They made much noise, but even that could not mask the strange sounds within the darkness.
A raucous cawing at one stage had Saska clutching fearfully and a harsh bout of laughter from an unknown source had Declan cursing his fates. Other sounds were there, more normal, forest noises, yet in a place of nothingness they would forever be alien.
When Elianas’ whistling stopped, Torrullin issued an answer, and then froze. Declan screamed and so did Elianas. The screaming dwindled to a faraway whine, and Torrullin surged on, shouting out at the top of his voice, with Saska joining him, and then there was no more ground, no more forest, and they, too, screamed at the suddenness of it.
Headlong, they fell into the dark.
Sanctuary
The Villa
TIANOMAN WOULD REMAIN with Lowen on the island on Averis Lake, and she was grateful beyond words.
She was thankful it was not Tristan, for he reminded her too much of Torrullin.
Cassy would take Akhavar’s sacred site - the Throne-room - and Caballa the Lifesource on Valaris. Those worlds fell into the giant circle, and Caballa was relieved; they were connections she could understand.
Amunti received Lax; Fuma, Ceta; Erin, Drinic; Chaim, Xen; Shenendo, Nuthtu; Galarth, Titania; Belun, Luvanor, and Tristan took Beacon - the man at the Bridge of Dreams would see him as Torrullin - and Quilla took Mon Unon, the dead world the folk of Echolone abandoned.
Jonas was given Lintusillem, Prima, Yltri, and Jimini, Merrix. Ignatius found himself without a site and Tristan insisted he accompany Cassy. She saw it as a lack of trust, and he did not care how she viewed it.
They set a deadline of twenty hours to confirm keeper and code were found, with a further hour to prepare for the simultaneous sending. Only when every code was confirmed would an attempt be made.
Cassy proceeded to drill the method into everyone and then spent long minutes privately with Lowen and Tianoman.
Two hours after arriving at the villa they dispersed. Twenty-one tense hours lay ahead.
Lowen went to find Teroux and Rose to tell them how it would work - and had little reaction from either - and then she and Tianoman went out to investigate the island.
The Path of Shades
IT WAS A VOID, but this void was true nothing.
There was no light, no sound, no flitting past and future, no worlds and no defined spaces. Just continual space, simply vacuum.
Saska gasped and slumped into unconsciousness, and Torrullin, grim and afraid, held onto her with everything he possessed, and together they fell without track or end.
Declan slid from Elianas’ grasp, but the dark man managed to catch him before he lost him eternally, holding on with utter determination. Together they hurtled onward and downward.
There was no time in that void.
They fell without control.
Chapter 28
Now we pull the rope!
~ Playground summons to battle
Hour One
TRISTAN SOON HAD Weth of Beacon eating out of his hands, and code in hand. He checked in with Lowen and settled to wait. Weth had a host of tales to tell.
Belun on Luvanor was quickly entrenched. He found the cave on Tunin where the Lifesource site was, spoke to the local Valleur keeper, a man by the name of Amtar, and had what they needed. Amtar was more than willing to aid Torrullin and did not need a full explanation. Belun sent confirmation.
Caballa sent validation within minutes from Valaris’ Lifesource Temple. The code was there for her when she listened as Cassy suggested.
Cassy spoke to Akhavar’s Elders, expressing a desire for quiet in the Throne-room of her father, and was granted the time. She sent confirmation. Ignatius walked around wordlessly until she told him to explore the mountain enclave until the time arrived for sending. Relieved, he did so.
Quilla, on sterile Mon Unon, headed directly for a buried site. There was no keeper now, but he set about the spells to uncover the site - a once beautiful fountain - and listened for the code. When he had it, he sent endorsement and sat in the hot sun to wait.
Galarth on Titania had no trouble finding the grey obelisk that was the sacred site. In fact, it rose from the centre of the courtyard before the massive library complex, but no code would come to him. He listened hard and heard nothing. It meant, according to Cassy, there was a keeper and he had to find him or her. He started searching.
Hour Two
FUMA GOT LOST in Ceta’s forests and then stumbled accidentally into the Angel Glade.
He stared at the destroyed statue and set about rebuilding. The Lady of Life had restored the Heart only.
It would be a patched job, but only once it had a semblance of normality would it surrender a code.
Hour Three
MERRIX’S SITE WAS an abandoned shrine beside a small stream.
One lone tree threw shade. Jimini finally found it, but found no nearby habitation to surrender a keeper. She began the search.
Drinic was difficult, for all ancient sites and buildings had fallen during the uprisings of recent years. Current apathy meant no one was prepared to help. Frustrated, Erin went from likely place to likely place, and found them entirely unlikely.
Jonas, on Lintusillem, found site and code after a few hours intensive searching and sent confirmation. He then went to visit with his brother Minos until the time of sending.
Hour Nine
THE HOURS WENT by rapidly for those searching and slowly for those waiting.
Quilla paced in the hot sun, cursing himself for not bringing water, and Tristan soon had enough of Weth’s tales. Caballa slept, while Cassy sat thinking thoughts she long set aside.
