At least ten thousand men milled on the plain and landing strip where before men, women and children came for healing. Tristan took up a bullhorn and barked commands.
Order was swift.
Caballa arrived with Cassiopin.
Tristan met them where the kitchen had functioned.
“Gods, Tristan, where do they come from?” Caballa asked.
“Everywhere. Cassy.”
She gazed up at him. “I feel like a prisoner.”
“Your father started this. I need to know how involved you are.”
“What?” Caballa gasped.
“He escaped Sabian and used your sacred network to get back here, and along the way agitated the Warlock of Digilan into action. Talk, Cassy.”
She folded her arms. “I am free of my father.”
“No, you are not.”
She blinked. “I have nothing to do with this.”
Tristan drew breath. “You are lying. You are too accepting.” He barked an order and six men came running. He placed Cassy in their care and drew Caballa away. “You don’t have to be here.”
“I am here. Tell me what happened.”
He did.
Chapter 74
Why me?
~ Lament
Digilan
TYMALL AND ELIANAS had vanished by the time Torrullin stepped through, and the swirling mist was now markedly silent.
There was not a giggle to be heard. He stopped to listen, but Tymall was not making a sound and neither was Elianas.
In his lack of direction he was lost.
Then he sensed the dark man. A faint shiver of electricity, of warmth, that was all, but enough to use as a marker.
Torrullin moved quickly and carefully, feeling unseen shapes giving way to him in the mist.
He tracked the shiver for an hour wondering how far behind he was for it to be that muted, and wondering also how it was possible. The time between entrances had been a matter of seconds.
Then he wondered why the mist did not thin.
In the past, en route to the Warlock’s stronghold, it never lasted more than twenty minutes - thirty at most. Something was clearly a-foot, a plan now in action, and he swore Tymall would know his displeasure before this was finished. His son had planned in advance.
Another hour later the mist came to an abrupt end, a wall between blindness and sight, a decided line drawn in perception and place.
Beyond it was something new. He came to regard Digilan as a circle of mist, in the centre of which rose the mighty Warlock palace, and now that was disproven.
It was an amphitheatre, the kind found in ancient tales where gladiators fought for their lives at the whim of a crowd. A mighty stone edifice squatted in the clearness of Digilan’s alien atmosphere. It appeared unattended.
Inside was a shiver of energy.
Torrullin entered through crumbling arches, making no sound, and then did not care who heard him.
The centre of the gladiatorial ring was shorn grass, patchy in places. Here Digilan’s worst did fight to the death at the whim of onlookers. By god. In this day and age. But it was not that understanding which caused him to throw caution to the wind. It was what lay in wait in the centre of the ring.
A stone sacrificial platform purple with old blood.
Around it were six huge men, giants from another realm, hairy and crude, leering grimaces.
Tymall with staff and cloak, the Warlock accruements, stood at the foot, his expression one of intent.
And Elianas, staked naked face down.
The sacrifice.
Clearly, a bit of sport would be had first.
Torrullin’s blood ran cold, and then hot as wildfire.
He tore across the space summoning Destroyer in the distance covered. By the time he reached the scene his eyes were black and murderous resolve had settled into every pore. Two giants had their necks cracked in moments and fell dead to the stained grass. Two more were wounded and crawled from the field groaning.
Tymall’s staff lifted, and he hurtled backward. Torrullin clambered to his feet and closed in again.
“Father. If you value anything, I suggest you stop.”
Tymall’s voice held not a trace of pity. He was now Warlock.
“How did you get here fast enough to do all this?”
“I planned it. The path was swift.”
“Why?”
“This thing fouled your reputation, your body, your power, and thus he befouled me also. To right this wrong, he must be sacrificed.”
One of the remaining giants closed in, thinking himself unseen. and died an instant later. The other gave the whole affair a disgusted once over and trundled off, collecting his injured comrades on the way out.
Good riddance.
“What do you care about right and wrong, Tymall?” Torrullin dipped his bloody sword, but did not relinquish his hold.
“There are standards even a Warlock must apply.”
Torrullin stared at his son, seeing wells of darkness he until now overlooked, and then shifted his gaze to Elianas.
His blood ran cold again.
The man was drugged.
That explained the lack of strength in his energy signal and it meant he would not be able to help himself.
He reached out …
“Touch him and I trigger the spell inserted into his skull.”
Torrullin pulled his hand back. “What have you done?”
“It does not matter. Know he will not be as pretty after.”
“You cannot kill him.”
“But I can degrade him and I can take from him dignity and pride, and his pretty face and body.” Tymall’s grey eyes glittered manically. “If you want him whole, swear you will forsake him into eternity.”
“Touch him, and I shall tear Digilan from every mooring until it is collection of atoms and you are divested of all power.”
Tymall smiled and laid a hand on Elianas’ thigh.
Torrullin yanked it up. “This is the only time I grant you a free ride. Touch him again, and I shall do as I say.”
“You would unleash Digilan’s creatures of nightmare on your reality?”
“Yes.”
“For him?”
“For him.”
