Torrullin came closer. “Get out.”
“I shall do that and I shall stay away as long as you do not go too far. When you are done playing we can talk. I shall be in the atrium - so peaceful.”
He vanished with the Throne.
Torrullin moved back to face Elianas. Then he said, “Fuck it,” and reached out.
Elianas’ eyes dilated anew.
Tristan appeared.
Elianas swore, while both hands urged Torrullin closer. “Now it’s Tristan.”
“Let him bloody watch,” came the muffled reply as that mouth travelled over Elianas’ skin.
Those hands tightened.
“Cassy escaped,” Tristan said, averting his eyes. “I need your help.”
“No,” Torrullin said. He inserted a hand under Elianas and lifted him.
“Cassy is right here, and she has come to see her father.”
Elianas froze. “For fuck’s sake, Cassy.”
“Elianas, sweetheart, finally giving in to the Lord Sorcerer, are we?”
Elianas pulled Torrullin’s head up. “I cannot, not with Cassy. It is like having Lowen here.”
A smile. “Lowen would gladly partake.”
A breath. “And I would flop down.”
“No, you would not.”
“That is an argument for another day, and it will never happen.”
Torrullin sighed and slowly slid off. “Gods, I think there is a universal conspiracy against us.”
Elianas sat up, and glared at Cassy. “What are you doing here?”
“My father is here. What happened to the wall?”
“Nemisin is here?” Tristan demanded.
“Ah, well, there it goes,” Torrullin muttered, looking down.
Elianas laughed.
As they dressed, Tristan and Cassy wandered around, studiously not looking. When every temptation was covered, Torrullin snapped, “Give us one minute alone, will you?”
They were given that minute.
“This is the last day, Elianas.”
“Then I shall wait until the next day.”
“Will there be a next day?”
Elianas approached and kissed him. “Always.”
Unreadable eyes. “We will regret not finishing this now.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Wish and will.”
“There is that.”
“It is but a hair’s breadth now.”
“I know. I feel the pieces.”
“What are you most afraid of?” Torrullin whispered.
Elianas closed in again and breathed against his mouth. “Not finding the next day.”
Torrullin gripped him close. “Nemesis, I love you.”
Elianas inhaled hard. “Dear god, Torrullin, I am undone.”
Torrullin stepped away. “Do not forget anything. Promise me.”
“I swear it.”
“One day soon I shall be there for you as you have been for me.”
“That was this day. I am unharmed because you were there. I shall never forget.”
A moment more, and then they strode out to meet with new doom.
Chapter 77
Wise souls gather … how terrible they can be in their resolve.
~ Nemisin
Avaelyn
TORRULLIN ENTERED THE atrium first.
Sunlight shone off the ocean, lighting the transparent space in bright glows. Nemisin admired the plants.
“They are healthy. I do not know them, but they are lovely.” He looked over his shoulder. “Ah, Cassy.”
“Father.”
“Is that the Throne?” Tristan gasped.
“Another Valla, I see. One of yours, Torrullin?”
“Tristan Skyler Valla,” Tristan said. “How did the Throne get here?”
“I am the first Vallorin, I died Vallorin; it knows me. All I had to do was ask.” Nemisin said, delighted with the reception.
Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Definitely one of yours,” Nemisin murmured. “You do that all the time, Torrullin.”
“Say your piece,” Torrullin snapped.
“You have to vanish.”
“And you will assume my place.”
“Naturally. But I shall be greater. I shall be a benevolent father to the Valleur nation. You, I believe, are so contradictory they do not know whether to trust you or not.”
“We shall see.”
“Cassy, darling, tell him what we planned.”
Elianas turned his head to her. “You knew?”
She shrugged. “I was angry then.”
“You could have warned us.”
She shifted her gaze to Torrullin briefly. “The jury is still out on him. Why would I speak warning?”
“Have you any idea what your father will do?”
“Hopefully send Lord Sorcerer into obscurity.”
Elianas growled.
She pointed a finger. “Elianas, he is not a saint and will never be. Stop defending him. He is guilty of …”
“So am I,” Elianas snapped.
“I doubt you can match him.”
Elianas strode forward. “You have no clue …”
“Do not give him the satisfaction,” Torrullin said, indicating Nemisin.
Elianas backed off.
“What about Tian?” Tristan demanded. “He is Vallorin. You cannot steal his Throne.”
“It is not his,” Nemisin murmured.
“It is mine,” Torrullin said.
Nemisin smiled. “Really? Then how do you explain your inability to remove me from it earlier?”
“My head was somewhere else. Do not challenge me, Nemisin.”
“Your head was on someone else.”
“You must pay for that alone,” Cassy said. “You corrupted Elianas.”
Torrullin threw his hands in the air. “My son thought Elianas corrupted me, and you see it the other way. We cannot win.”
“He killed a man for daring, Torrullin, and now he accepts it as his due. That is corruption. He was a father and a husband once, but that does not count, I suppose.”
“Cassy, hold your tongue,” Elianas said.
“Why? I held my tongue and look where it got me.” She sighed. “What we said on Echolone holds, if you want it to, and I prefer a truce between us, but it does not extend to him.”
