices.”
Slowly he focused on her. “He?”
Saska put into words the emotion he garnered from reading her. “A presence made of shadows.”
“You are sure it was male?”
She nodded, and went on to relate what happened. She even mentioned calling Caballa first, but he barely reacted. She included Prima’s presence, but he scarcely heard.
“I have heard you claim a presence in the seat, Torrullin. Why should you be surprised?”
“I am not surprised by the likelihood of sentience - I knew that. I am surprised,” and he swallowed over the next word, “he chooses this point. I just made the decision to choose a Vallorin. I just decided to undertake a journey. How much does he hear? Feel?” Then he said something more. “He told me when my eyes reverted from Valleur yellow that the time approaches, and I have waited twenty-five fucking years. Long years of putting life on hold.”
She was wordless.
“Everything, everything, changes now.”
“What do you mean?” Saska dared.
“I hate being manipulated, damn it. Is he Quilla’s master manipulator?” Torrullin nearly snarled his fury.
She swallowed. “What are you to do?”
Torrullin laughed. “Test him.”
Saska put a hand to her throat. “How?”
He waved expansively at the greyness. “Let us see how long he can maintain this.”
She lost her temper. “No! This world is on a fine line! If this was Valaris, I would say go to it - Valaris can hold a few weeks. But here? A day, and certain vulnerabilities will be made aware. I am not saying it will fold, but it could, and we will have to start again. Don’t do that … gods, do not do that to me. I cannot start over; I do not have that kind of strength.”
HE CLOSED HIS EYES. Manipulated from both sides, then. And she was right. Akhavar was an absolute miracle achievement; she deserved the respect of non-interference.
Torrullin opened his eyes. “From my heart I thank you for all you did here.”
She stalked closer. “I don’t need it, not anymore. What I need is for you to remove the threat. Is that so hard?”
He did not reply immediately. He could not. It was the hardest task she had thus far demanded of him. For it would change everything. For her. And for him.
Especially for him.
“No, it is not so hard. All I have to do is reply.”
She came to a stop. “Do you know him?”
A wry laugh erupted from his dry throat. “You know of him, too. You gave me his name once - after a dream.”
He moved on before she could question him further.
IT WAS TIME TO enact the ritual of manipulation. Was it really thus? Had he not been waiting for this for too long? It could not be about manipulation, then. Was this not the point in time when life began to make sense?
Inhaling strength, he called out, “I am here! Your summons is answered!”
THERE WAS NO UNCERTAINTY in his voice, no questioning, Saska realised. Something had clicked into final position for him. She also understood, in this, she would ultimately be the loser. She wished then she did not care so much for Akhavar’s fate.
A ray of sunshine pierced the gloom, then two, three, and then the sun shone in full glory, instantly warm on the skin.
Shaking, Saska could only stare.
“MY NEMESIS,” TORRULLIN muttered. “Fuck. Bloody, bloody hell.” He always regarded Lowen as his nemesis … until he named the Lumin Sword.
“That won’t help,” Saska managed.
He ignored that, saying, “Where exactly was the presence?”
Giving the sun a last, grateful glance, she took him there. They stood together in the lit cavern. Birds sang, for dawn had come.
Torrullin drew breath first. “Middle of the night, Saska? A sleepless wander?”
“Dream calling.”
“Ah.”
“You know about dream calls, of course.”
He said nothing, knowing where she headed.
“Coward,” she muttered.
Again he remained unspeaking.
“Well, at least you have learned to guard your tongue.”
“You had better leave.”
SHE GLARED AT HIM - glared, and touched every part of his face with her eyes, imagining they were her fingers - and then looked away when his mouth curved into a smile.
Damn him, he always knew. “Leave?”
“I prefer no witnesses.”
She shivered. He was implacable and never had she known him this fatalistic. “Torrullin, do you know what you’re doing?”
“Know?” He looked at her. “No, I do not know. Half the time I am stumbling in the dark and the other half is filled with shadows. What do you think I am able to see?”
She breathed. Gods. Then she said something surpassingly stupid and hated herself for it. “I guess Lowen sees for you.”
A beat, two, and she knew she made a huge mistake.
Torrullin’s face was like stone. “Lowen does not see for me. Lowen sees me.”
She made it worse. “She left you.”
“Because I see her.”
“And this?” she whispered. “Does this presence see you?”
“Every nuance.”
Gods. “And you see it?”
“Him. No, not yet.” He leaned closer. “But I feel him - I have felt him for a long time. And yo
u know his name.”
“I do not.”
“Stop hiding.”
Saska shivered again. “I will leave now.”
“That would be best.”
He was a stranger; she did not know him. “Torrullin …”
“As you said, now is not the time for recrimination.”
Her eyes flared. “I hate you.”
He nodded. “Good. It will be easier that way.”
“Go to hell.”
Torrullin stared at her for a beat. In the past he would answer ‘already there’, but now he said, “Hell is relative. You need to grasp what it means for you, and how to cope, because, Saska, everything will change in a few moments, and whatever lies between us still may not be enough to get us through the gates of hell in one piece. Not you, not me, not even Lowen when she is found. And especially not the one you spoke with last night in this space. He will suffer most, I think.”
She stared at him. “My god, Torrullin, what can be so terrible?” She wanted to ask him whom he meant, whose name she knew, but was afraid of the answer.
“Go now.”
She strode out.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
OUTSIDE THE CAVERN, Saska ran into Caballa, but the Valleur woman’s presence barely registered, and she continued walking, blinded by tears.
Caballa watched her go and mentally rounded on Torrullin, and then slipped into the Throne-room.
“I know you are there.”
“You made a hash of this first meeting,” Caballa muttered.
“We both did.” He gestured her closer. “Did you think it would go smoothly?”
“No.”
“You should be on Valaris.”
“Relax, they are with Fuma and Amunti, and all Elders are in super vigilant mode now. They have a Vallorin to choose. Torrullin, what?”
“We have found the doorway to Lowen.”
“Oh?”
“A UNIVERSE OF WISDOM in that ‘oh’,” Torrullin responded in amusement. “Yes, it is there, but time may be an issue. We are uncertain how long it will be before exit.” And, gods, right now he did not give a shit.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 33