Tymall tore his wrist free. “Then you are not worth of any standard I manage to hold to.”
“You call these standards, Tymall? Elianas did nothing to you. What is between us is not your business, and it certainly does not impact on Digilan or your power as Warlock.”
“Wrong. I hear them sniggering behind my back. I hear this contender Adam raising an army and the Mor Feru as support to usurp me, and he whispers about Elixir fucking a man for pleasure, not for torture. It impacts on me daily, hourly, and then I hear Nemisin tell of the past, a time you two were thick as thieves, and every bit of Valleur history as we know it is a fat lie. My existence here as Warlock depends now on sacrifice. His.”
“I will not allow it.”
“What will you do? Kill the army gathering outside this coliseum? Kill me? His face will be a bloody mess before you get a step closer, and not even the healer you are can fix him. Father, you cannot be healer and Destroyer simultaneously.”
Torrullin inhaled deeply, and released Destroyer, banishing him. Tymall was right, and he would rather be ready to help Elianas than be helpless in destruction. A moment after he deliberately sheathed his sword.
“I do not need Destroyer to deal with a gathering army, and I do not want to kill you. Let me take him, and I walk away without meting out justice upon Digilan.”
Tymall pursed his lips, and shook his head. “I require the sacrifice.” He lifted his staff and flung his father around akin to a rag doll, bringing him to a stop at the head of the sacrifice platform, there to freeze him in position.
It happened so fast Torrullin did not have warning, or time to react. He was paralysed in position.
“That will not hold you long, I realise,” Tymall murmured, “but it
will be enough to bear witness.” He lifted his staff again, and two giants rushed in from the opposite side of the ring. “Just long enough for two, I believe.” As they halted expectantly nearby, he said, “Do him hard.”
Torrullin exerted every pressure known to him, but the Warlock enchantment held fast. His eyes moved, throwing hate and the promise of every kind of revenge, but it availed him nothing. His tried to move his lips, but no sound emerged. As the men dropped their breeches, he screamed inside and, as the first one clambered up to kneel over Elianas, he employed every shred of power he possessed, and felt something give inside.
His mind shattered, and then his lips moved and he screamed, “Danae!”
The man collapsed dead on top of Elianas. The other fell over bleeding from his ears, nose, mouth and eyes. The Warlock staff exploded and the cloak went up in searing flame. The old stone of the coliseum shattered and blasted outward in every direction.
Tymall fell to his knees.
Mighty screams erupted from outside the crumbling building.
Torrullin moved.
He shoved the dead man from Elianas, tore his bindings off and flipped him over. When Tymall rose gargling, he thrust the Warlock aside and placed his hands on Elianas’ head, drawing the spell out and into himself, before destroying it, damaging something intrinsic as he did so. Perhaps memory, perhaps compassion, perhaps the ability to tell right from wrong, and perhaps all of that and more, but he did not have the capacity to care then. He functioned and had one goal.
Get Elianas out.
Tymall rose with a scream of rage and hurtled nearer, convulsively touching the blue stone on the circlet manifesting around his head.
“Attack!” he screeched, and grabbed roughly at his father, jerking him away from Elianas, who tumbled to the blood stained grass groaning in returning awareness.
Mor Feru and others rushed into the debris that was the coliseum. Torrullin lifted his hand, sending them hurtling back. They came again, and this time he disintegrated every living cell in a radius of a sal.
Utter and dead silence descended.
Tymall hauled Elianas away, dragging the waking man over sharp rock.
Torrullin stalked him, caught up and took Tymall by the hair to drag him aside. “I said, do not touch him!”
Tymall fought back. “This isn’t over!”
“It is! Cease now or Digilan is sundered.”
The blue gem on Tymall’s forehead fired, and a beam of power hit Torrullin squarely in the eyes, and he stumbled back.
“It isn’t over until I say it is.”
Tymall used the gem to liquefy the ground under his father, felling him to his knees, and then he jerked at the buttons on his breeches.
“He healed me! Nemisin healed what Margus took!” He yanked his breeches open and hauled a hard shaft out. “Seems I must do my own dirty work.”
He kicked Elianas over onto his stomach and fell on top of him.
Elianas started fighting, his movements sluggish.
Torrullin surged to his feet, drawing his power close. His blood coursed and sang loud, screaming the Lorinin song into the spaces.
Elianas felt it as a tingle, and then it washed over him, bathing him in strength. He pushed up with power renewed and threw Tymall from him, but Tymall’s gem flashed, garnering the blackness of the dark to give him more, more and more, and he smashed back into Elianas, throwing him down, thrusting at him.
“Danae!” Torrullin shouted again, and the remnant stone of the amphitheatre shattered anew, the ground transformed to fluid as it heaved, and Elianas jerked to him, and then took hold of Tymall by the throat, exerting pressure with full intention.
Tymall threw himself back, breaking the hold. “He destroys Digilan for you. He must love you beyond all else. Today you will both pay for the insult.”