Amunti, on Lax, threw the final rock aside, listened for the code and sent confirmation. He then collapsed against the sloped building and fell asleep.
On Xen, with the help of a Dalrish cousin, Chaim found an ancient ruined chapel in the desert. He was dismayed, but the Dalrish murmured about all ruins having been recently sanctified.
Relieved, he listened and then smiled. He sent confirmation, and settled to wait. The Dalrish headed back to the nearest city with his motorised transport, to return later with food and drink.
Intrigued, the young man opted to wait with the old one.
Galarth tracked a man to a hut out on the sponges of Titania and had to use every trick in his negotiator’s manual before the man even admitted he was the keeper.
The code proved elusive still.
Hour Eleven
GALARTH FINALLY SENT furious corroboration from Titania and then loitered around the obelisk, which soon drew the attention of the authorities.
He was taken into custody and needed to explain to secure release. In the end only the title Elixir worked. Exhausted, he sat at the base of the obelisk and refused to move again.
Shenendo was as fatigued elsewhere. Nuthtu was particularly frustrating, filled with bureaucratic idiots. Eventually he resorted to covert transports in short spurts until he was as a giant rock statue of a sun cradling a moon.
It was the only entity resembling a site, but there was no code. A nearby drunk revealed there was a man who cleaned the statue on a monthly basis and pointed him towards a dilapidated housing estate.
Holding onto his temper, Shenendo headed towards it.
Hour Thirteen
FUMA SENT CONFIRMATION from his rebuilt angel and then threw himself down on the pine needle carpet and slept.
Hour Sixteen
SHENENDO EVENTUALLY dragged the man who cleaned the statue to it as the suns set over Nuthtu.
The man looked like a Valleur where the blood was diluted. He threw him against the statue and in no uncertain terms read him the riot act. When the man broke down in blubbering sobs, he swore long and hard.
Eventually he knocked him unconscious and used a spell to extract the code from that drunken, sad and comatose mind. When he had it he felt almost dirty, and then came pity for the man who believed he was abandoned by the fates.
/> He sent confirmation and took him back to his house.
Shenendo would return to help him, he promised, once this project was over.
Hour Seventeen
PRIMA WANDERED YLTRI’S wide expanses for hours, resolve surrendering to despair.
There was no site. He sat despondently on a cracking dyke where there no longer was water to hold back, and hung his head. Far away an old man watched him, saw that picture of despair, and ambled closer.
On Merrix, Jimini needed to be pushy. The folk of Merrix - elf-like people - were so friendly they could not understand urgency. There was no shrine, they said, nor was there such a person as a keeper.
She pushed harder and finally a lovely young woman said she would have a look at this mythical shrine. Her astonishment was absolute and immediately she promised to ask about a potential keeper.
Together they set out to cover the same ground Jimini had already covered.
Hour Nineteen
ERIN THOUGHT SHE would fail. Amunti mother pointed her to this gorge, but she had not found the tiled slab the old women promised was here, and time was running out.
On Yltri, the old man touched Prima on the shoulder and pointed at the ground. And there it was, a gigantic well that went into the bowels of the earth. The old man explained the stonework above ground level had long vanished, but fresh water bubbled here when the moons rose in unison. It was a magical place, he said, and Prima, always so formal, nearly kissed him. He bent, touched the ancient stonework under the stringy turf, and heard the code.
He gulped in great gulps of air and transmitted the confirmation.
Hour Twenty
DARKNESS HAD FALLEN and Erin despaired.
She lit a flame on the palm of her hand and held it high, and went on. Then, lo, she saw it. She stumbled forward onto a level area carved from the mountainside and discovered a young boy curled up in a recess. He stared at her, wide-eyed, and when she said she was looking for the keeper of this ancient site, he smiled a wondrous smile and clambered down to her.
Holding a threadbare robe together, he said that would be him. He was Valleur, did she know that? Her heart nearly broke. She explained and watched him listen. She found herself telling him everything, and at the end of it he smiled again and then swept two hands over the level area to clear dust and grit away.
He showed her what lay beneath - a beautiful mosaic of a blue dragon. He gave her the code and then told her not to feel sorry for him, he knew who and what he was, and he had always known the day would come when The Valla would need his help.
She sent the confirmation, and burst into tears.
On Merrix, Jimini stood before a crowd gathered around the shrine.
There was no keeper and there was no code. She had failed. The young woman who helped her stared at her sadly. Jimini smacked the shrine in ire, and gasped when a part came loose. A small metal box was wedged between two cracked stones.
She removed it with trembling fingers and lifted the lid. At the bottom there was an engraving and it read in the common tongue, They throw stones at me now and thus it is time to leave. For the one who comes to use this site upon the net, this is the code …” A series of symbols followed.
Jimini swallowed, dried a tear and sent confirmation.
Sanctuary
EVEN IN SUMMER mist swirled around the scrap of land.