“I hold to nothing if any here take him on.”
“Then you are the enemy, Elianas, and will suffer with him.”
“Gladly.”
“What next?” Torrullin demanded on Nemisin.
“We can do this like adults,” Nemisin murmured. “Step down, disappear, and swear never to return, and it ends now and without bloodshed. I shall return the Throne to the young man who thinks he is a real Vallorin, and take up the mantle of the One. I do not need a Throne for that.”
“Ah. And Elianas?”
“Elianas stays.”
“Why?”
“He has power the One can use to advantage.”
“Never,” Elianas said.
“We shall see, Danae.” Nemisin paused, listened and smiled. “Avaelyn absorbs a word of power. How illuminating. I believe this lovely place and this empty world will be my headquarters, then.”
“Never,” Elianas repeated.
“Never,” Torrullin echoed.
“I see we shall do this the hard way.” Nemisin smiled.
Elianas speared Cassy with an icy gaze. “What are you planning?”
“I plan to increase the sacred network. Every world and inhabited moon missing a sacred site will get one, and join the web. And one day it will be strong and huge and the universe will have lasting peace.”
Elianas murmured, “Noble of you.”
“It is about control,” Torrullin said. “You want to force compliance.”
She glared at him. “You may find war attractive, but I think it a waste of time and resource.”
“Nothing is as black and white as that.”
“What
do you think Torrullin did for years?” Elianas said. “The main goal has been to establish peace.”
“He has not succeeded, has he? In fact, I would go so far as to say wars follow him. He creates them simply by being in a place too long. My father can put a stop to that and I shall make it unassailable with the network.”
“I must be very powerful,” Torrullin murmured.
“You have a dual nature. You need war to reveal peace, and vice versa.”
“And your father does not?”
“He swore to uphold the laws of a sacred network.”
Elianas murmured, “You are in for a surprise.”
Nemisin murmured, “I made mistakes, and I have learned from them. Dear Sabian, my instructor, made it clear. I promise Cassy to mind her laws, and she promises to wait until the way is cleared. Where is the dear Sabian?”
Tristan frowned. Yes, where was he?
“No doubt he works a plan to finish with you,” Torrullin murmured.
“Not this time.” Nemisin patted the arm of the Throne.
Torrullin laughed. “Watch yourself.” He moved closer. “This is the kind of day that does not allow for second chances. Many aspects end. I have no patience for games. You have challenged, and I take up the gauntlet. Shall we begin with who the Throne listens to?”
“Why not?”
Torrullin lifted a brow. “You cannot hide behind it while we establish that.”
Nemisin stared at him, and pushed himself from the embrace of the seat. He stepped away.
From the outer doorway Sabian erupted to slam into the man. They tumbled in a tangle to the hard floor of the atrium. Sabian rolled and rose with an arm locked around Nemisin’s throat, dragging the man up.
Cassy shouted.
Elianas crossed his arms with a smile.
Nemisin gargled, “Come, Torrullin, surely you want to complete the challenge?”
“Not at the expense of the Valleur.”
“Coward!” Cassy hissed.
Nemisin whispered, “One challenge to determine the way forward.”
As Sabian tightened his hold Torrullin lifted a hand. “State your rules.”
Nemisin struggled.
“Give him enough room to talk,” Torrullin murmured.
“He is not escaping me again,” Sabian said.
Elianas stepped forward and clamped a hand on Sabian’s shoulder. “He will not. Use this.” A crackle sounded, and a charge of electricity shot down Sabian’s arm and through Nemisin. Elianas smiled and lifted his hand away. “Now he is bound to you. You can find him anywhere at any time and in any place.”
Sabian stared at Elianas. “How did you do that?”
“Lord Sorcerer employs the mind; I use the charge present in every atom. You can let him go.”
Sabian did so, and Nemisin straightened rubbing his neck. He sent a glare of venom at Elianas. “You will pay for that, my boy.”
“I am not your boy, and I have not listened to you in many an age. Watch yourself, Nemisin, for behind Sabian and Torrullin there is me. I am not done with you.”
Nemisin spread his hands. “What have I ever done to you? I brought you to my court, I gave you my daughter, I blessed your daughters, I allowed you to study magic with Torrullin, and helped you when matters went awry. I do not see how you can hold a vendetta against me and explain it rationally.”
Elianas drew the kind of breath that heralded a blast of hatred, and Torrullin murmured in his ear, “Keep it in the wings. Our ace, so to speak.”
Elianas swallowed the bile. “He is not getting away.”
He will not, Elianas. I swear it.
A small nod indicated acceptance.
“State your rules,” Torrullin said again.
Sabian interrupted. “Let us end this now. Give Nemisin an hour more and he will find a manipulation to alter the outcome.”
Torrullin flicked the historian a glance. “You deserve a place in this universe, Sabian. Let us see where this challenge takes us.”
Sabian blinked and said no more.
Nemisin clapped his hands. “I love it!”
“State you rules,” Torrullin snarled.
“A neutral place, three chances each. Winner takes all.”