The gem shot a beam …
… and Torrullin rolled through it, taking the brunt. A burn seared across his torso, and then he was on his feet. He crashed into Tymall and hit him in the mouth.
“Today you are the insult, my son. Today I shall end your miserable life.”
Elianas hauled him off. “No.”
Torrullin jerked free, and Elianas hit him.
“No, Torrullin.”
Tymall, laughing, collided into Elianas from behind, throwing the man at Torrullin, and they landed in a heap on the heaving earth. He clawed at Elianas and started thrusting again. Elianas snarled, and shoved upward to dislodge the man, suffering a searing burn across his back that collapsed him onto Torrullin.
“Then you kill him,” Torrullin said.
Dark eyes bored into grey. “We walk away without this death on our conscience.”
Tymall screeched renewed laughter, hauled Elianas off, pulled him around, and started applying the gem as weapon of torture. Gritting his teeth, Elianas leaned into the pain, and hit Tymall in the nose, breaking it. Blood squirted.
The Warlock of Digilan lost all control. Beams of power shot from his hands and the circlet gem, driving Elianas back, back until he reversed into Torrullin. His father moved to stand before Elianas, hands lifted and traded beam of power for beam, driving Tymall back by degree.
Elianas swore and spoke words to add to the fray. Tymall tumbled over, arched, and lay there heaving.
An instant later Elianas took hold of Torrullin. “Let us go.”
Torrullin stared down at his son.
“Torrullin, we seal this piss hole from the other side. Let us go.”
“He had six men ready to rape you. He called two more while I was frozen as witness. He must pay.”
“He will. Digilan will eat him from the inside out. But we must get from here to minimise the damage in our reality. Torrullin, please, let us leave this place behind now.” He exerted pressure on the arm is his grip and then, thank the gods, Torrullin moved with him.
They had taken barely two steps when Torrullin was pulled around and felled to his knees.
Elianas flipped down and was pinned. Both were frozen in position.
Tymall sauntered closer, wearing his battle scars like a badge of honour. He smiled coldly, slowly pushed his breeches down and kneeled over Elianas. He prodded at Elianas groin.
Elianas reached out, took Tymall’s head in his hands, snapped his neck and threw him aside.
Torrullin rose to his feet with Elixir ascendant and destroyed everything in sight.
Then Elianas was with him. He took his face in his hands, hands that had just killed this man’s son, and forced him into stillness.
“We must leave. Do you hear me, Torrullin? We have to go now.”
Torrullin nodded. “Take me away, Elianas.”
Elianas’ heart broke. Torrullin was shattering, and it would not be long now before he was beyond the point of return.
“Follow me, brother. Set your foot on the bridge and I will lead you home.”
Part VI
NEMISIN
Chapter 75
What? Rat, beaver and wolf, did I not tell you the time has come to stand as one?
~ Tattle
Avaelyn
THE FIRST INDICATION that Digilan was unleashed came when a thunderous sound rocked the horizon.
It was not natural.
Ten minutes later hordes fell upon the gathered army of many nations waiting on Avaelyn.
It was brutal and without mercy.
Grinwallin
THE FIRST INDICATION that Digilan was unleashed came when the great gates of Grinwallin exploded.
Minutes later nightmarish creatures entered the stone city.
The Senlu attacked.
Xen III
THE FIRST INDICATION that Digilan was unleashed came when the city lights went out.
There was no power failure; it was engineered.
Minutes after, screams sounded in the cities.
Xen’s Peacekeeper army, long maintained and trained in urban warfare, took to the streets.
Akhavar
THE FIRST IND
ICATION that Digilan was unleashed came when the hallways of Akhavar’s mountain city darkened in the press of an attacking horde.
Minutes later Valleur hurtled into battle.
Valaris
THE FIRST INDICATION that Digilan was unleashed came when a mighty wail filled the air over Torrke.
The valley repelled intruders.
A minute after that Menllik was attacked.
The Valleur took up arms and sorcery, and battle was enjoined.
THE UNASSAILABLE COMMAND was to attack Avaelyn, Grinwallin, Xen III, Akhavar and Valaris.
This would earn Digilan’s hordes the right to freedom. Cut the head off the snake first, and then move on to the rest.
But concentrate on Avaelyn, the fangs.
Avaelyn
ELIANAS DISPATCHED THE bridge as they set foot to the stone path into their home.
The place awakened to welcome them, but both were oblivious.
“Elianas, get dressed. War has come to Avaelyn.”
“Torrullin.”
“Not now. Let us spill blood to still the anger.”
Elianas inclined his head and moved through to his bedchamber. As he walked he healed the wounds inflicted by Tymall, and wished he could bathe to wash the filth of the Warlock off him. That was not to be - he could hear the ringing of swords in his mind - and thus he hastily donned fresh clothes. Black.
He heard Torrullin next door and wandered through to note the man healing the wound between his eyes. Torrullin stripped his burnt tunic off, replacing it with another.
“He took my sword,” Elianas said.
Torrullin paused in the act of pulling the tunic down, and then finished. He unbuckled his and tossed it over. “I will not need it this day.”
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 125