Now, on a winter’s day, it was entirely shrouded. Lowen and Tianoman transported in and tramped all over, finding nothing but low shrubs and two giant trees. In spring and summer, perhaps, birds nested among the bushes, but now there was no evidence.
Averis Lake was grey slate through the mist, a more comforting presence than the land they were on.
“Funny place,” Tianoman muttered.
They stood beneath the two trees. Lowen looked up in a manner that suggested a nest of vipers was about to fall on them.
She shivered. “You claimed it as a node.”
“It’s still odd.”
“Torrullin shied away,” she murmured, forcing her thoughts from the imaginary vipers.
“He never came here?”
“He came, you know him, but once he had the place in a niche, he stepped away.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Vibrations. Wait … ah, Caballa confirmed.”
“So it has begun.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“I am not. Not only is this dangerous, but Teroux is against it and that doesn’t sit well.”
“He’s afraid.”
“Of?”
“Losing Torrullin.”
She had surprised him. “Why would he be afraid of that?”
“Not physically, Tian - emotionally. Torrullin’s regard and respect.”
“Then he’s going about it the wrong way.”
“Actually, he might be the only one going about it the right way.”
Again she had surprised him.
She gave a dry laugh. “You live with Torrullin the way I have and you work with him the way I have, and you’ll know he despises interference. No matter how we justify what we’re doing here, it remains interference, and he won’t thank us for it. Teroux, bless him, subconsciously understands, but can’t put it into words. He thinks we would ridicule him.”
“Are you suggesting we shouldn’t do this?”
“We must, for Saska and Declan.”
“But there will be hell to pay.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“I think I know Elianas better and I have only really spoken with him once. What do you think of him?”
Lowen made a sound in her throat, but did not answer.
Tianoman was quiet. “You are attracted to him.”
“Only because of what he means to Torrullin.”
“And what does he mean to Torrullin?”
“Everything. Torrullin could lose Saska and recover, but to lose Elianas would kill him. I mean Torrullin as we know him,” she elaborated. “We wouldn’t recognise him if Elianas went missing.”
Tianoman frowned. “Love?”
“If only it were that simple.”
“Tristan seems to think …”
“Tristan hasn’t seen them together the way I have,” she said with finality. She inclined her head, listening. “Speak of the devil, Tristan checked in, and Cassy. It will be a long wait. Why don’t you rustle up food and drink, and something soft to sit on? And talk to Teroux while you’re at it.”
He nodded a few beats later, and left, leaving her with her thoughts on the odd scrap of land.
And imaginary vipers.
TEROUX STOOD OVER the abandoned universe chart when Tianoman entered.
Tianoman spoke first. “I don’t want this between us.”
“I don’t either.”
“I forget others require more politeness than a Vallorin would give in his territory,” Tianoman went on. “This isn’t an insult to you, Teroux. It’s a disadvantage I have unfortunately gotten used to. I am sorry.”
Teroux shrugged. “I’ve known you since you were born, and it shouldn’t faze me how you come waltzing in. Family needn’t ask anyway.”
Rose had been at him. Good. “Can we move on?”
“If we can be honest.”
“We can do that.”
Teroux gave a lopsided smile. “How old are you - twenty-eight? You’ve grown more in three years than I have in ten. I think I envy that.”
“I envy you your freedom.”
Teroux stared at him. “Really?”
“Yes. I am bound to the fates of the Valleur now, whereas you are free to come and go as you please. I always wanted to be Vallorin, Teroux, which neither you nor Tristan were certain was for you, and now that I am … yes, well, I am Vallorin, aren’t I?”
“It’s hard? The Throne?”
“Indeed.”
“Does it protect you from afar as you said?”
“Yes.” Tianoman shrugged ruefully.
“Handy.”
> “And constricting.” Tianoman grinned. “No brawl between cousins would ever be a fair fight, huh?”
Teroux barked a laugh.
Tianoman closed in. “Torrullin won’t like what we are doing, I think I get that, but we can’t not try. Please understand. It’s not just about his well-being; it is about our own.”
Teroux gazed at the chart.
“I will tell him you thought we were wrong.”
Yellow eyes lifted.
“You are braver than we are in holding out. He would not want us to interfere.”
“Gods, Tian, I don’t know what to do.”
“Torrullin would say follow your instincts.”
“Instincts get us into trouble.”
“Yes, and him too, no doubt.”
Teroux grinned. “I won’t stop you, but know I abstain from this.”
“I can live with that. What I cannot live with is you and I at odds.”
“Likewise.”
Tianoman extended his hand and Teroux clasped it. “That island is spooky. Lowen sent me to get food and drink.”
Teroux laughed. “I finally mustered the courage to pay it a visit a week ago and stayed all of thirty seconds. Come, let’s find Rose.”
Hour Twenty-One
The Hours Of daylight ticked by infinitely, relieved only by the confirmations sent in.
The hours of dark followed and so did the strangeness of the island by night. The vibrations Lowen mentioned came on, a low, earthquake type rumble as if a machine had been switched on underground. Lowen and Tianoman bore it stoically.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 90