Tristan’s head moved from one to the other. “Tian is Vallorin.”
Nemisin smiled. “Then your Tian should have equal opportunity.”
Torrullin murmured. “Leave him out of this. He lost his father today. His mind would not be on this.”
“Tymall is dead?” Tristan whispered. “And you are calm?”
Torrullin waved the question aside. “Let Tian be.”
“Then he will not rule,” Nemisin said. “Do you prefer that?”
Torrullin threaded a hand through his hair. The man was right. If they played games with the Throne, no matter who ‘won’ the day, Tianoman would be the real loser. A Vallorin who had no say over how the Throne was employed, was not a Vallorin in Valleur eyes. He glanced at Elianas for help.
“Unfortunately Tianoman should have an equal opportunity,” Elianas murmured.
“There must be another way.”
“A different challenge, Torrullin. Leave the Throne out of it.”
Torrullin swung around. “We are Enchanters. There is challenge that should satisfy us.”
Nemisin grinned. “Your loyalty to your family is commendable, but if you want it done this day, I am afraid the challenge stands as is. With or without the sensibilities of a young Vallorin and the Valleur nation behind him.”
“And if he wins?”
“We walk away.”
“That I do not trust.”
“Sabian takes me and Cassy takes you.”
“No,” Elianas said.
Cassy laughed. “He must vanish, Elianas, if this is to be fair.”
“Gods, are you all mad?” Tristan burst out.
“Quite possibly,” Elianas murmured. He bored a hole through his wife of the past. “Torrullin stays with me. He will not interfere with daily life.”
She shook her head. “Not good enough.”
Torrullin stepped forward. “Certain events have brought on fractures in Lord Sorcerer’s psyche. By morning, there will not be much of me left, dear Cassy. If you desire to be the one to pick up the pieces …”
Elianas’ head turned to him.
“… then by all means. But know this, what happened to you before, during and after the Chamber of Biers is as nothing to what you will be forced to deal with. You could allow me to remain shattered, but your sacred network will sunder, and every noble thought you may possess will be as naught.”
She slid her gaze to Elianas to see there stark fear and knew Torrullin told the truth. “If you win this challenge, by morning …”
“Tomorrow is another day. Choose for this one.”
She returned her attention to Elianas. “You would cope with a madman in the aftermath?”
“It will not be your concern.”
“Fine. He is yours to control. You will swear to keep him away, however, or I activate the network and strangle his pieces with it.”
“I swear.”
“For pity’s sake,” Tristan growled. “Fracturing? Pieces?”
Torrullin glanced at him. “I told you once it approached. What happened in Digilan sealed that fate.”
“How can you be so calm?”
“Calm? I would not say that.”
Nemisin rubbed hands together in glee. “Excellent. A boy suffering the loss of a father, and a man about to be sundered by the fates of his deeds. A fair fight is one thing, but I am not going to deny I like my odds. Where and when, Torrullin?”
“Echolone.”
Sabian smiled. Where shamans spoke to ancestors, and thus there were thin spaces to drag a recalcitrant ancient Vallorin into. Perfect. His smile slid away. Where an Avior door led into the Path of Shades.
All you need do is push him through, Sabian. You do not need to accompany him.
Sabian casu
ally looked away. He had decisions to make.
“Echolone is acceptable,” Cassy murmured. “Tonight?”
“Echolone’s rising of the moon.”
“Acceptable. We need prepare.”
Nemisin snarled. “I am not leaving the Throne here for him to subvert.”
“You are not staying with it either,” Elianas snapped back.
“I will take it,” Tristan said. “Someone tell it to come with me, and I will arrange a place where no one can be hurt in this madness.”
Cassy studied him closely, and nodded at his father. “He will not do more than that.”
Nemisin licked his lips and agreed.
Tristan inclined his head. Wrong, Cassiopin. I intend to do a whole lot more than set a seat in an empty space.
Torrullin murmured, “You brought it here, Nemisin. Send it with him, and then get out of here.”
Nemisin waved a hand, the Throne lifted. “It will follow your signature. Go.”
Tristan glanced once searchingly at Torrullin, and was gone. An instant later the golden seat dematerialised as well.
Nemisin sighed. “I love that chair.”
“Go,” Elianas growled. “Till moonrise on Echolone.”
Sabian grinned. “I shall be sticking like glue. Come, First Father.” The three left as one, Cassy dubious, Sabian thoughtful and Nemisin muttering under his breath.
Elianas waited without words.
“I need convince Tian,” Torrullin said.
A nod, again without saying anything.
“He will not take it well if you are there.”
Elianas inclined his head.
“Do you want to finish what we started earlier?”
Elianas sighed. “I await the next day.”
Torrullin clasped his shoulder, and was gone.
Elianas sprang into action, and prepared for the day after.
Chapter 78
Grief and sorrow, penitent, changes nothing in the life you live daily. What it does is remove, for a time, your ability to function in that life. Often your inability leads to anger, frustration with self. A step at a time, penitent. Take one step now.
~ Father Rees, Valaris
The Dome
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 127
